Remembrance Day

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day.

I don't know what Amanda and I will be doing most of the day, but I know that 11:00 am, we'll be observing two minutes of silence.

Two minutes, even from every Canadian every year isn't enough.  Not compared to the sacrifices so many have made.  My grandfather was one of them.  He, like so many others before and after, travelled far from his homeland and fought the good fight.  In his case, it was against Germany in World War II, and he helped fight against evil.

The evils my grandfather fought against have been remade again and again in different forms throughout human history:  racism and intolerance.  He was forced to battle these evils in the guise of human soldiers following orders.  He had to fight his battles with guns and ammunition, and he paid for it dearly the rest of his life.

A few years back (somewhere between five and twelve), my family met up with an extended family member who was passing through, and he told us a few stories about my grandfather.  In the early days after he returned from the war, his family would wake up in the middle of the night to find my grandfather patrolling the perimeter of their farm as he had done during the war.  He wasn't able to sleep peacefully anymore.

A while after that meeting, my mom was scrapbooking old photos of my grandfather as a soldier.  She captioned one of the pages as "Our Hero".  When we talked about it, I made a comment that I hoped he would be the last one in our family.

At the time I meant that I hoped there would never be another war where members of our family would have to fight.  I've reconsidered that comment.  Maybe we won't become heroes doing so, but we all need to take up the fight against the same evils my grandfather fought against.  To quote from In Flanders Fields, "to you, from failing hands we throw the torch."

The men and women whose service we'll remember tomorrow have thrown us the torch.  It's on us to carry it high.  We won't need guns and ammunition, but we will need the same perseverence and the same courage my grandfather and so many others showed in their battles.

So when you're observing Remembrance Day tomorrow, nomatter how you choose to do so, please take a minute beyond your moment of silence and consider how you can continue the fight against the racism and intolerance that still exists out there.  I truly believe it will help those fallen soldiers rest peacefully.

Thank you.

Things to be doing...

I need to be knitting.  I have a couple of projects I'd like to start, and one that I really should finish.  But instead I'm typing on Amanda's Macbook while she knits.

Have I ever mentioned that Amanda is awesome?

Yeah, maybe I will pick up my knitting needles and get to work.

Even More Wedding Songs (Part Six if you're counting)

Yup, it's time to discuss even more songs that will probably make the playlist at our reception!

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

• Amanda and I both like this song more than we have any right to.  It's fun, catchy, and it's awesome that she's a Canadian.

Hey Jude - The Beatles

• This song is incredibly fun to sing along to, particularly the last four minutes or so.  As an added bonus, everyone will remember all the words to the last half of the song nomatter how much they drink at the reception.

Lost Idea...

I had a brilliant idea for a blog post today while at work and neglected to write it down.  Now all of the ideas that Amanda is pitching to me, while good, don't seem quite right, at least not right now.

Maybe it'll come back to me, or perhaps one of Amanda's ideas will strike a chord tomorrow.

Until then!

Election Night

Amanda and I have been on the couch for a while tonight.  After we finished getting groceries, we came home and I turned on the election results while we were putting groceries away.  Neither of us is super-political, but it's always interesting to see what happens in federal elections, either Canadian or American.

So while we put away vegetables, fruit, and bread, we heard speculation about what would happen in Ohio.  Just before we finished up, the station we were watching projected President Obama as the election winner.

So, good job Mr. President, and please continue to work hard over the next four years.

The Creative Process

I love Amanda for her patience.  The local Zellers, like so many others, is going out of business shortly.  For the past two months or so, the entire stock of the store has been marked down.

I saw an opportunity.  For years, I've loved Lego bricks.  I started playing with them when I was a little kid, continued making creations on and off through my teen years, and took my Lego bricks with me when I left Williams Lake.  Now and then I'd pick up a new set that intrigued me (such as a giant bulldozer), or I'd try making something that interested me (a replica of the Red Baron's triplane).

So when Zellers was going out of business, I seized the moment and dragged Amanda into their building toys aisle.  She stood there for nearly twenty minutes while I perused every Lego and Mega Bloks set, and eventually decided on a tub of basic Mega Bloks bricks.

While getting ready for the annual Community Connections event, I had acquainted myself with the Library's collection of Lego (and other brand) bricks, and found that Mega Bloks were actually pretty decent.  Prior to that time I had solely purchased Lego bricks -- no other brands.

Anyway, Amanda and I came home from our trip, and while she was reading or knitting, I busied myself opening each bag in the tub and letting the bricks clatter together.  To amuse myself and get her to look, I made I (heart) U out of bricks, and designed a small black car that I proclaimed was actually a picture-perfect model of her car.

If you've read through the archives of this blog, you've learned that I'm a fan of Minecraft.  I enjoy the creative process there so much because even in survival mode it's like having a bottomless box of Lego bricks.  But even with the crafting and zombies, there's something missing.

There's something special about the tactile response of Lego bricks.  It's simple to identify a brick just by touch, even without looking at it.  When two pieces are joined, they fit snugly together.  Finally, when pulling them apart, there's often a satisfying pop.

As I write this, I'm staring at a Mega Bloks tub near my iMac and thinking about my similar (but much more populated) Lego tub in the storage room.  It may be time to build something.  The only problem is that I'm not sure where I'd display it!

In spite of all our efforts, our apartment is still fairly crowded.  Amanda and I have decided that (especially since my condo in Tumbler Ridge still hasn't sold) it makes more sense for us to stay here until after our wedding next year before looking for a new place.  We could weed through our belongings somewhat, but it'd take something on the level of discarding couches, bookshelves, or my computer desk to free up an appreciable amount of room.

Or we can do what I'm doing right now -- think about how cozy our place is and how cute Amanda is.  Ahhhhhhh.  Satisfying.

Notes on Tweed

Tweed.

Tonight's topic is tweed.

The scarf I finally finished knitting was made with tweed yarn, alternating with straight white yarn, as were the three scarves I knitted for my grandparents.  I like how they turned out, and I think the different coloured specks add a lot of interest to the yarn above and beyond how the straight colour version would look.  I bought some more tweed yarn as part of a Knit Picks order, and I'm looking forward to using it.  The tweed bits are a little more subdued than in my scarf, but I still like the effect.

There are downsides to tweed though.  Amanda warned me about the dangers of velcro near yarn, and that danger seems to be exacerbated with tweed.  It's like the little bits of colour are made simply to be absorbed by the hook side of velcro.

My winter jacket, for instance, has velcro fasteners for the flap outside of the main zipper.  If I wear my jacket unzipped along with my scarf, it takes approximately 2.3 steps before my scarf is stuck to every patch of velcro.  I can pull the scarf away, but it leaves some coloured tweed bits behind.

It actually serves as an interesting metaphor for our lives.  Occasionally we'll have someone or something intersect with our lives for a time.  Even if we intentionally remove them/it for our lives, something usually remains.  Some of that person's colour, so to speak.

So the next time my scarf sticks to my jacket's velcro, I think I'll stop for a minute before I pull the scarf away from it, and think about the bits of colour people have added to my life.  My parents added all the shades of grey between the black and white I used to see.  Tyler added a patch of yellow with green stripes to make me smile.  Most importantly, Amanda added a large splash of the most beautiful shades of blue when I met her last year.  More recently, that swatch has been banded with a ring of gold.

The colour scheme of my existence couldn't possibly make me happier.  I love the my base shades and especially the bits of colour that everyone adds to my life.  In short, I won't be re-painting anytime soon.

Kissing Couple Movie Review: Wreck-It Ralph

As promised, Amanda and I went to see Wreck-It Ralph tonight.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and it'll be an instant buy for me when it hits blu-ray and DVD sometime next year.

The Good:

• Overall story was fun
• Video game cameos were awesome
• The Konami Code
• Plot points that were reminiscent of Reboot and .Hack
• Good animation
• Paperman (the short shown before Wreck-It Ralph) was incredible
• Jane Lynch voicing the female space marine

The Bad:

• Bowser didn't have enough screen time
• Amanda wants to play Sugar Rush, and I'm not sure any video game adaptation of it will match up to the movie

Best Moments:

• The explanation of "Going Turbo"
• The method of escape from the quicksand

It felt like a crazy mix of a Pixar movie with .Hack, Reboot, Speed Racer, the podrace from Star Wars Episode I (for a few short minutes) and a ton of video game references thrown in.

*Highly* recommended!

Movies in our Near Future

Date for tomorrow:  the movies.  Amanda and I have been excited for Wreck-It Ralph ever since we saw the first trailer.  So we're hoping to go see it tomorrow.  Then we'll be following it up in a week or so with Skyfall, the new James Bond movie.

So I predict movie awesomeness in our future!

Dates not Available

Amanda and I may have set our wedding date tonight through the process of elimination.  The halls we were looking into were both booked on our first choice week, but the weeks immediately beforehand were not booked for one of them.

Amanda was at the hall a few years ago, and we're hoping to take a look at it in person soon.  After we've got the hall, we'll book the person to marry us, and our wedding date will be official.

It's not official yet, but it's exciting to have a specific date to think about!