In and Out the Ordinary

Wine Barrels

2008-06-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

Wine Barrels, originally uploaded by lindsayj.

36 weeks

2008-03-26T21:48:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by lindsayj

So, I was all set to write an angry rant about canadian tire and how much I detest that store -- despite the ideal of tools, homeware, and car parts all in one. I even had a title -- Candadian Sick and Tired -- but instead I've decided to post some nice pretty photos of my old friend Maile and her ever-growing belly...

My ski buddies

2008-02-03T19:42:00.001-08:00

My ski buddies, originally uploaded by lindsayj.

We had an epic ski day on Baker this past Saturday -- blue skies and soft powder. Amazing.
Here are my ski buddies -- Nails (as he is newly self-nick-named), Allen and The Griz -- after our day of fun and face plants.

Can't wait to go back...and this time Steve assures me he'll bring his passport.

The North Shore sessions

2008-01-06T20:53:00.001-08:00

Recording
Originally uploaded by lindsayj

Fans wait patiently....

Kelowna local news

2008-01-01T22:29:00.001-08:00

Good headline
Originally uploaded by lindsayj

What a chase scene that must have been ;)

(and ps, did charlie make the front page?
"Obesity not just a human problem"..haha)

Holidays are made for skiing...

2008-01-01T16:19:00.001-08:00

On the rails
Originally uploaded by lindsayj

Had a great break with the family. Never a dull moment with the parents, 3 kids, two boyfriends, and two black cats.
Beer, food, books, movies, cat fights and powder.

The skiing especially was great.
Here's james' fourth ever attempt at 'the rails' where he demonstrates why a permanent ski patroller is stationed there.

On the gondola ride back to the car, he proudly shared with a fellow park buddy that he loved the "S" rails.
Little buddy obviously thought he meant the rad "S" shaped rail....
James meant "S" as in rated small....

Namu beach glass

2007-12-19T20:38:00.001-08:00

Namu beach glass
Originally uploaded by lindsayj

Environment 1...

2007-12-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Score one for the environment.
A few days ago, far removed from my frantic, trivial task of making christmas cards, the nation's government leaders were discussing climate change in Bali.
Most of the world supported tougher measures to lower our greenhouse gas emissions, whereas (surprise, surprise) the US did not. The climatic twist (pun intended) was that Stephen Harper went on record to say that Canada agreed with the US.
"Wtf?" said canadians, roughly 110,00 of them, and signed a petetion to oppose Stephen Harper's 'canadian' opinion. Four days later, Harper changed his position and now we're setting tougher emission targets.
very cool.

Lost and Found

2007-12-16T21:22:00.001-08:00

O Canada
Originally uploaded by lindsayj

I've been feeling a little discouraged about photography of late.
You know, the usual, "What's the bother...?" , "To what end...?" , and "Why in the hell...?, blah blah blah.

I had seen these geese a couple days earlier and found the mind's eye content to be amusing.
I'm glad I brought my camera to work on Tuesday.
Fun wins again.

To do...

2007-12-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

I am not without projects.
A quick scan of the apartment to take stock (which doesn't take long) finds me the following.

~ photography paraphelalia - photos, cameras, cards and now canvas printing materials
~ knitting supplies- one mitten, half-finished toques, etc
~ crafting items like beads, hemp and candle wax - I vaguely remember attempting this holiday craft. Anyone wanting to take this off my hands?
~ piano, banjo, guitar, bass
~ articles, books, research, words on paper - there's a lot of this.
~ balance board - in pieces.
~ laundry and dishes -not technically a project, but they never disappear....

And this is only those within my line of sight.

Meanwhile, on the big WWW there's no lack in clutter space for me to spew my unfinished projects to sites like this or this or this. I don't even want to talk about that infamous networking site that I can't delete myself from...

So has this blog become another unfinished project?
No time to answer this - have to go sort laundry.

Hello...Is there anybody in there?

2007-12-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

Just nod if you can hear me.

Big Bang Baja 2007

2007-05-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

James leaves today.
I leave on Sunday.
And since there won't be much opportunity to post for the next month (and since BJ has been convinced to document his wit in a blog dedicated to the trip), I'll save my stories for later and remain satisifed with being an influence behind BJ's Baja tales.

check out the Baja Blog here.

Summer 2007

2007-05-15T15:08:00.001-07:00

james and the werewolf
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

3 months ago I could never have predicted my summer to be what it is.
But here it is.
And what it is, is turning out to be grand.

Firstly I join James on the first month of his second mexican adventure as we attempt to beat the heat, going as far south along the west coast as is VW-vanly possible. I'm looking forward to surf, sun, mexicans, spanish, fires, photography, cacti...pretty much everything except scorpions!

Then I return to BC and fly north to work on a sailboat in Haida Gwaii. Big Tees! Totems! Money...

And then a break before I head back out on the boat. Perhaps a hiking/camping trip with friends?? (hint, hint)

fun, fun!
~
In this photo: Charley loves cuddling as much as James. It's so strange that no one jumped at the opportunity to have such a loving friend for month... hopefully my mom's not scared of werewolves.

Fuse Views

2007-04-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

candle_dancing_3
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Through Wine's Eyes

2007-04-30T11:29:00.001-07:00

through_wines_eyes
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

On Friday I took my camera out for a night at Fuse, a monthly evening event at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Unfortunately, I also brought a bottle of wine given to me by the last school sailing trip. And I hadn't eaten much.
The end result was me face down and almost asleep, while others celebrated the closing night of Bosmans (a place I wish I knew about sooner...famous photographer's son, a salty old seaman, tough waitresses....I remember none of these things...)

Luckily my camera doesn't have a breathalyzer.
I may have found a niche...

cherry blossoms

2007-04-18T13:05:00.001-07:00

cherry blossoms
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

many more images in my head than words.

another ferry reflection

2007-04-17T13:20:00.001-07:00

another ferry reflection
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Cormorants

2007-04-16T17:49:00.001-07:00

Cormorants
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

holy f#%k!

2007-04-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard

thank god for rick mercer...

2007-03-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

...bringing humor and wit to the political absurdity that is sometimes our Canadian government...

Rainbow

2007-03-18T12:42:00.001-07:00

Rainbow
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Addictions

2007-03-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

For the next few days, adding up to a total of 40, my friend Miranda is observing Lent and removing 'vices' from her lifestyle (this year it's booze and wheat).

I've been inspired by her resolve in the past but it seems that every year Lent rolls around and, having never observed any real christian tradition as a child, except for the odd Sunday every 3 years when my grandmother would come to town and suddenly I'd be Anglican (I'm not counting christmas and easter of course - they're more like turkey and egg holidays), every year I forget about Lent, missing this chance to participate in a tradition of anti-consumerism. And, unlike other traditions, who are seen as benefits for the economy and so paraded before the consumer for weeks if not months prior to the day, I become aware of this 'holiday' only after it has already started - and I hesitate to be the bandwagon girl who observes Lent for only 31 days.

But why not? If I think about, and I try not to, there are many things in my life that could be considered vices, or even addictions, and could use a break from my life be it 40 or 31 or even 4 days. Some are easy to remove and some are not.

Take for example coffee (lindsay reaches for a sip before continuing)...I would hesitate to say I'm addicted to it and yet those rare days that I choose not to have coffee are few and far between (and usually hazy). Several years ago in university, I decided I needed to stop drinking coffee for at least a year due to a book I read, appropriately named Coffee. The first few weeks of life without coffee I felt the effects of removing an addiction, socially and physically - the massive headaches, the shaking hands, the smell of coffee taunting me, and the questioning I got from people who knew me as a coffee drinker (my mother!). Thankfully however, I loved tea and after several months it became easier to turn down that delicious bean juice. Before I knew it I had gone a year and two months without a cup of java and I was so proud of myself that I decided one cup wouldn’t hurt (oh it was gooood…). And then I decided a mug a week was ok, especially if it was socially responsible coffee. Fast forward to today where I’m sometimes buying coffee from gas stations and (gasp!) Starbucks just because there’s no other alternative. Ah addictions…it’s a slippery slope. (Lindsay takes a anther sip of the sweet nectar of the gods).

Recently I’ve been wondering if I’m also addicted to my computer - email, news, photography, entertainment, music and even now, though I'm 'creative writing', it's creative time spent on a computer. But how do you kick this addiction without dropping off the face of the planet? And although granted soon I will be working on a boat and far removed from any "asdfghjkl;" for days at a time, forcibly placed into computer rehab, undoubtedly as soon as my sea legs reach land, I will seek out an internet cafe to at least make contact with the boy - I'm pretty sure that's against protocol for other rehab programs.

Perhaps I need to limit my computer time and monitor the hours wasted. Perhaps I will read a book called "Computer" and go cold turkey for a year. Needless to say, and however I deal with it, of all my addictions this seems to be that hardest to kick - here comes the shaking hands again.

James, Red Mountain

2007-03-13T12:25:00.001-07:00

James, Red Mountain
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

slowly edited the many photos from my kootenay trip.

North Van rainbow

2007-03-10T14:31:00.001-08:00

March7th rainbow 1
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

extreme lurk shots coming soon

I have a date tonight

2007-02-22T16:45:00.001-08:00

Date
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I'm taking myself, james and my new red dress out on a date. We leave in an hour, and I doubt James will read this post before then, so I can tell you what we're doing - we're going to see Josh Ritter !!!
I'm so excited...

Just like a rolling stone

2007-02-22T11:58:00.001-08:00

On the move again.
Finished most of my packing yesterday evening and have only a scattering mix of dust and random bits left to deal with. It's been a difficult pack (oh, woe is me) since I've had to think about a) what I might need for the summer, b) what I might want to keep for my next place, and c) what I can fit into Big Jim's small apartment (we're not really 'moving-in' per say but I will be storing some stuff at his place...like my dresser...and my knitting needles...and some books...and I'll most likely be sleeping there when I'm in town...but we're not moving in...)

Leaving the West End and my funky, though small, apartment is a small drag - beach access, great food venues in close proximity, friends who live a stone's throw away, late night stumbles home from the bar, that squirrel who begs for food outside my window, the family of raccoons and magic mushrooms who also reside there, ferns and Buddha welcoming me home, my three large windows, my shower, open-late liquor store, yoga studio, library, and bus stops - all of these things I will miss.
Then there are things I won't miss - like an outrageous rent payment for only 500 sq m, an extra-large-bar-fridge half full with condiments, a fire alarm that went off every time I baked (yes, I baked from time to time...though not too frequently, because of the damn fire alarm), my windows allowing for easy viewing of my rump when I decided I couldn't be bothered to run to the bathroom to change...

Where my next 'home' will be is any one's guess (though this trip to the Kootenay's might help that decision). On the other hand, I'm itching for some warm weather bathing/surfing and I don't think my summer cruising the west coast on a sailboat will be satisfying any urges (oh but the whales I will see). Also thinking about going back to school and studying basket weaving...
Any wagers or bets?

Buddha in my garden

2007-02-22T11:13:00.001-08:00

Buddha in my garden
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Sadie

2007-02-16T10:21:00.000-08:00

I met Andee Pelan when we both worked as camping guides for Midnight Sun. I would look forward to when our vans would cross paths in Jasper and we'd convince our clients to go out on the town so that we could drink together. A couple years later I got to know her better when I lived in Port McNeil for a summer and she ran a hostel just a ferry ride away in one of my favourite towns, Alert Bay. I spent many great hours with her and Moo (her fantastic, though smelly, Saint-Bernard-partner-in-life), on the beach, offroading in the van, and being tipsy while dancing along to the local harmonica legend at the Alert Bay music festival.

Now, you may not realize this, but I suck at communication and keeping in contact with friends that move outside my field of vision. Lucky for me, Andee understands this and has still kept me on her list for group email updates. Also lucky for me, and the many cc'd others, she's a fantastic writer who sees humor in most situations, so said group emails are a welcome sight in my inbox.

Recently her life took a different turn and several months ago she gave premature birth to Sadie Sioux (she was just under 4 lbs) .

Andee's explanation of the name selection:

"As mentioned before, Sadie is my great grandmother's name on my mum's side. Sioux was chosen for a few reasons: 1. both of Geri's great grandmother's were native Canadians... and while we're pretty sure that they were more likely Iroquois and not Sioux indian, Sadie Iroquois just doesn't have the same ring to it. 2. I was born in northern Ontario in Sioux Lookout. 3. After my honorary sister (dubbed bestest friend in Grade 6) Sue Bennett, who often goes by the nickname Siouxsie (after the very-cool-especially-for-the-80's band Siouxsie and the Banshees). 4. It makes for good song rhyming... a lot of words rhyme with Sioux (pronounced Soo, for my ESL friends)... what rhymes with Iroquois?... enema?, blah blah blah? mother-in-law?"

Anyways, the long short rollercosater of a story is that Sadie's now had 5 surgeries already, including the most recent one to stabilize her while she waits for a heart donor. But with me being in BC and them in Ontario, I can do little more than think good thoughts and wish I could do more. Frozen casseroles don't travel by mail very well.

So,
Sadie Sioux, my thoughts are with you.

(see Andee, you did name her well for rhyming!)

Happy V-day

2007-02-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is a strange 'holiday'.
You don't get the time off, there's no stat pay, guys usually forget about it until they hear it on the radio that morning, and no one really knows the history of it.

Was it because St. Valentine defied a ban on marriages, performing the ceremony illegally? Did he actually sign love letters from jail signed "from your valentine"? Did those crazy romans and their gods, such as Juno, goddess of women and marriage, have anything to do with it occuring on Feb 14th? (For those of you interested in celebrating roman traditions, tomorrow you get to get to celebrate the hunter of wolves). And how we went from pagan gods and dead martyrs, to chocolate and lace underwear is a bit of a blur.

But even though this historically tragic holiday hasn't yet involved any foresaken love (albeit forsaken sleep - I had to be at the tram by 5:45 this morning for training), it's been a surprisingly nice day: Got to borrow the van so I could come back and take a nap before I work tonight, ate a valentine cookie at 7:30, was given an amusing card and chocolates when I got back (I was a bit shocked I have to say), and am now enjoying a fantastic cup of coffee. My cycisim may be broken yet.

And for the ladies who were pleasantly surprised with a display of lurve, like myself, there is a way you can make it up - SteakandBJ day. At least we know the history of this holiday...

mel teaches me how to use photoshop

2007-02-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

mel teaches me how to use photoshop
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

thanks mel !

Checking beacons

2007-02-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

checking beacons
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

The safety conscious start to a mini-backcountry day on Mnt Baker.

Goodbye Terc'

2007-01-29T23:43:00.000-08:00

Monday mourning (spelling mistake intended), I cleaned out my car for the last time - which wasn't too often since it was just an average car that I never cared about, not like my 1978 green westfalia who had a hippie name and for whom I insisted kristy take photographs of 'us' hugging before I sold her (yes, I know, both hippie and silly)...I digress.

The Terc' (1988 2-door Toyota Tercel - this photo is not my car...) never really made it into too many of my photos. First of all, because it was gray, and second of all, because it looked like a compressed version of a Delorean, minus the doors that spread like wings of course...that would've been cool. (I don't really know cars, but I know Back to the Future). I tried to put some hippie bumperstickers on to give it some life, but even though it was a delight to have a colour spectrum, the stickers seemed to mock me for being hypocritical in my vehicle usage. Luckily that guilt wasn't too overwhelming, and I did manage to clock quite of few km's on it - my daily commutes from Port McNeil to Telegraph Cove while working for DFO, my rainy day commutes to Shaugnessy Golf and Country Club, where I worked as server and took great delight parking next to very expensive cars (don't ask me what type...seriously I don't know cars), and the many trips to Smalltown, BC.

It was a crap car and there were less hugging departure photos, and more arguments with mechanics and calls convincing wreckers to take it, but it was decent car that did me well so I guess it deserves a eulogy. So, cya Terc'. I will remember your trunk that I could open with my finger, and racecar-esc shift stick, but mostly I will miss your home made canvas moon roof.

Single tear.

Thingsmyboyfriendsangtome.com

2007-01-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

me: eveything in moderation eh?

bj: (with guitar) I'd like to moderately moderate you out of my life.

~~~
this post is in response to a funny site my friend eliana found.

These things happen to Biggim

2007-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

These things happen to Biggim
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

random spontaneous breakdown of a new wiper caught on film.

Rutschblock test

2007-01-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

Rutschblcok test
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Snow profiles

2007-01-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

Snow profiles
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Perks

2007-01-17T09:41:00.000-08:00

As cool as the job sounds, working as a ski patroller has a few drawbacks - I donÂt get paid much, the commute is a pain, especially since the Tercel has decided to pout until I cease my procrastination and pay attention to it, I work a lot of evenings which has led to the slow demise of my social life, and sometimes my office is really freaking cold and wet.

Of course, the perks of the job can be awesome.

Last weekend my boss and co-worker taught a fantastic entry level avalanche course for the patrol team. This meant that on Sunday, with the sun shining, we hiked/skinned up into the snowshoe park to play around with snow profiles, compression tests and rutschblock tests - not a bad day. The whole experience was great for someone like myself who wants to get out into the backcountry though to be honest, after barely scraping the surface of avalanche knowledge, hearing the stories about avalanche victims, and listening to my instructors say things like "in these conditions you should be safe, however you never know" there was a small voice in my head wondering "why do I want to do this again?".

But, after the day was done and I took the skins off my skiis to begin my descent home, after taking turns in powder and trees, that small voice was inaudiable - all I could hear was " wheeeeee!!!"

This could be an evolutionary flaw, but it sure is fun.

powder at baker

2007-01-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

matt in the air
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Jockey James

2007-01-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

Ramming speed
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I forgot to mention this New Years Eve activity. Lindsey, James' sister, let us ride her horses Filet and Mignon as a reward for all the hard work we did on the barn. We didn't exactly ride the horses, more like we got towed by his mom and sister. His sister decided to step it up a notch with and we jogged a little - however this disastorous move caused Filet to want to gallop -so she bucked me off then dragged Linds' by the rope before galloping back to the barn. Don't worry, the only thing hurt was my pride.

This is a photo that James wants to photo shop into a horse track or something. It amuses me way more the way it is now.

Owen Sound outdoor rink

2007-01-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

Owen Sound outdoor rink
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Inglis Falls

2007-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

Inglis Falls
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Tour D'Ontario

2007-01-03T11:53:00.000-08:00

We flew into Toronto on the 24th and Bill Inkster picked us from the airport.
I should have sensed forshadowing of a crazy week when after several stressful minutes of searching for the car (for james and his dad, not me) we found it parked not in an actual stall, but in the driving lane, a big yellow arrow painted underneath.

First stop - Guelph, where James and I spent christmas eve going through all the elementary school assignments he ever completed and got a "Good job!" on. He was a funny writer even back then, though it perhaps wasn't as intentional. Some sidesplitting highlights included his use of the word dispicable (which he apparently got congratulated on one year, so logically used the word throughout the rest of his elementary writing profession), the constant sport theme, such as james' "life timeline" which underlined the beginning of each sports career he began - hockey age 3, soccer age 4, baseball age 5, hockey age 6 (he stepped it up a league by learning how to skate), and his attention to criticism - one teacher asked him to try adjectives, and so, the next story had an average of 2 adjectives per noun ("Under the tremendous tree there were shiny new clean presents"). Turns out he hasn't changed much since that early age.

Christmas Day was spent with his family. Just like any typical canadian family, the morning was spent working on the barn, leftover chile was enjoyed at lunch with 5 dogs and 2 grandparents, one French cousin and a sleepy Italian boyfriend, the afternoon was a combination of beer spilling and lawn mower riding, chirstmas dinner turkey was delicious and laid next to a delicious display of potatoes, stuffing and jello shots, and the evening was spent opening gifts and playing pool.

Boxing Day I was up early and driving to Toronto to drop off Cousin Sylvia and Dopey (Jordano). I then journeyed down the 401 to Stirling, Ontario where I spent the day visiting my dad's parents, Dorothy and Clary and their long time friend Hilda, who were visiting my (Aunt) Nancy, (Uncle) Terry and (dog cousin) Tyler. Stirling is a beautiful place and I wished I could of stayed longer. I'll save you the details, but it's nice to see my family still remains crazy, in both good and bad ways.

The 27th I was on the move again, this time my destination was Stouffville, home to the other side of the family, and a whole new avenue of craziness. I took the backroads to get there and crossed some beautiful Canadian Shield scenery, a good backdrop for my thoughts. However, the combo of backroads and having to literally rip my body from my grandmothers grasp, caused me to be arrive 1/2 hour later than planned, wchich caused my other grandmother to nearly start a mass search for my body. After that drama, tea and conversation went well - which is good becuase I now hear through the geneological grapevine that we had a falling out during my last visit, 3 years agao, because i was too opinionated. Apparently naive as well, since this news was brought to my attention at at 12:02am Jan. 1, 2007. Ah, it's going to be a good year...I digress. It was great to see my aunts/uncles and cousins too and it's nice to know that my 21/20 year old cousins have more direction in life than I do. Then again, I had more direction back then as well.

The 28th I headed back to Guelph (and nearly had a breakdown as I got lost on the 4-0-get-me-the-hell-out-this-city highways...one wrong turn was all it took for me to spend 15 minutes exploring every major city center hghway in Toronto) to begin the journey with James and Lindsey, our destinatio the infamous...Owen Sound.
A brief tour of the town and a quick walk down memory lane later, we were at the liquor store collecting our supplies for the evening...24 beer, a big bottle of Fireball, and our gag gifts - a flask of JD and Labatt Maximum Ice (7% alcohol, 1.18 L). Then over to the Boot n' Blade, a local diner that used to be quaint and made of hockey sticks but has since been upgraded to a more modern, less interesting decor, to meet Dawn, Fred, Cheryl, Tim, Owen and Natalie. A great ab workout, as Tim recollected, with James ' help the stunts that he and James pulled. Less like "Remember the time we went 4x4ing" and more like "Remember the time you ran away after spitting crackers in a voters face, leaving me to deal with it?". Hahaha...
The night was spent outside of Owen Sound, at a house party near Charles Lake on the famous Niagra Escarpement. Both James and I exceeded our expectations and drank most of the beer we brought, shared the fireball with everyone (like I needed those two shots), and ironically got each others gag gift - the Maximum Ice was donated to any brave, willing particpants - not surprising, it caused nothing but trouble - The JD was tucked away thankfully for another night.
Many laughs and documented nonsense from James' boys, Kalle, Dean, Jee Hoon, and Mike.

The next day we dragged our bodies back to the car for some countryside touring before we picked up Lindsey and headed back to Guelph for more barn labour. An uneventful hazy day.

The 30th was spent shopping in a Guelph mall with James, where many items were crossed off of his purchasing list and I was reminded I can't handle much time in malls no matter the township. More barn work and then out for greek food to celebrate Lu's birthday. Aside: When you have leftovers, do you ask the server to package it up, or do you ask for a container and do it for yourself? Hypothetical question of course...

New Years Eve - more barn work, more beer and more pool. One last visit with James' Grandma and Poppy and we were in a van headed back to the airport for one of my more frusteratingly slow airport experiences. 11:54pm we arrived at my parents house in Vancouver in time to count down the last seconds with my sister and her friends and then directly to the well earned bed for some solid zzz's.

Not exactly a relaxing week, but definatley entertaining. I'm glad I broke the bank for the trip.

Black Tusk

2006-12-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Black Tusk
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Even change machines...

2006-11-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

even the change machine shuts down on snow days
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I can't help but be amused...It seems that on snow days, buses are like moving bull's eyes for any kid with a snowball in their hand...and because most of the schools were out yesterday, there was no shortage of snowball making manpower.

north vancouver in snow

2006-11-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

vancouver in snow
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Everybody's working for the weekend.

2006-11-21T19:06:00.000-08:00

So, I've been meaning to write a little blurb about my 'new' job with the construction company but more as a result of a lack of energy, rather than a lack of material, I didn't really finish any of my posts. I find it therefore ironic that I choose to write about it the day before I quit.

The Job:
Hired as a first aid attendant, the actual administration of first aid only takes up about .5% of my time, and even that time is frowned upon it seems. I did however do a lot of hauling garbage, cleaning and stacking bricks, skill sawing, cursing at the weathered and warped ceiling beams that I have to work around, measuring and remeasuring then cursing when it doesn't fit, not to mention the 100's of flights of stairs I've walked up and down searching for tools or trying to figure out exactly what I should be doing. My foreman and supervisor don't always say/bark the same message. At least my foreman doesn't yell...too often...at me.

The Site:
Hastings and Cambie. East Hastings meets Gastown. Models meet stoners and angry yelling vagabonds stumble past backpackers.
The north-east block, also previously the home of the Woodwards building, is where my construction site sits. The project is to renovate the 120 year old building into retail, office and residence space (for perspective, Vancouver is only roughly 140 years old). It'll be neat to see how it turns out.

The wake-up:
Ready to work at 7:00am on the dot. I often pushed said dot...

The punch-out time:
3:30pm. This is my favourite part.

The after work shower:
20 minutes minimum. I used to be the queen of 5 minute showers (no seriously, I was in a parade), but now I require an extra long time in order to scrub every part of the body. I find I'm using more product than ever in order to be "normal". My singing is getting better though.

The skin:
Itchy, dry, and clogged. One of my bosses told me about an ex-boyfriend of hers that died at young age - they think it may have been related to how long he worked in construction. Yes, I've only worked a month, but you never know...

Some things I learned:
I have a mild fear of heights that surfaces when I'm nailing things to the ceiling in precarious situations ~ I'm a hard worker and it feels good to be recognized by your 'foreman' ~ I have my limits on the dirtiness scale , a scale that takes into consideration duration of dirty state, content of 'dirt', and ease of cleaning ~ Steel toe boots are great for helping to tone your buttocks. So are stairs ~ Carpentry is fun ~ I'm still the math nerd I was in high school.

The reason I'm hanging up my tool belt:
I got offered a full-time ski patrol position (I had applied for part time) on the same day we found out that they would have to fire 5+ people since the head company who is contracting us refuses to pay for more than 15 people on the site. I got picked to stay, but for how long?

There you go. As of Saturday I will be working for Grouse Mountain on their ski patrol (!), which makes this the 4th company I've worked for this year. Hmm.

Nothern Resident KW's

2006-10-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Nothern Resident KW's
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I have a new job!

2006-10-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

As of Oct 23^rd, I will be a first aid attendant/general laborer for a small construction company, working on the renovation of a building in downtown Vancouver.

I figured that my resume wasn’t random enough and it was actually starting to look like I had a career path in environmental education, so of course I had to put a stop to that. I mean with seniority comes more pay and more opportunities – I like to start at the bottom rung every time.

Of course I’m being very sarcastic here and am kind of wondering why I took this job, especially since there is another job I will likely apply for in Victoria that actually is related to enviro. education. The thing is, I still want to work in Vancouver, I been applying to jobs in my field but to no avail, and considered not too long ago making a career change into carpentry or other trades work to gain useful skills. Plus, I needed an excuse to recertify my occupational first aid Level 3 so that I could use it for volunteer ski patrol.

Where this job will go, and how long it will last is anyone’s guess, but as long as I’m in Vancouver this job will pay the bills and support my beer-drinking habits and skiing/photography/flamenco/yoga addictions. And who knows, perhaps I’ll actually enjoy it.

Nerocystis nighmares

2006-09-20T11:01:00.000-07:00

whew.
Just got back from a pretty fun trip up at my family's cabin on the Shuswap.
Much fun was had and many Transmetropolitan comic books were read (*note* - Spider Jerusalem is strangely my newest "super hero" crush. Saving [a pretty fucked up] world with words!).
The braincells took a bit of a beating but no more than the daily pounding they recieve from the city's toxic fumes and droning construction.
To say the least, I was relaxed. Even the scenic drive home was an extension of that, with only the numbing sensation in my left hip to remind me that we had been driving for 7 plus hours.

This morning over a nice (relaxed) cup of coffee, I read my emails and found not 1, 2 or 3, but 4 progessively panicked emails from Bluewater, redirected from the teachers, wanting an itinary from the crew that details the educational compents for the school trip I'm working in October.
What school trip, you might ask? Haven't heard of it? Heh, that's funny - it would be because I was only asked on the 13th to fill in for a recent cancellation.

Now I'm the one panicking as I prepare to be stoned by the students of the Higher Level Biology International Baccalauate Program because, again, I don't remember/ever-fucking-knew the latin name of the seabird that just dove down.

Chest feels tight...breathing becoming difficult...must find brain cells...Nerocystis nightmares coming back...

Bear tracks in Koeye

2006-09-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

Bear track in Koeye
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

a different angle

2006-09-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

a different angle
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Humback bubble feeding

2006-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

how charistmatic and beautiful
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

A small pod of northern resident Killer Whales

2006-09-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

A small pod of northern resident Killer Whales
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I've maxed out my upoad limit for flickr so I'll post more of these guys next month.

Gallavanting around the northwest coast

2006-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

If for no other reason than to make the photo of my pina colata boyfriend scroll down a bit, I am going to post a a quick update and a few photos.

My trip up north was great. Yes there was some tough times, but nothing a few tears, a couple of death looks, lots of laughs and wine won't fix. But I learned alot about sailboats, cooking and people.

What made me want to go back next summer though was the sights. We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and the vastness of our remaining wilderness is overwhelming, amazing and heartbreaking. I saw grizzly bears, wolves, clear cuts, fish farms, a ridiculous number of eagles, jumping salmon, worrisome water tables, incredible intertidial diversity, and of course... marine mammals, but Ill let the photos speak for them selves on that topic (taken on james' camera which he graciosly lent me, and the skippers 300 focus lense camera - my own camera went kapute on Aug.24- Day 1...)

kiss the tattoo

2006-08-31T09:30:00.001-07:00

kiss the tatoo
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

hmmm...drunk?

2006-08-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

hmmm...drunk?
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

just got some photos from...the 18th I think. Thought I'd post them while in between trips here in Port Hardy.
Things having been both tiring and beautiful and I'm going to need more time to explain the amazing things I've seen. Wish me luck for the next trip. I except to puke on the crossing to Bella Bella. Some deckhand I am...
Hope you are all doing well!

This gypsy's on the move...

2006-08-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

Flying up to Port Hardy on the 23rd to begin my northern sailboat adventures. I'll be back on the 11th with stories and photos.
Happy Labour Day weekend to you!

Yoga with Belugas

2006-08-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yoga with Belugas
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Shark diving

2006-08-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

Shark diving
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Pac Can dive

2006-08-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

Pac Can dive
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Rockstar LJ

2006-08-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

There have been many inspirational and amusing moments during my career at the Aquarium, but nothing amuses me more than the fact that I have rockstar status simply because I can breath air from an oxygen tank and hover above the fish.

Today, after my dive in the Pacific Canada exhibit, I emerged from the water to find that there was a group of people waiting to "meet the diver", a couple of them very excited mentally disabled adults.
One in particular exclaimed several times to me "I was waiting for you!!!", so I gave him a wet hand shake and when he wouldn't let go I gave him a big wet hug too. So cute...

There has also been many kids who have pulled at the heart strings and made me feel way cooler than I actually am. There was the group of 5 and 6 year olds who had every question in the book and pretty much had to be ripped away from me, and the many apparently chatty kids who draw a blank when they actually get to see me in person. Then there was the little boy who watched me dive last week and was terrified for me, convinced that I was going to be harmed. His grandparents had to bring him up to meet me and prove that I had survived (his look of disbelief was priceless). Then yesterday he came in to see me again and prior to entering the aquarium was calling out "dye-dye! dye-dye!". They didn't realize until after the dive show when he wanted to come and see me again that he was trying to say "diver". Awww ...
(ok admittedly he may have been trying to say some other brilliant thing, like "the diver is going to die" or "use your diaphram when you speak, or the dichotomy of ethics in this aquarium makes me ponder" but I prefer to think that he was wanting to see me...)
Then there was the memorable 4 year old girl who, after I got out of the water, gave me the stamp of approval with a solid "good work LJ".

(sigh) I'm going to miss this part of the job...

The straw that broke the camel's back

2006-08-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, yesterday I resigned from my position at the aquarium.
It was a tough decision but also an easy one. I was asked to be the second naturalist/grunt woman for another trip with Bluewater Adventures, this time to the Great Bear Rainforest (!) and at first it seemed like I was going to be able to take the time off. When the decision was reversed (among other things), it was the straw that broke the camels back.

I'm not sure what will pan out for me in the future but I have an interview on Monday with the BC Sustainable Energy Association and a trip to the Great Bear Rainforest to look forward to, so I'm going try and not focus on the fact that I very well could be incredibly broke in the next couple of weeks.

Send money.

Firends

2006-07-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

One of the toughest words for me to type properly is firends... fierends... freinds... friends.

And there are days when understanding firends can seem to be just as tough.
I've been thinking about old firends, new firends lately and a series of events (including reading mel's post) have got me mulling this even more. (uh oh)

Some firends are there with you until the end, some are just there for the moment, some you've outgrown, some will enjoy a beer and good conversation with you, some will try and lean on you a little too hard, some will morgage their house for you, some will read your blog (and some you won't even tell about it's existance) - but how do you know who is who?

And if you can figure that out, would/should you act any differently? (Theoretically I don't want to and yet...)

Either way it seems, if you want to keep that firend, you have to keep that contact. Killing two birds, I've decided to hone in on my typing skills by emailing my friends more often (and by that I mean we're shooting for one contact per week...this is big for me).

I love you all my fireneds. And by that I mean I'm thirsty. ;)
(http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=817)

Pigeon holes

2006-07-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

There's been a fair amount of alcohol this past week and the combination of that with this gorgeous hot weather has made for some blissful dehydrated afternoons and evenings.

Most disturbing (exhilarating?) of all, the alcohol seems to be feeding my newest seed of an idea, quitting my job - the variable alcohol content determining which avenue I will pursue next, and which facet of my job, real or imaginary, I am most frustrated with, most recently the fear of being pigeon holed.

Apply to get a teachers certification program for summer/september 2007? (and until then, what?)
Try and land myself a job that lets me stand next to the intoxicating thought of being a photographer?
Apply to different environmental education positions, because it's easy?
Volunteer ski patrol? (OFA level 3 is an expensive first aid ticket...)
Pimp myself out for the possiblity of owning my "house on the ocean, built into a cliff"?
Something completely different?
Banjo rock star?

Tread lightly, ye who chooses to open the topic of career paths, I'm on a rant-age...

best girlfriend ever?

2006-07-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

best girlfriend ever
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

(cough, cough)

it took 4 hours to prepare, scrape and clean up just that small bit of the ceiling...looking forward to the bedroom.

Here's Willy.

2006-07-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

The other day I received change back from my pizza purchase which included a $5 bill with writing that said "Track this $5 as it travels around Canada! www.whereswilly.com".
Today I logged on to the website, thinking that it was going to be either the blog of some nerd in Vancouver, or a porn website who had the brilliant idea to try a different marketing technique in order to get more hits. I found instead an extensive website that someone had put a lot of work into, and apparently had many participants. Of course I diligently logged the travels of my $5 bill and found out a bit about it's history, which as of now is very boring - it originated from Vancity where Seth then took it home and wrote on it.
As interesting as my soon to be former $5 bill's future is, it does beg a major question.
Why are we doing this again?

$5 - HNL2521126

Cat Lake

2006-07-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

It was gorgeous on Sunday and had the makings for a lazy lake day so after a couple of stops in Squamish to buy a cooler, bbq and drugs for the cripple (steve), Devon, James, Steve and I headed out to go laking at Alice Lake.
Unfortunately, Alice Lake was full and we were forced to venture a bit further up the highway. We parked the car, sprinted across the highway, cooler in tow, and started hiking up the road towards where we thought Cat Lake would be.
A couple minutes in we wondered if a) a lake existed along this road (several people passed us with snowmobiles in tow???) and b) how far away it was. Luckily, at the same time that we found out a) the lake existed but was b) 1.8 km away, a sweet old truck (unsure of the age or type ... boys?) let us hop into the back for the ride.
Once we found a small 'beach' (read: steep, grassy-dirt hill) to lay our stuff, we quickly set about opening our beers and enjoying some of the finer lake activities - lazing, drinking, swimming, log fighting, reading, bbqing and lying in the sun. A great 'first' summer day for this Vancouverite.
I was surprised, though, to find that this small lake (for you Northern types read: pond) participated in a new lake activity - howling. Yes at random times during the afternoon someone across the lake would start a howl, which everyone else would join in on until we sounded like a pack of wolves claiming our territory.
Oh well, you know the saying, when in Cat Lake...

Happy Birthday Canada!

2006-07-01T12:22:00.000-07:00

139 years old and still looking beautiful.

I just love Canada - it's people, it's natural beauty, it's tolerance, it's coastline (largest in the world!), it's humor, and it's pride in beer, hockey and toques.

My favourite places in Canada include:
~ Vancouver Island (the whole thing - though I could easily trade Nanaimo city center)
~ Morraine Lake
~ Haida Gwaii
~ Mnt Orford
~ Shuswapp Lake
~ above the treeline in the Northwest Territories
~ in the treeline of Gerabaldi Park

just to name a few...

And there are so many other places that I still need to visit (Yukon, Newfoundland, PEI, Quebec City, Owen Sound...)

What about you? What do you love?

stuck on the stairs

2006-06-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

stuck on the stairs
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

mini things are cute.

Fartman begins

2006-06-12T10:18:00.000-07:00

Watched Batman Begins last night. Pretty fun movie - perhaps the best batman movie yet?
There's something about Batman that makes him a panty-soaker - could it be his extremely well-defined body suit, his flying ability, his deep voice and intimiating (but only if you're a crimianl) mask, or is it simply his super fast car and millions of dollars to dine you as Bruce Wayne? I can't decide.
Also enjoyed the comical mini with Jimmy Fallon, "Tankman Begins".

And after several nights of drinking and bad eating habits, BJ and I realized his own special powers...

An Island near Canada

2006-06-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of nights ago I felt extremely tired so I decided to stay home and watch this tv show on global (formerly the only channel I could receive) that had been getting ridiculous hype - Windfall. I do not recommend. Not only was it an overdramatic if not overlysexy soap opera-esc show, but the ridiculously-good-looking characters said mind-numbing statements like "I lived on an island near Canada" - ooooh. THAT island.
Also, the premise of the show was that this group of people won the lottery, and almost all the commercials were for lotteries. Ha. Very subtle....

In other news, went out for beer (sssss - b/c there were many) with BJ, his friend Alex from Prague, Miranda, Eliana, Leah, Matt and a few other good people. Good times were had. Good hang-over today. Too bad I had to work this morning or else I could have been involved in the dancing that I heard ensued after the Irish Heather debautchery.

Oh well, I can always pick up where I left off tonight.

Is anyone interested in checking out "Raven Travelling" with me at the Art Museum?

Help

2006-06-05T11:53:00.000-07:00

So, my boyfriend reads the “Missed Connections” section of Craig’s List

http://vancouver.craigslist.org/mis/

partly because it’s amusing to read about other people’s patheticness and desperation, and partly because the “the grass is always greener” and he’s just waiting for his own Miss Canada to write about seeing him. (Though anyone who knows him would admit that it’s highly unlikely he would do anything about it).

He wanted to respond to some of the reels with funny answers, but I reminded him of how horrible it would be to get a response and think it meant something only to discover it was somebodies attempt at a bad joke. We decided instead that maybe we would start our own set of postings and so yesterday afternoon I amused myself by typing one up. The problem is now I’ve got a response but from some other dorky computer guy out in Burnaby! He not only posted on craigslist, but also sent an email. How do I respond? And where is my true “Dino-man”?

Free Fun

2006-05-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

This month has been pretty blase, paying bills and basically driving myself deeper into debt - all in all, boring.

Boring, that is until last night when I checked my messages to find out that Karen had called from work to say that she had an extra ticket to go to the Bedouin Soundclash/Ben Harper concert.
Karen is great friends with Bedouin Soundclash so the ticket was free (tickets were reguarliyl $60, and the concert was sold out).
And the evening just got better. I rushed home from a drywall dump run with James (another wall has come down! It looks great) to Deer Lake Park, Burnaby just in time to catch the second half of the Bedouin Soundclash set. A beer later (compliments of a friend I bumped into that helped me speed through the long-lineup to aquire beer by selling me her beer tickets, therefore bypassing the other long line-up to buy the beer ticket - what luck!), we were enjoying Ben Harper. A couple of songs in we were escorted by Eon, the base player of BS and super rad guy, into the VIP area where we enjoyed a great non-muddy view of the concert and FREE beer.
How could you top this off you ask? How about a Ben Harper-Be Good Tanya's collaboration encore. A great evening all around.
It's true, the best things in life are free...

Narvaez Bay

2006-05-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Narvaez Bay
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

happy birthday big jim

2006-05-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

happy birthday big jim
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I heart Tylenol 3's

2006-05-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

So in an interesting turn of events, I find myself in recovery from an operation that removed my appendix. It hurts quite a bit but I've decided that now, at James' place with internet connection, and with the help of some tylenol 3's, it was finally time to catch up on this blog. This post will, however, be written in shifts...

Basically I had a detoriating bad stomach ache that started on monday night, sent me home from work tuesday at 3pm, then to the med clinic at 6pm (the longest 10 blocks I've ever walked!), to the emergency room at 6:30pm, and under the operating knife at 11pm.

Some 'entertaining' events of the evening (if they can be called that in retrospect):
a) the overdosing screaming neighbour at the ER room who demanded oxygen, morphine, ginger ale and a sandwich (she didn't get the latter two, much to her despair)
b) the great ER staff who took care of me (and the many many students wishing to interview me - thank goodness for morhpine)
c) james swaying and having to poo partly from fear of the unknown and partly because of the 10th time someone asked me if there was a possibility that I was pregnant
d) the funny porter who told james to go find some women while I was under, rolled his eyes at the young nurse who bumpe an IV bag into my head, and told me not to worry about scars when I wore my "itsty-bitsy".

Thanks to all those who sent their best wishes, flowers and green sweaters from across the country :) I feel very loved.

So, I have definately been keeping myself quite busy in the last while.
April 24th-28th ~ Sailed through the Gulf Islands teaching grade 9 students about our coastal marine life. Very inspiring - amazing views too.
April 29th ~ BJ's surprise party (whoo hoo! it was a success! he was shocked thanks leah, eli, mel, and everyone else who came! photos are now posted)
April 30th ~ accepted a position change at the Aquarium. I'm now in charge of the dive programs. It'll be a nice change.
May 1st - spent first night in my new apartment. I love it! ~ small but great. Mi casa es su casa - there is floor space for friends.
May 5th-7th - Interpreters conference in Manning Park. Got some great ideas and met some good people. Also puked behind a wood pile.
May 9th - an impromtu trip to St. Paul's where I said good-bye to my appendix

that's all for now...time to hit up the pills again...

Easter Trekking

2006-04-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Finally! The Elfin Shelter!
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

My groin hurts and I'm extremely tired, but damn it was fun. 2 days, and 17km+ of trekking in 30-40 cm of new powder, all for one wicked run...that lasted 10 minutes :) next time we'll stay longer...

more uploaded pictures later. (I was really tired last night)

mohawk lodge

2006-04-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

mohawk lodge
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

good concert!

300 ft - revisited

2006-04-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

I may have finally found a place to live (and love)!
All going well with the credit check, that is.
(Oh please don't let those two unpaid parking tickets, maxed out VISA card, low paying job, and newly lost debit card stop me from a great residence situation!)

I'm not so sure about the actual sq footage, but I'm sure it's not much.
It's a suite in a large house from the 1920's (with almost 30 people living there!), in a great location, with hard wood floors, 3 huge windows, a small kitchen, a small bathroom, a mirror where a fireplace used to be, a stove and oven, and a bar ledge (and a bar fridge). AND it would be all ...by...myself.
I have never lived by myself.
I would like to take the oppurtunity now to recollect my residential past
(and maybe be able to portay the happiness I feel for finally feeling like I may have found a place to stay for a while!).

3 years ago...

April 2003- June (Victoria, BC): back from Thailand and very poor -- that's what I rememeber of my time then.

June - August (Port McNeill, BC): I live in a dumpy apartment that DFO set up for me with my co-worker. I miss the salmonberries.

September - December 2003 (Magog, QC): I'm living with my friends Sebastien and Valerie and Valerie's sister Christine Boudrias. Christine is an olympic speed skater (I just like saying that because I think it makes me feel cooler. You know, cooler by association). My door is a drape, my bed takes up the whole space and one wall is at a 45 degrees angle. I could see a beautiful church tower from my window.

January - May 2004 (Vancouver, BC): I'm living in my parents house. It's not so bad though because they live in Belgium and I live with my brother and sister. They bought it to invest their money (they're renting in Antwerp) and to help out with my siblings rent. My room was in the basement and I could touch the ceilings.

May - August 31st (Duncan, BC): I have a 100 sq foot "room" with one wall consisting of a blue tarp seperating me from the pool room. My roomates (and landlords) are my old friend Jeff and his new wife Brandi, who spent most of their summer in Yukon. There is a beautiful river nearby with a family of beavers and a telephone to keep me company. I'm pretty sure I may have made a social faux-pas while living here, as I have yet to hear from them since I moved out :)

September 1 - September 10 (Victoria, BC): Probably a week and a half total in a house that continuously smelled like hamburgers. I 'm not a clean person but this place was so dirty that I couldn't use anything in the kitchen without scrubbing it for 5 minutes. Needless to say, there were 3 other older single men who lived there quite contently.

September 11th - December 15 2004: I moved into a lovely upper suite with this guy, Jesse, and later on Flora from France. I moved into this place because two good friends of mine, Loryn and Cris, used to live in that exact same suite. I loved the view, my room and the hardwood floors. Plus, it was two blocks away from the Cook St. Fantastico coffee shop. Jesse turned out to be creepy and never gave me my full damage deposit back...

January 2005 - June 1 (Everywhere, BC): I spent a lot of time on the road - two weeks in Vacouver, two weeks in Vernon, 2 weeks in Vancouver, 1 week on the Island, 3 weeks in the North... I stored my stuff at my parents house.

June 1 - October 1 (Vancouver, BC): I moved into my parents house full time. The summer was busy with two weddings, so I barely noticed that my mom was there for most of it. Come the end of wedding season though I was feeling stir crazy. There was a period where we had mice.

October 1 2005- March 1 2006: I moved into a room in a house because a) I needed out of my parent's home and b) it was cheap ($350!). My bedroom was one of 2 bedrooms in a basement suite where the kitchen was drab, the place was dark, and the living room had been converted into a third bedroom. I lived with two guys: Craig, who had an opposite schedule than me, and Gord, who I never had to see because he was on tour or at his girlfriend's home for most of the winter season. By January though, Gord hadn't moved out like he promised and was helping me avoid my place more than ever. My dislike for Gord grew and my need to leave came to head when he offered no help after my slit-wrist-broken-window incident (another story). I house-sat for James a lot.

March 1- current: I have a duffel bag and a laundry basket of possesions tucked into a corner at James' condo. At least I love the roomates.

11 moves in 3 years.
I may have gotten ahead of myself, but here's hoping I can stop moving and start being still.

Island Roamer

2006-04-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

On the Island Roamer
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Took my first voyage on the Island Roamer (a 68ft sailboat), Richmond to Sidney. Setting sail again on April 25th. It was nice to be on the water again. I'll be gulf island roaming soon...

Black Tusk

2006-03-27T20:43:00.000-08:00

black tusk
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Rudy's wingspan

2006-03-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Rudy's wingspan
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Rudy is a red-tailed hawk who got shot in her wing, was brought to a rehab centre and then because of human inprinting, coudn't be released back into the wild.

Canucks win in shoot- out!

2006-03-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

I agree with Kate...
great game!

Cypress night hiking

2006-03-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

cypress night hiking 3
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Another night skiing in powder. Too bad BJ broke his lurk and possibly concussed himself.

Played a game of tag (manhunt) in downtown vancouver last night. Cops got called because someone thought that people were getting mugged :) Interesting times...

?!?!?!

2006-03-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

I need a new bathing suit for work. Since I was off at 4:30 today, I decided that it was the perfect chance to rush and get to the store where i can find cheap suits for under $50 before they close at 5pm.
First my little Tercel u-turns on Georgia St. (! if you know vancouver you know that that was a dare devil move indeed) in order to drive north over the Lion's gate bridge. Then it roared it's way over the bridge and into North Vancouver.
4:47pm - still time to make it.
I turn right to head towards the water only to get stopped at a railroad crossing just as the train is about to cross. So I wait.
And wait.
4:56pm - still time to make it there and convince the employees to let me speed shop.
Still waiting (is this possibly the longest train in the world?!).
Finally, I see the end of the train.

Unfortunately for me though, 10 cars before it passes, the train slows and stops.
Now it starts going backwards.
(You've got to be kidding me.)
As car after car passes me again all I can do laugh - only when you're in a rush do these things happen.
5:07pm - I think I may have missed my chance. Guess I'll just try again tomorrow.

The irony in this story? After the train passed I ended up in a shipyard and not on Welsh St as I had hoped...

Blue Bird Day

2006-03-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

steep slopes
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Baker was beautiful and the skiing was grand. Here is one of the slopes we tackled.

A dino comic about how I was feeling for part of the day
(I had a major headache after being pummeled by a snowboarder. My response to his "sorry"? "Fuck you." - I had no idea I had it in me...)

http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=326

Jon Stewart

2006-03-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

If I'm allowed one affair, Jon Stewart is who I would have it with. (Of course, I don't ever really think there would be the opportunity so it's a safe statement to make)

Hilarious, intellegent, cute, repectful...is there more you can want in a guy?
Him having a television show is a nice bonus.
And the fact that he's a devoted husband with a great marriage so it's even more unlikely, hot!

(this is the reason I sort of wished I watched some of the Oscars)

Canada Wins Gold!

2006-02-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

It was an exciting game, Canada vs Finland for gold.
I wish I was talking about men's hockey, but it was curling instead that stepped up to the plate in talent.

I have to admit I like watching Olympic curling - the pressure is high on a sport that has weird variables, like surface texture, rink temperature and wrist rotation accuracy. I've tried curling and therefore have a deep respect for a game that pretty much secures gold with Canada taking 6 points in the 6th end! The 3rd man, Nichols, had a 97% accuracy and some of those were amazing throws (like hitting 3 rocks out on incredible angles!). And, to make this game even more interesting, the Lead guy was kind of cute.

I do wish I could have seen the women's hockey gold winning game.
(Glad i missed the men's)

300 sq. ft

2006-02-21T17:54:00.000-08:00

300 sq. ft is very small.
Imagine the average size of a bedroom and that would be the area of the suite that I walked in to. The small window looked across at the corner of Abbott and Cardero, Gastown (this was it's good feature). There were no cupboards. There was no countertop to prepare food. The silver unit that had two burners and a sink on top, also had a fridge, rather than an oven, in it's belly. The small bathroom DID have a half tub, shower and toilet, but there was no sink to brush your teeth or wash your face - the silver unit, it appeared, was multifunctional.
All that and no parking or storage space for the fine price of of $525.

I don't know. Call me middle class, but I think I'll pass on this one.

Too bad...I liked the idea of living in Gastown (and throwing the world's smallest parties).

Traveling with my phone charger

2006-02-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

One sign that could indicate you don't really have a home yet, is that you travel with a phone charger.

Yesterday I realized a disadvantage to this when I pulled out said phone charger and tried to charge it (in my car of course) since I had talked it down to dead.
Nothing. I looked it over, figured I had broken it (I don't think I had looked that closely at the charger before) and thought "Great, I'm now that much harder to get a hold of". Luckily this morning I discovered I had not in fact broken the charger...however now I wonder what the problem was. Since I was in the middle of calling someone about a place (a home for my phone charger) I decided to walk the blocks in search of pay phone. This is not an easy feat these days but after covering many blocks of pavement I finally found one. Ironically this one died on me halfway through my conversation and I had to move to the next stall over in order to finish hearing about a place to live that is 300 sq ft! - I can't even imagine how small that is. The size of my room with a kitchen attached to it? Probably. Anyway, the way this suite hunt is going, I might as well check it out - it could be the golden egg that my phone charger is looking for.

In other news, I am now an official diver at the aquarium, got some sweet, red, Rock and Roll underwear for valentines, danced a tiny solo in El Jaleo, an in-house casual performance, and I'm going on a trip in late April for 5 days to sail the Gulf Islands as a naturalist on a grade 8-9 Albertan school field trip.

And for those of you wondering about Canada's medal count, so far we have 2 Golds, 6 Silver and 5 Bronze medals. In half an hour the women's hockey play for gold! Go Canada go!

Gold - Women's Freestyle Skiing, Men's Skeleton
Silver - Two-Man Bobsled, Women's Cross Country team sprint, Men's Skeleton, Men's Speedskating Team Pursuit, Women's Speedskating Team Pursuit, Women's Speedskating 1000m
Bronze - Men's Figure Skating, Women's Snowboarding Cross, Women's Skeleton, Women's Speedskating 3000m, Women's Speedskating short track 500m.

When does it end?

2006-02-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

Emerson switches to the Conservative party, Canucks lose to St. Louis Blues, and I just saw a commercial for a razor that has 5 blades.

5 blades? That's out of control...

giant clam

2006-01-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

giant clam
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

Big Jim?

2006-01-20T11:32:00.000-08:00

Big Jim?
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

I havn'et processed or scaned any negatives recently, but I found some I took on James' camera... :) heh

North Van Sunlight

2006-01-20T11:05:00.000-08:00

North Van Sunlight
Originally uploaded by lindsayj.

BIG powder...

2006-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

(...why did I think that I could tele ski in that??)

well got back from our "back country" (read: front country cleverly disguised by the several feet of powder and no visibility) trip and we had a great time. Spent many hours "training", hiking and getting ready for our one big back country powder run so I was quite disappointed in myself that I pretty much slide down the slope and experienced several deep faceplants along the way - to my credit I had been convinced to borrow some extra long rental "real tele" skiis that were incredibly awkward to ski on (stupid nerdy non-tele skier rental guy). (sigh) oh well, live and learn eh?

Regardless of my backcountry failure run, and my subsequent frustration, I had such a great time and can't wait to give it a try again some time soon. I could be addicted...(now if only I could stay upright in powder).

back country tomorrow!

2006-01-13T10:59:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited.
The views, no crowds, the fresh air, the exercise, the potential for powder tele skiing (!)...

Junky

2006-01-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Almost done this book. An incredibally realistic perspective on being a junky, and a great read- as someone who was taught in Psych 101 that the body is instantly addicted to heroin from the first hit, I was shocked to find out that Burroughs estimates that it takes at least a year before you ever expererience junk sickness.

Some words I've learned from Junky:

Sepulchral

Of or relating to a burial vault or a receptacle for sacred relics.
Suggestive of the grave; funereal.

Effeminate

Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men. See synonyms at female.
Characterized by weakness and excessive refinement. (grrrr....)

Reticence

The state or quality of being reticent; reserve.
The state or quality of being reluctant; unwillingness.

Garrulous

Given to excessive and often trivial or rambling talk; tiresomely talkative.
Wordy and rambling: a garrulous speech.

I heart big dumps...

2006-01-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Just got back from Whistler- Blackcomb. Had good times, found some good powder runs, used my fantastic new telemark boots, and have sore legs. It feels good to be active in the outdoors again...

Thanks mel for having us! I've added another bunch of good stories to my collection -
including encounters with two hot tub visitors; 19 yearold drunk J-rock who feared Big Bunny (Jim) and Big "Median/Meridian" and brought me free beer, and chatty 13 year old "senior" boy scout Mark who had yet to learn sarcasm.

It was fun also to win the "word guessing" game with Miranda, Sparky, Devon and Heather. I like winning. Guess that means I'll never be a monk.

____________________

Holy how selfish do I feel. As the weather gets worse the chances grow slimmer of findding the lost person on Cyprus Mountain. Reports are saying that even the search team is coming back with hypothermia...

B'gwus

2005-12-26T14:12:00.000-08:00

So, today I started reading a book, given to me by my Secret Santa, called Monkey Beach.
It was written by a First Nations lady from Kitamaat, where the story also takes place, and I love reading books about places I've been, as the images are that much more vivid and real in your mind - I'm enjoying this one already.

What's interesting is that already in the first few pages of the story, sasquatch legends and sightings have been mentioned and I get the feeling that this will be a reoccuring theme throughout the book. I've heard rumors that this part of BC was sasquatch territory but this book seeks to confirm it, Monkey Beach being a place where several sasquatch (b'gwus in Haisla) have occured.

In the past, I've been a sasquatch doubter but recently I've changed my tune. It could be because of loud arguements coming from Big Jim, or Jane Goodall's B'gwus belief, or the discovery of a new carnivore in Australia (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17485571%255E30417,00.html), or maybe it just stems from the fact I hadn't really given it too much thought until now, but either way I'm finding myself turning into a fence-sitter, unsure whether to join Owen Sound boys in their steadfast Bubbles 'Samsquench' faith and admit that there could be this beast that lurks in our deep forests that we haven't discovered, or to keep with my doubt, waiting for some sort of hard evidence of these mysterious beasts.

Thoughts?

Happy (ridiculously mild) Holidays!

2005-12-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

Well, for the first time I find myself (sick) at work on Christmas Day.
Working today is actually not as big of a deal as I thought it would be and the extra ski money is definitely appreciated.

What DOES suck however is I am stuck with some sort of virus or bacteria that refuses to leave my system. At first it was the fever chills, then the headaches came, followed shortly by the bed-shaking coughs and free flowing snot, and now, today and yesterday, it is the loss of appetite - it feels like I have rotting guts and, very strange for me, I'm not the least bit interested in eating sweets. Dammit this is the wrong time of year to get this symptom. I started taking ColdFX however and am sort of sold on this product. I don't think it's curing the sickness, however it is holding the symptoms at bay, which in turn prevents me from curling up and hibernating for a week.

Tonight is Christmas dinner with my family and, another first for this season, we have 2 boyfriends joining us for Christmas dinner. I personally think it's better with the addition of other people (and a puppy) - the more the merrier. I also think my family argues less and acts less crazy when we have guests over. That being said, I did stress out last night worrying about how boring my parents can be. Some people wish their parents didn't get drunk or didn't fall off the roof, but me I wish my parents would do something exciting, drink a bunch, or even argue loudly about the colour of Santa's shoes. (sigh) The Christmas tree is always greener....

When I have my land and home and dog and family ALL will be invited. I consider friends as family so screw this blood relation thing and bring on the big Christmas gatherings!
Merry happy day of the seasons!! Enjoy your winter solstice however it be spent.