On Maturing

I have been reflecting, loyal reader, on how suddenly hy whole self0image and perception of the world has shifted since losing Lex (Kathy let me know that the doctors told her it was a boy when they performed the procedure). I suddenly feel much older. More seasoned, if you will.

 

Anticipating the baby and preparing for his arrival required a lot of discipline. I had to learn to get my financial affairs in order and save money, make sacrifices and learn all I could to be a good dad. I will not get to apply this knowledge, but I will be carrying it with me for the rest of my life. There might be other children in the future, but for now I can only go with what happened this week. One thing I know for sure is that my world isn’t the same anymore.

 

It’s a lot like people’s perception of the world changed on September 11, 2001. On a personal level, this is what it feels like. It’s like my youth has passed and now there is seriousness and responsibility.

 

Heavy thoughts, loyal reader, especially headed for a Friday.

 

Friends Indeed

I am overwhelemed by all the support that has been coming from all my friends after the tragic news of yesterday, loyal reader. A few of my buddies took me out for coffee last night and we had a great time. It was good to have a few laughs and try to forget about it for a bit. It helped a lot.

 

Today at work people were also supportive. Many thanks to my teammates Doug and Nichole who picked up the slack since I was gone for a day.

 

Little by little,m day by day, it gets better.

 

Somber News

It pains me to write this post, loyal reader. But I don’t want to avoid the elephant in the room. As a lot of you are aware by now, Kathy had a miscarriage and we lost the baby. The good news is that Kathy is physically doing well and the baby wasn’t suffering.

 

The wholre reality of it hasn’t hit me yet. I’ve spent the last 20 hours or so dealing with the aftermath, comforting Kathy and Brooklyn. It’s not easy. I’m more grateful than ever for the support of my friends through this time. Thank you to all who have expressed their sympathy or who have done their best to cheer me up.

 

 

The 2007 Downtown Christmas Parade Pictorial Review!

Today was the official kickoff of the holiday season in St. John’s, loyal reader: the Annual Downtown Christmas Parade! And as I do every year that I live in town, I was there on the sidewalk with family and friends. For those of you who did not get the chance to be there to see this festive tradition, allow me to review it with the help of my trusty camera phone!

This was the scene when we arrived at our chosen position about an hour before the parade actually started. What you see is the Newfoundland Railway Museum and the place where the parade ends. Gradually, people began arriving in throngs and the parade got under way.

The parade opened up with the first of a series of marching band. A Christmas parade staple, military and other marching bands provide a good little musical ambiance to the theme. As you’ll see, other participants in the parade were not all so Christmassy.

This is also a good time to introduce you to the unwitting co-star of this review, Blue-Jacketed Blonde Lady, whose shoulder you can see in the foreground.

Aaah the Rescue Polar Bear! He’s been in every single Downtown Christmas Parade I’ve attended and, along with my own favourite parade star (the magnificent and awe-inspiring Maple Leaf Bologna Guy), is one of the characters I look forward to seeing. I like to think that if I find myself on a capsized boat, Rescue Polar Bear will be the one zipping to my rescue!

The City of St. John’s was kind of a disappointment. I understand that the budget is tight this year, and even slightly in the red, but couldn’t they come up with something a little more original than Wal-Mart- or Canadian Tire-bought inflatable snowmen and brick-print paper?  St. John’s is my favourite city, and I want to spend my life here, but this is a bit embarassing. Nevertheless, just as your mother reminded you whenever you got a pair of socks for Christmas from your grandma, it’s the thought that counts.

 

Another staple of Christmas parades are the young cheerleaders. I was glad this year to see that most of them were dressed in warm clothing. Occasionally you had a troupe that had sheer stockings over their legs and frankly, on top of overly sexualizing young girls, it just must have been freakin’ cold!

Thanks to my camera’s slow response time, what you can’t see in this picture is the face on the frotn of this locomotive. It’s actually our old friend Thomas the Tank Engine!

Behind Thomas was another engine pulling those wagons. What I like about it is the elegant simplicity of the construction. It almost looks like they’re blown-up toy trains.

Another military marching band. I’m guessing the Santa hats are not standard-issue combat gear, but wouldn’t it be fun if they were?

The cheerleading troupe’s half-sister in Christmas parades is the dance troupe. I know they put a lot of work into their routines and everything, but to me, they are mostly filler in-between floats.

One phenomenon I’ve noticed being on the upswing is the inclusion of groups of dogs in the parade. It seems the major beautiful breeds are represented. Why dogs? Well, I’m not quite sure, but it’s okay in my book because there’s something about dogs wearing sweaters that has always tickled my funny bone. Extra giggles if they are wearing Christmas sweaters!

Behind the first wave of dogs (trust me, the rest are coming!) are kids dressed as elves, Christmas trees and gifts. Always a classic and always a welcome sight, like baby’s breath in a bouquet. It’s basically filler, but it wouldn’t be a good Christmas parade without them.

Guys, there’s no point in wearing a proud, manly, militaristic and official-looking black uniform if you’re going to accessorize it with a pink cape!

The Knights of Colombus float was nice. You’ll have to take my word for it.

Awww, little ballerinas! How can you not love them?

I’m glad to see that the toy army has finally become gender-inclusive. You go girls! Wait… where are the toy rifles?

A redandgreenhoundeer!

Newfoundland Power sure loves penguins. Or rather, Newfoundland Power sure loves the fact that Hollywood was so penguin-friendly last year. However, the idea could have used a bit more uniformity. You have realistic penguins à la March of the Penguins mingling with the anthropomorphic birds of Happy Feet. It would kick ass if it had Morgan Freeman belting a tune on the loudspeaker!

This mascot scared the crap out of me! I mentioned my camera’s slow response time. I was actually trying to take a picture of the dancers when out of nowehere this mean-looking blue snake enters the frame! It’s like he’s sizing up Blue-Jacketed Blonde Lady for his next meal. Creepy!

The Shriners are always eager to join the feztivities. Get it? Fez-tivities? Ehehehe…. sorry.

I had no idea Christmas was such a big deal in the Muslim world.

Hooray! I love those krazy, kooky Keystone Kops! If I ever become a millionaire, I’m so zipping all over my mansion in one of those miniature kop kars. They’re awesome!

You have to admit, it’s not every day you see a handicapped clown. I wish that they had put her with other clowns, though. Just one handicapped clown, all alone, isolated from the other clowns… that’s kind of sad.

The Easter Seals had a cute idea, paying tribute to the best winter activity of them all, sliding!

I think this is a femailbox.

I kid, of course. I’m always glad to see that Canada Post employees donate their time and resources to deliver kids’ letters to Santa. It’s one of our most cherished national traditions.

I don’t think I’d mind getting one of those under the tree this year.

I certainly appreciate the sentiment, though actually putting kids inside gifts might be a tad on the nose. And you gotta feel bad for that girl in front with the red scarf, who’s the only one NOT gift-wrapped. "Children are the greatest gifts. Except you, of course!"

This naval marching band would have gotten a pass from me (I only had 60 pictures available on the camera), but then I noticed the cardboard posters of Peanuts characters on the drums. I’m not quite sure why. The only thing I can think of is it’s a reference to the Charlie Brown Christmas, but those posters had just regular pictures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Sally and the gang. No sad little bare Christmas tree, no figure-eight skating beagle. Kind of a disappointing effort.

This puzzled me and my companions. Why did those people have gigantic eyes around their heads? Why were they wearing superhero costumes? Super-Eyes? Pupilmans? There’s gotta be an explanation, help me out, here!

I had to take a picture of that elf. I dig the pointy ears, which is indeed an evlen feature. But the fact that they are HUMONGOUS! pointed ears just takes the cake for me. Fare thee well, Deformed Elf!

Ah, the WOOP Guy! I feel bad for this chap. He was smack dab in the middle of a long lull in the parade. For two or three minutes we had nothing but empty street while the rest of the parade was catching up. Suddenly this one lone guy appears carrying a wireframe "WOOP" and going "One, Two, Three!", at which point he would hoist up his oversized onomatopea. What was funny in a sad and pathertic way is that it seemed to take a couple of tries before we figured out he wanted us to shout "WOOP" on the count of three. Once we understood, we went wih it but it kind of felt forced. Poor guy, he did try his best.

The Christmas Plane from Provincial Airlines was a very neat idea, but what made Andrew, Kim and I’s day is that our old supervisor Collette is up there towards the front. She left QA and joined PA.

Aliant had a cute idea with "The North Pole Goes High Tech". Who know Playstations were made by elves? Sony must really be making a killing with these. And what’s there as a cardboard cutout? Why it’s my own trusty Samsung 920, the very same phone with which I took these photos. Cool!

This float was rather ordinary, but what caught my attention was the smooth and sexy tractor pulling it. It’s like a John Deere and a Volkswagen Beetle had a torrid affair and this tractor was the result.

Mmmmmm chicken!

The Downtown Canine Parade continues with weiner dogs. Remember, if it ain’t a weiner, it ain’t Christmas!

 

This costume would have worked better without the puckered petal gaping mouth. It just seems, I don’t know, dirty.

HOORAY! THERE HE IS! My personal favourite parade headliner, second only to Santa! Yes, it’s the Maple Leaf Bologna Guy! Unfortunately this year, I only managed to get a picture of him as he was walking away but fear not, here are two pictures from the 2001 parade when I first laid eye on this magnificent mascot!

This is the coolest mascot ever! Only in Newfoundland would a Christmas parade include an anthropomorphic stick of bologna. I keep my eyes peeled for the Processed One at each and every parade. Truth be told, this guys is 90% of the reason I even go to the parade. Look at him! How can you not fall in love, fall under the spell of the awesomeness that is the Maple Leaf Bologna Guy??

I can’t help it. Kids dressed up as Christmas trees, that’s adorable! I don’t care how non-macho it makes me sound. I have a tattoo!

More dogs. You know, if the WOOP Guy had just taken a pair of shears to his sign, he could have clipped the P to turn it into an F and his presence at the parade would fit better.

Dogs may walk on leashes, but this ferocious feline rides like a king!

Another float lifted from Hollywood. I dig the Gingy costume though!

I like the idea of Santa riding a flying canoe. Part Coca-Cola, part chasse-galerie. It could work!

I thought that was pretty cool. A scale replica of the coast guard ship we see all the time in the harbour. Well done!

The ever-avuncular Mr. Rooter brings us again this year a neat float: snowboarders suspended in mid-atrick above a U-ramp. Radical!

The Santa Beetle was a cute idea.

The polite and respectful gentleman in me acknowledged the roots of the season. The rest of me leaned towards Andrew and said "Wouldn’t it be hilarious if Santa’s float had a banner that read ‘Christmas is ME, bee-yotch!’"

Speaking of the Right Jolly Old Elf himself, it’s always a treat to see him come from a block away and eagerly anticipating the moment he’ll pass in front of you!

Santa’s bodyguards are Christmas trees! Well, anyone who has seen Attack Of The Triffids can attest to their power to maim.

And there’s the man of the hour! Santa Claus has arrived in town! Waving at the adoring kids, St. Nick brings the parade to a close for another year. He’s got a busy month ahead of him.

What I really love about Santa’s float is that he’s not atop some generic houses. No, not this Santa. His sled is actually on top of typical St. John’s downtown buildings in all their colourful splendor. I always thought that was an especially nice touch. It makes it local and it must be cool for the children who live in buildings just like that. Like me!

And so, loyal reader, there you have it. My longest blog post ever. I hope that it’s been a good read and that you are getting in the spirit of the season. As for me, this took two hours to put together so I shall head off to bed before tackling another wekk. But I do thank you for your attention and your readership. Many thanks to Kathy, Brooklyn, Andrew, Kim, Tom and Sarah for their company at the parade!

 

 

 

 

Off Due To Fatigue

I regret to say that I will not be making our nightly rendezvous this evening, loyal reader. I’m back from a long day and I’m feeling completely mentally exhausted and a hairsbreadth away from succumbing to slumber.

 

I intend to make up for it tomorrow though, as I’ll be posting a photographic review of the 2007 St. John’s Downtown Christmas Parade in what promises to be my biggest post yet! It will be worth the wait, trust me!

 

In the meantime, I beg your forgiveness and thank you for your understanding as I head off to collapse on the bed.

 

Reducing Waste IS My Bag, Baby!

Here’s to leaving a smaller footprint, loyal reader. I’ve never been much of a tree-hugger, but I nevertheless believe in reducing waste to clean up the environment. Unlike a lot of the people marching for Kyoto or some other environmental scheme, I strongly believe that before government and big business, it’s up to every single person to do their part to make our environment and living conditions more sustainable and less wasteful.

 

I was picking up some groceries on my way home from work when I noticed near the cash register those reusable green bags that are quite in vogue in supermarkets these days. I decided to pick up two of them rather than bring home my foodstuff in regular plastic bags. It’s not that I am wasteful with the plastic bags (I reuse them to clean the litter box), but my kitchen cupboard is becoming rather full. For 99 cents, something that I could use every time I go to the groceries and that will be replaced for free if it wears out is a good bargain.

 

I was very pleasantly surprised. On top of being better for the environment, those reusable bags are a distinct improvement over the plastic ones from a purely practical standpoint. Their shape and size maximize the available space within the bag, unlike plastic bags that tend to bunch up whatever’s at the top as the handles pull together. The cloth handles are by far more comfortable. No gradually-narrower plastic cords slicing up my hands anymore. Ergonomically, they are more comfortable as well. The unfortunate result of carrying four or five (or more) grocery bags in each hand meant that I had to extend my arms sideways to accomodate the width of each load, otherwise the bags would keep bumping against my legs. This was an uncomfortable strain on my shoulders whenever I returned from the store. Now, the new bags’ rectangular shape comfortably lets me carry my purchases on either side of my body as I would a set of suitcases or briefcases. Finally, as someone who has lost a pot of pasta sauce or two to a pierced plastic bag, I can appreciate the sturdiness of the reusable kind.

 

If, like me, you find yourself carrying groceries on a regular basis, I strongly suggest you invest a dollar or two into a reusable bag. It’s a win-win situation for all involved, trust me!

 

 

 

The 2002 Christmas Card

As I’m preparing to put some more work into my annual animated Christmas card, loyal reader, I would like to take you back 5 years to one I made way back in 2002.

 

By then, I had moved back to Montreal to live with my girlfriend Johanne. As my first Christmas back in Quebec was coming, I remembered the card I had made for STEM~Net the previous year and figured there was no tradition like a new tradition! So I decided to commit to making a new animated card each and every year.

 

The 2002 card remains to this day my favourite. It depicts a warm and cozy living room decked with Christmas decorations, stockings hung up by the chimney, a Christmas tree with gifts underneath and our oldest cat Chatouille (the First) snoozing on the carpet. I had not yet refined my Flash techniques so in some of the animations the audio is not in synch with the animation. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the fire effect along with the 35 (yes, 35!) clickable surprises. My all-time favourite? Click on the yellow gift to find out.

 

And so I present for your enjoyment, gracious and ever-loyal reader, the second in my series of animated Christmas cards!

 

Delays, Delays…

I’m afraid I have disappointing news, loyal reader. There has been a mix-up at the hospital and the date for the ultrasound on the baby has been pushed back from the 26th to the 30th. That’s four more days of waiting for the first pictures of my son or daughter. IT seems like an eternity.

 

I can’t wait to finally see this baby. I know ultrasounds make babies look like weird alien embryos, but I’ll still frame mine for my desk at work. Only 9 days to go…

Christmas Creative Process

Good evening once more, loyal reader. I’ve just finished putting up new touches on the animated Christmas card. It’s slowly taking shape.

 

One of the main difficulties in making the card each year is to actually make the time and find the energy to work on it. Once I’ve got Flash open and I have my stage in front of me, inspiration usually grabs me and I can work on my craft regardless of time, always eager to try new things like a smoother way to animate something or a different colouring to suggest lighting effects. It’s actually getting up to opening Flash up that can be a challenge sometimes.

 

Take today, for instance. I had a rather long, busy and frustrating day at work. Riding the bus home, I was thinking about how I don’t really feel up to working on the card tonight. Unfortunately my conscience reminded me that Christmas is coming and I shouldn’t waste too much time. So despite my wanting to relax, I took the bull by the horns and got to work. As always, as soon as I got started, I began to get more and more into it and pretty soon my day was forgotten in the joy of creation.

 

Another thing that stimulates my creative juices is music. It’s rather interesting. What do you think I have on my playlist when working on the Christmas card, loyal reader? If you said, "Christmas carols!", you are wrong. And you must look pretty foolish talking out loud to a computer screen. Especially answering a question that was a thinly-concealed rhetorical device. If you’re in company, I assume you’re getting some strange looks as we speak.

 

No, strangely enough, I found that Christmas carols don’t really do it for me when working my magic. Quite the opposite. I feel excited and full of ideas when I play high-energy, slightly angry music such as Metallica, MegaDeath, Eminem, the Stones, etc. It’s kind of bizarre to be tweaking the colouring of a wall to simulate the glow of a nightlight while singing along to Master of Puppets. But whatever works, eh?

 

With the ever-present deadline slightly more than a month away, I hope to have plenty of time to make this year’s card more detailed and better than ever. It’s going to present many challenges and I will more than likely face moments of discouragement as well as manic artistic euphoria. Such is the crazed mind of the Flash-animated Christmas cardmaker.

 

‘Tis not the season to be tardy!

 

 

 

Kids Today!

Good evening, loyal reader. I hope your week is off to a good start and, since today is my day off from work, I can assure you mine is.

 

I elected to spend the day preparing and attending Brooklyn’s birthday party at MacDonald’s tonight. A few of her friends, cousins and classmates showed up and the little rascals pretty much spent the whole party in the big Playland. That place is rather impressive, with tunnels, slides and cubes that reach two storeys high. I wish that I had that as a kid myself.

 

There is also a video game station in the Playland and I must say I was a tad disappointed to see half the kids gravitating around it (though, I am very proud to point out, Brooklyn was not one of them). Now, as a guy who has grown up on video games, I know I should be the last one to criticize, but when looking at it from another angle, those kids all had video games at home. When given the chance to crawl, slide, climb and generally play in a huge set of really cool tunnels, why would they spend the time they have playing with video games?

 

Despite knowing what it’s like to be a kid with a video game beckoning you, I still look at it with the eyes of a soon-to-be-father and wish the kids who played video games would be more active, especially when given a huge playground. Realistically, my son or daughter will be playing video games while growing up. Indeed, playing with some of the classics is something I’m rather looking forward to doing as a bonding time, but the amount of time spent playing video games will be limited, and balanced with good exercise and time devoted to reading and homework.

 

I’m pretty sure parents reading this are thinking "Yeah, just wait until you’re actually there and you’ll see how long that lasts." And they’re probably right. But they shouldn’t doubt my resolve to raise my child the right way, not the easy way.

 

And before you flood the comments section, loyal reader, I am fully aware that I eat too much, not well enough and spend too much time at the computer myself, so don’t bother pointing that out. Even though I don’t currently live the healtiest of lifestyles doesn’t mean I won’t do everything so that my child grows up healthy and happy.

 

Again, I’m sure all parents reading this have been there before. What can I say? This is my first child and I want to do it right.