The Archives

Photos, Roanisms
Mother’s day follow-up
05.10.10 | Permalink | Comment?

To answer my previous question of what Roan would bring home for Holly on Friday – it’s a plant!

He grew it in his classroom, and decorated it’s pot (you say plastic cup, I say pot) with a Mother’s Day message: “You are a grat mom thank you for every thing and all your love and cooking, washing helping thank you.”
Animals, Photos
Everytime I kiss a quivering girl’s hand i ask myself, ‘Fabio? Is this your last one?’ But you are Brucio and always shall be!
05.10.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Saturday night I went to my friend Dave’s house to watch UFC 113. The fights were all really good, and there was a lot of controversy over a few incidents, but for me one of the biggest highlights of the night, was hanging with Bruce.

Bruce is Dave’s hairless cat, and he’s awesome. He sat on my lap during some of the fights, and spent the rest of the time sparring with Dave while wearing his cardigan.

I want a hairless cat one day.

*For those who don’t get the title see here. Sorry there is no youtube link to the actual skit – which is even better than the transcript obviously.
Log building, Photos, Timber framing
Cobras <3 tools
05.10.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

The other day Mary came by and brought me some new tools (new to me) she found in her parent’s antique shop. I had asked her to put aside anything she might come across that looked like it could be in that book she gave me, and said I mostly wanted axes, drawknives, chisels, slicks and most of all a boring machine.

She asked her dad about the machine and he said he had the chassis for one, but no handle assembly. Luckily for me, he was mistaken. Mary found the complete machine, and it works awesome. It’s missing auger bits, but I might have a few I can use. I really wish I had something to make right now so I could use it, or even a scrap timber so I could practice with it.

Mary also found me some other highly useful antique tools, including: a hollow shave, a chamfer knife, and a drawknife. All of them need some work before I can use them, but I look forward to sharpening and oiling them and seeing how well of a job I do, and then how well of a job they do.

I wish I lived in the woods. I’d go chop a tree right now and start building. Maybe instead I’ll go steal something already chopped at the Gorge later.
Food, Photos
Flaming fromage
05.06.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Tonight Holly and I went to Chatter’s (a local Greek place) for dinner, beers, and my new favourite food (pictured above and below) – Saganaki!

The first time I had it was last year, at some place in Vancouver. Jeff took me there, and we had beers on the patio. I was hungry but didn’t see anything I recognized on the meny. Jeff knew I love cheese, so he suggested the Saganaki. It’s a piece of cheese (not sure what type, but it’s unreal) in an iron skillet, that they pour brandy over after frying it, then light it on fire (above) and squeeze lemon all over. It’s served with pita bread, and after 4 or 5 times of eating it I think it’s surpassed pizza and tacos.

Holly says it looks ugly, but I don’t care. It’s so delicious all I see is beauty. If you’ve never had it, you should try it. If you like cheese at all, I guarantee you will love it. And if you don’t, just bring it to me. I’ll eat it.
Love, Photos, Roanisms
Mother’s Day Mania!
05.06.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Yesterday Roan brought home another card he made for Holly, for Mother’s Day. This one is a lot bigger than the previous one, and even features a third (and fourth I suppose) page, complete with pop-up hearts, and fresh water-park doodles!

I can’t wait to see what he brings home today.

* Notice (or rather, nodes) the fat guy. Roan pointed him out to me. Not sure why. He just said “Look how fat that guy is.”, and I said “Is that because he’s carrying a tube up the slide?”, “Nope, he’s just a fatso.”.

I doubt anyone over at the Hallmark factory (in Toronto) has ever even thought to include a fat guy on a water slide in a Mother’s Day card. They’re usually just boring flowers, or a picture of a watering can or something.This is not only much cooler, but also more personal. I think I will make my mum a card using my talents, and my words. I can see how heartwarming it must be to hear about all the things someone loves/appreciates about you (especially after giving your whole life to making sure that someone had a happy existence).
Love, Photos, Roanisms
Fabulis mom’s deserve fabulis gifts
05.06.10 | Permalink | Comment?

On top of the box goodies I found yesterday afternoon Roan brought home something special for Holly, for Mother’s Day. I wasn’t going to post any pictures of it and ruin the surprise, but since I see it sitting on her side table I assume he already gave it to her.

Two things I love about it: he’s decided the word “To:” has redundancies and therefore condensed it down to “T:” (I have to agree with him, that’s a lot of round characters in one spot), the other is the classic backwards card. I did this a million times as a kid, and I remember how when I was that age I’d realize I did something wrong and think – “Oh well, it’s still a card.”, where as now I’d be frustrated and feel defeated until I redid it and got it perfect.

I think my parents still have some things I made when I was Roan’s age. I’m going to ask, and see if I can scan or take photos of some of the stuff if they have anything. I wish I had my journals from Gordon School. They were packed full of awesome drawings.
Photos, Roanisms
Treasure chest!
05.04.10 | Permalink | Comment?

I’m not sure where it came from, or when it arrived here, but this box was on the kitchen table this morning. I have to assume Roan brought it home from school yesterday, but I didn’t notice it until a few hours ago. I was strangely intrigued when I saw the box so I opened it up and was amazed to find a gold mine of Roanisms!

Not only has he renamed one of America’s oldest footwear icons, he’s managed to create an entire museum of art and education.

First up:

Some sort of pizza game thing! Featuring things like: Many Peapal, No Trafic, Quyet, Lots To Do, Fresh Food, Big Bilding, Lots of Space, and everyone’s favourite… Mar strs(???)!!!

*Just got the low-down on this from the Roanster… It’s a game, and the green represents Rural things, the red Urban things (Urban = bad!). And “Mar Strs” = Many Stores. He couldn’t explain how you play it but I’m pretty sure there is a lot of betting and swearing involved.

Next up:

A comic strip illustrating the process of milk getting from the cow to our glasses.

I asked Roan to explain it, and he said “That’s the cow getting milked at the barn, then it goes into a truck, then to the Sobey’s. Then it goes on the store shacks, then to uhm, there… then to your glass!”

I believe “there” = our house, and “shacks” = shelves.

And next is:

An exact replica of an Ontario Ontareo farm vehicle license plate.

When I asked where he got the number, he said “I looked it up.”. I don’t know where you look up farm plates, but I love that he’s so devoted to his art that he’s researching legitimate license plate numbers. That’s realism.

Next:

Anyone who has visited it will quickly recognize the Gorge (made all that more noticeable by the giant “Canadian Side” label).

I love how in the drawing his father is yelling at him, and how he didn’t leave out the transparent trees that most people can’t see when they’re hiking.

Next:

A post card he made (to himself?) talking about how much he likes mining and jewels, and how he keeps his jewels in a velvet bag.

And last but certainly not least:

A series of images that details how land is used in urban areas.

Panel 1: Subdivisions

Panel 2: Avondale

Panel 3: High school

Panel 4: Mall

Panel 5: Tim Hortons

Panel 6: Carnival

Truly this is a priceless collection!
Food, Life, Photos
Fortunate fork tongues
05.04.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

I’m on a fortune streak!

We went to the Mandarin for Gage’s birthday Sunday evening. As usual I over ate, and couldn’t even fit my fortune cookie in my belly. Holly gathered them all up and put them in her purse. Yesterday she gave me one before work, and it was good news (whether you add ” – in bed.” or not!). Then this morning I stole one out of her purse before she left.

I’ve always sort of had this feeling, but it’s good to know it’s completely unambiguous.
Cobra Classics, Gaming, Photos
Ess Oh Ee Oh Em Gee!
05.04.10 | Permalink | Comment?

This photo reminded me of when my passion for video games was reignited by the Grand Theft Auto series, and games like Midnight Club and NFS. I had put the PSX on the shelf after killing the THPS series by over-playing it when Dallas and I lived together in Denistoun.

It wasn’t until I played a portion of GTA: Vice City at Ryan’s house one weekend that I decided I had to have a PS2, and from there I fell right back into gaming all the time. I got the ps2, hacked it, then went nuts downloading everything I could find. That carried on for 6 years.

I also like looking at how I used to live. This was a shitty little apartment on Dorothy St. in Welland. We paid $500 a month to live there, bills included. Our couch was missing it’s legs, so it sat on the floor (which was actually quite comfy). Everything I owned was covered in layers upon layers of stickers, and labels made using the car wash label maker. I had an entire room dedicated to reptiles, where I kept 3 snakes, and four lizards. I had a drunk neighbour I would occasionally get physical with when he refused to turn his Psychedelic Sunday down, and a family of welfare collecting whales next door who would buy smokes by the box (no, I don’t mean carton) and bath their baby in a recycling bin on the front porch.

I also like this picture because those are my favourite pair of pants I’ve ever worn. I remember when I bought them. It was the first time I went to BC with Dave, when he moved out to Abbotsford (I was probably 18 or so). We went shopping at some store in Whistler and I bought those and a pair of Soloman shoes. I’m pretty sure I still have the pants, but they’re too big for me now (yup I was fatter then) and have several worn spots. I do however still have 2 pairs of shoes I bought the following year, which are in almost perfect condition. Both are Osiris D3′s. I might have to bust them out now.
Cobra Classics, Photos
Chrome and Cobras don’t mix
05.04.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Here’s the first picture ever taken of my knuckle tattoos. It was about 2 minutes after we finished (as you can tell from the blood), and we were outside having a smoke. I decided right away that I hated all the little baby-blue speckles, and wasn’t really thrilled with the “chrome” effect Bobby attempted on the dollar sign.

Luckily for me, Bobby is shit and every piece of baby-blue fell out in no time. I still wasn’t thrilled with it though (like every one of my Bobby T tattoos) because Bobby did his usual, and instead of listening to what I wanted, did what he wanted to try. I wanted just solid green right off the bat, but he refused, saying that it would be too boring.

Finally, four months after I got them, I got them how I wanted them. We redid them all once every speck of baby-blue fell out, and I instantly loved them.

This is the first picture I took of my proper knuckle tattoos.

Both these photos remind me of how I hated fighting with tattooists about what I want, and how big of a douche Bobby can be. They also remind me that I occasionally wore nail polish in the past and dyed my hair. Now I can’t be bothered to shave.