Spazz-a-ma-tazz

Smothered in Two Hours of Traffic

Recipe for a rough morning after:

*3/4 of a Gahan Growler of John A.
*A stray can of Guinness.
*A double Bacardi Limon and coke.
*A shot of someone's whiskey.
*Five rye and cokes at Brennan's.
*A hugenormous, cheesenormous, pepperoninormous slice of Jack's pizza.
*A long, long walk home.

Saw lots of people I haven't seen in ages. Rocked out to two solid local bands. Made drunken phone calls to people on my cell phone, only to have me scream "Where are you?" and hang up because I can't hear them.

I took roughly eighty thousand pictures, for no other reason than I want to prove that I know people outside of work. Yes, I am that vain that my ego needs constant flattery. I'll put them up as soon as I get off tonight.

I'm not sure what planet you're from, but I hope you enjoyed your visit to Earth

I've been using MSN Messenger now for probably three or four years. (I was a late adopter -- I was happy with ICQ and, to a lesser extent, Yahoo Messenger.) I've done just about everything that I can do with it, explored every option and used every redundant'feature'. Until today.

Today is the first day I both deleted and blocked someone.

I've deleted many people from my list before. Either I added the wrong e-mail address, or I don't really know the person, or forget how they got on my list to begin with. ('Devika,' if you're out there... who are you again?)

I've got plenty of people blocked. Believe me. I hate turning on my computer and getting three or four windows popping up saying "Hey" or "What's up?" Give me time to get my stuff going and my hard drive to catch up with me. I don't block everyone all the time, but everyone on my list has been blocked at one time or another.

But this morning... nope. I can honestly say that I don't think I want to speak or hear from this person again. It's just not worth it. It's not nearly as satisfying as slamming a phone down on someone's ear, or throwing a drink in someone's face, or storming out of a party, but it's over. Done. Gone. I don't wish you any specific ill will, and I do hope you live your life well, but I don't need what you bring to the table anymore. I just don't. It's just not worth it.

That's all I have to say about that.

Big Burn 2k5 -- in pictures!

Too hot to sleep, too tired not to.

Here are the pictures from DJ's place Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Gracious sakes alive I hate summer heat.

PS -- I've also re-done the older pictures as well, so that they actually work now.

Big Burn 2k5

Pictures are forthcoming, but for now, here is a brief recap for those who missed the heavily-hyped Big Burn 2k5:

DJ put up two hammocks

He also bought a variety pack of Sleeman's

Aimee was very drunk

"Hey, you can see the crane from here!"

DJ got stung/bitten/attacked by a hornet/bee/wasp/mosquito/fairy/sea gull

Aimee went through three pairs of pants

We found a parapalegic squirrel

DJ and Dennis don't actually hate each other -- it just makes for a great dramatic showdown

The most fear-inducing thing in the world is cubes formed of ham

DannyT's "real" name is "Officer DDT"

No one had sausages, as far as I know

A golf course known as "links" means that there was no modification done to the ground... except, of course, a whole lot of cutting the grass

Charles is not really a satellite -- he just plays one on the radio

There were only seven digital cameras present at this year's event

Finally, and most importantly, if you see this walking towards you -- start running now, and inform the authorities of a class 7 zombie alert:

Arsenault VS Blanchard: Burnination Nation

"The Write Off"

OLS trivia 2005 went off spectacularly last night. Among the highlights:

Libya is apparently not in Asia, but rather in Africa;

Hulk Hogan starred in three of the 100 worst movies of all time;

Shakespeare had 1296 speaking characters combined in his 37 plays;

$2.90 for beer is a really, really good deal.

Thanks for a great time everyone, and enjoy the pictures of Corey's impromptu gun show outside.

Trivial Pursuits

So I'm running the official work trivia night tonight at the firemen's hall downtown.

Do I know how many people will be showing up? Nope.

Do I know what people might be showing up? Nope.

Do I know anything about this place (sound system, size, tables, bar, anything like that)? Nope.

The bad news about this is that I won't be able to repeat as a 5-time winner at OLS trivia. The torch will be passed tonight folks -- don't you dare miss it.

The good news is that I'm going to be recycling trivia prizes from previous trivia wins, which a) makes me look awesome because I'm giving out t-shirts, hats, bags, etc. and b) cleans the shit out of my apartment. It's extremely win-win.

If you're looking for any hints for tonight, memorize the Internet Movie Database, the PEI government page, 80's TV shows, work at OLS, and live on PEI. That's all I can give you.

See you tonight, around 9-ish.

Das zeitgeist von morgen

Ok, so more things are bothering me than I let on. It's the way I am.

It's the end of an impromtu three-day vacation, where I had planned (seriously planned) on having something written. I work at noon tomorrow, it's about 7:30 PM right now, and I have zero words written.

Tomorrow, though, is the day that stuff will happen. If I can make it through tonight without losing too much control, I should be OK. I think I just needed three days to think up metaphors and similes, find better allusions and references, and remind myself that I'm not completely washed up.

Tomorrow, the "Difficult" project begins.

Three years in the making

I'm not a superstitious person.

I just know something "big" is happening around me right now, and I'm trying to figure out what this means.

A brief rundown of the last little while, in no order of importance or relevance:

*Watched Almereyda's Hamlet, for no apparent reason than to say I did. Not terribly bad, but by no means great.

*Sat in on an abnormal psych class. Why? I don't know. It was a terrifying commingling of lab-based psychology, quantum physics, post-structural discourse, and other things I have no business talking about.

*Re-discovered two books that I've really been meaning to finish: The Great Code and The Power of Myth. They are connected in more ways than I can understand right now.

*Been playing with iTunes 4.9. I don't think I've ever been excited to use a piece of software before. Podcasts aplenty, an easy-to-use music store (that has some seriously awesome stuff).

*Found an old yearbook from 1995. Just at the cusp of my "lost years" (1996-1998) where I don't remember doing a single useful thing except teaching myself HTML on an overclocked 486. My hair was huge, my glasses were unfashionable, my ego was spectacularly out of control. I'm surprised I recognized as many faces as I did.

*Bought a third of a BBQ. No summer is complete without roasting meat outdoors.

*Three years ago this week marks my first of two appearances at the Maritime Writer's Workshop. Those two weeks made me what I am today. No doubt about it. I went there as an average, run-of-the-mill English student, but left as a writer, with all the trappings that the profession entails. (Of note: rum no longer has an effect on me; I've spent more money on poetry books than clothes so far this year; I don't have to justify taking an afternoon/evening off to read books that no one else has heard of; I have a detached air about me.)

So what does this all mean? If I knew that, I'd have finished writing something by now.

The Brotherhood of Men (or whatever that means)

After a six-pack and a pint of rum, everything seems deeper than usual.

I guess it's Canada Day too. I wish I had something more in-depth on which to speak of this topic, except that Stevie Y et al. have agreed to try out for Team Canada this year. I (MSN emoticon for heart) Steve Yzerman. Any guy that plays with one eye deserves extreme props.

On another note, I feel extremely stupid lately. Perhaps due to a lot of work, or a lot of laziness on my part, but most likely a combination of the two issues. Oh well. There isn't a whole lot I can do about this right now, except revel in the fact that I can destroy Ratchet & Clank relentlessly and I can make unremarkably awesome brownies with little effort.