If you blogged any slower you wouldn't need an blog timer...you'd need a blog CALENDER !

How amazing is it that hotels, or atleast a fantastic one in Montreal -that apparently used to be a chinese restaurant before switching to a hotel- keeps left-behind items in an archive sorted by room # and date found in said room. I am now happily re-united with my overnight bag I stupidly left in Montreal. I have in my possesion two of everything; a genuine "Noah's Ark" of bathroom essentials one set (the older ones) I am leaving in my parent's house, the newer ones come to live with me in Hamilton. This all turned out to be a rather pleasently surprising end to my minor woes from my time in Montreal.

In more recent news, everyone needs to go mark their calenders RIGHT NOW !!! (well not really...but go ahead if you want.)

I received in my email today a message from a friend that had been passed along through so many "reply all" lists it literally took a minute of scrolling to reach the text. The point of thismessage was clear. According to the math if we (we being EVERY SINGLE person in Canada and the U.S.A.) do not purchase any gasoline or oil from any of the big oil companies on Sept. 1 2005 we might single handidly topple the big oil industry. How, you might ask, could this modern day David&Goliath standoff be resolved in one day ? The calculations say that if not a drop of gas is purchased for the whole day it would cause a loss to the tune of 4.6 Billion dollars to big oil, causing them to lose money on their bottom line and "choke on their stockpiles." The penultimate line of the text is a vague threat that a unifed left will continue these sorts of daily protests if it does not work on Sept. 1st and the finale of the message is a half hearted "it's worth a try..."

Now to carry on in a vein of what I believe to be enlightened constructive-criticism of the left or counterculture movement's tactics - which you may or may not realize is more prone to losing it's way and picking the worng methods of resistance than we like to think - this "buy no oil day" is a classic example of misguided efforts. One mass day of action seems to be more about "freaking out the squares" and giving a warm fuzzy sense of satisfaction to the counterculture by making them think the sheer radicalness of their action will be like mind bombs bursting throughout the collective conscious of the staunch right. It seems like "lefties" often give up more realistic solutions (government regulations, biking/public transportation etc) in favour of a totally radical, complete overthrow and toppling of the existing societal structures. I do however wish them luck in getting EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN CANADA AND THE U.S.A. TO NOT BUY AN GAS ON SEPTEMBER 1ST 2005. I just don't see that much supposrt being rallied through email or how this could actually work as promised. But hey, prove me worng radical action, prove me worng.

Onwards !

I have had a lot of free time this month and I have chosen to fill that time with books instead of XBOX, as seductive as she may be, and found myslef thinking more and more critically as a result. I have extolled the virtues of critical thnking in an earlier post here but now I really feel like I am reaching a better handle of the world around me. Don't get caught up in "slogan politics" and don't get your news headlines from a talk show host. Yes, John Stewart IS hillarious and fairly insightful, but don't watch him and then decide you are up to date on the news. Try watching the actual news or better yet READ the newspaper. Your brain works harder when you read as opposed to watch something.

In the coming days you will see a new section appear in my sidebar with books I have recently read and I believe to be extremely relevant, genuinly entertaining and insightful to a variety of today's more interesting issues. I am no english or litereary critic I just have a genuine belief in the force of printed text, the ability of publication to express ideas and create change. Go read a book! but not a piece of fiction, although fantastic and enjoyable, reading does not need to exclusively be an escape. Just because it is summer time and years and years of schooling have conditioned you to view books as work unless they are fiction which means they are for pleasure, doesn't mean you can't enjoy and learn at the same time. Reading is knowledge...there is so much happening in the world and television simply does not engage our minds to a justifiable degree. Reading to inform yourself seems more valuable than reading to escape the real world. With that said I will be putting up some links to a few book that I have recently read and felt impressed by. Do with my choices what you will, but atleast try reading for a while instead of zoning out in front of a t.v. You might just enjoy it.

Also stay tuned for my next post titled... What the hell is this !?! I said "a nice coffee" not "an ice coffee"

Coffee, ice and a crazy lexicon of made up words. This couldn't get better even if Jesus, Santa AND Starbucks endorsed it.

Somewhere between a giant apple and a giant orange

A lot has happened in the last 6 days. This may mean more to some of you than others...I don't really know who's reading this but maybe I will sleep once I write this.

Six Days Ago: That should be august the 3rd 2005, I finsihed a course that day. I spent the day wishing I was already done my final exam and worte said final exam for my children's lit class in the same mentality. I flew through the exam like Air France flys through runways. (I might edit that out...I only don't feel terrible because everyone made it out safely from the crash at Pearson Airport.) My pen tore through that exam with the goal of actual summer freedom in mind more than anything else and I was celibrating before I left the building and was rushing before I even left campus. Then I read my final essay, which was returned after the exam was handed in. I was abruptly stopped by the worst essay grade I have ever received. That sucked. I had just begin to have thoughts (this sumemr) of becoming a writer or somehow centering myself around wirtting when I have to face the real world. I had always relied on my belief that writting was probobly my strongest academic skill and school papers always seemed to work in my favour. I spent the rest of the night trying to celibrate and appearing happy on the outside.

Five Days Ago: I have to leave Hamilton for Toronto and consequently say goodbye to someone for the rest of the summer. A whole month apart seems pretty insignificant it's just that it started in a bad way which is throwing me off. I am tired and sad all day. This is possibly the worst mood to be in when you are travelling by the bus. I find something so tragic about travelling like this...it's a slow gradual move away...you usually have nothing to do but look out the window and watch life speed past. I used to like to wander around places like train or bus stations and even airports. They are an amazing centre of emotion. At any of these places you can spot people who are stressed about being late or missing/ed a train or bus or plane. People who are overjoyed because they are going home; or maybe people are overjoyed because they are picking someone up. There are sad people and confused people, organized and scattered, traveling companions or travelling solos. I like to put on my headphones and watch others go by...I wonder what their story is, what their journey means or has meant to them. We all come together in one place only to move away to new places.

Four Days Ago: I find I am drifting through my thoughts somewhere between a giant apple and a giant orange. I am in the car with my brother on the way to Montreal. The giant apple is at the side of the road and has sold over 2.3 million apple pies. That is a lot of pie. Our final destination is across the street from a giant orange and I was searching for a creative travelling metaphor invoving the giant fruits but sadly none came to me. I feel different travelling east then I do when travelling west. Not better or worse just different. My whole family awaits in Montreal and I am anxious and sad.

Three Days Ago: It is very hard to keep going from sad to happy...are you allowed to have fun if you didn't come to do so? It was fucking up my head all day changing back and forth between happiness and comfortable familiarity to worrying and anxiety. We rush through everything we do in life so quickly. I wish I could tell myself to slow down more. I want to saok things in, I want to dwell sometimes but I am in too much in the habbit of skipping through. Sometimes going through life feels like channel surfing; you always want to keep flipping to see everything around and keep thinking that you can always go back if you flip past...be careful of this cause you might miss something or not be able to flip back.

Two Days Ago: I am travelling west again, home to Hamilton for a bit then Toronto to run out the summer. I just kept going all day, little sleep, little food always moving west and even when I fnially stop moving west in Toronto I have a scant half hour and then I move west just a bit more. BY the time I get home I sitll feell like I am in motion. I have so much swimming around in my head but I say very little all night. Well I say nothing of substance all night. Just the usual banter, the same dialogue I have had a million times...it's comfortable and familiar, I sort of know what's going to happen but that's okay. The whole weekend was new and shocking, sometimes I'd rather get absorbed in the familiar. Do we fall into patterns cause we figure out what/how we like to do thngs the best or do we fall into patterns to avoid dealing with what scares us?

Yesterday: I felt drained, in every possible sense of the word. I slept most of the day cause it's easier than doing anything. I replaced my whole overnight bag (I left it in my room across the street form the big orange) Shampoo, toothbrush, deoderant the works. I am very mad, it is quite out of character for me to leave something like that behind.

Today: Well first off I'm not sure if this should be today...yes it is now tuesday the 9th and my story did begin 6 days ago; but it is past 3 am and to me it is only just very late on monday the 8th. I don't feel like I am in the next day untill I have slept and woken up in it.

Hopefully I'll wake up in tommorrow and be happy.

Goodnight...I'm feeling a little better already.