My fridge is one of those that has the freezer-box inside the main fridge, with one door on the fridge itself then another smaller door inside for the freezer-box. A problem with this design is that the freezer-box tends to accumulate ice the same way Oprah accumulates brownies (Oprah, if you’re reading this, no offense. I like brownies, too). Eventually, the freezer-box becomes encased in ice, not unlike some hapless animal found frozen in a glacier 10,000 years ago. At this point the door is fused shut and the ice build up starts dripping onto the shelves below, turning the fridge into a miniature rain forest simulation.
It is annoying.
I defrost the fridge, let the ice melt enough to chip it away, sponge up the excess water and declare temporary victory yet again.
Then I take a picture of the collected ice in my sink to remind myself to not let it go quite so long next time. See below.
Ironically, I bought four ice cube trays the next day in order to make ice for my tender shin.
This past Sunday I saw the movie House at Pacific Cinematheque, the first time I’ve been back to that theatre in many years. It was a bit muggy inside and it’s only mid-April. Perhaps it is a way for them to claim “hot movies” without having to rely on the quality of the film itself to back up the statement.
In any case, a recent acquaintance who volunteers there and at Vancity Theatre, was able to procure free tickets, so it was risk-free. I bought a bottle of water at the concession to assuage my guilt over not paying, as is my way, knowing full well my bladder would be scolding me in short order for having done so.
House is a 1977 Japanese horror film. There are clips of various scenes on YouTube and I had actually seen one such scene last year without having any idea what the context of it was. As with many scenes in the movie, it is pretty unmistakable. In this case, one of the school girls is getting her head chomped by a large lampshade.
Considering its age, the film surprisingly does not look particularly dated, mainly due to the timeless Japanese schoolgirl look. The story revolves around seven schoolgirls, each deliberately named after her defining characteristic (Gorgeous is beautiful, Melody plays the piano, Kung Fu – well, you can probably figure it out) going to Gorgeous’s creepy old aunt’s house for the summer after their original vacation plans fall apart. A freaky white cat with magic eyes, a dancing skeleton and the aunt herself play host to a macabre series of events that claim the girls one by one.
House is relentlessly energetic – the characters are constantly laughing and chattering with each other, even while their numbers dwindle as the house claims them, and the score plays near constantly in the background. As things continue to go terribly wrong for the girls, the ebullient tone of the film shifts toward traditional horror and it becomes more deliberately weird and disturbing. It never fully succumbs to being ‘serious’ fare, though. You can only draw so much solemn symbolism from a piano eating a girl or a man in a dune buggy that gets turned into a giant pile of bananas.
Visually, the film matches its audio portion, with an array of effects, filters and stylized painted backgrounds. Moments get played forward and back, one character has a constant breeze softly lifting her scarf for effect no matter where she goes.
My only real complaint here was the tone shift doesn’t fully work. You can’t really lay out something so utterly silly and then try to make it serious but House doesn’t try too hard, so it’s only a minor criticism. House is easy to recommend for the energy and striking composition alone. It is a wonderful piece of over-the-top storytelling that full embraces the medium of film and just has fun with it.
Today it was a glorious 20ºC and sunny for my jog, with only a light breeze blowing. And Tiger Woods did not cogratulate me for a third time for completing another 250 miles. That was the good news.
The bad news is the tender spot on the lower right shin on my left leg was still quite raw, hampering my run and resulting in a sluggish 5k. Weirdly, my time on the second km was actually one second faster than the first, the first time that’s ever happened. My overall times for the run were fairly consistent, despite the annoyance of the leg.
Perhaps even more annoying than the state of my left leg was the group of people with their dogs that decided the trail was a good place to just stand around, despite having, you know, an entire park at their disposal. But no, they were compelled to stay on the path, motionless. As I approached on one lap, I had to steer left and off the trail to avoid them and predicatbly, as I did this one of them decided at the exact same moment to start backing up and nearly collided with me, anyway. People, you have brains, you have sentience, use these things to realize that the world does not end at your nose. There are other people around you. Really! Yeesh.
I’ll be icing my leg and seeing how it feels in two days. I suspect it will need more time to recover, but I’m hoping that it’s more sore than actually injured.
Results:
Total distance: 5:02 km
Average pace: 5:28/km
1st km: 5:18
2nd km: 5:17
3rd km: 5:19
4th km: 5:24
5th km: 5:28
A balmy 14ºC on today’s run under cloudy skies and with moderate wind. At about the halfway point it started to spit but it never amounted to more than that. The trail was a bit softer due to rain but was still dry, apart from one tiny puddle.
Because of the wind I tried out my new cap today. The other one is not adjustable and because it doesn’t fit my head perfectly a good gust of wind can lift it off. While chasing after a cap is a form of exercise unto itself, it’s not one I really want to schedule in as part of my routine. 😛
Tye cap did its job. I never felt the wind tugging at it, so yay for that.
This was my first 10k in 24 days so I expected a slower time and got it: 5:34/km. Not bad, though. I started out very tentatively and it shows in the first km coming in at 5:10. The middle stretch felt a bit sluggish and it shows in the times but the final km were remarkably consistent, which is encouraging for the days to come.
Tiger Woods congratulated me again for completing yet another 250 miles. At this pace I’ll have run the equivalent of coast to coast across Canada in a few days, according to him. The Nike+ site also congratulated me on my first run (see below). Fortunately my actual stats are still in the system.
Results:
Total distance: 10.02 km (previous: 10.02 km)
Average time/km: 5:34/km (previous: 5:26/km)
Best time/km: 5:10/km (previous: 5:02/km)
I had my annualish eye exam today and nothing unusual to report. My near vision is slightly worse, as to be expected of “men of your age”, as the doctors like to phrase nowadays. To be especially thorough, the optometrist put drops in my eyes to fully dilate the pupils. I had 20 minutes to kill while the drops did their thing, so I went to the bookstore, which is about the most useless place you can go if your pupils are dilated because everything is keeningly bright and out of focus. After my less-than-satisfying browsing at the bookstore, I went to the washroom and checked out my eyes while washing my hands. The look is alarming. By that it means I looked like I was alarmed and it wouldn’t stop.
I have an updated prescription and I think I may opt for a new pair of glasses with polarized lenses. Unlike the last few times I will probably drag along a friend to make sure I come out stylin’.
It is sunny and dare I say actually warm today so I was inspired to do something I have not done in nearly a year of running — run on consecutive days. I know that makes me not hardcore or something, but there you have it.
Today I went all out, though. Or halfway out, at least, doing another 5K run. I felt fine during the run and feel fine after — no pain and the only soreness is from overnight, when three weeks of not running caught up with all those unstretched leg muscles. I suspect they’ll be a bit stiff tomorrow, too, but it wasn’t anything that affected the run itself.
The temperature rose to an early spring high of 15ºC and the wind also picked up, strong enough at times to tug at my cap. I hate that. The sun felt very distinctly warm but not hot. It was pretty nice, overall. The same jogger was on the trail from yesterday, running clockwise, a compact woman in her early 20s who apparently manages to breathe through her nose as her mouth appeared to be clamped firmly shut every time she passed me. To a non-runner this may sound like no big thing but to me, there is absolutely no way I could take in enough air through my nose to keep me going while jogging. Maybe I just have small nostrils. Not that hers were flaring like a bull’s. Anyway, it seemed odd, so I mention it.
I improved considerably over yesterday’s pace without consciously trying. I just worked at a steady, natural gait. The shock came at the end — not when I got the stats on my run but hearing the voice of Tiger Woods congratulating me for the first time since the whole scandal broke last November. With him back golfing and having done the live TV confession thing, it may be that Apple and Nike thought it was time to let him speak again to all the joggers plugged into the Nike+ doohickey. For the record, he said, “Tiger here. You’ve completed 250 miles, way to go.” It was nice, if a little late — I had passed 250 miles on yesterday’s run.
A remarkable 12 second improvement in my overall pace. I definitely shook off the cobwebs today.
Full stats (yesterday’s times in parentheses):
Total distance: 5.03 km (5:04 km)
Overall average pace: 5:21/km (5:33/km)
1st km: 5:05 (5:12)
2nd km: 5:10 (5:20)
3rd km: 5:15 (5:25)
4th km: 5:18 (5:29)
5th km: 5:21 (5:33)
Today was my first run in three weeks, since yoinking my left calf. I don’t think the injury was that serious but it seemed wise to give it ample time to heal before venturing out again. As expected, my time was pretty slow but I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort during or after the run, so I’m tentatively planinng on a full 10k on Friday.
The conditions were close to ideal. It was very mild — around 14ºC — and sunny, with a light breeze. The trail was slightly damp from previous rains but firm and the ruts from a few weeks back were smoothed out. A few other joggers were on the trail, along with a couple of people walking their dogs. And the fountain was working, woo. It almost felt like an early summer day. Ah, summer.
Because it was a short run, here are the complete stats as recorded on the Nike+ sensor:
Total distance: 5.04 km
Overall average pace: 5:33/km
1st km: 5:12
2nd km: 5:20
3rd km: 5:25
4th km: 5:29
5th km: 5:33
Breakdown: Much slower to start and the second lap also reflects the slower pace, as I added a whopping 8 seconds. After that you can see me starting to settle into a steadier pace, with times increasing more gradually.
I might try to break 5:30/km for Friday’s run. That would mark an improvement while not pushing myself too hard in the ramp-up to a more regular running regimen.
The recent testing I did to assess my values also included a deck of cards to ascertain one’s needs. Like the Values deck, it asks you to split the deck into three categories: High, Higher, highest. You then take the Highest pile and sort it into three more piles and then finally take the top 8 from the first (most important) pile. As it turns out, I only had 8 total. I’m not sure if that makes me efficient or just not very needy. Here they are, in no particular order:
an environment where my thoughts and ideas are welcome. Who doesn’t like to be heard? Not me, obviously!
a culture that allows for direct communication between people. The opposite of this would be using the Cone of Silence, I imagine.
to work in a chemical/dust-free environment. Are there people who would prefer a chemical/dusty environment? Sludge monsters from space, perhaps?
to be in a helping role. I like helping people, it gives me warm fuzzies. Unless they yell at me, then they get a warm fuzzy in the face!
to work in an environment where people are treated fairly. Again, the opposite of this would be “I like to work under the boot of a dictatorship, it’s fun!”
an environment that provides time for analysis and observation. Not too much time, mind you. But enough.
freedom to make decisions independently. I hate top-down organizations. Do as I say, minion! Not for me.
to be fairly compensated financially. I wonder how many people tell a prospective employer, “Pay me as little as you want, I don’t need to eat every day!”
Frankly, these needs are kind of boring. Oh well, I guess that’s why they’re called needs and not Super Exciting Things, Wow!
I am trying to remember my dreams again and have been doing a decent job of recollection when waking up. What I haven’t been doing such a decent job of is writing the dreams down after waking up. 😛
Here are a pair of recent snippets. They’re not very interesting but perhaps putting them down will help me to remember more.
Dream #1 featured Robert Reed, best known as Mr. Brady from The Brady Bunch. The dream seemed to be set back in the 70s and Mr. Reed was being a bit of a jerk (as himself, not Mr. Brady). I have no idea what exactly he was doing, why he was being a jerk and what kind of presence, if any, I had in the dream. I also have no clue why I’d dream about Robert freakin’ Reed. The guy is about as far off my radar as possible. Or so I thought!
Dream #2 took place in a small town and at one point I remember nimbly dodging a set of road construction equipment on my trip to…somewhere. The other part I remember from the same dream was being assembled as part of a group in a large auditorium that was serving as a makeshift movie theater. We were there to watch something I vaguely recall as educational but the stage area had no screen so the film was projected on a small section high up on the back wall of the auditorium, forcing everyone to twist in their seats to look backward in order to watch. No one seemed to mind, though. The one image I remember from the film was of a submersible of some sort. I believe this was triggered by the R.E.M. song “Sing for the Submarine”, which I’ve heard several times recently.
That’s all for my two most recent dreams. More subconscious nonsense to come!
Everybody knows that Independent bookstores have been under pressure from the ‘big box’ operations for many years now and it is clear that it is not going to get any better; the likes of Chapters, and Amazon are ruthless in their drive for market share and we cannot compete on price anymore. The book itself is in the throes of a technological transformation and book readers undergoing a major demographic shift.
I remember when Duthies had their big store on Robson Street many years ago, with the spiral staircase leading downstairs to the fiction section. That store eventually closed and is now a high fashion boutique. A pretty rare sight on Robson, as you know! But Duthies took over the Bollums Books at the corner of Granville and Georgia and once again had a two-storey space, this time complete with escalators. Alas, it was not to be as the company went through some dramatic restructuring after their expansion that resulted in the chain being reduced to a single store on 4th Avenue, whose windows currently bear the notices seen above. I didn’t even realize the store had closed until a few weeks ago when someone mentioned it to me, so I’m as guilty as anyone in helping it shuffle off its retail coil.
In recent years I have bought books from Amazon and a few from Chapters. I have purchased ebooks from Sony’s website to use on my Sony Reader. The world of book selling has dramatically changed over the past decade and smaller general interest stores like Duthies will continue to be squeezed out. It’s unfortunate because quality bookstores add something valuable to a neighborhood that isn’t captured by a sprawling place like Chapters.
There will still be specialized book stores, I think, at least for awhile, whether it’s shops like Macleod’s Books with its teetering stacks of obscure used books or stores that cater to a particular genre or style. But even they may eventually feel the pressure of outlets like Amazon that also take in and sell used books and can cover every genre without needing the expense of a brick and mortar presence.
I suppose it’s like everything else. In the end, there is only change. It’s still a bit sad to see.
P.S. The six exclamation points still rankles me. That will be a pet peeve of mine for the next million years.
