And the winner is...

This place http://www.bucklandsoutherst.com/artists.htm for having the best art I have seen yet, anywhere in Vancouver. Incredible works.
Spent the day walking along the West Van seawall today and meandering through some of the cheeky little West Van shops. I now see why the real estate right on the ocean costs so much in that part of this city. Absolutely gorgeous area. I walked forever today and could have kept going for a lot longer. Two cruise ships pulled out of Vancouver and motored off into the horizon while I was walking along. Really neat to see.
Calgary is still on my mind a lot of late. Do I want to go where the money is or stay and possibly have many more interesting life experiences here?
Since I returned to Canada I have been fortunate enough to enjoy the company of one Chinese woman, one Korean, and one Japanese. A trifecta of Asian women. And then of course it all dries up and I end up alone again. C'est la vie.

My First Cookbook

In an effort to expand my culinary horizons I purchased a cookbook today; The Classic 1000 Student Recipes. It's brilliant. Tonight's feast was my first attempt at 'spicy sardine and bean pittas'. Instead of lima beans I used spinach in the recipe, on a whim. It worked fine. I overdid the garlic just a bit, I admit. Otherwise my first attempt at genius in the kitchen has been a resounding success.
The fantasy would be to attend a culinary institue in Italy for six months. Come home for a bit. Then go to France and do the same thing.

Critical Error

Possibly one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made was coming to Vancouver from Japan instead of going to Calgary. There is an acute labour shortage in that city right now. This isn't just a number out of an article in the paper. A cousin of mine just returned from there and described the reality of the job market at present. There are signs everywhere you go, everywhere, in the city indicating that help is wanted. All segments of the economy have more positions to fill than bodies to fill them. Vancouver offers much more in the way of diversion options, without doubt. But the jobs are all in Calgary right now.
What I regard as the best idea I have ever had for a screenplay came to me yesterday as I was folding some laundry. I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning writing out all that came to me.

Smells Like Victory

All indications are that my first novel will in fact be published in a relatively short period of time. I no longer hold any delusions of large earnings from this endeavour. Writing screenplays is sure a lot of fun, too.
I suck so hard I blow at painting. It does offer a wonderful escape option. The drawings are a little better. I'd love to be one of these portrait guys you see on the street corner who will draw your picture for a small fee.

'Government is the mafia we allow.'

Someone I used to have dealings with once said that to me. 'Government is the mafia we allow.' I just finished watching all three Godfather movies in a short period of time. The best line was in part III where Don Whoever says about his business dealings, "The higher up I go, the more crooked it becomes."
Feeling comedic this evening so have Dumb and Dumber cued up to watch. Then the old classic Caddyshack after that.

I was fired from a job for the first time last week. I told the woman who canned me that I regarded this as her doing me a favour as I absolutely despised the job. She seemed surprised by this. I guess I was projecting my attitude to too great a degree. I have lined up something else as a weekend supplement and have a few leads as a main source of income during the week. My weekend gig is actually quite funny. Or it will be. I haven't started it yet.
It is surprisingly hot in Vancouver right now. I don't remember things getting this warm here when I lived here a number of years ago. The painting and drawing attempts are coming along nicely.

Stanley Park Saturday

Spent all day walking the Stanley park path yesterday. It is something like 9km long. Absolutely fantastic way to spend a day. For the first time I got the sense that Vancouver could very easily start to feel 'done' to me. I'll do all the touristy things like ski the local hills and Whistler, walk the seawall, hike Grouse Mountain, etc. But I get the feeling this area will lose its novelty for me a lot faster than I anticipicated. I still can't get used to seeing seals in the water and eagles flying overhead while I'm out for a Saturday walk.

Different Cops and Robbers

I was discussing the childhood game of cops and robbers with my Korean and Japanese students today. They pointed out that they didn't pretend to use guns during the game. Their game involved chasing and catching the bad guy. I explained that cops and robbers for Canadian kids usually involved both sides carrying toy guns or something representing toy guns and the kids shooting each other to death.
Later in the same class we were discussing meal time scenarios from our childhood. I explained that I would probably be on Ridalin if I was a child today and that my single mother sometimes had a difficult time keeping my brother and I in line long enough to enjoy a meal together. One of my female Japanese students discussed how in her family her father and her older sister would eat dinner apart from her and her mom. The mother would prepare all meals and the older sister and father would always get the better food that had been prepared and eat apart from the mom and the younger daughter. I thanked the student for that interesting story from her childhood and quickly moved on to another discussion topic. It took me about 15 minutes to process how sick all the angles in her family scenario were.

Very Asian Canada Day

Had a great Canada Day yesterday. Walked around downtown Vancouver taking in the crowds. I went to a festival type thing on Granville Island with two friends later. Bumped into half of my students at that festival. Spent the day with two Japanese friends. We had Sushi for lunch. Also went and sang Karaoke in the wee hours of the morning.