New Slang

Who'd've known? Who really would have suspected that I'd be this iterant about my itinerance? I'm very pleased with that last sentence. I really should just leave it all there.

But, intrepid reader, you would not be here unless you had some amount of interest, for reasons unknown, about my goings on? It's year three of being back in Australia. I never thought I'd amount to this much time back here. It's not too bad, I have to admit. I have a good life back here. I have an easy life back here. I suspect that will cause me to emit some amount of contempt for it all.

What has been going on with me? I am finishing up my second semester of my second year at university. I can't believe it either. I'm genuinely astounded by me making it here. I get to feeling that the standards have lowered since my childhood cohort attended.

It was a pretty challenging semester. The French unit got bumped up a notch and the two linguistics units were a heck of a thing too. I now have seven more units and I'm finished. That'll be a shock to the system. To be released back in to the mortal world. To fend for myself. What am I going to do after? All these pies cooling by the windowsill.

I've steadily shed mass from when I turned back up here. I forget if I've mentioned it but I was a rotund little boy. I was a Boston cream donut away from being 140kg. That's 308lb for those of you playing for the Imperial system.

I'd like to say that it was, in part, my newfound love of not drinking that helped me out the most. I'm getting on to two and a half years of not drinking. That's also something that is shocking to me. That I've almost turned my entire raison d'être around in the brief time that I've been back. Is this my new normal? Honestly, I hope so. I'm down to just under 100kg/220lb and looking to become even more svelte.

It is weird. Being a big beefy boy was just a kind of "Oh, that's just Cameron" moment.

What else has been going on with me? Uni, weight loss... work? Work is pretty good. I am an entrusted employee of a nationwide poison provider and, as such, I'm responsible for the careful distribution of volatile liquids to the public.

I am trained in the subtle art of selecting said volatile liquids with occasion, intention, and necessity. And so far, so good. I am good at what I do and don't have many regrets. Maybe the money. I could always do with more money.

What are my next steps? Tragically, I did not get selected for the Green Card lottery but maybe that's for the best? I do love the United States. For those of you who've visited, it really is a beautiful place with some astonishingly kind people. They like helping people out. They like to be like and I, in turn, like them.

The current climate is a bit higgeldy piggeldy. I still have my little eye out for the E-3 visa but I'm not holding on to anything tremendously serious. England/the UK? That's also a potential but my biggest fear is returning to the raising of the wrist. Could I battle that? I think so but I'm not willing to tempt myself. Not just yet. Keep an eye out. I'll definitely let you all know what my plans are.

One thing that has been playing on my mind is: how ever might I express my gratitude for everyone who has ever read this? I'm sure a lot of the views I get are from bots. I see an exquisite amount of views from China, Russia, and, weirdly, Botswana. A lot of the search results are, unsurprisingly, for people looking for flowers in Toronto. I guess I should have changed that but I don't intend to.

But how do I? I wish I knew a way to be able to be more gracious of all the people in my life? I've met an exquisite amount of people in my time. Tragically, a lot of them have been ephemeral. I think a lot about the people that I've met in passing or as I've been three sheets to the wind. If you're reading this then please send me a message. Facebook is fine. I'd put my email here but I don't need any more spam coming my way.

I want you to know that despite my previous emotional incarnations, I think I'm probably as emotionally raw nowadays as I've ever been. Goodness, I was angry. I was not a kind person to a lot of people. Nothing's going to change past Cameron but I do hope that present and future Cameron play a better, bigger, kinder role.

I think I've done well. Thank you for reading this far if you have. And if you haven't then you'd never know.

I remember this song. I remember this song well enough that it lived in a delightful little recess of my brain so that I went "Oh, The Shins! Yeah! Them!". I seem to remember buying a bootleg style Japanese album (it very well could've been Chinese but I was fifteen years old and not versed in the difference between the two: Japanese mixes Chinese characters with its own scripts, while Chinese just uses characters) in the Carillon Arcade in the CBD.

I don't know if I really ever deeply listened to it but it was 2001. There were bigger things going on. Like Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring being released. Yeah, that was the absolute highlight that year.

Here’s hoping future Cameron keeps picking the right pies off that windowsill.

Canada Dry

Here we are again. Look at me—two posts in two years! Slow down there, Ryoki Inoue! That’s a prolific writer joke, indeed. Goodness me, I’m too kind to you all!

So, how has everyone been? I’d be shocked if, despite the number of “views” these posts receive, anyone is truly reading them. I’m ambivalent about that, to be honest. Sure, I like seeing how many people (or bots) might be reading my words, but I also don’t lie awake at night with the vain desire to reach more eyes. No thanks! This is, I suppose, more of a slow buildup toward getting back to traveling. More to be revealed, intrepid reader!

What have I been up to? I’m still slogging away at university. Last time I posted—just over a year ago—I was quite pleased to have finished my first semester. Now I’m halfway through my degree—in terms of elapsed time, semesters, and, more importantly, credits. Gotta bag ‘em up and slot ‘em in because those are the important ones. I’ve just finished a summer course on forensic science, and it was bloody fantastic. This will put me one unit ahead, and that’s exactly what I’m keen on doing. Ideally, I’ll try to earn two extra units sometime during 2025 so that, in 2026—specifically in my last semester—I’ll only be doing one linguistics unit. That’d be pretty cool, don’t you think? It probably will be.

As for the overall progress of my studies, I’ve been doing well. Shockingly well, in fact. I don’t know where this whole notion of me being a fool comes from, but I certainly lean into that idea a little too much. My essays are solid, my exams aren’t too bad, and I’m genuinely enjoying the process. I wonder if that’s how academia gets people. I suppose this is where I need to start considering my next path. Ideally, I’ll pursue a Master’s in Speech Pathology—that’s been the plan all along. But what comes before that? Who knows.

I would like to travel a bit after I finish my studies. I’m not sure I’m wild about diving straight back into everything—I also don’t think I can. I’d rather not start in the middle of the year again. Perhaps I could find an opportunity overseas, too. I have to consider that possibility. But yeah, I’d like to head back to the U.K. for a while, catch up with some mates and family, then move on to Canada to do my thing there and, if I’m feeling especially daring, venture into the United States. Oooh boy. That whole thing again, eh? It’s got me biting my fingernails, and I’m not even there yet...

...as I’ve also applied for the Green Card Lottery. Again. Clever and long-time readers will remember that I was actually selected for the GCL waaaaaay back in 2011. I didn’t manage to get the darn thing on account of my Canadian police clearance not arriving on time—not that they doubted me, but they needed it to continue the process. Nowadays, apparently, a receipt is sufficient. Curse it—I missed out on that one. What would I do in the U.S., I wonder? The dream is somewhere warm, dry, and quiet. But not too dry—I crave the snow and the cold. If any Americans are reading this, let me know of a place like that!

Since the last entry, I’ve managed to reduce my mass by an absolutely superb 16 kilos (35 lb for those of you using the Imperial system and 2½ stone for those in England), and I’m not finished yet. I’d like to get under 100 kg (or 220 lb/15 stone) before I start singing my praises. My clothes fit better, I feel better, and my worldview seems a little more cherry red and a little less Aberdeen grey. I might very well be at my highest level of fitness ever—I don’t know exactly how to measure that, but I do feel good. I feel almost happy. Imagine that.

Apart from that, I don’t have a whole bunch going on. I think I like it that way—fewer distractions getting in the way of the ultimate goal: graduation. I’m sure I’ll look back on this later in life and cackle. Regardless, it’s a noble goal and one I’m happy to wait to achieve. I’d like to get back into some sports and even play more guitar, but for now, I’m content to focus a little more on my schooling. As an aside, I will deliberately fail a unit if it means I can use those ferries from Elizabeth Quay to UWA. It feels like it’s my destiny somehow.

I've been giving Matt Berry's new album a fair old thrashing as of the last week. It's sound, it's solid, and it is good reminder that he has thirteen albums to his name. Can't say that I've listened to all of them, but I did love Witchazel when it came out. I think I may have downloaded it from his website which was the style at the time. Okay. Sure, it's called Canada Dry but that's merely a coincidence. I know for a fact that drinking a Canada Dry in Canada as you are dry is one of the best experiences you can get. If you're getting snowed on, then you're gonna have a bad time. 

Also, watch Toast of London and you can appreciate Gale of Baldur's Gate 3 and his oft delivered bastardry.

Dark Horse

Wowser. That was a long one that one. 

It only felt like 4 years ago that I graced your screens with my words. I'll be quite transparent that I wrote "greased your skins" in that last sentence. Maybe all those true crime documentaries, podcasts, books, and games have really taken a firm grasp in my little brain...

Those two years after the last post were a real doozy, weren't they? Holy smokes. Remember the toilet paper debacle? Remember that? I mean I was pretty safe with the tens of thousands of toilet paper rolls and hand sanitiser that the camp had going for it. Y'know there was a time when I thought about taking the toilet paper and selling it out the front of Wal-Mart in Bracebridge. But I'm glad I didn't in the end!

The hidden message in the last post that I'm sure you ALL read was: farts are funny. Which, upon reflection, they are. This is a hill that I will happily die on.

What's happened to dear old Cameron since then, I hear you ask! It seems like I'd not yet driven out to British Columbia during what was the rise of Covid in Ontario. We, my at the time girlfriend and I, took turns driving all the way out to Victoria, BC and then back again. We were gone for about 3 weeks and it was absolutely sensational. There were some hiccups along the way. Mostly car related but even those were sorted pretty swiftly. Highlights for me were all the breweries along the way. And Dinosaur Provincial Park was pretty cool too, I suppose. Sorry Hayley. You were right all along.

Here's all the pictures that I took along the way. One day, maybe, I'll make a photo album of them. Maybe not.

We returned to Ontario and then it was pretty much on for young and old in regards to Covid. Lockdowns, mask mandates, panic in regards to rising numbers. I'd like to speculate that I had one of the most comfortable Covid experiences in that I really did want for nothing. Maslow was definitely smiling down upon me. A key element that I live by is enjoying my environment by it being warm, dry, and quiet. I also drank a train load. More on this in a later paragraph.

Predictably, there was an element of cabin fever that set in and I'd truly like to apologise to all the folks that lived with me for my some time neuroticism. It wasn't a good time. The doom and gloom of Covid, the absolutely tragic sleep or lack thereof schedule, the drinking, and the general ennui of winter was not one that I'm keen to repeat in a hurry. 

Then weirdly... it all became better. Hayley, wonder woman extraordinaire, left for pastures greener. Literally. She flew back to New Zealand to do her thing and now lives in Melbourne with a wonderful boyfriend and the torture of the Common Myna in her front yard. This is not a euphemism.

We were told that there would be a summer camp occuring in 2021 which was exciting. It was something to look forward to. However the Ontario Government, Ontario Public Health, and all the other little government bodies decided that we still needed to mask up inside, and to remain away from each other. That made for an interesting summer camp.

I loved again and it was delightful. I don't really want to get too much in to that.

I did see a lot of Ottawa during 2021 and always enjoyed the drive out from Bracebridge to Ottawa each and every time. I dream about that trip often. The one trip I'm glad I couldn't make was when the truckers made their way out to Ottawa. Bleh, no thanks. That was closest to an historic event. Don't correct me on the use of "an historic" as opposed to "a historic". I'm a linguist, you know. Take another slurp of that prescriptivist Kool-Aid, why don't you?!

Now to the part that I've been somewhat guarding for the last 3 years. Maybe in poor taste but it was something that I needed total control over. During October 2021, my dad died. I had the somewhat good grace of an exceptional support system in Canada and, despite keeping it on the down low, did grieve pretty hard. It was turning in to winter in Ontario and that gave me a number of instances to remain in my accommodation and just be sad. Family dinners with Kristina and Marc, coupled with absolutely slaying we accomplished in the Katalyst Brewing quiz nights really pulled me through.

I was drinking pretty heavily. I'd like to apologise to, well, everyone. It wasn't a good time for me and I definitely understand if there's folks out there reading this who are content to not speak to me again. I completely understand it all.

With that being said, that time is over now and whilst I do appreciate altruism, I'd much rather prefer if you're reading this to just contact me on Facebook. No need for sorry, no need to feel bad for me. It's all water under the fridge!

However, it did spurn me on to consider my life? I'd been at Camp Muskoka for 10 years. And I didn't have a whole lot to show for it. I had considered 2019 to be last year there. But it wasn't quite the ending I'd hoped for. Then Covid. 2021 was also a bit meh. And it was after dad had gone that made think "Do I want to be 40 and still the person I am today?". After much consideration and a lot of good conversation with good, helpful people - thank you to Robb, Mark, Marc, Lindsay, Rein, Zee, et al - I decided to kick myself in the butt and head home to Australia. The goal was to apply to university. But I hadn't really ever considered what I wanted to do? I didn't want to be a teacher and studying history had probably slipped by me in terms of an area of interest.

That's when I came upon linguistics. It's a field of study that I've had to describe more often that I'd expected to but it's the study of language(s). I applied, got accepted, needed to do an aptitude test, did that, passed, submitted all my paperwork and then I started in July of last year. I'm more shocked, I think, than anyone else. I've always denied claims, appropriately I think, when people suggest that I'm smart. It's really just the glasses.

I will, ideally, graduate with a B.A in Linguistics in 2026. What will I do with it? Well that's something that I'll 100% need to consider but the idea is definitely focused on a return to Canada in the near future. What can I say? The land of the long white season beckons for me. 

I'm also going to put my hat in the ring for a Green Card. And will even consider leaving for the United Kingdom again. I think I'd look good in a thick blue cable knit jumper. Smoking a pipe. Talking about semantic bleaching and what not to any and all concerned.

There's no message this time. Just an update to people. I've been trying to become better at keeping in contact with a lot of you and I do apologise if I haven't been the best at it. It's still hard for me to believe that I'm back here. It feels a bit like a punishment but self imposed? This year is my community year where I hope to slowly engage with people and the community. We shall see.

One thing that I'm very pleased about is that I've decided to take a little bit better care of myself physically. I've taken off 23kg/50lb since returning to Australia. I don't drink anymore which I thought I'd miss a lot but it's been almost 12 months now and I really don't. I don't miss anything about it and that's very pleasing to me. I've also engaged in the services of a therapist and boy, oh boy, that lady has her work cut out for her alright, heh. But, as I have written on my mirror in the bathroom, it is all about progress, not perfection. That's something that I hold dear to my heart. Small improvements gathered up along the way make a more impressive feat than one large, indistinguishable improvement.

I would like to be a little more serious with my biking and then I'd also be keen on joining a gym at some stage. Once again, small steps for me.

I suppose this is no longer ocamnada? But I also can't be bothered changing it to austeron or something equally ludicrous.

 

 

I don't exactly remember how I came about this song but I find it very beautiful, very haunting, and wonderfully simple. I hope you enjoy it.

One Week

For that I recall with fond gusto saying "Oh, it'll be just one week before I post again" and, true to my personal character flaws, it was definitely not one week. I can't be trusted to determine when I'll write something here but I also don't particularly enjoy defining myself in regards to something like this. Really what I've said in so many words is don't tread on me? Ah, I don't know what this thing is about anymore.

And there have been so many one weeks since the last time I was here. And some of them have terrifying lows. Others have been dizzying highs while the rest of them have been creamy middles. A quick bit of mathematics says it's been 145 one weeks which equates to 1,016 days. I didn't anticipate it being like this and I'm sorry. To whom? Firstly and fore mostly me. This started as a little passion project for me in 2008 and I had reasonable updates for the first 3 or 4 years. Then it kind of just petered out when I returned to Australia. I didn't get bored of telling people about my life and the goings on but I did feel somewhat hypocritical of criticising people on twitter for their at the time 140 character ramblings. Plus there were some personal issues that I needed to iron out that occasionally plonk themselves in to my life. I think I'm dealing.

Really the other apologies go out to the people that read this. Mum, Georg, random Russian folks who happen to find this. It's really rather odd looking at the stats of people who come here but I really do thank you anyway. This is, more than anything, an outlet for me now and I don't begrudge anyone who doesn't care much for this. Heh, I wouldn't! 

The reason that I've started this up again is because I'm currently reading Pierre Trudeau's memoirs. He specifically apologises in the preface that the memoirs have a looseness to them on account of it essentially being an oral exercise. I'll pause for the laughter. But that really resonated with me as that's pretty accurate as to how I write. As I'm typing I will often verbalise the sentence to make it made sense to me. Accuracy in terms of punctuation and word count don't quite matter to me. If only I had gone to on to tertiary education, it might! 

So as to what I've occupied myself with in the last 145 weeks? Well that's a dilly of a pickle really. I've kept myself busy, travelled a fair bit and pretty much kept the nose to the grindstone. Vague? Yes, but you must remember that I can't recall all of what has happened. Lots of happy students from the Greater Toronto Area, mostly impressed summer camp kids and plenty of fresh air. I don't quite know what to say was the highlight. I did head out to BC for 2 weeks which was lovely! 5 days in Vancouver topped off with the sweet sweet cherry of Victoria. It was the most heavenly place on Earth that I've been to so far. You should go there one day.

And you should know that I am the proud owner of a Honda CRV. It's a 2001 model so it definitely has some kilometres on it. Poor little thing. Can't go around expecting it to last forever. It has some 316,000km on it but it is a little beast. It has no name yet as I definitely do not subscribe to the ludicrousness of naming things like that. I did want to name it Edmund after E. Honda

Right now it is a rainy day here in Muskoka and I'm quite bundled up nice and warm inside. It's days like these that make my happy that we don't have schools here right now. You read that right! No schools, no students, no campers. We had a fairly good run of work from July up until this week in September. Family camp seemed like it could be a colossal failure but ended up being absolutely fantastic! We made some good friends out of the families that came up and even had some campers register, hopefully, for next year. 

Even though there has been little work in comparison to a normal year, I find myself pretty happy with the routine I've got myself in to. Early morning shower, coffee from the French Press, slight depressive episode, and then try to read or, less often, write something. This here has been the most I've "written" for quite some time. I still have a diary that I've been meaning to write in but it was last written in pre-COVID days. Aaaaah, those halcyon days. Mere memories now. So as you might imagine, the next entry is gonna be a real doozy. 

For now I think I'll just get fat(ter) from good food, good friends, and good beer! There've been a number of new - to me - breweries that I've visited recently. And a couple that are new to this world. I can't highly enough recommend Katalyst Brewing Company and Couchiching Brewing Company! The latter of which I still can not figure out how to pronounce but know that I get really close after a couple of their delicious Black River Stouts. This is not a sponsored post, I'm just an appreciator of the barley life. Also please sponsor me Katalyst and Couchiching!

Unless I can think of a way to circumvent the travels numbers back to Australia, I think that I'll be staying in the Northern Hemisphere for this Christmas. Which is fine with me. All my Australian mates tout the merits of a warm summer but I know for one that they are bloody miserable. Especially so when you see your friends in the North celebrating with cozy fires, snow angels, warm cups of potentially spiked drinks. Ah, it's bliss. 

Nobody seems to realise that just because 2020 has been a little bit of a right off that things will not magically change when the clock strikes 00:00:01 for next year. There's still that wonderful American election to come up. It is nice to be living in Canada with Trudeau making a fairly hefty percentage of the right decisions in regards to Coronavirus. Meanwhile the other three places that I have lived for a bit - the United Kingdom, America, and Australia - all seem to be doing their best at imploding whilst placing the blame on the other political parties and their supporters. I also donated to the Liberal Party of Canada. Forget why but it felt right.

Now it seems to me that there's going to be a lot of commotion in the next couple of months and I truly hope that all my friends stay safe. I'm sure it's easier said than done with all the unpleasantness that goes in the world. I don't know how to ensure that they're all safe.

Yet life does go on and I do certainly hope to make this a slightly less irregular occurrence. I know that I say that all the time and I know that I say THAT all the time but y'know what? I don't really mind coming back to this as it's something that is quite entertaining to me to reread. Terrible that I'm actually laughing at my own jokes but that's what's going to happen!  

I think this is the first Barenaked Ladies song I heard way back in 1998. Those were the reasonable old day. Hope you enjoy and if you don't then I also really don't care that much! 

Long Time Gone

As evidence might suggest: I've been gone for quite some time. This blog fell into a bit of disuse but I'm hoping to rectify that in the New Year.

Part of me wonders what I should include in these scrawlings now. I'm in and out of Canada on the regular so the name doesn't really make sense, I'm not interesting enough to warrant telling the common folk what I did in my day-to-day, and I don't care to be labelled as a someone who painstakingly labours over their food so that they can garner the praise of the internet. 

Or maybe I am.

In fact, it seems that Canada might very well be my permanent residence soon enough. After almost ten years (with me actually having lived there for about seven of 'em) I've finally decided to make Canada the place I want to stay. It's a truly wonderful place that I've seen about 0.00003% of and I'm probably being generous with that figure. From the breathtaking geography of the west to the subdued simplicity of the Prairies, to the populous and diverse Ontario, the culturally rich Quebec and on to the Maritimes which I know nothing about and that excites me! One day I shall get my derrière to that beautiful part of the country.

But I suppose that's it. I always say that I've got all this time in the world but I don't. That's not a mention of the stark realisation of mortality but an 'Oh heck! There's so many places I'd like to go' kind of deal.

Ma che cozz’u fai?!

Which does lead me to suitable segue! I did do myself a bit of travelling this year. I left the idyllic lands of Canada in the springtime to fly to Italy for a wedding. It was the union of two very lovely people who I've had the pleasure of knowing for 10 years. I did learn from my mistakes about driving in Rome and driving in Italy generally. The long and short of it is - don't do it. Good grief. All the stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason! Every time a car drove I would do the stereotypical hand gesture as you can see to your left here. I'd like to address a scientific notion of Italians driving and the speed of light. If there's a chance of us ever achieving a speed faster than c then it will definitely be by the Italians.

The town, Conversano, was gorgeous! It's a very old, rustic part of the country that's main focus is Conversano Castle. In fact, that's where I stayed! Mother of mercy, it was wonderful. Tragically I did sleep a lot there as I wasn't feeling the best on account of the travel and also lack of eating. I did devour a plateful of cherries upon my arrival. That was perhaps the 3rd best thing I accomplished when I was in Italy.

I could bore you with details of the wedding but I won't. I'll summarise in 20 words or less. It was a divine experience to be involved with. Wedding was delish, people were great. Love was all around us. There we go! I think that's a bloody good summary.

Then some bad stuff happened and I missed a train that in turn made me miss a flight and I had to stay at the airport and get all sweaty and unhappy with TD bank. But on the bright side - THE BLOODY CHEESE WAS FANTASTIC. More about this and more in a later exposé! Hoo boy!

As a reward for my pain and suffering in Italy^†, I headed to the Netherlands. A place that I'd often talked about with fond gusto but had, in fact, never visited. All the woes and unpleasantness of Italy and me being lazy in terms of trying to speak Italian - I did converse reasonably well with an Italian gent in a car park. All I was asking was "Dov'è la Banca. per favore?" (where is the bank, please?) but don't let that detract from my polyglottism - was washed away within mere seconds of me touching down in the Netherlands. It truly was a country made for me! Cheese, beer, tulips, orange, canals, tall women, cheese, reclaimed land. It was all there! And I loved it. I will return as I feel like I was very focused on both avoiding and sneakily stealing a sniff of the coffee shops.

In between then and now there was also a summer camp which was pretty fun. I got to work in a role that I was pretty familiar with and that was enjoyable. There were new challenges and new capacities to fill this year as opposed to 2015 which was exceptionally pleasant. The folks I worked with intimately with were as good as good can be. I do hope to see a wonderous percentage of them return in 2018.

So, I suppose, that would bring you up to date to now. I've not done a real bunch more. I did sample some amazing ciders in Seattle, see the sea in San Fran, get asked by Willy Wonka and Edward Scissorhands impressionists to take a picture of them, and then celebrate Veteran's Day with an actual veteran. It's a very interesting ability of the brain to remember all the decent things that've happened to you. Even more peculiar that some people want to share those memories.

Well seeing as it's now 2 days until the New Year, I'd like to make a little resolution as it were. This year of 2017 was pretty lacklustre in terms of me adding to this. In fact, the only reason that I decided to do this post was so that the '2017' dropdown menu on the right wouldn't appear empty. The last 2 to 3 years have been pretty vacant as a whole and I really would like to remedy that. I don't want to treat this as a livejournal (some of you are too young) or a twitter (some of you are too ridiculous) but I would like to record a little bit more of my life. Online. Yeah, I see the stupidity in that but I don't think I've ever included anything scandalous in these posts.

Here's hoping that 2017 wraps up nicely for you and that 2018 has some wonderfully fresh and fantastic opportunities waiting for you. I may live to regret those words but only time will tell, I'm thinking.

Oh yeah, I forgot I add little videos at the end of the posts to reflect the title post! I'll admit that ELO is definitely not my favourite band. I don't think I could name 5 more songs of their repertoire but I do like this song. It has a distinctly George Harrison c.Wilbury feel to it and I'm okay with that. And I hope you are too! Enjoy!


† I barely suffered and Italy was good enough. I was just knackered! Thanks Italy. Thitaly.

Feel It All Around

I wouldn't expect anyone to still be checking this blog out. But the statistics tell me that there are still people who do. Nobody of note, mind you. It's usually misdirection from 'flowers toronto' 'these flowers in the dirt' (Paul McCartney album this blog is named after) or, surprisingly 'russian singles toronto'. I really can't complain about the last one.

As it has been so long since I updated, I needed to go back and checkout where I last left everyone. Seems I had just started a new job. Fantastic! Well as it goes I am still doing that job. It has the same tribulations as every job does. One thing I'm beginning to understand is that kids are pretty great. Not to say that I would like any of my own but other people's kids are often hilarious. It's very exciting to see kids desiring knowledge. It definitely takes a certain kind of person to deal with kids day in, day out. Thanks teachers. I never thought I'd say that but here we are.

Travel wise... well I've been fairly stagnant. I did travel to Ottawa in October. It was a blast but I wish I could have spent longer there. The only other times I've been to Ottawa were for passport reasons so it was nice to have a non-passport reason to go there. I suppose the other big travel I've undertaken this year was going back to Australia for Christmas. So far that little venture is going well. Cricket, beer, and flesh melting sun. I forgot what it was all about over here! (and people hating Muslims)

Overall I'm pretty happy. This year I will be turning 30. Bloody hell. I never thought I'd see the day. I feel the warm glow of the societal expectations searchlight being shone over me every day. I pointed it out before - it takes a certain of person to take care of a kid. It's just not for me at this current juncture in my life. Not that I'm picturing myself as some sort of transient, wanderlust struck person forever. No, that's not my ethos in life but rather a story for another day.

Something I'd like to start doing in the relatively near future is writing in a diary. I've probably spruiked that kind of ridiculous notion in years gone by but I'm actually a bit more serious about it this year. I'm rather envious of people who are able to catalogue their thoughts in a well organised way. Reading back on a lot of these posts gives me a headache. I've always accused myself of writing like I talk and I especially hate the way that I talk. In any case I'd best get on it while the year is still young!

Usually I wouldn't even mention celebrities passings on here but this is one that struck me a little deeper than others. I feel like it would be a waste of time to attempt a sentence of how amazingly talented David Bowie was. It seems like he has always been a presence in my life. Musically, theatrically, and even present in a video game that a 13 year old me did not quite grasp. Much like a candle the light has just been extinguished. Nothing in between. I think it's definitely a well intentioned spotlight on his music as we see many people posting 'RIP Bowie' on various social media. Perhaps this will spurn the lacklustre musical scene of this day and age. Or probably not.

Hopefully this year doesn't hold too many other surprises. I want to increase my travel, I want to be kinder to people, I'd like to increase my level of fitness, and I'd like to cook more. Being back home has given me some opportunities I might not have had back in Ontario. No slight on them but it's almost as if I feel like I have to cook here. It's great. I used to own a little book where I'd write recipes that I'd tried and enjoyed. I'd also cut the recipes out of the front page of The Times back in the UK. I must have had about 30 clippings. Sadly, I never got to making half of them. Wonder where that book went to.

This song might be familiar to a lot of you. It's the theme song from Portlandia. I'd say it's definitely a different direction from all the music that I've listened to recently. I'd never even heard of chillwave before I investigated this song. I'm not sure what 'it' is but the location of it is everywhere. So please enjoy this song!

Until next year!
(but hopefully not)

It's Late

Hah! Remember when I used to update this blog regularly? Oh, no? You either? Yeah, I don't.

But you know what? My life has been blessed to have been transformed. I say that because whatever it was that I had planned for myself has gone massive astray. Last time I updated this ridiculous thing I was in the kitchen and kind of hating my life. Since then I have strayed out to the wild outdoors. Did you know there's a bunch of trees out there that have different names? Every time I see a tree now, I reach for my book and describe that tree before it even had a chance to drop a leaf! Hooray!

So what else did I accomplish in those 612 days? The ones where I left you to act upon your own wreck and ruin? Well you know what? A lot. I left the kitchen of Camp Muskoka and it was possibly the best decision I have made. Not that I begrudge the kitchen at all but I just wanted to be out with the kids and the teachers. I wanted to be part of the Outdoor Education team. And, as quick as you like, I was part of that team!

But for only the briefest of times! I was then transported in to the delightful world of summer camp. I went from feeling very apprehensive around the kids to being quite comfortable. It was a very delightful experience. It was amazing to watch the less socially inclined kids blossom. The ones that already had a social presence were a blessing to watch. For two months I felt like I didn't have to work. I got to have fun for those 60ish days.

Now what I'm doing is more education based. A majority of the kids come from Toronto and we have to educate them about the outdoors. It's fascinating how much and how little the kids know about their outdoors. Everything I know about Ontario I've learnt on the job. It's great. I can not go to bed and not feel awesome about how much OR even how little the kids know. They are really great. Sure, there are hiccups with kids but that's what makes it all that much more interesting. I will not forget one line of this. I even keep a little log of the schools that come in. It's fantastic. Being able to impart knowledge on young minds is amazing.

Since the last update I haven't really done a whole lot. I did travel to Philadelphia. For 13 hours. That was great. The bus rides were longer than the actual time spent in the city but the occasion was pretty auspicious. I was pretty pleased with how that went. Must go back there one day and drink all the beer that I can.

Ah, yes. I also travelled to the UK. I had grand plans but ended up running out of money and had the weather against me. Flooding over there is pretty prevalent and caused a lot of my trains to be cancelled or unfortunately rescheduled to an inconvenient time. I had a blast though. I got to see my friends, people that I cared about and visit some old haunts. At the same time I reinforced why I did not live there any more. All in due time, I suppose. There's going to be an older version of me ruing some of the events of my life. Hooray.

That's about it, guys. I know that is a pretty underwhelming return but I hope that it is one that sparks my return. I figure that 2015 will have more updates. Just to let people know what I'm up to or where I am. It's hard being as transient as I am, ha!

In continuing the tradition I have of posting the music to go along with the title, here it is! It's Queen again. I have been in a very nostalgic mood for Queen recently. I look at my tattoo quite often and think about how big a part of my life this band has been. I've kept all good company.

Enjoy!