My Brain On Crack
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Surreality
A few nights ago, Matthew and I drove up to Whistler. His dad owns a condo there that Matthew is free to use whenever no one else is there, and the weekend we spent there together the first time I visited him here in Vancouver last year remains one of my standout memories. For one thing, it’s in the mountains and every inch is beautiful. For another, there’s no internet, which is either a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it. But I was on vacation then and those few days were a taste of the first real rest I had had in years. The plan…
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Hinterland
I just received an email about a spiritual conference near San Francisco that months ago I promised to attend. I wanted to be one of the presenters for the conference but they already had a full slate, so I contented myself with agreeing to attend for nearly-free and volunteering to help out. There are a number of networking opportunities there, and I am a firm believer that nothing is ever wasted (even though I am a champion self-time-waster). Then it hit me. To get there, I will have to leave Canada. Cross the border. Enter the real world. I’ve been using this feeling of semi-unreality as a way to remain…
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Redecoration
It’s an incredibly freeing thought, realizing that I have the power and opportunity right now to be anyone I want to. So much of my past was spent in being who I thought I had to be. With the sky as the limit, who am I now? And doesn’t defining that become yet a new limit? Certainly changing my hair style, wardrobe, and removing a longstanding facial piercing (GASP!) are all part of the new picture I’m creating, but how much a part does the outside play on affecting the inside? Or … is it the other way around? My new inside is now unavoidably manifesting as a new outside.…
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The Pressure Of Self Is A Weighty Thing
Not being the sort to wait things out too much before jumping in, I’ve been throwing around links to this blog with abandon this week as if this newborn blog is something long-established. The piece I’m filling in inside my head but that’s clearly missing to the public is that I HAD a blog. I am used to referring to it. I took it down months ago but I’ve missed having one as an outlet for self-expression, the creation of a public extension of my private persona. What I’ve created, then, from this odd missing link, is this: 1. A need to explain. Witness this self-evident post. 2. Pressure! I…
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Parking Parallels
It makes me laugh when the ironies of my life are thrown in my face. Since arriving here in Vancouver 6 or so weeks ago, I’ve been sensitive about my car. For the first week I was illegally parked in a permit-only zone. Then we paid $5 per week to obtain a blue card to stick in the dash for a few weeks while we thought of something else to do with the car situation. There’s another car (uninsured; can’t park on the street) and an underground garage space (with one uninsured car presently occupying) but for now it’s my car collecting bird shit and tree sap at the curb,…