From four wheels to two...

Well howdy y'all!

Good news on the transportation front: I have sold my truck! I've been quietly trying to sell it for a little while now, not really putting too much effort into it, but someone has finally decided to take it off my hands. This means, of course, that I can now reduce my carbon footprint and INCREASE my "good times" footprint and invest in a scooter! In celebration of this I went scooter shopping yesterday and am pretty sure I found the one that suits me. I won't jinx anything yet by posting a photo, but I'm sure that it'll be coming shortly...

Instead, I will post a photo of my newest tattoo, which gets me one step closer to finishing my sleeve. The mountains are the latest addition. The next sitting is early November, where the background mountains are due to be shaded, but this is definitely something that I'm taking my time with, so I don't mind the wait. Besides, it helps in paying off the Visa-man!

The Science Of Sleep.

See this movie. It's weird, beautiful, will blow your mind, make you sad, confuse you, scare you, make you wish you weren't watching it, make you want to watch it again....

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0354899/

A second summer is going on in Vancouver right now, with temperatures expected to top 28celcius tomorrow. Abso-bloody-lutely fantastic! Break out the sunscreen!

Ow. Ow!

Stage 2 of my new tattoo is complete. I have just returned from another sitting, this time doing more fill of the scene. Early results are excellent, and I look forward to sharing them with you all soon. All together this time it was about one hour and forty five minutes straight, with only one toilet break.

I'll tell you what -- I'm not really looking forward to getting the elbow and "dip" done. Yeesh!

Sunset/Moonrise, Larrabee State Park, Washington State.

It's been a long time comin'...

...but here's another post. I've been neglecting this weblog, admittedly, but with fairly poor reason. My younger brother Geoff is visiting, which allows for little extra time to blog, email, etc. Plus I've been on facebook, which is taking up WAY too much of my internet time. Sorry. I'll try to do better.

Anyway, we've just returned a couple nights ago from a four day trip to "the Island", which was fantastic. Probably to two highlights for me were the whale-watching trip and our brief night on Denman Island. We did the tour out of a town on the left coast of the island called Tofino. Known for it's pretty good surfing waves, it's also a major hotspot for all sorts of whales. Here's one of my photos, direct out of camera:



The second highlight, Denman Island, was a spur of the moment addition to our trip. We eventually, after a sudden bout of disappointment, ended up staying in the grounds of this cool little B&B/hostel. It was a beautiful little converted farmhouse, with all these additional little huts pocked around the grounds.

I'll try and keep this blog a little more up-to-date in the future. Geoff is leaving in a few too-short days, so after that it should be a little easier.

Cheers for now!

For your viewing pleasure...

Inked.

Today I finally started to finish my tattoo that was started way back when I was in Australia. I have to say, having sat in that tattoo chair for close to three hours, it didn't hurt HALF as bad as I thought it was going to.

My next sitting is at the end of August, for another three hours. I'm sure this one will hurt a bit more as we're going to tackle more of the shading, more than likely covering a larger area. So far everything looks amazing. I'm super happy with the work that Steve at Sacred Heart Tattoos has already done, and can't wait for it to heal up and enjoy it!

As soon as I can take the bandage off and get a good photo of it I'll post and let you all enjoy it too!!

BOO!!!

Don't break any mirrors, don't walk under any ladders, and don't sodomize any black cats today --

IT'S FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!!!

Stranger Than Fiction.

I've watched two movies recently that I'd like to recommend to all out there. The first is a recent Will Ferrell vehicle called "Stranger Than Fiction". Seriously, go rent this movie. From what I understand it's a bit of an older one, but very good. It's great to see him in more of a serious role for once, and he pulls it off with aplomb.

The second film is called "Tideland". It is director Terry Gilliam's latest offering, and seriously messed up. Kind of depressing in a way, but that's mainly in the way of the subject matter that it's tackling. Visually it's very interesting, and very much in the veign of a Terry Gilliam film. Rent it if you want your mind to be twisted (Myles, go rent it).

Also, I've just purchased the Austin Powers Trilogy on dvd. I was wrestling between this and the Matrix Trilogy, and decided this was the better buy. What do you think?

Suckers!

Happy Post-Canada Day, all you hungover drunks!

Hazy, lazy day.

I love having two days off in a row. It allows you to do so much more in terms of chores, yet it also gives you the option to relax and recharge, and tackle things that you haven't done in a while.

Yesterday I did some chores that I've been meaning to get to for a while, and today I'm hoping to recharge my batteries for the upcoming week. I'll probably grab a blanket and head down to the beach for a while, have a nap, read my book. I'm also interested in playing some pitch-n-putt in Stanley Park here in Vancouver. There was talk of possibly doing the Grind today as well, but I'd be surprised if that materialized.

Dark Side of Oz.

Last night I attempted to watch the movie mash-up between Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" and the movie classic "The Wizard Of Oz". Overall I found the connections to be loose at best. There were only a few moments when the connections were spot on. However, it was still a pleasurable experience. Because of this I can't completely write off the idea that the Floyd had recorded "Dark Side.." with the intention of pairing it with "..Oz".

Damned conspiracry theories and old wives tales.

Halleluja

It's my birthday today, y'all! My twenty nineth year should promise to be a good one. Thanks to all that have already passed along wishes, and thanks to those whose wishes are still pending.

Holla at your boy!

Pay Attention!

Just wanted to draw your attention to the new link I've added to the right. It's called Rival Gallery, and it's my friend Myles' newest venture. It's an online art gallery focusing on contemporary Canadian photography.

Currently there is a show by my good friend Scott Woods. Prints are available to purchase through the gallery in editions of five. I highly recommend having a look at it and getting to know the name Rival Gallery. Good things are coming for this fantastic artistic endeavour....

Keep your eyes peeled September 1st.

Full day off #2.

Today I had a day off after working six days in a row. It's great to be working again, because it makes the days off seem that much more worthwhile. Here's what I've done so far, and what I'm planning for the evening:

-woke and put my laundry on
-ate breakfast and enjoyed a lazy morning
-walked to Sacred Heart tattoo parlour and made a consultation appointment for 15th June
-bought new guitar strings
-went to Young Brothers Produce and bought fruit and veg
-paid my cell phone bill
-made and ate lunch
-changed my guitar strings and learned two new songs

This evening I'm going on a photo shoot and hopefully seeing my uncle for dinner. Quite a full day for a non-working day.

Ps...

This is a photo of my new roommates and I last week. We are missing one roommate, Mellow Narelle-o. Also, Scottish Timo is included in the left of the image.

3/5ths of a day.

Yesterday I outlined five things that I had planned to achieve on my day off. I managed to get three of them done in their entirety, and one I partially completed and changed mid-way through.

I went to the Honda dealership, and I threw in a visit to the Vespa dealership for good measure. The cheapest I would be able to get into a leased/financed scooter brand new would be $3500 after taxes, shipping fees, blah blah blah. I think I'll look at a used one.

I also went to Marks Work Wearhouse and looked at steel toed boots for my new job.

The third thing I got done was setting up the porch lights. In order to do this I had originally planned on buying a staple gun from Canadian Tire. I went to Canadian Tire and decided not to spend $30+ on a new staple gun, instead opting for the $3 box of staples that I could hammer in using, ironically, a hammer.

I did not, however, go to the beach. Instead I had a lazy morning and read my book.

First "official" day off! Woohoo!

Now that I'm a working man, I can officially declare that today is my first "day off". Oh, did I not tell you that I'm a workin' man again? Yeah, I'm a workin' man. I have obtained gainful employment here in Vancouver, and I'm happy for it. It's going to be good to have a steady routine, especially one that provides me with a paycheque.

I've been amazed at the weather here in Vancouver. On my first day of work I actually got a sunburn! Yes, it has been very nice indeed, and I'm sure it's only going to continue. I had come to this city with the impression that it rained more than it didn't, but so far this hasn't been the case. Looks like another beauty today!

My chores for my day off are the following:

-Visit the Honda dealership down the road and enquire about buying/leasing a scooter.
-Visit Marks Work Wearhouse and have a look at steel toed boots.
-Visit Canadian Tire and purchase a staplegun.
-Use said staple gun to put up colourful Xmas lights on the porch.
-Go to beach and lay in sun.

As you can see, I'm using my days off to the fullest.

Sick Justice...

I'm not going to Whistler for the tv shoot. Apparently it has something to do with me not having a Whistler/Blackcomb seasons pass, as well as not being a Whistler "local". I mean, is anyone REALLY a local in Whistler? That town has such a huge turnaround that it's hard to think that there are any locals at all. Oh well.

On a bit of a heavier note, I had to get my car towed to a Canadian Tire today after the battery COMPLETELY DIED on me while I was crossing the Burrard Street bridge this afternoon. Thankfully my income tax cheque arrived in the mail today so I'll be able to pay off most of my credit card.

I've said it before and I'll most likely say it again: Car ownership does not pay.

First stop Whistler, next stop HOLLYWOOD!

So I figured that since I'm in the "big city", I should look into doing some extras work for television and film. You see, Vancouver is known as the "Hollywood of the North", and lots of productions come to the city and are filmed here. X-Files, for one, was filmed here on a regular basis.

Anyway, I answered an advertisement yesterday calling for extras for the CTV television show "Whistler". It's a murder/mystery type show set in Whistler centering around a group of young, hip snowboarder/skiier-type youths. I think it's got a bit of a "Lost" theme to it.

Back to the point of the story, I'm going to be in Whistler next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, for filming of the show. How exciting! Also, two of my housemates have agreed to go up with me, so we're going to have a helluva good ol' time. Not only are the three of us going up to be on a tv show (did I mention it's in WHISTLER??), we get to potentially do some snowboarding, we get fed, we get paid, and it's going to be freakin' awesome!

Good times, good times...!!!