My Baby At Sunset

These were taken just a few moments before a kid in his BMW 540, which his parents bought for him, reversed and turned 70 feet backwards running my and a few others' helmets over...

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

So I was thinking to myself that I would come back from a little blog absence with a poem that I've been thinking of crafting for a while. I typed a line out but then that idea quickly faded and died as fast as a burning ember cast forth from the core, unwanted, and denied lasting sustenance. Uh yeah...

I then thought of adding another "5 Point Post" but then I quickly realized that I didn't have my material freshly served up and ready to go as I usually do. I didn't feel like barfing out a sub-standard version of the installment. I tried to think of something but I was too distracted by trying to plan out my trip.

This trip is going to be my salvation but in the mean time, it is quickly becoming my death. As the saying goes, the only person you can really rely on is yourself. In this case, I am finding that to be truer and truer, the more people who take their time getting back to me as to whether or not I'll be able to stay with them when I launch my ass over to Europe.

I hatched an idea last fall that this spring or early summer that I would reward myself for a year of hard work, broken heartedness, rainy Cuban escapes, sad losses, and other foul piles of bull shit with a me, myself, and I European adventure. Not one of those package jobs, but a personal little journey to places where I've never been before.

Ok, it didn't start that way exactly, just a trip to Europe. I figured, I was single, there are loads of things to do out there, and scores of European women to meet. They alone would be a sweet departure from the sometimes upity, tight-arsed "ladies" that comprise the female exposure I am subjected to here in Toronto. As time went by, I realized that I had a completely amazing group of friends scattered throughout the European landscape.

So it was decided that I would take on a trip to England, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Germany, and Switzerland. Those are the set in stone options as Scotland and France are still on the radar, but on the outside, looking in. Of that group, I've only been to England so my eyes are going to be opened for sure. Lucky me too though, that I have friends in each of those countries so I basically just have to get my ass over there and the rest "should" be taken care of, providing that they all get back to me on time.

Back in 2000 / 01, I lived in China for 7 months and I was very fortunate to meet and make a very close and fascinating group of friends. We all pretty much stayed in touch and these are the poor saps who have to contend with me when I get to haunt each of them. So, I'm hoping they all get their ducks in a row so I am not left out. Oh hell, even if I am, nothing improvisation and a cheap ticket to Rome or somewhere else won't fix.

Hi, My Name Is _________

I was at work covering a traffic point in an area which had been partially evacuated because some jackass working a construction site drilled through a major natural gas line. He managed to do this despite a fair warning that the area he was working in was very close to where the line was supposed to be. Ah hell, supposed to bes never end up causing any trouble right?...

So back to the point here. I was sitting down wind from the gas idly passing the time while soaking in all the natural gas goodness when the above pictured fuzz ball and his papa, Rufus came trundling along. Ok, Rufus was the only one doing the trundling as his 10 week old son was being carried by its owner. I am a huge pug lover so I was more than happy to give them some of my time when they walked up to me.

I still miss my little guy Pudge a whole pile and the puggy puppy reminded me a lot of him. I asked what his name was, but they didn't have one for him yet. They then said they weren't even sure if they were going to keep the little guy or find another home for him. If I wasn't working, I think I may just have taken him with me. So, I got to distract myself from work for a little bit, and that's never a bad thing.

Anyone got any name ideas?

Et Tu Mrs. Robinson?

So I recently started seeing a stewardess, or flight attendant as they are to be p.c. referred to as... This whole situation started out rather innocently and randomly as it was. Normally when one attends a home show, the last thing they think of is picking up or being picked up as the course of browsing and sampling is done. So imagine my surprise when I found myself with plans for a first date while running to catch the train home.

I'd first seen her from down the exhibit hall. While at the home decor booth that she was working at, we struck up a bit of a conversation. Being at the home show, she asked me if I was looking for things home related and if there were kids or a wife to consider while looking around. Double edged sword that question, half business, half scoping me out... The latter and slightly sinful, second side of course wasn't realized by me to be so until I'd already cut my rug with the course of my dance... I prattled off about not being able to wait to have kids, but being able to wait if she got what I meant. I proceeded to lay it all out and basically advertise myself as a guy who wasn't prepared to have a family let alone a stable or serious relationship. I was single, it was the summer, I wanted to travel and be a heart melter more so than a heart breaker. Ha.

So we talked and I noticed right away that she was older, but how much older, I didn't know, or didn't care about at that exact moment. I also noticed she was a fair bit taller than I was. You see, as a towering 5'6" Chinese dude, there aren't too many women out there who picture me as the ideal guy they wake up hoping to meet based on pure physical expectations. I understand and I get that, but I am of the attitude of instead of asking "Why me?", it's now "Why not me?". Her booth got busy and I toured around for a bit before stopping by on my way out. I thought about whether I should or not, but in the end, I said "fuck it" and asked her out. Turns out she was really hoping I was going to ask her out and was even thinking of asking me out if I didn't ask her first.

The first date a week later was a dinner and a beach front walk, the second, 5 days after the first, was the lunch and a movie affair. Both of those went well and turns out she's a great kisser which never hurt anyone. Seemed to work for her as she'd let slip on our first date something equating good kissing with good sex. I'm a guy so food, sex talk, good looking women and a long day at work made things a tad bit hard to concentrate so her quote may be slightly off... The third date was supposed to be the next night with us making dinner at her place and then watching a movie. Things didn't happen in that order but in the end, they did.

Since then, there hasn't been much time for or any attempts at another proper date with rendez-vous (pl) having to suffice. Oh, and I still don't know how old she is. I'm thinking somewhere between 32 and 37. Though I could be wrong on the older side of things. My only clue is that her film and tv credits start from what she's told me in 1992 or 93... On the flip side of that, I don't think she knows how old I am either ( 27 btw ). I am usually of the jeans and t-shirt persuasion, but on that first day I was dressed in my business attire having just come from court. Seems like we're both going with the flow and allowing come what may.

Don't know really what to do here, nor am I really thinking about it. The physical connection is there, but I don't know whether it's a matter of not having the emotional, or me not wanting to extend that part of myself out. Just putting into practice the whole summer of James attitude: going out and being, enjoying myself and not worrying about the past, doing what it is that I want, taking chances I may not have previously and just experiencing and in this case doing so with the experienced. I figured I'd have things go my way at some point, just wasn't expecting it so soon or in this form. : )

You're Not That Important

There are so many reasons out there to make fun of or even dislike some Americans. For starters, their president, the other day, made a slip and almost stated to her face, that Queen Elizabeth was 230 years old... Hey they voted for him and must be sooooo proud. In some cases, I wonder if it's ignorance or hubris or some rank combination of them both.

For the purpose of this blurb, I'll take the hubristic approach. If the rest of the common sense world could act as a deity, the open defiance wrought forth by the United Shame of America could be attributed as the main reason, why they are as Greek tragedy would suggest, considered a nemesis.

At the beginning of the year, there was a situation that arose from a confidential report filed by U.S. army contractors stating they believed they had been spied on and potentially had some confidential conversations compromised by get ready for this, CANADIANS... Yes, we of the beaver, maple syrup and iglood persuasion. The contractors found suspicious coins in their rental vehicles which they believed to have embedded nano-technology that may have been used to track them... Seriously.

What they thought were spy coins were actually 25 cent pieces, just as pictured above. The nano-technology they were referring to was the textured impression in the centre of the coin and the coated layering applied to the face of the coin to preserve the colour. The coin was a commemorative piece featuring the poppy flower, Canada's symbol of tribute to its fallen soldiers.

They were so concerned with these strange coins that they filed a highly classified report detailing their concerns. Somehow, this report made it through screening and a warning concerning the open circulation of these espionage coins was actually issued by the federal department in charge with aggressively pissing off the rest of the world!

Really, why would we take the time to plant a device that could freely be mistaken and used as common currency?!?!? We're not that sinister or evil a nation to do something dastardly like that. We're Canadians for crying out loud. People love us.

And besides, what harm could a little beaver do to compromise a man? ; )

A 5 Point Post

The good: As much as some of you (eve) out there hate it, I have to say that I am a total convert and a fan of the world of Facebook. I recently sat down for a pitcher with my friend Megan from uni who I unfortunately lost touch with about 6 or 7 years ago. I first met her in our first year. She lived down the hall from my another one of my exes. She had this poster which completely distracted me. Now that's not hard to do on a normal day, but this became an obsession. It got to the point where she'd leave for class and be fine with me sitting in her room staring at the damn poster trying to find the matching pair. After 2'nd year, I lost her phone number and didn't have her e-mail address so I was rather mad at myself for that. I'd thought about how she was over the years and just caught up via facebook. Was really great in that we picked it right up after the years as though it was last week.

The bad: People that say damaging things to others when they know exactly how hurtful their words will be. It's something we're taught as kids that is bad: Don't say damning and painful things to people. Perhaps we shouldn't teach that lesson anymore so kids don't learn to do it knowing how bad it can be. In a moment of instant gratification of sadistic evil, a person can totally ruin someone else's day and affect their very being. I myself have not been subjected to this of late, but I have seen it and I disturbed enough about it to give it 1 of the 5 pts. Boooooooo on mean people, they suck.

The funny: Yet another family tale... It had been some time since Ali, Jeff, mom and I were able to sit down to have a meal together. It's truely a comical affair on an average night in our house and we have left many an un-warned visitor horribly scarred from the experience. The other night, as were were putting the wraps on a great din din, my mom stopped the meal suddenly to ask if we knew that grandma had fallen. Most NORMAL families would have dropped everything and asked with a high degree of concern what had happened. Mine... well, it didn't exactly go like that.

mom, "Did you guys hear...?"

Ali, "No we didn't."

me, "Why, what happened, did Kung Kung (grandpa) push her over?"

Jeff... uncontrollable laughter while trying not to launch his dinner forth.

mom, "Well, not exactly"

all of us, "ha ha ha ha ha ha"

Mom proceeded to then tell the actual story. We're all going to hell.

The sad: In the very near future an expedition will be made to Mt. Everest or as this segment will go on to tell Mt. Ever Rest. 9 years ago, Francys Arsentiev became the first woman to ever climb the mountain without the aid of supplemental oxygen. A mere 800 meters into her decent, something happened which caused her to either collapse or fall. As her expedition reached her, they found her to have no mobility. 28,000 feet from the base and after exhausting all options, the others had no choice but to leave her behind. By the time another team went back the next morning, Francys had succumbed to her injuries and the cold. An effort to retrieve her body at the time would have been too treacherous to attempt and none has been made since, so her body wrapped in her purple coat has remained, well within sight of any visitor to Everest. One of the climbers who was with her 9 years ago, Ian Woodall is returning now to bury the friend he had to leave behind. This is the last expedition he will undertake and he hopes to be able to bury 2 other climbers who have lost their lives on the mountain. Godspeed.

The down right odd: Japan's growing income gap means the working poor are not only flipping burgers to make a living, they're also buying them so they've got somewhere to live, turning them into "McRefugees". Part-time workers and day laborers have found cheap alternatives to renting apartments in the form of Internet cafes, or saunas where they could spend the night for just a few thousand yen. An increasing number of working poor are turning to the growing number of fast food restaurants operating 24 hours so they've got somewhere to stay overnight. These people are being called "McRefugees" after McDonald's, the fast food chain providing many of them with their homes. With a burger costing as little as 80 yen and a coffee costing 100 yen, an overnight stay can cost less than 200 yen. Internet cafes are another option, but with time costing money, only a small percentage of the McRegugees can afford the rent.

As explained by a local economist, "They're people who probably have a tad more money than those living on the streets, but not enough money to allow them to change their lives. It costs about 400,000 yen to 500,000 yen to rent out an apartment, so people who can't afford to do that become Net Cafe Refugees, Sauna Refugees and, now McRefugees. The vast majority of them are not full time staff and are probably only making about 1 million yen a year at most. For these people, 500,000 yen is an enormous sum of money."