Crack and the Olympics

Today was the first time that I saw someone smoke crack in broad daylight, as people were casually passing by. Kind-of makes you wonder how much they spent on making, say, these three ridiculously cheesy promotional clips for the Olympics, and how many lives could have been changed with this money:

Chimo!

For those of you who haven't seen Douglas Coupland's movie Souvenir of Canada, an Ookpik (sometimes spelled Ukpik - the Inuktitut word for Snowy Owl), could be considered the Canadian mascot. They are often made from wolf fur and other traditional materials.

Also, Chimo. As Tokyo Tintin puts it, "In the 1970s with the Olympics and Expo, draft-dodgers, Trudeau, bilingual cereal boxes and kicking Soviet hockey ass, Canada-mania reached new, dizzying heights. We were hot hot hot, and we needed a word that was cool. A Canadian word. And that word was "chimo." [According to folklore, when two people met on the Arctic tundra, they rubbed their chests in a circular motion and said, "Chimo" , meaning "Are you friendly?" The answer was a repeat of the gesture and the word "Chimo!" ("Yes, I am friendly!)]

Canadians seem to be in a neverending search for their identity. Take Vancouver, for example. Vancouver has been called Vansterdam - due to the city's lax law enforcement of marijuana usage, proliferation of marijuana grow-ops + large drug traffic in the city. Vancouver has been called Hongcouver - as a derogatory recognition to Hong Kong immigration that saw huge spikes in 1980's. Vancouver is also supposedly known as Lotus Land - attributed to Torontonian's view of Vancouver's laid back life style.

And I thought Estonians were overdoing it by looking for a slogan that would surpass the ingenious "Welcome to Estonia!" campaign.

There's a weird mechanical display at the concrete factory on Granville island. Basically, it is one of those fun kinetic installations where metal balls travel through the framework, roll down the paths and get lifed back up by metallic springs, etc. The idea is to provide an entertaining interpretation of how the concrete factory works, while staying as far from truth as possible. To me, this display symbolizes much of what I have witnessed in Vancouver - a recognition of the aesthetically pleasing, environmentally sound and humanly friendly, while voices of protest and images of harsh reality are regularly subdued. Take the guy at the Service Canada office, who was yelling at somebody on the phone - he was instantly silenced by the secretary, since a raise in one's voice could not be tolerated. Or take East Hastings, where junkies and street people pine away while the rich do their Armani shopping five blocks west.

I go through a whole continuum of emotions every time we take the bus through the Downtown East Side. Taking the downtown bus from Mt. Pleasant to downtown Granville is exactly like taking a roller coaster through the house of horrors at the amusement park. The junkies have better things to do with their money than get on the bus, so there's a sick kind of pleasure that can be derived from knowing that you are safe in the clean and happy electrical bus, while the world has come to a horrible zombie movie end outside.

Now, coming from Estonia, it would be easy to say that Canadians are neglectful and not taking care of their real problems, and putting on a happy face while there are serious issues out there. However, living in East Van, I am beginning to realize that some of this ongoing practice of blissful ignorance is not as ignorant as it may seem. It just seems to be a bit of a therapeutic way of approaching the problems that are out there. It is simply easier to tackle serious problems from a happy place instead of a sad place. The majority of people I see on the streets do honestly seem to care about their cohabitants. Many people speak up, whether it's on public television or through the word on the street. There is the kind of Canadian modesty and respect about it, but they still raise a lot of legitimate concerns.

Now whether the government is acting upon it and reorganizes its resources to take care of East Hastings instead of getting ready for the Olympics is a whole other issue.

They're definitely going to have to do something about it, as they can't have the world see the mess. It would simply be too aesthetically unpleasant, too non-Canadian. But what can you even do at this point, considering that there is a whole economy in and of itself in East Hastings - bottle return points, community centers, drug dealers, street peddlers, prostitutes, the full rainbow of all the goods. I hear they might actually have to go as far as making homelessness illegal. Is this even possible?

A United Nations housing specialist who this year blasted Australia for its record on providing housing to that country's poor and aboriginal populations will next turn his attention to Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside. Miloon Kothari, the UN's special rapporteur on adequate housing, will tour the stricken neighbourhood during a cross-Canada trip this October.

The Globe and Mail, Friday, August 31st, 2007.

We'll see what happens. Until then, Chimo!

Enchanted Vancouver

Yesterday we went to the Work Less Party north of East Hastings. I haven't seen this many awesome individuals in the same place since I went to Burning Man. Everybody was dressed up as trolls, elves, wookies, wore facial and body paint. No inhibitions, no issues - everybody was having a wicked time dancing to the super-multicultural lineup, cuddling in the cuddle puddle, hula hooping, and chatting about world issues. What a wonderful party - a true welcome back to the West Coast!

I'm hearing the SkyTrain's distant toot-toot, and it sounds infinitely comforting. The mountains look mysterious this morning, with their tips covered in clouds, revealing nothing about them. Perhaps people are so nice here because they are in constant awe of the nature surrounding them and therefore more aware of the relative insignificance of their day-to-day petty problems.

Something in the air

I don't even know where to get started with this post. We have done so much since my last update.

Regarding my new Macbook Pro, Apple seems to be stalling until next week, so that they can ship me the Macbook Pro with the new Penryn processor. Well, part of it may have to do with the fact that we freaked out after reading a post on Mac Rumors, called the store, left a message describing the situation and asking for any delay/cancellation options we had (in hopes of delaying the order until Apple started shipping with the new processor, IF that was recommended). That magically resulted in a hold on our order, which we found out later when we called up the store to inquire about the unreturned call. We then looked at all the facts, specs and each other, realized that we could no longer keep sharing only one computer, so we called up the store again, to remove the hold on our order. Besides, we had not intended to put a hold on our order, but simply wanted to chat about the upcoming updates and the potential implications. To be honest, I am still not fully convinced by the 45-nm architecture and the SSE4 instruction set. In the new Penryn T8300 2.4GHz 800MHz the Cache is 3MB instead of 4MB, as in the old T7700 2.4GHz 800MHz MacBook Pro 15"/17". So it actually looks like a bit of a temporary downgrade to me if I were to stick with the 2.4GHz, considering that the developers are only beginning to start creating programs for the new SS4 instruction set...
I also no nothing about computing, so I shouldn't sneer at Apple's newest baby. I am sure that is indeed better to stall, I just want someone to hold my hand and tell me it's worth the wait.

I digress... After we had removed the hold and requested a new delivery estimate, we received an e-mail from the salesperson saying that Apple is doing something interesting. This is what they told me:
"The ETA when ordered was 1-2 weeks. If a new model is due to be released in the very near future, *Apple typically holds orders for the model that is due to be discontinued*, then cancels them once a replacement model is announced (which we then have to resubmit for the equivalent replacement). *Based on the ETA and the timing of the quoting of that ETA, that's usually a hint that the machine will not ship and will be replaced with a new model. "

So yeah. Bring it on, Macworld 2008!!! Something in the air? I hope it's worth the wait.

What have we done besides obsess about news in the Mac realm? Let's see.

We went to about 20 companies to drop off our resumes. We found out that the industry is in a somewhat dire state right now, with the writers' strike and the Canadian dollar kicking butt. I did manage to land an interview, and I did manage to survive it, even though I was the usual anxious, trembling, stuttering mess. It was alright though - I did manage to utter at least a few sentences that made some resemblance of sense. Is there actually anybody out there who has mastered the art of interviewing?

Vancouver truly is the Vansterdam of Northern America. You can smell pot everywhere you go, whether it's on Commercial or between skyscrapers. They have several coffee shops here and supposedly there is even a number you can call to order whatever your heart desires. Like pizza. It definitely gives the otherwise sterile pretty city an interesting vibe.

We had burgers at Vera's Burger Shack, where we inhaled two giant deliciously fresh and yummy burgers. I also had my life's first small KFC taster from the corner store near our home and I am never going back. I liked it so much that it scared me.

We also found our new grocery store - Donald's Market! Packed with piles and piles of fresh greens and fruits, this place is THE haven for anyone seeking to buy organic produce. And I don't even feel cheap for saying this, because this store rocks. Everything in there is chem-free, delicious and droolworthy. An absolute heaven, when you compare it to the Buy-Low or Superstore "organic" sections. Yesterday, we stocked up on Annie's and I loaded up on asparagus, salmon, honeydew melons, spring salad, corn cobs, bananas, cilantro, hippie fairy special salad dressing, non-sugary breakfast crunchies, soy yoghurt, you name it. And the total came to pretty much the same that we paid at other places, except that this time we weren't paying for sugared up cardboard. Yay.

I can't believe that we were even trying to think about convincing ourselves that the two Skytrain stops to Canada's Biggest Superstore weren't a big deal, and we could shop there on a weekly basis, because the deals are all better. Being Virgoes, we were set on exploring all the other options firsthand, before committing to a store to visit on a regular basis. Such a waste of time and brain space. Donald's has all the same stuff for the same price, except several notches up along the quality scale. I'll go to Superstore for tampons maybe.

The customer service rep who managed our bank switch has been tagging after us. He hand wrote a Thank You card and sent it to a mailing address. Today, he called up our landline and wished us a happy weekend. Is this standard procedure for all the new TD customers? Let's hope this customer care stays within reason.

Vancouver buses are neat. The seats are arranged in a manner that allows for maximum communication between the travelers. People regularly jump into each others' conversations, give tips and advice, and are simply there for each other. Today, I watched a middle-aged woman patiently listen to an old man telling her about his new walker and all of its awesome high-tech features. The bus driver actually apologized in front of everybody when she used brakes, and everybody thanked the driver on their way out the bus. Then the sun came out and everybody continued their jolly good days.
I am still getting used to Vancouver the Disneyland. It's just too nice of a place.

Taking care of business

Boy, what a week.

On Thursday, we bought a pimped out Macbook Pro and opened up several accounts with TD Canada Trust.

I still cannot believe that we simply walked into a Mac store and signed a purchase for a 17-inch 4GB RAM 2.4GhZ Macbook Pro. And now, as usual, I am having second thoughts about it, because I am the most frugal person in the universe.

The bank took the rest of the Thursday, and half of Friday. We had to schedule appointments with TD representatives. We set up the joint checking account, the savings account and the brokerage account. Then went over to Royal Bank and closed the account there, walked back to TD and finished up business there. We then found out that we do not qualify for a secured line of credit using the minimum deposit amount needed to waive our fees on our checking account, so we proceeded to open up savings account to qualify for a secured credit line to start building up our credit.
We spent a total of about 5 hours in the two branches of the bank, which is absolutely insane, considering that in Estonia, you don't need to sign anything to open up a savings or investment account, and a teller took care of all this business in approximately 10 minutes.

Yesterday we went to the sushi place that our friend James recommended (Tanpopo on 1122 Denman), where we consumed about 40 pieces of sashimi alone.

I also managed to snag a few shots from the downtown area while we were running around doing the banking thing. Here they are:

Sushimaa!

I'm in heaven! We finally managed to combat our severe jet lag to the point where we dragged our sorry carcasses downtown, to the legendary Kisha Poppo! They were nice enough to hook us up with their all you can eat lunch special (10.95), and we literally ate all we could. Their tuna sashimi was absolutely orgasmic, and we spent about 1.5 hours stuffing ourselves COMPLETELY silly with different varieties of sushi, miso soup, tempura, etc etc. And we didn't even make it halfway through all the possibilities on the menu - mostly because due to some mixup the waitress kept bringing us doubles of everything. OH MY!

First things first though.

We visited our friend James and spent all morning drinking chai, watching hockey and playing Guitar Hero. James is better than TV! Actually, most Canadians are better than TV. Mind you, TV also really sucks in Canada.

We actually managed to sleep until 5:30am yesterday, so our sleep schedules are somewhat normalizing. To be honest, I've never been hit by jet lag this badly - the last couple of days have been pure physical hell despite all the joy and excitement of being here. I wonder if it has anything to do with age.
Looking back, we could have helped ourselves out by consuming some melatonin supplements before going to bed, but we're already past the worst part. I'll have to get those for when my parents come visit though.

We spent six hours comparing the perks of two banks, Vancity and TD Canada Trust. Both of us really want to go with Vancity for its environmental orientation and care for the community, but when it comes down to it, it simply has less options for us. For example, Vancity does not offer any short-term high-interest GIC-s that TD Canada Trust does. That, however, is going to make a huge difference for us if we want our savings to grow. We're going to call Vancity one more time today to make absolutely sure that their options are indeed as limited as they said they were. It seems absurd, but given that it's a credit union, it may just not have the same options as a big evil bank.

We also submitted the CareCard application for ourselves. That was relatively painless - faxed it and mailed it. Now we wait for three months until provincial health care kicks in. By then we'll already have found jobs and probably have health care perks through them, so the application itself is somewhat of a waste of time, but it's something that they make you do as soon as you arrive in the province, so now it's done.

So we finally made it downtown! For lunch, we went to the above-mentioned Japanese restaurant on the super-gay Davie street. The downtown is strange - not quite what I imagined. Then again, I didn't imagine much. I was, however, expecting a concrete jungle with loads and loads of preppy people doing their business. Instead, there are a lot of trees and gardens, a delightful mix of the new and the old, and the whole area has a strange vibe to it that I cannot describe as anything else than, just, "Canadian". My brain is desperately trying to draw parallels to cities that I have been to it the past, to form some sort of an emotional reaction to the place. Vancouver is just a huge mishmash of everything though, so my brain just shuts down.

The gay district totally different from, say, the famous gay district Castro in San Francisco - the Vancouver one is way more grungy, with people shouting compliments to each other across the street, and less tourists. (That might have something to do with the season though.)

We got bus passes for a month, which cost us 73 dollars. Single bus passes go for 2.50 beginning January 1st though, so the pass is going to save us quite a bit of money.

Vancouver buses are annoying! Yes, they're electric and super clean and awesome and packed with all sorts of beautiful people from all over the globe, but they stop at every freaking corner! It takes you just as long to walk downtown, as the bus does. On a rainy day, it's quite the alternative though. Plus, on the bus you have the awesome bus driver, who always has something interesting to talk about, while everybody else is nodding.

Alright, time to start the day!

Strange daze

The transitory period between moving out of our apartment and traveling to Canada has been magical, to say the least. We signed up for the ridiculously cheap spa package at the local "sanatorium", and I spent a solid chunk of the time at the water center tripping out on the sun reflecting off the water fountains. The jacuzzi was otherworldly, with the view of the glittering sea in the background. Everything seemed crisp, sharp, and dreamlike. I could literally feel my brain calming down, cortisol levels drop, and all the happy chemicals swirling around in my body. Ahh, the ultimate serotonin-allopregnanolone-oxytocin-etc smoothie.

Our new Canadian landlord sent us pictures of the view from the apartment's balcony. Needless to say, they were absolutely amazing. I can't wait to see them with my own eyes, and post some pictures of them during sunset.

I've had all sorts of weird dreams about different movie characters and newspaper celebrities interacting with me in my dreams. Last night I had to edit a movie for the Vancouver serial killer Robert Pickton. I told my boss not to take the job, but he responded that he's like any other customer and we couldn't possibly say no to him. The story later evolved into Pickton threatening to kill everybody at the studio if we charged him for the audio mastering and special effects.
Talk about work-induced PTSD...

Homelessness in Vancouver...

I found a few interesting pieces on Youtube, on Vancouver DTES 100 Block E. Hastings.