New Venue

I felt like a newbie. And, in truth, I was.

Kou's Taekwon-do is gone. And I'm not really surprised: Master Kou was about my age, if not a year or two older, and is probably enjoying a much-deserved retirement. And, apparently, no one was willing to take over the business—at least not in the Barrhaven Mall.

Walking down the familiar steps to the lower level of the mall, it was like stepping back in time. The Nepean School of Music was still open; no doubt, getting ready to close for the evening. The door to the reception area was open and friendly, young faces smiled as I passed by.

A turn to the left took me down the narrow corridor that would have taken me to the taekwon-do school, maybe 10 years ago, but instead of hearing the shouts of active black, blue, of yellow belts, without the smell of sweat and bare feet, I heard a song by Johnny Cash and a baritone voice.

It was the man who I had met at Conspiracy Theory, a couple of Fridays ago, whose name had escaped me after I first learned it that night.

It's Dave.

The other woman from that karaoke night—again, whose name I had forgotten shortly after first hearing it—was also in attendance. We re-introduced ourselves: her name is Danielle. They were sitting together with another woman, Julie, and I was invited to join them. A little later, another person, Rachel, sat with us.

Hummingbird Hall is cosy. Dimly lit, there's a full stage in one corner of the room with a drum kit, congas, and an electric keyboard. Lots of speakers flank the sides and two monitors point back at the stage. To one side of the stage, a full-sized piano had been rolled out of the way for this evening: to the other, more congas and some guitars leaned on a rack.

There are small tables with chairs that are wrapped in a black fabric. Several cushy sofas are scattered around the room. To the left side of the room, where you enter, a small bar offers drinks and snacks, including some good local craft beer.

I liked the place as soon as I entered.

It wasn't too busy when I arrived, with maybe 10 or 12 people spread across the room. I arrived about 10 minutes after the show was about to start but it was a bit delayed. Dave was apparently doing a sound check while the host of the night, Amy, was delayed by snow.

There's someone who handles a full-fledged sound board, who had helped Dave get the levels right. Amy showed up right behind me and got under way immediately.

A large-screen that shows the lyrics also displayed a QR code for KaraFun. Because I've used this system before and had created an account (Brown Knowser, of course), I came straight up. You use the app to select your song and you are immediately added to the queue. A ticker-tape banner at the top of the screen shows the next three singers, so you have plenty of advanced warning of when it's your turn.

You can also check the app on your phone to see where you are in the queue, if you're not on the board yet.

I said that I felt like a newbie, and that's because everyone in the place seemed to know one another. I felt like I was a guest at a singing club, and that I was checking it out for possible membership, if the members would accept me.

Because this was a mostly new crowd for me (apart from Dave and Danielle), I started with a song that I know very well: Cat Stevens' "Where Do The Children Play?" People were receptive and Amy, at her KJ microphone, was extremely complimentary.

Another person from Conspiracy Theory's karaoke night, Annie, showed up soon after, followed by James, the person who had invited me to their table originally. Within an hour of the start of the evening, there were about 20 singers in the room.

I went up a second time with a song that I haven't sung in at least a year because it hits the upper range of my voice and I'm always worried that my voice will falter. But I sung "High and Dry," by Radiohead, anyway, and managed to pull it off in what was, I think, my best rendition. I headed straight to the bar to get a second pint, and the bartender raved about how I brought back memories of his youth.

With my second beer, I decided that I'd stay until my cup was empty, so I put in another song that I'm familiar with: "Driver 8," by R.E.M. (Conspiracy Theory didn't have it when I requested it, the previous week, but I knew it was on the KaraFun app).

I noticed that with this song, I couldn't hear myself through the monitors, so when I was finished, I let Amy know. She immediately started a song for herself and did a sound check, bringing the music down a little and finding the best place to stand with the microphone.

"I don't usually get up to sing," she told me afterward, "but I didn't have time to do the sound check, myself."

"You have a gorgeous voice. You should sing," I said.

"Thanks. You're very good, too."

Dave sang a heartfelt version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and it inspired me for my next song. I added "The Rainbow Connection" to the queue. But when I reached the end of my second beer, I saw that I was ninth in the list to go up. I rose to put my jacket on.

"Leaving so soon?" asked Dave.

"Afraid so," I said.

"Hey, are you coming out to Conspiracy Theory tomorrow?" asked James.

"I think so."

"Did you want a lift?" James and I discovered that we only live a block away from one another. He said he planned to be there around 7, when the karaoke night starts.

"Thanks, but I probably won't show until about 8." He usually stays until closing, and I wanted to also be able to leave when I wanted.

As I headed for the door, Amy got my attention. "Thanks for coming out. I hope to see you again."

"Count on it. You're less than 10 minutes from home and I love the venue."

Indeed, it's the nicest venue for karaoke that I've ever seen. Who would have thought that a former taekwon-do space could have transformed into such an intimate spot for one of my favourite pastimes?

I just might even become a regular.

Happy Tuesday!

Walking Away

It was something that I never expected that I'd ever hear from DW: "I don't want to, and it would hurt, but I'm prepared to walk away from it all."

Last week, I pulled the plug on the last of my Meta accounts, Instagram. I had already said goodbye to Facebook (including its Messenger service), Threads, and WhatsApp.

Instagram was the hardest but in truth, I haven't actually missed it yet. I've been adding photos to my old Flickr account and I've been sharing photos on Bluesky.

I'm good.

On Friday, I officially closed my Amazon account, ditching Prime Video in the process. And on the weekend, DW and I took our time in grocery shopping, making sure that nothing that went into our cart was American.

We're doing our best to do our part. Shop Canadian!

Last year, we started making plans for our next big vacation—months before our trip to Mexico, last December. It'll be our first family vacation in about seven years, and everyone is keen.

I'm not sure I'm ready to share our destination yet: stay tuned. Or not, depending on how things go.

While we're not going to the United States (I vowed, in 2016, that I was done with that country), we do have to change planes in an American city, and both DW and I are on edge. It's a Red state.

I haven't been able to help myself. I've been critical of the U.S. and haven't held back about my thoughts of the felon in the White House. DW has asked me to be guarded on social media but I haven't done a very good job, especially since this weekend, when the Orange Asshole slapped a stupid tarriff on Canadian goods entering the States.

He's petty and vindictive, and DW is worried about what could happen to Canadians who go through security at American airports.

I'm hoping that if things start to escalate before our trip (we still have until May), the Canadian government will declare the U.S. to be a risk and announce a travel advisory. And, in doing so, our airline will divert us to another transfer point, outside of the States.

But the other day, DW said something that caught me by surprise: "I'm prepared to walk away from it all." Meaning, she'd cancel our trip, resulting in the loss of thousands of non-refundable dollars.

I'm not ready to do that yet but we'll consider it as a last resort. We're watching the dismantling of American democracy, and we don't want to be anywhere near it when that happens.

Unfortunately, our country is too close for comfort.

Trying Not to Sound Obsessed

Okay, it seems like I've talked about karaoke a lot this month, when, in reality, I've only written two posts before this one.

This is my third post, this month, about this hobby.

Last Friday, when I met some people at Conspiracy Theory's karaoke night, one of the guys told me that there's a weekly karaoke event in a mall that's close to my house. He said that it's held every Wednesday in a basement area in the Barrhaven Mall.

As he described the venue, he said that you go down the set of stairs where the mall transitions from a single-level strip mall to a two-story office building. I knew the place well: both kids had attended the Nepean School of Music and had also taken classes at Kou's Taekwon-do.

But the basement in the Barrhaven Mall was pretty tight, the last time I was down there, waiting for Kid 2 to emerge from a drum lesson. Where would they hold a karaoke night?

When Wednesday came, I thought I'd do a bit of research. I typed karaoke barrhaven into a Google search and found Hummingbird Hall. Looking at the posted photos, it seemed like a large enough space, but where exactly was it?

Because the venue had the name Hummingbird, the name of the studio that is affiliated with the Nepean School of Music, I guessed that the owners had expanded a space to offer public entertainment. Had they cleared out some of the music classrooms and made space? Had they closed out the recording studio?

I remembered having asked James, who first told me about this venue, if it was anywhere near the taekwon-do school, and he said he hadn't seen Kou's. So again, I turned to Google.

Kou's Taekwon-do is listed on Facebook and on Instagram, but because I closed out all of my Meta accounts last weekend, I had no access to those sites. But I did find another Web page that mentioned Kou's, yet it was no longer in the Barrhaven Mall.

Did Hummingbird Hall take over the space that was once Kou's?

I remembered being able to smell the sweat from that exercise space before you even passed by the reception area of the music school. I hope they were able to air that space out.

More research gave me additional information about the karaoke night at Hummingbird Hall, and either James was mistaken or the venue has changed their karaoke night. A poster that I found stated that karaoke is on Thursdays.

Glad I checked ahead, rather than just showed up.

Hummingbird Hall also offers live music, so perhaps I'll have to keep an eye out for who will be playing there. Are they a direct competitor to Greenfields Pub, which also has a stage and offers live music, and is directly above Hummingbird Hall, on the ground level and at the north end of Barrhaven Mall?

If they have as good a craft beer selection as Greenfields, they just might.

I'm going to scope out the venue this evening. If the karaoke is good, it might replace Conspiracy Theory as my practice spot. Or maybe, I'll go to both, depending on the music selection.

And hopefully, at Hummingbird Hall, I won't be invited to join a table.

Behind the Scenes

This isn't a Wordless Wednesday. I felt this post required a little explanation.

Usually, when I take photos in a studio with my photography meetup group, I focus solely on getting my shots of our subject. After all, that's what I'm there for.

But on my last photo shoot, at the beginning of this month, I felt I needed to get our surroundings captured, just to show what it's like while you're waiting for your turn with the model. And so here are a couple of behind-the-scenes peeks of our shoot with Ira Balan (careful: her Bluesky feed is NSFW).

I still haven't finished going through all of my shots from that shoot but I'll share some more, for a Wordless Wednesday. You can see past posts of Ira here and here. Those posts are also NSFW.

Happy Wednesday!

Singing Buddies

This isn't what I expected.

A few weeks ago, I had planned to check out a Bells Corners brew pub, which hosted a weekly karaoke night, to see if I'd be able to practice singing new songs before I tried them out on my friends who are also avid karaoke singers.

The first time I arrived at Conspiracy Theory Brewing on my own, it was filled with people who were celebrating someone's retirement. I stepped in the doorway, saw all the suits and dresses, and did a 180 out of there.

I then learned that the brewhouse and kitchen was moving it's Thursday karaoke to Friday. I couldn't go for the first Friday because it was DW's birthday, but I promised myself that I would go the next week.

And that was last Friday.

As I had hoped, the spacious dining area was mostly empty. Someone was at the microphone: a man who appeared to be in his mid-60s, belting out a song I didn't recognize with a beautiful voice.

Stiff competition, if this was a singing contest. Luckily, it's not.

Five people were at one table, four at another, and a lone man was at a third. Looking toward the bar, there were about four people ponied up, and a couple of people were sitting at a small table, across from the bar.

Small crowd. Perfect.

The server who had looked after my friend, Perry, and me, when we showed up in late November, greeted me once more. When I told him that I was just here for drinks and to sing, he let me pick any table I wanted, and I chose one of the long tables near the booth where Perry and I had sat a couple of months ago. I wasn't too close to anyone else and not far from the exit, so I could leave, unnoticed by the other tables, when I was ready to leave.

I ordered a pale ale that was hoppy and full-bodied. Flavourful and tasty. For any of my Beer O'Clock fans, it was called Cousin Yeti, a golden-amber brew that weighed in at 5.6% ABV and 35 IBUs. Crushable. Sessionable.

Two-and-a-half mugs on my rating scale.

About halfway into my glass and between singers, I moved up to the KJ to put in my request. He recognized me from November and asked me for my name again. When I gave it, he looked me up on his computer. Apparently, he keeps track of the singers and the songs they had performed.

I had two songs from when Perry and I were here: "Behind Blue Eyes," by The Who and "I Am, I Said," by Neil Diamond.

I asked him if he had "Driver 8," by R.E.M. I had sung that song at the last karaoke night my friends and I attended, at O'Brien's, and thought I'd warm up with a song I had already sung, but this KJ didn't have it.

"I have 'Drive'," he said.

"Not the same song," I replied. I figured that I might as well get right into the practice and requested a song that I haven't sung before. Luckily, he had it.

I returned to my table and listened to others. Everyone at the tables in my section participated, and they all had great voices. As the people at the table with six patrons got up and down from their table, I recognized a couple of them from my November visit.

When it was my turn to get up, I realized that I'd be leaving my glass unattended. I don't have the same fears as I have warned my daughters about, when they leave their own drinks unattended in a bar. I was pretty sure no one would try to put anything in my drink, but all the same I was going to sing with my eyes on my table—I knew the words to my song so didn't need the teleprompter.

Song done, I sat down and added liquid to my dry throat. Within a few seconds of settling in, one of the men from the table of six approached me.

"Are you on your own tonight?" he asked.

"I am."

"Would you like to join our table?"

Honestly, I didn't really want to. My whole purpose for being here was to enjoy a brew, maybe two, sing a song, maybe two, and head out. No muss. No fuss.

The man sort of reminded me of one of my oldest buddies, Don, minus the silver hair. I pegged him to be in his late 40s to early 50s. His friends were all looking toward us, a couple of them motioning for me to come over.

"Sure, if you don't mind," I said.

"Yeah, come join us."

There were two other men and three women at the table, all of varying ages. One of the men was the guy who was singing when I arrived. His name was Jeff. The man who invited me was James. There was an April and an Annie, and unfortunately I forgot the other two names shortly thereafter the introductions were made.

"How do you all know one another?" I asked, once I had sat down.

They hadn't worked together, hadn't met one another before they got into karaoke. Many of them were hardcore, going to venues around the city: some, as often as five or six times a week. They got to recognize one another and eventually started meeting up. They're essentially establishment at Conspiracy Theory.

We chatted about the genres of music that we liked and what we disliked. I said that there were only two genres of music that I really didn't like: rap and country.

Some of them loved country music and I was told that I was being too simplistic in generalizing rap music, that there were different kinds.

"I've heard many variations and there isn't one style that I've liked," I said.

"Same here," said Annie, "rock and roll, all the way!" She gave me a high five.

"Should I give the KJ another song?" I asked.

"No need," said James. "He's got you in the system. He'll call you up when it's your turn and you can give him the song then."

We chatted about the different venues for karaoke around the city and I learned, from James, that there's a place next to the Nepean School of Music, under the Barrhaven Mall, that has karaoke every Wednesday night. I might have to check that out.

I also learned that James lives in my neighbourhood. Not just Barrhaven, but one street over, about a couple of hundred metres or so from one another.

I ordered a second glass, this time choosing the No Goal IPA. I was pleased to learn that it is very much like a traditional British IPA: no haze, no tropical fruit; just a clear, copper-gold, with notes of grapefruit and pine resin, but a bitter acidity that was a bit strong.

Everyone at the table had a turn at the mic and everyone was great. Jeff took the cordless mic and walked as far as the bar. In unison, the other man at the table (whose name escaped me) and I said, "If he walks into the washroom with that mic, I'm leaving."

"Jeff likes to wander," said James. "One time, during the summer, he walked out to the patio and then kept going, got halfway across the street before turning back."

"Good range on that mic," I said.

It wasn't until I was about three-quarters through my IPA when my name was called. "I'm going to try something that I haven't sung before, so I'm going to get my apologies out of the way now," I said, rising from my chair.

I asked the KJ about which platform he uses for his music. "I buy them from all over. I pay about $3.50 to $4 per song and have made my own list."

I requested my song and he acknowledged that he had it. Typing the title on his keyboard, he showed me the result. "I have two versions: a KaraFun and Zoom version."

I breathed a sigh of relief. I've tried singing the KaraFun version, through YouTube, at home, but I don't like it. You have to sing all the words and some are out of my range. There's also a line that overlaps another so it can't be sung very well.

The Zoom Entertainment version leaves the high-range lyrics up to the recording and the overlapped lyrics are also automated. I requested that one.

There's a part in the song where the singer sings a somewhat high note and sustains it for a few seconds. When I've practiced the song at home, I've chosen to drop that note to the way it's sung two times previous in the song, at a lower register.

As I sang the song, I tested my volume and thought about that one note. Should I attempt it? Everyone who sang, this evening, had done a great job. Did I risk cracking my voice toward the climax of the song?

I was here to practice. I wasn't here to make friends. If I crack the note here, I'd drop down for when I sang it at the karaoke night with my friends, at Stray Dog Brewing, on February 8.

I decided, as the lyrics came up, that I was going to go for it.

If I cracked the note, who cares? Sure, these new folks were nice, inviting a new stranger to join their crowd. If I really botched the song, I could find another venue. Maybe James didn't go to the place in the Barrhaven Mall every week.

I nailed the note. Back at the table, James confirmed it. "You nailed it."

I only had a mouthful of the IPA left, and I had already settled my tab with the waitress, so I didn't bother sitting back down. I gulped the rest of my glass, grabbed my coat.

"Going already?" asked Annie.

"Afraid so. I was great to meet everyone. Thanks for inviting me to your table."

"We hope to see you next week," said the man, whose name I'll need to get.

Next time.

The Hardest Goodbye

I sent a message to all of my contacts on WhatsApp that I was deleting my account. About 24 hours later, I did just that.

I didn't have many contacts, to be fair, and I have lots of ways in which we can keep in touch. Quitting WhatsApp wasn't a hardship.

What was hard was saying goodbye to the hundreds of people who followed me on Instagram. Last Thursday, I posted a message stating my reasons for quitting my Meta apps. I said that I'd be closing my account within a few days.

I downloaded my data from Instagram, and as soon as I had confirmation that the download was completed, I pulled the trigger.

More than 4,400 photos and more than 14 years of memory.

I mean, I still have the photos, or most of them, anyway. There will be some that I shot on the spur of the moment, strictly with the intention of sharing them on that photo app. The rest of them have been stored in my photo database, on a couple of external hard drives.

For anyone who's ever wanted to reach me, I have an e-mail address that appears in the right-hand margin of this blog.

But that's it. As of last night, I have no more Meta accounts. Here is the final post on my account:

Though saying goodbye to Instagram, with whom I've had an account since before Zuck got his hands on it, was the hardest thing to do, I feel better knowing that I'm no longer supporting a corporation that supports a Fascist felon.

Change my mind? No way.

The Purge

Buh-bye.

I left Twitter the very day that Musk took it over. On the day that Zuck gave the Orange Felon $1M for his inauguration, I left Threads.

There was no looking back.

I stopped using Facebook at the end of 2019 (wow... that's five years ago!) because my feed was constantly filling up with garbage posts that I wasn't interested in. I only wanted to see content from my family and friends. I had kept the account open, though, to keep in contact with family members with which this platform was the only way we kept in contact.

This week, however, I deleted my account.

I'm also in the process of getting rid of WhatsApp. I've recently opened a Signal account and encourage anyone who has my phone number to connect with me there.

The only Meta account that remains is Instagram, and that one's going to be hard to quit, though I'll probably pull the plug on it in the coming days. Say goodbye to more than 4,400 photos...

I've opened a Pixelfed account but so far, there's just one photo and it's of my ugly mug. I've only connected with two people I know and it seems a bit glitchy, so I don't know if I'll be using it much.

I closed my 500px account a few weeks ago because I wasn't using it enough and was paying too much for it, so I don't know where my photos will be shared, apart from my blog.

Next up is Amazon. I've been a Prime member for years and have enjoyed free shipping on my purchases, plus many shows on Prime Video. But I'm done with it.

I'm going to start buying local and will shop directly from manufacturers. Yes, it means that I'll have to start paying for shipping again but that's a price that I'm willing to pay if I can't actually go to a physical store and pick it up, myself.

I'm done with billionaires who suck up to fascist dictators.

Are you also doing a purge? Let me know about your alternatives.

Update:

I just learned that Signal is owned by billionaires Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, but that the company itself is non-profit. I can live with that.

Beer O'Clock: London Calling

It was never my intention to abstain from beer consumption in January.

In fact, on New Year's Day, as we hosted dinner for my folks and Kid 2, who wasn't able to join us over the Christmas holidays, I had two pints over the course of our evening. They were cans of beer that I had reviewed in early December and I wanted to make space in my beer fridge, so wanted to use them up.

My father and Kid 2 helped me use up several cans, too.

And yet, after making space in my mini fridge, I didn't replenish the void for a few more weeks. I wasn't drinking beer at all, even though my fridge wasn't completely empty.

No, I wasn't participating in Dry January: it just seemed that I'd feel like pouring myself a can—usually, after work (Work mode: OFF; Beer mode: ON)—but I'd never actually head down to the basement to retrieve a can. And with the passing of our New Year's dinner, I only had two cans of beer left in the fridge.

I placed an online order for beer but even after it arrived at my doorstep, I didn't crack open a can. That is, until this week, more than halfway into the month.

(Now, don't get me wrong: it's not as if I've been abstaining from alcohol this month. DW and I have shared bottles of wine and I've had a couple of cocktails over the weeks. I just haven't been drawn toward beer.)

When I thought of Ottawa beer companies from which to place my order, I naturally fell to one of my favourite breweries. But when I saw what they had available, there was nothing new, and I was in the mood for something new.

So I went to another favourite brewery, and this time, I hit the jackpot. There were three brews I had never tried before. In this post, I review one of them.

Stray Dog is certainly a big favourite of mine. I visited this Orleans brewery when they first opened and again at their first anniversary celebration. I've attended various events and will do so again, in a few weeks, when they hold a karaoke night.

Stray Dog makes great hazy pale ales and has one of the best stouts in town, but when I saw that they were offering an ESB (Extra Special Bitter), which is a favourite style of mine but isn't something that many local brewers produce, I had to get me some.

As my first new brew of 2025, let's crack into it.

London Calling ESB (5.8% ABV)
Stray Dog Brewing Company
Orleans ON

Appearance: pours a clear, copper-red to brown, almost like a good, steeped tea, with a thin, whitish head that quickly settles to a solid lace.

Nose: a caramelly sweetness and steely flint to the aroma, mixed with overripe prunes.

Palate: where there is sweetness in the nose, there is no trace of it in the mouth. A bitter fruit meets the palate straight away, with malt backing it up. There's also an acidity that makes me think of over-steeped tea, which brings about a strong but dry finish that doesn't linger. The body is full but not heavy, making this a somewhat quaffable ale. I'll get to the 'somewhat' element soon.

Overall impression: The can does describe this ESB as 'complex' and I'll give Stray Dog that. Perhaps too complex, in that some of the traditional bitter-versus-maltiness is overpowered by the acidity. A traditional ESB is supposed to be sessionable, meaning it's easy to drink. This one gives a bit of a punch in the mouth.

Maybe that's why Stray Dog gave it the name that they did. The opening notes to The Clash's 1979 hit, London Calling, provides solid jabs of guitar and drums from the get-go, and builds into a solid scream. This ESB is like that: powerful from the first sip.

I have to admit that as I drank more, the acidity seemed to lessen and I was able to enjoy it more. This ale leans toward the upper end for ABV from an ESB (usually as low as 4.6% to as high as 6.2%) and I can taste a bit of the alcohol. It goes down like a spiked cuppa tea.

Beer O'Clock rating: 🍺🍺

London Calling is available from the brewery itself and can be ordered online for delivery, for a modest fee.

Cheers!

Snippets

Last month, when DW and I were in Akumal Bay, Mexico, with four of our close friends, I had arrived with expectations of making another travel video of our favourite Mayan Riviera resort. But after a few days of relaxation and spending time with our friends, I decided that a video wasn't as important, so with the exception of capturing video footage of what we saw while snorkelling, I didn't capture much else.

One of my underwater cameras even failed me, so footage—especially of a couple of sea turtles—didn't quite turn out.

When DW and I returned home from our trip, I still took the time to remove all video footage from my cameras and edit the clips. But then they sat in storage for a few more weeks. This weekend, however, I decided to see if there was anything that I could put together for a video.

Of the more than 30 minutes of clips, I had enough to put a video that might bring back some memories to my friends. The video is less than three minutes long. Perhaps it might even be worthwhile for my viewers, too.

Have a look.

If you like my videos, give them a thumbs up and subscribe. It would be nice to see my channel grow this year.

I've already started capturing images for an upcoming video idea, so stay tuned for when that comes out.

Happy Monday!

Practice

For many years, my friends and I have been attending karaoke nights around the city, enjoying each other's company and doing something that we like to do: sing.

We've actually become rather serious about it. Some friends have actually purchased home karaoke equipment to practice for when we meet at a club, bar, or restaurant. We've also downloaded karaoke apps, which not only let us try out a song before we hit the stage but also let us know if the song is generally available on singing platforms.

When I come up with a song that I want to sing, I'll check to see if one of the largest karaoke systems, KaraFun, has the song. I usually pick a song with which I'm already familiar, so I only need to make sure that I have the lyrics down solidly.

Occasionally, I'll pick a song that I've heard of but may not be overly familiar with the lyrics, or may not even know the words at all. In that case, I'll listen to the song several times, just taking in the vocalists tone, getting the rhythm, and of course, learning the lyrics.

I'll find a karaoke version of the song on YouTube and practice in my living room or bedroom.

But I find that there's a difference between me practicing a song at home and actually singing it on a karaoke night, in front of a live audience. It's like I'm two different singers.

At home, I tend to hold back. I rarely sing at full volume, especially when DW isn't also practicing in the same room (we alternate) or any time that Kid 1 is home. And because I hold back, I find that my voice will crack or I'll run out of air.

Plus, belting it out in our family room or bedroom makes it sound like I'm screaming.

When this happens, too often, I end up deciding that I can't sing the song and therefore won't perform it at a karaoke night.

I need a place where I can practice that has the space for me to belt it out but has as few people around to hear it, lest I offend their ears.

Last month, I met up with a longtime buddy for drinks, after work. We ended up in Bells Corners, at Conspiracy Theory Brewing Company.

I reviewed Conspiracy Theory's beer, several years ago, back when owner, Paul Card, was brewing out of his garage, in Barrhaven. Since then, I hadn't had the opportunity to visit his full-sized brew pub, especially when the pandemic shut everything down. Because my buddy, Perry, hadn't been to this brewery, we thought the visit was long overdue.

Little did we know that Conspiracy Theory runs a karaoke night every Thursday, the day that we just happened to be there.

Paul was there and I re-introduced myself, reminded him of the review I had written, and introduced him to Perry, who used to own his own brewery, Scotch-Irish Brewing Company, many years ago. Paul and Perry had a lot in common, starting from home brewers to successful brewmasters.

Perry also has a great singing voice and has come out for karaoke nights several times. But on this evening, he wasn't in the mood to share his vocals.

It was a very quiet night at Conspiracy Theory. There were only two other tables that were occupied in the spacious brew pub, and yet both tables had participants for karaoke. I thought it was a great opportunity to practice a new song.

A few months earlier, at a karaoke night in Gatineau, I had requested this song (Behind Blue Eyes, by The Who) but the KJ wasn't paying attention, and told me that I was up after the current singer, who just happened to be singing the exact same song. I had to make a last-minute change and ended up not singing this song.

I was a bit disappointed because I wasn't 100-percent sure that I had the full range for the song. When I had practiced it at home, I held back a bit and my voice cracked, but I was sure that I could get the words out if I used my full volume in a karaoke setting.

Fortunately, I was able to sing it at Conspiracy Theory. And Perry confirmed that it was within my range.

Starting this year, I made the decision to visit Conspiracy Theory, on my own, to practice new songs. I'll go in, have a glass or two of beer, sing a song (or two, if the place is quiet), and leave.

Last Thursday—the first karaoke night at Conspiracy Theory for 2025—I made the 15-minute drive out to Bells Corners and was a bit surprised to see several cars in their parking lot. On my first visit, with Perry, there was only one other car in the lot when I had arrived.

When I walked through the doors, I saw a banner in the foyer that read Happy Retirement! Looking into the beer hall, I saw lots of suits and dresses. A table had been set up with a cake, already cut into and mostly devoured. Looking toward the bar, many seats were taken. The KJ was at the back of the hall, looking at his computer screen, though no one was singing.

"Nope," I said aloud but to myself. I pivoted 180 degrees, got in my car, and drove home.

"Next week," I said, this time in my head. "I'll try again next week."

Yesterday, while checking out their Web site, I discovered that Conspiracy Theory has moved their karaoke nights to Fridays, starting today. I can't go today because it's DW's birthday and I'm all about celebrating it with her.

Next week. I'll try again next week.

If next Friday is successful, will I use this brew pub on a weekly basis to practice songs? I think so. Though I already have confidence to get up in front of a microphone and sing to strangers (and my dear friends), I don't always have confidence that I can pull off the song that I choose. This venue can help me determine that.

The next karaoke night that I'm attending—with friends, that is—is Saturday, February 8, at Stray Dog Brewing Company, in Orleans. Come on out if you want to hear some great singers (oh, and me, too).

Ira

New Year, New Face

I missed the beard.

Sure, it was itchy, grew so long that my moustache was curling under my upper lip, getting in the way with my eating and drinking. If I wanted to pluck a whisker from the 'stache, all I had to do was bite down on it and smile.

Gross, I know.

Last summer, when I grew my beard, there was no conscious decision to do so. I just didn't shave on one weekend, and on the following Monday, I awoke later than usual and skipped shaving so that I could be at my desk for when my usual workday starts.

From then, I got in the habit of not shaving; not from wanting to have a beard but out of laziness. By the time my beard filled in, I was used to it.

But I was never attached to the beard, and then one day, I decided to shave it off without giving it much thought.

Last month, I saw some of the photos that I had captured of me, with the beard, and I told myself that I didn't look too bad in it. I saw one of my kayaking videos, where I had the beard, and I actually started to miss the facial hair.

In the final days of 2024, I told myself that I was going to grow it again. I just had to get one final video made and New Years Eve out of the way, and I would stop shaving.

I haven't shaved since December 31.

It wasn't until this past weekend that DW asked, "What's going on with your face?"

"I missed the beard," I said.

"I didn't."

"This is for me."

Last evening, after work, I went to my barber for a haircut. It had been more than a month since he saw me and a trim was overdue.

"I love the beard," Andrew said. At the end of the cut, he rubbed some moisturizer into my face and beard.

I'm not gonna lie: I didn't like the smell of it and won't let him apply it again.

For my haircut, I didn't ask Andrew for a particular cut. I almost never do. I just let him go to work and trust that he'll make me look good. When I got home, I took this photo.

Thoughts?

When I looked at the image on my phone, Google suggested some AI enhancements to the photo. Ever since I installed Gemini, it's been making all kinds of suggestions for photo editing.

I thought, why the hell not?

It offered me a 3D cartoon rendering of my photo and, again, I went with it.

The photo looks more like my brother than it does me. First of all, the rendering has de-aged me to the age that my brother is: perhaps, a few years younger.

I'll keep it, and may even use it as my new avatar. With me turning 60 in less than two months, I don't want to look as old as I am.

And I'll keep using it, and the original photo, for as long as I keep the beard or until I take my annual birthday photo, whichever comes first. But for now, it's a new year and a new face.

Happy Tuesday!

The Expanse

I was yesterday years old when I learned a new trick on my mobile photo-editing app, Snapseed.

Anybody who uses Instagram to post a portrait-oriented photo knows that Instagram crops an image to no larger than 5 x 4, and that can sometimes be rather limiting. It has no problem with a landscape ratio of 9:16, but turn that image on its side and you're screwed.

Luckily, Snapseed has helped me get around that issue with a editing feature called Expand. You can take your image and add a border to it—the border can be either black or white, or you can use the Smart mode, which uses AI (I'm assuming) to determine which colour of border works best with your image.

Because I use the dark viewing style of Instagram (heck, I use the dark setting on any app that offers it), I tend to pick the black border. When I import that expanded image into Instagram and maximize the size of the image, the top and bottom borders are cut off and the vertical image appears the way I want it to.

Occasionally, I'll use the white border but to me it just doesn't always have the same outcome that I want for my IG posts.

On Wednesday, I attended an event with my Ottawa Photography Meetup group. We rented studio space and hired a gorgeous Ukrainian model, Ira Balan, who amazed us with high-key and low-key images, utilizing various fabrics, a rope, jewelry, and sometimes, little else.

So, as a warning, there are some images in this post that are NSFW.

As much as I like the studio that we use, and as much as Ira paid attention to her available space and kept within the backdrop area, the studio can sometimes be just a bit too small to fulfill a vision for a photograph. Most of the photos that I shot during our session were limited to vertical orientation and Ira filled most of the frame within the backdrop.

One of my biggest faults, after a photo shoot, be it of a person, nature, or whatever, is that I want to look at the images right away and start editing them. And lately, I haven't waited to get home or download my photos from the camera onto a hard drive, that I can use to edit on my computer, but I've instead uploaded the photos straight from my camera, via WiFi, onto my smartphone. The RAW file is converted to JPEG before I even start editing.

Instead of using my robust editing software on my computer, I've been editing the images with Snapseed, on my phone. I find that Snapseed is fine for editing images that I intend for Instagram or on other social-media sites but if I want to make the image useful on a larger screen, to print, or to give to the model, these lower-res files just don't do it.

Okay, I'm rambling a bit, but I want to give enough warning that some shots, coming up, aren't safe for office viewing.

As soon as I got home from the shoot, I started looking quickly at the images I had captured of Ira, instantly deleting files where the flash didn't fire, where there was a bit of camera shake, where Ira's beautiful face was a bit blurry, or when I fired before a pose was fully constructed or otherwise just didn't turn out.

I then uploaded a few that I really liked onto my smartphone and started editing, before I added them to my Instagram account. And it was while editing these photos that I discovered this trick on Snapseed.

Instead of expanding the portrait-oriented photos with the black border (and the white border made it painfully obvious that the high-key images didn't have a pure-white background), I decided to try the Smart mode.

Snapseed literally grabbed the edges of the image and cloned them into the space, making the backdrop appear larger that it actually was.

The image on the left is uncropped and shows the extent of space that the backdrop provides; the image on the right, which uses the Expand–Smart feature, gives just a bit more room. For fun, I used the Expand mode four times on this image to make it appear that Ira was in a huge space.

An expanse, if you will.

When we were capturing low-key images (black background and minimal lighting), one of the other photographers introduced a smoke dispenser to play with. When the smoke hit the lights, it provided a great effect.

Of course, we had only so much width to the backdrop and I didn't want to pick up the light boxes in the frame, but we still got some neat shots. Here is my favourite of the smoke shots, and this is the image that's NSFW.

After having success at expanding the white space around Ira for the high-key shots, I wondered what would happen if I expanded the smoke shot in Smart mode.

Now, I have to admit that using this mode had its problems. It cloned the smoke and repeated the pattern a couple of times to either side of the image. And, unfortunately, it also cloned Ira's right hand, which is in front of the smoke on the left side of the image.

I used the Healing feature in Snapseed to make the pattern not repeated and to remove the floating hand. And as you can see, I was able to crop the image to make it a horizontal orientation.

I hadn't paid much attention to the Smart mode on the Expand feature because, of course, you can't use it with most photos. You can only do it when there are no defined objects on the edges of your photo. But for plain backdrops, it's a game-changer.

Thanks to Ira for being such a wonderful model. She brought fun and professionalism to the studio and I'd be happy to work with her again.

I'll post more photos from this shoot, next week.

Happy Friday!

A Million by 60

If I said "thank you" a million times, it wouldn't be enough.

In June of 2011, I started this blog. It was my third blog, the first being a journal of what was going on with me and my family, intended for friends and family members who wanted to know what we were up to. I also created Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary, where I published the raw, rough-draft chapters that would eventually become my novel, which was published in 2012.

Today, only the first chapter remains available to read on that old blog.

When I was seeing more and more people reading Brownfoot Journal, I decided to create another blog that was separate from my family life—sort of—and was just an outlet for my thoughts and opinions. That other blog is what you're now reading.

The Brown Knowser blog has been my outlet for nearly 14 years, where I've shared my thoughts, photos, fiction, music interests, my YouTube videos, and more. And for some reason, my readers like what I've had to share.

Thank you!

The blog has gone from a couple of viewers per day to a few dozen, to a hundred, to 500, to sometimes more than a thousand viewers each day. Last Friday, even though I didn't have a new blog post to share, I had received almost 1,000 viewers by the time a post is usually announced on social media.

It's still early days, this month, but by current projections, I could surpass 30,000 views this month.

Overall, my blog has received more than 957,000 views. Again, thank you!

In March, I'll be 60 years old, and I thought it would be great if, by my birthday, The Brown Knowser would reach one million views. But to do that, I need your help.

If you like my posts, spread the word. Share my posts on whatever social-media platforms you're on. If you follow me on Bluesky, re-post my announcements of the latest blog posts.

Help me reach a million by the time I reach 60.

Once more, thank you for your support!

The Last YouTube Post of 2024

I had actually published this YouTube video four days before My Best Photos of 2024.

Earlier, in the spring of 2024, I had posted a highlights video of Costa Rica, promising more to come throughout the year but never did anything with the hundreds of clips that DW and I had captured of our two-week excursion around this beautiful Central-American country. I became preoccupied with making kayaking videos, telling myself that I'd eventually get around to editing and producing the Costa Rican videos later.

When December came around, I knew I had to get my butt into gear.

And so, in fairly quick succession, I put out three videos. I've already shared the first and second videos with you, and between Christmas and New Years Eve, I produced the third installment, which covers the Pacific coast around Dominical (including Dominicalito, Uvita, and more), the Copey District (which includes San Gerardo de Dota and the Parque Nacional Los Quetzales), and our return to San Jose, where we return home.

Where the first two videos cover a week, combined, the third video packs in an entire week on its own. It's just over 25 minutes long, so when you have a break, give it a view.

DW and I will be taking our kids with us on our next big adventure, which happens in May. I'll have more to say about it in the coming months.

In the meantime, I have some ideas for videos that I plan to release between now and then. If you don't want to miss them when they come out, please subscribe to my channel.

Thanks for watching and stay tuned.

Another Photo Vlog Post

Happy 2025, folks!

Despite the challenges that will no doubt face us in the new year, I am confident that if we stand by one another, we'll get through it, together.

If you've seen yesterday's blog post, this may seem like simply a repeat of that post. Also, I've never really been one to make new year's resolutions, but I've decided that I do need to make some changes for 2025.

For nearly 14 years, The Brown Knowser blog has been one of my passion projects. I love to write and my blog has been an outlet for my writing. Photography is my favourite hobby and The Brown Knowser has let me share what I hope have been images that are worth viewing.

Or, at least, my photos have supplemented my writing.

But another hobby has started drawing my time and energy: videos. I'm not particularly good at them but I enjoy recording them, nonetheless. My YouTube channel is another form of storytelling and I have considered it to be an extension of my blog.

Videos take a lot longer to put together than a blog post. And because they take more time, I have found that I either rush to complete a video or I spend more time on them at the cost of not writing a decent blog post.

In 2025, I'd like to change that.

Starting this year, I'm going to devote equal time to my blog and to my YouTube channel. And I'm not going to rush either.

So I'm not going to feel the need to publish five posts per week if I feel that I need to spend more time to make a decent video. I only want to put out content—written or visual—that I think is truly worthwhile, to me and to my audience.

Thanks to all of you who've supported me over the years.

I guess this really isn't a repeat of yesterday's post. But in one way, it is.

Yesterday, I shared 13 photographs that I felt were my best images of 2024. I meant to only share 12 but an extra photo creeped in. On Sunday, DW and I sat in front of our family-room TV and reviewed these photos, with one image being captured earlier that day.

DW hadn't seen my favourite photos of the year, though she had been with me when I captured a few of them. Looking at our TV screen, she was seeing my compilation of my best images for the first time.

I recorded our interaction and created a video for my YouTube channel. Have a look.

I hope that if you enjoy The Brown Knowser blog and like my YouTube videos that you'll subscribe to my channel. I have some interesting ideas for 2025 that I hope will interest you, too.

Again, may 2025 bring you joy. Continue being awesome.