Throw the body into the pit

One of the 12 foot pits in Ian's basement.

Visited Ian today and checked out the pit in his house's basement. No, it's not for dumping bodies. At least that's what he told me. No, it's actually a hell mouth that leads to... showing the foundation's integrity.

The house that shares the south side of Ian's house is owned by the city. Last winter it was vacant and because of that no one was around and the city did not send anyone to check in to see how things were going. Unfortunately, one of the water pipes burst causing the basement to fill with water. Water that soaked into the foundation and was left for days.

The result? The foundation of both houses were affected. The houses started to lean and now the house that Ian used to live in, along with the city house, has to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.

Ian, his wife Melanie, and two kids are living in another house while all this takes place. The ETA of the new house is at least a year away.


Warning sign: Open Pit.

Again, to the beach

A gull flies out in front of the camera becoming a blip in my time lapse sequence

They say the third time is the charm. Today I left the house earlier to get to the beach around 2:00pm. On top of that I was go to go with a meal of fish and chips, a lime pop, a travel cup of water, and an extra bottle of water.

I also brought a light stand, an extra towel, and a grip arm. Three things that came in handy as I used them to make a wall of shade next to the park table I dragged over from across the other side of the bike trail. I even cracked out my Psion 5 to type in notes (these last few blog entries) and had my Diva MP3 player to listen to music.

Even with the extra stuff, by around 5:00pm I was getting a bit bored just sitting there. My butt got sore and I found myself pacing around the camera talking on the cell phone. 6, 7, 8:00pm. The day seemed to crawl slowly as I waited for the sun to set. I had about five people during the day come over and ask what I was doing, had a few compliment the camera, and some others ask for photography tips.

By around 9:00 the sun has disappeared behind the tree line and I closed up shop to go home.

Back to the beach for more tests

A ladybug climbs out of the weedy grass.

Today was the second test day to shoot clouds using my shutter release cable. Compared to the first day I arrived to the beach more prepared. I brought a tripod, a towel, and sun screen.

I started shooting at 3:30pm and by 7:00pm the clouds thinned out and dissipated. Crud. That's the thing about shooting nature. You can never predict if the sky is going to cooperate with your shooting schedule.

Howard Hughes waited for months for clouds to show up with a full film crew and pilots standing by to shoot a dog fight scene. I kept telling myself that as I watched the last of the clouds disappear. It didn't really help much.

Wolf Call

"wee woo"

On the way back from the armoury (I helped with the clean up of yesterday's wedding) there were these two birds. I took a photo and showed the owner. The one featured in the photo
whistled "wee woo". Obviously the bird has good taste in photography.

Wedding Season begins

The dance with chairs. Almost lifted the groom into the ceiling fan.

Summer. Summer brings on weddings. Weddings bring on people asking if I photograph weddings. Funny that.

I don't outright advertise that I photograph weddings but I seem to be getting a lot of enquiries. I actually enjoy shooting weddings. It's a happy occasion, there's dancing, there's food and there's the potential to make a bit of cash. On top of that there's the multitude of photographic gems available the whole day.


Inside the lobby of the Royal York hotel

Today was such a day. I photographed the preparation (bride), wedding, and reception. People kept asking if I was okay or having fun. Me having fun? I'm always having fun behind the camera. One of the reasons for choosing photography as a profession in the first place.

A nurse once told me that life's too short do work at something that you hate or, in my case at the time, gives you stress (leading to acid reflux and a steady prescription of lo sac). She was right. Work that you love to do is never really work.

That said, my uncle Jack told me that "You should always have a hobby separate from what you do for a living". It seems that my hobbies have always turned into what I do for a living. I'm pretty fortunate that way.

Seems a bit cloudy

Some rock art

Went to the beach today to do a photo test shooting clouds. I wanted to do a time lapse sequence for James. He needs a background for a film he's working on. I had some spare time and I also wanted to try out the niffy Nikon MC-36. It's a shutter release cable with a timer built in. I've used it mainly as a standard shutter release cable to trigger the camera but never as a timer and since it usually collects dust on a shelf I figured this would be a good time as any to see if it works.

I climbed a vacant life guard stand and set up my tripod so I could see the lake without people's heads getting in the way. I even brought a book to read ("A long way down" by Nick Hornby). Sitting in one spot for a few hours can get boring if you don't plan it right.


Not so much art but a dead gull surrounded by rocks

As the clouds started to dissipate it also started getting cold. I decided to pack up the gear and go home. On the way I noticed some rock art. The heart, and then a couple of steps away was a dead bird surrounded by rocks. Was that art too?

Dual Birthday day

Lenna's birthday today.

Two of my friends had a birthday today. Laer and Leanna. I ended up seeing Leanna for her birthday taking her for dinner to a nearby Fox and Fiddle pub. Laer was nowhere to be found. I left a voice message but never heard back from him. I hope he was having a wild last minute party somewhere.

Laer, if you're reading this get back to me.

CHIN 2009

The Girls of Glam car wash

Spent today at the CHIN picnic with photographer friends Simon and James. Simon being the international fitness photographer that he is knew some of the contestants. He also knew about some car wash that had girls in bikinis.

Twisting our arms and fighting every inch of the way we succumbed and went to see these scantily clad women. (I'm being really sarcastic here) Well it was early in the morning. Early for me any way. Like 10am. I was feeling tired from not sleeping much the night before. Luckily there was a Tim Horton's near the car wash (located at Leslie and Lakeshore). It's there that I picked up a breakfast sandwich egg sausage combo on a bun.


An Elite dancer for the Sole power band

The usual photographers were at the picnic. These are the same ones that photograph the fashion circuit. It's nice to see familiar faces in the photo area. A) because you know how they'll photograph, B) there's power in numbers (ie. If we need to get someone down front to sit down it's more effective to have a crowd of photographers ask then a single one).


Nelly (contestant #10)

To be honest I really hate photographing these things. Mainly due to the lack of photographer etiquette. The photographers down front will stand causing a chain reaction behind them. So if you're shooting from the back you have to be standing on something to see and even if you do chances are you're not seeing any of the contestants feet because so-and-so's head is in the way.

One guy in front was standing and not even taking photos. Can we say human wall here? Have some consideration for your fellow photographers damn it!


Sara (contestant #19)

The bikinis were designed by SXE FX. Should you be interested in seeing more bikini selections by the same designer check out the site (www.sxefx.com).


Kaitlyn (contestant #3) and winner of miss CHIN bikini

As a side note: This was the first year the bikini winners had a police escort around the CNE grounds.


The army guards the winner, and the 1st and 2nd runners up from the group of photgraphers.

This also is the first time in over 20 years that I actually got a bit of a sun burn.

Chicken Bagel Burger

The Chicken Bagel Burger

I found myself making a chicken bagel burger for lunch or a late breakfast today. After loading the bagel with a few toppings I noticed that the sandwich had become almost as large as my head. What's the point of throwing on condiments if they're microfiche thin?

There's got to be a way to make a sandwich that can have all the condiments you want and still be able to fit into your mouth.


Click image to see sandwich squisher in action.

Imants Day

"Happy Imants Day!"

There are some countries where you celebrate your name day as opposed to your birthday. I'm not sure who assigns what day to what name but today was Imants day (according to the Latvian calendar). Not like we needed a specific reason for a barbecue party, "The day ends in a 'Y', Yay!!!" could have been just as fun. The fact that a country had specifically created an Imants day and that we have a friend named Imants... well, who are we to ask questions? Party on!

We left the TORD venue to motor on down to Candy's backyard where the Imants Day celebrations were taking place. Some barbecued food, fireworks, music, an official Imants flag, and a couple of fruit hungry raccoons thrown in for good measure.


There is a bit of rain.


Candy slaves over the barbecue being a great host


"Woo hoo! 100! 100 what?"


Melon bowling with glass beer bottles


Raccoon looking for melon

TORD rolls in on Canada Day

Penny Whistler welcomes you to the new TORD venue.

Canada Day. Wednesday. That means a split week. Two days of work, holiday, two days of work. Lame.

On the day off TORD had a "come see our new venue for free" event. They had two teams scrimmage against each other. A hodge podge of players from the four existing teams (gore-gores, chicks ahoy, death track dolls, and the smoke city betties) created two teams, black and white.


Inside the new spacious well lit venue

Since I uploaded most of these photos to facebook. I thought for the blog I'd make up a story based on some of the photos that I shot. Note this is completely fictional and didn't happen (really).


Dust Bunny warming up and sees...


"I think that ref is dead."


"bleh. not another dead ref body."


Anita Martini and Anya Face distract the crowd while the body is removed


"Huh? I don't see a body. I guess we can let this Joker go."

I kill me. (blogger with too much time on his hands)

The other gig

The Toronto skyline from lake Ontario

12pm. rain. boo. Would Joel's annual boat cruise be a wash out?

I had made my way to the launch just as the rain started to come down. The party boat luckily had three levels. The top deck with exposure to the outside and rain, the middle deck with food and shelter and the bottom deck with the dance floor and DJ (also sheltered). By half way into the cruise all floors had music being pumped into them from the DJ.


Mary Jane ready to shoot you one way or another

Despite the rain and my exhaustion I got a bunch of great photos. People were having a great time with or without sun. Half way into the cruise the rain let up and the ship goers wandered up to the top floor to get down with their funky selves.

Mary Jane, one of the passengers, had brought a whole slew of squirt guns. Despite the rainy weather they were still being used through out the day.


"Rain? What rain?"

The boat was a rockin' from leaving the dock to sailing in. One of the last songs was "Blame it on the boogie". It was a song I had requested and forgot about while I was working. Cool.

The Beef Ball

The Opera House

The Beef Ball was the second party I would be shooting this Pride weekend. Located on Queen street (just east of Broadview) the Opera House boasted a bunch of party goers with a leather theme.

While I am probably too conservative to wear anything real skimpy (ie. cowboy chaps where the bum is exposed) I did notice a leather kilt that looked cool. Everyone knows women love kilts and make it leather and presto you're walking off the set of the Matrix. But the feature that was really cool is that it had a utility compartment. Batman could wear this thing should he ever want to change his costume to include a kilt.


DJ Neill MacLeod

The DJ was instantly recognized by me. Usually I'm terrible with spotting celebrities, which is one of the reasons I do not shoot paparazzi photos. Unless they are on set or someone points and says there's so-and-so, meh, the camera stays in the bag. Celebrities are like anyone else and deserve some privacy.

MacLeod had been on the cover of the previous issue of FAB magazine. It's the same issue that had my photos of green bag alternatives, a rainbow jock strap, and a dialogue shirt. Plus the article in the magazine said he was a DJ. It didn't take much to recognize Neill in front of the turn table / CD mixer.


view from the balcony

Unlike the AX party, this party went until 5am. It had a bus that transported people to and fro the location and like the AX party had performers popping up on stage at the odd interval to get the crowd going.


The drummer, Bobby

By the time I got out the door the sun was just starting to come up. I'd make my way home by 6:30am. That would give me four and a half hours to back up the photos, have a nap, and get out of the house for the next gig.


Ugh, morning sunrise

AX party

The church at the corner of Berkeley and Queen

The first assignment of the Pride weekend was the AX party that took place in a church at Queen and Berkeley. What looked like a stogy building from the outside became an enormous dance/party room when you walked in. This was the perfect venue for the "Saints and Sinners" themed party.

I was impressed that Michael Jackson got some air time. There are those that are getting tired of the whole tribute thing and over used radio play but not me. Good music is still good music. I'm a bit old school in that I like hearing lyrics to music.


Dance party!

It was a really nice venue. A large dance floor next to a stage and a second floor that overlooked the first one. By midnight the venue was packed. Doing the photography thing became a bit challenging trying to photograph what was happening on stage and the people on the floor.

The partying and dancing lasted until around 3:00am. I snapped my last photo at 2:58am, went home and prepped for the next day.


DJ Quinces serves up the musical goods
For the first half or more of the party DJ Quinces operated the music box. At the time of writing this blog entry, the web site is down (www.djquinces.com) but if you're on facebook you can get a hold of her through the "DJ Quinces and Friends" group.

Rainbow!

"Pot of gold? Where?"

On the way home from working on the set of Bloodletting we (James and I) noticed this massive rainbow. Originally it ended up going into a Canadian Tire but by the time I got my camera out of the bag the Canadian Tire had zipped by us and the rainbow was relocated above a park.

It's appropriate with this weekend being Pride weekend and all.

If the tree's a shakin'....

10 beady eyes

On the way home I noticed some rustling noises coming out of a tree from across the street. When I went to investigate I looked up and I noticed this family of raccoons looking back down at me.

Yikes!

HCRG vs TORD 2009

Dicey sews on he coveted WFTDA badge.

The first period between the girls of TORD, better known as CN Power, and the Hammer City Roller Girls was a nail biter. Toronto was up a few points, then Hamilton would close in, and by the end of the period the score was Hammer City 33, CN Power 32.

The second period was much more easy to watch for the Hamilton fan as Hammer City zoomed into a 20 point lead. Final score Hammer city 82, CN Power 60.


The Eh Team (the Hammer City Roller Girls travel team)


Mia Culprit gets bitch slapped again.

An interesting thing to note was that I managed to get practically the same photo this year in Hamilton as the last year in Toronto. Mia Culprit being stopped by Bitch Slap Barbie. It's like deja vu.

Not in the cards

Rain drops on the GO bus window

We had planned my visit to Hamilton about a week ago. The main purpose, to see a tarot card reader, and maybe squeeze in a bit of boggle. Yeah, boggle, the word game. I can't remember when I started playing that in Hamilton. It was an alternative to visiting Hamilton for roller derby. A social network helper if you will. Although our boggle social network comprises of two right now.

With a bit of wesearch (web research - I just made that term up) Kellie found out that the reader would be at the Rebel's Rock Irish pub later in the evening. So the plan was to meet up at Plucker's where I would order my usual coconut shrimp, maybe a burger, play some boggle and do a bit of catch up.


Coconut shrimp at the Plucker, yet another configuration

My trip to Hamilton was a bit nutty. Perhaps due to the abundance of rain, the train to the GO station was delayed. The cab I used, because I couldn't sit on a non-moving train, got stuck in traffic. While boarding the GO bus (the cab dropped me off just in time) I got squashed in the door while it was closing on me. Then the GO bus sat in traffic for about 45 minutes trying to get onto the Gardener to get to Hamilton. I arrived at the Plucker almost an hour late.

We ended up eating at the Plucker and reading this bad tattoo book. The book was good and even funny it was about "bad tattoos". Kellie would flip through the book page by page subjecting herself to a different form of visual punishment. She would laugh so hard she couldn't breathe at times, show me the photo, I would laugh/be disgusted or combination there of. We would both be wondering "who the ___ would get a tattoo of that?".

Two particular images now forever burnt into my brain are that of a dolphin on a lazy boy with a bong and a dinosaur with a fanny pack. The later looked like a kid drew it but it cracks me up just thinking about it. Ha ha ha! So cheesy.


Kellie checks the parking meter

We finished eating around 8pm and headed over to the other pub... only to find out the reader called in and wasn't going to be there. D'oh! After all that.

We made our way over to "This ain't Hollywood", a new bar/pub/venue that opened up recently, said "Hi" to Becky, looked at a few old bottles, said "Hello" to a visiting bulldog, and then returned to the GO bus station where I headed back to Toronto.


Becky at "This ain't Hollywood"

Dance the night away

Rehearsing the dance number

Katarzyna, a friend of mine, who just happens to be a dance choreographer telephoned me to come out and see a dance rehearsal. It was based on a collaborative effort between her and some dancers she met a few weeks ago.

As a photographer it's kind of tricky to shoot a dance number the first time you see it. You don't know where or how the dancers will move. You have to rely on experience and luck to get the "good" shots. The challenge increases as the number of dancers increase as you then have to figure out which one to concentrate on at specific times.

Tonight there were six dancers. All moving at the same time. It was a bit nutty to say the least. They did the number a second time and I managed to get a few good shots before the night was over.

Kasia and I went for sushi afterward.


Katarzyna, dance choreographer

Ham it up

Lydia displays the wrapped gift - what can it be?

There's the odd time that you see something somewhere and it's screams "so-and-so has got to have this!" and because so-and-so is your friend you buy it and give it to them even if it's not their birthday or Christmas. It's one of those things that just has to make it into their hands as quick as possible.

Like giving the ring to Hal Jordan, the leather jacket to the Fonz, or spinach to Popeye, the item seems to complete them some how. It's that great. You don't find these things that often so when you do you've got to nab it right away. Who knows the next time you'll come across something so fitting?

This happened a few days ago. I was visiting Monster Records and on the way from there to the train station I saw a window display that screamed "Lydia!". I stood in front of the Shopaganda window for a bit checking out the display before going in.

They had done a great job on presentation. Usually they have crazy items in the window that make me stop to look when ever I pass by. This time it was a bunch of stuffed steaks and ham bones in the window hanging off string much like you would see in a butcher shop. Yes, stuffed, like in "stuffed" animals.

Lydia is one of those friends known for her knowledge and appreciation of meat, a meat connoisseur if you will. From bacon to steak to rabbit and lamb. If you have a question about meat, from purchasing, cooking to storage, you go to her. I don't think I've ever met anyone that liked bacon so much. I like bacon but on the Lydia loving bacon scale I probably only rate a 5, maybe a 6.

It's because of her love for meat that this stuffed ham bone seemed like a good purchase. So that's what I did, then bused it out to Hamilton to deliver it.


Lydia's ham reaction.


Melanie becomes victim of the ham.


Appreciating the ham.

It's the reaction as seen in the photos above that make the trip and the purchase worth while.

Jeff's weird chicken

Mutant on the barbecue?

This blog entry exists for only one purpose... to show you this mutant chicken on the barbecue. I was over talking to the neighbours, Jeff and Heather, and looked over at what was cooking. Jeff insisted I take a photo of this. So I did.

While it kind of looks like a mutant frog, It's actually a regular chicken, just sliced in a non-traditional way. At least non-traditional for me and the neighbours.

It smelled pretty yummy.

Steve and the Revolution

Steve (that tiny person in the background) uses his revolution to pick up a stuffed bear

This blog entry is dedicated to my friend who stays indoors and complains that nothing happens in his life.

It was one of those slow days where I found myself with an abundance of chores to do and no energy to do them. In other words I was bored. Chores? ugh. No, today I needed to do something else. After all, living the photographer's life is not all non-stop partying and fun, fun, fun. There's the reality of sifting through photos and doing the odd color correction, labelling, and renaming for delivery. That can be monotonous. Really monotonous.

I forced myself to get out of the house, go outside, go anywhere. The logic being that nothing really happens to you if you stay indoors. For me the highlight of staying indoors might be to watch a movie or TV show on DVD, socialize on facebook or get a flyer in the mail that's interesting. That's about it. Sure there's the whole cooking thing but sometimes you just need to be active not being active.

I ended up at the beach. There's one about a half hour walk from my apartment. Convenient to say the least. Nothing really interesting happened. That's the chance you take when you go outside. There were no beach parties, cute girls walking their dogs or rollerblading, large fires spewing from barbeques, birds attacking joggers, none of that. Then again maybe there was but I wasn't looking for anything specific. I wasn't looking for anything really at all other than to get outside and get some fresh air. I seem to remember seeing people being dragged across the water by large kites. They were on wake boards (like a skate board minus the wheels).

On my way back that I noticed a stuffed toy bear floating in the sky. It hovered slightly then came down to float in front of a baby carriage. Hey, something interesting that I wouldn't have noticed had I stayed at home indoors. It does happen from time to time, something interesting that is. The odds go up if I'm actually with other people or around other people.

The bear was hooked to a kite (see above). I looked over down the beach at the kite's owner and went over to talk to him. It turns out Steve, the kite flyer, had gotten off work early and came out to fly his kite (the revolution) just for the fun of it. He told me that it was painted by his wife. I took a second look and noticed the artwork. "Very nice", I said.

A plastic hook was attached to the bear so Steve could pick it off the ground with the kite by flying the kite just slightly over the bear's head and snapping it up with the kite string. He would then wait for kids to run by the board walk then dive bomb the bear in front of them. They would stop with wonder and stare at it, smiling, laughing.

Even adults would be entertained by this bear long enough to stop a few seconds before moving on. It's not something you see everyday after all.

After talking for about half an hour, I took some photos, promised to email Steve some of them and went home. That's it. Nothing crazy but in the end fun and different. No naked people, no crazy parties, nothing planned. It turned out to be a good day thanks to one guy, his kite and his bear.

Murder, suicide and hot dogs on fire

Sista Fista #54U Death Track Dolls

Part two of the Death Track Dolls photo shoot was today. The theme, death. Yes, pretty morbid. Not a photo shoot that comes along everyday (at least not for me). When the gig presented itself creative flags started popping up. It would be an interesting shoot at the very least.

Turns out the shoot was quite fun. Each girl had a "death" concept ranging from being quartered, to asphyxiation to getting stabbed with a beer bottle. After hearing the way they want to "go", we would set up the lights and shoot it. The average time being about 15 minutes each. Not really a lot of time , as I would think later "Oooh, I should have done that" or "If only we had that prop". But overall I think we walked away with some pretty cool stuff and ideas.

One of my favourite photos taken was that of Monochrome (That's her derby name) getting run over by a truck. There was a truck outside (parked) and we just took a photo of her lying on the ground behind the truck (with eerie lighting to enhance the mood). Later on, someone in photoshop (maybe me) will add the blood tracks to the tires. The shoot was simple but sometimes simple gives the best results.


Fear runs rampant

Eating in a car

William and Ryan chow down on Burger King food

After invigilating an exam at York U, the prof, his cousin in law and I wound up eating in a burger king parking lot. I'm not sure what the reason for us going there was. Maybe it had something to do with the Star Trek glasses that were being sold at the restaurant chain as a cross promotion tie in with the movie. We are suckers for cheap movie trinkets that will eventually make it to some shelf for the express purpose of collecting dust.

The drive thru was open. I think I hate drive thrus. Well hate is a strong word but tonight I felt like we were caught in a funnel. As we drive up to the order taking speaker/microphone we noticed that you couldn't get the star trek glass on it's own. You HAD to buy a meal combo of some sort. We were also disappointed that the only choice in glass cups was the Nero version. Boo. Kirk, Spock, heck, even Uhura would have been better but they weren't available.

If we could wander into the restuarant we could have read the menus and just walked right back out but it was late and after "normal" restaurant hours. The drive thru was the only way to get food and now that we weren't as crazy about getting anything we were stuck, sandwiched between two other cars.

Both Ryan and I caved in and got the Nero cup. William managed to drive through and not get anything. I feel weak for this experience and the cup is sitting in front of my computer, still in it's box, collecting dust.

Another cat named Simon

Simon, the twenty five toed cat.

While visiting Leanna to help her install Windows XP I met the neighbour's cat, Simon.

I should have taken photos of the six toes on one paw. One of the toes was more like an opposable thumb. I'll have to go back one day and photograph that. It was truly amazing. Kind of like the evolution of the cat.


Simon attacking my feet.

TV dinners

The Swanson Hungry-Man "fried chicken" TV dinner

As a kid, Swanson TV dinners were the staple meal to eat as a result of being a really good and well behaved kid. At least that's what the parents told me. Little did I know it was actually a break for my mom from prepping and cooking food.

It seems like such a ruse now but back then, as a kid, I loved TV dinners. It didn't matter what the reason for having them were. The compartmentalization of food had a space age coolness to please any 9 year old Star Wars brainwashed kid. Plus the meals came complete with some kind of cake desserty thing that you could eat before or along with your meal when the parents weren't looking. Hurray for the TV dinner!

We would gather around the TV with the TV tables set up in front of the couch, tune into whatever Christmas special was on (most likely Charlie Brown) and chow down on the food surrounded by aluminum foil. It was so good.

As an adult one generally does not have the restrictions set by parents. As soon as we move out the limits set on us can go out the window. Dinner after midnight, dessert with no dinner, a dinner with no vegetables, a cupboard filled with jelly logs and Tang, heck even a freezer filled with TV dinners. It's like a dream. I realize as I say this I sound a lot like a single bachelor. That I am and while I am I will take in the full opportunity to stock piling junk food and enjoying it to the fullest.

It's been years since I had my last TV dinner. I keep a look out in the frozen food section every now and then to see what's available but never reached out a grabbed something until today. The TV dinner sale at the local grocery store had the dinners marked at only $2 each. "Wooo" I thought to myself as I started loading my shopping cart with a few boxes.

I only bought three. Partially due to freezer space and partially because I wondered if they still contained the same goodness as when I was a kid. Memory gets all blurred. TV shows you used to watch as a kid do not always hold up as an adult. Food could be the same.

The packaging of the TV dinners were different now. Labelled "Hungry-Man" and boasting one pound of food! They seem more sensationalized than I remember. Even the aluminum foil wrapping was gone. The food is now stored in ergonomic plastic with a transparent plastic sheet covering the food. Ah yes, with the advent of microwave technology aluminum foil can't be used any more.

The fried chicken was more like large chicken nuggets than actual fried chicken as for the rest well you can't really mess up instant mashed potatoes, or corn, and the chocolate brownie still tasted okay.

What worries me is the heating up the plastic which surrounds the food. Even if the plastic doesn't give off cancer forming dioxens and what not, I was a little concerned when it left a bunch of black gook on my place mat. It's possible that the black gook was from something previously burnt on my cookie sheet but I'm not sure.

I suppose I should buy more TV dinners to do more research.

The one two combo

Nichol Robertson (guitar) and Fred Spek (vocals & sax) of Camp Combo

There are times when a fire under your ass isn't enough. Sometimes it takes a one, two, punch to get you going again. For the last three weeks I've been infected with some cold/flu virus. While the brunt of the virus only lasted three days, a lingering cough and liquid in the lungs have lasted the whole three weeks.

The result kicking my ass, making me extra tired and wanting to sleep so I didn't have to live through wheezing and a bunch of coughing fits. Coughing fits bordering on black outs. Fun indeed.

It's been a slow month work wise. Perhaps the universe has taken into account that my body needs some down time. But with just over half the month to go the job prospects have been starting to come in again. Whew.

Paying rent is the fire under my ass but actually having a gig to shoot is like the one, two punch, that got me going again. No longer did I have a sleep schedule that mimicked a hamster. I actually woke up at 5:00am today. Granted that's way too early for someone that used to wake up at 10:00am on a regular basis but it's more normal than waking up at 5:00pm.

I'm actually amazed at the productivity in the early pre-sun up hours. Grocery shopping, laundry, ad design, and sifting through all the derby photos taken this month. I am a machine.

Today's photo shoot of Camp Combo at the Gladstone was a nice gig to start things off. As the week fills up with more assignments I'll feel more relaxed as the money for rent starts to pour in.

Did someone say "Pie"?

Devil-girl with pie in face

Instead of attending the usual Victoria day fireworks I spent today, all day for that matter, helping out a friend with a film project involving half naked women, burlesque dancing, and pie throwing.

I realize that some people may look at this and say "Wow, your life in interesting." and for once I'd have to agree. Days like this don't come around that often. It could be an interesting day in exchange for three weeks of being bed ridden and really not doing much but sleep.

Funny how things balance themselves out.

Ted's Book

Carson Kressley interviewed by FAB's Max Macdonald

Today's FAB adventure took me to Teatro Verde, a store that sells high end furniture and interior decorations. It was here that the Fashion Editor of Fab magazine, Max Macdonald, would interview Carson Kressley. I would tag along and take photos.

It was because of this interview that I was reminded to return a book I borrowed from Ted. The book title is "Off the Cuff: The essential style guide for men and the women that love them". The author, Carson Kressley. Yep, the same guy being interviewed.

I've had the book for quite a while now. Over a year. Maybe two. It got packed up when I moved. I lost track of it for a while until it resurfaced when I was looking for my Joy of Cooking book. It is now sitting on a shelf waiting to be returned. It's been sitting there for at least a year. I might re-read it, not only because I really need help with the clothing myself bit but I remember the book being quite humorous. Meeting the author in real life you realize that the book is quite reflective of his real personality. Carson is that funny, witty, and entertaining.

Even though Ted said I could take my time reading the book I don't think he meant a year or more. I have successfully become one of those bastards that don't return things. I hate those people. Not returning things in a timely fashion is right up there with talking in the movie theatre, or blabbing on the cell phone on public transit. Who raises these inconsiderate people who only think of themselves? Can't pin the blame on the parents, this time it's 100% me.

I suppose there are worse offenders. Those would be the people that return the stuff they borrowed in worse shape than they borrowed it. Personally I've had stuff return in bad shape. The borrower generally doesn't offer to repair or replace the item either. Scum! I find this consistant with destroying your stuff. They just don't care.

I put these people on the "never lend anything to these people ever again" list. Maybe if they offered to put up a deposit I might give them a second chance. That or I don't care what happens to the item being lent out. I swear I have "friends" that could destroy an anvil if I had one to lend.

Things I've lent out that came back in worse condition

• Spider-man pocket novel - front cover ripped off
• Loreo 3D camera - looked like it was put through a rock tumbler
• blender - stripped motor gears
• fan - motor burnt out
• Star Wars Definitive Laserdisc box set - water damage

End of rant.

Mother's Day Massacre 3

The Death Row Dames of the 2009 season

While the first Hammer City bout of the season seemed a bit lop sided in point scoring, the final score being 116 Hartlots to 25 Dames, the game was still fun to watch indicated by watching the crowd interaction.


The Hamilton Harlots of the 2009 season

At this point, for me personally, it was just good seeing the skaters and fans after a long winter with no derby.