Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Only Five Months LEFT!!

I can't wait. Perhaps the most anticipated moment of the year.
Hint:
Living on some tiny step enlightens a soldier on nightly frights of ultimate recourse.

Yea baby.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Tao of the Week - Sept 22nd

Welcome to the Tao of the Week, this is where I put meaning to my life based on things that have happened to me during the seven day week, good and bad. This, at the very least, will give you an idea of the things that happen to me and the me happening to things.IF that doesn't make sense, read on.

Cool Things


1. Langley Starbucks.
Starbucks in Langley is so much nicer than any other starbucks location I've been to, they are always so polite and really seem to appreciate the patronage, unlike Calgary. In Calgary you basically get a coffee and bird flip.

2. Icecubes


Crazy Things


1. Cops for Cancer


If you've ever been to Langley you know how challenging it is getting through downtown on a saturday afternoon, it takes about five times longer to do anything simply based on the traffic around the area, and when one of the many daily trains comes through the heart of downtown on the CN mainline, the places segues from seizure to all out paralysis. It's crazy and frustrating, especially if you're used to the traffic situation in Calgary.

If that's not bad enough.. enter the "Tour de Valley".

Saturday morning, prior to leaving the in-laws house to run a few errands in town, I see a cop on a motor cycle fly by with lights flashing. It catches my attention. Then about 13 more cops on motor bikes come roaring by followed by ambulances and more cop cars, then about 15 cyclers, then 5 more motorbikes, support vehicles and two more cop cars. It was the Cops for Cancer "Tour de Valley". My first thought was wow, that's a lot of support for just a few guys riding bikes. 10 minutes later I take the car into Langley to pick up a few things, it should only take me 2o minutes. Two and half hours later I return, and I didn't even get everything done. What a complete joke. I met the tour de valley four times in Langley. I soon found out what all the support cops were doing. They would close up all the intersections to make way for the 15 cyclists to snake their way back and forth through Langley, an already saturated city, in order to "raise awareness". Well, raise awareness they did. Idiots.

Hey I know! Let's JAM UP A CITY FOR A FEW HOURS YEA THAT'LL WORK, MAYBE PEOPLE WILL GIVE MONEY! WE'RE COPS! WE HAVE THE POWER TO SHUT DOWN INTERSECTIONS, AND NO ONE CAN SAY ANYTHING CAUSE WE ARE THE ALL POWERFUL OMNIPOTENT GIFT TO THE NATION. HOW COME WE HAVEN'T THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE?? THIS IS BRILLIANT!!!
People were pissed. Horns were not honking in support, they were honking in rage. Somebody and perhaps a bunch of people thought this was a good idea. How does this happen?

Friday, September 14, 2007

The Tao of the Week - Sept 14th.

Tao of the Week for Sept 7th - 14th.

Welcome to the Tao of the Week, this is where I put meaning to my life based on things that have happened to me during the seven day week, good and bad. This, at the very least, will give you an idea of the things that happen to me and the me happening to things.
IF that doesn't make sense, read on.

Cool Things

1. Dinner @ Dan and Jen's. Very good italian food perfectly matched with a Chianti and good conversation. This is always a very cool thing to do for me, I enjoy this more than anyone knows.

2. Dinner @ Ray and Tan's. So, twice in one week, hey what's family for, besides they have a wicked house, warm hospitality, a kitchen that makes Hell's kitchen look cold, and a risotto that flows like.. lava. This was also where I met a new love in my life, Gorgonfreakinzola. I am pleased to learn that Tanya will be taking some cooking courses. What is already good can only become better.

3. Sunday with M&K and R&K. I love sunday guests, and I really love those that feel comfortable enough to stay the afteroon, then leave, and come back 30 minutes later with a dump truck load of Chinese food, then stay for dinner. Loved it.

Crazy Things

1. I saw this very old Asian lady in Chinatown, I mean she was older than religion. She was all hunched over and moving slower than cold risotto in a black bean sauce. She couldn't have stood taller than four and half feet. When I walked by her I had to smile. On her head was a black movie promotional baseball cap that read "The Grinch" in bright green.

2. Picture this. A homeless guy is riding a bike on the sidewalk, and perched on the handlebars is a homeless woman, but not just any woman, she looks 72 years old and is about the size of a 5 year old, and she had this cigarette jutting out of her mouth which looked huge for some reason. Like a big cigarette if there is such a thing. Anyway, she's wearing this white coat with little hairy tassels all over it, and can't help but think she looks like a parakeet, that smokes and wears glasses. If that's not bizarre enough, dudes that's riding the bike is munching on a most likely previously discarded donair from the 1970's. So, we have stale donair eating dude riding a bike with crazy small bird looking old big cigarette smoking homeless grandma on the handlebars. What happens next may need a disclaimer. Two homeless guys walking towards them kind of block them, dude on bike wiggles around them, perched grandma squawks something unintelligable, and dude steals dude's donair. Dude then takes bite of donair, makes loud noise and spits out donair bite, then throws down donair on ground. Dude is now off bike and perched grandma becomes unperched. I hope to walk through this mess without being accosted, but grandma comes over to me and asks in a squeaky voice if I have any drugs. I said what do I look like.. Dr. freakin Scholls? later I laughed cause Dr. Scholls is a shoe insert.
That... was crazy.

The Tao

Meaning is found not of oneself but by an interaction with others.
Understanding is lost not on oneself but by observing the interaction of others.
AS


Skinny on the Blog Posting

It's not that I haven't been constructing blog entries lately, It's just that my latest posts were never published, and are safely hidden in "draft" mode. I haven't really had the guts to release them to the lions.. yet. But holy crap when I do, the universe might collapse on itself in a reverse big bang effect, similar to what might happen if one meets his or herself during time travel, it's just not a good idea. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm going through some massive metamorphosis or anything, but I do feel a change happening, a whole lot of getting older mixed in a large wooden salad bowl with four packages of starting-not-to-put-as-much-care-into-what-people-think and topped off with finely shredded doubt, chopped pecans, ego and goat cheese, resulting in a gorgonzola of esculent brow raising posts.
Promise me that if I get hit by a bus, or meet some untimely end in the near future, you'll have to read some of those posts.

AS

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Sierra Lima - The Hotel

Adam sits on an old bed, the rusted out frame barely holding up his weight. Tuffs of cotton stuffing jut out of the stained mattress, worn from decades of puke and other unmentionable bedtime mishaps. Shards of light shoot through the holes of an old piece of rotted plywood nailed precariously over a broken window, lighting up invisible dust particles floating through the putrid air. His boots sat flat on a dusty hardwood floor covered with empty booze bottles, used syringes, blackened spoons and other objects one would rather just imagine weren’t there. Against the cigarette smoke stained wall stood an old bedside table with the drawer hanging open, a forgotten Gideon bible it’s only contents, probably untouched since it’s placement. Does anyone ever read these? Probably could have done a few occupants of this room some good, Adam thinks as he continues to scan his new surroundings. A single hotel room with a double bed. It was probably a nice stay in its day, hundreds of dollars a night, now a condemned building used by the crap of society, but it was perfect. Adam looks at his watch, it’s 2:33pm. He has exactly one hour and seventeen minutes.
Feeling quite different than he thought he would, Adam gets to work. One hour was more than enough time to complete the tasks he practiced over and over, but it was always better to allow for more time than not enough. This was a one shot deal. Get it done, get out. One hour. He starts by opening up the face of his watch, carefully dials a series of codes. A flashing green arrow with the digits “5.2m” appear, and after holding his wrist flat and steady, the arrow points east towards a closed closet door about 5 meters away. Standing up, he feels disoriented, like he’d be drinking heavy and this was the worst hangover ever. Beaumont told him he would feel this way, and that it would quickly subside, but the walk to the closet feels undeniably strange. He is not just in a foreign place. The closet opens with a stuck crack. This closet hasn’t been open in years, he thinks, a suitable placement, and a lot closer than anticipated, more time saved, damn they’re good. On the floor the metal case stood with the handle propped up in the carry position, like someone just placed it there and walked away. He picked it up and carried it back to the bed. The thought of yesterday’s meeting came back to him, the instructions, the repercussions of failure, all carefully planned by Mr. Bhig, to whom Adam was ready to prove his worth, as well to Beaumont and to the others members of the Sierra Lima.