Fireworks, Friends and Fuel

Well, that was an exciting way to start the week. Good thing the Tall Ships only stop in here every 3 years - I need the recovery time!

June 29th - Boom, Sizzle, Sad

After work in the evening, I heard the boom of cannon again from the Tall Ships battle just outside the harbour to the west. I didn't go to see though, as I was still nursing my sunburn with hourly applications of aloe, at home and at work both.

Speaking of which, it's been going better and better of late work-wise, which I find heartening. Though I am loathe to admit it, settling into a routine has helped eased my daily stress, especially since I am at a 'slower' branch. My skills and experience may enable me to hold my own at even the craziest of busy locations, but I do not thrive on the sort of stress and conflict that often entails - some of my co-workers do, so I happily let them work the stressful locations.
On a sobering note, Don S. Davis passed away today. He played General Hammond on Stargate SG-1, with humour and great force of personality. I am saddened by his loss; you can see more about this fine actor and person here.

June 30th - Lobsters and Moon

Yes, the sunburn is still with me, but I have thus far managed to avoid loosing any skin, as much as folks may still call me a flake. But I have earned the name 'Lobster Boy' from my co-workers - and I am glad that it has not driven me insane as it has this poor guy named Doug. Given that my last bad sunburn was in Mexico in 2006, I do need to be careful of having any more. As it stands now, some freckles have made their merry way to my forehead already, gleefully dancing in groups under the redness. *sigh*

I finished reading The Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy by Elizabeth Moon, as lent to me by a friend at work. It was written by the author to "Do a paladin right" in her own words and was a fascinating read from start to finish. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a gritty no-holds-barred view of how someone can rise from nothing to become someone who can change their world for the better - at least in a fantasy setting. Don't we all want that, in some way or another?

July 1st - Happy Canada Day!

A nice relaxing holiday. Just a day at home, in good old Canada, eh! Though there was a lot to do here in Victoria today, I was just too tired to get to it...

In the evening I cycled over to my parent's place to watch the fireworks from the 9th floor of their building. Since the walkways are all open to the air, there was quite a gathering of people up there. The view was spectacular across the harbor, looking towards the parliament buildings, which were lit with white running lights as they have been for more than a century now.

The fireworks themselves were impressive, all the more so for being so CLOSE - the launching site was mere meters away on Songhees Rd, which was closed to vehicles for the show. Amazing... my favourites were the red and white shells, of which there were a LOT, far more so than any other Canada Day show I've seen. Definitely not just a few token ones.

The crowds on the way to and from the events were a blast too. One group that stood out was about a dozen girls, all dressed in Canadian colours and singing all the way down to the harbour. The same sort of folks stood out on the way back, though a few were less sober than on the way to the event - again, par for the course. Everyone was happy, friendly and thrilled to be out to celebrate our country, even more so this year which is the 150th anniversary of British Columbia's founding as a province. Spectacular!

July 2nd - Cool air and Smoke

Early mornings in the heat... Yeesh. The weather for the last weekend was fantastic, with sunny skies and warm temperatures - finally. I have to figure out a better airflow model for my apartment however, as the place stays quite hot despite the breezes. Not good for my computer or other electronics, or me for that matter. I picked up a large fan on the weekend, so I am trying to decide on which side of the place to pull the air in from. This is not as simple as it seems, as the side by the main entrance is a favourite for smokers... whose fumes rise up immediately to permeate my apartment, which happens several times each morning and evening.

Ah well. At least the air is fresh and cool when it's not laden with carcinogens - I am but a block from the sea, so the cool night air often carries with it the smell of the ocean. One thing though: I have noticed that most homes and apartments here in Victoria have no screens on their windows. While this speaks well of the lack of flying insects, such as mosquitoes, it does still leave things wide open for other creatures... such as spiders. I am loathe to allow such into my apartment, especially as the nice warm interior is very attractive considering the outside temperatures are much colder - very enticing to spiders, which like to lurk in warm dark places.

All joking aside, I do not fear spiders but rather the unknown. If it was a spider that got me back in the mid-90's during my family's move to Fonthill, then I have good reason to be careful. I have pain from that ordeal to this day, from the arthritis that came from the swollen joints to the side effects that the idiot doctor's steroid overdose caused to my health. But I am grateful, as at the time I did not know for a few days if I would regain the use of my hands, or my right leg. Considering I have full use of all my limbs, albeit with some daily pain, I am fortunate, I feel.

July 3rd - Rain, Scooters and Cars

A little rain fell today, just in the morning and had cleared up by the time my evening shift rolled around. It is interesting that we have yet to have a thunderstorm here, which I find surprising. One of the customers I talked to today mentioned that she was originally from St. Catharines, and that we rarely have thunderstorms here in Victoria. The rain comes as though from a celestial gardener, gentle and not lasting longer than needed to refresh the green of the land.

Riding a scooter in the rain doesn't appeal to me much, but considering the rising cost of fuel these days, it's not a bad idea. This seems to have occurred to quite a few folks, as there is a shortage of scooters right now worldwide. Though if I did decide on an electric scooter, I'd get this one. I am pleased that my planned move to Victoria did not include a car, as the hideous expense that is vehicle ownership can only be made all the more horrible as gas prices rise.

July 4th - B5, with a twist

This week I moved into the fifth season of B5, and I am still enthralled by the story. Some of you may not know I was( and still am )a part of a video game based on Babylon 5, called "I've Found Her"in which I voice the part of Alpha 4, one of the Starfury pilots. I am proud to have been even a small a part of such a game, as it shows what fan-based projects can achieve and the talent that many of us have within themselves, waiting to be shared.

A sobering thought on the future and the rate of technological progress: it seems the world is in immediate danger of running out of various rare-earth elements. You heard it correctly; our lust for flat-screen TV's and copper frying pans may lead us to asteroid mining sooner than you think. So invest in rocketry, or in mineral futures... before the prices rise like fuel costs.

July 5th - Bad Company

Mostly I finished up some stories I had been working on, deciding to plug away at them today and get them DONE.

I popped onto XboxLive a few times, but didn't see anyone who wasn't playing BF: Bad Company, which is a first-person shooter based on... You guessed it: greed. While the premised of fighting for stacks of gold bars seems a little thin to me as a writer, the gameplay itself seems a step or two above COD4, which is saying something. However, I wonder at the longevity of these games... A year or two at most, and then it's on to the next New Thing. How many folks still play Halo3, I wonder? Or Battlefield2( 2005 )or even Battlefield 1942( 2002 )? I sometimes wonder about the loss of good games, tossed aside because they are no longer 'cutting edge' in the graphics or gameplay department. Yet many of them are still solid games, but in the MMO market, it seems the crowd is solidly set on the new, and easily forgets the newly old.

July 6th - Fridges and Frodo

My fridge has changed. Yes, that stalwart symbol of the single guy, the bachelor's bulwark against hunger, as been undergoing a metamorphosis these last few months. I have noticed that very little pop has wound up in there, and of course no dairy products for months now. No, now it is the home of soy, of greens, of juice and many a healthy thing... Which amazes me, as I am not one to spend highly on healthy foods. Yet apparently I have, bit by bit, without really noticing. Even the cupboards are bare of chips, or cookies, or tasty snacks with ingredient labels that read like chemical warfare shopping lists. While I am not yet considering things like Raw Food, I am finding my own way towards health. Perhaps soon I will even dig into my nemesis, that has sat on my counter for half a year now: Cook With Jamie. Considering that I am limited in some of the meals I can eat, perhaps the time is coming soon where I will be able to spare the time to really train myself to cook, not just to eat food prepared in the easiest way possible.

After a lovely uneventful and daresay relaxing day at work, I watched The Return of the King while doing other things around the apartment. The music for the film fills the air with wonderful sound, and really makes the experience special. I remember waiting eagerly for this film to be released on December 17, 2003... hard to believe that is almost 5 years past. Wikipedia has a ton of fascinating information about the LOTR Trilogy, including all the deviations from the books as well as fascinating facts about the film process itself.

And, as I mentioned back then, there are too many blue eyes in the 3 films( see the ill-named 'Racism' section of that last link ). Really.

All for now. One of my weekends is going to have to be spent re-reading the LOTR trilogy, and the next weekend watching the three Extended Versions of the films. Joy...