Deliberate Deliberations

I'm tired.

You're always tired, man.

Yeah, but not for much longer, though. I think I'm started to get tired of it.

Get tired of what?

Of getting tired.

What?

Don't you ever get tired of being tired? You know... so tired of being tired all the time that you instead start to be energized?

Dude... what?

It's like when I get tired of eating Fruit Loops all the time, I'll switch to Raisin Bran or Frosted Flakes. I figure once I get tired of being tired, I'll switch to being energized.

Do you even listen to yourself speak anymore?

Of course, I suppose I'll eventually get tired of being energized and move on to being angry or irritated... maybe even switching back to tired if the others don't work out. Don't mess with what works, that's what they say, right?

Do you ever get tired of being a jerk-wad?

... Sometimes.

Crazy going slowly am I

Ever feel like just going crazy? Just because?

I feel like running down the street, greeting people with "Porkchop" and asking them, "Have your fingers ever tasted a cylindrical song that is quite tightly yellow?"

I imagine some people may look at me funny, or try not to look at me at all. While others would ask what is wrong with me.

To which I would reply, "Fish"

Then may then proceed to point at various things that my eye stumbles upon and rename their colours with words like "blellow", "grink", and "foosball".

I imagine that I would be quite fond of the colour, "foosball".

Foosball. Ever say a word so much that it loses meaning? Foosball. Foooooooosball.

Inner Monologue Exposé!

Sometimes people ask me what's on my mind. I usually reply with a "nothing, really" or a "don't worry about it."

Here are a few thoughts that passed through my head this last week:

Watching TV:

I hate Tweety Bird. I hate Tweety Bird with a passion and the only reason I watched Looney Toons as a child was for the small glimmer of a dream that Sylvester would finally get his paws on Tweety and him shut up for good.

On the road:

If I swerve off the road... would that shut him up? No, his bitching would probably just get worse.

Unless it's such a fantastic collision that at least one of us bites it. Then either he won't be able to talk or I won't be able to listen!

Genius!

Wait a minute... what if we both bite it and I end up listening to him for all eternity?

...

Better not risk it.

Over dinner:

I wonder if jamming this chopstick in my ear would be too subtle of a hint.

Over another dinner:

Don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts, don't stare at her breasts...

...

Okay, just a quick peek...

Rollerblading the seawall:

If I were a piece of wood, what kind of wood would I be?

Moving day:

[Rocking out to various songs in my head]

Is someone getting the best,
the best, the best, the best of you
(Best of You - Foo Fighters)

Mr. Jones and me tell each other fairy tales
and we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you...
Oh no no she looking at me
(Mr Jones - Counting Crows)

Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, Dream on,
Dream on, Dream on, Dream on, AAAHHHHHhhhHhhHHhhHhh!
(Dream On - Aerosmith)

At work:

...
...
...

I'm really not that bright or interesting.

Double Entendres of Ordered Randomness

I'm
missing the point? yeah, that happens.
Something has changed and Not for the better,
maybe
it's Nothing but
you should always read between the lines.

Water balloon mayhem

Control yourself people. I almost ruined a perfectly good pink shirt!

You heard me, PINK!

Float like a butterfly...

On Friday, I attended the free open-air VSO concert at Deer Lake with Najin. Good performance, although being an open-air concert, everything was played through speakers, which really can't compare to hearing an orchestra perform in an acoustically designed hall.

Of note (because these were the only ones I recognized) were their renditions of some Tchaikovsky pieces and a selection from Carmen.

Also, 16 year old Christopher Lee from Korea performed a clarinet solo punctuated by lots of bobbing-shadow-boxing-type movements. Just when you thought he'd stop... he'd bob again. Hehe, "bob". Took a video of it, I'll see if I get around to posting it later. All kidding aside, though, he was really very good.

And as a warning to you all, resist the temptation of "fresh cut french fries". They really aren't as good as they sound. Sure, I finished off one and a half large trays of them... but remember who's talking. That itself doesn't say much.

[Rant] Break a fu.cking leg

You know what annoys me? People who say "good luck" annoy me.

Not only is it cliche and shows no imagination and very little effort on part of the person saying it, but it also implies that if you should succeed or do well then it is a result of chance, not merit.

Whenever I hear, "good luck," I assume the stipend of, "you'll need it". The implication is that your abilities either aren't up to par or your abilities don't matter. With the former, it's just an insult. With the latter, your success or failure is a function of luck or fate and not any thing particular that you did. And as you may know, I am a firm disbeliever in fate.

So what do I suggest as an alternative to "good luck"? How about "go kick some ass".

Have an important game or test coming up? Go kick some ass!

Have an interview tomorrow? Go kick some ass!

Hitting up a girl at the bar? Go kick some ass!

Trying to train a stubborn donkey? Go kick some ass!

Go kick some ass!

Or for something a little more civilized, an "I hope you do well" would suffice. Sure, you can read some implications in that phrase as well (lack of understanding of the person's skills or situation, hope => pray => you need some outside help) but I think it's an improvement over "good luck".

Or how about "You can DO IT!"

That works too.

You're not "special"!

So I've been using my PocketPC (Dell Axim X3) pretty religiously for the last 4 months, keeping track of appointments, contacts, and whatnot. Well, for the last 4 months minus three days. Three days that my axim lay sitting on top of my desk... not plugged in.

And for the third time in a year (you'd think I'd learn) my axim ran out of battery power and I LOST ALL MY DATA!

Running out of battery power I can understand. Designing a device that stores information in volatile RAM when it's a mobile device that most assuredly won't have continual access to an external power supply is one of the most retarded ideas I can think of.

That's right, not "special". Just retarded.

Yes, I have a working, up-to-date backup of my data, but spending the time and effort to roll out the data is more than I'm willing to take. When I was backpacking through Europe, there were a few near scares when I had to sneak quick charges at trainstations for fear of losing my data. Well, no more I can tell you that.

Pen and paper. That's the shit.

(Anybody out there interested in a Dell Axim X3? Despite my glowing review, it's actually pretty cool and useful! Really!)

The Beautiful Country (Movie Impressions)

I saw The Beautiful Country yesterday at Tinseltown (which, by the way... on second thought, I'll save this rant for another day).

It follows the story of Binh (Damien Nguyen), child of a Vietnamese mother and an American GI, as he searches for his mother, and then for a life in America. And while some loose threads are unresolved by the end, the final scene is very satisfying.

I did, however, have 2 problems with the movie.

Being Vietnamese myself, I understood most of the Vietnamese dialog and can say with some authority that the subtitling was terrible. If it was only couple lines here and there I would have forgiven it, but for the majority of the first act, Vietnamese was the only language spoken. I understand that translations are inherently difficult, especially going from languages that are completely unrelated. Differing idioms, sentence structure, and wordplay wreak havoc when trying to do a translation true to the original. Often what you end up with is something that is either all too literal to the meanings of individual words, or something that has taken a few liberties to try and maintain the spirit and convey the same meaning of the original work. What we had in The Beautiful Country was neither.

Most all lines were streamlined and simplified to 2 or 3 word sentences. Some lines took a lot of strayed so far from the actual spoken words that I had to scratch my head. And other lines weren't subtitled at all.

I've heard of bad dubbing/translations before, but what I don't understand is how this could happen when the people credited with the writing and directed are all Caucasion.

The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that the writers had some brief notes that were given to a Vietnamese dialog specialist to flesh out, and through miscommunication or time/budgetary concerns, those brief notes ended up being used as the subtitles.

The other problem I had was with a certain plot element. What kind of crazy ship sails from Malasia to New York, fricken New York. Instead of going across the Pacific to some sane destination like Los Angelos, let's take the scenic route below Africa and across the Atlantic. If the writers really wanted to have Binh in New York (although the story didn't really need New York. Any major metropolitan city in America would have sufficed), have the boat land on a Pacific Rim dock and then have the slave trucks drive him over.

Okay, maybe a third problem is that I don't understand people's fascination with China-Doll type women. Don't understand it, probably never will.

Other than these two (and a half) points, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. A friend said it was too slow paced, but I thought the pacing was fine. It's a drama, not a popcorn-action flick. Be glad it wasn't Dragonball Z proportions of epic sucky pacing.

Global W(Arr!)ming...

Recently found a link to hilarious satirical open letter to the kansas school board that advocates teaching the FSM (Flying Spagetti Monster) theory of ID (Intelligent Design) alongside evolution and other ID theories in schools.

Now I'm not going to get into the debate of the merits of ID as a scientific theory to be taught in schools, but rather I'd like to focus on another issue that was touched on in this open letter.

The trend of global warming is inversely related to the number of pirates!



You know what this means, the pirates have been losing ground over hundreds of years to their mortal enemies... the ninja.

For the sake of the world... for the sake of the children, we need more pirates. And we need them now.

Arr, matey!

VS

Patterns in life

Looking over my SFU transcript, and alarming pattern emerged.

Every year, my marks would peak in the Summer semester before taking a drastic fall in the Fall semester.

Every.
Single.
Year.

I even made a chart to illustrate the point:


Okay, so 2004 doesn't follow the pattern exactly since summer semester isn't the highest that year, but that was the only semester that I only took one course, so let's consider it an anomaly. But the Fall semester is still my worst GPA wise.

Delving back, summer-time is when I had lots of distractions from my school work, and fall semester was always the semester I promised myself that I'd crack down and get serious about school.

So what have I learned from this? Don't try so hard. I do my best when I'm not trying. It's when I try my best that everything goes in the crapper. Best intentions and all that jazz?

In other words, motivated underachievement works!

(or it could be related to taking on a larger workload and more intensive courses during the Fall. Who really knows...)

[Rant] The 7 Habits of Highly Effective CSR's (or, "Would you like some bread sticks, too?")

Is it too much to ask for people not to half-ass their jobs?

When ordering a pizza, I've become annoyed with the CSR's too such a point where I'm sure there are nasty comments on my file. Call me crazy if it's not reasonable to expect a modicum of competency from people who's sole job is to answer the fucking phone.

In the past, I worked at a Pizza chain's call centre for three years. I heard it all; the horror stories CSR's have to tell about customers are endless and, sadly, mostly true. However, it goes both ways. While you can get a bad customer, there are also lots of poor CSR's out there.

Here's a few tips on how to be a decent CSR and not have customers bitching at you.

1) Don't answer the phone as if it's a terrible inconvenience.

Pardon me if I interrupted your reading time or your card game with the CSR next to you. Your job is to take calls, dingus. Your supervisor (should) have told you, "You can hear a smile through a phone," and believe it or not, it's not just corporate bullshit, it's true. Speech tones are infectious, so if you sound nice and helpful, chances are the customer on the other end will try to do the same. (Hmm... on that note, maybe I shouldn't have called you a dingus.)

2) LISTEN to what the customer on the line says.

If I ask what specials you have tonight, I don't want to have to give you my phone number and address before you answer my question. I understand that the order taking system you use may require that information before actually placing the order, but that's no reason for not being able to answer simple questions that have nothing to do with delivery time or price.

Also, if I order a pizza with capicollo and sun-dried tomatoes, that's what I want. If I end up getting a pizza with capicollo and diced tomatoes, I'm not a happy customer.

3) Know what you're talking about

If I ask you what size your large pizza is, your next sentence shouldn't start with "I think..." and it sure as hell better not have a "maybe" in it. While thinking is fine, guessing is not. If you don't know it off the top of your head, a simple "If you give me a moment I can find out," (with the intention of following through on it) can do wonders. "It depends," accompanied by a (mandatory) quantifying phrase is also acceptable.

4) Don't leave me in the dark

If it's going to take a minute or two to find the information to answer my question or process my order, tell me.

If you're going to put me on hold for over 5 minutes, tell me.

If there's a way to make things go smoother for both you and me, tell me.

If your quoted price doesn't include delivery, taxes, or other charges, tell me.

If you're going to call me back, tell me. Especially if the order won't go through until you get back in touch with me. It may be another number you need to dial to reach me, or the party/game/music may be too loud to hear the phone unless I'm expecting it.

Related to this, we have the fifth item...

5) Don't pass the buck

If you don't tell me that you're going to call me back, and you can't reach me because I turned off my phone or some other such business, who's fault is that? Any CSR worth her/his salt would not say it's the customer's. Did you tell me you were going to call back? Did you confirm the phone number? And when did the 30 minutes or less timer start? Common sense would indicate that, unless indicated otherwise, it starts exactly the moment you said it. Not 2 minutes after the call back confirmation.

And if I call back to complain about this or anything else, don't imply that it's my fault, don't say it's some other CSR, or the because of the computer. Just make strides to fix my problem. Chances are, I'm more interested in a resolution than playing the blame game.

6 & 7) Do your fucking job

It's your gad-damned job. You voluntarily applied for this job. Please, have some self-respect, pride, and common sense to do your job well. If not for my benefit or the benefit of the customers, then for yourself. It can make customers more helpful and your job easier. A good recommendation and employment history can result as well.

And if not to better yourself, then do the above to spite all those idiot customers you're bound to get. If I never hear somebody ask the price for a 2 topping pizza, then order a 4 topping specialty pizza and complain why it's more expensive than the price I quoted, it'll be too soon.

Or people trying to redeem coupons that they don't really have.

Or customers who think they're so smart and knowledgeable about the system.

God, customers piss me off.

(I'm aware of the irony!)

Grow RPG

Grow was a Flash puzzle game I stumbled upon a while ago. The basic premise is to keep adding gadgets to a ball for it to continually grow and evolve. Certain gadgets have more growth phases than others, and certain growth phases have prerequisites, so using a little bit of grey matter and a lot of trial and error, you have to find the precise order that will evolve the ball into it's complete form.

Confusing? Just give it a try, you'll understand.

But the reason I mention it is that the maker has made a semi-sequal titled Grow RPG. Same premise, different animations and objects, but still amazingly addictive. Maybe even more so than the original.



Figuring the right order is all of the fun, so try not to spoil yourselves by Googling the solution. If you want a bit of a hint, I've taken screen shots of the end solution for both games:

Grow end shot
Grow RPG end shot

Edit: Fixed up unfinished thoughts and half-completed sentences. I used to be able to write coherently on the first try, I swear!

Milky Way : Home Galaxy for the Hopelessly Addicted BBS'er

Press ESC twice to blast off to the Milkyway...

If you were in Greater Vancouver and a fellow BBS'er in the 90's, this phrase should bring up memories; it was the load screen for arguably the most popular local BBS at the time, The Milky Way. I spent a good chunk of the mid to late nineties playing LORD, that Lemonade Stand game, and posting away in the message boards. While I went under many guises, Padishar was the handle most people knew me as.

It made highschool a little more fun and added a little diversity into the mix, allowing me to meet many cool local people in the pre-internet boom era. Milky Way was probably also the main factor in my leaning towards computers and technology and away from soccer and sports. Good or bad? Well, while I claim to be half-decent at soccer (Junior Boys MVP, baby!) I doubt I could have made a career out of it.

The reason for this nostalgia is that the sysop of my once favourite BBS recently passed away. Should I mourn? Should I grieve? Would it be insincere to do so for somebody you barely knew? Instead I will choose to remember the joys that you made possible. Well wishes, Pdk. I hope you knew what joy your BBS and actions brought to many lives.

Gary Golf strikes again!

I was doing some cleaning when I happened upon my copy of SimGolf. I remembered loving this game way back when, so I decided to reinstall it for nostalgia's sake.

Now I remember why I uninstalled it.

This game has taken over my life.



Damn you Sid Meier! At the end of last year it was your remake of Pirates! that had me consumed. Let's just be glad I didn't pull out that other classic Sid Meier game I have in my closet, namely Alpha Centauri. I'd never see sunlight ever again. (never got into the Civilization series, but Alpha Centauri was pure turn-based heroin as far as I'm concerned)

SimGolf NEEDS a sequel. It DEMANDS a sequel. Or at the very least, a remake in the vein of Pirates!

Alright, now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's back to boozing and schmoozing I.M. Picky and Ivanna Richman. Gotta keep expanding my golf course and buy that snazzy airport!

(Somebody... for the love of all that is holy, help me kick this habit!)

Better late than never

I compiled all my Europe trip related bloggings here. I told some people that I would be doing this as well as annotating them with the appropriate pictures and comments... but what can I say. Look at the title of this blog!

I also added an RSS link to the right for those that are interested in such things and didn't know where to find it. I know I told some people that I was planning some significant changes in design and layout, but I think this is the extent of it for the near future. Once again, I refer you to the title of this blog.

Maybe I'll get around to all that extraneous stuff some other time.

Maybe.

Pot Committed

I'm all in. How about you?

A shiver races down his spine. While he likes how things have gone thus far, being forced to show his hand is giving him second thoughts. "Is she bluffling?" he wonders. "What if what I've got isn't strong enough to last?" He doesn't want to make the bet, and yet he's already pot committed. He has to go all in... doesn't he? He looks in her eye as the words stumble from his mouth:

I'm out.

What a doofus. Be a man. Do the right thing!

Street Fighter Salsa

Ever wonder if Ryu and Chun Li of Street Fighter fame ever got together? And if they did, ever wonder if they would take up salsa dancing? Well, wonder no more.

Just bike the stick to the east. Uhh... I mean, click on the link below.

Link (11 MB)

I'm BATMAN! (updated)

You must see Batman Begins. Now. Seriously, get off your ass and watch it. If you've already seen it, go see it again. It's that damn good.

• Best superhero movie I've ever seen? Yes.
• Best action movie I've seen in years? Yes.
• Best damned movie I've seen in years? Hell yes!

For all the people who looked at me weird when I said the first Spiderman wasn't a great movie, Batman Begins is what every superhero movie should aspire to be. This wasn't an action movie that happened to have Batman in it; this was The Batman movie. Also, this was the first movie since the original Matrix that made me want to grab the person next to me and exclaim, "This is fucking awesome!" but wasn't able to because I was too engrossed in the awesomeness of said movie. (Hope I didn't just jinx the franchise)

Christian Bale is such an awesome Batman (giving Keaton a run for his money), and by far the best Bruce Wayne of all the movie incarnations.

Johnny Depp was an amazing Scarecrow (although like Kevin Spacey, I have a genetic bias to love anything the man does on film); Liam Neeson was awesome (as expected) as Ducard, and Michael Caine as Alfred was almost too perfect.

(update: Thanks, Kare, for pointing out it's actually Cillian Murphy, not Johnny Depp in the role of Scarecrow. But I'll be damned if I'm the only one who thinks they could be twins)

I was, however, disappointed with Ken Watanabe's role as Ra's Al Gul. No major spoilers here, but I was hoping he'd get more screen time than he did.

The fight scenes, although jerky, I thought were great for their purpose. The quick cuts styling lent weight to the whole fear/chaos concept, although I wish the Batman/Ra's Al Gul fight scene near the end should have been filmed smoother and with the camera pulled back a bit as to showcase their mastery over their own fears. But maybe I was reading too much into the fight scene cinematography.

Biggest thing that irked me concerned the Batman / Rachel (Katie Holmes) dynamic. And no, it wasn't Katie Holmes' acting (although she was terribly outclasses by most everybody else). My beef had to do with one action Batman took that seemed against his believes. I did, however, like how their relationship was resolved in the end. Again, no big spoilers, just go see the movie for yourself.

The only other small quirk I had about the movie is that the Batmobile wasn't as cool looking. Although I can forgive it since the tank fit so well into the ethos and storytelling of the movie.

Bottom line? I loved this movie. And that's not a word I throw around lightly.




Oh, and the sequel better have a proper looking Batmobile.

There's always room to haggle

For anybody interested in a subscription to the Vancouver Sun, I just got the phone callers to drop their quoted rate to $9.99 / month which includes the Vancouver Sun and access to their pay online services.

Here's how it went down:

Dude calls me up and offers a promotional rate of $17 a month. I said no; the student rate I paid before was alot cheaper.

He then offered to match the price he had on file, $14/month, with the ability to freeze the rate at this price for as long as I continue the subscription. I still said no. There was a reason I dropped the subscription before at that price point.

As a last resort, he offered a price of $9.99/month which included access to their pay online services, also with the ability to freeze this rate for as long as I continue to subscription. While vaguely tempting, I still said no.

Now the person I talked to claimed he was one of the supervisors and so had the power to authorize these discounts. He also said that these prices are strictly only available with outbound calls (they call you, not you call them).

So keep the $9.99 price in mind if somebody from the Sun calls and you have an interest in receiving a newspaper instead of getting all your information through other means.

--

I suppose the lesson is that there's always room to haggle, especially for services. Just don't be a jerk about it; nobody likes to give a jerk a free ride. A few other situations where I was able to receive a lower price come to mind:

• Buying golf clubs? I got Riverside golf to give me what worked out to be about a 20% discount when I bought a set of clubs for Christmas. Granted, they were used clubs, so that may have made a difference.
  
  
• Going to the orchestra? When I was in Vienna I bought some tickets to the orchestra from a street vendor. Convinced him to throw in a free drink (wrote a note on the back of the ticket and signed it).
  
  
• Switching phone providers? When I left Fido some years ago, they offered to give me 2 months on my current plan for free as well as a new cell phone. I stayed with Fido for another 2 months before I switched to Rogers.

Johnson must bike this box.

After I biked this box, I was biking for seven hours. It's a purple stick! Purple I bike! Purple!

(Bike on the stick to the east.)

Stick

Polish girls and big butts (updated)

Apparently, if you put in:

poland girls americans

into Yahoo!, my blog is the first entry that appears.

If you put in:

"i like big butts and I cannot lie" +cd

into AltaVista, my blog is the second entry.

Is this representative of how people see me? Nothing on my mind other than Polish girls and big butts?

...

Okay, you got me there.


update: I'm also in the top 15 results in Yahoo! when you type in:

siofok and nude

Damn, the internet has disected the inner workings of my mind in horrifyingly accurate fashion.

Independent World Television

A friend recently pointed this out to me.

Regular cable subscribers don't get Fox News here in Canada, (although that may soon change) but with issues of corporate and political bias in media even in Canada (with CanWest Global's virtual monopoly) and the proported lack of investigative journalism in today's news coverage, this just may be what the doctor ordered.

http://www.iwtnews.com/birthofanetwork

Some info straight from their website:

The Problem

Serious news and full-spectrum debate -- on which democracy depends -- are disappearing from television. Across the globe, news media are concentrated in the hands of a few entertainment conglomerates whose interests determine news coverage. They promote superficial "infotainment" over tough investigation, context and holding authority accountable. Public broadcasters face shrinking budgets and growing political and commercial pressures.

The Solution

We need a news and current affairs network that defends the public interest and the highest standards of journalism. Independent World Television will be such a network, a non-profit broadcast service financed by viewers across the globe -- independent of corporate or government funding and commercial advertising.

I like the concept behind this, but it's much too early to tell if they'll be able to deliver on their promises. Something about the teaser video strikes me a little... off. I think it's mostly the editing and some of the visuals they decided to show. I hope it doesn't end up being a left-wing propaganda machine to counteract a right-wing bias perceived in other media.

Perhaps I'm being too cinical. I've browsed the site a bit and they do seem genuine and able to pull it off with the clout and credibility of the media personalities associated with it.

Time will tell. If nothing else, I hope it takes off as an example of community funded movement.

[What if] Changes

Everything changes

Everything? You've heard the cliches: The times have changed. Things change. People change. But does everything really change? What about the laws of physics? Will Heisenburg be able to one day not resent knowing the exact momentum of his car keys? (Quantum physics joke. See: Heisengburg's uncertainty principal)

What if the laws of physics, which form the very structure of our existence, are not constant but are changing over time? What would this mean? What once was deemed impossible, now is in the realm of possibility. On the flip side, things that were possible in the past may not be anymore.

What if these changes happened extremely rapidly? Instead of slight changes over millenia, what is possible changes daily. A tantalizingly chaotic world where each new day really is filled with unlimited possibilities.

Leap tall buildings in a single bound? Sure, why not?

Dance on rays of sunlight? Did it yesterday.

Walk through a wormhole to the other side of the galaxy? Maybe tomorrow.

A few years ago, I might have ran with this idea and develop it into a short story or essay of some kind. Today, I'll just blog it and file it in my mind under "pointless time waster" along with my plans of a pilot for a Friends spin-off based on Gunther (which they should have done originally instead of a Joey spin-off.)

You're missing the point

It's just like that, don't worry about it.

You don't have to worry about it, but if you see a deficiency or vulnerability, you should at least try to address it.

Of course, while inertia is nothing to rave about, neither is making assumptions.

Oh, and people should take their own advice, too.

Picture time (Updated)

I promised I wouldn't spam my address book about my Europe trip, so you'll have to get the links here. It's on ImageStation, so if you don't have an account, you'll have to sign up. Sorry, but this was the easiest way for me to upload over a gigabyte worth of pictures in one go.

London, England
Basel, Switzerland & Germany/France Road Trip
Interlaken, Switzerland & Surrounding Area
Lucerne, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
Innsbruck, Austria & Swarovski Krystallwelten
Munich, Germany & Dachau Concentration Camp
Schloss Neuschwanstein (Disney inspiration castle)
Vienna, Austria
Cesky Krumlov & Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
Prague, Czech Republic
Dresden, Germany
Krakow, Poland & Salt Mines
Berlin, Germany


And as a bonus for reading my blog... a few shots of my Convocation this last Friday. Just a few since my camera died on me.

Update (2:57pm): Changed the links to "invitations" so that you don't have to sign up with imagestation if you don't want to.

Back in Canada

Well, I'm back in Canada now. Pictures are coming soon; there's about a gigabyte worth that I have to upload, so please be patient with me. But first things first, let me recap the last bit of my Europe trip:

Location: Krakow, Poland
Duration: 1 night, 1 day

Ended up sleeping at the train station when I couldn't find suitable (read: cheap and convenient) accomodations. I wasn't alone in my overnight vigil, surrounded by dozens of other campers. Having locked my bags up in a locker at the station and staked out a spot on an indoor benches with my pillow, I had no real complaints.

I decided that I didn't have enough time to tour both Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mines the next day while still making my overnight train to Berlin that night. Having already visited the Dachau concentraion camp, I figured I should vary my experiences by attending the salt mines. The salt mines were quite the spectacle (and a reprieve from the 35 degree weather) with statues and a large underground cathedral carved out of salt crystals.

Location: Berlin, Germany
Duration: 3 days, 2 nights

Berlin was great, even if the weather was rather poor (cloudy, rainy, windy). I wholeheartedly recommend taking the New Berlin FREE Walking Tour to start things off. It's a quick visit to most of the major tourist attractions, and the guides will give you great commentary on its historical and pop-culture significance... or at least my guide did. Jesse was his name, if you ever get the chance to try it. Apparently Munich has a similar free walking tour, but I didn't get the chance to go on it.

Being my last free night in Europe, I decided to go on one of those organised pub crawls. Met a bunch of Canadians (we're everywhere!) and we hit 4 bars and 2 clubs that night. Got shitfaced and woke up in a strange bed in a strange hostel.

Fun times.

Location: London, Great Britain
Duration: 1 night

I didn't have time to see the town as I did when I first arrived in Europe, so not much to say other than it cost me about $50 Canadian to take the train from one airport (Luton) to the other (Gatwick) at midnight. Of all the airports and trainstations I've slept at (Dresden, Krakow, Luton), Gatwick was the nicest and most comfortable.

The airport was packed with sleepers and all the best spots (on cushy couches and chairs) were already taken by the time I got there, but luckily I ran into somebody who had a 2am flight and gave me their spot. Two funky shaped soft cushioned chairs that formed an elongated bowl for me to sleep in, and the bottom made for great storage since the only way somebody could take my bags (or even see them) was to separate the two chairs that I would be laying on.

Shopped the duty-free looking for some last minutes gifts and souvenirs, but before I had a chance to buy anything, I saw the screens say that my flight was closing boarding. After a mad dash to my departure gate, I find that they weren't even to begin letting people on the plane for another 45 minutes.

Stupid lying TV screens.

Location: Wandering the wispy, westerly winds
Duration: 11 hours 15 minutes

Hitch, Spanglish, and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events were the films shown on my flight heading home.

Hitch was enjoyable enough, although some of the dialogue (especially near the beginning) was hard to swallow. I liked Spanglish - a story that had a focus around a mother-daughter dynamic - even though it was a total chick flick. Lemony Snicket's, however, has got to be one of the worst movies I've seen. From the poor dialogue, trite plot devices, unlikable characters (all of the adults), and an overall tone that tried to be clever but I saw as just plain stupid, the only redeaming quality of the movie would be the costumes and set design. I realize it's based of a children's book, but that doesn't mean I can't call it a bad movie.

I read the first few pages of the book it's based on when the movie first came out (as a potential gift to a grade-school teacher friend), and the writing style annoyed the heck out of me. I can appreciate the attempt at a more personable, conversational style, as if telling the story in person in front of a group of crowded children, but I hated the tone and style of the narrator.

I suppose I am in the minority since it is apparently a hugely popular series that will be releasing its 12th book later this year. All I can say is that if I paid money to see it in the theatre, I would demand it back with a little extra for wasting my time.

Location: Vancouver, Canada
Duration: A good while, but hopefully not forever

The strangest thing I saw when I got back home was my room. It hadn't changed since I had left, but just the fact that there was but a single bed, and my personal artifacts could be seen all over the room just struck me as being wierd.

After a month of staying in hostel dorms, train stations, and airports, having my own room just felt out of place.

In Krakow, Poland

Location: Krakow, Poland
Local Time: 11pm

Alright, here comes a recap. This may very well be my last update from Europe before I make my connecting flights back to Vancouver this Wednesday.

Location: Cesky Krumlov, Česká Republika
Duration: 1 day, 1 night

A great small city perfect for relaxing. Had all the quaint appeal of a small town with all the requirements of a backpacker. At the train station I bunch of us English speakers huddled together for security as we searched for a hotel. I'm not one to bash on Americans (except for fun) but the two American girls in our group personified the stereotype of self-absorbed, bitchy, "why-the-hell-don't-these-people-speak-english" tourists.

The first hostel we went to, which everybody besides me had made reservations for, was fully booked. Because everybody in our group got into town a lot later than anticipated (about 4 or 5 hours), all their rooms had already been given away to other people. Contrast the way the Americans dealt with it compared to the Canadian and 3 Australians in our group. After initial attempts at working a deal (which wasn't going to happen unless the receptionist kicked out somebody from there room... which quickly became apparent that he would not do), the Canadian and Australians worked with the receptionist to find other accomodations in the city. The American girls on the other hand, complained and complained and complained some more. Arguing that they shouldn't have to stick to the "time of arrival" field they filled out with the booking agent, and the 2-hour leeway advertised on the website should be a 1 day leeway instead. Because that's only reasonable that you don't stick to formerly agreed to terms :rolls eyes:

Now I can understand being annoyed at the situation, especially when the booking agent (hostelworlds.com i think in this case) charges your credit card for missing a booking. But come on.

After we all moved to another hostel with room, I didn't see the American girls again, which is fine with me. Had a great time with the Canadian (from Winnipeg who is part of the campaign to bring the NHL back to town) and an Aussie who works in the UK doing project management.

Good beers, good scenery, good times.

Location: Ceske Budejovice, Česká Republika
Duration: 1 day

Home of the Budweiser brewery. Not the piss-water Bud we get in North America, but a good tasting Czech lager. Went on a tour and tour guide let me pour my own beer straight from the storage kegs. She kept telling me to drink more. I think she was trying to get me drunk, which under normal circumstances would be fine because she was hot. But there were 6 other people in the tour and I don't perform for crowds ;P

Location: Praha, Česká Republika
Duration: 3 Days, 3 Nights

Did I end up regretting booking three nights at Travellers in Prague? Not at all. Met some great people in that dorm. Not everybody shared my appreciation as one night we had this one guy with what is described as sleep apnea, resulting in really loud, inconsistant snoring. I had been drinking and smoking Shisha (flavoured tobacco) the day before, so I slept right through it.

Made a day trip to Kutna Hora to see the Church of Bones. 40,000 bones - or the bones of 40,000 people, I forget which - were used as decoration inside the church. Quite a morbid, but uniquely interesting, site.

Also, being outside of Prague, we were able to get a good Czech meal for a fraction of the cost. Lunch for 4 people in Kutna Hora was about the same price one person paid for dinner in Prague.

Location: Dresden, Germany
Duration: 2 Days, 1 Night

The days I was in Dresden had to be the hottest days of my trip. Took the opportunity to sunbathe a while in the tall grass next to the river. I didn't realize how large Dresden is. I was prepared for a small town like Cesky Krumlov, instead I get a city where I go to beer gardens (sadly with no 1 litre beers like in Munich), shopping, and movie theatres.

Watching Star Wars Episode 3 in German with a couple of Austrailians? Priceless.

Of course it wasn't all good. I lost my Timmy Ho mug... and me and another dorm mate swear it must have been these other people in our dorm that "mistakenly" took it with them when they checked out.

To make matters worse, I meant to make Dresden my base as I made a few day trips to nearby cities and sites, but there was not a single dorm bed available in the entire city after my first night.

I then decided to have an adventure and jump on an overnight train somewhere. France, Italy, Greece, and Amsterdam all crossed my mind, but since I had to be in Berlin in a few days, I decided somewhere closer: Krakow, Poland, which was on my initial itinerary.

If you've been an avid reader of my blog, you'll know that I cut Poland from my trip because of passport reasons. Technically, I shouldn't be allowed in because my passport isn't valid for at least 6 months. At this point I didn't really care. Everybody I talked to said they don't check that closely, and I figured if I got turned back, I would head to Rugen Island, Germany, and chill out with a story to tell.

I got in Poland. And they stamped my passport (Switzerland, Austria, and France suck because they didn't).

Location: Krakow, Poland
Duration: 1 night and counting (probably just 1 day and 1 night)

Of course, Krakow being one of the most popular (if not THE most popular) tourist destination in Poland, there aren't any dorm beds available here tonight. Darned weekend tourists!

Throwing my money into a cheap hotel as I prepare for my Auschwitz and the Wieliczka Salt Mine trip tomorrow. Then it's on to another overnight train to Berlin... my last stop...

Location: Praha, Česká Republika (Prague, Czech Republic)
Local time: 1:29pm

Paid for three nights... but might end up regretting it. Travellers hostel here in town is my least favourite hostel I've been to yet, and the only one I couldn't appreciate upon arrival. From the 4 flights of stairs and 3 locked doors you have to get through to get to your room, to the lacklustre kitchen (where you can't even use the fridge), to the unfriendly non-english speaking dormmates (not really the hostel's fault), to the hostel bar that is in another building, I'm really not liking this hostel. Let that be a lesson to you. Pre book your hostel when heading to Prague. Both my prime and my 2 backups were fully booked when I got in town.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still having a blast, just disappointed with the accomodations.

About one week left before I hop on a plane back home... I don't want to leave! You can't make me!

Location: Wein, Österreich (Vienna, Austria)
Duration: 3 nights

Vienna was nice... overall. First day was pissing rain and the wind was blowing like a bitch. Had to take the duct tape to my ruined umbrella after that. I think I'm getting used to all the baroque architecture as it just looked like another city to me. Certainly nicer than the other cities I've been in, especially the old town center, but the effect I think was but a glimmer of what it would have been had I flew into Prague to begin with as I had originally planned.

Not busy staring in amazement at the architecture and sites, I was able to cultivate a more civilized experience consisting of museums, orchestral performances, and Life Bowl 2005.

The museums I went to were art museums (The Leopold and The Modern Art Museum), and despite how I tried, I just could not appreciate most of the "modern" art on display. When it looks like an eight year old could have painted it, I can't buy it being on display in a museum. One painted was a landscape of sky, mountain, lake. It consisted of three horizontal bands of colour. The commentary said that the artist had boiled the landscape down to its base components and captured the true essence of it. It was three fucking bands of colour. I'm all for abstract interpretations, but if this qualifies being displayed in a museum, your better off finding meaning in tracks on a dirt road or something else that's is... you know... free. You can interpret anything you want from anything. You don't need a crappy painting by a talentless hack, you just need a good dose of imagination.

I figured it would be tragic to not attend a classical musical performance being in a city with such a rich musical history as Vienna. I enjoyed it a lot more than I though I would. I've told some people the story of my first musical. This didn't have as large an impact on my, but I still enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Pieces of Strauss and Mozart were featured along with the works of others. The venues (the Hofburg Palace and the Kursalon) were amazing and added to the effect. Who would have that a dude standing on a street in a wig could provide such enjoyment? Get your mind out of the gutter, I just mean that I bought the ticket from a street vendor. Saved myself 7 euros off the box office price and got a voucher for a free drink as well.

Life Bowl 2005 was a fasion show / open air concert. I saw the "Milkshake" girl perform and a bunch of people behind the fence attending what seemed to be one of those posh costume parties. Of note were a guy and girl dressed as characters from "The Incredibles", wearing only boots, panties, and body paint. Also, a girl dressed as a lobster, with huge claws, an awesome head dress, and 3 foot platform shoes stood out.

I had more written about Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, and Ceske Budejovice, but internet problems erased it. I'll try to write it again at some other time.

In Wein, Österreich

Location: Wien, Österreich (Vienna, Austria)
Local Time: 3:12pm

The Wombat does it again! Just like in München, the Wombat here in Wien put me up as the sole male in an otherwise all girl dorm. The three I met when I arrived last night were nice enough, but they were all leaving in the morning next morning. The other two ladies in my dorm I still haven't properly met, as they appear to be night owls, waking up at 6pm and crashing back at the room at around 5 in the morning.

Recapping a few things since my last update...

Location: München, Deutschland (Munich)
Duration: 3 days, 2 nights

Since my last update I went to Englisher Garden and watched some nude sunbathers, people surfing in a stream, and other people slamming back 1 litre steins of beer and bratwürst. Nice place. I picked up a souvenir from an unattentive dishwasher... a 1 litre souvenir!

If you're going to G's BBQ bash on June 4, you'll see me bringing it along.

I also took a trip to Füssen and visited Schlass Neuschwanstein, the partially completed castle of "mad" King Ludwig II in the late 1800's, and allegedly the inspiration for the Disney castle. Pictures were not allowed inside the castle, but (being the rebel that I am) I took some candid ones anyways. They didn't turn out so great, although a few were unintentionally quite nice from an artistic perspective... if I do say so myself.

Location: Passau, Deutschland
Duration: One night... and a bit

Passau was just supposed to be a transfer station on my way back to Austria. However, I met up with a few drunken German students (Germans, or at least the Germans I have met, are the nicest drunks in the world). Seeing as I had no place to sleep - I didn't think I would need one as my train was leaving at 4 in the morning - one of the girls offered her house to me.

I ended up delightfully missing my train in the morning.

HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI

I forgot to mention my day trips to Luzern, Switzerland, and the Swarovsky Krystallwelten (Crystal Worlds) in my previous postings, so here you go.

Location: Luzern, Switzerland
Duration: One afternoon

Luzern (Lucerne) I only stopped in for the afternoon on my way to Zurich. Mark Twain described the Lion of Luzern as "the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world". I am inclined to agree. The posture and expression on the animal as a broken spear jutts from its side is full of emotion. Being carved out of the face of a giant rock wall lends the image even more power, and the quiet lake in front of it and the trees surrounding it adds to the sombre mood. The feelings evoked by the entire experience are ... undescribable. Taking into account the fact that it is a monument to an arguably pointless sacrifice mixes the emotions further. Luzern is worth visiting if only for the lion.

(Note: HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI is the inscription on the monument that translates to: "To the loyalty and courage of the Swiss")

Of course, that's not the only thing Luzern has to offer. The main thing that also caught my eye were the two bridges that connect the old town centre to the rest of the city. Disturbing paintings of death and dismemberment look down upon you as you cross either bridge. If I knew more about the history of the city, or if I were able to read the captions, it may shed light on its significance. But as it is, the bridges are just a peculiar site seen during my trip.

Location: Krystallwelten in Watton, Austria
Duration: 1 afternoon

I guess I can describe Krystallwelton (Crystal Worlds) as an art exhibit where all the exhibits make use of Swarovky crystals. All of the exhibits are shiny and some look amazing, some seem ripped out of a cheesy sci-fi film, while others are so fantastical that it makes you wonder what the artist was smoking when (s)he designed it.

But the real story behind this daytrip is how I got to the location. It was supposed to be a 15 minute train ride followed by a 20 minute walk. It ended up taking me about 2 hours to get there.

First, I was distracted on the train (don't ask) and missed my stop. Getting off at the next stop, I found out that it would be an hour before the next train would arrive. I decided to explore the small town I was in. Nothing to write home about really, besides some of the younger children yelling and pointing at me. Waiting at the train station, I figured that if I only had to go back one stop, I could probably hike there and save myself some cash and do a little sight seeing. Or I could sneak on board the train and hope that they don't check my ticket. (Being a cheap bastard, paying for the ticket was out of the equation). Chose to hike; took me about 40 minutes and I figure it was about 5 km. How many cool sites was I able to leisurly peruse? None. Nothing made me want to stop and stare, although part of that may be because it was freaking hot and I had lost my cap a few days before.

The things I will do to save €2.

A Day of Loss

Location: München, Deutschland
Local Time: 11:40am

Stayed at the Wombat here in Munchen. Got put in a dorm where it was me and 4 ladies. (SWEET!) Do you think other hostels will group me in similar dorms if I ask nicely? Because women are less likely to snore than a bunch of smelly guys, of course. No other reason...

Location: München, Deutschland
Duration: 2 days, 2 nights, and counting

Yesterday was a field day for the conflict between hope and depression.

I started out heading to Dachau with one of my English-lady dormmates, Kate. For those who don't know, Dachau was the site of the original concentration camp upon which all others were modeled.

We left the hostel at 10am and didn't get back until about 5:30pm. If they weren't closing the site for the night, we would have been there for many hours more. There was just so much to see and learn. We weren't able to go on the guided tour (we should have reserved our spots and THEN go for coffee, not the other way around) but were able to follow along a comprehensive audio guide and the many plaques.

What's left of the camp today is different from what it would have looked like up to 1945, but reading the detailed accounts and memoirs... you can almost see it.

After Dachau I dragged along Kate and another English girl she met at her new dorm (she switched to a cheaper hostel) with me as I searched for the elusive "ARC". The only bar in town I was told would show the Gold medal game for sure (If you have to ask, "what gold medal game" you are not Canadian). Finally found it (it's nice travelling with somebody who studies languages and can talk to the locals fluently) and was excited to get a good hockey fix.

Then the game ended. And I was depressed.

In München, Deutschland

Location: München, Deutschland (Munich, Germany)
Local Time: 6:45pm

Finally made it out of Switzerland and into some more sane countries, price-wise. Since my last update, I've been in Zurich, Innsbruck and a few smaller towns and cities in between.

Zurich, Switzerland
3 days, 3 nights

The Canadians are coming!
The Canadians are coming!

Prior to Zurich, I had met and talked with maybe a total of three other Canadians. Once I hit Zurich, I ran into no fewer than twenty. City Backpacker, the hostel I stayed at was Canada overrun with maple leaves. On my last night in town, there were ten Canadians and one girl from Norway crowded around a table in the common room; not exactly the worldly variety I was expecting. Didn't meet anybody from BC, but other than the expectant Torontonians, there was decent representation from across the country: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. Sorry, no Newfie love in Zurich.

Zurich was a nice place, but nothing that made my jaw drop. Fun city though regardless of night or day.

Loved the free bike rentals that let me bike along Lake Zurich, visit the Lundt chocolate factory, and visit the zoo all in the same day. Then at night there were clubs, bars, lounges, or what I did; just chilled along the lake with a bunch of random new friends, smoking cigars and drinking wine.

Cigars and wine? I'm civilised!

Innsbruck, Austria
2 days, 1 night
Nice small city, figured I'd stop by on my way to Munich... and try to catch a hockey game. But I've lost track of time and was a day too late.

Just missed the World Hockey Championships in town. Apparently there was a Canadian girl who stayed in my room at the Youth Hostel St. Nikolaus just before I got there who was following the team around. Interesting plan... Vienna, here I come! (I wish... I'll be too late by then)

At least now that I'm in a city with decently priced internet, I can find out the game times and try to hit up a bar to watch it live. Although I was able to catch a few of the Swiss games when I was in the country.

Following on the Internet... Canada! Don't blow your 4-0 lead...

WOO! GAME OVER, GOING FOR THE GOLD BABY!

GO CANADA GO!
GO CANADA GO!
GO CANADA GO!

(I have an abnormally strong urge right now to hop on a train to Vienna and try to weasel my way into the Gold medal game.)

Still in Interlaken

Location: Interlaken, Switzerland
Local time: 8:08pm

Still in Interlaken today. Filled up my camera memory card with pictures of my trip to the mountains near Grindelwald. Unfortunately the hiking paths up to the snowy areas were closed due to avalanche warnings. Going to try my hand at uploading pictures, but I'm running into technical difficulties, so I will find a shop to burn them to a disk for me.

In otherwords, expect no pictures until much later.

Damn exchange rate!

Location: Interlaken, Switzerland
Local time: 6:34pm
Current mood: Free (even more free in a couple hours)

I haven't used a pen and paper by choice for years, and now that I am, I find that I can write a lot. A LOT! Instead of transcribing my journal entries, I figure I'll just summarize everything.

Location: Basel, Switzerland
Duration: 3 nights

After I left London, I flew into Basel. Thursday was a holiday (Juses entering Heaven?) and most everything was closed; one of my dormmates, Jeorne, had a car so we decided to take a road trip. We headed for Germany and the Vitras Design Museum (Jeorne is an aspiring architect). Among the sites to see there:

• A self moving overhead cover that lowers when rain is detected,
• A firestation with no right angles, designed by some Iranian woman reknowned in architecture circles (actually, there were a couple right angles that were necessated due to the existing foundation... apparently she was quite peeved about that),
• A conference centre designed by a Japanese architect. The main building material? Concrete. Apparently architectural connoisseurs come from all over the world to see this and its award winning concrete. That's right, award winning concrete. SFU haters eat your heart out.
• A chair museum with dozens and dozens of designer chairs. My favourites? One made from a shopping cart, and a mean looking alumninum torture-device-like chair befittingly designed by a Swiss teacher.

From here we looked at a road map and randomly chose a small German town to visit, and then a French town after that. Highlight of this part of the journey? A 100+ year old church that almost felt inherently sacred with its beautiful stained glass windows, large pipe organ, and creaking wood panel decks. "Almost" because the effect was diluted somewhat by the incandecsent lights, construction/renovation signs, and tourist information panels scattered throughout.

A couple of my other doormmates were Japanese. They didnät speak much English, but I just love listening to Japanese women speak Japanese. It's right up there with British women speaking English. It just sounds right (and hot!)

Location: Interlaken, Switzerland
Duration: 2 days and counting

Next stop was Interlaken. A town gorgeously situated between two lakes and surrounded by mountains. My internal compass is frazzled a little by all the mountains (north is that way... no that way.. or is it over there?) but the scenery cannot be matched.

Met a Hong Kong/Australian girl at the train station (add slight Austrailian accents to my favourites' list) and we took a day trip on the train to a couple nearby towns of Spiez and Thun. Found a few cows and tried to say "hello", but they ran off into the barn by the time I got close enough. Sorry Jules, I'll try to find another opportunity to say "hi" to the cows for you.

Sharing my dorm with a couple of cool guys from a small town near Boston. Jelous was I when they talked of going skydiving in Interlaken... but what's a poor Canadian boy to do? Going to party with them later tonight. Should be a blast. Swiss partying as good as BC partying? I'll soon find out.

So that's a quick rundown of what I've been up to. Sorry I didn't make this entry even shorter and more concise, but I just don't have the time. I just now found a place that offers internet access for 6 Francs an hour (about $6.20 CAD), all the other Swiss places have been charging the equivalent of about $21 CAD per hour.

I'll say it again, what's a poor Canadian boy to do?

(Answer: party and meet foreign chicks with hot accents!)

So what IS my strong suit?

London - May 2, 11:20pm @ Trafalgar Square
I guess I was expecting a culture shock to hit as soon as I got off the plane.

It's as if I was expecting purple skined aliens with three nipples or something. Sure, the building are grander, the prices more expensive, and people talk with accents, but it doesn't really feel all that different from Vancouver. To be fair, that's probably because I haven't really been conversing with the locals; I haven't experienced that dry British wit they are stereotypically known for.

Aside from some problems with the (crazy) phone system, I don't believe that I've done anything differently than how I would have back home. True, it's only the first night. I keep talking to others about how you should not expect change to occur overnight, yet I'm guilty of doing the same. I suppose what I should be preaching is that only expecting change does very little to enact change. If you want the change to happen, you should be proactive about it; meet it head on.

To bad confrontation is not my strong suit.

Later that night...

London - May 2, 10:07pm
I've taken some cool pictures around Buckingham Palace, one of which I plan on captioning: "Come my stony compatriots, time to storm the gates!" Use your imagination until I get a chance to upload it. Haven't thought much of where I'm going to sleep tonight. Sleeping for free is an option, but is it worth looking like a bum on the streets? Hopefully I'll find a place somewhere close to the city centre so that I can easily start my proposed Monopoly Board run tomorrow. I was thinking of doing a Monopoly Board pub crawl, but at these prices I don't think I can afford to go even half way around the board.

There's a bit of a breeze, but otherwise it's been a warm, clear night. Of course, now that I'ved stopped to writ this, my body is cooling down. Need to find a pub and get some grub.

A whopper for a Whopper

London - May 2, 8PM @ Victoria Place
Called Tom's number again. Either I copied it down wrong, Klaus got it wrong, or Tom has changed his number, because I reached the voicemail of one Linda Smith.

Contingency planning has never been my strong suit; however, going with the flow and being able to adjust is a large part of what this trip is all about. The tourist information booths are closed now and the one person I've met is likely in his hotel room with his wife right now. Even if I could get in touch with him, I would choose not to interrupt their vacation. I'm not in that bad a position. I have a good chuck of pocket money, enough food and drink, as well as my wits to help me survive a couple nights in a foreign town by myself. Thankfully everybody speaks English (you have to love the accents!).

Speaking of food, a BK Whopper meal for £4.49? That's OVER $10 CAD! Good think I smuggled a bunch of the complementary drinks and munchies from the plane ride. Oh well, I'm off to find more food, bed, and maybe hit on some chicks with sexy British accents.

In London

London - May 2, 7:30PM (London Time)
Air plane ride went well enough. Ran into a little excitement at the end when the pilot had to about his initial landing approach.

"Is something wrong with the plane?"

"Is something wrong at the airport?"

The pilot mumbled some vague reason over the intercom for having to take another approach. Did he just miss his line and decided to try again? Any way to split it, it doesn't fill me with confidence.

At the airport was another matter. It's depressing when the numerical amount of cash you carry gets shrunk by a factor of 2.5 (damn you British pound!). I tried calling Tom, Klaus' London friend, but for some reason it wouldn't let me complete the call (I now believe it's because I kept putting in the country code). I then tried calling directory assistance, and the idiot on the other end didn't help one iota. He uttered one sentence: "Directory Assistance, how may I help you?" That's it. No matter what I said or asked, he wouldn't even grunt to acknowledge that he was still there, although I did hear background noise so I assume he was. I repeatedly asked for help or just a response as I saw my £1.00 dwindle to £0.00 before my very eyes. I don't know if it was the telephone company I was using or what, but as every second ticked, 2 pence would be subtracted from my balance. It was like a ticking time bomb, just mocking my futile efforts. I'm on the express right now heading to Victoria. I figure I'll cruise around town a bit until I try to contact Tom again.

One thing I've notived looking our the train window is how much more "leafy" the trees look and how many building are made of brick. Maybe it's just me, but the leaves look asburdly large and defined. As for the brick buildings, that may be attributed to my route and age of the buildings rather than the architectural style of London.

Europe Travel Log - YVR

I brought a little notebook with me that I crack open and jot in whenever there's a lull. I'll transcribe the text here whenever I get a chance. Beware, my impromptu writing is awfully long winded.

--

Vancouver Airport - May 1, 11pm
I'm sitting on a plane right now preparing to fly to London. The more I think about it, the more excited I get.

On my way to the airport, I realized that I had forgotten to pack my razor. Simple enough to replace, I figure, but we shall see. Will I live to rue the day that I forgot to pack my razor? Or has not packing it unknowingly saved me tonnes of trouble at customs? Back to the plane, I am sat next to a middle-aged asian couple. They seem nigh enought, but it's certainly no hot blonde from Georgia. Taking into account the law of averages, I suppose this means that I have something to look forward to. Hopefully, the payout won't come after a long day's travel while I am sporting a day's worth of stubble and musk.

As I entered the airport, the line to the Air Transat counter was a huge anomaly. A slow moving giant in the midst of quick, light-footed Tolkien hobbits.

The pre-trip jitters have definitely given way to excitement. At least, I think it's excitement. There's a pressure raising in my chest. It doesn't constrict, but rather it's more like an untapped energy source itching to be released. The itch rises and ebbs; it hasn't reached a tumult yet, but the potential cannot be denied. A last minute rush to make paper copies of all my digital travel information was ground to a halt by my quirky printer at home. After nearly 14 years of service, perhaps it's time to retire my Canon Bubblejet - the bubbles having long since lost their optimal surface tension, resulting in a haphazard collage of black ink.

3 Days Left in Canada!

A few people have asked for more specifics as to my trip so here goes:

Scheduled departure: Sunday May 1 at 11:55pm (yes, PM)

I will be arriving in London the next day (May 2) at 5:10pm local time. From there I'll be taking another flight to Basel, Switzerland and will continue on through Austria, Czech, and Germany.

Below is a list of the major places I plan on visiting:

London: Monopoly board run
Was thinking of making this a pub crawl, but I doubt I have enough time, stamina, or cash to sustain a 26 location pub crawl.

After two nights in London, I'll get on a plane to...

Switzerland:
Basel

Austria:
Salzburg - Mozart!
Vienna

Czech:
Prague
Cesky Krumlov

Germany:
Neuschwanstein Castle - Inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland
Dresden - Amazing architecture
Sachsenhausen - Concentration camp near Berlin
Berlin - Hop on a flight to back to London before I come back to Canada

Scheduled return: June 2 at 3:25pm Vancouver time.

The above list is all the major cities I plan on visiting, but what I'm most looking forward to is visiting the smaller towns. We'll see how this goes.

Site mechanics update

Enabled comments and fixed up the RSS feed (http://motivity.blogspot.com/atom.xml). Now the entire post should show up in your RSS aggregator of choice.

Update on my trip planning is coming up later tonight.

Pre-Europe Trip Update

First, I would like to thank everybody who replied for their advice suggestions. It was great hearing from all of you and it really helped me. Second, quite a few things have happened these last few days to play havoc on my proposed Europe trip:

1) My parents, in a showing of overzealous protectionism, offered to put $10,000 towards my future car purchase... provided that I cancel my trip. Backpack through Europe or $10,000 off the purchase of a car? Either way, I win... or is that lose.

Resolution: Go on the trip anyways, quoting flimsey appeals of integrity and skyrocketing gas prices as justification.

2) Poland and Hungary, among others, require your passport to be valid for 6 months AFTER your intended departure from the country. My passport expires in October and even applying for a new one won't help as Poland also requires that your passport be valid for 3 months PRIOR to your arrival.

Resolution: Rehaul my travel plans to exclude these countries, unfortunate casualties of impromptu decision making.

My revamped itinerary now follows a path revolving around a Eurail Selectpass instead of an European East Pass. Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, and Czech form the base of my list now.

3) Related to the two items above, I've had to shorten my travel time. Instead of the 40 day trip initially envisioned, I'll be cutting that by a week. This means I won't be able to devote a week to each country. I know I said it would be a "whirlwind tour", but I was hoping to take a little more time

Resolution: Further tweaking of my travel plans. With about 10 days left, I'm sure I'll go through quite a few more revisions.

EuroTrip

With my SFU carreer over and done, I'm making an impromptu whirlwind tour of Eastern Europe.

Preliminary Itinerary

• Czech Republic (Prague, and thinking of Cesky Krumlov, Brno, Olomouc)
• Austria (Vienna)
• Slovak Repulbic (Bratislava? Just because it's on the way to Hungary)
• Hungary (Siofok, Budapest)
• Poland (Krakow, Warsaw)

It looks like I'll be flying through London and Berlin, spending at least half a day in each.

If anybody has any input or advice, let me know before I take off at the end of April!

bruce.h.nguyen(at)gmail(dot)com

For all you RSS people

The RSS feed attached to this blog only sends the first paragraph or 255 words (whichever is shorter) of each post. So for anybody reading this through an RSS feed, visit the site (motivity.blogspot.com) to view my posts in full.

It's about perspective

I've discovered the readership of this blog is larger than I had thought, unknowingly caused by my own actions. I guess this means that I will start putting more time and effort into each post. Yes, maybe even enough time to write short posts instead of long ones.

*****

Watched an episode of Angel (Season 2, Episode 6: "Guise Will Be Guise") where he meets with a Swami in order to learn a bit about himself and heal some psychological wounds. Turns out the Swami was a fake, but the false wisdom imparted still had a good deal of merit. With controversy revolving around the validity of religion (**cough**Mormon**cough**) and other beliefs, perhaps what's more important than the validity of the source is what you can learn from it. A glib response may be "so the end justifies the means?" Well, no. It doesn't. And I'm not trying to imply that. What I'm trying to say is you can find value in any and everything, it's all about perspective.

To unilaterally dismiss an entire argument due to one particular attribute is foolish. It's not all or nothing, black or white, good or evil. At least, not necessarily. There can be shades of grey, shades of brown, or even a rainbow of colour (or texture! Texture is the new colour, don't you know); it all depends on your perspective.

"No" Means "Yes" in Poland

MISA's annual Alumni Night this last Thursday, with yours truly as the MC. Ever get the feeling that people are too polite or kind (or scared) to tell you what they actually think? Oh well, that's not really something I want to write about right now. What I do want to share is a couple of quotes I picked up.

"If you were a hot dog, and you are hungry, would you eat yourself?" --Paul Cyr

Behind this SNL quote is a metaphor to self-sacrifice. When put to the task, how willing are you to sacrifice yourself for it? There is only so much that you are able to give; you have to find your passion.

This goes hand in hand with a quote from later that night:

"Make your no's mean no and your yes's mean yes." --Jason McIvor

Too often people will say "yes" or "no" according to what they think the other person wants to hear, or because they feel it is expected of them. Reaaly, by doing this you are showing that you are afraid of the consequences of telling the truth. And while there may be consequences, they are most likely small compared to the consequences of being caught in a falsehood.

* * * * *

On a different note, my mood nowadays is too easily swayed by music. Or is it that the kind of music I listen to is influenced by my current mood? Either way, I have to stop playing this melencholy shit.

* * * * *

Back to Alumni Night, the BILLION DOLLAR MIS CHALLENGE was a blast... although I had a brain fart and let Paul win the acronym challenge with "FTP". Honestly... FTP? WTF?

FUCK YOU RENAISSANCE!

Fourty-five minutes for a fucking pinini? Are you serious? Are you fucking seriousing me?

First of all, a "few minutes" in my book doesn't mean 45. Five or 10 I can see, even 15. But fucking 45?! If it's going to be over half an hour, fucking tell me that. Don't give me "just a few minutes" shit when you know it's not. Second, don't give me that "we're understaffed" bullshit. How long have you been in operation? If you have two people on duty on weekdays, two people should be plenty enough for the weekends. Compared to weekdays, SFU is a fucking ghost town on Sunday. And really, if that retarded brown chick behind the counter knew what she was doing, there wouldn't have been a backlog in the first place. Using the microwaves to speed up the process? I'll give you credit for that. But you know what? It probably would be even better to make use of all the grills. If there are four grills and a backlog of orders, you use all four grills, NOT TWO. It's not that fucking hard. And those grills weren't broken, she used all of them... just not at the same time because, apparently, she's fucking stupid. Third, if you forget whose order is whose, FUCKING ASK! Don't just stare aimlessly for 2 minutes, only to put it to the side and ignore it.

...

I'd continue, but I was interupted and have lost the rhythm. I meant everything I wrote up there, but probably could have found a more constructive way to say it. It's amazing what a simple "thank you" will do for your mood. You're welcome, Jess.

And thank you.

It's all about the D.R.E.A.M.

So I get a phone call yesterday from a client who just wants to make it clear that she is not racist. The reason she asked about our nationality when she first met us, she says, is because she had some bad experiences with Central and South American people, and so doesn't want to take any more chances with Filipino people.

Didn't realize the Phillippines were in the Americas.

But back to the point, judging or discriminating against a person based on their race is the very definition of racism. But "I'm not a bad person. I'm not racist," she keeps claiming. Well, I'm not going to comment on the first part (she did call to apologize afterall, but that may have been for reasons other than a simple apology), but lady, you are racist. And by your very own admission. If you're going to claim that you are not something, you should at least know the definition of it first.

The thing that gets me the most is that I'm pretty sure she doesn't really understand what racism is and the reprecussions of it. Sure, it's discrimination, but that's not why it's wrong. It's wrong because in most cases, a person's race has nothing to do with their capabilities or appropriateness for a job. Discrimination is not inherently a bad thing. When buying food, you discriminate on taste and price. When hiring somebody for a job, you discriminate based on perceived competence and experience. After all, Discrimination Rules Everything Around Me, DREAM (get the money, dollah dollah bills, y'all!). Where things go wrong is when the basis of discrimination and the target measure of performance are not related.

Now I can imagine some circumstances where racism (discrimination based on race) is justified. For instance, when producing a historically accurate film on a budget, you don't cast a Chinese guy to play the role of Mansa Mussa, African King of Mali. A person's race, however, is not related to their landscaping skills.

South America... get a freakin atlus.

Awkward silences

Hi.




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So... come here often?

Artificially Esoteric and Intentionally Ambiguous

"What do you believe?"

Every so often I am asked this question. My answer is usually some off-hand remark about being agnostic (read: indecisive). But if I were to honestly consider the question, I may be lead to say that what I believe is that we are all here for a reason; not necessarily for a purpose, but certainly for a reason. Also, although I may be contradicting myself, I believe in choice and free will.

It's a theory that has been coagulating in the pit of my mind for a while now. While it seemed an epiphany at the time, after years surfing the net and browsing the numerous authoritative discertations of self-proclaimed intelligentsia, it all appears rather banal.

Please, if there are any philosophy majors or critical thinkers out there, leave me my ego and restrain from tearing apart my argument.

---

• Fate

• Cause and effect

• The illusion of choice

Elementary chemistry teaches us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is not to say that the results of actions are equal to the action itself. Some people call this a snowballing effect, domino effect, or a butterfly effect (where a butterfly flapping its wings in Rio de Janeiro might change the weather in Chicago), point being that it is virtually impossible to see in totality the effects of our actions as ripple and build with other actions in an infinite system. At the same time, it is also impossible to be aware of all the factors that came to cause your action. Following this thinking, if everything is based on cause and effect, any particular action you take or "choice" you make is a reaction to past actions and circumstances. While there are options and different paths to be travelled - "choices" if you will - which path is ultimately followed is the end result of a cosmic equation of infinite variables. Sure, there are different options available, but if somebody knew all the particulars of you, your environment, and the history of your experiences and interactions, they would be able to predict your actions with the utmost accuracy.

So the concept of "choice" exists in that we are, theoretically, confronted with many options every minute of every day. But we never actually practice "choice" because all of our actions are but reactions. In otherwords, everything is predetermined by, for lack of a better word, fate.

So why try? If everything is predetermined, then my failures, my circumstances are but a result of fate. Responsibility and accountability are no longer in the individual's domain. This course of thinking, if adopted by even a few can be dangerous. Already we are seeing cases in criminal law (alright, I saw it on Law & Order) where the Defence argues that we are all victims of circumstance. A poor upbringing, a tragic occurrence, and preconceptions imposed by society are all grounds for dismissal of blame.

While I would agree that the consignment of blame should not fall on any single person, neither should it fall on the "system" itself, as if it were a separate entity from its parts (people). I would also argue that the responsibility for actions are not equally spread out among the parts. Accountability is not equal, it falls more heavily on some than others, and justifiably so. But people must still be held somewhat accountable for there actions, if only to maintain a healthy functioning society.

Thus, while this take on predeterminism makes sense to me, I nevertheless believe in free will. I "choose" to believe in choice as even if free will does not truly exist, by believing in it, one can create a state of "virtual free will", serving the purpose of injecting responsibility, accountability, and a sense of accomplishment into life. Creating a sense of "self" for individual cogs in a complex automaton of life.

Let's just end this here before I go off on a tangent on self and reality and what little I know of Descartes' "A Discourse on the Method".

Harmatia

Hamartia: That quality in excess--perhaps even a virtue--that brings about the fall of the protagonist. Often used in context of Greek tragedies and translated as "tragic flaw".

What's your tragic flaw? Does it really matter? As a critical tool, defining the tragic flaw can be a helpful and interesting endevour. However, in real life, I maintain that people fail (yes, fail) as a result of a complex set of factors, not as a result of any single character trait.

If I were a character in a Greek tragedy, what would my flaw be? Let's call it a propensity for prolonged states of nondiscrimination.

In otherwords, indecision.

My English prof would probably argue that the meaning of the term hamartia as discussed by Aristotle in Poetics isn't really captured in the simplistic translation of "tragic flaw". The more literal translation of "miscalculation" or "missing the mark" is actually more accurate as hamartia can be seen as an incident of the plot or circumstance rather than of a particular person.

But I've long given up any aspirations of pursuing a literary degree, so let's forget that I said anything on this subject.