Pumpkin Pull!

"The scene was rockin', all were digging the sounds Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds The coffin-bangers were about to arrive With their vocal group, "The Crypt-Kicker Five" "

-The Monster Mash

Well the warm sun run we had at the beginning of October has finally given way to fall. This is kind of sad but we are due I figure. The autumn colours are in effect and when the sun peaks out from behind the clouds its quite beautiful in our fair city.

For whatever reason I haven't had much Leon Paints material ready for this month, but with Pumpkin Pull only a few days away lo and behold MS Paint and I started dating again.

Pumpkin Pull is Victoria's annual Halloween Ultimate (frisbee) tournament... teams from around the province and down south and up north come to Victoria to play ultimate for two days. They dress up, throw discs, throw up, and get down. It's a gay old time.

Each team chooses a theme to dress up in. Some themes from teams I've played on include:

• Luchadores - Mexican wrestlers. We even built a ring! I was 'El Gato Volador'
• Surgical Strike - dressed up as doctors in scrubs. the fireball stretcher was a favourite.
• Cabaret - Everyone's finest cabaret wear. I was beautiful.

Usually I've done a quick mock-up of my potential outfit... I can't find my gato volador pic, but here is my cabaret one:

Faithful Leon Paints followers can see that my skills are rapidly improving.

This year's team is French Disc. Berets, baguettes, fromage... if it's French it's fair game. We are even putting antifreeze in the wine.

Here's this year's costume mock-up... get inspired!

Stick it to the Man!

"Congrats to Georgda!"

-From all your friends

A second hand comment/observation about myself as a person was recently brought to my attention. Essentially, the comment concerned the duality of my nature as a human being.

I refer to my long lost university Arts One program days in suggesting that this duality aligns with themes of 'Reason vs Passion'. In more practical terms, one might describe it as thoughful analysis vs drunken stupour.

I am a libra which maybe explains (or justify?) these opposite behaviours. But I truly believe that these two opposites have a symbiotic relationship with each other.

The 'passion' helps me to let go of the stresses that arise from too much 'reason'. Conversely, the 'reason' reminds me to call for help instead of falling off a cliff when I've indulged in a little bit too much 'passion'.

Work and the rest of my life are kind of like that too. In alot of ways, work is about making money and putting a roof over your head etc... while the rest of life, for me anyways, is more about having fun, being active and experiencing different things.

But even at work there is the opportunity for both sides to make an appearance... and I think it's important that 'passion' gets to express itself in the workplace sometimes.

Here's one way I express the 'passion' side of myself at work...

Creative Thinking

"Be creative! Use your brains!"
-myself to Allthrillz and K Tuppswhen the boat was sinking (not the S.S. Value Village)

Being creative, in so much as being able to create music or art or write or whatever, is a wonderful ability.

Creative thinking is, in my mind, a little bit of a different skill set. Looking at a problem or situation and then creating a solution that wasn't readily apparent is a special trait that is usually beneficial.

It might be something like coming up with an 'out of the box' solution to a problem at work. Or maybe its being able to find that perfect but totally unexpected gift for someone. It can be as simple as opening the bottle of beer you found on that fence railing over there.

In this world, the countries, the cities, everywhere we live there are problems. Alot of these problems are complex... answers are not always easy to come by.

I have no political aspirations at this point in my life but I do have some ideas about things.

In Victoria there are lots of 'topics' to have ideas about. With this post I'm sharing my 'out of the box' all-in-one solution to several of Victoria most commonly discussed problems. I believe it qualifies as creative thinking.



(click to see full size)

Imagine the possibilities!

• Resolving the cities homelessness crisis
• Addressing the problems with rabbits at UVIC and deer in my yard.
• And the City of Victoria's favourite... more tourist dollars!

It's makes so much sense, I know.

A Brief Update

"You gotta get that dirt off your shoulder"
from Dirt Off Your Shoulder by Jay-Z

Well I am back to the realities of a desk jockey position after a week of working from home whilst nursing a dislocated shoulder.

The shoulder, while still sore, is getting better. I had an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on Monday who informed me I no longer needed to wear a sling. This is great news because I lost it Saturday night. With some physio and 6 weeks of controlled activity I just might be able to hold my left arm straight out. Amazing.

The good news for Leon Paints followers is that even though my left shoulder was injured and I am left handed I am a right handed mouse user so my 'paint' endeavours won't be compromised.
With that in mind, I offer up this quick status report.

That's so straight

Everybody makes mistakes
Everybody makes mistakes
Even me
Just be free
This is a place
Where in the end
It happens in
Our world within
-from Ultraviolence by New Order


The Duke and the Admiral went paddling last week.

On their expedition they talked about many things. One of the most fascinating discussions was around the history of the Gay World Order- GWO for short.

For those who aren't aware, most historians agree that the GWO began with the second coming of the baby jesus. What was amazing about the second coming was that it was two men that made the baby jesus (it was not an immaculate conception). And there were actually two baby jesuses, twins infact, and these two twins were both gay. And with the birth of the twin gay baby jesuses society's crutch of heterosexual reproduction was no longer needed.

It was an amazing start to the next phase of evolution. Homo erectus, homo sapien, and finally the homo sexual.

There were a lot of different changes and cultural phenomenon that came about during the development of the GWO. Enough to fill many, many blog postings. I could tell you about the straights that still live, scrounging for berries and fish in the woods, ruining the best hiking spots. I could talk about the four great gay houses, the families of the twin baby jesus direct descendants. Or I could discuss the complex moral argument around straight 'rehabilitation'.

Linguistically, one of the most rapid changes was the emergence of a new meaning for the word 'straight'. As the GWO took over, the term straight quickly came to signify all that was dirty, unnatural and ugly in the world. People everywhere started saying things like 'that's so straight' or 'that's so fucking straight' to describe things like cheap red wine and plaid.

To show you belong/identify with the GWO I encourage you to start referring to things that aren't cool as 'straight'. To give you a idea of what's straight now I've created the pic below.

Local Landmarks

Long ago life was clean

Sex was bad and obscene

And the rich were so mean

Stately homes for the lords

Croquet lawns, village greens

Victoria was my queen

- from the song "Victoria" by The Kinks

Known by some as the 'City of Gardens', Victoria British Columbia is a smallish city of about three hundred thousand or so.

By B.C. standards, Victoria has a fair amount of history. The Hudson's Bay Company, let by James Douglas, founded Victoria in 1843. Much of the city still has a colonial feel... partially because of the historic buildings, partially because we have several British Sweet shops and partially because 98% of the population is white.

Victoria has an abundance of ocean related events and culture. There is the naval base in esquimalt. There are lots of cruise ships with tourists that flock downtown over the summer. We have a Tall Ship festival, sailboat races and paddlers fighting with developers over plans for a mega yacht marina.

There's lots for visitors to do. Do you like insects? Perfect. There is a Butterfly Garden AND a Bug Zoo. Do you like observing wildlife? Perfect. There are one million bunny rabbits breeding and shitting up at uvic campus AND an abundance of fat ass seals to feed at fisherman's wharf.

How about walking? Well you can walk the beautiful inner harbour and explore plenty of historic alleys through the downtown core. I've even included a map of some of the more popular alley's below... enjoy!

LeVar Burton and Friends

Butterfly in the sky
I can go twice as high
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainbow

I can go anywhere
Friends to know
And ways to grow
A Reading Rainbow

I can be anything
Take a look
It's in a book
A Reading Rainbow
A Reading Rainbow
- Reading Rainbow Theme Song

There was some pretty cool television shows when I was a kid. In Canada we had alot of great shows, most running on CBC. I've linked to some clips of some classics... looking back now these dudes were pretty cool.

Fred Penner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4frIsSEp03E

Mr Dressup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4frIsSEp03E

Friendly Giant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBuFZ-jxC8s

America's public television programming was no slouch either. Alot of children's shows have learning themes, but two programs from the US focused specifically on two different learning areas.

One was the show Square One, which was all about.... Math. Yes, a show about Math that was both entertaining and informative. And at the end of every show came my favourite part... Mathnet. Detectives using math to solve crimes? So cool.

Square One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXp3AMgbG6k

Mathnet - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrLjLeGUjio

Last but not least is Reading Rainbow. A show starring LeVar Burton who's engaging personality captured the attention of children everywhere. As we all know, LeVar of course went on to co-star in Star Trek The Next Generation, but in Reading Rainbow he really made his mark... who else can get you this excited about a shower in the toilet?

Reading Rainbow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M-X70-MvM

Last night my friends told me that LeVar is now working on a comic. Its called ConCERNed and deals with the Large Hadron Collider. The Large Hadron Collider is the worldest largest particle accelator located in Europe. Some people are worried this thing is going to create a black hole and the world will end up getting eaten by itself. Others swear this thing can change lead into gold. I have my own theories about what's actually going on so I made my own comic...



Bonus! RUN DMC droppin' science on Reading Rainbow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOBDEhxd_WU