Anima sana in corpore sano

Last week I had made myself a promise to start proper yoga practice this week. Out of several studio alternatives I picked out Flow Yoga on West Pender, mainly because it had been recommended and it was within walking distance (well, twenty minutes walk). I picked my class, flow yoga - ashtanga vinyasa based yoga - and just when I was stepping out of the door J-Ko skyped me... I was tempted to stay and chat, but he ushered me to go. Weather was nice and warm, and twenty minute brisk walk was enjoyable.

When I got to the studio, I was greeted warmly, and after hearing different options of payment, I decided to go with an introductory offer of one months limited classes - apparently it pays itself back if I take two classes a week, and I'm hoping to get back to three so it made sense. The studio is small, but quite spacious, with large windows opening to the street - but practice was done towards the mountains, lovely. Tempterature was very warm and comfortable, I love practising in an already heated room, something that my previous studio was lacking. Unfortunately they didn't have any changing rooms as such, so I changed in the bathroom - most students seemed to come in with their yoga gear on. Our teacher was called Kelly, and she explained the basic principle of flow yoga - emphasis on getting the the vinyasas (movement) right and letting on the asanas (postures) follow.

We started with meditation and omm (which after Red Dwarf I'm incabable of taking seriously) which was slower than I prefer - in ashtanga you'd just jump right in. This might be just a matter of getting used to though, I was expecting something else so maybe that's why I didn't like it. Class used quite a lot of ashtanga vinyasas, starting with both Surya Namaskars, then moving into different triangle asanas, all done on one side first, then another - in fact it was lot harder work than what I was expecting. Flow yoga by description kind of sounds like toy version of ashtanga but it was hard work on it's own - partly probably because I'm slightly out of shape. We did a full hour of standing asanas before getting to the mat, then maybe ten minutes of sitting postures before moving to relaxation.

In the end my muscles were trembling, and even now, typing tires my arms. Oh, I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Alltogether a good experience, and I'm going to try to do my three classes a week this month before deciding if this is the studio I want to go with.

Year of the rooster

After a really successful gaming night on Saturday (more about that later), we slept late this morning having only crawled to bed around half past two. After we had finished eating breakfast around one, we decided to go and see some Chinese New Year celebrations on Granville Island.

Weather wasn't the best, but it's an indoor market so it doesn't really matter. First we saw some calligraphy demonstrations they had going on - Dragon asked for the symbol for Dragon, but the lady didn't know how it was done so the old master had to show it for her. She was apparently a student as she also kept asking how different words would look like. Beautiful stuff.

We saw the lion dance procession going on - mostly it was a smaller two-person dragon who kept raiding the stalls for food. Looked really funny, people would give lettuce to the dragon who then proceeded in shredding it and throwing it all over the place. Very different from my Dragon who loves lettuce! The dragon show was put up by a local kung fu club - very traditional one as they also had taught their students the traditional lion dance - once in a while students would swap and the dragon would happily continue raiding.

We lazied around waiting for the martial arts demonstration to begin, got some more bison steaks - best meat we've eaten so far here: leaner than beef, and so delicious. Bought some tasty honey, and lots of fruit and berries, strawberries, rasberries, blueberries... selection there is fantastic. In the end we only caught the first part of the demonstration - first the young kids who tried their best but hadn't yet quite mastered the synchronisation, then bit older kids, then couple of adults. We saw some traditional Chinese dancing, and some Chinese opera - I quite liked the lady but the gentleman's voice was a bit too violent for my ears. In addition, the man next to me holding a toddler was leaning on me to get a better view and my legs were giving out.

What I love about Vancouver (part n+1) is that all these people from different backgrounds are proud of their own cultures, and are more than happy to talk about it and show it off. I realised only then that this was never the way in England where it was assumed that immigrants would more or less want to blend into the society and not make a big number out of being different. Nowhere else have I ever been labeled as "westerner" - in one shop where they asked about the dragon calligraphy and we told that it was for Dragon, the lady asked "As in King Arthur legends?" like that was the only dragon reference she could think of for people who looked like us. First it just seemed strange - legend of King Arthur isn't exactly in my heritage - until I realised that probably for the first time in my life I had been heavily stereotyped, and quite inaccurately as well. Walking in someone else's shoes and so on, eh?

Dragon and the Eagles

Simon Scarrow has quickly risen to the list of my “must have” authors. His Under the Eagles series has been feeding my reading frenzy lately. He writes on one subject, and one subject only: military adventures of the sixth Centurion of the second Legion during the reign of Emperor Claudius.

His series blaze through some of the most famous campaigns of Rome as Emperor Claudius’ forces struggled to defeat the Celtic Britons and the upraising for Boudicca.

Scarrow has created two heroes for his stories: First is Cato, a young, idealistic and well-educated young optio, a freedman from the Emperors palace, is new to the army, its harshness and its discipline. While young and idealistic, Marco has great potential and quick wit, and it is through him I suspect most readers live through Scarrows tales.

Marco is a gnarled, tough-as-nails veteran Centurion of a hundred battles, violent, ill-tempered and uneducated, though fair and reliable leader who never abandons his men in battlefield or outside it. He acts as Cato's mentor and friend as the youngster settles into the harsh military life.

While the stories themselves are a good read of warfare and adventure, it is the details that are truly fascinating: you read on how Roman army handled the wounded, how the units were organised, what was given to soldiers when they retired, and what were the career options for nobles and commoners alike.

We are so used to seeing the archetypical image of the Roman army in the battle that it is refreshing to read on the day-to-day problems an officer faced simply to keep his men clothed, fed, and well-armed. As you read the books you can almost hear Marco cursing as he has to wade through the enormous amounts of the paperwork a Centurion had to so every day of his life in order to get replacement heads for the pilums of his Legionnaires.

There is more of course: conspiracies against the Emperor, beautiful but treacherous Roman ladies, noble Celtic warriors who fight to death to protect their island nation, lost buried chests of gold of Julius Caesar –stuff that legends are made of.

If you are looking for a classic epics on the scale of Waltari’s works, this is not for you. But if you are looking for stories of exciting, rip-roar adventures and military excitement during the period when the Roman empire was at its zenith, Scarrow is the one for you

The sleeve of each of his books tells us “…fired by the knowledge gleaned from his exploration of Roman sites, Scarrow decided to write what he wanted to read – military page-turners set during the Roman invasion of Britan in AD 43”

He made the right choice.

Updates

I've just bought a sofa. Yes, another one. For a long time now I've wanted a second sofa that we could put in the spare bedroom, to make it into a kind of a second living room. And make it a nice sofa bed that guests could use when they start arriving in a steady stream in March. So this is that sofa - nothing too spectacular, just a nice plump blue futon - but you wouldn't imagine how many crappy futons there are out there. I've seen several that have literally a paper thin mattresses, and if I can't sit there for more than 30 seconds without getting a sore bum, no way I'll put guests to sleep on it for weeks. This sofa is a superb value for money - most sofa beds cost at least double that and aren't as good. (Or rather I'm hoping they won't be - don't seem to be... I ramble.)

While visiting Sears I also visited Raija and tried to look for a new hat and gloves that would match my new handbag. Found a really cute green Trish Stratus-style hat with a cute bow that I'm considering - haven't had a hat like that before. Gloves I finaly found from newly opened Accessorize on Burrard - can't go wrong with Accessorize (it's a shop based on the idea that it's got accessories in all the colours of the rainbow, ordered by colour - very cute).

And finally got good news - Battlestar Galactica has almost been renewed, and Ronald D. Moore is working on the first six scripts. Hooray! He's even got a blog, I mean a proper blog with webfeeds and all. Not that many entries yet, but he's just starting - will be looking forward to following that one.

Tired now. Later we're planning to go out with Clay and Laura and then play our new games. I'm especially looking forward in seeing how The Settlers of The Ice Age will work.

Alive

Yesterday I felt like an 80-year old, every move hurt and it was even difficult to find a position laying down that didn't. Today, I feel like a young 30-year old again. I had proper breakfast - one bagel: other half with cottage cheese (that's raejuusto in Finnish) and other half with a slice of ham (and no, I don't use butter or any spreads) and two big cups of hot tea. The bagel was very nice, but there's nothing like a hot cup of your favourite tea. Comfort and good taste, all in one.

After the breakfast I did some ashtanga, slowly my muscles are starting to flex again and I feel more and more human. Later I sat on the sofa drinking my tea and watching a bit of TNG on Spike, when the eagle flies by. Difficult to explain the whole experience - I felt so uplifted after that that I could't sit still anymore.

You see, for the previous four days when I have been fasting I haven't been able (or willing) to go out that much - call of the nature was quite strong and sudden at times... and when you gotta go, you gotta go! So I was happier staying closer to the powder room. But today: the weather was nice, I was feeling alive and happy, so I decided to go and visit Granville Island, the little island on Falce Creek that is famous for it's large indoor market. I took my bag and my camera and started walking - about ten minutes walk from us on Sunset Beach there's a ferry stop for a ferry that will take you to Granville Island in under five minutes.

I hadn't really intended to buy anything, just to have a look around, but you can guess what happened. First I came across a baker - and in this land where bakery is not the form of art it is in Europe, you need to use every opportunity to try a new baker in the hopes of finding something magnificent. Haven't tried out the bread yet, but I keep hoping. Secondly I came across a bison farmer - organic low fat meat, and two steaks totalling over a kilo cost only $15. (So that's for dinner.) Then I found a place that sells fudge, and I had to get some of that, too... er, for Dragon of course who loves fudge!

And then - what I was really hoping to find - I found the lady who hand-makes the most wonderful bags. I've been thinking about this since I saw the bag Matt had bought for his wife. I've been looking for a new handbag for ages, and this - and purse to match it, of course - is just what the doctor ordered. The lady is called Lin Crane and she uses kimono and other fabrics to create these beautiful bags that come in all shapes and sizes. Fantastic, I'm really happy I found her.

But the market - this place has everything. I mean everything. Organic this and that, clothes, books, food, jewellery, fabrics, clothes... I would have spent a lot more time there if I hadn't become hungry. And at this stage I'm still cautious for what I'm eating, so I wanted to come home.

Check out the new photos of my trip. I'm no longer just talking about food, I'm also photographing it!

Oh my

My goodness, I've just seen a bald eagle fly past our balcony! There are four nests in Stanley Park, and I've just been fortunate enough to see one of the eight eagles living here! First I thought it was just a big seagull, but when it flew closer I couldn't believe my eyes - this eagle has a very distinct look, you know the American national bird with white head and white tail. I feel so privileged.

It's not a first time we've seen wildlife outside out windows - mostly it's pigeons that I drive away so they don't leave any "gifts" for us. But one time a falcon stopped and stood at the balcony for couple of seconds - only when I moved it got scared and flew away. Another time Dragon saw a very adventurous black squirrel that had climbed to 23rd floor in search of food.

Fast, day 4

Last day of my fast, and to be honest if I hadn't decided earlier that I would stop after four, I think I would anyway. I haven't been feeling well at all today, I'm stiff all over and my muscles ache and I feel miserable. I tried a bit of gentle yoga in the morning that probably helped a bit - yet I've never come across an occasion where sun salutation or two didn't help - I felt a bit more mobile after that. I also did some long stretches covered in blankets to make sure I was warm enough, and that helped a bit too.

Good news is that the headache is gone. After Jaana-Mari pointed out yesterday that headache might be because of toxins leaving the body I did some reading on the subject. According to some, the worse you feel in the beginning of the diet, the better you're doing as there are more toxins in your bloodstream. So I must have been doing pretty well so far. Though as far as I'm aware there hasn't been any scientific proof on beneifts of fasting - so I take everything with a pinch of salt. It's all just an experience.

I also went for a walk down at the beach - this time I went the other direction away from Stanley Park as I wanted to see the newly erected AIDS monument. This monument has gone trough ten years of controversy and argument about where and if it should be erected, but it's finally there. Moving, in a quiet sort of way.

Today I haven't really thought about food, which only proves that I'm not feeling too well. I did prepare for tomorrow when I can start eating again - I bought some bagels, cottage cheese and yogurt so I can start up gently tomorrow morning. I'm glad it's over - but who knows, maybe there's a next time and maybe then I'll try the juice only fast. Now I'm kind of curious about the whole thing, and next time maybe I'm better prepared.

Fast, day 3

Phew, still going strong. I've decided to extend the fast to a fourth day - we have plans for the weekend so I don't want to take it that far. I'm still doing ok - not necessarily feeling that different, except the embarrasing problem seems to have gone away which was the whole purpose of this exercise. Headache still continues - I don't know what the problems is, but ibuprofein doesn't seem to cure it anymore. Luckily it hasn't been as bad as on the first day.

I'm also experiencing the same symptoms as J-Ko - personally I amuse myself by reading pizza menus. Right now I really want a deep pan pizza with pepperoni, beef, bacon, spicy sausage, onion, peppers, olives, mushrooms and extra cheese. Oh and some hot chicken wings with a dipping sauce to start up, and maybe some cheesy bread. Looking at what we have in the fridge (hey, I have to open it to get to my distilled water) - I'd also love to make an omelette with cheese and some organic sausages, and some herbs. Hadn't realised it before, but cheese seems to be a big thing here.

I have to say the experience hasn't been quite what I was expecting. I haven't been overly hungry - I eat three "meals" a day and that seems to keep my stomach pretty much full. I was also expecting the cravings to be much worse - while they can be quite strong, I don't feel like killing anyone over it, or even cheating. In fact, most of the time I find it kind of amusing, and I love planning what I'm going to eat when it's all over. Third thing I was expecting - maybe naively, or I haven't done it long enough - is some kind of "enlightenment", some kind of state where I would feel superb and powerful. So far I've mainly felt weak and sleepy.

Still, one more day to go before ordering that pizza!

Fast, day 2

Well, I'm still doing it. I was warned that I'd have a headache in the begininning, and indeed I did. Whole of last evening I tried laying down, massaging temples, being in the dark... but nothing worked - I didn't want to take drugs as the purpose of the whole process is to rid one's body of them... I was still hoping it would go away when I went to bed, but after waking up after only half an hours sleep with a pounding headache I succumbed and took sweet healing ibuprofein. Now I'm starting to get another headache and I think this time I'll just kill it where it stands.

This fast seems to make me very sleepy - yesterday I had a proper two hours nap, and this morning - although I normally quite happily get up at the same time as Dragon, just before eight - I slept until 11 barely stirring when he left. And I never ever normally sleep this late.

Otherwise I feel ok, not too hungry. I've had bananas for breakfast - to my amezement I can only eat three bananas on one go, I would have thought I'd be able to eat at least four or five - and I've had papaya for lunch. I'm planning to have some water melon for dinner...

So food-wise it's going ok, it's just that I have these cravings for "proper food". I so want some pizza - Pizza Hut is advertising their new dipping pepperoni pizza and that's so on my list of things to eat once this is over. Also going shopping is painfully tempting: when walking into Safeway today I was greeted by a waff of wonderful scent of grilled chicken... (And speaking of chicken I've found a place on Davie that sells unmedicated grilled chicken...) Yesterday I asked Dragon to eat his dinner out of my sight so I wouldn't get too tempted which he duly did - only he left the remaining spicy potato wedges on the hob and the whole day I've been looking at them lusting... I can't clean them away as I'm sure I'd be forced to eat some...

So, pardon me if my entries for the next couple of days are going to be mainly about food. But seems that's all I can think of right now.

Fast, day 1

I've started a three day fast today to try to detoxify my digestion system. For several weeks now I've had an embarrassing problem with it and I'm hoping this will clear out my system a bit.

I'm not going cold turkey on food, I'm not confident I could handle that. So I'm doing a monophagous fruit-only fast, meaning I'll only eat one type of fruit on each meal. So far I've had apples for breakfast and pineapple for lunch - I'm trying to stick with drinking just water, but I've also got some organic fruit juice in the frige and if all fails I may drink some white tea.

So far, I feel good - I was afraid I'd be dying for some "real food" after couple of hours, but eating fruit until I'm full seems to work ok. I have to say I miss tea, but I think I can make it without for three days. In many ways tea must be a habit - you're used to having a cup in certain situations.

Iron Chef America

After Janne pointed the series out to us, we've been watching Iron Chef with facination. It's a cooking show, but it's got nothing to do with cooking really - it's like what pro-wrestling is to Greco-Roman wrestling: it's dramatic, camp, glamourous and fun and not to be taken seriously in any way. It's about showing off with incredients, with flashy cooking styles and most unbelievable dishes. There are three Iron Chefs and one of them is chosen to battle against the famous guest chef using the given theme incredient. All the viewers have their favourite Iron Chef, and I must go with Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi - I'm a big fan of Chinese food and Chen-san makes the most gorgeous looking Schezuan food I'd just love to taste.

So when they announced the new series Iron Chef America, we were a bit dubious. Americans are famous for ruining really cool concepts, and apparently the previous attempt to import Iron Chef was one of those - but this time all signs were good: they had done a trial run last spring with couple of episodes and those had been really succesful. This time they had kept the original concept pretty much to every t and i, and the trailers looked certainly busy. So last Sunday we watched the first episode and today the second, and here are my thoughts on the new series.

The original show is very pompous with minutes of ceremony and all that has been pretty much stripped away on ICA. Show is hosted by the new chairman and marshal arts expert Mark Dacascos (who just happens to be the nephew of the original show's chairman Kaga), and within a minute we're on to revealing the theme incredient. The Iron Chef is pre-chosen (in the original series the challenger gets to choose) and then it's down to business. The actual kitchen stadium is almost identical with camera crews running about, and there are two commentators on the floor who comment on the happenings in the kitchen - the three judges are introduced but do not take part in the commentary. The clock ticks, and after an hour the judges get to taste the food and make the judgement.

Ok, I have to admit I miss at least some of the self-important ceremonies in the beginning. The original IC's five or so minutes is overkill, but I'd like to hear more about the challenger and the Iron Chef chosen. The kitchen stadium the same thing bothers me - it's very plain... maybe it just takes getting used to, but it still looks to me as if something was missing. I miss the commentator panel (although two commentators they do have are quite skilled).

There are quite a few things this new series does well, and some of them even better. I like the "versus scoresheet" of the Iron Chef and the challenger (very pro-wrestling) that displays the chefs' styles and achievements. The judging is in my opion done better than the original format - the chef themself gets to introduce the dishes and talk quite openely with the judges, that I think is a good idea. I also like seeing different styles of chefs - in original IC we tended to get two types: Japanese and French, and some Thai and Korean thrown into the mix. In ICA we've already had a Mexican and a Latin American chefs as challengers and I find that really refreshing - today the challenger even made a dish I've sometimes made: a paella with chorizo thrown in. And I also like the way they have explained how the points system actually works and how much points are awarded in each category (after tens of episodes I still have no idea how the marking system works in the origínal IC).

All in all, ICA probably slightly more "serious" (if I can use the word in this context) than it's predecessor and therefore a bit less fun. There have initialy been made 10 new episodes, and we'll most likely watch them all.

Day of doing nothing at all

After being home for about 12 hours Dragon was off again, this time "just" working overtime. I had just positioned myself on the sofa eating breakfast when he left, so I begun watching a movie that had just started - The Core from couple of years back. It was a brainless two star disaster flick, perfect for a rainy Saturday morning when all you want to do is pass some time. The so called science was so out there in this movie starting from the basic concept of "earth core stopped rotating" to end solution of "using carefully placed and timed nukes to start it up and then surfing back to surface in a magma flow", but if you've not yet woken up your brains it was kind of fun. The real saviour was Stanley Tucci whose potrayal of Dr. Zimsky was pure art and very entertaining - he played sleazy but brilliant scientist who had the habit of claiming others work as his own. Right there with Deep Impact (which I actually liked) and Armageddon (which I didn't really care for).

After that I was supposed to take a shower and have lunch - but ended up first talking with Chu and then chatting with Henri, and there was my morning gone. So I sat on the sofa again to have a cup of tea before getting lunch - but this time X-2 was on and I ended up watching that. Second time I've seen this movie, and I still like it quite a lot - espcially Hugh Jackman makes it very enjoyable. But there was pretty much my day gone.

While waiting for Dragon to arrive I called for some hot wings and a hamburger from Sammy's - and is it a good or a bad sign that your local fast food restaurant already knows you by your name?

Useful

Today when I came into Infuze both of the girls said at the same time "Matcha?" - so I guess I'm a regular now. I've promised to drag Dragon there as soon as we can, he's curious about matcha too. And today also marks end to my isolation, as Dragon should be home in couple of hours.

I wanted to be useful today, so while waiting for a package from UPS to arrive (I missed the phone yesterday as I was dozing on the sofa) I decided to clean up and do some vacuuming. Too useful, it seemed as UPS had visited again while I was doing it, and again I missed the phone - and this time I was prepared for it and had stuffed the phone in my pants (so sue me!) so I could feel the vibration if I couldn't hear it. How pathetic is the vibrating battery in this stupid phone - I have it in my pants and I can't feel it vibrate while moving about. I have one more chance to get the package on Monday, after that I'll have to pick it up from the depot.

(And if you're wondering what does answering the phone has to do with someone ringing the doorbell - there a buzzer downstairs but no receiver upstairs, the buzzer is directed to my mobile phone. When someone buzzes, I answer my mobile to talk to them, and can let them in.)

Trying to explain Vancouver

There must be something about the claim that matcha raises you energy levels (in the spirit of learning local customs I'll go with spelling matcha with 't' as that's the one they use here). One of my favourite nap times is just after lunch because I feel very sleepy then - but today I had a cup of matcha from Infuze and some sushi from Akira, and felt very alert afterwards. Very natural feeling too - like they told me at Infuze, unlike with caffeine there's no high in the beginning and no sudden low in the end. Like it!

It was raining again today. It looked heavy when I was leaving so I took my big umbrella - however the rain was more like heavy mist with very small drops. I still considered it to be "real" rain as it was still pretty wet - but that just proves what kind of tourist I still am. This kind of misty rain apparently doesn't qualify as proper rain here as pretty much everyone I saw had folded down their umbrellas and were carrying them. After a while I had to do that as well, I felt too out of place and embarrased.

One of the things I absolutely love about Vancouver is how friendly and open the whole society is. Before I came here I was reading City of Glass and one of the things Coupland was writing was mixed race marriages. I think myself to be an open minded person and I couldn't quite undertand why he was making a point about the whole thing - but now I do. Mixed race couples are everywhere here, and I really mean that. Sometimes in Starbucks or on the bus most couples seem to be mixed race, and we live in mostly Caucasian area. It comes without saying that nobody bats an eyelid about it, it just adds to the "everything goes" mentality of this city.

And another thing is that same thing goes for gays - West End whrere we live just happens to be the original gay village of Vancouver so you see a lot of gay couples here. I'm a keen observer of people so I always pay attention to people around me and how they behave towards each other - for example the girl at my favourite bakers often flirts with me. There are also lots of businesses catering gay community in West End - or what would you call a restaurant called "Sugar Daddy's" or a shop called "Gaymart" or a underwear shop only selling mens' underwear. It just all adds up to the wonderful athmosphere here on the seaside.

When I talk to my mom or Chu I always come back to the topic of Vancouver and trying to explain how wonderful it is, and failing miserably I fear. This city has captured my heart so quickly I didn't think it was possible. It just feels home.

More tea experiences

For a moment there I thought it had stopped raining - I went to the post office to pick up some new games I had ordered (Carcasonne - Hunters and Gatherers and Settlers of Stone Age, I'll let you know more after we've played them some) it had almost stopped. But when I was on my way to Infuze it started raining heavily again, and by the time I was heading home it was pouring down again. Just proves that taking an umbrella with you when you leave home is almost as important as the keys. They have named this rain "The Tropical Punch" as it's like a tropical rain - and temperatures are nearly tropical too. I made the mistake on Monday to go out in my winter coat and almost drowned in my sweat, so yesterday I took my long leather coat and the same thing happened. Today I took my short leather coat, left hat and gloves home - but I was still wearing a sweater and it was still to hot.

Anyway, I wasn't going to write about weather, I was going to write about tea. I've probably only talked what a wonderful place Teaz is to Chu, so hear my rant. First of all, Teaz have this fantastic collection of teas, probably well over 50 varities. But that's not the only thing - all teas are available to buy as loose leaf, of course, but also by cups. So if you wonder if that new tea would be nice, buy a cup and sit down on the cosy armchair and read the day's paper, or browse the internet on your laptop, as of course wireless internet is available. And I haven't even mentioned all the nice cakes they have available. I love the concept, and will be a loyal customer for sure.

There is another similar tea house like that close to us, Infuze. I don't like to look of Infuze as much - where as Teaz is more traditional, Infuze is very trendy - and to be honest I drink lot of tea at home so I haven't felt the urge to go there. But yesterday I was reading Teaswap (a tea blog!) and they were all going crazy about a new West Coast craze called matcha, a ceremonial Japanese green tea. It looks crazy - it's actually bright green, but I'm a bit mad for tea so I immediately wanted to try some. Then there was a note on one of the entiries that Infuze in Vancouver was actually at the bottom of this fad so I decided to go and try some today.

Infuze on Denman is very small, not that I mind that. Their menu was surprisingly large and included all the basic teas you'd want, and it should be sufficient for even a bit more demanding tea enthusiast. I asked about matcha, and the very knowledgable young lady explained the theory to me - matcha is actually ground green tea where the leaves have been ground to a fine powder which is then whisked to a foamy texture. Because you actually consume the tea leaves it's supposed to be extra good for you - it's got 70 times the antioxidants of orange juice and 10 times the nutrients of regular green tea, and it has the similar effect to caffeine (but without the jitters), it increases mental alertness and calms and reduces stress. I chose the plain matcha to find out the true taste, but matcha lattes are apparently the most popular form. Infuze makes matcha to a ceremonial bowl using a bamboo whisk, and I was all ready for this wonderous experience.

Well, it's green tea. But not a hint of bitterness, plus the foam on the top has the most pleasent texture. The smell was fresh and fragrant, and so fresh was the taste that it had a hint of freshly cut grass in it! In fact, more I drank it, the more I liked it - and when I got to the bottom they gave me more hot water so that I could get the last of the powder that had accumulated on the bottom. The lady told me that the taste needed some getting used to, but after a while it would become almost addictive - in fact she had started making a bowl for herself when I was leaving.

And it was true, I started already craving for another cup when I was walking home and still had the pleasant aftertaste in my mouth. Oh, I will be back.

Slowly

Another application sent. Fit isn't probably as good as the one I applied for yesterday, but job seems more interesting. Goddess I hate this process... It's just constant hesitation, self doubt and rejection and it makes me feel really down.

And I feel a bit alone too, Dragon being away until Friday. On the good side though I got Jaana-Mari's framed photos back today - and they are even more gorgeous than I was hoping. I mean, the photos were gorgeous before, but now, framed, they just fullfil their whole potential. As they even came with picture hooks, and with Dragon's blessing, I'm probably going to hang them up tomorrow.

No other news, really. It's still raining very heavily, and apparently together with melting snow it's causing flooding in southern BC, and in the north where it's colder it's causing snow storms and avalanches. In my little world everything is fine - if I can get to the shops without getting too wet I'm happy enough.

Dragon spreads his wings

I am off to sunny California for the next four days. Before you start thinking about beaches and exotic drinks and California girls, I hasten to tell you that it's a work trip where I will spend all my time inside a converted aircraft hangar in marathon meetings with one of our development houses.

I'll see if I get a chance to update the blog during the week to bore you out of your minds with facinating details on game development.

One step forward

No more snow, it's pouring down today. I mean, really pouring down - even my rain-proof shoes got wet as I went to get some lunch. I was feeling a bit sad this morning, don't know if it was because of the weather... more likely it's the glooming idea of having to continue work with the resume and starting the job hunt.

After lunch, and some of my favourite TV series (and a nap - hey, anything!), I finally got on to the computer after four. I'd gotten really useful comments from Henri, Jaana-Mari (the real pro!) and Woja, so I worked those comments in and started Googling for jobs.

The thing is, I'm still in a kind of strange position in my career - two years ago I changed from a programmer to a tester, move that I've felt very happy about. But this means that although I have several years of work experience, I've only got about two years experience in my new career which makes me a junior tester (which really annoys me). I feel I was really fortunate with my previous job - at least in England most testing seemed to be driven towards using WinRunner, and there's so much more to it than that.

Anyway, either I'm looking for the job in all the wrong places, or there aren't many quality assurance engineer jobs available in Vancouver. I did manage to find one job that seemed a pretty tight fit, so...

Well, I've sent my first job application. Just like that. Don't know if I should feel relieved or panicked. (And knowing me, I'll probably opt for the latter.) Wish me luck.

Isä by Hannu Mäkelä

This weekend we've been swapping Christmas books and reading each others gifts. While Dragon was reading about brave women, I was reading about men: the book I picked was Hannu Mäkelä's novel Isä (father). This book is a real page turner, I picked it up and just read it in one go, I couldn't even go to sleep without finishing it.

The book is Hannu Mäkelä's autobiographical story about himself and his relationship with his father, who had left the family before he was born leaving his mother as a single mother of three in the early 40s. His father was a bitter man who put himself first in every occasion and dispised his children believing that they were worthless and would never come to anything. Once the father asked his young son what he was planning to do when he grew up, and upon hearing his son reply that he wanted to be an author, the father replied with his most famous remark "You'll never become an author". (It's to be noted that Hannu Mäkelä has written over 160 books to this date comprising of poems, plays, and children's and adult's books.)

It's a shocking book, about a relationship between son and father their comptetition - the father wanted to be all the things the son was but unfortunately was himself totally talentless. I've seen these kind of people - they believe only in themselves and if something goes wrong, the error is with other people, or possibly the world. They have extremely limited vision and are mostly incapable of any kind sympathy or looking at things from any other point of view than their own.

This isn't really a book you can "review" or "critisize" - the writer is an eshtablished one, and the book has been born out of need and whatever is in it was chosen by the author (who is really is the only person qualified in this case). I've read some reviews written by people who wonder why Mäkelä couldn't just walk away from the relationship if it caused him so much pain. Personally I think the comment a bit naive - I don't think a person can never totally detach from their parents, and seeking parent's approval in one way or another is perfectly normal understandable. It only becomes sad when the parent is unwilling (consciously or not) to give it.

Gripping read - painful but really interesting read.

FEEDING THE DRAGON

I got a dilemma: as part of my weight training I am bulking up during the winter months. This will allow me to put on mass and then cut it away the fat before summer (or at least that’s the plan –cardio is not my favourite type of exercise). But as I’ve written previously, bulking is hard for me. I simply miss my mealtimes without even noticing it. To put on any quality mass, I need to eat six small meals a day.

But even the best intentions in the world will not allow me to eat six meals if I only get hungry once, maybe twice a day. So I need a new strategy. I’ve been thinking about somehow getting automated alerts at set meal times to get me into pattern of eating my required calories each day.

I thought about using my cell-phone, but I cannot program 6 reoccurring alerts on my own Nokia. But I can't trust my computer either–I simply don’t spend enough time on it to ensure that I would notice any alerts.

Perhaps there is a cell-phone model that I can program to warn me six times a day, or there might be some ingenious beeper gadget I’ve not yet heard about. An added bonus would be if I the alert would also give me a message of what kind of meal I should eat: a protein-heavy post-workout meal, an energy-fuelled carbohydrate food, or a protein shake for a quick snack.

Can anyone think of any practical solutions?

Exchanged

It's snowing again. I love the way streets look like on a quiet Saturday like today, when all the roads are white and cars are covered in snow. The glow from the streetlamps gives the scene a warm yellow glow.

We only had one ambition today - get the CD player exchanged to a new one. We got lunch from Akira again - sushi for me, but Dragon needed something warm so he went for beef teryaki. We then ate and watched some lucha, while packing the CD player and the speakers into a suitcase. The trip is not long, but the equipment weights just enough that it's quite unpleasant to carry, so suitcase with wheels is a great help.

So we headed to Futureshop, went to stand in the line in customer service, and even got to talk to the same lady that I had spoken yesterday. Her first question was "Did you bring all the manuals?". Erm, no. I hadn't realised they wanted everything that was in the box, including the literature - without those we couldn't make the swap. So Dragon took the suitcase and went to browse some books, and I headed back home to get the manuals. (Good thing about public transport here is that your ticket is valid for 1,5 hours - that's plenty of time to go to the city centre, run an errand and come back home.)

After meeting Dragon back at Futureshop, this time with everything that came in the box (minus the box), the actual exchange happened very quickly. I have to say I appreciate their 30 guarantee - I assumed I'd have to send the player to JVC at my own expence, and then wait for 6-8 weeks to get it repaired - but the guarantee means that the only thing we needed to do was to take the faulty equipment back to the shop, and receive a new one to replace it.

So we returned with the new one, and it's hooked up and working now. It makes me happy, I love music and find it difficult to be without it.

Bearer of good news

Another fantastically bright but cold day today. Temperatures have been below freezing, but because of the good weather it hasn't snowed more which is a bit of a shame. But can't complain.

Except about our new CD player that I purchased just before Christmas - it's already stopped working. It makes funny (ha ha) clicking sounds, stops for a second, plays a second or two, and clicks again. So I went to Futureshop today with the receipt, assuming they wanted me to send it to JVC at my own expence to to be fixed or something - but to my surprise, and because the player is still under their own 30 day guarantee we should be able to just take it back and get a new one. However this is something that Dragon needs to help me with - I carried that monster of a box here once and that nearly killed me, no way I'm going to do that again alone. So job for tomorrow.

The cupcakes whispered sweet nothings to my ear on my way back home, but I resisted the temptation and chose some fruit salad as my dessert - there's this fantastic fruit shop in Robson Market where you can get fresh fruit salad with your chosen fruit. Almost as good as the cupcakes, and a lot healthier. On my way out I browsed the Aboriginal souvenier shop display, and found a fantastic new canvas shopping bag with a picture of a Haida hummingbird on sale for only $10! So I just had to go and buy it, and got talking to the Aboriginal lady selling them. Once she heard that the hummingbird was my favourite she wanted to show me some t-shirts - and then I had to buy one of them too ("It's $25 but I'll let you have it for $15" - who can resist a bargain like that?). After that I had to ask her not to show me anything more... But before I left she told me that hummingbirds are bearers of good luck (which I knew, of course), so that got me thinking.

Almost two weeks now, I've been meaning to start working on my CV resume (got to learn the new words). Originally I gave myself until end of last year to settle in, and for the past two weeks I've been coming up with excuses or other things I'd rather be doing. The truth is, I don't want to get a job. I'm quite happy the way I am currently - and although the thought of earning the money appeals to me, we're quite well off anyway. However it's also true that going to work would be good for me, at least in the long run - and it's also to be said that Dragon would very much like me to go back to work which he's gently trying to encourage me to do (with comments like "So what did you do today?" after collapsing on the sofa after coming home from work).

Maybe the hummingbird is a sign that now is the good time to start. I was thinking about that while munching on some sushi from Akira, which by the way, is the best - and one of the cheapest - places to get sushi in West End: 6 California Rolls, 2 salmon, 2 tuna sushi, under $6... and soooo good. So I promised myself that after lunch, after finishing the episode of Voyager I was watching, after chatting to Henri who I finally managed to catch on-line, and after finishing this blog entry... I'd start writing.

So. I'm going in.

Later: after four hours on the phone with Chu, I finally got down to it. First version done, awaiting for some comments.

Dragon fruit

I love fruit. I love all sweet foods in general (with candy of all kinds being a pet vice of mine -even thinking about salmiakki makes me drool), and fruits of all types are no exception. This is all well and good, for my body could not survive a my diet if I had no other alternative to satisfy my sugar cravings save for sweets.

Fruits are my savior: I can eat vast quantities of them without suffering any guilt, Thus it is not a surprise I can easily consume several kilos of grapes a week, and mangos, pineapples, apples, apricots, pears and plums are also consumed by the dozen.

We've found several excellent fruit markets in Vancouver, and Kolibri bought me this aptly-named Dragon fruit. I look forward to making the acquaintance.

Vancouver by night

I've added couple of new photos to the West End gallery. Two photos of my favourite time of the day, the dusk - on a clear day the colours of the sky and the city just lighting up are breathtaking, and two photos of the same view by night.

Line of duty

Spoke to my parents this morning... one of the things about Skype I love is that we just talk so much more now. It's funny, if I happen to catch my dad using the computer, the conversation is very brief and precise: he says exactly what has happened and what he's up to, and that's it. So often after that my mom takes the headphones and we have a chat, you know those girly chats when you might not have anything significant issues to discuss, but you just talk about general things.

This conversation certainly was food for thought. It was about parents and children, and responsiblity. Of course parents have (legal) responsibilites towards their children, and when children are minors they need to be responsible towards their parents. But what happens when children grow older, move away from home, move to another country? Is there still a responsibility, a duty? Should parents for example support their children financially if going gets tough? Should the grown up children have the duty to take care of their parents and their needs, even when they might conflict with their own? Where does the border between duty to yourself cross the line of duty to someone else?

When I was younger and my grandfather was in hospitals and nursing homes, I hated to go and see him. I hated to see how fragile and unhappy he was, I hated the places with demented patients and suffering. But still, I went, for him... He might not have always been the best company due to his depression, but still I'm sure he always appreciated that we came. It was painful for me, but I did it out of duty. And of course now, years later I'm old enough to know that I did the right thing - so little effort from me must have brought him so much pleasure.

Maybe it's all down to individuals and individual cases.

Saluting the sun

To my surprise this morning, I was actually sore from my 20 minute yoga practice yesterday. Shoulders, biceps and hamstrings especially, from those down dogs. But this kind of muscle soreness feels so good, I can't even remember when I've felt like this before so I couldn't wait to get on to my mat again.

I set the mat up in the sunshine in the study this time, created a new playlist on iTunes for yoga-suitable tunes and did the half an hour short form. Sun was shining (sometimes to my eyes), room was warm and practice flowed. It was fantastic short practice, especially loved Marichyasanas and Warriors, oh and those down dogs - feeling very strong and empowered.

Normally I would think that listening to a music while doing yoga would be distracting - but my problem is that I'm pretty much always multitasking. In a class I listen to the teacher, but when I'm alone my mind starts wondering and music kind of keeps it anchored. I would be interested in hearing from other yogis if you like to listen to music while practicing, and if so, what kind of music (instrumental, vocal?) and if you have any favourites. My list consists mainly from Paul Schwartz, and couple of soundtracks but I find that the music needs to be very slow so that it doesn't dictate the pace.

Thirteen Steps Down by Ruth Rendell

Some of my favourite crime writers have been slight disappointments lately, but having recently read Rendell's superb older book Crocodile Bird I had pretty much forgotten the mild averageness that was her previous book The Rottweiler.

It all came back very quickly though. I miss the old Wexford novels that she hasn't written in couple of years - lately she's been into the perverse disturbed murderers who are totally detached from reality, a concept that gets really old really soon now. In Thirteen Steps Down the deranged individual is ladies man Mix Cellini, who is obsessed with a long-dead serial killer who used to murder prostitutes and stalks a supermodel who he dreams of marrying.

The book goes on in a very predictable manner until about half-way, when I realised that opposed to Rendell's usual style, there were bunch of really nice caring people in this book. It was probably because of those people that book ended up quite decent - she certainly isn't in a habit of making her central characters likeable, and horrible Mix Cellini is no exception although he does offer some most comical moments when he to his surprise discoveres that the body of the woman he's killed and buried under the floorboards suddenly starts to smell in the July heat. Side characters are mostly very likeable, sweet and naive Nerissa, poor Danila, evil Shoshana and gutsy Gwen and her cronies.

Good read, and here's for hoping next one will be a Wexford novel.

Urheat Pienet Naiset by Sari Malkamäki

I got Urheat Pienet Naiset (brave little women) as Christmas present from my mother. Haven't read any Sari Malkamäki's books before, although this is her seventh book. It's a story about four women in their fourties, former classmates and their lives that briefly touch again after a surprise from the past.

It's a short read, only took me couple of hours to finish. One of those stories where plot takes the backseat, and the emphasis is on the descriptions of people and their emotions. And there is a range of emotions here, probably most of issues women come across are present: worrying about being fat, lonely, pregnant... Having affairs, having trouble conciving, having one night stands, net-dating, dealing with newborns, depressions, difficulties with the career, and all other sort of other difficulties that come from weak self-esteem.

In fact, I don't think any of the characters were happy, not happy with themselves or their relationships or lack of them. By the end of the book I felt kind of depressed about the whole thing. The book is titled "brave little women" but I wouldn't necessarily agree on that sentiment. Yes, they survive, but there's little hope of things changing. Ok, Tuula really likes the guy she meets on the net, but if she's not in peace with herself, she won't find happiness from another person. Hanna is finished with the affair, but there will be others, she won't change her spots. Outi goes from one obsession to another, changing the project baby to project PhD. Only one with a relatively decent life is Vappu, and her life doesn't change during the book. Somehow the promise of the four lives coming together doesn't deliver. There's a brief encounter, but there's no connection, no resolution, nothing to learn from or to go to.

Still, interesting book and pretty well written, easy to read.

As long as my life doesn't end being like the life of any of the heroines.

Taking control

Well, you probably know by now about my love-hate relationship with exercise. I enjoy it once I get into it, but if I need to take a break coming back to it is almost impossible. I've been thinking about getting back to yoga for several months now, and last week I made a first move by starting to look at yoga clubs around the downtown area. Bikram "hot" yoga seems to be really popular around the area, so I'll probably give that a go - however how curious I am about it, I don't think it's going to be my thing.

Yesterday I decided I should start by doing some ashtanga at home, so I took out my David Swanson book, and selected a 30 short series that I would do. I considered taking out my yoga mat and was thinking about where I'd put it - luckily we have a spacious living room so there's plenty of room. By the evening I hadn't done anything else - but just before I went to bed I took out the mat and put it in the living room waiting for my practice today. That's how far I got yesterday.

Today, I got out my yoga gear, put the mat out... and just did it. I had chosen the shortest of the Swanson's short series (I'm a big believer in realistic goals) and I just did it.

And once again I remember what I love about yoga. How my body warms up, how the ujjayi breath flows, and how my body feels totally relaxed afterwards. Yes, this is my thing.

Encounters

When I was on my way to pick up some cupcakes lunch today, and was just turning off Harwood to Bidwell, a Japanese lady came up from behind and greeted me. (And I'm guessing Japanese as most Asians that come to Vancouver to study are from Japan.) I greeted her a bit unsure what she wanted - but all she wanted was to have a chat. She told that she had just moved into Vancouver couple of days ago and had started her language course today, and just wanted to talk to someone. So we chatted for a while - she didn't speak very good English but she tried - she said that it was difficult to find friends here which I sympathised with, and she was on her way to phone her husband and her family who she missed terribly. Then we were on Davie and she went the other way and I went the other - I don't even know her name.

Since I became friends with Chu - must be about five or six years ago now - we've always talked on the phone weekly. Can't remember many (any?) occasions when we've missed it - and even a conservative estimate on how much we've spent on phone bills would be over £4000 or $10,000 (Canadian!). Of course, worth every penny, but I couldn't help feeling totally smug when we spent almost record four hours on the phone today - and that's using Skype the internet phone that we finally got working, so we didn't pay a cent for it. This rate it shouldn't take us too long to match the hours we've paid for... and show the finger to BT, NTL and all the other companies that have charged extortionate rates for our friendship.

Being social

Yesterday evening we had Dragon's friends from work, Clay and his girlfriend Laura visiting. We had bought some red wine (BC wine - really nice Mission Hill Shiraz from the neighbouring Okanagan Valley), cupcakes, and I had made some chicken salad. Spent really nice social evening, chatting, watching Iron Chef and playing Carcassonne.

Clay and Laura seemed really nice people - in a very similar situation to ours. They are both originally from US, but had been working in UK until moving to Vancouver couple of months ago, I believe they arrived only couple of weeks before us. And they only live couple of blocks from us in West End - I'm thinking it would be nice to make the Saturday some kind of regular gaming night.

At some point we got to talking about language differences in British and North American English. I've just started learning the differences, and most of them are very subtile and will be understood nonetheless. Most people for example are familiar with the "check/bill" difference - in North America you're supposed to ask for the check as they think "bill" is a note, and in UK you're supposed to ask for the bill as check (or in UK that would be spelled cheque) is the piece of paper indicating payment. But generally if at the end of the meal you ask the waiter for the wrong thing, they'll understand from the context what you're asking.

So in here you say "pickles" instead of gherkins and "take out" or "to go" instead of take away. Then are the ones that say more about cultural differences - for example here you're not supposed to say toilet as that would be too graphical description of what you're about to do, but you should ask for the "restroom" or the "bathroom", although you're not going to rest or there might not be a bath (let alone you wanting to take one). Laura said that the whole time she lived in UK she couldn't bring herself to say that she was going to the toilet - and now I'm trying very hard to stop saying that.

Then there are the differences that make people giggle. Classic one is the British slang word shag which of course means to have sex. In North Amerca it means just chase, for example throwing a baseball between two players is called "shagging the fly". You can imagine how much fun the Brits get out of that one. Another funny one is fanny which in British English means vagina, but in North America it means buttocks - subtile difference but can be quite amusing. The list goes on.

Sweet deals

It's still snowing, and they say it's going to continue until middle of next week.

But how can I turn an offer like this down? Cupcakes has an offer that if you buy this special Red Cross cupcake they will donate money to the tsunami victims. A no-brainer, as our neighbours south of the border say.

Another sweet Canadian deal is the Canadian goverment promise to give a dollar for each dollar Canadians donate to the Red Cross for the tsunami victims. Very good idea - encouraging private people to give using a sweet carrot.

Dragon's employer went even further - they are donating two dollars for every dollar the employees donate. This kind of money has the potential to make a difference.

Tea talk

I promised earlier that I'd tell how the Baroness Gray tea turned out. I'm pretty obsessed when it comes to tea - buying, tasting, handling and storing it. For example, I never keep tea in the original bags it comes in, I always transfer it into tins to keep it fresh. At the same time, I only never have two varieties open at any one time, typically one straight black tea and one flavoured tea (which Dragon prefers) so that when we drink it, it's still at it's best.

I generally don't use tea bags, or drink herbal tea (as the taste is pretty much always a disappointment) - but there are sometimes exceptions. Since I discovered chai tea couple of weeks ago I did buy a packet of black chai tea teabags, now that I've confirmed I love it (and with milk, nonetheless), next time I'm at Teaz I'll get some loose leaf variety of that - bound to be better. The only herbal tea I've ever liked is made by The London Herb & Spice Company, their teas are almost like juice, so rich is the taste. And sometimes I do feel like a cup of chamomile, but I'll get over it as if I buy a whole packet I'll just drink couple of cups until I get bored.

But I digress. I haven't mentioned Baroness Gray earlier on, as I didn't open the package until we'd finished the extremely ordinary peach and apricot tea we had open. One word to describe the Baroness: disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it's totally drinkable - it's just that I bought it because of the cinnamon, but the lemon and especially orange peel totally overpower the cinnamon taste. If I wanted orange flavoured tea (which I don't), I'd buy honest orange peel tea. I tried a bit of experimenting and put some cinnamon sugar in Baroness, but then it tasted of nothing else than cinnamon.

We went to Teaz last week to top up the selection, and ended up with a very promising blackcurrant tea and some rare and very expensive white tea called 100 Monkeys, which we of course chose because of the name. Today I've been trying out the 100 Monkeys, too. This is my first white tea, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Firstly, it really is white. The leaves are kind of silvery light green, and when brewed the tea is so pale yellow that it's difficult to tell when it's brewed enough, even in a white cup. Taste is very delicate, almost sweet - resembles some good quality Japanese green teas I've drunk, although the fragrance is different, even more gentle. Good, but I think I'll still prefer a good quality Darjeeling over that.

Seeing things

It's still snowing today although tempterature is very close to zero. You know, those big wet flakes that are so pretty. I cleaned away the Christmas tree and all the decorations and vacuumed the dining room and the living room... looks a bit empty now, and I especially miss the Christmas lights when it gets dark.

When the snowfall was at it's heviest, I went out for a walk. I love walking in the snow and it wasn't cold at all - but I was wearing my Finland-proof winter clothes. I went to our local framimg shop on Denman to get the three photos we got from Jaana-Mari as a going away present, something I've been meaning to do for a while. Chose a black inset and black frames for Dragon's photo, dual gray and white inset and silver frames for my photo and red inset and gold frames for the maple leaf photo. We have quite a few other pieces of original art too that we need to put up - need to probably decide soon what goes where and go and buy picture hooks.

I wish Jaana-Mari was here to photograph the scenery here - she's got that fantastic eye for detail to capture essence of things that I just don't have. I look at the beach and the trees and the snow and see how beautiful it is - but when I try to capture it I get photos that make Vancouver look like Matinkylä (and don't worry hun, I didn't take it personally - it was a good comparison!). Oh well... my photos are not art - they are more like holiday snaps, wanting to show you what it's like here, all I can hope that they succeed at that.

One snowy day

Fantastic! I had given up seeing any snow this Christmas, but when I woke up the streets were covered with snow and it was still snowing. You know that certain light that only occurs at dusk on a snowy day... So of course I had to go out and take photos... Quite a contrast to photos I took only couple of days ago.

Now in Canada you'd think that people know how to behave on the streets when it snows. And saying that Canadians know snow would be true - only this doesn't apply to Vancouverites who normally never get any snow. So Dragon tells me half of the people didn't turn up to work today because they were afraid to drive in the snow... We laughed about this with the cashier in Safeway - she was from Newfoundland so she wasn't stranger to the snow either.

Unfortunately I don't think this will last, it's already turning into slush. Still, one snowy day in a winter is better than none.

Old houses

Well, Christmas is almost over. We drank last of the mulled wine this evening, and burned last of the Angel Chime candles, and tomorrow it's time to undress the tree and put it away. At the same time the days are getting noticeably longer: I have a timer on the tree lights that I set to turn on when it got dark on Christmas Eve, it was then around half past three and now it doesn't get dark until around five.

For a change I took Cardero down to Robson today, and found this fantastic idyllic row of wooden houses built in 1900s. Reminded me a lot of Toukola in Helsinki - those characterful individual houses from an era when families where so big that they easily filled a house of with three floors... now they just seem too big and extravagant, and first thing that comes to mind is if they have divided the house into flats. In some places they have done, but judging from the numbering these were still mostly owned by one family. All of the houses just looked so lived in and homely, those kind of homes that smell like wooden houses when you go in, and are often cramped because so many generations have lived there and left their mark (and belongings) there. Nice.

Return of the Dragon

It has been a long time since my last entry. For once I don't have an excuse that I didn't have the time (as my current employer is reasonable with my working hours in contrary to all the rumours). Instead I have fallen into my old bad habits and not written anything beyond my professional work - despite my promise to do otherwise. Writing is one of the great joys of my life, and I will try to indulge in it without feeling guilty about So without further ado, here are some random comments on the stuff that I've done, watched or made:

Battlestar Galactica: to be honest, for nostalgic reasons I would have enjoyed this series no matter what. But this sci-fi series is punching way above its weight, and it has all the makings of a classic: it is engrossing, intelligent, intense, fresh and innovative. Most importantly, save for a few weak links, it has extremely strong cast. The look and feel is spot on, and the retro-technology of the Battlestars (a counter-measure against the cylons) creates a unique feel to the series. If you like sci-fi, you are bound to like this one.

I've also enjoyed the Japanese Cult Series, the Iron Chef. Set in kitchen stadium, the idea of this game show is simple: a Master Chef is invited to the Kitchen Stadium, where he will compete against one of the hand-picked Iron Chefs by making a full menu of meals using a theme ingredient. It sounds dull as a dishwater (and by the rights it should be) but thanks to the fanaticism the Japanese bring to the show and the intensity of the competitor and the incredible production values that create an unique spectacle, the show is utterly captivating. Thanks to Janne for letting me know about the existence of this marvellous show.

Games-wise, I've thoroughly enjoyed Dynasty Warriors Empires (which is pretty much a pinnacle of the series with its excellent blend of strategy and mindless violence), Suikoden 3 (though not as good as the previous two, I have high hopes for part 4), and Shadow Hearts Covenant (again, not as good as its predecessor, but a worthwhile game). Then there is Katamari Damacy. What can I say. Go and buy a copy, now. If you don't like video games, go and buy PS2 and buy this game. If you can't afford it, sell your house/car/spouse and buy Katamri Damacy. Not, it is not the best game of all time, but it is so fresh and unique that it needs to be supported. It is games like this my industry needs to break out of rut of making derivative drivel. It also has offered me a new role model - from now on, I will inspire to be the Great King of Cosmos.

I will write proper reviews of these games in coming weeks, so watch this space.

As for my plans for the new year, I've decided to start working on a new pen-and-paper games design, glimpses of which you will see here now and then. I've codenamed the project Gehenna and Throne, though I will doubtlessly change it as time passes. Work-wise, I will hopefully finish my new console game with my health and sanity intact.

I will also try to be a bit more active when it comes to keeping in contact with my friends, and I'll also try to be more active in the games scene by writing more magazine articles, teaching the next generation of games designers in college, and attending events.

Little things

It was yet another clear day, now third in the row and I'm starting to think that either it's a sign that this year is going to be awsome, or that something might be seriously wrong as it's not the Vancouver weather as I know it. Truth be told, they have said that clear weather should end after towmorrow, so maybe it's back to business then.

But I stayed inside today as I had some things to take care of. Mainly working on the web site, installing Gallery which is mostly up and running now (although I'm seeing some weird behaviour that might or might not be my fault). In any case, I had a problem that I needed an answer for from my new host, and lo and behold, they answered my email in half an hour... Can't complain about that!

So I was able to upload some photos I took on Sunday, so have a look what kind of neighbourhood we live in nowadays. Still just a hundred meters to a beach like in Southsea - maybe I should take that as a requirement for a new home!

I also had a long chat with Chu (and I do mean long - but with some things you can't hurry and it takes what it takes) and while we tried very hard to get Skype working, the conversation ended a bit one-sided as only she could hear me. Still, better that way - I talked until my throat was hoarse and she typed her fingers raw. And if anyone can offer any other suggestions for sound not working on Skype than a hardware fault (after checking every single setting on both Windows and Skype I'm pretty confident it's not software) that would be greatly appreciated. Sometimes I like to tinker with technology like this and figure out how to solve the problem, but if there is not reward in the end it gets old pretty damn quickly.

Moved! Ha! Rejoice!

Ha! If you can read this entry, I'm back in the land of the living... or at least on-line.

I've still not heard a reply from my web host Easily.co.uk regarding my problem, so I've moved to TotalChoice Hosting and installed MovableType and imported D/k, including the entires I typed up while no-one could read them. And let's face it, even the King of All Cosmos can't be expected to wait more than four days for their web host to reply to an urgent inquiry...

But here I am. If you spot any difficulties or errors, let me know - I think I've remembered to import everything.

Moving

Argh, still no reply from Easily.co.uk regarding my disk quota problem. So it's decided, I'm going to get rid of them, and faster the better. I don't get it - I've been with them for years and never had any problems until this year, or more precisely until couple of months ago. And now, not only do they have several days (!) lag on replying my emails, the tone is condescending and they are just generally unwilling to help me solve my issues. Well fine, I know how to vote with my feet.

Onto nicer things: today was absolutely gorgeous day, and although temperature was very close to zero (puddles were frozen in the shade) in the sun it was very warm. So after many days of clouds and rain, the whole of Vancouver was out, including us. We took a walk on the English Bay and Stanley Park and I'd upload some photos I took, only my f***ing web host makes it impossible...

Ahem.

It was great, walking along the beach looking at people: folks walking their dogs, children playing in the sand, friends chatting about relationships, couples walking hand in hand. Mountains clearly visible with snowy tops, cargo ships, sailing boats and canoes on the sea, birds diving about looking for food. In Stanley Park the majestic old trees in species I can't recognise, families on cycling trips and determined people out jogging in shorts.

Life is good.

Zoning

Oh well, it was too good to be true. Dragon is now well, but now I'm ill - only I've managed to get my own illness going. Although we went to be around two in the morning last night, I woke up before seven with a tummy ache.

So yes, I'm back on the couch, and I've spent the day watching Dead Zone marathon on Space: viewers have voted for ten of their favourite episodes. Dead Zone is a series I've always wanted to see more of - although it's based quite faithfully on Stephen King's characters and the original 1983 movie, it's been created by Michael Piller (the good one of the two producers) and I think it stands together very well. It's one of those "very simple idea" storylines: there's this guy who can see the future when he touches people or objects, and first you think that there's very little to go on. I mean, how many times can Johnny actually save people's lives and when does it become repetitive and boring? Quite a few, it seems - quality of writing on the show is very high and the bigger story arc keeps the interest up. Still - I think ten episodes on one day and the original mover was probably overkill.

Yesterday was nice, with just the two of us.

When we were coming back from a very succesful shopping trip we had the intention to pick up a bottle of bubbly, but to our shock there was a twenty meter queue outside the liquor store - I've never seen anything like that before and hey, I come from Finland! Canada happens to be one of those silly countries where you can't buy booze from anywhere else than specialised stores - in UK I loved the fact that supermarkets where really these one stop shops where you could pick up everything you needed.

So we opted for a bottle of non-alcholic apple and cranberry cider to carry the year over. The evening was quiet (if you don't count the fact that there were fire engines buzzing around the block) - I was reading my book and Dragon was playing his game. When the year was about to change we went to the balcony: the view was amazing despite the clouds and lack of major fireworks, but the most amazing thing was the soundscape. Normally we don't get much noise up here - West End is very peaceful, and we're high up. But when it was couple of minutes to midnight, this sound started: cars honking, people shouting and blowing horns, and it kept coming louder and louder when time approached midnight, but there were no people anywhere. The sound must have come from West Van and Kits over the water and from downtown. Truly surreal.

On other news, I'm getting really annoyed with Easily.co.uk, my web host. No reply yet to my quota problem that prevents me from writing anything to the disk... So you'll read this whenever. I'm looking around for alternatives as we speak - any recommendations would be welcome, I've heard lot of good about DreamHost.