The More Things Change, et cetera

I try to be consistent with my blogging. I would rather babble about something unimportant than either miss my self-imposed weekly deadline or post something brief when more time or space is required.

For these brief posts I will often look for cues or prompts within recent photos, often triggering a memory of something incidental I have forgotten. When I looked today, I found a picture I took in near darkness while walking Canéla in the morning last week, where she demonstrated the accumulated snowfall by walking into a driveway from the back alley, up a snow bank and up onto the hood of a car. Given how popular a topic snow removal is in Edmonton at this time, it certainly seemed topical.

But my photo page also displayed a slideshow of Januaries from previous years, including this one from 2016:

January 11, 2016

And I was struck by just how much has changed in the decade since.

First of all, some context; this was taken during my late mother's holiday visit from Osoyoos for the Christmas of 2015. This is the same trip where she fell in our back alley while walking her dog, Willow(damned ice again!), and broke her arm really badly. But she kept her spirits up, stayed for the remainder of her trip, and played a few games with us like Ticket to Ride here before flying home.

Obviously the biggest change is Mum's absence, as she died in December of 2019, and we all miss her dearly.

But seeing the girls at the table with her reminds me how blessed I am to have them (and Audrey!) in my life today.

10 years ago, Fenya was preparing to graduate high school. One year ago, she was married and living in Toronto before that came to an end and she was able to return home for a bit. She convinced her employers to create a new job position she can help them with and who knows where that might lead?

A decade back, Glory was only in junior high, still competing in Irish Dance. Now she is a Registered Nurse working in a palliative ward and pursuing the elusive full-time line in Alberta health care. And still dancing, when she can!

Friday night the four of us went to church to get a family photo taken for our directory (replacing the 2013 edition!). Afterwards, the two of them decided it was two early on a Friday night to just head home with their parents and asked us to drop them off at Gracie Jane's, a boutique gallery bar just down the street from St. Albert United. They sang karaoke and even bumped into someone else from church there.

There are so many differences between the people they were then and the young ladies they have become, and yet, they are still fundamentally the same: kind, funny, smart, compassionate and hard-working individuals, prone to fits of both insight and whimsy.

Having two adult daughters at home who not only get along so fabulously is truly a blessing. The fact that they have time (or make time) for hanging out with their folks to play games or watch shows is truly icing on the cake.

Moving out feels a lot tougher now, financially, than it did when Audrey and I got married, but I know they will soon want their own space, and that's great - it is how it should be.

But in the meantime, I am greedily sopping up moments like the one pictured above like a sponge. I'm pretty sure that would've made Mum smile too.

Like I said, photos are great prompts and memory triggers, so I am going to put Canela's picture here anyhow - this snow can't last forever, right?

Like Pullin' Teeth

Last July, I experienced a fractured molar while on vacation, and had it removed by a local dentist in Burns Lake BC. I wouldn't call it a particularly pleasant or well-timed procedure, but worse still, I also experienced what is called a "dry socket", which was incredibly uncomfortable. Thankfully my own dental clinic was able to sort me out with some sutures, antibiotics and painkillers.

But when I returned to have my teeth cleaned in the fall, Dr. D noticed a bump on my gums and gave me an antiseptic rinse. A week later it was still there, so he threaded a tiny tracer filament into the space around my root canal and took an x-ray.

Suspecting a potential infection in the root canal site, he sent me to an endodontist, a dentist specializing in tooth interiors. It was nearly seven weeks before I could get in to see him but in mid-December I did, and his amazing 3D scan of the problematic area and his own experience confirmed what Dr. D had suspected: a fracture in my tooth's roots, below the gumline, which would require yet another extraction.

Last Tuesday after work I went in to have the tooth pulled, mostly because it was the first date they offered, but also because my compressed schedule gave me the following day off. I didn't settle into my dental chair until nearly 30 mins into my appointment, but in my experience, that is part and parcel for scheduling such things at the end of an undoubtedly busy day.

I will spare you the gory details, but Dr. D described it as a "complex extraction." The tooth required sectioning, same as the last one, but there were also breaks when removing the larger pieces, which required multiple x-rays to confirm so shards left behind (bless his thoroughness!), and one more trip below my gumline than he had even anticipated.

In the end it required 2 hrs 45 min in the chair and 4-5 shots of freezing to get the job done. I was given clear instructions from the dentist, hygienist and reception staff on how to avoid another dry socket or other complications (no straws, smoking, seeds, nuts, or hard foods like chips) as well as prescriptions for antibiotics and two painkillers, including T3s.

The trouble is, by the time I got to the closest pharmacy, they had closed 20 mins earlier. Google implied the one at Safeway was open til 10 pm, but this turned out to be untrue. I needed groceries and to stock up on softer foods anyways, so I loaded my cart before leaving. When I checked out, I felt pretty miserable though as a) the freezing had worn off and b) I hadn't eaten since lunch. 

I chugged probably a cup-and-a-half of protein smoothie right there in the parking lot, and once home, my incredibly supportive family sorted out the unpacking while I got my first round of meds arranged.

My discomfort was pronounced enough to keep me way from work Thursday as well, as I filled my time with icing my upper jaw, eating smooth peanut butter sandwiches on white bread and watching the first three seasons of Shoresy, which will likely get its own post shortly.

By Friday I was still out of sorts but able to get to work and even sort out a few nerdy obligations that evening (character creation for an RPG, finalizing a list for a skirmish game, and a bit of painting). I was well enough on the weekend to replace the downstairs toilet line as well as the deadbolts on the front and back doors.

In a week or so, the implant clinic should call me to book a consultation. Though expensive, an implant is probably the best means of plugging the new hole in my head, as it does not require maintenance the way a denture appliance will, or necessitate the shaving of my neighbouring teeth to accommodate a bridge across. With two extractions within 6 months, my chiclets are feeling increasingly fragile and valuable to me.

In all honestly though, I am willing to do whatever it takes to avoid another week like this past one! I will be much happier if my future Extractions are limited to Chris Hemsworth movies.

Gundam! That's a Cool Model

I return to work tomorrow for the first time since December 16, and I am not ready for the Christmas experience to be over yet. Let me dwell on the holiday a bit longer by reflecting on a gift I received.

Fenya was invited to be a bridesmaid at a classmate's wedding in Japan last summer, and ended up spending around three weeks there, having a number of amazing experiences. Before she left, she asked me if there was anything I would like her to bring back, and I said, "A Gundam - just kidding though" as I knew she had limited luggage space.

When I opened my gift from her on Christmas morning, I was astonished to see a spectacular-looking giant robot model from the Gundam range. This particular one was designed to recreate the life-sized statue that appeared outside one of the pavillions at the Osaka Expo 2025 (World's Fair).

Now, despite having watched only the barest handful of the many Gundam movies and series out there, I have always loved giant robits like it (mecha) going back to the Shogun Warrior comics I encountered as a kid. Mobile Suit Gundam pretty much started the 'real robot' genre in 1979, which has been replicated many times since in media like Robotech and wargames like Battletech. 

Unlike many humanoid robots that appeared before, Gundam brought engineering sensibility and military purpose to what had been essentially humans in costumes. A cockpit space in the chest, clear depiction of joints and actuators, and a clean, NASA-like aesthetic with water channels and removable panels to give a distinct style. I was looking forward to building one for the first time!

And one night over Christmas, while Audrey and Glory worked on a gingerbread house at the same table, I opened the box:

Good heavens, what have I committed to here? Seven frames of teeny-tiny parts, and seven pages of instructions, as well two of the tiniest decal sheets ever.

On the other hand though, the coloured plastic meant my Gundam would require no painting, and the push-fit construction meant no glue was needed either. With side-cutters, tweezers and x-acto blade at the ready, I donned my magnifier and got stuck in.

Unlike the majority of wargaming models I've built, the Gundam is fully articulated and posable. This does mean that you are essentially building a skeletal system with joints prior to adorning it with the shell and assorted doodads. 

The pictorial instructions are pretty clear, and I was usually able to find the optimal fit with only a bit of fiddling. On those rare occasions where a piece was assembled incorrectly, the lack of glue meant I could wedge my x-acto blade into the gap and separate them with very little difficulty. 

After a page-and-a-half of assembly, I had a decent looking torso, two arms and a head to show for my efforts. The instructions for applying stickers are given along the way, not at the very end like I was used to (although the 'marking' decals were left until after assembly). Since some of these shiny foil decals are approximately dandruff-sized, not having to handle the entire model while positioning them makes good sense.

I managed to get the base model (the classic RX-78 Gundam) completed before bedtime, perhaps 3-4 hours of work. Crisp, clean and eminently posable, it only represnted the mid-point of my construction!

The multi-coloured plastic in this kit looks absolutely marvelous, and I cannot say enough good things about Bandai's sprue design and production - phenomenally detailed, clearly labelled and even pieces from different frames (and three different types of material) fit together like a foot going into a shoe. At times, it really felt like I was putting together an immesnely detailed toy from a massive Kinder Egg; this model scratches the puzzle-building itch a little bit as well.

But the first thing I needed to do the following day was to remove the existing shoulder pads and waist-plates, so they could be upgraded to the beefier, shinier RX-78F00/E version!

Before any of the many clear blue plastic panels could be assembled, one of the 40+ shiny foil stickers had to be affixed to the space underneath. This was probably as tedious as you imagine it to be, but soon I found a sort of zen calm in my sticker placement.

And to be clear, the stickers are a very worthwhile endeavour, increasing the reflectivity underneath the translucent panels, and making it almost appear like they are generating their own light.

I also appreciated the additional rocket thrusters on the leg pieces.

After this it was on to the final, immense accessory - the wings.

"But Stephen," I hear you cry, "even if physical wings were capable of lifting an 18m tall mecha, surely there is no need for them in the airless void of space?"

And you are probably correct, but even if the G.L.R.S.S. Feather system was designed for mobility and not solar power collection for long range, low-support, deep-space operations, I would still love it just because it looks so Gundam cool. Tragically, this incredibly sensible application has a far less plausible acronym (Gundam Leaping Recursive Spangle Swarm), but there you go.

The backpack that supports the wings also contains even more rocket thrusters with venturi-style nozzles, as well as a pair of very smart and highly flexible manipulator arms, with clamping jaws that open and shut. Ostensibly this is to assemble the modular feather unit itself. Perhaps the pieces all fit into the long tail-like extension that also props the model up very effectively.

Once the feather unit is stickered and assembled, then attached to the back pack, the pack mounts onto the back of the Gundam and you're done!

Well, I mean, as done as you want to be. There are tons of options and accessories, including multiple hands (one of which emulates the gesture of the Osaka Expo statue), an energy rifle and an enormous shield. I kept all of them, and the original shoulder pads and such in the incredibly unlikely ocurrence that I should need a 'stock' RX-78 for some reason or another.

I photographed the box as they crammed a lot of info into the side panels and I will keep the instruction sheet for similar reasons (or if, God help me, I should drop it and need to rebuild). By the end of it, I was using my wearable magnifier just to read the instruction sheets...

This was a fairly intense 7-8 hour build, although I think my next Gundam would go more quickly, should that happen. But I am in no hurry - despite having scratched an itch that has persisted since, what, my late teens maybe? I do not feel compelled to seek out another kit, nore to add paint for 'more accurate coloration' to this one.

But heaven help me if I should come across Bandai's new Gundam miniatures game project...

(Christmas) Village People (and Creatures)

One of the highlights of Christmas decorating in our house is the setup of the girls' Christmas village, hand-painted by their Oma and gifted to them over many Christmases when they were younger. It is a pretty immense setup and Audrey has added a larger display area, some fluffy snow, lampposts and trees.

In addition to setting it up in an aestehtically pleasing way, Fenya and Glory add an intriguing narrative to the arrangement of buildings, with an upper-class and lower-class side, interpersonal intrigue and undertones of corruption and comeuppance. 

One year for fun I dropped in an immense, evil-looking action figure and some zombies, much to the delight of Glory's friend Ally, but this year I started sneaking in one miniature per day from my collection, starting on December 1. No one noticed until the ninth, and since I was not explicitly told to stop, I continued all the way through Christmas. Thankfully my family shares my sense of whimsy and are all great sports.

I shared my progress over six instagram posts during the holidays, but wanted to document them here as well. Please enjoy Advent Incursion 2025!

Old West fiddle player

Old West pugilist

Old West uh...saloon worker

Old West chuckwagon cook

The Mirror of Galadriel (LOTR)

Celeborn of Lorien (LOTR)

Queen Galadriel (LOTR)

Stormtrooper

A yeti tyke (D&D)

Chwinga nature spirit (D&D)

Yeti parent

Reghed Glacier nomad (D&D)

Stor- you know what this is

Snowy owlbear (D&D)

Wolf (D&D but not exclusively)

yes, another one (they look cool in snow)

The White Moose of Lonelywood (D&D)

Duergar King, Xardorok Sunblight (D&D)

Saoirse The Beloved, Warlock (D&D)

Invisible Frodo (LOTR)

Saoirse's familiar, Nivius (D&D)

Algetha Dawnseeker Ogolakanu, Barbarian (D&D)

Goliath werebear Oyaminartok (D&D)

White Dragon (Arena: the Contest)

A Third of a Century

Audrey and I went out for our anniversary on Friday, taking two seats at the bar at a little French spot called Partake, just off High Street. Cozy spot, small, rustic plates ("how do you say 'tapas' in French?"I asked the bartender, who did not know) as well as a robust and imaginative cocktail menu.

The staff were all delightful, and watching everything that went into making some of these drinks was like dinner and a show - slicing, scorching, smoking and shaking. After watching her mix drinks with a bottle in each hand, Audrey asked at one point if she played the piano. "No," she replied wistfully, spreading her hands on the bar. "Look at these fingers - it's like when I got to age ten, my hands said, 'y'know what? I'm good here' and just stopped growing."

In turn, she asked how long we had been married, and when we told her 33 years, she mused, "hmm, you know, I have only been alive one year more than that - well done!"

I mentioned how impressed I was with one of the cocktails (no. 70), telling her that I certainly did not have "smoky Mexican After Eight drink" on my bingo card ever, but really enjoyed it.

The food was great as well, particularly their coq-au-vin drumsticks (that sauce!) and the prosciutto-wrapped dates, but the dutch bitterballen made with short rib were a delight as well.

Glory graciously agreed to drive us and pick us up which meant we could go pretty deep into the cocktails for a change, and they comped us a swet vermouth as a desertif when we asked for the bill, which was sweet of them.

But as most anniversary dinners go, the best part of it was the person I got to spend it with; the card really does say it all.