Had a great day out and aboot, the kind of day that I can almost forget the pain because it's just so nice out and when the Sun shines on your body, you can literally feel the heat.
In hard times, on the coldest of days, I'd saved a memory for such times.
When I went to Egypt, I went a couple days earlier than the tour started, mostly because I'd never traveled internationally before and I didn't know how my body might react to the time zone change, the climate change, elevation... I didn't want to get to Egypt and then the very next day be thrown into the tour full out. A 'tour' of Egypt or really any 'tour' in the World isn't a 'vacation'... Some days we were up at 4am to be ready to leave for 5/5:30.
I stayed at the Mena Hotel in Cairo. Check it out online, it's a literal fortress. Kings, Queens, movie stars, presidents have stayed there and the next day after I had arrived, I was enthralled just by the hotel.
It took me like 20 minutes plus just to get out to the front of the hotel, not because it was far, but because I was just taking everything in, the place was incredible.
Once I got to the front, there was a hotel worker who offered to take me on a tour of the hotel, it had such history, it deserved a tour.
So I went off on this tour and about halfway through and at a section of the hotel you'd really needed to get there by a golf buggy, it was that big of a place.
He took me to the 'new' part of the hotel. He said, and I knew, that I was "lucky" because I was the only person in my tour to get a room in the old section of the Mena House Hotel... The new part was ritzy and high tech, marble floors, electronic card key locks and doors. We turned a corner and on both sides of the hall water came pouring out onto channels on each side and then as we followed the channels out some doors, and I was floored.
From there the channels flowed down stairs, into pools and then into more channels, into more pools and then they flowed right into the swimming pool and the terrace that surrounded the pool was right out of a fairy tale.
After the tour I decided that I'd go for a swim. So I took a buggy back to my room, changed and then took a buggy back. On that return trip the driver had told me at famous/infamous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass was giving a lecture at the hotel, but I had missed it and him. At the time Mr. Hawass was the main dude in Egypt, he was the minister of antiquities and was well known to 'steal' digs from other archaeologists. The guys really a dickhead, but it still woulda been cool to meet him.
Once I got to the pool, I slid in and swam around and then noticed that you could see the pyramids from the pool. I swam to the edge of the pool facing them and told myself in my mind, 'Ok, remember this moment forever, when you're depressed, hurt, cold, feeling down, reflect on this moment, on this time and hold onto it'... Which was what I did, Of course the trip held many more majikal moments, the cruise on the Nile river with a full Moon rising over the sand dunes, with palm tress in the foreground. Touching the walls of Luxor and Karnak temples... hehe I desperately want to go back, I'd live there if I could, it's one of the most ancient places on the planet.
So, today, walked over to Superstore on Smythe, hit the Dollar Store for a few things, then made my way down Westmorland, zigzagged through some streets before winding up at Sobeys to grab something.
At Sobeys I ran into Brian Davis (of Spinesplitter/Dapper Dan fame), I don't usually run into him there when he's not working. So it was great to talk to Brian, he's a great guy and a great drummer.
Then as we were talking another local celeb popped by, Rob Scholl is a graphic artist who's done a plethora of posters, band logo's shirt designs and not just locally, but globally. I run into Rob quite frequently as we live pretty close to each other. I actually met Rob's Mom when I went on walks and would find her catching a breather by the hold train bridge. Both great folks!
So Rob, Brian and I shot the shit for a while, talking about bands, politics and Fredericton goings-on.
Always great to see both of them.
I was a bit pissed off tonight reading a CBC article on the new 'Pot outlets' to be opened in New Brunswick, the article had someone refer to the future patrons of the stores as "users" like these stores are going to be fucking 'safe injection' sites or something.
I had thought of writing CBC about this matter, but then thought better of it. The government and the people involved are still from the 'old guard', they still have views like marijuana is addictive and it's a gateway drug and that it causes people to hallucinate. The saddest part about the legalization of marijuana is that this 'old guard' has not bothered to educate itself, or if it has, it's using old school propaganda to do so. Well more power to them. Let them be stupid idiots and let us who know better just move on in life in peace.
Rant complete.
In hard times, on the coldest of days, I'd saved a memory for such times.
When I went to Egypt, I went a couple days earlier than the tour started, mostly because I'd never traveled internationally before and I didn't know how my body might react to the time zone change, the climate change, elevation... I didn't want to get to Egypt and then the very next day be thrown into the tour full out. A 'tour' of Egypt or really any 'tour' in the World isn't a 'vacation'... Some days we were up at 4am to be ready to leave for 5/5:30.
I stayed at the Mena Hotel in Cairo. Check it out online, it's a literal fortress. Kings, Queens, movie stars, presidents have stayed there and the next day after I had arrived, I was enthralled just by the hotel.
It took me like 20 minutes plus just to get out to the front of the hotel, not because it was far, but because I was just taking everything in, the place was incredible.
Once I got to the front, there was a hotel worker who offered to take me on a tour of the hotel, it had such history, it deserved a tour.
So I went off on this tour and about halfway through and at a section of the hotel you'd really needed to get there by a golf buggy, it was that big of a place.
He took me to the 'new' part of the hotel. He said, and I knew, that I was "lucky" because I was the only person in my tour to get a room in the old section of the Mena House Hotel... The new part was ritzy and high tech, marble floors, electronic card key locks and doors. We turned a corner and on both sides of the hall water came pouring out onto channels on each side and then as we followed the channels out some doors, and I was floored.
From there the channels flowed down stairs, into pools and then into more channels, into more pools and then they flowed right into the swimming pool and the terrace that surrounded the pool was right out of a fairy tale.
After the tour I decided that I'd go for a swim. So I took a buggy back to my room, changed and then took a buggy back. On that return trip the driver had told me at famous/infamous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass was giving a lecture at the hotel, but I had missed it and him. At the time Mr. Hawass was the main dude in Egypt, he was the minister of antiquities and was well known to 'steal' digs from other archaeologists. The guys really a dickhead, but it still woulda been cool to meet him.
Once I got to the pool, I slid in and swam around and then noticed that you could see the pyramids from the pool. I swam to the edge of the pool facing them and told myself in my mind, 'Ok, remember this moment forever, when you're depressed, hurt, cold, feeling down, reflect on this moment, on this time and hold onto it'... Which was what I did, Of course the trip held many more majikal moments, the cruise on the Nile river with a full Moon rising over the sand dunes, with palm tress in the foreground. Touching the walls of Luxor and Karnak temples... hehe I desperately want to go back, I'd live there if I could, it's one of the most ancient places on the planet.
So, today, walked over to Superstore on Smythe, hit the Dollar Store for a few things, then made my way down Westmorland, zigzagged through some streets before winding up at Sobeys to grab something.
At Sobeys I ran into Brian Davis (of Spinesplitter/Dapper Dan fame), I don't usually run into him there when he's not working. So it was great to talk to Brian, he's a great guy and a great drummer.
Then as we were talking another local celeb popped by, Rob Scholl is a graphic artist who's done a plethora of posters, band logo's shirt designs and not just locally, but globally. I run into Rob quite frequently as we live pretty close to each other. I actually met Rob's Mom when I went on walks and would find her catching a breather by the hold train bridge. Both great folks!
So Rob, Brian and I shot the shit for a while, talking about bands, politics and Fredericton goings-on.
Always great to see both of them.
I was a bit pissed off tonight reading a CBC article on the new 'Pot outlets' to be opened in New Brunswick, the article had someone refer to the future patrons of the stores as "users" like these stores are going to be fucking 'safe injection' sites or something.
I had thought of writing CBC about this matter, but then thought better of it. The government and the people involved are still from the 'old guard', they still have views like marijuana is addictive and it's a gateway drug and that it causes people to hallucinate. The saddest part about the legalization of marijuana is that this 'old guard' has not bothered to educate itself, or if it has, it's using old school propaganda to do so. Well more power to them. Let them be stupid idiots and let us who know better just move on in life in peace.
Rant complete.
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