microscopic beauty

ever wondered what a piece of dust might look like under a microscope?  how bout a grain of sand? .. no eh?  me neither.  and if you did look at such objects up close, guess what?  you'll find that they are exactly as you imagine them to be - dull, unimportant, meaningless...

however, there is an artist out there by the name of willard wigam who is able to see beyond the norm.  when he looks at a speck of dirt, he can see the statue of liberty.  when he views a grain of sugar, he sees a boxing ring with two fighters duking it out.  many would call him 'crazy', or perhaps, 'delusional' if not for his amazing ability to produce the very things he sees potential for.  by slowing down his pulse and working inbetween heartbeats, wigam is able to create masterpieces out of miniscule objects that most might just inhale without even realizing it.

many of his pieces are framed inside the eye of a needle 

i almost didn't really believe it when i saw it, but they validated his work on snopes - he seems to be the real deal.  i'll never look at a speck of dust the same way again..

the blog is back!

so...  anyone still following this blog?  after the last few months of silence i don't blame you if you bailed.  however, things are happening, wheels are in motion, and the view from here is now going to be a glimpse of different surroundings..

recap time:  becky and i came back from south korea on october 31, a mere 2.5 months ago.  it was a pretty odd experience reintegrating back into canadian culture.  they call it reverse culture shock, and it's often worse than the original one (so they say; I thought it was a myth..).  it was weird enough leaving asia and arriving back in toronto just two hours after we left (...with the time difference of course.. you know..), but as soon as we landed, i knew... we'd just left the island, and i don't think we're going to find our way back ('lost' reference).  we were slammed back into canadian culture, like a puck flying into a snowbank - and it was sooo good. standing in line at customs we followed instructions from a guy who gave them in english, and french, and pointed to a sign with other languages all over it - I was home.  no more mono-culture.  becky and i continued through the airport checks (where they took away my so-ju! man! i'll never be able to share the experience with the people back home!), and it just so happened that the hockey game was playing.. mmmm.

and so it went on like this, at least for me, for a week or so.  the jet lag was pretty brutal, but it was expected.  what i didn't expect was the weirdness i felt while i walked through our mall, and tried to have a conversation with the bank teller.  "and how can i help you today?"     "...uhhh...무엇?"   it was so weird!  and i know that all my friends that they feel the same way when they come back home for the holiday's, saying "yeah, milton is so different now, eh?".  yes it has been through a pretty crazy growth spurt, even been called "canada's fastest growing municipality", but it wasn't that kind of culture shock.  this was a "whoa! i can communicate with over 90% of the population now!" kind of shock.

but that is old news.  

presently, i'm beginning to feel a bit more like a normal canadian again.  i'm even applying for schools for next year here in canada.  the year abroad had good points and bad (i'll do more of a korea wrap-up in a later blog), but, at least for the moment, i'm looking to stick around this country for a while.

for now i'll end here - i really hope to write in this blog more, and maybe with more of a purpose.  some blogs are all about something you know; about the environment, or about beer, or.. something.  this is the year of being decisive.  no more writing about nothing. i'm going to make decisions and ... write about ... something..

..til then here's a great video of this guys who dances in europe. his name is davey, and he's dancin! 

DaveyDanceBlog -59- Heidelberg from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.