Super, Natural (i think it's copyrighted lol) British Columbia..."The Best Place on Earth."

Those are the the words that the government of British Columbia use to promote their quaint and staggeringly beautiful province. Brash and confident, yet it is hard to dispute it.

I had a chance to go back to BC en route from Brunei and it was quite the experience. I recounting it almost a month removed but being back there was in a lot of ways therapeutic and regenerating. The last time I had been in Vancouver was one of my happiest and exciting times. But succeeding events tainted a lot, and going back was unreal, an exercise in convincing myself that yes it all did happen...I've been here before.

Meeting my friend Steve at the airport and subsequently heading downtown was nostalgic...felt like a quotidian, recurring episode but so much had changed and so much will keep changing. Vancouver fit me so perfectly - like a customized anorak, familiar and comfortable without being overbearing. Overlooking the Science Centre and the harbour, images of my last moments here at the Pacific Central Station came flooding back. I brushed it aside. I did not come to mourn. I came regain my swagger.

Port Coquitlam, with its sunset and charming suburban neighbourhoods were soothing. Me and steve went to grab some ice cream and just sat down at the park. This was going to be interesting.

The remaining days were spent with old friends, meeting amzing new people who are dear to me now...in a lot of ways, I appreciate that chameleon tendency of mine to just "fit in" thousands of miles removed from my haunts. I don't want to expand, but here are some pictures to fill the experiences in:

BALANCE, BALANCE, BALANCE - TOI!

The NBA finals were over last week. As magnificent as Lebron has been, the Spurs just swept them, calmly and confidently. And the real story here is (no, not Timmy Duncan - sometimes I can imagine the frustration of super-athletic Amare or even the surging Carlos Boozer in trying to contain this robot of a basketball player...so fundamentally sound and frozen in time...really his game is the same when he was a rookie and now. 4 championships later, I think that it's fine to be boring if you get 'er done)how amazing Tony Le Parker has been playing. I don't think that he was on my radar at all.

As the NBA.com article said, the Cavs really did overachieve and that is fine as they have a long ways to go. In my life as well, though I am naturally not a very positive person, I really do feel upon reflection that I have overachieved. I guess, people who don't really know where I've come from and where I've been so far in the last 21 years can't see that. That's fine. I am still excited for the rest of the journey.

But my most inspiring moment has been Baron Davis and the Warriors...

This is just disgusting:



And Tony Parker...Finals MVP...he really has elevated himself, not just by dating Eva Longoria. He raps too, in French no less. Here is his video, balance-toi or watch yourself.

"My heart is saying 'Let's Go', but my body's saying 'NO!'"

Well, if you are wondering if that title smacks of something else, something eerily familiar then if you have ever listened to Christine Aguilera, you will know the words have been switched around (reminds me of my alleged freudian slip when I told my youth leader that "yo I'm busy, you know how it is: people to do and things to see...uhhh...wait...it's the other way around!") to reflect my incorrigibly poor sleeping habits which will eventually be the death of me. I think the penchant for sleeping late is harboured in my deep seated notion that to be frantically obsessed with Being More, really translates into sleep being a luxury. This is BAD. Sleep (or lack thereof) is the number one killer of productivity and next to drunk driving, of people on the roads too. In fact, in addition the normal Vitamins and other essential nutrients, certain psychologists have suggested Vitamin S(leep) and T(ouch). I agree. I love touching. *grin*

It has been a bit of a hiatus since my last decent post (which happened to be from Brunei). And I have to say that it was a fantastic time. It really met and in some cases exceeded my expectations. Travel does have meaning, especially when you re-visit old places.

I have been in Waterloo for over 2.5 weeks and I have to say that I hit the ground running. Work has been busy and the Institute (the house where I live with 5 other guys) has been awesome. The transition was really good.

While I believe that it is foolhardy to plan out your life in detail, I do think ruminating on the possibilities of the future from the vantage point of where one in currently embedded in time is valuable. And I had a chance to attend the 'Vision Medical Conference' is Waterloo yesterday and I have to say I got a lot out of it. I've had a clearer understanding of certain fields I am interested in, namely Public Health and Health Management and Administration. Although my choice of career and such seems fickle with time, I am glad that the perennial constant has been meeting the physical needs of people through the agency of health care. This really excites me. Though I probably won't be a physician, being in charge of organizations that aid people this way is splendid - especially when coupled with meeting the spiritual needs of people simultaneously and somehow inculcating sports and music in the mix - talk about a career! That would definitely send jitters up my spine. So in essence, I kind of know what I want and things that I need to get there. The challenge is now doing it. But I think the hard(er) part is finding your vision, not reaching towards it because you have the impetus of feverish passion and unbridled motivation as your aides.

There are a few other things that have been cooking around in my head - one on my Vancouver/Victoria trip recently and my thoughts on the stupidity of Britain, Christopher Hitchens and the Hamas take-over of the Gaza strip and the NBA finals. Stay tuned.