The 31st
First off, let me start by saying I own an iPod. I also buy a lot of junk and drool over shiny new toys but there is a limit to the crap I buy. That being said…

The world is plagued by AIDS, cancer, violence, intolerance, ignorance, poverty, starvation and more, and this is what companies decide they're going to spend their money developing: a new robot called Miuro out of Japan that turns an iPod into a scuttling boombox-on-wheels.

Golly, gee-whiz! What will they think of next!? I cannot go on living without this crazy robot contraption!

Here's a quote from the company's president I read in a story on CBC.ca: "The robot helps you listen to music wherever you are without even thinking about it. Sometimes I don't even have the energy to put on a CD."

Ohhh, poor, poor Mr. Taniguchi. I'm sure the uneducated, HIV-infected eight-year old household-head looking after his three younger siblings (also infected with HIV) living in a poverty-stricken area of Uganda is really feeling your pain. Maybe once he gets back from the double-funeral for his parents (who both died of AIDS) and fetches a couple of buckets of contaminated water a few miles away on foot he can help you pick out a CD you like and press play.

Consumerism: Killing the World One Robot at a Time.



The 30th
When I was eating breakfast today, I caught a bit of The Price Is Right and some woman was playing this card game that used over-sized playing cards. I thought to myself, "How does one go about getting cards that size? Is there a special store? Did they order them custom for the show?" Then the thoughts of how a person would procure cards of that nature left my mind as fast as they had entered.

Now that I think about it, I suppose I've seen cards like that before in magic acts and such but a weird bit of serendipity struck me tonight while I was out walking. As I strolled down towards the old Co-op farm feed building in the west end, I came across an entire deck of over-sized playing cards scattered all over the sidewalk and the lawn. Very strange. I don't know why I didn't take at least one with me to keep. They look pretty cool at that size.

Hell, I may just bike down there right now to grab some…



The 27th
Seeing as this was basically the last weekend of the summer and that it was actually a nice day today, I wanted to make sure I got in some go-carting because I've been meaning to go all summer. Nathan and Laine joined me for the trip to Burlington Amusement Park where it looked like nothing much had changed since I had last been there. If I'm not mistaken, it was probably when I was seventeen or so and a bunch of us snuck into the park one summer's night and jumped on the trampolines. Hmm, come to think of it, I guess the trampolines are gone now along with the arcade which has been replaced by an indoor shooting range that's very similar to the redneck porch they used to have at Rainbow Valley.

I went go-carting for the first time in a long, long time today though. I think last time I went was when I ended up in a potato field on one run and then almost crushed my brother's rib cage when I slammed into a barrier on another run while he rode with me. This time around, though, was pretty fun and if I ever get filthy stinking rich I'm going to buy my own track so I can go whenever I want and have friends over to race.

This kid passed me at one point and I never caught up to him because he totally left me in the dust. Later on, he was sitting in a bumper car next to me while we waited for the ride to start up. The kid said that he was the one who passed me and I said it was probably because he had a weight advantage, allowing him to go faster because he didn't create as much drag as my sorry ass did. He then clued me in to the real reason: not all go-carts are created equally. He told me the cart he was in was faster, and his brother (also sitting in a bumper car nearby) vouched for the story. I thanked him for the bit of insight and I guess you could say I had the inside track for my next run in the go-carts.

So after I slammed into some kids and some kids slammed into me in the bumper cars, it was back over to the go-carts where I patiently waited in line to get the specified speed demon cart. I strapped myself in and was off to the races. Some kid and Nathan were ahead of me at the beginning until I floored it and felt that mother shake and roar like nobody's business. By the second turn, I zoomed past the kid on the inside and then quickly overtook Nathan's cart. After that, it was just the open road and me as I led the pack and pulled into the number one position at the end of lap five.

Happy with my victory, I wanted to find the kid and thank him for the tip but he had left. So to pass on some good karma (even though I should probably hang onto any I come across, generally speaking) I gave my last few tickets to some other kid waiting for the bumper cars. Hopefully he didn't get whiplash or break some other kid's neck because he went bumper car crazy with his extra tickets.

After Burlington, we drove to the Yankee Hill Cemetary which is this old graveyard in the woods by the water. It's a pretty neat spot with some extra old tombstones. During the day it's not exactly creepy so I should definitely go in there at dusk sometime except I'm a pansy and won't ever do that.



In any case, when we were leaving, this fox came jogging up towards us. It was crazy that he came so close looking to be fed. He wandered off when we didn't have anything for him. Though, no sooner had he padded away than a smaller fox came running up. They were both so calm about being around people and so close that you could have pet them. While it was cool to see them so close, I hate knowing they're so used to humans that they trust them enough to basically beg for food.



Seeing foxes so close was about the coolest thing ever but the animal fun didn't end there. We went to the cat house by Cabot Park after that and there must have been between fifteen and twenty cats in plain sight at all times, including this little, grey kitten that Laine wanted to take home. A guy showed up at one point and a bunch of the cats flocked to his car. It was weird but apparently he goes there every day and checks on them and stuff. He told us the kitten wasn't there this morning which meant someone dropped off a lone, tiny kitten to fend for himself. I don't know how people can do stuff like that.



We put him inside the cat house where it was warm with the food and gave him some milk too. Unfortunately, in the other half of the house was a sleeping raccoon who sort of just claimed that side for himself. Meanwhile, another racoon was crunching away on their food underneath the house the whole time. Buggers. Although, I guess they must co-exist with the kitties fairly well or I'm sure the dozens of cats would run them out of town.



I felt sort of bad leaving because of the little kitten and because most of the cats seemed to have nasty colds. But we did leave donations, and made sure the kitten was inside from the wind. Unfortunately, there wasn't much we could do about the imposing raccooons.



We drove out to Stanley Bridge after that to eat at a seafood restaurant where I ordered these really good fish cakes and homemade beans. I should have left it at that though. The coffee I got was weak and sucked like most other places, and they didn't have the dessert I wanted so I went with a cinnamon roll that turned out to be meagre and dry.

I just don't understand why most restaurants around here insist on having such crappy coffee. This stuff was even fresh because the waiter put a new pot to brew right after I ordered it. And if I'm paying $1.50 for a small cup of coffee that sucks I want it to be at least refilled once, but preferably repeatedly, throughout my meal. I therefore washed down my dry cinnamon roll with the melted butter sitting on top of it instead of some hot sad-excuse-for-coffee coffee which, even though it sucked wholeheartedly, would have been welcome even if just to keep my hands warm against the cold wind blowing in off the water that mixed with the air conditioning.

(Thanks for the photos, Laine).



The 26th
I drove out to Tyler's cottage today with Nathan and Laine. He was out there with Melissa and the kids, and invited us out for dinner which also led into an evening filled with lots of sweets and other junk I did not need to eat. I ate them anyway and regretted it.

It was a great spot: a large, open cottage with a huge lot stretching out to the shore. When it started to get dark all of us went down by the water to watch Nathan set off some fireworks. Danyil and Jade had their glow sticks and waited for the fun to begin. Danyil hadn't seen fireworks up close like those before and he was pretty excited. Unfortunately, there were only four and then it was over.

Me and Tyler got a fire going later on and Melissa roasted marshmallows for everyone. After she went into put the kids to bed I busted out a Cuban cigar my sister brought back for me when she was down there on vacation. I figured I might as well get a cigar as long as she was bringing me something even though I have never smoked in my entire life.

Needless to say, I didn't like the cigar. Apparently it's a pretty good one, I'm told, but I don't really get the attraction. I was sort of hoping they'd taste more like they smell before they're lit. That was not the case. I tried to like it, tried to savour it, tried to enjoy it but it wasn't happening. I can still smell and taste the damn thing even hours later. Yum. Perhaps I'll begin to crave it again sometime and can light up the remaining stogie I have left from my first attempt.

I have this ridiculous image in my head of me (maybe 5 years down the road) making a habit of smoking expensive cigars, spending my weekends in a small room listening to vintage jazz records and slowly savouring an entire bottle of fifty-year old scotch. Or perhaps holing up in some modest-but-cozy pub in the boonies drinking pints of Guinness then being booted out after last call and smoking my last wine-tipped Colt before going home to some fuzzy CBC TV. Or standing outside in the freezing cold fishing for butts in the Butt Stops outside the exits behind the tax centre then trying to convince some old lady in the nearby senior citizens apartments that I'm her great-nephew and need a place to stay for the night instead of thumbing a ride back downtown to the men's shelter.

Seems like three very plausible futures, don't you think?



The 24th
Well, Pluto my dear, it has been more than wonderful having you in the planet club for the last seventy-odd years. It is truly a shame that it could not have been forever. To pot with what the astronomical community has to say about what is and what is not a planet. We here in the club all know in our heart of hearts that you are as much of a planet as the rest of us; just the runt of the litter, that's all, and that is part of your charm. Their definitions cannot define us as planets; this is something we do ourselves every day of our existence through strength of character and living a life that is good and honest. And you—our frosty, diminutive friend—are no exception. Contrary to popular belief, size does not matter.



As I am sure you are aware, Jupiter has always spoken very fondly of you and he has considered you a little brother of sorts. Oh, how you two did tend to go on at Uranus' dinner parties! A little bit of sherry and suddenly there's a party! Memorable times, to be sure.

We shall miss you dearly at the conventions and seasonal socials. Neptune will most definitely miss your peach cobbler! And do not for a moment think we will forget about you circling way out there on the fringes of the solar system. Heaven's no!

We wish you all the best, Pluto. Do keep in touch and give Charon our warmest regards.

Your Friends in Orbit,
The Planet Club Members



The 23rd
I had to mention this because it makes absolutely no sense to me. When I was checking out the site for Mainstream Wrestling, this was on their splash page.



What the hell is THAT about? Who's the old dude in the photo and why is there some chick behind the photo lying in bed? What does that have to do with wrestling? Is it a photo of the guy who started MSW? Because if it is, the photo is way too arty to be associated with a wrestling promoter. And is the girl his daughter-cum-wrestler and it's showing two generations of MSW history? I could speculate all night. Maybe it's his grand-daughter who is now the head honcho at MSW or maybe it's his sexy model trophy wife and they're paying homage to him after he died. And that's the bed upon which they did it. And by "it" I mean had old man/young trophy wife sex.

Here's something else from the website. This is a section of a larger photo of a stadium full of seats. This is a far cry from when MSW hit The Cahill Stadium not long ago. I've highlighted the rows of seats that were around the ring at that event, keeping in mind that there were fewer seats per row and not enough people to fill them all.



Oh, the mat is elongated because the screenshot I took was at the beginning of an exciting and original animation where a bunch of words describing MSW wrestling scrolled across the screen. I'm pretty sick of those animations.

In case you're wondering, I am not obsessed with wrestling now, even though I'm sure it seems like I must be.



The 19th
For supper, my plan was to make a toasted tomato and bacon sandwich which, I suppose, would be considered a BT instead of a traditional BLT since I was without lettuce. I fried up a big ol' panful of greasy bacon and, before I knew it, I had stuffed nearly an entire package of now crispy bacon into two sandwiches. I don't recommend eating almost an entire package of bacon by yourself. At least it had 33% less salt than other bacon.

I watched some more of the new Battlestar Galactica series with Tyler and Ryan later on and I can't get enough of that show. While I don't like it as much as Lost it's definitely another show I want to keep watching. I really don't need any more TV in my life but this is one of the best sci-fi shows I've seen in a very long time.

There was a ton of thunder and lightning tonight and after I left Tyler's I drove downtown and sat in my car in the parking lot of the abandoned Smokies hot dog hut watching the sky light up over the water. The rain poured down and everything was shaded grey while I listened to Grant Lawrence on CBC Radio 3 recounted a true tale of an octopus theatening him with a wrench and a filet knife as he fended it off with an oar.

The wipers would strobe across the windshield between me and the lightning, and I could feel the thunder vibrating the frame of my Sentra. I bet people driving by were supremely jealous of not only my car but how I chose to spend the last of my happening Saturday night.



The 18th
I drove a contingent of zealous wrestling aficionados to Kensington tonight to see the latest wrestling event to hit the area. Well, it wasn't exactly a carload of zealots but we were all amped to go see some rasslin'. The Landrys, Kyle and myself arrived at the Community Gardens to take in the bouts and found a rather large crowd which was unlike the pitifully low attendance earlier this summer in Summerside. Also unlike the previous event, these wrestlers actually looked like wrestlers and had some pretty good moves. It made for a real thrown down in K-town.

While it was fun and some good entertainment for a Friday night, I didn't find it as good as last time because it was much lamer at the Cahill Stadium and that made it all the more enjoyable. I don't so much go to these things to see real wrestling as I do to go see some cheap ass, sorry excuse for wrestling. There's just something about a bunch of out-of-shape guys who can't wrestle very well putting on a show for fifty people or so in a small town that makes for a special evening. When the wrestlers are built and can actually do some snazzy moves it makes me feel like I'm at a real wrestling event, and I don't like wrestling.

This event was part of Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling and not the lamer Mainstream Wrestling. AGPW is what I watched when I was a kid on local stations and remember the most notable character being The Cuban Assassin. He was on the poster but he wasn't wrestling which was really a let down because that would have completely and utterly made my week. The big draw this time, however, and what made up for the lack of The Cuban Assassin and the lameness of the other "federation", was a match between a couple of women that was refereed by none other than Frenchie Rider, a bona fide midget. According to the poster, women and midgets were "back by popular demand".

While it was pretty fun to see a couple of ladies go at it in the ring, the best was yet to come. Early on in the match you could see the ref getting on the case of one of the ladies and her shoving him around a bit and mouthing off. Right away I knew what it was leading up to. Soon after, she lost the match and got up in the ref's face about it. Well, not literally but they had words and pretty soon the midget was taking off his shirt and jumping around in his little elf boots. Soon after that, it was woman versus little man and a scrap began in the square circle. He kept jumping around, kicking his little legs and tripping her a bunch. They actually did wrestle a bit too and at one point Frenchie even got her up on his shoulders and took her for a spin. I was dismayed to see Frenchie ultimately lose the match but it sure was fun while it lasted.

I've heard people in the past say that's there's French and dark French, which is probably similar to Irish and dark Irish. Now there's a new one for the list: midget French. One of the wrestlers told Kyle afterwards that they all called Frenchie "The Mad Midget" because he was prone to get liquored up all the time. This was sort fo great news too because Kyle was dead determined for days to get Mr. Rider to go drinking with him. Alas, it was not to be.

Kyle really got into the whole evening, running around taking close-ups for me, talking to the wrestlers, posing with them for photos and he even got up into the ring. He was talking to a few of them afterwards and one guy was limping because he was tossed over the top rope onto the concrete floor during the $10,000 Battle Royal match that capped off the bouts. When the guy landed you could feel how bad it must have hurt.

There weren't any real stand-out characters in my mind other than a fat, biker guy with a shaved head and goatee, and a voice that sounded like he swallowed a truck. There was a Spider-Man too but he was called The Wrestling Spider-Man and he actually had a decent, albeit cheap, costume that didn't look like a garbage bag like the guy from Mainstream. Spidey is big with the kids so these federations are all jumping on the Spider-Man bandwagon it seems.

I just found this link to a page about AGPW and, holy crap, the roster has some classic names on it that I remember like André the Giant, Gorilla Monsoon, Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, the Rougeau Brothers, Sweet Daddy Siki, Jimmy Snuka, Bob Backlund, Killer Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser, Roddy Piper, Adrian Adonis, Big John Studd, and Ted DiBiase. There are some big names in wrestling on that list and I had no idea that these guys were part of AGPW.

Of course, the evening was made complete when I returned home to find the videos I shot with a little digital camera actually worked. Regrettably, all of the photos and videos look like shit. Here are two clips of Frenchie in the ring with the woman wrestler. Watch shirt start to come off in this first clip as a new ref comes into the ring and Frenchie taunts his soon-to-be opponent. In this clip, watch Frenchie in his little elf boots do some hopping around and some kind of Riverdance-meets-Karate-Kid jig.

Here are some photos taken by me and Kyle throughout the night:

-Frenchie:	Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Photo 4 | Photo 5
-Spider-Man:	Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Photo 4 | Photo 5
-Kyle:	Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3 | Photo 4 | Photo 5

I honestly think that if wrestling came to Summerside or Kensington once every few months I would go and it wouldn't get old. My hope is to someday see The Cuban Assassin in the ring. Ah, to dream.



The 16th
I've noticed for years now that it seems like most television shows share the same sound effects library. I used to watch The X-Files and Millennium, and could pick out this same creeking door and/or gate sound in both shows that seems to be used for lots of doors regardless of whether or not they are metal or wooden or whatever. But even years later I still hear that exact same sound effect used in tons of shows that I'm sure didn't use the same post-production house as those other two shows. It really stands out when I hear it and I heard it again tonight on CSI: New York. I'm sure I heard it in Lost too.

That was an endlessly pointless commentary on that particular issue but I feel the need to voice these findings because it's something I hold dear to my heart…Where the hell did that come from?

I wonder what I'd be doing if I was a type of person who didn't own a computer and didn't use one much in every day life. Shawn says I'd be eating more, which is true, and I think I would have also succumbed to the world of reality television even though I loathe it for the most part. I'd probably read more or, at least, I'd like to think I'd read more. I'm just so damn addicted to this Mac sitting in front of me. My hobbies, work and life all revolve around the slew of things I can do with it.

I basically spent 80% of my waking hours today in this office either working for clients or working on things for myself and friends. In my free time tonight I listened to and downloaded music, checked out new bands and watched videos; edited audio, video and photos; updated websites, checked email, read the news and chatted; archived data, cleaned junk out of my system, installed a new hard drive and organized my video and music collection; plus I maintained my finance stuff and other junk like that. I know this is all pretty mundane compared to what a lot of other people do on a daily basis but if this machine wasn't sitting in this office I wouldn't have much need for the office itself and I would have had to find something else to occupy eight hours tonight.

Maybe I should start volunteering with a church group or take up astronomy or something. What do geeks do when they decide to sever themselves from their computers? Play Dungeons and Dragons, I suppose.



The 15th
I guess I forgot to mention this but not long ago I woke up, checked the mail and saw a padded envelope addressed to me. First off, I rarely get mail here since I usually have everything sent to my parents' place but what was stranger than that was the fact that the sender was ATV. I opened it up to find a colour eight-by-ten of Bruce Frisko; personalized and autographed to boot. I walked into the living room and displayed it for Nathan along with a quizzical look to which he responded by bursting into laughter.

Apparently, from a fake email address, he emailed ATV under the false pretence of being the uncle of young boy. He went on to explain that this nephew of his (me) watched the news all the time and loved Bruce Frisko, so much so that he (I) even set up his own little news desk and would pretend to be an anchorman.

His little story paid off and now there's a framed, autographed photo of Frisko hanging in the entryway of the house for all to see. Bless you, Frisko. Bless you.

(Thanks for the photo of the photo, Melissa.)



The 14th
I found out tonight that I can no longer download episodes of WireTap from a particular blog because CBC has asked them to remove all of the archives. This was the only place I could find the episodes going back a couple of years so I'm glad I downloaded them all when I could. The person maintaining the blog recorded all of the episodes and graciously posted them; they even created an RSS feed and iTunes link. CBC can't even post archives on their own site because they don't have the rights for online distribution for the music used in the show. I really hope this changes soon because it's honestly one of the funniest shows I've ever heard. I guess I'll have to start tuning in and maybe even recording episodes myself on Sundays so I can keep them in my iPod.



The 12th
Laine had people over for a pot luck tonight so I decided to make this nacho dip and chocolate-covered peanut butter balls. It was the first time I had made them so they weren't as good as I was hoping but they were at least edible. Well, they were before I left the house because as soon as I got to Laine's the tin fell and all but four of the cookies fell on the floor. A great way to start off the evening. I have the floor cookies in the fridge now and I'm not sure if I even want to eat them now. I certainly don't NEED to eat them, I know that much. I have some uncoated ones leftover too so I'll get some more chocolate and make another batch to give away.

After the pot luck I decided to try and catch the last half hour of Nudie and The Turks' set at The Deckhouse. I thought they put on a great show, had some good tunes and a lot of energy. Everyone there seemed to be into it which is weird to see because the place usually just some cover band that's not interesting at all. Lots of dancing and hooting and hollering. I'll have to check out their CD to see what it's like.



The 11th
Tyler has digital cable now so that means movies galore and so my night was spent there while Melissa and Jade went to the cottage for her birthday sleepover. Scream was showing a bunch of Dracula movies so we caught part of one of the Christopher Lee Dracula films and then Bram Stoker's Dracula. Awesome movie except that Keanu totally ruins any scene he's in. What a horrible casting choice that was. I can give you a long list of actors I'd rather see in the role and it would make the movie 100% better.

The main point of the evening though was to watch Alien on IFC. The first time I saw this movie I felt it was slow and kind of dull but that was years ago, and I had seen Aliens before that. The more I see it, though, the more it grows on me. I honestly think it's in the top five best sci-fi movies of all time. It's practically perfect and a guy in an alien costume is much, much creepier and scarier than some digital foolishness they make now. I don't know why I haven't bought that DVD yet.



The 10th
I visited my grandparents last night and stayed overnight since it's been quite a while since I've been up to stay. We played some cards and later on my grandfather told me some stuff about WWII, what he did most recently to make my grandmother mad at him, and some stories and jokes. Then I stayed up way too late watching satellite TV and eating whatever I could find.

My grandmother told me today about how their neighbour's daughter (a girl I knew since she was a little kid) is snorting drugs, is in and out of rehab, job-hopping because she keeps getting fired and stealing from whoever and from wherever. Hearing my grandmother talk about someone snorting drugs is almost like hearing her swear (which I've never heard in my life) because it's just so not like anything she ever says.

My grandfather is eighty-eight I think and he's still out working in his shop building things. He just keeps going and builds these great things for people. He hooks rugs too, cuts his own lawn and exercises on some dangerous-looking ski contraption in the cellar. I seriously hope that when I'm in my eighties (if I even live to be that old) that I'm still making things and being creative in some way. Hell, I'll be happy if I can still walk at that age.



The 8th
The last couple of nights I've been going over to Tyler and Melissa's to watch season one of Lost, and now I'm addicted all over again. I can't wait until season three starts but I need to get season two and watch all of those again to refresh.

Tonight we also watched a twisted movie called Parents on Scream. It was about this 1960s suburban family, of which the parents were cannibals. I had never even heard of the movie and found it very, very odd and twisted. Bob Balaban did a great job of making everything and everyone in the movie seem weird to some degree. There were a ton of great shots and quirky camera work. He blended the staleness of surburbia with subtle morbidness and very dark comedy. Definitely one of the weirdest movies I've ever seen.



The 7th
Everything has returned to boring mode. It's like the fun wheel has come to a halt after four days straight of people being around to do things and go places. Luke has returned to Calgary, Melissa has returned to Ottawa and Nathan is on the road. It sucks when all of that happens at once and suddenly it's like there's no one around. Oh well, it will give me some time to catch up on my reading. Ha. Reading.



The 6th
Kyle woke me up to go to the flea market in Charlottetown. He crashed here the night before and was rounding up the troups in the house so we could hit the road and go look at a bunch of useless junk. We picked up Melissa C. and headed to the big city where we also decided to get a bite to eat at Smitty's.

I officially hate eating at Smitty's now. The coffee sucks and my potato pancakes were laden with onion. I guess I should have known they would since that's probably the way they are usually served but they were not very good at all, even though I ate half of them out of hunger. Apple sauce on potato pancakes from Smitty's is just plain gross. Syrup isn't actually much better. Whoever thought to put sweet apple sauce on top of onions and potatoes needs to have their tastebuds examined.

Reeking of fried onion (a reminder of my terrible breakfast that cost me $12), we went over to the mall where the flea market was going on. As I strolled down the hallway looking at cloth calendars from 1996 and empty booze bottles that people decided they would try and sell, I ran into Andrea and Richard who had a table set up for movies and CDs, and I also ran into MacPhee and Pat who were checking out the flea market scene. I came across a few neat items here and there but I wanted to avoid adding to all of the junk I already have. The only thing I bought was some old German sheet music with cool cover designs and a jar of apple jelly.

Kyle took care of some tenant business near Brackley on the way back and then we decided to make a stop in Cavendish…at the boardwalk. This would be the third day in a row I had been to Cavendish but it was Sunday so what the hell else was there do to? I got to pet the old golden retriever that hangs out by the BeaverTail stand and bums food off people. At one point a woman from Captain Scott's Fish & Chips called the dog over and let it eat a huge plateful of sliced tomatoes. The dog went nuts for these tomatoes. I didn't know dogs even liked tomatoes but I guess they'll eat just about anything, especially if it's free. Kind of like me.

I headed back to Charlottetown for the second time with Jill and Melissa this evening to go to Baba's for this stand-up comedy night. Melissa works at a comedy club in Ottawa as a bartender and has also been doing stand-up there and at Yuk Yuk's so she wanted to give it a shot at Baba's too. I figured the night would be pretty lame, that the comedians would be pretty bad and that there would be a paltry turn out; I was quite wrong.

Most of the comedy was pretty good and some was downright hilarious. There must have been fifty people packed in there too so I was surprised. Melissa did a great job and I would have to say her routine and Patrick Ledwell's were the best but some of the other stand ups were damn funny too.

The only part of the night I didn't enjoy was how the bartender played the same Eminem album over and over and over at a volume that just doesn't suit the place. The music didn't suit either actually. I'm just glad I didn't see Graham's junk when he dropped his drawers at the end of the night. Being four feet away from him when it happened would have made things very awkward and distasteful. Thankfully I was looking away but that whole issue is another story entirely.



The 5th
Tyler, Nathan and I took a spin out to Cavendish for something to do and stopped in at the boardwalk. That place has almost entirely lost its appeal since I don't have any reason to go there other than to eat a BeaverTail and look at girls. I don't buy any of the crap from the clothing stores and almost all of the restaurants can be found in Summerside. It's not worth the 25-minute drive to eat at another Pizza Delight. If I wanted red sauce I'd just drive uptown, except I don't want any red sauce any time soon so I stay away from that place.

Speaking of the clothing stores, the t-shirts they have seem to have sunk to a new low in the low-brow comedy realm. They've always been lame but they could sometimes tend to be sort of clever and occasionally there would actually be something cool written on them or a good design. One shirt had an arrow pointing down and the text "Warning: Choking Hazard". Classy. It's all blatant sex, tits and beer jokes, and quite often they're barely jokes. It's not going to be long before they start selling shirts at those stores that just have blunt messages like "Let's Fuck", "Show Me Your Tits" and "Bend Over, Bitch". Cut out the innuendo and get straight to the point is what I say.

After leaving the shit-eater clothing stores and rampant consumerism behind, we decided to go eat at The Island Preserve Company in New Glascow. I hadn't eaten there in years but I remember it being nice and having many good desserts. We all ordered the same thing which was potato pie in a bacon crust, and it was damn good. I ordered the same dessert I got last time I was there which was this raspberry pie and ate the last of the coconut cream pie that Nathan couldn't finish. Best coconut cream pie I've ever eaten. Seriously, it ranks number one.

The coffee was great, the service was too and I wish we had a place like this in Summerside since most places here suck or have started to suck. A guy even came out and played jazz guitar which was sweet and would never happen here. He played The Girl from Ipanema and some Fats Waller songs, among others.

On the way back we picked up Melissa in Clinton and I tossed a ball around for her dog Robin. At one point as she brought the ball back a big glob of blood fell out of her mouth and the ball was covered in blood. I thought that was pretty gross and couldn't figure out what the hell had happened. She didn't seem to care and keep picking up the ball and dropping it at my feet when I wouldn't touch it.

in any case, we headed back into town and people showed up at the house later to hang out for a bit before going out to The Deckhouse. A big group of us sat out on the deck while people became progessively more intoxicated. I offered Melissa and Jill a ride out to Slemon Park where we hung out for a bit with Troy and his cousins. Rob talked to me about making some movies with him and somehow was hugging me at one point. It was a joke but nothing makes me want to jump on board with some movie-making than having a drunk dude hanging off of me.



The 4th
I drove out to Rustico with Melissa for something to do today and we ended up at what must have been the end of the village where shops and cafés met the shore. We went into to this café for coffee and dessert, and I got a rhubarb slice which is basically a thick graham cracker crumb crust with this extra tasty rhubarb spread on top. Quite good. The place was nice too. Everyone was sitting out on this semi-enclosed deck right on the water. It's nice to find spots like that and take an afternoon to just go and relax by the water with some sugar and caffeine.

Luke had another pool party tonight so I headed up there with Nathan and Laine. Unfortunately, we didn't really know many of the people there so I mostly just hung out with Rex the dog when I could. It was Luke's last night before he headed back to Calgary so I figured I might as well go hang out for a while. I took off for food again though at one point because, well, I like to eat but I suppose it was justified since I hadn't really eaten since my dessert earlier in the day. I went to Wendy's/Tim's for some veggie buns and cookies then parked at the end of Luke's lane under the street light and ate in the comfort of my car as I listened to jazz on CBC.



The 3rd
Our team has finally regained the first place ranking at trivia. Earth shattering news, I know. It was actually a much better night for trivia in a lot of ways and we had a big team too. Everyone hung around afterwards to hang out since Luke was going to have people over to his place for a bit of a pool party after the bar closed.

I took off for a bit though to find something to eat and found everything was closed except for Tim's. Outside I ran into John who immediately asked me if I wanted something for free. I said yes like any respectable consumer would. Apparently he was friends or something with the people working and so he asked what I wanted and subtly ordered for me. When they said there wasn't any whole wheat bread left he very unsubtly asked what I wanted instead of whole wheat. The cashier didn't go for it and told him she couldn't give them any more free stuff. George showed up at that point after he had taken a stroll down to the Ultramar to tell off the cashier and buy a Spongebob ice cream. Apparently, the guy had flicked a cigarette at him the night before. Go, George.

I ordered a sandwich anyway and she put about seven times the amount of turkey on it than normal and probably six strips of bacon. It was a HUGE sandwich and I was quite pleasantly surprised with the extra service, especially when I got four cookies after asking for only two.

After I got back to the bar everyone was pretty much ready to go and so we all headed back to Luke's so people could go swimming at 2am. I didn't swim. Instead, I sat and ate my humongous, ginormous sandwich and bonus cookies. Even if I had wanted to swim I would have had to wait quite a while after eating for fear of cramping and puking vast amounts of salty meats and chocolatey dough into the pool.



The 1st
Melissa is home from Ottawa for a week so I went with her for some uneeded garlic fingers at Michael's then we hung out at the yacht club for a while before Jill picked us up and took us to bingo in Kensington. It was the first time I had ever played "professional" style bingo and it was actually pretty fun. Not something I'd want to do every week but it's a good way to spend an evening trying to make some dough one dab at a time.

When the guy asked me if I wanted the $1 dabber I was so tempted to ask whether or not the more expensive ones would help me win but decided against it and just bought a red dabber for a buck. We took our seats after missing the first few games but jumped right in and Jill won $13 (woo hoo) but that was it for any bingo yellings from us for the rest of the evening. Well, she also won some draw to unlock the treasure chest to win $1400 but her key didn't pop the lock and she got a $10 gift certificate instead. I was really excited for her because I thought she was a shoe in to win except that there was a jar full of keys, not just a few like I thought at first.

The place smelled of deep fried food and reminded me of my office when I worked at the hockey school. It wasn't a smell remember fondly. For some reason I could smell black tea faintly every now and then. I thought that it would be funny if I was having a seizure and would cause a scene at the K-town bingo hall.

Speaking of causing a scene, the urge to freak out every time someone else yelled bingo was overwhelming. I badly wanted to scream obscenities, pound my fists on the table and chuck stuff around just because in my head it would have been funny. Probably not so much in reality.