Runaway Future

You would pretty much have to be living under a rock to not hear about Hurricane Katrina and the disaster that is shaping up in New Orleans. Some levies have broken and flooding is rampant, so despite the fact that the storm is gone, the worst of it could just be beginning. But could this have been avoided?

At least two media organizations at least considered the possibility of a Category 5 storm hitting the French Quarter. On September 11th, 2001 (for the sake of the argument, ignore the relevance of the date), Popular Mechanics posted this article about New Orleans sinking. Then on September 20th, 2002, Now, a news program on PBS also explored this issue. A transcript can be found here.

After the flood waters ebb and the looting stops, there will be a lot of questions asked about this disaster in Louisiana. The first one is, of course, could this have ever been avoided?

Meanwhile, here’s a chilling timeline done by local TV station, WWLTV. Meanwhile, here’s the articles released by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

The other news item that caught my eye is the argument of Evolution vs. Intelligent Design.
Some of it is outlined here.

But the one aspect of the Creationism debate that is most compelling is the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Pastafarians have been popping up all over the place, such as Wikipedia and even in the New York Times (registration required, use BugMeNot).

May we all be touched by his noodly appendage.

“I have made six postcards, all with secrets that I was afraid to tell the one person I tell everything to, my boyfriend. This morning I planned to mail them, but instead I left them on the pillow next to his head while he was sleeping. 10 minutes ago he arrived at my office and asked me to marry him. I said yes.”
-Canada

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Something in the air indeed.

Every conversation that I have lately has seemed to inevitably turn to the subject of the dating game and my own future.

It seems that now that employment and a regular pay cheque are present, my next desire is companionship and then happiness. I’m a lonely guy and that was never more apparent then these past few weeks.

It feels like there is a sense of urgency to it, but then again it’s more just the feeling of let’s deal with ‘this’ now. My romantic stance this summer has been much more active then before, compared to the passive ‘come what may be’ approach too often employed and too often failed. If nothing more, these frequent forays have improved my confidence level.

I play the bar game with no intention of picking up. It’s all talk, all smiles, all preparation?

As ridiculous as it sounds, being surrounded by adults has added a level of maturity to the equation. Dare I say, growing up?

And through all this, a portrait of desirability has emerged. Intelligence, attractiveness, humour, interests that parallel and complement my own. I don’t want to settle for less. Interested parties enquire within.

In addition to this, a blueprint for the future is being erected. This summer has been refreshing getaway from what was the status quo for the past eight years. High school continued into college, finally ceasing.

In two years time, I want to seriously look at my life and make the big decision. King’s has become simply a ceremonial placename to represent my journalistic ambitions.

I have a desire to leave, live elsewhere. I have been fortunate enough to travel across the country and even over the ocean. I want more. I was jealous of Scott for his plan to bike across Canada, jealous of Sohier for Sri Lanka, jealous of April and Meghan for Australia. Whether for work or learning, it’s like the premise of Big Fish.

“Kept in a small bowl, the goldfish will remain small. With more space, the fish can grow double, triple, or quadruple its size.” It occurred to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was that I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can’t have an ordinary-sized life.

Soon enough, I need a larger bowl. For next year, a ‘real’ apartment will suffice to go along with living the life. But I need more.

The RCMP tech services have development jobs in Ottawa. My Sport NS work could open up possibilities in sports (Anaheim?) or government. My other dreams point to Alberta, Australia and England. I refuse to live vicariously, to stand by. I want to live the dream.

Just like that the final wall has been broken,
yeap, I’m blogging from work

opening the door for much less productivity and work.
Weekend was good, in fact it exceeded expectations

I have an entry that I wrote on my Palm yesterday on the way to the cabin. Will post.

Oh and I set up categories on my weblog…woooooo.

I’m a terrible employee.

A common theme this summer has been this peculiar behaviour of mine. I seldom, if ever, make weekend plans before Friday. Anytime that I have, I have ended up gravely disappointed. So instead I just let it come and things happen. It’s very far from my usual attitude of lists and structure and planning out every detail of my life. So far, it’s never failed me.

This weekend is perhaps the last weekend of summer. Next weekend (or at least part of it) I’ll be stuffed in a suit at the wedding of a cousin. So maybe this is all we got.

Tonight I’m going to a BBQ with some co-workers. BBQ steak and beer means good times.

Tommorrow, Chris and Ryan? and etc are showing up. Early. Wakey-Wakey, Eggs and Bakey time. Spend the day with them and then that night, Shakespeare by the Sea, the Merchant of Venice. Oo la la, artsy.

Finally Sunday, I drag my sorry ass out of bed early and head to Ponhook lake for a family thing. Food, swimming, neat. Then it’s back to the grind on Monday.

Quite frankly, this has been the least productive week ever. I haven’t been sleeping well and so I haven’t been working hard. It’s nice though, work is nice. I had a short shoot the shit with Chris about money, and I’m good with it. I’ve been kicking myself about my spending habits, but it’s cool.

Anyway, I got to get ready for this BBQ and by ready, I mean put a shirt on and then go buy some beer.

I’ll leave you with this: India may be the first country to explain to the world about extra-terrestrial and UFO contacts – the secret debate is on. Link
I can’t attest to whether or not the India Daily is the Hindu version of the World Weekly News…but read as much into it as you want.

I watched “How to Succeed In Business Without Actually Trying” last night. I fell asleep halfway through. I think I missed the point of why it was recommended to me.

“If you were to go faster than the speed of light…”
“..and you were in a MONSTER TRUCK.”
“You…YOU COULD SMASH CARS BEFORE THEY WERE EVER BUILT OH MY GOD.”

Never Settle.