Less to say or less interest in saying it?

Facebook gives over 500 million of us a way to speak our minds. Does it replace blogs? No. At least not truly replace as the Facebook status update is the bite-sized relative of the full meal deal that blogs can offer. Yet, at least in my case, it has (evidenced by my distinct lack of posting over lo these many months). But Facebook doesn't allow me to be in-depth because it provides a limit to the length of status updates where I can ramble all I want here. If I check my Facebook profile, I realize that I don't update my status there. So why would I go all out for blog posts if I can't even drum up a sentence fragment? Probably guilt. That seems to be at the core of all of my most recent posts. Oh well, guilt-induced work is better than no work at all.

Gack!

I am one serious procrastinator. I have worked to find anything that will keep me from needing to work on my overdue assignment (an online course through UBC). Just the fact that I am posting here must give a sense of how valiantly I am trying to find things other than my work to be doing.

I read recently (on a friend's blog, no less) that blogs should be about what you're passionate about. Perhaps mine is: By not posting, I am sharing my passion for procrastination. :S

Of course, despite consciously choosing procrastination over responsibilities, I feel guilt for doing so. That means I can't give even my procrastination the time and attention it deserves. So now, I will try to return to my assignment and I guess this post on procrastination will have to wait 'til later.

Lots to write about. Just got back from a trip to Nunavut. But, at the moment there's no time. All I have time to tell you is that I just saw a commercial trying to draw people to join a class-action lawsuit. You too can join the lawsuit, you just have to be suffering from "popcorn lung". Yes, "popcorn lung". Not to make fun of those who I'm sure have suffered greatly, but really... Popcorn lung?

I look at my blog and think: "where have I been that I haven't posted in more than a month". When I consider that the answer is: often in front of a computer, it doesn't really explain why I haven't had anything to say here. The reality is that I have been online and active but it hasn't trickled-down to the blog. Instead, it has made it everywhere else that I am active online. So next time you visit the blog and don't think anything has changed, try following one of the first batch of links on the left-hand side of the screen. There you'll find links to my accounts on Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Delicious. I can't guarantee that I'll have much more going on there but hey, it's worth a try. That and there will definitely be more photos in the offing as I'll be in Nunavut in less than 48 hours. :)

Pessimism

I may not be capable of being an olympic pessimist but I may qualify for the Quebec Major Junior League of Pessimism. Case in point, I can be pessimistic about the value of this post due only to it's not being as timely as it could've been. That aside, today I'm writing about my pessimism with the Conservative Party of Canada that represents our current government. I realize that, to many, that could be a never-ending source of pessimism but I am interested particularly with their announcement directly following the Olympics that they would consider changing the lyrics of Oh Canada, our national anthem.

I, for one, don't believe for a second that there was any government interest in making the lyrics to Oh Canada more gender-neutral. Rather, it was an opportunity to be shrewd politicians.

By stating an intention to do something that they knew would gain minimal public traction, right on the heals of the Olympics they can put on a show of having an interest in gender issues without having to do a thing. The immediate public response (and acquiesing by the government) allow them to then leave the issue with minimal (if any) political fallout.

It frustrates me that the Conservatives have managed to come into power and stay there by learning to play a game (see proroguing parliament) rather than by being true leaders. Of course, I'm not so naive as to think any other party would approach it differently. And therein, lies the pessimism.

Rocking Horse III - Prelim

While I absorb Canada's Men's Hockey win, I thought I'd share with you another win. It is from Samara's recent equestrian eventing competition in Florida. Check it out below or see it in HD on YouTube. You can also see just the final portion.

Google street view has finally arrived in Kingston! Let the search begin for people doing silly things in public! Me, I was just walking through the middle of Queen's Campus. Silly? Maybe not.

Has blogging changed? A study was released today showing that young people have been moving away from blogging in droves and have settled largely in social networks (particularly facebook). It would seem that the focus is on somewhat-controlled circles of friends instead of the infinite range of the web or the twitterverse.

I find that interesting, considering it is oversharing that seems to be such a concern when it comes to kids use of technology. "Sexting", or sending sexually explicit text and multimedia messages is getting a lot of attention in the media as it seems to be getting plenty of young people into trouble. Perhaps the expectation of privacy with "sexting" does not apply to the open models of blogging and twitter (at least for those who don't protect their tweets). Does this show a level of technological savvy or naïveté? I'd venture that it may represent some level of self-control but is nonetheless a naive approach considering anything online is likely to enter the public sphere. This has been proven time and again by political candidates whose careers end before they begin due to the publicizing of ostensibly private information. Naive though it may be, awareness of privacy issues is a good place from which to start when developing media and technology-savvy youth.

All this leads back to the blog that you are reading. Why do I bother? That's not something that I have an immediate answer to. It may have been as much of a chance to put on a particular public face as it was to have an outlet for my thoughts. I continue to work to find the time and content that is best suited to this medium and not one of the other sharing tools that I use to represent me in the digital sphere. I guess as long as you've got something to read, I've got something to stay and for me, at least, there is still a place for a blog.

Ahhhh, tradition

I may have previously mentioned a little trick that I use for my homepage where it is set to bring up a random Wikipedia page each time I open a new window. (If you don't know this little trick, and want to see what I mean, set your homepage as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Randompage)

Anyway, I learned about the Eton Wall Game today thanks to this little trick.

The Eton Wall Game has some aspects of rugby to it, but the description is such that I couldn't help but wonder whether it was all made-up. Not in the way that everything is made-up, but rather all a lie to catch gullible North Americans out. Despite having Oppidians, a calx, a bully and players trying to score a shy, this would appear to be a real (if somewhat... unique) game.

It is helpful though to remember the numerous times that I've tried to describe baseball to someone who has never seen a game in their life and how "off-the-wall" it sounds. Did I mention the Eton Wall Game includes an old brick wall? Well, it does. In any case, it seems that as humans we develop an understanding with those with whom we have shared experience. Our shared experiences are part of what form our cultural context. Though we all have a shared humanity, the multitude of human experiences ensure that we are bound to find many people in our lives who do not share our frame of reference. That means that we will grow accustomed to many things in our lives (ie. which direction traffic [or even pedestrians] travel on, sports and accepted ways to interact with others) but we're best not to be complacent as there are many more people in the world with a different wealth of experience than there are those that share our perspective.

And so I come back to the wall game. Here a game that most regularly ends in a 0-0 draw with lots of raw elbows (you'll have to read about it to understand) makes perfect sense and plays on the traditions and shared experiences of many. I just so happens that I'm not one of that group. But ask me the rules of baseball and I've got you covered. That is, as long as you don't ask me about the balk rule. I never did get the hang of that.

I have been reminded that (few) people actually do keep up with my blog. A thousand apologies for not holding up my end of your online procrastination bargain. I should be preparing for work so don't expect this to be my shining return to long, well thought-out posts. Instead, this is proof of life. I am here, and I am wondering whether I will have the interest to muse on issues that seem too unwieldy for Facebook or Twitter, or whether I'll fade away again.

Saturday

Yesterday seemed remarkably out of place. I find that interesting since I hadn't felt like we were deep into autumn or that it had been unseasonably cool or rainy. It's just that yesterday seemed so particularly warm and sunny that I couldn't help but feel blessed. My apologies to those who didn't have the same weather-luck but I was very happy to take advantage of the weather with some quality outside time. It felt like a better choice than driving to Toronto in hopes that the weather would be good for Nuit Blanche. In the end, I think the weather was good for Nuit Blanche but I would've been too tired to enjoy it anyway. I guess I'll need to stick to enjoying other people's pictures and stories.

Death of the Blog

No, I am not writing an obituary for my blog (despite the fact that it may seem to be on life-support at this point). Rather, I am wondering whether facebook and twitter have stolen most of the mindless musings. I know they have in my case. It's sad to think that so many of my mindless musings seem to fall into the container of being no more than a couple of lines (as both are focussed in that area). Much of my other content included links which were easily accommodated by facebook. Suddenly, I'm forced to compose complete thoughts and sentences if I want to put anything up here. What a sad state of...

Crowd Control

If I was running an exercise in limiting traffic to a website without deleting the site altogether, I think I may have found the best practice: Not posting for almost 2 months!

Hi, my name is Justin. This is my (recently ignored) blog. Why has it been so long-ignored? Well, falling out of the habit is one thing. As a creature of habit, I continue to do (or not do) things because I let myself grow accustomed to doing (or not doing) so. You just need to look at the state of my house right now to note that I've grown accustomed to not tidying up. Sure, I was busy trying to make the most of my summer (especially before many good friends left the continent for extended periods abroad). I was busy too with welcoming new students from around the world. Still... Two months?!

I make no commitment to a return to regular updates. This may be, in part, due to trying to maintain a presence both on Facebook and Twitter but even those have seen me neglect updating (though I do stay actively in touch with people through them). If you're reading this, I hope you feel as though your time hasn't been wasted.

In other news, I managed to post around 500 photos on Flickr from my trip to Bhutan and have moved on to others (including some wedding shots from the two that I shot this summer).

#400

I bet you didn't expect me to take this long to post again (or maybe you did). I bet you didn't think this was the 400th post (but it is). I bet you think I've posted all my photos on my flickr site (but I haven't). I bet this theme is getting old (it is).

In any case, life, and all that goes along with it continues. I'm not quite sure why I've neglected posting for so long. Perhaps I am in the midst of a neglectful stage. That seems reasonable. What it doesn't do is encourage me to keep typing. So... Adieu.

I've been back for more than 2 weeks and I'm just getting my photos posted and just coming back to you here on the blog.

The travels were beautiful and interesting. In fact, the remainder of my time in Bhutan was interesting. Things got very active as I neared the end of my time there. Too bad I managed to lose a USB memory stick with hundreds of my photos. :( At least I didn't lose all my photos.

Being back has been interesting. There's plenty I could write about but I'm not sure where my thoughts are on everything so I'll be holding-off for now. Until next time.

Bumthang

I have my permits! I am well-chuffed about getting a chance to explore some more of Bhutan. :) As if it weren't exciting enough, I'll be travelling with a Bhutanese man who is both a licenced guide and photographer. He's published books of his photographs and most of the postcards I've sent have images that he took. I think it will be an enjoyable adventure (and one that comes just in time as I'll need to head to Paro shortly after returning). Paro is where the airport is and home to a number of other interesting sites which I'd like to see before leaving. It won't be all that long before I'm on a plane, and that means Canada doesn't follow long-after.

Just a quick note to let you know that all continues well here in Bhutan. Though volunteering has fallen by the way-side, I am still pursuing the experience as best I can. I am trusting that the in-country travel that I intend to do will show an as yet unseen (by me) side of Bhutan. I am certainly hopeful that that will be the case, anyway.

The adventure is half-way over according to the calendar. Have I reached goals that I may have intended for myself? Probably not, but who knows what the remaining time brings?

Thimpu and beyond

Apologies for any delays in writing but I am not physically connected to a computer here as I am at home. Shock of shocks, I went a couple of days without getting online!

I am writing from an artist's studio. I met one of the artists when I arrived as he helped friends find me a place to live. He and some of his fellow artists and I chatted about Bhutan, Canada and all sorts of things. Though I'm not an artist in the way they are, I have a genuine interest in the range of both fine art and commercial work that they do so that alone has been interesting (saying nothing for the conversation - which was also very interesting).

I'm planning to do some travel to other parts of the country as I've remained in Thimpu, the capital, since my arrival. I may join a couple of Canadians for some travel early next week or I may strike out on my own. In any case, I look forward to doing it in a way that helps me not just see more of Bhutan but to experience more of Bhutan.

I've met a wide range of people already and it's given me a number of insights into Bhutan that I would otherwise never have had. I have plenty more to learn (of course - since that is always the case, no matter where I am) and am looking forward to the opportunities that lie ahead.

Bhutan

Sigh... I'm here, but have exhausted myself catching up other folks directly. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for details. I can say though that in 8 hours or so here (and with the help of some great folks), I have an apartment, some groceries and maybe even a volunteer opportunity. :)

The Adventure Continues

It truly became an adventure yesterday when Druk Air (Bhutan's only airline) told me that they had no record of me and that I had a visa letter from the wrong government ministry. Funnily enough, it didn't strike me as a big deal. I knew that I needed to contact some people and get things happening, but it didn't really concern me greatly. I knew things would work out. Remarkably, they have worked out according to the original schedule. This is pretty impressive considering not only did I have the wrong documents, but tomorrow's flight was already full. It pays to have contacts, I guess. :)

Next you hear from me, I'll be in Bhutan. As if it weren't going to be a shock anyway, after a couple of days in Kathmandu, I think it will be a huge change. Bring on the change.

P.S. I saw monkeys today. :) For anyone wondering, I did not do my monkey impression for them (but I did feel right at home). ;)