Happy 40th Dan.

Yesterday I met Dan. He voted for Hillary Clinton. These were his first words to me and my friend,

"I voted for Hillary" he said as we crossed the road at Broadway and Commercial. We were on our way home from work.

"Were you in the States or did you write her name on your ballot?" I looked at my coworker and she smiled. I think we both understood he didn't vote at all. "I just want to get attention, I didn't really vote. I'm sorta drunk, actually." he wiped his nose with his sleeve. "I've been just saying stuff to people to get a reaction." He was a fairly together looking man except for the toque on his head and the bottle of pop in his arm. It was more the way he was holding the bottle of pop, pocketed into his elbow, as if it was a football and he was a running back. Apperantly it was mixed with booze.

We were across the road and my friend had to part with me. My first thought was that I should keep this guy occupied while she walked away. However, it didn't take long to see this wasn't going to be that kind of interaction.

I asked him his name and he was a little excitable. His thoughts seemed to run together, but he was completely coherent and in the moment. The conversation was not very linear from that point on. He sometimes mentioned that he didn't really vote or that his birthday was on Saturday (maybe he'd get some booze or if he's lucky coke). Regardless of the topic, he'd always throw in that he was trying to get some attention.

The fog was thick that day and very damp on my person. I was wearing business dress pants, made of next to nothing. Thin enough to let the wind through, the shivering had started in my legs. Now we had been speaking for fifteen minutes. I felt somewhat guilty, complaining in my head about the cold, as he says "So I'm homeless. I'll be forty on Saturday" and mentions his options to celebrate again. As we consolidate our feelings on drug addiction I think about the cold again.

"I didn't really vote for Hillary, I've just been saying that to people" and I wonder, as you the reader may be, if this was going anywhere. and then it does...

"Humans are good, don't listen to that crap." "What crap?" You were thinking it too. He answers, "the crap that people aren't good, cuz they are." I realize the obvious, he means that people are good and nothing more. It was not complicated, but I was somehow completely moved. A guy who had been looking for attention, pocketing a booze bottle in his elbow, with nowhere to live actually felt that things were going to be ok. "Things are going to be ok" he said, that's how I knew his feelings. "but don't vote for Harper again, vote Hillary, or maybe Obama"

I was moved, but I was cold. If I had been talking to a good friend, I would have excused myself by now and been home, in a thick hoodie. I offered my hand to him, because he deserved a congratulations. I said with recognition "I sure am glad to hear people still think it's going to be alright." Our hands raised a little, still clasping, his a little harder than before. They were around the height of our chest, but the hand shake had somehow shifted.

I didn't mind that we were still touching, but we were at the corner of Commercial and Broadway (5pm). I felt somehow strange, picture the promenade in square dancing, this is how our hands were being held. We continued to talk, mostly him, while I nodded. I tried every trick in the book to excuse myself. None of it worked, we were even shifting in a circle, round and round, holding hands. So very close to breaking out in a waltz, I realize he needed attention. He had said so many times. I had been completely moved by this guy and even revived a bit. Yet, I had not heard a word he said. I said "Dan." He said,"You be good" he knew what was coming. "I have to go, so I'm going to give you a hug and then I'm going to go." I was cold, but I would be warm soon, his hands were very clammy as he let go of mine. We hugged. It wasn't too long, or too short. Just long enough for both of us. He wiped his cheek. It was just a tear, but he was crying and so was I.

"I Voted for Hillary" he yelled at a lady with a large hat.

A lighthouse in the fog.

For the past week, or what seems like five weeks, we have had a very thick fog in Vancouver. Something that at first thought seems different or weird for this region. Many people have made comments on what seems like the usual banter about the daily weather, only now about fog. I hear hourly in my surroundings, "this fog sure is strange" and " Vancouver hasn't seen this type of fog in ever" then there is my personal favorite "this is all because of the inversion". This last one is at the top of my list because it's thrown around so very loosely. "The rare and strange inversion is causing this air mass to ... yadda yadda", from both meteorologists, bus patrons and co-workers alike. However, from what I can gather (and I'm not a meteorologist) inversion is necessary for almost all fog. So is inversion really that rare when fog is present? I asked this once and the response I got was that it was rare, for this region, but not necessarily as a phenomenon. This caused me to think. Ok, we are a city that is a harbor, surrounded by mountains and formerly a rain forest. Is it fog really rare. Those sound like perfect conditions for fog! Now, I'm not only not a meteorologist, but I'm also no (I am now looking up the most appropriate profession) ...geologist? So I'm not sure, but these thoughts of our conditions here, in this city, make me more curious as to why we aren't best friends with inversion.

But I digress...

Yesterday the skies opened up, or as they say, the fog cleared. There it was low and behold... the beautiful sight of the City of Vancouver. Man it was stunning. I had forgotten what anything that wasn't seven feet in front of me looked like. This is why the view of the mountains, majestic and white, not a cloud to be seen was so refreshing. I heard a much different tone from the players of weather talk, now it was stuff like, "as soon as that sun comes out you feel different, don't ya?" or the joyful "beautiful day innit?" and on the other end of the spectrum, my favourite " Sure is F'n great out!" The joy was over whelming, everyone could see and appreciate the beauty that hid behind the misty curtains that had been pulled back. Revealing the beauty that we knew was there, but could only dream of grasping in the depths of fog.

Two days and two nights with no blindness during day, no calling out in front of you, no scary road crossings, not knowing if some car is speeding your way. Most noticeably, no deep bellowing and somber sound of the lighthouse in the night warning the ships of potential danger.

and like the scar in the valley our city is, it hit me. The fog in our life is only here to help us weed through the dismal life, working towards the beauties that lie behind. So I welcome you, oh rare inversion, my friend whom no other can understand. You are the lighthouse, in the dismal life I refuse to acknowledge. Today I go without you, clear headed, happy and hopeful; but perhaps tomorrow I will wander again, with only the deep horn and your light's blip in the sky, to guide me through a night.

Happy wave riding everyone.

Obamanos

Ok tomorrow Bush is out of office (maybe). And Obama is in. 


More to come, on the fog, in a bit.

wow the fog is really thick, this is wierd for Vancouver.

Interesting thing fact for work...

This summer I spent a couple of weeks in Trinidad. While there, I was digging holes for septic tanks. It was part of a volunteer program that is similar to habitat for humanity. I dug a large hole with a group of four people (including myself). The hole was big enough to fit all of us in it when we were done (standing!). It rained half the time we were working and we spent a large portion of our time, re- digging the holes and draining buckets of water. When we completed and installed the tank, we were done! It was super rewarding because the residents of the homes that were having bathrooms added to them, were there through the entire process. They shared stories of their lives and island history that was very interesting and entertaining.