My submission for Magical.
This was taken on Halloween night, a very magical night for many. my Neighbourhood had a gathering so everyone could shoot off their fireworks together. Some kids were playing with sparklers, and this is just one of the images I captured.
This past weekend was a fun trip to Vancouver. Nothing spectacular, but we got some visiting in, got some shopping in, and got some relaxing in.
The trip over was hell (more on that later), but once we were there, it was smooth sailing.
Saturday we had a brunch with some of Sue’s friends. Afterwards we went out for some shopping at Ikea and Petsmart. We got a variety of things from the former (some Xmassy, and some home essentials), and one item from the latter. Dog food is $10 a bag cheaper there than anywhere in Victoria, so we got 4 bags. The PetsMart checkout guy asked if Yoshi could have a treat, so we said sure. The guy grabs one of the hugest dog cookies I have ever seen. It was almost as big as my PDA (3 inches by 5 inches). Y make quick work of it though. 🙂
Sunday was a little more of a work day. After breakfast we headed out to a nearby farm to pick up some firewood. Y had a great run around the farm. Back at Sue’s mom’s place I helped string some Xmas lights, and answer a few computer related questions.
All too soon we had to head to Tsawassen for the 1 pm ferry. We got home at a reasonable hour, unloaded the truck (including stacking the wood in the pitch dark carport).
It was a nice break from the ordinary.
She has some peculiarites that makes her so adorable.
First off, Aphro. When Sue and I go to bed, Aprho usually ends up sleeping on the bed with us. She is like a little lump of clay that is unforgiving, and can take up copious amounts of bed space. Last night is a perfect example. I woke up in the middle of the night in the middle of the bed, with Sue squished to one side of me. I tried to roll over, but Aphro was sleeping right beside my feet. I gave her a little shove, and she wouldn’t move! :O
Also, with the recent turn of weather, in the morning, when she hears the furnace kick in for the first Aphro has taken to getting out of bed to go sit on the heat register. 😛 She will sit there as long as the furnace blower is going. It is quite cute actually.
When going to bed, as soon as I walk in the bedroom door, Aphro is on the dresser by the door meowing away to get me to play with her. We have this cat toy that is nothing more than bits of cardboard on a piece of wire. If you wiggle it just right, then move towards her with it, you can get her to jump off the bed vertically in the air.
Aphro is quite a cutie!
On the weekend I bought a pair of Columbia Trail Meister shoes. Since I don’t have any hiking boots, I needed something that I can wear in the mud and snow, and now worry about getting my toes wet. Before these shoes all I had were runners, and they just weren’t cutting it anymore.
These are very comfy so far, and I can tell that once I break them in, they will just be even better! I have walked Yoshi wearing these a couple times, and they work well!
This past Saturday at Goldstream was my latest photo club photo shoot. In a word: stinky. 🙂
It was actually quite fun. Shooting nature shots is a little more difficult than in the past. There just is less interesting stuff out right now. Nature is hiding in its desaturated state right now.
Anyway, I still found quite a few good shots to take, and had lots of fun. My new camera is working out quite nicely. I think that even in it’s (so far) limited use, I have learned a lot, and reinforced much of what I have learned.
Last night while on the way over to Duncan’s place for some pool and trivia, I decided to stop at Tillicum Mall for a Starbucks Americano. As I was pulling up, I noticed some people getting in to their car. It was a primo parking spot, so I waited. I was not in the aisle, but I could see over the cars in the aisle and noone else was waiting. As the people in the car were getting settled, some dude in a yellow Mazda pulls up and begins waiting as well.
I knew he was thinking that he scored a wicked spot, but I was there first. I saw him turn down the aisle from the far end _while_ I was waiting. The people started backing out, and fortunately they backed out blocking Mazda dude. I zipped in there knowing he was going to be pissed, but confident that I was there first.
Sure enough the guy waited for me to get out of my truck to say something to me. He accused me of stealing his spot. He wouldn’t listen to a thing I said, when I told him I was waiting longer than he, and that I was waiting for it before he even turned down the aisle. I said sorry that he didn’t see me, but I was there first. I walked off and waved to him.
After the fact I thought that what I really should have said was “Merry Christmas” and smiled at him. I understand where he was coming from, but he really pissed me off. :grr: For that I revoke the guys licence. He was an :shit: to me, so I was to him. He deserved it.
This time of year people have less patience with one another, and to me it feels like it has all started too early. This is the time of year to be kind to one another and to be filled with holiday cheer. It is not the time of year to be surly, rude, and antagonistic. Why don’t people get it?
Monday I dropped my truck off at Tommy’s Auto Upholstery here in Victoria, BC. I was getting the drivers seat fixed, and the front passenger side seatbelt replaced.
Under the seat there are three springs that keep tension in the seat. One end of the spring is hooked over a metal rod, the other through a hole in a piece of stamped metal. Two of the springs ripped out of the stamped metal causing the bottom of the seat to sag (quite a bit as it turned out). Also the foam of the seat needed to be reconstructed because it had all collapsed.
When I picked it up, I wasn’t sure what the seat would feel like. As soon as I sat down I knew the money was well spent. Instantly my butt felt more comfortable. I have also gained at least two inches in seat height! I have a whole new view of the road! I am still adjusting to the new seat though. I had to reposition the mirrors, and I can’t quite decide if I need to reposition the steering wheel or not. I also had to lean my seat back one more notch. Enough boring details of my life.
I will now be a lot more comfortable when heading out to places to get my laces muddy. Which reminds me, I need to add my next photo shoot to the list of events.
Woohoo! :guzzle:
Yesterday I implemented my first bits of Drupal/PHP code. Nothing serious, just a little randomizer for the site banner. So far I only have 4 images in the directory, but as time passes, the number of images will grow.
Last night was the David Usher concert. Before the show K, sue and I went to Darcy’s Pub for dinner. Mmmmmm. The food was awesome, and the beer was darn good too. Nice pub. Sue and I will definitely go back someday.
On to the show. What can I say. David Usher is just so charismatic. Simply fantastic. The show was more that I had anticipated, and that includes the volume! It was crazy loud, but the crowd was lots of fun.
For me it is hard to distinguish between Moist and David Usher songs. They played quite a few Moist songs. Besides David, the bassist Jeff Pearce was also playing last night. Jeff and one of the other guitarists were having so much fun up on stage. They had huge smiles and were goofing off a bit while playing. It appeared to me that they would have little contests to see who could play loudest/fastest/whatever. Their dynamic helped make the show great.
The vocals were absolutely amazing. How he can go from screaming so loudly to something soft and quiet all in one breath was astounding. His voice never cracked once, which was pretty incredbile since he was putting so much force behind his singing.
David Ushers music is something I can never get enough of. I get his CD the day it is released, and after listening to it once, I am craving a new album already. His lyrics are something I love to read and try to interpret (something I am not very good at). His songs are somehow complex, yet very simple. This dynamic makes them infinitely listenable for me. I hear him play live, and I get a renewed energy to listen to all his music again (rightnow I am listening to Moist’s Creature album).
Unfortunately the sound quality was really lacking. The volume was turned up way, way, way too loud for my liking (and I generally like loud music). When the band was really rockin and David was belting out the song, everything became a jumbled wall of sound. You couldn’t distinguish any one instrument or person. It was simply loud sound. Horrible. At times there was some awful feedback too. This happened way too often. yeuck. The crowd interrupted David a lot too. Some songs the band would stop to be quite for a second before picking up the song again. The queue for them to begin was David singing, but when he leaned towards the crowd to start singing, their cheering was so loud, that he couldn’t start. It threw him off a bit. He also had to ask the people in the front row to keep their hands below his knees :0
He loves the crowd though. He kept reaching out, shaking hands while he was singing. He made eye contact very well. It didn’t feel contrived. Quite a few times he stopped singing and let the crowd do it. He always smiled and thanked us. I lost track of how many times he thanked the crowd for coming.
I really enjoyed the show. The next time he comes back through town I will be getting more tickets. I love his music, his energy, and his presence. It truly is a treat to see him perform.
Friday afternoon I saw the Matrix Revolutions. I was really hoping it was better than the second one.
First a quick recap before a more in depth review. I enjoyed Revolutions much more than Reloaded. Still, it wasn’t as good s the first. Revolutions wasn’t as over the top, yet it attempted to solve the story for you. Some of my aggravations of the second were still in Revolutions. The talking in riddles really confused me in Reloaded. There was less in this one, but I still was sufficiently confused that I wanted to watch it a second time, only to figure out what the hell they were talking about.
Read more for the rest.
OK, spoiler alert !!!
As others have said, the second and third stories did a lot to explain why things were in the first movie. The Matrix was such a mind blowing movie, but I found the second anf third mind numbing. They attempted to explain everything in the context of the movie. This didn’t help me at all.
I really did not enjoy Reloaded. The effects were too over the top. The CGI not good enough. If I can look at a scene and see the CGI in an obvious manner, I usually don’t like it. Some of the fight scenes between Neo and Agent Smith were just ludicrous. The chase scenes, although spectacular, were completely unbelievalbe. The introduction/explanation for phenomena such as vampires, ghosts, etc. was just unneeded, except that it allowed the Wachowski brothers to play with some cool effects. They did not add anything to the story in my opinion.
Revolutions had less of the things I disliked about Reloaded. The stunts were less over the top, and generally more believable. There was some predictability (Neo’s follower saving the day), but it wasn’t too bad.
One thing I got though was something that other reviews I have read touched on, but never really talked about. When Neo was blinded, he started “seeing” things. He could see the guy who was trying to kill him, and he could see the machines. It was a new kind of code similar to the matrix code, but all fiery looking.
It is my belief that the “machine world” as told by the movie was in fact another level of the matrix. What better way to keep the humans subservient than to allow them to think they can escape “the Matrix”. Their struggle to save Zion was created for them to allow their minds to believe they can save themselves. Belief is a very powerful force. When Neo’s eyes got fried, somehow he learned to see the new code. I am not sure if he realized that the meachines were part of the Matrix or not. To support this, remember back to the end of Reloaded? Neo stopped the machines while he was in the machine world? Maybe he learned that he could control the machine matrix like he could control the matrix he was from? That also lends credence as to how agent smith took over the human. He didn’t take over the human insomuch as he took over the machine world matric version of the human.
Maybe the 4th movie will get into this topic (if they create one).