Scavenger Hunt, part 1.

Here I present the list of items I found in response to the scavenger hunt.

1. This paint sprayed on the bridge near my house wrote the words “Guilty”. It dripped red from its background of a blood splatter pattern onto the sidewalk underneath my feet, making me question if I was guilty of some crime I was unaware of.

2. A bright, neon sign, screaming the words Golden National Restaurant covers the window of this shop in High River. It’s English characters clearly  distinguishable, the sign also included the Chinese characters for the restaurant’s name, however not illuminated. Perhaps this was because their only customers were those of a more redneck background, and unfortunately I had to associate myself with their type.

3. A middle-aged Asian Man with a crown of blackish grey hairs ran the restaurant previously stated. He had liver spots along with winkles on his forehead and other places on his face that blended with his laugh lines. His accent was thick yet his tone was always joyful as words come out of his scarred lips.

4. I heard this piece of dialogue when I was at a festival in Downtown Calgary, and if I told you that the accents of the two men I heard this from were Italian, it would make more sense. One man said, ‘Then I says to the broad, don’t worry about it.” The other man responded with, “You don’t know when to quit, do you?” I thought I was in a scene of The Godfather, but turns out Italian stereotypes do exist.

5. One day at the park while walking my dog, I encountered a man smoking a Cuban cigar. Before I even walked past him, I caught scent of the smoke and tobacco and it burned my nose. I tried to hold my breathe while passing him and seriously almost passed out. Also, I recently smelt the scent of cheap cologne in the change room at school. Never have my nose suffered as much as they did that day. Picture Pepe le Pew from the old Looney Tunes cartoons and every scene he’s in, then you’ll know my pain.

6. Back to the man with the cigar, while he talked on the phone, he waved around his cigar, trying to express whatever point he was trying to make as if talking to a person in front of him. Of course, I’m guilty of this too so I can’t complain. The second expression I saw was that of the one and only Mr. Widmer, perhaps the most bipolar person I have met. He has two modes: angry or happy. That’s all you’re getting (Congratulations on getting married though, Wid). When he gets frustrated, the wrinkles seem to pile themselves onto his forehead and eventually become an eternal scowl. Yikes.

7. A food I’ve never tried before is escargot. Something about eating snails after the fact that I had a pet snail doesn’t really ease my mind. Also, I’ve never had a Turduckin. Not only is the name displeasing, but a meat in a meat in a meat seems like too much meat. Call me crazy. Finally, I’ve never tried Prawns. Some shrimp i will eat, but prawns are like huge shrimp, and they are the insects of the sea. No. thank you.

8. Perhaps my favorite movies are the Star Wars trilogies. Even the prequels were decent in my eyes. These are just movies I grew up on and will always be a part of my childhood.

9. The Great Gatsby will always be my favorite book, because it’s always a challenge to read, considering Fitzgerald uses a large vocabulary and there are tons of themes and motifs to cover in the book. Also, it’s not that long of a read, so if you don’t understand the book the first read through, just read it again.

10. Last week, I heard the common sound of a car driving through a puddle. What was significant about this one was that it drenched me in water. The second sound I heard was the little bell that jingles when you open the door to a restaurant. This was heard at the Chinese Food Restaurant previously mentioned. Finally, outside my window just now I heard 3 gunshots in the distance, which I’m hoping were fireworks. Please be fireworks.

11. Something I touched recently was chinchilla fur at a clothing store. It just might of been the softest thing I’ve ever touched. Of course, chinchillas are endangered so I now have that on my conscious. Never have endangered animals felt so good.

12. I basically live across the street from the Bow River. I always see people fishing, rafting, swimming and having fun in the polluted waters. The water is the same green colour as our uniform and yet people keep coming back, so obviously there’s something good about it besides not making our vests feel alone with their nasty colour scheme.

13. The secluded park I walk my dog in is always empty except for the grass growing up to my knees and the few trees decorating the path I walk along. There are some paths that I’ve made through the grass to find my way safely across the grassy plains. There is a fallen tree on the path that I always have to lift for my dog to go under in order to get to the river and allow her to swim.

14. An inn close to the school has a rundown and cracked staircase leading to rooms. The walls on the outside of the inn are all miscoloured and cracked, giving off a creepy vibe. If ever a horror movie were to take place, this is an ideal place.

15. I found a tree in the dog park the other day that resembled a hand. Its fingers were the branches as they prodded the air and diverged from the palm of the tree. The tree was dead and leafless, like a hand of the undead that is lifeless and pale.

16. The garden behind my house is the only one that I know of. It has vegetables and fruit sprouting from it like hair on your head, bringing colour to the boring scalp of my yard and giving it more life.

17. A few days ago I saw a coyote walking alone along the road, solitary, in its search for existence. He had nowhere to go and when he found something, he wouldn’t know what to do about it. Indeed it was a lonely animal, and I found myself sharing it’s feelings.

18. A true heartbreak in my life was the death of my pet fish. Keep in mind I was around 7 years old and knew nothing of the world besides what’s put in front of me. It was the first pet of my own and I had it for around 4 years, so indeed my under-developed heart would sink at it’s loss. RIP Fish, you will be missed.

19. I can’t recall a heart soar in my personal life, so I’ll list someone else’s. An old friend of mine named Don, started his own gaming business and succeeding in finishing his website and company. I remember how excited he was because he had finally made a living out of his passion and his smile was an open book to his happiness.

20. To me, Nathan Fillion is an inspiring person. He is a great actor, author, and leader. In fact, outside of his acting roles, he is a real life nerd. All of these things have always been things I can relate to, making him my inspiration for success.

21. In the mornings, I have to walk to school, which might be the most depressing and draining part of the day. It’s almost like a prison walk, because I’m walking straight to my cell where I can’t leave. Of course, the only solace in my day is Creative Writing and Warden Hunnisett.

22. I have never been outside of North America and this redundant lifestyle we live. Toronto, and Cancun, Mexico, are the only places I have ever been in my life. Honestly, I just want to pass the Atlantic and see what the other side of this world is like. I doubt that it’s much different from here, but honestly, it’s better than our winters.

23. The song “Don’t You Want Me.” by The Human League just came on so here are a couple lines from the song. “Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I can’t believe it when I hear that you won’t see me
Don’t. Don’t you want me?
You know I don’t believe you when you say that you don’t need me”  And now it’ll never be out my head. Thanks Creative Writing.

24. What I find beautiful is the fact that we our each our own person; individual in our quirks and lives. We are so different that there are no two same people. I’m not counting twins or triplets because I  consider genetics to be cheating. Each of our personalities are unique and precious to each of us, creating our identities.

25. Prepare yourself for very dark and cynical things. One thing that is sad is life in general. Not in the melancholy way but the distasteful way. It’s all about what we buy and who we follow on social media. We use up all we have and expect more like some sort of toddler. We are like a virus spreading throughout the host and eating away at what they have, and when they run out we will move on to the next host and spread once more.

26. What’s grotesque is that our biggest idols are all frauds and corrupt. Steve Jobs was a hero for technology by making profit off the backs of child labour over seas. Our celebrities are plastic and only act to maintain a good public image, really hiding their whetted appetite for money.

27. What is sick is how ignorant we are to the rest of the world and how we can turn a blind eye to the real happenings of other countries. We decide not to help in any way, instead worrying about our own individual place in a rigged and biased society where nobody else cares for us besides ourselves. We are selfish in order to survive.

28. What’s funny is how little we truly are in the scheme of things. We are blobs of flesh on a floating marble that hovers in nothingness that could be destroyed so easily. But the funniest part is how we believe we are the best things out there in said vast nothingness. Is ignorance bliss or just a distraction from reality?

29. I have never had any sort of foot injury in my life, even though foot and leg related injuries are the most common. I enjoy sports that run the risk of injury, but I guess I’m just lucky.

30. Honestly, I don’t get palm reading. Not just because it’s a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to think that your life is going to develop according to lines on your hand, but because it’s just uncleanly. I don’t know where your hands have been, so please sanitize.