1997 VRML

Thoughts of MCMOGATK inspired me to finally put up the vrml scripts i wrote in 1997. For the most part they are unchanged, i only removed a few links that no longer exist and added correct paths. Some of the code is rather ugly and desperately needs cleaning, but i tested it out last night and the scripts do work, for the most part.

MCMOGATK

The calls to participate were like dreams, and in my sleep did i create my entries.
See if you can find them: 1996 1997

Did You-san (or is it Minowa-san?) know how exciting the possibility of participation was?

Years later, i am left wishing i had participated harder, as if that would have made a difference. I also wonder what this means: screen.

I had forgotten how much time i had put into that briefcase/city/torii. The billboards turn to face the viewer, the insides of the buildings have difference features, there's a car flying around (would have been more, and people too, but the moving buildings were already overworking my 1994-era computer), and it's a royal pain to try to navigate through. The influences are readily apparent - Blade Runner, Metropolis, etc.

And the meaning? If it ever existed, it's long since been lost in the mind of a young 21-year old.



p.s.: if you need a vrml viewer, Cortona seems to work ok in WinXP/IE.

First pass at trip photos

Here's a first pass at the photos from my Rome and Peru trips. I think i need to add one or two photos to the Peru gallery.

Rome 2004

Peru 2004

Where is global warming when you need it?

10°F (-12°C) yesterday, -2°F (-19°C) early this morning, 2°F (-16°C) on my ride to work. The top of my water bottle was frozen by the time i got to work. I could do another 10-20°F colder if i had better gloves.

Cold Weather Biking

If the weather changed overnight from 40°F to 14°F, be sure to check your brakes and gears before riding, especially if it was also raining throughout the previous day.

I got on my bike this morning without remembering the above, and almost hit a pedestrian as my brakes were frozen in place. I wasn't going too fast since my gears and chain were also frozen in place, and hopped off without incident. It took me an hour and a half to get my bike into a ridable condition, which was rather challenging in the cold weather. My brakes work fine now, but i haven't been able to shift all day, at first because the derailleur was full of ice, now because it's full of crud (my morning solution for getting the bike in working order was to spray it down with WD-40, the only lubricant i had on hand).

The bike ride was cold but easy, though i did slightly sprain my knee as i am not used to going so far in such a low gear.

Oceans

When i was younger i lived close to the Pacific Ocean, in areas where the ocean floor dropped off quickly and tides and currents were erratic and deadly. We went to the beach quite often, and i enjoyed playing in the sand and the surf (i owe my lack of fear of water to my mother, but that's another story). I had heard many tales of other people's children that had gotten pulled under by the tide and swept out to sea, never seen again, or of people who had hit their head on the reef and drowned, but never thought it would happen to me; perhaps it seemed the most ridiculous thing to die of in the places i was living.

One afternoon we were at the beach in El Salvador, i must have been around 11. I was walking by myself with my feet just in the water, when a large wave came and toppled me over, pulled me into the ocean, and pushed me down. I blacked out for a bit, and when i came to i was under water and my head hurt a lot. Luckily the current was pushing me upwards at that moment, i had only hit my head on the sand, and i wasn't out that long as i still had air in my lungs. I reached the surface and swam back towards the beach in a half-dazed, half-awake state. My head wasn't too badly bruised and no one found out about the incident. I remember it as the day i learned that the tide is your friend for only so long.

It took me a few more years to realise that also applied to people.

Bike Helmet

I have a couple stickers on my bike helmet other than the shiny ones that keep me alive. One of these is security related and the other is the sticker off the Battle Royale dvd i received today.

Our supervisor gave us gift certificates to Barnes & Noble for the holidays, and as with most actions that my supervisor takes, this cert is overly time consuming - i'm not sure what to buy because B&N doesn't offer what i want, like Battle Royale. Since i couldn't find it in B&N i decided to buy it at ebay, and i got Battle Royale I & II for $28 including shipping.

My brother told me about Battle Royale a while ago, and since then i've seen a variety of Takeshi Kitano flicks - Sonatine, Brother, Zatoishi, Taboo - but Battle Royale was a little more difficult to come by (ok, Liberty St Video probably has it but i haven't been in there for years, it's way too close to where i live). I've especially wanted to see it after reading some reviews about it, such as this one.

It's a good movie, not Unforgiven good but Dawn of the Dead good, which in its own way is a goodness i respect a whole lot more than a Shine goodness. I enjoy movies that can be readily dismissed as "horror" or "action" without realising the social commentary underlying the premise (that's not to say that one dimensional films like Napolean Dynamite or Saved can't also be good, but they won't have the depth of Night of the Living Dead, and that's a bad thing because then they work iff the viewer has an indepth understanding of the culture surrounding the story; in a similar manner i doubt the Simpsons or Andres Serrano will be widely understandable past our own cultures).

Spielberg can keep his in-your face messages as depicted through Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan, sometimes an audience needs the juxtaposition created by the distance between the story and the message - it is as important as chiaroscuro in painting or contrapposto in sculpture.

And if i continue down that line of thought, maybe, just maybe i'll learn to appreciate musicals as well.

Watch it.

I must have the smallest wrists ever. I needed a total of 4 links removed from my new watch. These women at a jewelry store at the mall did it for free - is that normal, or was i supposed to tip them? I usually tip pretty good, the result of dating waitresses, but only when i know i'm supposed to.

I had been admiring my father's watch while i was in Peru for Christmas, and he offered it to me. I couldn't take his watch, so i decided i would buy one, though i haven't owned one since the 80's. After much searching i found the Seiko SKH-202, a kinetic titanium quartz watch in dark grey and golden highlights.

It doesn't do anything fancy, like tell me my heartbeat, or the altitude i'm at, or which direction is north, but it keeps time and the day's number, is 100m water resistant, and should never need a new battery, or wound, so long as i wear it regularly.

It even says 'sport' on it, meaning i can wear it while biking.

Cycling

My favourite weather to bike in is Winter Storm Warning weather - either the snow accumulations of over 6 inches or the ice storm, inch of ice over everything type. My brother once said why the FUCK would anyone choose to settle in country with this type of weather. At the time i agreed with him - back then we were tropical folk - but i've since found my cold heart.

Here's what i look like after biking a few miles in that weather; yes that's ice on my face.