~*...the perfekt part of me...*~

normdate 1.14.06
1:59am pst

i am lying on a cot in the storage laundry room of a sweet chalet at creekside gondola road in whistler. in 6 hours i will be getting on the creekside gondola and make my way up the whistler peak with brett to make first tracks. it will be my first experience riding freshies. i'm so stoked and exploding with anticipation.

so why am i awake? i should be sleeping. well, i was sleeping until 10 minutes ago when my cel phone rang. i though it was my cel alarm that i have set for 5:30am so i can call my friend dawn and get her ass in gear to come ride with us. but this was not an alarm, it was a ring.

only one person i have come across could call me, wake me up, and within seconds turn my mood from tired and groggy to unbelievable excitement and elation. she brings out the part of me that makes me feel perfekt about myself. just the thought of her reminds me of the part of me that i love and trust most. even if it is three hours later than it is now in toronto, she's up and needed to explode my world from the other side of the country with the sound of her voice.

she called to tell me her sister (her brother's girlfriend actually), is coming to van on sunday and would love to see me before i leave for the interior next week.

holy shit the thought of this girl blows my fukking mind. she is the one whom i compare all otherz to. she has reminded me that i am perfekt, and if/when i choose to have a partner in life they will have to make me feel as goof if not better than she does, if i'm to entertain the possiblity.

i know you're reading this (both you and her). i am here...you are there...that's what's wrong with here. but it is dumping snow outside the chalet, and i am at whistler about to rest up for my first freshie experience. soon, i will lose my freshie virginity to newly fallen gaia.

i guess even if there are things 'wrong' with here (did i just say something was wrong?), its still pretty awesome. extreme is my default setting.

thanks you for waking me up. thank you for reminding me that i am perfekt. thank you for loving me.

you fukkin rawk my world!!!

i love you

~*...normaste...*~

~*...exploring vansterdam with olivia...*~

january 12, 2006
captured moment number 1.12.6

i'm sitting in cafe artigiano drinking a grande chai tea cappucino with olivia, a beautiful soul from new jersey.

having people fly in from a different country to spend a few daze with me exploring a new city is a gift.


i just ran into my friend jeff from university. he worked at john fluevog in toronto on queen street. olivia and i were looking at some shoes in the john fluevog store on granville when i hear my name called from behind me (olivia just took my pen).



jeff had finished shool in the tee dot and is now designing for john fluevog here in vancouver. i guess the "you never know who you might run into on queen street" phenormenon happens everywhere for me, even on granville.

sketchin in a cute italian caffe on hornby...life is good. burning man 2006 baby...playa people. happy birthday liz.

~*...family...*~

sunday, january 8, 2006
12:35pm
601 vancouver from the ladner exchange

i'm sitting on a bus heading back to vancouver from ladner, a town 3o minutes south of the city. my cousin debbie and her husband steven live in ladner with their children krysti, geoffrey, jason, and ryan. its good to see family again. i've seen debbie twice in the last six months. that's more than i've seen her in the past six years!

adam and hild dropped me off last night here in ladner. man those two have made my transition to the left coast so smooth for me. from providing me a place to stay (with internet, hoorah!), to taxiing me ass around the 604 area code, they have been a god sent (norm sent?;). if you're reading this adam and hil, fuck yeah and fuck da bullshit!


upon arriving last night to debbie's place for dinner, i was treated to some good jamaican cooking. stew peas, punkin and beef soup, pig's tail, and of course rice. my aunt, my father's sister and debbie's mom, was there with her husband cherry. it was good to be around family blood. friends are the family we choose for ourselves.


i've been blessed out here having such an incredible network of people who love me to call on. come to think of it, i've always been blessed with the best people to share my life with. there is no reason not to.

we played some dominoes, some texas hold em, and even some n64. yah, 1080 snowboarding is crap compared to ssx3, but when 1080 came out i remember freaking out at how awesome it was. aaah, the daze of nintendo cartridges and blowing on them when they wouldn't work properly.



then we watched hackers on ytv (they even left the bad words in there) before i passed out.

HACK THE PLANET!!!

daam angelina jolie looked smokin back then too *rraow*

this morning i joined debbie, steve, jason, and ryan at church, more specifically catholic mass!!! i have never been to mass before, so i was fascinated by the re-enactment of traditions and rituals that create the world's largest religion.

may the peace of the lord be with you...

...and also with you.

jews say shalom (peace be with you)
muslims say aslaam alaikum (may the peace of allah be with you)
jedis say may the force be with you

same technology different brand

it's been so long since i've been to any kind of traditional church ceremony, and i've never been to catholic mass. i was fascinated by the rituals, the recitations, the out of tune singing :p really, does the priest have to sing it? i think he should stick to his day job and leave the singin to everyone else.

as a little boy stood in front of the priest balancing a bible on his head while the priedt read from it aloud, i couldn't help but think how some of the clergy have abused their position of power.

we'll just have to let the giant spider deal with those miscreants :p

eucharist

it was also the day for communion.

"this is my body which is broken for you. do this in memory of me."

"this is my blood which has been shed for you. do this in memory of me."

of course i didn't partake. hey, its not my religion or custom. instead, i crossed my hands over my chest and was blessed by the priest.



god is the part of us that we believe is greater than us. we are all gods.

now its time to decide what to do with myself...head downtown and cruise around, head to adam's, head to brett's, stop by the house gallery boutique and say hello to the beautiful seamstress who owns the shop? options, options, options...wait a second, we're crossing a bridge. i guess i'm going downtown.

jeebus loves you!

2:49pm
thurlow and robson
red robin ~ canada's gourmet burgers and spirits

so as fate would dictate, i'm downtown in van city at possibly the only intersection in the world with two starbucks on it. i'm about to order the bleu ribbon burger and wash it down with a rickard's honey lager. mmmmm....beer just arived. my server's name is kristi. vancouver cuties are refreshing to me. maybe its the newness of it all, me being new to everyone here and me being new to them. maybe its the mountains, the ocean, or all of the above. either way, i'm lovin it.

i'm gonna see a movie after i'm done this burger. maybe the chronicles of normnia or syriana. i'll let my sister decide for me as she is the one who is paying for my movie (thanks for the free passes thail). i'm gonna call her now and see why she hasn't returned my texts. whine aren't you answering? choose your norm adventure. what movie should i see? yay, calling cards. the maximum time for my cell is 201 minutes. boo voicemail. guess i'm going to have to make my own decision *gasp* normnia it is.



~*...normaste...*~

~*...giving shape to memories...*~

happy new year! merry clitoris!

this new year has been a whirlwind for me. unbelievable. out of this world. nucking futz! i'm sitting down right now in front of adam c'z pc sorting through pix of the most intense closing moments of 2005 and an explosive start to a new chapter in my life for 2006.

i've got so many pix to sort and prep for each blog entry, but i thought i'd just take the time to capture right now before i attempt to remember what i've done since i've moved over here to the left coast.

my friend will said to me today on msn that i should update my blog, people might think i'm dead :p so here i am about to give shape to the past two weeks of my life in an evening of intense bloggin aktion...

the people out here have made my transition to the west coast a warm and welcome one. it seems no matter where i go i surround myself by the best people, why would i settle for anything less?

looking forward to having my pc with me again. until then, my blog entries may not be as frequent while in transit. i've got such an insane month ahead of me, and i'm so excited.

what decisions in my life would you like to be involved in?

here goes life...let's see where it, more like we, take it.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...starting the year off with powder...*~

seeing as new years fell on a sunday, the official day off work was the monday. so what better way to enjoy a holiday than to shred whistler blackcomb.

adam, hilary, and i got up early monday morning and began our two hour journey to the peaks of whistler blackcomb.

the conditions had improved significanlty at the mountain from the previous monday. there was more snow covering the mountain, and the sun was out and shining brightly.

sometimes the snow was a bit too much...

but we're not going to complain about all that powder to ride through...

what an awesome day out at whistler. riding just keeps getting better and better with every day that i am out. its not hard to have your mind blown when you have the best mountain in the world to shred.


~*...normaste...*~

~*...left coast familia...*~

after a good night's rest, or should i say good day's rest, i went to richmond to my aunt thelma's place for dinner.

thelma is my father's half sister. she lives in richmond with her husband cherry. my cousin debbie, her husband steve, and their four kids were also there. it was good to see family, and even better to eat some good jamaican food.


my mom warned me that aunt thelma would have something to say about my dreadlocks...and of course she did.

"is wha you do to you hair? is you a rasta or something? what's your mother think of your hair?"

"my mom hasn't liked any of my hairstyles, but she's learned to look past what i look like and still love me."

after dinner, i jumped on a bus back to vancouver with a new year of incredible adventures and experiences ahead of me.

the world awaits.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...new years on the sunshine coast...*`

brett, laura and i left early saturday afternoon and headed towards the horseshoe bay ferry docks. our destination was the sunshine coast of british columbia...86km of west coast beauty.


we took the 45minute ferry from horseshoe bay to langdale. the ferry ride was beautiful. this province never ceases to blow me away with majestik beauty.


we arrived in langdale and drove to sechelt where my friend markus lives. his place is 30 feet away from the pacific ocean. you can see the lights of nanaimo on vancouver island from his living room. the coast is beyond beautiful.


there are no major roads connecting the sunshine coast to mainland british columbia, so all vehicles have to be ferried there. i thought that the towns on the coast would be sparse, but i was wrong. they look just like regular towns with lots of cars...its just that the cars have to get therefrom the mainland by ferry. the b.c. gov't is thinking of creating a road connecting the sunshine coast to the mainland in preparation for the olympics in 2010.

after a few beers and some lifted spirits, we left markus and headed towards the ymca camp at mt.elphinstone for a new years party called intention7. held by the tribal harmonix krew, intention7 could not have asked for a better venue. mt.elphinstone? hard to get much more majikal and hippie than that eh?


the main venue was decorated nicely with a very grassroots vibe flowing freely through the camp. shoes were taken off at the entrance. there was a chill area of mattresses in the corner next to a blacklit community painting. just grab a brush and add to the piece.

the energy is not just on the playa, its everywhere...


the music at intention was a nice diverse serving of breakbeatz and trance. there was no house, but i wasn't realy expecting to hear any at this event anyways. the people were beautiful though, majikal to be exact. many mystikal and vibrant creatures live on the sunshine coast.

i ran into my friend valerie at intention and met her partner. she surprised me with the good news that she is pregnant. i'm so stoked for you val.

my friend jules was also there...another toronto to left coast import. we're taking over! ;)

jules had created this altar at the entrance of the party. the force flows freely and powerfully through mt.elphinstone.

what an incredible way to ring in the new year. i danced and celebrated with good friends and majikal creatures on the sunshine coast. gaia is radiantly gorgeous out here....and she also kinda smells like hippie ;)

there is a plethora of beautiful dreadlockz out here...yes, it is heaven when you are this close to the water, and the mountains.

and wouldn't you know it, the beautiful dreaded creature in the pik above is named....jess. of course that's her name.

you never stop loving silently those you once loved out loud.

i love you jessie.

it was different celebrating my new years without my closest cirlce of usual suapects around me. i was glad to have good friends with me here, making my transition so much easier...but there are many times where i wish i could just have tea with mel, play video games with homer, see a movie with my sister. i miss all of you guys like crazy. i love you.

happy new year.

~*...normaste...*~
click here to suggest your norm adventure

~*...dicks on dicks...*~

last night, brett, laura, and i went to hear judge jules in vancouver at a bar called richards on richards (dicks on dicks).

we ran into some of laura's friends first before heading to the bar. there are some very good looking people in vancouver.

as well as some very good looking imports who love judge jules...all the way from san diego:

i even ran into my boy ziggy there. i seem to run into him in the most unusual places. the last time i ran into him was the day before i left for burning man in toronto on queen street.


judge jules bored me though. the beats weren't anything special. not even the drugs made the music better, or maybe the drugs did for this guy.



it was great to celebrate with brett and laura. they are angels to me and opened up their home for me to stay while i am vancouver. i love you guys.

i even have my own room with internet and bathroom at brett and laura's place...and the room is painted red. can things be any more made for norm? on the bathroom mirror, laura had written a message for her friend. it spoke to me too.


you are brave, strong, and loved.

tonight i celebrate new years eve on the sunshine coast. see you next year.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...mt.baker - washington...*~

today i went across the border to washington to ride the infamous mt.baker resort.

my shredding partner was lito, a good friend of will (the one who's wedding i attended in vancouver this summer). lito is top drawer.

the drive to washington was a bit sketchy once you get near the mountain. the winding roads up the hill can get pretty slippery covered in snow.

i was surprised to find that mt.baker isn't a huge resort like whistler. with all of the pix i've seen from mt.baker backcountry, i thought i'd be in for a much larger resort. instead, i found a wikkid little mom and pop shop style resort. no high speed quads, hell, there weren't even bars on the chair lifts. its like they were using the second chair lifts ever made. old skewl baby!

but the snow was great. there was some exposed rock, expected for this early in the season, but there was also tonnes of powder....and most of mt.baker's terrain is black diamond. it was extreme! getting out of powder takes so much energy out of you. its exhausting. i understood why mt.baker back country is dreamed about all over the world.

snowboarding rule #1...don't fall.

the picnic tables and old skewl ski resort vibe of mt.baker was a refreshing change to the signature intrawest village that i have been so accustomed to. the $38 cdn lift tickets were also welcome at mt.baker.

riding with lito was awesome. he is a very good snowboarder, and its awesome riding with someone who pushes me to ride harder. EXTREME!!!

thanks for an awesome day out lito. i hope japan is treating you well brother.

~*...normaste...*~