Okay, first of all, I need to say that I'm somewhat drunk at the moment. I just came from a restaurant near my hotel (yes, I'm away again).
On Monday, what the fuck did I do? It seems like so long ago. I'm pretty sure I did nothing, relative to things that actally have meaning. I think I worked on my new "song" (though how can it be considered "new" at this point?), and I might have done some reading. I did clean a bit of my bathroom as well (no, I wasn't up to cleaning the entire thing).
On Tuesday (oh yes, Monday to Thursday at work were very boring days - I worked on mindless, repetivive bugs the entire time) I worked some more on my "song" and then I went to JW's (I really am having a lot of trouble typing here - it's just my attention to detail that keeps me hitting backsapce to correct the errors - wow, this is really insane). It was already quite late, so we relaxed for a while before going to sleep.
On Wednesday, I went to my grandmother's after work to eat supper. I bought some McDonald's food for us, and we ate it while watching the ever-boring Live at Five. We also watched a bit of the equally-boring Six O'Clock News. Afterward, I picked up my glasses (which had twice broken under warranty in the past five months) and went to a few stores. I bought a couple of two-fours of beer for my birthday party, which was either going to be the Saturday or Sunday after my birthday.
Thursday definitely came as a bit of a surprise. I went into work as if it was a normal day, with little to do other than work on the bugs I'd been working on the past couple of weeks. However, at 2:32pm, that all changed. I was asked by B-SM to go to Seattle again to help out with a project that was horribly behind schedule. We'd (our company) promised three people, and we'd only delivered one. I couldn't turn down the trip, even though my birthday loomed, as I'd said already that short trips would be fine, so long as they weren't too frequent. At first, I was to leave on Sunday, returning Friday, but that eventually morphed into a Friday to Friday trip. I would be working over the weekend, but I'd be getting time off to compensate. I decided to accept, as a show of good faith, and because I was actually excited to travel, despite my negative experiences only a month earlier. Turning the trip down would only have been a supreme example of hipocracy, as I'd told my company that frequent, short trips were vastly superior to infrequent long ones. Truthfully, neither is good, because freqent short trips (fuck, that was like five typos in a row) have you dealing with travel a lot (delays, wasted time), whereas long trips avoid all of that, but leave you miserable because you miss the people you know and love.
Anyway, what day is this? What was I talking about? Oh yeah, me being sent on another trip. So yeah, I spent the remainder of Thursday booking flights and hotels, and installing necessary software on my laptop. After work, I was going to go to TA's to watch UFC, but I changed plans to go see JW instead as I'd be going a week without seeing her. A week without seeing TA would be just fine, but a week without JW would be pretty bad, so the decision was made.
The evening was unusual to say the least. I ate dinner with Dad at a tavern close to my place. We were slowed up by a large group of co-workers celebrating something - perhaps our agony. We ultimately got out alive, having eaten our club house sandwich/Montreal smoked meat sandwich (sorry, I have to go take a piss now). I then went over to JW's to spend the evening with her - or so I thought. She received phone calls from every person whose name she could remember, and her brother even stopped by to drop off some soup. He stayed for a while, chatting about movies, rocks and music. In the fullness of time, he left. It was bed time, and I'd only had a few minutes with JW - I was a bit angry, until I found that she wasn't hell-bent on going to sleep right away, as I'd suspected. There is a long story that I might tell here, but I won't, because I've already told it.
On Friday, I packed and installed software on my laptop. I visited Mum in the morning, as she was going to Toronto by train that day for a gift shop trade show. I slept a bit around lunch time, before packing and heading up to meet Dad. He drove me to the airport, and I got on a plane bound for Toronto. The security people confiscated my water.
It was snowing in Toronto, and after landing, we waited an hour and a half before pulling into our gate. I got off the plane, and headed to the baggage pickup. I was told there that my next plane was leaving in a few minutes, and that I'd better leave my bags behind and make a run for it. Fortunately, during the conversation, my bags arrived. I picked them up, and headed for my next flight. I arrived just in time, and I went through customs, again getting busted for carrying water (though this time, I got to keep it after drinking half of what I had in front of the guard). I cleared customs and made a run for my departure gate, only to find that my flight hadn't even been announced yet.
I went to grab a bite to eat - I had a roast beef sandwich and a huge Greek salad. I went back to the gate, and was horrifed to find everyone gone! Fortunately, they'd only changed the gates. So, I rushed over to the next gate to find both information screens labelled, "Closed/Ferme". I sat down and waited for a while, and eventually my flight showed up, albeit a half hour later than I'd been told at the last gate. The time was updated twice more before we finally boarded - each time, they waited long enough to ensure I couldn't begin doing something fun without missing the flight. Ultimately, we got on board, only to wait an hour and a half before take-off - it was snowing, and there were dozens of planes lined up waiting to be de-iced.
The flight to Seattle departed Toronto twenty-five minutes before it had been originally scheduled to land. It arrived in Seattle around 1:45am - surprisingly, AN was there to pick me up (he'd been in Seattle for a week already). I got my luggage (luckily) and we headed to the hotel. I got to bed around 3am - 25 hours after I'd gotten up the morning before. I was dead.
I only slept six hours, as I had to get up Saturday to go to work. AN and I had to get an extremely important project completed in order for our (the Seattle-based company we'd been sent to do work for) company to procure a large contract. The deadline was the following Thursday (the future, as I write). Okay, I'm going to stop here for now, as I'm really tired and I need to sleep. Hopefully I'll finish this soon. :S
Continuing on (I'm not so drunk this time, but still a little buzzed - hey, I'm on a working holiday!), we worked about eight hours on Saturday. Afterward, we decided to head downtown to grab some brews at a microbrewery suggested by our Seattle boss. We also wanted to stop by the theatre where Bill Cosby was giving a performance, just in case there were any scalper tickets to be had. The drive downtown was a nightmare - it took us well over an hour. We headed right for the theatre, there being no time left for a beer, and no sooner had we arrived than we'd bought tickets to the show! The scalper wanted $125 each for them, and we'd offered $80 (each). We got them for $90. Even after we agreed on the price, the scapler tried to get more money out of us - but we had none of that.
Once inside the theatre, we both had a feeling of "no way that just happened - no way we're actually in here." We'd thoroughly convinced ourselves that there was no way we were getting tickets. Inside, we each had a drink before proceeding to our seats - half-way back in the lower bowl - really good seats to be honest. Cosby came out, and we were close enough to recognize him without the fifty-foot big screen. He looked old and unhealthy, but he delivered a superb two-and-a-half hour routine, mixing old comedy with new. AN and I both appreciated every moment of the show, as Cosby is really as big as it gets in the world of comedy. The only negative to the evening was the seating - it was cramped to say the least. I was in terrible pain for the last hour of the show - my mind flirted with the idea of standing up mid-show just to stretch. There was no leg room, and the guy next to me (as well as AN) were infringing on my space. I had to hold my legs together. But it was worth it to see Cosby! AN and I both appreciated his extreme style of humour, which culminated with a story about a little brother and his imaginary friend. Cosby, the big brother, supposedly "strangled, broke the neck of, and killed" the imaginary friend - and of course, the little brother believed it!
After the show, there was no time to get beer because the parking garage was set to close at midnight. We drove back to the vicinity of our hotel, stopping at Denny's for dinner (the first chance we had!). We both had large, unhealthy, unsatisfying meals, and we both walked out feeling worse than we'd felt coming in. The staff was downright scary - an older woman with painted-on, red eyebrows and a growling raspy voice seated us, and a mobster latino served our food.
On Sunday, we got up and went to work again. We stayed a bit late, but there was still time to relax before going to bed, so we went to a restaurant close to the hotel. We weren't in the mood for wasting half our time driving downtown. We both had fish tacos recommended by many people at the company. The fish was barbequed, and it was coated in spices - very spicy and hot overall. It was topped with a coleslaw-like mixture, plus sour cream and guacamole if desired. It was good, but not great. We also had several large girly drinks - ten-dollar margaritas, mohitos (sp?) et al.
After the restaurant, I came back and drunkenly wrote the first part of this entry. If you think the author should go see the Microsoft Campus on Friday, go to entry 1462. If you think the author should go see Nintendo Headquarters, go to entry 1462. Sorry, folks - unfortunately, I can only choose one adventure.
I'm currently listening to: "Major Label Debut" from "To Be You and Me" by "Broken Social Scene" (this song is fucking awesome)
Movies watched this week: none (fuck me) (I TRIED to watch Casino)
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
1460 - The Search for Jaws and Several Other Stories
I just realized that I've been leaving out the weather bit at the end of my entries lately. Well, what can I say? It's been done. I'm not going to care much down the road that it was cold or hot, rainy or sunny (editor's note: notice that the negative weather is listed first in both instances). It's not like these things aren't ever going to happen again... barring a catastrophic event within the next week. Thus, henceforth, the weather shall be stricken from this record.
The past week was fairly uneventful, as they often are during the dead of winter. The only positive thing about this time of year is that the days are getting longer. I noticed this for the first time today - I could actually see light outside at 5:40pm.
On Monday, I got up eleven hours earlier than 5:40pm. This is fortunate, because they like us to be at work by nine (editor's note: the author has a fondness for the anonymous usage of the word "they"). Describing Monday's work activities effectively describes the entire work week - dull. I fixed bugs, though they were no ordinary bugs - they were especially trivial and ESPECIALLY redundant. It took considerable self-discipline to keep on track - I was often tempted to surf the net or to leave early. In the end, I survived, and I didn't leave early. I didn't surf the net - much.
Monday evening was quiet as usual. TA wanted to play pool, but I let sleeping TA's lie and did not get a phone call about it after all. I think I wound up working a bit on my new "song". I also did some reading. The topic was self-motivation, though I dismissed much of the material as being not applicable to me. Toward the end of a chapter, the author pointed out a fact that I am very much aware of - action comes before motivation. Though there have been countless examples of this in my life - scenarios where taking action has resulted in motivation, particularly when I lost fifty pounds many moons ago - I still hadn't gotten myself onto my cross-trainer to lose some of the thirty-five pounds I'd since gained back. Reading the phrase "action comes before motivation" was a kick in the pants, even though I was wearing none at the time. I got right up, determined to at least get a little bit of exercise, and I wound up doing the full forty minutes, which is what I strive for regularly. I felt full of energy afterward - maybe it was more of a mental high than a physical one. I went to bed happy - I felt motivated, and I was anticipating my next session.
There was a snowstorm on Tuesday, and I drove home from work around quarter past three. Even then, the traffic was building toward the bridges, and it took me a while to get home. Once home, I connected to my computer at work to continue working. At four-thirty, the last of my work-related motivation eroded away, having been replaced by motivation to get my exercise. I jumped on the cross trainer and did another forty minutes. I watched most of an episode of Deadwood while exercising - making the experience even more enjoyable. Deadwood is not the western I'd hoped it would be. While it is set in the wild west, it is really a drama. There isn't much shooting, but the characters are really interesting and the acting is superb. The storylines are fun. I'm told that season one (I'm nearing the end of it now) can't hold a candle to the other two seasons, so I'm excited to get to them as well - and the way to do that is to get more exercise!
After my exercise, I went over to JW's to hang out. I was happy to see her, as I always am, but more so because I hadn't seen her much over the previous weekend. She did some marking, while I did some reading - it was a relaxing evening.
TA wanted to go to trivia on Wednesday evening, but Mother Nature put an end to that. The car had magically disappeared during the day, and I wasn't about to go outside in minus twenty-degree weather. I'd have sooner re-watched Caddyshack II than venture out into the cold. So I stayed in, and I got my exercise. I worked a bit on my song, though the end of the night saw a much more compact and simple version of it. I wrote vocals for a quiet part in the middle of the song that I liked, and I recorded them using a robotic voice effect to mask undesired inflection in my voice. I further processed the sad vocals to sound distant and hollow, with the final effect making them sound broken and spotty. I then had to cut the individual words apart, and drag them around to get the desired duration. I'm pretty happy with the words - I think they're well-written (for me) and I like the way they sound in the song. I think they're very applicable to a lot of people, though they're sung in the first person. The song is called "Earth B", with the title coming from an old copy of "The Weekly World News" (editor's note: subscribe to "The Weekly World News"). I've always loved that paper - I've often claimed that the writers of the articles must have the funnest jobs in the world. I think it's a job that I would be good at, because I like to think about ridiculous and funny things, and I like to think about what other people might think of them.
After work on Thursday, I did not do my exercise. I had a small window between work and play, but I wasted it chatting with AN and AD about the forthcoming play. We went to Peel Pub for wings and drinks. I didn't have any wings (well, actually I had one of AD's), but I did have a pitcher of Keith's Red very quickly. AD and AN dropped me off at JW's afterward, just in time for her to go to bed. I joined her and slept well.
After work on Friday, I took the bus up to my parents' to get the car. Actually, that's what I would've done had my Mum not come down to pick me up. It was raining hard, and I would've been soaked. I decided to call JW to see if she wanted a ride to the grocery store, as I knew she had to go. It would've been a rainy, windy nightmare for her to have gone on foot, so she accepted. Even better, we went out for some "quick" Chinese food before getting the groceries. The restaurant was packed despite the terrible weather. What were these people doing there? They should've been home eating in and watching movies. Instead they turned a quick meal into a long one, though it wasn't all bad. In fact, that's the only thing that was. The meal was excellent - Orange Beef and a spicy vegetable mixture. JW and I sat next to another table where university professors hashed out the details of their daily lives. They talked about the intelligence of mice (and how they had eluded capture), their leaky houses and their fire alarm malfunctions. While these might seem like boring dinner topics, the addition of a keen intellect can instantly transform a conversation about the most boring and common of topics into a mini comedy routine, via perfectionist description laced with colourful language. It's just fun to hear smart people talk about stupid things; fortunately, this is not at all uncommon (editor's note: the author serves to illustrate this).
After dinner, the mad dash for groceries was on. JW and I flew through Sobey's in record time, despite characteristically losing each other several times. I hurried her home, unloaded her groceries, and flew back over to my place, to await the arrival of JP, RD, AN, TA and AB. It was all for not - the group did not arrive for twenty minutes. I squeezed into JP's tiny car, and we were off. Though the speed bumps in my parking lot did not like JP's car, we survived the trip to her apartment in Clayton Park. The apartment reminded me of my old Clayton Park apartment, which I sometimes miss. It was small, but it backed on a large forest, and the only thing I could see from my fourth story balcony was trees. It was very quiet, in stark contrast to my current residence, where the view is quite opposite.
The evening consisted of drinks, an icy walk to KOD, and games. We played Dirty Minds, and another game that involved writing down words beginning with a certain letter given a set of ten clues. After the games, everyone sat around, and I proceeded to earn my reputation as the new SW. I couldn't stay awake no matter how hard I tried. My inability to sleep on anything even a degree off of horizontal seemed to be quickly vanishing, and my head snapped back and forth violently as I dosed off. Finally, everyone decided to go home, after an hour of making fun of my fatigue.
I slept in late on Saturday. I was tired of getting up early, and I decided to let myself sleep as long as I wanted. I finally got up at eleven-thirty, and my first act was to heat up a bowl of chili and spread extra old cheddar over it, to be eaten with nachos. I didn't feel well - I was hungover with a headache, and the huge meal didn't make me feel any better. I cleaned up a bit, I burned a CD for JW, and I had a shower. I went over to JW's around four, to find her feeling much worse. She was under attack from two sides, and she hadn't even gotten out of her pyjamas. We laid down for a while to warm up and rest, before ordering a pizza from Donnini's. We watched a bit of some radio musical movie. It was funny, but we decided not to watch the whole thing. Instead, after the pizza, we watched "Once Upon a Time in the West". JW didn't really like it - the acting wasn't great, and the script wasn't well-written. I fell into her way of thinking a bit, and that distracted me from enjoying the movie, until the climax. It reminded me of why I had thought the movie was great. The movie is deliberate, and it slowly builds events to a head. The visual shots are nothing short of excellent - they are very unique and they add greatly to the movie. The music is memorable, and it is well used throughout the film. The biggest weakness is the poor sound quality.
On Sunday, JW and I got up and finished off the pizza for breakfast. We then went out to search for Jaws. JW desperately needed it in the archaic VHS format for school purposes. We decided to hit up the local flea markets, as the rental joints don't rent many VHS' anymore. The first market was a bust. We then went to my place to see if I'd taped it off of TV, but it wasn't there either. Our last hope lay at the second flea market. There, we came to a table with several movies. JW quickly moved on, though I stayed to look at every movie just in case. A feeling swept over me as if I'd just won the lottery, as my eyes came to rest upon a double-VHS package labelled "Jaws". My first call to Janet was barely audible, but the second grabbed her attention. She excitedly hurried over to grab the movie, and seconds later she'd managed to pay three times the asking price for it! It didn't matter though - the find had made her weekend. She stuffed the movie into her bag and then descended into a DVD- and neclace-buying frenzy. The adventure was then made by a Chinese merchant who attempted to sell JW a neclace. He seemed nervous and inexperienced at selling - I could almost smell the shit running down his leg, as he tried to make twenty dollars. All I could think about was the stench of his breath as he spewed forth phrase after phrase of nonsensical sales speak. He used the word "like" more times than I care to count. He said the necklace cost "like $20". Well, how much did it really cost? We never found out, as each dollar amount was firmly prefaced by a "like". He tried to throw in a silk pouch to sweeten the deal, but JW wouldn't bite - I'd brought her some chocolate the day before. I spotted a necklace with a small turtle on it - after several seconds of debating as to whether I should point it out, I did, only to bring another flurry of "likes" and dollar amounts down upon us. I think I need a t-shirt with the word "LIKE" being the only thing on it. I need more good t-shirts like that - I've let my current selection get very narrow and boring.
After the flea market, JW and I relaxed a bit more before I took my leave of her. I went home and did my forty minutes, after which I went to my parents' for dinner. We had a common dinner: a cheesy potato caserole, some pork and a spinach salad. The salad was the best part. We also had blueberry cheesecake - I was horrified to see Dad get the whip cream out of the fridge to "lighten" the taste. After dinner, we watched golf for what seemed like an eternity. Midway though, a call came to the house for me. I wondered briefly who it might be, before realizing who it had to be. It was SM calling from Toronto, and I couldn't dodge his call because he'd called my parents. He said he'd lost my number, but I wonder now whether that was a ruse to get ahold of me? We chatted for about a half hour - it had all of the requisite SM chat components. There was the story about some random woman trying to seduce him into violating his marriage; the recounting of our childhood adventures around the city; the usual talk about our advancing age, and how we'd once shuddered at the thought of being twenty; and finally, there were questions about all of my friends and family. The call ended with SM promising to visit on his way to the Middle East - he's supposedly going to move there soon, though no dates were given, and nothing is certain when it comes to him. I know for a fact that I'll plan something with someone else, and he'll burst into town with only one day to hang out, and it will be the same day. Maybe my company will send me away that week.
The golf was fairly interesting this week. Charley Hoffman, a relative unknown, won with some magnificient play on the last three holes. After the golf, I headed home. I watched most of Nature - it was about the lifecycle of the fig tree and the myriad creatures it supports.
Well, that's it for this week. I guess the week was more interesting than I thought. See you (editor's note: me) on the flip side.
I'm currently listening to: the sound of my heater keeping me warm.
Movies watched this week: two-thirds of some funny musical about a radio show, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
The past week was fairly uneventful, as they often are during the dead of winter. The only positive thing about this time of year is that the days are getting longer. I noticed this for the first time today - I could actually see light outside at 5:40pm.
On Monday, I got up eleven hours earlier than 5:40pm. This is fortunate, because they like us to be at work by nine (editor's note: the author has a fondness for the anonymous usage of the word "they"). Describing Monday's work activities effectively describes the entire work week - dull. I fixed bugs, though they were no ordinary bugs - they were especially trivial and ESPECIALLY redundant. It took considerable self-discipline to keep on track - I was often tempted to surf the net or to leave early. In the end, I survived, and I didn't leave early. I didn't surf the net - much.
Monday evening was quiet as usual. TA wanted to play pool, but I let sleeping TA's lie and did not get a phone call about it after all. I think I wound up working a bit on my new "song". I also did some reading. The topic was self-motivation, though I dismissed much of the material as being not applicable to me. Toward the end of a chapter, the author pointed out a fact that I am very much aware of - action comes before motivation. Though there have been countless examples of this in my life - scenarios where taking action has resulted in motivation, particularly when I lost fifty pounds many moons ago - I still hadn't gotten myself onto my cross-trainer to lose some of the thirty-five pounds I'd since gained back. Reading the phrase "action comes before motivation" was a kick in the pants, even though I was wearing none at the time. I got right up, determined to at least get a little bit of exercise, and I wound up doing the full forty minutes, which is what I strive for regularly. I felt full of energy afterward - maybe it was more of a mental high than a physical one. I went to bed happy - I felt motivated, and I was anticipating my next session.
There was a snowstorm on Tuesday, and I drove home from work around quarter past three. Even then, the traffic was building toward the bridges, and it took me a while to get home. Once home, I connected to my computer at work to continue working. At four-thirty, the last of my work-related motivation eroded away, having been replaced by motivation to get my exercise. I jumped on the cross trainer and did another forty minutes. I watched most of an episode of Deadwood while exercising - making the experience even more enjoyable. Deadwood is not the western I'd hoped it would be. While it is set in the wild west, it is really a drama. There isn't much shooting, but the characters are really interesting and the acting is superb. The storylines are fun. I'm told that season one (I'm nearing the end of it now) can't hold a candle to the other two seasons, so I'm excited to get to them as well - and the way to do that is to get more exercise!
After my exercise, I went over to JW's to hang out. I was happy to see her, as I always am, but more so because I hadn't seen her much over the previous weekend. She did some marking, while I did some reading - it was a relaxing evening.
TA wanted to go to trivia on Wednesday evening, but Mother Nature put an end to that. The car had magically disappeared during the day, and I wasn't about to go outside in minus twenty-degree weather. I'd have sooner re-watched Caddyshack II than venture out into the cold. So I stayed in, and I got my exercise. I worked a bit on my song, though the end of the night saw a much more compact and simple version of it. I wrote vocals for a quiet part in the middle of the song that I liked, and I recorded them using a robotic voice effect to mask undesired inflection in my voice. I further processed the sad vocals to sound distant and hollow, with the final effect making them sound broken and spotty. I then had to cut the individual words apart, and drag them around to get the desired duration. I'm pretty happy with the words - I think they're well-written (for me) and I like the way they sound in the song. I think they're very applicable to a lot of people, though they're sung in the first person. The song is called "Earth B", with the title coming from an old copy of "The Weekly World News" (editor's note: subscribe to "The Weekly World News"). I've always loved that paper - I've often claimed that the writers of the articles must have the funnest jobs in the world. I think it's a job that I would be good at, because I like to think about ridiculous and funny things, and I like to think about what other people might think of them.
After work on Thursday, I did not do my exercise. I had a small window between work and play, but I wasted it chatting with AN and AD about the forthcoming play. We went to Peel Pub for wings and drinks. I didn't have any wings (well, actually I had one of AD's), but I did have a pitcher of Keith's Red very quickly. AD and AN dropped me off at JW's afterward, just in time for her to go to bed. I joined her and slept well.
After work on Friday, I took the bus up to my parents' to get the car. Actually, that's what I would've done had my Mum not come down to pick me up. It was raining hard, and I would've been soaked. I decided to call JW to see if she wanted a ride to the grocery store, as I knew she had to go. It would've been a rainy, windy nightmare for her to have gone on foot, so she accepted. Even better, we went out for some "quick" Chinese food before getting the groceries. The restaurant was packed despite the terrible weather. What were these people doing there? They should've been home eating in and watching movies. Instead they turned a quick meal into a long one, though it wasn't all bad. In fact, that's the only thing that was. The meal was excellent - Orange Beef and a spicy vegetable mixture. JW and I sat next to another table where university professors hashed out the details of their daily lives. They talked about the intelligence of mice (and how they had eluded capture), their leaky houses and their fire alarm malfunctions. While these might seem like boring dinner topics, the addition of a keen intellect can instantly transform a conversation about the most boring and common of topics into a mini comedy routine, via perfectionist description laced with colourful language. It's just fun to hear smart people talk about stupid things; fortunately, this is not at all uncommon (editor's note: the author serves to illustrate this).
After dinner, the mad dash for groceries was on. JW and I flew through Sobey's in record time, despite characteristically losing each other several times. I hurried her home, unloaded her groceries, and flew back over to my place, to await the arrival of JP, RD, AN, TA and AB. It was all for not - the group did not arrive for twenty minutes. I squeezed into JP's tiny car, and we were off. Though the speed bumps in my parking lot did not like JP's car, we survived the trip to her apartment in Clayton Park. The apartment reminded me of my old Clayton Park apartment, which I sometimes miss. It was small, but it backed on a large forest, and the only thing I could see from my fourth story balcony was trees. It was very quiet, in stark contrast to my current residence, where the view is quite opposite.
The evening consisted of drinks, an icy walk to KOD, and games. We played Dirty Minds, and another game that involved writing down words beginning with a certain letter given a set of ten clues. After the games, everyone sat around, and I proceeded to earn my reputation as the new SW. I couldn't stay awake no matter how hard I tried. My inability to sleep on anything even a degree off of horizontal seemed to be quickly vanishing, and my head snapped back and forth violently as I dosed off. Finally, everyone decided to go home, after an hour of making fun of my fatigue.
I slept in late on Saturday. I was tired of getting up early, and I decided to let myself sleep as long as I wanted. I finally got up at eleven-thirty, and my first act was to heat up a bowl of chili and spread extra old cheddar over it, to be eaten with nachos. I didn't feel well - I was hungover with a headache, and the huge meal didn't make me feel any better. I cleaned up a bit, I burned a CD for JW, and I had a shower. I went over to JW's around four, to find her feeling much worse. She was under attack from two sides, and she hadn't even gotten out of her pyjamas. We laid down for a while to warm up and rest, before ordering a pizza from Donnini's. We watched a bit of some radio musical movie. It was funny, but we decided not to watch the whole thing. Instead, after the pizza, we watched "Once Upon a Time in the West". JW didn't really like it - the acting wasn't great, and the script wasn't well-written. I fell into her way of thinking a bit, and that distracted me from enjoying the movie, until the climax. It reminded me of why I had thought the movie was great. The movie is deliberate, and it slowly builds events to a head. The visual shots are nothing short of excellent - they are very unique and they add greatly to the movie. The music is memorable, and it is well used throughout the film. The biggest weakness is the poor sound quality.
On Sunday, JW and I got up and finished off the pizza for breakfast. We then went out to search for Jaws. JW desperately needed it in the archaic VHS format for school purposes. We decided to hit up the local flea markets, as the rental joints don't rent many VHS' anymore. The first market was a bust. We then went to my place to see if I'd taped it off of TV, but it wasn't there either. Our last hope lay at the second flea market. There, we came to a table with several movies. JW quickly moved on, though I stayed to look at every movie just in case. A feeling swept over me as if I'd just won the lottery, as my eyes came to rest upon a double-VHS package labelled "Jaws". My first call to Janet was barely audible, but the second grabbed her attention. She excitedly hurried over to grab the movie, and seconds later she'd managed to pay three times the asking price for it! It didn't matter though - the find had made her weekend. She stuffed the movie into her bag and then descended into a DVD- and neclace-buying frenzy. The adventure was then made by a Chinese merchant who attempted to sell JW a neclace. He seemed nervous and inexperienced at selling - I could almost smell the shit running down his leg, as he tried to make twenty dollars. All I could think about was the stench of his breath as he spewed forth phrase after phrase of nonsensical sales speak. He used the word "like" more times than I care to count. He said the necklace cost "like $20". Well, how much did it really cost? We never found out, as each dollar amount was firmly prefaced by a "like". He tried to throw in a silk pouch to sweeten the deal, but JW wouldn't bite - I'd brought her some chocolate the day before. I spotted a necklace with a small turtle on it - after several seconds of debating as to whether I should point it out, I did, only to bring another flurry of "likes" and dollar amounts down upon us. I think I need a t-shirt with the word "LIKE" being the only thing on it. I need more good t-shirts like that - I've let my current selection get very narrow and boring.
After the flea market, JW and I relaxed a bit more before I took my leave of her. I went home and did my forty minutes, after which I went to my parents' for dinner. We had a common dinner: a cheesy potato caserole, some pork and a spinach salad. The salad was the best part. We also had blueberry cheesecake - I was horrified to see Dad get the whip cream out of the fridge to "lighten" the taste. After dinner, we watched golf for what seemed like an eternity. Midway though, a call came to the house for me. I wondered briefly who it might be, before realizing who it had to be. It was SM calling from Toronto, and I couldn't dodge his call because he'd called my parents. He said he'd lost my number, but I wonder now whether that was a ruse to get ahold of me? We chatted for about a half hour - it had all of the requisite SM chat components. There was the story about some random woman trying to seduce him into violating his marriage; the recounting of our childhood adventures around the city; the usual talk about our advancing age, and how we'd once shuddered at the thought of being twenty; and finally, there were questions about all of my friends and family. The call ended with SM promising to visit on his way to the Middle East - he's supposedly going to move there soon, though no dates were given, and nothing is certain when it comes to him. I know for a fact that I'll plan something with someone else, and he'll burst into town with only one day to hang out, and it will be the same day. Maybe my company will send me away that week.
The golf was fairly interesting this week. Charley Hoffman, a relative unknown, won with some magnificient play on the last three holes. After the golf, I headed home. I watched most of Nature - it was about the lifecycle of the fig tree and the myriad creatures it supports.
Well, that's it for this week. I guess the week was more interesting than I thought. See you (editor's note: me) on the flip side.
I'm currently listening to: the sound of my heater keeping me warm.
Movies watched this week: two-thirds of some funny musical about a radio show, "Once Upon a Time in the West"
Sunday, January 14, 2007
1459 - Bacon Cheddar Curly Fries
Yes, as you might have guessed, the best part of the week was a trip to Arby's - well, not really, but it made for a decent title. I suppose I should start with the end of last week. Last Sunday evening, the family gathered for my grandmother's 85th birthday. We sat around sucking back appetizers and chatting, while she read Frank - as Mum pointed out, apparently it was more interesting than us. After the appetizers, we had Jessy's pizza - a rather medoicre pizza with the works, and a much better one Mediterranean style (with feta cheese). After that, my grandmother opened her cards and presents.
We left around 7:30, and I went home to watch the rest of the golf that week. It was the first tournament of the year, and Vijay Singh won quite easily. I also watched an episode of Nature during the golf. It discussed the plight of the lion - apparently they used to exist all over the world, but now they're limited mostly to Africa. There are only about twenty thousand left. About half of these are relatively safe within sanctuaries, but the rest are trapped in increasingly-isolated pockets surrounded by human developments. These lions are being killed off because they often kill livestock - I mean, why not? Who wouldn't grab a cooked turkey with all the trimmings sitting out in a field somewhere? It really is that easy for the lions. The problem is that the people can't afford to erect fences to keep the lions out, and when the lions kill their livestock, their children starve. I guess it's okay for us to choose what lives and dies on this planet.
On Monday I spent a lot of the day thinking about a comment my grandmother had made at her birthday party - that I'm beginning to go bald. This fact has been on and off my mind all week. I guess it's the first sign of age, and I'm not taking it all that well. I had been doing well in the hair department, and I thought I was going to be in for a good ride. I'm still doing fine in the front, it's just the crown that's thinning. I've been looking at other men's heads all week, trying to see if I'm going bald before most other people. I see people younger than me who are far more bald, but I also see people older than me showing no signs of balding. I also looked at women somewhat jealously this week, until I remembered that they have to go through menopause - which made going bald suddenly seem very unimportant.
After work on Monday I didn't do a whole lot. I did some reading, and I organized a my music collection, as it's getting too hard to find things in one massive list of songs. I also talked to JW that night about my day, which turned a bad day into a decent one.
On Tuesday work went much better - I got a lot done. After work, I did more reading and more organizing. Exciting!
On Wednesday, work again went well, though I was quite busy with several projects. After work, I took the bus up to my parents' house to pick up the car, then I went down to JW's to pick her up. I took her out to pick up some orthodics - which she desperately needed. I had fun wondering around Sunnyside mall - I very slowly walked from one end to the other, then I sat quietly in a bench for a half hour or so, letting my imagination run wild about what the people around me might be thinking. Finally, JW emerged and we decided to head over to Arby's for dinner! I foolishly got some sort of western sandwich - it had Arby's BBQ sauce on it, and the flavour of the sauce really masked the flavour of the delicious beef. I also had curly fries and chocolate milk - no holds barred.
After Arby's, we headed back to JW's to relax a while before going to sleep. Naturally she was tired, as she's been working very hard since being hired on long term (well, longer term than one day at a time, anyway). I feel a bit sorry for her, as it's stressful when you're working that hard. You feel like nothing outside of work is being accomplished. The times you have to yourself or with your friends feel like times during which you're merely catching your breath, only to be thrust back to work before fully catching it. I remember those times well - grade 12 in high school and several terms in university were really bad. I would work all day every weekday (except Friday night - my favourite time of the week, and the time I refuse to work most), all day Saturday (except the evening) then all day Sunday, including the evening. So I really only had about 10 hours of free time a week - during exams, even less.
Working that way is good for me, in a way. I'm motivated by results - when I do well at something, I'm motivated to do better. When I work hard at something, I'm motivated to work longer and harder. This thinking got me through those tough times. Life is the same way. When I go on a diet, actually finding that I've lost weight is the biggest motivator. A good day at work can even motivate me to want to work overtime. Thursday was such a day - I got a lot done during the day, and I had no problem staying late. We had to get a lot done for a deadline Friday, so B-KY had asked a few of us to stay late if we could. He even ordered Donnini's pizza for us, and I got a free cab ride home around 8:30. I was EXTREMELY tired, as I hadn't slept well the night before. I felt sick to my stomach a bit from the fatigue. The last hour at work was pretty funny - I was having trouble typing - I couldn't type in ordinary things, like my computer password, without making mistakes. I had to go really slowly to get anything done - my brain was just shot. I couldn't help but laugh at myself.
On Friday, after a good night's sleep, I got a lot done at work. We got everything done necessary for the deadline, and I got out of there around 5:30. I took the bus to my parents' to pick up the car again, and I headed back home soon after, as people were coming over at some point. I wound up watching golf for a while - they finally came around nine. AN, AD, RD, JP and eventually, TA, were there. We played poker - a single game of Texas Hold'Em that went on for four hours. We screwed around a lot - eating Donnini's pizza (again) and listening to music. It was a fun night, and I laughed more than I had in a while. Mostly I laughed at myself, which I like to do, as I was on fire that night. I also won the poker game, which is good because we can't have AN's head getting too big. As AN pointed out, it always comes down to the two of us in the end. Most of my friends are impatient, so they often do things they shouldn't to make the game more interesting. AN is probably the best player, so he always does well. I'm the most conservative player, so I can often wait for other players to knock each other out of the game. Of course, that's how you're supposed to play. You're supposed to be in on very few hands, especially with five people. It's just a little boring, and even I get tempted to go in on hands I shouldn't.
After everyone left, I went straight to bed. On Saturday morning, I cleaned the place up, then had breakfast and a shower. I finally decided to finish organizing my NES games to sell them, but I found it had been so long since I last worked on them that I'd forgotten what I was doing. I had to sort them all again from scratch, which took a couple of hours. I separated the boxes, manuals and carts out, alphabetizing all three. The implication here is that I now have to re-enter the games into the computer so I can list them on eBay. This is made much easier by them being in order though. After the game organizing, I decided to get a few minutes of music making in before heading over to JW's.
JW and I went to get our groceries. I desperately needed them - I even went so far as to have cereal with sour milk on Thursday. Okay, it wasn't that sour, but it tasted odd. I didn't get sick, though I won't be doing it again. We took my groceries home, then hers, and then we headed out to our favourite (Chinese or otherwise) restaurant in Bedford. We had Kun Pow Chicken and Almond Pork (which does not appear on the menu!), with lettuce wraps and hot and sour soups to start. It was all delicious - our only tiny complaint was that the two main dishes tasted too much alike - but that was our fault. The hot and sour soup was also a bit too hot, and it made everything else seem much hotter, including JW.
After dinner, we drove back to JW's place. After a bit of painful relaxing, we watched Aladdin. It was classic Disney. I absolutely loved the intro sequence for the Genie - lots of off-the-wall humour with brilliant music and animation. JW's roommates made a few token appearances, because two people clearly never want to be alone. The more the merrier, right? Am I right, or am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? (Good old SM)
After the movie, we slept well, as I'd made sure to turn the heat down. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast and I drove her to church. I thought momentarily about joining her, as I hadn't really had my fill of her yet, but I didn't think I was going to get it by going to church with her. Plus, she wanted to see her friends, and I felt like she deserved to see them without having to modify her behaviour on my account - she deserved a reward after the long, hard week. Though the idea of doing something religiously positive was nice, I opted instead to come home and write this entry. I'll go with her to church again sometime - it would be interesting to actually try to get into what is going on my around me (instead of merely observing as I had last time), just to see what might happen, how I might feel. I expect nothing, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I have lots of weird ideas about things, so I can't trust that my thinking isn't distorted.
Anyway, I'm going to go work on my latest "song" now. The idea is for it to be more of a song than my other pieces of "work" - I normally find a catchy tune, then repeat it and modify it a bit, then I find another tune, play with it for a bit, then I merge the two for a grand finale - that's the LW method. I sometimes also find a neat technical trick that I play up. I'm hoping to do otherwise this time!
I'm currently listening to: "Rebellion (Lies)", from "White Session (Live)", by "Arcade Fire".
Movies watched this week: "Aladdin"
We left around 7:30, and I went home to watch the rest of the golf that week. It was the first tournament of the year, and Vijay Singh won quite easily. I also watched an episode of Nature during the golf. It discussed the plight of the lion - apparently they used to exist all over the world, but now they're limited mostly to Africa. There are only about twenty thousand left. About half of these are relatively safe within sanctuaries, but the rest are trapped in increasingly-isolated pockets surrounded by human developments. These lions are being killed off because they often kill livestock - I mean, why not? Who wouldn't grab a cooked turkey with all the trimmings sitting out in a field somewhere? It really is that easy for the lions. The problem is that the people can't afford to erect fences to keep the lions out, and when the lions kill their livestock, their children starve. I guess it's okay for us to choose what lives and dies on this planet.
On Monday I spent a lot of the day thinking about a comment my grandmother had made at her birthday party - that I'm beginning to go bald. This fact has been on and off my mind all week. I guess it's the first sign of age, and I'm not taking it all that well. I had been doing well in the hair department, and I thought I was going to be in for a good ride. I'm still doing fine in the front, it's just the crown that's thinning. I've been looking at other men's heads all week, trying to see if I'm going bald before most other people. I see people younger than me who are far more bald, but I also see people older than me showing no signs of balding. I also looked at women somewhat jealously this week, until I remembered that they have to go through menopause - which made going bald suddenly seem very unimportant.
After work on Monday I didn't do a whole lot. I did some reading, and I organized a my music collection, as it's getting too hard to find things in one massive list of songs. I also talked to JW that night about my day, which turned a bad day into a decent one.
On Tuesday work went much better - I got a lot done. After work, I did more reading and more organizing. Exciting!
On Wednesday, work again went well, though I was quite busy with several projects. After work, I took the bus up to my parents' house to pick up the car, then I went down to JW's to pick her up. I took her out to pick up some orthodics - which she desperately needed. I had fun wondering around Sunnyside mall - I very slowly walked from one end to the other, then I sat quietly in a bench for a half hour or so, letting my imagination run wild about what the people around me might be thinking. Finally, JW emerged and we decided to head over to Arby's for dinner! I foolishly got some sort of western sandwich - it had Arby's BBQ sauce on it, and the flavour of the sauce really masked the flavour of the delicious beef. I also had curly fries and chocolate milk - no holds barred.
After Arby's, we headed back to JW's to relax a while before going to sleep. Naturally she was tired, as she's been working very hard since being hired on long term (well, longer term than one day at a time, anyway). I feel a bit sorry for her, as it's stressful when you're working that hard. You feel like nothing outside of work is being accomplished. The times you have to yourself or with your friends feel like times during which you're merely catching your breath, only to be thrust back to work before fully catching it. I remember those times well - grade 12 in high school and several terms in university were really bad. I would work all day every weekday (except Friday night - my favourite time of the week, and the time I refuse to work most), all day Saturday (except the evening) then all day Sunday, including the evening. So I really only had about 10 hours of free time a week - during exams, even less.
Working that way is good for me, in a way. I'm motivated by results - when I do well at something, I'm motivated to do better. When I work hard at something, I'm motivated to work longer and harder. This thinking got me through those tough times. Life is the same way. When I go on a diet, actually finding that I've lost weight is the biggest motivator. A good day at work can even motivate me to want to work overtime. Thursday was such a day - I got a lot done during the day, and I had no problem staying late. We had to get a lot done for a deadline Friday, so B-KY had asked a few of us to stay late if we could. He even ordered Donnini's pizza for us, and I got a free cab ride home around 8:30. I was EXTREMELY tired, as I hadn't slept well the night before. I felt sick to my stomach a bit from the fatigue. The last hour at work was pretty funny - I was having trouble typing - I couldn't type in ordinary things, like my computer password, without making mistakes. I had to go really slowly to get anything done - my brain was just shot. I couldn't help but laugh at myself.
On Friday, after a good night's sleep, I got a lot done at work. We got everything done necessary for the deadline, and I got out of there around 5:30. I took the bus to my parents' to pick up the car again, and I headed back home soon after, as people were coming over at some point. I wound up watching golf for a while - they finally came around nine. AN, AD, RD, JP and eventually, TA, were there. We played poker - a single game of Texas Hold'Em that went on for four hours. We screwed around a lot - eating Donnini's pizza (again) and listening to music. It was a fun night, and I laughed more than I had in a while. Mostly I laughed at myself, which I like to do, as I was on fire that night. I also won the poker game, which is good because we can't have AN's head getting too big. As AN pointed out, it always comes down to the two of us in the end. Most of my friends are impatient, so they often do things they shouldn't to make the game more interesting. AN is probably the best player, so he always does well. I'm the most conservative player, so I can often wait for other players to knock each other out of the game. Of course, that's how you're supposed to play. You're supposed to be in on very few hands, especially with five people. It's just a little boring, and even I get tempted to go in on hands I shouldn't.
After everyone left, I went straight to bed. On Saturday morning, I cleaned the place up, then had breakfast and a shower. I finally decided to finish organizing my NES games to sell them, but I found it had been so long since I last worked on them that I'd forgotten what I was doing. I had to sort them all again from scratch, which took a couple of hours. I separated the boxes, manuals and carts out, alphabetizing all three. The implication here is that I now have to re-enter the games into the computer so I can list them on eBay. This is made much easier by them being in order though. After the game organizing, I decided to get a few minutes of music making in before heading over to JW's.
JW and I went to get our groceries. I desperately needed them - I even went so far as to have cereal with sour milk on Thursday. Okay, it wasn't that sour, but it tasted odd. I didn't get sick, though I won't be doing it again. We took my groceries home, then hers, and then we headed out to our favourite (Chinese or otherwise) restaurant in Bedford. We had Kun Pow Chicken and Almond Pork (which does not appear on the menu!), with lettuce wraps and hot and sour soups to start. It was all delicious - our only tiny complaint was that the two main dishes tasted too much alike - but that was our fault. The hot and sour soup was also a bit too hot, and it made everything else seem much hotter, including JW.
After dinner, we drove back to JW's place. After a bit of painful relaxing, we watched Aladdin. It was classic Disney. I absolutely loved the intro sequence for the Genie - lots of off-the-wall humour with brilliant music and animation. JW's roommates made a few token appearances, because two people clearly never want to be alone. The more the merrier, right? Am I right, or am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? Or am I right? (Good old SM)
After the movie, we slept well, as I'd made sure to turn the heat down. Sunday morning, we ate breakfast and I drove her to church. I thought momentarily about joining her, as I hadn't really had my fill of her yet, but I didn't think I was going to get it by going to church with her. Plus, she wanted to see her friends, and I felt like she deserved to see them without having to modify her behaviour on my account - she deserved a reward after the long, hard week. Though the idea of doing something religiously positive was nice, I opted instead to come home and write this entry. I'll go with her to church again sometime - it would be interesting to actually try to get into what is going on my around me (instead of merely observing as I had last time), just to see what might happen, how I might feel. I expect nothing, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try. I have lots of weird ideas about things, so I can't trust that my thinking isn't distorted.
Anyway, I'm going to go work on my latest "song" now. The idea is for it to be more of a song than my other pieces of "work" - I normally find a catchy tune, then repeat it and modify it a bit, then I find another tune, play with it for a bit, then I merge the two for a grand finale - that's the LW method. I sometimes also find a neat technical trick that I play up. I'm hoping to do otherwise this time!
I'm currently listening to: "Rebellion (Lies)", from "White Session (Live)", by "Arcade Fire".
Movies watched this week: "Aladdin"
Sunday, January 7, 2007
1458 - None of my Exes Live in Texas
That statement doesn't really mean all that much on the surface, but underneath the surface it speaks to the turmoil I've been going through this week with regard to my job. Every week, I hear more travel-related comments that lead me to believe that travel may be the rule as opposed to the exception in the coming months. Just before I sat down to write this entry, I sent an email to two of my supervisors expressing my concerns over extensive travel. I told them I'd not been told travel would be extensive during the interview process. I heard it would be more on the order of a week a month, and that the trips would be short. Now I'm hearing that they may be both frequent and long. Only time will tell how they will react. I told them that if my current path is going to lead to a lot of travel, steps need to be taken to change my path. I also pointed out that my voicing my concerns now is meant to avoid future conflict. Finally, I said I liked the company and wanted to be a team player, but that my happiness has to come first. I walked a delicate line, as I'd let my silence do the talking when I was hired, as opposed to my words - I had to make sure I didn't contradict anything I'd said.
If they believe there are no contradictions, I think I'll come out of this fine. They'll probably alter my role in the company. I can see them giving me a pay cut if no other high ranking roles are available. But it doesn't matter - I'd gladly take the cut if it meant little or no travel. I sometimes wonder whether I should've accepted the other job I was offered when I took this one - certainly it would've been easier work with less stress and no travel. Then again, I need to be pushed outside of my comfort zone like I'm being pushed now. The only problem is that there's only so much I can take. Traveling all the time is way outside my comfort zone - it's not something I ever want to do, unless it's seeing the world with the important people in my life.
Anyway, I'll jump back to the beginning of the week. On Monday, JW and I got up after our interesting New Year's Eve. We had breakfast, and then I drove her out to her parents' house - she spent that night there so that she could get a ride out to see a teacher about the work she's doing, and to a long-overdue orthodics appointment. I went home after dropping her off, stayed for a minute, and then went to my parents' house for New Year's dinner with my grandmother. I likely seemed distant all through dinner, and I actually slept a bit while we all watched the news downstairs afterward. I was constantly thinking about New Year's Eve. After dinner, Dad drove my grandmother home first, then me. I spent the evening finishing off last week's entry, parts of which I later erased.
Tuesday was a bad day. I woke up feeling terrible, and I was angry that I had to go to work. At work, I found it very difficult to focus on anything. I was still thinking about New Year's Eve, and it really bothered me. Finally, after work, I talked with JW about the whole thing. She explained some things to me, and I confirmed that I had indeed been letting my mind run wild, dreaming up crazy explanations for ordinary occurences. I felt much better, and I haven't felt bad since. I spent a bit of time reading a book called "Feeling Good", which is about cognitive therapy. It is mainly aimed at the depressed, but I think it might help my shyness, plus it's humourously written and enjoyable to read.
On Wednesday, work was much better and I got a lot done. Apart from a idiotic client, the day went smoothly. That evening, I played pool with TA and AD for the first time in a while. We had a few drinks and played pretty badly overall, but it was fun.
On Thursday, I worked from eight in the morning until seven-thirty at night - it was a long day, due in full to the idiotic client, who'd changed their minds about something at the last minute. After work, I went straight to JW's - it seemed like forever since I'd seen her. She had a lot of work to do, so I was her company while she got it done.
On Friday, we released another build of our product at work without incident. I wrote a version of the travel email that I rewrote today. After work, I biked all the way to my parents' house in the dark - it was pretty bad. I couldn't see the cracks in the pavement, and there was a lot of traffic. I decided never to bike that far in the dark again, unless I can find a high-powered light that's easy on batteries (yeah right!). Dad and I went up to Price Club after I loaded the bike into the car. I got two MASSIVE (I mean like 10 lbs each) books on ancient history - one is about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and the other is about all of the ancient central american cultures. I was going to get only the Roman one, but at $18 a piece for 600-page, full colour, hard-covered books, I had to get them both. I also got some solomon gundy (tasty fish!) and shaved pastrami.
After Price Club, I went home to eat, after which AD picked me up and took me to TA's. We watched four episodes of MXC, followed by an episde of the Trailer Park Boys. Then, we sat OUTSIDE in our T-SHIRTS for a half hour - this is early January we're talking about! Finally, TA and I fell asleep watching AD play Zelda 2 (badly).
On Saturday, I got up at a decent time and cleaned up all the debris lying around my house. I also organized my music and movie files on the computer. I finally (with JW's help) figured out how to use photoshop to get rid of the red eye in the boxing day pictures taken at TA's. I put them up on my site, and then fixed the site as it hadn't worked for a while.
I went over to JW's around four. She finished up some work, and then we went to Staples for supplies, the drugstore for drugs, the mall for a present for JW's roommate (and mediocre New York Fries fries) and finally the grocery store for groceries. Following a bit of fun, we went to see "Children of Men" at the theatre. It was really good - very impressive as far as visual effects go, and very tense and suspenseful. I really enjoyed the theatre sound - the movie is set in the future, and so there were some interesting pieces of music played. The movie shows humans of the future unable to reproduce amidst a chaotic world on the brink of collapse. There is constant violence and terror. The movie tries to tell us to get off our asses and stop such a thing from happening - it even refers to the good old days when we ignored the future (today). Through all of the chaos, a young woman who has amazingly become pregnant manages to escape Britain to go to a facility where the infertility is studied, with the help of strangers. She is one of the few main characters to escape with her life. The movie ends rather suddenly - we do not find out whether the infertility is cured, nor do we learn anything about the facility (or group) the girl has traveled to.
After the movie, JW and I headed home and went to bed. On Sunday, we got up and finally got rid of her Christmas tree after breakfast. At lunchtime, I left to give her time to get her work done before a possible dinner at her roommate's parents' house. I'm now writing this entry :) and I'll be going to my grandmother's for her birthday dinner - pizza and angel food cake! It doesn't get any better than that - except that the closest pizza is my nemesis, Greco. I wish I could bring up some Donnini's... mmmm good! Mmmm Muffins! After that, I'm sure I'll be watching golf, as it's the first tournament of the year, and I actually get it here at home.
I'm currently listening to: "I Hope You Die", from "Hooray for Boobies!", by "The Bloodhound Gang".
Movies watched this week: "Children of Men"
If they believe there are no contradictions, I think I'll come out of this fine. They'll probably alter my role in the company. I can see them giving me a pay cut if no other high ranking roles are available. But it doesn't matter - I'd gladly take the cut if it meant little or no travel. I sometimes wonder whether I should've accepted the other job I was offered when I took this one - certainly it would've been easier work with less stress and no travel. Then again, I need to be pushed outside of my comfort zone like I'm being pushed now. The only problem is that there's only so much I can take. Traveling all the time is way outside my comfort zone - it's not something I ever want to do, unless it's seeing the world with the important people in my life.
Anyway, I'll jump back to the beginning of the week. On Monday, JW and I got up after our interesting New Year's Eve. We had breakfast, and then I drove her out to her parents' house - she spent that night there so that she could get a ride out to see a teacher about the work she's doing, and to a long-overdue orthodics appointment. I went home after dropping her off, stayed for a minute, and then went to my parents' house for New Year's dinner with my grandmother. I likely seemed distant all through dinner, and I actually slept a bit while we all watched the news downstairs afterward. I was constantly thinking about New Year's Eve. After dinner, Dad drove my grandmother home first, then me. I spent the evening finishing off last week's entry, parts of which I later erased.
Tuesday was a bad day. I woke up feeling terrible, and I was angry that I had to go to work. At work, I found it very difficult to focus on anything. I was still thinking about New Year's Eve, and it really bothered me. Finally, after work, I talked with JW about the whole thing. She explained some things to me, and I confirmed that I had indeed been letting my mind run wild, dreaming up crazy explanations for ordinary occurences. I felt much better, and I haven't felt bad since. I spent a bit of time reading a book called "Feeling Good", which is about cognitive therapy. It is mainly aimed at the depressed, but I think it might help my shyness, plus it's humourously written and enjoyable to read.
On Wednesday, work was much better and I got a lot done. Apart from a idiotic client, the day went smoothly. That evening, I played pool with TA and AD for the first time in a while. We had a few drinks and played pretty badly overall, but it was fun.
On Thursday, I worked from eight in the morning until seven-thirty at night - it was a long day, due in full to the idiotic client, who'd changed their minds about something at the last minute. After work, I went straight to JW's - it seemed like forever since I'd seen her. She had a lot of work to do, so I was her company while she got it done.
On Friday, we released another build of our product at work without incident. I wrote a version of the travel email that I rewrote today. After work, I biked all the way to my parents' house in the dark - it was pretty bad. I couldn't see the cracks in the pavement, and there was a lot of traffic. I decided never to bike that far in the dark again, unless I can find a high-powered light that's easy on batteries (yeah right!). Dad and I went up to Price Club after I loaded the bike into the car. I got two MASSIVE (I mean like 10 lbs each) books on ancient history - one is about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, and the other is about all of the ancient central american cultures. I was going to get only the Roman one, but at $18 a piece for 600-page, full colour, hard-covered books, I had to get them both. I also got some solomon gundy (tasty fish!) and shaved pastrami.
After Price Club, I went home to eat, after which AD picked me up and took me to TA's. We watched four episodes of MXC, followed by an episde of the Trailer Park Boys. Then, we sat OUTSIDE in our T-SHIRTS for a half hour - this is early January we're talking about! Finally, TA and I fell asleep watching AD play Zelda 2 (badly).
On Saturday, I got up at a decent time and cleaned up all the debris lying around my house. I also organized my music and movie files on the computer. I finally (with JW's help) figured out how to use photoshop to get rid of the red eye in the boxing day pictures taken at TA's. I put them up on my site, and then fixed the site as it hadn't worked for a while.
I went over to JW's around four. She finished up some work, and then we went to Staples for supplies, the drugstore for drugs, the mall for a present for JW's roommate (and mediocre New York Fries fries) and finally the grocery store for groceries. Following a bit of fun, we went to see "Children of Men" at the theatre. It was really good - very impressive as far as visual effects go, and very tense and suspenseful. I really enjoyed the theatre sound - the movie is set in the future, and so there were some interesting pieces of music played. The movie shows humans of the future unable to reproduce amidst a chaotic world on the brink of collapse. There is constant violence and terror. The movie tries to tell us to get off our asses and stop such a thing from happening - it even refers to the good old days when we ignored the future (today). Through all of the chaos, a young woman who has amazingly become pregnant manages to escape Britain to go to a facility where the infertility is studied, with the help of strangers. She is one of the few main characters to escape with her life. The movie ends rather suddenly - we do not find out whether the infertility is cured, nor do we learn anything about the facility (or group) the girl has traveled to.
After the movie, JW and I headed home and went to bed. On Sunday, we got up and finally got rid of her Christmas tree after breakfast. At lunchtime, I left to give her time to get her work done before a possible dinner at her roommate's parents' house. I'm now writing this entry :) and I'll be going to my grandmother's for her birthday dinner - pizza and angel food cake! It doesn't get any better than that - except that the closest pizza is my nemesis, Greco. I wish I could bring up some Donnini's... mmmm good! Mmmm Muffins! After that, I'm sure I'll be watching golf, as it's the first tournament of the year, and I actually get it here at home.
I'm currently listening to: "I Hope You Die", from "Hooray for Boobies!", by "The Bloodhound Gang".
Movies watched this week: "Children of Men"
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