A few weeks back, Segador introduced me to some interesting Flickr groups (PFO, TMOAC) where people submit photos in bake-off challenges in various themed categories. As some of you have noticed, I’ve been slowly collecting medals on a lucky few photos that managed to conquer my rival photos. bwhwhahaha.
My mouth dropped when Segador showed me the following link to PFO’s July bracket entries, consisting of one photo that managed to survive two rounds of challenges per person. I’ve always been on the lookout for ways to train and develop my photography eye. I soon realized, looking at other people’s shots in these challenge groups is a great way to accomplish this goal.
My first photo to win a PFO Gold medal is the “transportation” shot on the right. This was actually taken in Toronto on the day of that fateful trip to Denver, Colorado. It also happens to be my first photo to win a PFO Platinum medal. :)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve managed to win PFO medals on 45 of my photos. You can view them here.
I’ll admit I’m sort of addicted to these challenge groups now, checking them several times a day. When I go out shooting, I’m consistently thinking of ways to take photos that will fit the major challenge themes. I’ve uploaded a photo to Flickr solely to enter an open challenge thread. I’ve been a little annoyed when an undeserving (in my opinion) photo beats out my submission. You win some, you lose some. I’ve grown much more critical of my own photos now, sometimes wishing I had framed certain shots better, or capture certain lighting better.
While not as storied as Sega’s accomplishments, I do have two honourable mentions under my belt. :)
This shot of Toronto during the Luminato Festival managed to sweep a Medals (Round 2) challenge, which is said to be quite rare.
This rainbow shot from McGregor trip got selected as a PFO Hidden Gem. :)
[sweetgoddess71]: This Hidden Gem was an easy choice for me. This rare shot of a full rainbow popped off the page at me. What a stunning capture, truly worthy of a place in the spotlight this week. Way to go!
:D
… maybe next year. Got tickets to Rogers Cup, one of the tennis tournaments that is a precursor to the US Open and Olympics this year. For 2008, the gentlemen tournament was held in Toronto, with top 42 players in the world participating.
Decided to get bronze level tickets this year, given my super far seats last time. It was worth every penny. Today’s match was the second round. I checked the match up this morning and found that current World #1, Roger Federer, the Fed Express was playing tonight on center court! Nadal was playing in the afternoon.
Given the tremendous thunderstorms in the afternoon, the afternoon matches were delayed and Nadal’s match didn’t start until 5pm! I was totally worried that Federer’s match would be delayed until tomorrow. Fortunately, the skies cleared up by the time I got to York University and the match started without a hitch.
Today’s match pitted Roger Federer (1) against Gilles Simon. This was my first time watching a men’s match live. I’ve had seen a couple women’s matches before and KL has always told me that men’s services were so much faster. This is one of those things that you just cannot appreciate on TV until you see it live. Roger’s serve reached over 220km/h (130mph+). Holy crap.
Roger pretty much dominated the first set, taking it handedly 6-2. We were joking that this would be a quick match. Roger just seems to be in all the right places at the right time. His motion is so fluid that it was really tennis artistry at its best. KL kept on pointing out the little things that Roger does so well, perhaps most impressive to me was his aggressiveness on the ball.
The second set was much more entertaining. Simon picked up his game as he was actually holding serve! All of a sudden, Simon broke Federer’s serve. Eh? Federer would return in the next set and dominate, so everything was good. However, Federer seemed to be a bit slower. He was letting some passing shots by without giving it a challenge. Taking nothing away from Simon, as those were some really good shots, but I just somehow expected more from the master. At 5-5, KL made the bold prediction. Either Roger breaks Simon’s service in the next game, or we are seeing a tie-breaker. He has NEVER seen Federer lose a set on a break. Simon handedly won his game. 5-6, Roger’s turn to serve. This game went to deuce. Why doesn’t Roger just put Simon away with some aces, like he did whenever he got into trouble at Wimbledon. Simon somehow came through and won the deuce to take the set. Hmm. KL jinxed it for Federer.
After two sets. The number of Aces by Federer – 0. Something wasn’t right.
The third set was more or less a continuation of the second. Roger spent two of his three challenges, and at times, seemed quite frustrated. He even had a heated exchange with the referee. I was dying to know what he was saying – too bad he wasn’t wearing a microphone. He had so many chances, but seemed to be unable to put Simon away. It was eerily similar to Wimbledon’s 2nd set. Roger was just committing so many unforced errors that was so unnatural of him.
The highlight of the set was when it was 3-3. Roger and Simon got into this long rally. A barrage of long, low and fast shots both on the forehand and backhands were exchanged. It was really amazing to watch. Everyone in the stadium was on the edge of our seats. After probably 20 shots, Roger managed to finish the rally off with an amazing passer into the back corner. The crowd literally erupted after that shot. I was out of my seat with both hands in the air too (as was everyone else). Totally reminded me of the Lynah experiences.
Roger had broken serve earlier, but Simon crawled back with one of his own. All of a sudden, Simon was ahead 5-4, with Roger’s service again. Two forehands that went long. Roger had gotten under the ball too much and drew some unforced errors. Love-30. No panic yet. This is Roger. He’ll come back with Aces for sure. Another point. Love-40. Triple Set point. Uh-oh. Then another long bomb by Federer.
What?!? Roger lost another set? This is going to be a long night – a 5-setter. Wait a second, why is Simon so happy? Why are Roger and Simon shaking hands. OMG. This stupid tournament isn’t an Open. It’s best of 3 sets. WTF. No. Impossible. Roger Federer did not just lose. Two losses in a row including Wimbledon. It cannot be.
But it is. Roger is packing up. He’s leaving the court.
| Roger Federer | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Gilles Simon | 2 | 7 | 6 |
So yeah, I just witnessed an event few people have seen live. THE Roger Federer having lost a match. As KL put it, there is only one punctuation to describe this – !!!!!!!!!!! The media is going to get even crazier about Roger’s #1 status.
This experience rivals being at Brett Favre’s miracle game against Oakland 24 hours after his father passed away. Wow. What a night.
No bird box story, but this morning AB, AR and I were biking down the Leslie Street Spit towards the lighthouse when one of those funniest moments of the year happened. The three of us were riding side by side at a pretty good pace when a dumb white bird decided to cross the road on foot right in front of us. AR and I slammed on the brakes. I came to a stop within a foot of the bird.
AB was on the far side, so he didn’t see the jay-walker at first. By the time he skidded to a stop, his wheel came right over the bird’s butt! My eyes went wide seeing the collision. OH CRAP! My first thought was what to do with this injured/dead bird? Move him off to the side of the road and just leave him there? We were in the middle of one of North America’s most important breeding grounds for many birds, so this might be some rare, endangered species that we just ran over. Crap, should we report him to the conservation society here? Given that this bird was dumb enough to jay-walk across the road and NOT fly off at the incoming freight trains, I won’t be at all surprised if their species was endangered.
Anyway, AB backed up his bike and the darn bird just got up and continued walking across the street… as if nothing happened. WTF.
This was definitely one of the weirdest, closest encounters with nature in my experience. Nature never fails to surprise!
Several months before E08, I was cruising the web when I stumbled onto some photos of an amazing fortified city. A quick search on the map showed Carcassonne was close to the French-Spanish border, almost halfway between Barcelona and Montpellier, France. Fired off an email to the buds, “We have to stop here!” and added to our proposed itinerary: “Carcassonne - Giant ass Fortress on top overlooking town.”
Fast forward to two weeks before E08. We were finalizing the plans with bookings. Our schedule was very ambitious and I considered foregoing Carcassonne for an extra day in the French Riviera. After chatting with BlueOrca, she mentioned she wanted to see this fort. That was the motivation I needed. We were going to Carcassonne!
We had booked the youth hostel in Carcassonne for the night. One of the requirements for the hostel was a personal phone call for any check-ins after 6pm. We were taking the evening train from Barcelona and was not due into Carcassonne until 10:30 pm. We spent at least 15 minutes trying to call the hostel at Barcelona Sants before we needed to get on the train. How do you call +33 (0)4.68.25.23.16? Tired all sorts of prefixes but just could not connect. While on the train, I kept on trying on my cell phone. Finally, I was able to connect to the hostel (dial 011 + number, without the 0 in parentheses) only to have the train go into a tunnel. :( I did eventually manage to get in touch with the hostel long enough to tell them of our late arrival.
We had to switch trains at a small town named Narbonne. Before the trip, BlueOrca, the romantic, had raised concerns about our evening train schedules. She did not want to miss all the sunsets while sitting in a train. We found a nice little restaurant just outside the train station for dinner. We were the only patrons at the restaurant tonight. Seafood course, candlelight and a very beautiful sunset. The thing that worried me the most was accidentally knocking things over as I took off and put on my backpack inside the restaurant.
We waited around Gare de Narbonne for our Cascassonne express at 10pm. Took some photos outside the train station to pass time. Here is a shot of Avenue Pierre Semard from Gare de Narbonne.
We soon arrived into Carcassonne. We came upon one of the toughest decisions we had to make on the trip. Our hostel was inside the fort, about 1.5 miles crow’s distance from the train station. It was nearing 11pm. Should we take a taxi or hike there? For all the right reasons, we should take the taxi. It was quite late, we were tired, we did not know whether the town was safe and most importantly, we didn’t know exactly where the hostel was, only that it was inside the fortress. On the other hand, the first waypoint of the only geocache in Carcassonne was in the city – a 10 minute walk from the station. It was the most beautiful night, crystal clear skies with a FULL MOON. I had caught a glimpse of the castle on the train and it’s all LIT UP at night!!!!
If I had been alone, it would have been an easy decision. However, I had to respect BlueOrca’s wishes. I probed her with some questions and got some very non-committal responses. ugh! She looked tired but, officially, she was indifferent one way or the other. Alarm bells ring in such situations – I *must* make the right choice, lol. Anyway, we agreed to go and grab the first waypoint (geocaches always go down well with BlueOrca), and we will decide what to do from there. Of course, I knew once we started hiking, we’re going all the way. :D I think we would both wholeheartedly agree that we totally made the right decision on this fine night.
The night experience at Carcassonne is impossible to describe. Words just cannot do this place justice and even the photos fall horribly short. To say without any exaggeration, the hike to the fortress was one of the most breathtaking, most mesmerizing experiences of my life. I can only think of one instance where I've felt the same quiet amazement and wonder – my first night time landing at Hong Kong's old 啟德 airport. The emotions and feeling evoked were quite surreal.
Starting from the steps leading up to Pont Vieux, a weathered stone bridge over the Aude River that gives you the first glimpse of the fortress, I just had one thought in my mind: “We are staying in THAT fort tonight!! :D:D:D” To sit back and contemplate for a minute, there must have been thousands, perhaps millions, of travelers and pilgrims who trekked on the same road to the fortress over the past millennia. When they first laid eyes on the castle after a long journey, they must have felt the same sense of wonder. The fortress’s dominating presence must have resonated its strength, prosperity, commerce and peace. But most importantly, the fortress laid at the end of the road – the home for some, the destination for many. For me, that’s where my bed for tonight laid. How cool is it that Tochi, on this very night, carrying my life belongings in my backpack, was retracing the same steps up to Carcassonne!
“How cool is this?!?!”
“I cannot believe this”
“Wow”
“Damn!”
“This is so cool!”
I must have reiterated these phrases so often that night. At one point, BlueOrca was talking to me, but I was not listening. My eyes were fixated onto the castle, my ears lost in my own silent soliloquy, my mind caught in my own dream. The castle was just so damn awesome. It was a little embarrassing when I realized that she was speaking to me.
We had crossed the Aude River, cut across the lower town and got to the base of the hill upon which the fortress sat. After collecting all the necessary waypoint data to determine the final coordinates of the multi cache, we began the hike up to the fortress. Up the ramp with one switchback, we finally got to the arches guarding the entrance into the lower ramparts. I could not resist taking a photo of us making our way into the fort at 12:18 am. :)
I realized after the trip while browsing in a store that Carcassonne, the board game, had a nearly identical cover. This photo ranks as one of the most memorable shots on the entire trip for me.
Despite being past midnight, we decided to make an attempt at the geocache before heading inside the fortress. There wasn’t anyone around at midnight, so it should make searching a bit easier. We got to the ground zero location, and searched every nook and cranny along the wall. In one dark crevice, I saw two beetles on top of each other. This was my first lesson into primitive mating behaviour on this trip, but won’t be my last. We spent a fair bit of time climbing and searching all the possible places, but to no avail. Then all of a sudden, at 1:47am, the flood lights illuminating the outer castle walls suddenly turned off. We were thrown into pure darkness, with only the moon as our guiding light. Actually, we had our headlamps, but that was certainly the sign for us to give up for the night.
We made our way into the city, had to stop by a Best Western to ask for directions, and got to our hostel just past 2am. Good thing the guy was still at the reception to check us in. Got to my room and climbed into bed. My first ever night inside a REAL fortress. I was physically drained, but my emotions were so raw. This was so so so cool!!!! :D:D:D
Since my painful, but memorable Terry Fox run last fall, MrMonk and my sister have conquered both the 10km and half marathon. Their sheer awesomeness gave me a certain sense of pride that I was able to play a small part in their successes. It is not everyday that I can say this blog inspired someone to greatness. :)
However, after my Terry Fox run and seeing MrMonk and my sister taking it to a whole new level, I was left with a certain urge to prove myself in a real race. Talk about peer pressure, eh? But this is the positive kind, so it’s all good. I researched the local 10km races and discovered that the HBC Run for Canada race was happening in two weeks. Two weeks! That was surely NOT enough time to train! However, I finished in 53 minutes last time (and spent 4 weeks nursing my knee tendons), so I knew I had it in me to run all 10km, maybe, just maybe, in under 50 minutes. MrMonk managed to do it in 49:59, which was totally hc. Then one day, I saw on the following slogan on someone’s t-shirt: “Decide. Dedicate. Succeed.” That slogan really resonated with my philosophy. I began doing some practice runs and forked out my $50 deposit in preparation for this… one… day…
This was it, baby, the day I have been waiting for the past two weeks. I left home at 6:45am, arrived at Ontario Place at 7:10am and waited 15 minutes to get into the parking lot! Good thing I had picked up my race pack the previous day.
At around 8am, everyone had gathered behind the starting line. Some guy was trying to squeeze his way closer to the front, when one of the other runners asked him, “Are you a fast runner?”. The embarrassed look on that guy’s face was priceless.
The course starts from Ontario Place and snakes westward along Lake Shore Blvd for 5km, until just past the intersection with Windermere Ave. After which, the course turns backwards along the Martin Goodman Trail to return to Ontario Place.
The horn blasted off around 8:11am and away we went. I didn’t start that far back from the pack, but the first couple hundreds meters were a tedious navigation through the mob of slow people. Once we got out of Ontario Place, the crowd was spread out enough that I was able to get up to my racing speed. A lot of people were passing me at this stage.
For some reason, I missed the 1km marker. I had been running for over 5 minutes, so I should have seen it by now. However, I knew I was running faster than my comfortable jogging pace, so I should be good on time.
Finally, I saw the 2km marker. Checked my watch and it was 9:33. Not bad, though at the speed I was going at, I was hoping to be on pace for the 4.5 min/km. Not to despair, I was almost 30 seconds ahead of the 50 minute goal.
The blonde athletic looking lady passed me at this point, and I decided to pick it up and use her as my wabbit. During a race, the biggest problem for me was to focus mentally. If I think about how dry my throat was, I tend to uncontrollably want to vomit. I’m not sure if that’s a natural reaction to try to get more saliva into my mouth. So, I kept my eyes ahead on the course, and given the Sound of Music musical posters on all the lampposts, I tried to recall the various song from the show.
Passed 3km and 4km without too much problems. Just after the 4km mark, I saw the first runner coming back with the police motorcycle escort in front of him. He would have been approaching the 6km mark. He was a black dude, Kenyan looking too.
I was quite looking forward to the 5km mark, as that was where you turn around and start heading back. Finally hit the marker at 26:13 into the race. At that water station, I grabbed a cup, only to find that it was not water, but orange Powerade. I tried to take a sip, but ended up splashing it all over my lips. This Powerade better not be sticky!!! I tried to toss the cup back into these giant garbage cans on the side of the road, but ended up hitting the rim. I totally suck!!!
The return stretch was harder. The run was slowly taking a toll on my body. Each breath was getting shorter and more desperate. There was an uphill portion after the 7km mark. I tend to like hills, because the incline gives me the extra motivation to run faster. Once I got past the top, I started feeling a cramp on my right torso. Crap. I did not need this now. Slowed down my pace a bit, and concentrated on my breathing again. 3 steps inhale, 2 steps exhale. The run to the 9km marker took forever. After a while, the cramp went away. The 8km to 9km stretch was probably my only 5 minute plus kilometer. Once I got to 9km, I wanted to make up the time, so I focused on my breathing and gradually picked up speed. Once I got through the last turn, and could see the 200-300m stretch to the finish line, I went into turbo mode and sprinted straight towards the finish line. I was hoping one of the people would start sprinting too and race me to the finish. I heard some guy from the crowd go, “holy cow, look at him go!” Maybe he was talking about me.
I was totally zoned in onto the finish line, passing numerous people along the way. Here’s me barreling down to the end..
In the seconds approaching the finish line, I tried to time my step so my right foot, with the timing chip, will cross first. However, my legs were in fully autonomous mode, and I didn’t even have time to plan my steps. Ended up flying right over the mat with my left foot first. My right foot followed and didn’t even touch the mat. All of a sudden, I wondered whether I needed to stomp on the mat to register my time. Do I need to go back? lol.
Got my timing chip taken off after the race and had my 10k medal given to me by one of the athletes going to the upcoming Olympic Games. After that, I finally checked my watch and saw 47:52. I forgot to stop my watch after I crossed the line! I was quickly informed that unofficially, I finished in under 47 minutes! Wow wow wow.
My official time ended up being 46:50.2 (gun time), with a chip time of 46:38.2. The results were beyond my wildest expectations. Before the race, I was not even sure if I could finish in 50 minutes. This time placed me 173rd out of 1599 total runners, 151st out of 727 males, and 30th out of 138 in my gender/age group.
Replenished myself on the free drinks and food and sat around before watching the Kid’s 1km run. Our future Olympians were so cute!
This race was a lot more competitive than I expected, and in no time, the first couple runners were returning. I’m not even sure if I could run 1km that fast.
Got back to my car and fired off a “:)” to MrMonk, as I had promised. Saw his quick reply, “HCORE!!!!”. An hour later, I get another text “holy shit!!!! HARDCORE!!!!!!!!”. LOLIRL. The results must have been posted.
What a rewarding experience. It feels awesome stepping up to a personal challenge and coming away with the results that I did. I have no idea how I’ll be able to overcome this new personal best next time. My legs are sore, but in due time, they’ll recover. I walked away from this race with an awesome technical shirt, a medal, a great sense of fulfillment, and most importantly, a new challenge time for MrMonk to beat! I hope this one won’t fall as easily as the last. XD