Crescent Beach Day

I took a public transit bus out to Crescent Beach today. Yet another great way to spend a day in greater Vancouver. There is something very interesting about this spot. The beach sand goes out into the water very slowly, taking forever to get deep. I watched people kayaking along in the shallows, having a great time. There were all these small mounds of dirt in the low tide. As I walked past them I noticed that strands of dirt were being pushed up very systematically from these mounds. Another guy walking along in the shallows explained to me that there are large clams under those spots and they are pushing air up from where they are under the sand. I started my day in the tide with nothing on my feet. I noticed most of the people I walked past had sandals on their feet while they were in the water. At that point I saw all the jellyfish. There were tons of these little yellow jellyfish, one every few metres. I didn't step on any as I walked forever today in the low tide sands out at Crescent Beach.

After Seven Suicides

A Korean student recently informed that me if a place of business in Korea experienced seven suicides then it was tradition in their culture to shut down. I think I'd walk before the number got anywhere close to seven.

Director's Cut

Just watched the movie BladeRunner, the director's cut, again. That film gets me every time. I regard it as the best movie ever made. Daryl Hannah is up to some very interesting things: http://dhlovelife.com/

More Exploring The City

I walked around the seawall on the Granville Island/ False Creek side of the water today. The views of the city from that side of the water are unreal. There was a vintage auto show and hippy daze festival on West 4th today. It doesn't take long to find something interesting happening in this city on the weekends. Red Bull was having a promotional thing just outside of Science World. These guys parachuted out of a helicopter onto a landing where they had been launching home made projectiles of various sorts throughout the day. Very Red Bull.

Lazy Day In Vancouver

I hung out at English Bay here for a few hours today. Soooo nice. After, I walked along the sea all the way to BC Place stadium, past all the sailboats and yachts. The condos in that area must cost a fortune. But for a lot of them you would get an almost constant traffic noice from the various bridges in the area. For a million bucks or whatever people pay in there I would like to be able to sit out on my balcony in quiet.
The BC Lions CFL football team are playing tonight at BC Place stadium. I witnessed my first tailgate party this evening outside the stadium. A whole lotta cars and vans lined up with people drinking beers, having barbecues, and tossing around footballs before the game. It looks like a great time.
I accidently ended up in some of the worst areas of Vancouver's east side while making my way back downtown. The neighbourhood called Surrey in Vancouver is worse than East Van in my opinion. In East Van most of them have been so strung out for so long they're like zombies. In Surrey they're just starting. Those lost to addiction still have an edge in Surrey, and the energy to go out and feed their habits. Although I admit to less than pleasant moments today when you see a guy walking towards you with a syringe in his hand. Never know what he might do with it.
That's so Vancouver. In 10 minutes I walked from a yacht club area where I stopped to check out 2 Ferarri's and modified Porsche outside this restaurant to the saddest display of humanity anywhere in Canada.
Eastern Canada has twice the medical and police resources that they have in BC. There are police all over the place in Ottawa, my hometown. If you see the police in Vancouver something is usually up and they're rushing to it. Same with the medical. Not many hospitals in greater Van compared with the East. As the money flows this way that'll probably change.

Long Live The Run

I went jogging this afternoon for the first time in way too long. It felt so good to get the sweat going again like that.
Currently reading Song of Susannah, by Stephen King. It is the sixth in the The Dark Tower series. I read the first five so figured I might as well keep going. There have been some fascinating developments on the personal front which I of course can't go into here.
Tonight's culinary genious, as per the instructions in my cookbook, involved mushrooms, onion, bacon (I stripped the fat by hand to make the meat leaner), onions and hash browns. It was sort of a lumberjack stirfry. Deelish.
Part of my creative a day promise to myself has me working on my second web site design. This one will hopefully serve a bit of a purpose in life to people unlike the last one which was just information.

My Two Bear Day

I was back up to Whistler again this Saturday. I got a job on weekends as a tour guide. It's funny on so many levels. I was hiking around Lost Lake again with a group of people from many countries and we came across a full grown black bear. I sort of shuffled them away as they were taking photos and one guy from Mexico insists on going up about 2 meters from the animal to take a picture. He survived. So, everyone gets calmed down and we keep walking around this gorgeous lake. About 15 minutes later we come across yet another bear, a little smaller. I shuffle them all past without incident and we went back to Whistler Village with a great story for them to take home to their respective countries. My first day at this job and I come across two bears.

I bought a new computer today. 15" MacBook Pro laptop. Another beautiful creation by Apple.

A Creative A Day

I have vowed to myself to engage in some form of creative expression each and every day. No matter what form it takes; drawing, painting, poetry, prose, photography, screenwriting. Each and every day for the rest of my life I am going to strive to attempt to put some energies towards these pursuits.

'Feed my hawks'

One of my students is from semi-rural Japan. She was in the habit of feeding meat to the hawks in a forest near her home. When she left to come to Vancouver her last instructions to her parents were to feed her hawks.

Wicked Whistler

Spent Saturday up at Whistler. I can't put that place into words. Certain spots give you a 'feel' sometimes. Whistler is one of the best feels I have ever had in my life. Stopped on the way at Brandywine falls, Shannon falls and Daisy lake. Hiked around Lost Lake at the base of the mountain. Words escape me. There was a Kokanee Beer mountain bike competition/ fest of some sort happening. Watching these people go was an incredible site for me. I pointed out to one of the women I was with that at Whistler everyone is thin and all the dogs are smiling. She responded that everybody 'rips it up all day up here' so that's how they are able to stay cut much longer than most of us civilians who live elsewhere. I interacted with people in Japanese, Spanish, English, French and Korean during the day.
Was able to catch the final installment of the fireworks festival in Vancouver that night. Mexico was the competitor. Wild visuals.

Lynn Canyon Hike

Went hiking after work today in an area called Lynn Canyon.

http://www.dnv.org/ecology/see_do/see_do.html

It's kind of gorgeous. I'm kind of exhausted. I'm off to Whistler on Saturday. Should be exciting. Speaking of Whistler, I had an extremely disappointing situation recently. I had a great many rough notes for a TV series I planned to write for fun. It was to be called 'Wicked Whistler'. It was to be set in Whistler, with characters that encompass the surreal dynamic of that very strange and beautiful place. CTV is in production of the identical series right now, called 'Whistler'. Damned collective unconscious.

$21/hr And Hating It

I have returned to teaching ESL, short term, until I find something, anything else. ESL offered an unbelievable opportunity to see Asia. However, back in Canada I really can't stand doing the job. At least there is a constant stream of other employment opportunities coming available as I broaden my search. I have been seeking employment before and could find almost nothing through the standard search channels.