Humidity

Is it ever humid... humidity just kills me! I just checked the weather online, and the humidity is sitting at 51%! When I was living in Cairns in the far north of Australia, the humidity in the summer (northern hemisphere winter) was typically around 80%, but I just got used to it. But here, this is so unusual. It's the first time in I can't remember how long that I've actually used my air conditioning. I'm not a fan of A/C, but faced with a choice between humidity and A/C, I'll take A/C.
 
I decided today that I am going to have to take drastic measures to get myself back to feeling as good physically as I did when I returned from Europe. There, I was out every single day, walking and moving constantly.... practically running up steps of stone ruins, steep hillsides, metro stairways with baggage in tow. In the two months or so since, I've slowly slid right back into my lethargic ways and spend too much time in front of the computer. Time to arrest the slide.
 
On a completely different note, the other day I made a small attempt to re-post some of the photos prior to May that were previously hosted on my Telus webspace. Since the Telus snafu, I've been conscious of the fact that nearly all my archives have broken photo links, but the task is so large I don't think now is the time to tackle it. Especially since I'm so behind on my SFU coursework -- the end of the term is less than two weeks away, and I'm going to have to scramble like crazy to finish on time.

Shoes!

Here's another random photo from my spring Eurotrip. I'm working away, here, so thought I'd post a pic that I'd taken one night off La Ramblas, in Barcelona. Some of these shoes are too hideous for words! I took the photo and made it into a postcard for my friend Eliza, who loves shoes and has "given them up for Lent", shall we say, until December. I printed it off in Barcelona with my portable photo printer, and mailed it before I left. Here we are, two and a half months later, and she still hasn't received the postcard!!

My Current Sleeping Schedule

... is that I don't have a sleeping schedule. In fact, it's hard to tell these days which is night and which is day for me. Day runs into night, and night runs into day. How I can usually distinguish the two is by how much is going on outside -- everyone else's night means it's quieter, and that's probably when I get the most work done. Most people have a sleeping pattern, and I can't remember the last time I had one. This is probably not good for me, but I can think of afflictions much worse than this.
 
EDIT: Since Karl commented on the Sam Roberts' song No Sleep that I posted on Orkut to describe how this week has been, I'll post the link here, too. (It's got an .m4a extension... associate it with your media player if your computer doesn't recognise it.)
 
Sam Roberts - No Sleep (3.7MB)

The Great Orca Auction

I was at Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal earlier this evening, waiting for the #250 bus to take me into downtown, when I noticed one of the auction orcas that have been cropping up all around Vancouver.

Some people find them downright ugly, but most people don't know what they're for. I think they're great, especially because they're for charity. The artist who painted this orca put in a tiny ferry on the belly. It's really small, so I took a photo closer so the details are more visible.

BC Ferry on the belly

The #250 bus has got to be the most scenic bus ride in the whole city. It goes from Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal along the winding curves of Marine Drive, passing houses on cliffsides, the West Vancouver Yacht Club, Thunderbird Marina, along the ocean to Park Royal shopping centre before crossing the Lion's Gate Bridge to downtown Vancouver. I think this is the first time I've taken either the 250 or 257 buses during the day before. Whenever I've returned from the office on transit (and it's only been a few times), it's been dark, and I could never see the houses or even the ocean.

All I can say is WOW! Many of the houses facing the ocean along Marine Drive are posh mansions, with a fleet of vehicles in the driveway and impeccable landscaping. I was fantasising what it would be like to live in one of those gorgeous waterfront homes, entertaining friends on the patio and throwing lots and lots of BBQs during the summer. We'd head down to the water in the heat of the day, take the boat out, and find a hidden cove somewhere to go swimming...

Digicamming

Anybody read life lines?

I was in the mood for a little digicam experimentation while at Horseshoe Bay earlier, so I fooled around a bit with some of the manual features.

I love macro photos, so I used it with the setting for the greatest depth of field, and this is the first pic I took. A bit blurry as I wasn't really shooting anything in particular, but there's something about it I find quite appealing.

I experimented with the macro setting to see how close I could shoot to my subject, and this is it. The detail of my thumb is quite good for the Canon lens I've got (A80), which is equivalent to 38–114mm in a 35mm film camera. I'm tempted to go out and buy more lenses for it, but it seems a bit frivolous and I'm trying to conserve money for upcoming travels. Maybe I'll just get a couple of filters instead: UV and polarising. I haven't looked at the prices of filters and lenses for so long that I'm probably way out of touch with their current prices. Mind you, that was pre-digital, as well... that means I'm WAY off.

Overnighting at the Office Again

It's like camping. I've got a Thermarest (actually, two, I just noticed), a pillow, and a sleeping bag. Me, I can sleep pretty much anywhere, as long as the temperature is held at a comfortable setting by clothing or a thermostat.

It's also very much UNLIKE camping. I've got a fridge with food and drinks, I'm surrounded by computers of both the Mac and PC variety with broadband connectivity, there's a TV with cable. And the bathroom just down the hall!

OK, I'm delirious with fatigue, so I'd better publish this now before I keel over the keyboard.

To Stud or Not to Stud

Got your attention, didn't I???? Well, that is the question.

As I sit here, working away here at nearly 11pm and chatting to Breigh on MSN, I wonder whether I should go to this wedding alone or drag someone along.

See, it's the dragging part I don't want to bother with. It's easier to go by myself than start searching around for someone to accompany me. But I think Erich and Caroline might actually want me to bring someone for company... jeez, I don't know. I think I've met a grand total of two of Erich's friends (oh, maybe three), so everyone will be a total stranger. This is fine. If I decide to play photographer, then I can mill around amongst the strangers, which is what I prefer to do rather than sit at a table and force conversation there like a bump on a log.

Am going to the office for two days, so I'd best be getting this work cleared off...

From My Mad Mates

Got a bunch of stuff in the post recently, and being the photo junkie that I am, had to post them here. These days receiving any real mail through the post is a joy indeed!

From my #1 Mad Mate, Lucy, whose wedding I attended May 1 in England. I have to say, I was curious to find a soft, lumpy envelope come through the letterslot. I found a tiny t-shirt and a card... I don't have any wine bottles at the moment, so I found a milk bottle and put the t-shirt on that. I found the note at the back of the shirt rather amusing: WARNING: THIS IS NOT A GARMENT.

I received a wedding invitation a week ago Friday from my friends Erich and Caroline, who are getting married next month. The invitation was addressed to "Gail & Stud". I jokingly made an appeal in one of my Orkut communities for stud applications, which prompted some funny responses. I think one was even genuine. I think I would rather go alone and face the silly singleton questions than bring a stud along as a trophy companion, although the stud interviewing process in itself would be fun...

From my friend Claire, who visited Morocco recently. She says, "Things have changed, it's getting better..." I've never been to Morocco, the closest I've been is Malaga, in the south of Spain, on my trip a couple of months ago, but it was always one of those places that seemed enchanting. I don't know exactly where she went, but it would've been funny if she'd bumped into Steve Savage.

I'm not the only one who likes receiving postcards. Karl, who is one of the Orkut FCFGG Seattle-ites I met recently, also has a thing for postcards. I've got them all over my kitchen. It's one of those little dead-end apartment kitchens, but with an amazing amount of storage and cupboard space, so I've covered them with postcards from friends and some I've accumulated over the years.

Tako the Arboreal Cat

Arboreal Tako

Tako loves shoulders.

Tako is Eliza's psycho cat. He ate a pair of earplugs once, and I think it just made him worse. As you can see here, he thinks he's arboreal, even though Eliza had to put him up there. We almost forgot about him, too, but luckily Eliza remembered and brought him back down.

Timmy Ho's

They live among us. Beware!

Red alert! Vancouver has been invaded by giant cups of Tim Horton's coffee!

Eliza lives in the swanky building to the right of the cup. I think her suite is close to the froth. She and Kristin lament over the gigantic inflatables that sit atop the Esso station. I prefer the giant Esso tiger, myself.

It's only been in the past few years that Tim Horton's penetrated the downtown Vancouver market of coffee and light fare. They've been ubiquitous in the rest of the country for years, and now they're becoming that way in Vancouver as well. Is this a good thing? Well, I think a healthier alternative to McDonald's and other fast food outlets can only be a good thing.