Moving towards the future

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

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"

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

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

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

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...

...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

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

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!!!

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!

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

The musings of a new car

They always name one episode of any show with part or all of the title and I thought I'd copy that. It's fitting because I don't actually have a name for the new automobile yet but think it needs one like the MarkBus. I've temporarily titled it the brownmobile but may change it if something better is put forward.

The new car itself is sweet. It's a beige 2005 Civic Sedan with a few neat little toys. It's almost the perfect car for me right now as its small, good on gas and gets some hefty speed. I was easily doing 140 on it yesterday without conciously trying. I'm gonna have to watch myself.

I'm not gonna post a picture of it because everyone is gonna have to see it one day. The Brownmobile! Comming to a city near you!

Closing thoughts:
- I've found a measure to personally address all fears which I posted about earlier in the the friendship is and will always be important to me but mending it is gonna take a first step apology from the other side since I was given the bum's rush for something I didn't even do.
- The relationship is progressing well. Everything is going smoothly thanks to flowers and some T-Boetry
- Had a test today. Got a 91%. Sweet!
- See all you jitsuka on saturday!

Aside: Props to RA for being a voice of reason and virtue when I needed it.

The fears that huant my existence

For the first time in my life I'm scared of something that may twist the very fibres of my existence. I find myself scared of a conitinuted prosecution for a crime I didn't even commit. I find myself scared to even confront a situation where I tried to continually do something decent and end up being demeaned for anyone of these actions. These fears drive me so much though that my temptations are to walk away from all of that.

What scares me even more though is the thought of abandoning someone who actually might need my help and the lack of strength I'd have had to have moved beyond that. I could be walking away from the people that matter in utter fear and that would be a cowards way out...

... but walking away might be the only course of action that is appropriate at this time.

Which fear will I allow to dominate and which will I find courage enough to overcome.

(Why can't I escape this TV show life)

You are my heart, my soul ...

Thought I'd save this for its own post. Caution! This may contain some sappiness.

It was all pretty clear
Standing there as if we were alone
My life's been changing
Passion had come and it had gone

Moved away several leagues
Finding new faces and names
A little uneasy about it all
Wondering about these future days

But there was one eternal
Your gaze, your smile, your warmth
Giving reassurance to my soul
An everlasting source of strength

I've fooled myself all this while
Not exactly sure why
But its been you and always has
Who brings out the best in me

And so now its time for us
To find our place in the world
Take our steps together
Side by side with my special girl

Chillin on a saturday...

Well I've decided to take weekend of from major social events as the past few weekends have been pretty eventful as most of you have read. I just finished make myself some roasted chicken with stuffing and carrots and it was quite delicious. Tommorrow I plan on baking some brownies and perhaps doing some leisurely reading.

A couple of us got some tickets to the Bon Jovi show in Montreal on December 14th which is pretty sweet. I'm definately pumped about that.

I've also been working on getting myself a motor vehicle to get myself around. I've settled on either a Honda Civic or Acura 1.6 EL which is almost the same car. Just need something to get from A to B and have it be cheap. I was offered the Jimmy from my parents but I'm not interested in that beast, especially if I'm driving myself to Vancouver.

A few people have asked me if McM and I are going to reconcile our differences and my response to them is that I'm just going to keep doing things the way I've always done them and if they've been problematic, then they'll continue to be so. If it spells the end of things then so be it as in this mess of things, I can look at my every action and find justification for most of them. If I can't, then I'd apologize and I've done that for those things I've done wrong.

A bit of self-realization in the wake of a hundred posts

This weekend has been one for the books and certainly a fitting set of events worthy of a hundredeth post. The week of work had been good and I'd gotten a few good comments about how well I was progressing that inspired me to reward myself with a weekend trip to kingston for homecomming and peterborough for a grading.

I arrived back in k-town a little later than expected and as such was unable to train that night. Because of this, I just watched and concluded that the night itself would be quiet. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

The session ran a little past the end time so that Anders could get a little bit of dark blue training in before his grading on the saturday. Since I wasn't training, I decided to leave early and head off to a kegger on aberdeen while it was quiet and could actually get beer and socialize. To my surprise, I actually accomplished this and got to talk to a few people before the house became packed.

I've never been one for the packed house especially when I don't know anyone so I decided to head off to a jitsu social. The night started off slowly as I was the second jitsuka there. I thought things would take a dive there, but Killer Jr picked things up with his over the top enthusiasm. The night would evolve into a pizza party complete with lots of cookies, fruit, scotch, beer, dancing and a bit of recreational smoking. Big ups to Killer Jr!

The next morning I awoke bright and early to head to peterborough to beat on Anders for his dark blue belt grading. And beat we did. The browns all landed some good shots including myself and there was also some extra fun stuff I can't mention without getting in trouble for. To his credit though, the CLB held his own and fought til the end on one wheel. Kudos to CLB2!

We headed to the Stone that night for the usual fun, food and drinking. It was nice to see a lot of the jitsu faces again, while swaping stories and reliving fun grading moments. After dinner, we headed back home for K-town as I wanted observe the aberdeen madness and hang out with a few friends.

Aberdeen was fucking nuts! The cops tried to maintain control as best they could but things realy got out of hand. I'd heard that someone broke their leg and when the ambulance came, people were jumping on the back and shaking the ambulance. As if that wasn't enough, they overturned someone's car and were standing on it randomly down the street. I was all for the street party and its good fun but this time there was just a little too much reckless mayhem for me.

With that I decided to take a break from all the crazyness and get some water at A and P as I was quite parched from the grading. I ended up running into J-Bun and her housemate randomly in my crusade for bottled water and they ended up comming back with me to Aberdeen.

When we got back we found that the cops had created lines blocking all entrances to aberdeen and william. We were initially going to abandone the idea of going in when we noticed people sneaking in through a backyard and so we followed. We hung out there for a little bit longer and after a bit more socializing, we headed back to the J-Bun palace.

The next morning J-Bun and I got breakfast at the Brew Pub and rented Bride and Prejudice which is pretty good. I believe one of the folk's who stopped into watch it with us said it was like a real life version of Aladdin. From there I got on a train back to the Wall and left behind me an awesome weekend.

Why so awesome? Well, for one I found out the monstrous ticket which had been the subject of contreversy the previous week had been dropped and that good actions from the past can sometimes come in handy when you need a little help for a monstrous ticket.

Secondly, J-Bun and I are going to give the relationship thing one more shot. My reasons for this are simple in that the last time things broke off was because I was attracted to someone else and didn't want to string her along needlessly. I also didn't want to get into a relationship with someone in the club. Now, I'm way beyond a senseless crush and no longer part of the club officially. The only thing working against us is the distance but things are being taken slow so major goofs aren't made. Only the future will tell how things evolve and work out.

Closing thoughts:
- I just believe people have good in them to do right. Sue me if you don't like it.
- Things seem to be passing through and evolution in my life and while shedding an old skin, something new is emerging. With stronger hopes, convictions and dedication than ever.
- I've lost weight!
- I got a top download speed of 675 kb/s which is super awesome! So far I've seen it twice. At least Cornwall is good for something.
- I'm planning on seeing Bon Jovi in Montreal which is sweet! December 17th baby!
- 49 weeks til Vancouver!

Current Song: Bon Jovi - Novacaine
Current Mood: "Just a home town boy on a rolling stone"

(T-Bone: With the new Bon Jovi album out, I've come back to my desire of wanting to be a cowboy.
Thumper: Oh really..... T-Bone the Kid...... 'Fastest O-Soto-Gari in the West')

99th Post!

Wowzers. Can't believe I'm at 99 already considering I've only had the blog for a year. For those keeping count at home that's almost one for every three days. That piece of info should provide useful for the few who like to bug me to post as they now know how long to wait.

Today is the 18th of september and two weeks of the program are done already. Suprinsingly enough, they've actually been quite fun. My clinical instructor is super nice and got a good sense of humour and the other two students I'm there with are cool as well. Makes for a fun and positive learning environment.

The social scene there is lacking so for the second week in a row I'm back in kingston hanging around, saying hi to new faces and just soaking up all goodness kingston has to offer.

Friday was the first big Jitsu social and though I'm not actually part of the club anymore (and in turn more of a vagabond) I wanted to attend and let all the new folks know how the jitsu crowd hangs and bangs. I had not brought alcohol that night and in turn wasn't planning on drinking. However, when a 2-4 of heiniken was brought to the part along with two bottles of Glenmorrangie, things quickly changed. Next think I know it was four am and four of us had finished more than one and a half bottles of the scotch. Thumper wanted to finish the second bottle completely but I vetoed that idea in favour of preserving my stomach lining.

The next morning wasn't as horrible as I would have imagined as I'd managed to get a couple glasses of water into me before passing out. I was able to get a few things done during the day before settling into the nights events which was good. The night's events themselves were quite interesting and spanned from the good to the ugly. My first stop last night was a gathering of the current run of x-ray students from last years class as well as the new class. It was nice to see everyone again and swap stories about everyone's placement. I got to meet next year's cornwall students which was good as it was one of my goals to create a better liason to the cornwall movement since mine was lacking. One of the two girls was smoking hot too which was an added bonus and will make interacting with her all the easier.

After a couple hours of chatting and getting a beer at the AleHouse, I decided to duck out in favour of attending final beirut. I arrived to the end trails of the actual playing but got to chatting quite a bit. There was this cool teacher there who I spoke to for a couple minutes about the nature of being a good teacher and the mutual benefits of instruction. However, the party ended there as the cops pulled up on the lawn about a noise complaint they had recieved. What ended up resulting is that the officer issued them at $235 ticket for the noise violation. Everyone was a gasp at this point at the size of this ticket since there had never been a warning. In an attempt to see what could be done, I thought I'd go over to one of the cops, who I knew pretty well and see what the details were surrounding the complaint. However I was soon stopped in my tracks by ignorance since I was at the bottom step of the porch with a beer in my hand.

From there I was belittled about being stupid and adding another violation. (Strike one for trying to help). However, I let that slide and still managed to get a hold of the one cop. I didn't gather very much other than the obvious homecomming crackdown on noise but I think the other cop, who had issued the ticket, saw that I was politely exchanging with his friend and when I approached him to talk to him, his tone of voice changed from the angered cop (since McM was yelling at him) to something more somber. After some discussion, what I had gathered is that in retrospect, he did regret laying such a heavy fine on the group but couldn't do anything to change it since it had been put through the system. So from there, we'd have to go to court and appeal it in his presence.

That was the end of the discussion since he had other work to be done and he was on his way. After leaving, McM decided to start cursing his name and when I piped up to just say he was doing his job I was called ignorant (strike two for trying to help). Since I knew a few cops, I still tried to convince McM that the officer was just doing his job at which point the two cop friends were blasted since they were 'part of the jitsu group'. (Strike three for trying to help). Needless to say I was out since it was either leave or get into a verbal altercation.

So I went from meeting lots of new faces to spending a good half hour talking to the popo. That's definately a worthy 99th post. Hopefully 100 will be just as monumental.

Current Song: Maroon Five - Sunday Morning
Current Mood: Lethargic

"This is the start of something good..."

Well folks, I'm in Cornwall Ontario now. After wrapping my Kingston tenure up with a bit of jitsu, I boarded a train for my new home. I was kinda POed that morning based on another round of nonsense that had been thrown my way so it never realy hit me that I was leaving and I didn't get sad.

The next few days I spent unpacking and exploring the city which isn't that big so it didn't take that long. I had no internet and no phone for a weekend and spent those culture shock moments just reading. If cogeco wasn't retarded and had given me a specific time appointment, as oppose to a full day, I might have had internet that weekend. However, I did not want to sit at home all daywaiting especially with my parents visiting from brampton.

Speaking of my parents, having them here was definately a booster for my spirits as I was quite home sick. I consider myself pretty strong but something within seemed to long for something familiar in such a new place. Having them here gave that.

Here are some photos of my new place for anyone that's interested:






Tuesday to Friday was spent at the hospital getting oriented with the program and reviewing items from the previous year. My clinical co-ordinator is super nice and I think it's gonna make for a pretty fun year. We went out to four bars that night and saw a total of 12 people and four of those people were the band playing at a local club that night.

That being said, I jumped on the first train the next day to Kingston as I wasn't going to stick around this rut with everyone there having fun. When I arrived I was suprised to hear that a few unexpected familiar faces were there. It turns out that most of the Aberdeen posse was down and with that, we were back on the town again for a good ol fashion night complete with Mosie/Zout rants, Elixer and booze. Needless to to say I definately had a lot of fun but would pay for it the next day. I woke up feeling fine but it was all a deception as the day was spent playing Prince of Persia in hangover mode.

I would eventually recover and after visiting the Griswold's for dinner, I would be on my way back to the Wall. Monday was rough as I'd had little sleep over the weekend and realy gotten nothing done at home. However, I've since picked up the slack and gotten myself back up to speed.

Tommorrow is hospital orientation. Boring!

Current Song: Bon Jovi - Have a nice day
Current Mood: Ready for Rest