Associations and Attachments

I tend to think of the world as a great big multi-dimensional puzzle. Every new bit of knowledge or information is a coloured piece of the puzzle that I can put in. Slowly, my mental world is being coloured in and put together. The geographical aspect is the most obvious: every country that I've been to is coloured in my mental map. I have first hand knowledge of what that country looks like in a way that pictures can never match.

But there are many aspects to this map: historical, political, scientific, classics, media, people. The more you know and study, the more these link up. That's why I'm always fascinated when a study of a person lists his or her contemporaries. I find it fascinating to know that Jane Austen was born the same year the American Revolutionary War started or that her father died the year Lewis and Clarke reached the Pacific.

I always imagined the great literati as isolated geniuses when in fact, many famous names are linked in friendship. Last May I sat in the pub in Oxford where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien spent decades collaborating and gaining inspiration from each other. Wordswith and Coleridge even collaborated on the same poem Lyrical Ballads, its unique style ushering in the Romantic period in poetry.

There's also something thrilling about finding links in your everyday life. One of my favorite movies as a child was "You've Got Mail" in which they make quite a few references to the Godfather. One being "going to the mattresses". I'm reading through the Godfather and was thrilled read this. At first, I couldn't place the link, but I knew it sounded familiar.

One of my childhood books was about a little girl named Jenny who's father would always sing her this little song:

Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

It was in one of those books where they don't quote the author because classical education would have seen to it that everyone knew where it was from. However, I had to discover roundabout when reading about the Carlyle's and discovered that this poem was written by Leigh Hunt for Jane Carlyle, a respected writer in her own right.

I'm not sure where this obsession for putting in all the puzzles of the world and finding links comes from but it's comforting. It shows connection to each other and to our past. It shows that nothing happens in a vacumm. It makes the world seem less cold and distant and alienated. Even the great poets needed each other. The entire world can't be fixated on thing: people's smaller lives will keep on going no matter what inventions are made or wars are fought. And, with any hope, we'll make a difference in our own communities that will eventually, link us up with others.

A Year of Living Biblically

This seems like an appropriate title to finish on New Year's. However, it might not be as spiritual as you think. The premise of the book is an Agnostic Jew who undertakes the challenge of trying to follow the rules of the Bible as literally as possible. This includes not shaving his beard, "stoning adulteres" (in his case, throwing a few pebbles at one) as well as the less controversial ones like not gossiping, giving thanks, and avoiding lustful thoughts.

For someone who classifies himself as agnostic (A "reverent agnostic" towards the end of the book) I thought the book was surprisingly open-minded and thorough. He attempts to understand many different facets of Christianity and visits Israel, a snake-handling church in the south, mega churches, the Amish, and invites a Jehovah's witness into his home. He has a large board of advisors from different faiths and does attempt honesty.

Considering his focus was on following the laws, its not surprising he didn't come to some great conversion at the end; however, I do think his book does a great job in making faith seem less absurd and remote and makes for an interesting read for both Christians and non-Christians. I think both would have something to learn from this book.

How you know you are dating a Canadian hockey fan

You read the Sports section in Will Ferguson's, How to Be a Canadian" and you can spot a few inaccuracies and mutter to yourself that the chapter needs some serious updating.

My thoughts excactly

Tea

Have lost track of how much tea and coffee I've had today. Oh well. Time for another pot!

The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither. ~Lu Tung, "Tea-Drinking"


People who lose patience with repeated blogs about the same subject (i.e: tea), should probably unsubscribe from this blog as I have no intention on stopping.

There's a saying that goes "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." Okay. How about "Nobody should throw stones." That's crappy behavior. My policy is: "No stone throwing regardless of housing situation." Don't do it. There is one exception though. If you're trapped in a glass house, and you have a stone, then throw it. What are you, an idiot? So maybe it's "Only people in glass houses should throw stones, provided they are trapped in the house with a stone." It's a little longer, but yeah.
- Demetri Martin (whoever that is)

Cafesito

Q's Legacy would be the perfect companion to the perfect latte but then what would I read for my bedtime story?

te

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you. ~Gladstone, 1865

Lament of an Insecure Blogger

Why oh why won’t Scott
Comment on my blog?
Does he like it not?
And compare it to a frog?

Maybe a blog I just can’t write
I should stick to flying a kite.
I know this poem is pretty bad
I hope my poet won’t get mad.

It’s almost a new morn.
And still I feel forlorn.
Oh Scott, if you like cheese
Won’t you read it, pretty please?

Oh I know why
No need to cry
He just doesn’t have the time
To waste on a silly rhyme

My blogging isn’t cool
And doesn’t help in school
He is there when I take pics
Seeing them gives him no kicks

Maybe someday I’ll create
Something he’ll appreciate
And on my blog he’ll post
Luna, I like you the most!

Know it All

One of my favorite books of the last few months is called The Know-It-All by A.J.Jacobs. In this, Jacobs attempts to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in one year. The Britannica's 44 million words span 33,000 pages in 32 volumes.

Jacobs interweaves the more interesting tidbits from the EB with anecdotes about thoughts on the articles , his life in this year, his pursuit of knowledge which includes auditioning for trivia game shows, tracking down many other sources of extreme intelligence.

It reminds me of high school. I would always try to get the back row by the bookcases and the semi-complete collection of encyclopedia (in true TCK-school fashion, the set was a hand me down and was missing d, g, j, one of the s's, and the y). Whenever class would get boring, I'd sneak one of the volumes into my lap (not an easy feat considering their size) and lose myself in articles about pencils, the Indian Mutiny, Nicola Tesla, or Suriname. I raced through many a grammar worksheet or geometry problem in order to have time to dip into an article on a country or person I'd never heard about. Today, my math abilities are very sad but my love of trivia remains.

After an awkward hug

Scott: "I tried to hug you but you got in the way".

Christina Perri - Arms (Official Lyric Video)

When Rebecca Comes to Town

Highlights:

1. Mexican food


2. Piano Bar


3. Ft. Langley


4. Sushi


5. Tea at Traceycakes


6. White Rock



Not pictures: Indian buffet and the many coffees and teas we had.

Gracious: it seems our entire trip (or at least, any memorable moments) were circa food, drink and post food-drink revelries.

Before and After

Before:


After five hours of cleaning: (including all drawers, shelves, closet, and some packing, sorting and dumping)

Lunch

Goat feta and aguacate salad with parmesan and garlic salmon, cafe con leche made with Costa Rican 1984 coffee, and Blackadder

14/25

I really have got to catch up with Scott. He's only got 6 or 7 left!

The idea of the book club was that each of the five members put in 5 books they would like to read. Then, we all read all 25. In reading other people's wish list, we are exposed to a variety of genres and types that we would not normally have read.

So far, my choices have not proved popular. However, the most hated book so far seems to be Catch 22 :) At least my poor choices have been easy to read.


Matt's Five:

✓ (1) Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
✓ (2) To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
(3) Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
(4) The Godfather - Mario Puzo
✓ (5) Where the Wild Things Are - Maurice Sendak

Mike's Five:
✓ (1) Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
✓ (2) Enders Game - Orson Scott Card
(3) The Call of Cthulhu - H.P. Lovecraft
(4) A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
(5) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick

Erica's five:
✓ (1) East of Eden (by John Steinbeck)
✓ (2) The Andromeda Strain (by Michael Crichton)
✓ (3) Peter Pan (by J.M. Barrie--should be around 48 pages)
(4) Midnights Children (by Salman Rushdie)
✓ (5) The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams)

Yolanda's five:
✓ (1) Day after Night - Anita Diamant
✓ (2) The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
(3) The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett
(4) The Hunt for Red October - Tom Clancy
(5) The Hundred-Foot Journey - Richard Morais

Scott's five:
✓ (1) Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
✓ (2) The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett
✓ (3) Contact - Carl Sagan
(4) The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay
(5) Watchers - Dean Koontz

First pics with my cute new purple camera.
My new morning ritual: Northwest Breakfast tea (found in Pike's Place Market in Seattle), breakfast quesadilla and I Love Lucy.

Of Muses, Freud, and Other Pretentious Topics

Inspiration is a funny thing.

Inspiration has traditionally been attributed to the spiritual or supernatural realm.
- The ancient Greeks believed that Inspiration came from the muses and the gods, Apollo and Dionysus.
- Ancient Norse also believe that inspiration came from the gods.
- In ancient Hebrew poetics, inspiration is a also divine matter.
- Romantic Poets attributed inspiration to “divine or mystical winds”.
- Marxist theory sees inspiration as an “expression of friction between economic base and economic superstructural positions”
- Freud attributed it to the inner psyche; Jung to racial memory
- Modern psychology relegates it as an entirely internal process.
- In Christianity, inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit.


Regardless of your beliefs, it is clear that source of inspiration remains a rather intangible concept. While most definitions of inspiration allude to an artistic expression, I think we can be inspired beyond that. Or perhaps, anything that leads to deed or word is an artistic expression.

In England, Erica and I encountered an amusing form of “artistic expression”. On the beach of a lovely Cornish town, also home to an art school, three students were, well, doing something. One was curled up in a child’s pose, I forget what the second was doing but the third was rolling around (fully clothed) in the sand, twisting his body this way and that. It looked a bit like horizontal dancing.

I’m not sure where his inspiration came from but I highly doubt it was from a very spiritual source: unless is was the Muse of Comedy because it certainly kept us in giggles the rest of the day. (Equally plausible could be that the source was the Muse of Tragedy.


When I think of inspiration, I think of that feeling of being alive and being thrilled to be alive. Of feeling connected to the world and wanting to show a reciprocal connection. Obviously we all have different ways of expressing inspiration but I think we also garner inspiration from different sources depending on our personality.

I’ve discussed this with a few friends. One gets inspiration from being around people, more specifically from relationships (Ironically, she is not an extrovert). Scott is lucky enough to draw inspiration internally: his thoughts and imagination provide the fuel his inspiration needs (maybe he’ll disagree with this but that’s what it seems like to me). Some people seem to be inspired (or uninspired) by the weather. I think I’ve got enough SAD to understand this.

I think my inspiration is more experiential: I’m inspired by experiences and my surroundings. It sounds shallow and i would much rather find it internally or in relationships. But it’s when I’m experiencing something new that I find myself feeling that “spark” within myself. And new experiences are easy to come by when you are traveling: and in that, I believe, lies the allure of traveling: that feeling of being alive and having a role in this world.

This is why I can fill a whole journal in one trip and then go a year without a single entry.
This is probably also why I feel so flat and boring when I spend a long stretch of time in a suburb. It’s probably not so much the fact that I am in a suburb as the fact that nothing ever changes and opportunities for unique experiences are limited.

So I’m curious: where do YOU think your inspiration comes from?

To Do

There seems to be widespread concern that I will be bored now that I am jobless and fully intend to remain so for at least two months. However, what most people don't realize is that I seem to be incapable of remaining motionless. Not working will merely give me time to do tackle my long to-do list that has been on hold.
Not necessarily in order (and with a few things ommitted for privacy sake: I know no one reads this blog..but still...)

- Catch up to Scott on the book club list (or rather, not be so rebellious and read what I am suppose to read instead of Anne of Windy Poplars for the fourth time!)
- Run. Or rather, attempt to learn how to.
- Eat my words for all the times I mocked runners (I might be safe until I get up early to run...then I will have a banquet of words in front of me)
- Fiddle with actual cooking and baking
- Correction: fiddle with HEALTHY cooking and baking (try to limit the cream cheese)
- Fix car mirror (and figure out what else is wrong with the darn thing)
- Find cool funky 50's bridesmaid dress (black with white piping in case anyone runs across something like it)
- Catch up to my correspondence (a la Edith Wharton)
- Drink loads of tea
- Write lots and lots of lists to keep me feeling motivated (first day out of work, and i already have four written, including this one)
- Apply for JET

Ecclesiastess 3

Proverbs become proverbs because the cliche is so often true (and yes, I realize its a cliche to say that too) You really should be careful what you wish for. Its amazing how often your wishes happen but then it looks different.
Back in the winter, I was craving group time. It felt like I had a bunch of different friends but they were all scattered so I was getting tons of one-on-one time; the kind that generates great discussion etc. But i did crave the fun that you get out of groups..the laughing and games and teasing etc.
Now, its the opposite. There's been tons of amazing group times and I find myself carving discussions that come when you're one-on-one. I feel like i'm not getting to know people beyond who they are in groups.
So if anyone wants to make an appointment to hang out, ive got some free slots this week

Ying Yang

From Will Ferguson's "Why I hate Canadians"

Pierre Berton once defined a Canadian as "someone who knows how to make love in a canoe". But John Robert Colombo was quick to correct him. "A Canadian is s omeone who THINKS he knows how to make love in a canoe".

What defines us:
1. On those Americans. They make me so mad
2. The Queen, rah, rah.
3. French on our Cheerio boxes
4. __________________________
(In reference to Native Canadians).

ballast

"It's only just beginning to occur to me that it's important to have something going on somewhere at work or at home, otherwise you're just clinging on...You need as much ballast as possible to stop you floating away; you need people around you, things going on, otherwise life is like some film where the money ran out, and there are no sets, or locations, or supporting actors, and it's just one bloke on his own staring into the camera with nothing to do and nobody to speak to, and who'd believe in this character then? i've got to get more stuff, more clutter, more detail in here, because at the moment I'm in danger of falling off the edge".
- Hornby, High Fidelity, 59

I'm trying to remember how I relaxed in the days before I learned to brew a perfect pot of tea.

Oh that's right. I climbed things. Trees and fences and the roofs of three-story buidings and other conventional climbing apparatuses. Although, I must say the roof was the hardest as I am quite sure my parents kept building on to our house for the express purpose of finding ways to block my climbing routes.

Germany has redeemed itself with a resounding 4-0 victory over Argentina. If it can only manage to beat Spain, then i shall look forward to a Dutch-German showdown!

this afternoon i have

- chewed on cough drops
- gone to the bakery and farmer's market
- made and eaten a salad
- gone to the pharmacy
- rubbed vix on my chest
- guzzled cough syrup
- drank lemon and honey and chamomile tea
- gotten into cozy pj's
- snuggled into the couch
- missed my mommy

Duchess of Bloomsbury

"The night before I left, two friends gave me a farewell party. I'd spent the day packing to the indignant fury of all my vital organs and I left the party early and was in bed and asleep by midnight. At 3:00 AM, I came staring awake, with my insides slamming around and a voice inside my head demanding:
'What are you doing, going three thousand miles from home by yourself, you're not even HEALTHY!'
I got out of bed, had hysterics, a martini and two cigarettes, got back in bed, and whiled away the rest of the night composing cables saying I wasn't coming"
- The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, 10


Helene Hanff does make it out of bed and on a plane to London the next day. As we all eventually do. I am always excited about going somewhere until, proportionally, close to the actual leaving date. So for instance, if I'm planning to spend the night at a friend's place, I wonder if I shouldn't stay home just as I'm pulling out of the driveway. On a trip to the other side of an ocean, the doubts start setting in a day or two before. I get nervous; not about what I will do when I get there, so much as wondering if I'll ever see anyone I love ever again. When I say goodbye, I make sure to say everything that needs to be said. Essentially, I spend the a couple of days mourning the life I won't have if I die in the next few weeks.

Once I'm in the airport, past security, then I settle back into my usual youngest-child philosophy of not worrying overly much. And, after all, its all worked out so far, right?

... or bust

I totally forgot that now that I'm in a respectable job, I get paid vacation!
Patagonia, Here I Come!!!!!!

of imbecility

Customer #1: “Are we allowed to sit outside?
Answer #1: “Only with a written permission slip. In pink.
Answer #2: “Yes, that’s what the tables are there for “


I can only laugh. Sometimes I don’t know if people are really that asinine or if they are just looking for attention. The customer above was a younger man with a cheeky if slightly confused smile; not the usual demographic for battiness.

However, sometimes I just don’t have enough grace to conclude that they are anything but a few sandwiches short of a picnic.

The other day at Wendel’s bookstore a lady comes in:
Lady: “Do you know anyone with books?”
Me: Stare blankly at all the bookshelves surrounding her.
Lady: “You know, someone that takes books?”
Me: “Um….we take books from publishers?”
Lady: “No, you know, that takes my books?”
Me: No, this isn’t a second hand bookstore. There is one in Langley though” (give her directions)
Lady: “would they buy this book?”
Me: “I’m sorry; we’re not affiliated; I couldn’t say”
Lady: “What are their business hours?”
Me: “I’m sorry; we’re not affiliated; I couldn’t say”
Lady: “Do they take hardcover?”
Me: “I’m sorry; we’re not affiliated; I couldn’t say”
Lady: “What’s the owner’s name?”
Answer #1: “The owner’s name is Charlie Chaplin, they only take books written between 1920 and 1925, and they will only sell books to people with pink or purple hair and they are open between midnight and 4am but you look daft enough to be an excellent customer!
Answer #2: “I’m sorry; we’re not affiliated; I couldn’t say”

Another lady:
Her: “Do you take Amex?”
Me: “No, we take everything but that”
Her: “Then I don’t suppose you take debit?”
Answer #1: Sure I can do that.
Answer #2: Only if you can show me ID proving that you are not a runaway from a mental institution.


At the office, during the peak of the H1N1 panic, I answered a call from an obviously frazzled woman:
Lady: My son has been sick for a month and its just dreadful.
Me: I’m sorry, that must be difficult for you.
Lady: Well yes, and I went to the doctor and he told me that its not the swine flue.
Me: That must be a relief.
Lady: well, I just don’t know. He’s been sick for a month and I just thought maybe you could tell me if he has the swine flue?
Me: I’m sorry, but I’m not a doctor so I really can’t say.
Lady: Well, I was just looking for a second opinion.
Answer #1: I’m sorry, but I’m not a doctor so I really can’t say.
Answer #2: “My opinion, lady, is that if you think that the first person that answer’s the phone at your local mp’s office is qualified to give you a medical opinon contradicting your family doctor, then perhaps what your son is suffering from is simply the culling of a strand of DNA not fit (or deserving enough)to survive in this world. Cut your losses and let your line fade from the gene pool in peace.


I can assure you that whichever answer i did not give was the one I most wanted to.

zeeba neighbors

Note to disgruntled constituents: If you send mail stating you want to be taken off our mailings list, then PUT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ON IT! Contrary to popular belief, the government and its drones aren’t all knowing and psychic!

of ageless themes: Soccer and books

The World Cup is being absolutely ridiculous. I don't like it. England tying with the USA??? Germany losing to SERBIA!!! The status quo is being upset and that simply won't do. If your top teams cannot be depended upon than what can??? Next thing we know, gravity will go!

Despite claims that my WC enthusiasm is simply band-wagon-jumping like the Olympics (which I freely claim was a total case of getting swept up in the enthusiasm) it literally hurts to see my teams doing so badly! And soccer really is the most beautiful sport. Both regarding the moves and the players.

In other news: 84 Charing Cross is brilliant and its companion, Duchess of Bloomsbury Street even more so. No one writes letters and journals like they used to. And while it might be cliche to lament this; lament it I can't help when I read these books. If you havn't read them but you have read the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, think of the former as a more authentic version of the latter (although I make absolutly no complaints about it either)