When people ask me why I like horror movies or traveling I respond with such informative feedback as, “It’s cool and junk” but there’s perhaps a smidge more to it than that. There is a common element between the two for me, which I hadn’t considered until now. And no, the common element is not screaming people or giant bats. Well, maybe yea, it is those things too, but that’s not my point here. Bear with me here and tell me if my logic sounds legit.

In order for a horror movie to be really successful, the viewer needs to empathize with the characters. As the viewer, you need to not only be worried about the situation, but you must also be engaging in decisions along with the characters. When they run up the stairs you get annoyed because you would have gone out the front door. You were thinking about it though, and putting yourself into the situation, which is the key. There’s a certain unspoken enjoyment from this dress rehearsal. You got to be chased by a chainsaw murderer and you got the satisfaction of learning that your decision to run out the front door was a good one. Should a real chainsaw massacre go down at your next slumber party, you’re prepared. It’s all sub-conscious, emotional and junk, but it is the magic behind the curtain that makes the film rewarding. Or you just love chainsaws so much. We’re all different I guess, but I’m talking from my own perspective here. You should start a chainsaw blog if you’re that into them.

My most rewarding trips and experiences have been ones where I’ve felt like I understood a little of what those coming before me felt. And those coming after me too. I got a sense of what it’s like in that town, and how the people who live there probably frown at the bottom of the same hill that I’m frowning at. I empathized with all the unknown people who also at some point stood at the train station and pondered why the signs were seemingly organized by drunk kittens. I’m a junior Magellan as I deftly locate the hotel bar. And in a dark corner of my brain I am satisfied that were I a great explorer in times long past, I would totally be able to find those ancient, unmapped, hotel bars.

So you see, the commonality between horror and travel is this Whitman’s sampler of empathic challenges. By placing myself in the moments I get to see how I would cope. The more I crave these little tastes of confidence, the more I put myself out there.

That’s how I see it anyways. Are you similar? Or am I making crap up just to hear the clackity-clack of my keyboard? I think this is mostly obvious stuff, but I wanted to talk about it some anyways.

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Horror Movies Make Me Travel. Sort of. is a post from: Rerunaround

Spooning cereal into my mouth like a sugar starved automaton, I consider why I construct routines in most aspects of my life. More specifically, why I have routines at all, and why I always seem to have them. Even when I’m only in a place or situation for a couple days, I quickly fall into little repeated patterns and habits. Fortunately, research has shown that most of us are quite habitual, so I don’t feel too bonkers.

For example, earlier this year I was spending a week in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Nothing fancy, just a week of downtime to relax and look around. In that short week, I had established several routines without even thinking about it. Like clockwork — More imported plastic clockwork than anything Swiss or precision — I would get my breakfast nice and early. Then I had my usual coffee shop that I liked to hit. Followed by a short walk around town. The seagulls down on the old fort walls that overlooked the ocean probably saw me consistently enough that they set their little gull watches by me. We’re not going to talk about which part of my routine involved Ben & Jerry’s either.

Photo by Gregory Kowalski

I suppose I learn a lot about places I visit by having a routine. Seeing specific places each day gives me a context to notice how things change day in and day out. I remember being the only person in my usual San Juan cafe that knew there was going to be a parade that day. I had spotted the change in traffic patterns and the extra civil workers while making my usual walk around town en route to the cafe. Granted my OCD might have helped with that more than the routine. Which now leads me to wonder, are there anti-routine people? Are there people that go out of their way, consciously or otherwise, to not establish routines? I don’t mean anarchists per se, but just people who are disinclined to repeat daily patterns like that.

In thinking about it now, this topic reminds me to get on with my day. I click around, reading the occasional piece of fiction or blog online. Inevitably, this leads me to consider writing something, and I start putting together this post. I’m off now to continue with my daily routine. Which involves a little lunch and a bit of a walk. I presume we take comfort from the safety of a routine. So in search of that comfort we put together routines at any given opportunity. Either way, I’m off to comfort myself with the usual lunch. I’ll see you all at the awards ceremony for most predictable senior citizen in 2038.

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//shawn

ps: What kind of spell check doesn’t know what Puerto Rico is? Does it really think the USA territory is called Puberty Rico? Really?

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Moving My Routine From Place To Place is a post from: Rerunaround

• In short, Kiva works by you making interest free micro-loans. You loan a developing world entrepreneur $25, they pay it back, you loan it out again, and again, and again. All simply from that original $25!
• It takes about 20 seconds, or 4 clicks, to make a loan.
• The pay back rate on the 55 loans I have made is exactly 100%!
• Cambodia and Peru have received the majority of my loans. Where will you focus on?

I firmly believe that there’s infinitely more value in helping someone to help themselves than in giving them a free handout. Strong local economies in developing nations creates a trickle down effect of improved living conditions for everyone there.

Right now, Kiva is having a promotion where people who refer 5 new lenders get themselves $25 worth of lending credit. The $25 is a bonus, but I’m also just eager to introduce 5 new people to Kiva. Having been a member for 4 years now, I can say that I find it completely rewarding. So odds are you might too, yea? If you have any questions whatsoever please don’t hesitate to email me, or put them in the comments. Here is my Kiva profile page if you want to see more of how my Kiva experience has gone.

If you are interested in loaning $25 to a struggling entrepreneur in a developing nation then please send me your email address. I will send you a referral email from the Kiva website. You’ll never miss the $25, but the various people you loan it to will certainly notice it. Thank you!

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//shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- A Freaking Great Proposal! is a post from: Rerunaround

Picture it, a sunny summer day in Reykjavik. The classic blue sky type of day, the kind where seagulls drift on those warm air things like they do. In short, it was a nice day. I had been downtown all day long. My time was mostly spent loitering, with just a sprinkle of strolling about. Needless to say, after a long day of such risky business I was ready to head home and sit around. In an innocent attempt to save a few minutes off the walk back to my hostel, I cut through the grounds of Perlan. For those not familiar with it, Perlan is a giant domey like structure in Reykjavik, and it’s surrounded by some woodlands. Obviously, prime shortcut taking material.

I was hiking along the illogically organized trails around Perlan on my way home. Being a person of such complete innocence, I was oblivious to the very concept of any danger to myself. I had spotted the trail that went more or less in the direction I wanted, and started down it. I was then suddenly startled and amazed to see a blast of steaming hot water shoot up from the ground. This towering geyser must have gone a solid five meters into the sky! Obviously, this was a clever trap set to spring as I walked past. Only through a subtle combination of brilliant luck, and my own beaver like instincts, did I manage to avoid this boiling cannon of death! Perhaps also aided in part by Yoko’s famous ineptitude for trap setting. I mean seriously, every knows she totally sucks at traps. As the steaming tower of deadly water slowly subsided I began to run down my mental list of jerks that might be trying to murder me that day. You know, the usual suspects sort of thing. I came up empty. Except for one name! It occurred to me that this was Yoko Ono’s land and that quite obviously she would still have that grudge against me. Yoko had just tried to use a giant steam cannon trap to boil me to death! How totally rude is that?! Her name should be legally changed from Yoko Ono to Rudy Huxtable. That’s how rude it was.

Once I’d calmed my nerves with some warm water and a piece of gum, I remembered that Perlan wasn’t Yoko Ono’s dealy at all. Her light tower tourism scenario is called the Imagine Peace Tower* and is located on an island outside of Reykjavik. This fact made it all the more obvious that she was the mastermind behind this murder attempt. Seriously, who would try to murder someone at their own tourist attraction? That would be entirely too suspicious (I know you’re reading this, Dolly Parton). Unless of course it were on CSI: Miami because that is the worst show in the world, and they would eagerly run a plot that lame. We all know it. How does that show even stay on the air?!

Anyways, yea, so that’s how it all happened. The facts and events are now all out on the table for everyone to see. For evidence sake, I waited around a few minutes for the death trap to spring on the next people, and took this photo. Here is the photo of the actual geyser used in Yoko’s weak attempt on my life. As you gaze upon this image, take a moment to be thankful that I’m still alive. You’ll probably want to spend a few moments on that thought actually. It’s cool if you tear up a little bit too. I know I would.

Oooh yea, this is a cute bunny I saw on the grounds around Perlan moments before the geyser incident described above. Consider this picture to be completely irrelevant from the aforementioned sordid event, and exclude it from evidence. See how it looks like she was trying to warn me though? We should all learn to listen more closely to bunny warnings. As you would rightly expect, I’ve named the bunny, Katherine. Which is obviously after the name of the mom in the 1976 original movie, The Omen.

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// shawn

* I want to tell you that I have exactly no clue what Yoko Ono has to do with Reykjavik.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- This One Time, In Reykjavik, Yoko Ono Tried To Murder Me! is a post from: Rerunaround

I’m not so certain that my China boycott really stands up to logical analysis. When you start thinking of countries that have what we’ll call “issues” then you start getting a pretty lengthy list. I’ll save you the rhetoric on their various malignancies. Suffice to say that I believe a government has the obligation to conduct themselves responsibly regardless of their culture or political system. Do I intend to boycott every country that makes that list? Honestly, no I don’t. Hell, even my beloved Canada is far from earning an ethical gold star. Which leaves me with a lot of questions. If I can’t stick to all my ethics, then why bother with any of them? Is there any redeeming value in boycotting one or two locations if I can’t do them all? I suppose my current stance is hypocritical, but what is the acceptable alternative? Surely it must be better to take some stances rather than none. Finding a balance that works is something I struggle with, and haven’t really figured  out yet.

Perhaps I’m just becoming older and crankier, but it seems at times that few folks think beyond their own self when the wallet comes out. How many animal lovers do you know that use products that are tested on animals? How many people praise Amnesty International while wearing diamond rings and sweatshop made shoes? How many people at the Earth Day rally drove there alone in their SUV with an imported bottle of water resting comfortably in the drink holder? I’m not trying to harp on the negative, but the whole lack of individual conscience is just so damn frustrating sometimes. It’s much like stubbing your toe then proceeding to bang the same toe on every corner for the next two days. When it’s already bugging you, then you notice it a lot more.

Were I able to make one cohesive point out of all this it would be to please consider what you are telling the world when you spend your money. What are you really supporting? Take that one extra moment to think about the bigger picture. Does that tourist attraction you’re about to visit exploit someone or something? Having worked for major corporations I can assure you that no one goes over the “monthly protest letters summary” in the shareholders meeting. It’s all just dollars. So until the flow of money mirrors your beliefs, nothing will change. Think of it like you’re voting with your money, or for that matter, your passport.

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//shawn

ps: Scapegoat is a strange word. I mean, I like goats, so I don’t see why we should blame them for stuff. And where does the scape come into it? Strange.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Why I Won’t Go To China (AKA Scapegoat Ethics) is a post from: Rerunaround

To even further alienate you from my point, I’m going to give some unfortunate sucker the chance to experience the joy of receiving some real postcards first hand. The unfortunate part being that the postcards will be from me. Plus they may possibly have genuine boogers stuck to them. Here’s how you too can possibly become the maligned nemesis of your postal carrier…

Without further text, here are the lists of reasons why postcards might still be cool. Conveniently divided up by senders and receivers. I’m fairly certain most governments don’t allow you to be both a postcard sender and receiver. Although, I think California might legalize it soon.

Oh yea, and after the lists I’ll describe in painful detail how you can belittle yourself for the chance to receive postcards from me. I assure you, I’m possibly not horrendous at choosing, writing on, or sending postcards. Who wouldn’t want some of that?

Why Sending Postcards Might Still Be Cool

1. You can brag about your glorious travels with no fear of immediate repercussions. They don’t even have an “unfriend” button on postcards. Unfriend isn’t even a damn word anyways. I’m not bitter.
2. You get to experience the joy of navigating the archaic postal system of backwater countries. Perhaps I should have made a “cons” list too.
3. You’ll create the facade of being a thoughtful and considerate friend. It’s important not to write the same thing on every postcard you send someone in order for this to work.
4. You can write embarrassing tidbits on the card about the recipients. You both know damn well that every postal worker along the route is reading it. Even cooler if the recipient lives in a small town, is paranoid, or their mom is a mail carrier.
5. The pictures on the cards are generally better than anything you could ever take.
6. Licking a stamp is just a 1/4 calorie. You could burn that off easily just by making that gross face everyone makes after ingesting a bunch of cheap stamp glue. Or perhaps even by googling pictures of Swedish princesses.
7. Speaking of stamp glue, I bet glue breath kills 99.9% of germs that cause gingivitis. Plus 100% of chances that anyone would want to have a conversation with you.
8. You’ll look like Hemingway as you sit in that little cafe scribbling thoughtfully over your postcards. Seriously.
9. Chicks dig stamps. I’m lying, but I so desperately needed more items on this list.

Why Receiving Postcards Might Still Be Cool

1. If the sender decides to later murder you, the investigators can perhaps harvest their DNA from the licked stamp. If you find this plausible you need to watch less crime TV dramas.
2. You can’t flaunt a Facebook status update around the office. Or stick a Skype call on your fridge.
3. You finally have a use for all those fridge magnets you’ve so naively collected (see #2 above).
4. That fleeting moment when you realize your mailbox contains something other than grocery fliers and cable bills just might save you some money on anti-depressants. Realistically, I doubt it though.
5. You can use it as a drink coaster. Jokes on you when the ink from that cheapo Dollywood postcard runs and ruins your crappy coffee table.
6. You might just have a tangible memory shared between you and a real friend. Might.

So that about sums it up. I’m mostly certain that you are now the hugest fan of postcards ever. And that as a born again postcarder you’re super desperate to get some of these puppies* in the mail. So here’s how you can maybe possibly get some!

I’m going to make you jump through some obnoxious, yet easy, hoop. Then I’m going to randomly pick one of you hoop jumpers. Then as I travel around for the next year or whatever, I’ll send you some postcards. Rad? Yea, I thought as much. You obviously need to be willing to email me a postal address, so you shouldn’t be previously terrified of stalking. Odds are, you should receive several postcards from this little endeavour. Unless I get arrested or dead soon.

All you need to do to enter this sham of a contest is post on the rerunaround.com Facebook page. I don’t especially care what you post, since I’m effectively illiterate anyways. I just like the subtle comedy of how non-Facebooky a postcard is. I’ll randomly select a winner, then message you for your mailing address. If you hate Facebook, then I suppose you can use Twitter (@shawnosaurus) instead. That’s all it takes. Contest runs until I get around to selecting a winner — so like, a little while, but not too long.

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// shawn

* Not literally puppies. It turns out most postal systems have fairly stringent rules in place regarding what you can tape to a postcard.

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Postcards Are The New Black… Again. Get Some! is a post from: Rerunaround

It’s going to be tough to validate any definitions of legitimate volunteer and morbid tourist. However, I would say the legitimate volunteer is the person that becomes a part of the community they’re helping. They also seem to make significant personal sacrifice in order to volunteer. Perhaps in the form of leaving a job, using every minute of their annual vacation time, spending a large percentage of their income to volunteer, or staying for a longer than usual time. The morbid tourist could probably be defined as those who volunteer for a short period of time, make little to no personal sacrifice, and most importantly are never really engaged with the local community.

There’s also a much less tangible aspect to volunteers that is the true defining factor between these two classifications. Their genuine motivation. Which, as you can guess, is sometimes quite different from their announced motivation. Volunteers seem to fall into two groups, which also mirror the legitimate and tourist labels. These two groups are the selfless and the self righteous. I’ve seen volunteers that were motivated by their own self righteous need to confirm their superiority. They need to validate how successful and great they are by having disaster victims shower them with gratitude. Then on the other hand there are the selfless volunteers that are not interested in appreciation or recognition. They’re simply interested in doing the right thing for the sake of doing it.

A large focus of the morbid tourist finger pointing is specific to the unskilled volunteer. People with clearly applicable skills, such as doctors, engineers, etc are seemingly excused from the morbid tourism moniker. However, in my practical experience, it appears that the opposite is more often true. I’ve seen plenty of examples where a skilled person will arrive at a disaster and spend their brief few days neck deep in photo opportunities and detached judgments. As though in a bubble, they stay separate from the people they are there to help. They leave as quickly as they arrived and then pronounce their experience to be genuinely life affirming, humbling and stunning. Whereas the unskilled volunteers I’ve encountered are more often than not desperate to help in any way they can. They eagerly throw themselves into any helpful task and are quick to engage the community that they’re helping.

Naturally, with every black and white comparison there is plenty of grey to go around. There isn’t a legitimately selfless volunteer out there who doesn’t slip into those moments of tourism or indulgence. On the other hand, there’s certainly times that the tourist gets caught up in the community and ends up genuinely moved to help. All this said, I’m glad to be able to say that the morbid tourist is certainly the rare exception. The overwhelming majority of volunteers that I’ve encountered has been genuinely interested in just lending a helping hand.

The moral of all this? I guess it’s to be aware of yourself while you’re in that beautiful pre-trip phase where you’re all caught up in the idealism of volunteering. Why are you actually going? Would the disaster victims honestly be better off with your airfare, or with your presence? Honestly.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Disaster Response Volunteer, or Morbid Tourist? is a post from: Rerunaround

Morale wise things here are going fine. There’s plenty of times where I can think of much better places to be. Then there’s other times where I can’t think of any place better. So it works out. The hard adjustment for me this week is getting used to people leaving. There’s some really cool folks volunteering down here and it’s quite sad when they head home.

For those folks curious what the various international presence was like here, it’s pretty mixed, but not as mixed as you might think. Léogâne was the quake epicenter, so we see a ton of relief groups pass through here. Generally, on the international front the largest impact group is the Canadian military. They began leaving this week though. Then I see a mix of smaller groups like the Japanese and Canadian Red Cross, the Korean army (arriving this week with heavy machinery), and a smattering of UN military police. Then there’s also various food and medical relief charities here and there. The only American presence in town is from private charities, not the military.

Well here’s a smattering of various photos from around town. A lot of these came from the market. Although it may not look much like a market to you. I’m off to see if I can find some leftover rice and beans.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- Haiti Photo Potpourri is a post from: Rerunaround

If I had to describe Haiti in one sentence; it’s just like some mad snow globe maker took equal parts people, cement, and mosquitoes, put it all in the oven, then shook the hell out of it. The devastation here is really amazing. Everywhere I look there are collapsed buildings and houses. There are shacks sitting in the streets made of out everything possible. Wherever there used to be a courtyard or field there’s now hundreds and hundreds of people trying to live in tents and under tarps. In this heat the middle of those packed solid tent cities must be pure hell. The streets are packed all day with people looking for work or running kids. I can’t imagine how they have the energy to run in this heat, but it’s really nice to see them having a good time. Despite all the suffering, the Haitians I have met so far have been quite nice. I suppose it says a lot about these people that they can be subjected to such catastrophe and still keep going.

The group I’m working with here is Hands On Disaster Response. We have a cool little base here in Léogâne built out of an old disco. We have  a lot of projects on the go all the time, but the one I started on was building some outdoor showers at a local hospital/clinic. Other projects are things like clearing rubble, transporting and organizing relief supplies, building fences and buildings, and so on. The projects change all the time, so the variety is fantastic. It seems like there are about three dozen folks here and everyone has been really nice. I suppose jerks aren’t drawn to travel really far to horrible conditions in order to volunteer.

So far I’m really happy with HODR and the projects here. I could do with a little less heat, humidity and mosquitoes, but such is life. Anyways, I’ll work on getting some good pictures soon — I feel bad taking pictures of people because it feels like the rest of the world just likes to gawk at the suffering. You know, like those jerks who slow down to stare at car crashes. If there’s anything you would like to know about Haiti, HODR, Heat, Humidity, Helicopters (you get to see some awesome UN and various military helicopters here), just holler.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- First Impressions Of Volunteering In Haiti is a post from: Rerunaround

The plan is to spend about 3 months in Haiti. Although I reserve the right to cut that time short if the humidity and bucket showers are making me homicidal. I’ll be working with Hands On Disaster Response in Léogâne. I’m expecting a lot of hard work in a really bleak place. So we’ll see how that plays out. I haven’t really had to work hard for a few years, so that too will be interesting. It sounds like a lot of the projects we’ll be doing will involve clearing rubble and the such. At least to start.

I’ll do my best to get in some posts on what it’s like in Haiti. I’m sure my spare time will be unreliable though. If there is anything in particular you’d like to hear about or see from the area certainly let me know. Ted Beatie is also down there right now, so if you’re interested you should definitely check out his accounts of the scene.

After Haiti I hope to get to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. I’m betting that both those places will be great. Especially after months of labour. Then it’s up to New York for a few days at the end of June then… who knows. I kind of have my eye on Oktoberfest, but it’s just too far away to tell for certain.

As I said, I’ll be sad to leave Victoria. It really is a lovely city and well worth a visit if you have the opportunity to do so. I’ve met several great people in the past month here and had a lot of fun. So that’s pretty much the state of the union  for me. Keep on truckin’.

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// shawn

Thanks for subscribing to my RSS feed, I appreciate it! Please be sure to stop by the site sometimes and leave a comment so I know you're still alive. I worry about you. Are you eating okay? Ok, see ya! -- T-Minus 3 Days To Haiti is a post from: Rerunaround