www.simoncollier.ca

Vancouver is a beautiful city with a rich and diverse culture and a very accommodating climate. It also has a huge number of homeless people. I don’t think I have ever been asked for money as often I as was in Vancouver. One of the requests was particularly bizaar.

On my way down to the pier to buy some food I was approached by a young man. He was fair haired, about 5’8″, and had some stubble. He was wearing beige khakis, a white t-shirt, and had a black sweater tied around his neck.

“Excuse me,” he said as our eyes met.

“Hi,” I responded, as a question as much as a greeting.

Now I had stopped to listen to him, I was trapped by the social rules that govern our society and could not, in good conscience, walk away. Little did I know that he was about to embark on the LONGEST request for money that I have ever heard. For the sake of a concise story, I will paraphrase the conversation.

“I just got here yesterday, today’s my first day in Vancouver. How are you? I flew in from Australia with my girlfriend” (He had an Australian accent, but to my ears it didn’t seem quite strong enough to be fresh from Oz). “Well, we got seperated at the airport and she has all my bags, my wallet, my passport, everything. Well, customs wouldn’t let me in, they arrested me for 24 hours then let me go and said I have 72 hours to show them my passport and ticket or they’ll put me in jail. All I’ve got is my MP3 player here.” At this point he showed me some sort of portable music player and although I’m not convinced it would work any longer it made for good costume. “Now I’ve got to get a bus and it’s $24 but my girlfriend has my wallet, so I need $24 to get the ticket. The bus leaves in one hour. If you could just lend me $24 then I can get to my girlfriend and get my wallet and I can pay you back. You’re from England, right? I was born in Manchester. I can mail you the money back. I’ve just got an hour before the bus leaves.”

At this point for some reason I allowed myself to be dragged deeper into this fantasy world and I explained that I do not live in England, although I am from there originally. “I live here. And I don’t need the money back.”

“I know what you’re thinking,” he replied. “You’re thinking that you’ll never see me again, that I won’t give you the money back.”

Actually, I was thinking I HOPE I never see him again. He was nearly right, though. I was also thinking that nobody – not even an Englishman from Australia – would have teeth that bad if they could afford a trip around the world.

“I don’t have any cash on me at all” I said, truthfully. I showed him what I had in my pockets, which was a cell phone, a tissue, an ID card and a Mastercard. “I don’t have any money, I’m just coming down here to buy some food with my Mastercard.”

“Look”, he said with wide puppy eyes as he showed me the inside of his forearms. “No needle marks. I’m not a druggie. I’m not a bum. I just need $24 for a bus ticket.”

I wasn’t ready to conclude he was simply looking for drug money, but his protests were a little strong and that made me think. Not all drugs use needles. In fact, neither Marijuana or Crystal Meth, both posular in Vancouver, require needles. Even crack does not require a needle in the forearm, to my knowledge. Not that it made a difference.

“I don’t have any cash,” I said. “I’m happy to walk with you to the bus station and buy your ticket, but I don’t have any money to give you. Where’s the bus station?”

He pointed to the furthest landmark there was in the view we had, at the other side of the bay and probably a two or three hour walk away. I thought to myself, why would you be hours away from a bus station asking for money for a ticket for a coach that leaves in an hour? Wouldn’t you choose to stand right outside the station?

“It’s way over there. Can you not get the cash from your Mastercard? There’s a cash machine over there. I’ll wait here.”

“I don’t have a PIN to withdraw cash with this card.” Also true.

“What about Interac? Do you have Interac?” WTF? If he JUST landed in the country, how does he even know what Interac is?? Besides which… Pushy much? And no, I didn’t.

“I showed you everything that was in my pocket, I only have Mastercard, I can’t take money out at a cash machine with this card, and I don’t have any cash. At this point, I’m going to wish you the best of luck in getting that ticket. Goodbye.”

I wish he would have just asked me to buy him a sandwich at Subway.

It used to be our dream to become immortal. We can see this desire though history, through stories and through our actions.

Science has evolved in great leaps in curing illnesses, many of which are rarely or never seen in the modern world. (Or certainly the rich, privileged parts.) Measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus – all practically wiped out, for now. Scientists worked diligently and admirably to bring about medicines that have healed millions of people across the world.

I have heard more than once the idea of art being a form of immortalising oneself. To create a masterpiece is to produce something that will exist forever, holding with it some memory of the greatest thing it’s artist ever accomplished. Michaelangelo, for example (having actually managed to finish something). The same is true with writing, and is exemplified though the work of Shakespeare, Twain and Wilde. Music through Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, even the Beetles I suppose.

Everything that we have ever done has been with the aim of some form of immortality. We want what we create to be beautiful, beneficial and permanent.

Lately, though, our race has been doing something I’m not sure we’ve seen before. We’re killing our own work.

We created a farm crop grown from a seed containing a suicide gene, so that the farmers are forced to re-purchase seed each year. (I have heard of this being used in third-world countries.)

We are creating a form of media (Blu-Ray DVD) that destroys itself after being used a given number of times, so (for example) you can only listen to your new album 50 times before you need to buy it again.

We have illnesses that are far more profitable to treat than they are to cure (AIDS, the common cold) so in the absence of any not-for-profit pharmaceutical companies the road to a cure will likely not be a fast one.

What are we doing? When did leaving our mark on the world become about limiting food, limiting art or limiting medicine? What is this destructive nature we display? Is this our own suicide gene?

Hmm. Who wants to live forever anyway.

Don’t make me get caught up in your head games.

Don’t tell me you love me. It hurts.

Don’t tell me you’ll call me. I’ll wait up.

Don’t tell me you want to see me. I’ll meet up.

Don’t kiss me. I’ll want more.

Don’t tell me we’ll be okay. I’ll belive you.

Don’t tell me you like flowers. I’ll buy them.

Don’t tell me about men who like you. I’ll be jealous.

Don’t expect me to be okay. Sometimes I’m not.

Don’t ask me for help. I will always be there.

Don’t invite me in. I’ll come.

It’s been months since I dated anybody. I miss the companionship, the excitement of seeing my girlfriend, the phonecalls at work, the hidden notes and dirty voicemails. I miss cooking meals together, going swimming and changing in the family room without even thinking twice. I miss our banter in public, back-and-forth digs that emote smiles from strangers listening in. I miss our debates – constantly bickering about ideas we each hold because we both like being right.

And the sex. Oh God, the sex.

It’s so easy to fall back into love with the idea of being with my ex.

For one, I remember the Good Times so clearly when I am without any recent fond memories. The perfect dates, the dates where so much went wrong that we couldn’t help but laugh, the strange places we had sex because we just had to do it then and there. Restaraunts, walks, festivals, movies: the memories surround me. Everything I touch, wherever I walk or shop. They’re all connected. Yes, the Good memories are beautiful.

Second, I know we have similar values. Our outlook on politics, religion and many of life’s talking points are similar enough that we can agree, but different enough that we can debate, learn and evolve our ideas and opinions. We are very opinionated, of course, so even slight variances in belief can cause an emotional discussion. Ultimately, though, she taught me a lot.

Third, I know we’re sexually compatible. Sooooooooo sexually compatible.

How easy it is to forget two years of heartache. Of lies, of deceptions and untruths. Of fighting. Of crying. Of absolute devestation.

And it is these contradictions that will forever tourment me. So perfect, but so impossible.

So, I don’t use Shaw TV any more because I get all of my TV online. It should be an even better experience for you if you have Media Centre PC, because you can get the internet on your big screen, too…

My primary method of watching TV is to download shows using Bittorrent. They tend to be in HDTV quality and in widescreen. Usually, they are available the morning following the first TV broadcast. The more recent shows tend to be available (and at higher download speed), but you can search for some archives. You can download entire seasons of more popular shows. Movies are often crap quality (camcorder in the theatre).

You will need: Bittorrent and client (suggest Azureus, which includes both).

You’ll also need DivX player, from www.divx.com.

TV shows are listed many places, suggest www.mininova.org, www.torrentspy.com, www.uknova.com.
Next, it’s online video. I’m still finding sites as this is newer, and so far I’m watching politically left-of-centre material: www.throwawayyourtv.com www.zefrank.com/theshow www.amazon.com

If you’re searching for something in particular, then video.google.com and www.youtube.com are good.

For live streaming TV broadcast (ABC, HBO, ESPN) you can download TVUPlayer, which is a peer-to-peer based system. Basically, when you change a channel it takes 20 seconds or so to get up to full quality, but once it’s there’s it’s at least TV quality. It’s still in beta, and currently has no full-screen option. Just google TVUPlayer.

I hope you find some of this useful/entertaining!