Maybe it’s time to start writing again? Let’s see…

I could comment on the two men in Connecticut who raped and murdered three out of four members of a family, while leaving the fourth on life support. But I won’t.

I could comment on the London man who was shot twice for asking some other men to stub out a cigarette at a nightclub, where smoking is banned. But I won’t.

I could comment on the phenomenon that is “Potter-mania”. But I won’t.

I could comment on the British Columbia government’s continuing gutting of our health care system. But I won’t.

I could comment on the seemingly never-ending reports of suicide bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. But I won’t.

You see, there’s just so much that’s completely f*cked up in the world, that I’m at a bit of a loss. Has society grown too big for itself? It seems that even with all the communications technology available, we are in many ways worse off than before. It’s easier than ever for messages of ignorance and hate to spread rapidly. It’s not often that we see hopeful and positive messages on the Internet.

I suppose this is partly the function of the media, which interprets the best “news” as reports of death, calamity, or crime.

This is partly why I stopped subscribing to newspapers. It’s not a desire to bury my head in the sand, but more a general sense of disgust with the stories that the media consider newsworthy.

In this day of blogs, podcasts, and YouTube, everyone has the power to be a journalist. Unfortunately, 99.99% of people are repeating the mistakes of the mainstream media with inane, mundane, and pointless repetitions of things that are only relevant because some other person says it is.

I guess my point is this: we have the tools available to us for positive change, but we continue to use them without thought or care. Rather than embracing the possibilities, we limit ourselves to seeing these tools as various ways to obtain entertainment and diversion.

I guess I did have something to say after all.

This is an anthology of six short stories written by Zhu Wen during the 90s. I’ll tell you right now that if you’re looking for a positive review, read any of the other reviews on the Internet.

I had high hopes for these stories going in. I wanted to read about the turbulence of China’s economic transformation set against the inevitable human costs. I wanted to see the choking pollution settling in layers of grime on the industrialized cities of the north and west. I wanted to hear the voices of the millions of displaced farmers as the clamoured for work at factory gates. I suppose holding preconceived notions is my fault.

What I got instead was six stories (of which I could only read about three-and-a-half, but due to boredom, nothing else) detailing the mundane minutiae of the main character’s life. (We’ll assume that this main character is the author himself.)

These stories don’t go anywhere. Normally, you expect there to be some progress, whether it be in the character’s development or the events themselves, but that doesn’t happen. What you get instead are the aforementioned minutiae set against the ramblings of Zhu’s aimless thoughts.

Take the second story, “A Night at the Hospital”. For unknown reasons, Zhu volunteers to take the night watch over his girlfriend’s father as he recovers from a gall bladder operation. We are treated to an absurd sequence of scenes revolving around the poor father’s bodily functions. We get the feeling that Zhu feels caught up in the events, that he has no control over them. I can fully appreciate this as an metaphor of the way the average person caught up in China’s head-long rush to developed nation status must feel, but set against the backdrop of an old man’s need to pee makes the whole story feel disposable.

That’s my main complaint about these stories: they have no weight. After reading “I Love Dollars”, the eponymous first story, I’m left with a number of impressions: women as commodities, pursuit of money over development of interpersonal relationships, [insert other broad social theme], etc. etc. But that’s all they amount to. Zhu fails to make a lasting impression because we don’t know what his opinions of these issues are. We can guess he thinks they’re negative, but since his characters don’t make a judgment one way or another, we can’t be sure.

In the end, Zhu also fails to offer any solutions or ways out of the dilemmas that his characters face. They blithely surf along the waves of their misfortunes, with little reaction to unfortunate circumstances. Something bad happens, they react, and that’s it. His characters don’t learn from their encounters, nor does the reader.

Anyways, hope to do more posts in the future. And now that it doesn’t have to be work-related, perhaps I can make things a little more interesting (i.e. more critical, controversial, ascerbic, etc. etc.).

Cheers.

Hollywood continually glamourizes the herosim and spectacle of the World Wars. Unfortunately for you, if you grew up on those movies and wanted to become a soldier because of them, war hasn’t been fought like that since, well, the World Wars.

Beginning with the Korean War, and brought to the forefront by the Vietnam War, guerilla warfare is the modern reality of conflict. No longer do two opposing armies meet on a battlefield with clearly delineated front lines, fields of fire, and artillery barrages. Today’s battles are fought, more often than not, in cityscapes ruined by mortars, rockets, and missiles, that kill many more civilians than they do combatants.

Caught up in the midst of this senseless and random death are the political ideologies that prompt and promote armed conflict. Whether they come from a warlord in Africa, a strongman in the Balkans, or a politician in the Middle East, the reasons for fighting are almost never the reasons that the general public sees and hears in the media.

Of course, this has been true of all conflicts. Governments have always had their own reasons for fighting wars, reasons that they often feel the public will not approve of. But now, with the popularization of the Internet, opposing ideas are presented and discussed with such ease and rapidity that even the average person is left doubting a government’s reasons for fighting. The Internet has also made it easier to research and point out the double-talk and deception perpetrated by governments in the pursuit of their hidden agendas.

Unfortunately, the media, the vast majority of which is controlled by just a few corporations, is content to spew the party line, whatever it may be. Journalistic integrity went out the window with the consolidation of newspapers, radio stations, and, eventually, TV stations that all began after World War II.

War is no longer clear-cut. The reasons are not the reasons we’ve been told. In some conflicts, like the ongoing one in Iraq, it’s clear that there were economic motivations for America’s (along with the ‘Coalition of the Willing’) invasion, not supposed WMDs. In others, such as any of the numerous, nameless wars in Africa, we don’t even know the reasons because the media doesn’t care to report about them.

When there isn’t a clear reason to fight (and there may never be one), why do we, as human beings, continue to pull the trigger on other human beings?

One of the reasons I work is to improve myself. I want to learn new things so that I can better prepare myself for whatever may happen in the future. I also want to do work that’s helping other people in some way, whether it be through selling them a product or providing a service. This not only boosts my self-esteem, but it also gives me a reason to go to work every day.

Without these elements, the bad boss, co-workers, and/or work are highlighted. Not only are you not getting anything out of the job for yourself, but other factors are driving your job satisfaction down. That’s when it’s time to find a new job – when you’re no longer able to identify benefits to staying on.

So a bad job can be found anywhere. That guy driving a Porsche and making $150,000 a year could be stuck in a job that he sees no future in and derives no enjoyment from. It’s not obvious to the casual observer that his job sucks since he has all the trappings of success.

At the same time, the cashier working at a McJob may consider that she’s in a good job because she’s learning about customer service, inter-personal communications, and being part of a team. Sure, the pay’s low, the customers surly, and the food crap, but she knows that she’s improving herself for the job market later on.

I think a bad job is what you make of it. If you’re able to find positives in the work, then you’re obviously learning something of use. Take as much as you can if you’re in this position to ready yourself for a new job. Only when you’re no longer anything new is it time to quit.

But you know, having said all this, I recognize that sometimes it’s not humanly possible to tolerate the rantings of an insane manager or the ramblings of inane co-workers for any length of time. The delineations of a bad job are fluid, and the all depend on your personal tolerances. Ultimately, if you can’t take it any more, that’s probably the time to look for a new job.

I don’t know about other people, but one reason to stick with a job is the people you work with. As corny as it sounds, your co-workers go a long way to helping you get through each workday. One of my previous jobs involved selling things that I wasn’t too enthused about selling. Correction. I hated selling those things.

Luckily, the people I worked with were all cool. Everyone did what they could to make work a little more inviting, whether it was bringing in baking one morning, or finishing up quickly so that we could all leave a few minutes early.

Another reason to work is the experience you gain. Unless you’re stuck in a menial job where every day is the same as the one before, there’s always something to be learned, even by doing a job you dislike. I sometimes wonder if I should have stuck it out a little longer at one of my other jobs in order to learn as much as I could. I disliked the work, but I was learning something new almost every day.

But these are just a couple things I’ve experienced. What makes you go to work everyday? And the people who have jobs they love, please chime in as well. I’d love to hear any and all reasons for working.

Sure, many people travel purely have to have fun. The gaggles of students that hit Florida beaches each year can attest to this, as can the European party-goers who mob Ibiza (or whatever the cool spot is now) and its clubs.

But I think fun, while an important reason to travel, is almost incidental when you consider everything else that comes with the experience.

I think that, while it’s cliched to say it, travelling really is an eye-opener. It places you in a different culture and forces you consider yourself as a stranger in that place. Unless you’re a completely self-centred boor (and we know there are plenty of these types of travellers), you’re going to try to respect the customs of this culture. You’re forced to take a step back to realize the enormousness of the world.

At the same time you realize how much like you the people in that other culture are. Like you, they have the same basic needs, but they also love their children, care about their communities, and want to live a life within the bounds of their laws. We may be separated by distance, language, and customs, but in the end, all people are human beings.

You can learn so much from other people when you travel, including other travellers you meet along the way. Travellers are usually more than happy to share their thoughts and ideas about cool places to go and interesting sites to see. Oftentimes this is how you’ll hear about things that are off the usual tourist routes. Some of the best friendships are made with other travellers. The act of sharing an experience in a foreign place creates a bond because it’s a common anchor that roots the friendship.

I used to not like travelling: too much hassle, expensive, and boring. Since then, I’ve had opportunities to travel with friends and on my own, and I’ve come to realize that hassles can be planned for, expenses can be controlled by staying in hostels and eating where the locals eat, and boredom can be overcome by simply talking to people and finding out what there is to do.

I can’t imagine life without travel – as much as I love Vancouver, I have to leave it every now and then. I have to see what else is out there.

I think it’s great that their main asset has appreciated so much. It’s something they can use to their advantage when they retire in about a decade or so.

But where does the situation of ever-increasing house prices leave first-time homebuyers? Housing prices in Vancouver are sky-high right now, and they’re probably not going to drop anytime soon. Coupled with this is the fact that first-time homebuyers tend to earn less money than the national average because they’re younger and have less job experience.

I recently saw an ad for a new condo development that proudly proclaimed prices of “less than $600 per square foot!” Five years ago, $400 per square foot would have been a high price to pay. Since then, prices have increased 50%-120%, depending on the location.

This is insane. Average people, making $35,000 per year, cannot afford to buy a home in today’s market. If they do, it will definitely be a case of “house rich, cash poor.”

So what can you or I do about this. At first glance not much, other than hold off on plunking down a huge chunk of money for a tiny concrete box in a much larger concrete box. But I doubt this is going to happen in the big rush to own a home.

Realistically, as tired as this sounds, first-time homebuyers should wait a few years and save up for a larger down payment. There are several reasons for this.

1. A larger down payment equates to a smaller mortgage. You shouldn’t be caught in a situation where your payment takes up more than 30% of your gross income. Any more than this and you will have less money to spend on necessities such as food, clothing, and taxes, not to mention extras like entertainment, vacations, and hobbies.
2. Having the discipline to start saving your money now is a good habit to get into. After you buy your home you will find that managing the costs of home ownership can be daunting, no matter how well you plan. It will require discipline. Maybe you’ll have to forgo that vacation you’ve been planning in order to pay for a new hot water tank.
3. This point is my own opinion. I expect that after the Olympics have left Vancouver, housing prices will drop. Prices have been rising these past few years for a variety of reasons, but the main ones are: Olympic construction has been pushing the costs of all other construction (including apartment buildings) higher; interest rates were near historical lows; and land speculators from outside the province buying homes.After 2010, there will be a glut of construction workers, lowering wages across the board. Construction projects should be less expensive, and therefore these new homes should cost slightly less. Interest rates began to rise about a year ago, but still haven’t risen significantly. I expect that over the next few years the rate will continue to slowly rise if the Canadian economy slows down, making the prospects of taking on a mortgage less attractive. Finally, land speculators will begin a huge sell-off after 2010 in antcipation that the end of the Olympics will mean a corresponding drop in housing prices. I don’t believe that housing prices will drop because the Olympics have ended, but will drop because of this sell-off. It’s sort of a chicken-and-egg scenario.

So there you have my thoughts. I’m not an economist or avid market watcher, so I strongly suggest, implore even, that you take all this with a grain (or two or three) of salt. But I do believe that homes in Vancouver are currently over-valued, and that there will be an adjustment of at least 5%, possibily 10%, in the next few years. Let’s hope this is true, because I plan to buy a home around that time.

It was Saturday afternoon, and we were playing the top team in our division with our eight-game unbeaten streak on the line.

I got the start on defense. At the drop of the puck, they hemmed us into our zone, finally putting a weak wraparound on net. Our goalie froze the puck and stopped play.

After the faceoff, the puck came back to the point, but their defenceman’s shot was blocked and didn’t make it through. When the play started heading away from us, my defensive partner let his man go. My partner had been holding down his stick while the guy struggled to lift it. Unfortunately for me, when my partner let go of his stick, it flew right into my face.

I didn’t even have time to react. I caught it square under my nose and went down. Of course it hurt, but I was more concerned about my teeth. A teammate had gotten most of a tooth knocked out in the previous game, and I didn’t want the same thing happening to me.

I took off my gloves and felt around my face. Felt like everything was there. Then I looked at my fingers. Blood! Red blood! My blood! Ahhhhh! I was leaking all over myself and the ice. I left my sticks and gloves behind and skated towards the bench. One of my teammates handed me his towel and I held it to my nose – he wouldn’t be wanting this back.

After enduring some jokes at my expense from the first aid guys at the rink, I got four stitches at Burnaby Hospital, a swollen lip, and a trickling nosebleed for the next two days.

Luckily, though my teeth were sore for the next couple of days, I still had all of them. The mouthguard did its job.

So did I learn anything from all this? I doubt it, since I’m still not going to wear a cage. But I definitely feel lucky since it could’ve been a lot worse. Just a little higher and I would have a broken nose. A little lower and some of my bottom teeth would be broken.

Bottom line? We won, and our unbeaten streak is intact at nine games.