The road less cycled

Knee-slappingly hilarious link, from you guessed it, The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/cheney_waits_until_last_minute

Ah yes, that wonderfully abstentious summer I had is catching up to me now. Spending all of August traveling didn’t do my financial picture any favors, and it now looks like I’ll be taking significantly less credits than I’d anticipated for that reason. That’s ok. I’m not one of those people who take a bazillion courses while somehow still working and manage to attain GPA’s of 3.5 or above. Not a chance. I’ve taken eight semesters now, four of them full-time and four part time, and through the last four or five, I’ve had to work to meet tuition and other payments. Coincidentally, those are also the semesters in which my GPA has been poorest, generally speaking. Overall though, I haven’t really had to worry about money. This semester, that’s changed.

I’d bargained on being able to use student loans. For reasons I won’t get into, I couldn’t. So I’ll be working more and schooling less, and I don’t really have a problem with that. From some angles, I really shouldn’t be university at all. Not yet, anyhow. Too much I want to do to spend so much time with my head buried in textbooks and suffocating in classrooms. Maybe later. After I’ve been to Europe and New Zealand and Japan and learned the banjo and jujitsu and tried a lot of different things. Maybe then. But now? It simply doesn’t seem worth it.

Everyday I fly around like a mason bee in a pear tree, flying, buzzing, cross-pollinating, always another bit of pollen to collect, and with all the activity I just barely get done what I need get done, only “by the hair on my chinny chin” as the three little pigs would say. One day I think I’ll change degrees and go study at UBC. The next I figure I may as well go live in Prince George with a very good friend. Then I think I should study naturopathic medicine at Boucher. Or go WWOOFing somewhere – I’ve met so many WWOOFers who seem to be having the time of their lives – will I ever see California Emma again and Lillooet Leif? I’d have loved to stay in touch with them.

Mostly though, with trying to scrape up enough to pay some tuition bills through Domino’s and the Cascade, while still laying the groundwork for a U-Pass and scrambling to get in sync with my classes, I feel like I’m out of touch with all the people who are important to me, if there really are any. Silly me. Of course there are. Really? Yes, really – there were a few people who noticed when you left for a month. One of them spoke of “a general malaise of disconnectedness” and I think that’s bang-on; I’m surely not the only one. But to anybody reading this who I haven’t touched base with in a while, I wish, I really do, that I could spend my days lounging in coffee shops or going to shows or working up a sweat with you.

That’s all well and good; I’d like nothing better than to live in a world where I could live my daily life and not be concerned about the impacts of my consumption; not be concerned about a changing climate; not be concerned about a culture addicted to over the counter drugs and over seas oil. The truth is, I don’t, and that being the case, I get my kicks from activism. From changing the world just a little bit, leaving it a little better than I found it. More and more I’m learning, from people like TIM especially, that often that’s accomplished just as well by doing something stupid and zany and just letting loose than by structure and control and discipline, though certainly those have their place.

We need to energize each other to transform our communities. This is something I’m not good at myself; I want to do better at it. So drop me a line, let me know how you’re doing, let’s change the world together, through everything from politics to music. Want to do a soup night? I’ll come help you cook. Want to learn about the salmon in your stream? I’m there. Want to get to the heart of why the gap between the rich and poor keeps getting bigger and what can be done about it? I don’t have all the answers, but sure, let’s talk. Want to wander around the town at 2 in the morning just for the hell of it? Sure, though on a bike would be better. Want to catch a Greyhound to a random place on the map? Alright, though a week or two advance notice would be nice. (Just don’t pick the spot by pointing a butcher knife at map; butcher knives and Greyhound buses don’t mix very well these days).

I often lean towards politics; that’s my tendency, but music is just as important. In the words of Michael Franti, “Whether you are walking, or driving in your car, put your hands high, let me know how you are! Say Hello, hello! Bonjour, bonjour, Hola, hola, konichawa, konichiwawa!”