The Ospika bush-ballet continues...

Well, many things to report since my last post. We were working a ridiculously thick block here in Ospika (nothing but giant patches of gnarly and twisted alder and willow) about a week ago before we quit and drove out to Mackenzie for some other work. Before we left, when we were back in camp, I was taught how to use the quad. I rarely find myself taken with a completely macho boys' toy, but this thing kicks ass. roaring it up and down the Ospika runway was a ton of fun. I'll have to see if I can ride it again at some point.

In the way of books: I finished Ghost Wars a while back. It's incredible just how in bed Saudi Arabia and Pakistani Intelligence (the ISI) were with the Taliban and Al Queda. The back-room dealings in the book were fascinating. However, the sheer amount of bureaucracy and finickiness that kept the CIA from getting Bin Laden before 9/11 is incredicle. Considering how easily they funded assasinations and coups from WWII until Allende in Chile, it's quite a surprise to see them tied up in legalities when pursuing someone who's already attacked them a number of times. Judging by the recent terror arrests in London however, it looks like Musharaff [sp] has cleaned up the ISI to a great degree.

I've moved on to a book called Mountains of the Mind. It concerns itself with how mountains and their ascents have been looked at an perceived through the ages, it is quite interesting with many little tidbits that are grand. Consider this one: In the 1700s, I believe, Samuel Taylor Colleridge was hiking up England's second highest mountain. He chose a difficult and rocky route down and soon found himself hanging by his arms and dropping down onto steep ledges in his descent. After getting stuck for a while, and marvelling at the powers of reasoning, he descended a rock chimney and made his way down. It is generally considered the first rock climb. Colleridge! The first rock-climber - absolutely priceless.

So, as I mentioned before, we drove out of Ospika and went to the illustrious little outpost known as Mackenzie. It was nice to drive on soft pavement, see buildings and streetlights, and hear cars for a change after a month in the woods. It's interesting how marvellous the urban aesthetic, even if it was just Mackenzie, can be after seeing nothing but gravel roads and trees for so long. We finished a small block of fairly easy brush off the highway on our first day of work. The next two days we got to be flown into our block in a helicopter. The ride was very short but it was still fun and it broke up the monotony a little. The block was good cutting but steep in some areas, we only had 2 days to finish it so we pushed really hard. On the second day I must have come in contact with a bunch of stinging nettles and the left side of my hand is blistered up and burnt. I haven't been burnt by those since I was about 8 and I fell into a ditch on a forest walk in Qualicum. Nasty little plants to add to Satan's favorite plant which was in abundance (devil's club).

We drove back into Ospika today and I probably have 5 more shifts before I call it a season. It'll be long and hard work but I'm going to push hard, put my head down and just deal with it. Africa approaches and I'm already taking care of things at that angle.

Another thing, my full Cabinda article was printed in The Knoll. It's available for anyone to read at www.theknoll.ca . I've been mulling over in my head a good article I may be able to write in the coming year for Adbusters about the switch in world powers with the descent of America and rise of China seen through World Systems Theory Wallersteinian lenses. It's a project for the year to say the least. Right now I have to write an essay for school contrasting and comparing Mill's principle of utility with Habermasian consensus building. I really don't want to do schoolwork out here but it must be done. I've had some good thoughts about re-working the 4th chapter of my novel completely and I may start that out here as well.

Most of all, I have a lot of brush-cutting to look forward to for the next little while. The homestretch is not to far off and I'm starting to see the very dimmest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel...