after hearing about the 2005 anime north convention, and hearing that they would be needing go instructors to help teach the game to new players (due to the hikaru no go craze), i immediately volunteered! this was an excellent opportunity to spread the game to new players and i was looking forward to being a part of it.
the convention was held in an airport hotel, coincidentally, the same hotel where my mom used to own a store 15 years ago. having never attended an anime convention before, i was quite surprised to see people dressed in all sorts of costumes, no doubt portraying their favourite anime character. there was one person in a huge cat costume with a dopey-looking tail. i tried to take as many pictures as possible without looking conspicuous.
during the day, we had quite a few people walk up, wanting to learn how to play the game. we managed to get enough people together to stage a 13 by 13 tournament in the evening, which i helped to referee. it was interesting watching the games progress ... most of the beginners played very well.
the organizers were kind enough to reward volunteers with a free pin, poster and t-shirt. i know i'll be back to volunteer again next year, but the question is ... who should i dress up as?
ladies and gentlemen, the master plan is proceeding smoooothly.
two days ago, i saw episode iii after work at the colossus, and it was great ... it was so much better than the first two episodes. then tonight, i rented episode iv from rogers video ... and it was really good, even though it was made over 25 years ago! the saddest part was watching obi-wan die ... <sob> ... WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE?? WHY?????
other interesting things about episode iv:
four down, two to go ... the master plan will soon be realized and george lucas is powerless to stop me! bwahahahahaha!!!!!
well, the summer session for my choir started today, so i was back at hart house this evening. it was certainly nice to get back into the swing of things. the concert cds from the previous term's concert were also available for pickup, which was great! i had been looking forward to listening to this cd for a long time.
fortunately, everything sounded great except for my one screw-up in the middle of the credo movement. i didn't think it was THAT noticeable, but the microphones really magnified it! it sticks out like a sore thumb on the cd. and worse yet, just about everyone in the choir has a copy of this cd! i'm so embarrassed ...
hard to believe, but in my 27 years in toronto, i've never been to ashbridge's bay, the beautiful park at the foot of woodbine and coxwell avenues in east toronto. the long weekend served as a perfect opportunity to make my first ever trip there.
as a west-ender, i spend most of my beach-going hours at sunnyside, but ashbridge's bay is just as beautiful. the beach here is actually larger than sunnyside's. i also noticed that the martin goodman trail was present, but i don't think it extends continuously all the way to sunnyside - i think it breaks off around downtown. hmm ... when i get my bike, i'll get to find out for myself.
after dinner, around 10pm, we returned to the beach to have a little fun with fireworks. i've never played with fireworks before, and it was quite a "blast". we had difficulty lighting the fuses on the fireworks, but once the fuses were lit, we all ran for our lives! it was really funny.
just received a letter in the mail saying that the confirmed occupancy date for my condo will be march 1st, 2006. yaaay!!! finally, i'll be able to live in a place i can call my own, and i'll no longer have to pay rent. i can't wait, i'm so excited!
i guess this means i'm only going to be in high park for another 9 months. although i'm looking forward to my new home, i'm really going to miss this place. when i move out next year, i'll have lived here for almost 3 full years. i haven't lived anywhere for 3 straight years since the townhouse in agincourt during my years from grades 10 to 12.
speaking of which, i haven't been to the condo site in awhile. i wonder how the building's coming along ...
i'm sure everyone by now knows that i haven't watched a minute of the star wars series in my life. well, with episode iii around the corner, i decided that this would be a good time to put the master plan, i.e., watching the six episodes in the proper order.
so, i went to rogers video and rented the first two episodes yesterday. i'll watch epside iii in the theatres next week, and then watch the last three on dvd after that. thus, i'll be the only guy over 20 in the world who's watched the episodes in the correct order! bwahahahaha!!
episode i really wasn't that great. after two minutes of jar-jar binks i wanted to snap the dvd in two. i think they went a bit too far into the past with this episode - i didn't think it was necessary to make a movie about anakin's childhood. the only redeeming part of this movie was darth maul and the lightsaber duel at the end. darth maul is THE man. two stars out of 5.
episode ii ... well ... it was passable. it wasn't as bad as the first episode, but it was no work of art either. fortunately, jar-jar was reduced to a few measly lines. furthermore, someone has to do something about that dialogue. i don't know who wrote it, but some of those lines are the corniest i have ever heard in a movie. i can't really call this a better-than-average movie, so i give this movie three stars out of five.
let's hope the other episodes, starting with revenge of the sith, are a lot better ...
i was cleaning up my bookshelf the other day and i came across the set of 4 juggling balls that francis gave me as a christmas present when we met in las vegas over the holidays. i hadn't touched the balls much since returning, and i've decided to try and actually learn how to juggle. like all other hobbies and activities, i'm going to be horrible at first, but i believe that eventually, i'll be able to juggle 3 balls non-stop, and maybe even all 4 some day!
what i do is i face my bed when juggling, so that when the balls fall, they stay put instead of rolling around on the floor. so far, i can keep it going for about 20 seconds, but something inevitably goes wrong and i lose control. i'll keep everyone posted on how my juggling exploits progress ...