Bleh

Points:

1) I'm healthy-ish... for now
2) was at Aden's family cottage this weekend. Relaxed. Swam. It was nice.
3) Work sucks.
4) Especially after cottage weekend.
5) I'm angry because work makes me so, and a nice swim would help, but there's no nice swimming here.
6) Only a day and a half removed from Aden and I tangibly miss her. That's love for ya.
7) San Diego Comic Con is next week.
8) I'm surprisingly not as excited as I should be.
9) Probably because I'm generally angry at the comics industry and the comics fanbase right now.
10) No, I won't go into more details.
11) I am tired.
12) Decisions need to be made.
13) The Night Watch has taught me that for every good deed bad things happen, and conversely for every bad deed more bad things happen. It's kind of a bleak outlook.
14) I realize I've been getting more and more selfish, and also kind of bitter or testy with each year, as I begin to understand the world, politics, human nature, social dynamics, and the triumph of pessimism over optimism that seems to proliferate
15) Sunshine isn't shining as bright as he used to... sorry Mom.
16) Perhaps it's just better to ignore the news sometimes...
17) Ignorance may make one seem sub-intellectual, but would one rather be well-informed or happy?
18) This post is bumming me out more.
19) I'm looking forward to 2008, my Buy Nothing Year/A Year Without (need a catchy, individualistic buzzline for this)
20) In.Need.Of.Break.

Super Tedium

Ow. Ow. Ow.
That's the sound I make when I type or use a mouse. After spending 18 hours click, click, clicking away on the mouse this weekend (boring workstuff I wont get into) my thumb and forefinger on my right hand are experiencing some technical difficulties. Okay, not really, but they are a little stiff... I'm going for a massage on Wednesday and I'm making sure that at least half of it is spent on my hands, wrists and forearms.

After much repetitive stress inducing (on not just my hands, but eyes too) I swung out to see the (quite surprisingly entertaining) Transformers movie. I found the quick-cut frantic editing a bit jarring on my weary eyes, but overall an entertaining film. What I found more intriguing though was the trailer for the unnamed JJ Abrams project (codename "Cloverfield"). Yep, a trailer for a film that doesn't even have a name yet, and it was flipping brilliant as a teaser, and if that's the style of the movie it's certainly going to be interesting (think Blair Witch Project but with Godzilla instead of ghosts and the city instead of the woods).

update: official site-ish, plus Ethan Was Right and Ethan Was Wrong and a CHUD.com write-up

After the movie much discussion was had about our childhood (or teenaged) Transformers experiences. I'd never been much of a Transformers fan having never watched the cartoon, although I saw the movie once as a kid and again about six months back. I never had many Transformers toys, either. I was more of a He-Man and Star Wars junkie. Anyway, we were trying to figure out if the Decepticons in the film were mostly new (we all knew Megatron and Starscream, but weren't familiar with the others... turns out most if not all were new versions of old names) and I recalled having a really cool transforming tank when I was cool. I knew it's name started with a B or a D but I couldn't remember him, and it wasn't striking any recollections within the more hardcore Trans-fans I was with.

It was all Army green, die cast, and kick-ass.

When I got home I immediately went to the internets and checked out various Transformers sites but none of them had the one I was looking for. Rooms asked if maybe it wasn't a Go-Bot, but I only recalled Go-Bots being rinky-dink tiny things. After 40 minutes of empty searching my pillow beckoned...

This morning, a note from Rooms popped up into my in box, and it looks like he was right: Destroyer

I loved that thing. Even after I lost its removable cannon and its treads and one of its feet...it still kicked ass. I was going to say that the larger-sized die-cast Super Go-Bots were way more awesome than Transformers, but after seeing the others (including Psycho whom I also had) I realized that they were pretty lame robots comparatively.

burnout, brownout, toast

Canada day weekend was lovely, but the week has quickly taken all of the dura out of my recharged cells. Work, why dost thou be so bitcheth?

Anyway, my work week is about half over at this point, but really it's only like 1/4 over, as I'm in on the weekend to ensure a new system transition goes smoothly (requiring a lot of tedious blikkety blak) and then back to my usual work week.

Sigh.

Some interesting plans going on in the background, including some time at a cottage and the big San Diego Comic Con get-down fun-k. Can't come soon enough. Of course, time off only means more work to do when I get back. Aw, fartknockers!

---

As always, plenty of Graig-done comic book reviews over at Rack Raids, and one of these days I'll get around to reviewing Pixar's awesome gateau that is Ratatouille, but not today. Le sigh.

A little prone

So the folks came down south for a visit, mainly to see my Aunt from BC, visiting my Grandmother, but also to greet me kindly for my birthday. The sister and the folks descended upon BOBTown this past weekend for a visit, where Sunday night Aden and I hosted a meager but enjoyable dinner. As happens when families who rarely get the opportunity to get together like this get together, reminiscent memories get broken out like the fine china.

Anyway, the main topic was my accident prone youth, which included all before the age of 7:

1. falling off a swingset and breaking my arm
2. jumping off the roof of a car and breaking my other arm that same summer
3. taking an overdose of fluoride vitamins (which also included dealing them out to other children in the neighbourhood)
4. having a table fall on my hand
5. numerous other minor injuries too copious to mention

My mother also said "I don't remember how you got that scar above your eye, though," which, given the volume of my accidents, is not surprising, and yet, I'm pretty frustrated by this fact, since it's a pretty distinct thing and something I'm frequently (well, relatively speaking) asked about, appearance-wise anyway. Do I have to live my life never knowing the story of it? That's pretty sucky... I mean, I'll always have the summer of broken arms, but those wounds have no visible reminders...

31 is the new 30

I had a wonderful weekend.

Thanks to Aden, the Parkas, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Judd Apatow, The Ottawa Senators (but not Daniel Alfredsson), Mom and Dad, my sister, the Bishop and the Belcher, and Toronto for making it a good one.

Thanks to my friends for their greetings, tidings and surprise Amazonian packages.

A big middle finger to my lungs and sinuses for their continued disruption to normal life.

Hot fuzz in the summ...springtime?

Gads, this see-saw weather as a result of (gasp) Global Warming (the unseen boogeyman of the latest generation, GW is the thing petrifying the kids these days like Nuclear Holocausts scared the shit out of us when we were young) left us with an unholy trinity of warm days this weekend. It was absotastically gorgeous weather, nice to bike up to North York (from downtown) in, nice to spend the day outside in, nice to bike downtown (from North York) in, nice to do yardwork or toss a small foam football around in. It was just bleeding nice. Frankly, Sunday was actually a little too nice... a little too warm (+25°C), however there was a sweet cooling breeze when mobile on the 'cyclette that meant I didn't overheat too badly.

With all the warm weather, I'm glad to say I did enjoy the outdoors, but I did spend, perhaps, a little too much time indoors. With the hockey on on Saturday (more hockey talk below), I spent the evening (post 8:00) inside watching Buffalo trounce the Isles before getting fed up and watching Ator on Space (actually, it was Ator 3: The Hobgoblin, aka Quest for the Mighty Sword), a delicious piece of horrendous filmmaking starring Eric Allen Kramer, who also played Thor in the Incredible Hulk Returns. The pain of the Islanders losing and the pain of Ator should be sufficient punishment, but I also subjected myself to Psycho 2 during the commercial breaks, which seemed like a Murder She Wrote-quality production. After the two horrendous films ended, two more mediocre sequalled cinematic endeavors took their place in the form of Poltergeist 3 and Highlander: Endgame (#4 in a series). I could only stick with these for about half an hour before utter fatigue overcame me, but I have to say I love the schlocky Saturday Night givings on AMC and Space. Keep it up.

Sunday was partially wasted as Aden and I, after seeing the wee one off, returned to bed around 10am, not to emerge again, drowsy and sun-blinded, until 1:30 in the afternoon. Ooops. In eating breakfast in front of the TV, I got distracted by the awful Tampa/New Jersey game (damn you Devils), which I watched simultaneously with Fletch on AMC. I read the bulk of Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch novels a few years ago, and enjoyed them thoroughly. While the film captures the first book pretty closely, they let Chevy Chase loose a little too much, and his "bumbling" antics were an odd character facet to someone who was otherwise smooth, clever and charming. Chase, no doubt, the wrong choice for the role, but serves it fairly well. I abandoned the less acceptable Fletch Lives for greener pastures, meaning yard work and a bike ride. The day kind of whipped on by, capped off by the Detroit @ Calgary game (didn't manage to stay up past the first OT though).

Today, nice, but cooling down a little and spots of rain here and there, though not quite the downpour that was projected.

cocky talk

Hockey assessments and updates and general blikety-blah below.

How I projected vs how it's shaped up:

East
1) v.
2) v.

I had projected Buffalo/Tampa, Ottawa/NYR match ups, but Tampa collapsed under the pressure. Why they collapsed: Lecavalier and St. Louis were overplayed, playing more than 3 minutes per game than they were used to... this takes ice time and the sense of importance away from other players, and as seen in game five, they just didn't show up, and both of the major players were out of juice in yesterday's game. Bad move, coach.

Others have said that Buffalo is going to have a fairly easy time against the Rangers, but as I said last time, they're on a mission. Shannehan, Jagr, and Nylander are going to pop some goals, but Miller is a marginally better goaltender than Lundqvist, so it'll be an interesting series. I suspect it goes to 7, Rangers on top.

Ottawa and New Jersey is going to be an equally complicated match-up. The Devils have found their steam, but Tampa proved that Brodeur isn't impenetrable. New Jersey in six, but it could be surprising. I'd actually like to see a Buffalo/Ottawa match-up. Two tight finesse teams would be some amazing hockey.

West

1) v. or

I projected a Detroit/San Jose match-up, but wow, the Stars are in alignment, scrambling back from a 3-1 deficit, looking to shut down Vancouver tonight.

2) v. (or )

Right now, the Vancouver/Dallas series is 3-3, and the goals for each team are 11 - 9 in favor of Dallas, which is bad news for the 'couv. Turco has shut them out of the past two games (3 goals to none), and it could be that Luongo, as sharp as he is, is collapsing under the weight of holding the team aloft. The team just can't get anything happening. I can really go either way tonight.

If it's Detroit v. Dallas, it's going to be a tight race (after watching how difficult a time Detroit's had with Kiprusoff, when he decided to play, if Turco's found his groove, they're going to be in trouble). If it's Detroit v. San Jose, well, the Sharks are pretty broken after the Nashville competition so it should be an easy in-5 for the Red Wings (or if it's Sharks and Ducks, Anaheim will win it in 6).

2006 year in review meme

1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Hopped on a plane and left the continent.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Didn't really make an official resolution for last year but also didn't officially didn't keep it either. This year, well, again no real resolutions, just a pledge to myself to keep my finances in order, which is pretty much on par with most years' resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not close people, but some coworkers and friends' relatives have become parents and I'm happy for them

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this time.

5. What countries did you visit?
England, and the nation within Canada of Quebec

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Peace from above. I'm so tired of noisy upstairs neighbours, so as long as the squirrels that trot along the roof an skylights keep it down, I'll be happy.

7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 23rd, the day Aden and I went to Stratford. I've never been more nervous or excited in my life. It was a beautiful day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Can one call getting the girl of their dreams an achievement? It's not like a single solitary act, it kind of depends on two people. But then again if it did help me to achieve happiness...
But if such things are out of the question, RackRaids.com is totally awesome and it makes me happy.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Keeping the finances in check. I have a problem. It's not as bad a problem as it was a few years ago, but I still somehow keep living outside my means.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Lots of colds. Lots and lots of colds. Mostly in the last six weeks of the year. Stupid London.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I'm most proud of GAK's X-mas present, the Complete Emma Peel Avengers DVD box set at 75% off. The Kents love a good deal, and they love to tout it.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Stephen Colbert. Sticking it to George Bush and friends, in their face, and their obliviousness to it all... brilliant.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
George Bush. The fact that a U.S. President can be mocked so ruthlessly and so directly and not outrage anyone but psychotic right wing television pundits... it just shows how little esteem and regard the position yields, and knocking the prestige of the Presidency down that far means more lazy Presidents in the future. I shouldn't care so much, it's not my country.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and food, oh, and comics.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Aden. Still do.

16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Skip To The End by The Futureheads

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder?
Happier, by far
ii. Thinner or fatter?
Maybe a pound or two heavier
iii. richer or poorer?
equilibrium

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Read more books.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Work... not that I dislike work, just it's seriously cutting into my personal time.

20. How many one-night stands?
Nil.

21. What was your favourite TV program?
The IT Crowd, sans doubt

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Hate is such a strong word, but yeah, there's this one guy I seriously dislike...cause he's a complete fucknut.

23. What was the best book you read?
hereto referred to as The Book

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
The Golden Dogs, Femme Generation, The 6ixty8ights, The Duloks

25. What did you want and not get?
The Alex Ross "Justice" Aquaman Action Figure

26. What was your favourite film of this year?
The Host... or Brick. See previous post.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Did a crazy photo-tour around Thunder Bay with GAK, and then we went bowling with Mom and Dad. A very low key and lovely 30th.

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
New undies from H&M are a godsend. Aside from that, office sloppy (as opposed to office casual)

29. What kept you sane?
The love of a great woman and some really fantastic friends

30. Who did you miss?
Ryan.

31. Who was the best new person you met?
Aden's little one.

32. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
No matter how badly you want something, sometimes it's just not available or attainable, but also, that sometimes, timing is everything.

My life of twenty-aught-six

246.
That's how many blog entries I made on the core blog last year.
I thought I'd slowed down, but that stat states, that I made, approximately, 2 blog entries every three days. Of course, they're not all "quality" blog posts with deep heart and fruitful thought, but they're not all posts about frivolities either, just somewhat.

As many media outlets are prone to doing at this time of year, lets reflect on the landmark moments that happened in 2006, only unlike other media, this is all about me:

The highlight, 100% definitely and unequivocally has been my relationship with Aden. There's no doubt in my mind that this is the woman for me. We started our friendship late in 2005 after crossing paths at work and the Silver Snail (local comics shoppe), and very late in the year (December) I realized I had a bit of a crush on this woman. I had to put her out of my mind for a while, as newfound singledom still had to set in, and a lot of reflection and pondering and maturation and "playing the field" (hah) needed to be had before I was really ready for a relationship. Well, that, and she was rejecting my advances. But when we did finally come together, well, the relationship still took its time, and there was a lot of deliberate care and discussion and genuine soul searching on both our parts to ensure this was going to be a good thing for us. And it didn't take long at all before we both realized it. It's been almost half a year at this point, and I've never been so continuously and overwhelmingly happy with anyone as I am with her. She's not just the highlight of the year but the highlight of my life. A compliment and a confidant, someone I can rely upon and trust implicitly. In 2006 I found what it means to love and be loved in equal measure. How can anything top that?

There were other significant events though. Turning thirty, well, it was more of a milestone than an event. I ignored it as much as I could, but it eventually hits home. Does the number make a difference? I think it does. I think I've matured as much from the lessons that life has taught me as much as the turning of thirty expects it of me. Doesn't mean I can't have my action figures and cartoons, but does mean I need to take more responsibility and really start thinking about the future of my life. That's not a favourite thing for me to do, and I can't say I have a plan of action for how life's going to play out, but getting finances and career and priorities in place for the future, whatever it brings, well, that's something that can't be ignored anymore.

Two of my oldest friends had repeat back surgeries this year. A trying time for both of them, going through multiple surgeries and being crippled for an extended period of time in hopes that, once recovered, they'll have a better quality of life. I'm grateful that they've both survived these hardships, I'm sad that I couldn't be present in Thunder Bay for their support, but I'm proud of them both for their strong will and perseverance through these ordeals and the high spirits which they've both managed to sustain. They're miraculous people and cherished friends, and I bid them both speedy recoveries.

Travel has never been a priority of mine, but this year I managed to forage my way to Montreal with the company of dear friends and had an absolutely delightful time, followed months later by a subsidized trip to London, England for a week's work and a week's pleasure. Being in London, a highly desirable destination for a very long time, for the first time, and with Aden no less, was absolutely spectacular. The only thing that spoiled it was having to come back.

My sister's split with her partner of many, many years wasn't easy on her, but she pulled through it like a champ. It wasn't anything but something that wasn't working right, and it's unfortunate but certainly for the best. I'm proud of her for her resolve and strength even when she felt like shutting down completely and I was so happy I could return the support she gave me fully a year before. I'll miss JD a lot, he was a part of our family after all these years, but am happy for his new life in Whistler and wish him incredible success in everything he does.

Work has geared up, and I've instigated a dramatic shift in my role. I'm not entirely comfortable yet with all the things I'm continually choosing to take on, but the necessity and importance of these projects or concepts are fulfilling beyond my title and duties. It would be nice if I could keep my role as simplistic as it was in the past, but the reality is that it's not a simplistic role anymore.

The move to BOBTown from the Ronces was a difficult one, and certainly not a highlight of the year... a heavily stressful lowlight, the move itself was. The apartment, though, is fantastic, and getting better all the time (with a few ants a cracks being a step back for two forward). Our big BOBTown party is being bumped to the 1st of March-ish, so that we can get some things in order in the meantime. I still need to get comfortable in the surroundings (I've spent only about 45 of the past 90 nights there) but it's getting to be home, taking a lot longer than any other place ever has, though.

Last but certainly not least was my involvement in the creation of two new web presences. The first was Toonage, a Toronto-centric, non-genre denominational music magazine fronted by Melissa Girimonte. It's never easy starting up a projected for-profit endeavor, especially when there are so many already, and Melissa had a good idea and a solid plan. I tried to keep my guns up and go in fighting along side her, but, alas, my heart wasn't in it. I got a few paltry reviews and one kick-ass feature in place before my investment dwindled. It wasn't really a lack of desire, but a lack of interest in the music scene. I intake so much every year that something had to give. Music was it.

On the flipside, Rack Raids has rocketed out of the gate. Spawning from Thor's Comic Column on CHUD.com, it was a collective decision to branch out. Within two months we've already racked up 110+ reviews and some heavily positive feedback. We're still climbing the totem on the web, but, yeah, we're kicking and screaming and making ourselves known. I'm proud of what we've achieved, and I was going to qualify that by saying "so quickly" but most of us have been at this for two years or more at this point.

Overall, 2006 was a year of both learning and growing, both in a very personal manner. I feel so much more comfortable in my skin than I ever have, and 2007 should yield interesting results because of that.

Less super, more aqua.

New Ear Sleeve

What a wonderful mood I've found myself in today. FUBAR describes my attitude today, and my general state of being is apathy and malaise. Coming off four wonderful days of plodding nothingness with the one I love (and continue to love in surprisingly growing measure), well, getting up at the same bat-time to go to the same bat-job is incredibly difficult.

I remember a time where being away from the internet for days at a time made me anxious. So much of what I would enjoy or find important was fed via das interweb... news, entertainment, interpersonal communication with friends and loved ones, not so personal communication of friends and semi-strangers via blogging and the surprises of email, not to mention the fulfillment of blogging and my other nets activities, well, being away from that for any extended period of time just seemed difficult.

I don't feel that way anymore. Oh, I still like all those things, but work and relationships being what they are, I have less and less time for them. I had, really, two choices: 1) find more time for the internet, or 2) care less about it. I opted for the latter.

It doesn't mean I don't care at all, just means I've put it lower on the priority scale. It means when I get net time, doing my reviews pretty much takes precedence. Email is a close second (although I'm still pretty shitty with response times), and reading blogs has taken a step back on the scale. I still peruse my links list, but often only get to read most people's blogs once every two weeks or so, in very condensed reading, tantamount to information overload a lot of the time. Blogging myself, like now, is a whim. It will continue in the same manner as it always has: when time and motivation allow. It's not a resolution (no resolutions this year, save getting my life in order in such a manner that it actually has some semblance of fluidity).

Aden now has a computer at her place, and will soon have connectivity, which means I'll have a little more exposure to the internet again, and may step it up once again... but then again, I like not being a slave to a blogroll or bookmarks folder. I like being able to take a week off not worrying about all the stuff I'm missing.

Are there blog digesting tools?

Anyway. Hope everyone who still putters around this little place has had a lovely holiday season, and that the bitch of "back to work" isn't bringing you down, man..

Next up:
2006 in review

The Personal Life

I've been pretty open about things here on the blog in the past, but at the same time I've been less and less forthcoming with things of a more personal nature. I've been holding back thoughts and stories about what has been going on in my life for well over a year now, and to be honest, it's probably not going to stop. I might say some things, but somethings just aren't worth saying in public places, things that might affect other people besides myself. I have no shame in embarassing or objectifying myself, but it's not fair for me to do that to others who are or were in my life.

Time was I used to keep a journal, a regular, often daily, notation of my life. This blog was a public faced extension of that, but the journal is where I kept those things that weren't worthy of public consumption because a) they're nobody's business but my own, b) they might change how people look at me or c) they might change how people look at someone else. Celebrities are fair game, friends and family not so much.

I've had this pattern in my life where, in keeping these journals of mine, I use them as a reservoir for innermost thoughts, often when things aren't going right in my life. I know for a fact though, that in the past when I've stopped writing in my journals it's because things are going so wrong that I can't bear to admit it two myself. This has happened twice in my life, and astute readers will understand why.

Lately though, ever since I've started dating Aden, things have been going incredibly right...perhaps not perfect, but as near perfection as one could ever hope. My relationship with her is so... incredible that I don't have to disguise anything, and I don't ever need to hide from her or sugarcoat for her the truth. I've never experienced giving such honesty, nor have I ever experienced such appreciation for honesty. In the past it's always felt like being honest would mean either an arguement or difficult times ahead, and usually it didn't feel worth the trouble. It felt easier to bury thoughts and emotions sparing both myself and my partner from whatever potentially uncomfortable things were going through my brain. That was both immature and selfish on my part, and very unfair to relationships in the past... not just relationships though, but myself as well. This kind of thing made my life hell, and perhaps if only I'd been more honest with myself then I'd have spared myself a lot of anguish and heartache.

But I've learned, and now I've met what I think and feel is my match in Aden. There's never been someone with whom I've taken so much pleasure in being with. We can talk, or not talk (and we both like soup*) ad infinitum, and we can share anything and everything. And we do. And it's because we do that I've stopped journalling. All those welled up or bottled emotions, they don't actually exist, because I have a beutiful springboard to bounce it all off of. What makes it even better is that all that trust and confidence that I have in her, she reciprocates, and it's pretty flipping amazing.

There's not a day I don't realize exactly how lucky I am to have her in my life. That isn't to say there aren't ... complexities to our relationship, but we havn't yet had a problem we couldn't solve together and the closest we've come to an argument was about how much she was going to reimburse me for the plane ticket to London (in fact the only thing we do squibble over is who's going to let the other pay for things).

I'm extremely happy like I've never been before, and those that have seen me with Aden know this. I've been... withholding commentary about my relationship with her for the most part because I didn't want to jinx anything... but we're long past the jinxing phase. We're a solid unit and I don't mind sharing that with an audience (I'll spare our overly mushy sentimentality for those with soft stomachs. Yes, we are one of "those" couples, and normally, yes we both would hate that, but, shit, we're happy, and love cynics be damned... we do PDAs and we don't really give a damn if people like it or not. If/when you find someone you're this happy with, you'll understand. Also, just like to say, we won't ever intentionally dress alike, no matching track suits, and we won't talk to each other in cutesy voices.)

I doubt I'll have the time to write as often as I'd like in the old blog. I havn't for some time anyway (mainly a result of increasing duties at work, and lack of desire to sit at a computer at home), but I'll still be around about as often as I have been (so updates 1 to 3 times a week), and hopefully it'll be something a little more worthwhile than a meme or random linkage.

Hi. I'm Graig. Welcome to my blog.

(* Actually, that's a paraphrasing of a line from "Best In Show"... only I really enjoy soup. Aden's not so fond of it)

Not very festive

YULE MEME

(via freakgirl

I'm not a total Grinch, but lets just say I'm not that fond of the holidays. It's all stress and expense and people going bat-shit insane and more traffic on the streets and in the stores and at malls and whiny kids and whinier adults and frankly I'm just as happy without it. Festivus, with it's simple pole, feats of strength, airing of grievances and socks as gifts... that's a holiday I can get into... but I digress. Let's get secular!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate, or cider... cider is good too, with lots of cinnamon

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Silly bunt, there is no Santa.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Lights? Tree? House? I'd probably put lights up on a treehouse if'n I had one. Man, to have a tree to build a treehouse again...

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Erm, no. I hang nothing, except for Cthulu-claus who got hung up last night.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Cthulu went up last night. If you're implying that I have more than my red-hatted Lovecraftian creature, well, I also have my old stocking from Grandma... I'll need to find that.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mom's aunt gave me this glass platter that has a festively themed image on it... that's about the only holiday dishwear I have.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Hiding behind the chair in the basement waiting for mom and/or dad to come downstairs and put the presents under the tree so that I could surprise them and prove that there was no Santa. I don't remember if I was successful in this feat or not, and I would have been younger than ten... otherwise the specifics have left me. I also recall getting my first He-Man in the early 1980's (82? 83?) and also Castle Grayskull. I'z a happy boy then.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Not really sure, it always seemed kinda obvious that Santa was about as real as the Easter Bunny, Superman, Michael Jackson and Jesus.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? There have been times yes, and other times no. We were never very consistent when we were younger. Seemed to be a whim.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? What's that now?

11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I'm about 50/50 on it. I like a nice snowfall, hate snowstorms. I like playing in soft or wet snow, I'm not too fond of shoveling or sweeping. And I abhor the sound of squeaky/crunchy dry snow.

12. Can you ice skate? To be determined...

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? As a kid, that's probably He-Man or the dog-puppet I got whose name escapes me. As an adult, the iPod was/remains pretty sweet.

14. What do you want for Christmas this year? Rest, relaxation, and the (continued) love of a good woman.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Shortbread, far and away, with a little maraschino cherry bit in the center. Yum.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? My annual listening of Star Wars Theatre's "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (don't worry, i'll be posting it again soon). That and forgetting to send Betty White a Christmas card every year.

17. What tops your tree? Is that some sexual innuendo I'm picking up on?

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Oh, I'm a giver, but I do enjoy a good take, too.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet's various Christmas takes, or maybe one of the Muppets & John Denver's renditions, or maybe even one of Boney M's lovely festive songs... or maybe one of those things I have hidden on a tape or CD from Holiday mixes past. Hard to say.

20. Candy Canes -- Yuck or Yum? Brand Ecch.

Blog Slow Down

It's not quite like being on strike, but blogging just isn't tingling my giblets like it once did. I go through phases, all us tried and true bloggers/journallers do, where we just don't feel like anything we say really reaches anyone. Perhaps it's because comments are still all wonked up (working on it) and i'm not getting any feedback or perhaps it's just a general sense of malaise as the leaves turn, the weather shifts, and I get to bust my sweaters out. I like sweater weather, but for some reason I'm experience a dramatic case of the SADs, which I don't think I do often but it's getting to me this year.

Life is in chaos but not really. It's now perhaps the absense of chaos that's driving me batty. Settling into BOBTown is going slow, and the bugs in the beautiful place are starting to crawl out (metaphorically speaking, although my familiars, the spiders, have made themselves comfortable). Things like the wonky stovetop elements, the crappy washing machine and the seemingly impossible way of arranging the space are getting to me, as well, the loft in my bedroom seems to serve no purpose other than sweater storage at the moment.

Solidifying plans for a work-then-pleasure visit to London (UK), hopefully today, but you never know with these things. Aden's going to be joining me for week 2, which should be a blast, but until it's booked, I'm going to be a freako about it. I can't help it. I get mildly stressed about these things.

I'm also having a bit of a challenge with my local post office, in that I can't find it. A package was sent to me a few weeks back which apparently arrived on the 4th of October, with BOBTown as the destination and yet I received no notice of where to pick it up. While the sender puts a trace on the order, I'm trying to determine where exactly it would have wound up and quite frankly I have no idea. Even the semi-useful Postal Outlet finder on Canada Post's website didn't yield any fruit (after an hour of walking in the rain).
*Update* Just Found out that the package was returned because it was delivered accidentally one door over (having not yet met the neighbours, well, they didn't know to pass it on).

A few posts back I mentioned Amazon.com was selling costumes... well, it turns out they don't ship to Canada, not via Amazon anyway. But if you go direct to BuyCostumes.com's website, they actually DO ship to Canada, and quickly might I add. The only pisser is I ordered a Space Ghost costume and they sent me a child's medium instead of an adult medium. Even worse, they don't even have Space Ghost children's costumes available for sale, so how'd that mix-up happen??? Now I have to, on my dime, send it back, which is kind of annoying, plus I don't have a Space Ghost costume now. Grrrr.

But it's not like I'm going to Hallowe'en parties as Space Ghost. Nope. I'm going as Nightwing. I've already purchased my unitard from Malabar, I need to edit my mask, and I just bought my gloves and boots (note: MEC's Swellies paddling boots make great superhero boots, and don't let the pic fool you, the treds are black, not white or grey... neato). Now all I really need is the material for the chest/shoulder emblem and someone to sew it on for me (Joany???) and I'm all set. Oh, and some gauntlets. I can borrow my roomie's arnise sticks so I can beat up bad guys... well, let's just say I'm all set. If I'm lucky, I'll be accompanied by Zatanna for the evening. Fishnets...*sigh*.

Oh, and I'm still finishing up the send-outs for the 4-CD sampler. 50% delivered, 80% completed, and 100% behind schedule. A couple international deliveries will be made this week/next week. A couple more still to follow. *Different kind of sigh*

Anybuts, work goes busily and well (it's taken me six hours to finish this post), and I must get back.

Comments now allow commenting, but there's no space for a name, which is bizarro.

The Ronces to BOBTown

There are a lot of things to do in the transition from The Ronces to BOBTown, including mail forwards, address changes on bills and cards and passports (gotta remember this for the Teatown trip in November), and moving various connections (well, internet primarily). Of course, chief amongst the things to do is pack, and it feels like I've been packing for ages and a day, and I'm still not done. Today we progressed from 80% completion to 90%, but still what's left seems pretty daunting. All the odds and ends that don't fit nicely with other things in boxes, all the furniture that needs to be taken apart, and, oh yeah, the computers.

The kitchen is pretty much packed but I ran out of tape so there's a lot of open boxes, and a few plates, bowls and cups left out for us to use until move day. The biggest surprise while moving: mouse poop. Mouse? There's never been a mouse at The Ronces before. And somehow the mouse managed to make its way up to the top shelves of the pantry, those little f-bombers can f-bombin' climb. Surprisingly all it did was piss and poop and go after the spaghetti (no other foodstuffs even showed signs of scratching or gnawing. I'm pretty sure the mouse is new, as in the past three or four days, since I've never seen a mouse, or traces of a mouse here before. I think the fact that this abode is now catless for the first time, plus the cooling weather has left The Ronces a little exposed.

Oh well. We're outta here in, what, 3 days. Not gonna worry, as long as the little bastard doesn't stow away. I'll talk a little more about how much I'm looking forward to living in BOBTown... later... maybe after the move.

Friday, just before 6pm

I'm off to scratch a film off my list. "The Last Kiss". I havn't done the alone-in-a-theatre thing for a while (the last Will Ferrell movie which I still need to sit and write a review for) so I'm kind of looking forward to it. Some me time. Not that I need alone time...

Ade is off in Ottawa for a Romance Writer's Conference for the weekend, but had a delightful evening last night, meeting her mom for the first time and having dinner with them and the wee one.

I'm nearly "done" packing all my piddly crap, but the kitchen is left an the furniture needs to be taken apart. Such is my weekend to come.

Telemarketers annoy me at work now. Yay.

I don't speak Spanish, to the cleaning lady's disappointment. No habla espanol :( She was trying to ask me about my buttons on my bag.

Two of my friends back home are suffering some crippling back problems. I get to see one of them tomorrow for a few hours (airport layover following a medical consult) and really wish I could visit the other and help out.

Need to make some phonecalls later. Also need food, and probably sleep.

Also, more time in the day (well, evening actually... ) would be nice. Can we make a 25th hour?

on vid re: footedball

As noted a few days ago, I, alng with some co-workers, lampooned as actors for Wide Right's Week 2 vlog.

Well, it's up now.
Don't worry, I'm not quitting my dayjob.

I am, how you say, actor?

Hmmm. A curious event today, as I participated in Wide Right's Season 9, week 2 episode,, along with a few coworkers as a little lunch hour side-project.

Wide Right, if you don't know (and chances are if you're reading this you don't know because I don't really know any football fans) is a fairly notorious weblog that dabbles in weekly football pics. This season is the first time Dave (the site's master) has added a video component (or "vlog") as his primary entry (kind of like Rocketboom).

To give the behind-the-scenes action, Dave's trying to make like he has a committee that works on the site with him, which is where my coworkers and I came in. I got to play the angry guy, but I'm not a great actor, in fact, I have this nasty penchant for avoiding the camera when I'm "acting" and then looking directly into it when I'm done, as if I'm searching for "director" approval. I did raise my voice a few times, which got some of my coworkers external to the shoot a little annoyed... oops, but all in the name of fun. It was a blast and if we're popular enough we may make a repeat appearance.

The Week 2 Wide Right vlog will be available on Thursday, so everyone can see me acting goofballs.

It's back, for a limited time only

I'm four days into a new beard, which I've dubbed "the camping beard", for, you see, I'm going camping this weekend for four days. Doing the math, I'll have an 8-day beard growth (I CAN ADD!) and depending on how I feel about it, I may hang onto it for a few weeks more. It was a hit last time (as documented in the hair category to some length previously) for the most part, and since summer seems to be winding down (blessedly...I like sweaterweather better, so much so that I conjoin the two words into one big one), it's not too hot to have one.

As for camping, yeah, it's my first foray into "real" camping, meaning actually abandoning the car and its various stores of equipment and clothing and supplies and putting everything into packs. I've done some camping in the past, mind you, but it was always car camping or some other form of not-quite-rustic. The last dash was in 2003 where I did a slew of city-park camping or drive-site camping... each time setting up the tent beside or near the car and showers and such were always available. When I was younger, dad would drag me out (yes, drag, as a sullen, housebound teen I didn't want anything to do with the out-of-doors) fishing with him into the wilds of Northwestern Ontario, but we would still wind up sleeping in a camper mounted on the back of the truck (these days my dad even has like satellite and dvd hooked up in there), so hardly "leaving it all behind".

But tomorrow, in the midst of some scattered showers, we'll be canoeing into a campsite, leaving much of the technological world behind, sleeping on stones and cooking with fire. I'm surprisingly looking forward to it. I've had to gear up a bit, mainly a new rain jacket and some footwear meant for surfaces that curve more than a sidewalk curb, so I've taken a hit, but it's all useful stuff which can be appropriated into other wearable situations (for biking or hiking for example). Thankfully the special lady and her friends have been doing the camping thing for some time and have a vast collections of camping gear, wear, and utilities, as well as knowledge... I, meanwhile, have watched a tonne of Survivorman. Oh, Les Stroud, I miss you.

Passive mode

Every now and again I get way too oversaturated with "NOW" and "TODAY" and "keeping up with the Jones's" and I just want to ingest the familiar, revisit what I already know, or rediscover things I've mostly forgotten. It's hard, when one is continually in the midset of reviewing new things or always trying to "get there first" but every so often I just tap myself out, get oversaturated in the modern and need to escape into somethings past. I consume so much, all the time, that it does get hard to stay on top of it all, and I often don't allow myself the luxury, while consuming things for the first time, to really understand or enjoy what I'm consuming. I'm doing a little of that now, though... it's often easier when you get to share it with someone to whom its new, but sometimes it's just time to take a peek in the past.

Recently I revisited the live-action "The Tick" series, consuming it in an evening, and loving every minute. Patrick Warburton delivers each line with flawless comedic timing and intonation. I know many fans of the cartoon were disappointed with the show, but I was never a fan of the cartoon (was without cable when it first aired so I rarely watched it) and was able to appreciate the show without preconceptions. It's responsible for one of my favourite lines ever... after the Tick pops a fortune cookie in his mouth, he chews once or twice before reaching in and pulling out the fortune, stating with the surprise of a small child, "A secret message, from my teeth!"

I also just wrapped up two nights of watching Chronicles of Riddick. I was one of very few who actually enjoyed the film the first time around, and a few years later I think I actually enjoy and appreciate it more. It's influences include Marvel Comics, role playing games (of which Vin Diesel is a player), Shakespearian drama, Roman culture and a swipe at the Catholic conversion. It's got pretty set designs, some really cool fight sequences, masterful lighting, some sharp digital effects, and one of the most badass characters ever in Riddick. Yup, there are one or two highly improbable (even by their own sordid sci-fi logic standards) sequences, and the aging of Jack into Kira seems to have spanned more than the five years the movie alots, but those digressions aside, it's a frickin' fun ride. It's like a three or four part mini-series with a trio or quartet of 1/2 hour episodes that have been strung together in a movie... the "Chronicles" really gives this away, as it's not just one story, but a whole handful of stories that make up the whole. It didn't exactly tank at the box office, but I don't think it made its money back either. With the numerous repackagings of Riddick, Pitch Black and the Peter Cheung "Dark Fury" cartoon, surely it's broken even by this point, but it's still not bankable enough for another follow-up methinks. Too bad though, Riddick, like Snake Plissken before him, deserves more adventures.

Why we're moving...

Because a few people have asked in the comments over the past few weeks and I havn't really seen fit to respond:

To start the story, I moved to the Ronces with the girlfriend back in early 2004. The Queenwest apartment we were in before that was located at the junction of Lansdowne/Queen/Jameson and it was nice but flippin noisy and the upstairs neighbours were kinda actual dicks. The Ronces is located on Roncesvalles Ave, and was the main floor and basement, the latter of which was newly finished as a den. The price was actually less than what we were paying on Queenwest, and with a backyard and plenty of storage space it seemed pretty ideal.
And it was. For a time.

The girlfriend worked from home, and things were generally fine. There was the odd intrusion of noise as the dude upstairs would practice his deejaying for a few hours, very loudly, on the occasional afternoon. And then demolition and construction of the condos across began, with the piledriving being the worst of it.

Early last summer, the next door neighbours had their second child. A delightful and beautiful baby girl. With all the noise across the street and their second child encroaching 5years of age they began to think about getting out of Toronto for safer/quieter pastures. They had talked to us at great length about taking over their house when they left, for an absurdly affordable rent + utilities, and really it was something to dream about. The house, they said, was to be their son's inheritance, and so we'd be pretty much safe there for over a decade. Though they weren't rushing out any time soon, they always made of point of mentioning that we should be prepared to move in at any time. It almost became a cruel joke, or at the very least a big tease.

At some point last summer the upstairs neighbours split up and he left while she tried holding down the place herself, but by the end of summer she was done and moved out too. The upstairs apartment was empty for a month, and the piledriving had finished and things were generally quiet around the Ronces. Then the new upstairs neighbours arrived... a single mother and her demonic four-year-old child. The kid would stomp around upstairs for literally hours on end. She would throw a temper tantrum every morning when it was time to leave, in the afternoon when she got home, and once again before bed (and obscenely late 9/9:30 pm) and a few in between for good measure. Yeah, it was torture. Not to mention that our neighbour began just taking over the yard, both front and back, digging things up and rearranging things to her liking. It was very invasive.

A month later October hit and the girlfriend and I were splitsville. I moved out for the remainder of the month and found a sub-let for November while posessions were sorted and she figured out where she was going to land. I spoke with the next-door neighbours once or twice in that month and they were sad about the split but almost more worried about who was going to rent out their house when they moved (having now decided upon the town up north they were going to move to). I took a tour through their house and said I was still interested in renting, but wasn't really sure where I was going to be in the meantime. During November I had hunted for 1 bedrooms but I didn't want a basement place and I really didn't feel like moving in general, plus the temptation to suck up the full rent of the Ronces until the neighbours moved was tempting.

Brilliance hit, and I asked my friend Jeremy if he'd ever thought about moving into the city from his folk's place in Woodbridge. "Hell's yes" was his answer and suddenly I had a roommate, although he wouldn't move in until January. So for two months I had the Ronces to myself and it was, well, a pain in the ass, especially the girl upstairs, dubbed "Little Miss Stomps-a-lot". Some remedies were attempted over the two months to minimize the terror's impact (carpeting and the like... I suggested bear traps or a little of the old Nancy Kerrigan knock-to-the-knees, but couldn't find anyone willing to take out a 5-year-old) but still it persisted, with the usual ritual of tantrums. Oh, and in the month that I was away, they had terraformed the front lawn into what we've dubbed "The Temple of Doom". Oh, and the basement flooded early January, but I've documented that already

So for the past 6 months or so Rooms (Jeremy's nickname, derived from J-roomy) and I have been living the life of Joey and Chandler and the Ronces has been fairly good to us, aside from the barnyard upstairs and the inconveniences of smoking neighbours who leave the front door ajar all the time. The place is nice, but it's really meant for a couple and as much as I usually don't have a problem living in the basement, this summer of attempting sleeping with the dehumidifier running 24-7 has been a challenge and I'm getting tired of no light exposure. Not to mention the fact that there's really no room to have guests... the upstairs common room, the way we have it configured, seats about 5 mostly comfortably and one or two more uncomfortably. We had a house guest back in July and realized our space wasn't meant to accommodate more than two people for even short durations. This spawned thoughts of finding a larger place, a three bedroom perhaps, on the upper two floors of a house or over a storefront.

Then the next-door neighbours alerted me towards the end of July that their moving plans were likely delayed for another year and that they were now probably going to sell the house. Decision made, two month's notice given and the apartment hunt began (at the same time we found out that the upstairs neighbours were moving out as well which almost made us reconsider). The place we've found is quite a bit bigger, has a lot more closet space (something the Ronces doesn't have much of), centrally located (is it ever) and though we will have to do without the convenience of a back yard/barbecue we have a lot more entertaining and living space. Of course we're paying for it, but it'll be worth it.

Now we just need to come up with a clever name for the place.
Oh and chances are we'll be hosting the GTA-Bloggers Holiday Party there as well, but Rooms and I need to discuss amongst ourselves, and we need to discuss with the landlord, and we need to get some input from the master of gtab parties so that we understand exactly what we'll be getting ourselves into.

We're moving!

Holy crap... we got the place.
The place is awesome.
It's in the center of the center of the universe. (In Canada, the "center of the universe" is Toronto... in the US, New York is the center of the universe... don't ask me to explain how two centers of the universes can coexist in one dimension, alas, that's how it is)
Not to jinx anything, because we still need to pay the deposit and sign the leasein the next day or two but...wooooo. The place is awesomely awesome (that's like, double awesome), so we're quite excited.

Space.
Ghost.
Livin' the high life.

Not dead yet...

Okay, so I disappeared for a while. Moops.
No I'm not dead. Not even injured. A little sore, a little fatigued, but definitely in fine shape otherwise.
Life has its upsides and its downsides, and sometimes they seem like polar opposites, where one facet of life brings nothing but utter joy and happiness, while the other just pulls you down and sucks you in like the undertow. Needless to say, both bring with it a lot of tiring mental activity and in many cases physical as well, which leads to both brain drain and body drowsiness. I'm recovering fine though.

Things of note, which I'll expand upon later:

* I've forgotten to write about Coroleanus at Stratford, as well as the gigs for Diableros/Camera Obscura and Modernboys Moderngirls/These Electric Lives. In quick: awesome; good/meh; surprisingly awesome/always solid
I'll be doing a "Short Rounds" over on Ent.Etc. later this week for these.

* Recent viewings of A Scanner Darkly, Miami Vice and Clerks 2 all need reviewing. In brief: Ah!; uh...; and say whaaa?

* I saw Wolf Parade on Saturday. I missed the opening acts (Frog Eyes and Holy Fuck!) but I heard Frog Eyes were kind of gaunch and Holy Fuck!'s last song, which I did catch, was droneariffic. Will probably need to check them out again to be sure. The Parade will get reviewed, but, in slight: blah. No pictures.

* I'm slowly working my way through, now, a half dozen TV on DVD sets... some more long-term than others: Space: Above and Beyond; The Flash, Superboy, Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Angel season 2, and a few others. Reviews for Kids in the Hall v4 and Home Movies season 4 are pending as well. In vague: rock!; yeah; NO(nononono); holy frak; hehehehe; and weeeeee.

* Standup comedy albums by Frasier Young, Mike Birbiglia, Eugene Mirman, Patton Oswalt all have a place for assessment, but reviewing comedy is hard without retelling people's jokes. Young is Canadian, good but a little loose and unfocussed at times; Birbiglia I really liked until I actually saw what he looked like (khakis and golf shirts? really?), now his faux-prep image doesn't fit his slacker stylings; Eugene Mirman is just whacked and I love it, he won't be for everyone though; Patton Oswalt is brill, merging obscure pop culture with cynicism and the occasional "is it funny or offensive" drop.

* Spamalot Toronto. I saw Spamalot New York, and honestly the Toronto show is better. Screw the big names (Tim Curry, Hank Azaria and David Hyde Pierce), the non-name actors tried harder and did a lot better at making the roles their own while still maintaining the Python-ness. The Lady of the Lake was about half as good in the Toronto show, though, but the Toronto French Taunter actually one upped John Cleese which rocked my socks. As opposed to my 50/50 rating of the New York show, the Toronto show is about 74/26.

*my brain's been creating its own playlist including
- "Good to feel like" by the Super Friendz
- "Wonderful" by the Beta Band
- "She's the one" by the Beta Band
- "Honestly Trudy" by the Femme Generation
- "I'll believe in anything if you believe in anything" by Sunset Rubdown
- "Pretenders" by City Field
- "Crips" by Ratatat
- "1979" by Smashing Pumpkins
- "Flattery" by Prince Paul
- "4 out of 5" by Soul Coughing
- "Goddamn" by the Flints
- "The New Teller" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- "Closer" by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
- "Me and her got a good thing goin" by Jonathan Richman

* plotting many things, scheming many other things, both written and web and life

* looking for apartments still rots, but Rooms and I have a great lead on a place which we hope works out but reality says not to get to excited nor bank on it.

* oh yeah, and Quad CD samplers are getting done at a very slow pace. Everyone should have theirs or at least be in the mail by month's end.

And that's life for the past three weeks in a few minutes of blogging.

Apartment Hunter

Looking for a:

3-bedroom
upper two floors of a house preferrably (or even a full house)
with bathtub
and laundry (or laundry hook-ups)
if utils included, up to $1600/mo
if no utils included up to $1450/mo

Area: nothing north of Dupont, nothing west of High Park, nothing east of...oh... University (okay... not *nothing*... rather, preferrably west than east, SOB than NOB)

Move-in between Sept/Oct.

Any leads? Anyone? Bueller?

Tharsisica

Free-form blogpost. Stream-of-consciousness-like.

I'm often what they ("they" being nobody in particular) call a "perpetual thinker" (okay, I doubt the non-existant "they" actually call anyone that, but stick with me here). My brain is constantly engaged, rarely ever shutting down. I'm often thinking so many thoughts I'd rather not think that I wish sometimes I were a tad simpler so I could find enjoyment in dormancy, alas it is not to be. So when my mind is kicked in full gear, thinking about girls and music and comics and work and bills and a few dozen other things that constantly niggle away (I was checking to make sure I was using "niggle" in the right context and answers.com asked me "Or did you mean: niggardly" - with lack of question mark, no less - to wit I most certainly did not!) it often creates a very distracted and extremely restless me. I don't remember the last time I had a really good, full night's sleep. When I was in Windsor two weekends back, I was able to escape much of my routine life and also sleep in a house with air conditioning, so I did get a better sleep, comparatively, but still not a good sleep. Two of the big things that have been taxing my brain was a quandry about love and the other, oddly enough, was The Futureheads (see sidebar review). I know it's weird to exhaust so much thought on a band, especially considering it really wasn't me thinking about the band, but rather just being unable to get their songs out of my head. It was odd how often the chorus to "Fallout" would push every other thought aside for tens of minutes ("After days in the dark/The light broke through/And it was beautiful to see you/And sit in the warmth with you"), or to sort of enter a fugue state with the chorus from "Favours For Favours" ("But there's something that you do/I just can't help myself/and I wish that I could move more in time with you/I watch you step and I watch you turn/I watch you move like a knife in the water/As you move across the floor/Over to me/For all to see") only to snap out of it and find I've been staring blankly at my monitor at work for an undetermined period of time. It's really mildly insane how fixated I became with the Futureheads recently, so last night was the climax of this whole build-up, and mercifully it did the trick. I slept last night free of thoughts of sound, instead dreaming of... well, i dunno, bunnies and Wonder Woman or something. I don't remember. The night before, however, I dreamt that a friend had turned into a demon, so I asked her if she is now or has ever been a demon. Peanut butter before bed will do that to you. So anyway, one major distractor resolved, and the other is resolving itself in a happiest circumstances as well so now my thoughts are less cumbersome. Well, Rooms and I are now in the apartment hunting market after the neighbours said that they're not moving for another year and are likely selling the house, so that one other worry off my brain but a whole new one on it. And I'm trying to figure out what's happened to my initiative and motivation, as it seems like all my little projects are nagging my brain and yet the rest of me can't be bothered to deal with them. This post is disjointed, like Ragdoll in Secret Six. I've also lost weight, which isn't good, considering I'm now on the 100lb dare-to-be-Wolverine thing. I've toned up quite a bit, which is nice, but dropping a belt size wasn't part of the deal. ("Everything was ready but he had to run away/Shot for the money on the very same day/ Le Garage/ Le Garage-rage"... I don't even understand what that means). VAAAH.
Anyway, this kind of ramble randomness is tiring and I'm hot and sweaty in the priests collar. I think I shall read some comics.

also

I realized this morning that for the past four days I'd been refreshing the Weather Network webpage for Stratford, Ontario, rather than Toronto (I went to Stratford on Sunday, see, and it was delightful... I have a fun idea for adapting Coriolanus to modern times... plus, Colm Feore).

oh and...

I think I finally figured out what that wonky smell is in the basement sometimes... it's the ages old dehumidifier (that overflowed this morning, by the way, since the duct-tape floater-thingy ain't working none good so much anymore) overheating or something. Maybe. Good to know at least.

...

If the kitchen smells like hummus, that's 'cause I made hummus. Help yourself, there's lots there. It's kinda tahini heavy.

...feh

I really thought I'd enjoy this rhubarb-ginger jam, but, you know, not so much.

I've been drinking too much lately...

not often in excess, just more often than normal. I should stop doing that.
High in calories, sure, but also reduces the body's ability to burn fat for energy.

The View Overhead

This is what it looks like above overhead at my 5th floor desk... there's a big hole in the sixth floor and a skylight above that, so it's really quite funky. I heard the soothing pitter patter of rain above me yesterday, and I'm one of two who has natural light from above in this building, which I say is pretty awesome.

Graig Expectations

I really don't know what the title has to do with anything, I'm just surprised I've never thought of the pun before... then again I probably have and never used it 'cause it's lllaymuh!

Anywho, today was a total FUBAR day at work, since they're moving me between floors and the distractions were plenty. Plus, having to shut my computer down for the move meant, well, nothing to do. But still it was a rather exciting day with a coworker having a baby (12 hours from water breaking to baby Jasmine born) and finding out that another is pregnant (again, shhh, it's a secret) and a third has been shuttled off to London, it's all crazytown when you have the time to do nothing but socialize and distract other people from their jobs.

Since I had nothing better to do, I was easily coerced into hitting the patio early for an after work social. Even before I sipped my first drink I was getting accessorized in a jaunty scarf (like Katamari's prince) of pink polkadots. Hey, apparently it matched my shirt, according to, oh, well, everyone. A couple double gin and tonic's later, plus a couple of vodka shooters, and a couple of Jagermeister shooters, and maybe another double gin and tonic, well, more people showed up.. but one straggling coworker was still plugging away, and that's when I started with the harassing phonecalls. A shot of tequila (who invited him?) later and suddenly I was getting the machine. That's it, I'm going over. My jaunty scarf is going to get a whole lot jauntier (it was at this point the effects of, essentially, 10 shots of liquor was actually being felt in my system... I was either flying high or about to crash, but I couldn't figure out which).

A quick run over to the workplace, and I ran into one of my favourite people("FP"), and got her to tow along. I still went to visit the missing coworker, but she was giving me the runaround so I flipped her the bird and walked excitedly with my friend back to my drink and some more rowdy behaviour. More drunken phonecalls were made, phone numbers were exchanged, some bad things were said, and I bravely cut myself off when the (first) bill came and had a hearty regimen of water. I invited my FP to join me and the regular crew (yes, including "everyone else"... sorry L) for the last Kung-Fu Friday knowing well that a) she loves kung-fu movies and she'd have a blast, and b) she'd fit in wonderfully with my friends. Both were true.

We caught up with the crew for dinner, having a boisterous meal, and making our way across the street to the Revue for Crippled Avengers: The Return of the Five Venoms. As with every KFF, we were the rowdy crew. There's nothing better than hooting, hollering and MST3King your way through a movie in public, especially when it's encouraged. I can't even really describe Crippled Avengers with words that will do it justice, except to say that it's hilarious, it's better than Cirque du Soleil for gymnastics and flipping and that kind of thing, and it's got a blind guy, a deaf/mute, a legless guy and an idiot taking on a town's mob boss (with the awesome name of Chu Tin-to... oh and don't forget "To has a bodyguard named Wan" which is classic because at one point he says to the blind dude "Ah, so you're the one" to which I replied -say it with me- "No, you're the Wan"... this is the kind of brilliance this movie inspires). There's a lengthy write up of the movie right now on the KFF page which covers the plot of the movie pretty good, including the who unusual birthday party sub-plot which was... odd....

A full on workout from laughing so hard and jumping up and down and clapping like it was showtime at the Apollo is the bestest way to come off a drinking binge ever. I'm sad I won't be able to do it again... not like this anyway.

The coup des gras was returning home after walking FP to the subway station and seeking Toast, Marmy, wNoodle L, and Metro all holding sticks/umbrellas/long shoehorns like swords lying in wait for me to get home... just like the inept crew of thugs in the film (oh to have had a camera and the composure to take a picture). My friends are fucking awesome. We're our own goddamn sitcom.

Sizzleteen

My new pants make that snowsuit sound when I walk. You know what I'm talking about...
*fweetfweet,fweetfweet*

Zebra

Speaking of sounds, new concert review to the left. JMac took me out for a great belated birthday evening of food and song. The music wavered between acceptable and interesting, with the performances varying between bored and spectacle. I was, however, completely amused by the plethora of black & white horizontal stripe shirts in attendance (hell, there were two of them in the Two Koreas alone!).

When did the sailor shirt make a comeback, and why do so many people think they're cool? Is the Robin Williams Popeye movie the next retro pop-culture phenomenon? Are we going to see a bunch of flapper-style dresses floating around the alterna-scene? Are canned spinach and hamburgers the next big food craze? I guess indie doesn't stand for individuality.
*jab!*

Ah, I really don't care all that much, but a couple gin'n'tonics in it did entertain me greatly.

Circus

I was talking with a friend a few weeks back about our respectively crappy computers:

He: I was looking at some boobie sites a few weeks back and I got a virus
Me: Dude, you mean you weren't wearing a condom? How many times do I have to tell you to protect yourself...
He: Well it was just a worm.
Me: Ewww. Well, thankfully it wasn't anything more serious. You might not be so lucky next time.

There's you have it kids, if you're trolling for on-line sex, play smart and play safe. Because when you visit boobie sites, you're not just visiting them, you're also visiting all the ads and pop-ups they're in bed with.

The clam... erm... calm

Ahhh, back home. Homey homey home home.
And I'm bored.
Rooms took off with dinner plans and I've been catching up on blogs and cutting the grass and playing around with (300+) photos I took.
I feel like I should call everyone I know, and yet I have no idea whom to start with.
I should also probably eat dinner. I keep putting it off. I'm so bored I don't know what to eat (usually when I'm bored I'll eat anything).

I've got a stack of clothes and comics to put away, a bunch of reviews to write, a bed to make and a lot of TV on DVD to watch... maybe when I decide upon dinner I'll do some of the latter.

Back to the old grind of workaday/weekendsoff life.

The first day of the rest of my thirties.

In spite of myself I did manage to have an active day yesterday. GAK and I roamed around three areas of town taking pictures (and coincidentally enough, all three areas, though many km apart, had train tracks near them. It was wonky weather all day though, as the sun would be bright and shiny, with pillowy white clouds in the sky, but then every so often it would just dump rain for 10 - 15 minutes and then, as quickly as it came it went away again. Luckily for us, it only did this when we were either driving between locations or in a diner eating.

Dinner choices in TBay are pretty narrow. Unless you like Italian or Canuck-Chinese (which I do, but I wasn't really feeling it yesterday), you're pretty much stuck with prep-kitchen-style eateries. Applebee's/Montana's/The Keg etc. There's not much for diversity here. A little tired from the day's adventures I just settled on an easily agreeable place for the folks, Boston Pizza. The food was meh, but our waitress was cute, so it balances out nicely.

GAK and I planned to go bowling for shits and giggles, so I invited the folks along too. They used to tournament play back in the 70's with their own balls and shoes and everything. The shoes still fit in fact (Dad's shoes are particularly snazzy, and had I known they were just sitting there dormant all these years I would have snagged them a while back) while the bowling ball holes were apparently a little more snug than 25 years ago.

I was tossing a 14lb pink ball, which threatened my manhood about as much as the pink shoelaces did, in that it threatened me not at all. I hit a lot of strikes my first and last game (even got a "turkey"... three in a row), and at one point the whole lane was on fire with repeated strikes and spares. Mom played the most even game, I played the most uneven game, Dad faded out, while GAK managed "most improved player" especially when he learned to keep his wrist straight. Sure, it's not the uppercrust sport of choice, but damn it if throwing heavy things and hitting other things repeatedly isn't fun. Lots of "action" photos to be uploaded soon.

Radio Free Me

GAK, Ryan and I crashed Rick Three's friday morning program on CILU, injecting a healthy dose of randomness to it.
I don't have a full playlist handy, which is a shame because it was a wild show. The four of us could be an amazing morning zoo crew, but with actual musical taste.

Songs were played from artists such as: Parkas, The Diableros, These Electric Lives, The 6ixty 8ights, Lunch Money, The Duloks, The Flints, Lavender Diamond, Gnarls Barkley, Local Rabbits, The Super Friendz

GAK and Ry spun a bunch as well, but I only really recall the Tall Dwarfs and The Pipettes (both quite fantastic).

Photos from the radio show, bowling, toronto roaming and random dog and kittyness to come. GAK's flickr account already has some photos up...

-30-

I turn thirty today.
It's no big deal, the "big three-oh", especially since I sort of convinced myself I was thirty throughout most of twenty nine. Anyway, no big plans for the birthday. I like to keep a lid on it...or off it... or whatever. It's not that I hate my birthday, or that I hate celebrating it, I just don't want to make a fuss about it on the day of. When I get back to Toronto, I'll be doing a fancy belly-dancing meal with the zoo crew (which will just coincidentally be "for my birthday" but really that's just an excuse to pay a little more for dinner and hip-swiggling). I had a lovely birthday dinner the other day with a good friend, and another last night with my second family.

There always feels to be such pressure to do something for my birthday and really I can't face it. I'd rather just retreat into some comics, a hot bath and be all introspective-like. I'm kind of a twat like that.

But then past birthdays weren't that different.

I'm heading out with GAK for a photoblogger's jaunt around town, and tomorrow I'll be on CILU Radio (listen on-line... I'll be on between 8-ish and 9:30) with host Rick Three, GAK and Ryan.

Photos will be uploaded next week (mostly of cats and dogs and food right now), as my camera is incompatible with Windows98 and it would take forever to upload them to flickr on dial-up anyway (it's like stepping into a time warp!).

Bain dramage

I think my brain has gone dormant. I'm attempting to kick it into gear, but it keeps saying "I don' wanna"... well, that and kicking yourself in the brain is pretty difficult unless you're Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (and even then he kicked that other dude in the brain and not actually himself... but I bet he could if he wanted to).

Anyway, I developed a little tickle in my throat earlier in the week, took yesterday off to try and nurse myself towards a healthy weekend, alas it didn't work. Now I have a little chest cough which isn't really so bad since it only rears its head for a few seconds every half hour or so... still sucks though because I know I'm "sick" and I can't do anything about it, and I had plans for this weekend which didn't involve spreading around the contageon. It's not like it's even particularly nasty, just there enough to be annoying.

Initially, I though the illness it was as a result of my overexertion on Monday, paired with bad dieting Sunday (just didn't eat enough to sustain myself, dammit)... but returning to work today I realized the true cause: that blasted air-conditioner. It's breathing directly onto me. Noone else, just me. It's frickin 15 degrees outside and May... why do we need air conditioning? (I see I'm not alone as Wendyloo is having equal discomfort at her place of employment as well). Good thing I get moved at the end of next week.
Anyway, as this thing persistantly gusts at me, I can feel the tingle rise in my throat like an air bubble slowly escaping from a drowned hose (what?).

So yeah... free day yesterday (a "working from home" day, which is a luxury I'm glad I have)... what does one do on a "I don't have to go into public today" day? Shave their stubble into interesting configurations, that's what. The zoo crew were after me to do a handlebar back during closing stages of "the beard" period, but I just wanted it gone. But I figured yesterday, why the hell not... not like anyone's going to see it anyway. But it just took a little coaxing from a certain someone and now here I am, at work, with what looks like a dirty smudge of an upside-down "U" wrapped over my upper lip.

Actually, unlike the beard experiment, I've had all of one comment about the pornstar-facial folliculae, and it was (gasp!) positive! Someone actually liked it. Others I think are being willfully blind towards it. I'm no Pauly from American Chopper so it's got to go (hey hey, ho ho).
**Update** Just got my second comment.
He: "Are you growing a 'stache?"
Me: (devilish laugh and grin) "Just for today..."
He: (pause) "You're a dangerous man"

Anyway, the stache will be seen at the Parkasgig tonight. at the Gladstone, as will all the truly good people of the world.

As for yesterday's productivity, I did get all work done that needed to be done, as well as learned the lyrics to Ladybug's Picnic

You're fit, but my god, don't you know it

Somehow I got it in my head that I need to be more physically active. Sure I tend to bike to work and bike around town for transportation as soon as the weather is good, and it's quite enough exercise for one person for one day I would think, alas, my brain seems to think more would be better.

Back when I was dogsitting in Barrie I took up the habit of running track in my sister's virtually empty basement (and by empty I mean devoid of walls). The stairwell runs down the middle of the room, so it makes running laps around it kind of interesting (I guess). I'd do 50 laps each way, sometimes with the dog chasing me, or vice versa (he usually got bored after 20 or so and would return for the last 10... dogs, they ain't as stupid as we think)... all told about 20 or 25 minutes of exercise. (Hey, I was in Barrie in the midst of blizzard season with little outside contact or anything to do aside from dial into work, watch Olympics, eat and booze up, cut a boy some slack). Anyway, since then I've been wondering what I'd need to do to actually transpose that entusiasm for running around in circles into an environment that had, well, actually enviornment. To be honest, I didn't really wonder all that hard. I'm notoriously prone to leaving whims unfulfilled.

Well, a little proactivity is all one needs sometimes (well, that and about $400 bucks). We had a "Wellness Day" at work last week, which I didn't really pay all that much attention to, so I can't explain what went on beyond free smoothies at the cafe or an abundance of brochures stacked on tables in front of a group of very bored people. But I did partake in one session, which was an "Intro to running and walking" held by Vince, the manager from the Running Room's Commerce Court location. The man was full of very basic primer information on how to get oneself into running (chiefly, get a good pair of shoes, everything else is just frivolities). Setting a routine and sticking with it, stretching or not stretching, longer runs vs. shorter runs, avoiding injuries... he covered a lot of ground, and to his credit, there wasn't an overt sales pitch throughout the 60 minutes. That there sold me on his store... plus the fact that he told me to go buy a box of Vector cereal for a "20% off everything in the store" cupon. Gotta love guys like that.

The next day I did go to his store location, spent a good hour to an hour and a half with Vince finding the perfect shoes for my feet (and honestly I havn't bought a pair of running shoes/sports sneakers in at least half a decade), and picking up some of those frivolities he mentioned (a good pair of shorts and a t-shirt). Unfortunately, my plan to start running on the weekend was rudely interrupted by rain (how dare it), but a wonderful break in the clouds around 6:00 today told me "Now's your time"... well, actually that was me telling me that...

So I went for my first run, which really, if we're being totally honest with ourselves here, is actually a jog. Running would intone moving at an excessively fast pace on my legs with the intention of escaping something or rapidly moving towards something. Jogging, well, that's just an aimless mid-paced alternately lifiting of the legs. I did some of that, and will, every second day, continue to do so for about 25 to 30 minutes. I've stretched out, and I feel the good burn above my knees and at the insides of my thighs. I feel fit. Almost.

And the real reason why I'm doing it? It's not for the exercise. It's for the music... gives me the chance to listen and concentrate on new music without destraction... aside from people, dogs, cars, ground hazards and the like. But I'm doing it for the music.
And the girls.

Taxes

They be good to me this year
*devilish grin*

Nerd... no. Dork... no. Geek... why yes, yes I am.

Now am I supposed to be the cute girl or the Stormtrooper?
via the redhead

Pure Geek 39 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Geek, earning you the title of: Pure Geek. It's not that you're a school junkie, like the nerd, and you don't really stand out in a crowd, like the dork, you just have some interests that aren't quite mainstream. Perhaps it's anime, perhaps it's computers, perhaps it's bottlecaps, perhaps it's all of those and more. Your interests take you to events and gatherings that are filled with people you find unusual and beyond-the-pale, but you don't quite consider yourself "of that crowd." Instead, you consider yourself to be fairly normal. Which, you are. Congratulations! You're the one on the RIGHT! Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

Snowplough

Started watching Buffy season 5 Sunday afternoon, made it halfway through the set, resumed Monday with one disc left for today... which was devoured quickly. Glory was frickin' awesome and smokin', "the Body" was amazing and powerful, and now I finally understand ther ravenous fanbase for Spike. I started season 6 as well, but already I don't like it. Sure season 5 was pretty depressing with all the tragedy and whatnot, but season 6 is just stab-you-in-the-entrails morose. And a biker gang to kick it all off? Lame-o. I'm not going to be ploughing through season 6 in three days, I'll tell you what.

GONE! Gone. gone.

The beard.
It's gone.
I feel cold and lonely, and exposed.
I don't recognize myself anymore... it's the same as when I grew the damn thing... who's that strange handsome beardless devil in mirror?
It's me.
I think.

Bear Club For Men

So last night I went to Rannie's for a photoshoot for his Winter Portrait Series, which includes:

Blue
Orange
Monochrome
and Wet (partial graig nipplage, and a lot of colorless skin, but safe for work... Rannie made me classy)

these are but a mere fraction of the pictures that were taken, but I trust the man picked the cream of the crop (although I seem to recall at least a half dozen others which didn't make me look like a total knob, my fault, definitely not rannie's composition). Even bearded and topless, he made me look dashing...

I thank Rannie for the experience, I had a great time, and even spritzing me with (supposedly) warm water, it was easy and comfortable. I also thank him for capturing the beard for historical posterity (more on the beard in future postings) . The man's a true talent. Congrats on the "best Canadian blog" win.

furgartlingrads

Today, the basement is finally whole again. The men are here patching up the vacant drywall spaces, plastering, sanding and now painting. Ah, yes, the basement has that "new wall smell", and I have that "new wall smell headache".
Methinks I'm sleeping on the futon in the living room tonight.

Tomorrow, things will begin to retun back to normal. That's the plan anyway.

SILLY THINGS TO DO

by me - 01.02.06

If you havn't already done so today, dryhump a mail box or a newspaper box, but refrain from dirty talk. No need to cause a scene.

Signs that I live in a bachelor pad

- I ate over the sink because there a computer taking up the kitchen table (to be fair I had to move it there in order to get some work done today)
- didn't notice we were out of toilet paper until we actually ran out of toilet paper

fitness

Yes, the basement is now finished, I've put everything back on the walls (screw letting the paint dry overnight, I want to put it back together now, dammit) and I've spent almost two hours mopping and dusting. I told them I wanted them to put drop sheets over everything and they said they would cover it all with plastic... but noooo they didn't and so the entire place had a fine patina of plaster dust that got into virtually every nook.
I've triple mopped and floor still has ghost-like streaks, and I've dusted everything but still I know I'll find more everytime I move a book or dvd, and I've vacuumed everything that can't be thrown in the wash.
At least it's all done.

And now, the ritualistic laying of the rugs.

iTunes Meme

via Robot Johnny

4,055 songs, 11.5 days, 21.67 GB

Sort by song title:
First: "Cieco, Cieco" Barbier by Les Triplettes Du Belleville (the quotes throw it off)
Last: Zero Point by The Rogers Sisters

Sort by time:
Shortest: What I Liked About Lord Of The Rings by Atomic 7 (00:00:05)
Longest: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Presents America: The Book (A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction part 1 of 2) (2:40:00)

Sort by artist:
First: Take Ecstacy With Me by !!!
Last: Baby It's Cold Outside by Zooey Deschanel and Leon Redbone

Sort by album:
First: "Oh, So NOW You Fuckers Wanna Dance?!?!" split ep by Cex/Kid 606 (again the quotes throw it off)
Last: Young Adults Against Suicide by Ninja High School

Top 5 most played songs: (very skewed because I listen to my iPod and rarely iTunes and a reshuffling of iTunes mid-year and lots of listening to determine song order for year-end '05 comp)
1) End Points by the Diskettes
2) The Hypothesist by Novillero
3) Egosonic War Drums feat. Peace by Blackalicious
4) Grounds For Divorce by Wolf Parade (S/T ep version)
5) Who'd Stop The Rain by Dressy Bessy

First song that plays on shuffle:
Up From DaBassment by Kid 606

Songs with "x" in the title:
Sex: 6
Love: 139
Death: 6
Monkey: 2

Kaboomyhead

(*note to squeamish - Mom - you may wish to avoid this post*)

Sitting downstairs for any length of time with the Dalek dehumidifier and air purifier is maddening. Together they emit this ambiant tone not unlike that which the scanners emit when they make people's heads explode.

It feels like my brain is being sucked out my ears, so I'm going to go upstairs now, and attempt "Manos" part 3 a little later.

(he blowed up good)

The Love Movement

Saturday

Slept on the futon upstairs, very uncomfortably I might add, meaning I got little sleep. I kept waking up, panicking that the basement flooded again (although why I would worry about a second flooding, I don't know, especially since I'd brought everything up off the floor, but the sleepy mind isn't very sound).

I called the landlord again both at his home and his cel and left messages... I decided to take measures into my own hands and looked up a plumber in the Yellow Pages. While on the phone with them confirming timing and location, I picked up the call waiting from my landlord, effectively hanging up on the plumber (how rude, oops).

The landlord came by with a plumber around 3pm (meanwhile I was making a crumble and a cobbler in the kitched while I waited for them, with raspberries, blueberries and rhubarb... I kina messed them both up, but in a tasty manner I should say). The plumber snaked the line and determined that some old clay piping/filter thingamahoodicker (buried under the front lawn) had collapsed which is probably what sent the water rushing back in the house... not to mention the snake brought back a large clump of roots:

Not much else could be done until next day when a crew would have to come out and get their shovel on. Meanwhile Toast and Marmy provided an escape route (and a home for the cobbler, oh and delicious homemade pizza and wings) for the evening, with my first ever viewing of the irreplaceable MST3K film "'Manos': Hands of Fate" (edit - I forgot about Pumaman, the world's most ineffective superhero)... oh and "Mr. B Natural" (Mr. B is a chirpy, chipper, spaz of a woman...who's appalling and attractive at the same time... my mind warps)...

J-roomie found the original, un-MST3Ked version of "Manos" for me, which he's going to regret I'm sure. we also played a few rounds of Munchkin which was tremendous fun.

Sunday

Another uncomfortable futon sleep, and way too short, as I'm rudely awakened by the doorbell (which for some reason sounded like it was planted right beside my head). Standing at the door is the landlord, wanting me to flush the toilet a couple of times. Over his shoulder I see two men peering down a pipe in the lawn with flashlights.
By 10:30, the men have disappeared and there's a pile of dirt sitting on some tarps, with a six foot deep hole covered over by some 2x4s:

(by the looks of it they already found and extracted a section of the clay pipe)

Meanwhile, the property damage specialist sent by the insurance company arrives and assesses the damage, followed by the insurance agent who does the same (but with pictures). At noon, the property damage guy is back with a natural disinfectant/anti-bacterial agent which he sprays everywhere on the floor, and anything an inch above the ground ("don't worry", he says to me, "it's all natural and wont harm anything"). It smell is potent, but fresh (like a forest). After he finishes his thorough spray down, he brings in two hulking units, approximately Dalek-sized: one a dehumidifier, t'other an air purifier.

When he finishes up, putting another dehumidifier in the back room, and taking away anything that was overly soiled beyond redemption (I get to buy new shoes now and new sandals in the summer), I note that the guys are back up front (!) digging away. Taking a look over the front porch rails, I see that there is indeed a guy inside the hole which is about 9 feet deep, five feet wide and five feet across.

With a "no water useage" in effect, I'm just in time to witness the ceremony where dude uses his shovel to bust the drain wide open (it's only made of 80 year old clay) and watch it's gooshy innards spill out. What a gloriously smelly sight to behold. After the water drained into the sand that comprises the 10th foot of sand beneath the front lawn another plumber dude came with his infrared camera and probed the line straight into the house. It got the all clear, picture perfect diagnosis, with a slight bit of oily sludge residue, but that's natural. There was also mention of some problem city side, which would have to wait until Toronto came and inspected it for themselves.

Meanwhile the pipebits just kept flying out of the hole, this is just one section that came out of it:

Note: gummy rootstuffs.
After the shattering of the poopipe, I had some errands to run, so I left the scene for an hour. Upon my return they had all the PVC piping in place and the water was good to go again. I had a bath I was so happy.

Monday

Ahhh, Monday. Futon sleeping is only better when you know you can say "I'm not going into work today because someone has to be home if they're going to come calling for their Daleks", plus there was mention made that two foot sections of drywall may need to be cut out if the moisture doesn't evaporate, otherwise ther could be mold issues down the road, and I should be there for that (the drywall cutting, not the mold issues).

I also had to deal with the rugs, which finally dried out. I took them into the cleaners and the bill is going to be about $100 for the two rugs plus the comfortor (which was just barely touching the floor but still soaked up a little gribbliness). Now, both of the rugs cost about $100 each, so it would almost be worth it just to buy new ones, but at the same time, why waste the money and the landfill space when both the property damage dude and the plumber said that a cleaning of them would be just fine.
Although I realize now that I probably could have rented a steam cleaner for $40 and saves some money although then I'd have to deal with actually getting, returning and doing the steam cleaning. Oh well. Could have been worse.

2006 hate me

2006 has it in for me, I know now.
Tonight I ambled home, taking my time, arriving all prepped to make myself a nice meatloaf, just after I do the dishes first, of course. I searched my meager cooking guide collection only to find nary a trace of any meatloaf recipe. I decided to go downstairs and get on-line and attempt to find my favourite meaty recipe. And I flicked on the light to go downstairs. Bemusement at first. Then disbelief. A pool of water at the foot of the stairs.

What the fuck?

I thought they fixed the leak by putting in the cement slab out back... and even then WE never got the leak on OUR side?

I take a peek around, and there's water everywhere. My brand new (not even two weeks old) rug is soaked (and so too were my socks). I check the back room, and the cement floor is dark where the moisture has been. I look around and can't find the source of where the water came from. Not immediately anyway...

I race over to the neighbours and check with them to see if their basement has leaked too. Nope. Pas des problem. So I go back and scour around, a bit and still come to no conclusions. I ask my other neighbour if he has a wet/dry shop vac, which unfortunately he didn't. I called my landlord, but he wasn't answering either. My neighbour suspects that the sewer drain backed up.
Lovely.
As I head back and begin to mop up I notice that the water, as it gets squeezed from the mop, is soapy, foaming. Could be worse... could be poo stained. I fill up a bucket, and as I move my rug and it drains, I fill up another. The water hadn't quite reached the front of the room and was likely never above an inch high off the ground, but it still did its damage. The rug under my bed as well was half wet...
By the time I'm done I've filled up a third and fourth bucket... it's like someone had a bath and all the water drained right into the basement. I can hear the taps running, the upstairs neighbour is doing dishes. I notice in the sewer drain sudsy water moving about... and then beside the drain I notice this:

Yup, that's a fucking worm.
A dead worm, yes, but still a worm.
Jesus frig.

I checked with the neighbour upstairs and she professes to not being home all day (she left in the morning before I did and I didn't notice any water before I left... I even skipped my shower this morning because I was running late). So nobody was home when this happened, so what happened.

I did a test, draining out my now cold dishwater, then running the shower, and then flushing the toilet. I'll be damned if that drain didn't back up, if only just a little.

So yeah, the damn thing is blocked... the system has an infarction (I'm watching way too much "House").

So there's not a lot of damage. My tv stand and rugs have soaked up some water as have my shoes, and the water doesn't seem to be smelly or anything but I don't know that it isn't all full of the gribblies and such... I feel kind of gross just thinking about it (I've washed my feet yes I have).

I'll have to get someone to come snake the drainpipe and figure out what's wrong. I don't have any insurance so I think my rugs are toast... and I'm not sure I want to stay here anymore but that just may be my overwhelming melancholy at the moment.

Look more pictures:

Four hours later and the floors are still drying out.
Fucking hell.

Resolutions

I havn't looked back at last year's resolutions yet, but I can tell you now that I accomplished or upheld virtually none of them. Such was 2005. Glad it's over.

For 2006, so far all I've come up with is that I need to limit how much spending I do on DVDs, CDs, and comics.

I've factored it out as so:

Comic books - max 5 issues or $20 per week (whichever is less)... this will wind up as 200 less issues than I bought last year
Graphic Novels - 1 per week (total of 52 for the year)... which is appx half that of 2005
DVD (movies) - 12 for 2006 (1/month)... about 1/3 of last year
TV on DVD - 1 every 3 weeks (or 18 for the year)... about 1/2 that of last year
CD or Record - 1 every 2 weeks (max 26/year)... about 1/2

And that's it... my "resolution" sorta.