Eneref

Hisashiburi....

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:44:04 GMT

Hello, Journal. I'm sorry I haven't paid any attention to you in almost 2 months. Don't take it personally. I'm not seeing another journal. I promise. I just don't feel that we're as close as we used to be. I think we need some time apart, you and I -- to figure out where we're going on this whole journaling thing. I mean sure, we've had some good times, LJ. But do we have any sort of future together?

And don't read too much into this entry. It doesn't mean I've come back to write in you again. I'm just letting you know where we stand right now because I'm tired of you pestering me.

And what whole thing where you crashed my browser the other day out of spite? That is totally not helping me feel like you can be mature about this situation. And please stop emailing people on my friends list and asking them if they've seen me. No one likes a stalker. I just need some time away. Please understand.

I just need to find myself.

Rich. Yes... I just need to find myself rich. And powerful. And living on a remote hollowed-out volcano island with an army of colour-coded henchmen/ninjas all helping to carry out my nefarious plans.

Don't make this any harder than it is.

And now the bad news....

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:30:47 GMT

While I was going to post earlier that my aunt had been diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, I didn't get around to it. It was incredibly sudden, as ovarian cancer is VERY fast-paced, and often by the time anyone notices anything (especially in women past menopause), it's well past the early stages.

She just retired, and was looking forward to some time off, but ended up being on chemotherapy instead.

Unfortunately, to make matters speedier, she died yesterday from a blood clot... really far sooner than any of us expected.

I just heard from my cousin (her daughter) about it this afternoon and we're trying to get in touch with my mother who's off somewhere in Europe and pretty close to unreachable (they were in Hungary, but left and went to Vienna, then decided that they didn't want to go back to Hungary, so they went on to somewhere remote in Italy -- not sure WHERE they are now).

Humans are incredibly fragile creatures. How we ever dominated this planet is still somewhat of a mystery. I'm guessing relative longevity coupled with massive breeding.

10 years ago today....

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:01:17 GMT

Today, 10 years ago, I was moving into my first apartment of my own.

Allen, Scott Ruff 'n' Co, and Heather #2 were all there to help.

Mid-way through the afternoon, we heard word that Diana had died, and it just ripped me apart.

Having grown up with the monarchy, it's always had a very important place in my heart. I knew the words to "God Save the Queen" long before I think I'd ever heard the Star Spangled Banner. Before I even knew what a president was, the Queen was, to me, a rich and powerful symbol. I can findly remember the joy and wonder at the year of festivities in 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and how my school and our village celebrated.

Not long after, for the marriage of the century, between Charles and Diana, I was glued to the television, watching in awe. While Charles looked handsome and dapper in his uniform, Diana was simply radiance incarnate. Beautiful. Perfect in every way. She was, very much, everything a princess was supposed to be, and in my head, she was very much my princess.

While, over the years, the marriage between the two crumbled and fell, Diana's power and grace as a symbol never faltered. Next to the Queen, Diana was easily the most recognised figure in Britain. And when she died, in such a senseless accident, it genuinely hurt.

And it still does.

First the good news....

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 17:35:03 GMT

The results are in!

My father won a gold at the World Games in Hungary, and broke 3 world records! Yay dad!

The Future....

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 11:55:54 GMT

In the future, all our jobs will be done either by robots madein Asia or by cheap software from India.

This bodes well for the Asian/Indian economy. The rest of us are screwed.

Too much Doom

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:29:24 GMT

The fluourescent lights above one of the stalls in the restrooms on this floor are dying -- dimmed and occasionally flickering brightly.

I find myself looking for the secret door or the inevitable opening to waiting imps.

I don't log in much anymore

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:33:04 GMT

If anyone's been noticing I don't comment much anymore (does anyone notice that sort of thing), it's because I don't log in much anymore.

LJ just hasn't had any draw for me of late.

ZOMG! We'z pregnunt! LOLOL!!!1! 4Real!

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:09:59 GMT

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSWEL7556320070809

WTF NOWAY!!!

That couple needs to have its breeding license revoked... not just be disallowed to use the name.

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:06:25 GMT

Dinner and a movie tonight. Stardust doesn't seem to be getting the play in theatres that I expected. Was a fantastic book... but I'm somewhat wary of a screen adaptation.

Tomorrow, I begin teaching Wing Chun to Stephen. Should give me someone new to roll with eventually. While I can't arrogantly claim to be able to beat all my classmates, I HAVE rolled with all of them enough to have a beginning sensitivity to their motions. But as Sifu says, the more people you roll with, the better.

Lazy Sunday

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:26:16 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=178

I haven't had much to say lately. I'd update about all the cool things going on in my life, but a) I don't feel like it, b) I don't have time, and c) I don't think it really matters all that much.

9 years... then and now....

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:33:26 GMT

It's been nine years as of today, and though it's not always been some storybook crazy love, I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything. She is and has been my dearest friend and partner, my drive to excel, and my motivation to better myself at every opportunity.

Here's to nine years. :)

Okay... this isn't technically nine years ago, but it's one of the oldest pictures of Her I have. This was taken at a nearby lake back in march of '99.

And this was taken near another body of water (up in Quebec) just earlier this year:

She just gets more and more beautiful every year.

We are a society of victims....

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:50:57 GMT

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1185040507206380.xml&coll=7&thispage=1

Look... let's destroy the lives of two thirteen year old boys! Why? Because we CAN!

Imagine being branded for LIFE as a sex-offender because you slapped someone on the ass. Getting your ass kicked by the girl's football-player boyfriend? Sure. But 10 years in jail and a lifetime on the sex-offender registry?

Fucking insane.

This whole "Think of the children!" crap has GOT to stop.

Rue D'Auteuil at Sunset Toward the Northwest

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:56:29 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=173

Dusk is, by far, my favourite time of the day... seeing the world around me after the harsh glare of daylight had faded, and there is nothing left but the quiet of night.

It's a nostalgic feeling. Crickets, frogs, warm tungsten lights in the window of a house set against the darkness.... it all creates a feeling of magic and warmth. It reminds me of my childhood.... sitting in the cold spring and winter evenings, looking out across the dark farm fields toward the lights in the village down the lane -- wondering what sort of warmth and life lay just beyong my reach.

With fewer people outdoors, and the white noise of life dying down, individual noises seem to travel forever, and you can sit in the quiet and listen to occasional sounds from the lives of people all around: The dog barking two miles away in the distance; the neighbor a mile away calling out to her cat to come in for the night; the clink of dishes as someone washes up after dinner. It all creates a sense of home that no other time of the day seems to have.

Finished.

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 04:46:01 GMT

Okay.... I finished Harry Potter. I can now officially do other stuff this weekend besides just reading.

Congratulations, Tiff!

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:19:44 GMT

Tiffany has made it to the Olympic team!!! YAY TIFF! JIAYO!

To see her in action in the team tryouts:

(required changquan):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3304758061205463716&hl=en3

Her invincible straight sword:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2794156757980689166&hl=en

And her less favourite, but nigh invincible spear:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1349462928058756539&hl=en

Canton Cooks as the 'In' Spot

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:42:24 GMT

Some friends were in from LA this past week. One friend of mine called me up Thursday night and wanted me to meet her at Canton Cooks for lunch on Friday. Two other friends called me up on Friday afternoon and wanted me to meet them at Canton Cooks for lunch on Saturday.

Good thing it's the best Cantonese cuisine around.

Finally saw the Harry Potter movie this weekend. Absolutely incredible. It ranks up there as the best of the lot. I very much enjoyed movie number 4 because of its skilled editing, allowing them to tell a majority of the story in a short time slot. This movie does an even better job. Comparitively, movie number 3 was the worst of the lot with bad directing, horrible editing, and a focus on all the wrong aspects of the storyline.

Very full weekend overall and quite enjoyable.

Rue du Petit-Champlain at Night

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:50:52 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=171

Rue du Petit-Champlain is Quebec city's tourist zone. While the Old City is considered the touristy area, in reality, it's much more just a collection of boutique shops and overpriced restaurants, surrounded by old buildings and lovely architecture. It's about as tourist-focused as Manhattan... which is to say, it's a big draw for the non-locals, but it's not specifically catered to them.

Rue du Petit-Champlain, on the other hand, has pretty much NOTHING but tourist souvenir shops. Dozens of them, all lined up in a row by the water. Native Canadian art, art shops, craft shops, crappy t-shirt shops galore, etc. She wanted to go to check it out, but when we got there, we rapidly discovered there wasn't much to see (this isn't to say we didn't look ANYway, as we're both avid shopping fanatics).

To GET to Rue du Petit-Champlain from the Old City, you have to either take a cable car or walk down an ungodly number of stairs, as it's a good 70-100 feet below the rest of the town. We opted for the free route (stairs), which wasn't so bad going down.

On the way back UP we saw some old guy who just didn't seem to be able to complete the climb. We sat and discussed for a bit over whether or not we should go down and help him -- not wanting him to feel pitied, but not wanting someone who genuinely needed help to go without. Before we got a chance, though, he got back up and huffed it up the rest of the stairs.

Quebec city was quite lovely for an afternoon/evening/morning sort of visit. Arriving mid afternoon and leaving just after lunch the following day. I can't imagine what people would do there for days at a time, but I suppose I've never been one much for cities. Nice restaurants. Some nice shopping. But life... life is out there in the hills and along the coastline villages. THAT'S where the excitement happens.

Cthulhu fishies.

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:41:21 GMT

I found a supply of Cthulhu fishies to replace the one that went AWOL. It's the old style like I had (not the cheezy new one).

I ordered four silver ones, and they send me two silver and two gold. I think they did it to be nice, so I won't pester them about it, but I abhor gold coloured things.

SO... I have two gold cthulhu fish magnets for the cars of the first two people to express genuine interest. :)

Avalon

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:18:21 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=170

The title of this one comes from the first impressions of my friend Sarah, who looked at this picture and simply said "Avalon!" It does have that sort of feel to it. The island across the mists.

Sometimes, there is such striking beauty in isolation.

Toronto vacation and Quebec at mach 4.

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:23:32 GMT

9 day trip to Canada.

5 day trip through Quebec:

48 hours in the car (actual driving -- 52 hours in the car total). 2200 miles.

Qeubec City, Charlevoix, ferry to Gaspesie, circuit around peninsula, Percé, car nonstop from 10am to 4:30am back to Toronto.

"Wait... I don't speak French. Don't you?"

She has severe bronchitis bordering on pneumonia. No sleep every night with the coughing. Cough medicines didn't help. Codeine didn't help. Antibiotics didn't help. Tore an abdominal muscle from coughing. Saturday night/Sunday morning in the emergency room from hell (can someone please move the bleeding man, and mop the floor? Which part of Isolation means 'allow coughing/vomiting patient to wander the halls, spreading cheer and diseases' ?).

I have a broken wrist.

Problems worked on during trip: 3 hack attempts, 4 credit card fraud issues (Egyptian again), 2 server failures, 4-day email outage.

Cat misses me.

Returning to home feels very unfamiliar. Walking into the apartment felt like walking into a hotel in a foreign city. Uncomfortable.

2 hours sleep. Work.

One of these days, I'm going to have to have a vacation where I don't end up feeling like I've just spent a week in boot camp.

Vogel Falls

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 12:41:00 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=168

Not too long ago (okay... I'm lying, it was a while ago), I went hiking with cloakofwinter and his son over at Vogel State Park. I am STILL just THAT far behind on processing pictures (work takes precedence over everything else).

Mark's crazy son Chase decided it would be a good idea to run full gallop down the hill just to the right of the waterfall in this picture. It did not end well, although I'm really quite surprised he didn't break anything.

Wildly uninteresting weekend

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:13:24 GMT

That's what I had. Apart from a brief 4-hour break to weight-vest-hike 12 miles on Sunday morning at 4am, I was indoors working and/or cleaning all weekend.

I am grace incarnate

Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:50:44 GMT

So... last night at kung fu class, as is often the case, I was pushing myself to see just how far I could go. In this case, I was attempting to kick a target about seven and a half feet in the air. Kicking about 7 feet is pretty easy for me. No idea why... I just have good flexibility in that area.

Well... as is usually the case, my natural grace and skill caught up with me. My shoes have NO treads (long since worn out doing kung fu), and the floor we're on in the basement is a little slick (dusty). As you can expect, my ground foot came up and back I went on my back/head.

Over a decade of training (and doing stupid things) has at very least taught me one thing: how to fall. I fell back, slapped the floor as I came down to maximise surface area and help minimise impact. The result was that my head and back were in no way injured. My arms, on the other hand, hit the hard, concrete floor with more than 200 lbs of force, causing some bruising on my right palm, and some serious damage to my left wrist (can't rotate it, quite swollen, ugly bruises, severe contact pain, etc).

SO... back I am into a splint on my wrist. Go me.

Driving etc.

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:00:52 GMT

Went driving on Saturday. It was entertaining. Took a few pics. Someday, I might even take them off my camera.

Sunday, I had brunch with the folx. Gave my father a pro tripod for Fathers' Day. He seemed to enjoy it. I stole a handful of blueberries from my mother's blueberry bushes. The person I was supposed to have dinner with on Sunday evening did something he often does... made himself unavailable. Turned off his cell and didn't answer his home phone. Ah well. Instead of Little Szechuany goodness with a friend, I ate Canton Cooksly goodness while watching the 4400.

Began work on rewriting verbage for the IdeaSIP site and also creating a more formal job posting for a developer position. We're in rather desperate need of a C/C++/Java developer who's good, idealistic, willing to work, and able to do it for a half a peanut and some equity (did I MENTION our shoe-string budget?). We're also in pretty desperate need of graphic design and/or UI design. We've had two UI designers who've totally flaked out after stringing us on for a few months. We've lost a couple of graphic designers because of time constraints. Our original client developer got pregnant and went missing.

Some days, I feel less like this is running a company, and more like this is cat herding. I can see the goal. It's not far away. But the closer we get to it, the harder it is to keep everyone from running in random directions.

Buzzing About the Lavender

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:54:26 GMT

http://neil.rustedmetal.com/index.php?showimage=164

Bees in flight AND in focus? That's, like, hard and stuff. :)