BC by Thumb Pt 3

This was the cabin I stayed at on Haida Gwaii the night I got there. It was called the 'Mushroom Pad'. hmmmm...




The view




Sleeping quarters





Queen Charlotte City





At dusk










I was calling this mountain Rush of the Bull, but apparently it's Roch de Boule. This is right near Hazelton


This is zoomed in





This is the view off the highway, on the way up to the Mt Chames ski area






This is a view of Roch de Boule I found on the internet, notice how different it is from this angle. Both stunning aspects though.









Humble Mt Chames. There's one more lift going up the ridge in the top corner, but it's probably out of view.






Looking across the Skeena River








This is the Fraser Canyon just before Lillooet





This is heading up towards Cayoosh pass on the other side of Lillooet. Notice the dramatic scenery change, only about a 30 minute drive away from the above picture.


This is Duffy Lakes Park at the summit





And thus concludes the visual part of my now month and a half old journey.

week recap

I left Golden on thursday, after 4 monotonous days in Golden, as was evident by the weather. I made record time by getting to Kamloops in 4.5hrs in two rides. When I got to Craig's, I called all sorts of martial arts trying to find a class to drop-in on. The only thing class that worked out was White Crane Gung Fu, which is a Tibetan martial art. Even though it was described as a 'hard' martial art (as opposed to 'soft'), I still found it completely different from karate. lots of swinging motions, as opposed to linear (shortest distance A to B). the kicks were fairly similar though. i guess this particular club has produced world champions, but i didn't see any real reason why. they had good (though small) facilities, but facilities aren't everything. they played music during the workout part of the class, i thought that was weird. and the sensei's helpers didn't seem very disciplined. but of course, a single dojo (or however you say it in Tibetan) isn't much indication of a martial arts validity, so I'm not gonna judge the style too much, except that I know it wouldn't work for me, because my shoulders are way too fucekd up for some of those motions.

the next morning I got a ride from a family in an old school motorhome. parents plus 3 kids. the dad was from teh Seychelles, an island off the east coast of africa. they were pretty nice. sounds like they just move around and aren't too tied down. must have money saved up. they'd sailed down to panama from squamish. crazy. well we got to Merritt and it was pretty bad road conditions. traffic was at a standstill and the ambulances couldn't even get thru. the family decided they were gonna wait it out in Merrit, so I walked down the line of cars and found a guy to give me a ride, but then when traffic started moving, he decided his tires couldn't handle it, so he went into Merrit too, so I found some lady ina big dodge to gimme a ride. made it to van from kamloops in about 6 hours, which ain't too bad, considering the chaos on the coquihala.

I made some calls and arranged to drop-in on a karate class. They were preparing for a tournament, so the kids and adult classes were combined, so there was like 50 people in this room. I got to practice with two guys, a brown and a black belt, the brown belt turned out to be the guy that had beaten me by a tenth of a point at provincials to get the gold medal. so it really cool training with them, they were both really into details. the sensei seemed pretty good. 4th degree, i guess his dojo produces a lot of gold medalists. one of the girls that was there was just in the world championships and got 4th place. she was REALLY good. he had a great attention to detail too, especially considering that he was watching 50 people at once. i really enjoyed the class. Ben picked me up after and then I met up with ashley and sharyce. We tried to go dance to drum n bass, but i'd forgotten my ID, so we ended up at sharyce's, where i stayed the night.

by the next day, i was pretty burnt out and ready to go home, but i decided to help ashley move. it was a really nice day too. we drove her dad's truck onto the ferry, then stopped by my place in Qualicum to drop off my stuff, then boogied down to victoria in time to go out dancing to some fun breaks by some DJ from the UK. i got a good 4 hours of sleep, then in the morning we jam-packed the truck full of shit, but coudn't fit this one futon, so we tossed it on the roof of the truck canopy and drove it down to a thrift store. but when i got out to take if off the roof, it wasn't there anymore. that was quite the laugh. it was another nice day and the ferry route from victoria to vancouver, is really nice, going by lots of the gulf islands. unpacking was fairly painless, i made dinner and we (me, ben, sarah, and ashley) just chilled for the night.

today me and sarah scoped out UBC and the beaches and area areound her house. Kitsilano is really a nice part of a the city. I'd actualy consider living there if the opportunity arose. not for too long of course, just like a month or so to get a feel for the city. the sky was obscured by clouds, but you could actually see quite far and the views from the ferry were possibly the best I've seen, with clear views (unlike the previous hazy view) of mt baker and the direction towards squamish, as well as vancouver islands mountains.

anyways i'm back on the island now, glad to finally rest for a bit. my mom, sis, and me are going to Ashcroft on friday for a few days of cookie cooking with some of my mom's friends and their families. should be cool, plus hopefully we'll ge to drive the Sea to Sky Highway again. my grandpa on my dad's side died a few days ago. he was 87. I haven't seen him in about 4 years and I wasn't particularly attached to that side of the family. Feels weird that I'm not feeling much. Maybe it needs to sink in a bit. I've only seen my dad for a few minutes since we heard (he flew down for the funeral today), so maybe when i see him again I'll feel different.

My job starts on monday, pretty exceited about that. And that basically wraps it up. It was a good trip for sure, I got to see lots of people in 5 different towns/cities and the hitchhiking was easier than I'd anticipated, plus I got to check out two new karate dojos. I finished my book on quantum physics, The Dancing Wu Li Masters. It was definitely a challenging read (all the experiments technical talk, even though it was pretty layman). Very rewarding and trppy stuff though. So if anyone thinks they can handle the scientific lingo, I highly recommend it.

I'm back in Golden now, leaving town again on wednesday. Calgary went really well. Got a ride both ways, super warm, never paid for the c-train, belvedere was a really great show, and I got to visit with Ravi, Sang, Sam, Anthony, Sabih, and Mitch (Sime). Karate was really a lot of fun and got me really stoked and I passed my test for my green belt. When I leave to start the return trip, I'll try to stop in Revelstoke, to see Charles and check out a karate class, but that's a big maybe. Either way though, I'll also be staying a night in Kamloops and probably Vancouver too.

Well I in Kamloops. Despite second-guessing myself, I made it without too much trouble. Had a good ride with an ambulance paramedic. Got stoned with him, had some decent talks. Very glad I wore my winter boots. Felt kinda silly on the ferry, but here in snowy kamloops, I fit right in. Went to the philosopher's cafe tonight. The topic was civil disobedience, so it was pretty cool. Not as interesting as I'd hoped, but it was cool to go again after 2 years. As well, one of the the only guys I ever really met in Kamloops that I liked, was there, and he remembered me, so that was really cool. Should make it to Golden by tomorrow afternoon. good so far....

Well it looks like I've got some unfinished work as I head out on tomorrow's venture. I guess my mini-series is going on hiatus, and the visual version of my hitchhiking tale will be put on hold as well. Well here's my itinerary, for those following along at home.
Monday - Ferry to vancouver, stay with sarah, ben, and maybe ashlee.
Tuesday - Skytrain to Burnaby, hitchhike from on-ramp, hopefully make it to Craig and Drew's in Kamloops
Wednesday - Hopefully make it to Golden
Thursday - Extra day in case things go bad. If I'm in Golden though, hang out, go to a karate class
Friday - Catch right with fellow karate student to Calgary, arrive in afternoon. Visit Sabih and Mitch, possibly Melissa if I get hold of her. Karate seminar in evening, staying at my cousin's house
Saturday - Test in afternoon, Belvedere concert at night. hang out with Ravi at some point. Might head back that night if I have a ride
Sunday - Either head back from Calgary, or already be in Golden, etc etc, eventually making it back to Golden by Thursday, give or take

If anyone wants to surprise me at the Belvedere show, I'd be double-stoked. It's downtown at the Warehouse (731 10th Ave SW, back alley). Doors open at 6. Tickets advertised as $12, could be more at door. 19+

Anyways, if you see me on a milk carton, you'll know things didn't go as planned. Have a great week, people....

potent combination

so i was reading my book (Dancing Wu Li Masters, about quantum mechanics) and it was blowing my mind. too fuckin trippy. and real. So I was already kinda wowed, so I'm walking into the living room to tell me mom how trippy this book is, and she mentions something about the reception on the tv. WHAM, DEJA VU. and not just something fleeting, it was on many levels. a deja vu that I know I've had before (at Craig's old appartment), possibly twice. took me a minute to fully grasp it. then I realized that I haven't had a deja vu that I can remember in at least 8 months. that's a long time by my standards. weirdness....

BC by Thumb Pt 2

Prince Rupert, rainiest place in Canada, but it was kind enough to me, considering. Pretty windy though






Sunset as I waited for the ferry. Red sky at night, you know what that means....








Dawn at Skidegate on Haida Gwaii
















This one's for Kelly - look at all the jibnarrin tech lines!!



Actually a lake, it looks more like a swamp from all the debris. Spirit Lake.












This beach was north on the south east coast of Graham Island






This was a beach on the inlet up in Masset, someone's backyard. North coast.

Episode 3: Greenwashing and other Corporate Shenanigans

In Part III of this irregular series, I'm putting corporations under the spotlight. Business, unlike the two abstractions of racism and fascism, is a fairly widely accepted phenomenon. It's a beast with many limbs, if you ask me, which makes it tough to narrow the attack here. My main focus is on corporations and their reaction to the environmental movement, but the reaction to labor ethics and other controverses aren't so different. Just a different pile, if you'll spot the implied metaphor. Whether or not ecolological concerns are more prevalent or trendy these days, corporations have started to clean up their acts. Or have they? In many cases, millions of bucks are spent on a greenwashing campaign, which is basically just advertising that convinces the public that they're eco-friendly now (or always were). This all comes down to the fact that it's cheaper to convince the public that a certain company is envoronmentally-friendly than it is to actually implement ecologically-sound practices. Also, many companies have determined that it's cheaper for them to break environmental laws and face the occasional fine, than simply fix the problem. Take car companies for example. Many have jumped on the bandwagon for hybrid cars and are now 'proud' to be waving the green banner, but the fact remains that their SUVs are still increasing in size every year (and decreasing in mpg). Myt favorite example is BP. British Petroleum, or 'Beyond Petroleum' (conjuring images of new energy sources) seems to think that by changing their logo to a flower that we're all gonna suddenly forgive their horrendous environmental record (not that any other oil company is any better). Yet as they change their logo and call it even, they're pushing for new oil-drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge, one ot the last remaining pristine wilderness areas in North America. All it takes is a litle digging to realize that we're constantly being bombarded with extremely superficial claims here, when the truth is very much to the contrary.

Now if we step back and look at these 3 parts of the series, we see how fascism and racism are still very much alive well, but have become so much a part of this system, that they're almost transparent, and with corporate crimes, it's a very similar veil. You really don't need to possess very much initiative or imagination to realize that we're still living with the exact same problems as our parents were, but these problems have evolved on their own, much like a virus becomes resistant to a drug. In part 4, we'll look at an issue where both the drug and the virus have evolved together so that one cannot easily be separated from the other.

mcprogramming

I borrowed Fast Food Nation on audio CD from the library and started listening to it today. According to sources, our diets have changed more in the past 40 years than in the past 40,000. scary. Talks a lot about homogenization, about uniformity, confomity and the like. Chain-owners want customers to be able to ge the exact same meal at any outlet across the country, etc. I can testify to this, when I worked at WhiteSpot prepping, we had to weigh out every portion we made up. So for one dish, say regular pasta, each bag had to have, within a tenth of a gram, 1g of 4 diff veggies. You get pretty quick at it, but still, you have to weigh up about 30 bags of it. That's 120 weighings for that menu item alone. It's very ridiculous. As if there's a mathemtaical formule to determine the exact and only recipe of making an acceptable dish. I don't even measure stuff when I cook at home, and I've had no complaints yet. The fast food (and most chain restaurants) are a sterile, decrepit, and very bland aspect of a growing trend of homogenization in our world.....

genre shopping

Well one thing I have yet to do since restarting the site is to recommend music. I'd like to think that I'm into enough different genres that there's something for everyone, but that's for you to decide I guess. My first two weeks that I was back on my trusty p2p Soulseek (never could get into the whole torrent scene), I dived into screamo punk. For those unaware, screamo is basically (forgive me, purists) emo with screaming. Not that the old emo didn't have screaming. I was calling it screamcore for a while, but apparently it's the trend now and the trend's name is screamo. If you're not into emo or any music that involves screaming (or screeching in some cases), then you probably won't find much you like here. But I decided a while ago to stop being ashamed of liking emo. Some of it anyways. I can't seem to get into some of the big names like Thursday and Early November. I usually only like a few songs from each band too. Anyways, the line between emo and screamo is blurry, but these are the top 3 screamo bands I'd recommend. What I like is that they have a healthy dose of singing and screaming, not just the latter, and they also have some decent rhythm and riffs. These bands are Senses Fail, Silverstein, and Underoath. Underoath is the heaviest music (although violence is a very common theme with SF) and also happens to be a Christian band. I point this out, not out of discrimination that the whole band happens to be Christian, but that they are actually a 'Christian Band', in that they present certain themes. Not always though, I think it's mostly their older stuff, some of which was definitely trippy. But Thrice has a lot of religious undertones in their music too, and you'd never know it. Here's the best songs, in my humble opinion:
Senses Fail - The Irony of Dying on Your Birthday, Buried a Lie, One Eight Seven
Silverstein - Already Dead, Your Sword vs My Dagger, The Ides of March
Underoath - A Boy Brushed in Red...., It's Dangerous Business...., Reinventing Your Exit, Down Set Go

Now screamo is an extension of emo which is an extension of punk, so it wasn't too far out of my normal bounds to start a screamo collection, plus I also had Greg and Matt's help in exposing me to some of the bands I checked out (I must've downloaded 40 different bands). My next desired collection though will be harder to find my way into though. I know VERY little about the indie scene and it looks big. REALLY big. Plus I don't know many people to help me out. I'm getting some help though. Very diverse scene obviously, since the term 'indie' can refer to a whole thwack of different styles. So far, I'd like to recommend The Postal Service, Bloc Party, The Bravery, and strangely enough (you'll know what I mean if you check em out) Rilo Kiley.

This is easily one of my favorite pcitures of the summer. Two absolutely cloudless days at Floe Lake in Kootenay National Park with Colton. If you click on the pic and look closely, you'll see two different colored lakes, but it's actually the same lake, strangely enough. That Rockwall (which extends 30km along the continental divide) towers 1000m over Floe Lake. We went the first week of August to see the wildflowers and they were GORGEOUS. Such an awesome place

When we got up there, we just laid in the sun for a few hours and soaked in all in. A flawless day....




It was so neat cuz the color of the lake would totally change depending on where you were. From green to almost purple. I have a panorama shot of the Rockwall being reflected by the water and when I show people, they don't even understand what they're looking at, because the water is so unbleviably pristine and undisturbed.






That first picture was taken from Numa Pass which is just to the right of this mountain, Mt Foster. It's the highest in the range. If you look close, you'll see me being a goof.


Sunrise turns the entire Rockwall golden, it's amazing to see.

sweet lines

So I decided to go for a much needed mini-trek today. I wanted to find a passage down to this part of the oceanfront where there aren't any houses and you can't really see it from anywhere else cuz it's through a forest and down a bank. So I took my dog and we made it pretty easily through the ravine, and after the last house, we descended to the beach. Very nice and there were some good waves too. Probably the first time he's played fetch in the ocean, it was pretty funny to see him get rocked by the waves. We start heading back and I see a path so we follow it up and lo and behold..... there's a fucking zip line. A ZIP LINE. I was pretty stoked, but it looked sketchy. I tested it out by riding it a few meters and where it stops, you come right up next to a huge tree. And that was only a few meter run, the whole line was probably about 80-100m long. NUTS! I followed the path up to the top, but there was someone's house right there, so I had to sneak through the woods. Probably enver get to use it, but I thought it was still pretty cool.

I've been engrossed with ski hill stats lately. Search for Chamonix in France. HUGE fucking ski hill. Unreal. Tons of advanced runs too. Anyways, I found out that Kicking Horse is the highest ski resort (summit) in BC, and depending on how you look at it, shares the 2nd biggest vertical drop in North America with Jackson Hole (KH is actually 8ft less), with Whistler taking the top spot. It was a lot harder to find stats on terrain (acres) though, but Kicking Horse isn't as competetive when it comes to acreage.

BC by thumb Pt 1

ok, here's the first bath of pics from my journey through space and time. I bundled some together just to cut down on the amount of scanning. Some of these pics wouldn't normally make the cut, but since I'm sure many of you haven't been north of Kamloops (like me before the trip), I included some landscape shots
just so you could visualize.
Tete-Jaune (Yellowhead), Junction of highways 5 & 16, just north of Valemount. This pic is zoomed in on the Caribou Mountains, with the Rockies behind me.




This is just outside Vanderhoos, an hour west of Prince George. Flat, but at least you can see the weather coming before it hits ya.



Gettin back to the mountains at Hazelton. That's the Skeena river. Nice color





This was the best view of UNBC, but don't get too excited, the green spots you see are sort've decorative and out of the way.















I included this one because of the mountain way in the distance that just towers above everything else. I never saw it after that and can't find it on maps, but it's obviously enormous. Click to zoom.








This was the road I walked down in Kitimat to ge to the Giant Spruce. There were only two of them though and the pics are pretty dark. This was the best one, but there's no giant trees here.














This is the most flattering view of Kitimat, as I'm walking up the road separating the upper and lower parts of town. Most of the town is either behind me or down to the right. That's an inlet of the ocean in the top middle.



This was my most luxurious camping locale, along the Skeena under a hgue bridge in Terrace.









More to come.....

It's all in the cap locks

The subject of tonight's episode (the 2nd in the series) will be fascism. Unlike the previous topic of racism, fascism is a lot trickier to define. Just like with Anarchy and anarchy, whether Fascism is capitilzed or not makes a big difference. Technically, capitilized Fascism is nearly synonomous with Italian Fascism and Mussolini, whereas uncapitilized fascism is a more generic term, that isn't as strictly defined. People often assume that that the word nazi and fascist are nearly synomous, but many scholards don't even consider Nazism to actually be Fascism, while others see it as mearly an offshoot of generic fascism. It seems as though nazis are about as poor an example of true Fascism as the USSR's communism was of true Socialism. That's why when it's not really realistic when people seem so offended when someone is called fascist. Sure, it's often implied that calling someone fascist is comparing them to Hitler, but I think we need to learned to detach the two in our minds. My purpose here is to demonstrate that American fascism isn't as far-fetched as it seems. While comparing it to Fascism might be a litle tough, there's certainly simliarities to be pointed out with regards to generic fascism. A political scientist studied the fascist regimes of 5 major countries, and found them all to share these same 14 characteristics. This is taken directly from his findings (unedited)...

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.


2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.


3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.


4. Supremacy of the Military

Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.


5. Rampant Sexism

The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.


6. Controlled Mass Media

Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.


7. Obsession with National Security

Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.


8. Religion and Government are Intertwined

Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.


9. Corporate Power is Protected

The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.


10. Labor Power is Suppressed

Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .


11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.


12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.


13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.


14. Fraudulent Elections

Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Now if we use this as our I reference point, I personally think that the USA easily qualifies for 12 of those and I suspect that any layman can easily agree with at least 10 of the 14, which is a pretty high number. Sexism is a tough one. I think it's just like racism, alive and healthy, but so ingrained in society that's it's hard to bring into the light. So while I'm certainly not denying that we live in a patriarchal society, I don't think the USA is an more sexist than any other country. As far as Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts, I think that one is present, but even more subtle than the others, so I won't argue for that one. But I think the other 10 or 12 are easy to spot. The Bush Administration has been caught paying journalists to praise the government, and embedded-jounralists in the war are a pretty obvious conundrum too. If you were a general, would you allow any journalist near your soldiers if you thought he might print any dissent? Self-censorship is rampant these days, and that's really typical of the whole situation. There's no need to have a dictator if the elections are rigged, if you catch my drift. You can cry "DEMOCRACY" all you want, but at the end of the day, the way the system is set up down south, it's all very legal and suppposedly representative to pass something like the Patriot Acts (see Characteristics 2,7, & 12), even if it does bring about a police state. It's becoming clear that we can no longer rely on common sense and the media to help lead us through the storm. Things are not as they appear on the surface, and until we learn to see through the veil, the current prevailing themes of the day are going to keep spreading until 1984 (the book, not the year) stops seeming so distant afterall.

This is the view from Dewar Hot Springs northwest of Kimberly, inside the southern edge of the Purcell WIlderness Conservancy. Me, Greg, and Greg's friend Adam, from Ontario. Super secluded wicked area. On other pair of guys showed up later and there were some hunters in the area, but that's not bad, considering how awesome this place was. This is part of the view from the hotsprings.




This is a shot of the udnerside of a small cliff, there were some neat rock formations as well as algae and tufa growing rampant. This is one wall here. Crazy color combinations. The stuff that looks like ice is tufa, which is some sort of deposit.







This is the camping area, about 5 minutes up from the springs. Super rad view. This is two pics of a panorama. It'd be too ahrd to scan the middle one, but you can kinda figure out what would be in the gap. The panorama is actually like 6 pictures all together. pretty rad with the contrast from brown to white. That valley back to the left intrigues me. Looked to be very narrow and steep and superneato.

I think I may have digressed from my purpose last night. I wasn't trying to show that racism is still around, because I don't think anyone denies that. My point was just that it has become disguised and less visible to the untrained eye. To anyone who doubts that racism is still alive and well, maybe you should find out why there have been riots in France for the past 11 days.

On a different note, I just got called from the rental shop at Mt Washington. Sounds like I have a job there if I want it. Still waiting to see if the Lift Ops call me back too. Although I'm thinking it might be a good idea to get some retail experience.

I scanned a bunch more pictures from the summer and as well, my hitchhiking pictures should be arriving today. So expect to see a lot more pictures online.

These 3 pics are all from the Quartz Lake trips.












The meadows here were really nice. Unlimited flowers in some spots. I took the honor of naming that mountain in the background, Friendship Peak.














This might have been the coldest water I've ever jumped in. Upper Quartz

Regardless of whether or not you know who Howard Zinn is, you should check out this short, yet very efficiently written article by him. What he talks about is a very important issue to me: the illusion of choice. Of course, as is uaully the cse, it centers on the USA, but that doesn't make it irrelevant at all. It's called Wake Up, America!

low-budget production

I had a bit of an epiphany last night and decided to make it into a 4 or 5 part mini-series. Each night I'll present a different topic, then if it's not obvious by the end of the series, I'll illustrate the parallels I see from each one, that seem to form a pattern. Tonight's topic will be racism.

Racism is supposed to be dead right? Well let's take a look. Legally imposed racial segregation is long gone, but in many places it's been replaced with self-segregation and more subtle boundaries. The natives have their reserves, the blacks have their inner-cities, and don't forget Chinatown. Now in some cases, it's the individuals choice to stick with their own nationality, but in one way or another, I think there's subtle messages being sent by society saying 'We don't want you here'. You hear it all the time. Take a neutral statement like "There's a lot of natives in that town". Carries quite the connotation doesn't it? It's a very complex situation, but there's racism afoot all over the palce, it's just better disguised. The native reserve I saw up close near Burns Lake was one of the most depressing settlements I've ever seen. Does that mean it's because the natives are lazy slobs? No, it's more likely the case that they see very little money from the government to make flowerbeds, plant trees, build benches, etc. But then take a look at Whistler and it's got funding coming out it's asshole. Now of course, natives don't have to pay tax on gas and other benefits if they have their status card, but I really don't think that makes things even by anyone's standards. And I'm pretty sure blacks aren't inherntly criminal, yet 1 out of 3 black men are in jail.

I don't think I've dealt with this issue as well as I'd hoped, but I do have one final interesting example. The punk rock scene is supposed to be filled with chants of equal rights, ending war, etc etc. You'd think it'd be a pretty accepting scene. But I think I can count the number of non-caucasians I've seen at punk shows, on one hand. I think racism is like a fire that's been extinguished above surface. The smokes gone, but the roots are still on fire. Racism is built into the system now. Sure things are better than they used to be, but at least back then, you knew who exactly what you were fighting against. The next step at fighting racism is going to be a lot less visible then it was in the 50's.

Thus ends episode one. Hopefully, I can be a little more articulate as this series goes on, or I'll never in that juno I as hoping for.

After a day of despair following my discover that I don't have a job at Kicking Horse, I applied at a bunch of other places, and today I went up to Mt Washington for a job fair and I think I've got a good shot at scoring a job there, which would be stellar cuz I'd get to have a ski season. The hill has less than half the vert, terrain, and difficulty as Kicking Horse, but it's got like 6 lifts and gets mroe snow, and I haven't heard any bad reviews, so I'd be stoked. Transportation could be tricky since it's 1.25hr drive from here, but either way, it'd be worth it. It was weird being up there where there's snow covering the ground completely then coming down here to rain again. I guess it'd be like that everyday. And it rains a lot here, so no wonder they get so much snow. I'm still going to pursue working at Mt Assiniboine Lodge in February, but I won't find out about that until next month.

Also, for those of you who like to download, you should REALLY check out Tipper's new mix CD called Tip Hop. It's breaky, hip hop, downtempo, all in one and I love it. Get it. NOW.

So I'm making a Thai pumpkin stir fry, and I'm seeding these jalapenos and I gotta scratch my eye. Having learned my lesson in the past, I washed my hands first. But the second I touched my eye, it was hell all over again, but this time way worse. I was yelling and grimacing like I'd been shot, crouching on the floor. Wow. Holy fucking SHIT! We had to call poison control cuz the burning was really really bad. So I spent the next 20 minutes dunking my head into bowls of cold water. Very intense. I felt an eery calmness after it was all done though. Anyways, for those who don't know and don't wanna learn the hard way, heed my advice. Wash your hands very well after touching hot peppers. Like get a brush and scrub the shit outta your hands, or better yet, use disposable gloves if you've got any. In case you were wondering though, when it was all said and done, the meal was delicious.

Shamb

This was the village this year, after they totally renovated it. I like this pic











There's over 30 people from Golden in this pic, see how many you can identify.












This is the forest. First time I was able to capture the laser/disco ball effect.

Well, my apologies for having been so boring lately. Didn't have much motivation to type, and my thoughts weren't something I wanted to share, so this attempt may be too litle, too late. Anyways, I'll relate the last 2 days to you and then try to pry into my thoughts. I started my pilgrimage yesterday morning after finding out that I'd missed the hiring period at the ski hill in Golden. That's got some big implications regarding my short-termn future. Anyways, I forgot my map, schedules, and contact info when I left home as well, so I was in a quite the funk on my way to Nanaimo. Really weird thoughts. Anyways, I just immersed myself in my headphones and made it to the ferry and over to Vancouver without too many problems. By the time I got to Van, I was feeling better, and I actually saw a side of Vancouver that I hadn't seen yet. Can't really describe it except that it was during rush hour, and I was on foot. I was kinda in awe, and didn't feel so agro against the big city scene. It's just so different, I can't get over that. Everything is completely different than it is in a small town. 24hr gyms and all that jazz. Anyways, I met up with Trina, ate, then went to the Commodore (by myself). Great venure, in my opinion. Maybe not suited for everything, but definately a cool place. It was relaxing, sitting on the upper level, waiting for the show to start. I'd say there was about 500-600 ppl. Anti-Flag was pretty decent, but I didn't like their set list at all. Seems to be a common thing, now that I've seen them 3 times. They played all their slower songs off teh new album. Not slow songs, just slower than their other stuff. Still full-blown punk, but I dunno, I just can't get into those tracks. They didn't play my fave songs: Tearing Everyone Down, Tearing Down the Borders, 911 For Peace, and others. They even had twice as long as the sets they usually have at Warped tour. Oh well. I'm still wondering how I feel about them making teh move to the big labels. I had been thinking about it before they came on, and I'd decided maybe it was a good thing, to reach more people, but with that comes the glam that is already visible (the 'look'). I thought Bad Religiong (being the headlining act), put on a better show, but they dind't play my fave songs either. Anti-Flag played Die for Your Government which is their signature track, and Bad R played American Jesus, but they didn't play Kyoto Now, Conquer the World, and all my other faves. And it's really tough for me to get into a set if I don't know all the words. Anyways, so it was a decent show, but I was disappointed, especially since I paid 45 bucks for teh ticket and took all the trouble to get there, when I'm extremely broke (as you'll find out really soon). So I caught a bus this morning at 7:30 and made my way back to the ferry. After I crossed to Nanamio, I found out that I didn't even have enough money for the bus fare and for some reason my account was -$5. sweet. Anyways, I bummed some money and made it home. It seems almost everything that could go wrong financially has happened. I gotta call the ski hill, CIBC, and my student loan and bitch at them tomorrow.

Something that really I found myself thinking a lot about this trip was weird people. It started in Parksville with these two weird guys, that didn't look like they'd spent much time out of their bedrooms in a few years. Then at every other bus stop, it seemed like there was somebody mentally ill, or otherwise eccentric. Now I'm from a small town, so if I'm supposed to be apathetic, it's not working. But at the same time, it's not like it's purely a bleeding heart response that's happening. Slight discomfot, some anger at our society for not providing proper support for the mentally ill, partial curiosity at what their lives must be like and what exactly makes them different, and also just feeling uncomfortable, partially with the person in question, or maybe wholy at the people around me, sensing their weird vibes towards these other people, even when they're smiling, clean, and aren't trying to talk to anyone. I could go on, but like many things, it's complex and I don't thin I could accurately convey the feeling. I do feel it's something I need to come to terms with though, just so I'm not obsessively thinking about it everytime I'm in the presence of someone like that.