Come to a rally for affordable housing on May 15th at Science World. Here’s some background information. Here’s the poster for the event.

over and out.

There are a few things I want to talk about in this post, and they’re pretty related. That’s why they’re all going into this single, glorious diatribe of a lecture I’m about to concoct.

The last nonfiction that I read is called Bad Science, and it’s by a cynical genius and new hero of mine: British doctor and journalist Ben Goldacre. Now, I don’t just like him because he’s British, although it helps. I like him because this book–and, indeed, all of his writing–is funny, easy to read, informative, eye-opening and mind-blowing. It completely picks apart pharmaceutical and alternative medicine; past, present, and presumably future. Most studies that have been done to provide evidence for the effectiveness of drugs are skewed. This book taught me how to read studies and draw my own conclusions, unbiased by some kind of money-hungry profit-oriented insane mentality that often supersedes the seemingly– at least in our fucked up society–much less meaningful purpose of making people healthy (also see Food, Inc. or any movie made by Michael Moore).

What I gleaned while I read this book lying in the Malaysian sun damaging my skin cells was a huge re-enforcement of something I’ve been realizing more and more as I grow the fuck up and get over my gullibility: don’t blindly believe anything anyone tells you, ever, until you’ve done your own research. Most people are just trying to take your money, and they do a damn good job of it. Many people, even people you’ve been told you should respect (for example, some who have PHDs), are just pretending to be something that they’re not. The only thing they’re really good at is being bullshit artists.

Which brings me to the second thing I want to talk about: marijuana. I’m sure you’ve heard that “marijuana has been linked to mental disorders”. Insert some scary fucking music right about now, eh? No one wants to get schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or ADHD or any of these other “disabilities” that may or may not exist; I know I don’t.

Here’s the thing, and this is where one is reminded that one must remain extremely attentive and aware at all times. The word “link” is very strategically used here. The truth is, there has been no study done to show the long-term neurological effects that marijuana has on the brain. People who have these “disorders” smoke more chronic, yes; but there’s no proof that the drugs causes the disorders. The disorders could cause the drug use; there’s no evidence that the drug use causes the disorders.

BAM!

Here’s an excerpt from an email some lowlife unemployed young woman sent to her mother when she was discovered smoking a small amount of marijuana on the back steps of their house:

First, please read this page from the medical marijuana Web site. Notice how they describe it:

Check out the whole document. There’s lots of interesting stuff in there.

Thus I come to the conclusion of my rant. In all things, please keep an open mind. Do your own bloody research. Don’t rely on other people to do it for you. Oh wait, you just did…

Over and out.

today i went to pranbanan temple, about an hour’s travel by public bus from the city. i’m not sure i’ve ever seen anything like it: three temples devoted to three gods, with three smaller ones devoted to the creatures they used to get around. the biggest one is sheva, then on either side are vishnu and braman. their “vessels” or transport were a bull, a swan and an eagle. unfortunately the site has been damaged severely by the earthquake in 2006, so we couldn’t go inside sheva’s temple; but we did go inside most of the others.

i’m not sure i’ve ever seen anything like this place. reaching out and touching the ancient stone, hearing about the gods from our stumbling 17-year-old guide in training, feeling the stale hot air inside the temples; it’s impossible to describe. similar to the feeling i’d had earlier in the day listening to scores of people singing the koran through loudspeakers across the town while praying. run-down houses and buildings, paint chipping for years. swallows zipping through the thick, humid 30+ air. breeze drying the sweat on my shining face. everything just old and sepia-toned through my sunglasses.

faith is so haunting. although i don’t believe in anything god-like, i can feel it–almost tangible–when i hear it, or see it. it’s almost enough to believe it.

hassled non-stop for being a white man (mat salah), buy this, buy that; take a picture with me, fall for my con, where are you from? i miss home. looking at pictures of granville and robson full of adoring hockey fans, i feel the pride i’ve always had for my nation swelling inside me despite the disagreements i have with so many of its decisions. in this heat i crave hot drinks in the cold, or two pairs of socks, or a painful nose after coming inside.

it’s impossible to call anywhere else from indonesia: calls internationally are almost a dollar a minute, which is impossible for me because i’m so poor. phone cards don’t exist. nine hours later and yesterday, it’s hard to catch anyone on skype. i’m truly isolated but having the time of my life. i’m not sure when the last time i’ve smiled so much or been so excited to wake up was.

tomorrow maybe we’ll go to the beach.

here comes a feeling you thought you’d forgotten
chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on

those lyrics from vampire weekend’s horchata are pretty much summing it up for me right now. thrust from a month-long stint in resort paradise straight into the messy, smelly, friendly city of yogyakarta in java, indonesia.

now, i know i say i don’t like cities, but after only a day here i’m in love with this one. the locals are either actually friendly or friendly and trying to con you (which isn’t actually that difficult to avoid); the food is delicious and cheap–my favourites so far are “gado-gado” which is basically fresh veggies in a delicious cold peanut sauce and of course tempe, soybeans in blocks usually deep-fried which tom claims are the “best meat imitation he’s ever had”. ah, meat eaters are so funny; they assume that everything that taste remotely like meat must be trying to imitate it. well, at least he likes it.

our new friend toto showed us a nice little restaurant and bar where we–you guessed it–ate and drank; an entire meal for both of us with two tallies (large beers) for under 10AUD. life is good. it is funny, though, paying say 9,000 for a beer… but 1AUD equals 8,100 indonesian rupiah. while we ate he explained that muslims, chinese and christians will celebrate each others’ holidays together; and later, we witnessed it in a massive parade celebrating muhummad’s birthday which was the day before yesterday, and chinese new year which was a couple of weeks ago. scores of cultures were involved in the celebrations and everyone was happy. get with it, gaza strip!

today we’re taking one more day to wander around and go shopping (i only have one outfit i can wear right now if i want to be culturally sensitive: no bottoms above the knee, and no low cut tops or short sleeves) then we’re off to see some temples, etc tomorrow and the next few days. soon we’ll head east to lombok as well.

miss you all! wish you were here.

things are going swimmingly. erm…excuse the horrible pun.

scuba diving is very unique. it’s like being able to fly, and being on the moon, and snorkeling; it’s wonderful and terrifying. sometimes we soar over twisted, spiky orange forests like skeletal fingers with thousands of tiny movements from all the life living in them. fish eyes peer out at us curiously. other times it’s stretches of sand with mushroom-cloud shaped trees of coral growing upwards emerging from the gloom, surrounded by a teeming population. i’m finally getting used to equalizing (you know when you dive down in a swimming pool and your ears start to hurt? it’s easy to rectify by blowing out through your nose while plugging it: it fills the cavities in your ear with more air, because what was already in there is being compressed) and blowing through a regulator (it’s noisy, and there are loads of bubbles!). i’ve taken off my mask at ten metres below the surface, learned what to do if i run out of air, how to use a compass underwater, how to make myself neutrally buoyant…the list goes on.

tomorrow we go to 18 metres, our depth limit as open water divers. the pressure increases most the first 6-10 metres, so i’m not too worried: mostly just excited to see what kind of life exists at that depth. i can’t wait to take my advanced so that i can go to 30, and dive in wrecks (there are lots, apparently, in vancouver).

i am really enjoying myself, but i’m getting really homesick. it’s getting worse every day. it’s meaningful, missing a place i wanted to leave so badly even in a perfect place like this. i hope the olympics haven’t spoiled the good things about my city too much.

in six days, we leave for indonesia. i’ll miss this place, but i’m excited to move on as well.

yes, i’m still here. today some guests checked in that i’d love to tell you about, but to stay safe i’m leaving the details until i’m far, far away.

also today, i went on my first scuba dive. i thought it would be like snorkeling, and at first it was except for the noise of the exhalation. bubbles framing my face, i descended with the three others. even though we only went to 6 metres, it was just different. i don’t think there’s anything i can compare it to, and it’s hard to explain. underwater, I breathe differently: about half the speed as on the surface. looking up at the waves from underneath was unnerving.

more on this later. i’m really tired out from being inundated with the dangers of decompression sickness.

still here. food and a roof, bed, air conditioning and a hot shower for the minimal work we’re doing is too good to pass up.

the other day in the heat, the high-pitched mechanical sounding tune of the crickets our soundtrack, covered in a layer of sweat, we followed the power lines and hiked to the non-functioning (the island uses diesel for power) wind turbines and solar panels at the top of the north end of the island. we saw a monitor lizard that must have been two metres long, and scores of butterflies. tom led the way armed with a stick he waved frantically in front of himself to destroy the webs of the army of spiders in our way.

at the top, we stood and looked down at the view (pictures to come): turquoise stretching away to the horizon, lush green, and a huge staircase to nowhere. we descended, and tried to climb the rocks back to long beach. after about forty-five minutes of rather strenuous exercise we turned back, out of water and energy. we stopped at a drizzle of water from a spring that made a natural shower in a crevasse in the rock. deliciously cold and drinkable, it gave us what we needed to go on.

it seems everything needed to go on is here. it’s the most relaxed and beautiful place i’ve ever been.

soon we’ll be taking our open water diving course, enabling us to dive anywhere in the world. snorkeling itself is almost enough: just off the shore there are thousands of fish of every colour and size you can imagine. the other day tom saw a shark, and i saw a squid. the island and the ocean around it is teeming with life.

well, i’ll leave you here. saya rindu awak kawan (“i miss you friends” in the local dialect).

we arrived in the perhentian islands about four days ago. i say “about” because it’s hard to keep track of time in a place like this. culture shocked after our fourteen hour overnight train ride from the bustling sewer-scented kuala lumpur, we accepted a ride from a local to kuala besut. the woman who sold us our boat tickets to the islands unnecessarily apologized for the weather (which was, and has been, perfect) as it’s the off season. we waited amidst smiling locals, hopped on the boat, and were taken here.

the most memorable words spoken as we walked down the dock were “this place would kick most postcards’ ass”.

it’s just what you imagine when you hear the word “paradise”; a sickly sweet but thoroughly incredible cliche of white sands, palm trees, grinning locals, delicious food and affordable, comfortable accommodation. minutes from our room is a beach with, just offshore, a teeming world of fish and coral straight out of a nature program. for just $10 each, we went on a half-day snorkeling tour and saw massive turtles, black-tipped sharks, and every colour of fish imaginable. watching them crowd together in front of our faces, fighting for cracker crumbs we crumpled under the surface, was like nothing i’ve ever experienced.

we’ll be working for maybe a week or two for food and accommodation at shangri-la, the resort where we’re staying. next we push on, up through thailand.