Take the long way home

Dreamer

2011-12-24T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hi, Hello, Good Morning,

Speed skating is not unlike operating a Steadicam.

First, you have to balance the rig with the camera, and all of its accessories, not unlike the sharpening, bending, and rockering of the skate blades, depending on the specialization and desire of the skater.

Next, you must ensure that you yourself are in balance with you. Can you stand up? Yes? Good. You may continue.

You put on the Steadicam, and suddenly your perspective on everything changes. You are able to move the camera in ways that were never before possible. You put your feet in the skate boots, and you can suddenly move in a way that is totally foreign to the human psyche. A type of movement that is strange, but yet unspeakably glorious in some way.

Then, you yourself must be in balance with the steadicam, the two parts coming together in the amalgamation of flesh and machine - hovering mere inches from your hip, anxiously awaiting the next command. Skates moulded so perfectly to your feet that it feels as if there were no separation between you and the blade, floating effortlessly over the ice. Not unlike when you fly in dreams...

And finally, you must know precisely what you are doing. What is the shot? What is the headroom? What is the story? What is the distance I must skate? In how much time do I want to do it? Then, you urge this mechanized extension of you to do it with you, with inhuman precision, and great artistry. Not commanding, not yielding - Urging.

This is going to be a very fun bunch of years.

Love,

-Ryley

"You Are Loved. All Is Well"

Freedom

2011-12-03T02:07:00.000-08:00

"On Bended Knee Is No Way To Be Free
Lifting Up An Empty Cup I Ask Silently
That All My Destinations Will Accept The One That's Me
So I Can Breathe..."

-Eddie Vedder

There is Much Love for You Here.

-Ryley

"You are Loved. All is Well"

Self-Portrography

2011-11-25T01:07:00.000-08:00

With Love,

-Ryley

"You Are Loved. All is Well"

From Under My Rock

2011-11-20T23:34:00.000-08:00

Good Morning All!

So, I showed up at the "Old Man Petes' Bouldering Competition" at the U of C with Andrew, Margaret, and Karina, and decided to shoot some photos. Unfortunately, due to long shutter speeds, and the speed of bouldering, my desire for nice crisp images eluded me all day... Regardless, I decided to treat these photos more like impressionist images, and went a little overboard with zap-zooms, and my Lightroom presets... the results, well... see for yourself:

There is Much Love Here For You,

-Ryley

"You Are Loved. All is Well"

21 Year Old VS. His Blender

2011-11-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

With Love,

-Ryley

"You Are Loved, All is Well"

This is Southeast Iceland

2011-11-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

-Ryley

"You Are Loved, All is Well"

Afro Blue

2011-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

so•cial•i•za•tion |ˌsō sh əliˈzā sh ən| |ˈsoʊʃələˈzeɪʃən|

noun

1 [ trans. ] make (someone) believe that it is possible for other beings to negatively assert themselves into the personal life experience of others, without their invitation of it : the children are socialized | [as adj. ] ( socializing) a socializing effect.

I'm Coming Home

2011-09-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

Good evening all!

Well, I can tell the world tonight, I am home!

I arrived back in Canada on the 19th of August after a wonderful nineteen and a half weeks of travel. I do apologize to everybody that I didn’t tell - I was trying to keep it a secret because it was in fact my sisters birthday on the 30th, and we as a family wanted to surprise her, and she is an AVID facebook-er, so I didn’t want my return to leak out into the realms of cyberspace by accident....

Suffice to say - things here are SO big. It was strange to be driving on Deerfoot on the way home from the airport, noticing the massive median between directions of traffic, followed by the huge green-space between the road and the first layer of buildings... It’s amazing how much space we have.

**Baguettes For Easter - Cambremer, France - Copyright

I was on a flight that was arriving from London, and there were many English people on board who were doing their first trip to Canada, and it was funny to hear all of them as we approached Calgary: “Ohh, it’s so big” “Look at the size of that city!” “They have so much space here!”

I laughed.

And coming home, Calgary was still everything that I knew it to be. Huge...

It was wonderful though, to be driving in the foothills, drinking cheap, filtered coffee, and walking down by the river again though. I must say, we live in an absolutely beautiful part of the world, and I consider myself very lucky to live here! It’s also fun to be seeing all of this “familiarity” with the comparative experience of having seen many other incredible cities!

By the way... I LOVE MY CATS!!!!!

Saffie and Finn are up to their usual feline selves. I forgot how wonderful it is to curl up with a furry companion and settle in for an evening of warm tea, and sleep.

Trip Statistics!!!!!

Days Couchsurfing: 65

Nights Camping: 26

Nights Wild Camping: 17

Nights in Hostels: 26

Nights on Sleeper Trains: 1

Total Days: 135 door to door

Kms by Bike: ~2550

Kms by Trains: 6221

Kms by Hitch-hiking: 1327

Kms by Co-Voitureage: 764

Total Kms: ~10 862

Flat Tires: 5, and my bike was un-ridable by the end...

Bottles of Wine: Lost track by day 25

Pounds Lost: 30

Photos: 7875

Times I read the same book: 4

Pairs of socks destroyed: 6

Things lost: 1 - the business card for my travel agent.

So, yeah, home sweet home!

I’ll keep posting photos up on here for anybody who’s interested. I’ll most likely probably continue to post strange things about my perhaps bizarre perspective on stuff and things using my typically absolutely incorrect grammar, and sometimes usually horrific spelling...

Much love to all,

-Ryley

“You Are Loved. All Is Well”

Evolution of the Boy

2011-08-25T00:31:00.001-07:00

Good day all!

This post is mostly for my mother, father, and my sister, to prove to them that I am live and well!

Evolution from then, until now:

**Chateau de Versailles - Versailles - Photo Courtesy Dean Bennett**

**A Little Night Music - Nice, France - Photo Courtesy Miranda Krogstad**

**Hooo - it's HOT here! - Rodos Island, Greece - Photo Courtesy Miranda Krogstad**

**Blue... Sand? - Rodos Island, Greece - Photo Courtesy Miranda Krogstad**

**My "Angry Tourist" Face - Rodos Island, Greece - Photo Courtesy Miranda Krogstad**

**On the Summit of Hvannadalshnjúkur - Skaftafell N. Park, Iceland**

**I made it to Iceland!!! - Iceland**

**A Norwegian Sunset - Norway**

**Grilling in the park with CSers! - København, Denmark - Photo Courtesy Trine Rose

"You are Loved. All is Well"

Dans le 12ième

2011-08-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

At Bastille, Cigarette smoke enrobes

Me like velvet on the quiet breeze

And the light danced on this very page as

I dreamed

Of your smile - the look on Your face

Just before you kissed me.

Kissed me like I've

Never been kissed before words exchanged.

My head held gently in your

Arms embracing me like

Never before letting me go.

And the fire in your

Eyes only added to my own.

Lips flash in the same dappled

Light, you reach for my

Hand holding it on your

Chest - the grass blowing gently against my

Arm on this same breeze.

Sheets fold softly around our

Bodies still quivering like Guitar strings

Singing the final

Chord to my favorite

Song.

And nobody so Beautiful had I ever

Met in perfect Silence expressing the

Inexpressible.

10/08/11

-Ryley

"You are Loved. All is Well"

Oh little town of... Seyðisfjörður

2011-07-11T17:17:00.000-07:00

Good evening all!

**I made it!! - Reykjavik**

Well, I made it! I am back in Seðisfjörður. That equals 2500 kms of cycling!!!

(As well as almost 500 kms of buses, 2000 kms of trains, and 400kms of hitchhiking over three months.)

And I have a story for every single meter....

What an exploration this time in Iceland has been! I have learned so much about the country, about the world, about myself, and about surviving in the (just sub) arctic. There is so much to tell about this country, I suspect that I will be posting about it for quite some time. I shall for all intents and purposes be brief here, especially because I crave a good nights sleep (oh and how I crave night at this point - it's been six weeks since I last experienced natural blackness...).

In fact, I shall perhaps leave just a few sentences to serve as an aperatif for what is to come in the near future...

The wild camping in the East Fjords is the most stunning isolation I have ever experienced - it is like truly living out a childhood dream.

The Icelandic horses are so noble, and wise, with their warm winter coats still clinging on for dear life in quirky patches.

The silence experienced at the top of Hvannadalshnúkur is truly pure, and almost dreamlike.

Watching a dust devil break apart just a few meters from you when your cycling truly puts your life into perspective...

Soaking in natural hot pools, alone, as the sky catches fire around 1AM is simply unbelievable...

Having driven my body to the point of failure in Ásbyrgi, I learned so wonderfully the value of relaxation.

When in Iceland - EAT EAT EAT...

It is said that for every meter of elevation that you gain here, it is the same as gaining two meters of elevation anywhere else in the world. For every kilometer you cycle, you have cycled two kilometers anywhere else in the world (and god forbid you have a head wind... lets just say that I was very lucky to be PUSHED BY THE WIND!! from Seyðisfjörður to Reykjavík...). The conditions in this country really do push you to your own limits. But man is it ever worth it. I could write everybody a letter for ever hundred meters I rode... every 10 meters I climbed... every person I have met.

I have also come to understand that there is only one rule in Iceland... but you'll have to ask me that in person... it'll be more effective that way.

I will simply never forget my time here. This place has reshaped the way that I think about my life - down to the very last detail. What a magnificent country. If you ever have the chance to come here...

TAKE IT

Well, apparently there was a rather large glacial burst in the south of the country a few days ago, which blew out a rather important bridge (in fact the only bridge...), and now I have to totally reverse my plans for getting to Reykjavík, and go through the north. All is well though - I saw the south in such magnificent detail already! And while indeed this unexpected flood may signal the pending eruption of Hekla (sp?) a rather large volcano, I'm hoping to be out of this country and eating schnitzel by the pound in Germany before that occurs... (Can anybody tell that I'm still really hungry?)

But hey - there are worse places to be stranded for a few weeks.

By the way, I have seen an awesome shirt. It said:

Thank God
Grimsvötn is so much easier to pronounce than Eyjafjalljökull

I laughed, and even briefly pondered purchasing this fine piece of merchandise...

Well, it is off to Germany next, where I shall meet Miranda, and we shall go gallivanting around the globe for five weeks, and then... who knows... Italy by motorbike? Tempting indeed...

Statistics!!

Photos: >6000
Kms: >2500 by bike
Flat tires: 3
Kgs of granola consumed in Iceland: 10
Tasty Icelandic hot dogs: 5 (far too few)
Liters of pure Icelandic water straight out of the stream: Countless
Length of beard: <1 cm... :(
Days: 97

Tonnes of love to all,

Góða Nott

-Ryley

"You are Loved. All is Well"

Song for my Father

2011-06-15T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hallo all!

Welcome to Iceland! How cool is it that I'm typing on a keyboard where ð, þ, and æ are actual keys!? But, as per usual, I have to re-learn the placement of all the punctuation, so please forgive me if I leave out something - it's just 'cause I can't find it...

It has been ages since I last posted and soooo much has happened! From a wild bike trip in Amsterdam, to sipping the perfect chai latte in Copenhagen, to (almost) getting seasick on the ferry... the list goes on!!

Amsterdam is a very interesting city... I would never go alone again. It is truly a city that demands a group of friends to enjoy I think. I was only there for about seven hours, but I still managed to see most of the city on the INCREDIBLE network of bike lanes! Basically, if you ever look around you, and you don't see at least 300 bikes (no lie - I have photos) chained to everything you can chain a bike to, then you´re not in Amsterdam. (Or how about a three story parking garage dedicated just to bikes outside the train station!) As one of my hosts in Belgium said "People in the Netherlands are born on a bike..." It was truly a treat to cycle there, and catch some live jazz over lunch before hopping on my train to Copenhagen!

Copenhagen was wonderful. A wonderfully low key city, with such a vibrant music scene! I remember so vivadly grilling steaks and sausages in the park with my CS host (Hey Trine and Dion!!), and a group of her friends! Such a great sense of comunity (holy spelling batman...)! The language in Denmark is out of this world - super angular and just plain strange, yet it sounds so beautiful!! The food... oh the food...

I always ate "danishes" in Canada for the filling inside. Now that I have actually tried the REAL Danish, I will never be able to go back to an americanized version... the pastery was SO delicious! The filling actually played a secondary role to the pastery!

I know that I'm sort of making this a really rough summation of what has happened in the last two weeks, and for that I do appologize - it's not what I wanted to turn this blog into, but it´s just that so much has happened!

The Faroe Islands are unspeakably beautiful. Waking up at 4Am to watch the sunrise over Tórshavn was truly something - the grass-roofed houses shimmering in the morning light! So this is what it's like to live in the Arctic (I guess it's technically the sub-arctic). The Faroes are simply a must see! I will never forget the 8 hours we had to wander around Tórshavn... starting at 5am, when the city is still sleeping, and you're the only person out - truly unforgetable!

The boat hit a pretty good storm coming into Iceland, and my first view of the country was shrouded in a thick layer of clouds, with just these jagged dark mountains looming in the distance... really eerie! As we got closer, the mountains began to rise out of the ocean, covered with every colour that nature has to offer, and capped off with a fresh layer of snow! It was well below zero with a (probably close to 60kmph) wind, and I remember being up on the top deck, tucked into my little exhaust vent trying to keep warm, and I heard this french man exclaim loudly to his group of shivering women "Je vous ai dis qu'on aurait du aller à Cannes!" (I told you we should have gone to Cannes!) and I burst out laughing, only to quickly try to stifle it as I realized I was the only other person on the top deck who spoke french and understood them...

But once you get used to the "hovering around zero" temperatures, (being Canadian, this is not too difficult) this country could not be more stunning...

As you come into Seðisfjörður, the fjord engulfs the boat on either side (and it was a pretty big boat) in a celebration of colour and life! Waterfalls pour off every cliff, and sheep munch quietly on serene farmlands. The water calms down, and the wind dies off as we approached the tiny little town of less than 1000 people. Such beauty! Many hikes, bike trips, and three pizzas later, I set off for Reykjavík! I could write every single one of you a letter for every hundred meters I ride here - there is life EVERYWHERE - the rocks are covered in the most dense moss I have ever seen, the waterfalls nourrish beautiful grasses, and birds seem to find even the smallest nook to rest and maybe even build a nest. Everything here is dwarfed by the landscape! Wild camping here is fantastic - just climb up the ridge over the road, and you are suddenly isolated from the rest of the world! It is wonderful to sleep on thick beds of moss, drinking ice cold water straight out of the glacier fed springs... WOW. I am speechless...

Anyways, it's that time of day where I need to consider heading off - I have some distance to cover today as I head in the direction of Höfn! I imagine that I will be about four or five days without internet, plumbing, electricity, or heating again, but hey - as I'm starting to realize - this is why I'm travelling.

Paris was wonderful, the north of France was such an adventure, Belgium was incredible, such a blast, the Netherlands were exotic, and Denmark was lots of fun... But this is truly what I am about - connecting with the natural world. I am so glad I am doing this trip by bike - even if there are occaisionally moments where it's not easy or whatever... but I'll try to explain that in my next post.

I appologize for the intense LACK of photos... (but there is no lack... there is an abundance - they're just on my hard-drive in the other room)

My camera reached photo 12000 last night, which constitutes about 4000 on this trip to date. I'm gonna have one mother of a sorting job to do once I'm back. I guess I listened to Eriks last text before I left "Take lots of photos!!"

Anyways, I do promise more frequent posts if I can, and lots of photos to come!

Tonnes of love to all,

Goða ferð!

-Ryley-

"You are Loved. All is Well"

In Flanders Fields

2011-05-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

OOOOHHHHHH.

You're supposed to DUNK the cookie IN the coffee...

Good evening everybody, Goða Nott

I am in Anwerp (Antwerpen / Anvers), Belgium! This last leg of the trip has proved to be amazing! I am so glad that I made the decision to change routes!

Brussels was a tonne of fun - such an interesting political and cultural mash up... it was like walking into a blender of language and politics! I thought it was interesting that as I meandered into the heart of the European government, the energy of the area felt exactly like I was walking into the debate room in high school - I think it's funny that the two places have the exact same feel.

Story Time!!

So I get to Gent (Belgian city between Antwerp and Ypres/Ieper) after about 60kms of biking, and I settle into the hostel. There's a guy from Germany named Tom in my room, and he wanted to go for dinner. We ate near the canals, and all was well and good. He went back home to go to bed and I pulled out my map and started wandering. Gent is beautiful. Tonnes of old buildings from the 1500s, and many beautiful canals. Really nice... really touristy... and, well, we all know what Ryley thinks of tourists...

So as I am getting more and more lost, and the sun is setting, and I could barely read my map, I noticed this tiny little sign on the top of the map saying "My week in free concerts". Hmmm. It was sunday, and it said that there should be a jazz show about a block from where I was standing - coincidence? I think not...

You enter this club through a small hole in the wall (like, actually - it looks like a bomb went off between buildings - and in this part of the world, that very well could be the case...), and then down a corridor that is so narrow you can't pass two directions at the same time! Then, the light at the end of the tunnel - a small club, which opens out onto a terrasse - made of beautiful old brick, and a creaky wooden celing. Everybody was smoking inside! Through the cloud of smoke, I could just make out some musicians setting up on the stage. I quickly grabbed the last seat and ordered a beer (when in Belgium...).

The music was amazing! Just a group of young guys playing Real Book tunes - but good real book tunes. It was wonderful to see such energy coming off the stage! It probably helped that the place was packed to standing room only...

So a few sets go by, my beer is empty, and I'm starting to think about heading home - having 80kms to do tomorrow - when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up, and this middle aged man spews some long sentance off in Flemish. I tried to give him my best "I'm not from here" face, but he only repeated himself... boy do I miss French... Then he motioned to my chair, and held up his coat. I was like AHHHHH. So I nodded, and went back to listening to the music. Then he tapped my shoulder again "PITCHER?" he yelled over the drone of the music, pointing to the bar. Because I am so versed in Flemish, I gave him another confused look, which was answered by him putting a beer in front of me, and then taking one for himself...

Okay... cool!

A few tunes go by, and then he yells something else in my ear. I look up at him and say "I'm really sorry - I don't speak Dutch" (Flemish is basically a dialect of Dutch for all intents and purposes). He looked back at me and said "Shpreken-zie Deutsch?" - and I'm like - oh boy. I was like "No, only english", and he looks back at me taps his chest and in a proud voice says something along the lines of "Necht Neerlandais" (Dear readers from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany - I appologize for my spelling - it's all just phonetic...) with a big smile on his face (what I assume meant "I only speak Dutch!"). "PITCHER?" he motioned to my half empty glass... Oh boy - I'm in for an interesting night!

It's amazing how much Flemish one can speak a few drinks in... yes, that's the language, not the stuff that gets stuck in your throat...

NOT

Anyways, this guy and I actually had a blast for the rest of the night! In all sorts of different hand gestures, and him shouting in Flemish at me over the music, we actually managed to have somewhat of a conversation! Really fun!

In the end, it was 130 in the morning when I left, 4 or 5 more drinks deep than I had planned when I started the night, and I somehow mannaged to find my way back to the hostel! What is it that impressed me the most about this whole experience? I left at 130, the place was still Standing Room Only, and they were setting up for another set - ON A SUNDAY....

I love you Europe. I'm never coming home...

STATISTICS!!!!!!

Days: Almost 60
Kms: Over 1500 as of yesterday
Most kms in a day: 130kms - Bruge to Antwerp - cycle by number
Photos: Almost 3000
Belgian Beers (and yes, they are everything they promised): 7 different types to date
World War I Cemetaries: Countless - I'm really starting to realize why it's called the Great War
Days to Iceland: 7

Home made Belgian chocolate mousse after a day touring the World War I battle sites - Priceless

Anyways, I should get going, just thought I'd post this short anecdote. I promise more photos soon!!!

Lots of love to all!

Ryley

All of Me

2011-05-15T15:53:00.000-07:00

Good evening all!

Oh boy! Things are changing!!!

Wait, it's me - what else is new...

In other news, I have decided to leave Paris, and head towards Iceland! My original plan was to take a train to Nantes, where I would begin my tour of the Loire river valley (castles for the win!), and then continue on into the south of France, but yesterday I sort of had this weird revelation: Summer means nice weather. Nice weather means tourists. Tourists means

CHAOS!!!!!

So, instead of joining the masses on the stunning topless beaches of southern France, I shall begin my trip northward to Iceland!

Among the "touristic reasons", I have also realized that France is simply divine: the people are so kind, the food is out of this world, the countryside and the history are so rich and beautiful - truly everything I thought it would be and more - but it's time for something different. I have been here for almost a month and a half, and I've seen my fair number of castles, museums, and monuments (they are indeed abundant), and I just think that it's time for a change of pace.

The point of this long story is that after I have taken my dad to the airport tomorrow, I'm going to head to Gare du Nord and get on a train bound for Brussels! Hopefully will spend a week or so there, before heading north - 1200kms to the tip of Denmark - to the port of Hirtshals, with a mix of trains and biking (whatever mood strikes me).

The interesting thing that I have come to realize is that I never intended to make this trip a "Bike Tour". Don't get me wrong, I love my bike, and cycling around cities is absolutely one of the most fun things I have ever done **especially Paris**! I just have to remind myself that I am using a bike as a way to see a country at my own pace. If my own pace needs to be faster, it's fine to get on a train/plane/boat!

I guess I just need to keep reminding myself of that... It's really easy to get down on yourself when you realize that your destination is either three short train rides away with some time sent in some really cool places, or three weeks of non-stop pedaling (and that's without stopping in the cities for a day here and there...). The choice seems pretty obvious to me...

It's interesting as well, to be trying to listen to that voice inside me. I've always thought that inspiration came in the form of a concrete thought - a series of words that might form a coherent sentence if I was lucky. But I've come to discover that it's actually just more of a feeling. No words can describe it.

I remember telling Adam once - If you're weighing two choices, the one that you should do is the one that feels almost wrong - because you've told yourself and everybody else that you're going to do it the other way, and yet once you make the decision, you feel this inexplicable relief....

I guess I'm sort of dedicating this trip to practicing what I preach!

On a totally new note - I have to say that I have had a wonderful time in Paris with my dad! It's been so nice to share part of my grand adventure with somebody - especially an artist! It was incredible to go to the Musée d'Orsay with him, and BOOM - There the original Van Goghs', Monets' and Degas'. Such incredible use of colour and feeling in those paintings. Strange to be in a sheer state of appreciation as I approached these paintings - moved almost to the point of tears they are so beautiful! And I'm not a particularly visual person...

I have to say that those were my favorite four artists. Not because of who they are, or the fame that they have risen to - I had never seen a Degas, or a Monet before. But when you approach their paintings / sketches / pastels there is this intangible sense of something else going on in the works.... and then you feel this wonderful feeling inside of you. Then you look at the little name tag beside the painting and you're like - Oh, Claude Monet, cool. And then that happens twenty times over the day, and you realize why they dedicate an entire museum to these guys!

And before put anybody to sleep with the length of this post (I apologize - I'm not sure when I'll be able to write again as my computer is Calgary bound tomorrow), I have to mention that in the musée d'Orsay, there is a small information panel (the artists bio), in a small room of a temporary exhibit. I forget the name of the painter, but he lived roughly in the time of the impressionists, and painted very similar subject matter, and in a very similar style. When asked about his (at the time) graphic portrayal of nude women, he responded (this is a rough rendition - I forget the exact words):

"Nudes are supposed to be sensual, or raise questions"

WOW.

This totally altered the way I feel about nude paintings. Here I am, this little canadian boy, raised in a reasonably sheltered environment, and now, in front of me (everywhere - in the Louvre, on building facades, in the Orsay, on the beaches of Normandy etc...) is all of this nudity. It's not portrayed in a graphic, pornographic matter, but in a beautiful manner.

A celebration of the beauty of the human body. Both male and female.

And why do I feel such tension inside me? I keep feeling guilty for looking at it. When I look at it, I feel so sensual - But no, it's art - I'm not supposed to feel that way about art.

Then I read this quote, and all that tension disappeared.

Nudity is sensual! I am supposed to feel wonderful when I see it. The human body is SO magnificent - from the muscled thighs of a greek god, to the subtle curves in a womans' shoulder blades - it is sensual! And there is nothing wrong with portraying it, and loving it! We as humans have tried to de-sensitize ourselves to it. It has become this sort of dirty little pleasure that teenagers and young adults have.

It is so wonderful to know that it's okay!!!

Anyways, for me, this was a huge revelation, and has altered the way that I think about the human body - male and female - and it's portrayal in art, and in life.

Bed time. Much love to all!

Goða Nott

-Ryley-

"All is Well"

Black Orpheus

2011-05-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Bon soir tout le monde!

Hey everybody! Wow, it feels like it's been a while since I last posted on here! I am currently back in Paris, with my pops, rocking out in the 12th district, just beside Place de la Nation! It's nice to have my computer for a few days, just to un-learn all the french keyboard typing habits that I started to develop... And, I have to say, it's nice to be in a hotel, with a guaranteed place to crash just for a week... after that it's back to the usual excitement!

It's so nice to be back in Paris! Paris is incredible - everybody should see it at least once in their life! I would absolutely give this city two weeks - there is so much to do!!! And it's also a wonderful city for just sitting and relaxing... I'm really glad I came back - even though I haven't spent any time in large (by american standards) cities in the last three weeks, my confidence has vastly improved, and I'm able to visit monuments and busy sections of town and actually look at what it is that I'm supposed to be looking at, instead of my bag and wallet...

For example - the first time I was in Montmartre (18e) I was TERRIFIED of getting robbed. I don't know why, but I was. Have to say I really didn't enjoy it! But my dad and I went up there a few days ago, and it's wonderful to realize that there's nothing to be afraid of! What a stunning area. It was fun to see all the artists painting in the square, to sit on the steps of the Basilique du Sacré Cœur, and even more fun to leave the tourist area (which doesn't take very long - it's not very big) and wander the quiet back streets, laden with Brasseries, Épiceries, and Laveries.

I have run into at least four films being made in Paris - it was fun to walk by the stashes of gear and be a total "bogey" for once. Even better was seeing a Steadicam guy rocking out near Place de la Bastille.... I could live like that... I think from my minimal experience here that I would like to live on the Right Bank...

When I was in Paris the first time, I spent most of my time (for some unknown reason) on the right bank (everything north of the Seine River). When I showed up a few days ago, I learned what I had been missing - TOURISTS

RUN

AWAY

!!!!!!!!!!!

Not quite that bad, but it was really strange to be walking along, you cross the street, and you find yourself in an street that is just filled with tourists - like - FILLED. It's a very young crowd, and I can see the appeal for certain types of people, but I'm a more low key guy when it comes to that sort of thing. I found that everything had this plastic, over the top sort of feel - it wasn't real at all. Then I flipped back over the river, and life was normal again! This is not me dissing the south side of town - I suspect that I probably just wandered into a really popular section of a small part of town, but regardless, I've really loved my stay on the right bank!

In news, I just found out that the NDP party in Canada has formed the opposition.

Mont St. Michel was wonderful. Such a great experience. It was my first go at hosteling abroad (my experience in Québec city doesn't count...), and it was wonderful! I pretty much had the run of the place! The hostel was in the old railway station in the village of Genêts (population 400). Such a great location, and the management was unbelievably friendly! The walk to the Abbey across the Baie de Mont St. Michel was amazing! Gotta love quick sand and rip tides! Our guide was so cool. His name was Didier - I think that says enough....

And a big shout out to Marie-Noëlle and André in Bayeux, as well as Claire, Alexandre and Helène in Caen! - awesome hosts! It was absolutely wonderful staying with them there! Bayeux is a beautiful city - one of only two in Normandy that didn't get totally destroyed by the war (I think I may have already mentioned this in an earlier post, so I shall stop here...). I loved the tapestry - it's incredible to be so close to something that is almost 1000 years old! The history here is unspeakably incredible. Oh right I almost forgot - Happy 401st Birthday Québec! (I got to be in Normandy for its 1100th birthday - lots of fun!)

And before signing out here, I shall record some more pointless statistics!

Days: 44

Couch surfing : 28

Camping : 8

Hostels : 3

Dads here! : 5

Kilometers : 1050

Flat Tires : 1

Baguettes : Have lost track due to increased wine intake

Fresh bread dipped in melted wheels of Camembert : Priceless

Much love to everybody!

All is Well

-Ryley

My Funny Valentine

2011-04-30T01:29:00.000-07:00

**St. Désir War Cemetary Approx 3000 graves - Canadians, Americans, British, and German. Copyright 2011**

Okay - I have finally found a moment here to write something substantial!

How is Everybody!?!? I miss you all very much!

I am currently in the city of Caen, just south of the coast in lower Normandy, basically just south of the D-Day beaches. The history here is incredible! I spent almost 7 hours in the D-Day museum here - so fascinating! It was incredible to be standing on Ohmaha Beach, where almost 4500 soldiers died in one morning. The bunkers overlooking the beach are so well hidden, and maintain an eerie presence. Equally shocking was the artillery battery at Point-du-Hoc - a few hundred square metres that was hit with 700 tonnes of bombs the night before the landings! It was incredible to be walking between the craters, and inside the bunkers, where you can still see the bullet holes in the walls from the invaision. Truly eerie.

Aside from getting my world war two facts straight (and there's a lot of stuff they didn't talk about in High School social studies!), I have been enjoying many of the local specialties in the city of William the Conqueror - I tried Tripe a few nights ago - my first venture into organ meat - I actually really liked it! It had the texture of a well cooked ham, with a taste that destroyed the boundry between pâté and a porkchop! Really good! As well, many local cheeses - my favorite being I think the Pont L'Eveque (sp?). Really similar to Camembert, but it's made in squares instead of rounds.

Before Caen, I spent four nights camping in the small town of Cambremer - about 40km from Caen, in a rural campsite that was run by this tiny old lady. She was incredible!!!! She is 85 years old, living on her own, in a MANSION! Seriously though.... She is in perfect health, and had so many wonderful stories! I was the only person in the whole site, so we had coffee together, and chatted, and swapped stories. Truly a blast!

And I have to say that my time in Honfleur was incredible! I stayed with a couchsurfing family for two days, and they were SO kind! It truly felt like I was with family! Honfleur is a truly beautiful city! I absolutely recomend that people go there! It's the first sand beach that I encountered, and it's one of the towns that didn't get totally levelled by the war.

That's the other fascinating thing to realize. Most of the cities I've visited were totally razed. Everything has been rebuilt since 1944... Truly strange to think about that I find!

And in news - MY DAD IS COMING TO VISIT ME!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to meet up for a week in Paris. I'm really glad - it's going to be so nice to see a familliar face! And plus, I'm going to get to see all the parts of Paris that I missed because I was constantly running around trying to get all my stuff organized! I'm really looking forward to that week too - just settle into a hotel, and relax - guarenteed a place to stay, somebody to eat with, talk with - it's going to be weird speaking in English sudenly!

Speaking of english, I have to say it's really miraculous what even just a few weeks in France can do for ones French! While my vocabulary still lacks a bit, and if I'm trying to explain something even the least bit abstract, it's a total disaster, but my accent has come LIGHT YEARS, and well, when a french person says - Mais, vous parlez bien français; vous venez du Québec? - I guess I know I'm doing okay... I love french, and I wish I could keep speaking it for many more months. Alas...

And, things are changing - I'm going to head to Iceland in June, for a few months instead of Italy - I'm going to try to avoid the summer crowds by going to a quieter country. Plus, that's supposedly when Iceland will be the most beautiful! Thousands more photos - all back-lit and polarized as seems to be the icelandic tradition!!!

Speaking of which some useless stats:

Almost 700km on the bike

7 Days camping

16 Days couch surfing

1400 photos

And that's all I can think of...

PS - Kids, knives are sharp.... don't play with them... That's my Speedskating leg...

Much love to all out there, and everybody should send me their mailing address!!!

POSTCARDS!!!

Trying to keep the rubber side down,

-Ryley-

"All is Well"

This is Paris

2011-04-30T01:16:00.000-07:00

Taken from the left bank of the Seine, just beside Pont Alexandre III

France France France

2011-04-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

Welcome to my first post in-transit.

I must be quick, I appologize.

The one thing I want to mention before I go any further is that all photos on this Blog after this point will be original photos unless otherwise specified!

I am currently working my way up to Dieppe from Paris, where I will start my tour of the D-Day beaches. Paris was incredible! Biking around the streets and taking everything in was an experience unlike any I have ever had before!

I stayed with a wonderful man named Jean-Michel. I have to say - he is one of the nice-est people I have ever met. He believes solidly in the good nature of humanity, which is an incredible energy to be around! He lent me his second bike for the first few days until I was able to get a bike of my own, which was incredibly nice of him. The bike worked great - except for the brakes!!

So here I am rocketing into Paris - a downhill ride the whole way - with no brakes, passing the Louvre, Bastille, Notre Dame, the Eifel Tower, and countless other beautiful buildings, surounded with mopeds, bikes, and cobblestone streets.

And everyone here smokes! No matter what they are doing, people always find a way to have a ciggarette hanging out of their mouth!!

Anyways, I must go - more exploring to do.

Much love to everybody!

-Ryley

There Will Never Be Another You

2011-04-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

**photo: Ryley flies the Arriflex Alexa on a Steadicam® "Ultra 2". Photo courtesy Aaron Brown**

Good day all!

I am currently sitting in Vancouver airport awaiting my plane bound for Calgary.

I have spent the last week down in LA taking a workshop, and man was it fun!

I saw PALM TREES!!!!!

Those things are totally out of this world! Such prehistoric looking things. Not only did I see palm trees folks, but there was a palm tree outside my window at my hotel! In other news, I successfully navigated both the LA airport, and their Metro system (which was actually really similar to Montreals Metro - just much sketchier).

So I caught a ride up to Lake Arrowhead with this guy named Dave (he was also taking the workshop, but he had a car). I'd been watching the forecast for the region for about a week or so in advance, and it looked like it was going to be quite warm! I mean common - it's California... right.... hmmm...

So it's beautiful in LA, and we're rocking out, going up into the mountains and then - whiteout!

Literally, have never had so little visibility! I don't think that we could see more then about 15 feet ahead of us for big chunks of this narrow, winding, surprisingly busy mountain road. When we arrived, we could barely see anything! Good thing I listened to my parents and didn't bring any warm clothes..... flawed premise #..... Love you mom and dad!

So anyways, we got there super early, and so we waited around for quite a while, and then this big van pulled in, and out got this HUGE man! This guy must have been six foot six or eight. Then it hit me - That's Garrett Brown - Inventor of the Steadicam!

Following him out of the van were Jerry Holway, Peter Abraham, Chris Fawcett, and Rubin (I'm not sure of his last name...?) - our instructors for the week.

It was wild to have Garrett showing me how to do up my vest, and how to fly the rig. It is a sensation like no other! As I stepped back from the stand, and suddenly had 50 - 60 more pounds of steel hanging off my body, I truly became an appreciator of the technology. Even with all this extra weight, I didn't feel like I was exerting any extra effort! But there's this really cool sensation of this thing hanging off of you, and just floating there - literally - let go of this stick, and it just hangs there in space, immune to all movements of your body - at least that's what I thought at first....

Turns out, it's incredibly sensitive! Basically the idea of the rig is that it is a bottom heavy pendulum - with the spring loaded arm supporting all of the weight from the centre of gravity. One of my hands (usually the right) holds the mechanized arm and guides it through space vertically (boom), and my left hand grabs the post just below the centre of gravity and points the camera (pan and tilt). My legs then take the weight of the rig (which is channeled through my body by the vest), and propel me and the rig around set! Brilliant!

The problem is that because the rig is basically a pendulum, every time you move the rig, the post wants to tilt in the opposite direction of movement. This gives the operating hand (left in my case) the job of correcting for this (to keep the post level) while still trying to do some artistic framing! It's really hard, but after five days wearing the rig, I think I was starting to get a handle of it!

The instructors were great - all of them distinguished operators, and teachers. They had incredible communication skills, and I they managed to conduct the whole workshop in a wonderfully light hearted manner! I learned so much, and met 15 other awesome students. Everybody was so wonderfully different, yet we all seemed to get along! There were six different languages represented by the students - English, Finish, Arabic, Portuguese, French, and German, with people coming from around the world - even Australia!

But yes, the weather promptly turned itself around, and I am now pleasantly sunburned, and have experienced 30 degree weather in March.... I spent the last day in LA. One of the students from Portugal asked me if I would like to split a hotel with me, and it turned out he had found a deal at the Sheraton hotel right beside the airport!

We wandered around Venice Beach for a few hours and caught dinner at a little hole in the wall pizza place. It was beautiful. I got to see the beach right at sunset, with the palm trees all in silhouette, and the waves crashing in from the open ocean with surfers riding atop - like, all the clichés! It was other-worldly! I could have sat on that beach for hours! Venice is interesting - quite weird, but interesting. Lots of like - freak show deal-ies... not my style, so we just wandered and looked for food. I liked the beach...

And the ocean was so nice! I love the water (I can see the ocean from where I'm sitting right now actually)!

Sam wanted to meet up with a friend of a friend over in west Hollywood (at least I think that's where it was...) afterwards, so we wandered down and met them at this really funky bar / desert restaurant! They were really nice people! Even though they mostly spoke Portuguese the whole time (which is such a beautiful language), I was at least able to find the tone of the conversation, and every once in a while Sam would say some word like "Steadicam" or "Dave" etc... and I was at least sort of able to follow. He tried (very patiently) to teach me some Portuguese, but I was terrible at it... maybe I should stick to learning English first...

Anyways, this post is getting WAY to long, and my plane is about to leave. Snow bound for the last time for a long time!

Lurve y'all

-Ryley

Desafinado

2011-02-19T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hallo!

Previously, on Heartland:

It has really hit me that I'm going to be doing a lot of moving around starting in less than a week! On thursday, I'm headed out to Montréal, and when I get back I have three weeks until I leave for California for my course (which I'm actually really getting excited for!!), and then when I get back, I have four days, and then I'm off to Europe!

Say What!?

Yes, I have booked my ticket!!!! I leave on April 6th at 1525, direct to London Gatwick at 0725 local time! I'm so excited. Then, I get to go into London (and attempt to figure out the "tube") to St. Pancras station, where I will take a TGV to Paris, and begin my grand adventure.

I'm so excited - I've never been on a train before (C-trains don't count...). And a TGV of all - gonna be so awesome! Hopefully I'm going to be in Paris around dinner time. I have decided that I'm going to book my first few days with a family on couchsurfing.com just so that I have some sort of base, and some locals who I can ask questions. This is after all, my first time really traveling, let alone traveling alone.

In other most fantastic news, I have acquired my backpack, tent, and sleeping bag. My backpack is herein named "Fred", and his parasitic twin "Dominique" (the conveniently detachable day-pack). I had all of my stuff set up in the living room, and when I came back from getting my mom some stuff for dinner, I found that my cats had totally taken over. Safi loves the tent, and Finn loves the backpack. Maybe I'm going to have to take them with me...

It's so strange how real this all feels all of a sudden. It's like - I'm actually going. It's going to be amazing.

Abbeys home for reading week too which is awesome. Yay sister! It was really fun to be listening to my mom read an article about Icelandic horses, while Abbey and dad were making faces at each other across the room.... or maybe you had to be there.

Well, dinner calls, so I must be on my way. Thanks for reading!

Ryley

C'est un fabuleux déstin!

2011-02-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

Bon soir!

Ça fait presque quatre années dès que j’ai vu “Le Fabuleux Déstin d’Amélie Poulin”. Il faut que je le dis - ça doit être un de mes films favorites! J’adore l’histoire, et la narration est simplement parfaite. Il y'a un minimum de dialogue, et les images sont incroyable. La langue est si belle - je me suis rappelé de mon amour pour le français, particulièrement le français venant de la France! J’ai même attrapé une erreur dans les sous-titres - elle est à Monmartre, et elle dit au téléphone (à Nino) «Page cinquante-et-un» mais les soutitres en anglais disent «Page St.». Durp.

Quand-même, je n’étais pas capable de comprendre le plupart du film sans les sous-titres... J’ai deux conclusions:

Ça fait presque trois ans dès que j’ai même dit un mot en français
En école, j’ai appris le français québécois (sp) qui se prononce d’une façon pas mal différente.

Mais, en fin, je pense que j’aimerais vivre à Paris, et apprendre le français parisien. Je sais que c’est juste un film, mais il me semble que c’est une ville pleine de vie, d’art, d'histoire, de café, et de l’esprit. En fin, en deux mois je vais le découvrir pour moi même!

Et pour ceux qui ne savent pas, en trois semains, je vais faire un voyage à Montréal! J’y vais pour visiter mon amie Rebecca! Malheureusement, je ne vais probablement pas parler français - apparament les québécois ne sont pas très tolérant de ceux qui n’en parlent pas parfaitement.... et comme vous pouvez voir, mon français est pas mal loin d’être parfait!

Alors, en conclusion, j’espère q’un jour, je vais rencontrer une «Amélie» de sorts. Je pense qu’elle est veritablement extrodinaire (et oui, je suis incapable de séparer l’histoire de la réalité).

À la prochaine!

Ryley

Hákarl on Toothpicks

2011-01-28T02:23:00.000-08:00

From Iceland, I give you Hákarl!

Here's another recipe for my collection on here. Yes, it does follow the seafood theme, no, I haven't tasted it, nor made it, but I assure you that if you were to try this, well... read on and you'll see what I'm getting at...

Ingredients:

1 Shark

Process:

-behead, and gut shark

-dig a hole in a hill large enough to hold said shark

-place shark in hole

-cover gutless / headless shark with sand and gravel

-once hole is filled in, place large stones on top of site

-go for a 6 to 12 week walkabout

-return to your gutless / headless now reasonably fermented shark in a hole on a hill

-unearth

-cut shark into strips, and hang from your windows, or in a passage where the wind funnels directly into your neighbors property

-overseas vacation - you've got three to six months at this point

-return from your vacation, remove shark from strings and scrape off the brown crust that has formed

-cut into cubes, and stab with toothpicks

Serve to the love of your life!

There you go! Please note - if your hill is of insufficient grade, or you do not let it ferment long enough, you will die of ammonia poisoning. I assume NO responsibility for this!!!!!

My next recipe will be less... time consuming I promise!

Góða Nótt!

Ryley

Prelude to a Kiss

2011-01-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

Sæl / Sæll!!

Instrumental music is the most abstract of art forms.

There are no words to interpret, and nor can I use words to play it / experience it elsewhere. I cannot pick up and touch Contrapunctus IX. We cannot see it - the score being merely a loose arrangement of black and white dots on lined paper - not the art itself. We cannot smell Beethovens' 5th. I cannot taste Daft Punks' Adagio for TRON. I cannot apply concrete understanding to Birds jumping lines in Ornithology.

In fact all it is is a series of concussive waves bashing their way through matter, and then somehow finding their way onto my eardrums.

And so why do I listen to these pieces of emotive brilliance, and feel SO moved. Here I am, a grown young adult on the brink of tears over something that is the definition of abstract? What is it that draws humans to this medium. What is it that we're actually gaining out of it? How can music sound "sneaky" or "joyful" or "furious"? Is it all in the theory like our teachers have tried to tell us in the past? Is it all mathematical like the education system so very much likes to try to say it is?

Or is it just that intangible, visceral experience that shakes you down to your very core - with the lone soprano saxophone singing in an abandoned warehouse, or a digitized symphony let by a master guitarist on stage being the only real thing tying you to this experience.

Interestingly enough, I am starting to realize that this is one of the few things in the world that I can understand. Maybe because it's so not-understandable that I feel at home in it, because of my own chaotic mind. The weird thing is though, I can't tell you what it is that I get about it. It just seems so natural - so real - and so wonderfully limitless. I guess I'm just going to accept that it's never going to leave me.

No matter how hard I try to forget about it.

In other news, after I wrote my last post, I went back and re-read everything that I have written on this blog up to date. Wow. There's a lot of stuff in there that is so not who I was. It really is interesting how we evolve though. Even just the way that I write - let's all recall my spelling grammatical capacities of high school - NOT!!!

Not that I'm much better now. But at least now Blogger has a spell check in it, so aside from my constant confusion of "to" and "too", I'm just left to face Grammar in a one-on-one. Hey, at least the odds are improving.

In trip news - I think I've got a flight there, and I may have a flight back. Flying into London, taking the train to Paris, and then flying home from Reykyavík. I've been reading more in-depth stuff about the countries, and I think the whole language thing is going to be pretty interesting. France should be fine - six years of immersion had better pay off. Italy should be okay - it seems close enough to french to at least be able to figure out road signs, etc... and I'm gonna spend some time before I go with that language too - it's next on my list anyways!

The tricky part is going north - into all the german speaking countries. So far, I can count to ten, and ask people if they have a cigarette/sausage. And I suppose I could ask for more than one sausage by combining the two skills... I'm sure I'll figure it out though. I mean honestly - how many tourists go there only knowing how to ask for one sausage...

Also, I have decided to not go to Barcelona this time. I think that it's just too much... but it'll always be there for another time.

For my sister - I think she should know that I am listening to Daft Punk as we speak. I think that would make her proud. Albeit the TRON soundtrack, but Daft Punk none the less.

Also, in other fantastic news - TRON has been nominated for best sound Editing. YESYESYESYES!!!!!

I have to say (ironically) that I do not appreciate good cinematic sound. Perhaps because I know that it's all fake, and most of the time even the dialogue isn't original. But I went to see Tron in 65mm because I knew that the sound would be UNREAL! When Sam gets to Zeus' club, and the bassline for "Derezzed" kicks you in the pants, WOW. The sounds of the engines, the lightbikes, the discs, and Olivia Wildes' voice:

"I'm Kora!" and "I guess you could say, I'm a rescue."

Here's to Music, Over-the-top-sci-fi, and Square/Sawtooth waves!

Góða nótt!

Ryley

April In Paris

2011-01-25T22:48:00.000-08:00

Good day, Bonjour, Góðan Daginn!

Yes, I am trying to learn Icelandic. Talk about a wild language. The weirdest thing is that the grammar is so much the same as English. When I learned French, I had to switch everything backwards - "The black cat" in English becomes "The cat black - le chat noir" in French, etc... Because Icelandic is a Germanic language (as English is) all the grammar in terms of sentence structure is almost exactly the same! It feels weird to be saying different words in the same order as English, but I'm sure that with enough practice I'll figure it out.

The other fun thing about Icelandic is the different letters: Ð/ð is the letter "Eth" having the sound of the voiced "th" in "Them"; the letter Þ/þ is the letter "Thorn" having the sound of the voiceless "th" in "Thing" and always, and only appearing at the front of a word; and the letter Æ/æ is the letter "Aie" being pronounced phonetically.

I have recently rediscovered that I love learning language. I think that it's really fascinating how humans have created so many different ways of communicating! I look forward to hopefully adding many new languages to my bank of knowledge over the years. I think once Icelandic is there, I'll try Italian!

So, the main purpose of this post is to tell you all that I am going traveling!!! And, as per Joshs' request, I am turning this blog into somewhat of a travel blog, where hopefully I will be putting up photos, and sharing stories as I head out on my trip!

Mostly, I will be traveling through Western Europe, and then finishing the trip in Iceland! A rough itinerary puts me in Paris to start - in April - Can you tell I was a jazz musician?

From Paris, I will be biking (pedal, not motor) up to the Normandy coast, and then down through the Loire Valley (maybe meeting up with my parents at some point here for a week or two), then down to the Mediterranean, where Spain borders France. I will then bike the winding highway that follows the sea all the way to Italy! From there, I look forward to seeing Tuscany in great detail, and then heading over to Venice. From there, I will probably catch a train to Milan, and then bike north through Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium (as far north as Ypres - can you tell I have a fascination with both world wars?), then east through the Netherlands, Germany (as far east as Berlin), then north into Denmark, where I will stop over in Copenhagen, before going to the northern tip at the Hirtshals port, where I will catch the Nörrona - the three day ferry to Seðisfjörður, Iceland, with a brief stop-over at the Faroe Islands! And then from Iceland home...

How long will this take one might ask?

As long as I want it to!!!

My intention so far is to just travel as I want - going from city to city at my own pace. Leaving when I'm ready to. I'm going to carry a tent, as well as try hostels, and this cool thing called CouchSurfing.com! I would like to be in Iceland somewhere in lateish September, so that I can accomplish the 750km bike trip along the southern part of the ring road (between Seðisfjörður and Reykjavík) before the snow flies! At which point I will probably stay my maximum amount of time there (up to three months), before coming home!

And yes, most of this (I hope) will be done on a bike! I suspect at some point or another I'll wind up taking a train. I think though - after considering the many different ways of getting around, that biking is the most intimate way to see a country (from my totally neophyte stand point), because you have wide open views. you're not restricted to being in this tiny little box. Also, it forces you to pack lightly, and take only the essentials. As well, it's FAR cheaper then driving, with the cost of gas in Europe being more expensive then here (although I suppose you leave Calgary, and the gas is going to be more expensive - maybe I should just suck it up.... nah). I intend to set no speed or distance records, traveling only 25 - 75 km/day. I want to maintain a leisurely pace as to soak up as much of everything as I can!

I don't know how often, or how extensive my posts will be, due to the limited access to internet that I may or may not experience depending on where I am. But I will do my best over the course of the trip to keep people updated. If you are a friend / family member, you can probably expect to be overwhelmed with thousands of photos when I return however (now you're all wishing I'd just stay over there...).

Anyways, for many people who are reading this blog for the first time, I suggest you stop here, and don't delve any further into previous posts - you will not find anything spectacular. Mostly just random HIGH SCHOOL ANGST, (yes, yes that is in CAPITALS - FLEE!! RUN AWAY!!!) tales of the fish store, and one post on my life philosophy.

I look very forward to sharing this adventure with all of you who are interested!

Góða nótt,

-Ryley

Confessions of an Ex-Fish Monger

2009-06-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

Good evening all.

Today, I write to internet land to inform those reading that I have found a new job.

Hoooorrrraaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

However, first - some confessions:

a) Whom ever it was who said that people are inherently evil, must have absolutely worked in customer service for a large portion of their life. Customers in the food industry are some of the most evil people I have ever, EVER met.

b) When it comes to food - "The news is like sand - people like to bury their heads in it." :

Fact - farmed fish is good for you. It is not this evil blob of poison that will kill you, or, harm you in any way for that matter. I have spent the better part of the last year eating farmed fish from around the world, and not only am I in good health, I am in even better health than I was before I started the job. Also - Fact - farmed fish from asia is GOOD FOR YOU!!!!! Get your heads out of the sand and realize that a shrimp is a shrimp - whether it was wild caught in sewage pipes in the gulf coast, or farmed on the coast of vietnam - a shrimp is a shrimp!!!

c) When people wanted me to break a hundred dollar bill first thing in the morning, it was everything I could do to refrain from insulting their intelligence.

d) I just about hit a stupid, obnoxious customer.

e) I loved my discount

f) The first thing you see when you walk into the store is cookies, and jam. I must admit - this is quite off-putting when trying to buy fish. I'm not saying "stop selling the cookies and the jam", but they do need to be moved.

g) Most customers are really stupid

h) My boss perpetually insulted my intelligence out loud, in front of co-workers, and customers.

i) Alex is better at cutting salmon - this I will admit. But I was better at cutting halibut.

j) I loved it when friends and family came to visit. Thanks Guys!!!

k) If you are trying to start a job in the film industry, I do not recommend a job at the fish store.

l) Fish only smells gross if you don't work with it 8 hours a day

m) Working at the store opened my mind to a whole world of culinary genius that I never even dreamed possible

I could go on, however I have other places to go tonight, so I shall leave it at that.

If however, you are ever finding yourself in the position of considering a job as a fish monger, please - consider the following:

1) Do you have NO inhibitions?
2) Do you like the smell of fish?!
3) When you say "Fish" do you say it with a Borat accent?
4) Do you like regurgitating facts?
5) Consider all the inhibitions that you chose to forget about in question one
6) Do you enjoy working with raw animal products?
7) Do you like buying meat pies from Bon Ton down the street every lunch hour?

If you answered no to any of these, the job is probably best left for others.

While this note may seem to portray that I hated my job, and my life in general for the last 380 days - this is not the case. I just chose to highlight the funny bits that made me really mad at the time for effect.

All in all, it has been an excellent experience working for Billingsgate, meeting all the staff, working with a new culinary medium, and ultimately, learning many life skills at the same time. I really liked learning things, and I really liked meeting some customers.

I hope one day, should I ever choose to get married, that I shall marry a girl like my favorite customer Kathy. Kathy is amazing - always smiling, happy, talkative, interesting, interested in what I have to say, ya know...

I would like to wish the company the best of luck in the future, and say a sincere thank you to all the staff that I worked with over my 380 days for putting up with me, especially in the last month, where I'm sure I was not very much fun to work with.

And a huge thank you goes out to Bryan - a man many former employees consider to be fire-ey and angry - he's really just a friendly, kind hearted individual, but he is a "boss" so he needs to put on that short tempered thing every so often. Thank you for hiring me (despite the fact that I couldn't have even told you which end of a fish was which when I started), not firing me, hiring me back after I quit to go do Rogers Pass, and continuing to tolerate my existance until yesterday.

Unlike Courtney has lead many people to believe on my status thing - no, I did not get fired:

I am going to work on the third season of CBCs series "Heartland" as the new sound trainee. Pretty much - following the dream.

If there's one thing that this whole last year and a bit has taught me:

Ask and it is given. Always.

No exception.

-Ryley

Alegria

2009-03-09T21:12:00.001-07:00

I am defiantly starting to realize that food, and cooking is truly one thing that I am in love with. I have decided to start posting some of my recipes. All original, some inspired, some accidental. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Mussels in a garlic - white wine sauce with rice and salad

Ingredients:

Fresh PEI mussels - however much you like
A mother-load of garlic - garlic is the spice of life
A handful of chopped celery stalk
1 small carrot chopped finely (julienne if possible)
White wine
Basmati Rice
Salad greens
Vinaigrette

The how to:

Begin by inserting your favorite CD into the music player. For this meal, I'm listening to a "Cirque du Soleil" compilation! Music is essential for setting the mood! Pour yourself a glass of the wine. How else will you know if it is good? For this recipe, I am using a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc 2007. I could pretend to know other things about this wine, but I don't. The woman at the local liquor store said that it cooks nicely. Wine is good!

Garlic cloves need to get smashed (and I mean smashed! Own that garlic!! [That's how I get the flavor out]), and then chopped finely. Cover the garlic in salt - more than you think you will need. Don't be afraid! Mash the two parts together. This really brings the flavor out of the garlic. Get your hands dirty in this step so that you can lick them. I love garlic, and I love salt. Combine the two = finger licking success!

Cook the rice (I hope this is self explanatory). I like to put salt and butter into my rice. If two foods should get married, it's rice and seafood. I'm not much of a bread guy, so I find that rice makes an incredible substitute. Rice is simple, and flavorful too!

Heat a high walled pan to medium heat. Place a bunch of wine into the pan. "A bunch" is a highly technical term. If you haven't noticed, I hate measurements when it comes to cooking. I really like just going with it. Just cooking for love, not math. Try it! I dare you! You'll sort of develop an intuition as to when things are done / how much of what to put in. Sometimes I totally fail, other times, you come up with something awesome!

Once your wine is nice and hot, dump in the chopped celery, carrots, and garlic. Let simmer for a few moments. While you wait for the veggies to heat up, place some salad greens on a plate, and cover in the dressing of your choice (I used a vinaigrette today, because I could). Nothing fancy. Just tasty.

Next, place your mussels (which have been cleaned and sorted [NEVER COOK OR EAT A DEAD MUSSEL!!!!!!]) into the pan. Wish them a good nights sleep and put the lid on.

Sit for a moment, and enjoy another sip of your wine (or a gulp - depends on your personality). Focus on the smell of the kitchen - it will slowly change from hot wine to mussels. Shake the pan from time to time. Good time to do a little jig to the music you're listening to.

As you open the lid, you will see that your mussels have opened. SUCCESS!!!!

Pour everything from the pan into the biggest bowl you can - not because you need the space, but because it looks cool. (and your parents are out of town, so you can use whatever dishes you want.)

Place the rice onto a plate, and put it all onto the table. I recommend candles, and more music, and more wine. White wine goes quite nicely with seafood. I also recommend eating the mussels with your fingers, not a fork. I have a tendency to laugh when people try to use forks with mussels - very awkward.

Serve to the love of your life

John

In a Sentimental Mood

2009-02-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

Good evening all (or morning - for those who consider 0130 to be a morning hour),

I simply, simply must say that I have not been this supremely happy in an excessively long time! I've also not been quite this close to crying for happiness in - about - well, over a year. If you remember that bit that I wrote about Ali earlier this week, well - she got back to me!! I have her number and we're going to try to get together soon. But, not only was she like "Ya, it'd be sweet to get together" or something short and concise, but rather she wrote this awesome paragraph about it, and at the end she said the nicest thing. Something that only my mother, and Mr. Waters had ever said to me before - and it only means so much when your mom says it!

I just about started crying. I don't know. I have a real soft spot for people telling me that I'm worth something to the world, and that I need not be afraid of judgement, and all that stuff. But, I won't go into too much detail, because it's sort of personal.

But, I've got her number!! I've never been able to say that before! And, she's got mine too. I'm probably going to call / text her at some point, and see when she's free. Jeeeze - I feel like a little kid again!

It's like watching my uncle - he just left his wife (my aunt, oddly enough) of like - 30 years - for her sister. And I know that that sounds horrible, and everything, but I sort of see the other side of it. I've never seen my uncle so happy, and so free, and so childish, but in a good way! I don't know, but I feel that meeting new people is the absolute best thing that I can do for myself at the moment. Not that I don't like my friends, or whatever, but I think that a breath of fresh air would be SO awesome.

Boy, I was just flicking through some of the blog entries that I wrote when I first started this - MAN - I was such a looser. I was so upset and angry at everything. I guess you don't notice shifts like that when they are so gradual, and happening to yourself. Like - it's easy for me to say "Boy, so and so has really grown up these last few months", but I would never notice something like that in myself. It was kind of neat to go back and look at it.... I forgot how much I got sick back then!! I have been in perfect health since the middle of summer! Ya, I was a bit worn down on christmas eve, but that doesn't count. I think that there is an absolute connection between my health now and my current methods of thinking, versus my health back, even a year ago, when I was so angry and unstable!! I like my new life.

In other news, I think that I'm going to stay at home for a while. Until June probably at least. I've pretty much decided that if I get a series, I am going to move out, get a place, and all that (like - actually buy a place, and start paying off a mortgage). I've decided to go to school in Maine for a few weeks in June. I think that it will be hugely valuable. I've dropped SAIT because the classes were simply useless. I was really gaining nothing out of them, and the one teacher just drove me absolutely NUTS!!

This school in Maine has a SUPER good reputation. I'm going to take their camera assistant course, and their camera operator course. I've also heard that almost every proffesional steady-cam operator took the steady-cam class there. Perhaps one day, if I can make it in camera, I will take that class as well. I think that it will be really fun to get away from the world there that I know a bit too well. I think that it will be nice to travel, and to meet some new people. And, it's only three weeks, so I'll be back before I know it!

Well, I do need to go to bed. While to only start tomorrow at noon, I do need to go pick up an external drive for this computer so that I can start editing my movie!!!!

I must say though. She rocks!

And to all a good night.

John

A Sideward Glance

2009-02-21T23:21:00.000-08:00

Good evening,

Today, I write to cyberspace on my 19th birthday. It is no longer technically my 19th, but in my head it is. I suppose I have many reasons for writing here tonight, however I'm fairly tired, and I need to get to bed soon, so perhaps I shall only write about a few of them.

Well, to start off, I have Final Cut which rocks. There are so many things I can do!!!!!!! It's so mind blowing, but I think that I'll figure it out sooner or later. Essentially, this will allow me to do amazing things with "Behind the Heart". Tomorrow, when I am done working, I am going to go to London Drugs and get an external hard-drive, and then hopefully, I can start cutting it this week! I really think that it's going to be a really decent film all things considered. I also hope that we'll be able to shoot the intro sequence soon too. We'll see though - it pretty much all boils down to actor availability. What will be will be.

In other news, there is a girl in my life. Well, she's not technically in my life, but we've been talking for a while now (like, 2 months). This whole time I've had no idea what she looks like, and I've had no idea what to expect, but recently, she added me on facebook, and boy - she's pretty! Sort of shortish hair, blonde (again with the falling for blondes - que c'est ça??), nice eyes, all that stuff... Not that I've been spending any time on her page or anything. I asked her if she wanted to get together, and I hope to hear back from her soon. But, she wished me happy birthday on facebook, which was very nice of her. Her name is Ali.

Also, I have just finished up 26 days as a boom op / mixer on an indie feature called Rogers Pass. It was an absolute blast. I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery / places in the world. I got to shoot inside an abandoned hospital, in the back of an ambulance, I got to chase an ambulance, shoot a curling bonshpiel (sp), several bars, a geodesic dome cabin, a real hospital, the UofC, on the middle of a lake during the sunrise, and many, many others. It was a lot of fun, and I got to meet so many awesome people while doing it. It is an experience that I will truly never forget. It was fun too, because a lot of the process is seeing how much you can push your own boundaries - there were times that I thought I was going to get blown across the lake when the wind really picked up. There were times I though I'd fall asleep on the way to work because we'd had four hours of turnaround. But, to a great extent, that's why I'm doing it. I love that sort of stuff. But, as I was saying to my mom, I have come to the realization that I don't know if sound is the right place for me.

The movie industry is truly something. The world on set is one that totally differs from the real world we live in on a day to day basis. Sound is such an omni-directional medium, that no matter what you do, something will be standing in the way of perfection, and that gets to me. With a camera, you point it at what you're going to shoot. You make that frame perfect, and aside from changing natural light, you have very little that can wreck your shot. In sound though, anything. The creak coming from the script supervisor as they shift in their chair, the car door slamming across the street, the bed springs squeaking 3 blocks away *cough*, the gaffer whispering to the director *cough cough cough*... it's all there. And then you've got your name attached to that product. It can be frustrating. As much as I wish it were otherwise sometimes, I am an artistic person, and I like my work to be really truly appreciated. The last thing that I want to find out is that they are going to go in after the fact, and erase all the work I've just spent hundreds of hours doing, and redo it all. Ahh, ADR. I watched some Heartland re-runs today (jesus - Amber - boy oh boy) and the ADR is SSSSSSOOOOOO bad in some spots, it makes me want to vomit. Like - it really shocks me sometimes - you spend 1.8 million / block or something like that, and you can't take a few moments to match the audio perspective? I dunno - I've never actually watched an ADR session, so I don't know the exact process, so - perhaps it would be best if I just kept my mouth shut.

But anyways, the point of that paragraph is all to say that I'm going to start experimenting in other areas of film. I really am feeling a good vibe coming from camera right now, and anybody who knows me knows about my Steady-cam obsession... sorta weird, but whatever - to each their own. I think that I'm going to try to get some work as a camera trainee. I'm going to do some reading too, to really try to grab some of the concepts. We'll see where she all goes.

Well, I need to get to bed - quite badly. I work at the fish store at 9.

To all he and shes' out there who buy fish at 9am - SHAME!!!!!

Haha!

And to all a good night

John

O'Cleary's Shuffle

2009-01-01T22:15:00.000-08:00

And again with the space between posts. Although, this one may not be quite as dramatic as the last few, a month is still a fairly large amount of time.

The shoot in december was soooooo much fun. I got there at 615 in the morning, and we wrapped somewhere around midnight. We got the whole

thing in the can before the snow (which is still on the ground) flew. It was an absolute blast, and I got to work with some real professionals, which was really good. We shot the project on the RED cam. This camera is AMAZING. It is a digital camera, but the sensor size in it is as big as a frame of 35mm film. So, you get the highest quality image, without paying 1$ + / foot of film (and you're shooting somewhere around 1foot/second). And, the camera is built to take film camera lenses. So, after sitting alone in the parking lot for a few minutes, this huge truck pulls up with this massive trailer, and out pops the gaffer from Heartland. In the trailer: all of Heartlands goodies. We had everything you could want (I say that from a neophyte prospective, but it sure felt like it). Because of this, they could use all the fancy lenses that they used on the Heartland cameras (Arriflex 16mm cameras).

I also got to work with a mixer, which rocked my world, seeing as he had all the toys, and knew all about all the technology, so all I had to worry about was booming, and he dealt with making sure that the sound was going into the camera. SWEET!!!

Also, I am currently in the process of making my own short film. The idea came to me about 5 or 6 years back when a buddy and I were walking through the university, and he said "Man, it would be so awesome to shoot a chase scene through here" and I never forgot it. Now, we're half way through. I think most people on the crew (myself included) didn't quite know what they were getting themselves into on the shoot - we've got camera dollys (the moving cart from the fish store), steady-cams (the 9.50$ DIY version that I made out of black pipe), two cameras (little cam-corders that our parents own), and about six bounce cards (lids from lobster boxes from work). All in all, it's pretty epic. I have just about died. Twice. While Adam is a very proficient athlete, his dolly operating skills did just about send me into a bank of lockers, and a wall. I have just about lost several friends. I have just about exploded from stress. I have come close to calling it quits on the shoot. But, somehow, it has magically come together. I am soooooo greatfull to everybody who has come out to support this crazy idea. It's been an absolute blast, and I'm really looking forward to finishing it. Thanks again to anybody who has worked on it, and who is reading this!!!!!!

AND, the pièce de résistance:

I GOT THE FEATURE FILM IN JANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On christmas eve, I got an email basically telling me that I didn't get it because they needed someone who could do every single day and all that. Then, last night, I get this panicked text from the producer telling me that there's been some confusion about availabilities, and that now they need me to do it!

It's really awesome, and I'm like, 99% sure that it will work with my schedule. The only things that will determine whether or not it will, is what my profs at school think, and - my boss.

It will be nice quitting the fish market. And, I'm not quitting, I'm moving on - to bigger and better things. I really hope that Bryan understands. It's been a blast working for him, and I like to think that we maintained a fairly decent relationship throughout my career there.

Other than that, I'm headed up to Banff tomorrow. Erik and I. Should be fun. I've been wanting to get up there for sooooooooo long. Ahh, how I crave the Eggs Benedict from Chez François. Ahh, the feeling of slowly sinking myself into the hot pools, with the frigid winter air above me. Spending time with Erik will be awesome as well. Perhaps I can get him to teach me a thing or two about taking a half decent picture :P

In other news, I want a girlfriend. Someone to snuggle up with. Someone to be romantic with. Someone to hangout with. Someone who wants to hang out with me. Somebody who likes to do crazy things. Oh, and she's going to be reeeeeeeeeeaally pretty.

Anyways, that's all. I'm leaving at 830 tomorrow, so I had best be off.

Happy new year to everyone, all the best, and we will talk soon.

John

Some Skunk Funk

2008-11-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

Hallose again!

I went for a walk today, and I realized that I haven't been outside for almost a month. like... really outside, where I'm breathing lots of fresh air - more that the amount you can inhale from the back door at work to the dumpster and back. I went out with Erik to the crescent, and walked for a long ways, and enjoyed the city lights. I love this weather. I like it nipping at my cheeks, but inside I'm totally warm. It's such a nice feeling. I like Erik, he's an awesome guy. He's great to talk to. All in all, it was a very good night once I got outside. Short work day today, and it was fun to see the stamps win the cup. I was surprised to be honest.

I'm going to start doing stuff with my life again. I feel like I've become this complacent little fart who never does anything but work, eat, and sleep, with the occasional movie work thrown in there. I'm going to start going out to concerts and stuff like that again. I think that I'm going to start really getting to know myself as well. I sorta miss the days where I could please myself when I went out. I didn't need company or anything. I could just go for a walk, or go for coffee... Given, it's really nice to do all that with somebody else as well, but I think it's time for me to find out who I really want to be. All that I know is that I desperately don't want to have anything to do with my old high school self... I want to be confident, quiet, and subtle. I want to live a life of observation, followed by action, rather than the other way around. Efficiency would be a good way to describe it.

As Maurice once said to me: Efficiency is lazy intelligence. Its' so true too. I like it. I liked Maurice, and I miss working with him. Sucks that he went to North Sea. Oh well.

Work was so quiet today. It was kinda nice, 'cause I could get things done in an organized way, at my own pace. I felt good when the day was done. It'll be nice though.... tomorrow: 9 hour shift, followed by time spent with Steve. Steve rocks. It'll be nice to see him again, it's been a long while.

But, for now, I must retire, for I do have to be at work early tomorrow.

Ciaowsa for nowsa

-John

Kim

2008-11-22T21:34:00.000-08:00

Sa nom c'est Kim.

Again, it has been a long time since I have posted here, but I intend to start doing it more often, due to the fact that I can write here, and almost nobody will read it, as opposed to facebook, where everybody will read it.

I went to the Hop In Brew again tonight, and was again skunked. For those who are clueless... There's this girl that works there whom I am really hoping to get to know. I'm going to go again on tuesday, 'cause I'm pretty sure that she works on tuesday. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm nuts. Perhaps I'm just a boy who has found someone who is interesting enough to drive half way across the city for to have a chance at seeing.

In other news, I have been doing some film work recently, and I'm having an absolute blast doing it. Nothing beats working on set. The energy, the intensity, the creativity - unparalleled. The first shot of my most recent shoot was the most fun I've ever had. I had somewhere between a 12 to 16 foot stick, and I was in a kitchen, booming through a small window into the living room, whipping it from one end of the room to the other. Not a single shadow. I was so happy. Still struggling to memorize dialogue well though. It usually takes me a take or two to get all the cues right. I think I just need to focus a bit more on my own job, and less on the jobs that need more people... I am the only guy doing sound after all. These little shoots are really fun though. You meet some awesome people, and have a blast. Working every position (while it can be a bit taxing) is also quite enjoyable, and I like gaining experience in all domains.

This upcoming shoot in december sounds like it's going to be really fun. It sounds pretty fricken serious though, so I'll be working HARD. Proffessional crew (like, a bunch of guys from Heartland and stuff), and pro actors (the one guy played in Pashcendale [sp]). All I can say is I hope that it works. I hope that I do what is expected of me. I guess I'm just a bit nervous - something I suspect will go away the more experience I gain.

It's going to be really nice to go to school in January too... SAIT has awesome courses, and I think that in the long term (while it doesn't seem overly beneficial at the moment) it will really pay off. I mean, it will really open up doors for me in more domains than film. I'll have a chance to experiment in the studio, and in post, and preproduction and all that stuff. It'll be really interesting.

AAAAANNNNNDDD - I got my union permit, so I can now call my self a IATSE 212 Permitee.

And again, that doesn't mean anything until I'm done school and can get a trainee position somewhere.

I dunno why, but my headspace is SUPER weird at the moment. I feel upset at something. I feel like I've let somebody down or something...........

Think, think, think....

I think that it's just a combination of nerves for this upcoming project, and this whole Kim thing. Not that there is a Kim thing. I just really hope that I can see her again. Talk to her a bit maybe.

Man. Work today was LONG. 9 hrs selling fish. Usually those shifts really don't feel like they're that long, but today for some reason, it just dragged on and on. Oh well. The dollas 'll start rolling purdy quick here. Life is good.

I only have two more SAIT courses to sign up for, and then it's all going straight into savings.

God. I need to go to bed.

-John

Anthropology

2008-07-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

So, again, I find myself putting months between posts. It's been an interesting few. I'm still single, although sorta wishing I wasn't... mostly due in fact to the following:

Last night, (which was actually this morning) between the hours of 8:50 and 9:00AM, I had a dream. In this dream, there was a bunch of us out playing soccer. I don't know why, 'cause I am terrible at soccer, and have never enjoyed playing it. We were in the Aberheart field, and I was in net. After a few minutes of game, I went back to the relaxing spot (just west of the west net, near the exit to the place where I always used to park), and chilled with Adam and Rebecca, who were holding hands, and being all close and such... And I didn't mind, I never do. I actually kind of like seeing people fall in love with each other. I actually kinda like watching people kiss each other too... I know most people don't, but there's something about the closeness, the intimacy... anyways, I digress. So, Adam and Rebecca are being all close and such, and then, this girl (who shall remain un-named... 'cause the last time something like this got out, I ate it later on) came towards me, and stood pretty close to me. She was defiantly within the "Three Feet Zone" (rule which states that if somebody of the opposite gender is comfortable standing within three feet of you for an extended amount of time, they like you). Than, she stepped on my foot, and I was all like: "Hey, that's my foot!" and she didn't care, even though it really hurt... but than I realized that she was trying to shift my weight around so that we could link arms. My left in her right. And then, she held me, really close, and we just existed for a bit. Than, she started singing "lullaby of birdland" (and she has a beautiful voice [both in real life and in the dream]), and we danced whilst still holding each other until my alarm went blaring off in a different key bringing me back to reality. Suffice to say, I was pretty distracted at work.

And I still haven't seen salmon woman again. She's pretty. I've only met her the two times, but she smiled at me. So do the baristas at Heartland Café in Bridgeland. And this other girl who I served fish to, but have never seen again (Maurice sure gave me what for for not picking up on that one though :P)...

My cat is playing with a toy mouse. He is positively adorable.

Now he wants to go out.

Until the next gig,

John

Amsco

2008-05-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. January 28th 2007 to May 10th 2008. Andrea and I just broke up. We had a great run, and I must say that I have never had so much fun in my life. We saw a lot of things, went to a lot of concerts, been to a lot of places, talked about a lot of things. It was a really good relationship. The last few months were really rough, and basically I just couldn't take the constant fighting. I mean, I'm still in high school, and I just want to have fun. I don't want the good day to bad day ration being like, 1:100. I'm gonna miss her, but hopefully we can eventually get past the uncomfortable ex thing, but I know that that's going to take a long time... I mean, I'm still struggling to talk to hannah, and it's been three years.

This breakup was the easiest though, and I mean that in the sense that I don't feel like there's a lot in suspension. We sat and talked for a long time afterwards, and tied up a lot of the loose ends. I don't feel like there's anything that neither of us don't know, and I like that feeling.

She's going to do great things with her life... of that I am sure. I really hope that she will follow her dreams, and do all the cool stuff that she wants to do. And I'm sure that she'll find someone who will love her like she has never been loved before, and who she will love like never before. Hopefully we all will.

I'm going to miss her, but at the same time, I just need some time to myself. I need some time to be single, some time to re-shape my own life, seeing as this school year took a bit of a toll on my values/morals/way of doing life.

And to quote Neil Young:

"I was lying in a burned out basement,

With the full moon in my eyes.

I was thinking about what a friend had said,

And I was hoping it was a lie"

I'm gonna miss you Andrea, but thanks so much for the last 15 1/2 months... some of the best of my life!

Until the next gig,

John

Georgia On My Mind

2008-04-20T14:47:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt alone? Have you ever felt like there's nobody around? Well, that's me in a nut shell. Life took a MASSIVE twist two days ago, and now, suddenly, I feel simply helpless. I'm getting overly emotional about the stupidest things, I'm distracted, I can't focus on anything, I just want to sit and exist... not practice, not work, not do anything! GEEZE!!!! Man, I dunno what to do. For those sitting in perpetual perplextion as to what I'm talking about, I'm going to go to MRC next year. The decision was made two days ago, with about zero warning. I just don't know if it's the right thing to do or not. I never wanted to go to MRC... I never wanted to just "settle" for a college. But, I'm sure that it's the right thing to do.... I hope.

Facebook's not helping much either. I sent a message the other day, and I haven't heard back from them at all... and it's like... did they even get the message? Did I say something wrong? It really sucks, and I can't take my mind off of it.

I have a new favorite song... as the title of this post may incite. So pretty. The wednesday band played it, and Shayne, the lead tenor player played it sooooooo beautifully. I think a tear almost rolled down my cheek.

Have you ever just wanted to make a huge list of your accomplishments and then show the world.... that's another thing that I've been trying to deal with. I keep feeling like I'm living some kinda lie, always trying to hide the things I've done, the places I've gotten to, the level that I've reached at all sorts of different things.

But, enough of all that. I feel better having written it all down. I now need to go talk to my family about finances, over a nice cup of java, and return to the practice room.

Until the next gig,

John

My Favorite Things

2008-01-26T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a good while since I last wrote anything on this page, so here I am. Many times over the last few months I have wanted to write, but have not had the time, nor the access to a computer to act upon my desire. Many things have happened since I last posted, mostly more of the same. The ABHB was fun, and the music side of it was alright (we played what is now possibly my favorite piece of wind band music (the hounds of spring)), however the conductor was positivly life changing. The way she seemed to think about life, and the way that she would deal with all sorts of different situations was quite inspiring. Her thoughts on music were incredible. but to save boredom, I shall refrain from recounting them. It was nice to do a bit of a road trip too. And, band still sucks as much as ever... what with the supreme lack of dedication from almost all grade 12s. Oh well. In other news, I am taking a year off between high school and university. As much as I wish I could have gone straight in, I am just not comfortable enough with my own playing ability to go there yet. And, that would actually line me up with my proper year. (seeing as I am technically only at the ability of a grade 11 student)

Thats it for now. Beat Niq gig comming up soon... gonna be good...

Until the next gig,

John

(I can recall) Spain

2007-07-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been so long since Iast posted, that I actually forgot how to log on (which account I use). So, 15 mins later, I remember which one, and here I am. Since I last posted I have:

-Gone to New York New York
-Decided that it is there that I want to live
-Compiled a book of photographs (having nothing to do with New York)
-Been accepted to the National Youth Jazz Band out in Ottawa
-Gone to ottawa
-Spent five of six hours on the phone with a certain someone
-Saw 21 or 23 concerts in 10 days
-Saw Dave Brubeck live (and it was sooooo amazing)
-Saw the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band (which is the tightest big band I've ever seen)
-Learned the remainder of the lyrics to "Fly me to the moon"
-Attempted to seranade someone
-Several times
-Been hit hard by the non-needle carrying hand of my girl-friend (thank goodness it wasn't the other way around)
-Taken a potters wheel course, and succeded to make nothing but a lop-sided, scratched up bowl
-Learned how to paint shingles / siding
-Learned how to drywall a basement
-Driven lots
-Got accepted into the Alberta Honor Band
-Observed the massive thunderheads of a late day prarie storm
-Met some amazing new people
-Seen Brent stonned and drunk... at the same time
-Seen Canada day in Ottawa.... NUTS
-Kicked my sisters ex-boyfriend in the nuts (only in my mind, seeing as I havn't seen him in awhile)
-Sat on a dock with a certain someone,
-And perhaps, got a little bit misty, couldn't tell my hat from my glove.........

Perhaps it's love.....

Gee I wish I could rhyme all the time

I also wish I could spell "rhyme"

Until the next gig,

John

PS,... check it out... www.guyswithtiesjazz.com
Gigs comming up... information will be posted soon!

Fly Me To The Moon

2007-04-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen,

Tonight is my last night in Canada for almost a whole week. This is the first time that I will have ever left "the true north strong and free" in my life. And you will never guess where I'm going....

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

It is going to be absolutly amazing. I just finished packing, and so I'm totaly ready. I have a bag, my sax (which has to sit down below... I'm not looking forward to putting it down there. Blast stupid small carry-on sizes. ) and a bag of cymbals that Mac forgot in my car when I drove him home. Jazz choir was canceled today, so I was feeling lonely and yelled out "DOES ANYBODY WANT A RIDE?" and he said sure, so Mac and I (somebody I've almost never talked to) drove to is place, and then he forgot his stuff in my trunk. Oh well. I'll just bring it to the airport.

And Airports. How I adore them. Anything and everything to do with planes is absolutly amazing. The science behind it all is absolutly facinating, and I wish that I could spend more time in and around planes. But I guess that if that were the case, then It wouldn't be nearly as fun each time I went. It should be quite excellent. I'm really hyper right now, I think it's 'cause of the anticipation, which is weird 'cause physically I'm totally bagged. But none the less. I get to sleep in tomorrow just a slight bit, which shall be a small miracle unto itself. This is the second school trip that I've done that involved airplane travel. I'm quite looking forward to it. There are many aspects of the trip that I am very much looking forward to actually. I'm looking forward to seeing the sights of New York, perhaps even standing on the same stairs that Bird did, the night before he died, the stairs that lead down into the club that he played so many gigs at... Birdland. Perhpaps, taking a stroll down times square, looking from one end of the street to the other, and realizing that countless records, some of which I adore and own, were made, performed live, and danced to by huge crowds, within metres of where I'm standing. I'm also looking forward to the hotel. Especially the first night. Just sorta a day to chill, and maybe have a bit of time alone, to put my head down, and just think, or not think at all. It's something that I havn't done in a while, and I think I'm due for another sesion of it. A bit of relaxation.

But, I have to go now, I need to hydrate myself, find some socks, a hoodie perhaps, and then I'm off to meet a very certain someone, (assuming she eventually calls) and go for an evening stroll down through confederation park. Should be quite nice. By the way, don't let me forget to tell you about saturday... I don't have enough time now, but when I get back, I must recount some of the tales, for that was a day that truly altered my life.

But, it'll be a week or so before I'm back, so

Until the next gig,

John

Boplicity

2007-04-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

SSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'S BAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stompin' at the Savoy

2007-04-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

It's raining, but not pouring. As unfortunate as that may be, I am still surviving, unlike so many helpless citizens whos' votes are unfairly cast into the corrupt democracy that no longer means anything.

And yes, I am just trying to sound like I know what I'm talking about.

Today I finished watching "The History of Jazz in 19 Short Hours" Which is of course code for "The Ken Burns Jazz series" which I strongly recomend to all jazz fans. It's a bear to watch 'cause it's so long, but it is so informative. And of course, the best sound track of any movie/series that I have ever watched.

Tomorrow, school starts again. Considering that I have seen two people this whole last week, I suspect that despite my massive need for personal space (only in crowds... in other situations, that just doesn't exist) it will be quite nice to see people again. Although, they'll probably all run away with fear of catching my plague, which is pretty much entirely gone. I am quite pleased to see that my health is returning to a level that is quasi-normal. It still hurts to yawn, but that's it. And I don't feel sick any more, just tired, and even then, every day it gets less and less and less. I suspect that by the time we take off for New York, I will be totally good. In fact, I WILL be totally good for April 17th, which I discovered is only 4 short days after she gets back. Perhaps not that bad after all.

I watched New York New York yesterday evening, and it was really good.

I just remembered that I'm gonna watch duncans show tonight. It's on in 15.

Peace

Until the next gig,

Ryley

Perhaps

2007-04-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hello to all to take time out of their precious, precious days to read this "news colomb"(wow, I really can't spell) on the new happening in my life.

To begin.

In the last three weeks I have had/still have:

Colds,
Fevers,
Flu,
Sinus Infection,
Pink Eye,
Strep Throat,

and the pièce de résistance:

Mono

I went to the doctors on monday and got some blood work done, and a swab test of my throat. The results came in today, and informed me, that I have everything that they were testing for. So, I'm on an anti-biotic (one of the few things in this world that I truly detest), and then, for the mono, what can you do? NOTHING! Sleep lots says the doctor. Nay, for I to Fife... Except that makes no sense unless you've read Macbeth, and even then, it still wouldn't make any sense. So I've been sleeping all day everyday for the last, well... two days. They say that it will all be gone for certain on April 17th, when I have to go and get more tests done (and miss some school, arg... I miss to much school as it is). For those not familliar with mono, don't ask me. All that I know, is that it's a virus (no medication for it), and that it can come from two sources: Saliva of an infected individual, or being extra-ordinarily worn out both physically and mentally. Well, seeing as there has been no making out with Devra (the last person in the band to have it), I can safely assume that this came from my excessive worry, and all such associated things at school, which have, over the last several months truly worn me down. And now I have two weeks where I can't do anything. I feel quite helpless, but whatever. I'm really glad though... apparently, there are several different grades of mono, and I have the least severe one, which means that once I feel okay physically, I can in fact go to school. I just won't be able to really be near anyone, which really sucks. But the strep is slowly going away. I can actually feel the drug working, it's sorta neat.

And enough about my illness.

So Amsco is in Portugal, and where she is, it is 345 in the morning. I think that's so cool how it's a different day where she is. Perhaps I'm insane, perhaps not...

In anycase, from when she gets back, it's gonna be at least a week until her and I can even just get together and go for a walk 'cause of my plague. That is the oppitomy (sp) of agravating.

But enough of my romance life.

And I'm off to bed.

Until the next gig,

John

Parkers Mood

2007-03-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

And I'm sick.

Again.

And I am so fed up with being sick. It drives me insane. I just want a few days at least where I can feel better. It's three weeks now that I've been non-stop sick, and three months that I've been on and off sick / never feeling 100%. It is driving me up the wall... and not in a good way either.

But onto bigger and brighter things.

I got my drivers license on thursday. I went in my spare and did my test. It proved not hard, and I passed. Aparently I forgot a mirror check (and yes, I slapped my wrist for it), but other then that, it went fine. The guy was a realy jerk, and you could tell that he didn't want to be there. Again, I also find it ironic that the one skill that everybody should have (driving), is always taught and examined, by people who do not speak english. It's really weird. Oh well. I passed. That night, I drove my sis and her boyfriend, and Elliot to Cochrane, where we enjoyed a nice coffee. It's really nice to have that freedom. Today, Josh, Elliot, Duncan and I, all pilled into my car, and we drove off to Canmore, for a delightful breakfast at a cute little french restaurant. It's cool. And it's really nice. And it's fun to be the car on the road, with the windows all rolled down, and four teenagers sitting in the car, listenting to John Coltrane, Stan Getz, and Charlie Parker, blow the speakers out. I would imagine that that was a funny sight to some. In anycase, it was rewarding to us.

And there's a chance that I'm going to Ottawa this summer. Only for a week, in fact, it's while exams are still in, I just don't have any that week. Just a short little jaunt down there. In anycase, the chances of me going are about 1/1000, so perhaps I shouldn't have even mentioned it.

And Amscos gone, for two weeks. This is going to not be fun. I'm two days in, and miss her quite a bit. I think I'd survive a lot better if school were in, but because it's spring break, and I have no homework, it's particularly lonely. Just me, my cats, and Jimmy. Who is quite due for a cleaning... time to scrub out the viruses of my plague.

So, that's the evening news, thanks for tuning in, and I'll talk to you later.

Until the next gig,

John

So What

2007-03-22T19:10:00.000-07:00

And again, here we find ourselves sitting at the computer on a beautiful day wondering what to do. So, lets blog.

Since I last posted, much has happened in my life. As in, Choir Camp, and I caught the plague. Seriously, I thought that I missed it, and then, on thursday, I woke up with a slightly sore throat, and didn't think anything of it. Then, geeze... friday, Mr. Waters walked into the room to wake us up... And I could litterally not move. It was god aweful. Not only could I not move, but my head hurt, my stomach was off, and I felt totaly wasted. And not only that, but I was wearing next to nothing (key word being next), and had to figure out how to get from the top bunk to the bottom (where all my stuff was), without letting the other boys see what I actually look like without many clothes on. (I can think of a few people who will gladly tell you just how hideous it is) I sat in the hot shower for sooo long that morning. I don't care if I was wasting water. It helped. It sorta helped my muscles start moving. The worst though, I had to sing... all day. It was terrible. Sectionals in the morning, full choir rehersal in the morning, and then a few hours of packing / going home, and then a performance at the vocal jazz festival that evening. I was late for All Cities, so I just didn't go. It was convienient. But, being the trooper that I am (not), I still mannaged to find the power from somewhere within me, to go to the university, and meet up with a certain someone, and spend the night with them. It was really nice to see them again. We went for a really long walk... from dalhousie to the cheesecake café, and then from there, all the way to confederation park, and from there to her house, dropped her off, and then I walked home (over 20 blocks). To say the least, I was totaly beat. I don't regret it, in fact I had an excelent time, and I only started feeling sick again later in the evening (around 1045), at which point we went our seperate ways. I totaly gave up on the next day, which was supposed to be filled with rehersals and all sorts of stuff... not anymore. I just slept. Until 3.

And that has been my entire last week. I took monday off (as did Amsco, who caught it as well), and slept, until 3. And the rest of the days have been filled with just general worrying about school / my failings at music / my general health / being late for WE again... and having today off. It's so nice. In the middle of bloody nowhere, we get thursday off. I have to go to school tomorrow again, but it's a short day... despite the fact that I'm going to be there until 8 'cause of the MOAB... geeze-niculas. Anyhow.

And that has been my life. Today Amsco and I were supposed to get together. But we're sick, and she's leaving for portugal soon, not to mention she has about a billion things on her plate right now, so she needs to be in good health. So we didn't. Which sucks, 'cause it was our last chance to see each other alone in pretty much three weeks +... but whatever. We'll find another time to make breakfast I'm sure (which is what we were going to do today). Not to mention we have the almost entire next week of classes.

And there is SEVEN DAYS UNTIL I AM FREE FROM THE RESTRAINTS OF MY INCAPABLE WALKING ABILITIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But that's another story for another day.

I must now go soak my worries into a nice warm bath, and then off to bed. LOOOONG day tomorrow.

And such.

Until the next gig,

John

Boogie Stop Shuffle

2007-03-10T11:59:00.000-08:00

G'Day all,

Here I sit, at my computer, on this absolutly beautiful beautiful saturday afternoon. I am waiting to meander over to my hair dressers to get my hair cut. The only problem is, I don't know where this guy is.... Small issue. I got home at 1230 this afternoon, expecting my mom to give me a ride over there, and then, it turns out that oh, they've taken the dog to Bragg Creek, and that I have to get myself there. I have no bloody idea where it is. Should be fun trying to find it.

Yesterday was excellent. In fact, way up there on my list of good days in my life. I would in fact, rank it quite near the top. I woke up (which is never fun), and made perogies for breakfast. Yes yes, I know Breakfast? It was good in any case. Then, over to her house for 11:36. And in fact, I mannaged to knock on her door at exactly 1136, so I got a Lindor chocolate as a prize. I love lindor chocolates. They say chocolate is a girls best friend, well, perhaps I'm a woman. (considering that I'll never be a man) In anycase, Lindor is the way to my heart. We gave up on pie, and made cake instead. Apple spice... it was really good. And it didn't explode as I had predicted. Excellent. All cities was sorta lame, 'cause we were missing a bunch of people (coughhornscough), and the other tenor player (and may he kindle jesus enternal bonfire) has the only tenor part for this one song. So I get to play the bass drum. Excellent. How to count rests. Hundreds of bars, or at least, that's what it seems like. It's really lame.

We were going to go to a Dexter Gordon tribute concert as well that night but during all cities I was all like "man, the last thing I want to do right now is sit though a concert (despite the fact that it would have been amazing)" so we went for a VERY long walk, in search of food, which we eventually found. It was excellent. And such has been my life as of late.

Well, I need to go find out where this hair dresser is, so I had best be off.

Until the next gig,

John

Ladybird

2007-03-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Hello all,

Today was a beautiful day.

I was late for wind ensemble, and felt like a total retard, 'cause I missed my alarm. Bloddy ficken technology.... *mutters further under breath* and the physics test that I wrote shortly after that did not go overly well, 'cause it was based on theory that he had only very barely taught us, and so I did most of it the way that I was thinking it should be done. I hope to have at least not failed it. The rest of the school day was pretty good I guess. Relaxing if nothing else. I went home in my spare, which I have never done before. Came back, and then there was a fire drill in english, just before the day ended, which was a welcome relief. (and a nice little jaunt outside in this beautiful weather).

Choir sucked. And that's all I have to say about that. I'm not doing either vocal groups next year, 'cause I'm way way way to busy. I will however be able to tell my sisters grandkids that I was once in every single bloody band that the school had to offer my grade. Big woop. Yay band... except not.

Jazz on the other hand, is most excellent. The bones and saxes had this sweet SfzP cres., with this massive slide in the first bar of the solo section in I've found a new baby, and after just a few goes at it, it was mind blowing (all thanks to alistair, who still leads the bone section, despite the fact that he plays second.) I was just sitting there in astonishment, 'cause I've never heard the band do that. See... we can be as good as Beaverbrook... who cares if they've got all the money. Not to mention that I've heard some interesting runors about next years happeneings with the jazz band. However, I am not to disclose them here, 'cause I'm not sure who reads this, and who doesn't.

And I went for a long drive today with my mom. Some excellent bonding time. It was a really relaxing way to end a hectic week. Overall, today was beautiful. Very much enjoyed. Learned something about a horn player today... should like to see how that plays out. Again, I'll just keep my mouth shut, or in this instance, my fingers still....

And I must now be off, 'cause I'm up early tomorrow to buy reeds, and practice perhaps, and then the pièce de résistance: going to her house to make pie..... oh mon dieu do I like pie. It shall be excellent, particularly 'cause I've never made it from scratch before.

She makes me sooo happy....

Until the next gig!

John

Cherokee

2007-03-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been months and months since I last posted.

So much of my life has changed since my last post in september, or november or something rediculous like that.

I need to be not so long, 'cause I've got some stuff to get done, but here's the rundown of my life, and how it's changed since my last post:

It's a new semester, new classes, new teachers (except physics), finished math forever (merci dieu), got my diploma results back, signed up for next years courses, and am on my long and winding (sp) road, to the end of my public school career.

My musical life has changed a lot as well, since my last posting. I am still studying with Richard and Pat, and occasionally Brent (when he's in town). My combo is still together, and we still rehearse twice a week (which has become much less "rehearse" and much more "fun, jamming of music, 'cause we almost have a vague conception of what jazz is"). I was contacted by Pat to play a gig with the Edmonton X-Band, a latin band from, you'll never guess where, who needed a tenor player for the weekend. Two night gig, 10PM-2AM, at a spanish restaurant/club downtown. 80$ a night... so very excellent. I didn't play overly well, 'cause I was sightread the whole first performance, and my reading is terrible, but I learned sooo much about music, and what it's actually like in the real world. Thanks to Pat, and the band for that experience!

As well, one of the best nights of my life happened this month... February 8th, 2007... my combo did a live gig at the Beat Niq jazz and social club. I have never ever in my life, had so much fun on stage. And I really dug the night. Very much positive feedback came from it. There were a few people that I wish had been there (rich, pat, etc...) but whatever, we pretty much sold the place out as it was, and all got paid for it... that's the life.

I do believe that when I last posted, I was in a relationship. To put it bluntly (and to spite the way that she talked about it in her blog) that's over. Things started getting really rough in early november (like, late october more like), and then we managed to stick it out for a few weeks, until I finally gave in, 'cause I wasn't having any fun anymore, and her and I just didn't click anymore. We broke up somewhere in mid november (the exact date eludes me at this moment)... and after a week of contemplation, we got back together. I gave it two weeks, josh gave it one. Josh was right. (when I say that I gave it two weeks, it just means that I really wasn't sure that anything had changed... and something said... this isn't going to work)

And life continued. I was single again, as of Dec. 10. I thought that I was going to stay that way for at least a year.
And then.. she came along.

One night, a bus ride home, my head on her lap, and I had never felt so, protected/cared for... and we were just friends. Then, new years eve, she, among a bunch of other people came over, and we watched O Brother Where Art Though (sp), which is fantastic. I don't know if it was a mistake or not, but I just layed my head against hers, and as we watched the movie, I knew, at that moment, that I had totaly fallen for her.

The next day, she called me, (and that's rare... a girl calling me?!?!) and asked if I wanted to go see Blood Diamond. I said sure, and it was great. Both the time, and the movie. (very very violent, but good none the less) Then we went for coffee, and again, those same thoughts. We met several times over the next few weeks (we were off for exams/christmas) and spent a LOT of time together. Enough, that she can blame any mark that she's not happy with on me (for her diplomas). We went for HUGE walks, and long hours spent in cafés. It was spectacular. Nobody ever talked to me quite so much. Nobody had ever really arranged to do things like her. She was quite a "first" for me. (as in, not first girlfriend, but, you know what I mean) Then, one night, I had e-mailed her, and asked her if we wanted to go out for coffee (again), and then she didn't respond for quite a while, so I called her, and she picked up, and was all like "sure" and we met. We grabbed coffee from Oolong tea house, and then went for another one of our eternal walks. From there, to the lazy loaf and kettle, for those of you farmilliar with this city. And then we went for a walk down the river path a bit, and sat on a bench for quite some time, and chatted. My cell phone rang (yesyes, I have entered into the evil world of cell phones... not by choice though), and it was a drummer who was calling about a jam the next day. When I shut it off, it was eight thirty. Moments after that, she asked me what a particular look that I had given her a few times over the last few days meant. After several moments of deliberation, I asked her out. the date was Jan 28. It's been a month and a day now, and life has not ever been quite as good as it is now. I'll stop there, and probably go on about this in other posts, however I have a physics lab calling.

So, that's what's new in my life. I have another gig tomorrow... yay. Corparate parties!!!!!

Well, thanks for taking time out of your day to read that.

Until the next gig,

John

Oleo

2006-09-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Hello all. I appologise for not having posted anything in the last long while... but I have not done much, and thus have not had much to post. Today however, I am going to attempt to sum everything up that has happened to me since school started. Soooo...

First day of school was good. I have good classes... good teachers... mother of a work load for the first semester, but, that's what keeps me alive. Nice to see people again, but at the same time, I wish that so many of them would all just go away. Some people... gee. I was Mr Waters, and that made me really happy. He said he had something for me... but I have yet to see what it is... So, after that, there was several days of just getting into the whole school thing again. Turns out that work + grade 11 isn't much fun. Soooo... if we skip ahead a few days, we will find that on September 11, I resigned from Co-op... which made me sad. When I went in the next day, they convinced me that I should stay. So, I pulled it back. Robyn thinks that they are going to steal my soul... I think that she's right. I have however decided that if they make one mistake on my schedual, I am quiting for good. It'll be sad, but, whatever. Also, Josh is quitting... he called in sick so that he could go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but they said that he would need a doctors note. So, five minutes before his shift tomorrow, he is going to call in and say that he is no longer comming to work... sucks, 'cause I'm gonna be like, the only casheir. Oh well... every day is an adventure at Co-op. So, in other news, a bunch of friends and I went to go see the Chili Peppers, as mentioned above. It was fun... even though I only knew one of the songs that they played. It was still a blast. It made me really feel weird, kinda like this time last year... hmm I guess I really shouldn't think about it. Anyways. I auditioned for the All City Wind Ensemble. and I really hope that I get in. They were talking about these neat songs that have soprano melodies, which would be fun, because I need to get better at that confounded tube of metal.

I miss Robyn.... alot. I don't know why, but as of late, it's really been hitting me hard... I just really miss seeing her... even though we still see eachother every day in class... I think that it's probably just that we didn't see eachother all summer, and thus, I am still feeling very lonely. She's awesome. That girl can do anything that she wants. I was looking on the band room door today, and it said that she had made the top level jazz band that the school offers. Which is awesome. Not to mention that she is a grade eight bassoonist, who can play absolutly anything that you put in front of her. She can also play the flute, and the piano. She tryed T-bone, but I don't think that she enjoyed it that much. But anyways... She lives a good, fun life. She always has a smile on her face, and something in her eyes...

Anyways, I'm sorry for all of you who have to sort through all of my emotional baggage so to speak, but I'm hungry, tired, and in a really weird mood. Soooo... I dunno.

Anyways, I think that dinner will be arriving shortly.

Until the next gig!

Donna Lee

2006-08-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Another day at Co-op, another day of life, another day of adventure.

This has gotta be short. Soooooooo, today I went to Coop, and opened, to the nice smell of fresh baked bread, and fresh roasted chickens.The shift was of the eight hour variety, and on my half hour, I enjoyed a refreshing bowl of cream of mushroom soup, and two peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Hunny buns was working later today also with an eight hour. hope that he enjoyed it.

Open jam ses tomorrow at Elliots... should be fun. Lots of new people that I havn't played with before/ not very much.

It was my sisters birthday today, and she got an iPod. I think she'll enjoy it. The cake was super good... more like pie, of the pecan variety, with half melted vanilla ice cream on the top. mmmmmmm, wholesome goodness...

Well, I had best be off, in order to get to bed, because have to be up early.

Peace, love jazz!

Until the next gig...

Robs Blues

2006-08-29T21:59:00.000-07:00

Good evening all.

Another post, this one will however be quick.

So, today, I went to school to pay my fees, and get my picture taken. I look mostly stoned... kinda out there, and all that stuff that I look like in every picture that has ever been taken of me. Anyways, went home, kicked around for a bit, then mozied on down to work, where none of my friends were working, for six hours. Now... keep in mind that it's Warehouse sale week at Co-op, so a six hour shift feels more like a twelve hour shift... sucks. Not to mention that it was mostly new service clerks today, so nothing got done. Also, my last break was 45 mins late, which ticked me off, 'cause I really needed it. Oh well. On the bright side, I was bang on for the day, which made me happy, probably made the customers happy too. YAY Happy!

Sisters birthday tomorrow. I gotta leave in a few mins to go pick her up from some party she's at. Hope she likes the gift I got her... But in case she reads this... which I know she does, I won't mention what it is.

So, today was long, today will be longer... gotta get up at 6, to be at work for 8, work until 430, and then go for dinner with my familly. Well, at least I don't have eight hours of social homework like I did on my birthday, and on my moms. YAY.

Anyways, so not much else is new. I started writing some bios for this bands website... I think that they're pretty lame, but whatever. 'ol hunnybuns will be the judge of that. And that is my lifes story.

Anyways, I gotta go pick up my sis in her state of drunken madness, however unlikely that may be... anyways

Peace, love, jazz!

Until the next gig...

Giant Steps

2006-08-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, and I hope you all enjoy my mostly pointless third entry.

So, I promised myself that I would not let this turn into a place for me to complain about things that are supposedly wrong in my life... but probably acctauly aren't, but, what ever.... three stubbs for teenage ainxt (I have absolutly no idea how to spell that)

Anyways, I feel really low right now... really, really really... oh well.. anyways.

In reference to the title, I just got back from BC, and that's about all I have to say about that, other then my golf scores have come way down, and I caught so many fish that I lost track of how many we brought in. After about 20 mins of not catching anything, Andrew and I both decided that we should reel in 'cause we had probably got hooked on weeds... Much to both of our surprise, we both had fish on, that had just been draging along for the whole time.

So, I listened to some "A Love Supreme" by Trane today, until my parents left the room because it was tooooooo much. So I turned it off, 'cause I was just trying to make a point. I worked for 4 hours today, and was one cent out, which is good, but not as good as ol' JJ, who was bang on...

I think tonight, is one of those nights, where well, ya know... you won't be able to sleep, even though you're really tired, just 'cause of the way you feel. Anyways.... oh well... maybe someday.

Just josh and I working tonight, nobody else that I know... sad, but, whatever... oh, and I need to call Michael to arrange that jam, and Bryan, and Robyn, and Josh, and Elliot, and Steve, and Andrea, knowing me, I'll probably end up trying to call myself.

And, for the record, I'm just talking for the sake of talking.

Also, listened to more Trane, some Ralph Bowen, and some Buddy Rich. All heros of mine.

Boy oh boy. I feel sosoooooooooooooo alone...

Anyways, I would go on, but, I should probably head somewhere in the vague direction of my bed, provided I don't fall down the stairs accidentaly.

I have to be up soooo early tomorrow, it's not even funny

Anyways. Peace, love, jazz!

Until the next gig!

Chasing the Bird

2006-08-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

Good day all.

Welcome to my second post. Today was my last day at Co-op for one whole entire week! Yaya! It was probably one of the longest 6h shifts I have ever done, but I didn't have to cash-up, which is what counts. First shift that I ever got to hand the till to somebody else.... amazing. I'm supposed to go riding with Johann today, but I just tryed his cell a few seconds ago, and there is still no answer. Looks like I'm stuck here. Oh well. Nothing like a wholesome meal of smoked chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob, I think.... anyways, should be good.

In other news. Charlie Parker is God. In fact.... GOD. There we are... while that is still an understatement, I feel better.

I really want to see Bird again, 'cause it was a super amazing movie.... one of the few that almost had me in tears at the end... ('cause I'm that much of a girl) It was soooo sad. Oh well. I doubt anybody would watch it with me anyways. I'm not very fun when it comes to movies. Not to mention my terrible taste in film.

Tomorrow should be fun... wake up, eat the celebration breakfast of a lifetime (one might even say, the breakfast of champions) and then swing dance on over to Elliots, where we shall jazz it up like a preachers dog on a saturday barmitzfa (sp). Followed very closely by driving lesson number II, yikes... hope I don't kill anyone like last time. Then a lesson with Brent. Who, is also God.

Also for those of you who have no idea what on earth the basis for all my conversation is about... it's one word.... and it starts with "S".

and nobody save for Alex will ever know what that word is, because I accidentaly told him when I was in the Smoke Shop at work. And some of the band geeks might get it... :P

Also, on my last post, I forgot to mention Alex.

Alex is also one of my dear friends, who I occaisonaly dub "Napalm" of "Weed Man" or the newest one... "Alexé Magnus" Alex is very funny and always has the best stories.

Oh yes, and Erik as well... boy... I feel like an old person...
Erik is my riding buddy. He is possibly the best photographer I have ever met in my whole entire life... which is saying something, considering my dads a pro camera guy... I would say he's tied with my dad. Anyways, he takes the most amazing pictures. In fact if my computer wasn't so dumb, I think I may post some... Maybe... 'cause they're really cool.

Anyways... I had best be off to enjoy this spectacular dinner that my family has prepared.

Peace, Love, Jazz!

The legend of the three tenors

2006-08-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Good day to everyone who will ever bother to take time out of their days to read this... and welcome to my blog-like-thing. I have absolutly no idea why I am getting one, but... that doesn't matter for now.

soooooooooo.

Who is this you may ask... I like to call myself John... but that is not my real name. I am a person... contrary to popular belief... not the little green monster that so many people are familliar with. If you are wondering... yes, I do take the long way home.

My interests include music, biking, working at Co-op, trains, airplanes, my car named Wade, mowing the lawn, eating, Hornby island, fishing, and on occaision, playing video games, such as Halo, and Jedi kight II.

Favorite bands: Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Beatles, Miles Davis quintet, Dave Brubeck quartet, Oscar Peterson trio, Count Basie big band, Duke Ellington Orchestra, Charlie Parker septet, and then a whole bunch of other jazzers who never stayed in one band for very long... John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Karl Roth, Thelonius Monk, John "Dizzy" Gillespie, and others, not to mention some new guys, like Pat Belliveau, Richard Harding, Gerry Hébert, John Hyde, Jeremy Brown, Tyler Hornby, Ralph Bushmeyer (sp), Ralph Bowen, PJ Perry, Vern Dorges (sp), Bill Mayes, The entire band: Terrain, along with Manic Thematic, and I'm sure that there are others that I'm just forgeting.

Anyways. Yes....

Friends: JJ "The Hair" Crowhurst (he know who he is) plays one mean jazz guitar.... and he helps me get through every day.
Elliot is a drummer, who can play anything you ask him to. We go to cafés and chat for hours. Its always awesome when he's around.
Adam: Jock supreme... very talented athlete, captain of football team and all that stuff. He's good to talk to 'cause he listens real good
Johann. Funniest guy that I know. Likes breaking the rules, but only for fun. He is a blast to hang around with.
Alistair: Trombone... or, French machine gun if you will... very british, and very funny. Also completly oblivious. He's awesome to talk to about sciences, and music. Very nice guy.
Stubbs.... the name says it all... it's been a while, but it was nice while we were still good friends... excelent bike mechanic
Steve... plays one mean bass... going on to study music, I hope. Really nice, and really funny.
Bryan is going to UBC to study trumpet. Super super good. Him and I used to always playfight before classes. He would almost always win. ahhh... good memories.
Everybody at Co-op

there are people who I'm sure I missed, and my appologies for that. but it is pretty spanking early in the morning. for me at least.
Also, those are just some of the awesome things about those people.

So yes

The word Byrd has many meanings to me... That of the animal, that of my favorite saxophonist, Charlie Parker, and that of the most amazing girl ever. she knows who she is. You may need these three definitions, as the word will most likely be used often, and should not be confused with the wrong deffinition. ya.... I miss her...

Anyways, here is where I leave you all!

Unitl the next gig!

Peace, Love, Jazz