I’m a bit late writing this week – I’ve been unexpectedly sent off to Seattle again, for no good reason. It’s now Wednesday, and I’m having trouble remembering last week given all that’s been going on this week. This week has been an adventure for sure, and I’m looking forward to writing about it whenever I get a chance!
Work last week was pretty normal – I continued on with some ordinary, ongoing tasks. On Monday, however, a gaping hole was opened at the end of the tunnel in the form of an offer to move over to internal development (from external development, for a lack of a better name). Internal development means no travel, and it also means interesting, challenging work that will see me develop significantly as a “software architect,” or whatever other similar term you wish to pin to me. It does, however, also mean working directly under B-PM, who can be difficult to work with. Even worse, the future plan for the company now includes a Florida office (in addition to the Boston one that recently opened), to which all external developers will be sent, leaving only us internal developers in Halifax, lead by B-PM.
I’m was looking forward to joining the fledgling internal development team April 1, but this has been pushed back due to my current trip. The ease with which the date was changed was a bit alarming, because B-SM had spent quite a bit of time driving it into our heads that internal development is of the utmost importance. In the end, I have to be content with the fact that anything can and will happen – I just have to decide whether I’m going to go along with it. I’m feeling positive right now.
Monday evening, I think I read. I don’t think I did much else. Tuesday evening, I picked up Dad at the train station, drove him home, then went down to meet JW at a Lebanese store for dinner. I had a samosa, two other completely different pastries, and tabouli.
After the meal, we decided to go to a talk being given at a nearby church on Christianity, Judaism, Helenistic (or Helenic – I’m not sure of the difference in the two) and Islamic religions and how they’ve influenced one another (I think). The talk focused quite a bit on architectural influences, and it included many tidbits of information that I found interesting. Perhaps the most interesting fact that I learned is that God was given no visual form at all until around the 12th century – before that, God was considered to be completely unfathomable. Nowadays, God is often portrayed as a grandfather figure, with the long beard, and so on. I kind of liked it the old way.
The talk was interesting in more than one way – sure, there were the topics themselves, but the entertainment value largely came from a distinct brand of physical comedy unintentionally delivered by the speaker. A rather large man, he had trouble navigating the spaces between the podium and the church pews. He constantly pounded on the pews while driving his points home; he leaned on them, causing them to bend, creak and crack; he spoke in a manner perfectly associated with a arts professor in a movie – short bursts of disjoined thoughts followed by stuttering silences. His demeanour was so outrageous and unexpected that I found myself unable to concentrate on the talk itself, at times – I missed entire sections of the talk expending all my energy trying not to burst out laughing. My inner right cheek is still recovering.
Wednesday evening was my second yoga class. I chatted with a few students outside the room waiting to go in. I was really feeling welcome, like part of the team, and I’m sad to be away now because I’m missing being a part of it. The regular teacher had returned, and she started off by bonding with each student – she asked each of us what yoga meant to us. The answers varied – one man said he felt a spiritual tie to it – which I later observed. One woman said she was giving it one last chance, having been discouraged with it in the past. Two others were suffering from various physical ailments, and they found that yoga both relieved (at times) and aggravated (at other times) their injuries. Another man (a former university calculus professor of mine) said that yoga had no effect on him – he felt no different before, during or after class. I said that I found it difficult, and that I liked it because I thought it would be useful for flexibility. I didn’t have a chance to mention that I liked the mental relaxation that it brought, as the teacher went off on a tangent about flexibility. The common theme was that the teacher always found some way to put a positive spin on the students’ comments, to a fault unfortunately. She seemed to refuse to admit that yoga is not for everyone, and that it’s okay for some of us to not take yoga.
The class was fast-paced and intense compared to the first one (my first). I found myself forgetting my breathing constantly, as I struggled to keep up with the verbal commands hurled at us. I didn’t do well on some moves – in fact, I had to take the easy way out on one (with a couple of other students). However, I was able to take up more advanced positions on others (compared to the other students).
After the class, I met two students, and we chatted about the class, and how each of us felt afterward. One older man identified with my inability to sit cross-legged, while another younger man had problems with his back. My back was a bit sore after class, and I think the class was directly related to a flare up later in the week.
It’s funny, because last week I joked about eating wings after class. Well, last week, that didn’t happen – I played pool instead. This time around, it did happen – in fact, TA, AD and I went for all-you-can-eat wings at Jungle Jim’s. I had about 30 wings, plus a drink. Afterward, we went to AD’s for grasshoppers and fuzzy navels.
On Thursday, I went to JW’s. Her brother came over for help with a toga costume for a toga party. While the two of them worked on the costume, I attempted to mend a hole in my jeans’ pocket. I took a patch, put it around the hole, and sewed around the outer part of the patch. I then asked JW whether I should go all the way around, and she said “yes,” so I continued around, thus cutting off a portion of the pocket from use. Now, I don’t think I did anything wrong. I can still use my pocket – the job got done. However, I was heckled incessantly by both JW and her brother about it – of course, I should’ve sewed the patch inside the pocket instead of through the entire thing. But that would’ve been tough, especially for someone not good at sewing – and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out anyway – sure, it might break again, but if it does, I’ll just move on to another pair of jeans and give these ones to charity – I’m sure someone else will be able to fix them properly (how long can I make a sentence using hyphens?).
Friday at work, AN and I (as well as B-CC and B-AC) were asked to go to Seattle again by our client there. The CEO of the company decided that B-CC couldn’t go because he’d have to go across the border by car (no passport), and that would take too long. Then the reason turned into not taking a chance given the new border crossing rules (which clearly indicate that a passport is not required). Then the reason was simply that the CEO didn’t want it that way. Then the reason was that the purchase order only had room on it for two people anyway. Then there was enough reason for all four of us, but B-CC still couldn’t go. Then there was the fact that there was no real reason for me to go, but this client is so important that apparently they get what they want no matter what (what will happen when I am pulled off of their projects?). Finally, B-CC was given the go-ahead to cross the border, and that night, we all booked our flights. It was a total farce – we were told different things by different people. Excuses were made because no one wanted to deal with the CEO. Questions were sidestepped. Obvious solutions to problems were dismissed for no good reason. Ultimately, however, everything worked out.
AN and I booked our tickets, car rental and hotel at his place after work. AD and BD came over later on – we sat around talking and being tired.
Saturday morning, I packed my bags. For lunch, I went to my grandmother’s, where I had subs while watching the CBC news. After that, I went to visit my parents for a few minutes. While there, I sent off Dad’s annual maple syrup list – each year, his customers get real maple syrup from company land in Quebec. I think I still have bottles from the last two years, though it is really good (I just don’t like to have Eggos or pancakes for breakfast).
After that, I went home to finish packing and take a nap. JW called before I really got to sleep, and we headed toward Sambro, ultimately winding up at Peggy’s Cove, through no fault of our own. It was a sunny, bright day, and there were waves. It was great, and we had a blast walking around on the rocks. We had a nice sit in a sheltered area where it was warm – it felt almost like summer for the first time in a long time. The sound of the waves was awesome, and I’m kind of disappointed that I can’t imagine the exact sound now. I do remember clearly the bright sunlight on the water, and I remember the rock I stood on for a few moments while I listened to the ocean. It was funny, because we saw only a couple of people while sitting in our secluded spot – but when we stood up, we found that there were twenty people within thirty feet of us!
After Peggy’s Cove, we went grocery shopping. I tried to get a haircut, but the hair place was closed. So, instead, I tagged along while JW shopped. After the groceries, we went to King Wah’s for supper – we had a pasty version of what might have been called orange beef. We also had an almond vegetable mix that was tasty.
After dinner, we watched Brother Bear, one of the last hand-drawn animated Disney films. It was about the native people of Alaska and their spiritual beliefs, in particular its tie to nature. The main character inadvertently causes the death of his brother when he tries to go kill a bear who has stolen some fish. He hunts down and kills the bear shortly afterward. His brother, from the afterlife, turns him into a bear himself, so that he may live among bears and see that they are not the cold killers he’d considered them to be. More importantly, he comes across a baby bear, and we later learn that the baby is the child of the bear he’d killed. He reveals this terrible secret to the baby, but he is able to convince the baby that he is genuinely sorry, and he ultimately chooses to remain a bear to take care of the baby. Also featured throughout the movie are two bumbling moose played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, as Bob and Doug MacKenzie. It was a good movie, in that I like the positive focus put on nature – I’ve always felt that we are no better than other animals, and I like the idea that we are all on the same level. The movie also succeeded in making me want to see the northern lights – I’m not worried about seeing them – I’ll get there soon enough. Finally, I liked that the movie portrayed the world as being more visually vivid through the eyes of animals, suggesting that they are more connected with it – whereas we see nature through a fog that is our detachment from it.
Sunday was travel day (I resume writing this the following Saturday – such is travel!). I left JW’s around seven in the morning to pick up AN, then swap cars and have Mum drive us to the airport. We got to the airport in plenty of time for our 8:45 flight. Instead of waiting in a huge line at Tim Horton’s, we got some weird juices and pastries at Starbucks.
The flight to Toronto left on time, was pretty smooth, and arrived on time. In Toronto, we had to rush to a nearby gate, only to find a small delay in departure time. We used the time wisely, scouring the airport for canned energy drinks, which have sort of been a theme of this trip so far, as unhealthy as they surely are. We gave up and bought iced teas instead, sweetened (unlike all iced tea in Seattle – remember this if you like iced tea and come!).
The flight to Vancouver left about twenty minutes late, but arrived ten minutes early. I spent the first part of the flight reading a weather book JW had given me. The first little bit was interesting, but the bulk of the book was not about weather, but rather things related to weather, such as clothing, housing, etc. It had many anecdotes from the author’s life – it was truly a book in the maritime style. Still, I did enjoy reading the parts that were about weather.
After the book, they showed “Casino Royale”, the latest Bond flick. I had a bit of trouble following the story, and I think a lot of people did – AN had seen the movie in the fall, and he said that many crucial scenes had been cut – the movie was exactly 120 minutes, after all. Probably the maximum for an airline movie or something.
A lot of the movie was “guy flick.” I couldn’t help but think about “Love Actually” throughout a ridiculous action scene that involved jumping from crane to crane on the tops of skyscrapers. It was really over the top. The movie took advantage of the popularity of Texas Hold ‘Em poker – there were endless scenes of poker action. No one could ever win a hand with a pair of queens or something… it ALWAYS had to be someone winning with a straight flush over a full house, for example. Again, totally ridiculous! Of course, Bond misjudges the bad guy, gets knocked out, then wins the whole thing when another player stakes him back in the game.
The Bond girl, whom we think is good, and whom Bond falls in love with, betrays him in doing a deed for the villain, in order to save the life of her real love (NOT Bond). Not everything is resolved, and the movie ends with Bond attempting to unravel that storyline. Overall, a mediocre movie with a few good moments. I stopped my torrent downloading it when I got to Seattle
In Vancouver, we got some snacks and got on the flight to Seattle. The highlight of the flight was a hyperactive aging-male flight attendant. He licked his fingers before suavely motioning how to unbuckle your seatbelt. He wished those of us continuing on good luck, and then somehow twisted his words around to effectively say, “I hope your next flight is longer than this one” (our flight was thirty minutes) – implying that he hoped the plane didn’t crash. He went back and forth, handing out 95mL drinks and 40g snack packages until every person had had as much as they wanted (this is very unusual, and in fact it was the most food/drink we got on any flight).
We arrived in Seattle on time, got our bags rather easily, then drove straight to the hotel without making any mistakes (we’re getting to know the way now). After some unpacking, we went to Fred Meyer for beer and snacks, then to Canyon’s next to the hotel for dinner. This was to be the begin of my demise, health-wise. I had a “healthy” Thai wrap with rice, peanut sauce and various veggies. It was pretty good. I also had a couple of towering drinks.
After dinner, we were both tired, so we went back to the hotel and to bed at nine. I already know the next entry is going to be fun to write, because I’ve already lived all but one day of it, and surprisingly, I am still alive… barely!
I’m currently listening to: I Believe in Santa Claus by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
Movies watched this week: Brother Bear, Casino Royale
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
1468 - The Demise of Caribou River
I understand that people build retaining walls on oceanfront property to protect their investment, but is it not possible to build an attractive retaining wall? I was nearly sick to my stomach this week when I made my gallant return to the site of my aunt's old cottage in Caribou River. As JW and I drove, then walked, to the beach, memories of the beach as it had been flooded my mind. I remembered the beautiful sand, the rocky outcroppings, the "sea island" (a.k.a., reef) and the grassy path from the cottage to the beach. I really liked that path. On cold, windy (but sunny) days, I would lie on the hot sand in the grass to keep warm. I did a lot of imagining there, listening to the wind whipping through the grass and to the waves breaking along the shore.
The first wave of nausea hit when I saw a new cottage built between my aunt's cottage and the shore. It looks like a twisted box perched on eight feet of ugly concrete. It has an ugly deck, with a nice view. The second wave came when, down on the beach, I saw what had been done to the coastline. When I was last at the cottage, there was only one retaining wall, and it was just branches and sticks tied together. It didn't look that bad. Now, the entire shore in front of the cottages is wall. The grass I so loved is gone, replaced by concrete poured over a steel frame (that can be seen sticking out in places). It's cracked in places, and there are ugly steps molded into it in the middle.
To the left of this monstrosity are large boulders that replace a steep, grassy embankment. To the right, more rocks and boulders. There is no sign of the original shoreline. It is nothing like I remembered. My mental state wasn't helped by a completely frozen ocean, motionless and lifeless, covering most of the sand. The notable "Scott" rock is gone, the "dunebuggy fortress" is rubble, and there is a massive new cottage in the woods where LS and I used to go exploring.
Finally, on to my week! It really was a good week, despite this chilling dose of reality - honest. It began on a wild note. Feeling particularly bored Monday evening, I decided to take the bus to TA's to hang out. JT was there, and we had a few drinks, chatting late into the night. I didn't get to bed until three in the morning, and I paid the price the next day at work.
Tuesday evening, JW and I went to our favourite restaurant in Bedford for dinner. We got to see a nearby condo complex burn down on the way to the restaurant - the second big fire in the city in a week. The meal was delicious as always, perhaps more so (merely because the memory is more recent).
Back at JW's place, I showed her some books I'd purchased online that I knew would be of particular interest to her. They were books resulting from the Jesus Seminar - a gathering of great minds assigned the task of determining the truth as it pertains to the life of Jesus. Being a student of truth, I felt that the books would be of interest to me - I don't want to read about what someone thinks Jesus did - that kind of truth is too easily exaggerated, misinterpreted or biased (with malice of forethought or otherwise). I want to read about what he really did. As JW scanned through the sections of the bible evaluated by the seminar, it became quickly apparent that a great deal of it is not founded in truth. In fact, some very important bits of it are completely untrue (editor's note: I've been vacationing down south, but now I'm back. The phrase "completely untrue" is redundant - how can something be partially untrue?). I'm looking forward to a good read (the books have taken their places toward the front of the queue).
Wednesday evening I decided to finally go to a yoga class. My physical flexibility is poor, and my mental discipline sometimes wavers - two issues addressed by yoga. I showed up to the class without first registering - I had myself convinced that it would either be full, or that I'd be turned away for not registering (this serves as an example of why I'm going). I arrived ten minutes before class, so that I'd have time to register. After nearly bursting into a dark room full of people, I retreated to the stairway to await my fate. Two girls a bit older than myself soon appeared, and I questioned them a bit about the class. They told me that the class was small, relatively easy and pretty fun. Ever being the one feeling the need to justify my every decision, I told them that I'd skipped the first week due to the cold, then immediately regretted it. It was true, though (editor's note: there you go again).
I paid the instructor for the class and a yoga mat rental, which was mildly amusing because the instructor couldn't subtract $12.50 from $15. They could scarcely add $1 to $11.50. I got my mat, and two hard cushions made to look like stones, and took my place next to the instructor's mat at the front. To my left sat an older lady who warned me about getting too close due to her "limited control of her own body," flailing her limbs in my general direction indicitively.
The class itself was fun - the time passed quickly, and some of the moves were challenging. Yoga is as much focused on the mind as it is the body. Breathing is at its core - we were constantly reminded to focus on our breathing throughout the class. We were told when to breathe in, and when to breathe out. We tried to connect our minds to our bodies by concentrating on our breath and the precise movements of our bodies. I was pleasantly surprised in that I was able to do all of the moves; some were more painful than others, but I got through it.
The cooldown phase of the class was wonderful. We placed pillows under our backs and heads, and a roll under our knees. We laid back in the dark, listening to quiet music, trying to relax every muscle in our bodies. It worked, too, because I felt like I could've stayed there the entire night.
After the class, walking back to the car, I noticed that my body was feeling great. I was also mentally in a good place. I was loose in both senses. It was funny that I was going to TA's so that we could go out to eat unhealthy, fried chicken wings.
We wound up going to play pool instead. I ordered some mozza sticks, and later we went to Burger King for whoppers - the epitomy of health. We called it a night earlier than usual, as we were both tired.
I was excited all morning Thursday - it was difficult to do my work, especially where I'd stayed home to work. I was really looking forward to going away with JW for a couple of days - I hadn't been far out of the city since our trip to her parents' cottage in October. I did manage to exercise some self-restraint, and I got a lot done. I have this strange ability to focus intently on work moments before a big event. For example, before an after-work party at company A, I would get nothing done until moments before the party, and then I'd stay behind a few minutes, excitingly wrapping up my work. This time around, I unnecessarily worked a bit longer than I had to. When the time arrives to stop working, I think I automatically switch into a good mood - even though I continue to work, I feel like I've stopped and am doing something fun. It's strange. Anyway, I went to pick up JW just after two. I'd arranged to have Friday off completely - repayment for working the weekend my last time in Seattle.
Our destination was just outside of River John. We stopped at the Superstore in Elmsdale, and I clearly remember taking a moment to absorb the excitement of the moment - our little trip was just beginning. I look back on that moment now with jealousy, as my prospects the next few days aren't nearly as appealing. We got quite a bit of food, then continued on.
We arrived at the cottages just after five. The lady running the cottages was finishing up some barn work, and so we were invited to wait inside her house by one of her friends.
When she arrived, we chatted for a while about the area, JW's roots and the modifications she was making to her house. It was fun for the first twenty minutes, but the meticulous recount of her home renovation plan ultimately drove us out.
The cottage itself was much nicer than I'd expected - the bathroom towels were folded like paper fans, and the end of the toilet paper was folded into a triangular shape. There was a rocking chair on the second level with a view of the ocean through two large windows. The kitchen had everything except a dishwasher - it was great!
We cooked steaks in the oven after unpacking (the BBQ was non-operational - it looked like it had been left outside for five years without a cover). The steaks were cheap, and they didn't turn out well, but we got them down, along with random veggies from a veggie tray.
After the meal, we watched American Beauty, an excellent movie that only suffers from trying to be a bit too perfect. It features a man who decides to take control of his own life; his wife, a power-hungry person whose only focus is her career; his daughter, a social outsider who finds friendship (and more) with a new neighbour's son; his daughter's friend, with whom he nearly has a relationship; the new neighbour, an in-the-closet homosexual who comes to believe that his son is one via a series of "unfortunate" misunderstandings; and the neighbour's son, another social outsider, overwhelmed by the beauty he sees in the world, often finding beauty in unusual places. I was able to relate to the son a bit, except that I tend to disclude most human creations when I think of beauty.
The movie conveys a refreshing view of spirituality, probably as close to my own "view" (I use quotes because it is not completely defined yet, nor should it be) as any movie has yet come. I won't open that can of worms here, though.
After the movie, we relaxed a bit before going to bed. I mention this here merely because I want to point out that the word "relax" doesn't necessarily imply any particular activity :)
Friday morning, we were unable to get up early enough to go see the farm operated by the owners of the cottages. Instead, we got up and enjoyed sourdough bread (from Hydrostone) with havarti cheese - dangerously delicious, as always. We then headed out to my aunt's old cottage - I've already beaten the negative horse to death, so now I'll try beating the positive one. We parked next to the frog pond, though the frogs were entombed beneath many feet of ice at that moment. We walked down the road toward the cottages, crossing through B's property to get down to the beach. We walked to the left for a while, going beyond the first land reef. The ice covering the rocks surprisingly made the walking easier.
We turned around, and headed in the opposite direction, crossing in front of the cottages, in plain view of certain aforementioned structures. We climbed up to the wall to get a look at my aunt's cottage. I learned later that it had been moved forward, and I realize now that I was justified in feeling like it was closer to the beach. Further down the beach, we discovered a new mansion in the woods behind BL's. That part of the beach had been quite private. Further down, around the corner and past the second land reef in that direction, we found the "dunebuggy fortress." We stopped there for a moment, then headed back to the car.
We drove into Pictou, it being pretty close to the cottage. We took pictures of the Hector, enjoyed hot roll-up-the-rim (editor's note: NOT rrrrrrrim!) beverages, and took time to stop at the local dollar store, the first destination of any sane tourist. We took a brief drive around town, rediscovering the location of the golf course in the process, then headed back toward the cottage.
I was going to stop there, but I was enjoying the music and the open road, and JW was asleep, so I continued on to River John and then Tatamagouche. In Tatamagouche, I woke JW up and we went into a local bookstore, then an art/antiques store. We then headed back to the cottage for a nap.
For dinner, we had bacon and eggs with chocolate milk. Now that's a dinner, in my books! After dinner, we watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a three-hour marathon, but a good one. I've seen it many times, so there's no need to describe it here for my future reference.
The next morning, we got up, finished off the sourdough bread and cheese, packed the car up, and headed to the farm to see the calves. We couldn't find anyone around, so we gave ourselves a brief tour. While exploring a barn full of baby calves, the farmer came in and began giving us a tour. He showed us an interesting feeding system that feeds the calves amounts of milk based on collars they wear around their necks. Then, we went to another barn to watch older cows feed, then finally to a sheep pen with a couple of dozen sheep. We gained a lot of insight into the farming industry, as he talked about its difficulties.
Some key information gleaned from the farmer is as follows: there's no money in sheep wool; we Canadians feed our sheep too much resulting in fatty meat; organic farming is not economically viable; and beef prices are set to plummet with the rise of ethanol as a fuel. Mix in talk specific to his farm, and you've got the makings of a forty-five minute conversation. We appreciated him taking the time to talk to us.
With much work to be done, the farmer jumped into his tractor while his wife continued the conversation. Much of it focused on her cats, and the mouse that her dog toyed with as we watched.
After our delightful visit, we got in the car and began our solemn trip back. It was sad to see our trip come to an end - I wished I'd had another day to just veg out. Anyway, we arrived at my parents' just after lunch to trade cars, then went down to JW's. We napped for a couple of hours, as we were both tired.
I left her place around four, arriving at TA's shortly after five to begin the St. Paddy's Day festivities. We sat around watching UFC fights, drinking beer, and watching groups of drunken teenagers parade around outside of his apartment. JT showed up around eight-thirty, which really didn't alter the course of the evening. Around ten, we took a cab to a party being thrown by one of TA's co-workers. I was too drunk, and I didn't mix well with a potentially-interesting crowd. I managed to win a game of darts, only missing the playing surface once (I must have good hand-eye co-ordination) against a seasoned player. By twelve, I was asleep on the couch in front of the living room television. I woke up and decided to go home. TA begged me to stay, as we'd planned to go to another party hosted by IF and RD, but I would have none of it in my state. By quarter past twelve, I was asleep in bed.
Sunday morning was not fun. I was dizzy and I felt quite sick, off and on, for a few hours. The symptoms didn't completely vanish until after dinner. I cleaned the house and wrote the first part of this entry, before going to see Mum for dinner (Dad was away). We watched Vijay Singh win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, then I headed home for more blog writing. I watched Family Guy before hitting the sack.
--End of Transmission--
I’m currently listening to: Haitian Fight Song, from Ken's Burns Jazz Series: Charles Mingus by Charles Mingus (this is an AWESOME song).
Movies watched this week: Ocean's 12, American Beauty, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The first wave of nausea hit when I saw a new cottage built between my aunt's cottage and the shore. It looks like a twisted box perched on eight feet of ugly concrete. It has an ugly deck, with a nice view. The second wave came when, down on the beach, I saw what had been done to the coastline. When I was last at the cottage, there was only one retaining wall, and it was just branches and sticks tied together. It didn't look that bad. Now, the entire shore in front of the cottages is wall. The grass I so loved is gone, replaced by concrete poured over a steel frame (that can be seen sticking out in places). It's cracked in places, and there are ugly steps molded into it in the middle.
To the left of this monstrosity are large boulders that replace a steep, grassy embankment. To the right, more rocks and boulders. There is no sign of the original shoreline. It is nothing like I remembered. My mental state wasn't helped by a completely frozen ocean, motionless and lifeless, covering most of the sand. The notable "Scott" rock is gone, the "dunebuggy fortress" is rubble, and there is a massive new cottage in the woods where LS and I used to go exploring.
Finally, on to my week! It really was a good week, despite this chilling dose of reality - honest. It began on a wild note. Feeling particularly bored Monday evening, I decided to take the bus to TA's to hang out. JT was there, and we had a few drinks, chatting late into the night. I didn't get to bed until three in the morning, and I paid the price the next day at work.
Tuesday evening, JW and I went to our favourite restaurant in Bedford for dinner. We got to see a nearby condo complex burn down on the way to the restaurant - the second big fire in the city in a week. The meal was delicious as always, perhaps more so (merely because the memory is more recent).
Back at JW's place, I showed her some books I'd purchased online that I knew would be of particular interest to her. They were books resulting from the Jesus Seminar - a gathering of great minds assigned the task of determining the truth as it pertains to the life of Jesus. Being a student of truth, I felt that the books would be of interest to me - I don't want to read about what someone thinks Jesus did - that kind of truth is too easily exaggerated, misinterpreted or biased (with malice of forethought or otherwise). I want to read about what he really did. As JW scanned through the sections of the bible evaluated by the seminar, it became quickly apparent that a great deal of it is not founded in truth. In fact, some very important bits of it are completely untrue (editor's note: I've been vacationing down south, but now I'm back. The phrase "completely untrue" is redundant - how can something be partially untrue?). I'm looking forward to a good read (the books have taken their places toward the front of the queue).
Wednesday evening I decided to finally go to a yoga class. My physical flexibility is poor, and my mental discipline sometimes wavers - two issues addressed by yoga. I showed up to the class without first registering - I had myself convinced that it would either be full, or that I'd be turned away for not registering (this serves as an example of why I'm going). I arrived ten minutes before class, so that I'd have time to register. After nearly bursting into a dark room full of people, I retreated to the stairway to await my fate. Two girls a bit older than myself soon appeared, and I questioned them a bit about the class. They told me that the class was small, relatively easy and pretty fun. Ever being the one feeling the need to justify my every decision, I told them that I'd skipped the first week due to the cold, then immediately regretted it. It was true, though (editor's note: there you go again).
I paid the instructor for the class and a yoga mat rental, which was mildly amusing because the instructor couldn't subtract $12.50 from $15. They could scarcely add $1 to $11.50. I got my mat, and two hard cushions made to look like stones, and took my place next to the instructor's mat at the front. To my left sat an older lady who warned me about getting too close due to her "limited control of her own body," flailing her limbs in my general direction indicitively.
The class itself was fun - the time passed quickly, and some of the moves were challenging. Yoga is as much focused on the mind as it is the body. Breathing is at its core - we were constantly reminded to focus on our breathing throughout the class. We were told when to breathe in, and when to breathe out. We tried to connect our minds to our bodies by concentrating on our breath and the precise movements of our bodies. I was pleasantly surprised in that I was able to do all of the moves; some were more painful than others, but I got through it.
The cooldown phase of the class was wonderful. We placed pillows under our backs and heads, and a roll under our knees. We laid back in the dark, listening to quiet music, trying to relax every muscle in our bodies. It worked, too, because I felt like I could've stayed there the entire night.
After the class, walking back to the car, I noticed that my body was feeling great. I was also mentally in a good place. I was loose in both senses. It was funny that I was going to TA's so that we could go out to eat unhealthy, fried chicken wings.
We wound up going to play pool instead. I ordered some mozza sticks, and later we went to Burger King for whoppers - the epitomy of health. We called it a night earlier than usual, as we were both tired.
I was excited all morning Thursday - it was difficult to do my work, especially where I'd stayed home to work. I was really looking forward to going away with JW for a couple of days - I hadn't been far out of the city since our trip to her parents' cottage in October. I did manage to exercise some self-restraint, and I got a lot done. I have this strange ability to focus intently on work moments before a big event. For example, before an after-work party at company A, I would get nothing done until moments before the party, and then I'd stay behind a few minutes, excitingly wrapping up my work. This time around, I unnecessarily worked a bit longer than I had to. When the time arrives to stop working, I think I automatically switch into a good mood - even though I continue to work, I feel like I've stopped and am doing something fun. It's strange. Anyway, I went to pick up JW just after two. I'd arranged to have Friday off completely - repayment for working the weekend my last time in Seattle.
Our destination was just outside of River John. We stopped at the Superstore in Elmsdale, and I clearly remember taking a moment to absorb the excitement of the moment - our little trip was just beginning. I look back on that moment now with jealousy, as my prospects the next few days aren't nearly as appealing. We got quite a bit of food, then continued on.
We arrived at the cottages just after five. The lady running the cottages was finishing up some barn work, and so we were invited to wait inside her house by one of her friends.
When she arrived, we chatted for a while about the area, JW's roots and the modifications she was making to her house. It was fun for the first twenty minutes, but the meticulous recount of her home renovation plan ultimately drove us out.
The cottage itself was much nicer than I'd expected - the bathroom towels were folded like paper fans, and the end of the toilet paper was folded into a triangular shape. There was a rocking chair on the second level with a view of the ocean through two large windows. The kitchen had everything except a dishwasher - it was great!
We cooked steaks in the oven after unpacking (the BBQ was non-operational - it looked like it had been left outside for five years without a cover). The steaks were cheap, and they didn't turn out well, but we got them down, along with random veggies from a veggie tray.
After the meal, we watched American Beauty, an excellent movie that only suffers from trying to be a bit too perfect. It features a man who decides to take control of his own life; his wife, a power-hungry person whose only focus is her career; his daughter, a social outsider who finds friendship (and more) with a new neighbour's son; his daughter's friend, with whom he nearly has a relationship; the new neighbour, an in-the-closet homosexual who comes to believe that his son is one via a series of "unfortunate" misunderstandings; and the neighbour's son, another social outsider, overwhelmed by the beauty he sees in the world, often finding beauty in unusual places. I was able to relate to the son a bit, except that I tend to disclude most human creations when I think of beauty.
The movie conveys a refreshing view of spirituality, probably as close to my own "view" (I use quotes because it is not completely defined yet, nor should it be) as any movie has yet come. I won't open that can of worms here, though.
After the movie, we relaxed a bit before going to bed. I mention this here merely because I want to point out that the word "relax" doesn't necessarily imply any particular activity :)
Friday morning, we were unable to get up early enough to go see the farm operated by the owners of the cottages. Instead, we got up and enjoyed sourdough bread (from Hydrostone) with havarti cheese - dangerously delicious, as always. We then headed out to my aunt's old cottage - I've already beaten the negative horse to death, so now I'll try beating the positive one. We parked next to the frog pond, though the frogs were entombed beneath many feet of ice at that moment. We walked down the road toward the cottages, crossing through B's property to get down to the beach. We walked to the left for a while, going beyond the first land reef. The ice covering the rocks surprisingly made the walking easier.
We turned around, and headed in the opposite direction, crossing in front of the cottages, in plain view of certain aforementioned structures. We climbed up to the wall to get a look at my aunt's cottage. I learned later that it had been moved forward, and I realize now that I was justified in feeling like it was closer to the beach. Further down the beach, we discovered a new mansion in the woods behind BL's. That part of the beach had been quite private. Further down, around the corner and past the second land reef in that direction, we found the "dunebuggy fortress." We stopped there for a moment, then headed back to the car.
We drove into Pictou, it being pretty close to the cottage. We took pictures of the Hector, enjoyed hot roll-up-the-rim (editor's note: NOT rrrrrrrim!) beverages, and took time to stop at the local dollar store, the first destination of any sane tourist. We took a brief drive around town, rediscovering the location of the golf course in the process, then headed back toward the cottage.
I was going to stop there, but I was enjoying the music and the open road, and JW was asleep, so I continued on to River John and then Tatamagouche. In Tatamagouche, I woke JW up and we went into a local bookstore, then an art/antiques store. We then headed back to the cottage for a nap.
For dinner, we had bacon and eggs with chocolate milk. Now that's a dinner, in my books! After dinner, we watched The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a three-hour marathon, but a good one. I've seen it many times, so there's no need to describe it here for my future reference.
The next morning, we got up, finished off the sourdough bread and cheese, packed the car up, and headed to the farm to see the calves. We couldn't find anyone around, so we gave ourselves a brief tour. While exploring a barn full of baby calves, the farmer came in and began giving us a tour. He showed us an interesting feeding system that feeds the calves amounts of milk based on collars they wear around their necks. Then, we went to another barn to watch older cows feed, then finally to a sheep pen with a couple of dozen sheep. We gained a lot of insight into the farming industry, as he talked about its difficulties.
Some key information gleaned from the farmer is as follows: there's no money in sheep wool; we Canadians feed our sheep too much resulting in fatty meat; organic farming is not economically viable; and beef prices are set to plummet with the rise of ethanol as a fuel. Mix in talk specific to his farm, and you've got the makings of a forty-five minute conversation. We appreciated him taking the time to talk to us.
With much work to be done, the farmer jumped into his tractor while his wife continued the conversation. Much of it focused on her cats, and the mouse that her dog toyed with as we watched.
After our delightful visit, we got in the car and began our solemn trip back. It was sad to see our trip come to an end - I wished I'd had another day to just veg out. Anyway, we arrived at my parents' just after lunch to trade cars, then went down to JW's. We napped for a couple of hours, as we were both tired.
I left her place around four, arriving at TA's shortly after five to begin the St. Paddy's Day festivities. We sat around watching UFC fights, drinking beer, and watching groups of drunken teenagers parade around outside of his apartment. JT showed up around eight-thirty, which really didn't alter the course of the evening. Around ten, we took a cab to a party being thrown by one of TA's co-workers. I was too drunk, and I didn't mix well with a potentially-interesting crowd. I managed to win a game of darts, only missing the playing surface once (I must have good hand-eye co-ordination) against a seasoned player. By twelve, I was asleep on the couch in front of the living room television. I woke up and decided to go home. TA begged me to stay, as we'd planned to go to another party hosted by IF and RD, but I would have none of it in my state. By quarter past twelve, I was asleep in bed.
Sunday morning was not fun. I was dizzy and I felt quite sick, off and on, for a few hours. The symptoms didn't completely vanish until after dinner. I cleaned the house and wrote the first part of this entry, before going to see Mum for dinner (Dad was away). We watched Vijay Singh win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, then I headed home for more blog writing. I watched Family Guy before hitting the sack.
--End of Transmission--
I’m currently listening to: Haitian Fight Song, from Ken's Burns Jazz Series: Charles Mingus by Charles Mingus (this is an AWESOME song).
Movies watched this week: Ocean's 12, American Beauty, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Sunday, March 11, 2007
1467 - HOTSHOTPETERPARKER
I don't think I have an introductory paragraph in me this week. So, to take it's place, I'll talk about not having one for a while. Actually, I'm starting to feel one coming on... the week was a bit of a Harvey Dent, uneventful and directionless early on, exciting and action-packed toward the end. That's all I've got.
Halifax decided to withdraw its bid for the Commonwealth Games this week. Once again, we've made ourselves out to be the backwoods idiots that many people east of here already thought we were. It was awfully nice of us to force Hamilton out of the running before bailing out ourselves. Sorry, Hamilton - we didn't do it on purpose. We don't seem to do much of anything on purpose. We're twigs riding the mighty shoulders of a river that we cannot control. I don't wish we'd gotten the games, I just wish we hadn't bid on them in the first place. The whole thing is a fiasco, as pointless as any Wesley Willis song.
Anyway, back to plausible reality. I had a great work week this week. I was busy the entire week on one project, and the time really flew. I hardly listened to any music, because my concentration was such that I wasn't bothered by the noisy office. This week really highlighted perhaps the most damaging of my work-related flaws: perfectionism. I spent a lot of time keeping the code files organized - functions had to appear in a certain order, spacing had to be consistent, naming conventions adhered to... I would decide on a change for one file, and then have to go back over the five I'd already finished to bring them up-to-date. My justification for doing this, and rightly so in a scaled-back manner, is that it makes duplicating the code much easier - and this is something I'm going to have to do many times next week.
A couple of new guys started this week, and AN and I are responsible for bringing them up to speed, which has been difficult because we're so busy. We both delighted in assigning them a task - the first time either of us had ever done that. They took the task very seriously, despite it being monotonous, repetitive work.
On to the important part of life now - !work. (The exclamation point symbol is the "not" operator in my programming language of choice - it is normally applied to "boolean" data, or data that can have a value of either "true" or "false". So, if I have a variable (a named item that holds a value) called X of type boolean that is storing the value "true", and I evaluate the expression !X, I will get "false".)
Monday evening was a waste of time. I spent over an hour making pointless updates to a group I created on a certain networking Web site. I was bored, and somehow the updates brought joy to my life. I especially liked taking pictures, cropping them in paint, and posting them, thanks to a lack of scanners. I think I'll have to get mine back, as Dad doesn't use it. I spent the rest of the evening surfing music Web sites. I just didn't feel like doing anything constructive, I guess.
Tuesday evening was better. I watched most of Ocean's 11, an excellent movie about a group of eleven criminals, each with specific talents, coming together to rob a large casino, via an ingenius plan. The interesting bit of the movie is the plan itself - much of which is revealed before the heist. Of course, a few key moves are left out to provide suspense during the actual robbery. The characters were fun, but very predictable - they stayed well within the clearly-defined roles of "computer nerd", "cool guy", "new guy", "crazy guy", etc. But hey, they have to pander to the expectations of the audience. A cool computer nerd just isn't within the realm of possiblity. Anyway, I really liked the movie despite this. After the movie, I went to JW's to relax for a while before bed.
I finished Ocean's 11 on Wednesday, and then finished the relevant parts of the yellow book, a book I've perhaps mentioned before. Specifically, it's meant to treat depression, but generally it contains life lessons valuable to anyone. I also spent some time deciding whether I should once again re-implement my Web site. I lost the code last year during a computer upgrade, so I can't make changes to what's there. I can add new things sure, but I can do nothing about the slowness of the golf section, in particular. I toyed with the idea of using db4o, an object-oriented database (meaning it is good at storing data as objects, where an object is any concept, such as a car, a work shift for an employee, or in my case, a golf hole played. My current database is not object-oriented, but the information that I store in it is. This makes the golf parts of my site very slow. We're going to be using db4o at work, and I thought it might be useful to know. However, I'm tired of continuously re-implementing my site, and I kind of like it as it is. I'm still not sure what I'll do. I have better things to be spending my time on, but a lot of people at work seem to spend time at home learning new things. Maybe they just like their work more than I do.
Thursday evening was a fiasco almost as grand in scale as the one mentioned earlier. I had a simple wish: to eat tasty pizza. I ordered a pizza from Donnini's, my pizza of choice (think cheap and tasty). I was warned that the delivery time might be a half hour, which I thought was very reasonable. In the end, the delivery time was 100 minutes, and to top it all off (or not, in this case), they forgot the most critical ingredient: hot peppers. They also burned the Brothers' pepperoni, a deluxe topping. I didn't have time to eat the pizza, as I was heading over to JW's, so I packed the slices in plastic bags and headed out into the cold.
At JW's, we re-heated the pizza, and talked about how sad it looked. It didn't taste much better. I've learned two lessons: never get Donnini's to deliver, unless you know it's not busy; and, never get Brothers' pepperoni as a topping - just eat it as is - it can be found at your local grocery store. I'm going to try ordering a modified Greek pizza next time: feta cheese, onion, tomato and black olives. Word on the street is that they really pile on the feta!
By the time we ate the pizza, it was a bit late, so we relaxed until bed time. JW goes to bed super early these days so that she can get up and exercise in the morning. It makes perfect sense - I used to do it myself, but I don't these days because I worry about disturbing my neighbours. It just sucks having to go to bed so early, especially with her noisy roommates, who often chat loudly until midnight or so. I'm happy I didn't spend the night there this weekend, with her roomates away.
Friday evening was interesting. It started out innocently enough - I went up to my parents' to pick up the car. Before going home, Dad and I took a run up to Bayer's Lake to look for a mattress for me. My current bed is a double, and it's just too small. I also want to take preventative steps now to ensure physical health down the road.
We went to three stores, looking at the king beds. I had a king bed in a hotel room once, and it was great! I felt like a little kid, with all this room to play (though I was by myself then, so you can safely de-emphasize "play" a bit). A king would take up nearly my entire bedroom though, and recently I've been thinking a queen might be more reasonable. But, if I buy a queen, and then regret it, I'll be out of luck. The constant spectre that is "need" is also plaguing me. I only really mind my bed when JW is over - even then, it isn't that bad. She's very rarely over, and not likely to be more often in the near future, so how can I justify a new bed? Maybe I should just keep this one until I have reason to buy a new one. I don't know, and I usually don't do anything when I don't know. I have until March 21 to take advantage of a great deal on a top-quality bed at one of the stores.
Dad and I tried to go see "Wild Hogs" after the mattress hunt, but fortunately, it was sold out. I didn't really want to see it, but I was going to humour him, as I had no reason to think that anything better was going to happen that evening. It all worked out perfectly though, as JW called on our way back from the theatre to tell me about a CD release concert her friend was having. She told me about a picture of a robot featured with the ad for the concert, which was promising. It started late, so JW decided to take a nap for a couple of hours.
I went over to her place around ten-thirty, which is normally after her bedtime. She was still asleep, and ringing her doorbell did no good. I hope no one important to her dies, because the policeman going to the door won't do much good. I had to call her on the phone to wake her up, and she sounded terrible. She looked terrible too, like she'd been awake for a week straight, and I'd woken her up fifteen minutes into her overdue slumber.
After a bit of deciding, she still wanted to go to the concert, so she cleaned herself up (and looked quite beautiful to boot). She wore perhaps my favourite shirt of hers, and some high-heeled boots, so needless to say, I was going to have a good time regardless of whether the band was any good (or whether they even showed up).
We headed down to the bar after eleven, and had to wait until almost twelve before the first act hit the stage. They were called HOTSHOTROBOT, and they captured my attention less than a second into the first song. The lead singer started it off by playing a few notes on a small keyboard that reminded me of old Atari games. Then, the guitars cut in, with a fast, heavy sound. It was awesome. I don't know if I've ever heard such complicated basslines - the bassist's hands were moving as fast as the lead guitarist's. I liked the first few songs, but the songs were similar to one another, and by the end of the set, it got a bit tiresome.
I looked the band up online afterward, and it turns out that they have an EP out, so I think I'll try to find it, just for fun. I'd love to see them again. The second band, called "The Peter Parkers" was also good. I guess I'd have to classify them as metal, but they often strayed away from that label. The most memorable song of the evening was one of theirs - a very long, instrumental piece with alternating loud/quiet parts. I'd pay to see them again for sure.
Finally, Joyless Streets came on, the band releasing their CD. They were metal, and their vocals were of the screaming yelp variety (is one way of putting it, and another is...LW stumbles uncontrollably into the truth). It was very late, so JW and I left about fifteen minutes into the set. We could only take so much when it came to the vocals. The drumming was really good, on the plus side. Legally deaf, we headed back to the car, and home.
I didn't get up until one in the afternoon on Saturday. I only managed to have a shower and clean up a bit before heading over to JW's to go out for groceries. After the groceries, we went out to Sackville for a surprise party for JW's friend JT. The crowd was very similar to that of New Year's Eve, though I was not at all uncomfortable. I had a decent time: good food, fun with sparklers, games with pom-poms - the party had it all. I felt more comfortable this time - I talked to a few more people, and I felt noticed when I left.
I dropped JW off on the way back into town, then went home to await AD and AN. They arrived late with TA, and we proceeded to watch "When Good Animals GO BAD" on Spike. After more maulings than I care to count, we put on Porky's, a comedy that Dad's been raving about for years. AN was excited to see it - he said it was one of his favourites of all time.
It was about a group of sex-crazed teenaged boys in the 50s. They played practical jokes on one another, joked about their anatomies, looked through peeping holes at girls showering, while wreaking general havoc. The focus of the movie, though rarely present, was on Porky, the owner of a hick nightclub in the next county. The first trip to Porky's is a disaster: the boys pay Porky $100 for a half hour with three of his girls, only to be swindled out of their money (they find themselves in the swamp beneath the bar). The county sherrif is a friend of Porky's, and he smashes up the boys' car, so that he can charge them with crimes such as driving with a broken headlight. Porky and the sherrif let the boys go on the condition that they never come back. Of course, toward the end of the movie, the boys formulate a scheme to get their revenge. They saw out the supports under Porky's building, rig the bridges out of the parking lot with explosives, then confront Porky. They destroy the bar and blow out all but one of the bridges. Porky and the sherrif chase the boys into their county, where police officers (one of whom is a brother of one of the boys) are waiting for Porky and his men. The brother officer smashes out Porky's headlights and shoots his tires, telling him to get out of his jurisdiction. Everyone cheers and confetti is thrown into the air, on a road out on the woods. The movie ends. It was entertaining, and worth watching.
We made the terrible decision of then watching Porky's II: The Day After. The best part of the movie was the recap of the first movie at the beginning. I'm not sure why they included it, because the second movie had nothing to do with the first. It focused on an evangelical minister who teamed up with the evil gym teacher, and local residents, to halt production of the school's Shakespeare plays, which they deemed as inappropriate for general viewing (the minister cites several steamy scenes). There is a strange graveyard scene where pranksters themselves are double crossed, and a person in a zombie costume comes out of the ground to scare everyone away. It makes no sense. A lot of the movie was such scenes strung together. There is also a plot line about a father of one of the boys, running for public office, who promises to get rid of the minister, only to join forces with him to garner support. A girlfriend of one of the boys takes advantage of the father's liking of young women and arranges a date with him, where she humiliates him by being loud and obnoxious, vomiting in a pool in the restaurant, and revealing his motives.
Porky's II is a terrible movie, and no one should ever see it. It isn't the worst movie I've seen - it isn't even the worst sequel. That honour still belongs to Caddyshack II, made even more impressive because Caddyshack is better than Porky's. After the movie was over, we imagined what Porky's III might be like - I mean, how is it that it was even made? At least the Porky character is in Porky's III (he wasn't in Porky's II).
Well, it's been a fun week, I guess. At least it seems that way now. I'm looking forward to the upcoming week - JW is on March break, so perhaps she'll be slightly less busy than usual. I'm looking forward to not waking up at 5:30am. We're going on a mini-trip to parts unknown for a couple of days, followed immediately by St. Patrick's day. If it's anything like it was last year, look out!
I’m currently listening to: A Better Place, from Army of Anyone by Army of Anyone.
Movies watched this week: Ocean's 11, Porky's, Porky's II: The Next Day
Halifax decided to withdraw its bid for the Commonwealth Games this week. Once again, we've made ourselves out to be the backwoods idiots that many people east of here already thought we were. It was awfully nice of us to force Hamilton out of the running before bailing out ourselves. Sorry, Hamilton - we didn't do it on purpose. We don't seem to do much of anything on purpose. We're twigs riding the mighty shoulders of a river that we cannot control. I don't wish we'd gotten the games, I just wish we hadn't bid on them in the first place. The whole thing is a fiasco, as pointless as any Wesley Willis song.
Anyway, back to plausible reality. I had a great work week this week. I was busy the entire week on one project, and the time really flew. I hardly listened to any music, because my concentration was such that I wasn't bothered by the noisy office. This week really highlighted perhaps the most damaging of my work-related flaws: perfectionism. I spent a lot of time keeping the code files organized - functions had to appear in a certain order, spacing had to be consistent, naming conventions adhered to... I would decide on a change for one file, and then have to go back over the five I'd already finished to bring them up-to-date. My justification for doing this, and rightly so in a scaled-back manner, is that it makes duplicating the code much easier - and this is something I'm going to have to do many times next week.
A couple of new guys started this week, and AN and I are responsible for bringing them up to speed, which has been difficult because we're so busy. We both delighted in assigning them a task - the first time either of us had ever done that. They took the task very seriously, despite it being monotonous, repetitive work.
On to the important part of life now - !work. (The exclamation point symbol is the "not" operator in my programming language of choice - it is normally applied to "boolean" data, or data that can have a value of either "true" or "false". So, if I have a variable (a named item that holds a value) called X of type boolean that is storing the value "true", and I evaluate the expression !X, I will get "false".)
Monday evening was a waste of time. I spent over an hour making pointless updates to a group I created on a certain networking Web site. I was bored, and somehow the updates brought joy to my life. I especially liked taking pictures, cropping them in paint, and posting them, thanks to a lack of scanners. I think I'll have to get mine back, as Dad doesn't use it. I spent the rest of the evening surfing music Web sites. I just didn't feel like doing anything constructive, I guess.
Tuesday evening was better. I watched most of Ocean's 11, an excellent movie about a group of eleven criminals, each with specific talents, coming together to rob a large casino, via an ingenius plan. The interesting bit of the movie is the plan itself - much of which is revealed before the heist. Of course, a few key moves are left out to provide suspense during the actual robbery. The characters were fun, but very predictable - they stayed well within the clearly-defined roles of "computer nerd", "cool guy", "new guy", "crazy guy", etc. But hey, they have to pander to the expectations of the audience. A cool computer nerd just isn't within the realm of possiblity. Anyway, I really liked the movie despite this. After the movie, I went to JW's to relax for a while before bed.
I finished Ocean's 11 on Wednesday, and then finished the relevant parts of the yellow book, a book I've perhaps mentioned before. Specifically, it's meant to treat depression, but generally it contains life lessons valuable to anyone. I also spent some time deciding whether I should once again re-implement my Web site. I lost the code last year during a computer upgrade, so I can't make changes to what's there. I can add new things sure, but I can do nothing about the slowness of the golf section, in particular. I toyed with the idea of using db4o, an object-oriented database (meaning it is good at storing data as objects, where an object is any concept, such as a car, a work shift for an employee, or in my case, a golf hole played. My current database is not object-oriented, but the information that I store in it is. This makes the golf parts of my site very slow. We're going to be using db4o at work, and I thought it might be useful to know. However, I'm tired of continuously re-implementing my site, and I kind of like it as it is. I'm still not sure what I'll do. I have better things to be spending my time on, but a lot of people at work seem to spend time at home learning new things. Maybe they just like their work more than I do.
Thursday evening was a fiasco almost as grand in scale as the one mentioned earlier. I had a simple wish: to eat tasty pizza. I ordered a pizza from Donnini's, my pizza of choice (think cheap and tasty). I was warned that the delivery time might be a half hour, which I thought was very reasonable. In the end, the delivery time was 100 minutes, and to top it all off (or not, in this case), they forgot the most critical ingredient: hot peppers. They also burned the Brothers' pepperoni, a deluxe topping. I didn't have time to eat the pizza, as I was heading over to JW's, so I packed the slices in plastic bags and headed out into the cold.
At JW's, we re-heated the pizza, and talked about how sad it looked. It didn't taste much better. I've learned two lessons: never get Donnini's to deliver, unless you know it's not busy; and, never get Brothers' pepperoni as a topping - just eat it as is - it can be found at your local grocery store. I'm going to try ordering a modified Greek pizza next time: feta cheese, onion, tomato and black olives. Word on the street is that they really pile on the feta!
By the time we ate the pizza, it was a bit late, so we relaxed until bed time. JW goes to bed super early these days so that she can get up and exercise in the morning. It makes perfect sense - I used to do it myself, but I don't these days because I worry about disturbing my neighbours. It just sucks having to go to bed so early, especially with her noisy roommates, who often chat loudly until midnight or so. I'm happy I didn't spend the night there this weekend, with her roomates away.
Friday evening was interesting. It started out innocently enough - I went up to my parents' to pick up the car. Before going home, Dad and I took a run up to Bayer's Lake to look for a mattress for me. My current bed is a double, and it's just too small. I also want to take preventative steps now to ensure physical health down the road.
We went to three stores, looking at the king beds. I had a king bed in a hotel room once, and it was great! I felt like a little kid, with all this room to play (though I was by myself then, so you can safely de-emphasize "play" a bit). A king would take up nearly my entire bedroom though, and recently I've been thinking a queen might be more reasonable. But, if I buy a queen, and then regret it, I'll be out of luck. The constant spectre that is "need" is also plaguing me. I only really mind my bed when JW is over - even then, it isn't that bad. She's very rarely over, and not likely to be more often in the near future, so how can I justify a new bed? Maybe I should just keep this one until I have reason to buy a new one. I don't know, and I usually don't do anything when I don't know. I have until March 21 to take advantage of a great deal on a top-quality bed at one of the stores.
Dad and I tried to go see "Wild Hogs" after the mattress hunt, but fortunately, it was sold out. I didn't really want to see it, but I was going to humour him, as I had no reason to think that anything better was going to happen that evening. It all worked out perfectly though, as JW called on our way back from the theatre to tell me about a CD release concert her friend was having. She told me about a picture of a robot featured with the ad for the concert, which was promising. It started late, so JW decided to take a nap for a couple of hours.
I went over to her place around ten-thirty, which is normally after her bedtime. She was still asleep, and ringing her doorbell did no good. I hope no one important to her dies, because the policeman going to the door won't do much good. I had to call her on the phone to wake her up, and she sounded terrible. She looked terrible too, like she'd been awake for a week straight, and I'd woken her up fifteen minutes into her overdue slumber.
After a bit of deciding, she still wanted to go to the concert, so she cleaned herself up (and looked quite beautiful to boot). She wore perhaps my favourite shirt of hers, and some high-heeled boots, so needless to say, I was going to have a good time regardless of whether the band was any good (or whether they even showed up).
We headed down to the bar after eleven, and had to wait until almost twelve before the first act hit the stage. They were called HOTSHOTROBOT, and they captured my attention less than a second into the first song. The lead singer started it off by playing a few notes on a small keyboard that reminded me of old Atari games. Then, the guitars cut in, with a fast, heavy sound. It was awesome. I don't know if I've ever heard such complicated basslines - the bassist's hands were moving as fast as the lead guitarist's. I liked the first few songs, but the songs were similar to one another, and by the end of the set, it got a bit tiresome.
I looked the band up online afterward, and it turns out that they have an EP out, so I think I'll try to find it, just for fun. I'd love to see them again. The second band, called "The Peter Parkers" was also good. I guess I'd have to classify them as metal, but they often strayed away from that label. The most memorable song of the evening was one of theirs - a very long, instrumental piece with alternating loud/quiet parts. I'd pay to see them again for sure.
Finally, Joyless Streets came on, the band releasing their CD. They were metal, and their vocals were of the screaming yelp variety (is one way of putting it, and another is...LW stumbles uncontrollably into the truth). It was very late, so JW and I left about fifteen minutes into the set. We could only take so much when it came to the vocals. The drumming was really good, on the plus side. Legally deaf, we headed back to the car, and home.
I didn't get up until one in the afternoon on Saturday. I only managed to have a shower and clean up a bit before heading over to JW's to go out for groceries. After the groceries, we went out to Sackville for a surprise party for JW's friend JT. The crowd was very similar to that of New Year's Eve, though I was not at all uncomfortable. I had a decent time: good food, fun with sparklers, games with pom-poms - the party had it all. I felt more comfortable this time - I talked to a few more people, and I felt noticed when I left.
I dropped JW off on the way back into town, then went home to await AD and AN. They arrived late with TA, and we proceeded to watch "When Good Animals GO BAD" on Spike. After more maulings than I care to count, we put on Porky's, a comedy that Dad's been raving about for years. AN was excited to see it - he said it was one of his favourites of all time.
It was about a group of sex-crazed teenaged boys in the 50s. They played practical jokes on one another, joked about their anatomies, looked through peeping holes at girls showering, while wreaking general havoc. The focus of the movie, though rarely present, was on Porky, the owner of a hick nightclub in the next county. The first trip to Porky's is a disaster: the boys pay Porky $100 for a half hour with three of his girls, only to be swindled out of their money (they find themselves in the swamp beneath the bar). The county sherrif is a friend of Porky's, and he smashes up the boys' car, so that he can charge them with crimes such as driving with a broken headlight. Porky and the sherrif let the boys go on the condition that they never come back. Of course, toward the end of the movie, the boys formulate a scheme to get their revenge. They saw out the supports under Porky's building, rig the bridges out of the parking lot with explosives, then confront Porky. They destroy the bar and blow out all but one of the bridges. Porky and the sherrif chase the boys into their county, where police officers (one of whom is a brother of one of the boys) are waiting for Porky and his men. The brother officer smashes out Porky's headlights and shoots his tires, telling him to get out of his jurisdiction. Everyone cheers and confetti is thrown into the air, on a road out on the woods. The movie ends. It was entertaining, and worth watching.
We made the terrible decision of then watching Porky's II: The Day After. The best part of the movie was the recap of the first movie at the beginning. I'm not sure why they included it, because the second movie had nothing to do with the first. It focused on an evangelical minister who teamed up with the evil gym teacher, and local residents, to halt production of the school's Shakespeare plays, which they deemed as inappropriate for general viewing (the minister cites several steamy scenes). There is a strange graveyard scene where pranksters themselves are double crossed, and a person in a zombie costume comes out of the ground to scare everyone away. It makes no sense. A lot of the movie was such scenes strung together. There is also a plot line about a father of one of the boys, running for public office, who promises to get rid of the minister, only to join forces with him to garner support. A girlfriend of one of the boys takes advantage of the father's liking of young women and arranges a date with him, where she humiliates him by being loud and obnoxious, vomiting in a pool in the restaurant, and revealing his motives.
Porky's II is a terrible movie, and no one should ever see it. It isn't the worst movie I've seen - it isn't even the worst sequel. That honour still belongs to Caddyshack II, made even more impressive because Caddyshack is better than Porky's. After the movie was over, we imagined what Porky's III might be like - I mean, how is it that it was even made? At least the Porky character is in Porky's III (he wasn't in Porky's II).
Well, it's been a fun week, I guess. At least it seems that way now. I'm looking forward to the upcoming week - JW is on March break, so perhaps she'll be slightly less busy than usual. I'm looking forward to not waking up at 5:30am. We're going on a mini-trip to parts unknown for a couple of days, followed immediately by St. Patrick's day. If it's anything like it was last year, look out!
I’m currently listening to: A Better Place, from Army of Anyone by Army of Anyone.
Movies watched this week: Ocean's 11, Porky's, Porky's II: The Next Day
Friday, March 2, 2007
1466 - Haircuts and Hippies
I last had my hair cut (other than a trim) about seven months ago. The comments I've received about it vary as time goes on. There was a "it looks great" phase, about two months in. Then there was the "get that hair trimmed" phase, followed by the "you look like a hippy" phase, and finally now the "it looks terrible, and you can't go out in public looking like that" phase. Every time I speak to Mum, the first thing she says is, "did you get a haircut yet?" It's been more of a joke lately, but it's a joke that never seems to get old (to her). It's still relatively short (except when the wind whips it up into a loose afro), and I don't think I'm done my experiment just yet. I do need to find a new hairstyle though, as I've had no positive comments in about a month now (from anyone). I can't just keep slapping gel into it, hoping to avoid the problem another day. My goal is to get to the one-year mark (five more months) with only one or two more trims. I'll evaluate things again at that time. I just hope I get there without having a gun held to my head :)
Monday evening I cooked, cleaned then watched The Royal Tenenbaums. It was really funny - so funny that I had to keep stopping it to write down quotes! Gene Hackman played an irresponsible, self-serving father with some great lines. Gwyneth Paltrow was good in the movie, playing the sad wife of a brilliant man (Bill Murray). Hackman fakes having terminal stomach cancer to get a place to stay, after being booted out of a hotel he'd lived in for twenty years. He moves into his estranged wife's home to live out his "remaining days", and through various occurences, his grown children all wind up living in the home with him. The movie is largely about the interactions of this collection of very strange and different people, each perfectly contrived to interact humourously with the others. It reminded me a lot of Arrested Development (TV show), which I've seen twice, but would like to see a lot more!
I went over to JW's after work on Tuesday. We watched You and Me and Everyone We Know (or some ordering of those words). Like The Royal Tenenbaums, the movie relied heavily on the interactions of odd characters. It was less funny, but more odd than Tenenbaums. I liked the story, and I especially liked the character played by the person who wrote it. She reminded me a bit of myself the way she had trouble interacting with people due to shyness, though instead of walking away, she would somehow generate an incredibly-awkward situation with some really interesting dialog. The movie also featured an interesting concept defined by keyboard symbols:
( )( ) << >> ( )( )
I'll leave it at that :) I liked the movie a lot. I was totally drawn into it, not even noticing the time until 1:25 into it (which is very unusual). For some reason, I'm remembering myself as a twelve-year-old, standing on the front steps of my house, yelling as loudly as I could, for no good reason. I did a lot of strange things for no good reason as a child - that's an only child for you.
Wednesday evening finally saw me finish my "new song." It's not as good as I'd hoped, but I like it. I'd put it somewhere in the middle-front of the pack as far as my songs go. It is certainly more complex than most, and it has real vocals, a first for me (though they are spoken word). It has three distinct components, which is also a first for me. It also is in 6/4 time, and the tempo changes back and forth a bit, other firsts.
Thursday evening was wild! I went to Rogue's Roost to catch the final show for a member of a local band. The place was pretty empty at first, but by the time the band went on stage it was packed. It was kind of sad really, because of all the people in the bar, my group was probably the least friends with the band member, yet we sat the closest. Even worse, we sat there straight-faced, looking fairly bored a lot of the time (drunk). The band is called "The Plugs," though they were joined by the brother of one of my friends on the drums to form "The Wives," their other band. Apparently, the brother is going to take the place of the departing member.
I somehow managed to drink two pitchers of beer plus two other drinks. I was drunk - big time. AD drove and did not drink, but his car was already full, so I left the bar around 12:15 to catch the last bus, not really knowing when it came. Of course, I watched it pass by in front of me yet again (missing the bus has been my life's theme the past few weeks). I called the bus line, only to find that all buses were now out of service. I started on the long, cold walk home, only to be passed five minutes later by a bus that would've taken me most of the way home. Instead, I was forced to run/stumble all the way home. Once home, I forced down a glass of water and went to bed. It was a good night, and I got to see: AN, AB, AD, RD, JP, TA, AB, RD (another one), IF and D?.
Friday wasn't too bad, considering. I woke up early and drank more water before sleeping in a bit. I had a headache, and my muscles ached a bit. I literally just caught the bus, a surprising twist of fate. The guy getting on ahead of me even commented on how perfect my timing was. I listened to a woman talk about having children in high school.
After work, I picked up the car, got some groceries, and headed home as it started to snow. It was a bad storm - snow, ice and a lot of wind. Unable to leave the house, I watched Dodgeball, a movie about, strangely enough, Dodgeball. It starred Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. Stiller, the owner of a upclass gym, tries to buy a deeply-in-debt "Average Joe" gym across the street, owned by Vaughn. Vaughn gets a team of his members together to enter a Dodgeball tournament - of course, the Average Joe's are anything but. One of them acts like a pirate, another plays roughly the same oddball character as he did in Office Space (the guy who'd been fired years ago but hadn't been told, who winds up working in the basement of the office). The characters are bumbling, lovable idiots, so naturally, you root for them. The middle part of the movie is physical comedy at it's best - no one is spared. I love watching someone get hit in the face by a thrown wrench. The last third of the movie, and the worst third, follows the team in a Dodgeball tournament (put on by the American Dodgeball Association of America), where they pick up win after unbelievable win, ultimately winning the tournament, and enough money to save Vaughn's gym (and take over Stiller's in the process - props to Vegas).
Saturday was a day for gettings things done. I had perhaps my most productive day in many months. I cleaned the upstairs bathroom (and I mean CLEANED - I didn't just rub a dry cloth across the floor and declare victory). I got some exercise on my cross-trainer. I also re-organized my filing cabinet. Finally, I looked into yoga classes and into potential vacation spots for JW and I. Later on in the day, it got really nice - it was sunny and really warm - in stark contrast to the night before. Talk about instant gratification! I was getting really antsy to go outside when JW called - she'd been out dress-shopping for her friend's wedding. We went to the Dingle to soak up the last few rays of the day. JW was in an energetic mood, and it caught me totally by surprise. It was kind of fun actually, to have her jumping around like a frog, dancing along a retainer wall along the water.
After the Dingle, we drove further out toward Crystal Crescent, only to stop at a frozen lake, where the ice had been pushed up along the shore to form really awesome structures. The ice itself was made up of straight up-and-down fragments of ice - in some places, these fragments had somehow arranged themselves to look like ice flowers - it was really cool. We watched the sun set, then headed into town for a bite to eat.
We wound up at Taj Mahal, after being rejected by Talay Thai (or Thai Chin - I get the two mixed up). They serve Indian food, and I'd been meaning to try it again. The restaurant was darker than the streets outside, so we lit a few extra candles for ourselves. We ordered a lamb-in-sauce dish - the sauce was rated three peppers, and it was crazy hot - somewhere between hot and suicide wings at most places. The lamb tasted really good, but I often swallowed it quickly to spare myself unnecessary agony. We also ordered a limey chicken dish, supposely with a cashew paste. It was tangy and tasty. Rice and naan bread rounded out the meal. I love bread, and the naan was no exception.
After the meal, we went back to JW's and watched Crash, a movie about racism. It is a multi-plot movie that movies back and forth across five or so story lines. I was able to rule out the multi-plot mechanism as being the element of Love, Actually (I'm not going back and putting quotes around my movie titles) that I didn't like, because I really liked Crash. It was really tense - people were constantly getting into arguments laced with racial slurs. No one trusted anyone else. People were corrupt, though the end of the movie was used to largely highlight the personal growth most the characters underwent. The ending was eerily similar to Love, Actually, except without the romance. There was the music, the slow motion, the quicker scene changes, happy endings (there were some sad ones though), etc. I felt like I was being manipulated (big time), and I wasn't about to let the director get me that easily. I went from being totally engrossed in the movie to being on the outside looking in. The ending was just too much. But overall, I really liked the movie - maybe I'll stop it fifteen minutes from the end next time :)
Sunday morning, JW and I walked over to Cora's for brunch. It was my first visit there since I'd been there with my family (including my grandfather - the lone time he'd agreed to go somewhere other than Smitty's). The menu is amazing - so much delicious fruit. JW had sausages wrapped in glutin-free pastry with old-cheddar, plus an impressive side of fruit. I had some kind of hot cross bun/cinnamon bun/french toast hybrid that was pretty tasty, but it got upstaged by a few strips of common bacon. I also had a scrambled egg that I could've done without. Mine had fruit too, but it wasn't as good as JW's.
After Cora's, we walked over to Winchester's, a wedding/prom dress joint, where they thank you for removing your shoes before you've even done so. I enjoyed our visit - I got to see JW in several beautiful dresses - she looked great in them all, but there was one that I really liked in particular. I hope I get to see her in whatever dress she decides upon.
We walked back to JW's over Citadel Hill. It was wet and muddy, but nice and far from the traffic below.
I had a fun weekend - the weather was great (after Friday), and it felt like spring for the first time. I'm looking forward to golf - if lucky, I'll be playing in a month and a half. I dreampt about it last night, but the course I was playing had no greens (that I could find), and thus no holes. So it was kind of pointless. I also didn't like it when the old man that owned the course chased after me with a gun (the course wasn't open yet - apparently I'd snuck on).
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
I’m currently listening to: Accidents, from Watch Out! by Alexisonfire.
Movies watched this week: The Royal Tenenbaums, You and Me and Everyone We Know, Dodgeball, Crash
Monday evening I cooked, cleaned then watched The Royal Tenenbaums. It was really funny - so funny that I had to keep stopping it to write down quotes! Gene Hackman played an irresponsible, self-serving father with some great lines. Gwyneth Paltrow was good in the movie, playing the sad wife of a brilliant man (Bill Murray). Hackman fakes having terminal stomach cancer to get a place to stay, after being booted out of a hotel he'd lived in for twenty years. He moves into his estranged wife's home to live out his "remaining days", and through various occurences, his grown children all wind up living in the home with him. The movie is largely about the interactions of this collection of very strange and different people, each perfectly contrived to interact humourously with the others. It reminded me a lot of Arrested Development (TV show), which I've seen twice, but would like to see a lot more!
I went over to JW's after work on Tuesday. We watched You and Me and Everyone We Know (or some ordering of those words). Like The Royal Tenenbaums, the movie relied heavily on the interactions of odd characters. It was less funny, but more odd than Tenenbaums. I liked the story, and I especially liked the character played by the person who wrote it. She reminded me a bit of myself the way she had trouble interacting with people due to shyness, though instead of walking away, she would somehow generate an incredibly-awkward situation with some really interesting dialog. The movie also featured an interesting concept defined by keyboard symbols:
( )( ) << >> ( )( )
I'll leave it at that :) I liked the movie a lot. I was totally drawn into it, not even noticing the time until 1:25 into it (which is very unusual). For some reason, I'm remembering myself as a twelve-year-old, standing on the front steps of my house, yelling as loudly as I could, for no good reason. I did a lot of strange things for no good reason as a child - that's an only child for you.
Wednesday evening finally saw me finish my "new song." It's not as good as I'd hoped, but I like it. I'd put it somewhere in the middle-front of the pack as far as my songs go. It is certainly more complex than most, and it has real vocals, a first for me (though they are spoken word). It has three distinct components, which is also a first for me. It also is in 6/4 time, and the tempo changes back and forth a bit, other firsts.
Thursday evening was wild! I went to Rogue's Roost to catch the final show for a member of a local band. The place was pretty empty at first, but by the time the band went on stage it was packed. It was kind of sad really, because of all the people in the bar, my group was probably the least friends with the band member, yet we sat the closest. Even worse, we sat there straight-faced, looking fairly bored a lot of the time (drunk). The band is called "The Plugs," though they were joined by the brother of one of my friends on the drums to form "The Wives," their other band. Apparently, the brother is going to take the place of the departing member.
I somehow managed to drink two pitchers of beer plus two other drinks. I was drunk - big time. AD drove and did not drink, but his car was already full, so I left the bar around 12:15 to catch the last bus, not really knowing when it came. Of course, I watched it pass by in front of me yet again (missing the bus has been my life's theme the past few weeks). I called the bus line, only to find that all buses were now out of service. I started on the long, cold walk home, only to be passed five minutes later by a bus that would've taken me most of the way home. Instead, I was forced to run/stumble all the way home. Once home, I forced down a glass of water and went to bed. It was a good night, and I got to see: AN, AB, AD, RD, JP, TA, AB, RD (another one), IF and D?.
Friday wasn't too bad, considering. I woke up early and drank more water before sleeping in a bit. I had a headache, and my muscles ached a bit. I literally just caught the bus, a surprising twist of fate. The guy getting on ahead of me even commented on how perfect my timing was. I listened to a woman talk about having children in high school.
After work, I picked up the car, got some groceries, and headed home as it started to snow. It was a bad storm - snow, ice and a lot of wind. Unable to leave the house, I watched Dodgeball, a movie about, strangely enough, Dodgeball. It starred Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn. Stiller, the owner of a upclass gym, tries to buy a deeply-in-debt "Average Joe" gym across the street, owned by Vaughn. Vaughn gets a team of his members together to enter a Dodgeball tournament - of course, the Average Joe's are anything but. One of them acts like a pirate, another plays roughly the same oddball character as he did in Office Space (the guy who'd been fired years ago but hadn't been told, who winds up working in the basement of the office). The characters are bumbling, lovable idiots, so naturally, you root for them. The middle part of the movie is physical comedy at it's best - no one is spared. I love watching someone get hit in the face by a thrown wrench. The last third of the movie, and the worst third, follows the team in a Dodgeball tournament (put on by the American Dodgeball Association of America), where they pick up win after unbelievable win, ultimately winning the tournament, and enough money to save Vaughn's gym (and take over Stiller's in the process - props to Vegas).
Saturday was a day for gettings things done. I had perhaps my most productive day in many months. I cleaned the upstairs bathroom (and I mean CLEANED - I didn't just rub a dry cloth across the floor and declare victory). I got some exercise on my cross-trainer. I also re-organized my filing cabinet. Finally, I looked into yoga classes and into potential vacation spots for JW and I. Later on in the day, it got really nice - it was sunny and really warm - in stark contrast to the night before. Talk about instant gratification! I was getting really antsy to go outside when JW called - she'd been out dress-shopping for her friend's wedding. We went to the Dingle to soak up the last few rays of the day. JW was in an energetic mood, and it caught me totally by surprise. It was kind of fun actually, to have her jumping around like a frog, dancing along a retainer wall along the water.
After the Dingle, we drove further out toward Crystal Crescent, only to stop at a frozen lake, where the ice had been pushed up along the shore to form really awesome structures. The ice itself was made up of straight up-and-down fragments of ice - in some places, these fragments had somehow arranged themselves to look like ice flowers - it was really cool. We watched the sun set, then headed into town for a bite to eat.
We wound up at Taj Mahal, after being rejected by Talay Thai (or Thai Chin - I get the two mixed up). They serve Indian food, and I'd been meaning to try it again. The restaurant was darker than the streets outside, so we lit a few extra candles for ourselves. We ordered a lamb-in-sauce dish - the sauce was rated three peppers, and it was crazy hot - somewhere between hot and suicide wings at most places. The lamb tasted really good, but I often swallowed it quickly to spare myself unnecessary agony. We also ordered a limey chicken dish, supposely with a cashew paste. It was tangy and tasty. Rice and naan bread rounded out the meal. I love bread, and the naan was no exception.
After the meal, we went back to JW's and watched Crash, a movie about racism. It is a multi-plot movie that movies back and forth across five or so story lines. I was able to rule out the multi-plot mechanism as being the element of Love, Actually (I'm not going back and putting quotes around my movie titles) that I didn't like, because I really liked Crash. It was really tense - people were constantly getting into arguments laced with racial slurs. No one trusted anyone else. People were corrupt, though the end of the movie was used to largely highlight the personal growth most the characters underwent. The ending was eerily similar to Love, Actually, except without the romance. There was the music, the slow motion, the quicker scene changes, happy endings (there were some sad ones though), etc. I felt like I was being manipulated (big time), and I wasn't about to let the director get me that easily. I went from being totally engrossed in the movie to being on the outside looking in. The ending was just too much. But overall, I really liked the movie - maybe I'll stop it fifteen minutes from the end next time :)
Sunday morning, JW and I walked over to Cora's for brunch. It was my first visit there since I'd been there with my family (including my grandfather - the lone time he'd agreed to go somewhere other than Smitty's). The menu is amazing - so much delicious fruit. JW had sausages wrapped in glutin-free pastry with old-cheddar, plus an impressive side of fruit. I had some kind of hot cross bun/cinnamon bun/french toast hybrid that was pretty tasty, but it got upstaged by a few strips of common bacon. I also had a scrambled egg that I could've done without. Mine had fruit too, but it wasn't as good as JW's.
After Cora's, we walked over to Winchester's, a wedding/prom dress joint, where they thank you for removing your shoes before you've even done so. I enjoyed our visit - I got to see JW in several beautiful dresses - she looked great in them all, but there was one that I really liked in particular. I hope I get to see her in whatever dress she decides upon.
We walked back to JW's over Citadel Hill. It was wet and muddy, but nice and far from the traffic below.
I had a fun weekend - the weather was great (after Friday), and it felt like spring for the first time. I'm looking forward to golf - if lucky, I'll be playing in a month and a half. I dreampt about it last night, but the course I was playing had no greens (that I could find), and thus no holes. So it was kind of pointless. I also didn't like it when the old man that owned the course chased after me with a gun (the course wasn't open yet - apparently I'd snuck on).
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
I’m currently listening to: Accidents, from Watch Out! by Alexisonfire.
Movies watched this week: The Royal Tenenbaums, You and Me and Everyone We Know, Dodgeball, Crash
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