Last day at UBC

Departing the safe haven. What an eventful three years it has been. I've met some amazing people here, who I will miss. Of course everyone is saying we'll stay in touch. But you know how it goes....

What a change. Yesterday, when cleaning up the office, I found a diary of sorts - a print-out of a week-in-the-life. Looking at it through the sharp prism of hind-sight... What a fool I was. What fool I was.

Still - here I am. I fell to pieces but I think - and I could be wrong - I think the glue has healed and has not become a harness to keep out the world. Peeling off a band-aid is painful in many ways... So comforting to have that safety blanket. But the fresh air feels good on my skin.

Keep the inner child, Ahms said. I try. "It is so unfair, it is not right!" a large part of me still yells. Is it ok sometimes for the inner child to hide in the closet, close the door on the light?

Snow has fallen on the local mountains. I think you will find me there.

Gang-gun-violence

Sadly, another two people died. Many seem to think it is ok that these two died, rather than the two 'innocent by-standers' at a shooting in Surrey, a few weeks ago. The life of a gang-member does not have the same value. They deserve it. They asked for it. Besides. Living in Shaughnessy and driving a silver Mercedes, come on. You know something's not right.



I bet you, though, that their mother grieves just as much as the mother of the by-standers.

Interesting to listen to the phone-in session at the CBC's afternoon show.

Caller #1. "I am a 64 year old man. I find that I was more sure of things when I was 17, much easier to know what's what and have opinions. I am fit, I take care of my body, I own my own business. The problem with the shootings is, of course, the drugs."

(My prejudices kick in. Of course. Here's another senior calling for tougher drug laws)

"The problem with drugs is that there is too much money to be made. Prohibition doesn't work, and it is bound to create problems. Like i said, I'm 64 years old. And at this age, I don't need the government telling me what to do, I can take my own decisions. I don't need the god-damn government saying I can't choose to do what I wish with my own body, I can put into it what I choose. If I want to smoke a joint, I don't need the government to tell me I can't. We need to find solutions to drug use and abuse on a social level, and not make it a law issue"

(Wow that went quite the other way. Good for him!)

Caller #2. "I heard that the guys that were murdered are Chinese. What I wonder is, how did they get into the country? How did they get into our country and break the law? How come those immigration officers let them in?"

Caller #3. "The problem is the guns. It's all the guns in the country, and the gun lobby preventing the government from acting to stop it . How come the border officials let in all these guns? How come peace activists with some literature are stopped and detained at the border, while they can bring in their guns?"

Interesting. Within a few minutes, we have the different angles. It's the prohibition. It's the immigrants. It's the guns.

Simple, isn't it?

This morning, an RCMP officer shared his wisdom. "We need to do more research to find out what makes gangs so attractive to young people".

Right. Because we can't imagine, have no clue, why.

Because I can easily buy a house in Vancouver, on minimum wage. Hey, if I work for starbucks, I'll even have free coffee!

Sunrise, Sunset

(Tevye)
Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?

(Golde)
I don't remember growing older
When did they?

(Tevye)
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he get to be so tall?

(Golde)
Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?

(Men)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze

(Women)
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

I so miss the kids when they're not with me....

Starpoly

Bought the coolest thing yesterday at the Vancouver ComicCon, Starwars Monopoly. It is so awesome, and definitely worth the $35, still in shrink-wrap.

Made me think of this hotel, in Amsterdam, Krasnapolsky. Also pronounced kras-nay-pol-sky to rhyme with fly.
:-)

Happy Hallowe'en!

One Size Fits All costume wins prize! :-) Check out my flickr site for more pictures.

Now Freddie here, he deserved the prize. Don't ask me why we called him Freddie :-)

Henry Rollins

Went to a Henry Rollins show on October 30th, which was very impressive. Flood of opinions and information guided from above by this 19,000 feet brain that kept several directions of argument and anecdote in line.