Happiness, Thursdays, and Findings.

Greetings, First things first. I may have figured out life today. It's summed up in a simple table illustrated above. The building blocks of life and simplicity of actions allow you to climb those mountains of your dreams. Notice that genuine creativity can only be accomplished with confidence and peace of mind on your side; not to mention friends, family and the most basic of animal and human needs and desires.

Taking care of a block at a time may afford me my dream of finding a place in the sun with a spotted dog, fishing boat, philosophy books, buttons for my coat, scripts for the scenes, and the wine cellar of gods.

Article of the day: 'We are not here to steal your gravel' - The New Yorker

Things I've lived by today - Apply the context to journalism and reporting.

On audience: "All I want now is for enough people to identify with my songs so I can keep on singing them...." PN

On thoughts and arguments. "I'm going to know my song well before I start singing..." RZ

Nothing but time

Photo: 'A box full of memories' Daniel C.

Hiya,

Again, starting to fall behind on my posts, but I hope everyone was out enjoying their weekend, long weekend, and summer days and nights. I've not been feeling to hot as of late, and after a a crazy end to my time at the Herald, including four stories on my last afternoon, I decided it was time I took a little break from the Internet and my laptop.

I spent Saturday filming a segment for a Dutch travel show in the pouring rain, and crashed hard on Saturday evening after being out way too late on Friday at an art school rock n' roll house frat party, unreal by the way, and of course a nightmare few days at work. Saturday saw me watching one of the oldest teams in Scotland play with my CouchSurfer and Dennis, one of the most recognizable TV dudes from Holland, amongst a small crowd of 1,000, interviewing their #1 fan who has seen 513 matches in a row, and drinking beer and eating Scotch pies for the camera.

Thursday

Photo: Daniel C.

Another day in the life coming to a close tonight. A blinding headache stops me from writing to you all a little more, but here are a few of my favourite stories from another rainy and dull day. Goodnight.

i - "Endurance cooking as performance art." The story of 48 hours of endless cooking. Vancouver style. I've done a few 18-19 hour shifts in the front of house, but couldn't imagine cooking for 48 hours. The best thing about Chef Todd, besides his unreal two-day run of three course tasting menus for 20 people every two hours, is the fact he runs an illegal restaurant out his apartment called '12b'. Unreal.

ii - It's halfway to Christmas right? Or maybe I can buy myself a few early birthday gifts. Top gadgets for the frugal traveler, or the broke junior reporter.

iii - You're a communist bully. No, you're a childish school girl. Ah, diplomatic rhetoric between the nuclear powers. Fun and games, right?

iv- Rats take Edinburgh; Toronto not the only place with rubbish woes this summer. Yes, despite the rain and mild temperatures, it is still 'summer' here.

v - complicated and brilliant. Rufus Wainwright, and a new opera.

Tuesday thoughts.

Photo: G.O.

Hello all. Hope everyone is well, I really do. I found a few things this morning while sifting through the mountain of news and features.

Here.ya.go:

A - Want to know what Tiger will be wearing in Scotland on Sunday? Top comment on the golf blog goes to to one 'Bagger Vance' (brilliant film) from Kalamazoo, MI.. "Even with all of this attention paid to clothes, golfers of today don't measure up, fashion wise, to the pros of the '40s and '50s, who sported a classic, elegant look."

I couldn't agree more. I think athletes these days still lack a little class when it comes to attire on and off the field of play. Watching Wimbledon a few weeks back, where the clothes are meant to be white and neatly tailored, I was again appalled at all the baggy shorts, scruffy beards and backwards caps.

Thursday update

Photo: Daniel C.

Friends, I’m just in the door from the eight miles, and feeling like I owe you a wee post tonight. Last night I think I was just too tired to string sentences together, and as I was nodding off alone on my couch, I felt it best to just drag my weary bones to bed.

I had about a hundred things to share, but deleted a draft of about 500 words I had written up, at which point I was ready to throw my laptop at the pale white wall. Actually, I have told you a white lie already. I came in from my run, put down the groceries, and grabbed my camera to run back out into the night.

You see the things about Scotland is even on days when it’s grey and dreary, the sky always breaks in the evening, where layers of thin white cloud seem to float among the magnificent colors of the setting sun. At the start of June, it was never dark here; in the wee hours of the morning the sky was always this pastel blue, and the sky seemed unchanged between dusk and dawn. Tonight reminded me why I love just walking around under the Northern skies here – just like June, just like every night.

Random ramblings of a Friday

 
Portrait of drunk wee friends: Daniel C.

I've had enough cups of tea today to keep me going for a little while here, so let’s get started. I’ve got the new Rancid acoustic album on the mini-speakers tonight, and have also cracked into a screw-cap bottle of Chat-eu-Oeuf, which has made some friends curious. Hopefully that will help to make things a little more creative this evening. Just kidding – lots to talk about....

Another long week at work had me craving a glass of wine - a rare delicacy of late. In the supermarket at the closing hour I decided to pick something out to help me celebrate by myself tonight, having completing my ninth week at work; only four to go. Wow. It was nice to leave my desk at 17:01 knowing I could enjoy the weekend off, running and exploring as I always do, having tied up all the loose ends of a week, in the same breathe having completed - only moments before - my wellington boot feature for another page 3 spread in the Sunday national.