There's a chipmunk around here that will let me feed it seeds by hand. I lay my hand down, and it eats out of my palm. Sometimes it even climbs into my hand. I'm pretty sure it's the same chipmunk every time. Whenever I leave the house, it runs around my ankles and begs me for seeds. And it never gets full. I think it just carries the seeds off in it's cheeks and stashes them away, returning for more without eating them, in the hopes of stocking up for future need.
It's actually getting kind of annoying. It follows me everywhere and just begs and begs, and it never gets tired of it. I think I will name him. I'm going to name him Beggar or Panhandler or something. I'll get back to you guys.
Well, it's been what, four or five months since coming back from CWY? I lost 30 pounds in Mali. If I was going to gain them back, would it have happened by now? I hope so, because I just weighed myself, and it turns out that I have gained back half of what I lost. This doesn't really bother me, because it still counts as losing 15 pounds overall. That is to say, if I've leveled out and am staying consistent at this point, instead of slowly but consistently working on those other 15 pounds.
I'm tentatively hoping that some of the weight increase belongs to muscle, although I'm not naive enough to say that it all comes from that. I've been doing that daily exercise routine somewhat more faithfully than my daily blogging routine. I've increased the difficulty of the routine recently. I used to do a set of 30 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 30 leg raises. Now I... still do 30 push-ups, but I've become stricter about the quality of the first ten. See, I wasn't exactly putting my nose to the ground each time before, but now I do 10 nose-to-the-ground style and let myself get a little lazier with the other 20. I've added an extra 10 sit-ups, so now I do 40. I haven't changed my policy on leg raises because it's just less gratifying to be good at leg raises, for some reason. They only seem to be considered a staple in the karate world.
I've also added a one minute plank and a one minute wall sit. If you don't know what those are, a wall sit is sitting in front of a wall. Pretty self-explanatory. The catch is you don't get a chair, but you sit like you are. The plank is balancing on your elbows and toes, holding your torso in the position of a plank of wood, I guess. They're both stress positions. The plank is really good for your core, whatever that means.
Timing it was a little difficult at first. I counted in my head to determine when I could stop. I knew, though, that my mental counting is slower than clock counting, because I used to count in my head while I was doing these positions during Karate, and time was always up before I finished my count. I start fast, but the mental count slows down as time passes. I guess that's because my coherent mind sort of shuts down when I gasp. That meaning, when I'm gasping, I'm only thinking about gasping. So I wind up counting like "One Mississippi (gasp) two Mississippi (gasp)" and the count slows by the wasted time of the gasp.
I use that old school trick of saying "Mississippi" between numbers to make the count more accurate, although I was originally taught to say "Hippopotamus". I was ripping myself off, though, because Mississippi has four syllables, whereas Hippopotamus has five. By that logic, I guess the number seven makes for the longest second, because it has two syllables instead of one, and even if you use the trick of using only the first nine numbers on the count until the tenth number, no matter what set of ten you're doing, twenty, thirty, fourty etc. will always have that extra syllable.
Anyway, it doesn't matter. I'm sure I don't have to convince you guys that the mental count system is flawed. Although, staying in the vein of the hippopotamus count, "Hippopotamus" in Bambara is "Mali". Think how my plank position would improve by the Malian count system "One mali two mali (gasp) three mali four mali (gasp)". I'd be going double speed!
Although I'd probably have to count in Bambara, too. Kele mali, fila mali, sava mali, nani mali, duru mali, woro mali, worovila mali, segi mali konondo mali, ta mali.
Sheez, everything except "Mali" is longer in Bambara. Still, I'd be dropping from six syllables to three in most cases. Except for with worovila and konondo.
Yeah, so whatever. I found a digital clock, and now I can just stare at the digital clock until it changes number. The first day I did the one minute plank, I caved three seconds before the clock changed. The next day, I caved one second early. On the third day, which is today, I made it all the way. So I've increased my plank by at least four seconds in a span of three days. I'll take that. I used to be able to hold a minute-long plank with only moderate strain.
With the addition of the wall sit and the plank, I'm basically doing a set and a half of stations. In Karate, we'd do maybe three sets of stations per lesson. So I'm doing maybe half that. Of course, we had stretches, additional exercises, and performing the techniques themselves had a somewhat physically strenuous side to them.
There were a lot of classic exercises, but pushups, situps, leg raises, wall sit, and plank were kind of staples. To really recreate that environment, I should be doing suicides, too. Suicides were just running up and down the dojo, with an increasingly distant goal on each sprint. I don't really know why they were called "Suicides" as they were one of the easier exercises. It was like the "Fatal Four" stretch. I'd heard it called the Figure Four, too, which is as humble a name as it deserves, since it's a stretch of mediocre difficulty that consists of you contorting your figure to look like the number four.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Misconception Regarding Fire Time Length
Do you realize how long forest fires last? I guess I was just naive, but the impression I'd had was that they flare up fast and get taken down in a matter of days. I was astonished to hear that those fires I referenced a little while ago were still going. I was like "Wow, it's been several days, and those fires are still going?" My grandpa was like "It's been several weeks".
Mind blow! I asked how long fires usually go for. The answer was that it completely depends on the fires, but several days was batting around the minimum time restriction for something that could be called a full-fledge fire.
Anyway, yeah, those fires are still going on, and it's come to the point where we can smell them up from where we are. We're still not in any kind of danger zone, and they've been able to small fires all the way from out here in the past.
I learned today that the program I'm going into this year has closed itself to applicants. That means, it's an active enough program that it has filled it's seats. That's somewhat exciting.
Mind blow! I asked how long fires usually go for. The answer was that it completely depends on the fires, but several days was batting around the minimum time restriction for something that could be called a full-fledge fire.
Anyway, yeah, those fires are still going on, and it's come to the point where we can smell them up from where we are. We're still not in any kind of danger zone, and they've been able to small fires all the way from out here in the past.
I learned today that the program I'm going into this year has closed itself to applicants. That means, it's an active enough program that it has filled it's seats. That's somewhat exciting.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Shea Butter and Camera
A lot of older people I know enjoy the idea of me going into residence, and don't really see where my insecurities concerning age come into place. Do you remember being a child, and relatives asking after interests that you'd had, but had "grown out" of? Or being dragged somewhere, maybe by the interest of a younger sibling, and being embarrassed because you thought people might think it was you with that interest? Or maybe even just feigning disgust at an old interest because you felt that you were too old for it?
Well, as an adult, I don't mind being seen engaging in a childish activity, or having a childish interest. That's because I've disengaged from the period of life in which I was a child to the extent that I don't have to worry about being considered one unless I show signs of a mental disorder, which I'm not too worried about.
Right now, my older friends see me in the category of a "young adult" which comprises the late teens and early to mid twenties. I see a more distinct difference between those years, and have regained the insecurity of not having fully disengaged a time of life that I am now in the process of leaving.
But, as I've said, adaptation is my thing, and unless I somehow get stuck with a xenophobic Quebecois family, I should be fine.
I gave my grandmother some shea soap and shea butter. She says it's like nothing she's ever used before. She says that the raw shea butter is especially good, that it's killed callouses in a matter of days, and that while the effect is strong, the process is gentle. My grandmother is a wise woman with much experience. She even has experience with products that contain shea butter, and it looks like all those other ingredients only dilute the power of shea butter. she says she's already thinking of how she can get more. I'm not surprised. That's the pride of Mali we're talking about.
I figured out how to change the image quality and size on my camera. Remember, I said I had a friend who managed to change it to a higher quality and size? Well, he doesn't look like such a wizard to me anymore. Turns out, the process he used consisted mostly of "Pressing a large button on the front of the camera that I hadn't noticed before somehow". Still, this is a hand-me-down camera, and I discovered this feature, while it doesn't appear that it's previous owner ever did.
Well, as an adult, I don't mind being seen engaging in a childish activity, or having a childish interest. That's because I've disengaged from the period of life in which I was a child to the extent that I don't have to worry about being considered one unless I show signs of a mental disorder, which I'm not too worried about.
Right now, my older friends see me in the category of a "young adult" which comprises the late teens and early to mid twenties. I see a more distinct difference between those years, and have regained the insecurity of not having fully disengaged a time of life that I am now in the process of leaving.
But, as I've said, adaptation is my thing, and unless I somehow get stuck with a xenophobic Quebecois family, I should be fine.
I gave my grandmother some shea soap and shea butter. She says it's like nothing she's ever used before. She says that the raw shea butter is especially good, that it's killed callouses in a matter of days, and that while the effect is strong, the process is gentle. My grandmother is a wise woman with much experience. She even has experience with products that contain shea butter, and it looks like all those other ingredients only dilute the power of shea butter. she says she's already thinking of how she can get more. I'm not surprised. That's the pride of Mali we're talking about.
I figured out how to change the image quality and size on my camera. Remember, I said I had a friend who managed to change it to a higher quality and size? Well, he doesn't look like such a wizard to me anymore. Turns out, the process he used consisted mostly of "Pressing a large button on the front of the camera that I hadn't noticed before somehow". Still, this is a hand-me-down camera, and I discovered this feature, while it doesn't appear that it's previous owner ever did.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Natural Disasters and College Thoughts
My grandparents have some pretty good books up here. I'd sort of run out of literature back home. I still had Heart of Darkness and Obasan, but after that, nothing hard, really. I'm moving into Dostoyevsky right now, and I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding other interesting things to read during my stay.
There were some forest fires a ways away from here. Close enough to be news, but not close enough to be dangerous. I asked them if there had ever been a forest fire that was close enough to be a threat, and apparently, in the time they've lived up here, there had been only one fire that came close to being scary. But it was small and put down fast enough. Plus, it wasn't on the property, and it didn't even really sound all that near to it, when I got the description of where it was. Apparently, even with some of the further away ones, the scent of the fire can carry as far as to where we are. I'm not really concerned with fires.
Other than the fire, there was an even slighter threat of a tornado. I'm really used to tornado scares in Guelph. A tornado that wasn't large enough to be called a tornado dealt us the most severe damage. We called it the Gustnado, and it lifted the roof off my elementary school gymnasium, ripped a few trees out of the ground, and even threw one through my French teacher's office window.
We've also had a few full-scale tornadoes, which just seemed to walk down the street and disappear without giving anyone any real trouble. It's kind of funny how, even knowing that something is dangerous, if you live with it long enough and it doesn't do you any direct harm, you cease to feel the acidity that the threat still kind of deserves.
It was a bit like that with the tornado scare up here. I've been near enough to tornadoes now and then throughout my life that I wasn't too concerned. Made sense, because it wasn't a real scare, but still... I was a little startled at myself that I dismissed the notion of being struck before I had all the facts.
As far as animals go, I haven't seen too much as yet. There are finches and humming birds everywhere. Lots of chipmunks. I've seen cranes flying by. I saw a raccoon. Apparently a porcupine gnawed on a chair during the night. That would have been a little interesting, but I didn't get to see it. Lots of neat birdsong.
I've been taking lots of photos. I probably have a handful that have come out well. I'm waiting until I get back to publish them.
Driving's continuing along steadily. I made a major step up in skill yesterday.
I got a package from a friend of mine from CWY. One of the Canadians. It came to my home address, in Guelph, so now I'm going to have to wait until I get home or have it sent up here. It arrived the day after I left. Go figure.
I'm officially applied for residence at the college. I'm going to be the oldest guy there, I just know it. That'll be awkward, but hey, sometimes I thrive in situations that put me in the minority. That's the basic concept of cultural adaptation, and the main skill I've learned through Katimavik and CWY.
Still, y'know... If people go right after highschool, that makes them 17 or 18... And if college is two years on average, that makes an average spanning between 17 and 20. Of course, this college also does many three year programs, and even University degrees. It's known for that, actually. That helps, but still, University students might graduate at age 21, 22... Basically, they're finishing at the time when I'm starting.
I'm thinking about what my friends did after highschool. Among my eight closest friends, or my "group", there have been three college dropouts, three people who did not seek higher education, one person who graduated college, and one person who graduated university. Two dropouts joined the military, and one of them dropped out of that, too.
Of my two closest friends from middle school, one didn't seek higher education, and the other did an apprenticeship and was successful afterwards.
There was a graph at my highschool stating the different paths people take after graduation, and in what percentage. It was pretty even between college and university, both being 25% or something like that, and then there was like, 15% going into apprenticeships, and 35% going directly into the workforce. I guess nothing's going to knock me out of the "direct to workforce" category at this point, although even giving me that title is being charitable.
I catch myself running over thoughts like these. I can't distract myself from the urge to size myself up in terms of what's to come.
There were some forest fires a ways away from here. Close enough to be news, but not close enough to be dangerous. I asked them if there had ever been a forest fire that was close enough to be a threat, and apparently, in the time they've lived up here, there had been only one fire that came close to being scary. But it was small and put down fast enough. Plus, it wasn't on the property, and it didn't even really sound all that near to it, when I got the description of where it was. Apparently, even with some of the further away ones, the scent of the fire can carry as far as to where we are. I'm not really concerned with fires.
Other than the fire, there was an even slighter threat of a tornado. I'm really used to tornado scares in Guelph. A tornado that wasn't large enough to be called a tornado dealt us the most severe damage. We called it the Gustnado, and it lifted the roof off my elementary school gymnasium, ripped a few trees out of the ground, and even threw one through my French teacher's office window.
We've also had a few full-scale tornadoes, which just seemed to walk down the street and disappear without giving anyone any real trouble. It's kind of funny how, even knowing that something is dangerous, if you live with it long enough and it doesn't do you any direct harm, you cease to feel the acidity that the threat still kind of deserves.
It was a bit like that with the tornado scare up here. I've been near enough to tornadoes now and then throughout my life that I wasn't too concerned. Made sense, because it wasn't a real scare, but still... I was a little startled at myself that I dismissed the notion of being struck before I had all the facts.
As far as animals go, I haven't seen too much as yet. There are finches and humming birds everywhere. Lots of chipmunks. I've seen cranes flying by. I saw a raccoon. Apparently a porcupine gnawed on a chair during the night. That would have been a little interesting, but I didn't get to see it. Lots of neat birdsong.
I've been taking lots of photos. I probably have a handful that have come out well. I'm waiting until I get back to publish them.
Driving's continuing along steadily. I made a major step up in skill yesterday.
I got a package from a friend of mine from CWY. One of the Canadians. It came to my home address, in Guelph, so now I'm going to have to wait until I get home or have it sent up here. It arrived the day after I left. Go figure.
I'm officially applied for residence at the college. I'm going to be the oldest guy there, I just know it. That'll be awkward, but hey, sometimes I thrive in situations that put me in the minority. That's the basic concept of cultural adaptation, and the main skill I've learned through Katimavik and CWY.
Still, y'know... If people go right after highschool, that makes them 17 or 18... And if college is two years on average, that makes an average spanning between 17 and 20. Of course, this college also does many three year programs, and even University degrees. It's known for that, actually. That helps, but still, University students might graduate at age 21, 22... Basically, they're finishing at the time when I'm starting.
I'm thinking about what my friends did after highschool. Among my eight closest friends, or my "group", there have been three college dropouts, three people who did not seek higher education, one person who graduated college, and one person who graduated university. Two dropouts joined the military, and one of them dropped out of that, too.
Of my two closest friends from middle school, one didn't seek higher education, and the other did an apprenticeship and was successful afterwards.
There was a graph at my highschool stating the different paths people take after graduation, and in what percentage. It was pretty even between college and university, both being 25% or something like that, and then there was like, 15% going into apprenticeships, and 35% going directly into the workforce. I guess nothing's going to knock me out of the "direct to workforce" category at this point, although even giving me that title is being charitable.
I catch myself running over thoughts like these. I can't distract myself from the urge to size myself up in terms of what's to come.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Slow Connection
The Internet connection up here isn't quite as fast as I'm used to. Before I came up, I hadn't realized that dial-up still existed. Now I remember why I was so excited when we upgraded.
This blog loads fairly quickly, but for some reason, the "New Update" page doesn't, so updates from now on will be coming on a basis of prioritization. That being, if I don't really have anything else to do online, I will update. Exceptions may come if something quite extraordinary happens.
Gmail has accommodated me with it's Basic HTML function, making it easier to process messages. Facebook's been a pain, though. For some reason, I can't play online Scrabble anymore. Also, apparently there was an article on something my Katimavik group did with the Sioux Lookout group in Thunder Bay, almost two years ago. Won't load, though.
I've been doing about two hours of driving every day. Pretty solid. I've been improving at a pace that I find satisfactory. I've been doing mainly side roads with very little traffic. I've been getting a lot of practice with hills and turns. I've passed cars and I've been passed. I've gone over bridges. I went on a highway for the first time today. Very little traffic, but still. So far, I haven't caused anyone any trouble. That G2 doesn't look so far out of reach anymore.
I'm hoping to see some wildlife while I'm up, since this is a good spot for it.
This blog loads fairly quickly, but for some reason, the "New Update" page doesn't, so updates from now on will be coming on a basis of prioritization. That being, if I don't really have anything else to do online, I will update. Exceptions may come if something quite extraordinary happens.
Gmail has accommodated me with it's Basic HTML function, making it easier to process messages. Facebook's been a pain, though. For some reason, I can't play online Scrabble anymore. Also, apparently there was an article on something my Katimavik group did with the Sioux Lookout group in Thunder Bay, almost two years ago. Won't load, though.
I've been doing about two hours of driving every day. Pretty solid. I've been improving at a pace that I find satisfactory. I've been doing mainly side roads with very little traffic. I've been getting a lot of practice with hills and turns. I've passed cars and I've been passed. I've gone over bridges. I went on a highway for the first time today. Very little traffic, but still. So far, I haven't caused anyone any trouble. That G2 doesn't look so far out of reach anymore.
I'm hoping to see some wildlife while I'm up, since this is a good spot for it.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Landed in Kenabeek
I arrived at my grandparents house the other day. Today, I had my first driving lesson. I've probably mentioned it, but I only have my G1 license (Canada has a graduation license system, going G1, G2, then G) because I don't know anyone with a car who can consistently give me lessons. Now I do. Today's lesson went well, and I'm hoping to get practice more days then not.
I'm taking photos, too. There's some really beautiful landscape out here, and the house itself is quite snazzy. This is the first time I've been up here in the Spring. I think I've been up here every season except Spring, until this time, although that's what I said about my Guelph seasonal photos project. But this time, I'm thinking that I've been up here because of summer vacation, Christmas vacation, and Thanksgiving. The old school system didn't allow for a Spring visit.
Up here, Spring's as nice as it's going to get, but it still isn't my favourite season. I can't help but feel the wilderness will look more robust once the wilderness grows out a bit more.
I'm taking photos, too. There's some really beautiful landscape out here, and the house itself is quite snazzy. This is the first time I've been up here in the Spring. I think I've been up here every season except Spring, until this time, although that's what I said about my Guelph seasonal photos project. But this time, I'm thinking that I've been up here because of summer vacation, Christmas vacation, and Thanksgiving. The old school system didn't allow for a Spring visit.
Up here, Spring's as nice as it's going to get, but it still isn't my favourite season. I can't help but feel the wilderness will look more robust once the wilderness grows out a bit more.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Spring Pics
Yeah, so since I'm leaving today, I finally got around to uploading those Spring photos. I put five, because that's what I put for Winter, considering that to be my minimum requirement. Here's the post: http://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.ca/2012/05/guelph-spring-2012.html
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Dislocating Body Parts
So, did you guys know that I can dislocate my jaw? I can pull my jaw back, until I feel this sort of "Click" sensation, and then it won't close properly with a regular vertical command. I have to slide it horizontally, and bring it over a "hill" in my jaw before it will close normally. I used to think this wasn't unusual, but in Katimavik, everyone was amazed by my ability to open my jaw very widely. It appeared that I was the strongest in this category. Since then, I have grown to understand that this is a fairly unusual ability, of which I should be appreciative.
I can also dislocate my left thumb, but not my right. If I concentrate on that too much, I feel uneasy. As a right-handed person, I'm used to my right hand being more proficient than my left. But after this display, my right hand comes out wanting.
I can also dislocate my left thumb, but not my right. If I concentrate on that too much, I feel uneasy. As a right-handed person, I'm used to my right hand being more proficient than my left. But after this display, my right hand comes out wanting.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Mom's Cooking
You guys can check out some photos of my mother's food, which I've been photographing for some reason. They're on my Flickr. Here you go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78975407@N05/sets/72157629644915886/
I'll be visiting with my grandparents soon enough, and moving into a fairly large visit, hopefully. I once thought that my grandmother was 50% of my viewers, but recent statistics provided by Google say that I have 31 other viewers, so I'll try to keep up my activity on this blog for that mystery group!
I'll be visiting with my grandparents soon enough, and moving into a fairly large visit, hopefully. I once thought that my grandmother was 50% of my viewers, but recent statistics provided by Google say that I have 31 other viewers, so I'll try to keep up my activity on this blog for that mystery group!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Plumbing Issue
I reviewed my gallery, and it appears that I missed Summer as well as Spring in my seasonal collection. Fsshh... I thought I'd just cap off an old project, but this is turning into a chore.
We had a big-ish plumbing issue. The whole street needed to have it's water cut. We spoke to our landlord, who needed to call a plumber and also get permission from The City of Guelph to shut the water down. It was all wrapped up inside a day, though. A pipe broke, or something. It was a leak that was running like a faucet.
Facebook has a function now, where it puts a map on your front page showing everywhere that you've logged on. It's got Summerside, Thunder Bay, and Chisasibi on there, so that means they've been recording my movements since Katimavik at least. This is a function that is automatically added to your profile. I don't have a problem with it, but I know that there are people who might.
Also, they didn't force Timeline again, so I just look like a huge tool that complied early.
We had a big-ish plumbing issue. The whole street needed to have it's water cut. We spoke to our landlord, who needed to call a plumber and also get permission from The City of Guelph to shut the water down. It was all wrapped up inside a day, though. A pipe broke, or something. It was a leak that was running like a faucet.
Facebook has a function now, where it puts a map on your front page showing everywhere that you've logged on. It's got Summerside, Thunder Bay, and Chisasibi on there, so that means they've been recording my movements since Katimavik at least. This is a function that is automatically added to your profile. I don't have a problem with it, but I know that there are people who might.
Also, they didn't force Timeline again, so I just look like a huge tool that complied early.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Raccoon and Souvenirs
He was sitting on my neighbour's roof. Initially he was much closer, but after I went back inside and came back with my camera, he'd retreated a little bit. I had to zoom in almost to max capacity to get a decent shot, which usually causes a decrease in photo quality, but I was surprised that it came out as well as it did.
I was in the mood to take photos, so here's some pics of my Africa swag. Not the best quality here, either, because of lighting.
It's going to be different scenery, though. All the other seasonal images were done in the area around where I used to live... You know, where the prostitute was murdered.
I took a bunch of pictures of plantlife and the speed river. I'm not sure that will suffice, but I don't find this neighbourhood, or this season, to be as photographically inspiring.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Murder in Town
So, there has been a murder in Guelph. It's not so intimidating, considering it happened five years ago, and details are only showing up recently. But it holds a little bit more significance to me. I never knew the victim, so perhaps it's not warranted, but I was very near to her when she died, apparently.
When me, my Mom and my brother had to evacuate the apartment we'd lived in for 18 years, entering a neighbourhood of which I'd heard had a certain stigma, it was within a week that we were confronted by a policewoman, who wanted to know what information we had about the death of a young woman whose corpse had been found directly outside our building.
Guelph is considered the safest city in Canada, and Canada itself has a pretty good reputation. This was the worst crime that I'd ever heard having been committed in my home city. Official report said that the cause of death was unknown. I'd assumed she'd OD'd or something.
Wrong... Apparently she was a prostitute and drug addict. Her murderer was a client who had behaved violently towards prostitutes in the past. Her death came from being strangled.
When me, my Mom and my brother had to evacuate the apartment we'd lived in for 18 years, entering a neighbourhood of which I'd heard had a certain stigma, it was within a week that we were confronted by a policewoman, who wanted to know what information we had about the death of a young woman whose corpse had been found directly outside our building.
Guelph is considered the safest city in Canada, and Canada itself has a pretty good reputation. This was the worst crime that I'd ever heard having been committed in my home city. Official report said that the cause of death was unknown. I'd assumed she'd OD'd or something.
Wrong... Apparently she was a prostitute and drug addict. Her murderer was a client who had behaved violently towards prostitutes in the past. Her death came from being strangled.
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