One Hot Mess

Apparently, getting trashed on expensive drinks is becoming a cherished hobby of mine. Some friends and I went to Julio's Barrio last night (aka the best Mexican food in Edmonton) to celebrate a friend's birthday. After hearing that it would be an hour for a table, a friend and I decided to fuck everyone and get saucy at the bar.

I had spent my afternoon watching a Home at the End of the World and getting buzzed on some Sauvignon Blanc that I picked up in Bordeaux, and I was feeling newly inspired to live eclectically. I ended up having 3 Mexican Bulldogs (at $12.00 each) before wandering out onto Whyte Avenue for some impromptu dancing.

Me sipping on a delicious Bulldog at my 19th.

I had an amazing heart-to-heart with an old friend from high school out on the street, and he told me I looked "hipster skinny." It was probably the best compliment I've gotten in a longgg time.

Minus doing questionable things involving questionable substances, and calling my 16-year old sister to pick me up, it was a good night.

European Graffiti

Dear Blogosphere,

Please go see Exit Through the Gift Shop, it's probably one of the best movies I've seen all year.

With Love,

Marcus

Le Snobisme

I'm starting to settle into my summer here in Edmonton and, as usual, I'm starting to second-guess my "life choices." In case you didn't know, my life has been interesting lately. I spent the first 18 years of my life living in the white-washed suburbs of Edmonton. Then, I did a year of liberal arts and got accepted into a really good Business School for International Business, and I threw it all away on a whim, as I figured I'd never be happy building a career on helping corporations maximise profits and take advantage of people, while infusing buzz-words and schmoozy language into everyday conversation. I left the Texas of the North to study Urban Planning at Waterloo. Ever since then, I've been bouncing back and forth between the two places, never staying in the same spot for longer than 4 months. It's always been my dream to go away for school and relish my newfound independence. I began to over-indulge in telling people about how I was so glad that "I got out of St. Albert," and I started to show contempt for people who "just didn't have their shit in gear."

Nowadays, I feel so unsettled, like I'm rootless. I don't really have strong relationships with anyone simply because I only see most people about four times a year and have terrible time keping in touch with old friends. My concept of home has become a "grey area." I have a hard time feeling grateful anytime I have a change of scenery. On top of that, I'm constantly poor, which kinda sucks. Bourgeois kids just aren't raised to have budgets and make sacrifices.

These uncomfortable feelings really bitch-slapped me in the face a few days ago. I got in a fight with my parents after they let my brother drive the family truck to the U of Alberta campus to drop off his writing portfolio, while I took the bus there just two hours earlier to do homework. My mom got mad a t me and awkwardly described me a "Toronto Snob who intentionally acted like he wasn't part of the family." She apologized almost immediately and has been especially nice to me since then, waking up early to make me breakfast smoothies and letting me drive her Toyota.

To be honest though, it didn't really offend me. Well, the part about hating my family offended me, but I actually took the "Toronto Snob" name as a compliment. I've never actually lived in the city, but I wouldn't hesitate to pack up and go there after my undergrad. But whyyy you might ask???

Well for starters, Toronto is actually a city. Edmonton might legally be a city, but it's not actually a city. Relatively speaking, Edmonton is small. Only a million people are brave enough to live this far north, and for some reason they all feel they need to live on a half-acre of cheap land and still have a 20-minute commute as their reward. Our only claim to fame is a shopping mall, a decrepite shrine to capitalism and over-consumption. And it's not even a nice mall......

On the other hand, Toronto has a lot going for it. It's Canada's largest city and one of the most multicultural cities in the world. They actually consider social progress and sustainable living to be a good thing, rather than some toxic evil that's just going to make it harder to drive your Hummer H2 to work.

Does Edmonton's Riverfront look like this?

The whole incident reminded me of this awesome quote from one of the most random movies I've ever seen, Hamlet 2. At the end of the movie, the whole cast goes to NYC to celebrate the launch of their Broadway play (OH SHIT, SPOILER ALERT!!!1111). One of the kids, Chuy, tells his teacher about how awesome New York is compared to Tucson, their hometown. Their drama teacher responds, "Chuy, you're going to live a magicial life because, no matter where you go, it's always going to be better than Tucson." This will sound stupid, but this quote kinda motivates me and gives me hope that these restless feelings will shake off as soon as I peace out for new adventures!

The City of Lights

Sorry for the lack of recent blog posts! I just got back from an internet-free trip to Paris and France's Aquitaine region. After spending a week at a restored French farmhouse in the heart of wine country (soo much wine) my family rented an apartment on l'Avenue des Bordonnais in the 7ieme arrondissement of Paris. We got to the city during a long weekend in France, so we definitely picked the worst time to tour around the most visited city in the world. There were tons of people everywhere, but I still managed to see a lot of the city.

The view from my apartment window=magnifique!

I left feeling a little jealous that I wasn't living in such a beautiful city and the birthplace of modern democracy, in a country where people are entitled to two-hour lunch breaks and five weeks of vacation. Some of my friends that have visited Paris have told me that they want to live there in the future, and I was starting to agree with them....

However, I think tourists seem to wear the thickest rose-colored glasses. Hell, I've had people who have visited Edmonton tell me that it's the best city in Canada? Before I could wallow in the reality that I'm trapped in miserable/white-washed St. Albert, while millions of people are living within a stone's throw of Champs d'Elysee, I hit up Wikipedia to learn what's really up in old Pareee. Here's what I discovered:

1. While North American cities are infamous for white flight and sprawling high-income suburbs, European cities are the polar opposite. Parisians will pay millions of their shitty currency to buy a 500-square-foot apartment on l'Avenue de la Grande Armee, while the banlieues (meaning "suburbs") contain some of the world's largest social housing projects for low-income immigrant families, which are beautifully referred to as les cités in French. These poor living conditions came to light to much of the world during the 2005 riots in Paris' northeastern suburbs. (On a side note: If you can understand French, try and find a copy of La Haine, it does a pretty good job of showing life in les banlieues).

2. Their currency is worth as much as dog poop, thanks to Greece. (On a side note: I actually predicted this in a term paper I wrote for a Poli Sci class four years ago and got like a 75. Thank god for appeals...)

3. Nobody in Paris recycles, like actually nobody. I'm pretty sure I only saw one recycling bin during my entire visit. On top of that, nobody picks up their doggy dooty (And you think they would, seeing as they can now buy their morning baguette and pack of Marlboros with it).

4. French people are actually kinda racist. While Canada is trying to attract as many skilled immigrants as possible, immigration to France is becoming heavily restricted. As the nice French lady that sat beside me on the plane explained to me: They have some of the best social programs in the world. Why would they want an influx of newcomers to ruin them? Meanwhile, their "world-class" schools won't let students wear articles of clothing that reflect their religious beliefs while they teach them about the "positive consequences" of French colonialism.

5. Paris actually does smell bad, like a musty/mothbally urine smell, probably from all the dog poop.

Great, I feel slightlyyy better about not missing my flight back to frigid northern Alberta....

Hard Knock Life

Back to work for the 2^nd week of like, 16? At least I’m finally doing real work, which makes it much less painful to read incoming interview offers from firms that I applied to months ago. I’ve seriously gotten at least 4 emails from different municipalities since starting my job. I mean, who actually waits until mid-May to hire summer students? Oh wellz…I’m actually starting to enjoy my job now. I’m working on environmental assessments with this super chill Environmental Scientist. She pretty much gave me total control of the project. I even get to contact clients, which is something that the folks in Planning and Landscape would have never even considered last year. The other co-ops are awesome too. Lunch breaks are actually ten times better when you spend them conversing with other people and playing cards, rather than mindlessly creeping Facebook and OMG-UW.

I’ve officially been on the ‘tane for a week now. In that week, I went on a three-day binge and gained 4 pounds (which I lost by literally spending the entire weekend doing p90x and watching documentaries about the obesity epidemic while working out on my exercise bike), my entire face dried out and then broke out, and I’ve had the most bizarre dreams. I’ve heard of people having night terrors while on isoretinoins, but my dreams have just been really weird. For example, after spending yesterday with my mother, I had this dream where she vividly told me that I was her toughest experience in parenting because I was a Student Works Franchisee. It didn’t even make sense. I had an even weirder dream on Saturday night, where my friend from high school transferred to Laurier Business, and then we both dropped out to start a daycare. Sure, these dreams don’t have dragons or take place in Nazi Germany (which is literally where half my dreams take place), but they felt really real. I actually remember every detail from them, and when I woke up I still didn’t realize they were fictitious.

It's probably an early symptom of schizophrenia or something…

***

"And we’re just like how Rousseau depicts man in the state of nature: We’re underdeveloped, we’re ignorant, we’re stupid....

but we’re happy."

Ignorance is Bliss

Someone needs to take the weekend off and read And the Band Played On:

"If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn’t get AIDS probably, that’s the bottom line."

-Councillor Rob Ford, Toronto Mayoral Candidate

The Grind

It’s back-to-work time! I looaathe this time of year: the early commutes, the 8-hour workdays, my empty cubicle, the strange parallels between my work and the stuff on Office Space. This year is a little different though. Unlike last summer, the firm actually hired multiple summer students. Although they’re all chummy from school, they’re still awesome! We get together everyday for lunch and to "discuss" about the mind-numbing tasks assigned to us. One of the things I was always envious about my friends in co-op was the friendships they made during their work terms. In my department last year, it seemed everyone was so cliquey, or just never took the time to chat with me because they were so career-driven. So, it's been a nice change this year.

I made the mistake of telling my father this morning that I hated working, and he took it really personally. It’s not that I hate my job, I just hate working. And I’m pretty sure 95% of the world is on the same page as me. Like, if someone handed me a cheque for a billion dollars, the first thing I would do would be to quit my job. Wouldn't everyone?

Les P'tits Canards

Wow, it's been like a five days since I wrote anything substantial on here. I need to get into a better bloggin' routine...

My week off has been fairly busy. I finished all of my appointments on Thursday with an early morning trip to the dentist (no cavities!!) and have just been hanging out with friends and going out a lot. I saw The Messenger on Friday at the Garneau at 109th and 87th. It was really good, but really, really sad. Just like The Hurt Locker, I once again had to explain to my Dad the meaning behind the movie as soon as it was over.

Ever since I was really young, I've made an effort to stay informed about what's going on in the world. I check Google News almost every morning, along with the often hilarious Toronto Sun Cover Reviews. Once in a while, I'll find a story that I'll really latch onto. Often, I'll intensely research the issue and regularly bring it up in conversation with complete strangers. In the past year, I've saturated my brain with information on Bill 44, the Myspace suicide, and U.S. healthcare reform.

Most recently, my "major beef" is the Syncrude trial taking place just down the street from my house! For those of you that don't know, Syncrude is one of the big players in Alberta's oilsands industry. Essentially, they're "the shit" at destroying acres of the northern Alberta landscape and polluting our rivers and air. As Syncrude's lawyers have made very clear, one key feature of any oilsands operation is the tailings ponds used to contain noxious pollutants and excess bitumen. These toxic lagoons are often the size of small towns. Well, back in 2008, about 1,600 ducks thought it would be fun to chill in one of Syncrude's tailings ponds and never made it out alive.

Now, the company is on trial for the incident. Syncrude's lawyer has made ridiculous claims that the ducks maliciously decided to land in the tailings pond, as waterfowl are apparently supposed to be fully aware of the contents of these ponds. Now, their lawyer has even boldly stated that if his client is found guilty, Alberta's oilsands industry will be "doomed." The older more outdated Marc (circa 2007ish?) would probably have sympathized with Syncrude's claims. However, Marc 2.0, equipped with two years of education in environmental studies, genuinely hopes this trial spells the end of the oilsands industry. I honestly don't think there would be a greater blessing for this province's future.

Syncrude's closing arguments are on Wednesday and I can't wait to see what happens.