Memory Burning

So, being as I'm moving to Summerland, i was packing up my stuff today and i came across a bunch of birthday/Christmas/graduation cards that I'm pretty sure lasted all the way back to when I learned to read. I was going to keep them because I had kept them thus far and there really wasn't much of a point in throwing them away now, but then they wouldn't fit in the box that I had for them so had to dispose of them somehow. Throwing away just wouldn't quite cut it so I decided to burn them. The following are the mundane events that transpired. Also it's my first attempt at vlogging







The whole thing lasted a lot longer than I thought and eventually I kept having to splash gasoline on it because it was raining. In the end it left a big scorched patch on the lawn, but I covered it in leaves and although I smell of gasoline right now, I'm pretty sure my parents wont notice... except for the fact that I posted it online... oh well...

Park Ranger

Pope and Kepsie

So I've got this great idea for a webcomic that I'm going to make: Pope and Kepsie. I definitely have to credit the excellent name to Alpha and her word-mixing-up skills, but the idea for the comic is mine. It's set in a post-apocalyptic future where the Vatican city is the last bastion of freedom withstanding the siege of a world government of some type. Pope is a refugee who helps defend the city and its inhabitants, and Kepsie is his dog. it's going to be epic. Now all I have to do is learn to draw... oh shnapp...

zen master

starting again and changing my ways

I slept in mad late for work this morning so I told myself I'd get to bed by 11 tonight. Meaning I'll only have a couple minutes to blog left. Today, because I took the day off (accidentally) I spent most of the day laying around, but at about 3:30 I went up and did some Christmas shopping and didn't buy any Christmas presents and then went over to the bread garden and had a double shot espresso and read my Bible and settled down to the filling of the epic notebook/sketchbook I have recently acquired. So far it's pretty rough around the edges (it always is when I don't write or sketch for a while), but I suppose I might transcribe some awesomeness. Here's a rough rap verse that could be put with another verse I have in the book.

like a drop on a leaky faucet I lost it builds up too soon here's the line and I crossed it I was stalling for time forsaking the rhyme no rythm or timing it stopped my climbing no progress but regress if this is test then I just failed but the worst bit about it is I just bailed mailed out my resignation from this race digital eyes taking its place but if there's time left for me to retrace I'm starting again I'm changing my ways

It's not in a good format and there's a word misspelled among other problems, but I'll fix that as soon as I can (thus making this sentence irrelevant)

pipe smoking professor

BfME2

So I never wrote anything the other night. It sucks, I know. Last night was pretty bad too, when I went into my room in the evening I was determined that i was going to shut down my computer and spend my time writing, but when I turned on my computer I realized that I was halfway through an epic Battle for Middle Earth II campaign so I pretty much had to finish it. Unfortunately finishing it took me well through the night and into the morning and I only got a couple of hours of sleep and no writing done. I will though. It's going to happen.

fool sitting here typing

sufficient awesomeness

We got an awesome tree this year, probably the best yet. We went up to Aunt Leah's Tree Farm, a charity tree farm, and bought a noble Douglas fir for eighty something dollars. It's insanely full and rich (and expensive), but I don't feel bad one bit about having such a costly tree in my house, purely for our enjoyment/amusement because the money is going to a great charity (Aunt Leah's works with mostly troubled youth, halfway homes, and unwanted pregnancies). I really feel like I should write something now. it's been a few days since i last wrote anything and i feel "ripe" to write. I feel like a drop of water that's been building on a slightly leaky tap for a long time and it's been swelling to the point where it can't stay on the tap and it'll fall in another second. I definitely will write whatever it is that i need to write tonight and I may post it on here if it is sufficiently awesome. speaking of awesomeness, I just thought of a great word... awesomeless... which is like the opposite of awesomeness in every way, lacking in awesomeness I guess.

pipe smoking professor

folk-rap awesomeness

Right now I am rocking out to the awesomely talented Josh Garrels. We went to the "Spirit of Christmas" at TWU and he was playing a live set in the Atrium and he definitely outclassed the Western Fiddlers who played before him. In fact he pretty much not only destroyed them, but he also blew minds, mine included. The man is a mix of folk music and folk rap, which is awesome. Last year when I got my first K-os album I became fascinated by the concept of melodic rap and especially folk rap (artists like Matt Kearney), but then that kind of faded out of view until the other night when I heard Josh Garrels and the man is pretty much the embodiment of the folk-rap genre. go check him out and prepare to have your mind blown. Also check out the folk-rap genre because although it is madly underrepresented, it is one of the hardcore sweetest genres out there. because folk music rocks, and melodic rap rocks, and together they rock madly.

zen master

The Park Ranger Strikes Back

The other day I realized that I say the word 'epic' much too much so I went to thesaurus.com and looked up some synonyms. I think the best results I could find were 'Homeric' and 'Herculean' so from now on I will replace 'epic' with one or the other, depending on the situation. This will be an exercise in broadening my vocabulary because words or phrases like 'epic' tend to temporarily take over everything I say.
I actually looked the word up when I was down in Bellingham last week for American Thanksgiving. I went down with Josh Burdick and a whole crew of people (Jenny, Toshi, Jackie, Anne, Justin, Phil) going to his house for the dinner and the shopping. Americans are hardcore about celebrating thanksgiving and a Homeric weekend was had by all. The morning after the herculean dinner, however, I spotted an ancient typewriter in the Burdick house and Mrs. Burdick grabbed a piece of paper and said I could type on it. It was definitely a pretty Homeric experience and the following is the awesomecore poetry of the morning that I typed out.

beeswax daytime wakes me from my repose
while sunlight filters through the window frame
it's no surprise the nighttime went so fast
so soft the daylight came so soon
I've not yet woken from my moonlit dream

I dreamt a golden tear was falling from his face
while all around the ocean waves kept pace
with the beating of my own familiar heart
and though it captivated in me every part
I could not hold it from the break of day
I woke to golden tears in place of sunlit rays

and all around me happiness is in my ear
the sight of day has brought my heart to tears
the birdsong, the dog bark, the beeswax daytime
the clear sky, the warm hearts beating next to mine

Later in the morning I wrote more awesomecore (I can't use Homeric or herculean in this situation, although I would have used epic) poetry on a scrap of paper and the day before I was writing a sweetness punk song so I have been pretty busy, but my basic routine doesn't really encourage time for writing. Basically I get up and go to work, work for eight hours, and come home and entertain myself with movies and games. I feel like I'm amusing myself to death. The only real time when I get anything done is right now, in the morning before i leave for work, but usually I work at the Victoria Drive location of Surplus Sam's so that doesn't leave me much time. Hopefully I'll be working at the Burnaby location for a while and I can write a sweet series of morning poems. That would be Homeric.

Park Ranger

A New Smoke

I got a great new book today, it's a comprehensive collection of Robert Frost's poetry. So far I've only read the first two poems, but he starts off with crazy crazy awesomeness. Although Robert Frost is the man, I would also like to get hold of some of T.S. Elliot's poetry because I read "The Hollow Men" ages ago and it's pretty much my favorite poem ever, but I've never read anything else by Elliot.
On the epic journey i missed out on Michigan and Detroit and I was sorely disappointed by this. However, everyone says that I missed nothing, that Detroit is the worst city in America, but they don't realize that out of the worst conditions comes the best poetry and music. I think that's why, when musicians get famous and make a lot of money, their music tends to lose much of its awesomeness. It's because now they are living the good life and they have nothing to sing about except how happy and boring their lives are. The poetry of T.S. Elliot and Robert Frost is not about how happy and boring their lives are. It is good poetry. I look forward with eager anticipation to reading them both.

Pipe Smoking Professor

The Return of the Pipe Smoking Professor

I am definitely back in Canada now and it's good to be sleeping in a real bed and eating real food, my last meal before coming home on Tuesday was a can of "Chef Boyardee ChiliMac". Trust me, Chef Boyardee is good, chili is good, and macaroni is good, but together and cold they taste pretty disgusting. Sorry for not updating for the past couple of weeks, for the las two weeks of my trip I didn't stay in any hostels because I was rushing around so much on the train so I didn't have ready access to the internet. The only times I stayed overnight in a city in the last two weeks were Sacramento and Kansas city and I just stayed up all night. Sacramento was pretty good, but at about 3:00am at Denny's I realized I had lost my ticket and pass and had to run back through the city and retrace my steps. Eventually I ended up at the train station around when it opened and one of the employees had found the ticket and given it to the ticket counter people where I found it. I did write an epic song about Sacramento though, but it's really epic and therefore would take a while to type out so I'm not putting it on here. Kansas city was the least welcoming place on my travels, I just don't think people liked other people there, it was like the antithesis to Halifax. Also there was at least one bumbling security guard who made my life miserable, another who was doing his job, his job being keeping people out of a public park, a criminal purse thief, a 24 hour bail bonds place, a burning sewer vent, many many drunk people, a non-24-hour Denny's, a homeless man, another homeless man, music screamed in the middle of the night, chunks of ice for toes, the book of Lamentations, and an epic journey. The epic journey was the journey from Missouri to Kansas. Kansas city falls on the state line between Missouri and Kansas and unfortunately the train stops in the Missouri half of the city. I had to make it to Kansas so I had about 3 or 4 miles to trek across the city to get to Kansas proper. It was an epic journey and I documented it on film, but I want to get this entry out there so I will put the videos in another entry. Later on in the non-24hr Denny's I documented the results of my entire epic journey (the whole thing) in a poem:

It's been so long, been on the road
cause Kansas winds were in my bones
I've searched the high and Northern shores
I've stood and knocked at strangers doors
I've walked alone on broken streets
I've nursed my cold and broken feet
I've drunk my fill on golden draughts
but never once i have forgot
the sacred song, the silent night
the ancient dream, eternal sight
the yellow sun on Kansas fields
the great expanse, the boundful yields
for this I've searched for countless years
for every mile, another tear
but now it seems they're shed in vain
as darkened skies turn into rain
this is Kansas
a streetcorner
this is Kansas
a neon sign
this is Kansas
a black mourner
this is Kansas
a yellow line
this is Kansas
a chainlink fence
this is Kansas
a dying dance
if this is Kansas
why does it look like the Kingdom of God?

That last line is an epic line for its multiple awesome meanings and although I don't really like explaining my poetry, I feel this line could easily be twisted so I will clarify its meaning. It refers to both the fact that I am sorely disappointed in the real Kansas (it was not what I expected), and the fact that the Kingdom of God is at hand and these streets and these broken and dying people in this broken and dying city are what the Kingdom of God is made up of and because of this I'm not really disappointed, but happy. The Kingdom of God isn't made up of rolling hills and fields of golden wheat, but out of broken and hurting people who have nothing to give, least of all beauty. It's a pretty epic realization.

So if i uploaded any of the other videos it would take hours because they're so big and the internet costs money so i don't think I will, but when I get home I'll put them up. For the time being, here's some photos.

The Plains of Abraham

Fields of corn in the U.S. (I don't know why, but it warranted a picture)

a little piece of New York early in the morning when it was deserted

another little piece of New York

A much bigger piece of New York taken from central park

Anyways that's it for now because those things take time to upload, and again time is money. I miss you guys. That was a pretty nondescript 'I miss you' so that it doesn't offend the people that I haven't even thought about since I left and I don't really miss so I guess nobody can really know if I miss them at all. C'est la vie.

New York, New York

Every time I say that, 'New York, New York', it definately makes me feel pretty groovy. New York, New York is both an awesome and cool place, and a very sad place. When I arrived on Friday (I missed my train on Thursday) it was late at night and it was pouring rain when I walked out of the station and my first thought was 'oh crap it's raining'. the handle on my umbrella had broken off up in Montreal so I was holding on to this little stick and trying to keep my backpack dry because all my books and important things were in the top, so this meant that I got soaked, but I got used to the rain after a while and it really didn't end up being too bad, it added atmosphere to the city (although I'm still glad that it's sunny right now). Right across the station was madison square garden so I snapped a picture of that and started out into the city with no idea where I was going and no maps or even an adress or number for a hostel. I should have gotten a map at least from the train station, but I didn't think of it and before I knew it I was on the street and walking. My first instinct was to head toward the place where all the excitement and people were coming from so pretty soon I hit broadway and then turned along that and walked for a couple of blocks and then, sensing that it was nearby, I asked someone where times square was. They informed me that I was in it and I was a bit confused for a minute because I though squares had to be these big open spaces, but then as I walked onto the median in the middle of the street, the whole place sort of expanded around me, until when I was standing on the subway grate in the middle, with an almost musical sound coming up from the underground and all the taxis and people yelling and honking and the hundreds of flashing lights and big screens blurring my vision and me spinning inside it all, it felt like it was the center of the world and the world was spinning around the ground where I stood, it was truly a magnificant feeling. Evidently, however, New Yorkers also think that New York is the center of the world and sometimes it can be hilarious to see people walking down the street who obviously think 'I'm all that' and how visible, without saying a word to them but just in their fashions and the way they walk, their conceit is. it gives it a pretty cool feeling though. the sad side of New York came later in the night. I had decided that since it was so late and all I knew about where I was, was that I was in times square, I wasn't gonig to look around for a hostel too far from the square, but instead I was going to stay up all night and wander around in the close area. So I pretty much explored every corner of times square and though they say that the city never sleeps, there was a time from around 3 to 5 in the morning where there were very few people on the street. However, at this time of night you could walk down Broadway and on every streetcorner there would be a pusher trying to sell you drugs and depending which street you walked down, there could be half a dozen guys walking down the street with a hooker. It was definately a sad city at that time and not a very safe place, even though the city has being swarming with police since Bloomberg I'm told, but fortunately there were a few 24/7 mcdonalds and starbucks in the direct vicinity of times square so I spent a good percentage of my time in those (or standing under the big overhanging broadway theater signs because it rained the whole time). I made it through the night, but I was really tired the next day and didn't do a whole lot except for walk from times square to Amsterdam and 103rd st. (trust me it's a long way, especially with a backpack in the semi-rain) and check into the hostelling international hostel there. today I didn't do a whole lot either, but I went to church this morning (at about noon) and met a bunch of cool people and went for lunch with them, so that was pretty good I guess. right now I only have about a minute and a half left on my internet time so I'm going to have to wrap up, but I took a bunch of videos in New York and I'm going to see if I can find somewhere to upload those.

the happiness parade

So pretty much the legal drinking age in Quebec city is 18. So I definitely went to the pub down the street last night and got drunk. Not totally drunk, just swaying and slight blurring and a bit of lack of the ability to talk very well. So yeah I guess you would classify that as drunk, but not drunk so that I don't remember stuff. I definitely did chronicle the entire experience though so that might have been what kept me remembering everything. there's a few pages of just random writings in my journal, that examined in the light of day are pretty funny, if a little hard to translate because my writing is already bad, but with alcohol in me it's atrocious. Also, one of the reasons I got drunk is because I wanted to see if I could still write when drunk, and how exactly that affects what I write. so here's a song I wrote when I only had 1-1.5 out of 2 pints in me.

The Happiness Parade

Welcome one and all
the tightrope walker tries to say
while jerking back the tears of laughter
clowns in caricture of the queen
will entertain you for a penny
paupers, princes all the same
and if we fail to put a smile upon your face
we'll give you cotton candy entertaaaiinment
for to say

(chorus)
welcome to the happiness parade
monkeys elephants and trains
pulling into town the big band plays
the circus master flips a magic switch
and all throughout the day it never rains
it's the happiness parade

welcome one and all
to the last show of the day
there's tears aplenty if you miss it
but windmills, all the whirligigs
and the wonderful month of May
will bring you smiles all the same
and if nothing in this world can cheer you up
we'll spell you all the numbers backward, it's a gaaame see
for to say

chorus

and if the monkeys start to riot
at the mayors house we'll pay
for we're so full of glee and happiness
that any bill we're glad to foot
but to the animals we'll say
go back and bring the lion train
for if I put my head into the lions mouth
we'll earn a killing just by plaaaying
at a game

chorus

welcome one and all
to virtual reality
it's magic tricks and pick up sticks
and no one here's to blame
and no one in the town they say
and no one at the fair today
if all the children die of laughter
it's smiles killing currents of the braaaiinwaves
for to say

chorus

when the children fall
we'll gather up the people now
dancing cucaracha down the street
and hurling colored bricks through windows
we'll send them to the bars and pray
that when the day is done they'll say
"Oh happiness! Oh happiness! It is enough."
all sadness turns to gaaaiity
in this game

chorus

So it's definitely a pretty confusing a sad song, not really happy at all. Alcohol is not a happy thing and cannot make you happy. Overall I'm not sure if it was worth it, but I won't do it again anyways so there's no need to worry. Anyways, I'm off to get a souvenir from this city and then catch my train.

Quebec

So Quebec is officially an alright city in my books. the place is seriously packed with massive amounts of history and culture. This morning I arrived before sunrise and searched around the city for a place to watch the sun rise. the city was deadly quiet and there was absolutely no signs of life anywhere, I almost made it to the top of the main hill in the old city before I spotted somebody. I eventually settled on an awesome park overlooking the Saint Lawrence River (by the way, does anybody know who Saint Lawrence was? I'm curious, but don't want to do the hard work of looking it up). After the sun rose I went and had breakfast at a French restaurant called 'La Omellette' or something and then wandered the city streets. The citadel was cool I guess, but it didn't even come close to the Halifax citadel, which was pretty much awesome (but not, contrary to popular belief, impenetrable (as these blurry photos taken after closing from inside the citadel will demonstrate))

Seriously folks, I'm pretty sure the guard almost caught me... it was intense. I totally went to the Quebec parlaiment building today (which was awesome) and had a tour (which was awesome) and had lunch in the cafeteria (which was pretty good but I regret not pilfering a Quebec Parlaiment spoon) and scored a seat in question period (which was awesome even though I didn't understand a word of what was said (except for A B C, at one point, and Quebec and Quebequioua (I seriously don't know how to spell that word), in another), but I understood the basic system of parliamentary debate so that made it a lot more interesting (I still fell asleep)). I think I'm just going to put pictures of random things in here now because I can't top the wordy awesomeness of those brackets.

Quebec wall

me and the CN tower giftshop

Nuk Luk and the CN tower

Quebec parlaiment statues that look better in real life

train view in tunnel with rain

Edmonton

Halifax sunset and the next one is the view from the hotel in Toronto

Halifax

hey y'all, I'm definately in Halifax right now at the hostel international and have had many many mad adventures up to this point. back in vancouver, right when I boarded the train I met three guys (Dan, Liam, and Adam) from Victoria doing exactly the same thing as me so we've done a lot stuff together over the past few days. When we got to Toronto (which was freakin huge) we went to the hostel to get some beds (we got in at 9:30) and the hostel lady was like "yah it's all full" and then when we asked if there were any other hostels in Toronto she's like "yah, they're all full.. I phoned them all... they're all full" and we're like "oh crap". Fortunately, however, one of the other passengers (Amy the fairmont employee from jasper) had offered her floor in the royal york? in the worst case scenario. So we phoned her and definately crashed on her floor, but first had a great night on the town. the adventures have been so awesome that here I am going to transcribe some from my journal.

Saturday: 6:45 pm
-I had a small stopover (1hr) in Montreal and am just pulling out of the rail complex. Tony and Dave are in the same car and a few of the other Vancouver to Toronto people as well. Right now I'm seated next to Pascal, the first bona fide Canadian Francophone from Quebec (I'm not sure how to spell that crazy word) I've ever met. Montreal was definately pretty cool and the people were a lot more friendly, it seemed, than in Toronto. Also there were loads of crazy old buildings and sweet statues all around. i will definately have to come back here for a longer time. I did almost get lost in the mall that the train lands in though. My first thought was that I wanted to see the city so I went to get out of the mall. Unfortunately all the signs were in French and it took me ages. Then on the way back in I got hopelessly lost and actually had to ask for directions. It was fun though and I still made it back to the train station on time. The announcer just announced they're playing Ice Age 2 so I'm gonna go check that out.

also here is a definately cool song I wrote one night on the train somewhere in the middle of Canada.

Let's come in from the rain
let's fold up all our umbrellas
and curl up warm in blankets from the train
and if you ask me why I'll say
it's such a sight
yah such a sight
for sore eyes

on through the night the train rolls
in it I rest, my long respite
with a kangaroo princess and Buffalo Bill
searching for diamonds in the sky
no diamonds there, but in our eyes
and I say what a sight
what a sight for sore eyes

sunlight's long gone, we're still here
just a dark room with candlelight
and a soft song playing in my ear
and an old man digging through the years
and I say what a sight
oh I say what a sight
for sore eyes

That's about now folks because I'm off to the Citadel Hill to watch a halifax sunset on the Atlantic ocean. miss you (sortof).

Jasper

This is definately my first post since leaving, I've just stopped in Jasper and found an internet connection for 20 minutes. So far the train is pretty awesome. it's a lot slower than I thought and it took about 8 hours to get to Kamloops last night. I've met a lot of interesting people on the train because a lot of the people I'm going to be with until Toronto or even Halifax. I've taken a lot of photo's, but unfortunately I forgot to bring my usb cabnle with me into Jasper so I wont upload until probably Winnapeg. breakfast on the train was pretty decent and pretty decently priced at $6.50 for a decent plate. the sleeping was less than ideal, but you have a whole lot more room than on a bus and I'm told a whole lot more than airplanes, but I wouldn't know. also I was pleasantly surprised when the train dude person came by and gave everybody blankets and travel pillows for the duration (as well as one of those crazy sleep mask things which actually worked pretty decently last night). I'm not sure how much time I have before the train leaves so not much more. the trip is definately good for reading and writing and I'm keeping a fairly comprehensive journal that this blog pales in comparison to. it has many more details and some poetry and crazy concepts that I'm going to work off of (like the dreadlock princess or the man named butterfly) for some killer stories. anyways I must use the restrooms in this fine town. chill folks.
park ranger

Only October

Only October

The suddenness of rain
awakes me from my afternoon
my heart and mind contained
I'll step into the water soon
it calls me by my name
I follow through the open door

so beautiful yet solitary
is this what it feels like to be alone

a bitter winter chill
coniferous and candy canes
the sidewalk holds me still
to watch the passing of the sun
and swallowing my guilt
I stand in shelter from the rain

so beautiful yet solitary
is this what it feels like to be alone

blinded by the square lights
enchanting and demanding me
I'll do the waltz tonight
then turn and dance the minaret
no longer seeing their eyes
I'm dancing now just to forget

so beautiful yet solitary
is this what it feels like to be alone

red eyed lullaby

the guilty party kneels on tainted marble judges floor
and fills the bucket full of fearing for the hangman's chore
and though there's no remorse that's true another man will fall
and not by crime he stands on gallows tall , but choice is all
his head jerks back and stares oblivion in the eye

This is my red eyed lullaby
a song sung in the dead of night
because time runs out in the day
and through it all there's no respite
for the dirty dead drugged up for the fight
their bones held up by chemicals
and tucking in their spilling guts
they circle round the living ones
with all their red eyes burning up

dandelion daisy deadly lines of tempered iron
a little hand is all that reaches through the summer sun
and though the fiancee really has no reason now to die
she reasons not, but pushes said boy tripping to the side
her head hangs low and stares oblivion in the eye

a blood caked brow and bloodshot eyes enclose the bloodstained mind
though this death not glorious this life not sweet enough to find
he still thinks of her as the fever courses through his frame
o'er trench he turns and steps in faith as bullets rip his flesh
his face goes cold and stares oblivion in the eye

the cold pavement stones were receptive to the noonday sun
as all the mockers mocked in harmony the blessed one
he passed the seat of triumph undenied and sneering kings
and at the hill where death must have its fleeting victory
he raised his head and stared oblivion in the eye

vicious circle of dance

A short thing I wrote about a week before I left on my trip, but never finished the last line. I'm not sure what meaning it has outside of its original context, but it feels like it should be the... thing... that thing that you might put before the beginning of a book... I forget what it's called, but lots of good books like LotR and Haroun and the Sea of Stories have them and if I write a book about dancing I'd use it... because the whole idea of dancing is absolutely fascinating... not even joking... seriously... I mean have you even ever stopped to think about it for very long... like not even thinking about the idea of 'is dancing right or wrong', but thinking about why we dance... like seriously who was the first person to move their body in a certain way and say "this is dance because it is beautiful" or "this is dance because it feels good" or "this is dance because I'm free" or "this is dance because it's controlled movement"... this piece is about the latter approach to dance. it's an intro to something much bigger though... definatly an intro.

the vicious circle of dance
propagating with every turn
of the heel or click of the man's
shoes on the steel
floor, dashing to sand
all of the pieces of the broken hearts
gathered to watch the spectacle
of legs and lies and broken body parts

home

I have this great idea for this epic song, or epic album maybe, but I've been thinking about it and have decided to hold off on writing any of it until I'm a little better on the guitar and more importantly have traveled a bit. if the whole buying a month train pass and just traveling thing works out that would be ideal because i want to explore the concept of home as that's something I've really been wrestling with. I'm not really sure anymore where my home is and it's really confusing because in one sense my home is in Burnaby where I grew up and family is, but then in some capacities that has stopped feeling like home and Ft. Langley and trinity has replaced that and that feels a lot like home, but there's also a big hunk of me up in Kelowna and i might even move up there if I can find a good job up there so I'm really confused as to which place is my real home. and then to complicate matters, it seems like none of those are really home and what if home isn't so much a physical place, but it's to do with the people I'm with. Also, even more frightening than this is the concept that I could actually have no home or I may never find where my home is. today however, as I was biking back to my house I had this sudden revelation. of course none of these places feel fully like home because none of them are my home. not even the road is my home or even in the company of friends. my home isn't even in this world, but in heaven. to use a Platonic and Augustinian language, I have a piece of eternity in me and i will never be fully satisfied until I am returned to eternity, making eternity is my home. so I think I'd like to write a whole album of songs exploring the concept of home and bring it round to this with the final song and make the whole thing fit together. however (although I sometimes don't) writers should write from their own experiences (or at least it makes writing much better) and I should like to at least look all over North America and see if I can find a home down here or find out what home is before I come to a conclusion... I can't just come to that conclusion with my mind. I have to actually physically discover it. writing should be done the hard way. that's all, except that I'm working on an awesome song, but I've got writers block. the other week nothing could really stop me, but this week I'm having a lot more difficulty (which is a good thing). peace, love, and good vibes.

pipe smoking professor

ok paintballing

though i must be going to work in a couple of minutes, I will blog. today after work I'm coming home and then leaving right away for the Okanogan to do some paintballing with the Kelownites. should be fairly awesome and I'll get like almost three whole days up there, and a couple of days off work. Kelowna is like my third home. my first being in Burnaby and my second being in Ft. Langley. that's all, kindof short but i gotta go. bya.
park ranger

shredding and trains

well I'm goin back to memphis dadadadada doum doum doum doum tweedlededleeeydeedydaaaayy daeyyyyyyywriiiouw dodadodadooda daa ddddaaaa.
live white stripes music is pretty sweet and awesome and should be listened to. mad shredding solos that kick your head. I should go to new york because in new york awesome things happen. also i should take a train to new york and maybe work on the train for monetary gain for the paying of loans or the spending of money in the big apple. and then i can meet the big cheeses that run everything like wall street and stuff and see people play music in real life in groovy places that i can dig. also the train will be awesome. i have busboy experience, they should hire me. they should hire me like the moon should be made of cheese that can be eaten. actually then it would smell all the way to the earth place and that would suck, especially if it was blue cheese because the moon is sometimes blue. this has been a rad blog with words and no information other than I am awesome and deserve to be hired by train companies. if you know any train company people tell them to hire me.

pipe smoking professor

normal escapism

Normal Escapism

the escapism of the normal life
righteous indignation for all lies
loveless sex for the freedom like
and a murdering hand for the ties that bind

and I don't give a damn if you saw it on the tv
i saw it on the street and it's eating at me
and i don't care if it's a movie star romance
I've loved and been loved and it's nothing like this
and if you tell me once more that you're not free
I'll walk out this room and leave you to see
that life's not right when it's just a collage
of others lives through a camera lens

there's a crowd of witnesses that I can see
but not a bloody one is speaking to me
they whisper in turn each to your ear
but what they're saying I just can't hear
and I've a cloud of witnesses behind me too
I'm not immune to the fellow complication
but none of them tells me just what to do
and that's just what they're doing to you

Terminal

I'm standing here in the terminal
with nothing left to do
but i know I've been through that
and I'm just waiting here for you
when i think you've run out of time
you'll walk in here with your hair let out
and a wild look in your eyes
ya don't want me to go
you tell me you were wrong
to ever let me go
and how you want me back
but i stand here in the terminal
and this time it's for real
and if you want some proof
don't stay aloof
but stay here for a while
and we'll wait for the train
to New York city, Kansas and the world
and I'll be on my way
and then you'll say
"I shoulda never held you back"
you shoulda never held me back

I wait for you
in the terminal
yeah I'm leaving soon
and I'll see it all
there's no missing you
till i see your eyes
so don't see me off
at the terminal

you meet me there
got a look in your eyes
says don't leave now
and I'd like to try
but truth is not dead
as it screams in my face
so I won't let go
of this sacred day
before someone gets burned
I'm walking away

keyless resuscitation

it 's time for keyless resuscitation
of a cold heart and a cold mind returning
returning to the pattern lost in the dead of November
lost on a lost highway in a lost city in a lost nowhere of the soul

no whole nothing filling my mind
no free something for the time
must be soon before I break down
must be soon for me to be crying

so much angry noise filling the station
the red ears and red photo eyes are burning
burning cold like the flames of the life i sometimes remember
flames for the feeling flames for the fire flames for all of the everything gone cold

no whole nothing filling my mind
no free something for the time
must be soon before I break down
must be soon for me to be crying

must be someday I will arise
no scream shouting in my eyes

I cry for the mother losing a child
burn for the orchestra going wild
walk alone through my new hometown
and scream for the very last time

no whole nothing no whole nothing no whole nothing
clouding my mind
no free something for the very last time
I'll burn like a bomb if I don't go wild
so light a match and test the whiles
of a forgotten mind lost on a lost highway in November

rayguns and marionettes

here's a sonnet i've been writing. hope you like it.
fool sitting here typing

Rayguns and Marionettes
my foes and friends are dancing marionettes
with colored rayguns in their wooden grips
who's he who pulls the strings and takes the bets
and all in secret makes the scales tip

he gives the puppets choice of wrong or right
but pulls the hidden strings and makes them turn
to face the audience of empty sight
and he decides if they will live or burn

and in my grip's a raygun much as them
the trigger held so tightly for the sting
of enemies and to protect my friends
I too a victim of the puppet strings

but merciful the master puppeteer
for enter left his son cries puppet tears

happy tears

I had a crazy experience the other week while camping. I was sitting by the campfire and it was late, about 1 or 2 in the morning, and there was just me and Stoph there. I must have been zoning out or deep in thought or something because suddenly it's like I just woke up and realized that there was no place on earth that I'd rather be than exactly where I was because it's where God wanted me to be and I started crying. just for a few seconds but it was crazy because the strength and depth of emotion that I was feeling was enough to bring me to tears. A couple of weeks before at the beginning of family camp, Bob asked if anyone wanted prayer and I said I wanted prayer for direction so people were praying for me and then Lauren Macdonald had this crazy word something about the timing not being right or something and it was weird because there's no way she could have thought it could even meant anything, but I knew right away that it meant I wasn't supposed to go back to Trinity in the fall. probably ranking in one of the top ten hardest things I've ever done was deciding not to go to Trinity this semester, but I know that his hand is in it and he's got awesome plans. I think that realization was what brought me to tears because I had been struggling with it for a couple of weeks and finally I just let it go and there was this huge sense of freedom when I let go of what I wanted to do and submitted to God's will. sleep calls,
fool sitting here typing

things to do

That's really not cool, although my blogging usually does slow down in the summer and speed up in the winter, I've only posted once this month (and last month, and the month before). At least I haven't missed any months. Right now I'm in a mad frenzy to get everything that needs to be done, done before I go to Fintry in about a week. That includes returning a spare tire that I've had for months, getting my student loans ready (why do I wait so long?), getting a paycheck for working out in Maple Ridge, and registering for staying on campus in September. Most of these things are things that I've put off an inordinate amount... actually that would be all of them. and some of them are pretty much essential... so it begs the question, why am I here blogging instead of doing them? and why is my grammar and punctuation so screwed up? I don't know, these are questions that require some deep soul searching to answer and frankly i just don't have the time because i have things to do.

park ranger

happy hour at the saint sally sanitarium

this song started with the first half of the Peruvian flutist verse, because pretty much exactly that drama was played out down the street from where I work and it was amazing and intriguing, but i didn't have any place for that lyric until today when I typed the words "happy hour at the saint sally sanitarium" and it suddenly all clicked together into place and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this song. it doesn't have music yet, but my Mom found my harmonica inside an armchair in our house the other day so I'm going to dust it off and actually come up with something... seriously, the prospect of me doing that is scary, but it absolutely must happen. hope you enjoy these lyrics, but please give me your honest opinion.

The old man in the corner, talking a mile a minute
was telling the sparrows that the war was over,
as they collected on the windowsill
bright flashes of white on brown,
the gentle pull of the breeze, pulling me down
it's happy hour at the saint sally sanitarium

[chorus]
take me back
take me back
I want to go home
please take me home
I wont spend the rest of my days
counting footsteps to the grave
wasting the rays of the fading sun
in happy hour at the saint sally sanitarium

the blue collar has not looked great
covered in ignoble stains
on the white collar worker of late,
but the kind nurse will have it replaced,
and the president of the society of Regina philanthropists and old men with money to spend takes his place
at the head of the table for elders and saints

as the peruvian flutist, sitting lonely plays his dirge
the dirty mother of his sons returns
a cry of joy spreads across his face
and casting down his flute they embrace
and this is the joy that comprises the sum
of happy hour at the saint sally sanitarium

facebook is of the devil

I'm really mad. I'm really mad firstly at myself for not updating this blog, but also at facebook for eating into my blogging time and making it hard for me to find the impetus to blog. Really, I'm raving mad. Mad enough smash something... or just rant about it I guess. In fact I'm not all that mad, it's really weird, but in this age of uber-connectedness (we're as connected as that "uber" is to that "connectedness"... like connected by dashes... and things...) it's so easy to stimulate emotions on command. All you have to do, for instance to stimulate the emotion of anger, is think of, for example, all the child prostitution that goes on in Thailand and how the government is so tolerant of this practice and they don't even lift a bloody finger to stop the trafficking of little children into brothels... grr.. it makes me want to smash something (or someone) I'm so angry. see, I'll bet you're angry. and then you could just think really hard about the fact that no one has left you a facebook message in the past week and you might just break down crying out of loneliness. and then you could search google images for the word "barf" and you'd feel sick to the pit of your stomach (seriously don't though, it's pretty gross). But anyways all those emotions are just false nothings and seeing those pictures of barf and Micheal Jackson are making me feel sick so I'm gonna go do something else now... and like not facebooking... because that's evil... and because the first half of this post was saved as a draft for about half a week because I was facebooking... it makes me soooooo angry...

zen master

album awesomeness

I've definately filled my quota for albums this month, as of today. earlier this month I bought the sheer awesomeness that is Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". if you don't own the album you should go out and buy it right now... seriously I would reccomend it to anyone, there's so much poetry in the lyrics and music and even the album insert was full of beat poetry. Bob Dylan is one of the masters of lyric writing and this is apparant from pretty much the first song, "Like a Rolling Stone", where he talks about some high society girl who lost it all and now is living on the streets like the bums she looked down on all her life and Dylan is basically asking the question "how does it feel?" to be alone, unknown, looked down on, without a home, invisible, and of course like a rolling stone. the rest of the songs are awesome as well of course. Then today I bought The White Stripes first album and "London Calling" by the Clash. I haven't listened to the clash yet, but i just finished the stripes album and it was pretty sweet. definately a lot more raw than their other stuff and definately classified as garage rock (while stuff like "Get Behind Me Satan" was like... I dunno, pretty wierd I guess.). There was a few bluesy covers on the album, "Stop Breaking Down" by Robert Johnson, "St. James Infirmary Blues"(unknown origin, but lots of people have covered it before), and even a Bob Dylan cover "One More Cup of Coffee". then of course there were some awesome Jack White bluesy tunes like "I Fought Piranhas" and "Cannon", and some slightly less bluesy, but equally awesome songs like "The Big Three Killed My Baby" and "Screwdriver". overall I liked it a lot better than any of their other albums I've bought and that's saying something because I really do like the Stripes. I still haven't listened to the clash album, so I unfortunately can't say anything about it, but I've got a feeling it's gonna be good. peace, love, and good vibes.

park ranger

bagpipe solo

So pretty much at this moment I'm beside myself with joy because I just listened to the first new single "Icky Thump" off of the new White Stripes album of the same name, but I'm going to contain my joy and just post a link to it. Unfortunately no video yet, just fan videos. enjoy some awesome bagpipe solo's people. cheers.

pipe smoking professor

where is my mind

Wow... I just noticed that on the last post, if your font is set right and you half-cross your eyes and scroll up and down, you can see the outline of a single flame in the middle of the post, and the post was all about burning things... that is soooo cool...

zen master

Will Montag

okay seriously folks, you need to comment on that poem. And I mean that in all seriousness. The fact is that I simply don't know if it's a good poem because no man is a good judge of his own work (exept that pols250 essay a while back... that was freakin awesome). And please don't spare me your most devastating criticism... criticism is really the only way you can tell the quality of something. I'm serious. if you are not critical of it I will remove your comment and burn it... like actually burn it... like as in write it down on a pice of paper and throw it into a blazing fire and watch it get obliterated by the >454 degrees levels of heat. speaking of burning, I attended my first book burning yesterday... actually it was a private book burning... and by private I mean just me... so anyways I hosted my first book burning yesterday... yes... it was very exhilirating, my back yard has never seen so much excitement. Anyways, the books burned were Tim Lahaye's "Mind Seige" and "Not an Ordinary Joe" by someone... seriously the book was so bad I don't even remember the guys name... actually I never read either of the books, but I had them in my collection and while I was packing up to move back to Burnaby I realized that I would simply never read them and neither should anybody else... but unfortunately I hate to throw away books because it just seems so disrespectful... I mean the books sucked... I didn't read them, but I know with all certainty that they were well below the level of crap. Anyways, they roasted pretty nicely (especially"mind seige" and I think it's because it was hardcover... or maybe because it was fiction... because fiction is better so logically it must burn better) and at the end I smelled like smoke and I thought to myself that now I have finally felt a small fraction of what it must be like to be a fireman (not an ordinary firemen stupid... one of the firemen from "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury).anyways I'm just finishing off the last few words of my last essay so I need to go write it like write now so I can be free. chill folks.

park ranger

A groovy poem I just wrote

You come from mired moors and tired times
And walking through the mist at night
You reach a garden full of trees and light
In through the gate into my life
And I the fool am taken by the sight

Your beauty drew me in toward your hell
And grasping at your love I fell
Into the deepness of our body's well
We broke our vows and lived to tell
and grasping groaning we turned back the veil

But lust can never take the place of love
And so we burned our household gods
And took our place in hallowed empty halls
And went to places none have gone
But left alone the corpses and the bones

And thinking you had left your mud and weeds
To come and spend your life with me
With flowers turf and parties no one sees
I sat down sipped my milky tea
Forgot that all along you were not free

You're like a woven basket case
Your heart is made of tangled lace
I call your name and you awake
And slip back in to your old state
And this the thing I just can't face
I turn away and wait for better days

we're not free yet

automatic niece

HOLY CRAP MY BROTHER'S MARRIED!!!! ya... seriously it was intense... in so many different ways. There were actually points that I was sick to my stomach and close to tears. I mean it's just a wedding right, weddings don't usually do that to me, but I guess it just got a little closer to home today. Anyways I'm pretty psyched about the whole thing, like especially my new niece. As Dave Matthews would say, she's an "automatic niece", which is pretty sweet. so yah, I'm thinking this whole marriage thing isn't such a bad thing and maybe I should jump on the train... well actually maybe I should just jump on a train and head out of the province, and like leave this whole marriage thing alone for another few years yet. seriously, it's scary stuff. anyways congratulations my newly married brother.

Park Ranger

eccentricity

Are words enough to describe the depth of emotions that I currently don't feel... hahaha, I love emo blogs. Speaking of emo though, I just finished this really crazy paper. I don't even know what I think of it because I totally went out on a limb for it. seriously, it was supposed to be a research paper, but instead I wrote this crazy third-person account of a poet writing a poem that I wrote a couple of months ago. I know, I'm crazy. I already came to that conclusion. now that I've completely lost all credibility, it's time to direct you to a completely insane site... I know, it's insane. if you look around I think there should even be a video of the skycar in action. I mean seriously folks, the man is either completely insane or he is a complete genius. Given the remote possibility of me one day flying in a skycar, however, I think I would like to opt for the latter. Not only is this man a genius though, he's also a dreamer, the type of people who have some obscure dream that no one else thinks could happen, but he goes ahead and turns that dream into reality anyways. And lastly he is an artist, and he appreciates the aesthetic of a flying car. most people would pass it off as impracticle, but he sees it for something more. the only reason why the skycar actually is so practicle is that the only way you could get the money to do something like that is if it has a serious potential commercially (or you meet an eccentric billionare, but I'm sure there's only a limited number of those and they're all being milked for as much crazy-money as they're worth). Anyways, the world needs more people like that, but I have to go write another essay so I guess that's it for now. you never know, next time I might just blog about something worthwhile and life changing.

zen master

my violent summer plans

wow... and I thought it was lame when I didn't get the internship in Ottawa... and like don't get me wrong because it was lame, but now I guess it's not so bad because I'm joining the army. the reserves to be specific. I'm definately currently in the process of applying online, but I need to physically test myself so I'm going to a track tommorow morning to run 2.4 km as fast as I can and then I can finish filling out the form. I'm joining the reserves because there isn't a certain time period you have to sign up for except for boot-camp which is probably all that I'm going to do because I want to go back to Trinity next year. boot camp lasts about two and a half months and you're paid $80 a day, which works out to about $6000 at the end. This is probably my most financially viable option for the summer as well, but mostly because it's 7 days a week. So yah, there we go. I'm joining the army. I'll have to cut my hair, but hey, in return I might just get a spiffy uniform. My reasons? my reasons for joining the reserves are many and complicated, but I'll try to sumarize a few of them.

1. it pays good
2. I'll be ripped when I get out of boot-camp
3. I support our troops overseas
4. if I'm ever in politics and I have to make a decision to send our soldiers to war I want to know what I'm doing (although I wont be going overseas or serving in active combat, boot camp is the closest it comes to actually serving overseas)
5. I don't want to do construction for the summer. Being as I didn't get into the internship I was scrambling for work options and my best option was working construction with Remdall... and construction is the bottom of the line... I don't care how many of you are doing it or how many of you dissagree, but construction is a mindless job where all you are doing is grunt physical labour... which isn't to say boot camp wont be worse but at least you get respect.

so those are the basic reasons. although there are plenty of other reasons why I want to enlist (like childhood fears of failure, a desire to die on a battlefield, so I can finally beat up that bully, to impress my father, because girls dig a guy in a uniform, and so that I can spread anti-war literature in the ranks). yah... pretty much... actually only one of those is true, but I'll leave it up to you to decide which one it is. I'm definately going to miss the people that I regularily see, but I wont miss the Kelowna people because I'm probably going to still make it out to Fintry and Paul Lake (yay). cheers y'all, time to get my POLS250essayonpoetry groove on.

zen master

musical procrastination

So at the moment I'm supposed to be writing an english essay. actually I'm supposed to be writing a POLS234 essay and I was supposed to finish the english essay last night. However, I am currently doing neither of those. I was just browsing youtube and what the crap was that I just stumbled across. how on earth did I go so long without knowing that Jack White and Pete Townsend actually played together. I mean it was just an impromptu thing for a few minutes, but still... I mean Pete Townsend is one of the greatest live performers of all time and Jack White probably one of the best creative forces in music currently and one of the best new guitar players in a long time... and then of course The Seeker is just a plain awesome song. I know I've already blogged about the White Stripes new album Icky Thump, but they've released a short preview video for one of the songs (though it's purposefully obscured by random keyboard noises). also they've released the full track listing and happily there's a song called 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues. it may be a little early to say, but I think this is shaping up to be an awesome album. In other news I've finally been published. if you pick up the latest issue of Mars Hill you'll find my awesome student playlist in the arts and culture section. or you could check out the website and read it there. or you could just go to the blogchive and find the playlist that way. but either way you get to it you should listen to pretty much every song on the list. now to get back to work on my essays.

park ranger

grow old

how does a man grow old. does it happen in a day. do you wake up one morning and realize that you're past your prime. time is money, but we can't buy time, there's no exchange rate. but it's not just one day that you wake up, it's a slow process for most. every day we lose a bit of our youth and take a few more steps or a few giant leaps toward the grave... but not just the grave, to being old... do i want to grow old without ever having lived? have i lived? if i died today would i look back on my life and say "you did good man, you lived life to it's fullest"? or would i look back and say "what the hell was i thinking, why did I not take life seriously"? How will my life count before it's too late? From now on, every day I live will be lived like it's my last, i'm giving up apathy for lent. let's see what a free man can do.
fool sitting here typing

apathy

that last post was really wierd and it didn't really make sense... in other news i found out today I probably wont be going to ottawa this summer because i didn't make it into the internship program... that sucks... but in other news that means i'll most likely be coming to family camp and paul lake this year... yay, party on... then again, all this really means is that I can't really bask in moroseness and drown my sorrows in alchohol, but I can't really party either. it's like the two emotions cancel each other out... boy that is really lame. wow now this post is really lame too. at least I could point you to some good music. go look up the Electric Prunes and their song Too much to Dream Last Night. yes I didn't include a link. why? you ask. I'll tell you why. because I'm basking in apathy. being as the two conflicting emotions were so intense, they just cancelled each other out and left this huge empty void of nothingness and lack of feelings so I don't think I can move my mouse around to the extent that i could research the song and come up with a coherent link. how can i type? you may ask. to that i would have to say that typing is like riding a bike. it becomes rote muscle memorization. when you say to your body "ride a bike" it automatically responds with certain muscle movements and when you say to your body "type", your fingers automatically start moving in a certain way. that is if you've actually learned to type properly like me (even though I still can't write properly). but seriously folks: Electric Prunes, check them out.
Park Ranger

I had too much to dream last night

so i had a dream last night. a very, very trippy dream... and although nobody likes to listen to people tell dreams because they can never remember how they actually were and they're usually totally irrelevant, and even though I can't remember much of the dream, I'm going to recount it anyways because it was really trippy.
Anyways the first part of the dream that I remember was that I was in this huge building (like world trade center tall) and i was on the bottom floor and I wanted to take the elevator to somewhere near the top, so me and a few sharply dressed businessmen that were with me got into the elevator and started it up, but it was some kindof freakin insanely fast elevator and it started accelerating like nothing else and the pressure starting getting unbearable and then I suddenly noticed that because of the pressure (at this point I had been pushed to the floor by it) the hemp necklace that is a permanent fixture on my neck started tightening insanely and choking me and I trying to keep it from killing me but I didn't want to break it so I like almost died. and then I don't remember what happened after that.

fool sitting here typing

4.9 m/s²

listening to:Velvet Underground- Heroin

So I got to thinking. I was randomly thinking about what would happen if I had wings instead of arms and how totally wierd that would be. like you totally wouldn't be able to do anything with your hands but then you'd be able to fly. like is that a worth it exchange... I really don't know... but then I got to think that what if everybody was born with either one or the other. like half of the people were born with arms and half with wings. so we could actually have a comparison... but then I got thinking that something like that would probably be genetically passed on.

listening to: Velvet Underground- Sunday Morning

now if it was genetically passed on then one gene would probably be dominant. and that would mean that one of the groups of people wouldn't really want to marry into the other group because they're just engineering the dying out of their type of person (think nazi's, but more intense). so theretically one of the people groups (lets say the people with arms) would want to seperate from the people with wings. and of course being as they have arms they can use things like guns and are probably much better at fighting so they'd probably try to eliminate the winged people and the winged people would be forced into seclusion in mountainous regions and such. but then I got to thinking...

listening to: The White Stripes - Death Letter/Little Bird (live)

anyways I got to thinking that the human frame isn't exactly built for flying. like even the basic structure of our bones isn't made to endure the stress of flying (like your back and shoulders and stuff), but what if the earth was half the size that it is now. that would be pretty freakin crazy because we would have half the gravity that we do now and that would mean that flying cities could actually be a reality. I mean even though the earth would be half the size, overpopulation would be lessened because we could have massive flying cities and that would mean less climate change and crap because we could leave the earth virtually city free...
so anyways it's been a while since i blogged and I had the very beginning of a blog saved as a draft so i decided to carry through with typing out my original thought process.. all while listening to some really awesome music. maybe finishing that will get me back into the swing of blogging so look forward to some pretty aesome blogs in the near future.

pipe smoking professor

death and other morbidness

So I added another awesome link this site... yes another awesome link... yes you'll enjoy this one and waste almost as much time as you wasted on the linerider link... yes I know you wasted time on the linerider link... and if you didn't waste time on the linerider link then you should... actually come to think of it you might not waste too much time on the new link unless you're kindof morbid. But onto the actual link, it happens to direct you to a page of famous last words... Yes,those are the words people say before they die... no I'm not morbid... Yes I did waste a long time reading these quotes and I'm still only on the letter P (check out the link to the full transcript of Dutch Shultz's (Arthur Flegenheimer) last words, it's some serious poetry). It's a curious thing though, when I went to type this post I suddenly had this thought and it went something like "what's so fascinating about people's last words?". And I thought about it and then I'm like "I really don't know" so I thought about it some more and I guess I came to a sortof conclusion. I think it's because peoples last words really define, to some measure, what their whole life is about (especially Dutch Shultz). for instance, before he died, Elvis Presley said "I hope I haven't bored you". That speaks to me of a man deeply insecure his whole life about what people thought of him, so much so that it was the one thing on his mind when he died. Actually I'll bet those aren't his last words because he was actually kidnapped by members of his own bodyguard, forcefed broccoli, sold to the Russian mafia, and forced to live in solitude in a small hut on top of an unclimable mountain in Eastern Russia with no instruments. However, due to his mad skills, he carved a one-piece guitar body out of a tree and used the intestines of a wild goat that he killed with his bare hands to string it. now he sits and composes songs in solitude, exept for a small mountain tribe that somehow also managed to survive on top of this unclimable mountain for centuries. Elvis has taught the tribe how to play rock n' roll and they serve as his backup orchestra for his moonlight serenades. the king will never die. Speaking of dying, I hope I have some really great last words before I die. like seriously, I hope I have just enough time to spontaneously say some random thing that will inspire generations to come. There are some seriously lame people out there who say seriously lame things before they die and I seriously don't want to be one of those people. Maybe I should carry a tape recorder around and leave it on all the time so that people can just play it back after I'm dead and find out exactly what the last thing I said was no matter how I died. Actually it would have to be a mp3 recorder because tapes only have so much space. and then i could just give it to my secretary at the end of every day and they could go through it and see if I said anything worth noting and then erase it in preperation for the next day. Then again to do that I'd need a secretary and where the heck am I going to get a secretary... Yes I know, it doesn't make sense. Maybe if I was like PM, or even an MP, I would have a secretary.... but then like I'd have to be in politics... and like to be in politics like that you need to have experience... and I'm a student, where the crap am I going to get political experience if I'm a student, I don't have the freakin time! exept of course during the summer... and I need to work in the summer... and I also need to travel in the summer... wait, I guess that means the Conservative paid internship in Ottawa with my airfare paid for that I just applied for, for the months of May, June, July, and August, would be a perfect fit... hmmmm... I'm gonna have to think that one over... so yah, I definately should do it. Only problem is that... is that... is that I'm going to miss camping at Paul lake and Fintry... :( this is sad news indeed... like really sucky.... boo hoo... I actually can't even convey to everyone how much I am going to miss going camping this year. Stoph, we're definately going to need to do some stuff before May because I don't think I could live with the thought of not camping with you this summer.. in fact you're going to have to send me regular filmed updates every day so I don't crawl into a hole and die from missing everybody. this is sad, but also good... but also sad.. I am soooo conflicted...

fool sitting here typing

do not, not listen to this music

So pretty much I submitted my music playlist to the student paper "Mars Hill" at Trinity for a chance to win an ipod, and it was so good that I couldn't bear the thought of it not getting published anywhere so I decided to post it here. Keep in mind that these songs aren't like my top 10 or anything and they're not in order of how good they are, they're just songs that you all need to listen to.

Jars of Clay - "Mirrors and Smoke"
Good Monsters was a return to the classic Jars sound and Mirrors and Smoke features Leigh Nash of Sixpence (and yes I like Sixpence because of "Kiss Me"), so this song is subsequently really awesome.

The White Stripes - "Ball and Biscuit"
Not only am I sort of the seventh son so I identify with this, but also this is such an angry vengeful song that if I didn't put it on my list I'd be paranoid about Jack White coming after me with a pointy guitar.

Weezer - "Island in the Sun"
Off of Weezers third album, this song makes you want to spontaneously go on a holiday and forget about all your responsibilities. A perfect song for students.

K-os - "Hallelujah"
"Seeing things around me, Bonnie and Clyde, graffiti with no message, doctors, medicines, or pride, but it doesn't really matter, they're blowin' in the wind, on the cover of a magazine. Hallelujah, Babylon is falling. Babylon is falling."

Johnny Cash - "God's Gonna Cut You Down"
Unlike the Rolling Stones, as Johnny Cash got older, his music actually got better. It's also the closest Cash has ever gotten to rap, with a driving bass beat and lyrics that make that little shiver thing go up your spine.

Jimi Hendrix - "Wild Thing"
Although this song was originally done by the Troggs, Jimi Hendrix's cover at the Monterey Pop Festival will forever remain burned in the human conciousness as one of the greatest moments in the history of rock 'n' roll.

Steppenwolf - "Born to be Wild"
Because my principal in high school covered this song so awesomely on a music trip to Alberta.

The Beatles - "Blue Jay Way"
One of the more phsychadelic Beatles songs off of their Magical Mystery Tour, this song is so trippy it could put you into a trance if you're not careful.

Bob Dylan - "Visions of Johanna"
As Calvin Townsend would say, this is beauty.

The Eels - "Love of the Loveless"
With only one permanent member, E, The Eels always match the lyrics and music of their songs expertly, as is evident in this uncharacteristically soft and melodic track.

Zen Master

no ecky thump because of gravity

yes I suppose it has been a while... but i have school... and i'm tired... now... so there's really no point to this entry except that I really felt like blogging and I just bought a new album... -dramatic pause-... -heavens open and a bright light shines down through the clouds-... -etheral music playing-... -boom it's all sucked into the incredible vortex of Jon Foreman's voice... and fingers... because he needs fingers to write lyrics like "train the monkeys on my back to fight/ let it start tonight"-... so pretty much I bought the new switchfoot album, "Oh! Gravity", and it rocks pretty hard. as in like there's some intense stuff verging on punk and some REM esque tunes, which combines with some killer hooks and savage guitars and Foreman's screaming vocals and their wierdest lyrics yet to make into a pretty solid album. I definately knew I would like it when I heard the dissonant 3 second piano interlude halfway through the first track. still, despite it rocking pretty freaking hard, it's not quite as good as their last album, yet still better than beautiful letdown (I can never remember the name of that album in between this one and beautiful letdown, but it's their best album). You should definately go out and buy it. now. I had a wierd experience with like heavy rock and punk and like alternative... whatever you label it... just like heavy music. anyways it was the white stripes and the ramones... both killer bands... but I was sitting doing a paper on this computer and in the next room they were watching "a good year" with russel crow (as in the movie had russel crow in it, he wasn't watching it with them or anything) and I couldn't concentrate on my homework so i stuck in my headphones and cranked up the white stripes-white blood cells, which is an awesome album and like it was playing loud enough to completely drown out the movie and it actually helped me study... like seriously. a few times i caught myself typing along with the beat (what little there is in the white stripes) and like then I started on a live ramones album, but that didn't work quite as well... but I think heavy intense music really helps you do homework. like scratch all that crap about classical music making you smarter, i can never get anything done when I'm listening to classical music. there's a time for everything... speaking of time, the white stripes are putting out a new album (ya, I don't know how that's connected to time either), and it's called "Icky Thump". needless to say I am beside myself with joy because, although I thought the Raconteurs were even better, the white stripes still hold a special place in my heart and Jack White is still one of the insanest guitarists of our generation (he just got on the rolling stones new guitar gods top 20 list). go check out one of his blue veins solos if you don't believe me, the man is a genius. Meg was quoted as saying that it actually was "musical in nature" and "finished" and mumbling "good".. so that's a wierd twist, a musical white stripes album. yay, now i can really spend all my money on music. cheers folks, pizza calls.
park ranger

Debunking the "seven unofficial rules of blogging"

Yay!! I finally got the seven unofficial rules of blogging so now I can blog again... and no it's not because I couldn't bear the thought of accidentally breaking one of the rules, in fact it's the opposite. I definately couldn't bear the thought of blogging and not breaking one of the rules. in fact I couldn't bear it so much that I was compelled to read the article and now am compelled to break all seven rules in one post so I can make up for past sins. So here's the list, interjected with what the writers intended the more obscure ones to mean, after which I will commence to talk about the awesomest movie that's been made in a long time and break all seven rules.

1: Self-censor or face the consequences
-basically means that everyone can read your blog (even your mother) so don't write things you might not want them to read and don't give out too much personal info.
2: Know why you blog
3: Spell-check
-this one's just funny
4: Don't flame another blogger
5: Be considerate
-say nice things about other people/readers
6: Be accurate
-don't lie
7: Be yourself
-write about how you feel

so pretty much the awesome movie that I watched was pans labyrinth which is a pretty awesome movie that you need to watch, and if you havent watched it then you actually really suck and should go home and crawl under your bed and cry until youv watched it even if that means calling someone and getting them to go get your tv from the next room and watching it under your bed because you cant bare the shame of not being under your bed and huddling and crying because you havent yet watched the freakin movie and i'm actually not kidding and being as i know many of you havnt even ever watched it yet then im going to have to say you really suck, including fellow bloggers thomas and heather. basically the movie is about a number of small furry mice that need to find their way out of a cardboard maze that a phsychotic little girl named pan made to torture them and in the end they all die end of story... i have no feelings whatsoever about this movie and therefore i cannot say anything about how i feel about this movie. in other news it's important that you all brush your teeth fror proper dental hygein stuff. my name is Will Davies, I am 5' 7.5", I have brown hair, my mothers maiden name is Dougans, and my email address is willstheone@hotmail.com.
p.s. Stop leaving stupid comments on my blog Alpha; you suck as well

pipe smoking professor

seven rules

So pretty much I was at missions fest the other week and that was cool but also pretty much I picked up a magazine at missions fest that had this article about blogging. suffice to say the article was pretty lame and it had a list of the "unspoken rules" of blogging. anyways I was going to write this sweet blog that debunked all these rules because `blogging is about freedom of speech` and stuff like that... but i don't have the magazine... and i forgot the rules... so that sucks
pipe smoking professor

the roaring twenties

go watch the roaring twenties. and I'm serious about that. it's not even a suggestion, just go watch the movie, because everyone should watch it. oddly enough i was thinking about the roaring twenties because Trinity has a water advisory out right now because there's an excess of arsenic in the water. so aside from the obvious that I could get arsenic poisoning and die and there's a lot of dying in the roaring twenties so that could somehow make me think of that, but it would probably sooner remind me of reservior dogs for that same reason. aside from that it reminded me of the roaring twenties because of another movie made around the same era called arsenic and old lace. arsenic and old lace wasn't the greatest film, but its one redeeming quality was that Priscilla Lane, one of the prettiest long-dead actresses around, acted in it (morbid huh). anyways Priscilla Lane also acted in the roaring twenties which happens to be one of the greates films ever and probably the greatest film of that era (partly because it featured priscilla lane, humphrey bogart, and james cagney).. so yah you should definately go watch the roaring twenties because it will enrich your life and you should definately not drink trinity water because it could kill you. cheers.
zen master

deepspace 5

have you ever impulsively bought an album and then regretted it. I have. generally the albums that I buy go through an intensive grilling process before I buy them. I listen to some of the songs at least, find out about the artist or band online, and read descriptive reviews of the album. generally the best albums that I buy are ones that I've researched the most and listened to the most before I buy them... so it boggles my mind that I bought an album the other day based entirely on the coolness of the album art. and I'm serious this was some serious album art and the album was on sale. and like there were no pictures of the group on the cover (if there was I probably wouldn't have bought the album). anyways it turns out the album is rap and it really sucks. even though the cashier gave it to me in a brown paper bag. I mean everything was right about the purchase exept for the actual music. and the music sucked... and i can't even listen to the music anyways because I got it stuck in the cd player in the collegium at trinity so my purchase was a complete waste... it makes me sick to buy something that's that much of a waste. in other news i'm going to see pans labyrinth with Luc on friday and then going to Kelowna to go skiing.. have an awesome time people..
park ranger

ohooooyablinmflam

happiness is a good book and a comfy chair. last semester I extended my book-borrowing madness out to the Trinity library and incurred hundreds of dollars in fines due to late and lost books. literally hundreds. it went down to like $43 or something after I finally returned the books because that meant that I didn't have to pay the lost fee, but still that's the most library fines I have ever had at one time. I think at the Burnaby library I had a fine somewhere in the forties and at the Vancouver library somewhere in the fifties, but the Trinity library beat both of my records. I don't remember the exact sum, but I do know it was somewhere over $200 and probably over $300. I mean I had the freakin complete works of Richard Hooker out along with the rest. Anyways, needless to say I don't want to pay the $23 that I would need to pay to take out books again so this semester I'm seriously going to reform and not get any more library fines... because I can't... but anyways this semester is going to be pretty freakin awesome for books anyways because for some reason I have to read an inordinate amount of books for the classes I'm taking. In ENGL104 I'm going to read A Streetcar Named Desire, The Taming of the Shrew, Orbisan, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and The Life of Pi. Also for POLS250 I have to read Plato's Republic, Augustine's City of God, and four different texts on Socrates; including Aristophanes' Clouds and Plato's Symposium. For PHIL106 I have to read Sophie's World and for the rest of my classes I'm just reading a bunch of purely academic things. So I'm pretty excited... not about the academic stuff, but about the books like the republic and the city of God and the novels and plays and stuff. The only book that it's going to suck trying to read it is Sophies World.. ya... you should see the cover.. the cover gives everything away. I'm definately going to want to sell that book once I'm done with it.. anyways y'all should head out and pick up some of those books because I'm fairly sure most of them are going to be awesome. Actually I had this sweet booklist going on on my msn space of books that I've read that are awesome and that everyone should read (except books like 1984 by George Orwell which I would only recommend to people with strong constitutions), so pretty much I'm going to see if I can make up a new booklist for this blog with most of the books on the old list and some new awesome additions. be prepared to have your mind blown if you read some of these books though. most truly great books will blow your mind... blow your mind... why does that sound like such a wierd phrase when you say it enough.. ya nevermind, if you say any word or phrase enough times it will gradually lose all meaning and become just this garbled mass of sounds. like now blow your mind doesn't even make sense to me anymore and it's degenerated to ohooooyablinmflam or something in my mind. I'll bet you if you said non-words like ohooooyablinmflam enough they would gradually make sense to you as actual words in your mind. for instance, ohooooyablinmflam could gradually take on the meaning or sound or whatever of "let's go for ice-cream sodas". and that could get seriously sketchy seriously fast. for instance imagine there's this girl that I know that has said "blow your mind" enough times in quick succession that it degenerated to ohooooyablinmflam and then she said it even more and it regenerated to "let's go for ice-cream sodas", and then one day she comes up to me and asks me what this blog is going to do if she reads it so I'm like "blow your mind", but she translates that as "let's go for ice-cream sodas" and then she thinks I invited her out on some cutesy 50's date and simply gets the wrong idea about me entirely. and then I'd be in some deep crap. thankfully I don't know too many girls who go around saying "blow your mind" every couple of seconds so I'm not in much danger of being roped into a cutesy 50's date with some random person. ya... that's as much as my mind can take for one sitting...
pieshmochillidressier

(see it's already starting - even your eyes are screwed up now)

so pretty much this is the end of my holidays. it's kindof sad. i liked the holidays and a good time was had by all so it is sad to see them go but my academic carreer calls me. definately a good month for music as i purchased k-os' atlantis: hymns for the disco and Bob Dylan's modern times and i recieved good monsters by jars of clay for christmas. all steller albums, but jars of clay definately took the cake with a serious return to their rockingly good roots. definately nice to see all the family and i did barely any shopping this years as opposed to last year. my new years resolution of course was to do better in school and i think i made a goal of a 3.0 gpa or something. speaking of which starting tuesday i'm probably going to be on academic probation for the next semester so that really sucks because i'll have to take a study skills course and i wont be able to take all the courses i want to. so that's about it, the holidays were fairly freakin awesome. I got to talk to the travelling Thomas today so that was pretty cool too, y'all should read his blog and check out his webshots. definately one of the better corners of the web. so ya that's pretty much it. absolutely nothing interesting is happening right now and it's not late enough at night for me to actually type something interesting. chill people.
park ranger

stupid post

stupid song is stupidly hard to write. stupid library fines are stupidly high. it's stupidly late at night. i gotta come up with some more creative words than stupid. anywho enough of that i'm going to sleep.
fool sitting here typing