Gay-O Canada

Ah look the Canadian flags replaced with the gay ones, for the Vancouver pride fest!! heh heh… See my post from March, O Canada

Best fireworks

I have not properly captured the beauty of this fireworks festival with my phone camera - it was, hands down, the best fireworks I have seen. They had this waterfall thing mimicked with the fireworks and other fireworks shot up from the water fall… beauty beauty….

over False Creek, from 10min.s walk from my home, on the banks of the West End beach... and for free even... the gentle slopes of the West End beach allows for spectacular free views of fireworks, as opposed to the free views of those in Montréal where you don't really get a complete picture, because you don't really see the bottom part, unless you pay and go to Parc Jean-Drapeau.

pigeons in Chinatown

Pigeons flying in a and out of the produce, I bet they poop too…

Teeth...

yeah... on an external windowsill, at the corner of Davie and Granville... I wouldn't know what to say - am as perplexed as you are...

Bas-Saint-Laurent

Ah Bas-Saint-Laurent! Of beautiful sunsets and peaceful beaches. It was the most romantic vacation I ever took, given also its short duration. These tiny little fishing villages make me think weird thoughts like I could move up here and live here for the rest of my life. I could open up a little café to get myself some income. And have a little house close to the beach of the fleuve St-Laurent, on the water side - the other side (of the streets) doesn't work! And have a little swing to watch the sunsets! And then when I entice cuisine of the big city, I can drive down there once a month, hangout with my friends and all that stuff. See, I have it all planned out.

I have never lived in a small town, hence the extreme romance - ah ignorance is indeed bliss.

Also check out the impressive (and over bearing windmills) just out of Matane.

Montréal public transit

Has been going on for 150 years apparently; probably horse drawn carriages etc, but still public transport. And Vancouver celebrates 125 years!!

Montréal - you are still home

I've missed it so much. I went back with trepidation. Would I love it so much that I wouldn't want to go back? Would it and my friends there have cooled off to me than when I left? But taking the taxi from the airport to my boyfriend's home, it was like I never left. The familiar road signs, my old neighbourhood. Then his home is in the plateau; you can not miss with that. What a great place to come back to? Watching all the good looking people and their dogs from the balcony on Mount Royal - I didn't feel nostalgic, I didn't cry - because I thought I am definitely moving back here and this is where I will grow old.

I went to my old school to help out with some stuff of my old experiment and immediately felt at home and warmly welcomed. Well if I actually move back here I am not going there though - I won't kid myself that the last days of my stay at this school was pleasant.

Some days latter back in Vancouver, I would have renewed energy to hurry up and finish up my contract so I can go back to Montréal. It wasn't too hard to leave Montréal because I was going to come back. And suddenly Vancouver looked very pretty and likeable, maybe also because I was not going to have too much time to enjoy it.

my home, it used to be

And here's my old home, now someone else's home. I thought I'll cry so hard when I see this... but I didn't... - strangely I felt it was definitely the right decision to sell it. Mile End is so much better. I had a good time here, but if I come back to Montréal, here is not where I will live... And it looks like whoever is staying there is enjoying it as much as I did - new curtains, new balcony table, windows slightly opened to combat Montréal's summer humidity... just like I lived there... Nostalgic? yes. But a sense of satisfaction that I loved it well and as my love dwindled, passed it on to someone who loves it the same...

After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting
Spock

Like I wrote once to a good friend:

I hope you always want what you have!

I actually did consider for a split second, ringing the bell, introducing myself as the former owner and taking a look inside, but before I acted, I came to my senses...

from far away

I am not the only one who came all the way from so far away… in the TRIUMF parking lot.

Vancouver is 125

Vancouver celebrates 125yrs - I know, right? My grade school in Sri Lanka is 121 years old! But Sri Lanka is also a country that has a continually written history from as far back as 2500 years ago (and I don't mean cave drawings - these were notes kept in books, the Mahavamsa, Deepavamsa) and cities founded in AD 500 and the world's first hospital and what not; Canada's oldest cities celebrated 400years in the late 2000's (and that is CE for you). The reason I remember these nationalistic pride points is because I had to grind my axe for an obnoxious French guy who stayed with me recently and belittled Sri Lanka in the face of the oh-so-great-country of France! I was able to instil some culture and world history in to this redneck and shut him up for a bit - but redneckism isn't something that goes away that fast… so I need to keep these things fresh in my mind… I am beginning to conclude that all people from France, except the ones from Paris are a whole bunch of rednecks right on par with all the bible-belt Americans. Ah, but you can't quite blame them too much - rural France, rural US, rural Sri Lanka - why would they be any different from one another? Anyway, where was I? I remember when I first came to the US finding it a little amusing that people would take a plane to go see 200 year old "historical" sites, i.e., in Boston. So then I dialled down my historical marker to 200. And then I went to Québec where cities were celebrating 400years and that felt "old" and "very historic" to me; so I dialled up to 400. And now I am back in Vancouver. But that's ok, I think these young countries like the US and Canada are doing quite well in the present. For the record, the oldest city in France, modern day Marseilles, was founded in 400CE - such a young country France is!!! Ok so really, where was I? ;)

Ah yes, so I headed off to Stanley Park for the celebrations - they were not exhilarating like such a celebration would have been in Montréal - the passive Vancouverites were sitting on their picnic blankets and quietly enjoying the music… There were ice cream carts and hot dog stands - how quaint? Now where's the beer? Oh that's right - anglo-saxons and fun! roll eyes! Where was I now? I don't seem to be able to get anywhere beyond English/Franch bashing today….

Anyway I was walking along, still not over my depressive state too much, and then these teenagers asked if I could take their photo and I readily took a couple. And that incident alone, put things right in my head. It is funny how just an exchange of 10 words can set things right for me. I am really a people person - the problem is I don't find girls to be too fun too often, with the exception of a very few, like my ex-landlord turned role model and good friend from Minneapolis, and I find a lot of guys fun and interesting but it is sometimes hard to hangout with them without sending them mixed messages (and I don't necessarily want to get in their pants, so…). And then I proceeded to walk the perimeter of Stanley Park - a good 10km, with my camera and all in tow - it was a beautiful evening of stunning sunsets and I even got to watch Lions Gate bridge light up. I walked a total of about 20km for about 7hrs, mostly by the serene bay and when I got close to home my feet were gone, but my mind was at rest and I treated myself to a nice Falafel pita wrap from the small Meditaranian resto near my home (not the Falafel King) who advertise themselves as the best(!!??) shwarama in town. Life is still good!

Delirious woman on condo balcony

Granville Street in summer - closed to traffic for various activities, like the Carnaval de Sol that I wrote about a few posts ago. This day there were some street artists and some craft vendors. But of course all these people lined up on the side walk with cameras? They are looking at a delirious-looking, butt-naked woman standing on her balcony in a spiffy high-rise condo two streets away from Granville, so it affords a good street view without breaking your neck. I couldn't bring myself to photograph the woman - I later attributed that to the sensitivity lesson I learned in front of Insites, that I also blogged about a few entries before. The woman, good looking and perfect figure (nice boobs, beautiful legs, no belly fat and all!) kept doing splits and all sorts of gymnastic moves and would yell "fuck yeah" every now and then. She went in every now and then and would bring out a top or tshirt and just swirl it around and then throw it on the balcony floor - she didn't toss anything out of the building, which for me would have been a sign that she was next, so it was a relief, but I was not completely convinced. All the giggling teenage boys (and old men) with their jaws dropped, the women, some laughing, some in disgust: "des pervert" someone said.

And then there were people like me watching, perplexed, is she sick, has she broken up with her boy friend, and anyway, "please please don't jump". I must admit I wasn't in the best of moods today, nor have I been for the past several days, if not weeks. I think it must be my TSH levels - I remember having a crazy TSH level back when I was in grad school and the doctors were stumped and ordered me on thyroid medicine which of course I refused to take and then it eventually went away. And my internet earned MD says that hypothyroidism has symptoms of depression and dry skin and fatigue and all that stuff that I now have. In about a week from now it would seem like my TSH levels are back to normal - but in a week from now I am also doing a bit better at work and am going to Montréal - so I don't know if the TSH comes first or life comes first. Anyway, all this prelude to say, looking at this woman all I could think of was "what makes such a good looking and obviously mindful of what she eats and exercise and also probably holding a good job that lets her afford this condo, go delirious like this?" and I couldn't help but think that this is one of those cities where it is nice and fun and all that stuff, but everybody is so lonely. It was perhaps a reflection of my own state at that time.

This in turn reminded me of about five times now, that I had heard people say how Vancouverites are so nice and friendly when they meet you, but then that's it - they don't like to make long or committed friendships that extend to outside of that meeting. At first I brushed this aside, when it came from out of towners, thinking "well were you open enough or inviting enough or were you like 'I dare you be my friend?' ". Ok so I know a lot of people don't intentionally do this, but a lot of times when people are in new environments they tend to give off not so friendly signals. But then twice it was a Vancouverite themself that said this (that Vancouverites don't like to make long-term friendships with strangers) to me - which begs the question "well, why are you like this?" and of course they just stuttered away. I attribute it to the anglo-saxon way of life - not that they are born with unfriendly genes, but if you grow up in an environment where everyone else is like this, it is kind of hard to not be like this, unless you make a conscious effort - actually one of the Vancouverites who said this, was of Chinese origin, but born and raised here - my case in point (about more the environment and less the genes). I love quite a few things about anglo-saxons, their work ethic for example, but warming up to a fellow human being is not one of their fortes. And before you send me hate mail, I never said all of them are like this or even most of them are like this. Remember, 40% is still a majority if the rest of the 60% are not in unison - as we learned from the Canadian elections in 2009.

A couple cops were on their radios now, obviously I was not the only one who feared a disaster. After about 15minutes she went inside and didn't come out and people dispersed and I walked away too, choking back my tears, because now I had a story in my head for her - she's a good looking career woman who has an amazing job and lives in this spiffy condo and she works out every day and eats right and is all cosmopolitan and then one day her boyfriend leaves her for someone else and she just goes nuts. I know right? Out of all the possible stories, that was mine!!!

In retrospect I can come up with several stories - she was a prostitute hired by one of the richnesses in that condo, but a prostitute with bi-polar disorder; she just took a bet with some of her friends that she could go naked on the balcony and now her friends are inside the apartment laughing their hearts out; she smoked a bit too much pot…. Later I was surprised at how many non-oh-the-poor-victim stories I could come up with… and I sincerely hope it was one related to a fun bet or something like that… I could see myself taking a bet like that… or maybe not… probably not…. :D If you are visiting me this summer, please don't try this on me - I don't think I will do it actually… :D