Pilgrimage

Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(so priketh hem nature in hir corages);
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages...

--Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue

In about two weeks, I'm going up to Detroit for a work trip. February is not well-regarded as a time to go do this, but I don't care. Do you know why I don't care?

Because I've got a ticket to see a Red Wings game while I'm up there. A ticket. To see the Wings. At the Joe Louis Arena. I'm beside myself with happy.

Everyone talks about how difficult it is to get tickets. I hopped on Ticketmaster (with all the attendant bullshit service fees they charge) and got one in a few minutes; I'm pretty sure the only reason there were any still available is that the visiting team is the Phoenix Coyotes, not exactly a big-name matchup. Me, I still think it's pretty cool, as I've never seen Phoenix play, and Wayne Gretzy is going to be there as their coach. Neato.

HOCKEY!

Ninja vs. T-Rex

Ninja vs. T-Rex
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr.

I'm such a t-shirt geek. Not as much as I used to be, but when I saw this design, with both a ninja and a tyrannosaurus rex, I ordered it on the spot.

Waterworks

Foster Falls 3
Originally uploaded by Blackwyr.

Well, eight days into 2007, and the year just isn't off to a good start. Work's been crazy, and likely to get worse before it gets better*. I've registered for the evening session of Calculus I, which will start on Thursday**. And nothing seems to be going well internally, like being slightly out-of-step with everything and everyone around me. I get that feeling occasionally--everyone does--but this has been going on for a while.

But I finally processed those RAW shots I took at Foster Falls back in November! My RAW-editing-fu is weak, and needs improvement, but I was happy with about four of the shots, which isn't too bad.

I'm keeping the New Year's Resolutions simple this time around:

That which separates me from the person I want to be is a Bad Thing: In short, break bad habits, bad patterns of thought, and anything that holds me back.

Nanakorobi yaoki: It's a martial arts thing, literally, "fall seven times, rise eight." Setbacks are no excuse for quitting.

In more general terms, I want to continue working on my photography, my aikido, and school. And there's nothing magical or dramatic about it, other than to just continue practicing and studying.

I intend to bow to the demands of vanity in only one respect: to try to trim down the Buddha Belly. As for my bald spot, forget it; I will shave my head before I'll put any of those fucked-up chemicals on my scalp***. That said, given how hot the summers are here, maybe I should shave my head anyways...

*(It does get better, right?)

**(The less said about my first attempt--taking the class online--the better.)

***(Have you seen the list of side-effects on that stuff?)