Me and The Monocle

 

If you have read this blog before, you know that I like books.  There is something about magazines though.  Maybe it's their ever changing content.  Maybe it's the ease at which they can be picked up and put down.  Either way, it's pretty rare that I become a loyal follower of a magazine.  I've been a on again off again follower of some magazines.  Model Railroader and Radio Control Car Action certainly fit that bill.  I enjoy what's inside, but sometimes it seems like I've had enough.  I pick up one issue every 3 months or so.  Either something catches my eye or it doesn't.  I either read it at the library or scan through the issue at the bookstore.

For a magazine to inspire loyalty, it really has to speak to me.  Kansai Time Out was one such magazine.  I loved it, and I still feel bad that it is gone.  It has been replaced by the free Kansai Scene....it's good, but it isn't the same. It really isn't.

There was a time when I really loved Outside magazine.  It was well written, and regardless of the topic, I poured over every word.  One friend described it as the only magazine that could make anything a visit to the fishing hole seem epic.  I have not read it recently, but the last time I was quite sure that the honeymoon was over.

Most recently I have come across a magazine that fascinates me.  It is called the Monocle.  I cannot pinpoint exactly what I like about it.  It's all about a higher end life that seems so remote from mine. It's about the environment.  It's about quality over quantity.  It's about a lack of clutter and a more minimalist life.  Even as I read what I have written, I am not sure that I have actually hit it.

I've read two issues and really enjoyed both of them.  It's got a lot of pages, so I keep them around on my coffee table to flip through them on Saturday mornings when I am sipping coffee.  It's still early days, and I don't know if I will in fact become a loyal follower.  So far I enjoy it, but it will take at least half a year before I know for sure.

A Day on the Mountain

There is something to be said about spending a day skiing.  There is also something to be said about spending a day anywhere but work.  I guess you could think about that in many ways, and probably suggest warmer alternatives, like spending a day at the beach or something like that.

True.

I like both options, but I live in Canada, and January is simply not beach weather.  If I want to go to the beach, one day off is not going to be sufficient.  I would need to take a week (of course, going to the Rockies to ski would also take a week.....hmmm)

Skiing is a pretty good adrenaline rush.  Careening down hill, sometimes in control, sometimes not, is pretty thrilling.  A double black diamond run can really get the heart pumping.  And the windburn you get on your face roughly approximates a tan.

I can't lie to my readers (well I could, but what would be the point) I am not a great skier.  I am an intermediate skier with less of a death wish than most people on the mountain.  Sometimes I am cautious, sometimes I am reckless.  I guess it all depends.

I am a skier, not a snowboarder.  That is just a clarification, not a snobby declaration.  Snowboarding looks pretty cool, and I wish I could do it, but I am worried about being too old to learn it.  A good snowboarder seems very graceful, carving turns with ease, riding the mountain like it's a wave on the ocean.  Of course a bad snowboarder is just one more obstacle in my way, and an unpredictable one at that.

I might whine about having to shovel snow, but without snow there would be no skiing.  And if there were no snow, I couldn't take a midweek break to go skiing.