gamerdad I’m only about a quarter of my way through Murakami’s ten year old novel #1Q84 a work of surrealist magical #scifi that I consumed as an audiobook shortly after it came out, and decided to read the old fashioned way this summer. The author #murakami has been on my shortlist of favoured novelists for a long while and I’ve read most of his library at this point, and in many ways he has served as something of a personal literary inspiration for the types of stories I try to write. The style may not jive with my own writing style but definitely the bigger ideas and plots are a fascination to me and I dig the word surrealism of the journeys they take the reader on. Being a mere 250 pages into 1Q84 it’s escaping my memory where this particular plot is leading, but that just makes the discovery that much more satisfying.

8r4d After the rain my little #walk took me into #coyote territory. #animal #suburbs #birdsong

8r4d The fern has definitely taken a turn for the better since I repotted it a few weeks ago. #houseplants Perhaps looking enviously out the front window at the fresh #rain we’re getting today?

8r4d Monday, and I spent some time with a cup of #coffee writing code this morning. [read more...]

squwetchy About six hours later I decided this #dandelion #watercolour was a little lacking in depth, so I spent another hour or so adding lots of shading, some subtle some not, and now I think it has a lot more oomph. What say you? [read more...]

squwetchy #dandelion #flower in #watercolour

gamerdad I crossed the ten hour mark in the game last night and I’m digging into the multiple side quests as an homage to my classic play style in the original: grind until your characters are overpowered enough to plow through the main plot. [read more...]

8r4d The local canola crops are in full bloom already: I guess using black dirt from local fields to fill the curbs up for landscaping after the construction means that we’re gonna need a farmer to harvest the crop soon. #flower

8r4d I was neither #running nor #volunteering but I did ride my #bike down to one of the turnarounds on the 5 Peaks #race course this morning where RM was manning a road crossing and waving some flags at the cars trying to show the runners who’s im charge. I mean, c’mon tho. I was there about an hour watching the race and another hour cycling there and back, about 15k round trip.

pixelazy #sky scenes from a saturday hammock hang

pixelazy Scenes from a #rivervalley #hike

8r4dsfeets Who needs to carry a map when they put one right on the bridge deck?! #rivervalley #hike

8r4d Technically we’ve got a couple months until our mountain #hike and backpacking adventures but we we’re down in the #rivervalley again this Saturday morning doing another practice slog with C&A thru the woods. I took them on a winding trek through the snaking trails of Flat Pete where every cyclist in the city had also decided to visit today. But the sun was out and the birds were chirping and the dog was having the time of her life, so all the twists and turns were less dizzying and more captivating. And the ladies climbed a big pile of rocks to replicate a photo of their daughters from more than a half decade ago.

8r4d The final day of May inevitably arrived and with it the thirty-first and final (windy) day of my #running streak. [read more...]

8r4d Day thirty and with one day left in this month long #running streak I drove all the way across town to run #trails with the gang over in Goldbar. We got a little lost in the woods, but in a good way, and ended up doing a 180 flip and going back the way we came when we realized the trail was going to be closer to an marathon than a Thursday run. Everyone else had pretty much had a busy week of running and racing to, so a bit of a slower pace was not unwelcome.

gamerdad Of course it may just be a case of new game syndrome but I played another couple hours into the story until I rightfully found myself in the true open world part of the gameplay. As it was there was another hour or so on rails as the story plodded you through a couple more quick tutorials on a few more of its myriad of systems. There are the standard mechanics of levelling and item management, but there’s also a little card game with odd and tricky rules to learn as you challenge npcs in the world. Luckily I won my first real game so I must have followed the explanation well enough. Either way, a few more rails guided me out into the plains and now I’m doing the usual stuff like fighting random encounters and collecting ingredients for portions as I reveal chunks of map. Onwards.

gamerdad I relented and as the second instalment of the Final Fantasy VII remake series went on sale this week I decided to take the plunge and begin my inevitable journey. Ive read and listened to a few reviews by this point so my understanding is that the first act is very much a transition from the on-rails story of part one into the more open world adventure of part two, so playing for the first couple of hours of the game, finishing the familiar story of Nibelheim, I think I’m almost into the open world play that I’ve been hearing so many good things about. I’ve played the original so many times in the last 25 years there was little surprise in the story, though as usual it was pretty neat to see it fleshed out so much more as a kind of extended tutorial rather than just a mid game exposition stage. I was a little confused at the outset by the into step with Zach so I may need to read up on what I missed in bailing on the last game half way thru. But either way, I think I’m enjoying it so far… more than part one as far as my initial vibe check goes.

8r4d Another shot of the #mushroom about 5 hours later when the cap opened up a lot more and right before I plucked it from the soil along with a big scoop of contaminated soil. It was kinda cool seeing some fungi in one of my #houseplants bit I really don’t need it in all of them!

8r4d The end of the month creeps ever closer and on day 29 of this #running streak I found myself contemplating running with a sparse run club (cuz basically everyone bailed) or parsing out yet another solo gauntlet route. I chose the latter, and dodged yet more local construction and post rain puddles as I eked out a quick afternoon 6k.

8r4d Wasn’t I surprised when I found this little mushroom sprouted in one of my jade plants this afternoon. As best as I can figure it’s a Flowerpot Parasol (Leucocoprinus birnbaumii) common in #houseplants when conditions are right. For now it’s a curiosity, but I’ll need to keep my eye on it. And no, it’s not edible.

squwetchy Week 6 of my painting class and we’re onto orchids Can you see the lovely purple gradients that make up every surface of these petals? There is so much going on here from a technique perspective that it’s no wonder we barely got through it all in our 3 hour class.

pixelazy A mottled #sky as May days loom to their inevitable ending.

8r4d Day 28 marks four weeks of a #running streak and boy are my arms legs tired. I had to bribe myself to get up off the couch this afternoon and get this one done. Ugh. But a quick 7k finished off another neighbourhood for the gauntlet. And i’m officially done Henderson.

8r4dsfeets Hmm, the beavers were busy around here.