old trivia
Clare Yow is an independent visual artist working in a library in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
She is a fan of nightbirding and shutter depression,
heartthrobs, blueprints, and changes of scenery.
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Well, let’s see. I moved to Vancouver in August 2008 and have still yet to have fully gone through all my film and digital images from the cross-country drive. Same with my images from Salt Spring Island from this past August. Seattle this weekend was pretty wonderful - maybe you’ll see pictures in about two years! This image here is from the flight to San Francisco, summer o’six.
We rode the train—business-class style if I might add—and were enjoying the dining car and taking many film and digital images of our pseudo Darjeeling train experience, but mother nature wasn’t having any of it. A mudslide just before Seattle meant that we had to disembark at Everett and get loaded onto coaches. Truth be told, the headrest on the coach was way cushier - business class seats on the train just aren’t designed for people my height! (I am 5’ 4.5”) We were informed that the mudslide still hadn’t been cleared up as of Sunday night, so we bussed home - seeing many of our previous train companions from the day before - even arriving back into rainy Vancity earlier than if we’d taken the train.
Memorable sites/sights: riding the train from darkness into light (all four and a half hours spent on it), Roger Shimura exhibition at the Wing Luke Asian Museum (where I acquired the exhibition catalogue and a “Lian from Singapore” paperdoll sticker book), the first Starbucks in Pike Place (where it took almost half an hour to get our drink because of the crowd, but where we each answered a Scene It trivia question correctly - the staff play it with the customers so they don’t get completely bored waiting), shopping at Nordstrom’s (where I fell in love with a discounted Kate Spade ring, shaped like a Christmas bow, but alas it was too large), riding the monorail, street music, multiple camera shops, and Vietnamese/Mexcian/crepes/Chinese food. It was a really good time.. and with the Olympics-slash-Spring-Break in just a few weeks, I want to plan another trip! Sunny California?
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We sat on the tarmac yesterday morning, until forty-five minutes past the departure time as the plane re-fuelled and was de-iced. I forwent watching a film (New York, I Love You was the best offered) in order to sleep like most of the people around me. Bed at 1:30 and I was up after 4 to leave the house by 5 for my 7am flight. Shortly after takeoff, I was awoken by the sound of commotion from behind me, across the aisle diagonally on my right. A man was slumped over in his seat and his wife kept calling his name, trying to pull his sweater off above his head. A flight attendant came pretty quick and together they tried to wake him. He finally did, dazed and slightly unresponsive. Can you tell me your name, sir? the attendant asked. Within moments, he was put on oxygen which brought more colour back to his face, but as his wife sponged his face with iced towels, he threw up multiple times. The pilot asked if there was a doctor on-board but no response, so he made another announcement asking for nurses or EMTs, but no luck. The man, David, was getting better though, and the attendant recounted a story how once, they was a medical emergency and there happened to be a whole bunch of doctors on-board from a conference, but each had assumed one of their peers responded to the call for a doctor so they did not speak up. Oh right, Bystander Effect. Medical advice from the ground suggested David be put on oxygen for 15 minutes, with his pulse regularly checked. His wife turned out to be a veterinarian and could take a more accurate pulse than the attendant. The rest of the flight turned out to be uneventful, thankfully.
David, 64, had not slept last night and had a similar thing happen to him previously, 6 years ago also while flying. He and his wife were a part of a small party of people who had flown from Grenada to Toronto and now they were heading to Vancouver, though they would be taking another flight following this to Edmonton. The man behind me - (Patrick) the oxygen holder, as the attendant referred to him - turned out to also have come from Grenada. They spoke about places on the island and at the end of the flight, numbers were exchanged. It was a memorable flight, I suppose. There was an unexpected amount of young children on board, all of whom were whiny and loud. We flew over the Rockies, which the pilot pointed out, and it was so beautiful from my seat in the middle of the plane where I strained to look out someone’s window. I think I’ll get a window seat next time.. I miss those.
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Sights from the Grand Canyon in 2006. Women’s saris blowing the the wind, a large format photographer precariously positioned, a boy in blue named Barnaby speaking in French, and cameraaas. The South Rim is more touristy than the North because it is easier to get to. We went to both.. At Jacob Lake (South), the night sky was one of the most incredible things I’d ever seen.
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Been doing so much but today is a bit lighter day. It’s so nice having Justin around. We have visited a handful of places in the last four days and he’s met a handful+ of my friends, most of them through run-ins. Having also moved away for school last year — albeit only to another part of Ontario not far from home — it’s wonderful being able to catch up and learn more about him. We are five years apart.
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