Of Princes, puddles and Olympic games

It has been a busy few weeks out here on the Wet coast of North America. November seems to be zooming along at a great pace. Our future King made an appearance in Vancouver, sparking all sorts of debate about the role of the monarchy in this Dominion and whether it will end with the demise of our Queen. The final phase of Olympics tickets went on sale in Vancouver. I didn't get any tickets. And it has been raining like crazy here. Apparently about 220mm worth of it. I also went and met up with some people whose story is quite a good one.

Let's start with our Prince. As many of you hopefully know, Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy. In rough terms, that means that we are part of a Kingdom or realm... in this case, one headed by the House of Windsor. We have a monarch. We like to call it the Canadian Monarchy. The Canadian Crown. This is rather important. For example, when speaking of the Queen in the context of Canada, she is Queen Elizabeth II of Canada (and then Great Britain and her other dominions). She's also Elizabeth II, la Reine du Canada. She is the Head of State. When she is in Canada, her Royal Standard is flown and takes precedence over any other flag. She is the head of the Canadian Royal family. I make the painful distinction to point out how much she is a part of _our_ country. She is Canadian. Pretty much everything you see in this country is connected to her. Our money has her face plastered all over it. Our Parliamentarians are Her Majesty's parliamentarians. This is Her Majesty's government. There is Her Majesty's loyal opposition. All land owned by the government is called Crown land. That is, it is owned by the Crown. She is Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Canada. The Law Courts are courts of the Crown. Our laws are not laws until they get Royal Ascent (which means the Queen signs it into law). When you break them or take the government to court, it is in her name that you will be prosecuted. That is, it is you vs Regina.

This country would not function without the Crown. So far so good right? Well, now come the kinks. Enter HRH Prince Charles, heir apparent to the Canadian throne. And his wife who will one day become Queen of Canada. Sure, they say she will never use the title, but legally, the wife of the King will be Queen. It doesn't work the other way. That is to say, the husband of my Queen regnant will only be Prince Consort and never King. Thank god for that. A lot of people seem to think Canada needs to move away from the monarchy and become a Republic. Sure, it sounds sexy. Others have done it, why not us? What is the relevance of a monarchy in the 21st century? Who needs a Queen or a King, especially ones that live far away in Great Britain? What are we, second class citizens that we have to be dictated to by a bunch of people in a stuffy palace somewhere in England?

Those are some of the sentiments I have heard. There are some merits to these questions. Why shouldn't we become a Republic? Well, because it makes little sense to change the form of government we have. What sort of Republic would we want to be? An American style Republic where the head of government and the head of state are the same? A Westminster style Republic like many of our brothers in the Commonwealth where a ceremonial President is head of State while the power to govern is in the hands of a Prime Minister? Or should we just elect our own King or Queen? Or Governor General? I'll get to the whole Governor General and head of state in a second. But what are our choices? I don't like any of the alternatives. For one, they cost too much. If we elect a head of State like a President or Governor General wannabe, we will surely go down the road to hell. If there is anything I have learned as a resident (and citizen) of Canada, it is that our politicians, while they mean well, can't make big decisions. If I may borrow a line from the fantastic fabrication that is Braveheart, it is to say that our politicians cannot agree on the colour o' shite if their lives depended on it. We will spend the rest of our days in Constitutional limbo trying to figure out if the head of state should be a francophone or a visible minority or a francophone woman from a minority. And then of course, he or she would be political... they will be Liberal or Conservative or have Socialist leanings and what not. The office of whatever you want to call it will forever be plagued with complaints about bias. That is surely not better than what we have today.

My main argument for keeping the system as it is, is as follows. The Queen is a fairly benign entity to Canada. She's our head of State and lives elsewhere. She is above politics. She doesn't cost us that much (aside from whatever expenses we incur when she or her family come to visit and whatever Rideau Hall ends up spending on flowers). The Crown has worked well (and quite well at that) for over 400 years. Changing the system will cost far too much. Would you really want to reprint all of our money? Change every symbol related to government that is out there? Remember that pretty much anything out here has a Royal something attached to it. You can't walk away from that and keep the relics of the monarchy. What will we be left with? Nothing. Will we have the Canadian Coldstream guards? The Canadian Blackwatch? The Royal Canadian Mint? The Royal Regiment of Canada? Royal Warrants? The Gray Cup? Lord Stanley's cup? Do you really want it to be called Don Cherry's tacky cup and have it dressed in some god awful fabric (don't get me wrong, I like the guy, but really..)? No. We will lose all that.

Do not forget that we are British North America. We are _still_ part of the British empire, whatever stage it is in. We are different from others on our Continent. We have a heritage and tradition that is free from the fires of Revolution. We are Canadians. I don't get why we have such an issue with our heritage. We are the ones who collectively went to war for others freedom an ocean away. And not once at that. Being a Constitutional monarchy does not diminish who we are as Canadians. She is _our_ Queen. Remember that. And after her time, he will be _our_ King. My King. I don't care who the 'he' is, but I have tremendous respect for what it represents. It has given our country 400 years of stability and god forbid the day we ruin it. The last argument I will make about this is as it relates to our francophone population. Yes, the English won on the plains of Abraham. Yes the French lost. But we are Canadians. We are not English and French. We are British Columbians and Quebecers. We are the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens. We are not the French from France or the English from England. We are Canadians. This is our heritage. I am very proud of the fact that Canada is a bilingual country. One of my hopes is that one day we all embrace it to the point where we can understand and converse as easily in one language as we can in the other. Anyway, long story short, God save the Queen and leave my head of State and government alone. Worry about why Canadian teams haven't won the Stanley cup in over 16 years.

So actually, this isn't the last about my bit on the government. Let me clarify. When the Queen is not in town, she appoints a representative. This person is nominated by the government (more correctly, by the Prime Minister) to represent Her Majesty when she's not in town. That person is called the Governor General. In every province (since we are a federalist government), there is a Lieutenant Governor who is HM's representative in the province. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown in Canada when the head of State is NOT in Canada. The moment she sets foot in Canada, she assumes the title of Queen of Canada and the Governor General retires to a nice place somewhere in Rideau Hall perhaps. I have heard (and read) more than once that the Governor General is the Head of State of Canada. That's just horse shit. The Governor General is the representative of the Crown. Canada's head of State is Her Majesty in the Right of Canada, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. Please get that right. There are no ifs and or buts about that.

Onto the Olympics. One reason why HRH Prince Charles came here was to inspect our progress in getting ready for the games. I tried very unsuccessfully to get tickets to see anything at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler. I can't tell you how disappointed and angry I am that I couldn't even get into the damn site to get tickets. I mean, what the heck? I sure as hell hope that whoever ended up buying all those tickets does not get to sell them back to the public for a profit. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and not one where the grubby greedy hands of cretans should be allowed to spoil my chance at cheering my national team to victory. All that was left when all was said and done were tickets to some crappy hockey games (Belarus vs Sweden, really? $140 for that? I could have watched the Canadians play the Americans for that) and the victory ceremony. What a rip-off.

It has been pouring cats and dogs out here. I can't believe how much rain has fallen. We actually have puddles. We have a pretty decent drainage system here because of all the rain we do get, but with the fall leaves covering drains, we are seeing flooding in places. Apparently, over 200mm of rain has fallen in the last 2 days. Crazy! I got drenched today going to and coming back from work. Its not all that good when its slightly above freezing with crazy winds out there. I love the rain. But getting this much of it in such a short period really makes me wish for summer to be here now. Someone told me today that the monsoons have arrived. And they are right. Except for the lack of warmth and the thunder. Its outright soggy and mushy out there... eek. And apparently, the temperature is rising and so all that snow from the last couple of weeks is melting. Not good for all those who live by creeks and on hills. Let's hope we get through without too much damage.

And finally, onto a good story. This story does not have a good beginning if you ask me. It starts with a war. In an area called Indo-China. Where various people were fighting Communists and Capitalists and working hard to kill one another. A family of 4 escaped that mess. They somehow got on a boat from there and somehow ended up in Canada. The father was 40 at the time. The mother 40 as well. The children, just wee little ones. They had nothing. They didn't have a grasp of the language. The weather was alien to them. Years went by. They worked hard. Very hard. They prospered. Twenty-five years later, at 65, the father was celebrating his birthday with his friends and his first grand child. He speaks with grateful tears of what he has accomplished. Of what this country gave him. A chance to live the dream. He has a lovely house, plenty of food and most importantly, health, hope, faith and love. This man is the father of one of my good friends. And that wee boy has, like me, moved back from America back to Vancouver :).

Stories like Viet's are why I am so proud to be Canadian. It shows that these countries take in people in need and give them a fighting chance. To succeed and become productive citizens. As Emma Lazarus wrote,

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Our brethren to the South espouse this and so do we. Thank god for these countries. It makes me appreciate what I had and still have. I have two homes. No one chased me away. No disaster made me leave. My parents did. But I go home. And I go home with joy knowing that I belong in both places.

Though he may have a limited command of the English language, that old man expresses his thanks for living here in as many words as he can. The sentiment is quite clear. His joy is also very clear. And his instructions to me are also very clear. Get married soon. He's apparently expecting 10 grand children. And we get to contribute :). Oh and in case you thought he was too busy celebrating his birthday, he did find time to ask me what my religion was and to tell me the neighbour across the street is also Hindu and that he has a daughter about the right age for marriage. Happy 65th Birthday Mr. and Mrs. Le (who is 5 days younger!). I hope to celebrate many, many more with you guys. And I assure you, the day I find the right woman, I'll let you know. If you find her before me, send her my way.

I learned a lot this week. I love my countries. I love my life. I am very lucky. Even if I am still somewhat drenched :). God save the Queen and Jai Hind.

And what have we learned, Charlie Brown?

I came across this video as I was reading up on things and I thought it was rather a nice way to remind ourselves of our recent past. Sometimes, Charles Schulz had a way of teaching all of us young and old a little bit about the world. All I can say is, we shall never forget.

Tell me this isn't so

I have something of a set ritual every day when I wake up. I try and dodge the alarm clocks. I have an old little analogue alarm clock I set for around 6am. I also have the alarm on the blackberry set to (depending on how I feel the night before) about the same time. I usually don't hear the regular clock for whatever reason. Anyway, one favourite technique of avoiding the alarm is to wake up, pick up the blackberry and head back to bed. I keep the thing deliberately away from arm's reach so that I have to get up to turn it off. Usually, it ends up with me taking the phone back to bed with me and leaving it by my head so I can hit snooze again in 10 minutes. Sometimes, I read the already queued up emails (being on the West Coast of North America means that the Indians, Chinese and the East Coasters have already finished/started their day). I also, if I am up for it, check facebook and the BBC in that order. And so it was Friday morning last week. The headline of course, in case you have forgotten, is that the President of the United States won the Nobel Prize for peace. I dozed off. I think I woke up at the next alarm ring and checked again to make sure I wasn't dreaming that one up.

I wasn't. My first reaction was... for what? Traditionally, the Nobel prizes are held in fairly high prestige around the world. Its not so much that people compete to win, its more just something very prestigious to be associated with. I know that my Alma Mater has been dreaming forever of winning more Nobel prizes. To date, we have a single one, that of Dr. Michael Smith. There are other measures of a research university besides winning Nobel prizes (say, publishing in a prestigious journal like the Lancet or Nature)... but winning a Nobel prize seems to be the gold standard as it were.

The peace prize is probably the only controversial one of the lot. It seems like they are given out (not always) for political reasons. That is not to say that many of the winners are not worthy; people like Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela and organisations like the ICRC are perhaps the epitome of the award but sometimes, the Norwegians hand the award out to some questionable characters out there. Like say one Henry Kissinger. Someone many people consider worthy of being sent to the Hague to be tried for crimes of war committed primarily in many South American countries during his time in the State Department and as National Security advisor. One such event was that other September 11th, way back in 1973, for those who care to go find out more. Or say Arafat, Rabin and Peres. Or Al Gore. And now Obama.

Nevermind that the citations were for some noble cause in most cases; in the case of Kissinger, it was for the end of the hell that was the Vietnam war, in the case of the trio from the middle-east, it was for the Oslo Accord. Al Gore won probably because of that film he made and for his talk on global warming in a country that officially didn't accept it (at the time anyway). I am sure there are plenty of people out there who believe, one way or the other that these people didn't deserve their awards and should be thrown in prison or mocked for their hypocrisy or something like that. Equally, I am sure there are those out there that believe their contributions were legitimate to the Nobel committee's stated citation, no matter what they did before or since.

The Obama nomination is something else though. Pretty much anyone else prior has done _something_ to deserve their award. We can point to something tangible to justify that. Henry Kissinger _did_ help end the war in Vietnam. The three musketeers from the Middle East _did_ indeed sign the Oslo accord (and Clinton made sure they shook hands) in the (I think genuine) hopes of making peace amongst their people. US President Obama was nominated two weeks after he was sworn in as President. His citation talks about "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Aside from making a promise to close the illegal prison in Cuba, he had not done much else other than being a) not Bush and b) the first half-black President of the United States. His election did indeed bring about something of a renewal in the United States. People seem to have genuine hope and a wish for a more progressive prosperous and non-violent United States. Or at least one that is much more multilateral than the prior administration.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am not anti-Obama or pro-Obama. I am merely interested in the man. Generally, I think he has been good for the image of the United States; Obama is much more palatable as the person representing the United States compared to the cretins from the previous 8 years. Some of them are probably responsible for crimes against humanity and will never face justice for their crimes. But that is the world we live in. Obama is also a very eloquent man who has expressed some incredibly noble thoughts and ideas to various parts of the world. I recall seeing a survey they conducted in Canada which said that Canadians would elect Obama by a 94% margin. For those keeping score, that is much higher than the percentage the Americans themselves were willing to elect him by. Not that the poll has much credence because a) it is a poll, b) Canadians do not get to elect American presidents and c) Canadians are a lot more left leaning than our American cousins. Suffice to say, Obama is a rock star in Canada. Canadians probably know more about him and his life than they do about their own leadership.

Anyway, the point here is to ask what exactly Obama has done so far to be given the Nobel prize for peace. I am baffled as to what he has done to strengthen anything. He hasn't said silly things like "If you're not with us, you're against us" for example, but does that qualify to put him the same league as Linus Pauling? He hasn't started any new wars based on highly questionable intelligence or flimsy lies. Does that qualify him? He hasn't added any new country to the Axis of Evil yet. Is that enough? He hasn't really made any headway with any of the issues that the world has put on his plate (and ones he has gladly championed)... the plight of Cuba, the lunacy of what is going on in the Middle East, the mess the previous administration left with the two active wars, the illegal prison in Cuba, the support for questionable governments (like the ones in Pakistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia), the alarming changes in climate and so on and on and on. He is the President of the United States, not the President of the rest of the world. Just because we want him to solve all the problems out there... it doesn't mean he will. I don't know what he has done to get the award. I am baffled as to why he was given the award.

Note that this is jealousy or some kind of anti-American rant or anything like that. I've so far heard many people have issues with people questioning the logic behind handing him the award. I feel that some of these die-hard supporters of Obama consider than in the same vein as someone picking up a rusty nail and poking the eye balls out of a cute puppy and then stomping it to death. I mean, yes, he's a half-black man, he won fair and square in the election and he means well and electing him is quite an accomplishment for the United States of America in their quest to reconcile their sordid past... but he is no god or demi-god for that matter. He's just a guy. And he's going to do what all the guys before him did. Protect the interests of his country in a world where there are winners and losers. That means that if it makes economic/political/military sense, he will support a murderous regime. That means he will gladly do trade with one communist regime while doing his best to starve another. It means that he will always see one group of middle easterners as legitimate and the other as corrupt and one that encourages terrorism. This isn't going to change. Obama may be a half-black President. But he's not nuts.

Or maybe I have underestimated the Nobel committee. Perhaps they are much smarter than I give them credit for. Perhaps they have hanged the carcass of the dead albatross around Captain Obama's neck while he navigates the rough waters of the world. Perhaps they have pigeon-holed him into not doing anything too nasty by giving him the peace prize. Because after all, the expectation of the world now is for him to live up to the award he already been given. This is a bit orthodox if you ask me, but it might just work. Give someone an award and maybe, just maybe, you can force them into acting for the collective good of the world.

At any rate, interesting times are ahead.

Realisations made while driving around town

One of the things I missed terribly while I was out of Vancouver was the lacking in my life of interesting events that I actually enjoy. Not the type where someone tries to break into the house... I mean pleasant things. I've done some interesting things in the spur of the moment... and on Sunday, my friend and I decided to drive all the way across town to get a burger. Not an ordinary burger mind you, this is one good burger. Except I didn't get one. Because I had already eaten. Anyway, to Vera's we went.

As is usual with most of my friends, we talk about a few staples. I think most guys talk pretty much about the same things. Women. Cars. Sports (if we can agree on what). Money maybe. We somehow ended up on the topic of women. We pulled into a petrol station and there in the next pump was this absolutely gorgeous woman filling petrol in her car and then wiping her windows down. There was something incredibly attractive about that. It helped that she was indeed very good looking and she had a very nice car (a Honda Prelude custom painted in purple with some really nice rims). She seemed to be a Broncos fan too for some reason... at least that's what the team in Denver is called I think. How do I know? She was wearing a Broncos sweatshirt. I looked over and my friend was not quite paying attention to the filling of gas, he was staring at her like I was while pretending to fiddle around with the fuel tank lid.

I wanted to honk the horn and tell her that she's welcome to wipe his car too since she seemed to enjoy wiping hers. But I didn't. Nor did I step out of the car and go say hi. Why? I mean realistically, what is the worst thing that could happen? She would probably leave and think I was some kind of pervert. No harm done, the chances are, I will never see her again anyway. But that got me thinking... what does a guy have to do to meet a girl? I've been to plenty of bars since I turned 18. I think I've talked to a handful of women. None of them were very interesting. And apart from the couple of women who took a fancy to me (and that always makes me wonder what trick she has up her sleeve...), I would not say I have had good times meeting women at bars. Not that I am looking to meet some bar wench... but that's where a lot of people here seem to go to meet others. The chances of meeting a sane and sober woman in a bar and having a conversation I consider normal are non-existent. Or at least as close to non-existent as I can tell from the past 10 or so years.

Where else? Work perhaps? I work in the software industry and in a little satellite office where meeting people who wear shoes is a relief... so the chances of me meeting a woman at work are also non-existent. And again, I am not sure meeting someone at work is a good thing... what with both your careers having the chance of going down the drain depending on corporate policies and what not. And unfortunately, the women in this field tend to be, in the words of a friend, third-world ugly.

Where else? The bus? That has never worked for me. Either I am trying to sleep on the bus or I am trying to read on the bus. And while I am surrounded by many women on the bus, I don't think I have ever talked to them in the 10 or so years I have taken the 99 B-line to UBC. I think you can easily come off as creepy or strange or whatever if you approach someone on the bus like that. One of my friends did ask a girl out on a date on the bus once... something about her eating carrots and him asking her to share. Somehow, that sounds very cheesy to me but it worked for him. Damn carrots.

So, where else is one to meet these elusive women? I've talked to plenty of them at stores and stuff. You know the smiling girls at the coffee shop or the store selling crap you don't need or at the local restaurant that only hires women of a certain body type. But they are just trying to do their best to make a sale or get a better tip or whatever. They are not interested in me or the fact that I can write backward or upside down at about the same speed as I can regularly. Or about what I do or what I want to do in life or why I think we should try and spend time researching micro-turbines as a way to generate energy using residential graywater...

I'm fresh out of ideas on where to meet them. I've had some success going anywhere where they exist with the two dogs... dogs are, as they say, chick magnets. But then, they are really interested in the dogs and not me. Most of the time, I stop and think and say, yeah, if I say or do something, it will come off as creepy. Now, I am not out to get a pound of flesh from society for making it this way... plenty of people meet plenty of other people, its just I don't know how and I don't know where to do it. If I listen to my family, their idea of solving this problem is to outsource it... literally. Lets send for a wife in India. Like you're shopping for a pair of shoes. If she has X education, she gets a check. If she's has this colour skin tone and her family is of this caste then we get a few more checks and what not. But that doesn't work for me. Chances are, some poor woman will end up being miserable here and make me miserable... all for some misguided chance at a 'better' life in Amrika that some lunatic in her family convinced her of. You know, the America where the ground is paved with gold and where we wipe our bottoms with rolls of Benjamins (and yes, many people I have met back home can't seem to fathom that there is a Canada that is different than America... which saddens me both for them and for Canada). All this is aside from the fact that people tend to treat you as a commodity... education, looks, skin tone, voice, height, weight, family connections... all have a value associated with it. Your aim is to maximise the value while staying within the confines of conch shells and ancient ways that somehow predict your future through the time you were born and the phase of the moon and which hind leg the family dog lifted up to pee the first time you saw it and what not. This isn't to say that women out there are nuts or gold diggers or anything... I have met just as many nice women out there as I can think of elsewhere... its just that I am still in the same situation... you approach them and god knows what kind of shit breaks loose.

So, here's my plea (maybe that sounds desperate... and it isn't desperation here) to the fairer sex: do us guys a favour and approach us once in a while. If you're interested in getting to know us, by George, do something about it. Because most of us won't find that creepy. Sure, I will still think you are secretly out to knock me unconscious somehow and tear out a kidney and make a run for it... but that's just a healthy imagination (and not paranoia :) ) at work. A lot of people seem to argue about equality and what not... things that were a product of the last century. I want to see that in action now. Come hit on me as it were. Ask me out on a date. I'll pick up the bill sometimes, you can do it some other times. Heck, I'll even drive.

Failing that... I guess I will have to just grow old alone. And you wouldn't want that now, would you? I'd be a burden on the healthcare system for god's sakes! It is in your interest, nay, it is your duty to make sure I don't end up old and alone. Or not. Thanks for reading.

What do you do when what you want is not achievable?

I've been trying to set myself realistic goals for where I want to be in life and trying hard to achieve them for a while now. Bear with me, I am no granola crunching hippie or some kind of new age practitioner or something... I am just a fat guy trying to not be so fat as it were. But what if you're goals are simply unachievable? I mean, what happens if you're goal is a worthy one and your work towards it admirable... but the chance of you achieving it nigh on impossible?

This week, His Holiness the Dalai Lama came to UBC and Vancouver for a conference on peace. While I am not one of those people who looks to Eastern philosophy for spiritual guidance (what with me being from the East and all), I genuinely do admire this man and his take on life. Regardless of what the official Chinese government and some others may call him, he is something of a spiritual being... someone a lot of people seem to be mesmerised by. He is no wolf in sheep's clothing as the bureaucrats in Beijing portray him to be, but he sure is something else. So nice that a whole load of kids took trains and buses and cars to go out to GM Place I think to hear him (and others) talk about peace.

He has articulated his dream of going back to Tibet for years now. But what are his chances? I mean, it is a lofty dream, it is definitely a worthy one, but realistically, what are the chances that he will ever set foot in Tibet again? In one word, none. Some revolutions will never come. Will he ever give up on the dream though? Not likely. Has his life been in vain? I don't know any more.

Sometimes, dreams are just dreams. Nice things you would like to have. Sometimes, you convince yourself they are worth your while and you pursue it pig-headedly even though you know in your mind that you are swimming against the tide and don't have a hope in hell of achieving them. And yet you pursue it like it was the only thing that mattered. Such is the human spirit. I wonder what happens to all those who spent their lifetimes into achieving their goals and ultimately failed. Do they die as unhappy souls only to be re-born into a world with a whole new purpose? Perhaps we are going into the supernatural here... but it does make me wonder.

At any rate, chase those dreams I say. Because they are what makes life worth living.

First day of classes

Tuesday, September 8, 1998. It was a somewhat sunny day. And it was the first day of classes at the University of British Columbia. It seems like such a long time ago now... but I recall back to those days fondly. From somewhere out there, came a naïve little person who spent 5 years of his life being moulded and influenced by that place, its ways and teachings only to end up working there... making this my 11th year on Campus (minus the year and a bit between graduating and working there and the 2 and a few years of which I spent in DC). I am still naïve, but I would like to think that I am a little less so.

A good friend and teacher once told me that after all these years of being immersed in something, he realised that he knew so little. I guess the difference for him is that he acknowledges and understands the scope of what he doesn't know. Someday I hope to be more enlightened. Every day is a journey towards that goal I suppose. Wish me luck. And the best of luck to the students who started (or are continuing) their academic lives at UBC. You're truly lucky.

Its the what's up edition

I haven't been blogging as much as I would like now that I am back in Vancouver. Why? I've been busy doing other things. Like climbing mountains and swimming laps and working. Being home is great. Working from here is a bit of a different story though. But there's no point writing about that. Because not much will change.

Anyway, what have I been up to? I've been lazy of late in terms of apartment hunting. I haven't done much travelling. I haven't really lost a lot of weight. But I am happy. And that wasn't the case before. I am perfectly happy enjoying what is left of summer. I have to say, I have come to a few realisations. First, being happy is important. Far more important than earning more money. Second, I missed sushi. Third, friends are awesome. And fourth, having a car is not a bad thing. I can live without it for sure, but having it makes things happen faster.

Its also something else to have dogs once more. I grew up in a house full of all sorts of animals. We used to have dogs, rabbits, birds, fish, a sea gull, a wild boar named Al and I am sure other things I have since forgotten. When we moved to Canada, all that went away. I spent 13 years without a dog. Now that I have 2 adorable (if neurotic) mutts in my life, I don't think I will ever live without them. Dogs are amazing.

I have almost finished reading the book, the last lecture by Randy Pausch. I don't know what to think of it. He has some inspiring words but at times, I feel like he's got an unnecessary chip on his shoulder. But then again, he's a dying man, what does he care... he's just trying to get his message out there. I watched the lecture online on youtube and am impressed by his ability to be so positive while he counts down his time on earth. Finality is scary sometimes.

Anyway, its almost time for the 10 O'clock news and I am excited to watch the National at 10 pm on CBC like I used to...