Cribbing it up.

Aharon and I are trying to quit smoking. That’s the first bit. What you should probably also know is that it’s hard not to smoke at work; at break time, everyone (but everyone) goes outside and lights up a couple of times, engaging in conversation or games of Euchre or whatnot.

Point of fact, this place actually destroyed my nice effort to quit when I started working there; I had gone some weeks without smoking and was feeling alright, but to be social and hang out with everyone basically means to smoke, cos it’s the next thing to impossible not to out there. I’m actually really starting to crave one thinking about it…

So anyway, back to the beginning: Aharon and I are trying to quit. Being clever like we are, we’ve realized that any success in this endeavour means that we’ll have to avoid going outside, and hence, we’ve begun to play Cribbage inside over our breaks instead. Yes, that’s the second bit.

I went around to Yahoo! Games to learn how to play, and admit I’m still not great about the rules, but with a couple of shifts’ worth behind me, we’ve begun to play for money. Essentially, a dime for every point the difference between the winning and losing score, to be paid out on Aharon’s 30th birthday. I agreed to the terms, thinking that the next two years (23 months, specifically) would probably allow me enough time to save up slowly the money I was sure to lose to him.

The first game saw me win by a margin of forty cents. It was a surprise.

Bobby: I think it’d be great if the next two years basically just saw an epic battle for the forty cents.

Aharon: I think it’d be hilarious for one person to be down $100 by the July, and then only have 24 days to make it up… calling the other person at 2:00 am, “you want to play some Cribbage??”

The second match saw me extend the lead to a whopping $3.20. Needless to say, I’ll be keeping you all closely up to speed. The next 23 months are going to be intense – it’s gut-check time.

The last night in my body.

The Receiving End Of Sirens – Planning A Prison Break

Listening to Last.fm radio again, and I came across this band called The Receiving End Of Sirens. Long story short, I’m falling in love with them, and I looked a little further into them only to find that they played a gig here in London (minutes from my apartment) some six weeks ago. I hate the world.

Messing with the wrong guy.

Paul told me about this commercial he saw when he was in Chicago a few weeks ago. I had to see it, and so do you.

Today, in London towne.

It ordinarily wouldn’t take me a whole week to write about my time with my daughter, but this week has been an interesting one, to say the least. Nicole and I packed a lunch and went to Chatham last Sunday, the plan being to pick Erica up and take her for a day at Kingston Park, a large park with picnic areas and lots of playground equipment.

Unfortunately, last weekend saw the start of some most unseasonable rain, the likes of which that make driving slow and playing in the park all but impossible. So a last minute change of plans had us driving back to London to take Erica to the Children’s Museum for the day. We enjoyed the picnic on the way, and had a fun time singing along to the radio with Erica on the way. It’s quite funny, she know the words to every Avril Lavigne song there is…

We arrived and had a quick spot more to eat before entering, and then made our way in and upstairs to the museum’s Street Where You Live exhibit – about one half of the second floor is devoted to it, and decorated to look like a neighbourhood. Little ‘buildings’ have been constructed all over, and there are items within each that lend to the imagination; the little McDonald’s has menus and tills, the ValuMart has President’s Choice products and a grocery belt, the GoodLife gym has an exercise bike, etc.

We played for some time in the grocery store, Erica and I shopping for the food and dishes. After a while, she made a game out of carefully pouring a plastic strawberry from a cup to a saucer, trying hard not to drop it in between. With a little coaxing, she began to speak about it, too, declaring either, “I poured the strawberry from the plate into the cup,” or “I poured the strawberry from the cup onto the plate.” She’s so very much better at speaking these days, it’s fantastic.

We went upstairs to the top floor, and had a good time sliding down a large yellow slide in an area made to look like a common backyard/garden. We sampled a handful of exhibits, dealing with things like food and how it grows to outer space and rockets. And then after a nice snack we went and spent time in the special Robert Munsch exhibit, full of words and sounds and pictures from several books that she has at home.

As the dinner hour wore on, however, we returned to my apartment to have a healthier meal than resorting to a fast food restaurant. I’ve sort of been taking her to places like McDonald’s too much on my visits with her, which is why the dinner at home and the picnic lunch we packed were comprised mainly of very healthy things to eat. And after some dinner, desert, and an episode of Dora The Explorer, she and I made our trip back home to Chatham, where I dropped her off and returned to go to work for the night.

There are many more photos taken, and I’ve uploaded them into an album I have in Facebook featuring photos from many of my visits with her. You can see that album full of photos with this link or by clicking on any of the photos in this post. My thanks go to Nicole for the trip and taking so many great photos.

Ps and Erica, if you get to see this, I’m putting up the song I sang to you off of the radio here, I hope you recognize it and like it. I miss you.

The Plain White T’s – Hey There, Delilah

Of music.

I have trouble choosing favourites when it comes to music… I’m constantly asked about favourite artists or albums, and it’s difficult to select out of all the music I love. I cop out in most any way I can, like on my Facebook page – I simply take the top 10 artists featured on my Last.Fm profile and post that in my favourites.

One such reason for my trouble would have to be that I don’t listen to music the same as most people; I suppose it’s a result of the grunge movement, but there’s something about cryptic lyrics and pained music that has always drawn me in, to the extent that I’ll look for subtext in regular pop music.

Anyway, I’ve been kind of blue the past couple of weeks, and particularly the past few days, and in listening to music today I realised that a favourite would definitely be an album of which I’ve made copies for all my friends. In that case, Brand New’s The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me is near the very top, and it pleases me when I’m down.

Brand New – Jesus Christ

“I know you’re coming in the night like a thief
But I’ve had some time alone to hone my lying technique
I know you think that I’m someone you can trust
But I’m scared I’ll get scared and I swear I’ll try to nail you back up
So do you think that we could work out a sign
So I’ll know it’s you and that it’s over so I won’t even try…”

Brand New – Limousine

“Yeah, you were right about me
But can I get myself out from underneath
This guilt that will crush me
In the choir, I saw our sad Messiah
He was bored and tired of my laments
He said, ‘I died for you one time, but never again’”

45 ml.

Well, it’s been a long few days, but I’m back and all rested up and stuff. I got to hang at my friend Rick’s place yesterday between shifts at work, cos I was downtown to get a physical and take a drug test for work. This is a procedure taken by all temps at work before they can begin the process of joining the company; a handful of manual tests and a check on vision and hearing, all designed to ensure the worker’s capability to work, or workability, if you’re into buzz words.

Anyway, being something of a good boy, I went into the drug test portion pretty confident, but I can’t say I didn’t have questions beforehand. I made a list, and made a point of asking around at work… see, there were a few substances whose legality I wasn’t quite sure of.

So, I posed the question: What do you think would happen if the test revealed…

Carbogen?
A dietary supplement, so nothing too odd, but then it has been banned in 49 of 50 States. Side note: anything goes in South Carolina.

Anabolic steroids?
Not that I’m on them too much right now, but I’ve been thinking about it.

Diabolic steroids?
Or for that matter anything of a pure, unadulterated evil?

Parabolic and/or Hyperbolic steroids?
I’m not sure if I have to invent these for them to exist, but I’m always up for a challenge. And for your information, I could’ve gone on some time with that ‘-olic’ suffix.

Sextasy?
More of a feeling than a drug, but it’s as infectious as laughter.

An excess of hydrogen?
Like, far more than there should be…

Anyway, the test is behind me now, so all is well, and I’ve made up today for the lack of sleep I got yesterday. What a day…

Sick dark world.

“If I die and go to hell real soon,
It will appear to me as this room…”

Was listening to my Purevolume radio last night, which in turn led me to check out the profile for Say Anything, which in turn led me to this video, the winning submission in a video contest for the band’s Wow, I Can Get Sexual Too. Great concept, nicely executed, darkly funny. Enjoy.

More pictures of Sadie.

Yellowcard cause riots.

Jacksonville, Fl. – As Monday night drew to a close, tensions ran high among music fans everywhere. The popular rock act Yellowcard performed live by request on Monday, broadcasting their concert exclusively from their Myspace profile as a part of the ‘Hey, Play This!’ concert series.

Using the MyspaceIM program, fans and users across the continent could submit requests to the band, who are just celebrating the release of their third studio record by Capitol Records, Paper Walls. The concert, which got off to an amiable start, quickly became the Woodstock of our decade.

Fans across the country submitted personal requests and messages, each citing that the song they wanted to hear was the best that the band had ‘ever written or performed’, or contained the best lyrics, or strings, or melody, or what-have-you. Before long, heated arguments between the youth across the country formed a powderkeg of teenage passion, and was ignited by a comment uttered by vocalist/guitarist Ryan Key, when mentioning his new album, he suggested that everyone get a copy. “Buy it, download it, do whatever you gotta do.”

And in almost the blink of an eye, authorities were being called in across the country, to cities great and small. True Yellowcard fans railed against ‘bandwagon jumpers’ and downloaders everywhere, outraged at the idea that their favourite band wouldn’t be receiving the monetary credit that they deserved. The evening peaked with a Sales-Con 2 Security Threat level declaration, by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Almost immediately, RIAA task forces began addressing the situation across the country, assaulting the main demographic left and right. Conditioning experts worked around the clock to correct the attitudes of the masses of youth, in what is already being referred to as the largest single example of market persuasion in history.

Where the band have failed to release a statement in regards to the events, or the damages cost far and wide across mainland America, RIAA president Cary Sherman went on record to express the collected grief of the music industry. “This is a classic case of a tragic situation in which Americans are divided by something that should be uniting them,” he said. “That concert could have been a defining moment, a single shining star by which our citizens could come together and celebrate.”

While statistics are somewhat vague and unreliable at this time, it is estimated that only a small number of teenagers have been critically injured, while many more walked away mostly unscathed. Damages equal in the billions of trillions of zamillions, nearly almost a third of the American war deficit to date. Today, the country is doing its part to pick up the pieces, but can the world ever be the same again, after such a momentous blow?

Interested parties can view the concert still, being broadcast on continuous loop for the time being on the Yellowcard Myspace profile. But be warned.

Author’s note: these things may not actually have happened as reported.

Bears. Beets.

I’m off to an Office marathon this weekend. Catch you all around.