ICAA 2025 Vancouver BC

I am grateful to be alive.  I’ve been attending the International Conference of AA 2025 at the Vancouver Convention Centre and BC Place.  

I rode my Harley down Thursday to register.  It was great seeing Andrew and Barb.  Beautiful setting.  Vancouver Harbour near Stanley Park where I’d moored my liveaboard sailboat off and on over the years.  The Harbor Air float planes were taking off and landing.  A whole lot of joyful sober people.  I’d parked in the Convention Centre West underground and joined the throngs.  Sunshine and gratitude.  I was able to get registered and claim my badge at BC Place. Mission accomplished.  I was a part of.  

Madeleine had texted me the time and place of the cyber docs meetings.  She’d climbed the Grouse Grind.  Something we did 25 years ago. Amazing person.   I’m feeling all the traumatized arthritis of acquired injuries of multiple crashes, planes, motorcycle, cars and trucks.  I’m thankful to be mobile and still slowly recovering from the fall and resentment in Edinburgh.  

It was so good to be among Cyberdocs in the flesh,  Dave of Akron and others,  Dave of Brandon. Herb and his wife.  I knew the faces and the hearts.  Met Wendy.  Language of the hearts,  People sharing experience, strength and hope.  I’m amazed that the time has passed. I’m still practicing spiritual principle.  There’s 40,000 to 50,000 here.  

I enjoyed the meetings in the morning.  Enjoyed sharing but mostly listening.  Storytelling.  The oldest communications of hope.  Design for living,  What worked for me.  Suggestions.  Kindness.  Singleness of purpose.  Helping the alcoholic who still suffers.  Service is filling a chair as I’ve done.,

Laura joined me at night for the BC Place opening ceremony with the Delta Police Band playing Paul McCartney’s song on bagpipes,  Shawn sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah,  The natives drummed and danced.  There were announcements and three speakers shared their journey into and out of alcoholism.  A black Muslim lesbian, a Finish banker and a Canadian Métis hair stylist.  I teared up listening to the horror and resilience.  Then the gratitude.  The serenity prarer and cheers.  The flag ceremony with presentations from so many countries.  Canada and USA sharing the stage.  A marvellous time.  

It was good to be sober driving home and wondering about what could have been and what a glorious path this journey has taken thanks to joining the ‘last club on the block’.  We cleaned up nicely tonight.  

Thank you God.  Thank you Higher Poweer.

Taboo - the naughty and nice sex show

Taboo - the naughty and nice sex show is happening at the Vancouver Convention. Last week Mission Festival was here but I sadly missed that.  The Convention Centre gets all kinds.  That certainly was what I saw at Taboo.
I certainly wasn’t the oldest there but the majority were 20 to 50 years old.  More women than men, or maybe that’s just what I saw.  The body painted girls were the best.  Reminded me of the Sturges Motorcycle Festival.
I didn’t touch anything.  Sex toys in all kinds of materials.  Silicone, glass, steel. A lot of things were inviting, in a kid wanting to hold and feel plastercene kind of way.  Breasts, vaginas, penis, buttocks.   All looked really life like, but I tried not to stare.
I couldn’t shake the feeling someone might know me and see me.  I was comfortable, at my age, with being there.  It’s just that I felt staring might give the wrong message if someone was watching me.  I envied the younger folk who seemed much more relaxed.
The fact is, the room was full of beautiful young individuals and all manner of handsome and stunning folk walking about in that way sexually confident people have.  The kind of people who can still remember when they last had sex.  The idea that anyone was looking at the old guy, trying not to stare at anything in particular, was pretty far fetched.
I did talk to people at different booths.  They suddenly appeared and began talking about their products.  I was polite.  I listened, looked and acted interested, while kind of wanting to escape. It was kind of like last week at Vancouver Boat Show last week.  Only there the salesmen were bringing my attention to their motors and such. It was the same sort of thing but different.  They weren’t selling outboards.  Nothing gas operated like a Harley. Mostly battery operated. I’d seen some of the those new chargers for the electric cars when I walked through the parked,  and naturally, wondered.
The fashion was awesome. All the clothing that’s Victorian bedroom, with bodices of all kinds and all colours.  A lot of the sales folk were dressed in particularly fetching ways.   A lot of cottage industry seamstress cottage industry work.
One even had a terrific purple doggie bodice. It was so cute.   I didn’t think Gilbert would go for that at all though.  Hard enough to get him to wear a Canucks shirt. He was just being a good sport when the staff got him  to wear a pink hoodie for our cancer fund raiser.
Lots of bondage paraphernalia.  Dungeons seem an odd trend given the effort people go to to stay out of jail, and get out, when they’re there.
I liked the paint guns, though. I relaxed when I found the paint gun exhibit. There was a church group there too.  Found myself thinking about the Comedian Barr's quip, "Christian Rock? What's coming next, Christian Porn?"
Even though there were a lot of single people it seemed like the couples were having the most fun.  The older couples were laughing a lot.
There were booths for massage products with all manner of oils.  Even a couple of chiropractors were on hand.  I liked that.  Looking at all the contraptions for hanging and different positions, I could see where a chiropractor could come in handy.  I did like the pillows and variety of sheets and various types of bedding.  Egyptian cottons with high thread counts or satins seemed most in demand.
Now that people have recognized that gluttony and sloth are the greatest sins of our times I wonder if  people are revisiting sex as a way of combatting the obesity epidemic.  I don’t think it’s good for the climate change folk. Definitely this is a place where it's cool to be hot.