A little side trip...

After about 16 years and some number of months, days, weeks etc. finally decided to travel to Sri Lanka the birthplace of my parents, fine tea, and... I'm note sure what else - hence my desire to go back and discover something about the country of my origin.

Anyway regardless of reasons the trip itself is one I intend document through a written journal and when the opportunity presents itself update appropriate entries to my blog with a few pictures to liven things up.

My trip began in Calgary August 11th (I could have taken a cheaper flight on Sept 11th, but for some reason decided against it). The route I would be taking went from Calgary to Vancouver then a direct flight to Honk Kong, a 10 hour layover followed by a flight to Colombo via Singapore.

First day of journey took the quick flight to Vancouver and discovered that I could get my checked luggage sent all the way to Colombo without having to collect them in Hong Kong during my short layover - a nice bonus. As well the plane going to Hong Kong was delayed by a few hours so had to wait a bit longer than expected - not quite a nice bonus. Although they did provide a meal voucher and did give the whole "terminal" feel.

Took a few random pictures of the art around the airport and found a place to sleep while waiting for the aircraft.

Groggily got up for the boarding call for the Hong Kong flight, ended up with a window seat which I thought was good for taking pictures and was relatively pleased (at the time). The flight left around 6 am Wensday morning and immediately the plane went into "night" mode - I suppose they were set to local time and was preparing the passengers for the time zone difference. They served us a light dinner and promptly encouraged sleep, of course there was a nice entertainment system in each system that included basic 8-bit games and video on demand with movies, TV shows and other programs. I was sitting next to a very nice couple heading to Malaysia for vacation, though was too tired to go into long conversations.

The rest of the trip was uneventful until we prepared to arrive in Hong Kong. Oddly enough found it hard to believe that I was travelling but seeing the HK skyline through the window helped me realize that fact.

That's it for now, I'll next post will deal with HK and arrival in Sri Lanka.

"On the Highway of Life..."

Well, the blog is mobile! Currently at a little web cafe in Merrit BC (the Country music capital of Canada! - seriously). Just about to take my second 10 day course and the Vipassana meditation centre, the first time learnt a lot... just not enough it seems. Anyway don't have a lot of time, so this will just be a placement post for now.

'One of the greatest movies ever... '

Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle will always be one of my favourite movies, not for outstanding writing, comedy or plot... mainly it was the first movie I saw where the east indian guy wasn't speaking with an accent as well was just played as a normal/stoner guy who happened to have brown skin.
So when I saw the preview for this, well I was nearly extatic with joy... or just really wanted to see a funny movie for once. Oh and this site is just classic, I'm not sure how they originally came up for the idea of NPH as a character but, wow, it works on so many levels (no I am not high at the moment).
Okay truthfully, the movie is retarded but it's non-thinking entertainment, no hidden subtext or interpetation, no tear jerker moments (I think) and just a lot of random humor from the lower end of the spectrum. What more can you ask for, so I'll going to try see it as soon as I can but in the mean time ... What would NPH do?

Later

"Wish it was a dog's life"

I've been having a wierd few days, something feels off... ah well. Anyway have been tempted to reactivate my Facebook account, mostly because my birthday is coming up - yeah, birthday wishes no matter how shallow are always nice to recieve. Actually don't think I'll really do much this year, can't really say I feel like there is much to celebrate. Bah, no point in dwelling on anything, soooooo... hmm, not much else going on, trying to figure out how much a round the world trip would be (flights alone is around $3000), what I'm going to do in the summer when my contract runs out, how on earth to keep to a proper diet and excercise routine, finish accounting courses, trying to get website up finally, get car repaired, learn guitar, eat more vegetables and find out how LOST ends. So I guess there is a lot of stuff to do, just really don't feel up to doing any of it, I really wouldn't mind living a dog's life every now and then.

'What's this responsibility thing?'





In the past year I've had a lot of changes, I've went from a couple of dead-end jobs to one that has potential for a career, I've made new friends and sadly realized I had outgrown others, I'm independent and actually own a car (that isn't a 1980 Chevy Malibu Wagon), I've come to an understanding of what my faith is and how I see other people, I went to my first concert and found new music to refresh my spirit, I have joined a sports team and can feel improvements every time I play, I learned how to drive a standard, I have done many things that a couple of years ago I didn't think was possible for me... yet, it still feels ... small.
I've taken a look at some old diaries I kept from as far back as 1989, it's weird looking back at the words your former self has written... it's funny, sad, irritating and can be awfully depressing. Taking a look at the hopes and goals from a ghost of a memory, as I read the lines of faded pages from a cheap plastic covered notepad - all I can feel is guilt, for letting down the person who wrote up their ideas and dreams. It seems a bit harsh, though it's the truth, I'm turning 29 on April 28th... then another year till 30, and all I can look at is what my younger selves envisioned for the future - and this surely isn't it.
It is a dangerous place to be in, though fortunately my experience the past year had given my the strength to deal with it. I have learned acceptance, the past can't be changed though I can still learn from it, hopefully in the next year I can live up to the expectations my childhood composed. I just have to keep trying and with unflinching gaze see what must be done to fulfill the promises I made to myself, I know of others who were crushed by the wieght of expections from prior dreams and truly I can understand how hard it is to have enough faith in the future to keep trying. I guess that's why we are here though, to keep trying with faith in who we are and what we could be.

The picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post... look at the pretty kitty.


So where to begin...

It's been odd the last few months, and honesly I wonder how much of this is relevant for this blog. When I orginally started this little tiny piece of realestate on the web, the plan was to give opinionated views on current events and analysis of topics around the world (a bit lofty I admit). As time wore on and actual time spent reading news was purely ... nonexistant, the blog just became a general impressions of what I thought and what my current take on what I see in this life. The tone of the blog itself became more introspective, I would (will) ask questions without real answers and provide answers that really made no sense.

So taking that into account, it's probably to change my perception of how I use this site and what I put on it. It will probably be just a place to write randomly and vent, it has actually been a long time since I truly expressed anything in word, art, paperclip art ect. While I haven't really attempted to make any sense in my previous blogs, there will be a higher instance of randomness and lesser amount of coherent thought in the future blogs. Probably I'm just tired of trying to make myself understood, and really just want to write randomly in the open forum of the internet and maybe catch the interest of an organization with money they need to through at someone... hey the lottery makes about as much sense.
So in closing... SPOON!

It's been another long spell between posts... I could accept the approriate blame but instead I'll shift the indignant outrage to the proper source - Facebook! The off again, on again interest in this juggernaut of 'social connectivity' has finnally run its course with my desire for sanity, to the point I have indeed quit the site altogether (though I admit for the second time - this time for sure I swear!).
Not that I think (as some have suggested) that Facebook is a sign of the anti-christ and that the makers are beings of pure evil with hatred in their hearts and a desire for consuming puppies and kittens ... for god sakes they aren't jugglers.... ahem, getting back to 'le pointe'.
Facebook is basically a site where you register to index yourself with everyone else and then search for the random people you've encountered in your lifetime. Upon finding such peoples one proceeds to call them 'friends' and then inundates them with mass mailouts of quizes, triva, pointless games, vampire/zombie/werewolf invitations (...yeah) etc, etc. The breaking point for me was an old coworker contacting me on facebook to join a pyramid scheme, at that point my disillusion with the Facebook phenom was complete.
Truthfully the 'friends' on Facebook who I did not keep in contact with through other means I really didn't have much to say to and most likely it was vice versa... and then trying to keep up with the social drama between groups is something else entirely.
Of course if one can manage their way through the rigors of online social networking more power to them, though still for all, I'd much rather have friends that allowed me to spend more time away from the computer screen than a prerequisite.