The 31st
2006, we hardly knew ye. To celebrate the New Year, the house was packed with people, goodies and a little something called Guitar Hero (thanks to Sharon). I think that game was played non-stop for over five hours tonight but I decided to only watch. I can see how addictive it can be though, sort of like that Donkey Kong game with the bongos except way better. Whammy bar=awesome.
There was quite a good turnout for the party and I, for once, actually had a good time. I know, I was surprised too. There were too many different types of food co-mingling in my belly at once but I kept right on eating. Shawn and Bryanna brought food, so did Tammy, Mike and Patrick, Sharon covered a table in sweets, Tyler and Melissa brang snacks, and then the garlic fingers arrived from Michael's. Oh my, they were good. Oh my, my pants don't seem to fit as well as they used to.
There was a brief intermission for a few fireworks in the front yard at midnight after Jasmine mentioned how they customarily lit fireworks on NYE back in Germany. So, you know, any excuse to get out fireworks is a good one. I don't know how good of an idea it was to let a drunken Nathan light them though. I guess nothing caught fire and no one lost an eye so no matter.
The eve of 2007 was a good one and people seemed to be having fun. I'm just glad there was Guitar Hero because I don't think the Jeopardy game we rented would have brought the same atmosphere to the party. Sorry, Alex.
The 30th
Today was Nathan's birthday and we went to the café for breakfast. Jaycee ran down the street and came back with a happy birthday helium balloon for Nathan. After it was brought back here, it immediately grabbed Hobbes' attention but he was also scared of the balloon for some stupid reason. In any case, I heard a weird noise and next thing you know he goes casually padding through the house holding the string in his mouth, balloon floating along with him. I tried to get it on video but the little bugger won't do it again on camera.
We managed to actually get a pretty good crowd of people to meet up at Dooly's for some pool tonight, seeing as a bunch of people are home for the holidays. Figuring out what to do afterwards was an ordeal though. The Heritage is the only bloody place to really go but Luke was the only one brave enough (and perhaps foolish enough) to go while some of us went to China Star instead. I can't justify going to The Heritage on a weekend, especially around the holidays, paying the stupid cover and stupid coat check charge, being packed into a place full of people I don't want to see, feeling uncomfortable and being basically deafened by a DJ who plays a bunch of shitty music I don't want to hear in a place where the sound is so shitty it makes good music sound bad. An excessive amount of deep fried food and a fortune cookie sounded like a better idea to me.
The 29th
I'm grateful for the gifts I got for Xmas but there just wasn't any sense in keeping gifts I'd probably never use or already have. The thing that sucks about getting gifts like that is the fact that I'm the one that has to return them and spend the better part of my day standing in line-ups with half of the general, local population. Standing there, sweating in my new parka and hoping I don't have to stand in line with someone I don't want to talk to, I start to wonder whether or not my time is worth the money I'll get in exchange for these gifts or if I really should just find a use for the gifts sitting in shopping bags in a pile in front of me that inconveniently blocks the path of carts and shoppers.
It's nice that the family will spend the money on little old me but they seriously needs to cut back and make Xmas less about a crapload of gifts and more about getting together with friends and family, visiting people, and eating yourself into a coma.
Giselle is home from Calgary and today was her birthday so I decided to go wish her a happy one down at Clancy's. People were jamming and drinking and otherwise having lots of fun. I particularly don't like going to bars for parties but this was relatively painless. I got to see some people I haven't seen in quite a while and Giselle seemed to be having a blast and was really happy to have a nice birthday party.
But what evening out at a bar in the west end would be complete without some creepy, drunk dude who looked like he sleeps with an engine block? This guy was a scruffy, thoroughly sloshed, seven-foot tall fancy stumbler. He insisted on awkwardly shaking hands and mumbling incoherently about who knows what, and, of course, no one there knew who the fuck he was. I figured it was only a matter of time before he started either a) fighting with someone, b) wrestling with someone, c) groping someone, or d) all of the above. To my knowledge, it was neither a, b, c, nor d so perhaps he was merely a gentle giant full of booze, looking for a good time. Perhaps he was looking for another of his kind, trying to make a love connection between smokes on the icy steps of Clancy's.
The 26th
The family converged on my grandparents' house for yet another big dinner, as is the custom on Boxing Day. A roast beef dinner is a heavy breakfast but I'll gladly take it. There's always a ton of sweets and choices of dessert as well so that set me up for the rest of the day. The peanut brittle was like crack.
Their oil tank leaked so there has been a clean-up crew there for a bit now digging up the yard and basement, and it is none-too-cheap of a job. Thankfully their insurance will cover the huge cost, otherwise it would have been a massive, crippling invoice for the work. I can't wait for the day we don't need to worry about spilling oil into the ground. I imagine I'll be long dead by that time but it will happen eventually…I hope.
Mark is home so Shawn and I went over to the MacDonald homestead to spend a relatively quiet Boxing Day, er, night. I was surprised to see Bernie and Rose come in from the deck in swimwear. I guess hottubbing in late December at Glover's Shore is all the rage. Rose later had a herd of cats follow her around, awaiting treats like a creepy feline mob. I think there were eight cats in the house, including Mark's awesome little kitten and their retarded cat whose back legs have a mind of their own.
Oh, and Shawn passed out on the couch because of the rum and whatnot.
The 25th
Merry Xmas. Another one come and gone, along with all of the fuss. Too many present, holy crap. It's damn ridiculous the number of gifts we opened today and every year everyone says they're going to cut back and it never happens. I got a lot of nice gifts but far too much money was spent and it's almost shameful.
It's good that Jonathan was able to come home for Xmas. I'm sure everyone was glad to see him but he's not really sure when he's going back. The cost of plane tickets is on par with financial rape this time of year.
I'm still sick with a cold so after packing up the Sentra with my Xmas haul, I crashed for a bit and readied myself for another festive food onslaught spearheaded by my mom. Turkey dinner and plum pudding with brown sugar sauce for dessert—a classic feast that never disappoints. Again, I didn't shuffle away from the dinner table in pain. I ate like a respectable human being but I'll be damned if a cold will keep me back next year. I will have that second helping of plum pudding, even if it kills me.
After dinner, I drove out to Debbie and Dale's with Nathan where Blaine, Neil and Theresa were already visiting. It's always nice to hang out at their place and see all of the cats. I've always really liked their house and think I'd like to end up with a place like that someday, minus a few dominant male cats though.
At one point there were a few fireworks being set off in the backyard but it was short-lived. Fireworks are fun but it never seems like enough so someday I'm hoping to just drop a couple of hundred bucks on fireworks and go to town some summer night at the beach.
Debbie gave me a slice of plum pudding and it was excellent. I guess, technically, I did get my second helping of plum pudding after all.
The 24th
My mom is crazy. She made a huge dinner for the family again this year and went nuts with the amount of food. She had stuffed pork crown roast or something, lobsters, and little Cornish hens with rice stuffing and an orange sauce, along with a whole other boatload of sides and desserts. The little hens came out of the oven and I was instantly reminded of the scene from Eraserhead, except my family isn't fucked up like them and no black ooze squirted out of the hens.
I actually didn't overdo it with the eating, I'm surprised to say, but I was damn full of Xmas Eve dinner goodness. I think the fact that I have a cold hurt my performance so I'll see how I feel tomorrow and try to give 110%.
The 22nd
A whole bunch of us went to the Brothers Two for dinner tonight and I found the food to be just average. If you're going to label a burger as "firecracker" then the crap you put on it had better be at least detectably spicy. This was not the case and their mashed potatoes sucked big.
After the mediocre dinner, some of us went to The Jubilee to see Nathan's gig. Catherine opened the show and Nathan played a lot of his new tunes with Dale and Tom, not sure which ones will make it to the record though. There was one that really stood out in my mind because it was pretty weird compared to the others. Hopefully that one will make the cut. I should have set up my camera to tape the show…
Mike, Tom, D'arcy and Thane came over after the show and it made for a pretty good time. Mostly due to the fact that D'arcy and Thane kept telling stories about Tom and his brothers when they were growing up. I have stories about my brother and sister that are pretty funny but nothing that compares to the shit the DesRoches clan was up to.
The 14th
Aubrey and Melissa had a party tonight since it was their last day at The Cup before it was officially handed over to the new owners. I drove out there with Nathan and eventually located their house in behind a motel. You'd never know you were in town though because I immediately got the feeling I was out in the country somewhere. They have this really nice, huge house, a lot of the staff and some friends/patrons were there along with the two dogs, and a nice spread of goodies. We sat around chatting and discussing the weirdos around town but there was no way I could not partake in a late night feeding frenzy.
Meatballs, shrimp, chips and salsa, cheeses and crackers, and (best of all) sweets. Though, not just any sweets: freshly baked macaroon squares. The same squares I can't resist when I'm eating at The Cup, and cut into massive, freely available slabs that I was encouraged to eat as much of as I wanted to. Dessert heaven.
After three of them I had to stop. I could have eaten more, though, and maybe I should have seeing as I may not ever have them again since they won't be making the desserts at the café any more. Hopefully the new owners will continue making them.
It was nice to go out and see their place and hang out for a while. Melissa made Steve wear a particular outfit of her choosing since he had lost a bet of some sort. A white, flower-embroidered, open-chested shirt and a pair of preggo pants with the elastic belly part and flower-embroidered cuffs or, as Melissa referred to them, "buffet pants". Oh, and it was topped off with a jaunty, knit tam hat. Steve looked like a flamboyant European art film director or a flaming, arty hippie. I'll have to try to get the photos from Melissa at some point so I can post them for the Internet to see. I'm sure that's what Steve would want.
The 7th
My mom's dryer crapped out on her today so she asked me if I could go to Sears and help her load it into a van and then move it into the basement. We drove up there and my sister's boyfriend showed up to help us. While I was walking around back with my mom, Jason asked one of the workers where we went and he said that my mom had gone around back with her husband. Meaning me. Yup. I told Mom she should take that as a compliment so that I don't feel insulted.
Yours truly,
The Fifty-Year-Old Twenty-Eight-Year-Old
The 5th
I just got back from a week's vacation in Ottawa where I was staying with Melissa and her family again. It's weird to think that's it's been over a year since I last went on vacation there. It was nice to see all of them again and their kitty, Firebolt. Unfortunately, Jillian got really sick not long after I arrived and she was hospitalized for a few days for some sort of abdominal illness. Thankfully she was okay and was back home soon enough.
The weather wasn't very good for nearly the entire time I was there. It was mild and rainy at first then it got cold, icy and grey after that. The nights were all fairly good though so when we were out doing stuff we never really got caught in the rain or snow. The sun, when it came out, was nice though but it was cold and I didn't exactly have all of my winter gear with me so I didn't feel like going out much.
I had wanted to go to some museums, Parliament Hill, and a couple of restaurants I was at last time but it just never worked out. I drank lots of coffee from Bridgehead, went to see Borat again, and I did eat at quite a few good restaurants. Charlotte works at The Wellington Gastropub which is this fancy sort of pub, I guess. The dishes weren't exactly in the price range I am accustomed to paying but I was on vacation so I didn't really care. Plus the meal I got was really good so that made up for it.
Melissa and I went to this place called the Avant Garde Bar that was run by this Russian guy. The place was painted in a Constructivist fashion to match the Soviet propaganda-type posters everywhere in the bar. It was a really cool spot with live music that I wish we had here. Hell, I wish I had just one of the posters.
One night we were sitting downtown in a pub looking through the Xpress for something to do and decided to go see this band called The Toasted Westerns at this spot called Rasputin's, a small folk music café. We mostly liked their name but had no idea what the band was like and were quite surprised to see a trio of ladies playing a wide variety of material and harmonizing quite nicely. We only caught their last set but it was interesting to hear them jump from polka to Mel Tormé to an old country-western tune. By looking at the three of them without instruments I would have figured them to be soccer moms and librarians who most definitely didn't play in a band with accordion and stand-up bass. A nice surprise and a good way to spend an evening in Ottawa on a Friday night.
Melissa had to work at the comedy club some nights so on the weekend I went there and watched the acts. They were all pretty funny but it was kind of awkward when I had to hang out in the green room with the comedians while the club filled up and the comedians and staff just kept assuming I was a comedian too. Fun. Afterwards, though, I hung out in the bar with Melissa and her friends Tina and Dom. They were both super nice and funny. Dom's a comedian too so it made for a fun night after the shows were done.
I also got to meet Melissa's friend/Mark's girlfriend Amanda, her friend Brandon, her roommate Joanna, and their cat named Tobin. I have to say that Tobin is quite the cat. He was pretty crazy and a very good-looking black kitty who seems to know it because he poses for photos and shows off. I have him on video acting up because I was over there attempting to shoot at skit with Melissa and Amanda that just didn't happen as planned. We had this inane idea of having Melissa be this compassionate yarn goddess who creates magical knitted garments for people in need but is forced to bring down her wrath on Amanda when she discards a hat and leaves it for dead. I know, it sounds weird but the way it was planned out and the shots I had in my head really would have been quite funny, especially since it was supposed to be sort of like a music video for a The Neil Forbes song. It ended up being a bunch of random shots because my battery died and we were forced indoors to shoot things like Melissa and Amanda having some weird bedroom yarn fight and Melissa showering with a big red sweater on. Just a regular Sunday in the nation's capital.
After the yarn fiasco, we rushed off to the comedy club where Charlotte and her boyfriend Charles picked me up for an evening of fine homemade cuisine and Battlestar Galactica back in Vanier. I had heard about Charles but this was my first time meeting him. He's a dapper, friendly, smart and admittedly geeky French-Canadian chap with many fine technological doodads and a widescreen TV that made BSG look amazing.
Charlotte made braised leg of lamb, some sort of ratatouille and a mozzarella Italian salad of some description. It was ultra-tasty and she forced seconds upon me. When that wasn't enough, she gave me a tall glass of egg nog (sans Screech) while we waited for the chocolate chip Nutella pecan cookies to finish baking. To hammer the final nail in the coffin, she handed me a bowl with three cookies in it, all of which were covered in a sugary milk syrup. I sat bloated with culinary goodness on the couch and watched part of Super Troopers beforethey drove me back to the club to meet up with Melissa again.
On my last day in the big city, we went to see the Casino Royale matinée showing so we would have time after dinner to go to karaoke. The movie was pretty good, they stayed away from the overload of foolish gadgets and I like Daniel Craig as Bond. Though, there were some scenes that were way, way over the top, plus I found the plot hard to follow and the pacing seemed to really get strange later on. But it was still a great flick to see on the big screen and the poker at the casino, I thought, was the most interesting part of the movie next to Eva Green. Karaoke, on the other hand (no pun intended…Casino Royale, poker, blurg), didn't happen since Sizzles was closed for renovations. Such a shame since I'm a huge fanatic for karaoke. Though, it would have been something to do and Melissa had been hoping to meet up with Tina and some friends there for some fun. Instead, we walked around in the cold and ended up eating at Fat Tuesdays. When all else fails, eat at restaurants. At that point, even though the food was tasty, I was getting pretty tired of restaurants and crappy restaurant coffee.
Coming home from a vacation always sucks. I hate going through the whole travelling bit because I just want to be home. I especially didn't want the four-hour layover in Toronto and I especially hate the booths they have set up with the credit card pushers hassling you every time you walk by. This woman snagged me into a sales pitch and I kept telling her why I didn't need another credit card or Aeroplan but she wouldn't give it up. So I finally said thanks but no thanks and she completely detached from the conversation with a look of annoyance. Victory! Having her disinterested and miffed when all was said and done instead of me felt quite good.
Now that I'm back I really just feel like I don't know what to do and have resorted to being useless and watching TV since I can't work up the initiative to either do some client work or something hobby-related. I think I'll see who's on Letterman…