Philo
- Become fluent in Spanish(3rd language)
- Get a radio show at CJLO.
- Start a Podcast if radio show fails.
- Learn the basics of computer programming.
- Bike, Bike, Bike.
- Join a bike co-op/learn bicycle mechanics.
- Run 10-15km a week.
- Read min. 10 books.
- Pass all of my classes.
- Buy no processed food from the grocery store.
- Save 600$ a month as a rainy day fund.
- Buy a new camera OR a road bike.
- TBD
And how right I was.
The mornings are cold. The mornings are cold enough to freeze the water in our bottles, freeze the pipes carrying our dish/shower water, cold enough to freeze wet dishes together and leave a thick coating of frost on every truck window. We don’t expose our hands and most of us drink the awful coffee not for the taste but so our hands can touch something a little warmer than the inside of our pockets.
While the mornings are hard to bare, the days have been nice. You quickly undress as you begin your day and apart from the few flakes of snow, we’ve been lucky enough to see mostly sunshine.
We have a lot of new people in our camp this year. It’s really interesting to watch them plant and think: “was that really me?”
The best thing about having a camp of rookies is that everyone gets along. No cliques are made, everyone enjoys the campfire and tries to remember everyones names(this is with the exception of one crew which has completely isolated itself from the rest of camp for whatever reason)
And it should be noted that unlike last year, the food in great and the cooks are wonderful! While I hoped to really focus on life as a vegan tree planting, I have not made that a focus on this blog. The first 2 seasons we had a wonderful cook who really took care of me as the only vegan. Last year…well I will sum up last year with a quote from the cook to myself:
“if you think we have a problem, I’ll fucking headbutt you, then we’ll see who has a problem” Needless to say, we didn’t get along and when he didn’t refuse to feed me, I still ended up going to bed hungry.
This year has seen a return to the great food one should expect from the cooks. The soups are vegan, the bread is vegan and delicious and the options have been wonderful.
I leave on May 3rd and I have so much left to do. See doctor, see friends, get gear in order, fix tent, etc. All of this with an exam next week(on my birthday!)
As usual I will be writing throughout the season and this year promises to be good. My writing skills have greatly improved, I will still be dealing with being a vegan tree planter, I’m in better shape going in than ever and fingers crossed, will make good money.
“American troops were conducting a raid when they were hit by small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.”
And:
“There is no question that coalition forces were clearly engaged in combat operations against a hostile force.” – said Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl
Wikileaks decoded this video and released it today. If you haven’t already, consider donating to them.
2 Reuters journalists and about a dozen civilians, including a van that was attempting to pick up one of the wounded journalists and had two children inside of it are gunned down by laughing soldiers from a helicopter. I understand that there is a lot of context here and that the soldiers didn’t know that there were children inside the van and the cameras did look like guns but the body language of the people on the ground is not what you would see if there were in fact insurgents ready to attack.
Judge for yourself.
With the weather being as it is today and studying not exactly happening as it should, I decided to make a mixtape and share it with my readers.
Mixtapes are tricky. You need to make quick judgment calls, deduce what the receiving party will enjoy and predict what they will infer from your choice of other people’s poetry.
With this in mind, let me present to you: “Sad Songs for Empty People – Vol. 1″
- - Jesus & Mary Chain – Why’d You Want Me?
- Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right BA Start – I Know You’ll Find Out I’m A Geek
- Astronautalis – Barrel Jumping(man of letters)
- Daniel Johnston – True Love Will Find You In The End
- The Ergs! – Stinking Of Whiskey Blues
- Greg Macpherson – California
- Hawks And Doves – I’m On Fire
- Chad VanGaalen – Traffic
- The Love Letter Band – Everybody Lives In Their Own Little World
Grab the Album here: CLICK HERE!
Edit: Thanks for downloading everyone! I hope you’ve enjoyed my selections.
The frequency of this occurrence temps you into taking some of your roommates pills. You wonder how long you can go before you step forward, car honks and you just don’t move.
In the beginning you would lie awake, restarting the album playing on your stereo as it came to an end, over and over. You would toss and turn, trying to clear your mind for mere moments before you found her sneaking back in. You’d make yourself so sad imagining the mundane occurrences in the relationship you’ve created in your head. You think about running into your ex-girlfriend the other week and how in an attempt at diplomacy, you made a bad joke and were greeted by a turned back and what you can only imagine must have been a disgusted face and rolled eyes.
By now you’ve begun staying awake, playing video games until 3am in an attempt to exhaust yourself into sleep. You might also put a movie on or paint a picture. This works in the short run as you have managed to become so exhausted that you are able to sleep through the night without waking up once.
This of course lasts until your mind is once again able to form thoughts and idea’s and you find yourself tossing and turning, restarting that album over again, thinking of how everyone must have laughed at you and your failed joke.
As a child you could never fall asleep until your parents assured you that the mummies in Egypt couldn’t possibly cross the ocean to your home. Even if aliens wanted to abduct you, your yard is too small for a spacecraft to land on it and ghosts cannot pass through your locked bedroom door.
As an adult, perhaps to seek similar reassurances, you find yourself asking the same question every night:
“Are you OK?” to which you always respond:
“Define OK.”
So you step forward, miss car, stand in front of your home, stare into the windows for what seems like an hour, step forward, open door, pour coffee, read until you realize that nothing has sunk in, feel anxious, play a video game but don’t move and lose your lives, toss and turn and assure yourself that you are in fact, OK.
While I expected more of us to feel completely insulted by a corporation insinuating what it means to be free, the response seemed to follow one these lines:
- Fuck ya, let’s drink more beer.
- Country X is better than any other country.
- This makes me so proud to be from Country X.
- Let’s get drunk and celebrate Country X in all it’s glory.
Let us agree on a few key points before going any further. Can we agree that Freedom is essential to the human spirit? Can we agree that freedom is the ability to decide for oneself, free from bondage, the idea’s, thoughts and direction we want to lead? Can we agree that in order to obtain this freedom we have the right to and an obligation to question and challenge authority, especially if that authority makes claims we believe to be illegitimate?
If we can agree on this much and you don’t feel anything short of insulted by the claims this commercial has made, perhaps you need to seek a clearer notion of the human spirit?
My objections are twofold. I cannot deny the cultural differences between countries and regions but Nationalism makes certain untrue claims beyond that. It makes a claim that our ‘freedom’ and way of life is somehow different and/or better than someone else’s. It claims that you are entitled to a birthright and privilege, which is to be denied to others. And it expects your total submission in the name of ‘God & Country’.
Secondly, I object to any form of authority or power, which a corporation is, making an attempt to control the human spirit or telling you what the human spirit consists of. Can we also agree that a corporation is an illegitimate form of authority because it aims at degrading the human spirit through the dependence of need?
If so, why then fall so quickly into line when told what it means to be from Country X or what it means to be free?