i think it’s rather interesting that, while an airplane is taxiing down the runway at six miles per hour, you’re required to remain strapped into your seat with the backrest up and the tray table stowed and no electronic devices, yadda yadda yadda. but once the plane is doing 600 miles per hour, you are allowed to get up, walk around, eat, drink, and even use the lavatory. kind of bizarre, eh?

though i guess it’s more impressive to say you’ve taken a piss at 600 mph without missing.

i was the only passenger on the way to the airport today and so i struck up a conversation with the bus driver who, as it turned out, was a Peruvian refugee who had fled to Seattle during the 70’s. he talked about how beautiful his country was and how the fish in Peru tastes better because the waters are warmer. he must’ve talked about fish for nearly 10 minutes. then, nearing the end of the ride, he began ranting about how stupid politics were and how angry he was that it forced him to flee his beloved country. there was a profound disappointment in his voice.

i shook his hand on my way out to change buses and he looked at me and said “ey, you look like nice guy. i give you new bus transfer good until 3pm.” i of course never got a chance to take advantage of the extended transfer but i wish i could have.

maybe next time.

back in Seattle now and tomorrow i’ll be heading back home to Chicago to get on with the rest of my life.

oh yeah, and Thomas Delgado is a dick.

now that i think about it, perhaps what i had been lacking all along is not the capability or eagerness to act nor the capacity to understand, but rather the seemingly basic ability to shut the hell up and listen to what God has to say.

today i went to my favorite restaurant here in Vancouver: a Chinese owned all-you-can-eat sushi and Korean barbecue joint. they seated us in a fake boat, which was weird and yet mysteriously nautical. but when the grills were lit and dishes of sushi and raw meat came pouring onto the table, i no longer cared about where i was sitting or indeed what i was doing with my life. the food. the food!

and all for 13CAD.

and now for some WRC news that you’ll probably ignore because you don’t follow it.

another year, another season of the World Rally Championships. this year starts off, as always, in Monte Carlo with new tire rules (Pirellis, no run-flat mousse, less compounds to choose from) set in place to make things more interesting. the new rules had claimed its first victim early on as Ford’s #2 driver Jari-Matti Latvala suffered a puncture during the first stage costing him nearly four minutes as he and his co-driver pulled over to change the tire. don’t feel sorry for him, though. he’s only 22 years old and he’s already a professional rally driver. i didn’t even have a car at 22.

in other news, the freshman Suzuki World Rally Team has been running two new SX4’s though one suffered turbo problems pretty early on. big news also for Subaru as they plan to introduce the next generation Impreza later this season while their current car continues running the stages. it’ll be exciting to see how much of a difference the new car will make and whether or not it’ll give former champ Petter Solberg the extra edge he needs to realistically challenge the likes of Sordo, Hirvonen, and Loeb. well, maybe not so much Loeb.

out of curiousity, how many people out there have any idea what i’m on about?

so i was at the west end of Robson looking for something to eat. i had been to a good ramen place there before a few years ago but i had a craving for Chinese food. i texted a friend to see if she had any recommendations but never got a reply, i must’ve walked up and down Robson a good five times before i finally caved in and chose a place called “Flaming Wok” because it was called “Flaming Wok.”

a sense of dread came over me as i opened the door but my stomach had taken over and, before i knew it, i was handing over a grip of unholy Canadian dollars for a plate of equally unholy “combo #1.” i sat down and warily began eating, the opposite extremes of sweet and salty clashing in my mouth like two bloodied elephant seals on the arctic tundra.

i felt a little queasy after i finished dinner and felt that i had sunken to a new low. it was devastating.

God help us all.

so i caught a bus downtown from SEATAC and, at one particular stop, the bus seemed to be broken. well, by ‘broken’ i mean it wasn’t moving. the bus driver just sat there and so, naturally, the other passengers and i just sat there as well. then suddenly a woman came out of nowhere and boarded the bus. then, a little bit later, two guys. and then an old lady. it took me a while to catch on, but it appears that the bus driver was waiting for them.

to give you some perspective, the bus drivers in Chicago either:

a) laugh as they watch you running through the mirror, driving just fast enough that you can’t catch up
b) laugh at you as they drive past, resulting in a brief exchange of obscene hand gestures
c) laugh at nothing for no reason to nobody’s surprise

no matter how many times i come here, i’m always surprised at how nice the people are. it’s gotten to the point where i suspect that they’re up to something sinister and unthinkably disturbing. i seriously want to shake them to see if they’re real.

i’m off to the great pacific northwest again. it’s about time.

oh, and jusignore.us is back up. my host was able to restore the missing files for me :)

i think i’m going crazy. i had a CF card in my hand one minute and it disappeared the next.