Monday, April 1, 2024
I went on an epic micro vacation this morning. I went to see the high school where Emily Carr went to. I thought the high school was near UVIC. As it turns out, it's a few blocks down the street across from the RCMP Police station.
The brick building that Emily Carr was pictured in is gone but the framework remains. It's now a different looking building that retains the same shape as it did in the 1880s which was when Emily Carr went to high school.
Going there and seeing that high school was epic.
I went there on my electric longboard.
Today was a good day to go as there were no students there since school is closed on Easter Monday.
Emily Carr is one of my idols. I like the word for idol in Cantonese. It's pronounced 'gnow jerng.' Emily Carr is my gnow jerng. That's why I had to see the high school she went to.
Question. She lived in James Bay at Government and Simcoe. Topaz and Blanchard or else Hillside and Blanchard is a one hour walk each way. Was there public transportation in the 1880s and what would that have looked like? Horse pulled vehicles that held a lot of people. Perhaps. I don't know if there were electric streetcars in the 1880s.
The lightbulb was invented in 1879 so what would have been available in the 1880s? I'm sure that by the late 1880s, lightbulbs were everywhere in Victoria.
Well, as luck would have had it, public transport in Victoria BC didn't start until February 22, 1890 starting with four streetcars, two routes and four kilometers of track.
The Burnaby Village Museum mini train carrying passengers does a 2 mile tour in ten minutes. That means that the train goes at 12 miles an hour which is about the fastest I'd want to take my electric longboard.
Cannabis is legalized in Germany. Germans haven't celebrated this much since the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
The timing of it. About a day after I drew the picture of the multi colored cannabis skateboard design on last month's blog posting, there was a video of Prince William and Princess Catherine going to a farmers market. It would be the farmers who would know how to cultivate cannabis of different colors.
It's already been done and for years although colored cannabis is rare. It wouldn't be in all probability not as strong as regular green cannabis. Green leaves are the best medium for chlorophyll which is how leaves derive nutrients from sunlight. Leaves of other colors might not do chlorophyll as well as green colored leaves do.
There are different types of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll A, B, C, D. A and B is green. C and D is red and found in sea plants and kelp.
Cannabis leaves are dicotyledonous rather than monocotyledonous.
With cannabis, the sucker leaves would be green. The bud is technically the flower which serves a different function than the leaves do and could be any color.
Of course with tobbaco, the sucker lesves are retained, the rest of the plant is thrown away. With cannabis, the sucker lesves are thrown away and the rest of the plant is retained.
This evening I went to the other Vic High. This town has two schools named Vic High just like the CFL had two teams called the Roughriders.
The other Vic High is a stately brick building. I saw an art easel there and a young teenage girl who kinda looks like Emily Carr smiled at me as I walked past the school.
I'm on the right track.
The building looks beautiful.
It would have been a good walk from Fernwood to James Bay for Emily Carr. Walk along Cook Street to Beacon Hill Park. Then walk through Beacon Hill Park. The 1880s. The pace of life would have been 5% of what it is today. It would have been idyllic.
The other Victoria High school on Topaz I went to was the wrong one. Wrong. That's not the highschool that Emily Carr went to.
It would have been a pretty good trick for Emily Carr in the 1880s to go to the high school on Fernwood since that high school was built in 1912. Well, it was worth a shot.
The high school that Emily Carr went to is at the site of Central Middle School. The original building got demolished a long time ago.
There is a famous photo of Emily Carr in highschool with a bunch of other students. I recognize one of her sisters in that photo. The ground is standing in front of a brick building. That s the building I wanted to look for.
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Joe Flaherty died at age 82. He was a legend. SCTV.
"You're going to be all right, leaving home and all... Eh?" SCTV season 1
Joe Flaherty made a cameo appearance in the movie Stripes.
This morning, I skated to a building that I call The Green Hornet building.
The architecture is classic 60s Green Hornet with Van Williams as Britt Reid and Bruce Lee as Kato.
If this doesn't look like 1960s Green Hornet, I don't know what does.
Psychiatrists say that depersonalization and derealization can come from good events as well as bad ones.
I felt that the other day. Riding the electric skateboard for such a distance for the first time. It's like waking up from a vivid dream. One thinks they committed a crime. Imposter syndrome. Mad crazy. Panic attack. Depersonalization. Derealization.
Heather visited me. We went to Chinatown. I love her very much. I always will.
In the afternoon I rode the electric longboard to Beacon Hill Park. Then Dallas Road. Then back to Beacon Hill and then home again. Balancing on the skateboard makes me feel connected to the forces of nature. I still make mistakes and step off the skateboard sometimes. I'm still learning. I don't go too fast on the skateboard.
I need to learn to make the skateboard itself do a 180.
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
The cooks at the restaurants in Victoria BC are profoundly talented as well.
Better than me. I can make simple meals. That's about it.
The News said that Yaletown is going to have a safe injection site. Move to junkies to Yaletown so they can visit the safe injection site and walk out of there just flying.
The News said that BC Hydro is asking the government to Green light new projects to meet an increase in demand for electricity. Another Site C Dam? Site D? Site E?
Also, NASA is being asked to implement a moon centric time system.
Why is it that Earth only sees one side of the moon. Ever. Other things in nature are more organic and there is some give or take. Even if the moon slowly moved one foot every hundred years, a few hundred years ago, people would have seen a different moon. Even in a fifty year lifetime, some difference would be seen. But no. The Earth only sees one side of the moon. Like fricking ever.
Conspiracy theorists think the moon is an artificial alien moon base. There was a movie called Moonfall that goes into this. The moon is hollow and rings like a bell.
This morning, I was going to take my street amoeba to Fisherman's Wharf, possibly the beach. This was at 5:30 in the morning. The sun doesn't rise until 7:00 am. You see how that would be a problem. I skated as far as the Pendray Hotel then I skated back.
Had a massive morning nap.
I need to take my non electric skateboards around more often. I love them.
The $30 Walmart skateboard is something I plan to give away as a gift.
I am going to see about new bushings for my found on the street Landyachtz Evo.
Today I got new bushings for my Landyachtz Evo. I switched out the old bushings for new ones. I got Bones brand medium firmness and white color with gold trim. Two bushings, the cone and barrel bushing for the front and two for the back.
One of the nuts was impossible to loosen. I had to use vegetable oil, WD 40 is a kind of oil anyways. I waited for a few minutes and was able to loosen the nut.
It's still tilty and the front truck is ever somewhat looser than the back truck which is how it's supposed to be. Pro skaters always have their front trucks looser than the back trucks.
Indiana Jones doesn't like snakes. But he has a weapon that looks exactly like a snake. Right. Whatever.
There is only one whip that cracks harder than a bullwhip and that's a pussywhip.
When you're young it's, why are you doing this, why did you change your name to that, why are you doing that, why are you riding a skateboard all of a sudden, so stupid, so dangerous. There's problems with that.
When you're old, it's, you changed your name? How nice. You're riding a skateboard? How delightful. Good luck and I hope you get good at it.
With the Royal Family, when a person is young it's, why are you allegedly releasing one Photoshop picture after another?
When you're old, it's, I accept whatever story you want to tell us. Photoshop or not, there is a good reason behind what you are doing and I trust your wisdom and guidance.
As a sworn subject of the Crown, it is my duty to trust in the wisdom and guidance of the Royal Family.
Besides information regarding something like a Royal Family would be at the level where it's either, "That's information above your pay grade" or " You don't have the security clearance to know that information".
One gets to be the age where one is older than the average Police Officer. Although, there are Police Officers who are quite old. Possibly in their 90s, consulting detectives with minds as sharp as ever. There is always a guard who is older than me and one who is younger than me.
At my age, I don't do anything BS like pull rank regarding age. I don't say crap like, "I was doing whatever when you were in your diapers." I don't say that to any young person regardless of their profession, even if they're unemployed.
There is an old Italian guy. He said, " I'm a child at heart. I view people who are younger than me as ten years older than me."
Young people respect their elders. But only if the elders respect them.
In the movie Carlito's Way, Al Pacino the old gangster just gas lighted and didn't respect John Leguizamo who was the younger generation gangster. The movie ended with the younger gangster getting the upper hand.
A person can be younger and be on the next level of any profession or hobby. A young person who went to University is at the next level from an old amateur.
Especially at skateboarding. There are young people now who are better st skateboarding than I'll ever be. Vice Magazine extreme skateboard stunts road trip. I don't think that I'll ever get that good. One guy with the help of a ramp, ollied over a chain link fence!
This evening, at 8:15 pm, I saw that an electric scooter was available in store at Walmart. So I decided to be like Indiana Jones, again, and go on an adventure to get the electric scooter. It only costs somewhat over $100 although I can't say for exactly how much.
When I got there, the scooter was there. Sort of. There were empty boxes. No scooters in store. They had to be ordered online. I got a nice new school next level glass scale so I can weigh myself. I weigh approximately 145 pounds, give or take a few pounds. I weigh more wearing lots of clothing and shoes and helmet and elbow pads and knee pads.
And I got a Marvel Avengers yoga mat for $7.
I was referred to customer service. When I got to CS, there were a few Police Officers there. For what reason, I don't know and I'm not sure that I want to know. My headphones were on so I didn't hear what was said. I didn't make eye contact. Cops are like gangsters, in the way that it's best not to make eye contact. A hard core explicit stare is known as mad-dogging in the gangsta world. Do that and you're dead. I minded my own business.
I found another electric scooter at another place. Hopefully it's still on sale. It said the sale ends tomorrow. This scooter has an 80 minute power range. The Walmart one boasts a 40 minute power range. It's a kids scooter but an adult can also use the scooter. Just like my mini cruiser electric skateboard is one thst adults can also use.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
I've been thinking about getting an electric scooter for 25 years, since 1999. I'm going to get one somewhere. I can't say where otherwise you'll all go and get it. I also can't say for how much. But what I will say is that it is a scooter made for anyone although it is classified as a child's scooter.
It boasts a longer batter life than the Walmart scooter.
There are a couple of movie sites that have Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny for free and in 4K HD. That movie isn't the best. It has world War 2 German soldiers and also a child is one of the heroes in the movie. I don't know if children should be involved plot wise in a story that involves danger and gunfights.
Not the best movie.
The electric scooter will take up space in an already space limited environment. The electric scooter has a loud motor. It sounds like brrrrrrr brrrrrrr brrrrrrr.
Top spped, 10 miles an hour.
The government of Canada implemented the Carbon Tax on April 1. Carbon tax means that a 3 cent surcharge is added to each litre of gasoline.
I remember in the late 80s, gas was just under 50 cents a litre. A person with an empty tank could get a good run with $4 worth of gas.
Now, gasoline is very expensive.
A Nation sales tax of 5% was implementated in World War 1. It was supposed to be temporary, for the war. It never went away.
PM Brian Mulroney implemented the GST which was 7% which got reduced to 5% under Stephen Harper's watch.
Alberta pays no federal sales tax because Alberta oil generates so much GDP and GNP for the government.
Now taxes are 10% in Canada.
Most taxes are hidden taxes. 90% of the price of tobacco is hidden taxes. At least 50% of the price of gasoline is already hidden taxes let alone a carbon tax.
If you don't drive a car, you shouldn't worry about the carbon tax. Even if you do drive a car, in for a penny in for a pound, the price of owning a car is already so expensive. What's an extra three cents here and there?
Consider riding the bus. With the large bay windows, sitting in the upper deck of a double decker bus is a lounge experience.
Last week on Wednesday, I went to Influence skateboard shop and back then I went to the Butterfly Garden and then to Sidney and back all that, a whole day of transportation on a bus that's worth $200,000 modern air conditioned bus at least for $5.
Then last Saturday, I went to Swartz Bay and back which is quite a distance all for $5.
That's a better deal even than in a lot of third world countries.
Nobody that I know of really cares about the carbon tax. Neither do I.
The carbon tax also offers generous tax rebates to people who are on low income.
Today I went to Canadian Tire and got the Razor Power Core E90 for $199 on sale from $299. Sale ends today.
Power Core. More like power crone. The thing is built for children who don't weigh over 150 pounds. As it is, I weigh about 145 pounds with clothing.
The motor makes a loud clackety steam punk kind of sound.
What do you expect for little over $100? A real adult scooter which is nicer costs about $1,000. That's a lot.
On the way back, on the bus I noticed that the bus passed the office of the Minister of Transportation. That's the final vindication. After getting all these vehicles, I pass the office of the Minister of Transportation and while on a type of transportation. I mean I could have been walking at the time.
Walmart had the Hyper Jammer 12V. That one has a time range of 40 minutes. It looks nicer and the set up is better for those who like to ride the scooter using only one hand. The motor on the Hyper Jammer sounds better.
The Razor Power Core E 90 has a time range of 80 minutes. Razor is a well known brand name. Hyper Jammer is an obscure brand.
I'm kind of not looking forward to riding the electric scooter. The Police will see me riding it and might think, "What. Another vehicle? What is he? OCD? How does a person accumulate so many vehicles?"
Depersonalizarion and derealization from a really good luxury event. I would get that from visiting Disneyland and seeing the Star Wars Galaxys Edge. I would get that staying in a five star hotel for the first time. If that ever happens.
I'd be embarrassed because of the clackety sound of the motor. Yet some brands of motorcycles have a more obnoxious sound yet they are more prestigious vehicles than a $200 electric scooter.
The Hyper Jammer has variable speed control. The Razor E90 has a push button. The idea is the button accelerates at a mild speed. One can use the brakes or release the button to reduce the speed. Or else keep pressing the button until it climbs to the lordly velocity of 10 mph.
Then I went to the park near the Church and the Courthouse. I tried to do a move called the Tiger Claw. The Tiger Claw is done with the left hand catching the board thumb down, fingers showing above the thumb. This does a 360 motion with the board.
The other variation is thumb down, the back of the hand above the thumb. This does a figure 8 variation. If done right. I tried.
I don't know what it looked like. I didn't leap onto the board while it was at an in line which is how it's supposed to be done. But I did jump back on the board with both feet which is more stylish than stepping on one foot at a time.
Fast or slow, skateboarding is about grzce and style. Better a move done slowly with grzce and style and deliberation than a move done quickly and rushed. One has to do it well slowly first before doing it well quickly.
Then after that, I rode around on the cruiser board. Beacon Hill Park, Fisherman's Wharf. Where ever.
The News had a video of everything is cake. Computer laptops, cell phones, butter packets, ear pods and ear pod containers were all sliced and shown to be made of cake.
This video changes everything. I'll never look at reality the same way again. I experienced mild derealization after I saw that video.
7:33 pm. I took my new Razor Power Core E 90 scooter for a quick spin tonight.
Holy smokestacks! It goes good. Fast acceleration. Exhilarating. Smooth ride. I thought it'd be bumpy and rickety. Nope. Smooth as glass.
I underestimated this when I painted a pictroin my mind. I thought it would be slow and sluggish.
This scooter is better than I thought. 10 miles an hour? It feels like 15.
Cheap scooter. Even people on welfare can afford this.
Speaking of glass, yesterday afternoon I watched a video of braille skateboarding skating a skateboard made entirely of glass. Deck and wheels all made of glass.
Then last night I got a glass scale. I didn't know it was glass until I got hkme and opened it. Coincidence.
Friday, April 5, 2024
BC wide amber alert in effect now.
Brianne Ford abducted 3 month old Tyler Durocher. Even they have different last names, that is the baby's mother.
Brienne of Tarth. Game of Thrones.
Ford is her maiden name. She abducted the child from the father.
She took off on foot.
Babies breastfeed for 2 years and beyond. So the baby is at breastfeeding age.
She is considered dangerous. Do not approach. Call 911.
Last known whereabouts, the Langley BC area. The Langley RCMP have jurisdiction in that area.
Most likely, she could be in the woods, at a food line or soup line, at a safe injection site, hopefully not. If she visits a friend, if she tells that friend that she is on the lam, that friend could be charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive. But if that friend isn't told that she is on the run, that somewhat changes the dynamic.
The Police usually use behaviourism which criminology is an aspect of, and try to figure out a comfort zone where the suspect likes to spend most of the time. Then forms a perimeter called a dragnet. And go deep undercover using a team of undercover cops. The Police can infiltrate but can't be infiltrated. Undercover cops are very difficult to spot.
I hope that the Police find this person. It's just a matter of time.
How long have the Police been playing this game? Someone did something, find out who did it. Someone is somewhere, find where they are. The Police have been playing this game for hundreds of years. Thousands of years if you count total man hours.
The Mounties always get their man.
Update: 5:30 pm Mother and child safe. Located at hospital. Amber alert cancelled.
Thai: "Meah kit ting luke." Mother misses child.
The mother probably wanted to breastfeed her baby. The father would give the baby formula. Breast milk is better than formula.
Human gestation is registered as 9 months. But that's based on 9 thirty day months which would be 270 days.
A lunar cycle is 28 days so 270 days is approximately 10 lunar cycles. 10 fingers on the hand, 10 toes on the feet. How perfect is that?
Emily Carr is from a family of five daughters, a chromosomal miracle.
Andrea Perron from The Conjuring movie is from a family of five daughters.
I never made that connection until today.
Today I spent the day in stress and worry. In spite of that, I powered through it and went riding on my electric scooter in the morning.
I the afternoon I went to the pawn store to look around. I rode the street amoeba.
I feel lots of anxiety now. Mega anxiety. I felt this before. I hope that God can take away my anxiety.
Baffling. This last month has been worst times because of some ongoing issue but it has also been some of the best times in my life.
I got two Meepo brand electric skateboards and a Razor brand electric scooter. Fricking Mau Mau land.
An embarrassment of riches. Depersonalization as a result of extreme luxury.
A year ago I would have never imagined this.
My story with the electric scooter. In 1999 me and my Chinese landlord went to Tinseltown Mall. There was on the second floor an area with some electric scooters and an area to ride the scooters on. So me and my landlord went on a ride on the electric scooter.
In 2002, my neighbour when I lived in the downtown eastside who was a drug addict sold me a used scooter for the lordly price of $5. I think he found it in a dumpster.
I rode it and holding the handlebars with two hands felt super retarded like as if I was holding up a push up bra with both arms. It felt that clumsy.
Now I never held up a push up bra nor would I ever want to. I'm just trying to describe the scale of awk which drove me to ride the kick scooter using only one hand for over 20 years.
The electric scooter goes at a good clip. The acceleration is formidable. One has to hold it with both hands. Due to safety necessities of holding an electric scooter handlebar with both hands, I will have to overlook the retarded feeling for safety and security reasons.
Due to the immensity of worry I walked to Fisherman's Wharf. I saw my friend and asked if something bad happens to me in the future if she would still be my friend. My friend from Church. She thought I was being ridiculous.
Getting electric vehicles and skatebosrds has a hidden danger. One can forsake walking. The joy and the feel of walking. If one only uses electric vehicles, the leg muscles atrophy. The two things help each other. Skateboarding helps one with their walking and vice versa.
So I walked to Fisherman's Wharf.
Perhaps nothing bad will happen to me. Not in the way that my brain paints a picture of.
This morning my brain painted a picture that I misplaced my watch in my room. I believed that picture. After searching frantically for ten minutes, it wound up that it was in the pocket of the pants I was wearing.
I've been trying for a few days to learn a skateboard move called the manual.
Most things on the skateboard so far, after a couple of days, I've got it locked.
A few days later and I'm no better at it than I was during my second day.
The first day was awful. I kept falling off. At one point I fell backwards into a large white plastic container I found and broke it. I threw it in the garbage. I pick trash up off the streets if it looks like it could be useful.
I have a ton of clothes I have to throw out. I found a plastic leather jacket that looks like the jacket John Travolta wore at the opening scene of Saturday Night Fever where he was eating two pizzas. One day I'll wear it with my silver disco shirt.
I see lots of skateboarders in town. Looking at their technique, I can tell they've been at it for years. When they do a kick push, their kicking leg folds back with one leg standing balanced on the skateboard. It takes months at least to learn that.
The skateboarders in this town are older and taller than the teenage skateboarders I saw at the Skytrain station when I was in Vancouver.
I notice that in either town, none of the skateboarders wore helmets. Nor knee pads or elbow pads.
I fell landing on my knees twice in the past couple of years. Once st Craigdarroch Castle and once in James Bay. That's why I wear kneepads. I'm on my second trimester of learning skateboarding. I picked up the Landyachtz Evo on the street for free near Craigdarroch Castle on January 2, 2024. This is skateboard advent day for me.
My first trimester of skateboarding ended on April 2.
The tail of this Landyachtz is chipped a lot due to the previous owner popping it all the time.
Wearing a helmet makes me feel safer. And knee pads and elbow pads too.
But $20 for 3 sets of pads. These pads will protect somewhat during a fall but I think they'll simultaneously crack while protecting. These Capit brand pads are good for only a one time use. I've seen knee pads alone priced at $75. Those are the good ones.
I think that strictly speaking, helmets are legally required but rarely enforced. Why take a chance?
Saturday, April 6, 2024
This morning I had an epic run on my screaming hand cruiser skateboard. 4 blocks staring from Rockland and Quadra, corner of the Church on the hill down one block with me seeing a young lady smiling at me then to Quadra and Courtney then turn right then go one block then to Vancouver and Courtney and then turn left two blocks to Vancouver and View Street. 4 blocks and it occurred to me afterwards that was the trajectory of my royal dream. The Bachman Turner Overdrive royal dream. Epic. That was Tolkienesque. I never skated that far on a non electric skateboard.
Suffused with worry, I went to the pawn shop to ask for advice. They helped me out with good advice.
Skateboarding especially electric skateboarding often gives me stage fright before going. One is totally exposed in a skateboard. The electric skateboard is quite a spectacle but for any given person, it is a spectacle that passes quickly. I've seen lots of skateboarders on the street, electric and non electric. They are there and then gone a few seconds later. They zipped away.
I think that with my blue vest, I look like a suburban bourgeois foster child or else foster parent. Something about the vest and the brown Chuck Taylor skate shoes makes me look like someone from a foster home. The kind of middle class goody goody two shoes foster home where the foster parents are obsessed with etiquette. What a scene. Wretched.
I don't care about the look. Whatever look. I just have to work on my skills.
I'm getting better at doing the manual. Not much but slowly and steadily.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Today, I discovered a song. It was playing on a 70s music station, Stingray 70s. The song is KISS, Hard Luck Woman. That songs sounds really good. It touches the heart. It's not like the usual cacophony of heavy thrash metal that KISS is otherwise known for.
Would it be fashionable to wear a KISS tshirt st a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant just like the guy in the Brennan Taylor Vietnam restaurant coconut worms YouTube video?
KISS is major 70s vibes just like formica countertops.
KISS did another soft rock song, Beth. The song Hard Luck Woman is a song I like better. I wonder if they did any other song rock songs.
Yesterday, I went to Church. Then I saw that Heather visited me. As I was going home, I saw her leave my apartment building. Me and Heather went to City Hall near Chinatown.
This morning I tried the move called the Tiger Claw on my chocolate regular skateboard. The regular skateboard is lighter and has a kick tail whereas the longboard is heavier and the arbor 37 is flat. No kicktail. My Landyachtz Evo is even heavier. Yikes.
I didn't notice the eclipse at all today. Skies very cloudy. Total eclipse was in Ontario, Niagara Falls. Here on the West Coast the best we got was a partial eclipse.
Here, it wasn't S. O. L. E. I. L. It was merely S. O. L..
The best way to see an eclipse is on YouTube. I wouldn't recommend looking directly at an eclipse at all.
As with any other shadow, an eclipse has an umbra and a penumbra. We didn't even experience the penumbra.
Illicit drug use in BC hospitals.
Hospitals are a military place with military tone and tension.
Hospitals are a place where a certain decorum is to be expected.
Don't they have orderlies? There should be a reasonable standard of civility and behaviour in the hospitals.
Meanwhile nurses are getting memos not to search, or confiscate any drugs or even any knives under 6" long.
That's bonkers policy.
Abuse of drugs and abuse of drug policy are two different things. The government has given drug users an opportunity. It would be best to not squander it.
Illicit drugs can't be used at a courthouse or at a Police station, or at a school, or at an airport or probably at a Fire station as well. Why can such subtances be used at a hospital?
Under the BC policy of the Province of BC criminalization, drug users are allowed to use and possess illicit substances. This policy is from a letter written by many Police Chiefs to Ottawa recommending that illicit drugs be decriminalized. It wasn't welfare hippies who wrote that letter but Police Chiefs.
When the drugs are illegal, users are hesitant to report overdoses of their friends because they don't want to get busted for possession. Hence a lot of people died from overdoses. The Police have seen this. The Police are in the business of saving lives.
There is overt and covert. There is using drugs discreetly and there is using drugs el flagrante delicto.
One can use drugs and not be a part of drug culture. The clothing, the language, the social mannerisms. Hippies.
One can be a skateboarder and not be a part of skateboard culture, the clothing, the tattoos, the lexicon.
In either case there is a pressure to take it to the next level. Drug culture, you tried weed? Why not try something else that's stronger? Skateboard culture, you can go from point A to point B? Why not do a kick flip or grind a rail?
Ergo, a drug user can go to the hospital and not be caught up in drug culture and use drugs clandestine with discretion mindful of general hospital protocol.
The government has an executive branch, a legislative branch and a judicial branch.
The Police are part of the judicial branch of government and on the side of the prosecutory aspect. Although occasionally they will be on the side of the defensive aspect.
Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Peter Higgs of Higgs Boson particle fame dies at age 94. He discovered the Higgs Boson particle.
In the Universe there are different fields, which is like a large net with certain sized reticulations, there is the electron field, the gluon field, the boson field. It's not that the mass of an object determines its resistance to the field but that an object's resistance to the field determines its mass.
That's one of the algorithms of the Universe.
This morning, I went to the Catholic soup line. Then I went to the beach on my electric cruiser skateboard. The longboard is more stable than the cruiser. The cruiser is like Back to the Future. An electric cruiser skateboard is a cross between the skateboards shown in Back to the Future 1 and 2. If the 2 skateboards in those two movies got together and had a baby, the baby would be an electric cruiser board.
Still trying to learn the move called the manual, also the nose manual. And do it riding regular or switch. I need to have the move called the manual on lock.
I need to do it for about 30 seconds to the level of works the first time, works every time. I think this will take about two years of practicing daily.
The manual is a springboard to so many other moves like the Ollie, kick flip, shuv it, 180 pivot.
Wednesday, April l0, 2024
The News often talks about the Policing situation in Surrey. Much of it is over my head.
Essentially, former Mayor Doug McCallum wanted the Surrey Police Service.
The current mayor Brenda Locke wants the RCMP.
The solicitor general Mike Farnsworth said that he wants Surrey to have the Surrey Police Service and the Province offered $150 million to facilitate the transition.
The Mayor of Surrey thinks the offer is too little so is taking the Province to Court later this moth.
Surrey will wind up having a de facto hybrid model anyways. SPS but RCMP detachments will still be there just as it is in many major Canadian cities. Recently the RCMP got a new Police station in Surrey which cost... a lot to build. Therefore there must be some local commitment to the RCMP.
The is a Mexican stand off. A Police stand off. Most Police stand offs last a few hours. I heard of one lasting nearly 31 hours which I couldn't help but think of Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. But the Surrey Police standoff between the RCMP and the SPS has lasted about two years now.
I hope that all parties involved will reach a solution where everybody wins. They will. They got this.
In BC, the Attorney General oversees that government functions according to Law, Hansard rules, legal aid and handles most prosecutions.
In BC, the Office of the Solicitor General was created in 1988. The Solicitor General oversees matters concerning policing, corrections, motor vehicles and liquor licensing.
I was under an impression that an entity tries to sue the Province of BC, the Attorney General is the Defense Lawyer for the Province.
And when the Province wants to sue an entity, the Solicitor General is deployed.
Solicitor General, Attorney General, top cop, top lawyer for the Province.
The UN says that we have only two years left to save the World due to climate change. We're sunk then. There is 0% chance that will happen. Ever since the Industrial Revolution the fine human tradition of releasing fossil fuels into the air has continued unabated.
Economists, scientists often disagree. Left Wing scientists would say that the world is nearly doomed due to climate change. Right Wing scientists would say that we're doing all right and that everything is under control. Right Wing scientists would talk about the Milankovitch Cycle etc.
Today I went longboarding at the beach.
KISS. Halloween. Me?
I'm mulling over if I should get some make up paint at the Dollar store this Halloween.
The KISS makeup I'd wear for Halloween is either Peter Criss the cat or Ace Frehley the glitter man.
Ace Frehley has the 6 point star on either side of the face. Star is outlined in black or else blue and interior is silver. Blue or green eyeliner on the above eyelid is optional. Then the red lipstick. The red lipstick makes this look really girly. Alice Cooper style.
Peter Criss is the cat. Racoon eyes. Then a black nose outline with silver filled in. Either the W shape under the nose or the few small black cubes KISS in Japan style and then the whiskers which can be thin or thick.
Can the make up easily wash off?
KISS is a big hair band. I often have a crew cut because the local barber specializes in crew cuts. Would wearing KISS make up for Halloween be the same with a crew cut? Would one need a big hair wig as well?
The you need the clothing to go with it. Kiss make up, wig or not, but with sweatshirt, jacket, jeans, would it be the same?
I probably won't do it.
My 4 favorite KISS songs
1. Hard Luck Woman
2. Sure Know Something
3. I Was Made For Loving You
4. Detroit Rock City
KISS the first wave 1973 to 1979 was legendary. The group broke up in 1979 crestfallen to see that fans included elementary school kids wearing KISS make up and Peter Criss didn't play in a lot of songs on the Dynasty album.
The in 1995 they reunited on MT and in the years since, it's been on and off. It would be major to see a KISS concert live. They are all still alive.
KISS performed in Dawson Creek on June 1, 2011.
I don't know if I can handle a KISS concert. A lot of rowdy people would be there.
Thursday, April 11, 2024
The TV series Ghosts said saomthing like, "Stope swearing cleanly. It's annoying."
I try to swear cleanly. I think it improves the psyche. The f word is still used in poetically strategic and essential occasions.
Instead of saying f that, I'll say forget that.
Of course taking the Lord's name in vain is completely off the menu. I don't want to do that ever again in my entire lifetime.
OJ Simpson died at age 76. He was certainly iconic. He appeared in the movie Airplane and he guest starred on SNL in the 70s.
He played football in the NFL. At one point he was the perfect Black guy of the 70s. Afro hair, turtleneck sweater, sunglasses, airport, some luggage.
Then he saw his wife was having an affair so he stabs Ron Goldman in the heart and nearly cuts off Nicole Simpsons head with a serrated hunting knife. Ghastly! It was at the point where only a flap of skin connected the head to the rest of the body.
He was really dialed in that day!
To quote Dennis Miller, "That takes focus and purity of vision." Dennis Miller, talking about a guy who would paste Trollz on his car, covering it completely.
He was acquitted in court. "If the glove don't fit, you must acquit."
A few years later he and a friend broke into someone's apartment in Las Vegas and robbed them of their baseball cards and sports memorabilia.
I don't know if OJ Simpson is going to heaven.
On a YouTube video now long forgotten, in the video, a person said that an angel said, "Some decisions will cost you your soul."
Let me guess, doing oneself in and doing other people in especially multiple people would do it.
The drummer of DOA died. I don't know any DOA songs.
I thank God for the gift of life.
Even in difficult times, I still have the presence of mind to thank him for the beauty and blessings within each day.
I had painted a picture of success when I was a teenager in the 80s. Since then I met so many people particularly girlfriends whom I would not have traded meeting them for a BMW. In that way I became more successful than I thought I would be.
The girlfriends I have had make me feel the I have been very lucky in my life. Each and every girlfriend I ever met makes me feel that I am more successful than I thought I would be.
I met a lady who has spoiled me for every other lady. I know that I will never marry this lady so that means I'll be single for life. No other lady has made me feel this way. This lady is pure. She is a Saint.
Perhaps because I don't know her very well that I think she's a Saint. Know her better. That may or may not change. I'm thinking may not.
If I see Saintly qualities in her, that's positive projection. People often remind us of things about ourselves.
If you have a cell phone and you get calls from strange area codes like 437 or even 1-800, it's a scam scam scam. Also messages from a bank even if its coincidentally and purportedly your bank, its also a scam. 'Your automated deposit failed.' and includes a link. Scam
Don't answer any calls from any numbers you don't recognize.
Today I went to the museum. The Stonehenge exhibit is being assembled. To be opened next month. Some of the Aboriginal exhibits have been restored.
Terry Fox's van is there. Vans kind of freak me out. Ever since I saw the Kevorkian van at the Zak Bagans mystery museum in Las Vegas on YouTube, ever since vans freak me out. Also there was an episode of CHiPs where there was a viallian that always had violin music playing from his van. He abducted people. The California Highway Patrol was finally able to get on top of the situation. Strange long hair hippie who likes strange violin music.
I like the violin music of Jean Luc Ponty although on some songs when the violin hits the high notes, it sounds like the neighing of a horse. Otherwise the rest of the song sounds pretty good.
Victoria BC has a certain vibe. I encountered this vibe in the early 80s when people I knew talked about Victoria, I saw some pictures of Victoria and the knowledge network has strong Victoria vibes. The gentle swaying slow paced natural aristocratic vibe of Victoria.
Some exhibits in the museum have a certain lighting particularly the saloon which has the knowledge network Victoria vibe.
The saloon has a sign that reads, "This is a turn of the century saloon. Do you think you would be accepted or allowed in a 1900 saloon?"
I'm thinking probably not. This was before the Anti-asian riots in Vancouver in 1914 which was an era when things had 'mellowed down' from the racist intensity of the 1800s which had perfected racism to a science.
I'm Chinese Canadian. Probably part white. There's probably a badger in the woodpile as the saying kind of goes. In the 1900s, if it wasn't White, it wasn't right. No, hell no. I highly doubt that I'd be accepted in any saloon in Victoria if this was 1900. Me and millions of others.
It was an era when White people were even racist to each other as 1900 was 14 years before they'd go at it tooth and nail in the trenches of World War 1. German VS British etc.
There are no skateboards that I want. Half the skateboards I have are cheap, found for free on the street, or gotten used at a pawn shop. The other half are pretty good but still the cheap models.
I loosened the trucks on my electric longboard. I'd like to be able to do the 180 pivot on the longboard, that is do a quick 180 without the feet leaving the board. There's another variation where the board does a 180 but the feet jump but don't otherwise change position. I have to learn this too. It will take me a couple of years, I think.
These moves are second tier. They have no direct function to basic commuting. Form follows function.
Stand on the nose, body varial jump 180, longboard dance 180, push start, braking with the foot is very useful, first tier.
Ollie, 180 pivot, is second tier.
Kick flip, Tre flip is third tier.
The impossible, grinding rails, dropping in off one storey walls and ramps is scrstching the bottom of the barrel.
In Vietnam, their answer to Leona Helmsley who was a real estate magnate named Truong My Lan got the death sentence in a fraudulent real estate empire with amounts of $27 billion US or $37 billion Canadian.
Due to the exchange rate which is 18,270 Dong to one Canadian Dollar, in Vietnamese currency this case takes on truly mythical proportions as that's about 678,984,390,000,000 Dong or else rounded off, about six hundred and eighty trillion Dong.
No wonder the Vietnamese government is upset. It's a family affair. Her husband got 9 years and her niece got 17 years. But compared with Truong My Lan herself, they're amateur hour because she got the death sentence!
She started off in cosmetics. She formed a company called Van Thinh Phat. Thin fat. Isn't that an oxymoron? Anyways in 2011 she acquired Saigon Joint Commercial Bank or SCB which she merged with two other banks. Using these banks she created fake bank accounts of dummy companies which she used as collateral to obtain fraudulent loans.
She bribed a bank official paying him $5 million US. The bank official she bribed got life imprisonment for this.*
The point of this is the notion that this is a wake ip call that as soon as the first few people get busted, this will cause a panic that will cause the real estate Ponzi scheme bubble to burst.
Killer Aileen Wuornos said that the Police knew all along she was killing people. She claimed that the Police wanted the amount of cases to pile up so she would be sure to get a lifetime imprisonment conviction or else death sentence. One of the people she killed was a cop. Big trouble.
With one charge, that case can be thrown out of court by a skilled lawyer. Multiple charges is more difficult. Throw up enough mud and some of it will stick..
The time will come when the amounts of money involved in individual charges of real estate money laundering will be a big collar. A big bust.
This Vietnam incident is such a case. The bubble is starting to burst. The window is closing.
Incidentally, cases where the Police quit and seek treatment for PTSD, "I didn't sign up for this" are also at the same time, cases where there is a big promotion.
*source: CBC online article. Vietnamese Property Tycoon Given Death Sentence in $12 bn Fraud Case, April 11, 2024
Being a billionaire to us and a trillionaire to the Vietnamese, she will probably try to appeal and get her sentence commuted to life and with good behaviour, release in ten years.
Her lawyers would be counting on that.
"Over lawyers fingers who straight dream on fees." Shakespeare
Sunday, April 14, 2024
When doing the manual on the skateboard, it's not only the leg muscles that are involved, the muscles of the entire body including the arms are involved. It takes awhile to get all of them to work in sync. Doing the manual, there is a constant wobbly see saw feeling if you get it right.
I've really been mulling over an Arbor pintail skateboard. The bamboo one with the design and the shape, this is the skateboard that most exemplifies the California surfing spirit of Point Break. The shape of the pintail skateboard most resembles a surfboard.
The bamboo one is very flexy. More flexy than maple boards.
It's down to three choices.
1. Bamboo pintail - good: bamboo side looks great, really great bad: too flexy, reverse side a macabre desultory gothic design. I prefer a baroque design longboard rather than gothic. Black drop deck longboard, lime green wheels = gothic.
2. Breast cancer - good: maple with palisander wood, great reverse side design which is a beautiful face of a lady, great grip tape side design, natural wood, bad: it's the abreast cancer pintail longboard as a part of all sales of this model goes to cancer research, its a rather girly design made for girls
3. Cowboy: good: it's an Arbor pintail longboard with the Point Break California style surfboard shape. bad: indifferent to the reverse side design which is a cowboy motif. The grip tape design looks standard. Not bad but not elegant like actual bamboo or wood grain. The grip tape design is that of a regular typical bad ass skateboard.
It's harder to pop a pintail than a regular tail. It's probably harder to manual a pintail longboard, the weight distribution is very different than that of a regular style or cruiser style skateboard.
4. Bamboo eclipse: good: bamboo design, surfboard shape. bad: reverse design that of a solar eclipse yet overall a very desultory dark somewhat depressing.gothic design.
5 OP longboard: This is a 40" pintail whereas the Arbor pintail is 37". good: surfboard shape bad: never heard of OP longboards until yesterday. I thought OP only designs Tshirts and shorts. Price point similar to Arbor but since it's not well known, is often on sale. I don't know if OP longboards are as good as Arbor.
I already have a pintail but it's a cheap Walmart Madd Gear brand pintail. Once you experience quality, it's hard to go back. Once I experienced Arbor and chocolate and Meepo and Santa Cruz, it's difficult to go back to Walmart Madd Gear.
My Landyachtz Evo found on the street is not good. Even though I installed new bushings, it still is very tilty. It's supposed to feel stable. No wonder it was thrown away on the street.
I like skateboards that are symmetrical. The pintail skateboard has an asymmetrical shape. Pintail skateboards have a frivolous look. Any skateboard that looks 70s is frivolous and this includes penny boards, banana boards which are really thin cruiser boards, pintail skateboards especially small pintail skateboards and the Walmart $40 skateboard. Not my personal favorites but it could be yours.
I saw an electric banana style skateboard with a carrying handle. This skateboard is sold on Walmart online and on Amazon too. I didn't think that was a skateboard I could take seriously.
The good shaped skateboards are symmetrical longboards, regular Rodney Mullen style, cruiser style, and Point Break surfboard shaped pintail.
A good move to learn is while riding regular, do a quick nose manual with wheels close to the ground while rotating the back foot forward making the skateboard go 45 degrees. This makes the skateboard go perpendicular rather than parallel to the path that is proceeded upon. If done right, the wheels do an exquisite sliding braking motion before one quickly swivels the skateboard 45 degrees back to original position. I've seen it done on the streets of this town. It's an impressive move. This will take about three months to get it on lock.
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Today, I got the Arbor bamboo pintail longboard.
I just had to. This is the skateboard you go to the beach at 7:00 in the morning in the summer with. Point Break.
I got it for $20 less than I was expecting to pay and I got the solar eclipse design which is the one I preferred anyways. I thought the other design was going to be there. Whatever.
This longboard is gorgeous. Arbor makes good products.
This is superior to the Walmart pintail of course.
The Walmart pintail is way better than the Walmart regular skateboard. The Walmart pintail has really good wheels and good color too.
I can install trucks but good Paris trucks retail starting at $90. It doesn't make sense to put $90 trucks on a $70 skateboard.
The Arbor Fish bamboo pintail rides like a dream. It is barely more flexible than the maple board. You don't notice the flex at all.
Bamboo is more sustainable. It takes 40 years for a maple tree to reach maturity but it takes bamboo just 5 years to reach maturity. Unlike maple, bamboo will grow again along the nodes they are cut. Bamboo has more tensile strength, PSI than steel.
In Asia, bamboo is used in construction scaffolding. Bamboo is used in chopsticks too so riding a bamboo longboard is like riding one very large mishapen chopstick with wheels.
It gets to the point where one thinks of the world as one large spherical skateboard deck without wheels. The Universe itself is one large skateboard deck and linear time is the wheels and the road.
I got skateboards at all skateboard shops in town. There are 3 or 4.
1. Bay Street Broker - Arbor Axis Flagship 37. $200 tax included
2. Good News skateshop - Kenny Anderson chocolate 8" $120
Santa Cruz street amoeba cruiser - $140
3. Influence Board shop - Santa Cruz toxic screaming hand - $240
4. ArtAvi Board shop - Arbor Fish Keller bamboo pintail longboard - $240
These are top of the line board shop skateboards. Big box department store skateboards are for prebeginners and are an anathema and owning any of them would bring down the average of the overall quality of all skateboards you own.
The best moves for a pintail longboard is any longboard dancing moves, the shuffle, the 180 shuffle, the 180 body varial jump, tiger claw, Peter Pan, nose manual with wheels close to the ground then do a 45 degree front swivel than 45 back swivel to original position.
I want to get rid of my Walmart regular and my penny board. The penny board is awkward and impractical. There's not even any grip tape on the penny board. It does have nice large soft roller skating wheels. Better than small hard wheels.
The Landyachtz Evo drop deck and the Walmart pintail are also second tier skateboards that I have.
First tier that I have are the two Meepo electrics and the 5 top of the line name brand skateboards.
Local skateshops make their own name brand skateboards. Locals research and take the extra time, are very knowledgeable and can usually offer a better quality skateboard in terms of time and workmanship than the mass produced skateboards. The local made skateboards are individually hand made.
Local anything, wine, cheese, skateboards etc can often offer a superior product to the mass produced brands on the market.
Sometimes these names catch on such as Landyachtz. I think Landyachtz started in Vancouver. There is a Landyachtz warehouse shop on Union Street in East Vancouver.
Loving the bamboo longboard. Fits like a glove. Feels natural.
Bamboo is phyllostachus bambusoides in Latin. Bamboo grown in China reaches 20 feet and has culms about 5 inches across. Bamboo grows only about half that size anywhere else.
Monday, April 15, 2024
Two days ago, I saw the movie Monkey Man. I'd have to give the movie 11/10 stars. Remember the movie Kiss of the Dragon? Epic ending. The ending of this movie is even more epic. Royally epic.
This morning, skateboarding. Then walking. Lots of worries. Often worries are imaginary but they seem so real.
I pulled a back muscle. The muscle cramps. I tried to do the manual on the skateboard so many times that the back muscles involved in balancing just pulled, cramped and wrenched itself. It was painful. First I drank water, took an aspirin and a going to rest.
Basic physiotherapy. If a muscle is underused, it atrophies. If it is overused there is inflammation and cramps can result.
I just need to rest and not do any skateboard manual attempts for a week.
There is an ad about Victoria Specialty Hardware & Furniture. The jingle is a jazzy song. I am never able to activate Shazam quickly enough to know the name of the song.
Saturated with almost debilitating anxiety fueled worry, I took a walk this evening. I was going to go on a much longer walk but I decided to walk away from the worry instead. My friends have told me that I will be all right. Yet I cling to the negative what if worries.
Tonight I decided to walk away from the worry. I went on a short walk. I should listen to my friends and not doubt them. I shouldn't worry anyways when the majority of people said I had nothing to worry about.
Having some problem is a social issue. Having anxiety that goes with it is a medical problem. Those are two different problems. Some people go through much more intense issues but with just a fraction of it any anxiety.
I have a prayer to ask which is often the fear is worse than the actual problem. I ask God to grant me peace and to take away my fear. I wish for lack of fear even if it accompanies poverty than to be greatly wealthy but not having gotten on top of my fear and anxiety. Often fears are a result of blowing things out of proportion.
Is it a bad month or a bad day you milked all month? And is it a bad day or a bad five minutes you milked all day?
God please grant me lack of fear and peade of mind. I will prove myself worthy of this request.
Can any of you say a prayer for me so I don't have fear?
It was way too cloudy this morning for me to do Point Break which is to go to the beach at 7:00 in the morning with my bamboo pintail longboard.
Instead I went to the graveyard next to the Church. It's more of a park than a graveyard. The last time that place was a burial site was 80 years ago..
I'm figuring that one side of my bamboo pintail is baroque which suits the beach. The other side is Gothic which fits the Gothic Church and the graveyard park next to it.
There is another graveyard but I'm scared to go past there. It's at Ross Bay and I can skate past it on the other side of the street to go and see other streets beyond it but I'm scared that the graveyard is bad mojo, bad joss, so I don't go past there. The other week, I got to half a block away then I turned back. Scared.
There times in this town I got scared and then nothing happened.
Once at the Galloping Goose trail, I saw a tunnel. I was scared there was bad people waiting in that tunnel like in the movie The Brave One starring Jodie Foster. Muggers. So I started to turn back. Then I asked myself what if it was my mind painting a picture again. So I went through the tunnel. No Muggers. Far from it. I saw a lady riding a ten speed going the other way. We exchanged a slight friendly smile.
I think the local Police know that tunnel well.
I feel safe that the Police know a lot of things especially all the hotels and restaurants that are reputedly haunted. Those places are safe and no one has ever been attacked or injured by a ghost. A few restaurants in this town are haunted. These restaurants are famous.
At the foot of Beacon Hill Park below the Canadian flag is a path. At one point the path runs between two large bushes. Each time I walk between the two rather large bushes, I am hoping there isn't a cougar there. That's a perfect ambush spot for a cougar. If there was a cougar, the News, the Police and Conservation Officers and the public with their cell phones would have seen it before it had the opportunity to wait in those bushes to pounce on someone.
Victoria High School on Fernwood was closed for two years for renovations. The High School was temporarily relocated to SJ Willis on Topaz Ave.
The renovations have been completed. Victoria High School is once again on Fernwood Street.
Garbage stories.
1. I am rather proud of myself for picking up garbage. I would pick up any garbage I deem to be dangerous or a slipping hazard.
When I was in Vancouver on March 30, when I first got to Vancouver on Granville Street and Georgia, I saw a large black garbage bag on the sidewalk right next to the road. I thought there are many places that garbage bag could wind up, a lot of them aren't good. It goes on the road and gets caught in the axle of a bus. I threw the garbage bag in the garbage can to remove any possibility of doubt.
I had to do that. I used to live in Vancouver. How could I then go to Vancouver and not do a good deed for downtown Vancouver when I see the opportunity to do one?
2. On April 1st after I visited SJ Willis school on Topaz thinking it was the high school that Emily Carr went to. Wrong. On the way home, near the armory on Bay Street, along Blanchard, I saw a large L shaped jagged piece of metal on the side bike path. I toughed it. A part of it was sharp and I was sensitive because I have grip thumb from too much skateboarding. I picked it up along the non sharp edge and carried it away on my skateboard. Just then I noticed that a Police van drove past me. Perhaps the Police saw me do that.
I am glad I picked up that piece of metal. Cyclists riding single file in a hurry could have been injured. It could have blown on the road where cars were driving and caused a serious accident. Since I picked it up and threw it in the garbage, that is no longer an issue.
I don't know if anyone knows or cares that I did that. What goes around comes around. Hopefully I can get some good karma from this. I probably will.
After picking up garbage I usually find other garbage on the street that is useful to me.
Not everyone does this. The Tendai monks of Mount Hiei in Japan often clear paths of any debris for anyone who would hike the path afterwards. I learned this from learning about the Tendai monks. There is a video about them on YouTube.
I pick up garbage on at least a hundred occasions a month. Most of it small incidental pieces of garbage, most of them potential slipping hazards.
Me picking up garbage might ruin my reputation with women.
I am unconcerned because a lot of it is about ego. Life doesn't owe me a perfect girlfriend.
A perfect girlfriend would be a Saintly one. Strong in faith in God.
I think I might be single for life like so many others.
Life doesn't owe me anything. But what life has given me is vision, purpose, memories, friends, health etc so I owe it to life to live as honourably as I can and to address any mistakes I make. I owe it to life to live boldly and to thank God for the beauty within each day even if it is a day of worries of one kind or another.
Lots of people said, "No worries." to me. It's a common dismissal. I like to think that people who say that are on to something. Perhaps I indeed have nothing to worry about.
I would like to reach a point like Eckhart Tolle where I can conquer worry. Eckhart Tolle said he used to worry a lot and have anxiety. But he taught himself not to have that through rational thinking.
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Shrinkflation. A lot of food is thrown out and wasted. When things come in smaller portions, there is less of a chance of food being thrown away. How much food is thrown away each year? It's anybody's guess but it's alot.
Get the food. Eat that for two days, get tired of it. There's more left but want to eat something else for a couple of days. Before long the food is five days old. Do you throw it away and waste money? Although like cars, food value depreciates. Even if it's onky slightly past the cusp of premium shelf life, through compassion to yourself you decide not to eat it because through experience, eating slightly expired food can bring hesdaches at best and food poisoning at worst.
A $7.00 frozen dinner three days old is worth about $1.50 if that. That frozen dinner five days old is worth $0.00.
Enjoy More. Worry Less.
I saw that on a car when I was in Sidney. Why cling to worry? What if things are going to just work out?
One often underestimates the power of their friends and of the kindness of the spirit of the city but that's only if you live the right life.
I should just let go of the worry and follow the advice of that car I saw in Sidney BC.
I went electric skateboarding today. Garbage story
3. I saw a massive pile of garbage in the middle of the road on Humboldt and Quadra. It was one large white plastic garbsge bag full of garbage and a smaller white plastic garbage bag with two raw chicken legs sticking out of it.
I gathered it all up being careful to avoid the raw chicken because of salmonella and threw it in a dumpster that was 30 feet away.
That being left on the road wouldn't have been good for cars. I don't think anyone saw me do that. Maybe they did but didn't care. I don't know if anyone knows I did that. Probably not.
I am proud to do that. That is an experiment. Do good deeds on the sly and see what happens. Usually nothing happens but at the same time nothing bad happens and that's good.
Don't make the experiment of do bad things on the sly and see what happens. Not good. What would happen? Things like arrest, the Police being angry etc. No no no no no.
Be good.
There is a lady whom I regard as a Saint but one can think of any lady as a Saint if one only sees her for a couple of minutes on each occasion and always on the QT. Quick Time.
Like Rebecca Romney said on Pawn Stars, "You guys are all business. Would sitting down and having a coffee be too much to ask?"
The 'Saint' is like that. And that's the kind of lady I'd want to marry?
Every time I see her, I walk in, be there for a couple of minutes and then walk out.
"Walk in, walk out." Little Caesar
Police car stories. All these happened in the last month.
1. I was walking downtown and I saw a Police car drive past right in front of the Church. I noticed the Church doors were open. I had to go to the bank for a couple of minutes. On the way back, I walked into the Church prompted from the memory of the Police car that drove past. At the Church was a classical music concert from the Ministry of Culture of Poland. Epic.
2. Downtown. I saw a Police van lights flashing two blocks distant. The van was near what I saw were balloons, streamers, a small crowd and music. I went there and it was the St Patrick's Day festival which I would have otherwise missed.
3 and 4. Going to Walmart. Not sure if the items I was looking for were there. First occasion to get a helmet. Second occasion to get an electric scooter. On the first occasion, I saw a Police car drive past me right outside Walmart. I got the helmet.
On the second occasion a small troop of Police Officers was right in Walmart quizzing the cashier who worked at the Customer Service till. I did get an electric scooter the next day. And a better electric zcooter too.
5. Death omen. Looking out the window of an apartment building, I saw a Police SUV parked at the Royal bank across the street. Then I drove towards me and parked right outside my hotel. I was baffled as Brittyy44 was baffled the time she saw a Police car parked outside where she lives because she had called about a strange car parked outside her place for hours, days. The Police can be very mysterious and baffling.
Then a few minutes later I found out on the News that Louis Gossett Junior had died.
Louis Gossett Junior was very familiar with the military and the Police.
6. Tuesday, I saw two Police cars with lights flashing and sirens on drive past the place where the 'Saint' works. Perhaps I yet have more future times with her.
Anyways I found out the next next that my electric skateboard had arrived at the depot the previous day, the day I saw the Police lights. I don't see two Police cars in a row with lights flashing.
7. I already told you about seeing the Police car and the Police SUV at the bus stop before I went to Vancouver and about the Transit Police bust at the Skytrain station and then later on I did get my other electric skateboard.
Ergo, seeing the Police is often a good omen.
I don't know if I want this electric scooter I have. I don't see riding it to Beacon Hill Park ever as well. The scooter is mainly built for children so the scooter is rather puerile.
I'm going to just give it to my current landlord who will give this to someone he knows.
Or I could take it to a pawn store and get a few bucks for it.
What an embarrassment of riches. Shameful.
The News said that there have been 7 stabbing incidents in the past month since March 5. Two of those incidents were fatal.
Even more bizarre, no arrests have been made in the two fatal incidents. Yet. Perhaps more time is needed in evidence gathering. Perhaps the issue is being handled extra judicially. My imagination tells me that even the judge because they are all connected as one body, Police, lawyers, courts, even the judge said the situation should be handled extra judicially. Dispatch a blade runner. Police hit man. All undercover Police operations are classified as such. Any involvement from the top levels will be denied. "This mission doesn't exist nor will it ever exist."
What is this. The downtown eastside of Vancouver? What is this. Sinaloa Mexico?
The Police Chief was on a forum at the Chamber of Commerce and even he said, "With the number of stabbings in the city, I can't say with any confidence, it's OK, you are safe, it's going to be OK."
Downtown Victoria. A no-go zone?
We're done for.
From years of travelling, I learned that every town as an informal vigilante group. In Dawson Creek, its The Dawson Creek Boys. In Chetwynd, it'd be The Chetwynd Boys. In this day and age it's more like The Dawson Creek Boys and Girls. Women these days are just vicious when it comes to military, Police and security.
Victoria in all likelihood has The Victoria Boys and Girls.
The United States has the 2nd Amendment where any citizen has the right to bear fire arms. In Canada we leave that to the professionals such as Police, soldiers etc.
The City will have to pony up for increased old school Police foot patrols.
Brainstorm. Are the stabbers locals? If not, well, in Vancouver, two men threatened a woman with violation and throat slit. These men have a prohibition of even entering the city of Vancouver.
Could such prohibitions be placed on the stabbers?
I wear a skateboard helmet but do I need to get a Kevlar stab vest? Kevlar fabric frays over time so Kevlar must be replaced every two to five years.
Don't mall grab the skateboard. Wrong. Mall grabbing turns the skateboard into a shield or a sword. This is my only hope against a stabber.
Stabbers are members of the street community. In most cases if one is polite to them saying please and thank you, they respond well to that perhaps because it happens so seldom. People who get stabbed are often audacious and pick fights with the stabbers.
Often there is some back story involving escalation with these stabbing incidents.
Now I'm worried about getting stabbed. If the Police Chief can't say that we're safe downtown. We're sunk.
The Mayor of Victoria says that the town is no more nor unfortunately less dangerous than it has been in previous years.
Amazon and Walmart online sells Level 5 Kevlar stab vests for about $120 Canadian.
These kinds of worries come and go. In Vancouver for years there was the notorious Clark Park gang made up of teenage ruffians released from the juvenile detention center near to the area. Then one day there was no more Clark Park gang. Stepped up enforcement over a period of time.
The Bronx, used to be a really rough area. Think Charles Bronson Deathwish. For decades now, it's since been a gentrified yuppie area with coffeeshops etc.
Over the years, the substances involved have changed but the stabbings remain the same. During Prohibition, it was people drunk on whiskey who did most of the stabbings. Then in the 60s it was people on cocaine. Nowadays, meth is the drug that fuels a lot of the rage behind the stabbings.
In countries where drugs are even more illegal than in North America, alcohol is still the cause of a lot of stabbings.
Ironically, if a person is sober, a stabbing is considered a crime of passion whereas if a person was drunk or high, then it is a crime of opportunity. You'd think it'd be the other way around because a drunk man has more passion in him at the moment.
This is because a person who is sober has a lot farther to go psychologically, the person has to be really driven. If a person is drunk or high, it's not as much of a distance to go psychologically.
Skateboards can have stickers.
I stuck a Finest At Sea fish sticker on my bamboo longboard.
The Landyachtz I found on the street has a Better Call Hutz sticker on it. Hutz is a lawyer.
Kyla Lee is a DUI lawyer. She talked about a recent case in a way that was fascinating but maybe not for the aggrieved involved.
A man named Seyed Moshfeghi ran a red light of all places right outside the law courts on Robson Street killing a father and child. Incredibly, he was acquitted.
Kyla Lee said that his past record would have a prejudicial effect and past evidence is usually not introduced as relevant evidence as it fails to show a marked departure. Marked departure is when a person acts a lot differently from what is expected.
She said that probitave value or probity is what is used to determine criminal intent. Inattention at the wheel did not constitute probity or criminal intent. So he was acquitted.
When a case is submitted to the Crown and Crown accepts, it isn't necessarily a case of the Court thinking, "This person is guilty and must be punished." Its usually that of, "Here's a story, incident, mystery which we would like to get to the bottom of." Often people accuse others and get them arrested for reasons the court may or may not decide was right. People get framed, things aren't what they look like, there are extenuating circumstances and it is the Court with its wisdom and majesty to determine all that.
If you know how to work a bandsaw and have a skateboard press, you can make a skateboard. Plys of wood, bandsaw, glue, skateboard press, grip tape. Etc.
Over the last weekend a drone from Iran struck Israel. Now Israel plans to breach the border of Iran to launch a surgical strike. This would be entering uncharted waters in this conflict. What the heck. World War 3 or what?
Israel is a very spiritual country.
Military escalation is the apex of spirituality.
In the movie Dune, Paul Atreides was also kkown as Mau'dib. Take away the 'b' any you got Mau'dib, Mahdi. Mahdi is the Islamic Messiah. Either that or antichrist. It's open to interpretation.
Pastor Joel Osteen said that God said to Abraham that he was going to have a child at 90 with his wife Sarah who was 80. He didn't believe it. He first tried to have a child with the maid, Hagar. This child was Ishmael. But this was not the promised child. The promised child is the one he later had with Sarah named Isaac. Pastor Joel said that Ishmael was a mistake.
A mistake? Ishmael was the father of Islam. The first syllable of Ishmael is Ish the last syllable of Ishmael backwards is leam put them together and you got Ish leam, Islam.
Joel Osteen went on to say that God will provide the solution before you have the problem.
A few hundred years later, Joseph's brothers who were jealous of him took him to a pit in the desert. They were going to leave Joseph in the pit to die. Just then a passing caravan of Ishmaelites offered to purchase Joseph as a slave. Joseph's brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites. The Ishmaelites led him to Potiphar which led to Potiphar's wife which led to Joseph being imprisoned and meeting the baker and the butler. Which led to Joseph meeting the Pharaoh himself who appointed Joseph as the Prime Minister.
If the Ishmaelites hadn't been there that day...
If Abraham didn't have the child with Hagar...
Pastor Joel Osteen makes the bible alive and relevant.
Prime Minister Yetanahu is a beast. Being a Christian, I support Israel but even the Christian Churches have reached a general concensus of worry when it comes to Israel.
I am learning Portuguese now.
I already know a few phrases. Fake polyglot. A fake polyglot only knows a few phrases from a language, and not a fluent speaker. Although at first glance you can't tell.
I knew a few Portuguese friends years ago. They are in another town and somewhere else. I wish I spoke a few Portuguese phrases to them. Thinking of them could bring bittersweet tears of love. Where ever they are, I will always love them.
I could say that about Polish too. I wish I knew the Polish language then as I know it now, I would have loved to practice a few phrases with them.
There is a Brazilian lady who is an acquaintance. She is already married. I am very conscientious of only speaking casually. I am not coming on to her. At all. She is married with a child. I see her often because she works in the building as a custodian.
"Did I just behave sexually towards you?" is an intrusive and unwanted thought that comes up often. In every day society interactions must be conducted with the utmost decorum and discretion.
I wish to exercise this level of social awareness with all social interactions with anyone.
Bom dia, E Bom te ver, Ola de novo are phrases I have on lock. Good day, Good to see you again, hello again.
Ee ai, qual e, beleza, fala galera which all mean what's up.
Galera means crowd. Fala galera means hey guys. Members of a football team would say that to one another.
Sim means "Yes".
I was glad I was able to visit Vancouver when Mayor Ken Sim is the Mayor of Vancouver. Also someone I once worked with is now a civic alderman at City Hall. On the occasion I visited Vancouver, I not only visited, I got an electric skateboard.
Observant as I am, I usually see people most of the time with the regular skateboard.
The small hard polyurethane wheels of the regular skateboard is one I couldn't take as seriously as the 60 mm wheels which the Santa Cruz street amoeba introduced me to.
Now there's no going back.
Street skaters might regard 60 mm wheels as bourgeois, dilettante, something from an upper middle class foster home.
Whereas the standard issue wheels of the regular street skateboard are punk rock and bad ass.
60 mm wheels are silent and glide far with just one push. The other wheels are loud and you need a few pushes for them to go. The other wheels have an abrasive feel.
I like bourgeois, I like baroque. Street skaters like bohemian and gothic.
My style is that I am still learning. First two years of skateboarding is learning. Other than that, it's the bourgeois style I am going for which is to use the skateboard as a commuting vehicle. Going from the museum to the supermarket.
That's my life. I don't go out at night. But now that there are local stories of stabbings which rivals the downtown eastside in terms of prolificness, I don't know about going out at night. I look out the window. There's still lots of people about during the evening.
Since even before the times of Marlon Brando and The Wild Bunch which was ruffians wearing leather jackets carrying switchblades which are frequently produced during altercations, stories of stabbings are as old as the hills. It's urban legends which gives the city a certain picaresque and strangely festive cultural atmosphere.
I already talked about the Led Zeppelin 1977 United States of America t shirt and the KISS in concert tonight circa 1974 t shirt. I'm going to get them.
The KISS t shirt would be good for visiting a Vietnamese or Chinese restaurant.
The Led Zeppelin T shirt would be good for skateboarding and for visiting a Chinese or Vietnamese restaurant.
Led Zeppelin. United States of America. 1977
