Top 6 Places In British Columbia

This is not a list of the best cities, towns or neighborhoods in British Columbia. Rather, it is a list of the places that are most meaningful for me. In grade 11 I had a weird socials teacher to taught on the "Spirituality of Place". It was completely out of the scope of what was supposed to be taught, but I did like the main point he had about it. Some places - they just do something for you. Here's a list of the top 6 places that just do it for me.

6. The Lower Floor of the Chiliwack-ian Cousins - I grew up on a steady diet of Saved by the Bell and Archie Comics. I always thought that high school would be like that. I also grew up fairly close with some cousins that were significantly older than me. While I was still young enough to believe the delusions of high school that were presented to me in mainstream media, I had two cousins, that I thought were very cool, in high school. So when we went over to their house, it was awesome.

And it was a great house too. Out in Chiliwack - a town that I've always liked because of its peaceable nature. They had a trampoline that I would spend hours on pretending I was Spider-Man. My cousin let me play with his Ninja Turtles actions figures and his original Nintendo. We played a lot of Risk and the Game of Life. He also had a waterbed. Some of my fondest memories were of sitting in that basement, watching movies with both of our families. I always percieved the place as having a peace about it.

5. The Waters of Eternity - There was a crappy old rec centre where my family used to live. We got some sort of membership there that allowed us to go swimming for a dollar on weeknights. My parents would do laps, or some other kind of exercise. I, on the other hand, did what I did best. I got lost in my imagination. I would swim in the deep end, emulating all sorts of heroes. I would think about the people at school, the girls I "loved", the dreams I had, the trials and tribulations. The pool was usually fairly empty, but it wouldn't have mattered. I got lost in the water there. Now if you see me swimming by myself in a pool, you will know I'm just doing what I always did. Water has continually been a refresher for me.

4. The Pinnacle of Pre-Teen Angst - This was enjoyed in one friend's room. There was something about his room that I just liked. Maybe it was all the conversations we had. He also lived in a smaller town, and I loved the coziness of the place. We'd always talk about the girls he liked and at one point, even called one. It didn't go too well, but that was okay.

He'd also read his journal with me, and we'd talk about the lamest of things. But, for some reason, it was so much more awesome than that.

3. Don't Touch The Ground, Or He'll Get You! / The Dueling Ring - I have to link these two, since although it's two locations, it's for the same reason.

Firstly, way beyond the age when we could have gotten away with it, my friends and I played grounders on a playground in our neighborhood. We went for hours. After an afternoon of hockey, we'd enjoy the orange sun setting as we chased and dodged all over this playground. Sometimes we'd go late at night. I often cheated.

The hockey was the other part of it. When our school built some hockey courts for the younger students, we were ecstatic. True, we were probably some of the oldest students in the school, but we came to use these courts regardless. Many, many hours were spent facing off against each other in these.

Saturdays so often were a combination of hockey and grounders, followed by watching the Canucks in the evening. It was through these times that I found myself developing the very close friendships that I have with the same guys to this day. Most other guys were dating girls. It's not that we didn't want to; it just didn't happen. But seeing how happy we were without women in our life, maybe we just didn't have the motivation to do it. I really miss those days. Now, we're all too busy to get together like that. Life is good in a different way now. I'll probably be looking back on this moment in the future.

2. Solitary Splendor - I really miss my dorm room. I've only recently begun to realize how much. I had one of the nicest rooms in the school all to myself. I figured at the time that it was just a situation in which I got lucky. Now I see it was a lot more than that. It was the perfect situation. I will always remember sitting on my couch, listening to music and just thinking. My entire world was contained inside that building, and my room was a place for me to just be me. It gave me a chance to figure out who I am, and where I'm going. I would have to say that it was a big reason why I left the school, strange as it may sound. That will probably take more explaining than I'm wanting to do on this blog. But that room - I will remember it as a definite locale of my coming of age.

1. Canim Lake - I have a friend who is too good to me. He does things like take me to his sweet cabin at Canim Lake. I'll make it up to him some day.

The thing with Canim Lake is not just that there's a ton of fun things to do there. It's not just that I go up with a bunch of friends that make the experience all the more awesome, and it's not just the beautiful location. It's what Canim Lake is in my life. I go up whenever I get a break from routine. It's a physical place I return to time and time again to re-orient myself and really do the thinking I need to. Every year I go up, it's a highlight. I wonder how different I would be if I never went up.

Sorry that this blog entry was a lot cheesier than I wanted it to be.

Next blog: Top 6 Places Outside of British Columbia.