Thursday, August 31
hmmm...drunk?
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!
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!
Sunday, August 20
This gypsy's on the move...
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!
Happy Labour Day weekend to you!
Friday, August 18
Rockstar LJ
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...
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...
Friday, August 11
The straw that broke the camel's back
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.
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.
Monday, July 31
Firends
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)
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)
Monday, July 24
Pigeon holes
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...
Tuesday, July 18
best girlfriend ever?
(cough, cough)
it took 4 hours to prepare, scrape and clean up just that small bit of the ceiling...looking forward to the bedroom.
it took 4 hours to prepare, scrape and clean up just that small bit of the ceiling...looking forward to the bedroom.
Wednesday, July 5
Here's Willy.
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
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
Tuesday, July 4
Cat Lake
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...
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...
Saturday, July 1
Happy Birthday Canada!
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?
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?
Friday, June 23
Monday, June 12
Fartman begins
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...
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...
Saturday, June 10
An Island near Canada
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?
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?
Monday, June 5
Help
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
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
Sunday, May 28
Free Fun
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...
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...
Thursday, May 11
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