Sam sign on the rise

The Sam the Record Man sign is going up on the city's Public Health building right at Yonge & Dundas square. It should be done in the next few weeks, hopefully. Storm is brewing and they say we get snow tonight.

the bottom part of half of the Sam the Record Man sign without the record.

I used to work at Sams. It was pretty sweet. When it closed and Ryerson University bought the property they lied about respecting the sign and left it out of plans for it's new building. I always hoped the city would do the right thing and find a place for it somewhere prominent.

for now, a subtle sign amongst some bright lights. 

Remembering and thinking forward

One year ago today I was in Nagasaki, Japan. The site of the second atomic bomb explosion. It was the day Trump won the US election. The rain was persistent and suited my mood. I walked the distance from the JR station to the park. I walked around the peace park and contemplated the future. I didn't go to the museum, because there were crowds of school children and I didn't feel like I could handle being around people. I felt so solitary and alone. I was drained by the experience and I wanted to take the train back to Tokyo that evening.

Statue of a woman and her child, Nagasaki Japan

The Women at home prayed for victory as their men departed for the battlefields.But then the blood of countless peoples was shed on the vast continents and the far away islands. Finally,in 1945 as the war escalated,it brought the tragedies of the Okinawa islands followed by the inhuman atomic bomb attacks over Hiroshima on the 6th and Nagasaki on the 9th of August. Ah!On that unforgettable day,in an instantaneous blast of indescribable heat,the bodies of tens of thousands of men and women, mothers and children were hideously torn and burnt to death. After more than forty years,the agony continues even yet.Danger signs of a second nuclear war permeate our very existence.The earth stands at the brink of total oblivion. We must not allow any more war!Nor the use of atomic weapons!Let us guard our precious green earth and preserve all life of every kind. We erect this relief,still hearing the bursting cries on that day of each of those women long silenced in death.Bringing together all the turmoil from the depths of their tortured hearts and minds,we pledge ourselves never to repeat that disaster. The Assembly to Build the Nagasaki Peace Monument the Mothers and Children 

Today was another boring day at work, but when I remembered where I was 1 year ago I got excited about the future and where I will be 1 year from now.

2 lines

Another day at work. Nothing interesting to post about. 

I can't wait till payday. I'm sick of eating Kraft Dinner.

Working

It's monday. I go to work. It's a normal day. I build a box, take product and scan it, then I put it in the box. It's easy.

I'm broke until payday and I needed food. I keep my laundry money in a little super mario coin bank, I shook it out hoping for "real money", it was about 10$. I bought apples and bread and perogies. I can make it till Thursday. 

I'm finishing off the last shot of Japanese whiskey that I brought back last year ago. No special occasion, just can't keep something that good for that long.

dark out early

Work on a sunday is easy as the day seems go by quicker. Today was the end of daylight savings so it was dark when I finished. 

Some project ideas I have for this blog:

-Youtube posts: Showcase some video I have taken.

-100 Christmas trees: I take 100 pictures of 100 different Christmas trees. It's a big city, it should be fun.

-Postcards: revive my postcard blog and send out 5 postcards every week.

I'm going to make these things happen.

three faces

I went to meet my brother Marc and his girlfriend April, they were hosting a mutual friend from Timmins, Travis. It was good to see the guy, it's probably been since high school. He's a good friend of Marc's and crashed at their place while in town on business.

on the walk to Marc's place.

My brother Paul is in town to move out the last of his stuff. We had a really good hug.

King st near Cherry St.

Cool art is graffiti proof

I like to stop and check these faces out when I go past.

Thor: Ragnarok

Yes, it's funny. Very funny. The funniest of any of the MCU movies so far, and of course it is!
Taika Waititi is the director and comedy is this New Zealanders bag. If you haven't seen What We Do In The Shadows, check it out on netflix.

This is the third Thor film, and it's the best of all 3, which doesn't say much, but it's still really great.

Standout performances from Jeff Goldblum as the clueless despot Grandmaster and the director himself as Korg is so damn funny.

I had predicted a cameo by the Guardians of the Galaxy but I was wrong and it didn't happen.

This was an action-comedy closer to Deadpool in its approach (without the hard R, you can take the kids).

trade and save

I wanted to go to a coffee shop and write but I got distracted by my brother in a chat message thread.
See my former roommate and still brother wanted me to pay him for the modem he ordered from our internet provider, even though he hadn't really paid for it. When I pointed out that I had made all the payments for the service and he legit owed me money, he was willing to call it a wash. It was a reminder of how petty he can be and how glad I am he's almost out of my life.

I went to EB Games to see about trading in some games I don't play anymore. I think I did pretty good, I pre-ordered Xenoblade 2 and paid for it outright (90$) as well as an 18$ credit which I will probably use on amiibo eventually.

I got rid of these games.

Granny get Well

I worked a half day so that I could go visit my Granny Mo. She is a great lady and always there for her family. Lately she isn't feeling well. She says she's had a cough since January, damn. We chatted about my work and stuff while she knitted a bear and Seinfeld episodes played marathon-style on mute. We would eventually succumb and turn the volume up on the tv, cause Grandma wanted to know what was happening in "The Contest".

I usually take a picture of my grandma and I together, but she was feeling so crappy I didn't ask. This is a picture of us from August when we had Ramen.

A selfie of me and Gmo from August

I'm off work tomorrow, the plan is to do some cleaning. I would also like to get out of the house and do some writing, maybe take some pictures.

Julien, know your place

Just shy of a year of nothing. No blogging. I don't remember how. If my future clone wanted to know about this gap in his history I would summarize it for him thusly; I had two separate interviews for jobs at Cineplex movie theatres, and after not getting either position I spiralled into months of poverty and self-doubt until I got my shit together and asked for my job back at Sporting Life. On my first day back at my old job I booked a week off, as I was invited to San Francisco to hang out with some friends. After that I worked at Sporting Life for the summer, took 2 weeks to do tiff in September and then went back to the ol Sportin' Life warehouse.

Up until last week I lived with my brother. I has been a trying year. I'm glad I wasn't blogging about it at the time, but I think it's going to be a big part of my writing in the future.

I spoke to my dad on the phone this evening. He lives in Montreal and I keep promising to go out and visit. I used to go more often when I was unemployed with a credit card.

I have a lot of things to do, clean my apartment, find a roommate and then get onto important personal growth.

More tomorrow.

Canonball

Coffee for now, but I may return for beer later.

A photo posted by Julien Chabot (@socialdynamo) on Nov 25, 2016 at 8:39am PST

I have been back from Japan for almost 2 weeks now. I was sick and jetlagged for the first week and spent the last few days in a bit of a panic. I have no job and I'm running out of money. I had an ambitious project I attempted to undertake in Japan, a photo/blog thing that fell through when I couldn't get the camera in time. I salvaged some of the concept by purchasing a Nikon Key Mission 360 and capturing some decent 360 content. I feel like I failed.

The instant camera is in the mail, and should arrive by the end of the month.

Today I step out of the house for a change of scenery. I head east on Queen to The Cannonball. Jazzy tunes and a cozy atmosphere to type in.

I'm seriously oscillating between finding a new job or begging my old boss to take me back. Not because I miss or want the job, but the worry of not getting something else. My only ideas of possible prospects are Cineplex and Flight Centre.

I want to write. Just sit and write. I think my best bet is to vomit everything onto the internet and see what sticks.

It was 5 years ago today that I saw Prince for the first and only time at the Air Canada Centre. It was an amazing set, he must have done 6 encores. The girl I went with didn't really want to stay, but as people left and the show went on, they seemed to be allowing people into the lower sections so we moved closer. It was so good.

Prince dominated

Authentic Chicago Airport Deep Dish Pizza

Airport Pizza O'hare

I had a 55 minute stop-over at Chicago's O'hare before my connection to Seattle. I hoped it was enough time to grab an authentic Chicago Deep Dish Airport Pizza! I have had Deep Dish before in San Francisco and Seattle, both excellent, but I can't find anywhere in Toronto that makes it the Chicago Way. I found Reggios easily enough in the K terminal food court. The woman working the counter was pleasant. The pie was ready to go and still hot in the box as I reached my seat on the plane. I'm sure some passengers were eyeballing me, jealous of my 8 am Deep Dish Pizza Breakfast. I wish I had a coke to wash it down, it was greasy cheesy delicious. The crust was buttery and thin. I so enjoyed this food. I will go back to Chicago someday and eat Deep Dish every day.

Where to stick comments

I'm not forcing anyone to read this. If you don't like it you can leave a comment or stop reading. To contact me personally so as to attack me and the quality of my writing is juvenile.

Taxes and Ass Coffee

I ran out of good coffee, I had to steal some crappy beans from my brother (He lived off my good stuff till I asked for a contribution, he then switched to the cheap stuff saying "Coffee is Coffee"). As I drink this cup of boiled mud-shit, I assure you, Good coffee is Coffee, Paul's coffee is shit.

Paul and I are not really talking. He had a drunken blow-up man-tantrum at my moms house and somehow my mom thinks I antagonized him.

I try to avoid him when he is drunk or high, he can turn on a dime and is instantly confrontational.

I did my taxes for 2012, finally. I should get a nice little return in about 6 weeks (snail mail). I'm going to put it aside for Japan in the fall.

A friend sent me a job posting I think I could most certainly get. I could round out my income with the three warehouse shifts a week I am now working.

I met Kevin Flynn for dinner. It's Mardi Gras, we had pancakes. He was a good friend in high school, and I haven't seen him in a few years. He is so unique, I have missed him and I won't let so much time pass before we meet again.

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.