Xerarch?

Birthday soon...

2008-03-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

The following is a list of some cool or less cool people who have the same birthday as me.
I suppose somehow this makes me cool too.

Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans, brother of Charles VI of France
Pope Innocent XII
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (His name is Picard's favorite tea, so I had to include him)
L. Ron Hubbard
Donald Duck
Adam Clayton
Common

Ok.
Uhm...
I'll be 29 in two days. That's wierd.
That's all I have to say.

Do ya ever...

2008-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

... wanna sit in front of the TV doing nothing all weekend but then get called in for an overtime shift? I do, but I worked. Now I can pay rent.

... think that maybe when you see blue, you're actually seeing what someone else sees as red? Maybe you just use a different word to describe the same colour. Maybe men actually do see the opposite as women!!! (but i guess then we'd see green, or like, they'd see orange... I don't know...)

... wonder if maybe Walt Disney actually is cryogenically frozen and stored in a secret chamber underneath The Pirates of the Caribbean ride? Wikipedia tells me it's an urban legend... but I say it's a conspiracy that it's an urban legend... like, reverse psychology stuff, you know? They create the myth of the frozen body of Walt, and then everyone thinks its a myth, but then it actually is true, but because we all think it's a myth, none of us are going to don scuba gear and abandon ship at the bottom of Davey Jones' domain to check it out!!! (plus, we probably spent three weeks wages just to get on the one ride)...

... wonder why people tailgate or drive 140 km/h on the trans-canada, even when it's snowing? I have a theory about the instant-culture we have inadvertently created via the internet. Yup, the internet is responsible for the reckless tossing away of reason when we are on the highway. We don't have time to wait, we want it now!!! I want my fries hot, and fresh, but I want them 28 seconds after I order!!! I want to download the latest music or software instantaneously, not sit staring at a little bar waiting for the little green squares to fill it all the way up!!! I want to get to Vancouver in 20 minutes flat, and I can't see the car in front of the car in front of me, I just know that if I tail-gate I'll be able to get there faster!!!

... wonder why it can be minus 15 in Abbotsford but plus 5 in Vancouver? Dan Bryce would tell you it's 'cause vancouver is an urban heat island, and he'd claim the evils of anthropogenic thermal distortions in the city have upset the one time equilibrium of the planet's biosphere. I say nay, the biosphere is in a constant tension leading the smallest fluctuation to hurtle it into a state of chaos, and that regardless of what any fancy-pants french-enlightenment-modern scientist may say, the world has on any given level been constantly in a state of chaos since its creation. Any uniformity present can only be the consistency of chaos. This is why I am not necessarily opposed to the city's effect on the globe. In the realm of geography, specifically as it relates to the creation of the world, I am a catastrophic uniformitarianist. Uniformly consistent catastrophic events were what shaped the planet (by the Hand of God, of course). Chaos. God loves it.

... wonder why I wrote all that stuff? ... me too...

Later.

Bam!!!

2008-01-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

And just like that, I post a new post-cool post. I'm married now.
This has been about the longest I've ever gone without updating my blog, and it feels like I should go about updating this thing.
What has happened since May...
Uhm, had a summer. Worked and planned wedding.
Got married Aug. 4th. Good times were had by all.
Went to Thailand with Andrea Hendy. Got sick, crashed a motorbike, came home a month later, good as new.
Started my Masters. Lost touch with my brain cause I was also working full time. But I finished the semester.
Stopped my masters. Too much work... I'll finish later once Andrea can work.
Uhm... and now...

...

later.

Props

2007-05-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

My nephew rules.

Pics

2007-04-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a year or more, but here's some pics from my trip to Thailand that I just put up on the intranest. Pictures!!! Yeah, enjoy them.
later.

Emo-schmeemo post

2007-04-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

Blah.
I'm feeling lame. It's probably a whole collection of reasons I feel lame, the latest of which is that the sun has hid its face behind a cloud, and the warming yellow has shifted to the cooling grey. I hate the grey light of cloudy days. I mean, it's good for filming or pictures or whatever, if that's your thing. But it doesn't make me happy like the yellow light of the sun. There's no shadows and the greens are all dull and nothing reflects. It's all just kinda bland. The sun shows up for a few minutes while the clouds shift, but before I can soak any of the sunlight up the next cloud moves in and the sun disappears again.
Well, I'm listening to Sibelius, so that makes the inside of my dungeon-esque house feel a bit more alive, but the fact remains that there's no square section of bright on my carpet near the window. So the room feels dark.
I have three exams left, then a summer of stupid work and some other things, and then I can get married and move to a basement suite that isn't a cave. Don't get me wrong, I love my suite, but it's just always so dank. I pine for sunlight.
This winter has killed me. Last winter I was in the Asian sun for 2 months, making it a bit more bearable. This winter, however, has been so long, cold, wet, dreary and sad that I can't take it any longer. I need a week of good sun, but the forecast says rain. And even today when it was sunny, it was only 13 degrees outside so it was chilly with the wind, and I wasn't quite as comfortable as I wish to be. A week ago it was 25 degrees, and I was happy. I need temperatures outside that are 18 minimum. None this week though. This week sad.
ยุง is sad too. He needs to go out for a ride, perhaps. Well, that settles it. Even typing that sentence made me feel happy, and so I'm putting the motorbike helmet on and going for a cruise on my moped. Perhaps that will cheer me up, and maybe get my sorry brain back into final exam mode.
Alright... whatever... see you later.

My Nephew

2007-04-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

My nephew is awesome. Plus, he's big and tough, so don't mess.
Here are some pictures.
He's about 11.5 hours old in these pics.
His name is Wyatt Richard Brand, and I love him.

That's me and Wyatt. I'm Uncle Kyle.

That's my fiance and Wyatt. She's Auntie Andrea.

That's all I have to say.
I am happy.
later.

For All You Whiners and Winos...

2007-03-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a post.
Andrea and I got engaged.
I'm getting married in a smallish number of months.
Fair thee well.
Kyle.

Is This Goodbye?

2007-02-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

Tonight I will be re-formatting my hard drive and installing everything I want to keep, and not installing everything else that I don't want to keep.
If for some reason, it all goes wrong and I can't be with you anymore, here's a tentative good-bye.
Also, tomorrow morning I will be getting in a vehicle with Andrea and her family and driving up to the rockies where I will be snowboarding and hot-springing my brains out. I'll be missing a week of school, but it's ok, cause I go to Bible College. And even if it wasn't ok, it would still be OK because I would just tell them that I am going on a retreat with the director of the Mennonite Brethren Board of Church Extensions, since that's what Andrea's dad is. So, either way, I'm off.
Fare thee well, dear readers, and until I see you again, take care.
later.

Amazing!!!

2007-02-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

I'm not gonna lie. I stole this link right off of derek furtney's blog and it is amazing. Watch it now.

later.

Chicken Night at the Girls' House

2007-01-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

For those of you who care to see this, I present it.
Derek Furtney stars in, "Pinch the Thighs: The Shake and Bake Saga".

enjoy.

An Addendum

2007-01-29T13:24:00.000-08:00

I drove my moped home from my parents' house this afternoon.
I am officially 'wheeled' again.
No longer the pedestrian.
No, now I'm a mopedestrian.
Riding to the mopedestination.
Yoong is the man.
later.

YOONG!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-29T06:43:00.000-08:00

You guys won't even believe how excited I am. No, I'm serious.
I had kind of mentioned back in the day that I was thinking of fixing my moped near the end of January and perhaps insuring it as well. I was only going to insure it after it was fixed though, so I didn't really expect it to be insured for a few more weeks.
However...
I went over to my parents house yesterday afternoon to see if I could start sorting out the problem, and I totally fixed it. Just like that. I totally didn't think it would be that easy, but it was. Basically, as best as my non-trained-mechanic mind can figure, the carburetor was leaking gas, so not enough was getting to the cylinder to keep the little guy running. So... tighten a bolt or two, and we're up an on our way... I put the most expensive gas I could find in it (mostly cause at $3 a tank, I can do what I want), kick started for about 10 minutes, and let it run for quite a while (once I actually got it going). Then I whipped up and down the street a million times to 'test' it, all the while enjoying myself very much, and then went back and cleaned all the dust and grime off the little guy.
So this brings me to today.
I have my old insurance information in my bag, and after class I'm gonna bus over to the insurance place, then to my parents and drive Yoong home.
That is the end of my story.
Oh, and Jess, don't believe anything they tell you... I never said anything bad about Albertans last night... Uhm, I gotta go to school now.
later.

Sheesh...

2007-01-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

I'm even getting flak from my own sister.
Apparently I have a heap of loyal readers, some of whom check this blog every day, and I never update.
In the words of my sister "It's been disappointing lately..."
Sorry guys.
I would fill you in on my boring day, but I need to go eat and then continue reading so I can write a paper or something.
Oh! Today Andrea and I (notice my A+ grammar) went on a restaurant adventure. We found one of those small 'hole-in-the-wall' Asian eateries and walked in for our lunch. It was great. We have now vowed to try that more often. Andrea said, "We'll have to try every small independent restaurant in Abby,"... and my retort, "all three?"
This is a town of box stores and franchises... but there's some pretty good family run businesses out there that would be good to you if you'd just go there instead of wal-mart or earls.
That's my two bits...
out.

OK, I seriously need to admit that I'm not a blogger.

2007-01-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

I don't blog.
That's right, I just don't.
Go ahead and look at the date of my last post. Go for it... I dare you.
November 20th, 2006.
Uhm, it's not just blogging though... I don't do any sort of journaling or diarizing or any other sort of narrarative of my life, either the inside or the outside.
So, I'll fill you in as best as I can for the last little bit.
I'm a CBC student now again.
I'm taking intercultural studies... a fancy-pants word for missions.
I'm still dating Andrea and things there are great.
I'm still at Vintage 242 Church, and things there are great. We're trying to purchase the old post office in downtown abbotsford, but it's gonna be a miracle if we get it, and then heaps of hard work and pain after we do. I'm excited.
I dreamt last night about fixing my moped, and I think I might do that next weekend. The weather is getting nice.
Derek Furtney is the snow-locust.
I am now officially a snow-boarder. I got given a board and I went and bought bindings and boots and have been boarding twice. I'm good. I'm hurt right now, but I'm mostly good still... relativity my friends, it's all relative.
I did a jump and landed on my butt. It hurts to sit in class.
I also fell off the chair lift and entered into a strange and somewhat anomolous roll, where I was rolling over on my side so slow... then my back... then my board stopped rolling cause it got wedged in the snow. I thought I was ok, but since I wasn't strapped in right (this whole fiaso took place on the dismount from the chairlift), I only had one foot in the bindings and when the board stopped I tried to stop my body too, but in a moment of pure Newtonian imbecility I watched as my body continued it's lethargic roll and I proceeded to make another 3/4 rotation with uniform motion over the temporal period of no less than 30 seconds. How is it that I didn't stop? I don't know. I just didn't. Then I realized that only 3/4 of me was making this 3/4 rotation, and the remaining 1/4 was strapped into the board. All this culminated with my vociferation of the words; "My knee is ouchey!!"
So...
Uhm, now you know the whole story. No flips, just rolls and ouchies.
Kylo?

I got sucker-punched

2006-11-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Derek Furtney owes me a new arm.
Just joking, he doesn't owe me too much... but still...
Here's how it went down:
Apparently Landon was describing to derek-the-one-dimensional-being how to punch with force, after church yesterday. I am supposing that up until this day derek probably couldn't have even hurt a kitten with his punch. It's not that he's not strong... well... yes it is, but he's got good reach, and Landon is a guru.
So Derek wanted to try this out straight away, and he saw me cleaning up after the meeting in the church and decided to try out his new technique on me.
I am giving him the benefit of the doubt in saying that he was aiming to hit me square on the shoulder, which would have been a solid thud, and though I may have felt it for a few minutes no serious damage would have been done. However, while Derek's technique may have been enlightened by the Landon Sessions, his aim did not and he made contact with my arm right in the front on the litttle spot between your bicep and your deltoid.
I proceeded to kick him two times squarely in the seat of the pants. For this he was sorry.
Anyways, I have named my new-found arm-bump. It is my Unicep, and it has been reminding me all day at work that I should never underestimate the power of a weakling. Even Derek.
Farewell.

Homeless?... Really?!?

2006-11-12T11:22:00.000-08:00

Firstly, I'm sorry for the lack of posts these last few months. I'm kinda always busy or out these days. Having a girlfriend is awesome, but it means the internet gets less of my attention. (...I don't mean it that way, Derek, grow up). But here I am, and here's a post.
*****
The 'upstairs people' at my house got a puppy. It's a beagle named Bailey. I can hear it bark, but only when I'm awake, and it's kinda quiet so far. I'm happy for that.
*****
I had to work on a Saturday once, and my foreman who usually gives me a ride couldn't make it. ยุง is still on the fritz, so I had to get a ride somehow. So, I asked my friend Mike to meet me at the starbucks and we could commute across town to work together. He obliged.
However, the night before, Andrea and I had been hanging out at her parents place in Langley and on the way home she decided it would be easy for me to take her car and drive it to work since she lives right near my work and then since we were going to see Damien Jurado play a show in Seattle that night I could just pick her up and we could go from there. So I no longer needed a ride.
But what about Mike?!?
I drove early to Starbucks and waited for him to arrive. I got out of the car and was standing in the parking lot so that he could see me. I was in my work clothes and my beard was the only part of me exposed to the elements. Then he didn't show up so I was crouched down on the curb since I was cold. Finally he showed up and I offered to buy him a coffee for his trouble, since I no longer needed a ride.
At the cream table he was stirring his drink when a lady came up to me and upon looking at my jacket asked me if I truly was a coach at MEI. I said yes. She said really? and I said yes some more.
She then started laughing, and explained that she had some free coffee vouchers and was thinking she should give me one when she saw me in the parking lot cause she thought I was homeless.
Mike lost it. He definitely thought it was the funniest thing he had heard that week.
We all had a good laugh and then Mike and I went to work. So this poor old Christian lady had told me I look homeless to my face, and then still didn't give me the coffee vouchers. Oh well. Whatever... I'll take one for the homeless team.
*****
We had a spectacular time in Seattle at the concert and at Thai food beforehand. It was the first small indie show date that Andrea and I had been on. I mean, we went to see Sufjan Stevens, but that (in my books) was a larger show... I might even call it a concert. This was just a show, and it was awesome. Very creative. And Damien is a folk legend. Ok. Uhm, I'm gonna go now, cause I feel more like reading than writing.
later.

Indeed...

2006-09-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

I need a job. I really, really want one. I already have one, but maybe I want a new one. My sister told me that the MCC warehouse might need someone to head up their shipping and recieving area, and I thought that that was the kind of job I would totally be into. You see, I don't mind the actual job of logistics, and the ministry side of it would be awesome cause I would be shipping important goods like foods or clothes to people that need them instead of $1700 pressure washers to people that want to keep their driveways clean for their shiny BMW's. So yeah, MCC might be the sort of direction that I would rather start steering my life. Useless company politics and the increasingly obvious lack of upward mobility at my current job have started to wear me out. Not to be conceited or anything, but I'm so much more than that job lets me be. Wow, that does sound conceited, but it's truly not. It's kinda like when they interview track stars on TV, and everyone thinks that they're arrogant weasels when in fact, (and anyone who has run and raced at higher levels of competition will tell you) there's a huge difference between arrogance and confidence, and confidence is essential to winning the race. They just kinda look the same on TV to the untrained eye. I refuse to settle into this job thinking 'it's my lot in life' when I know that it's not.
I think I will eat grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.
Anyways, we (my sister and I) later discovered that this job posting may have been comfused with another, and that there might not actually be an opening where I thought there was. Oh well. Whatever, the motivation has been awoken, and I think I might want to look into finding a better job, or maybe even going back to school or something crazy.
Also, those of you who know me close know that I'm going through a crazy amount of stuff right now, and any notion I had of growing up with the white picket fence and 2.3 kids has been trampled. Obviously, nobody knows the future and so maybe that's still in store for me, but I think I'm getting out of here. I'm looking into missions full time, and these last few days I have pined to get out and travel and see things and experience the world as fully as I can, cause really who knows when my time here is over. Riding a moped in Abbotsford has definitely reminded me that we all could die at any time. Abbotsford drivers are about the worst ever. Maybe not the worst, just pretty careless and negligent. Oh well, maybe I'll die while I'm out and about, or maybe I'll die of gunfire in Northern Africa or landmines in Cambodia or maybe of malnutrition behind bars in Laos. Whatever, what does it freaking matter? Every day is a gift from God, right? So yeah, Im thinking of doing an MBMSI Trek next September. So that gives me a year to make a bit of money so that I can continue paying off my debts even while I'm away. Or maybe I can get it considered as school and get a year off of paying the stupid things. I mean, that's the 3rd year of CBC's missions program anyways, and I've had the 2 year diploma since 19-[party like it's...], so maybe I can just jump in and finish the degree or something. Hmmm.
So many options, and so many roads I could go down. But in the end I have to slow down my brain and focus on the task that's in front of me. Today. Today is hard enough, and so I gotta look out for today and let tomorrow get thought out when it finally becomes today. So yeah, on that note I'll let it be and sign off of here.
Take care, all.
Shalom.

Return of the King

2006-09-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

I'm back. In so many ways...
I had my intranest disconnected for the last few weeks, or maybe a month, I can't figure how long... but now it's back up. It's still kinda sketchy, but maybe it's gonna be ok. It seems to work fine right now.
Also, I'm back from Kelowna... another great trip to K-town, complete with swimming in the lake, frisbee wars, late night loud laughter, and tubing down a river. No, not the lame canal... a river with real rapids... like one was almost a foot high. Scary... I stayed at Andrea Fleming's sister's house. What a great fun group of people was there there there. I wil be there again in a few weeks, so I'm looking forward to that.
Also, I'm going to be returning to my former kingdom soon... like Dan and I were the co-kings of UCFV, and as soon as Casey's on Campus re-opens we will once again sit on our thursday night thrones at the pub. We rule.
And so I have nothing else to say for now. I will add that my 'GF' is coming over. I add this strictly for the sake of derek furtney. Chapleos is not pronounced Kapleos.
I gotta go.
peace.

Greatest occurence yet...

2006-08-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

So, I had an hour to kill this morning, and I decided to go for a ride on Yoong. I figured that if I drove for an hour, it'd only cost me 25 cents or so... But anyways, on the ride, the greatest thing ever happened. I buzzed around this corner only to see two police officers standing beside the road with a radar gun. As I got closer I saw the one officer wave the other officer over and point at the gun. Then they were laughing. Yeah, I had that bad boy up to about 48 kph, so I reckon they were pretty amused. They nodded in my direction and chuckled as I passed, and I rode on.
peace.

how did that happen?

2006-07-31T17:32:00.000-07:00

... and 27 years later I realize that having a GF really does make the world spin faster. Who knew? Hmmm...

K-town...

2006-07-22T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I got invited to go to Kelowna for the day and the night and the morning. So I'll be leaving shortly for a random spontaneous road trip, and I will return tomorrow before church. I'm a little bit excited. Uhm, also, I'm realy tired, cause this was pretty much the worst week of work yet. It just keeps getting more insane. Oh well, lots of OT pay.
okok, so now I am gonna go.
For real.
To Kelowna.
I'll take some pics.
Peace.

Live Basil

2006-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Yeah, live basil. It's great.
I like stir fry, as all'y'all prolly realize. But the little dudes (fresh basil leaves) come in packages that are too big if I just want a touch of flavour. I can't use the dried stuff too much any more, cause putting fresh basil into my fry is just amazing. So last night I had Joel and Dan over for some eats, and joel and I went out to buy some veggies.
We bought veggies.
Then I saw it.
Live basil. A basil plant in a little pot.
It now resides on my window sill, watered and soaking up the sun. It's missing a few leaves after last nights meal, but I'm hoping they'll grow back soon. Yeah. Fresh live basil.
My life has been changed.

eat.

Rain.

2006-07-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

Today it rains.
I am still missing a part for my moped... a very important one. I can't drive without it, and it's been missing for the last 3 weeks. So, I've been out of luck, basically. It's just a good thing that my Dad is so rad, that he lets me borrow his truck whenever I need it. That's a good Dad, that's awesome.
So I"ve been wasting way too much money on gas (I still have to pay him, since I was too broke to fill up last time), and driving as little as possible and basically missing the ability to rip around on Yoong.
We've just come off 3 weeks of beautiful weather, and I would have loved to spend a (literal) few bucks driving around in the sun on evenings and weekends. Even driving to and from work would be great. But alas, my foreman has been giving me rides, so I guess I'll pay for his meal this Friday when the boys go out to eat.
Hopefully it will be nice this weekend though.
Wait, hopefully I will have my part by the weekend so that I can get the 'ped back on the road and rip around gleefully.
Hmmmm....
Oh yeah, new news is that I got me a ticket to the Sufjan Stevens show. Awesome that will be, doubtless it is. I'm proper excited, even though it's like 3 months away. Oh well... I'm ready. I'm listening to Sufjan right now. Good.
And I guess I will leave it at that. I have nothing deep or profound to say, just "keep on rockin'"
Shalom.

Swiss Rap

2006-07-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

You wanted to hear it, now you can.
Reto raps a Swiss children's song while we were in Thailand.
Enjoy.

Walking Home.

2006-07-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

Life is brilliance.
As I walk home, I see a reflective magical green hue. It is somehow painted with an orange hue as the sun descends behind and to the right. I don't understand how green can be orange, but it's there. It is. Brilliance.
On the gravel between passing cars and flowing waters, I breathe in freshness. A small rabbit hops by, hiding from me in the tall grass down by the water. Eagles float above, and the word graceful can't convey their majesty. They seem static. This might be a painting. Brilliance.
This is a painting. I am inside it, walking around. There's no other way for orange to be where green is. The ambiant sound of cars of the freeway becomes like the ambiance of waves on the beach. The setting sun reflects of each passing vehicle in the same way it does on the waves. Brilliance.
Down the slope I traverse, towards the sea of green prairie ahead. The odd barn or farmhouse float there, like fishing boats anchored just offshore. My journey is both peaceful and enlightening. It is spiritual. Brilliance.
I think I am a bristle. I am a single hair on God's paint-brush. As I learn and grow he is dipping me in the paint. Then he moves the brush. Behind me I leave a small trail of incredible colours. I've heard tell that in heaven there will be new colors; brilliant new hues and shades and textures. I think God paints with those colors every day. I think that as I pass through the day, as I walk around I give off colors and as those colors mix with others, amazing scenerey appears on the canvas. Brilliance.
I can't quite explain it to you, and the more I try the more I will fail. All I can say is that you should find time to go for a walk. You don't need to go find 'nature', all you need is a road. Then just think about how even you walking down the road has applied paint to the canvas, and has helped beautify the painting. Do this, and then write me a comment and let me know what you see, feel, or smell.
Blessings.
Shalom.

The Bitter Aftertaste

2006-07-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Weekends of fun such as I had rarely come without their bitter aftertaste.
Firstly though, I forgot to mention a few highlights of the weekend, since my last post focussed primarily on the pool party. Here's a few to add to the list.
- The Asian night market
- Seeing Joel's face with a mischievious little grin as his hand reached out from the crowd...
- Goulet
- Riding a pocket bike around the churches parking lot... and then off down the street
- and of course, swimming.

Anyways, on to the aftertaste. Waking up this morning at 5:00am to go to work. I can tell you that I was somewhat unable to deal with the morning at that time. I spent long drawn-out periods of time standing in the kitchen, trying to think of what I was doing. "Ok, I have a bowl and some cereal... now what did I stand up for? Oh yeah... A spoon..." Then after eating I put the cereal box away in the fridge. Yup, it was tremendous.
The taste was dulled a bit by the fact that my foreman, who was supposed to pick me up failed to do so, and at 6:00am when the rest of the Braber shipping crew started work, I went back to bed for another hour of sleep. Awesome. But then 7:00am just hurt more... so I guess it wasn't dulled so much. I finally managed to find a way to work (Thanks mom!) and I began the day.
Arduous.
Strenuous.
Onerous.
Humorous?
Humerus. Heavy arms. At one point I was actually considering opening the box to see if they had packed it wrong. I was sure that the 4hp pressure washer box actually contained a 6.5hp washer. I couldn't lift my arms very exuberantly. Well, through a mixture of patience and sections of time being lost to my memory, I managed to pass through the day and finish my shift.
Hence the day of the aftertaste ends. However, the taste will still linger for quite some time. It's true, there's only one absolutely immediate cure for a bitter aftertaste... take another sip of the drink.
And so, I plan on having another really fun weekend sometime soon in order to rid myself of the bitter drear that has accompanied my "back to work"-edness. I think it will work too, since then I'll have something to look forward to, and the days may pass quicker. Don't you think?
Ok... Uhm, I need to go get some sleep.
Take care.

It might just come out on top

2006-07-03T19:35:00.000-07:00

I have likely had what will be the funnest weekend of the summer. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm gonna try to outdo it, but even if I can't, I'm satisfied with this weekend should it come out on top.
Here's some of the highlights:
- Swimming until midnight
- Campfires shooting out flames in all directions
- Going to bed in the tent at 3am-ish
- Going for a walk at 4am
- Almost going swimming at 4am but then realizing my towel was still soaking wet from midnightand that it's a bit cold for such nonsense
- Swimming at 7am (it warmed up a bit)
- Not going to work on Monday
- Laughing
- Swimming at 9-12
- Waffle making competitions
- Sinking golf balls
- Getting attacked by a dog
- Listening to way too much good music
- More swimming
- etc.
Well, uhm, it's over, and I'm at home and exhasted. I'll make a sandwich for tomorrows lunch and go to sleep.
lates.

Bears, Ninjas, and Sigur Ros.

2006-06-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

Joel sold his truck. Yeah, that’s how this story ends. He sold it and he drove it to Calgary to deliver it to the new owner, but I’ll always remember his truck as the host of the perfect ending to an evening adventure.
Here’s how my last memory of his truck came to be. (I applogize for the length of this post. Just consider it a short story.)
It all starts with a lazy sunny Wednesday evening. Andrea F. came over to hang out, but we had no idea what we were going to do. We only knew that it would be outside since the weather was beautiful. Finally we decided to walk up to the top of McKee Peak to gaze over Abbotsford. After stopping for a cold drink at EA, we parked the car at the base of the trail on Highlands and started up the trail. Seriously, it wasn’t even 5 minutes later that we met a man and his dogs coming down the trail. He told us that a black bear had been spotted in the area and was likely to eat us... or something like that. So, in the interest of keeping all my meat on my body, I suggested that we find something else to do.
We did.
I told her I’d show her the crazy dip in the road past Western Penn… you all know the one. If you drive 100 kph you get a surprisingly long period of zero gravity. Andrea was driving however, so we had a slightly less exciting experience as the road dropped away beneath us. But Sumas Mountain was pretty. We ended up near the river on Page Rd. Good times. Then I asked if she had ever seen the freaky abandoned army base. She said no, and so I took her there.
Freaky… and abandoned. But maybe not abandoned afterall…
She wanted to drive in to the main building area, since one of the gates seemed to be left open, but I was too scared. Then as we kinda were sitting there in front of the gate, I noticed that there was a new black pick-up. You know the type… the government official big black pick-up type. You see them on the movies all the time. Anyways, I thought it suspicious that there be a new-ish black pick-up parked behind the security building at the gate, and upon further investigation I realized that there was a Canadian Military Ninja-Agent looking back at us from the shadows in the gate building. I tried as nonchalantly as possible to tell Andrea to drive away, but as she had no Ninja-Agent sensing abilities, she just kept on gesturing and pointing and so on. Shoot. Finally I convinced her that we need be leaving now, and we drove past all the freaky weird communications antennas and probably nuclear devices and alien ships down to the end of the street, which happened to be a dead one. Once there we noticed an overgrown section of gate. The ‘No Trespassing’ and ‘Danger High Voltage’ signs were still legible, as was the government warning that we would be prosecuted and probably eaten alive if we managed to cross the razor wire. Well, we didn’t try, but I got eaten alive anyways; mosquito style. Then just before we left -- to risk driving back past the freaky gate with the freakier Canadian Military Ninja-Agent in order to extricate her car from the danger of proximity to freaky not-so abandoned military communications bases – I noticed something in the bushes just ahead behind the big checkered Dead End sign. Yup, I noticed a home-made sign that said end. And as I was admiring its cut-out plywood and spray-paint construction, I noticed something to the left of it. Another letter. An H. I was enthralled. I looked, desperately hoping to see a Y on the right side of it, but I found none. That will have to be rectified one of these days.
We drove on back to the main road. But upon reaching the other side of the base, the side without the ninja, our courage began to grow again and we attempted another circumnavigation of the base. We didn’t make it. We got about as far as the “Danger: Entering Live Ammo Range” sign, (which may have actually said “Stay on roadway, Rod and Gun Club Range” or something to that effect). It was at this point that we decided to head off to Joel’s house, since he was home by this time and awaiting our arrival.
However, on the way, we looked ahead at the car in front of us, and decided most definitely that it was a government vehicle. It had numbers on the trunk and back window, and one-too-many antennas, and therefore it was relatively simple to deduce that the ninja was following us. That’s right… following us. We were surprised that the ninja was in front of us when he meant to be following us, but this too had a rather simple explanation –he’s a really talented ninja. A short time before we got to Joel’s house, the ninja turned off and drove away. I guess he figured out that we were on to him.
We entered Joel’s pleasant domicile and we sat on the couch and began relating to him the story of our evening. The conversation shifted to a continuation of an earlier conversation that Andrea and I had had in the car regarding freaky cult buildings and zones and fields that probably were related to freaky cults and whatever else. Andrea had told me this one amazing scary story about a tres-sketchy place she found in Langley, and we Google Earth-ed it on Joel’s computon. After drinking some water and sitting around for a bit longer, we decided that we should go out and sit on the roof rack of Joel’s very cool (and right-hand drive at that) Land Cruiser and look at the stars. It was the last night that the truck would reside here in BC, and so we may as well get one last session with it before it was too late. Some tea was made, a thermos retrieved to retain the chaud-liquid, and we set off with cushions and blankets to find a dark place up on a hill where we could watch the stars.
We drove around quite a bit that evening. No luck. Not anywhere. It does quite seem like every access to cool mountain spots is blocked, either by large rocks or gates or machinery or the like. At one point up on McKee peak, we were watched with great scrutiny as we pulled up and Joel sought out the path. It was gated, but there was a way around. However, Mr. Birdwatcher was standing right there staring right at us, and there was no way to get to our desired location without attracting some unwanted attention. So we gave up and went to try Auguston. No luck there either, though we did manage to find a nice field of bark mulch.
Finally after a few more stops we decided to give up and head back to Joel’s house. At least he lives a bit out of the city so it might be kinda dark-ish. Well, his house is at the base of a cleared out section that is undergoing new development, so we attempted to find a way up the hill. We drove on to the street above his, (a street with no houses, only empty lots and lots and lots of construction equipment) and were intrigued to find a shiny white suburban parked on the side of the road, and two thirty-something year old gentlemen with sketchy beards and cigarettes standing beside it playing with remote control cars.
Now, let’s consider the full weight of this scene. You’re 32. You are successful enough to drive a big shiny white suburban. It is 11:00pm at night, and you are parked on an empty street a fair ways out of town, and you are playing with a remote control car. Awesome.
We drove by them on our quest for access to the hill beside us, and received some awkward and concerned looking glances from said gentlemen as we did. The cul-de-sac provided us with no route up the hill, and so we turned around and started driving back towards them. Then just before we reached their location, we saw some dodgy caterpillar tracks heading up the hill. We turned off the street and started our uneven ascent. Toy-car guys just watched with nervous glances. Eventually after an arduous journey in a fairly tough 4-wheel drive truck, we came to a turn in the dirt path. Now, I better try to explain this too you. We were basically driving up the side of a cliff. I mean, the cliff was on our left and the ‘road’ if you dare call it that was fairly level from the left to right, but was at a very steep angle. To our right was a sheer drop off, at the angle of repose. The cliff turned inwards a bit ahead, and it was only upon finally rounding the corner that we realized that that was where the road ended. There was definitely no path ahead of us, and none to the side, so we parked and opened the sunroof to climb up to the roof-rack.
This is where the night got beautiful. The hardcore-hobbie guys were somewhat disconcerting as they frequently glanced up into the darkness towards where our lights had last been seen, but shortly thereafter they got back in their big shiny white suburban and drove away to go work on their model train. It was then that we were alone, and the stars grew close. Sigur Ros made the perfect soundtrack for the occasion, and we were lulled into the endlessness that is our universe and conversations about nearly everything. In looking down to the subdivision we could see the reflection of moths dancing beneath the streetlights, and the occasional car would drive by.
All in all, it was a spectacular and serene ending to a wonderful evening of adventures. I will miss Joel’s truck, but I guess all good things need come to an end sometimes.
Just like this story.
Peace be with you.

Really teed at Realty

2006-06-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

So, our landlords have put their house on the market, leaving us (my roommate and I) unsure about where we will be living in a few months. I will dearly miss our landlords if the sale does go through. They are genuinely excellent people. They have two wonderful young boys who let me play with their remote control monster trucks from time to time, and are just a very sincere and giving family. I could not have asked for better landlords when I was first moving out. They have been a blessing.
The realty company however, has been somewhat less of a blessing. Not that they're bad people, just that their job is a rather intrusive one. They have to show people around the house, and during those times they ask that we be 'not present.' This is so that the house can look lived in, but without the awkward presence of two young men who are either the prospective buyers' future tenants, or future evictees. I guess I can see how that might be awkward. However, let me say, it's a bit disconcerting haveing someone we don't know show people we don't know around our place while we're not there. Not awesome. Secondly, they seem to make plans to tour tehe house at the most inopportune times, and with very little warning.
Yesterday I worked until 5, then went to coach until 6:30 like I normally do. I got a message on my phone in the afternoon saying that they had 2 viewings scheduled for that evening, one from 6-6:30 (no problem), and the other from 7-8pm. Problem. I need to eat. Also, I'm sick, I had insomnia the night before, and I'm stinky after a work-day on the hottest day of the year so far. I mostly want nothing other than to go home, eat, shower, and then probably go to bed and try to sleep. Well, I decided I would have no time to shower and sleep, but I could very likely eat between 6:30 and 7, and so I attempted to do so. I arrived home at 6:17, hoping that the first group had gone already, and indeed they had. I was lucky. Now I had 43 minutes to eat, instead of just 30. I got out my food, eating some crackers while I did, wasting no time getting my mouth full of food. But before I could sit down and actually enjoy the meal, I heard the landlords front door unlock, and the sound of foreign voices. Quick, put all the food back, grab your backpack and shoes and slip out the side door. Listen... no voices. Walk quietly to the front... and, Oh. Everyone is standing right there. Hi.
My roommate was sitting in his car, parked across the road. I guess he had wanted to stop in between too. He was shaking his head as I approached, and we went to EA and sat for 1.5 hours, and thankfully he bought me some food (since I have 'insufficient funds' for even a bagel). Then finally after waiting quite impatiently, we arrived home to an almost empty house, some food, a shower, and most important, some cough medicine and my bed.
So as you can see, this was more than an inconvenience. It was a bonifide frustration. But, hey, I guess that's life. I called the landlords later that night and explained the situation, and the realter was there with them, and he appologized on behalf of his company and promised that we would get 24 hours notice from now on.
Well, that promise lasted about... no time. I got a message on my phone today. IT made me cringe and feel so sorry for my roommate. Now, you need to understand something. My roommate is the sleep-in guru. He has his routine down to a science. I actually admire his ability to wake up 12 minutes before he needs to be out the door and still make it out showered and ready for the day. It amazes me. In a pinch, I can do the same to, but I find that when I wake up stressed, the rest of the day follows that route, and I have a bad day. So, I wake up giving myself plenty of time to relax and make sure that everything is in place. The right side of the bed for Kyle. Hamish has his right side too, and if he gets too close to that side he'll roll back towards the left and stay put until the last possible second. So now you understand who he is, then know that today was his day off. When I'm around on his day's off, I don't expect to see him until after 10. Poor little guy...
The realty company called at 8:35, asking that they realters take a tour of the house at 9:00am. Not even 30 minutes later. This is why I cringed and felt terrible for Hamish. What a bad scene it has been.
Apparently a serious offer has been placed, and so we'll see how this all develops in the future. I'll keep you updated as to any significant changes in my living arrangement.
peace.

Pro's and Con's of being quite ill.

2006-06-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

{Alternate working title: Sick Days: Part II}

I generally can't say I am a big fan of being sick. However, I can ceratinly say that I am a big fan of sick days.
I am currently sick again. This time a bit different than last... less psychological, and more nauseatical. Don't tell me it's not a word. I have a B.A. now, and that means that I can fall into the loving arms of poetic liscence. If I say nauseatical, then it's a word. I have a B.A. I am a university graduate. I have gone through 4 (read 'six') years of university level education. I have a degree. I work at a low-paying and labour-intensive summer job. I have a B.A.
I am sick.
So anyways, there are a number of descriptivorialianismicological (again; don't question me... I'm warning you) qualities that can be applied to the concept of sickness. These qualities--while they describe a single state of being--can be placed into two distinct, yay, two mutually exclusive and inherently opposite categories. These categories are: 1) Things I like; and 2) Things that I do not like.

The first category includes descriptivorialianismicological qualities of sickness such as 'not having to go to work', and 'getting a day off.' These could be better explained with statements such as the following:
I don't have to be asked to do three things all at one time.
I don't have to be asked to do anything at all.
I can spend time reading a good book (such as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, which I am working on right now.
I can eat whenever I feel like it, even if it's not between the hours of 12:00pm and 1:00pm.
I can drink tea. Lots. With honey.
and,
I can enjoy the out-of-doors. It was sunny today, and I was not forced to be inside a stinky factory.

The secong category includes qualities such as the following:
Having a headache.
Wanting to throw up, but not feeling energetic enough to do so.
Missing a days worth of wages on the next paycheck.
Coughing.
Nauseaticalisms.
Not being able to fully enjoy the flavour of my favored foods and beverages.
Not tasting coffee, even when I drink it.
Shivering then sweating, then shivering again. (It's like when I worked day shift in the middle of summer at the food processing plant, I was moving product in and out of the freezers. Also, it's like being in South East Asia. Those crazy asian's love their A/C).
Coughing worse than before.
Feeling bad for missing work (redemption came in the form of a phone-call to a fellow employee... as it turns out, there was hardly anything to do today and they were mostly bored).
And so on...

So, illness of the sort by which I am plagued these days can be both a blessing and a curse simultaneously. And it baffles me to consider the quantum repercussions of a single element bearing qualities from opposing camps, and still functioning as an operational entity. There's gotta be a life lesson somewhere in all this... it's like those beetles that explode when they get agitated. Hmmm, on second thought, that comparison takes too much energy to explain. Forget it... I'm sick, afterall.
later.

Giving in to Pandora's lure...

2006-06-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

You may have heard of Pandora.com, the music genome project. Or you may not. Anyways, it's a pretty good little idea. You enter the name of an artist or song that you like, and then it will play that. Then it will play something that is similar sounding. Then you can click on a thumbs up or thumbs down, eventually cornering your music taste within that genre. It actually works pretty well. Dan Bryce showed me the web page a few years ago, and I thought it was pretty cool. However, I never really visited the page, and perhaps I was scared to.
You see, I like music. A lot. It can be kinda addicting sometimes I guess. So I didn't want to end up spending evenings and weekends trying to discover the most obscure band or artist. That's one of the things that annoys me about the underground music scene. It's all about dropping names or being the first kid on the block with the latest CD by "so and so". Lately I've been rebelling against this attitude. I give props to Emo Neufeld for showing me Mum, Looper, and The Notwist. I did not discover these bands. I give props to Kevin 'Boss' Warkentin for The Appleseed Cast, Sunny Day Real Estate, Mates of State, and so on. I give Props to Miles for Poison the Well and Zion-I, which I was listening to before all'y'all, whether you like it or not.
Bands I've discovered independently (and before the mass of the local scene) include .hopesfall., All Natural Lemon and Lime Flavors, As I Lay Dying (no don't even claim that one... I was listening to them for a year or two before Frail Words Collapse came out), China the Beautiful, Coastal, !!!, Creeper Lagoon... and that's just A-C... Okok. enough trying to reclaim lost claims and recover stolen scene points.
I have been exploring the world of Hip-Hop lately.
It all started a number of years ago with Zion-I, when I was driving Miles604 back to his Cloverdale Home. He brought along a load of CD's and in typical compulsive scene-kid style, he took over my car stereo and commenced 45 minutes of introducing me to good music. Poison the Well and Zion-I were two CD's that stuck out, and that I looked into and purchased (I had to order them both in, since there was nowhere in town that carried them. Okok, but back to hip-hop, I'm getting off topic. BAck in those days, I was a one sound man. I loved my hxc and emo. My idea of rap was that it was all gold teeth and Hummers and gatts. Zion-I showed me that rap could have a social conscious too. MC Zion's lyrics spoke on issues such as urbanization or life on the streets, like, the love/hate relationship that he had with his city, and so on. Stuff I completly can't truly connect with, but appreciate regardless, cause he's not spittin' about how big his hummer is. I bought Mind Over Matter, his debut album, and have since purchased his next two releases.
From Zion-I, I moved on to Blackalicious. Blazing Arrows was my first exposure to The Gift of Gab, and from there I went backwards to listen to Nia, an earlier album, but I did not appreciate it fully right aways. I have since realized how amazing it is. I then went out and got myself up to date by purchasing his latest CD, The Craft.
From features on the Zion-I and Blackalicious' CDs, I learned of other great undergroud hip-hop artists that could rap about things other than killin' niggaz. Talib Kweli, Common, Atmosphere, Black Moon, Shad (props to Furtney for the London connex), A Tribe Called Quest, Jurrasic 5, and so on. I even procured a French Hip-Hop CD; 'Sang Froid' by Sinik. I don't know what he raps about, so I can't put him in the social conscious. I shoudl get one of those pretty French speaking girls I know to check it out and tell me of what he speaks.
Anyways, I've finally given in, and just recently (an hour ago) tuned into Pandora.com and have a Blackalicious station going. It's been pretty decent so far. The current song kinda sucks, but a lot of them have been pretty good. So far on my little pad of paper I have scribbled down the names and albums of 5 pretty decent sounding hip-hop artists or groups. Hopefully I can swim out of the sea of good music that exists out there on the web, but we'll see how far downshore I surface. Ooooo, found number 6 for my list. Blood of Abraham. I like this song so far... we'll see what the rest of their stuff sounds like.
Aight, I suppose I'll log off.
Shalom.

11 hours of work, Bright Eyes, and a conumdrum of sorts

2006-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

I worked 11 hours today. Apparently we sold a heap of pressure washers, so a heap had to be made and shipped to meet the terms of the sale. I guess that's how business goes. So, I was raymond crazy today. Seriously... crazy.
I got home just after 8:00pm, having left for work at about 7:30am, making it a very long day. But the free pizza that the man bought for us, as well as the OT pay, (and a surprisingly significant amount of fun), made the day not only bearable, but oddly somewhat enjoyable.
I am listening to Bright Eyes. Sometimes it's just great. Oh Connor...
Tomorrow night I have a choice to make. I can go straight from work to a season end party for the track and field team I coach, or I can go to a graduation party for those of us who graduated from UCFV with geography degrees. So, tomorrow night I have a choice to make. No, I do not have bad grammar, I just know that I will not make the choice until tomorrow night. There's positives and negatives for going to either one, so I just will end up doing whatever I do. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Uhm, I have nothing else to write about, since I'm mostly just wasting time as it is. Oh well.
later.

nosleep

2006-06-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

I can't wake up.
I am running.
I mean, like, actually running again. Perhaps even training. I think I will. September.
School is done, so I will run. I will train every day then compete next year. Travel around a bit,... break some records... get my bosses to let me off a few hours early so I can train... etc.
My eyes are itchy.
I have hay fever I guess.
I was outside on the grass a bit today.
Shad is coming to Vancouver.
I will go see him. He seems nice.
My moped gives me trouble, but like normal it costs me little to nothing to fix it. So even though it's constant problems, it's better than the once a month problems on my car.
Work is ok. I get paid and do lots of OT.
I sit on my couch or computer chair when I don't work or run.
I ran out of coffee filters, and will go purchase more.
That is the updates.
later.

A new post-neo post.

2006-05-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Wow. Uhm, I worked 10 hours today.
Waking up at 4:45am is not always as splendid as it might seem. Then having to work through lunch to get the truck done on time, and not being able to eat until 1:30pm after working 7.5 hours straight is kinda lame. But, - overtime. So I'll be paid hansomely for my pain. I think I spelled "Hansomely" wrong. Oh well.
Uhm, I guess I have nothing important to say. No anecdotal adventures to share with you. I only hope to get some sleep this long weekend. This long rainy weekend.
later.

The Little Mosquito that Could

2006-05-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

ยุง is full of surprises.
I got off work the other day and was driving through the parking lot on my way to the exit. As I drove by the main door, a bunch of the guys started laughing and pointing at me on my moped. I smiled and waved, and they started yelling "Hey, do a catwalk!!!"
I laughed and was like, "I can't!!! I only have 2 horsepower!!"
"Try anyways!" came the return with a hint of mockery.
"Ok, check out what happens when I floor it," I said, and I floored it giving it a slight tug upwards on the handlebars.
Then, the most amazing thing happened. My front end softly lifted off the ground as I accelerated and I pulled a 12-15 foot long catwalk. I couldn't believe it. Apparently I own the raddest moped in town.
later.

The good news is...

2006-05-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well, let me just say, it's generally never good to hear a doctor start his schpiel with "Well, the good news is..." cause we all know what comes after the good news.
I went to the optometrist today. I have been having these wierd pains in my eye, like an intermittent sharp pain in my left eye, kinda like how it feels to get a flash bulb right in the face, or like, if you're my former foreman, to test out the new halogen lamp by holding it in your hand and staring at it, and then plugging it in. Anyways, I wondered what might be wrong with my eye. This part of the story goes way back to when I was at work last summer. I smacked myself good and hard in the eye with a stainless steel pressure washer wand. (The wand's part number was 85.205.063S, incase you were wondering). It was a good solid smack, leaving me blind for about half an hour and unable to see more than light and then maybe shapes for a good hour after that. So anyways, knowing that this happened to me last summer made me more than a little nervous about what was wrong with my eye. I decided to get it checked out quick-snap. The doctor wrote me a referral to a specialist and I went for that appointment today. He did a variety of tests, and then said he was going to take a look around inside my eye. To do this, they have these wonderful drops that dilate your pupils to monstrous proportions, leaving you looking like you've done a little too much speed or something. He then proceeded to look around and see what the insides were up to.
Then came his schpiel.
"The good news is that you're retina is not detached," blah blah blah... He went on for quite a while about what likely happened when I got hit, and mentioned that the problem with my eye had nothing to do with that. On an on he talked, and I began to wonder if maybe he was stalling or something. Maybe he was trying to brighten the day (also literally brighten, since that's kinda what dilated pupils do) before
dropping the bomb. Perhaps I am going blind. Perhaps I need laser eye surgery or robotic camera-eyes implanted or something. That would rule, and all'y'all would have to start calling me Robo-Cop, just because... but anyways, yeah, he took a long time getting to the bad point.
Here's the bad news that he eventually gave me. The mild form of nueralgia that I have is currently subsiding, so I won't be able to miss any work over the thing. Yeah.
I have Nueralgia, and since I can't spell it, that means it's important. I guess because of allergies or the cold or something, certain nerves in my eye are randomly firing pain signals to my brain without asking my permission first. This makes for the sharp needley feelings I get in my eye for a split second before Captain Brain notices and says "Shut Up!!!" to the nervous malefactor. I read a story once called "The Boy who Cried Wolf", and the moral of this story tells me that after a few years of this Captain Brain will get really good at telling nerves in my eyes to pipe down, and one day I'll actually get a rare and deadly painful disease in the eye and I won't notice cause my brain will have blocked the signal entirely. Anyways, for the time being, I'm ok, and he says I'll hardly notice it soon, and maybe it'll come back in a few years, but it will leave again then, so no worries.
So yeah, that was my day... oh wait!!! The greatest part.
Since my pupils were gigantic a lot of light was streaming in. The office was a dank dark place, and after getting the drops it felt like a normal well-lit room. However, I forgot about that, and so I felt normal. He told me that I would have to wear sunglasses outside, even though it was a cloudy day, cause everything would be brighter, but I, being in a normally well-lit room didn't take this to heart. I didn't have any sunglasses I told him, so he wipped out a cheap plastic flim style shade with two cardboard ear hooks. It was straight out of my Expo86 memories, and totaly hilarious. I decided I wouldn't wear them. However, as soon a I walked out the door I was blinded by the light, and pretty much had to wear them. They didn't fit really well under my other goggles, but i had no choice, and so I rode back to work on a moped wearing Expo 3D goggles and driving slow cause everything was blurry. HECTIC!!!! but I made it.
And now, I'm gonna go eat.
later.

Welcome to the Underground World of Scooters!

2006-05-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

Seriously, it's like I joined a club or something. Now, it's no secret that there's loads of scooters and mopeds on the roads of Abbotsford these days. Rising gas prices and... well, rising gas prices alone is enough to mean that people are buying them in droves. I'm one of those, no denying that. However upon purchasing Yoong and moping around town, I found myself part of an underground scene of some sorts... a league of little motors, a secret society of scooters, the fraternity of the forty-nine CC's. Every time I pass someone on a scooter or moped, I get some sort of wierd hand-signal slash wave thing. I'm a little bit nervous about waving back the same way, so I usually just wave really big and childish or nod my head subtly, depending on my mood.
Still, I wonder what would happen if I gave the "symbollic wave" back to the other rider? Perhaps legions of little scooter-people would jump out of the bushes and whisk me away to the sanctuary of the sacred scooter and I would have to go through some sort of bizzare rites of passage ceremony involving baskets full of mandarin oranges and a pair of safety goggles. I don't know man... it sounds kind sketchy to me. I mean, have you ever seen the little scooter-people? Them's a freaky little bunch of creatures, to be sure.
So anyways, I guess I'll just stick to a big ole little-kid wave or a friendly but concise nod of the head and continue on my way; alone yes, but mandarin orange free.
later.

Sick days...

2006-05-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

So I went home sick yesterday at lunch. I was feeling blah. Blah-sick. I think it was probably a mixture of lowered amounts of sleep and travel sickness. Not the kind of travel sickness you get when you travel, but the kind you get when you don't travel. I guess only travellers know about this kind of travel sickness... or the other kind too I guess... I guess. Anyways, it was a splendid afternoon off, and I felt like bunk all day, and then again all day today at work (although I managed to make it through the entire endless day, and now here I am. Feeling not much better, and wanting to go to bed, but I have to go BBQ for my sister's B-day... 25 today. Happily Birthdayed, Christa.
later.

What happens to me?

2006-05-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

It's like I dissappear when summer starts. Actually, it's probably true. I stop updating my blog for some random reason. I can't say it's cause I have been out enjoying the sun, cause although it's been nice almost every week since I got home, three of the last 4 weekends have been cold and rainy, and so I spend my weekends indoors. This week for example: It was nice every single day, like maybe up to 25, I don't know. And I don't know, cause I work indoors all week. Then what does it do saturday morning? Windy coldy rainy. Same on Sunday morning. Well, I brave the cold on Yoong, my moped, and I accomplish all the accomplishments that need accomplishing on the weekends which are my only windows to accomplish these things, and then I spend the rest of the days inside. Oh but now that it's Sunday night and I have been inside all weekend hiding from the frigid rainy coldy windiness, guess what it's supposed to be like tomorrow again?... ok, chance of showers, but tuesday and wednesday are supposed to be nice. And chances are good that it will turn rainy again for next weekend. I have bad luck.
So it would then seem that perhaps I have been hiding somewhere else...
My only assumption can be that I have been hiding in the land of complacent daily routine with niether cares nor ambitions, just a placated, automaton-like proceedure. Wake up, go to work, get home, make lunch for next day, sleep, repeat.
The second part of my figuring is that I have been void of emotion. Wait, does that make sense? I typed it and now I am second guessing myself.... oh well. You all get it. I have no feelings. I suppose this has already been expressed by the term automaton used above, but I will go in depth here... but only by one or two sentences. I have neither worries nor ambitions; niether sadness nor happiness; niether longing nor contentment. I am blank. I wonder when this will end...
As for now, I have just finished making a splendid lunch of roast beef on plain bagel; a bit of mayo, some sriracha sauce, and cheddar cheese. I will eat it tomorrow at lunch break, before proceeding back to the monotony of picking orders for the warehouse shipments at my job. So, I will now probably try to get some sleep.
I had understood it that my friend would be sleeping at my house tonight, but as of yet I have not heard from her, and I am guessing that her phone has died and she is lost in the great metropolis of Abbotsford. Or perhaps since Abbotsford is not a great metropolis she has just found another place to stay. I do wish she was able to call me and let me know so I could stop worrying, but I'll probably just leave the door unlocked and go to bed. Whatever.
Perhaps I'll go do something other than typing now. Maybe read. Maybe not. I don't care. It doesn't make a difference, cause I still need to go to work tomorrow.
later.

OH Moped, what shall I name thee?

2006-03-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

I bought a moped. It gets me from point A to point B, and it does so for pretty cheap. However, the back tire was just a little bit flat so I tried to pump it up. Apparently that was the straw that broke the camel's back. The tire went flat. What is it with me and vehicles? I have the worst luck ever. I have the luck of a possum roadkill. I have the 'sadim' touch. Whatever vehicle I buy it instantly turns to a lemon. You can't even blame it on bad driving habits, I just picked up the bike today!!!
Remember running down the street in Bangkok right before my flight left for Canada in order to get one more gasp of warm humid air and one more bag of khao niew kaap moo to eat while waiting for the plane? Remember the feeling of knowing that it would be the last time this year that I could soak in a small piece of Asian ambiance before concedeing to the Canadian cold? Remember with sadness the last bit of sweat on my back as I in jeans and closed shoes for the first time in 2 months, raced down the road from the talad to the next fai-tang in order to procure the precious rice and pork I saught? I do... I remember it. Man, what I wouldn't give to go back and live that moment over.
Now I live in Canada with two hoodies and a touque, an empty wallet and a broken moped.
later.

Can't think of a creative title

2006-03-20T10:50:00.000-08:00

Uhm, I guess I need to get a job...
I... I have nothing else to say. I have done NOTHING since I got home. It's been awesome, but it doesn't make for very interesting blog posts. Sorry.
later.

Canada.

2006-03-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

My country: a stupid type of cold. Where's the warm March breeze? I want my Sriracha back!
*shivers*

One final word from Thailand...

2006-03-11T20:37:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I guess this is it. I probably won't bother to take time to post again before I come home. Not cause I'm lazy, just cause I come home so soon, and probably won't have time before then. Sad to say, I'm not ready to go home. I guess this was inevitable and we all saw it coming. Whatever, it happens like that sometimes. My only consolation comes from knowing I will return here soon. Dunno how soon, don't really care, as long as it's soon and not longer.
Uhm, yeah, I am thinking about staying in a hotel tonight as I haven't slept in the last two nights. Perhaps a good sleep is in order. But on the other hand, I don't have a lot of money, so maybe not. Whatever, that will sort itself out.
Soon I will be going to Bang Saen to attend the church of some friends, those being Ricky and Karen Sanchez, and perhaps see some people from MEI there as well. I read the list, and I think some of the kids I coach are on the MEI missions trip team that will be in Bang Saen, so they will be cool to see and visit with.
Uhm... not much else to say. Perhaps I'll go get some food now before getting on a bus or song-taew or whatever mode of transportation I choose to get me to Bang Saen. This place rules... wherever you wanna go, you just go, get on a bus or song taew or motosai or tuk tuk or taxi or train or even plane cause domestic flights are cheap like borscht... yeah. Uhm, anyways, I'm off.
See you in Canada.
later.

Obligatory post

2006-03-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Hey. Not much to say. I have spent the week in Sriracha. Haven't really done anything, but haven't at all been bored. Wierd. I've just been chilling. It's kinda great. I go out for coffee in the morning and I write or read, then I go for a walk, then I write and read more, or visit with Thai people I meet, and then eat, then more of the same in the afternoon, then eat again, then in the evenings maybe go to the night market or just hang out with friends. It's a pretty great thing. Uhm, so I have no great story to tell, 'scept maybe last night I was reminded that if I'm walking out of the city at night I need to carry a rock for angry stray dogs that want to eat me for supper. I didn't have a rock, but an old lady near-by did, and she came to my rescue with a strike to the ribcage of the poor hungry beast. So there I was, on a dark overgrown section of street out of the city of Sriracha being saved from hungry dogs by an elderly Thai woman. I continued walking to my friends place, and on the way back was sure to take a different route, and carry a nice sized throwing rock. I'm bite free, and still kicking, (kicking dogs, that is...).
Uhm...
later.

The bus driver has a death-wish... for us all...

2006-03-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

I made it though.
I'm back home in Sriracha, here to sit and think and consider my time down south. It was a little bit rough (the ride home), but I made it, and I guess I'm up to 32 hours of no sleep. Rock'n'roll. I'mma go get a coffee from 'EA Sriracha', and then gremm-out with some motosai taxi guys, maybe 'len' a bit of chess... take them to town.
So yeah, until my next post, do take care... more than I did on that bus ride... and I'll see you in an ever decreasing amount of time.
Kyle.

That sort of thing just doesn’t happen in Krung Thep

2006-03-02T05:01:00.000-08:00

I went to check my email after work today. Now it’s like a 5 minute motorcycle drive away, but since I had no motosai I got dropped off there after work. On my way home I was walking down the gravel road from the city to the village when I was passed by my friend Nok, who lives about 5 houses down from me in the village. He had his whole family with him on the bike (his wife and two children), and they all waved and said hello as they passed. I waved and smiled sincerely, I really like those people. About five minutes later, Nok rounded the corner ahead of me and turned around to give me a ride home. These people would give you the shirt off their back if they were asked to, and in some cases, they don’t own much more than that. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen in Bangkok. I love the village.
later.

Farewell to Mio, Greetings to Wave

2006-03-02T00:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I had to give up Mio the Wonder-Bike, but it's ok cause Wave, Mio's replacement is much bigger, more powerful, and has gears for me to shift and so it's a lot more fun to drive. Uhm, besides that, we put a roof on the house today. Don't have walls or doors or anything else (not actually completely finished shovelling sand either, but to tell the truth, I'm keeping my mouth shut about that. I'm a little over the whole shovelling sand thing.
I have 3 days left in Pru Teaw, and then I'm off to Sriracha, and from there I dunno. Originally I was gonna go to Chiang Mai, and I might still do that, but maybe I'll stay in Sriracha, and save myself a painful and expensive long train ride, or maybe I'll go to Cambodia if Joel wants to take me along. That would be cool. Basically, I won't know until I arrive in Sriracha what will happen, so maybe expect an update on Monday... or maybe not.
Uhm, so yeah, not much else to say.
I'm tired, hot, and stink like roofing tiles and sand, so I think I'll go home and have a freezing cold shower.
later.

Cheese!!!

2006-02-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

Pictures time… finally.
Ok go.

Part One: Sriracha

When you’re thirsty, there’s bound to be a vendor close by. When you’re really thirsty, they’re all closed.

Dubbed ‘the Ethical Addictions of Sriracha’ by Yours Truly along with Miss Andrea Dirks. Good coffee. Decent english.

Wat Wang Hin, close to where I stayed while I was in Sriracha.

Wat Wang Hin at sunset.

Nobody really knows where Sriracha ends and where the water starts. I figure it’s about two blocks inland from where the Gulf of Thailand becomes visible.

A genuinely suave-looking cowboy construction worker in Sriracha.

These chaps make ice. It’s their job, and they love their job. All smiles on the day I met them.

Punks in Pattaya.

Part Two: The Beautiful Andaman Coast

Jess checks out a waterfall near Bang Niang. Mighty fun day that was.

Remember that crazy hike in the jungle? On the left there, that’s the path. It’s pretty easy to see at this point in the game. Oh, but be careful, cause there’s a slippering there.

What photo journey of Thailand would be complete without the token Buddha photo. I got permission to take this photo, incase you were wondering. That’s why it’s one of the very few Buddha pictures I have.

Man… tough life I have here.

Part Three: Rebuilding after the Tsunami

Self explanatory. That’s Bang Niang, the place I lived until I moved to the village.

Part of the village of Nam Khem.

Ruins line the shores in Bang Niang.

An swimming pool from a resort that is no longer standing.

Rebuilding the gateway to a wat along the highway on the way from Bang Niang to Nam Khem.

Laying bricks in one of the houses we are working on.

Our worksite during the time that the soccer team and Noi Na were here. It looks a little different now.

Part Four: People in the South

The Legend himself. Gaan. Good friend, and cell phone addict. Just joking. He rules.

An employee at a boat yard, which is building boats to rebuild the livelihood of the people in Nam Khem.

Jess and I got invited to a fire on the beach with the Swiss soccer team before they left.

When we finally got through the jungle on that sketchy gravel road on the island, we ended up in a picturesque fishing village. (Picturesque excepting of course the heaps of rubble left by the tsunami). This girl was playing beside a house, so I took some pics.

Eating at our favorite sticky rice vendor near the YWAM base with Gaan and Jepsikwa.

One of the Thai workers I have spent time with at the job site.

Every night in the village there are mad, mad games of Pick Up Soccer. Amazing.
I love the village.

So there you have it... my time so far in photos. No worries, I have about another 1300 photos so far, so there's plenty more to show... but only if you want. And only when I get home.
Ok, I'm off....
later.

Whiner's Bio

2006-02-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

Blistered feet from sandals that don't fit right.
Well over 100 mosquito bites.
Attacked by fire-ants on 3 seperate occasions.
Attacked by 3 leachs all at once.
Multiple chasings by rabid dogs.
Flown at by all sorts of large flying exoskeletal creatures.
Stung by a bee.
Blistered hands from shovelling.
Swollen ankle from spider bite.
Wrecked elbows from shovelling.
Cuts on feet from construction.
Road rash.
Sore back from hard mattresses.
Neck problems from high speeds and faulty aerodynamics of helmet.
All sorts of digestions issues.

You know what? I love Thailand.
I'm enjoying this place so much. And I'm already thinking about when I should come back. But whatever. I have to go now.
later.

Everything Gets Cheaper

2006-02-26T21:34:00.000-08:00

I have done it. Success. This morning I went out for Khao Tom Kai, and I found a place in Takuapa that sells it for 7 baht. Yup, 7. Seven. So, for those of you in Coldnada, that's not quite a quarter for a very satisfying breakfast. Now, let's see... 7 baht for breakfast, lunches free, supper between 20-30 baht... that's a total of 37 baht, lets say 50 cause I snack during the day, and have a drink with dinner... Uhm... ok, so we're looking at about 50 baht... $1.50 Canadian for food each day. Wow. And that's eating out every meal... take that.
Uhm, I have nothing left to say. They're welding the beams at the job site today, so there's nothing for us to do, so after a half-hearted morning of shovelling sand, we got let off, and now I will go find a coffee and then go explore Takuapa some more... maybe go to Old Takuapa again, check out the mid-day scene there.
uhm, later?

Old Takuapa

2006-02-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

Takuapa is a pretty rad place. But Old Takuapa...
So it's Sunday Morning here in Thailand, and I decided to go get some food before church. Now, Friday on our way to Phang Nga we passed through what I knew to be Takuapa, past the soccer field where those swiss guys won the Championship, and down the road a bit further to this little city that was completely old looking and out of the way of anything. I asked the ajarn what it was, and he said it was Old Takuapa. It was beautiful. So, I decided that my next adventure needed to take place in Old Takuapa. What better way to have an adventure than to go look for Sunday morning Khao Tom Kai in a new city. So, this morning I drove out to Old Takuapa in search of my favorite Thai breakfast, Rice Soup with Chicken. I stopped on the way to watch the sunrise from this old ricketty metal suspention bridge build just wide enough for a motorcycle to pass onother motorcycle, and after a few photos, I continued on my way to breakfast. Upon arriving in Old Takuapa I set about looking for a place to eat. Now, in any other town, this would have been no problem. Probably every block has a few places to eat, to you just stop at the first one you see. This city did not though. It was like everyone in te world was probably still asleep. Finally, like, an entire 4 blocks later I found a place that was open. I went and asked the lady if they had Khao Tom Kai, and she said no, but they'd surely have it at the morning market. Morning market? She gave me directions, and upon turning the last corner I realized that everyone was infact awake, and that everyone was infact at this market. So I parked Mio and Set about finding my rice soup. OK, now, I've been places before that they don't often see white people, but this place was just wierd. I walked in to the section that apparently had rice soup, and everyone at all the tables stopped talking and stared at me. I could hear them whispering 'farong!' 'there's a farong here!!! look!!' and so on. The only empty chair was at a table with this man who looked kinda creepy. Well, I sat down, and it was ok, cause he left in 5 minutes. AS soon as I sat down, the place returned to it's previous, semi-chaotic state, and all was well. A few minutes later I was joined by these two amazingly awesome and hilarious old men. Seriously, like, the Thai version of Walter Mathau and Jack Lemon in teh movie... Grumpy Old Men. These guys ruled, and they were hilarious to sit with. I mostly ate while they talked to eachother, and I generally couldn't understand too much of what they were saying, but they were very animated in both their gestures and their tones, so it was a riot. Upon completion of my meal, I paid the 50 cents it cost me and bid farewell to Walt and Jack, and was on my way.
So, another day, another adventure.
Until next time...
later.

Nam Khem Nights

2006-02-23T02:23:00.000-08:00

Good day again. I’ve been getting complaints from people saying that I should update my site again… I didn’t even know you guys were reading this! (Besides my mom, and I guess Noi Na, and of course Jepsikwa)…
So anyways, here goes!!!
Uhm, where to start from. Ok, as you know I moved to the Village. I love it here.
Ok, the village is called Ban Pru Teaw and it before the Tsunami it was just a big section of jungle/forrest that was owned by the government. The gravel road I take to get here from the highway has a few houses along it, kinda old-skool Thai farm houses, one even has a fighting bull parked out front… Angry one, that. Anyways, these people had been renting land from the government and so their houses are legally situated, and there’s a number of coconut and rubber tree farms around. After the Tsunami, there was an immediate need to build temporary shelters for the thousands of families that had lost their houses to the wave. This area was one of those chosen. As I drive off the highway and onto the gravel road, the first thing I come across are the remainders of these temporary houses. Uhm, about half of them are empty and are almost falling apart, with huge holes in the particle board walls and supports collapsing at certain places. They’re thrown up in a hurry, and are definitely only a temporary measure. But what surprises me is that here, along with all the other sites of temporary houses I have seen, about half the houses still have people living in them. It’s amazing, and kinda sad too. They’ve been living in these little cardboard shacks for over a year!!! Uhm, I’ll take some pics of the shelters to show you all what I mean. Ok, so anyways, back to the village. Organizations such as ‘Rotary International’ or the ‘Angels Wings Foundation’ (I live in one of their houses), have come and cleared land behind the temporary shelters and have built permanent houses. Now, they’re not fancy by any means and they are all pretty small, but they do the job, and so far in this village over 300 units have been built and there are more still under construction. The Pastor I’m staying with says that by the time they’re done there will be over 500 houses in this village. The village is basically rows of houses, right close to each other. People here all know each other and seem to be all friends. This may come from three reasons, or a blending of them. One, many of them are from the same villages before; two, They share a common reason for living there, that being their houses were wiped out; and three, living in such close quarters, you get to know everyone pretty well. So yeah, I join a tightly knit community of people, as one of maybe 3-4 white people (Farong) out of possibly 1200 people. I love it here, as I already said. I love to sit out in the front in the morning with a fresh made coffee (Ajarn Wassan has coffee made and ready to go just when I wake up every morning – it’s uncanny), and just watch people drive by or more often walk by, or kids play before school, or people chilling just like me on their respective front decks. It’s great.
Uhm, but sleeping has been an issue. My first night here I was way too hot to even sleep cause in order to keep out the mosquitos, the door to our room (I have an American room-mate from Taiwan… MK… awesome guy, more on that later maybe), uhm oh yeah, the door to our room has primarily been kept closed. Meaning, that as hot as it gets in the mid afternoon, it kinda stays like that till about 3 in the morning. No sleep.
Secondly, keeping the door closed does nothing to stop mosquitos from living there, and I got eaten alive that first night. I seriously have a really bad foot right now. I got about 15-16 (hard to count) bites on the top of my foot, right near the ankle, and then to top it all off, today I got a spider bite there as well, meaning my foot is uber itchy, and uber swollen… especially after today’s work (but I’ll get to today’s work later as well… haha, MAN!!!!). No sleep.
So yeah, that was my first night. Wow, sorry for making that so complicated. Uhm, I’m a little bit tired, so maybe it’s just me, but when I re-read what I just wrote it doesn’t make any sense. So, I’ll recap. First night in the village: #1, hot like stink, and #2, mosquito’s, also like stink. No sleep.
Second night in the village… Hot like stink. The Ajarn (Thai for Pastor/Teacher) hooked me up with a mosquito net from one of our neighbors, so after sweating like mad in the stupid hot room, I managed to rig up a nice little cage for me to sleep in, with the net surrounding my cage, keeping me safe from Malaria, Denge, and who knows what else those blood suckers carry. So… less, or maybe no mosquitos, but still crazy hot in that stifling room. Tough to sleep on a bed that’s soaked with sweat. You kinda stick to it, and it’s all gross… (Dear Noi Na and Crystal, it was warmy gross). Still, more sleep that the night before.
Ok, so tonight, since we don’t need to have the door closed cause we both have mosquito nets, Josh and I are watching a movie right now (we’re taking a break cause he’s talking to his mom on the phone, and so I’m typing this now…) and we have the door and windows to our room open, and fans blowing in there, so I’m hoping that tonight will be the best night yet. No mosquito’s, and a more comfortable temperature. Here’s to hoping. I’ll likely have to finish this post tomorrow, so I’ll let you know how it went when I do. Uhm… What to talk of next…
Work has been pretty great lately. We’ve been starting to accomplish a lot, now that the rain has slowed. For the last week we’ve had very little work, because we were about ready to lay the foundations for the walls at the house we are currently working on (foundations here are a bit shady, mostly about 2 feet deep and a bit of cement thrown around some bricks, but I guess they do the job). However, we only got about half the foundations done before a gigantonormous rain storm occurred, and flooded the whole place. Then for the next week it rained consistently, (like… set your watch type-consistent) from 4:00-6:00pm every day, and we could not pour them properly cause there was just pools of water (Big pools, cause it rains like crazy out here and we’re trying to build just above layers of clay, meaning water sticks around until it evaporates). Uhm, So yeah, finally we had two days of no rain and got the rest of the foundations built. Uhm… Then today happened. But I’ll talk about today tomorrow, cause Josh is off the phone and we’re gonna finish the movie now.
I’m back, it’s morning, just finished my coffee and I’m good to go. I slept gooder last night, just so you know, I think I have the problem solved now. If only my foot wasn’t swollen and painful from yesterday’s work. Ok, so about my yesterday…
Woke up and drank coffee as usual, but decided that on this particular day I would go eat breakfast elsewhere. So I drove Mio to the city of Takuapa and looked around for a place I could get some Rice Soup. I found one almost immediately, cause this country has no shortage of places to eat. The owners were Muslim, and they were very happy to serve me, after asking me if I was Muslim. I mean, like they didn’t mind that I wasn’t, it’s was just kind of a truth test I guess. NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!! I passed. I was the first customer that day, and so I got to eat rice soup while visiting with their son who was waiting to go to school. He was learning English, so I responded to his English questions… “Hello!”, “I am fine thanks”, “My name is Kyle”, etc… The food was pretty good, but I definitely miss Khao Tom Kai back in Bang Niang. Those people loved me… (and I have the sneaking suspicion they were trying to set their daughters up with me, but that’s kinda normal in Thailand I have found. It’s like they assume I’m a white male and so I must be attracted to Thai females. Well, sorry Thailand, I’m not). Anyways, after that I drove to work and there found Josh by himself, waiting for people to arrive. Our foreman wasn’t there either, and that was a bit weird. But within 15 minutes we found out why. He was approaching in his little red car and was being followed by two enormous dumptrucks (they’re a lot bigger than the typical American dumptruck, they’re like semi-trucks). These trucks then commenced-a-dumpin’, and two giant piles of sand were left… one within the foundation of the house, and one maybe 1/3rd in. Su Thep (our foreman) then told us that it was our job to shovel it all into the foundation to make a floor up to the 3rd level of bricks. Oh my gosh. Insane. So, he gave us each a shovel, and we began. But wait, oh-no, it doesn’t look like we have enough sand! Oh, ok, it’s alright, here comes two more freaking dump-trucks… Oh, ok, we’re ok now. NOPE!!!!!!!! Three more are coming tomorrow morning!!! (that’s today), and so we shoveled all day out in the heat, and I swear it was hotter today than the days past, even before we started shoveling. So uhm, yeah, we started to get a bit done, us out there in bare feet and bare-backs and drinking water like nobody’s business. But after working all morning (and mighty hard too, my arms are dead), we had only a little bit accomplished. Lunch break was interesting. While sitting at the restaurant of the lady for whom we’re building the house, we were joined by a man from a commune of sorts. He’s a white missionary, and he says that he lives by Acts 2 and 4… something about how he and his family share common things and live together, and so on…So he had some interesting things to say, most of which contradicted itself, I wish I could remember the perfect example, but I can’t. Also, he went off about bashing Bush’s war and that Jesus was a man of peace… I think he was a US-style menno of some sort. I mean, good on him, but he was bashing other missionaries in the area, calling them hypocrites and so on, some of which I work with. Why are they hypocrites, cause they’re sinners? Cause they’re human? Sorry dude…
Our next guest was the opposite. A smoking swearing English teacher from SoCal… Huntington beach to be precise. We had a lot more fun conversing with him, and I think in a lot of ways (to me anyways), there was more Christ in his words than that of the other man. So anyways, that was lunch, then back to work.
We nearly completed about 2 of the 4 piles, when a group of Korean short term missionaries showed up. Now I don’t know how many Korean people you know, especially 20-27 year old girls, but God bless-em, they work so hard (for a good 10 minutes at a time). And even though they get hardly anything done, (like a handful of dirt on each shovel load, they do keep working (in 10 minute shifts), and because there were so many of them (Su Thep showed up with more shovels), a lot actually ended up getting done. If the soccer players could have worked that hard, the house would be built by now. But they had soccer to worry about, and that’s no problem, cause that’s half why they were here. Love you guys!!!! Uhm-k, so yeah, most of it got leveled out, my back got burnt, and I got some sort of sand-spider bite on my foot (mentioned above, for those who weren’t paying attention) meaning I can’t sleep as good My foot is all colorful and pained… and swollen. We went out to the market for food, Josh and I. I had a lot of fun conversing in Thai with the lady that made our food, until she tried to set me up with her friend cause her friend spoke like 5 more English words than she did (totaling about 7 words). Then things just got weird, and even though Josh couldn’t understand our conversation, he knew that it was kinda awkward for both me, and the 7-word lady. But whatever. We finished, and left, and came back home. As soon as we got here we saw a farong playing Soccer with a bunch of Thai guys in an empty lot, and we decided to play as well. I suddenly recognized him as this guy I had met previously, so I was actually a bit psyched about playing. That is, until I put on my shoes and remembered (thanks to a shooting pain in my foot) that I had a nasty spider bit on my foot, and could barely walk, let alone play soccer. Shoot… Can’t not now, already said I would… so I went out there and embarrassed myself. One cause I couldn’t run, but two, cause even if I could, those Thai guys would have schooled me. I got checked by a 10 year old. Serious. Okok, but once my foot gets better, it’s game on!!!!
Ok, now it’s off to work since it’s that time again, so I’m gonna go shovel another 3 monster piles of sand into that house now, with a bummed foot and arms that I can’t even lift above my shoulders cause of the work yesterday. So, I’ll finish this when I return.
Here I am. Alright… Uhm, so remember all that shoveling I did yesterday? Yeah? Uhm, I couldn’t even lift my arms today. Josh and I over our day of work completed about one pile and were like jellyfish out there. Walking like we were drunk, and having problems lifting a full shovel. We couldn’t do very much today. Where’s those spunky Koreans when you need them? Besides, they all had a crush on Josh, (calling him, Joshi, like that rhymes with Yoshi… amazing), so that made the day even more hilarious. But today, no have.
Uhm, so yeah, we quit about half an hour early, cause I think we couldn’t see straight (I still can’t), and now here I am typing.
Now, I will talk about Ban Nam Khem, the village in which I work. I love this place. More than Pru Teaw, even. We are building a house just outside of the main downtown area, and it’s pretty open and plain where we are, since the reconstruction process has been a lot slower than in the downtown core. The downtown has so much character. Uhm Dan Bryce, if you’re reading this, you’d love this place, I’m sure. Historically, Nam Khem used to thrive on its two major resources. Fish, and Tin. The entire downtown area was once a tin mine, and the land is riddled with gullies (now ponds), and dips. However, the tin extraction process was causing significant amounts of pollution, meaning that beaches all down-current from Nam Khem’s outlet into the ocean were very dirty. Because of this, the tin mining got closed down, leaving fish as the primary source of income for the people. This was great for the environment, but terrible for the people. No money. However, the town grew because of the intensification of the fishing practice, and also because of the new access to land in and around the tin mines. So, because of the extremely varied topography from the mining, the downtown roads are all twisty and crooked, and completely awesome. It’s kinda like the subdivisions in Abbotsford, but on a much smaller and much tighter scale, and more urban with more buildings built closer together, and no giant parking-lots or yards separating the buildings from the roads. It’s all nice and close. The next thing that I noticed is how beautiful they had made the place. Not only by planting flowers or trees, but I guess in a big way, because they have rebuilt almost every house, because next to nothing was left standing after the wave. So, there’s a whole bunch of neatly trimmed and freshly painted buildings without the crud from aging found in most other cities. So, this town is just fun to be in, and every street has its own unique feeling. Now, after how impressed I am, consider that it is only half rebuilt. I seriously would love to come back and see this place after it’s fully rebuilt. Now here’s the coolest part. I have become fairly familiar with the layout and feel of the streets there, but a few days ago Josh and I decided to go there after dark to go swimming. It was amazing how different the place looked at night. It was something completely different, and I basically didn’t know where I was, or where I was going. I can’t figure it out, but it’s different… by a lot. Still great… totally great, but totally different. A different sort of charm. Yeah, if I ever came to live in Thailand, I’d move to Nam Khem.
So, uhm, yeah, that’s about as much as I can say right now, since I’m tired of typing, and I should post this pretty quick. Uhm, I am having fun, taking lots of pictures, and working a lot as well. So, thanks for reading, and now I will disappear.
later.

Moving to the village...

2006-02-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

G'day.
I've had a hectic couple of days, between a trip to Burma and a few 'coincidental meetings' and conversations with people either at church or just around wherever, and I've done a lot of thinking about my situation here, and what I'm doing. So I have made a decision.
Uhm, I moving. Moving to the village. Getting further away from the tourists and hectic small-city-wants-to-be-big-city life. I work out in the village, and my closest connections are with people from the village, and the village is much cheaper to live in, (especially since I just found out that I'm being charged 50% more than I was told for my hotel room, though that may be rectified cause I've recruited a Khon Thai to represent me in the dealings with the hotel manager, seeing as he can communicate in Thai a mite better than I can...) But still, the village is cheaper everything... food, email (1/3 the price), and room. So, I'm outtie!!! See ya later Ban Bang Niang, I'm off to Ban Pru Theaw for the duration of my stay in the south. Kind of a split-second decision, but since making it I have felt a lot better. Gonna go pack my bag tonight, then scram tomorrow morning.
I will remember you always... Bang Niang, so much better than Khao Lak, but still so much worse than Pru Theaw.
Love you all... I'm moving to the village.
Kyle.

Of Burma, Food, and... more food.

2006-02-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so it's a good thing that thai food is so healthy, cause I am up to an average of 4 large meals a day, all of them meat and veggies and rice. Thailand is all about the food. So good... so much... so full... but then 1 hour later, so hungry again cause the food is so amazing that I smell it and want it.
Went to Burma today. Hectic. Did a visa run... Don't know what else to say. I guess I could tell you about my trip, but maybe I should save some stories for my arrival in Canada... Needless to say it was an adventure, and it was fun. And I'm back home safe and sound, so it was good.
However, the border run also brought to my attention that my trip is more than half over. This fact is more than somewhat disconcerting...
I will go now please.
later.

A Very Kafka Valentines

2006-02-16T03:14:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update, cause it's about to rain, and I wanna get home before that.
Valentines: hung out with some Thai guys, then went to a Thai church function that was truly all in Thai, I was the only Farong. I basically spent two hours trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Just when I started to understand, it ended and we went and ate food (we had already eaten, this was our second supper... I do that alot).
Kafka: I'm told that it can't hurt me, and that it's not even the biggest, but I refuse to believe either of those statements. That fly was a monolith. Seriously, it was 3 inches long and its body was a solid 1.5 inches wide. Pii Term at the hotel caught it in his hand after I couldn't get past it to my room. Sissy farong... it made a trmendous growling sound (no lie), and I was more than a little on edge. (I hear thunder, I'll make this short...)
Rain: It rains like mad. Last night I decided to venture out to Takuapa to hang out with a friend that I work with. (it's about 30 mins away at 100kph). While eating a fantastic meal at a small vendor on the side of the road it started to rain. I'm prepared for this now. I have plastic bags in my backpack to wrap my camera and books in. I also had a rain cover with me. Driving back to his place was the most fun I have had since Noi Na left. So dark outside, since he lives way off the highway on a twisting gravel road... monstrous raindrops falling were illuminated by my headlight, and through puddles and streams and under constant flashes of lightening we made our way to his house. I was seriously laughing the entire time, it was ridiculous... I can't even describe it, I wish you could have taken a look through my eyes, it was straight out of a movie, and just surreal. We watched Garden State on his computer while waiting for the rain to stop. It did, but then by the time the movie ended it had started again, and I reluctantly, but somewhat adventursomely (is that a word?) headed out on a journey that I probably won't make again. I mean, I was never really scared or anything, it was just kinda sketchy, and I was quite sick of sitting on a bike after the hour long trek with eyes squinting and rain cover blowing behind me like some kind of cape. I got back to Bang Niang and went straight to bed, safe and sound, and actually nice and cool for once.
Now I will go eat with those Thai guys again. And then?...
Another adventure, I'm sure.
later.

Pot grows wild here

2006-02-12T00:45:00.000-08:00

I was riding my bike through the jungle yesterday on a very narrow and winding stretch or road. It was a lot of fun. All of a sudden I caught a whiff of something... "That smells like my neighbor's house!" said I to myself, (since the 2 ft. long lizard on the side of the road probably didn't understand me). Indeed, I stopped the bike and there onteh side of the road was a wild marijuana plant. A passerby (yes, this particular part of the jungle has passer-by's) noted that the plant grows all over the jungle, making southern Thailand a chioce destination for hippies from all over the globe. As for me, I got back onthe bike, and set off to see what else I could see.
Another adventure in the life of Kyle's In Thailand.
Oh yeah, then on the highway today on the way to church, I was doing about 80 kph when I hit a bug. It slammed into me right below the adams apple, and was a fair size of a bug too!... I coughed and thought it was over but then it got worse. the wind forced it right down my shirt, where it got caught inthe cavity of my chest, right below my sternum. I tried to get it out, (all the while maintaining a solid 80 kph) but I was unable to do so before the little devil stung me, right there in the cavity of my chest. I slapped it. I never saw the whites of his eyes, or the bug itself infact, so I'll never know what kind of cool looking insect attacked me this time, but rest assured, it was a small bit because he was dying while he attacked, so it's not too bad, and the bug is dead, somewhere around Ban Saek. So then, until our next adventure, (which will probably be in about an hour when I attempt to drive 30 km in the pouring Thai rain on a motosai with no rain gear) I bid you farewell.
Dear Noi-Na, you warrant a section to yourself. You fly away today to visit friends for a while. I am at your home. I will take care of your home while you are away. I will go to Calvary Chapel tonight for a concert. Ajarn Jem will be there. I will meet with him and go for coffee. All is well, never fear, how's the foot? Missing you.
Kyle.
later.

A day in the life of...

2006-02-10T03:02:00.000-08:00

Ok greetings.
I guess I haven't updated my blog in quite a while. I've been mostly running around doing things is why. Today I have a chill day though, so blog I do.
Uhm, so where to start??? so much has happened...
Uhm, I start with the accident, though I don't even remember what day it was (not cause of any sort of concussion though, just it was more than a few days ago). I was riding my motosai at night, doing about 25 around a sort of corner (not blind corner kind, just normal kind), and three kids in black on a bicycle were crossing the road at an angle, riding towards me and coming into my lane. I have a headlight, and so they saw me coming for sure, but I guess they decided not to change course, and by the time I saw them they were right in my path and I was going to fast to stop, but to slow to negotiate a fast turn, and the front wheel slipped out cause I was on gravel and I bit it. Not hard though. The little cuts on my leg are almost gone already. Mom, I was wearing a helmet. I'm fine, the bike is fine, we're all fine, and the kids are fine... they continued on as if I was not even there, didn't change course or anything... just one of them turned non-chalantly to look at me with a blank stare as they passed. It was kinda surreal. I picked up the bike and drove on.
Uhm... Ok, the waterfall. There's a story as to why I was looking for this waterfall, but I choose not to tell it, cause it's too long, and I pay by the minute here...
I found a beautiful waterfall, and my friend Jess was at home sleeping. She had desperately wanted to see one, but our earlier attempt had failed. That one was a bit small... like tiny small... warmy tiny small... So I happened to chance upon a massively huge and authentically beautiful waterfall in the jungle, and decided to surprise Jess by taking her there, since the last one was kind of a let down. I basically told her that on monday afternoon she should not make any plans, then I told her what to bring and we 'song-farong on a motosai'-ed it there. She absolutely snapped, she was so excited. Then we hiked for a good 3 hours, since there are 7 levels adn we wanted to reach the top. On the way, each level had its own special charm, it's own character. It was awesome. One of the levels had a tarzan swing. It was a real vine, hung from a real tree in the real jungle. No lies. I swung on it, and it is seriously hilariously fun. Plus we saw lots of wildlife. And then we got attacked by lots of wildlife. It started with us trying to find the path (since I guess no one every really hikes up there). We got to this really steep part and I climbed up, barely making it cause I used a rotten log as a hand-hold. I then stoon on the narrow ridge and we talked about wehre to go for a second before I felt something on my hand. Fire-ants. I tried to brush them off but the little rascals have a pretty good grip, and you basically need to pick them off one by one. I was in the process of finishing clearing my hand when I felt something on my feet. I looked down. I was covered in fire-ants up to my mid-shin. For a solid suare meter the ground around me was moving with ants. I don't like fire-ants very much. They bite, and it hurts. Like lots... so my ankles are covered in bites adn they don't feel good. Then on the way back down, (it turns out that the path doesn't go that way) I was walking on another rotten log and fel through right before reaching the bamboo forest. (real bamboo, real clump of wild bamboo... awesome). One of the bamboo trees had fallen over, and I smacked my chin on it while I was falling through the rotten log. My head snapped back and I bit it and almost rolled down the whole hill. Jess just stood there and laughed at me.
Then a bit later we got up to what we decided was going to be the end of the hike, since we lost the trail, and we sat on some rocks to eat a mite and drink some water. I looked down at my leg and sawa that I had a new wound. I didn't remember aquiring it, and it was bleeding a lot, so I leaned down to inspect it. then I saw the culprit. A leach. I got leached on three times, and those stupid creatures spit into you so you keep bleeding. I was seriously bleeding for a good 3 hours. Sucky!!!! no pun intended, but it was appreciated (on this end anyways, since I have been laughing at my own jokes lately, seeing as I am surrounded by Thai's who rarely understand my jokes). Ok, so I pulled the only remaining sucker off my leg, and we hiked back down. Then at one part of the trail we needed to squeeze by a vine that had fallen across our narrow and steep mountain trail, and I grabbed the vine to push it out of the way and realized that the leaf right below my hand had a spider on it. Now, I'm not one to be too afraid of a spider, but this sucker was about as big as a coaster at the bar. (sorry, I couldn't think of anything better to describe it.) Anyways, it was huge!!!! and thick too, not just all legs... it had a massive body, and it's fangs were a good centimeter long each. I held the vine much higher, trying not to disturb it's sleep, and Jess rushed by under my arm, and then I tried to do the same... I barely made it. Shelob crawled around and probably wanted to eat me, having heard from the leaches how tasty I am. But she missed, and we got out the cameras to take a picture. Then got the heck out of there. So yeah, that little hike turned out to be quite an adventure. But the amount of fun we had more than makes up for the amount of wildlife we were attacked by and the amount of blood I lost.
Uhm... ok, what else... I can't think of anything else special. Just midnight swims in the ocean to see the Phosforescence (I don't know how to say that word). Uhm, the swiss football team left yesterday, and later that evening Jessica left as well, so I'm all alone now. Just Me and the Thai's and I kinda like that. I mean, I will definitly miss the swiss clowns and their antics, and of course I will miss Jepsikwa, but it's nice to be here still. Uhm, so on that note, i will finally get to the point of this post: A Day in the Life of Kyle in Thailand! (or atleast a mon-fri day, cause the weekends are way to random to put down).

7:15 - I wake up. Usually barely, adn usually somewhat unhappily. I like sleeping, cause I'm really tired. Also, the bed is actually really comfortable. I usually just get up and get dressed and go, cause there's no point showering or doing my hair (not that I do my hair anyways, but ... you know).
7:30 - drive the motorbike to Happy Lagoon, where I eat a hearty rice soup (Khao Tom Kai) breakfast before heading off to work.
8:30-9:00 - travel to work on the highway... past various temples and fruit stands and restaurants and construction sites and bus stops and the gas station (the only one around) and so on and so forth, and of course past a lot of slow moving Thai traffic (all the while getting passed by the fast moving Thai traffic, cause nobody goes the same speed here).
9:00 - start work. Kinda... it's sort of Thai style here, kinda slow and relaxed, I like it. I work with 5 Thai guys since all the whitey's are gone now. Crazy Thai's at that, none of which speak more than a few words of English, and the only one who does is the pastor, and he is usually gone. I love it. Seriously, I learn a lot more Thai this way, adn I get to help them build houses their way. So far I have done all sorts of different jobs, such as:
Mixing cement
Passing or carrying buckets of cement
Buildig brick walls
Taking down brick walls cause I built them too crooked
Rebuilding brick walls
Pouring water on Brick walls
Plastering the walls
Framing
Digging ditches
Laying foundations
Raising support collumns
And today I spent most of the day lifting giant (1m x .5m) roof tiles to the Thais on the roof, buillding the roof.
It's hard work, multiplied by the heat and humidity, but I drink lots of water, and we laugh a lot at eachother's mis-pronounciation and silly grammar. Basically our lack of clear communicability (I made that up, I don't think it's a word) has become a great joke to us, and we laugh heartily all day long.
12:00 - Lunch!!! Eating home made Thai food on the gtround with Thai's is pretty much the awesomestest (again, made up word) experience. The food is good, and the company better. I like those people a lot.
1:00 - back to work!!!
3:00-3:30 - Finished Work!!! I drive back to Bang Niang, past various temples and fruit stands and restaurants and construction sites and bus stops and the gas station (the only one around) and so on...
3:30 - the second half of the reason I'm here starts. Hanging out with people. Tahi people. Today I got back and teh cleaning ladies at my hotel noticed that I had two pineapples in my fridge (I had already eaten one, they were three for 10 baht... that like (are you ready for this?)... that's three pineapples for about 30 cents. HA!). I said, yeah, I had them but I didn't know where to get them cut to eat, and they offered to, so we sat outside and they cut the saparot while I watched and we chatted in Thai. Then they left and I went and sat with Term, the facilities manager at the little hotel I am at. He pretty much sits at a small table underneath a palm tree in the courtyard/entrance to teh hotel all day, and chills. So, today I went and chilled with him. I drank some coffee, and we talked about the rain, since it had started lightly. Then suddenly it started not-so-lightly. Wow, when it rains here, it really goes all out. So we sat under the deck and continued our simple converstation (simple cause I don't know much thai yet). Then the owner of the hotel showed up with snacks. Pii Term offered some to me, and I took what I thought was meat on a stick. Upon putting it in my mouth (I was hesitant, but didn't want to offend my host), I realized that it probably wasn't meat, but it was still animal. I litterally gagged a few times before swallowing, and rushing inside to buy a coke to wash it down. I came back out and Khrue Term was laughing at me. It turns out I consumed raw pig intestines. Hmmm. Right now I'm pretty proud of myself, even though I know I'll never eat that again. But I did it! Haha.. oi!
So yeah, then I came here to check the email, and now having done that and typed this I think I am going to finish my day in the life of...
I will likely go eat supper at a small thai hole-in-the-wall restaurant for a solid 75 cents (my 3 meals for the day total about $2.75 Canadian), and then go back to the hotel to chill for a bit before going to visit friends at their stores in Khao Lak. I will then retire after a brief midnight swim (alone this time) barring any unforseen thunder storms like the one that just passed over, and get to sleep before another great day.
I do hope you guys are having as much fun as I am, (though I doubt it... suckers!!)
Take care.
later.

The sun will come out, tomorrow... Bet your bottom dollar, cause it comes out every day...

2006-02-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

Hi. It's sunny today.
Is it still raining back home?
I'm done working for the day, so I'm going to the beach.
later.

Mio, the wonder bike.

2006-02-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's official. I'm better. I went to work today. Jess let me drive. Man that Bike is awesome. It looks just like a scooter, but it's fast as a cheetah. It kinda hits some wierd kinda wobbles at 100kph, so I pretty much stay between 80 and 100. Plus driving on the 'wrong' side of the road and only on the shoulder has a wierd feeling to me from time to time, but I'm not too un-used to it by now. I've been whipping around all day. Fun.
We work about 30 mins away, (at 100kph), so it's well out of the tourist area, and I like it. Today I dug holes for supports, passed cement, and then spent part of the afternoon engaging in masonry. The brick kind. I've never done that before, but it's a good thing that Thai people have lower standards as far as brick work goes. THey plaster over it all anyways. So yeah, it was fun, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
The coolest part is that we work with the most outrageous group of guys you could ever imagine. An entire team and staff of a professional Swiss Soccer team. No joke, there's like national and euro-class football players passing me buckets of cement. They're video taping it too, adn news agencies from europe are going to be airing it once the story is complete. THe guys work half days, then have soccer practice on the beach, (and to their credit, they actually do work very hard at practice, even though it is on a Thai beach...) Oh yeah, and one of them is dating Miss Swiss 2003, and she's here right along side them, digging holes and covered in cement. Real down to earth girl for a pageant winner. So yeah, the days are seriously filled with laughter as these guys yell at eachother in swiss across the yard and make jokes and just yelling more. Can't understand a word. More fun. Oh yeah, and today there was created a mystery word. Nobody knows where it came from. It's not english, but the THai people say it to the Swiss to mean it's time to eat, thinking it's Swiss for eat, and the Swiss think it's Thai for time to eat, and try to repeat it. THen when the Thai repeat it and it goes back and forth and so on, each side thinks that they're being corrected and they try to pronounce it differently. As a native english speaker who speaks enough Thai to know that this word is not Thai, I do find the whole thing quite comical, and Jess and I stood there laughing for quite some time at this group of burly soccer players and little thai men talking at each other in a language that belongs to niether.
Awesome.
So to recap...
Fast bike.
Feel better.
Fun building.
Farong.
later.

Travelling with sick.

2006-02-01T06:23:00.000-08:00

Hey guys…I’m listening to Thrice again. Seriously, so much. But I ran out of batteries for my discman, so I haven’t listened to music in a while. And then right now when I was given an opportunity to write a blog post, I had the urge to listen to Thrice again, and so here it is.
We got on the bus in Sriracha, and took a trip to Bangkok. I got a nosebleed. Serious. A nose bleed. I was eating an orange, and it just started bleeding... my nose, not the orange, unless you consider orange juice the blood of an orange, since it was bleeding when I bit into it. Uhm... So, I had to deal with that bloody nose while trying to eat orange on bumpy road with few kleenex's on a bus with no bathroom. Fun. After like 20 minutes, it stopped. That was good, cause it was right when we got to the bus station. We got off, walked a block or two to the Sky train station, bought a day pass, and got on. Yeah Bangkok has a skytrain, and yeah, it's way nicer than Vancouver's, no lie. OK, like man, I was hungry so we stopped at Emporium, this monster huge rich people fancy-pants Bangkok mall that has a western food court. Still western food cause I was still feeling uber-sick. Not down with sketchy food when I feel like I wanna toss it. So I ate a big fat burger at Burger King. Yup, nothing like corporate fat to calm a sore gut. I guess it’s a question of which hurts worse at the time, your gut or your conscious. Sorry Dan, my gut won on account of a flagrant disregard for my well-being.
So yeah, oddly enough, I felt much better after eating that, so it was off to try and accomplish our goal. Find a hotel to stay at close to the airport. We got off the sky train at its northernliestest stop, the one called Mo Chit, and got into a taxi with hopes of finding a certain hotel that I had seen that morning on the internet. Our taxi driver was hilarious, seriously. Didn’t speak much English, but that made it all the more fun. I kinda got him pointed in the right direction, since I had only a vague idea of where it was. Eventually the taxi driver pulled over to a police officer and asked him where it was, and after making some joke about being arrested, he accepted the cop’s directions and we found it. So close. Like, almost right around the corner. HA!!! Porice Goor!! Yelled the asian cabby with a cheer and a laugh from us. Amazing. So yeah, we got out, walked up the monster huge rich people fancy-pants hotel entrance on polished marble floors, past a crystal clear swimming pool, with a bell-boy escorting us and carrying our bags up to the reception desk. It was there that we quickly found out that they had just booked the last room, and we carried our own bags down some back hall to the parking lot. We asked the guys there where we could stay, and they mentioned a place with the word Palace in its name. I asked if it was expensive, but they said no. We got in a new taxi, and told him where we wanted to go. He told us that maybe he had a better idea. Now I had heard that taxi drivers in BKK like to take customers on crazy rides to weird places and make them buy things from their friends in the meanwhile, only to drop them off miles from their longed-for destination. I was a bit nervous that this guy was of this nature, especially cause he was less fun than our last cabby. But I decided to go check it out, and as it turns out it was exactly what we were looking for, and even closer to the airport than I had expected. So close, that the next morning we walked there. What a great driver!!! Spoke some English too, so that was a bonus.
The place was nice, and relatively cheap, and like I said, right beside the airport. I went for a walk that evening, while Andrea just stayed there and ordered food to the room. I went to four 7-11’s within 3 blocks, and watched a muay-thai match on TV with some motosai drivers near a market. Then walking back to the hotel I heard a sound from amidst the crowds of people. Instantly an image of a big tree with a flag on the top came into my mind, and a bunch of Thai guys in white stood there looking at it. The sound from the opening scene of Ong Bak. I don’t know what the name of the instrument is, but it’s like a giant pan flute or something that this old man was holding between his hands playing a beautiful traditional Thai song that seemed to float around and hide between people passing and dance with the sound of cars and motorcycles racing by. I found him squatting in an old lot beside the sidewalk, his wife beside him holding a cup. I stopped and listened for a few before throwing a 10 baht coin into the cup and saying God Bless in my best and most respectful Thai. I went back to the hotel and ate, then slept.
The next morning I woke up feeling a bit more rested than the last few sick-days I had had, but still a bit nauseas and woozy. Walked to the airport and boarded a plane after a fast-food airport breakfast and a farewell to Andrea who would later that day board a train to Buriram. I felt still a bit gross, but mostly better, and so with a positive demeanour I drank like 4 cups of coffee on the one hour plane ride to Phuket. (remember though, plane cups are tiny!!!) Flying over Phuket was amazing. The Andaman shore of Thailand was a straight long strip of white sand and palm trees, calling out for me to come down and play. And eventually the plane bent its path to my will and that of the beach. We headed for the beach. No lie. The plane headed right for the beach. We first flew out over the water, and then turned towards shore, where there waited a landing strip with its close end not more than 40 meters past the edge of the beach. So we flew in probably nomore than 20 meters above the beach and onto the landing strip past brightly coloured flower bushes. Phuket airport is one of the most beautifully situated airports I have ever been to in my life. Amazing. Then I remembered that the south is like that. Beautiful. Southern Thailand is gorgeous. Gaan, a worker with YWAM and my friend Jessica were there to pick me up, and on the way to Khao Lak we stopped for food. Then Khao Lak.
Beautiful, and new!! Because of the Tsunami most of the buildings in the area are new, or actually most of them are still being built. But it is very much alive. The people are making the most of their situation, and I enter the scene with memorials being built or designed and hotels in various stages, from planned to finished, like the amazing one I am staying at in a small village just outside Khao Lak proper, called Bang Niang. The place is beautiful, and cheap!!! There’s still not many tourists about, so places are pretty cheap. Jess and I have rented a motosai to get around, so we whip about from here to there, scooting around. By the time we got in yesterday it was already too late to get in on the work, which was fine with me, being sick, and really tired too, so we went to the beach, the next best thing to work. OK, seriously, I’ve never been to a beach that nice… wait, I’ll just stop there. I’m on a missions trip after all, hahaha… AAAAAAAAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!
OK, so later that night I woke up at like 3:00am and threw up like I never have before. Amazing, I got soooooo sick. It sucked, but at the same time, I think (hope) that whatever was in my stomach making me sick is gone now, so I should be better. We’ll see how tonight is. I woke up this morning almost excited to go to work, but still a little wary about my gut, so I stayed back from the group, and walked around and checked out this little village. Fun. Took some pics, and yes, went swimming in the water named ANDAMAN!!!!!! It’s a sea you know…
Amazing.
So yeah, I am looking forward to working tomorrow, since I’ve been feeling good all day mostly. It’ll be nice to get down to it though. So yeah, uhm, I must be getting tired cause I seem to be running out of things to say. See you later?
Later.

So Long, Sriracha

2006-01-29T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'm off. Sriracha is over. The bus leaves in about 2 hours, and I'll be on my way to Bangkok to spend the day then catch a flight to Khao Lak, where I will build houses, with 40 hour work weeks. Or so I am told. Anyways, I am hoping that I feel better before I have to build houses, but that is still two days away, so maybe I will. Uhm, I have not much to say to you right now; it's first thing in the morning and I am proper tired, from yet another night of restless sleep. Oh well. I will survive. And now I will go.
Takecare.
later.

Happy New Years!!

2006-01-27T17:26:00.000-08:00

Apparently it's Chinese New Years today. I figured that out while lying in my bed listening to firecrackers in the field at like 4:00am. So loud. Definitely woke everyone in the house and probably on the street up. Sucked. What's the animal this year? Oh well, anyways, I'm up, so here goes another day...
later.

Mai Sabai

2006-01-26T18:06:00.000-08:00

yeah, that's right, I'm not doing so good. Ate some bad meat I think, and my gut is paying. Couldn't sleep last night, so that sucked, but hey, I went and bought 'Dog So Sad', so that's good news! It's pretty small though, so if it shrinks at all, it won't fit, so that's bad news again. But I'm going to play chess with Moto-Sai guys today again, so that's proper shiney.
Plus, in town I think I'll get a peppermint tea if I can, and it'll make me feel all good.
So perhaps I'll be off then, to see what I can do about that tea.
later.

I hate mosquitos

2006-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

But I love Thai construction crews.
I showed up to work on my first day and my contact was not there. I decided to find the foreman and tell him I'd help out anyways, so I did. As it turns out, no one on the crew speaks more than the token English words: 'Hello', 'how ah you?', 'well you go?'. And so it made for rocky beginnings, but once I convinced them to show me what to do rather than telling me, things worked out fine. They made fun of me alot, and I'm ok with that, cause my Thai is good enough that I could put forth a solid rebuttal from time to time usually to a fair amount of laughter. It's nice to have come to the point where I can joke with people in another language, as simple as those jokes may be. I actually made a pun today in Thai, I was so proud of myself. It's like a new level of understanding of a language, and totally risky cause you never know what associations the culture may have already made with certain words or phrases, but I got off scott-free so I'll risk it again perhaps. I think I made some friends though, so that's good. Can't remember they're names but there's time for that. We talk a lot about differences between Thailand and Canada, and I am teaching them English words, and they're teaching me Thai words. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.
I spent all day carrying buckets of cement,or lifting buckets of cement, or passing buckets of cement in a fire-brigade fashion. Fun times. So yeah, that's about all. The days are slow, but not in the dragging on and on sort of way. More in the relaxed way. Our 30 minute lunch breaks are like an hour and a bit long. So I think I'll go away now, I'm kinda tired, and I have to go to work for 6 hours tomorrow, then I'm going to a Skate-church in Pattaya that was started by some friends, I'm gonna hang out with a bunch of Thai skater punks.
wicked awesome.
ok, I'mma go.
later.

News Flash: Xerarch Asian Tour commences with a CD release party at a Korean BBQ in downtown Sriracha, Thailand!

2006-01-23T02:01:00.000-08:00

I begin this post by letting you know where I am right now.
Thailand!!!!!!
More specifically, I'm sitting in the living room of my friends Chinnatas and Ta, and their daughter Tammy. Here I sit listening to Thrice, The Artist In The Ambulance, and typing on a laptop that is on the top of my lap. My friend Andrea sits 10 feet away watching a movie with Bum, (pronounced Boom) a friend of ours who is also staying with the Taksirisab family. I love it here, it's great, and now I will commence with the news.
I have taken a little over 300 photos since my arrival, but I have a lot more to take. There's so many interesting faces and interesting places to document, I am glad for a 1Gb card in my digiton, and the ability to burn CD's here since I'm already half done that card. HAHAHA, Ding-Dong, mai khap?
Last night I went to church at VBCI, the school I once attended here in Sriracha, and it was freaking AWESOME to see all my Thailand friends together in one place. It felt like a party, and church was very upbeat and amazing. I forgot how good it is there... I quite enjoyed the worship and the message and just being there in bare feet on the 4th floor of a building 300 meters from the gulf of Siam, overlooking a picturesque island temple just offshore. The sun was setting, and the lighting was incredible!! Unfortunately my camera was sorely incapable of capturing the majesty of the setting, but I tried regardless.
After church I talked to my friend Fee who showed up late. (An aside: 'Stare at the Sun' by Thrice is a great song). Fee along with a few others planned a trip to a Korean BBQ for supper after church, and I found out about it after it was official plans because I was in absentia; talking to more friends I suppose. Seven of us went. What fun! seriously, if you've ever been to a Korean BBQ you know what I mean. The last time I was at one of these things was my last time in Thailand, and I was forced by the two Thai gentlemen I was with to eat all sorts of unnatural meat products, all BBQed by yours truly on a hot plate in front of me at a table. So I figured that this time I could maybe get out of eating things like pig lung or goat liver or whatever else you could imagine... (yes I am sparing you some of the details about some of the 'meat' options; and yes meat is in quotations for a reason). My companions were feeling generous, and I was allowed to get away with eating primarily chicken and pork. ('Hoods on Peregrine' is also a good song... now you know how fast I am typing, or slow...). While eating and BBQing, the topic of good music came up. We talked about all sorts of bands, both American and Thai, and somone brought up the fact that I had brought along a bunch of Xerarch CD's to give to my friends. Aua was sitting beside me and I was obligated to give him one as well. I gave him one and we talked some more as a group, and suddenly a familiar sound was being thrown from various loudspeakers around the open-air restaurant. Yes, that's right. Downtown Sriracha got to listen to Xerarch: Overhead There Floats a Cumulonimbus. I'm not gonna lie to you, I was feeling a bit odd. Not odd as in sick, though some of that meat was fairly - how to say... - unique, but more odd like conscious off all the beady little Thai eyes pointed in my direction. I can't really call it embarrasment, or even modesty, it was just odd. Odd. Yeah, there's no proper word for it. Interesting.
So yeah, and elephant was there. Yup. Just standing on the sidewalk, gremmin' to the sounds of 'A Concise Apology'. How Bizzare!?! (not how bizzare like that cheesy song from a few years ago, more the legit bizzare. I think looking at that elephant induced one of those dreamlike states where you almost realize that you are actually in a completely foreign place, and saying that things are different is kinda like saying that the sun is kinda sorta far away a bit. It just cannot be described. I love that about this place, and I love that about that elephant. Sorry Mom, I didn't get a photo. Next time.
So yeah, after we finished eating we walked across the road to the Night Market, and man, what an amazing experience. Now, I'm talking mostly about the phenomenal t-shirt designs. 'Dog so sad' was probably my favorite. There's a black dog on the front, and it says 'Dog so Sad', and the dog kinda looks dejected, and it's all in black, and the dog is sad, and it SAYS that. Ok, I totally can't even describe it to you, I'll have to just go buy it. Probably there's another 15 amazing designs, all Engrish, all amazing, and if I decide not to buy them all, I'll have to take pictures of them for you. Then we found these shoe-painter people, and I was very tempted to order a pair of fake chucks and get them to paint Bubbles (the powerpuff girl) on the side, but I think maybe I've decided not to let that happen. I'm still in this city for another week though, so maybe I will change my mind by then, and come home sporting mad kicks!... I will be cool then for sure, oh yes, I will be cool.
Thrice rules, but listening to this kinda makes me miss Hamish, my roommate back home. He likes them too, you see... and so I... you know. Hamish, wherever you are, my friend, this one goes out to you: ROCK-ON MAN!!!!!!!! Do the dishes and clean the tub before I come home or I'll destroy-ificate your face-head. Joking!!! Love you!!!
So yeah, the night ended with me making plans with a 17 yr old Thai girl to take me shopping and buy me some wicked-awesome jeans. I'm gonna look like the hot Asian guy at UCFV. Hey, Bryce and the Vball ladies, ya'll know what I mean. Man that guy is hot!!! And with my Thai pants and 'Dog So Sad' tshirt, I'll be able to hang out with him!!! ROCK!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I guess I'll end the post with that... or maybe this. I went to Koh Sichang today, an island close to Sriracha, and we hung out on the beach, chillin' mad styles. So relaxing, and then we came home to Sriracha (Dear Mom, sorry for calling it 'home', it just kinda feels that way right now) and I went to EA Sriracha and had an Ice Blended Mocha and took an insane moto-cycle taxi ride back to Teddy's house where I now am. Seriously, I kinda thought I was going to die on that ride here, we were swerving in and out of rush-hour traffic on the highway doing a good 80 km/h. I kinda sat on the back, trying my hardest to look non-chalant, just sucking on my mocha, all the while praying for safety; fight or flight juices flowing like water on the side of the road during the worst storm of the year. Seriously, I think if it came down to an accident, I would have dug up some sort of super-power adrenaline move and jump onto the roof of a passing car, Tony Jaa style, cause hey, I'm in Thailand, chai-mai?? But anyways, I'm here, I'm safe until the next adventure.
So, until the next adventure, take care, and always brush your teeth. But never swallow the water cause you'll get sick.
later.

The Thai man says I won't go to jail

2006-01-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

This afternoon my good friend Jessica from Alberta came down to Sriracha from Bang Saen to visit us. We had a good old time. She has been in Thailand for 2 weeks now, and is leaving tomorrow to go south to Khao Lak, where I will catch up with her in about 11 days. So we decided to go across town to the City Park behind the Municipality building. There is a large hill with a tower on the top of it. It's one of those touristy open air tower of stairswith a viewing deck up top. We started the walk up to the tower but soon realized that the stairs were completely overgrown. It was spooky! It felt like no man had been there for a few years, but we continued up the stairs anyways. We got to the base of the tower and met a Thai man and his (I'm assuming) grandson, and we asked them about the tower. He rambled on in Thai for a few minutes, but all I could get out of it was that it was very tall, which we could see cause it was right infront of us, and that from the top you could see Koh Samui on a good day. So, we began the climb. Except we didn't, cause as soon as we rounded the corner to go up the stairs we realized that there were no stairs. They had apparently taken out the bottom three flights for some reason,so we had to climb up the railing should we want to ascend the monolith. We decided it was maybe a not-so-good idea, and nearly chickened out, and would have were it not for another Thai passerby-er who laughed at us and when asked told us we would not go to jail if we climbed it, and so we did. It was gorgeous, and I got some good pics from up there. While up there we saw this small secluded section of beach and we decided to try and find a way to it. We did, but not until after we had been attacked by a rabid dog and followed by a few Thai men. Good times. So yeah, we got there and it was actually another really great place. We had to go down a road I had never been down, even when I lived here for 4 months. So that was cool, and similar to the tower, I got some cool pics. So yeah, overall it was a chill day, but now I am exhausted, so at 7:00am while many of you willbe getting up in the next few hours, here its 10pm, and I'm going to bed, cause Im exhausted from travelling and walking in the hot sun.
Kyle.
Oh yeah, I never told you how we almost missed our flight from beijing to Bangkok because we were given the wrong information. I then decided to check out the schedule on the computer, and found that we were supposed to be at another gate. b
Ut as you can see, it worked ou tin the end.
later.

China is cold and Sriracha is hawt.

2006-01-19T20:13:00.000-08:00

I'm here, I'm in Thailand, I made it.
The plane ride was fun. I had a very crazy wierd gut thing going on right before we left, I couldn't eat right from the nervous excitement. But as soon as I got on the plane it got better, and the plane ride to Beijing went smoothly and relatively quickly. Seriously, how could it not go quickly when the first movie they played was Stealth. MAN!!!!!!!! Stealth!!!!! Ahahahahaa, I remember seeing a trailer for it this summer, and laughing at it cause I knew exactly what was going to happen, and that it would be terrible. As soon as it started I grabbed Andrea's arm (the girl I travelled here with) and was like, "Man, they're playing Stealth!!! You gotta see this, it's gonna be off the charts on the awesome cheese scale!!!" It was. Seriously, that was the funnest movie to watch on the plane. We were laughing so hard, it was great. Then the rest of the movies were sub par, and I ended up listening to music and writing.
Beijing was cool. we got there an hour late and that was nice cause we didn't have to wait as long to board the next plane, except that by the end of the first leg I would rather have spent time walking around an airport than confined to an airplane seat. Oh well. we had no chinese currency so we had to make do with free sandwiches from the airline and ... oh wait, that's all. I was starved. But wait, before that we had an adventure.
It seems that Beijing Capital Airport is quite short on boarding gates, so they parked the plan on the far side of the tarmad and we had to be bussed from the plane to the terminal. It was Freezing!!! like, actually freezing!!! Bad news, but we survived.
So yeah, the next flight came and we were separated cause we couldn't get seats together, so it was boring and long and by this time I was proper tired, form not having slept the night before and then a 3 hour wait at vancouver to fly away and then a 11.5 hour flight to beijing and then 3 hours in beijing, but I just couldn't sleep on the flight, it was to the point of disgusting. That 4.5 hour flight felt longer than the 11.5 hour one before it. It was painful. To make matters worse, the only movie they played on that leg was The Perfect Man... some cheesy hilary duff fluff film with 100% predictability and 0% originality. Tripe.
Ok, so I shoudl go before this thing crashes or something, but I'll speed thorgh Thailand so far.
Bangkok was hot, and I was completely ready for that from being on that freezing cold plane.
The taxi picked us up no problems and we drove straight to my friend Teddy's house where I slep from 4-6am this morning, before waking up and waiting for the rest of the world to do the same.
Then I took andrea around Sriracha a bit (we're in the midst of that), visited my old school, the cook, the friends, Grandma's fruit stand beside it, ate some banana bread and went' to look at sea turtles in a dried up pool on Ko Loi.
Fun.
So yeah, there's so much more I could write about, but Ii have no time, adn I wanna send this before it crashes, so I'll be off.
Leave your comments and I'll read them.
Kyle.
later.

45 hours and counting...

2006-01-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

Less than 2 days. I'm getting quite nervexcited... to coin a term. I'm an academic, I'm allowed to make up wordses.
I still don't know much about my trip, but that doesn't matter. Also, this is still a really boring post that I am writing. But just think, 2 more days and I'll have something to write about other than 'I stayed up till 4 last night'.
So with that in mind, on to the boredom that is my life at present.
I did laundry this morning, er, afternoon, when I woke up, and then when I get home tonight I'm gonna commence packing. Packing is gonna be wierd for me, cause it'll be something tangible that I am doing to prepare for my trip. I can call people and email back and forth and tell myself that I'm leaving the country in 2 days, but all that is in my mind, whereas a physical entity such as a filled back-pack is something that I can't just whisk away to the black hole of my subconscious like some sort of apparition. It's there, it's real, it has three dimensions, and it means I'm going somehere. Somewhere far away by the looks of things. Probably Thailand. So now I am faced with a reality, and no matter what you believe about reality, (perhaps you're a constructionist), it needs to be dealt with in a real way. (Those being too fundamental about their constructionism invariably tend to become dead constructionists, having failed to notice that that pain in their gut is something more than a constructed feeling. But hey, a chair isn't a chair unless you sit on it, right?).
But now on second thought, in order to better deal with the situation at hand it may actually benefit me to adopt a mildly constructionist outlook on the whole endeavour. If I look at my trip as a mere construction, I will be less inclined to fret about this or that, and will become free to live life without realizing that I am leaving and I may be able to quell that odd sensation in my gut which I cannot quantify or qualify as either nervousness or excitement. Then in 2 days when I am on the plane, (which is only a plane if it's in the air), I will be forced to deal with the matter at hand; that being that while I stepped onto the plane in Vancouver, I will be stepping off of it in Beijing. Now that's a mind bender, isn't it! I can enter a room through a doorway, and upon a few minor shifts in the gravitational field of that room, I can look out a port hole and watch the ground beneath the room drop away and move below, and then a different part of that ground will approach a number of hours later.
Is it only me? Or is it true that the world just changes its appearance around me so that I feel like I'm somwhere else, when really, I'm still on the holodeck aboard the enterprise, playing a game that at times feels all to real. Maybe this is all made up. Maybe nothing matters. Maybe there isn't even anything anyways, I'm only a thought in someone elses mind. Maybe I should drop my constructionist influence and adopt an existentialist one. We don't even really exist anyways...
Or maybe I should re-adopt the constructionist viewpoint and decide that I'm only a thought if I think I'm a thought, and that I can be more than a thought if I think that this whole holodeck adventure is actually real. A chair can be a coffee table if I use it as one, so perhaps this thought that I am can actually be a real life if I choose to believe that it can. So hey, why not! I'm gonna go home, pack my bag, and freak out cause I'm going to Thailand, which is actually very far away and I have to get there by flying in a plane, and that plane is already a plane, even if it's parked on a runway in China right now, and I'm gonna go eat some food cause I'm at my parents house, and I don't have any money to buy food.
See you later.
Kyle.

5 days till blast off...

2006-01-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

GUYS!!!!!!!
I have been told by a friend that once I return to Thailand, it'll feel just like home. I tried to believe that, but then I just got really nervous about what it would actually be like. But I just read a blog from my friend Jessica (her blog) who has arrived safe and sound in Thailand, and she mentioned that as soon as she got there it just felt like home, and so I think I'm feeling a bit better about it. I wish I had more exciting things to tell you, but there's nothing much going on right now, I'm just kinda sitting on my butt, watching the days pass until I leave, and hanging out with friends as much as possible.
I guess the fact that these posts are so boring will just make my posts from Thailand that much more interesting.
So hey, leave me a comment and say hi.
So take care.
later.

Oh hold...

2006-01-11T12:01:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to reconfirm my flight, and I'm currently on hold. Seriously, it's taking forever. It's like they only have one person working. Or maybe a billion people just chose today to confirm their flights. this is crazy...
9 minutes so far. I'm getting a headache from the microwave emissions from this phone.
ok, it's over. Confirmed... WOOHOO!!!!
I'm going to Asia...
later.

Sunday Borening...

2006-01-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

So bored these last few days. This morning I didn't really do anything, scept go out for breakfast. Now I sit at a computer. BORING!!!!!!
Uhm, I've been trying to 'pre-lag' myself by going to bed later and later, and waking up later and later, in hopes of reducing the effects of jet lag. Ideally I would be going to bed at about 7:00am, and waking up at 3pm, but that won't happen, so I have to settle on 4:30-12 ish-ness. I wonder if it will work? I suppose the whole flying through the night thing iwll probably mess it all up, but it's worth a shot at least.
Also... wait. That's it I have nothing else to say. I'm going home.
later.

I can't believe this thing is still up and running!

2006-01-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

Wow. I almost forgot my password on this thing. Can't believe it's still here. So yeah, I guess I'll revive it for my trip to Thailand, since I'm going again. I'll be leaving in... what, 12 days maybe? I don't know. Soon anyways.
So yeah, let me know if you people are still out there, or perhaps if you're not, no worries, I'll still write on here. My mom will check, and other than that I'll just write to amuse myself I guess.
Uhm, do take care for the time being, I'll fill you all in later as to the ongoings of my somewhat less hectic life.
later.

Work.

2005-05-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Pretty much every day... work.
I like it and all, but as a good friend pointed out last night at a local establishment, working a brainless job makes your brain not function properly. I think Rochelle would agree. Anyways, I've been feeling a lack of motivation in the intellect lately, and it concerns me. Also, it doesn't help that my pastor stole the book I was reading, so now I have nothing to read, unless I start something new, which I don't want to do cause I was in the middle of that one... Pastors...
Uhm, so yeah. Dan is in Spain, Andrea is in New Zealand, Crystal is in Kelowna, Teddy is in Sriracha, Rochelle is in Chiang Mai, Christen is in Japan, Yeshs is in Linden, Mullet is somewhere in South America, and Kyle is in Abbotsford working without a single day off all summer. I mean, I get weekends and holidays off, but other than that, I can't get a day off to save my life. That stinks. Oh well, it's only till the end of August, and then Xerarch will have enough capital to pay for an Asian tour. Sweet. Maybe I can play some coffee shops in Chonburi or in Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit, or the English translation, The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn, as Bangkok is known. Yes, that is the full and real name of Bangkok. No lies. Either way, Xerarch looks forward to visiting Krung Thep early next year, and hopefully that visit will work out.
Uhm, and now I have to go figure out how to not pay interest on my loans while I'm at school.
Peace.

The Hike

2005-05-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

OK, so I’m, back.
Had my first week of work this last week. I kinda liked it. I mean, it was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it, and I’m finally kinda learning my way around the place. That is until tomorrow morning when I show up and they assign me to a different division. Then I have to start at square one. LAME!!! Whatever. Soon I’ll know my way around that entire place, and then I’ll run the joint…
Ok, but seriously, my first weekend after a week of work was pretty good. I went to Sears in the morning and had my “exit interview” with my old manager. Handed in my swipe card and had my position officially terminated. HA! Suckers…
In the afternoon I went to AJ’s house and had a mini jam session. We wrote one song for our fictitious hxc band called ‘My Summer Project’. It was great, and the song is about as straight-forward cheesy hxc as you can imagine. Super. Then Jessica called from AB, and then in the evening we (AJ, Fourns, and I) watched ‘Finding Neverland’ while the dog upstairs barked straight for 3 hours. Amazing. I kept waiting for it to lose its voice, but it didn’t happen. Even right now while I type this, the dog still barks. Sick.
Ok, but the morning of the yester of days is what I really am here to type about. The Hike.
I think I mentioned already that Dan Bryce and I were hiking on Eagle Mountain when we came across a view of what I thought was Sumas Mountain, but was actually only McKee peak. It has an elevation of only 463 m, as opposed to Sumas Mt, which rises to 908 m. Anyways, our view showed a few grassy meadows about ¾ of the way up, and we decided to see if we could find them, so yesterday morning we set out to do so.
Step one was to once again go to Eagle Mountain and to plan our attack route; a new subdivision on the side of McKee peak that was still in the midst of construction.

Our plan… get from here to there, the grassy meadow. But how? (Arrows point to the grassy meadow in the small window)

We parked Manny at the end of an unfinished street and hiked across a section of cleared lots to the treeline.

A view of Abbotsford from the empty lots on McKee hill.

Finding the trees outside the bounds of the cleared area, and blocked by one of those orange plastic fences, we found and walked over a fallen part and carried on our way into the trees. Not more than 20 m through the underbrush we came upon a pathway that paralleled a steep ravine. Beautiful. I wish we would have taken a picture of that, and I would have except my camera was at home, so Dan controlled the photography. We climbed down into it to cross the creek, since the path headed up to the east, and down to the west, and we wanted to stay at roughly the same elevation and head south. The creek seemed to be running over bedrock, and after nearly falling two or three times on the slippery surface we climbed back up the other side and found a second pathway on the other side. Once again, we decided that this path probably wouldn’t take us where we wanted, at least not directly, so we set off in to the uncharted bush. Fun times. Dickies kept my legs free of nettles, while a big stick kept Dan’s bare legs free of the same. Dan, wear pants man!!!
Not a minute in we came across a barb-wire fence. Oops? I guess we’ll just have to jump it to see what’s on the other side. So we did, and trod carefully, assuming that we were on private property. Later, however, we found that public paths crossed the property left and right, and there were gates through the fence, and even a step ladder/bridge over it, not even 100 m west of where we crossed. Whatever. It’s more of an adventure this way, right?
After a short while we came upon the grassy knoll. Now, sorry for not building this part up as a good story, but that’s kinda the way we came across it. We just got there. Like, way before we expected… it actually wasn’t very far at all.

Welcome to the meadow.

My best Sasquach impersonation.

So there we were… well, what next?
TO THE TOP!!!!!!!!!
So we set out to find the top of the mountain. Pretty easy if you just take the road. Nope, no road please, we have a hidden trails to find. And find we did! Well, like, I’m sure there’s probably a million people in the world that already know about these trails up on McKee peak, but whatever, we didn’t until we got there, and this is what we found.

A view of the Sumas Flats and the Cascades across the way.

A big rock wall… but wait! That’s not rock! It’s compacted till from the Fraser Glaciation… whatever... it’s summer. I need not care about glaciation any longer.

OK, some weird kinda grow-op… like a cedar grow-op. Who grows cedar half way up the mountain in a weird hidden field? These guys do.

I’m practicing being a tree. A nice view of the city of Abbotsford behind me.

The peak. Yup, cell phones are taking over the world.

On the way down we decided to try to find a path to make our life easier. It kinda did… a bit. Until the end, and then it was hard, since we decided that the easiest way back to the lot where Manny was waiting was straight. Yup. Easy like quantum physics. No permanent injuries though, so all is well, and we found our way out nearly where we started from, and drove to Dan’s just in time to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Great!!!

A nice path leads us through the first part of our return hike.

Next adventure: Sumas Mountain proper. That will be much later in summer though, since I need a break. I’m tired, and I gotta go to work tomorrow.
Peace.

worst GPA ever...

2005-04-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

... but I passed, so it's over. 2 more classes. sweet. almost done.
uhm.
what?

Bike Ride!!!!

2005-04-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Firstly, an addendum. My time in the Sun Run was 50:01.. I placed 3677 overall...
LAME!!! but I guess out of 50,000 people, that's not too bad. However, if I had run only 5 minutes faster, I would have placed 1500ish. That's my goal for next year. Top 1500. meh, perhaps I won't even run it next year.
Secondly, another addendum. My exam went terrible yesterday. I'm pretty sure I passed the class, but it wasn't a good exam. However, it is an OVER exam, and that means it is officially summer. I got my next week off of sears, so that means that I could have been starting my new job today, but I decided to give myself to the end of the week to relax and tidy up all the loose ends that I had been putting off unitl after school ends first. You know... stuff like paying phone bills, cleaning the house, buying groceries, etc. These will be a few busy days I guess. I'll do as much now as I can though.
Finally, yes, I tested it out today. I rode my bike from my house to my new job, just to see how long it would take if Manny bit the dust and I couldn't drive. 41 minutes, and alot of pain. I won't be biking, so Manny better keep his engine running... And now I'm at my parents house, using their computer, and probably eating there food in a minute too. Then off to start finishing everything I needed to finish before work starts. Uhm, so I guess I'll go now.

The title of the post goes here?

2005-04-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my last exam of the semester. Then perhaps I'll be starting my new job shortly thereafter, or perhaps I'll be starting it in a few weeks. Mostly it all depends on Sears, and when they tell me if they can change my next-next weeks schedule so as to make room for my new job during the week. Hopefully they can cause then I can start working as soon as the day after tomorrow.
Also, hopefully they can't cause then I'll have a week off to relax before a summer of maddness. Either way, I win.
Half full, my friends. The glass is half full.
I did the Vancouver Sun Run yesterday. What fun. Kinda. I mean there was just way too many people running it for me to have a ton of fun, cause the whole first half of the race, and parts of the rest were stop and go, dodging in between people trying to pass all the obnoxious walkers who were walking 4-5 abrest. nogood.
I think I did it in a decent time though. I'll find out tomorrow what my time was. I sure felt like throwing up after the race though. Was an odd feeling. Didn't like that part so much. Also didn't like the part where I had to stand up out of bed today. Ouch.
Me leggies hurts.
But over all, there's a sense of satisfaction that comes with running 10 km without stopping or puking, and as soon as I get that sense, I'll let you know.
Probably tomorrow morning when I see my time... I hope.
Ok, so anyways, I'm taking a study break to go try out the new Thai restaurant in town. Everyone's talking about it, and "oh yeah, it's so authentic", and "oh yeah, the people are real Thai people", and "oh yeah, my friend went there and liked the food, and she went on a two week missions trip to Thailand so she knows everything..." hahaha, it makes me giggle. However, I can't laugh too hard. Everyone knows I'm in love with Thailand as well, and even though I was there for longer than two weeks (4 months), I don't know much about it either... but it's funny to hear people talk like that as long as you keep in mind that to people who have been there longer than you, you're doing the same thing.
So, enough talk, off to kin ahan thai now.
shalom.

J to Intz... pt. II

2005-04-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

Just got a job yesterday. Yup, the interview went pretty good. Apparently, I’m “exactly the type of person [they]’re looking for.” I almost didn’t trust her in some respects, cause she was one of these successful-late-twenties-business-ladies types, a little corporate sales-ish, but the company hired me for a full time position till the end of summer. Now today I need to go talk to Sears and see if they’ll let me stay on there like one day a week or something. That would be prime, cause then I’d have a p/t job lined up for fall already. Hopefully this all comes together.
I have an exam tonight. I should probably get off my butt and go study, but I’m so lazy, and really, I think I know it all already. The hard exam is over, and the other two will be fairly easy. So, because I’m so confident I spent the early part of last night exploring up on the mountain again. Dan Bryce came along. Hadn’t seen him in a while due to school and other things… girls… sheesh. So we explored a bit…
Found a DANGER EXPLOSIVES sign…

Found some old metal storm drain covers…

Found a fire hydrant in the middle of the bush on the top of the mountain…

Was a pretty interesting early evening, punctuated by conversations of city planning and urban development, as well as one particular view of the summit of Sumas Mountain and the encroaching development. We came to the conclusion that Sumas Mountain would never again look like it does today, and that that sucks!!! But that’s life, chai-mai?
The second part of the evening was spent watching the Bjork live DVD. Uhm, that was pretty incredible. Like, seriously, that girl has so many brilliant ideas. Pretty inspiring for two amateur musicians such as ourselves. However it ended and I decided to get some sleep, cause I have to study today. Hard. Then write an exam. LAME!!!

J to the Intz...

2005-04-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

Got a job interview...
In half an hour. Pretty sketchy right now, cause I don't really know if I want the job. It better be a good one. I suppose I'll find that all out when I get there, and then it will be clear to me whether I want it or not.
Hope its a good one.
Hope I want it.
Hope then that they want me too.
Need money for school and travelling. Also need a better car. This job is all the way across town so it better be good for me to take it cause it means I'll have to insure Manny over summer which I did not want to do, and that I'll have to drive the poor little guy, which he does not want me to do. But if I drove Manny to get money, then I could spend some of that money getting Manny fixed, which he WOULD like... so maybe I'll do that.
Hmmm.
bye?

best study methodology ever

2005-04-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the school library and took out every video I could find that had anything to do with the subject of the course I am being examinated on. (I could have said tested, but examinated is kinda like terminated, or desecrated, or like,... frustrated).
I just watched a few of them, and I already feel quite prepared for the exam.
Bring it on!!!

My left arm for a calendar...

2005-04-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

15 minutes to go. I log off the computer in the lab at the university, go downstairs for a pre-exam... sit, walk to the assigned class, burst through the door with only 2 minutes to spare, and find myself in front of a group of people I've never met.
Now seriously, this has happened to you too, right?
I guess they just switched the rooms, I should have checked the exam schedule more recently, cause I haven't looked at it since it first came out. So, I'll quickly run to the B building where the exam schedule is posted and take a look at where I'm supposed to be.
"A252"... the room is right...
"9:00am-12:00pm"... the time is right...
"Apr. 13th"... the date is right...
Is it though?
"Excuse me, what's today's date?"
The girl beside me says it's the 12th...
"Are you sure?" I ask while getting out my phone to test her hypothesis...
Yes, she says she's sure.
"Uhm, how can that be? I checked... my exam is on Tuesday, April 13th, 2005."
It's unfortunate for me that that date doesn't exist.
"I guess my exam is tomorrow."
She replies by telling me that it's better than being a day late.
I guess.
Now it means I should feel obligated to spend another day trying to learn this stuff before writing my exam. I was all rushed and defeated, and now I have 23 hours still until it even starts.
So I guess on that note, I'll be off to read stuff that I was hoping I would never have to read again after an hour ago... sheesh.

the end

2005-04-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

tomorrow I have my first exam of the semester
it will be the beginning of the end
i'm scared i'll fail
i don't know anything about this class
this is the end
truly, truly

Xerarch Begins

2005-04-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it began quite a while ago. Before my first ever blog I guess... before my trip to Asia.
My friend Rochelle has a blog, and she is in Thailand right now, making me jealous.
But I will join her and Christen and others in "blog land" to feel validated.
I will write about Xerarch. My music. My travels. My life. Xerarch.
It's who I am.
Who are you?