Last July I made the decision to finally go vegan. It has been a goal of mine since becoming a vegetarian back in April of ‘02. I constantly put it off out of convenience mostly. Then last July someone actually challenged me to give it a try, and I accepted the challenge. I didn’t have a “cold turkey” incident as I did when I switched to a vegetarian diet though. It was a much slower process.
At first I tried looking around for recipes which were easy to make. Or improvising which is generally how I always cook. I started by doing one meal every now and then followed by one day a week and gradually decreased my dairy intake. In October I then did a short two week trial. Around that time I coincidently had a doctor’s appointment. Based on the doctor’s advice I met with a dietician. That meeting was useless in that I already knew everything that she told me. It was useful in that it reinforced my determination. Shortly thereafter I completed the transition.
What are the big changes? Since July I have been paying far more attention to my health and the role food plays in that. That has come in handy in the transition. Since then I have had more energy and am generally more alert which is nice. One of the major reasons I put this off so long was my love of various kinds of cheese. Yes, I do miss it but not nearly as much as I thought I would. Also nuts and vegetables have largely replaced junk food in my diet. This is a good thing as they have far more nutrients than chips, which was my junk food of choice. Thankfully my choices of alcoholic beverages have not been limited much. Though really considering the fact that I have not had a drink in three months and have not been intoxicated in four, alcohol is not going to play much of a role. I bought a cook book which is very useful for most things. The main problem I face is the distances I must traverse to get most of what I need. Walking to Independent or the Bulk Barn is not pleasant in winter weather.
I called up my good friend George W. Bush to ask if I could borrow the “Mission Accomplished” banner but apparently he doesn’t have it anymore. So I will merely say it: Mission Accomplished.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Decade in Review Part 1: 2000-2004
I generally do a year in review at the end of each year. I figured I’d do a decade in review seeing as we are about to enter a new decade. 2000-09 is the first decade that I can remember pretty much all of. Makes sense considering I was not quite two years old when the 1990s began. I feel fortunate in that regard. From what I’ve seen in pictures, music and movies the 1980’s were a horrible decade. For me my life really began in the spring of 1995. That’s when I learned how the calendar worked and developed a real concept of time. Also around that time I learned how to read and well…make a point of remembering things. Considering the length of this post I’m going to do it in two pieces, one covering 2000-2005 and the second covering the remainder of the decade. I’m going to skip over my move to becoming a vegetarian as I plan on covering that in a post a few weeks from now. That piece will be unrelated to the decade in review posts.
New years eve 1999 was the last year that I failed to be up at midnight. I fell asleep after watching a Great Big Sea concert on TV. Had I been in Newfoundland with them I would not have missed the beginning of the new millennium. Unfortunately I could not last another hour and a half. I was awake long enough to notice that Newfoundland had been spared by the dreaded Y2K bug which gave me some hope for the morning. Now we seem to be going through that same type of paranoia all over again over the whole 2012 thing. I’ll go more into detail on that in 2019. I woke up the next morning and as it turns out Y2K just wasn’t going to happen.
The first nine months of 2000 were my last living in Chapleau. I actually don’t remember all that much about 2000 up until the beginning of the school year in September 2000. I did the first two weeks in Chapleau before transferring to Timmins effective September 18th. I was in grade seven that year and my teacher for my remaining few weeks in Chapleau was Mr. Levesque. I didn’t particularly like that fellow in the years beforehand but I started to in those two weeks or so. It was the first time I was in a class where actual discussions took place. I found this far more interesting than previous school years. Unfortunately after leaving Chapleau it would be another two years before I was in such an environment again.
I left Chapleau with my sister and grandmother on September 15th 2000. Oh yes, Mr. Whiskers was also in the van. There was a manhunt going on highway 101 that weekend. I remember seeing what appeared to be army troops along the highway. They were all carrying automatic weapons so I imagine whoever they were looking for must have been dangerous.
The following Monday I started school at O’Gorman Intermediate. The next two years of my academic career were for the most part torture. Yes, that’s a fine word for it. In my last post I touched on religion briefly. I was hoping that upon moving to Timmins my days in the Catholic school system would be over. Unfortunately that was not the case. I could not stand the ritual praying each morning or the periodic religious ceremonies held in the gym. (I remember one such ceremony quite well. It took place September 11th 2001. About halfway through the little ceremony the principal briefly mentioned that there was something big going on in the U.S. He did not give specifics. It was not until I went home for lunch that I saw what was actually going on.) I did not care for forced indoctrination. I actually had several heated confrontations with teachers and the principal over the next two years. I was also bullied periodically. At the time I was quite sensitive and…well, spineless. To avoid intellectual oppression and bullying I simply did not go to school. I would leave the house and simply walk around town. I got a lot of reading done and got to know some parts of town pretty well. It was my silent protest. Needless to say my marks suffered, not that I cared about such things. Over the O’Gorman period of two school years I skipped roughly 156 school days. I failed both years, to this day I have not passed grade 7 actually. Oh well, I passed grade 8 and all subsequent grades. My little silent protest worked, though it took a hell of a lot longer than I expected. In September 2002 I was switched to R. Ross Beattie, a public school. Free at last!
I spent several weeks in Chapleau and Cartier in the summer of 2001. As I mentioned earlier the school year was awful and the transition was not going well. Returning to Chapleau was quite a nice time. I spent most of that time with Tyler. He and I actually spent a lot of time together in my last year in Chapleau. He was a little more than a year older than me, which seemed like a huge age difference to me when we started hanging out in 1999. That summer he had a new toy, a boat with a 9 hp engine. We spent many hours on that boat exploring the Chapleau river. I remember several of these little expeditions quite well. On one of them we went to the wreck of an airplane that had crashed back in 1948. The pontoon of the plane was the only piece visible from the river. I had been fascinated by that plane since I first saw it when I was probably about four years old. Getting up close to it was very exciting to me at the time. The remains of the fuselage were still there as well as the frames of both wings. By seeing the wreckage one could easily see how the plane came down, the angle and such. I think I was far more into this event than Tyler. Even at that age I had a strong interest in history, I had already read as much as I could about the plane beforehand. It was exciting and a bit sad for me at the same time. Shortly before we left the site I remembered that everyone on the plane had died. I remember standing there staring at the remains of the forward fuselage where these people would have been when they died, just thinking about it.
The following week I was in Cartier. I was there for the birthday of one of my grandmothers and an aunt. My father came. It was the first time I had seen him in nearly two years. I had stopped talking to him in 1998-99 for various reasons. He took me fishing that weekend in an attempt to do the whole bonding thing. I always enjoy being out on the water, so in that regard it was fun. I found it a bit awkward to be alone with him though, particularly after the events of the previous two or three years. I didn’t catch a fish, but my father caught two. Just as well. I would have felt guilty in retrospect given my move to vegetarianism a little over a year away. Hell even then I would have probably released any fish I did get. I never had the stomach for killing. I remember going hunting with my father once and dreading the possibility of witnessing an animal getting shot. Fortunately that hunting expedition was a failure, a successful one from my point of view. This fishing expedition on Mud Lake in the summer of 2001 was the last time I fished. I later found out my father only took me fishing in an attempt to get me to confess that I had failed the previous school year. That subject was not even on my mind while we were on the water.
I spent the next three summers (2002, 03 & 04) in Cartier. Those were all great summers. My grandmother enjoyed them too as she was not alone for them. She really didn’t like living alone. She told me that during the winter months when she’d wake up at night she’d think I was still across the hall which helped her sleep better. On weekends we’d stay up half the night talking about all kinds of things. Life, religion, movies, history, tv, trees. You name it, it probably came up at some point. We’d go through family albums which she had. I particularly enjoyed the stories about her whole life. Over three summers she was bound to repeat herself but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed the stories each time. I’m glad she told me them as I doubt she’d be able to tell me them now. Actually I was quite pleased when I later found out I know more about the family history than some aunts, or my father. A few years later I remember he asked something about my great grandmother, I answered it as my grandmother didn’t hear him. It was in July of 2002 that I drove for the first time. It was a spur of the moment decision on my father’s part. He simply looked at me and asked if I wanted to give it a try and so I did. I remember that quite well, it didn’t last very long and I nearly went into a ditch. Also during the summer of 2002 my grandmother, myself and an aunt went to North Bay and visited my father. It was that summer that I went to my first concert, just by chance. The adults took part in a euchre tournament all day. Needless to say I was very bored. But as time went on and more beer was consumed it became more entertaining. It’s amazing the things people say while drunk, or so I thought at the time. My father stayed longer and I stayed with him. We were about to leave the waterfront when my father just said “Want to go see the Village People?” Sure, why not. It was a pretty good show, but I still don’t have any of their songs in my itunes library. We walked to his house after the show. He was quite noticeably drunk but I didn’t really mind. He had his mind set on getting chicken, but suddenly forgot about it about a block away from Sobeys. Instead of buying chicken there he urinated on a tree. To this day I think of that as I walk through that parking lot in North Bay
In the fall of 2003 I entered high school. The first two years were pretty boring for the most part. Actually I don’t remember a whole lot from that period and am glad. The most vivid memories I have of grade 9 are actually of lying in bed listening to the radio or to CDs I had found or bought. Around this time I joined the Communist Party of Canada. This is an amusing episode in hindsight. My membership lasted two months. The reason my membership expired, ironically, was lack of money. My political beliefs have mellowed a bit since. Now I’m merely a quasi-socialist. I’m generally in line with either the Greens or NDP. Though occasionally even the Conservatives do something I like.
I spent Christmas of 2004 in Cartier with my grandmother and an aunt. My father came for Christmas day and left the next day. It was a very good Christmas. I stayed there until January 3, 2005. I shall talk about the second half of the decade when we make the crossover to 2010.
New years eve 1999 was the last year that I failed to be up at midnight. I fell asleep after watching a Great Big Sea concert on TV. Had I been in Newfoundland with them I would not have missed the beginning of the new millennium. Unfortunately I could not last another hour and a half. I was awake long enough to notice that Newfoundland had been spared by the dreaded Y2K bug which gave me some hope for the morning. Now we seem to be going through that same type of paranoia all over again over the whole 2012 thing. I’ll go more into detail on that in 2019. I woke up the next morning and as it turns out Y2K just wasn’t going to happen.
The first nine months of 2000 were my last living in Chapleau. I actually don’t remember all that much about 2000 up until the beginning of the school year in September 2000. I did the first two weeks in Chapleau before transferring to Timmins effective September 18th. I was in grade seven that year and my teacher for my remaining few weeks in Chapleau was Mr. Levesque. I didn’t particularly like that fellow in the years beforehand but I started to in those two weeks or so. It was the first time I was in a class where actual discussions took place. I found this far more interesting than previous school years. Unfortunately after leaving Chapleau it would be another two years before I was in such an environment again.
I left Chapleau with my sister and grandmother on September 15th 2000. Oh yes, Mr. Whiskers was also in the van. There was a manhunt going on highway 101 that weekend. I remember seeing what appeared to be army troops along the highway. They were all carrying automatic weapons so I imagine whoever they were looking for must have been dangerous.
The following Monday I started school at O’Gorman Intermediate. The next two years of my academic career were for the most part torture. Yes, that’s a fine word for it. In my last post I touched on religion briefly. I was hoping that upon moving to Timmins my days in the Catholic school system would be over. Unfortunately that was not the case. I could not stand the ritual praying each morning or the periodic religious ceremonies held in the gym. (I remember one such ceremony quite well. It took place September 11th 2001. About halfway through the little ceremony the principal briefly mentioned that there was something big going on in the U.S. He did not give specifics. It was not until I went home for lunch that I saw what was actually going on.) I did not care for forced indoctrination. I actually had several heated confrontations with teachers and the principal over the next two years. I was also bullied periodically. At the time I was quite sensitive and…well, spineless. To avoid intellectual oppression and bullying I simply did not go to school. I would leave the house and simply walk around town. I got a lot of reading done and got to know some parts of town pretty well. It was my silent protest. Needless to say my marks suffered, not that I cared about such things. Over the O’Gorman period of two school years I skipped roughly 156 school days. I failed both years, to this day I have not passed grade 7 actually. Oh well, I passed grade 8 and all subsequent grades. My little silent protest worked, though it took a hell of a lot longer than I expected. In September 2002 I was switched to R. Ross Beattie, a public school. Free at last!
I spent several weeks in Chapleau and Cartier in the summer of 2001. As I mentioned earlier the school year was awful and the transition was not going well. Returning to Chapleau was quite a nice time. I spent most of that time with Tyler. He and I actually spent a lot of time together in my last year in Chapleau. He was a little more than a year older than me, which seemed like a huge age difference to me when we started hanging out in 1999. That summer he had a new toy, a boat with a 9 hp engine. We spent many hours on that boat exploring the Chapleau river. I remember several of these little expeditions quite well. On one of them we went to the wreck of an airplane that had crashed back in 1948. The pontoon of the plane was the only piece visible from the river. I had been fascinated by that plane since I first saw it when I was probably about four years old. Getting up close to it was very exciting to me at the time. The remains of the fuselage were still there as well as the frames of both wings. By seeing the wreckage one could easily see how the plane came down, the angle and such. I think I was far more into this event than Tyler. Even at that age I had a strong interest in history, I had already read as much as I could about the plane beforehand. It was exciting and a bit sad for me at the same time. Shortly before we left the site I remembered that everyone on the plane had died. I remember standing there staring at the remains of the forward fuselage where these people would have been when they died, just thinking about it.
The following week I was in Cartier. I was there for the birthday of one of my grandmothers and an aunt. My father came. It was the first time I had seen him in nearly two years. I had stopped talking to him in 1998-99 for various reasons. He took me fishing that weekend in an attempt to do the whole bonding thing. I always enjoy being out on the water, so in that regard it was fun. I found it a bit awkward to be alone with him though, particularly after the events of the previous two or three years. I didn’t catch a fish, but my father caught two. Just as well. I would have felt guilty in retrospect given my move to vegetarianism a little over a year away. Hell even then I would have probably released any fish I did get. I never had the stomach for killing. I remember going hunting with my father once and dreading the possibility of witnessing an animal getting shot. Fortunately that hunting expedition was a failure, a successful one from my point of view. This fishing expedition on Mud Lake in the summer of 2001 was the last time I fished. I later found out my father only took me fishing in an attempt to get me to confess that I had failed the previous school year. That subject was not even on my mind while we were on the water.
I spent the next three summers (2002, 03 & 04) in Cartier. Those were all great summers. My grandmother enjoyed them too as she was not alone for them. She really didn’t like living alone. She told me that during the winter months when she’d wake up at night she’d think I was still across the hall which helped her sleep better. On weekends we’d stay up half the night talking about all kinds of things. Life, religion, movies, history, tv, trees. You name it, it probably came up at some point. We’d go through family albums which she had. I particularly enjoyed the stories about her whole life. Over three summers she was bound to repeat herself but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed the stories each time. I’m glad she told me them as I doubt she’d be able to tell me them now. Actually I was quite pleased when I later found out I know more about the family history than some aunts, or my father. A few years later I remember he asked something about my great grandmother, I answered it as my grandmother didn’t hear him. It was in July of 2002 that I drove for the first time. It was a spur of the moment decision on my father’s part. He simply looked at me and asked if I wanted to give it a try and so I did. I remember that quite well, it didn’t last very long and I nearly went into a ditch. Also during the summer of 2002 my grandmother, myself and an aunt went to North Bay and visited my father. It was that summer that I went to my first concert, just by chance. The adults took part in a euchre tournament all day. Needless to say I was very bored. But as time went on and more beer was consumed it became more entertaining. It’s amazing the things people say while drunk, or so I thought at the time. My father stayed longer and I stayed with him. We were about to leave the waterfront when my father just said “Want to go see the Village People?” Sure, why not. It was a pretty good show, but I still don’t have any of their songs in my itunes library. We walked to his house after the show. He was quite noticeably drunk but I didn’t really mind. He had his mind set on getting chicken, but suddenly forgot about it about a block away from Sobeys. Instead of buying chicken there he urinated on a tree. To this day I think of that as I walk through that parking lot in North Bay
In the fall of 2003 I entered high school. The first two years were pretty boring for the most part. Actually I don’t remember a whole lot from that period and am glad. The most vivid memories I have of grade 9 are actually of lying in bed listening to the radio or to CDs I had found or bought. Around this time I joined the Communist Party of Canada. This is an amusing episode in hindsight. My membership lasted two months. The reason my membership expired, ironically, was lack of money. My political beliefs have mellowed a bit since. Now I’m merely a quasi-socialist. I’m generally in line with either the Greens or NDP. Though occasionally even the Conservatives do something I like.
I spent Christmas of 2004 in Cartier with my grandmother and an aunt. My father came for Christmas day and left the next day. It was a very good Christmas. I stayed there until January 3, 2005. I shall talk about the second half of the decade when we make the crossover to 2010.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Part IV: Mortality
I’ve been reading a lot of biographies lately. In fact the majority of the books I read are either biographies or memoirs. Also, the majority of the people I read about are either dead or retired. One such memoir led me into a ‘quarter life crisis.’ Well, I don’t know that I would call it a ‘crisis’ but apparently that’s what they refer to it online. This book is called ‘The Thing About Life is That One Day You’ll be Dead’ by David Shields. Well, listening almost exclusively to Warren Zevon while reading the book probably did not help things.
I found this book at Chapters in Victoria. I’ve always had a fascination with death so this situation was no doubt inevitable. When I saw the book’s title I could not resist, plus the price wasn’t bad either. The book is full of statistics and lessons on biology, anatomy, psychology and the whole aging process. The author wrote the book about both himself and his 97 year old father. Their relationship is pretty interesting. In the prologue he describes his father as “He’s strong and he’s weak and I love him and I hate him and I want him to live forever and I want him to die tomorrow.” He is trying to face both his own mortality and that of his father. Only problem is his father is in good health and by the looks of things may live for quite some time. Most sons would be happy about this, but not David Shields. I read through the roughly 240 page book within two days. I actually left the book at the hostel in Victoria as I already had a lot to carry. I wonder if anyone has picked it up since I left.
Anyway, back to the ‘crisis.’ I enjoyed the book and went on with the trip while still thinking about the book. I found myself having to face my own mortality, something I had thought I had already done successfully. Everyone knows they are mortal and for most of them there comes a time that they must think about it. Others are either don’t care or die suddenly without being able to go through such a ‘crisis’. Through my teens I was quite comfortable with the idea of mortality as death seemed like something that is far off in the future. Death is something that is inevitable, so why waste any time thinking about it? That is the argument I gave to myself during my teen years, it’s also an argument I’ve heard from several other people when the subject has come up. I do not know what bothers me more: the fact that it is inevitable or that it could happen at any time. I could die in some accident within the next 12 hours, or I could live for another 90 years if I’m really lucky. In facing my own mortality I am forced to face that of everyone around me. At the beginning of this little crisis I found myself wondering about who will out-live who, things like that. Thankfully I am past that stage as it was a really boring and depressing one.
The next stage was more interesting. What is the meaning of life? Surely everyone asks themselves this one. I don’t expect an answer, nor do I really want one. For the majority of my life I’ve hovered between atheism and agnosticism. I’m still there and don’t see it changing anytime soon. At one time I was deeply religious but I found that religion was not my thing. At least Catholicism wasn’t. I’ve since explored other religions but have found none that I particularly like. I’m simply not a person who can go along with the idea of faith. I imagine religious people find facing their mortality to be a bit easier than I would. Many of them have an afterlife to look forward to. I do not. I am not closed off to the idea of a God or afterlife. So far I have found no reason to believe there is one. I am quite certain that no human being will ever be able to convince me that there is a God or afterlife. After all such a person is clearly alive and mortal. In absence of religion I found myself turning to science. Species come and go. If humanity follows the trends of other species we will likely die out as a species long before the sun dies out. Knowing that at some point the species and the planet itself will cease to exist was another part of this crisis. Ah, but luckily I shall not have to live through that one. Well, not the end of the planet anyway. I can potentially see some great human disasters in my lifetime what with global warming and all.
While on the trip I was listening to a lot of Warren Zevon. In particular I was listening to his last three albums. “Life’ll Kill Ya”, “My Ride’s Here” and “The Wind”. The first album is basically just as the title implies. It’s about aging, mortality and death. The second is irrelevant to this discussion so I will not say what it is about. Shortly after that album came out Zevon was diagnosed with lung cancer and given three months to live. Ultimately he lived well over a year and completed “The Wind”. In these two albums one can listen to a person come to terms with his own mortality which was interesting to me at the time, and now as well. Shortly after the diagnosis he appeared on the David Letterman show for the last time. That appearance was quite interesting. In it he jokes about his illness and the fact that he will die soon. When you get down to it we are in the same boat as those who are terminally ill. The only real difference is that they have a time line which at times is just as unpredictable as that of someone who is not terminally ill.
I found myself going through those five stages of grief that terminal patients usually go through. I did it in a different order though. I started out at acceptance and ended at acceptance. The life expectancy has been gradually going up for a long time. Ultimately it will still end the same way. I’ve had many discussions with people on the subject of dying and am constantly surprised. Most of them want die in their sleep. Not me. Death is too important to sleep through in my opinion. You only get to do it once after all.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
"Democracy is not a Spectator Sport"
The earliest political memory I have is of an add with Stockwell Day talking about the national debt and the share of it belonging to a child. I believe the figure was somewhere around $30,000.00 if my memory serves me well. This was around the time of the federal election in 2000. I watched one of the debates and was hooked. I've been following the political news ever since. Elections always excited me. I was not pleased that I was not allowed to vote though. What particularly annoyed me about that was that I knew more about the issues than both of my parents and actually had an opinion on issues. Neither of them have ever voted in any election. My grandmothers on the other hand never missed a vote. I enjoyed having discussions with them about politics many times. At times they were surprised that I knew as much as they did about issues from 30-50 years ago. I was full of questions for them about their views and how they have changed over the years. My paternal grandmother said she voted for the first time at 18 because her mother told her to and if she voted conservative she better not come home. She then told me that she has never voted conservative in her life as a result. Given that she was 18 at the time that would have been the election that gave Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent a second term. The 2006 election took place a little more than three weeks before my 18th birthday. Once again I was not pleased, both for the fact that I could not vote and the election results themselves. Only a few months later at long last I was able to vote in a local election. I remember that moment very well. In the weeks before the election I read profiles of every candidate for city counsel and decided which one I liked the most. I don't remember the fellows name but I do remember that he did not win. In fact I have never voted for anyone who has won an election. In the 2007 Ontario General Election I was one of the 52.8% of eligible voters who did vote. Along with that election there was a referendum on mix-member proportional representation. I voted against it and now regret that decision. I made that decision based on television and radio adds which was a mistake. A little over a year later I read more about the issue and found that I actually do like the idea compared to our current first-past-the-post system. I then voted in the federal election of October 2008. The majority of my friends did as well. I don't particularly care who a person votes for so long as they do make an informed decision. I wish more would. In both the federal election of 2008 and the provincial election of 2007 I voted for the Green Party. At the time that was the equivalent of spoiling a ballet. However their popularity is rising rapidly. I'm hoping they manage to get at least one seat in the next federal election. Sooner or later I'm sure they will.
Now to the book. I heard an interview of Elizabeth May through Jian Gomeshi's radio talk show Q which intrigued me. I picked up her book "Losing Confidence: Power, Politics and the Crisis in Canadian Democracy" last week and read it within two days. Its a very slim book and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the current political climate in Canada. In it there's a brief overview of how a parliamentary democracy functions, or rather is supposed to function and then a list of some of the problems currently facing Canadian democracy.
One of the main points is low voter turnout. This trend has been going on for years now. As a minor it annoyed me considerably. Here I was with an opinion I wanted to express but couldn't meanwhile people who could were apathetic. In the last federal election only 59.1% of eligible voters voted. It might have been a bit higher but for the new rules put in place for that election. These new rules required both photo I.D. and proof of address. I had my health card and was covered but was not aware of the requirements. Apparently I was not alone as many were turned away for having one but not the other. At the time I did not know the rules were new, apparently they were put in place shortly before the election by the Harper Conservatives. The remaining issues are apathy and disillusionment. Most people I have spoken to who don't vote either believe that their vote wont make a difference or that nothing good will come regardless of who wins. I disagree with both-for the most part. Had Stephane Dion's Liberals won in October of '08 I doubt he would have tried to pull the financial plug on opposition parties or blatantly ignored Kyoto. Political attack adds no doubt add to this image that all politicians are up to no good. I've always hated attack adds regardless of which party used them. I'd prefer that adds promote their own platform rather than attack their opponents. I've read many articles on this subject and watched debates about it and apparently attack adds do work but not the way they are intended to. According to the information I've come across and May's book attack adds generally convince voters not to vote at all. What annoys me more is their use outside of an election cycle. I don't think I ever saw one used outside of an election cycle until around the time of the sponsorship "scandal". Then only weeks after Dion won the liberal leadership race the "Not a Leader" adds came out. Their most recent use outside of an election cycle where the recycled "Michael Ignatieff: Just Visiting" adds. Notice how they stopped airing when Ignatieff stopped trying to bring down the government.
The attack adds are a microcosm of the way politicians act with each other. Watching question period on CPAC brings back memories of kindergarten. It was not so long ago that MP's respected each other enough to stay relatively quiet while one of them spoke. Technically that is the way things are supposed to work. In the past MP's have been silenced for months by the Speaker for heckling. In lieu of co-operating with each other it would be nice if our elected representatives would at least respect each other. Small clips of these acts are shown on the news fairly often and no doubt contribute to voter disillusionment. Perhaps a single vote will not make much of a difference but if another 10% of eligible voters voted it would.
I'm sure everyone remembers last December when the Harper Government nearly fell. That was without a doubt the most exciting week I have ever seen in Canadian politics. It seemed to come out of the blue, was controversial and the most exciting aspect was the prospect of a coalition government between the Liberals and NDP. I had many debates around this time with people I knew about the situation. Many thought that this coalition government was anti-democratic as Harper was trying to play it. It's not. I knew it was possible but didn't think it would happen. I actually worried that Harper was going to try and form a coalition rather than take down the Martin Government. Apparently he did consider it an option at the time but didn't do it. One of several signs of Harper's hypocrisy.
"Losing Confidence" made me confident that my decision to vote Green was the right one. The main issue I care about is the environment. At 21 I can potentially live long enough to see an environmental catastrophe brought on by global warming. I would rather not. Until another party takes the environment seriously they will not get my vote, and I know I am not alone in this. The main issue among the youth is the environment. This book has shown me that the Green Party stands for far more than just environmental issues. I have no illusions. I know they will not form a government anytime soon. But one does not have to form a government to influence policy. Jack Layton has shown that many times over the past four years.
I could go on and on but I shall not. Instead I shall once again recommend that you read "Losing Confidence".
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Part III-Arrival.
After Winnipeg I spent most of my time on the bus reading and sleeping. Normally I have trouble sleeping at all but I brought a supply of nyquil and an energy drink to end any groginess should I have to wake unexpectedly. The nyquil worked so well that the vietnam vet said that he thought I might be dead at one point. I slept through the Saskatchewan border. We arrived in Regina shortly before the sun went down. There we would stay for about an hour or so.
I awoke the next morning as we were approaching Calgary. The city kind of looked odd. Well, not the city itself just its location, it seemed random. There seemed to be a lot of construction going on there. In fact if I remember correctly a young girl was actually killed at a construction site in Calgary only a few days later. I remember reading about that while I was in Vancouver. Construction seemed to be a constant in all the larger cities I visited. By this point I had been without a shower in nearly three days but I felt more or less all right. I wasnt the only one though. I was quite surprised at how many people had made the trip from Ontario and were going all the way to the coast. In Calgary as in Winnipeg we transferred onto another bus with another driver. The final stretch to Vancouver would take about twelve hours.
This was the first time I saw mountains. I still clearly remember the first peaks I saw and the feeling I had as we went between them. It was awe inspiring. Though at times it was scary, for me anyway. I have an intense fear of heights and had to look at the seat in front of me as we went up these mountains. Looking down was not an option for me. At a few points in this final stretch there was smoke visible in the distance from the forrest fires which were still raging at this time. Oddly enough that did not scare me at all compared to the height issue.
We arrived in Vancouver shortly after dark. Ended up taking the sky train to the part of town the hostel was in. I didnt want to walk for multiple reasons. Mostly because I would have to walk by a venue which was having a Rod Steward concert. That would have been difficult to navigate with my giant bag. The sky train was quite nice, it took less than a minute to travel the 2 km to the terminal where I was to get off. The streets were quite busy, then I remembered it was Friday night. Makes sense. I checked into the hostel and showered. That was quite refreshing. The only room mate who I actually met in Vancouver was an Australian just passing through on his way to Toronto. I didnt speak to the others. I picked up some maps and brochures in the lobby and began planning the next days activities with someone I met on the bus. I went to bed shortly before midnight. A bed had never felt better to me than on this night.
I awoke the next morning as we were approaching Calgary. The city kind of looked odd. Well, not the city itself just its location, it seemed random. There seemed to be a lot of construction going on there. In fact if I remember correctly a young girl was actually killed at a construction site in Calgary only a few days later. I remember reading about that while I was in Vancouver. Construction seemed to be a constant in all the larger cities I visited. By this point I had been without a shower in nearly three days but I felt more or less all right. I wasnt the only one though. I was quite surprised at how many people had made the trip from Ontario and were going all the way to the coast. In Calgary as in Winnipeg we transferred onto another bus with another driver. The final stretch to Vancouver would take about twelve hours.
This was the first time I saw mountains. I still clearly remember the first peaks I saw and the feeling I had as we went between them. It was awe inspiring. Though at times it was scary, for me anyway. I have an intense fear of heights and had to look at the seat in front of me as we went up these mountains. Looking down was not an option for me. At a few points in this final stretch there was smoke visible in the distance from the forrest fires which were still raging at this time. Oddly enough that did not scare me at all compared to the height issue.
We arrived in Vancouver shortly after dark. Ended up taking the sky train to the part of town the hostel was in. I didnt want to walk for multiple reasons. Mostly because I would have to walk by a venue which was having a Rod Steward concert. That would have been difficult to navigate with my giant bag. The sky train was quite nice, it took less than a minute to travel the 2 km to the terminal where I was to get off. The streets were quite busy, then I remembered it was Friday night. Makes sense. I checked into the hostel and showered. That was quite refreshing. The only room mate who I actually met in Vancouver was an Australian just passing through on his way to Toronto. I didnt speak to the others. I picked up some maps and brochures in the lobby and began planning the next days activities with someone I met on the bus. I went to bed shortly before midnight. A bed had never felt better to me than on this night.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thoughts on Ted Kennedy's True Compass
I've had an interest in Ted Kennedy's older brothers for many years. Actually I have an interest in many who have died prematurely. I'm unsure as to why. I suppose a part of it are the "what ifs" of history. What if John Kennedy had lived? Would he have had a second term? Would the Vietnam war have happened? Or what if Robert Kennedy had lived? Would he have become President? Or, what if they had both lived to a ripe old age?
The answers to these questions will never be known. I had been aware of Ted Kennedy but knew very little of him. I knew of the Chappaquiddick incident and I knew of his unsuccessful run for the Presidency in 1980. The first, and only speech I saw him give on TV was his endorsement of Barack Obama a few months before he would be diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. I remember reading the headlines in the spring of 2008 saying he had only a few months to live. Well a few months went by and I did not hear anything of his death and quickly forgot about what I had read. Then a few months ago he did die. I watched the biographical retrospectives on the news and the funeral a few days later. I learned through one of these retrospectives that he had written a memoir and finished it before he died. I decided to buy the book and find out more of this man. The only one of the Kennedy brothers who was able to live a long life and died peacefully.
After reading the book I wondered why I had not heard as much about him as I have about his brothers. Some have argued that in his 47 years as Senator he was able to do more for his country than most Presidents. I'm not sure if thats true or not. Judging from this book he was quite humble about his accomplishments. That continues throughout the book. He admits that trait more than likely came from his father who tried to play down accomplishments but take full responsibility for mistakes.
The first half of the book is mostly about growing up and his family. By the age of 15 two of his brothers were war heroes. One had died and the other was about to be elected to congress. As the youngest of the family he had a lot to live up to. He went to Harvard which seems to be a family tradition for the Kennedys before enlisting in the army. His two surviving brothers talked him out of volunteering to go to Korea because of what their parents had gone through with the death of Joe jr. Instead he served his time on a base just outside of Paris. After being discharged from the army he immediately went out on the campaign trail to help John Kennedy get elected to the Senate. A short time later he went out alone across the United States trying to secure his brothers run at the Presidency. This part of the book has quite a few entertaining anecdotes. One of the more entertaining ones takes place in the south west where he had to ride a bronc at a rodeo before anyone would listen to him. These sections of the book are full of hero worship for his older brothers. He tried to live up to their example both personally and professionally. He speaks of how even as he wrote the book in 2007-09 it still seems strange to him that they are dead.
In the early 1970s his oldest son was diagnosed with cancer. This began his lifelong fight for healthcare which made some progress over the years. He ran for President in 1980 in part because Jimmy Carter would not support him on this and other issues. His bid for the nomination was unsuccessful. He contemplated running again against Reagan in 1984 but was talked out of it by his family. By then he was content to spend the rest of his career as a Senator.
He wrote the book while sick. He knew he likely would die with cancer eventually but was determined to fight for as long as he could. He managed to live long enough to see Barack Obama win the Presidency which gave him hope for the future.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It is quite heavy on politics during the second half though, which will likely drive some people away. Not I, I find those types of things interesting. It helps that I didnt know how half the things he wrote of were going to end.
I shall write again later. Fare-thee-well.
Monday, October 12, 2009
5:13
A few weeks ago I lost my guitar pic. Though I walk at least an hour everyday I never got around to going to the music store to buy a replacement. As a result I have been forced to learn how to play using my fingers which has proven to be easier than I thought it would be. I am finding that at times I prefer this type of sound to flat-picking.
I bought a record player a little over a month ago from a small electronics store in Florida. Had to pay a $16.00 duty but I dont mind. I've been meaning to get one for several years but the time just never seemed right. I simultaneously ordered two LP's. They are Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" and the self titled debut album of The Doors. I immediately noticed the difference in sound quality in this "new" medium compared to CDs. MP3s sound very dull to me. They've slowly been losing their appeal to me since I started listening to better sources of music. At some point MP3 quality may improve but for the moment they leave much to be desired. With the records it almost sounds as if the band is in the same room as me. There is more depth to the record. This is well known to many, but to some it will be news. I wonder how CDs managed to take over the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The only advantage I see with CDs is their size. At that time CDs were not on par with records, not even close. I realized this when I heard a few Beatles songs on vinyl. Up to that point I had only heard the 1987 CD mixes which were horrible. A lot was lost in those CDs. I am however quite pleased with the recent remastering and re-release of The Beatles catalogue. It was a huge improvement, particularly for the mono set.
Since then I have bought several other LPs. I managed to get one of the original pressings of Bruce Springsteen's debut album "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.". That album was originally released in 1973 and did not sell very well at the time. I imagine my collection will slowly grow for some time to come.
I bought a record player a little over a month ago from a small electronics store in Florida. Had to pay a $16.00 duty but I dont mind. I've been meaning to get one for several years but the time just never seemed right. I simultaneously ordered two LP's. They are Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" and the self titled debut album of The Doors. I immediately noticed the difference in sound quality in this "new" medium compared to CDs. MP3s sound very dull to me. They've slowly been losing their appeal to me since I started listening to better sources of music. At some point MP3 quality may improve but for the moment they leave much to be desired. With the records it almost sounds as if the band is in the same room as me. There is more depth to the record. This is well known to many, but to some it will be news. I wonder how CDs managed to take over the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The only advantage I see with CDs is their size. At that time CDs were not on par with records, not even close. I realized this when I heard a few Beatles songs on vinyl. Up to that point I had only heard the 1987 CD mixes which were horrible. A lot was lost in those CDs. I am however quite pleased with the recent remastering and re-release of The Beatles catalogue. It was a huge improvement, particularly for the mono set.
Since then I have bought several other LPs. I managed to get one of the original pressings of Bruce Springsteen's debut album "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.". That album was originally released in 1973 and did not sell very well at the time. I imagine my collection will slowly grow for some time to come.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Sudbury Saturday Night
I just got back from a Great Big Sea concert. Had a great night, drank all my money and got propositioned by hookers, just an average Sudbury Saturday Night.
This is the fifth or sixth concert I've seen at the Sudbury arena. I think so anyway lets recap:
Blue Rodeo
Bob Dylan
Bryan Adams
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings
And now...Great Big Sea!
I left the hotel a little later than I usually do which was perfect. Got in just as they were finishing off the safety procedures speech. I was sitting for only a few seconds before the opening act, Jeremy Fisher, came on. He played a forty minute set give or take. I got one of his albums about two months ago and enjoyed it. It was just him, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. He talked a lot between songs which was nice. He even through in a few covers including "Girl From the North Country". Neat, I saw Bob Dylan play that song standing in almost the exact same spot. Afterwards he came out to the merchandise table and I had a brief meeting with him. Nice guy.
Shortly thereafter I returned to my seat and Great Big Sea took the stage. They opened with "Donkey Riding" then went on to "Captain Kidd". They played most of their hits including:
General Taylor
The Night Pat Murphy Dies
England
Helmethead
Consequence Free
Mari Mac
Ordinary Day
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)
When I am King
A Boat Like Gideon Brown
Ferryland Sealer
Sea of No Cares
Scolding Wife
Love Me Tonight
Clearest Indication
Fortune Set
Excursion Around the Bay
The Old Black Rum
And a few others that i cant recall off the top of my head.
About halfway through the show they did a little medley of covers including Summer of '69/I Fought the Law/Sweet Dreams (are made of this)/Bohemian Rhapsody and some more stuff. They even gave Stompin' Tom's "Sudbury Saturday Night" but that didnt last long. For this section of the show they played their instruments and got the audience to sing. That combined with the various sing alongs throughout the night took my voice. I even gave the old black rum a shot in honour of Great Big Sea but my voice is still gone. Oh well, not like I need it right now anyway. Alan Doyle is still sporting a beard which he grew for a part in a Ridley Scott movie. I'm pretty sure Russell Crowe is going to be in said movie. I bought a DVD of theirs called "Courage, Patience and Grit" about two years ago and have wanted to see them ever since. I must say though that tonights show was far better than the DVD. Live bands tend to have that effect.
They left the stage three times and came back twice for encores. For the encores they did another cover but this one I did not recognize. Something from the 80s. The other three songs in the encore were theirs. Finishing with "The Old Black Rum" was great for a number of reasons. 1. Its really fun to sing. 2. Its just a great drinking song. 3. It encouraged me to go get some.
When I left the hotel I was on the verge of falling asleep and now I want to keep going all night. I guess thats another sign that it was a really good show. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so there will be no videos or pictures as there have been for most of the concerts I've been to. I know, I know. I am saddened by this as well. If you ever get a chance to see them you must go.
This is the fifth or sixth concert I've seen at the Sudbury arena. I think so anyway lets recap:
Blue Rodeo
Bob Dylan
Bryan Adams
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings
And now...Great Big Sea!
I left the hotel a little later than I usually do which was perfect. Got in just as they were finishing off the safety procedures speech. I was sitting for only a few seconds before the opening act, Jeremy Fisher, came on. He played a forty minute set give or take. I got one of his albums about two months ago and enjoyed it. It was just him, an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. He talked a lot between songs which was nice. He even through in a few covers including "Girl From the North Country". Neat, I saw Bob Dylan play that song standing in almost the exact same spot. Afterwards he came out to the merchandise table and I had a brief meeting with him. Nice guy.
Shortly thereafter I returned to my seat and Great Big Sea took the stage. They opened with "Donkey Riding" then went on to "Captain Kidd". They played most of their hits including:
General Taylor
The Night Pat Murphy Dies
England
Helmethead
Consequence Free
Mari Mac
Ordinary Day
When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)
When I am King
A Boat Like Gideon Brown
Ferryland Sealer
Sea of No Cares
Scolding Wife
Love Me Tonight
Clearest Indication
Fortune Set
Excursion Around the Bay
The Old Black Rum
And a few others that i cant recall off the top of my head.
About halfway through the show they did a little medley of covers including Summer of '69/I Fought the Law/Sweet Dreams (are made of this)/Bohemian Rhapsody and some more stuff. They even gave Stompin' Tom's "Sudbury Saturday Night" but that didnt last long. For this section of the show they played their instruments and got the audience to sing. That combined with the various sing alongs throughout the night took my voice. I even gave the old black rum a shot in honour of Great Big Sea but my voice is still gone. Oh well, not like I need it right now anyway. Alan Doyle is still sporting a beard which he grew for a part in a Ridley Scott movie. I'm pretty sure Russell Crowe is going to be in said movie. I bought a DVD of theirs called "Courage, Patience and Grit" about two years ago and have wanted to see them ever since. I must say though that tonights show was far better than the DVD. Live bands tend to have that effect.
They left the stage three times and came back twice for encores. For the encores they did another cover but this one I did not recognize. Something from the 80s. The other three songs in the encore were theirs. Finishing with "The Old Black Rum" was great for a number of reasons. 1. Its really fun to sing. 2. Its just a great drinking song. 3. It encouraged me to go get some.
When I left the hotel I was on the verge of falling asleep and now I want to keep going all night. I guess thats another sign that it was a really good show. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so there will be no videos or pictures as there have been for most of the concerts I've been to. I know, I know. I am saddened by this as well. If you ever get a chance to see them you must go.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Long Road
I woke up the next morning before dawn. Had a shower and listened to some music. I then just waited for the time when I would leave. The bus was to leave Sudbury at 7:30 AM. Heres a video I did before leaving the Hotel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjFm23C-wE
By the time I got to the bus station it had already been there. There were quite a few people there who were waiting. In the end two buses left Sudbury, both were completely full when we left. I sat at the very back of the bus directly beside the bathroom door. There I would stay until we switched buses in Winnipeg the following morning.
A few hours into the trip my back started to hurt which was a bad sign for me. Afterall I had another two and a half days to go before I'd arrive in Vancouver. The stops proved to be very helpful. We stopped for lunch in Sault Ste. Marie. The last time I was there was for the Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot concerts back in April. Over that weekend I got to know the downtown area fairly well which came in handy. Most people went to Tim Horton's, I went to The Pita Pit which was around the block.
Shortly before The Sault a 19 year old aspiring sci-fi writer came on the bus. For about two hours I listened to him talk about a world he had created for his stories. I asked him a few questions about how its society worked and things like that and was surprised when he had an answer and explained many things in great detail. I eventually got bored with it though and started listening to some podcasts from the CBC. He quickly found another listener though. Eventually he pulled out a laptop and started writing. I was tempted to do the same but I had three days and one battery to live off. Instead I just took in the scenery.
After The Sault there is a lot of great views of Lake Superior. The last time I had travelled that far on the Trans Canada Highway was 1998. I was 10 and was with my grandmother and an aunt. That trip took me to Schreiber for about three days and then to Thunder Bay overnight. That was as far west as I had been up until this trip. Along this route I found myself remembering that trip from 11 years before. That was the first time I had seen one of the Great Lakes and it was quite a sight. It was the first time I had seen water stretch out beyond the horizon, even now that type of view has an effect on me. I find myself wondering what lies beyond even though I do know, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Also around this leg of the trip I met a Viet Nam vet who I would end up talking to regularly all the way to Vancouver. He told me that he makes this bus trip from Windsor to Vancouver several times a year. I asked him if one gets used to such a long trip, "Sort of". He was very open about his war experiences which interested me greatly. He had been wounded several times and even lost most of one of his arms a month into his second tour. He moved to Canada less than a year after returning from Viet Nam. I never got his name unfortunately. Actually, I never got a name from most of the people I met on the trip.
I watched a movie later that night about the aftermath of Gram Parson's death. Pretty funny but I dont remember what it was called. When I looked up after the movie was over I could see the Sleeping Giant. I knew then that Thunder Bay was near, as was the dividing line between the known and unknown for me. By the time we actually got into Thunder Bay it was dark. We were there for about an hour or so. I had something to eat in the restaurant and met someone else who was going to somewhere in Alberta. We started talking about Henry David Thoreau as we were both reading the same edition of "Walden". I was only about fifty pages in at the time and he was almost finished. We only talked about five or ten minutes before we both returned to the actual book. Also in Thunder Bay I bought a phone card as my cell phone was not getting any signal, and hadnt been since shortly after leaving The Sault. Thunder Bay was the low point of the whole trip. I had been on a bus all day and was not liking it. I asked myself if I was crazy for getting myself into this. I wanted to sleep in a bed. But I pressed on.
We left Thunder Bay shortly after 11. I would not see another lake til we got into British Columbia. At around one in the morning I took a swig from my bottle of nyquil which quickly took effect. I awoke the next morning shortly after dawn literally seconds before crossing over into Manitoba. I was amazed at how quickly the landscape changed from the rocky Canadian shield into the vast open Prarie. To my right was the north and to my left was the south and both were completely open as far as the horizon. Ahead the Trans Canada highway went in one straight line towards the horizon as well. I had never been in a place so wide open. It was the first of many such moments I would have on the trip. Also when I woke up that morning a peaceful feeling came over me. I guess I had accepted that this bus trip was going to be a long one and it no longer bothered me. From then on long bus rides stopped bothering me at all. A few hours later we arrived in Winnipeg where we would transfer to another bus. By then my cell phone worked and I noticed its time had automatically switched when we changed time zones. I really liked the look of Manitoba, very clean from what I saw of it. After we arrived I took a walk around the downtown area seeing as we had a few hours to kill and the weather was great. Down the street from the Greyhound station was the provincial legislature. I found it kind of odd that it was the first one I had ever seen. Even now I find it odd that Ive been to the capital of every western province but I still have never been to Toronto. Oh well, maybe someday. Its not really on my to-do list though. The only sight I wanted to see in Winnipeg was the grave of Louis Riel. To me Riel is one of the most interesting figures in Canadian history and to see his grave would make him more real. I had calculated in advance how long it would take me to walk to his grave and back to the bus station and unfortunately it was a little to risky to make the trip now. Had I gone it was possible I would miss the bus out of Winnipeg and have to wait 10 to 12 hours for the next one.
Part III will come at a later time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVjFm23C-wE
By the time I got to the bus station it had already been there. There were quite a few people there who were waiting. In the end two buses left Sudbury, both were completely full when we left. I sat at the very back of the bus directly beside the bathroom door. There I would stay until we switched buses in Winnipeg the following morning.
A few hours into the trip my back started to hurt which was a bad sign for me. Afterall I had another two and a half days to go before I'd arrive in Vancouver. The stops proved to be very helpful. We stopped for lunch in Sault Ste. Marie. The last time I was there was for the Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot concerts back in April. Over that weekend I got to know the downtown area fairly well which came in handy. Most people went to Tim Horton's, I went to The Pita Pit which was around the block.
Shortly before The Sault a 19 year old aspiring sci-fi writer came on the bus. For about two hours I listened to him talk about a world he had created for his stories. I asked him a few questions about how its society worked and things like that and was surprised when he had an answer and explained many things in great detail. I eventually got bored with it though and started listening to some podcasts from the CBC. He quickly found another listener though. Eventually he pulled out a laptop and started writing. I was tempted to do the same but I had three days and one battery to live off. Instead I just took in the scenery.
After The Sault there is a lot of great views of Lake Superior. The last time I had travelled that far on the Trans Canada Highway was 1998. I was 10 and was with my grandmother and an aunt. That trip took me to Schreiber for about three days and then to Thunder Bay overnight. That was as far west as I had been up until this trip. Along this route I found myself remembering that trip from 11 years before. That was the first time I had seen one of the Great Lakes and it was quite a sight. It was the first time I had seen water stretch out beyond the horizon, even now that type of view has an effect on me. I find myself wondering what lies beyond even though I do know, Michigan, and Minnesota.
Also around this leg of the trip I met a Viet Nam vet who I would end up talking to regularly all the way to Vancouver. He told me that he makes this bus trip from Windsor to Vancouver several times a year. I asked him if one gets used to such a long trip, "Sort of". He was very open about his war experiences which interested me greatly. He had been wounded several times and even lost most of one of his arms a month into his second tour. He moved to Canada less than a year after returning from Viet Nam. I never got his name unfortunately. Actually, I never got a name from most of the people I met on the trip.
I watched a movie later that night about the aftermath of Gram Parson's death. Pretty funny but I dont remember what it was called. When I looked up after the movie was over I could see the Sleeping Giant. I knew then that Thunder Bay was near, as was the dividing line between the known and unknown for me. By the time we actually got into Thunder Bay it was dark. We were there for about an hour or so. I had something to eat in the restaurant and met someone else who was going to somewhere in Alberta. We started talking about Henry David Thoreau as we were both reading the same edition of "Walden". I was only about fifty pages in at the time and he was almost finished. We only talked about five or ten minutes before we both returned to the actual book. Also in Thunder Bay I bought a phone card as my cell phone was not getting any signal, and hadnt been since shortly after leaving The Sault. Thunder Bay was the low point of the whole trip. I had been on a bus all day and was not liking it. I asked myself if I was crazy for getting myself into this. I wanted to sleep in a bed. But I pressed on.
We left Thunder Bay shortly after 11. I would not see another lake til we got into British Columbia. At around one in the morning I took a swig from my bottle of nyquil which quickly took effect. I awoke the next morning shortly after dawn literally seconds before crossing over into Manitoba. I was amazed at how quickly the landscape changed from the rocky Canadian shield into the vast open Prarie. To my right was the north and to my left was the south and both were completely open as far as the horizon. Ahead the Trans Canada highway went in one straight line towards the horizon as well. I had never been in a place so wide open. It was the first of many such moments I would have on the trip. Also when I woke up that morning a peaceful feeling came over me. I guess I had accepted that this bus trip was going to be a long one and it no longer bothered me. From then on long bus rides stopped bothering me at all. A few hours later we arrived in Winnipeg where we would transfer to another bus. By then my cell phone worked and I noticed its time had automatically switched when we changed time zones. I really liked the look of Manitoba, very clean from what I saw of it. After we arrived I took a walk around the downtown area seeing as we had a few hours to kill and the weather was great. Down the street from the Greyhound station was the provincial legislature. I found it kind of odd that it was the first one I had ever seen. Even now I find it odd that Ive been to the capital of every western province but I still have never been to Toronto. Oh well, maybe someday. Its not really on my to-do list though. The only sight I wanted to see in Winnipeg was the grave of Louis Riel. To me Riel is one of the most interesting figures in Canadian history and to see his grave would make him more real. I had calculated in advance how long it would take me to walk to his grave and back to the bus station and unfortunately it was a little to risky to make the trip now. Had I gone it was possible I would miss the bus out of Winnipeg and have to wait 10 to 12 hours for the next one.
Part III will come at a later time.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
August 4th, The Concert.
I parted ways with my father in mid afternoon on Tuesday, the night of the concert. I had spend the previous four days in North Bay with him and the visit went very well all things considered. He had to head back to North Bay for work the following day and I had the concert and the beginning of the long awaited trip the next day. Earlier in the day I thought for about a minute that I would not be able to take the trip. I had gone to the Greyhound station in Sudbury to claim my ticket to Vancouver which I had already purchased online. The man at the counter told me that they had a record of the purchase but the ticket had been erased and could not be recovered. We argued for a few minutes and eventually the man relented. He wrote out the ticket by hand and I was satisfied with this. I hoped I would not have to deal with this everywhere I went on this journey.
At about 7:45 PM I left the hotel to go to the arena for the concert. The main event was to be Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, formerly of The Guess Who. I didnt have to wait long before they let us in, I noted that the apparent lack of security. When I had come in November to see Bob Dylan there were dozens of security people everywhere. I went to my seat and noticed half the floor was empty, and remained empty for the whole night. I looked at the areas I had sat at or stood at for previous events in this arena and remembered some things from those nights. I've been to more concerts in this arena than any other place. On the screens adjacent to the stage they were playing a video from the making of Bachman Cummings "Jukebox" album from a few years ago. Unfortunately the sound was too low to really understand much of it. The opening act was Booker T and the MG's, much to my surprise. Most of you have probably heard "Green Onions", even if you dont recognize the name. It was an early hit of theirs back in the 1960s. They played a forty five minute set and at the end Booker T handed a member of the audience a copy of their latest record. After about twenty minutes the main event started. They opened with an early Guess Who song, "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon". It was a pretty good show. They played stuff from the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and from Burton Cumming's solo career. I noticed Burton Cummings was wearing a t-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix on the front. Interesting choice. They played most of the hits, "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", "Let it Ride", "Break it to them Gently" and the obligatory "These Eyes" and "American Woman". For "American Woman" there was an extended intro in which Cummings took quotes from several songs by The Doors. I remember seeing an interview of Cummings spoke of how on his first night in Los Angelas he met Jim Morrison and went on quite the adventure for a few hours. Cummings did most of the talking. He introduced "Hey You" as a 'song Randy wrote when he wasnt very fond of me'.
When they came back for the encore they each held one end of the Canadian flag for a few minutes before returning to their instruments. The final two songs were "Share the Land" and "Taking Care of Business". It was a very good concert. I never thought I'd get the chance to hear these songs performed by the people who wrote them and did them originally. I've heard a lot of them performed by bar bands but coming from those who wrote them is something special. I went back to the hotel and stayed up for about an hour before going to bed. It would be tree nights before I slept in a bed again.
At about 7:45 PM I left the hotel to go to the arena for the concert. The main event was to be Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings, formerly of The Guess Who. I didnt have to wait long before they let us in, I noted that the apparent lack of security. When I had come in November to see Bob Dylan there were dozens of security people everywhere. I went to my seat and noticed half the floor was empty, and remained empty for the whole night. I looked at the areas I had sat at or stood at for previous events in this arena and remembered some things from those nights. I've been to more concerts in this arena than any other place. On the screens adjacent to the stage they were playing a video from the making of Bachman Cummings "Jukebox" album from a few years ago. Unfortunately the sound was too low to really understand much of it. The opening act was Booker T and the MG's, much to my surprise. Most of you have probably heard "Green Onions", even if you dont recognize the name. It was an early hit of theirs back in the 1960s. They played a forty five minute set and at the end Booker T handed a member of the audience a copy of their latest record. After about twenty minutes the main event started. They opened with an early Guess Who song, "Runnin' Back to Saskatoon". It was a pretty good show. They played stuff from the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and from Burton Cumming's solo career. I noticed Burton Cummings was wearing a t-shirt with an image of Jimi Hendrix on the front. Interesting choice. They played most of the hits, "No Time", "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature", "Let it Ride", "Break it to them Gently" and the obligatory "These Eyes" and "American Woman". For "American Woman" there was an extended intro in which Cummings took quotes from several songs by The Doors. I remember seeing an interview of Cummings spoke of how on his first night in Los Angelas he met Jim Morrison and went on quite the adventure for a few hours. Cummings did most of the talking. He introduced "Hey You" as a 'song Randy wrote when he wasnt very fond of me'.
When they came back for the encore they each held one end of the Canadian flag for a few minutes before returning to their instruments. The final two songs were "Share the Land" and "Taking Care of Business". It was a very good concert. I never thought I'd get the chance to hear these songs performed by the people who wrote them and did them originally. I've heard a lot of them performed by bar bands but coming from those who wrote them is something special. I went back to the hotel and stayed up for about an hour before going to bed. It would be tree nights before I slept in a bed again.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The End of Summer, Perhaps
I've noticed that the sun has been coming out more often lately. Strange considering how elusive it was all summer. Then again there was a bit of a heat wave in June but that was about it.
This summer was quite exciting. Well, three or four weeks of it anyway. I saw Blue Rodeo for the fourth time, then went on to see Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip and Bachman Cummings. Too bad the latter cant use The Guess Who name anymore, seeing as about half the songs they play are from when they were The Guess Who. After that I went on an epic road trip across Canada that took me 13,374 km over the course of three and a half weeks. I'll go into far more detail about that trip at a later time.
I have no idea how much I'll "blog" on here. I haven't been in the habit of doing these in a few years now. We'll see.
This summer was quite exciting. Well, three or four weeks of it anyway. I saw Blue Rodeo for the fourth time, then went on to see Sam Roberts, The Tragically Hip and Bachman Cummings. Too bad the latter cant use The Guess Who name anymore, seeing as about half the songs they play are from when they were The Guess Who. After that I went on an epic road trip across Canada that took me 13,374 km over the course of three and a half weeks. I'll go into far more detail about that trip at a later time.
I have no idea how much I'll "blog" on here. I haven't been in the habit of doing these in a few years now. We'll see.
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