Umm...

I found a photo I took in New York City last year, did a simple calculation, and found out the U.S. National Debt increased by more than $3 Billion per day in the past year. Guess $700B is not that a big number as I thought...

Celine Dion Concert

I was never the biggest fan of Celine Dion’s garments or dancing. However, that’s not what’s about her. The powerful vocals, the extravaganza of stage effect, that My Heart Will Go On -- that’s why I was at her concert last night. It was certainly a megastar performance. Amazing! Enjoy my own short redux...

Money! Money! Money!

Even you are agnostic, sometimes you have to think whether there is some sort of superpower up there that makes things happen, because when they come, they don’t occur with pure coincident.

In early September, I attended a CANW meeting in White Rock. One of the presenters was a professor from UIUC. His presentation was on the contemporary issues in our economic and financial world. It was an interesting conversation between him and the audience, the crowd really got involved with his talk. He made a strong point against the current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson. He said there was strong controversy between the academic world and the current leaders of American’s monetary system. He was convinced that Bernanke’s way simply wouldn’t work in the long run mostly because it created too much of potential moral hazard. Big dollars bailout plans would always give firms a feeling of forever haven of refuge. He even traced this notion back to the last few years of Alan Greenspan’s days. It partly was this renowned gentleman’s idea and Bernanke was only a supporter back in the days.

Soon after that meeting, the financial world stumbled, in a catastrophic way. Liquidity in the banking system clogged. Credit market crumbled. Stock market plummeted with historic marks. Suddenly, the world seemed to come to an end because one street in Manhattan was bleeding. Should people be surprised? No. Volcanoes don’t erupt without amassing powers for centuries. This was just a burst-out after so many years of accumulation, of what? Greed. Then, there came the astronomical number of dollars of injection from the American government to this so-called free market, to save big corporations only in the name of saving the system/world. When it was not enough, actually far short of saving anything, there came the $700 billion bailout plan from a president who thought he had not left enough notorious pages on American history. On hearing that, I laughed: “This is disgusting. Fed, please save some trees.” I had no idea what $700 billion means, I only know the printing machine for the Fed would be busy. Although it was rejected by the House the first time, we all knew it was going to be passed as legislation with the way the government was pushing it. There seemed no way of solving this problem if the plan didn’t get implemented. People are not dumb, that money cannot save the world, neither the Americans, nor New York City or Manhattan, it was only for a street hidden in the shadow beneath some skyscrapers. Let’s relax, lay back and watch the roller coaster on the tickers for the next little while, if not for too long. Isn’t it funny to watch those people dressed so nicely but look so confused by making this world more complicated themselves!? Wall Street has been that magic place for so long in the American Dreams, and it will continue being it. The only thing I wonder? We have the law to throw criminals into prisons, but why it also bails out greedy snobs who burn other people’s hard earned money?!

Revenge on Golden Ears

Shakily leaning on the steep slope on the snow, 10 feet below the rim I needed to scramble onto, I was caught on a bad spot where it was all rock icy and I couldn’t kick in any steps to balance my body. Exhausted, I was on the verge of surrender. I tried to backdown the slope a bit to find a way around that vicinity, but I slipped. Gravity picked up the speed instantaneously, and I wasn’t able to stop at the rock I planned to. Instead, I hit the rock too fast and it threw me out for another 30-50 feet slide, leaving a nasty bruise on my back. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt. Unfortunately, I had to give up my first summit assault on Golden Ears, and the weather turned ugly the next morning, so no second attempt was made before retreating down from the mountain.

That was more than two months ago. The feeling of a “loser” haunted me ever since: I was defeated by the mountain and there was a better route to lead up to the top which I didn’t use. It bugged me every day. I couldn’t get over the bug and wait until next year. I needed a closure. The past weekend, I set my feet on that trail again, with a lingering cough from the cold. Only one goal in my mind this time: the top. After setting up my tent on the Panorama Ridge beside the Emergency Shelter, I realized I would have the mountain for myself the entire night. Then, I began my second summit assault on this beautiful creature. With much less snow and almost none as obstacle, it was much easier; until I reached to a point where I realized there could be better route again: I was literally rock climbing and it got steeper and steeper. Without ropes and anyone close to me, I started feeling scared. Last time I fell, I had the snow as a cushion; this time if I did, I would be flying down to hard rocks -- no lucky break could save me from a bad injury, if not worse. I had to conquer my fear, but by no means of risking my life. Understanding the situation to the fullest with clear judgement was pivotal at that split second: I did not want to give up, but that was not the trail to continue following because with another two or three steps gambling, I would have no way back. I found a spot to relax my body and regroup, then back down a few feet to find the right path. About 20 minutes later, I was on top of Golden Ears, enjoying the view, the relief, and more importantly, the bittersweet revenge. It was the best reward to have nobody but the mountains with me that night. You say “Hello”, they reply with “Hello”; you say “Good morning”, they reply with “Good morning”; you say “I love this”, they say “I love this”. Listening to your singing echoing endlessly around the mountains far and far away was an amazing feeling. Waking up into the sunrise behind the Cascade was incredible.

Now, I no longer have the “failed” marked on my head and I can enjoy that beautiful memory forever. What’s more, I understood why people say in most critical moments for us human beings, it is more psychological than physical that cause negative outcomes. I learned more about that line between conquering fears and losing mind. THANKS NATURE!

Quote

“Conserving the natural world is not a process which can be imposed from outside by an external authority at the last minute, as it currently operates in the quota system. In other words, conservation is not an on/off switch for destructive behaviour. Rather, conservation issues have to be in the perspectives of participants who have collectively recognized they are part of both human and nature communities, at all times.”
-- Raymond A. Rogers, Nature and the Crisis of Modernity

In Memory of Luc Bourdon

6-0 blowout over the Flames; a free team cap; new stereo and graphic projection system at GM Place; the Canucks season opener could not be better with fans dissing the cowboys sitting in front of us. However, when it came back to reality, this night was only about one person - the fallen teammate who’s no longer with us - Luc Bourdon.

It was that early summer afternoon, I was going out for some grocery after work when my roommate told me the news. I asked him again to confirm because I wasn’t sure who he was talking about with his French accent. “Luc Bourdon, the Canucks player, is dead.” “Oh yeah, of course I know Luc Bourdon,” I replied. Hold on... Who??? Then, I’m not sure if I was too stunned to react or what, I went out of the house without saying a thing. What could I say at that moment?! On the short walk to the grocery store, my stomach started to upset, my feeling started to get eerie: “Luc Bourdon is dead???” That upcoming star this entire city put on? That strong and skillful player who brought Team Canada the World Junior in Vancouver two years ago? That happy kid who had the best rookie dance and gave the camera that cute wink with Gold Medal around his neck? That #28 who went up and down in our system fighting for the big league and made me so excited to yell his name when he scored his first NHL goal with that slapper? ...... NO WAY! I couldn’t wait for long to come back home and check the internet; and by that time, news already flooded the entire hockey world. The unthinkable did happen. For the next few days, I was haunted by this tragedy. I couldn’t go to sleep easily without thinking about it. I wore my jersey out and put Luc’s name on the back. I watched his funeral and tribute on the internet time after time. A group of gracious Canucks fans self-started a memorial in front of GM Place, I was glad to be one of them and put down my flowers and message. I didn’t know him personally but I know him as a Canucks family: WE ARE ALL CANUCKS! I had no idea why I did those things, maybe I needed something to have this reality sink in and move on. It wasn’t quite successful. Even with all those incredible Canucks fans supporting each other, it wasn’t that easy. This was supposed to be the year he would finally step up as our top-6 defence. The entire city was waiting for this moment. It will never happen.

As soon as the organization announced the tribute before the first game, I knew I needed to be there. Tonight, I saw his mother and girlfriend fighting back tears and acknowledging the fans applauding for the life of Luc; I relived those great moments Luc’s short life brought to us in Tom Cochrane’s singing of Big League; I cried out Luc’s name in the stadium. I knew he was there with us, because “Once A Canuck, Forever A Canuck.”

CATS

I saw CATS when Broadway Across Canada came to Vancouver tonight. No wonder why it used to hold the longest running show record in both London and NYC, it was extravagant! I particularly loved the costumes and the stage design. We all know the story was a result of genius creativity. The audience obviously loved the wild boy Rum Tum Tugger (Danny Beiruti). And with a few leading casts’ dictating performance, such as when Grizabella (Anastasia Lange) relived and erupted with that “Touch Me” line -- simply breathtaking, the show was absolutely an amazing Memory.

Getting to Know the Community

We met Bernie and Doug at the UBC Learning Exchange Trek Program volunteer orientation today. They both lived in the Downtown Eastside Strathcona Community for a long time. It is always sad and sometimes scary to be around that notorious part of town. So it was something special to talk with them, hear the real stories, and know the people there. I didn’t know DTES was the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver. I didn’t know the ongoing condominium construction and gentrification of this area, which poses potential threat to push low income class to further east of Vancouver and continuing destroying the neighbourhood. Three quotes from Bernie and Doug may sum up what we learned from the discussion:

“We should stop treating poverty as criminals.”
“Downtown Eastside used to be called ‘skid road’. They chanced the name to DTES, but it’s still a skid road.”
“You don’t see criminals in those rich communities, such as Kitsilano or Kerrisdale, because they have enough money to cover it.”

Bernie also talked about he personally believes legalizing of drugs with limited amount of doses will reduce the health and safety problems. He used InSite as an example, saying although drug addicts can inject safely at InSite, they still need to go to hidden places to purchase the drugs.

After the session, Bernie came back to me and tapped my shoulder: “If you want to hear what people here are talking about, feel free to go to Carnegie Centre, just go inside, you’ll see some people sitting around and having discussions. You don’t need to talk to them, just sit there and listen. Well, those people use that F word a lot and swear all the time, f*ck this, f*** that. But you’ll be surprised by the topic they are discussing about. Right now, I believe they are talking about the GST.” I was so grateful that he recognize the fact that we were there wanting to help. Bernie, don’t worry, we all use that word and f*** this f*** that all the time. I look forward to a chance to be there and listen to them. I can’t wait to get to know this community more and prove that it’s not the government who solve problems, it’s the people in the community who help each other through times of ups and downs in life.

I Got My Bike Back!

Someone entered our house through the unlocked back door and stole my bike from the garage more than a month ago. I got it back the past weekend, thanks to this amazing person. He started a program named Bike Rescue (www.bikerescure.org) when he was looking for bikes to rehab his broken back. He found so many suspiciously cheap bikes in the underground market so he decided to do something while his disability forced him out of the previous job. He used his commonsense to judge the seller and bought good bikes at “surprisingly” low prices. He set up a website and put in effort to search for the bike theft victims (i.e. He found me through a post I put on Craigslist declaring my lost bike.) For the ones he couldn’t find the original owner, he sell them at reasonable prices. He made about 60 cents per hour in the past few years by this program. He is now back from disability making ends meet with a couple of other jobs. Nevertheless, he didn’t give up this less than a dollar per hour business and is growing it into a bigger cause. I could not believe when I received his email saying he might have recovered my bike. When I did see it in his storage, I was wordless, just like some of the other victims like me checking out their lost bikes at the same time. I offered all the cash in my wallet ($75) to him but he only took the $50 he paid to get my bike back. Maybe I shouldn’t make that offer at all, because it could be an insult to some gracious person like him. What he did is priceless. It people like him who make this world more beautiful.