....:mattmark:..

hello world.

2009-05-08T00:06:00.002-05:00

it's been a while since i posted a "normal" post (since tapdefense was too nerdy, btw, ver2.0 is out!!)

things are pretty busy as usual, but with the wedding coming up and renovations+moving, there's a lot to get done before the end of June. we're hoping to get a large portion of our move done on the May two-four weekend. most of the infrastructure at walmer is done. our appliances have arrived and once the shower glass is installed, we just need to get our fireplace/tv area set up for the major stuff. oh yeah, still need some lights for the bathroom/sconce lighting as well as a dining light and possibly one for the island.

definitely looking forward to a great honeymoon as GL has secured some fantastic super-hotels and our itinerary is looking super-foodie :)

will try and update more often =)

This is SPARTA!!!!

2009-03-02T00:22:00.004-05:00

okay. i'm a nerd. i haven't blogged in a long time, but i thought i'd share one of those moments this afternoon that i've been waiting for in a strange, small way. i was waiting to pick up g from the airport. i'm waiting in the "cell phone" lot and decided to play the one iphone game that i've gotten into: TapDefense. g got me hooked on it and i've been playing for many months. in the first month or 2, i couldn't beat easy until i learned about just building arrow towers until major upgrades (oversimplification, but it'll do).. ok, so that made medium and hard pretty easy to beat. lo and behold, a few short days after my triumphs, tapjoy comes up with an update and created all these different "challenge" modes. so instead of working my way up the difficulty ladder like before, i decide to plunge in and play "this is sparta". 3 lives, 300 gold, 3 upgrades and a max of 9 towers. easy and medium were quite enjoyable, but weren't too bad. the hard level was driving me nuts. for those who have read this far, i'm sure you'll understand the next part. for the next couple of months, i got into a funk, where i'd get stuck in the 20 something levels, even though i got to 40 before. i was trying to find the ultimate build order (like starcraft) and get a ton of money to sell and build within a round to fight off the politicians. so really for the last couple of weeks, i haven't really played too seriously. when you get in a funk, you lose the desire... but this afternoon, i finally did it.

i got to level 20 and lost one "life" about a week ago. i played a couple of days ago and got to level 28 or something while waiting for aj at the bank...

when i got to level 33, the intensity jumped up, but the balance of the game really came down to the last level - 43. earthquake is the most interesting weapon. for the majority of the round, i have it highlighted to gauge the distance of the effect. but instead of pausing, i clicked sell and almost lost the entire game. i had about 20 politicians to go and had 1 life left. it was close, but i got it together and finished them off!

The really funny thing is that i'm actually the top-scorer in the hard level of "this is sparta".. so that's really the nerdy part - this blog post :)

Scotiabank Rat Race

2008-06-06T09:01:00.002-05:00

Sponsor me in the 2008 Scotiabank Rat Race for United Way Toronto!

Please click here to make your donation:
Personal Page

Check out http://www.unitedwaytoronto.com/ratrace

travel bug?

2008-04-16T08:38:00.002-05:00

i'm so proud!! Gizelle is now publishing her food, wine, travel articles to MSN!! check it out - msn.ca travel features muah!

yum!!

2007-11-06T10:00:00.000-05:00

check out our new food and drink site: here

mega super sensors batman!

2007-08-22T23:19:00.000-05:00

it's been a quiet 2 months.. not. =)

i'm here in pittsburgh, penn.. in the basement of this wicked college rental house.. a ton of rooms and space.. i just got back from some bar-hopping.. i can't believe i was drinking $1 and $2 pints.. that's insane! hehe.. i can't take this much liquid.. i'm surprised this one dive had every flavour of goose :)

anyhoo, down to business - mike mak sends me this email regarding the 40d... i'm browsing briefly.. then check again a couple of minutes ago - nikon has announced all these crazy new products.. yikes.. i think the digital SLR market is finally getting more mature.. some serious products out now.. check out dpreview.. there's the canon 1ds mk3, 1d mk3, 40d, nikon d3, d300.. finally full frame for nikon! wow. i'm still interested in canon :p

i came across something pretty funny at "hemingway's cafe" (a dive compared to our yorkville version).. they have a half price menu after 9pm.. but they spell out all the 'rules' pretty clearly - ie, it is common courtesy to tip on the full price b4 discount, you need to buy a drink with it or be charged, more than 6 ppl get automatically charged 15% tip, etc.. crazy, but clear =)

lots going on.. weddings are finally winding down.. going to san fran next weekend!! i'm so beat. uhaul, moving, driving...

1-2, 1-2, woohoo!

2007-06-23T00:28:00.000-05:00

managed to run the 5km in around 30 minutes, props to yacht!

got to see my volleyball heroes of all time: Brazil - Dante, Giba, Gustavo... sweeeeet. .and saw it with my best vball bud Jbird!

[look at the coverage! and the reach.. nevermind the shoulder muscles!]

more to feast on!!! the d200 is "too slow" for this type of work :T

Rat Race

2007-06-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

Hey gang,

i'm doing my first 5km for the United Way/Scotiabank "Rat Race".. it's next thursday in the evening downtown.. i do believe more in this cause =) support UW

crossroads...

2007-05-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

well, this time, i don't feel like crying, but anyone losing 300gigs of stuff can understand the situation.. a channel must have seriously overloaded, can't even power on the 200gig.. the 100gig only has 600MB of data off of it.. weirdness. oh well. at least my media drive is intact..

only a couple of weeks ago, mike mentioned almost losing a ton of photos.. i've backed up all my photo stuff x2 + DVDs, but is that really secure? if anyone hasn't backed up stuff, the moral of the story: make regular, redundant backups.. anyone a raid expert?

i'd love to go purely apple/mac, but it's hard to make the crossover at this point.. too many applications.. but the one concern: is it a power/hardware related problem (ie is the motherboard damaged? will it cause more problems?)

no pressure

2007-05-27T21:45:00.000-05:00

blogga wogga.

concerts, photoshoots, music, love & destiny.

webspace bought.

no bling, no commitment.

this is my prose.

burn baby burn

2007-04-29T01:30:00.000-05:00

no excuses. i did the cn tower in 17 minutes 28 seconds.

i did the first 40 flights in like around 2 minutes.. then i hit this proverbial brick wall and suffered the next 100 (upon googling, i ended up on the wikipedia term - anaerobic threshold).. i assumed it was 114 stories or flights, but when i was asking the medic, "how many more?" he was like 22 (this was like at 120)..

i know i can shave the time by a couple of minutes for sure, but i realized that i probably don't want to do the exercise required for true aerobic/cardiovascualar required to make a 10-12 minute timing.. virtually all the exercise i train for is explosive/anaerobic..

boy, did i learn about what "pace" really means =) i owe drew dinner! haha.

United Way CN Tower Climb in the fall. i'll be definitely more prepared (like actually sleep and not feel dead the whole week prior :P)

congrats to all who participated. it was the definitely worthwhile!

stairmaster, move over!

2007-04-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

i know it's been ages.. i'm going to do a real post soon, but come and sponsor me/join me for the CN Tower Climb here.. sponsor me $2 or $5 (or more).. come on!! haha.

my goal is 11 minutes.. who knows :P

sunshine

2007-03-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

it was a grand day outside and how fitting for me to spend it in a walk-in clinic surrounded by sick ppl =) misery loves company and great company it was:

no matter how old you get (and i'm gettin there), it's nice when someone takes care of you. thx =)

...

You stood before creation
Forever within Your hand
You spoke all life into motion
My soul now to stand

You stood before my failure
And carried the cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand

So what can I say
And what could I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You

So I’ll walk upon salvation
Your Spirit alive in me
This life to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand

So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
I’ll stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Joel Houston - The Stand

...

18 hrs of sleep don't mean a thang

2007-03-12T22:57:00.000-05:00

ever seen the Visual DNA test? my profile: here. I like this kinda stuff.. inspires me too "intentionally shoot".

dreaming of a white...

2007-02-23T02:54:00.000-05:00

[thurs, 8pm est]
it's interesting how trips can go... smoothly... unsmoothly.. there just isn't a medium.. it's either one way or the other.. as i'm sitting in front of the gate (at the time where we should have left the runway already), i feel tired from yet another week (80% finished-work week 100% finished).. i arrived about 80 minutes before the flight... hmm. reminds me of this morning where i left the house early to get to work earlier... and there was a delay at davisville which in turn held up our train for at least 15 minutes to get down to eglinton.... but yeah, it's crossed my mind to try to do some work and call a reference, but i wonder if that would be pushing it.. i tried watching Heroes episode 14 (for the 3rd sitting), but my eyes just can't deal with it right now (i've watched episode 15 already, no worries :p)..

for some strange reason, i assumed there would be free wifi or something.. boo urns. oh wellz, i'll save this until i get to chris' uncle's place... hopefully our place in canmore has wireless, or i'm SOL in terms of getting access to work stuff.. what i need is xp remote desktop for my macbook so i can log onto my machine at home to use citrix to log into our server in ottawa :P next time..

as i'm typing pure gibberish, i'm enjoying the daydreaming about snow... i have this ski magazine with me that's talking about the top 50 resorts in north america.. i wonder if it's even worth it to go to europe before visiting jackson's hole (wyoming), vail (colorado), squaw (cali) or deer valley (utah) or the other great places in the rockies north and south..

i've been discussing with myself as to whether i should carry my 17-55/d50 w/ me on the slopes or just a smaller lense like the AI 24mm f/2.8 or AIS 50mm f/1.8 or just carry the canon digicam that i brought for vids (i want to capture kimi doing his 720 action tomorrow on the slopes of Norquay).. everyone has said that banff is gorgeous and great view of "God's country" quoted as in Ski magazine.. so i'm thinking about foregoing the postcards and trying to make my own :P

[2:55am, friday]

saw the prestige (w/o audio) and talked to my neighbour about banff a bit. should be awesome.

4 days. FOUR days. miss y'all.

new year's resolutions

2007-02-19T19:59:00.000-05:00

apparently, it takes 6 weeks to form a 'habit'.. so it's reasonable to say that i've made a new habit for 2007.. for the first time in my life, i'm exercising outside of sports =) i've joined a gym near work along with 5-7 others from work. it's awesome cuz it's 2 minutes from work and we go during lunch.. it has awesome facilities. i've been to some sort of gym ~30 times this year. my waist is getting *smaller*. yikes =P

happy chinese new year! mo money, mo problems.

mo food, mo problems :P

a happy v-day to you all.. now for the gear talk

2007-02-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

thanks for everyone who chimed in on the digicam post (even the latecomers: bp+gy). my sister ended up picking up a sd700 on sale at futureshop. now to convince her to let my parents use it!! haha. who's the anon. poster with the sd630 :P?

now for round 2: my parents need a video cam for their trip. i've been looking at the Sony HDD ones.. anyone have any experience with HDD cams? and seriously, does anyone need 1080 lines for random recording?

Living vicariously =)

2007-02-12T21:44:00.000-05:00

There's been a lot of acoustic guitar action going on recently. It was really exciting to bid for my bro shu last nite on a crazy ebay bid.. Congrats on a new (used) Martin J-40!!!!! wooo hoo! i can't believe you'll be owning a $4k retail guitar at like 60% off :P

...

justwhiteshirts.com

i just bought 7 dress shirts for $59+tax. if you have time between 10a-6pm. tmr is last day for 90% off!

...

my sister luffs me. she bought me a stack of sweaters.. good luck ever catching me wearing one!

The art of losing myself in bringing You praise

2007-02-09T03:01:00.000-05:00

The greatest love that anyone could ever know
That overcame the cross and grave to find my soul
And till I see You face to face and grace amazing takes me home
I'll trust in You.

til i see you - hillsong
...

secret song. come what may. we'll see =)

...

lots of snow coming up.. enjoy it while you can!! brrrrrrr..

24.......7

2007-02-06T00:37:00.000-05:00

jack? nope.

UTCCF's prayer week: here

[casting down your crowns]

...

thanks for the response from all the hardcore camera users (actually, read: photographers). i'm disappointed in all the other enthusiasts. shame on you. i'll remember forever (or at least until your wedding :P)... now to find someone to get me one from the states...

calling all digicams...

2007-02-01T18:26:00.000-05:00

hey everyone. i need as many ppl to chime in as possible. i know you ALL have digicams. my parents are looking for one. what do you have (model) and what you like/dislike about it? need to buy soon.

oh yeah.. i offered to lend them my rig, but my dad doesn't want anything too bulky.. so compacts generally.. may look at the G series, but probably too big.

(UPDATE)

hey folks, thanks for responding, but keep chiming in. everyone who has responded shoots with digital SLRS (which i find hilarious-but thanks for your detailed reports) =) i want every day users ("normal"), whether you shoot once a week or once a month...

your song.

2007-01-30T09:33:00.000-05:00

i wrote a song, but i'm afraid to have it see the light of day
things were black and white, not the new shades of grey
i wonder what new snowfall will bring
what the heck, i might as well just sing.

My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

we just inherited.... liebe und wahnsinn

2007-01-28T00:14:00.000-05:00

a code of silence.
small order of beef.
french connection.

hang in there jo. peace in the durrrty.

too little, too late

2007-01-22T18:28:00.000-05:00

at any given moment, i only watch 5 shows.. MAX.. because of seasonal changes, it usually isn't more than 2 or 3. why do i have to go play vball when 3 of them are on the *same* nite??! the life of a sports mercenary. maybe i'm going to try not to watch tv and catch up later.

"be small enough". erics*, i'll never forget your version babe =)

i don't have a prayer... that's the way to live...

for my bros, it's time for me to say: "chill". FAME. remember who is who.

it's bad enough we get along so well

2007-01-15T18:50:00.001-05:00

it's amazing how communication works or fails. i was talking on the phone with a candidate this afternoon and while his comm skills were perfect, the fact that his cellphone reception was crappy, made for a very difficult conversation. he called back later....

i've found that as ppl, we make a whole variety of assumptions. sometimes the foundation of our understanding is off a bit and down the road, things are said that make no sense, while the other person doesn't really speak up... and moving forward, that misconception takes root and becomes more solidified in one's perception. this includes our actions and other forms of communication; but i guess i'm discussing the act of "talking".

i realize that i require time and thought to really know what i'm thinking/feeling/emoting and convert it to some semblance of communication... while in other cases, i can't even speak what is so clear in my mind.... that is why i still have made some serious blunders in what i've actually communicated.. but alas.. you don't always have the chance to fix it/correct it/undo it... starting from scratch is usually a pipedream.

...

since the start of my "new" job, i've been blessed (or cursed) with a ton of forwards/spam from ppl (i thot we stamped out that social problem back in '96/'97).
a man who we call "G-money" at work has this one on his email sig:

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.

(i try to be like an elephant, so i do some mental editing of the above saying)

...

went up to a rented "cottage" (a house really) with delta peeps in collingwood and learned just how much snowmaking Blue Mountain is capable of.

yay for ja, an & giz who embarked on snowboarding for the first time!

some pix

...

we out, we out, one two, one two.

2007-01-12T00:31:00.000-05:00

one of my friends keeps talking about going blind.. talk about going deaf.

...

"can you experience the joy of seeing?" hahaha.

...

"who knew?".. just when you thought you knew they knew that you knew

...

soon you'll understand.

...

xxplosive. forgot about rumble.

...

shout outs to the phd, king b, one-eyed, 5150, guile, the cat and the quizzer.

how could i forgot the simple man. you texted it well.

zuuuuzuuuu + epipengurl

angus mcleod. you know.

bday shout outs to "the man" and cry-me-a-river x2 =)

more shoutouts to the oreo man (you never did anything with those moves!), May-Z, ken&ryu, "dan". hahaha

it's on. it's on. the show within the show within the show within the pond within the pond

...

and here's to one of the *greatest* weekends ever:

cheers!

we'll always have so halstead. twist of fate.

...

work to live, live to work

2007-01-04T01:36:00.000-05:00

my co-workers said that january would be crazy.. "get ready for it", "you'll be so busy", etc, etc.. this morning was sorta quiet and then bam. job orders like non-stop.. one of my colleagues has been emailing out until 9:30pm.. blah =) i was on a huge groove until the late afternoon.. man, i need to sleep earlier and get in like eager beaver.

...

moulin rouge, haven't watched in ages until last week. good show. good show.

...

i wasn't really shooting Apple/Mac stuff.. i got the ok and i'll post a shot from "Sue Hua Designs":

...

apparently the COC was packed this afternoon.. you have to be an 'early bird'

...

shu-ling has joined the digidesign world (apparently Colin has too) with his new mbox ii mini.. i'm trying to convince all my collaborators to do so. it was running smoothly and it can actually read Mac OS HFS drives!

love at first sight grab.

2007-01-02T21:40:00.000-05:00

...

now i know why they shoot their ads on black.. oh wellz, next time.

...

check out free Canadian Opera Company concerts: january

...

"why would the cortisan choose the penny-less sitar player over the Maharaja..?"

...

man, the shuffle is touchy.

2007. FAME. There is one league.

2007-01-01T05:17:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year!

It's 5am and another year has passed.

[me and my sis, with the goose & smokes - iSight]

tonite was a new experience - the quad-fecta of stimulants:

cigar smoking
grey goose, wine, champagne, whiskey
cappuccino w/ bailey's
mountain dew fuel energy drink + goose

...

to God be the glory. talk about a rollercoaster of a year:

from a new career, dream jams, ultimate playlists, white visions, flow and sweet victories, to the chronic physical pain, the polygon drawing, angst playlists, bittersweet unfulfillment and sadness.

...

goals: 4:15/lot less talk, lot more action/

...

truf hurts. progressive. I'M GOOD.

...

posted from my new dream *pretty* machine.

FAME

2006-12-18T01:16:00.000-05:00

"i'm gonna live forever"

superbowl.

Lord of all creation...

2006-12-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

energy, oh energy, where art thou?

2006-12-09T05:16:00.000-05:00

i missed my flight. but i've arrived. it's 5am. i gotta sleep a couple of hours and jump on a bus. let's hope the next 50 hrs are not as crazy as my last 50 =)

aaaaahahahahaha

2006-12-07T00:37:00.000-05:00

the WB alpine forecast for sat/sun - 55-76cm of snow... aaaaahahahahaha.

sugarbush has 2 of 16 lifts open and 3 of 111 trails open :( boo. come on. 9 more days to make snow and wait for snow :P there's that saying "pray for rain"....... "pray for powder"

i thought it was sorta interesting/weird reading the avalanche condition/advisory (excerpt from wb.com):

A total of 24cm of snow fell between Sunday and Monday nights. Easy shears were observed at the interface of the storm snow with an underlying layer of well preserved stellar crystals. At treeline and below, a layer of surface hoar to 6mm in size can be found at the storm snow interface in some isolated areas where it was not destroyed by the mild temperatures on Sunday. In exposed alpine terrain the slab was quite wind affected, but it softened as you drop down in elevation. Below treeline the snow that fell at the beginning of the storm was moist and has since formed a weak crust. Deeper in the snowpack we are still finding some moderate to hard shears at differing density interfaces, but these shears are not consistent in all locations. The snowpack is extremely variable due to the strong winds and fluctuating freezing levels that accompanied the November storms. Some terrain remains scoured and rocky while other areas have up to 300 cm of snow.

let it snow, let it snow

2006-12-01T00:56:00.000-05:00

just my luck =) yet *another* one of these things.. must be karma or something.

For my favorite 10-day white stretch, I thought I'd never be able to beat going to Lake Tahoe/Whistler Blackcomb back-to-back weekends.. this December, look out! WB & Sugarbush could beat it.

funny enough, i saw dx last nite.. he looks like a hippie now (from the back-his bro thought he was this skinny girl that was brought home :P).. he may join in the white fun!! woohoo! the more the merrier. if you're in Vancity next weekend (8-10), come join us @whistler for sat/sun powder delights =) apparently whistler has accumulated just under 14 *feet* of snow in the last month... even if you're not into that stuff, come for some food or drink the 8th or 10th at nite =)

precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals

2006-11-30T20:39:00.000-05:00

As I'm sitting here doing work from home (fathom that one :P), I'm understanding how ppl can work 60+ hour weeks. It's possible to just keep working non-stop. My new job basically consists of:

Database searches
Phone calling/email

key skills (apparently)
-treating ppl the way you want to be treated
-asking the right questions
-work ethic/discipline/drive
-letting go/"next"

With Citrix access, i can work anywhere that has a phone and internet connection. here's to coffee shops and extra work!

oceans apart, day after day...

2006-11-21T18:45:00.000-05:00

Saturday, we had a surprise party for my parents..

HAPPY 45TH ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!

we finally got the low-down on how my parents met and how the whole thing went down.. and we thought online dating was nuts :P

[cpc sanctuary]

one crazy story that was told by my dad: he was finishing up grade 13 (OAC).. he was taking care of his parents.. my sister... my mom had my brother on the sunday, and he had 1 of his 2 english exams on monday, while working too.. mad props dad =)

I've had very little energy since starting my new job, so i apologize for the lack of posts.. i haven't touched the project, but i hope to solidify the trax that we've started.. there are rumours about a pride & prejudice reading =) stay tuned!

missed the boat, got on another

2006-11-09T00:06:00.000-05:00

we knew buying scalped late is risky.. hence one ticket available for imogen heap. oh wellz. could have gone, but didn't need to ditch zoozoo.

@the rex.

are you the dreamboat?

2006-11-04T10:48:00.000-05:00

[one of john sayer's designs]

i should have done this vocal booth first *before* recording =) (some of you know that i have been talking about this for years)..

the camera is mightier than the pen

2006-11-03T01:24:00.000-05:00

the suspense is over..

2006-10-30T22:17:00.000-05:00

the piano is gone...

apparently the lady confirmed a meeting with the piano tech, but when he showed up, she wasn't home.. she was at the bank depositing the cheque (she sold it while saying it was available to check out)!

oh well. early bird gets the worm =)

i always knew
i always knew that EVERYTHING was falling through

anyone crazy enough to go to nyc with me tmr? or ann arbor friday? josh radin and mat kearney, respectively. must answer within 12 hrs :P individually or as a pair of concerts works!

have you ever...

2006-10-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

felt in a unknown place? sounds like a generic question. but here i sit at my computer in the middle of the day. not sure what to do.. anyone have MUST see movies and/or MUST read books?

the red light is ON

2006-10-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

codename project "877to40" has begun.

which hats will i wear =)
-producer
-engineer
-a&r
-musician
-cheerleader
-angry man
-stand up comedian.

heaps of imogen

2006-10-28T02:47:00.000-05:00

where are we?
what the hell.
it's getting kind of late
i'm thinking sorta retro

fork in the road
turn left or turn wrong
sick of this loss
need to get away

purposeless for time
nothing really clear
it doesn't really help
whether you're far or near

snapshot of grace
locked away with it
not so sure because
i can get away from this

mindless beats resonate
creating an endless loop
a glance behind sees
unknown truth

rain some more
i don't really care
summer ends every year
who says it's not fair?

dull eyes behind
a bright smile
that's just crazy
you think i believe?

privacy cannot block
whatever i am hearing
sear the words, don't forget
i dream fantasy AND reality

ooze on out
cannot clot
i'm just thinking
allowed or not

my stupid mouth

2006-10-23T23:14:00.000-05:00

Praise You O Lord, for the blessings that you give.
You lift my downcast face, when i'm messy in my drama.
You have given me everything that I need AND more.
Inspiration has graced, now comes the sweat =)

if i could only figure out how to translate that...

add:
(sweat, ie matt redman's workshop: 10% inspiration/90% perspiration)

can't take it.. you can do it on your own.

2006-10-21T00:55:00.000-05:00

what does honesty bring me?
disconnected. the phone never rings.
watch the light dim in my eyes
some things are always changing, i can not will.
look beyond this shell of a man.

what will be, will be.
things might be different this time around.

consolation is the small show.
i once had a home, some silly things.
now i have this cozy lil grill
you don't see me, but you don't seem
to know what's right in front of you

what will be, will be
things aren't different this time around.

i want to see the kindness around
if there's such a thing
the truth is, i don't know the difference
between fear, love & hate
can it be real? known?

what won't be, won't be
things must be different this time.

there's all these events tmr. no idea.

cn tower or gulu? God knows i can't get up *that* early. maybe neither. they're both "good", but i need some peace and quiet b4 the "queue" music comes and gets me.

-can't control jack. fn choices. less bun, mo pho.

if you can call that sleep.

2006-10-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

i've been trying to hold in so many things recently.

i hate you
i hate this
i hate me
i hate how things have to be
i hate the world... just kidding.. no really.

bring on the grey goose girl!

[zero 7]

i'm obviously in a funky calm/hyper mood right now.. i think i'm going to go play vball =) my manager said that i have this glow on my face..

soooo tired (what's new) =) DTR, letter of resignation, offer letter, learning financial statements and tax sheltering... got a call of reassurance today from steve.. no fear... so many things going on.

it's a #s game...
1 dtr
5? tickets to the show
3 pseudo song recordings
9 more days of work at BMO..
7 days off. what should i do? where should i go? vegas? haha.
20 days until i start my new job

from yoco to all of you.. i luve you may z, bitta hitta widout butter, 'the man', the sick twins and the white black man.

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dyin breath of
this love we've been workin on
Can't seem to hold you like I want to
so I can feel you in my arms
Nobody's gonna come and save you
we pulled too many false alarms

We're goin down
and you can see it too
We're goin down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burnin room

I was the one you always dreamed of
you were the one i tried to draw
how dare you say it's nothin to me
baby, you're the only light I ever saw

I make the most of all the sadness
you'll be a bitch because you can
you try to hit me just hurt me
so you leave me feelin dirty cuz you can't understand

We're goin down
and you can see it too
We're goin down
and you know that we're doomed
my dear
we're slow dancing in a burnin room

Go cry about it why don't you
Go cry about it why don't you
Go cry about it why don't you
my dear, we're slow dancin in a burnin room

-j. mayer 'slow dancing in a burning room'.

off to aziancoourt.

-i thought i wanted to be closer, but what i really needed was closure

to be with you...

2006-10-10T19:13:00.000-05:00

where to start... with all this talk of being cryptic, lying, whether one is satisfied... i'll start with the easy stuff...

went to my first hockey drill/practise session ever last night.. suffice to say, it hurts when you fall on ice (where you're not padded).. but it was definitely good.. i need that type of structure and skill building environment.. altho i didn't really need to do anything other than learn how to skate... thanks guys for all your help.

shui is all set up to do some recording, it's cool to see you so excited dude! now if you could find more time =) thanks for the zero 7..

sunday nite, i was recording til like 5am.. yikes. busting my butt doing some mayer.. inspired to write a bluesy chill ballad.. for now it's called "dreamlover" (dang that mariah), i wonder what comes up on google for just "dreamlove"... there's some billie hughes dude.. aiya. ~~scratch~~ that.

good times at wat's place, playing video games, eating, singing songs & ~~suduku~~sudoku.. learning "lamhe" and "wonderful maker".. hearing everyone yelling (mainly an) from the parking lot screaming during mario party.. ni and her expressive digits :P trailer park dave :P

time for food, more later (posting outside my lair)..

when you're gone, colors seem to fade...

2006-10-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

chris says that he's desensitized to my "i'm tired" commentary, but today, i was ULTRA beat.

friday nite drive to montreal>sleep at 2am, wake up like 7 times in the nite>11am breakfast>1pm wedding (congrats Tim & Angela!)>3pm smoked meat>3:30 poutine>5pm CRASH>7 pm banquet>2:30 sleep, wake up once>5:30am wake>6am drive back to TO>TCCC 11am>tcpc 12am>bbq meeting>lunch>guitar class>drive uptown to hk>drive BACK downtown>CRASH>train pho>home.

1100km, 120 song playlist, 7 energy drinks later, i feel chemically unbalanced.. i actually felt like crying on the way home (or was it just system confusion?) weirdness.. considering i feel like linkin park, crying was the last thing on my mind :P

i think t&a's banquet hall had the coolest ambience =)

this week is going to hurt. a LOT.

anyone want to play/sing some tunes on saturday? seriously.

amazing grace that takes the weight...

2006-09-27T21:40:00.000-05:00

i had dinner last nite with an old friend. been seeing and seeing off many of my decade long friends recently.. strange. maybe a sign of a new phase? anyhoo, i haven't talked in so much code in a long time =) good times.

here's a shot of debs that reminds me of a nite scene in a movie:

reading some boundless articles.. makes me want to hide :P if i'm "not around", you all know why =)

this week my brain has been going crazy, but i have to focus on some studying, some applying, some shopping, some tv (haven't watched any grey's or prison break.. )

a topic that has been coming up a lot recently: trust. what IS trust? why do you trust certain ppl and not others? i feel like i don't trust a lot of ppl and i'm not sure why exactly... and i definitely feel like that's not a good sign of koinonia or fellowship. who do you trust and why?? and did you trust ppl b4 but not anymore? discuss.. i need some more convo over here =)

i guess i *have* to post at least one john pic =)

wrong bat time, different bat channel

2006-09-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

did anyone tape grey's new episode #1? cuz for some reason, ctv had the "wrong feed" and showed episode #2... but i haven't watched it yet (thanks ag for taping/getting the info)..

gy's recital and janes' farewell pix are up: here

Janes, you've been wanting to go to london for ages.. best wishes!

Sometimes you have to stay and fight...
Sometimes, you have to just walk... away...
-23sep06

k, IMPULSE buy =)

actually, was thinking about it for about 8 months.. watching the boys play hockey, i couldn't just sit there and shoot :) haven't skated since i got hit by a puck in the shin when i was in grade 4?

more updates from the weekend. enjoy the pix :P

let my words be few...

2006-09-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

other than crying, i seem to be seeing off many of my friends.

one decided on a recital.

one decided on the circus.

shui in action..

i did something awkward.. "apparently"

luckily i recovered... and with my shoulder still connected :P

gotta let go...

jettisoned to the center of the storm...

2006-09-15T00:43:00.000-05:00

music mania.. this past week has felt long.. really long.

saturday morning, practise with janes on cello/me on guitar to do some songs for gy's sendoff recital (ended up canning it). euge and nancy's for worship team kickoff.. lots of music at home afterwards.

sunday..
drums for worship/lunch (saw supa on the street. hi!)/up to markham for gy's recital.. was going to do some joshua radin, but matt luey had a couple of tunes and i just ended up playing with him =) and shooting lots.. afterwards, (dead tired mind you), went to centre island to meet up with chris, shui, giz, joyce, scott and hanna for the virin music festival.. caught some of the strokes, zero 7, lupe fiasco and broken social scene.. good times for sure at "zero 7".. inspired to do some crazy jam music.

practised different music for like 5 hrs monday nite...

tues nite, hooked up with chris, gizelle and alex(?) to super market (kensington) to check out colin monroe (rock/pop band).. the interesting part was the 3 rappers+dj who joined in for a couple of trax..

played vball at gsu (first time since dc) last nite.. drive is down.. but need for control is up.. i think i failed my physio assignment. almost rolled my ankle, it was so slippery (one guy did roll badly.. yikes). all these vball tournament emails floating around.. need to pick and choose. almost went to see snow patrol/bela fleck/justin nozuka.. so much music going on :)

tonite, it was monica's bday dinner.. was supposed to hit up the times square area, but ended up at starwalk.. bleh :P crashed shu and yu's place for a bit then met up with the same gang as last week+viet/nami-mark/yung/mike @metro..

more music this weekend.. trying to make a long term hookup for music.. "please work out". john, see you saturday. clapton, see you monday :P

will *try* and post all sorts of pix and talk more about the music =)

here's a shot from "the strokes":

substance abuse..

2006-09-12T00:43:00.000-05:00

well, i had to give in.. ppl were droppin it like crazy.. even the psycho ppl at work.. the smell was inticing. back at school, i didn't let the peer pressure get to me.. i hate using controlled substances as much as i don't wear jewelry/accessories (not even a watch)... thank goodness you can smoke it*. the effect was crazy stimulus to the head, my renal functions were a little wacked. alertness was a little illusion. i'm not even sure how i avoided getting arrested.

yes, you guess it folks. i had coffee. i think i've had a total of less than 10 (maybe 20) cups of coffee in my lifetime. i have the rare, occasional starbuckoo or moonbean... but this week has been a record :P i had a cup at eugenan's place to test it out, but this morning, i was hurtin and ppl were making a run. "double double" i said. yikes.. my system was shuddering from the poison =P i think i'll stick to coffee flavored desserts and ice cream. i think it'll be #5 on the acquired taste list.

not sure how everyone does it, but whatever works. adrenaline has always worked so far.. (i'm not banking on that one to keep me alive tho in a ultra tired spot)

*i had to find some word like roast w/o using it :P

(vitals)
tired, but i can finally kneel on my theraball
my left index fingertip is tender
i'm glad there's no ringing in my left ear
rollercoaster set on low
i'm in ultraballad mode.. must switch back to my plan for a bit
erick, you are the man.
janes, i can't believe you bailed, we have circus this sat!
youtube/google video/msn connex is going nutz right now =)
supermarket tmr nite.
hk, don't get lost
monica, happy bday
boloh: kickazz.

and the stars aligned in the cosmos...

2006-09-08T12:59:00.000-05:00

i'm so feeling the "year end review" thing. will attempt a year in review post(s).. "attempt" is the key.. i think seeing Z's going away pix gave me the urge..

last nite, i met up with the yb+yung.. i haven't been together with these guys in years (probably since mark got married jun03). not that ppl in tDot aren't cool, but it's been very different with wongs, mark, steve, gabe, etc out of town... too bad nami, tam and others couldn't make it, but i doubt anything but a wedding could get everyone together =) it was good times. i think i'll have to lay to rest my current quote:

"i'm not stupid, but what i did was stupid"

apparently, i'm not stupid... i just don't leave any outs.

it was good to hear about mark's kids (and his marriage quirks :P), a new job for him (seattle), drew(cap), jordan(cpp) and wongs(sg in london).. more adventures for yung, suga moma mike, lars still going telecom strong.

[mark talking about buying 3rd party gear]

[yung and wongs]

['cuse the focus mike]

[lars scrutinizing drew's explanation =)]

[me, mark, drew, lars, yung, wongs & jord]

[the happy version :P]

back to 877 i go.

desire. drive. passion.

2006-09-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

hmm. lots of things running around my mind.

the dream is dead. long live the dream.

the streak has ended. we lost. still a little stunned, but at the same time, glad for a good kick in the butt.. i don't think i've had what Bwong has been calling "hunger" for a very long time (circa toronto/cne labour day 6~8 years ago).

more to come.

but for now, 2 videos..

one is a bunch of clips from DC (who makes vids so fast? crazy).. not really any good action, but a good overview of different teams and the different environments we played in (you can see the back of my head/jersey #1, 23 seconds in :P)

NACIVT 2006

and of course, kino's song for kimi (a japanese dude who is travelling and playing vball all over the place/heading to brazil in nov), from my camera phone: kimi's song

[update]
tiny's much better version

last minute details...

2006-09-01T00:09:00.000-05:00

virtually packed..

it's 1am and i'm beat =)

shu hooked up some tunes, thanks!

sg stuff isn't 100%, but sent out to some peeps =)

hopefully no airport issues =P

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph, I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

The worst is over now and we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high, you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn, and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain

'Cause I'm broken when I'm open
And I don't feel like I am strong enough
'Cause I'm broken when I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right when you're gone away

-broken

shop-a-holics unite!

2006-08-31T20:53:00.000-05:00

i think i'm a shopping addict.

because of my schedule and feeling ill, i didn't arrange to borrow a portable drive system to store photos (a la janes' p2000).. so i did some online shopping and drove to bestbuy.. i was just going to buy some on-sale ATP SD card that supposedly performs well with the d50 (comparison here).. anyhoo, i get there like 2 minutes before closing time (i hate when ppl do that at the bank, but i do it as a customer :P).. they're all sold out.. i'm thinking of buying something.. the salesperson actually pointed me towards this portable drive.. it was about $169, which is like 2x the price of a sd card.. hmm.. so minus an actual screen that you can view pix on, it's a pretty good idea.. anyhoo, didn't do it. then there's the iPods, cds, dvds.. man, i could have gone nutz. it's bad when you have the power of someone else's credit at your finger tips.. muahahhaaha.

anyhoo, still darned tired. still need to pack. dc in 23 hrs... tick tock.

emotions at the end of the last big show:

ps.. everyone, still text me.. i'm going to need some TO connection =)

crypto-pho-reifying

2006-08-28T23:14:00.000-05:00

wow. i'm tired.

it's funny how a decision you made days ago can physically affect you.

ny>delta>pho>ny>scar>ny>scar>ny> harbourfront>richtree>scar>ny> cpc>kings>greenw>bedf>ny>go4>ny>877>semi>greenw>ny.. sorta like a flight plan. even being in *reasonable* shape, i'm beat after 2 days of practising after getting wacked out sleep the last 2 of 4 nites. felt sick last nite. good ole EStyl.

read about stairclimbing.. thinkin about cn tower climb... anyone do it in under 15 minutes? asked my physio-(more like psycho)-therapist about changing your resting heartrate.. even 5 to 10 beats is very difficult. @12:21 i'm at 63. break 50? 55? i think i'm dreaming of the days where i used to cycle a lot.. (no spandex or doping or any of that stuff :P).. and i remember one year, watching the WHOLE tour de france on OLN.. 20 stages? yikes. lance apparently has like a 32 bpm resting.. monster. (how did i get onto cycling? weird)

the spirit is willing.. the body is weak... 6 of 9 days playing vball (i'm at day 2). can i make it? why do i feel every muscle and joint suddenly =)

our team isn't quite at 100%. the challenge of "sustaining" has been a common thread... sg, vball, happy, passion.. but anyhoo, i'm finding that most of the next week is all about the mental game. our conditioning/vball is ok, but whether we can pull through as a team is the big question.. when we're on, i don't think anyone can "out-wash" us.. but when we start looking around at each other blaming and wondering who will get it done, that's when we go from AA to A :P many similarities exist at delta and our community at cpc.. i have to admit, it's been a huge struggle when it comes to my "responsibilities".. i feel like i got ushered into a role that i didn't ask for, but i still want to see it through.

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline" 2Tim1:7

"i suck" or rather "i sux"

on another note, i have to thank m.yack and erick for giving me some great food for thought at lunch today.. if i ever pull off the "that's not bad" or the help provided "call plan", i will give mad props.. kizzle, the nut cracker is still out there...

now for some old school pix (i got nothing ~~new~~ now.)

"never knew i could feel like this....."

[sept01.lars shot this i think.. taught me the brace/no flash method.. nikon p&s]

no love, no glory

2006-08-24T00:42:00.000-05:00

peace to you grandma wong.

bro, you know where your peeps are at.

(vitals)

sweetly broken.
knee almost blew up.
resolve is gone.
i hate the phone.
tasks unfinished.
eTorrent (not bit)
easy to say but it's hard to feel

ticking...
3 days to sg/review/present
9 days to big show
12 days to the as deadline
21 days to sort *this* out

yuling, "HD" is ruining. is ruining...

from a recent project (yung, that's a crazy material):

[from all the shiny wrap.. looks like no glass right? wrong :P]

there'll always be 877. bleh.

ADD/chaos theory/randomness

2006-08-21T23:42:00.000-05:00

saturday, i was in and around home for most of the day.. went stir-crazy for a while... my apologies to all those i text messaged :P some responses:

"are you drunk?!"

"huh?"

"0bt"

i'm a little *aged* to qualify, but quarter-life-crisis, here i come!

rooftop *magic* (except when sue showed up, we fell apart) /post peridot/

[oh magic jam, where art thou]

[feelin the music]

[what are you laughing at?!]

["oh"]

i think i really like doing nothing.

2006-08-19T12:38:00.000-05:00

you know when you get that one day where you're not booked solid? i find that i'm always trying to be "productive".. today, i did some shopping at Curry's (some more black+white fomecore), got a haircut.. wanted to maybe study or do more job stuff.. *don't feel like it*.. was lying down for a bit.. might meet up with delta ppl after their CNE excursion...

was playing with my 25mm extension tube last nite @delta...

[my favorite keys]

where in the world is...

2006-08-09T22:59:00.000-05:00

for some reason, i was dreaming about snow today... and air canada has some seat sales going on.. is anyone up for snowboarding in chile or argentina?? like in a month :)?

justis concert this friday and saturday.. check it out.. i'll be there sat nite... come out and support!

a pic from nyc..

[chris ling/kino jr's cam]

kamoonikaxion

2006-08-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

my multi-week update will have to wait.. yet again..

Phil, a photoblog would be cool, but i can't communicate that well with my photos alone :P i sux (not that my words make sense either).. along those lines...

You know when you talk about something that is particular to a group, person or a situation? It's one thing to understand the concept, but another reality to experience and have to deal with it for the long haul.

Communication is the topic of the week.

I know for a fact that when I talk, I'm ALL OVER THE PLACE. I'm like the 'more-normal' version of a mr chu i knew in highschool (basically a genius who's ideas can bottleneck at the mouth to produce a basic standstill in his speech). I jump from idea to idea (seemingly random) and sometimes have ppl with the glazed look in their eyes (and that's aside from the boring parts).

In the Delta leadership context, this was clearly evident yesterday.. we had a pretty cool listening meeting.. until we started to 'discuss/plan'.. it's amazing when ppl are clearly aiming for the same goal, but when there's a slight difference in execution strat., style, or ideas, it can really break the flow of moving forward together. in seeing where small groups (sg) fit into delta, we ground to a halt and eventually, kizzle had some fitting words for us all to "get our act together please"... tensions rose, but i think that when there's frustration, it's a combination of passion, care, and 'something at stake' for the individuals involved.. this "passionate" discussion leaked into the rest of the evening when i was discussing sg with fred+hk, then add in andrea, then just me and hk.. it's amazing how we realized how a seemingly harmless suggestion (eg groups of 8 vs 10) can spark into something else. i definitely learned that because of my communication style (haven't clearly defined it yet :P), i have probably been a bit confusing about sg (unless i've been in a 1:1-4 setting).. but regardless, from what i know, the leadership core is all for small groups and is apparently deferring to me in many a matter. yikes =)

moving forward.. my commitment: a working model of sg and how it could work and building the team.

here's one shot from the distillery this past weekend.. a little garish i know, but i love fluffy blue skies.

my apologies

2006-08-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

i suck at updating. i need a better workflow for pix. i'm working on a big update :P thanks for stopping by - the counter seems to indicate that ppl actually still visit this forgotten child..

updates. up. date. s.

2006-07-01T23:05:00.000-05:00

life has had it's good times, funny times and sad times.. i've been shooting, and finally getting a reasonable (umm) workflow to get pix up.. maybe i just don't care as much as i used to about the "quality", and i'm just faster too :P

check out vball pix and sue's bday.

cheap skater, way better than summerlicious

2006-06-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

This past sunday, we had a wicked dinner. $20 (including some donated liquids) forget words =)

1st Course: leafy salad with blow-torched sablefish

2nd Course: sashimi grade scallops with risotto

3rd Course: rack of lamb with grey poupon

4th and 5th course: toro

and of course, drinks =)

what gathering is complete without funny pix! "doin' the hang-kit" =)

more pix and commentary: here

another 180.

2006-05-20T22:54:00.000-05:00

it's amazing how good of a mood i was in... for most of the day.

i ascribe to be a person of truth. i've learned that truth is useless without love.. to my my own naive surprise, lack of truth makes me mad. (i know some of you must be chuckling about the truth bit, but i am serious). i think we use deception because we think we are protecting ourselves and especially those that we interact with..

i mean to be honest to me, but i deceive myself quite a bit. i think it's one of my defensive structures.. in this past week, i've also discovered that i can be paralyzed or extremely productive (i'm still not quite understanding the source of it, but i'm still discovering). but at the same time, i think i've learned a lot about my "friends" and what they really think.. whether or not they speak of it.. and it unnerves me and in the last couple of minutes, it's been burning in my mind.

oh, by the way, i can be very petty and judgemental. as if you didn't know

whew.

am i crazy?

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

[matt luey & shuling, with their swords]

180 degrees.

2006-05-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

as i listen to the mingle of stapling, mitre-sawing and drilling (we're decarpetting and getting new oak steps, see pix below), i have reached the mid-point of the most UNproductive day ever... SWEEET. in the last 2 days, i've been telling everyone that i want to do the least possible this long weekend =)

maybe i haven't mentioned it, but for those who see me drive on a regular basis know that i got rearended.. it's been a while (i believed the dude when he said he'd take care of it).. and things have been fixed/replaced, altho the bumper hasn't been painted yet :P

before:

in transition:

yesterday a bunch of us went to see "da vinci code".. i haven't read the book, but i thot the story was interesting and the movie enthralling, altho most of the acting was pretty demure and ultra laid back. reminds me of a less-fun "national treasure".. debrief next week at delta :)

back to the camera gear issue =) thanks everyone who contributed (wongs, i gotta try the d200).. mike mak sux for not responded even tho i tried prodding him :P i've decided not to get the camera or the lenses.. i'm thinking of getting a 18-70 for my family's sake and ultimately maybe the 17-55 as a normal everyday lense (wongs, i also realized i'm not super into the 70-200mm, execept for weddings and sports/action)..

i already received the warmcards(.com) - thanks phil for the link.. bought a trick-pony (lensebaby 2.0)... waiting for the umbrellas/reflectors, 40 deg grid & another ab800/stand.. will probably get a background system+paper when i go to nyc in july. also signed up for model mayhem..

the wedding season begins next saturday with tobes & kurara =) the crazy americans will be in town. should be good times =)

recording has sprung up again.. gotta get in all the westcoast ppl soon!

anyhoo, i'm off to chapters.. if anyone wants to do anything, call me =)

dilema, ain't no nelly

2006-05-04T22:08:00.000-05:00

on the eve (cusp really) of my biggest photography purchase, i'm doubting myself. is $4k+ really going to make any difference in my final product? i'm wondering if i should just completely dive into the lighting, cuz the d50 is more than adequate for 'studio' shooting.. i was at chapters (it's a wicked place to just chill and read mags and other books) that time i picked up the DAM book... and was 'memorizing' the fashion/beauty lighting cookbook.. lots of good stuff in there... also want to get some backgrounds, foamcore and basic reflectors (gold esp).. anyhoo. blah!

wongs, i heard you bit the bullet and got the d200.. any word :)?

i'm thinkin (basically):

d200+18-70 kit (for normal shooting/dad+sis)
70-200mm f/2.8 vr
sb800
CF cards, etc.

that list in itself is pretty ridiculous to me $ wise. hmm. i guess my major concern is that i don't really need to own the 70-200.. i'm wondering if i should just get a d200 + 17-55mm f/2.8 + sb800 and just leave it at that? anyone? bueller.. bueller?

whew

2006-04-24T01:27:00.000-05:00

i only lost a couple of gigs.. but thank goodness i backuped 99% of my photo stuff.. yikes.. the recovery yielded only a bunch of stuff.. this all started when i wanted to do a fresh install of everything and install a new 300gig HD w/ another stick of ram.. incidentally, i backuped some stuff, but lost my most recent day of shooting.. oh well. funny enough, i bought a book on photography storage, etc.. it's called "the DAM book" (digital asset management for photographers).. intersting read, and it's setting me on the path of best practises for naming/meta tags/storage, etc.. should be good as i ramp up more gigs/work.

aiya

2006-04-23T23:16:00.000-05:00

i think i just lost about 20 gigs of hd.. :(

mont c'est what?!

2006-04-09T21:27:00.000-05:00

hehe, it's been a little while since i last posted.. i guess none of you have any comments, so i'll post some more pix :P here's another of kim:

inspired by one of chunglee's shots (a nyc beauty photographer.. awesome work)

man, i realize i suck at sports shooting. i think i need some AFS action :) i would have got more shots, but i don't know what i'm doing.. ie i can't focus.. too used to the split prism.. i think i'll have to order a 3rd party screen..

sym in action in the last game of the monday nite league.. check out more pix: here

[200mm f/4]

onto this weekend... went to quebec with hk this weekend.. we had planned to go to tremblant for a couple of days of boarding... preamble.. i've never shot so randomly and not thinking (probably not good).. hence a lot of pix shot thru the car window, which i was really not into b4 :)

the weather was pretty darned warm in TO

crashed over a tim's place (thx again bro).. friday morning, we went outside and it was raining.. pretty yucky.. hk forgot the 2 for 1s at tremblant, so we checked out st saveur (40 mins from montreal)..

it was washed out..

on a dime, we decided to go check out mont saint anne =)

our favorite pit stop.

while going thru quebec city, we saw some crazy art on the hwy supports..

we thot about staying at the 'expensive' hotel at mt. st. anne ($100/nite).. but decided to check out some motels..

for $31.05 (including tax), it *wasn't* that bad.

the weather was gorgeous, with some great views..

the major issue: icy, icy conditions.. not sure if you can see from this pic, but this particular run had *no* give whatsoever.. basically a skating rink..

we went reasonably hard until lunch time.. afterwards, dropped off the camera.. and decided to go to the terrain park.. it was sweet action.. i'm basically pretty comfortable going over some pretty big takeoffs and landing ok... haven't tried to do any 180s or 360s yet, but next year =) i'm happy i didn't kill myself.. hitting the ice would have really hurt =)

back to the grind.. any makeup artists out there :)?

while you were sleeping...

2006-04-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

i might as well not talk too much and just post =)

but first, i did experience a scary thing on thursday nite.. i had this crazy allergic reaction (to what, not sure yet) during connex pickup vs toronto junior varsity.. i broke out in hives all over.. no one had any antihistamines, so i tried splashing some cold water on my face to no effect.. got driven to the closest shoppers (we were playing at york mills).. dropped some benadryl which i'm not sure did anything or not, but my tongue started to swell. off to the hospital emerg.. lets just say i got admitted right away.. too bad i don't have pix, but i know where they get some inspiration for creatures in movies (think LOTR or something :P).. my face was jutting out like will smith in "hitch", ears swollen and hives all over my body.. pretty scary.. 2.5 hrs later i was out.. IVed with benadryl, zantac and something else, i was ok. yikes. epi-pen, here i come.

completely changing gears: here's the first shot that i processed from the kim shoot (didn't really filter the shots yet, just decided to go with this one first):

[xt 17-85mm ~59mm]

here's the setup:

i just picked up the new camera (what?! you might ask) from jojo.. a d50.. for my dad and something for me to shoot with (jclaw is going to europe. jealous :P). it was cheap refurbed from buydig, so i went for it (i know, crazy buy since i've been waiting so long for the d200/5d/30d, etc).. whatever. i just need a sensor and gotta work the lighting =)

in my hand, the d50 fits much more nicely than the xt, even tho when i attach the metal lenses of old, it feels like it's hollow =)

here's a couple of quick shots:

[d50, 55mm macro AI,~11mm extension]

the context shot =)

[d50, 50mm f/2 AI]

hopefully more to come.. i hope the corp. headshot gets approved tmr.. globe & mail, here i come :P

aliens invade

2006-03-14T00:45:00.001-05:00

i have only one thing to say: "let the high fashion begin!"

[xt, 17-85mm, iso100 wb:flash/ab800 1/8th]

more pix at flickr

hmm.

2006-03-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

i'm such a dork. i turned commenting on, but turned moderation on as well.. so i had a bunch of comments pending.. thanks everyone for commenting, will get to responding.. haha. me=dumb.

a new day has come/token asians

2006-03-09T00:22:00.000-05:00

america's next top model is on.. there's a token asian (gina/korean).. i think they can "edge her up" and she'll do well, but she has no confidence and can't really express herself very well.. yikes, i have watched 24 & antm this week. more tv than in a long time.. (vball time should exchange to productivity and not tv watching :P)

skiing in tremblant last weekend was pretty cool.. i've never driven so much in my life (driving to montreal to eat dinner/chill with tim chin fri, boarding sat/sun and driving home sun aft.).. i brought my dad's nikon f2 and it didn't flinch in the -30ish C weather.. gotta love it. (i'm too lazy to scan my snaps :P)

this past weekend was all about chillin =) for sat, lou & andrea organized a fob day.. we watched god of gamblers, played mj, ddr, hotpot (+russell peter's 'be a man').. we were all the singles.. the couples + some others did the cbc 6-hr version of pride & prejudice at marys.

[the singles :P]

[hot pot]

sunday was the women's outtahand championships.. we (holla) played decently in the pool play and ended up 1st in our pool.. strangely enough, we had to play against the #1 seed "run dat" (they finished 2nd in their pool/we were seeded #8 overall).. my girls played some of the best women's game i've ever seen... i'm so proud of my team =) the downside of our victory was emm's twisting her ankle and our girl's using 110% of their energy.. we played a tight game against jags and lost.. they eventually beat my clubmates Connex in the final. good show. good show.

[holla.. notice the token asian :P]

afterwards, grabbed some take out.. j and i went downtown to pick up chris and we headed over to mcmaster for the CIS Canadian Men's Volleyball final. it was a little disappointing, cuz trinity western served alberta off the court.. but it's still fun watching big time vball :) alberta has a chinese dude libero.. i wonder if he's heard of 9-man =)

[the 2 tsn camera guys in the fore]

dropped by cpc (the game was 4ish, got back to tDot at 7ish) for the delta committe meeting and ended up going to mussells with chris & tomlin.. fred dropped by after we finished eating... i dropped chris off and chilled with hk, kizzzle, mary/wat & andrea for a bit b4 calling it a weekend. good times. good times =)

and my celine reference: i finally did it. i ordered a monolight. look out! haha

save darfur

2006-02-20T00:53:00.000-05:00

i don't claim to know much about what's going on, but the situation in darfur, sudan is much like rwanda.. genocide. tomlin & jeremy are going on a guluwalk to bring awareness to this cause. check the site out.

tmr (monday), they're doing a 14km walk from fred's place at bayview/leslie to the downtown area (starting early.. like 7am?!]. if you see them on yonge tmr, cheer them on! they're raising money for msf.. they do work in darfur. give $ to tomlin or msf directly

enuf words, here's what i'm better at:

[jeremy & tomlin]

[stretchin' out]

[my ad for savedarfur.org]

[this is where they start their walk]

turn up my bass...

2006-02-08T22:28:00.000-05:00

[part 2 of iv loungin']

i was going to jam along on drums for worship, but matt luey wanted to play and i gladly gave up the sticks for him =) tomlin lead/played guitar with amy on vox.. i manned euge's video cam for the first half of the nite.

the roster for the night:
eugene with a couple of words+reading from 'narnia'
Han Min's "song for iulia" (my title :P)
Ed singing nickel creek's 'doubting thomas' w/ tomlin on acoustic
leeanne singing selena's 'dreaming of you'
matt l doing a couple of his own songs
kalam doing his own version of jay-z 'encore' w/ j, tom & i backing
tomlin doing sufjan stevens
mando girls singing mando :P
hannah doing her own thing
me doing some 'fall of 93' (summer of 69) and cannonball
andrea doing lisa loeb's stay
shui playing his own tune with chris & tom backing
lyds singing ginny owens' "own me" w/ tom on keys
mando girls singing mando 2 =)
cath playing keys... then singing her song =)
hannah on her encore
a sudden decision to play "hanging by a moment" - steve, chris, tom & i
matt with a crazy tune to end off the nite

as you can see, i didn't end up doing 2 beds.. i was staring at the lyrics for a bit and realized that i'd probably blank out (i should have just gone for it!!).. all in all, a great nite.. good to see ppl bust out the action.. hopefully we'll be doing this more often.. looking forward to other readings, comedy and other acts =)

[a shot of the crowd =)]

shout outs to my sis ag, michele & yannie coming out!!

here are some random pix of ppl performing =)

after loitering and cleaning up, a group of us drove to korea town for some karaoke.. luckily some peeps hit up some bipbimbop and bulgolki.. yum!! lots of belting and messing up our voices =)

more on the weekend in a bit =)

i can't hear my snare drum

2006-02-06T18:45:00.000-05:00

i have lots to catch up on, but i guess that's what always keeps me from finishing any blogs whatsoever (the blog b4 was sitting in draft for a month.. go figure, the longest month of my life :P).. lemme tell you about my uber weekend first =)

[scribbles on a letter]

we were at IV lounge on dundas for our 'talent nite' at delta this past friday... i was involved with a couple of other acts, but mainly to back ppl up (mostly on drums).. so for my solo stuff (tomlin ended up backing me up), i was thinking of doing a bunch of ballads in a medley (see above for a couple of the tracks i was thinking about amongst the 100s of ballads that i luv :P)... i slowly ended up picking Savage Garden's "2 Beds and a Coffee Machine" (i literally didn't know what i was going to play days, even hrs b4 getting there)... here are the lyrics:

And she takes another step
Slowly she opens the door
Check that he is sleeping
Pick up all the broken glass
And furniture on the floor
Been up half the night screaming
Now it's time to get away
Pack up the kids in the car
Another bruise to try and hide
Another alibi to write

Another ditch in the road You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast
Wonder how I ever made it through

And there are children to think of
Baby's asleep in the back seat
Wonder how they'll ever make it
Through this living nightmare
But the mind is an amazing thing
Full of candy dreams and new toys
And another cheap hotel
Two beds and a coffee machine
But there are groceries to buy
And she knows she'll have to go home

Another ditch in the road
You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast
Wonder how I ever made it through

Another bruise to try and hide
Another alibi to write
Another lonely highway in the black of the night
There's hope in the darkness
You know you're going to make it
Another ditch in the road
You keep moving
Another stop sign
You keep moving on
And the years go by so fast
Silent fortress built to last
Wonder how I ever made it

i guess i wanted to do this song, cuz i'm feeling the need to take responsibility.. "for what?" you might ask.. to know more about what's going on around us, to open ourselves as a community (delta, etc) to the needs of others.. i find that we're not equipped to support/encourage ppl in really difficult times, cuz we're not really honest about what really happens in the first place... and i guess to most of us cbc church-goers, divorce/abuse/etc are rare (or at least that's my perception)...

the other song in my shortened playlist was "cannonball" by damien rice.. lyrics here.. i kept seeing "damien rice - o" on hangkit's msn... but in vancouver, that's where i got to hear it while chilling.. so it's sorta grown on me.. and funny enough, it's the right song for where i'm at right now.

ok, enough preamble..

i got to iv around 6:40ish? it was a lot smaller than i expected, and the setup for the performance area was right beside the door.. literally:

[leeanne at the mic, euge stretching to adjust the gain and matt in deep thot]

so there wasn't much room in the front.. yikes.. anyhoo, had to blitz the set up and get everything ready, cuz we were behind schedule quite a bit :) no monitors, no toms for the drums.. euge had to mix from behind the band area.. crazy :)

part 2 tmr hopefully =)

20:40:12

2006-01-26T20:37:00.000-05:00

this is the longest month of my life.... *44*

the last 50 days have been pretty nuts. i don't even know what to say =)

how about some pix =)

here's some of chris & sue's wedding in vancity (new years eve)

running on empty 2

2006-01-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

happy new year =)

my throat is hurting, i have a headache, and i'm not getting enough sleep :) what else is new =)

vancouver was wicked. it was decently warm (altho i was dying the first couple of nites-i didn't figure out chrissy's faux fireplace).. overcast in general, altho the sun broke out a couple of times.

i'll post more on the wedding & whistler :) zonked!

running on empty

2005-12-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

i'm a last minute packer. i barely got 2.5 hrs of sleep b4 going to pearson for my 8:25a flight. "early bird gets the worm".. i'm the last person to check in and get the very back of the plane. yikes. i'm just glad that harmony has decent leg room, or i would have really died. i slept in a bunch of spurts, but basically tried to ignore reality and get as much rest as i could. tomlin picked me up from the vancouver airport and dropped me off at chrissy's.

fast foward. 7 hrs of sleep+one 12" subway chicken maranara later, i was off to yoshi's, to meet up with a bunch of delta ppl in van. amy picked me up (i remembered that i didn't bring my camera, and somehow still didn't bring it. oh wellz) and we walked into yoshi's... lou, tomlin, jer (tomlin's bud), fred and dave were there already drinking some sake...

here's the funny part. yoshi's was not where we were planning to be... japanese skewers was the food of choice for the nite, but we ended up at this fancy sushi place.. yikes! basically, fred's friend told him the wrong name.. so here i see fred drinking sake like a madman, jeremey double fisting beer & sake.. dave eating this deluxe green tea icecream.. lou is doing his best to stare down the waitresses & bring attn to us :P i down 2 sakes in like a couple of minutes, and haven't had a bite to eat... oh boy. i ordered this really good roll, but just as i was savouring it, fred goes "hurry up!" 4 gulps later, i'm done.

fred visas for the bill and we run outta there. like i was there maybe 10 minutes total. haha. what an experience. we ran to this other place for skewers & drank good portions of japanese beer.. good ambiance and pretty relaxing.. we keep joking how yoshi is going to come after us, yoshi wanted to kill us for humiliating his restaurant (basically the guys couldn't keep quiet about being at the wrong place/wanting to leave)... after last call (11pm) + some loitering, we went to mondo's for last call of gelato. that was pretty yum.

all in all a funny nite. i think amy thinks we're a bunch of cheap drunk weirdos :P

helen made it back late, and we did some catching up. crazy stories.

yoshi's is actually quite good. one day we'll return. if he lets us :)

pix to come.

avalanche.. or was it spectacular? blue "hill" =)

2005-12-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

the answer: neither. how about glacier bowl?

i've been getting excited just looking at this.

countdown:
1 more day b4 i see wongs
2 more days of work
in 3 days i'll go snowboarding? and Christmas eve
4 days til a big birthday thing.
5 days until gross shopping (hopefully with hookups)
6 days until flying out to vancity
10 more days til wedding bells
12 more days til whistler/blackcomb
15 more days til i have to go back to work!!! yikes.

i know i haven't updated in ages..

here's a shot of the ridiculous um-brah warehouse sale:

posted a couple from my dad's gig at the metro united church with the big choir. 'more to come'

shout unto God

2005-11-22T00:12:00.000-05:00

i'm in a dilemma.

do i do the 20d now?

can i wait for the d200? (supposedly out dec15)

do i wait for feb for 30d?

i need a camera in a couple of weeks (maybe)

i need a camera for post christmas (for sure).. that's it, other than photographic development (important - was shooting sunday. still learning). i'm ready to buy a system.

am i crazy?

do i wait forever?

what should i do?

The enemy has been defeated
And death couldn't hold You down
We're gonna lift our voice in victory
We're gonna make Your praises loud

Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
Shout unto God with a voice of praise
Shout unto God with a voice of triumph
We lift Your name up
We lift Your name up

there's some wicked drum action in this song. hillsongs. check it out.

capanoogren.

2005-11-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

i'm honestly a little wacked out.. been so tired.. just slept a ton.

delta was coolz, we did a sharing/reflection on the whole PDL campaign and what it's meant to us.. didn't know how much it would alter perceptions, change ppl & give hope for the future.. praise God! afterwards, (in a mad rush cuz chris was monster hungry) we went to pho lady and i realized that there are a ton of weird ppl like me :P tomlin, how was the social?

jamming must happen. recording must happen.

MoSaiC

2005-11-17T22:44:00.000-05:00

went to hear what God had to say last nite and tonite.. erwin mcmanus was speaking at the church planting canada conference: "mosaic"... here's the church that erwin pastors: mosaic church

i'm sooo tired.

wheel of time: knife of dreams, reading this has been killer =P good tho.

jordan, robert.. super fantasy spinner.

2005-11-14T18:05:00.000-05:00

i've been reading book 11 of 'Wheel of Time': "Knife of Dreams".. yikes, i started reading about 200 pages at 11pm last nite.. oops! =P

i played a little bit of road/indoor hockey with the cpc/tcbc/etc boys yesterday.. it was a lot of fun.. i sux.

Congrats tobes & clara. would everyone stop getting married! sheesh. hehe

i'm seriously itching for a dslr all the time. was following c&s for a bit yesterday after church with the etr and a 50mm (wide angle for all those non-medium format ppl).. gotta finish these rolls. film. yikes.

"let there be light"

2005-11-12T14:08:00.000-05:00

today's weather is gorgeous. not only is the sun out, it's actually warm!

thanks for commenting everyone =)

back to photography, right shaun?

unless the d200 is a dismal failure in my hands, ie ergonomics, balance, etc (among actual photographic content, which shouldn't disappoint).. i'm going to buy this camera. no i'm not a nikon fanatic (ppl might comment on that).. and more importantly, i've been waiting WAYYYY too long.... i must continue on in my photographic development (no darkroom pun intended).. i've never owned a digital camera, but boy, i'm dying for it right now.. i think the first lense i gotta get is a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR. that's my focal length range. secondly, i don't know if i should really go the full nine yards and do the hensel thing, quite yet.. and the pocket wizards!! nevermind the fact that with the d200, gotta get all the goodies: 2x2gig cards, extra batteries, vertical grip, sb800 flash, stroboframe flash bracket, etc.. anyhoo, yeah, this is going to be insane.. not quite like the recording setup insane, but probably pretty close.

as a PDL small group leader, i've gotten some interesting feedback/responses from ppl going thru the "40 days".. it's quite encouraging, but also challenging as to 'next steps'... suggestions? talk to me =)

nami, what are you up to these days =)?

hooligans

2005-11-10T22:52:00.000-05:00

hey everyone, i've like disappeared.. i'm surprised if anyone checks this anymore =)

remembrance day... woohoo. bank holiday! speaking of work, lots up in the air right now.. gotta just stay true. and keep studying =)

PDL is coming to a close.. i've had a trying time at keeping up with the book.. too much discipline for me :P lots of good potential coming out of the campaign.. i hope we can get more stuff rolling.

i'm blabbing right now.. will write more when i gots more to say.

48 hours

2005-10-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

yikes, i'm home again.. if i post only when i'm sick... :P

i figure i'd post as i'm eating my first meal in about 48 hrs. i still can't believe how often i've gotten sick on this job.. i relish the days of university and bumdom (2001-2004), where i think i only got sick at most a couple of times (the 4 days * 14 hrs of sleep didn't turn out to be mono =)..) my conclusions: money is very dirty, my body is weak and germs are everywhere.. anyhoo..

on my last post, i listed my common songs of the year.. i forgot a couple of songs (who am i kidding, you can't have a top10 and more than 10 :P)

Shania Twain - It Only Hurts When I'm Breathing
Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One
Switchfoot - I Dare You To Move
Lounge Worship - My Glorious
Jeremy Camp - Beautiful One
Shuling - Simple

here's the list of the moment (cuz of mel :P)

Chris Wilson - Crazy Love
Lifehouse - Take Me Away
Amel Larrieux - Make Me Whole
Shane & Shane - Yearn
Daniel Powter - Song 6
Overflow - Cry On My Shoulder
Todd Ganovski - Angels Dancing

Bethany Joy Lenz - Let Me Fall (amongst all these other One Tree Hill Songs)

independents:
Samantha - Fields of Gold, etc
Jason - Water Runs Dry, etc

different remakes of u2's 'with or without you' - keane, finch, etc

i was about to say, no pic updates.. lemme scan some b&w that i shot weeks ago (like mel lastman, etc) and that i developed over the long weekend.. i don't have use of a camera right now (almost got a 20d, i met yet another pg at cpc a couple of weeks ago - he has hookups)

top10

2005-10-04T20:07:00.000-05:00

man, i figure i gotta post once and a while :) i'm sick again, basically lost my voice and still working.. if i haven't seen any of you in a while, i've started coaching women's vball.. man, i never imagined the drama possible :P anyhoo, it's been interesting and i hope that our team can fulfil the potential that is there.

i've just registered for the CSC.. anyone take it recently? brooklyn, u were right, and i gotta keep goin. cereal girl: practise makes perfect. but you need paper.. girl of yak: be meanie #2 :)

pdl has also started.. it's been quite exciting to see everyone excited =) more to come on that.

what's everyone doing this weekend (thanksgiving)?? my family is leaving me for the weekend.. i think i'll be going to ppl's parties, etc.

oh yeah.. i was thinking about the songs i've listened to the most this year.. i think it ends up being these 10 artists/bands/songs:

Moulann - 1000 Dreams/When You Turn Away
3 Doors Down - Here Without You
Kelly Clarkson - Because of You/Breakaway, etc
Seether feat. Amy Lee - Broken
Linkin Park feat. Jay-Z - Numb Encore
Howie Day - Collide
James Blunt - You're Beautiful
Ryan Cabrera - True
Maroon 5 - She Will Be Loved

and finally.. probably cuz i went to see them in their hometown:

u2 - where the streets have no name/with or without you/beautiful day, etc

man, i gotta keep wheelin and dealin. workin hard and pushing. speakin*truth+love.

pix from gizzy's bday: here

tomlin, it's time to rock =)

pdl, nacivt, weddings & funerals

2005-09-24T14:32:00.000-05:00

wow, it's been a long month since i last posted.

i've given up on posting pictures here, cuz it's just too much work.. don't know how flickr decides to allow hotlinks or not...just check out my flickr site: here.. pix from the labour day tourney, etc are posted there (nacivt sets 1-3)... also, check out jason chau's pix

i've been under the weather or "sick" as most ppl call it.. i took one day off work, but the other days have been a struggle to work and function properly.

i guess i haven't really mentioned the labour day tournament much, but as most of you know, it was a blast. we won the tournament (my first "real" one), but i guess getting to play against mike lambert, scott wong (yes girls, he's quite a hot commodity) & kevin wong all together was crazy.. we played them in the quarterfinals, but there was a bigger anticipation and crowd for our match than any other. there's tons of videos and pix floating around...

what's up for the fall? we're doing a 'purpose driven life' campaign at church.. if you've never heard of the book, it's a top seller internationally, written by rick warren. anyhoo, as the title suggests, it's about finding one's purpose in life. if you're interested in discussing, come on out :)

that's all for now, hopefully i'll get back to posting more..

"you and i, Collide"

2005-08-28T23:02:00.000-05:00

i know, i know.. i haven't posted in ages.. i gotta be less busy and better at this image posting thing.. if you noticed, i finally posted from weeks ago.. i did like zero editing, i should continue this way =)

anyhoo, i haven't seen many of you in ages.. please come on by to one of the biggest 9-man tourneys of my 'career'.. if you've never heard of or seen 9-man.. it's awesome to watch :) labour day weekend (yes, sat/sun AND monday) at metro convention center.. come any day if you can.. we'll usually be playing from 10-6ish.. i'm playing on Connex A if you're looking for me... but if you can only come one day, come monday after lunch time.. that's when the big action will be happening.. the big tourney won't be here again til another 5-6 years (at the cne last time.. i remember some of you coming out).. i know there are a ton of photographers out there.. i rarely ever ask, but come and shoot =)

here's Jeff in action in NYC (shot by cereal girl, d30, 28-135IS), during the finals versus Washington DC Hip Sing.

been shooting a ton of weddings... got to use an F5 last weekend.. it was wicked.. now i know what pro body is like... saw someone using a d2h at a ccsa softball game.. can't afford the d2x and want something better than the d70.. nikon, do whatever it takes dude :P

here's a couple from one i shot yesterday with janes.. congrats again naomi & ben! (20d/24-70L f/2.8, 17-85IS for wideangle+random processing)

www.flickr.com

broken dreams...

2005-08-15T19:19:00.000-05:00

[note: it's aug 28, even tho i wrote this on the 15th, didn't like the image quality :P]

it's funny what makes you emotional sometimes..

i've been closeted up in The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings for the last couple of weeks.. sleeping at ridiculous times just to get a glimpse of the imagination that i vaguely remember experiencing way back in the day.. i guess i got more than i bargained for =)...

now that i'm looking at amazon.com links, there's more and more books to read (supplementary and maybe not as good?) about the whole universe of the 'bels' and 'pols'.

on the noggin':
priorities
reactivity
choices

thru the lense (all 20d/24-70L f/2.8/3200/noise filtered/resized):

[playing carcassonne]

[team tiff & dave wondering how they should proceed]

["look, i've got it all under control, i rule at this game"]

["no, YOU look buddy, i have a say in this team!]

["um, do you want to team up with me?"]

["i think you should leave your domestic disputes at home :P"]

and here's the fun part: laying out the story:

Repeating:
DHT - Listen to Your Heart (these basic remakes are really making me think about doing some myself)
Howie Day - Collide (i don't know about the Dawson-ish riff)

"in the light".. so feelin it :)

2005-07-10T23:42:00.000-05:00

I keep trying to find a life
On my own, apart from you
I am the king of excuses
I’ve got one for every selfish thing I do

What’s going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I’m still a man in need of a savior

(chorus)
I wanna be in the light
As you are in the light
I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens
Oh, lord be my light and be my salvation
Cause all I want is to be in the light
All I want is to be in the light

The disease of self runs through my blood
It’s a cancer fatal to my soul
Every attempt on my behalf has failed
To bring this sickness under control

Tell me, what’s going on inside of me?
I despise my own behavior
This only serves to confirm my suspicions
That I’m still a man in need of a savior

Honesty becomes me
[there’s nothing left to lose]
The secrets that did run me
[in your presence are defused]
Pride has no position
[and riches have no worth]
The fame that once did cover me
[has been sentenced to this earth]
Has been sentenced to this earth

pictorial catchup

2005-07-09T16:07:00.000-05:00

it's been a while, but i've been working on pix for you guys :) click on the underground pic for more =)

'remember the good times and things that make you smile.. terrorism's goal is to take that away' (5:20pm :P)

yet again, blogging is easy :P

2005-06-24T10:57:00.000-05:00

access to the net has been far and few behind.. i'm in a net cafe in dublin with wongs right now... the weather in london was smoking hot, and b.fu took me on the whirlwind tour of the downtown central area... thanks dude. met up with wongs and breda at the dublin airport, and we've been having a great time.. drinking more guinness than i've ever had :) been shooting a bit here and there, but sometimes i wish i brought an audio or video recorder.. so many cool and funny ppl here. did some singing on a bar patio at a guarda (po-po) to 'let the guy go' (who got pulled over).. that was after we were singing "you're screwed, you're screwed".. dublin has been quite a bit cooler, so tmr's concert day (basically we're going around 2pm to pickup our tickets and then 6 is the opening act, with u2 coming on at like quarter to 9) is going to be tough... i hope i make it thru tmr.. 80,000 fans on the pitch at the stadium is going to be nutz.

uuuuuuKK

2005-06-17T06:23:00.000-05:00

for those of you don't know, i'm going to the UK tonite =)

obviously, i haven't packed. i gotta still go to work... still trying to figure out this portable harddrive thing... thanks again to the doubleP for hooking me up, drew for the bmi suggestion (and the port. drive), mikedoubleM for his 1gb, janes for her 50mm.... *whew*... uh, i still need a tripod.. anyone :P? haha.

off to work!

creativity, not hype?

2005-06-13T23:13:00.000-05:00

kudos to kalam for taking the initiative for our creativity small group at church.. we're going to be discussing things by blog, maybe i'll post that eventually (with ppls' permission).

[dbl P's 20d, 24-70mm f/2.8L]

man, i luv pix. i know you guys love pix.. but with the server down, i don't know an easy way of posting more (without lots of work).

ryan not listening to mom when she says: "don't push the buttons when i'm dialing!"

[same, but crop at iso800]

Ryan's "muahaha"/"hehe" look ^_^

effedinthehead

2005-06-12T00:04:00.000-05:00

i mentioned transition phase. <--i don't know what this is. like jess' blog, IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

maybe it's the "transition phase", or lady heather, or tonite's wedding.. or something. either i'm like akon, or beck.. or maybe misunderstood.. i often describe myself (to myself) as a raging torrent. most ppl don't know, some wouldn't understand/be able to handle it. i shield the populace from the angst... or am i protecting myself from me? (or am i being overly dramatic about it)... like some of my friends, i sometimes love writing in bitter code (maybe that's why i like ballads, especially bitter ones, i need to write more songs! cuz i'm broken, when i'm open).. thursday, it wasn't angst, but comedic in nature.. pure randomness, eh?..(tangent) i notice when ppl notice, but generally pretend not to. (/tangent) 3 doors down describes a good chunk of my adult life: far and few between tho. if only i had the guts to get rejected... too little too late

I try to get some answers
But you refuse to reply
I try so hard to reach out to you
But you turn the other way
Moulann