213: DIRT SPECKLED TREE

One dirty windshield, one windshield wiper, one tree reflection, one leaf, one photo.

212: GOING BANANAS

Bananas on a banana holder.

211: STONE PILLAR

One of the stone pillars at the strip mall.

210: PICKET FENCE

A bit eerie.

209: SUPER SALE

"$2.99. Final Sale. No try."

208: THUNDERING THIGHS

I biked 80 blocks from my house to Cliffhanger, climbed for 3 hours, then biked another 80 blocks home. I need a nap.

207: DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Outside Cafe Calabria on Commercial Drive - I love how his little teeth stick out!

206: AFTER WORK

Parking lot after my closing shift at 10pm. The hood of my car has so many droplets of water on it because the sprinklers were on and I parked too close to the bushes!

205: HAKUNA MATATA

I went to see the Lion King tonight and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was such a big production and the costumes were amazing. It really makes me want to join the cast - either as a giraffe or an elephant leg. I think that would be more fun than my current job.

204: PEER INTO MY SOUL

And you will find that I like Pablo Neruda's work, despite my cold, cold heart.

Saddest Poem

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.

Write, for instance: "The night is full of stars,
and the stars, blue, shiver in the distance."

The night wind whirls in the sky and sings.

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.

On nights like this, I held her in my arms.
I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I loved her.
How could I not have loved her large, still eyes?

I can write the saddest poem of all tonight.
To think I don't have her. To feel that I've lost her.

To hear the immense night, more immense without her.
And the poem falls to the soul as dew to grass.

What does it matter that my love couldn't keep her.
The night is full of stars and she is not with me.

That's all. Far away, someone sings. Far away.
My soul is lost without her.

As if to bring her near, my eyes search for her.
My heart searches for her and she is not with me.

The same night that whitens the same trees.
We, we who were, we are the same no longer.

I no longer love her, true, but how much I loved her.
My voice searched the wind to touch her ear.

Someone else's. She will be someone else's. As she once
belonged to my kisses.
Her voice, her light body. Her infinite eyes.

I no longer love her, true, but perhaps I love her.
Love is so short and oblivion so long.

Because on nights like this I held her in my arms,
my soul is lost without her.

Although this may be the last pain she causes me,
and this may be the last poem I write for her.

by Pablo Neruda

203: REPORT CARD

The funny thing about this is that I never submitted anything for night photography, and I still got 15/15! I am just that good.

202: DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

The consequence of hiking Joffre Lakes: bug bites. Big ones too. Sorry for the gross picture.

So far I have counted fourteen on my body, and they are incredibly itchy. However it's not as bad as my friend, who apparently has 37 bites on his. I have learned my lesson; DEET is my friend.

I was helping a customer today at work, and she was complaining of being severely itchy from having many mosquito bites from hiking yesterday. I asked her where she went and she said Joffre Lakes. I shared her pain. I was like, "I went there yesterday too! I am itchy too!"

I was very tired today from lack of sleep, and it showed. A customer, Mr. B, came to me with a receipt from Costco, asking to transfer his meds to our store. I called the phone number on the receipt, and as I was waiting for someone to pick up, Mr. B got a phone call as well. He apologized and excused himself and moved to the side.  I was waiting for the person from Costco to pick up, and when someone finally answered the phone, I said, "Is this Costco?" When I said that, Mr. B moved back towards me and said, "That was me! You just called me!" We had a good laugh and then he was like, "I can't believe I apologized to you!" Hehe I spent half the day in a daze because I was so tired.

201: JOFFRE LAKES

Second Joffre Lake: THIS is why they call it Beautiful British Columbia.

My friends and I went to Joffre Lakes, which is located about 3 hours away from Vancouver. In 6.5 hours we saw the three beautiful Joffre Lakes. The last big hike I did was at Garibaldi last year, and the end result is similar, since you get glacial lakes for both of them. However, I found the trail itself much more interesting. It was shorter, being only 5.5km each way (Garibaldi was about 9km each way), but the terrain was rougher and harder to navigate, because of the many roots and boulders along the way. I found it very enjoyable, although my ankles were in some pain. This is why I rue having such skinny ankles...

First Joffre Lake:

Third Joffre Lake:

          

200: A MIRACLE

A beam of light magically emanating from my friend's bosom...it was a miracle.

Day 200 is dedicated to my friend Rae, whose birthday we celebrated at Vij's today. I hope you enjoy that ice cream machine (see day 195: My first cargo). Make me some ice cream, or better yet, go to gelato university in Italy and get a masters in chocolate. I believe in you, and I will definitely not abandon your gelato stand for the rotisserie man!

199: FAREWELL TO NANAIMO

The time has come - the new grads have arrived, and after seven weeks of working 4 days a week in Nanaimo, I am no longer needed here. Today was my last day and I don't think I'll be back for awhile. I will miss the island lifestyle, the not needing to drive, the staff, and even the crazy customers (but not the angry ones). That store did feel like my home store since, for once, I knew where everything was, how things were supposed to be done, and what the current problems were. I developed a camaraderie with some of the staff that is difficult to form when you are only at a store for one day at a time and don't come back for another month or two. Anyway, now I am back to the world of floating to one store per day - in the next two weeks I am going to stores in Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, New West, East Vancouver, and Langley - 8 different stores in 9 days.

I know many people dislike Nanaimo and think it is a dump, but I think the island is a beautiful place and this city is no exception. Goodbye Nanaimo, and hello friends, I am back in Vancouver!! I can see you again!

198: THIS IS GOOD

The best $10 I have ever spent - the Malahat Revue, live at the Nanaimo Entertainment Centre. They consist of local artists Said the Whale, Hannah Georgas, Jeremy Fisher, and Aidan Knight. They have spent the last few weeks touring Vancouver Island by bike (!) and are heading to the Vancouver Folk Festival this weekend. They all have their own songs, but they played with each other and were each other's back up bands. It was really really good. I love Hannah Georgas.

My friend and rx manager Allen kindly agreed to accompany me to the concert, since I would have gone alone otherwise. For dinner, I had duck breast and gnocchi with some wine (fine dining, Nanaimo style).

197: DINGHY DOCK PUB

With the gang at Dinghy Dock Pub, located on Protection Island. It is Canada's only floating pub, and you have to take a ferry to get there from Nanaimo.

I wish that was my boat. It's so easy just to sail my boat around the Georgia Strait, and then when I feel hungry, just pull up onto the dock and grab a bite at Dinghy Dock pub. That is my dream life for when I am retired.

196: MUSIC TRIVIA NIGHT

Team Jacob taking second place at music trivia night at the Harewood Arms pub. We won ten dollars - too bad this is my last week in Nanaimo, because I really enjoy music trivia nights and now I won't even get to use my portion of the gift certificate ($1.43)!

Here are some pictures from last night:

In the last one, my cheap tripod dropped my camera during the 2 minute exposure...but I like how the only part of the picture that is not blurry is "HELP ME!"

195: MY FIRST CARGO

I biked 60 blocks to pick this up and then 60 blocks back home with it on my rear bike rack.  A shop owner saw me struggling to attach it to the rack so she came out of her store to help me and even gave me extra plastic wrapping to make sure it was tight. Surprisingly I was fine biking with it; my only problem was that whenever I stepped off my bike, it would tip over due to the weight.

First it's kitchen appliances, and next thing you know, I will be hauling furniture on the back of my bike!

194: THE 'SEARENITY'

My future boat. This is what it looks like underneath:

193: THE NATIONAL

The National is performing at Stanley Park with the Watchmen in September. I have yet to find a person who can go with me (I have one maybe), but one of the two concert days is already sold out and so I bought an extra ticket just in case!

They are my new favorite band. I love the singer's baritone voice - it reminds me of Joy Division and Interpol.

192: I DIDN'T WIN

Scratch and Win on my pants. Reminiscent of those university days when I would sit in the SUB during my lunch break with all my Scratch and Wins. I loved doing those things.

191: ORANGE SKY

Driving down the Island Highway, with the incredibly orange sky in front of us and the purple-tinged mountains to the side....I love BC sunsets because the clouds make them so intense.  During twilight, I flew a kite for the very first time in my life. The high winds made it easy for me to keep the kite up in the sky. It was fun!

190: DANGER AT THE LAGOON

Piper's Lagoon.

Rule of thirds landscape - my other contender is this:

I like this one better but my only concern is that the white canoes look a bit blown out (overexposed). Which do you prefer?

189: THE STEPS OF LIBERTY

Drinking a strawberry banana smoothie in the heat of the blazing Nanaimo sun.

188: RUNAWAY

I spent the sunny afternoon with Ms. Ciambella, taking photos for our term assignment.  The above picture is an example of panning, and it took many many takes for me to get one that was satisfactorily sharp.

Help me decide on which photos to submit! I need one of each category.

Blurring motion:

Freezing motion:

187: CATCHING THE LIGHT

I was originally going to put up a picture of my banged up knees, but the photo of all my bruises were so disgusting (and would probably make people think I am being abused) that I had to change tactics.  

186: CHIARA

Chiara always runs away from me the minute I pick up my camera. But this time, she was distracted by her food so she didn't know I was lying in wait for her. Here she is giving me a disapproving look.

185: BACKYARD STORAGE

The leaves are bursting out of that thing.

184: BIPOLAR DAY

Let's just say I had my fill of bipolar patients today...

It's hard to know what to say when they're in their depressive state and they say things like, "I almost killed my husband because I get violent tendencies. I'm surprised they let me out of the hospital, I think they should've put me in a rubber room. What do you mean I can't get my mood stabilizer because you can't read the doctor's writing? I'm going to lock myself up in my room now because I'm worried about being around people in public. I don't want to kill them."

But then again, there are others who are in a more manic state. There's one at this store who loves me and wants to talk to me every time she sees me. Even though all I do is nod and listen to her while she talks and talks and talks, she always tells me at the end how helpful and caring I am. I like this side of bipolar more!