Month: December 2005

Merry Christmas. I’m a little late to the wishing party, but right now, I have a headache subsiding and a cup of green tea cooling on the counter. This is most of what remains from the flu that has infested our lives around here. Rebecca took it full throttle on Boxing Day. I picked up where she left off the following day all the way up to right about now. And believe it or not, I’m actually feeling good. My belly is quiet, doesn’t hurt, and is retaining what is going into it. I took a short walk with Rebecca to kinda get out a little bit but also pick up some take out from Hon’s. I felt good, but just walking around made me aware of how weak I am. This is what happens when your body choses to not absorb the nutriants that you keep shoving into your body in a nearly constant basis. I miss running so much right now.

The one thing that I have discovered about Boxing Day is that it is perhaps the busiest shopping time of the year around here. There are after Christmas sales in the states, but the deals here are nuts. Take the day after Thanksgiving sales there and stretch them out over a whole week. Of course, there are much better deals on Boxing Day itself, but it seems to last even longer here. And if you think that’s nuts, I might go join the crowds this afternoon depending on Rebecca getting off work early. Being this time of year, it’s quiet around the office. I love shopping, but hate people.

We have the windows open in the apartment right now. It’s amazing that today, it’s supposed to be nearly sixty degrees on the fahrenheit. I know I mention the weather here a lot, but it’s just that nuts. This is my first Christmas away from home. It’s tough no matter how far you are away from your family during the holidays, but it’s bound to happen at some point. Being this close to thirty, I’m kind of surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.

My first major holiday that I spent away from my family was the Forth of July. Perhaps that’s not major to you, but I was in Japan at the time. The heat was there for sure, and I was on a U.S. military base. I was even in the parade, so it wasn’t all that much different. The fact was that I wasn’t back home at the time. It wasn’t the same, small town Iowa parade that I was used to with the tractors and horses pooping on the street as they went by. It was still good though, just far from home. You can’t replace being with your family, but you can still have something just as good.

There’s an election brewing in Canada right now, and I have really no clue how it works. Well, I guess I have a general idea, but the election process differs quite a bit compared to the states. The first, clear as day difference is that there are not two, not three, but four different parties running for the prime minister seat. The four candidates are not trying to get you to vote for them. They are trying to get you to vote for their party. You have the Liberal Party, Conservative Party, New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Party. Those are just the participating parties when it comes to debates and such because there are about ten various parties across Canada. In the last debate I caught, Jack Layton of the NDP did a hell of a job trying to brainwash the viewers with the constant ending of every statement to vote NDP. It was quite erie.

The Liberals have the PM slot right now, but it was the Conservatives who have forced this vote due to some shenanigans that went down under Jean Chretien’s time in the PM position. That’s the easiest way to explain it because I don’t understand it all and the story is much more in depth than that. And I like Paul Martin, not that I can vote for his party or really am that knowledgeable about Canadian politics, but as a prime minister, who else would you rather see on Corner Gas? Stephen Harper? I don’t think so.

Have you ever seen Village of the Damned? Tell me he doesn’t look like one of those kids, but grown up. Creepy.

My hair grows so fast. It’s something that I inherited from my mother. In three weeks, it’s time to get another cut. I used to go to high school with a guy who scheduled out his haircuts to be exactly three weeks apart from each other. Meaning, he would schedule it at the time of getting his current haircut. I can’t do that with the way that my mind works. I’d forget. I much more the type that monitors how things look in the mirror and go from there. Of course, the way I “style” my hair, I can kinda conceal the need. I can feel that I need a haircut versus looking like I need one.

I found a little place in the west end to get my haircut about a month ago. It was cheap, kind of a hole in the wall, and a small operation. The woman was really nice, but her accent made it difficult to understand her at times. I left pretty satisfied with what she did, but now that it’s grown out, you can see what’s lacking in her talents. Back in Iowa City, I got my hair done at a school for hairstyling and never got a cut as wild as this one. At least there, you knew these people were getting an education in what they were doing. I’m not sure what this woman had.

I understand now what I was told a long time ago by a guy who does this professionally for some big bucks. You know a good haircut when it grows out and still looks good. My hair goes afro as it grows out, but it’s strangely bizarre this time around. It only cost me twelve bucks, but for about half that price, I could get a pretty good cut from beauty school students. I’ve walked passed such a place here in the west end. It makes me curious.

For the past week, it has been beautiful in Vancouver. Lots of clear skies and plenty of sun. Today, it’s raining. And yet, I can’t say that I’m overly sad to have it be that way. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Rain is just apart of everyday life here. If you can’t handle rainy days, you can’t handle Vancouver.

On my run today, the clouds were dancing with the mountains. You couldn’t see the tops very well, and the base was pretty much obstructed from view. The snow had returned though. Most of it had retreated to the caps, leaving the the dark green of the trees to color the rest of the mountain.

What still gets me is the night sky. When you look up there, you can see the lights glowing high above what used to be what I perceived as a horizon. It’s the ski hills being lit for the nighttime skiers. If you had a good pair of binoculars, it would be easier to spot someone heading down the mountain with a nice trail of powder behind them, depending how fresh the snow is up there. It’s too cool. And it’s a shame that I don’t have a clue as to how to ski. I can’t even say much for my skills as an ice skater, but I already know that I’m better at that.

Rebecca has gotten me into reality TV more than I think I want to admit. There is something to be said about the types of such things that are out there and just what kinds it is that I can stomach. Holmes on Homes is completely one of these things, but it’s better than a lot of the other junk that’s out there. Sure, Ty Pennington is good at bring the comfort of Sears to those who need it most, but Mike Holmes is all that plus Bob Vila. Let’s not forget to mention that he can probably bench press both of those guys at the same time. The guy is simply huge.

The list doesn’t end there though. Yes, I watched the finale of The Apprentice last night. It was entertaining. Some really good television on top of the winner being not such a nice guy as once might originally thought. Donald Trump has done wonders for himself and his empire with that show alone. And yes, I watched nearly the entire, fifth season of America’s Next Top Model. Granted that it has the flavor of the most horrible reality TV show that has existed and started this whole craze, but at least these people are competing for something that is more than just money and fifteen minutes of fame. So in essence, it’s like Survivor and Real World mushed together with model caliber girls. Notice I didn’t say “pretty girls” because it doesn’t seem that you have to be “pretty” to be a model anymore. You don’t have to be skeleton skinny either.

It’s all in how you are entertained. If you enjoy watching something, I have to say that it’s pretty Ok to enjoy whatever you want to enjoy. Hell, I still like to watch Queer Eye for the Straight Guy whenever I can. Not having a DVR that can record it for me kinda hampers that. At least I’m not so into it that I’m like my brother who scored $50 for picking the winner on Survivor. I can’t say that I like a show that much.

The amount of wildlife around here nearly makes up for the lack of snow that I’m going to enjoy this christmas. What snow was in the surrounding areas of the lower mainland is close to being completely gone. That’s not to say that it is a tad cold outside. Being this far north, the amount of daily sunlight is slightly less than what Iowa gets this time of year. When I go running around the seawall in the morning, you have to be careful in the areas where you can tell that the sea water has crashed up onto the pathway. It ices over just slightly enough that you can break through the top when you step on it. It’s still slippery underneath though, so you have to really keep your eyes peeled.

Frost is enough to send people into a telephone poll or falling down on their butt. There is that element of being surprised. The fact that you just weren’t ready for there to be this stretch of pavement somewhere that has this gentle, slippy layer of water that condense into a solid form over night. It looks like snow almost, but it’s not. Combine that with steep inclines and hills, and you have a perfect mix for being stranded until the sun burns it all off or the somewhat rare sand truck comes by your side street to offer you some help. Obviously downtown, these events are much more rare.

I’ve been really concentrating on my podcasting lately that I’ve kinda neglected my blogging responsibilities. It’s the one thing that I can consistently rely on to keep me preoccupied until everything finally comes through with the government regarding my job. I’m on a push to publicize the whole thing more and more in the hopes of gaining more listeners, but that’s not as easy as you would think. The iTunes Podcast Directory is riddled with issues regarding their submissions, but the crazy thing is that I submitted my feed to them on nearly the same day that it debuted. That was months ago. And today, still nothing.

I’m not even sure what I’m doing in the land of the internet really reaches anyone, but I still like to do it anyway. Things might slow down greatly once work becomes an everyday element in my life, but I like to think that I’ll find the time to do what I enjoy when I can. Of course, the whole learning curve to the new job and all will infringe on my time. It’ll all work out in the end. I’m just trying to keep doing what I’m doing until Canada decides it likes me being here.

Some nights ago, we watched Hotel Rwanda on TV. I find it sad that it took a movie to help me understand more about what actually happened there when it did even though I can completely recall the whole event taking place in the 90’s. And sure, you might know about it and say to yourself that it was indeed awful. Maybe shake your head recalling it. “Boy, that was tragic.” Don’t feel too worried though. That was the same reaction that people gave the situation when the pictures of thousands of people were lying dead in the streets due to genocide came into their homes.

I remember when I went to Dachau as a teenager. The whole experience was down right frightening. At the start of the complex, there is a sign that reads “Never Again” in a variety of different languages. It makes you wonder what that means. The people who were instrumental in stopping those atrocities turned a blind eye when the conflict in Rwanda sparked off. In fact, it’s scary to really sit down and think about the variety of incidents relating to genocide that have happened since the days of the nazis. Perhaps it’s not on the same level, but it still is happening again and again.

It’s no secret that I do enjoy cooking. Most guys tend to either shy away from the whole affair or dive into it quite deeply, unless you’re like my buddy Adam who recently decided that his marriage has proven that if he were to enlist in a culinary school, that won’t make him appear to be gay. Now I’m not sure what his definition of being gay is, but with the way that he dresses, acts, and is as an all around human being, I just do not think that the guy could ever pass for being more straight than he already is. Regardless, he is married to a soon to be PhD in some sort of chemistry something or rather. This is the part where I want to add a nice pun about the two of them cooking something up in the kitchen, but I won’t.

I have to say that the months leading up to my departure from Iowa, I wasn’t the most creative with the food that I was eating. I like tuna, and that is incredibly easy to make. Simply take it out of the can and eat it. Yes, I know that’s gross to some, but it’s incredibly appealing to me. Plus it was easy. Coming home from work late at night, sometimes that’s all you want. Now I find the bug is coming back to me. Amazing how burning your thumb can actually make you want to cook.