Belgium CallingSo I finally got my passport issues sorted out. I will be picking it up two days before we leave. What a nightmare. Lets just hope no other issues crop up the next few weeks.
Something I've been wondering about...there is a construction site near my house and my first stop on any trip West is a traffic jam. Early in my driving career construction site traffic was made bearable by the super hot stop sign girls. Every year new and more hotter stop sign girls would join the road crews. Now all the stop sign girls are old big fat hags that give you attitude if you don't look at them shaking their signs. At some point in 1990 was there a stop sign girl union created? And in the time since have all the young and hot girls hung on to their jobs instead of being recycled every year haveing slowly over time transformed into the abominations of today?
Something I've been debating...black (magnetic), silver (airstream) or dark silver/grey (silverstone) like the dearly departed Jessica? I have decided on a black (charcoal) interior. As much as I loved the burnt orange seats they would remind me too much of Jess.
Something I need...a haircut, badly. With me spending every spare moment not spent on practicing, performing or working being spent on trying to sort out my passport issues a lot of the little things have been neglected. Damn.
Something borrowed...two dvd's from Rogers.
Something blue...the sky.
This next little while will see some really exciting times. The count down to Belgium, the tour, European backpacking, and when we get back the NFL and NHL seasons will be starting up.
Rhoel.
May you live in interesting times.-Chinese proverb...or something I read in a fortune cookie or both. Perhaps the proverb ripped off the fortune cookie? Which came first? The proverb or the cookie?
Seattle CallingIt's been 5 years since I left Seattle. The 1.5-2 years I spent there were mostly all about working and driving back to Van for KP practice. And it was towards the end of my two years there that I came closest to quitting KP when I had decided that it was time to cut ties with Hongcouver and put down roots in the Emerald city. Then my mom got sick and I was summoned home and the rest is history.
The point of this blog is to mark and remember the chapters of my life, and this chapter hasn't even been mentioned yet.
Last week I had to drive down to Tacoma to my grandma's house to pick up something important for her. It took me 90 mins to drive from the boarder to Seattle, another 90 mins of traffic to Tacoma, 2 hours all the way back home. This gave me a little bit of time to reminisce. Most of my time in Seattle was mostly unremarkable. I was mostly in workaholic mode. I didn't go out at nights, and I came back to Van most weekends (maybe it was only every other weekend, I can't remember) and the weekends I didn't go home I went to Tacoma to visit with my family. But a few things I do remember.
I was living in a section of south Seattle called Skyway. I was renting a room in a house owned by my aunt's friend. The house and neighborhood reminded me of the older parts of East Vancouver but the ppl that lived there reminded me of living among extras for a John Singleton movie. Especially when Daisy and Hilda, sisters from upstairs, had bbq's; it's like I was an extra on a movie set, so funny. Daisy, Daisy Daisy. I was in severe like with her, but that all changed after she met some of my friends. I can't remember who it was, I'm thinking it was VJ and Michelle, Nick and Mel, we all went to Gillian's for drinks. Every time Daisy talked Michelle and Mel would just stare at her like 'is this chick for real?'. I became really self conscious about the way she talked, and after that I started to notice things like all her tat's and her binge drinking, you know all the things that worked in my favour at first.
A few other things I cherish from those days. I rediscovered the Real World. Hilda and I would make a day of it. Watching the marathons drinking and dissecting the episodes every Tues. My first 4th of July. We had preferential seating on a private dock because a friend of the fam had a food shack called the Happy Hooker. It was like Canada day meets Flip day meets the Symphony of Fire times 10. I loved how beer cost the same as pop. I loved going to Lakewood Mall and eating for free at my Uncles restaurant and buying bag fulls of cloths and only spending like 100 bucks. I remember getting to know my American family really well. And it brought back memories of all my summers in Beacon Hill as a kid. It was also at that time I figured out that I could move away from Vancouver and be fine. But on the flip side it made me appreciate my city even more. I'm sure there is more to remember. After Europe I want to go back to Seatown and spend a few days, see what comes back to me.
Rhoel.
Wholly Cow!...it's been a long time since I've blogged! Well, it hasn't been that long so maybe a more accurate expression should be "Partial Cow!"
I watched Superman Returns and all I have to say is; I likes. Well, maybe that's not all I have to say. I love how it's a continuation of or in the very least an homage to the original movies of the late 70's early 80's. It was eerie how much Brandon Routh looked and talked liked Christopher Reeve. And he didn't get the role only because of that because he was really good. I also like the choice of Kate Bothworth, she's one of my girl friends. This is reminiscent when my one gf (Angelina Jollie) played my other gf (Lora Croft) in the movie of my favorite video game. Kevin Spacey is one of my favorite actors and Lex Luthor is one of my hero's. Not so much the older Lex of the movies, but the younger Smallville Lex with the hot cars and the conflicted personality. The opening sequence was surprising, then the movie started interesting, then it was nostalgic, then interesting again, then it was a little unrealistic, then interesting again, then it ended real well. On a scale from one to a lot I give it 984.32 stars. I want to watch it again.
I watched Nacho Libre recently as well. It started interesting, quickly got boring, got funny for a bit, got boring, saw the hot love interest, got boring, got really funny, then ended boring. The more funnier parts was when Jack Black broke character and became...Jack Black. Overall I give it 2.359 stars. I'd wait for the 7 day rental or for the previously viewed blow out sales bin.
Next I wanna watch some Tokyo Drift. Anyone up to seeing a bunch of 350 Z's and other assorted rear wheel drive cars with ridiculous paint jobs? I'm glad more car designers are developing more rear wheel drive platforms especially the entry level cars, I was never a big fan of the front wheel drive car and it sucked that only the higher end cars were available. With 30 grand Mustangs pumping out 300 horse and with drifting and street racing big with the younger buyers I knew the trend away from front drive cars would be inevitable. My very first car was a Datsun 510. It was shite brown and my brother and friends nicknamed it "duck poo". But the engine revved like a maniac, standard transmition, it had 50/50 weight distribution and it was rear wheel drive. It had all the ingrediants for for fun. Not soon after cheaper cars went to front drive, front biased, automatics. I used to drift that bad boy decades before I even knew what drifting was. I'm glad more kids will have that same experience now.
Sorry to digress, back to the cows on hand. On one hand I think wearing fur is cruel. On the other hand I don't believe wearing leather is. We eat the cows so making use of the leather is better than throwing it out. Besides I'm addicted to leather jackets and leather shoes aswell as leather car interiors. Leather furniture isn't as comfortable, but it looks nice and is easier to keep clean. On the third hand I think domesticating previously wild animals is also cruel. Birds were meant to fly, cats and dogs were meant to hunt and murder smaller animals. Fish weren't meant to stupidly swim in a bowl. They were meant to stupidly swim in the ocean or rivers.
Leather shoes come from leather cows. So do patent leather shoes come from patent leather cows? Does chocolate milk come from brown cows?
-On the other hand, I have other fingers-Steven Wright.
-...it's ok to eat fish 'cause they don't have any feelings.-Something in the Way, Nirvana.
Rhoel.
