Although the air is stale the backyards
are sparse, the traffic is loud and
the stars don't grace this city at night.
There is still something special about this
metropolitan city. "
Urban Dwellers get a little disease I call the Urban Bite.
Moving to Vancouver was culture shock after living in a fishing village.
Vancouver to me is a truly enduring place. This harsh fast-paced city terrified me, but once I figured out the beat and numbed myself to the nonsense it got a lot better. I started really enjoying all of the fantastic shenanigans the city has to offer. I started falling in love with the city just in time to say goodbye.
I loved surfing concrete waves, the skate parks are sick. The mountains aren't that far away and the ocean is always within reach.
Bonsor Skatepark, Burnaby, BC. (Photo borrowed from: http://www.spectrum-sk8.com/parks/bc/van/burnaby.html)
The skate scene is amazingly supportive. Snobby scensters are everywhere but when you make it to a park, they not only have skate edict like no other city I've skated, they make small talk and ask if you wanna drop in first. This was shocking compared to too many rude parks I've skated. The lines are endless. I bought a fat re-issued stereo and love it. I never really skated bowls until I moved to the Couv. Vancouver is also home of fresh art, good fashion, music, venues and is a major media hub of North America.
The Plaza, downtown Vancouver
Although this city is considered one of the most desirable places to live in the world, it took a little getting use to. Bitter journals and scattered thoughts in transit were a direct result of the big city urban bite I had to face.
Journals InTransit
May 3rd
Running in the city everyone is so frantic. Umbrellas are like the great urban sword fighting for a spot to protect themselves from the drooling sky. People dodge traffic risking their lives to catch the bus driving by. Stand in the middle of the road to wave a taxi down. These urban dwellers are in such a hurry they end up ending their lives early—ironically worried about being late.
May 10th
The hustle bustle of city living. No matter how loud my head phones are and how pretty the images in my picture book are, I'm still stuck on this loud hot nauseating bus, having my bubble invaded in every way imaginable. The worst part is when the bus is so bumpy I can't even write or read my book. I'm trapped here in my untimely reality.
On the bus constant conversation. How a seven minute bus ride can change your life. Why do we dodge traffic and chase transit?
July 26th
To successfully survive city living you need to learn to see thru people. As a child this is the hardest thing to learn. Why can't I talk to strangers? Ignore and blindly pass the homeless, angry, ugly, and unhappy. You walk by faces after faces of blank stares, it's what we do, no time for small talk, everyone is on route to some important destination. Whatever happened to substance? Bring back conversation.
Project Placement—sit and observe
objects: headphones, pen, notepad, and disposable camera.
Symptoms & Observations:
The side effect of the bite:
Bitterness, paranoia, lack of stimuli and passion, resentfulness, disconnection to relevant reality.
Basically zombie—like behavior. Trapped in a graveyard full of pushy zombies.
Avoidance-humans brush by each other in the utmost avoidance blankly staring like mindless zombies—blood thirsty for anything other then human connection.
Take off those stilettos and that dirty look. We are alone. Bite or no bite these symptoms can be taken care of if you just wake up and try hard to remember what's important.
We are all alive. Just because we are surrounded doesn't mean we should be blinded.
Breathe deep, find some clean air and unintoxicated moments to step back in.
