Before yesterday Australia told me that people at McGill were sleeping outside to raise money for a local homeless shelter. This meant training to me, if I wanna tramp around in the summer I need to know how to sleep outside.
We decided to dumpster quickly before heading there, and we scored a ton of stuff, more that I care to inventory but mostly snack of some sort or other. We got there said hey to everyone and dropped the food into a box. People were chillin' on their sleeping bags which were on cardboard which was on cement (me and Australia set up on the dirt later). It was a warm night for me but that means nothing since everyone was cold *shrug*, we dumpstered some cardboard for everyone on the bikes which impressed people just as much as the dumpstered food did. Everyone except this one girl who seemed pretty out of place, she looked like Avril Lavigne but a bit paler and probably shorter. She was grossed out by the dumpstered food and wearing something like seven layers of clothes inside her sleeping bag, she was only there that night (it was a five day thing that we were just crashing) because some guy called her out on not being able to sleep outside.
We all just kicked it in the street and asked for donations from people all night. As it got to around 2ish in the morning me and this girl went to the Second Cup close by to use their bathrooms and write that "Everywhere is a playground" on stall walls, (okay, well only I did that). While we were there there was a home-bum that had camped out with the McGill kids earlier in the day, it was really fun that he had a laptop and while I was in the bathroom he promoted us to the people in the cafe and even got some money from it, (which I think he kept lol). As we were rolling out he told us he'd stop in later and camp the night.
We headed home messing around with piggy back rides and just having fun, got there everyone hung and talked until about 4 or 5 in the morning before sleeping. Chocolate was for dinner and when the beeping of trucks backing up woke us it made a great breakfast.
The rest of the day was pretty cool too, it involved: cooking dumpstered stuffs, getting free food, sitting on the ground, getting a free portable DVD player that we got to work, riding bikes around and generally hanging out.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Batons, black blocs and pretty lights
In a class about leisure I was told that "deviant leisure" was a great way to gnaw at social bonds, upon hearing this I felt confused the people I was closest with were those that I got trouble with the most...
Today was pretty great. I went to the protest against police brutality, I went with Ice Cream, Australia, TKJ, Guts and Dreads was there as a photographer (not that it mattered later on). The protest was great and of course deteriorated into a proto-riot at the end. It started out pretty calm, an anarchist marching band playing music, people standing around and a punk throwing some muffins at cops. After we started marching towards the downtown (we never got out the suburbs since we were far and the cops...) a black bloc started to take action.
These guys were prepared and had brought along all kinds of goodies for the police and of course were decked out in head to toe in black. They started by shooting off some fire works at the riot cops who lined up on the sides of the streets we were marching down, it was really spectacular seeing the fireworks blow up against the police shields. They had some flares to throw around also. After their assault they broke up and slipped into the crowd. And for a while we kept marching just fine, As we turned a corner and started up through a playground some black bloc kids were kicking out bricks from the foot paths, but once we reached the middle of the playground people at the front of the march were telling us to change route and be careful because the police had cut off the initial route in their first attempt to break up the protest. As people gathered and looked for a new path we realized that another route was also blocked. As everyone walked into the last remaining street the black bloc kids were hurling bricks and fireworks at the cops to the cheers of everyone present. At this point I was with only TKJ and Australia since we had lost everyone else in the chaos. As we stood in the only clear street left we realized that we had been trapped, at the top of the street was a line of riot cops complete with shields and batons! We weren't immediately concerned until they began charging down the street beating everyone they could reach while shouting "BOUGE!" (French for move). At that point we had already decided we want to get outta the protest since I had an exam to write that I was already late to and Australia wasn't feeling it. We were walking into an alley when one of the riot cops ran past us shouting and or course hitting us with their batons (don't worry riot cop batons are padded), we dashed in to more dealings with the cops. I climbed a wall along with some others and crossed a yard into another street behind a police wall. I looked around having lost track of TKJ and Australia so I called TKJ, went back to the alley, helped a few people up the wall and we all continued to follow what was left of the crowd.
The remaining crowd was only a fraction of its former mass. We walked a few blocks, before having some routes cut off by police again, this time mail boxes and trash cans were upturned and some kids who remained from the black bloc turned over a cart full of woods and set it on fire, we looked around and saw that police were giving chase so we dashed down another alley way. TKJ traded phone numbers with a friend until police turned the corner and we vanished into another alley.
At this point we were set on just leaving (going back to the metro station where everyone locked up their bikes). We passed a gas station were we saw something strange, a group of protesters seemed to be hanging out with the cops right next to their cars; we were confused until we realized they were undercover instigators, they were there to cause enough trouble to "justify" police brutality, *sigh* bastards.
We got the metro without mush trouble after that and I was able to take my exam (I think I did okay).
Later that night I went to hang with Guts, TKJ, Dreads and Australia. We just kicked it, talked about the protest and went dumpstering, we found a shit ton of stuff but I only brought back a bit since the fridge is pretty full at the moment, can't wait to move, I'll be living with 4 or 5 people and will have two fridges!
Today was pretty great. I went to the protest against police brutality, I went with Ice Cream, Australia, TKJ, Guts and Dreads was there as a photographer (not that it mattered later on). The protest was great and of course deteriorated into a proto-riot at the end. It started out pretty calm, an anarchist marching band playing music, people standing around and a punk throwing some muffins at cops. After we started marching towards the downtown (we never got out the suburbs since we were far and the cops...) a black bloc started to take action.
These guys were prepared and had brought along all kinds of goodies for the police and of course were decked out in head to toe in black. They started by shooting off some fire works at the riot cops who lined up on the sides of the streets we were marching down, it was really spectacular seeing the fireworks blow up against the police shields. They had some flares to throw around also. After their assault they broke up and slipped into the crowd. And for a while we kept marching just fine, As we turned a corner and started up through a playground some black bloc kids were kicking out bricks from the foot paths, but once we reached the middle of the playground people at the front of the march were telling us to change route and be careful because the police had cut off the initial route in their first attempt to break up the protest. As people gathered and looked for a new path we realized that another route was also blocked. As everyone walked into the last remaining street the black bloc kids were hurling bricks and fireworks at the cops to the cheers of everyone present. At this point I was with only TKJ and Australia since we had lost everyone else in the chaos. As we stood in the only clear street left we realized that we had been trapped, at the top of the street was a line of riot cops complete with shields and batons! We weren't immediately concerned until they began charging down the street beating everyone they could reach while shouting "BOUGE!" (French for move). At that point we had already decided we want to get outta the protest since I had an exam to write that I was already late to and Australia wasn't feeling it. We were walking into an alley when one of the riot cops ran past us shouting and or course hitting us with their batons (don't worry riot cop batons are padded), we dashed in to more dealings with the cops. I climbed a wall along with some others and crossed a yard into another street behind a police wall. I looked around having lost track of TKJ and Australia so I called TKJ, went back to the alley, helped a few people up the wall and we all continued to follow what was left of the crowd.
The remaining crowd was only a fraction of its former mass. We walked a few blocks, before having some routes cut off by police again, this time mail boxes and trash cans were upturned and some kids who remained from the black bloc turned over a cart full of woods and set it on fire, we looked around and saw that police were giving chase so we dashed down another alley way. TKJ traded phone numbers with a friend until police turned the corner and we vanished into another alley.
At this point we were set on just leaving (going back to the metro station where everyone locked up their bikes). We passed a gas station were we saw something strange, a group of protesters seemed to be hanging out with the cops right next to their cars; we were confused until we realized they were undercover instigators, they were there to cause enough trouble to "justify" police brutality, *sigh* bastards.
We got the metro without mush trouble after that and I was able to take my exam (I think I did okay).
Later that night I went to hang with Guts, TKJ, Dreads and Australia. We just kicked it, talked about the protest and went dumpstering, we found a shit ton of stuff but I only brought back a bit since the fridge is pretty full at the moment, can't wait to move, I'll be living with 4 or 5 people and will have two fridges!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Sore Legs
Well the parkour on Friday was more intense than I thought it would be, my legs were sore the entire weekend, but that's partly due to the fact that I didn't give them any time to rest the whole time.
After parkour I went to Kunoichi's place to swing dance with the whole crew but there were tired so we watched a movie hung out and fell asleep, except I couldn't sleep so I slipped out, hopped onto the bike and headed to the burned up pharmacy to see what the deal was. I was happy to see that the dumpster was now much improved, without a lid and a lock getting in and digging around was that much easier, I left with a basket full of food and went back to Kunoichi's to sleep.
Wake, hang out a bit, go home, go to TKJ's place and from there we head out to Food Not Bombs.
It was a good time there, we dumpstered a ton of produce and cooked it all up; vegetable stir fry, spicy potatoes and fruit salad. I meet ran into a friend there (Australia) and met a cool girl there too. We served at Berri UQAM and then went back to the Co-op. There we hung a bit and then all split to go our own ways.
Pines was throwing a house party for St Patrick's day but it was meh so I rolled out early. I went to Australia's place. TKJ, Dreads, Guts, the girl from Food Not Bombs, Dreads' girlfriend and of course Australia, the best part was they were all on the balcony in the box fort that they had built earlier from dumpstered cardboard. We all slept outside that night under the cardboard and it was good. The rain and hail didn't get to us except a tiny bit on Dreads. Guts was also pretty sore from training and he went inside to sleep, a wise choice.
We followed up the good night with a fun day at Concordia eating free food from the People's Potato and listening to panel presentations on various social, political, economic and psychological issues. I was very tired at this point and me and the girl from FnB slept on each other's shoulders for a portion of the talks, which is too bad for two reasons:
They seemed interesting
I twitch and jerk when I sleep while trying to remain awake, even when that means hitting people with my head.
Afterwards we hit a few dumpsters on the way to Australia's house were we took down the fort, made smoothies and just hung til dinner which was also partly dumpstered, it's cool being with a crew that's down to hit dumpsters left and right for fun and practicality.
TKJ had left his bike helm at Australia's place so we brought it back to his house and kicked it there a bit before checking the pharmacy dumpster and splitting off home.
Of course, all transportation was achieved via bicycle so my legs never got a chance to recover from the parkour all the way and are still sore...
Will probably be at a protest against police brutality tomorrow with Australia, Dreads, TKJ and the girl from FnB (we'll call her Ice Cream).
After parkour I went to Kunoichi's place to swing dance with the whole crew but there were tired so we watched a movie hung out and fell asleep, except I couldn't sleep so I slipped out, hopped onto the bike and headed to the burned up pharmacy to see what the deal was. I was happy to see that the dumpster was now much improved, without a lid and a lock getting in and digging around was that much easier, I left with a basket full of food and went back to Kunoichi's to sleep.
Wake, hang out a bit, go home, go to TKJ's place and from there we head out to Food Not Bombs.
It was a good time there, we dumpstered a ton of produce and cooked it all up; vegetable stir fry, spicy potatoes and fruit salad. I meet ran into a friend there (Australia) and met a cool girl there too. We served at Berri UQAM and then went back to the Co-op. There we hung a bit and then all split to go our own ways.
Pines was throwing a house party for St Patrick's day but it was meh so I rolled out early. I went to Australia's place. TKJ, Dreads, Guts, the girl from Food Not Bombs, Dreads' girlfriend and of course Australia, the best part was they were all on the balcony in the box fort that they had built earlier from dumpstered cardboard. We all slept outside that night under the cardboard and it was good. The rain and hail didn't get to us except a tiny bit on Dreads. Guts was also pretty sore from training and he went inside to sleep, a wise choice.
We followed up the good night with a fun day at Concordia eating free food from the People's Potato and listening to panel presentations on various social, political, economic and psychological issues. I was very tired at this point and me and the girl from FnB slept on each other's shoulders for a portion of the talks, which is too bad for two reasons:
They seemed interesting
I twitch and jerk when I sleep while trying to remain awake, even when that means hitting people with my head.
Afterwards we hit a few dumpsters on the way to Australia's house were we took down the fort, made smoothies and just hung til dinner which was also partly dumpstered, it's cool being with a crew that's down to hit dumpsters left and right for fun and practicality.
TKJ had left his bike helm at Australia's place so we brought it back to his house and kicked it there a bit before checking the pharmacy dumpster and splitting off home.
Of course, all transportation was achieved via bicycle so my legs never got a chance to recover from the parkour all the way and are still sore...
Will probably be at a protest against police brutality tomorrow with Australia, Dreads, TKJ and the girl from FnB (we'll call her Ice Cream).
Friday, March 12, 2010
Frozen Monkeys Unleashed
Had a great jam today with the Frozen Monkeys crew, we had Guts, Pines, V, and two new guys Lil Jon and Columbia. It was good times we were at McGill, we moved around the campus and jammed for maybe two hours, about halfway through we were working tic tacs and wall runs when we ran into Kunoichi's roomie who's friend joined us for the rest of the jam he found us online and I hope he keeps showing up.
We started with a warm up, did a bit of wall stuff and then went off to play tag at a new spot we found it was great times, after that we did wall runs where we added the new guy. We went back to playing tag and working at random spots around. We all parted a bit after it got dark. I wanna jam again next week since it was such good times.
I might go do some UE on Sunday with Pines and a friend of his.
We started with a warm up, did a bit of wall stuff and then went off to play tag at a new spot we found it was great times, after that we did wall runs where we added the new guy. We went back to playing tag and working at random spots around. We all parted a bit after it got dark. I wanna jam again next week since it was such good times.
I might go do some UE on Sunday with Pines and a friend of his.
Cops, fires and swords
Went to the fruit dumpster, the bakery and the pharmacy. In between the fruit dumpster and the bakery the popo stopped me, told me I didn't have lights on my bike which of course makes me hard to see (oh really?) and that it was illegal to ride with headphones in (I'm gonna look this up because it's a practice I really enjoy and it hasn't hindered my awareness in the slightest). After looking at ID they kept asking me if I had a screwdriver *shrug*, which I didn't, then they left. At the pharmacy dumpster I saw something that troubles me; the lids were missing and the dumpster seemed to be full of half burned store furniture and shelves, I didn't get too good of a look since I didn't stick around but it looked and smelled of ash and old fire. I can only hope that the place will continue running as it does and will keep throwing out ridiculous amounts of foods. Dropped of a ton of food at Kunoichi's place, got home with:
2 heads of broccoli
1 baguette
3 small loaves of bread
2 bell peppers
1 bunch of green onions
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of parsley
2 bok choy
Earlier today I did some bokken practice out back and set the firewood from the fall to dry since it was covered in snow. My arm strength isn't where it should be so I'm doing upper body workouts again. I noticed that my arms got weaker when I went to do parkour with V, I have stronger legs from biking but my arms have gotten weaker from disuse. If all goes well there will be a nice Frozen Monkeys jam tomorrow.
2 heads of broccoli
1 baguette
3 small loaves of bread
2 bell peppers
1 bunch of green onions
1 yellow onion
1 bunch of parsley
2 bok choy
Earlier today I did some bokken practice out back and set the firewood from the fall to dry since it was covered in snow. My arm strength isn't where it should be so I'm doing upper body workouts again. I noticed that my arms got weaker when I went to do parkour with V, I have stronger legs from biking but my arms have gotten weaker from disuse. If all goes well there will be a nice Frozen Monkeys jam tomorrow.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Bags, donuts and awesome weather
As of late the weather's been great, sun, temperatures high enough to make the snow melt and of course tank tops. Dumpstering was slow for a bit but then it turned great; last night I found an abandoned MEC backpack, all black, big and covered in straps, I think I'll probably use it to travel this summer with Cipher. Really happy with it, took it home cleaned it in the shower and now it's good to go. Tonight I went to Thief's neighborhood and we dumpstered around there a while. For some reason the whole night felt as though we weren't getting anything useful but alas at the end of the night we emptied everything onto the table and it was covered and full of foody potential. Here's what I took home (double it approx to see the total of our finds, since Thief kept his share of course):
1/2 box of cherrios
2 pears
3 apples
1 bell pepper
1 bag of donuts
2 loaves of bread
4 bags of chips
8 baggies of small carrots
1 squash
1 jar of baby food (vegetables and pasta)
1 large flat bread
5 muffins
1 almond cake
1/2 a bottle of maple syrup
From what I can tell Thief's neighborhood is pretty cool, the spots are more spread out but they all provide if you dig a bit.
Also I did an awesome craigslist trade: 1 carton of dumpstered orange juice with lots of pulp for 15 cups of instant mac and cheese, not the healthiest and all but in terms of quantity it's well worth it, they guy who traded didn't have a microwave so the mac and cheese was of no use to him.
EDIT: I talked to Dreads on Tuesday and it turns out that he and Guts and this girl were diving at the pharmacy in the daytime and got ran off, Guts had ditched his bag and I found it, so I brought it back later. Too bad I didn't a free bag, but Guts got his back and it was cleaner that when he left it too lol.
1/2 box of cherrios
2 pears
3 apples
1 bell pepper
1 bag of donuts
2 loaves of bread
4 bags of chips
8 baggies of small carrots
1 squash
1 jar of baby food (vegetables and pasta)
1 large flat bread
5 muffins
1 almond cake
1/2 a bottle of maple syrup
From what I can tell Thief's neighborhood is pretty cool, the spots are more spread out but they all provide if you dig a bit.
Also I did an awesome craigslist trade: 1 carton of dumpstered orange juice with lots of pulp for 15 cups of instant mac and cheese, not the healthiest and all but in terms of quantity it's well worth it, they guy who traded didn't have a microwave so the mac and cheese was of no use to him.
EDIT: I talked to Dreads on Tuesday and it turns out that he and Guts and this girl were diving at the pharmacy in the daytime and got ran off, Guts had ditched his bag and I found it, so I brought it back later. Too bad I didn't a free bag, but Guts got his back and it was cleaner that when he left it too lol.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Triumphant Return
I'm back in MTL. The city of course welcomed me back with open arms, nice events and great weather. It's so nice out I'm often in a sleeveless hoodie with a t-shirt. Acting on the nice weather I called up V and we did some parkour yesterday, it was good revisiting the old spots but there's still a bit of snow everywhere so it's annoying but not too problematic. My wall runs are ridiculous, I get really high but my climb ups and general upper body strength seem to have deteriorated, I'll get on that with push ups and sword conditioning. Have been dumpstering as usual, haven't bought food since... well honestly I don't even know when the last time I bought food is lol *shrug*
I got my housing situation pretty much figured out for next year but I'm unsure of exactly how I'm going to structure my summer.
I got my housing situation pretty much figured out for next year but I'm unsure of exactly how I'm going to structure my summer.
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