You can get dinner in Vancouver for less than fifteen dollars, but you can’t get a beer for less than eight dollars. The Germans and the Aussies are complaining.

My paper was well received yesterday afternoon, though I ran out of time. It’s the case when you’re sudying something new and you need to spend time talking about the phenomenon you’re actually studying and the methods by which you do it. I got some interesting questions out of it, and I feel good about having presented, despite the fact I was so nervous (I’m normally a confident speaker, but yesterday the nerves seem to get with me, and I’m not good at dealing with nerves).

After the session there was a small meeting of those researching (or interested in researching) religion online. It was a great conversation where new directions in research may be explored. I talked up what’s happening at RMIT, but I was also intrigued by what’s happening in Buffalo, where one sociologist, Pauline Cheong, is working with people from the geography department looking at a “geography of online sacred spaces”. There’s an interest in particular in how global ethnicities form, say where a Korean diaspora connects through online ritual to their home communities. As an old geography major (former life), it may be something I could explore in the future.

A couple of students at the University of Heidelberg mentioned that there is a summer school happening in 2008 on media, religion and culture, and that they are looking for experts to provide seminars. Sitting behind them, I leaned forward and whispered “You know, I’m an expert”. It was loud enough for everyone to hear. They turned and said, “Well, let’s talk tomorrow”. Don’t think it’ll get anywhere, but they know I’d be very happy for them to pay me to go to Germany to speak. He he he he.

You can spot the Aussies at this conference quite easily. We’re the ones staring out the window all day long muttering “Wow, look at all that rain”. Many of us had the same reaction when we saw street cleaners hose leaves from the pavement - we all held back our disgust, went back to our hotels and took long hot showers. Aaahhh.

I enjoyed this morning’s sessions - Mark Johns and Nicole Ellison talked about identity construction among Facebook users. They presented some interesting conceptual frameworks that I’d like to explore more. I’m not in sessions at the moment as I’m presenting in an hour and I’m bloody scared.

I was only in transit in LA, but they made me go through customs there, get my baggage and leave the airport so I could go back in again. The rude man at the US customs desk asked me what my purpose of the trip is. I wanted to tell him it was none of his fucking business, but I was afraid I’d be shot, or that he’d cry or something. I told him I had no business in his country, and was heading to Vancouver for a conference. He asked me what the conference was about, and the same thoughts came to my head, but not my mouth. Then he took my fingerprints. I don’t know what that means in the US, but to Australians it means you suspect me of having already committed a crime. So I’m a criminal just by passing through LAX.

When I arrived in Vancouver the guy at the customs desk chuckled quite heavily when I thanked him for not taking my fingerprints.

Vancouver is beautiful, but also in your face. As soon as I dropped my bags at the hotel I walked two blocks to a bar where I knew some conference guys were hanging out. On the way I was approached by three beggars. When a mate and I went out of the bar for a cigarette we were approached another two times. One of them actually didn’t want money, wanted me to buy him some food. So we walked together to the nearest supermarket where I bought him Froot Loops and milk. He told me he loved me.

I’ve been in the city for about 24 hours now, have been approached about fifteen times, and have given away about twenty-five dollars. ten of those people have given their unying respect and love to me. Hey, what can I say, I’m a saint. It’s a real shame that a foreigner with money like me is treated better than actual residents. But I know Melbourne is getting worse with its growing number of beggars, so I shouldn’t be too critical.

After the bar another mate, Jan, and I headed to a nearby house club. It was only midnight so it hadn’t gone off yet. I was feelinga little worn out so I didn’t stay. I went back to my hotel but couldn’t sleep, so I went down for a walk. I headed downwhat I thought was a main street but quickly turned into Vancouver’s version of Kings Cross. The number of prostitutes calling me honey started to overwhelm me to the point that I would have paid any of them fifty bucks to drive me back to the hotel. But I resolved to walk faster.

Wound up in the gay district somehow, that by 2am on a Tuesday night seemed like 10pm Saturday on Commercial Rd. An old man came up to me, told me he was from Prince George or Saint George or something that sounded remote and Canadian, said he was lonely and wanted to buy me a beer and conversation. If he weren’t so pissed to the eyeballs I would have had a beer with him - not because he was in any way attractive, but that he looked and sounded indigenous and I thought he would have had some interesting stories to tell. But he couldn’t do more than mutter to me how pretty I was, so I caught the nearest taxi back to bed.

Overslept way too much, went for an afternoon stroll through the pretty old part of Vancouver, which looks just like a movie set of old Canada, and wound up in an actual movie set (they’re pretending it’s France - they took down all the English signs and put up french ones. Made me think why not just film it in Montreal?). I was shuffled around a corner by annoyed camera crew and ended up in a run down part of the city, and was approached about four times by people wanting to sell me heroin.

So at the moment I don’t know if I should walk around twon as little as possible, or even more just to see what would happen next.

I went to the lookout where I got some fairly amazing views of the city and the coast. Will put the pics up when I get the chance.

G’day everyone,

My name is Paul and I used to blog here.

So sorry I’ve been off the radar, and thank you to those who have noticed and have emailed me to check if I’m not dead. I am indeed alive and around, and working hard. There have been some changes around the traps.

Firstly, I have decided to take a leave of absence from ministry. As of 1 January, I will not be a minister but an ordinary bloke. I’ve relinquished my magic powers for the time being to “pursue secular employment” and focus on my PhD. I am staying at the agency, but under a new role, and a new minister-type person will be taking over my role. I have to say I am really looking forward to the break: though I love the ministry, I am tired, physically tired, of dealing with people who give lip service to community ministry but in reality expect me to turn back time to 1953.

But God and I are still cool. We’ve just decided to see other people for a while.

The new role at the agency is exciting and challenging and scary. A couple of years back I gave a day each week to pilot a program in Shepparton called the Youth Referral and Independent Person Program (YRIPP). Its aims were to recruit and train volunteers to assist young people who are being interviewed by police, and facilitate a referral to a local support agency should they need support. The program was a success, not just in Shepparton but in all pilot areas, and the Vic government agreed to roll out the program to 103 stations around the state.

So I’m taking on the job coordinating the arrival of the program in police stations in Northern Victoria, from Merbein to Wodonga and down as close to Melbourne as Gisborne. So I am doing a lot of driving. I’m presently suffering from a really sore throat (I can only manage a whisper) due to the constant bad singing I do at the wheel. I wonder if I can get WorkCover for that.

The PhD is surviving, and I’m helping my supervisor apply for a grant to the Australian Research Council for a research project that he would like me to lead when I’ve finished the thesis. So I better get cracking.

And on Monday I’m heading to Vancouver for AoIR 8.0. I’m giving two presentations and I’m bloody nervous. But I’m looking forward to catching up with people I met at last year’s do in Brisbane, who can give me the extra kick-up-the-bum that I need before I present my last semester’s work to RMIT (two days after I return - eek!).