The musings of a misunderstood brown man

Don't know when to say stop

2008-06-14T12:16:00.000-07:00

And so today, I finally find myself on the cusp of rest. Rest that I have much needed for a long time now but have been unable to attain due to my desire to never 'lie in our graves' wondering if I had spent my living days well. I was suppose to have taken May off to mentally relax but that never happened. There was a spot at May's conclusion where I had about a week and a half off but found myself mentally occupied with sorting myself financially for the year and incorporating travel plans into that in regards to martial arts training for myself. Then came the week that I traveled home and didn't really sit down much in favour of either training or touching base with estranged faces. Upon my return to Van City, I worked a pretty grueling schedule paired a Calgary trip that has left me quite tuckered.

And so now, one month later, I sit doing absolutely nothing (well still doing stuff, but mostly nothing) and being okay with that as the batteries need a good recharging. Nothing also allows me to hold back financially as I've been working a little/lot ahead of my means and so now I can plan on how I'm going to pay for the things I do.

Sometimes I wish I had just %10 more stamina as that would have made all of this much much easier. At least I can say I lived when I'm alive and its now or never.

Home

2008-05-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

This past week, I was fortunate enough to have another return visit to Ontario. Overall I had a fantastic time and managed to touch base with a lot of family and old friends. It was one of those trips that your sad to see end because you're having such a good time but had to end at some point. In regards to this, my Mom had asked me a day or two earlier if I was going to be sad when I left home. To this, I replied that I was but the thing was that I was going from one home to another. It was at this juncture that I realized that I had a couple places that I could really call home. There was Brampton home where I'd been born and raised. Then there was K-town where I made some of my closest friends and matured as a Jitsuka. And now there was Vancouver where I'd paved my own path and carved a niche of my own. They were all places where I could set my head, find familiar faces, get a bite to eat and rest my head to sleep with comfort. Real comfort though. The type that resonates in your body when that part of your brain knows its safe and warm.

It's not too often that, we as individuals find a comfort like this in even one location much less more than one. Just one more thing I suppose that I consider myself fortunate for having.

P.S. I just got a new tattoo. Also, I only have four minutes to save the world.

The itinerary for the trip home

2008-05-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

This week T-Bone 1.5 returns home to re-visit his roots. The plans so far go as such. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Trip Home:
Saturday:
Sunday: (Mother's Day) Helping Mom
Monday: Religious Function with Mom; Possible TO training?
Tuesday: Dinner with Nadine and Family
Wednesday: Visit Raesh and Co
Thursday: Dinner with Sally
Friday: Training with Alex Fairweather
Saturday: Hangout with MK and Mosie
Sunday: Back to Van 5pm

Xsist to Inspire

2008-04-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

In recent days, I've entered a centre of philisophical thought in regards to what my role is as martial arts instructor and moreover how my stature on the mats relates to them. It's stemmed from a discussion I had about moving onwards and evolving in the structure of our martial arts forum. In starting a club, I'd never realy though so much about my own stature in relation to them so long as they were learning from me as an instructor. But through this discussion and the comtemplation of it afterwards, I realized that I was giving it thorough thought not only because of its nature but also because of who was saying it. Ultimately it was because of said individual's commanded respect that each statement had emphasis and brought about the realization that the quality of what I teach is made more credible if I evolve as a martial artist myself.

The time has come to evolve, transform and transcend.

Truly Awesome

2008-04-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

Earth Hour + Settlers = The most romantic game of settlers ever

Get ready

2008-03-25T11:07:00.001-07:00

T-Bone is now officially slated to return to ON in May from the 10th to the 17th. Looking forward to seeing all of you ON folk.

'After all these years and miles and memories'

2008-03-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

On most b-days, I usually take a moment to reflect on how lucky I've been at every juncture in my life to have lived as full a life as I have. With that being the case, in this 27th B-day post, I'm going to do something a little different and typical. The following lyrics are from 'Just Older' by Bon Jovi and to say that I've felt almost every lyric today would be an understatement. The feeling behind this song resumes the exact place in my life where I find myself and I couldn't be happier about it.

Hey, man, its been a while
Do you remember me?
When I hit the streets I was 17
A little wild, a little green
Ive been up and down and in between
After all these years
Can you believe Im still chasing that dream
But I aint looking over my shoulder

Chorus:
I like the bed Im sleeping in
Its just like me, its broken in
Its not old -- just older
Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin Im in its alright with me
Its not old -- just older

Its good to see your face
You aint no worse for wear
Breathing that california air
When we took on the world
When we were young and brave
We got secrets that well take to the grave
And were standing here shoulder to shoulder

Chorus:
I like the bed Im sleeping in
Its just like me, its broken in
Its not old -- just older
Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin Im in its alright with me
Its not old -- just older

Im not old enough to sing the blues
But I wore the holes in the soles of these shoes
You can roll the dice til they call your bluff
But you cant win until youre not afraid to lose

Solo

Well, I look in the mirror
I dont hate what I see
Theres a few more lines staring back at me
The nights have grown a little colder
Hey man, I gotta run
Now you take care
If you see coach t. tell him I cut my hair
Its been all these years
Can you believe Im still chasing dreams
But I aint looking over my shoulder

Chorus:
I like the bed Im sleeping in
Its just like me, its broken in
Its not old -- just older
Like a favorite pair of torn blue jeans
This skin Im in its alright with me
It s not old -- just older

Evolution

2008-03-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

I talk about myself a lot. This is nothing new. Most people do. One of the things that I often lack in most of my self indulgent stories is a visual reference that reflects the time period as it usually has some bearing on my personality at the time. Today, I remedied that and present for my small cadre of readers, 'Evolution of the Bone'.

Out of curiousity

2008-02-22T16:30:00.001-08:00

Everyone's noticed the Haks and I appreciate all the comments and well wishes but, has anyone noticed that I have a beard and that it is spectacular?

A report from out west

2008-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a while since I've posted but here we are once again for another update. Last week was a complete and utter whirlwind between work/the new club/getting ready for the Thumper visit. I will attempt to address each as best I can.

Work - Work sucks. Most days were average but Monday was especially terrible. I was pulled from one of the nicer working areas with newer equipment to do x-rays of a decomposing corpse which was so decayed that it was green. On the plus side of things though, I was able to selfishly use the computers at work to do some of the paper work associated with the new club.

The new Club - Tuesday had to be one of the days I was the most excited and scared about. Naturally I was ecstatic about finally starting a club in BC but that residing fear of no one showing up and everything turning into a flop was also very prevalent. This was compounded by an e-mail on Monday stating that as of the writing time, there were only four individuals registered. Initially I was put off by this but figured that people would still show up for the 'trial sessions' I'd unofficially organized. And thankfully that's exactly what happened. My first sessions saw nine, enthusiastic energetic novices on the mats who were eating up everything that I was giving them. Thursday saw the same number and numbers have since gone up to 10 paid members as of Thumper's Tuesday sessions visit. Speaking of which...

Thumper's Visit - Without missing a beat, Thumper and I picked up where I'd left of when I left ON back in Oct of 06. There was our usual brand of bad comedy, a copious consumption of delicious foods from around the city and the usual fun of training on the mats. I could go on in boring detail but the following two pictures tell the story better than words could.

These past two weeks have been some of the most rewarding experiences of my life having seen many of my long term dreams come true. Long ago as a purple, I thought to myself that it would be an honour to stand beside Thumper as both his student and a Sensei to others and this week I had that honour. I've also found myself riding the cusp of my dream of moving to Vancouver and starting a Jitsu club. There are moments where I catch myself even wondering if this is actually happening and whether I'm about to wake up from the dream. That hasn't happened yet though and until I do, I'm going to savour every last moment of this new ride.

On a disappointing last note, whoever decided to be so classy and leaving the anonymous comment of " I think you are still a self centred waste of time thats going nowhere", grow up. Not only does it reek of immaturity that one hides behind the veil of the internet to fling feces like a monkey, but its also petty and lacks any form of dignity. If you really have a problem with me (not that anyone should as its been more than half a year since I've had any real significant battle with anyone), take it up with me in the real world live civilized individuals do.

A few more doctrines

2008-02-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

A while back, while having to deal with the backward folks of Cornwall, I had a post about some values which dominate the majority of my actions. Over the past few days, the following two themes have been on my mind and are new doctrines which I would like to add to the book of Zout.

The stupidity of 'Just joking'
Since I've been a child and as long as I can remember, people have always used this term as it was an absolution of any prior statements and actions that might have just occurred. What I've never been able to understand is why people have never understood that, instead of back tracking to try and cover there actions with such a lame statement, they should have just been smart enough to have never followed the path of the unwise action in the first place. Moreover, it also seems ridiculous to me that some would use such a whimsical statement to cover their track than a heart felt explanation and apology. The latter are the things I appreciate from people and don't think its far fetched to say that most others would sympathize with that sentiment.

Every action should have a net positive effect
A man who I respect dearly once wrote that you should always look to find a method to better any situation you're in as the net effect is bringing about a better outcome for any party involved in the situation. If one dictates their actions accordingly, there should never be a situation where you have to cover your tracks with 'just joking' as action to better should have been the initial though and the followed thought.
While the reality of such a thought can be far fetched depending on the nature of the situation, it does more good to start from this school of thought and follow from that than to just start with nothing and to question what you can do. If one is seeking the best possible outcome for anything, it is beneficial to work from the top down.

Please and Thank You Can Never be used enough
Enough said.

A costly vice

2008-01-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

Over the past year, after establishing some financial stability for myself after my move, I have developed a vice that has taken its tole on my wallet. This vice is my somewhat ridiculous lust for technology. It all began back in Dec of 06 when I wanted my first big purchase to be a flat screen TV. The decision was self vetoed by my more logical side as at the time we had no furniture and decided that that would be a better purchase. Throughout that portion of time though, the lust stayed strong.

In March of this year, I bought myself a new desktop PC. For about a month I budgeted a good system for a reasonable price. The total price in the end was nothing that would break the bank and overall was a well founded purchase. However, at the last minute, I decided I wanted a flat screen monitor to take advantage of the DVI card that I'd bought and the budget went out the window.

Around Mid-summer, I decided I needed a new phone even though the phone I was using worked fine. After some phone lobbying, I purchased myself the KRZR from Rogers even though I didn't really need a new phone.

From then to December I was pretty good in terms of keeping this beast quiet. Then came boxing day sales and the roar of desire for that flat screen TV I'd wanted the previous year. Now since it had been a year, I figured I'd break a little and get the TV. The 32" LG that I bought was a good buy for the price I paid in the end so it didn't hurt too much. The laptop that found its way into my cart wasn't a super smart move though. It wasn't a super necessity, but moreover just a lustful purchase.

So why a confession now? Well with all the HDMI and audio features of the new TV, I find myself looking at Home Theater systems... Home theater systems which I don't need but would like to have. There's also the PS3 that plays Blu-Ray discs idea that is lurking in my head. And with all that sitting in my head, I'd like someone to tell me that spending all this money at once would be foolish and that saving money would be the wiser choice. Then after they say it, keep saying it so that eventually it processes in my wee little materialistic brain.

I suppose its better than a drug or booze addiction as there is something of value left over time but that's not a full justification for this technology addiction.

Looks like its time to channel some will power to stop this.

Some day I'll be bigger than my body gives me credit for

2008-01-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday, a lot of the details surrounding the first Vancouver Jiu Jitsu club were put onto paper and thus the club as an existing entity became more official. At the point when this happened I was ecstatic but beyond that I felt as though a barrier into a whole new world of social maturation had disappeared. Its a growth area that I've always been aware of and is one of the reasons that I made the big jump when I did. There were points last year when I saw all of this fading away and me being left with half the dream of it coming true. Now that's its actually going to unfold it justifies all the persistence and sweat along with the despair that brought me to this point. Getting here has been a small victory and the first step in this new stage of growing. I'm very much looking forward to the rest of this journey and the man I'll encounter at each step of the way.

That and making more ridiculous videos.

A new set of resolutions

2008-01-06T18:09:00.000-08:00

With the various dialogs that run through my head these days it occurs to me that this blog might actually stay going in a self introspective manner. This past week I've been contemplating what my new resolutions might be with me actually being successful at most of the resolutions last year. This is what I've come up with:

1) In the last four months, in a realization that Jitsu Van was going to take off, I began to train pretty intensely so I wasn't a fat slob on the mats. During that time I went from 192 to 172 and my stamina increased quite significantly. This year, I'm hoping to get myself down to 165 as that seems to be a healthy weight for my size.

2) Jitsu Van is about to take off in a few weeks. While I'm sure I'm going to have a rockin good time with all that will come with it, I'd like to make it a point to step back every so often and just soak it all in. (Hopefully at such points, they'll be other instructors to teach such as to avoid strange silences)

3) This past year was good to me. On the inside I dezoned karma wise and just found a neutrality that hadn't been there for a while. On new year's though I realized that it would have been nice to have a counter part to share a New Year's kiss with. Thus, this year, I'm setting my sights on positioning myself to get a New Year's kiss.

It shouldn't be too hard to find success when it comes to these three things as they're pretty simple in nature. Time will tell though.

A promo for the dream

2007-12-30T16:12:00.001-08:00

An evaluation of resolutions

2007-12-30T15:54:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of this year, I came up with the following resolutions for 2007:

1. Set into motion the Jitsu Van domain of Jitsu Canada
2. Stop fearing that decisions made in the past will have the same repercussions. Every situation is different.
3. Get off these bloody night shifts.
4. Finish at least two CT courses (work related stuff).
5. Let everything be. If drama comes, it comes; if it goes, it goes. Everything happens for a reason.
6. Reduce my student loan 25% of the total by years's end. (Naturally the goal is right down to 0)
7. Become a man that people could portray as being 'A man who lived the dream.

In part of what may be a temporary or a full time return to blogging, I am making my first post in a while an address of these resolutions that I set out at the beginning of the year.

The reduction of the student loan has been quite significant and by the end of this year I will have reduced it to one fifth of its original value thus reaching the goal of 25% or better. While on nights I managed to finish the two CT courses that I had set out to do which makes for another accomplished task. After that I escaped nights and by Sept of 07 got myself into a daytime rotation which was a nice treat. The drama significantly tapered off since I had little exposure to individuals of a dramatic nature. Over time this was hugely beneficial to me settling back down to a neutral state of karma as I'd carried around a significant amount of bitterness coming off of 2006. Come the latter part of 2007, I was able to clearly focus myself in the direction that I wanted.

As for Jitsu Van and the man that makes dreams come true... Well, it took a little while, but...

Trip home so far

2007-05-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday was the flight home. Nothing too special as it was a standard flight. Shockingly enough though, everything ran smoothly and I arrived on time with all my possessions. I got settled in at home and arranged everything for the next few days. Jet lag totally screwed up my sleep as my plan of shutting my eyes for sleep at 9 only matured into a nap and thus I was up from 12pm to 4pm which was nuts. So goes life though.

Friday I was suppose to help my mother with some gardening but that changed as she told me she had to work that day. So my plans shifted to some other items that day which included picking up my rental car, getting the bride and groom a present and getting home to do some ironing. While I was ironing, my mother decided to chastise me on how much the shirt and tie I bought for the reception were. I just smiled and nodded. Guess Mom will never stop trying to be Mom.
After dinner, I took a small nap (which wasn't three hours) then went to pick up Mosie from the subway. Much like everyone else who got to seem him that weekend, his beard was a bit of a shocker as he's been clean shaven as long as I've known him. That effect quickly wore off though.
After dropping his stuff at my place and feeding him we made our way out for a rendez vous with the other gents who were in town. The lot of them had chosen to go to a strip club for this event which was an interesting choice. It was the first time Mosie and I would be going to a bar of this nature but figured that if at any time there was ever a time, than this would be it as we wouldn't see half these folk again for a long time. The actual location which was called Whiskey a go go was like something out of a movie in terms of the layout. I truthfully half expected some vampire hunters to burst through the door looking to slay vampires in hiding. That didn't happen though. What I noticed though is that there were quite a few gentlemen there that need there mouths washed out with soap. My goodness were they over the top about the things they were saying. The hour we spent there was enough for me and was glad to be leaving there in favour of getting some sleep before the wedding and reception.

Saturday, Mosie and I shockingly awoke at a decent time to get ready for the wedding. I allowed him two hours to both have breakfast, have a shower and get ready. He took up all of this time to get ready. Should have been thankful at least that he didn't use up any more time.
The wedding itself was pretty new to me as I'd never been to an uber religious Christian wedding. They held communion as well which was totally off the page for me as well as, while I know the story in the bible and understand it, had no idea what the structure was for it in the church. You learn something new everyday.
The reception was a blast save for the part where someone decided to help themselves to the gift cards we'd amassed while we were taking pictures. That was a little disheartening. This didn't bother me so much though as it was only potentially money lost and the real value of the reception was still there which was celebrating the union of one of the best guy's to his wife. And celebrate we did with lots (and lots) of eating, dancing and general merriment. I was definitely sad to see it all end come 'closing time' as there was a definite euphoria in the air.

Sunday, I decided to head to Kingston since I'd booked the rental car for three days and decided to make good use out of it. This was probably the wisest choice and I was terribly hungover from the copious amount of wine and Zambuca that I drank and it was in my best interest not to let my parents see that. I arrived there in the late afternoon and grabbed some dinner with Fish, Mr. and Mrs. Bus. After dinner, we all took a wet walk to see their new pad and then joined up with Thumper and NapDragon to see Pirates. About 20 mins into the movie my system crashed and I passed out for the entire saving Jack Sparrow scene. It rebooted after that though for the rest of the movie and I still got to enjoy the majority of the swash buckling action. That night, I passed out like a rock until I had to get up to leave in the morning. I was definitely beyond tired.

Monday was another recovery day. I returned my car, packed up my stuff that was all over the place and watched some TV on the tube.

So far my vacation has been quite memorable if and only if for the reason that I got to witness one of the coolest guys in the world, have a fairy tale wedding. Yeah for happily ever after.

In the last week

2007-05-08T01:05:00.000-07:00

Back to day shifts
Last wednesday, after having two switch over days, I made a triumphant return to a daytime schedule at work. Overall the sleep switch was a little trying but I was definitely glad to be up during hours on sunshine. I have tried not to get to use to it though as I have a brief encore return performance to nights due to a temporary shortage of staff. It will suck but at least two of the five days will be at much higher pay since I'll be supervisor.

The Bandana BBQ!
The house warming BBQ that we hosted this past saturday was a total blast. Everything ran pretty smoothly and there was an optimal turnout I'd say. The flat could definately hold more but I wouldn't have wanted more as we only have the one bathroom. The many random events which included steaks and grillems, hot dog launching, bandanas, pies, seven layer taco dip, beirut and a host of other hijinks will put a smile on my face for a long while. There will definately be more themed BBQs that follow. Next one will likely be after I return from ON at the end of this month.

Trip Home
The trip home is officially book and confirmed for the 24th to the 31st. The two main events which have been planned so far are a good friend's wedding and reception (which I'm very much looking forward to) and Phantom of the Opera (which I'll be attending with my sister). Everything for the trip has been fairly straight forward except for how to get my suit back. I bought a nice piece of luggage recently at sears as it was half off but I'm pretty positive suits are not meant to be squished into it and thus I don't think it will be going home. Thus my two options are to borrow a suit from my Dad or to rent a Tux. Renting a Tux sounds appealing as it will allow more ability to style and profile but I'm not sure if I can get a Tux on such short notice. It might also be very expensive. I'll have to do some research on this matter.

Coffee Date
Still hasn't happend. Crossing my fingers that it will as I'm still quite smitten. That is all on that matter.

Another engagement!
I recently found out that a good friend from university recently got engaged to his longtime girlfriend of three or four years. I am ecstatic for them, especially since its a relationship that I had a role in establishing and it is nice to know that some part of my actions have resulted in a happily ever after for two genuinely nice people.

Cool Songs
Foo Fighters - Times like these (acoustic version from last episode of Jericho)
Linkin Park - Bleed it out
Chantal Kreviazuk - Wonderful
Nelly Furtado - In God's Hands
The Corrs - So Young (K-klass remix) (Got a nice summer feel)

Phantom

2007-04-26T01:49:00.001-07:00

Who back in ON is interested in catching Phantom of the Opera at Princess of Wales on the 29th of May when I come home?

To make it formal

2007-04-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

Anyone within arms reach is formally invited to:

Confirmed!

2007-04-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

My flight home is now booked and Zout will be returning back to Ontario from May 24th to May 31st!

Glad that it's over

2007-04-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well there's only one week of nights left now and I couldn't be happier to once again join the world of the living and interact with society again. Working nights hasn't been bad as I've managed to reduce spending by a large fraction since nothing is open and thus managed to get some type of savings under me. I've also established some good saving habits which I'll hopefully be able to maintain when I leave nights.

Over the past week there have been a few other blog worthy events that I've been unmotivated to post about prior to today. Last sunday was the Sun Run which is a 10K run which I completed in a half decent time. It would have been nice to have run it fresh like so many others but due to the fact that I'd been up all night going into it, I think it dropped my preformance enough to have it make a large difference in time. After about 5 Km, I started to feel a lot of drag in my legs and really couldn't pick up any real substantial pace. Next year though, I'm sure it will be a different story.

Wednesday night, I attended a poker night at a co-worker's place. I realy had no intent on winning as I had to work that night and the limited time I had to play was not enough to out strategize everyone else. Thus about 30 min before I had to go, I started to make some bolder decisions and risk quite a bit more to unload my chips. Fate must not have wanted to lose though, as I kept on picking up winning hands on the turn and river and pushing the game on for me. This continued until I was in the final two (from ten). At a juncture where I was already late for work, I went all in on a King and six just to try and make the game end for one of us. Thankfully for the other person, my luck ran out at this point and I had to settle for second. That being said, I think I iritated a lot of people by knocking them out with such a reckless style. So goes life though.

Plans for when I get onto days:
- Get some frames for some of my posters
- Get a haircut
- Go for a walk in the sun
- Bandana BBBQ on the 5th!!!
- Spider Man 3!!!

I also make expect to more blog posts or at least more than I'm making now with stuff actually happening.

A dedication

2007-04-05T03:15:00.000-07:00

While it's true that I've found a new home all the way across Canada and have started to branch out meeting new people, not for a moment have I forgotten about the many friends I have back at at home. That being said, Feta Paté will be presented to the folk at VGH as a dedication to a good man whom I'm proud to have known.

Still Havn't got it

2007-04-02T01:35:00.000-07:00

So while socializing with the X-Ray folk last friday, I came to the conclusion that my ability to make any type of conversation in a night club is still pretty terrible and abyssmal at best. In truth I've never realy understood why people even try to talk on the dance floor where there's loud bassy music but it still happens. As a small saving grace, I think I have gotten better at matching people's expressions so when they look for a sentiment, I can usually produce it.

Last week was a pretty big under the gun weekend as I had two final exams to write, a fundraiser to ambassador for and the student celebration to attend. As per always though I pulled them all of with a little brown grace and style.

My housemate just purchased a bbq and patio furniture and because of this, coupled to me leaving nights, we are having our first formalized social event at our place. In celebration of the BBQ, we have titled it after the infamous Simpsons episode where lisa goes vegatarian and the worm talks like a sheep, 'The 364 BBBQ'. Truthfully, I don't expect many people to attend since I'm now in the older work world where people work saturdays, but we'll see.

I'm still enjoying a lot of new Indie Rock Music these days. The Fray are often queued up on my playlist amongst some new groups like the Papercuts and Modest Mouse.

I watched 300 the other day and thought it was quite good. There was a lot of gore most certainly, but I found its appeal in the way they chose to use the different methods of filming and narrative to tell the story. I also liked the narrative because it was done by David Wenham who played Faramir in Lord of the Rings.

The build on some of the actors has motivated me to pick up my training again so that at some point in the summer, I might look half decent if I were to yell at someone "This is Sparta". I would need a Giant black hole though along with this, if such a thing were to be done.

Movies watched Recently:
300 - Great. Not Superb. (Tidbit: The guy who plays Xerxes is the actor who was in the most recent episode of lost.
Bridge to Tarabithea - Nice little children's tale. Worth a watch.
Happily Never After - Leaves something to be desired.

Anticipated Movies this summer:
SpiderMan 3
Shrek 3
Pirates 3
Transformers (though it sucks that optimus isn't a big red truck when transformerd)
Simpsons Movie

The latest and reflections

2007-03-21T02:37:00.000-07:00

And so we have it. Another year logged in the chronicles of my life and as per usual, it has been quite the doozy. I'd like to thanks all those who took a moment of their time to send me their regards as I entered the age of the 26. Truthfully, being rememered and the receipt of a kind word or wish are the best gifts that an individual could ask for and am grateful to each kind word I recieved.

My birthday itself and the days surrounding it were quite fun. I had the 16th and 17th off and made the best out of both days. Friday, I picked up all the pieces for my new computer and assembled it with the assistance of my housemate. From there I spent a couple of hours moving over all the media and such from my old computer and installing all the various programs that are immediately necessary.

Saturday Giles and I, amongst other company, frequented an Irish pub in the Kitsilano area to celebrate St. Patty's and the B-day. All in all good times were had, Guinness was drunken, jigs were danced and many, many, many photos were taken. I've posted a small fraction of those taken on my facebook account for those who wish to see them. After the Wolf and Hound, we made a stop off at Denny's, watched a portion of Borat at my place and called it a night from there capping off one fun night.

In recent weeks

2007-03-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well, due to various items such as work, school, job interviews and facebook updates, there hasn't been that much time for blog posts. Thus, this post will summarize the last week as best possible.

Facebook
So in truth, it's not half bad. It's a little busy at times with all the potential groups and different features but that's likely its appeal to the younger crowd and how it became so popular. I forsee myself likely getting into posting pics and making comments on peoples walls but that's about it. Time will tell depending on how much free time there is to play.

Dancin with RTs
I attended the RT fundraiser last friday and had a pretty good time. My initial goal of going was to meet people that I'd seen in the hospital and learn a bit about them so that when I saw them again, the exchanges would be more enjoyable. I threw this plan into motion and it panned out pretty well for the most part. As per usual, some people were pleasant, some not so much and the natural ratio of girls that thought I was hitting on them.
Things picked up a little bit when a few folk from the department showed up as they were ready to get down on the dance floor. Many drinks were had and much dancing was done. By the end of the night there were two items which I'd derived from the night; there are some wicked people in the department to hang out with and accordingly, some of them are very very attractive. ;O)

New Computer
For my B-day, I'm treating myself to a new computer and it's about time. My current model is a PIII 667 and is badly out of date. The new specs are:
- Antec Sonata II Black ATX 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 500GB
- OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB
- EVGA Nforce 680I motherboard
- Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Dual Core Processor
- BFG 7900 GT OC 256MB graphics card
It won't be a top of the line system, but decent none the less. Definately better than what I have now.

Coffee...
So no coffee date yet. Schedules conflict and we've both had a lot of things on the go. Those are the main excuses that go through my head to justify it not happening. In all truth, if she were to set down a time, I'd likely make my schedule conform to it. It's worth waiting on though and as such, I'll be patient.

Departure off nights delayed
My departure off nights had been dealyed by a month due to me covering people who are headed on vacation. In truth in sucks, but the payoff might be that I don't have to do nights ever again. It's also another month with shift premium pay which isn't so bad.

Jitsu Van
Working on it... slowly and methodically.

T-Bone turns 26 in two days!!! Nothing like a day where you celebrate yourself and drinking guinness.

The Facebook revolution

2007-03-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

Gradually as the time passes ever forward and more people keep indirectly inviting me to facebook by inputting their e-mail list with me on it. There is also a few folk at work who keep pestering me and thus, likely tommorrow, I will register an account on facebook and join the hipper crowd.

Slowly becomming a stranger to posts

2007-02-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well, truth be told nothing too exciting has happend in the last recent little bit to note in a blog. I had a few days off work which saw me get a haircut, sleep and run a lot and got some work done. And then back to work.

In the face of this lacking interesting stuff, I will use one of my back up blog topics to fill in such a void. What is this topic you might ask? It relates to pieces of music that have a habit of stopping all thoughts and either conjure up a fond (or not so fond) memory or even just have you stop to appricate the work as a fantastic piece. Over the last few months I've been making a list of songs that pop up on my playlist that have effect. It's not a comprehensive list off all songs as that would take too long, but it's long enough for you, the reader, to get an idea of what I'm reffering to.

John Hiatt - Have a little Faith in Me
I first came across when it was covered by Jewel from the Phenomenon soundtrack and I say that it's been a favourite of mine since then. Overall, I'd say its the humble and emotional nature of the lyrics that struck a chord (no pun intended) with me.

Jon Bovi - I believe
Suprised that it's not 'Livin' on a Prayer' or 'It's my Life'? Well I have no real explanation other than that I've found this song to be their very first power anthem and one of their best. Often you'll catch me quoting the line "with every breath I breath, you and me could turn a whisper to a scream".

Alexi Murdoch - Orange Sky
I came to know this song mainly from the first season of the OC, which was their shining season. It was included on their first soundtrack but only in a two minute version. The actual six minute version is a nice, relaxing song which has a habit of always causing me to reflect on how cool the events of my life have been.

Our Lade Peace - Theif
No real explanation for this one other than the opening line which goes "I don't want to understand this horror" always catches my ear due in part to the way Raine gently opens with it.

James Blunt - You're Beautiful
This was the first strumming pattern that I ever learned to play on my guitar. Everytime I hear it, I remember that simple feeling of actually thinking that I might be able to become a decent guitar player.

The Offspring - Gone Away
This song gets me super pumped everytime I hear it. I always kick it up a notch during a run if this every comes on.

Celine Dion - Because you loved me
It played that moment I realized that fairy tales can cross over to a real life time stream and that day dreaming isn't so bad.

Bahia Principe - Bienvenidos
Best trip ever. Nothing will ever beat it, save for perhaps another trip.

Lifehouse - Everything
This tune was on the No Name Face album and remember thinking that if I ever got married that I wanted this to be playing in the background at some point.

The Wallflowers - Heroes
A classic song orginally written by David Bowie and covered by the Wallflowers for the Godzilla soundtrack back in 99 or so. This version has a better sound to me as Jakob Bylan (lead singer) has more of an emotional contribution through his voice than Bowie.

Youth Group - Forever Young
This was a tune from the third season of the OC where two of the main characters find themselves slow dancing for no other reason that the two of them are together as if it's all that ever mattered. I also remember copying it and just enjoying the pleasure of such a moment.

Josh Joplin Group - Camera One
This song was a small hit in the states in February of my first year and everytime I listened to it, the events of the past week would fly through my head like a funny and somewhat ridiculous TV show.

Jet - Shine On
I remember listening to this song on the new (at the time) Jet album on my way back from Peterborough and having the reality of my gigantic step hitting me. Leaving my family and friends, driving across Canada and starting over with nothing. Whenever I hear the song now, I always shoot right back to the moment in the car.

There are likely quite a few songs that I've missed but that's to be expected. For those reading this, I'd be curious to know which song(s) have such an effect on you. It'd be interesting to hear.

P.S. Why is this kitty so entertaining?

48 Hrs prior to sleeping

2007-02-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Before sleeping last night, there had been an interesting 48 hours of events. In that time I:

- wrote two midterms, one on each day
- worked an extra OT shift in between
- managed to flood the toilet

I could elaborate in my usual way but for once, I think enough has been said already.

The latest from West Bone

2007-01-29T19:06:00.000-08:00

Truth be told, there have been many a time when there have been occurances in the past little while where I have had more than enough reason to throw something down on the blog but ultimately, the lack of sleep and associated ailments which have come with that put a major halt on that. Today though has been a different story as I got more than a good nights sleep today and am brimming with pros to lay down. And so, to catch everyone up in a quick and effecient manner, I present a series of short blurbs from Bone in the West.

Furniture
After quite the ordeal in sorting out a delievery date and a broken door knob, furniture has found its way into my apartment. Now I must say that while I knew the apartment needed furniture, I was still taken back when the sofa and loveseat were put into place as it completely overhauled the atmosphere in apartment. In the end there was a completeness to the apartment in their presence and a feeling that I'd finally attained all the basics to call this a home.

Bone's off Nights... soon
After a brief discussion with the department manager last weekend, a decision was made that I would come off nights. My argument wasn't anything much more than the nights wern't agreeing with me as my health was suffering due to the lack of sleep. Strangely enough, there wasn't any real counter discussion to convince me to stay on nights and so at the end of March, when all the student are highered and they can staff nights better, I'll be comming off nights.

First Visit Downtown
I had three days off last weekend and decided to make the most of it and spend the night hanging out with Giles for the first time in months. After a day of getting things done around the house, I met up with Giles and we decided to grab some dinner. I suggested the 'Cactus club cafe' which I'd passed by several times in recent months. This decision paid off in the end as the food and the service were definately quite good. Aside from this, the atmosphere in the restaurant was quite nice as well and will definately be a location I will return to in the future. From there Giles and I then walked down which took about 30 minutes as far as I could guess. Now, while this may seem archaic to some as I could have easily taken a bus, I preferd the walk as it allowed me to both take in the scenery and learn more about downtown at a decent pace.
Nothing overly eventful happend at the bar that night. I met a few of Giles friend's, a random girl from the hospital decided to start flirting with me and some decent scotch was had. For those that are curious, I didn't reciprocate any real interest.
We decieded to walk back home as well as a means to save money on a taxi. The walk back home was just about the same as the walk there other than the folk who drove by and screamed out the taxi window the Giles and I were a 'bunch of fagots'. Now while I have always been comfortable with my heterosexuality in the face of gay accusations, I found this to be enerving
due to the cowardly nature of someone making a deragatory comment like that behind the safety of cover. I guess that's to be expected in a city as big as Vancouver.

Ipod Video!
After having my alarm somewhat crapped out coupled to the fact that I wanted some music in my room since my desk is outside, I decided to add an Ipod Video and JBL on time radial speaker set to my 'to get' list. Now initially I was going to wait a few months and save up bits of pay checks for it but after finding a pretty good deal on a used one, I moved up my purchasing time and acquired a 30gb Ipod video. Overall, this is a very top notch product as the video quality is quite good and decently sized. The only downside is the amount of time required to change everything into an mp4 video file for the ipod.

Dine out Vancouver
One of my peers at work invited me to join her to the Stone Grill where she had made a reservation for two and naturally I decided to take her up on that offer. Now for those few who know of my potential work interest, this was not her but none the less I still had a very good time. The food was exsquisite as was the method that they choose to serve everything. We both ordered the steak and instead of cooking the items for you, they instead serve it on a hot stone which has been heated to 400 deg and thus it cooks the meat while you're actually eating it.
The other good thing about this Dine Out Vancouver special is that you get an appetizer and dessert with the meal. Overall the meal and the atmosphere is definately worth the price paid.

Closing comments:
- Can't wait til I'm not on nights anymore
- Cmon UBC; Daddy needs a new Jitsu club...
- Everytime, I hear the new JT single, I remember a time in Peterborough dancing on the bar celebrating amongst good friends
- Diggin the tune 'Welcome to the Black Parade' by My Chemcial Romance. Cool name for a band too.
- Quite a few people I owe an e-mail to and need to get to that
- Today has to be a study day. I'm so behind on my classes and midterms are next week.

Current Song: Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
Current Mood: Lamenting that I have to go to work tonight

Rocky Balboa

2007-01-16T06:38:00.000-08:00

Today, before heading to work, I found myself watching Rocky Balboa for the third time. Truth be told, for a movie that I thought would be a joke, it is slowly creeping its way into my list of overall favourites. Aside from the fact that it's a nice way to way to end the Rocky series of movies, Stallone and company portray a solid story of a man who's got all he ever needs for the rest of his days; Heart.

(Spoiler alert)

Adrian
The movie starts off in a very nostalgic manner with Rocky going about his daily routine and highlighting a man's life whose very nature pays homage to the romantic notion of 'better to have loved and lost'. The small subtleties of Balboa remembering all the small things about his dearly departed Adrian are reminiscent of a notion that is of an old coda which is that of a 'Gentleman and his Lady'. All the details the are so meticulously pointed out all relate to the simple fact that all he ever needed from his lady were trust and honesty and that is all he needed to get by.

Drive
Throughout the movie, the constant symbol of the basement is brought back time and time again and that no matter where one finds himself in life, there's nothing more worthwhile than putting yourself behind a drive to be the absolute best you can be. The interesting thing about this movie though is not only do they show drive of the Hero Balboa, but also of the apparent enemy. Both characters train and push themselves with the soul intent of findind a satisfaction within themselves.

Never say Die
The line rings in your head like a bad backstreet boy song at the end of the movie. "What is it you told the kid? Dosn't matter how hard you get hit, it's your job to get up". The beauty of the whole scene when he says this is that all the sentiments of grit, tenacity and ire and the accompanying will of a champion just resonate and surge forth as you watch the scene. Very well done in this bit of film.

Truth be told is that I could go on and find other noble virtues that are portrayed in the movie as there are many. Overall, the entire piece is well done from top to bottom and definately worth the watch (but not during sex as its worth more than that).

Some more resolutions

2007-01-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

Some more resolutions popped into my head recently. These are all things I was already intending to do beforehand but getting them down in writing makes it more of a must in terms of getting them done.

6. Reduce my student loan 25% of the total by years's end. (Naturally the goal is right down to 0)
7. Become a man that people could portray as being 'A man who lived the dream'

(The old one's)

1. Set into motion the Jitsu Van domain of Jitsu Canada
2. Stop fearing that decisions made in the past will have the same repricussions. Every situation is different.
3. Get off these bloody night shifts.
4. Finish at least two CT courses (work related stuff).
5. Let everything be. If drama comes, it comes; if it goes, it goes. Everything happens for a reason.

Bit of a scrooge

2006-12-30T11:46:00.000-08:00

This holiday has been a strange one. The most obvious reason I can think of is because I had to work on x-mas and boxing day coupled to the fact that I will be working on New Years as well. That being the case, I didn't realy get as festive as I usually do and the result was that I wasn't as jolly as some of the folk around me. The end result has me feeling like a bit of a scrooge in the end as I might have dampened everyone's happyness around me just a little. If I did not contact you and wish you a happy holiday, I apologize as I slept through most of everyone's awake time. I hope that I do not have to work all three stats next year for my sanity's sake.

On the other side of things, I flew home to be with the family for a few days between the worked stats. There was a bit of a lul in my work schedule which allowed me such as chance as decided to take advatage of it. It worked out okay financially as my sister cashed in some of her rewards points and this lowered the cost to something more reasonable relative to the short time frame.

The trip home has been refreshing and allowed me to reflect upon the matters discussed above. In the past few days, I've had the chance to see some of my close family as well as touched base with a few friends. It has definately picked my spirits from the scroogish attitude I had before. The only downside to this trip home has been the overall jet lag of comming off being awake at night and having to switch for a couple days. So goes life though. I do have to get off these night shifts sometime soon though.

In a few days, I'm about to join some of the many folk who currently use Skype as my father bought my a USB skype phone. I didn't know these existed until recently, but it is a neat little product for those who use have a greater disposition to VOIP. Hopefully I'll actually use it though.

That's about all off the top of my head for now. Hopefully everyone has a safe and happy new year. I've got a couple resolutions that I've made which are as follows.

1. Set into motion the Jitsu Van domain of Jitsu Canada
2. Stop fearing that decisions made in the past will have the same repricussions. Every situation is different.
3. Get off these bloody night shifts.
4. Finish at least two CT courses (work related stuff).
5. Let everything be. If drama comes, it comes; if it goes, it goes. Everything happens for a reason.

In closing, everything will be fine...

A letter

2006-12-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

Dear RA,

I found myself in the Bay the other day. I had recently seen an add with an advertisement for 30% of all mens wear. That coupled to the fact that I had previously decided on getting my parents a Hudson Bay Company gift certificate for x-mas, brought me to a Bay store just the other day.

I entered with the intention of parusing the items at the Bay for a few minutes before proceeding to make my intended purchases of Boxers (which were part of the sale) and the gift certficate. This decision turned out to be very costly.

Within an instant of finding the Men's wear, I found myself in a Sport Jacket section. Normally I would instantly be turned back by the crazily high prices but the two signs of 'Take 30%' off and 'Take an additional 30%' off convinced me to browse through their selection. I began to look, and then I began to try on and before I knew it, I had found myself a tan orangish Tommy Hilfiger Sports Coat that I could not bear to part with.

My desire to have good clothing did not end there. While trying to bypass everything to make it to bexers, I found myself looking at some Nautica performance sportswear. I didn't even bother to try either of these on as they looked like good quality items and seeing how they were also 30% off, I decided to purchase a few.

With the total tally of unintended purchases adding up, I quickly made my way to find the items that I had gone to purchase. I found the boxers rather easily and proceeded from there towards the checkout. On the way there some nicer looking dress shirts caught my attention but I managed to refrain realizing that I already had quite a large bill comming to me.

In the end, without any service personal attending to me once so ever, I managed to double my orginally intended spending amount. That realy does not bother me so much though. Nothing at all bothers me about any of this in truth as I think I am comming to understand why you enjoy shopping at the Bay so much. The quality of the items they offer are definately quite high and the prices which they ask for are quite reasonably. In the future, I think I will definately be find myself there more often.

Sincerly,
Zout

P.S. I have not seen you on MSN lately. Have you taken an MSN sabatical?

One year ago...

2006-12-13T04:29:00.000-08:00

While working out at the gym the other day, a tune came on that shot me back to a year ago to a moment when nothing but pure electricity ran through my veins.

I awoke that day knowing that later on, I would be heading to the great city of Montreal to see something that I'd only seen twice before. For some reason though, I couldn't get as excited as I wanted to be. I went through my normal motions of the day and did all the usuals all the while trying to get pumped. Perhaps it was the fact that the city of Cornwall (amongst other factors) were sucking the life out of me. I don't think I'll ever know...

The important thing though is that I did make it through and lasted til the end of the 'work' day. From there, the ambiance started to build. I had something to eat, relaxed a little bit and proceeded to get ready to head to Montreal. The drive there was relatively tame except for the actual city itself which saw me utilise some colourful language. That passed though.

We entered the arena and found our seats. It was then, where the magnitude of the evening started to set in as we were literally an earshot away from the stage. The pump started to set in at this point so much so that I think I blew almost $65 on memoribilia. That might sound like a lot but it consisted simply of a shirt and pendant. But I realy didn't care at that moment.

The opening band almost brought me back to the non pumped stage. It would only take the next few minutes after them though to bring me back and surpass that by almost a hundred. The screen above the stage lowered slowly as the house lights went down. From the behind the stage emerged most of the band members. The sound of the electric guitar filled the guitar and from and all the way accross the arena, the man emerged with his acoustic guitar, strumming like there was no other place in the world that existed except for the 20, 000 people in the stadium. And from his lips emerged:

"Come see a living breathing spectacle only seen right here.."

As I sat there at fitness world, just sitting there, thinking back, I must have spent at least three minutes or more staring off into the distance. And for those three minutes I was back in Montreal, Canada just reliving one of the best moments in my life. From the last man standing to his cover of "Have a little Faith in me", the man and his band didn't miss a beat.

Day off

2006-12-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

Today I have a day off after a six day stretch of 8.5 hour shifts. This day off couldn't have come at a better time as needless to say I feel very tuckered. Aside from working for the past six days, I have also been at the gyme each day which also adds to the tucker tole. Earlier today I wanted to attribute my fatigue to 'pushing the limit' at which point my roomate just looked at me and asked me 'if I'd been excessively flying at Mach 3?'. From that juncture, and likely from now on, I will likely refrain from using the term pushing the limit.

On a completely different note, I've been feeling a little hyposensitive to music as of late. Now, I think I'd safely say that those who speak to me often on MSN or take note of my MSN handle often enough would say that I regularily throw random song quotes into my name to reflect something of note in my daily events or on a reflection of things. Lately though whenever I try to find something of thematic value to quote, I find it a little more difficult. Perhaps because there's no real lyric about moving to Vancouver and starting on night shifts. Someone should work on that.

To conclude, a few comments of movies I've seen semi lately:
World Trade Centre - worth a watch but focusses less on the events of the day and more on a made up story
Beerfest - Another zany tale from the makers of Super Troopers. Better than that island movie but not as good as super troopers
You, Me and Dupree - Kate Hudson is smoking hot. Not nearly half as good as wedding crashers.
Talledega Nights - Unfortunately Baby Jesus couldn't make this as good as Anchorman. One might almost say its bush league.
Death of a President - Find it. Get it and watch it. This is a good one. Aside from the fact that its a movie about Bush dying, you're almost convinced that this is a real documentary knowing its fake. A brilliant work.

New Toys

2006-12-04T00:32:00.000-08:00

Well I was afraid that this would happen. I went in to buy an iPod shuffle and walked out with a collectors edition 20th anniversary Optimus Prime. Now, truth be told, this supreme action figure is wickedly sweet as it features an Energon Axe, Ion Blaster and Light up matrix chamber. At the same time, I remember sitting at my desk staring at it thinking that my geekdom level had increased thus causing the percentage ratio of possible women entering my apartment to drop a few points. Overall though, I'd say the pros and cons balence out.

The decision to get the shuffle though wasn't quite as spontaneous as I'd done a bit of research the night before. I was mixed when I entered best buy on whether or not to get the shuffle or the SanDisk Sansa 1gb player. The pros of the latter player was that it featured a display screen, fm tuner and voice recorder. I was also trying to avoid being part of the 'iPod generation' and support a smaller company. Upon seeing the shuffle though, I realy couldn't justify not getting it as its absolutely tiny and light weight and since its purpose was a running/gym player, it made the most sense. The actuality of it all is that there is a reason iPods are so popular as they are pretty practical in the end for music listeners. I would definately recommend it to others.

Pictured below are both items.

Closing Comments:
- Look at it. It's tiny!
- Yeah for free time on night shifts for making blog posts!
- Aight, no more gifts for myself. Must focus of either saving or getting gifts for others.
- There is an off chance that Zout may return to Ontario sometime this month. More to come on this.
- The snow is starting to go away and the rain is starting to return. I can't decide whether this is a good or bad thing.
- Some people still suprise me. This time, the further demonstration of moral fibre deserves an acknowledgement. Now, just what to say.
- Gingerbread Latte - Good but expensive, served warm, drink fast. Egg Nog Latte - See Gingerbread. Coffee with Skim Milk - Flavour of coffee is stronger and thus makes coffee choice more critical.
- Congrats to all who moved up a degree in Dan Ranking. Now its time to get my ass in gear and put everything in place so its my turn next year.

No Song. Neutral Mood. Meh.

Re-inspired by the musings of others...

2006-11-30T03:33:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time it use to be a whole lot easier to blog as notable events happend in my life on a semi consistent basis. However with things mainly being in a settling mode right now not a whole lot of worthwhile stuff has realy happend of the usual upbeat Dawson's Creek like tempo that things use to be. So instead, as a few other fellow bloggers have done, I'll just make some small rants about everyday events just for rantings sake.

Night shift
Overall, its not so bad. Yesterday kind of sucked because I'd been up for 8 hours already prior to starting work and then when I came in, the work ran heavy for about four hours. It wasn't even the easy stuff either; hard trauma cases where people are in a lot of pain, broken something and can't move; or just plain so out of it that they can't help type stuff. I was thoughrougly tuckerd by the end of the shift. Today is making up for it though as its been mainly easy cases and very few of them.

I've redeveloped my affinity for coffee as adjusting to night hours isn't something my body readily did. Its not such a bad thing though as there are quite a few coffee shops in the Vancouver area and this allows me to sample a great many of them.

Sleeping during the day is also slightly weird as its light out when I go to bed and close to dark when I wake up. At the end of the day though, the extra $2 an hour makes up for everything, especially since I don't know very many people anyways and havn't got much of a social life right now.

Portable DVD player
As of the first or second shift working nights, I concluded that there's only so much reading one can do in the downtime and that a portable dvd player would be a cool item to have that would deal with that lul time. I spent quite a bit of time researching all the options that were available to me but in the end it came down to a choice between the Phillips PET1002 and the LG LPA 735 for their ability to play Xvid movies. The decision was made for me in the end though with futureshop putting the LG player on special with additional savings in the form of a general savings coupon. In the end, the total cost after tax was very reasonable and I've already got some good use out of it. Definately a worthwhile purchase.

Snow
How the f*ck is it snowing in vancouver and warm back in Ontario? Did my moving here bend the weather patterns so that snow would come with me? Either way, its been quite the set of events. I do have to say that Vancouver folk have no clue how to moderate themselves when it comes to handling snow and more specifically driving on the snow. Some of the stuff that drivers do just blows my mind and some of the risks they take are ludicrous. I specifically stayed off the road for this very reason as my normal road rage (under normal driving conditions) likely would have multiplied by a factor of X to the Xth power and likely seen more anger than than is healthy.

Closing Comments:
- My old mp3 player kinda went shotzkey on me which makes me want to get another one. Part of me is saying that I should save my money now since I'll need it in the future while the other half of me says that I have worked two full OT shifts at time and a half and can afford a little personal spending.
- I'm gradually starting to ease into some social circles and develope a few friendships that might have some good longevity. I even find myself developing semi serious attractions to some women as well. While my heart has not completely found itself fully restored yet, it might be able to handle a few runs of mental chess with the opposite sex.
- 202 posts isn't a big deal when yours posts have 3 lines of text and one train of thought for the last dozen posts.
- I baked some Spicy Oatmeal Raisin cookies the other day. I forgot to take a picture though and wish I had because they turned out spectacularily.
- I'm gonna get the jitsu gears going in the new year and think that developing a sucessful club will be my new years resolution.

No current song. I'm at work!
Current mood. Excited as I just schduled an exam by myself. (usually the clerks do it)

No longer sitting on the floor!

2006-11-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

Yes, its true and you are seeing correctly. From here on in, I will be resuming my old blog post schedule as I am no longer sitting on the floor to use my computer but instead back in my good ol computer chair and my awesome new desk.

Vancouver so far has been great. Nothing too exciting has happend since I've got here since I've mainly just been working and getting my apartment in order as well as all the other things that go with that. Settling into a new hospital and new department has been a fun little adventure and looks like both could be promising. Everything at VGH seems to make so much more sense than it has in previous exposure (no pun intended) to diagnostic imaging field.

I've met a handful of people outside of the hospital in my wanderings but havn't had much social time since its taking time to get myself settled. I should be all done after this weekend though since my stuff finally arrived one of my last tasks just requires me to put it away.

I think I'll leave the rest of this post in summarized closing comments form.

Closing Comments:
- The city itself is beautiful and filled with culture at almost every corner
- People here seem to be way more health concious than in any other city I've lived in (especially compared to Cornwall). I think I've seen a total of maybe three fat people in the month that I've been here.
- My cell phone bill is going to be huge. Time will tell though just how big.
- I came at the beginning of rainy season and it certainly has been quite rainy. All part of the journey.
- It seems as though I'm not the only one in this town who has settled in for a little bit to take in the surroundings for a couple years. Of all the people I've met, only about half of them are from Vancouver.
- There hasn't been a day that has gone by where I havn't thought about how awesome it will be to get a club going here. Soon enough, soon enough.
- I baked a cake for the potluck last week which I self titled Zout's Choclate Volcano explosion. Everyone loved it. Here is a photo:

And here is a photo of the picturesque neighborhood that I live in:

Current Song: Goo Goo Dolls - Without you here
Current Mood: Pumped for the Gym

Well I would make a post...

2006-11-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

But right now my computer is sitting on the floor in the living area of my apartment. Thus sitting in front of it for long periods of time is not easy and hence why there have been no posts. When things are more condusive, you may or may not here about:

- the new apartment
- my new TV that broke within 2 mins of me purchasing it
- the new job
- life out west

Until I get paid and get a desk...

Before the memories fade away...

2006-10-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

They need to be blogged to be enjoyed by all. In truth, I should have done this yesterday since the memories were fresher but I got caught up doing other things. And so one day later, here is the story of Zout/T-Bone crossing 2/3 of Canada on his way to Vancouver.

Day 1
The first few hours before I left were definately quite tough as the emotion of the entire event became a little overwhelming. The hardest two moments were definately saying goodbye to my mother and the last few minutes before jumping in the car as I took one last long walk through the house. I knew it wasn't goodbye but the realization of how long it would be before I would be back hit me. Thankfully, Keeves was there waiting though and eventually I had to come back to the real world and realize that it was time to go.
The weather that day was the worst of the three days as it was rainy and cold. But we braved through it all and we were on our way. The drive to the Sue took approximately eight hours, some of which was spent getting lost. In fact, I'd say we got lost once a day but I digress. The drive was pretty boring as the Shield in Ontario is full of mountains, none of which are very exciting. We still managed to find ways to amuse ourselves though, laughing at the five or six ramps of the Trans Canada that take you to Sudbury as well as names of the funny roads. Some of these included Crooked Lake, Go Home Lake Road and Seldom Seen Road. Early Ontarians wern't very creative in most respects.
We arrived in the Sue at about six, checked into a Comfort Inn, showered and then headed off to dinner. We chose Lone Star because, I've only every known Lone Star waitresses to be awesome ;O). Wasn't the case here though as when we prompted here as to where two travellers would go to enjoy the atmosphere in the Sue, she brought us a NEWSPAPER. What waitress brings their customers a newspaper?!?! It didn't end there though. She told us about a bar named 'Stars' that we could find on 'Gouley' road. We would never find Gouley road on a map though but instead would query whether a street named 'Goulais' was what she was talking about. Either way, not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
We never made it out that night anyways as I'd eaten a Woody burger which is a one pound burger for all those that don't know. As such, I just laid on the bed for about an hour after dinner trying to digest. Following that sleep.

CDs listened to on Day 1:
Angels and Airwaves - We don't need to whisper
Evanescence - The open Door
The Killers - Sam's Town
Collective Soul - Collective Soul
VA - Rock Mix 3
VA - Rock Mix 9
Oasis - Don't Believe the Truth

Day 2
The second day started with continental breakfast, check out and then a trip to Wal Mart. We were originally going to get floss and a toothbrush but instead walked out with $70 of music cds between the two of us. These included:

Me:
Bon Jovi - Slippery when Wet
Bon Jovi - Have a nice Day
John Mayer Trio - Try
Bryan Adams - Anthology

Keeves:
Godsmack - IV
Killers - Hot Fuss (I was going to get this, but he ended up getting it)

After spending money that we didn't need to actually spend, we jumped into the car and started on route to Thunder Bay. About an hour into the trip, the needle on the gas meter dropped quicker than expected and for about 60 km I was driving with the Orange warning light on. I never worried that I'd run out of gas though because in the end 'everything would be fine'. There was more of the shield to see on the way and as such the drive was another lame one. In fact perhaps even lamer since the quantity of funny named lakes and roads dropped considerably.
There was one car that we grew to hate more and more over the course of the drive based on his lack of driving etiquette. One prime example of this is when he road my bumper in an attempt to get me to pass three trucks and a car in front of me. It trues that we were on a passing portion of the highway, but that is usually for one car or at most a truck. I chose not to adhere to his pushing and in the end he decided to try it himself. As far as I can tell, he almost got himself killed as a car came up from the other side. He did make it though much to our dismay.
We arrived in Thunder Bay at approximately sixish. Again we checked into a hotel and headed off to dinner at an AppleBees this time. Our waitress this time around was much better and more conversive. I attributed this to the presence of students likely going to Lakehead. We were told about a bar that students head to on wednesday's called 'Tony and Andy's' on what I thought was Court street. We would later go looking for this bar but would never find it which wasn't such a bad thing as we got to bed earlier. We hypothesized later that the street might have been Gore street based on a map. I'll likely never know though.

CDs listened to on Day 2:
Bon Jovi - Slipper When Wet
The Music - Self Titled
VA - Punk goes 90s
The Killers - Hot Fuss
Jet - Shine On
Bryan Adams - Anthology CD1
Dave Matthews Band - Central Park Concert CD1

Day 3
Day three saw us wake up to the usual continental breakfast. I was glad to note that my phone had set itself back an hour indicating that we'd be gaining an hour during the drive to Winnipeg. The drive went okay for the most part during the day. At one point I tried to pass a guy on a stretch of road with a double yellow line. I quickly realized there was a car and pulled back behind the car I was trying to pass. He didn't like this though, I suppose feeling I was being reckless, and turned to show me some profanities. From there he picked up the phone and called the police I assume which was a little over the top in my opinion. None the less, I behaved for the next 40 km or so and didn't even try to pass as an acknowledgement that I should be more careful.
As we drove, the presence of snow became greater and in following the temperature got colder. Because we'd left a little earlier in theory, we ended up delaying lunch until 2/3 of the way through the trip with a stop in Kenora. We were quite hungry by this point and I believe I ate more A and W burgers than any sane man should but I was satisfied in the end though. When we crossed into Manitoba, everything changed drastically. The roads straightened out completely and everything became flat (as oppose to hilly). Keeves immediately noted the increasing presence of deer in the forest and I commented that I would love to see deer (I couldn't turn my head for long since I was driving). When we stopped for gas though, some deer actually came out of the forest and randomly wandered over in our direction before heading off. That was pretty cool to me.
We ended up getting to Winnipeg pretty early since we'd left early. Thus we thought we might actually have more time to enjoy the city this time around. This was not the case though as we ended up getting quite lost for about one and a half hours. This was mostly due to a misunderstanding of where the Comfort Inn was located. The description of what we'd been given was that the hotel was right off the highway. As such we just followed the Trans Canada Hwy into the city. After not finding anything we stopped at a few gas stations none of whom knew where the Comfort Inn was. One lady even gave us wrong directions which got us even more lost. Finally we looked up the number of the Comfort Inn to see if she could direct us from our lost location. It turned out that she'd only been in Winnipeg for a month and had no clue where we were. I did ask if she knew what intersection she was at and after getting that, I was able to navigate my way there. In the end it turns out that the Comfort Inn was location on the Perimeter Hwy which runs around the city.
After eventually getting to the Comfort Inn, we cooled off for a bit and headed out to a Boston Pizza (of which there are many in Winnipeg) for dinner. We ate and once again settled into our server/customer banter. We found out about a club called 'Tijuana Yatch Club' and 'Coyotes' that were suppose to be the places to go. However, once again, after hitting the bed and relaxing, sleep snuck its way up on me and we never ended up making it to a bar. It's a shame in this case as I would have liked to have gone as they sounded pretty cool.

CDs listened to on Day 3
VA - Wreckless Intent
Dave Matthews Band - Central Park Concert CD2
Live - Throwing Copper
John Mayer Trio - Try
Bon Jovi - Crossroads
Bryan Adams - Anthology CD2
Godsmack - IV

Day 4
We took our time in leaving on Day Four as we wanted to hit the shops for a little bit before leaving. In our random car banter, we had decided that we needed winnipeg jets hats if we were to be crossing through Winnipeg. As such we went looking for such hats. Eventually we ended up finding the hats that we wanted but at the last minute, I decided against buying it as the value would be lost once we left winnipeg. I also don't wear hats very much these days so it would have just sat in the closet. Our search for hats did lead us to a future shop though and as before, we bought more music cds. They included:

Me:
Live - Awake (the best of)
Linkin Park - Meteora
Collective Soul - Seven Year Itch
John Mayer - Room for Squares

Keeves:
Neil Diamond - Best of
Beck - Odelay
(And another which I forget)

From there we jumped back into the car and were on our way to Regina. This day was to be the shortest day of driving as there was only one city in between which was Brandon. I was glad to have lunch at a Subway in Brandon as my body needed the delicious veggies which are present on a sub. Another unexpected surprise popped up when I was queried about chesse on the sub and offered monteray jack cheese as one of the options. I jumped at that option as I love Monteray Jack cheese on anything. There was a hottie who laughed at my excitement to which I just answered that such things don't happen in ontario and that it was a nice change.
We had no trouble finding the Comfort Inn in regina as it was right off the highway. Since we'd gotten there in good time, I decided to find a gym and hit a workout. During the course of the workout, I could feel the lack of proper eating and dehydration holding me back. It was still good to hit the weights though.
We went to Eastside's for dinner that night and proceeded to flirt with as many of the servers and hostesses that would indulge us. We also gourged ourselves with salad and bread since it was free with the meal. We once again heckled people for a bar to go to but this time we would actually end up going. (We did get lost again looking for it). The bar was called the pump and it turned out to be a pretty upbeat place. The overall whiteness of the atmosphere of Regina was aparent though as there wasn't a single asian, brown or african american person there. The band was also playing some country songs, none of which I knew. We didn't end up staying long though as we needed to be up early to head of to calgary in the morning. A shame too as some of the women in Regina were gorgeous.

CDs listened to on Day 4:
Bon Jovi - Have a Nice Day
Beck - Odelay
Linkin Park - Meteora
Live - Awake
Bon Jovi - Live in St. Louis CD1 and CD2

Day 5
We awoke at our usual time of what we thought was 830 the next morning. My cell phone said it was 730 though and it was then we realized we were in mountain time. Keeves fake yelled at me for getting him up so early and I fake yelled at him for being so lazy.
The drive to Calgary was very much the same as that from Winnipeg to Regina. Mostly flat and mostly boring from the lack of scenery. During our stop in Swift Current, we almost bought more CDs but Keeves was the voice of reason (shockingly enough) saying that we had already bought enough.
The stop in Medicine Hat was kinda lame as my allergies were acting up a little bit. Things got better though on our way to Calgary as the sun came out and made things better. We once again got lost in finding the Comfort Inn due to a terrible map that was in the map we got of Western Canada and highlighted choice hotels (of which Comfort Inn is included). This time, we knew how to proceed with minimizing lost time and managed to reduce the extra time to about thirty minutes.
The plan for Calgary had always been to have one hell of a time once we got there since it was to be our last night on the journey. Things changed though with the overall five day fatigue setting in. Thus we only managed to get to the Chinook Centre to buy belt buckles and have dinner at Hooters (which was across the street). Hooters isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be. The menu selection is also pretty poor.
That night, aside from raving about how cool my belt buckle was, we just watched some UFC fights on Spike TV and hit the sack. Once again, I didn't mind not heading out on the city since the next day of driving would be the longest of the entire trip.

CDs listened to on Day 5:
Collective Soul - Seven Year Itch
Neil Diamond - Greatest Hits
VA - Nostalgia Mix
VA - BBQ Mix
Live - Songs from Black Mountain
VA - Halloween Mix

Day 6
We awoke pretty early that morning to get Keeves onto his bus to Edmonton which was leaving at 830 calgary time. We ate breakfast, packed everything into the car and headed off. We managed to get to the Bus station with about 15 minutes or so to spare which was a decent amount of time and got him a ticket to Edmonton. From there we parted ways which was a little tough since he'd been my wingman for five days straight. We all need to soldier on though.

I took off from the Bus station ready for my last day on the road. I immediately noticed the difference of driving by yourself versus driving with a wingman. It's amazing what your body and instincts become habituated to.
The drive itself was realy nice as there were lots of rocky mountains in the first portion and lots of folliage in the latter half when I got into BC. The drive itself was less straight forward, especially in the portion between lake louise and Revelstoke. When it says that one needs to go at 40 and 60 in some regions, you realy need to adhere to that. Things got much better though after passing through Kamloops and the drive was more straight forward.
After about 11H of driving and 1018.1 Km of distance, which saw me get lost in mini pockets three times, I arrived at my destination of Vancouver. I think I was braindead when I got here as I don't remember much of what happend that night. The drive certainly does take a lot out of you. Giles and I went out for dinner to celebrate and after that I crashed hard in going to bed.

CDs listened to on Day 6:
John Mayer - Room for Squares
Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson CD1
John Mayer - Continuum
Amanda Marshall - Intermission (The best of)
Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson CD2
John Mayer - Heavier Things
VA - Power Ballads
James Blunt - Chasing Time and Monkey on my Shoulder
Justin Timerberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

Closing Comments:

- A long drive has a very philisophical property and everyone needs to do it at some point.
- There were a great number of oversized vehicles in Ontario on the highway which sucked at some points. That's life though.
- The most listened to song on the journey was, not suprisingly, Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi played four times. The second most listened to song, also not suprisingly was Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams played three times.
- Total money spent on gas - $396.17. Total spent on lodging - 554.27. Total distance travelled -4746 Km. Trip across Canada - Priceless (lame I know, but I earned it)
- There was an increased incidence of A and W, Robin's Donuts and Boston Pizza as we got to Calgary. They all but dissapeared here in Vancouver though.
- I stayed at Comfort Inns so much because they had a Choice club which reduced the cost of staying overnight and you get points for free stays.
- Now my mission is to find a place and stop bumming off Giles
- I can't believe I'm actually here now whereas a week ago I was getting ready to leave.
- I do get homesick from time to time but I suppose that's to be expected in completely new surroundings. All part of the adventure in the end.

Current Song: Collective Soul - Satellite (live)
Current Mood: Anxious (to find a place to live)

'And I will shine on, for everyone'

2006-10-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

Based on the sheer quantity of events and hijinks that went down this weekend this blog post is shaping up to be a long one and if you're reading this prepare yourself for a bit of reading.

The original plan for this weekend was that I was going to go to Peterborough for the mini course on friday and the Brown and Above course on Saturday. But, fate through me a curveball and stuck me into terrible traffic. One thing I will not miss after I leave is traffic on the 401. I don't think I've ever strung so many curse words together in succession like I did stuck in traffic. After letting the rage out though, I turned the negative of me not being able to make the course in any reasonable time into a positive and decided to go to kingston to get a full session in and see some of the faces that I've come to adore that I would not have seen otherwise.

Thus, I changed course and headed off towards K-town. It was quite the battle to get there in the end as half of the pacific came down from the sky and reduced driving conditions to an almost unbearable level. I endured though and made it safely. Things went up from there as the rain ceased and I made it to the session with a good amount of time. There were many suprised looks to take in including that of Mr. Bus who I would say was very happy to see me based on all the times he told me on saturday.

The session ran quite well as the 'bad cop, worse cop' duo shined like we always do. Teaching with Mr. Bus added a huge element nostalgia to the whole night as it wasn't too long ago we were doing the same as Dark Blues. Amazing how much things can change and still stay so comfortably the same. We also got to bounce Stu-Dan which was fun. Nothing like makikomis on b-day bounces.

There was a b-day celebration for him afterwards which he hosted at his place. After quickly suprising Mosie, who had no idea I was in K-town, we both headed over for some sweet times. There was some guitar hero, an airing of my superb acting skills, ice cream cake and the regular amount of merriment. Originally, I didn't think I'd have a good time as I did since I wanted to leave early and get some proper sleep for the course the next day. But even with the leave early element, things were fun.

I never ended up getting to bed early though as, even though we left at a decent time, Mosie and I stayed up reminiscing about the last six years from day one at university to now. All the fun trips, all the crushes, all the drama, all the parties and everything in between.

I awoke saturday suprisingly well and on time too. I had some cereal, filled the tank at the good ol J and was on the way to Peterbrough. I arrived early and as such just sat in the car listening to tunes. About five minutes before the scheduled start time no one was there so I started to get worried that I had the wrong venue. After a quick call, I found out that everyone was just late.

The course itself was quite intense and involved heavy throws for four hours. I took an elbow to the head in a throw about a quarter of the way through that slowly turned into a large headache later on and thus I cut out towards the end. Didn't miss too much though as the throws I had to sit down for I had done before at some point. At the end of the course, I was honoured with a (post-dated) katana which came as a huge shock to me. I was very touched by the whole thing.

I wasn't expecting the social to be terribly big as most everyone was beat up. As per usual I was wrong again. Things did start off slow with dinner and some good conversations as I'd guessed but as the first set of bar shots were done, the pace definately started to change. It wasn't soon after that, car bombs made their way an appearance. They also quickly vanished. At one point in the night, High Chief said that the night was in honour of my accomplishments and in going with this I asked if he'd make the day 'T-Bone day'. He shockingly enough just said yes whereas I expected some witty english response. Then later I actually got a hug from him!!! I was quite touched.

As the stone closed, we headed off for a destination that I didn't think I'd ever be back at which was the Trasheteria. Not suprisingly more drinks were consumed and there was even some dancing. One of the individuals started one of those person in a circle does some cool dancing circles during a heavy bass song. When I was called into the circle I threw out some ol school break dancing which was quite fun. Things tapered off there and progressed to the saphire room. I still had the dance vibe when I got there and SexyBack on the stereo just added to that. That being the case, when I went to the bar to get a drink I believe I said, "Can I get some type of minty thing? And could I also dance on your bar?". I was called on it though as the bartender said sure which came as a suprise to me. But there was dancing to be done so I requested 'What goes around' on the FutureSex/LoveSounds CD and went at it. I clearly remember getting up on the bar and Thumper yelling: "T-Bone get down from there, you'll get kicked out" and me resonponding with "No they won't, they let me". During the middle of the song I was amazed to find that people were enjoying the show and random people were taking pictures. Overall an awesome memory for my (possibly) last social in Peterborough.

We had some subway, that I couldn't taste, before heading to bed. As I predicted, I got some wicked spins which took some funny positions to get rid of.

This morning (sunday) we had breakfast at Smitty's and then I was off back home to spend the day with my family. The goodbyes at this point were very hard as I've known most of these individuals for the last half decade. It was a very surreal feeling.

The memories of this past few days are those that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. I've said it before and I will say it again that I've been very blessed to have met such wonderful people and shared such fantastic memories with them. I would not be where I'm at, or headed in this direction if it wasn't for the effort that each person has invested in me. To the following, I thank you dearly:

- Mosie
- Thumper
- My Parents and My sister
- Mr. Bus
- J-Bun
- RA
- McM
- Fish
- Flippy Dan
- Giles

There are also countless others to thank but those names present belong at the top. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.

So ends one chapter of T-Bone/Zouts life and leads onto the opening of another.

(Cue Jet-Shine On)

I hate blogs too!

2006-10-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

...but people have to read something.

Most of items pertaining to the Vancouver move have been sorted out and I am definately looking forward to the venture. Mr. Keeves will be joining me for the majority of this trip which will at bare minimum provide constant entertainment. The trip itself will span six days and go as such:

Tuesday
Toronto to Sault Ste. Marie

Wednesday
Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay

Thursday
Thunder Bay to Winnipeg

Friday
Winnipeg to Regina

Saturday
Regina to Calgary

Sunday
Calgary to Vancouver

Overall the total trip distance is 4482 km which splits up nicely over a six day trip. Originally I was going to make it a five day trip, but it made for stops is smaller and less interesting cities. The other advantage of having a six day trip is that it cuts down on daily driving fatigue and I can enjoy the cities a little bit more.

I am going to try and take pictures along the way and make as many daily posts as I can as a way of chronicaling the experience as well as a way to share it with everyone. Time will tell if I can actually stick to that though.

As most of you who are on my MSN list are aware, my old cell number is now gone as a new Vancouver BC number has taken its place. I must say that once that happend, the reality of this whole big change started to hit me. Its true that it is a big step and most of what will happen is unknown but in the end I think that's going to be the payoff. One day I'll be able to tell people I did something risky and have gained from it.

There a bit of writing by Marianne Williamson called Return to Love which reminds me of this. (Yes, this is from Coach Carter, but she still wrote it)

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

"It's real! It's damn real!!"

2006-10-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

Well after all the hoop jumping and rigamarol (as my parents would say), it all said and done with and a job offer has been formally been made my way and for all intensive purposes, I am on my way to Vancouver. It's very surreal that this has finally arrived because its been all talk for one and a half years and yet here it is at last.

Now the final details are still being ironed out but some of the more important and relevant details are:

- I plan on leaving Tuesday on the 17th sometime early in the morning. This allows me to spend the weekend at both the course, come home for a little bit and then be on my way.

- The job starts on the 30th of October. This allows me about a week to get familiar with Vancouver and spend time finding a place provided I arrive on the 22nd.

In the mean time there is quite a bit to sort out with insurance and licensing and moving companies and packing and other incurrent expenses. Oh yes, there's also thanksgiving.

My parents arn't to thrilled with the idea but I'd associate that with the close minded west indian mentality that plots out your future from birth as school, job, marriage, children, death. Since, I'm not following this, naturally I must be wrong. Hopefully though, they'll grow to understand.

I'd like to thank all of the people who have always been supporting me along the way keeping me positive. I'd also like to personally thank 'the man who will always have a place to sleep on my couch' for convincing me to take some decisive action which ended up spiraling into the offer being made. Without his sound advice, I'd likely still be waiting.

Closing comments:
- How much can you hate someone such that you purposefully lead them on thinking you've left a good reference all the while sabotaging their attempts. And you call me me low.
- It's realy a mix of excitement and fear of moving so far and doing something so completely off the wall. I'm sure that's where the payoff will be though.

Current Song: Alanis Morissette - Surrendering
Current Mood: Well... Fear and Excitement! Whoo!

Head in the clouds

2006-10-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

One of the good points about being home is that I always get a good nights sleep and a result of this has been an increased frequency of dreams. Most recently, the more memorable dreams have centered around many crushes in my life. The nature of the activities has varied but most just leave me with a 'what happend to this person' sensation in the morning. That is until last night.

I remember starting the dream just idleing about with another lady who I've known for quite some time. There was nothing extra ordinary about the atmosphere other than the fact that it seemed as though it was a moment where I was saying goodbye (most likely in anticipation of vancouver). As the idle conversation continued, I mumbled what I can only paraphrase as something along the lines of "I'd like just one thing before I go" and then I leaned over to kiss said party. The initial reaction was a lean back and a look of shock and then a slight returning gaze of "Well I guess you are leaving" and meeting me for the kiss.

It was soft lasting a few seconds and when it ended, things had been so spontaneously pationate that it seemed as if the only thing to do from there was meet again for another kiss. At that point it all just stopped as I fell out of the dream state and into normal sleep state. I remembered it clear as day though when I awoke and didn't just stop to think 'what happend to such person' but more so that I just wanted to see, hold and embrace them at that very moment.

Strange what our deepest desires hold within...

Closing comments:
- Still no word from Vancouver. I might throw an e-mail out later in the week.
- Prison Break had me on the edge of my seat once again. Just fine Television.
- The season premiere of lost is on tommorrow which I am quite eager to watch.
- Currently on my MP3 player, I have the following songs:
Mercy Drive - Burn in my light
Breaking Benjamin - Diary of Jane
Dashboard Confessional - Rooftops and Invitations
Storm Large - Ladylike
Fort Minor ft. Styles of Beyond - Remember the Name
Nelly Furtado - Maneater
Robert Tepper - No Easy Way Out (Rocky IV soundtrack)
Our Lady Peace - Innocent (live)
Eminem - Sing for the Moment
Seether ft. Amy Lee - Broken
- I've just downloaded the first two episodes of Jericho which is getting good reviews online and am looking forward to watching them

And a small blast from the not so long ago past:

One fun course; One Sore day

2006-09-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Well I think I've finally done it in that during this lag period of waiting for employers to consider my hat for their trade, I have physically run myself into the ground. In my previous post, I had mentioned my knees were getting a little worn out especially after the body Jam class. That being the case, I decided not to do any major physical activity on saturday to rest up me knees for the sunday course.

This seemed to work as I'd planned as there was no major performance issues or pain in relation to them. However, possibly as a result of the green and above course being 90% browns and Dans, I was overall physically done at the conclusion of the course. Yesterday, my body reminded me of this as, after hanging out in Peterborough after the course and driving home in the morning, my body went into a stasis lock. There was little energy to do anything except get a meal or so. Today, things are better, but I still think I'm going to take it easy and let the recovery process take its full course.

What to do in the meantime though is the big question? Maybe, lots of guitar practice.

Closing Comments:
- Stupid B minor requiring perfect finger positioning. Who made up such an archaic chord.
- Enjoying the song 'Maneater' by Nelly Furtado and 'It ends tonight' by the All American Rejects. There's also a cover out of the 'Monster Mash' by Mannheim Steamroller; Must be for halloween.
- Texas Holdem sucks when you get no over cards for 12 - 13 hands in a row. I need to win, not convince people that my 3 and 7 can dominate all.
- Speaking of which, the pseudo tournament that I went to was a fun little social event. I might hold some events like that if I ever get to Vancouver.
- Prison Break delivered up another solid episode. Though more people should have died as splitting five million six ways instead of two would suck. That was not a spoiler.

Current Song: Mannheim Steamroller - Monster Mash
Current Mood: Anxious

We're still waiting

2006-09-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

There is no word in the english dictionary than can describe this feeling inside of being done all the school portion of my program and now moving to being on the cusp of starting into the job world. Deep down there is a satisfaction, a relief, a fear and some anticipation.

For all those who are curious (which seems to be everyone these days), I had called VGH last week to see what the latest update was on me working for them. The response which I recieved was that they were deliberating and would have an answer for me by October 1st. Now, while in the end, I understand that this how the 'real world' of jobs go, it is absolutly killing me waiting for a response. There is no more big exam to occupy my thoughts and in this wait all I can do is all the little tasks that get left behind.

In the end, it's good to get around to all the little things such as getting my guitar fixed. That being said, the little things arn't that exciting and bring only the minimal joy of knowing they're out of the way. However, I'd rather be getting myself ready for a job mainly due to the debt factor pressing upon me like a lead weight. So goes life.

On a lighter note, I did one of those female dominated classes today in an attempt to put myself in a woman's shoes when they do weights among the men. The end result had me completely stepping on my own feet in a Body Jam class likely looking like an idiot. I'm sure most of that was in my head but its always interesting to note how difficult something can be that others make look easy. The next class is in a week and I may or may not go. There were many an attractive woman in attendence which presents much motivation for me to step on my feet again.

The Z-BOT tour is being cancelled for now due to lack of finances. I was hoping to be employed by VGH and have a travel allowance alloted to me which I could have used for such a trip but since none of that has come through, there can be no trip. I will still be attending the course on sunday though to get some jitsu back into me.

Closing comments:
- The past episode of Prison Break was awesome.
- Gradually getting back into the guitar one chord at a time.
- So you're reading someone's blog purposely not leading on that you know about it. What is it in the end that you're waiting for?
- I've once again run my knees into a great deal of soreness. I need to rest but running is one of my only daily satisfactions. What's a man to do?
- How dumb can one man be to cheat on a very practical exam? And how much more foolish are you to get caught.
- I very much enjoy the new John Mayer album. Solid from top to bottom. The new Timberlake album leaves much to be desired though. It's not bad; it's just not as good as people make it out to be.

Current Song: Justin Timberlake - What goes around.../...Comes around (one of the few good songs)
Current Mood: Impatient

After tommorrow

2006-09-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

Well tommorrow I'll be writing the big one and it will be hugely significant. For after tommorrow...

It will be the end of a post secondary school tenure
The time I will begin looking for a Job in a career orientation
Put my travel plans into full swing
Make a fully committed return to Jitsu Canada ending my hiatus
Put away two years worth of notes into the school Banker Box Archives
Play video games guilt free
Return to my 11am-12pm lifestyle (for a little while)

In other news, I'm still waiting to hear from Vancouver General about my potentially working at the hospital. I was told that a decision would be made by October 1st for the specific position that's available right now. Until then I cross my fingers.

It would be nice to know as soon as possible as there are a lot of items to put into motion if such a propect becomes reality. The most important at the moment is the cross Ontario tour (Which I've unappropriately named 'Zout Bangs Ontario Tour' or Z-Bot). Look for a post exam post on this and more items after the exam.

Now just to tackle six hours worth of exam

Livin the homelife

2006-09-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Well since FoxTV has rooked me and put American Dad in the TV spot that family guy use to be in, I have chosen to take this time and throw in an entry.

Life is pretty chill these days being at home. It's nice to be able to sleep in everyday. That coupled with the healthy eating makes for some excellent training in this down time.

When I'm not training though, my time is otherwise spent marginally studying and watching TV. In the past I have not been a huge TV junky, but seeing as how I only know a handful of people in brownzmania, there are a few more shows that I tune into these days.

Of course there are the usuals such as prison break, simpsons and family guy but now I've added Rockstar Supernova, Celebrity Duets and So you think you can dance (the tryouts at least) to that list. It's pretty lame I know as I should be focussing the majority of my time on work but truthfully, its entertaining stuff.

I was down in K-town for a day which made for some good times. Played a game of Texas Holdem with some of the jitsu crowd which turned out to be quite the fun game. I am still quite bitter that I lost a hand which saw me with pocket kings and go down. The one time I get a spectacular pocket pair, someone else has a better one. Bah. I also still hate the river.

I also attended the grease pole for the first time in my run of seven orientation weeks. It was definately neat to see as I've never been to one. It was also a reminder of how old I've gotten as Munro and I were among the handful of 04s present.

There's quite a bit of contemplation time spent while I linger at home. While the majority of it is looking towards the exam and a west end future, some is spent thinking of trinkets that I will soon be able to afford and would like to get.

So far that list consists of:
- Food (good food. The delicious kind)
- A new laptop (I've been surviving on a PIII 667 for too long now)
- More Texas Holdem (Yeah disposable income!)
- Likely an IPod
- Some type of Video Game system (PS3?)

Naturally, its all treats as no one plans for the stuff they have to take into account for budgeting like insurance and rent. That stuff will get taken care of but I'll enjoy the items mentioned more.

Time for family guy.

The goose has landed

2006-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

To begin, I relize the saying is that the eagle has landed but goose sounded funnier to me. Leave it to me to change a good saying for silly reasons.

My tenure in the wall has finally come to an end and I have now returned back to te golden horseshoe of brampton. We had found out tuesday that we would be let off that day and after a bittersweet farewell, I made my way home to 1430 for the very last time. I proceeded to begin packing up the rest of my belongings that were out and acquired a trolly to cart all items between my apartment and the car. The rest of the day was spent packing things into the civic (which can be a challenge) and finding some sort of dinnner. After finishing the next day, I then made some goodbyes and said farewell to Cornwall for the very last time. Truth be told, it was a very strange feeling as you get a custom to many things about a place of living and seeing an empty apartment that you've lived in can throw you off a little.

I spent the next few days in Kingston seeing friends and getting a few little tasks done. It was orginally suppose to be a day in Kingston but I found out on the first day that I was there that a buddy was moving the next day and needed help moving and thus I extended my stay. Overall this might have been a mistake and I would end up pulling a muscle carrying his giganumbous TV down three flights of stairs. I have never cursed an object so much as I have that day. I've also never eaten so much food as I did that day. My goodness (my guinness!) does moving make you hungry.

I returned home this past friday even though I wanted to stay in Kingston amongst all the people, the culture, the diversity and not to mention, the incredibly attractive women (100x fold more so than the ladies of the Wall). But we can't all be spoiled all of our lives. I havn't done much since getting home except for unpack some of the majority of my stuff. I was about to start studying for my exam when family came over and that shot those plans to hell. I'd forgotten how loud west indian families can be. Oh yes, my parents also labelled me fat which I thought was insulting as I do more in a day than they do in a week in terms of activity. Irritating.

Closing Comments:
- Must attempt to be even less dramatic about the subject of blog posts. Stick more to self and less to others.
- New song of the month is Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. I'd heard this before somewhere and it's now been released as a single. I also enjoy that new song by the Dixie Chicks.
- Saw Crank last night which is a very fast paced movie. The effect though is good as it adds to the story, which in and of itself is ridiculous if one thinks about it.
- Two weeks til my last exam for a long time. Such a strange feeling.

Current Song: None
Current Mood: Refreshed

Right F'n pissed

2006-08-25T17:38:00.000-07:00

Aight, so I was told almost two months ago than in all likelyhood we would be allowed to go a week early than the scheduled end of semester. Thus I arrange all my plans around moving home this sunday; End all the bills, contact the landlord, sell all the requred items, find the necessary moving help and purchase just enough food to last me to the end on sunday. Then today while be let go early, we're told to have a nice weekend and that she'll see us on monday.

And from that moment and continuing til the writing on this post I have been pissed off. There is absolutely nothing to be gained as a student from going in next week as we've finished all of the necessary items that need to be completed as students in our clinical year and therein lies my biggest quam. (Edited due to over excessiveness) . Most times I've let it go because I'm an easy going individual but, when I have to replan all of the items mentioned on account of her making ridiculous decisions, I start to get a little angry about it.

Needless to say, I'm pretty certain that all words exchanged with her next week will be short and brief. (Also edited).

Closing comments:
- WTF is this sh*t. Jebus.
- My kingston trip this weekend is being cancelled since everyone is out of town. Think I'll be rescheduling for tuesday night provided I get off that day.
- Some things surprise you more than others. Some events surprise you more than others and some people have some unexpected surprises.
- I might put off my move to Vancouver by a little bit in favour of staying for thanksgiving. So depending on what happens in the next few weeks, my departure date might be the 9th and my start date date would be the 16th.
- The apartment seems so lifeless without all my trinkets and posters. I guess its all relative to how each person lives in the end as some people might enjoy seeing their walls without posters plastered all over them.
- You can put posters in the kitchen right? I remember having this discussion a while back but have always gotten mixed answer on that.

Current Song: Bob Dylan - Blowing in the Wind
Current Mood: Frustrated

Been a while but its been warrented

2006-08-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

As per usual its late and I'm posting. That being the case I will attempt to keep this as short as possible to maximize sleep.

I've been studying for exams lately which is why the posts have been kept to a minimum. Needless to say I've still done a few noteworthy items which might be of a reader's interest.

During the long weekend, I mainly studied as I'd set out to do. However, to keep from completely going insane from pure studies, I went to the highland games on the friday night as I had half planned to do. Now because, I was with one of my co-student friends and his fiancé, I didn't get too rowdy but I still had good time as I ran into some familiar faces who I hadn't seen in a long time and got to throw a few half filled beer cups around. But after all the fun was done, it was back to studying.

Truthfully, it sucked to have given up a beautiful long weekend for the books. But, as the fates would have it, the trade off I made in favour of going to Muskoka this past weekend was well worth it. The twelve hours on the road, was all worth it. In the end there was nothing super special and out of the ordinary that occured. It was just the company amongst old friends that I've grown up with that made it all worth it. That and some Ouzo. ;O)

The exam ended up going well and all the studying paid off. The other great part is that this was the last major thing that needed to be done and now I just coast til the end.

Tommorrow is the student celebration which includes dinner and a little house jam. There is a possibility that we may even frequent a bar and visit the locals. Then from there, there is just one week left before my tenure in Cornwall is over. The end has come at last.

Closing thoughts:
- Instead of any actual thoughts, I'm just gonna use some song lyrics to fill space that I thought would make good titles to posts
- "You ask me if I've known love and what it's like to sing songs in the rain"
- "I wanna have the same last dream again"
- "But if I don't come back then I won't look behind me"
- "It is truth and love and it is always there"

Current Song: Hinder - Lips of an Angel
Current Mood: Satisfied

And of course, a video...

"I don't feel like Satan, but I am to them"

2006-08-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

After being somewhat lured back to the song 'Rockin in the free' World by an MSN handle of Mr. Yau's, I find myself unable to stop listening to it at the moment. There's something entrancing about the lyrics and the beat of the song that entrance. I also have several versions/covers which included one by one of my high school teachers and a school band which has a nostalgic element and adds to my enjoyment of the song.

Nothing too exciting happening in the world of Zout these past couple days. I went home this past weekend to take some stuff home and recharge the batteries. It's true that I have not been doing much and as such I shouldn't have been as tired as I was, but I think the recent surge of heat and humidity has been taxing on my sleep since I don't have AC. Thus a trip home, which has the excellence of AC, allowed me to get a few good nights of real good sleep.

We also had the oppurtunity to go out as a family (immediate as well as cousin's family who is like a brother to me) for dinner. My seven month old niece was present and everyone was giving her copius amounts of attention as is usual when she's present. I often question why it is that people abandon all forms of higher intellect and reduce themselves to 'baby talk' around babies but at the same time, I did the exact same. She's cute, quite cute.

I was orginally planning on attending the majority of the Highland games this weekend but have since changed my mind for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, I have a big exam in two weeks and think that four days off provides for an excellent chance to get into a good chunk of material. The other, which relates to the first, is that I am heading to Muskoka the next weekend for the celebration of Mosie's 25th B-day! I might still end up going on friday though and taking in the surroundings. It's 50/50 as of this moment.

Closing thoughts:
- It occurs to me more each time I make a long drive about how comfortable I am doing it and how it's nothing anymore.
- Does anyone actually care that Lance Bass is gay? Didn't everyone assume most members of boy bands were brady since they were in boy bands?
- I can almost see the finish line. Just 2.5-3.5 weeks left!
- There have been two wickedly intense thunderstorms in the past two nights? Where does all this rain come from?
- "That's one more kid that will never go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool"

Current Song: Neil Young - Rockin in the Free World (duh)
Current Mood: Tired (another late night post)

"One shall stand, one shall fall"

2006-07-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

And souly because I'm a total Optimus Prime Mark...

On a different side of things

2006-07-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

It occured to me today after reading RA's blog why it is that the majority of social events of my life have been nixed and nulified. That reason is simple in that I don't have any expendable money these days to put forth towards any type of social endeavour. I still don't have many friends here in Cornwall that arn't part of some type of relationship dynamic so there arn't many outings here where I'm not the third wheel. That being the case, I would usually head to Ottawa, Kingston or even home to get into a social/cultered set of surroundings but that always had a base cost for the price of gas and that base cost was high. And so to cut that base cost and save some cash, I've had to cut out the travelling and that subsequently killed the little social life I had. However, there is only one month to sit and wait in this social standstill; one month left in Cornhole. Until then, everyone is invited to visit!

I recently threw my name on the website plentyoffish.com in an attempt to meet people. Now its true that this is a dating site but the goal I had in mind for this was to meet some folks across canada so that in my half cross country trip, I'd be able to hook up with people in some canadian cities and get a taste of their culture through them. So far, I've met a grand total of no one but I havn't messaged anyone and no one has messaged me. I think I have to re-write my profile though because it was like a singles version initially which I thought it had to be. In reading other though I've learned otherwise.

This past weekend, I took care of some loose ends including bill cancelations and forwarding. I also put together a somewhat revised budget to get me through til I go back home. I also managed to reduce everything in the apartment to an absolute living minimum. Once I take this next load home this weekend and sell my major furniture (anyone need a bed, desk, deluxe computer chair or arm chair?), I'll have reduced everything in my apartment to one car load able to fit in the civic for the last ride home.

Speaking of the end, two tentative dates have been set for a possible end. If everything goes according to plan, then I should be done on the 18th. If not it will definately be the weekend after that on the 25th. We're planning on having a pretty huge celebration to end the year on the 18th so if anyone was ever thinking of comming up (insert rolling tumble weed) that would be a good day. It's gonna be a dinner, house gig and then a bar.

Closing thoughts:
- The ontario road trip (21st-28th) might get cancelled due to lack of fundalage. If it does happen, it will likely not include much boozing to economize everything.
- In the back of my mind, there have been a few instances where I think I'm gonna miss Cornwall. I think its just the familiarity of it all which your body grows accustomed to.
- This has been a rather long blog post about nothing at all. Suprised you've gotten this far.
- I found out today the reason I havn't heard back about a final deal in Vancouver yet is because one of my references hasn't sent back the reference form yet. Stupid busy co-ordinator of Diagnostic Imaging.
- They got Peter Cullen to do the voice of Optimus in the new Transformers movie. For anyone that dosn't know, he did the original voice of Optimus in the original series. Wicked.
- But is Topher Grace realy Eddie Brock? Realy?

Current Song: Living Things - Bombs Below
Current Mood: Tired

Not a whole lot

2006-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

Well I'm stuck here on the 4-12 shift and its been pretty boring with little to nothing to do. I guess people are staying at home to conserve energy in the heat.

One thing that I forgot to mention about this past weekend is that I finally discovered the origin of the whole Leroy Jenkins thing. For those who havn't seen it, you can view it here:

There was also another clip on youtube that made me laugh which can be viewed here:

That's about all I got for now. Enjoy!

Yesterday it was hot

2006-07-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

I sit here on a Tuesday eating breakfast, hoping that today it will not be nearly as hot as yesterday. Usually the heat dosn't bother me as I have a heavy melatonin enrichment but yesterday I could definately feel every ounce of the heat and it was terrible at every moment. Thus I cross my fingers...

I spent the majority of the weekend hanging out with Giles at the Giles residence. We did most of the normal routine when the two of us were hanging out which included pleasant conversation, scotch enjoyment, lots of delicious food, some poker, a night out on the bar scene (which saw me spending too much) and other events.

We saw Pirates 2 which was decent. It wasn't as good as the first based on the lack of storyline continuity but was still good with some awesome visuals and an extremely hot Keira Knightly. The fight scene was definately well done as well. It'll be interesting to see the third.

This week I'm on the 4-12 shift which is good in terms of getting experience but you fade out of the social scene completely as your working when everyone is home. So goes life though.

I recieved another job offer randomly based on my workopolis resume for a position in Calgary. If there wasn't already a club out in Calgary, I'd consider it but since there is one already, it will likely become a passing thought.

Closing thoughts:
- When AC still puts out warm air, you know that it must be hot outside
- Packing up is going well. Still have to sell some major items though.
- Five more weeks.
- I'm cutting down the total that I'm lifting as I've decided I'm bigger than I'd like to be. We'll see how that goes.
- ' I can feel it everywhere, blowing with the winds of change'. Frenchy is a mountie in Halifax, Giles is in Vancouver and his parents are moving. The year is almost over and I'll find myself somewhere else soon. Change is a strange thing.

Current song: Stars - What I'm trying to Say
Current mood: Optimistic (moreso that it won't be crazy hot)

Pure comedy genius

2006-07-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

It's skit's like this that make me wish Dave Chappelle hadn't given up on the Chappelle show.

The board is set, the pieces are moving...

2006-07-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, for the few who may not know, I was offered a full time job in Vancouver this past week which is what I've been dreaming of for the past two years. Gradually it all seems like all the efforts I've invested are slowly paying off as my dream materializes.

I went home this past weekend to take some belongings home and relax for a little bit. I got to hang out with my sister and some of her banking co-workers which was different as I've never been around the banker cliques before. Turned out to be a pretty chillax event though with lots of comedic spot. I was slightly out of it for some spots as I was pretty tired but still contributed to some of the laughs.

I'm getting kinda use to long drives which seemed like a sign to me in preperation for my cross canada trip in october. After going 450 Km each way, I still felt like driving more each time like I hadn't been driving at all. Just another piece it seems...

Closing comments:
- Six weeks left. Can't wait til five though cause then the weeks all fit on one hand!
- Stupid tests. Why can't they just not exist?
- Anyone want to come to Cornwall? Anyone?
- Anyone need stuff? I got stuff to sell.

Current Song: Blue October - Hate me
Current Mood: Tired. (The crux of writing before I go to bed)

Oh and apparently I'm a benevolent inventor.

Benevolent Inventor

Do the test here

Well I havn't posted in a while

2006-07-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

But there comes a time for everything to end and thus, another post. Life had been pretty mundance for the last week or so. I had another injection of tiresome drama recently but I nipped that before the situation was allowed to piss me off. Code of the Bone; Keeps the Bone in check.

I've been e-baying the last of all my accumulated stuff over the past couple weeks. Not getting much for it but at least its going somewhere. Right now I have some comic lots going and am crossing my fingers to maybe get something decent for them.

We were given a four day weekend over the past couple days and I made good use out of it. On friday I watched a couple movies, called a couple places in Vancouver, went for a run and just did a lot of the small things that you don't get the time for when you're rushing through life.

I spent Friday night, Saturday and Sunday in Ottawa just spending time amongst friends and enjoying all of the festivities that were thrown out on Parliment. The highlight was by far on Saturday where I got to spend time with a large quantity of folks I had not seen in a while and just watch them laugh and cheer (mostly watching soccer). Somewhere in the back of my mind, these things seem to mean more to me these days as the actuality of leaving gets closer and closer.

The other cool thing that happend on saturday besides all the laughs and 28 shots of Yager, was that I was within 10 feet of two people I would have loved to meet under normal circumstances to talk but did not because I didn't know who they were at the time. At one point, the lead singer of the STARS (!!!) came up and started talking to my buddy Dash. Originally I thought they were high school friends so didn't interupt but when I saw him on stage I couldn't believe it. The other was Chandra Crawford who recently won a gold medal (and had it with her) at the Winter Olympics. In the end I got to say hi and got an autographed card but there are a million other things I would have loved to say to someone in her position.

Today, I watched She's the Man which is another nice little boy meets girl movie and Inside Man. Both were good. I also did some more little things that get skipped over. Hopefully all is going well in all other parts of the world where people are reading this.

Closing thoughts:
- Man was Saturday silly. I think the pinnacle of ridiculousness came when Dash would wish people a happy Canada Day and I would throw out random tidbits of history afterwards such as saying "1867, John A. MacDonald and Confederation."
- If you need furniture, I'm selling quite a bit
- Only 7 weeks left which is super wicked
- I'm going home next weekend for some much needed R and R. I might also have to put together plans for a deck. I'm not sure if my sister actually realizes how incompetent I am.
- It's a funny thing to once again find that helpless dreamer in you again. Obviously it's good, but most feelings have done a complete 180. People who I'd stopped talking to are the ones I long to here from but in cases where there was a fools hope, I've let those things go so I've got a clean slate. It's just an unpredicatable thing.

Current Song: Sarah McLachlan - When Somebody Loved Me
Current Mood: Nostalgic

The future is real

2006-06-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

Well, this will be a first for the blog as I am currently writing and posting from the hospital. Things are slow here and don't seem to be adding up to much. I attribute the slowness to people watching the hockey game tonight and not realy caring that much if they're sick or not. Heck even I wish I was watching the game and I don't even follow hockey that much.

While on exchange, I had quite a bit of time to think about my future plans as I didn't have access to a computer or tv and thus passed the time with quiet reflection. In that time I came up with a brief plan of everything I'd like to do up until about 2007.

There are about 9 weeks left here during my placement. In those ten weeks I've decided that:
- I'm going to put forth a huge push to get a lot of the little things done that are required for my logbook
- Use my time in (what can be considered for the most part) isolation to train as hard as I possibly can as I don't forsee this type of seclusion at any other junction in my life
- Trips: A couple home, Ottawa for canada day and perhaps a Road Trip for Mosie's b-day
- Try and convince people to come visit me in the Wall to avoid spending money travelling.
- A good year end close out with the hospital folk who have grown on me

After the end of those ten weeks my plans are a little more general:
- Moving home for a little while to study for the exam. I forsee this happening at the end of august
- Write my exam on the 19th (The Big One!!!)
- Cross Ontario Road Trip to say good bye to all the close friends I've made. Likely stops include Peterborough, Ottawa and Kingston. There will be jitsu involved and a normal quote of hijinks. This road trip will conclude with the sunday course in peterborough following the grading. Road trip buddies are welcome to join!
- Cross Canada Road Trip heading out west likely starting on the 27th and concluding on the 2nd of october. I'm also looking for any takers here who might be interested in seeing the sights of canada.
- From there start work, being paying back loans and work towards opening up a club out in the west by January 2006.

Closing Notes:
- I was watching the Shawshank Redemption last night and it reminded me of the fact that while a brighter and more prosperous future lies ahead, it will be tough for me to let go of all the little things I've gotten use to in my Ontario life. But I suppose that's half the adventure.
- It's a strange feeling for such a long standing dream to be close to attaining actuality.
- My mom and my sister returned from England and they brought me real Cadbury choclate! Sweet!
- I have endowed myself with a permanent reminder of the qualities which make life meaningful and have titled it the 'Code of the Bone'. Cheesy but necessary in my Creek like life.

Current Song: None (though I wish I was listening to Live - Love Shines)
Current Mood: Somber (I guess that's the way I'm always going to be when writing so I might take this part of my blog out)

The end to the vagobond life

2006-06-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well here we are at the end of my exchange time in K-Town and I must say that I had a memorable two weeks. The first week was already been put into writing and thus I will elaborate on the second half.

The party on the saturday night was a blast and a memorable time was had by all. A game of checkers with shot pieces saw that each person got a fair amount of alcohol into them. From there things unfolded into many jokes being told as well as dancing to be had. All in all my type of night.

Sunday was spent in recovery as Mosie was down and out for the count and I myself could feel the overall drag of the drink. During the day, we would head downtown to walk of some of this drag. It was during this moment when a sample of banana mocha frapuchino was given to me and all of my flavour satisfaction sensors fired. Within about 20 mins, I needed to have an actual regular sized drink and in this time became a pawn of corporate marketing. Falling prey has never been so delicious.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty tame and for the most part I was just attempting to catch up on sleep and get through the days. I saw some cool coronary lab stuff and spent some more time in interventional which is overall just an awesome place to be. I'd definately like to be working there in the future.

Wednesday night after I'd gone to the gym and Thumper had come back from ballroom dance, he decided that it was time to drink Steelback's so he could make bottles for the weapons bag and thus we drank away. Aside from this, Mosie kept calling me bacause they were heading to the Elixer and he wanted me to go as well. Thus, against common logic I drank and stayed up one more time.

Thursday morning was fun considering I'd only got about five hours of sleep and had to be up even earlier to go on a portable run in KGH. Thankfully after the portable run, I got a chance to sit down in MRI and just ask questions. To add to this I got a lot of good answers from the Techs that have heavily increased my desire to head into MRI.

The rest of the thursday and friday stuff was also pretty easy going and required only observation for the most part. The end of friday saw a very redeeming moment for me when I got my evaluation. As a pre-amble, people at KGH had labeled me as somewhat of an ego centric know it all for the past couple of months. However, the KGH evaluation said that I was a shear pleasure to work with and far exceeded expectations from most. This was definately nice to hear as it verified the notion that not all techs are backwards Cornwall folk who can't look past their own interests to see those of others.

Friday night I left for what was suppose to be a one night trip in Ottawa. However after hearing that two of my good friends had saturday and sunday off, that trip was extended and a awesome time was had. Friday, we drank Bailey's and Coffee til 3 am and played monopoly. We had also gone to the Elgin Street Diner where I had polished off one of their burgers and a side order of four cheese poutine. At the end, I couldn't believe I had finished it.

Saturday, I ate 3/4 of a large pizza in one sitting and played video games and drank Warthog beer for the rest of the day. That night, we headed to the honest lawyer for drinks and to stare at scantily clad women and make subtle comments about them. Overall, simple but good times.

Sunday morning, I returned home to the Wall ending my vagabond adventures. I was pretty sad to see all the fun end and the suck level went up when I got rear ended at a funny intersection on Woodriffe. Stupid people who don't watch where they're going. Overall, there was minimal damage to the car so I think I'll let it be.

Closing notes:
- My future shop addictions have changed in recent months as I'm no longer seeking to own dvds but instead actual music cds. I'm not sure why as I've always been content to burn music but the desire for owning is now there instead of burning.
- I've got a future post comming with some short term plans for my last ten weeks here and some longer term plans which came about from my two week exchange
- I got a second wrist mangled two weeks ago so now I have a matching set
- While watching some world cup soccer, I observed that they use the word clinical for something which has been superbly put together and executed
- I came back to my apartment to find that it was left mostly clean by the person squating there while I was gone. There will an abundance of fruit flys though which stunk. However, she did leave $60 in gift certificates as a thank you with the flys, so its not all bad

Current Song: LifeHouse - You and Me (Live)
Current Mood: Tired

The round trip couch crashing continues

2006-06-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I now find myself at my third squatting location during my two week kingston visit for exchange. It is with my bud Mosie and has been just as fun and entertaining as my previous two visits. Last night (friday) I arrived, we made dinner and went to see X3 (for me a second time). What was interesting to note was that it seemed better to me the second time around; possibly because I knew the storyline was lackluster and enjoyed the x-men action. Who knows?

Today, they'll be a party for one of mosie's summer housemates. I believe its open invite so if anyone is interested in joining, then just give me a buzz. Should be a good times with tales of many old stories and many new ones in the making.

One of the small negatives about staying with people whom I'm close to, is that there is an easy tendancy to stay up and shoot the shit all the while neglecting the proper sleep. Then, add on top of that a return to jitsu which has me using muscles I forgot existed thus needing recuperation time. In the end though, I've survived one week and there is just one week left to go. We'll just have to see if I make it.

No closing comments:
- Too lazy

Current Song: None
Current Mood: Relaxed

Returning to a life less loony

2006-05-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

I must first begin this post by saying that in the past few days since returning to Kingston I have met more people already, whose personalities are actually engaging, than I have in the past year in Cornwall. Cornwall still sucks.

Boot camp was a welcome return for me of things that I had long missed. I actually found myself training for its own sake again, being sore again from pushing the limits and geniunily finding satisfaction in everything I did. More importantly, my reserve and dream for my trip to Vancouver once again found the passion that once existed for that adventure.

And speaking of which, the deal is half done for me to get there. Through several small e-mails and a recommendation from my clinical instructor, a potential offer is now in the works for a job in Providence Health Care. This was a pretty huge step in the re-strengthening of the Bone dream as it actually started to put some realization into effect.

I am now currently in the home of the Markbus enjoying a few spoils which he has graciously provided me. Tonight, we shall have a BBQ and watch the excellence of Dave Chapelle which in the Bone world is a perfect night.

Current Song: None (I'm not at home)
Current Mood: Content

The Doctrine of Zout

2006-05-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

There have been a few incidents in the past few years in which issues arose that got on my nerves. Most of these smaller things that bothered me link back to general themes and ideologies which I have come to live by. In the following post, I'll just list a few of these items in an attempt the prevent kafuffles of any nature. As a disclaimer, most of these are just based on my opinions but have materialized over long periods of time and likely cannot be dissuaded.

Actions speak louder than words
There is a line in Batman Begins where he turns to Katie Holmes and says point blank, "It's not who I am inside, but what I do that defines me". That in turn is almost exactly what this entire paragraph entails. Too many times have I met empty words met with little action to back any of the statements up and thus they become hallow and meaningless. Its in the act of doing anything that meaning is given to what is being done. It requires one to invest time, effort and devotion to a specific goal and a great deal of each of these to see an action through than to say something. It will always be the do'ers that get my attention than the say'ers.
Eg. Saying Happy Birthday was a nice gesture but planning my surprise party and going so far as to contact my girlfriend (by then ex-girlfriend) to invite her speaks is irreplaceable.

Being drunk is not an excuse for anything
Pretty self explanatory. The world does not turn into some magical fairy tale when under the influence of alcohol and the rules of the real world still apply. If you get cut or bump your knee, it does not magically go away when one sober's up; it must heal just the same as if you'd hurt yourself with the influence of alcohol. If you do something stupid while drunk, own up and be responsible about it. Don't parry the blame.

There is a Dave Chappelle line for every situation
"Bang Bang" or "That was cold blooded!" or even "Run Bitch, run for your life!" are all very humurous line's and can be applied to a wide spectrum of situations. Watch Chappelle and learn the material. Is this a joke? No. The man has a very thorough understanding of social constructs and uses a wide variety of topics from racism to rap music in a very humurous manner. Aside from this, he runs (or ran, since the show is done) in a open forum manner, interacting with the audience to enhance all of these skits on the spot.

A logical argument is the strongest
I've often been accussed of thinking that I'm 'always right' whenever caught in a heated discussion. Now while, I'm positive that I'm not always right, the reasons I stick to whatever it is that I'm arguing is that under most cases, it's based on a string of logical progression. I take as many points as I can that are as close to factual as possible and try and string them together in an orderly manner until they come to a conclusion. If they don't flow in a purely logical manner, I'll default then to the utilitarian calculation (look it up) where pros and cons are evalutated against each other. If you want to prove that I'm not 'always right', ask me what my argument is based on, provide counter evidence and prove me wrong logically. It's the strongest argument.
Also, if I might add a little commentary to this point, if one is doing this in there head where they're analyzing the facts and comming up with a conclusion, that's fine even if it takes a while. It only becomes over analyzing when you go over the same points and come up with the same conclusion again. That's just a waste of time.

It's true that this post is more serious than my other random rediculousness, but I thought it was important to get this out though to prove that I'm just partial clown and not all clown. This is what gets posted when there are no crazy stories to post. Hopefully soon though.

"Not the gumdrop button"

2006-05-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

The past week was a nice one considering I got out of this foul city and back home to something normal (or relatively normal in my life). I was orginally going to go home next weekend but decided to move it to this weekend in favour of seeing my sister for her birthday and my mother for Mom's Day. I also got to see my niece too and realy got to interact with her for the first time. She's a little sweetie.

Friday, while doing a case in the OR, I finally realized why I have such distain for this city. The case involved a 17 year old pinning a bone in her hand because it had been broken. Sounds normal until one asks if she is pregnant (which is a safety precaution with radiation) and the reply is "No, I already have a 2 yr old". Then when the doctor asked if how school was going, she responded by saying she didn't go to school and worked full time at McDonalds. What was sad though is that I knew this kid was pretty intelligent based on a bit of casual conversation and it was the city itself and the people that had lead her in this direction. Thank goodness I'm only here for 3 more months.

Closing thought:
- Got some stuff to put on E-bay so if you need comics or useless action figures, be on the lookout
- Long weekend comming up. Any propositions?
- Got another reply from a different Hospital branch in Vancouver as well as one from back home. Hopefully the interviews will be comming soon.
- My wrist is almost healed but its still a bugger sometimes in terms of when it will and won't let me do something. Hopefully it will be healed come boot camp time.
- If you can propose anything that will stop the next three months from sucking in Cornwall, I'm open to suggestions.

Current Song: Goo Goo Dolls - Stay With You
Current Mood: Satisfied (from delicious spaghetti)

In the lack of anything cool happening...

2006-05-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd post a picture of my Lord of the Rings action figures. I started it over the x-mas holidays but it's been put on hold, until I actually have a job...

Closing Notes:
- I am jealous of not having a winning smile. I am the Zout of all Zouts though.
- Turns out that, after getting my wrist x-rayed on monday, I might have a suspected fractured scaphoid (a bone in the wrist) that would explain the pain I've had for the last month
- On a related note, looks like push-ups are back on the menu since my wrist has suitably recovered
- "Is that candy? No, I don't think it's candy, I think it's a COUGH DROP!"
- The training has been going quite well with some noticible gains. The only downfall though is that after somewhat of a cathartic event on monday, I find myself with no more of the anger that fueled me through that past month. Guess you win some and lose some.

Current Mood: Not wanting to work 4-12 again
Current Song: John Mayer - Why Georgia

And to quote Nine Days: "If this is goodbye to you and me, what a good friend you've been to me. And I owe it all to you, every good thing that I do is you"

The nature of comments

2006-04-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have noticed for a while that compared to most people's blogs, there are very few comments left on my blog and I was wondering whether this was because I in turn rarely comment or are my stories just not comment worthy. I'll leave it up to peoples feedback (whether it be here or in person)

This week has been another slow one compared to what the few who read this may be used to. I've been working out a lot and eating as best I can. Overall, the last week has shown some gains which will hopefully continue. Training has kept my mind off over analyzing everything and kept me in a forward mode. It's a very tangible positive and keeps things on the plus side because of this.

In another rant, while preparing a student handbook for next year's cornwall bound students, I have come to the conclusion that women are way more self conscious of how they look than men. When it came to taking bio photos, I met very little resistance from men, contrasted to complete arguments from all the women. I realy couldn't understand it, especially given the fact that the pictures were for a good reason (IE. not just for albums and frames). What have I learned overall from this? Be very careful of taking a woman's picture; they may try to break your camera afterwards.

Concluding thoughts:
- The goo goo dolls have a new album out which is pretty good. Other artists of note include The Stars and Tim McGraw. Yeah, I didn't think I'd ever like country music either.
- Look for Zout/T-Bone a lot less in the near future. Gas costs have shot right through the roof and its especially time to save these days. Sorry Skimpy.
- So far May plans are just to go home for Victoria Day. Sounds good to me.
- You can find me in K-Town on exchange from May26th-Jun11th.
- While working the weekend shift this weekend, I watched a pretty interesting video about the evidence in existence about 9/11 being staged. Truth be told, there's quite a bit of it. The most interesting and evident was that a building on fire will not collapse as fast as the two main buildings did, nor would they do so in the manner they did. There's tonnes more though.

Current Song: The Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Current Mood: A little bored

Moving towards the future

2006-04-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend was pretty quiet. I was originally going to head home for the holiday but after realizing there were a lot of small things to be tended to, I decided to stay in Cornwall. No big recap as seen in previous posts because of this. Friday I spent cleaning, Saturday and Sunday I spent working on a student handbook for next year and yesterday, I spent doing school work stuff and financing.

Most of the school related stuff was all based on exams and completing forms in regards to proper registration. Based on the nature, I've been thinking quite a bit about the future recently and how the next six months are gonna shape up. At the very least they're gonna see me finish the program, write the exam, potentially move to Vancouver and actually start a careerish type job. As if.

Closing Notes:
- Non Stick Pans bring awesomeness
- I'm determined to stick the the eating and training plan I've undertaken over the long weekend. Stay tuned to see if I keep on track.
- Almost done eight months. Just four more to go.
- CT was awesome and I could definately see myself doing that as a career.
- I've determined that it is okay to miss former departed parties because truth be told, there were a lot of good times. Slowly, it all just becomes a happy memory.

No Closing Song or Closing Mood

A website update

2006-04-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well after a few people kept asking me for Jitsu photos from the slideshow, I decided to just put them all up on my previously defunct website. They can be found here.

Additionally I got a haircut!

Old Hairstyle:

New Hairstyle (which is actually my older hairstyle)

Closing thoughts:
- I am slowly making a complete conversion of all negative energy into positive energy. It requires all my might though. Every last bit of might!
- The new Motorhead theme for the Game is awesome. 'Behold the King!'
- I might just stay in Cornwall for the long weekend and do some hardcore training all weekend. If you're free, come to Cornwall and visit! We'll get Cornwall BBQ and watch movies!
- Tommorrow is my last day in CT. As you can guess, I'll miss it. Hopefully I'll be able to do more though. My clinical instructor (who I no longer hate) says it suits me. I agree.
- I bought a dvd burner and will now become more of a tv pusher than ever. Lost, 24, Prison Break anyone???
- For those wondering how I'm 'doing'; I doin okay. The Zout of all Zouts.

Current Song: None
Current Mood: Chipper

"If you're going through hell... keep going"

2006-04-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I've posted but as I mentioned briefly in my last post, things have been busy and a little trying. In respect to the latter statement though, I'm going to omit all events pertaining to it as its a huge long rant and it realy dosn't have a place here.

The last time I posted was my b-day weekend ventures, which come to think of it was a realy long time ago. I suppose the first incident which followed that was another return to Kingston for the Queen's grading. Overall the grading was an intense one and came close to rivaling my own dark blue grading in respect to what Jumpy had to go through. In the end he went the distance and got what he deserved for a long time (bloody english brutes). I should note that I had managed the Jam my wrist pretty early on in the grading but would persevere with some help from epinepherine (adrenalin). There was a memorable social afterwards in which a lot of people got drunk, inclunding myself. There was also a lot of social nonsense. That was also memorable.

That weekend I drove home once again for my grandmother's b-day. Initially I wasn't going make the journey home, but would eventually get past the distance factor and realize that making it home was more important than gas money. Upon arriving home, I mustered enough energy to stay up for my grandmother's ceremony at church and then some socializing with the family. After that I hit the bed and napped for four hours. The whole staying up til 5 and then driving home for three hours had caught up to me. In fact, I only managed to get myself up to get some food and shower before heading back to bed. The next morning I would then wake up for breakfast before making the drive home.

The following week would see me spending most of my time on the Queen's Slideshow and overseeing the rest of the Semi. The Slideshow took a couple days to come up with something good, especially given the short notice and lacking quantity of media, but I think I eventually came up up with something good. By the time all was said and done, it was quickly friday again and I was booting for Kingston again.

Friday I taught with Mr. Bus which was a pleasure as always. From there, Jumpy and I went out to Lonestar for some deliciousness. I tried to turn in early that night to get some sleep for the brown grading but Jumpy and the Bus wanted to stay up late. Those crazies.

The next day was the brown grading was an overall intense experience. The grading itself was a pleasure to be part of and reminded me of what it is about jitsu that appeals to me. Following the grading, there was the Jitsu Semi which saw me running around like a chicken without a head for an hour into the event trying to get the slideshow together and Mr. Bus an award. It all worked out well in the end though as everything came off pretty smoothly. Afterwards, we went to the grizz where we got drunk, did some socializing and other interesting events unfolded.

Sunday I returned to Cornwall for a brief while to get some things done and would head out to Ottawa for a belated b-day celebration with RA and co. RA made some fantastic chili and King of Kings Pate. We also enjoyed the spectacle which is Wrestlemania which turned out to be pretty good considering the card on paper didn't look that hot.

This week's been pretty much a blur as I once again didn't get much sleep on the weekend. I finally got back to the gym yesterday which was nice. I'll likely hit it once more before heading to K-Town for the last aberdeen kegger. I was suppose to be there tonight but I decided to take a night of the fast pace lifestyle, especially after crashing and burning. Once you hit rock bottom, you can only go up though.

Closing thoughts:
- The hypersensitivity to all music hit an all time high this week. But its slowly tapering off.
- I'm taking a small leave of absence from the mats for personal reasons. Return time = unknown
- There was a request to wear a t-shirt over a wifebeater tommorrow. I'm not sure if such things are in good fashion taste.
- My new pans bring me such joy in their overall fantastic nature
- Yes there is something bothering me. No, I don't want to talk about it. Thanks for asking.
- I've inherited my father's stubborn nature for sure

Current Song: Cinderlla - Don't know what you got til its gone
Current Mood: Dosile

Life's been busy

2006-04-03T17:21:00.000-07:00

If anyone's been looking for one of my usual rants, I've been caught in a cyclone of events which have included:

- A dark blue belt grading
- Going home for my grandmother's b-day
- Overseeing the overall organization of the Queen's Semi Formal
- Production and showing of the Queen's Jiu Jitsu Semi-Formal
- Brown Grading
- Ottawa for Wrestlemania

Not to mention the fact that I made a realization that the one thing that's pure in simple in a relationship and makes it function well, was finally gone. That got to me.

But as the lyric goes, "Love is not a victory march ..."

They'll be a post about it eventually, hopefully.

Addition 8

2006-03-22T18:28:00.000-08:00

8) Play the song Satellite (by Collective Soul) for one of my kids as I sing them to sleep

Added to the already existing set which were:

1) Move to Vancouver, get a job and start a new page in the Jitsu Canada chronology.
2) Dance to 'Shout' at my wedding
3) Be able to play guitar versitally (Like This)
4) Scour the Globe for My soul's recognition of its couterpoint and then Marry her in 10 secs
5) Have my parents say 'they're proud of me' and mean it
6) Been able to say that 'I've seen a million faces and I have rocked them all' somewhere in life
7) Get engaged with a guitar on my back (concert and live crowd optional)

Benchmark set

2006-03-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

Well, with 30 mins left in the dry cycle for my load of laundry, I figured it would be the perfect time to get in another blog post. Now this past b-day weekend was long and awesome but I'm gonna try to be a poignant as possible.

I was given my b-day off and would add a day off my personals to make it a four day long weekend. And I must say in retrospect that everyday off was unique and fanstastic in some way.

Friday I slept in quite a bit and awoke to make myself eggs, toast and a fruit for breakfast. I would later go on to get some odd chores done around the house that I was meaning to get done for a long time. Later on came some leisure reading, guitar playing and other items of general relaxation.

That night I head to Kingston for the real celebration. The nights session was pretty intense, encompassing a night of all throws, most of which were right out of the brown syllabus. Then came the birthday bouncing which was pretty intense. I was so that no one did a makikomi on me though. Oh well.

Following the session came the b-day bash. Thumper and I got decked out to the nine and were so saturated with sexyness that we were afraid of critical overload and women turning into puddles at the sight of us. Thankfully that didn't happen and I'm glad it didn't because that would have made for one large sausage party.

The party itselft was just awesome. There were car bombs all around, tonnes of cakes, car bombs, cigars, other merry smokable items and dancing in the kitchen floor. There were even some rigged up stages with chairs. 'Ain't no party like a 541 Party, cause a 541 party don't stop.'
The night tapered off around 3ish when everyone's tank was on empty.

Everyone slowly awoke the next morning and we gradually eased into a breakfast at Smitty's. The stomach was quakin a little bit over breakfast, but in the end I would manage to get all of it down. From there I took off on my way home to celebrate the b-day with the family in what I'd thought was going to be dinner.

As such, I didn't shave or any kind of real grooming but instead just brushed my hair and put on a polo shirt. Needless to say I was suprised when it turned out to be a small surprise party with a lot of 'old school' family that I had not spent a b-day with for a long time. It was a pretty fun time seeing everyone and overall the night had a very nostalgic feel to it. Thankfully, my family don't party like my friends and the night ended about 11. This worked out quite well since my brain and body went on strike and closed down at 10.

I would like to note here though that my sister is awesome. Not only for organizing a suprise party amongst a west indian family (who have no idea what surprise means), but also for going to such length as to contact people she didn't even know (my friends) to get J-Buns contact to invite her. Finding this out I think meant the most to me because of the sheer effort required.

Sunday was pretty mundane compared to the other few days. I slept in, cleaned my car, bought J-Bun a b-day present and printed photos on my Dad's photo printer. Pretty straight forward.

I headed out that night back to Kingston to spend time with the Bun for her b-day (much to my parents protest). This too was fairly low-key in that we listened to music, made breakfast the next day and went shopping. I ended up buying quite a bit but it was with b-day money, so it was all good.

I would return to Cornwall around mid-afternoon in a sad depressed state that all the b-day fun had ended I would be returning to the grind. All well that end's well though.

Closing thoughts:
- Still fortunate that I have the people in my life that I do
- Yes there was lady drama this weekend but I purposely left it out. It will be saved for the uncut extended editions later on.
- I downloaded the David Gilmour Album 'On an Island'. I'm not sure why its so popular.
- Gradings are comming up! They're so much more enjoyable when they're not your own.
- I need to take a day off to recover from my days off.
- I'm excited at some of my grocery purchases which include pitas, cream cheese and 1% choclate milk.
- I also bought two new top of the line non stick pans. I was sick of my crappy one being overly crappy.

Current Mood: Very Tired
Current Song: James Blunt - So Long Jimmy

Eventually...

2006-03-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

...I was bound to get around to another post. It has been a warranted delay though in that I don't think I've stopped moving since my last post. Just my life these days though.

On thursday, it was one of the first normal day I'd had since the four days of jitsu madness. I actually felt alert and aware of what I was doing. This lated until about 2:30 when my body craped out and the rest of the work day was just fuzz. I still went to the gym that day because I'm silly and like to push my body further than it should go.

Friday was another typical day at the hospital, gathering lots of logbook cases and busting my ass for zero dollars. (One day I'll make money though.) I got home a little late if I remember correctly, after doing a case that ran overtime, which left me only an hour to get a snack, pack and be on my way.

Naturally this didn't happen and I ended up being late for the Queen's Sponsored throw and rushing in. This was never more apparent than the moment I was told that I was wearing my gi top on backwards. Thankfully I was teaching at the time and was able to give myself some time to readjust things accordingly.

The sponsored throw event proper was awesome. My body was still run down and I could definately feel it half way through but I still persevered until the end. I accredit my second burst of energy to the bandana which I dawned, drawing on the powers of Old School T-Bone.

That night, we hit the Brew Pub and discussed the importance of mojo, a ladder theory of the man/woman dynamic and other items like blackforest cake. As per usual, we closed the bar and then headed home to rest out bodies.

The next day I slept in til about noon and spend the rest of the day getting ready for my venture to Oakville to hang out with the man for his birthday. Things went pretty straight forward like and I would end up getting there at the designated time of 7:30, despite the crazy toronto traffic. Toronto drives me nuts and I think I will always detest going into the city based on traffic alone.

The party in Oakville was awesome and it was good to hang around all the K-town crew one more time. I took pride in the fact that I had come the furthest to celebrate MK turning 25 and I think he was glad to see that people cared enough to come from that far.

We would end up paryting until about 3am (if I remember correctly) with lots of booze flowing and grooves a plenty. Overall, another classic night. The drive home sucked but you gotta do what you gotta do for the people who make life special.

Monday to Yesterday (wednesday) was spent recovering (again) and studying for a test which I did pretty well on. I crashed when I got home though and napped for four hours. It was uber-stasis-lock.

This weekend will see me celebrating the ol quarter century in Kingston friday night and I'm sure the night promises some memorable moments. Especially knowing the way things happen in my life. After that, I need home for a rest.

Closing Thoughts:
- March continues along at a wickedly vicous pace. I should pace myself but won't because there's no fun in that
- It seems as though more people are aware of my blog than I knew of. Thus I'm refraining from making any more major social commenteries.
- Drinking on your b-day? Yes. Dancing on your b-day? Yes Please. Random Peglegs? Sure, why not?
- I can't take 24 anymore: First Edgar, then the Sean Astin character and then Tony. Tony!!!

Current Mood: Eager (for the b-day celeration)
Current Song: Cascada - Everytime we touch

Walking in the proper shoes again

2006-03-06T14:33:00.000-08:00

Driving back last night, I don't think I could have felt better about anything in my entire life. Surely, my body was broken from training, drinking and partying for four days straight but at the essence of all of it, I had once again felt like I was living the life I wanted to be living again.

Thursday at the hospital was an average day where I put a constant effort forward and yet got chopped to pieces at the end of the day for minor events I could have been left alone. Truth be told, I've come to the conclusion that I tremendously dislike my clinical instructor and am anxious to be done this year to get away from her.

With such crap being thrown my way, I decided to take Friday off and take Mr. Bus up on his invitation to come down and train at his club with a guest instructor. Thus I packed my bags, jumped into the Bone Buggy and drove to K-town. Upon arriving, I suited up and headed to the dojo ready to indulge myself in the world I love so much. What I was not expecting was to run into J-Bun that night. It was almost like being hit in the face with a pie and questioning whether it was actually happening. With Jitsu going at the pace it does though, we immediately jumped right into the session. The content of the session was excellent and it was thouroughly enjoyed. Interactions between J-bun and I were at a minimum though.

Things continued this way for a bit until I decided that carrying on in such a manner would be simply childish. And so in the parking lot, while making plans with Thumper for sleeping, I called her over and started talking to her. In a very quick and simple manner, I told her that I missed her and she in turn said that same. We both agreed that it was time to break the ice and end the silence.

That being said, I don't think breaking that ice is what we did as we completely melted it away. Between the bar and post-bar conversations, we both agreed that there was nothing wrong with being friends and that if we could co-exist at the moment the way we were (in a casual and trusting manner) that we could do that from now on.

In the end I believe we stayed up until 5am and while I know the idea of staying there would be mistaken as something else, I decided that I was lazy and slept over. I awoke the next morning at nine to my cell ringtone of 'Have a Nice Day' (which in itself was pleasing). It was Thumper calling to say he needed a ride to get his car fixed and I told him I would be glad to help. The thing that mattered to me most was that as I was telling J-Bun I had to go, the same feeling of things being okay was still there. Thus I hugged her and was on my way to the day's events.

Nothing much happend during the day that is of any point noting. I got my haircut and there was a flock of seagulls. That's all.

That night, I trained in a senior material oriented session with Thumper and Benjo (who was down from calgary) and learned how to do a proper cartwheel. Both were insanely tough and I was definately drained by the end. Now with the provincials comming the next day, one would think that I should have gotten some food, drank some water and head to bed. But what did I do? Didn't drink that much at all (water that is), had quite a few drinks (not water that is), did something silly called a Quatro challenge and stayed up WAY later than I should have. I think by the time I hit the bed, my watch read 4am.

So then comes day three of the training, drinking, partying circuit. I woke up suprisingly well the next morning and shockingly enough before everyone else. Being up, I figured I'd just get something to eat but upon thinking the thought through, I decided to make everyone something to eat. Thus I got some fruit, Turkey Bacon, Toast and Peppers to make a T-Boneh Breakfast Spectacular. And a spectacular is what turned out to be. It was awesome and as a bonus, pancakes and sausages were thrown in by Thumper.

Then came Provincials. As the theme of this somewhat LONG post goes, the frist day of provincials was awesome. There were a good load of hakama on the mats and all of them got to teach which was a treat. I'd say the only thing that was terrible was that after about 2/3 of the way through, my body crapped out and proceeded to produce the worst headache in existence to prevent me from doing any more damage to myself.

The pain of it all lasted a good while and I immediately napped upon getting to Thumper's and faded out of existence. I would awake to Thumper and Benjo, ready to go and I told them to go ahead without me. Being the fine upstanding gentlemen that they were, they told me that they'd wait for me to get ready.

As for the social... well... what didn't happen that night. To be honest, it deserves another post all to itself. In summary, awesome! Well... mostly awesome.

Then, up and back to the dojo once again for one final day of training. By now everything was sore and I realy wasn't sure what I could put forth for training but I gave it my all. Naturally, the Senior Instructors split the mats and I got put up into a group with Browns and Dans who love to maul each other. Man was it ever intense.

By the end of it all though, I don't think I've felt like I've ever lived like I had in the past four days. More importantly, I don't think I've ever felt more like I once did once upon a time before I moved to Cornwall.

It's nice. It's pleasant. It's refreshing.

Closing Notes:
- Sponsored throw this friday!
- Gonna hang with the 'K-Town Boyz' one mo time for MK's party on saturday!
- Less than Six months left in this terrible life trap of cornwall placement.
- 'The world's done shakin me down'

Current Song: Bon Jovi - You Give Love a Bad Name
Current Mood: Content

Two additions and one removal

2006-02-25T19:32:00.000-08:00

I no longer want to be a wedding crasher. Just a phase I suppose.

New additions to the list are now

6) Been able to say that 'I've seen a million faces and I have rocked them all' somewhere in life
7) Get engaged with a guitar on my back (concert and live crowd optional)

Added to the already existing set which were:

1) Move to Vancouver, get a job and start a new page in the Jitsu Canada chronology.
2) Dance to 'Shout' at my wedding
3) Be able to play guitar versitally (Like This)
4) Scour the Globe for My soul's recognition of its couterpoint and then Marry her in 10 secs
5) Have my parents say 'they're proud of me' and mean it

Booyah Ka Sha!!!

2006-02-25T11:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I must apologize to those who were looking forward to a blog post on monday (even though its like 3 of you). Monday after work, I went to the gym and then just crashed. After that, between the IV injection course and getting sick, I realy couldn't find a moment to spend time writing. But with the weekend, there comes time for rest and time for the eventual blog post.

So I'll go back to about two weeks ago when J-Bun told me that she wanted to end the relationship. I remember thinking to myself that the decision sucked but that's the way life goes and that I'd move past it. Initially I just drank a lot of red wine and played guitar and then on the weekend I went out and bought myself a capo for my guitar and a tuner. By the sunday I thought I was okay but by last wednesday (when I think I posted), I had spun myself into such an incredible low that I even debated cancelling on the Jitsu Road Trip to Montreal. I didn't though as I figured being lost in such a large city would be the best way expose myself to some other stimulus that would take my mind off things.

And that it did. The friday I met up with the gang at a restaurant here in Cornwall called Philos. We all ended up eating our fair share and then headed off to La Belle Ville de Montreal. That night we would just end up playing pool, video games and general hang outs. I had brought half a bottle of scotch and between Thumper and I, we ended up finishing most of it. He grabbed me towards the later hours of the night and we ended up talking about the events of the past couple of days in my life which was nice as I hadn't taken the time to talk about it being my usual stubborn self. By the end of it I felt like I'd actually made some emotional progress and was ready to enjoy the rest of the time in Montreal, rather than just sulk.

And boy did I ever. I awoke the next morning feeling the ill effects of too much scotch and gravitated to the closest glass of water that I could find. I ran into Snapdragon's father in the kitchen while doing so and helped him out in making breakfast since he was making food for the lot of us. Eventually I would sober up and with the fantasticness of breakfast, I was back in top shape in no time. From there we went up to the tobogan hill behind Snapdragon's house for some jitsu nonsense. There was breakfalling, throwing and some mock fighting. Definately got the blood flowing. I should also note here that two other feminine jitsuka who lived in the Montreal area had joined us at this point and its safe to say that one of them (we'll call her WildFlower) had caught my attention. But I'd kept my composure.

From there we departed the Snapdragon residence and headed downtown to the hotel. We checked into the Abri-Voyageur, had a quick snack of Mini Eggs and whatever people could grab and headed out to the BioDome. Nice little place with lots of cute little aminals. Everyone took there fair share of pictures during this venutre. Some of mine are included below. At this point, my awareness of WildFlower had risen. But I'd still kept my composure.

After the BioDome, we headed downtown for some food. We ended up going to Nickel's Cafe for said grub it proved to be a smart decision as everyone found something they enjoyed. I should add that at this point that I'd half jokingly told WildFlower to sit beside my, which she did, and we'd gotten an order of fajitas for two. Status of composure was slowly failing.

We returned to the hotel from there to get ready for a night on the town. We all loaded up with different forms of booze and proceeded to all get ready. After showering, I settled into my bottle of red wine (which I'd scoured three or four convience stores for) and proceeded into the debaucherous events of the night. As can be expected with booze, my composure went right out the window and I think I was now giving WildFlower all kinds of ridiculous attention. I remember a lot of play fighting, some tickeling and zerberts among other non sense. Oh well, I was in Montreal to act a little out of my nature.

From there we were ready for the bar, but not all of us would end up going. Thumper and Snapdragon would end up flaking out on the rest since they were tired. I remember wanting to call Bullshit at that very moment as I've never known Thumper to show weakness for fatigue EVER. I let it go though, partially because I didn't want to waste time on nonsense and partially because I had other things on my mind.

We ended up at Winston Churchill's which is a nice little place that we'd concedently gone to a couple years earlier at the former montreal trip. There was more drinking, dancing and general merryment all around. At one point one guy tried to pick a fight with me but it was quickly diffused as I just walked off the dance floor. I figured I'd give hothead 10 minutes to find another problem and forget about me. In these ten minutes though, members of the gang came by to ask if everything was good. To most I responded that I was just giving jerkhead time, but when WildFlower came by, the conversation went as such:

Wildflower: Are you okay?
Zout: No.
Wildflower: What's the matter?
Zout: I think I'm falling for you.

Alright I know its lame but it happend. The effect of too much Dawson's Creek perhaps. Her response was muffled by the huge bass in the background but she stuck around, so I asked her back the dance floor. The rest of the night was spent dirty dancing so to say. No smooching though as even in my drunken state, I knew it would be crossing the line and disrespectful for former significant other.

Back at the hotel, I took some time to talk to SpencerJ as he seemed to be in a rough spot in his life. After about an hour or so, I went to go talk to Wildflower and let her know the other important things about my life she'd need to know if things were to go farther, but she'd passed out.

The next day, she was a lot more foreign to me than the previous day. My guess is that she realized I lived 200 clicks away or that I was significantly older or even of my breakup and thought against the idea of us hanging out. Initially I was upset about this decision but it occured to me later that things were better to end there. I would later be even moreso glad about her take on this as, on a personal level, it gave me a sign that I could and would move on without having to acutally get into a relationship.

We got breakfast the next morning, headed back to Snapdragon's, had a pizza, watched Wedding Crashers and then headed our seperate ways. I'm sure all in all, this will need to an awkward next meeting, but so goes life. Until then, here are some pictures:

Closing Thoughts:
- No shortage or Dawson's Creek type fodder
- Being Sick is poop
- Addicted to James Blunt and Neverending White Lights
- Provincials Next Weekend!
- Almost Halfway done this year
- Gotta call from a BC recruiter. The opening is now there.
- The return to average of Zout is 90% complete.

Closing Song: Neverending White Lights - Ending of a Story
Current Mood: Chill

Oh yes. the three people to thank for their direct an indirect actions:
1) Thumper - For taking the time out to listen to my random musings when I needed. He loses a lot of this credit though for flaking.
2) Wildflower - Just being herself. She reminded me that there were other women out there and that my heart would move on.
3) Snapdragon - For inviting us into her home without judgement. The Snapdragon family as well.

Montreal was awesome!

2006-02-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a wicked sweet weekend in Montreal. I'm a little too tired to go into the details right now but overall I'd say it did a helluva a lot in the mending of my spirit and soul. Thanks go out to 3 specific people who helped in this endevour.

More for you all on these matters tommorrow.

Well if Anders is doing it...

2006-02-15T18:40:00.001-08:00

Well he's got one and naturally it got me thinking about my own aspirations, whether it be large or small. And so I think I'll start a list which will likely only go to ten or so because after that I got tired or reading his.

1) Move to Vancouver, get a job and start a new page in the Jitsu Canada chronology.
2) Dance to 'Shout' at my wedding
3) Be able to play guitar versitally (Like This)
4) Scour the Globe for My soul's recognition of its couterpoint and then Marry her in 10 secs
5) Try and actually have my parents say 'they're proud of me' and mean it
6) Learn all Rules of the Wedding Crashers Handbook.

That's about all I got for now. Likely time to go to bed.

Looking for something to say

2006-02-12T17:09:00.000-08:00

There are about a million things running through my head my right now none of which are good and while I'd like to just put them out there, on this blog or by actually talking to people, I'm going to just sit on this one and let it resolve itself internally.

Next weekend is Montreal. Things should be good by then.

My day off

2006-02-03T17:41:00.000-08:00

Something about having a day off that is not just a normal weekend day off that makes it more relaxing. Here's what I did today:

- Slept in til 9:30. I actually awoke at 8 by habit thinking I needed to get to the hospital but upon realizing I didn't, I went back to bed

- Upon awaking, I decided to rejoice in how refreshed I felt and how relaxing the day would be. I slowly began breakfast preperations and started tidying up my apartment

- I watched the second half of Return of the King EE while having breakfast after that.

- From there I decided to wash my Gi and some other light colours. While waiting I went and bought a spicy bbq chicken pizza with plain crust (as oppose to whole wheat). I would also treat myself to a french vanilla from Timmy's. They were both delicious and I ate pizza til I couldn't feel feelings anymore.

- I watched wedding crashers for a third time, seeing as its hilarious, later on

- From there I had a snack of cottage cheese and jam on toast and then proceeded to have a nap

- After the nap, I went for a run at the gym and did some grocery shopping prep for dinner after that.

- I am now completing dinner and will likely eat it while watching either King Kong (DVD screener) or last nights episode of the OC.

Today, has been serene. An absolute treat to say the least.

A bit more of an oddity than all other Zout's and T-Bone's

2006-02-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

I got a bonus day off today which I am currently savouring and using to get maximum rest and relaxation. Now though I realize its partly of my own doing, I realy don't get a moments rest these days and think a good day or two of eating well will help recuperate the mind and body.

Over the last week I planned out my entire schedule until April. As per always, its tentative but still pretty thourough.

Sat Feb 4th: Green and Above in Ottawa
Sun Feb 5th: Superbowl party in Ottawa

Mon Feb 13th: Course at Carleton U ??
Wed Feb 15th: Test on Skull

Feb 17th-19th: Trip to Montreal

March 3rd-5th: In Kingston for Provincials

March 11th & 12th: Weekend Shift

March 15th: Test 8

March 17th - 20th: Trip Home

March 25th: Ottawa Grading
March 26th: AI/I Course

April 1st: Brown Grading and Queen's Grading

April 3rd-13th: CT

April 28th: End of second semester

Overall, its a good spread between time spent focussing on class room stuff and keeping myself grounded in the real world. Hopefully by the end of this semester, I'll actually have a job lined up in the real world too.

I think I'll stay away from closing thoughts today. Give my brain a rest. Perhaps get a pizza.

Havn't posted in while

2006-01-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

Well, as per the case of everyone it seems, the blog posts seem to have been lacking in the past few days. Overall, I think things just seem much more lame in comparisson to the holidays and that could be the reason.

In summary though, here's what happend since the last time I posted. I wrote a test on wednesday which, while somewhat of a sucess, was more of a failure. That being said, I always need one wake up call for studying which usually has an effect on the next two or three tests.

I've been trying to increase my training status to run on par with that of Thumper status but after two days at the gym and three days of jitsu (which included courses) it had finally caught up with me and thus I've been on training break the last couple of days. However, I do see myself at the gym either today or tommorrow to resume training.

My mother got on my case on monday for being in Kingston when she called and implied that I was spending too much time with my baby girl. Seeing how this has been my first girlfriend in almost five years and that we see each other maybe bi weekly, I took this quite personally. But it didn't stop at that as my ability to prioritize was put into question when she said I wasn't doing enough work but instead playing around too much. Just lovely. Apparently working eight hour shifts everyday for no money is worth nothing and the time I put in elsewhere is also worth nothing in their books. I could likely rant further about this but I think I'll leave it at that. The final product of it all though is a strengthened desired to head out to Vancouver and stay out of Toronto when I start working.

Closing thoughts:
- The noon-8 shift isn't so bad. I get to sleep in and caught up on all my paper work.
- I think I need to start reading more and watch less TV. Stupid addictive drug-like boxsets.
- Only seven months left in this dreadful Cornwall.
- I might go to Ottawa to train on Sunday. I dunno yet.

Current Song: Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way
Current Mood: Somber

The first caller

2006-01-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

I must begin this post by notting that I was the first call made by RA (and Adash) from his voice over IP line. While I make no claims to actually understand what that actually is, I was touched that I was the first person considered and followed up on to be the test subject.

This weekend I was in Kingston as per usual. I trained, got overly drunk, re-certed my CPR, bought some more dvd boxsets (that were fantastically priced), napped and hung out with the Bun.

The most notable moment which plays back in my head like a cheesy music video was when I broke through my own stupid threshold of stupidity and finally spoke to fish in a non-absurd manner. This little break lead to a small interval of exchange which almost felt real again; a sentiment which was so overwealming that it put a warm spot in my heart. It was nice, it was simple. Somehow it just made sense.

Closing thoughts:
- Jack Bauer rules!
- Boxsets are like drugs to me
- I love my baby girl more and more everyday
- I'm lucky. Plain and simple.

Getting to a blog post

2006-01-06T18:45:00.000-08:00

Quite a bit can happen in a week, so much so that it can cause a blog update to be written a bit late. But for the sake of brevity I'll keep this short... hopefully.

New Year's was an awesome good time and turned out to be the quiet, yet festive time Giles and I had hoped for. I spent half of the saturday rebuilding Julie's tron since she'd had some serious spyware dominate her computer. After that I head over to Giles's house to find them playing a game called Settlers of Katan. I didn't realy get to play but I watched for a while as they played. My first impression of it was that it looked lame but would change my mind the next day when I played. So play if you can.

Afterwards, we got dressed and headed out to dinner at the downtown Minos which turned out to be a spectacular meal. We would then head out to the 4-3-9 for a little bit to share pleasentries and laughs. Admitently, I was very umcomfortable entering a location where I'd left so hostily before and while I tried to make the best of it, it wasn't quite as comfortable as I remember. One could even say almost, but not quite.

From there, we got my baby girl and then headed over to the Giles's for some more celebrations and the actual turning into the New Year. Nick had bought us all some expensive champagne which we all toasted in the new year with. I must add here that when I kissed J-Bun to bring in the new year, I knew I'd never forget that moment. It was the type of event where a kiss was more than just a kiss and where time just instantly trenscended straight into majesty. I think I could write a whole other paragraph on that so I'll just leave it there.

The night ended with some poker, snacking and general good times. I would end up crashing that night at 3ish.

The next morning, we awoke all hungover free and sat for a spot of tea. Later, I would take J-Bun to work and then re-join the Giles's for Settlers and lots of snacking on leftover food. We also saw chronicles of Narnia which was very well done. J-Bun and I spend the night and morning together just doing our normal thing. I had to head back to Cornwall afterwards but was very reluctant to do so as it meant an end to my awesome break and back to not so exciting x-ray.

Eventually I did though always wishing that I could be back in the holiday mode. I was quickly removed from this though as a major problem arose after my computer would no longer boot due to a Service Pack 2 installation. Thus, the Tuesday to Thursday was spent getting my computer back online and running. The good news is that I had to get a hard drive to solve my problem and since its bigger I can now download tonnes more. Woot!

Closing thoughts:
- I can now get back to the guitar
- Priority this week is apartment clean-up, laundry and groceries
- If the drive home was less than 5 hours, I would do it more often
- Anyone need a used DVD player? Its realy good, I just don't need two DVD players.
- How about a microsoft optical mouse for that matter?
- What will I do now that I finished watching Dawson's Creek season 3? Perhaps Aeon Flux.

Current Song: Twista Ft Miriah Carey (Not that great a song)
Current Mood: Back to Normal

Who says you can't go home?

2005-12-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

The rest of the story isn't as jam packed as the crazy move but is still worth telling I suppose. Friday Thumper, J-Bun and I made a delicious pancake breakfast for our last meal together before the holidays. It was nice, quiet, festive and overall a nice segway into the beginning of the holidays.

After that J-Bun gave me my her x-mas gift to me which turned out to be an acoustic guitar! Based on this she scores high in gold stars for the best gift ever given. I've wanted one for a long time but would only ever go so far as research price before I decided I couldn't as a student. Leave it up to her to get me the one thing I'd never get myself and while I think this might have been a bit much in terms of cost, I love her for it.

The three of us parted ways from there onto our seperate holiday journies all filled with delicious pancake goodness. I went to visit the Vancouver imported Giles for a little while along with the rest of the Giles clan. We chatted it up for a bit and then played a little bit of friendly poker. We were originally going to see a movie, but the promise of some freezing rain pushed me to head out a little earlier.

The trip itself was pretty nuts with much of the promised freezing rain and various traffic jams which I could only attribute to the weather. It took me four hours to complete what usually takes three but would make it home safe and sound. I think all I did friday was unpack and then head straight to bed as my body was very broken by this point.

I awoke saturday to a delicious breakfast which for once in the past few months, I didn't have to prepare making it even more delicious. The remainder of the day was spent taking care of last minute christmas tasks including purchasing and wrapping of last minute items. Saturday night I helped my sister bake x-mas cookies which didn't turn out that hot since I'm not as much of a culinary expert as her. Still edible though.

X-mas day was nice and festive again with presents, turkey, family and all around merryment. There were no gifts that could realy top the acoustic guitar but they were all still very much appreciated.

I bought a new DVD player and cordless keyboard on boxing day at Future Shop. I got up at 5 am for the 6am opening which in the end was a bit of a waste since none of the items mentioned were door crashers. Later on, I would end up seeing more family some of which I had not seen in years. People grow like sprouts after a couple of years but that's to be expected since time dosn't stand still in my abscence.

I've also purchased a few more items since then including a stool ($15 at Can Tire) and the Lost DVD box set which was a great deal at Zellers for $30. Box Day/Week deals will be the end of me.

I'm heading back to Kingston on Friday for a few social events provided that my cousin dosn't give birth that day as I would like to see the baby if possible before I go. I've told her to have it soon because of this but if it's not here by friday then I'm going with the original plan.

The plan for New Year's this year is pretty chill for once. Giles and I are planning on heading over to McM'ss to honour his invitation and then are going back to the Giles residence for something more low key. My suggestion was wine and movies. I think it will be refreshing to actually remember this new year's once it's passed.

The excitement is tapering off

2005-12-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

So X-mas has come and gone and soon we'll all be into the new years swing. Before I move on to that subject though, I'll resume the events of the past couple days for those who are interested.

Tuesday morning I was notified that we'd be getting the thursday off work in addition to the friday. This was right up my alley since I'd not felt like doing the whole try to learn/get told how to do it/get put down routine that I run into so frequently. That being the case and also coupled to the fact that I wanted to be in Kingston the next day to help Thumper move, I decided to take the wednesday off.

The rest of tuesday went pretty quickly and before I knew it I was home scurrying around getting things ready to head into the holidays. Thankfully, I'd done laundry the previous night and managed to get everything done in reasonable time.

I awoke the next morning and readied myself for the drive to kingston. The drive for the most part was pretty straight forward except for the last ten minutes of snow squalls that spontaneously came out of nowhere. The there was the move...

The drive to Trenton was pretty straight forward and so was the loading process from the storage. The fun started when it came time to get the other set of couches from the house and get them into the truck. Firstly, the couches were tremendously heavy. Secondly, they were huge and we needed to re-organize some of the stuff in the truck to get it all to fit. That was the first obstacle which we tackled sucessfully. Next was the lunch at Tim Hortons.

Thumper had graciously offered to buy us all lunch for helping out which was nice of him. This seemed to be a problem for the cashier for some reason as she gave us a quizicle look. However, we did digress past that. From there I began my order asking if I could get chili in place of the soup if I got a soup and sandwhich combo. This must have been an important thing to get right as she needed to reference two other employees and likely the oracle to make this work. Finally after about 5 mins, she decided that it would be okay and the order was processed. I ended up getting my food and sat down to eat. After finishing off half my sandwhich and some chili I noticed that I was still by myself and after glancing over my shoulder, noticed the other three were still putting in their order. I would later find out that she screwed up the entire order at least three more times before Thumper could pay. Geez.

We drove to Kingston from there and arrived at the new T-humper shag pad ready to unload. We first tried to take the truck in through the rear and about halfway figured there was too much ice and that we'd likely run into more problems and so after taking ten seconds to get the truck into the alley, we took about 30 mins to get it out moving inch by inch. Mission number three ended up in sucess as we mangaged to get to the front of the house and started to unpack.

Everything once again went well until we got back to the hell couches. The Love seat went in with a bit of struggle but the three seater would end up being the one battle we'd end up losing. We'd walked the couch around to the back, removed the legs, tilted it up and around, brought it back to the front, removed the door all to no avail and would end up just putting it back into the truck and taking it to another storage the next morning. If anyone wants a $1300 couch for $800, Thumper might have one for you. We ended up at Montana's that night for a Mock Thumper b-day celebration and a few drinks. Somewhere in between the end of moving and dinner, I'd also managed to put a small dent in the Bone Buggy too. In the end I think it bothered others more than myself. What a day!

Thursday morning was spent getting the couch into another storage. This was another hellish battle as we had only two people (instead of four) to move the couch this time. I wanted to burn the thing in the end and dance around it but I don't think Thumper would have been happy with that. In the end th0ugh it was taken care of to some degree and the move which was suppose to take a day, ended after a day and half. Thumper and I had Smitty's for breakfast which was delicious. He mainly talked and I mainly listened throwing in my two cents every once in a while. The rest of the day was more straight forward than the previous day had been. I took a nap, showered and then went shopping for some x-mas items. Later we'd train with Mark for the last Jitsu session for the winter term at the Y and it was a definate proper send off. We tried to be novices and have J-Bun teach but she decided to be a novice too. I'm not too sure why as I love it when I get to teach my seniors since its so rare. But it was definately pretty sweet.

We'd later head to the BusCave for some wine and other treats made by the BusMan. I remember wanting to get drunk but passing out within five minutes of sitting on the couch. I think my body was totaled to say the least.

I think I'll end the post there and start from friday on the next post. So, to be continued...

An X-mas Quote

2005-12-20T04:31:00.000-08:00

The perennial dictum is to spread goodwill towards all men. The irony of course is that this is contrary to our nature. So why do we do it? Because we are being watched! And so we unselfishly think of others, assured that our good behavior will be rewarded with love and plutonium.

Christmas Shopping

2005-12-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

Before I begin this post, I must say that I just decided to have swiss chalet for dinner as oppose to Wendy's. The meal I purchased was just about the same price as I would have paid for a classic double combo with baked potato (cheese and brocolli). The conclusion I've come to was that this was the best decision I've made since yesterday. I love Wendy's to pieces but swiss chalet just hit the spot.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day x-mas shopping and overall was very satisfied with all my purchases which isn't always an easy thing to attain. Overall I think those who have gotten gifts and will get gifts from me will find them to be fitting and appropriate.

I've also spent some of this Kingston time visiting friends who I havn't seen. Yesterday, I made a long overdue visit to RA to see both him and his apartment. It was quite the quick one in retrospect but it was still nice and relaxing. Sparxx was in town today and I joined her for a little bit on the tail end of lunch and some shopping.

Tonight I'll be attending Montana's X-mas party as Mrs. Bun's Guest. Even though booze is free, I'm not quite sure if I'll drink a lot since I don't know a lot of people there and since I have to drive in the morning. I guess we'll just have to play it by ear.

Thursday, I'll be back in Kingston but I've got a full platter of things to that night and the next day. Giles is back in town, Mr. Bus has invited me to train with him, I've gotta visit Thumper's new pad and get the holiday thing done with the woman.

On the 23rd, I'll head home for about a week of relaxation. I'll be back on the 31st and 1st for new year's and will likely head to cornwall on the 2nd. Should be a good holiday overall.

Christmas is creeping closer

2005-12-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

And I have done a thing yet to get ready for the holidays! But hopefully this will be a start and a place to get my ideas down and maybe have people comment on them.

Holidays run from the night of the 22nd to the 2nd of january for me. I was planning on spending the majority of the 22nd and 23rd in kingston to spend time with a few of my comrads. Giles is back and I'd like to spend the majority of the night with him but then I've also made plans to train with the Bus for his last session and visit T-humper at his new pad. I've also got to spend my holiday time with my dear lady. Maybe I can drag her with me in my travels. Then again, she'll likely have to work.

There might be a tentative plan with T-humper to visit Sparxx in TO on the night of the 23rd but that has yet to be sorted out. There isn't a whole tonne of drive behind this visit other than T-humper's wishes based on last years fiasco but there is still a little bit.

After that I'm home until the new year at which point I'll be returning to kingston for new years. I will likely be visiting McM for new years and well as Mr. Bus. Definately going to be bringing in the new year with the lady. This will be the first new year's I won't be single. First time for everything I guess.

I've also told Fish that I'd stop by for some of her high end baked goods. Overall I think it will be nice to leave all of the past years tensions stay in the year as I move on to the next.

I don't have a huge x-mas list myself. It mainly consists of anything Lord of the Rings related and perhaps one of many dvd boxsets eluding my collection. (Lost S1, Dawson's Creek S4,5, Simpsons S7, 24 S2,3 and 4). I've found that I've become addicited to DVD boxsets. Not too sure why though.

Going to the Bon Jovi concert in the Bell Centre on wednesday. It should be pretty awesome.

I've spent the weekend in Cornwall recuperating from the blur of events that has gotten me to this weekend. Catching up on sleep, cleaning up the apartment and doing the things that seem to always get left behind when I run off to other cities.

How could I forget

2005-12-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

In what might be considered shocking news, a three month silence was broken last night as I was invited back to the 439 for New Year's. I was planning on being in Kingston but have not yet decided on whether I will attend. As I was telling Thumper, I'm leaning towards going as the worst that can happen is that we could continue not talking afterwards. Everything just goes uphill after that. We shall see.

Another great weekend logged

2005-12-05T17:50:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was another great one for the books. All around it was just great to see so many people that I've come to know these past few years grading, progressing and then moving on to share some larfs with.

Friday was good because I got to sleep in a little since I was on a late day shift. It was also good because I had taken a half day off so that I could make it into to the grading on time and thus only had a four hour work day. For the most part it flew by and before I knew it I was on the road to Kingston. I was beginning to get a headache stemming from the past weeks shots to the head I'd taken so I stopped off at walmart to purchase some ibuprofen. After an hour the headache was gone which worked out perfect in time for the start of the Queen's Grading.

The Queen's grading itself was awesome and a stark contrast to that of the past week where brutality reigned. This was in and of itself a clinic of how jitsu should be done and was highlighted by two candidates, going for dark blue, tearing up the mats with some brilliant stuff. Overall the grading was awesome. Didn't hurt that I got to do a few makikomi's either (which is rare in a grading).

As per quo with jitsu, we ran right to the last minute and thus needed to boot to out social venue before the kitchen closed. Because of this, I forget that I had made some arrangements with RA to visit his new pad and he ended up waiting for nothing. I have since apologized to him but still feel a little bad for having someone uncessarily wait on me.

Dinner at the Hojo was awesome. I had some fantastic chicken dish which must have been made with chicken delight as it was delectable. Celebrations soon followed after that as per the usual style of jitsu canada. Shots were had and a lot of laughs were shared. I retired when most did at about twoish since I needed to be in working order to drive to Peterborough the next morning.

I awoke the next morning quite well acutally and even had time for a shower beforehand. I had breakfast, got my things together and proceeded downstairs to coral the troops. Suprisingly, and at the same time not suprisingly, only high chief was there and ready to go. With two parties missing in action, we quickly discussed where they might be and how we might find them. Right on cue, High Chief recieved a call from Flippy Dan saying they were at Big Sam's and as we'd guessed they'd gone all night.

I went to pick them up so we could get on the road quickly but we were still set back about a half hour. I wasn't too worried about being late though since we were with the grading panel and thus by proxy would inevitably arrive just on time. The drive to peterborough was nice except for Anders Rage-ahol music that was playing. It was pretty intense stuff and I usually enjoy my drives quite chill. I had my own way on the way home though.

The peterborough grading was another treat and thankfully I was not the only Uki present on the mats this time with three others there to do some bashing. It was good since I was feeling the wear of the previous night a little bit and don't think I could have done things as effectively by myself.

The grading was followed by the peterborough semi formal which was a blast filled with great food, good wine and more laughs. I had a small incident with some nuts in someone else's Thai food but would do it all over again just to share all those laughs again. We had some hungover Smitty's breakfast the next morning and laughed at jokes which, most of, were terrible but because we'd been up all night, seemed to be funny. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and proceeded back to Kingston.

I spent the night with Mrs. Bun having a little dinner and hang out time and though I would have loved to have stayed forever, I had to return to Cornwall for work. In the end I put 800+ clicks on my car but every bit was worth it.

Closing thoughts:
- I have twenty days to both start and finish my x-mas shopping
- Am I the only one whose heard Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch and love it?
- I'm not doing anything this weekend as I need to rest my body up and let my mind catch up with everything that's going on. Today at work, my mind was constantly fighting me for killing my body so much.
- Red Wine is delicious. Favourite has to be Yellow Tail Shiraz.
- DVD boxsets are my love and nemesis. I need to stop buying so many.

Some closing photos:

The definition of a hero

2005-11-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

With a week and a bit almost past since the passing of Eddie Guerrero, I still find myself reflecting on his life and how good a man he was to so many people. I had discussed this with J-Bun during the weekend and came to the conclusion that he, among a select few, were real heros to me as they did good things with their lives everyday for as many people as they could. Those are the people who I strived to be like on a daily basis and would thank God if I could even come close. For those wondering a couple of the names that came up were:

- Eddie Guerrero
- Chris Brooks
- My Parents
- Mr and Mrs Kirkey
- Ryan Allen
- Bret 'The Hitman' Hart (I'm not greedy for money, I'm greedy for respect)
- Eduardo Barron

- Optimus Prime (Ficticious)
- Aragorn (Ficticious)

There were likely others that should be on the list and it is by no stretch complete. But in a world where we don't acknowledge the good people enough, I thought it was only fair to make mention of those people who have given me a standard of quality to shoot for.

I had spaghetti for dinner tonight

2005-11-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

The past two days have seen some intense physical and mental recovery. After comming back from provincials sleep deprived and beat up, I proceeded through a draining seven days straight of work. It would have only been five but I moved my weekend up early so I could attend the Queen's grading.

I would have liked it to have only been five as I awoke saturday morning feeling the complete drain of the past couple days. Somehow though, I made it through the weekend. Thankfully weekend shifts are slow since the hospital only works in an 'emergency state', otherwise there would have been major problems. It's safe to say getting through normal cases was difficult enough.

At the end, I came home staired at my computer monitor for half an hour without doing anything at which point I crawled into bed and faded out of existence for another hour. I was out of it for another half day or so before returning to a somewhat normal mode.

J-Bun was down during my monday off and had to deal with my half day of mental abscence but dealt with it with smiles. The rest of the day we just spent watching TV and snacking on chocolate. She was suppose to leave yesterday at 5 to get stuff done at home but decided to stay overnight since we were having such a good time.

I get a 3 day work schedule this week which is nice and will place little strain on my body compared to last week. I'm also at the slower site which is nice. I'll be in ottawa for the brown grading and additional ottawa grading. I'm looking forward to it as gradings are much more fun when there is no stress on you.

I'm currently making some x-mas and new years plans since I only get about 8 days off or so. Thus I must efficietize it all and see as many folk as I can. Just for those wondering, I get the 22nd off til the 3rd of jan so gimme a shout if you want do something.

No major closing thoughts. I'll save the one's I have for next post.

The winds of change

2005-11-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

In a second, I'll likely have some more chocoloate frozen yogurt but before then I'll racap the events of the past couple days as they've been to every extreme of the emotion spectrum.

I was completely jacked to head into kingston this weekend and ottawa following that as it'd be just four days of jitsu fun and another oppurtunity to see the woman. After finishing off work a little early, I headed back home quickly for a smoothie and to pick up my sleeping bag. It was a good thing I had forgotten something to pick up as it turned out I'd left my insurance slip at home as well. Thus, I stopped myslef from driving illegally for another weekend.

Training on the thursday was quite good until Benjo started his techniques. Initially, I found some of his striking techniques to be quite fun but things got a bit brutal when I got smacked in the head and started seeing stars for a good five seconds. That was when it went a bit overboard for me and I was quite reluctant to train with Benjo after that. It was more mental than anything as I didn't feel like being smacked in the head again as it was quite unpleasant.

Friday, I spent the day with the woman for the most part and getting general tasks done around kingston. I missed the day time training which was unfortunate but got to the evening training which was good as High Chief was there as well as a few other guest instructors. Overall, the training was very good as the pace was fast and the intensity was pretty high too. Overall a nice lead into provincials. The social that night was quite good and for the most part consisted of me stuffing my face with Mexi Quesidillas at the Brew Pub. It was quite the feast and left me wanting my bed. As such, I decided to tap in favour of this, especially with training the next day.

Saturday morning, I awoke fairly early to make breakfast for the instructor guests along with J-Bun. After proding her for a constant fifteen minutes to wake up, we began the breakfast making ordeal. We had been trucking along quite well into cooking process when I was delivered some rather upsetting news. Without actually getting into the details (as I was requested to keep it to myself), it was not the easiest thing to hear. But, it re-doubled my pancake making effort in hopes that it might overshadow some of the gloom. It did work well though as everyone was pleasantly suprised and raved about how fantastic and nice it was.

Everyone then proceeded to load up and start on their seperate ways to ottawa. I went by myself (since I was only going one way), sped like a maniac and arrived about 15 minutes earlier than everyone else. It turned out to be a postive thing though as I was able to get a few glasses of water into me and have a light snack before training.

Training that day was fairly intense as was to be expected on the first day. We learned a new version of osoto-otoshi which I don't think I'll even learn in practice as it seems slightly archaic. I also managed to tear my pants in the crotchal region after throwing one of the more bear like brown belts. Overall, it wasn't too embassing a story as I'd just done the technique so carefully that I'd split my pants. No biggie other than the fact that I need to get a pair of pants in time for the gradings in two and three weekends from now.

The social that night was wickedly crazy. It started off with dinner at the Elgin Street Dinner where I proceeded to fill my guts with a burger and a heavy poutine. Once I'd done that and chatted a little bit with everyone who was there we headed to the Oz café. Now I must say, that I've been to the Oz café in the past and had a great time but most of the time I just chalked that up to the people and the specific event we might be celebrating. However, after walking in and being greeted by the owner personally (by name) after six months of not being there, it became one of my favourite bars period.

The social that night was very fun as can be expected and consisted of lots of booze, socializing, improv comedy sketches, black pepper shapes, cheesecakes, dancing and likely several other items I'm forgetting. Needless to say, I didn't get to sleep that night until about 5am which was a bit silly on my part. No one ever said I was the smartest tool in the shed.

I was suprisingly very alert for a guy who had poutine for dinner, filled his body with alcohol and gotten little sleep the previous night. Thankfully training was taken down a notch as well from the previous day. I did end up cutting out early that day though to drop Benjo off at the airport. At this point I was very nostalgic and sad to see him go and let it go that he'd slightly concussed me. So long as there's no permanent damage, I'm cool with things.

I hung around ottawa a while not wanting to drive home in my semi delirious and tired state but would eventually leave to return home. I almost fell asleep on half a dozen occasions which makes me wish I'd had a DD but all is well that ends well since I arrived home in one piece.

Between last night and this morning though, I've been met with a bit more of unfortunate news with the passing of one of my wrestling favourites, Eddie Guerrero, and my cousin's bunny (who she loved very much). That along with everything else this week has me in a bit of a spell about how quickly things can change. Things can happen so fast and change your take on life very radically so quick and so easily.

Closing thoughts:
- Need sleep desperately
- I think it's the addition of Wheat Germ to my diet that has sustained me this weekend and may become more permanent in my diet.
- I bought a new Aragorn action figure and I like it. I may buy more to go with it.
- The new Bret Hart DVD comes out tommorrow. I will likely get it at some point.
- 'Patience'. It was like an eternal truth written in the sand as I staired at it.

Current Song: Backstreet Boys - I still ...
Current Mood: Tired and Reflective

Frozen Yogurt

2005-11-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I've caved and finally decided to have some of the frozen yogurt left over from when J-Bun came down this weekend. I suppose it was only a matter of time.

Speaking of the Bun, we had an excellent time this weekend. Made some delicious food, watched a couple movies, a little dawson's creek and some all around quality time.

Two things of note came up during the weekend that are somewhat significant. The first is that I learned, while not together with the Bun, there is another who makes it a point of flirting a little more than I'd like to hear about. Needless to say, I trust my lady, but its still slightly unsettling to hear such things, especially when I know the individual.

The other is that, stemming from the belief of my lady that there is some inherent goodness in me, I let some significant events of the past go and re-established a line of communication with Fish. In the end, I'm glad that I'm moving in this direction as people can't be persecuted forever.

Benjo is down from Calgary this weekend and as such I'll be down in Kingston and Ottawa for some massive training this weekend. Four days straight will make for some awesome times.

Today, after feeling like I'd made more progress in taking radiographs, I was reminded by my clinical instructor that I still have a long way to go. Stupid markers, stupid coning, stupid shielding. Thank goodness for jitsu retreats.

Halloween has come and Gone

2005-11-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, in the past few days there have been five adjectives thrown my way which are lazy, un-cooperative, unmotivated, controlling and over dominant. How did it arrive to this point? Well, let's recap.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the hospital are relatively quiet. Not much to do as a student and as such, I spend some time just sitting around and helping where I can. When CT crashes and everyone shuffles into the one little staff room, I decide that day that it would be beneficial to leave early. I ask one of the higher techs if I can go and based on the response, "If I didn't see you go, I can't tell anyone you left.", I decide to head out early. Yesterday, I'm met with complaints of just slacking off, being lazy and being unmotivated in the x-ray department. Normally that wouldn't bother me but when it shows up on an evaluation which count towards my marks, I got a little PO'd.

On the weekend, I drive up to Kingston to see the Woman as well as get some Jitsu in and party it up at the Pimpass Paradise for Halloween. Thinking I was being assertive, I lay out plans for the day and how things should run to be efficient. The Paradise, got cleaned, costumes got bought, partying was done and all seemed to go well for the weekend. Last night, I'm told I'm controlling and looking for everything to be my way. The wonderful thanks I recieve for comming down to Kingston.

Today I'm asking myself how I can attempt to do so much and yet have the little faults nit picked out of the basket. Of course I'm not perfect but can the ratio of compliments be equal to that of complaints or am I asking too much?

In the face of all this, I still managed to do somewhat decently on my test today. It was pretty tough and overall was one of those tests one can't realy study for because its all applied knowledge. In the end, I'm glad I didn't waste too much time behind the notes since it was this type of test.

Closing thoughts:
- What?
- RA has a new place which I need to make a point of visiting sometime soon
- Skeleton Key has a pretty clever little ending
- The WWE product is getting stale. No Canada, no Charisma and no Christian.
- Some sweet DVDs are hitting the shelves for Christmas. Simpsons season 7, Wrestlemania Anthology and Family Guy Volume 3 are all on my list
- Still luvin the new wheels. They're pretty sweet.
- Got my map of Vancouver and have started the ball into motion

Readying for Halloween

2005-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well the weekend has come and gone and though it was quiet, I still had a pleasantly good time. Friday was interesting in that, after being zonked from the week and the course before that, I crashed hard at six that day. So hard that I didn't wake up til 1230. Feeling somewhat refreshed (and also realy lost) I decided to do what any other would do and that's chat on MSN. I also had a bit of food as I was quite hungry. Thankfully after that I was able to go back to sleep and wake up at a decent time of 9am.

I spent saturday cleaning up the apartment and getting some chores done. J-Bun was scheduled to arrive that night and to my suprise, she arrived with BusMan and his lady. We would end up getting some munchies and just watching movies in my apartment that night as there is realy nothing else to do in Cornwall.

The next morning, BusMan and I made breakfast for ourselves and the ladies, went out on the town for some halloween gear and then finished off with some Cornwall BBQ. They left after that so that they could get some jazz done at home which worked out well because I needed to study a bit too. Still missed them after they left though, especially the woman.

Halloween is comming up and promises to be a blast as per quo. I've been debating going back and re-doing one of the two costumes I've done that got rave reviews. I'm not quite sure yet exactly what to do but I'm sure it will be well recieved no matter which I choose.

"You were my brother Anakin, I loved you"

2005-10-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

I was watching the DVDrip of episode 3 that just came out and it was all so eerily haunting and reminiscent of certain events of the past. Two former allies in heated battle based on one's fall into darkness by his unwillingness to let go of his anger. I won't say more due to the fact that I'll likely get blasted again.

In other news, I had a pretty awesome weekend. Went up to Kingston on friday for Jitsu and to spend time with the Bun. Jitsu, as per quo, was wickedly sweet. Both that and the socials left me battered and bruised on sunday which paved the way for another day of fantastic relaxation. The Bus (formerly BPIC), the Bun and I went to go see Domino which was pretty good. It did have a bit much for me visually though which was the one down point.

The past few days were pretty up and down in terms of the x-ray placement. One moment I'm zooming away thinking I've got the shit down and the next I'm realy not on the ball at all. Thankfully, the days where I've got it down are outnumbering the others.

Might spend this weekend studying and cleaning up the apartment. Keep it quiet.

Closing thoughts:
- Taking X-Rays get more and more complex to me everyday.
- I got word that at the semi-annual clinical meeting yesterday in Kingston, one of last years profs approached my clinical instructor with some praises about me. That was touching to hear that someone would willingly put forward those comments without being prompted.
- The lady and the Chief of Wisdom have been relaying stories of Fish in a positive light and it may be starting to rub off.
- I must come up with an ingenius costume for halloween

Current Song: Watching the Star Wars movie
Current Mood: Tired