I just got into Halifax. This city is as awesome as I remember. Like Vancouver for obvious reasons, but replace Starbucks with Tim Hortons and replace heroin addicts with fishermen. Something like that.
I met one of the Canada World youth workers and he seemed pretty cool and I'm feeling good about what I've managed to get myself into. He gave me some money and dared me to stop in to the Canada World youth office cause he has some work for me to do. yikes. And he had new sunglasses with orange lenses. which give him superpowers or something.. I wasn't really paying attention.
Anyways, this internet cafe is on Blowers Street. I can't think about it without laughing. maybe I am a 14 yr. old boy trapped in a 20yr old girls body.. or maybe I'm tired. Or maybe both.
I think I'll head back to the hostel and see if I can get some rest. Or seee if there's any potential single serving friends kicking around. Or practice waiting in line.
Tomorrow I get to hang around the city by myself for the entire day. I'm not sure why I came a day earlier then everybody else. Maybe they drew my name out of hat or something.. probably a big furry hat.
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
living like it's the last night on earth.. or something..
Sorry for the lag in the blog updates. My parents internet is out of order, so I was cut off from the world for awhile. AHHH. cut it out.
First I would like to apologize to anybody who I offended with my out of control drunkeness on Saturday. From what I remember, I had a really fun time. And judging from the pictures, even the parts I don't remember looked kinda fun too. (where did that container of vaseline come from??) Last thing I remember was wishing I had 3 hands instead of 2 so I could hold 2 Heinekens AND do a shot of Jägermeister AT THE SAME TIME. I think that reason exactly is why humans only have 2 hands. It's a safety feature. Like in cars.
I was super happy to see lots of yous out. It makes it a little hard to leave seeing you all out rockin' and rollin', chillin' and killin' and whatnot.. hey man is that your car? Its nice. Is it new? or is it an old one I haven't seen?
Sunday was Christmas ( I got a camera YEE HAW) and my dad, aka Jesus' birthday. Jesus turned 53. And that only happens once in a lifetime, so we went out for dinner with my entire family plus one extra, namely Daniel's girlfriend. She managed to squeeze her way in to a steak dinner somehow... what a weasle.
So after a lovelee dinner.. as we're getting ready to leave, Daniel says, "Let's make like Tom and Cruise" and then Jesse replies, "let's make like a banana and split" and then Corey (the youngest) says "You guys are stupider than a screen door on a submarine" (he may be young, but he does have a point.) As always, I could't help but laugh at their stupid bantering shananigan give us 5 minutes and we'll get us kicked out of ANY restaurant ways..
Suddenly, out of nowhere, my mother yells out.. as she finished her 2nd glass of wine, "Let's make like Paul Coffey and GET THE PUCK OUT OF HERE" (the capital letters indicates that my mother slightly raised her voice, enough for other tables around to take notice of the borderline vulgarity of her expression)
I used to think my mother was so innocent and naive, and now I'm forced to believe that she can whip out puns as if she invented the puckin' things.
Monday I hung out with my dad. He's having some eye problems, so we went to see 3 different doctor dudes. One of them put these eye drops in which dilated his pupils, making him look like he just dropped a couple hits of Ecstacy and/or acid. Or maybe he did some ecstacy while he was in the doctors office you just never know. We went to get his license renewed, and the lady at the registry place gave him the most skeptical look when he told her he wanted to renew his license. She pulled him aside and asked for 2 extra pieces of ID. Then, she got some co-workers to come check him out. Eventually, my dad looked in the mirror and realized his striking resemblance to a candy flipping hippy raver wacked out on a Monday afternoon. He explained the situation. Eventually the lady believed his story and gave him his license. And a sucker. She even gave me a sucker. What a gal. So the moral of the story is, if you're even dropping acid and ecstacy on a Monday afternoon and you need to get your license renewed, just say you got some special drops put in your eyes.. works like a charm. Who said parents don't teach yas anything useful??
Goodbyes are really fun! (read: not fun at all) My favourite part was how people react to somebody crying on the bus. Approximately half ignore it, and the other half just STARE. it's kinda creepy actually..
I think I'm beginning to understand why people don't undertake so many ridiculous overseas adventures as they get older. It's kinda tough putting your life into a little cubby hole (like in Kindergarden where you keep your outdoor shoes and your indoor shoes) and eventually coming back to it. Having left it unattended for 6 months, some shoe thieves could have snuck in during nap time and cut your shoes up and used it to bury in the sandbox. Or it could be perfectly intact. Risky Business. Tough on the old heart strings. But I'm forced to remind myself of a song by Elton John called "crocodile rock" and then I know that everything will be alright.
Tomorrow I'm off the HALIFAX. In the AM. Which is like my name, but without a Y.
First I would like to apologize to anybody who I offended with my out of control drunkeness on Saturday. From what I remember, I had a really fun time. And judging from the pictures, even the parts I don't remember looked kinda fun too. (where did that container of vaseline come from??) Last thing I remember was wishing I had 3 hands instead of 2 so I could hold 2 Heinekens AND do a shot of Jägermeister AT THE SAME TIME. I think that reason exactly is why humans only have 2 hands. It's a safety feature. Like in cars.
I was super happy to see lots of yous out. It makes it a little hard to leave seeing you all out rockin' and rollin', chillin' and killin' and whatnot.. hey man is that your car? Its nice. Is it new? or is it an old one I haven't seen?
Sunday was Christmas ( I got a camera YEE HAW) and my dad, aka Jesus' birthday. Jesus turned 53. And that only happens once in a lifetime, so we went out for dinner with my entire family plus one extra, namely Daniel's girlfriend. She managed to squeeze her way in to a steak dinner somehow... what a weasle.
So after a lovelee dinner.. as we're getting ready to leave, Daniel says, "Let's make like Tom and Cruise" and then Jesse replies, "let's make like a banana and split" and then Corey (the youngest) says "You guys are stupider than a screen door on a submarine" (he may be young, but he does have a point.) As always, I could't help but laugh at their stupid bantering shananigan give us 5 minutes and we'll get us kicked out of ANY restaurant ways..
Suddenly, out of nowhere, my mother yells out.. as she finished her 2nd glass of wine, "Let's make like Paul Coffey and GET THE PUCK OUT OF HERE" (the capital letters indicates that my mother slightly raised her voice, enough for other tables around to take notice of the borderline vulgarity of her expression)
I used to think my mother was so innocent and naive, and now I'm forced to believe that she can whip out puns as if she invented the puckin' things.
Monday I hung out with my dad. He's having some eye problems, so we went to see 3 different doctor dudes. One of them put these eye drops in which dilated his pupils, making him look like he just dropped a couple hits of Ecstacy and/or acid. Or maybe he did some ecstacy while he was in the doctors office you just never know. We went to get his license renewed, and the lady at the registry place gave him the most skeptical look when he told her he wanted to renew his license. She pulled him aside and asked for 2 extra pieces of ID. Then, she got some co-workers to come check him out. Eventually, my dad looked in the mirror and realized his striking resemblance to a candy flipping hippy raver wacked out on a Monday afternoon. He explained the situation. Eventually the lady believed his story and gave him his license. And a sucker. She even gave me a sucker. What a gal. So the moral of the story is, if you're even dropping acid and ecstacy on a Monday afternoon and you need to get your license renewed, just say you got some special drops put in your eyes.. works like a charm. Who said parents don't teach yas anything useful??
Goodbyes are really fun! (read: not fun at all) My favourite part was how people react to somebody crying on the bus. Approximately half ignore it, and the other half just STARE. it's kinda creepy actually..
I think I'm beginning to understand why people don't undertake so many ridiculous overseas adventures as they get older. It's kinda tough putting your life into a little cubby hole (like in Kindergarden where you keep your outdoor shoes and your indoor shoes) and eventually coming back to it. Having left it unattended for 6 months, some shoe thieves could have snuck in during nap time and cut your shoes up and used it to bury in the sandbox. Or it could be perfectly intact. Risky Business. Tough on the old heart strings. But I'm forced to remind myself of a song by Elton John called "crocodile rock" and then I know that everything will be alright.
Tomorrow I'm off the HALIFAX. In the AM. Which is like my name, but without a Y.
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Ode to Barrie aka Barbie G
As the days to my departure draw near I am reminded of an old saying, "pass the salad". I am not sure that that applies but I am sure that we all feel the same way about salad and possibly salsa, like the chips not dancing. On the same note I got to see my dear friend Barrie yesterday and seriously she is a dear, we went to a place not far from here, it is a magical place with rainbows and little people, we sang oh how we sang, into the night we sang-you could hear our voices rise in unison, and this is where we end.
Tonight is the night, what night you might ask and if you do ask I would say you are a retard, read the blog. Tonight we joing forces and prepare to take on our toughest challange yet...we call it operation sea otter. It begins at the black dog where our tacticle forces will be organizing the battle. I look upon tonight with a joyous yet saddened heart, I am excited to go to that place that I am going to but in the same breath I also note that I am sad to leave you all. So I think I will just get really drunk so I don't have to think about it or maybe I will just not go- so there, thats for not coming to my birthday, you thought I would forget didn't you, answer me, YOU THOUGHT I WOULD FORGET....well I got news for you chuckles I never forget. So when I am in Russia on my birthday- maybe I won't even be there- but I will think of you and laugh and laugh and laugh.
In closing as my dear friend Elton John once said, " I remember when rock was young, me and Suzie had so much fun holding hands and skippin stones had an old brown chevy and a place of my own...something something something...alligator"
Don't correct me. OR SIR ELTON its what he said.
Tonight is the night, what night you might ask and if you do ask I would say you are a retard, read the blog. Tonight we joing forces and prepare to take on our toughest challange yet...we call it operation sea otter. It begins at the black dog where our tacticle forces will be organizing the battle. I look upon tonight with a joyous yet saddened heart, I am excited to go to that place that I am going to but in the same breath I also note that I am sad to leave you all. So I think I will just get really drunk so I don't have to think about it or maybe I will just not go- so there, thats for not coming to my birthday, you thought I would forget didn't you, answer me, YOU THOUGHT I WOULD FORGET....well I got news for you chuckles I never forget. So when I am in Russia on my birthday- maybe I won't even be there- but I will think of you and laugh and laugh and laugh.
In closing as my dear friend Elton John once said, " I remember when rock was young, me and Suzie had so much fun holding hands and skippin stones had an old brown chevy and a place of my own...something something something...alligator"
Don't correct me. OR SIR ELTON its what he said.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Starwars Battlefront
Well I never thought the day would come where I would find myself at Crosshairs on a thrsday night at 10:30.The future is hard to predict.Because I have found myself here.
The decor is quite nice. The walls are painted a lovely shade of blue.. dark enough that it isn't childish, yet light enough that it's not too dingy.
Plus the art is amazing. There seems to be a "crosshair" theme throughout, which I honestly think the find patrons here do not appreciate enough. They have have couches, which look kinda comfy. I might even go sleep on one after I'm done this post.
Tomorrow is my second last day of work. I have a feeling it's gonna be awesome. Anna is taking over my computer once I leave, and I should probably organize everything before the official handover. I have renamed "Amy's heart drive" to "BBQ Masters wild at heart drive" And I changed my metal heart icon to a leopard printed heart icon. Anna has extensive BBQ experience, and therefore deserves the title of BBQ Master.
I need to also burn all the music on my computer onto cd's. So that should keep me nice and busy for most of the day. This would all be better if I could bring my computer with me. I've grown quite attached to it. I replaced the harddrive, I added more ram, and I've typed many many words on the little keyboard. I've accumulated a wonderful collection of icons and wallpapers. I suppose Anna will take good care of it once I'm gone.
Well, that's enough crosshair madness for one night I suppose. Is it really possible to have enough crosshair madness? Stay tuned.
The decor is quite nice. The walls are painted a lovely shade of blue.. dark enough that it isn't childish, yet light enough that it's not too dingy.
Plus the art is amazing. There seems to be a "crosshair" theme throughout, which I honestly think the find patrons here do not appreciate enough. They have have couches, which look kinda comfy. I might even go sleep on one after I'm done this post.
Tomorrow is my second last day of work. I have a feeling it's gonna be awesome. Anna is taking over my computer once I leave, and I should probably organize everything before the official handover. I have renamed "Amy's heart drive" to "BBQ Masters wild at heart drive" And I changed my metal heart icon to a leopard printed heart icon. Anna has extensive BBQ experience, and therefore deserves the title of BBQ Master.
I need to also burn all the music on my computer onto cd's. So that should keep me nice and busy for most of the day. This would all be better if I could bring my computer with me. I've grown quite attached to it. I replaced the harddrive, I added more ram, and I've typed many many words on the little keyboard. I've accumulated a wonderful collection of icons and wallpapers. I suppose Anna will take good care of it once I'm gone.
Well, that's enough crosshair madness for one night I suppose. Is it really possible to have enough crosshair madness? Stay tuned.
Professional Distortion
It's terrible.. I'm a total slacker! I didn't get into work until 9, which means I was an hour late. I stayed and hour late yesterday.. which should count for something.
I went to the Black Dog (but we've changed the name to Dead Dog) with Anna and her friend Allan. He's from Jasper and I've heards tons tons and more tons about him. And I finally got to meet him. He's as cool as I expected.
I have to say I'm a little worried, because it's lunchtime and Anna seems to be.. somewhere else that isn't here. By the time I left the Dead Dog she was complimenting me on my shirt alot..
No Anna? What's a girl to do? No Cecylia? She's not in for another hour. I am not impressed.
Tonight I'm going to see Shaun of the Dead (assuming we get there early enough and we can get a spot into the premiere) It's a comedy. And it's British. and it's got zombies in it? It has to be good. I'm not so sure about the zombie part, but I guess you can't go wrong with funny zombies Or can you? I'll get back to you on that one.
I've just found out, thanks to our team leader, Mr. Cooperation (that's what he called himself-I think that's a good sign- he's in charge of the 8 Canadians going to Kaliningrad-I've never met him, but I trust him already.. anybody who nicknames themselves Mr. Cooperation gets my stamp of approval) that there are many internet cafes in Kaliningrad. Isn't the internet cool? Now I can annoy everybody from abroad. What a relief.
I went to the Black Dog (but we've changed the name to Dead Dog) with Anna and her friend Allan. He's from Jasper and I've heards tons tons and more tons about him. And I finally got to meet him. He's as cool as I expected.
I have to say I'm a little worried, because it's lunchtime and Anna seems to be.. somewhere else that isn't here. By the time I left the Dead Dog she was complimenting me on my shirt alot..
No Anna? What's a girl to do? No Cecylia? She's not in for another hour. I am not impressed.
Tonight I'm going to see Shaun of the Dead (assuming we get there early enough and we can get a spot into the premiere) It's a comedy. And it's British. and it's got zombies in it? It has to be good. I'm not so sure about the zombie part, but I guess you can't go wrong with funny zombies Or can you? I'll get back to you on that one.
I've just found out, thanks to our team leader, Mr. Cooperation (that's what he called himself-I think that's a good sign- he's in charge of the 8 Canadians going to Kaliningrad-I've never met him, but I trust him already.. anybody who nicknames themselves Mr. Cooperation gets my stamp of approval) that there are many internet cafes in Kaliningrad. Isn't the internet cool? Now I can annoy everybody from abroad. What a relief.
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
geek-vodka-bread-moustache-stomach-mobster situation
I have been accused of being a geek because I have a blog. I didn't realize that blogs and geeks were so closely linked. I always thought I was a geek (thanks to Lena, my witty friend from TO, who is really witty btw. She's also a geek) long before the beginning of my blogging adventures. I guess now it's official. To anyone who is thinking of starting a blog, beware!! cause it's a geeky thing to do!
On to more geeky topics..
Saturday I'm planning on hitting the Black Dog (with a baseball bat) (oh man, i am a geek cause I think that such stupid puns are actually funny) for some beer and such. Say goodbye to my friends. And the Black Dog. And Canadian beer. And Whyte Ave I guess. Then I'm hoping to convince some cool people that staying up all night is a good idea and head over to Y, because Hatiras, some house dj dude from TO (Hey Lena, do you know him? He has dark hair and is kinda tall and sometimes carries around records) is playing. Apparantly.
This type of occasion has alot of potential to be sad. On the bright side, beer in Russia, along with most other things, is cheap. It's true what they say..Vodka is ridiculously cheap. Unfortunately, whenever I drink vodka, I get a horrendous stomach ache..it kind of feels like the vodka is eating through my stomach. So maybe I'll pass on the vodka. Or maybe I'll carry around a stash of bread..(a moustache?) Apparantly they drink it at dinner. Shots of it. Maybe they eat bread for supper. If only I could be that lucky.. yeesh.. other people think they have problems? They obviously haven't encountered the vodka-stomach-bread-mobster situation. Not yet anyways.
On to more geeky topics..
Saturday I'm planning on hitting the Black Dog (with a baseball bat) (oh man, i am a geek cause I think that such stupid puns are actually funny) for some beer and such. Say goodbye to my friends. And the Black Dog. And Canadian beer. And Whyte Ave I guess. Then I'm hoping to convince some cool people that staying up all night is a good idea and head over to Y, because Hatiras, some house dj dude from TO (Hey Lena, do you know him? He has dark hair and is kinda tall and sometimes carries around records) is playing. Apparantly.
This type of occasion has alot of potential to be sad. On the bright side, beer in Russia, along with most other things, is cheap. It's true what they say..Vodka is ridiculously cheap. Unfortunately, whenever I drink vodka, I get a horrendous stomach ache..it kind of feels like the vodka is eating through my stomach. So maybe I'll pass on the vodka. Or maybe I'll carry around a stash of bread..(a moustache?) Apparantly they drink it at dinner. Shots of it. Maybe they eat bread for supper. If only I could be that lucky.. yeesh.. other people think they have problems? They obviously haven't encountered the vodka-stomach-bread-mobster situation. Not yet anyways.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
9 more sleeps! (I need to be more creative in the titles I think)
One small change was made to the settings of this thingy. Now anybody can post a comment, not just people with blogs. Doesn't mean you have to. But you can. If you happen to get a hanckering. How do you spell hanckering? Cause I spell it like this. Even if it's wrong. Especially if it's wrong.
Alot of new and exciting things are happening. I'll update you:
-I have managed to get a cold. My nose just suddenly started running. It was pretty crazy. (don't worry, I chased it down)
-My mom decided that we should celebrate Christmas on Sunday cause somebody won't be around for the ACTUAL Christmas, which is pretty cool. Christmas can never come too early. It's also my dad's birthday on Sunday. It'll be like a 2 in one. Maybe my mom secretly thinks my dad is Jesus..."ok kids.. christmas has been moved to your fathers birthday this year..and every year.."
-Our coffee machine at work seems to be having some difficulties. One pot now takes about 30 minutes instead of the usual 8 minutes (don't ask me how I know) and the coffee kind of tastes like it was made with tonic water and peat moss instead of water and coffee beans. This is a good sign. The timely breakdown of our coffee machine means my departure could not be at a better time. Feeling good about this. Only a few more days of peat moss tonic water beverage..mmm
Alot of new and exciting things are happening. I'll update you:
-I have managed to get a cold. My nose just suddenly started running. It was pretty crazy. (don't worry, I chased it down)
-My mom decided that we should celebrate Christmas on Sunday cause somebody won't be around for the ACTUAL Christmas, which is pretty cool. Christmas can never come too early. It's also my dad's birthday on Sunday. It'll be like a 2 in one. Maybe my mom secretly thinks my dad is Jesus..."ok kids.. christmas has been moved to your fathers birthday this year..and every year.."
-Our coffee machine at work seems to be having some difficulties. One pot now takes about 30 minutes instead of the usual 8 minutes (don't ask me how I know) and the coffee kind of tastes like it was made with tonic water and peat moss instead of water and coffee beans. This is a good sign. The timely breakdown of our coffee machine means my departure could not be at a better time. Feeling good about this. Only a few more days of peat moss tonic water beverage..mmm
Monday, September 20, 2004
10 Sleeps!
Well, this girl I know who is really cool started a blog. And I thought that I would copy her because that's what I do best.
So I'm leaving for 6 months. To Russia for the first 3. (PEI for the second half, but I'll ramble about that later)
Russia politically, not so much geographically. The place is called Kaliningrad (Калининград), and it used to be Königsberg, which was the capital of East Prussia, which was a province of Germany. It's between Lithuania and Poland. The history is amazing and complicated and tragic.
I didn't even know this place existed until I found out I was going there. I mean.. um .. I did extensive research and then decided this place was right for me..
I am in the process of learning Russian, which is very complicated. Калининград !! for example. My favourite cyrillic letter is definately the "d" sound, which is д, I think it looks like some type of insect. It's gonna just run out of the word any second and we'll be forced to say Kaliningra.. and it'll be trouble.. people will ask where the "d" sound went and I'll tell them it just ran away..with its little D-LEGS.
I was at Steve's housewarming party on Friday and I met a very cool girl from Russia. She tought me an important vulgar expression and now I feel much better about my lacking Russian skills. Quality, not quantity I suppose.
The closer I get to leaving, the more stressed out, excited and neurotic I'm getting. It seems that the most difficult things I've taken on seem to be the most worthwhile, so I guess difficulty is a good sign. The best analogy I've heard so far is that the worst case scenario will probably be like a bad hair cut. It's a mad panic and then after a couple days you adjust to the change. I'm sure everybody can relate to a bad hair cut, right? The hardest part will be saying bye.. to my stereo.. and my friends and family and my job. (starts sarcastic sobbing over the job)
So I'm leaving for 6 months. To Russia for the first 3. (PEI for the second half, but I'll ramble about that later)
Russia politically, not so much geographically. The place is called Kaliningrad (Калининград), and it used to be Königsberg, which was the capital of East Prussia, which was a province of Germany. It's between Lithuania and Poland. The history is amazing and complicated and tragic.
I didn't even know this place existed until I found out I was going there. I mean.. um .. I did extensive research and then decided this place was right for me..
I am in the process of learning Russian, which is very complicated. Калининград !! for example. My favourite cyrillic letter is definately the "d" sound, which is д, I think it looks like some type of insect. It's gonna just run out of the word any second and we'll be forced to say Kaliningra.. and it'll be trouble.. people will ask where the "d" sound went and I'll tell them it just ran away..with its little D-LEGS.
I was at Steve's housewarming party on Friday and I met a very cool girl from Russia. She tought me an important vulgar expression and now I feel much better about my lacking Russian skills. Quality, not quantity I suppose.
The closer I get to leaving, the more stressed out, excited and neurotic I'm getting. It seems that the most difficult things I've taken on seem to be the most worthwhile, so I guess difficulty is a good sign. The best analogy I've heard so far is that the worst case scenario will probably be like a bad hair cut. It's a mad panic and then after a couple days you adjust to the change. I'm sure everybody can relate to a bad hair cut, right? The hardest part will be saying bye.. to my stereo.. and my friends and family and my job. (starts sarcastic sobbing over the job)
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