S.H.T.M.L.F

I have always wanted to own and take care of plants, be a botanist of sorts. In college we did have a communal tree that was occasionally watered but more often fed beer, which is actually good once in a while for plants, considering the poor guy lived in a centrally air-conditioned apartment full of smokers. In our apartment we also had a nice aloe-vera plant that we snapped a leaf off once a while to make use of its juices on nasty sun burns. But I never really had a plant I could call my own. Someone I could say hello to every morning, who I could look over, and whose entire existence depended upon me alone. Say hello to my little friend, Tony Montana.

I was picking up a bunch of plants for my office when this guy caught my eye. I was not looking for a desk plant or anything that needed real attention. I am fonder of larger flora so I bought some shrubs and even a small tree, but this pink fella just kept calling out to me. He is so cute and I can’t wait to see him grow into a big flower. Tony is only about the size of my thumb nail now. I told the shop guy that if the flower dies I want a refund, unless he is gunned down by ruthless Colombian drug lords of course.

In other news I finally got off my ass and bought the Indo Dreamin domain. I have been registering a lot of shit on Go Daddy recently and they offered me a deal on a domain so I just took it. Right now I have only thrown up a picture with a link to this page but I am going to start messing around with some HTML and see what I can come up with. I am using a program called NetObjects Fusion that I used to be pretty good with about 7 years ago, but now I can only work the basics. It gives me the ease of creating a drag and drop interface but also allows me to create more technical functions like forms and plug-ins. I can also fuck with HTML there without messing up the basic structure of the site, I hope. For now I will use the page as a place to experiment with different aspects of web design, in my free time of course. Eventually I would like it to be a site with a link to this blog, but I really don’t know what I want to do there. Ah well, its something entertaining to think about and work on. If anyone got any ideas or help they can offer, I am open.

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

*all paintings courtesy of The Scholten-Japanese Art Gallery. Very cool stuff.

I finished reading ‘Kafka on the Shore’ about a week ago, but it has taken me that long to brood over the book to actually write about it. The book was passed on to me by a friend who said it was weird and that I might enjoy it. Thank you S. I am intrigued by all things weird, but what I found even more striking was the title. ‘The Metamorphosis’ by Franz Kafka was one of the first books I read in college and it had a profound effect on me. I felt an inexplicable connection with Gregor Samsa, and I have never been able to look at a cockroach the same way since reading that book. It had been a while since I had read anything mind blowing so I was excited about ‘Kafka on the Shore’.

The book was originally written in Japanese. Whenever reading translated books I tend to wonder how much of the books character and art form is lost in translation. With good books, as I have mentioned before, there is a certain poetic value, and unless the translator has a good grasp of both the languages they are working with, quite a lot of the marrow can be misplaced. Based on the version I read, I would say the narrative flowed very well but as the plot is based in Japan and the characters are immersed in modern and ancient Japanese culture, I felt some of the phrases or satirical references might not have packed as much of a punch as they the author might have intened. But at this point in life I think I can write off learning enough Russian or Japanese to really savor some of my favorite literature.

‘Kafka on the Shore’ is a bit of a mysterious book so I will try not to give too much away. Reading this book at first is like reading 2 stories. The stories are parallel and the author bounces back and forth from one tale to another from chapter to chapter. At first this might be a bit irritating because the stories seem to have no connection at all and just as you are getting into one you have to read the other. Obviously as the story progresses the 2 narratives finally converge in a moment the reader is left anticipating. The parallel is artistically created and the transition between them gets smoother as the story progresses.

One side follows the trail of a 15 year old boy Kafka; as he leaves home in an attempt to escape prophesy that looms over him. I found his character to be redolent of Holden Caulfield, from ‘Catcher in the Rye’. Like Holden he was well immersed in his thoughts, the psyche of an introspective and extremely intelligent 15 year old, preoccupied with music, literature, and of course sex. The author uses Kafka’s eyes and mind to paint a picture with words. The corresponding tale is centered on Nakata, an old man, long retired. A victim of some freak accident during his childhood, he has been left simple. Once a promising student from an affluent family he was left to spend the bulk of his life doing menial jobs in the countryside. Although the accident robbed him of intelligence and the ability to read and write, it endowed him with the aptitude to communicate with cats. Finding out what brings these 2 characters together is the basic lure of this novel.

I enjoyed pacing myself with this book, reading 2 chapters a night, although sometimes I felt like shooting through it. I like the writing style and the numerous cultural references. Haruki makes use of music in his novel to set a mood. There are references from Eric Clapton, Prince, and Led Zeppelin to Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert. Haruki also leans on various literary and film classics, Western and Eastern, to give his story more fiber. I found these plugs to be extremely interesting and moreover educational. The pop culture references he used gave this book an exciting modern Japanese texture. I have not really read any new Japanese novels and the style was definitive. There were a couple of scenes in the book, particularly one with a character that looks like the guy on the Jonnie Walker whiskey bottle, where my imagination went into Japanimation. I usually visualize a story when I am reading it and this scene just took a Tarantinoesque spin in my mind. It was also probably the most gruesome and bloody scene in the book.

As you read ‘Kafka on the Shore’ the book seems to get more and more metaphorical. It starts off based in a world of extreme reality, some of the writing taking the form of military reports, and then flowing into a fantasy world where even as a reader you are left wondering, ‘what does this mean’? On a metaphoric level I would say this book is about fate and freewill, the classic oedipal twist. Can one escape their own fate or is it predetermined? You would have to make your own conclusion as to what point Haruki is hitting home. And although the story is interesting I do feel that it is lacking in some areas. Firstly, there are too many loose ends. I found the structure to be flaccid and not well rooted. There were plots that remained unexplained and irrelevant even by the end of the book. Maybe a second reading will shed light upon them. Secondly, I think the story really required an antagonist. As the reality slipped into fantasy I think the author did try to throw some ‘evil’ in there but it was too little too late for me. I like to have the feeling that there is something dark lurking around in the background, even if it is just your own subconscious.

All that being said, ‘Kafka on the Shore’ is still a worthy read and I am looking forward to reading more of Haruki Murakami’s books. His style is unique to me and I think he is a very talented story teller. He attempts to reach a place in my head that very few authors venture and I really enjoyed that.

San Malo - Macau

Macau is overflowing with glamorous hotels, top notch night clubs, and exclusive restaurants. If you wanted to spend the afternoon sitting at a sidewalk café sipping wine and feasting on Lisboan specialties you could easily head to Fisherman’s Wharf. In fact the Macau tourism board wants you to go there so badly that they have dedicated cars painted black with gold calligraphy penned on their doors reading ‘Fisherman’s Wharf’ that will drive you there for free! Visitors go there to get the feel of Portuguese Macau and enjoy the local culinary specialties’ but contrary to what I was lead to believe, this is not the old Macau. Having read about the old Macau in various books I was more eager to see where the ethnic fusion really takes place. I wanted to find an area where Chinese culture has collided with the traditions of the Portuguese giving birth to the Macanese. Heeding the advice of some locals I addressed on the streets, I headed for San Malo.

San Malo is what I perceived as a commercial district heading inland from the crowded coastline of Macau. It is not separated from the main city but rather seemed like it supported the people who keep the city working and functioning. There were numerous narrow streets with shops on the ground floors and apartments on the higher floors. The buildings were old, built in colonial times and they still adorned their classic features. The shops sold everything from electronics to jewelry to clothing. None of the shops were fancy or decorated in a modern fashion. In fact the clothes I saw were straight out of the 70’s. There were some classic polyester t-shirts that I would have bought. But the most lucrative vendors in the area appeared to be the bakeries.

Step off the main road into any one of the numerous alleyways and the smell of warm pastry fills the air. It is awesome. People are bustling around buying, making, and selling traditional Macanese pastries. They smell like cake but are filled with sweet pork meat. That may sound strange to some but if you like meat like me, it is off the hook!!! There were also other fruity and creamy varieties for the traditionalists.

Walking through the area you can see a proper fusion of eastern and western baking techniques and I am sure the cross culture also effected the flavor of the pastries. I could have spent hours there trying all the different stuff but everything was for sale in dozens and I could not eat that much of one thing, plus I did not want to carry anything around. One of the downsides of traveling alone is not being able to sample all the food you would like to. Even when settling into a restaurant you can hit up maximum 2 dishes so you have to be careful to order only what you will like for sure, where as in a large group you can go for broke and take all the risks you want because there is a safety net sitting right next to you.

The narrow alleyways lead to larger courtyards and playgrounds. What I particularly liked was the signage on the buildings. They were painted on ceramic tiles with bright blue trimming. This really gave me the sentiment of the history of Macau. And the signs read in Chinese and well as Portuguese. There is clearly a Latin American or western influence on the architecture as well which should really come as no shock.

But a stroll around San Malo does pack its fair share of surprises. Hidden away between the clumps of short colonial buildings I came across this dilapidated Chinese temple. It always amuses me to see such ancient structures tucked away in the corners of modern booming cities. The inside of the temple had some beautiful gold Buddha statues and there were some priests milling around. The atmosphere was dark and serene, so I did not think it was appropriate to bust out my camera and start flashing all over the place.

I was about 3pm by this time and I had not eaten a morsel of food all day. I was hoping to find a nice café where I would plant myself and indulge in some local delicacies but all the places I passed were closed. I think the Macanese might follow the Spanish ‘siesta’ system where they close shop in the afternoon for a peaceful nap. The only places that were open were very small snack shops with food a little too local for my tastes. I finally found a tea house locally known as a ‘casa de cha’.

When I walked in the joint every head in the place turned to look at me. And it was not a tiny place so there must have been at least 40 people in there. The average age of the patrons there seemed to be around 50 years old and not only was I the youngest person there but also the only non-Chinese. As I tried to make sense of the all Chinese written menu with no luck I did feel some hostility towards me so I randomly pointed at the one picture on the wall that looked like something I could digest and quietly took my seat. I also ordered a variety of dim sum, which was combination of the pastries I saw on the street.

The atmosphere in the tea house was vibrant. The patrons of the establishment all seemed to be well acquainted with one another as they shouted comments across the room. A couple of old men had situated themselves in the corner of the room near a stage with a full range of instruments. One guy was playing the Chinese harp, the other had a full range of percussion instruments, and the rest had string instruments, flutes, and trumpets. On the stage there were one young girl and an old man performing Chinese opera. It was surreal. The singing sounded very squeaky at first but once it settles in the melody can be quite soothing. The crowd was really getting into the whole affair and the old men took turns singing with the young girl. The lyrics might have been funny or raunchy because the elderly crowd was getting quite jovial, and there was not a single table in the joint with a bottle of beer or a lit cigarette on it.

It took almost half an hour for my food to come in which time I had consumed quite a bit of tea. As none of the other people were drinking beer or smoking I thought it more respectful to follow suit. But I had a clear view to the cooler at the front of the restaurant and a cold one was just calling out to me. I stood my ground though and was quite proud of myself for it. It seems I had ordered a large basket of prawns cooked in tea leaves for lunch. As they brought the large dish to my obscure table many heads turned and followed it. Once they placed it in front of me I received several smiles and nods of approval. The dish was quite large and I invited some of the mature men sitting around me to join in the feast but they cordially declined. Initially I tried using the chopsticks to eat my prawns not knowing the proper etiquette but I soon gave up and started peeling them away with my fingers. This made some of the young ladies there giggle and point at me. Throughout my meal people kept smiling at me and some of the guys even ordered more tea for me. By the time I finished my meal and got up to leave I even got a few handshakes. Like I said, it was a pretty surreal experience.

I would have liked to visit some old churches and explored more of Macau during my last trip there but this was all the time I had. San Malo was as far off the beaten track that I could go but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. At some points I wondered if I would have been better off getting tipsy at a café on the Fisherman’s Wharf while putting down oysters and prosciutto, but I figure I can do that in so many other places. I have been in China almost one year and this was the first time I actually got to listen to locals perform an opera and actually spend the afternoon in a real tea house. Spending time amongst seasoned human beings also seemed to make me feel more calm and collected. The energy in that room put me in a very new train of thought. Walking around this old area of Macau should probably not be the number 1 thing to do on your list when visiting the city, but given the time and interest, it is well worth the effort.

New Skids

I did not know too many people when I came to Guangzhou but fortunately a guy I met during my days in the JPL in Indo also moved to GZ a few months before I did. He works for a multinational sporting goods company, which I will not take the liberty to mention on this blog. Although work here can be pretty time consuming we try to link up for a pint whenever we can. During our last session he noticed I have pretty big feet, a size 12 US, and he also noticed my sneakers were ratty are worn out. I have a few more in stock but my Reef sneakers are too damn comfortable. He offered me a pair of boots he had at work, samples he had just received.

I have a really awesome pair of tan Camel boots but it has been aged since I have worn a pair or black leather shoes. The look took a day or 2 for me to get used to. And although my Camel boots are comfortable enough to wear out on a full night of adventure, they can get pretty heavy and painful to don through a whole day at the office. And although these puppies give me another inch of height, they are just too damn comfortable to ignore. The bubble in the sole really makes me feel like I am walking on air as I head to work. And for their size they are surprisingly light.

The soles of these boots are jagged and offer amazing traction for when I am running to and from the printer, photocopy, and fax machines. They also serve me well when I am out in the field visiting factories, walking on greasy ground or just when I am walking to work and happen to step in puddles of slimy phlegm that local people seem to love hawking up on the sidewalk.

It is never easy to settle into a new pair of shoes. I personally prefer sneakers because comfort is my primary concern. But these bad boys allow me to be comfortable and look presentable at work. I am not sure if they are on the shelves as yet and that makes me feel even more special wearing them. Stan you are the man. Thanks for the hook up. The shoes and I are going to have some wild adventures together.

Subliminal Messages

On my first trip to Amsterdam in 1999 the first thing I did after landing in Schiphol Airport was take a piss. I headed straight for the men’s room and unleashed the dragon in the urinal. Looking down I noticed an insect in chilling on the porcelain, just slightly northwest of the drain. Subconsciously I directed my stream of warm piss towards the creature, eager to douse him in a golden shower. As I drew closer the critter did not budge and the piss landed on it dead on. I took a closer look only to find that what I had been targeting was actually a picture of a fly on the urinal. I looked to the urinals on either side of me and observed that both of them have the same image on exactly the same spot. WOW! How fucking smart these stoned Dutch people must be to have figured out that men will instinctively shoot straight for the insect when taking a piss. My first impression of Amsterdam was a good one, and as you can imagine things only got more surreal as my stay there progressed. The only variation to that theme I have seen is in Aphrodite, the bar at Club Rasuna in Jakarta. They actually have a goal post with a urinal cake ball hanging from a string in it. How many times have I stood there cheering for myself as I keep the ball bouncing in and out of the posts? Such is the importance of making a man piss straight. When I pictured rooms full of scientists quantifying solutions to the problem, it just blew me away. My thoughts were brought back to light during my most recent trip to Macau when I saw this urinal pad below me. Messages on TV screens, radios, and the sides of busses will just not cut it.

When you really want to reach into mans mind, this is the only way to do it. I WILL say NO to drugs!!!

Museu Do Vinho – Macau

One of the more popular destinations for tourists visiting Macau is the Macau Wine Museum. This is of course when they can peel themselves away from the casinos and massage parlors for an hour or two. Located in the city center just around the corner from the local Tourist Office, it is not difficult to find at all. I have been curious to learn more about Chinese wines so I decided to pay them a visit. Plus I have never been to a wine museum before so I was hoping to get totally pissed while sipping samples. The entrance fee was only $2 US which apparently included some tasting.

I was not too impressed upon entering the museum. It was not crowded but there were a few people milling around. There was no one to neither welcome you at the door nor explain where you are. There is only one small sign at the entrance, and no hosts. Patrons are expected to walk around the facility alone and learn about the history of wine in China from numerous write-ups posted along the walls. I was in no mood to read at the time.

There were also many pictures that depicted the history of wine dating back to ancient Mesopotamia. The pictures moved along a time line to present day. There were some people who were very interested in these 2 dimensional presentations; I however was not impressed. I wanted to be tasting wine from the minute I walked through the front doors.

The museum itself is located in what appeared to be the basement level of a commercial building. There were no windows to speak of and the whole presentation was planned along 2 lanes of a very long and slightly wide corridor. The interior design however was very Mediterranean with whitewash walls and terracotta flooring. I found it simple yet elegant.

I enjoyed seeing the traditional equipment and machinery used to make wines but once again there was no one present to explain the functions, and the write-ups were too vast. This I believe is some sort of grape crusher. I was also disappointed to see that all the grapes on display were made of rubber. Although I guess it is a bit unfair to presume they can afford to use real grapes that would have to be changed regularly. But it would have been nice to sample some grapes as well.

In all honesty, I zipped through the whole museum quite quickly until I saw some bottles. There was a whole section behind wrought iron gates that contained a collection of dusty old bottles. This was finally of some interest to me. I would have liked to know what was so special about those wines and how much they cost.

I meandered through passages containing old vases and flasks, traditional uniforms, and farming tools. There was an exceptionally large are dedicated to a display of Portuguese wine, what I believe is called Port. But I learned that not all Portuguese wine is Port, they also make a variety of dry red wines and rose’s.

Close to the exit I finally found a tasting booth. There were about 6 bottles available for tasting, 3 Ports, and 3 wines. There were not too many people around and even those who stopped for a taste would literally have a sip from a glass and move on leaving 2/3 of what was poured behind. Fucking sacrilegious I tell you.

As there was no action I got quite friendly with the guy handling the bar. He was from the Philippines and he told me more about the wines than I learned walking through the whole museum. He even gave me company while I sampled all the bottles he had on display. He actually enjoyed pouring drinks for someone who enjoyed drinking them. The fact that it was still 11am did not detour us.

I found all the wines to be too dry for my taste but I adore the white port. It is fantastic for an after lunch drink. With red port I can not really taste the brandy but in the white port I could feel the combination and it was extremely pleasant. I actually had 2 glasses of that before heading out.

I really wish I remember all the names of the wines I tried. But these three were all really good ports. Some of the wines I tried were the Mura, Portal, and the Douro which was a very modern dry red. It was actually pretty good if you like dry wine. I wanted to buy a bottle but I did could not be bothered lugging it around with me all day.

Right next door to the Wine Museum there is the Formula 1 Museum but I could not be bothered to check it out. To be honest I am sure there are a lot more exciting things to do than check out the Wine Museum in Macau. I was hoping for a lot more. The presentation is very mediocre and unless you already know and care a lot about wines, do not expect to learn much. I was in the area and I did enjoy the tasting. I do not believe anything is useless so this too was an experience. If anything I have learned that I like white port, a lot. My birthday is coming up in April.

Macau III – The Jump

In continuation of Macau II, having already been bungee jumping 3 times and sky diving once, I was pretty eager to try out the Sky Jump. Actually when I looked into the AJ Hackett services in Macau a few months ago, they were not offering bungee jumping as yet so that was not even an option at the time. I came to Macau with the intention of trying something different. A Sky Jump is what I would define at a very controlled freefall. A harnessed jumper is tied to a cable that streams out of the mechanism pictured below. It some sort of gas powered real that controls the rate at which the jumper falls. It is pretty damn big so I felt secure. The cable however was not as thick as I would have imagined but it was some solid metal.

Before getting out on the platform Charlie (from Ohio) made sure I was well strapped up. The crew at the center was awesome. Their chilled out nature and calm demeanor would not permit any nervous jumper to get freaked out. They were focused on their work and still very friendly. For a first timer jumping can be a very intimate experience so it is advisable to patronize a reputable center. I was more excited than nervous really, and the guys there actually advised me to go for the bungee. They had just recently started the service and the experience was supposed to be phenomenal. But I was really keen on experiencing a Sky Jump. All strapped I stepped up to the edge of the rig and looked down to the ground below.

I can’t say if I really felt any fear at that point as I am quite comfortable with heights, and I knew I had a whole team of people to make sure I was safe. But I did start to feel the rush. Right when you are at the edge and there is a person behind you counting down for the jump, there can be no hesitation, do or die! I love the place my brain goes to at this point, it is like everything shuts down and I am just me. I fell forward and my heart skipped a beat. That falling feeling is the most amazing thing, and just as I felt the rush, it stopped. I fell only 5 meters maybe and came to a dead stop. It was actually a planned stop. All jumps stop there for a photo op before continuing a controlled fall the ground below. I was actually very curious how I would feel hanging there so far above the ground, from a string. That is something I have seen people do on Fear Factor a number of times and I did not know how I would react.

It was pleasant hanging out there off the edge of the building. I wish it was a clearer day and I could enjoy the view, but it was satisfying enough to just hang there. As I mentioned before, when skydiving the harness was extremely uncomfortable. I could not wait to get out of the chute once the freefall was over, but in this case I was very comfortable. The straps went over my shoulders, around my waist, and between my legs. Hanging there from a single cable I felt like my whole body was supported. None of limbs felt weighted or restricted and none of the straps were cutting into my flesh. So after hanging there for about 30 seconds I commenced to fall towards the ground. It was like a pleasant ride to enjoy the fresh air and the view. The rush was over quickly but none the less it was an experience. In retrospect I probably would have enjoyed the bungee a lot more. I did not feel a real adrenaline rush because just as my heart lurched it stopped from going straight to my throat. There was no exhilarating feeling of falling. And as always it always feels like it is over too fast. What I really would want to try is something like base jumping where the safety is slightly uncertain. That way you are relying on your own setup. But the Sky Jump was worth the effort and the trip for the experience of it. I even got a little certificate after the jump, but I lost it already. I went back up to the top of the tower to retrieve my back pack and return the nifty jump suit I had on. I contemplated doing the bungee because I felt short of the fix I needed but after much deliberation I decided to save that for my next trip. I returned to the base of the jump and planted myself at the conveniently located Madeira Café. From there I could watch the other jumpers while I sipped on a big glass of Jack and Coke.

The Madeira Café would actually be a cool place to stop before your jump and pay up for a few drinks so that when you drop you can walk over and have a shot and a smoke right away. But you can’t carry anything on the way down so that is why it would be better to make a plan before you climb up. They have a great menu for food as well. My mission was a success and looking back, that is probably the most exciting experience I have had in the last month here in China. The next time you are in the area, I would highly recommend, ‘Getting High in Macau’…

Macau II – Macau Tower

In continuation of Macau I, I crossed over the border and headed straight for the taxi stand. Like manna from heaven this cab pulls up in front of me with a sign on the door saying I can fly to Jakarta for only $88!!! That is unreal. I could literally go to the airport and be back home having spent only $100. How cool would that be? I could make all my trips in and out of China via Macau.

Later on however I checked the website for Viva Macau and it was all a scam. The flight is $88 with no additional charges. Once you add it all up it still comes out to about $400 US. But who knows, I still might give the airline a shot and build up some street cred in sin city. So I jumped in the cab and told the driver to proceed to Macau Tower. All the while there was a void stirring in my belly. I have not experienced butterflies in years. I was actually nervous.

Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment center is located on a peninsula of what seemed to me to be the edge of Macau. There are a bunch of shops and restaurants there but what is the big draw is the actual tower that overlooks the entire city. The vast observation deck offers a commanding view of the entire surrounding area. Although the day was pretty muggy and visibility low, I paid my fee and took a ride on the gas powered lift to the 61st floor.

Had I been planning to chill out on the deck and enjoy the view my mission would there and then have been a failure. Looking out to the horizon I could see nothing from out there. Apparently the last few days had been really clear, but on this particular day they were experiencing typical London weather.

The view looking down was quite splendid though I am quite sure anyone with a fear of heights would not appreciate it. The deck is constructed in such a way that you can look straight down through a window to the street below. On a clear day I am sure the tower would be worth visiting just to enjoy the view.

I proceeded to the highest floor of the tower where I came face to face with the AJ Hackett Adrenaline Park. It is not actually called an adrenaline park but that is what I like to call it. I was pumped, I had been looking forward this for a long, long time.

At the AJ Hackett shop 233 meters above ground level on Macau tower they offer The Worlds Highest Bungee, The Worlds Highest Sky Jump, Sky Walk X, and The Mast Climb. Never have I been in one location where there are so many extreme activities available. But an adrenaline fix does not come cheap these days. In fact the going price is about the same as a gram of jejo in a western country, about $100 US. The Sky Walk X however is only about the price of a dime bag, $20. Way to get a healthy fix.

The facilities at the site were impeccable. All the crew was super friendly, and knowledgeable. It is very reassuring to see professional people around you when you are about to throw yourself of a mammoth building. There are changing rooms, lockers, and even jump suits available to patrons. They check, double check, and even triple check the straps and equipment before putting a jumper on deck. This dude from New Zealand or Australia was a personal friend of the AJ Hackett manager on site. This was not his first jump but he was nervous as hell. It turns out that the manager had also worked in Bali for a while at the jump site in Double Six. Having something in common with a person there was cool, considering I was on a solo mission.

Jumps from the tower are taken from the edge of the rim insuring you will not swing back and smack into the stem of the tower. Actually that is not even a possibility because this is a guided jump. There are 2 cables running along side the jumps zone from the launching point all the way to the ground below. The jumper is hooked to these cables insuring he/she does not fall victim to the wind. I was worried the cables would make the fall feel controlled but watching people jump from the bottom I could see that clearly was not the case. Although I am sure jumping off a bridge or hot air balloon might feel slightly more liberating.

I have been sky diving once and bungee jumping a few times already. I found both experiences exhilarating but I definitely preferred the bungee because my skydive was tandem and the freefall was not nearly as long as I would have liked or imagined it to be. Also bungee jumping is more of a rush because you can see the ground and you can really face a fear of heights if you have one. In bungee jumping you actually feel like you are falling and then gradually slow down, whereas in skydiving you are falling through the sky at an unimaginable speed and then the chute gets pulled and your balls shoot up to your throat. Then you spend the next 25 minutes descending while trying to enjoy the view, meanwhile the straps are cutting into your thighs and your balls are still somewhere around your chest. Not cool. Standing at the top of tower on that rainy day I could not decide what activity to partake it. I could surly not afford all 4 so I had to make a choice, and stick with it.

The World on Fire

Yesterday evening I was just sitting at my desk when I happened to glance out the window across from me. From my desk I can see straight across and down the street to the apartment complex where I live, Regal Court. The building is quite odd looking and all the towers have this bowl type thing on top of them. It was around 5.45pm, dusk. I looked over and saw a glowing cloud floating right over the bowl on one of the towers. It was as if there was a fire burning in the bowl. I had my camera next to me so I managed to catch a picture before the cloud moved on. My picture did not really capture the splendor of the image I could see with my naked eyes, but this is the best my Canon IXUS 50 could do. I am not a photographer either and I was leaning out a narrow window trying to catch this moment before it was lost forever, so this is also the best I could do behind the Canon. I saw something in my head and this is my effort to turn the picture below into what I saw.

I don’t really have any experience messing with photographs on any programs but I took a shot at the photo with Corel Photo 13. I cropped the picture down and rotated it a bit. The original was a bit crooked I think. I also converted the picture to grayscale. I tried to take a shot in black & white but the cloud had moved on while I was working out my camera settings. I think a real B&W photo would have brought out the brightness of the cloud and made it look white against a gray sky. That is what I would have liked to achieve. Like a glow amongst shadows. I do not think grey scale does justice.

I cropped the photo again keeping a bit more of the other building around Regal Court in the picture. I also gave it a little more rotation because the last one looked a little off to me still. I tweaked the colors a bit trying to get more yellow into the picture hoping it would give the cloud more radiance. I am not familiar with all the terms on Corel so I can’t really even explain what I did but after much trial and error I think I did get just a bit of a glow on the photo. Not what I was gunning for but at this stage it was worth a save.

I figured if I can’t make the cloud brighter I should try and make the sky darker. Once again it is not as easy as one would think to get Corel to do what you want it too. There are a shit load of functions available but I do not know what does what. The cloud in this picture got more glow and maybe even looks a bit fiery but the whole thing looks too red to me. It’s like I am using a tinted lens or something. Once again, not what I was going for but interesting nonetheless.

I tried getting the image into B&W again like I envisioned it but this is still not exactly what I had in mind. I used a higher BIT grayscale so maybe in a print it would look a lot different. I also thought the lines were a bit too sharp so I dulled them a bit and I think the shape of a cloud now has a more radiant effect. The sky also looks smoother to me in this picture and the surrounding buildings in lighted and darker shades bring about some depth. At least that is what I was going for.

Finally frustrated with not getting what I had in my head onto the screen in front of me, I gave up using photo adjustments and started fucking with the artistic effects. Corel has loads of effects to play with and you can turn a normal photograph of yourself into something that would be hard to recognize. Some of the effects are just cheesy and others quite cool. I started playing around with some of the stuff I thought sounded interesting, undoing a lot of the moves along the way and leaving some done. I also jumped back and forth to the adjustments making minor changes in the color along the way. I masked and converted certain areas of the picture using various effects leaving other areas untouched. I finally ended up with this.

I particularly like the outcome of this last picture although it is nothing like I imagined it would be. I usually do not go for the art effects on Corel because they just look cheesy to me, like when a picture is turned into a sketch or charcoal drawing. But a combination of effects seems to have brought this picture to an almost surreal level. To me it looks like a picture of Regal Court 50 years from now, when the sky is filled with toxic pollution. Some of the windows are black and other blue which looks to me like the building has been on fire. Some people are still living there but other units are dark hollow shells. Now the buildings looked lived in, used, and worn. Sureal, but at the same time more real. Somehow I still managed to retain the glowing cloud through all these enhancements. This image reminds me of something I would see in a graphic novel, but from a first hand point of view I am lacking objectivism. I would like to know what anyone else thinks.