Gentle Confrontations

Was really lucky and got to go back to Vancouver and Calgary for a couple of weeks each.

First, Van:

A walk with Jeff and Michelle's dog, Jing Jing.

It was so nice to walk in a dense forest and not die of humidity and sweat. 

A little corner of Megan's place.

I experienced so much kindness and generosity on this trip that made me melt with gratefulness. This was one of those moments - a picnic with Will and Sarah.

The main event of the Vancouver trip, going away for the weekend to Gibsons with my most favorite people in the world.

I turned 29. Thank you again everyone for celebrating it with me :)

Then it was off to Calgary:

My parents had moved from Singapore back to Calgary (where my brother also lives). When planning my trip to Canada, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them, so 2 weeks sounded about right. But when I was in Van, slight feelings of dread and anxiety came back to me when I began to think about it. I wondered if I gave too much time for it and if it was going to drive me nuts. It's a hard place for me, I either have a really good or awful time there. And whether it's one or the other is mostly due to the nature of my thoughts and what I do on each trip. Because of where my parents live (a bit of a drive from the center) and Calgary's sprawling nature, I have the tendency to just hide. And it's especially easy to do when you have amazing parents, a nice place to stay and don't know anyone in the city. But if I peel myself away from that, Calgary is good to me (I guess this attitude really applies to anything in life). I can't tell you enough how good it was this time. So much so that it has made me confront questions that I've been trying so hard to avoid and forget - ones revolving around the direction of my life. After putting these thoughts off for so long out of fear of what my answers would be, it was a relief to finally admit some things, and once I did, weights had been lifted. I've been using Bali as a base for the last couple of years and I've decided that as much as I've loved it (and still do), lately I have just been struggling to make it work and feel sustainable to me. I can't make it work. I don't want to either at this moment time.

And I am excited now for what the next possibilities could be.

yakkity-yak-yak-yak.

Hrm it's been awhile since I've said anything on this blog. I was in Calgary for a bit and just have been keeping pretty quiet these days.

Jane came with me to Calgary for a few days and we went to Banff:

This is at the top of a mountain where you take a terrifyingly long (and expensive) Gondola ride to get to.

We went to the show Sean helped put on, "The Chute Project" (which I did the poster for) at Straw Gallery. It was pretty great by the way, and congrats to Sean and everyone else who helped put it on. 

We went to Drumheller and ate deep fried chicken and fries (that were sadly not very good, maybe I should have taken note from this dinosaur and eaten a gigantic hamburger. I did however outdo this dinosaur on the ice cream part and had 2 gigantic scoops, one being mint chocolate chip and the other pralines and something or another) at this place:

The coolest part of Drumheller, HOODOOS:

I've been pretty quiet thinking, considering and trying to practice these things (except for one of them, you get to guess which one):

The Backside of Your Gullet is Decadent and Depraved by Frank Chimero - It's a four part (don't let this deter you, this is really really good), series of little, very easy to read essays basically about, what is the point of doing anything (something that I, and probably everyone else thinks about everyday from everything to the smallest to largest thing). Chimero is a great designer, has great clients, but he feels a little lost, stuff's feeling a bit pointless (I feel ya buddy). And I think it's great that he's admitting that and trying to figure out why and sharing his experience along the way (because I'd sure like some light shed on this as well). 

Skateistan - Sean had been telling me that his friend Rhianon was involved with this and I looked it up and I think it is so cool. Teaching kids how to skateboard in Afghanistan! I feel like it is such a simple idea, but that it is definitely a challenge to do in real life, but once done has a really great and wide-spreading positive effect. Donate to Skateistan! (I know how infomercial-y this paragraph is, but know that no one put me up to this. I won't let you donate to just anyone!)

But Will it Make You Happy? - This New York Times article really affected me, making me reevaluate how I live and how to live, trying to make things slower and simpler. This includes checking my email, facebook, and twitter less, which so far I feel like I've done in an okay and somewhat improved way, and ha, I hope it lasts longer than this week. I always do this detox sort of thing for a week and then eventually just give it up because I don't know how to occupy my time! But I guess that's the point. 

On that note.

Bye!

calgary.

So I was in Calgary for a bit and this is what the weather was like:

And this is what Calgary was like this time around:

One of the main reasons I was there:

Yes this is probably true.

Said probably best pizza in the milkway galaxy. 

This however is not possibly true. I had a piece of the Hawaiian pizza. Tasted pretty hammy. This is Josh and he is Jewish and not allowed to eat pork. He ate spaghetti and meatballs and bread instead. 

A painting that Sean and I played around with. I did the tiny dots. Sean did the big ones.

Something beside a really great mural that Sean MacAlister did behind The Coup restaurant:

Photo courtesy of Sean's facebook. 

 >___<

<3 my dog

Hey Vancouver. 

Won't Ever/Won't Never

Whoosh! The days have gone by seriously fast.

A button from Dallin for Straw.

While in Calgary, Dallin, Josh and I worked on Dallin's Book:

This book will be available for purchase at Calgary's next Market Collective (Dec 6!) if you're in Calgary, GO! Dallin is hand binding these books and yes, that's cool yeah?

And also another book that I've been working on, Jared's collages...is almost done as well.


More of Calgary:

Oh man I didn't expect to be staying up this late. Must be all that bubble tea with Ms.Koo.
And I know I've already said it, but Calgary ain't so bad.
But, uh, Hey there Vancouver! Goodnight!