over 43,000 public sector workers are on strike today, with that number expecting to reach over 70,000 on the weekend, here in British Columbia.

this is what happens when the HEU (the Union that the Healthcare workers belong to here) goes on strike, and the government responds by legislating their right to strike away, while adding a 15% pay cut to the mix.

so, yet another contract has been shredded by the liberals here in b.c.

arguments that address the less skilled, who earn union wages, as being overpaid, are simply missing the point. the vast majority of Health Care workers are highly skilled individuals who went to post secondary education to gain the skills necessary to do their job. we're not talking about some here, we must talk about most. misrepresenting workers by using the lowest common denominator in terms of skills as their flagship seems to be the strongest argument that those who oppose the union can seem to come up with.

yes, the Healthcare Workers in BC get paid more than anywhere else in the country -- that's because it costs more to live in BC than anywhere else. the liberals are interested in lowering the standard of living in this province for all except for the managers who get bonuses for managing in government. managing! that's their job. please.

the sharks need no introduction here: it's the liberals who are doing the shredding, not the school of fish. they're swimming and evading, and for once, they don't appear to be the meal of the day.

i walk the lines
move to the wind in time
the morning light shines on the dark place
written on their faces

we live in fear
"we're treading lightly on this broken ground"
we live in fear
"we're heading slowly into the rivers mouth"

I can feel love turn to hate
I can see hearts fade away
fade away

i'm looking for a view
to refuse the burning signs around us
where i will follow you follow me
and maybe it will lead us to something more

we live in fear
"we're treading lightly on this broken ground"
we live in fear
"we're heading slowly into the rivers mouth"

i can feel love turn to hate
i can see hearts fade away
fade away...

this is a beautiful track that junkie XL produced and put on his RadioXL: A Broadcast From the Computer Hell Cabin double CD. the track features harland (pictured) on vocals, who has also worked with delerium. niiiiice!

i didn't get any of my volunteer work done last night. that's okay because i have tonight free and no obligations to anyone but myself.

i played 2 hours of tennis with jay carvy last night and it was incredibly satisfying. it was HOT last night on the tennis courts until the sun went down. then i had a chance to cool off. it looks like it is time to put the winter clothes away as i am just roasting in the heat here at the office.

i hung out with ria the other night. we went to an islandkidz meeting, so technically that isn't hanging out, but it is at the same time.

after tennis, i hung out with kevin and we discussed musical direction. cool. real basslines are where it's at, baby. i then went over to charles' and spoke a few words of japanese with his roomates that are trying to learn english. that was fun! i want to do more.

me and charles bolted and went to hush to see yoseff and maria play and to talk to brent about doing a fundraiser event for islandkidz. i saw maria play, yoseff showed up 1 minute before i left (after being there for an hour) as he was out at 7-11 eating. too bad, because it would have been nice to hang out with him there. i didn't even end up talking to brent as he was busy bartending and i found myself talking to people the whole time i was there. it was nice to see some familiar faces.

i got 8 hours of sleep last night.

i felt low on energy this morning, but the levels are up now. i have done some design work, which gives me energy, and talked to a few people. that gets me going. the other thing that gets me going is coffee. ahhh! evil coffee! mike fed me some coffee and it got me going. hot tomato soup, though i don't need to be any hotter, is quite good as well. mmmm.

the picture at the top is of james on jamesday. he's a commercial fisherman so he'll be off on a boat for several months until he's caught enough fish. see you later james!

the bare naked ladies are basically the opposite of nine inch nails. i mean in terms of mood. sort of.

life has been good. i've talked to a few good friends about what i was feeling on saturday night and i have sorted it out. it wasn't terrible or anything. in fact it was satisfying that i could write so accurately about it on the über secret blog.

other than that, nothing is really going on in my life. i am worried a bit about over-committing to volunteer work as the time i have in the day is really not a whole lot after i leave work.

i haven't been outside today except to do an errand for the company. i have done some coding this afternoon and made some progress on an important project.

i am feeling a bit like there are some cobwebs in my head today, a product of not enough sleep yesterday and not enough exercise in general.

yesterday i was a guest panelist and i gave the college i used to go to some advise on how to improve their business program. it seemed like it was a useful session. good program. recommended.

i have a 4:30 phone meeting, so it doesn't look like i'll make it out of the office today.. ah well!

tonight i am going to play tennis with jay carvy (jason-leo carvalho), talk music with kevin, get some work done on the DRC and CSEF fronts, and go see maria and yoseff play at hush. if i am able to, i mean. my priority for tonight is sleep.. i don't really miss being at the clubs, but i do miss hanging out with maria and yoseff, so we'll see. maybe i can get charles to come with me. we'll see.

tomorrow night i am doing volunteer work at the hospital. that project hasn't been visited in a few weeks. i would like to wrap that one up as soon as possible. i will start going in twice a week, pending there being enough work for me to be productive two evenings a week.

i am not a morning person but i have been thinking about changing that.

junkieXL is a god.

my camera is almost full, again.

what happened to my G2?

i am going to go into the future shop later today.

no. tomorrow, i am too busy today. they should phone me and let me know what is going on.

i received a very interesting email yesterday from someone.

maybe it's because i hung out with such great people all day that i don't really want to go out right now. but i am restless. i feel trapped on the island. i contemplated driving to duncan just to get out of victoria 10 minutes ago. but there's nothing in duncan for me.

dekoZe is playing at hush and i don't have the energy to dance. if i did have the energy to dance, if i wanted to dance, i would be there. that would be the place. dekoZe has never, ever disappointed. but, as craig worded it earlier, i can see it feeling like i am out of place, but not being so inclined enough to leave.

looking at the time and finding yourself in the same place 30 minutes later.

i need the energy of a big city. i feel far away from connections i need to make. in the music world i still feel like a spectator. maybe i should just go to sleep, however, i feel repelled from my bed right now. the nocturnal side of me, the night owl, is changing directions and it's hard to tell when it is going to stop.

julie told me about this amazing summer solstice event she is preparing for tomorrow. it sounds incredible, the experience, something that i feel i need -- but i shut myself down before she even mentioned that one is not able to invite anyone until after they have been attending for at least 4 years. i don't know why i did that. if it was possible, i would go. that is the kind of thing i need, tonight. something like that. driving around victoria, listening to music, going clubbing.. would be fun somewhere else. here, everything is too familiar. i need unfamiliarity, i need to be overwhelmed, i crave that kind of energy. it isn't here.

or is it?

the box office is sold out.. the website i was looking at needed to be updated.. blah.. i found a place online that has tickets.. but they're charging $130-160 PER ticket in not great spots. and you have to buy them in twos. so it's $260 - $320.

anyone have any ins here? there's gotta be a way! :( :( meh. help!

the moveabletype 3 beta went public yesterday, so here, have a look at it:
mt3beta.davin.ws

backend screen shot (cliq 4 mahsiv):

well, today i decided i officially like Dido. her white flag song + video got me. what a gorgeous voice. i talked to craig about it tonight and he was like "dude yeah i know i am going to go see her in may." i was like, "where?! vancouver, seattle?!" he says "no, victoria." what?!

last time i spontaneously decided i liked someone, it was coldplay. and so in one day i bought both of their albums and bought tickets to their may 23rd (my birthday) showing in vancouver, and it was one kick-ass show.

i've found that there are, amazingly, still tickets left her mid-may victoria show, but they're only being sold in twos. so that means i need someone to come with me. pleeease! anyone interested?

myself and jim (and eventually jenlucy) went on a bit of a photoexcursion in east sooke and at witty's lagoon on sunday... these are some of the pictures i took. verinice day, though it got cloudy and grey near the end. still there was a silver perfection to it..

lol

as seen tonight in victoria, blocks from denny's on douglas st.

good eyes, jim! here's my list for today:

• kill bill 2 kicked ass big time
  
• photography excursion with jim was mondo fun
  
• hanging out with jenlucy == too cool
  
• if you know anyone who works for the car companies that may be associated with the picture above, please feel free to pass this url on to them: /archive/002909.html
  
• charles is almost done another completely über remix of magnetic (#2!)
  

i am not waking up with the same kind of energy i did earlier in the week, although i do know why. i have a huge list of things to blog about from the plane ride back to vancouver from london, but i don't have time to get into them right now. so, bye!

bahhhhh

it's early in the morning, i went to sleep at 10:30 last night.. completely exhausted.. woke up this morning.. feeling not-so-exhausted.

had a really productive day yesterday. that felt good. going to have another today! after work i am going to Steve's to watch The Game.. boy did Vancouver ever not show up for their last game.. ah well, series is tied 2-2.. Vancouver still has home ice advantage. Steve is Victoria's Calgary Flames fan, and is the only person in Victoria to feature a Calgary Flames Flag on his car. what's funny is that he drives this car to where he works, which is the local broadcast station for the Canucks! haha!

funny thing is .. if you like hockey and you live in this area.. either you're a canucks fan, or you hate the canucks.. there is no indifference.. there is not a single hockey club that i hate out there. weird how that goes. okay maybe i dislike st. louis a little bit.

the picture was taken in aberdeen. funny.. i miss driving on the wrong side of the road! i love getting lost because i am so familiar with my surroundings here in victoria.

it's hard to make a blog post while listening to david cross at this time of the morning. haha, thank you iTunes!

i was listening to The Unthinkable by Pat Foosheen (Habersham's Mah-seeve remix) but it ended and shuffle came into effect.

and now Formulate's brand spankin' new "Lonely in the Middle" came on.. really nice catchy ch00n!

time to get some breakfast .. it's back to work today.

i met shy me tonight!

cool! :)

so much for cutting back on picture posting. two new galleries are up tonight, and as you can see, sasha is pretty happy about being featured in one of them!

done laundry.. cleaned up a bit.. exhausted now.. goodnight!

i am so glad i decided to do this. not so glad to be leaving! :(

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

i am at heathrow, taking a few pix here and there ..

you know, it is surprisingly hard to find a good dish of pasta at terminal four.

it is 4:15... i board at 4:20..arrive in vancouver at 6:55ish... in time for a 3.5 hour stay before my flight to victoria which arrives at 10:30 tonight..

hey ... i think this means i can watch the canucks game during my layover in vancouver. radical! i'll see if i can get some sleep on the flight...

i am in manchester -- well, hindley to be exact, which is in the manchester area. the past week has been a complete whirlwind and i can not believe it is friday already. driving standard on the wrong side of the road (left) is normal and fun over here!

internet access has been very sparse at best and (besides) i am faaaaaaaaaaaar too happy without internet access over here. seriously. the reason i came on was to check what the score was in the last canucks game. and to find out more about where sasha is playing tonight in manchester. waahoo! :)

i am noticing a lot about types of branding over here -- i've been taking a tonne of pictures. hybrid was awesome last night.

if it was feasible i would LOVE to stay here at least another week.

british airways apologizes for the delay and any inconvenience to you.

looks like a whole more hour and ten minutes until i leave london..
hey! this is fun, check it out!

yup that is chrissie after reading the april 1st post.. dude i totally had you going!

see that look on her face???!!?!?!?

dude! hehehehhheh. hmm. okay i am going to rest somewhere in this airport.

i am at terminal one trying to type on one of those messed up kiosk keyboards. this keyboard is definitely going to last a long time but it is really quite difficult to type on, which means this is not going to be a very long post.

the flight from victoria left late. (thx air canada).

i arrived at YVR and there was an announcement on the main speakers for me. a bit excited, i went to my departure gate to retrieve my message.

they had double sold my seat. (thx british airways)

so i was on standby. i watched the beginning of the hockey game and they sorted me an isle seat which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, sort of. i was sitting beside this guy who was much too large for his own seat and was having a lot of trouble manouevering. i helped him get things in order, watched 'big fish' which was 'okay' while having half decent wine. this was all i needed in order to pass out on the flight, which i did! big accomplishment for me -- if i was sitting beside the window, i would have been staring out the whole time.

the flight from vancouver was surprisingly short for a 9.5 hour flight.

i am wandering around heathrow terminal one and shooting the occassional shot. a few minutes ago i was waiting in line for .. er i mean i was queueing at weatherspoon's food express when this lady just walked in front of me and decided that she could just go in front of me. british == good manners? not all the time. i gave her plenty of opportunity to rescind her position but she couldn't even make eye contact with me. instead she made some rather poor small talk with the person ahead of her in line about what the world was coming to after we were all advised about a short delay of service.

i see the canucks took the oilers to skool last night, which means they have successfully defeated the super high payrolled colorado team for first place in the division. i think that also means edmonton didn't make the playoffs this year, which is too bad because i like their style of hockey. unfortunately, that style isn't yet polished -- think an incubating avalanche or canucks style team. good passing, highly offensive. anyway.. good news for the canucks! waahoo!

getting some comments and looks on my hair. leah re-styled it yesterday. dunno what i am going to do without her -- she's the best stylist to ever have touched my cranky hair. she is moving to terrace this month.

later this afternoon i will be flying to aberdeen.

travelling light is an underrated experience.

here are a bunch of images for you to look at from the last bit. i am packed and ready to fly to scotland in an hour! whee!

april

fools

day

having an awful day yesterday.. and the notice i got today..

it's hard to justify doing what i have done in the past, to myself really. i've given thought to how those before me have done it and i can't see myself doing anything other than quitting cold-turkey.

i have decided to stop DJing and producing. i need a lifestyle change. i am not happy -- and since blogging goes so heavily with everything i do, i am done blogging as well. it wasn't easy to come to this decision, but some things have happened in my life that have forced me to take a long hard look at what i am currently involved in. this wasn't my only option, but it was the one that made the most sense to me.

so long folks, and thanks for checking out all my über secrets. you can always email me and hope that your email doesn't get caught in the spam filter..