a First Time for Everything

This may come as a surprise, but before today I had never had a library card. I had never borrowed a book from a library that wasn't on campus, and never a non-academic book at that. I never counted down the days I had left to finish a novel, never owed late fees on a book lost in a messy room. Nope, that was never me.

That's right: me, the Advanced Placement Literature student, Cultural Studies major, Star Wars book nerd, and longtime Protagonizer, has never had a library card. Until now!

Today I picked up my first ever library card for the Banff Public Library, with which I promptly borrowed Edgar Rice Burroughs' first volume of "The Collected John Carter of Mars." I now have a growing list of films to borrow from the library, and have yet to even look at the CD collection. If there's anything in the jazz family, you can be sure I'll borrow that, too. Hopefully this won't turn me into some sort of book hermit, the literary equivalent of a crazy cat lady.

That's all I have to say. It's reading time!

photo (cc) Ozyman

Favourite Cat is my Favourite

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything, eh? To tell the truth I haven't really done much of note in the last while, aside from all this getting ready to move stuff. Basically, my downtime is spent in the backyard with Favourite Cat. Yup, that's about it!

 photos by me

Done Done Done

So I've finished all my courses and papers and exams now. In just under two months the University of British Columbia will hand me my very expensive piece of paper, proclaiming to the world that I have been transformed from Jordan Rockerbie to the new and improved Jordan Rockerbie, B.A.

Uhm, now what?

Well, I've got no real answers to that one. According to CanadianBusiness.com I'm a part of the lucky generation with the least job prospects and highest unemployment rate in Canada since 1976 when someone decided to start making statistics on it. Hurrah?

So I'm staying at the slightly above minimum wage retail job that I've had for five years and looking for other things to fill the gap. And not the income gap, but the experience gap. I'm also a part of the generation that has seen the highest ever Masters programme enrolment (and will therefore likely have the most student debt of any generation). So in order to get ahead, I have the joy of trying to network my way into volunteer or unpaid positions in my actual field of study. Again, hurrah.

So, uh, let's just say that the future holds absolutely no certainty at this point. For me and all the other graduates in the last few years. Canada, I hope you have some sort of plan up your sleeves to deal with us before everyone with an education up and leaves. Aieah.

Not just a Coffee Shop

I learned something thing week. This shouldn't really come as a surprise, since I'm currently attending university, but I learned an important thing this week. At least, important to me.

What did I learn? There's a geographic term for places such as public parks, coffee shops, and lounges. They're called "third places." I'll explain. It's really quite simple.

The first place is where you live. The second place is where you work. And the third place is where you gather. They're seen as increasing important places as the world urbanizes, with one product of urbanization being the shrinking of so-called first places, and the fluidity between the first and second places. In plain terms, apartment-dwellers tend to lack suburban luxuries, such as large rooms for entertaining and back yards, and with telecommunications people can work from home. It's why coffee shops are so successful in the city.

The big characteristic of third places is that they are venues for social interaction. They're a place to hang out, to have a chat, to meet and mingle. If you've ever attended a write-in, you likely met in one of these places.

So that's basically my big revelation of the week. Can you tell I'm looking at doing urban and community planning?

Now that we've established what a third place is, have you got one? Mine is Blenz downtown, as I've said in a previous post.

photos by Billie Hara, me

Poco Loco

I am a crazy person. This has been confirmed by my behaviour the last week, and especially what went down today. More on that later, though, when my mind has some time to catch up with what exactly is going on.

Anywho, you might have noticed that I missed Music Monday. Oops, my bad. But, there is a reason, a perfectly valid reason! Y'see, I spent the weekend in Vancouver pretending I was in Singapore. I ate all my favourites, namely Hainanese chicken rice, Singapore laksa, sambal ayam, prata, milk tea, and kopi. And shaved ice cream. Oh, and sour mango cake. I think that's it? I also went out for Peking duck and sushi (on different nights, people!).

But those aren't the reasons I missed Music Monday, nosirree. I missed my Monday post 'cause I was on a boat. Sunday night I attended the Asteroids Galaxy Tour tour's final show in Vancouver before heading home to Denmark. Danish people are from Denmark, right? I know I'm a Geo minor, but I sometimes forget these things. Anyway, mad rad concert, had a great time, and was too busy singing along to the Safety Dance to blog about it. And yes, I know it's a cover. Men Without Hats did it better, frankly, and I even have a shirt with part of the song written on it. Seriously. I'm that cool.

Now if you'd excuse me, I have a very important meeting with Mr Boss Man tomorrow afternoon. G'night!

photo by moffoys

Flickr Opinion

I take a lot of photos when I travel, and I have travelled a lot. All those photos are sitting pretty on my hard drive, but should I get them onto Flickr? Obviously there are a tonne, so I wouldn't be putting everything up right from the get-go. I just sort of want a general opinion, 'cause I'm not sure if I want to put in that kind of effort, hahah. I'm very lazy by nature. So yah, to Flickr or not to Flickr? That is the question.

Oh, and that photo to the left is one of mine from Santorini in Greece. If you ever get the chance to visit that island, do it.

Does this make me... Published?

A funny thing happened last night. I got an email (that wasn't the funny thing). It was from an advertising agency based in Barcelona (that's the funny thing). The woman wanted to know if they could use one of my travel photos for an ad campaign in Spain. Seriously.

I've heard the horror stories of artists having their work show up on logos and shirts without their permission, which is why I was so surprised to be reading the email. In the age of SOPA and PIPA, who asks for permission these days? So of course I thought it was some sort of scam at first, but I wasn't being asked for any personal information, just a "Yay" or "Nay." So I yayed.

This morning I woke up to another email, from the same woman representing the same company. It had an attachment. What kind of attachment? A legal document for me to review, sign, and email back to them. I guess it's to ensure that I don't turn around and try to sue these nice people for using my photo.

So, yah. That's it. Apparently my photo (and name, in the small print of course) will be the subject of some sort of Spanish ad. I'm really fuzzy on details, but I've been assured that I'll be able to see the final product. Huzzah! Oh, and for those of you interested. this is the photo being used:

I'm not quite sure why they chose it, but that's probably 'cause I have no clue what the ad will be for. And if the photo looks familiar, you might have seen it on my Flickr account or as part of a Photoblog.

to Retire

those of you who follow me on twitter or have me as a friend on facebook might have noticed my recent computer woes. those of you who don't might have just noticed that nothing in the body of this post is capitalized. i know. there's a reason for that.

the keys running along the left column have decided to go to a better place, some lofty keyboard in the sky. so i no longer have use of the ctrl, shift, caps lock, tab, tilde, or escape keys. i can still use the ctrl and shift keys on the right, but have you ever tried? it's amazingly awkward when you also want to capitalize a letter with your right hand. it just doesn't work well. so i'm just foregoing the shift key altogether.

before there are cries of, 'why don't you send lappy for repairs?,' i'll have you know that this laptop has been serving me faithfully for almost five years. sure, i've had to replace the cd-drive, the hard-disk drive, and the ram, but those were easy fixes to do myself and, in the later two cases, were actually upgrades from the previous hardware.

anyway, suffice to say i'm now procrastinating [i'm supposed to be studying for exams. and circular brackets take too much awkward effort] by looking at laptops. currently i have my eyes on the recent dell xps 15z. it has the look of a macbook, but with windows 7 inside. of course, i'd be installing ubuntu as a dual boot, which is the part that has me worried. according to the dell and ubuntu forums, the graphics card in the 15z isn't well supported under ubuntu. apparently it works fine with 10.04, though, so i should be fine if i do choose to pick this one up.

i'm more than a little disappointed that it's my laptop that has chosen to start falling apart, 'cause i've already decided upon a replacement for my netbook when that decides to go the way of the dodo. for those interested, i'd love to have an asus eee transformer. i'm in love with it.

any other laptop suggestions? i've only really looked at dell and asus, since those are the two brands that i have used before. i know that sony usually has some good machines, and probably samsung as well. any advice would be great!

ultimately, i want a performance laptop, not a casual one. i need to be able to do photo editing, move around really large batches of files quickly, and run graphics intensive programs like google sketchup. a studio laptop won't cut it. i need me some power, 'aight?

update: the dell has all but taken the back seat to the toshiba satellite e305 and the asus u46e-bal5 (someone seriously needs to introduce them to product naming). they might not be as pretty as the dell, or quite as thin, but they both manage to pack in a tonne of features. i hate making decisions.

photo by bigpresh, acrugnola, and gillyberlin

Back from Pandaland

I'm back from the China SARs! I have over 500 photos to comb through and exams to study for, so the forthcoming blog post will have to wait a bit. That, and I'm beat. This happy panda needs a nap, pronto.

Oh, and contrary to what this post implies, I saw no pandas in China. Only Disney characters and a really big Buddha.

photo by Christopher Allison Photography

I be Versatile

I've recently discovered that, every now and again, Bloggers like to pat each other on the back. "Congrats!" on blogger friend or stranger might say. "You succeeded in not looking like a middle schooler's Geocities page!" I realize I may be dating myself with that comment...

Well, the other day one such bloggy friend saw it fit to throw one such accolade my way, in the form of a Versatile Blogger Award. The catch is that I now have to do stuff.

Task one: thank your awarder. Thanks, Elo! Task one, check.

Task two: share seven random facts about yourself.

1. After I graduated from high school, my birthday and Christmas wishlists were suddenly full of kitchen appliances. Because I am an adult, or something like that, I guess?
2. I brought Mukmuk to Singapore.
3. Every day I wear two necklaces, one with a coin from some miscellaneous East Asian country that is probably defunct, and another with a charm carved by an child in Kenya.
4. I strongly dislike Glee.
5. One week of Cyrillic cursive made me forget years of English cursive. I now have trouble writing even my own name in cursive.
6. Regardless of age, I call all dogs "Puppy."
7. I re-read books a lot. As in there are some book series on my shelf that I've read three or four times.

Task three: pass it along.

Hmm... I don't wanna repeat what Elo has already done, but I would pass it off to Marc and Burndtree. Well, I guess recognition shall go to Ana Cristina and Dru, then! Congrats!

photo by cdwaldi

a Photoblog: Noble Steeds

all photos by me, except second photo from a friend (although, technically, none of these were shot by me. and yes, i realize how ridiculous i am)

Pre- or Post-monsoon?

Being a nation in the tropics, Singapore only has two seasons per se: Southwest monsoon and Northeast monsoon. The best way to describe the difference is "wet" and "damp." SW monsoon is just ending now, and NE monsoon starts in December. I've no clue what this means, but we've been having lots of lightening storms lately. And rain. And wind. Like, wind that tore the paint off of the exterior walls of my rez building. Apparently the strong winds don't even start until December, also known as when my plane takes off. Yah. Welcome to my tropical paradise!

image by hersheydesai

Those (Favourite?) Things Left Behind

Despite my oft professed love for Asian food, I miss pizza. Terribly. I've been having cravings for flatbreads from Twisted Tomato, an Italian restaurant in Kelowna. Not sure why my imagination is fixed on pizza, though it is likely a combination of the sharp decrease in both bread and cheese consumption since arrival. To tell the truth, things have become so bad that I purchased a Groupon for half price pie. Ruh-oh.

Don't get me wrong, I love summer as much as the next Island or Okanagan resident, but it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit of temperature variation out here. Day time highs? 32. Night time highs? 28. I don't think I've turned my ceiling fan off or closed my window since arrival. I sleep on top of my sheets. The only respite from the heat possible is the time spent in lectures, where the theatres and class rooms are kept at a frigid 18 or so. Not cool. Not cool at all.

Being a modern city that never really shuts down (the Mustafa department store never closes!) there's quite a bit of ambient light. Combine that with the haze from Sumatran forest fires, and you've got a situation where it is nearly impossible to see stars. A friend of mine spotted one the other night and we all oohed and aahed. One star. I mean, it's not like stars are an important part of my life, but you certainly notice when they are not there.

I'm just gonna come straight out and say I miss wine. There's wine here, even some of the Australian wines I know from back home. But I don't just want wine, I want wine with my wine friends. I want my quiet nights in with a nice dinner and a glass or two of red. Or white, if I'm sipping from a glass of Tantalus Riesling. Also, wine is expensive here, just like every other alcoholic beverage. Gotta love those sin taxes. And yes, that is what they are officially called.

This one requires quite a bit of explanation. I miss the right hand rule. Remember back to my True Colours post, where I revealed that I am a rational and independent green. Now think about driving. Depending on where you live, traffic flows on either the left or right side of the road. In Canada we drive on the right, in Singapore they drive on the left. This rule commonly extends to pedestrians as well: you walk on the right, especially when going up stairs. Naturally, I assumed the same would apply here, except on the left of whatever walkway I found myself. Wrong. So incredibly wrong. There is absolutely no set practice or etiquette for walking. It's a total free for all. You want to get down the stairs? Make your own way up. You want to dodge the incredibly slow walker in front of you? Find whatever route is available. See a spot you can squeeze through? Use those elbows!

I swear I'm not passive aggressive right meow.

first photo by sassyradish, second photo by acidpix, third photo by Dennis Barnes, fourth photo by willy-photographer, fifth photo by otama

Arrival

So I've been in Singapore since 5am, though it feels like a lot longer because of all the stuff I've done today. I'll do a proper update later, I'm in dire need of uninterrupted sleep. Just wanted to check in and say, "Hey! I'm here!" and whatnot.

Pictures will also follow, though I opted to not get a data plan for my HTC so the uploads won't be instant. Sad face. I'm sure we'll all manage.

In other news: I just ate dinner a few hours ago, and I'm already hungry again. Curses.

a Pre-Departure Checklist

...otherwise known as the things I've done and am doing before I leave.

Done

• drive to Kelowna with the cousin
• drive to Mission with the friends
• have a pig roast
• win at "beersby" multiple times
• play fetch with a random dog
• have a massive bonfire
• chug back tonnes of lukewarm Timmys
• have a games night that includes Rockband, karaoke, and dancing
• eat waffles at the Jammery
• go out for pitchers and wings
• watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part one
• eat a Boers breakfast at the Jammery
• drive to and from Sicamous
• buy UBC shirts to bring to Singapore

Doing

• watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part two
• eat more waffles at the Jammery
• go out for pitchers and wings, again
• drive back to Victoria
• watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part two, again
• eat hot pot bibimbop at Korean Garden
• go table hunting

Oh, and pack. Packing might help, too.

on Name Changes

An online era has come to a quiet close. It's probably a little too dramatic to say that, but it has a ring of truth.

Last night I switched over my Protagonize author account from JackRubashevskiy to Jackerbie. I'd been on the site three years with the former name, and had build up a reputation with that name. Laying it aside was difficult. So difficult, in fact, that I chose to keep it as my listed name.

Why the change, then? The main (and only?) reason was to solidify my online presence more. Almost every social account I currently use has the Jackerbie moniker attached in some way, in both the username and vanity URL. The change makes sense with that reasoning.

That, and people had a hard time remembering how to spell Rubashevskiy. Heck, I have a hard time remembering how to spell Rubashevskiy sometimes.

There shouldn't be any sort of outcry against the change, but you never know. No-one has said anything yet. That's a good thing. I said it was a quiet close to the era of JackRubberchicken. Shhhhh.

Rediscovered Pleasures

The other day my sister voiced her longing desire to play the Sims for PS2, a game she thought her boyfriend had lost. Almost immediately after the words left he mouth, I quipped that the disc was in the CD binder with all the other game discs. Of course, she didn't believe me. Long story short, I was right, and we've been playing the Sims for a few days now.

If you don't know, the Sims is an Electronic Arts property based on guiding a single person or multiple people, called Sims, through life. I don't really care for that part though. What I enjoy is the short part that comes before you take over the role of god: building and furnishing the house.

I love building things. This love probably resulted from a childhood filled to bursting with Lego, but that's another story.

Architecture and building design in particular have special places in my heart. When the family takes a trip to France or the Czech Republic and tours around the old castles, I'm not reading the information panels on local history. No, I'm staring at the walls and ceilings and staircases and the entire built form of whatever it is we're visiting. I guess that's why I've started to lean toward urban planning and community design as a career path.

I also have a casual interest in interior design, the way spaces are made and composed. A good portion of my high school years involved back-to-back episodes of Trading Spaces and While You Were Out, two design shows that were television and cultural phenomena in their day the same way cakes and cupcakes are now (I still don't understand that).

Again, long story short, I now have a design itch. I want a house to put things in. I want an unlimited budget, or unlimited time and skill to DIY anything and everything. I want to be a greater part of consumptive society!

That, or I want the first couple seasons on Trading Spaces on DVD.

both photos by Andrew Dupont

a Few More of those Favourite Things

Haven't posted any "real" blog stuff in a while, so I might as well do a list post. Here's what's keeping me going right meow:

Tim Horton's coffee and donuts are a Canadian staple. I love my double-doubles, sour cream glazed, chocolate glazed, maple dips, and turkey clubs. Unfortunately I can't get those in Singapore. I'm trying to do the math on how many Tim Bits (donut holes) I'll need to buy in Vancouver for my flight to Shanghai.

McDonald's Dollar Drink Days are one of the first signs of summer. As terrible as it may be, I love going into the drive-thru and coming out with a large Diet Coke for a little bit of spare change. I'm in at least four times a week. I may have an addiction.

Adele, particularly her song Rolling in the Deep, is one of my go-to summer playlist favourites. Even better are the amount of great covers of her material, so I can have multiples of the same song on my playlist and sing to each one. Also, I finally figured out what all the background singers' lines are. Victory!

Roller Coaster Tycoon became one of my favourite games the moment I started playing it. I recently reinstalled it on my family PC and have been glued to that machine ever since. My only problem is that I tend to make the rides "too intense" so no-one will go on them. Boo on you, wussy AI.

Living on an island and being able to hit the beach and the fact that it is finally hot outside. I love beach combing, suntanning, swimming, having bonfires, and all that good outdoor summer seaside stuff. Thankfully my next move will be to a tropical island. I might have plotted this in advance.



images by flamster2468, StayProud, jprice325, Mike Overall, and me

Under... Construction?

Yah, I've been inactive again. I know I promised posts about my recent trip to Turkey. Dropped the ball on that big time, yes. But I'm prepared to move on to what I really think the purpose of this space should be: me, rambling.

I fly to Singapore in just over two weeks, where I'll be living for about four months before setting out to travel once more. Hopefully I'll be good about updating this blog while I'm gone.

In the meantime, I need to change a few things around here. I'll be adding some pages to de-clutter the place, which is what that nav-bar below the title will eventually become. First, though, I need to figure out how this page thing works, hah. So I'm'a get to that.

Cheers!

Too tired to think of a proper title for this post. Zzz.

Not sure if I can write complete sentences right now. Or coherent thoughts. So here's the jumble.

Left Istanbul at 4am, or 6pm at home. Arrived home at 7pm the following day. Movie overdose. Mind wants to sleep, body doesn't.

Toronto forgot to load my bag. If it isn't on my doorstep tomorrow, I will be one sad panda. I will also have to go on a small shopping spree, as all my shorts are in that bag and I am moving to Singapore in two months. Problem? Maybe.

It feels weird not eating Turkish food. Or listening to an Iman singing a prayer at various intervals. Craving Chinese food, though.

Starting to ramble. Real posts (and pictures) will come soon enough.

Ciao. Or whatever it is in Turkish. Yes please.