"He Shoots! He Scores!" Argh!

Close-up - Tri-City's Third Goal
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Well...This is a photo I took of the visiting team scoring. Actually, it's a complete fluke that I managed to get a photo of the goal before the puck hit the ice behind the Vancouver Giants goaltender. Of course, I wasn't ready to take photographs when the Giants scored two goals in the following period. In each case a Giants player broke in alone against the Tri-City Americans goalie. On one goal our guy out-hustled two of their defenders to get to the puck and on the other goal our guy completely undressed the defenceman who was meant to stop him. Deked him out and left him hung out to dry.

Anyways, I took a Japanese friend to see the game. It was the first time she'd ever seen a hockey game in her entire life. I think she enjoyed it because I asked her if she'd like to see more games and she answered in the affirmative. I did manage to explain a few things to her: Yes, it's called a "puck" and when I said "Pretty goal", I did not say "Pretty girl". :D I think it'll be a while before she gets the hang of what is meant by "icing" in hockey.

The Little Things in Life - #2

Out Photographing the Fall Colours
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

I wasn't the only one out taking pictures of the trees. The man in the picture approached me a few minutes before I took this photograph and asked me to take a picture of his son and him together. He said to me in his slightly accented English "Oh you're a cameraman.." but I had to protest with "No, I'm just doing this for fun". Anyways, he was very pleased with the photograph. Probably not so much with the quality of the photograph but probably more so that he had a memento of the time he had spent together with his son that day.

The Little Things in Life

The "Chinese" Pose
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Today was the last day working at the Starbucks across the street for the young lady in the photo. She's off to a new job as a manager at a new Starbucks store in town. I think I found out from her yesterday morning when her last day was going to be. I didn't think much of it and simply told her "Congratulations and good luck!".

It was after I had gone for lunch with a co-worker and we were back on our way to the office that I thought about getting a card for her and having the other regulars in our office who know her to sign it. So I did that. Then Tara said that she'd track down a little gift for our friend. I bought a couple of "scratch and win" lottery tickets (the contest name appropriately was "Coffee Break") and added them to the card.

Anyways, when I first visited the Starbucks shop this morning she was on a conference call. So I said I'd return. When I went back I hauled along a few of the people who had signed the card. I presented her with the card and Tara took the picture. Yes, she was quite surprised. She didn't have to but she bought a round of coffee for all of us. Later on she came by and told us that she did win some money with the scratch and win tickets...$2. ^_^

So there you go... The little things in life do matter...

The End of the 2008 Outrigger Racing Season

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Originally uploaded by d.yaro

For our club the last race of the year has been the Bridge to Bridge race held in Victoria, BC. It's a long haul of a season that starts off in January with the Ice Breaker race at the Lotus Club in Burnaby, BC. On account of the travelling I did this year I think I did a smaller number of races this year: Duel in the Desert, Jericho Iron, small boat races at the CORA Canadian Championships, Liberty Outrigger Race in New York, NY, Length of the Lake and Bridge to Bridge. All in all it was a good season. I think I've lowered my time on the 10km distance by about 10 minutes (if not more). I think I'm a bit more comfortable with paddling solo but there's still a lot of room for improvement.

Anyways, the photograph shows the tools of the trade for me in outrigger paddling. I'm using bigger surface blades that are designed for OC6/team paddling in conditions that are at least moderately active in terms of wave action. The blades are carbon fibre and the shafts are wood. They are considerably lighter than the first all-wood blade I used when I started outrigger paddling. And they're not exactly cheap. Those two blades represent an investment in equipment that is close to $500(CAN). I'm also using a relatively long 52" paddle (the one without a decal on it) for OC6 paddling. I know of a couple of guys who use 50" paddles and they're at least my height, if not taller. I suppose it's all a matter of taste.

I'll still be out paddling on weekends until December. We'll probably do some V-12 paddling around New Years and in January. Then the whole cycle starts off again with the Ice Breaker V-12 races at the Lotus Club in late January...

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Vote We Go

"X" Marks the Spot
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

At this point in time I believe we're stuck with yet another Tory government. I haven't looked at the latest results as I'm a bit nervous about the chances of the incumbent Grit in my riding. Yes, I voted for her. In all the elections I've been through in my riding I think I voted NDP once, maybe twice. Anyways, I did my duty and cast my ballot this morning. The polls closed about an hour and half ago. Not that I'd be influencing any Canadian votes with my blog. Ha, ha...

I think I convinced at least one co-worker who normally doesn't vote to go out and cast his ballot. My message to him was one of "It's something you should do as part of your civic duty...and think of those who live in places where they don't have the privilege of being able to vote". His argument for not voting in the past was "Well my vote won't change anything anyways". I suppose the underlying theme to my counter-argument was "It's not all about you".

G-O-O-O-A-A-L!!!!

One Goal Coming Right Up!
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

I had the pleasure of being a spectator at the Vancouver Whitecaps victory over the Puerto Rico Islanders at Swangard Stadium today. The significance of the game? It was the USL-1 Championship game. The game would've been played in Puerto Rico but their facility was deemed unsatisfactory by FIFA. So the venue ended up in Canada.

From a photography point of view I learned that I should've zoomed in a bit more when I took most of my shots of the game play. I probably would've ended up with more workable material to zoom-in on and crop for close up shots.

Anyways, I did luck out with the shot of the first Vancouver goal. I had just enough resolution to the photo I took to allow me to crop out the photo attached to this blog entry. Not bad for a "point and shoot" camera.

Wow... 30 Years Eh?

Tonight I attended a high school reunion function. Actually, not just any but rather the 30th year reunion of my high school graduating class. Our graduating class was quite large. Something like 800 students I think. There were so many of us the graduation ceremony was held over two nights. So, taking that into consideration the reunion reception was attended by a much smaller number. I don't know how many showed up. Probably a hundred or so. Anyways, none of the guys I hung out with everyday during my senior high school days showed up. Two of the people who I had known since grade 1 did show up. That was really neat. There was one guy who claimed to know one of the people who started the fire that burned down the high school whose graduating class got merged with ours. That's why our grad class was so large.

I did make a point of finding out if there was going to be reunion this year. It was important for me in that most of us are still around. The number of those who have passed on is relatively small. Which goes to show that we're all living good lives and have taken care of ourselves. I suspect the list of those who have passed on will be longer when the next reunion rolls around in ten years time.


nb: Went paddling this morning on the club OC1. I was told it was 3°C this morning. I made darn sure I didn't flip the boat and end up in the drink...

One Down... 83... Err...81, More to Go.

Wha?! It didn't go in?
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Yup. The NHL season is now really started. Those four overseas games were a nice gesture towards the European fans but tonight the real show got going. In my neck of the woods the Vancouver Canucks started off on the right footing and I was there to witness it.

Prior to the game they had a memorial tribute to the late Luc Bourdon, a player who died in a motorcycle accident during the off-season. I'll admit I shed a few tears as the team captain Roberto Luongo presented the last game jersey Luc wore to the members of Luc's family, plus his girfriend, who were present at the game. The players had given away their jerseys to fans after the last game of the 2007-2008 season (Bourdon had played in that game) but the club managed to obtain Bourdon's jersey from the fan who had received it. I shed a few more tears as Tom Cochrane and Ken Greer from the band Red Rider sang and played a touching rendition of their song "Big League" as part of the tribute.

As for the game: At least the Canucks showed up to play. The Flames outshot the 'Nucks in the first frame but it was the locals who were up 1-0 at the end of the first period. Two goals in the first two minutes of the second period essentially flattened the Flames. By the time the third period rolled around the 'Nucks were on a roll. They added another 3 goals to their total in that frame to round out the score at 6-0. A good win. Hopefully the Canucks will play this way every night.

Postscript: Best laugh out loud comment I found on cbc.ca about the Saturday rematch game (Flames defenceman Robyn Regehr missed the Thursday game to be by his wife's side as she gave birth to their son):

thealbertananalyst wrote:
Posted 2008/10/11
at 2:31 PM ET - Wow...congratulations, Regehr! Chances are that parenting your new son will be a much better experience than playing with Calgary and losing to the Canucks AND the Oilers all through the year.

Go Oilers! :P

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves
Originally uploaded by d.yaro

Yes, autumn is definitely upon us. Night temperature is currently 8° and daytime high about 11°. We don't get the bright coloured fall leaves like they do out in eastern Canada. After all, most of the forests around here are made up of coniferous trees. This shot I took because tall trees with bright red fall leaves are definitely uncommon out here...

そうか。。。

I followed the link to the NHL web site off of the web page for a blog I follow here. They had a couple of articles there about the coming demise of the old Philadelphia Spectrum. That in itself was sort of interesting but the part that caught my eye was the bit where they mentioned the Flyers beating the Soviet Red Army team 4-1 back in the mid 70s. I think they quoted Bobby Clarke and Ed Snider going on about how significant that victory was. Which is interesting. Because I, like probably a lot of other hockey fans in Canada, have probably forgotten about that result. The real gem in that series for many Canadian hockey fans was the New Years Eve game between the Habs and same Red Army team. And that game ended in a draw. One would think the victory would remain more deeply etched in the collective memory but for me that isn't the case. I suspect what it boils down to is this: The process was more important than the result. I know as a paddler I don't remember results that well but I remember the races where I busted my guts paddling some long forgotten boat down a race course to a finish line. The Habs-Red Army game was something I'll remember as end to end action with numerous missed chances for both teams (trust me, the chances the Habs missed hurt), The Flyers-Red Army game...if I'm not mistaken the Soviets returned to their dressing room as a protest against a hit and had to be coaxed back out to finish the game. The fact the Flyers won became an overlooked fact. In short, winning is good but sometimes it isn't good enough when it comes to what becomes memorable in sport...

VIFF - Day 12 - アキレスと亀 (Achilles and the Tortoise)

Tonight probably marks the end of my attendance at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival. I'll check Wednesday's schedule to see if there's anything else that piques my interest. On Tuesday I have an outrigger practice to go to and Thursday night I'll be attending the home opener of the Vancouver Canucks 2008-2009 NHL season. I don't have super high expectations for this year's team but I don't want them to hit rock bottom. Then again, hitting rock bottom might be a real wake up call for the team's management. Oh well. There's a very small part of me that wants to see the Habs win the Cup this year because it's their 100th season.

As for tonight's movie: It was called アキレスと亀 (Achilles and the Tortoise) and it's the latest movie made by Kitano Takeshi (aka: "Beat" Takeshi when he's in front of the camera). The movie starts off with a short anime clip describing the mathematical paradox of Achilles never being able to pass a tortoise in a race. The film then follows the life of the main character, Kuramochi, in three stages of his life: as an elementary school student who likes drawing, as an art college student and as a middle aged artist who is both an artistic and commercial failure. Figuring out the grand metaphor of the movie shouldn't be too difficult by now. The film is reflective, sad, funny, zany, absurd and touching at all sorts of different points in the story. Yet I found it to be a much more well composed and satisfying package than Kitano's previous outing, 監督バンザイ！("Kantoku Banzai!" or "Hurray for the Director!"). I believe this movie, along with "Kantoku Banzai!" and "Takeshis" completes his restrospective/introspective series of movies. You don't have to have seen the other two movies to enjoy this one but I don't think it would hurt to see them either. As for myself, I've seen them in the order they came out with "Takeshis" being the first one of the trio released. (Now will someone please re-release "Sonatine" on R1 DVD with English subtitles.)

I thought about seeing another film tonight but ended up deciding not to. Did drop in at HMV and picked up a copy on DVD of Kinoshita's classic movie "Twenty Four Eyes"...

VIFF - Day 11 - "Fifty Dead Men Walking"

Let me count how many movies I've viewed in the past 10 days...9. Which means I should've purchased a 10 feature pass to this year's VIFF (Vancouver International Film Festival). Though I have to admit this year I've watched more VIFF presentations than I have in the 8 or so years I've attended the festival. I think my past record peaks at about 5 or 6 screenings.

Today's festival fare which I attended was "Fifty Dead Men Walking", a film with a bit of controversy already riding its wake. Which is understandable considering its subject material: a fictionalized telling of the story of an informant working for the British who has risen within the ranks of the IRA. It seems that if you do a search in Google with the film's title you'll find more results about the controversies surrounding the movie than about the movie itself.

What I felt the film impressed on me was not anything about the nature or background of "The Troubles". I saw the story as being one focused on a person who, rather unremarkable at the start of the story, manages to survive progressively dangerous and difficult situations. As a crime thriller movie the film worked well. The tension that surrounds a character with the burden of protecting his young family while he carries on his work as an informant is projected quite well in the script.

I'm not quite sure how this film fares in terms of any claim to neutrality with respect to describing the context of the story it tells. There are somewhat obligatory shots of Republican and Unionist trappings, footage of confrontations with riot police and the British army along with glimpses of Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley. Those clips are short enough to provide some indication of the context of the story and they seemed to be concentrated in the first half or so of the film. News clips are interspersed in the mid to latter part of the film to depict the impact of the main character's actions. For me those snippets weren't enough to make me feel that the film was taking sides. But that's just my take on it...


PS: The very first ever VIFF film screening I attended: Otomo Katsuhiro's "Akira" at the Hollywood theatre on Broadway. That was back in 1988 or 1989 I think. I don't remember if the movie was subtitled in English or dubbed in English. But it was packed house...and the audience laughed at the scene where a bandaged Tetsuo makes his way down a hospital corridor to the strains of "Da! Da-da-dan!" playing in the soundtrack.

歩いても歩いても and Joy Division

歩いても歩いても ("Aruitemo Aruitemo") is one of the movies I took in at the Vancouver International Film Festival this week. (An aside: the English title is "Still Walking".) The star of the movie is Abe Hiroshi. Yes, that actor who starred in Trick with Nakama Yukie, the TV series "Dragon Zakura" and, yes, "Godzilla 2000", amongst a bunch of other TV shows and movies. Anyways, there is a scene in the movie where his character is sitting in his old room in his parents home wondering why they bothered to haul out all of his old belongings. Amongst the things in the room was a poster on the wall: a poster with the "JOY DIVISION" across the top and the cover art from that band's LP "Unknown Pleasures" below that. For whatever reason my mind crossed the line between "It's just a prop" and into the territory of "What is the significance of that poster being there". Of course there was no significance in the poster being there. It was simply there because it's old and something that a youth in the late 1970s/early 1980s Japan might have acquired. Anyways, that prop proved to be a bit of a distraction for me because it got me wondering whether or not I still have that Joy Division "Love Will Tear Us Apart" poster I bought oh so many years ago. Luckily, for the sake of my enjoying the rest of the movie, I didn't dwell too much on that thought for too long.

PS: Okay. With respect to the write-up the film got on the VIFF web site: Sorry Tony Rayns but I never thought of Abe Hiroshi as being a "comedic actor". The TV series "Dragon Zakura" was hardly an exercise in slapstick. But that's just my observation...

The Calm Before...

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Originally uploaded by achales

...whatever happens...as far as this blog goes.


Oh yeah: Yours truly is the fellow in the back seat of the OC2 (2 seater outrigger canoe) in this photograph. It was a bit before 7am on September 20th, 2008 and the challenge facing my buddy and I was to get this thing 16km down Okanagan Lake on the first leg of a 100km race. For our team the odyssey ended 9 hours and 2 minutes after we started.