Sitting in a Coffee Shop in Van

I'm living the Vancouver stereotype. Sitting in a Kitsilano coffee shop writing on my blog. The only thing that would make it perfect would be if I was ten years younger and drinking an expensive coffee. Well I hate coffee so it's Diet Coke instead, and I can't do anything about my age except not act it.

Sitting two tables over is a gorgeous red head who appears to be around my own age. Sadly, she's with a gentleman friend. Worse, he's in the way. I've been seeing a lot of gorgeous red heads around this burg since I got here yesterday. There were about a dozen at the street fair I went to yesterday and there is one working the counter here at the coffee shop.

I think I like this place (Calhoun's on Broadway). It's a student place, but not exclusively so... A couple of old ladies (seniors) were sitting at the next table enjoying some tea and pleasant company. Calhoun's menu seems pretty good, and the staff seems competent (albiet a little distracted at times - no doubt the result of free caffeine). I'd love to hang out at a similar place in cowtown, but I fear it does not exist. This place seems to be the result of the local culture and location. It's in Kitsilano, near UBC and the beach, in a town that thrives on pedestrian traffic. Cowtown, with its freeways, cars and never-ending suburbs simply has no place like it. Maybe if you razed Victoria park and moved the University of Calgary to that spot you might allow something similar to spring up, but that seems like a little too much effort for a cafe.

Vancouver is hot right now, the expected high is 34. My hosts somejauntypolka and chris9871 are suffering through the heat as their house is not really built to handle it. The house is old - real old. I asked them why they didn't just buy an air conditioner and was informed that the house power was only 50-60 amps (modern houses can handle 120 amps). Between the computer equipment and the kitchen appliances, they're at max power now. Add a power hog like an air conditioner to the mix and the odds of tripping the house's breaker are high. This is the breaker for the whole house, not for the one circuit.

As I mentioned earlier, I spent some time with my hosts at a street fair. It was here on Broadway yesterday and it was the Greek-Canadian fair. This section of Broadway is historically the "little Athens" section of Vancouver - a lot of the local businesses still sport names indicating a grecian heritage. Lot's of -opolouses and Greek gods are in evidence.

The fair was fun, though there was a sameness to the food. Imagine two dozen street vendors, all selling the same chicken souvlaki and you'll have a pretty good idea what it was like. The hot weather and the novelty of the fair meant there were a lot of people enjoying themselves. The Greeks have a macho culture, and this was apparent when watching the dancing. Young men trying to outdo themselves with the height of their leaps, while surrounded by young ladies kicking up there heals while watching the men.

The lady dancers were wearing multiple heavy layers, stockings, and it was all coloured black. The men had white tee shirts. I sense a small amount of chauvinism here. It was interesting to watch the change in enthusiasm in the dancers when the music changed. They competently went through there moves with the traditional Greek music. but they really cut loose when they started playing (what I imagine was) modern Greek pop. These were some talented teens, but it was obvious that they were still teens.

Later we hooked up with bognaustroglum for dinner at Memphis Blues (and after the amount of meat I had there last night, I'm quite prepared to have nothing but salads today). Later still whiggy_one joined us for a late dessert at Death By Chocolate. Our server at Memphis Blues was this adorable woman from Australia or New Zealand (I can't tell the difference between Oz and Kiwi accents, so I'm not even going to guess). Cute as a button, tons of gorgeous ink (including a wonderfully cartoony picture of Catwoman up her left arm) and she had a hint of the look. I'd be willing to go back there just to chat her up. Unfortunately, I think I protein poisoned myself, so I won't be going back this trip. Hell, I skipped breakfast today because I was still full from last night. I suspect I'm in for a full-on retreat from my weight loss goals when I return to Cowtown. What the hell, I'm on vacation.

Well another cute redhead just entered the shop. That makes four of us now. Did Vancouver trade something important to Satan for this wealth of Celtic beauty? Maybe they traded all their bras as I see the Vancouver bra shortage continues. If they did trade bras for redheads, I'll have to congratulate them on their exceptional skills in negotiating. Alberta seems to have traded oil for Texans, so we could definitely take some lessons from BC.

Depression and the Lack Therof

I used to suffer from chronic depression (and a lifetime of wandering down the wrong neural pathways means I'll always be prone to it) so It's something that I always pay attention to. Athena and I got to talking about it today.

Some years ago, a buddy of mine was suffering from depression and he got treatment for it. He was so grateful for this that he told everyone of his experience. As he hung out with like-minded people (i.e. socially awkward geeks), he knew that there was a high incidence for depression and also a high incidence of being in complete denial about it. Certainly this was the case for me. I was firmly in the if you're depressed you should just suck it up school of thought. I am my Father's son after all.

Now my buddy's method was not to walk up to the most obvious candidates (myself and at least two other people he knows) and say "Hey, you're obviously depressed, get some treatment ferchissake". Instead, he simply described his own experiences. What the symptoms were, how it was affecting his life, what the treatment consisted of and the end results. He did this to anyone who would listen. I heard it and it planted a seed in my mind. Here was a guy I knew who was admitting to mental illness and how he was treating it so that he got better. In my mind it attached a real person to something for which there are still stigmas attached.

Later in my life, as the stress mounted and I hit a low point in my life, the seed sprouted and gave me a much needed option. I got into treatment and spent a year on anti-depressents. I also went into therapy and learned some much needed coping skills. It's like a muscle though - you've got to keep exercising it or it will atrophy.

Anyways, we (Athena and I) got to discussing anti-depressents and this all came out. We both agreed that they're a great idea, but disagreed on whether there was a class of people who needed to be on anti-depressents permanently. Now it's not that Athena is convinced one way or the other, she's just looking for evidence. Me, I think that this set of people exists, but it's smaller then the set that's diagnosed that way. Frankly, I think it's prima facia that anyone on anti-depressents should also be in therapy. That way you have some tools for when you're no longer on the anti-depressants. Sadly, North American attitudes are such that the quick-fix-pill is the default response to any illness or condition.

If you had to take a drug to correct a chemical imbalance in (say) your liver, you'd do so in a heartbeat. If it was a permanent condition, you'd still do so. But when the organ in question is not a liver, but your brain, we get all weird.

For me, a year on anti-depressants was a god-send. It rebooted my brain, helped me keep it together when my mother died and allowed me the time to get back up on my (mental) feet. It did have it's downsides though, namely some sexual side-effects that I'm happy to say went away when I went off the drugs. I know at least one person who is on the drugs permanently. I'm content to trust her judgement that she is in the class of people who need to be there permanently, even though that evidence (to me) is anecdotal and not scientific.

What's my point? I guess I don't really have one, I'm just pondering. Though you could say I'm paying back my buddy for his passive way of letting me know my options. I know plenty of other people who would be a lot happier in their lives if they sought treatment. I also know that I can't just tell them that, they have to get there on their own, like I did. If this post, or other similar posts, plants a seed, great. The world will be a better place.