J'ai retourné

I'm back. 3 months in India. Still processing it all. Not sure what I'll do with this blog. Almost everyone I could think of was on my email list and I had a separate site for photos, so there's not much to add here right now. But in case I forgot to send you mass emails while I was gone and you're interested in wading through 25 long emails, lemme know and I'll forward them to you in one long document. And if you want to see my photos, I'll have to give you the password personally. I'll probably set up another photo site at some point for everyone to view once I've sorted through all my pictures and made a slideshow. Happy Holidays.

wow what a morning. ok, so i wanted to figure out a plan in case my water purifier didn't show up in the mail. so i called the place in victoria to try to figure out a scheme of me getting one from them, then me sending them mine when it arrives and getting a refund. problem is that it's different packaging, and they don't trust ebay, so they wouldn't do it. So I called Steripen and they were very helpful and it took 3 calls to the store in victoria, 5 calls to steripen, and 3 to fed ex, but we've arranged that Steripen will fed ex me a purifier overnight to Vancouver and Ashley will be able to pick it up after work tomorrow. if she misses it, she can still pick it up on saturday. because steripen has a fed ex account, it's only gonna cost me 35 bucks for the overnight international shipping, whereas i think it woulda been 65 normally. so i'm pretty happy. sounds like that should all work out. i'm glad i was up at 8am to figure this all out. ok, now to deal with the other 20 thigns on my list....

all smiles.....

somebody sent me this. makes me wanna hunt the book down...

"The only dream worth having is to dream that you will live while you're alive
and die only when you're dead...To love. To be loved. To never forget your own
insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and vulgar
disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue
beauty to its lauir. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what
is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and
understand. To never look the other way. And never, never forget."

ok, so i just did a dry run with my pack. packed in the equivalent of everything i'll be taking, including 2L of water. 40lbs with extra space. probably have another few pounds at most to add, and any food that i ahve with me, which won't be more than a few snacks worth. very happy about this. extra space to play aroudn with, or to save for stuff i buy and bring back. my pack ton my 2 week queen charlotte's trip was like 50 lbs. so this is less way, 4 months longer, and a much better suspension system on the pack. all smiles. there's only two main things that i'm worrying about right now. 3 things haven't shown up in the mail. my ipod case, but megan gave me hers for free. my ipod travel AC adapter, but i can always buy one last minute. and my water purifier. sketching aout about that, both because of its monumental importance, and its monetary value. i paid $130 including shipping and tax for it brand new on ebay. to buy it in victoria (the only other place in canada besides one place in Ontario), without taxes, is $230 (although the one in Ontario costs only $150). but i'll call them up, explain my situation, and hope that they'll let me buy one of there's and then give them my ebay for a refund when it shows up. and if need be, i'll give em $20 for their trouble. hopefully it's the same packaging, but it should work. also, one of the shirts i was taking to india has disappeared. long-sleeve, lightweight, quick dry, polyester. i got it used, but i have nothing like it and it was perfect. otherwise, everything is going smoothly. i've got a list of loose ends, but i've got at least 2 days to do that. not sure if i'll go to van on saturday or sunday. i spetn $660 at MEC yesterday, bringing my summer total to about $1500. it's crazy, but you ahve to consider that i'd spent less than $100 on any gear before that, and this gear, if it doens't get stolen, will last years and years, and it's primo gear. it's an investment that I'm happy to make, assuming it all makes it back to canada with me. If i didn't ahve such good gear, my weight would probably be over 50lbs and the pack would be a lot harder to manage, plus i'd get sweaty balls. nobody likes sweaty balls.

I took a video of this on my digicam. I'm guessing the height was about 60 feet, give or take 10. Lower Englishman River Falls. Super deep cold pool. Felt like a litre of water went straight up my ass. Very cool though. I've been wanting to jump that cliff since the first time I saw it last year.

i've got pics from 3 rolls of film to share soon. i bought my digital camera. Canon Powershot A530. 5MP, 4x opt zoom, panorama mode, and a 2GB memory card. 250 for the cam, 70 for the memory once I complete the rebate. rebates are so dumb. 6-8 weeks before I get the money back. wtf? anyways, my iPod showed up. iTunes can be a real piss off, but I'm investing a lot of time organizing the music and it seems to be working out. i think I might be able to upload some pics on teh go in India when i get to computers, so i should be able to attach a pic to each email update. hopefully. I bought insurance. Main things to sort out are my documents, money, first-aid kit, and another trip to MEC. my last day of work is tomorrow. i'm not gonna go back to golden. wish i could, but I'm gonna try to connect with everyone on the phone, so if you wanna catch up, gimme a call cuz I've got a lot of people to call and I don't wanna miss anyone. 250 738 0409. I'm gone trhoguh several stages since planning this trip. intimidation, excitement, anxiety, freak out, nervous, and now back to excitement. I didn't realize Singapore was so far south. should be pretty cool, if short. I'll try to sneak in some beach action. 10 days...

Sabac - 1st Amendment

Beverly Creek bushwhack with Kyle












Radar Beach near Tofino














View from Radar Beach towads Tofino














Summit of Mt Arrowsmith














Arrowsmith with Mt McQuillan in the background, the first mountain I summitted on the island












I've got some fresh new pics that I haven't scanned yet, plus a few more rolls still to come in.

sorry for the absence. i've got some pics to share and a few words for ya....

Hiking Mt Albert-Edward was such a long day. 33km. I wish it had been a bit clearer, but it was still pretty rad. Got views of the bigger mountain on the island, Golden Hinde, and the biggest mountian in BC, Mt Waddington, on the coast. Tons of lakes up there on the Forbidden Plateau. only swam in one though, didn't have too much time to dink around. Used my camelback (not the pack, just the water bag) and loved it. only 12 bucks too.

Last night, Emily and I drove to the base of the old ski hill on mt Cokely, hiked up and camped on the summit. it was her first summit, and first overnight hike. we could see the fireworks in parksville, see mt baker, and the stars were really nice. today, we hiked down to Jewel Lake, which was amazing. I've been yearning for a day like this all summer. Gorgeous alpine lake witha view. Waterfall, mountains, ocean, meadows, nice deep green lake. we spent about 4 hours just laying around and jumping in. awesome. Mt Arrowsmith/Cokely are such a cool destination. there's like 5 trails going to different areas, and there's somethign for everyone. easy hikes, hard hikes, views, lakes, meadows, spots to camp.

I have one more week left of work and then another week after that and I'm gone. I had a panic attack the other day but managed to snap myself out of it after about 20 minutes. i'ms till scared though and i'm not afraid to admit it. i'm actually considering the possibility that I'll die there. how weird is that? I probably won't have time to go back to golden either to say goodbye to everyone, which is shitty since a lot of people don't even know i'm leaving. but we'll see. if i can get everything together soon, i might make it out there.

I've been upgrading my computer and it hasn't been going to well, ao althoguh I have pics to share, I'll have to wait to post them. I'm finally hiking Mt Albert Edward tomorrow by myself. 30km roundtrip. It'll be longer than any hike (including 2 day treks) I've done. Sixth highest mountain on the island, and I believe it's the highest one you can hike up. That'll complete my summer summit goals of Cokely, Arrowsmith, and Albert Edward.

Things are prgoressing for India. Still lots to figure out. I'm gonna be honest, I'm pretty scared. Excited too. Very anxious too, about organizing everything. I'm pondering a last minute quick trip back to Golden to say goodbye, but I'll ahve to see if I have time. I'll be done work in about 10 days.

T-minus 21 days....

self-explanatory









Cam and I hiked into Clayoquot Plateau. We camped near the trailhead Wednesday night and hiked in and out Thursday. I'll go into detail later, but I might take Trina there soon, so I don't wanna spoil the surprises for her. IT was good though. Damn good.

I found these two of the internet. This is Beverly, the spot, where me and Kyle were trying to bushwhack to. The huge waterfall starts just below the bottom-left of the first pic























These two are both from the sunset when me and John stayed at the lookout on the way up to Mount Cokely.





















Pretty self-explanatory











Summit of Mt Cokely








Nile Creek
















I love this pic










Mt Arrowsmith from Mt McQuilan. If you look close, you can see how steep it must be near the end











Radar beaches, near Long Beach

I've been way too busy to update, even though it's been eating away at me. hopefully this should bring me up to speed. Warped was awesome. Bluebird day. I went with 5 other people and they were all pretty fun. All the bands I wanted to see were awesome and the crowd surfing was phenomenal. Someone snapped a pic of me, but I haven't received it yet. Warped was way bigger in Van than it ever was in Calgary, although i hear this year was a lot bigger there. Kinda seems like it's getting overcommercialized, but I just avoided most of the merchandise tents. Found a brand new, clean Anti-Flag shirt in the moshpit. A few years ago I found a Bad Religion shirt too.

I finally summited Mount Arrowsmith, bring my island summits to 3 (4 overall). I hiked it with my mom. Super hot day. It was 42 in Port Alberni that day. Kinda hazy in the distance, but clear otherwise. I could see the Comox Glacier, but couldn't quite make out the Pacific. I also got a pretty good view of Mt McQuillan, my first island summit. Looks a lot different than I thought. In fact, I'm not even sure I was on the true summit. Funny how that works. Arrowsmith was the steepest real trail I've ever done, but we took it slow, so I wasn't sore at all after, and it wasn't too long. First hike in my new hiking shoes though. Pretty happy with them, although I can see how with a 50lb pack on uneven terrain, I might want something even more heavy duty, but these shoes will also be my casual walking shoes when I'm going town to town in India, so I think it's a decent balance.

A few ago, Kyle and I went camping at Nahmint Lake. Got really stoned and watched the stars for a while. Middle of nowhere, no moon, it was crazy. Way too many stars. The next day, we ventured up an untouched valley that I'd scoped on a map. We were trying to get to this elevated lake, but the terrain was way too steep. Saw a crazy waterfall though, Must've been more than 100m high. i shit you not. We found a cave-like opening under this glacier-ish snowpatch, where a creek was flowing out. We went up it like 70m, till we couldn't see the opening. Very cool, very different. We bought machetes for the trip, but they didn't work quite as well as I'd though. Kyle's fell off without him noticing. I think a machete would be good if you had already flagged the exact route, cuz it wouldn't be worth taking the time to clear a path unless you knew you were getting somewhere rewarding. We kinda got stuck on a steep slope halfway up a mountain, and it took us 4 hours to get down. It was a dirty, sweaty, and buggy day, but definitely fun and I was definitely stoked on kyle's physical abilities and clear thinking. We ran into a black bear. Surprisingly a first for both of us.

For those who remember what a dream machine is, I'm planning on building another one real soon. And if you remember how it's used, check out this link. Doesn't work super well for me, but I'd like to get some feedback.

I've applied for my travel vise, got most of my shots, but there's still a bunch more details to figure out. Definitely not the kind of trip you can leave to the last minute.

Me and Cam are trying to plan a 3-day trip to Della Falls, Canada's highest at 440m. I'm gonna try to get him to check out the Clayoquot Plateau with me on Thursday. Sounds awesome, remote, and very seldom visited.

I'm planning a 2-3 day trip for Trina and I as well. I was thinking of either something in the Cape Scott area, or something more like Carmanah Walbran near Bamfield. Or just a wicked excursion in Strathcona.

and for some reason, my pics aren't uploading, so i'll try later

oh glory of glories, what a good week it's been

Monday, John and I left from work with our packs. Hatchet, twine, tarp (as backup), water, food, lots of clothes, and a number of smaller itmes like first aid and a compass. We got picked up by the second car and taken to Cameron Lake. It was a pretty steep hike up but we took it fairly well. We were up at the lookout (not the same lookout that I've alrady gone too like 5 times this year, this one is much higher) around 9pm. Amazing view. I'd been their once before, but it was socked in. This is at about 1100m. The sunset was pretty crazy good. In order to fight the bugs, we chewed garlic to mush and spread it over our skin. Armpits, hair, everywhere. Then we ate a raw Walla Walla onion. good times. helped a bit for sure. He started scoping a shleter, while I started the fire attempt. The problem was that about 15 minutes before you get to the lookout, the vegetation changes drastically from low elevation forest to subalpine, so there was only gnarly-lookin pine trees around and lots of rock. So aside from the cruest and most pathetic of shelters, it was clear that the tarp and twine were the only practical solution. He draped the tarp of the line and folded it under, so that we would sleep on the tarp, and have it on both sides of us, but that both ends would be open. I cleared a spot for the fire, built a rock circle, prepped the tinder and kindling, then started to attempt the fire-drill method. Which looks something like this...


















there's a piece of conk or shell between the vertical stick and the hand, to reduce friction. I found a decent bow and decent baseboard, but I ran into two obstacles. I found out that only a super straight stick can be used as the drill or the bow won't spin it. Also, the string has to abrasive enough to grip the drill, or it won't spin either. So using the bow was pretty clumsy. I enlisted John's help and he held the drill in place while I spun with my hands. We must've tried for an hour to get something to happen, but the wood was barely even warming up, so we gave up. We'd given it a valiant effort, it just couldn't be done in those circumstances. So we busted out the lighters, which we had both secretly brought. The fire got going too good though and started to spread over the insanely dry duff, so we had to put it out. So the fire quest failed, but I learned enough to be ablt to try again someday. After most light had faded and teh city lights had turned on, we were in for quite the treat. This was the ebst night-view I've had on the island. The lights were crazy. I could now see Powell River, Gillies Bay (Texada Island), Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox, Denmand Island, Hornby Island, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Sechelt, and Vancouver. Nanaimo was blokced by a hill. We retired after midnight to a very long and cold night. I'd worn 3 paris of sock, my shoes, long underwear, boxers, shorts, and pants, 3 shirts, a hoody, and a jacket, a tuque, and two pairs of thin gloves. and i was still way too cold. I wore earplugs though, which made it was easier to pass out. Not much room too sleep and on uneven ground. I managed a few hours here or there. I got up when it was light out, but I had now idea how long it'd be till the sun actually came up, so i wrapped my towel around my head for extra warmth and passed out for another hour or two. John fared much worse, he was up at dawn, sitting, waiting for teh sun to warm him up. Morning was nice. The sky started clouding up, but it was still really nice. At one point, this little group of small birds came to eat a banana peel. I stuck out my arm and two brids landed on me. it was so COOL. I managed to repeat the feat for the camera too, so expect proof within a week. Breakign camp is so easy when all you have is a tarp, haha. We were on the trail by 9. Got to the old ski hill on Mt Cokely around 11:00. It's kind've eery, with some of the old t-bar towers still standing and cables just laying around. The summit was well socked in, so we kind've plodded on blindly, eventually picking up teh trail again. The vegetation now changed from subalpine to fulblown alpine in all it's rare mysticity (new word?). We started hitting snow patches, but within an hour, we had reached the summit without having to actually cross snow. The summit was pretty eery except for the microwave tower beeping at us. We could hear voices in the distance and yelled at them, but never actually saw anyone. Zero visibility, but still really cool. 1638m. We'd gained about 1400m since Cameron Lake. And then it happened. The mist started to clear in a few spots and I could see the bowl between Cokely and Arrowsmith. WOW. I was blown away. There's this releatively big lake (Fishtail Lake) and it was almost completely frozen over. Numerous waterfalls that we could see and now hear, and Arrowsmith just shooting straight up. So gorgeous. unbelievable. The clouds never totally went away, so I never saw down towards the ocean or even the summit of Arrowsmith, but I was content just staring into this bowl and brainstorming how to get down there someday. Apparently there's a plane crash down there too. After about and hour at the summit (and about 5 minutes of actual sunshine), we started to descend. We caught up to a father and his kids, who had driven up to the base of the summit from the Port Alberni side and talked to them for a while. Me and John had hiked 5 hours one way, and these guys had driven, then hiked an hour to get to pretty much the same spot. haha. there's a pefrect spot for a campsite right below the summit, so I think next time I might just drive right up myself and camp out. maybe alone. mwahaha. The descent was longer than expected,a ltough we did take a different route back most of the way through some really nice forest and along a picture prefect creek that had one really good established camping spot. We were back down to the highway and Cameron Lake by about 5:30. 9 hours of hiking and about 18km later. I jumped into the lake and we hitched back seperately, both getting rides really quick. John proved to be a very good companion, so I can defintiely see us making at least one more excursion this summer. I used the rest of that night to do some final research for my MEC shopping and to get ready for Warped. to be continued....


Just one of the many sunsets from Qualicum Beach....

I put a plane ticket to Delhi on hold yesterday. I have 7 days to pay for it. September 4th departure. $1850, Singapore Air, open-ended, includes hotel room in singapore for the night. Actually having the itinerary in my hand was so crazy. It's starting to feel so real. very exciting.

Warped on Tuesday

I guess my buddies had quite a run-in last night during a hot tub raid, so we're gonna put the poaching on hiatus for a few weeks.

I'm going on a survival mission tomorrow. At 6 when I get off, me and John from work are going to hitchhike to Cameron Lake (about a 20 minute drive), and hike about halfway up Mount Cokely. Once we get up onto the ridge, we're gonna make a shelter and a fire. We're bringing a hatchet, flashlight, food, water, and twine. I've researched firestarting methods enough that I'm confident I'll be able to get one going as long as there's appropriate wood in the area. The next day, we'll summit Cokely and come back down. I'll probably buy a machete on my way back into town. pretty stoked on that.

What a cool night. After being the last ones left down at the beach, me and Emily went poaching. We found a pool, then a hot tub, which we soaked in. Then went to check on our other hot tub, then went for a walk down one of the wealthiest spots (which is saying a lot) in Qualicum. It was strange, the road seems to bisect waterfront properties. It was like the homeowners had to cross the street to get to their front yard which was on the beach. Anyways, at one point, I start to walk up this driveway and we hear someone whistling. We trip out, cuz it's like 2am on a Tuesday and we can't figure out where its coming from, so we went to the end of the street and went behind a super nice place. Found a big hot tub there, but no easy escape route. On the way back, I had a hunch that maybe the whistling had been some anti-theft function of a motion detector, if your follow me. So I walk back up the driveway and I hear Emily saying something, but i couldn't hear her. On the way back, I hear a loud stern deep female voice say say "Get outta here now you guys". Sent shivers down my spine. but whatever, we just walked away. I can't believe I'd never been to that part of Qualicum before. trippy. it's 3:30. It's supposed to rain for 3 days. Hallelujah, we need it. So much for hiking Mount Cokely though.

I took my family out to the west coast. the first night, we stayed at the same little spot that me and Trina stayed at on my b-day last year on the Kennedy River. It's a realyl nice little spot. Pleasant. And I swear, the view gets nicer every time I drive out that way. The mountains are pretty impressive. It's taken a while for me to figure out, but the island defintiely has its share of alpine wonders. The next day, we stopped at a spot on the river for me to jump in where the river is still and like 20 feet deep, i swear. When we got to the Pacific Rim area, I took them down to that same beach that me and Drew had gone to. Long Beach was packed of course, but where we were, which was like 3 separate secluded beaches, there was one guy that walked through, and one guy on a jet-ski that left right away and that was it, we were alone all day. And the sun came out, and there was these 3 seals who stared at me for a while then followed me along the shore (they were in the water). starfish, anemones, jellyfish. and my relatives are from Utah, so it was all brand new to them. We played in the waves, it was awesome, i felt like I was 10 again. I even gotr a sunburn. what a wicked spot. pics to follow. tomorrow, if the weatehr is nice, I wanna hike to the top of Mount Cokely alone. It'd be a long day though, so unless things line up right, I might bail.

sunset from the Wesley Ridge radio tower. I went there again today, bringing my grand total to 10 times.










Drew at little mountain







Me at Wesley Ridge over Cameron Lake
















ditto

last night was sweet. first, me and alexis went back to that Nile Creek spot in the middle of nowhere, with the waterfall and pool in the gorge at about 11. we swam briefly, chilled out, then met up with kaitlyn and company at the beach for a bit, then went back for another dip in my new favorite hot tub. before i hopped in though, I played with the phosphoresense in the ocean. the soak was gorgeous, but we had to take off when we heard some doors open. after that, we snuck into Milner Gardens (owned by Malaspina College, apparently), which is on roughly 20 acres. we didn't even have to be quiet or be carfeul with the flashlight. you could get lost in there. we swam in the pool/fountain, wandered around on some trails, found random trippy shit, then left. heard a weird owl, that kept making the exact same series of noises, which would actually make for a pretty funky beat. altogether I swam in 4 different waters, got home close to 4am.

late-night waterfront hot tub poaching under the stars
it has begun

The Grizzly at Kicking Horse escaped a few weeks back. I was gonna emntion it, cuz I thought it was pretty cool but passed on it. Well they caught him, but he escaped again. Check this out:
"...he broke through a 400 pound steel door, ripped apart bolted together electrical fencing, climbed a 12 foot high reinforced fence and ripped off the mesh fencing at the top..."

hell yes

more here

I went exploring up Nile Creek the other day. The creek is in a small gorge and the water was down, so I could walk right up the creek bed, and I found a sweet pool and 20' waterfall. I was totally secluded. I laid naked in the sun again for a while, scoping out possible future excursions in my mapbook, then went for a quick swim.

That night I went to another outdoor party (ie - rave). It was the exact same location and setup as last time, but less people and more visuals. I stayed sober cuz I had to leave at 3:30 to go home and get some sleep for my 9am shift. I put in some time dancing, btu nevedr realyl got going. Heard some prety good house, but I find even really good house isn't really danceflooer material. I could be wrong though. Some decent dnb and breaks. Got to watch this really good dancer for a while, gonna try to steal a few moves. I did get to catch a glimpse one of the better records, which I hope will finally be the catalyst to my discovery of the elusive "party breaks". Dopamine is the artist, In Shallow and Hold You are two wicked tracks, especially the latter.

Last night, me and some girls from work went to the Parksville beach for the Canada Day fireworks. I didn't have high expectations. I expected a very mildly entertaining lightshow. It was just something social to do for the evening. Boy was I wrong. There must've been in the ballpark of 2500 people there. We got really stoned and walked around, running into all sorts of people that at least one of us knew. Then we heard this weird music, so we followed the noise into what may very well have been a separate dimension. A cartoon nexus, if you will. Let me set the scene. A family of 6, ma and pa and 4 daughters of various ages. All playing a different sized xylophone. The dad's was huge, bigger than a grand piano. And they were all dressed up in a strange style I can't possibly describe. And if I can't describe the style of clothing, I DEFINITELY can't describe the style of music. Wow. We were tripping balls, no doubt about it. I can imagine myself in ten years having strange flashbacks of this scene, and not knowing if it was a dream or not. Too strange. Shortly after, the fireworks started. I was hooked instantly. These weren't no Town of Golden fireworks. no no. More like Calgary Stampede fireworks. They musta gona on for 15 minutes and it was the kidn of thing you just laid back, shut up, and watched. I mean, start with the fact that it was a beautiful sunset over the water (WHY DIDN'T I BRING A CAMERA!?!?), with a lot of boats in the bay. But the colors, and the sparkling, and the smoke, and oh, it was a sight to behold. i was very impressed, thru and thru. I'll leave it at that. I can't imagine what the Symphony of Fire musta been like. What a trippy night....

I finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It seemed quite similar to 1984 in many respects, but not so similar that takes away from their merit. I liked 1984 better, but BNW had it's moments too. I'mr eading a book now, called Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley. It's sort've a dramatized account of Noah's Ark. A girl at work watned me to read it. Looks like relatively light reading, although long, but I like it so far.

Someone at work the other day causually meantioned some advice they'd heard, that if a deer jumps out in front of you while you'r driving, you should hit the deer, instead of swerving to go into the ditch, because the insurance won't cover you as much, without proof that there was a deer. Am I the only one genuinely appalled at this notion?

first island summit and so much more

Yesterday, I went hiking alone to Father & Son Lake. Gorgeous weather. The trailhead is pretty remote, and half of the fun was not seeing a single other person all day. The hike in was super easy. The lake is between the size of Quartz Lake and Cedar Lake, probably about 400m wide. Nice color, but nothing too startling. Nice forests, lots of spiderwebs. I saw the biggest golden eagle (or at least got the closest view of one) I've ever seen. Huge. From the lake, I somewhat spontaneously decided to push for the summit of Mt McQuinnan. The lake is at 900m, the summit is 1500m. It was quite steep and about halfway up, I met snow. Lots. From there, I slwoly hiked on. Didn't sink in much, so it wasn't bad, just had to take care with my footing. It gradually got steeper and steeper. I decided I'd stop as soon as I couldn't safely get any further. I was quite intimidated, but I took it step by step, and even though the angle got to about 70 degrees, i managed to use my walking stick and patches of brush to help me up. There weren't many maneuvers that wer too tricky, nor any spots where I was fatally exposed, but it was still pretty intense. And the sun was just blasting at me from the reflection of teh snow. Iw as actually concerned about snowblindness. Thankfully I'd worn sunblock. A moment before I reached the summit, a huge helicopter came outta nowhere. Trippy. The summit was also covered in snow and trees, but I found a dry cliff edge to chill and absorb the view. I could see the Strait of Georgia and the Pacific, Arrowsmtich as well as a whole panorama of huge peaks from Strathcona Park, and i could look down on the lake where i'd come from. Good times. I wanted to smoke some mild salvia, but was afraid I'd start to trip out about the sketchy descent. I ended up smoking some anyways, and although it didn't do much, I think it actually helped calm me down for the descent. At first I couldn't find my return route, cuz my footprints had already melted. But eventually I figured it out and it really asn't too bad going down as long as I stayed focused. I mean, i certainly wouldn't just take anyone up there. It's definitely a challenge, but there's not really any spots where your overexposed. I shoe-skiied down the slope, which was pretty sweet, bottled some water whose freshness you'd be hard-pressed to beat, and made my way back down to the lake. At the lake, i got naked and laid on the rocks for a while, smoked some more salvia, imagined that all the tress were covered in ash (like after a volcano eruption, a la Dante's Peak), then went for a dip. Wasn't too cold. Nice. Definitely a place worth coming to if you were gonna fish, camp, or push for the summit. Lots of solitude, hence my nudity and the abundance of spiderwebs on the trail. On the trip back to the car, a bunch of brids flew out of teh bush and there was this creature there that I can't identify. At first,I thought it was a big fat brown bird flapping its wings really fast, trying to fly. But I swear I could hear it breathing, so I started to wonder if it was something like a really freaked out bear cub. I didn't stay to find out, but I'm gonna settle with descrbing it as a cross between a big grouse and a baby wolverine. As I drove out, i tried to find the shortcut back home, but got lost. I foudn Port Alberni's water supply, but no suitable road for a shortcut. At one point, I smelled something burning, so I got out of the car and the hood was smoking. I opened the hood and it was just a tiny branch that had gotten under the hood and caught fire on the exhaust manifold. Completely benign. Now that's funny. It was a good day. Pics to follow

Work is sorta going well. Apparently my boss was happy enough with my effort the other day to allow me 5 days off next month for a techno trance rave dance party at a lake with cabins near kamloops and free food with trina, all for $60. And after, I'll have a day to recover and then WARPED! Stoked this year. Anti-Flag, NOFX, Rise Against, AFI, Silverstein, Senses Fail, and Underoath. Anyways, apparently the upper echelon of power at Quality Foods, has caught wind of me selling salvia to a guy at work. They also seem to know that I take very liberal coffee breaks. I can't possibly imagine how they know about the salvia, but with their knowledge and the 32 digital security cameras in the store, I'm starting to feel like I'm in 1984. It's seriously tripping me out. I had been told they keep tabs on everyone, but this is crazy. Speaking of, I smoked some salvia the other day in a field, alone. It was really cool. Very clear-headed, good times.

Shel Silverstein - Forgotten Language

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the housefly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

long time coming

John K Samson (Weakerthans) - Hypothetical

Say you wake up one morning without a language
Not lost, but taken away
Stolen by a monster from childhood fever from some small slight
- You didn't eat your peas
Do you weep
Or lie back down?
Begin to plan a day of watching shadows wander towards the door
or smelling the garbage and touching the furniture
Pressing your face to the radiator
Walking with eyes open, eyes closed
Living without naming
Unnamed

Say you wake up one morning without a body
You miss your hands like a dead friend
You play their favorite songs, mourn all their potentials
- what they held
Make a missing poster for your heart
With a description, a photo and a phone number
Find your ribcage full of topsoil in a garden down the street
With transplanted yellow flowers peeking out

Say you wake up one morning without the world
The world leaves you for another, never returns your calls
Passes you on the street like a stranger
All you seem able to do is eat potato chips, cry
and drink warm vodka from a jam jar and watch tv
The National Geographic specials seem especially cruel
Secrets of the Amazon, Plains of the Serengeti
And tearing up topographical maps doesn't make you feel better.

Say you wake up one morning without me
Say I just disappear, crawl back into the suburbs that spat me out
Do you organize a search party or burn my letters?
Does you language take a black marker to the words that I use too often?
Does your body remember mine?
And will the world look like it's going to say something and then just shrug

i think i have pink eye

I was up at 6 something yesterday morning to catch the bus to the ferry to Van. I chilled out at Ambleside Park for a while, had a good nap, practiced karate, then walked to the dojo. The test went well and I don't know for sure, but I'm fairly certain I passed. Had to rush to the bus after and got home later, and had to work at 6 this morning, but it was a pretty decent trip, all things considered.

I'm low on sleep and I have an early shift today. I had forgotten to set my alarm, so I certainly woulda slept in, but something woke me up. A voice. One word, repeated twice, but I don't know what the word was. weird. I guess I should be grateful.

I finished Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland a few days ago. I really really liked it, although I still haven't pieced together two fairly big plot points. I would highly recommend it too anyone. I found Coupland to be like a more down-to-earth, subtle, and less radical version of Chuck Palahniuk.

The other day, after twice scoping out the location, me and a girl from work hiked up the beach and onto some private property which has one of the biggest houses I've ever seen. Totally isolated and a seriously amazing view. oh and a pool, which is why we went. We were gonna go for a dip in celebration of the full moon. I thought no one would be home, but they were. Although what actually stopped us was that the cover of the pool was automatic, so you couldn't just pull up an edge and slip in. Still a really cool night though. Felt surreal.

Last night, me and another girl hiked up to this spot that I found last year. It's a radio tower about 800m (at most) above sea level. We missed the beginning of the sunset, but it was still crazy. Felt like I was in a different era. Even though there was lots of clouds for the light to get caught on, the visiblity was the best since the first time I went there. I could see the coast mountains all the way down past Powell River. Amazing. I forgot to bring a headlamp though and on the way back, we thought we were lost which was pretty sketchy. I'm gonna try to go back tomorrow, althoguh I doubt the sunset conditions will be optimal.

I test for my blue belt on Friday.

evasion

I just finished reading my second Crimethinc book, Evasion. I'd only reccomend it if you're interested in dumpster diving, train hopping, shoplifting, squatting, and just drifting in general. Non-fiction.

I started reading Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland, lent and reccomended to me by Trina. I was in love with the book by the 8th page. Really cool so far. Not sure about the whole plot, but it's written from 4 different perspectives in 4 chapters, possibly spanning decades, with the focal point being a school shooting. Set in North Vancouver. Fiction.

Saturday night, I went to an outdoor rave. I was supposed to be bringing 3 friends, but that plan fell apart at the last minute, so I went solo. The locale was about 10 minutes down a paved road off the highway, then another 10 down dirt roads, making various turns. A setting very similar to Cedar Lake, for those Goldenites out there. I arrived before the music had started and the darkness had settled. I had a few beer and ate about half a gram of mushrooms in chocolate. There was a breaks stage and a drum n bass stage. The rbeaks stage was unreal. Part breaks comin out the yin yang. Very very awesome and fun, and I chatted with one of the DJs and got his email, so hopefully I can get hooked up with some wicked tunage. The DnB was pretty top notch as well. Despite the ridiculously small amount of mushrooms consumed, they ended up getting the better of me and making me pretty paranoid, anti-social, etc. SO I was gettin really weird vibes all night and ended up just retrating to my tent and rocking out in there. I think it might actually take the cake as the single best night of music I've heard. I don't know if I really fell asleep, I think I just went in and out of awareness for a few hours. Finally around 8, after the music had stopped and most people had deserted, I broke camp and heading for home. Slept 15 hours that night, most ever I think. I definitely wanna go to more of these parties if that's what the music is gonna be like. I'm thinking of trying to make up a batch of scooby snacks, but I'm not sure how readily available the ingredients are. I just want a way to stay awake without having to get really high.

This one was just me exploring alone, the rest are me and Drew en route to, and at, the beach we hiked to near Tofino.

Wednesday night, I went to a club in Courtenay to see Sweasthop Union. I almost had someone to go with, but alas... it probably wasn't worth bringing anyone too anyways. The club scene did nothing for me. I went for a walk, then read in my car, until thigns actually starting happening. Moka Only (of Swollen Members) didn't do anything for me. The sound system for Sweatshop was lame. Vocals so loud that you couldn't here the beat. I wanted to dance. bad combo. It was alright though. I don't regret going. I find Sweatshop is just much better listening to alone, when you can fully appreciate and not doubt the sincerity of the underlying themes. There's definite irony in the line, "we're just a couple of MCs that don't like clubs".

Anyways, Friday night, last night, was Lorin. Well, it was SUPPOSED to be Lorin. Long story short, I had the option of Trina and Bassnectar, or Ashley, Steve, and another guy and girl, and going to a DnB night. I think I made the wrong choice. We go to The Met late, music was ho-hum. I did put some effort into dancing, since my body's desire for DnB was probably to blame for me missing Lorin BassNarnar. This morning, I called Trina up and went to chill with her. I can't believe what I missed out on last night. UGH! But it was really cool and refreshign to chill with Trina, which of course only makes me regret the previous nights' decision more. In fact, I don't think I've felt such regret in recent memory. On the plus side, Trina turned me onto the genre of 'dubstep', which I'm listening to right now and thoroughly enjoying, and she also leant me a book called Hey Nostradamus.

The trip to Van was great. Figured out a parking scheme to avoid paying parking fees, snuck onto the ferry and scored a day pass for the bus from some random stranger. The guys that gave me a ride onto the ferry got me stoned too. I met this really cool chill English girl who was backpacking around the world. Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada. wicked. The return trip was lame, even without the guilt of a missed party. Me and Trina had gotten stoned together, but after we parted, I was feeling quite lethargic. Stuck on the bus between two really loud and extremely annoying conversations and then couldn't managa to pass out on the ferry.

Overnight party, 2 stage, breaks and DnB, campout next weekend
vs
Planet of the Drums: Dara, Dieselboy, and AK1200, none of whom I've seen before

Both next weekend, haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning towards the campout.

one for the ages

What a weekend. Epic. I'm not even gonna bother going into detail too much, but here's the deal. Drew was in Vancouver, so I met him there and brought him over to the island for two nights. We got to the island at 9:30, packed up my mom's car, and took off towards Tofino, and camped at Toquart Bay on Barkley Sound. Despite the incredibly packed rec site, we found a private area. First night camping of the year, felt really good. The next morning, we were up at 8. In Tofino, I ran into Leane, who I haven't seen since I worked with her at Kicking Horse in Golden in the Summer. I've ben thinking about her thoug, cuz I didn't get to hang out with ehr that much, and I missed her. So I was super stoked (and trippin right out at the odds of it all). She's probably moving to Nanaimo, so that's wicked, definitely gonna have to keep in touch with her. Around noon, we hiked an unmarked trail down to a very secluded beach and for a while, we were the only ones there. Three other groups showed up throughout the day, but there was lots of beach to chare. Later on, we found another trail to the next beach, which was even nicer, and totally deserted. Super gorgeous and with lots of little nooks and crannies that are perfect for camping. The weather was really good, considering it's Tofino. The tide was low, but the waves were up, so we were super lucky. We had a wicked time down there. On the way back to this side of the island, we explored almost every little random backroad before Port Alberni. Found two great bridges to jump off, and got some insiedr info on a place with more jumpin spots, with camping. Found several unmakred campsites, one beside an impressice waterfall. Also came across numerous smaller waterfalls and scoped out one in the distance that must've dropped 100 feet, but is probably rarely seen by anyone. All in all, it was a very succesful and fun recon trip. I was pleasantly suprised at how driveable the roads were, and there were less gates than I thought. We got home at 9pm, so it was a very fulfilling day. I ran out of pictures after we got to the first beach though, So I'll have to return to all the other places take snapshots.

I've got some good times to look forward to too. Sweatshop Union Wednesday, Lorin Friday, dnb/breaks outdoor campout June 3. Commence stompdown.....

I finished my first CrimthInc novel today, Off the Map. Prety cool publisher, if I may say. There's no description on the back cover, doesn't even mention the full name of the author anywhere in the book. The copyright info reads:
anti-copyright 2003
For the next 400 years, this book, and any of the elements herein, may be reproduced by anyone through any methods imaginable and must enter the world with great love and resolve; of course under no circumstances shall any monetary gain result from those endeavors.

It's an autobiographical account of a few months in the lives of these two young ladies who buy one-way tickets to Europe and hitchhike and squat across Europe looking for various intangibles. I really enjoyed it. Makes a nice travel-bug trilogy along with Even Cowgrils Get the Blues (Tom Robbins) and Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer).

This one chick at work today expressed her extreme distaste for The Celestine Prophecy. I couldn't get her to really go into detail, but basically I think she's just a cynical fuck whose time has passed.

Well I had my first real summeresque Pacific Ocean beach experience. It was pretty rad. Today's sunset scene was pretty cool, i'm gonna have to go down there more often, and make sure to bring a hackey sack. If it's nice tomorrow, I'm gonna do the beach scene, or maybe even the river scene, depending.

For mother's day, we were going to go on a hike out near Comox, about an hour north of here. On the way there, we stopped at what will probably be the only gear swap of the season on the island (which I think is appalling). We didn't get there right at the opening, so we probably missed the ebst deals, but IO picked up a pretty decent MEC daypack, a sleeping pad, mosquito net, and shirt for $60. I was pretty happy about that.

The road to the trailhead was closed due to logging, so that was pretty fuckin lame. Things are so different on the island when it comes to the backroads. I'm still trying to figure it out. I don't think there's all that many rec site/campgrounds, cuz almost all of the backroads are privately owned. Which means it takes a lot more planning to find out whether a road/trail, is accesible. A dirt bike would be super cool to have here.

If you went straight through the Hopi Reservation to the other side of the world, you would come out in Tibet. The Tibetan word for sun is the Hopi word for moon, and the Hopi word for sun is the Tibetan word for moon.

"When the iron eagle flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered over the earth and the dharma will go to the land of the red man." --- Padmasambhava, 8th c.

"When the iron bird flies, the red-robed people of the East who have lost their land will appear, and the two brothers from across the great ocean will be reunited." -- Hopi Prophecy

wow, i guess they just discovered the first wild polar-grizzly hybrid. how fucked is that?

I tried going on a fast. Yesterday I only ate fresh fruit and raw veggies. Today I only consumed herbal tea, water, and diluted pure fresh fruit juice. It was kind've like a rollercoaster. Sometimes I liked it, other times it was hell. I just caved in though (7PM) and ate a banana, and I probably won't stop there. I had intended to finish the fluids-only fast today, then go back to the fruit and raw veggies for the final day tomorrow. It was definitely interesting and I'm a bit disappointed in myself. I thought the hunger pangs would've gone away by now. My mood was getting pretty shitty. At first, it was like mind over matter, but that was earlier in the day. My hunger was consuming me. I think part of the problem, is that my body is so low, and my metabolism so high, that it's harder for me to go as long without food than for most people. Or maybe that's just an excuse and I'm a pussy. I've been wanting to do an actual fast for years, but everytime I try, I can't make it past the first day. At least I made it through yesterday though. Puts a lot of things in perspective too.

So I've got two days off in a row. Today, I couldn't find anyone to hang out with, so I hitched about 20 minutes north to do a hike up Rosewall Creek. Took me like 2 hours to get there though. The hike is a super easy 2km to a waterfall which was pretty nice, but then I found a small path heading steeply up the hill, so I followed it for a ways and emerged far above the river and falls, ona nice perch in the sun, so I smoked some salvia and laid down for a nice session. Hitching back was almost as hard. Overall, including the 4km on the trail, I must've walked 12km today. I had to take the main highway back, so instead of backtracking home, I jsut waited at work for someone to get off and gimme a ride. Not sure what tomorrow's agenda is, but I have high hopes.

I came across this pic a little while ago. This was from me and Kelly's epic journey into the Sullivan


















This is Horne Lake, where I found that little waterfall in the canyon the other day. The only canyon pics that turned out well was the panorama, which i can't scan, but this was the view hiking back down. I really liked the lighting

I wish I'd been posting more, cuz there's been things I wanted to post that are forgotten now. Well I had my BC Provincials for Karate on the 22nd and got two more gold medals. There was only 3 other guys, but they were all higher ranks than me. There's one more tournament in Courtenay/Comox at the end of this month, but i don't know if I'm eligible.

I went to Victoria this weekend for Lindsay's birthday. Me, Lindsay, Jess, Ashley, Steve, and Bronwyn got drunk and went to see FreQ Nasty. it was a really good show. He dropped some very choice tracks on us unsuspecting masses. Wasn't too crowded or smokey either. I'm gonna go see Lorin/Bassnectar in Vancouver on the 26th, and Sweatshop has 4 dates in the area around the same time, so I'm gonna try to catch the show in Tofino.

The pics below are of me and Haley at Wesley Ridge overlooking Cameron Lake. We'd been having lunch together a lot at work and finally got out to do something on Friday. She's rad. Really nice, easy-going, down-to-earth, and NOT neurotic. She's gonna come to the Sweatshop show with me.

The ocean was crazy here yesterday. Clear day, but quite windy, and the waves were the craziest I've ever seen on this side of the island. There were numerous surfers down at the beach. I'd estimate the waves at 4-5 feet.

I transcribed this (I think that's the right word) from a CD that I'd downloaded. This guy went hitching across the states and took a tape recorder with him. He'd ask people about their personal philosophies and tape their responses. This is what this one sociologist had to say:

"I think one of the most difficult and unappreciated problems that people have now is the amount and variety of distractions available to them. I don't think that most people realize that a lot of what they're doing involves distracting themselves in one way or another from things that are bothering them. They can be distracted away from thinking about them or distracted away from feeling them, but I think that a lot of topics or ideas in this society hinge on this. For example, there's so much entertainment and I don't think that most times people are entertained as much as they are distracted, by television and movies. And then I think the idea of distraction includes almost all of the different kinds of drugs that we use, whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, sugar or anything stronger. I think often times we're trying to alter the state that we're in and often times that's an attempt to alter away from some unpleasant feeling or unpleasant thought that we're having. I think that as the country has become more and more prosperous, there are more and more kinds of distractions available to us and I really don't think that people appreciate that so much of their life is spent or involved in doing that. I think that if people were to understand that and reflect a little bit on the fact that there must be something going on from which they're trying to distract themselves, it would give people a different way of thinking about how to understand their living their lives and the way that they're living them."

stunned

wow, I had erroneously assumed that I wasn't getting anything back on my taxes. I just now sat down and did it all up, and I'll be getting a refund of $670. i seriously can't believe it. awesome. stellar. that's gonna by me two more months of travel time. although overall it doens't quite make up for the year that I OWED $900, but whatever.

I've made a startling discovery. The skies aren't as blue on the island as they are in Golden. I believe this is due to the humidity and elevation, but it's definitely noticeable. The sky here is just a lot paler, whiter, and it kidna throws me off. We just had four gorgeous days in a row, but they just didn't seem quite as awe-inspiring as they would in a higher, dryer location.

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe

Ok, so part of my job working in produce is obviously to pull the rotten stuff of the shelf and toss it out. But people, even as ignorant as they are about how to pick quality vegetbales and produce, are very picky. Especially with peppers. We pull lots of peppers off the shelf, because no one will be them, even though they're still fine to eat. Since we have no compost, we either throw them in the garbage, or save them for the pig farmer who comes by each night for scraps. I enjoy helping this guy out, cuz he's definitely a nice guy. But if something is still fit for human consumption, I'm all over it. I constantly bring home food, but last night was special. I scored $45 worth of peppers. I froze them all, so I've succsefully removed the (most of the time) most expensive item of produce from my shopping list for a little while. And this is all in addition to the fruit that I eat all day long. I prefer mangoes, medjool dates, oranges and pineapple.

Well it looks like I'm running low on job alternatives for the summer. Parks Canada is looking not so likely, and various other leads turned up nothing, so it sounds like CMH (Heli-Hiking backcountry lodges) are my best bet.

I've been devouring every piece of info I can on India. I'm scarfing down the various Lonely Planets, and in addition to the dozen relevant documentary (travel, culture, Tibet, Hinduism/Buddhism), there's like 30 more coming in to the library for me. I've pretty much stopped reading anything except India-related literature. Even I, the library fiend, couldn't have imagined the depths of resources they have access to. You can even get movies like Seven Years in Tibet. I'm definitely planning on leaving sometime in September and I want to stay as long as possible, likely between 3-6 months. I'm thinking of heading right off to go trekking way up north in the high mountains before the snows come, then coming back towards Dharamsala to do my volunteering. Or else, I'll start in Delhi, stay at some yoga ashrams (retreats) in the foothills of the Himalaya, then make my way North. I'm still trying to find accurate info on the climate in order to figure out a rough itinerary. Emphasis on rough. I'm really gonna let the hitchhiker side of me come out and just follow my instincts, but at the same time, I wouldn't mind having the names of the cheap hotels. I'm also trying to determine what I'm going to need to by. I may very well take a tent and sleeping bag, both of which I'd have to purchase, as well as a waterproof, but breathable outer shell jacket, and a big pack. I'm also really leaning towards getting an iPod. That way, I won't go crazy on the long bumpy bus rides. I'm gonna go super thrift, so basically I'll be staying at just about the cheapest places in town, taking the public buses, and the 3rd class trains. And for the treaks, I really don't think I'm gonna hire someone to carry my bags, but we'll see about that. An overnight trip in the Rockies probably doesn't qualify me to make that judgement. The whole thing is getting me really stoked. I could go on and on about how crazy I think it'll all be, but time will tell.

Yesterday, I went exploring with my mom. Haha. yeah. anyways, we were driving along and I scoped this spot, so she waited in teh car while I trekked for an hour into a narrow (10m wide) cleft in a cliff, that led about 100m into the mountain, steeply up to a waterfall that was about 40m high. Not much water coming down, but super cool, and the view was awesome. I totally got in touch with that side of me that I haven't gotten to bust out in many months. Could be a while before I get the pics up though.

BC Karate Provincials in Coquitlam are this weekend.....

I've been going full throttle lately soaking up information on India. It really felt good to finally pick a direction in which to focus my energy. The library has been an amazing resource. I'm about halfway through the dozen videos, and I've been dogearing pages o'plenty in various Lonely Planets (North India, Indian Himalaya, Trekking in the Indian Himalaya). I'm having a lot of fun with it, despite the intimdiating aspects. The movie I watched last night was a DVD called The Yogis of Tibet and it was awesome. Lots of extremely exclusive interviews and footage of yogis who have spent the majority of their lives in mountain caves, meditating on who knows what. It gave a very good summary of Tibet's history, people, culture, and present situation, and I owuld highly reccommend it to everyone.

I ordered some books in the mail off a used book database and also from the folks at CrimeThinc. The used ones were a short autobiography by the founder my Shotokan Karate, Gichin Funakoshi and Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams. Today I picked up a copy of 1984 by George Orwell and The Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas for $2. Not all used bookstores are equal as I've learned, but I found a really cool one today that exactly fits my preconceived notion of a good used bookstore.

I just sent in our (my mom and I) seed order for the year. In all, we'll be growing kale, swiss chard, rutabaga, corn, cauliflower, acorn and butternut squash, cucumber, peppers, green onions, broccoli, carrots, beets, peas, green beans, cabbage, potatoes, tomatoes, green and yellow zuchini, lettuce, spinach, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, parsley, cilantro, chives, raspberries, rhubarb, apples, peaches, plums, and even walnuts, although there won't be too many of those last four. But how wicked is that? I'm stoked. The only other thing I would've liked is Asparagus and of course, more fruit.

I just watched the coolest movie from the library. It's called Chants Encounters. It's only 30 min. It's about different chanting traditions from around the world. VERY cool. go get it.

Pretty fascinating revelations are afoot in the world of Christiandom. This week, for the first time ever, the Gospel of Judas was released. Some say it's heretical of course, but regardless, it definitely stirs the pot a bit. Here's an article that sums it up fairly well, although it's a little biased. The implications of this are of interest to anyone, regardless of their background.
The Gospel of Judas

None of my karate pics ever turn out. But let's try something...
Computer, zoom into section C-5.....
















wicked











Me and Trina an Stanton Warriors. And yes I noticed the freak behind me

Well I admit I wasn't really in a partying mood this week. After I gave blood, I felt really strange that night, not so much physically as mentally. Carried into the next day. But I knew Tipper and Stanton Warriors presented a good chance to shake the sillies out, and stir things up. Ashley forgot to get us ticket and it was sold out, so she bailed and it was just me, Steve, and Nicole, but I scored a ticket and entered just as Tipper started. I knew Trina was gonna show up, so it was cool to surprise her. Super easy to find her. It was good to see her, but one we were inside, i had a really hard time finding anyone. Super hot and packed. Not smoky though at all, praise Allah. Somehow, I got right in the zone and had a really good time. Maybe since it wasn't dnb, I was able to pace myself better. It was hard finding room to dance, but the quality of beats made up for the lack of space. Tipper playe a lot of his new stuff that I'd heard, which sounded pretty lick on a big system, but also a lot of wicked shit I hadn't ehard yet. Stanton Warriors is two guys, but only one showed up. Same thing happened at Shambhala. Prety similar set, btu I really enjoyed it. I haven't been up to date on breaks that much this year, so it also sounds pretty new and fascinating to me. I really wish i knewwhat some of those tracks were. soooo good. There were a few technical errors I noticed from the Stanton Warrior though. Didn't get out till 3:30. Got to sleep in though, which isn't the norm when I stay in Van.

So I've really been trying to figure out what I want this year to look like. There's areas of interest that I want to pursue, but of course, not enough time or money for all of them. Hitchhiking, hiking/trekking (either on the island, or in the Kootenays), festivals (Bonnaroo, Coachella, Shambhala, motion Notion, Burning Man, etc), karate (camps and competitions), and international travel (India). India is my goal for the year, but I still don't know how things will play out. My mom told me today that she'll contribute about $600 towards my trip, which adds to my present saving of $1000. If I keep working at QF through the summer, India would be a piece of cake (although I don't know how many months that would buy me). I would like to do something from each category. Like go to Shambhala, hitch down the coast to California, do some backcountry trips into Strathcona on the island, and still ahve enough money to fly out. But I won't be able to take much time off this summer with this job, so I'm waiting to see if anything else turns up. Still waiting to apply to CMH and Parks Canada, and I'm also thinking of applying to the new MEC that's opening in Victoria. I have to buy a tent, jacket, and pack also. So I'm gonna have to just be on my toes and tackle each issue/opportunity as it arises. Ideally, I would fly into India in September. My main objectives so far are to live and volunteer on an organic farm, stay at a retreat (called ashrams) to practice yoga, do some trekking into the Himalaya if it works out, get some volunteer experience teaching and workin with the Tibetan refugees, see some of the sites or Northern India, and also learn about Buuddhism and practice Karate whenever I get the chance. I would like to stay indefinitely, but with the hot season and monsoon season, it's kinda complicated. I would really like to avoid the tourist crowds, for obvious reasons, and also to avoid the higher prices that the tourist season brings. There's some remote areas in the far northwest that I'm really becoming interested in. I believe the one pass to get to that area is the second highest driveable (sometimes) pass in the world. I want to learn Hindi, but I don't know how realistic that is, since English speakers aren't too rare and there's so many other languages. Anyways, i jsut thought I'd introduce the factors that are influencing my thoguhts these days. Things will figure themselves out, so I think the main thing is to just try to maintain the proper perspective in all my decisions.

I drove my mom to parksville this morning, and on the way back, I happened to notice three vehicles, marked Canadian Blood Services or whatever, parked in a hotel parking lot, thus leading me to believe that there was a blood drive today. So I called 1-888-2-DONATE that was plastered on the van, and scored myself an appointment in a few hours. You have to be over 17, no piercings or tattoos within 6 months, no dental work or flu shot within like 3 days, and no cold or sore throat. They probably test for STDs after you donate I'm guessing. Pretty stoked. This has been something I've wanted to do, but normally you have to go to Victoria or Vancouver to do it.

I finished reading The Alchemist by Paul Coelho, which Trina reccomended to me. I really enjoyed it and would definitely suggest picking it up. Somewhat analagous to Celestine Prophecy, and also to a much shorter fable I heard once, but definitely a rewarding read. Not very long either. I'm still reading the account of John Palliser's expedition to find passes through the Rockies circa 1857. Pretty cool so far. Really paints a picture of how things were back then. Tons of buffalo and antelope, the relations with natives, the hardships, etc. Also, I was at a bookstore and asked if he had a database to search for used books, and he gave me 2 websites. Abe Books and Bookfinder. I've tried at the library to find the books written by the founder of my style of karate. I've tried the Okanagan Regional Library, and Vancouver Island, and also had them send out a search through the other systems, but no one seemed to have this book. Yet I found tons of copies on Abe Books, and I also found Zen in Martial Arts by Joe Hyams, which is supposed to be a classic, but has been almost as elusive as the other book. Together, they cost about $8 and shipping is about $7. Defnitely wroth it, I think. I also ordered 2 books, Off the Map and Evasion from the fine folks at CrimethInc. I think their site is pretty sweet and they got me stoked on their dirt-cheap books, so I bought those two and I'm downloading Days of War, Nights of Love, which is a sort of series of essays to put it in the dullest way possible. I'm downloading it from here

Did you know...

-that certain trained monks can chant in chords?
That's fucked. A chord is between two and five notes. So whereas if we were to do it, it'd take 3 of us to make the same sound that one of these monks can do alone.

-the next total solar eclipse, which happens to be viewable in N America, unlike the one the other day, will be in 2008. There's like 3 partial eclipses before then.

I drank enough water before bed that I had to get up at 3:30am for a tinkle. The sky was the clearest I've seen it since I was camping at Gold River last year. There were so many stars visible it took me a few minutes just to find the big dipper. Kelly should've been able to view the eclipse in Peru, but he didn't know about it. It was probably an early morning thing in his neck of the woods.

well for part of the world, there will be a total solar eclipse on march 29. not for us though. the most we'll notice is if we're out at about 2-4am tonight, the sky will seem even darker. which is still cool. i'll try to set my alarm and see what it looks like.

fun facts

The Columbia River Basin reaches includes area in BC, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah. It's the largest river in the world without a delta.

Lake Koocanusa, which is on the border of BC and Montana and was created thanks to the Libby Dam, was named by combining the words Kootenay, Canada, and USA. The word Koocanusa is an example of a portmanteau, which I'm extremely fond of. Examples include manwich, Hongcouver, and Vansterdam.

Ferry Sinks Off BC Coast

Golden and the Gold, or How I Spent My Spring Break

okay, so I flew out of Vancouver friday night. Seeing Vancouver from above was awesome. I could totally tell where each city was (Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, etc) and I couldn't take my eyes away from the window until we were over Chilliwack. It was a clear night and the moon was almost full, so I could see the mountains quite well, which was a real treat. I knew almost exactly where we were the whole time. Over Kelowna, then Nakusp wth Revelstoke in the distance, then Kootenay Lake, and the Columbia Valley (not sure which towns though, surprisingly). Calgary was cold, windy and snowing, but other than that, the weather was great the whole trip. Didn't even get rained on.
Saturday was the competition and it was great. Definitely the biggest competition I've been too, and most liekly the best. There was some awesome black belt talent, especially the youngins. My division was Mens/Womens Green, Blue, and Purple belt, but for the sparring, we were segregated. I won gold in both events, so I'm quite pleased. That night, I briefly met up with Ravi as I waited for the bus, then took the greyhound back to Golden. I only paid for a ticket to Lake Lousie, and I said I was a student, so I saved 30 bucks on my ticket, and just stayed on the bus at Lake Louise with no problem. My visit in Golden was pretty good. I got to see everyone except Matt, without feeling too rushed. The mountains looked awesome and I spent much of Sunday outside. I smoked a fair share of the 1x Salvia, although it didn't do too much to me. Shawn sure liked it though. I got really stoned both nights and pretty drunk the second, and had a pretty good time. Any longer in GOlden and I woulda started to feel bored and weird. Actually, it was weird just being there to begin with. Such a strange feeling, hard to describe. I cram so much into these short trips and before I know it, I'm back on the island. Hitchhiking went pretty well. Took like an hour to get out of Golden, but other than that it was smooth sailing. I probably coulda made it all the way to the ferry in one day, but I stayed in Kamloops for the night and visited Craig and Jolene. I got a pretty cool ride with this trucker out of Kamloops to Abbotsford. We talked about all sorts of stuff, from the job market, to the way things 'used' to be, to hitchhiking and travelling. He definitely strengethened my urge to travel and gave me some good tips on places to go. From Abbotsofrd, I caught a ride to Ft Langley (the first and oldest settlement in BC I believe, and then another to Langley, and then finally a ride all the way to Horseshoe Bay.

I also started my new job at Quality Foods today. I'll report back once I've formed an opinion.

Well this flu has been quite the formidable adversary, but I think I've forced it to retreat, if only temporarily. I've cancelled my last 3 shifts in order to rest and recouperate. I've been extremely conscious of my food and liquid intake and been sure to get plenty of rest and as much fresh air as possible. I'm really not sure how this trip is going to proceed. I'd feel a lot more confident and casual if there wasn't a deadline attached to my return. As it stands, it could be some pretty miserable hitchiking. Regardless, I'm stoked. Apparently Clayton is gonna be in Golden around teh time that I am, so it'll be cool to surprise him and see how the rigs have been treating him.

Since I've been on my back the last week, I've been watching lots of documentaries on the internet, and rented a few notable movies. If you're at all interested in Malcolm X or Gandhi, I highly suggest renting the movies of the same name. Both are quite strongly reconstructed movies, especially the former. Also, i just watcehd Kundun, an account of the Dalai Lama from birth to exile and it was remarkable. Amazing set decoration, costume design, scenery and musical score. And I also thought it did a very good job at remaining true to the spirit of the time, without overly demonizing the Chinese (who invaded Tibet).

Antacrtica's ice is receding 152 cubic kms per year. For comparison, Los Angeles uses less than 1 cubic km of fresh water per year

This was the only decent pic from the competition. All the ones I took are totally blurred, so I'm gonna start usinbg 800 film for karate pics.

I've given my notice at Save-On-Foods. I got offered a job at Qualicum Foods. Starts at $10/hr, 32hrs/wk, produce department, and its closer to home, so it was a no-brainer for me, especially considering how lame Save-On has gotten. That place is a joke. They treat me like I'm 14. I start on the 15th.

I seem to ahve caught the flu over a week ago, and I thought I'd beat it after the first day. Since then it's just been caughing shit up and that sort of thing, but yesterday, after I practised karate and went for a run, I got to work and started feelings really fucked up. It would come in waves. Like I'd eaten some mushrooms or something. Woozy, light-headed, dizzy, and everntually a really weird headache. Management really didn't want me to go home sick, and they tried to feed me some pills. I found that really strange. I mean, I understand that they want me to stay, but it's like "ya, let's drug him up so he doesn't know how sick he is". My body doesn't want its symptoms suppressed, it wants rest. Another thing that bugs me is how people freak out when they have a fever, and want to take something so the fever will come down ASAP. Look, a fever is your bodies way of fighting the virus, it's not a bad thing. I mean, sure it's uncomfortable, but no pain, no gain. Obviously, if it gets to the point where the fever is getting too high or you just can't sleep, then ok, maybe take a tylenol, but it should be a last ditch effort. Anyways I went home sick, and laid down for a few hours. But the weird thing is just how this flu thing stayed dormant for a week before coming back stronger than before.

One day at work this girl walked up to me, told me I was cute, and gave me her number. I didn't realize people actually did that kind of thing. so strange. I mean, I understand that I'm kind've "different", but I would never call someone like that. It really perplexes me, and I can't really put into words the reason that it bugs me so much, so I won't even try.

I leave friday on a plane for Calgary, for the Albertan Provincials. I've been to sick lately to practice. Yesterday was the first day since the competition in Vancouver that I've done anything active. It turns out that not only have I lost my ride from Calgary to Golden, but also my ride from Golden to Vancouver, so it looks like it's gonna be quite the trek to get back. The only things that really bugs me about that is that I'll ahve to pack some much extra stuff if I'm hitchhiking, like sub-zero clothing, and the problem of getting from downtown Calgary to the edge of the city. I'd always heard Calgary's transit was really good, but judging from the website, it seems way harder to figure out that Vancouver's transit.

I finished my 4th Tom Robbins book, Still Life With Woodpecker. It was good, but probably my least favorite so far. Left a bunch of questions unanswered, which doesn't seem to be his style. Next up, I'm gonna try to wade through Leo Tolstoy's (author of War and Peace) Writings on Civil Disobedience and Non-Violence. It's like 400 pages, so I'm not committing to anything.

My favorite song of the moment is defnitely Soul Meets Body by Death Cab for Cutie

well I went to the orientation for the volunteer mentor program today to get the down low. it's cool how many doors volunteering can open up. The coordinator definitely has connecitons, to people in Golden, as well as people in the outdoor rec industry. Another guy is starting to teach Tae Kwon Do classes, so I think I'm gonna check that out, and I met a lady who teaches yoga.

I finished Fight Club? Did I mention that already? Tonight I'm gonna start my 4th Tom Robbins book, "Still Life with Woodpecker".

In other news, I've decided to buy a used punching bag. very stoked

number 37

Well I finished reading The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. It's strange, he puts forward the book, claiming it as completely true with only a few minor deatils changed, and yet, the story is completely over the top surreal, and yet when I looked up Dan Millman on Wikipedia, there was no mention of controversy surrounding what the dub as his autobiographical fiction. Anyways, it was a pretty good book. I found some of the dialogue to be rather tedious, but the message gets across well and it has definitely left me with things to think about, so I would reccomend it. I started reading Fight Club a few days ago, and I'm almost done it now. Pretty funny, very provocative. Great read so far, thoough for better or worse, not very long, just like all of Palahniuk's other books.

I am Jack's swollen sense of worth

Gosh, what a week. Ok, recap. Easy hitchhiking to Victoria for a 3 day stay at Lindsay's. Awesome weather, hada great visit. Checked out 2 karate classes, both were pretty decent. Easy hitchhiking on the way back. Stayed at home Thursday, work 4hrs friday, then ferried to Van. The next morning, I rode transit to Coquitlam for the CSKA Shotokan Challenge, or in Laymen's terms, a karate competition. I'd say it was roughly as many people as the JKA BC Provincials last year. So I get there and very quickly realise that the sparring event I've signed up for is actually free-sparring. The major difference between JKA and CSKA karate is that JKA doesn't even introduce free-sparring until brown belts and only black belts free-spar in competition and belt tests. CSKA, on the other hand, introduces free-sparring at the beginner level. So even though I'm a green belt, the only free-sparring experience I've had is from the 3 CSKA dojos I've visited, including the two in Victoria this week. I almost withdrew from that event, because I didn't have gloves, a mouthpiece, or a cup. But I decided I might as well try to round stuff up. So I bought an unfitted mouthguard, pretending to be wearing a cup, and after asking around for hours, finally found a pair of gloves to use. My other event was kata (form, sequence, pattern, etc). There were 4 or 5 guys in my category, which was white belt through purple belts (purple is right before brown). I thoguht I performed my kata very well. Of course, it'll always be a little better in practice, cuz your heart isn't pounding, but I was certainly happy with my effort. The guy after me, who was also a green belt, did the same kata as me, but in my humble opinion, I performed it better in basically every single way. Not that he didn't do it well, just that if you rbeak it down into the components (speed, timing, coordination, technical accuracy, etc) I think I did better on all counts. Regardless, he beat me by a tenth of a point, so I got silver. I was kinda choked, but whatever, I put out 100%, so that's the important thing. Next was the sparring. I basically had the attitude of 'nothing to lose', since I could hardly have any expectations. This was to be my first free-sparring match, the first time I'd worn gloves, and the first time in my life that I'd punched someone in the face. So my first match was against the green belt that had beaten me in kata. It's mostly a blur, and I don't understand japanese enough to know who got what points when, but I won. I was hitting him too hard, which your actually not supposed to do. It's not boxing, the idea is to show you can land the best techniques. It was tiring though, but I think we put on a good show. I got a bloody nose from it, a damn sore jaw, and a nice little bruise over my eye. So onto the finals it was for me, since there was about 5 of us. For some reason, there was a brown belt in our division, and I ended up going against him. It was his 3rd math, and only my 2nd, so he was more tired, but to be fair, he's got like 10 times the experience of me, especially when it comes to sparring. Anyways, it was a good tough match, but ended in a draw, so it went into a final minute of sudden death, in which I scored a point to take the gold medal. I was absolutely stunned. I couldn't believe it. Like seriosuly, what the fuck happened. I still can't get over it, but god damn it feels good. It's kidna funny, cuz I just started reading FIght Club yesterday and yesterday was the only thing in my life to resemble a fight. So after the competition, me, Ashley, Lindsay, and Steve went to an all-night party in a small warehouse. All female drum n bass/breaks DJs. Good beats for sure. As tiring of a week and day (pounding headache) that I had, I managed to dance for basically 5 straight hours. Oh, and I got drunk. That's probabl why I had so much fun. Only got about 4 hours sleep, and I worked 4 horus today. Anyways, it was a pretty wicked week, and I'm more than ever looking forward to the Albertan JKA Provincials, which should be bigger and better than this competition. Onwards.....

David Suzuki is coming to Parksville in May to give a speech.
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The last two days have been glorious. Blue skies make the island so much nicer during a normally dreary winter. Luckily I had both days off. Both days, I practiced karate, went for a good run, climbed a radio tower, and went to a karate class. The first radio tower was on Little Mountain, near Parksville. Just a hill among flatlands, but I caught stellar views of Mt Arrowsmith and the full 360. The second readio tower, was on a big hill in Nanaimo, so I got to see the lay of the city, as well as being able to see Vancouver, and even Mt Baker, which to my estimation, is about 275km away!! The first karate class I went to was up in Comox, where I'd been before. We're gonna try to strike a deal so that I can train there more often, but I usualy work the days that they train. The second dojo was in Nanaimo, with a really good Sensei that I've trained under on Gabriola Island. He teaches kids classes in Nanaimo, but he said I can train there on Thursdays after class, with him, for free. So one-on-one instruction for free. YES YES YES. Stoked about that. I'm starting to feel fairly confident going into this tournament next weekend, for one of my events, but not so much for the sparring, which isn't free-sparring anyways.

I also finally finished a roll of film.

I watched most of a really cool documentary on CBC tonight about gay marriage. Basically they took a gay guy from Toronto and had him live with a right-wing Christian radio talk-show host, then vice versa. I thought it was quite well done, and definitely helped me figure out my own views on gay marriage. The documentary series is called The Lens, and this particular doc will probably be shown a few more times in the next week or two.

I'm pretty stoked to here about the designation of the Great Bear Rainforest, finally some good news. I'm not sure about all of the details, but it sounds quite progressive. Much of BC's amazing, yet remote, coast will be protected or at least severely restricted. Good job, team.

It has been revealed that Teflon is probably carcinogenic. The maker of Teflon, Dupont, has finally admitted it, and has pledged to phase out the techonology. I did some research, but it was hard to figure it all out, but I think the information is convincing enough. I'm gonna look at my options, but I don't think I'll be using much Teflon anymore.

Last night, I booked my plane ticket to Calgary for the albertan provincials for karate. Very stoked for that.

Blasphemy is not a crime

Many of you have probably become aware of the incredbly explosive controversy surrounding the "Danish Mohammed Cartoons". If you are unaware, turn on your tv or pick up a newspaper. I'll admit that it's a complex issue and that it's too deep to really form a solid opinion in regards to, but I think the backlash against that cartoons is absolutely fucking ridiculous. I generally tend to stay neutral when the topic of Islam is brought up, but when something like this happens on such a large scale, it really makes you wonder. But just to balance things off, Christian Fundamentalists are assholes too. Have a nice day:)