Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A lot's been happening

Well I've kind of been silent for a while. As seen on Shan's blog, we're having a baby. We just had our 20th week ultrasound and the baby has moved from the status of "Skeletor" like creature to a "merfolk alien" type creature, a whole +2HD (I'm convinced this kid is going to be a jock). I'm quite excited about becoming a father, also quite terrified by the ultimate responsibility.

Also quite recently my parents came and visited us in Vancouver, which was great. I haven't seen them in over 2 years and it was a wonderful experience. We mainly just hung out and went out for dinners. I got to go and see a movie with my father which as always was a lot of fun (it was Batman, worth seeing for a 2nd time). Also got him a copy of Watchmen, which was amusing as he had bought me a copy of the Heroes comic en francais de Paris.

I've also been running a 4th Edition D&D game over the last few months. It's been going quite well and I've been running a wiki for it mostly for player use.

All in all, life is great. It's been so great that I just haven't felt like blogging. My head space has been a little weird but in a good way. Now that the news about the baby is out in the open I'll blog more.

Monday, August 25, 2008

In Memory of my kitties



I saw this on Today's Big Thing and remember my old family cats that passed away shortly after I left for Vancouver. I love when cats do people things. My favourite I think is the cat that just wants to lie down.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Spamalot? More like Spamaless

So Shan and I went and saw Spamalot last night. Unfortunately we were very disappointed. The acting was not very good, the attempt at British Accents was awful and the humour was out of sync making the delivery terrible. Whats worse is we felt like there was something wrong with us. Everyone in the Cinema was laughing their guts out but we just didn't find it funny. I was sitting there for 2o minutes thinking it was just me but then I figured out Shan was clapping to be polite. In the first hour I laughed at maybe 2 jokes, the rest of it was like someone dismembering a beloved friend and parading their parts on stage for the joy of the audience. We decided to leave at Intermission. I have never walked out of something I have paid for but it was worth it. The only thing I would say that the show had in its favour was the set.

Its also weird because recently friends of ours went and saw it and said it was hysterical. Also my parents saw it in New York and said it was really good. I've heard other reports that it had been good. It's possible that its a geographical annomally and that the other areas are better but I think thats going to be my last brush with musical theatre. I'll stick to Operrettas from here on in. Where the hell is my Gilbert and Sullivan!

So if your considering seeing Spamalot in Vancouver, count this as a mark against it. I would not want to disuade you but at least maybe this will cut down some of the hype. I got half priced tickets, so hopefully your full priced tickets will make it better.

I had it all planned

I had it all planned on how I wanted to talk about my holiday. I even wrote notes about what we did and where we went. But in the end I don't really want to blog about it. Thats not to say its not blog worthy, just I feel like my brain is wrapped in Cotton wool regarding the holiday.

What I will say is that I saw many beautiful and awing sites. And while I really enjoyed traveling around Europe (I think in the end Germany was the best but I would need more time there to confirm it) the best was catching up with friends who I haven't seen in 2+ years. Steve and Alex, Aoife, Tancred and Evelyn, Pete & Abbey, Falsedan (and Aija), Vee and Jo. It made me also miss everyone back in Oz. I hope I can see you all again real soon.

I will eventually get my pics up on Flickr. I think Shan has some up, but we just haven't had time to go through them all.

Eventually you will get to see me fire a flintlock pistol. I promise.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Let's blow this popsicle stand

So we're off! Everything's packed, we're just waiting on our ride to the Airport. By the time you read this we'll already be gone. Heading to Europe to Paris, Düsseldorf, Londinium, Edinburgh and Sunny Swindon. Will update when I get the chance.

And I'll be singing this while we're flying (yes its on my iPod), sing with me now



Signed,
Jaime "I'm on Holidays" F

Monday, March 31, 2008

Ministry

So last friday night we went out to see Ministry. Now Ministry is one of those bands I've always wanted to see. So last November when I heard "this is going to be Ministry's last tour" I scrambled hard to purchase tickets and got them surprisingly easily. And then promptly forgot I had tickets. Then the new year came round and I started thinking "Ministry, thats soon right" and the started getting excited.

Fast forward to March 28th and it was time. Now Shan and I weren't feeling that great as we hadn't been sleeping well all week, but it was going to be a once only chance. We went out with dinner with friends and then wandered over to the Commodore Ballroom. We had missed Hemlock, but Meshuggah were still playing and were pretty darn awesome. It was everything I could have wanted from a metal band along with the outrageous harsh vocals.

And then Ministry came on. They played a bunch of music of which I recognised maybe 2 songs but was pretty wicked. We'd been smart, we had bought earplugs as Rob and Elwood had warned us that Ministry is in the Guinness book of world records for loudest show and I could actually hear the next day as apposed to the times I had seen Sepultura, Soulfly and Biohazzard.

But the best came with the encores. During the first encore they announced that they had with them Burton C. Bell from Fear factory. This for me made me ecstatic as I have always wanted to see Fear Factory back when Obsolete came out. Talking to friends they've said that Bell is not great performing live as a lot of the vocals were augmented in studio but that was not noticeable during Ministry's performance. So the first encore played a lot of their older songs especially a bunch from Psalm 69 and the audience went off! Then the second encore was nuts. They played songs from their cover album Cover Up and the tracks were Roadhouse Blues (The doors) and Under my thumb (The Rolling Stones). I couldn't stop laughing.

We decided at that point the night probably wouldn't get better than that and headed for home. It was a great night out, thanks heaps Ministry!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Haven't really felt like blogging

I've hit a general malaise. Well technically I couldn't say it was a general but there were several stars on his shoulders so I just assumed and decided to lay low for a bit. I would say "not much has happened" but the exciting news is we (that is Shan and I) are going to Europe for a month. Its just too exciting, it's excitement to the max. We're going to go to Paris, Dusseldorf, London, Edinburgh and the west country. We're going to see a heap of friends who we haven't seen in 2-3 years, it's really lifting my spirits that we're going.

In other news, I was saddened yesterday to hear that Gary Gygax died. An important figure in the D&D/RPG community of which I've played modules of his since 1985, first with my father and then with my party when I took the DM mantle. While everyone may not have liked D&D or him personally he along with a few others were the ones who made the revolutionary move from wargaming to an individual state of play which became roleplaying.

Been watching a lot of movies lately. I really really liked No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood. Juno was throughly enjoyable and a fun film to watch.

TV wise, I've started watching Rescue Me which stars Dennis Leary. I'm hooked on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which I don't really know why. The actress playing Connor isn't overly convincing and the story is a little hokey, but its sci-fi and not terrible so its kinda fun. Plus it Stars Summer Glau hitting people very hard in an unemotional kind of way. Then again, I think I could watch most things where Glau hits a guy. Torchwood has started again and soon the next season of Doctor Who will be up. Lost has been really good this season, surprisingly good.

Other than that, kicking along. Been taking a Grammar class to see if I have it in me to go back to uni since it's a benefit of UBC to cover a certain amount of credits per year. The class went well and I feel that after I take a maths course I should be ready to take full advantage of the "free" tuition.

So I know I said this once before but I will try and blog more often. At least once a month. I tend to blog a bit more frequently on One Sentence Hive but for those who don't frequent there or like to get full info from here, I'll be more diligent.

Peace out