Here's NOVEMBER, 2003

and here's my new blog on blogspot lamorie.blogpot.com

People other than my mother actually read this! (Hi Kimba, Tamsyn). They've hassled me more more entries, so...
Here's AUGUST, 2003

I am in the Vieux-Port de Montreal. Check out my new Microsoft powered Blog for July, 2003.

I am in Europe. Check out my new Microsoft powered Blog for June, 2003.

So it has been a little while, but that's OK.

I'm in a happy mood, for all sorts of reasons.. let me count;

1. I completed everything I wanted to before I left home this morning (i.e. making lunch, reading hidden words etc.)
2. I've found a supplier of ISO Bouncy Cream around the corner from my office, so I can tame my 'fro.
3. Steph, a friend from our days at Nayland is in town.
4. I participated in the Authencity Project this past weekend, where I learned a great deal about human relations, and great nuggets within the Bahai writings.
5. I talked to my mum, on her birthday (at least, it was her birthday in my timezone)
6. Abbas is coming to visit on Thursday, as well as a bunch of friends from Chicoutimi.
7. I have a physio appointment next week.
8. I have a written driving test in two weeks.
9. My Ruhi group will be helping organize the next Nineteen day Feast.
10. My work is progressing and very exciting

Hey, wow, that's ten! Actually, I could keep going. Last night, at the 'Mardi Soir', deepening we (André, Anouk and I) ended up just talking about how to get what we want out of life. As far as attracting people, and in general attracting good things, having a good mood is most important.

During the past weekend, the speakers talked of three main capacities that are part of ourselves (our souls). The capacity to think, to feel, and to will (or choose, act). When all three of these capacities are working in balance then great things can happen.

Well, my simulation has finished compiling, so it's time to have a look.

Wow, it's before midnight, and I'm touching this blog! Keerazy. I've been trying to get some time to type up a little run-down of my adventures on the weekend, but to no avail. This week was supposed to be week 1 of my 'stay-at-home-and-be-productive-and-save-money-by-cooking-all-my-meals' period. It hasn't gone so well.

I had a great day Sunday, experimenting with cooking chinese food, and discovering that the best food I ever cook is while no one is nearby. So eventually, Nathan, came over to eat a bit and continue the rejuvenation process for the previous 24 hours.

So, yeah, Saturday, July 27 was the date that an artist collective, Group of n, put on "Word Play". This was a multidiscplinary one night exhibition in this artist studio downtown.

Nathan and I, having spent a relaxing early evening in Café Sinonet, decided to defy social norms, and arrive on time at this artists mini-jamboree. It was quite relaxing, though the lack of chairs was painful, and we engaged in deep conversation about general Russian comprehension. Through the ambient tones spun by the DJ I could make out that the group of ladies next to us were speaking a foreign language, but I couldn't make out which, especially with that crappy recording.

Later, Sherwin still hadn't arrived, so we decided to take a closer look at his hand made book of Pseudo-haikus.

• INTRO
• READING

They are a great read, and if he doesn't get mailbombed by greenpeace, I hope that he gets them published one day. (Note: The dig at greenpeace, is because each of the 500 haikus are printed in the middle of a single side of a sheet of paper.)

Eventually, they (the cooler artists that understand proper artist etiquette) arrived, and a performance ensued. There was;

• A wierd mime/act about Eve (Genesis) which I didn't understand (and was silent, so I didn't record)
• A human synthesizer/beatbox/one-man-electronic-spastic-fit-on-speed
• A spoken word artist who spoke her verse backwards into a synth (or similar) who would then play it backwards, making it forwards. A really unique sound, especially with an eastern european accent.

You'll have to ask me about the 10 1/2 floor that I discovered some other time. Sorry about the audio quality, I'm learning.

Not much to say, so why bother. Perhaps to inform the world of a couple of interesting online thingies. Okay, just one. Mr Jungle, a great Shoutcast radio stream from Florida. Check it out.

I'm really happy about it, because I've finally discovered the source of some music that my sister introduced me to in 1996. She stayed with me in Ottawa when I had a tiny apartment above Big Daddy's Crab Shack on Elgin. When she left, she forgot a couple of tapes, including a horrid compilation of many of her favourite songs. It was originally a Duran Duran (or similar) tape, but had since been covered in several layers of glue left behind by since removed layers of cellotape. The ensuing creation was then embellished with a thick coating of silver marker. When you played this plastic mutant in a tape deck, it sounded like the same treatment had been given to the magnetic medium carrying the sound. Speaking of sound, which is difficult since there wasn't much, the only way to listen to the music was to crank the volume up really high and imagine that these bands used a startling array of distortion electronics in their creations. So, through this, I still managed to fall in love with two songs, the origins of which were lost, since jasmin couldn't remember what the heck I was talking about.

Then, January 2001, I was up beyond midnight, listening to Brave New Waves, a wonderful radio show with a lot of great music and starring Patti Schmidt, who the most intoxicating voice on the radio. Suddenly I was awoken by the full clarity of a song that I had previously only heard on the aforementioned silver plastic music vessel. Strangely, I discovered that indeed the original band indeed had a most gratuitous usage of distortion electronics. It was Steve Albini and his band shellac.

A flurry of napster hunting began, and I have a small collection which finds its way into my iPaq sometimes. The song that jasmin had placed within the depths of the silver vinyl nemesis was 'Wingwalker', and with its aircraft references, I've adopted it as a minor anthem. (am I supposed to comment about anathema here? What does that mean anyway?)

Mr. Jungle, then, has delivered me another beauty from the collection, in the form of 'Monkey Trick' by Jesus Lizard (crickey! that's the same label as shellac). Oh, and there was another before all of those. PJ Harvey was discovered walking about 25 metres from my apartment on Rivard. There's a cute little CD/vinyl store there.

So much for an empty entry.

Oh, and we had a great deepening at the Baha'i centre this evening. Finishing a study of a letter by the Universal House of Justice to be shared with the religious leaders of the world, calling for increased efforts in reducing conflict and promoting a brotherhood among all religions. Focusing on those aspects of these global traditions that unite us rather than separate. The text of the message is available online in PDF for many, many languages. If you have questions about it I'd love to discuss it with you (and help you find someone who might have answers, not me).

Wow! What a crazy week. I've really expanded my mind and catalogue of experiences. Especially with respect to 'art'. I don't know what 'art' is but there are a lot of people willing to talk about it. Without any disrespect to anyone, I think that 'art', and the culture surrounding it, act as a bit of a shield between the participants (the 'artists') and reality. Art becomes the reason for existence, instead of the inverse.

Poetry, drawing, sculpture, music, graphic design, literature... engineering. There are so many avenues for humanity to express their transcedence. So, through the miracles of technology, I'm going to bring you a couple examples I've heard over the past few days.

Montreal Metro, accompanied by Spanish Guitar - On Thursday, I went to have fried banana and tomato sauce (an amazing dish, I loved it) at Anouks place. There was this spanish guitar playing.. it was great.. but I didn't quite get the iPaq out in time.

• Metro_Arriving.wma(229kB)

Maybe she's born with it... - A 'zine launch at Salla Rossa, with three bands. It was an interesting feminists look at the world, her friends and her mother.

I think.

The three bands were pretty good, though I must admit I was more impressed by the first two. Perhaps I was expecting Robobot to be as wierd as their introducing acts, but the singing was pretty good. It's getting late, so I'm not going to make any commentary. These are only small snippets. I only have a 32MB card.. and heck, there's no audio in jack.. just the dorky microphone. I keep on saying I'll wire in a 4 conductor jack in place of the current headphone jack.

1. HackenBoot1.wma(238kB)
2. HackenBoot2.wma(82kB)
3. HolyMoly1.wma(145kB)
4. HolyMoly2.wma(387kB)
5. HolyMoly3.wma(289kB)
6. Robobot1.wma(506kB)
7. Robobot2.wma(321kB)

Baha'i Devotional Gathering - Each Sunday morning at the Baha'i Centre on Pine Ave, there is a devotional gathering (the most general way to say 'prayer gathering'), which is wonderfully serene and I love to hear the prayers and readings in the languages and accents from around the world. I grabbed a couple of snippets, if you want to hear them.

• Bahai1.wma(141 kB)
• Bahai2.wma(251 kB)

Hmmm... I can see how this audio trip can get heavy on disk space. Any suggestions?

Yesterday, Sunday, I was down in Sutton with the others in the Ruhi group. Though it was not for long, it was nice to be in the 'countryside'. However, this place is so filled with B&B's and lodges, chalets etc., it wasn't feeling very rustic. The large number of earwigs made up for the luxury of carpet, double glazing and a dishwasher.

* * * *

Last week, Nathan told me about this 'Brazilian Drum Group' (the drums are played in a brazilian style by people from Montreal et environs) which practices Monday evenings underneath the Viaduc Rosemont-Van Horne, on Avenue Casgrain near the Rosemont Metro. They start at 6pm, and go until sunset.

I think I've seen them before playing during some street market one or two summers ago on Mont Royal. They sound great, and it looks like they have a lot of fun. While I was there (for about 2 hours) tonight, there were many spectators passing by, and it reminded me a bit of fairs that we (family) went to in Dovedale, New Zealand. I think it was Pokaroro, or similar. As I type this, I'm downloading some audio from my iPaq, so perhaps you can hear some of what was going on.

Well, having listened to them all.. only 5 minutes or so (at 44.1kHz, mono) I see that there is a wicked amount of wind noise. I wish iPaq had made a microphone jack as well. Anyway, I've included a Winamp created .wma file here (at 64kbps). [Brazilian_Drums_150702.wma (0:39)]

The intensive Ruhi weekend is here. Unfortunately, this summer is filled with wonderful dynamics, and I will be sticking around Montréal for tomorrow instead, helping out so the Feast at the Baha'i Centre goes alright tomorrow. The summer is a time when many people are traveling, or receiving visitors, or generally being confused. Add the changes in structure from the amalgamation, and the summer becomes a rather thrilling time. It will be one of the first we've had during the afternoon, so that will be interesting in itself.

Then, at 19h00, I'll find some way to join the others in Sutton. At least I have most of the day available to figure it out.

I've just returned from an interesting little tour. I guess it all started yesterday (Wednesday, 10th), when I received a phone call from my dentist, in Ottawa. Apparently, I had an appointment for Thursday morning. I had thought it was for NEXT week. Oh well, the sooner the better, and we had a fairly big deadline at work on Wednesday too.

Anyway, the project was finished on time, and we all went down Duluth to celebrate a little. At work we are only 5, so we only needed one table. For some reason, we aren't a really social office. We don't lunch together, nor go out afterwards that often. Perhaps because we don't keep the same hours. Perhaps we are attached too much to our work, and want to get away from it completely when we leave. Heck, it took us almost an hour to actually get away from our desks to go to the Bistro! That was with Eric (our boss) encouraging us to go!

Then, bus to Ottawa. Stayed with Alice. Saw dentist. Numb jaw. Filling. Expensive. Returned to Montreal.

Tonight, I went to a life drawing 'session' with Nathan and Sherwin, a comic buddy of Nathans who works as a medical illustrator. It was an amazing place, complete with a dedicated DJ spinning a great mix of tunes, so we wouldn't be deafened by the sound of 30 pencils. Three hours in fact, with amazing artists to gape at. I felt rather shy, especially since it seemed everyone else was.. kinda 'meant' to be there. I just like to draw, and scribble. Anyway. Time to go and write a story.

Man, this is crazy. There's too much life to be had, and not enough sleep. I planted my face in a book last night, trying to get into it, but I cracked it's spine with my nose. Nathan has loaned me Lucky Jim, by Kingsley Amis. It starts off a little slow, but really, an anti-hero needs a good introduction. It's getting good now.

however, tomorrow, I won't be reading it on the metro, unless it keeps raining. I went to a bike shop on Rachel, the one with the 4 metre bicycle handles above the entrance. Looked at new sprokets, and chains and hubs and stuff. I left with oil and tyre levers. It would be $300 to bring things up to speed, but thats with me fixing my bike up a little before hand, so I won't be quite so embarrassed.

Ruhi occurred this evening. We studied a presentation about 'The Covenant', between God and humanity. Interesting to see it from the Ruhi perspective, after having studied it with André using the books published by the Canadian Baha'i community. This weekend, we are having an 'intensive' study session at a chalet near Mount Sutton. Should be fun, and I hope I can sleep under the stars.

Nathan did a great little sketch of me with the iPaq, using Pocket Artist. Too bad I can't save it. Maybe I'll scan it, or photocopy it. It's a reflective LCD dammit.

Nite.

A quick note while at work.

Yesterdays picnic with the Baha'is at Angrignon was great. Frisbee, volleyball and wonderful people to socialise with. It was fun talking to some baha'is that have just arrived from China, and will be staying in Montreal for at least the next couple of years.

Then, went to pass by work, and pick up a couple of inner tubes for my bike. I guess it didn't like 120psi. On the way there, I passed by a couple of snazzy stores on St-Laurent, north of Mont Royal. The first was an antique curio shop that has a collection of 'consumer' cameras from the 50's and 60's. Inside was many things, including walls covered in black-and-white pinup photographs of young ladies from the earlier half of the century (I guess).

Then, just up the road, is an artists coop. They have life drawing each wednesday night, and appear to have an interesting selection of paints and papers. It's not a warehouse. They had some Arches paper, so I asked a bit about the paper that mum wants me to get. Some peachy, pink stuff. Anyway, it's only a small group of people that go, 5 - 10 or so. $6.50.. 3 hours. It's amazing, there is so much available in Montreal. Though this week, perhaps Nathan and Sherwin will be intersted in going to the other place on Ontario.

Wierd. In my iPaq, in the same note, it says something about Colin & Maclean. I wonder what that is refering to.

Yeah, so this is getting used a little to much. But what the heck. I did find some half decent drawing software for the iPaq. Two, actually.

The first is Pocket Painter and is pretty decent. It has a few different tools, and is quick to respond to the touch of the stylus. However, it's amazing the difference made by the thickness of the pen and the strange relationship between where the pen touches, and where the mark (ink) appears

The second is Pocket Artist (how original). This is almost the same as Pocket Painter but has a nicer interface. It also has a plug-in system for brushes. The only bummer is that the demo doesn't allow you to save images, so I can't check them out on a computer. But it feels pretty good to draw with, so I might actually shell out the $25US to get the registration code.

So, tonight, apart from talking to Priscilla for the first time in ages (on ICQ.. but oh well), I think I will start telling the world about my plans for the future of travel. Perhaps I will become yet another Internet Crackpot, or perhaps this will help me find others interested in working on the same project. Worth a shot, in any case.

[UPDATE] So, visit the Ballistic Transport page, to see a little introduction to my plans. Comme toujours, si tu as les commentaires, svp envoyez-moi un courriel, jlamorie @ engsoc.org. Oh, and I've played around with a little with PocketPainter, and Self Portrait is the unfortunate result. There is still an annoying lag. When, I print, I can't seem to recognize my writing.

Gorgeous beuatiful day here in Montreal. Shahab and Nogen are trying to get a DVD player working, and I'm trying to find a decent painting program for Pocket PC. Something that at least is as good as paper. hard requirement actually. Eric's barbecue seems to work fine, and even the 'electric' ignition system works, so I don't have to burn myself with matches.

Righty, so now I'm off to see the world, and search for second hand copies of Saint Etienne albums.

[UPDATE]Okay, I just tried out One Cat Doodler and it was horrendous. Each stroke on the screen is followed by half a second or so of computation, so it won't accept a new stroke. There is no way that anyone can sketch naturally while waiting for your marks to appear on the screen. you need some feedback.

Yeah, yeah, Nathan has complained that this is just some freakin 'blog', and not a privileged view into the paper journal that I attempt to keep. Well, since I carry my iPaq with me, pretty much everywhere, and I should be able to get some sketch software, and in essence do the paper journal, but store it online.

Ah, la recherche d'un raison d'être. Maintenant, c'est bien trop tard à penser là-dessous.

So, this is a blog, huh? Anyway, this is it for the moment. Thank you to Theresa for keeping me going while I put it together. Please email me any comments you have about structure and design (colour). I'm an engineer, not a graphic designer thingy person.

Tomorrow is the Baha'i youth gathering in Montreal (19h30, 177 des Pins), and apparently I will do some MC'ing, traduction. Crazy! Should be fun, none the less. Also, I will hopefully make some simulation runs with my completely new design for my distributed control system (at work). The Mars society folks .. or remnants thereof, are due to meet somewhere then as well. Unfortunately, my clone is in for repairs, so I'll have to hook up with them afterwards.

Got a new barbecue tonight, from Eric. (ECE) Emilie returned from France. Shahab went to see Freeworm. Nogen is hunting for an air-conditioner.

This is my new website.

It is also where I rediscover the world of HTML, style sheets and all that jazz. I've been hiding away in an ideal little world of XML,XSLT and funky dreams of a perfect world where software makes sense.

Tragedy of the optimist. No worries, some of the greatest epiphanies have come through suffering. Or maybe i'm a masochist.