27.5.04

My Friend Alan

Drove Alan to the airport this afternoon. I was hit with the power of our friendship as we said goodbye. We played guitar together until midnight last night.

22.5.04

5 km race

I entered my first race this morning. I ran 5 km in 23:42 minutes. This is in preparation for a marathon in September. I haven't run for a week previous to this race. The best part about running is all the time to think. Avoiding the fraction game (distance / time) is definitely my weakness. I have to be careful about slowing down when I think, it is difficult to maintain a higher pace when the mind wanders - the body defaults to what is a comfortable pace. The race took place in Pierrefonds, QC with likely over 150 participants. Danny raced with me. He beat me soundly by 44 seconds I think.



Amber and I spent over a thousand dollars of repairs on Ester Buck (Toyota Tercel) in the last 2 weeks. Car repairs do leave a sick feeling in your belly. It's an odd business, where malpractice is rarely checked and trust is paramount - and apparently profit as well.

18.5.04

Thumb bash

I watched The Exorcist for the first time last night. Interesting career possibilities. It wasn't as suspenseful as Psycho which I watched for the first time on the weekend.

Amber bashed her thumb in the car door quite efficiently on the way to a soccer game on Sunday. I'm trying to convince her to lance it to release the pressure. I would never have the guts.

Ester Buck is sick

Just six months until The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition DVD is released. Patience precious.

Our car is in the garage. The ache of a broken car. I remember stopping at a gas station in Red Deer with my first car just after registering it. I was driving it for the first time. As I was paying for the gas a guy came up behind me and said "Is that your car that gas is pouring out of?"

After getting the gas tank fixed, about two weeks later I remember decelerating to a halt on highway 2A to discover that my fuel pump had quit. A good friend pulled up behind me and helped me deal with my sudden loss.

After a series of electrical fixes and mishaps, I discovered that I had to boost my car after letting it sit for hours. I thought it might be the alternator, but after purchasing a new battery, a kindly mechanic showed me that the battery poles were shorting on the hood.

After fitting my car with a new BMW sign (don't be envious, it was 18 years old when I got ahold of the little 4 cylinder) and a $300 new starter I crossed a median in dead winter and a tractor trailer sheered off my trunk. I finally let go of my car a year later and had it towed away from in front of my mom's house.

I walked home today from work. 2541 steps.

14.5.04

Innocence

The Innocence Mission has been around for more than a decade and I discovered them this week. Her voice is innocence and its allure is irresistable.

I spent 40 minutes sharing my Mackenzie River trip with students this morning during an assembly. Though more than half the audience was quite disinterested, I am thankful for those who were curious - as I was when I was their age - in the unknown, the adventure, the freedom I was sharing with them. These had questions for me. All I hope to share with them is a sense of adventure and respect for their lives and of others and for the earth. Life is short. King Solomon says if "the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the field" and "there is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it [is] common among men: A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this [is] vanity, and it [is] an evil disease." Why do we pause before enjoying life, thinking of the costs? We should be enjoying the fruits of our labour and the earth's bounty. My homeroom class is reading Ecclesiastes together in the mornings. It is remarkable to read it in contrast to what is presented in the new documentary The Corporation. To think of injustice and theft happening during our mortal lifetimes - one man taking away another man's life work - is hard to swallow.