Long time

It's been a long time since my last post, and for good reason, I've been busy.

And the future isn't looking like it's getting any slower.

This weekend I have 2 photo sessions, one at a club with a bodypainter, and another on Saturday to photograph some musicians at a festival. Still no paying gigs for this, but it helps to expand my portfolio.

I'm going to have more time to work on my hobbies now, I've since split up with my wife. And now I need to get a loan for my trip to Sweden, and that's getting harder and harder to accomplish. We'll see what happens.

I hope to have an online portfolio of some of my images shortly. Give me another week and I should have something up.

Sports and pictures

Well, Saturday (St. Patty's day) was also game day at the 67s game. We had box seats for it, which I might add totally rocked. Sure you're up higher than anywhere else in the arena, but the view was amazing! Was fun being there, Mike was there, Mark, Robyn, her 2 brothers, Elaine and I. Somehow we still managed to rack up a $140 tab while at the game. It's just easier to drink when you don't have to go far. That's right, a stocked fridge. Worst part was, they had to restock it during the 2nd period.

Being in the box gave me the opportunity to take some really cool pictures of the game. I'll post a few here later, I still have to get them off my camera. I got a new lens this past week, and I love it already. It's a Nikkor 70-300mm lens. Man does it zoom in. Well, I'll be able to demonstrate that in some of these pictures. Our box was at the one end of the ice, and I was able to zoom in really well on the goalie at the other end, almost as if I were standing in front of him.

After the game Elaine and I went back to Robyn and Philippe's for dinner. We watched some funny videos on youtube for a bit, and decided it was time to go home. Robyn wanted to go out for a bit, so her and I went to the bar for a drink. It was good, gave us a chance to chat a bit. We'll be heading out again Tuesday to continue our chats...

They're baaack

Omg, I just read at one of my favorite online comics (http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/index.php) there is a new movie coming out.  How did I not hear about this until now?  This is a pretty long trailer…in fact, it's a featurette, not a trailer. http://raincloud.warnerbros.com/wbmovies/tmnt/featurette/tmnt_featurette_500.mov  Watch it, be in awe of it. 

I'm so there when this comes out.  Seeing this on the big screen is a big deal.  Hey George Lucas, you could have done Star Wars like this and made it just as good.  No wait, you still needed a plot to make it happen.

Anyways, this looks like a great movie.

Shipment out...

Well, I just saw that my shipment of scales and rings was sent yesterday.  This is awesome, I may actually see it tomorrow.  I hope so, cause I have lots of plans for these scales.  You see, I did the chainmail jewelry thing, but it wasn't going as well as I had hoped.  Sure I made some basic stuff, but it wasn't selling.  So I've decided to stick with larger, clothing style items.  I'm going to have a chainmail clothing line soon.  That should be fun.  I'm hoping to get it into a few stores.

As far as camera work goes lately, I got my lens that I won on ebay, and found that it doesn't work with DSLR cameras.  So it's back for sale on ebay.  But I do have to get that good lens soon.  I'll probably pick it up tonight when I go out.  After work I'm going to hit a few of the photo shops downtown to price and try out some lenses.

67s game this weekend, and I'm totally psyched up for it.  Go 67s!!

Not much else to discuss here I guess.  It's a pretty slow week.

Bus complaint

Ok, I had to write this today to the bus company here.  This letter says it all…

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I'm not one to normally complain, but today was a very exceptional day.  And not in a good way.

I took the #15 bus to work as I usually do.  I happened to get to my bus stop a bit early and caught the 7:00 bus from Slater and Bay.  There were two of us getting on the bus (I do not know the other person).  3 people were exiting the bus from the front, so we waited.  As soon as the last person got off the bus, the driver closed the doors, almost closing it on the arm of the girl getting on the bus.  As soon as she was in the door, he tried to close the door again, this time on me.  I asked him to at least wait until I was on the bus before closing it.  I was told he didn't see me.  Now, to make this clear, I'm 5'8", weighing in at about 215 lbs, wearing a bright red jacket.  If he didn't see me, I'm worried about his vision.

Part way up Montreal Road, I hear a loud bang/crash sound like he hit something.  Sure enough, he hit a telephone pole with the side mirror and smashed it into the bus.  He couldn't open the front door as it was jammed with the arm of the mirror.  After prying it open, he told everyone to exit the bus as he could not continue.  About 5 minutes later, I'm guessing after talking to someone at the central office, he told everyone to get back on the bus, that we would continue.  This can happen, and it has happened with me on a bus before in the past.  But what I heard next as I was getting on the bus did it for me.

He was asking passengers if they knew where Den Haag Road was, as he was supposed to turn there and didn't know where it was.

Do the drivers not get briefed on their route beforehand?  I've never heard a 95 driver ask where the transitway is before.  If you're on an unfamiliar route, familiarize yourself with it before you go out.

Anyway, the bus number was 4004, but you probably already know that by the busted mirror and glass in the door that was broken.

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New info!

Well, we got some more info on the dig in the fall.  Looks like it will be happening right where it was planned.  Dan is now making the reservations at the Cottages for us.  This is getting more and more real as the days pass by.

I'm heading back home for a few days, and want to make sure I can chat with my Grandfather about his father.  Being I'm planning on visiting my great-Grandfather's birthplace, I want to know a bit about him.  I'll post that info here when I get it.

Went to the hockey game last night, Sens won 5-1 over TO.  Not much of a shock this year.  Got a new Sens sweater as they were on sale.  It's nice, and very business like.  There are so many projects I have on the go right now.  I'm thinking I need to move ahead with the Social Engineering course I was planning on running.  If I can do that and make some money at it, it can go towards the trip to Sweden.  I also want to go camping at some point.  I read about Echoes, and I'm not sure, but we may go to that.  We'll have to see…it's like $70 per person.  Either that, or I just go camping at a campground…

I can't believe I'm talking about camping when it's still -20 outside.  Yeah, I'm a bit crazy, but not crazy enough to go camping in -20 weather. 

Just waiting for my rings to get back to the ring lord so I can get my next order in.  I want to get a big order in soon so I can make a scale shirt for myself.  I need just over $100 US in scales, plus another $20 in rings to make it.  Not cheap, but when I'm done, I'll be happy.  I should also finish up my existing shirt…hmm.

I'm working diligently on a website for my photography. I won't be posting in public until I have a few more photo shoots with some different models under my belt.  This is by request  ;)   But I should be able to arrange that shortly.  I think having a few more props will help me out.  I'm hoping to rent the club soon so I can do a shoot there.  I figure I'll offer it inexpensively (maybe free) and just get permission from the models to use a few of the pictures on my website.

I really need to get our color printer up and running so I can do some prints of the last shoot and make a portfolio.  See the tangents I'm running off on?  OMG.

New piece!

Well, before we even get started, here is a shot of the new piece (no straps, but you get the idea). It's made from 14kt gold plated scales. This is a very impressive piece when seen in person. The shine from this is just fabulous! I can make on of these for you (if my supplier gets stuff back in stock). Cost on a piece like this, with straps of course, would run about $500. Keep in mind that this is 14kt Gold. I have considered also making a matching skirt to this.

As for other news, on my photography front, I have done my first photo shoot (this was one of the photos) and it turned out quite well. We did an initial review of the photos with the model, and we're going to go over them again and finalize my portfolio of that shoot. Any more volunteers for modelling?

The model I had is going to go with me to other places to do some more interesting shots. I just have to figure out a time when we can do it and when I can afford to rent the space.

Blogger just told me that it can't save anything. Odd. If I lose this, I'm going to be pissed.

See how I can go off on tangents? Anyway, I hope to have a website at some point with my photography going, but that has to get clearance from my models of course. We'll see how things go over wine this week as we review the photos.

Finished!

I have finished the secret piece I've been working on.  Well, I still need to do the chains, but the main part is completed.  Once the chains are attached, it's a finished piece totally.  I'll have pictures soon of it.

As for other things, I started writing a bit more on my book last night while waiting for Robyn.  The guy beside me was totally amazed that I had a computer right there, and the fact that I was able to just turn it on with no cables.  I chuckled to myself and then went to work.

Last night when I got home, I was shown a website.  The results are my previous post.  Apparently I look like Matthew Perry.  Sure, whatever.

Only other thing driving me nuts at this point is the DST change coming up.  It's keeping us quite busy at work as we have to have it in place for the 11th of March.  Why they are even bothering with this whole DST thing is beyond me.  First off, we don't need DST anymore.  Get rid of it all together.  Leave the bloody clocks alone, and let's just get on with life shall we?  Moving it forwards and backwards just doesn't make sense.

That's enough for today. 

My Celebrity Look-alikes

http://www.myheritage.com

What a weekend....

Well, the weekend was quite eventful, sort of. Friday night we were supposed to head to Montreal, but never went due to many things complicating it. So I stayed in, which was fine. I was pretty bagged out anyway. Saturday I went out to pick up some things, drop a movie off, nothing overly eventful, and was feeling a bit ill. Didn't go to our game night, as the drive would have probably killed me. So I stayed in to watch Round 2 of the Sens vs. Sabres game. Quite the hockey game, I thought we were going to lose it after the 2nd period, but the Sens held on to win it. The fights weren't as intense as the Thursday game, but there were some doozys.

I started work again on the piece that's a secret until I'm done. Not that it's much of a secret, I'm pretty sure nobody is reading this but me, and I'm the one typing it. But I should have some pictures next week. I've got my friend Robyn modelling it for me. I'm almost done the piece, and should be done tomorrow night sometime. I'll be getting together over coffee with Robyn to discuss photos and whatnot.

I did some calculations, and I want to make myself a scale shirt now. It's not cheap, but it'll be mine. Unless the right price comes along. But that's a project a few months away yet. I need to send back the order of rings I got and get a proper size. It would appear I didn't calculate in the enameled coating of the copper rings. It made the AR a little too low to do e4-1. Now I have to up the size just a bit to get the right ones to work. It'll cost me a little bit more, but at least now I know. Lesson learned.

I hope to see the colored scales come in this week. If I make my shirt, I may do an inlay in it. We'll have to see how that will work, but I think probably a rune on the back (probably Ansuz) and a valknot on the front in 3 colors. As I said, I'll see how that goes. It's all a few months down the road. I get some colors, and I want to try something like Norse Dave made with the scale corset idea.

As I sit here right now, my upper back is killing me. I'm just not sleeping well at night anymore. There's not too much stress in my life, but I guess what I do have comes in spurts. Just one of those things I guess. I'll have to hit the gym tomorrow night and work out. We're scheduled for the gym anyway. Tonight I have to do some dishes, cook dinner, do dishes again after eating, and then relax. Maybe a nice hot bath tonight will loosen up my back. Good thing I have nytol at home. I think I'll take one of those to help me sleep tonight.

Fire department is supposed to come in tomorrow for some reason. They were in not long ago to tell us to put better things on the main doors to help them close better. It didn't work out that great, but I guess it's better than nothing.

As you can see, when I blog like this, I can ramble a bit. I'm getting most of the stuff outta my head to make room for more things. It's kind of like in Harry Potter when Dumbledore takes the thoughts out and puts them in that thing. I can't even remember what it was called. Ah, right, a pensive. See, I wrote enough down to clear a space for the synapses to fire so I could remember things.

I got my new book in the mail late last week. It's Whisperings of Woden by Galina Krasskova. It's not as beefy as I had hoped it would be, but it's got some neat information. I hate to use the term, but it seemed very Wiccatru. That's fine, but I was hoping for more devotional stuff that wasn't directly linked to wicca. I was hoping for more of the practices of old. Anyway, I digress a bit. I want to get working on my novel again as soon as possible. I figure I'll probably have it done sometime in November. We'll have to see about that. I'm also going to do some writing while in Sweden on the trip itself, the dig, stuff like that. Ya know, kind of like my journey. I'll be taking lots of pictures, so that should help it out a bit. I hope I can get something like that published. I should probably start with the leadup to the journey itself. Could make for an interesting read. Get it all together and have it published along with the novel at almost the same time. Could be fun.

That's all for this moment. Not that my brain is empty, it's just I can't type anymore right now.

Hockey night in Buffalo

Well, last nights game was wicked, with a midway point like this...

Sens vs. Sabres Feb 22/07

You tell me if it was good or not. The hit on Drury was clean, but the fights...Man Emery sure had fun...

And if that weren't enough, I've been forwarded to my home team (OHL) with one hell of a skirmish earlier this year...

Belleville Bulls vs. Kingston Frontenacs

Chainmail woes

I got my order of rings in from TRL (I'll figure out how to do links here at some point).  Well, the scales are pretty, but Elaine still hasn't decided which one she likes.  I also got my Enameled Copper rings to make my runes.  Well, the rings are REALLY small, but I expected small.  I didn't expect that this size of ring would NOT make e4-1 at all.  I fought with these things for about 2 hours, but no go.  Real disappointment to me, as these were not cheap (about $70 USD!!!).  So, I posted them forsale on TRL's forums, and found, thanks to another member, that TRL has an amazing return policy.  Small restocking fee, but better than losing lots on it.  So I'll return them, and get different rings.  I'm getting opinions from people on what size I should use.

On another note, as I was going through my stuff, I found an old project I was working on.  I'm going to finish this project off in the next week or so.  I'll even get some pictures up of it on my blog here.  It's another halter/bra top.  This one is special though.  Some of you have already seen the start of it, but I'll keep the final thing a surprise.

I also started doing a viking knit using a corker, but I broke the crochet needle that was included with it.  This stuff is pretty stiff.  I'll have to find something that will work.  Has to be thin, pointy and strong.  I'm very few of those things.

Anyway, that's my update for now. 

Chainmail update

Well, I got word that my colored scales will be in soon, and I'm quite excited about that.  I'm not quite sure what all I'm going to make, but I'm sure I'll think of something to do with them.

In cleaning up at home, I found some old supplies, like a bag of galvanized steel 16gauge 5/16" rings from my teachings at fest last year.  I decided I had better put them to some sort of use, so I'm going to make a few inexpensive dice bags out of the galvy.  I'll be selling those a bit cheaper than the stainless ones (for obvious reasons).  I also need to make up some product cards for all my stuff.  Now that I have a laser printer at home, I'll print them there.  I'll design something up.  I want to have something attached to the dice bags.  I'll also do up a wholesale and MSRP price list for my stuff for when I take it to the gaming stores.  I don't know if they'll sell the stuff or not, but it's worth a shot.

I also want to start working on more tops.  That's the direction I want to go with my chainmail stuff now.  More the clothing aspect.  The jewelry just wasn't selling for me (don't know exactly why).  But I figure I can make a shirt or two to have on hand, make some bikinis, some skirt style pieces and stuff like that.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll try to start using up some of my old stock at home.  I really do need to buy myself a set of digital calipers though.  Maybe that'll be on my next list of things to get.

On a totally unrelated note, the finish to the Daytona 500 was amazing last night.  Exciting right up to the end, for sure.  It's too bad that Dale Jr. got trashed on the final lap, but that's racing I guess.  Anything can happen, and it usually does.  I'm sure Mark Martin now knows that.  He thought he had the race won, and he thought there should have been a yellow flag just before they crossed the finish line, but a race that started in controversy ends in controversy I guess.

Viking rant

Ok, I posted earlier that I was going to elaborate more on the BBC "blood of the vikings" series.  Here goes.

At one point in the first installment the comment is made (and I'm paraphrasing), "Were they just thugs that wanted to kill and steal stuff, or was this a retaliation for the attacks in order to convert the heathens to Christianity".

Well duh!  Of course it was a religious war.  Very similar to the war in Iraq right now.  Well, not the same, but I just read some forum postings on the war that upset me.  I didn't post my response there, and I won't post it here either.  No point I guess.

Back to the topic.  Can you imagine living as a farmer, you're out working the fields, you hail Thor for a good harvest this year, and a bunch of guys come up to you and start telling you that you're going to hel(l).  You're just out there, making a living for your family, and they are ranting on about Christ and how they are there to save your soul from eternal damnation.  You tell them to bugger off, and they tell you that you must worship their God, and not the Gods that you grew up with.  You once again tell them to bugger off, and they kill you.  They then go to your wife and the same conversation ensues, with the same end result.  Now they come to the son.  He just saw his parents butchered by Christians trying to force people to change their beliefs.  He agrees out of fear of being brutally slain and the Christians go about burning or otherwise destroying all the "heathen" artifacts (oh, and may as well burn the crops too, being they were tainted by the devil…oops, I mean another God).  The son then goes into the village and relates this tale.  The head hancho of the village takes it to the Thing and they talk about this injustice, and how it's happening all over the land.  So, they get a bunch of folks together to fight back.  First stop?  The first church/monestary they see…Lindisfarne.  They take precious metals and whatnot, kill all the Christians there, as retribution for what happened to their kin.  Then the Christians will retaliate and the war is in full swing.

Who gets the bad rap out of all this?  The "thugs" known as the Vikings.  Why?  Because they attacked religious folk.  It's disgusting how one-sided these things can get.  All anyone ever hears about are the vikings that raided.  What about all the farmers, and the shipmakers, and the blacksmiths, and the seamstresses, leatherworkers, jewelry makers…nope, they all raped and pillaged.

I think the reason that we don't hear about the other parts, is that it's not as interesting to the "media generation".  Everything has to be exciting, and get the blood pumping.  If it won't cut it in hollywood, forget it.  It's almost sickening that a culture like this can take such a bad rap.  So it's hard for me, when someone asks me, "what religion are you?".  Well for starters, that's a shitty question to ask someone.  Also, I'll respond "I'm Asatru" or "I'm Heathen".  If the former, I have to follow it up shortly after with "The faith that the vikings practiced." They then think I'm going to stab them with a sword or something.  If I say Heathen, they immediately think I'm a devil worshipper.  I must be, I'm not worshipping the Christian God…right?

The vikings were a trading folk, and yes, if someone got in their way, or insulted them or their family, a fight or battle might have ensued.  The same thing happens at the local pub weekly.  Some guy insults, or tries to pick up someone's girlfriend.  There's going to be a conflict.  So is the guy that is protecting his girlfriend from being taken a Thug?  I guess it's a judgement call.

As I sit here with a statue of Thor on my desk, a chainmail dreamcatcher with a Thor's hammer hanging from it, a Thor's hammer around my neck, a Thor's hammer tattooed on my arm, and a valknot on the other, I often wonder…should I be a Thug?  If you know me, I'm pretty pacifistic (is that even a word??).  Yeah, I can have my moments, but that's because I generally bottle stuff up.  Maybe that's what happened back then too.  They didn't fight back until it was too much and they exploded.  We'll never really know for sure. 

You see, when I blog like this, I go on tangents quite easily.  I'm just writing as I'm thinking.  I'm not going back and editing.  Hence the following.

In the BBC program, they mentioned Lindisfarne and the monk that documented the raid there.  They said he wasn't even at the monestary.  He was safe in another part of the lands (different country I believe) in the court of Charlamagne (that's probably not spelled right either).  So was the whole raid on Lindisfarne just propoganda to paint the evil "Heathens" as bad guys?  For all we really know, Charlamagne sent a group of soldiers to the island where Lindisfarne is and slaughtered the monks in order to get people motivated.  But that's the conspiracy theorist in me coming out.

Anyway, that's my rant for now.  I'll probably rant more later.  I'm learning quite a bit while I do these rants, so it's all a good thing.  Next up, Leif Eriksson and Vinland  :-) 

The Dig...

I've been offered the chance to partake in an archaeological dig in Gotland, Sweden this fall.  Unfortunately the dig takes place at the exact same time as Kaleidoscope, the pagan gathering that I go to every year.  And to top it off, the theme for Kaleidoscope this year is "The Vikings".  It took a few people to smack me upside the head to point out that I'd be in the land of the vikings, digging up viking stuff.

So, I've decided I'm going to go.  I've got a few "Learn Swedish" courses that I'm working with.  I've got my passport form filled out, just have to get the pictrue done and send it in.  Then it's time to pay for the course, and then save up for the trip itself.  It's going to cost quite a bit, but will be worth every penny.

I've now been informed of our schedule while there.  We will be on the dig site Monday-Friday.  We have the weekends to ourselves.  That's a nice thing to know, so we can explore Gotland and mainland Sweden if we wish.  I plan on going up a few days early to go to Roskilde, Denmark to visit the Viking Longship Museum and maybe get a ride on a longship. 

From Roskilde, I'm going to visit Växjö, Sweden.  Some would ask why I would go there, well, I have found out that my Great Grandfather was born in Växjö, so I'm going to go to his hometown and see where my roots come from.  I may even find more family further back while I'm there.

After my visit to Växjö, I'll be headed off to Gotland for the dig.  I have checked out some of the Gotland information and found that while we are there, the Kubb World Championships are being held.  I'm going to get more information to see if there is like a "pickup" team I can join in on.  To say that I played in the Kubb World Championships would be a thrill and a half for me.

I'll have my DSLR with me, so there will be tons of pictures from this trip.  I'll be blogging regularly as there is apparently internet access all over the island.  If I can find a hotspot, even better.  I'm getting very excited about this trip, and it's still 6 months away.  This will mark my first trip overseas, so this is big for me.

As I get more information, or get more excited, I'll be posting more and more about the trip.

Begin Transmission

Let's begin the blogging shall we?

I just delivered a chainmail stainless steel tie and belt to a customer yesterday. She was quite happy about them, and I was happy to have made them for her. I am planning on making myself a similar belt now. I just loved the feel of it, and the look is pretty nifty. http://picasaweb.google.ca/4vidar that's a link to my pictures, and you can see the two items there. If you like stuff like that, drop me an email..I can make something for you.

I downloaded a BBC special called "Blood of the Vikings". It's quite a good series so far. I did find myself getting myself worked up a bit when they kept referring to the vikings as the killing, raping bastards all the time, but then realized, they have to do that once in a while to keep people interested. It's a very Christianized special. They kept talking about all the monestaries that the vikings destroyed. And then the narrator and researcher stated that only one monestary actually had anything written about the attack, and the guy who wrote it wasn't even at the monestary. I'll have more to say about this subject in another posting later today.

As for chainmail stuff, I'm working on a bunch of dice bags to hopefully sell at a local gaming store. Takes a while to put together, but it's fun...I guess. I'm looking forward to my next order arriving with more scales. I want to do more clothing stuff in chainmail and scales. Also really looking forward to seeing the colored scales, of which I'll likely use quite a bit.

I'm going to start organizing for a photo shoot for my course and my portfolio. I have to get some consent/disclaimer forms done, figure out a date to do it, book the club for about 2 hours, and get people signed up. I'm still working out the logistics of it all. I have one photo shoot already worked out, just have to get a date to do it.