Random

In our defence, we had been drinking.It was a hell of a night though.

Ode to a moustache.

I love bees.

I started my day with a crack whore!

I was going to go downtown to get some breakfast and because Richard is in Ontario I have his car and decided to drive. I turned out of the building and came to the first corner. I stopped and looked both ways and noticed a girl trying to motion to me. She was asking if I had a lighter for her cigarette. I told her I did not, but then thought about the one in the car so I checked.

There was none there, so instead of getting into an elaborate game of charades I opened my door to yell to the girl. To my surprise she sat down and asked if I could drive her downtown. I was GOING downtown so I figured what the hell.

I turned left and we were less than a block into the drive when she asked me if I've got a girlfriend. I said that I did and she then asked me if I wanted to have a 'little fun' for $20. I declined, and she persisted. Apparently she was a stripper who had been doing extacy the entire night before and now needed to get some money for her children's Christmas presents. I again declined and she dropped her asking price to $10. I told her I would drop her off at the next corner but somehow ended up driving her across town and having to decline her offer twice more.

After all that I decided against breakfast and just grabbed a burger. I figured if that's how the day started, the best place to be was home alone.

My new hero.

This is an island, built out of old pop bottles! Don't believe me? Read on!

Read this . . . and this . . . and this . . . and this. Then brace yourself, and read this.

Richie Sowa is a true visionary! He's dreamy!

Turnstile Pottery

I was on my way to the pottery studio. I went a bit early last week and was able to get a few extra minutes so I figured I would try the same thing again.

I started walking down Brunswick St. (That's the one I live on) and I noticed a group of 15 - 20 black youth walking together on the other side of the road. A thought crossed my mind 'SWARMING' but then I thought don't be silly.

You see, swarmings have been happening around here with alarming frequency. Last week at the pottery studio we were talking about them. It all starts when you walk past a group of black youths walking together and night. One of them throws something at you and once you react , you're swarmed.

So I think to myself 'don't be silly. It's just a group of kids walking somewhere together, don't worry'. Then they started throwing lighbulbs at me. The first one hit just in front of me and I could feel the exploding glass hit the denim of my jeans. The second one hit behind me but closer than the first. One of the kids yells out 'Gun shots!' and the rest laugh. At this point I'm a little concerned and I start thinking 'don't react, just keep on walking', and that's what I did.

Luckily that was the end of the ordeal, but now I had to walk down the 'bad street'. The street that's known for this kind of thing. So I call a cab, they'll be 20 minutes. So I can't walk to the pottery studio, and I can't walk home because doing so would necessitate walking past the light bulb brigade.

Fortunately another cab drove past me and I flagged it down. He drove me to the pottery studio, waited while I discovered it was closed, and then drove me back to my apartment. The whole trip cost me less than $5, that's how close I was to where I was going.

I guess I'm a greenhorn after all.

Earlier today a girl at work brought in some stuff her mother's neighbour wanted to get rid of. Naturally I grabbed some of it. I thought I had gone unnoticed, but it turns out someone was quicker on the draw than I and they snapped a photo of my sporting my new holster / fanny pack. (I tend towards the holster terminology as I plan to use it to carry the beer I'm drinking when I need two free hands, but to each his own.)

This is when the yellow coward got me from behind!
This is a close up of the offending object.

Welcome to Sunday afternoon in Halifax

Before:After:In other news: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngTQNQwlf8

Fun times at the Unfair

Well, last night was interesting. Lauraine and I had a few pre drinks and then went to the NSCAD Unfair to see Gary (Lauraine's Bo) perform as a Siamese twins in the freak show.

The Unfair was one messed up affair.

It was in the Khyber arts centre and was three stories of unorganized madness. The main floor was a bar with bands playing. The coat rack was full, so I found a strange tunnel, and followed it for a while, 'till I found a place to hang my coat. Then we climbed the stairs and hit the freak show on the second floor. There was a bearded lady, a lizard man, a bat boy, and dancing/juggling Siamese twins. This pretty much disintegrated before long and resulted in everyone abandoning the show and getting drunk.
On the third floor, there were two rooms. In the first was a ping pong tournament being held over two car hoods supported on old tires. The main room on the third floor had a banker selling tickets. Drink tickets were $3.50 and activity tickets were $1. Activities included a tattoo booth, a peep show, a photo station, face painting, coin tosses, a barber booth, a portrait studio, and tarot readings.
It was wild and fun. I didn't know anyone, but everyone thought I was a film student so I just went with it. On my way out I grabbed a poster advertising the event as a souvenir. At the next party we hit, I told everyone my tatts were real, and nobody questioned it.

Murder? Really now!

For those of you not fortunate enough to have previously heard this song, it's pretty good. For those of you who've never heard of the group, you need to look into them. Fine quality Canadian comedy musicians. They've got lots of good songs, this one used to be my favorite. Now it's got added significance.

See if there's anywhere / anyone in it you recognize.

Not so nutty after all!

Wingnut from Portland writes . . .

"I have [Wintertime Blues a.k.a. Seasonal Affective Disorder] . . . here's what works for me:

• Right after you wake up, take a fifteen minute brisk walk around your neighborhood. Get your blood pumping.

• Put yourself on a strict sleep schedule. Wake up early to get the maximum amount of light during the day.

• Eat a good, healthy breakfast. I recommend something like this: Oatmeal with cranberries, raisins, nuts, and coconut milk and maple syrup. A cup of tea, but not coffee, because coffee will make you burn out early.

• Eat lots of protein and minimize carbs. High carb foods like pasta will raise your serotonin quickly, but also give you a worse crash when that energy runs out. Protein is much more stablizing.

• Foods to minimize: sugar, wheat (pasta, bread), sugary fruit, juice that contains sugar (orange juice esp. is bad for sustaining energy after the initial burst)

• Foods to eat more of: meat and dairy (especially eggs), tofu and lentils for those who are vegan, coconut milk, vegetables and greens, nuts and seeds, potatoes, yams, beans.

• Drink as much water as you can. Usually in winter people forget to keep hydrated, because it's cold and they're moving slower. But we need water at all times of the year!

Hope this helps. "

I do too Wingnut, well done!

Oh Pizza Corner

(This picture is kinda blurry because my camera was, at some point, switched over to the wrong setting, but as long as you can make out two figures, you'll get the jist of the story.)

Last night, apres le concert de 'In-Flight Safety' Rich and I went for pizza. While we were there we met a chivalrous lad, helping a woman with a broken leg into the restaurant. We struck up a conversation, and it soon became clear to me why this fellow was so special. He had to good fortune to have been named Greysen, which although different in spelling still counts as the most awsome name ever conceived.

What a lucky fellow.

Horroscopes

"I hope that one day you will learn how to give all the extraordinary love you have to offer. Another one of my greatest desires for you is that you will cultivate, earn, and seize all the freedom you need in order to become yourself completely. To my great pleasure, you've recently begun to tune in to the possibility that these two goals might be extremely fun for you. During the coming weeks their hold on your imagination should heat up considerably. In 2007, I hope they'll become your modus operandi, your Weltanschauung, and your raison d'être. "

For your own, go here.

Market Day

Today was market day, which I remembered just before bed last night. Luckily bedtime last night was 11 o'clock and I was able to get lots of sleep and still make it to the market in the morning. As promised I took a bunch of pictures to show everyone what I was talking about.
I also tried on a couple of hats. I don't know if I'll buy any of them, but I they were all handmade (and it was the artists themselves who ended up taking my picture wearing their creations). Which do you think suits me the best.

a)b)c)

While I was at the market I bumped into Tchaikovsky (the angry chick from the last post) who was buying some squash.

Once I left the market I went to the Sally Anne but didn't find anything I liked so I grabbed some Persian food and started to walk home. On the way I passed the Kyber Arts Centre, and it was having a craft sale. (All art school-esk indy crafts. Not the tea cosies etc. that you might expect.) It was there that I bumped into an artist who recognized me from work. We talked for a while, and it would seem that she's only been in Halifax since August. Seems like nobody I meet is actually from the city.

Upon returning home I looked at some of the business cards I grabbed and found some really cool places and people. Here are a few to show you what I mean . . .

http://halifaxscavengersociety.wikispaces.com/home
http://www.turnstilepottery.com/about.htm
http://angrysheepdesigns.com/

Rogue's Roost Quiz

This week, we made it to the Quiz. It was less formal than I thought, and although we scored very well in the second round, we didn't win.

Our team name changed over the course of the evening and by the end of the night we were called "Me hot crossed buns O'saurus o' me dreams (elipses)". Don"t ask me what that means, I couldn"t tell you.

By the end of the evening, things were going nuts. People we were with snuck wine out of the bar and into McDonald's where they continued to drink very obviously. Following that fiasco, we all went back to the Wonky House and had a sock hop.

Don"t believe me? Here's proof!
(Yeah yeah, I know. My camera batteries died on me. Next time there'll be more!)

A walk to remember.

Today I tried to get to a park I had heard of. I left early(ish) in the morning, and hit up the farmer's market too. I got there too late to see everything in full swing, but it really looked cool. It's in the main building of the Keith's brewery (which looks like an indoor village) and it's got so many vendors selling a multitude of different things. I definitely plan on revisiting and taking some pictures. Before I left I got some Indian cuisine and ate it on a bench by the harbour.

Then I got up and walked on towards the park. I ended up getting turned around and getting into some areas I don't think I was supposed to be. I was in some major shipping yard with tons of ships and train tracks everywhere. Eventually I hit some Gov. of Canada Defence building, and I decided that was a good time to climb the ledge seperating this 'magical' area from the rest of the city.

Turns out I ended up about 2 blocks from the park, so I kept on going. It was awsome. There were old buildings, TONS of paths, tons of people on dates and people with dogs, and TONS of crows. There were some great views, and great areas to just sit and be quite. I had a newspaper I had just purchaised with me, so I sat and read that on a bench constructed from the bits of wood collected after Huricane Juan.

I ended up walking for almost 4 hours. I'm glad I did.

Endless possibilities

The other night, my quiz team and I had big plans. We were going to call our team 'American Passport Dreams' and each of us was to make a false American passport to bring with us to the quiz. Nobody else made one, but I sure did.
We had a song written and everything was going to be awsome. That was, until Jodie slept through the whole thing and didn't call anyone! (No hard feelings really, we'll go again next week).

---

Footnote:

The passport idea was inspired by one of my co-workers who just got an American passport, and thus started singing about it at work one day. The 'Magical Land Of Butter' stamp you see in my passport, was inspired by a huge bag of butter we had at work into which a co-worker and I pretended to jump, as a doorway, into said magical land.

The next day at work, this same co-worker and I created new passports for each other. This is the one I was given.

P.S. - I forgot to bring my zines with me to the library today, or I would have scanned them too. What I DID bring to the library is a bottle of Rum and two cans of Stella which I forgot after a party and were returned to me at work just before I left.

Riddle me this . . . ditchers!

I tried something new tonight (aka. last night), after being stood up. My plans had been to attend a Quiz Night at the Rogue's Roost Brew Pub, but failing to receive the phone call of confirmation, I remained at home.

Seizing this opportunity, I immediately decided to create a profile picture of myself, composed entirely of segments of other pictures of me. My result is posted above. It ain't pretty, but them's the breaks.

Then I got to thinkin'. Perhaps other people could do the same thing, and then post their results. It could be fun! Or, due to lack of participation, it could be a floundering waste of my time and effort. I'm hoping for the prior. Thus, please make your own picture (I made mine in MS paint) and post it on your blog/website/forum/whatever, and paste a link in my response page thingy.

Or don't! You know. Whatever.

Gotta love it!

When I first came out to Halifax, I spent a lot of time on the net, just killing time. (Ahem, that was AFTER I had handed out TONS of resumes and was waiting to hear back from someone.) One day while surfing, I came across the coolest sock monkey I've ever seen. I had the whole post figured out in my head, and I was just about to post it when . . . I got a job and forgot about the whole thing.

While looking through my photo's, I came across the one I'd saved off the net. This one . . .
. . . and knew instantly, that I had to post it immediately, before I forgot to do it again. His entire life story is on Craftster, if you wanna' check it out.

Don't stop me if you've heard this one . . .

The garbage man at work told this joke the other day. I'd never heard it before, and I liked it, thus I've transcribed it here for your enjoyment.

"The three wise men were on their way to see a new baby born in a manger. Upon entering to see the child, the tallest of the wise men smoked his head off the door jam.

'Jesus Christ!' he yells

'Hey write that down!' Mary yelled to Joseph, 'That's WAY better than Dexter!' "

Frig the Frigate

Last night was the 'grad opening' of a new pub in town. I don't know what made last night either grand, or the opening of the pub, because it was dead, there was no band, and apparently the pub's been open since last year.

ANYWAY, it was a pirate themed bar. So I was expecting to see some pirates there. Alas, although there was a group that came in wearing costumes, they left around midnight, after nobody else showed up and nothing was happening.

After we ditched that popsicle stand, Rich and I grabbed a sausage on a bun, and some stranger walked up and insisted we give him some. We declined and he told us to 'F' off. We then went to the Old Triange again, had another pint, heard some great music, and called it a night.

It's a living.

Well, today was and will be interesting. I told my current employer that I was offered a full time job at East Side's, which they took very well, and hope I'll stay, but are ok with me leaving if that's what I decide to do.

I start my first training shift at East Side's tonight at 5pm. I figured it was better to know what the job was all about before I turned it outright turned it down. So, I still don't know which direction I'm going to go job wise.

Just after telling my manager at Uncommon Grounds about my shift at East Side Mario's, I received a call from the manager of Second Cup. It's in-freakin-credible how when you really want a job, it seems like nobody is calling you back, but once you get a job, everyone wants to hire you.

At least I'm out of the house. Also, as is pictured below, I was able to take home a dozen bagels, 3 oat cakes, 2 vegan breakfast bars, 2 sugar cookies, and 2 rum cakes (one chocolate, one not) from Uncommon Grounds at the end of my shift. These are the perks that I'm going to miss if I decided to work elsewhere.

Sing with me!

Today I took the Dartmouth ferry into the town. Spent my money just bumming around. Trying to find a way to tear a strip off these blues, 'till I went nowhere with . . . my roommate Rich!

To recap . . .

Today was pretty laid back, and I didn't really do very much. The weather was BEAUTIFUL though, so Rich and I decided to go for a walk. Having walked downtown Halifax A LOT since arriving here, we decided to try something new and walk around downtown Dartmouth. It was a lot smaller than Halifax, but had some gorgeous harbour front parks. After walking for a while, we nipped into a pub, had a pint, then took the Dartmouth ferry into the town. . .(for the remainder of this quotation, please see the first paragraph of this post.)

On the way home we grabbed a couple of growlers, and returned to the apartment to watch Mission Impossible III. After that we had some beer, listened to some east coast music on the computer, then went out to hear some live.

And now, at the end of it all, I'm heading to bed.

G' night!

Growlers

This is a picture of myself, taken by myself, after a pretty good house party! I drank (not entirely by myself) a 'growler' of Honey Wheat beer, from the Propeller Brewing Company (located a convenient 3 blocks from my place). The bottle costs $8, the beer costs $8, when you return the bottle, they give you back $8. Thus the total cost for aproximately 6 pints is exactly $8. What a deal!?! And it's a good beer too! And it's open on Sundays!

Disregarding the incredible deal I got on beer, and focusing more on the events that transpired this evening, Rich, Fran, and I attended a Halifax Moosheads hockey game. They ended up winning 4 to 2 against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. It was a ton of fun, and it only ended up costing $7 per ticket (thanks to Rich's navy discount). After that we all went to a house party at one of my co-worker's place. It was fun, and I stayed 'till about 1am, but Rich and Fran had already left, so I figured I'd follow suit. Overall, it was a great night. I had a great time, met some new friends (one of whome is 'best' friends with a girl who was one year ahead of my in elementary school. That's right, she's from Caistor).

Overall a great night was had by all, yet I'm glad to be home, and am more than ready to nap well into the afternoon.

Mocca Frappé Latté au WHAT?!?!

I started my new job today at Uncommon Grounds, and it was a hoot. First of all, the weather was absolute rubbish. It rained, and blew, and was really neat to watch from behind a wall of windows, but terrible to have to walk in.

I started my day at 5:30 am when I awoke, showered, dressed, and walked to work. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to start today or tomorrow, but I figured it was better to show up today and not be on the schedule, then be on the schedule and not show up. My gamble paid off, I was in fact supposed to start today, although it was just a short shift to get me introduced to everything. I stayed for 11 hours. I figured, why not, what else have I got to do, and so I picked up a couple shifts.

It's a fun place to work, and the girls I work with seem like they're a lot of fun too. Apparently the other guy I work with is my height and has red hair. People say I look like him, but I'm going to reserve judgement.

Anyway, besides the tips, and not having to work late or on weekends, I get to drink anything I want, and as much of it as I want, I am thus wired, and worried that tomorrow morning might come a bit too soon. I also get 50% off food or anything else, whether I'm working or not. Everyone seems chilled, and I think I'm going to like it. I just need to hear back from a few other places before I know EXACTLY what I'm going to be doing for the next couple months.

Here we go again!

Well, I got a job today (I start at 6:30am tomorrow morning) at Uncommon Grounds on Water Street. It's only a part time job, about 12 hours a week, but it's a start. I also have an interview at East Side Mario's later today. I don't know how everything's going to work out, but I'm looking forward to having a job, both for the monetary and social rewards it will offer.

On the down side, I'm not going to be able to watch Lost ALL DAY LONG anymore. Good thing I'm caught up!

Peggy's Cove

Last weekend, Rich and I drove out to Peggy's cove. I didn't really know what to expect, but when I got there I was like 'Now THIS is Nova Scotia'. We saw all the sights, the lighthouse, the rock carving, the fishing boats and lobster nets, and then we were done. It was a COLD day, and we pretty much had seen everything after about an hour, so we decided not to hang about.

Preceding our visit to Peggy's Cove, we drove out to see the memorial for Swiss Air Flight 111 which crashed back in 1998. (a 2 minute drive from Peggy's) While there we happened to meet one of the volunteers who actually responded to the crash. The view of the ocean was splendid (oh yeah, we saw the ocean) and we were there just as the sun was getting ready to set.

There are pictures in the album, if anyone's curious.

Just missed it!

I left 'Pizza Corner' about 30 minuites before this went down.

Th'other night. (I don't think that's a proper contraction)

Well, last night we hit the Split Crow. We also tried to go to the Lower Deck, but there was a 9$ cover!!!! So we went back to the Crow.

It's not like there was a lot going on there, some people dressed up, and a band, but not the Hallowe'en attitude I've been spoiled by in Brantford.

While we were at the bar, I saw this guy with a really cool coat, so I asked him where he got it, and we got to talking. He was from BC and his friend had made the jacket for him. It used to be a blanket, I was understandably impressed. Thus he gave me his card so I could contact him, and by proxy commission a jacket like his for myself.

Upon visiting his site I found this, and was once again understandably impressed.

And that friends, is Hallowe'en in Halifax. There are some pictures out there somewhere, and when I get 'em, I'll post 'em.

This just in . . .

Witch ordered to refund fee for failed love spell

Associated Press

MUNICH, Germany -- A German court has ordered a self-styled witch to refund a disappointed client her hefty fee for a spell that failed to win back the woman's partner.

The Munich administrative court said Monday it ruled that the witch must pay back the $1,275 on the grounds she offered a service that was "objectively completely impossible."

After her boyfriend left her in the fall of 2003, the client consulted the witch on a spell that would bring him back.

"The defendant carried out the corresponding ritual over several months, each time under a full moon, but without success," a court statement said.

It said the witch denied the client's claim that she had guaranteed success.

However, the court ruled that was irrelevant because "a love ritual is not suited to influencing a person from a distance."

Neither woman's identity was released.

Happy Hallowe'en!

Up in the AM

Getting up early this morning, I was excited to start the day. I shaved, showered, and dressed in dress attire, and was about to set off to the library, when something inside me whispered 'pre-book your computer'. Heading this internal warning, I logged onto the Halifax Public Library's website, and began to process of securing access to a computer. My plan was simple, once I arrived at the library I would download my résumé and print off a dozen or so of them, and then continue my jobsearch. Fate, however, had seen fit to throw a kybosh on the whole thing by closing the library on Mondays.

So, now I'm awake, re-dressed into 'something a little more comfortable', and sans plans for the day. Isn't life grand?

Spooky Stuff!

Yo yo, so I'm back from my Hallowe'en party. Before going I thought I had a pretty good costume, I was going to be a zombie, and I did some research to find out exactly how I could make a convincing corpse. Unfortunately, my makeup showed up only in very bright light or camera flash, and everyone at the party thought I had decided not to dress up.

Annoying? YES!! But I still managed to have a great time at the party.

I'm wearing makeup! I swear!

Capital City

I've got my pictures from Ottawa online. They're in the album. (Sadly, I think this is the best one, but I'll let you all be the judge)

I'll call 'em in a week.

So, handing out Résumés today went pretty well. Aside from accidentally suggesting I might be an alcoholic to one of the bars I applied to, everything went off without a hitch.

I actually got a job at Pita Pit. I told them I would have to think about it, and they agreed. Apparently they were very cautious hiring me because they were afriad I would jump ship for something better. Which is wise, because if something better comes along, I'll jump ship.

Bibliobrary (I just made that up!)

Well, I'm at the library and it DOES have a scanner. So Jim, and anyone else who was interested and just didn't say anything, will be able to see at least some of the zines that I collected at CanZine East. I didn't bring them with me today, because I am going job hunting after I write this and print out some résumés.

In related news (related to my blog, not my job search) I noticed on the library computer, that some of you may not be seeing the lovely blue fish I have along the sides of my blog. If you see the fish, good. If you don't see the fish, you need to adjust your screen's resolution. Do it now!

Awwww, kittens!

Thanks Shabudabu

New Look

Yeah, there was supposed to be more to the 'new look' of this blog, but after a couple of hours I got pissed off and tired and decided to stop working on it. I'm also not really in the mood to update the ol' blog now either. Luckily I wrote a post yesterday that I didn't end up posting. Here it is . . .

Today at CanZine, I met Hal Niedzviecki. I recognized him imediately because he was a guest speaker in my 4th year Youth Cultures class. I approached him, just to say hi, and let him know that I had heard him speak previously, and I found that he is now a full time teacher at Laurier Brantford! So then I go into another room and start to cut and paste. (I was contributing a page to a communal zine that was being created. Then I made some buttons.) This guy walks in, and we start talking. He's from Brantford as well!

What's with that city?

Afterthoughts

I wish I'd read this ahead of time.

I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold!!

Now here I lay in my 24th year, in Halifax (alas, not on a pier). Regardless, I have arrived and am now on Canada's east coast! I arrived at 5pm last night and Richard and I went shopping, I got an air mattress, some sheets, a pillow, some pins (for affixing decorations to the walls). We also hit the Atlantic Super Store for some groceries and then grabbed a 2-4 of Kieth's from the NSLC.

Today, I got my room set up, made some lunch, looked online for some jobs and cool hangouts. It was really boring. Tonight Richard, some of this friends and I are going to go to 'Jungle Jim's' for dinner. Tomorrow he jumps on a plane and comes back to Ontario 'till the weekend, leaving me alone and in a strange town.

I'm sure I'll be fine. There is a zine fair (I already told you about the one in Toronto) on Saturday, and then there's a concert by KOS. I don't know if I'll make KOS, but the fair is, at least for me, a must see.

I have yet to break out my camera in Nova Scotia, but I have lots of pictures from Ottawa just waiting to find a home online. Once I find my camera's cord, I'll post them all!

Day 1: Ottawa

Well, Ottawa is great! I arrived yesterday after a LONG bus ride, and was rather tired. We had originally planned to go out to a club upon our arrival, but instead decided to watch the new Robin Williams movie.

It wasn't out yet.

So we decided to go to a Scottish pub and following that, we decided we would hit the clubs after all. I don't know the name of the club we hit, but clubbing is a very different experience when you don't know anybody in the bar! Fortunately once Jamie and I got on stage we started making TONS of friends! It's like the dance floor was for chumps, and the stage was where the party was! I don't think I danced at all, but I ended up having a contest with Johnny (I pitted Jamie's skills against his friends) and then having him buy me a pint. Then he got into a dancing contest with some girls and we all ended up swapping shoes (I ended up in heels!?!?) and after the bar we all went to a 24 hour diner and had Philly steak putine! (The best part was, Jamie and I were really the only people that knew each other in the group, everyone else we met had ditched their friends to hang out with us!)

All in all it was a FANTASTIC night!!

(I also have a vague recollection of having my picture taken wearing a bridal vail. . . I wonder who's phone that was?)

On the road again!

Tonight I . . .

- Dropped Ayden in Guelph
- Had dinner with Shabu, Dad, and Stephanie
- Sang a song with some pirate pals at Brando's
- Lost a camera
- Found a camera

All in all, it was a day well spent.
It was also a day that's less than a week from my departure date.
Nervous?
Perhaps!

For those who don’t know . . .

That’s really just a trick title. There are currently very few people who know what it is that I’m about to type, the title was just a catchy hook.

Mr. Dobson (of ‘Likes to be Bad’ infamy) has returned to Brantford to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family. Following that he will return to Ottawa (where he now lives) and I will meet him there and spent 5 days in town. Following that adventure I’m moving to Halifax ‘till Christmas.

I’ve been talking about travelling for a long time now, and am finally making strides to actually do it. I’ve got my passport taken care of, I’m going to Halifax for 2.5 months, and then when I come home, I can start planning my European adventure.

So, anyone who’s been to Halifax (or perhaps, any friends of mine who grew up in Nova Scotia) who has any recommendations of things to see or do, or who knows of any available jobs, please feel free to drop me a line and let me know!

I’ll do my best to keep this blog up to date, just in case anyone cares what’s happening in my life.

Grayson and Geertgen, sittin' in a tree . . .

Lots to say, and no time to say it. I’ll post more tomorrow! In the meantime (just to keep everyone from clawing out their eyes in dismay) I will post this . . .Entitled ‘Virgin and Child’ it was painted in the 1480s by Geertgen tot Sint Jans. I think it’s awesome and, despite being 530 years old, looks very contemporary.

If you have any interest at all in independent publications, social activism, the art of slack, comics, or pretty much anything else on Earth (this should include everyone reading this post) you should try to attend Canzine 2006 in Toronto. I’m going to try my damndest to make it.

I could be anywhere right now!

Updating this thing as infrequently as I have come to, is not conducive to the frequent creation of interesting posts. It seems the less frequently I post, the harder it is for me to think of things to post. I also don’t recall if I’ve ever previously posted what I’m about to, so if I have, just pretend I haven’t and shower me with praise.

It’s the Brawny Man’s T.V. show!!

Remember this guy?

Well, they took down his old site, and put up a new one showcasing his new T.V. show. It would appear the role of Brawny man can be rotated between actors. Anyway, I’ve only seen the trailer and part of the first episode, so if it’s terrible it’s not my fault. But seriously, if the Brawny man’s in it, how bad can it be?

Where am I now?

Aha, I’m online with enough time to update the ol’ blog.

This weekend my Aunt came out to visit from B.C. and my brother and I went to visit her and our cousins in Blyth. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of driving, as we took a new route. (It took us through weird places like Shakespear and Dublin. Who would live in places like that??) Following some dinner, and some visiting we drank my aunt’s new signature drink, sangria, and talked the night away. The next morning we were up early, and on the road again after an awesome bacon and egg breakfast. We got family portraits done, and I got some pictures taken for my passport, then we all went to the park.

It was a busy day in the park. There was a homecoming football game, a little zoo, and a medieval festival all happening at the same time. While we were there we ran into Glum Chum and his pirates of the Campus Main. Holding no candle to the Milton Ren Fest of old, we departed after spending less than an hour at the festival. After the park we went for dinner, then saying our goodbyes headed back from Waterloo to Guelph and then to Toronto. I had been planning on staying in B-dot and spending some time with Shabudabu, but she was tired and had to be up early, and thus I opted to attend my buddy Mike’s shindig on the Harbourfront.

Everything was going swimmingly until one of the people at the party threw up on the table at the bar. The first bar. We then, justifiably, attempted to move to another bar, and would have succeeded had it not been for another member of our party, who was both very drunk and very rowdy. I’m sure he thought he was being funny while he was shouting rude things to strangers and throwing flyers into the streets. He hit his comic peek when he tried chugging mustard and then threw mouthfuls of it onto the rest of our shirts and pants. My outfit is in the wash as we speak. By the end of the night I was tired. I figured the best way for me to actually get the sleep I needed would be to sleep in my dad’s van.

I must have parked in the craziest parking lot in Toronto. All night long I heard bottles breaking and people yellingl; then at six in the morning music started playing loudly. By eight o’clock a marathon had started (blocking the road I would soon need to turn onto) and a marching band was busy welcoming everyone to the finish line.

Eventually I grudgingly woke up, and hauled my exhausted self back to Brantford so I could return my father’s van, and come back to the Centre for a nap; which I have yet to take.

Back in Brown

Well, I’m back in the B-dot and I must say it feels good to be here. Shabu and my plans last night were changed on a whim to include pub fare and a pint with Anatak and her sister from Kingston. It was the right thing to do, but it made getting up early (we got dropped off at 1:30am and had to be up and out the door at 6:30am) such an unappealing possibility we dropped the whole thing in favour of sleeping in.

Our new plan is to spend the day in town, probably doing some thrifting, and possibly taking in a movie at the glorious Rainbow Cinema located a convenient 31.4 second walk from Shabu’s front door.

Straight from the basement

Being at home for the past week has been really great. I’ve spent most of my time cleaning up my crap from University and somehow integrating it all into everything I own which predates said academic experience. Despite the fact that I’ve been working on it for days, there is A LOT of stuff left to sort. It’s nice though being back at the old homestead. I’m finding all sorts of cool stuff I had forgotten all about. I’ve got lots of time to think too, about the next phase of my life and what it’s going to look like. I should really be doing that now, but I took some time out to send off e-mails and update this puppy (on a ROCKING 28.8 Kbps dial up connection which). In an hour I’ll be taking another break to watch Star Trek and then Star Trek :TNG. That will bring me just about to the time when It’ll be necessary to pack up some stuff and head back into Brantford for a couple of days.

Now that I’ve typed that I realize I’ve got a lot of work to do and not so much time to get it done in. Until next time fine readers!

Another Fantastic Adventure

This time due to some poor scheduling I ended up spending two days in Toronto and managed to catch 2 separate festivals. The first was the Toronto Busker Festival on Front and Queen. Glum Chum and I got there late but managed to catch two shows and enjoy a great bean dish from a street vendor. The last show we caught was a huge fire show, the MC Busker of which happened to live in the house we were staying in, yet we never would have known about it if we hadn’t overheard a hippie talking about it while we were in Kensington Market.

The second day was spent sleeping in, enjoying breakfast, buying some art supplies, drawing comics, and then dressing in pirate garb and taking the street car to Old Fort York for the Pirate Festival. We stayed late for the adults only show, which featured comics, magicians, singing, belly dancing and of course . . . drinking. We met some new friends, saw some old ones we’d lost contact with, and had a fantastic night! I took pictures to prove it!

Cottage II

My own Internet is down, so I'm posting this from Shabudabu's computer.

The cottage was FANTASTIC! We took tons of pics, all of which can be found in my new photo album. Turns out my old photo album requires that you purchase something from them every year in order to keep your free account. (How that's a free account I'm not exactly sure, but they make the rules).

There was also a pretty sweet poetry contest at the cottage in which I placed last due to the explicit content of my entry. I will post each entry in said contest at a later date, so keep your eyes peeled!

*Caution*

Just a word of warning, before you view these pictures. There is more nudity in them than can be reasonably justified. Carry on . . .

Solo Comics

I’ve been moving my stuff out of my apartment, and in the process of doing so I’ve come across these. I’ve included all of them because I wanted there to be a great bug post before I sign off for a while. I’ll be spending the next 4 days at a sweet cottage and following that, I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be doing.

Anyway, here are some comics I found while moving that I thought you might enjoy. They were all drawn by me, while bored at work. Enjoy . . .

I think this was the first comic that I drew at work (that I was able to find while moving). I was actually supposed to give this one to a girl who works at Subway, but for some reason I never did. It's not my favourite, but I think you'll enjoy it.
This is another comic I did around Christmas, which is kind of weird because Christmas is THE busiest time of year at Rogers. Oh well, take a look . . .
I must have been going through a comic drawing phase last winter, because here's another one set amidst the snow. Nobody I've showed this comic to so far has laughed, so if you do, please let me know.
This is Black Pepper Jack's favourite of my comics. He says he's not sure why, he just likes it. The original was given to a fellow mall employee, but before that I made a copy of it in our fax machine. Unfortunately the copy picked up the printing on the backside of the page, luckily I don't think it interferes too much with the art or the text, so read on.
This one I drew quite recently, and was supposed to be of a more political nature, but I never had enough time to finish it. Perhaps someone will finish it for me, and then post their conclusion on their own blog, with a link to it in my comments section. Just an idea!
I didn't even know this one wasn't finished until I started showing it to people. I've chosen not to add the rest of the text as I think the comic works the way it is. It's one of my favourites despite it's being unfinished.
And there you have it, my offline exploits from work at Rogers. I hope you liked them, and I hope each and everyone of my readers has a fantastic weekend/summer. I’ll make sure to respond to everyone when I’m back online.

Peace.