snacky in my stummy.

Ceremony - Curtis Ian and the Joy Division

It's been a pretty hectic and busy week. A bit overwhelming, to be honest. So many important decisions to make, with so little time to make them. I was really hoping to get just one week of rest and to get my shit together before the jobhunt began, but I feel like I've been running really low on sleep, and less energy to do what I want to do: finish my portfolio. I guess it's a good thing.

I've been working from home lately, and sometimes I find it hard to focus until after dinner. Another weird thing... I've never known myself to be a snacky person. I'm a meal person. I eat big meals, and that's it. I may have one or two glasses of water or a drink between meals, but no granola bars, no chocolate bars, no crackers, nothing. But for some reason, working from home is starting to change that... I constantly feel like I need something in my mouth.. (no, you dirty bastards. no.) And because I've never had a history of snacking, I have nothing in the apartment to feed that craving.

So, I've been making mini-meals. Like instant noodles or eating leftovers. I'm thinking a part of it might be procrastination at work; eating just so I'm doing anything but the work I'm supposed to. Maybe I should start doing my work at Second Cup or Williams so I'm out of the apartment...

Joy Division's Ceremony has been in my head all day. Great song. Oh and thanks for the bike ride Kyra. Gotta explore the other parts of High Park when it's not so muddy and cold. It's awesome to finally have a biking buddy.

moving along.

My glove...


Hand damage.


My left hip and my right knee. I found the knee bruise one this morning...


This morning after some healing. For some reason it looks worse than yesterday...


Had my first bike wipe-out yesterday. There was minor damage.

It was a looong Friday the 13th. With only 4 hours of sleep the night before, I had to be up for a dentist appointment. It was somewhat painful yet relaxing. I actually quite enjoy going to the dentist's for cleaning. Met up with friends for lunch, and a lot more people than I expected came out to see me. Got my stuff from my desk thanks to Jakob. Said some goodbyes, though I'm sure it won't be the last time I see any of them.

On my way home, I was biking pretty fast down Richmond, and tried to hang a right on Augusta. Because of my speed, I slowed down and took a wide right. A car was coming down the side street, also making a wide turn, so he was pretty much driving in the middle of the street. I panicked and clenched the brakes a bit too hard. My left hand beat my right hand to a full squeeze, so my front brakes locked up before my rear did, causing me to fly over my bike... That's the last thing I remember, since everything happened so fast. Next thing I knew, I was on my side, picking myself up off the pavement...

It was embarassing more than anything. Minor damage to myself, nothing too bad on the bike, and no damage to my clothes, which is really good... Though my pants looked all torn to begin with, haha. My right glove was torn.

Anyway, I went home to nurse my wounds and screamed like a girl when I put peroxide to disinfect. Took a video, but I probably won't post it. At least not right now. The night ended with video games at Rich and Jenna's til 1:30AM, then walked home.

Anyway, it's a nice day out. Gonna go for a bike ride... :D

the road ahead.

Shadows In Silence - Enigma

This daylight savings time change has messed up my morning routine. But hey, I don't get off work to complete darkness anymore. Only to gloomy rainy weather instead... Rode my bike for the first time last Thursday since last summer. You know, you don't realize how badly out of shape you are til you get on a bicycle.

I know to some people it may seem like a small feat, but last summer I conquered Toronto by biking up to Markham. It took me all summer to work up enough stamina and strength to do it. Now, I can barely reach my work, an 8 minute bike ride away, without feeling out of breath and having jelly legs afterwards. It's a little discouraging to think that the biking last summer was all for naught, and that I have to start from square one again. That's what I hate about seasons... But then again, I could just get on a treadmill or gymcycle during the winter months... 9_9

Below, I've posted a drivelapse that I shot during the Family Day long weekend. Aside from chatting, I had nothing better to do in the car while my uncle drove, so every thirty seconds to a minute, I would take a picture of the road ahead. I calculated it so that it would last longer than my last timelapse (3 seconds long). My arms were dead at the end of the 5.5 hour drive. I put it together tonight. It's still pretty short, but it was a nice experiment. I really need to do timelapses in shorter time intervals... sigh.



I also wanted to share this drivelapse that was done for Honda Japan's Internavi Realization. I found it via FWA. As you will see, it's pretty amateur compared to my drivelapse, hahaha... joking. This was really well done, I thought. I'm loving the music; especially Yusuke Oya's Bridge On the Planet. I can't find much of anything on Yusuke Oya though. I want that song.

nature calls.

I've been biking after work to Cherry Beach for the past two days to read and enjoy the setting sun. Really relaxing... It makes me want to make the most of my summer before the nasty ass snow comes back. Something about the sound of water and birds in the background, it's so soothing. Makes you forget about all the crap that gets thrown at you from the minute you wake up.

Every day, we spend the majority of our time inside a room, office, or vehicle. Always confined within some sort of space. And those times when we're commuting, we're listening to the radio, ipod, or talking/sleeping... Always looking in front of you or downwards at the ground. So rare do we exercise our neck muscles to look up at the sky. The clouds. The stars. The vastness of this world. If we took 5 minutes a day to stare up at the sky and truly focus on the space above us, we'll realize how meaningless our daily routines, our possessions, our money, our "sense of individuality" are.

This is just a clip of Cherry Beach and how relaxing it was. Just ambient sounds and a beautiful view, nothing action packed. But hey, maybe it'll inspire you to get off your lazy ass and do some outdoor activities and breathe in some almost-fresh Toronto air... haha.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

uptown-bound adventure

My goal of biking to Richmond Hill/Markham was fulfilled this long weekend. Made it in 3.5 hours from Queens Quay and Bathurst, to 16th and Warden on Sunday August 3rd. Left my place at around 12:30 and got to my aunt's place by 3:45. I took two 15 minute breaks, and because of the treacherous uphills, had to walk my bike up thrice. The three killer uphills for me were:

1. somewhere between St Clair and Eglinton on Yonge;
2. the stretch between York Mills and 401 on Yonge;
3. and on Bayview between Steeles and Proctor.

Rests were taken at Finch station and at Bayview and Laureleaf. The route taken was mainly on Yonge, in case I got tired and couldn't make it all the way up. According to Google Maps, the route I took was 34.1km. That's was about an hour for every ten kilometres? Hmm.. I was pretty damn slow... Boo. Also according to Google Maps, if I were to walk it, it would take about 7 hours and 4 minutes. Any takers?

I documented (by video) parts of the trip with my point n shoot camera attached to my shoulder. Alas, it came loose closer to Finch station and was reattached incorrectly. So all my footage from Finch station on was pointing too low. Boo.



That's one of the clips on Steeles between Yonge and Bayview. That stretch was a fun downhill ride. But the best downhill award has to go to the stretch North of Lawrence aand South of York Mills on Yonge. I must've been going close to 40km/hr... I was almost catching up to cars! Had my bike gave out, I probably would've died if not severely injured...

Next time, I'll probably record where the uphills and downhills were and do a diagram of it. Make the after-trip a little more fun. By time I got to my aunt's, my legs were dead. But amazingly enough, the next morning, I woke up without the soreness. Probably cause of the dim sum eating.

At the end of the day yesterday, my uncle sent me this crazy video of the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. Absolute madness.

clothes, mashed potatoes, and photos.

weekend.
despite the crappy week, i've been enjoying the time alone this weekend. to a certain extent. i did a lot of shopping, biking and shooting, and went to a potluck/barbecue that was too full of potato dishes. there was shepherd's pie, cottage pie, bangers n' mash, scalloped potatoes, and baked potato chunks... it was delicious though. zack's meatballs were amazing. and so was the sangria!! oh god, i could go for another pitcher of that!! i'm drooling just thinking about it all...

bike hike.
went on two bike hikes this weekend. friday night, i went along lakeshore west all the way past parklawn dr and snapped a lot. but the results weren't all too satisfying. then biked all the way east to cherry st to do some grocery shopping at T&T. snapped a few pics there too when it got dark. sunday, i biked west again to the same spot, but took more photos of the calatrava-inspired pedestrian bridge. the photos you can see on my flickr account. that way, i don't have to flood my facebook and blog with test shots. check it.

oh my god... shoes.
not quite shoes, but clothing, nonetheless. i know last year i've been saying that i would never shop from h&m again (reason being that everyone shops from there, and you run into people wearing your clothes almost every day...) but when i dropped by saturday, i couldn't help but drool over their assortment of shorts. i wanted to buy a few pairs of shorts, but i decided to only pick one. i walked out of there with a tshirt, a pair of shorts and a reversible windbreaker! DING! and bought a couple of things at hmv...

i want to be a robot.
having spent the most of this weekend alone, i felt strangely comfortable by myself. but only for the first while. as soon as i got home sunday evening before dinner, the feeling of discomfort hit me like a sac of bricks. i don't know how you solitary people do it.

stop-motion animation.
i dropped by silver snails friday and got a posable spider-man figure. so i got the figure, i got the video, i got the camera. now all i need is some time. in a couple of weeks, i'll do another post of my progress. a teaser, if you will. but for now, enjoy the photo!

what a feelin'

james d. sent me this link early this morning to a video and got flashdance's what a feeling stuck in my head all. day. long. but i couldn't stop watching the video... it was so addictive. so dramatic. so inspiring. so passionate. so amazing. the animation mainly. and the quality of the stop motion. anyway, feast your eyes on this video (link here if you can't see it).

Mandalorian Dance
by PatrickBoivin

i've wanted to do my own stop-motion since february now, but i don't have any toys nearly as articulate as the one they used for this boba fett flashdance animation. probably gonna drop by silver snail this week to look for one. pretty hyped up to get started with it!

in other news, i got me papa's digital slr while i was in montreal. i can finally start takin some quality pictures! oh, what a feeelin!! i can have it all! take your passion and make it happen!! oh god, where would i be without 80's music... oh and music came back into my life. it was gone for a good week. nothing a little mj couldn't fix. again, where would i be without the 80's.

oh one last thing! this really marks my age, but hey, you'll get old too. anyone remember bmx bandits with nicole kidman in it? the movie came out in 1983, but i never saw it in theatres in english. watched it in french on beta tape. that's right. beta. i youtubed it this morning and well... i gotta say. it brings back memories with the music and the tricks and all. i always wanted one of those masks and the whole costume. it was so rad back then. much like the powerglove.

bike hike 2008-1: lakeshore west

a few weeks ago, I started to bike again. mainly to and from work, which is only a 20 minutes walk. the first day of biking proved to be quite a challenged. by the time i got in to work, i was all sweaty, my lungs were burning, my legs were aching, my heart was pounding and my head spinning. it made me think. we really need a shower at our office.

last weekend, because of the ttc strike, it killed my plans to go uptown for the day. there had been a lot of things clouding my mind, so instead i biked for 4 hours or so sunday to get to clear my head. i went to christie pits to get ice cream and people watch, then i biked southwest to lakeshore and lansdowne and stopped to rest by the lake. i enjoyed the solitary moments watching the waves hit the sand and the seagulls hover over the water. then i biked all the way to park lawn rd and lakeshore, and then turned back to head home. it was a really nice ride. i wanted to take pictures my biking adventures, but i had forgotten my camera at home. boo.

my goal is to be able to bike uptown to richmond hill before the end of june. it will be a challenge, especially since the north end of the city isn't the most biker friendly areas. but with a bit of research, i should be able to find trails and biker friendly streets to get to my where i want to.

on other non-biking news, they were filming a movie around the corner of my condo at lakeshore and bathurst last friday night. i took a few pictures from my balcony of the scene. saw them blowing fake snow onto the ground, with all these rusty cars there. according to this discussion board from torontojungle.com (post #2), they were filming max payne the movie. imbd says mark wahlberg will be playing max payne. that's pretty hot. he's perfect for the part. now, off to montreal for the weekend. cheers!