Mapping the City

From Swing-Along Blog

(Click on it to see it fully; I was too lazy to couldn't resize it to fit the blog width)

Behold! When viewing those Hypercity maps today, it got me pondering.

So, I took the Assassin's Creed II game map (Circa ~1491) and overlaid it on the modern Rome map.

It made me giggle with how well it matched up. Oh, Assassin's Creed. You and your historical accuracy~

Such a nerd.

Anyways! On that note, I will say that maps, to me, are really only something I ever use in video games. When it comes to real life, I'm usually pretty good so long as I have the address for where I'm going and know which way the numbers go up in. (Suffice to say, anywhere the streets aren't numbered, I'll be totally lost. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, EUROPE.)

So having maps that "explore" the city for you, or show you the city in an entirely different manner other than simply North and South, was a rather entertaining experience.

As for the maps in class, I would have to say that the Hypercity maps were my favorite. ♪ Seeing not only how the cities have changed, but how the people's view of them have changed (COLOSSEUM HERE. THAT IS ALL.) was tremendously interesting.

And as for mapping "My Edmonton"? Easily done, as I consider myself quite the rebel when I take a slightly different route to work. Other than than, I'm pretty much like clockwork with where and when I go places.

My Edmonton

Every time the question of what "My Edmonton" is comes up, I flashback to an occasion on a forum, where I was asked "How are things going in Canada anyway? What's it like there? I've always wanted to go there." And I was at a loss for what to say. I went with "It's... cold? Well, even then, not really. Winter's pretty late this year. So it's... fine, I guess. It's home. *shrugs*" For that's exactly what Edmonton is to me  - home. I have no real frame of reference, since I've never really lived anywhere else.

For the where I go in Edmonton, it's a fairly regular thing. I work usually four times a week, down at the big Chapters on 170th, so I bus from the university to the mall, and then walk from there (an unpleasant walk at best in the winter, but rather nice once the weather warms up). On Fridays, I'm done classes at noon, so I go down to City Centre to see a movie - sometimes meandering about, depending on my mood - before going grocery shopping. On pay day Fridays, however, I also go down to a pub on Jasper and meet with some girls from work, and then we go comic book shopping down on Whyte.
I've been known to visit Mill Woods Town Center and Kingsway on occasion, in a search for fabric, but I'm usually not willing to make the trip unless there's a convention coming up, I have a costume to finish, and I can't bum a ride off someone.
Once a year I also go to Grant MacEwan for the annual anime convention - and I only bring this up that I actually know my way around there better than some of the students because of it, a fact I find rather humorous.

Where do I not go... Well, anywhere I have no reason to be. Anywhere I can't get by bus/walking/LRT. I never go anywhere for the sake of being there, and I never explore "just because" (I have a friend who used to do that, drove me nuts), but if I have somewhere I need to go, I'll manage to get there somehow, no matter how long or difficult a trek it might be.
As for how I inhabit it... hm... Well, let's just say, if I could, I'd be a hermit when I grow up.  I stick to myself for the most part, and more often then not I stay home if given the option, but that's the way I like it.