Drama

You know hot, lazy, uncomfortably humid days where everything seems to irritate you, even little things... especially little things... it's too hot to sleep... even the water is warm... and things just start to go wrong... and then it escalates... and then still gets worse... so bad , in fact , you just have to stop laugh at it or else you'd cry (if you were a girl)... but then... badness continues to where you can't even laugh about it anymore so you have to snap... ? ...
... welcome to my life...
... We had such high hopes for the day today too... it started with grocery shopping and Danelle really excited about all the food and all the possibilities... but then very quickly the house got really hot from the stove and oven being on... and then the fryer didn't have a lid so the olive oil started spitting out all over the floor... so Danelle put on a coat so she didn't get burned... and ruined it when the oil started spitting on her...
... soooo hot...
... and then the detergent fell off the washer because it vibrates so much... cracked... and spilled detergent all over the bathroom floor... it took all our towells and a roll of already ruined toilet paper to sop it up...
... and it got even hotter...
... and then it was back to cooking, which was going alright except there's really no space to put all of the pots and pans and so the whole thing is one big clutter of hotness... and when we tried to put the salt and pepper into the sauce I broke the top off each of them and spilled them all over the floor... and then Danelle burned her hands on the pan in the oven...
... and it was heating up...
... the tube for the washing machine got pulled out of the whole on account of how tremendously much it vibrates and literally flooded the whole bathroom in an inch of water... it took Danelle with a broom and me with a round pail (cause it's all we had) 20 minutes to pail it all up into the tub...
... and then the icecubes broke all over the floor... and then Danelle fell and hurt her knee... and the garbage bag leaked detergent...
... and FIRE... (metaphorically)
... so I just left to go to hockey...
... but even at the rink I couldn't escape the bad day as our promised 30 minute light skate turned into 2 hours of battle drills... no fun at all...
... But some relief...
... It ended fine with a German festival for St Georgia and some nice cooked mushrooms... what a day...

Italia

Aug 24

Sleeping on a plane, a bus, a ship, or anything moving always spells trouble for me. Unfortunately... NOT sleeping means, at the very least, I will be up for 28 hours straight... from wake up (4:30 AM 8/24) in Regina to drive in (8:30 AM 8/25) in Brunico... And seeing as how I'd try to stay up at least 10 more hours till 6 PM (or suffer true jet lag sleep patterns for the next month or so) it makes for grand total of 38 sleepless hours...
... Knowing this... and knowing I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before... I opt to force sleep with a concoction of drammamine, wine, advil, and Nyquil... ... zzzZZZ...
... We're flying over Amsterdam before I'm coherent again... the lights are off and everyone around is still asleep... ... ... there's something eerie, but cool, about the quiet of everyone sleeping... Not that cool though as I opt to settle back in for more sleep...
... Mid-adjustment the lady ahead of me turns around and whisper yells that she's trying to sleep so settle down back there... Wha!?... It was literally a scrape of my knee on her seat... and I tell her this... and then I tell her if that's what it's going to take to keep her up then she better get used to a long night... not in a mean way... in a 'my legs are too long for the seat, it's bound to happen' kinda way... Sorry I'm not sorry...
... Conversation to Brunico consisted of a prolonged name-game with me and 3 other players that all flew in around the same time... 'Ya, I've heard of him'... 'Oh ya, I played against him in Atom summer hockey'... 'No! I didn't know that... that's crazy'... and such...
... It was a long trip because the cab driver didn't go over 20 X 100 rpms the whole first half of our trip from Munich to Brunico... Easy sailing at about 50 km/h... espcially aggravating since no one was in front of us and we were on the German Audobahn with no speed limit... "gas is on the right"... "c'mon lead foot"... (he couldn't understand English... thus I was introduced to my first experience of talking about someone in the same room as you, in a loud enough voice that they can hear you, without caring... this happens all the time with waitresses...)
... Or maybe he did understand... cause when we hit Austria and got onto a two-lane, two-way traffic, narrowest of narrow, winding through mountains highway surrounded by cars on all sides... this guy turned into Michael Andretti... I feel like it was some sort of psychological little car syndrome this guy felt like he had to prove himself to other cars... cause the second one appeared this guy was compelled to speed up to a foot from its bumper... swear... blare the horn... flash his brights and all such nonsense until it moved over and he could pass it... shaking his fist as he blazed... then he'd speed up to the next car and do the same...
... Sleep became impossible in this part of the trip... Every car became a game of Russian Roullette... we could never have stopped in time for even the smallest trouble... and our bail outs were a cliff wall on one side and a thousand foot drop on the other... "where's the fire buddy!?".... I looked over at Danelle... was she scared too?... very much... her eyes are closed but she wasn't sleeping... her face is pale white... and chances are she's praying... and if she isn't... then she should be...
... At the apartment began the yearly game of trying to stay up for as long as possible in order to adjust to Italian time... The Taxi ride did the trick for the first 3 hours on account of the praying and the squeezing of the arm... but after that things get hard... 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7:30, 7:45, 7:46, ... 8 and done... lights out

Aug 25

Rise and shine campers, it's a pitch black 3 AM with nothing to do and nothing open till 8 AM... and just so you know... you'll be wide awake, fidgety, and in all other ways unable to get back to sleep so don't bother trying...
... So go for a walk around your place... see how beautiful the mountains are... and then sit outside the grocery store till it opens in 4 hours time... ... ...
... soooo thirsty... please water... "frizzante means no fizz right?"...
... I'm reading Dave King's book, 'King of Russia'... it's a seriously depressing book... hard-core... no fun... no smiles... long days... tough road trips... dark and dusty... and all hockey all the time... no family time... no offseason even... what kind of lifestyle is that I wonder... Maybe it's the price you gotta pay to earn the price their gonna pay...
... King himself seems to lead an excitingly boring life... if that makes sense... like... exciting seems to be happening everywhere around him... in his own life even... and either he doesn't see it... doesn't live it... or chances are just doesn't write it...

Aug 26

This morning is already Waaay better with the jet lag... I'm only up at 5 AM and only have to fidget 3 hours away... Two-a-days start today and what gets me through the long day is finding out mid-practice that Hobag (which has signs up all around our rink) is a major sponsor for the team...

Aug 27

Danelle found trails behind the rink that follow the river up into the mountains... She says I have to go with her some time... And we got a fan... finally! It was so hot in our place... and Danelle wouldn't allow open windows on account of a spider crawling into our room... onto her shirt... and in perfect sight of her eyes when she woke up from her nap... she screamed... ran out of the bedroom... and had to wait outside till I got home to take care of it... sometimes it feels good to be the man of the house... protecting... taking care of spiders... ya what's up...

Aug 28

We go check out the other guys apartments... One guys' in a huge house with a full-size fridge and I'm jealous.. one guys' staying in a walk-in closet and I laugh... We also went out to the lake... the guys have trunks and I don't... but it's soo hot... and thing is... I figure... my boxers were probably bigger than most Euro swim trunks anyways... so no worries...
... I'm reading a book called 'Why We're Not Emergent' and need to rant and rave about that book pretty soon... but not today... I need more time to do it justice... and hopefully find at least one good thing in there to make it well-rounded...

Internet Finally

Hey ya'll, I finally got internet and about 5 seconds to use it right now. I wrote out a bunch of stuff that I can't share with you right now cause it's back at home. But now is the time you should start checking up on this thing... maybe...

Don't Tell Me How Educated You Are, Tell Me How Much You Have Traveled

"It liberates the vandal to travel--you never saw a bigoted, opinionated, stubborn, narrow-minded, self-conceited, almighty mean man in your life but he had stuck in one place since he was born." --MARK TWAIN, 1868

There are many ways to learn about the world, about others, and about yourself... and everyone seems to learn a little differently... But... if you travel well... then... I think... you can possibly hit all of those different triggers of learning more effectively than most any other form of education...
... First travel takes a person out of their comfort zone... you are already challenged... you've never had to deal with the things you now have to deal with... facing new challenges... and reflecting on how you deal with, or react to the situation, tells you things about yourself you could never have known back on your sofa watching National Geographic...
... Second travel gets around preconceived ideas about life... which can, based on the natural human tendency towards arrogance and pride, stop persons from allowing themselves learn... because you can't have any when you don't know what to expect... which is one of the reasons why I am quite strongly opposed to reading too much about the place you are about to go.... based on it's effect of limiting the things you might let yourself do... spur of the moment...
... Third travel gives you experiential knowledge, which is the greatest and most demanding form of learning anything... This is also the sticking point where it is imperative that a person travels well... For... "It is better to travel well than to arrive"... You will not learn anything from the window of a car, train, or camera... you must do... you must participate... You must take a rest stop in the middle of the mountains beside some stream somewhere just to see what the highway looks like... it is the small difference in your story from anyone else's story that makes it yours... And how you learn... It is even possible to live only the tourist traps life in every place and still learn despite your unoriginal inspontaneous nature...
... Fourth travel makes you learn by teaching... Once you return from any travel... And under the assumption that at least one person cares for you and you are interesting enough that they will sit through your stories... you will have to share the things you experienced, saw, and learned when you were gone... and if there's one thing you hear from teachers is that you never really know something until you have to teach it to somebody else...
... Fifth you can learn by application... when you return you suddenly start to see the things you've always known and are accustomed... now somewhat strange... Like my favorite poet TS Eliot would say... you return to the place where you started an know it for the first time... And possibly you'll know it that even the place around where you live should constantly be mistaken for some place strange and unknown... you may start to realize that with the right set of eyes... you really don't have to go all that far to travel...

Ignorance from Arrogance

"Somtimes the greater damage does not come from the things that we don't know... but from the things that we know for sure that just ain't so..."
... In this particular case I'm bombarded by a 6 day creationist about how the earth was created in 6 days... a straight literal translation of the bible... and yet a seemingly well-educated guy...
... A physicist... a linguist... a mollecular biologist... a guy that's studied some sort of everything... a real live renaissance man... throwing out a lot of really interesting stuff on quantum physics (particles actually behave differently when they're being observed than when they're not), the nature of light (it's not a constant, it used to be possibly 10^12 times faster than it is now and is still slowing down while gravitational waves have remained at that original speed), and hebrew linguistics and translation errors (where day and night in Genesis 1 do not actually mean day and night but in ancient times translated to moving from disorder to order)...
... but quesiton... is there bias?... is he looking for a proof of something he already believes.. or is he looking at the evidence as is and then forming a conclusion... cause the way he talks tells me there's bias in the way of truth... and that's bad... but I guess at the same time... can you really say more about athiestic evolutionists?...
... But back to dude... and most impressively... what gets me the most in all of this is that some of the things he says seem to ring true... and if they are true he might have a real case...
... even if... he falls short on two things...
... First, he criticizes older scientists for latching on to arguments that science has proven wrong as technology has improved... well... pull the rug out from under yourself buddy... technology is still advancing... what do you concretely believe in right now that just might not be so in 20 years?...
... Second, he tries to prove the truth of the bible with the bible... and that's also bad... now I'm not saying anything in particular about the bible... but one thing I do know is that circular reasoning is not the way to go about proving it...
... In conclusion... Why can't we just organize some big grand televised, unbiased debate between some of these 'experts' every once in a while to keep us all in the loop?...

Su'thern

Leaving Harvard slash living with Danelle has succesfully combined to provide me with the very fortunate, very favorable opportunity to play the long sought for, highly coveted, hugely challenging, and very involving role of a 'grammar nazi'...
- breathe -
... Secondly and more importantly...
... Not to be challenged on my challenges pertaining to grammar...
... 'I ain't had but cereal for breakfast'...
... 'Ya'll best be coming back later'...
... On random words like 'crokies' and 'coozies'...
... And add on Danelle's remarkable ability to have two words in her mind... who instead of picking one and going with it... combines the two into one master word...
... 'You're such a... a... a... 'neron'... (a combination of nerd and moron)... we should have a 'fluit' for the bbq... (a combination of platter and fruit not knowing which one she should use first)...(and... Unfortunately for the 10 or so times this has happened in my recent memory, none of them made the journey to get stored into my long term memory... so... hopefully... updates will come later)...

Karma

Karma.. 'what goes around comes around'... in especial essence.. in certain circumstances... is a way of wishing, expecting, hoping... revenge... without taking the effort of enacting it...
... So to you person that did the thing that set me off... you know who you are...
... Bad form...
... bad karma...

Personal Best?

As a pretty good mediocre athlete myself... slightly better than an armchair athlete and YET not in the NHL... I commiserate a little with our Canadian athletes at the Olympics... Where they get a personal best... yay... be all happy and content... hurra... and YET come in 7th in qualifiers... 45th overall...
... success or failure?...
... 45th best in the world... is really not bad... not bad at all out of billions of people... sort of billions... I guess... maybe thousands or tens of thousands for people who actually do your skill... but 45 out of thousands is still really good...
... So good job personal best... kudos and all that... maybe one day... maybe if we start treating our olympic athletes as professionals like the US or China and we might see that personal best turning into a medal...
... If we stop making them work a job and train at the same time... where fatigue from the job cramps any sort of training they might have... NBC did a story on Phelps... his biggest worry after swimming is if his dog snores to much and keeps him up... getting enough to eat... and that's it...
... equals gold... 12 to be exact...

So you think you can...

... It did... it ended... and I won't tell you who won... but I went from being forced to watch it by crazy dancing queen girlfriend... to actually liking the show and wanting to watch it with enlightened dancing queen wife...
... Definitely need a good dose of UFC right afterwards still just to feel that all is right with the world...

Drumheller!

I'm not sure what to make of Drumheller... the ultimate tourist trap... Fake dinosaurs on every street corner... 3 museums on every street... the largest dinosaur in the world (6 stories high)... a mini-golf course of dinosaurs... the largest reptile exhibit in the world... go-karts with dinosaurs... 2 different coal museums... a museum of an old school... even a head of a t. rex on the wall of the local IGA... it's insane... might as well make a bid for the largest spool of yarn while you're at it...
... It's cool... it's quaint... it's heart-felt... it's... ... great... ... ... why are they here?... couldn't they do so much more in the middle of some University or zoo or something?... Like... Calgary?... And I'd have been there 5 years ago...
... that said... there's something about a small town's unabashed enthusiasm...
... Love it...
... Case in point...
... The nice, smiling, old traffic director guiding us into the museum... into a parking lot no bigger and no more confusing than walmart... no need... no reason... we could easily find our way... but I somehow feel welcome because of it... he directs us to our parking spot... not 5 feet from where he was standing... earning a small laugh... a small swelling of our hearts...
... how could you not love his smile... I don't know why he's here... could be a number of reasons why he's here... some good... some bad... I hope good... and the smile...
... See through the tourist trap all you want... the effort does it for me... that's enough... AND... the museum is actually really great... And I need the adverbs because I know that's what it would take for me to detour nearly 2 hours out of my trip along the #1...
... I say... along with some passable hiking trails... it's just barely worth the 1 hour detour off highway #1... But only if it's your return trip from the mountains... and only if you have half a day free...
... We do the museum... enjoy it... get some good pictures... use an active imagination to think what it would be like if these things were alive... hypothesize what it would take to kill a T. Rex... decide on either a big trap with bait... or an AK-47... give the traffic director a smile and a thankyou... of which Danelle calls says "and I guess you felt really good about that"... which I did... and back on the highway home...

Drumheller?

Somewhere along the way home to Regina we got sidetracked along a highway.. I have.. for many years.. wanted to drive down... And we're now here in the middle of nowhere... Drumheller...
... Tomorrow we plan on waking up at 7:45.. breakfast from 7:45-8.. waterslide for 30 minutes from 8-8:45.. The dinosaur museum from 9-9:45.. And on the road to Regina by 10...

Almost died... no big deal

I didn't almost die from the very best food I've ever had in my entire life in the Steakhouse at the Fairmont Lake Louise...

... But it was to die for...

I didn't almost die at 5 am in the morning when we got up to go canoe out on Lake Louise and watch the sunrise... though I felt dead at the wake-up call...

... It was cool...

I didn't almost die at the Banff Fairmont when we sat in the restaurant overlooking the 15th hole for an hour without getting service until we walked out...

... But I was hungry...

I didn't almost die taking Danelle shopping through Banff in the afternoon...

... But I sat outside more and more stores as the day wore on...

I didn't almost die just outside the door of my car that I left for a second to get a better view of the black bear as it wandered in the ditch... or again in a similar situation with the grizzly 5 minutes later...

... It was awesome...

BUT I did almost die at Johnston Canyon trails when midway up the path hurricane force winds blew over trees up and down the trail... lightning striking all around us... and rain soaking us unprepared t-shirt wearers that we were...

... Trees were completely uprooted... Trees had fallen on cars in the parking lot... Trees were swaying over the highway as we drove back to Banff... and suddenly in front of us three trees were fallen over blocking the highway...

... In the middle of a lightning storm about 20 or so of us guys... (asians tourists flashing cameras the whole time... European guy that chances are hadn't showered in a month.... Bikers on Harley Davidsons... Doctor guy worried about infections from tree sap... and Canadian families with teenage kids in tow ready to prove their toughness...) decided to act like men for ten minutes and pushed the massive, very heavy, very dangerous, trees off the road so the cars could get through...

... And job well done back in Canmore at our hotel we meet a couple whose daughter had just been married August 1st... a gymnist instructor... they offer out their place for a few weeks to us next summer if we want it... right on the #1 hole at Silvertip... and who they tell us Danelle should come and work with in Calgary if things work out for me there...

... This right here is why you can't help but love Canadians... the openness... the transience (as he called it in his thesis) of western people still figuring out their lives... the freedom of mobility... no factions... no stagnation... no structure... no cliques... no politics... at least not yet.

Labels

Okay... this is the hist and lit I learned at school coming out for a second... and if it seems shallow it's because it most assuredly is...

... so gametime...

... Words are powerful... of course

... Put people into a situation... have them describe what happened... and confusion abounds... their versions are different... of course... you get multiple perspectives with all just a little right... and most clouded over by bias, prejudice, and a lot of other things that probably end with -iss...

... What's more...

... Every word they use in their description... every part they latch on to to describe... everything they key on... is the Universe for that person... it's all that they know... and it tells you more about the person describing the situation than it does anything about the situation itself...

... It's all in the words they use...

... a fight to one person is a conflict to another... a discussion to still another... and a setting straight to one more other...

... a budget to one person is an allowance to another... it's a power struggle or a mutual arrangement...

... and it's these labels... and everything that comes with them... that tells you how that person sees the world... and very little if anything about the reality of the world...

... So... hopefully if I got Sophomore year right... that's a glimpse of post-modernism shining it's beacon on the rest of the world... funny thing is... I actually just read this whole thing from some writings by Buddha... sitting next to the bible in our hotel room today... ... and who... if my history serves me correctly... was just a little bit before the post-modernist thinkers...

... But now do I agree with it all... multiple perspectives? sure... words unable to describe true reality? ummm... let's just say I'm still gonna believe gravity exists and I'll still look both ways before crossing the street...

Star Wars

Yesterday the sci fi network was helping George Lucas promote his new movie by playing a IV, V, and VI movie marathon...

... For the record... I'm just a little bit a nerd... secondly... these old Star Wars movies are actually really good... in comparison to the new Star Wars movies which were the second biggest let down of my life... Not simply because of Jar Jar Binks... though he has a lot to do with it... it's mostly a lot of small things all connected together that lift the first ones up and tear the second ones down...

... And it begins with characters...

... The characters are better... In the depth... everyone has something more to offer... something bigger about them... not seen... from their past... in their future... you get a glimpse of it every now and then and that's it... There's no delicacy in the new ones... they're smaller... they're too good... too evil... too holier than thou... too reckless... there's no moving pieces, no internal struggle, nothing you don't already suspect... everything's out there for everyone to see from every character... I guess except one... Anakin does struggle... but poorly... he was so not big enough an actor for his role...

... but I'm not sure if I should blame his awful acting abilities or the...

... Plot...

... In the old There is also something more going on with the plot... something bigger outside of all the characters... something.. again... NOT SEEN... the pieces all move and these characters simply happen to fall into it all and be in the right place at the right time... and it works...

... The new movies are so forced... so forced... we already know how it's going to end... The trick is how it gets there...

... But there is no trick... start to finish is a straight, DEAD, path to the IVth movie... not a twist you don't already see... not an "I wonder what's going to happen next" moment... not an "oh wow I can't believe that just happened" in the theater... It's just one plodding scene on into the next for 6 solid hours...

... and not one writer did anything about it? Not one person looked past the... "oh, this is a surefire 100 schmill in the bank" to the hopeful possibility of putting their stamp on history... a movie that people are going to bring up.. and watch again... and be their bar with future movies...

... fool us... scare us... take me to a place in the movie where there is no possible way it's going to work out the way I know it HAS to work out... and then do something I don't expect with it... something that works... that's totally believable that solves the whole mess and makes it good...

... Maybe make the Anakin/Princess relationship a little bit harder... put a diplomat in the picture that she has to choose between...

... Maybe include a couple more jedis around Anakin's age in training to act as foils for Anakin to deepen the plot... maybe develop some sort of character out of this awful actor despite his awful acting...

... and yes...

... There was almost a twist... almost... when Duku? told Obiwan he was a traitor to the government because he learned that the government was the pawn of the Sith... What a twist... What an actual incredible twist... It could work... Make Duku good... make the Jedi have to pick sides... there's confusion... there's friends fighting friends... there's trust issues... and divided loyalties... and strife... few, if any, really know which side is the right one to begin with... and place 'no actin' Anakin and Princess right in the middle of the whole mess... sit back... and see how the cards turn out...

... I probably... actually... might have liked it then...

Weddings and Such

I'm not a crier.. I'm not... not not not... Niether am I a Stoic... I Have cried... like... there are times that I will cry... right close to the end of Armageddon... something's stuck in my eye... cutting onions... stuff like that...

...but I'm not weird... and there is the science to prove it...

... Some study somewhere has shown that your body has the exact same physiological reaction when you feel happy, sad, scared, angry... heart beats faster... sweaty palms... that feeling in the pit of your stomache... overall.. you're excited... and it's your mind that tells you only afterwards what you really are feeling...

... And I was happy.. why waste any emotions on tears when I want to save them all to be happy...

... So maybe I should cry.. but surrounded by all of the people that love me best.. are there for me.. are supporting me.. my mind tells me I have to be happy.. and so instead of cry my mind made me uncontrollably smile the whole entire wedding..

... So I'm not a crier...