Posted: January 30th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: week sauce | 4 Comments »
Well kids, after 13 months in Montréal, I fly out on Tuesday. The apartment is almost completely empty, and everything I own (now) is crammed into my backpack. In a day and a half I’ll be officially, and intentionally, homeless. I enjoy how my achievements sound quite a bit like failures; It keeps my naysayers on their toes.
I summed up what I know of my plan previously, and I think that’s still accurate so far. From here I’m off for a night in Vancouver, then over to Victoria for the rest of February. I can hardly wait! I’m also going to make a point of getting down to good old Seattle while I’m in the area. The big unknown is what group I’ll be able to sign up with in order to volunteer in Haiti. I guess we’ll see how it all plays out.
As usual this week’s summary is a compilation of good articles from around the web, plus whatever other random crap I have on hand.
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Posted: January 26th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: language | 3 Comments »
Of the 6912 recognized languages in the world I bet none of their “hello” and “thanks” sound as true to meaning as French. I’m big on listening to how people speak, how they sound and what they say. Bonjour and merci seem to be two words that even if you don’t know a word of French, you would know what they mean.
Comparatively speaking, “Hello” and “Thanks” just don’t cut it. Hello sounds like a kids cartoon character and thanks sounds like an itchy sore.
“Um.. are you okay there, Janet? You’re sure itching a lot.”
“Oh dude, I know. I have the worst case of thanks on my bum. It’s driving me mad! The itching totally distracted me while I was trying to watch the new episode of Hello & Tinkles Go To PooPoo Town.”
See what I mean? As I wrap up my last few days in Montreal I know I’m really going to be sad to go from bonjour and merci to hello and thanks.
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// shawn
Posted: January 25th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: travel photos | 2 Comments »
In 2008 I did a hasty little tour of Central America. Starting in Belize, then through Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and then after 2 months I flew out of Panama. Today I uploaded my photo album from that trip to Picasa. Many of these photos were taken by friends I made while there — actually, mostly by Charles who is a photography machine. The pic links through to the album.
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// shawn
Posted: January 23rd, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: week sauce | 7 Comments »
In this week’s wrap up I’ll share some of the usual good travel article finds and maybe a new blog or what not. You know how it is, a bit of this, a bit of that. I also have my first HD video to share. This new camera I bought a couple months ago has this little “video” button on it. I figure if I paid for the button I’m hella pushing it. So I pushed it. On the bright side, since a video must surely be worth a thousand pictures, there’s no crappy phonetography pics this week. You’re welcome.
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Posted: January 20th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: blah blah blah | 4 Comments »
By all accounts good old Dorothy was a self-destructive, sarcastic, lunatic. She was horribly fantastic at seeing life for what it really was — love it or hate it. And she certainly knew how to live it. A great many writers seem to have an unrealistic, or overly optimistic “seize the day” style pep that simply irritates any sensible person. Dorothy’s writing often bears that message of living as though you may find yourself dead tomorrow. However, she doesn’t have that nauseating tone of a born again rainbow salesman. Which as a die hard realist, I certainly appreciate. Live how you must, but do it now. That’s ultimately the underlying, idealistic fuel for a life of experience, exploration and exhaustion. Wouldn’t you agree? For example,
On Cheating The Fiddler
“Then we will have tonight!” we said.
“Tomorrow — may we not be dead?”
The morrow touched our eyes, and found
Us walking firm above the ground,
Our pulses quick, our blood alight.
Tomorrow’s gone — we’ll have tonight!
I had considered “Enough Rope” as the title of this very site in honour of Dorothy. A sober point that it’s very easy to throw out your baby with all that bathwater. The freedom and wherewithal to shrug off the nine to five and be independent for a living really is just enough rope to hang yourself, isn’t it? Note: should anyone ever wish to give me a treasured gift, I’d eternally swoon over an Enough Rope first edition. Just saying. Ultimately, it came across as a bit too sobering of a title for what should be a fairly sunny genre of writing. So I opted for nonsense instead.
If you ever have the opportunity to acquire a copy of The Portable Dorothy Parker I highly recommend seizing it. As I got down to the very last handful of items in my apartment to toss, I came across my copy. As one of the only books left on my shelf I was torn over what to do with it. My old back says there’s no way I’m toting it around in my backpack, but my bloody heart says that it surely must come with. At the time of this writing it rests tentatively on the “pack me” pile. We’ll see. I leave you with some of Dorothy’s shorter and more famous quotes. Good day.
“Drink and dance and laugh and lie, Love, the reeling midnight through, For tomorrow we shall die! (But, alas, we never do)”
“I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.”
“Lips that taste of tears, they say are the best for kissing.”
“I shall stay the way I am because I do not give a damn.”
“I wish I could drink like a lady / I can take one or two at the most / Three and I’m under the table / Four and I’m under the host”
Finally, my very favourite, “You can drag a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
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// shawn
Posted: January 18th, 2010 | Author: Shawn | Filed under: web | 3 Comments »
Whether you’re shedding your belongings so you can travel like I am, or you simply want less clutter, Shelfari is an online book collection site that can help you get on with your life. Most folks seem to hoard books, and have plenty of remorse when the time comes to get rid of them. Shelfari is my favourite site for keeping a surrogate hoard online rather than on huge shelves at home.
The main benefit I get from seeing my books on a shelf is triggered memories. I have a hard time remembering what I’ve read in the past. Or more importantly, what ideas I gained from reading a particular book. Periodically seeing them on a shelf triggers my memory of why that book was interesting and keeps the idea alive in my little mind. I suppose, “out of sight, out of mind” is the cliche that applies in this case. While traveling I’m also keen to ditch heavy books once I’ve read them so I can free up bag space for the essentials. Such as pastries. Shelfari is perfect for letting me get rid of the physical books without losing the memory of what I read.
There’s also all the expected social sharing tools in Shelfari. Such as ratings, reviews, discussion groups, friends, recommendations, and so on. A lot of community features that once you get used to them really add value to the enjoyment of reading. There seems to be a group of folks discussing just about every author and genre that exist.
If you are a Shelfari member, or you decide to sign up, definitely add me to your friends list so we can stalk each others questionable literacy.
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// shawn
photo credit here
