i hate my blog

Month #3 of Living in the Military Coup...or something

2009-08-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

Turns out that my explosive diarrhea which i've had for numerous weeks, is the result of amoebas living in me. I'm 99% sure that the military coup is behind it.

Week #5 living in a Military Coup

2009-08-04T13:58:00.000-07:00

Last night, for the fifth night in a row, I woke up in the middle of the night with explosive diarrhea.

...somehow this is related to the coup, I know it is

Day #16 Living in a Military Coup

2009-07-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Today I ate cornflakes for breakfast again, because the only bread we have in the house is pre-toasted bread from Mexico. Call me crazy, but there's something unsettling about bread that is already packaged toasted, and remains hard forever...and never molds. But products from Mexico can't be bad, right?

This has nothing to do with the Military Coup...but its more interesting then most things that are happening here

Ways Honduras is different from North America #34: Military Coups

2009-07-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

I swore it'd take nothing short of a military coup to get me to write on this blog again...and in case you haven't been following Latin American news, I'm eating my words...and they taste bitter and not very satisfying.

But apparently Honduras has had a military coup, though you wouldn't know it judging by the happenings around here. Copan Ruinas is far removed from the political confusion of the major cities, and the events are little more than the topic of conversation here. I’m more worried about stray dogs and whatever keeps biting me in the middle of the night than anything to do with military and/or coups. Hondurans are pretty laid back and peace loving. Its hard to say which is the bigger headline here, the coup or the death of Michael Jackson.

Allow me to try to break down the situation here, at least as I see it.

So the (former) cowboy hat totting, moustache rocking president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya (pictured above), has been pursuing a somewhat left-wing political agenda like he pursues upper lip facial hair. He had started becoming bff's with Hugo Chavez (president of Venezuela), Danny Ortega (president of Nicaragua) and other moustache loving leftist leaders in Latin America. I guess Manuel Zelaya figured he was doing such a bang up job (he wasn't) that he should be president for a second term (he shouldn't). The only thing standing in his way was a little thing called the constitution, which clearly made it illegal for any president to run again after holding office.

What do you do when the constitution is holding you back? You just change it, like we do back home, right? To Zelaya’s credit he didn’t, but instead decided to hold a vote to see if the people want to vote on re-electing him during the next elections in the winter. Not to his credit, even just holding the vote was ruled as illegal by the Supreme Court, unconstitutional by Congress, was unsupported by the military, both the Evangelical and Catholic Church (which never agree on anything) and the vast majority of the population. You would think that all this would convince Zelaya that the vote was a bad idea.

So the leader of the military says that he’s not going to support this, so Zelaya fires him, which is also ruled illegal by Congress. Now he’s got the leader of the military angry at him, plus the entire government, most of the population and even his own party. But Zelaya thinks to himself “whats the worst that can happen?” and goes head with his plans to hold the vote the other Sunday.

Well it turns out the worst that can happen is that you wake up to the military storming your house and kicking you out of the presidential office in the first successful military coup in Central America since the Cold War. As punishment they send him to worst place they can think of…Costa Rica…in his pajamas. Which sounds surprisingly similar to a dream I used to have as a kid.

Since then, Congress has decided it’s time for someone with less 'face furniture' to run the country and assigned Roberto Micheletti as the interim president for the time being. But pretty much the rest of the whole world, including his bff Hugo Chavez, has said that they want Zelaya and his ’soup strainer’ back leading Honduras.

Continuing with this bad soap opera, Zelaya meets with various world leaders and vows to courageously fly back to Honduras in all the glory and radiance of a movie star. Micheletti vows to arrest him if he does. Unfortunately for Manuel Zelaya's plans, he told everyone when and where he was flying to, and the military easily prevented his return by lying to runway with vehicles and beard trimmers. So rejected, Manny flies back home to work on plan B.

So it’s going to be interesting to see what happens. Will Micheletti step down? Will the Honduran government bow under international pressure? Will Zelaya be Tom Selleck for Halloween? Nobody seems to know.

Pretty much married

2009-06-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

Half way there. Read about it on Kristin's blog: www.kristincato.typepad.com

Or if you'd rather, check out this out. It was from one of Kristin's students in Korea, the winner of an essay contest:

I have a good thing to write something to place blog

New Blog

2009-01-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

this post is a joke, cause all it i'm doing is telling you about another blog, my one about urbanpromise honduras. thats right i'm in honduras. and i haven't even blogged about it yet. and i don't use capitals anymore

check it out if you want to read a blog twice as good as this one...if thats possible (which it isn't)

www.urbanpromisehonduras.wordpress.com

be there or be out of the loop on what i'm doing in honduras.

New Years

2009-01-03T20:56:00.000-08:00

Everyone seems to make new years resolutions that will better their lives, or make themselves better people. But whats the fun in that?

This year i am resolving to:

-eat cake at least once a day
-breath less than last year
-talk backwards
-punch all of my friends in the face at least once this year (so look out)
-cut down as many trees as possible

Theres an American Thanksgiving now?

2008-12-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

A few month late, but here some pics from our trip up to Boston. All the pictures have been stolen from a professional photography magazine, but they follow the events of our trip surprisingly close.

On the train to Boston
Salem. Biggest tourist trap ever. Here's a statue of some pilgrim, but everyone thinks its a statue of a witch. Most of the evidence suggests that almost all the first pilgrims were witches, and there is a theory that the United States was originally a haven for them. Hence the popularity of Harry Potter cult.

Salem Witch Museum. They decide not to follow the conventional model of a museum by rejecting historical artifacts, relics, tour guides or facts.

Instead they resort to manikins to recreate scenes from the witch trials...like this of the hanging. Simple, and yet somehow they are still able to call themselves a museum. Its hard to imagine anything thats 8 dollars to be a waste of money, but they figured out a way.

Cakes shaped like turkey's? Whatever. Anything goes in Boston.

Harvard. You feel stupid just looking at it.

Some old church in Boston. The entire church was separated into little booths for families, boreded up on all sides, so your its like your in your own little room while in church. You'd buy a section, and it'd be yours. I didn't find out why. Probably built by witches though.

The church with some guy riding a horse who did something

St. Francis, seen better days/

An Ode to Kristin Cato

2008-12-12T22:39:00.000-08:00

This is a poem, written for Cato,
For there is none among all the people,
Of the whole world that could be her equal.

She is the most amazing person that,
I have ever known, or have ever met,
She is one person you’d never forget.

More beautiful than the brightest sunrise,
With black silky hair and dark almond eyes,
And a smile that lights up the darkest skies.

Greater than the biggest ocean or sea,
Kristin is the best there ever has been,
Unless, of course, you’re talking ‘bout JC.

For me I cannot even remember,
What life was like before I had met her,
Before that day it was all one big blur.

Kristin is the Promise to my Urban,
The Sikh’s head that is under to my turban,
The human touch to my Bruce Robinson.

She is the Kimchee to my Korea,
The Russian head scarf to my Babushka,
And the Philippines to my Manila.

She’s the topless fairy to my trout lake,
The Vancouver Sun Run to my knee ache,
The sleep paralysis when I awake.

She’s the jello melting in my work desk,
The PNE to my motion sickness,
The Skype video to my long distance.

She’s addicting like her name was Whalley,
Makes me tipsy like her name was Toby’s,
Kills me like a new peanut allergy.

I would never trade one single second
Of being with her, for fifty thousand
All expense paid tickets to Lotte Land.

And all of this writing, is just to say,
Whether its winter or spring, night or day,
August, October, December or May.

Whether living in Philadelphia,
Or BC commercial drive area,
Or with the penguins in Antarctica,

Whether Honduras sunshine, prairie snow,
Or Korean blue skies, you need to know
There’s no person quite like Kristin Cato.

getting down to business

2008-11-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well it finally happened...my first business card ever. Although it doesn't say any more information than what you could gather from stalking me on the internet (you know who you are).

Thats me. Matt Wall. Any questions? Give me a call, we'll do business.

Crump it

2008-11-16T21:09:00.001-08:00

What do you do when youre stuck in an officehouse all day, with no way of leaving?

You crump your troubles away. This is what we do everyday...sometimes in public...just to keep the sanity.

...if you can call it that.

Greatest dancer of our time, lil Q

Married Life

2008-11-10T21:41:00.001-08:00

So, this has happened frequently, and happened again today so i had to blog about it. I never thought i'd ever be saying those words, "i have to blog about it"

So, being quite regular, i need to drop a number 2 around the same time in the morning. Its a nice break inbetween my breakfast and starting work. Since i live and work and never leave this building, i have to use things like bowel movements to break up my day. And like most people i like to relax while i'm in there, take my time, read a little. I'm not one of those people that can't go if someone else is nearby, but i am one of those people who likes to be left alone. Just let me do my thing, is that too much to ask?

Well apparently it is for my roommate/life partner Blair. Apparently his urinary movements are powerful beyond control, and more punctual than the sunrise...cause as soon as i hit the middle of my routine, he's banging on the door cause he needs to pee. I don't know about you, but i can go 10 minutes without peeing my pants. But not Blair. Nope, he's kicking the door down peeing in the sink. When he needs to go he NEEDS TO GO.
Is that normal? Are there other people like this, who have bladders that are as flimsy as a soggy paper towel? I don't think i've ever suggested to someone to let me in so i can go in the bathtub, just because my kidneys can't handle 5 more minutes or slight pressure. Am i the only one who thinks this is rediculous? And its happened more than once!

Now that i think about it, its happened before with my old roommate joel. Joel's colon was as fikkle as Blairs bladder. I would usually give in and cut it short for him or let him use at least the sink out of pure fear that he was literally going to die of bowel poisoning. I remember one time i refused and stood my ground, just to see what would happen. I thought i would prove to him that it was actually possible to be master over your own bowels...but he couldn't handle it and went in the back yard.

...not that bad if we didn't share it with four other suites (it was a condo complex).

last month

2008-11-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

So this is what happens when you don't blog. You end up trying to cram everything into one big post and it just comes out rushed and confusing. So i'm warning you right, this will probably not make sense. ...but then probably most things that go on this blog have little sense to them. So what has happened around here worth noting? Well, we've pretty much finished our proposal. Got our first check from a generous donor - so UP in Honduras is no longer in the hole...for now. The Phillys won the world series, which was a legitamite reason for riots. Barack Obama won the president series, which was also the cause for riot apparently.

And this...
Apparently they have horses in new jersey now. Theres actually an island where we went to, called Assateagua Island, where wild horses roam the island. And its actually famous and people love it, slowing down to take pictures of horses. HORSES. Kinda cool i guess...if your an 8 year old girl. Next weekend we're going to an island with wild cows on it...i'm super excited.

Then this little doosey happened. How did that picture from the magazine "best pictures ever taken by humans" get in here you might be asking? Wrong, thats all me. Whose laughing now National Geographic?

Philadelphia, often known as the "city of brotherly love"...The Love Languages book has been #1 best seller here for 150 years straight. This is a statue of some guy who did something in America...i think, but i'll have to check wikipedia to be sure.

Oh, another professional picture? Strike two. Me again. This guys coming after me for stealing his soul with my camera

I really wanted to buy an amish doll, but lets face it, theres no way i'm getting any sleep with one of those in my room.

The next blog post will probably be next year, summed up in 5 photos as well.

Going Hard

2008-10-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Me and Blair went into Philly the other day for a change of scenery (because we live in an office with a bedroom). We started hashing out a few things needed to be sorted out, like goals and objectives, mission statements and timeline. It was all going well, until my head exploded.

My basic day breaks usually as such: Wake up, eat breakfast, sit down and debate about the wording of something we've written for a couple hours, meet with Lindsey, debate about more wording for the rest of the day, have supper, debate about wording for a couple more hours - but then get sick of it and settle on something, and then watch an episode of the wire before we go to bed.

If you've ever spent 10 hours trying to figure out the best way to write one sentance, then you'd be a good candidate for starting an UrbanPromise in Honduras, or somewhere.

which is the reason for the head explosion.

it is also coming to my attention that me and blair spend every waking hour working and living together, as well as every sleeping hour together (separate beds, just to clarify)...which i'm pretty sure technically, though not legally, means we're married.

UP Honduras

2008-10-08T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it to Camden...just barely. My flight was delayed in Denver (of course) due to terrorists using thunderstorms to attack planes (at least thats what FOXNews was saying). So i didn't get into Philly until 2:45 am (2 hours later than i was supposed to). Then my ride, blair, was asleep (of course) so he didn't come pick me up till 3:45. Then we got lost in some shady neighborhood in Philly (of course). They told us, whatever you do, don't get off the highway...so we did. By the time i rolled into Camden it was 4:45.

We started working on the basic stuff you need for starting an organization. Don't know what that is? Well, i'll tell you once i figure out what it is we're working on. But seriously its a pretty good set up. Heres a few pics.

This is our room, used for sleeping and hiding

Its room 2. Not room 3. sorry for the confusion. My address is Room 2, USA.

Our first load of Groceries from the EZ-mart. Its selection is about as good as you'd expect from such a store in Camden. Its chill unless you want rice, vegetables and love fruit flies. But this is more than just a picture of a fridge half filled with D-grade food. Its also a picture of the first budget expense of UP Honduras...which is now already -$67 in the red, after its first day

And then this happened. The toilet overflowed. And yes that is an open window right at crotch level.

Memories

2008-09-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Mexico + Dune buggy + boogie board + friends + disregard for safety = awesome

and it also equals this

2008-09-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

Now that i'm not working, i had plenty of time to pursue fulfilling a dream of mine, hike the top of golden ears mountain. But like most dreams, they're chill when your dreaming them, but when it comes to real life, they suck. Much like Golden Ears hike. I was very disappointed. 90% of the hike is in trees or bush. You don't actually get to above the tree line, and any kind of interesting terrian or views, until the last hour. It took me 10 hours in one day, and by the end my legs felt like bubble tea with extra coconut jelly. You might as well tie a Juniper to your face and lie down in the middle of a busy street, having your legs run over and over again by passing cars...cause thats basically the experience i had. I'm thinking of retiring from hiking. I've already retired from golf, baseball, ultimate frisbee and equastrian sports...so i might as well add hiking to the list.

2008-09-08T20:15:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention that my blog is turning into little more than just a link to youtube, and lacking in actual content. So i decided to alter that trend and update ya'll with something from my life, lest this blog become another mindless archive of videos attempting to convince you of my coolness with their content.

today i successfully listened to a whole tape on learning spanish, without actually learning anything. Tengo tonto (i have stupid)

heres a link to youtube

PS have you checked out the random cat of the day?

Super Mario Bros at the Ice Capades (1988)

2008-08-28T23:20:00.001-07:00

words fail me

BIGFOOT BODY FOUND IN GEORGIA !!!!

2008-08-24T22:24:00.001-07:00

He's proved his superior intelligence by successfully hiding from humanity for years, but he's finally made a mistake...dying...
...and the hicks jumped on it.
Believe it people. What appears to be a ridiculously obvious chewbacca mask and a cheap fur coat, is in reality the real live dead body of the Sasquatch - some sort of half monkey human hybrid - caught by (who else?) georgian hicks and stuck in (where else?) a freezer.

Thanks to the faithful and always top notch reporting of FOX News, we now know that that clever monkey-man has been camped out in the georgian wilderness all these years. But his reign of terror is finally over.

This undeniable proof of the existence of the Bigfoot (previously thought to be just a really big and hairy homeless man) can be added to the already convincing evidence of blurry photographs, shakey camera shots and cardboard cutout foot prints. We can finally answer that age old question of what is smarter, some sort of human ape love child...or hicks from georgia.

Camp Grace Aerobics

2008-08-15T20:06:00.001-07:00

Ryan, you need to stop lying to yourself and the world. For too long have you been running from your true calling in life, as an aqua-fit instructor, and for too long the world has been denied this gift. Its time to come out of the closet...the water closet as it were.

I'm glad to see this small step in the right direction.

Rigoberta Menchu

2008-05-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

Born into a poor peasant family of Guatamalan Quiche-Maya indians, Rigoberta Menchu has become a human rights activist for indeginous rights, even winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. From her biography, talking about Christianity and the church.

"we have understood that being a Christian means refusing to accept all the injustices which are committed agaisnt our people, refusing to accept the discrimination committed against a humble people who barely know what eating meat is but who are treated worse than horses."

..."for us the Bible is our main weapon. It has shown us the way. Perhaps those who call themselves Christians but who are really only Christians in theory, won't understand why we give the Bible the meaning we do...this kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don't have to die from hunger and malnutrition. That will be the 'Glory', a Kingdom for we who have never known it."

..."Today I can say that it is a struggle which cannot be stopped. Neither the governments nor imperialism can stop it because it is a struggle of hunger and poverty. Neither the government nor imperialism can say: 'Don't be hungry,' when we are all dying of hunger."

DMX - Ayo Kato

2008-05-17T21:00:00.001-07:00

I dedicate this song to Kristin. DMX says it better than i ever could. We miss you Kato (me and DMX)

2008-05-14T21:24:00.001-07:00

i just wanted to apologize in advance for the last post. I'm not too worried though, nobody reads this stupid thing...so i guess this is an apology to myself.

i'm disappointed with you matt.

alright i admit it, i like crunk

2008-05-14T21:19:00.001-07:00

I've had lil' jons "get low" in my head for about a week straight, so i think its time for me to admit that i like crunk music. I know its probably got the worst lyrics out of any song ever made, but you gotta respect how pumped they are about it...

...well maybe you don't, but i need to stop living a lie and admit to the world that this stuff makes me want to dance...or at least get gold teeth and hardcore tattoos all over my body.

admit it, you like it too.

i said admit it.

thats better, don't you feel better now? Now lets all let lil jon's soothing voice cure us of any guilt. At least we didn't write it

House of cosby

2008-05-14T21:07:00.001-07:00

just figured out how to put videos on this stypid thing...so here it is, after much anticipation, my favourite video.

The Dream

2008-04-20T00:59:00.001-07:00

I just woke up from the strangest dream. Its hard to remember everything, its more a blur of bits and pieces than anything. I dreamt i was on a journey, though the destination and purpose was not totally clear. I met many new people, some stranger than reality. I also saw many old friends and people that i love. I was in a strange country, peoples and lifes different than mine, and though i wandered as a foreigner lost, it eventually evolved into my home - and i felt more myself than i had since moving home.

It was not a happy dream, though it certainly wasn't sad. Not totally a scary dream, though there was much uncertainty and confusion. There was certainly joy, as well as tears. One moment i was in the desert, the next the jungle. One moment high in the clouds of the mountains, the next riding on the cool ocean waves. I flew at high speeds, and sat motionless in waiting. One moment i was surfing with the best surfers in the world, the next at an orphanage tucked away beneath overshadowing mountains. One moment climbing 1000 year old pyramids, the next drinking cinammin tea listening to an orchestra. At one point i was celebrating my birthday with some kids i had just met, eating tres leche cake. Another time i was lying on a bathroom floor puking my guts out. I got to chill with Oscar Romero, hug the people i love the most, hold hands with the oldest tree in the world, ride the fastest ferris wheel i had ever been on, search for waterfalls with mountain kids, sleep in the Mexico City bus terminal, share a meal with Camp Peace, walk on top of molten lava, ride waves in a kayak and hold hands with the most amazing girl i've ever met....

...plus a bunch of other stuff i can't remember. It doesn't seem real, and as i sit here in snowy saskatoon, i wonder if it really happened. Like many dreams i'm sure there is some meaning behind it all. And like most things in life you never can fully realize the meaning, just merely get close to the answer, catch a glance at it, so close as to have it on the tip of your tongue - but never being able to articulate it.

Theres something about the unexplainable connections and truths that tie all of mankind together. The joys and pains in life connect us enough to overcome any cultural or language barriers. We are all a part of the experience called life, and we're all happy to find fellow travellers who are wadering as we are, not sure of the end, but going for it all the same. No matter where in the world you are, there is mutual respect among all peoples, of all creeds and colors, of the journey - of the searching - of trying to grasp the truth. More often than not you will find that people are willing to help fellow travellers towards their goal - even if either party does not know where that goal is. We are willing to help each other because we too are on the journey, and we know we cannot make it alone.

it sounds cliche, but maybe the end never really was the goal. Maybe the goal is the journey, and the help that we recieve and give is what its all about. Maybe if we pick up more hitchhikers, invite more people in for a hot meal and a warm shower, give a little more time into listening and be generous with the knowledge that we have - maybe we can reach the end we're all looking for...maybe we can reach it together.

...or maybe the dream just means i'm subconsciencely gay. - most dreams seem to mean that nowadays

Oscar (the grouch) Romero

2008-02-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

Ya ya i suck at updating my blog. You don't need to say it, i am fully aware. In fact i do it on purpose...just to keep you wanting more.
well heres more....kind of. Due to my new favourite book and upcoming trip to one of my heros homelands, i decided i'd put some Oscar Romero qoutes on here...if you disagree with them, then your probably wrong.

"The church cannot be deaf or mute before the entreaty of millions of persons who cry out for liberation, persons oppressed by a thousand slaveries. But the church tells them what is the true liberty they must seek:

the freedom that Christ began on earth when he rose and burst the chains of sin, of death, and of hell. It is to be like Christ, free of sin, to be truly free, with true liberation.

Those who put their faith in the Risen One and work for a world more just, who protest against the injustices of the present system, against the abuses of unjust authorities, against the wrongfulness of humans exploiting humans; all those who begin their struggle with the resurrection of the Great Liberator - they alone are authentic Christians."

-March 26th, 1978

"Thus, the poor have shown the church the true way to go. A church that does not join the poor, in order to speak our fromj the side of the poor against the injustices committed against them, is not the true church of Jesus Christ."

-Feb 17th, 1980

"We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work."

-Nov 27th, 1977

"'God's reign is already present on our earth in mystery. When the Lord comes, it will be brought to perfection.'

That is the hope that inspires Christians. We know that every effort to better society, expecially when injustice and sin are so ingrained, is an effort that God blesses, that God wants, that God demands of us."

-March 24th, 1980

(from Oscar Romero's last sermon, minutes before he was shot and killed.)

Boycott Chevron

2007-12-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

I recently got in contact with an my old RD from my first year at CBC. He works for an organization called Partners who work with internally displaced peoples in burma and thailand. I got in contact with them and started reading about Burma. I hadn't really heard much about the country, except for the brief news coverage of the Buddhist Monk protest a little while ago. But the more i read the more i realized the horror of the situation there. Its shocking the atrocities that are happening in that country. Even more shocking is the lack of media coverage in the West. I started looking into things and found some interesting news articles about corporations profiting from the oppressive dictatorship...most notably Chevron. Chevron, who has Condaliza Rice as one of the board members, is making it big by partnering with the Burmese government in the oil trade. But don't take my word for it, check it out.

About the situation in Burma, a report from the Free Burma Rangers
http://www.freeburmarangers.org/Features/20070315_NorthernKarenState.pdf

About Chevrons involvement
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/04/MNNBSIK4D.DTL

Chevrons statement, sounds chill but they don't intend to withdrawl their programs
http://www.chevron.com/news/press/Release/?id=2007-10-02

Other corporations profiting from Burmas oppressive regime
http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/pm/weblog.php?id=P193

Family Pictures

2007-12-05T20:39:00.000-08:00

Well its that time of year again. The time when everyone dresses up in their Sunday best and gets together for boring-old-horrible-rather-get-kicked-in-the-teeth family photos...right?

wrong. dead wrong. nothing could be further from the truth.

This is the family. We have the two daughters in the front, mom wearing the classic early 19th Century Quaker outfit, the weird awkward uncle in the back (whose obviously gay but the topic is never brought up) and me, the dad with the perv stash...

...just like most families

Of course the awkward uncle wanted a picture of him with the girls...little strange

After all the hassle of getting people dressed, finding a time to do it, drawing a perv stash on my face and getting everyone settled down, it was all worth it. This is what christmas is all about. Fake family.

We took a few shots to see which was the most family like...started getting a little sick of it

And then i got fed up with those stinking kids and we had a fight...perfectly captured on film...

...all in all i'd say its not inappropriate to call the day a christmas miracle

theres a NEW york now?

2007-11-25T09:23:00.001-08:00

So not so long ago all of us Urban Promise staff and interns flew to Camden to attend to the annual Urban Promise Summit. Its basically a fancy word for "lets have all the UP's meet together for 2 days and we'll have lots of boring sessions and workshops while your jetlegged". Though obviously some fun was had, and i did get to see some old friends and visit the city i fell in love with a few years ago. After the Summit we booked it up to the newist york for a couple days and went hard trying to see everything, while rushing and not stopping to enjoy any of it. It was awesome, i highly recommend such a strategy for travelling and for life in general.

Me and Ryan in Vancouver before we left

This is a shot of the Jehovah's Witness's WatchTower headquarters...but some bridge jumped in the picture at the last second.

Me and Matt Street agreed that our goal in life was to take a picture in front of a "wall street" sign in new york, with each of us under our corresponding last names....thats it...our entire life goal. Well i did it. I had to ditch street cause he was slowing me down...and now i don't know what to do with my life

New Yorks Chinatown kicked Vancouver's Chinatowns butt. This is both the original Chinatown street and an historic site known as "blood angle" because it was notorious for gang war or something. Anyways, i took it just in case i run into the Triads and i can pull this out

Heres a funny story. On our ship ride home we wanted a nice picture in front of the sea, but when we got the picture back some stupid squid and the whale got in the picture, totally ruining it. Though it would make a good movie name.

bc christian news

2007-11-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

The most latest issue (november 07) of the BC Christian News ran an article about urbanpromise vancouver. The paper said they would've used my picture in the article except they said i was too "lustfully good-looking " for it...their words, not mine
Anyways, heres a few stats from the article, if you can trust evangelical propaganda...

-1.2 million Canadian children live in poverty.
-In 2000, 32.7% of immigrant families in Canada for less than 10 years were living in poverty, compared to 15.5% of non-immigrant families.
-Aboriginal children living in urban areas are twice as likely as non-aboriginal children to live in poverty.
-In a recent survey of the vancouver area, 45% of residents said they moved to vancouver because of "matt wall" or "matt wall related activities", followed by "livability" at 23%, "beauty and opportunities" at 18% and "this is a stupid survey" at 7%

check it out
http://www.canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/1107/04urban

(the last stat may or may not be made up)

stand up against poverty

2007-11-01T22:53:00.001-07:00

For all those who didn't know, October 16/17 was international Stand Up Against Poverty Day, a worldwide event with the aim to eliminate absolute poverty: www.standagainstpoverty.org
We decided to participate with the other 43 million standing up against poverty around the world. The stand up campaign is mostly about raising awareness by physically standing up and declaring that you will personally not accept poverty. Then you can put pictures and movies online and stuff.
But the question has to be asked...does poverty have to be so ugly and boring? Why can't poverty be fun?

This is our commitment to stand up against poverty. We sign our names to symbolically say we will follow it, kind like God and the people of Isael. The ancient Hebrews had a name for such a commitment, they called it "a poster"

This is our Poverty Pinata...which for some reason closely resembles a cloud. But like most clouds, we hardly notice it...we go about our normal lives like they don't exist, yet they are always around....

But we all know the destructive power of clouds...and in fact if we sit ideally by and do not actively oppose clouds, we become no better than them...so we must destroy them to release their precious cargo...

And like all clouds, its filled with candy... Fresh, life giving, crop replenishing, wet candy....And if that doesn't explain poverty, then i don't know what will

Though not in absolute poverty, many of our kids do live in poverty. I'm impressed with them, i think many of them realize how there are so many in this world with even less than them, and they realize that it's not right. The kids came up with a solution too. One thats fair, doesn't involve violence and is achievable. They said, "why don't all the people with lots just give to those who have none, so that everyone would be even?"
...thats a good question. Why don't we?

I hope that they can grow up hating poverty as much as they now hate clouds...

UMA

2007-10-01T23:35:00.001-07:00

I had a surreal conversation with a man on the downtown eastside this weekend. I believe his name was Shaun, but i could be wrong. I met him as we volunteered at a coffee drop in on Hastings. We started talking when he told me about how he had died twice, clinically, both times from an overdose, both times revived by doctors, both times he went back to what he knew. Its strange talking about drugs and addiction with someone who takes. He started talking about a lady he met at a pentecostal church in Langley. Jackie Pullinger is a missionary in China, who worked with the homeless, addicted and gang members in the notorious "walled city" in Hong Kong. Countless have been healed of addiction from her ministry, which consists of a detox where the volunteer is locked in a room and prayed for, 24/7, until the drug works its way out of their system. Regardless of the questions this raises, there is testimony of hundreds of its effectiveness...so much so that my friend Shaun held her up as almost divine. He said "if only she were here she would heal so many"
I was pumped because Jackie's biography "Chasing the Dragon" is one of my favorites and she's an idol of mine too. So we connected. I asked him "how come that doesn't happen here? how come it can't happen here"
Shaun said "i think its because there isn't the faith in people here. We don't believe it can happen. Here we have everything we need. Over there they have nothing, not even food or anything. They need to rely on God. They have nothing else. Here if we need something we go get it ourselves. If we're sick we go see a doctor. We don't need God. We don't have the faith." - it sure felt like homeless addicted non-Christian (by our standards anyways) knew God more personally than me.
I don't believe that Jackie Pullinger is divine. I don't believe that only she can save people like that. I don't believe that its an exclusive gift, or that God d0esn't want it to happen to the downtown eastside. I don't believe theres any good reason why it can't happen to any of us. I don't believe theres any good reason why i can't do the same.
So i thought to myself "why can't i do this? Why can't i be like Jackie? Why can't God use me here too? Maybe all he's waiting for is for someone to step out in faith"
Shaun gathered his stuff, stood up, and told me it was nice meeting and left. A couple minutes later we left too. I past Shaun as i was leaving. He was sitting on the damp sidewalk, motionless, his mouth wide open and his eyes rolled back into his head so that all that looked at me was the blank whites of his eyes. I didn't pray for Shaun to be healed of drugs. I didn't demand it in the spiritual realms, or take my authority, or rebuke satan or anything like that.
I'm not totally sure what i feel about that stuff, and I don't think i'll learn about it by not stepping out. So why didn't i you might ask?
That is one of the reasons why i love the downtown eastside, because i feel like i fit in. There is no room there for pride, for people of accomplishment, for people with great educations, for people who are confident of their right choices in life. Theres only room for screw-ups.

power to the people

2007-03-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

There are many things we try to teach our kids at Camp Peace...manners, ethics, social skills, life skills, proper hygeine, dance moves, love languages, how to cut carbs out of your diet...

...but one that i have tried to engrain into them ("brainwash" if you will) is how to change society. Much to the embarassment of our kids, this was my look up until a few days ago....

Pretty much not caring about my appearance. Though I let my hair and beard grow out, i still look pretty chill. But then one day i was presented with this petition

In case you can't read, it says "shave off your ugly beard and head. By everyone". So i told them i would agree to these terms if everyone signed it....

...so inside is everybodies signiture from camp peace...even my director Jon. What could i do? I can't argue with what the people want. So i met their demands and shaved off my ugly beard and head...just my way of trying to teach these kids that their voices can change the world...

...they didn't say anything about my ugly moustache though. Just my way of teaching them that nothing in life is easy.

Matt: 1
kids: 0

I suck at blogging

2007-03-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Surprise surprise, i don't update my blog. Get over it. Heres some stuff that happened a while back that may or may not be interesting...but its already out of date so whatever...hopefully that class i enrolled in at UBC called "blogging 101" will start soon and i can get some more recent stuff on here...but for now...

We did a talent show a few weeks back. I was a little disappointed that i couldn't enter it, but it was fun anyways...heres the UP choir singing it up

Pearla from camp grace definetly stole the show with a piano rendition and a hip-hop dance...she danced to the second best song known to mankind: Aqua's "Candyman" (the best song known to mankind is of course "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas)

I gotta represent for Mark, one of the few performers from Camp Peace, he tickled those ivories like he was an elephant...

...if thats even an expression

We had money left over from the talent show, so we decided to take 40 kids to the bowling alley and turn off all the lights and see what would happen... and it was pretty much what you'd expect. These are the only pictures i could find that made it look like it was fun...

Well, i hope that gives you your blogging fix for a while...cause its going to be quite some time before i do another one of these...

Future Girlfriend, Where you at?

2007-02-05T19:15:00.000-08:00

I got Rebecca to draw a pic of me, I didn’t tell her what to draw, but this is what she came up with. In case you couldn’t recognise, I’m obviously the circle skinhead rocking the green turtleneck and purple hotpants. I guess she saw me in my casual wear.

I asked what was going on with the girl in the picture. She told me it was my girlfriend. I had no idea what I was in store for, but I guess this little number is it. I’m pretty sure I haven’t met her yet…I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to forget that face. So if this is you, and your reading this right now you should stop hiding from me and accept your fate. What, are you afraid to show yourself to the world just cause you have green-brown hair, or is because your skin pigment is a ghostly white? Maybe you’re afraid to meet me because I’m borderline anorexic and missing a hand (not to mention the line for a nose I have).

But look how happy we are! I promise I won’t judge…you can keep the plaid skit and fishnet stockings…just maybe wash off a bit of that makeup girl.

Urban Promise Camden

2006-12-21T16:53:00.001-08:00

Well, i can't say i'm excited to become a blogger...but i felt too much pressure from society and the media, so i finally caved. But who am i kidding, no one really wants to read anything i write...you jerks just want to look at pictures. So i'll take the advice Donald Trump* gave me and "give the people what they want"...

This is my room, the bunkbeds were as ghetto as the house, but not as ghetto as this blog...ya heard?

Well, these are the interns and directors...lots of weirdos in this picture...especially in the top right corner area

Me and Shania flashing some gang sign...i was shot shortly afterwards

Jenny, me, Philip and Ruthie at the UN building in NY. You can see Angelina Jolie taking the picture in the reflection of of gold sphere

Tyrik at the park in Camden. I'm pretty sure i saw a crack head taking a bath in there once...true story

Ruthie, Kyle, me, Vic and Zier in Philly 4th of July. Apparently its a holiday in the States...i was shot shortly after this pic too, because of the shirt

Me and Greg. I'm trying to look like a thug...which is cool to do in case you didn't know

My favourite pic of Quassen doing a back spring.

"The rock", where all 25 of us stayed...but the only thing that this house and Nicholis Cage's movie have in common was that they both sucked

New St. downtown Camden where we'd be ridin' dirty... whatever that means

Ben Frank Bridge. Philly's in the background, famous for cheese-steak, Rocky and the Fresh Prince...don't worry, i'd never heard of them either

Camp Saved 06

*Donald Trump actually never told me that. The only famous person i've ever met was Sisqo...and i wouldn't take any of his advice