A time for change

I don't blog on here much anymore but why not? So here I am.
2011 has been one of the most stressful, most back aching, most tiring, most depressing and most head-bashing years of my life.

Look, I've never been a happy person, nor will I ever be a happy person, but this year takes the cake for "worst year ever", first of all, grandpa dies right when the majority of my family was on vacation in México, me and my girlfriend breakup, a ginormous flood hit my parents' farm and caused my dad to not be able to do his livelihood for an entire year (or possibly more), and to top it all off.. I'm still unemployed.

I have a BA in Political Science, I've had numerous job interviews this year (thankfully), but even with all that, I can't get a job. I have a few reasons why:

1. I get too damned nervous in an interview. Mentally, I'm fine, but physically, I shake and my voice trembles. The reason behind this is because there's a part of my body that knows I won't get the job, so it sends a message to my body to "do its best" in the interview, causing me to shake, and seem non-confident. This hurts my chances at the interview, even if I'm qualified.
2. Employers don't take my application seriously. They're not going to hire a kid from Brandon, Manitoba for an entry level job in Montréal.
3. Employer DOES take it seriously and asks me to come to Montréal for an interview in two days time. I can't do that as I have no money in the bank as it is to GET to Montréal. If I didn't get the job, then I'm out $500+.
4. There's no jobs in Political Science. One of my best friends does policy for a government and he's worried that he will be out of a job soon.

Then there's the whole living in Brandon issue. People here suck. This isn't a friendly place, the people here aren't welcoming and it's impossible to make friends at all. That being said, I do have a few kickass friends here, but I need to get out of Brandon. But it takes lots of resources to move from a dirt cheap apartment to a city with an apartment that may cost a lot more in rent.

I'm not a confident individual, it has to do with being told my entire life by almost everyone around me that I'm not going to achieve anything. Heck, my own mother doubted that a political science degree would amount to any jobs.. she was right. That doesn't stop me though. In the meantime, I still try to apply for jobs at Walmart and Superstore, with little to no success. With the lack of confidence, when I'm around people, I get a vibe that people are creeped out by me, weirded out by me or just that they don't want me around. As someone with low self confidence and usually being absolute oblivious to everything around me in my environment, I can somehow pick off vibes from others.. and usually.. the vibes are 100% correct. Fake smile and raising eye brows while shaking their head? Of course.

So, what have I tried doing? Well, I've kept doing the job search. Sometimes it's successful enough to get an interview or two, other times - nothing. 

Also, I exercise EVERY day. I don't exercise as much as most people or do as intense exercises, but for someone who never really cared for exercising, I need a change. I've lost twenty pounds since July and looking to lose enough weight in time for March. If I'm still unemployed in March, I'm considering joining the Army. I'm sick of sitting around, getting older with a BA, unhired. So, why not join the Army? 

My main goal is to get fit, look at least somewhat presentable, and get a job in the Army, or else move to Montreal or Ottawa early next year. I want to experience life, make new friends, try new beers, meet a nice Francophone girl and be able to afford to finally save money for my future. I've worked too hard to still be absolutely nowheres in my life. 

Review: Innis & Gunn Canadian Whisky Cask (2009)

Innis & Gunn Canadian Whisky Cask - Canada Day 2009, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

I will be the first to admit that I am a beer hoarder. While my friends believe that you should drink beer you buy ASAP, I believe sometimes I have to just save it for a special occasion. Well there was no occasion this time, I just wanted to drink it.

For the past few years, Innis & Gunn has made a special edition Canadian whisky cask beer in honour of Canada Day. I haven't tried it, but finally will. This is the 2009 release, and I believe may be the first release. The seal states that this beer is best to drink before December 2010, so hopefully it's still good.

Appearance Very nice copper-amber colour that just looks absolutely tasty to drink. Eggshell off-white head, just slightly carbonated.

Aroma: I smell whisky! It reminds me of Crown Royal a bit. Nice hint of caramel as well.

Taste: Like butterscotch, a bit creamy on the tongue, I can actually taste a bit of whisky's sweetness as well. Very much a sweet sweet beer. Good to savour if you have a sweet tooth, when it comes to beers. Then again, most of Innis & Gunn's beers are very very sweet tasting.

Value: $4.50 Canadian (in 2009). It is a decent value with it being a bit pricey. I will have to look to see if the 2011 edition is still in the local liquor stores. ABV of 7.1%, which is a bit surprising as I expected it to be closer to 5.5%. Very smooth. I would recommend this to those looking for a nice beer after supper. I would get someone, like my father, who is a rye whisky fan to try this, but he wouldn't like it.

www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/6176152515/

I just don't know

It's been two years since I graduated university. Two years ago, I was confident, I was giddy, I was happy somewhat and I had great friends supporting me. Now - I'm exactly where I was then. This time I'm pessimistic, grouchy and depressed, and all my friends have moved away. Every day I think to myself "oh, things will get better soon, they just have to." But, that's just not happening. It's been nearly 3 years since I had a real job, a good job. Two years since graduation and I can't even see myself employed in the next 6 months.

What have I learned from all this. In university, keep a level head. When people go wow, you're going to be successful because you're taking a double major! Just stay calm and carry on, don't agree with them. My biggest regret? Majoring in politics. That was a huuuuuge mistake. I was told that there'd be several jobs out there for me, and with my French background, that would help. I've learned that there's very few bilingual political science jobs out there. The ones I do apply, apparently I don't quality for them as I am not qualified enough. I point out exactly how I qualify, and that's not good enough. Nothing's good enough.

In a perfect world, I would be living in Downtown Montréal right now, with a full time job making $50,000/year. What industry? I don't know. I lost interest in politics as I've been pushed around way too much in the industry that it's just not worth it anymore. Frankly, I'm not going to kiss anyone's ass, and I'm an incredibly friendly person. The beer industry would be something great, but I just don't have experience and I don't know where to look.

Some say to me "Well, just move out there and get a job when you get there." The problem with that though is that I don't want to be in the situation I am now, but in a different city, paying much more in rent and other stuff. At least here I'm close to family, able to live off minimal money.

My French is not perfect, may never be perfect. I remember overhearing people in a different department at my job in Quebec City criticizing my French behind my back, thinking I wouldn't understand them. It's things like that that depress me further. It brings me into this slump that I am in now. How am I trying to get out of this slump? Well I've had meetings with an employment councillor to see what I need to improve on, I've been exercising daily - although nothing's changed, tried to be positive, changed my diet as much as I can, and go out more. It's hard to do some of that when you have no money.

Some say "take a random job, just for now." That's kind of hard when you don't hear back from anyone, including restaurants. I AM a hard worker, I'm good at my job, I'm confident that I get the job done. I'm more stubborn than most, but give me a deadline and I'll get it done, quickly, efficiently and correctly.

Where do I see myself in 6 months? Exact same spot as am right now. Where do I hope to be in 6 months? Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa or even Toronto... Winnipeg if there was something great.

I truly believe I'll find an amazing job, but I just got to keep trying - which is exactly what I've been doing. Some of my weaknesses are that I nearly pass out during an interview because I get overstressed because my mind thinks I won't get the job, which is true in the end, I'm stubborn - but I work hard at what I do, and I'm bad with communicating with people - but that's something that I can't change, training and medication can't improve that, it's sort of a disability per sé.

I just hope for the best and try my hardest, just as I've done for two years. One thing I've stopped doing - applying for civil service jobs. They're laying off thousands of people soon, and those job opportunities are the biggest letdowns ever.

Nikon Coolpix S3100 quick review

Nikon Coolpix S3100 camera, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

I just bought a Nikon Coolpix S3100, as I need a digital camera for times when I don't want to lug around my Canon DSLR, I found this camera on Futureshop's website on sale for pretty cheap so decided to buy it.

What do I think? Compared to my old Canon SD1000 digital camera, it is even thinner than that. The Nikon S3100 has a very cheap plasticy feel to it, although I read reviews that it's aluminum body - certainly plastic. It's pretty slow to start up, slow for taking photos. It's generally slow, my old SD1000 was better than this camera. The SD1000 was generally just much better as it had a nice metal frame, the options were simple to amateurs and beginners, while for the Nikon, it takes alot just to change ISO, you actually have to go into the settings and change ISO for each setting - pretty annoying.

For macro, it has alot of trouble trying to focus (and locking) onto the photo, but fiddling around for a few minutes eventually fixes that. I tried taking a photo of the iPhone screen and it had trouble focusing until I changed to a different "Macro Scene", then it was clear. The photos are a bit too soft, as I've read in reviews, but for what I need it for - possibly taking outdoors photos when I'm in a rush, it will do the job.

For some shots, I feel that my iPhone may actually take better photos than this camera, but I guess we'll wait and see over time.

I rate this a 2/5.

What do I like about it? Compact feel, was only $130, lots of "Scenes" for different things (ie macro, outdoors, pets, etc),

What do I hate about it? Too plasticy of a feel, LCD screen is incredibly fragile, it has problems focusing in on photos, you need to play around with menues alot for what you need. I guess you get what you pay for!





Update: On June 2 I returned the camera, I just couldn't deal with the slowness of the device. Futureshop was very friendly and welcoming, letting me to return the device with zero hassle, I was quite pleased! My mom bought a camera instead, a $220 Sony camera, so I'll get my old SD1000 back. The last picture is the best photo I took of the bunch, and that's not saying much.

2011 Western Manitoba Flooding Photos

Farmer overlooking the flood, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

As many of you know - I live in Western Manitoba, well Brandon, but my family lives in Westman too. The entire region is experiencing incredibly nasty floods that are some of the worst in several decades. It's nuts. Places that are generally dry in April are 5 feet deep in water.

To make things worse, mosquito season is already out and with lakes of water that are going to go nowhere, this summer will possibly be the most bug infested summer of all time.

Check out my Flickr Set of photos taken of the Souris River flooding and the flooding at my parents farm - that's caused by local Oak Lake overflowing and having nowhere else to drain so it heads south.

Enjoy!

LINK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157626554899778/

Inaccessible road

Inaccessible road, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

When we last came out here on May 3, the water was much lower, only a small stream flowing, now it's pretty substantial, I have no clue if it will retreat anytime soon.

Compared to May 3: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/5687716405

www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/5687723885/

Enjoying a Burly Wine!

Enjoying a Burly Wine!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Burly Wine is one of the most sought after products by my favourite brewery, Half Pints. It's pretty hard to find in the first place, and they dont plan on making anymore for atleast a few years. But lucky for me, the local liquor store in my town has several bottles, so I scoop some up whenever possible.

The nickname of this beer is the "Winnipeg winter warmer", as it has 10.5% ABV and even on coldest of -40 Winter nights, warms your body. I decided to pick up a bottle for a birthday present. However, it hadn't been warm for weeks so I postponed drinking this beer until today. It's absolutely beautiful out, the flood waters are starting to go back and it's a great day so why not?

Has a nice cream coloured foamy head, very dark coppery brown hazy appearance, a sweet, somewhat hoppy aroma, very sweet.. caramel taste to it, and itself is a bit creamy in texture to the tongue. Tasty tasty beverage. I know a few friends who aren't a fan of this beer, but I absolutely love it.

www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/5720406762/

C'est vraiment «la fin du monde!»

C'est vraiment «la fin du monde!», originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today is April 30 - but living in Western Manitoba you would *NOT* think that. Just going outside, there are two feet of brand new snow in some parts. It feels more like it would be December 30. It's damn bitter cold out. A temperature of -8C with a windchill of -15C. Generally it's +15C right now. Hell, it was that warm yesterday! Frankly, we don't need THIS snow, the fields are over saturated and our neighbours have warned us that we should prepare for a flood, there's some flooding occuring a few kilometres away and it's heading our way. With all this new fresh snow, it's scary shit.

On the upside, it quickly chills my beer!

Lays Kettle Cooked Ketchup Chips

Lays Kettle Cooked Ketchup Chips, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

A few months ago I had the idea that one sort of snack food that would effing rock would be Kettle Cooked ketchup chips, cuz ketchup chips are awesome, and so are kettle cooked chips. I didn't know that Lays would be introducing a new line of Kettle Cooked chips, which included a ketchup variety. I was excited to try them.

I'm not a fan of Lays' chips, their chips are brittle, thin, quantity/not quality and generally boring - especially ketchup chip wise.

I wanted to see what ketchup chips done kettle style would be like.

They're a bit pricy, $3.50 for a 180 gram bag, compared to $2.50 for around 220 gram bag of regular chips.

The chips are thicker than the regular Lays chips, and has a crunch that is nice, like anything kettle cooked. Compared to their regular chips, thankfully they're not brittle and break on you when you bite into it.

The downside - the "ketchup flavour" - Lays has been trying to "improve" the ketchup flavour of their chips for the past 15 years or so, and it's only gone downhill. Their ketchup chips are far from ketchupy. I call the chips "Salt and Vinegar and Sugar and Garlic Chips" as I don't taste ONE hint of ketchup at all.

Dear Lays, completely change your ketchup recipe, it's not ketchupy at all. The flavour is minimal in the kettle chips. But strangely enough, the more I'm eating, the more I'm enjoying it.

Next - I hope to see Old Dutch bring out a ketchup variety of their chips. that thick intoxicating ketchup aroma would be perfect with their kettle cooked line of chips. Old Dutch makes damn good ketchup chips!

dérouler //29 mots sous la pluie

dérouler, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

dérouler - the project finally comes to an end after 29 days. You know those contests like Tim Hortons' Roll up the Rim to Win where you think you're going to win something after drinking 35 coffees, but still haven't won a single cookie? This is one of those times. Or those times where you win 3 coffees in a row. It's one of those sort of days. It's been a long 29 days. When I first started the project, I forgot that there was only 28 days in February this year. I still wanted to do 29 days just for kicks.

Did you enjoy the project? Even though it was mostly about pessimism and thinking too much about the past?

29/29 mots sous la pluie

For more/plusiers: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157625956313184/

abandonné //29 mots sous la pluie

abandonné //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

abandonné - everywhere you go, the architecture of a particular town or area tells a story. The story of the past of the community, how people made a living and what kept the community thriving. Grain elevators were essential to prairie town economies for the past 100 years or so, but now they're almost all gone. The ones you see now days are either abandoned, privately owned, or large concrete structures that handle several elevators worth of grain. We will be seeing less of these wooden beauties over time.

28/29 mots sous la pluie

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obsédé //29 mots sous la pluie

obsédé //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

obsédé - when does being a fan of something become an obsession? When you have a fan club? When you know almost all their songs? Well, I don't know really. Consider me "obsessed" or just consider me a bored fan who likes BURTON CUMMINGS' music!

27/29 mots sous la pluie

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raillerie //29 mots sous la pluie

raillerie //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

raillerie - Face it, we all get cravings more than once in a while. Sometimes we have a delicious pastry right infront of us, it taunts you, tells you "eeeeeeat me!" Sometimes our willpower refuses us to eat said pastry, but other times, you just got to. That's what's happening to me today, I bought a 6 of Caramel apple fritters from Tim Hortons, while Tim Hortons baking goods suck, the caramel apple fritter is a doughy piece of heaven, and soo soo bad for your health! it's hard to resist though!

26/29 mots sous la pluie

For more/plusiers: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157625956313184/

céphalée //29 mots sous la pluie

céphalée, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

céphalée - I'm hungover, I drank two too many beers last night, and now I'm paying for it. With it, I'm insanely grouchy*, moody, tired, lonely, bitchy, hungry/not hungry, and all that. Frankly I'm sick with everything and everyone. I apply for more jobs than most people and all I ever get is a "thanks but no thanks" or they find some sort of loophole not to hire me. Today's incarnation of not getting a job was being told I didn't go to the "information session" so I'm no longer qualified. I never even was made aware of it in the first place. I can't wait until employers COME TO ME and beg me to work for them, either than other way around. Also, Brandon Manitoba is not the best place to live in. Rude people, no friends, very cliquish.. get me out of here!


*wait, I'm always grouchy!

25/29 mots sous la pluie

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fatigué //29 mots sous la pluie

fatigué //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

fatigué - I wish everyone was entitled to little cat naps just like cats do. Lucky them. 8 hours without a single nap is just wrong. Amiriteoramirite?

24/29 mots sous la pluie

For more/plusiers: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157625956313184/

nul //29 mots sous la pluie

nul //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

nul - Here in Canada, winter lasts for what seems like forever. With this, entire regions are covered in a thick hard layer of snow. Walking out on the prairies, I get a sense of nothingness, there's nobody around me, I'm the only creature for several kilometres as it's too uninhabitable to do anything. The only sign of life are my footprints. No-one else will ever see these foot prints as nobody will go out of their way to actually walk in my steps (literally, not figuratively). I don't blame them... unless if they were snowshoeing! Walking in a combination of hard/soft 3 foot deep snow in the middle of nowhere is quite the challenge. For every two steps you have yourself on TOP of the snow, you will have another 8 steps where you'll be thigh deep in the snow, as it cannot support a person's body, but the next 3 steps after that, it feels like you're on the top of the world, sometimes.

23/29 mots sous la pluie

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démodé //29 mots sous la pluie

démodé //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

démodé - we've gotten to the point in society where everything from the past is now obsolete. Glass bottles? Replaced with "lightweight" plastic bottles. The downside to that is that stuff like plastic will eventually be known to cause problems to peoples health. I wish it was easier to find products in glass again. If you've had a sip of Coca Cola in a glass bottle, you'll know what I mean - the product in plastic tastes horrible. Bring back glass! Or atleast give people an option to buy non-plastic based products.

22/29 mots sous la pluie

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fuir //29 mots sous la pluie

fuir //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

fuir - aujourd'hui c'est la journée Louis Riel. Manitoba's equivalent of "Family Day." Louis Riel Day is in honour of the controversial hero to French Canada and traitor to others. He stood up for the rights of Francophones, Aboriginals and métis groups. He turned Manitoba into a republic that lasted only a few hours, and was eventually hanged in 1885 as he was convicted for treason. This only outraged French and Aboriginal groups in Canada, and the effects are still felt to this very day.

21/29 mots sous la pluie

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céréalier //29 mots sous la pluie

céréalier //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

céréalier - to be honest, without your local grain farmers, food would be incredibly expensive. Farmers work around the clock almost all year round to make sure their crops are healthy and are good enough to ship to elevators and mills to be processed into flour, oils and other substances. Farming is not a profitable industry in this decade. Every year I hear about more and more neighbours giving up and closing up shop, it's just not profitable enough anymore.

Support your local farmer by buying only local products whenever you can. One good way is through farmers markets, which are generally very easy to find in most cities.

20/29 mots sous la pluie

For more/plusiers: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157625956313184/

inquiétude //29 mots sous la pluie

inquiétude //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

inquiétude - I have been on the job search game for around 25 months now (just over two years). It's taught me two things - be patient and that the dream job won't be handed to you. You have to spend tens of thousands of stressful hours before you get even an interview, if you're lucky. Every day I go check the mail, hope that there is a letter for me regarding a job.. as it seems many employers still prefer to communicate through snail mail and fax rather than over the phone or over the internet. I get excited when I do get I see a letter addressed to me, but usually it turns out to be a piece of propaganda from the Liberal Party of Canada or a bill. Once in a while I do get letters from employers, letting me know that I did not get that job I drove two hours on Christmas Eve to interview for. The future does get brighter, but one wonders when?

19/29 mots sous la pluie

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crépuscule //29 mots sous la pluie

crépuscule //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

crépuscule - even with the days getting longer.. nights are still pitch black by 7PM. In the summer time I love sitting outside on the deck and watching the sunset slowly happening while sipping back a beer.


18/29 mots sous la pluie

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savoureux //29 mots sous la pluie

savoureux //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

savoureux - Once every few months a bunch of my family will come out to the country for some sort of reason, whether theyre on vacation or a family emergency. This time, it was my grandpère's death that brought them out a few weeks ago. Whenever the family gets together, everyone gets buzzed.. cuz that's the family tradition haha! Well, the family generally drinks rye and crappy beer. I saw this and I was very pleased, someone in my own family actually likes good beer. There's an unstable box full of 24+ beers by Half Pints brewing consisting of Little Scrapper IPA and St James Pale Ale. Kudos to whoevers beer that is! Glad to see that I'm not the only one in the family that enjoys a GOOD beer!

17/29 mots sous la pluie

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tranquillité //29 mots sous la pluie

tranquillité //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

tranquillité - It was one of those days where you just wanted to walk around without a care in the world, not think about anything, just relax and enjoy the surroundings. Today was one of those days. With beautiful weather, you kind of have to - rather than be cooped up infront of a computer 18 hours a day.

16/29 mots sous la pluie

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télécharger //29 mots sous la pluie

télécharger //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

télécharger - One thing I love to do is download, download and download some more. I'm a very bored person so once in a while I'll download podcasts to keep me busy while going for a walk downtown. Bande à part's podcast is my favourite out of them all. However, I prefer to download it on my iPhone. The ability to download it on iPhone is quite nice, but Rogers' network is too damned slow to do so. Brandon's the largest community in Canada without 3G cellular service, so it's going to take 424 minutes (7 hours) to download a TWENTY MEGABYTE file! To be fair, it's now saying 347 minutes (5.7 hours) now but that's too damned long to download a 20mb file, even dialup is faster.

I love the ability to be mobile, but not to the point where it takes longer to download a file than it is to take a flight, book a hotel room, and go to the concert of said bands (on the podcast) to hear the music.

15/29 mots sous la pluie

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célibataire //29 mots sous la pluie

célibataire //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

célibataire - today's considered "the" day of love, thanks to all the BS advertising from chocolate companies, jewellery companies and the like. For someone who is all-of-a-sudden single, you can't really do much but be lonely, and drink a shitload of crappy 10% beer. Today's theme was to be amoureuse, but hey - things change at the last second!

14/29 mots sous la pluie

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alcoolique //29 mots sous la pluie

alcoolique //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

alcoolique - Sometimes I wonder if I'm an alcoholic. Why? Well because of alcohol, I got dumped this morning, it makes things awkward and people get upset. Now I'll be spending Valentines day wanting to hibernate until I have a job. I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm like that, I look for 18 months for a job, nothing comes up, so off to the bottle I go?

13/29 mots sous la pluie

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grossière //29 mots sous la pluie

grossière //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

grossière - The girlfriend's just rude and this is mean, I was lying on my stomach and she gets out a marker and starts writing something on my back and this is what it was. Anyone else ever have a loved one do something so mean?

12/29 mots sous la pluie

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réaménagement //29 mots sous la pluie

réaménagement //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

réaménagement - the general feeling of downtowns of any Canadian city is abandonment, displeasure and out-of-business. It's good to see some buildings, like this old Safeway being renovated for other purposes. In this case, it's going to be turned into a police station. Strangely enough, I've always thought that that lot would make a great location for a Tim Hortons.

11/29 mots sous la pluie

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ambiguïté //29 mots sous la pluie

ambiguïté //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

ambiguïté - Living in this building for a long long long time, people leave their shit behind, you never know what they will leave behind, nor whose stuff it is. I've seen people leave behind hundreds of dollars of food, to clothing to furniture. It's quite weird really, but living in this dive of a dump, I don't blame them for rushing to move out of here as soon as possible, with half their stuff left behind.

10/29 mots sous la pluie

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chômage //29 mots sous la pluie

chômage //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Chômage - In any given community, businesses close down and lead to unemployment - people looking for a new source of income. This location was once a K-Mart, then it closed down and was replaced with a Zellers. The Zellers closed and moved to a different location, and was finally replaced with a Fields, and then again - closed.

9/29 mots sous la pluie

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solitaire //29 mots sous la pluie

solitaire //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Solitaire - The theme to the 29 mots sous la pluie project for the most part has been depressing/loneliness, and this is no exception to it. This photo was taken on the drive down a gravel road during a cold, very dark, snow blowing night. You don't pass a single vehicle on the road, and the only sense of civilization is when you nearly run into deer.

The reverse of this - carefree highway - when you travel down a stretch of prairie highway, listening to your favourite music during the middle of summer and loving life!

8/29 mots sous la pluie

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Cerf //29 mots sous la pluie

Cerf //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Cerf - In rural Manitoba, one hobby farmers and people from the city like to do is hunt (and fish). I've never hunted in my life, nor plan to but it's been a tradition in my family for several decades. Farmers and hunters alike collect the heads of the deer they shoot as a "trophy" of their accomplishments.

7/29 mots sous la pluie

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Buriné //29 mots sous la pluie

Buriné //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Buriné - This old building was a food vendor/hang out during the summer times. Like anything else, nothing lasts forever, weathering takes place and eventually deteriorates everything. I remember coming here hundreds of times in my youth, like the summer of '92 I'd get an ice cold soda and a Mr Freeze freezie, or a hot dog. Oh how the times change. I don't believe this is in use anymore.

6/29 mots sous la pluie

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passe-temps //29 mots sous la pluie

passe-temps //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Passe-temps. Last week my grand-père (right in photo) died at the age of 85. I never did get to really know him. He was a quiet man. He worked harder and longer than most people I knew. When I was very young he would go hunting during deer season and ice fishing, but over time he stopped doing that completely. Today was his "celebration of life" gathering at a local community centre as it was in his best interest for only that to occur rather than a funeral. Several of his siblings, all my uncles and aunt and most of my cousins (except one) all made the trek. What's crazy is most of my grand-père's siblings are still alive and kicking. Everyone has a story, but we never really know anything about the story until the story is already written (death).

4/29 mots sous la pluie

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Communauté //29 mots sous la pluie

Communauté //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Communauté - This weekend the Lieutenant Governor's Winter Festival going on in Brandon, Manitoba. It's a free event with free bus shuttles where you can see a bit of what some of the community's several vibrant cultures are all about. Last night I checked out the Franco-Canadien pavilion. As a Franco-Canadien, it's a requirement to go every single year. I get to drink beer by Unibroue, eat crêpes, listen to folky music and eat tire sur glacé. Yum. Times like this I'm happy to be French Canadian, but they need poutine!

This is a sculpture of a big pot of pea soup (soupe aux pois), which is a staple dish for Francophone families here and Quebec. Vive la culture!

4/29 mots sous la pluie

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Étudier //29 mots sous la pluie

Étudier //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Étudier - I spent 6 years of my life to work on a 3 year double major arts degree, yes six. What have I learned from it? Your dream job doesn't exist, also - diversify the hell out of everything. If you don't have a minor in business and history and philosophy and German, you're screwed for life! Nobody will HIRE you as youth unemployment is at its highest level in decades and employers have the right to be as picky as they want in this economy. Edit: Take what I just said with a grain of salt, read that with lots of sarcasm in it!

I'm proud of Chantal, she's worked her ass off for the past four years working on a Psychiatric Nursing degree and she's only a few months away from graduating! She's stressed her ass off on a regular basis but now that she's near the end of the tunnel, she is not really giving an eff about how she does on upcoming assignments, and I don't blame her. Politics degree graduates aren't in demand, psychiatric nurses ARE!

3/29 mots sous la pluie

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Gelé //29 mots sous la pluie

Gelé //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Gelé - Waking up today, I look at the Weather network app on my iPhone and it says "windchill of -35C." On days like that I just want to avoid civilization completely. Why not? It's too cold to do anything. Then you look at US TV, or hell.. Ontario TV and they're whining about this white powder called "snow", as if they've never seen it before, as if it's going to kill off the civilization. Um.. that's what winter is for.

I saw this ice lodge/backup and now I realize why my old room flooded each and every damned spring. Yum, the smell of mildew!

2/29 mots sous la pluie

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camaraderie //29 mots sous la pluie

camaraderie //29 mots sous la pluie, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Bienvenue tout le monde, welcome everyone! I've started a bit of a Flickr project titled « 29 mots sous la pluie. » Which, in English translates to "29 words in the rain." It's a project that brings together my feelings and thoughts together with photos. For 29 days I'll be doing un mot (one word) per day.

Why 29 mots sous la pluie? February is generally the most depressing month of the year for me. While it is the shortest month of the year, it also feels like the longest, as well as the coldest - and in some years - the most depressing. The phrase is an oxymoron for living in Manitoba as it's always a cold, gloomy windchill packed month.

For 29 days I'll be choosing one word en français to describe the mood.

Le mot ce jour - camaraderie - j'ai choisi ce mot parce que quand j'ai vu des bières de Chambly d'Unibroue, c'est comme une famille. Seule, c'est une bière delicieuse, mais ensemble, c'est une histoire. I chose the word because when I look at these Chambly beers by Unibroue, it's like a family. Alone, the beer's delicious but together it's like a story.

For more: www.flickr.com/photos/codyrl/sets/72157625956313184/

Photo of the day - January 21, 2011

ici, Château Frontenac, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo is "ici, Château Frontenac"

Photo of the day - January 20, 2011

¡Bienvenidos à México Breezy y Sunny!, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo of the day is ¡Bienvenidos à México Breezy y Sunny!

I wish I was in Mexico too.

Photo of the day - January 13, 2010

Rocky jolting rocks, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

Today's photo is "Rocky jolting rocks". My parents head to México in 5 days and I'm jealous beyong belief. It's already been 3 years since the last time I've been somewheres above +5C for more than an hour in winter time. Every day I wish I had a job so I could afford a tropical all inclusive vacation. Maybe I'll get a job in 2018 and go on a trip in 2020?

Photo of the Day - January 12, 2010

Turn, Turn, Turn, originally uploaded by Cody La Bière.

The photo of the day for January 12 is titled "Turn, Turn, Turn" - the windmills right outside of Somerset, Manitoba, the heart of Franco-Manitoba!