Wednesday, January 21, 2009

all the people

DSC_0032i want to spill my insides out. it's never appropriate.

this is victoria. here till the end of january. working on a cardiology hospital ward. days start at 6:30 and end at 6:30. when i'm not there, i'm here: starbucks. endless 2hr internet. and the days go by.

i want to tell you i love you. yes... i still love you. i love that your forgave me over and over again as i grew up. i remember the tears you wept as she scolded me, so hurt to know your son had lied to you. because i am a liar. i love that you always loved me, never stopped believing i was a good person. even after i lied to you.

and i still love the memory of my younger years. i remember walking through the cold. satchan, so cold, but refusing to wear a coat. it was like you wanted to shiver. just to feel it. and you are still my sister. our separate different lives. our twice a year correspondence. but still sincere. i never had the chance the tell you, and you will likely never be reading this, but when we saw mrs. wilson for the last time, i'm glad we were there together. to know that the last time she saw us, we stood beside each other. like old times.

mrs. wilson. i owe you so much. and yet so much that i owe you, i've lost in recent years. my mother believed i was good natured. and you believed i was talented, that i was inspired. you raised me too, from the first day i picked up a violin, so fearful of so many things... till i was old enough for you to confide in. to tell me you were dying. and as we publicly celebrated your retirement, alone i knew you'd soon be gone. a secret. for me to watch you die. just as i was commencing my medical career. loss is the first lesson. your memory makes me want to be talented and inspired, just as you believed i was.

mr. polson, i didn't make it to your funeral. i haven't forgiven myself yet. you gave me more credit than i deserved. you believed in my shostakovich. you'd be so disappointed with my scales now.

ilya, i didn't nurture our friendship. you were right. "missed opportunities." i never told you, but i always feared offending you. you have passion. i never wanted to risk disagreeing. maybe that made me stay distant.

brian, when you moved in, i stopped coming home. i'm not good with sharing a home with other people. but over the course of our years, the indications of your presence became so important. you saved all my friendships. you needed no more and no less space than me. you helped me escape toronto when i had no one else left to turn to. and i have no other roommate in my heart hereafter.

and keith, you know me too well for my own comfort. our vices are too similar. we see the ugly side. and laugh of it. you'll be there when i've fucked up big. you've been there each time. it's silly that i still prop up the pride i do before you. you see everything on the other side.

ge, you don't read these blogs. especially if there's so much text. but i love you too. we're connected not by choice, but by blood. but that doesn't stop you from being my hero. my fortress wall. you've wisdomed my life for my whole life. you work harder than anyone i know. and remind me what's important. your compliments are validation. my violin practice always went to shit when you walked in the room. that's how much your opinion has always mattered. i try to be smart. but in the end, i just need to please. and now... you know my darkness. you know my despair, even though we don't talk nearly as much as everyone expects us to.

i'm a broken body. a fractured mind. a sappy heart.
i'm not a kid anymore. i'm an adult. i don't know myself any better. i just have a larger shoebox of memories. my shoes are holed.

i met a girl. i fell in love. and now... because she wants me, i start wondering what 'me' is. and i realise i don't know. everything i think is something, it turns out to be just a cover for some other embarrassing emotion or fear. or a learned behavior from a strong memory of hurt. running away.

this is victoria. i'm here for another week and a half. working on a cardiology ward. the days start and end. i'm here. wherever that is.

tell me... where are you? where are you.. do you know something more? i've given you everything inside.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Silence

It's been some time since I posted anything here.

I take too many pictures of my car. But that's ok. Cars play light in great ways.



Denmark. Bikes, boats, and buildings. And McDonald's.








The Kromberg. A long time ago I believed Hamlet had so much to offer.








A day by myself, UBC highway. Glorious autumn.





Sour plums.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

桜と友達 - Sun and Rain - Empty Hearted

Recently I've been unwell, whatever that means. It's rained many days. Still the cherry blossoms came, heralding Spring, though much more modestly than in other years. The sun lit us, unobstructed for a few glorious days. The Cherry Blossom festival at UBC Nitobe Garden. Amy patiently plays model to my and Keith's cameras for yet another post-call afternoon. Every afternoon I can remember seems to be a post-call afternoon. Thankful I've spent most of them outside of the hospital.

How many times does the sky brighten, the earth warm, before Spring indeed comes. How many misgivings. Unmet expectations. And then the sakura, long a symbol of transient beauty. The comforting pain of tragically brief beauty lingers long after the wind and rain have left the branches bare of pink. And that is how I feel now. I know it's beautiful. But it hurts so much. I'm not where I should be. Something, and thus everything, is not right. The brink of a storm. The snow of petals with every howling gust tonight. I'm not where I should be.

I cannot see. I am lost.


I've been reading some. Encouraged and spurred on by my peers who have been doing the same. Never enough. Do not even imagine it.


Nitobe Garden UBC. Lighting of the lanterns for the Sakura Festival.

桜と雲
Awaiting the storm.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

A weekend and an overcast post-call day

Kits beach, with my warm mocha. Trying to cut back though. A Peaceful weekend.


Spanish Banks and yet another picture of the civic.


Friday, March 21, 2008

FA1 (and a FG2)

car wash
vancouver landscape

friend and his FG2

Zakkushi

Memories of a dinner from a few months ago.
Post-call company.

Great food and drink.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Eating

Though I don't eat there as often as I'd like. The food is good.
A different genre of Japanese is Ebi-ten. automated tempura machine. Cafeteria style. On Robson, by the public library.



Sushi Hachi. A real gem, on Cambie in Richmond. A family business, incredible sushi.