Well, there ya go... L and I officially graduated from VIRG last night. With our fancy new Aspire T's and official certificate we are good to go. Very very interesting experience and some great people. One of our instructors was Jake the owner and more awesome, high-energy entrepeneur you are never gonna meet. If you are interested go and climb...
We have our lead checks to to next week and then we are set for the indoor climbing world. I'd liketo try rock climbing but don't see it as a passion in the making...too much risk, too much effort. Then again maybe I need to challenge my fears a bit more... you never know.
Those of you who know Leslie should come climbing with us cause she will rock your world with her bodacious belaying, brazen bouldering, terrific top roping and liquid leading. Seriously, it is amazing how much we developed in such a short time. It is also intersting how much a sport based on fear and trust can affect your outlook. Time was dangling from a rope was a real nail-biter... now its dyno'n for the jug whilst upside down with no hope of making it... I still get nervous the first time I let go of the wall but it passes. Actually the fear of falling is much less that the fear of letting go. I will posta few pictures when I remember to bring the camera along...
Walls
On other fronts, I learn more and more what a curse it is to be famous (not me of course). Everyone is yur best friend and and the pressure of keeping the world at large in its place isolates you more and more-- building a wall just begets more and bigger walls until you find yourself alone surrounded by impermeable layers... It seems to be unavoidable no matter what your inclinations.
Sort of makes you scratch your head because generally people who become famous are the ones that like people, want an audience or succeed because the play well with others...
Gives you an appreciation for the Princess Di's of the cosmos. Personally I like the recluse idea; Rapunzel had it good until that dang prince came along.
In conclusion...
Well must trundle: remember to doubleback and do your checks...always!
Thursday, November 25, 2004
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Falling in love again...
with Chaucer! Do pay attention. From Troilus and Criseyde:
She was nat with the leste of hir stature,
But alle hir limes so wel answeringe
Weren to womanhode, that creature
Was neuer lasse mannish in seminge.
And eek the pure wyse of here meninge
Shewede wel, that men might in hir gesse
Honour, estat, and wommanly noblesse.
...
For ay the ner the fyr, the hotter is,
This, trowe I, knoweth al this companye.
But were he fer or neer, I dar seye this,
By night or day, for wisdom or folye,
His herte, which that is his brestes ye,
Was ay on hir, that fairer was to sene
Than ever were Eleyne or Polixene.
Eek of the day ther passed nought an houre
That to him-self a thousand tyme he seyde,
`Good goodly, to whom serve I and laboure,
As I best can, now wolde god, Criseyde,
Ye wolden on me rewe er that I deyde!
My dere herte, allas! myn hele and hewe
And lyf is lost, but ye wole on me rewe.'
...so there!
L
with Chaucer! Do pay attention. From Troilus and Criseyde:
She was nat with the leste of hir stature,
But alle hir limes so wel answeringe
Weren to womanhode, that creature
Was neuer lasse mannish in seminge.
And eek the pure wyse of here meninge
Shewede wel, that men might in hir gesse
Honour, estat, and wommanly noblesse.
...
For ay the ner the fyr, the hotter is,
This, trowe I, knoweth al this companye.
But were he fer or neer, I dar seye this,
By night or day, for wisdom or folye,
His herte, which that is his brestes ye,
Was ay on hir, that fairer was to sene
Than ever were Eleyne or Polixene.
Eek of the day ther passed nought an houre
That to him-self a thousand tyme he seyde,
`Good goodly, to whom serve I and laboure,
As I best can, now wolde god, Criseyde,
Ye wolden on me rewe er that I deyde!
My dere herte, allas! myn hele and hewe
And lyf is lost, but ye wole on me rewe.'
...so there!
L
Monday, November 15, 2004
Bloggy Bits
Time for more merry-go-round the language tree, courtesy of the goldarnedest grammar teacher north of the Sturgeon River (at least at the time of writing).
Thought 1: Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. — Potter Stewart, former associate justice of the US Supreme Court
Thought 2: It is better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle it without debate. — Joseph Joubert
• According to This magazine, on each day that you live in Edmonton, you inhale the equivalent of 32 cigarettes, based on the mean NOx content of city air. That's slightly better than the air in Calgary or Vancouver (equivalent of 38 and 34 cigarettes a day, respectively), but much, much worse than Hamilton, with the equivalent of only 18 cigarettes a day.
• A CBC comedian gave me my favourite one-liner of the last twelve months: "You've heard of J.Lo? Well, my wife has a bottom like Jell-O." Hmm. And now, this just in...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - J.Lo and Beyonce can take another bow. The booty-shaking stars have shaped the newest generation of mannequins, with hundreds of well-rounded plastic backsides appearing in shop windows across New York.
Bootylicious figures clad in tight low-rise jeans have spilled from the city's street fashion stores into more established labels.
"It's absolutely the trend," said Dwight Critchfield, creative director for mannequin firm Goldsmith. "These mannequins look great, and there is a real sex appeal about them." Am I reading this correctly? Does this man actually find mannequins sexually appealing?
The recent pop culture fixation on large bottoms has been around since at least 1992, when rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot scored a hit with "Baby Got Back." But some credit the recent booty shakin' efforts of shapely stars Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce for the fresh emphasis on bigger and rounder posteriors, coupled with the fashion explosion of the Brazilian-style low-rise jeans.
"J.Lo was the first to stress that women shouldn't be afraid to show their curves, and the popularity of rap made that shape more acceptable," said Critchfield. "And it is about these low-riding jeans looking good on a sexy, tight fit."
The company launched a "Sex" mannequin with "a larger booty and body" tailored for fashion label Express and for stores carrying lower-end trend clothing, said Critchfield.
On the juniors' floor of Macy's in Manhattan, Guess jeans and streetwear label EckoRed display jeans on a fuller rear-end bottom-half mannequin, known as a pants form, opposite a large poster of J.Lo and her clothing label, while a DJ mixes hip hop and reggae to teen and 20-something shoppers.
EckoRed launched the new mannequin — called the J.Lo butt form — at the store almost two years ago and sales have since tripled.
"It is a serious sociological trend that is positive for retailers and customers in that the tyranny of the undernourished perfect model is over," said Rich Rollison of Lifestyle Forms and Display, which designed the pants form mannequin. Other companies also are developing more realistic mannequins with larger posteriors in maternity and plus sizes. US label Lane Bryant, which caters to plus sizes 14 to 28, is launching a more voluptuous full-body mannequin across its 250 stores after a successful test run in New York.
"It originated from urban ethnic street wear, but it has transcended that," Rollison said. "Now you are going to see it projected in more urban markets and it will get bigger." Here's where pronouns can be fun: does Rollison's it here refer to the "serious sociological trend" identified several lines above, or to J.Lo's bottom? Or perhaps just her ego?
Too cool to wear jeans,
L
Time for more merry-go-round the language tree, courtesy of the goldarnedest grammar teacher north of the Sturgeon River (at least at the time of writing).
Thought 1: Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself. — Potter Stewart, former associate justice of the US Supreme Court
Thought 2: It is better to debate a question without settling it, than to settle it without debate. — Joseph Joubert
• According to This magazine, on each day that you live in Edmonton, you inhale the equivalent of 32 cigarettes, based on the mean NOx content of city air. That's slightly better than the air in Calgary or Vancouver (equivalent of 38 and 34 cigarettes a day, respectively), but much, much worse than Hamilton, with the equivalent of only 18 cigarettes a day.
• A CBC comedian gave me my favourite one-liner of the last twelve months: "You've heard of J.Lo? Well, my wife has a bottom like Jell-O." Hmm. And now, this just in...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - J.Lo and Beyonce can take another bow. The booty-shaking stars have shaped the newest generation of mannequins, with hundreds of well-rounded plastic backsides appearing in shop windows across New York.
Bootylicious figures clad in tight low-rise jeans have spilled from the city's street fashion stores into more established labels.
"It's absolutely the trend," said Dwight Critchfield, creative director for mannequin firm Goldsmith. "These mannequins look great, and there is a real sex appeal about them." Am I reading this correctly? Does this man actually find mannequins sexually appealing?
The recent pop culture fixation on large bottoms has been around since at least 1992, when rapper Sir Mix-a-Lot scored a hit with "Baby Got Back." But some credit the recent booty shakin' efforts of shapely stars Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce for the fresh emphasis on bigger and rounder posteriors, coupled with the fashion explosion of the Brazilian-style low-rise jeans.
"J.Lo was the first to stress that women shouldn't be afraid to show their curves, and the popularity of rap made that shape more acceptable," said Critchfield. "And it is about these low-riding jeans looking good on a sexy, tight fit."
The company launched a "Sex" mannequin with "a larger booty and body" tailored for fashion label Express and for stores carrying lower-end trend clothing, said Critchfield.
On the juniors' floor of Macy's in Manhattan, Guess jeans and streetwear label EckoRed display jeans on a fuller rear-end bottom-half mannequin, known as a pants form, opposite a large poster of J.Lo and her clothing label, while a DJ mixes hip hop and reggae to teen and 20-something shoppers.
EckoRed launched the new mannequin — called the J.Lo butt form — at the store almost two years ago and sales have since tripled.
"It is a serious sociological trend that is positive for retailers and customers in that the tyranny of the undernourished perfect model is over," said Rich Rollison of Lifestyle Forms and Display, which designed the pants form mannequin. Other companies also are developing more realistic mannequins with larger posteriors in maternity and plus sizes. US label Lane Bryant, which caters to plus sizes 14 to 28, is launching a more voluptuous full-body mannequin across its 250 stores after a successful test run in New York.
"It originated from urban ethnic street wear, but it has transcended that," Rollison said. "Now you are going to see it projected in more urban markets and it will get bigger." Here's where pronouns can be fun: does Rollison's it here refer to the "serious sociological trend" identified several lines above, or to J.Lo's bottom? Or perhaps just her ego?
Too cool to wear jeans,
L
Saturday, November 06, 2004
So much to read, so little time...
Another installment in my condensed news of the world... Did you know stories like this are called brite? Well, now you do.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York officials were red-faced on Friday after they discovered that clothing ads on city buses that appeared to promote reading suggested a love of books could be rewarded with oral sex.
The advertisements that ran on about 200 buses across the city in recent months carried posters displaying a suggestively posed woman in hot pants kneeling among a pile of books beside the snappy slogan "Read Books, Get Brain."
What unhip, unsuspecting local transportation officials did not know was that "get brain" is street slang for oral sex.
The ads -- from hip-hop clothing maker Akademiks, which intended the double-entendre -- was stripped off New York buses on Friday after transportation officials discovered the street slang meaning.
Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Tom Kelly condemned the "vulgar street phrases" in the racy ads he said were "demeaning women."
"To me and I believe to everyone else, while it was done by a clothing line, it would give the impression that it was also promoting reading and literacy," Kelly told Reuters.
"It's easy enough to understand how that would get by based upon someone not knowing the expression."
A spokesman for the New York-based clothing maker noted the ad campaign had run since September and "we hadn't had any complaints at all."
New York officials may not be the only ones caught out.
Akademiks also placed the ads on buses and bus shelters in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco and Philadelphia, the company spokesman said.
Kelly, who said he was his 60s, said that after he was tipped to the hidden meaning of the phrase on Thursday he ran a test among some young MTA workers.
"I went downstairs to the mailroom and showed some of the young guys a copy of the ad," he said. "I was watching their faces and they all start smirking.
"Apparently it's on all the music, in music that's how they refer to it," Kelly said. "I didn't know anything about it and I'm sure the people that approved the ad didn't."
Kelly said it was sad that "you can't take things at face value any longer," adding, "We'll have to learn from experience before we accept ads." — Larry Fine
Another installment in my condensed news of the world... Did you know stories like this are called brite? Well, now you do.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York officials were red-faced on Friday after they discovered that clothing ads on city buses that appeared to promote reading suggested a love of books could be rewarded with oral sex.
The advertisements that ran on about 200 buses across the city in recent months carried posters displaying a suggestively posed woman in hot pants kneeling among a pile of books beside the snappy slogan "Read Books, Get Brain."
What unhip, unsuspecting local transportation officials did not know was that "get brain" is street slang for oral sex.
The ads -- from hip-hop clothing maker Akademiks, which intended the double-entendre -- was stripped off New York buses on Friday after transportation officials discovered the street slang meaning.
Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Tom Kelly condemned the "vulgar street phrases" in the racy ads he said were "demeaning women."
"To me and I believe to everyone else, while it was done by a clothing line, it would give the impression that it was also promoting reading and literacy," Kelly told Reuters.
"It's easy enough to understand how that would get by based upon someone not knowing the expression."
A spokesman for the New York-based clothing maker noted the ad campaign had run since September and "we hadn't had any complaints at all."
New York officials may not be the only ones caught out.
Akademiks also placed the ads on buses and bus shelters in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco and Philadelphia, the company spokesman said.
Kelly, who said he was his 60s, said that after he was tipped to the hidden meaning of the phrase on Thursday he ran a test among some young MTA workers.
"I went downstairs to the mailroom and showed some of the young guys a copy of the ad," he said. "I was watching their faces and they all start smirking.
"Apparently it's on all the music, in music that's how they refer to it," Kelly said. "I didn't know anything about it and I'm sure the people that approved the ad didn't."
Kelly said it was sad that "you can't take things at face value any longer," adding, "We'll have to learn from experience before we accept ads." — Larry Fine
Friday, November 05, 2004
ex tempore
the mechanism of power are such that the more the power
the less the power means
the curve is against you, faster, harder - more more more
the slower and slower and slower you gain
in pursuit and never catching
the goal
keeps moving
on...
I think I like this side of the fence (it's easier- isn't it?)
the mechanism of power are such that the more the power
the less the power means
the curve is against you, faster, harder - more more more
the slower and slower and slower you gain
in pursuit and never catching
the goal
keeps moving
on...
I think I like this side of the fence (it's easier- isn't it?)
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Just a note.
A ground fall isn't unheard of... Actually we've heard of it often, repeatedly and incessantly. It also has many synonyms. I think its because they don't want us to try it, but I'm beginning to think its because they think its inevitable... ouch.
Climbing is very interesting. We do so at Virg. Eventiually I will add pictures but instead look at our newfie ones...
ciao for now
bruce
A ground fall isn't unheard of... Actually we've heard of it often, repeatedly and incessantly. It also has many synonyms. I think its because they don't want us to try it, but I'm beginning to think its because they think its inevitable... ouch.
Climbing is very interesting. We do so at Virg. Eventiually I will add pictures but instead look at our newfie ones...
ciao for now
bruce
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
