This afternoon Jeff and I did a brisk walk around Burnaby Lake, only the second time I’ve been out there since the last run I did back in September. It was raining when we headed out but I figured my winter coat and cap would be sufficient.
The trail around the lake was about what I expected — mostly dry with puddles and pools of water around the edges in numerous spots. There was only one place where we had to skirt along the edge of the trail proper to avoid slopping through a pool of water like an over-eager eight year old. We kept up a good pace, too, finishing up with 10.11 km covered at an average pace of 5.8 km/hr and taking 1:47 to do it. This was almost 15 minutes faster than our previous walk there. Zoom zoom. A few hardy walkers and joggers were out but I only noticed one person giving their dog a good soak in the downpour.
Speaking of which, the relentless rain did not ease up at all. By the end the bottom third of my jeans had absorbed every bit of water around, my cap was almost but not quite soaked through (keeping my head dry, woo) and my winter coat did in fact get soaked through to the point that my t-shirt underneath was wet. Stupid rain. I know it’s dumb to complain about it here but we seem to be getting downpours every time we plan on doing something outdoors. At least if it was snow it would be fluffy and kind of neat.
Here are a few more shots of some of my many City of Heroes characters.
Katanatron is a Katana/Ninjitsu stalker and has had many previous incarnations using different secondaries as a scrapper. Even though I have remade this character more often than most would change their socks, I’m confident this version is the one that will endure.
For now.
The previously linked Mint Laser, a Beam Rifle/Electric Manipulation blaster, now has a second more minty costume. Compare below!
And here’s an example of how ragdoll really isn’t working right in the game at the moment. That is one twisty torso.
Yes, a mere 11 days to go to reach the vaunted 12 week mark of No Jogging For You!
I was thinking about this earlier today but away from a calculator and my manual math skills being such that I’m a bit lost once I run out of fingers, I didn’t know exactly how many days I had left, just that it was less than two weeks. The feeling that first came to mind once I pushed aside the attempt to add/subtract/long divide or whatever it was I needed to do, was not one on anticipation but trepidation.
There is a part of my math-challenged brain that very legitimately fears that my little test run on January 17th will result in that ankle (the stupid one) feeling sore after. I’d probably give up on running altogether if that happened.
These two images were taken a year apart, the first in July 1974 and the second in July 1975. I was 10 and 11 years old, respectively.
In the first photo I am at Disneyland, standing in front of Monstro, the puppet-swallowing whale from Pinocchio that serves as the entrance for the Storybook Land canal boats ride. Even as a little kid the ride was cool because the miniature models work on the same level as model trains, slot car racers and other things shrunk way down in scale. To a kid — to a boy, well, to this boy at any rate — these things take on a certain kind of magical quality when made miniature.
And speaking of cool, look at the self-assured pose I’m striking, as if to say, “Yeah, that’s right, I’ve got it, baby.” All while ignoring the fact that my jeans are several inches too short. What can I say? I was growing.
In the second photo I am at the San Diego Zoo, dressed remarkably similar to the year before. And look how I’ve grown! This time I am fitting the jeans a bit better. Perhaps by then my mom was buying ahead of the curve. This picture also reveals the early stages of my Big Hair, a phase that I wish I could go back in time and apply George Lucas-style after-the-fact special effects to because my Big Hair was also Bad Hair. Try telling a kid his hair looks ridiculous and his answer will likely be a thumbs up and “Right on!” As I type this my head is completely shaved.
The most noteworthy thing in the picture has to be the strange grip I have on that poor semi-domesticated animal. Am I trying to choke it? Preparing to kiss it? There are no good answers here. The little girl in front of me is wisely beating a hasty retreat. Perhaps I am trying to stop the animal from going through the EMPLOYEES ONLY door behind us, to keep it from getting into trouble. Yeah, that must be it. Not the choking. Or the kissing.
Which is my way of saying that after over 10 years of having an East Van address I am officially moved out to New Westminster, within spitting distance (well, spitting distance if you’re a hill giant) of the Fraser River in historic Sapperton. I haven’t fully checked out what makes Sapperton historic, though I believe it was settled by little people based on how absurdly narrow so many of the sidewalk around here are.
It felt odd handing over the keys to the old basement suite today. The first 15 years of living in Vancouver saw me moving on average once every week. Or so it felt like. But I got some unintended longterm living out of that East Van address where the lovely Everett clan put up with my quirks with nary a complaint for over 3,650 days so I thank them for that.
I’ll get out and get some shots of the new neighborhood as soon as the monsoons stop because it is full-on monsooning right now. Damn rain.
The move was done in three steps thusly:
Step 1: Mid-summer, moving a few things like the PC to the new place.
Step 2: Moving all other stuff I was keeping.
Step 3: Moving all the stuff I wasn’t keeping and taking it to the dump or recycling.
Step 3 was my bane as I tweaked my lower back when hoisting the couch or mattress onto the truck. It didn’t feel like much until later when it switched into Move A Certain Way to Experience Terrible Pain mode. Fortunately a day of not lifting anything heavier than a box of cereal has helped with the recovery immensely. It was nice to get rid of all my old electronics in an environmentally sound manner. Goodbye, 2X CD-ROM drive, you served me well!
I leave you with what is my most favorite picture of Barley ever. When I saw him earlier today he was as sedate as always.
Keep fit? I spent the last three months of the year pretty much not exercising thanks to my stupid body.
Keep slim? See above. I gained weight.
Keep working? I ended the year out of work.
Keep writing? I utterly failed at National Novel Writing Month and wrote little in general otherwise. Apart from being with my wonderful partner, 2011 was a bust for resolutions (I use pretty much the same set every year).
I aim to do better in 2012, Mayan predictions of doom notwithstanding.
After managing a couple of bike rides and a hike without collapsing under my own weight (now a pudgy 160 pounds, 15 over my goal of 145) I am more assured that my return to running won’t be an embarrassment or worse, an embarrassment with injury. It’s hard to believe there are just 15 days left until I have completed my enforced sabbatical from jogging.
I am still expecting a huge snowstorm on the first day out.
Meanwhile, my lower legs were notably sore after the 500 steps hike but the right ankle seems to have come though in good shape. Getting back into running regularly in 2012 is one of my Big Goals, so this is a good sign. I think.
It’s New Year’s Eve 2011 and instead of spending it rockin’ I spent it moving, collecting up the second load of possessions from my olde basement suite on East 19th Avenue and trucking them with the assistance of Jeff and Jason to the condo in New Westminster. After more than 10 years I am finally, officially moving on. The third and last load will be picked up two days hence when the civilized world re-opens after the debauchery and drunkenness that is already underway tonight. That load is destined for recycling or the trash so all of my important stuff (re: junk) is already here, some of it even unpacked. Most of the unpacked stuff is still unpacked from when I lived in Vancouver. I’ll have to go through that stuff some day.
As it was I still tossed a good six bags of garbage out, dispensing with plenty of non-recyclable items. I was strangely unmoved by sentimentality into keeping many things I’d had since moving off the island 25 years ago. Most of it was just clutter I never looked at and will not miss*.
Meanwhile, as the clock ticks down the final hours of 2011 (it’s already 2012 a.k.a. The End Times If You’re An Ancient Mayan in other parts of the world), I reflect on how transit is free this evening from 5 p.m. on. Think about it: so many people will be getting drunk that to avoid total carnage on the road, the transit authorities are sparing party-goers the sum of $2.50 in exchange for not murdering people from behind the wheels of their cars. It’s nice but what kind of person would say, “I may be hammered but there’s no way I’m paying $2.50 to ride on a bus full of drunks!” Maybe the kind of person who spent all his money on booze, perhaps.
Anyway, Happy New Year. 2011 was a pretty good year for some but it was mostly down for me. 2012 doesn’t have to achieve much to be better.
* I reserve the right to be horribly wrong about this
My last Grand Writing Decision (GWD) of 2011 is to pull the plug on my moribund site thenwrite.com. Thinking it over, I’m just not prepared to give it the effort it needs to get rolling again and with the hosting due in a few days I’d rather put it on ice for now and mull its future over than re-commit and produce lots of nothing.
I may revive the short story exercises I did on the Martian Cartel forum. They worked fairly well overall and produced some nice results. Or maybe I will become a hermit and write haikus on the insides of clam shells while living under the pier at Jericho Beach.
What better way to get wet than to go outside in December in Vancouver?
Today Jeff and I decided to get wet in style by hiking up Burnaby Mountain with his Vancouver Mountain Biking group. There were nine of us altogether and we started out near the base of the mountain on North Road. As with the bike ride yesterday the sky was again filled with clouds and the promise of much rain to come. As we headed out the weather held, though. Those of us dressed in cotton were thankful.
Burnaby Mountain is not exactly out in the boonies but the trails can still be rugged and demanding. There are points where the hydro wires are tucked out of view and the latest condo developments can’t be seen and you can almost believe you’re truly out in the wilderness. It helps if you stumble across a bear, too, which Jeff has done. The bears are smart enough to sleep through a Vancouver winter, though.
The ascent was on trails rated from easy to advanced. The easy stuff is just that — the grade allows for a leisurely pace and lots of idle chatter. When we reached Velodrome Trail (handy PDF of Burnaby Mountain trails) a sign at the bottom notified us that there were 500 wooden stairs leading up. Way up.
500 stairs is a lot of stairs. My excellent math and engineering skills tell me it worked out to the equivalent of 20-30 storeys. It took me back to the one time I walked up to the 15th floor of the apartment building I lived in ages ago. The one time.
When we reached the top we took a few minutes to pose for pictures, take in the totem poles and look up to the oh-so-expensive Horizons restaurant. That wasn’t what a bunch of sweaty, grubby hikers want so we continued on to the SFU campus in search of a simpler cafe. The SFU buildings were eerily quiet given the semester break and one hallway was completely unlit, as if it was auditioning for a part in a horror movie. We continued on until we got to Renaissance Coffee. They serve their free range/organic or whatever it was beverages in cups that feel all comfy and quilted. Jeff and I had hot chocolate, me going for the small, Jeff opting for hill giant size. I added a chocolate chip muffin, convinced I had burned sufficient calories on the way up.
Sated, we headed out and the rain had returned. Those of us who had brought non-cottony jackets donned them, the others prepared for The soaking. We headed down an unofficial trail that required lots of skidding, jumping and light praying. We all made it down intact, fortunately.
All told, it was a fun combination of easy and hard, everyone was friendly and chatty and no limbs were broken.
The stats:
Total distance: 11 km
Average pace: 3.7 km/h
Total elevation gained: 1132m
Total descent: 1201m
Total time: 3 hours
If fish could ride bikes they would have had a very fun time riding today.
Jeff and I set out on Bike Ride: The Sequel. I approached my (borrowed) bike with trepidation, my butt recalling just how sore it had been after riding it last time, the seat being made with US technology (Uncomfortable Sitting). The sky was overcast but ominous. We took the bikes out to the parking lot and a light rain had begun to fall. Dodging the rain in December is a tricky thing at best so we shrugged and headed out through Hume Park and down the Central Valley Greenway, following the river until we came out near North Road. I managed to spectacularly misread Jeff’s directions at one point and headed off in an entirely different direction while he patiently waited for me to realize I was cycling alone. This is what I get for deciding to ride ahead when I don’t know where I’m going.
By the time we started retracing our route the shower had turned into a mini-monsoon, with the rain coming down heavy and hard. With the bike fender-free, I watched as water zipped off the front wheel and into my face. If it was summer it might have been somewhat refreshing, almost.
Speaking of summer, it was not only mild as all get-out, Vancouver airport reported a new high temperature for the day at 11.6ºC, making it the balmiest December 28th ever. This after Environment Canada predicted our winter would be colder and drier than normal, naturally.
The final stats for the ride were:
Total distance: 14.58 km
Duration: 1.1 hour
Average pace: 14.2 km/h
Max. speed: 34.9 km/h
Much of the trip was uphill (yes, both ways!) so while the pace seemed leisurely the workout was not. I was proud to (barely) make it up the steepest hill without stopping. Even screwing up the gear changes couldn’t stop me.
UPDATE: A day later and my legs are not sore, though my hiney is still feeling hatred toward the world’s most uncomfortable bike seat. I am getting ever-so-slightly closer to being confident enough to move beyond the granny trails. And hopefully get a chance to ride when the sky is not dumping water on me.
As we near the end of the year I am indulging my penchant for lists. Here is Box Office Mojo’s 2011 Worldwide Grosses. It’s interesting to see how little North America played in the success of some of these films (eg. Kung Fu Panda 2 made over 75% of its take overseas). More interesting (or less interesting, perhaps) is how sequels have taken over:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 No surprise on this one as all the HP movies have done well and this one wrapped things up. Spoiler: Everyone dies.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon The third Transformers movie provides some evidence that there may be a deity as it did not finish #1.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Who knew Johnny Depp with eyeshadow could result in multiple billion dollar grosses?
Kung Fu Panda 2 It was only a so-so hit in the U.S. but people everyone outside of North America love them some fat cartoon pandas.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 Vampires, sparkling, teen melodrama and yes, a sequel.
Fast Five The fifth Fast and Furious movie. This thing has legs. Or wheels. Or something. Will Vin Diesel use this as leverage to get another Riddick movie made? You know he wants to!
The Hangover Part II A movie that didn’t need a sequel gets one, sequel is huge hit. This is why we can’t have nice things (or original movies).
The Smurfs Wait a minute, this isn’t a sequel! But it is licensed, so it’s almost the same thing. It made over $500 million. Why? WHY?!
Cars 2 Uninspired sequel to another movie that didn’t need one. This time Pixar got a pat on the bum for being naughty, as it was their lowest-grossing movie to date. A sequel to anything but Cars would have been nice.
Rio This isn’t a sequel. How did it get here? It’s anthropomorphic cartoon animals so it’s almost like a sequel to one of the thousand or so movies that can be described thusly.
Extrapolating, I am predicting that by 2015 all movies will be sequels and no new stories will be told. I look forward to Cars 7: Out of Gas in 2022.
