6 hours later, and 2 hours wiser

brrr, it's kind of cold by this computer. and outside, for that matter. so, i took the long 6 hour journey from abbotsford to nanaimo, on the greyhound/bus yesterday, to spend tow weeks at my beautiful sister's house. for the most part it was really lonely and drab. the few items i packed for the ride made the trip a little enjoyable.

i would say that i loved at least two 1/2 hours of the ride. the first hour i loved consisted of a "rainforest" light roast from ethical addictions and chapter 18 of "Blue like Jazz". the half hour was driving through downtown vancouver, near science world and GM place. i thought, passing thorugh, how i so often take advantage of living so close to this city- and how i would rather complain about an overly long bus ride than be thankful that the bus ride allows the few moments of seeing God's artistry. the bus passed through stanley park, past trees that had been uprooted from wind storms two nights before- giant green masses covering the ground. wow.

And I know its not to get away from me,
You just need a change of scenery
So strange how everything went wrong so fast
And I hope that this confusion does not last
-city and color

so the last hour was spent on the ferry, at nightime. it was really cold, so i wandered around inside looking for some familiar faces. not a one. it was kind of a let down. i sat near the front of the ferry for awhile, listening to this guy playing guitar near one of the side doors. his voice was a deep resonating sound, kind of like an opera singer without the annoying vibrato that those people with perfect sounding voices have. personally, the singers i like the most aren't the ones that hit perfect notes, or try so hard for perfection that it just sounds awkward. i like the singers that sound honest, and embodied. the ones that have a real sounding quality to the words they sing, as if every word has some kind of deep meaningful connotation, that only the singer could fully appreciate. i dunno. i'm pretty much just adamant about having a "real" feel to everything. this is why i choose to buy organic coffee as opposed to starbucks- or actually making food as opposed to buying conveniently packaged food.

after listening to the guitar guy for awhile i stepped outside, into the cold winter air, wearing my ugly green hoody. it was really dark, and i could see the lights of vancouver in the distance, and the lights of small, boring vancouver island cities on the other side of the water. it was very calm and quiet, so all i could hear was the water rushing away from the sides of the ferry. after awhile the quiet and cold got kind of boring, so i sat alone inside some more.

My body aches
And it hurts to say
No one is moving
And I wish that I weren't here tonight
But this is my life.
-city and color

so, last night i sat around my sisters house, showing her some random items from my semester of heartbreak, bad grades, good beer, and poetry. i stole a bottle of kokanee from her fridge, watched a "muppet's christmas carol" and slept a good 9 hours.

in retrospect, it feels like a giant pile of weird being home. i can already sense the difference between the safe bubble of fun that is college and the real world. i would love to tell my family how much i've changed, but i don't think they would believe me. so, what i usually do when i get back to my old nanaimo life is try to BE the changed person that i am, and hope that something of the difference that i have experienced shines through. don't ask me how that works, because i have no idea.

to conclude, this is a list of things me, michelle, jon poonicus, and heather eperienced in whiterock, two days ago;

1) rode a handsome cab (of sorts) for two blocks
2) walked on the rocky beach- touching the ocean and throwing rocks into the blackness
3) stood beside the big "white rock" that the town is appearantly named after.
4) ate burgers and pastas in a surfer cafe.
5) drove down a long, dark road listening to deeeeep music
songs of choice;
a) regina spektor- samson
b) goo goo dolls- think about me
c) the shins- some random song
6) checked out a christmas concert called "Christmas Precence" with Abbotfords local jazz/folk/poetry sceners. one of which was Mr. Nelson Boschman himself. i told heather that we should both perform next year. and we so will.

so thats it. a long update on most of what i've been thinking / doing. we'll see how this whole "christmas" thing pans out this year. if it's as loveable as my autumn was this year i think it will be just fine.

oh, and PS- i totally passed by Manafest while boarding the greyhound in abbotsford. that was completely random. how often do you get to pass by a white rapper? who actually has talent? not often enough.

-to christmas, and taking stupid adventures

-adam