Corteo
So it’s late, and I should probably be in bed considering I have a big day yet tomorrow… but I just had to share.
I just got back from Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo, and it was amazing.
Our seats were almost a little too close to the stage, but it was fantastic, being up close and personal with the performers. There were some incredibly memorable performances, and the audience participation moments are fantastic.
Of course there was all too much I wish I could of bought in the merchandise area, including some fantastically gorgeous masks, but I did manage to convince myself to get the program guide and CD at the very least.
All in all this will be a night I don’t soon forget.
We’re heading out tomorrow for the Seattle grand tour… the Art Museum (which I absolutely love), the Japanese Garden, and of course the Apple Store. There may be a quick run to Chinatown for lunch as well, and a walk through Pike’s Place market and possibly the Aquarium. All in all a packed day really.
The show must go on!
Caucus
I did something for the first time this last Saturday.
I participated in a caucus.
All in all it was pretty simple. About 30 people or so arrived at the local High School Library, we divided into our local voting precincts, and decided who we would support for the democratic party nomination.
My precinct consisted of me, Shawn, and four others from our neighborhood. Shawn actually knew a couple of the people there. The family of a mutual friend was there as well, though they were in a different precinct.
The decision at our table was rather easy. We were all in favor of supporting Obama, so there was little debate or wrangling of numbers involved. A couple of the other precincts had a tougher time of it, and ended up splitting their delegates between the two candidates. We sat around and ate candy for most of the meeting.
The tough part was choosing the three delegates that would go to the county meeting from our table. No one seemed very keen on the idea, so I stepped up to the plate and volunteered myself. Another individual did the same. And finally, Shawn came around (with a little pressure) and decided to go as well.
So… April 19th I’ll be going to the county convention. Not really sure what happens there, other than choosing individuals to go to the State Convention. Where they’ll pick people to go to the National Convention. I know I won’t be able to go to the National Convention at least.
I’ll be in Australia when it’s going on.
Scrumptious media.
Anyone knows me will realize that I am a complete media whore. Whether it’s movies, books, music, games… you name it… I generally am interested in it. Lately I’ve been upset because I don’t spend the time reading like I used to… but I do still manage to catch a movie or two here and there, and I still am an avid gamer.
So I saw two things last week that really piqued my interest.
First, on the gaming side, Tecmo has announced Fatal Frame 4. For the Wii! This makes me happy.
Fatal Frame (or Project Zero, for those of you in non-US territories) is a fantastic series of games, and its good to see it come out for a platform that is a perfect fit for it control wise. I’ve yet to play through all the Playstation incarnations of this game, but fully intend to before the new one releases this summer. This has to be up there with Fallout 3 as my most looked forward to game this year.
The other little gem I’ve found is a movie by producer Guillermo del Toro and director Juan Antonio Bayona, named The Orphanage (imdb link, official site, quicktime trailer).
One of del Toro’s previous movies, The Devil’s Backbone, is one of my favorite movies of all time, so when I saw that his name is attached to The Orphanage, I was immediately intrigued. Unlike Devil’s Backbone, however, del Toro is strictly a producer on this movie, but Bayona’s directorial work looks not only polished, but chilling. Just watching the trailer gave me shivers for this movie. And the reviews and critical comments have been resoundingly positive. Right now it’s in limited release in several large cities, but I’m hoping it eventually comes out a little closer to home, much like Pan’s Labyrinth eventually did.
Do I know you?
One thing that sucks about working in the town you grew up in: running into people. For the most part I don’t mind, but occasionally you get the nut job that feels like they need to “catch up” or know “what you’ve been up to”. And the people I knew generally fit into two categories: old classmates or people I knew from church. Neither of which I ever really felt like I related to. And especially don’t feel like I do now.
Especially some of my old classmates. Most of them are married now. Most of them have kids. A good portion of them have multiple kids. Which is great for them… but continues to remind me how different my outlook on things are.
Of course lately I look at myself and wonder what the hell I’m doing.
I’ll be 30 this year.
It just all seems so surreal.
Where has the past 10 years gone?
What will the next 10 years bring?
How scary is it that I have no idea?
On a less introspective note, the little Mexican restaurant Shawn and I found in town is actually quite good. After you get past the whole “old acquaintance showing off their kid to you” bit.
Super… stuff.
Today the Patriots faced off against the Giants.
I spent the day at work to avoid it.
And to get some work done, actually. But that’s my fault for saying certain things would be done by Monday. They’re still not completely ready to go, but I can at least get things sorted on Monday instead of being several days behind.
I never really understood the big deal about the Super Bowl really. I’m not much of a professional sports watching person at all. Though I do find some things fascinating. I remember watching a Cricket game during one of my trips to Australia, and just trying to figure out what was going on was amusing.
Maybe it’s just American sports. It just all seems too… commercialized really.
What I’m really interested in is the current political scene in the states at the moment.
Super Tuesday is this week… and the democratic candidacy looks more and more interesting. Personally I’m rooting for Obama. His whole campaign currently is based around change… and though a lot of people have scoffed at the whole “change just for the sake of change” thing… honestly, this country needs some change. And its heartening to see others, from other countries, rooting for him too. Maybe at some point I won’t actually have to feel ashamed for living in this country. It at least has pried me out of my apathy this year to actually get up and be involved more. I’m going to make every attempt to attend the local democratic caucus this year. It should be a learning experience if nothing else. I don’t expect much of a turn out, considering the area where I live is so Republican it scares me… but it is one of the few times where a voice, no matter how small, matters.
Besides, Clinton scares me. There’s something about her that is unsettling. And I’m tired of the same two families being ensconced in the White House for… what? The past 20 years? It’s absurd when you think about it. I’d say it’s past time for some new blood.
So I guess I’m publicly stating that I support Obama for the democratic nomination. It seems to be the popular thing to do lately.
Otherwise, life moves on. Work sucks, haven’t talked to my family for a couple weeks, feeling a bit cut off… the usual. It may be time to get in touch with some people I haven’t seen for a while. If they haven’t completely given up on me.
One last note. If you get the chance, watch Six Feet Under. It’s the Netflix series de jour at the house here, and it’s amazing. There is a complexity to the characters that is fascinating, and it has a fantastically morbid, dark humor to it at times. It is, after all, set in a funeral home. Highly recommended.
Windows into the past.
So... hello.
It's been a while. I'm not going to make excuses or say that things have been busy and mildly insane lately. A lot has happened. And those of you I've kept in touch with know what those things are.
I thought I'd share a small facet of the aftermath of all that here though.
For Christmas my family found itself going through a lot of old family paraphernalia. A good portion of it was in photographs. My mother was notorious for taking pictures. Any time the family was together, she'd have the camera out. As kids (and adults) it generally became something we'd dread. My mother didn't understand the concept of candid photos. Generally we'd have to pose or be gathered together for the big family portrait. Because Lord knows when we'd have such a photo opportunity again.
To her credit, though... there are a lot of photos and history that wouldn't exist without her efforts. And she was damn good about notating the photos afterwards, so that a lot of the photos where we'd have no idea when or what was going on, there'd be a little note from Mom on the back.
After going through about a dozen boxes of family photos and history (I kid you not. A dozen boxes.), I have about a six inch stack of photos just of me. Most of them are scary. Very scary. But I figured I'd share a few choice ones here.
One of the few shots I have of me with my mother. There's not many because she was usually the one holding the camera. This was taken when I was about a month old.
And here's my Dad... who I still affectionately call Pappy. Not sure what I'm trying to stuff in his face here. Whatever it was I sure found it amusing. Just a little over a year old in this photo.
Ah the dazed, messy, satiated look. I'd like to say I was just a messy kid, but I'm still messy. Also taken when I was just over a year old.
I had to include this one for the shirt. I've had a long standing love for all things penguin, and this just takes the cake. Also, I had really blond hair as a child. You'll see more evidence of that in the next couple of photos. Taken just before I turned two.
This was one of my grandmother's favorite photos. She used to have it hanging right by her office desk. It's still hard to believe it's me. I just look way too cute. This was taken on my second birthday.
I love telling people that my favorite play toy and companion as a child was my ass. Here I have photographic proof. I miss that damn toy. Also taken on my second birthday.
Jump forward 11 years. Here's (from left to right) me, my brother Pete, Matt, and Kerri. You can also make out my grandmother in the background... looking like she wants to be somewhere else. I apologize for the shirt I'm wearing. I had no sense of taste as a teenager, I assure you. I do love Pete's snake skin boots, though.
This is how I spent most of my teenage years. Before I finally was able to get my hands on a computer full time, I spent a good chunk of my time reading. Voraciously. My love of epic fantasy and science fiction came out of the time spent reading as a teenager. I just wish I had the time to read like I once did. I'm 14 in this photo.
And finally a family Thanksgiving photo. My grandmother is sitting on the left, with me and my little brother Matt on the right. My grandmother is a fascinating lady, and I've been wanting to go see her for a while now... especially as her health and mental faculties have been going downhill lately. I remember her being a strong willed individual, and likely instilled in me my independence and sense of right and wrong more than my parents did. This is one of the few photos that's not dated on the back, but by the looks of it I'm like 14 or 15 in this photo.
And that's all for now. This is a sampling from just a small, small stack of the photos I have. I may post more if anyone is interested. It's been a crazy holiday this year, with everything that's happened... but I've had a sense of connectedness and family that I haven't felt in a long time.
It's been good.
Most amusing Christmas present…
…would have to be this sticker from my sister:
Of course, it’s not true. If it was, I wouldn’t have totaled my car.
VNV Nation
I’ve recently gotten back from the VNV Nation show in Seattle.
To sum up my feelings of the show, and to quote VNV themselves, all I really have to say is:
FUCK YEAH!
The show was awesome. VNV has always had a killer sound, and it came off beautifully tonight. And the energy in the crowd was incredible. I think it helped that it was the last show for their North American tour, so they wanted to go out with a bang. Four encore songs and a whole lot of audience screaming saw to that. They played a good mix of tracks off the new album, including Farthest Star, Nemesis, Testament, and Illusion… with Illusion probably being the most low key, mellow piece they played all night. Old tracks were also mixed in, including Saviour, Honour, and Darkangel, among others that I couldn’t place.
The only thing that really sucked was the venue. The place was literally packed wall to wall. You could not move in any direction without running into a wall of bobbing, dancing people. I’m a bit of a wallflower so I stayed in the back, but it was great watching all the people in front of me and feeding off their energy. The place also, however, has no air conditioning. Minutes into the show the place was a sauna, and everyone I saw walking out at the end of the show was sopping wet with sweat.
Fucking awesome show, not so great on the location.
And they took my camera! I was hoping to post some shots of the show, but I had to check it before going in, which was upsetting. I’m actually glad I checked it, though. I noticed people that had snuck cameras in where quickly getting nabbed by security, which were all over the place. Ah well.
I was mildly disappointed as well to find out And One would not be the opening band. A band named Babyland was filling in from them instead. They weren’t too bad, though. Heavy percussion and mildly screamed lyrics. The percussionist was actually pretty kick ass though. He had a bizarre setup of steel drums, piping, and other odds and ands that he played with reckless abandon. Not as good as And One, but still not too shabby.
So I’m in a hotel tonight and will be making further forays into Seattle tomorrow. At the bare minimum are plans to hit up the museum and the Japanese garden. A Chinatown trip happened today as we found some dinner before I headed off to the concert. I had the best Chinese I’ve had in a long time. We missed dim sum unfortunately, though… something Shawn and Danie have yet to experience. Maybe next time.
I hope to take loads of pictures tomorrow at least. Hopefully I can make up for my lack of pictures from the concert tonight.
Until then…
Photo Hunt Week 20: Clouds
Another shot from my recent weekend adventure. This was taken from one of the parks I visited, over the lake and train tracks that I framed in the photo hunt update for Lines. The clouds that day were sparse, but had that funky cotton candy look to them… where you almost feel you could pluck them out of the sky and have a taste of sugary goodness.
Damn. Now I’m craving cotton candy.
Photo Hunt Week 19: Trees
I realized last night that I hadn’t actually posted the current week’s photo hunt theme… but the week before. So, to make good what I said, I’ve not only posted a photo for week 10 (Books), but I’m now posting this week’s photo, for the theme Trees.
I’ve always had a love of trees. I think part of it comes from just a general love of the outdoors and nature. As a kid, I always loved camping, climbing trees, and generally just getting outside. Which is kind of odd, considering the standard image of a computer geek being all cloistered away and not seeing the light of day. I’ve become more like that as the years have passed, but not to my satisfaction. In fact, I’ve promised myself an extended camping trip sometime this summer, hopefully up to one of my old favorites, Cooper Lake. You can bet my camera will be going along with me.
As will my love of trees.
These trees, in particular, are just outside of where I work. They were originally planted in a set spacing and pattern, which you can probably tell a little from the picture. The shade they provide during the summer months is fantastic, and they always turn a truly gorgeous shade of burnt orange and fiery red in the autumn. I like how these, in particular, have all grown at a slight slant.. towards where the sun typically rises. This has quite a bit to do with the lay of the land in the vicinity… but makes a good photo nonetheless, I think.
Photo Hunt Week 18: Shadow
Wow… it seems like I’ve blinked and two months have gone by. I can’t believe how long its been since I’ve updated this blog… and yet it still seems like hardly any time has passed. A lot has happened though… the week after my last update, my good friend Shawn had a death in his family… and since I’m fairly close to them, it affected me quite a bit too. It was a bit of a downhill slide from there. I haven’t been really active… and have let a lot of the things I love doing slide.
So I’ve recently declared May as the month of catching up. Not only in blog, but in other things as well. Today I waged a full scale assault on my living space. Spring has sprung and it’s time to clean up, shape up, and get things together. My little living area is actually presentable at the moment, and though its taken me most of the day, there’s nothing like the sense of accomplishment that comes with getting your shit together. This was not only a spring cleaning though, but preparations for my summer move. I’m slowly getting things organized for moving out and living on my own again. I’ve come to realize that I need some personal space once more… and a place I can truly call my own. I haven’t made full plans to what I’m going to do in that respect, but my goal is to be moved out before the summer months have passed into autumn. Things are looking good in that respect, though I need to buckle down and actually start looking for a place. Details, details.
I am going to post a photo for this weeks photo hunt, though… as you can see. This was taken really quick today, just as the sun was setting and I headed for home from work. I’ve always loved the carnival-mirror look shadows have just as the sun is setting. My shadow looks a little odd in this shot… but I blame having to hold the camera. It makes me look like I only have one arm.
I’ve got updates lined up for tomorrow… I’ll be posting the missing week 10 and week 11 shots… and will slowly be posting back dated entries for the other missing photos as well.
With a little luck, I’ll actually get around to putting in some of what I’ve been up to lately too.
For now, it’s just good to be back.
Photo Hunt Week 12: Lines
I originally had a tough time coming up with something for this week’s theme. I just wasn’t seeing a lot of things around me at the time that really made me think “lines”. That was until I took a recent week off to do some general adventuring and framed this beauty of a shot. It’s simple, but effective, I think.
And I’ve always had a thing for trains.
Photo Hunt Week 11: Technology
I had a lot of choices for this week’s photo hunt picture, considering the field I work in. This photo is the one that caught my eye, however. It was taken several months ago, during our December of installing lots of stuff in the attic (you can find the blog post about it here), and echoes back to my comment about Apple hardware being damn pretty in a rack. Pictured, on top, is an Intel Xeon Xserve paired with an Apple Xraid below it. Part of our summer project this year is transitioning fully to them after their testing period these past few months.
Now if I could only convince them to buy a few more.
Photo Hunt Week 10: Books
Ahh… something I truly love. Books.
This is only a sample of my collection… though at the moment, it’s truly not the impressive looking, since it’s confined to two bookshelves due to space. In truth, I don’t have that large of a collection… but I have a good sampling of Fiction and Epic Fantasy (my genres of choice), and I’ve tried, over the years, to collect most of it in hardcover. You can see on the top shelf my rows of paperback stacked on top of each other. Most of these books are from my days working at Hastings, and, unfortunately, have the tell-tale sign of free books from an employer: their covers have been removed.
You can see here that I use my bookshelf for more than just books, however, and have a few bits and pieces that I’ve been given and collected over the years, all of which are dear to my heart.
Just like books, really.