A new step

I know I said it a while ago, but I'm gonna get back on track with blogging.

I don't know what's turned me away from it lately. Laziness more than anything. i always have thoughts going through my mind, that hasn't changed, but there's something lately that's stopped me from getting them typed out or even written out on a notebook. Something I can't quite put my finger on. I don't really know what it is.

Anyway, here I am, writing. Hello. I'm sitting in my grey cubicle, as I have for the laaaaaaaast 8 or 9 months. But I am on my last week! That's right folks, no more answering phone calls from extremelly entitled people who only support the arts for the tax writeoffs! No! I am going to be working at the Vancouver Aquarium as an educational interpreter. Which is great experience in terms of the carreer path I would like to follow.

Basically, my job is to be the vehicle that information travels through. I am meant to be an eduactional facilitator and communicator. I'm supposed to be approachable and easy going. more than anything, the key to my job is to have fun! Because learning is fun... and I love learning. probably my favourite thing in the whole world. If all goes well, by the end of the summer, I will have taught my love for learning to a few people!

I'm going to be concentrating on marine mammals and working with groups of 200 people (give or take) I'll be hsoting the shows and working with the trainers to make the demonstrations as fun as possible! And I'm so up for the challenge... and cannot get started soon enough. As it is right now, I'm finishing up my time at the Arts Club... Then, come Sunday, a new chapter begins.

let me also justs ay that, though the job I had at the Arts Club was NOT the greatest, my colleagues definitely made it worthwhile. I made some amazing friends here and really got to pick the brains of some amazing people! Something I am eternally thankful for! So if anyone from the arts club reads my blog (or anyone at all for that matter) thank you for being such cool cats! And come visit me at the aquarium.

So that's my big news... I'm gonna try to get my thoughts out more often. The longer I go without getting them out in the open the more confused I get about my own existence... which isn't exactly a good thing.

Nothign Deep

I really have nothing deep to talk about! I'm sick. My throat hurts. My whole body feels all clogged and gross adn I'm sitting at my desk at work wishing I could be in bed! I hate this feeling. you knwo when you feeel so stuffed up that you feel like youre just stuck in your body!?!

Anyone?

*sigh* I just feel like I'm not even existing physically right now. I feel liek I'm just some kind of conscious being that's flaoting around the fofice today. Totally bodyless... just there!

It's weird! I'm sure it will apss once I can breathe again! On the plus side, I'm looking forward to lunch because I have a very yummy leftover pasta to eat! What else should I talk about?

I'm reading Harry Potter right now. After all these years of not doing it, I've finalyl decided to jump on the bandwagon and read the books. My problem? THEY ARE LIKE CRACK! Seriously. I'm a pretty slow reader but I got through the first 4 in like a week and a half. I've slowed down a little with Order of the Phoenix now... which is good, cuz I was staying up till 3 am reading! Either that or playing pokemon! I've rediscovered the joy of the original pokemon game on Gameboy color! Totally rad!!!

Other than that. Life is pretty ok. Working hard, Shawna's jobs are going well, For Lent we are dedicating ourselves to a bible reading every single night (Which for us is a challenge because we tend to justify not doing it) and the Olympics are crazy fun in the city! All in all, things are ok!

YAY!
DP

Olympic tiiiiime!

Ooooook! Olympics!

First. Thoughts and prayers...


Now on to blogging!

Hmm... what to say? I'm kinda at a weird middle ground that - to be honest - I didn't think I'd find myself at. Let me preface this by saying that I didn't (and still dont) believe that Vancouver had the right to host the Olympics. Most cities that get it don't. I mean let's be realistic. BC has the lowest minimum wage in Canada. Most expensive healthcare. and home to the country's poorest postal code. We've got serious issues to fix and undermining the social infrastructutre for a 2 week gorge isn't gonna help things.

Now the flip side... It's here. it's paid for. it's a reality. Fighting it NOW.... is ridiculous. Like it or not folks, capitlism is the way the world Economy is structured. (Albeit I see that changing in our lifetime) The 2010 Winter Olympics is an international Commitment. We are relied upon by the international community to live up to that commitment. And that's a fact! A hypothetical plug pulling on the Olympics now, would cause worldwide outrage and a complete seperation from the International Community. And in a world who's economy is just barely hanging on... that would be a very bad thing. Yes the Olympics have taken money that could otherwise be used towards affordable housing on the Downtown East Side or reform BC's ridiculous healthcare system... But it didn't. And quite honestly, wouldn't if we were hosting the Olympics or not. We are in a society and an economic system that glorifies the rich. The divide between the lower and upper classes is growing at an alarming rate and there seems to be no way to bridge that gap. If we didn't have these games... the money would have been moved elsewhere. And I guarantee you it would not have changed the status of East Hastigns.

Fact is... the games have forced the hand of BC's gvnmt and put in place more infrastructure... In 86, we got a landmark building which is now the Telus World of Science. That rakes in a HUGE amount of Vancouver's tourism. This year? No new buildings... no, but a lightrail transit system that gets you all the way out to Richmond, which was beforehand (seemingly) impossible to travel. The Canada line is HUGE for the overall structure and development of Vancouver, and it wouldn't have gotten off the ground without the games.

Again... I'm not saying that Vancouver deserved these Olympics... it didn't. But if they gave the Olympic games to a city that deserved it, who would you give it to? Everyone has got their blemishes. you don't wanna give the games to vancouver because of poverty? fine... Enter Adolf Hitler... His National Socialist German Workers' Party basically whiped out poverty in Berlin in the wake of the 1929 Market crash. And in 1936, Germany was an economic powerhouse... So they got the games! I don't need to tell you WHY it's wrong that Germany got the games...

The point is, you're not gonna find a perfect city, and the Olympics has to happen somewhere. And it's here. And by months' end, it will be gone. Worried about the provincial debt? Don't be... the system is (unfortunately) centered around debt. We're too far gone to make a change without causing a complete collapse. The world economy is a house of cards... and the table it's built on has one leg shorter than the others...

I don't really know what i was getting at in this post... I'm pretty much in the middle. I'm not anti-Olympics or pro-Olympics. I'm here! And I like sports! And I think this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Do i think the money could've been spent better? Of course. But I've had issues with government budgets long before the Olympics came... this isn't a NEW phenomenon... but people seem to be treating it as such!

I really don't know what i'm getting at. Anyone know what I'm tryign to say? Cuz I don't. I guess.. I was all for being Anti-Olympics and trying to change it when it MATTERED, But at this point, it doesn't... And Stephen Harper is making us look foolish enough on the international scene. I don't think he needs our help by disrupting an international commitment. but I don't know very much!

Now for your enjoyment... TOY STORY 3!!!!

Getting back on track

Hello Interweb.

I've felt slightly out of sorts lately. i can't exactly put my finger on what it is. I haven't been sleeping very well, been getting massive headaches and I have found myself easily irritable! And I don't like it. So this post is just me gettign all that off my mind.

I feel like life has slightly gone off the rails for me. Nothign crazy. No, quite the opposite. "Life" is good. Shawna and I are both working good jobs with a stable income hanging with good friends, and even the Senators are playing well all of a sudden. Yet I feel like I'm going nowhere right now. Why? laziness! Plain and simple. I'm using work, and how tired I am at the end of the day to not do the things that make my life so special and make me so blessed. But why? Why am I doing that? Shouldn't I be jumping on those thigns like a fat kid on cake? Yes. I should. but I'd rather sit on the couch and stare at the TV or the gameboy (Teehee) instead of read my bible, work on my marriage book or - God Forbid - Pray! All in all, not good.

Not to mention that blogging is a good way to sort out my thoughts and I haven't been doing that lately.

Blah! I was supposed to meet the Children's pastor of tenth Avenue Alliance Church yesterday btu she cancelled our meeting because she was feelign ill. Which is good, because I didn't feel ready for it at all. I hadn't thought about it, prayed about it or asked for any kind fo guidance regarding it. I was just kidna gonna go without haveing medidated and prepared myself for the meeting and the work involved in it. So her cancelation was a bit of a blessing. (Especially since, 5 minutes before she emailed me Iw as thinking how I wasn't ready and I wish I had given it more thought. God answers prayers so blatantly sometimes it kinda freaks me out.) So I'm gonna really think about it, pray about it and look up the skies for a guiding hand!

Oh, and get back on track with Blogging!

And spend more bible time with Shawna. Our work schedules and tiredness are NOT an excuse. Yeah! Go team!

Casimir Pulaski Day

Most people who read my blog will already know this song. But if you don't, you should.

This is my favourite song by one of my favourite artists, Sufjan Stevens. Casimir Pulaski Day tells a very tragic story. And addresses the struggle man can be faced with they don't understand what the heck God is doing. You knwo when, you just wanna shake him and scream in his face and tell him he's wrong? Yeah. Kinda touches on that. Beautiful piece of art.

There's a link to a youtube video witht he song on it HERE

You can follow the lyrics bellow


Golden rod and the 4-H stone
The things I brought you
When I found out you had cancer of the bone

Your father cried on the telephone
And he drove his car to the Navy yard
Just to prove that he was sorry

In the morning through the window shade
When the light pressed up against your shoulder blade
I could see what you were reading

Oh the glory that the lord has made
And the complications you could do without
When I kissed you on the mouth

Tuesday night at the bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens

I remember at Michael's house
In the living room when you kissed my neck
And I almost touched your blouse

In the morning at the top of the stairs
When your father found out what we did that night
And you told me you were scared

Oh the glory when you ran outside
With your shirt tucked in and your shoes untied
And you told me not to follow you

Sunday night when I cleaned the house
I find the card where you wrote it out
With the pictures of your mother

On the floor at the great divide
With my shirt tucked in and my shoes untied
I am crying in the bathroom

In the morning when you finally go
And the nurse runs in with her head hung low
And the cardinal hits the window

In the morning in the winter shade
On the first of March on the holiday
I thought I saw you breathing

Oh the glory that the lord has made
And the complications when I see his face
In the morning in the window

Oh the glory when he took our place
But he took my shoulders and he shook my face
And he takes and he takes and he takes.