Testing a post from my new 8700 Blackberry. Theoretically, this should work, providing there's no trouble from the Opera Mini browser I've installed on here. It's a little more versatile than the stock BB browser, but it's designed for cell phones, not BlackBerries.
The entry field for Opera has already filled up. I guess I can't really make good entries from here. Oh well.
I was thinking of learning how to sail recently. R's all gung-ho about buying a boat and getting sailing certification -- so much so, that it kind of rubbed off on me. I'm usually up for anything, especially when sufficiently hyped about it (or sufficiently drunk). Also, I've canoed for a while now, and I've even built a canoe from scratch (really, I re-built the canoe from parts purchased at a canoe store). But I have never kayaked anywhere, and I think it looks like it would be pretty fun to do.
And yeah, sure, the image of a guy with a kayak on the roof of his sporty car is something that really appeals to my desire to look sporty -- in the absence of actually being sporty. Also, I've always really wanted a catamaran, and have recently been reading J. Maarten Troost's Getting Stoned with Savages, wherein he describes living on Vanuatu in the South Pacific, watching locals scooting about in outrigger canoes (funny book, by the way).
So imagine my surprise when all the things I've just talked about manifested themselves in a boat you can buy online. The Hydrovisions boat is a little of everything thrown into one: a two-hulled outrigger kayak with a sail.
It's pretty cool, doesn't weigh much, and can be driven around on your roof-rack, with minimal setup time. Also, if you get bored with paddling the damn thing, you can hoist the sail. The big drawback is the price, $4995 plus $229.00 if you want the "sidecar" attachment, which allows you to carry the sail and extra gear (or a really light passenger). It's about as expensive as two really nice kayaks, but not as expensive as a pocket cruiser sailboat. So I'm not sure I'd buy one unless I could find one used, and in good condition.
I've been working on importing some old blog entries from HTML into Movable Type this past week. Good to have everything in one place. This way, I'll lose even more data if the hard drives crash.
Actually, going through some of the old blog entries was a little weird. I got to read over some of the childish things I've said in the past, and it occurred to me that I've kept this blog for over 5 years now (long before and long after it was cool). In my last post, I mentioned how I'm rethinking the whole blog project. I could just quit outright, or phase it out over time. But right now, I'm still thinking about it, and that's problematic enough. I've spent a lot of time on this journal, and it would be a shame if this all got thrown out because I've fallen into a lazy spell again.
But it's more than that. This whole recent trend of looking at a person's blog after they've been made famous (i.e. by killing someone, or by killing themselves, or by dying in a freak accident, or by getting arrested, etc.) and picking out the juicy details -- this must have really gotten to me. Perhaps I think I'm an easy target for this kind of thing (no, not killing a bunch of people, and not dying in a freak accident).
In the year of entries that were imported, I did plenty of silly things. I hid in a bunker for a number of days back in 2001, wore "questionable" t-shirts, made communist propaganda posters, downloaded music off the Internet, etc. I've even got pictures of people with guns on my site, and I've openly called myself a goth (I'm not really a goth. I'm more of a happy-go-lucky kind of guy).
For the most part, I've tried being something of a satirist or humorist -- an Internet meme of my own (successful or no, I have at least tried). But what would the press think if I died tomorrow? Would they label me a Satanist? A communist? A killer of cats? A maker of Kraft Dinner recipes?
Who is this "Zuckervati", really? Channel 7 news looked at his blog... and found some interesting things.
Truthfully, many of the entries were more authentic than others. I've written entries that were anti-social, temperamental, maudlin, and somewhat twee... sure, I'll admit that. But where to divide the fictional and semi-fictional from the real thoughts and emotions, and from the stuff I didn't post at all? In short, you can't really learn anything about me from this journal, though you'd think you'd know everything about me.
I know... I perhaps shouldn't worry too much about it. I've had fun so far. Maybe I can keep on having fun. I've just got to remember that while this is essentially a work of fiction (like any documentary film, or the American news channels) this is still a public record of myself. If I don't want people to know something about me (i.e. that I secretly like Hello Kitty) then I shouldn't post it.
I decided to let my eyes heal a bit, so I haven't been blogging much. Everything's going to be a little sore for the next couple of weeks/months.
More importantly though, I'm seriously beginning to rethink the whole blog concept. I've been at this for over 5 years now, and am running out of things I want to say to the outside world. Also, there's been a little negative publicity with blogs recently. Yesterday Kimveer Gill, a 25-year-old Montrealer, walked into Dawson College and started shooting, à la Columbine. While it's not much of a "blog", you can see his personal information here. Apparently, he expected to die either "like romeo and juliet or in a hail of gunfire".
Not that I'm comparing myself to this person, but we both have blogs. Yes, I know ... so do millions of other people. But I'm not sure I want to die in a horribly publicized event and have people digging through my blog archives looking for some kind of proof or explanation about why it all happened. Granted, we may not be too dissimilar, as people may go looking into my archives anyway and find that one of my previous goals in life was to take a bullet for someone. That's pretty close to a "hail of gunfire". It may be the opposite of what Kimveer Gill was thinking, but the way personal thoughts get taken out of context, especially when posted on online journals, who's to say?
Here's an interesting post about Kimveer Gill from (gasp!) another blogger.
For the record, my new goal in life is to live to a ripe old age, sailing around the world in my 42' catamaran (named "The Turanga Leela"), painting pictures of island women on black velvet, and donating extensively to charity. Let's see them try to twist that when I'm killed in a murderous rampage.
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to judge a person solely by what they've put on their blog. If reality TV has taught us anything, it's that people say different things in public than they do in private, and their personal thoughts may never reach either of those two outlets. Lord knows I've said things on this blog I'm not proud of, yet there are things I would never publish on here. Certainly, not any kind of personal opinions. Believe me, if I'm mad at you, I'll tell you straight up (this means you, Enrique, you asshole), not publish it on the web.
Went to the horse races in Elora on Friday last. That was a pretty interesting experience. I haven't been since I went to Woodbine in Toronto -- that was way back in '97 I think. Didn't really like it then, and didn't really like it now.
R was part of a group that was trying to raise some funds by having a night out at the racetrack. There was a 50/50 draw, some other prizes, and a buffet dinner (which catered somewhat to vegetarians). Food and drink were included in the price, but alcohol was extra, so I stayed sober. Probably a good thing to do when betting money on horses with numbers on them.
This was harness racing; the kind of racing where the driver/jockey sits on a little two-wheeled cart right behind the horse's anus. Not a particularly reassuring place to be. The minimum bet was $2, and I bet a couple of times. Most of the time, the horse was dead last. A couple of times, the horse was dead first until the last 30m of the race -- then it was dead last.
It was kind of fun, and one or two old guys in the front started really yelling at their horses. They were of the age where it wouldn't have been surprising for them to be wearing fedoras and smoking heavily, while reading the folded-over racing form.
At the end of the night, there was one of the most severe thunderstorms I've ever been in, and we had parked at the far end of the blacked-out parking lot. Now that was exciting.
Recent Comments