Kamis, 25 Juni 2009

Of Pokemon and Hot Springs and Other Idle Dreams

It's been a slow couple of weeks. Not much to blog home about. So I guess I could do like most blogs and start ranting and rambling about the various things I am a fan of.

For example, Pokemon. I love Pokemon. Many find such a love to be weird, but there it is.

One thing I love about the Pokemon cartoon is when something overtly Japanese happens. For those who don't know, I spent a year teaching English in Japan. So when something overtly Japanese happens, I understand it, and I feel like I'm in on a larger joke.

What happened in this last episode...our heroes were walking down the road (as they do at the start of every episode) and nightfall is coming. With the nearest pokemon centre still too far away, Dawn takes a closer look at the map and realizes that a friend lives near by. This friend happens to own and live in a hot springs resort, so they can crash with Dawn's friend and enjoy the hot springs for free. What good are friends if you can't mooch off them?

And then it turns out that the hot springs have dried up so our heroes go on a quest to find out why.

But yeah. Hot springs. I loved going to hot springs. I've been going since I was 2 years old, when every summer saw at least one trip to the Miette Hot Springs in Jasper. I haven't been out to Miette in a couple of years...I'm starting to miss it.

You have to admit, Canada really is poor when it comes to hot springs. We have about three or four in the Rockies and that's it. Not like Japan, where there's whole resort towns built around hot springs. I remember a few years back, the Banff Hot Springs were running low, so they were filling up the pool with plain ol' Town of Banff tap water. The hot springs management were all like, "What? We always do this when it runs low." Meanwhile, in Japan, when word got out that several hot springs resorts were topping off their pools with plain ol' tap water, it created a national scandal and a special government subcommittee was formed to look into the problem.

But let's not forget, if weren't for those three or four hot springs we have, we wouldn't have our national parks service. As the legend goes, back when they were building the railroad, some railway workers discovered a hot spring in Banff. The hot spring soon became a popular recreation area, and before you knew it, people were starting to scrap over who owned the hot springs. The fight got so bad that finally the federal government stepped in and said, "Something this awesome should belong to EVERYONE!" So the government claimed the hot spring and formed Banff National Park to look after it. And our national parks service was born!

Hot springs. I love them. I wish I could travel the world and sample all the many different kinds. That could be a great TV show for the Travel Channel. I travel the world, sample the hot springs, hang out with the locals, learn the history of the place. I should pitch that!

But first, I should hit the gym. Let's be honest, such a series would feature me in a swimsuit for half of every episode. Stressing out about your body to look good in a swimsuit: it's not just for women anymore.

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