Tales of a vagrant ant

As ridiculous as this is, i’ll be going on a haitus for a while… When I come back, I’ll be moving everything to….
*drum roll please*

jominglau.com!!
huzzah!
Nothing there yet, but patience young grasshopper!
Yeah, i’ve registered my domain name, and i’ve gotten hooked up with some really cheap hosting ($95, for LIFE!) so i’ll be able to hopefully host mostly everything in one place!

Anyways, i’ll be tinkering away at putting that site live in the near future, but with the craziness of life these days, its hard to say when i’ll get this done… I AM paying for the domain name though, so maybe that spending of money will spur me to do something..

But in general, i’ve been doing pretty well! I’m still working at Visible Strategies, and i’ve moved out to Kitsilano with my lovely friend Dear. Work is going pretty well, right now i’m in the marketing department which is kind of weird for me, but it’s interesting… not sure if i’m entirely cut out to be in that role though.. We will see what happens.
I’m still going to bed way too late, and in crappy news, my arms are starting to hurt from being on the computer too much. argh..
anyways, until next time!

Am in some transitionary times right now… about to move into my new place, roommating with my dear friend Dear… yay! more to upload later, it’s been so long since i’ve posted properly… geez…. for now, please enjoy the following video i made! :p

Yeah, it’s sad, but this is what my blog has been reduce dto… After about a month of not blogging, i post a survey… about movies. I wish i wasn’t so braindead, geez. but when all they ask you to do is to put an X, it’s kind of tempting,. i will definitely get another post this weekend… some time to actually reflect on the past two months of craziness at work, and chinese new year, and all the madness! life has been pretty good, but i think that the “grind” has defintiely been wearing on me. I still haven’t finished blogging about my road trip across america… almost 8 months now. how sad is that? arggh….but i shall be done before a year is nigh! Anyways, back the survey!

Supposedly you’ve seen over 85 of the films listed, you have no life. There are 239 films on this list. I didn’t actually make this list up but apparently I have nothing better to do than to fill out junk like this…if you already think that you have a life don’t bother filling this thing out. My total was movies… so apparently I have a life. *sigh* if only it were true. So here goes!
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Whatever you do, don’t click on this. just don’t do it! But no, you just won’t listen, will you….

Man, spam these days….
What the frak are they even trying to say? I know it’s absolutely nothing, but it’s just interesting how they take snippets of text from the news, and send it as spam.. I got this while I was on the job search… damn you, spam!!
wow, i can’t beleive i just wasted a precious minute of your lives, with spam. :p

Subject: Nitrogen

Experience leading project teams and dealing directly with the client. Must be able to Stamp in Florida.
If any, please tell us about any FL DOT experience.
What level of education have you attained?
Performs complex equipment trial runs, investigative tests, repairs and overhauls.
Why are you interested in a utility engineering manager position in south Florida? Engineering degree completed, when and where. Our client is actively looking for a Senior Project Manager to work in the Jacksonville, Florida area.
Microsoft Office knowledge is important. Relocation may be provided for the right candidate. Our client will provide references if needed.
Qualified candidates MUST be a U.
Ability to travel while considering budget priorities. Describe your experience with munitions research, design and development.
Describe the largest project that you worked on. Will diagnose and troubleshoot major truck electronic and electrical systems using computerized diagnostic equipment. Give an example where you ensured that goals and objectives of a program were accomplished within prescribed time frame and budget parameters. Describe your expertise in water chemistry, water and wastewater engineering designs.
Florida Utility Company has immediate need for an Electric Utility Transmission Planning Engineer. Large general contracting firm in southern Florida is actively seeking SUPERINTENDENTS. Contact Info:Please apply online at www. Other relevant industries include aerospace, food, pulp and paper, and pharmaceutical. Individuals with PE registration other than Florida must procure Florida registration within one year of appointment. These are long term contract positions.
As an Electrical Engineer? The ability to develop procurement documents to support statements of work and technical specification and test plans is desired. Architect needed for direct hire position in South , FL. Are you available to accept an immediate assignment?
Do you have forensic or investigative experience?
Please describe the most difficult project over which you had responsibility. Understanding of structural and thermal finite element analysis including static, transient, linear, and nonlinear modeling is required.

I feel like this 2006 recap and new year stuff is long past in the blogosphere, but tough beans… so here’s my recap of 2006, and a glimpse at 2007. 2006 treated me pretty well, all in all. I was able to get in a fair bit of travelling fun in there, and getting more into the Vancouver environmental scene. I do feel that I’ve come a ways, and it’s amazing what a year can do to a person. So here’s my year, in review.

January
Just got back from a trip to Japan, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and then visited Katie in North Carolina, spent New Years lost in Norfolk, Virginia, looking for our hotel for a hour and a half. The hotel had hot tub, which was nice. The water in it was lukewarm, stung my eyes and dyed the laces to my swimming trunks pink, which wasn’t so nice. I also visited the site of the Wright Brothers’ first flight. Also, had my first psilocybin trip. Extremely messed up, but enlightening. Started the job hunt again, after a half-hearted effort in the last months of 2005, because of impending paid family trip to Asia.

February
Carried on the family tradition of going to Kam’s Bakery and Restaurant with Mark, Jackie et al. My father has gone there for lunch with his co-workers almost everyday for the last 18 years. Continued job hunt in earnest, becoming more acquainted with Vancouver’s enviromental job network. Valentine’s was spent apart from Katie, but I sent her postcards from around the world, forming a special message. I think they all just kind of arrived in a blob though. Oops.

March
Scored a 6 month internship with Environmental Youth Alliance. My first environmentally-related job, which is a good start. It was a really lucky break, and was such a blast! It seems like so many people in the environmental field in Vancouver have been involved with EYA at some point or another, which is always a good sign. I was a Urban Agriculture Intern, and I spent most of the week in Strathcona Community Garden, an beautiful urban oasis less than 10 minutes from the downtown eastside, one of the roughest neighbourhoods in the country. It was a really neat experience, just being exposed to so many plants every day, getting my hands dirty and learning how to grow things every day! Every Wednesday, we had a “training” workshop, where an intern presented a workshop on anything they wanted. My workshop was on building marshmellow guns. I learned to salsa, juggle, play with poi, and make board games and hackey sacks. Good times!
Much of March, I spent in elementary schools. Along with two other people, we went into schools, and gave presentations to kids about food, and food security. We taught them where food comes from, how to make healthy food choices, and how to grow their own food.
Started a new bank account with Vancity to commemorate my new job. They gave me a green VISA, with pretty leafy designs. Part of the money I spend gets donated to worthy causes!
Helped throw a surprise birthday for my mom. When we turned the lights on and yelled “surprise”, she had this incomprehensible look on her face, and we didn’t know if she was happy and angry. But she was happy.

April
My family traded in our Toyota 4runner, and my sister got a new VW GTI. We christened her Fluffy, after her license plate (FLF). Joyee and I attended Vandigicam’s portrait throwdown, which was a really cool event through Flickr, and we were filmed for this french program on CBC.
Had a birthday hotpot dinner with my friends. It was spectacular, and good fun. My parents gave me a laptop for my birthday, which was really cool, since my old computer was getting pretty ancient.
Jenn Whiting had a trade show for her work in Vancouver, and came to visit! We had all-you-can-eat korean bbq + japanese food. So stuffed. Also took her to see the sights.

May
EYA sent us to the children’s festival at Vanier Park, where we helped a buttload of kids plant seeds, with the naturally degrading sugar-based plant pot. Also helped make a cob house.
Dear came to visit in Vancouver, and I took her sightseeing in Vancouver, and to Vancouver Island for a day trip, and saw Cathedral Grove a place with some of the most amazing trees ever, as well as a wine and cheese by the river. I also fulfilled a life goal of eating a nanaimo bar in nanaimo, by a bar (well, a pub)
Started volunteering for the thrive! guide, a sustainable living guide for the lower mainland. Got to help out with doing research for various sections of the guide.

June
June was a bit hectic… My parents had gone on vacation, and the World Urban Forum was going to Vancouver. That whole month was filled with all sorts of awesome things related to urban planning and sustainability. EYA asked me to help them facilitate some sessions for the World Youth Forum they helped put on, and I was also involved in other ways creating some a cool living plant art piece that was at the public library. I got to meet some rad folks at the World Youth Forum, some peeps from Vancouver, across Canada, and all over the world! For almost two weeks, I was hitting the ground running, from 7:30 until 11:30 some days. I also got to be part of a youth drafting committee at the World Forum, and we helped in getting input to draft a speech that would be read at the closing ceremonies of the World Urban Forum, in front of all sorts of world dignitaries and bigwigs.

July
Starting watching Battlestar Galactica, with Mark, Dan and Sarah.
Katie decided to move to Seattle for us to be closer together, and to try something new. She flew out for weekend for a job interview and to see a few apartments, and I went down, and like any good boyfriend should do, locked my car keys in the power-locked trunk of my car. I ended up fixing it, in a secret way that the car manufacturers didn’t tell me when I phoned for help.
Two weeks, later, I flew to Erie, Pennsylvania, and the two of us embarked on a road trip of epic proportions, driving across the United States, with her worldly possession and her pet rat in trusty Ezra, her dodge stratus. It was a pretty amazing trip, one that still pops into my head from time to time.

August
Nearing the end of my EYA internship, and starting to look for jobs again.
Was a stills photographer for my friend Yu’s film, Can’t See For Looking. Such gorgeous lighting there, and a really neat experience!
Started volunteering for the Vancouver Fruit Tree Project. Go to random houses to pick fruit that would go to waste, and donate to needy organizations! good times!
Mark prepares to leave for Law School in Dalhousie in Halifax. I am sad, but happy for him!
Go on an Alaskan Cruise with my parents, joyee and my grandma. Ate too much food, saw humpbacks all sorts of awesome things, and glaciers, and killer whales! Oh my!
Fly into Seattle from Anchorage, and visit Katie, and go to bumbershoot, and watch katie do tricks with dry ice!

September
EYA internship ends. Re-enter the ranks of the unemployed. Start applying for jobs, but not much luck, despite a few interviews, including one that went fabulously. I also learn how to use the mountable speedlight flash for my digital slr. Fun ensues

October
Attend Bridging Towards Borders, a conference on food security. EYA hooks me up again, by helping land me a scholarship from BLAST (building local agricultural systems todat), and I get to meet inspirational kids from all over the states who are working on food issues. It includes a sumptuous feast of local deliciousness!
Had a really sweet bus ride down to seattle, one where random strangers can connect really well, and I talk to two people most of the ride down to seattle to visit Katie.
1/2 decade anniversary with Katie! we’re so old, wow. We spend it in Olympic National Park, camping partly in the rain, and cooking in the forest darkness. Katie gets to see the Real Pacific Coast. A wonderful time!
Find a posting on craigslist for a chance to help communities become sustainable. I apply to Real Living Solutions, and start volunteering for them. Start volunteering for them a few times a week
Halloween spent in Seattle with Katie. I carve a spaghetti squash, that I also eat for dinner. Dual use! I carve it into the facade of an old man. He is awesome! Katie carves an also awesome snake!

November
November was a month of ridiculous weather… Starting with so much rain it caused brown water by creating landslides into local water reservoir.
I continued to volunteer with Real Living Solutions, and they decide to hire me for a month.
Katie comes up for her B-day, and we do the hotpot thing again. It is delicious!
After the ridiculous bout of rain, this is followed by some ridiculous artic weather, with almost 18 inches of snow. I don’t get to enjoy it all that much though, with work everyday. I get off work to darkness, and it’s not very fun to do that. We also lost power, and had a giant maple tree in my front yard fall over.
I was involved with a North Shore Sustainability Initiative, and was part of the citizenry that got together to brainstorm the kind of community they wanted to live in. It was really cool, and inspiring, giving me hope for living on the North Shore.

December
Work continues, and I start to work with volunteers, training them to do some of the gruntwork as well.
Suddenly realize it is December, and am baffled.
Real Living Solutions decides to keep me on in January! I am officially employed, and given a raise! However, work is stressful, and I’m not used to the pace of business, and business-speak. I’m also supposed to do two things for multiple people at once, all with the same degree of urgency. ack.
Am visiting Katie quite frequently in Seattle, taking the 4 hour bus ride, where I can read, draw, listen to music, and catch up on sleep. It’s mostly relaxing, except at the border. I visit for a few days before christmas holidays, and go see the ACTUAL Dead Sea Scrolls. They are small bits of old paper, but it’s amazing to think that they are from over 2000 years ago. Now I’m paranoid about leaving my homework in a strange place. Will it be found in a few thousands year time?
Mark, Yu, Pat and Sarah return from their respective schoolings from afar, and it was really nice seeing them all!
christmas eve and christmas was spent with family, having some delicious feasts at home.
For New Years, Katie came up, and we had a nice Peking Duck Dinner with friends, and then went to Jason’s house for New Year’s! We played games (Pit, Cranium, drinking games), and just missed New Year’s! We were all looking outside the window of the … whoa, fireworks…. Oh YEAH! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It’s been all in all, a pretty good year. Starting to feel like people are changing incrementally, turning into the people they want to become, getting “real” jobs, getting engaged, getting married. Time seems be going faster as well, and it seems like people are getting older, bodies starting to not work as well as it once did. This is one of the first years where I’ve counted Jan-Dec, rather than September-April. The abolishing of the semester schedule can be disconcerting at times, but I think that it’s a good change. And it will be interesting to see what 2007 will bring.

Here’s at some of the possibilities for 2007:

Continue working at this new job, and hopefully get to take on more responsibility within the company. Perhaps finally finding some sort of financial stability in my life, hopefully enough to move out of my parents, and actually experience living in Vancouver and paying exorbitant rent. Figuring out more clearly what it is I want from life. Getting more involved with the environmental scene in Vancouver, being on the board of directors for two non-profits! Hopefully growing some food. Weekend camping trips! Studying for GREs. Doing more, planning Less. Unbecoming a pack rat. Doing lots of photography. Being more active, and ungimping my knee.

Many belated best wishes to you all!

For once, I’m actually busy…. That’s because…
I’m gainfully employeeeed!!! wee! yeay!! well sort of employed, I think….
It’s kind of a fucky situation…. I started out volunteering for Real Living Solutions, as an intern… I had found a posting on craigslist from them… Title: Want to help communities become sustainable. I figured why not, and a few weeks later, I’m unofficially working there! My supervisor had been mentionning that there was the possibility of giving me incentives, possibly financial, or in other ways… I wasn’t a total keener on that (like I was, but I wasn’t actively approaching him on how to set it up), but I just kept plugging at it. Last week, I had gone into the office twice, and it was pretty good… I remember coming home feeling productive, which felt really nice, as opposed to sitting around at home….
So it’s unofficial as in I haven’t signed any sort of contract, but official, in that I’ve been putting in full days the past two days or so, after two weeks of doing stuff for them on an irregular basis. I’ll be on a one month probationary period, to see how I fit in their company, at which point i guess we’ll renegotiate a contract, if they like me!

I never really saw myself getting into it, but I’m essentially doing pre-sales marketing… Lookinng up potential clients, and preparing material to ge thtem interested. So I am doing a lot of internet research, which works out pretty well for me, since I’m pretty good at it… And what exactly is it that i’m trying to sell? Well essentially, it’s an online tool that helps organizations become more sustainable, but helping them model their operations around the prototypical triple-bottom-line sustainability model (environmental, social and economic) It’s a tool that makes the planning process of writing lengthy reports that nobody reads anyways, into a process that engages people, and lets them see how the different goals an organization (whether a community/city, an institution, or a progressive business) is aiming to achieve fit into the bigger picture of being sustainable. So really, it’s right down my lane, in terms of helping communities become more sustainable. The duties themselves that I’m doing aren’t necessarily building up my skills a lot, but I’m learning a lot, just by having so much exposuree to all these things… Learning about what kinds of things cities are doing, and coming into contact with a lot of people who have jobs that look really cool to me! So as far as I know, I’m working pretty much 5 days a week.

In some ways, I’m essentially doing what I’ve been doing at home, learning about urban planning, and sustainability, but now i’m getting paid to do it, and meeting people who are actually doing it! So I’m pretty pleased… There is a bit of me that is nagging inside, as to how whether this is a good choice, in terms of what I need in my career right now. I feel like I don’t have tons of clear-cut skills, and this job is pretty informal particularly in terms of its organization… everyone just does everything, really… so I’m not sure there is that typical progression, in terms of gaining skills… Would it be good to start in this kind of environment, where there’s not really a sense of clear-cut responsibilities to structure myself? Perhaps I should take this chance, to see how high I can go, in taking on those responsibilities… hmmmm, interesting. So we’ll see how this goes… It’s definitely a change to my schedule… Even though I’ve been on the computer as much as at home, I don’t feel the liberty of surfing wildly at will, or catching up on blogs and such, so I’ve been pretty behind in all that stuff… So i’ll have to establish a new routine. Hopefully a more balanced routine, where I can have a balance of activities. My supervisor had a great idea for getting enough sleep, and just sleeping better. Put your desk lamp on those timers that break the circuit at a given time, so that when bedtime rolls around, it’ll just cut your light off, and then when you need to wake up, it’ll come on, and wake you with light, instead of a blaring alarm, like i’ve been using lately. I should give it a shot and see how it goes.

In the other parts of my life, I’ve been seeing Katie a lot, which has been nice… She came up this weekend, for her birthday! So that was really nice… Went to capone’s for some live jazz and dessert on saturday, and then the fish hatchery and watching some battlestar galactica on sunday as well as a delicious birthday dinner at hotpot, then a cool medicinal herb workshop on monday at the Strathcona community garden, where we made a tincture! You know, those healing items you use in video games.. haha. I bought her the first season of Pinky and the Brain on DVD for her birthday… teehee, it’s 471 minutes of brainy goodness! Narf!

And before I go, I leave you with something I made from the amazing Chatfu comic strip generator. I am the monkey, and Katie is the human. Two reasons I love her… 1) She can make sense of the gibberish that comes out of my mouth (”fro man, that draws…”), and because she has a bob ross t-shirt!

created using chatfu - a comic strip generator

Haha, these are a bit late, but thought I would share anyways…

I didn’t get up to much for Halloween, just took it mellow in Seattle with Katie and gave out candy. Only 3 kids came to the door though… And we bought 3 BAGS! dammit kids, where are you?

I’ve been having fun with the jack ‘o lanterns lately… Katie carved snakey, while my creation, the old man is actually a spaghetti squash that we ate too! (Two uses in one!)

Us Posing with our pumpkins

And lastly, the many faces of the old man…

Apprehension. Laughter. Fear.

And because i’m feeling narcissistic, click here for some photos
that I’ve taken the past few years… oh joy!

That’s all folks…

I’ve been playing around with Flock, and used it to blog this post… it’s pretty fun!

technorati tags:Halloween

that’s basically how i’ve been lately…
i haven’t really been hanging out with people much, except for my sister, and Katie… Part of it is career-induced, i think, or the lack thereof.
Being in the lucky position of being able to live at home and save money, i’ve been able to try and get a job that’s a bit more desirable than not. But I haven’t gotten anything yet, and beyond starting to get a bit stir-crazy, i’ve been almost… embarassed that i haven’t gotten anything yet, to the point where I’d almost just avoid social situations where I have to explain yet again that yes, i’m still fuckin unemployed… So it’s not that I’ve forgotten about other people… but feeling like I need to have something to show to everyone else… :S
I’ve been making progress though…. making more contacts in the right places, and getting the low-down on certain jobs and learning of opportunities I might not’ve otherwise. Met some dude on the quickshuttle down to seattle that told me about jobs at the airport, and people I know are just sending me jobs as well.
So I feel like things are just looking up in that regard…
But speaking of Seattle, I went down last weekend, for my anniversary with Katie… Half a decade… ridiculous, I say! On Friday the 13th, no less. Despite a few setbacks, like a flat tire right before I left, necessitating the use of the bus, and the lackage of space to bring down presents, it was still a fantastic weekend! We went camping in Olympic National Park in Washington, and it was a really good time. Took the ferry across to Bainbridge Island, and arrived at our campsite in darkness. Then we cooked dinner, the kind that is romantic in the cook-and-eat-in-blackness-that-is-the-forest-in-our-fleece way. That salmon fillet was perfect though. Cooked to perfection (even if it took two trys), and served with salad.
There was something so primal, in how the only worries were to set up shelter, and to cook and eat our meal. Nothing else, except not getting eaten by wild animals, and the blackness of night.
The next day, we explored the park, going through 3 distinct ecosystems within the span of a few hour’s drive. Subalpine meadows at Hurricane Ridge, down to windswept trees & sea stacks at Ruby Beach, to moss-covered bohemoths of trees in Hoh rainforest.
And even if it poured rain the 2nd night, it was enough to know that she was with me, in my arms. The forest had their branches over us, sheltering us from the brunt of the downpour.
I wish I had uploaded some pictures, but I haven’t had the time yet… That place was just amazing.
This past weekend, Katie came up to visit, and we made some acorn squash, baked, and stuffed with pears and nuts, with some shake ‘n bake chicken. A bubblebath, and then some battlestar galactica before we went to bed. We also finally got the chance to give some presents. A slow cooker for her, and a comic , plus the first season of Animaniacs for me! yippee!!
Went to Lighthouse Park on sunday, and we went tidepooling, and just admired the massive trees, and the scent of fall in the forest.
So it’s a bit of a mixed bag… but I have the feeling that things are only going to get better!

Today was a pretty decent day, I guess…
Woke up much later than I wanted… about 12:15 or so in the afternoon? Ugh, I’ve got to stop the stupid habit of going to bed so late… I’ve been trying to figure out what it is exactly that keeps me up late… During the night when I’m on the computer, I have a sense of, “I’ll just finish doing this”, and I’ll just keep doing things until next thing you know, it’ll be like 3 or 4am… just argh.. I dunno what it is… I think I just feel like I really don’t feel like I have anything to wake up for, being unemployed and living at my parents… so I don’t. But it’s fucking annoying, so I’ve decided to set a schedule to instigate some structure into my life. No more of this drifting through the days business.
Anyways, I had driving lessons in the afternoon… Learning stick shift, so that I can free myself from my house.. muhahaha. I’m making some progress… It’s going to just be a matter of practicing, and getting comfortable with it.
Then I went to see a film playing on the vancouver international film festival. Saw Our Daily Bread, which essentially shows you how the food that you eat gets to your plate. A really powerful documentary that shows one of the things that I hate most about our “industrialized” society.
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(edit: I’ve fixed the photos, having uploaded them to flickr instead of using the bogus yahoo links… so yay, pictures!)

Yet again, It’s been a while… I really suck at this whole blogging thing, but yet, I don’t give up. I’m still here, kicking at the dregs of blogdom. It’s not that I haven’t been online, I have been, probably excessively… Applying for jobs, reading blogs (and yes, not writing them), and surfing a buttload. In some ways, I think i’m a bit obsessed with information. There’s so much going on with the world, so many stories of heart-wrenching tragedy, and also of soaring hope, as well as inanity. I’m caught up in the endless sharing of ideas that the internet helps facilitate, and I’m definitely trying to wean myself off of it. It’s just too much information, and what I need to learn to do is synthesize. There must be some way to make use of this knowledge, to harness it, and to share it with the world…

There’s this brilliant tool called del.icio.us… It’s essentially and online bookmarking system, where you can share your links, as well as add useful tags to help you remember or share this information. For anybody who’s interested, you can see what I’ve been surfing here. I’m going to try to make it a sidebar on this blog so that it’s easier to see.
After the cut, I’ll talk about my trip to Alaska (with lots and lots of pictures!), and a little ramble of the thoughts in my head lately…
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Alright, this is the “long awaited” road trip post… It’s been a friggin month since my road trip, and I’ve been trying to write it down in my paper journal for posterity.. Partly to just keep writing when I’ve got some time on the bus or whatnot… But it has just taken a while to chronicle.
But at last, I’m done… This is going to be a mofo of a post… Epic, perhaps, and definitely photo intensive… dial up connections beware!

edit: I’m just going to break this down into smaller chunks… I think 2-3 day pieces
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Hello world,

I’ve been meaning to post earlier, and write about my fantastic road trip across the US with Katie, but alas, it has been a busybusy time. I’ve spent the last week writing in my journal just to wrap my brain around everything that we did on the trip, and this past weekend, my friend Yu asked me to be the movie stills photographer for her short film, so this weekend has been been a write-off. Katie was even supposed to come up this weekend, but at the last minute, I realized that I would most likely be staying there realllly late every day, and that this weekend wouldn’t be the best time. Good idea, since I ended up getting home the past two days at 3am and 1am, respectively. Wouldn’t have left much time to spend with my love, would it? But helping out with this film has been such a fascinating learning experience… Just the work that goes into creating a scene… Simply amazing. And I was able to get a few good shots, even though my lenses aren’t quite fast enough, resulting in a number of blurry blurry shots. It was also my first time really shooting with professional lighting, which was super spiffy! Will post photos when I download them!

But I’m still chugging away at this my road trip chronicles… I have not forgotten ye! So Hang in there, peeps! Wonders shall abound!
Peace.

p.s. oh, I came up with a lame joke! Wanna hear it? Guess you don’t have a choice!

Q: What did the ball say when it wanted to leave?
A: “Let’s roll!”
*Ba-dum-chhhhh*

Well, I’m back in Vancouver again… It feels like I just had a weekend, but it’s only friday tommorow. It was so nice being able to hold Katie in my arms again, to have the warmth of human contact to ground us both. Damn it’s been a long time. Even something like having your back stroked as you fall sleep is something that really does sooth the soul. Just that was more than worth the effort to drive down. I find that I don’t mind it a whole lot, but rather it’s the idea of driving so far, and using all that gas that upsets me more…

I did feel the effects of being away from each other for so long though… There is definitely a sense of synchronicity that wasn’t quite matched up, or that we were unused to. Even when I went up to her hotel room, imagining how I would greet her, she was there, walking down the hall, not to find me, but rather to fight off starvation by getting a snack in the lobby. Or even just the cadence of our thoughts are a bit assymetrical, because as much as two people can talk on the phone, there are those subtle nuances when the whole range of non-verbal communication is factored in. That said, I’m sure the stress and excitement of moving to a new place, where you know almost nobody, job uncertain, housing uncertain, packing up your life in a car, and driving across america would make a mess of the minds of many people.

And I’ve decided that what I need isn’t the most sophisicated alarm clock on the planet, but just Katie to fall asleep to, to regulate my impaired sleeping habits. When all you have is a body pillow and some stuffed animals, there’s just no incentive for me to get to bed. Give me a warm body to snuggle up to anyday. It’s like I’m feeding off of her circadian rhythms.

There were a few moments of ridiculousness on this trip. It was Wednesday night, and we were trying to grab some food in downtown Seattle, and for the life of us, we couldn’t find any good restaurants that were open. Apparently Downtown Seattle is a hotbed of french dinner cuisine. Escargot, veal, duck and cheese plates galore, but it just wasn’t that kind of night. There was this one restaurant with appetizers going for almost $10, and entrees going for $25-35 cdn. Ugh. We did end finding a gem of an african restaurant, and we got this delicious sample plate of different african curry dishes. The other incident, which is possibly one of the more ridiculous things to happen to me, is that as we were putting our luggage into the trunk of my car (which is actually my mom’s), I guess I had put the keys in the cardboard box in the trunk as I was rearranging everything. As the trunk was swinging shut, I had this pang of panic as I heard the solid thunk of the trunk closing, and the flashing brake lights signalling the trunk was locked, to prevent thieves from getting into it.
Sure enough, I was NOT in possession of these keys. Instead, the cardboard box inside the largely impenetrable trunk was now holding the keys hostage. Katie had just run off to get directions to this apartment she was going to look at, and I felt my heart sink. Fuckfuckfuck.

I had overheard stories with my dad’s friends about the keys for these new mercedes. She had thought she had lost the keys to her car one time, and had to reissue a specially programmed key and remote, costing hundreds of dollars. And here I was in downtown Seattle, about 300 kilometres from Vancouver, and the spare keys (at home), and a girlfriend who had gone to find directions to an apartment I was driving to see with her, in half a hour. Just peachy. We called Lang Towing, the operator of the parking lot, and they arrived in about 20 minutes and were kind of helpful. At least they were pleasant. Katie said she had this one dude arrive and he just sat and laughed at her plight. They opened the door to the car alright, but in doing so set off the alarm, which disabled the power locks. So we were sitting here, siren just going nuts, with no way to get into the trunk. The dude basically shrugs, and tells me to phone my dealership, and then try to get them to use my vehicle ID number to get a new key/remote cut/programmed for me at a seattle dealership. Hmm, good idea! Either that, or hire a locksmith to get a new key, which would cost a pretty penny and then some. He wishes us good luck, and tells us to be on our way. Somewhat relieved to at least be in the car, I’m sitting in the passenger seat and put down my bags,, when I realize that i should get a hold of the dealership. I get out of the car, and close the door.
I hear Katie’s voice right beside me, “Don’t close the —” *THUNK*
greattt… yay for my incompotence. Now her purse is stuck in there, with her ID and wallet. She’s supposed to leave today to go back home at 7:50. It’s currently lunchtime.

So we go to the hotel’s business centre to find the number to my mom’s dealership. They tell me that if I have Teleaid, they can send someone over and just a code to pop the trunk. But of course, our family didn’t count on my incompetence to leave the keys in the trunk. So they say they can send someone from Downtown road assistance to fix it.

“They can open the trunk to get my keys?”
“Yeah, they can fix the problem for you. They’ll be there in 45 minutes, or less”

Relieved, we sneak a copy of the USA Today, while we wait outside for the downtown road assistance to arrive. We get a call on Katie’s phone 40 minutes later asking where we were, and if we needed to replace a flat tire. Things are NOT looking good, and we’re both skeptical of this person’s ability to help us in any way whatsoever. Sure enough, they arrive, and have even more trouble than the first person, just getting our door open, while we futilely try to explain to him that the keys are in the trunk, and that we CANNOT open the trunk. He asks us if we’ve pressed the trunk release, which we have done already, but is non-functional from the disabling of the power locks, and even after we tell him we have, he is insistent on pressing the trunk release himself. After attempting this, he tells me exactly what the last person told me, that he can’t help me, and that I should look into getting spare keys UPSed from Vancouver, or get the car towed to the local seattle dealership, and get them to open it somehow, if i don’t want to pay a locksmith hundreds to get me a new key.

So I phone the vancouver dealership to basically tell them that they didn’t help me at all. I was transferred all over, to this man with a british accent to told me that I was most likely SOL. The one chance I had was to bring it to the seattle dealership. The car. Tow it to the dealership, and MAYBE they might be able to help me, and maybe see if I have TeleAid But most likely, I wouldn’t be able to open it, because you DEFINITELY can’t just program remotes to open specific cars. Argh. I get the seattle dealership’s number from him, and tell my sob story to this other guy who says that they probably can’t do anything for me, but that he would look into a few things and then call me back. At this point, I’m envisioning my mom having to drive down to seattle to bring the spare keys down, and katie having to take a cab to the airport, and not be able to see ANY apartments at all. Aggravated, I start pushing buttons on the dashboard, and I hit the button for the hazard lights. which is one button away from the power unlock button. And lo and fucking behold, all the locks are released with the resounding click. My mouth drops, and I dash outside and sure enough, the trunk is unlocked.

In-fucking-compotence.

All of those mercedes dudes, the roadside assistance people, and especially me. After all that, i could have opened it if I had missed the power unlock button by an inch. As we’re driving, the guy from the seattle dealership phones and tells me he has bad news for me. I tell him I have good news for him, that I’m currently driving down the street.
Katie and I go see this cute little apartment with a view of the Space needle, a little studio with a walk-in closet. It’s cute, but a bit pricey at $675 + utilities… Otherwise, it’s a pretty sweet deal, even if the kitchen is small. There’s another place a few floors up with a great view of the water for an extra $75. There’s another place we tried to look at elsewhere, but it turned out to be some random house with no one around, so we gave up on that.
Next stop was the Pacific Science Center, where she had to drop off a completed application form. I had some drama for me at the Subway instead. I really needed to make use of their restroom facilities, after not going all morning, so I amble in and do my business. As I come out, a dude tells me that I now have to go buy something. I go line up, but it’s so damn long, and I’ve paid for 10 minutes of parking, so while he’s cleaning a table, so when I turn the corner, and boot out of there. I faintly heard his insistent voice trailing behind me, but I lose him as the sounds of traffic rush past me.
We go to Pike place market next, driving past the original star bucks store. There’s this amazing group of acapella soul-singers. They were just amazing. Had sandwiches for lunch. BBQ salmon sandwich. Yum. and walk around. It’s a pretty neat place. Lots of delicious looking food, and neat little shops. Somehow, I needed to go the bathroom again, and I just wanted to check out this crazy auto-cleaning bathroom they have at the market. It has little sliding elevator doors to the room, and this crazy cleaning function. I felt like I was on the set of star trek. But as I was doing my business, I kept hearing whirring and clicking noises, and I peed in constant fear of getting myself sprayed and sanitized. Luckily I survived. Next thing we knew, it was time to for Katie to leave Seattle. She’s arriving back in Erie, and then going straight to Tobermory for some camping with her family. Should be a fun time! And then in just another week, I’ll be with her again, setting out to drive across America, to move out here! ahhhhhh!! craziness!
And now, I’m pooped.

Life’s going so fast these days. It’s July 5th, and I can hardly believe it. So here’s a re-cap.

I swear it was just yesterday that I was getting ready to go to the world youth forum and the world urban forum. Slightly apprehensive with the prospect of facilitating so many passionate and socially conscious-minded youth from all around the world for the weekend. But the World Youth Forum went relatively well, all in all, given our logistical limitations. If anything, the organizers were maybe a bit overambitious in what they wanted to achieve.
I was assisting in leading the environment group (one of 7 different theme groups at the world youth forum) around vancouver, and we visited the community garden where I work, as well as going sailing and kayaking at Vanier Park.

All in all, a pretty fun time! Somehow, I ended up getting relatively involved in the whole proceeding. I was a blog contributor to earthblogs.ca, which didn’t really get off the ground (unfortunately), and also somehow ended up on the drafting committee for the Youth Declaration, which is to be submitted to the United Nations. We also helped direct the content for a 3 minute speech that was read at the closing ceremonies of the world urban forum, in front of 8000 people who had gathered here from all around the world, and included high powered people in the UN, city leaders, architects, and planners. Pretty intense stuff. So that was a really interesting experience, and it definitely opened my eyes to what youth are capable of.


The people on this drafting committee were just amazing. They all had so much experience and knowledge to bring to the table. One thing that stands out in my mind is that while we were trying to choose the person to read out the youth declaration, this one guy was saying that he shouldn’t go and speak, because all of the people at the UN already knew him, and would just roll their eyes and be like “ugh, not this guy again”. But honestly? the UN? that’s so ridiculous!

But all was not just work… I was able to make a few friends throughout that week at WUF, mostly Canadians, and we hung out after all the talks were finished, and went out for dinner and such. We even went for a picnic at Stanley Park, complete with Candied Smoke Salmon and 3 bottles of wine. Simply fun!

That week really burnt me out though… waking at 7:40 every day, and getting home at 12:30am each day was pretty grueling, after a week straight. I found that I wasn’t able to really get as much out of the networking and dialogue sessions as I would have liked, what with being more prone to sleepiness and such. By thursday though, I was getting pretty burnt out, and even though I really wanted to attend the talks, it was difficult to muster the motivation. Instead, I was spurred onto go into the gauntlet known as the Exposition Hall, where all the different countries showcased their sustainability initiatives. It was pretty posh, with some places giving free books, and sweden giving away free beer! Amazing!
I actually mustered myself enough to go around and talk to people, and it ended being really helpful and interesting. I didn’t get job offers like some of the other people did, but it was just interesting to gain new perspectives, especially from people already IN urban planning, which is what I would like to get into as a life’s work.
Coming out of it, I did find that a lot of it did seem a bit like simple lip service or boasting of one’s achievements on the world stage, but at the same time, I guess it’s not all the time, that such worthy initiatives get acknowledged, so it’s important to do so, ya know? I do hope that a lot of people came out of it with brimming with great ideas, and a solid plan on making these ideas into action.

Some other World Urban Forum related activities were a living park bench art installation that EYA commissioned to a local artist to help build. Us interns helped with parts of its construction, from growing the plants, to bringing the installation to the site and assembling it. The idea behind it explores the concept of public space, and utilizing it in the form of productive food crops as a self-sustaining system, with a rain collection and irrigation system, as well as a compost system to complete the nutrient cycle.

Us interns at work were able to finish our art project, a living plant mandala (a geometric design used in meditation or for focusing attention) that we built and grew to represent the work we do in the community garden. It’s all made of edible plants: calendula, wheatgrass, lettuce, some mint plants, and a quince tree. It was a fun time actually creating something like that with our own hands, something that makes a statement on the nature of public art, and the nature WITHIN public art.



So that was what was consumed my life about 1-2 weeks ago, and it’s taken me about a week to actually settle back into a semblance of a routine.

The next thing that has been coming me now is Katie. My dear dear Katie, who i’ve been apart from for almost a year now. After graduation, we decided to tough it out, doing the long distance deal, with me in BC and her in North Carolina, and for so long, it seemed like the opportunity for us to be together would never arrive, and that we’d be stuck flying across the continent and making 1 week visits 4 times a year to somehow sustain the relationship. But she’s decided to move to Seattle to basically be closer to me, and words cannot describe how excited I am right now. It’s as if my soul can actually sense that her presence is closer than it has been for a long time, and I’m feeling more alive, in the knowledge that she’s merely 300km away! She’s actually there right now, for a job interview this morning (Good luck), to be a Science-on-the-go Outreach Educator! She gets to use an inflatable planetarium! Soooo cool!! hahaha *geeks out*
So I’m hoping that she gets this job, but if she doesn’t, she’ll be driving out from Pennsylvania all the way to Washington in less than 2 weeks at any rate! And I’ll be flying over to drive back with her!! *so excited* road trip!
We’ll hopefully be essentially retracing the Oregon Trail out west. Damn, i feel like I’m a pioneer already! And seeing Mt. rushmore, as well as a number of other ridiculous monuments! it’s going to be a blast, if all works out!

It definitely feels like the light at the end of the tunnel. And increasingly, I feel like I’m returning to the land of the living, where I don’t feel somewhat melancholy going out and seeing all the lovey dovey couples EVERYWHERE, and have to think about how my love is almost 5000 kilometres away.

And best thing yet, is that I took this thursday off, so I’m going to go visit her a day! YAY!
time for bed, cuz the i’ll be 5 more hours closer to being in her arms! *yes, i do feel like a lovesick puppy*

Wow, the weekend went quickly…
I can’t believe that it’s already mid-june!
the world urban forum and world youth forum is THIS week!! ahhh!
and I don’t really have a clue what is happening.. eep.

Things are starting to come together though, I think. Katie and I have set a date….
for her to move to seattle, that is! haha. I’m gonna try and see if I can book a few days off to fly over, and drive across the continent with her. funfunfun…

speaking of setting dates, this is adorable… the pinnacle of geek love, i would say!

And one of the greatest cultural artefacts of our age?

Oh, and today,
I discovered the magic of….

Using your FEET to draw things on microsoft paint!!
simply amazing!!!
Check it out!

5 imaginary dollars for the first person to guess what this is a picture of!

okay, this post has been more than “kind of” random.

June’s been pretty crazy so far, and i think it’ll only continue to get crazier…
The World Urban Forum (WUF) will be happening, from June 19-23, and it was established by the United Nations to examine one of the most pressing issues facing the world today: rapid urbanisation and its impact on communities, cities, economies and policies. It is projected that in the next fifty years, two-thirds of humanity will be living in towns and cities. A major challenge is to minimize burgeoning poverty in cities, improve the urban poor’s access to basic facilities such as shelter, clean water and sanitation and achieve environment-friendly, sustainable urban growth and development.”

In many ways, this is basically my academic wet dream… what I want to do as my life’s work! haha, i’m such a nerd. Because of this event, the whole environmental/social justice movement is going a bit crazy, and there’s definitely a flurry of activity going on. Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA, who i work for) is essentially organizing the World Urban Forum for Youth, the youth session for WUF, and they’ve asked me to help do some facilitation with the youth delegates who are coming from all around the world, and will be a chance for young people involved in exciting youth-led projects around the world to meet, share best practices, connect and collaborate with each other, and to learn how to make their voices heard at WUF, which will unarguably have lots of bureaucracy and protocol. So I’m quite flattered that EYA chose me to help them out, seeing as the other facilitators are my coordinators and managers! It’ll be such an amazing experience as well.
The gardening interns are also involved with an art project for the World Youth Forum. We’re going to be creating a mandala, something that is typically used an artistic meditative aid, made of living plants. And it shows that public city art doesn’t have to be made of dead soulless metal, but can be made with organic and living things. All the plants are also edible, and so not only does it have aesthetic value, but it also has functional value as well. It really is hard to explain what it looks like… I’ll be posting pictures as we are completing it, it should be really cool! We’re also helping grow plants for this living park bench installation at the World Urban Forum. It has a pretty similar concept to our project, but is this example of public space that is being used to grow food. And its circular nature emphasizes that it is aligned with the cycle of life, death and decay… There’s a compartment for compost, and then there is a gradation of herbs that shows the growth of a plant, and there are two smaller beds that will have more plants. It is also a terrific example of sustainability. It is designed to function without constant human intervention. It has a rainwater collection mechanism, as well as a irrigation system. And another cool thing is that it is made entirely of reclaimed or recycled materials (nails and glue excluded)
Lastly, I’m volunteering as a research assistant with Thrive! Guide, Vancouver’s guide to sustainable living… It’s going to be a 200 page book of resources to help people live more sustainably. They gave me a 15-20 page section to write, so I need to keep up on that…
Some other events that will be coming up this month include the World Urban Festival, the official UNESCO arts, music and culture event for WUF. The Car free commercial drive festival is also happening, as is BEST’s Bike Month. There’s going to be at least two conferences in the fields of urban planning and architecture, and a Dialogue speaker series that just came to vancouver. In Victoria, there will be Gaining Ground, the Sustainable Urban Development Leadership Summit.
So yeah, definitely a lot of environmental consciousness hitting the mainstream in Vancouver these days. I’ve told a few people that if I wanted to, I could probably attend workshops, seminars and lectures on something environmental essentially any day of the month… You just gotta choose your battles, I guess. But yeah, this has essentailly been my life as of late. Just being inundated with environmentalness… I’m starting to feel a bit of burnout though, like I need to take a break from it, and just chill out.

Wow, it’s been so long since I wrote in there that it just feels entirely weird… yet not entirely unnatural.
Can’t believe that it’s been over two months since my last proper update. That is just ridiculous…
Life has been treating me really quite well lately though… I had my birthday in mid april, which was splendid… I had hotpot with some friends, which was just delish… My parents got me shiny for my birthday, so now I can actually run games that are less than 2 years old… haha. and it’s treated me really well, because now, I can do much more with photoshop and digital photography with the increased processing power..

Currently, I am in a mostly carless state… my parents traded in the old Toyota 4Runner SUV (yay!), to get a car for my sister… so she has a shiny new VW 2007 GTI… it’s also standard, so combined with the fact that it’s also my sister’s car now, I don’t have ready access to a car. I don’t really have any complaints about that right now, since I’m not using it to get to work at all. I’ve just been using monthly bus passes, and it takes me about 40 minutes to get to work, which isn’t shabby at all, and sometimes my sister carpools me 1/2 way to work anyways, so it’s worked out.

Speaking of work, work has been just super… The other interns I work with are all pretty cool, and the job itself is pretty chill. For most of april, me and two other girls went into elementary schools to give presentations about food. We talked about where food comes from, healthy food choices, and taught them to grow some of their own vegetables. All in all, we went to about 25 different class rooms, so we talked to over 600 kids withint about a 3 week span or so, so that was a really neat experience. I also got to know the vancouver transit system REALLY well, so that was just one of the side benefits of that, I guess. The kids usually seemed pretty keen about the whole presentation, especially being able to grow food.

We’ve also been working on this terraced garden that we call the “means of production”. Basically a grassy hill in a park that the Environmental Youth Alliance took over and just started to a garden in. The really cool thing about this garden is that it is being used to grow supplies for artists supplies! willows for basket weaving or charcoal for drawing, irises for making paper, and various trees that are used for intricate inlay work on carpentry projects like guitars or cabinets and such. As well, they have got a small fruit orchard, with a number of pear and apple trees, and various varieties of strawberries and blueberries!

We’ve also been growing a whole variety of plants, in order to save for seed. It’s all organic and natural gardening, and we’ve grown at least 4 kinds of beans, tomatoes, 3 kinds of lettuce, beets, chard, oriental greens, herbs and more!
We’ve also gone to this school, to help them beautify their school grounds by replacing compacted grass and gravel with all sorts of native plants. And another project we’re currently doing is the conversion of a rooftop ornamental garden at the YWCA into a viable vegetable garden. There’s been the share of not-so-pleasant experiences, like shovelling rotting compost that had been left unturned for 4 months too long, or spending the good part of an bonejarring afternoon pickaxing compact clay, but really, i can’t complain. it’s all been such an interesting learning experience. Last week was spent at the Vancouver children’s festival, where we ran a booth, where kids came and planted seeds to take home, in a small biodegradeable pot that could be placed right into the ground when transplanting. Just amazing! We were provided with delicious, nutritious and free food (courtesy of Capers community markets) Organic milk, fair trade chocolate samples, and much more. On top of it all, the marketing coordinator at capers seemed to really like me, and told me to apply for a job there if I wanted one after my internship was over! sweet! After work that whole week, we would sneak into the volunteer tent to snack on some more free food, and then go to the beach and just hang out, and chill out. One day, I found some bread buns on the ground, and just decided to start juggling them.

Speaking of juggling… that is something that I learned to do at work!! And got paid for it!!! Every wednesday, one of the intern facilitates a workshop, and so everyone has just been bringing their skill to the table, and teaching all sorts of great things… One was a workshop on juggling. We’ve also done salsa and merengue dance, designing board games, making duct tape wallets, learning meditation, or the intricacies of hacky sack. One intern also ran an event called Foods Not Bombs (where we approached businesses for food donations that was perfectly edible, but was not fit to sell), and then cooked vegetarian meals for people who were living in poverty/on the streets, and went to nearby parks to distribute. Two other workshops were on acting and finding oneself through voice and movement.

This week, we’ve been learning how to install drip irrigation in this small apple orchard in the community garden that we work in… It’s a pretty interesting idea, and something that really does give one a sense of accomplishment, after a good day of work. Our next impending project is to create an art piece for the World Youth Forum in mid-June.. One that integrates the concepts of what urban agriculture is about, so that should be really quite exciting… I think that we’ll be doing a mandala, essentially a geometrical pattern that is supposed to symbolically represent a microcosm of the universe from the human perspective. They’re often used for meditation… So we’ll be making this out of plants, sticks, stones, sand, and perhaps even found objects… It should be a really interesting project!

I’ve also become involved with the thrive! guide, which is a guide on sustainable living in Vancouver… It’s going to be a 200 page booklet that will be available as a resource for people to find out how to live more lightly on this planet of ours. I’m volunteering as a research and writing assistant, so that has been a pretty interesting experience, for sure! It will be super good experience, and just terrific being part of something that is so positive, which is important when you are fighting this seemingly endless battle for the future.

This isn’t to say that I haven’t been enjoying myself… I’ve been super lucky this past month or so… A whole bunch of my friends from Guelph have been coming to visit Vancouver! My friend Jenn came earlier in april as did ebru, and Dear will be coming tommorow, so it’s good to see these terrific people, after not seen them basically since the end of august! And it seems like a whole bunch of guelphies are starting to make their way westwards, which is just awesome!
Speaking of making their way westward, my dearest Katie has also decided to check out the scene on the West coast… she’s quit her job at the aquarium, and will be moving back home to her parents for a month to recharge, and then driving all the way across the continent, essentially! I really hope that I’ll somehow be able to fly one-way to drive at least part of the way with her, so that she doesn’t have to drive by her lonesome, because really, that is not much fun at all. So I guess that will be the end of beach bumming, diving in shark tanks, and watching the Atlantic ocean crash on the shore, and startling the ghost crabs. It will also mean she can watch the waves of the Pacific crash instead, and the end of mysterious phone calls that will suddenly decide to crap out, and the two of us being within a 3 hour drive of each other. After a year of not living about a 50 hour drive away, it’ll be a nice change, and it’s still hard to really grasp the fact that I will be able to hold her in my arms again. *sigh* So yeah, that’s basically been me this past month or two… There’s been more especially in my mental realm, but that shall have to wait for another day..

yay, 2nd post in 2ish days…
goody for me!! hehe..
So it’s pretty cool! Like I said last post, it’s an internship with a non-profit called the environmental youth alliance.. They’re a pretty cool group that does a LOT of grassroots environmental work in vancouver, concerned with youth empowerment, and urban sustainability, ecological, as well as social and economic I’m working on the urban agriculture stream of the internship… So we’ll be working a lot in a local community garden that EYA started, doing some composting, and learning to grow all sorts of stuff. As well, we might go into elementary schools for some outreach, and teach children how to be more connected with their food. And I think that we might be working on developing a community resource guide about food, and food security…

Some of the other streams are community assets mapping, which is identifying resources for different groups in the community, whether it’s first nations people, people with disabilities, or new immigrants. And the last stream is concerned with the World Urban Forum… this is a crazy event going on in June in Vancouver… It’s an urban sustainability conference that happens every 2 years, and it’s run in partnership with the UN-HABITAT program. this year is the 30th anniversary of the event, so some people will be really involved in helping organize the event… And I dunno, this position is really cool, cuz we’ll be getting paid to go to events… like the world urban forum, which has a lot to do with urban planning, which is what i am seriously considering in going into for my masters at some point down the road… I’m working with 11 other interns, and they all seem really cool… really really diverse group, and it’ll definitely be interesting working with them!

I suppose the only downside that it’s not a lot of money involved, but honestly, it’s definitely about the experience of this position…. and being surrounded by so much positive energy is really awesome, and EYA knows so many people and organizations in vancouver, they’ll definitely help in networking around and getting contacts for jobs and such…. And being in the urban agriculture stream, i’ll get to get my hands dirty every day, and also get to be outside and enjoy the sunshine! Very exciting stuff!

The lack of blogging has been a bit due to my neuroticism towards blogging itself…
I do enjoy the cathartic release that I get from it… But I feel like I have to offer too much or something. That I have to offer something meaningful. This is exacerbated by me leaving the blog dormant… The longer I let it sit around, the more I feel like i need to “justify” my absence, even though I know I don’t have to. So it’s a bit of a downward spiral, until I can’t take it anymore, and start blogging, like i am now.

I guess I’ve also been a little busy… at my INTERNSHIP!!! whoa! yeah, i’m gainfully employed now, at an environmental non-profit, called Environmental Youth Alliance(EYA). They’re pretty rad… I’ll tell you more about what I’m doing in the next post, i just need to unload some mental thoughts. But in brief, I’m quite a happy camper, and am super happy about the situation, happy to be surrounded by such positive energy, and am going to make the most of this experience, to network as much as possible, and to just out in the environmental community…

Since I’ve started the job, I’ve been commuting by bus a lot more, and it’s been much less painless than I imagined. It’s all in your mindset, and how you approach the idea of commuting… If you just give yourself a bit more time to get to your destination, it can actually be a reasonably enjoyable experience. I’ve also just been OUT in vancouver much more, rather than being cloistered in the suburbia of north vancouver, and it’s been easy to get around to events and such, which is super cool. It’ll take some adjustment, in terms of being able to spoil myself rotten on my mom’s delicious home-cooked meals, and enjoying dinner together as a family, but I think it’ll be worth it…

Besides the job, I’ve just been trawling the internet as usual, reading a lot on environmentalism and sustainability.. Damn, I’m such a nerd… and if you don’t think so, this proves it: I jumped on the del.icio.us bandwagon… it’s basically social bookmarking.. I can basically bookmark/tag articles that I find interesting, to share with the rest of the world. So if you want can access a portion of the crazy brain of joming, you can do so here
More nerdiness: my online wishlist
Tommorow, I’m going to Vancouver Island with my sister, my mom’s cousin Anne and her husband Rudy… we might go horseback riding in nanaimo, or look at Cathedral Grove, this amazing temperate rainforest! Should be an excellent time!!

My legs are burning… I really gave them a workout today…
Went up the the Stawamus Chief in Squamish yesterday, with Joyee and Elise, and it was just the most perfect day for it… Bright blue skies, and the sun was shining on the land. It definitely felt like the earth was in some sort of rebirth. All the snow and ice was melting, the trees shaking off their long winter slumber, shaking off the boughs of accumulated grey-green lichen. Some of the shrubs were starting to bud, as if sensing the fertility in the air… You can just feel the power of nature, as if alive, as it plays out the endless cycles of death and rebirth. Nature slowly turning on the switch to let the world know it’s time to live again, after the long winter.
I woke up that morning, not feeling up to hiking at ALL… but I knew that if i didn’t go, I would definitely regret it, as I would probably just spend my day at the computer job hunting.
I’ll admit that at certain times, I was just about to throw in the towel, like when I saw the chains bolted to the rock, and realized that I would have to grab the chain and basically pull my way up that slippery rock slope. And it was when I grabbed camera, and let my lens cap slip out of my hands that I knew I just had to go on… I watched it hit the rock slope, bounce once, and start to roll faster and faster until it disappeared from my view.

Honestly if you lose your lens cap to your camera, you can’t just give up… you’ve gotta put the pedal to the metal and make sure you have something to show for it…

It was spectacular up there at the top of Second Peak. All you could see was the snow-capped mountains surrounding you, the marauding clouds cresting on the mountain ridge, and the brown square shades of civilization far below.

And on the drive back, was the stunning view of the mountains, layered in fading shades of coniferous island forests, a landscape carved by the glacial forces of long ago. The smell of temperate rainforests crisp and fresh, permeating the inner sanctums of my being.

It’s experiences like this that really makes you feel alive, and make you want to fight to keep this beauty alive in the world, and let the rhythm of nature run its course.

After a crazy weekend, I feel like I’ve suddenly hit a wall of stillness, inside of me… For a brief moment, my inner self was stirred, the mirrored surface of my psyche rippling from her visit. Katie was here from Friday night to Monday morning… So 2.5 days… so many words to say, so much touch to catch up on. So much happening this weekend, and so little time.
On friday, I had lunch with some relatives in Richmond, and after I got a haircut that seemed to drag on forever, Joyee and I drove to Seattle. Katie was arriving at SeaTac at 9:33pm, so we went to Dave’s House, made dinner, and then went to his work, and I picked myself up a pair of these babies. Ridiculously comfortable shoes, with good support for crazyweird feet like mine. In fact, I’m wearing these right now… AROUND THE HOUSE! don’t worry, they’re still virgins, haven’t ever touched the outside ground.

Then we drove to the airport to pick up Katie, and I don’t know what it is, but everytime I’m about to see her after not having seen her for ages, like when I’m walking towards the arrival gate from the plane, or when I’m waiting for her to walk out of the gates, I feel my stomach’s about to flip itself inside out, like when I’m about to kiss someone for the first time, or similar to the dull throb that happens sometimes when I think about being in her arms, except magnified ten-fold. The realization that you’re about to see your love in mere moments makes you miss them that much more, I guess. I wonder if couples still feel like that when they get older, people my parent’s age.
We spent the night at Dave’s place, and I honestly had such a good sleep. Sleeping alone is just about the crappiest thing ever, once you’ve experienced sleeping next to a warm body… The warmth just dissolves all the stray thoughts in my head, and the touch of skin just relaxes me entirely. No wonder I don’t like going to sleep these days…
and then came back to Vancouver Saturday, and went to Aberdeen centre, in Richmond… They have a fantastic food court there, and Daiso is amazing, so I took Katie there to bask in its glory.
Saturday night was my Dad’s company chinese new year dinner, which was good times. Lots of prizes… Katie got $100 in “red pocket” from winning at Bingo! There was also Kareoke, and lots of food…
Sunday, we woke up, and took a walk to safeway to buy some food from Safeway, and it was just a wonderful walk.. The sun was shining, the air fresh and crisp, and I was wearing one of my favourite jackets. The chinese silk filled one, that I can’t wear in the rain, but that keeps me so warm, and is such a brilliant hue of blue. And at that moment, I realized that I was literally bursting with joy!! It really made me realize how much more content I was when she was around.
We came back with raisin bread and cinnamon buns…
Katie and I went to see some Cantonese Opera and Wushu performances. Mark had some tickets from his mom’s work, and was nice enough to offer them to us. The show was pretty rad, with awesome costumes in the opera, and really talented kids doing crazy wushu moves. There was this one performance by a guy with a giant hammer dueling with a guy with a cudgel. Like so:

Afterwards, I had wanted to bring Katie to Golden Age Collectables on Granville, but it wasn’t meant to be… The store had closed for the night, and we had to leave, with Katie’s comic thirst unquenched. So sad…
But we returned home, and my family was having a big feast that night. So much delicious food to eat… and Katie baked apple pie, which was yummy as usual. It was just tinged with a bit of sadness, because it was her last night in vancouver, and she was flying back to North Carolina the next morning at 9am… I read her some of the stories I wrote in elementary school, which really illustrated the effects of the GI JOE military propaghanda machine, as well as my preoccupation with aliens and war. We couldn’t stop laughing at my sheer ridiculousness as a child, and the next thing we knew, it was 1:30 in the morning… Katie was just about to fall asleep at any moment, and we were supposed to wake up at 5:45am…
We managed to bring ourselves out of that comfortable sleep, made it to the airport, and I sadly saw her off, yet again. And now she’s back across the continent, until the next time we’re brought together again. Someday, we’ll be in the same place. Until then, I guess I’ll just blow long-range kisses to her.

Gung Hay Fat Choy, and best wishes to all of you in the Year of the Dog!

What a way to bring in the new year! And if you can’t hear the drums and feel the explosion firecrackers on the ground, you’re missing half of the experience!

Click the link for some more photos!
(more…)

argh… can’t sleep… 5:30am, but blessed sleep just ain’t coming, it seems…
It’s been like this for a while…. just so many thoughts running through my head these days, it seems… It’s like I’ve gone to bed without turning off my brain… I need to figure out how to turn it off sometimes. Sometimes it drives me nuts… So many thoughts about the future…
where i’ll be, what i’ll do are the big questions, I suppose.
I’m leaving for asia in about… 5 hours or so… First going to Osaka, Japan, for 3 days, just to see the sights, and then to hong kong for the next two weeks or so… My cousin patrick is getting married! Pretty exciting stuff! and then the WTO (world trade organization) will also be in hong kong while I’m there… So there’ll likely be some craziness going on there… Saw on the news that garbage cans were being replaced by funny green garbage bags, because the police didn’t want protesters to be able to use them as projectiles!! Eep!! pretty intense stuff..
I’ll be keeping myself safe and sound, while trying to snap a few photos off… Talked to my friend Joscelyne (who studied journalism) on thursday, and she gave me some ideas on how to approach newspapers and magazines about submitting my photos, which was super neat. I’m thinking about perhaps doing some photojournalism of some of the happenings at the WTO meetings. Emotions and tension are SURE to be pretty intense… Joyee and I want to team up in doing something cool… Not quite sure what yet, but I guess we’ll just start shooting photos, and see where it leads me. I’m also excited to hike around Hong Kong. All you ever hear about hong kong is the concrete jungle there, and really, there’s so much natural space there, just outside of the city areas. There should be some beautiful trails, and hopefully I’ll get to see some wildlife. Maybe even some monkeys!! yeah!
My dad also assigned me with another photo-project as well… He has these books with drawings of heritage buildings in Hong Kong… and he’s started to take actual photos of the buildings themselves, and has bequeathed me the quest of rooting out these buildings (if they still exist), and taking some pictures to compare what they look like, or if the buildings even exist anymore…

At the end of the trip, i’ll be heading up to shanghai for a few days… I don’t even remember if i’ve ever been there (as a kid), and seeing it as an adult should be an interesting experience. I’ve heard lots about the architecture there, how it’s an fascinating mix of modern western, and classical chinese buildings.

And then it’ll be back to vancouver on the 28th of december… and with any luck, I’ll be able to get myself a plane ticket to visit katie again. I haven’t been able to snag one yet, but in some ways, i’m almost more excited to see her than for this trip to asia that my parents are bringing me on. I just miss katie so much…. Part of it is just being able to hold someone in your arms just the way you want to be held… There’s always hugs from friends and family, but it’s just not the same. I suppose after 3 long months, I just really miss the idea of being able to snuggle up to a warm body at night, or even just holding their hand. Being so far away from each other, everything just seems so… disjointed or something, and being together, everything just becomes intuitive and natural. It’s just been hard on me lately, I guess.. seeing the majority of my friends all paired up in love, and seeing my sister with her loved one, and even my dad and my mom… To me, there’s just the sense of being alone that creeps up on you, like the shadow you never notice… you can never quite put your finger on it. I’m all for people finding contentment in themselves, but at some point, you just want to share that not with family or friends (as spectacular as they may people), but with somebody that thinks the world of you, for whom you shine brighter than any star in the sky. And the biggest irony of all is that I have that special someone, but we’re just not close enough that we can enjoy even the simple joy of the same bedtime.

p.s. And because I can’t make up my fucking mind ever, I’ve decided to give flickr a shot again, for my photo hosting services… you can check it out here. I’ve discovered that a few of my friends have started using it, and it’s so good to have some feedback on photos. And regardless, there’s just a lot more community participation in flickr than in buzznet. I figure that flickr might be an easy way for me to post photos while i’m traveling around, so we’ll give it a shot.

I’m updating from Soma, a cafe on Main and Broadway right now, on my sister’s laptop…
Mark’s sitting across from me, working away at his LSAT… i’m making a face at him… hahahahaha
this laptop business is fun… It’s cool to have the change of scenery… it does make a difference… i think at home, i’m less productive, because i have everything i want with me, and can surround myself with it, where as out here, i feel like i need to just get things done, kinda thing. but yeah, i had lunch with Mark and Jackie at Kam’s, a chinese diner that my parents and his colleague friends go to alot… definitely a place of childhood memories… But yeah, it’s good to actually get out and see the rest of the world, and not be holed up in north van, in my house where i keep contracting chronic cabin fever…
Anyways, just a short post to say that i’m still alive… haven’t had time to play with the template of this blog yet… it’s definitely got more flexibility than blogger, with categories and whatnot… so we’ll see what happens, i guess… And no, for the record, i didn’t take the photo at the top of this website… i’ll soon be putting my own ones on there, but for now, you’ll have to live with the slick and cool blurry building…
And oh, if you’re new to the scene, my old blog can be found here(http://www.vagrantant.blogspot.com), a nifty spot that i’ve been finding i’ve been outgrowing… i’ve wanted to start anew with actually paying for web hosting, but i’m still trying to get my brain around the concept of paying for something that you can get for free.. haha

Hey, here’s the first post here!!
my last blog at blogger was starting to not work… I wanted to be able to post in categories, so I can talk about random shtuff I come across on the net, and not feel silly for writing 2 sentence posts, and then feel obligated to make up for it with huge posts…
so hopefully, it’ll make the writing come out easier!
Until then, you can access my old blog here. It was a piece of homespun goodness.. *tear*
Oh well, here’s to good beginnings!