coldplay

coldplay in an acoustic set during their show at vancouver's gm place, january
twenty-sixth. thanks to durian on flickr for the photograph i didn't take.

with spontaneity that keeps me alive, i took a last minute ticket to see coldplay at gm place last night (thanks james pro). whoa...if you weren't there, you really should have been. one of the better concerts i've ever been to by far. at one point in the evening, during the song 'yellow,' myriad yellow balloons as big as my room (which doesn't really say much, actually) fell from the ceiling, that, when punctured, baptized the entire audience with golden glitter. then, at the end of the show, the deity joined his worshippers in a quick jaunt around the ground floor, where - gasp! - some mere mortals were permitted to embrace his feet and legs as he serenaded us from atop a humble equipment box at the back of the stadium. no priestly bodyguards to hinder the groping laity. of course, i'm not mocking. if i had been of the chosen few lucky enough to be permitted into the inner-courts of the ground floor, i too would have thrown myself upon him hoping that a touch of his sweat would make me a star. or at least fix my bum knee.

drugged

my friend erin took a most beautiful photograph of shawna, and i modified it a bit, as seen above. i think it's absolutely magnificent, and doubt you'll disagree. she's very soon to be taking vancity's music scene by storm- keep your eyes and ears peeled. shawna is, of course, not drugged; although, perhaps some of us might feel a little unstable on our feet after seeing the above photograph (the title refers to the following entry).

some people have accused me of searching for any valid excuse to take up coffee again. for the most part, i consider myself to have been strong and obstinate in my decision to relinquish its joys and pleasant psychoactive side-effects. that was until i read about its truly elixir-like qualities in last week's time magazine:

"caffeine appears to have some protective effect against liver damage, parkinson's disease, diabetes, altzheimer's, gallstones, depression and maybe even some forms of cancer."

"...caffeine does't make you inherently smarter; it just lets you call more effectively on the intelligence you already have."

"caffeine is just a single chemical, of course, whereas coffee contains scores of substances. some of them are antioxidants, which could explain part of its protective effect against disease."

so, a posteriori, it appears as though i've passed through a lenten season, albeit a trifle early, but that now it would be in my best interest to again join the majority of wet-coasters who live continuously, though very happily and perhaps more intelligently, drugged.

sun?

fishing boats in the rare and waning sunlight, steveston, january 14th.

it appears as though we've just missed breaking the rain record, at two days shy of 29. it's really too bad, because breaking records is cool. and come on, now all that's happened is we've endured 27 days of rain for nothing; no bragging rights. on the other hand, sun is pretty awesome. i nearly forgot the comfort of uv light warming my face. i feel like a mole who has just come out from the blackness of his tunnel, now exposed and vulnerable, his face grossly contorted from squinting.

it was good to be outside without rain. it's been a while. and no better place to spend the day than at historic steveston with some great friends eating some great fish and chips. thanks to erin for the incredible dinner that followed, and for the support and reassurance partaking of my first coffee in a month. i've decided that i'm going to become a social drinker. but maybe it's similar to alcoholism, where all it takes is a drop on the lips and i'll be done for, reverting back to my previous ways. i'll let you know.

update- january 16th- it's now been three days and three coffees. predictions, anyone? i blame erin. and jj bean. and coffee in general.

safety

so, for everyone's safety here in the wet coast, i've decided to put up a beautiful summer picture, harking back to the glory days of warm sun and strolls around stanley park. i mean, there's something thrilling about breaking records, and i'm usually all about the challenge, but only sometimes. you see, when it is a 53 year old record for consecutive days of rain in vancouver, although there is something inside me that wants to root for us all to keep going- the goal is in sight!- i'd rather be rooting for the sun that just can't seem to break through. i've heard recently that universities have a 'spring break' in february each year, because it's the time of year, especially in vancouver, during which there is the highest rate of death by suicide. and last night on the hour, i had a little chuckle at the little video box in the lower left hand corner of the screen all evening called something like, 'the vancouver "don't slit your wrists" cam', which contained a pleasant sunny summer video from kit's beach looking out over the water. so what do i say? 'come on, we're almost there. just four more days and we're at 29!?' yikes. too bad i can't join my sister in hawaii.

paul

"in each and every hard heart there is a little soft corner or point, that you can squeeze." --paul rusesabagina, in regards to an important lession he learned the first time he had to negotiate with the hutu militia for the lives of the tutsi refugees under his care.

"history has repeated itself but has never taught us any lessons." --in regards to the unfortunately ridiculous assertion by western nations, after auschwitz, that 'never again' would the world fail to act against apparent acts of genocide. but what of rwanda? and now of darfur? the problem with the genocide convention is that by declaring a certain situation to be a genocide, it legally binds the ratified nations to act against it, which, unfortunately, is something that few nations are eager to do, regardless of how "moral" or benevolent they claim to be. so i suppose the problem is not with the convention itself, but rather with the failure of the ratified countries to act upon the promises they made in a desparate attempt to ease their consiences.

charity

"when i read people magazine about jessica simpson jetting to africa to help kids with facial deformities..., sure, i laughed. but then again, what was i doing to improve the lives of needy children in africa? reading people magazine? verily, then, jessica simpson traveled to kenya not for her sins but for mine. when a pop star inserts herself into world matters, she may seem ridiculous, but only because we are too -- because she has reminded us that we spend so much time on trivia that we ignore matters of life and death to other people." -- from an article "the year of charitainment" in the december 26th issue of time magazine by james poniewozik, pp 64-65.

interestingly enough, the pop star outraged charity organizations when she had to cut her ten-day "humanitarian" trip short - to just two days - with an excuse of being sick, in order to embark on a safari of the same length.

crazy

my sister's strange cat, kenga. he entertained us all Christmas.

"the object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. it is that we should have a new soul." -- g.k. chesterton