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