Time to see the world...

Lou and I saw a travel agent on the weekend...

This shit is happening. For real. We have not booked anything quite yet, but the plans are coming together. We have another meeting with another travel agent this Saturday, so things will continue in their progression.

It looks like we will be flying out around the 28th of August for Tokyo. After a week to 10 days in Japan, we will be flying to Bangkok, Thailand - after 2 days in Bangkok, we will take the train south to Phuket. Five days in Phuket will see us checking out the beaches, riding elephants, trekking through the jungle, amongst other awesome things I am sure. After Phuket, we will be traveling to Ko Phangan - and island of Thailand's east coast. We plan to spend 4 or 5 days there, staying in a bungalow on the beach for less money than it costs to take the bus here in Vancouver...

Some sweet HDR shots in Thailand

After Ko Phangan - it's back up to Bangkok for another 2 days before flying to Hanoi, Vietnam. In Hanoi, we will take in the city for a few days, check out Halong Bay and probably take a trip up to Sa Pa, in Vietnam's northern countryside. There is an awesome eco-lodge just outside of Sa Pa where we want to spend a night or two - but the town itself is relatively unchanged by tourism. It's starting to have its effects, but it is not like much of the rest of the 3rd world tourist destinations - here you can even set up home-stays with local families... that may still be an option for us...

Countryside in Sapa, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

All of this will bring us to early October, when we will be making our way to Australia. We've got a wedding to attend, and I've got family and friends to become acquainted with... this is a little bit nerve racking, but I am ready for it... excited even. After a month of taking it easy, we will be driving up to coast to Cairns. Our road trip will take about 2 weeks - and I plan to make a stop in Rockhampton to see Shane. Hopefully he is around...

What will be my home in Australia - Brisbane...

Upon returning from our journey to the north - we will be flying to Singapore where we will spend 7 days. The details of this stop have yet to be researched, but we are both confident it will be sweet.

Singapore at night...

This is about as far as our planning has taken us as of this moment. We plan to fly back to Vancouver from Singapore - taking a few days to a week to visit, rest, unpack, organize, repack, and find ourselves a cheap flight to London. From London, we will take a train up north to Scotland - where in Scotland we are not sure yet... I want my time in scotland to be something different though, so different from the life I know and am accustomed to here in Vancouver. I want a tiny apartment. I want a brick building. I want no furniture - just a mattress in the middle of the room, and enough cookware to make a meal. I want to eat right out of the pots and pans if we have to. I don't want computers, or internet, or tv. I don't want anything...

From time to time - I ponder the fact that we have all become so attached to commodities. To things that we do not need. I am the worst for it. I am falling victim to it as I type this... I while I believe that it is possible to cut back... to use these commodities less if you make an effort to enjoy other things - I also believe that it would serve better to start fresh. I want to reinvent myself on this trip. Maybe not with the hopes of changing forever - but with that hope that in an entirely new environment, I might be able to make such a change to the things that I depend on, and hopefully this change will help me to appreciate the little things in life even more. Hopefully it will spark something new in me that will have even a small change when life resumes its normalcy. Or maybe life won't resume as I know it now...I guess I really can't say right now.

I've also started to consider the idea that it may be impossible to be sure where we are happiest in life if we never leave home. I am watching my friends find contention in what is comfortable. What is easy. They get married, have babies, buy houses... and while that is great and wonderful, I don't think I could do that... I always have assumed that Vancouver is my home, but really, I have no grand attachment to this place anymore. I feel like this trip will help. Maybe we will find someplace new - someplace that feels more like home than this city is able. Or maybe we won't, and this place will suddenly feel more welcoming that it does now. Either way, I am happy to take some time to find out. I guess this is my big thought for the week... and while it is technically 2 days late... it will have to do.

Take some time to think about it. We know everything in life through experience. Whether it is our own, or through the experience of another - we only know what we can see and feel... We spend our lives not trying to figure out who we are, but learning who we are not. Our experience of the things, the people, the places that we don't like - those realizations govern our knowledge about the people, places, and things that we do like. See, I don't often look back on the things I have done thinking ' man, that made me feel awesome' - it would seem that the actions which made me feel terrible are the ones I hold dear. It is those experience ,where I could stop and think to myself, 'this is not me, this is not who I am' - those are the things I remember, and those are the moments that make me who I am.

So the concept of home really does follow those same principles...

We know our home because it's what we have been taught, it is something we don't usually question. But how can we be sure it is really 'home' unless we leave it for a while...

So - I am going to leave it for a while and see what happens...

Coney Island...

I am in the market for a new camera...

I intend to purchase a Digital SLR camera in the coming months, so that I might have the ability to take some half decent pictures while I travel the globe. Thanks to the insight of a friend named Joe, I have become enthralled by the potential to get into HDR photography. It's funny, because I usually prefer things as they are. To find art in something untouched. But as of late, I have seen some exquisite photography done using the principles of HDR - and I am sold. Completely. While I can understand that it has its place - I think, as far as scenery & architecture photography is concerned, it is magical. It makes the shots so much more vivid - as if you could almost climb inside them. I want to perfect this art before I leave, as I intend to leave each country I visit with at least one HDR shot worthy of printing and framing upon my return.

While I have some research to do - as well as the collection of some of them "book learnin' smarts" - I have my eye (and mind) somewhat set on the Nikon D80. Affordable, and from what I have seen, it takes some awesome pictures... while in reality I know very little about camera's at all - it seems like it might be a starting point that will do well for me.

In the mean time - I have spent some time messing about on Photoshop. I read a few tutorials on the ability to mimic HDR using CS2 and any regular digital image.

I may have strayed a little from simply mimicking HDR - but I came up with what I think are some pretty sweet results! Have a look!

In other news, I have decided to make a resolution that relates directly to this blog. When I began last May, my intention was to post each day. This ambitious task became unrealistic - to the point where I rarely posted at all. I have given it some thought and will make Sunday's my official 'blog day'. It's a realistic goal I think - and I like the idea of continuing to push myself to express ideas and what not. I figure a weekly push might keep things consistent!

2009...

I can honestly say that this past year has been on of the most productive of my life.

This last year began with a desire to better myself. I had spent a few months off tour, and began to realize that the person I felt myself becoming really wasn't the person that I felt I am meant to be. Upon this realization - I began to make some changes.

Last years resolutions revolved mostly around my physical and mental health. Not that they were suffering - but I think after so many years in pursuit of musical stardom, I realized that I had developed a habit of focusing all my energy on the destination, and had forgotten how to take care of myself during the journey. I decided to erase meat from my diet completely - and I feel that the transition from 'pesceterianism' did me well. I stopped drinking alcohol, for the most part anyway. As of this moment, I haven't been 'drunk' in 368 days, and have gone 9 months without a drink. Not that I denounce it's consumption really.. I just think that in the interest of self discovery, it makes more sense to discover while in a pure and un-altered state of mind. Since this last year has been all about my desire to really figure out who I am exactly, and where I want to go in life - it was a choice that just made sense. Lastly, I began last year with hopes to become more physically fit. While I made good efforts, I think this one will carry over into 2009...

And with those high hopes of self discovery, came the unexpected addition of a wonderful girl to my life. A girl that has not only helped me dig deeper into myself, but has shown me what it truly means to be happy and balanced with another person. While I had spent much of my time looking back on past love with the regret that I had lost it - I can now look back with a new appreciation for everything that this love taught me about who I am, and all that she did to help shape me - for, today, as I am now, I look forward to opportunities that wouldn't lie ahead if it weren't for the path that our break-up sent me stumbling down. And more than that, I stand in front of these opportunities hand in hand with someone new, who's path in life seems to trace my own path exactly - for as far as we can see anyway...

I think I kind of lost myself in 2007. And after some time to reflect, 2008 seems to have been very much about transition for me. And all of this time in transition has brought me to today - where I sit and type as a very different person that I was the same time last year... I am happier now. Healthier. More confident. I am more organized and less cluttered. I am optimistic. I work harder. I spend less and save more. I laugh harder. And I love with all of my heart.

I am ready for 2009. I know who I am now and I am ready to become that person even more. I am ready to experience - and to focus on the journey, with no real destination in mind. I am ready to appreciate the things that I once failed to notice.

This past year taught me that good really does get better...and I will start this year eager to discover what exactly it is that better gets...