A dismal year is nearly over but there’s still time for more celebrity deaths to pile up like cord wood. In the past week alone George Michael, Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds have all died. The deaths have happened so often that I am nearly expecting to find a celebrity death story every time I visit the CBC News website (just checked–none so far today).
For myself, I am happy to still be kicking, even if the winter break from work has been marred by a sore back the first week and a cold the second week (which I am still fighting). NeoCitran and NyQuil have been my best pals, one offering comfort by day, the other by night. I hate that I am taking them, but have to admit modern medicine is pretty spiffy in masking how horrible you might otherwise feel.
I even went for a walk today. Most of the sidewalks are bare, but there’s still copious snow around. It’s been weeks and it is silly. They are forecasting a return to sub-freezing temperatures in the week ahead, with more snow still on tap for tomorrow, New Year’s Eve. Because nothing says a safe night out like driving on New Year’s Eve in a snowstorm.
I’m staying home and hiding under the covers.
If all goes well I may at least be healthy enough to go to the pool by the end of the week. I’m penciling in a run outside sometime for early spring when the last of the snow has finally melted.
I’ve done a few tweaks to the site to make it more appealing to me and the bots that visit:
simplified color scheme (header is now white), for a more spartan look that is all minimalist and such
changed the logo from a cartoon image of me to a cartoonish image of me (I will change this periodically)
changed the tag “bad design” to a category
added Writing prompts as a category
added Lists as a category (I need to add a bunch of posts to this; the criteria is that the post must be centered around a list, not simply include one
done some experimentation with Font Awesome in titles and posts to add visual interest. For example, a book review could have a book icon that says, “Hey, this is probably a book review!” Like so:
started tossing in more images to again make with the visual flair. You can never have too much flair, as we know.
changed the titles to a cheerful green to make people happy for visiting
continued to scrupulously avoid the use of emoji or emoticons
I’ll continue to make more tweaks in the new year. I’m also considering moving the site to a dedicated host that would allow me to spend less time on the plumbing and more time on writing inane posts.
Stop spending all your time reading “How to improve your writing” articles and just write instead.
More seriously, there is a certain seductiveness in constantly seeking advice, a kind of pleasure that comes from immersing yourself in writing without doing any actual writing. It also helps one neatly avoid failure, too, since zero production = zero chance of failure.
I have actually become worse with this in the last few months, spending far more time reading about writing than writing. On the plus side, I have gotten a lot better at determining quality tips from puff pieces (most articles are puff pieces).
Conveniently one of my resolutions–just three days away from being implemented–includes a concrete writing goal. I am further working on fleshing out specifics. For a change, I am going to plan everything out as much as possible and leave the spontaneity to whatever writing I produce. I expect this to yield fruitful results, especially if I write about fruit.
I finally picked up Billy Joel’s 1986 album The Bridge in fancy digital format, previously owning and then selling the CD (I needed the money at the time–this was a long time ago when selling used CDs was actually somewhat worthwhile). For some reason, it sells for a few dollars more than his other albums, as if subtly trying to tell you to avoid it or conversely making it seem more valuable and thus, irresistible.
Given the actual album content, it may be more the former.
Joel was prolific throughout his career until this album, which came out three years after An Innocent Man. His next two albums would come out three and then four years apart before he essentially hung up recording forever (with a few minor exceptions).
With The Bridge the first hints of a creative dry spell are seen with Cyndi Lauper lending a co-writing credit (and vocals) to “Code of Silence.” On the other hand, Joel also uses the album to do whatever the hell he wants, a fitting reflection of the indulgent 1980s. Fortunately, his ability to write effortlessly catchy tunes lifts much of the material. He straps on a guitar for no apparent reason in “A Matter of Trust” but the song is catchy enough. He adopts a falsetto and goes big band in “Big Man on Mulberry Street,” does a duet with idol Ray Charles in “Baby Grand” (while engaging in some ill-advised Ray Charles-style vocal affectations) and apes The Police in “Running on Ice.”
The low points come in the songs where he is addressing or singing about women. Sometimes the result is forgettable fluff like “Modern Woman,” one of his most skippable songs ever. Other times the songs are bogged down with tacky lyrical turns. In “This is the Time” Joel sings:
I haven’t shown you everything a man can do So stay with me baby, I got plans for you
This is gross, really.
“Temptation” seems to be a defense of his then-relationship with Christie Brinkley, a lyrically weak and musically lazy ballad.
But among these lesser songs, there’s some good stuff, too. Sure, “Big Man on Mulberry Street” is over the top but it’s also a fun pastiche. While the lyrics are strangely generic, “Code of Silence” is still evocative and Lauper’s contribution to the song works well. “Getting Closer” is an energetic, er, closer, and while “Running on Ice” gets a little too wrapped up in its portrayal of Joel as a poor, overworked but so very sophisticated urban man, the song is pleasingly energetic.
This is easily Billy Joel’s most inconsistent album since his work in the early 70s and I wouldn’t blame anyone for stopping their collection at An Innocent Man (or even The Nylon Curtain), but there’s enough solid material here for me to give it a tepid recommendation.
The ad wizards at Sears probably think this is clever, but it’s really just kind of dumb.
Although I suppose some people might actually box each other to get to some of those sweet door crasher deals.
No, Sears, no.
Also, wearing boxing gloves would make it difficult to pick up items you wished to purchase in-store or to enter your credit card information if ordering online. I suppose a particularly dextrous person might be able to use their toes or nose (for the online part, less so for in-store).
Also also: Strike two for “boxing week.” Don’t make me put on my boxing gloves.
This morning I was greeted with this from the deck:
Boxing Day, Snow Day–who can tell the difference?
Still more snow. And as forecast, it warmed up just enough to change to rain so sidewalks are now slushy messes and roads have rivers running curbside, topped with layers of slushy snow that might fool you into thinking they’re solid until a vehicle drives through and sprays you from head to foot with a delightful slurry of ice, water and mud.
The forecast over the next four days calls for rain or a chance of rain, so presumably at least the new stuff will wash away, leaving the crusty old stuff still lingering until New Year’s Eve, where 3-7 cm of new snow is forecast. Snow on New Year’s Eve–what could possibly go wrong?
On top of this, I now have that feeling in my sinuses and chest like I’m coming down with a cold. Just as my sore back is finally on the mend. Typical.
I make no promises that I won’t spend the rest of 2016 complaining about the weather and my possible cold. Good night!
As foretold my the ancient prophecies and my post yesterday, it was a white Christmas as the crusty, icy snow from two weeks ago is still lingering around in plentiful amounts. Fortunately, it was also clear so I took the opportunity to go for a walk and keep my back from seizing up. Win-win as long as I didn’t fall. Which I nearly did, multiple times.
As I headed out one of my primary objectives was to find the least slippery route. The majority of sidewalks are clear, as are the streets so this was pretty simple until I got to Hume Park. Once there I got my first look at the Great Tree Destruction of Early Winter 2016. This tree fell near the kids playing area, intent on squashing a tot or two. It had already been cut up by park workers or passing lumberjacks.
One less tree to pester people in Hume Park
The next timber that had timbered was across the trail at the bottom of the stairs leading into Lower Hume Park. This is the same spot where two trees came down during the windstorm of August 2015. It is a very popular spot for trees to fall over, apparently. No one had touched this one yet but I was able to climb over it without issue. (UPDATE: This tree was finally cut up and removed in April 2017.)
Another one bites the dust. Well, snow.
The stairs, which I did not take a picture of because it likely would have resulted in many broken bones, were covered in compacted snow that had developed an icy sheen. The compacted snow was also lumpy. This had the following effect when placing feet on the steps:
impossible for feet to rest solidly, causing them to slide
sliding on an already slippery surface causes more sliding
with little room to accommodate aforementioned sliding it becomes very easy to slide off the current step, land on the one below and then continue the process until the bottom of the staircase is reached, where one would arrive in a pile of broken bones and contusions
I went down the stairs by gripping the handrail with both of my gloved hands and clutching as if my life depended on it, which it did, probably. Even so, I still had my feet give way a few times, nearly causing me to go down express-style. At this point, I knew I would not be coming back up, no matter which way my route went from here.
The third fallen tree was leaning over the sidewalk on North Road, just before the turn-off onto the Brunette River trail. I didn’t take a picture of it because the sidewalk here was not in good shape. It also didn’t look that dramatic as it wasn’t blocking my path.
A short way down the river trail I came across fallen trees #4 and #5. These had been cut and cleared but the debris area indicated they had come down on the trail, intent on taking out hungry squirrels or people out walking in the snow because it’s pretty. While I did take a picture, I prefer this image instead, showing the amazing power of sewers to melt snow. There is a sewer line that parallels the river and every manhole (peoplehole?) cover was a snow-free zone. This batch of eight was big enough to have a picnic on, albeit a stinky picnic.
Sewers: fighting snow since ancient Rome
Fallen tree #6 was at Burnaby Lake. I ventured as far as the Cariboo Dam, where I normally start my runs. The first shot shows the uprooted tree from just behind. It fell away from the picnic area, so only wandering polar bears would have been at risk. The sun is already low in the sky because we have about 40 minutes of sunlight per day right now. Good ol’ winter.
Burnaby Lake, now with one less tree
This shot gives a better view of the trail, which is now a slick, icy insurance claim waiting to happen. I knew it would be like this but it was still kind of depressing. It’s going to take a lot of sun or a lot of rain to clear this out before running can resume. And we are expecting more snow, possibly in as soon as a few hours. I will need to develop an unnatural love for treadmills, for unnatural is all it would be. Or take up knitting, which is currently not affected by snow.
Good conditions for running if you are a snow leopard or abominable snowman
And so it was here that I ended my snowy trek, turning back and heading up to ride the SkyTrain home. It was nice to get out and despite being 2ºC I managed to keep up enough of a pace to not feel cold. But I’d rather be running because when I’m running I’m not within eating distance of Bugles, Ferraro Rocher or other evil concoctions I have foolishly kept in the household.
Technically this is a rare white Christmas, not because I am, in fact, white (which is not rare but persistent), but because there is still snow on the ground. It’s been around eight years since snow hung around for so long. It feels like this snow has been around for eight years.
I went for a twenty-minute walk around the neighborhood this evening and as one might expect on Christmas Eve, it was very quiet, aided in part by rather dense fog. I had people in a car pull over and ask me how to get to the Patullo Bridge. Normally you can find it by just driving toward it–it’s kind of hard to miss. But in the fog, it’s actually really easy to miss. If you’re not familiar with the area you’d have no real sense of where you are. You might be driving into a town that sacrifices tourists to appease a corn god or even into Surrey.
Tomorrow is forecast to be cold and clear, which is fine by me. Boxing Day (the start of Boxing Week, Boxing Month and eventually Boxing Year) is slated to feature more snow. This is not fine by me. I’d like to start running outdoors again before it’s officially spring.
Oh, and I somehow hurt my lower back about a week and a half ago (lifting an old Seanix PC, I think) and it’s been slowly recovering, except last night when it suddenly got much worse. I’ve been more mobile today and have medicated in anticipation of the bed failing to comfort as it should.
So I only really want three things for Christmas:
No more snow this winter (seems unlikely)
My back to feel better (there’s a decent chance it will at least be improving again)
Donald Trump to be kidnapped by Bigfoot, never to be seen again (unlikely but I remain hopeful)
Overall, not the worst Christmas Eve ever but given how generally dismal this year has been, I am content the fog outside isn’t actually on fire.
It is time to make resolutions because tradition demands we make silly promises, break them, express regret, then do the whole thing over again a year later, which is just enough time to convince ourselves that this time will be different.
That said, my goal to get to 150 pounds this year was going quite well until mid-October. By then I was at 153 pounds and was still running regularly, having recovered nicely from an injury in the early spring (and having escaped battered but without any broken bits in my Great Tripping Incident in August). Then two things happened:
I caught a very nasty cold. It laid me out for a couple of weeks and I missed a bunch of runs.
Simultaneously, the sun began setting early enough that by the time I was healthy again I could no longer run my usual routes after work because it was now dark and I’d be attacked and carried away by vampire bats.
To address #2 I kept running on the weekends, but once a week is not enough to keep in shape. I pondered running during lunch at work but did not commit to it for various reasons. I thought about using the treadmill at the Canada Games Pool but my partner kept offering to go and then not really wanting to, which made it easy for me to decide that yes, it was easier to just sit at home and eat bags of Bugles instead.
This is all to say that about two months later I am up to 164 pounds, an impressive backslide. Gaining weight is very easy. If I made that a resolution I’d have 51 weeks left to work on any and all other resolutions.
My first resolution, therefore, will not be a huge surprise.
My Resolutions for 2017 Assuming Donald Trump
Doesn’t Destroy the World
drop to 145 pounds. Yes, I’m actually making the goal tougher for 2017. Secretly this was always my goal and 150 pounds was a soft target. I’ve been as low as 143 pounds and it’s definitely not too skinny on my frame. Though I am kind of skinny, anyway.
run at least three times a week barring injury or other extraordinary circumstance. I would previously include “the entire city covered in snow” being an extraordinary circumstance but really, there are gyms and treadmills, so this doesn’t qualify. It’s also the minimum needed to keep in decent shape.
no farmers tan. I wear t-shirts when running and as a result when I remove my shirt I a) blind anyone nearby with my ultra-white untanned body and b) get mocked for having conspicuously tanned arms right up to where the sleeves of my t-shirts sit. My solution this year will be to wear sleeveless shirts (I already have a few) and maybe a few stints working on a wee bit of a tan for my upper body. I might entertain the thought of running without a shirt when the weather is warmer but I’m not sure I should subject the world to that.
killer abs. Yes, the time has come to work on my upper body, especially if I’m not going to have an unseemly farmers tan. I haven’t decided how to do this yet. I have dumbbells but I tried them before and didn’t like them much. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure I won’t like anything I try to achieve this goal. It will be an interesting challenge.
eat better. This means fewer Bugles and saying no when offered candy. Currently, I tend to say yes except you can’t hear the actual word because I’m already shoving the candy into my mouth.
learn to swim. Haha, no. I’m not trying that again! Well, maybe. But only if I can learn with people who really can’t swim, not the bunch of cheaters I was grouped with when I took lessons in 2009.
That covers my health-oriented goals. Now onto being a better person in various ways.
write 1,000 words a day. No exceptions except under extraordinary circumstances like every keyboard, pen, pencil and other writing instrument in the world suddenly disappear and even then I could scratch out words in the dirt with a sturdy twig. These 1,000 words are to be fiction, so blog posts don’t count.
read at least 32 books. I’d love to bump this to 52 and do a book a week but I simply can’t read that fast. Maybe I could make speed reading a 2018 goal.
be a positive influence to others. I have no specifics on this. I’ll just try to think before I post, be nice and smile (but not in a creepy sort of way).
win the lottery. I’d spend the money wisely, I promise!
That’s good for now. If I think of more I’ll add them and I’ll try to re-visit the list periodically to see how I’m doing. I expect tears.
I moved to Vancouver in August 1986 to take a job at Expo 86. I was 21 years old and paid $4 an hour to work in a souvenir store. This was actually 35 cents above minimum wage. I felt like I was living the high life. I quit a week later after being moved to a shift that ended at midnight (I was young and temperamental) but after thinking about heading back to the island I ultimately decided to stay.
Thirty years later and I’m still here (I’m in New Westminster as I write this, so technically outside of Vancouver proper but still in the ephemeral area known as the Lower Mainland). A few things have changed. Prices, for example. Observe!
1986: one zone transit fare is $1.15
2016: one zone transit fare is $2.75
1986: one-zone monthly pass is $46
2016: one-zone monthly pass is $91
The rent for my first bachelor apartment in downtown Vancouver was $330 per month. This seems like make-believe now, the kind of thing you tell kids and they laugh and say, “LOL, you and your crazy stories, Gramps!”
Today I walked along Robson Street for the first time in quite awhile. Some things haven’t changed–the London Drugs that was there in 1986 is still there now. Earls is still above it. The dueling Starbucks at Robson and Thurlow have been reduced to a single store–but not to worry, several others have sprung up along the strip to compensate.
The original Vancouver Public Library at Robson and Burrard has changed hands a few times, starting as a Virgin Megastore then changing to an HMV before music as physical media finally and truly died. It is now a giant Victoria’s Secret store. Where once people sought knowledge and enlightenment they now seek lacy lingerie.
An old building on Thurlow that once housed a McDonald’s has been replaced by an edifice featuring Versace. This pretty much sums up downtown now. Tony, expensive. Dull.
And crowded, as there are only three shopping days left before Christmas.
I headed over to Nelson Street to see if the old Beverly apartment building, one of the first places I lived in (circa 1987-88) was still standing–and it is! I am actually a little surprised because with real estate downtown being mega-super-insanely expensive, I would have thought this dumpy little walk-up–that my drunk landlord tried to burn to the ground one night–would be long gone.
It even looks better now than it did back then. In 1988 it was painted a much darker brown and looked like a big square poo. This is definitely a step up. Rent is probably $1500 a month now.
By this time I was starting to get cold because it’s winter and winter is like that, so I headed to the warm climes of Pacific Centre mall. My brief, incomplete tour of downtown surprisingly didn’t leave me feeling nostalgic, probably due to a combination of the crowds, cold and so many shops and other places having been replaced. The streets are there, the layout is the same but it feels like a lot of what made the area what it was in 1988 is gone now. Maybe I’ll feel different if I go back in the summer. I’ll put that on my 2017 to-do list, assuming Trump doesn’t nuke the world first.
