I felt horrible this morning. My stomach was really queasy. I might have even thrown up. But an Advil and a half hour rest on the beach and I was better.

I wanted to be good because I was in a fashion show tonight with two beautiful models. Conveniently roommates. Thankfully I was better by then and put on a good show. It was very nicely organized, and was received quite well. The only bad part was when someone messed up and caused me to fall and hit my head. I was blindfolded at the time. The producer was terrified of have a quadriplegic on his hands, but I barely noticed it. People were talking about it afterwards.

I loaned my watch to the organizer to help with her cues. But I lost track of her. Now I’ve been watchless for too long. It’s like being naked. And you don’t want to be naked in a place like this.

I spent a lot of the evening with the two beautiful models. Occasionally I was dared to try something stupid. Well, you know me and dares.

The pretty women will be on the Dunn’s River Cruise tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on going because I did it last year. Still, it is the best chance to go swimming around here. It is fun. And I would like to be the man spending time with the two girls instead of it being someone else.

There was an elegant dinner at the Pastafari restaurant. But it was too hot! The A/C had broken, so we were boiling. Conversation died as I was in a trance.

During this there was a contest for a free week for two at Hedonism next year. The winner was a friend of mine, who is getting married later this week. He strongly suspects that he wasn’t competing, but was gifted the prize. The arguments for that were that to get past the first few rounds required drawing good cards from a deck. The people passing around the cards were known magicians. And there was a logic to the way he made it past the final round in the word association game. I did talk to a competitor later who swears he wasn’t told to throw the match.

When dinner was over, the rain was torrential. I decided to accept it instead of fighting it. I wandered around in a swimsuit and a waterproof case for the camera. I scouted several places, but they were all dead as people took shelter in their rooms.

Early to bed now.

I woke up at ten o’clock. Once awake, I can’t sleep. So I’m ready to greet the day on less than five hours sleep.

I’m surprisingly alert. Warm weather helps. But I was in a siesta-like trance for part of the afternoon.

I did find out this morning that I hadn’t set the correct time on my camera. So I have to time mark previous pictures manually now.

Know what will really improve your mood? Besides food.

Staying up until 5:00 in the morning with a beautiful model who thinks you’re hot. Conclude it with making out, and it really perks you up.

This evening, after dinner, there was an auction of people/services. Using the equivalent of monopoly money I outbid everyone else. My success let me be a helper to a model when she ran the karaoke tonight. (It’s a weird economy.)

Karaoke was poorly organized so I was definitely needed. It went well, and I sang a few songs. I was my usual helpful self, and she appreciated it. She asked me to come back next year. When I pressed her on why not this year (I am here alone) things started getting better.

After karaoke, at two o’clock in the morning we danced alone in the disco. We wandered around a bit looking for people doing stuff. (I think the crazy lady was making out with my roommate.) But the biggest problem was that she had had “42 mudslides”. I can’t vouch for the number, but I can for the product. Nice guy mode: Don’t take advantage of the drunk. Even if they are hot.

After meeting with people in the jacuzzi at four in the morning we spent time soaking. At five they left and I was able to direct her home. We made out in the stairwell, and then I took her to her door, and let her sleep it off.

I didn’t sleep that well last night.

I’m starting to get depressed. I’m in paradise, but that doesn’t change who I am. I can’t talk to girls. I see people hooking up and being happy, but I’m not one of them.

However, I think I know a way out of this sad state.

Food!

I barely had any lunch. It’s hot enough that I don’t feel like eating. I’m going to blame that.

Other than that, it’s been raining a lot. Which might be good. Hedonism will give you a free night’s stay if the weather is bad. But it screwed up a fashion shoot I helped with. They had finished primary photos and were about to do a video when it started pouring. The half hour delay meant that it started getting dark while they were filming. Still, I got to help out and hang around beautiful models and being a nice guy.

Of course, nice guys finish last.

I’ve got circles under my eyes. Good vacation.

I had breakfast. Found some people from Victoria here. So I’m no longer the only representative of Western Canada.

I’m still the rep of the prairie provinces.

It took about two hours to get to the resort, which I suppose is good time.

I was tired, but I freshened up and went to the dinner party in the courtyard. I saw a lot of familiar faces and it was nice to re-acquaint with them, and make semi-plans for the rest of the week.

I need to talk to the person. who is organizing the shows. Last year I enjoyed helping put them on, so I’ll need to volunteer with her this year.

I think I’m in the same room as two years ago. Or at least an adjoining one. The 900 building. From talking, all the coolest people seem to be in this one. Rocking!

I’ve been aggressive with the camera and taking pictures often. With an iPod to download to, I have the space.

At around 11:00 I was in the quad jacuzzi with a bunch of people. At around 11:30 I fell in with an interesting girl. I would like to stress “interesting”. I even told her so.

Around 1:30 the mind games went wild. I’ll be the first to admit a lack of understanding of women, but this was weird. Apparently I was insanely jealous and/or in love with her. (News to me.) So I got slapped a few times for not doing stupid things for her.

I’m fairly sure alcohol was involved.

Arrived!

Re: Last entry

Amber has a boyfriend. She is from my hometown though so we had a nice conversation.

In customs I realized I forgot to bring a hat.

But all my luggage arrived safely and quickly.

With my free time I phoned an old friend who lives in Toronto. I haven’t seen her in fifteen years, but I did get in touch with her a bit over a year ago and I’ve been reading her blog.

I looked over an old email of hers and found out she is now my co-worker.

The in-flight movie will probably be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. I’ve seen it already, so I’ll do other stuff. Like watch a movie on my iPod, read my camera manual, or talk to the pretty girl traveling alone sitting next to me.

I didn’t sleep on the flight here. The movie was one I hadn’t seen, so I stayed awake for You, Me, and Dupree. Which was probably for the best as I was fighting for arm space with the fat lady next to me.

Since I have a five hour stopover. I found a corner of the boarding area, curled up, and pretended to sleep. Not very good for sleep, but I feel more alert now.

Ha ha! I successfully snuck a tube of toothpaste through security. I feel so evil. The catalyst of my life of crime is a lack of trust in Air Canada.

The last time I flew to Jamaica, one of my suitcases decided to stay in Toronto and enjoy the sights. That suitcase had all my toiletries. So, this time, I tried to have the bare necessities in my carry-on. That meant toothpaste.

Actually, my biggest fear was my new iPod. I purchased it via the Apple store, which let me laser engrave it for free. Not having anything better to do, I put the name of the two web addresses I own on it. One of them is www.airwreck.org. If you were paranoid, that would be a terrorist threat, but really, say it out loud and it’s my name.

I left home too early. I forgot that my planned departure time already had a half hour padded on to it in case of emergency. So my leaving early “just in case” was not one of my better ideas.

Of course I get better peace of mind, at the expense of waiting around for even longer.

My new pen refused to let any ink out. I’m using the backup pen. I hope this isn’t an ill omen.

In two hours I leave for the airport. Maybe a bit earlier so that I can get some more Canadian cash and fill up the car a bit. I’m nervous. I don’t fear flying, but I fear forgetting something.
I’ll be keeping a diary while I’m in Jamaica. I like to be able to remember the good times, and they will slip away if I don’t commit them to paper. I’ll update the LiveJournal when I’m back. Although it will take awhile.
See you guys…

The initial plan was to go running this morning. It would be hard because I was up so late last night. But I’ve done a run without much sleep before.
I woke up on time. I looked out and saw it was foggy with a thick layer of snow on the ground. That’s the last thing I remember.
I really do need to go running again, but I am under a huge time crunch. I don’t know if I will even be able to get out this Wednesday, because I still need to pack and I don’t see me having time on any other day.

That was a good party.
The smaller venue seems to make it more personal. And the people going to this bar are regulars so interpersonal interaction are easier. At yesterday’s event, I didn’t know anybody, so it was harder to meet anyone. (Despite being surrounded by people.)
Anyway, I didn’t have to test my honor today. The judges picked as the winner for the men’s best costume, a tall skeleton. Which frankly looked like it was bought at a mass-market store. The women’s winner was a corpse bride, that was pretty forgettable. I really thought the women who make a homemade Twi’lek headpiece would have been a much better winner.
My costume sustained more damage. I guess sticking a wing between my legs yesterday strained them. So while trying to adjust the covering, a plastic rod snapped. I’m not too worried though. The piece that broke is one that is meant to be removed so that it can be stored in a smaller place. It shouldn’t be too hard to get it fixed.
And I met many nice people tonight. Some were very insistent I was robbed by not winning the costume contest. The attention was nice though.
I took lots of pictures. And I got some email addresses of the subjects so that I can send them copies. Unfortunately, the best looking women seemed to already be in couples. Although there was one woman that was very insistent that I promise to send her the picture. Almost scary.

I have a freakin’ awesome Halloween costume.
I had it made for me last year. I was an impressive demon, with wings that were big and strong. With the correct strings pulled, the wings would spread out to the glowing admiration of demonesses everywhere. I won some prizes for it last year, so it isn’t just my opinion.
But the parties I went to last year were in a smaller bar. I decided to try a different one. Specifically the place formerly known as Red’s. A radio station was having their party there.
So I went, but it didn’t go that well.
The most annoying part was the contest. I realized I was at a bigger party and that there was little chance I would win. But a lot of people came up to me and said that I had the best costume. So it went a bit to my head. But with a big prize, there would be more competition.
But, the judges never ever found me. I was never in the running. At no point was I on stage to be judged by the fickle audience. And a guy dressed as a mattress was up there. I’m sure I had a better costume than that.
Yes, I’m whining, but it would have been nice to be a contender.
Also at the party, one of my wings broke. The rope that held it in place snapped so it was stuck spread out unless I held it in place. So for the rest of the night I had have one hand on my wing at all times. Which made the party awkward.
I figured out a way to stick in between my legs when I wanted to take a picture of someone. That helped. But it wasn’t comfortable.
Oh. And my camera dropped on to the ground early on. It stopped working. Fortunately, it seemed to be that the memory card had popped out a bit. When it was back in, everything seemed fine.
Well, I’ve successfully repaired the wings now. A quick trip to Rona for more nylon rope and I figured out how it was constructed. Looks good. So I’ll trust it for tonight.
I’m going to go to the same party as I did last year with the same costume. Which I think should invalidate me from any costume contest. But still it would be nice to win, but I would have to decline. (Assuming I’m as noble as I’m pretending.)

It finally happened. Apple released new laptops. So I can now buy one with a practical guarantee that I won’t feel stupid in three months.
Unfortunately, I am way to busy these days to get one. Oh I could easily walk into a store and walk out with one (legally of course) but I wouldn’t have time to transfer data to it. I couldn’t spend time getting to know it. Find out what its hobbies are. It’s hopes. It’s dreams.
So I will have to wait until after my vacation to Jamaica.
Which means that the most likely date will be November 16th. Which is a special day for me. It will be exactly three years since I bought my last computer. (It was my thirtiest birthday.) At the time, I had a tradition to buy a new computer every three years. (I can easily justify that because I work with computers.) I had decided to scrap that plan when I paid off the mortgage to reward myself. But I kept the rule that I can’t do something that would make me feel stupid in three months.
In other laptop related news, at work today I got a new laptop. Our new corporate overlords want us to use a particular brand of computer, so they splurged for a lot of them. So I have a new work computer, but I can’t feel as thrilled about that. We’re only going to have a working relationship.

I have to be strong, but I feel that I am weakening.
Last year, when I went to Jamaica, my camera was stolen. Luckily I lost very few pictures.
Since I have a photography project I’m working on, I needed to buy a new one almost immediately on my return. The month after that, prices plummeted and new technologies made the camera obsolete almost immediately.
Now, I’m about to go on another trip to Jamaica, and I am very tempted to buy another camera. On routine expeditions to consumer electronic stores I see all the nice cameras sitting there, mocking me with their shiny new technologies, their higher megapixels, their impressive ability to zoom.
I’m only human.
But, if I buy now, it will be at about the same time I purchased the last one. So, if the lessons of the past are to be paid attention to (not a likely outcome), next month the prices will drop and the technology will go up.
But look, image stabilization. How can you look at that face and say “No.”

I wouldn’t say I am the best at making friends. (Please don’t comment on that.) So my pool of people I do stuff with is rather limited.
I have some good friends who I have had for a long time. But they never really want to go out and do things. They are quite content to stay in and play boardgames. There is nothing wrong with that, but man can not live on boardgames alone.
I have two friends who do call me up and want to go out and live non-productive lives. One has taken a job in Austin. I’ve known he will be leaving for quite some time and I’ve come to accept it.
But now the other friend has told me he is going back to Vancouver. It took overnight for it to sink in, and left me rather cranky the next day.
Crud.
So now what? I hate going out to bars alone, but I guess I will have to adapt.

There was an article in the newspaper the other day. It was about over-eating. One of the points it was trying to make was that if people are given a bigger container, they have a tendency to take more of what is in it. If the container was smaller, they would take less. So smaller portions are better.
The fifth year anniversary of the iPod is coming up. The first one could only store 5GB. That was about 1500 songs. Since then, it has slowly been improving.
I’ve been wanting one for awhile. I’ve been a fan of Apple products in a timespan measured in decades, so I should have had one for quite some time. But I don’t listen to much music, so it never seemed important.
Now with the mortgage paid off, I am treating myself. And I have a reason to need one. I’m going to Jamaica in less than three weeks, so I would like to use it to help store extra pictures.
Well, I went and purchased one.
And I had a choice between two sizes. 30GB or 80GB. Like an overeating slob I went for the big one.
And I’m finding it uncomfortable to find out how little I needed that extra space. I only have 736 songs I listen to (2.8GB). My collection of pictures will probably double that. So I am hovering around 5GB of space used on it.
I’m definitely going to have to start storing movies on it to justify this purchase.

Lying in a tanning bed is just as boring as I remembered.

I feel good today.
This morning I had a short run. 16-km. But it was done at a fast pace. (Done in less than an hour and twenty minutes.) And I feel great now. The endorphin rush is making me feel alert and perky. (The can of coke this afternoon may also be affecting my judgment.)
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good run. All the others have been over the 20km limit. When I go above that, the endorphin rush is counteracted by the aches and pains of running too far. 16-km is perfect. And a good pace too so I feel like I did get a workout.
But I’ve come to a realization.
First some background.
I lived through the nineties. Nike was considered evil back then. Something about using child labor to make everything, and then sucking the marrow out of their corpses when they died from lack of food because they were chained to the sewing machines. I might be a bit fuzzy on the details. So I have an apprehension about purchasing anything Nike related.
The thing is, as a salesperson told me, that because they were having such bad press, they have to instead make sure their merchandise is of great quality.
When I run, I use spandex shorts, better known as bicycle shorts. It started out because I had read that tight fitting spandex toned your muscles better than loose clothing.
Oh look, a rut I’m stuck in.
I’ve been using Nike brand shorts for the longest time. Recently they expired. Holes were starting to appear where my legs were chaffing together. So I got a replacement. I went to the same place I bought the last ones, the Running Room. That place is trying to become a monopoly for all things running; An attitude that is starting to rankle me. In their quest for control, they no longer carry Nike branded shorts. So I had to get Running Room branded ones.
Since then, I have not had a comfortable run. The seams in those shorts are in all the wrong spots, and bigger than they should be. So I have a nasty rash during and after every run. It’s been hurting.
Today, I found out about a Nike store in town. I popped down there. They have shorts that I want, for half the price I paid the Running Room. The seams inside look intelligently placed and of minimal size.
I’m looking forward to my next run now.

So, excuse me, but I’m about to get geeky.
I collect comic books. I have for over a decade. I blame for introducing me into them.
The one I’ve collected through fair weather and foul is “Iron Man”. It’s probably the nerdiest of the Marvel group. No matter how bad it has gotten, I’ve continued to collect it. (And, Lord, there were some bad times.) Other comics have come and gone, but there is always Iron Man.

Iron Man, Iron Man.
Does whatever an iron can.
Steams a shirt,
Squishes ants,
Puts the creases in your pants.
–Source unknown

Now, there have been rumors of an Iron Man movie coming out. So I’ve been geeking out over the concept. Just so long as it is done well.
Comics should be an easy medium to translate into movies; The storyboards are done for you. The problem is that people want to produce/direct them not for love of the subject, but because they know it will be popular and will make them look good. In fact, I’m sure that some directors feel the opposite. There is mounting evidence that Joel Schumacher despises Batman. He tried to kill the franchise, not once, but twice! The same goes for, Brett Ratner and his relationship with the X-men.
For a good comic book movie to be made, it is important for the people involved to like the subject.
That said, I’m a little leery of the actor who has been chosen to play Tony Stark (AKA Iron Man) in the movie.
Robert Downey Jr.
I’m not a fan of the actor. I always felt that he was becoming famous more for his drug habit than any real talent. So I haven’t seen him in a movie in quite some time. But, Mr. Stark is a recovering alcoholic in the comics, so it might be an oddly appropriate choice.
I’m sure I’ll come to terms with it eventually.