What a wonderful day! It went like this:
Work from 8:30am-noon...paid time and a half of course, since it was what they call a 'bank holiday' over here (statutory holiday for folks back home). On my way home, I stopped and purchased a folding bike. I've been meaning to get a bicycle for a while, and after witnessing a guy taking his folding bike on the train to Belgium, I thought that was the way to go (much easier to move and store since I don't really have a fixed address). It was used and I got it for half price (and from a bike shop, so I'm fairly certain it wasn't stolen).
After that, I went to a Good Friday service put on by hOME. There was less than a dozen of us there, but it was extremely powerful and really got me thinking. Quite glad I attended. Then, from about 3pm to 9:30pm, Rich and I hung out at his place. It was a lovely day and his room has a great view of a meadow. He gave me supper and Belgian beer. He listened to me fret and complain and wonder and philosophize. He is good people. We finished by watching an episode of the Simpsons on Channel 4...it was the one where Homer starts a motorcycle gang and calls it "Hell's Satans" although Moe's suggestion ("Christ-Punchers") was much funnier and had me laughing during my whole walk home. Rich lent me a copy of the new Jack Johnson album (I didn't even know he had a new album out!) which I am currently listening to, while reading a great e-mail from Matt! I have to be at work early tomorrow morning (7:30!) but for now, I am a very happy Langston. Quite possibly the best, most upbeat good friday I've ever had...
Friday, March 25, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Chocolates, beer and waffles, man those Belgians have their act together!
Well, I'm back from my quick jaunt to Belgium. I gotta say, my soul feels refreshed... I think I just need that jumpstart every now and again to keep me going. The weather in Brussels on Monday was gorgeous, so much so that I spent a couple of hours in a t-shirt in the park, drinking beer and eating chocolate (the way every monday should be spent!) but the real kicker was Bruges...man that's a gorgeous place! It rained in the afternoon, but I just sought refuge (and Belgian beer) in a little pub on the water, and it was perfect. The sun came back out just in time to set and I had a lovely walk around the city before catching the train back across the channel. I think I might have liked Bruges even more than Venice...maybe.
Speaking of which, I think I'd like to take part in a new hobby. I use that language specifically because I don't actually do this yet, and I'm pretty sure no one else does either, but here it is: urban canoeing! That's right, canoeing through world famous cities! But it's tricky because you have to find places where you can easily enter/exit the water as well as see lots of the city. Bruges and Venice are definitely on the list, but I don't think it would work in cities like London or Paris or New York or Montreal where the river is too big and really only has one path. I want options, and I want to be be able to tour the place from my canoe, so that's gotta be like moats and canals and stuff. Does anyone know of any other places in the world where this would work? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section. Also, if anyone would like to join in my urban canoeing adventures, let me know and I'll sign you up! I need at least one more anyway.
I took lots of pictures, but I'm afraid I won't be able to post them until I get my laptop back, whenever that may be. Actually, I could probably have them put on CD...or just use someone else's computer. We'll see. At any rate, have a somber Good Friday, a joyful Easter Sunday and a relaxing Easter Monday. I'll be working all of those days, but dreaming of Bruges. God bless all.
Speaking of which, I think I'd like to take part in a new hobby. I use that language specifically because I don't actually do this yet, and I'm pretty sure no one else does either, but here it is: urban canoeing! That's right, canoeing through world famous cities! But it's tricky because you have to find places where you can easily enter/exit the water as well as see lots of the city. Bruges and Venice are definitely on the list, but I don't think it would work in cities like London or Paris or New York or Montreal where the river is too big and really only has one path. I want options, and I want to be be able to tour the place from my canoe, so that's gotta be like moats and canals and stuff. Does anyone know of any other places in the world where this would work? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments section. Also, if anyone would like to join in my urban canoeing adventures, let me know and I'll sign you up! I need at least one more anyway.
I took lots of pictures, but I'm afraid I won't be able to post them until I get my laptop back, whenever that may be. Actually, I could probably have them put on CD...or just use someone else's computer. We'll see. At any rate, have a somber Good Friday, a joyful Easter Sunday and a relaxing Easter Monday. I'll be working all of those days, but dreaming of Bruges. God bless all.
Sunday, March 20, 2005
'SPRING CLEANING' or 'EVERYTHING MUST GO!' or 'OUT WITH THE NEW, IN WITH THE OLD' or 'FREEDOM THROUGH SHAVING'
Well I realize that it has been a while since I've updated this thing. The past couple weeks have been strange...maybe I'll elaborate more later, but probably not.
So, after working six 8 1/2 hour shifts consecutively a few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to get the hell out of Oxford the next chance I got (as well as progress on Matt's challenge of visiting 23 places for the first time in my life during this year), and it turns out that this will be tomorrow and Tuesday. I booked a train to go to Brussels via the chunnel. I think it will be nice to have a couple of days to explore and remind myself why I'm over here, as well as to just generally think about life and the future. I need to refocus myself again, and in preparation of this, I shaved my head and my face, with clippers I borrowed from Jim. Gone are the shoulder-length locks and the beard. With spring around the corner it's time to shed the cocoon and face the world anew. It's a physical representation of an inner change.
Well, I'd like to write more, but I have to be up in 6 hours to catch a bus to London and then take the underground to Waterloo station followed by the train to Belgium, so I must bid you adieu. Adieu.
So, after working six 8 1/2 hour shifts consecutively a few weeks ago, I decided that I needed to get the hell out of Oxford the next chance I got (as well as progress on Matt's challenge of visiting 23 places for the first time in my life during this year), and it turns out that this will be tomorrow and Tuesday. I booked a train to go to Brussels via the chunnel. I think it will be nice to have a couple of days to explore and remind myself why I'm over here, as well as to just generally think about life and the future. I need to refocus myself again, and in preparation of this, I shaved my head and my face, with clippers I borrowed from Jim. Gone are the shoulder-length locks and the beard. With spring around the corner it's time to shed the cocoon and face the world anew. It's a physical representation of an inner change.
Well, I'd like to write more, but I have to be up in 6 hours to catch a bus to London and then take the underground to Waterloo station followed by the train to Belgium, so I must bid you adieu. Adieu.
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The British Empire is a Great Thing
Ok, so maybe the British Empire wasn't a great thing for everyone when it existed (like, say, the Indians) but now that colonialism has more or less had its hey-day (with a few exceptions...*cough*afghanistan/iraq*cough*), it turns out to be rather beneficial.
In thinking to the future, I found this:
"The visa allows a stay of up to 12 months from the date of first entry to Australia, regardless of whether or not you spend the whole time in Australia.
and:
So who knows what the future may hold...I'm just throwing a couple thoughts out there...
In thinking to the future, I found this:
"The visa allows a stay of up to 12 months from the date of first entry to Australia, regardless of whether or not you spend the whole time in Australia.
You are allowed to do any kind of work of a temporary or casual nature, but work for more than three months with any one employer is not permitted.
Australia has reciprocal Working Holiday maker arrangements in effect with the United Kingdom, Canada......"and:
- New Zealand will grant 2,000 young citizens of Canada Work Visas or Permits for a working holiday annually.
- Visas or permits allow a working holiday of 12 months.
To be eligible
You must:
- be a citizen of Canada when you apply
- satisfy us your main reason for coming to New Zealand is to holiday, not work
- have a minimum of NZ$4,200 available funds to meet your living costs while you’re here.
So who knows what the future may hold...I'm just throwing a couple thoughts out there...
Short Posts
Sorry for the short crappy posts lately...I've been working a lot and will be continuing to do so until early next week.
If you were hoping for an in-depth, introverted birthday reflection, well then I'm sorry I let you down (conversely, if you were dreading such a post than I'm pleased to have spared you!) My birthday was simple yet fun. Rich hosted a party for me at his place and a bunch of folks from hOME turned up. A good time was had by all. At least, I think a good time was had by all. A good time was had by me for sure.
I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday, either in person or by e-mail, voicemail, text, MSN message, blog comment or some other medium I've forgotten. It's nice to know that you all care :) In related news, I have decided to publicly accept Mattyboy's challenge to visit 23 places for the first time in my life this year (seeing as how I am in Europe and 23 years old). We will have to agree on the exact rules, but I propose that every major city count as a 'place'
I never know how to end these things...I don't want to leave my thoughts dangling but I feel like I've typed 'ok that's it for now!' too many times....
Ok, that's it for now!
If you were hoping for an in-depth, introverted birthday reflection, well then I'm sorry I let you down (conversely, if you were dreading such a post than I'm pleased to have spared you!) My birthday was simple yet fun. Rich hosted a party for me at his place and a bunch of folks from hOME turned up. A good time was had by all. At least, I think a good time was had by all. A good time was had by me for sure.
I want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday, either in person or by e-mail, voicemail, text, MSN message, blog comment or some other medium I've forgotten. It's nice to know that you all care :) In related news, I have decided to publicly accept Mattyboy's challenge to visit 23 places for the first time in my life this year (seeing as how I am in Europe and 23 years old). We will have to agree on the exact rules, but I propose that every major city count as a 'place'
I never know how to end these things...I don't want to leave my thoughts dangling but I feel like I've typed 'ok that's it for now!' too many times....
Ok, that's it for now!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Birthday Confessions
I must confess that I am an information junkie, and because of this, I bought myself two early birthday presents today.
The first present I bought from Allders, which is a department store in downtown Oxford that is going out of business or moving, I'm not sure which. Anyway, I was going to go to the library to check my e-mail, but a sign on the front door said that their 'air-handling system' had broken down and was being repaired....the library would open a 1pm which was 15 minutes from the time that I read the sign. I decided to kill the time by wandering around Allders which is next door to the library. Since they are moving and/or going out of business, they have reduced their remaining stock to ridiculous prices. Anyway, as I was wandering through the toys and games section I came across a clock that is powered entirely by water. That's right, there's a big digital LCD on the front, and you make it work by filling up the back with water. A frivolous purchase? Perhaps, however it struck me that where ever I travelled, there was likely going to be water available. This means I'll always have a working clock and calendar no matter where I go, and I'll never have to pay to replace batteries! How much would you pay for such an amazing device? Well, they originally sold for £15 (if they actually sold any at all), but I got mine for £3.75. At a bargain like that, how can you afford not to buy one? Hurry folks, before they're all gone!
My second purchase was a bit of a bigger ticket item, and cost me £50. That's right, a days wages, or the cost of a flight to somewhere in Europe! But I reckon it was worth it. What was it, you ask? A computer! That's right, I'm such an info addict that I bought myself an old computer to use while my laptop is being repaired. So what did I get for my 50 quid? Quite a lot actually...a monitor with speakers built-in, a keyboard, a mouse, a mouse pad, the cpu and a lift home (which was awfully nice, since I was going to haul it all back on the bus). Now, just for fun, I have created the following table to compare my laptop which is being repaired, with my new computer:
And so on and so forth...that being said though, I'm actually pretty impressed with what this thing can do! It will play MP3's off of my burned CDs (mind you it won't do much else simultaneously) and it can almost play MPEG1 video files at full speed. It has no problems running Firefox or Outlook (Outlook 97 that is), and really, e-mail and web access is the main reason I bought it. I bet that when my laptop finally gets back here, I can sell this thing for £50 again, or maybe even more. Hell, I saw ads in there for monitors like this one which were advertised for more than £50!
So happy birthday to me! I would show you pictures of my new toys, but like the table says, this thing has no USB ports ;)
The first present I bought from Allders, which is a department store in downtown Oxford that is going out of business or moving, I'm not sure which. Anyway, I was going to go to the library to check my e-mail, but a sign on the front door said that their 'air-handling system' had broken down and was being repaired....the library would open a 1pm which was 15 minutes from the time that I read the sign. I decided to kill the time by wandering around Allders which is next door to the library. Since they are moving and/or going out of business, they have reduced their remaining stock to ridiculous prices. Anyway, as I was wandering through the toys and games section I came across a clock that is powered entirely by water. That's right, there's a big digital LCD on the front, and you make it work by filling up the back with water. A frivolous purchase? Perhaps, however it struck me that where ever I travelled, there was likely going to be water available. This means I'll always have a working clock and calendar no matter where I go, and I'll never have to pay to replace batteries! How much would you pay for such an amazing device? Well, they originally sold for £15 (if they actually sold any at all), but I got mine for £3.75. At a bargain like that, how can you afford not to buy one? Hurry folks, before they're all gone!
My second purchase was a bit of a bigger ticket item, and cost me £50. That's right, a days wages, or the cost of a flight to somewhere in Europe! But I reckon it was worth it. What was it, you ask? A computer! That's right, I'm such an info addict that I bought myself an old computer to use while my laptop is being repaired. So what did I get for my 50 quid? Quite a lot actually...a monitor with speakers built-in, a keyboard, a mouse, a mouse pad, the cpu and a lift home (which was awfully nice, since I was going to haul it all back on the bus). Now, just for fun, I have created the following table to compare my laptop which is being repaired, with my new computer:
| Computer: | Laptop | Clunker |
| CPU Speed | 3200 mhz | 100 mhz |
| Hard Drive Space | 80 gb | 3 gb |
| RAM | 512 mb | 64 mb |
| Optical Drive | Read: DVD-ROM 16x, CD-ROM 48x, Write: DVD-R 4x, DVD+R 4x, DVD-RW 2x, DVD+RW 2x, CD-R 24x, CD-RW 8x | Read: CD-ROM....8x |
| USB Ports | 4 | 0 |
| Firewire Ports | 1 | 0 |
And so on and so forth...that being said though, I'm actually pretty impressed with what this thing can do! It will play MP3's off of my burned CDs (mind you it won't do much else simultaneously) and it can almost play MPEG1 video files at full speed. It has no problems running Firefox or Outlook (Outlook 97 that is), and really, e-mail and web access is the main reason I bought it. I bet that when my laptop finally gets back here, I can sell this thing for £50 again, or maybe even more. Hell, I saw ads in there for monitors like this one which were advertised for more than £50!
So happy birthday to me! I would show you pictures of my new toys, but like the table says, this thing has no USB ports ;)
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Why I Love the CBC
Another short entry...
I was just reading this story on the CBC website about how the United States is abolishing the death penalty for those under 18 years old. The story itself is nothing special (other than the fact that news about not killing people is always a good thing), but the end of the article has an ironic, passive-aggressive jab at the United States while still maintaining the air of professional journalism. It is executed (pardon the pun) in perfect Canadian fashion:
"Other countries that have used the death penalty against people younger than 18 are Iran, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia."
Amazing.
I was just reading this story on the CBC website about how the United States is abolishing the death penalty for those under 18 years old. The story itself is nothing special (other than the fact that news about not killing people is always a good thing), but the end of the article has an ironic, passive-aggressive jab at the United States while still maintaining the air of professional journalism. It is executed (pardon the pun) in perfect Canadian fashion:
"Other countries that have used the death penalty against people younger than 18 are Iran, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia."
Amazing.
Let's Go Eat Babies...
Well, I can honestly say that when I moved to Oxford I never expected that I would see Manchester’s lesbian vampire cabaret queen singing songs about zombie cannibalism, but that's exactly what I saw last night at the Hammer & Tongue poetry slam...and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
I would write more, but I kind of like the mystique that is left with those words alone, so I shall end it there.
I would write more, but I kind of like the mystique that is left with those words alone, so I shall end it there.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Incredible
I found a link to this video over on Jason Clark's blog, and all I can say is:
wow.
Being a full-time idealist, part-time cynic, amateur futurist, a fan of media, technology, Marshall McLuhan, as well as creativity in general, this video just appeals to me in so many different ways. If you're not into this sort of thing then you probably won't see what the big deal is, but I think it's simply amazing. Just go and watch it, my words will not do it justice....wow
wow.
Being a full-time idealist, part-time cynic, amateur futurist, a fan of media, technology, Marshall McLuhan, as well as creativity in general, this video just appeals to me in so many different ways. If you're not into this sort of thing then you probably won't see what the big deal is, but I think it's simply amazing. Just go and watch it, my words will not do it justice....wow
My Old Friend Oscar...
I realized today that it was the first time in many years that I didn't watch the Academy Awards live. Seeing as how they didn't start until 1am over here, and I had to be at work at 7:30, it didn't seem very practical. To be honest, I didn't really care about them much this year though...however, my two congratulations do go out to Alexander Payne and Charlie Kaufman for awards which were well-deserved. Both men are superb writers, and both Sideways and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are excellent films which deserve a viewing if you have not already done so.
On an interesting side note, last year I was in Tampa during the Oscars, this year I'm in Oxford. I wonder where I'll be next year...........
On an interesting side note, last year I was in Tampa during the Oscars, this year I'm in Oxford. I wonder where I'll be next year...........
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Degenerating into incoherent metaphysical ramblings
oy! I worked for 10 1/2 hours today, and it's depressing to think that I have to be back there for my next shift in only 8 hours from now, but on the plus side I earned around $125 CDN today! After work, I went to the pub for a pint with Rich and Alberto, and just hung out for a while. Alberto was telling us about how he's planning to take a 2 week vacation soon in France and Belgium, and it totally got me stoked for traveling again. He said by booking a month in advance he got a bus ticket from London to Paris and back again for only £25! I still have trouble believing I'm not in North America any more...I mean, I guess being within driving distance of Paris or Brussels or Amsterdam is like being in driving distance of NYC or Chicago or Montreal back home, but over here the cultures are so radically different from one another...and the amount of history is unparalleled in North America.
Speaking of North America, I've been having lots of 'flashbacks' lately...it doesn't seem like an adequate description, but I'm not really sure what to call them. It's not Deja Vu, because they are specific memories....strong memories that have been coming back to me. But not in a sad, homesick kind of way....more in a positive, nostalgic kind of way...does that make any sense at all? Like a smell that reminds me of camping at the Pinery, or a cafe that reminds me of a road trip I took with Matt, or European-style walk up apartments that make me think of my summer in Montreal...there's been tons of these in the last few days, and I'm not really sure why. Like I said above, it's not that I 'miss' these things particularly, I've just been frequently reminding myself of my past...if that's possible. I guess it's all part of my recent identity issue(s) and trying to determine how my life experiences have contributed to who I presently am, and how I ended up where I am/did. But again, this isn't a hugely participatory quest on my part (only to a small degree)...it's kind of an unconscious effort that I seem be going along with. Does any of this make sense? This is likely all the incoherent metaphysical rambling of an overworked and overtired human being. I'll leave it at that and perhaps post more when I figure out what the heck I'm thinking/talking about. Or when I turn 23 years old on Friday and it suddenly all becomes clear to me ;)
Speaking of North America, I've been having lots of 'flashbacks' lately...it doesn't seem like an adequate description, but I'm not really sure what to call them. It's not Deja Vu, because they are specific memories....strong memories that have been coming back to me. But not in a sad, homesick kind of way....more in a positive, nostalgic kind of way...does that make any sense at all? Like a smell that reminds me of camping at the Pinery, or a cafe that reminds me of a road trip I took with Matt, or European-style walk up apartments that make me think of my summer in Montreal...there's been tons of these in the last few days, and I'm not really sure why. Like I said above, it's not that I 'miss' these things particularly, I've just been frequently reminding myself of my past...if that's possible. I guess it's all part of my recent identity issue(s) and trying to determine how my life experiences have contributed to who I presently am, and how I ended up where I am/did. But again, this isn't a hugely participatory quest on my part (only to a small degree)...it's kind of an unconscious effort that I seem be going along with. Does any of this make sense? This is likely all the incoherent metaphysical rambling of an overworked and overtired human being. I'll leave it at that and perhaps post more when I figure out what the heck I'm thinking/talking about. Or when I turn 23 years old on Friday and it suddenly all becomes clear to me ;)
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Content
That's 'content' as in the mood, rather than 'content' as in the subject matter of a given thing.
I'm just really happy with life these days...my friend Jim has gone away on a skiing vacation in Vermont for the week, so he gave me the keys to his place! This means I'm getting a solid night's sleep, rather than being interrupted by drunken hooligans yelling at the XBOX in the room next to me. This is especially appreciated when I have to work early in the morning. Speaking of work, it's going well. Today was crazy though...it was my first Saturday shift. Now I know how they afford to pay us, it was non-stop business! My co-workers are really friendly though, and it's nice to be constantly busy rather than bored...and there are enough tasks (steaming milk, doing dishes, bussing tables) that one can do mindlessly if one so desires. They're also sending me home with boatloads of free food...kilos and kilos! It's great, I may never have to buy another meal again (unless I want some vegetables or something, but y'know...) Now there's only so much fulfillment one can get from serving coffee for a living, but for the moment, it's great...it keeps me busy, pays me, and dishes out free food...no complaints there!
Last night I went to see a British indie band called The Wedding Present at the Zodiac with Rich. They were amazing! I'll definitely be picking up some of their stuff...for folks back home, they're playing Lee's Palace in the T-Dot sometime in April, I can't remember when exactly...I highly, HIGHLY recommend making the trek to see them...so very, very excellent! Afterwards we headed to Po Na Na to celebrate Martin and Gareth's birthday. We met the birthday boys as well as Jon, Ollie and Jules among others...danced until 1 or so, and then headed home...a good time was had by all. Today it was the crazy nearly-9 hour shift, then right after work I went to Anita's place to watch Pleasantville with her, Justice, Alberto and Emily...it was chilled, but just what I needed after a long day of work. Now I'm at Jim's listening to a live version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and getting ready for another full day tomorrow.
So yeah...life is pretty good. I was telling the boys in my huddle on Thursday night that I finally feel like I'm planting some roots here...it's the first community I feel like I've really been involved in since the end of high school, and that's a great thing. The fact that I'm able to list all those names up there and refer to them as 'friends' really says something...something pretty awesome!
More to come shortly, I hope...
I'm just really happy with life these days...my friend Jim has gone away on a skiing vacation in Vermont for the week, so he gave me the keys to his place! This means I'm getting a solid night's sleep, rather than being interrupted by drunken hooligans yelling at the XBOX in the room next to me. This is especially appreciated when I have to work early in the morning. Speaking of work, it's going well. Today was crazy though...it was my first Saturday shift. Now I know how they afford to pay us, it was non-stop business! My co-workers are really friendly though, and it's nice to be constantly busy rather than bored...and there are enough tasks (steaming milk, doing dishes, bussing tables) that one can do mindlessly if one so desires. They're also sending me home with boatloads of free food...kilos and kilos! It's great, I may never have to buy another meal again (unless I want some vegetables or something, but y'know...) Now there's only so much fulfillment one can get from serving coffee for a living, but for the moment, it's great...it keeps me busy, pays me, and dishes out free food...no complaints there!
Last night I went to see a British indie band called The Wedding Present at the Zodiac with Rich. They were amazing! I'll definitely be picking up some of their stuff...for folks back home, they're playing Lee's Palace in the T-Dot sometime in April, I can't remember when exactly...I highly, HIGHLY recommend making the trek to see them...so very, very excellent! Afterwards we headed to Po Na Na to celebrate Martin and Gareth's birthday. We met the birthday boys as well as Jon, Ollie and Jules among others...danced until 1 or so, and then headed home...a good time was had by all. Today it was the crazy nearly-9 hour shift, then right after work I went to Anita's place to watch Pleasantville with her, Justice, Alberto and Emily...it was chilled, but just what I needed after a long day of work. Now I'm at Jim's listening to a live version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and getting ready for another full day tomorrow.
So yeah...life is pretty good. I was telling the boys in my huddle on Thursday night that I finally feel like I'm planting some roots here...it's the first community I feel like I've really been involved in since the end of high school, and that's a great thing. The fact that I'm able to list all those names up there and refer to them as 'friends' really says something...something pretty awesome!
More to come shortly, I hope...
Friday, February 25, 2005
Deceitful representations
At the behest of Jon March, I have decided to go ahead and paste maps of where in the world I've been.
It's a little bit deceiving, since you can only choose by country (with the exception of the US) so in clicking on 'Canada' everything from Newfoundland to Nunavut is covered. I have never actually been to Newfoundland or Nunavut, so it's somewhat of a lie. It would be better if you could choose the provinces in the same way you can choose US states, but I guess the same could be said of every country. Likewise, I've selected 'Italy' when really all that entails is Rome, Florence and Venice. Ah well...check back in a year or two, and hopefully these maps shall be a little bit more red....
create your own visited countries map
It's a little bit deceiving, since you can only choose by country (with the exception of the US) so in clicking on 'Canada' everything from Newfoundland to Nunavut is covered. I have never actually been to Newfoundland or Nunavut, so it's somewhat of a lie. It would be better if you could choose the provinces in the same way you can choose US states, but I guess the same could be said of every country. Likewise, I've selected 'Italy' when really all that entails is Rome, Florence and Venice. Ah well...check back in a year or two, and hopefully these maps shall be a little bit more red....
create your own visited countries map
Monday, February 21, 2005
Good things in life
A list of good things in my life:
- -awesome weekend retreat with hOME
- -snowed on my walk back from work today
- -worked for 8 hours today, which means I earned £40, which is enough for transportation to the airport and a return flight to Paris. After tomorrow's shift, i'd be able to afford a whole weekend in Paris! (alternatively, this money could also be spent on a used bicycle, food and/or go towards rent, but those are less inspiring thoughts)
- -heard some classic Bran Van 3000 in the beer store as I stopped in on my way home
- -saw Carl Winslow doing a cameo as a limo driver in NYC on Crocodile Dundee while I was eating supper
Well that's it for now. Still waiting for my darn computer...
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Employed!
Just a quick update to say that I have found full time employment! I am officially a 'barista' at Coffee Republic in downtown Oxford! I did a search for 'coffee republic' but all i could find was this So enjoy those reports! Briefly, I have created a list of pros and cons about this job, as I see them:
Cons:
- part of a franchise
- only pays £5/hr
- may have to start some days at 6:45am
- about 1/2 hour walk from where i currently live
- need to buy some new black shoes
Pros:
- full time hours available
- a free meal with each shift
- 2 days consecutive days off each week
- latest shift ends at 7:30pm on weekdays, 8:30pm on Saturdays
- located in the city centre (right near the bus station)
so there ya have it! My computer has now officially been shipped in for repairs and I'm working full time, so expect to see fewer of these updates for the next little while...
Monday, February 14, 2005
No go!
Well, I couldn't find the Valentine's day party! The directions that were given to me were fine, and looking at a map now, I must have walked right past the road several times, but I just couldn't seem to find it! I walked around for like an hour...I forgot my mobile phone at home so I couldn't even ring...in the end I just came home and watched Wimbledon with my housemates, drinking beer and eating popcorn. But you know, to be honest, I'm not at all disappointed...after walking around for an hour I didn't really have energy left to meet people any how, and it wasn't like I knew anyone there, so they won't have missed me. And besides, now I have a bottle of Bailey's all to myself :D
So while I was walking around looking for this place, I was thinking about how easy it is to be bitter on Valentine's day if you're single, and yet, there are probably people who are a lot worse off...I thought about the people in a dysfunctional relationship who wanted nothing more than to get out of it, but couldn't do it because it's Valentine's day, and now they're kicking themselves for not leaving sooner and end up spending all kinds of money on gifts and a fancy restaurant which is ultimately empty of meaning and only making things worse by prolonging the charade....i thought about people who were recently widowed and how seeing all the romance marketing and the couples together must painfully remind them of their deceased loved one...and i thought about those who are in love with someone who is in love with someone else, and how much that would suck....
Ok, so technically those last two would be considered 'single' as well, but if you're not in any of the above categories, then you should consider yourself lucky....yeah, everyone wants someone to share their life with, but that person isn't going to be your saviour...and as nice as a good relationship is, it's not the answer to life, and if you're looking for fulfillment, then after a while, even in a good relationship, you'll continue to search for that 'something else...' Don't be bitter, enjoy your life, you only get one!
So while I was walking around looking for this place, I was thinking about how easy it is to be bitter on Valentine's day if you're single, and yet, there are probably people who are a lot worse off...I thought about the people in a dysfunctional relationship who wanted nothing more than to get out of it, but couldn't do it because it's Valentine's day, and now they're kicking themselves for not leaving sooner and end up spending all kinds of money on gifts and a fancy restaurant which is ultimately empty of meaning and only making things worse by prolonging the charade....i thought about people who were recently widowed and how seeing all the romance marketing and the couples together must painfully remind them of their deceased loved one...and i thought about those who are in love with someone who is in love with someone else, and how much that would suck....
Ok, so technically those last two would be considered 'single' as well, but if you're not in any of the above categories, then you should consider yourself lucky....yeah, everyone wants someone to share their life with, but that person isn't going to be your saviour...and as nice as a good relationship is, it's not the answer to life, and if you're looking for fulfillment, then after a while, even in a good relationship, you'll continue to search for that 'something else...' Don't be bitter, enjoy your life, you only get one!
Don't buy eMachines!
A handwritten letter I will be sending in the post tomorrow:
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Christopher Langston and I purchased an eMachines M6811 notebook in August 2004. It was defective out of the box, however the problem was only a minor irritant which I thought that I could live with. Lately, however, the notebook has stopped recognizing when the power adaptor is plugged in, thereby rendering it impossible to recharge the battery. I called technical support and easily received an RMA number for repairs. I was told, however, that under the terms of the warranty, shipping costs are only covered within North America. This poses a problem since I am currently a student in Oxford, England. I phoned again to customer service and asked if any concession could be made, but I was told flatly that "eMachines will not pay for shipping outside of North America." I understand this is eMachines standard policy, and that if they were to offer shipping around the world it would cost too much, however given the current circumstances - the fact that it was a manufacturer's defect and that I am a student who is dependent on his computer - I was hoping that eMachines would be willing to pay the bill. The customer service representative said you would not, and that anyone else I asked at eMachines would give me the same response. I have enclosed a copy of the shipping receipt with this letter to show you the exact cost of shipping this back to North America, with insurance. I could have sent it via surface and lessened the cost, however that would have taken several months and as I mentioned previously, I am rather dependent on my computer. I expect that it will cost equally as much to have my computer shipped back to me here in the UK.
I am writing this letter to inform you that I will never purchase another eMachines product ever again, and will inform my friends and family about my notebook being defective from the start, as well as the poor way that you handled this situation. I will also be posting a copy of this letter on my world wide web site. Once again, I recognize that it is not eMachines policy to pay for international shipping costs, however I learned long ago that the way to make any customer a loyal customer is to go out of your way for them when you make a mistake. You have sold me a faulty product, you have cost me my time while I live without a computer during its shipping and repairs, and on top of that, you have made me pay for the shipping to North America out of my own pocket. This is why I will never purchase another product made by eMachines and advise everyone I know to do the same. I await your response.
Sincerely,
Christopher Langston
[signature]
[England address]
[Canada address]
----
So there you have it! Don't buy eMachines! For the record, shipping will cost me somewhere between 65 and 90 POUNDS STERLING, which is around $200 Canadian. And that's just one way! I bought their product expecting that it would function as promised, it's not my fault that it doesn't, therefore I don't think I should have to spend another $300-400 in order to get it repaired. It would be nice to receive a cheque back from them covering the total shipping costs, but to be honest I'm not really expecting anything besides a form letter saying that they're 'sorry for the defect' and that 'international shipping isn't covered under the warranty terms.' Fine, I know...next time I'll spend the extra money on a Toshiba or IBM and get the customer service that goes along with it.
To Whom It May Concern,
My name is Christopher Langston and I purchased an eMachines M6811 notebook in August 2004. It was defective out of the box, however the problem was only a minor irritant which I thought that I could live with. Lately, however, the notebook has stopped recognizing when the power adaptor is plugged in, thereby rendering it impossible to recharge the battery. I called technical support and easily received an RMA number for repairs. I was told, however, that under the terms of the warranty, shipping costs are only covered within North America. This poses a problem since I am currently a student in Oxford, England. I phoned again to customer service and asked if any concession could be made, but I was told flatly that "eMachines will not pay for shipping outside of North America." I understand this is eMachines standard policy, and that if they were to offer shipping around the world it would cost too much, however given the current circumstances - the fact that it was a manufacturer's defect and that I am a student who is dependent on his computer - I was hoping that eMachines would be willing to pay the bill. The customer service representative said you would not, and that anyone else I asked at eMachines would give me the same response. I have enclosed a copy of the shipping receipt with this letter to show you the exact cost of shipping this back to North America, with insurance. I could have sent it via surface and lessened the cost, however that would have taken several months and as I mentioned previously, I am rather dependent on my computer. I expect that it will cost equally as much to have my computer shipped back to me here in the UK.
I am writing this letter to inform you that I will never purchase another eMachines product ever again, and will inform my friends and family about my notebook being defective from the start, as well as the poor way that you handled this situation. I will also be posting a copy of this letter on my world wide web site. Once again, I recognize that it is not eMachines policy to pay for international shipping costs, however I learned long ago that the way to make any customer a loyal customer is to go out of your way for them when you make a mistake. You have sold me a faulty product, you have cost me my time while I live without a computer during its shipping and repairs, and on top of that, you have made me pay for the shipping to North America out of my own pocket. This is why I will never purchase another product made by eMachines and advise everyone I know to do the same. I await your response.
Sincerely,
Christopher Langston
[signature]
[England address]
[Canada address]
----
So there you have it! Don't buy eMachines! For the record, shipping will cost me somewhere between 65 and 90 POUNDS STERLING, which is around $200 Canadian. And that's just one way! I bought their product expecting that it would function as promised, it's not my fault that it doesn't, therefore I don't think I should have to spend another $300-400 in order to get it repaired. It would be nice to receive a cheque back from them covering the total shipping costs, but to be honest I'm not really expecting anything besides a form letter saying that they're 'sorry for the defect' and that 'international shipping isn't covered under the warranty terms.' Fine, I know...next time I'll spend the extra money on a Toshiba or IBM and get the customer service that goes along with it.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
Valentine's Date?
I met a new guy named Mezza at the hOME sunday lunch today (who, contrary to the title, is not my Valentine's date!). Mezza is a British-Iranian who does video production stuff for a living in Oxford. He's a big film buff too, so we had some good discussions over lunch! Anyway, he mentioned that him and his friend were planning on going out tomorrow night along with 5 or 6 girls for Valentine's day, and he asked if I wanted to come along! My first thought was "I like those odds!" and without thinking any further I said yes...
Now those of you that know me well will realize that back in Canada, this is something that I would never, ever do! However, something happens when you're traveling by yourself whereby you just find some sort of inner courage that you never knew you had and end up having fun with (almost) complete strangers. After all, it's not like you have friends to go and hang out with, so if you don't have some fun with complete strangers, you won't end up having fun with anyone at all! So there you have it! From what he was telling me, it sounds like they're all young professionals with jobs in the field of 'media' in one way or another (acting/producing/what have you) so hopefully there will be some common ground for conversation. It also sounds like it's going to be quite the multicultural group, with an Iranian, an Indian, a Brit and a Canadian already on board. Interesting....we shall see....
Now those of you that know me well will realize that back in Canada, this is something that I would never, ever do! However, something happens when you're traveling by yourself whereby you just find some sort of inner courage that you never knew you had and end up having fun with (almost) complete strangers. After all, it's not like you have friends to go and hang out with, so if you don't have some fun with complete strangers, you won't end up having fun with anyone at all! So there you have it! From what he was telling me, it sounds like they're all young professionals with jobs in the field of 'media' in one way or another (acting/producing/what have you) so hopefully there will be some common ground for conversation. It also sounds like it's going to be quite the multicultural group, with an Iranian, an Indian, a Brit and a Canadian already on board. Interesting....we shall see....
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Broken Computers and Bodies of Water
Well, I've been having power issues with my laptop ever since I bought it, however today it finally went off the deep end. My computer will no longer recognize that the power adapter is plugged in, so I'm currently running off what remains of my battery. I called tech support, and they said they'd fix it for free, but it means I have to ship it back to North America because that's where their tech centre is. Bah. It'll be nice to finally have a fully functional computer however I'm not liking the fact that I will be 'unplugged' for a few weeks, at the very least. Hopefully I'll get some temp work soon in order to alleviate the boredom that would otherwise ensue (and to earn some money, which I'm definitely in need of). I'll still be able to check my e-mail from computers provided by libraries and/or housemates, but I won't be around on Messenger and such. As well, posts like these will probably become more scarce...
And now for something completely different:
I was wandering around Oxford today and had lunch at the Head of the River pub. It was a bit pricey, but the view was beautiful. As I was eating, I realized that there's something about living near a large body of water that feeds my soul. This is something else I was missing in Hartfield, and although I couldn't pinpoint it at the time, I realize now that it was a factor. Whether it's Lake Ontario, Lake Clearwater, The St. Lawrence River, or the Thames, anywhere I've lived for more than a month has always been close to a large body of water (with the exception of Hartfield). Maybe it's that connection to God's creation, or maybe it's the fantasy of hopping on a boat and leaving your troubles behind while traveling to somewhere new & exciting...or maybe it's both of these things and more. Whatever it is, I love water, and the thought of being land-locked almost induces a form of claustrophobia in me....
Well that's it for now, and possibly for a while...I hope that you're all well, and I'll keep you updated with developments of my laptop repair. Au revoir.
And now for something completely different:
I was wandering around Oxford today and had lunch at the Head of the River pub. It was a bit pricey, but the view was beautiful. As I was eating, I realized that there's something about living near a large body of water that feeds my soul. This is something else I was missing in Hartfield, and although I couldn't pinpoint it at the time, I realize now that it was a factor. Whether it's Lake Ontario, Lake Clearwater, The St. Lawrence River, or the Thames, anywhere I've lived for more than a month has always been close to a large body of water (with the exception of Hartfield). Maybe it's that connection to God's creation, or maybe it's the fantasy of hopping on a boat and leaving your troubles behind while traveling to somewhere new & exciting...or maybe it's both of these things and more. Whatever it is, I love water, and the thought of being land-locked almost induces a form of claustrophobia in me....
Well that's it for now, and possibly for a while...I hope that you're all well, and I'll keep you updated with developments of my laptop repair. Au revoir.
Friday, February 11, 2005
Friday night in O-town
Well it looks like I'm going to see the Dears at the Zodiac tonight! (with Rich, who seems like a pretty good guy!)
For those that don't know, the Dears are a kick ass band from Montreal whom I had the pleasure of seeing a couple times when I was living Kingston, Ontario. Their CDs are really good, but like many other bands, their true talent lies in the live performance. All the members gel really well together and they can jam like nobody's business! It seems like I can't avoid Canada in these parts! Maybe I'll head up the road and get some more Moosehead to enjoy before the show :)
You can download an MP3 of the first track from their latest album "No Cities Left" by clicking here. (This song is superb!) You can also sample a bunch of their other stuff from that album & more using RealPlayer here - I was looking for a free download of their song "Heathrow or Deathrow" (how appropos) but all the links appear to be broken, so no luck for you folks....
For those that don't know, the Dears are a kick ass band from Montreal whom I had the pleasure of seeing a couple times when I was living Kingston, Ontario. Their CDs are really good, but like many other bands, their true talent lies in the live performance. All the members gel really well together and they can jam like nobody's business! It seems like I can't avoid Canada in these parts! Maybe I'll head up the road and get some more Moosehead to enjoy before the show :)
You can download an MP3 of the first track from their latest album "No Cities Left" by clicking here. (This song is superb!) You can also sample a bunch of their other stuff from that album & more using RealPlayer here - I was looking for a free download of their song "Heathrow or Deathrow" (how appropos) but all the links appear to be broken, so no luck for you folks....
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Unionization of United Church Ministers
Some background info regarding the following post:
My mom sent an e-mail to the ministers at my home church (Wellington Square in Burlington, Ontario) about an article she saw in the local paper today about two ministers who were campaigning for United Church of Canada clergy to become members of and supported by the Canadian Auto Workers union. It should be noted that I have no idea what position any of the ministers at Wellington Square have on this issue. Below is my response to my mom's message and actually, my opinions on the whole thing, but first some informational links for those who may be less familiar with the issues at hand:
Now, I think it would be safe to presume that the reason these united church ministers want to unionize is because they too feel exploited, unsupported and treated with hostility. We would all do well to remember that many, many individual churches within the United Church of Canada are not _nearly_ as vibrant asWellington Square
That being said, when the leaders of a Christian community (in this case, the ministers of individual United Churches of Canada) feel so distraught and disconnected that they can’t actually approach the denominational leadership and/or their congregation about these issues, and thereby feel the need to appeal to a 3rd party arbiter (in this case, the Canadian Auto Workers union) to fight out the legality of their employment, well then you might as well just scrap the whole thing and start again. Isn’t the whole POINT of a Christian community to be accountable to one another…to encourage each other, to forgive each other, to love one another?
It’s true that it may just be a few dissidents, but that in itself is enough to expose the inherent flaws in the system. It’s this exact kind of political and bureaucratic bullshit that has always unnerved me about institutionalized Christianity. I recognize that in the past it was necessary to be associated with some form of organized doctrine in order to distinguish ourselves from loony cults, and that was not a bad thing at the time, but it is now the 21st century, so can we please move past that? I think most of us have realized that actually, in fact, we don’t have all of God entirely figured out (like we thought we did), and as beautiful as our systematic theologies are, they are still man-made constructs…containers which God refuses to be stuck inside of…God is alive, and moving and working and breathing, all the time, every day! So as long as we are loving God and loving our neighbours, as Jesus commands in Mark 12:30-31 (the two greatest commandments) and acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God, as written in Micah 6:8, then what is the necessity for a monolithic institution pulling strings above us? As far as I’m concerned, Christian communities should be self-sufficient (so long as God is part of the equation), and if they’re not then maybe you need to take a step back and reconsider the whole thing.
So what do I recommend forWellington Square
To finish up then, my final views on the unionization of United Church ministers is this: let them argue about who is going to have what on the ship that is inevitably sinking, because I’ve got more important things to worry about. I am going to continue to try my very best to ‘fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…’ (Heb. 12:2) and do so in conjunction with those around me who are seeking the same thing. And in the end, we’ll be the ones making the difference in the world because we will constantly be supporting each other in our quest to love God and everyone else, while the rest worry about matters which are ultimately insignificant.
Keep in mind these are the rantings of an idealistic 22 year old who is currently galavanting acrossEurope , but to summarize in one statement: I think the whole thing is an exercise in missing the point. My opinions are not firm however, and I welcome – encourage, even - any dialogue which may occur as a result!
My mom sent an e-mail to the ministers at my home church (Wellington Square in Burlington, Ontario) about an article she saw in the local paper today about two ministers who were campaigning for United Church of Canada clergy to become members of and supported by the Canadian Auto Workers union. It should be noted that I have no idea what position any of the ministers at Wellington Square have on this issue. Below is my response to my mom's message and actually, my opinions on the whole thing, but first some informational links for those who may be less familiar with the issues at hand:
- An old CBC article on this
- The Official United Church of Canada response
- The Official United Church of Canada website
- Wellington Square United Church - my home church (looks like it's down at the moment)
- Canadian Auto Workers official site
Y’see, at work my mom has to deal with a union that is pushy and unnecessary (plus she just finished collective bargaining agreements, so she’s probably a little extra frustrated with unions at the moment) when really, the organization could take much better care of the employees without the union around, especially with my mom at the helm of said organization! :)
However we need to keep in mind that unions themselves aren’t inherently evil…the reason that we don’t have sweatshop labour in north america /
Now, I think it would be safe to presume that the reason these united church ministers want to unionize is because they too feel exploited, unsupported and treated with hostility. We would all do well to remember that many, many individual churches within the United Church of Canada are not _nearly_ as vibrant as
That being said, when the leaders of a Christian community (in this case, the ministers of individual United Churches of Canada) feel so distraught and disconnected that they can’t actually approach the denominational leadership and/or their congregation about these issues, and thereby feel the need to appeal to a 3rd party arbiter (in this case, the Canadian Auto Workers union) to fight out the legality of their employment, well then you might as well just scrap the whole thing and start again. Isn’t the whole POINT of a Christian community to be accountable to one another…to encourage each other, to forgive each other, to love one another?
It’s true that it may just be a few dissidents, but that in itself is enough to expose the inherent flaws in the system. It’s this exact kind of political and bureaucratic bullshit that has always unnerved me about institutionalized Christianity. I recognize that in the past it was necessary to be associated with some form of organized doctrine in order to distinguish ourselves from loony cults, and that was not a bad thing at the time, but it is now the 21st century, so can we please move past that? I think most of us have realized that actually, in fact, we don’t have all of God entirely figured out (like we thought we did), and as beautiful as our systematic theologies are, they are still man-made constructs…containers which God refuses to be stuck inside of…God is alive, and moving and working and breathing, all the time, every day! So as long as we are loving God and loving our neighbours, as Jesus commands in Mark 12:30-31 (the two greatest commandments) and acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God, as written in Micah 6:8, then what is the necessity for a monolithic institution pulling strings above us? As far as I’m concerned, Christian communities should be self-sufficient (so long as God is part of the equation), and if they’re not then maybe you need to take a step back and reconsider the whole thing.
So what do I recommend for
To finish up then, my final views on the unionization of United Church ministers is this: let them argue about who is going to have what on the ship that is inevitably sinking, because I’ve got more important things to worry about. I am going to continue to try my very best to ‘fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…’ (Heb. 12:2) and do so in conjunction with those around me who are seeking the same thing. And in the end, we’ll be the ones making the difference in the world because we will constantly be supporting each other in our quest to love God and everyone else, while the rest worry about matters which are ultimately insignificant.
Keep in mind these are the rantings of an idealistic 22 year old who is currently galavanting across
Monday, February 07, 2005
The Frustrations of Existing as a Never-ending Work In Progress...
Ok, so I just wanted a lofty title...but I decided that I do want to post some of my recent thoughts, rather than just the mundane, daily or weekly "this is what I've been up to" junk...
So I've been excited about life a lot lately...it's continually refreshing to live in Oxford...to be able to turn down another sidestreet I haven't seen yet and come across a building which is new to my eyes but has stood there for hundreds of years beforehand. I also think that living in the Western world's education mecca has renewed my love for learning, though not necessarily in an institutional form (though I have not formed any aggressive opinions against institutional learning either). Not having a job, while stressful on the bank account and food palate, has provided me with ample time for watching films and reading books, and it has been wonderful. Lately, I've really been considering how being a Canadian citizen affects my identity in the world abroad. I've downloaded a lot of music by Leonard Cohen and Bruce Cockburn, and have been going into bookstores, buying a coffee, and reading some more Douglas Coupland and Marshall McLuhan (and then returning it to the shelf when I'm finished for the day because I can't actually afford to buy them). While I realize this is only a tiny cross-section of Canada's culture, these seem to be thinkers/artists who have a pretty good handle on the pulse of Canadian identity. Which is not to say that I've become a fervent proponent of Nationalism at any level, it's just that I'm trying to figure who I am in relationship to the world at large, and understanding the values of Canadians (versus other cultures/nationalities) therefore helps to explain who I am/what I think/why I think that. I absolutely despise the fact that I am the walking cliche who's "taking a couple years to go overseas and find himself," however that wasn't my intention when I left...it's just sorta came about once I got over here...I think it's inevitable to a certain degree. And the more I engage with it, the more I am convinced that one cannot truly have full knowledge of self until they are immersed in another culture for a considerable length of time as an adult, and then take into consideration the impact which this is bound to have. And far be it from me to toot my own horn...hell, I was watching Superbowl highlights given in American English on TV today...this isn't the African bush and I'm hardly the most daring individual, but nevertheless, living in Britain has affected me in a way that I never would have known to be possible before.
Which brings me to my next point, which is what the title is all about. It's loosely related to the paragraph above and I was going to try to weave some sort of link between the two paragraphs but I don't want to take the time to think of a good one so you got this explanation instead. So anyways, like I said I've been really excited about life, but I've become frustrated with my lack of...I don't even know how to put it into words....and actually, that's the whole problem. My lack of input? My lack of production? My lack of creative outlet? Again, I have nothing wrong with learning and learning and learning, and it's not like I'm the smartest person in the world with all kinds of new and original ideas to share, but I would like some sort of outlet to 'publish' my thoughts....that is, aside from my journal and this half-assed website. Ideally it would be through film, but in a practical sense, that is far too costly (both monetarily and chronologically) to do a good job of...so what then? A novel? Short stories? Poetry? Newspaper articles? A screenplay? A play play? I dunno...it could be writing or acting or acting out my writing or whatever...I dunno...just some sort of focus for the chaos that is my mind. And for the record, I'm not soliciting suggestions here...it's something I need to come to/determine for myself, I'm just explaining how...well...I want to explain myself more. I think that part of my hesitation is that I recognize the fact that I am still young and have so much more to learn, but then I get to thinking that it's always going to be like that, and that I will never truly feel like I have enough knowledge to speak authoritatively on anything at all (although maybe I'm wrong). My reason for wanting to get this stuff out is not to have my thoughts (and hence, self) validated by others (although if I'm really honest, that's part of it), but actually my motivation is much more selfish than that. I find that by sharing ideas and actively engaging other people with those ideas feeds me and teaches me so much more than one-way communication, and....blah....I could go on for hours more but this is all so etheral and theoretical and hypothetical and not much practical good at all, but that's another part of the problem...it is all floating around way "up here" and I can't seem to solidfy it very much.
On a final, and totally unrelated note, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again last night and got to thinking how I'd love to marry a girl who was a combination of Kate Winslet's character in that film, Natalie Portman's character in Garden State, and Penelope Cruz's character in Vanilla Sky (erm, personality-wise at least, although it wouldn't hurt if she looked like any of those folks either). But then I got to thinking how those girls don't really exist...in two senses actually. First, they don't exist in the sense that girls who are actually like that in real life are already taken by the time I get to them because others also find them so attractive (again, personality AND appearance-wise) so I don't even get a shot (this is more of a general rule than an absolute...it's really just based on the experience(s) I've had so far), and secondly, they also don't exist in the sense that each of them are simply fictional characters, who are most likely just the personified exaggeration of the idealistic partner of each individual writer. This then led me to wonder how much of what I'm looking for in a potential mate is of my own creation and how much is really just a re-appropriation of what Hollywood has been feeding me with over the years? I mean, I've only ever had 2 girlfriends in my lifetime, and I wouldn't consider either of them 'proper' relationships, at least as I would currently define such a thing, so what do I really know about what I want? I thought I had a pretty good handle on it, and maybe I do, but lately I've really been questioning that. I suppose that I could find comfort in the advice that "God has someone made just for you, and you will find her when the time is right," but, for reasons I don't want to get into here, I'm pretty sure that's bullshit. So I guess there's no real way to find out how much I really am sure about what I want without dating other people, but that's not an activity which I take lightly...so really, these thoughts are just an exercise to pass the time until something actually happens. Which I suppose could be said about everything I've written above, but there you have it, a snapshot into my current mindset.
So I've been excited about life a lot lately...it's continually refreshing to live in Oxford...to be able to turn down another sidestreet I haven't seen yet and come across a building which is new to my eyes but has stood there for hundreds of years beforehand. I also think that living in the Western world's education mecca has renewed my love for learning, though not necessarily in an institutional form (though I have not formed any aggressive opinions against institutional learning either). Not having a job, while stressful on the bank account and food palate, has provided me with ample time for watching films and reading books, and it has been wonderful. Lately, I've really been considering how being a Canadian citizen affects my identity in the world abroad. I've downloaded a lot of music by Leonard Cohen and Bruce Cockburn, and have been going into bookstores, buying a coffee, and reading some more Douglas Coupland and Marshall McLuhan (and then returning it to the shelf when I'm finished for the day because I can't actually afford to buy them). While I realize this is only a tiny cross-section of Canada's culture, these seem to be thinkers/artists who have a pretty good handle on the pulse of Canadian identity. Which is not to say that I've become a fervent proponent of Nationalism at any level, it's just that I'm trying to figure who I am in relationship to the world at large, and understanding the values of Canadians (versus other cultures/nationalities) therefore helps to explain who I am/what I think/why I think that. I absolutely despise the fact that I am the walking cliche who's "taking a couple years to go overseas and find himself," however that wasn't my intention when I left...it's just sorta came about once I got over here...I think it's inevitable to a certain degree. And the more I engage with it, the more I am convinced that one cannot truly have full knowledge of self until they are immersed in another culture for a considerable length of time as an adult, and then take into consideration the impact which this is bound to have. And far be it from me to toot my own horn...hell, I was watching Superbowl highlights given in American English on TV today...this isn't the African bush and I'm hardly the most daring individual, but nevertheless, living in Britain has affected me in a way that I never would have known to be possible before.
Which brings me to my next point, which is what the title is all about. It's loosely related to the paragraph above and I was going to try to weave some sort of link between the two paragraphs but I don't want to take the time to think of a good one so you got this explanation instead. So anyways, like I said I've been really excited about life, but I've become frustrated with my lack of...I don't even know how to put it into words....and actually, that's the whole problem. My lack of input? My lack of production? My lack of creative outlet? Again, I have nothing wrong with learning and learning and learning, and it's not like I'm the smartest person in the world with all kinds of new and original ideas to share, but I would like some sort of outlet to 'publish' my thoughts....that is, aside from my journal and this half-assed website. Ideally it would be through film, but in a practical sense, that is far too costly (both monetarily and chronologically) to do a good job of...so what then? A novel? Short stories? Poetry? Newspaper articles? A screenplay? A play play? I dunno...it could be writing or acting or acting out my writing or whatever...I dunno...just some sort of focus for the chaos that is my mind. And for the record, I'm not soliciting suggestions here...it's something I need to come to/determine for myself, I'm just explaining how...well...I want to explain myself more. I think that part of my hesitation is that I recognize the fact that I am still young and have so much more to learn, but then I get to thinking that it's always going to be like that, and that I will never truly feel like I have enough knowledge to speak authoritatively on anything at all (although maybe I'm wrong). My reason for wanting to get this stuff out is not to have my thoughts (and hence, self) validated by others (although if I'm really honest, that's part of it), but actually my motivation is much more selfish than that. I find that by sharing ideas and actively engaging other people with those ideas feeds me and teaches me so much more than one-way communication, and....blah....I could go on for hours more but this is all so etheral and theoretical and hypothetical and not much practical good at all, but that's another part of the problem...it is all floating around way "up here" and I can't seem to solidfy it very much.
On a final, and totally unrelated note, I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind again last night and got to thinking how I'd love to marry a girl who was a combination of Kate Winslet's character in that film, Natalie Portman's character in Garden State, and Penelope Cruz's character in Vanilla Sky (erm, personality-wise at least, although it wouldn't hurt if she looked like any of those folks either). But then I got to thinking how those girls don't really exist...in two senses actually. First, they don't exist in the sense that girls who are actually like that in real life are already taken by the time I get to them because others also find them so attractive (again, personality AND appearance-wise) so I don't even get a shot (this is more of a general rule than an absolute...it's really just based on the experience(s) I've had so far), and secondly, they also don't exist in the sense that each of them are simply fictional characters, who are most likely just the personified exaggeration of the idealistic partner of each individual writer. This then led me to wonder how much of what I'm looking for in a potential mate is of my own creation and how much is really just a re-appropriation of what Hollywood has been feeding me with over the years? I mean, I've only ever had 2 girlfriends in my lifetime, and I wouldn't consider either of them 'proper' relationships, at least as I would currently define such a thing, so what do I really know about what I want? I thought I had a pretty good handle on it, and maybe I do, but lately I've really been questioning that. I suppose that I could find comfort in the advice that "God has someone made just for you, and you will find her when the time is right," but, for reasons I don't want to get into here, I'm pretty sure that's bullshit. So I guess there's no real way to find out how much I really am sure about what I want without dating other people, but that's not an activity which I take lightly...so really, these thoughts are just an exercise to pass the time until something actually happens. Which I suppose could be said about everything I've written above, but there you have it, a snapshot into my current mindset.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Nelly Mandelly
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
A Social Life?!?
A social life?!? How'd I get one of those?? I'm still not sure...
I was walking home from Allders today (where I bought a bedside lamp and space heater) when I saw a sign for a local poetry slam tonight being put on by Hammer & Tongue. I remembered hearing that a bunch of people from my new church/community, hOME were involved in helping to organize and run the shows, so I thought I'd go check it out. As an added bonus, it is held at the Zodiac which is a club that is literally a 90 second walk from my house...also, this was the 'big one' apparently...it was a competition between 4 different teams: one from Ireland, one from the UK, one from the USA and finally one from Canada. So, after just happening to see the poster, I decided that I'd go check it out. Meanwhile, I continued walking home when I saw a girl with a Canadian flag on her purse. I scooted up beside her and asked what part of Canada she was from... she said Toronto, and we just got to talking from there. It turns out that she's a Christian who goes to the parent church of my little community (the church is St. Aldate's) and she invited me to go along with her and some friends to see Nelson Mandela speak in London this Thursday! (see details for that here) Awesome! but random.....or was it?
Anyways, I went to the poetry slam and had a blast! I found a bunch of people from hOME pretty quickly and I met a bunch more new people! All the poetry teams were really good, but I think I did like the Canadian team the best...and not just because they were Canadian! The Americans actually won the competition, and they were quite good, but I thought the Canadians were just a wee bit better. Anyhow, here are links for two of my favourite poems from the competition. The first is from an American named Taylor Mali. You can read the poem here, but half of a poetry slam is the performance, so you should really listen to it (it's called "What Teachers Make"). The other one was by the Canadian team...I bought their CD, ripped it from that, and uploaded it to my website...I hope they don't mind. You can hear the MP3 by clicking here. [edit] I had to take the MP3 down cuz it was taking up too much space, sorry! [/edit] Man, I friggin' love that poem! (and not just cause it mentions the Trans-Siberian!)
Ok kids, thus ends another entry. Still no word on the job front :( I gotta hit the temp agencies soon, but not before going to hang out with Nelson in London ;)
I was walking home from Allders today (where I bought a bedside lamp and space heater) when I saw a sign for a local poetry slam tonight being put on by Hammer & Tongue. I remembered hearing that a bunch of people from my new church/community, hOME were involved in helping to organize and run the shows, so I thought I'd go check it out. As an added bonus, it is held at the Zodiac which is a club that is literally a 90 second walk from my house...also, this was the 'big one' apparently...it was a competition between 4 different teams: one from Ireland, one from the UK, one from the USA and finally one from Canada. So, after just happening to see the poster, I decided that I'd go check it out. Meanwhile, I continued walking home when I saw a girl with a Canadian flag on her purse. I scooted up beside her and asked what part of Canada she was from... she said Toronto, and we just got to talking from there. It turns out that she's a Christian who goes to the parent church of my little community (the church is St. Aldate's) and she invited me to go along with her and some friends to see Nelson Mandela speak in London this Thursday! (see details for that here) Awesome! but random.....or was it?
Anyways, I went to the poetry slam and had a blast! I found a bunch of people from hOME pretty quickly and I met a bunch more new people! All the poetry teams were really good, but I think I did like the Canadian team the best...and not just because they were Canadian! The Americans actually won the competition, and they were quite good, but I thought the Canadians were just a wee bit better. Anyhow, here are links for two of my favourite poems from the competition. The first is from an American named Taylor Mali. You can read the poem here, but half of a poetry slam is the performance, so you should really listen to it (it's called "What Teachers Make"). The other one was by the Canadian team...I bought their CD, ripped it from that, and uploaded it to my website...I hope they don't mind. You can hear the MP3 by clicking here. [edit] I had to take the MP3 down cuz it was taking up too much space, sorry! [/edit] Man, I friggin' love that poem! (and not just cause it mentions the Trans-Siberian!)
Ok kids, thus ends another entry. Still no word on the job front :( I gotta hit the temp agencies soon, but not before going to hang out with Nelson in London ;)
Monday, January 31, 2005
A Tour of My Room
Well Mattyboy wanted to see shots of my new room, so I figured I'd oblige...
It's hard to understand a 3D space using only 2D pictures, but I've done my best...first you should check out the floorplan.
All right, so going counter-clockwise (or 'anti-clockwise' as they say over here) along the floorplan, starting with the doorway, which is currently storing my shoes, empties, 'rubbish bin' and excess supplies (kleenex, apple juice, etc.)
Next is my bed and related wall. I bought that world map for £3! It helps me keep focussed on my dreams.
Onwards we have my dresser adorned above with a map of Venice (because I love that place so much!), followed by the makeshift closet which does a fine job. Now we come to the table by the window (directly across the room from my bed) which sports a lovely lava lamp and Posable Pink Panther which the previous tenant left for me to use! (I should also point out that all the furniture in here belongs to him too...it was quite nice of him to leave it and let me use it all!)
Moving on we have the bookcase and my desk; finishing with the wall behind my desk, upon which hangs my autographed Hayden poster and pictures of all of you lovely folks! If you want, take one more look at the floorplan to get a better overall idea of my room.
Lastly, I have taken a picture of my window from the outside, where I have tried spread a little Canadian culture to passers-by...
Still no word on a job, but I'll let ya know as soon as something starts. I would like to post more about the new church/christian community that I've been attending, but I'll save that for another post.
God bless all!
It's hard to understand a 3D space using only 2D pictures, but I've done my best...first you should check out the floorplan.
All right, so going counter-clockwise (or 'anti-clockwise' as they say over here) along the floorplan, starting with the doorway, which is currently storing my shoes, empties, 'rubbish bin' and excess supplies (kleenex, apple juice, etc.)
Next is my bed and related wall. I bought that world map for £3! It helps me keep focussed on my dreams.
Onwards we have my dresser adorned above with a map of Venice (because I love that place so much!), followed by the makeshift closet which does a fine job. Now we come to the table by the window (directly across the room from my bed) which sports a lovely lava lamp and Posable Pink Panther which the previous tenant left for me to use! (I should also point out that all the furniture in here belongs to him too...it was quite nice of him to leave it and let me use it all!)
Moving on we have the bookcase and my desk; finishing with the wall behind my desk, upon which hangs my autographed Hayden poster and pictures of all of you lovely folks! If you want, take one more look at the floorplan to get a better overall idea of my room.
Lastly, I have taken a picture of my window from the outside, where I have tried spread a little Canadian culture to passers-by...
Still no word on a job, but I'll let ya know as soon as something starts. I would like to post more about the new church/christian community that I've been attending, but I'll save that for another post.
God bless all!
Sunday, January 30, 2005
More updates on the way...
Well, after being in Oxford for a week and a half, I finally finished unpacking and sorting my stuff out. I was going to take pictures and put them up here, but the lighting in my room isn't great so I decided to wait until tomorrow morning (or more likely, afternoon) to get some natural light to help liven the place up.
In the mean time, check out this link. It's a really good interview with a guy on the Daily Show.... it's kinda big, so it might be a little choppy the first time you watch it. If this is the case, I recommend waiting for it to play through once (in all its choppiness) so that the clip is fully downloaded. Then, when it reaches the end you can play it through from the beginning again in all its smoothness. It's really worth it...just let it take the 5 or 10 minutes or whatever and leave the room and go do something else, and by the time you remember it, it'll be ready to go!
All right, I really gotta get to sleep...my sleep patterns are all messed up again (or right back to normal, depending on how you look at it)
In the mean time, check out this link. It's a really good interview with a guy on the Daily Show.... it's kinda big, so it might be a little choppy the first time you watch it. If this is the case, I recommend waiting for it to play through once (in all its choppiness) so that the clip is fully downloaded. Then, when it reaches the end you can play it through from the beginning again in all its smoothness. It's really worth it...just let it take the 5 or 10 minutes or whatever and leave the room and go do something else, and by the time you remember it, it'll be ready to go!
All right, I really gotta get to sleep...my sleep patterns are all messed up again (or right back to normal, depending on how you look at it)
Sunday, January 23, 2005
I Have a Dream...
Calling all intrepid travellers! I have a dream, and I am inviting you along for the ride! My dream looks like this:
That's right...I want to get from England to Australia via every transporation method EXCEPT flying...that means trains, buses, ferries and whatever else is necessary! Anything except an airplane!
Crazy? Perhaps, however this is largely possible due to the Trans-Siberian Railway - interested prospective companions should check out that link for TONS more information.
Now, as you can see, my desired journey is a little bit different than the one on the map. I'd like to start with a ferry from England to Scandinavia, then using trains and more ferries, eventually arriving at Helsinki, where the train goes to St. Petersburg, which leads to Moscow and the beginning of the Trans-Siberian railway.
Now, as for funds...well, it would definitely be expensive, although maybe not as expensive as you think. I've done some preliminary research, and the cost for the train is relatively cheap. Here's my rough estimate for TRAVEL costs alone, as well as links to my sources, when available (prices are in US dollars, as that's what most sites tended to quote in):
England -> Sweden (ferry): $35
Train across Sweden: $50
Stockholm -> Helsinki (ferry): $160
Helsinki -> St. Petersburg (train): $122
St. Petersburg -> Moscow (train): $66
Moscow -> Irkutsk (trans-sib): $272
Irkutsk -> Vladivostok (trans-sib): $100
Vladivostok -> Fushiki (ferry): $200
7 Day Japan Rail pass: $275
Osaka -> Shanghai (ferry): $200
Shanghai -> Hong Kong (train): $165
All right, I'm tired of looking things up...in theory the trip goes from Hong Kong into Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Laos/Malaysia/Indonesia/Australia/New Zealand and then flying back to Canada.
Ok, so just adding up those numbers, it comes to $1645 US dollars. Now, I may be naive, but I'm not stupid. I recognize that doesn't include all the extra costs like food and visa entry fees and hostels and sightseeing fees and all that. So likely, this trip would cost two or even three times that much. I also know that a flight home from New Zealand (or Australia or China or Japan) won't be cheap either. HOWEVER! Considering that a return airline ticket to Asia from Canada is about the same price ($1645 USD or more), it's not that bad a deal! A lot of nights would be spent on trains or ferries, so a lot of lodging is actually included in that original figure, something you can't do if you just fly directly. Plus, this way you get to say that you took the full trans-siberian express, and saw stuff along the way! How friggin' cool is that?!?!
The beautiful part about this trip is that it is SO huge that it could be customized according to available time and funds...can't afford to go to Japan? Fine! Take the trans-siberian to Beijing instead! Got some extra time & cash? Spend more at the beginning in Denmark/Sweden/Finland. Got nothing better to do? Spend a few weeks on the beach in Laos! Of course, all of this would have to be planned ahead of time, but it can be customized when the time comes...
Speaking of which, this may not happen soon...in fact, it likely won't be the next trip I take, but mark my words, it WILL happen! This is going to literally be the adventure of my lifetime, and I'm going to do it! I invite anyone (whom I know, that is) to come along! And even if no one else hops on board, I'll go it alone! This is too good to pass up! I've already taken the first step in crossing the Atlantic ocean...now I just have to make it across the land mass before me to get to the Pacific. I'd even be happy just taking the trans-siberian to Beijing...(then again, if you've gone all the way to beijing, you might as well take the ferry to japan...or the train to bangkok...or, or, or.....)
Well, that's enough dreaming from me. I'm going to go curl up in bed with my copy of Lonely Planet's Guide to the Trans-Siberian Railway that I bought downtown today. Some may think I'm foolish for spending £13 on a book when I don't even have a job yet, but believe me, it will provide all the incentive I need when I go out to look for work tomorrow. (If I could just save £200 each month for the rest of the time I'm hear, I'd have almost £4000 by the time I was ready to leave....)
Take care all...and don't forget to e-mail me to tell me that you're coming along ;)
That's right...I want to get from England to Australia via every transporation method EXCEPT flying...that means trains, buses, ferries and whatever else is necessary! Anything except an airplane!
Crazy? Perhaps, however this is largely possible due to the Trans-Siberian Railway - interested prospective companions should check out that link for TONS more information.
Now, as you can see, my desired journey is a little bit different than the one on the map. I'd like to start with a ferry from England to Scandinavia, then using trains and more ferries, eventually arriving at Helsinki, where the train goes to St. Petersburg, which leads to Moscow and the beginning of the Trans-Siberian railway.
Now, as for funds...well, it would definitely be expensive, although maybe not as expensive as you think. I've done some preliminary research, and the cost for the train is relatively cheap. Here's my rough estimate for TRAVEL costs alone, as well as links to my sources, when available (prices are in US dollars, as that's what most sites tended to quote in):
England -> Sweden (ferry): $35
Train across Sweden: $50
Stockholm -> Helsinki (ferry): $160
Helsinki -> St. Petersburg (train): $122
St. Petersburg -> Moscow (train): $66
Moscow -> Irkutsk (trans-sib): $272
Irkutsk -> Vladivostok (trans-sib): $100
Vladivostok -> Fushiki (ferry): $200
7 Day Japan Rail pass: $275
Osaka -> Shanghai (ferry): $200
Shanghai -> Hong Kong (train): $165
All right, I'm tired of looking things up...in theory the trip goes from Hong Kong into Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Laos/Malaysia/Indonesia/Australia/New Zealand and then flying back to Canada.
Ok, so just adding up those numbers, it comes to $1645 US dollars. Now, I may be naive, but I'm not stupid. I recognize that doesn't include all the extra costs like food and visa entry fees and hostels and sightseeing fees and all that. So likely, this trip would cost two or even three times that much. I also know that a flight home from New Zealand (or Australia or China or Japan) won't be cheap either. HOWEVER! Considering that a return airline ticket to Asia from Canada is about the same price ($1645 USD or more), it's not that bad a deal! A lot of nights would be spent on trains or ferries, so a lot of lodging is actually included in that original figure, something you can't do if you just fly directly. Plus, this way you get to say that you took the full trans-siberian express, and saw stuff along the way! How friggin' cool is that?!?!
The beautiful part about this trip is that it is SO huge that it could be customized according to available time and funds...can't afford to go to Japan? Fine! Take the trans-siberian to Beijing instead! Got some extra time & cash? Spend more at the beginning in Denmark/Sweden/Finland. Got nothing better to do? Spend a few weeks on the beach in Laos! Of course, all of this would have to be planned ahead of time, but it can be customized when the time comes...
Speaking of which, this may not happen soon...in fact, it likely won't be the next trip I take, but mark my words, it WILL happen! This is going to literally be the adventure of my lifetime, and I'm going to do it! I invite anyone (whom I know, that is) to come along! And even if no one else hops on board, I'll go it alone! This is too good to pass up! I've already taken the first step in crossing the Atlantic ocean...now I just have to make it across the land mass before me to get to the Pacific. I'd even be happy just taking the trans-siberian to Beijing...(then again, if you've gone all the way to beijing, you might as well take the ferry to japan...or the train to bangkok...or, or, or.....)
Well, that's enough dreaming from me. I'm going to go curl up in bed with my copy of Lonely Planet's Guide to the Trans-Siberian Railway that I bought downtown today. Some may think I'm foolish for spending £13 on a book when I don't even have a job yet, but believe me, it will provide all the incentive I need when I go out to look for work tomorrow. (If I could just save £200 each month for the rest of the time I'm hear, I'd have almost £4000 by the time I was ready to leave....)
Take care all...and don't forget to e-mail me to tell me that you're coming along ;)
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Chris Langston: 2004 Year in Review
Well, 2004 ended up treating me pretty well...to begin with, a list of famous cities I saw for the first time in my life in 2004:
- Miami, USA
- New York City, USA
- Philadelphia, USA
- Washington (DC), USA
- Baltimore, USA
- London, UK
- Brighton, UK
- Cambridge, UK
- Oxford, UK
- Tarifa, the southern most city in Spain
- Rome, Italy
- Florence, Italy
- Venice, Italy (well, technically I visited these last 2 in the first four days of 2005, but let’s keep that tidbit of information between you and me)
- I also got a chance to pop into Montreal on the way back from our February reading week holiday in Quebec, and while it wasn't my first time there by any means, I do love that city…
Not a bad list, if I do say so myself. My challenge for 2005 is to visit 20 world famous cities ;)
In 2004 I also had the chance to meet & speak with two of my living heroes! First, when my mom and I were in Philadelphia this summer, we took a trip to The Simple Way (www.thesimpleway.org) who are a radical Christian group living in the in the inner city. It was founded by several people, including Shane, who is probably the most vocal of the group. He wrote up a description of The Simple Way in an old issue of adbusters and I’ve been following them ever since. When we showed up there this summer, they had a group of teenagers from California about to arrive, but we got a chance to talk with them for about 30 minutes before they showed up. It was great!
My second hero is Brian McLaren, who has written a bunch of books on how Christians must adapt to continue to not only exist, but thrive in a postmodern culture. I got to go to one day of the Emergent UK conference in London in early December and saw him speak. Afterwards I went up to him and let him know how much I appreciate his work and got him to draw a picture in the front cover of my copy of A Generous Orthodoxy! After the conference officially finished at 4pm, Brian invited all the foreign nationals (ie: non-UK citizens) to meet in the backroom and discuss what God was doing in their own countries. We sat and listened to each other for 75 minutes or so and it was absolutely incredible. I will never forget that moment in my life.
Well, I’m currently sitting on a bus heading toward my destiny. Or to be less dramatic, my destination. Which happens to be Oxford. My plan for 2005 is basically just to work in the UK and then travel with the money I’ve saved, then when I run out of money, come back and work some more. That’s actually also my plan for 2006 at the moment, but these conditions are subject to change without notice.
I’m currently paying for a room in a student house with 3 other guys until July. It will be nice to be in one place for a while, especially since I haven’t lived in any single place for more than a month in the last 5 months…and in fact, the last 6 weeks have witnessed me changing locations almost weekly. Then again, I also shouldn’t count my chickens before they hatch. Or maybe I should say ‘shouldn’t count my roommates before they hatch.’ Or, since that doesn’t make any sense, maybe I should say ‘shouldn’t count ON my roommates before I meet them.’ They have a Pulp Fiction poster hanging above the couch in the living room though, and an XBOX attached to the TV, so it can’t be all bad…
Well that’s it for now…keep an eye here for further information and updates. And please feel free to try out the comment system – I want to know that it works!
Cheers to 2005….
Monday, December 13, 2004
testing
Ok, I got the new service up and running...hopefully this looks nicer, and will allow people to leave comments :D
Unfortunately, it's going to be a little bit still before I get all the pictures back up, so for right now, they're all dead links. Hopefully not for much longer however.
Lot's more very soon, stay tuned....
Unfortunately, it's going to be a little bit still before I get all the pictures back up, so for right now, they're all dead links. Hopefully not for much longer however.
Lot's more very soon, stay tuned....
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Wednesday Dec. 01/04
I have decided that the way to go is to find a woman twice my age. That's right, 44 or older. For some reason, they're the only females who find me attractive. I was looking through my past year of journal entries today, and found this one:
"Apr.03/04 - 4:08pm
I have determined that girls don't like me. This is not an absolute rule, but more of a general guideline (although even as a guideline, it's pretty accurate). And when I say "like" I mean "are attracted to." At parties and various other social functions I always see girls flirting with my friends, but never me. Y'know what though? I'm ok with it. I think. It sure would be nice for the ego to have girls fawning over me, but that can also be dangerous too."
That being said, I went to help out for a couple hours in the village primary school on Tuesday morning, and when the (middle-aged) teacher introduced me, she explained to the children that their regular Tuesday morning volunteer was somewhere else, and that I'd be taking over, and that it was all right because I was much more 'handsome' than the normal helper. It got me thinking back to all the middle-aged women at my mom's various jobs over the years who commented on how 'handsome' I was. So I'm thinking, really, that ought to be my target market! Forget these 20-somethings who don't even glance at me, I need to hit up and hit on the older ladies!
...or not.
In other news, I'm going to see Brian McLaren speak in London this Friday! Brian McLaren is one of my heroes, due to his tremendous writing. Most of his books have to do with reshaping theology and Christian practice in light of the current cultural shift from modernity to postmodernity. He's speaking on Thursday as well, but unfortunately I'm trapped in the village with work on that day :( Oh well, at least I'll get one chance! I went to his church near Baltimore earlier this year, in August, hoping to see him speak, but unfortunately although he was scheduled he had been busy and someone else took over. Oh well, I'm really excited for this time and hope (pray) that everything goes ok. It's going to be tight because the conference ends at 4pm, and I gotta be back in Hartfield to run Roots (the youth group) at 7:30. It only takes an hour and half in theory, but that's assuming that trains and buses are on time, which they never are. So we shall see.
Lastly, I finally caved in and bought a cell phone (or as they call it over here, a mobile). I have it with me almost all the time (it doubles as my watch, organizer and gameboy), and I can receive calls for free, even from overseas. That being said, it would probably cost you more to call me, but with phone cards these days, it's pretty cheap for anything. If you want the number, e-mail me and I'll send it back in a reply.
Ok, that's it for now folks. My mom flies over for a couple weeks before Christmas next (not this) Friday. Then after Christmas I'm off to Rome with Mark for 10 days. Hope life is treating you all well. Good luck with those exams for all you unfortunate saps not lucky enough to be across an ocean ;) God bless
"Apr.03/04 - 4:08pm
I have determined that girls don't like me. This is not an absolute rule, but more of a general guideline (although even as a guideline, it's pretty accurate). And when I say "like" I mean "are attracted to." At parties and various other social functions I always see girls flirting with my friends, but never me. Y'know what though? I'm ok with it. I think. It sure would be nice for the ego to have girls fawning over me, but that can also be dangerous too."
That being said, I went to help out for a couple hours in the village primary school on Tuesday morning, and when the (middle-aged) teacher introduced me, she explained to the children that their regular Tuesday morning volunteer was somewhere else, and that I'd be taking over, and that it was all right because I was much more 'handsome' than the normal helper. It got me thinking back to all the middle-aged women at my mom's various jobs over the years who commented on how 'handsome' I was. So I'm thinking, really, that ought to be my target market! Forget these 20-somethings who don't even glance at me, I need to hit up and hit on the older ladies!
...or not.
In other news, I'm going to see Brian McLaren speak in London this Friday! Brian McLaren is one of my heroes, due to his tremendous writing. Most of his books have to do with reshaping theology and Christian practice in light of the current cultural shift from modernity to postmodernity. He's speaking on Thursday as well, but unfortunately I'm trapped in the village with work on that day :( Oh well, at least I'll get one chance! I went to his church near Baltimore earlier this year, in August, hoping to see him speak, but unfortunately although he was scheduled he had been busy and someone else took over. Oh well, I'm really excited for this time and hope (pray) that everything goes ok. It's going to be tight because the conference ends at 4pm, and I gotta be back in Hartfield to run Roots (the youth group) at 7:30. It only takes an hour and half in theory, but that's assuming that trains and buses are on time, which they never are. So we shall see.
Lastly, I finally caved in and bought a cell phone (or as they call it over here, a mobile). I have it with me almost all the time (it doubles as my watch, organizer and gameboy), and I can receive calls for free, even from overseas. That being said, it would probably cost you more to call me, but with phone cards these days, it's pretty cheap for anything. If you want the number, e-mail me and I'll send it back in a reply.
Ok, that's it for now folks. My mom flies over for a couple weeks before Christmas next (not this) Friday. Then after Christmas I'm off to Rome with Mark for 10 days. Hope life is treating you all well. Good luck with those exams for all you unfortunate saps not lucky enough to be across an ocean ;) God bless
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Thursday Nov. 25/04
Oh my, it's been an exhausting week. And it doesn't look like things are going to let up until early next week. In case you missed it, my entire SPAIN trip has been uploaded here.
That's all I have the energy for now folks, more earlier next week.
That's all I have the energy for now folks, more earlier next week.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Sunday Nov. 14/04
Allow me to expound the brilliance of the cinematic trilogy...it is quite simply this: time.
There is time to fully develop the characters, time that is not avaible in a standard 2 hour (or even 3 hour) film.
There is time to fully develop and explore the diagetic world - this especially holds true for the genres of science fiction and fantasy, in which the world(s) often differ from our known one.
There is a superior story arch which encapsulates the three individual story arches - the beginning, middle and end of an overall beginning, middle and end.
Speaking of which, there IS a definite ending, concluding with the finale of the third part. This separates the trilogy from its close cousin - the series film - avoiding their possible pitfalls of repetition, boredom and obsolescence.
Needless to say, I'm suffering a bit of withdrawal from my film education, and am on a bit of a trilogy kick lately ;)I'm starting with the latter-day ultimate trilogy, The Lord of The Rings (which is in fact one trilogy, all though it is the length of two!) and then plan to move on to the original Star Wars trilogy (TRULY original, pre-special edition crap). After that, I am undecided...possible contenders include Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, The Godfather and the Matrix (although that last one is really more like a single movie with two sequels :P) I'm tempted to include Harry Potter as well since there have been 3 released so far, but it is actually a series, and NOT a planned trilogy, and so the feeling is a little bit different...maybe I'll save it for the end then.
Well, if anyone else has any other recommended trilogies, I'll be glad to add them to the roster...sorry about the pictures from Spain taking so long to upload, but that's how it happens when you only have dial-up. Believe me, it's worth the wait!
Until then...
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Thursday Nov. 11/04
Shout outs today go to BURNIE for being the first Canadian who didn't give birth to me to send me mail! I'm not quite sure what the deal was with the fish on the front of the card, but inside was a 2 1/2 page letter! And on top of that, she even sent me money to pay me back for a concert that we went to at the beginning of May. MAY! I didn't even remember that she owed me money, and would have been happy to let it slide, but not good ol' Burns! And on top of THAT, she sent the money in British Pounds! Most people would have just sent Canadian dollars, if anything at all, but not this ISTJ! She went out of her way to get currency that I could actually USE! Now THAT'S friendship! To be honest, I don't even really care about the money...the fact that she just put the thought and effort into mailing me anything is what I most appreciate...she will DEFINITELY be getting a cheapo Hartfield postcard in reward for her efforts! If any of you would like a cheapo postcard from Hartfield, then e-mail me your address and I'll send you one. Better yet, mail me something with your return address on it, then I'll send something back. I don't want to put my address on the Web, but if you e-mail me and ask me for it, I'll tell ya...I'm always glad to get mail, of either the "e" or "snail" variety.
Now, as for this elusive big update that I keep promising....the problem is that it's, well, big!...as in, many megabytes. Queen's only gives me about 20MB to host my site and I've more or less filled it up with the text and pictures so far. I'm looking into getting more webspace from somewhere else, but I don't want my site covered in ads. But in order to whet your appetite, and for those who don't already know, the big update consists of Sarah, Cassie, myself and a couple wild apes, in a European nation which the locals refer to as España
Stay tuned....
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Friday Nov. 05/04
Had an awesome walk on the way to Roots tonight...the stars were out and the temperature was perfect - cool, but not cold. Listened to my all-time favourite album, Wooden by Drew & Duncan, and during that half hour it was just me and God...awesome. Only 3 girls showed up to Roots tonight, because Nov. 5 is fireworks day in England (apparently one year on Nov. 5 some English chap tried to blow up parliament with gunpowder, so now they celebrate that fact by having fireworks every Nov. 5...??) It was good tho...since it was small we just got to hang out and chat and laugh. It was a really good time. On the walk home I got to watch the fireworks too ;)
Just thought I'd share that...be on the look out for the big update still...I plan on going for a bike ride tomorrow, but if it's rainy I'll stay inside and work on the site...so until then!
Just thought I'd share that...be on the look out for the big update still...I plan on going for a bike ride tomorrow, but if it's rainy I'll stay inside and work on the site...so until then!
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Thursday Oct. 21/04
This update is gonna be a bunch of random thoughts strung together. Been busy this week...was in London on Tuesday and then Tunbridge Wells again on Wednesday. Tuesday night I went to a church housegroup with Caroline (the daughter of the folks that I'm staying with) and then Wednesday I met with Anthony, a youth worker in Tunbridge Wells that I met through the course in Cambridge. We had lunch at this pub which was actually converted from an old opera house. Pics are to the right. Paul was in Oxford today which left me to run the whole service for the school. My part went just fine, but the head teacher (principal) kept yelling at all the kids to be still and keep quiet. No wonder no one wants to go to church any more, especially if they were forced to go to church as children and then yelled at for not being still and quiet and boring. I can't help but feel like the message gets lost, or at least pushed to the backburner, when half the service involves telling the children how rotten they are...and on that sad note, here's another good parody to cheer you up.
PS: Enoch had a particular fixation with the 3 wheel car I posted about earlier, so I promised her I'd take more pictures so that she could get a better idea of it. Again, pictures are to the right, but nothing quite beats the 3D experience!
PS: Enoch had a particular fixation with the 3 wheel car I posted about earlier, so I promised her I'd take more pictures so that she could get a better idea of it. Again, pictures are to the right, but nothing quite beats the 3D experience!
Opera house / pub:
3 Wheel Car:
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Monday Oct. 18/04
Hmmmm....Monday's and Wednesday's are apparently becoming my regular update days...interesting. Anyhoo, I felt very English today...I spent the afternoon out in the garden enjoying the sun, listening to BBC Radio 4, and sewing my hat - sure it doesn't look very good, but at least I did it myself...I'm quite independent! It's been falling apart for a while now, and was in need of a good stitching. At the same time, Radio 4 had some great programs on, including one entitled "Microsoft, PowerPoint and the Decline of Civilization," as well as a radio drama about poetry "slams" in Bristol -- poets who enter contests and perform their poetry publicly...à la 8 Mile only cooler and more European. If you have realplayer installed, the direct links are here and here. The links are only good for this week tho, afterwards you'll have to search the BBC Radio 4 Website. Anyway, it made for a lovely and relaxing afternoon. Here are some shots of the garden (albeit through the window, so they're a bit flared): 01 - 02 - 03 - 04
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Wednesday Oct. 13/04
Caught the final train into London from East Grinstead last night (the 22:37) then took the tube to Bayswater (well actually, Notting Hill Gate, since Bayswater was closed for construction) Walked around for a bit and eventually found the Astor Hyde Park youth hostel. Checked into an 8 bed dorm (for £15) and then waited until these chicks showed up! They had just gotten back from a pub, but claimed they still had energy (despite having been up for 36 hours straight!) so we went out again! The closest place that was open late on a Tuesday night was this random Egyptian restaurant on Queensway, so that's where we went! We hung out for about an hour, and then decided it was time to get some sleep, so we headed back to the hostel and said goodnight. We got up the next day around 10am, checked out of the hostel, and decided to hit London. Before hopping on the underground however, we decided to go to a local cafe and get some breakfast. We ordered take-away (aka 'takeout') and mine was given to me in this very European-looking bag, which I tried to incorporate into every photo thereafterwards (as seen above and to your right). We got an all day pass for the underground and saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben/The Parliament Buildings/Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and Picadilly circus. We tried to hook up with Leslie, but we weren't very well organized, and in the end it fell through. Oh well, there's always next time, and nevertheless it was a fun day. It was hard to say goodbye, but we had to since Sar and Cass were flying to Paris later this evening. They'll be back through London in December thought, so hopefully I'll see them again! That's about it, enjoy the pictures.
- From right to left: Me (and my bag), Sarah, Russel (the "Big Gay Texan" whom we met at the hostel) and Cassie in front of the Victoria statue across from Buckingham Place
- The statue
- The Palace
- More Palace
- The Full Palace
- Cassie, trying to be like Batman and scale the Palace gates!
- Me, admiring the anatomical correctness of a lion statue near the palace
- A pillar from the Canada Gate, near the Palace
- Beautiful gardens near the palace
- Gardens, cont'd
- Sarah and Russel in a brush with the law!
- Big Ben
- Bigger Ben
- Big Ben & Friends
- Just the Friends
- View from across the Thames
- The London Eye (which is, in fact, a ferris wheel NOT an eye...)
- Sar, Cass and Russ on a bench near the Eye (what's so funny Cassie?)
- Me and the gals (and the bag, again)
- Picadilly Circus (which is also misnamed, as it's really just a bunch of giant ads for American and Japanese products...with no circus-like qualities to be found)
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Monday Oct. 11/04
Some excerpts of a sermon I recently read which was orginally given by Archbishop Desmond Tutu:
The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority. I myself could not have opposed the injustice of penalizing people for something about which they could do nothing - their race - and then have kept quiet as women were being penalized for something they could do nothing about - their gender, and hence my support inter alia, for the ordination of women into the priesthood and episcopate.
And equally, I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. For it is so improbable that any sane, normal person would deliberately choose a lifestyle exposing him or her to so much vilification, opprobrium and physical abuse, even death. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian and gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.
...
God will not heed your worship, your beseeching, for your hands are full of blood, the blood of your sisters and brothers killed in wars that were avoidable. Demonstrate your repentance by how you treat the most vulnerable: the orphan, the widow, the alien. When you are king over this people, and this God gives you God's righteousness, it is so that prosperity will prevail, will prevail because as king, you judge rightly, you judge rightly especially the poor with equity, you give justice to the poor, you deliver the needy when they cry and the poor man who has no helper. You will pity the helpless and needy and save the lives of the poor. How many of our governments would pass this stringent test: "how did you deal with the poor?"
The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority. I myself could not have opposed the injustice of penalizing people for something about which they could do nothing - their race - and then have kept quiet as women were being penalized for something they could do nothing about - their gender, and hence my support inter alia, for the ordination of women into the priesthood and episcopate.
And equally, I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. For it is so improbable that any sane, normal person would deliberately choose a lifestyle exposing him or her to so much vilification, opprobrium and physical abuse, even death. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian and gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.
...
God will not heed your worship, your beseeching, for your hands are full of blood, the blood of your sisters and brothers killed in wars that were avoidable. Demonstrate your repentance by how you treat the most vulnerable: the orphan, the widow, the alien. When you are king over this people, and this God gives you God's righteousness, it is so that prosperity will prevail, will prevail because as king, you judge rightly, you judge rightly especially the poor with equity, you give justice to the poor, you deliver the needy when they cry and the poor man who has no helper. You will pity the helpless and needy and save the lives of the poor. How many of our governments would pass this stringent test: "how did you deal with the poor?"
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Wednesday Oct. 06/04
Ran into a fellow Canadian in Brighton today by the name of Hayden. I had to pay 6 quid to hang out with him, but then he played a few songs for me. In fact, they were:
1. Dynamite Walls
2. Back from Texas
3. Home by Saturday
4. All in One Move
5. My Wife*
6. Killbear
7. Woody
8. Bass Song
9. Wide Eyes
10. The Hazards of Sitting Beneath Palm Trees
11. Between Us to Hold
12. Holster
13. Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay
14. Carried Away
- Encore Break -
15. Stem
16. I Should Have Been Watching You*
17. We Don't Mind*
I got crappy little videos with my digital camera of the songs with asterisks(*) beside them, but they're too big to put on the site here...I'll try and find some other space to post them from however
I met one other Canadian (from out west) and an American (from Illinois). Everyone else seemed to be British. Except for the opener, who was Australian. His name is Toby Burke and he was pretty good too. I picked up one of his discs, "Winsome Lonesome" - If you're a Hayden fan then I'd encourage to try and find some of Toby's stuff. After the show, I was walking along the seafront road when a 27 year-old French man named Vincent saw my Nalgene hanging from my backpack and asked if he and his girlfriend could have a drink. I told him that it was only water, but that he was welcome to it. He gave some to his Spanish girlfriend, Patricia and thanked me. We walked along together for a little while longer and then they invited me out for a drink, so we went to some swanky bar on the waterfront with a huge line-up, but Patricia knew the guy working the door, so we got in right away. Inside were very fashionable people, listening to trendy, underground dance music....oh, and then there was me. Vincent and Patricia were very nice however, and we had a great long discussion about religion and politics and the world. I had quite the international evening!
I should mention that I was sitting in the front row right up against the stage, and probably could have reached out and grabbed his shoe at any time during the performance. These pictures are not zoomed in one bit! Also, I know that some of them are a bit blurry, but I kinda like the artsy feel it gives them...
- Hayden Live at the Hanbury Ballroom, Brighton England, Oct. 6/04
- Hayden 02
- Hayden 03
- Hayden 04
- Hayden 05
- Hayden 06
- Hayden 07
- Hayden 08
- My Brand New, Autographed Poster
Friday, October 01, 2004
Saturday Oct. 02/04
I was waiting for a cross-town train in the London underground, when it struck me that I've been waiting since birth to find a love that would look and sound like a movie....well maybe not, but I was waiting for a cross-town train the London Underground today!
A Chronological Timetable of my Adventure To and From Cambridge:07:01 (GMT) - My alarm goes off
07:17 - Paul picks me up and drives me to Cowden Station (label 1. on the map)
07:29 - My train leaves Cowden
07:54 - I switch trains at Oxted Station (label 2. on the map)
08:32 - I arrive at London Victoria (label 3.), and switch to the London Underground, taking the Victoria Line to King's Cross (label 4.)
09:15 - I get off the underground at King's Cross and switch to my train to Cambridge (label 5.)
10:05 - I arrive at Cambridge station and find that all the taxi's are taken. I consult my map as well as the posted one and decide to walk, as I'm told the station is only about a 15 minute walk from the building that my course is in
11:02 - After getting lost and asking for directions TWICE, I manage to find the course and walk in, an hour late. The course is great however, and I meet another youth worker named Anthony (pronounced an-to-nee since he's english) who's in his 40's and from Tunbridge Wells. We exchange ideas and contact info, and he offers to give me a ride next time
16:03 - The course ends and I decide that rather than get lost again, I will take the bus shuttle to the train station in order to catch my 16:45 train
16:35 - I arrive at the bus station and find that the shuttle is packed to the brim and cannot take any more passengers. Me and another girl are told we have to wait for the next shuttle. This means I miss the 16:45. I think to myself that I probably shouldn't have spent so much time looking around HMV...
17:32 - I take the shuttle to the Cambridge station and hop on a train back to King's Cross
18:37 - This train is not an express, unlike the one to Cambridge, and it makes several stops on the way back. I arrive at King's Cross and take the tube back to Vicoria
19:23 - I am sitting on the train headed to East Grinstead, when suddenly I see a ton of security/medical personnel run past on the platform to my left. Over the next couple minutes, more people in uniforms run past, as well as a golf cart-turned-ambulance. An announcement is made to the whole Victoria station that an 'incident' has occured and that platforms 12-15 are closed until further notice. Additionally, I overhear a conversation between another passenger and an official who said that the driver of our train was a witness to whatever happened, so our train wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. I'm told to take the next train to East Grinstead, the 19:53, from platform 18.
19:53 - Our train to East Grinstead leaves London Victoria
20:17 - An argument that occurs in our car (albeit the other half, so I didn't see any of it) escalates and becomes physical, so someone pulls the emergency stop cord which causes the train to come to a screeching halt in the middle of nowhere. The conductor and various security personnel proceed back and forth through our car to sort it all out
20:54 - The train starts moving again, however it is still a long way to Oxted, and the last connecting train to Cowden leaves at 21:04. We do not make it in time, so I decide to stay on until East Grinstead (label 6.) Even though this is technically illegal since my ticket says "Cowden," I figure that given the extreme circumstances, I could persuade anyone who hassles me about it
21:43 - My train arrives at East Grinstead station, and I call Hananja to come pick me up
22:32 - I return to Hartfield.
Did I mention that I was supposed to be back for Harvest Supper at 7:30pm (19:30)? Harvest Supper is this big community event that's organized by the church and happens in the village hall every year around this time. After I missed the shuttle to Cambridge station however, I pretty much wrote it off. It was all right anyhow, after doing a lot of walking around Cambridge and taking in information from my course, I was tired and not exactly looking forward to an evening full of more people. And while the train story may sound like an ordeal, it was an adventure, and I had some great fun with the people who were stuck in the same car. I wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it all over again to be honest. Also as a footnote, let me just say that Cambridge is beautiful...too beautiful for my small camera to contain. That being said, it's not exactly like I had a lot of time to take pictures...maybe next time I go (in a month or two) I'll see if I can spend an extra day and grab some shots for you folks. I will only be able to provide you with a glimpse of how wonderful it is, unfortunately. In other news, I'm moving on Monday and hopefully staying there for a longer stretch of time (a month or two). That means I should have a more permanent phone number for people who are interested in hearing my voice (rather than just reading this drivel). Speaking of drivel, I'll end it here.
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