These pictures are from the period near the end of my term as a master's student. The end of the millennium is approaching, and soon I will leave this city behind.

Friday, November 26, 1999

[What the heck is that?]

CTRL-A shows have usually be devoid of cameras. Just about all of our execs are camera shy. This makes for very uninteresting pictures for anyone trying to capture any sort of atmosphere. Mind you, it did save us some pride during the Undercurrents fiasco, but how often does something like that occur anyway? Since a number of the execs have seen the anime in our shows already, some of them stick around outside wondering what we should do for dinner afterwards, and you all know how hard it is to choose a dining locale don't you?

Starting from the left: FlyingS, HNT, Agent P, KNZ (partially hidden), and HaremPresident.

[Monkey in the middle..]

As with the usual people inside watching the equipment and the doors, we always had a contingent outside keeping an eye on the food and drinks. These volunteers would sometimes miss out on some shows because of the demand for food during peak hours, which is probably why we don't get too many volunteers. Here are the three that were volunteered during this show.

That's VanPi on the left, AG in the middle, and SY on the right.

[Give me the camera..]

I've always wondered why so many people were camera shy. This includes just about every member of CTRL-A. Some however have taken it a step further and have been pretty darned good at avoiding the spotlight. Here is one instance where I tried (in vain) to catch AG.

SY is asking for the camera while AG is cowering behind him.

Saturday, November 27, 1999

[Oh yeah, that's brisk baby!]

After the show on the second day (Saturday), we had a big year-end sushi/sashimi dinner to celebrate another term of anime. I had taken quite a number of pictures, but nobody really wanted to pose for the camera. This of course not having to do with the fact that everyone is camera shy.. nonono. I was able to convince HaremPresident to do something in front of the lens though, and here is the result.

HaremPresident is.. doing something with his tounge, while Agent P is trying to get some sleep.

Wednesday, December 1, 1999

[Stallions in the Desert - F99 Broomball.]

There is some sort of tradition for the Stallions in the Desert to have an end-of-term gettogether at someone's house, to watch a movie, recount our previous term's experiences, and generally to have a good time. I started going to these things last term, we watched a replay of the finals (Bob got a digital video camera that term) and rented "The Seven Samurai" (god was it long, we never finished it). Unfortunately my camera was broken so I didn't take any pictures. This term, after watching the finals, we saw "The Usual Suspects" (my choice), and I did bring my camera. It's too bad not everyone showed up. (Like SDS, who suggested "The Seven Samurai" last term..)

From left to right: (Big) Jim, John (Pie Face), Bob (Mister Broomball), Riston (Captain), and Greg (Graduate).
Missing: Me (Butler), Chris (Wall), SDS (Tipper), and Anthony (Little Red Riding Hood).

Friday, December 31, 1999

On the last day of the 90s, I was able to convince girl and Hugo to go out hiking down by the Scarbrourgh Bluffs. The Bluffs are basically cliffs of sand overlooking Lake Ontario. What's so special about the Bluffs is that because they are made of sand, the Bluffs are eroding very quickly. Mudslides are not uncommon, and many of the houses near the edge are slowly losing real estate.

[Hugo and the Ravine.]

I have actually climbed down (and up) the Bluffs once before with a couple of other people. This was when I was young and stupid and didn't know the risks involved (scared the crap out of me in the end). Now, I'm much older, and much more stupid. That's probably why I wanted to go hiking again. We went to the same ravine that I hiked down the last time I came to the bluffs. There were many valleys that cut into the bluffs, but I wanted to go down this one for tradition's sake.

That's Hugo and the ravine we hiked (i.e. climbed) down.

[A two car pileup.]

Despite being made of loose sand, the valleys are usually full of trees, rocks, animals, and the occasional stray car (or car wreck in our case), so there's always something to see. Because of a light snowfall the previous day, we were able to see some animal tracks around our route down to the lake. Also, being in the wintertime, the creek that flowed down the valley was (for the most part) frozen over, and allowed us to easily cross from one side of the valley to the other.

This is the impressive melding of two cars that we found on our way down the ravine.

[Hugo and girl hidden among the reeds.]

The first time I went down the Bluffs, it was in the middle of autumn and rain was drizzling down on us the entire day. That trek left us, and our clothes caked in mud and dirt. This time, being in the winter, we were fortunate enough to have dry ground (and dryer weather) to walk on. Since the temperature was below freezing, we were able to cross the reed marsh that separated the valley from the beach. Those reeds were awfully tall, and in warmer weather, the marsh would've been impassable. Having a good view of the Bluffs, we stopped to take some pictures.

Hugo and girl are taking pictures of the bluffs.

[One of the bluffs.]

This is the picture that they took.

[The lake and the plane.]

By the time we made it to the beach, I was in dire need of a washroom and faced with the vast toilet they called Lake Ontario. Despite finding out that the washrooms were closed for the winter, and the constant lapping of the waves, I was able to hold it in. The weather wasn't exactly the best for doing anything on the beach, but we didn't have anything specific in mind. We just hung around there for a little while.

On the shores of Lake Ontario with girl and Hugo on the bottom left and a plane in the top right.

[Who wants to go first?]

On the way back up, I showed them the path that I had taken the first time I climbed back up the Bluffs. It was a steep climb to the top of a tower of sand which is connected to the bluffs by a narrow spine of sand. The crossing is precarious and the final few yards is a sixty degree climb up loose sand with (basically) no handholds. It was a long way down at that point, and when we did it the first time, VW had brought his trusty ice pick which probably saved our lives. This time, we decided to forego the challenge and go back the way we came. Too bad, maybe next time..

girl and Hugo are having second thoughts of crossing on the very narrow spine.

Monday, January 3, 2000

MJO decided to visit Toronto the Monday after New Year's Day. He was planning to stay for about two days before heading off to meet some relatives. That didn't leave much of a window for him to stick around in (or us for that matter, but I delayed going back to Waterloo for a day) but we tried to make as much of that time as possible.

[Ice ice baby.]

MJO was coming in by plane, so I was able to convince Laz to drive to the airport to pick him up. As we were getting ready to leave, we noticed how much ice had built up from the freezing rain that had been falling that night. We were slip-sliding across the walkway to the driveway and I had trouble standing (even with all my broomball skills!). Cleaning the ice off the van was also a chore, but we were able to make it to the airport and back safely with our cargo.

That's Laz scraping off the half-centimeter thick ice from the mini.

Tuesday, January 4, 2000

[Who wants to win the world?]

louder came into town for some reason (I can't remember), so we were trying to figure out something to do before he got there, and thought of finding a copy of Supremacy to play around with (since we hadn't played that game in such a long time). After a couple of hours of scouring the urbanside, we found out that the game was actually out of production. Curses! Instead, we were able to find a copy of Risk at Laz's place and prepared for war..

The players are: MJO who's studying the map, the always in good form louder, and Laz on his new toy.

[Bystanders to world domination.]

Another blast from the past was Kyle who was able to come and visit while MJO was over. I hadn't seen Kyle since.. well, for quite a long time. He hasn't changed a bit actually, which I guess is a good thing. He brought along a friend, but they didn't want to partake in the ensuing fight for world dominance. Too bad. I remember the first time I played Supremacy in first year. It involved Laz, MJO, Kyle and I. I can't remember who won (I think Laz blew up the world) but it was fun nonetheless.

The onlookers are: Jen and the annoyed Kyle. MJO managed to get into the photo as well.

[Dinner at Kelsey's.]

After spending some time (Some? Felt like an hour!) deciding on a place to eat, we finally picked Kelsey's as our venue. After arriving there (all of five minutes later.. it was close by), we found out it would take half an hour or so for a seat. A non-smoking seat. After a short debate (with each other and our stomachs), we held our collective breaths and took the corner stall in the smoking area.

Being careful not to breathe and look happy at the same time: Me, MJO, Laz, louder, and Kyle.

Friday, January 14, 2000

[Ah ha! Here I am!]

After the Friday night CTRL-A shows, I usually ended up going back to my office to drop off or pick up stuff before heading out for dinner. This usually involved some planning ahead since I always needed a ride to the restaurant. KNZ usually lent his services, and that night while he was waiting for me to finish cleaning up, I convinced him to pose for this picture.

If you haven't noticed yet, that's KNZ.

Saturday, January 15, 2000

[Uhh..]

During the end of the Saturday CTRL-A show, I took a fair number of pictures of the crew (to everybody's chagrin). Everybody was busy cleaning up and moving stuff out, so I was able to take a couple of candid shots. Since I was only able to take two, I decided to put up the one that wasn't actually blurred (FlyingS's picture came out too fuzzy).

That's Jeremy wondering why I was taking a picture of him.

[It's got me! It's got meeeeeeeee!!]

During my rampage with my camera (before it got broken), in a rare moment of cooperation, SY was able to grab AG for this photo. Don't you hate it when things don't turn out your way?

That's the (finally exposed) AG , with SY keeping him.. occupied.

Saturday, February 26, 2000

[MoB and the back of a Sakura poster.]

I actually took quite a number of pictures during this CTRL-A show. I wanted to put together a "what exactly happens at a CTRL-A show" series of pictures, but I never got enough photos to make a truly concise and interesting story. That and the fact that none of my pictures really came out all too well. Actually, a couple did, like this one, so I guess I'll show it.

That's MoB looking at the back of the Card Captor Sakura poster.

Thursday, March 2, 2000

[CTRL-A - W00 Volleyball.]

I was warned ahead of time that Jax may not be showing up to the last volleyball game of the term (and the fact that she was going to bring a camera herself). This prompted me to bring a camera of my own as the guys would most likely pose for shots since Jax was taking pictures (they'd never pose for me). Well, I lied. One of the shots the team begrudgingly agrees to every term is the group photo, so I can't give Jax credit for that.

Front row (to the right): Me and Jax.
Middle row (from the left): KNZ, JCC, FlyingS, and HNT.
Back row: SY and Werdna.
Missing: Quite a few.

[A Jax sandwich.]

As Jax brought along her camera and most likely wouldn't be showing up for the last game (as I mentioned above), the natives got a little.. rowdy. There were quite a number of pictures to document this rowdiness, but here's the only one I could find in my collection (and tame to boot!).

That's Jax being squished by HNT (on the left) and JCC (on the right).

[FlyingS posing (sorta).]

For some odd reason, FlyingS leaned against the bleachers in the standard modeling leaning pose. I had to take a picture of that (much to FlyingS's chagrin - look at his eyes! It's the "yeah, yeah, come on and take the picture already!" look.).

That's FlyingS leaning against the (compacted) bleachers.

Thursday, March 9, 2000

[Stallions in the Desert - W00 Broomball.]

After our triumphant win over the Whackers in the broomball competitive finals, I took a picture of the team to document our (second) championship. (Greg must've been really excited because his pants were down.)

Front row: SDS (Tipper), Greg (Graduate) who has his pants down for some reason, Riston (Captain) kneeling next to Greg, and Derek (Owl) who joined us this one term because he wanted to win at least once =).
Back row: (Big) Jim, John (Pie Face), Bob (Mister Broomball), and Chris (Wall).
Missing: Me (Butler).

[Riston wants to swallow Derek's stick.]

I don't know why I took this picture. I don't know why Riston opened his mouth. I don't know why Derek was waving his stick around. What I do know is that this is a moment in time that should be framed and shown to future generations (namely Riston's, if he ever has any =).

Riston (in the middle) has his mouth open for Derek's stick (to the left) for some odd reason.

Saturday, March 25, 2000

[Wet Cement - W00 Broomball.]

I guess it's fairly customary for me to bring out my camera to the final volleyball/broomball game of the term. This was no exception. I took quite a number of pictures, not knowing whether or not I'll be putting a team together again with graduation and all. I had a good time this term despite the usual lack of people showing up, but the people who did show up had a lot of enthusiasm and made the games interesting.

Front row: KNZ, Tiger, Bob, and Riston.
Back row: Me, TY, and Dusty.
Missing: KGL and weirDo.

Saturday, April 1, 2000

[The photographer has been caught!]

During the last CTRL-A show of the term, I went a little crazy with the camera since quite a number of people who were at the show wouldn't be showing up anymore (due to graduation, moving, etc.). I wasn't the only one. Jax brought along her digital camera and had quite a number of pictures taken of her with just about everybody there. (Including one of me.)

That would be me trying to take a picture of Jax with HaremPresident in the background wondering what the heck was going on.

[JL, the third cameraman.]

Jax and I weren't the only ones to bring cameras to the show. HaremPresident also partook in the festivities as he was also planning on leaving the city after this term. Seeing as he wasn't likely to be around much longer, I was able to take a picture of him (which he could later use in his résumés and/or singles ads).

That would be HaremPresident.

[CTRL-A Group Shot!]

After we finished moving all of the equipment back into storage everyone congregated back into the building to decide on what to do after the show. More accurately, the question being asked was "where are we going to eat?". This always happens after every show, and every time we take half-an-hour to decide on a eating establishment. I took this opportunity (after HaremPresident took the best shooting spot) to take this group shot.

Front row: Calvin, MS, SY, JCC, KNZ, and FlyingS (V).
Back row: HNT, Jeremy (half), Alex (3/4), and Phat.

[Jax and I.]

Thinking that I only had one picture left, I wanted to have a less-than-candid (i.e. posed) picture of Jax before I finished off the film. She would only pose if I was in the picture. Hmm. Well, that meant that someone else had to take the picture. Seeing as HaremPresident was there with his own camera, he offered to take the picture. I must say, his skill is much better than mine (which isn't really saying much). But it turned out to be a good picture, despite my goofy look.

That's Jax on the left and me on the right.

Friday, January 17, 2025 @ 20:55:56 EST

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"The gods too are fond of a joke."

Aristotle (From The Quotations Page.)