Study

So it's study time ...

Assignments are almost done, so it is now officially, study-my-brains-out-for-finals until the end of April.

Here are my flash cards, they are from mid-terms only:
I can't wait for summer.

Octo-cloaking device?

You must watch this! It is verified and real ... The octupus has a layer of cells with pigments under muscular control underneath the epidermis.

Reasons Not to Drink and Drive

I volunteer on Thursdays in the CT department of the University of Alberta Hospital.

Today, someone came in who had been in a Vehicle Accident ... 100km/h into a railway pole.

One guy was decapitated on the spot, and the other one, the unlucky one, had a swollen brain. When the brain swells it pushes out against the skull, but it can only push so much, and so, with enough swelling, it will start to push down the vertebral column. This was his story. Apparently, if he's really lucky (or unlucky), the doctors will be able to drain blood from his brain and he will live, but will probably be a vegetable, or have significant brain damage.

Alcohol, speed (both drugs and velocity) and the wheel. Bad combination

Jan Zwicky

I need a quick break from the diversity of animals ... Ali's writing a paper on a philosopher poet from Victoria. Her name is Jan Zwicky:

Absence

When the sky is no longer a roof
one's eyes are finally open:
it is in the valley one draws breath.

The pines are so slender. They weave
gently, almost without noise,
pushed by currents that do not reach us here.

Now the cities are behind us,
and the wars. Lantern-light
streams from the solitary window.

What is past drifts up then
without effort: river-scent
at twilight, through the rubble of the day.

Social Music Revolution

You must check this out, nothing more needs to be said:

http://www.last.fm/

Light and Shadows

Today I looked down Whyte Ave. The setting sun sent light and shadows on the traffic, and I feel there is something calm there, some temperance in a world gone mad.

Or should we see the sun as a burning ball that will someday implode?

"Don't you know it seems to go ..."

The apartment

The last installment in the welcome to my new life series!

We have a beautiful new apartment, good landlord ... all for $625/month! Complete with:

Bedroom

Study:
Practice Room/Guest Bedroom:
Kitchen:And Washroom:
And of course, you're all welcome here!

Blues Gig

Blues Gig last night.

It was a funny one too. We had to wait for the hockey game to finish, and so we started playing at 11, and finished at 2am.

Bars are a funny place ... a place of addiction, false love ... a place to fill in the spaces, to cover over the depth and emptiness we all avoid.

The band was okay. I've been playing with them a fair bit lately. They're sortof a loud-in-your-face-blues band:

http://www.myspace.com/thehardlinebluesband

It's a seven-piece band with two tenors and a bari.

It's good to be playing ... I look forward to doing more this summer

Cats, Chats, Ma-ow

We have two cats ... Their names are Lina and Bunny, and they are tons of fun.

Lina, the cuddly one:

And Bunny, so named because she had a red, infected eye when we got her, and looked sortof like a rabbit. She's the trouble maker:

I really don't know what to make of this, either:

A Good Day

Today was an amazing day!!

First of all, I got 70% on my chem mid-term!! No, I'm not being sarcastic ... I thought that I had failed ... the class average was 51%, which means that half of the class failed, and I probably got an 'A'. Oh, the beauty of bell curves.

I also signed up for classes next year ... Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics (for fun! - astrophysics and quantum physics), Anatomy and hopefully Physiology as well. It should be fun, and a little less work too, since most of the classes don't have labs.

Ali gave me a great present today too! She found "Einstein's 1912 Manuscript on the Special Theory of Relativity" ... sweet lovin'!

And some interesting quotes from the man himself:

"Man tries to make for himself in the fashion that suits him best a simplified and intelligent picture of the world; he then tries to some extent to substitute thiscosmos of his for the world of experiences, and thus to overcome it. This is what the painter, the poet, the speculative philosopher , and the natural scientist do, each in his own fashion."

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by the age of 18."

"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

"Warfare cannot be humanized. It can only be abolished."

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious ... I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life."

Jesus Camp

Here's a moving worth watching. A little crazy, but, well, you'll see ... it's called 'Jesus Camp':


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Volunteering

Volunteering ...

I've been volunteering at the UofA Hospital these past few months in the CT (Computerized Tomography) department. A CT machine is sortof like an x-ray machine that spins and allows you to see things three dimensionally. It was interesting at first, but it's starting to become sort of boring. The department went filmless about a month ago, and so I no longer sort films, but just stand around and ask the odd question, maybe bring a patient to the back of the department.

So I've been thinking about other volunteer possibilities. I might try to get into the Emergency department, which could be exciting, and I would have the opportunity to interact a little more with the doctors.

I'm also thinking of other volunteer possibilities. I've been a member of the council of canadians for a couple of years. They're a political 'watch dog' ngo that has done some great work on trade issues, water rights and so on. I was thinking I might start up my own chapter at the University. My only problem with what I've seen so far, is that there is so much rhetoric, and less engaged action, or disciplined research. (www.canadians. org)

I was also thinking about oxfam. They're a british ngo, one of whose major projects is the end of world poverty ... yes, very cool. And they offer some pretty interesting volunteer positions ... research, education, fund-raising. It could be fun! (www.oxfam.ca)

Oh, and another cool organization for those who love to garden, like myself (we finally have a garden this spring!):

www. seeds.ca

This is the seeds of diversity organization. They distribute and maintain seeds that help keep the diversity that the corporate agricultural industries seem to have less interest in. Pretty cool!

Pictures

Pictures today!

Here I am ....Here is my girlfriend Ali ....
Isn't she cute! And she's a philosophy buff too ... Nietzsche, Derrida, Heidegger, Plato ... it's a whole new world to me!

My Dad ...


My Mom ....



And my brother ...

Hello e-world!

So, for those of you who don't know me, here's a my life in a nutshell:

As you can probably tell from the title of my blog, I'm both (semi) buddhist and a saxophone player, and now ... a science student? Who would've guessed, but I must take you back further than this ...


I grew up in a small town called Rossland, in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. A sleepy, but unique village with a ski hill within the city limits. I cross country ski, mountain bike and like (according to my girlfriend) horrible fleece vests. My immediate family is beautiful and I love them dearly, they have always been a great pride for me.

After high school, I had the good luck of being able to spend a year in Thailand on Rotary exchange. Among other things, I learned to speak and read Thai, and spent two months in a Buddhist monastery .... A truly life changing experience. People on the other side of our small planet see the world very differently, and I have the pleasure to have seen another beautiful face of humanity ... I often wonder what the world would be like if we all had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in another culture. There were times when I was shocked to discover that I was white!

Re-immersion was difficult. I spent the first couple of years of music college trying to decide if I wanted to be Asian or North America. I think perhaps I've found a happy medium now.

So, yes, I studied music at Humber College in Toronto. Studied with some great musicians, and made some of the best friends of my life! So much of my heart is still in Toronto. I never would have admitted it at first. I hope to return soon.

After receiving a degree in music, I worked in Toronto for a year and a bit, and when times got hard, when beans became the meal of the week, I worked as a musician on the cruise ships for a year. I saw a lot on the ships. As much as I found the corporate atmosphere offensive, I was able to visit Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Barcelona, France, Morocco, Gibraltar, Croatia and Greece. I love Europe, another place to which my heart yearns, and to which I must return.

And now, I am in Edmonton. Although I play the occasional gig, mostly blues now, I am a science student. The first semester was hard, such a 180 from my previous life, but now I'm settling into the groove of academics. I hope to apply to Medical School in a year.

And that, is my story for now ... Alas, I must return to my books, but more soon ...