I love cemeteries. When I was a little girl, they creeped me out. Like a lot of little kids, I was superstitious and did lots of little things to exhibit that. I lifted my feet off the floor of the car when we drove over railway tracks. I said "I hate rabbits" when smoke from a bonfire or barbecue blew toward my face. I held my breath when I went past a grave yard. I don't know why. A lot of kids did.

All that said, in high school I came to love cemeteries. They were so great for peaceful walks, so quiet and well maintained and green. Before a few days ago, it had been a long while since I'd been in one, but I was going past and decided to head into Mountain View Cemetery to take a quick look. I ended up staying for two hours and having a lovely time.

I realized something recently. I have never, NEVER had an entirely positive Vancouver International Airport experience. Not even once.

I've had positive and unremarkable experiences at other airports, plenty of other times. So this isn't just a "travel is kind of irritating" sort of thing. It's a YVR thing. Specifically, it's a "YVR is craptastic" sort of thing.

Here's what bothers me most, and most often about YVR: constant construction, very little noticeable change. I spent years paying their stupid mandatory airport improvement fee (I think it was $20 a flight and the first time I paid it was about fifteen years ago), yet I've never seen all that much improvement. Where did all that money go?

I've been out of town for a couple of weeks, and let me tell you, I've been itching to get back. I love all the seasons in this city, but there's something about spring, and specifically, about this city's spring blossoms, that's pretty special. I didn't want to miss it.

Looks like I came back at just the right time. I looked out my window this morning, and the blossoms were peeking their pink heads out all over the place on the trees across the the road. It got me thinking about a lot of things, but mostly about the various good and bad things the cherry blossoms bring out in this city.

Let me start off by saying this: I am NOT into yoga. I'm just not. Over the years I've gone through a lot of periods where I've wanted to be into yoga, but I've never been able to manage it. I just hate the whole vibe of most yoga studios and yogis and yoga-girls in their over-priced, too-tight Lululemon pants.

I know people who teach yoga, and they always tell me to give it a try. They imply that in THEIR classes, I won't be looked at like a freak because I'm wearing regular old baggy sweats and don't yet know the poses. Ha! Basically, I've never been to a yoga class that didn't make me feel fat, uncoordinated and out of place.

Until now.

Hanging out has become way underrated. Personally, I'm a big hanger-outer. I like loitering. This is weird, I know. Considering my age, I mean.

Anyway, since I'm grown up now and work full time, I've had to cut way back on my loitering. Weekend mornings are all I can manage anymore. Even worse, I'm finding it harder and harder to find places to chill (without seeming like a weirdo) in this city.

I love those quirky little illustrations that appear in the fronts of magazines and on the covers of some of the better newspapers. Love them. I've always wondered how one might get into that kind of work (not that I can draw or anything). It just seems like fun, you know?

Anyway, if you're at all interested in illustration, there's a seminar happening on January 25th that might be of interest. It's another in the Western Magazine Awards Foundation's Professional Development Series (which I posted about previously) and this one will feature Vancouver-based artist extraordinaire Mark Atomos Pilon.