: the last farewell : 01 March 08 :

... tomorrow, Saturday 01 March 2008, there's a farewell party ( pour moi ) at Lambrick Park Church and thePlace Community. Strange. Even after not showing up there for work or worship all of February.

Anyhow, compliments of my sick sense of humour ( maybe? ) that olde Roger Whittaker song 'The Last Farewell' has been running through my mind this week. The first verse and chorus actually ain't a bad summary of how I feel if you can translate BC/Victoria and Lambrick into whatever ... when I wake up Sunday morning it will be the first day of a new journey. But I have loved 99% of my time at LPC, and there's just no way to put that into words.

So I'll let Roger do so ...

dlc

'The Last Farewell'

There's a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbour
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell

For you are beautiful, and I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, and I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

: zero motivation day :

... it is a sad day in Victoria when I spend 3 hours sort of paying attention to the last few hours of activity on TSN.ca's running coverage of the NHL's trade day. Sheesh!

dlc

ps. although, some of the Avalanche action has been fun ... only 38 minutes left.

: man i hate painting :

... OK, so Kingleys and Binghams are in Vancouver, riding across on a beautiful sunny clear day and I am stuck inside painting the guest room. Something is terribly wrong with that. A 90 minute IMAX experience of U2's Vertigo tour filmed outside in 3D and I am applying beige paint to a 9x11 room? I guess IF the painting had been done earlier in the week I could have invited myself on the 3D trek, and those young bucks probably would have allowed me to join them, gracious as they are. Lesson to self? Procrastinate less.

dlc

: no time for later :

... it is amazing what one notices when less, ah, pre-occupied than usual. Our local newspaper, the Times-Colonist, has a weekly 'give-away' deal in the Arts section, usually 2-3 newly released CDs. It is kind of random, I figure when they have enough they put a blurb in the paper, tucked away on page 8 or something?

Anyways, I was up early this morning and noticed that the TC was giving away The Trews new release 'No Time For Later'... so I fired off an e-mail and got a reply from the TC around dinner time, and I won it. I can't remember the last time I won anything ( or even tried to ), so that was kind of nice. Nothing like a little good old east coast Canadian rock 'n roll.

UPDATE: just picked up my CD, and I'm importing it into iTunes. Thought I should mention what I did not sign up to win. "The Historical Conquests of John Ritter" CD with tickets to tonight's show at Alix Goolden Hall. Tickets to see the Grupo Axe Capoeria's performance at the Mac Playhouse Sunday, as part of the Brazilian Cultural Festival. Yup, for me, the Trews was the best choice.

Later,

dlc

ps. this from Wikipedia on 'the Trews' ... Canadian rock band from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton. The band is currently based in Toronto, Ontario.
The band started their career with the name One I'd Trouser, before changing their name to Trouser, and eventually The Trews. They released an EP as One I'd Trouser, and a second EP under the name The Trews.

In the early summer of 2002 the band entered the CHTZ-FM Rock Search, a high profile contest that is held annually by the Southern Ontario rock radio station. Winning the contest would prove to be their big break as they soon landed a recording contract with Sony BMG Canada.

Their new album, No Time for Later, was released 19 February, 2008. The first single, "Hold Me in Your Arms" was made available on November 25, 2007 after it premiered at the 2007 Grey Cup pre-game show and was immediately released on iTunes.

: turn(ing) the page :

... okay, so Monday's post was only semi-serious, as first thing that morning I'd heard the Keith Richards quote, or Keef Rijaards, as Matt B refers to him.

Wondering, or pondering, now ... what does it look like to turn the page? As an old Bob Seger fan I love that honest and rather raw chronicle of touring ... "Turn the Page" ... more reflective than Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty" ... but I digress.

Seger, and I've heard him do this song live, and listened to it hundreds of times, catalogues all these experiences from the road, and ends up asking himself, or reminding himself, to 'turn the page' ... on misunderstandings, expectations, disappointments, disillusionment ... "there I go, turn the page".

Oddly enough, even though it isn't even close to 3 full weeks since I wrapped it up at Lambrick, it feels longer. I haven't put any expectations on myself, or this time, for several reasons, but already, as my head clears, I can see both extremes of what I might be doing this time next year. It really is a 'turn the page' kind of experience.

There's all kinds, and I mean ALL KINDS of hurt around me. Am I seeing it differently now that I am no longer a paid employee of a local church? Tonnes of that hurt is personal, people and families are hurting for a myriad of reasons, some of their own making, some completely beyond their control. Just as much of that hurt is systemic, the economies of the 21st century, the increasing gap between 'rich' and 'poor', you name it. Where do our piddly little efforts actually fit? make a difference? anything?

A local example from the last 2 weeks. Efforts, pretty creative ones at that, to make an initial dent in Victoria's homeless situation have run into full frontal resistance from all quarters. A gamut of people ... advocates for the homeless, local and provincial politicians, economists, social workers, business community ... have attempted to float potential solutions, first steps, whatever, in an effort to change the cycle here. And for trying ( imperfectly, of course ) to sort out some of the issues, to give leadership to a problem that is not going away, they get shouted down in a public forum? So tell me, why would anyone put themselves in that kind of role?

Well, better get myself out of this funk sooner rather than later. I'll end on a lighter note, and as a recovering 'eternal optimist' remind myself that I really do believe that if you read to the end of the book there are some answers, maybe not what we thought we wanted, or expected, or even hoped for, but progress, as minimal as it may seem. But then again, sitting in a jail in apartheid South Africa Nelson Mandela probably never imagined that the de Klerk government would end up as part of the solution, eh?

dlc

ps. it depends, I guess, on how you choose to define 'monster' ... could be a really good thing, like having a 'tiger by the tail' or something like that. I once had a confirmed, life long and proud of it pessimist tell me ... "go ahead and be an eternal optimist, but it will kill you. And then you'll be a terminal optimist!" ... so, no, I don't think there is a bad monster at the end of the book. I think, as the Cookie Monster is implying here, that could be a good thing, right?

: the voice of experience :

... word has it that the Rolling Stones are now doing their part in the efforts against drug experimentation. Mick suggested that there's more information available now than when they were young, and Keith added a classic ... "yah, that Amy Winehouse had better get her act together or she is going to end up looking like me".

... those after and before photos are often proof that a picture IS worth a thousand words.

: longevity :

... it has only really been a full week since I have been 'sans keys' to LPC, and therefore really, truly, done. So maybe some of this is premature, or maybe it is part of the process, but I have been thinking about longevity.

How do certain people 'go the distance' in certain situations? Why do others not? Are there certain skill sets, contributions, or just plain one-off serendipitous assignments we get? How do you know when one is up? Or how do you recognize a new one when it is coming down the pike?

Yesterday my faithful 1989 Jetta turned over 275,000 kms. Next to impossible in Ontario, due to salted roads and rusted frames, this car spent most of 1989-2006 over in North Van, where moss is more of a problem than rust. But I have never ever had a vehicle with even close to 200K on it. So? the engineering is there, but the context is what makes or breaks it? Or maybe context and care? This basic little VW was well maintained and that has to be part of it. So, again, what might the 'constellation' of going the distance look like ... in a career? a ministry? a pilot project? a reclamation or turnaround assignment? Maybe it is context, care and calling? who knows?!?

I've never had a paycheque from the same employer for 8.5 years, lived in the same house for 8.5 years, worked with some of the same people ( Randy! ) for 8.5 years before. And now I am not, anymore ( except for the housing 8.5 ). Quite a switch, and I don't think for a minute these meandering thoughts and questions are going to go away any time soon, which is probably a good thing.

dlc