"Hi, Red Leader"

The man who randomly said that to me while I was waiting to cash my paycheque today is my hero. I'd been going through the day with the feeling that no one knew who I was dressed as--that every person who saw me thought "what the heck is he supposed to be?" This morning the boss said "Karissa and I both agree that next year you have to dress as something that doesn't require an explanation."

Fair enough. I'm pretty sure everyone who saw Karissa in her mink stoll and horned helmet knew she wasn't a fairy princess. She has all they right signs on to signify she has no qualms with raping and pillaging.

I, on the other hand, pose a quandary to the ungeeked eye:


Just in case you're still unsure. Here's the original:


Yeah, I could make it easier on people. I could dress up like a vampire or spiderman or something like that, but this way I get to experience a special bond between true geeks. If you recognize me, all you need to do is give me a nod or say something like "one more pass." It's like a secret handshake for nerds the world over.

And to date, I've never been taught a secret handshake, so this will have to do.

You can take the rebel pilot out of his starfigher,

but you can't take the starfigher out of the rebel pilot.

Random story

This story happened when I was News Editor. Every Wednesday night/Thursday morning I would come home to a dark house. I'm not afraid of the dark but I'm not at my best in the dark. As well, we had a problem with mice in our basement and my mom worried they would arise from the basement and wreak havoc upstairs. The combination of the three factors (fatigue, dark, and mice) and what resulted did not endear me to my parents at 3 in the morning.

I come home and drag myself in the door. I shut the door, lock it, and put up the chain. I start to take off my shoes when I can feel a distinct pressure on my leg. In the silence only 3 am provides, I can also hear a squeaking. I can only draw one conclusion from those two impressions. There is a mouse on my leg.

I immediately start screaming and shaking my leg. My parents barrel out of their bedroom, flip on the lights, and frantically ask if everything is okay. Of course everything is fine and there was no mouse. I sheepishly admit I thought there was a mouse on my leg and slink off to bed. My mom still likes to remind me of that story.

Panoramics of the Death March

Daorcey is not athletic. But when we went camping September long weekend, he wanted to hike up to the Meadows of Mount Edith Cavell. I didn't make it to the summit because heights and I are bad friends. Along our climb, we took two panoramics and a few other snaps.


Kim's head and Daorcey's leg are a bit wiggy. That's what happens when people move.

This is at the first landing, and the first place to get a real view. You can see the top of the glacier which normally don't see at the bottom of the mountain.



This is at the summit of the mountain. And Matthew, the dude on the right, was actually beside Tavis, the dude on the left. An odd choice for Autostitch. Apparently, you can keep on hiking on go onto the other mountains.



Me at the first landing point/summit. I like the juxtaposition of the glacier and my shorts.



Daorcey and Matthew.

Why Nicole is so awesome

A while back Nicole posted about her trip to Bath to see Bernard Cornwell do a reading from his latest Sharpe book. When I read that post, I was so jealous.

I was introduced to Sharpe in Gr. 11 when my social studies teacher decided the best way to teach the Napoleonic Wars was to show Sharpe, the TV program. That was the only good thing about that class. I liked the episodes a lot, so I picked up the books.

The books have good plots but not too much character development. That's okay given you can imagine Sean Bean while reading.

Today, I come home and get the mail. I can see this piece of paper with unfamiliar writing in my mailbox. I pull it out and think, "I don't know whose writing this is. And I don't know any Bernards." Then I see Nicole's writing and everything clicks. And that is why Nicole is so awesome. I'm going to frame that postcard.

"There's someone in the car!"

Daorcey and I were going shopping when we realized we had no loonie for the shopping cart. We parked the car in our building's loading zone in front of another car since it would be a quick dash inside. Daorcey went inside while I waited in the car. Out of the building comes a lady with two young kids, a boy and a girl, who's no more than eight. As the girl passes the front of the car, she gives me or what she thought, an empty car, the finger. I didn't know what to think so I started laughing. The mother started to turn to her errant child as if to say don't do such things or please don't do that. But I think she saw me laughing and was immediately furious with her child.

I could hear through the windows, "There's someone in the car!"

They run (!) to their car which is parked inconveniently behind ours. I open the door to tell her I can't move the car because I don't have the keys. Instead I see her reverse lights and she executes a 30 point turn to get the hell away from this embarrassing situation. Given the confined space, this was pretty impressive. She peels out of there and is gone before Daorcey gets back.

Nerdage

Anyone who knows me well, knows I spent an embarassing seven years following Star Trek: The Next Generation and still retain the ability to remember most episodes. Safe to say, TNG was part of my formative years which might explain why I even watched Enterprise to the bitter end...

Anyways, Wil Wheaton played Welsey Crusher on TNG and played the worst know-it-all kid. To be fair it was more the scripts than him. Fans hated Wesley and crapped all over him. Wheaton has redeemed himself and has become a well-known writer and blogger, and now is doing recaps of TNG episodes. Besides making fun of the horrible first season episodes, he provides some insight what it was like playing an awful role and act in horrible scripts. It's like Television Without Pity but written by an insider.

http://www.tvsquad.com/bloggers/wil-wheaton/

In other news, our BSG party went well and it was strange to watch a) with other people, b) with commercials and c) without popping in the next episode or disc. The strangers were not too strange so I think a repeat for the finale would be possible.

Photos of our vacation

We're a little slow at DarNat describing our summer vacation, and even slower considering we're going to Disneyland in November. But here's the photographic evidence.

http://flickr.com/photos/nisit/