Europe Excerpt #3: Scaling the Mountain

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I've had an extremely unproductive evening, and I just can't bring myself to get any homework done, but blogging is at least slightly more productive than playing JT's Blocks on Yahoo Games. So without further ado, Xave's Xlog presents the third installment in its series of out-takes from Xave's foray across the pond this past summer. (Also, check out parts one and two!)

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Today was the big day - climbing a Freaking Mountain. I set out at 9 and grabbed a trail map (in Italian) from the tourist office. I didn't know my mountain hiking level, not having done it in probably at least a decade, so I just picked the first path and planned to play it by ear. 

Well, it took me quite a while just to get there. I got lost on the other side of the river (where the mapped mountains were). After about an hour of being lost, I thought I had it figured out, and I set out on the road. The road didn't seem like the kind of road that pedestrians are supposed to walk on, though, so I walked in the thick grass on the other side of the short fence. Shortly thereafter, this middle-aged woman bicycled by and started blabbering in Italian. I informed her that I didn't speak Italian, but she didn't speak English, so she just dumbed down for me. Among her key words were "serpenti", "grande" and "sssssssss". OH SHIT. SOME HUGE SNAKES ARE GONNA EAT ME! Needless to say, I exodused ASAP. She also re-affirmed where we were, but I had it figured out.

I eventually found the 1st trail and got going around 10:45. It was a 400m (alt.) climb up to Sardagna. ---Note: distances are altitudes, not horizontal distances. I'll figure those out later.--- Right, so I got up 400m (starting at 200, so ending at 600), nice and sweaty and a little hungry. 

I stopped in at a small market and got 3 rolls, a big hunk of mozzarella, an apple, 2 peaches and 4 plums. The peaches were hard, the plums (yellow) were tasty, and I haven't eaten the apple yet. I'll get to the bread and cheese later. Oh yeah, I also got a 1.5L bottle of water. Already had my nalg, but I figured lots of acqua would be prudent. 

Anyway, I sat on a bench in front of a tap pouring out water into a big squarular pool to eat a peach while wondering if the water was drinkable. In the duration of my peach, one dude came by to wash his arms and face off after a hard morning's work, and another dude came and filled up his mug. Yep, this is a small mountain town. So I tasted the water and it was deliciously cold, so I dumped my 2.5 total litres and got some fresh mountain spring.

From there I set out on the 2nd leg; though I had to settle for my 3rd choice (of trails) because I couldn't find my 1st (I think it was closed) and my 2nd had a sketchy detour that I noched after a bit. My 3rd choice was the steepest, though most direct, of the 3. I climbed 400 more meters with much misery (not really, I just wanted to alliterate... you might call me a member of the alliterati), and ended at a place marked "Coel" (it was just a trail intersection and a picnic table. So I cheesed up a role and took a bite.

Oh man.

Yeah, that required 4 blank lines. This was my first (and time will tell regarding any more - I kind of doubt it) "this is the best _____ I've ever tasted" moments of the trip. (The _____ was the cheese.) It was creamy, and the thing it tasted most like (more than any mozzarella I've ever had) was Daiter's Cream Cheese. But it wasn't that creamy. It had more solidity than cream cheese - it is mozzarella after all. And the flavour was brilliant. I don't even know how to describe it.

The bread was tasty too. Not the best bread I've ever had, but good enough that I could enjoy the cheese without wishing that I had got better bread to enjoy it on.

Right, so I kept going and eventually reached Venaze (1300m, 300 above Coel) around 3. I was pretty freaking tired, so I sat down for a while and fruited, but I wasn't done. The next destination was _______ (1650m). (Editor's note: I forgot the name of this town and lost my trail map, so I was never able to add it back in to the journal.) I stopped and started a lot, including at a hillside bar for another mozza sandwich, but I eventually got there, I think around 4.

_______ was a very cute town, small with some bars and hotels, and a playground area where there were 2 goats and a horse (donkey?) who I stared down for a while. I originally planned to call it a day there, maybe find a pizzeria and then head back, but a big sign with a trail description enticed me to go for the summit (2100m). The sign promised shallowness, but I don't think they maintain the trails much up there, because I couldn't find that one and ended up on an extremely steep one.

It was on this trail that I encountered the only other hiker I saw all day - a Dutch dude, older than me, by how much I cannot tell you, I think I was delirious by then. He had just hiked up from _______, and was very impressed to hear of my voyage. I kept going for a while after bidding farewell to him, but I just couldn't do it. I gave up around 1750 or 1800m. By that point I had entered the clouds, and I was somewhere around 80-85% up the old girl, so based on my arbitrary criteria, I climbed that mountain. And I plan on telling people I did.

One big disappointment of the day is that my camera ran out of battery in _______ for the first time on the trip. On the most scenic day of the trip. So I missed some pretty good shots in _______, from the highest point I reached, coming down, and also on the way up, since I had been conserving battery. Oh well, there are still some good ones in there. And my memories! (Editor's note: my camera was stolen that night, so at least the thief had to buy a charger!) 

So I was pretty hungry when I started heading down, but I resolved to get down the mountain and then worry about dinner. Coming down is sure a lot easier than climbing up, but it was still quite a trek, especially on the steep, non-paved parts. A couple of times I got going a little too fast (it's hard not to run when it's that steep), and it took a long time to stop myself. Once I twisted my ankle so twistily I thought it would be sore for days, but as it happened the pain was gone in about 2 minutes. I dunno, maybe I have incredibly strong ankles... even though I've landed funny on them a lot of times, nothing bad has ever come of it. 

So I eventually reached the anti-summit, incredibly tired and more than a little bit dizzy/light-headed. It only made sense that I got a little bit lost getting back to the hostel. Oh, and somewhere on the way down I lost my map. That would have helped me in terms of not getting lost, but more importantly, I wanted to keep it and trace the path I took and do some distance calculations and stuff. Hopefully it's online somewhere.

Anyway, I got back to the hostel around 8 and they had a restaurant which was theoretically open til 10. They were "closed" which probably just meant nobody was there so they shut it down. But the extremely friendly girl at reception opened the place up just for me, and before I knew it there were about 12 things in front of me. That's just a guess, let's count...

1) a plate of pasta

2) a bowl of salad

3) a leg of chicken

4) ketchup (I think? maybe it was extra tomato sauce)

5) mayonnaise

6) a huge bowl of bread which probably could have been my whole meal

7) a jug of water

8) a cup of water

9) a chino (italian pop)

10) olive oil

11) vinegar

12) salt

13) pepper

14) cutlery

Oh yeah, and I turned down melon for dessert. They really came through for a starving, exhausted Canadese dude. 

Afterwards, I headed down to the internet cafe but stopped on the way because a guy was playing guitar and singing on a patio of a bar, and had gathered a pretty good crowd. And for good reason - he was very good, and funny too, and I don't even speak Italian. After 2 songs, the ache in all parts of my legs got too strong, so I proceeded to the cafe if for no other reason than to sit down. I won't tell you about my antics surfing the net or walking home or writing in this, or going to bed, for they are LAME.

I will say, though, that this journal entry is somewhat reflective of the day as a whole. L o o o o o o o o o o o n g. Except that while I succeeded at climbing a mountain, I spread writing this over 2 days, making my journalistic journey an utter failure.

Max Tundra

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Ever heard of Max Tundra? He's a British dude who creates what the blogosphere refers to as "bedroom synth-pop". I don't really know what that means, and I have no idea how to describe his music, but this paragraph from Pitchfork's review of his last album helps a little:

There are recognizable things within it: streaks of quaint English pop and soul, oddball programming of video-game synth sounds, a keyboard sensibility that ranges from lite funk to a kind of gleeful prog-rock musical theater, and a happy calm that vaguely recalls Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts music.I imagine a reality show where XTC, Prince, Aphex Twin, and George Gershwin have to live together inside the sound chip of an aging Game Boy. But that makes Max Tundra sound cartoonish and scattershot, when the surprise of this stuff is how much it can all feel beautiful, simple, and coherent.

Anyway, the guy is my current musical obsession. I've never been a big fan of DJs, but Max is creating exactly the type of thing I've always wanted to hear from a DJ. (Girl Talk is too, though in a very different way.) I urge all you music-loving people to give him a listen, and here are some samples for your perusal: 

Me Being An Idiot #4: The Dumpster

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*Love reading about me being an idiot? Check out parts one, two and three!*

On Saturday night, I went out with some friends. It was a pretty regular night out: we went to a pub, drank some beer, had some laughs, watched a bit of hockey, you know, the usual. I had a bit more to drink than I usually do during a night out, but not so much that parts of the night no longer exist. We'll say I was about one standard deviation drunker than the average night on the town.

I didn't do anything particularly idiotic at the bar (I don't think). No, it was on the walk home that whatever organ controls idiocy took over. Since I don't have an iPod, I'm often bored when walking places, so I'll try to entertain myself somehow... sometimes I'll sing, or try to estimate how many steps it'll take to walk from point A to point B, or explain things I'm knowledgeable about to my invisible companions. 

When I'm drunk, these games get a little more... well, idiotic. 

Case in point: Saturday night, my game was to see how many steps I could take without opening my eyes. I was on a quiet street and it was late at night, so there wasn't a risk of getting run over, so I didn't think much harm could come. The first time I got 20 steps or so. Second time, maybe 25. The third time, I got up to 83 (!) steps without opening my eyes. I had to stop though, because I walked into a parked car (don't worry, neither of us got hurt). Now, you'd think I'd stop there.

Of course not. By walking into the car, I noticed that I had a tendency to go slightly left, and I was determined to fix this. So I went for it once again, and tried to turn right a little more than what felt natural. Seemed like everything was going smoothly, until BAM! I opened my eyes and realized I had just walked into a dumpster. And this was no small feat; the dumpster was off the road to the side. Somehow I had managed a complete 90 degree turn in 30 steps. Talk about overcompensating.

Anyway, now I have a big mark on the bridge of my nose. Perhaps it'll stick around for a while and I'll be able to refer to it as my Dumpscar. Here's a super-creepy photo of it for your perusal.

My Oscar Picks With a Twist

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Pre-amble

This post details my picks for the Oscars... sort of. I didn't limit myself to those movies nominated for Oscars, so I guess it's more like my picks for favourite movies of the year with the traditional Oscar categories in mind. 

Since I know nobody wants to read another column about Oscar picks, I decided to present them in a unique way. That unique way is chronological order. Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, just SLOW DOWN I WAS ABOUT TO EXPLAIN OKAY. Basically, I've listed all the movies I've seen this year, and then made my pick in each of 7 categories (best picture, actor, actress, supporting actor/actress, screenplay and music) after watching each movie. So, for example, since the first 2008 movie I watched was Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel is up there for best actor for the first couple of movies - until Christian Bale unseated him.

I picked the categories I did because they're the categories for which I have some kind of opinion. I don't have best director up there, because I really have no idea how to evaluate that category. I have a feeling I'd end up just going with my pick for best picture, or best screenplay, or some combination of the two. Anyway, I don't want to get into a whole discussion about my inability to critique directing. Similar reasons apply for my choices to exclude lesser-cared-about categories such as best cinematography, best editing, etc. and why I only did best screenplay and best music rather than splitting those up like the Oscars do.

I should note that I haven't seen every movie made this year - there appear to be 22 on my list. Notably, I haven't seen The Reader or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and I'm also missing a bunch of the not-terribly-popular-but-nominated-for-best-actress films: Changeling, Rachel Getting Married and Frozen River.

Okay, get to it Dave. Here's the spreadsheet. The films are listed in chronological order of viewing: Forgetting Sarah Marshall first, Doubt last. Yellow cells are points at which I changed my mind.

Some Meaningless Stats

Movies that made me change my mind the most:

5 categories: The Dark Knight

2 categories: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Iron Man, WALL-E, Milk, In Bruges

Big Winners (well, I only had 7 categories, so there really weren't any big winners. Anyway...):

2 wins: In Bruges

1 win: Revolutionary Road, The Dark Knight, Doubt, Happy-Go-Lucky, Slumdog Millionaire

Categories listed by number of changes:

6: Best Supporting Actress

5: Best Actor

4: Best Picture

3: Best Screenplay

2: Best Actress, Best Music

1: Best Supporting Actor

Miscellaneous Categories

• Most Awesome Opening Sequence: The Wrestler
  
• Best Timing: Milk
  
• Biggest Crimes Against Humanity: Kate Winslet not getting nominated for Revolutionary Road, though I guess her nomination for The Reader sort of encompasses that; WALL-E not getting nominated for best picture; Robert Downey Jr. not getting nominated for Iron Man. Even though I picked Colin Farrell for best actor, and he also didn't get nominated, I'm much angrier about Robert Downey Jr.'s non-nomination, because I don't really expect the academy to pay attention to films like In Bruges, whereas Iron Man was one of the biggest Hollywood films of the year, and the only reason I can think of that Downey didn't get nominated is that you're not allowed to nominate dudes from comic book movies. Except Heath Ledger got nominated. So you're only allowed to nominate dudes from comic book movies who are dead, I guess.
• Best Male Nudity: Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall
• Funniest Movie: Happy-Go-Lucky
• The Philip Seymour Hoffman Award for Multiple Awesomeness: Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. This award could go to Kate Winslet also, but I haven't seen The Reader, so I can't really justify it.
• Hottest Chick: Evan Rachel Wood, The Wrestler
• Hottest Chick Robot: Eve, WALL-E
• Blockbuster That Was Everything I Wanted it to be: The Dark Knight
• Movies That I Saw in Theaters: The Dark Knight, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
• Movies That I Saw on an Airplane (And Wouldn't Have Watched Anywhere Else): Horton Hears a Who, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Definitely, Maybe
• Airplane Movies That Were Surprisingly Good: Hellboy II: The Golden Army
• Lamest Category: Best Actress. By no fault of its own; I just haven't seen many 2008 movies that had much of a female lead. From the movies I've seen, if I were picking nominees for the Oscars, I think I'd only want to nominate 3 actresses: Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road; Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky; and Meryl Streep, Doubt.
• Awesomest Category: Best Supporting Actor. On the contrary, I could nominate double digit dudes for best supporting actor. In addition to the ones mentioned on the spreadsheet (including Russell Brand, whose inclusion is not just there by default as opposed to most of Forgetting Sarah Marshall's nominations), I could throw in Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder, Danny McBride in Pineapple Express, Javier Bardem in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Brendan Gleeson for In Bruges

Anyway, so yeah... um.. take that Oscars, I made my picks several hours before you!

Brushing My Teeth

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Do you use Twitter? If not, do it! It's fun and pointless. If so, follow me! I'm xave_ruth. I'll follow you back, I promise. In case you're wondering, Twitter is "micro-blogging" - each update must be 140 characters or less. It's sort of like updating your status on facebook, except that's all you can do on the whole website. (note: I'm making it out to be less useful than it actually is. Maybe I'll do a longer post on this sometime.) I'm mentioning this because tonight I live-tweeted the act of brushing my teeth, and decided that that'll be my blog post for today. It kind of seems like cheating, but you know what? I can do whatever the hell I want.

xave_ruth is live-tweeting brushing his teeth
44 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is brushing left and right
44 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is brushing up and down
44 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is brushing left and right again
44 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is brushing in a circle on the surface of his back teeth
43 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is mid-brush spitting
43 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is brushing his gums
43 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is spitting
42 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth is rinsing his mouth
42 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth 's teeth are clean
42 minutes ago from web

xave_ruth cannot live a lie. The chronicles of brushing actually came slightly after the act of brushing. He is sorry for misleading you.
41 minutes ago from web

Post-Transit Strike Aftermath

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So I was walking home from a training session at my new job (math tutoring) today, and noticed a bus going in my direction. Since the buses are free for a week following the transit strike I hopped on, despite the fact that I didn't know the bus' route. Shortly, two things happened. I noticed that I was the only passenger on the bus, and the bus made two left turns, ending up going in the direction I didn't want to go. 

So I rang the bell, got up, and waited by the exit for the next stop. At this point, the driver yelled something to me. I couldn't hear him, but my first thought was that he had figured out I had no idea what the route of the bus was (since I had been on for about 1 1/2 minutes) and wanted to let me know that the next stop wasn't for like 6 blocks. I ambled up to the front, at which point he asked me if I knew where the next stop was, which seemed to confirm my assessment of the situation. I said no, expecting him to tell me. Instead, he intimated that it was his first time driving this route, and had no idea where he was going. Unfortunately, I couldn't help him (later, it occurred that I should have "mistakenly" directed him to my house), but before I got off at the next stop, we shared a moment of wistful transit bewilderment.

A Great Idea

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Remember last night's griping? Well I'm in that class right now, and we're talking about Wikis. Despite my hatred of this prof, he just made a great suggestion: building a Wiki to fill in the blanks from a night of debauchery. It's too late now, but I totally should have done that for The Mystery of Downsview Station.

Gotta Gripe

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Sorry to subject you to this, but I have to complain.

I have this assignment due in my technology class tomorrow. I'm supposed to create an "analysis grid" and apply this analysis grid to 3 online learning activities in order to evaluate them.

Okay, first of all, I have no idea what an analysis grid is. Now, this could be my fault, because I missed the last class, but this is a fairly major assignment, which means the prof should have taught us what an analysis grid is at least 2 weeks in advance. Also, how is something as crucial as this not posted on the course website? This is a professor of TECHNOLOGY.

Second, this assignment is supposed to be 12 pages long. ?!???!?!?!!!!???!?!? I wrote an assignment for another course last week that had the same weight, and it was 2 pages double-spaced. Admittedly, that's a pretty short assignment, but I'll tell you what, I'm learning a hell of a lot more in that course. Making assignments 12 times longer does not translate into 12 times more learning. It doesn't work like that.

So after scouring the course website and my notes and the internet for a couple hours, I'm pissed off and giving up. I have a break from 10-1 tomorrow (technology class being at 1), and you know what? He's getting whatever I can come up with in those 3 hours minus the time it takes me to eat lunch. It won't include an analysis grid, and it will be closer to 3 pages. I guess I'll double-space it (that isn't specified on the assignment sheet). That'll at least bump it up to half of what he wants.

A-Roids

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I hereby claim first credit for the phrase "A-Roids", which is in reference to the Sports Illustrated report filed this morning revealing that Alex Rodriguez took steroids in 2003. Unfortunately, I thought of the title when I was out and about, and it had surfaced on the net by the time I got home, but let me assure you, I THOUGHT OF IT FIRST. So there.

Also, did you know that I write for a community baseball blog called Batter's Box? Well, I do. Since I'm lazy, I'm just gonna re-post what I wrote about A-Rod as today's blog post.

According to a Sports Illustrated report, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

2003 was A-Rod's last with the Rangers. He hit 47 home runs and won his first of 3 (so far) MVP awards. But that award is now tainted by this information, brought to the public by Selena Roberts and David Epstein of SI.

According to the report, 104 players tested positive for banned substances in 2003. That list of players, which is part of the government's investigation into steroids in baseball, is under seal in California, but A-Rod's inclusion has been confirmed by four independent sources. I expect we'll be hearing a lot of speculation about the remaining 103 names over the coming weeks.

Clearly this will have a huge effect on the way A-Rod is perceived by the public. Personally, I don't like the guy and it's become increasingly clear over the last few years that he's a jerk. But I was still cheering for him to break Bonds' record, because Bonds is a bigger jerk. No longer will Alex get my support.

It's up to you, Albert Pujols.

A friend and I were talking earlier about what the headline in the New York Post will be tomorrow. My entry into the contest, as you already know, is "A-Roids", which I claim first credit for. Any other headline guesses out there? (I'd also like to claim first credit for the idea that maybe A-Rod got the 'roids from Madonna.)

Job Fair Recap (part 1)

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Sorry, diligent readers - this has probably been the longest I've gone without blogging, aside from the 22 years and 2 1/2 months before I started. In my defense, I was away all weekend at a job fair, and when I got back I had a lot to say on the matter, which was sort of daunting. So I guess I'll break it up and re-cap the weekend in bite-size snippets.

The job fair was an international teaching job fair, hosted by an agency called Search Associates. When I say international teaching, I'm talking international schools - generally English-language, whose population is primarily composed of the children of ex-pats and diplomats and people like that. We're not talking teaching English in Korea here.

Why Do You Want to Go Abroad, Dave?

I don't really know where I want to teach next year - I just know I don't want to teach in Ontario. Nothing against Ontario, but I'll have several decades to do that later. This could be the only chance I get to go abroad. 

One advantage to teaching abroad is that it may help me get a job when I settle back here in a few years. Most teachers in Ontario go through a period of supply teaching for a few years before getting a full-time gig in Ontario, and I'm hoping that by getting those few years of experience abroad, I'll bypass the supply phase. I don't actually know if it works like this, it's just my guess. (I am a math and physics teacher, so things should be easier for me than most.)

OK, you know what, that's good for now, even though I haven't started talking about the actual job fair yet. I guess you'll just have to stay tuned.