Experimenting

This is my first try at night photography. Hopefully will get better, but not until I get a remote somewhere....really, who can stay still holding a button for 4 minutes?

Carmanah!

Drove 4.5 hours up and across the island to Carmanah Prov Park. ODC trip as always, but only with 4 people. I didn't know everyone, and it turned out to be a group of mostly quiet people. However, it was a nice change, as there wasn't any annoying people or akward social situations. Just 4 people exploring nature and comfortable with periods of silence. It was only a 2 km walk in, so it hardly counted as exercise. The only thing that made it a 'wilderness' trip was the 80 km logging road into the park. It's a beautiful park, with the tallest trees in Canada (up to 95m). And we even got some snow, which was exciting and unexpected (i know it's the end of november, but it's still unexpected for the island). Took lots of pictures, and a few even turned out :-)

Sausage fest...literally

I had a potluck yesterday night, with an oktoberfest theme. We ended up with some interesting food, including german sausages. I realized that I don't really like german food...probably along with the dutch and the scandinavian food. It's hearty food, somewhat tasty and certainly filling, but just not tantelizing enough. Give me a thai stirfry anyday!

Sometimes it seems like it's all girls around, but last night we had six guys and me. Got me thinking about the dynamics of groups and what is required for a 'sucessful' group. If it's all girls, it usually turns into some sort of a gossip fest, whether bitter or happy or a bit of both. I don't know what it's like with all guys, but with one girl and a whole lot of guys, things seemed all right to me. I think guys are a lot more random, and certainly don't gossip as much. Would be some interesting social experiments though (actually these probably exist), interpreting the dynamic in various situations. Girl talk only happens if its all girls, or if any guys present are included as one of the girls (my roomate for example). When it's a mix between both, in this group of people anyway, the guys seem to sit back and leave the girls to dictate the situation. I'm not sure where I fit into it all. I'm usually quiet, an observer more than anything else. I'm never the one telling lots of stories or jokes, but give me a good issue to debate and I can talk all night. Sometimes I wish that I could contribute to converstations more, but I just don't know how to do it. But then again, if you have the right people, those awkward moments don't really happen. I think I need a sociologist to figure it all out for me!

Sunday night family dinner

Not sure if I've written anything about family dinner before. For the last month, sunday nights have been for our 'family' - that's the 4 of us roommates and one honorary boyfriend who pretty much lives here anyway. The first time, we ate vietnemese spring rolls and pad thai from scratch. Second time, eggplant canelloni. Last week it was baked chili tofu, and you can see part of this weeks meal above. Serg made us stuffed mushrooms, baked salmon (with soy sauce, maple syrup, whiskey and a bunch of other things), smoked salmon with cream cheese and salad. One the first pict, you can even see the tofu fish that he made for our vegetarian. So yummy! It's pretty awesome to have roommates around that you actually like and would chose to have around anyway.

Moon-lit Fog

Banff film fest today. Excellent movies on climbing, boarding, skiing, paddling and hockey. Everytime I go to the festival, it fills me with a sense of adventure, reckless enthusiasm and the thought that I can do anything if I try hard enough. So often, I just don't try something, or complain that it's hard or too much work. But how much could I accomplish if I actually tried all the time?

After the festival, standing around like always, J and I deciced to escape to Mt Doug. Not a Mt in most people's idea, but it's the Victoria version of a Mt. The road was closed (hence it's hill and not a mountain since it has a road up) and we walked up to the top. Super foggy tonight, so it was a really erie walk in the dark with tall trees surrounding us. Beautiful too though, since when we got to the top it seemed that we had the world to ourselves, our own little rock island with no one around. Couldn't even see the lights of the city through the fog. Was also nice to get some girl talk in. I don't get much of a chance to do that here, and I miss it. I've also been pretty bitter and lonely lately, and just needed to talk to someone. Anyway, our conclusion was that it's okay to be bitter sometimes, and guys need to be better people :-) Wish I had my camera, because the fog added something mystical to the forest, that just can't be described.

Procrastination Photography

Took these yesterday instead of working on my thesis. Witty's lagoon, about 40 minutes from my house. It was a rare sunny day, and the temptation to stay home was just too great. However, at this point I'm not sure that I can handle the real working world. I'm so used to going into work when I want, leaving when I want, and not going in at all if I'm tired. It's not that I don't work, because when I feel really productive, I often stay till 7pm. But having to work on somebody else's schedule...that worries me.
Another that occurred to me today. In the midst of the sponsorship scandel, Martha Stewart fraud and now Conrad Black, do you think it's possible to NOT succumb to the power and status of money? I know that these are just three cases, but how many go unnoticed? What qualifies as a business expense today? Does being around money inspire personal greed? How come no one every steals money and gives it to the poor? Is robinhood a thing of the past?

Blustery day today

This is what I found on my stroll from home to the nearby marina and back. Interestingly enough I wanted to shoot in black and white but several times I chose to use color - only for vivid red vegetation.

Disc Golf!

Tonight, under the cover of darkness, about 12 people came out from under various holes and bushes to play disc golf at UVic. The course isn't posted anywhere, but passed on through various people. It goes something like this: Okay, aim around the corner and hit that....car!!!.... .signpost.....car!!!!.... okay, around the other corner...not that post, and now through the tree but dont' hit any of the parked cars....oh watch for that cyclist, etc. 9 holes later, two climbs onto the building roof and several minor injuries capped off a successful night. While waiting for other groups of people to finish, spontaneous singing occurred. And of course spontaneous Princess, Squire, Knight - a recent drinking game turned anytime game of pairs of people jumping into eachothers arms, onto backs or sitting on laps in a rapid succession. Will rendevous again in two weeks for repeated frisbee action...must get frisbee to practice amazing and improbable combination of distance and direction.

Goldstream Provinical Park

This past weekend the outdoors club went to Goldstream provincial park to see the salmon run. The fish are still coming, so there weren't too many dead smelly ones yet. It's a beautiful park only 30 minutes from downtown. I absolutely love the lush vegetation!



No bears at this spot, just a lot of gulls to look at. A few eagles at times too.

And the last picture is patrick and his artwork. He painted a fish, then stuck the paper on the fish. Excellent work and I'm trying to convince him to frame it and give it to his parents for christmas!

The eternal quest for cheap gas

When I moved out to Victoria, I realized that I never fully appreciated cheap gas. I remember one time, when there was a price war and I paid .42 cents a litre for gas about 5 years ago. Now I live in a bubble. It just may, maybe, have something to do with the fact that I live on an island, but gas is ALOT more expensive here than just across the water in Vancouver. Just the other day, I paid 1.00/litre and was terribly excited! I mean, it almost made it below a dollar. I didn't think it every would again. Then I called home, and realized all you Edmontonians were paying .87 cents a litre - thus the end of my celebration. Will it ever get cheaper? I'm betting no - for when you live on an island disconnected from the real world, you never really know what's going on outside. What other luxuries exist out there? What more to life is there? I'm even jealous of places with snow right now!

March of the Penguins

If you haven't already, you should go see March of the Penguins. It's an excellent documentary about the emperor penguin and their struggle to survive in Antarctica. It made me realize that most animals struggle to maintain their existence a lot more than we humans ever do. Would you starve yourself for your child? Walk 140 km one way to get some food? Hell, most people I know don't even like to get off the couch half the time. Maybe everyone would appreciate life just a little bit more if we actually had to work for it. I'm off to go hunt my own...umm salad now.