Nana

Nana. The best picture I could take of her. The pictures that are taken head on now make her look awful. She has Alzheimer's and spends her days sitting in a chair falling asleep or staring out the window or staring at walls. It's painful to watch because she used to be so independent and amazing and now she doesn't even say a word. It's scary because I'm pretty sure Alzheimer's is genetic. Better keep up with those crosswords, I suppose.

Things in my bed...

So, I have this habit of using my bed as a desk, a table, a dresser, a bookshelf, and a place to sleep... Some of the things in it tonight:

- chocolate covered peanuts

- watch

- water bottle

- three pairs of socks

- loaf of bread

- camera

- cellphone

- macbook

- assorted sweatshirts

- comb

- notes to myself that include lists of Things To Do and Songs I Should Download

- people magazine with Ryan Reynolds smirking at me upside down from the foot of the bed

- Cross Country Canada calendar with one day left and a year's worth of events catalogued

- two posters for the West Side Invitational in May (don't ask me how I ended up with two...)

- bottle of soho lychee liqueur (unopened and deliciously waiting for me)

- copy of Billy Joel's Piano Man, The Very Best Of

- St. Ives Creamy Vanilla moisturizer (which, apparently isn't available in B.C. so I had to bring it back from Tbay with me. Go figure.)

Yeah, it's weird. I'm okay with that. I have a queen sized bed and I'm not sharing with anyone so there's enough room for all my stuff and me. I'm small and don't move when I sleep so there's no chance of strangling myself with headphones or the yarn I'm knitting a scarf with in the middle of the night.

That's it.

Quote du Jour:

"Journalism largely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive." - G.K. Chesterton

Modernism

Technical difficulties

Always get in the way.

Damned if you do,

Damned if you don't.

Life goes on

In a different direction

Even if you're holding tight

To the wheel.

Maybe

You should've grabbed

The mast instead.

Cliches are cliches for a reason.

Doesn't mean you gotta believe em.

Wary, weary traveller, wary.

For the path is not always lit.

But Maybe

That's half the fun.

Don't know me.

Don't know you.

How can I validate "we?"

They tell you to "seize the day"

But "don't run too fast"

You're gonna hurt yourself

Tumbling and tripping

Stumbling on with wanting

And bruising by mistake

Shocked but not surprised

You gotta keep stumblin' on

Stared into the light to kill all my senses

Kill all the pain away

Because my bruises are fresh

And my wounds are raw

I keep feeling the salt rub

As if I'm supposed to be

Learning something.

Ella Fitzgerald - Dream a Little Dream of Me

Oh hear the drums...

I've always wanted to play the drums but don't think I could multitask that well...

1. Stevie Wonder - Superstition

2. Arkells - Tragic Flaw

3. Radiohead - The National Anthem

4. Paul Simon - 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

5. Against Me - Stop

6. Blur - Song 2

7. Jack Johnson - Good People

8. Almost anything by the Foo Fighters

9. My Morning Jacket - One Big Holiday

10. Neutral Milk Hotel - [Untitled]

11. Bloc Party - This Modern Love

12. Ben Harper and Restless7 - Fly One Time

13. Beck - Loser

14. Blink 182 - Dammit

15. The Bravery - Time Won't Let Me Go

And who could forget Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight?

Oh, and the Buffy theme song by the Breeders. :)

Start

"If you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind. It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail. It could mean derision. It could mean mockery--isolation. Isolation is the gift. All the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. And, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. And it will be better than anything else you can imagine. If you're going to try, go all the way. There is no other feeling like that. You will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. You will ride life straight to perfect laughter. It's the only good fight there is."

- Charles Bukowski

Technical difficulties

Always get in the way.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Life goes on in a different direction

Even if you're holding tight to the

Wheel.

Maybe you should've grabbed the mast instead.

Cliches are cliches for a reason but

Don't mean you gotta believe 'em.

Wary, weary traveller, wary.

For the path is not always lit.

But Maybe

that's half the fun.

UFOs

This was also on Postsecret this week... hilarious.

"Going up the Country"

Aha! Embedded. haha

Love love love.

Caution

This one's for Corey (congrats on the engagement :) ):

"Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness."

- Bertrand Russell, Conquest of Happiness.

Video Killed the Radio Star

So, it's a video kind of day... I was looking for new music... I'm always looking for new music, it seems. Anyway, found all these things... lovely. Aaaand, since I'm slightly computer illiterate, they're all links instead of being videos. Ah well.

Coconut Records - Microphone: Hilarious video from Jason Schwartzman. Sometimes he bothers the hell out of me but then sometimes he's just so great and random... I also almost want a dog like that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSDVX6fRSr4&feature=player_embedded

The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning: New band I stumbled across. Like the juxtaposition of black and white grainy and the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAWurnyKZUM

Chairlift - Bruises: Cute song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ9hLOHj8ag

The Kooks - Naive: Feel like I've heard this song before. Probably have heard this song before. Good beats but still a chillback song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkaMiaRLgvY

Florence and the Machine - Dog Days are Over: Reminds me of Guillermo del Toro somehow. Lovely song. Starts out slow but then gets into it and you feel like dancing. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU

Anyway, should get back to it. Supposed to be applying for jobs right now. Reckless has cut me down to part time hours so I need to either find another part-time job (maybe more feasible yet more stressful and annoying) or something career-y and full-time (what I'd prefer). Who knows.

Skating tonight for Louise's bday! Oh, and it snowed last night. Soggy soppy snowvember outside. I'll probably crunch over to Main St. later for distraction/amusement/entertainment/pictures?/coffee drinks. Oh, and I missed Morgan's bday dinner last night but I'd really like to kick this stupid cold and get back to running and riding and all that fun stuff.

- L

16-12-24

So, I might (hopefully - fingers crossed!) be getting back into guiding for the Nordic Racers. Which means, I should really get back into training, which is totally doable as I'm not working a ton these days... need to haul out the ol' rollerskis and find a place to train though, which may be difficult.

Start of the latest training mix (in no apparent order). Seems to be a hell of a lot easier to run/ride/whatever when I have music in my ears vs the sound of my own breathing... go figure. :p

1. Love Grenades - Young Lovers (Sam Sparro Mix)

2. Gotye - learnalilgivinanlovin

3. Streetlab - NY Sound

4. The Sounds - Rock and Roll

5. Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass

6. The Airborne Toxic Event - Does This Mean You're Moving On?

7. Metric - Black Sheep

8. Arcade Fire - Sprawl II

9. Mick Boogie - The Kickdrums ft. Curtains - I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night

10. Cut Chemist - Povo De Santo

11. The Black Keys - Tighten Up

12. FreeSol - Entertainers

13. K-Os - SheClipse

14. K-Os - I Wish I Could Believe

Y'know... just a start ;p

Family Pride :)

Sean's drawing skills... a graphic for a review of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter:

Pretty good, no?

Resolute

So, it's two a.m. and I have taken a night off from life to make some September Resolutions. Probably something to do with the idea of the school year or my birthday or the pressure of New Year's always effing things up but here goes. These are the things I'd LIKE to get going but might not necessarily end up happening...

In no apparently order of importance:

- run 3 x a week (I miss running. They don't have to be big runs. Short morning runs are awesome too.)

- chin-ups a.m. and p.m. (Tristan made me a chin-up bar. I might as well use it. :p)

- core 3 x a week (also something that I used to do religiously but now do NEVER. Sheez.)

- ride 3 x week (including track and UBC burn laps and a.m. Emily laps, not including commuting to work)

- earlier bedtime (ha... oops)

- cut back in alcohol (one of the setbacks of working in a bike shop)

- eat proper breakfasts (I've gotten out of eating real breakfasts, which is so DUMB so that's gotta change for sure.)

- read more (gotta get that book from Natalie)

- no more coffee drinks (gotta get out of that Van City mentality)

- stop eating out so much (another Vancouver bad habit though I will sorely miss Budgies)

- cut back (out) candy (I know what you're thinking... haha, Linnaea, good luck with that one... yeah, thanks for the vote of confidence :p)

- be the change you want to see in the world (haha, couldn't resist... cheesy and awesome... and, if I admit it, true)

- try not to take it personally (what is "it" you ask? EVERYTHING, that's what because life is too short to think otherwise)

Quote du jour:

"An undefined problem has an infinite number of solutions." - Robert A. Humphrey

Song of the day:

Devotchka - The Winner Is...

25

I'm 25. When I was a kid, I thought things would be much different when I turned 25. Maybe I thought I'd have it all figured out. Maybe I had this idea of what the life of a 25-year old should be. Maybe I'd watched too many Disney movies. Maybe it doesn't matter. Things are how they are and I'm enjoying how they are despite maybe not following certain life tracks...

Went sailing with Moses on Friday. It was actually pretty funny - when I showed up to his house, my friend Andy was chilling on the next door neighbour's deck (he lives there) and I invited him along (because it was his birthday). At first he said no but after a little prodding, he was in. We headed out in Kiwi, Moses' newly acquired 24-foot boat and the weather cooperated - the sun came out and there was enough wind to jaunt around English Bay. Then it was back to shore and there we met a very cool chick. This girl, Julie, walked (walked!) from the Mexican/U.S. border all the way up to the U.S./Canada border. How crazy/cool/interesting is that? She heard about it once and, on a whim, mentioned it to a couple friends. They came back to her a month later and asked if she was serious and eventually away they went. It took her from April to this past Sunday... imagine that... just hiking along... the continent! Very cool.

Birthday party last night. I went and did a burn UBC lap after work (wasn't going to but I'm glad I did) and arrived home just in time for three cakes, bubbly, snacks, awesome people, bliss. I like when everyone gets together and they mesh well and have fun. I know, I know, cheesy, Linnaea. Oh well. It was fun.

So, going to start actually training. I prefer life when I'm training. And not in an, "oh geez, I'm fat, I need to do something about this" though I guess that's a part of it (a tiny liiiittle part - I've worked so hard to get to where I am in terms of that body image stuff and I am not going back!) but more the fact that I like doing runs and rides and hikes and all that. So yeah, that's that.

Anyway, that's all I got.

Pic du jour:

(I Heart Postsecret)

Song of the Day: Abandoned Pools - Monster

Kara-okay!

Vancouver's a funny city for relationships. I'm not even talking about relationship relationships (though those are messed up here too) but even friendships are complicated. I've noticed this over the last year and change that I've lived here - you don't just become friends with people. There's a waiting period or something. You meet someone and you don't seem to hang out until four months later... or you you hang out all the time for a bit then you seem to just take a break and don't talk for weeks. What's up with that? Is it to do with the transient nature of Vancouver as a whole? Is it just the people that I keep meeting, that I keep hanging out with? Or is this the norm and I'm the one out of the ordinary?

I haven't quite figured it out and probably won't. I had a friend who's been here for awhile tell me that I was young and in time I would become jaded to the whole process and 'wouldn't try so hard' and then it wouldn't matter but it does matter. It kind of bugs me actually.

It's a stupid game and I don't wanna play it! MEH! haha

Alright, enough of the pain, bring on the fun! ha

Went out to Two Parrots for karaoke (thanks to Moses inviting me... and I love him dearly for it because it was exactly what I needed.) Tuesday and had an awesome time. I forgot how great karaoke is. I rarely get up to sing and tonight was the exact reason why... there was this gaggle of theatre kids just lovin' the mic - they were the first 15 songs or so before anyone from our table got up. And they were good but Moses was right... they have this distinct drilling tone that has no depth. But they were good. Moses and co. were amazing as usual. Oh, and that guy who sings "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" so goddamn beautifully and tried to kiss me outside the Two Parrots once was there too. He did the Darkness, as per usual, and had some slutty dancer girl come up and try to dance with him but he wasn't having any of it. Singers and their focus, huh? Go figure. I do wish I'd stuck around long enough to convince Moses to sing "Creep" by Radiohead because I do love it...

Anyway, off to bed. I'm going to attempt to move a couch tomorrow am super early... that'll be interesting given there's a dude sleeping in the room we're supposed to bring it into and I have a sinking feeling that it's just too big to go in... ah well. There will be many moments of "That's what she said" I'm sure. Maybe a couple references to Friends too. haha

Alright,

Quote du jour: "The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire" - John N. Mitchell

Mary Sunshine

It's a lot of work being positive and excited and happy 24/7. It can't be done. I like to take breaks. They mostly comprise of hiding out in my room alone. It's a trait I've inherited it from my dad and don't think I'm going to get rid of the necessity of being alone. And I don't know if I'd want to...

But, try to stay away from the other end of the spectrum as much as possible. Because that one sucks and people are less likely to stick around. Sure, being Sandra D is annoying as heck and makes you want to punch something but here's a secret: Life Doesn't Suck. Oh, also, Everyone Else Is Dealing With Shit Too. Oh, and Don't Take Life Too Seriously. That one should be on a pillow somewhere (though it probably already is).

Maybe one of these days I'll take my own advice. ;p

Song Du Jour:

The Flaming Lips - Waiting for a Superman

Quote du Jour:

"Every crowd has a silver lining." - Phineas Taylor Barnum

Inception, Hiking, MEC

So, I've been up since 5 am. Strangest thing - I woke up, completely convinced that a) there was something in my closet, and b) if I opened the door from my bedroom to the kitchen, someone was going to stab me. Issues much? Didn't even watch a horror movie last night... Might've been that I went to see Inception... which was a mind blowing mindsplosion... haha Christopher Nolan is amazing. Didn't find it particularly scary but, well, the mind goes to weird places when dreaming, I guess. Don't really get the point of nightmares though. Why would the mind create such a thing? Where do nightmares come from and wouldn't your mind want to protect you from such things?

Back to Inception... what I don't get, and this may be just a silly little thing, is WTF was up with Ellen Page's wardrobe? I mean, the guys in the film got gorgeous suits to walk around in and poor Ellen Page is in these frumpy awful clothes! Is it because she's younger than them? For some reason that bugged me. Kinda like watching Scarlett Johansson in a lot of her movies. She looks so pretty sometimes but then other times she's so frumpy. Weird. I will give the film props for Joseph Gordon Levitt's wardrobe choice though... he's blank in the movie but somehow 3-D blank... like what the characters from the Matrix were striving for. Make sense? Maybe not. I don't really know how to explain it but he's almost inhumanly cool and meticulous but not serial killer cold and neurotic to the point of creating weakness in his character. He doesn't seem to worry himself with humans but then you have that one part in the film where he cons Ellen Page into kissing him and you see that he's also a bit of a trickster. His mask cracks minutely and his humanity shows for just a moment. He's perfect because you know that he gets things done and there's no worry that he won't. As you can probably tell, I'm impressed. :p Joseph Gordon-Levitt is choosing really good parts and playing them beautifully.

So, going hiking up Brunswick Mountain today. Don't know if I'm ready for the kind of hiking these guys are doing but no time like the present. It's weird to be this "out of shape." Not having ski training for the past two years has been interesting. I mean, I suddenly have all this extra time but I don't do anything with it... Feels like I have even less time to fit in the things I want to fit in. Or maybe I just have to be selective in what I want to do and who I want to see, yada yada yada. I think I might be getting better at being selfish but I still find myself trying to say yes to everyone, which usually gets me into a jam as I become double- or even triple-booked and I start to get that claustrophobic feeling and end up having to hide myself away from everyone or risk having my head explode, Scrubs dream style.

Went over to MEC and on a whim bought climbing shoes. This is the thing I don't get. When I go into a store, I either have a good sense or self and am able to choose things right away that I know I'll like, or try not to get caught up in the semantics of things so that I have so many choices that I am frozen and cannot make a choice. When I shop for running shoes, I usually get the right ones on the first or second try. Trying on others are unnecessary and just make life harder. I'm pretty sure it's been proven that the more options a human being has, the harder it is to make a choice. So, I picked out these shoes and told the guy my size. He comes back out with them, I try them on and smile at him, saying, "These are perfect, thanks."

He comes back with, "Really? Whoa. That almost never happens."

I almost stay and try on every pair to compare and contrast just to make him happy.

Now, I work in retail. A bike shop, specifically. Now I'm aware that you're separating with about 800 bucks but when buying a commuter bike, standing around talking about the derailleurs instead of taking them out to get the feel, is a complete waste of time for everyone involved. I appreciate the people who appreciate my time and am totally glad to answer all your questions. I just want you to ride a bike first.

Alright, breakfast time even though I'm hiking with Climber Andy and therefore we probably won't leave til 10. :p

Good song to wake up to (if you're not already up... :p): The Submarines - 1940

Alternatively: Datarock - I Used to Dance With My Daddy

Quote du Jour: "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie

Book I'm reading right now: William Gibson's Neuromancer. Forgot about it til Mom sent it west. Pretty decent read.

Moments

So, I start work on a Tuesday, which really screws me up in terms of days of the week but I guess when your days off aren't the actual weekend, then it doesn't really matter. Days of the week are weird like that. They're so imprinted in your head to think that Saturday and Sunday are THE days, then it's weird to think of other days as your weekend.

Moses says he doesn't really pay any attention to them anymore because he has a schedule of a block of days on, a block of days off so the real point of know which day it is is so that he'll know whether bars and restaurants will be busy when he shows up. Makes sense, I guess. Given enough time, human beings can get used to anything.

Last summer I had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, which worked because my friends also had those days off so we could go do epics together and it didn't matter that it wasn't Saturday.

I was also able to do night rides - up til 2/3 am riding around, exploring, sometimes drinking, always having fun... Your days extended into the night and you had that much more time.

It's different this summer... different job, different friends. Lots of people have left, which makes it weird. I mean, last summer was the summer of Claude/Linnaea and I don't really have that this year. I miss having her out here. Haven't really had that sort of thing since last summer.

I may have had it for a little while this past fall/winter but I'm not really sure. The politics of being girls and dating boys took care of that... (reason #16 why I don't have friends who are girls :p) It's completely ridiculous but it was what it was and is what it is, I guess. The silliest thing about it is that despite not wanting to be those kinds of girls, we became those kinds of girls. "Don't let a boy come between you" is all well and good to give as advice and a lofty idea to follow but when feelings get involved, it's messy and it sucks.

Howard Jones said, "No one ever is to blame," but is that true? Human beings are human beings and full of feelings and emotions that we don't really understand and don't really have any control over. We do stupid things and there's always different viewpoints (duh) and different reasonings and when you look back on it, it's so insignificant in the grand scheme of your life. But at that moment it is so incredibly important to you...

The fact of the matter is that I really was sorry about the way everything went down and it's painful and it sucks but I did what I did and I tried to make it right but sometimes people find it easier to feel pain than to do something about it and get on with living their lives. I'm tired of people victimizing themselves and I'm not putting up with it anymore. You get one life as far as I'm concerned. If you want to spend it being miserable, that's your deal but it's not worth it.

I've been thinking about that a lot lately. Moments. Back in t-bay Amanda and I tried to do this thing where we would wonder whether these moments would still affect us in two months, two years, ten years. Mostly we wondered because we both have huge guilt complexes and have the need to have people like us and to make everyone happy. But that's also a load of crap. Everyone knows you can't make everyone happy and not everyone is going to like you. Doesn't stop people from trying though, I suppose.

Anyway, moments... one of my favourite ads (and I'm sure I've mentioned this before) is that lexus ad that talks about moments...

A Moment (click)

I try to think about that when I'm in a moment (usually a bad one where I'm upset or about to get upset or something) and try to remember to ask myself: Is this a big moment or a little moment? Is it something that is going to brand a scar into my insides, my soul, my whatever... or am I just overreacting? I've had those moments and they've stretched into days, weeks, hell, even months and you have to realize when to Just. Let. Go. There are things that you can control and there are those that you can't.

Things like that guy or girl you like... that you thought you really liked and it's just not working out and you have to let it go but you just can't seem to. Like that thing you said or did that made you feel like a total idiot but probably didn't and probably no one noticed and if they did, I doubt they'll remember it for long (and if they do remember and hold it over you, well, they're obviously not a very good friend of yours). Or that job you really really wanted and didn't get or that day that you totally wasted (there will be other ones, just don't waste 'em all).

I'm not saying there aren't times where life sucks, it really does sometimes, but like Dad said when I tell him sometimes that I'm at the very bottom... "Well, honey, it's not going to be the last time..." Which you have to laugh at and I guess that's a good sign. If you let stuff like that get you down, if you don't laugh instead of freak out or cry (or both), well, you're already toast. And really, if you look back on the years of your life, what things really stand out? What things do you let stand out? That you want to stand out but you realize weren't really that significant after all? Like, for the longest time after what I thought was something huge in my life and I'd really fucked it up by being a total idiotmoron, I couldn't listen to Metro Station because it hurt too much but now when I go to listen to it, well, it's just another song. Sometimes I switch it halfway through and it's not because it hurts, it's because it no longer has that meaning to me and there's no need to hear the rest. Maybe that's the point where you need to get to in a moment that isn't helpful to you... be ready to switch the song?

Like Van Wilder said, "Don't take life too seriously, you're never get out alive."

Huh, well, that started out sort of mundane then slid into some sort of philosophical perspective on life. Sheesh. Ah well. I feel like I might do this all the time and someone should just go ahead and tell me to "shut the fucking door" and live my life instead of overthinking it... hmm. What an idea.

On another note, True Blood has been lovely so far in the third season. :)

Quote du Jour: "Do not consider painful what is good for you." - Euripides

Song du Jour: (for Dad) Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

Pic du Jour:

My visit to Vancouver two years ago for Kath's tri race that made me fall in love with it and want to be here. Some people thought I was nuts when I said I was just going to move out here but I think that's part of life - making a decision about what you want and just going for it. You fail, you fuck up, well, it happens. I need to be more like that more often I think. Taking chances are a big part of life. If we didn't take chances, we'd all still be living in Europe and though I would appreciate the architecture, I think it'd be a bit cramped.

Aaaaanyway, night...

How To Win At Yahtzee

So, I finished Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live - 85% of a True Story and I loved it, though I didn't get some of the musical references... :s This was at the very near end and makes me go hmmm...

"We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime. It's easy. The first girl I ever loved was someone I knew in sixth grade. Her name was Missy; we talked about horses. The last girl I love will be someone I haven't even met yet, probably. They all count. But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. These are the most important people in your life, and you'll meet maybe four or five of these people over the span of 80 years. But there's still one more tier to all this; there is always one person you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it always happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of those loveable qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable. You will remember having conversations with this person that never actually happened. You will recall sexual trysts with this person that never technically occurred. This is because the individual who embodies your personal definition of love does not really exist. The person is real, and the feelings are real - but you create the context. And context is everything. The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else, and they're often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else."

- Klosterman

G20 Security: Chicken or Egg? My 2 cents (whatever they're worth)

I find it really hard to come to terms with how everything went down with the G20 but I'll try...

It echoes of the Olympics and everyone knows how I feel about the Olympics because of my brother and other friends competing. It's supposed to be amateur athletes coming to the world stage to compete and then there's all these protests against the corporate sponsorships who do it not for the athletes but for their own sponsorship wants (though I do want to believe that the bigwigs do care a bit about that). But I digress...

It reminded me of the Olympics because everyone believed that big things were going to go down here in Vancouver 2010. Chris Shaw and his friends were followed for the months, if not years leading up to it and Nothing really major happened and I still wonder why not.

I mean, yeah, sure, they had protests out here and it was kind of tense for a bit but nowhere near what happened in Toronto. Here, when I was walking over to the hotel to meet Mom, I walked right into a standoff between cops and protesters. The protesters were pretty tame, not a Black Bloc in sight. Just a bunch of people and bongos and demands to not hold the games on Aboriginal lands.

Yes, there were the three types of cops - bike cops, city cops, and riot cops.

Yes, you could feel the electricity in the air - police caressing billy clubs with white knuckled fingers and waiting for a protester to start something so they could just get it over with. I watched people yell in the face of the cops, saw the anger and the frustration on both sides and all I could think of was, There’s gotta be a better way.

It's a chicken and egg theory. Spending 1.2 B on security in Toronto seemed to do nothing but fuel the fire and push protesters to the point where all that manpower would eventually be used. But, they're also trying to preemptively deal with protesters by having the manpower there just in case. How do you come to terms with that?

On one side, there's the hooliganism of protesters you know are going to be there because the Black Bloc have been waiting for a reason to run around in bandanas, break windows, throw Molotov Cocktails and generally just say, "Fuck you" to The Man. They don't even stay true to their so-called "cause" by waiting around for the credit because they're too busy stripping off anything telltale and disappearing into the group of peaceful protestors, thus forces cops to treat them all the same.

And yeah, maybe they already are treating them as such but I want to give them the benefit of the doubt...

The shittiest thing about the Bloc destroying property is that it isn't hurting the corporations, like they think it is. It's going to be the federal government that pays for it:

"[Mayor] Miller said the city will as the federal government to compensate businesses that suffered damages or had to close in addition to employees who lost wages because of the summit. 'It's only fair and reasonable," he said." - Globe and Mail (click to read the article)

Are you kidding me?

Where do the feds get the money? Taxes. Your taxes. My taxes. So, all those people bitching about their taxes paying for the police brutality are, surprise, also going to be picking up the cheque for wannabe bandits to bust up the city. Yeah, good job, Bloc. Thanks for that.

On the other hand, are the peaceful protesters. The ones that are marching and not carrying Molotov cocktails. The ones that want to make a difference and want to show their support but aren't quite willing to destroy property to do it. They're trying to get their message across but it won't work because by having the Bloc in their midst, it's already a losing battle:

"Whatever the exotic, anarchist political posturings of the violent protestors, it doesn't advance the cause of the poor to throw a Molotov cocktail into the open windows of an empty police cruiser. No unemployed person is going to find a job because some enraged grad-student socialist charged a line of riot police shouting expletive. If anything, these anti-social acts turn the public off." - National Post Op-Ed (click to read the article)

I'm not saying that they should out the Bloc but it's unfortunate that their message is lost because they're being overshadowed by the ugly violence that's happening on both sides.

The police are there to help. Yes, they went overboard, yes they got gung-ho, but are we really surprised? Really? I'm not condoning it, I'm just saying it's not surprising. I don't know what can be done about that but it makes me glad I'm not Mayor or Chief of Police of Toronto.

Largest Mass Arrests in Canadian history:

4. Quebec Summit of the Americas: 463 arrested

3. 1970 October Crisis: 465 arrested

2. 1993 Clayoquot Sound Logging Blockades: 856 arrested

1. Toronto G20: roughly 900 arrested

Ouch.

At the end of the day, honestly, who in the actual G8 or G20 meetings really cares about the little protesters running around down on the ground? What is it really going to do?

I just imagine some French dude (they really do have the best accents to be snooty with [and this is not a 'we hate France, honest]) looking down, "Oh look at zee leetle Canadians. Zeh look like little antz. Isn't it tres adorable. Zeh have little bottles zat zeh have set on fire. Oh look and zee fat cops run with zer leetle batons."

C'mon guys. Isn't there a better way? But I guess that's the thing. People are people are people and they're always going to have differing opinions and therefore take different action. There will always be the Bloc, there will always be people trying to do it peacefully, and there will always be the police to beat people down, regardless of method of protest.

Somebody's gotta build a better mousetrap. Because the one we're using obviously isn't working for anyone...

Oh, and for some amazing shots of awful events G20-style, click HERE.

For a chuckle, here are some fun Bloc pics a friend sent to me...

Anyway, that's all I got. I still don't know how I feel about any of it, even after all that... I'm sure there are some gaping holes but that's what I got right now. I believe that some things are necessary in order to get change but who gets to determine what those things are? I don't know and I don't know anyone who has the ability to make that call...

In other news, I'm starting work at a new bike shop tomorrow, which will put me back in the green for now. It's not a real job but it's something to keep me busy and something to keep me not homeless. Hopefully it's not as sketchy ridiculous as the last one and hopefully it has as awesome of people as the last one. :)

I'm also writing a boatload of articles this week. It's going to be busy. Luckily all sorts of people have left so I have fewer people to hang with and more time do to things. haha

Quote du jour: "People say they love truth, but in reality they want to believe that which they love to be true."

Little Bit of R & R for the Day

So, I'm reading this book called "Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story" by Chuck Klosterman. I fell in love with his writing when I read his book, "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs." Killing Yourself is about one summer where Klosterman travels across the country "exploring every brand of rock-star demise." Some of the musicians I recognized some of them I didn't but man, can this guy write. He's funny, he's dry, he's just great. I'm sure if I met him in real life, I might think he's a total asshole, but then, writers are a different breed all together.

A few highlights I loved,

_ The Theory of the Anger Scheme:
This old man is of the opinion that you can never really know someone until you've seen them positively enraged.

"People never show you what they're truly like until you see them go ape-shit," he says. "That's the only time people say the things they really feel. Anger makes people honest. No matter how reasonable someone might seem, you never know for sure until they get mad."

_ "You show up too early for everything. Don't you understand that when people say a party is starting at 9:00, they actually mean the guests are supposed to come at 10:00? That's just common sense." I will never buy that logic. In America, parties that are supposed to start at 9 pm actually start at 10. However, rock concerts that are supposed to start at 9 pm actually start at 9:45. Movies that are scheduled for 9 pm don't begin until 9:09. Sporting events set for 9 pm begin at 9:05. However television shows that are set for 9 pm do start at 9 pm, unless they're being broadcast on TBS. So what's crazier: That I show up for things when they're supposed to begin, or that everyone else in the entire world has somehow come to accept that every activity operates within its own unspoken, individual schedule? How is everyone else's wrongness understood to be right?

If Quincy is avoiding me on purpose, I will spend a lot of time staring at my hands.

_ When you are male and entering the 10th grade, there are only four kinds of people on the planet: girls you want to fuck, girls who are unfuckable, guys you want to kill, and guys who generally seem okay. For a 10th grader, those are the only four demographics for the entire world population. Obviously, that world-view changes as you become an adult; now that I'm 31, I realize there are at least six categories.

So, yeah... That's my intellectual spiel. :p

On another note, I went sailing yesterday. That was wicked. Moses & co. and I were supposed to go to the beach and just hang out but around 4 I get a phone call from him saying, "How fast can you get down to the docks?"

Pretty fast, friend, pretty fast...

We went out once before in December and it was amazing if I little chilly. This time it was gorgeous and super fun. I'll just have to remember to eat more or bring along snacks next time as I always seem to forget how much they love drinking and how much they love plying their visitors with drinks. :p We were entertained by Derek, the boat's owner, his brother, and their friend Sharky, who didn't seem to stop either talking or drinking and had a playful demeanour.

Moses looking all pro and captain-y.

Such a pretty day. :)

All in all, it was a good day. Rest of the pics can be seen on my flickr.

Quote du jour: "Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." - Edgar Allan Poe

Govn'r...

Forgot to write about this the other day and probably should've taken a picture because it would've been funnier in retrospect...

Thursday evening Moses and I did some moving around of the Gastown Sprints gear and then went out for a few drinks afterwards just to wind down... I didn't think

I'd drank that much. Was able to make a grilled cheese sandwich for myself when I got home and the burner was off in the morning so couldn't have been that bad.

Anyway, woke up in the morning and the first thing I see as I open my eyes is my phone, upright, in a cup of tea.

Facepalm Original

Other face palms that signify pretty much how I've felt about this month...

And my all-time fave:

Needless to say, I had to go get another GD phone. second one this spring. I'm a total dummy with all my expensive stuff and memory. Not good.

Popsicles, Police and 10 Pounds of Potatoes

So, a few firsts in the last couple of days....

Fiiiirst, I lost a filling in one of my back molars, which is fine and all. Tooth doesn't hurt, everything's fine. The suck part is that it took part of the sidewall of the tooth with it. So I had this lovely jagged edge at the side of my mouth that enjoys slashing the nice fleshy inside of my mouth and I'm afraid to eat solid food til it's all taken care of.

The dentist also thinks that I should get my wisdom teeth out, which would sort of suck because I don't want chipmunk cheeks. ha

I don't have a picture for this one because I don't want a pic of me with a cracked tooth floating around the interwebs. That's just trashy. :p

2. Went dumpster diving for the first time with my friend Corey...

It's not what you think. Behind the IGA there are these garbage bins about my size that are clean and have bags in them and are just heaped with organic stuff. Among the carrot tops and brown-tipped lettuce leaves, we found probably about 10 lbs of potatoes, couple bunches of bananas, apples, peaches, tomatoes, turnips, green onions and then tofu in another one. It was awesome! So, we came home and cooked it all up for a delish dinner.

So strange that they toss all this stuff... None of it was rotten, some had a few soft spots but it was all still good! Why don't they take it to a food bank or something? Or get someone to pick it up? I dunno.

3. I got my first ticket this morning...

I was riding across the Adanac bike route (my first mistake... stay off the bike routes!) and got nabbed right after an intersection because in B.C. they have weird way of doing things. Say, they have lights for the North-South direction,they have stop signs for the East-West. So, you're riding along, you see that the light is red North-South and the walk signal is blinking with the hand (because these things are never that long) so you go because you have the right of way. But, there's a stop sign on the right that you ignore because you have the right of way because the light is red the other way. Make sense? Does to me. Not to the officer that I talked to. So I got a ticket. Luckily, they decided to leave it at that - blowing through a stop sign, and didn't add in more for 'no bell, no reflectors, yada yada' though I don't know for sure that those are real offenses?

Anyway, how nice of them to add in this bonus - if you pay within 30 days, they knock 25 bucks off your ticket... great. Thanks guys. Sigh.

Needless to say, I definitely probably committed five more traffic offenses on the rest of my way home. Ah well.

These 3 things add up to something really awesome happening for me soon. Or else I'm on a giant slide down to the actual bottom of the barrel... that would really suck because I'm going to the velodrome tonight and I don't really want to break my neck or something. But bad stuff always happens in threes so I'm banking on the upswing.

June 12, 2010

Grocery List: _ Triscuits _ Celery _ Chocolate _ Eggs _ Bread _ Cheese

I hate buying veggies for one person because it's inevitable that something's going to rot because a) I've forgotten about it in the bottom of the fridge, or b) I've become bored of carrots.

To Do List: _ Articles _ Avoid Direct Sun _ Polo Knife Fight

It's never too early to fight wrinkles. And it's never too late for macho-feeling polo matches that draw blood without so much as the wink of a blade.

Soundtrack: _ Mother Mother

"You don't poltergeists for sidekicks/You don't need treats/You don't need tricks/And you don't need me."

_ Also, I don't feel like wearing a helmet today. Shhh, don't tell my mother or the cars will be the least of my worries...

Life is a PR Campaign

I was having this discussion with a friend the other day and it keeps rolling around in my head so here it is in all its hypocrite glory.

We're a voyeuristic society - aching for the latest celebrity gossip, Facebook updates, Twitter, blogs... we want to know people's secrets. I guess that also makes us an exhibitionist society. We enjoy telling others what we're up to, what we had for breakfast, who we're meeting for coffee later. We enjoy the idea of someone knowing something about us as if we ourselves were celebrities.

I know I'm guilty of it as well. I have a Twitter account, I update my Facebook status (though usually it's just quotes that have caught my fancy rather than "Going out for groceries" "Back with groceries - man, eggs are expensive this week" etc, etc, etc.), I do enjoy watching my flickr photos hits go up... We all want to be loved, want to be impressive, want to be envied by those around us. It's human nature. Keeping up with the Jones' and all that (who are these mythical Jones anyway? They must've been total assholes.). Do we want people to know what we're up to because we want them to want to be us? To have our lives? Is that too cynical? Complete ridiculousness? Somedays I want to think so.

There are those that keep to themselves, I guess. J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, wrote the book in 1951 and gave his last interview in 1980. He published his last novella in 1961 and on the dust jacket, he wrote "It is my rather subversive opinion that a writer's feelings of anonymity-obscurity are the second most valuable property on loan to him during his working years."

In an interview in 1974 he said, "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing... I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure." I wonder if he ever thought Catcher in the Rye was a huge mistake? Whether he would've taken it all back if he could... He died this past January and all I think of is James Earl Jones from Field of Dreams. Darth Vader does Salinger's demands of privacy from Robin Hood. Ridiculous, huh?

Maybe it's a generational thing. I read an article a couple weeks ago on the fact that kids were becoming more self-centred and less empathetic because of all these web connections. They're more concerned about how they look than the actual connections they're making on Facebook. It's like adding people from high school - you boost your friends number, get to see whether they've succeeded, get to laugh at them when they fail or have gotten massively huge on beer and late-night pizza in university, etc, etc, etc. You're never going to talk to them but you'd like a glimpse into their lives.

Where was I going with all this? Oh yeah, oversaturation and the disconnect. Having all of these technologies at our fingertips to share ourselves with the world seems to make people want to share their innermost thoughts with the world (no problem there) but also makes connections harder. I mean, you update your Twitter with a 140-character summary, you connect that to your Facebook where people who follow you on both get a double whammy of "Making pancakes. Forgot to put in two eggs. Whoops." By the time you get through with that, you're so tired, you don't want to go to blog form because then you'd actually have to flesh out those 140 characters with thoughts, feelings, commentary, etc. If you have a a written journal (pens and paper... whaaaaaat?), you just feel exhausted because you've already shared those thoughts with the world and don't feel like writing it all down again. Phew.

The disconnect? Well, I send and receive way more text messages than I get or make phone calls because it's easier to get to the point with people sometimes. Sometimes you don't feel like talking. Sometimes you don't want to talk to that person and it's easier. Phone calls don't have edits, don't have backspace keys, don't delay things in order to come up with the right response.

We feel disconnected from those around us because we spend so much time creating this image for others to see - an image that is the very best of us so people will love us, be impressed by us, and envy us. But mostly love us.

Because life really just is a PR campaign. :p Don't even get me started on the impact of this on interviews and resumes... sheeeeeet.

Photo of the Day:

Back deckness. Kinda grainy but I didn't want to use the flash and when I went to a lower shutter speed, it wouldn't focus properly. Yarg.

Quote of the day:

"There are things you do because they feel right and they make no sense and they may make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other's cooking and say it was good." - Quote of the day from Storypeople

My first article as an intern...

... though they didn't put my name down beside it... ah well.

Greene and Howe Win The 34th U.S. Bank Pole, Pedal, and Paddle

On May 15, competitors stood at the start line of the The 34^th U.S. Bank Pole, Pedal, and Paddle in Bend, Oregon. After a cold and wet spring, the weather cooperated with 76 degrees and an overcast sky.

The race started at Mt. Bachelor, with a moderate Grand Slalom alpine run, followed by a five mile cross country skate race, a 23 mile road ride down into the town of Bend, OR, a five mile trail run by the river, a mile and a half paddle, and finished with a half mile sprint.

The MBSEF fundraiser event brought in 985 entries with 3,005 racers competing as teams, pairs and individuals. According to Race Director, Molly Kelley, 50 percent of participants come from out of town.

“It was the largest we’d ever seen,” said Kelley, who, before she was involved with the race, used to leave town because it would fill up with people coming in to compete and to watch.

This year’s winner, and five-time champion, was Marshall Greene. He found it to be exciting but also a relief because he worried about XC Oregon teammate, Andrew Boone. “I was racing scared,” Greene admitted.

Greene accidentally flipped his boat while getting in at the paddle transition, something that could have cost him the race. “It was time for a snap decision,” he said. “Take it back to shore to dump or race with a bit of extra weight.”

He decided to race with the extra weight and won.

His favourite part though, was the support of spectators, “Having won before, lots of people have learned my name and having them all cheer for me by name was pretty awesome.”

Boone switched up his training this past winter, from base miles on the bike to skiing and racing as an associate for XC Oregon. “I was amazed at how quickly I was able to train at a high level on the bike [after finishing the ski season].”

Boone expected to make a move in the cycling leg – his primary sport – but had flat legs after the ski and couldn’t get his heart rate up. He ended up second, three seconds behind Greene. However, it didn’t keep him from enjoying the experience. “I love the crowds and the enthusiasm the whole town of Bend has during the event. It seems like everyone in town all of a sudden has a kayak on the roof of their car.”

On the women’s side, Stephanie Howe was the overall winner of the elite women.

“My goal this year was to podium – I had no idea I was going to win. It didn’t actually hit me that I could win until I was finishing the kayak leg of the race.”

She was fourth going into the running leg, three minutes behind eventual second place, Sarah Max. “I was hammering pretty hard but it felt good. The run to the finish was awesome – I was smiling the whole time.”

Max had issues of her own, tipping her boat twice during the paddle leg. “Going around the first buoy, the wind, my exhaustion and the pressure got the best of me and I went over… I almost caught Stephanie going into the second buoy but tipped again.”

When asked whether they’ll race again next year, the competitors were of mixed feelings.

“Going into the race, I had made up my mind to not race as an individual next year because it really does consume a lot of time,” said Max, “[but] I’m not sure how I feel about being the reigning champion of the Pole, Pedal, Paddle, Swim, Paddle, Swim, Paddle.”

Boone, who raced the PPP as a kid, plans to make it an annual tradition as long as he continues to live “in this great town.”

Mascot Theory

So, the London mascots are here to be seen... The National Post put out this article titled "Olympic Mascots: Who's laughing now, London?" which made me burst into laughter... whoever came up with that headline deserves a prize of the Ed Henczel variety.

Here's the article, if you want to read it.

Then you can go to the London Olympic Mascot Website Here

Wenlocke and Mandeville are pieces of steel molded from leftovers of the piping for the London Olympic stadium. Or at least that's what the video that they created on their website says.

They've each got one eye that's supposed to be a camera, they don't talk, they barely have mouths, and they look almost like a cross between characters off a TV show I used to watch as a kid:

1 binome

+

1 null

=

"Oh hey guys... nope, this isn't some sort of joke... we're the mascots..."

See where I'm coming from? C'mon, England... 18 months and god knows how many hundreds of thousands of British pounds and this is what you come up with?

Alright, alright, throwback to the working class - steel. Okay.

One eyeball in each mascot - camera, eyes are all on London. Sure.

But they still come off looking like a cross between a Star Trek symbol gone wrong and some sort of sextoy...

People like cute and cuddly. Especially when it comes to mascots. Especially when it comes to Olympic mascots. You should've seen it here during the Olympics. Sumi, Quatchi and all the rest were fuzzy little creatures that your 3 year old was not afraid to snuggle up in their bed with and they were flying off the shelves. Mandeville and Wenlock look like the stuff that three year old will be revisiting as an origin point for therapy years later. Okay, okay, maybe not quite so bad but really? This is what you really want to go with?

Even the names sound stiff... Wenlock - named for the village that hosted a precursor to the Modern Olympic Games in the 19th century, and Mandeville - which more likely sounds like the setting of a bad Sherlock Holmes knock-off or Thomas Hardy sequel than the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.

Aaaanyway, I'll stop whinging... I'm sure they'll be a great splash... though judging from the media backlash, this seems more like a karmic smack to the British for when their press tried to bring down the Vancouver Games...

It's like getting a sunburn because you forgot to put on your sunscreen and the press is that jerk who comes along and thinks it's funny to wind up and give you a big slap... Sorry, London... By taking on the Games, you've just lost a slap bet and this is Slap #1.

Hypocrisy is the Lubricant of Society

Okay, this has been something that's been bugging me for awhile since we learned about it in ethics class...

Chris, Khaled, and I were riding back home after Hammerfest to Horseshoe Bay (haha) and down by Science World last Sunday and we came across a police car blocking the seawall. There were police boats out on the water using poles to try and dredge the water. My first thought was that someone went in to do a post-race cold "bath" to flush the lactate out, slipped, bashed his/her head, and went under.

I was partly right.

Using my super sleuth j-school skills (aka being in the right place at the right time and eavesdropping on a cop), I found out that a 20 year old male came down post-Sun Run, took off all his clothes, went into the water, and didn't back come out.

The article's here...

So, the deal is that, as a rule, suicides are not reported on. Which sucks because now I won't get any more information on it as it is being treated as a suicide... It's more confusing to me than anything...

Suicides supposedly incur copycatting. It's why you always hear about "incidents" on Lion's Gate Bridge, instead of what's actually happening. Which is bullshit really because you're a) just using a euphemism to try to pretty it up instead of saying what's really happening, and b) it's completely ridiculous because everyone knows exactly what you're talking about. Which is almost insulting.

Anyway, that's not my real issue. My real issue with it is to do with the copycat factor. You think that if a depressive hears about someone else killing themself, they're going to think, 'Gee, a bridge. Never thought of that one before. I'm in.' No. Fair enough the thought of it being the easy way out and 'wouldn't it be easier' and yada yada but I think there's more of a chance that someone's going to copycat a school shooting or a murder than a suicide. And we still report on those...

Mental health is one of the biggest issues right now and I don't think there's enough focus on it. I've dealt with the issue of suicide in my life - people around me. It's hard, it's scary, and it's messy to deal with because you're terrified you're not helping... that maybe you might make it worse... but I don't think that's reason enough to not talk about it.

Or maybe it's being brushed aside, judging from all the over-medicating we seem to be doing in this day and age.

I can't really come to terms with that stuff. I mean, I understand that some people need medication in order to balance their brain chemistry because it actually is out of wack but I'm afraid that some people are being given stuff to cope when they don't really need it. Like, it's just a quick fix. Kids as young as 4 are being given drugs in order to balance them out... 4! You've got to be kidding me! What could they possibly need drugs for at that age? I mean, sure, the chemistry imbalance again, sure, but there are way too many being medicated to blame on that.

I dunno...

Adventures of Tomato Girl

I've been meaning to write in the past week but haven't because it's been a pain in the ass to not have reliable internet. Khaled's since fixed that with his awesome Britishness... okay, maybe with his mad skills but whatever. The Googles are mine! Bwahaha

So, last weekend went climbing with Khaled and Andy up at Squamish. So awesome. I originally went to take some pics but they convinced me to climb in my skater shoes. It went alright except regularly I wear them loose enough to be able to slip in and out of so about a quarter of the way up I almost lost the right one and then halfway up almost lost it again. Ah well. Next time I'll have real climbing shoes.

Khaled kicking some ass up the rock.

Sunday I went riding with Louise, Seb, and Khaled. We rolled out to Richmond thinking that it would be drier out there. It wasn't. We did River Road towards New West and back through Burnaby. By the time I got home, my hands were white and my feet turned funny colours in the shower and itched like fiends.

The "Get a Job" front has been pretty slow... I've dropped some resumes off and had some interviews for serving jobs. I kinda want to get a job with some quick money (Tiiiiiips!). haha

Had an interview Friday with the Museum of Vancouver for their summer program assistant position. I think it went really well but then the interview was pretty chill and the interviewer was really casual so it was pretty easy to get through it.

Went frisbee golfing Friday afternoon with Nick and Jon. I was awful. I don't have the confidence to just huck the driver hard because I'm afraid my skills (or lack thereof) will a) put it through a neighbourhood window, or b) hit a tree three feet away and come back to smash me in the face. Well, okay, not quite that suck but you never know.

That night I went to see Exit Through the Gift Shop with friend of friends, Seb.

Trailer here

It's about one of the most infamous graffiti artist in the world, Banksy, created this film about a dude who became obsessed with the street art culture and became one himself. It was pretty interesting because it felt like he spent all this time with these graffiti artists then, when he decided to become one himself, he used the endorsements of these other infamous artists to sell himself to the public. When he was interviewed, Banksy seemed kinda pissed. I would be... haha

Banksy Art:

Today was Bikes and Beers at the Beach Day. I originally had the idea of doing a long ride today - Horseshoe Bay or Lighthouse Park and then chillaxing out there but Cody proposed the idea of a more relaxed ride in town. So, we met up down by Super Champs and rode up and around Stanley Park to hang out at Third Beach. It's my favourite beach because it takes a lot more to get there than, say, English Bay or Kits Beach.

It was lovely. The sun was out in full force. Even though I had SPF 30 on, and reapplied it over and over, I'm still Tomato Shouldered Linnaea, which sucks. I need to drink more water. :p I was roasted so decided I might take off for the day, maybe come back home and nap. Louise convinced me to go for a jump in the ocean (it was awesome!) and then was nice enough to lend me a long sleeve shirt so I could hang out a bit longer. I'm burnt anyway but ah well.

Tonight was a showing at Grandview Park put on by the R.A.I.N. There's been talks of a redevelopment of Grandview Park by the "Friends of Grandview Park" in order to essentially get the riff raff out.

From their site:

the park is…

1. “Chronically overrun by illegal inhabitants.”

2. Used for “drug dealing and hard drugs.”

3. “The chosen location of illegal protesters.”

4. “The design of the playground encourages loiter¬ing of non-families.”

5. “The unsanctioned use of tennis courts by the bi¬cycle polo club”
means that the “… tennis courts (are) no longer available for parents
to teach their kids how to ride bikes.”

It's a little silly, you have to admit.

Drug dealing and hard drugs? Well, it's kind of a stretch to think that this is the only place that's going to go down. Granted, fair enough that you don't want to deal with that sort of thing if you have kids playing there.

The chosen location of illegal protesters? Have you been to the Art Gallery? Do you hear them whining? Give me a break.

Encouraging loitering of non-families? Oh, I'm sorry. I can't go play on a swingset or sit on a park bench in Grandview because I didn't get knocked up with a kid to bring with me? I have to go visit Rent'a Kid before I can hang out there? There are no words.

And teaching your kid to ride bikes in a tennis court? Are you kidding me? I learned on grass so that when I bailed (and you do...), it didn't give me road rash all up the left side of my body.

It's like these people sat down and pulled out a barrel of excuses and at the end of their meeting all they had was the grimy sludge at the bottom but they still slapped it on paper and trundled down to the Parks Board to complain. Use your energy for better use, kids. Maybe ask for more green space so everyone can enjoy these things. Bike polo players need milieus too.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go ride Horseshoe Bay. Kind of regretting putting out an official "meet up here at 10 am" though I'm sure everyone will be off brunching with their mothers anyway. :p

Photo du Jour:

Corey's neighbour's cat Blossom. She's cute and cuddly and is known to have fleas. I miss snuggly furry little creatures.

Quote du Jour:

"If the English language made any sense a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur." - Doug Larson