The 30th Today was a Sunday full of furry critters, clear skies and BBQ. After breakfast, I went to my parents' place to take some photos of the dogs then I drove up to the Rotary Park to walk around on the trails and in the woods with Laine's camera. I figured I'd see a few kinds of birds and take a couple of shots then go home but there were tons of animals running around. I watched chipmunks run like mad through the trees. It was crazy how fast they go and how easily they just jump, zig-zag and climb. It looked like two of them just kept chasing each other for about ten minutes, occasionally stopping to chirp a bunch and let me grab a photo or twelve. Then I spotted a hare/jackrabbit/bunny-type animal that actually let me get pretty close and snap its photo. He was a pretty big bunny too but then an even larger one hopped into the scene so I followed them around for a bit until they went their separate ways. After I got back, I went over to Shawn's to have a big BBQ with everyone who's home from school and whatnot. As expected, I ate way too much and then decided why not get some Frosty Treat while I'm on the verge of busting. We watched some Trailer Park Boys but then when the Val Kilmer Batman movie came on I had to go home because it was terrible. Gawd, it was terrible. I went for a walk later on and came across a big raccoon in the Memorial Park. He was just poking his nose around stuff and ambling along so I followed him for as long as I could. I could have been walking him on a leash because that's how close he let me get without running off. He didn't really seem to care so I followed him for a couple of blocks wishing I had brought the camera with me. He kinda got spooked at one point and dashed off behind the Homestead so I let him go find whatever it was he was looking for. Worms? Grubs? Love? Garbage? Who knows? I had a scenario running through my head the whole time of the raccoon stopping, baring his teeth and jumping at my leg or something. Next thing you know, I'd be at the hospital getting stitches and a rabies shot. As much as that would suck, it would be a pretty good story to tell people I got attacked by a vicious racoon outside City Hall. The 29th Kira and her dance class had this big dance recital at the Confed Centre tonight so we piled into Melissa's car and drove up to Charlottetown to make an afternoon and evening out of it. I didn't find a damn thing worthwhile buying between Value Village and Cash Converters. That's not surprising though. I did, however, find something extra good to eat at The Churchill Arms. I ordered Shinn and Guinness which is beef stew in this really thick Guinness gravy served with potato bread. Sweet mercy it was good. The beef was fall-apart tender and the fried slab of potato bread pretty much goes well with anything. Really dense, fried dough is good no matter what. I brought some home and put syrup on it at the waitress' recommendation. The dance recital was actually pretty enjoyable for the most part. I'm not exactly a theatrical dance type of person but there were quite a few numbers that were really well put together and interesting to watch. Kira was great and it was nice to go see what it is she's been up to in dance class. The 28th A bunch of us went to eat at The Loyalist tonight and I don't think I'll be going there for dinner ever again. It seems every time I go the prices go up and the $10 lasagna I ordered was pretty lame. It was bland, about half an inch thick and overcooked. I didn't mind it being overcooked so much because I'd probably eat crispy cheese on something leftover by a hobo. The "garlic toast" it came with was two slices of focaccia bread about the size of crackers. Meanwhile, everyone around me had gigantic plates full of fish and chips and whatnot. Ian's home for the weekend and he told me about this hilarious, albeit disturbing, kung-fu move called "Monkey Steals The Peach". I'm sure the image says it all but be sure to click on it and read the full description. I find the name endlessly funny but, as a male, it bothers me that this is the sort of move one might learn as a martial artist. It just seems wrong on so many levels. For some reason, as I was putting laundry in the washer, the name Langdon Auger popped into my head. It was such a weird name that I had to repeat it over and over to make sure I didn't forget it. Why this happened, I have no idea. Where the hell have I heard this name before? He's a rapper or something and I don't listen to anything rap-related. The weird thing is, I googled his name and found that the main image on his website is of two martial artists kicking ass. Serendipity, you work in mysterious ways. Can someone please tell me why or where they think I may have heard this name before? Oh wait, I just figured it out. I believe I heard it on CBC Radio 3 the other night as a passing reference. Grant Lawrence mentioned him and how Langdon Auger took his name from Lisa Simpson's first boyfriend even though his name was Langdon Alger. Thanks, Google. Ok, I can sleep now. The 23rd I borrowed Laine's SLR and have been snapping shots all weekend. My photos definitely leave something to be desired but I'm happy with how some of them turned out. I really, really want an SLR now but I'm sure it would end up in a drawer after a week or two once the novelty wears off. The telephoto and macro lenses are pretty sweet though. Some weird wallpaper in the back porch that apparently showcases birds of prey. Porch light. Exciting. A nifty, old sign on a rusty, old barge. Someone's fancy-ass tombstone. Reminds me of a character from the old Mighty Hercules cartoon. A puppy plodding down the path along the waterfront. I just barely missed this old guy getting the terrier to jump up and spin around for treats. He saw me and decided that posing with the dog instead of making him jump and spin would make for a better photo. The 17th I'm pretty sure Kettle Chips are the best chips in the entire world. I used to only buy the Honey Dijon flavour for the most part because they're so good and unbelievably addictive. Regular chips are mildly addictive but these are like chips laced with crack and magic. I figured it couldn't get any better than the Honey Dijon until I tried a couple of new kinds the other day. Spicy Thai is actually spicy as opposed to all of those other crappy brands out there that claim to be spicy but it's really just some kind of chemical that burns your tongue. Not only are they spicy but they be damn tasty and are this weird mix of four different flavours that I can't quite put my finger on. Cheddar Beer flavour, where have you been all my life? I could eat forty-two bags of these chips at once and still ask for more. I am actually salivating right now just thinking about them and am sort of sad that I finished the bag earlier today. The 16th What could be better than a grey, rainy, cold Sunday that also happens to be Easter? Lots of things actually. Well, at least my fish are happy with a clean bowl full of fresh water. I went to my parents' place for supper that my sister cooked. I found that a little strange because she doesn't cook but it was good in any case. I saw my brother for the first time in about 6 months or however long it's been since he went out west to work. We're probably going to go visit my grandparents tomorrow and surprise them since they don't know that he's back yet. I've come to the realization that I'm going to give up trying to hold my fork like a regular person. The shovel method really works for me and I just can't get used to holding it in the dainty fashion that others do. It just feels too strange. I've held my fork like this for twenty-seven years and I don't think I want to bother changing. I don't plan on dining with the Queen Mum so what does it matter? I also realized how Roddy McDowall's name seems like it should be the name of a cute character in some cartoon that takes place in a hardware store. The 15th I was the self-designated driver tonight for the trek to Charlottetown with Tammy, Mike and Nathan. Catherine and Tanya were having their double CD launch at The Arts Guild and the plan was to go see Neil Young's new movie at City Cinema first and then head over to the show. The evening didn't exactly unfold in a fashion I was expecting and it actually became a relatively annoying outing in some respects. Here's why: 1) Huge rush to make it in time for the movie so I had a sandwich and a glass of water for supper. 2) On my way into the theatre I realized that I locked my keys in the car. 3) I opted to get my keys somehow and forfeited the movie. 4) Called the cops from a convenience store pay phone. First call to general inquiries got me a machine. Wasted a quarter. My second call was to non-emergency and I got a snotty woman telling me that I had to call a towing service to get my keys and not the police. She had that type of tone that made it seem like this was some foreign service the police never did or never would do. 5) I remembered Ian and Holly said they might be going to Charlottetown so I called an operator hoping to find out the cost of a collect call to Summerside. After a very long wait I was told it's not long distance. I dialed the number and a recording told me to dial 1 and the area code. I hung up. 6) Second call to the operator and I got a different lady who told me that I can't make a collect call to that number because Ian's family had blocked collect calls to their number. She also told me that it's not long distance anyway. I didn't bother to correct her and hung up. 7) Third call to the operator, I got yet another lady, and asked for the cost to make a long distance call to my parents' place. $3.85 in quarters, dimes or nickles. I didn't have enough change. Asked her to place a collect call instead. 8) My brother was coming home from out west tonight so I thought maybe someone would be going to pick him up at the airport. Mom told me that he was getting a lift in town with someone else so no one could bring my spare keys to me. Thanks anyway, Mom. 9) I called a tow truck service to get my door unlocked. No one was available for the long weekend. Another quarter wasted. 10) I called another number. Success! Soon a tow truck arrived and, $30 later, my door was open. 11) I cracked my head hard on the door frame getting into my car. 12) I had missed too much of the movie and the CD launch was starting soon so I just went to The Arts Guild a little early. I was told previously that my name plus one would be on the guest list. It wasn't, nor was my plus one. Some stammering explanations followed but they decided to let me in anyway. I think they felt bad for me. 13) I went backstage with Catherine and endured some very awkward small talk with acquaintances and introductions to new ones. The awkwardness, of course, was all on my end. I decided to go sit by myself and try to go unnoticed. Unsuccessful. 13) Suffered through more awkward conversations and introductions. Made my way through throngs of people, forgetting names left and right. I wanted to go home. 14) I took a peek at Catherine's CD that I designed and found at least 4 technical problems with only a cursory examination. I considered applying at the call centre and forgetting about graphic design. 15) After the show, we decided we needed burgers since none of us had a proper meal. I asked for no onions on my burger…guess what. 16) I walked outside and it started raining. 17) Driving out of the city limits I realized I forgot to get gas like I had planned and there are no stations open on the way home. I turned around and drove back into the city. 18) After dropping Mike and Tammy off, I parked in my driveway and listened to the radio for a bit. During that time I wondered what was on SNL and remembered Pearl Jam were supposed to be on sometime soon. I went inside to find out that had I come in to watch SNL when I drove into the driveway I would have caught PJ's first performance. I also missed a funny bit about cats shooting lasers from their mouths and I really like cats with abilities like that. But the night wasn't all that bad I suppose. Catherine and Tanya's show was great and was pretty fun when I didn't have to talk to anyone. I got a lot of compliments about the poster design for the show which was nice. I also learned how someone would go about opening the locks in my car. The 13th Has it really been a week since I last posted? Holy crap. I've actually been working quite a bit and doing other things so I sort of just let the ramblings go the wayside. I guess it's good in a way because I'm not just being a completely lazy slob, watching TV and eating. Must be the fact that spring is here and the doldrums of winter are vanishing like the snow. Except that the snow has been gone for a while so that's not exactly a very good simile. Timely but not entirely apt. All of the construction at the County Fair Mall, the new Sobeys, etc. has got me thinking back to what was there before when I was a kid. Other than the obvious fact that Athena School was there, the side parking lot next to the old Sobeys used to have this circular building that was a dairy bar if I remember correctly. I can barely recall what it looked like but I do know some of my neighbours worked there at one point, maybe they owned the joint. I wonder if I could find photos of that anywhere… The 6th I went to a meeting in Charlottetown today even though I should have waited for Friday instead because I have a ton of work to do. But it was a good chance to drop some things off, buy OS X Tiger, drop in to see Kira, visit with Catherine, Isabel and Holly, eat at The Formosa, and be convinced a few times on the way back that I was about to die. It was raining so the roads were dark and reflective, and I couldn't tell where the damn lines were. I'm thinking that maybe my headlights aren't focused properly or something. I figured if I wasn't driving directly into an oncoming vehicle I was going to be ok but a few times I was expecting to end up in a ditch or down a hill going 90 clicks. It sucked but all is well and I stopped in at Frosty Treat for the first time this year to get a Skor flurry. That alone is worth risking near death through treacherous driving. The 4th Tammy's cousin, Patrick, is visiting again so I've been hanging out over at her place with Patrick and Mike watching movies and talking about a bunch of geeky stuff like movies, cartoons and comics. Tammy must feel so included in the conversations. Patrick has worked on so many cool movies doing make-up and effects. I saw some photos tonight of the makeup he's done, like werewolves and zombies, and they look amazing. He worked on Silent Hill, which comes out in a couple of weeks, and it's going to be pretty cool to see all of the stuff he talked about and showed me. It's crazy how many movies he's worked on that I've seen and I had absolutely no idea so I'm definitely going to be looking for his name in the credits. I got nailed with another car repair bill today which wasn't fun. Ah, the joys of car ownership. A bit of oil was leaking out from the bottom of the car and it cost $230 to fix. Nice. I'd almost rather let the damn thing drip away. The 2nd I do not like springing ahead at all, especially when the day I'm springing into is grey, cold and rainy. That doesn't put much spring into my step. I didn't do a damn thing all day except sit around and watch TV. It had its moments though because at one point in my channel surfing I hit French CBC around dinner time and the animated Spider-Man from the 60s was on. Not only was it weird that Spider-Man was on CBC at 5:30pm in French but it was the Dementia 5 episode AND I'm pretty sure Paul Soles was still doing Spidey's voice in French. The translated credits would seem to suggest it was him still doing voice work but, if it wasn't, the actor's voice was a dead-ringer for the original. Within two minutes of watching, I heard "bibliothèque" and "qu'est-ce qui ce passe?". It doesn't get much better than that. The 1st Uhhhnnnnn…too much chocolate and sugar. Kyle, Sharon and Laine came over tonight to play some games and otherwise hang out in the style we're accustomed to. Sharon brought a big bag of unholy and addictive homemade peanut butter cups, and I think I ate four by the end of the night. Oh, she also baked some fudge brownies here so I had two of those with ice cream as well. Needless to say, I was jittery. So much for my attempt to shy away as much as I can from sweets. It just isn't going to happen so I might as well face that fact and give in. My sweet tooth has and always will be the master and I the slave. But in all honesty, how many people could resist a freshly baked, hot, fudgy and gooey homemade brownie? I know I can't. Hell, someone could offer me a week-old brownie that had fallen on the floor and I still wouldn't think twice about eating it. Such is my mania.