a Photoblog - Views of Mount Rundle

click photos to enlarge

photos (cc) me

on the Grid - Xeriscaping and Landscape Design Challenges in Canada’s Desert

Canada is often imagined as a country of towering mountains, vast prairies, frozen lakes, and lush forests. However, tucked between two mountain ranges is the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, a semi-arid swath of land containing the country’s sole desert.

Kelowna, Canada, is the largest city in this region, and is subject to the many challenges of developing in an arid valley. Most obvious in these summer months is the dry heat, which makes the upkeep of traditional Kentucky bluegrass landscapes difficult without excessive watering.

Read the full post on the Grid

Music Monday: Another Girl from Ipanema

This was my last weekend in the Okanagan, and the weather gods saw it fit to bless Kelowna with an absolute scorcher: 35 degrees Celsius most days, and the rest of the week looks the same. I've got it in my mind to bask in the heat as much as possible before heading into the mountains of Alberta, where I'll be subjected to a winter like I've never experienced.

Sad panda.

In the meantime, I've been doing such summery activities as beach volleyball, naps in the sun with Favourite Cat, and enjoying drinks on rooftop patios. Of course, I've also had a summer playlist on almost non stop, and I've become absolutely addicted to one of the recent additions to my music library: Amy Winehouse's posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures. I've got a few favourites on the album, but her cover of "The Girl from Ipanema" stands out. It just screams summer, and is such a different take on the classic made famous by Astrud Gilberto. Judging by the comments on YouTube it's a little controversial, but when is Amy ever not? I particularly love the drum bits, but I've always been addicted to bass.

Enjoy!

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

a Photoblog - Victoria, a Bit of Old England

photos by me

on the Grid - What is the Purpose of a Park?

Summer has arrived in Canada’s Okanagan valley, and with the warmer weather, people are venturing outside to enjoy the many parks in Kelowna. Among these is Mission Creek Regional Park and Greenway, arguably the most visited park in the city. It includes an educational centre, salmon spawning channel, picnic areas, and a playground. The greenway offers a lengthy trail system that traverses through several of Kelowna’s iconic landscapes.  

 Read the full post on the Grid

photo by jamica1 (c) All Rights Reserved

Chillin' with the Ogopogo

It's summer! And, oddly enough, summer always tends to be a busy time of year for me. True, I do have plenty of time to fall asleep on the beach and become sunburnt, but I never fail to fill my schedule with other things. This time around? Work, beach volleyball league, blogging for the Grid, scoping out jobs for the fall and winter, and then whatever it is I do over on Protagonize. That will include the Summer Poetry Tournament, and then if I can get the Prose Competition off the ground that will be yet another hat to wear.

Definitely not complaining, though. I enjoy being busy, and being busy with work means the bills will get paid. Whoo! This whole "being an adult" thing isn't too different than what I was doing before, really. The only major difference I can identify so far is that I can't claim student benefits on anything. No student bus pass, no student price rate, no student bank account, no student internships. I'm just a regular person now. Whoo?

One thing will never change, though: I'll still ride any noble steeds I come across in my travels. Such as my buddy the Ogopogo up there. We talk on Twitter sometimes, we're cool like that.

a Photoblog - Peacocks in the Park

photos by me

Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada Day! Happy birthday to my favourite country, the true north strong and free. I'll be spending much of the day in downtown Victoria, watching the live music, sampling all the food, and then settling down for the evening fireworks. A great way to end my holiday weekend at home.


That's all I've got for this post. I may or may not have a Music Monday for you tomorrow, as I'll be on the road most of the day. One might appear in the evening, possibly a sample of the roadtrip soundtrack. Wish me safe travels!

photo by BrittneyBush

a Photoblog: Views from Knox Mountain Park

 photos by me

Music Monday: We Have Lift Off

I don't even know how to preface this post, aside from saying, "Dude! It's SUMMAH."

Yah, it's only the end of May, but I live in Canada's Okanagan valley, the only "real" desert in the country, whatever that means. For a desert, it's pretty green, but that likely has less to do with the climate than it does the fact that we use more water per capita than any other city in the country. But that's just my degree speaking.

Anyway, it's summer in Kelowna. I know this because it is, a) sunny and 26 degrees outside, b) I sat on the beach eating an ice cream cone while watching beach volleyball yesterday, c) I had a burger and fries for dinner on a patio on Bernard Street, d) I finished the day with an orange screamer, which is a slushie with soft serve ice cream on top, e) all of the above.

With summer weather and summer activities come the summer playlist. I've busted out the mash-up playlist from Singapore, and it feels just as fresh here as it was in the tropics. I've moved on from a 3LAU-centric list to one with a lot more Basic Physics. Luckily for you, Basic Physics offers their entire first album free to download from their Soundcloud site. I've embedded the entire album below with the download links for your convenience.

Happy summer!

Twenty-eleven, in Review

Another year has passed by, so it's time for another annual review! Here's a look back at what I've done over the last twelve months, or rather where I've travelled to, 'cause I've spent a lot of time up in the air since January 1st, 2011!

January was rather uneventful, but I managed to finish up my most recent tattoo. Soon after I blogged about a sort of realization I came to, about my self esteem and self perception. Not really heavy stuff, but personal stuff. Suffice to say I'm at a much better place now than I was a year or two back.

February marked the beginning of my worldly travels for the year, with a quick jaunt down to Mexico for reading week with a few friends. We may have only been down there a scant three days, but we stretched those hours to the maximum extent and had an absolute blast. Some people thought we were foolish for spending so much on so short a trip, but I can't say I have any regrets about going - even the unscheduled stay in Texas! I can still remember those buffalo hot wings. Mmmm.

A few weeks into March I participated in the Cut for the Cure, a UBCO fundraising initiative (started by some friends of mine a few years back) for the purpose of cancer research. This time around I actually shaved my head, which wasn't as terrible as I imagined it would be. In fact, I think I managed to pull off the look and since my fear of having an odd-shaped skull didn't materialize. Huzzah! I may or may not shave the ol' noggin again this year.

Nothing happened in April, apparently. No blog posts, no trips: only one exam and a few papers.

After moving back to Victoria in May, I barely had enough time to unpack before jumping a plane to Turkey. I was there for two weeks with my family, and had an absolutely amazing time. I still miss Turkish food (especially Turkish breakfast, those Mediterraneans know what's what) and long to go back one day.

June was my only full month at home for the summer, and for the most part it was fairly laid back. I met up with lots of friends for coffee, put in some time at the Gap, and celebrated a very low-key 22nd birthday.

However, I also went to Vancouver for a big concert, Janelle Monáe and Bruno Mars. Mars was good, but I was there for Janelle. Boy, did she deliver! Easily one of the highlights of my concert-going experiences.
 
July took me and two bags across the Pacific Ocean to Singapore, my new home for the next five-ish months. I had been to the city state ten years earlier, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the city almost immediately, and count the journey as one of the most important parts of my university education. 

I met a tonne of rad people out in the tropics, some of whom I hope to see again soon. Despite being so far away from home, I still managed to fall in with a Vancouver crowd (figures), so I know I'll be seeing them again in the near future.

In August I did the first bit of my Southeast Asia travelling, a short ferry from Singapore to Indonesia. It's one of those trips that, while it was difficult to enjoy it at the time, will always be remembered with much laughing and inside jokes. Like, "We are just so cool."

The month also marked the beginning of my classes at NUS, my first Singaporean club experience, National Day celebrations, and a music festival. Not bad, eh?

September took me to the island of Borneo, to Sarawk province and Brunei Darussalam. Although I went alone, I joined up with some other backpackers to see the various sights in Miri, Mulu, and Bandar Seri Begawan. The jungles and mountains were a welcome change from urban Singapore (even though the meaning of "urban" in Singapore is a whole lot more green than in North America). 

When I came back from Borneo I attended the F1 Grand Prix and saw Linkin Park in concert. Another full month.

Compared to other months, October was a little more quiet. I took a relaxing vacation to the tropical island of Tioman in Malaysia, where I took full advantage of the sun to get my tan on. Long story short I fell asleep near the equator and got a sunburn. Surprise, surprise.

I also checked off one of the big Singapore Bucket List items: swimming in the Marina Bay Sands infinity pool. It was rad. Mad rad, even. 

By the time November rolled around I still wasn't tired of flying around the world, so I went to Macau and Hong Kong. Macau exceeded my expectations, Hong Kong didn't live up to them. I ate lots of food, sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes downright strange; went to a few theme parks; toured each city by foot to a point that I forgot what exhaustion was; and took far too many pictures in Disneyland.
 
Well, by December I really was tired of all the travel, but I still needed to see so much. Somehow I managed to fit a week in the Philippines, two days in Siem Reap, an afternoon in Kuala Lumpur, a day in Singapore, and countless hours in airports and airplanes into the sixteen days before I went back to Canada. It was quite the whirlwind, and I'm still not quite sure how I survived it. A fine end to a great year, I must say.


photos by: vcateyesv, me, me, kanikey, Janelle Monáe, me, me, me, me, Ed Coyle, Ezyan Y.

National Day in Singapore, Video

There's only so much I can convey with words. Here's a video of the finale, which i did not see from my vantage point across the bay. Apparently the fireworks were actually in sync with the sing along! So watch the video below and pretend you're in the Lion City.

video by 154media

National Day in Singapore

I was lucky enough to be in Singapore as the country celebrated 46 years of independence. It's still quite a young country, and that youthful enthusiasm showed on August 9th.
I started the day off watching the culmination of a week-long NUS "Rag and Flag" event, which saw each faculty put together floats and performances. Now, when I say performance, I mean they had choreographed dances and show gymnastics. People were being thrown into the air and flipping. Human pyramids were being assembled. Everyone seems to know hip-hop.

When the Rag and Flag was finished, the National Day Parade began, and was streamed live to our screen across the bay. It started with an extremely corny, scripted demonstration of Singapore's military, and slowly became a military parade, and then, well, I'm not sure what it became next.
"Parade" might be the wrong word to describe the events that happened that night. The only thing I can compare it to is the opening ceremonies of any Olympic games. They had actors and actresses, sing alongs, performers, costumes, and a story line with set acts!

Of course, at the finish of the parade/performance/whatever there was a massive fireworks display and light show. It was like nothing I have ever seen before, as the fireworks are set off in the bay among all the towering glass buildings as well as from the tops of the buildings themselves. Factor in the reflection from the water and the glass and you've got quite the rad display.
All in all, a very different form of celebration than I partook in for Canada Day.

first and third photos by Randy-Tan, second photo by Shutter wide shut

Music Monday: 'til the Sun Goes Down

Sia has been a favourite of mine for a while now. She and her music are amazingly eclectic, and there is so much variation within her albums. There are dance hall anthems, power ballads, stripped down piano chords, and so much more.

This particular song off her most recent album, We are Born, was instantly one of those tracks I played time and time again. It's upbeat, catchy, and the lyrics are spot on. To me it feels like a summer song.

And here I am, living in the middle of a tropical summer. I've got a Summer Soundtrack 2011 playlist on my iPod and HTC, and it features quite a few songs from Sia. It got a lot of play time on all the ferries and taxis I took over the weekend in Indonesia.

Here's a link to Bring Night, via HypeMachine. If you haven't noticed, I've got a HypeM widget off to the left that updates with my latest "loved" tracks. Take a look through, my tastes are all over the board and you might find something you like.

Music Monday: Blue Skys

Technically it's still Monday back home in British Columbia, so this post is right on time.

Being in Singapore feels like a vacation. I feel like I live in a hotel sometimes, and every day I'm out exploring and every night I'm up to something in town. This ain't real life.

So it would make sense that I need a bit of a summer soundtrack, right? Besides all the mash-ups, remixes, and generally "dance hall" music that I've been listening to lately, there are a few true summer songs. One of these is an old favourite, Mr Blue Sky.

You may remember it as an ELO tune, but it has been covered multiple times since the original release (some more likeable than others). My particular favourite, above even the ELO version, is sung by the Delgados. You can take a listen to it here.