Movie Trailers Are Too Long

The spanking new trailer for G.I Joe 2 was released today. Excited, I watched it. Well, some of it. Up to the part around the White House, then I stopped. It runs just shy of three minutes and I guess the last 3rd of so is an action montage. It's an action movie, you gotta show some action. SOME action. Not ALL the action.

A week or so ago Amanda (Strawberry) and I went to see The Muppets. In the trailers beforehand they previewed the new Tin Tin movie, which I am also excited about (more so than G.I Joe 2) I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see any of it, at all. I had my eyes shut for so long I started to wonder if I had fallen into a coma. It went on. And on.

I love trailers, I do. Get some nice teasing images in there, a funny or dramatic line, some cool music. The best trailers can leave you really pumped and wanting more...which is the key, I think. When you see a trailer, the purpose of watching it is to leave you wanting more. But if you're showing me a clip from every scene in the film, what's left to wonder about?

It's not going to change, I accept that. This is the way things are, it's just a shame. Who asked for longer trailers? Maybe they need to be longer to hold the modern mind's attention and commit things to memory;

"The more we throw in their faces, the more likely they are to remember part of it!".

Not me, I'm closing my eyes. And next time I'm taking ear plugs.

Post-iTuesday

Someone got distracted by something. Pretty great to leave a tree almost done!

D23 Disney Expo: Day 3 - Wrap it Up!

This post is long overdue! This post will be about our third day at the Expo, and to wrap up the event as a whole and post pretty pictures for everyone to see.
Let's break it down, shall we?

Cost:

I waited for an entire year for the D23 expo tickets to go on sale, and then waited another full year to actually attend the damn thing.
The price we paid for a 3-day pass the DAY they went on sale was: $106/person

Considering the contents of the expo, this price was steep. And I got the early-bird price. The ticket cost ramped up to the day of the event.

We met a few Disney cast members in the lineups and they admitted that they had got their tickets for free or for a small cost. This made paying $106 for my 3-day pass just a bit more sour. There were no hard feelings towards the cast members, merely another annoying way the D23 organization handled things.

Venue:

The Anaheim convention centre was an amazing and perfect place for the event. I will give this section an A+. I loved how clean and neat the property was. Each day I never saw a speck of trash, and all the restrooms were clean and well maintained. Being a girl, I probably saw each one - so take my word for it. I never saw any staff attending to these things, so I assume they were ninjas. So, gold star for the convention ninjas.

The space was enormous, perfect for everything in it. Although I did feel it's emptiness sometimes. Near the D23 store was a curtain sectioning off the border of the convention center. It wasn't fully opaque and I could barely make out the silhouettes of staff members bustling about in the giant concrete emptiness behind it. It was a strange veil and I'm getting the willies talking about it.

Despite the vast emptiness behind a thin piece of fabric, the exhibitor section was cramped and busy. You'd think by the way they set it up, they started setting up the official booths at the front with adequate walking space between each display, but by the time they got to the exhibitor section, the felt-pen started running out and there wasn't enough room on the poster so they scribbled as fast and small as possible until they had the cubicle-esque section. I got lost and walked in circles a few times. I'm still not sure I got to see every booth.

Lightning McQueen made of Lego

 Food:

The only thing I recall eating at the D23 expo was on the first day, we got hungry and immediately wandered over to a shortish line and bought some wraps and drinks. Half my wallet later, we sat against a window and chewed on the bland tube they assured me was food. I enjoy food a lot, and usually will eat all that is presented to me, but I put this one down. The highlight of our little lunch break was seeing the dwarf-sized David Arquette walking right past us.

Oh, right! We did eat something else. At a certain time every day, a booth in the corner gave away free cupcakes! Kiwi and I managed to get there just in time and were directed to the end of a moving line. This Houdini line kept meandering around the booth, then behind it, then down the hall, then it curved around and went back the other way. The line was moving so quickly that random people were jumping into the middle of it if someone slacked off or walked too slowly. Kiwi and I eventually made it to the front and were handed a very pretty white cupcake each with a plastic Mickey ring tucked neatly into the icing. By this time we were longing for some Disney magic, ate our cupcakes outside and went back to the park.

Free cupcakes, just waiting for someone to smash their fat fingers into

Events:

Well I'm sure you all know how I felt about the events. If you missed my ranting, please visit Day 1 and Day 2 reviews.

The Disney Legends was the highlight of the trip and also the best event I think I got to see. I honestly can't speak for the other events because we barely got into any, but from the... two we got to see, they were really cool to see. Seeing the Pixar directors was fantastic! We had to wait a really long time, but it was amazing to be close and listen to them all speak and listen to the Q&A segment. The only way you'd be able to see more than 2 events a day (because of the 8 hours you'd have to wait for each) would be to team up and go to different events while the others were waiting in line - then take turns.

I'm not sure D23 anticipated the volume of guests they would have - that was evident on the first day we arrived to the tangled spaghetti queues - so the big, interesting events were few and far between. There were a lot of events each day, but only a few appealed to us. I think a lot of the guests who shared our demographic had the same idea, resulting in the enormous queues and wait times.

Exhibitors:

I didn't even notice them, honestly.
The only exhibit I cared about was the free cupcakes because they were free. Other than that, Kiwi and I spent barely or none time in each. A waste of space and time for what they were. And what they were, were giant advertisements.

One exhibit that I thought had potential was the "Treasures of the Disney Archives" exhibit. We waited in line for a good 25 minutes in costume to go see it, and there wasn't much to see, but it was still interesting.

There were a few convention rooms linked into a guarded area where props from various Disney movies and television shows were placed about to view and photograph. There were the original Mouseketeer costumes, the book from the opening of Sleeping Beauty, with some hand-painted pages on the side, wardrobe from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and props from Tron and Pirates of the Carribean. While I thought the wardrobe and props they provided for the exhibit were exciting to see, I couldn't help but feel a sense of disappointment. Maybe it was just left over from the day before, but something seemed off about the "Tresures" archive. Granted, I suppose they were only allowed a certain amount of space to occupy, but there just wasn't enough content to be spectacular. You know when you walk into the Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood, and there's all that great memorabilia crammed into the restaurant (which is clearly replicas but you feel excited anyway)? That's how I should have felt. Instead of a dark room with glass boxes illuminated which made me feel like I was at a comic convention after close, it should have been brightly lit, with more props and exciting things to look at. Some of the most interesting things (like Walt's original Mickey plush that rode with him on his first train ride) were right at the front behind some burly security guard in a poorly lit entrance way. I needed more glitz and glam - and Disney is damn well known for it! Neat, but not up to it's full potential.
(My brother who does set-dec will probably scold me for not properly adressing each Treasure as it is; set-dec, wardrobe, prop etc)

Captain Jack

Some Obscure Pirate Rings

Roger Rabbit Wardrobe (Eddie and Dolores)

Roger Rabbit Set Dec

A Replica of Frank Thomas' desk (one of the 9 old men)

The Zorro Wardrobe for the Original TV Series

An Original Promo Poster for Sleeping Beauty

The Sleeping Beauty Hand-Painted Book Pages

Jessica Rabbit Mock-Up Figure

Roger and Herman Mock-Up Figures

Guests:

The most fun!

While in costume 2 out of 3 days, we had a slew of people compliment us, take photos with us, yell out to us, it was incredible. On the third day we felt like celebrities. The expo was a lot thinner than the day before, but there were still some great fans around. People also seemed to notice us more! Kiwi and I were stopped numerous times for photos. One instance we were even stopped for 20 minutes so that a cemi-circle of people could take our photo. Some people came up to be in the photo with us, but mostly they just took photos of us together. It was the most fun we had all weekend, being so loved. Waving and smiling at people who called out to us, posing for photos, being complimented on our costumes... I am so happy we decided to go in costume, it was something we'll never forget.

A photo taken of us by Budget Fairy Tale

Great photo by Anime Nut

I wont do a sum-up, because that involves being one of those sitcom narrators and I wont be a part of it. Instead, check out these photos!

The Convention Center

Other cosplayers

 

On the last day we lucked out and walked by Eric Goldberg

Awesome Ariel and Eric cosplayers

Some kinda mermaid box

Jack's compass

Some crap. Probably not the hero props...

Photo of us with the great cosplayers from the Haunted Mansion!

-Strawberry

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The little bonnet makes it.

This one was demanded!

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I love the little heart on his chest

One of the first post-its Kiwi ever left me. It's been on my computer ever since!

Post-iTuesday (late)

Sorry! I thought there was another post-iTuesday on schedule for this week, but I was sadly mistaken. Here is a good one to make up for the late post!

Abandon ship!

D23 Disney Expo: Day 2

Day 2 was a big, important day for me. Kiwi and I set our clock for 5am and groggily started the day. I passed the McDonalds next to our hotel and looked longingly at the McCafe mocha in the display. We each got a warm drink which was worth it while walking down Harbour Blvd under the overcast sky. We were already shivering from the cool wind by the time we got to the convention center. We could see a fairly long line winding through the palm trees closer to the door, so we thought we'd walk over and see which line we needed to get into this time. Confused staff directed us all the way back to the street where we first arrived. We tucked in line behind an auburn-haired girl, of whom I immediately hit it off with. Kiwi ventured off somewhere while I got to know the girl in front of me. I found out she was actually a Disney Staff member, better yet, she designed and made the character costumes at Disneyland!

We had a great time talking about the park, her costuming, the previous day at the expo, and everything under the moon. It turns out the same girl stopped us the day before to take a photo of Kiwi and I in costume! She and her friend, who arrived later, both complimented me on our costumes and I was a little more than flattered hearing that from a Disney costume designer!

At 6:15am we lined up and were one of the first 20 people in our line, but by 7:30 our stomachs were growling. Hearing rumours of a Starbucks, I decided to check out the hotel across from the convention center. I left Kiwi to entertain our new friends and wandered past the ever growing D23 members line. It was a little disconcerting to see the members line so large considering the event in the arena that morning was the only thing I really wanted to see. It was the entire reason I booked our trip and waited two years to attend.

Shaking the unsettling feeling from my stomach and turning it's attention to food, I found another growing queue in the lobby of the hotel. This time for Starbucks. Not wanting to wait for 20 pretentious latte orders that didn't have enough shots or were made with too much milk, on my way back I spied a small breakfast bar. There were a handful of people in line and after 5 minutes I strolled past all the coffee patrons with a banana, muffin, water and cheese & ham croissant all costing less than their low-fat, soy, triple shot, shaken, upside down, glow-in-the-dark lattes.

Opossum checking us out from his little perch

We waited a few more hours, entertained by a rogue opossum and a Daniel Radcliffe doppelganger, and were more than ready to go inside. By 8:50am we nervously awaited the doors opening for the D23 members. The girls in front of us had gone past the line more recently and said it had almost doubled in size.

And here is where the D23 Expo failed horribly and lost a great deal of respect and patron loyalty.

When the D23 members were let in first, our new friends found out through updates on Twitter and text messages from a vendor inside that not only did the doors to the convention open, but so did the queue for the Walt Disney Studios presentation. This presentation was the very reason I wanted to come to the expo. We watched, heart-brokenly, as members (who we learned had bought memberships the day previous just so they could get in early) strolled up at 9:45 to get into the convention and line up for a seat in the arena.

By 9:50 the entire arena was full and so was the standby lineup. We stared at each other wondering what went wrong here. How could they offer an event listed for everyone when members were allowed to take all the seats? They must have known this was going to happen. If this event was a member's only event, why didn't they just say so? Because that's what it turned into anyway. They should have let members in early but not let the queue for the Walt Disney Studios open until the doors opened to the general public. If we had known they'd let all the members line up first I would never have gone that early, or gone at all!

Kiwi and I showing our disappointment with 
the events that took place that morning

Our small bit of space to sit and stand while waiting in yet another queue

At 10am we were the first ones in line and the first ones to not get a seat in the arena. Kiwi and I looked at each other hopelessly, my heart dripping with disappointment. We decided that we wouldn't waste all the time we spent waiting, so we got in line (again) for a Q&A panel with the Pixar creative team. After another two hours, and many pins and needles later, we entered and got a great spot a few rows back from the front off to the far right. While we were in queue we saw another couple who had also dressed as Wall-E and Eve, but were happily surprised that it was nowhere near the quality ours was. That sounds a bit catty, but after 7 hours of waiting in line, I had every right to be. I had wanted to wear our costumes on Saturday as I knew most cosplayers would be wearing theirs, but I had anticipated getting a seat at the presentation and didn't want to wait for hours, outside, on the ground in a white dress. It was a shame, as the Pixar team could have easily seen us.

John Lasseter, a few meters away from us

It was a great panel, amazing to hear from everyone and their experiences at Pixar. Hearing Bob do his voices from the movies including: The Stingray from Nemo, Dug and Roz was just fantastic. During the Q&A at the end of the panel we heard from many well spoken (and some not so much) fans as they thanked the team for, ultimately, their childhoods. I thought about it for a moment and realised that Woody and Buzz were there for me growing up, too. I saw Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on my birthdays, I went and saw a Bug's Life with my dad (which was rare doing things just us two.) Listening to these fans share their memories brought back all of mine, and that's really what Pixar does. You always remember where you saw each Pixar movie and how it made you feel, which characters were your favourite, which songs you hum when you're in the kitchen... It was great to personally thank the Pixar team, even if it was just through applause in person.

After the panel we left on a starstruck high (also we didn't have much sleep and waited in line for more than 7 hours total) and went to the park for the rest of the night.

Overall I was extremely disappointed with this event day. They had sort of figured out the line system, after the fiasco the day before, which consisted of masking tape lines and arrows on the ground and volunteers with orange airport lights. The arena catastrophe, allowing D23 members to stroll in 10 minutes before the doors to general admission opened and still got a seat in the arena, was truly upsetting. I don't think there was one person who wasn't completely pissed off at the events that happened that morning, I guess except the members who bought memberships the day before. 

We left early that day and decided to cheer ourselves up by having a nice time at Disneyland and treat ourselves to a restaurant dinner at The House of Blues. It was a nice evening, but it couldn't make up for the disappointment we felt that day. 

-Strawberry

D23 Disney Expo: Day 1

Arriving the day before the Expo, Kiwi and I walked from our hotel to the Anaheim convention center. The day before our trip, I wore a pair of gold ergonomic flip flops and earned blisters on my quest to break them in so I could wear them in California. Walking back with our expo tickets, the blisters were not soon forgotten and destroyed my feet on the short walk back to the hotel. I had those same awful blisters the entire week and Kiwi made numerous trips to the security office for band-aids (which he calls "plasters.")

That afternoon we headed to the park for our first time together in Disneyland. We approached the ticket booth to purchase the weeks worth of passes. I mentioned to the teller that I had spoken with a Disneyland rep on the phone and they said the ticket booth could honour the online ticket price for me as I had so much trouble trying to purchase them online. He took my Visa and my ID and stared at it for a moment. He told me he would be back in a second and took my ID into a back room with him. I was extremely confused, thinking maybe my face was printed on a poster labeled "do not allow in." He eventually brought the ID and handed over our passes.

We approached the gate, dodging strollers and scooters, and presented our tickets to enter. The gate troll looked at me and promptly asked me for ID. "What?" "Do you have your ID?" "Oh... I..." I fumbled about and pulled out my drivers license. A quick look and she gave it back to me with my pass, "Always show your ID when you enter the park for the first time," "Oh... I've never had to do that before..." And that was the beginning of the small, disturbing nuances at the park.

The convention center opened the next day at 10am for general admission. We woke up around 8 and laid out our costumes. I was overly excited, slipping on my stomach control underwear (not that it helped much) and shapely white dress. We walked out of our room, hand in hand, and started towards the convention center. We passed millions of confused park-goers and hotel patrons on the way, but nothing could dampen my spirits. Until we arrived.

A gigantic line snaked outside the convention center, winding through the garden, around fountains and palm trees. We strode through them, pretending to know where we were going. Ultimately we were trying to find the END of the line, but every time we thought we found it, we'd turn around and find it curve down a different way. This is partly due to the distractions.

Our costumes were a HUGE hit. Since everyone had lined up outside, guests kept stopping us to tell us how great our costumes were, or take a picture of us. At one point, when Kiwi and I stopped to discuss what we should do about the line with no end, a food vendor saw us and started one of those movie "slow claps." Guests in the line turned to look at us and most of them even joined in on the applause! I went beet red, did a little bow of thank you and laughed our way through one line and found the end of another.

Portraits we took of ourselves in costume

It was clear that the D23 staff had no idea that there would be such a big turnout. And they certainly had no idea how to organize queues. With the master of queue lines built right across the street, you'd think they'd take a page (or staff member) out of Disneyland's book and create organized lines. Kiwi and I had managed to find the D23 member only line and weren't sure what to do about it. We decided to stick with the moving group and actually found ourselves inside within 5 minutes. All the wonderful guests that had stopped us to take pictures and other costumers (like the adorable Rapunzel and her pan) had been left in our dust unintentionally. We looked back to see them in the giant spiraling line, still waiting to enter. When we got to the front, we gingerly showed them our general admission passes and were let in with a smile. Even though we had dumb-lucked our way into the D23 members line, we were still admitted! It seemed like an extremely unfair procedure, considering all those other guests waiting in line could have been admitted with us as well. But that was not the only blunder of the Expo. I will elaborate on Day II.

We were quickly ushered to a pair of long tables where we were given a program book (very nice) and directed to a bucket of lanyards for our passes. I don't know who's idea that was, but almost every lanyard in the bucket was tangled into a ball of Griswald's Family Christmas Lights. I calmly moved a few strings and pulled one out for myself while the volunteer next to me struggled fiercely and gave one to Kiwi 30 seconds later.

The center was enormous. I had never been to an event so large. There were pavilions and booths everywhere and I immediately felt overwhelmed. We decided to head straight to the arena where the "Disney Legends" ceremony was supposed to be starting in an hour. Again, we were stopped numerous times for pictures and compliments. I was over the moon. I made our costumes in only a few hectic days, but they turned out better than I ever could have imagined. This makes me wonder what costuming adventures I could accomplish if I had more time.

I don't think too many patrons were allowed in behind us, because by the time we walked into the arena and sat down, the presentation had nearly started. We fumbled in the dark to fill in the seats tightly, but nobody came to sit beside us. Almost 50% of the top bowl wasn't filled, but nobody was coming in after us! There were enough people in line behind us to fill the rest of the empty seats three times over, but they weren't being let in! What was going on here?

The presentation started with a video of the new President of the Walt Disney company excusing himself from coming to the event because he was on vacation with his family. Let me just call bullsh*t right here.

I had no idea what to expect, but once it got started I was extremely impressed. The host of Dancing with the Stars and America's Funniest Home Videos came out on stage and got the ball rolling. We got to hear from some amazing Disney Princess voices, both singing and speaking, and even got to hear them perform a medley of songs from their movies. Paige O’Hara sang as Belle, Lea Salonga sang as Mulan, Anika Noni Rose sang as Tiana, and Jodi Benson sang as Ariel. It was pretty amazing to hear them speak and sing. If you closed your eyes, you could easily see their corresponding characters in your head. Thrilling!

The best part of the ceremony, day and the entire Expo (for me) came last.

Honouring Jim Henson.

After a sweet performance with two muppets by Jim Henson's son and wife, the room went black. The curtains onstage pulled apart and a platform with a piano rolled out on stage.

I knew who it was before the banjo even started. Kermit and Rowlf sang Rainbow Connection. Rowlf on the piano, and Kermit on his banjo. I couldn't believe my eyes, seeing Kermit the Frog in person, playing his banjo. By the end of the song there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

I, and other women around me, wiped the mascara away while descending the stairs to explore the rest of the expo. Honestly, there wasn't much to look at. They had some exhibits that were interesting like the Pirates of the Caribbean props, Disney animator tables, and the Treasures of the Disney Archives, which I will elaborate on in the next few posts.

Other than showing off our costumes, we weren't interested in sticking around for any of the events. After seeing David Arquette walk right past us as we ate our lunch on the floor, we took our leave and decided to have some fun at the park.

- Strawberry

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Peow!

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An assortment.

I like the big one chasing the tiny one, like he's watching out for it or something.

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I love the guy who is still standing but burning at the same time.

Oh, the humanity!

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Just workin' out

Hey guys, chill out. I'm just stretching my hammies.

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Kitty!

Kiwi left this one on my computer one day. Most of the robots he doodles are at work, but this one was specifically for me. I enjoy the footprints a great deal.

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Oh... Oh god.

I love this one!!! How does he know how to draw stuff like that? The warbly lines for the guy getting zapped? Genius! See, I never would have thought of that. So cool...

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I love how all the seagulls are swarming him

This one is awesome! Easily one of my favourites. I love how much detail he can get on a tiny post-it.

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Love the stitches

One of the first drawings Kiwi ever did for me. I got him a pack of multi-coloured Post-it pads for Christmas. He's made good use of them since! The little footprints make it.

-Strawberry

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Makin' treads

Aww, what a lonely guy. I love the motion, how he's leaned back because he's scooting along at a fair clip. One of my favorites.

-Strawberry

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Good smoke detail

These stick people know what's up. I'd be running too!

-Strawberry

Friday Friends: ALL The Owls

I have a lot of owls. I love them, I can't get enough of them.
When I visited my grandmother's house when I was young I always admired a mirror in my aunt's old bedroom. I don't actually know who the mirror belongs to, but I do hope one day it will be mine. The mirror has a big purple owl painted on it. You can still see the mirror, but the majority of the space is occupied by that big-eyed owl.

Since then, owls sort of crept out of popularity. I still remember loving that mirror, and looking at it in the bedroom every time I would visit.

Recently the surge of owl popularity has risen again, and I eagerly acquired every owl item that I fancied. I've since gotten a lot of owls in my possession, but of course not nearly enough. I got lucky to find that Garden Works was in an owl sort of mood this past Christmas, and I quickly stocked up on lots of fun owl friends.

Here are photos of all the owls I own (minus a few if I've forgotten them) numbered to show where they came from.

1. Little Owlets (Kiwi on the left, me on the right) from Urban Outfitters. These were bought online. They came in identical boxes, so you'd never know which owl you got until you opened it! When Kiwi left at the end of August last year, he took me (the green one) with him as a little reminder. I got to keep the gray one. They kept us company while we were apart.
2. Door hanging owl! Brought home for me from Hawaii by my very good friend (who knows about my owl obsession)
3. Owl catch-all. Another Urban Outfitters purchase. I went a little crazy one day and bought a lot of things online for when I moved out on my own.
4. Tiny owl necklace from Suzi Shier. My mom bought me this one.
5. Odd gold owl figure. Thrifted.
6. One of the owls from Garden Works sold as Christmas decor. I had a woodland tree theme, and stuck owls, butterflies, twigs and birds in the branches. This fluffy guy was one of them.
7. Twig owl, another one from Garden Works. He sits in my peace lily for now.
8. Rhinestone owl necklace from Forever 21. Kiwi bought this for me.
9. Two small porcelain owl place card holders from Garden Works (on sale after Christmas.)
10. Owl ring from Urban Outfitters. The first thing I ever bought from them.
11. Owl piggy-bank from Urban Outfitters. Love the colour most of all!
12. Sleepy owl painted on a log cut from a Christmas tree. I painted it myself.
13. Gold owl necklace on a long chain from Suzy Shier, another one my mom bought me.
14. White fluffy owl from Garden Works (also part of my tree decor.)
15. Three owl necklace. Gorgeous sparkly owls! This one, Kiwi's sister bought for me and mailed it from New Zealand. I get thousands of compliments on it.
16. Big hollow owl necklace with really long chain, from Urban Planet. 
17. Strange owl carving out of soapstone, it looks like. Thrifted.

Hopefully more owls will get to be added to my collection. I'm thinking of taking up macrame just for the owl benefits. 

-Strawberry

The Move

It started with a look.

Kiwi and I had stepped into the suite for the first time, and gave each other a sideways look that was of mutual appraisal. We both loved the space from the moment we walked under the Mexican plaster ceilings. The masonry wall that greeted us with a fireplace and large hearth, the bar that separated the kitchen from the living space, the small raised area that I immediately hoped to put my office in...

But I am getting ahead of myself.

July 1st, Canada Day, Kiwi got the day off work. My mother and I had spent nearly the entire day previous packing and moving my clothes and kitchen, stacking boxes and boxes of stuff into the back of my dad's pickup. I was sweating, panting, my arms had never ached so much. Another sore reminder of how out-of-shape I am. Our hard work paid off, by having nearly moved half our house in one giant load. With scrapes and bruises to show for it (one large scrape in particular on my mother's behalf, was earned by a hilariously slow fall on the sidewalk beside our house, as she tried to protect our coffee table from hitting the ground). Later that evening, Kiwi and I already having the keys to the new suite, made another two loads with my hatchback. We went to bed that night, I nervous for the events to come the next morning.


At 7:30 my brother arrived and took me to pick up the 1 ton truck I had rented for 4 hours. I have never in my life driven such a large vehicle. I have had my fair share of experiences in different automotives, but nothing of this caliber. After the associate had backed out the truck, I was told to hop in and check the kilometers and gas level. With nothing more than a quick overview of the truck's features, I was sent on my way, alone; my brother having already gone to await my arrival and assist me with backing up the leviathan that was the 1 ton truck.






For the size of the truck, you'd never know it. Well, maybe on turns (as I found out on the first one I took overtaking the sidewalk a bit) but I was enjoying my otherwise smooth trip back to my house. Avoiding the quickest route that involved a giant hill (where a cement truck had lost control of it's brakes a few months previous) I took the long route and arrived unscathed and giddy at my accomplishment.

Kiwi and his friend Arsh, were more than amazing. Moving all the heavy and awkward pieces of furniture, my brother and I were left with organizing and stabilizing everything inside the beast. With less than half the truck bed full, I realised that a 1 ton truck probably wasn't necessary afterall. Not sure what the alternative would have been, though.

Another trip in the bouncy cab of the truck to our new suite, the narrow street offered little assistance with reversing into a small driveway. As I was pulling the nose of the truck up just past the rear of a gray car, a man walked into my view (our new neighbour and owner of said car) and asked me (as I was reversing) if I was new to the neighbourhood. "Yes," I replied hastily, "Welcome to the neighbourhood!" his thick accent cooed back, "Oh! Thank you!" as I cranked the wheel tight and shimmied past his car.

Kiwi and Arsh were left alone as my brother had other matters to attend to, and we finished the move in record time. It took them no time to move the rest of the furniture into the suite already brimming with stuff. We locked up and I set off to return the truck.






Arsh and Kiwi walked down to the local restaurant, where we were going to treat Arsh to lunch to thank him for all his fantastic work. I took the truck for one last spin down to the rental office. I returned the truck with an hour to spare, and the girl working there praised me for doing so. She did a quick sweep of the truck, read the kilometers and stated with fondness that she was not going to charge me for the gas as we had traveled a very short distance and I had been so punctual. I beamed with pride.

Now, without my brother's assistance I was left stranded at the office. The girl working there told me there was a bus that could take me to meet up with Kiwi and Arsh, and it was only a 2 minute walk down the street. The 157, she said. So off I set. A ways down the road, I saw a bus speed past me with the number 159. Oh, well that can't be my bus I thought and trudged down to the bus stop. The sign above me read that there were only two buses that stopped here: the 158 and the 159. I thought maybe the 157 must make a turn farther up the street, so it wouldn't stop at this one. I figured the bus stop for the 157 must be a short ways, so I set off again on the street. I had been walking a fair distance before approaching another bus stop that read the same thing: 158, 159. I begrudgingly hopped on the next 159 that stopped at the skytrain. A quick one-stop trip away by skytrain, I arrived at the restaurant sweaty and exhausted. After lunch, Arsh departed and Kiwi and I took a bus back to our old suite to pick up the last of our things.

We squashed as much as we could into the little Kia hatchback, having a small mishap with a bottle of soy sauce. At 4pm, we were finally done outside. Kiwi and I began to slowly shuffle things about the suite, still exhausted, we managed to set up my office and the living room area. I also washed 3 loads of laundry that included our sheets. By 9:30 we both could feel the tiredness sink in. We went to bed early that night in fresh sheets.

Fresh sheets, and a fresh start.

-Strawberry

Day of Days

Part #1: Departing

This year, for my first (27th) birthday outside of my native New Zealand, Strawberry, in her infinite kindness, treated me to a day of firsts. While most of the firsts were unintentional, and some were firsts even for the eloquent redhead herself, Saturday the 2nd of July became quite the momentous day. We had moved house the day before, which I've no doubt Strawberry will be eagerly posting about soon, so with the new place scarcely organized we took a brief look at the pile of boxes and quickly departed.

Actually, the departing wasn't quite so quick as that. First, we had to go over the technicalities of securing the hatch on Strawberry's car half-way down so as not to block the view of fellow movie goers later in the day. More on the drive-in later, but I will say that this particular model of hatch-back was not designed with the drive-in movie goer in mind and figuring out how to tie it down is quite the ordeal. It was a rather irritating experience but not so much as banging my head for the third time in three days.

Part #2: Lunch

Our first stop had intended to be the Lost In The 50's diner (where the opening scene of Hot Rod takes place, among a couple of other films), however we were dismayed to find it quite closed. Hungry, and somewhat pressed for time to make our first appointment a good hour's drive from there, we determined to keep a look out for anywhere decent, alas it wasn't to be and we ended up at a McDonald's not ten minutes drive from our destination.

I like McDonald's, I really do. Not just the food,  I like the screaming kids and sticky floors and flustered staff, the stressed manager who moves at superhuman speed and the seven dissatisfied customers all waiting impatiently to talk (yell at) him because they were short a fry or something. Not a pleasant environment, closer more to hell actually, but you know what to expect when you walk in so you might as well try and enjoy it. Still, even for someone who takes a modicum of humor in the chaos that is your average Micky D's, there's always something new that can grate at your soul, as Strawberry and I discovered the moment we entered.

On the other side of the counter, off to the side where nothing in particular was occurring (as opposed to everywhere else behind the counter which was the apocalypse) stood a shrill sounding manager who's conversation dominated even the regular hustle and bustle of a fast food restaurant. The young woman, who we didn't realize was the manager until several minutes later, shrieked at the person standing right next to her in an otherwise perfectly friendly manner. I certainly appreciate that you have to raise your voice in order to communicate in a busy kitchen, even the customers have to use several decibels above their indoor voice to place an order, but even when we took our seats at the far opposite end of the building we could hear her banshee's cry.

Part #3: "Okay, so it feels like razor blades..."

Strawberry's birthday present, which we had talked about for some months and I had thought about for some years, was a tattoo. The design I had decided on was a variation of the classic "Made In New Zealand" logo. Rather than grab a needle, some ink and take a whirl at it ourselves we aired on the side of caution and drove to Craftsman Tattoos in White Rock, right on the main road and overlooking the ocean. After a short wait I was lead into another room where the incessant buzzing of a needle made its way around a heavily painted woman's shoulder blade. After a quick clean, I lay down and the friendly artist went to work, but not before warning me of the pain to come.

Razor blades was an overstatement which the artist soon corrected, telling me it felt more like a burning and/or itching sensation. There wasn't much sensational about it, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as I had initially thought. Thinking I'd bought myself some credit by not wincing, nor once shedding a tear, I'm sure all tough guy points earned were soon quashed as I spent the bulk of my forty minutes under the needle talking almost exclusively about Strawberry. It was an altogether pleasant experience, I do wish there had been enough room to take pictures during the operation but that's hardly a complaint toward the work, which as long as I take care of it properly will come out exactly as planned.

Part #4: What We Want, and What We Got.

With quite some time left to kill before our movie began (roughly 5 hours) Strawberry and I returned to familiar ground, all be it briefly. Not far along from White Rock, near the Peace Arch border crossing, is a small road along the coast, home to small beach houses and a lot of over grown grass. Never having been more than a few hundred meters we set out to explore a little further. As we continued up the road the beach houses fell away and turned to piles of garbage, passing through a small bone yard of unused (see: probably stolen) vehicles and eventually into a peculiar little community with two churches and sparse housing.

An uneasy feeling had washed over Strawberry early on, but at my insistence we pressed on until I too felt the strange and peculiar vibe and we turned back in a church car park. Curious about one car in particular, we slowed to a stop midway through the bone yard of dead cars and with my camera out the window began taking rather shoddy pictures. The one good picture, taken specifically, was of a white sedan with reflectors along the bumper, looking very much like a police car. Putting my arm out the window again we heard the sudden and rage fueled (also, possibly alcohol fueled) yelling of a man who I assume was shirtless screaming "What do yeh want?!" in our direction. Strawberry put her foot down as we quickly sped away, the engine on the small hatch back revving loudly, which to our delighted surprise wasn't coupled with the sound of a shotgun peppering the tail lights.

Part #5: Killing Time

Having had our first attempt to waste time dashed by an angry guy who's probably appeared on both Jerry Springer and Cops (at the same time) we ventured onward, well away from the area. After a brief detour through farm land the highway appeared, and a short time later we arrived at the drive-in. Curiously we drove up the quiet road, behind the large looming screen, cautiously paranoid of any more explosive outbursts from peevy locals. Without a soul in sight and the complex very much locked Strawberry pulled a U-turn and we headed toward the near-by A&W restaurant.

For those of you unfamiliar, A&W is a fast food joint famous mostly for their root beer. Not particularly hungry we settled on a root beer float each. A short debate ensued as to whether the guy who served us looked like the character Blaine from 1986's Pretty In Pink (he totally did), after which we sat leisurely and enjoyed the warm sun beaming through the window. Roughly half an hour had passed when a 50-something year old woman parked her near identical car (including the exact same numberplate surround) one space over from Strawberry's. Much to our amusement, upon her return she stood with one hand full of food about half a foot from our car, pressing her alarm button adamantly and wondering why her car wouldn't unlock.

Shortly after the woman disappeared to parts unknown in her clone car, a stern looking grey haired police officer marched with a determined pace across the car park. Standing around ten feet tall with dark glasses and a military style hair cut he appeared to keep more crap on his belt than Batman. I swear, the guy had so much stuff on him he had to keep his gun wrapped around his thigh. Where I come from the cops don't even carry guns, so it's quite a sight to see a fellow stomping around looking like a heavily armed one-man band.

"Is that your red car outside?" the officer's voice boomed as he cast a shadow over Strawberry and myself. Of course, it wasn't, and he went on his merry way. The issue had been the car was parked in a spot for disabled persons, without a tag. Ironically, as we were leaving, we saw the occupants of said red car, I assume the officer let them off with a warning as they both wobbled awkwardly around.

Picking an arbitrary direction we continued onward in search of nothing in particular. Pulling into a quaint suburban neighborhood, which had every Stepfordesque cliche one could hope for, bar the white picket fence, we stopped at near by park. I'd spied a wooden bridge from the road and we became excited at the photographic possibilities. Exiting the car we were off to a good start, there was a small grassy area with a large rock embedded with the park's name on a plaque, a picnic table and two large signs on either side of the grassy area stating the park rules. No motor vehicles, etc. Lining the back of the small area was a forest ready to be explored and right smack in the middle sat the ever inviting bridge, we ventured forth.

And that was it. The bridge followed over to a small gravel path that ran behind a fence, behind some houses and finished at a dead end street. For all the signs and rules the entire park consisted of a grass patch, a rock, a table and a bridge. If you wanted to take a motor vehicle in the park and break the rules, you certainly could, but you wouldn't get very far.

Part #6: The Cost of Doing Business

Continuing on down the Frasier Highway it wasn't long before we passed an honest to goodness lemonade stand. Four kids with colourful signs stood offering both lemonade and iced tea, Strawberry immediately got excited and broke the road rules in order to return back there as quickly as possible. I sat in a quiet state of disbelief, having never actually seen a lemonade stand outside of the movies, and upon arrival I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that it was one of the greatest things I had ever seen.


Crossing the road quickly (but carefully!) the children appeared slightly bewildered and perhaps even a little frightened at our wild enthusiasm. For the very fair price of 75cents each we purchased a lemonade and ice tea respectively. The young lad took care of the lemonade, filling it about a quarter of the way and handing it to me with such pride I didn't have the heart to complain. Strawberry, in a bout of spontaneous education handed one of the girls $2 and asked them to work out the change themselves. Much umming and hmming ensued until they worked it out, at which point Strawberry let them keep it as a tip which sent all four of them into a cheerful dance.

As they lined up for a photograph another young lad arrived on a bike. While his knee was scratched from a recent loss of control the sign advertising their lemonade stand was well intact, Strawberry and I were more than a little impressed at their marketing plan. When asked what they planned to do with the money, they informed us matter of factly that sometimes they give it to charity "but this time, we're keeping it for ourselves!"

Part #7: Aldergrove

Enticed by a shady looking bowling alley Strawberry made another stop, this time in the small town of Aldergrove that surrounds the highway. Parking a couple of blocks away we wandered the eerily quiet streets, all be it to the sound of through traffic ripping down the main road. A couple of old second hand stores and at least one furniture place appeared to be going out of business, in fact the only place in town that appeared to have any semblance of booming business was a semi-busy car/dog wash. Even the local bar had one or two cars out front, and this was around 5pm on a Saturday night.

Strawberry, having worked in one, has a curious interest in bowling alleys. Not that I'm complaining, it's much more interesting and entertaining than my habit of examining people's kitchen cabinets. The windowless building sported black walls that matched the dark doorway. I expressed my concern for what may be on the other side, images of large and easily irritated bikers boggled through my over active brain. With Strawberry egging me on, I opened the door.

It was dead. The two staff members on duty leaned lazily against the bar watching some garbage movie and smiled as if we were the first people they'd seen in weeks. We walked in slowly expecting something else, or someone else, but there was not a soul to be seen. Without ten pin, we tried our hand at the five pin game and Strawberry trounced me by 7 points. Returning our shoes, but keeping the socks which we were glad to learn weren't renters, Strawberry and I walked casually back to the car happy in the knowledge we'd successfully murdered the last 4 hours.

Part #8: Grease

Like the neighborhoods with white picket fences, and lemonade stands, a drive-in movie theater was one of those classic North American stereotypes I'd only ever experienced through fiction. An hour before they were due to open there was already a 30-40 car line up. Children played giddily atop the back of their father's trucks and staff flew by the line in a fit of lateness. It wasn't long before they let us enter, and it was perfection down to the smallest detail.

After paying the small price of $25 to enter (as opposed to $30+ at a regular cinema) we picked our spot, with plenty to choose from. Nearer the front end we parked and set up, raising the hatch as rehearsed and securing it midway. Strawberry took charge of laying out the assortment of cushions and blankets and we made ourselves comfortable. We sat starring at the enormous blank screen for several minutes as other patrons drove in and made, what were more often than not terrible, attempts at parking.

Parking at the drive-in isn't a terribly complex concept, however as with anything to do when humans and cars are combined even the simplest maneuver can turn into a riotous debacle. One woman, for example, proudly parked her large 4x4 in the front spaces, clearly marked for lower cars. Another obnoxious prat, who had obviously not read the rules, parked their car and took up another space with lawn chairs. Fortunately the idiotic and inconsiderate actions of a few were swiftly put to a stop by the all seeing staff, who ran frantically back and forth among the cars in search of the slightest infraction.

The concession stand was a sight in itself, with a friendly old man out front making balloon animals to boot. The menu had everything you'd expect, overly large portions of everything, foot long hot dogs and the local touch, good gooey poutine. With a hotdog each, a medium sized (apparently) coke and a tub of poutine Strawberry made our way back to the car, and what followed was a combination of hilarity, potential disaster and extraordinary luck.

Getting into the trunk/boot of a small hatch back is quite the trick, especially without banging your head (which we both did). Getting into the trunk filled with cushions and hand fulls of food is something even Copperfield would find challenging. Somehow, even with my own personal tendency to routinely spill things, we managed to work our way in and sit, somewhat awkwardly, without letting a drop hit the floor. A rogue spot of cheese or two may have found it's way to a piece of clothing here and there, but over all the poorly thought out eating arrangements worked out surprisingly well.

Five minutes before the movie began we packed our rubbish into the small plastic bag provided by the drive-in (very clever) and tuned in the car radio to the theater's own frequency. It was a sellout night, the DJ told us, and announced the evenings three movies, the final of which would be ending at 4.15am. Not quite that dedicated to cinema we determined to *maybe* stay for two, but neither of us were particularly interested in the second film anyway.

There were no trailers, only a small advertisement for the concession stand followed by a strange video informing us of the slowly dying trend of the drive-in cinema. The 3-4 minute video followed a montage of closed cinemas to the tune of intense melodramatic music, I began to wonder if they were about to ask for a just a dollar a day to sponsor them. It all seemed rather unnecessary, given we were already there it would have served better showing the video to people who had yet to try out the drive-in experience.  The first film began quickly afterward and the audience, I'm sure, soon forgot all about it.

With an hour or so's drive, in the rain no less, back home, we decided not to stick around for the second film. We did however stay for the vintage style concession stand ads with dancing food, including a hotdog leaping into a hotdog bun. The audience, Strawberry included, all honked wildly on their car horns every time that cartoon hotdog made it's suggestive jump.

Part #9: And Now, My Final Thought

Most days are good, certainly better than average, such is life with someone as consistently lovable and charming as Strawberry. Every weekday I look forward to the moment she arrives to pick me up from work, and every weekend I'm practically jubilant to be the one lazily sleeping in beside her. Then, there are days like Saturday the 2nd of July. Days like the day we met, or our first date. That time at Grouse Mountain or that one summer's afternoon at Allouette Lake.

It's days like those that you know, even while they're happening, will make you smile forever.