Speaking of Boys and Fighting...

I know I know I shouldn't promote fighting, wrestling and violence. But this is just too good. Everyone is probably going to think that all my friends who are boys do is wrestle. I promise you they only do this 50% of the time and are normal for the rest.

Long story short, after some practice rounds with Bob (which he lost) Neil was humiliated, and decided that he was going to have a round two to prove his manliness. Its been three or four months now, Neil has been training the whole time (He even broke a rib in the beginning), and as planned I am releasing the training video I filmed as a lead up to the real thing.

Get the hype going, you know.

If you haven't noticed yet, its styled in the oh so classy UFC-esque angry music lead in.


So LAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDIIIIIIIIIEEESSSS AND GENTLEMEN, let me introduce to you, the man, the myth the legend..... NEEEIIIILLL SIEEK!



[I just want to emphasize this is NOT SERIOUS. We are in no way shape or form actually hosting a real fight. Do not worry. Neil and Bob are bff's in the real world]

Birthday's and Blogging

Well I feel a bit sad about my blog lately, as I'm not really in it as much as I should be. Mind you, I did only get my flooded router replaced, so I've really only had the interweb at home for less than 24 hours. But I figure if I am going to have a blog I should probably be featuring things that are mine, or I experienced, or I made. Instead of just talking about things that I like.

So under this umbrella, and also because it's my birthday on Monday, I'm going to take a look back at my birthday last year.

Here is a photographical ode to JessFest '08 - Photography mainly not taken by me.

Enjoy and don't be scared!





It was an overall-party ;)



Notice me, the spotted shirt and overall combo (funny enough I originally wrote spotted shit and overall combo).



This is probably when I started to love the mustard.



And even though I'll never understand boys and wrestling - there were some friendly matches in the morning.



... don't worry though - the big fella won.



Finally, I obviously survived til morning - but others.... did not.

Ode to Moustaches

I love moustaches a lot. I just remembered I loved them so much after visiting Inkling Paper's shop on etsy. I went to go have a peak after reading about The Red Deer's Give Away Contest featuring Inklings work.

Go have a little on peak yourself!

I've decided to make a montage to all things that are beautiful and full of the stache'Starting of course with the Inkling:

Moustache Greetings by Inkling Paper

Salt and Pepper Moustache by paperdollwoodshop

Another stache for your kitchen: Pintglasses by Breadandbadger

My Father, who has arguably the best moustache of all

My friends, who frequently get rowdy and taken over by moustaches.

Where the Wild Things Are

I have one in me.

I have never, ever, in my entire life been as excited and scared for a movie. The trailer makes me well up with tears, I've watched it over and over and over and still I cry.

This movie is going to move me.

Thank you Spike jones. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you Maurice Sendak.

Light Readings

I haven't really been reading as much as I want too, especially considering I've been out of school and done with my thesis for over 4 months now. Thats a really depressing fact.

Probably my main hurtle reading is that I keep picking up really dense/academic related reads. One of which I'm reading (and only half-way through) is about Chief Plenty Coups and the fall of the Crow Indians, called Radical Hope. Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation. It is one powerful look into the total devastation of a culture. To see how a people were destroyed because their entire cultural being (buffalo and war) was taken away from them is tough to get through if you know what I'm saying.

(Plenty Coups)
For example, here is a little quote from Plenty Coup right before he died, "...when the buffalo went away the hearts of my people fell to the ground... After this nothing happened."

Needless to say, this read is getting me a little down. And I think its lost somewhere in my chaotic shambles of a flooded house right now.

But Dane thankfully gave me something to lift my spirits: The Sex Lives of Cannibals by J. Maarten Troost is amazing. I love a book that can make me laugh out loud on every page and even manage to tune out a television.
I didn't even know the Rebublic of Kiribati (kiri-bse)was a place, and now I am (almost) questioning whether I should go there and not Indonesia.



Anyway, basically Maarten is documenting is (mis)adventures living on this tiny, dot in the pacific ocean for two years. He survives off raw and boiled fish, and beer. But sometimes the beer runs out. And the water. And the electricity. He spends his days trying to write, and trying to find something edible. He also collects some of the islands toughest street dogs (White dog and Mama dog). His biggest problem though is literally avoiding the shit on the beach.

It just leads me to daydream about living on an atoll where there is one flight, if you are lucky, once a month. And a supply ship even more infrequently. Maybe I just need to find something a little like this in Indonesia?

Slight blogger updates!

Well thanks to Yvonne, over at Emy Augustus I seemed to have updated my comment system.

Does this work better?

Indonesian reading

First step towards any traveling experience - a guidebook.

So yesterday I picked up my copy (40$ OUCH) of Lonely Planet's Indonesia and began skimming through it. Really there is nothing so exhilarating for me as looking at all the places I can visit, the jungles I can get lost in and beaches I can roll around on.

I've already come to the conclusion that I have to figure out the Visa situation because apparently it is complicated and shifty. I've also decided that I need a nice/light/sweet rain jacket.

I randomly flipped to a page and found a little box talking about sea gypsies, otherwise known as Orang Bajau. They are generally regarded by other Indonesians in much the same way that the Roma in eastern Europe are, which is badly. I on the other hand fell in love after reading about 2 paragraphs.

There are many groups of sea gypsies all over Southeast Asia, all with a blurry history. Basically, in Indonesia, they live off the coast of Sulawesi surviving (barely) off of fishing by traditional means.

According to Lonely Planet, in the old days there were whole familes living out of their boat roaming the shallow seas. Fathers would take their three day old children diving in order to introduce them to the sea. What a romantic tale.
On the other hand, nowadays commercial fishing, and other fisherman with access to better technology are making survival much harder.



I did read that the Bajau's Thai neighbours who lived offshore on houses made of stilts, that an entire village was saved from the Tsunami . Aparently the chief saw the receeding sea and immediatly knew from recalling a folk tale that:

those same waters will soon reappear in the form of a huge man-eating wave, destroying everything in its path.

Obviously I recognize these tales of Sea Gypsies are overly romanticised, but my imagination has still be sparked. I'm going!