Crangrape Juice gives me heartburn

Sometimes titles can be quite literal. I'm sure the twix bar didn't help either.

Anyway, Easter. Chocolate and bunnies and eggs and Jesus oh my. It was an emotional one, but a good one. This was actually the first time in five years that I've been home for an Easter. Most often, as all of us who have gone through University would know, we are preparing for exams and finishing papers and theses at this point. Having graduated and recently moved home I was home this time - though I did miss the Catholic Easter vigil. Having lived in Antigonish these last five years, I've most often gone to catholic services, as many of my friends there are catholic and would be the ones I went to church with on said occasions.

But this is not a religious rant. Perhaps there will be one someday, but not today. Today's more about family and our connectivity and what happens when one is lost.

In the last post, I spoke of my grandfather, Roland Wood, and his passing back in December - and the void that is left in all of our lives after such a man who has had a positive influence has died. Earlier today, we went to the graveyard to interm his ashes into the wall. It's a nice little condo flat and he should be quite comfortable there. It's groundfloor and has a view of a garden. Groundfloor, mind you, as Dadda was always afraid of higher leveled rooms in buildings - He always wanted an easy escape route in case of fire.

Things like this, interming the ashes, and all the way back to the funeral and everything else are powerful things, meant to provide for times of mourning and closure. And I'm hoping that what we did today provides that closure. As the hurt becomes a little bit less each day, and the idea of him not sitting in his chair dispensing pearls of wisdom becomes more bearable, I hope we remember the lessons to be learned from him. Kind, generous and wise. All great qualities that I would aspire to have within myself and to confer upon others.

I also learned how to put up vinyl siding this weekend.

Anyway, I'm not writing anything very coherently anymore, so I am going to head to sleep.

Cheers all!
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Ends and Beginnings and Middles

Hey Folks,

Well it's no real secret anymore that I'm moving back to Ontario. I'm doing so this weekend actually - packing now. Packing's emotional, and I'm not ashamed to say I've cried a couple times today, packing up my Nova Scotia life.

It really is difficult to pick up and go - and I should know, I've moved 11 times in the last five years - this will be move 12. All over Antigonish, home and back, England and Halifax. So many houses and apartments, its dizzying sometimes. Though a tough skin does develop after a while - for a couple years I just lived out of a suitcase, not seeing any real reason to unpack fully since I was going to move again so soon.

I'm moving home because it's the right thing to do right now. As most people know, I lost my Grandfather over the Holidays, and right now my family is hurting. I by no means believe that moving home means all these problems will be fixed, but I feel I need to be there. Being there to help my grandmother and my mom and everyone else, as well as having that familial support will be helpful. I've also been gone for five years, and haven't spent any significant time with the famdamily in the last two. I'd like to go fishing with my Dad, and other such sentimental sappy things.

Beyond that, I have four weddings this summer. I'm standing in two, am a co-MC for another and walking my Mom down the aisle in September, and travel costs to live in NS and go back for all of them is prohibitive. So to be home for the summer is good for those reasons, at the very least. I can even help Sarah and Eric with some of the more intricate planning, which will be nice.

So why is it so hard to move then? With so many great things awaiting me back in Ontario, including greater opportunity to be in my field and get some more work experience? As most of you know, there's a special girl in my life. Her name's Krystal and she's an East Coaster (Nova Scotian, right from Halifax). And she was sneaky and nabbed my heart. My moving means that we'll be seperated for several months until she joins me in Ontario in the fall. But she also understands the reasons behind me going, and I'm so glad that she is so understanding and compassionate and supportive that she is willing to stick with me through this. It's a real testament to the character of the woman I've let into my heart, and whose let me into hers (am I getting brownie points yet? lol).

There are also other reasons - not the least of which I just plain love the East Coast and Halifax is a fantastic, vibrant city. the Farmer's Market and Waterfront give this place such a character. It's a living place full of history and culture, while still maintaining that Maritime charm and comfort. It truly is a home, and I have made some excellent friends here. There's a way of life out here that I'm going to miss when I return to the hustle and bustle of Ontario. But who knows, I may be back soon - Dalhousie has one of the lawschools that I am going to apply to, with an option to specialize in environmental issues, which is right up my alley.

Anyway, I apologize this is not more cheerful, but sometimes cheer is hard to come by. But I keep smiling - I'm excited to see my family and friends and spend some real quality time. I've been blessed with my time out here on the East Coast and to have met someone as wonderful as Krystal whom, though we will deal with the hardships of long distance, still have a lot of support in our relationship, and I believe we'll make it through with flying colours. Love you hunnie.

Cheers All,

Good Deeds

Hey Folks,

On a fifteen minute break here at work, so I'm gonna throw up a little update on some random things that have happened to me this evening. As many of you know, I work at the front desk at the Westin Nova Scotian in Halifax. Through consistent face-to-face interaction, I have developed automated responses to making eye contact with people anywhere and everywhere. More than a nod, I'm often saying 'hello', or 'how are you?' and then people tend to look at me blankly and hurry on with their lives.

Well today I said hello on Barrington St, and a gentleman actually stopped. Taken aback, I stopped too. He had a wide smile, and and asked quite genuinely how I was today. I gave him a typically Canadian response, saying I was well, and asked him how he was. Apparently he had just finished work and was heading home. Must've been a productive day. And with that, we waved good bye and I moved on, my mood sunnier for the meeting.

Then I got to work. And all was well. I'm back on the desk and things are going fairly smoothly. I then have an interaction with a homeless man who can't speak. 99% of the time, this means that we send out a message to get the homeless person out (bad for business you know). But he was fairly clean, and it was quiet, so I wound up helping him out. He laid out his papers, and pointed to the word 'shelter'. So, with a wave of my hand, I brought up Google and found Halifax shelters, found the closest one for men, and got him directions as well as instructions for the bus so that he could get there. Took probably about 15 minutes communicating through pads of paper and hand signals, but we were finally able to get him on his way to a bed for the night. I just hope he makes it and is alright.

Anyway, just wanted to share these couple of experiences I had today that served to make me feel pretty good inside.

Cheers all

Lunch Break Fixer

Just a quick fix from my last post:

Ask Ally is not on hiatus, the blog just has less frequent postings due to the January craziness that Grad Students endure. However, still feel free to ask questions, and remember that if life is handing you lemons, Ally has great recipes for lemonade - and/or a slingshot with which to shoot lemons back at life in a sneaky counter-attack. I'm sure zombies also hate lemons - but I'm no expert, she'll have confirm or refute that.

Cheers all

The Long Post, Goodnight

Hey Folks,

Well it's been nearly a year. My last post was near the end of March. The Keckventure has been on rails, fallen off of rails, and gone through all sorts of changes. I'll attempt a semi-quick update, bring everyone up to speed on the things that are my life. Then I need to advertise in order to get people back reading.

The first: I'm no longer a vegetarian. This will come as a shock and disheartening to some I'm sure - but for myself, it just was not practical in the long run, for several reasons. One of those being bacon. Just trips you up sometimes. Also with the weight loss concern, it was intelligent to get a more consistent source of protein in my diet. It was primarily a health choice in any case, and from that experience my diet has improved drastically, my diet is miles away from how it used to be, I am far less picky and my palette has also remained thusly expanded (did I just use the term, 'thusly'?).

The next: I now live in Halifax. The Keckventure - which is loosely defined as the random events that effect my life, which mostly occur in the movies and not in an actual person's life, but somehow still happen to me - Came with me. The primary Keckventure occured concerning the circumstances that brought be to Halifax from Antigonish. I had to change cities in three days. I got a last-minute call from Nova Scotia Environment for an internship on the Friday, and started work on the Monday. It was a crazy move, and thankfully I had people to rely on in Halifax to move in with and start this internship and move forward in my career. It was a good internship and I learned a lot over the two months there, as it ended in September.

Afterward I still needed to work while searching for careers in my field (If anyone has an inside scoop on an aquatics sector opening, let me know). So I now work at the front desk of the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel. It's a good job right now, great staff and it keeps me going while living in a fantastic city.

While moving, I impressed my then, new girlfriend. We've been together for six months now, and it's a wonderful relationship. At the time of my move, however, we were dating for all of two-to-three weeks at the time of the move. However, she has now moved to Halifax as well, and so all is well again. I actually can't wait to get back to Halifax to get my christmas gift. lol.

The Sadness: My grandfather, aka Dadda, aka Roland Wood, passsed away on December 19th. It's been a rough Christmas. We've all been there for my grandmother, aka Momma, whose now in Kingston for a bit at my Aunt's house. The whole family was back in the old house, and we the cousins all stayed with Momma all the time in the house that has been the family house since the sixties. The funeral was beautiful, and he had a Masonic Service, which is what he would have wanted. Truth be told, we have it on good authority that this was the most well-attended Masonic Service that most of the people had ever attended - thus was the sphere of respect and brotherhood that Dadda instilled in others.

He was a man who respected others and held him self with the greatest of poise and dignity. A true gentleman. It really is the hope of myself and indeed of everybody that we can measure of the half the man that he was in his life. More stories will come of him later as it becomes easier to speak of him in life and the time of celebration of that life continues.

Anyway, That's a quick update. I'll be bringing some stories into further issues of the Keckventure from him and from the past year. There are a lot of new people and new situations that will definitely require backstories. A lot can happen over nine months I suppose.

Also, stop by my friend Ally's new blog, The Neighbourhood Zombie Watch. Ask Ally is on a hiatus at the moment, so she started up some new stuff. I'll post a link soon so you can take a peek at that.

Cheers all

Water Water Everywhere?

Well no according to the UN. It was passed today that while Water is universally recognized as a need for human health and development, it will not be recognized by Governments as a basic fundamental human right.

What does this mean? Well if water was a basic human right, then everybody would have the right to clean, fresh water for bathing, drinking and cooking. At the very minimum, you're looking at under 20 liters per day for an individual to survive. In some impoverished countries, people are surviving on far less than that per household, nevermind the individual.

You can read the press report here from the UN itself.

This means that water, that basic necessity can be commodified. Packaged off and sold, moreso than it already is. As Canadians the primary concern would be bulk water trading with the United States, which could technically be allowed through the agreements held in NAFTA.

This comes in time for the Harper Government to claim victory, and the Liberal's were actually behind them in this regard. It consistently chips away and breaks down my faith in our Government and our Intergovernmental systems. I don't want to sound like I'm dissenting, as I still hold faith in democracy, but we have going on here is not democracy. These are decisions that go so againt the common sense of what should be happening in our World. It makes one feel like business interests really do have a stranglehold on our Governments and the economy and the bottom-line are the real guides to our society, which is crumbling at its foundations.

In the press release, they use language such as "measures worked against the independence and self-determination of people." They argue that this contravenes initial parameters set out by the European to protect personal and National freedoms od determination. Which I'm all for - every nation and every person should be able to make their own future without persecution from internal and external forces.

However, when it comes to the essence of life you cannot put a pricetag on that. I may be one who sees resources from a management perpsective, but it is a multi-lateral view, realizing the multiple needs that water gives, and not only from a human perspective. We can't lock all the water up in tanks and dole it out to the highest bidders. Our watercourses, rivers, lakes, swamps and other systems are vital for our planets survival for us and all species.

All this on the wake of 2008 being the Year of Sanitation, which is supposed to supply have the World with adequate water by 2015. These decisions seem to be going against such ideals that are set out with no plans on proper implementation.

It just infuriates me, and I apologize to my dedicated readers as my blog becomes more and more political and radical, but these are really issues that bear at least as much importance as issues in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Alberta Tarsands and they do not get the media coverage they should. Read today's headlines and you won't find this anywhere in them.

Anyway I am out for tonight. Please take part in Earth hour tomorrow night. It is a very important symbolic event and should be a lot of fun.

Cheers all

Beijing?

I've been loosely following all of the Olympic Noise concerning the Summer Olympics in Beijing this year. There have been reports of violence in the streets, people being locked up if they are in anyway dissident to the rule of Chairman Mao, and 30 page contracts that media representatives are being forced to sign in order to cover the Games.

So far it looks a mess. Speaking just environmentally, the athletes competing at the height of summer in one of the smoggiest cities on the planet are going to have a hard time. I wouldn't doubt if some come out of this seriously compromised simply due to air quality.

And now, a report is coming out from the European Union that the member-states should seriously consider a boycott of the opening ceremonies in protest. This comes with the support of 'Reporters without Borders'. The United States has also shown sentiments of hesitation, while not being quite as forthcoming with saying they would potentially boycott the opening ceremonies.

This most recent news is coming as a response to the violent protests that began last week in Tibet. Depending on the reports you believe, as few as ten people or as many as 100 people have been killed since the violence broke out. It is to the point where the Dalai Lama is considering stepping down as Political Leader in exile because of it all.

I wonder if Canada would take such steps as well, perhaps even with a boycott of participants as well, reminiscent of when the Soviet Union didn't participate in the Olympics.

That being said, I don't want to act as if I'm forgetting that athlete's have been training all of their lives for these events. it is important that they be allowed to compete, and that the spirit of the games is kept alive - but its a tough pill to swallow when we have to ignore and pretend not to notice the human rights atrocities going on in that part of the World in order to do so.

It's an interesting situation and it will be extremely captivating to see all that comes out of these Games. It's the first time the media will have that kind of access in China, and despite contracts and signed agreements I'm sure stories will come out of there, the likes of which we cannot even imagine yet.

Cheers all