friends – Page 3 – Greg Blee

Echo Ukee, echo Toff

I met with Abby, ex of the Sacred Stone Spa in Ucluelet, now of the Stone Spa in Nelson, and we shared a nice cuppa tea.

I tried repeatedly to catch Shawn and Carla, ex of Words End Bookstore in Ukee, now of iLovenNelson.com and UndergroundArtsRailroad.com, but despite several visits and calls i never managed to catch them at the office.

I wandered into Enchanted Gifts, on Baker St. (the main drag), and started chatting with the owner, who turned out to be Francois, ex of the Enchanted in Tofino.

And at a street market i saw a newsletter put out by Eco Society with an article by Lee-Ann, ex of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound. I thought i’d look for her in town, and found her by pure coincidence on a street corner, waiting for the light to change.

These folks told me about others who have moved from the West Coast to Nelson and area (the Kootenays, or “the Koots” to those in the know). And the single, striking word they all used about their new situation was “happy.” Happier than they were on the coast. Francois elaborated: when he plays hockey, there’s a melange of freaks, cops, hippies, straights, young and old on the ice and they all get along; people don’t pigeonhole each other, don’t separate into cliques, don’t gossip behind each others’ backs and boycott each others’ businesses because of something someone said five years ago. Others echoed the sentiment. Damn — are we like this on the coast?

But there was one thing they all, every one, regretted: they pined for the ocean.

TEA FOR TWO

I’ve been reconnecting with old friends at a variety of java joints all over town, and guzzling in the process larger-than-usual quantities of tea, steamed milk, chai and (once) Perrier, but never coffee. I’m talking (or at least trying to talk) more frankly than is my wont, and deliberately asking about schools, spiritual paths and whatnot. I’m not much for small talk. Rather, i tell myself frequently that i’m not much for small talk, so i more or less believe it. Important distinction.

It’s interesting how easily i can slip back into old patterns with people, even after years’ of absence. But at least i’m more or less aware of it now. That’s a priority on this walkabout: No unconscious slippage.

There’s the aforementioned (in this blog) Ms Erica, driven to understand and apparently doomed never to understand. She’s pretty much the wisest, most delicate chick i know. Strong like glass, but fragile. We’re opposite-sexed doppelgangers, E and i, both members of the Church of Bumble.

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Here’s the bubbly, adventurous, adorable Tofitian-at-heart Helen (a.k.a. Pure Hel), ‘nordinately proud of her new camping stove. She’s a force of nature in the department of relentless cheer. About anybody else that would be a mild insult; about Pure Hel it’s a statement of admiration. I mean really.

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Here long-ago housemates Jocelyn and Robert are about to be thrown out of Starbuck’s, shortly after we were all thrown out of the VAG‘s KRAZY! exhibit. (Go see the show, but know that it’s huge — two or three visits would be best. And Tuesday is the cheap day, not Thursday.) Sometimes it amazes me that i am capable of sitting in civilized company and not making an ass of myself. These two make it easy.

And Bonnie, my oddest acquaintance in that i don’t know how we became friends, or even why we’re friends, just that we are friends, and have been for years. We agreed tonight that she’s a DQ (drama queen), but man is she smart in the way of the world. Good for advice. Dang, i forgot to ask her about schools.

All these people mean something to me in the merry-go-round of existence. It’s weird how some people do and some people don’t, and that nothing seems to characterize one group or the other.

Most of the above being women, i know they’re going to read this blog entry and their Machiavellian, multiply interconnected, hyper-intuitive female minds are going to be incensed, wondering Is that how he thinks of me? The answer is no, that’s not how i think of you, but i’m a man so that’s how it comes out. No offence, we’re still friends, i don’t hate you, it’s not over.

BUMBLING

We must learn to be flexible … to perceive the ever-changing world as it is and react to it as such, even (or especially) when it does not measure up to our thoughts and plans for it. UBC was not to be today as I hooked up with old friend Erica later than planned. We had beverage at Turks, then spent about two hours on the grass in the sun in Grandview Park, catching up on nearly ten years apart. She’s one of those rare people with whom that doesn’t feel weird at all. Lotsa frank Zen/Buddhism talk — she’s a Taoist, which doesn’t mean a heck of a lot to me but apparently puts a “coming to the world” spin on basic Zen. Crap, i can’t decide what to have for lunch; how am i ever going to figure out what principles to live by?

Erica, she’s slowly coming round to making a virtue of what she calls “bumbling” — her word for trying out one thing after another, without (in the “householder” sense) sticking with any of it. (Though as she herself admits, three university degrees, plus a couple of diplomas in alternative healing techniques, kind of belie the not-sticking-with aspect.) She used to think of bumbling as kind of a soft form of failure, but now she’s looking at it more as a choice and a way of living.

Like me, Erica has accumulated little material wealth to show for her efforts. So we consoled ourselves somewhat by counting our immaterial accomplishments. I tried to take a picture but the camera battery died.

Later, in the wet dreams department:

I discovered a nifty “subnotebook” the size and weight of a hardcover book, for a paltry $400. I’m tempted, i must say. Computer access is highly addictive, especially once you realize that almost every cafe on the Drive has free wireless. I could spend a lot of time in cafes like that.
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I went into Bikes on the Drive and test rode this Dahon folding bike. I’ve known about them for a long time but never had the chance to try one. It rode well — a bit flexible and a bit cramped, but overall very satisfactory as basic transpo. And nicely designed, too.

Plans for tomorrow: dinner for four at a noodle joint and then the KRAZY anime exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery (it’s cheap Thursday). Rob helped install part of the exhibit, so we’ll get the (over-)guided tour.

Oh, and a rule i plan on sticking with (until i break it): Once it’s in the blog, no editing allowed. Sorry, all you perfectionists.

PORTC (Probability of Returning To Coast) factor today: LOW