Thursday, April 27, 2006

Just talking

Here is an outside shot of soma. I took these photo's a few days ago while the sun was still out and the cherry blossoms still in bloom. The sun is now playing hide and go seek (though the air is warmer regardless of lack of sun) and the blossoms are moving out while green leaves move in. That is how you can tell that summer is on the way in Vancouver.

What's weird about Main Street is that it's basically a six lane major road, so it almost feels like a Toronto Suburb. When we first moved here I had a hard time understanding that it was an interesting neighbourhood because everything is so spread out and the great things about this area were not obvious at first sight. I do miss the more narrow streets of Toronto lined with shops, restaurants and bars.....I miss the plethora of urban delights sandwiched together.


This is Monsoon, it's right beside soma and I worked there for about a year. It's a really great little Malaysian fussian restaurant. The food is sooooo good. While I worked there I learned something about the difference in grammar used between Toronto and Vancouver. Someone from Toronto would say Monsoon's when refering to the restaurant; ie: We're going to Monsoon's tonight, while someone from Vancouver would call it just Monsoon; ie We're going to Monsoon tonight. Robin, which is it? Elaine? You two both have excelent command of the English Language, what do you two think?


This is the huge sign that sticks out of the building that glows bright at night. Vancouver has a lot of really big bright signs, many of them are neon, it's kind of weird in a David Lynch kind of way. At night in the rain you wouldn't be surprised if a sweet blond wanting to be an actress was waltzing with a midget on a black and white tiled peice of sidewalk while a stumbeling, lost and confused brunette asked you for a ride out of town because she inexplicably feared for her life.....and the blond and the midget would have something to do with it... I think I just rolled three Lynch films into one!

Lately I've been reading a lot of my friend Claudia's blog, I have quite a bit to catch up on because I didn't even know that she had one untill recently. It's all about nutrition, health and alternative thought on the subject, especially Ayurvedic thought. I've been going to yoga pretty regularly and haven't noticed any wieght loss (working at Monsoon made me kind of chunky...seriously, no more super skinny size 4 or even 6 Veronika), but what I have noticed is that my body is feeling so much better and things are shifting in a good way...... if you know what I mean. Claudia has gone to a lot of trouble compiling information about the food industry and health, bless her soul, she is the Joan of Arc of health! Check it out www.franlife.blogspot.com. One of these days I'll figure out how to put links to my favourite blogs and websites up on my blog....what a dumb word blog is.

I think what I'm realizing is that youth really is fleeting and as attractive as it is, age and wisdom are far more powerful and exciting, but what good are widom and power if you can't reach your toes or tie your shoelaces without having to sit! There is a lot of preventable disease that runs in my family so I decided to make myself healthy and bendy; on the road to becoming gumby I discovered that my body image, my mind in general was not in touch with my body. The disconnect was pretty severe, and with Claudia's advice and my friends here that let me drag them to hot yoga so that I feel motivated (thanks Polly, Niki and Elaine!) I am feeling like I can dodge diabetes, thyroid malfunctions as well as those stiff movements that make people look old. Good news is that I only cried in class that one time. I'm back to being the old sarcastic 'chakra my ass' me that I've always been. I think that Dane is scared that I'm going to get those awful white people dreads and start wearing patchoulie..... or start wearing lulu lemon outfits everywhere with a little dog in a purse. I'm more scared that I'm always going to have some version of black hair with bangs and that my strong desire for Issey Miyaki scents and nudie jeans will bankrupt me!

P.S: For some reason I can't get spell check to work without losing everything I've just written, so now you'll all know how badly I spell, forgive me I swear I'm smart in other ways.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Afternoon

I took this photo today at about 3pm on my way to get another coffee. It's taken at the corner of 8th looking up Main. You can see that it's snowing on the mountains.

They are the pride and joy of this town, if you say anything negative about Vancouver to someone who luughvs (say it like you're constipated) they will most likely shoot back that the mountains are beautiful...like they built them or something. There is this breed of person here who will guard Vancouver with all their wit against anything negative ever said about their hometown. Being the rational person that I am I think that there are both good and bad qualities to all cities, and so whenever I come across someone who luughvs Vancouver I keep quiet. They are fierce, dangerous and you will never have a rational conversation with them. They foam at the mouth and their eyes get kind of crazy...like they're morphing into some kind of monster, The worst part is that you can't spot them, they come at you from nowhere. Seriously, you can be having a great conversation and then say something honest without censoring yourself and the next thing you know you've woken the beast.

Something else I find funny about this place are the passion for politics. It's a passive aggressive city in many ways, like the way that people walk at you down the sidewalk or crossing the street like a twisted game of redrover. They don't believe in staying to the right to maintain a flow, or saying 'excuse me' when you need to pass someone dawdling. If you do say those dirty words either you get ignored or thrown a nasty look...how dare you need to walk faster then the person ahead of you! What you're supposed to do is walk really close to the person in front of you (seriously, step on their heels) so that they feel like if they don't move you're going to push them. This is one of the aspects of this city that drive me mental and I could write a novel about it, so I'll stop here. Despite the passive aggressive nature of the city there is a passion for two things, politics and realestate, both of which I'll get into another time.




This is photo that I took of the store at about 3:30pm today. Within half an hour it went from stormy to sunshine. To survive Vancouver you need a t-shirt, a sweater, a scarf, an umbrella and sunscreen...wait ten minutes and the weather will change. It's really beautiful and it evokes a melancholy that is pleasant and introverted. That could be the root of the passive aggressive nature of Vancouver. Sometimes I find myself getting my nickers in a knot when someone isn't able to read my mind....ask Dane.

On another note, we just sold two suites to a lesbian couple that are getting married next month. They were so cute that we gave them a break on the price. They got a powder blue suit and a cream one with a powder blue shirt. They said they'd give us a photo from their wedding, when I get it I'll post it so you can all see how great they looked. That's a part of my job that I love, sometimes someone will come in and find exactly what they are looking for and they'll be so happy about it that I get happy.

Morning


I took this photo yesterday on my way home from the grocery store. Sometimes the light glows blue and it makes your skin look porcelain, this was one of those moments. It's the most magic of all magic hours any where I've ever been. Even though people were around it felt very still and quiet. The light (when there is light) in Vancouver is one of my favourite things about the city. The sunsets are multicoloured and brilliant. There are also about a hundred different kinds of rain, I know in Toronto you only have rain, drizzle or full on thunder storms. Yesterday was rainy in that damp, cold sticky way it gets sometimes, after the rain the light poured out in an even blue glow all over the buildings and the streets...and my skin.



These are cheery blossoms that hang over the sidewalk along side the Lee building at Main and Broadway. They are another amazing part of Vancouver. They grow everywhere and for about two weeks the city looks as though it's a fairy tale land. In Japan the cherry blossom festival means that you have to sit under the trees as they snow petals onto you while you drink sake and sing karaoke. Robin told me about that, she didn't sound too keen on it though.


This morning Dane and I had coffee at soma, this is a photo of our coffees and Dane's hand. Soma is the kind of place that's too cool for school. The space is quite beautiful, hardwood floors, white walls with sometimes good...... but usually bad art, and high ceilings. The people who work there are nice and the coffee is usually good, but sometimes some of the customers...Well...Love the band hate the fans. Dane and I like to have coffee there fairly regularly so I'll have more photo's of soma in the future.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Chakra Immunity

I've been fully indoctrinated into Vancouver, I have been known to go to yoga classes. The last frontier has been reached...I am now FROM Vancouver....sigh. I swear that I will NEVER wear lulu lemon ever, I won't roller blade with a latte from Starbucks in hand, I will never have a little purse dog, you will never find me anywhere near a drumming circle and I don't ever smoke pot...It's gross. Now that I've qualified myself as a non Vancouverite from Vancouver........

I was at my Bikram's (I'm always cold okay) yoga class sweating and twisting and I had a weird experience. It was an off night for me, my balance was weak and my mind was tearing around my head in circles. The pose below is normally really easy for me, I've been able to do it since day one no problem.

I've heard some people say that it's hard for them because they get emotional; it apparently opens up your heart chakra, and I've always thought yeah right whatever my ass chakra. When I went into that position last night I got all emotional and even cried a little. Thank god it's so hot that you couldn't tell the tears from the sweat. So here I am sarcastic chakra my ass girl all emotional and one with my heart chakra. Then we go into the pose where you get to lie down and rest ( I really like that one) and I lie there feeling like there is a load of bricks on my chest. Then we go into this pose again (you do everything twice) and I get all emotional again. As we go back into the lying down pose I get all weepy and then all of a sudden I feel exhausted as if I'd been crying for a hundred years. It was a really weird experience, it was loud in my body and my mind. After the next two poses I felt really light and it got quiet in my body and mind.

I wanted to try hot yoga because the damp here gets to your bones, it's worse then -60C in Toronto, and I wanted to be warm all the way through my body. Also I wanted to connect my mind with my body, I was starting to feel inflexible. I guess it's vanity, I just don't want to be one of those old stiff unhealthy people. I want to be flexible and in control of my body as much as possible and no other exercise will give you as much control as yoga does. During my first class I discovered that there are these moments where you're contorted and your whole body is shaking to stay in the pose and you think you're going to fall over and then when you stop thinking for even a moment it's like white light inside of your body, it's quiet, you don't hurt and your breathing is normal and even. I'm hoping that those moments turn into seconds and maybe one day minutes. It's like you're made out of fresh air. I wonder if that's what death is like, being free from your mind and body feeling like you are illuminated from the inside out.

So even though Dane is probably sick of hearing me talk about yoga this, and yoga that, all of the time I swear that this is it for the chakra talk at least. I was just so surprised to be so profoundly affected by something that I thought I was immune to.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Fashion & Urination



When I lived in Prague I lived with a couple that at the time I thought were really strange individuals, but now that I look back I think maybe it was me that was strange. He was German and she was Danish and they had a little girl name Mirabel. Martin used to wear the same thing every day, he had his summer outfit and his winter outfit. The only difference between the two was that the summer outfit was short pants and no shoes. He would wear a white waffle fabric undershirt type long sleeve top, and a pair of black pants that had two zippers where buttons would be if they were sailor pants. Martin had about ten pairs of these pants all in black and many of these white tops. In the summer he would cut the pants shorter, below the knee, and sometimes he'd cut the sleeves of his shirts a little shorter, below the elbow. I'm not sure why he would keep his elbows and knees out of view.

The part that I thought was really odd was that he refused to wear shoes in the summer. Once I took the metro with him as we were headed in the same direction and he was barefoot explaining to me that it was natural........I was kind of grossed out; in Prague the drunken tourists (especially the Swedes it seemed) would pee anywhere and everywhere at night and in the summer the city stank to high heaven.

Last night we went to a party hosted by a new restaurant in the neighbourhood for the neighbourhood business'; the usual suspects were there. By that I mean many of the cities most stylish people were mingling and looking fabulous. At one point I looked down at myself and realized that I was wearing my Veronika Uniform. What's that you ask? My Black Fidel blazer, black top, Nudie jeans and black shoes. I wear that combination every time we go out. There is a black top that I almost bought two of, but Dane suggested that perhaps since we own a store I should have some variety in my wardrobe. Although I love fashion and I love seeing people all done up and on occasion I love wearing crazy and extravagant clothing, for myself, for the most part, I like my uniform.

When I lived with Martin and Alice there was a glass by the side of the toilet that I thought had been somehow accidentally left there and I was going to wash it and put it away, but thought better of touching someone else's things. One day I remembered to ask Alice about the glass beside the toilet. She told me that Martin would drink his first pee of the day, apparently it's healthy. I guess that makes Martin more strange then I. I won't be doing that anytime ever.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Vehicle

This is Dane's bike, I ride it a lot. Sometimes I even call it 'my' bike, and then I feel bad about it because it was his birthday present last year. At 29 I've done a pretty good job of avoiding the DMV. It's time I get my license I think.

outerspace


Here we've got Alan from the Chopping Block spinning...or doing something with two ipods and an ipod mixer...Something really good I tell ya. The celebration was really fun and for once not too stressful. It's Monday and I feel like I have rocks in my head.....there is little more then white noise between my ears. All I have to share is my rambling thoughts arranged like a collage and disconnected.

Is anyone out there reading my blog? I'm starting to feel really self indulgent.


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