The 26th I think I may be done with the butter chicken for a while. I was tempted to get some butter chicken take-out from the Royal Tandoor last night after the movie but decided against it. I'm glad I did because I went to town with the butter chicken for dinner tonight. Shawn brought over the delectable goods and we cooked up a big mess of it, but after my gigantic plateful I wasn't feeling so good. Then came the pain in my chest, followed by the heartburn, and all the while butter chicken burbs plagued me until I finally fell asleep. I have to start making it a treat instead of a staple dish. The 25th Tyler is moving in temporarily with Ryan and Kira while he gets settled in his new job so I brought those two fellows up to Charlottetown with me. I was going up there to see a movie yet again; this time Kira accompanied me to see The Science of Sleep. What a bizarre bit of film that was. I thought it was really enjoyable, quirky, altogether strange and had some fantastic stop-motion animated bits. I'm not even sure what to take away from the movie because it was so odd and surreal, but I do know that the main character needs to see a psychiatrist. He's got some personal problems to overcome… oh yeah, and the issue he has with that whole distorted reality/sleep world of his. After the movie I went to Subway to get, well, a sub and on the way in I'm pretty sure one kid in a bunch of douchebag kids asked me if I wanted a hot massage. I really should have stopped and asked him how much he wanted and if he offered a "happy ending". The 18th Tonight I drove up to Charlottetown to take in some live music with Shawn and Kira. First on the agenda was hitting Hunter's to see The Sleepless Nights play. Shawn's a big fan and I was interested in seeing them play live but they went on an hour late and were plagued by technical problems. Still, they put on a really good show and had some great tunes. Their drummer plays like a some wild, ferocious animal. We headed over to Baba's after that because I have been planning on going to see Ruth Minnikin play for the last couple weeks and because I wanted to buy her new album which is awesome. We were getting there much later than I had expected and she was finishing up her last song. Disappointment set in. That was until she announced she would be playing bass for the next band, The Tallest Trees, and then performing some more of her songs after that with the band. At that point I settled in for some good tunes in a booth right by the band. I don't like that set up much but it's better than standing. And there was plenty of standing room since there was maybe twenty people there. Pretty crappy for a Saturday night, but I guess the two nights before were crazy busy so people were taking the night off. In any case, I was really happy to get to hear her tunes live because she has great songs and such a nice voice. It's just too bad there weren't more people there to hear her play. The 17th I had an appointment this morning in Charlottetown to see what's up with my shoulder. The doctor was somewhat helpful but not really so I sure hope my upcoming physio appointments will get some results. After that I spent all afternoon meeting with clients before going over to Dave's. He made dinner comprised of three dishes each containing shrimp. It was awesome. It was good to see him too and check out his new place which was quite cozy and very Dave-ish. Maybe next time I sit down with him we'll actually talk about some projects to work on. I went over to Kira's after that and we decided to go see Let's Go To Prison. It's one of those dumb comedies but it was actually pretty funny because Will Arnett is so bloody hilarious. It has one of those ridiculous plots but it made for some good laughs, even though it seemed like most people there didn't get it. The only problem is that the funniest scene, in my opinion, made use of a Technotronic song and now I can't get the stupid tune out of my head. I really, really can't stand Technotronic, though, I can't definitely appreciate the inherent comedic value their music has to offer. The 13th I'm so tired. I got up at 9am today to go for breakfast with Nathan, Ian and Holly. We ran into them in The First Cup parking lot because The Cup was closed but thankfully Peeks & Perks was open. I much prefer their coffee anyway, not to mention the Portuguese breakfast. The spicy sausage probably explains my heartburn right now though. Tonight, I drove to the cinema with Nathan, Shawn and Tyler to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I honestly don't think I've laughed so hard at a movie ever. It was comedy gold. Well, the awkward, inappropriate, completely offensive, unbelievably clever type of comedy gold. I was crying from laughing so much. When I first heard there was going to be a Borat movie I sort of expected some very Hollywood-type fare, a watered-down version of the bits from the show. But after seeing the movie they kept true to the show and the character, even the scripted bits were hilarious and even played up on some of the typical clichés. Very nice. The 12th Ian called and said both cafés were closed due to the holiday so it was decided that we'd all meet up at Eva's restaurant and lounge for breakfast. I should have stayed home because it would have saved me from injesting half a litre of grease. For a greasy spoon, though, it was alright but I didn't feel very good afterwards. Actually, no, it wasn't very good at all and the fact that I saw the cook putting strips of bacon in the deep fryer to cook didn't help matters either. Ian and Holly brought me some bottles of Stewart's to chase my No Stewart's For Me in PEI Blues away. So with a belly full of soggy, greasy English muffin, greasy bacon, greasy egg, greasy homefried potatoes, chocolate milk, blah coffee and Stewart's Cream Soda I was all set to tackle whatever a dismal November Sunday could throw at me. Turns out that it threw some shooting for Neil's movie at me later. At one point I was barking and howling like a dog and he tells me that it will somehow make sense once it's all edited together. The 11th I had planned on getting up early to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony but, unfortunately, I slept right through all three of my alarms. Shawn and Neil came over later to jam for a while then we drove up to Charlottetown to see The Prestige. But before the movie, we had to stop in for a curryfest at the Royal Tandoor and, as expected, the food was awesome. Not so expected: no butter chicken in the buffet. It was such a let down but you wouldn't know it by the three plates of food I injested. I've got such a hankering for butter chicken now, though, so I'll have to make my own this week. Although, without their na'an bread it seems almost not worthwhile. With a bellies full of curried delights, we headed up to the cinema and watched one of the best movies of the year in my opinion. The Prestige was so much better than what I had expected going into the theatre. I liked everything about it and the story was so clever and well-written that I really should read the book to get even more enjoyment out of the whole thing. This is the type of movie that makes me happy to pay the ten bucks to see it on the big screen and not regret one penny. The 10th Today is my grandfather's 90th birthday and they had a big party for him at my aunt and uncle's place tonight. I don't exactly how many people showed up but it was substantial, and I bet my grandpa just loved being the center of attention. He got a kick out of the cards people gave him and seemed to be enjoying himself. I sometimes find it hard to believe he's ninety because he stills does so much and is so independent. He asked me when I was going to visit next because he wanted me to help him with a job. I figured it was VCR-related but it turns out he wants me to help him rip out the fence along his property. Yup. Ninety and still tearing things up. I drove Laine and Shawn home tonight but after I dropped Shawn off I noticed some guy just curled up on someone's lawn, his hands covering his head with his forehead against the ground. I went around the block to see what was up and noticed two different groups of kids and thought maybe they had just barely pounded this guy and left him to bleed…or worse. I pulled up across the street from the guy who still hadn't moved and called out to him several times. No response, no movement. Hoping he wasn't unconscious or dead, I got out of the car and tapped the guy on the shoulder a couple of times. He mumbled something and seemed to wake up, then he picked himself up and I could see he was a pretty big dude with tattoos who was quite obviously drunk out of his mind. It was cold out and the guy was in a t-shirt hanging out on the ground so I asked him where he lived but he just mumbled something, stumbled and fell flat backwards. He tried to get up again and I asked him where he lived. He eventually told me but not before a very, very long pause where he held up a finger to pause while he lay looking upwards trying think of his address, I suppose. Against my better judgement, I offered to give the guy a lift since it was just a few blocks away and it was going to take him an hour to get there at his rate of collapse. He superfluously explained to me that he was was really drunk, thanked me and then did some fancy stumbling/walking over to my car. Of course, I'm thinking the whole time that the guy could be absolutely nuts and fucked up on who knows what, and now he's sitting in my back seat alternating between thanking me and telling me about his drunkenness. Seeing as he put his seatbelt on and seemed genial enough, although sloshed far beyond any drunk I think I've ever encountered, I figured he wasn't going to stab, punch or strangle me somewhere just past the Legion. Thankfully, the guy just thanked me repeatedly, laughed and fancy walked away from my car to his place. At least, I assume it was his place… Anyway, with the drunk out of the picture, I came home to find that there were two reviews of The Neil Forbes CD posted on The Silent Ballet's site. Positive reviews too, which was definitely nice to read. Check them out here and here. The 9th I got up around 8:30am today (yes, a.m.) for some unknown reason. That's twice in two days I've awoken at that time and I sort of figured that since I wasn't in a zombie-like state, as I usually am if I wake up later around 1pm, that I should try to get a jump on the day and take advantage of the extra daylight hours. My hunger probably helped get me out of bed too. Unfortunately, it also got me out of the house, into the rain, into my car and into the drive-thru at Tim's. They have these new breakfast sandwiches that I've been craving since I saw the sign up last week. The advertising does work. There wasn't a line up of cars which I thought was unusual for nine-ish in the morning, and $3 later I had a bacon and egg breakfast sandwich in my hands. I got home and started eating it only to find that they're not all that good. Really, it's not that surprising I suppose. The biscuit-like bread kind of had this weird doughiness. I don't think that's even a word but it applies and it's also not appetizing. The bacon wasn't very good and neither was the egg for that matter. Moral of the story: if you're thinking about getting out of your cozy bed to feed your hungry belly with a breakfast sandwich from Tim's, don't bother. Have a bowl of Cheerios or some toast instead. Trust me. The 8th My mom made my sister her birthday dinner tonight and I joined in the feast and ate much lasagna and some mocha fudge ice cream cake dessert type of item. Turtle pie, perhaps? Quite good. Quite. I hung around there for a bit until it was time to go home and watch the fall finale of Lost. Somehow they always seem to make me walk away from these finales with mixed feelings of satisfaction and frustration. Bastards. I don't want to wait until February for the next sixteen episodes but I don't really have much choice in the matter and the schedule will be much better than going through the season one and two high-lows of a sporadic repeat/non-repeat season. It will be joyous having sixteen straight in a row. I think Henry/Ben is probably my favourite new-ish character. I really like how Michael Emerson plays the character and the subtleness of his acting sometimes. I'll be interested to see how Ben's future pans out because I definitely don't want the rest of the season, let alone series, to go on without him being a key character. I wonder how much more reading I'd get done if I didn't have a TV. The 5th I had to meet with a potential client in Charlottetown this afternoon about a website so I figured that while I was up there I might as well make the gas money worth it. I stopped by Kira's and we went and got a bite to eat at Rum Runner's. I had never been there before and I'll definitely be going back because they have extra-tasty food and unbelievably tasty bread pudding. I'm still in pain hours later because I ate so much. Who's surprised? Oh, and free bread with garlic herb butter was a nice touch. After that we went to get some tickets for Little Miss Sunshine at City Cinema. Wendy was working and she very nicely gave us some free passes because she's just that awesome. Then we sauntered away to watch some Mythbusters and CSI back at the apartment before the movie started. We ran into MacPhee and Pat at the cinema and Kira's friend Suzy. I threw the popcorn that Kira offered me at MacPhee's head because she thought it would be funny. She was right: throwing popcorn at MacPhee is funny and, coincidentally, so was the movie. It's one of those small movies with a perfect mix of characters, comedy and story. I hardly ever get to see good movies like this at Empire and that's what makes City Cinema so great. I really wish we had a theatre like that closer than an hour's drive away. The 1st I had to get up early today (for me, pre-11am is early) to go for a doctor's appointment to find out just why the hell my hands and feet are always like ice, and why my shoulder feels like it's on fire. Of course, the thing I wanted least to happen did happen: blood work. I hate needles but after sitting there dreading them calling my number 98 it was actually not all that bad and over pretty quickly. No cold sweats, no tunnel-vision, no clammy hands. I should have been given a gold star for my bravery. The mall is undergoing a lot of renovations to accommodate the new medical centre and give it a general facelift. It's about friggin' time because they've had the same damn signage for the past fifteen years, I would guess, maybe even more. I don't know how many times I've looked at their parking lot signs and shuddered at the unholy and disgusting design. Who the hell ever thought "County Fair Mall" layered over a lattice-work pattern mixed with a teal and pink colour palette looked good? It was gross and, to make matters worse, the signs have stood sun-faded and weather-stained for years. I'll be interested to see what new design they come up with. I went out for a walk tonight because it was particularly mild and was a little foggy too. It's been so crappy out lately that I need to take advantage of nice nights to get a little bit of exercise. On the way home, though, I was passing by Green Gables and thought I'd check in to see if they had re-stocked their shelves with Stewart's pop. I checked out all of the coolers thoroughly but they still didn't have any so I asked the clerk if she knew when they'd be getting more Stewart's in. With a regrettable tone, she informed me that they weren't allowed to carry it any more because it violated some law in PEI that had to do with bottle recycling or deposits. I'm actually pretty upset about this but mostly because my province is stupidly denying me of readily available access to precious, delicious Stewart's pop. I don't get why their bottles cause such a hassle and violate some retarded laws that I'm sure Seaman's Beverages has a vested interest in and controls to some degree. It's probably linked somehow with the lack of canned, carbonated beverages here too but I don't care so much about that because I like pop from a bottle rather than a can. I can't exactly prove Seaman's involvement but I'm blaming them and the government for being bastards. Damn you, Seaman's. Damn you to hell. Stewart's is the golden excellence to your piss-poor crapulence. And to think I used to enjoy a bottle of your cream soda is shameful when the delectable, creamy goodness of Stewart's cream soda is, by far, the superior choice. Not to mention their key lime soda, their root beer, their ginger beer… Oh, Stewart's, how I miss thee! I do have to give Seaman's a nod for their Birch Beer though because it's something Stewart's does not offer. Although, come to think of it, I haven't seen Seaman's Birch Beer in many, many years so you're back to sucking 100%, Seaman's. 110%.