Top Ten Things I Hate about Vancouver

Well finals are over, thank god. I'm sitting at home in Regina and, at the moment, I couldn't be happier. Vancouver is an exciting city to be in... there is always something to do and something to talk about. However, I never want to be that guy who goes to a new city and just bashes his hometown. I love being home... and if it were possible to get the kind of education i'm getting at UBC, I wouldn't even dream of moving.

Each city has its own cliches. In Regina, everyone complains about the weather and the riders... usually in tandem. In Vancouver, everyone says "Oh... it rains a lot... but I love Vancouver." Everyone in Vancouver... loves Vancouver... that's the cliche. It's like a hidden taboo in the city to say anything bad about it. They talk about how the great beaches, mountains, and forest landscape... you know.. the regular. However, they always politely forget the "other" things that go along with the west coast lifestyle. I'm going to kick this taboo in the teeth and air out vancouver's dirty laundry.

Top Ten Things that suck about Vancouver

10. Its prohibitively expensive... things like rent are ridiculous up here

9. The Internet service blows. The two main ISP's are Shaw and Telus and they both blow. They are not as heavily regulated by the CRTC and your likely to wait way over 20 minutes if you call them. While SaskTel is pumping out Television services through brandband and leading the world in fibre optic technology ... those two are still in the dark ages with upload and download caps, as well as automatic throttling of torrents.

8. Traffic is terrible. I don't even bother going out between 3:30 - 6:30, if i can't walk there.

7. You walk everywhere.... and it always seems like ur going uphill... especially if your from the flat prairies

6. There are only 2 Wal-marts and they are not accessible if you live in Vancouver. If you neet to buy something cheap you'll have to drive over a half an hour or buy it bulk at the Costco. Regina has a quarter of their population and even we have 3 Walmarts.

5. There's tons of homeless people. If you walk the same route each day, you can literally watch a homeless person gradually get worse with time.

4. It can get claustrophobic. They use every ounce of space here. I can't tell you how relieved I felt when i drove to heather's house and all i saw was highway and a wide open skyline.

3. Mother nature owns Vancouver. You'd think a city that plays russian roullette with a major fault line would be better prepared for the wrath of mother nature, but that's just wishful thinking. The first sight of snow will send the city into a uproar, hell even torrential rain can shut down the city. RAIN! You'd figure they would have that one mastered by now.

2. No one speaks english here... not even the white people.

1. There are no left hand turning lanes. If you personified the city, your best fit would be Zoolander. The city is a uni-turner and blissfully ignorant of its faults.

But even then... Vancouver will always win you over. Vancouver is Canada's dirty mistress. She has some definite deal-breaker faults, but you keep sleeping with her cuz she so fucking hot.

Coming home for Xmas!

I'm coming home... finally.

Finals are done... i think i slept a total of 7 hours in the last 3 days... its law schools way of kicking u in the teeth.

it'll only get harder too but that's about the furthest thing from my mind right now...

I just hope i don't start tearing up when I see a John Deere tractor... nothing says home like John Deere.