In the late September afternoon of 2002 as I sat lazily at the top of a playground eating a sandwich, I was approached by a girl my age. I looked her over as she neared; she was wearing baggy orange pants, and an equally baggy black AC/DC t shirt. She had stringy hair that looked as if she'd run her hands through it hundreds of times out of frustration. She was the new girl. Uprooted from the country, and dropped into the noisy city. For days i'd sat and watched this girl wander about, talking to people, attempting to adjust and make friends. She had a look of sheer determination on her face as she marched to the top of the playground where my relaxed figure sat in the sun.
She stood at my feet, "You!"
I looked up at her, "What do you want?"
"Hang out with me."
"Why should I?"
"Because everyone else at this school are weird people."
She had me there. This was like the reject elementary school. I'd transferred just the year before.
"Alright, but if you turn out to be a total weirdo, we won't be friends." and she sat down next to me.

She was a weirdo alright....but her weirdness and my own were compatible. Chemistry if I ever felt it.



Nearly a decade has passed, Ash has been there for me, and I for her through some of the toughest times of our lives. We faced adolescence together and now take on the task of being adults. For eight years we've been literally inseparable. We've never had petty fights, backstabbed, or lied to one another. With Ashley, I feel a perfect synchronization that I fail to find with anyone else. Even my significant other, and friends whom i've had for years. Ash is the only one who really gets me.  As Jay said about Silent Bob, she is my heterosexual life partner. 




Last January over coffee she informed me of her plans to travel when we were finished high school. I was stoked for her, she's such a free spirit. I smiled and asked where she planned to travel to, her eyes dropped and would no longer meet my own. "Well, I applied for Shecana and if I get accepted i'll be going to New Zealand." I smiled again, "Sounds awesome! Kiwi land." She looked up at me, and I couldn't read her expression. "Yeah. I'll be gone for 10 months to a full year."
Just like that I felt the world spin out from under foot, leaving me falling in mid air.



A year has passed since than, what a year! Here we are a mere 9 days until Ashley's flight. When she first told me of this just over a year ago, I was shattered. I couldn't imagine the time without her. It felt as if life was gripping a portion of my soul, squeezing it now and then to remind me that a firm hand was waiting to tear it out. With each squeeze I became breathless and my eyes would well up with tears. 



Slowly, I realized this is exactly what she needed. All her life she's been a caged bird. Over the course of the year my pain dulled to an ache now and then. I've accepted that she's leaving, and I know she'll be back. This will help her grow, and in some ways it'll help me to grow as well.



She's the heaven in my hell. A safe haven for when the world crashes on me. My better half. A remarkable woman and friend. As she said once when we were children, only death could take this away.



I will not let our temporary parting tear out my soul. Instead I will send it with her.

It's official, the world has invaded my home. I stepped out of a downtown restaurant this evening in the usually quiet streets of Prince George to find the streets PACKED with people, a live band driving at 3mph on a Coke truck, and a second Royal Bank of Canada truck trailing it covered in so many LED lights it would give anyone a seizure. I remember thinking 2010 was ages away, nothing to worry over. The future is now the past and it's here, and all I can say is FUCK.
My spirits were lifted slightly when I got into the car of a very anti-olympic cabbie.
And lifted further when I saw the glorious protesters.





My best friend's dad (whom ironically was a torch bearer) views the Olympics as a time of peace, and the only time the world comes together without the cause being war.
I can see where he's coming from if it weren't for the thousands of homeless people being literally kicked out of their city, millions of tax dollars going into a big fucking party, and the fact that many people of the land are not happy with this at all.

So many people have been censored. Entire websites shut down for freedom of speech. In all honesty, nothing positive has ever come from uniting the nations in the long run. A few years back when I heard BC would be hosting the games, I shook my head in sadness and my face dropped into my hands. What would become of my home and the home of many others?

So I wonder, are the supporters of this glorified sham the ignorant ones?
Or are the opposers like myself the ones whom are ignorant?
I want to hear your opinions. I will not be offended as i've heard it all in the last couple years.