I am still working on those pictures. There's literally thousands of them that I am going through, so what I am doing is going through this Blog week by week and picking out images that go with each entry. I wanted to do that in the first place, but it was hellish trying to get images properly attached / hosted when I started this blog. Again, I hope to have it done before my trip to Niagara!
Aug 4 – B.C. Day
After work, I headed home for a quick supper and then cycled down to the Inner Harbour area to catch the festivities. The weather was simply perfect: clear skies and balmy temperatures that did not start to feel the least bit chilly until well after 10pm. Part of BC 150 Years, this article gives a great summary of the event.
When I arrived, the crowds were dense but not heavy, with quite a few people content to sit much further back from the massive stage set up in front of the Parliament Buildings. Hundreds were spread over the vast lawn of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Famous local son Burton Cummings was playing when I made my way to the corner of Government and Belleville St, which was close enough. The crowds were much heavier just the opposite side of the street, covering the lawn completely. Where I was, I could see the stage as well as the two huge screens on opposite sides. I even had a tall guy to my right, who neatly blocked the blinding rays of the setting sun – perfect, in fact.
Burton Cummings was a blast of energy, singing his heart out along with his band. I was sorry I had not got there sooner, as they left the stage not even a half hour after I arrived.
Sarah McLaughlin was next. I was interested to see her, as I'd been first introduced to her music back in my days working at The Brock Press. My editor at the time, Nick, was a HUGE fan of hers. So much so, that he was on a first-name basis with the staff at her record label – he would call them up weekly to see if there was anything new happening with her, which I found amusing. I should also mention that the last Sarah McLaughlin concert I attended was back at the Molson Amphitheatre, when she first returned from hiatus after having a child( I believe ). That was a great show, but I ended up not enjoying myself after the halfway point. I had gone up to the 'cheap seats' rail that separated the grassy seating fringe from the 'paying customer' seating to take some pictures, with my lowly 3-megapixel Olympus C3000 digital camera( but DAMN could it take good low light pictures! ). Amazingly, there are still reviews online of the camera. I barely got two pictures before security dove on me, lectured me about not 'filming' ( ?? )and took away my camera for the rest of the concert. Needless to say, I was NOT impressed.
But back to the concert. Sarah put on a lovely performance, her songs as always making the crowd smile. I noticed 'Aida' seemed to be the most popular, with a lot of the crowd singing along. It was a mixed lot too, with a lot of families and older folk present; officials put it at around 45,000 people all told. Suffice to say it was a relaxed, happy and well-behaved group of people out to enjoy a perfect summer evening with a free show.
Fiest was on after Sarah, with an intermission by a local singer named Shawn Hlookoff. He was energetic, but you could tell by the absent-minded chatter of the crowd that they were really waiting for Feist. There was a small group at the front who would occasionally chant her name during the setup after Shawn, and the roar that went up when the lights came on( low of course )was almost as big as for Sarah's low-key entrance.
And an interesting entrance it was. Fiest had set up a 'silhouette screen' and started off the show singing with her backlit silhouette on that very screen, a theme that continued throughout the show. I did not know any of the songs, but BOY could you hear her – they must have amped the bass ten times over the other performers, as very asphalt was vibrating enough to rattle the gravel. Loud, I guess, is another way to put it – glad I wasn't any closer. Too bad I had to leave before she got to the one song I did know, the Apple iPod commercial-famous "One, Two, Three, Four…" I really wanted to stay for that, but I was just too tired at that point, so off I went home in the gathering chill – I'd not brought a jacket( again )and forgotten how quickly things cooled down here at night. MUCH different than Niagara, where the hot summer nights can make sleeping a chore.
Aug 5 - Weather to Sleep
I almost got to sleep in today… until the garbage truck came at 7am. Very similar to how the landscaping guys used to show up around 7:30 am at The Prince every Tuesday to start mowing the lawn – great timing when you're tired from the night before. Not that I managed to get much done before work, mind you, but that's not the point.
The weather has done a total reversal during the weekend – it's back to sunny skies and balmy temperatures. Only a few clouds forecast for later in the week, so it's back to chilly mornings, sweaty lunchtimes and cool evenings again. Again, hard to get used to needing to bring a jacket, or wear 'layers' of clothes as the locals put it. Makes sense, but I'm so used to sandals, shorts and a t-shirt for summer weather, day and night. At least the need to shower more than twice a day is alleviated somewhat here due to the lack of humidity. Heck, the glaciers on Mt. Olympus to the south see to natural A/C for the city! No sightings of Zeus or other gods though; they must be laying low in the heat.
Aug 4 – B.C. Day
After work, I headed home for a quick supper and then cycled down to the Inner Harbour area to catch the festivities. The weather was simply perfect: clear skies and balmy temperatures that did not start to feel the least bit chilly until well after 10pm. Part of BC 150 Years, this article gives a great summary of the event.
When I arrived, the crowds were dense but not heavy, with quite a few people content to sit much further back from the massive stage set up in front of the Parliament Buildings. Hundreds were spread over the vast lawn of the Fairmont Empress Hotel. Famous local son Burton Cummings was playing when I made my way to the corner of Government and Belleville St, which was close enough. The crowds were much heavier just the opposite side of the street, covering the lawn completely. Where I was, I could see the stage as well as the two huge screens on opposite sides. I even had a tall guy to my right, who neatly blocked the blinding rays of the setting sun – perfect, in fact.
Burton Cummings was a blast of energy, singing his heart out along with his band. I was sorry I had not got there sooner, as they left the stage not even a half hour after I arrived.
Sarah McLaughlin was next. I was interested to see her, as I'd been first introduced to her music back in my days working at The Brock Press. My editor at the time, Nick, was a HUGE fan of hers. So much so, that he was on a first-name basis with the staff at her record label – he would call them up weekly to see if there was anything new happening with her, which I found amusing. I should also mention that the last Sarah McLaughlin concert I attended was back at the Molson Amphitheatre, when she first returned from hiatus after having a child( I believe ). That was a great show, but I ended up not enjoying myself after the halfway point. I had gone up to the 'cheap seats' rail that separated the grassy seating fringe from the 'paying customer' seating to take some pictures, with my lowly 3-megapixel Olympus C3000 digital camera( but DAMN could it take good low light pictures! ). Amazingly, there are still reviews online of the camera. I barely got two pictures before security dove on me, lectured me about not 'filming' ( ?? )and took away my camera for the rest of the concert. Needless to say, I was NOT impressed.
But back to the concert. Sarah put on a lovely performance, her songs as always making the crowd smile. I noticed 'Aida' seemed to be the most popular, with a lot of the crowd singing along. It was a mixed lot too, with a lot of families and older folk present; officials put it at around 45,000 people all told. Suffice to say it was a relaxed, happy and well-behaved group of people out to enjoy a perfect summer evening with a free show.
Fiest was on after Sarah, with an intermission by a local singer named Shawn Hlookoff. He was energetic, but you could tell by the absent-minded chatter of the crowd that they were really waiting for Feist. There was a small group at the front who would occasionally chant her name during the setup after Shawn, and the roar that went up when the lights came on( low of course )was almost as big as for Sarah's low-key entrance.
And an interesting entrance it was. Fiest had set up a 'silhouette screen' and started off the show singing with her backlit silhouette on that very screen, a theme that continued throughout the show. I did not know any of the songs, but BOY could you hear her – they must have amped the bass ten times over the other performers, as very asphalt was vibrating enough to rattle the gravel. Loud, I guess, is another way to put it – glad I wasn't any closer. Too bad I had to leave before she got to the one song I did know, the Apple iPod commercial-famous "One, Two, Three, Four…" I really wanted to stay for that, but I was just too tired at that point, so off I went home in the gathering chill – I'd not brought a jacket( again )and forgotten how quickly things cooled down here at night. MUCH different than Niagara, where the hot summer nights can make sleeping a chore.
Aug 5 - Weather to Sleep
I almost got to sleep in today… until the garbage truck came at 7am. Very similar to how the landscaping guys used to show up around 7:30 am at The Prince every Tuesday to start mowing the lawn – great timing when you're tired from the night before. Not that I managed to get much done before work, mind you, but that's not the point.
The weather has done a total reversal during the weekend – it's back to sunny skies and balmy temperatures. Only a few clouds forecast for later in the week, so it's back to chilly mornings, sweaty lunchtimes and cool evenings again. Again, hard to get used to needing to bring a jacket, or wear 'layers' of clothes as the locals put it. Makes sense, but I'm so used to sandals, shorts and a t-shirt for summer weather, day and night. At least the need to shower more than twice a day is alleviated somewhat here due to the lack of humidity. Heck, the glaciers on Mt. Olympus to the south see to natural A/C for the city! No sightings of Zeus or other gods though; they must be laying low in the heat.
Aug 6 – Surprise Work Problems
Well, a shocker today: my co-worker was let go from the company. While I cannot go into why it happened, the reasons were a surprise to everyone. It is especially hard when working at a small branch like ours, when there ARE only the two of us there. It's stunning when someone you work with every day, who you have great respect for their abilities and like as a person, is suddenly gone for reasons that come as a hammerblow to the now-revealed-as-fragile-glass gestalt image you had created of them. In the business I am in, one learns to read people very well… but that still cannot ferret out well-kept secrets, and will never restore the blow that you take to your sense of trust. Damn, it sucks. So now our trainee is back, who ironically has the SAME name as my newly-departed coworker( yes, it was very confusing when they were both there at the same time ). Fortunately, we get along great, and we'll both move along from this incident as best we can… a little wiser, and a lot more conscious of how fragile a thing our jobs can really be.
Aug 7 – Looking for Group
I stumbled across a GREAT webcomic, called Looking for Group. It's based off WoW, but not overtly so. The art style is colourful, the writing is decent… and it has a GREAT character or two in there as well( see if you can tell which one I like ). Reminds me of another great comic I've not had the time to read in many years: Thieves and Kings, whose creator was a friend of a friend from quite long ago. Though why the site is in Australia beats me - last I heard, the creator was in Toronto. Hmmm.
On a related stress note, I've been cutting back on a lot of foods lately. Not buying cookies, chips and other snacks has made a difference in my food cravings, though the balance has not yet swung the other way to the point where fresh fruit and veggies fill the fridge. Yet. The one indulgence I still permit is something I discovered at the local Thrifty's I pass twice a workday: the Kilo Bag of Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Measuring daily stress levels by the numbers of cookies consumed has proven both amusing and tasty, so it's something I will continue for a while. Inexpensive yet delicious, the fresh-baked K.B.C-3 is something to look forward too, trivial though a cookie may be in the grand scheme of things. In terms of stress measurement though, the average day at work is about a two-cookie day in the end, with perhaps a half-cookie thrown in for good behaviour or a witty retort. A full cookie if they actually get said retort.
Aug 8 - Where the heck AM I?
I may have posted this already some time ago, but I like it and feel like sharing it again, as people keep adding to it – what's not to like about something continually updated? The 117 Things to Do in Victoria List is chock-full of Goodness for the South-Vancouver Island dweller to dig into. Speaking of which, a little geography for you folks, to clear up something that often confuses people who aren't familiar with exactly where Victoria is. The city is located on South Vancouver Island, which can be confusing as it's over 100 km SOUTH of the city of Vancouver… which is on the mainland well to the north-northeast. Most of Vancouver Island is reserved as forest parkland, with communities mainly situated on the south-east shores, radiating from Victoria north to Sidney. This website in particular has some great info, including interactive travel guides.
Aug 9 - Rain at last
Saturday mornings without cable – has it comes to this? The foundations of my world have become shaky and cracked… no Spiderman, no Robotech – what am I to to?
Oh, right. Work. That's it. How could I forget? I mean, when you take away the PC games, Xbox360, PS2, TurboGrafx, the DVD collection( movies, TV shows, recorded TV episodes ), the several thousand books, the TV available on the internet and those old Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories… there's practically nothing to do here. *grin*
So aside from writing up a few more articles for Cyberwalker.com, finishing up a few story outlines and digging into a few old stories, there's still a lot to do around here. It actually rained for most of the morning and early afternoon here, which was fine by me as I had a lot of laundry to do. Seemed like the perfect time for it too, as everyone else in the building was apparently out doing their Weekend Thing. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, Victoria is FULL of things to do and it seems that especially during the Summer months, there just aren't enough hours even with the longer days.
Aug 10 - Damn, I'm hot!
My apartment gets rather warm with the PC or the Xbox running for any period of time, but as I have mentioned before, the %##@! smokers out the front of the building manage to pollute the air every couple of hours – it seems even more than that, of late. Kudos for not smoking IN their units, but it pisses me off NO END that I have to run to the window to slam it shut when I sniff the foul stench of their killing clouds drifting my way. Even reversing the flow of air does not help; the prevailing wind blows from the southwest, and going against that means I get no cool air – so I either swelter with little airflow, or I have to do a yo-yo act to constantly close the window, wait, then open it again and see if the air is clear so I can get some cool air again. Damn all smokers and their addictions( present friends and family members excluded ).
I played COD4 for a few hours until 5pm, and as usual it was a varied performance. Since my final game of the day was 0 kills / 18 deaths, I took that as a sign to quit before it got worse… as if that were possible? At least I am managing to keep up with my friends, most games - nothing is worse than being the team anklebiter or headshot dummy.
Well, a shocker today: my co-worker was let go from the company. While I cannot go into why it happened, the reasons were a surprise to everyone. It is especially hard when working at a small branch like ours, when there ARE only the two of us there. It's stunning when someone you work with every day, who you have great respect for their abilities and like as a person, is suddenly gone for reasons that come as a hammerblow to the now-revealed-as-fragile-glass gestalt image you had created of them. In the business I am in, one learns to read people very well… but that still cannot ferret out well-kept secrets, and will never restore the blow that you take to your sense of trust. Damn, it sucks. So now our trainee is back, who ironically has the SAME name as my newly-departed coworker( yes, it was very confusing when they were both there at the same time ). Fortunately, we get along great, and we'll both move along from this incident as best we can… a little wiser, and a lot more conscious of how fragile a thing our jobs can really be.
Aug 7 – Looking for Group
I stumbled across a GREAT webcomic, called Looking for Group. It's based off WoW, but not overtly so. The art style is colourful, the writing is decent… and it has a GREAT character or two in there as well( see if you can tell which one I like ). Reminds me of another great comic I've not had the time to read in many years: Thieves and Kings, whose creator was a friend of a friend from quite long ago. Though why the site is in Australia beats me - last I heard, the creator was in Toronto. Hmmm.
On a related stress note, I've been cutting back on a lot of foods lately. Not buying cookies, chips and other snacks has made a difference in my food cravings, though the balance has not yet swung the other way to the point where fresh fruit and veggies fill the fridge. Yet. The one indulgence I still permit is something I discovered at the local Thrifty's I pass twice a workday: the Kilo Bag of Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Measuring daily stress levels by the numbers of cookies consumed has proven both amusing and tasty, so it's something I will continue for a while. Inexpensive yet delicious, the fresh-baked K.B.C-3 is something to look forward too, trivial though a cookie may be in the grand scheme of things. In terms of stress measurement though, the average day at work is about a two-cookie day in the end, with perhaps a half-cookie thrown in for good behaviour or a witty retort. A full cookie if they actually get said retort.
Aug 8 - Where the heck AM I?
I may have posted this already some time ago, but I like it and feel like sharing it again, as people keep adding to it – what's not to like about something continually updated? The 117 Things to Do in Victoria List is chock-full of Goodness for the South-Vancouver Island dweller to dig into. Speaking of which, a little geography for you folks, to clear up something that often confuses people who aren't familiar with exactly where Victoria is. The city is located on South Vancouver Island, which can be confusing as it's over 100 km SOUTH of the city of Vancouver… which is on the mainland well to the north-northeast. Most of Vancouver Island is reserved as forest parkland, with communities mainly situated on the south-east shores, radiating from Victoria north to Sidney. This website in particular has some great info, including interactive travel guides.
Aug 9 - Rain at last
Saturday mornings without cable – has it comes to this? The foundations of my world have become shaky and cracked… no Spiderman, no Robotech – what am I to to?
Oh, right. Work. That's it. How could I forget? I mean, when you take away the PC games, Xbox360, PS2, TurboGrafx, the DVD collection( movies, TV shows, recorded TV episodes ), the several thousand books, the TV available on the internet and those old Choose-Your-Own-Adventure stories… there's practically nothing to do here. *grin*
So aside from writing up a few more articles for Cyberwalker.com, finishing up a few story outlines and digging into a few old stories, there's still a lot to do around here. It actually rained for most of the morning and early afternoon here, which was fine by me as I had a lot of laundry to do. Seemed like the perfect time for it too, as everyone else in the building was apparently out doing their Weekend Thing. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, Victoria is FULL of things to do and it seems that especially during the Summer months, there just aren't enough hours even with the longer days.
Aug 10 - Damn, I'm hot!
My apartment gets rather warm with the PC or the Xbox running for any period of time, but as I have mentioned before, the %##@! smokers out the front of the building manage to pollute the air every couple of hours – it seems even more than that, of late. Kudos for not smoking IN their units, but it pisses me off NO END that I have to run to the window to slam it shut when I sniff the foul stench of their killing clouds drifting my way. Even reversing the flow of air does not help; the prevailing wind blows from the southwest, and going against that means I get no cool air – so I either swelter with little airflow, or I have to do a yo-yo act to constantly close the window, wait, then open it again and see if the air is clear so I can get some cool air again. Damn all smokers and their addictions( present friends and family members excluded ).
I played COD4 for a few hours until 5pm, and as usual it was a varied performance. Since my final game of the day was 0 kills / 18 deaths, I took that as a sign to quit before it got worse… as if that were possible? At least I am managing to keep up with my friends, most games - nothing is worse than being the team anklebiter or headshot dummy.
Amazingly, last week's blog was the first one since March that had no comments posted for it. Seems to support my theory that this is the busiest time of summer, when people are packing all they can into the fading daylight hours of warmth.
