PS12 - Around Town I
Since the last willmatheson.com update, Gulf War II came and went. The first few pictures on this page are war and protest-related.
If people think that war isn't the answer to a problem, then they ought
to protest. Sometimes, though, I think people protest just because it's
the "in" thing to do. To be against war just for the sake of being against
war is a popular sentiment. And then there are the goofballs who are cynical
and left-left-left-"the media are the greatest evil"-wing about everything;
or perhaps they just think it's cool to write "LIES" on a National Post
newspaper box just because it's National Post. Why doesn't someone write
"LIES" on The Coast box when they disagree with their restauraunt reviews
and rankings?
Sign: "Socialism is a Muerte!" Muerte? What's that mean? I guess
society is moving along without me. That's what willmatheson.com
is meant to showcase, actually.
It was interesting to watch CNN during the war because they'd do an
entire day of programming based on about 30 minutes of actual information.
I kept flipping to it, even as I was getting sick of it. Here's an example
of how much they were pulling at straws.
It's amazing that someone thought poorly enough of their television
to abandon it on a snowbank in front of the hospital. "Kill your TV! Upgrade
to HDTV!" =)
A crappy map, but it shows where Halifax is. Problems: "Prince Edward
Island" text above Gaspé peninsula and Anticosti Island (both belong
to Québec), and not actually touching any part of Prince Edward
Island. Also, Newfoundland is now "Newfounland and Labrador," but this
change postdates this map. Also, the choices of which places to name seems
more subject to convienience than significance.
I kind of like City Centre Atlantic - it's a good shopping mall to
go into when you don't want to be disturbed by other shoppers. =)
Escalator at Barrington Place.
Barrington Terminal.
Driveway at Mount Saint Vincent University.
The Bedford Basin.
When you take pictures from a moving bus, expect problems. =)
What a traffic jam! We're going to need Theodore Tugboat to come in
and sort this out!
Tch-tch. Shoulda' taken the bus...
Joseph Howe Drive.
I love Halifax. I leaned into this bowling alley window to take this
picture, and all the people at a table there noticed me and smiled and
waved. How cool is that?
Sign: "One less car on the road because of this person right here."
Ha-ha, there's my little joke for the day. Too bad the picture didn't turn
out better - I was waiting for months to get back on this one bus that
still had this sign up. Also, I had to wait quite a while for the seats
on both sides to clear so I could take the picture. The bus was well loaded,
so this picture is a bit misleading. I just keep looking for pictures that
suit my "cynical prick" sense of humour.
Children sledding behind Inglis Street Elementary School.
The elevator pit at Calvin Presbyterian Church. The builders made it
a few inches too small (how do those idiot builders keep their jobs?),
and the church had to order a cab smaller than the one they intended to
order. My stepfather's wheelchair just barely fit in it, but that actually
bodes well for general use because the wheelchair is outdoor-wheelbase
and almost the size of a scooter.
Some pictures from Park Lane:
That is me in the middle... it was a quick scoot with the 10-second
self-timer. I'd like it if it were extendable to 30 seconds or a minute.
The courtyard of the Dalhousie Library. It's a stunning piece of work.
Oh, yeah, the building too, as well as the girls.
Books, books, and more books. What I like about this library is that
it affords a lot of opportunities to sneak behind bookshelves and make
out (much more so than SMU's library). =) Not that I would know anything
about that. Actually, no, I don't know anything about that. =(
Nice paint job.
The bottom of the 102. These pictures aren't that significant in and
of themselves...
... except that I had to climb up the steep, ice-covered hill behind
Calvin Presbyterian Church to get up here, and nearly killed myself on
the way back down. I got up by strategically grabing branches and bare
patches, figuring if I slid I could stop myself before I slid down to the
concrete wall between the hill and the church lawn below (and possibly
through or over said wall, taking the fifteen-foot drop). Oh, cripes, I
can't believe I even did this. I am not taking such risks for a picture
again. But this gets worse: On the trip back down, I made it to the concrete
wall in one piece. Then, I repeated the process of scooting my butt along
the metal guardrail while my feet did the sideways scooting over the icy
hill in front of me. Suddenly, my feet slipped and THUD I was face first
into the hill with my legs sticking through over the wall and drop. I was
suspended via my crotch because my legs went under the guardrail at a post.
I'm just realizing now that I could have just as easily fell backwards!
Aaah - I'm so stupid! I feel so awful for doing this, and I'm lucky to
be alive! I'm never doing a crazy stunt like this ever again! It'd be like
throwing my life, and all I hope to accomplish with it, away! I'm cringing
right now, just imagining all the horrible possibilities.
And how did that get there?
The Halifax terminus of the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge.
Playing on the tractor at the Home Depot. They say you're not supposed
to, so I waited until the clerks weren't around. =) Oh, I want to say 'hi'
to my good buddy and fellow (by 'fellow' I mean 'better') writer J. Adam
Kelderman, who works there! He was probably on the other side of the store,
though.
"I am the Lawn Warrior!" See my leg sticking out there? This was actually
the first picture I took here, and I slipped and fell while scampering
from the camera (on a patio table under a patio umbrella, both also for
sale) to the tractor.
"Hey, it's on sale."
A real live Rock Dove!
I took this picture because I was shocked at the possibility that someone
would drop $15,000 on a TV. Mike and I joked about this quite a bit. Anyway,
I was into Fu- I mean, Funtime Freddy's Fun Warehouse of Fu-freaking-fantastic
Goods - with my stepfather Paul to pick up a router, a network card, some
5e cabling, and a CD-writer. Just to tell you that we weren't window shopping
or any such stupid thing. Anyway, I took this picture for future reference,
and then a clerk comes up to me and goes, "Why are you taking pictures?"
I nervously told him that it was because in ten years the prices would
seem ridiculous. He said, fine, but, "We can't allow you to take pictures,"
and said that the competitors of Funtime Freddy's Fun Warehouse of Fu-freaking-fantastic
Goods sometimes come in and take pictures for their own nefarious purposes.
(Frankly, I don't think people are out looking for fantastic deals on TV's
that cost five times more than a decent used car, but anyway...) If I mentioned
the website, he probably would have taken my camera away! I guess I'm putting
this picture up because there's a story to go with it.
I took lots of pictures of a former workplace, but the owner requested I not put the pictures on my website. I guess it's just as well, because I'd probably be inclined to find 'stories' to go with the pictures. =) Those pictures I will not distibute via e-mail, unlike my Prom pictures, which I feel I have a God-given right to distribute as much as I bloody well want, "Melissa!" =)
The Metro Centre rules; even more so now that WWE has passed through
town - it gives us "big city" credibility that we crave for no good reason,
since our city is great as is.
Paul Fox and his comrade getting ready to fire the Noon Gun.
Mike had a perfectly normal expression, but I think by now he
was (justifiably) getting weary of my quick-trigger photography. Anyway,
he and I were walking in, and he had his video camera, and he says to me
as we go in, "Let's shoot a movie where you ask Paul what time the Noon
Gun goes off, or if they use real cannonballs." It was funny then, but
by the time we were both up on top, I was the only one still thinking that.
Paul: "It's not funny, man. People seriously ask us that all the time."
Damn. You can't make jokes with anyone who does anything for a living,
because they've probably heard it already, and if they smile, it's only
because they have to. What a waste of energy! Anyway, Paul, being someone
I know, kindly showed me the error of my chronicly joking ways - there
are some people who will appreciate it, but people in uniform probably
won't.
Monday, May 5th: An absurdly beautiful day in downtown Halifax.
It was one of those days where I was happy just to be alive, and a day
where ideas were flowing into my head as easily as brain neurons.
Part of the large interchange that is our (extremely short) Barrington
Expressway. I have more pictures of this particular area in my .net
Academic tour stop section.
The Naval Dockyards, and the old city of Dartmouth.
This is Dal's idea of a residence. Not only is it a long walk away
from the main Studley Campus, it's also bloody ugly too. =) I couldn't
get the whole building in one frame, so you miss the total magnitude and
the absolute ugliness of the grounds surrounding it. This place is so bad
that Dalhousie's own Architecture graduates must have built it! =) He-he,
actually I took this picture because in a way I was impressed with this
building. I also just like to poke fun at Dal - it's a fair school, and
worth more attention than it gets.
The train's in! I'd love to take the train into the heart of Canada
someday (well, I've done it already, but from Moncton to Ottawa, not Halifax
to Vancouver)... but it's hard to factor the train into vacations nowadays
because of the time involved, but also because flying Tango is far cheaper.
The passenger train, in far-flung locations like Halifax, is a dying breed.
For places like Sydney and St. John's, it is already dead. Now, in the
corridor between Windsor and Québec (city), they can compete. Still,
though, VIA considers it a good year if their revenues cover half their
expenses. I think the train is a cultural necessity, and should be kept
going from coast-to-coast.
Before I get sued, I'll point you to the artist's website: chalkmaster.com.
Actually, I just remember that from reading it on the concrete. This person
does pretty durn good work, and this picture doesn't do justice (the chalk
is a trifle faded, for one thing). This is someone who takes a concept
like my inane Sand Art and puts
in 10,000 times the time, effort, skill and dedication to get something
in the end that's worth shouting about. People like me don't stick with
something long enough to produce great art. This person is a rare exception.
The Duke St. enterance of Scotia Square. I just liked the pattern of
the ramp rails, but the image looses something when translated into two
dimensions.
