Hello, Hello.....Ola!

All right, still haven't sorted out my internet situation but should do so early this week (tuesday or wednesday). In the mean time, allow me to regale you with the following story:

So I went to Manchester on Wednesday to see the infamous U2 perform at the city stadium. I arrived around 2pm and walked to the stadium (about 20 minutes walk from the train station) just to figure out where it was and get my bearings. I asked some police officers if it was illegal for me to resell my extra ticket for less than the face value. They were very kind and said it was ok so long as I wasn't making a profit from it. I also asked if any of them would like to buy a ticket, to which one of them replied "I wish!"

Seeing as it was a rather large venue, and I didn't want to spend hours shouting about my ticket, I decided to head back into town, find some bright green bristol board and a big fat marker to make a sign advertising my ticket for sale. With these supplies in hand, I headed back towards the stadium. I thought that rather than make the sign in front of everyone however, that instead I would work on it on the rather secluded path along the way. This turned out to be a bad idea. I was about 3/4 finished the sign (two of them actually, which I later wore sheepishly as a sandwich board while I walked around the stadium, but more on this later...) when my 'spidey sense' went off. Y'see, I was wearing a hoodie and had everything in my centre pouch - concert tickets, wallet, keys, phone...everything, except that I was hot so I took it off while I was making the sign and had it on the ground bundled up behind me. So I turned around just in time to see a little punk with his hand on my hoodie! I didn't hear him come up behind me at all and there was no one else around, he was completely silent! It didn't click at first though I could feel that something wasn't quite right. He sort of pulled his hand back a little bit, but leaned over as if to read my sign. He asked if I was selling tickets and how much they were and if they were real and stuff...I told him I was just trying to get rid of one and he said he'd go and ask his sister...then he grabbed my hoodie and started to run! I shouted "HEY!" about 3 times at the top of my lungs and took off after him! He was a short little guy and I easily out-strode him. He only got about 5 steps before I managed to rip my hoodie out of his hand and to the ground. He looked back over his shoulder and I think he was surprised to see how large I was (I was squatting down to write the sign) and he kept running, shouting back over his shoulder and swearing at me (presumably for thwarting his attempts to steal my stuff? I really thought I was the one who should be upset, but I guess not, eh?) Relieved that I had recovered my goods I immediately went into 'travelling' mode and stuck my cash in my sock and the precious tickets down the front of my pants. I didn't want to risk being in a situation like that again!

Anyhow, I decided to finish the sign closer towards the stadium where there were more people and police around. I did a few circles around the stadium and car parks with said sign, but in the end it was all for naught anyhow. I was still a little shaken by the punk who tried to steal my stuff and in the end I sold the ticket for less than 1/2 price to a scalper. The doors were opening at this point anyway (5:30pm) and I just wanted to get inside. The first opener was Idlewild who I must say were excellent! I went out a couple days ago and bought 3 of their albums! Good stuff. Then, to my surprise Athlete also played the show...awesome. Finally the mighty U2 took stage, and what can I say...they were incredible! (So much so that I may catch a ride with Rich & co. next Wednesday to see them again in Cardiff, although I'd have to get a ticket there...) Bono really is an amazing man...I can't even fathom getting up on stage in front of 50/60/70,000 people and speaking, let alone preaching about how I believe "everyone is created equally by God," or about "having faith that God will inspire the medical community to create new drugs to cure terminal diseases." Wow.

So the show was amazing, but the story doesn't end there! I didn't really do a very good job of planning this trip, and just kind of assumed that there would be trains back to Oxford, or at least to London (from which I could catch a bus to Oxford) after the concert, however the concert didn't finish til close to midnight, and by then the only trains were going to York and Sheffield...not where I need to be. I tried the coach station, but of course they had been booked full weeks ago. Same story with local hotels and hostels. I even found an internet terminal and tried calling some hotels on the outskirts of town (figuring I could take a cab) but they too were booked solid. Having almost been robbed earlier that day I didn't particularly fancy roaming the streets of Manchester in the evening lest I run into that little hoodlum again, so I talked to some other police officers, told them my predicament and took their advice: sleep in the train station. Now, this normally wouldn't really be a viable option for me travelling by myself, however there seemed to be about 50-100 other concert goers who were equally as short-sighted as myself (I could tell they were at the concert due to their 'Vertigo Tour' t-shirts and the fact that many of them were either humming or outright singing U2 tracks). The station was clean, well-lit and there at least 3 staff members around at all times. Ok, so it wasn't the most comfortable or ideal, but hey, it was free (which a hotel room certainly would not have been...and after losing so much money on the 2nd ticket, it was probably better than I didn't pay for accomodation). I made some friends and even met a couple of Canadian girls from Ottawa! We all chatted for a while before trying to sleep on the floor...I didn't really manage to (mostly due to the helpful, intermittent announcements reminding me to stay with my luggage at all times, lest it be confiscated and destroyed by the authorities, or to let me know that 24-hour CCTV monitoring is in place at this station) but it wasn't so bad. It was actually close to 1:30am by the time I finally settled on the idea of staying at the station, and then the first train was at 5am, so it was really only 3 1/2 hours that I was there...still enough time for a few junkies and prostitutes to wander in off the street though! (they were promptly dealt with by security, don't worry mom!)

So that's my story...kudos to you if you read this far. All right, well I have to start work in about 5 minutes so I will sign off...hopefully the next time you read an entry from me it will be made from a computer in my own bedroom!

"Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing" - Yahweh, U2

Quickie

Well for those who haven't figured it out, internet access at my new place hasn't been working thus far, but hopefully by this weekend it'll be all sorted out.

For the sake of interest, I'm currently posting this update from St. Andrews, Scotland - the birthplace of golf. Go figure.

Additionally, for those who were having trouble sending me e-mail, it seems to be working again, although apparently my account expires in early July, so it won't work for much longer. I'll give you my new address when I sort it out.

Also, this is worth reading, if you're into that kinda thing...

Moving on up...

Well, I'm spending my last few days in East Oxford before moving across town to West Oxford for the summer... I think that Wednesday or Thursday will be the magic date, although I haven't sorted it all out yet (dear oxford peeps: there's a six-pack in it for anyone with a car who wants to help me move! I reckon it will only be one car load, two tops...email me or text me!) Here is a list of things I will and won't miss about East Oxford:

Will Miss:

• being 90 seconds from the Zodiac
• being 90 seconds from Tesco's
• all the funky ethnic/independent shops along Cowley Rd.
• the crazy homeless people on the street
• the student 'vibe'
• my large room
• not paying council tax
  

Won't Miss:

• drunken students yelling outside my house at 3am
• drunken students yelling inside my house at 3am
• Cowley Rd. roadworks (that's 'construction' for my fellow Canadians)
• being a 1/2 hour walk from work and the city centre (that's 'downtown' for my fellow Canadians)

Here's the coolest part though - the house I'm moving to is on an island! Osney Island to be precise! Granted, it's not a very big island, and it is well connected to the mainland, however that's still pretty f'ing cool! Like I've written before, I have a deep connection with water, and so it's awesome to be surrounded by it! One of the banks is even the River Thames! All right, so it may seem like a small thing, but I'm super-pumped about it, so be happy for me! I think this place is gonna be better overall...it's about 10 minutes closer to the city centre (albeit on the other side from where I currently am) and I know the 2 guys I'm moving in with from hOME. It's also in a better neighbourhood, and it's right beside a pub! (which thankfully closes at 11pm, so no loud drunks after that!) It will literally be 45 seconds from my room to a beer, if I so choose. Awesome. Granted, it is a little bit more expensive than where I currently am which doesn't bode well for my Scandinavian trip, but I think I'll still be able to pull it all together.

Well, it's time to start packing...I'll write more from my new digs!

Revenge of the Myth

All right, so I still haven't blogged about Paris (as I was definitively reminded by folks at hOME last night) however there are more pressing things to discuss, such as Star Wars.

My schedule yesterday was this:

8:30am - Alarm clock goes off
9:30am - Queueing to see 10am showing of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
10:30am - After half a FREAKING hour of adverts and trailers, the film finally starts
12:45pm - I cross the street to work, already wearing my uniform, arriving 45 minutes late (although I had cleared it with my manager the day before, so he was ok with it)
8pm - Close up the coffee shop and head to hOME
10:30pm - Arrive back at my room at collapse into bed


On a side note, I was in London on Monday visiting my cousin Greg on his stopover to South Africa. He had to leave around 5pm to catch his flight, so I decided to wander down to Leicester Square where Star Wars happened to be premiering that night...I saw George Lucas, Hayden Christiansen, Anthony Daniels (C3PO), Kenny Baker (R2D2) and the giant of a man who plays Chewbacca (Peter something-or-other I think...I forget his name)...kinda cool.

So anyhow, I saw the actual movie for the first time yesterday morning, and I had somewhat of a mini-revelation...it suddenly all made sense to me. First of all I should say though, that once you come to terms with the facts that George Lucas simply can't direct, and Hayden Christiansen can't act, then you should be free to enjoy the film. If you get hung up on either of these aspects however, you're likely to miss out. As far as the prequels go, I think this would have been the hardest one to screw up...after all, George had to get from the end of Attack of the Clones to the beginning of A New Hope, and really, his hand was pretty much forced (as opposed to Episode I, where it was virtually open to his imagination...unfortunately)

But my revelation was this: ...actually, (like everything else) I don't really know how to put it succinctly...

George Lucas is an excellent story-teller but a rather shitty filmmaker. He is an extremely creative individual, and good at creating characters and over-arching stories, but really, he should leave the details to other folks. This is most clear when you compare Empire and Jedi (where he left the screenplay and directing to other people) to Phantom Menance and AOTC, where he did both himself.

The other thing that struck me was the content of the original trilogy vs. the prequel trilogy. I remember learning about Joseph Campbell's theory of myth in one of my university religion classes...this guy studied myths from every culture and every time period and came up with a sort of universal formula for myths to become successful with the masses - basically, it was a young, scrappy hero fighting an oppressive evil with help from the supernatural, overcoming great odds to prevail. This is a gross-simplification of an extremely complex study, but for this purpose (my crappy little blog), it will do. Anyway, apparently Lucas studied Campbell and was somewhat of an apprentice of his, applying his theory to the creation of the original trilogy. Not surprisingly, these ancient, tried-and-tested devices resounded with audiences who fell in love with the films (myself included).

What struck me yesterday however, especially during the first half of the film, was how he did away with that structure this time around. The prequels are focused more on the overall political manoeuvrings of the Senate and the Jedi Council rather than the story of a single protagonist who, with his group of friends, grows up to eventually bring down the evil empire. Now this could have been extremely cool, and in fact I really enjoy political dramas, however they are clearly not Lucas' strong point. I suppose it could be argued that George was trying to expand and didn't want to just recreate the original trilogy, however part of the theory of the 'universal myth formula' is that it never really gets old, so long as it is retold in new and interesting ways. Now this is by no means the only problem with the prequels, there were certainly many details that screwed them up along the way as well, however structurally speaking, I think George built on the wrong cornerstone...or perhaps the problem was that he didn't have a cornerstone at all this time around...

All that being said, Ep III was definitely the best of the prequels, and worth seeing if only for the lightsaber battles. There are a few scenes toward the end of the film where the wonder and the intrigue of the original 3 are hinted at, and I must say that it did stir the nostalgia inside of me.

Summer travel plans

Well, I have been thinking a lot lately, although I've been neglecting my blog. And rather than actually post a proper update, I'll just copy and paste an e-mail I wrote to my mom. It's a compromise we can all be happy with.

-Chris

Well, this is the rough plan at the moment:

Mark has booked tickets that arrive in London on Aug 17 and depart
Amsterdam on Sept. 6. I think that on the 18th we will fly to Oslo or
Stockholm. The plan is to spend the first couple days in the big city,
then kick off our 15 day unlimited rail pass. We'll use that throughout
Scandinavia, eventually working our way down to Amsterdam (before the rail
pass runs out!) then spend a couple days there before mark flies back to
Canada. Aug. 18 - Sep. 6 is 20 days, and the rail pass is good for 15
days from the first time that you use it, so we figure if we spend a few
days on either side in big cities, we should be set. Now, for
expenses....

The Eurail pass that we're looking at is this one:
http://www.raileurope.com/canada/rail/passes/eurail_youthpass.htm

it seems like the best deal...15 days unlimited, and it lets us travel in
norway, sweden, finland, denmark, germany and the netherlands (as opposed
to some of the other options, which restrict which countries you can
travel through) that's $500 CDN (I'm going to do the rest in Euros)

Flights to and from London, plus transportation to and from the airport
will be about €120 (€50 or so for the flight, plus €10 or so for a bus to
the airport/city centre)

beyond that, I'm going to try and budget €80/day for everything else
(accomodation, food, beer, sightseeing, etc.) realizing that some days
will be more expensive and some will be less. Sarah said she did Western
Europe on about €50/day, but Scandinavia is much more expensive (or so I
read/am told). So multiplied by 20 days, that's a whopping €1600. In
pounds sterling however, that's just over £1000, and I've already got £300
saved, so that's about £250-300/month between now and then. That wouldn't
cover my flights or rail pass however...

The other thing I was thinking about was that I don't necessarily have to
leave when Mark does, however financially speaking, it's looking like I
will. I'll have the time, so it would be nice to take another week and
work my way down to, say, switzerland, however that would mean additional
train expenses, and even at €40/day, that would be and additional
€250-300. Also, after 3 weeks I may be ready to head back.

The real question though, is where do I head back to? By that point Oli
will have returned from chicago and will be wanting his room back. I'm
sure it will be no problem to store my stuff there, and I could crash on
the futon for a while, but I need to sort out within the next month or so
whether I intend to stay in oxford or move on when I return to the UK.
(Or come home to Canada or move to France or Switzerland or whatever it is
that I do next! I think the UK is the safest bet at the moment, and I
don't want to waste my visa)

A Few Days in Paris

Well, I'm off to Paris for a couple of days, mostly just because I can! I have 3 days without any work, and I found a cheap bus ticket (£50 return, 8 hours direct each way from London) and I haven't been to Paris since 1998, so I figure I might as well take advantage while I'm over here.

I am completely knackered however, and I still have to pack, so I shall bid you adieu (in the most French fashion possible). Maybe I'll update again when I'm in France....

Cycling IN the Thames

Yes, you read correctly...not 'Cycling along the Thames,' nor 'Cycling beside the Thames,' not even 'Cycling on the Thames,' but rather 'Cycling in the Thames.'

It happened like this:

It was another lovely day in Oxford, and I had the day off, so I decided to hop on my favourite possession and head up the Thames today, rather than along the canal like I did yesterday. I came to one part where the path was very narrow and close to the bank, and I remember thinking on my first time past "wow, it would be really easy to fall in along here." I made it past all right, but on my way back, I wasn't so lucky. I'm not sure if I hit a root or a rut or what happened, but the next thing I knew, I was on my ass in the water, leaning back on my hands (think of the 'crab walk' position). At first all I could do was laugh at the irony of it all. It became a little less funny when I realized that my feet were stuck in the mud and would take some careful pulling to remove them with my shoes still on my feet. After about a minute of careful manoeuvring, I managed to crawl out of the swampy bank and retrieve my folding bike as well. I spent the next 5 minutes or so just laughing at my own misfortune. It's a shame that it was in such a rural part of town, because there was no one to share my laughter with (although I did get a few peculiar looks when I returned to civilization). So, all's well that ends well, however I'm probably going to have to purchase a new pair of shoes sometime soon.

The upside of this whole adventure (though not that the above was particularly a downside) was that I found my favourite place in all of Oxfordshire, and possibly, all of the world! It's an old tree that has fallen over an offshoot of the Thames and it is perfect for sitting/laying on. I took pictures of it and have posted them below...I think I'm going to end up spending a significant chunk of my summer here....




There it is!




This is the view as you approach




And this is me on top





(note the clean shoes and trousers...they are not currently those colours at all...)

I LOVE MY BIKE!!!

It is my favourite possession, bar NONE! It was a nice day so I decided to go for a ride along the Oxford canal and a few hours later, I found myself in Kidlington! Not particularly wanting to spend the same amount of time biking back, I just folded the thing up, hopped on a bus, paid £1.50 and took the easy ride home :D

This beautiful ride inspired another travelling dream for me: cycling across the UK! I'd start in Brighton and end up in Northern Scotland somewhere (maybe catch a ferry to the Orkney Islands or something) [EDIT: i found this after some more research - apparently it's the tried, tested & true cross-country cycling route]. Thanks to the National Cycling Network this dream isn't actually all that far-fetched. I reckon I'd need a few things though:

• a partner
• a real, solid mountain bike
• a better knowledge of how to fix said bike
• some spare parts
• good rain gear
  
• a map
• a tent
• a thermarest
• a sleeping bag

The only cost (after the initial investment in all of these things, of course) would be food. You could easily just find fields along the way to camp in, so you wouldn't have to pay for accomodation (except maybe in London or something). It would probably have to be done in the summer, and it would most likely take a while, but it's totally within reach. Probably not this summer, but maybe next, or the one after that. It's gotta be within the next few years while I'm still mobile enough to make it happen :P

In other news, I've also been thinking about the big move again. This Sunday I will officially have used 1/3 of the time on my UK visa (8 of 24 months), and while I do love Oxford, and have met some wonderful people here, it does sort of feel like I wouldn't be making the most of my time if I didn't travel and experience some more of the UK. So I'm thinking of investigating the capitals of the other countries in the UK: Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast. All are beautiful I am told, and would nice places to live. Now if this does happen, it probably wouldn't be until the end of summer...my friend Mark wants to do some travelling in August/September, so that would sort of be the ideal time to quit my jobs and move on (it would also mean I could sublet a room from a student for the summer and not be tied into a year long contract), but on the other hand it would probably mean that I'd be low on funds. So who knows, maybe I won't go anywhere at all...I'm definitely going to spend the summer in Oxford and then we'll see after that....

Home For a Rest

Well the weekend of doom is over, and I made it through relatively unscarred. I've also made a new friend! She is a bisexual Russian Jew who regularly lives in Chicago but is currently studying philosophy in Oxford! She got robbed last week and is moving in with her boyfriend who lives on a boat in the canal for the remainder of her time in the UK. Her and I have virtually nothing in common except for our sense of humour and place of employment, but nonetheless, she's pretty cool!

I would love to write more about the bizarreness of May Day and other such things, but I am far too exhausted. What I would like to record, however, is that one of the Spice Girls is currently performing in a club not 90 seconds from my room. What a sad and depressing concert that must be! You used to be internationally famous...now you're playing a gig in East Oxford...poor thing.

All right, one more shift tomorrow, then a couple days off...excellent.

Weekend of Doom!

Check out this schedule:
Thursday: Off (aaaahhhhhh!)
Friday: First shift at the Phoenix Picturehouse 6pm-1am (went well)
Saturday: Coffee Republic 7:30am-3:30pm, Second Shift at the Phoenix Picturehouse 6pm-1am
Sunday: May Day celebrations at 6am, Coffee Republic 11am - 8pm
Monday: Coffee Republic 8:30am - 4pm

Oy. So I'm about to have a power nap before heading back to the Phoenix. It's an easy job at least, and the people who work there seem pretty chilled as well. At least what I'm lacking in sleep I will be making up for in money...over the course of 3 days I will have earned the equivalent of $520 Canadian. Yowza.

Pearl Jam to Tour Canada in September!

Of course they do it once I've left the damn country! If I was back home I would seriously consider dropping a few hundred bucks and taking a week off to follow them from Thunder Bay to Quebec City (with stops in Kitchener, London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal). It is unlikely I will have the chance to do so however. Boys back home (you know who you are!) do me proud!

And props to Pearl Jam for extensively touring Canada....most big bands only hit Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, but they're doing stops all across the country, and not dipping into the States in between - this is a purely Canadian tour. I'm sure the fans out west and out east will really appreciate it. Those fellas just keep giving me more reasons to hold them at the top as my #1, all-round, all-time favourite band.

The Death of Democracy

I just watched an extremely cynical but enlightening documentary on Channel 4 about the May 5th election coming up here in the UK. It was called "Why Politicians Can't Tell the Truth" and reported by Peter Oborne. His thesis (at least, as I understood it) was that the 3 major political parties (Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal-Democrats) have become an amporphous blob who pretty much all stand for the same things. Naturally, there are some subtle differences between them, but in terms of how the country will actually be run, their campaign policies are all basically identical. The reason for this, he postulates, is because they're all focussed on capturing the votes of 'swing voters' - middle-class brits who haven't yet made up their mind - because they're the ones who actually decide the election. Ideology and representation be damned, it all comes down to the bottom line; in this case, pleasing those folks with a mortgage and 2.5 kids.

And he makes a good point, it's an awful position to be in. They all say the same positive things (more cops on the street, more health care, less taxes) and refuse to tackle difficult issues (the example he used was how despite the fact that aviation is quickly becoming the #1 emitter of greenhouse gases, no one will oppose the expansion of Stansted airport and tax breaks for airlines so they can provide cheap airfare...again, because it would be unpopular with the middle class swing voters).

The program ended with him trying to track down Tony Blair on the campaign trail, seeing as no one at the labour office would tell the reporter where his next press conference was going to be held. Granted, he was a bit of a trouble-maker, and did ask some rather sassy questions, but what good is a democracy if you can't question authority? One of the very last segments of the program showed the police arresting a 16 year old girl for throwing ONE egg at Tony Blair's bus. Man, democracy really is dead.

Ok, so the question is then, what the hell do we do about it? It's all well and good to be depressed that the richest nations in the world are ruled by their richest members, and that we can't ask difficult questions or protest this situation, but how do we change it? I'd love to become an inspiring, motivational politician for 'my generation' but I really just don't see it happening. The problem is not the people in the system, but the system itself. Democratic Capitalism (or at least, today's mutant incarnation thereof) needs a serious assessment and overhaul. Thankfully there are already many people who are skeptical and questioning, but the problem again is that these aren't the folks with any power. The other half of the problem lies with the youth, many of whom feel like i do (powerless and frustrated) and so rather than worry about doing anything to make a positive change, become hedonistic, materialistic, apathetic and ultimately nihilistic. Their ethos is that since they can't change anything, they might as well make the most out of what they've got. And I understand where they're coming from, and to a certain extent I can't blame them, yet on the other hand, I refuse to be complacent about injustice on any level. Grrr...

So that's a lot of theoretical mumbo-jumbo, without much pro-active advice, but the fact is that I just don't know what to do yet. It comes back to the micro/macro divide. Should I devote my life to helping individuals I see on the streets, or seriously lobbying international bodies like the UN, WTO, IMF, etc. to make massive global differences. I think I tend to lean toward the former, if only because of my previously mentioned distrust in the current political structures of this planet.

I'm winding myself up here, I need to go for a walk and cool down.

Maybe I Should Be a Manager?

I didn't have a particularly bad day at work or anything, but a thought struck me as I was walking home: maybe I should become a manager! After all, I've had enough shitty managers to know what NOT to do, and actually one or two good ones along the way too. I like people, and I like investing in people. The only problem is that on paper I don't have any experience...and I wouldn't want to manage any sort of sales-driven team, as that would mean putting profits first and most likely having to suck up to corporate head office. Yuck. I would have to manage a team at an independently-owned location, or else a team not in the field of selling. Then again, maybe I should just become a minister like I've planned all along, since that's basically what I'd be doing...

How much does a day off cost?

About £40 actually.

All right, so I haven't posted in a while, and for those who actually missed it, I apologize. But I'm posting now to make up for it!

So I decided to call in sick to work this morning. My head is all clogged up and I can't figure out whether it's allergies, a sinus infection or a combination of the two. I probably was well enough to go into work, but we were insanely busy yesterday, and today I would have been closing with the manager (which is never fun) and frankly, I'd rather just not. I haven't been working there long enough to earn vacation pay yet however, so this means that I'll be lacking a days wages when it comes time to be paid. I may regret the decision when I see that pay cheque but at the moment, it seems like quite a good idea, if I do say so myself.

I went around to Tesco this morning and bought myself a fruit smoothie, tons of apple juice (well, 4 litres) some vitamins and anti-histamines, so hopefully I'll be rarin' to go today! I certainly have no intention of wasting today in bed, it's far too beautiful for that! I'll pump myself full of goodness, run some errands, and then go for a walk or something (being sure to avoid the city centre!)

In other news, for those who haven't heard, I got myself a job at the Phoenix Picturehouse! yay! Well, at least I have two trial shifts this Friday and Saturday (but I'm sure it'll all work out). I'm taking a pay cut (although it's only 15p/hour less, so if I work one extra hour per week, I've made up the difference) and it probably means it will be harder to co-ordinate multiple days off in which to travel, but on the upside, it means I won't be stuck in that other place for 40 hours each week! Plus now I get free movie tickets and video rentals...the perks just keep coming!

The Mildly Drunken Ramblings of a Sensitive Heart

This is the story:

Today was the second day of my 'weekend.' I decided to go visit Blenheim Palace in Woodstock (Winston Chuchill's homestead), just outside of Oxford. On getting off the bus, I met a group of American students from Minnesota (Minna-soda) and hung out with them for the day. They were all really nice, but one, Laura, was especially nice. We talked and laughed a lot through out the day and it made the trip much more pleasant than it would have been on my own.

We bussed it back home together and had dinner at the Royal Oak pub. They invited me to go dancing at the Purple Turtle that evening, so I figured why not! Shortly after I arrived, some British friends of Laura's arrived, and she proceeded to snub me for the rest of the evening. I really don't think it was intentional, but she was obviously more interested in the other guy then me. She said 3 sentences to me all evening (I counted them) and then danced with the other guy for the rest of the night.

I really shouldn't care, after all they're leaving for the States in another week, and I only spent a day with them. But still, it sucks. It's rare that I meet girls that I 'click' with like that. Anyhow, I think I'll listen to 'Second Best' by Pedro the Lion then go to sleep and get up for work for the rest of the week. Bah.

For Erin K. Pellow

Stop reading this and get back to doing whatever it is that you're supposed to be doing at the moment - no more procrastinating; you have a degree to finish! We can discuss this more when you get over here :P

Sincerely,
Christopher James Langston

Went for a pint with Rich and Alberto after work today. Rich gave me the professional advice to not bitch about my job and/or manager in a public forum (like, say, on the internet), so I'll leave it at that.

What I will say however, is that even though I have to be back at work in exactly 9 1/2 hours, i think I am going to go for a sunday night bike ride before I go to bed. After all, it's a clear night, and like 11 degrees out. Considering the fact that it was SNOWING two days ago (what is this, Canada?!) I think it will be worthwhile. I'll leave you with cryptic lyrics that have been running through my head today.

Pearl Jam - Present Tense

Do you see the way that tree bends? Does it inspire?
Leaning out to catch the sun's rays. A lesson to be applied.
Are you getting something out of this all encompassing trip?

You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, ohh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who can forgive yourself. Oh.
Makes much more sense to live in the present tense.

Have you ideas on how this life ends?
Checked your hands and studied the lines.
Have you the belief that the road ahead ascends off into the light?
Seems that needlessly it's getting harder to find an approach and a way to live.
Are we getting something out of this all encompassing trip.

You can spend your time alone redigesting past regrets, ohh, or you can come to terms and realize you're the only one who cannot forgive yourself. Oh, ohh.
Makes more sense to live in the present tense.

Weekend Update with Norm Macdonald

I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off for the next 3 weeks, so they essentially have become my 'weekends' (which is pronounced over here as 'wee-kend', rather than 'week-end' as back home...)

Some random stuff:

• Oxford's weather has been bi-polar today...honestly, it seems like every 20 minutes it's either pouring rain or bright sunshine...I kid you not.
• Bought the new Lonely Planet: Europe on a Shoestring today, which listed the following website:
• www.couchsurfing.com - amazing! What a great idea, check it out! My profile can be found here
  
• hOME tonight
  

that's it for now, back to work tomorrow.

The Micro and the Macro

This is gonna be a long post, consider yourself forewarned.

I started my day at 6am when the alarm went off and talked to Matt on MSN just before I left for work (it was just hitting 1am back home). Worked from 7:30am-2:30pm at the soulless coffee shop. Came home, filled out and application for the indie movie theatre downtown and had a nap. Woke up, made some supper, and then decided to take a stroll down to the theatre to drop off my application stuff. On the way, a homeless man named Sam stopped me. He's a 'rough sleeper' who camps out in the same place every day (in front of the alcohol shop right before the roundabout, across the Magdalen Bridge for you Oxford folks). We ended up talking for a whole hour. Or more accurately, I ended up listening for the better part of an hour. Sam is a self-confessed alcoholic, and was clearly drunk, and yet lucid enough to carry on a conversation (I guess you have to be when you're an alcoholic). Sam just recently found God, and though Sam's theology is a bit suspect, I could tell it's changed his life. Despite still being an alcoholic who sleeps on the street, there was a sparkle in his eye that was more than just the booze. Incredible. Anyway, I ended up buying a meal for Sam and then said goodbye, but I imagine I'll stop and chat with him again, seeing as I walk past him every day on my way to work.

So, eventually I ended up at the theatre and dropped my application off. As I walked out the door, I saw that Hotel Rwanda was playing in 15 minutes, so on a whim I turned around and went back in to purchase a ticket. Wow...what an unbelievably incredible film. If you haven't seen it, GO SEE IT TONIGHT! I don't care whether you have an exam or board meeting, how far you have to go, or how much it costs: you need to see this film! And if you've already seen it, watch it again to remind yourself how powerful it is.

My first reaction was that I wanted to be a UN Peacekeeper, but then I realized that I'm not really into the whole gun/fitness thing. Then I thought about hopping on a plane to Darfur and helping out there, but I realized that would probably be a waste of the resources available to me. So what then? Politics? Possible, but I don't know if I could handle the bureaucracy and inherent bullshit involved. In my gut, I just want to grab a megaphone and yell at people to wake up and get off their lazy asses, but then, we all know that that's not really an effective motivator. So what then? I don't know, and that's the tricky part. One thing is certain though, I've been extremely selfish lately, in many different ways, and it needs to end. Serving overpriced coffee to rich Europeans is not the best way to use the gifts that God has given me. But like I said, I don't know what is... I'd like to get a Master's degree in Critical Theory, but maybe something like Humanitarian Development would be more practical? Or social work? That's part of the problem: how to change the world? On the micro level, like hanging out with Sam for an hour every day, or on the macro level, by lobbying influential people to stop things like genocide from ever happening in the first place. Again, I just don't know, but I'm determined to figure out. I will seek advice, and I think I'm going to be praying a lot more in the coming days and weeks. Man, do I loathe the Western lifestyle...it's so quietly manipulative...without even realizing it you're lulled into this existence of false values and false worries, when in actual fact there are many, many more horrible things going on across the world.

Before I finish this up, I want to mention some choice quotes from the film. At one part, an American journalist shoots some footage of the massacre, and the protagonist thanks him, but the American replies "People at home are going to see this on TV, say 'that's horrible' and then go back to eating their dinner." At another point, he's talking to a rich hotel manager in France who has asked the governments to intervene (mostly to save the hotel) but he says "The Americans, British and French don't care...Rwanda doesn't buy them votes." And then there's a great speech by a Canadian peacekeeper (the only country who did stick around...but even then there really weren't enough of us to do anything) about how he should be hated because he contributes to such awful, systematic (and systemic) racism.

Ugh, I could go on and on about this, but it's probably best that I leave it there for now. Go see that movie! Over and out.

Worst. Day. Ever.

What better way to beat the worst day of work ever than 4 pints of beer with your minister....awwww yeah.