Two Weeks in Vancouver - Part 2

I am certainly not the first person in my family to get a tattoo. That honor goes to my sister Lisa, who has three at the moment and goes in to get her fourth today! (Good luck, Lis! Say "Hi" to Paul!)

1. Stylized dragon at the base of her neck... 2. Capricorn symbol at the base of her spine... 3. Celtic-ish armband on her left arm... And now today's 4. A silver dagger on her right calf (so that when she wears her high leather boots, the handle sticks out above!)


She designs her tattoos herself because she is a fantastic and capable artist! For those who don't know, she's been delving into that art by taking a digital graphic design course, which she has just completed. Her graduation show just happened to fall within the weeks I was in town, so I was able to be the uber-proud older brother and see all her hard work!

It was a real fancy event at the Vancouver Community College downtown, with catered food and a bar. Each student had a section of wall space to display their work. The varied art and design styles of each student made for interesting comparisons. I was impressed with the professionalism of the work - especially that of my sister's!

Zoom in by clicking the picture!

Her portfolio includes posters, CD covers, tattoos, websites, web magazines, business cards, and logos. I really love her self-portrait! It looks exactly like her...

Lisa's been drawing since she could hold a pencil. Mom and Dad are both artistic, so it is no surprise where she gets her talent from. Not only is she now a talented Graphic Designer, she is the Lead Singer in the band One Year Later. They've been playing together for a few years now and have begun playing at venues around Vancouver - most recently a string of gigs at the Buffalo Club! The band rocks and Lisa sounds great - check out two videos on their websites!

Click on Lisa and One Year Later myspace pages for info and videos!
Join their Official One Year Later Fan Group on Facebook!

Two Weeks in Vancouver - Part 1

Well, I am suffering from Jet Lag.

Yup, it is 5:30am Monday morning and I've been awake since 3am. My internal clock is so backwards right now, I'll be snoozing by lunchtime. And since I go back to work today, I'll be slugging back the tea - milk and 3 sugars!

North Vancouver

What a trip it was...! While I wasn't able to catch-up with everyone I wanted to, I did manage to see most of my friends and family, along with some old friends from high school and university! The main reason I returned back to my hometown of Vancouver is that my cousin was getting married. Other events such as my sister's digital graphic design grad show and meeting my friends new baby punctuated the trip.

Downtown Vancouver

I also got into a car accident, stood on top of the Province/Vancouver Sun building, and got a tattoo.

Yup, I'm a rebel.

Tattoo:
I've wanted a tattoo for ages and now seemed like the right time. But what should I get? I needed something that symbolized me. Something that I could and wanted to live with for the rest of my life. Something that spoke of my love of art. Something that spoke of my love science and palaeontology. Something strong and exciting. Something Canadian. Something I drew myself.



Last Friday, my sister and our two cousins from the UK accompanied me to the Sacred Heart Tattoo Studio on Davies Street, where I met Paul. My sister joined me in the tattooing room as Paul began the process. After photocopying my drawing onto a transfer sheet, he applied the transfer and began the tattoo. How did it feel? Constant, slight, prickly pain. A bit like scraping the point of a knife over your skin. After the first few minutes, you become used to it. In fact, I could totally get another one... but not yet! My tattoo took one hour to do. And it looks great. Better than great - awesome! I love the amount of detail Paul was able to include!

My tattoo has begun to scab and flake off (it's supposed to!) and I'm putting on some skin lotion to keep it moist. Soon, it will be completely healed and I'll post some pics!

Wedding:
The main reason I returned was my cousin's wedding, which was held at Burnaby Lake. My two cousins on Mom's side (Dave and Naomi) living in the UK along with my Mom's sister stayed with us for the wedding. It was great to catch up with them (I will be seeing them in a few weeks in London for the Daft Punk concert at Hyde Park!)

Dave and I had to become the MCs for the wedding at the last minute because the original MC became unavailable. We were able to do a decent job, doing toasts, calling which table goes next for food, and announcing the dances... It was my second MC gig. The first was MCing the wedding of this bride's sister - my other cousin!

More stories to follow, but safe to say I had a great time back home! Thanks to Mom, Dad, Sis, and all my friends! Stay tuned for more...

One Year Later - One Rockin' Band

As some of you may know, my sister -Lisa- is the lead-singer of the North Vancouver band One Year Later! About a week ago, they played at the Buffalo Club:


Luckily, someone recorded them playing one of their songs, and Lisa has posted the video on her myspace site. Please check it out here! (You'll need to scroll down.) It rocks! I've also put it here, below. I am one proud big brother...



...in other news, I joined my housemates in participating in the "Harborne Mile." This event is a pub crawl which hits most pubs along Harborne High Street: Oneill's, The White Horse, Harborne Stores, The Vine, The Varsity... and some others. After drinking a pint in each, you tend to forget names of pubs! In the immortal words of the other world-famous North Van band, Spirit of the West:

"Well were good old boys, we come from Harborne,
drinkers and carousers, the best you've ever seen,
and this night by God, we'll drink till there was no more,
from Oneill's to the Varsity, and all stops in between!"

Cheers! Bottom's up!

My Talented Sister

For Christmas, my sister - Lisa - made me this amazing Batman picture! She is in the middle of her digital graphic design course, and as you can see she is excelling in it!

If anyone wants to hire a creative, talented, energetic, funny, and skilled graphic designer for your advertising business or workplace, let me know and I can pass you to her! (She is also an incredible singer - fronts the band One Year Later - and a wonderful sis!)

The End of an Era

Hey dinophytes! As it is almost the end of my time here in Drumheller, I thought it would be fitting to show you a picture of my first time visiting the Tyrrel Museum!

This is me (age 7) with my sister (age 5) in front of Lillian the Albertosaurus in 1986. As you can see, I am very excited (shown here by my dramatic pointing and my sweet bowl cut).

Jump ahead 20 years and observe the photograph above. This is me, dramatically pointing again! Note my less-sweet smaller haircut and my bulkier physique.

On a more bittersweet note, the area behind me in the photos (including Lillian) is going to be torn out to make room for a new display of ceratopsian (horned dinos) material. So goodbye Lillian, you shall be missed. Another major change to the museum includes tearing out the globe in the entrance and replacing that area with a walk-through dried-up riverbed with four new life-sized Albertosaurs (a family) surrounding you! I can't wait to come back in a year and see the changes, but it does mark the end of an era.

Today was the last day of my job here at the museum, finishing two months of Camp and three days of Camp tear-down and clean-up. Mostly that involves dismantling the tepees, haling out the fridge and stove from the kitchen, and spending 4 hours setting up freaking basketball hoops! Aaaahhhhh! Thanks a bunch Tyler (my boss), I hope next years' kids enjoy the results of my blood and tears!

Craig and I will be driving back to Vancouver after Cameron's birthday party (happy birthday Cam!) Till then, I'm listening to David Bowie and watching Firefly.