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  • The Great Grime of Granville Strip [UPDATED ONE DAY LATER…]

    The Great Grime of Granville Strip [UPDATED ONE DAY LATER…]

    I’ve been immersing myself in all sorts of things Vancouver-related, largely because I’m stuck here.  I know, I know: there are worse places to be stuck, and no matter the myriad challenges that life can throw at you (my second cousin, a Saskatchewan boy and therefore one of the most down-to-earth people I know, listened…

  • Okay, that was that. Let’s go, kids!

    Okay, that was that. Let’s go, kids!

    Well, it happens. We fall into states of misery and rumination, and then we read a bunch of spiritual tomes, and we watch some Up With People videos, and we shove some Haribo candy into our mouths, and we stare at our pets for hours, and our loved ones assure us we’re loved, and ka-blam!…

  • Crazy From The Heat

    Crazy From The Heat

    I wanted to quickly express my astonishment that my post about Davie Village received well over a thousand views in just a few days, a first-time occurrence for anything I’ve written on here. The majority of the traffic was visitors to my site–as opposed to subscribers–and only two things could possibly have brought that about:…

  • The Ongoing Ennui of Davie Village.

    The Ongoing Ennui of Davie Village.

    The West End of Vancouver isn’t huge at all.  It’s a neighbourhood consisting of a handful of blocks in a grid, the furthest area west of downtown you can go, mere steps from English Bay and Stanley Park.  It is not to be confused with West Vancouver or the West Side of Vancouver, which I…

  • Brutalism in Vancouver.

    Brutalism in Vancouver.

    I am not referring to the job market, the cost of living, or the misanthropy of the residents in my particular neighbourhood, although any of those would be perfectly acceptable as material for this topic.  I am talking about an architectural movement that has been an object of mild fascination for me ever since I…

  • I Know Liberty, And It Is This Caftan.

    I Know Liberty, And It Is This Caftan.

    This wouldn’t even be close to a gunpoint-at-head scenario; it would be sweet relief and freedom. I purchased that caftan–an item of clothing I had never considered owning, never mind wearing, in my entire life–back in the summer of 2020. Along with all of the other atrocities and grotesqueries the world was forced to submit…

  • Ode To The Father

    Ode To The Father

    Last Sunday was Father’s Day, an occasion which we Lower Mainland Doukhobors commemorate by holding a picnic / potluck at some obscure park out in North Delta.  Obscure, but it’s actually called Annieville Lions Park, which works well for me since I’ve been living in my own version of Annieville for over a decade now.  …

  • Lady, You Might Have A Drinking Problem.

    Lady, You Might Have A Drinking Problem.

    Wine flies when you’re having fun. In dog wine, I’ve only had two glasses. Keep calm and pour on. Booze is the answer, but I can’t remember the question. Not cute. You might want to start analyzing yourself and what it is that you’re doing to your body, mind, and life, because it’s not cute. …

  • I Got Dem Ol’ Half-Marathon Blues, Mama!

    I Got Dem Ol’ Half-Marathon Blues, Mama!

    [Header pic: very old, but the only appropriate one I could find] …and by that, I mean I couldn’t complete the half-marathon I wanted to tackle on May 5.  Not even “couldn’t complete” it; I didn’t even do it.  A goal that I had set for myself one year prior was decimated thanks to a…

  • ESL, Yet Again And Forever: May Gawd Have Mercy On My Soul

    ESL, Yet Again And Forever: May Gawd Have Mercy On My Soul

    Header pic: Me on my last day of teaching with some students in Busan, South Korea, eating fire chicken (buldak).  2007.  Oh, and that’s way back when chicken didn’t make me want to vomit.   When I find myself in times of trouble, there is no Mother Mary.  There are only the ravaging, demonic memories of…