Tuesday, January 20, 2009

what I get for watching Tron

Ever since I watched Tron several years ago (thanks, Math Club Movie Night!), I always picture a CPU as a spinning red cylinder. And for some reason, it has the Kool-Aid man's face.

That last part probably isn't Tron's fault.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

happy travels, big brother

On Sunday it snowed so hard that the buses stopped running and I had to walk home from work. That took me two hours. Halfway home, my older brother called me from a bar downtown, inviting me to join him for a few drinks since he was leaving for Africa in the morning. I declined on account of the weather, of which he was completely oblivious (or he was being totally sarcastic, that just occurred to me now). I forget which country he's going to first, but I've added a link to his travel blog so I'll find out soon. He went because he got a job as a cook for a group of cyclists travelling across the continent, and because the more countries he flies to, the fewer airmiles are left for the rest of the family. This is why our brother Dan has to Go Greyhound! everytime he wants to leave the crappy city where they built UBC Okanogan.

While my brother's in Africa, I'm in the basement of a house so hot that my box of truffles melted together into a chocolate brick, and the poster mounts holding up my No Book Fights sign actually melted off the wall (my landlord controls the heat). I'm making the best of an awesome situation with Desmond Dekker, very little clothing, and cold drinks.

Also on Sunday, my neighbour from Nanaimo, the guy I grew up with and went to school with, moved to Vancouver. Although the three of us were in the same city for a day, none of us met up, which is unfortunate because we had some great times together when we were kids.

One time my brother and neighbour built a rope swing across the ravine behind our house, and asked me to try it first, since I was the smallest. I eagerly agreed and hopped onto the knot tied at the bottom. The top of the rope was tied to a second rope strung horizontally between two trees. They pulled me back and let go, at which point the two trees were pulled toward eachother and the swing dropped about four feet. I swung down one side of the ravine, reaching my peak kinetic energy just as I made perfect contact with the log bridge spanning the creek. The impact knocked me unconscious, and I fell several feet into the creek. I woke up freezing cold and wet, to the words "ok, let's try that again, but we'll tie the knot a little higher."

Eventually we did get it right, and then it was a really, really awesome swing. Good times.