The Bachelor Life

With Karen away in France, I have reverted back to my bachelor ways. These ways do not involve the 'typical bachelor guy' stuff like leaving my clothes on the floor and not doing dishes. Rather, they involve watching a lot of movies and television, and doing a lot of cleaning and organizing.

Most notably, I've been watching Band of Brothers. The series was created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It is really well written and tells the true story of a group a paratroopers from Easy Company during WWII. Each episode begins with real accounts by the actual paratroopers (then in their 20's and 30's, now in their 80's and 90's). My brother introduced me to it; he bought me the box set on Blu-Ray for Christmas one year. Anyway, I've watched eight of the ten episodes in the past week. That's quite a time investment considering that each episode is an hour long. I've also been downloading a lot of movies and watching those.

I have always spent a lot of time cleaning and organizing. I enjoy it. Karen and I are well settled into our new place, but there are still a few things on the to-do list. That is another thing. I love making to-do lists. It's part of my organizational nature. Anyway, one of the things on our to-do list is to put up the drapes in our bedroom. We picked up the materials, but as it turns out, it's a much more involved process than that; requiring a trip to Home Depot and to Canadian Tire (which I don't mind at all - Canadian Tire is my mecca). So, if all goes well, I will cross that item of the list tonight.

The Best Shave

This morning, Jeff and I went to Imperial Barber Shop on Slater Street to get straight shaves. Our appointment was at 9:30am, I got there right on time, and Jeff showed up a few minutes later, having had some difficulty finding a parking spot.

They sat us down in old style barber chairs, you know the ones that look like barca loungers, across from one another, so we could see in the mirrors what was happening. They started us off by shaving off all the excess facial hair with some electric clippers. There wasn't much work to be done on me, because honestly, I don't grow that much facial hair.

So, I was ahead of the game as the barber continued to prep me for the shave, while Jeff's barber was still struggling. The next step in the process was the application of the shaving cream, but not just any shaving cream. They had a little machine on a table nearby that produced a warm, silky, smooth lather. The barber applied the shaving cream to my face using the tips of her fingers. Once that was done, she wrapped my face in warm towels, and let them sit for a couple of minutes. Then, she wiped off all the shaving cream, and reapplied some more.

Then, the barber brought out the straight razor and began, little by little, methodically, precisely, erradicating each and every hair on my face. I got a little nervous as the blade swept across my throat, remembering certain scenes from the movie Sweeney Todd, but in the end, I escaped unscathed with no cuts or bruises, and my face was as smooth as a baby's bottom.

October Road / November Rain

In reality, the road and rain were more pertinent to October, as it rained a lot, and I drove and moved a lot, but this way, I get to make reference to classic songs by James Taylor and Guns N' Roses, respectively.

October was a very busy month. Karen and I moved into our new place on the 10th, I graduated from my SSDC course on the 13th, I had lunch with Faudeya and Ghazal on the 16th, Karen and I went for sushi for Hogan's birthday on the 25th, Karen and I went to The Keg and to the Just for Laughs show at the NAC with Mandy and Nick on the 30th, Karen and I went over to Mandy and Nick's place for Halloween on the 31st, and Karen and I kept playing dodgeball for Chuck Norrii on Wednesdays. Our last dodgeball match of the month, on the 28th, put us up against our former Norrii teammates Tom and Holly and their crew of misfits, Ballin' Out Of Control. It was a close game, which they won by a rock-paper-scissors decision over a contested score.

November is shaping up to be just as busy. On the 6th, Karen and I, along with Holly and Tom, continued our annual tradition at the Ottawa Wine and Food Show. It was a good time. For a complete recap of the evening, head over to Tom's blog. On the morning of the 7th, Karen and I went to get some groceries for our housewarming party. That afternoon, I went over to my mom's place to help her out with her winter tires, and came back home in time to get things ready. Our party got started at 5pm and ended at about midnight. People came bearing gifts, we ate and drank like kings, and played Guitar Hero like real rock stars. Thank you to everyone who came; you guys are awesome. On the 8th, Karen and I went to IKEA, Bayshore Shopping Centre, and M&M. This afternoon, I'm going to get my winter tires put on. On the horizon, a retirement luncheon at work, more dodgeball with the Norrii, birthdays, and Karen is going to France!

August and Everything After

The past two months have been very busy for me...

The month of August consisted of playing paintball, visiting apartments with Karen, going to see Karen dance at Fortissimo, going to Tom and Holly's wedding party, attending birthday parties, going to see movies, playing soccer at work, playing ultimate frisbee, going camping at Bon Echo, and starting a 6-week survey skills development course at work.

The month of September consisted of Karen and mine's second anniversary in Mont Tremblant, packing up all my stuff, the continuation and end of my survey skills development course at work, my brother's birthday, and moving in with Karen.

On the horizon for October is yet another move, this time from Karen's apartment, to our new apartment in her building.

Whatever Alex Wants...

ARIES MAN

Aggressive Aries businessman Alexander Donaldson III needed a vacation - peace and quiet, sleeping until noon...Instead, he was rudely awakened by a huge sheep butting its head against the bedroom window! The woolly trespasser could only belong to one person - his new neighbor, Miss Bo Peep herself!


CANCER WOMAN

Child psychologist Hannah Martinof had come to the country to get away from stubborn, unreasonable men like Alex. Honestly, all that fuss over a sheep - it was enough to ruffle her normally calm, compassionate Cancer nature. But even more disturbing to Hannah was the way Alex wouldn't leave after she'd apologized for her pet. He seemed rooted to the spot. Starstruck...or lovestruck - as thought he'd suddenly experienced a...

COSMIC ATTRACTION

Timewasters

Are you bored? Have you already checked your e-mail, your Facebook, and your MySpace page, but you still want to spend some more time online? Here are some things that you can check out that will help to pass the time.

Ain't It Cool News
http://www.aintitcool.com

This is a website that is entirely dedicated to rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing movies and television projects, with an emphasis on sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, and comic-book related genres. In other words, this website is entirely dedicated to every geek, nerd and dork in the universe.

Apple Movie Trailers
http://www.apple.com/trailers

Come here to check out the trailers for all the latest / upcoming movies. At any given time, you can view about 80 of them.

Barats & Bereta Productions
http://www.baratsandbereta.com

Luke Barats and Joe Bereta are a comedy duo that have made short video clips with hilarious content. Do yourself a favour and watch So Smooth, Cubicle War, and MANtage.

Dave Barry's Column at the Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/dave_barry/

Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist who has been at The Miami Herald since 1983. He writes about issues ranging from the international economy to exploding toilets. He had written dozens of books including the famed Complete Guide to Guys.

Free Online Games
http://www.freeonlinegames.com

It's exactly what the title says. Here you can play thousands of games, online, for free using your keyboard and/or mouse. My personal favourites at the moment are Curse Village and Desolate Defence.

Hammacher Schlemmer
http://www.hammacher.com

Aside from being very difficult to pronounce, Hammacher Schlemmer has been "offering the best, the only, and the unexpected for 161 years". I have personally ordered The Wind Defying Umbrella, The Best Commuter Cup, and The 10 Day Lantern.

Retro Junk
http://www.retrojunk.com

This website allows those of us who grew up in the 70's, 80's, or 90's to relive our childhoods by looking back at the movies, television shows, commercials, and people that defined those generations.

The Onion
http://www.theonion.com

Most of you are probably already familiar with this website. They market themselves as 'America's Finest News Source', but of course, the stories are all fabricated, but nonetheless, hilarious. Sample news story - "Mexico Builds Border Wall To Keep Out US Assholes".

The Soup
http://ca.eonline.com/videos/index_old.jsp?franchise=the_soup

The Soup is a television show hosted by Joel McHale that airs every Friday on E!. The host sets up clips and comments on them. One of my favourite shows.

Montreal

We left Ottawa by train on Saturday at 10:00 and arrived in Montreal just before 1:00. Our hotel, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, was conveniently located right next to the Gare Centrale. Unfortunately, we were unable to get an early check-in, so we left our bags with the bell staff, and we ventured off into the city.

Our first stop was Reuben's. I had the Reuben's Chop-Shop Poutine (french fries topped with cheese curds, chop-shop smoked meat brisket, and gravy) with a root beer, and Karen had the Charboiled Chicken Sandwich (grilled chicken breast, with melted swiss cheese, bacon, lettuce & tomatoes, served on a Kaiser roll with Dijon mayo) with water.

After that, we went to H&M where I picked up a black dress shirt and Karen tried on a couple of skirts, then to the three-levelled Simons, where Karen picked up a swimsuit, then to Starbucks, Bikini Village, Winners, and Bentley where I picked up a card wallet.

We came back to the hotel at 3:00 to find out that our room still wasn't ready. We spent the next hour waiting on the couches in the lobby, asking the concierge for the best bus route to the Vieux Port, and getting change for the bus.

At 4:00, our room was finally ready, so we got the key cards and quickly went up, only to come back down moments later to catch our bus. We went got to the bus stop, we saw a sign that indicated that the bus was re-routed to another stop, so we took a cab instead.

We arrived at the Vieux Port, the location of the Cirque du Soleil show OvO, at 4:30. We went inside the grand chapiteau and found our way to our seats. The show lasted for two and a half hours, including a half hour intermission.

We took the bus back to the hotel, which proved to be a very interesting experience. Our bus driver was clearly having a bad day because after making a left turn onto a very narrow street, he and the driver of a car that the bus almost clipped exchanged a few words wherein our bus driver invited the man in the car to step outside the settle everything. Luckily, this did not happen.

Once we had safetly arrived at our hotel, we went up to our room and Karen called downstairs to make a reservation at Le Montrealais for dinner at 9:00. The Fairmont's other restaurant is the hilariously named The Beaver Club. Given that it was only a quarter past eight, we had some time to spare before dinner so we went to the pool.

Karen premiered her new swimsuit and I looked quite smashing in my blue board shorts. The pool was super occupied with a half dozen kids and a few parents, while the hot tub was occupied with three older guys in Speedos.

I commented to Karen about the latter situation, to which she replied that "maybe they're from Europe or something." We ended up staying in the pool the whole time with the kids and their parents because I refused to be a part of the European Speedo convention that was taking place in the hot tub. After we had gotten out of the pool, I noticed that somebody had taken my flip flops, so I had to go back to our room barefoot.

We got changed and went downstairs for supper. We ordered half a bottle of white wine, I had the Walleye, Karen had the Filet Mignon, and we helped ourselves to the dessert bar. By the time we came back up to the room, it was past 10:00.

We woke up today at 9:00, we checked out at 11:00, we left our bags with the bell staff, and we went for breakfast at a place in the Gare Centrale. Our train wasn't leaving until 1:00, so we went to Place Ville Marie (or as Karen calls it - PVM) to check out RW & Co. Karen tried on a couple things but I didn't find anything that I liked. We boarded the train at a quarter to one and arrived in Ottawa at a quarter past three.

Canada Day

Karen and I went for breakfast at Cora's. It had been a long time since we had last been there. Lately, we have been going to The Diner, as they have 99 cent cappucinos, and the best pancakes ever.


Afterwards, we spent the better part of the afternoon checking out the exhibits at the War Museum. I knew that it was impossible to look at and read everything, so I spent most of my time in the WWI and WWII exhibits.

Next, we headed out to Mandy and Nick's place in Kanata for a barbecue. In the evening, we went to 'Canada Day in Kanata' to see Loverboy perform their hits - Turn Me Loose, When It's Over, Lovin' Every Minute Of It, The Kid Is Hot Tonight, and Working For The Weekend.

Chicken 'n Ribs

Karen and I met up with Tom and Holly at their place at 4:00 and then we all headed down to Sparks Street.

There were 6 main restaurants competing in the event, and we had a look at what each of them had to offer.

They were all offering several variations of the same thing - ribs, chicken, and pulled pork.

For each stand, a full rack of ribs cost $20, with a half rack priced at $13. You could also get a half rack and chicken combination.

One thing that caught my eye was what they called 'A vegetarian's worse nightmare', which was a meal comprised of ribs, chicken, and pulled pork.

Karen and I split a full rack of ribs, as did Tom and Holly. They were very good. I will definitely be back next year.

Paintball

We arrived at the Commando Paintball fields at 10:30. It was just Kurtis and I this time.

We went into the main office and we got our gear - mask, paintball marker, jumpsuit, and 500 paintballs.

The equipment is quite worn down, but it still gets the job done.


We put our names on a walk-on list and we were told to go with another group of people.

The first few games went quickly for me, getting shot in the hand before I could really do anything. One thing that didn't help was that my marker kept jamming up.

We broke for our pizza lunch just after noon. Throughout the remainder of the day, we joined up with many different groups, culminating in our last game, where we played with about 20 people. Overall, a good time, and I have to welts to prove it.

Sunset Ceremonies

The Sunset Ceremonies took place at the RCMP Stables at the Canadian Police College.

On our way there, Karen and I got caught in a rainstorm and we had to pull over and wait until things calmed down.

When we did finally get back on the road, we were met with some flooding on the street. We took a detour and found our way to our destination.

When we got to the show grounds, we saw that two or three small lakes had collected. As a result, Karen's dance and the pipe band performance were cancelled.

New at the Sunset Ceremonies this year, was a performance by the Golden Knights parachute team from the United States. Afterwards, the musical ride riders did their thing.

Goodbye MJ

I grew up with Michael Jackson's music. At home, we had 'Thriller' on LP and 'Bad' on cassette. I tried and tried and tried to learn how to do the moonwalk and I used to dance around while listening to songs like 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Thriller'. I did almost everything except wear the sparkly glove.

In his short lifetime of 50 years, Michael Jackson put out 10 studio albums from Got To Be There (1972) to Invincible (2001), in addition to the albums that he released as part of the Jackson 5, being the youngest at only 8 years old.

He was known for most of his life as 'The King of Pop' because he rocked the musical world and shattered records, his albums selling in the millions and earning platinum status almost instantly. Everyone loved him, respected him, supported him, and came out in droves to see him. In every sense of word, he was royalty.

But, as we all know, things weren't always so rosy for Michael Jackson. In the 90's and early 2000's, there came a series of legal battles and controveries. As a result, he lost almost everything, including his reputation and the respect of his fans.

After all this, he was ready for a comeback. He was scheduled to perform 50 sold out concerts at London's O2 arena, starting in July.

Working it out

I have always been an active person. When I was young, I was an insatiable fountain of energy. I used to run around all over the place. I played soccer, basketball, football and baseball. I rode my bicycle. I climbed trees.

I started working out when I was a teenager, lifting free weights at home and in my friend's garage; nothing too serious. Later on, I got a gym membership at the Orleans Recreation Centre. I started adding machine weights to my workout schedule and I also spent a little time on the treadmill.

Some time later, I got a gym membership at my work, and I kept that up for a few years. Recently, I terminated my gym membership at work, and opted instead for the larger facilities at Health Canada just down the street.

A few weeks ago, I ordered a workout product called 'P90X' (perhaps you've heard of it). The premise is that you do a series of workouts for 90 consecutive days, and at the end, you'll be significantly stronger, faster, and leaner. Prior to starting the program, they ask you to take a fitness test, and they say that you should only pursue the program if you pass the initial test. I passed, so I figured that I was ready.

Well, I gave the first workout in the series a try and by the end of it, I was seriously considering two things 1) living the rest of my life from the floor 2) bathing in a bathtub filled with Rub-A-535. I thought to myself that if were to keep this up for another 89 days, I would eventually turn into dust and be carried away by a breeze. I made the executive decision to put the P90X collection of DVDs at a safe distance from my DVD player, and to no longer speak of the incident.

So what am I currently doing to stay in shape? Well, diet is one thing. I've reduced my portions of meat, and have opted for more vegetables and grains. In terms of being active, I've been playing dodgeball and ultimate frisbee, with the odd game of tennis thrown into the mix. Karen always beats me, but at least I'm being active. On the workout front, I'm still going strong at the Health Canada gym, three to four times per week, and I've purchased a set of adjustable dumbbells for when I want to workout at home.

I've also started to take vitamins and supplements. Currently, I am taking GNC Mega Men multivitamins, ISO 93 Sensation protein powder (which I have for breakfast mixed with milk, frozen fruit and frozen yoghurt - a special thanks to Tom for putting me onto this), and an after workout recovery formula.

Overall, I'd say that the results have been good, but I'm still some time away from putting on a Speedo (sorry ladies).

The Great Air Conditioner Installation of 2009

Today, I went over to Karen's place after work. She extended the invitation to me with a purpose - to do her a favour; to help her install her air conditioner. In return, Karen promised to make fajitas for supper. I got to her place at a quarter past five and we immediately got down to business. Karen cleared the area near her window of miscellaneous boxes and bags.

We got the air conditioning unit out of her storage space and brought it into her room (the addition of a storage shelf has greatly improved the organization of things in there). I was somewhat already practiced in this manoeuver as last year, I moved her air conditioning unit from her room into the storage space. Basically the same thing, but in reverse.

The next step was to lift the unit and to place it securely in the window, ideally without having it pass through the opening in the window and falling onto the ground below. Karen assured me that this wouldn't happen, but usually anything is possible when I'm involved in a project. But as so often is the case, Karen was right, and the task was accomplished without incident, unless you consider my back going out as an incident.

The tough part of the job was done and all that was left was to secure the unit in the window. Karen's process involved the use of pieces of cardboard to cover the exposed parts of the window on each side of the unit and duck tape to secure the cardboard. A job well done, even though the finished product might not be worthy of the approval of the 'Holmes on Homes' guy.

Under Repair

For one reason or another, be it my busy schedule or my stellar lazyness, I have been putting off getting some much needed work done on my car.

Back in December 2008, my car was parked outside of a friends' place in Kanata, and at some point during the evening, some scratches appeared along the drivers' side door.

Today, I decided to get an estimate of the damages. At noon, I went to Carling Mazda and the guy there had me fill out some forms and then we went outside so he could take a look at my car. After staring intently at the trouble areas, and taking down a few notes on his clipboard, we went back inside where he sat down at his computer and prepared the assessment.

In the meantime, I sat in the waiting area reading today's Ottawa Sun. A few moments later, before I had time to get to the 'Sunshine Girl' page (unfortunately), the guy called me over and presented me with the completed assessment. The total cost of the repairs came to roughly $1,400. I left with the paperwork and drove back to work mulling that number over in my head.

Bryan's 28th Birthday

Karen and I left her place at a quarter to 6 to go to Mekong Restaurant on Somerset.

We got there at 6:00 and we parked out on the street near the restaurant. Pay parking was in effect until 7:00, so I put in $1.25 in quarters, which bought us 25 minutes, and Karen put in a toonie, which bought us another 40 minutes, so we were covered.

We didn't need to be at the restaurant until 6:30, so we decided to walk down the street to Bubblicity, for bubble tea. We ordered a chocolat bubble sherbet. We intended to have it there, but upon noticing that we were running short on time, we quickly asked for it to go,
____________________________which enabled us to get to the
____________________________restaurant at exactly 6:30.

Jasmine had asked us all to be there at that time because she was going to show up with Bryan 15 minutes later under the guise that they were just going out for a quiet dinner for two. Sure enough, they showed up a precisely 6:45 and we all yelled 'Surprise!'.

We all looked at the menu and the idea of sharing dishes was discussed and discussed again. Joe put forth the notion that when it came to sharing dishes, the rule of thumb was 1.5 dishes per person. Meaning, he elaborated, that if 2 people are sharing dishes, they should
____________________________order 3 dishes, 4 people
____________________________should order 6 dishes, etc.

Bryan, Jasmine, Karen and I decided that this was far too complicated a concept for us, so we each ordered a dish for ourselves. In the meantime, the other end of the table seem to order with reckless abandon; drinks, appetizers, and main dishes which didn't seem to follow the 1 : 1.5 rule that Joe had established moment before.



I managed to finish my dish (braised duck with vegetable) with a little help from other, while Karen did a respectable job with hers (prawns with vegetables and cashews), but in the end, mostly due to some overzealous ordering on the part of certain individuals, our table
____________________________looked like a war zone, with half
____________________________finished dishes as far as the eye
____________________________could see. Needless to say, we
____________________________all took home leftovers.

A visit with my niece

Today was a big day, I was going to see my niece for the first time. I was nervous. What would she think of me? Would she like me? What if she didn't like me? First impressions are important. I couldn't afford to leave anything to chance.

After I got dressed, I dropped Karen off at her place so that she could take a nap while I continued to St. Laurent Shopping Centre to see if I could find something for my niece (who I hear has very particular tastes).

After wandering around for about an hour, through the aisles at Baby 'R Us and Sears, I happened upon a set of bibs at the latter location that I thought were nice. Each one had a different word inscribed on the front in bright letters: 'Adorable', 'Too Cute', and 'Spoiled'.




On my way out, I picked up some 'General Thai' and 'General Curry' from Thai Express. I arrived at Karen's place to find her on the couch, awoken only seconds earlier from her nap by the sound of the door opening. We sat down and had lunch and departed soon afterwards for our visit.

We arrived at Jeff and Namgyal's place and were greeted by Jeff, the new dad. I presented him with a bouquet of flowers that we picked up on the way there, jokingly saying that they were for him, and not for Namgyal. He saw right through my ruse.





My mom and her sister were there, visiting from Montreal, as was Namgyal's mom, visiting from Trenton, who has been staying with them to help prepare for the baby. Within moments of arriving, I was cradling Tenlha in my arms.

We spent the better part of the afternoon there, talking, eating cookies and cake, drinking non-alcoholic sparkling wine and Ginger Ale. We took several pictures and we presented the new mom and dad with gifts which they opened with delight.

Most importantly, we spent time with Tenlha.

A day at Mont Cascades Waterpark

I had been keeping close track of the weather forecasts all week leading up to today. It had generally been saying that it would be cloudy, with a high of around 22/23, with a chance of showers. In short, not very good 'waterpark weather'.


Tom and Holly came over to my place just before noon and we all packed into my car and the four of us headed out for adventure!

When we got there, Hogan, Tim, and his son Evan were waiting for us. Okay, so I said noon, and we rolled up at 12:35, so we were a bit late...

We got our passes, the friendly security people rummaged through our bags, we got in, and we set ourselves up on a picnic table. We had brought a cooler with pop, Tom's specialty juice mix, cookies, crackers, and fruit.

Hogan had a bit of a cold, so he didn't partake in the fun. Tim and
Evan tried out a few things, but in the end, Evan decided that staying dry and climbing stuff was the way to go. So, it was up to Tom, Holly, Karen and I to hit the waterslides with wreckless abandon!

All in all, we had a fun time. I totally dominated the four-person carpet races (pictured above), due to the fact that it's mostly a weight-prevailing scenario, although Tom managed to beat me a couple of times, once he figured out how to start properly.

They had a nice retro arcade inside the chalet. Hogan and I played a game called 'Vendetta' where your main objective was to beat the crap out of everyone that appeared on the screen. A concept that was beautiful in its simplicity.

In addition to the contents of our cooler, we also sampled some of the local cuisine: Hogan had a large poutine ($9.00), Karen and I each had a hot dog ($2.75), and Tom had a hamburger (not sure how much he paid for it).

Afterwards, we went back to my place, hung up our stuff to dry out, prepared some food, watched some movies, and played Guitar Hero.

Tenlha Jacqueline Smale

My brother Jeff and his wife Namgyal welcomed their daughter into the world today at 3:15pm. She weighed 7 pounds and 11 ounces.

I will be going over to their place on Sunday to see my niece for this first time.

After work, Karen and I went out to M&M Meat Shops and Loblaws to get things for my b-day gathering tomorrow night, and while were at Loblaws, my mom called to fill me in on the events of the day.

Tom and Holly met up with us at my place for supper, and then we went to go see Year One at the movie theatre in my 'hood.

My mom turns 60

Today is my mom's 60th birthday.

For this occassion, I got her 6 garden lanterns, the solar powered kind that you put in the ground, which I bought from my favourite store in the whole world, Canadian Tire. I didn't realize it at the time when I bought them, but I guess that each garden lantern can represent 10 years, kind of like candles on a birthday cake.

I thought that the lanterns would be a nice addition to her garden, which she has been working on for the past several years. In the backyard, there are several bushes, shrubs, a couple of trees, some statues, and of course, the requisite gnome. In the front yard, there are also several bushes and shrubs as well as a massive Norwegian Maple tree that has been there longer than I have. This tree, despite undergoing frequent and elaborate trimmings, manages to always be wildly out of control and every autumn, its fallen leaves get packed into approximately 100,000 compost bags.

I also got her a nice sterling silver necklace with a Garnet gemstone pendant from Bija, a eclectic jewelery store on Wellington, near where I work. To top it all off, I got her a très (ie. very) humourous card, in French, and I will pick up some nice assortment flowers from the Parkdale Market.

My plan is to go to my mom's house straight after work and to position the lanterns in the prime locations in her garden, before she gets home from work, and then to present her with the rest of the gifts.

Where do I go from here?

I'm 30, and I'm feeling it. By 'it' I mean 'old', and by 'old' I mean 'very old', and by 'very old' I mean 'ancient'.

I find myself starting to say things like 'young punks' when referring to teenagers and their sometimes loud and often abnoxious behaviour. In times like those, I try to remember back to when I was a teenager to see if I ever behaved like the kids today. Ah yes, that's another things that I find myself saying. 'These kids today (enter general old people stereotype about young people)'.

I know that it's bad, and I also know that it won't end there; it will only get worse. It won't be long before I start saying things like 'Back in my day...', complaining about my various aches and pains, developing new fears, talking about how death is close, wearing adult diapers and a knee brace, not being able to eat spicy foods past 3 o'clock, hating loud music, having trouble with my bifocals, sitting on my front porch all day with a glass of lemonade and complaining to myself and to passers by how they don't make things like they used to, muttering to myself, wandering the shopping malls looking for the ultimate soft yoghurt, growing another chin, and not being able to drive anywhere because my Crown Vic is always in the shop.

A special thanks to Tom for his suggestions for this blog post.

Broken (fractured) (pinky) finger

Dodgeball is a rough sport.

Admittedly, it's not a contact sport, but only in the sense that your body doesn't physically come into contact with another person's body. Instead, your body, or parts thereof, comes into contact with a large dense ball travelling at you at roughly the speed of light.

If you're lucky, you will manage that avoid said ball. If you're really lucky, you'll catch the ball and get the person who threw it at you out. In one particular instance, this past Tuesday evening, I was attempting the latter scenario, but instead ended up creating scenario number 3: Trying to catch the ball but failing miserably and fracturing my pinky finger.

Now of course, being a guy, I did not immediately declare to everyone : "I just inadvertantly fractured my finger!" and walk off to the bench in shame. Rather, displaying the typical guy mentality towards injury, I thought to myself "It's just a sprain" and I kept playing.

Ever since then, I have been making appointments and waiting in waiting rooms. Tomorrow, I have an appointment at the Ottawa General Hospital at 8:00am for a follow-up consultation with Dr. Benoit.

Preface

So, I'm starting a blog.

This isn't my first endeavour into the world of recording my thoughts.

I used to keep a diary when I was younger. I used to write in it every night before going to bed, usually about what I did that day. Typical entry - "Today, I fried some ants with my magnified glass..."

It was a little hardbound book, about the size of my hand, with a little lock and a little key for the little lock.

As I recall, I lost the key fairly quickly, then the lock broke, and soon after that, the book started to break apart too. I often wonder what happened to that diary...