Volleyball – Nicolas Demers

Thanksgiving in Regina

So a friend of mine invited me to the Golden Crown volleyball tournament, and it was tons of fun. I’d never been to Regina (or Saskatchewan, for that matter), and was looking forward to visiting someplace new. Before this year, I really hadn’t done much of that—but that’s changing, and gay volleyball tournaments are a great excuse to expand my horizons.

Over two weeks late, but it took me a while to get around to sorting through the hundreds of photos I took.

Regina is a lovely town, with super-friendly people and super-hot university students. I didn’t know many people there and my introvert side was acting up, which was kind of annoying, but I managed to have fun and socialise, even go out dancing at the gay club. Yes, there’s just one. It looks like it’s managed by a non-profit—probably because a for-profit club wouldn’t survive in a town this size; but according to its Facebook page that does make it the only GLBT community-owned club in Canada, which is pretty awesome. It reminds me of Club 318 (I think that was its name) in Ottawa, back in the day, except that only took place every second Friday at the Lisgar Street community centre. I wonder if that’s still going on?

I gave myself time to do the tourist thing by myself Friday afternoon and all day Monday. Everything is pretty much within walking distance, so transportation is no problem. On Friday I walked around the amazing Wascana Park, dodging all the bundled-up cyclists and joggers. Yeah, Regina is a bit chilly and overcast and hella windy—though I guess I should count my blessings, since it hadn’t actually started snowing yet. Still, the park was beautiful in its autumn finery, all soft golds and oranges. No red that I remember; I guess they don’t have maples in Regina. Which really makes you think: Canada is a big place, with many and varied ecosystems. Magpies in Calgary and Kamloops, but not Vancouver. At least 2 species of crows, in Vancouver and Ottawa. Neat. I just needed to get my feet on the ground a bit more in this big land of ours, instead of flying over it.

Two days of volleyball and partying really took it out of me, physically and emotionally, so on Monday I was happy to do the solo tourist thing again. I bade farewell to roommates (they were all driving back to Edmonton), and I set out.

My first stop was the Mosaic Stadium, home of the Roughriders, and easily visible from our hotel room. I don’t particularly care about football, but I was told I should try to get in, and take pictures from the seats—or even the field, assuming there’s no practice going on. I walked around the whole place but couldn’t find a way in, so I shrugged and went on my way.

Next was the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, located in Wascana Park (like half the city’s major landmarks, it seems). An awesome place where I learned all about Saskatchewan First Nations, geology, and wildlife both past (dinosaurs) and present. Amazingly, they had a fossilized Mosasaur skeleton, along with stuff about how Saskatchewan was mostly underwater back in the day. But I already knew that, thanks to The Oatmeal!

Megamunch the animatronic T Rex, was just the icing on the cake.

Next was the Legislature. I wasn’t sure if it’d be open for tours on a holiday, but it was! Yay! (Though the bookstore and gift shop was closed. Boo!) The handsome francophone guide took us around the foyer, to the Library with neat historical artefacts on display, the hall with Saskatchewan Order of Merit recipients, the room with portraits of past SK Premiers and even more historical artefacts and documents. And the Legislature itself, which we unfortunately were not allowed to set foot in, so we had to take pictures from the door.

And last, the MacKenzie Art Gallery. Which at first I thought was closed, but then a security guard came up and showed me the right door to use. Derp.

And then I was off to the airport! But I’m sure I’ll be back someday.

More photos here!

Some thoughts on the Calgary skyline

It’s been a month and I’ve kept postponing writing this post. Partly because I still have hundreds of pictures to upload, until I realised I could attach only the required photos to this post, and worry about uploading the rest later.

So, Calgary. I’d flown over it a number of times, connected through its airport a couple times, but I’d never really visited until this Easter weekend. The occasion was Western Cup, an annual volleyball/curling/dodgeball tournament that I heard was tons of fun but never got around to. But a couple months before, I’d been hunting for a team for Queen Vicki, Vancouver’s own queer volleyball tournament, and a friend invited me on his QV team, his Western Cup team, and his Ottawa team (there’s a gay volleyball tourney in Ottawa two weeks before, which I also went to, but that’s another story.)

I had a great time, and met tons of amazing people. But my view of the actual city wasn’t so positive. Downtown Calgary looks pretty ordinary from the air: a cluster of high-rises surrounded by urban sprawl, not too different from Vancouver.

From the ground, though, actually walking through it, it’s a different matter. Downtown Calgary is full of massive, shiny buildings, monuments to the giants of industry, oil and finance. Catch them from the right angle, and they’re attractive enough. But they also easily become dark and oppressive, since they’re far more crowded together than Vancouver and block out much more of the sunlight.

But in the midst of these ultra-shiny highrises there are older buildings, smaller and more modest, showing that Calgary does indeed have a history. Some that were previously commercial space have been converted into condos. I found them comforting, architecture on a much more human scale.

Down side: some of them, like the old City Hall, are utterly dwarfed by the surrounding highrises. Which is not unfamiliar. Christ Church Cathedral, anyone?

And some of these old buildings are just… old and sad. The eastern edge of downtown feels empty and run-down, maybe in the middle of pre-redevelopment, I don’t know. Just empty lots, gravel, and faded commercial façades. In fact, a lot of the eastern and southern edges of downtown feel very haphazard, with apartment buildings, heritage homes and commercial lots arranged seemingly at random. It had the feel of a city that had grown very fast with little actual planning—which, well, I guess is exactly what happened.

In fact, it was while walking back from Fort Calgary towards downtown that I formed my strongest impression of downtown: it felt like a herd of sleeping behemoths, shiny and faceless, as forbidding as the not so far-off the mountain ranges. It was not a pleasant impression.

What would Colonel MacLeod say if he was still alive? I’m sure he’d be happy to see the city prosper, but wouldn’t it look weird and alien to him?

Gut impressions aside, there was a very real downside to Calgary’s highrises: they blocked part of the view from the Calgary Tower. To the north I could see only straight up Centre Street; to the south and east I could see forever; to the west my view was half blocked by downtown. This being so close to the equinox the sunset was pretty much exactly due east, and it was just barely visible by one of the big shiny highrises. Any later in the year, and visitors to the Tower would be minus a sunset.

Shame, isn’t it? Just a few short decades after its construction, the Tower has been passed by the rest of the city. What good will it be as a tourist attraction, if Calgary keeps growing around it?

Davie Day 2010

Ah, the Davie Day festival, the time when local businesses and community groups come out to shine. In the last five years my attendance has been pretty sporadic—last year, for instance, I just remember briefly going up and down Davie Street, saying hi to a few friends, and that was it. But this year, I thought I’d be a little more involved. That meant pictures!

The stretch of Davie between Thurlow and Bute held all the fair-like attractions: an old-time picture booth, complete with faux vintage clothes, a display of vintage cars, a play area for the kiddies in front of the police station… and hunky guys with swords!

Didn’t expect to see the Academie Duello here, since they’re not local to the West End. But I’m also glad to see them, since I missed their show at the PNE. Didn’t quite work up the nerve to handle their swords, though…

And more PNE-style goodness: a horse-drawn carriage! Don’t see those too often outside of Stanley Park. And blacksmiths actually forging shoes!

West of Bute was the haven for local artists. All up and down the street I checked out lovely paintings, sculptures and various crafts. No pictures, though.

The east end, between Thurlow and Burrard, is where you’ll find all the political and activist groups. And ping-pong, for some reason.

I volunteered at the Outgames booth, helping to spread the news about what’s coming to Vancouver next summer. Though to be honest, mostly I stayed under the tent because the weather had turned cold and rainy.

And to be even more honest, I’m not that enthusiastic about the games anymore. The volleyball event still hasn’t been officially declared since VGVA decided not to host (a decision I supported, for many reasons which I won’t get into right now), forcing the Outgames board to look for another host group. I guess Volleyball BC is the next logical choice, but it looks like that hasn’t been finalised. So… there may not even be a volleyball event? Well, that’d be kind of a bummer but, in the grand scheme of things, not that big a deal. It’s only a North American event, after all, and there are plenty of other volleyball tournaments going on. So yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Pride Picnic in the Park

Vancouver Pride Week kicked off Saturday with the Pride Picnic in the Park, a fun and casual all day event at Brockton Oval, near the eastern tip of Stanley Park. I was there with a small group from VGVA to set up a volleyball net for picnickers to enjoy. Last year we put it up way over at the south end of the park, and hardly anyone came over until the end of the afternoon. This time we were playing near the booths and beer garden, and you know that’s where the action is.

The picnic’s a very casual, family-friendly event. There were lots of parents (queer and otherwise) with their kids and/or doggies, hanging out and enjoying the day. But there’s lots to do besides getting some sun (or staying out of the sun)! The kiddies (and kids-at-heart) can enjoy a number of fun queer games, such as the high heel toss:

(Unfortunately I snapped this picture a tiny bit too early, getting only the windup.)

Then came the sack race:

And the drag race. The challenge here is not to race in drag, but to put on your outfit piece by piece (bra, dress, scarf, purse, wig and hat), then race back to the starting line. No cheating by wearing your dress around your shoulders like a cape!

Then the tug of war. The picture here is (I think) of the second round, with gay men against lesbians. One of the guys said they were going to, quote “beat some pussy.” Joke’s on him, because the lesbians won.

Lastly, melon eating is a good way to cap off a scorching hot day.

We took down the nets around 5:00; the picnic was winding down by then, almost all the remaining people were sitting in the (cool, shady) beer garden. I got home, showered and changed, and got ready for some fireworks…

Chicken wings and the smell of lilac

Indoor volleyball season ended this weekend. I’ll miss getting up early Sunday morning to try to drop into C1; waiting at the door for Tony to come with the key; I’ll miss playing for over 7 hours all day, with only a 2-hour lunch break. I’ll miss dinner at the Fountainhead afterwards. This Sunday was especially nice, with those yummy honey-garlic chicken wings I haven’t had in a while, the lilac tree blooming next to the patio, and all the West End walking past on such a fine spring evening.

Not sure I’ll be missing Friday night Rec dropin all that much. It’s fun, yes, and I get to hang out with friends who don’t play in the Sunday divisions, but I’m learning bad habits, especially in reffing, and the play level isn’t doing me any favours. And sometimes, there were other things I could have been doing on a Friday night.

So you know what? Next year I won’t be making Rec dropin a priority.

This year I’ve been dropping into C1 a lot more; I decided I needed to be a little more active in developing my skills so that (hopefully, someday) I can register for that division. It’s a hell of a workout and pretty stressful because the regulars are very demanding, way more than I2. Which is okay, right? After all, the “C” stands for “competitive”, not “comfort zone”. It’s been worth it; my play is still inconsistent but I think I’ve improved. Enough to ace the tryouts in the fall? Well, we’ll see.

Pi Day Weekend

It’s Sunday night, the end of a crazy weekend. Two whole days of fun, productivity, and far too little sleep. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Spring Bling was so much fun! And so exhausting! My team was up against mostly competitive players, but we held our own pretty well and came this close to winning the bronze. Seriously, we lost 22 to 25, which is pretty damn good considering we hadn’t played together as a team in ages. Then, after a quick shower, it was time for all-you-can-eat sushi.

Some of us had serious discussions over dinner, besides complimenting each on games well played. The issue was, how do we get more recreational players involved in the tournament? Looking back at the tournament’s history, we’ve only had a separate C division half the time—and maybe I shouldn’t even count last year, where all of two C teams were registered. The consensus was that we should advertise it much further ahead of time, and also sell it as a fun challenge to meet people, test your skills, and see how the big boys* play play.

(* And a few token girls. But mostly boys)

For some reason, it took me a long time to get to sleep. Maybe I was still wound up, I don’t know. But sleep I did, eventually, and I needed it because today was the second and last session of my all-day AJAX workshop at BCIT. It was short periods of lecturing, interspersed with quizzes and practical labs. Last week we went over Javascript, which I’m already familiar with though I did learn a few useful tips. Today we dived into the AJAX API itself. It looks like a lot more students had trouble keeping up, even with the instructor being very generous and giving us a lot of time for labs and even allowing us to pair up.

Which is not a bad thing, really. He said that you learn more by collaborating, and it’s true. Besides, BCIT is supposed to prepare you for the real world and in the real world you’d rarely be all on your own; there’d usually be coworkers to pick the brains of or, failing that, online forums and user groups.

It’s late Sunday night now, almost midnight, and I’m finishing my job search homework for tomorrow. I’ve got homework and a take-home exam for the AJAX workshop, but that’s not due for a week. And I’m not worried. I was already familiar with the basic ideas and, if I do say so myself, I picked up the finer points very quickly. The server-side scripting aspect holds no terrors for me.

Happy Pi Day!

We are the champions!

Well, when I say “we,” I don’t include me personally. My team ended up second-to-last place in the seeding, and then were eliminated right away on the second day.

Still, I had a great time at the Queen Vicki tournament this weekend. I hadn’t participated in a NAGVA tournament in ages! In fact, before Spring Bling earlier this year, I don’t think I’d been in any volleyball tournament in five years. Well, gotta make up for lost time.

And in my last entry, I mentioned that was intimidated about reffing. Fortunately, that turned out pretty well in the end. I reffed two matches and was going to ref a third, but the teams requested a more experienced ref. I didn’t take it personally, and in fact was quite relieved. It’s a lot of pressure, especially with the couple of really competitive bitches I had to deal with. I’m pretty familiar with the rules, but I was visibly nervous, and they could smell blood.

That’s okay, though. Confidence will come with experience. And the Head Official gave me a passing grade, which means I’m now certified to up-ref in any NAGVA tournament for the next two years.

I am full of hot air

…literally. Or I was until Sunday night.

See, while playing volleyball on Sunday afternoon, I inadvertently demonstrated a basic principle of Physics: gases will expand when heated. Here’s how I set up the experiment: a week before, my arms got pretty sunburned because I forgot to put sunscreen on them. By last weekend they were healing, and ready to peel. This time I made sure to put on sunscreen but pretty soon I noticed tons of little blisters on the burned areas. It actually looked pretty cool, a microscopic landscape of itty-bitty bubbly hills and mountain ranges. My theory is that tiny air pockets, trapped under the loosening skin and sunscreen, just started expanding. These blisters didn’t hurt, and disappeared soon after I got out of the sun leaving only whiter spots of dead skin.

And now my arms are peeling with a vengeance. I should probably stop picking at it, but I love the barely audible crinkly sound peeling skin makes when I pull it off. It’s… soothing.

Yeah, I think I need help.

Enlightenment For Sale

Sunday was quite a full day of volleyball. A reffing clinic around noon, then dropping in to Intermediate 1 (I figured I’d have a good shot, since lots of people would be away for the long weekend), then my usual Intermediate 2 play. There was also a beginner reffing clinic between I1 and I2; I’d already taken it, so it gave me a chance to go grab a bite to eat.

I went to that little muffin/snack place, corner of Alma and 4^th Ave, realised I didn’t have enough cash, and went looking for a bank machine. On an impulse, even though it was dark and drizzling, I decided to wander up 4^th and after a block or two came upon Banyen Books. Wow. Now there’s a name that was totally not on my mind. I’d only been there once or twice probably ten years ago, when I was still in my kinda-paganish phase. To buy a copy of the Tao Te Ching, if I recall. Wait, no, it was to buy a copy of The Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan, as recommended by my then-teacher, and I bought the TTC on my own because Taoism appealed to me. Ah, memories! So, I couldn’t resist: since I still had some time to kill, I went in to browse.

It was just as I remembered it. I’m pretty sure it used to be in another location, so the layout was probably different, not that that mattered much. And I remember they used to have one of those little fountains, the kind that always makes me want to pee, but didn’t this weekend, thank gawd. But everything else? Exactly. The. Same. Incense, soft music, the promise of magic and revelation in every Tarot deck and $50 crystal. I wandered the shelves of books on dream analysis and cosmic science and Celtic Goddess worship and all sorts of weird esoteric topics I’d never even heard of. So many fluffy morsels for people who’ll believe anything that feels good, people hungrily seeking something they can’t even name and wouldn’t recognize if they found it.

Truth is, I could feel faint echoes of the same yearnings inside me. There was a time when I too was a seeker, sort of. After dropping Catholicism, I looked for answers or at least wisdom in mythologies both old and new to replace beliefs that hadn’t appealed to me in a long time. I didn’t put much effort into it because I never felt that the spiritualities I absorbed were really what I needed. Nowadays, of course, I tend to trust my own judgment and revel in my skepticism. I don’t need faiths, spiritualities to make me complete or hand me The Truth.

Still, I have… moments of weakness. Now, in one corner of the store (next to handsome leatherbound Books of Shadows) were a few racks of sketchpads and notepads, all with very pretty covers. I was seriously tempted to get one. I hadn’t done any drawing in a long time, and I thought it might inspire me. Or at least push me to practice regularly, cos Gawd knows I need the practice. But really, wasn’t that more magical thinking? If they’re anywhere, the talent and the potential are in myself. Not some object I shelled out $24.95 + tax for, no matter how pretty it is.

So I left without getting anything, and went back to the gym to sweat off half my body weight. On the way home I bought a pad of unlined paper at Safeway for a couple of bucks, on which I’ve been doodling since.

They loved the t-shirts, but the fridge magnets were a hard sell

It was the August long weekend so you know what that means? The Vancouver Pride parade. The sun was shining, the rainbow balloons were floating, the leather queens were buff and be-harnessed. The idea this year was to have a moving game: a few players would bump the ball around while two held up the net, and a few more would run around giving out free junk to the crowds. We were supposed to (a) watch out for the overhead wires, and (b) not do any hard hits, because the ball would go into the crowd and someone might get hurt. Which happened many times anyways, though nobody was ever hurt. Besides, the crowd loved the spikes and hard hits. Hey, you gotta give the people what they want.

I played for a while, then switched off to hand out goodies. And, hah, part of me flashed back to those days of yore when little hypershy me had to sell chocolate bars for the scouts. Let’s face it: everybody wanted the t-shirts, but the fridge magnets? Not so much. I had to be a bit more assertive and in-your-face to move those suckers. Plus, we ran out of t-shirts early on while we still had stacks of the magnets at the end. Which reminds me, I should have gotten one for myself. Oh, but we also had some bitchin’ press-on tattoos with the VGVA logo and Web site; I put a couple on myself, and they made me feel all tough and butch.

Yeah, it was an awesome day. But afterwards I was exhausted, sweaty and disgusting. They’d asked us to wear league t-shirts, but maybe I should have thought twice about wearing this year’s colour. Because dark purple and blazing sun don’t really mix.