Row, row, row your boat…
Music I’m into of late: rapper Abdominal; east coast 9 piece band Tom Fun Orchestra, banjo player Old Man Luedecke, and metal band Bison. Mostly Canadian stuff gleaned from CBC Radio3 – I’m having a hard time finding new music sources, as I’m so protective of my laptop as a result of whatever hit my last system – I suspect hardware, but don’t really know, could have been something to do with music download programs. Few if any are trouble-free, so I’m reluctant to download any until I get my stuff properly backed-up, by which I mean not on my sister’s finicky laptop but on an external drive. Any music suggestions, anybody?
Things are settling down now; unbelievably the unstructured portion of my summer is nearly over, and so far all I’ve managed is one hike, some good bike rides, and a 4 day bike trip to the Okanagan. I’ve three weeks remaining to take care of all kinds of loose ends – car repairs, AirCare, home reno. and clean-up, bike repairs, travel paperwork, student loan application, etc. It all sounds straightforward enough, but they’re all the types of things that are so easy to postpone.
I say three weeks because come August I’m off for what could well be the trip of a lifetime: paddling from the Fraser River headwaters to the Fraser Valley over the course of three weeks, living on the river and along with my group, immersing myself in concepts of sustainability and developing leadership skills. It’s organized through the Rivershed Society of BC (www.rivershed.com), and headed by famed swimmer Fin Donnelly, who actually swam the length of the river twice. It sounds like an amazing opportunity, and it is, but I don’t exactly expect it to be relaxing; we’ll be worked hard and expected to be present mentally as well as physically, meaning I can’t treat it like a vacation; more like a course or practicum. No matter; is there a better place to learn than out in the open on the banks of the mightiest salmon river on Earth? Well, yes, if the mosquitoes have anything to say about it.
The last trip, though, proved promising in terms of mosquitoes. When camped in the Okanagan Lake area, for whatever reason, mosquitoes didn’t bother me. Yes, I had a secure tent, but nonetheless there were periods where mosquitoes could get at me, and I noticed not a single bite from the entire four days, although some of the others were tormented and broke out with mosquito bite rashes.
I always knew there was something different about me. Mosquito proof blood. One could be worse endowed, though I just know I’m invoking Murphy’s law by blogging about this. Those voracious little monsters up in the Fraser Canyon have probably targeted me already, as a human who “must be taught a thing or two.”
All is not well on the DVDK social front; as usual, I’m friends with everybody, yet somehow close friends with none. I dwell too much on the serious side of life; on overall frustration with the imperative to work too much to have a life, not so much on my part, but on the part of those close to me, family in particular. Time with family too often turns into repetitive mastication of the same problems: lack of communication, differing priorities, financial challenges, the frustration of Mama’s poor health, and the looming elephant in the room called retirement – something that neither those retiring nor those far from retired are currently able to finance. So we re-hash the issues much as a cow chewing her cud, and then eventually we go our own way, continuing to exactly what we were doing before, and then wondering why things do not improve. That’s family, but outside family, too, there’s mounting frustration. I could jettison off to Switzerland, or the Congo tomorrow, and probably count on one hand the number of people who’d notice in less than two weeks. Why is this so? I really cannot say; a part of me likes it this way. Perhaps that is the side of me that has won out so often in the past, being quite content to function at my own pace independently from others. But that side is losing ground fast; it’s no longer enough. It’s high time I developed some passable social skills and some penchant for leaving my comfort zone if I expect things to change; perhaps next time a woman in a million as good as falls into my lap, I’ll at some level be prepared and ready. Sure as hell wasn’t the last time. If there’s one thing that I haven’t learned but know intuitively, it’s that you don’t rush these things; also, you don’t necessarily have to be mirror images in the opposite sex with identical interests for things to work out.
I mean, it’s not every woman who’ll whip out a pair of binos from between her ladies at the first sighting of an LBB or a peep in a densely clothed Acer macrophyllum or on a sandy tombolo while telling you to grab her Sibley’s.
Though if you understood that last sentence, I’d love to meet ya.. my e-mail address is….
