The 31st

It's the end of January, Lunar New Year, time to look back on the 1/12th of 2014 that has already past. I stopped blogging, even when shit got interesting (my birthday, going to the beerfest with Marc). I will be trying harder in February, it's a process, and it takes time.

The Year of the horse. I've eaten horse.

I went to my granny's place to help her order a gift on Amazon. Her ipad art is coming along nicely. I am looking forward to her show in April.

I went to the skydome to get opening day Blue Jays tickets but they were already sold out. I would rather go on bobble head day anyway. I had more success across the street at Steam Whistle Brewery getting my growler filled. On my way home I realized the hipster thing to do is brag about the low carbon footprint of carrying beer from its brewery in  a reusable container.

I got home and had a beer and made some gourmet Kaft Dinner. I expected a relaxing uneventfull friday night.

Now consider this a sober accounting of what happened, I am witting it first thing the next morning and adding it to this post, I was too angry to write it last night.

Paul returned from watching a lacrosse game with his buddy Chad. This is the drunk Paul who worries me, one too many, you never know what will set him off, only the 89% probability that something will.
I'm about to go to bed to avoid any situation when our brother Marc stops by after having finished work.

We have about ten minutes of conversation before Paul, who was sprawled out on couch cushions on the floor, began babbling about Kanye.Then after finishing his McDonalds poutine, Paul from a position on his knees, ravenously tears into the container, gutturally licking at the last remnants of gravy.
Marc, with his feet up on the table, comments that a video would be great. Paul tells Marc that his feet stink. Marc true to his nature, digs that his feet stink cause its from a day of hard work. At this point Paul inexplicably mocks Marc's salary and tells him to get his feet off his table. I have been writing the table, it is my table, but Paul at this point keeps referring to it as his table. I think it was when I pointed this out to him he decide to kick Marc out of our apartment with a "Get the fuck out of my house". Marc left. Now, bear in mind Marc is approaching this situation completely sober having just come from work. I had a large beer 4 hours earlier.
I didn't want Marc to go.

I'm sure Paul doesn't think anything is wrong. He flew off the handle and treated our own brother like shit in our house. I'm only writing it down to show how surreal it was and how quickly it escalated.

A beer and a band

The Stormalongs rehearse with Mike on bass 

I took care of a few things around the house, only a few days left till my party and I have a lot to do.

Me, Chad and Paul

In the evening I met Paul and his old coworker for a beer at Wide Open, a bar that makes most condos look spacious. Afterward we caught the end of the stormalongs jam. The have a show in February and were rehearsing with a guy named Mike on bass. It sounded good and I can't wait to see it with a crowd.

Nick,  Colin and me.

moms place for sunday dinner

My brother Marc picked Paul and I up and drove us to my moms house in Mississauga for dinner. Its a hellish bus ride, so zipping there in a car is sweet. He gave us a ride home too, it was so nice of him.

We did a bunch of laundry. I hate the nearby laundromat, its dirty, and it takes all my change.

Mom's lasagna was great, it always is. I got the expected "meh" to news of my job being extended.


The new simpsons episode was great! They did a tribute to Miyazaki. As a ghibli fan I loved it. There was also a mention of Mr Sparkle, it was so funny.

Sticker Saturday

My old Macbook

I don't understand why someone would want to have the same exact thing as everyone else, that is why I will never own an iphone, or a Canada Goose jacket. High end cookie cutter consumerism.Don't get me wrong, I like nice expensive things, and my new mac is certainly that, but I can't see myself sitting in a coffee shop with something that hasn't been personalized, after all, I will be it's only owner.

So I will cover my new mac with stickers, like I did my last one.

The first piece I'm adding to the back of my mac is this cool Cream Soda sticker. My friend Matt picked it up for me while we walked around Harajuku. A sticker from Matt to be a reminder of good times and that I get by with a little help from my friends.

I went for a skate today. it was 3 degrees Celsius so the ice was melty and I knew I'd end up on my ass. I filmed it with my nintendo 3DS, and I totally did fall on my ass right at the end. I spent the afternoon fucking around with the footage in an attempt to make it interesting. You can see the video below.

Paul had a great idea for me to move my turntable out to the living room. I have a ton of great vinyl, he  has some good stuff too, from our dads collection. I havent used my record player in a while, but it fits perfect out here. I know it's gonna get a ton of use out here. On the downside it makes me want to buy vinyl. Right now I'm listening to the Smashing Pumpkins, witout a doubt my favourite band, but as I moved my records onto the shelf a glaring gap became apparent. The Pumpkins have reissued previously hard to find records like Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness and never before on vinyl The Aeroplane Flies High (5LP), but the issue was and still is it's exorbitant cost.

I am so grateful to my friend Shawna for hooking me up with my job, and I'm sad she lost her buddy Rambo. I joined her and her boyfriend Bill to have a beer and celebrate the life of Rambo. I used to pay to develop photos, I was crazy about polaroid, now we have instant photos on our phones so I had to get a snapshot of the three of us together.

Hug your granny if you canny

My Gmo and Me

What a busy day. I was out taking care of business and didn't get home unti the evening.
I went to the library to pick up a book I had placed on hold. It was this amazing book by Guillermo Del Toro called Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities: My Notebooks, Collections, and Other Obsessions , comprised of selections from his personal notebooks, sketches, writings, neat stuff. You can check it out at the amazon link below(at a good price too). Or go to the library like I did, for free.

I had a dentist appointment for a filling on a molar. My dentist is great. He told me to floss more so he wouldn't have to work so hard on a Friday. Afterwards I realized I missed a good opportunity to take a selfie, next time.

I did manage to take a picture of my granny and me at Tim Hortons. I haven't been able to hang out with her since I started my job. She was supposed to take an ipad art class this month, but it was canceled when not enough people signed up. She is pretty bummed out about that.

I'm going skating tomorrow, I can't wait!

My last day... Nope, not my last day

Today was my last day at my seasonal stockroom job, but then my boss said he was going to try and find at least one shift a week for me. I'm really glad, cause I like my boss, enjoy my co-workers and the work is not stressful in the least. I also got paid today, it was more then I had lowballed myself but still, it all goes to visa (and half is clawed back off next month's odsp, but whatever, I'm not going to complain when the government teat sees me getting my own milk). I picked up sour creme for my dinner perogies, also a can of steam whistle beer to relax/unwind, and celebrate my employment achievement.

Three employees were arrested and taken away in cuffs for stealing. It was the talk of the afternoon. Stealing is wrong, and dumb, and these guys were dummies for sure. I was going to pick my nose the other day when I noticed I was in view of a camera, I let that booger stand (I could always wipe it on the washroom wall). Shrink is taken seriously, as it should be.

Tomorrow is my first day off in a while, and I'm going to be crazy busy. I'm going to take my laptop out for some out of the house blogging.

Damn Monkey

Google made this photo/video collage of my uploaded photos from 2013. It's pretty neat, hits the highlights, but misses some good stuff I had uploaded to another folder.

Tomorrow is my last day of work, unless the boss decides to keep me around. I will also get my first cheque, which would be sweet if it wasn't already claimed by those bastards at visa, and my internet bill. I wish I had a few bucks to spruce up my place (I want an ikea sofa to rest my tired ass on). How can I have a party without a sofa? I hope my friends like to stand.

I was on my knees reading the sku off of a box at work today, a woman who works upstairs asked if this is what I dreamed I'd be doing when I grew up. I laughed and said it was, that's why I worked so hard to get such shitty grades in high school. I'm sure she didn't mean to be rude, and it was, but I didn't take offence. My life is awesome, my shitty job doesn't define me. I have met my favourite directors, rock stars, and traveled the world with/made amazing friends. My job isn't stressful at all, while sorting hangers I contemplated the cost/time it would take to train a monkey to do the same task. Damn monkey would steal my job for a banana.

Broke Elvis

Broken Elvis Face

At the Stormalongs jam space last week I took this selfie covering my face with a broken Elvis bust. I think it looks pretty cool. I did not break the King.

It was so fucking cold today. I was freezing and all I could think about was the hot Nevada sun, the Burning Man is calling me. I hope I can answer.

I'm going to have a party for my 32nd birthday next Saturday. It's a Crazy Liquor and Cheeseburger party! I've gotten a good response from my faceblah e-vite, so it's going to happen. I haven't had people over to my house to hang out, much less party. I'm looking forward to doing some cleaning when I get a chance, both for my guests and my own benefit. Working keeps me so busy it seems all I have time for is eating and sleeping (although I do find 45 minutes to unwind with some ER, and I write these missives). I guess I get no sympathy from the working world. My unemployed self thought there were too many hours in a day. Now I want that time back for more sleeping.

I want to get some postcard blog posts out for next week. The postcard blog gets a decent amount of traffic when its not being neglected, as I've been doing with all my blogging. Still, I have more posts this week than all of last year. Shame since so much cool stuff happened last year. Of course I was also living in my moms basement for most of that time. Who would want to read that blog?

Poutine Tank

This is poutine, now it goes in my belly

People don't know this, but us Canadians have something called a poutine tank. Much like a diabetic must constantly check his insulin levels, Canadians must strive to maintain a full poutine tank during the cold winter months. The tank doesn't need to be filled every day, but when it's empty you had better get your ass to St-Hubert. My tank has been dry for a few days, so I made some poutine for dinner tonight.

What a satisfying mess. I had a good day at work today, I really worked up an appetite.

My job is only seasonal (till January 10th), but today my boss asked how many hours a week I would need to consider staying around. I told him as little as one or two, cause it's better than zero. He said "ok, we will see.", so fingers crossed. I would love to get a few shifts, even if I only work one day a week.

I'm going to watch an episode of ER(S4E10) and go to sleep a little early.

Boogers on the Wall

I was working today. I have four days left on the schedule. My boss said he would bring me back again when it gets busy. I will have to start looking for something else soon but I'm too tired to do anything about it now. I felt old today, some people in the lunchroom were talking about turning 20 and how impossibly old 30 is. I turn 32 in just over a week.

This sign is hanging in the mens room beside the urinals. I can't imagine finding the same sign in the ladies room, but that could be
gender bias. Is this an indication of the maturity/age of some of the staff or do grown adult men actually do this while taking a pee? I think its like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy. how does one pee and pick ones nose at the same time? Serious multitasking.

I've got a mad poutine craving that I plan on satisfying tomorrow for dinner. I will write about in detail here, if only to make readers jealous.

If you like the idea of me not having to work you could make a purchase through this amazon banner below, it wont cost you any extra and I get to wet my beak. Everybody wins.

Rest now sweet Rambo

Today my friend Shawna had to make the difficult decision to put her beloved dog Rambo to rest.
Although Rambo had slowed down in recent times, he was always "up" for a good leg humping. He once dropped a "dookie" right into a overturned cinderblock, like a doggy toilet. That still impresses me. On a hot summers eve he would want to keep on walking and never go home, in the winter he would get 20 feet away from his door, do his business and turn back. Rambino as he was sometimes called (by me) was warm and gentle and never really made a barking noise until he recently figured out how. A former stud, Rambo loved bitches, and would drag you down the sidewalk in pursuit of tail. I will miss you Rambo, it was fun drinking beers with you and watching HBO while Shawna was out of town.

Rambo Steals a Boot

I worked at receiving shoes all day today, opening a box, checking to see if all the shoes were there, repeat. It was an uneventful day, save for the guy I saw walking down Yonge Street without a coat on in -35c. He wasn't homeless either, he had an iphone (hobos can't charge iphones).

I had a nice text based chat with my buddy Matt Stone over my lunch break. It was good to hear that he's been reading my blog, but it might be creepy as he reads...this...line...right...here. Hi buddy.

I had dinner with Mike and his stepdaughter Vienna. It was a good meal, and cool to see V's daughter again. Mike goes back to Seattle tomorrow. I'm gonna miss him.

Rambo steals my boot

This is my friend Shawna's dog Rambo. A few people have asked how I spent New Years Eve, I spent it with Rambo(Rams, Rambino, Ramalamadingdong) He is stealing my Doc Martin boots to enjoy as a leathery snack. He is not feeling well so I wish him well and hope he's better soon.

Me & Mike

My best friend Mike and his wife V are in town for the holiday season. I had a late lunch with them yesterday. We reminisced about our adventures in Japan, so many sweet memories and laughs. Later Mike and I walked around the PATH and talked. Walked and talked, like when we were kids.

I have a seasonal job in the stockroom of a sporting goods store. I only have a week left of work. I was up at 6 am this morning to get there for 8. My brother Paul was watching Archer, still celebrating the arrival of 2014 in the early hours of it's second day. I had to metaphorically tiptoe around him so as not to rile his drunken Jekyl. He will turn on a dime and its not how I wanted to start my day. After avoiding that shit show I managed to forget my metropass and had to actually pay cash fare for the ttc, something I haven't had to do for a long while. 

When I got home from work he was having a few beers with our neigbour Allan, and watching Archer. I watched some old episodes of ER in my room and wrote this here blog post. Goodnight, back to the grind in the morning.

Welcome 2014, next year, hoverboards!

"YOLO MOTHA FUCKA, IT'S MY MOTTO, YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE BRA!"

-Drunken Reveller, out a taxicab window, New Years Eve 2013 

I was gone but now I'm back. Let's call 2014 the year I take blogging seriously. The past year saw some big changes, along with some big same. I can get into all that shit later. I'm really excited about the possibilities 2014 brings.

Here's one excuse for not blogging: My computer died in October. It was a workhorse that lasted me a good 6 years. When I brought it to the apple store they told me they could not do anything for antiques. It was an antique, but not one that was worth anything, one of those worthless antiques that nobody wants. It has been tough without a computer, as a blind person I use it constantly as a visual aid.

Thankfully, I was due for a new computer through the assistive devices program. I'm typing this from a brand new macbook pro. It's so quiet, my old mac sounded like a jet taking off. This is a really powerful machine so I hope I can learn how to maximize its potential, I guess that just means "be productive".

The Stormalongs rock once more, December 30th 2013

Apparently Santa Claus got my letter, and reunited my friends The Stormalongs for the holidays. With Matt Thompson visiting from his new home in BC, it was an opportune moment for Captain Colin J. Gibson to steer the good ship Stomalong into port for a rare original lineup jam session. Even Mo-Mo More-el-o showed to rock. It was great to see the band back together. But it was much better to hear them back together. It was amazing how quickly everyone jumped in again as if they had filed all the Stormalongs rock knowledge in some part of the brain that was impervious to the passage of time. These are my friends and they don't rock like this anymore but they are rocking in this moment and that just feels right.