the_vulture

Casa Loma

2014-07-19T13:10:15Z

One of the many adventures that my girlfriend and I partook of, during our vacation to Toronto, was exploring Casa Loma, a grand structure styled upon European castles that was built by Canadian business visionary, Sir Henry Pellatt during the early 1900s.

Naturally, we took photos:

( More photos under the cut... )

comments

A week in Toronto!

2014-07-05T13:27:20Z

The girlfriend and I recently returned from a week long vacation in Toronto, where we did ALL THE THINGS, including marching in the annual pride parade, as part of World Pride 2014, in support of asexual awareness and visibility. I'm still going through all the photographs, of which I shot over 4200, between my two cameras and my phone. However, I have finished all the ones I took at the CN Tower (with a side trip up to the Skypod):

Teddy makes a triumphant return to the top of Toronto!

( More photos under the cut... )

comments

Toronto bound!

2014-06-22T14:20:52Z

Tomorrow morning, I'm off to Toronto for a week of fun and antics (as well as attending some of the World Pride events)! Many photos to follow!

comments

Stupid ice storm ruined ALL the fun...

2014-04-10T03:40:20Z

Early last week, my girlfriend and I headed out on a four hour drive to visit her family in Cape Breton for a few days. We managed to make it just ahead of a storm of freezing rain that we figured would clear up the next to allow us to phototrek around the island. Unfortunately, the ice storm front 'stalled', according to the weather experts, pinning us down inside her mom's house for most of the trip, often without power. We even wound up missing a day of work waiting for the road conditions to improve enough to let us get back home safely.

So, no, I didn't get a chance to take many photos and I didn't get to play with the Canon Rebel T5i at all, on account of not wishing to expose it to the freezing rain. But you're welcome to peek at what I did manage to photograph:

( More under the cut... )

comments

Beauty in decay

2014-03-18T02:49:40Z

These were taken with the Canon Rebel T5i a couple of weeks ago:

comments

So the girlfriend moved in...

2014-03-17T04:20:00Z

Yep, it's a bit of a change that's taking some getting used to, but I'm enjoying it. :)

comments

pout

2013-11-29T04:36:46Z

After a month of trying different lenses, it looks like I'll have to abandon the idea of wearing contacts. Due to some serious astigmatism, I've thus far found only one type of lenses that will work and they're simply too costly to justify. *sigh*

comments

Well, fuck...

2013-02-05T19:18:40Z

So, yeah, I'm now contemplating the strong possibility I won't be able to do the run on the 17th. Yes, I managed to get myself to the point of being able to run the half marathon distance once, but, without realizing it, I did myself some damage while doing so (I just learned all about overtraining... the hard way) and my body is currently in the process of telling me to fuck off, including letting me suffer this lovely bug I've managed to start suffering from Saturday afternoon. I was feeling better yesterday afternoon and did the P90X Kenpo workout, which should've been a solid, but not overly demanding workout. It left me completely drained. That's not good. Been feeling like crap since then. Meh.

I don't know if I'll be able to pull my body back together enough to do this run, if even moderate workouts are fucking with me, and an $80 entry fee sort of prohibits 'just giving it a try, anyhow'. Conventional wisdom says there's always next year, but I don't know if I'd be able to avoid the same conditions that led to overtraining this time, key amongst them: not being able to regularly get a solid 8 hours sleep after my workouts and doing Kung Fu on what should be my rest days. There's also the whole thing where I'm not looking forward to the entire sacrifice of time and effort that it took this time around, which cost me a lot in terms of time I would normally have spent doing extra training and conditioning for Kung Fu. (I'm also not pleased at the loss of kick flexibility, courtesy of some damaged and very tight thigh muscles.) To do it again, and this time properly, I'd pretty much have to give Kung Fu altogether. I'm not willing to do that, so, yeah, fuck.

comments

Yeah, sometimes the loneliness gets to me...

2013-01-13T05:37:29Z

a romantic asexual

"When are you going to get married?"
asked the unintentionally cruel aunt
like she does every time she visits
too occasionally to explain
the lonely sorrow that is being
a romantic asexual

"When are you going to get married?"
the answer is always an awkward mutter
those who truly know me never ask
it's an unvoiced understanding
they know about, but never speak of
a romantic asexual

"When are you going to get married?"
the words cut a savage reminder
of all the things I'll never have
a wife, kids, the love that comes with them
all lost to me, as no one wants
a romantic asexual

"When are you going to get married?"
a prison sentence pronounced as a question
invisible bars of loneliness between me
and the joy I see everyone else share
half a life of heartache, and half a life to go, as
a romantic asexual

comments

Military SciFi...and poetry!

2013-01-09T00:18:46Z

Yes, it's time, once again, for ysabetwordsmith 's Poetry Fishbowl and this month's theme is military science fiction! Go check it out (and leave a prompt)!

comments

So, yesterday's long run?

2013-01-08T12:20:11Z

21.2 km.

Yes, that's right; over the required 21.1 for a half marathon... about three weeks ahead of schedule. I'm half marathon race ready! This is a huge milestone for me in terms of my physical fitness.

Needless to say, I'm quite chuffed. :D

comments

- 10 Celcius, -19 with the wind chill.

2013-01-01T01:00:47Z

Feck it. I did 17.5 km anyway. How are you spending your New Year's Eve? :)

comments

Merry Christmas to those of my family and friends who celebrate it!

2012-12-25T01:19:25Z

I managed to regain a bit of my holiday spirit with the help of a little retail therapy:

comments

Merry Yule!

2012-12-22T00:53:02Z

The Wheel turns and, once again, the days begin to grow longer.

Blessed Be!

comments

Poetry and influential women

2012-11-07T03:34:47Z

Yay! It's time once again for ysabetwordsmith's Poetry Fishbowl! The theme is 'influential women'. Go check it out (and leave a prompt)!

comments

A new personal best!

2012-09-24T01:44:35Z

Today was my long run day and I did MUCH better than last Monday. Whilst I still completed the 10 km I had set out to achieve that Monday, I didn't get much beyond that. This was disappointing, as I had hoped surpass my personal best for running distance, an achievement I described in this entry.

Today, however, I surpassed that distance by a kilometre, for a total of 13! Furthermore, the time for my last personal best distance, 12 km, was achieved at under 1 hour 43 minutes, shaving a whopping 17 minutes off my time for that distance!

( More details and PICTURES! )

comments

Running like a mad dog and other things...

2012-09-17T03:21:31Z

So, I'll start off with the scary news I got last month. My doctor really didn't like my blood sugar level from the last set of tests. She's scheduled me to do another test in November to see if I have diabetes. That's... not happy. Granted, I know my father tends to have a high blood sugar level and I've probably inherited that from him, but, after all the exercising and such I do, I feel like my body has betrayed me. Not fun. The doctor told me not to beat myself up about it, but she did suggest I do what I can lose more weight, specifically to exercise even more than I do already.

Okay.

So, I finally bought a new pair of badly needed running shoes and I've redoubled my efforts in running, literally. Over the last couple of weeks, I've taken to doing two of the running workouts that the miCoach app spits at me for the 5k race plan I'm doing. This week, I've run over 25k. That's my new weekly goal: 25km. In this week alone, I've seen some really good progress: I've dropped around 4lbs and my blood pressure has improved a lot. I'm also feeling a lot better.

Another thing that will help is finally switching back to a day schedule, with Sundays and Mondays off, even. Aside from just being easier on my system and giving me my evenings back to socialize and such, I'll also go back to two nights a week of Kung Fu. (Yay!) The (re-)added workout is going to really help.

So, yeah, between all of that, I'm going to be putting in a lot of work on my physical health between now and November. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about it all, but, yeah, still scary.

comments

Modern Myth explored in poetry!

2012-08-07T19:41:33Z

Yes, it's time for ysabetwordsmith 's monthly Poetry Fishbowl, and this month's topic is 'modern myths'. Come check it out!

comments

Feel like a little alternative history?

2012-07-03T23:24:38Z

LJ user ysabetwordsmith is currently hosting her monthly Poetry Fishbowl. Go check it out!

comments

It's been a good holiday weekend.

2012-07-03T14:54:00Z

Okay, granted the Canada Day fireworks I went to see on Sunday night were not worth the mosquito bites I suffered for it. I'm not sure if it was a matter of cutting back on the budget, but it was kinda lacking. However, the afternoon preceding was quite pleasant. I spent it with my folks, first going to a rather nice brunch buffet at the casino and then sitting outdoors at a pub on Main Street, enjoying a pint and watching the interesting characters gathered to celebrate Canada Day. Of course, in amongst all that was a bunch of Canada Day related spamming on AVEN and Facebook. In particular, I shared my thoughts from this post I wrote two years ago, which still hold true for me.

Yesterday, I finally got out to a local beach and spent the afternoon embracing the Ocean and Sun (and then enjoying a chicken poutine, afterwards). It was a very restful and relaxing day, good for the spirit. Today (yes, a long weekend), I've got nothing on the agenda but doing some cooking in the kitchen and perhaps going to Kung Fu, if my shoulder is up to it (I injured it last week and it's still quite sore).

comments

Blessed Litha/Summer Solstice to those who celebrate it!

2012-06-21T03:20:30Z

( Summer Solstice poetry under the cut... )

comments

=:-)

2012-06-16T08:18:05Z

I just woke up from having a delightfully pleasant dream about being an extraordinarily intelligent, wee, black bunny, who escapes from a defunct research facility to undergo a variety of merry adventures, including making marzipan bunnies at a children's Easter fair, to eventually arrive into the loving care of a kindly researcher. I've decided to have a very bunny day.

comments

Teddy!!! Now with more colour! :D

2012-05-10T12:15:53Z

meeks has done another update of the amazing Teddy in Australia picture, adding more colour. Go check it out! :D

comments

A birthday story for me! Hee!

2012-05-05T11:15:25Z

Check out the adorable story that aldersprig wrote based on my birthday prompt during her latest Giraffe Call!