I'll Bet You Didn't Know...

A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all photocopier errors worldwide.

The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (a variety of the marijuana plant) paper.

On average, every chocolate bar contains at least three insect legs.

"Hang on Sloopy" is the official rock song of Ohio.

"The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria

25% of a human's bones are in its feet.

It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

A bean has more DNA per cell than a human cell

A Chicago law forbids eating in a place that is on fire.

Thought of the Day

Step out the front door like a ghost into the fog where no one notices the contrast of white on white.
And in between the moon and you the angels get a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right.
I walk in the air between the rain, Through myself and back again. Where? I don't know.
Maria says she's dying. Through the door I hear her crying. Why? I don't know.
Round here we always stand up straight. Round here something radiates.
~ Counting Crows

Happy Earth Day Fellow Bloggers!

Thought of the Day

"There are two means of refuge from the misery of life - music and cats."
- Albert Schweitzer

Thought of the Day

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

- Leonard Cohen

Thought of the Day

There are no unlockable doors
There are no unwinable wars
There are no unrightable wrongs
Or unsignable songs

There are no unbeatable odds
There are no believable gods
There are no unnameable names
Shall I say it again, yeah

- Ozzy

Tonquin Beach, Tofino, BC

The Orange Man

Every morning I walk through Beacon Hill Park on the way to work. It is nature in it's glory. Fountains, ducks, herons, flowers, and green grass everywhere you look. This is the place that I will miss the most. More often than not I wake up on the wrong side of the bed, but it is absolutely impossible to remain in a bad mood when you are walking through that place. Oh believe me I have tried to take my bad mood to work with me. But the smell of the flowers is intoxicating. The soft duck talk eases my nerves. Just when I find myself calm a heron screams from the tree tops and scares the shit out of me. I laugh at myself. Early in the morning it is so peaceful. By the afternoon of course it is a swamp of people taking pictures and laughing and screaming and kids and dogs and music and chaos....but even then it has a certain beauty. It becomes nothing more than the backdrop for a tourists day of touring. Every evening walking back through that park I pass by a homeless man. He wears an orange winter coat - whether it's thirty above or thirty below he's got that orange jacket. He sits peacefully on his bench. Same time same place absolutely every day without fail. He sits with his feet tucked neatly under the green bench and his hands folded in his lap. Almost as if he's embarassed to be there and feels that if he can make himself small enough maybe people won't notice him. People avoid him at all costs. He is dirty. He has only a black umbrella and a garbage bag full of ? Every day that I pass him by I wonder about his story. I romantacize that some twist of fate left him with nothing but that dirty orange jacket. I have wanted to approach him and ask if he would share his story with me, but am afraid that he's just a junkie like so many other souls on the streets on this city. I want to believe that he's better than that for some reason. As much as my spirits are lifted every day going into the park, somehow my heart breaks a little every night going home. I have no idea why he affects me so deeply. I want to give him a hug and tell him that it's going to be okay. But I know that for him and whatever his reasons are it will never be okay. Just past where he sits there is a bush with almost unnatural yellow flowers. It seems so out of place in the usual gray and dreary weather here. It's such a sharp contrast from the dirty orange jacket. It always reminds me that life goes on. Just as it always has and I suppose always will...

It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

Time to say goodbye to yet another phase of my life. My experience on this here Island has been a true roller coaster. In the short time that I was here I experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows that there is to be had. It seems like I have constant growing pains...

I have seen some of this planets most breath taking scenery. From the calm glassy water to the turbulent nature of the waves. All with the misty mountains in the far off distance. There are no words to describe the emotions felt at times just looking out over that water.

But the water is ugly too. It's dirty. Polluted. Fish are dying. As much a place of wonder, it is a place of sadness and destruction.

I lost my aunt, my grandfather, and my kitten. I cast flowers representing each of them out on that water. The space that I had claimed as my happy space when I first arrived became oppressive. I can't even go there any more...

I hated my apartment. I grew to absolutely adore my apartment. I am concerned that the apartment I will be moving into is a little piece of hell.

I have never had one single weekend where there was nothing to do. I never had the money to do it all....but at least I knew it was out there.

I didn't shovel snow once. Not one single time. Nary a flake to be seen. I thought that I missed it a little....but I think I'm just romantacizing my memories of crisp white (freezing cold pain in the ass) winter mornings.

I learned that you can admire and despise someone all in the very same moment in time.

I developed both a higher understanding and considerably less patience for the human race. It's been my experience that those people who are kind can cause you much more damage than those that are outright nasty.

There are many things that I will miss about this city. The gardens, the festivals, the generally speaking good natured people. I won't miss the "professionals" or the gray skies or the polluted and stinking Inner Harbour.

I am looking forward into what is to be. I am more nervous about this move than I have ever been, but I am excited too. I am going back to somewhat familiar territory. Though I'm not exactly going home, it has that sort of feeling. I feel like I am leaving a big part of me here. But maybe i will find more to put in along the way....

Thought of the Day

You know I'm a dreamer, but my heart's of gold
I had to run away high, so I wouldn't come home low
Just when things went right, doesn't mean they were always wrong
Just take this song and you'll never feel left all alone
- Motley Crue

The concert rocked the city last night....

Thought of the Day

Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence.
~ Vincent van Gogh