First Thoughts

This is a new adventure in the digital realm. I already have a rather substantial webpage (www.geocities.com/lesliebarclay/) that serves as my connect with the world via the Internet. The notion of keeping a sort of interactive scrapbook of thoughts and pictures, like an on-line journal is intriguing and so I begin this first blog. I have been keeping a journal for more than half my life. It first began as entries on lined paper in a duotang, then on miscellaneous scraps of paper, then notebooks, then a word processor, then a notebook computer, then a desktop computer, then a desktop pc companion and now this. A journal is a useful device as it serves as both a kind of mirror and a historic record. It is pleasant to go back over old writings and chuckle at your life and thinking at that time. Keeping a journal serves also to focus our mind on the life we lead and the life around us.

My life is a kind of eclectic mix of activities flavoured by simplicity and uncertainty. It seems to proceed in two to four year cycles (I call them adventures) such as my first university experience, my first small business experience, my second university experience, the first Thailand experience, the first Korean experience, the second Thailand experience, and now the post-Asia Canada experience. Three years into this latest adventure, I recently felt that I was falling into a rut. Life is comfortable, but a little dull and predictable. Then the year began with a layoff from teaching at Malaspina University-College, but the restaurant has been booming. Then this summer, we bought a new house. And starting next week I have a four month teaching stint of a different kind. Thus, some new variety has been added to life.

As to the title of this blog -- "Vancouver Island Life Blog" -- I thought that there should be some focus or theme to these idle thoughts. At first, I wanted to call the blog "Life in Canada", but figured it was too unoriginal and probably was already taken. And besides, life on Vancouver Island is a distinctive subset of life in Canada. I believe that my life is representative of life on Vancouver Island and so shall attempt to express this in words and pictures.

My next entry shall examine what life on Vancouver Island is and is capable of being.