My Holiday's End

Today is the last day of my 2-week vacation. It's snowing... again. I think this has to be the worst winter in recent memory. Even on the days we're supposed to get relief from the winter weather and return to our rainy West Coast climate we just end up getting more snow.

Snow kept me from a number of things yesterday, including writing a little something here on the blog.

As soon as I was standing up out of bed, I was getting dressed to go shovel snow off the driveway. My in-laws got rid of all my metal shovels, so I have a cheap plastic one that rides over top of any packed snow. In other words, I shovelled all the powdery snow on top, leaving nothing but a slippery mess underneath.

Enter Dreama for a visit and she gets stuck in the snow for a very frustrating hour. She had every right to be livid with the weather, even though she more used to it than I am. It's just that it's been following her everywhere. I feel for ya!

After that, I ended up shoveling more in the evening after my wife & I dumped kids off at various homes and escaped to the movies for a couple of hours. After that shoveling spree, I had a friend visit for about 15 minutes, then got the kids to bed and slumped on the couch to nurse my shoulder (sore from constant snow shoveling) and watch Titanic with my wife. I had no intention to watch that movie, but it was on and I wasn't up to moving --even to the computer 15 feet away.

And the snow continues to fall. I'm on my way back to work tomorrow and hopefully it's a better start to 2009 than the ending in 2008.

My Scene

2008 literally closed with a bang. And I do mean literally. A man was shot and killed just up the street from my house. That's pretty much all I know about it, but... yeesh.

I've mentioned before that we've gotten a lot of snow. In fact, I think we had a record snowfall for the month of December, but I haven't heard the official total yet. It was just shy of 90cm, which is about 3 feet of snow. Ugh. This much snow also meant the first White Christmas for my daughter. She's 8, so you know why I'm not big on the white stuff --not used to it.

Truth be told, I've probably spent a good portion of my 2-week "vacation" shovelling snow. For the most part, it was fine, but the latest dumps of snow have been wetter, denser snow. Wet snow means hard labor, as a good 5 inches of snow on the shovel can quickly weigh 20+ pounds! (or at least feel like it) The arms and shoulders burn after shovelling the driveway we have here.

Burning's good, though, it means I'm getting exercise, which has been sorely lacking over the holidays. I haven't hit the gym since December 18, so I'll take what I can get. And let's face it: Lots of snow means hiding in the house, not wanting to do much of anything.

I think I've ventured "out" (going further than my in-laws' house 5 blocks away) twice during my time off. I went shopping on the 27th of December and to my sister's on the 29th. Otherwise, I've stayed rooted in the house. My shopping day was for bargains and there were definite bargains to be had! After we'd bought a Wii for Christmas, I let the kids pick up a game for the system. They found one to agree on and it was a $10 purchase (it was $60 last year). At the same time, I picked up 2 games I wanted for under $10 each and then made the "big" purchase of a new DVD player. Our old one is 7 years old(!!) now and was a cheap model back then. It has trouble with some discs these days and trying to write out instructions to my parents on how to use the PlayStation2 as a DVD player took a long, long time. I bought a Sony DVD player for $50, which I think is a good deal.

I have a single weekend left before I head back to work on Monday. Right now I'm not sure how enthusiastic my walk to work will be Monday morning.... I'm tired.

My Final Year

This blog's been going downhill over the past few years as my time disappears quickly. I managed one post during the final half of December, the entire time I was "on vacation." I just don't have the time anymore.

This blog was originally my daily journal, to keep track of thoughts/ideas and problems I was having at work. I try not to talk about work anymore (it could get me in major trouble) and my thoughts and ideas come and go quickly and don't always get written down anymore. And let's face it: It was never a daily journal, since my best year of writing consisted of 280+ posts, not quite the 365 needed for a daily journal.

So, I think this is the final year.

Going full circle, I've opted to go back to the theme of "my year," although admittedly, last time it was all about being selfish and getting my way. It's been 5 years. I've grown a bit (wider and wiser) and think I can more clearly state that My Year in 2009 is more about growth. No, not physical, but mental and hopefully spiritual growth. I can challenge myself to write a daily journal and we'll see how long it takes me to break that promise. If I can do it, then sometime this summer I'll hit my 1,000th post on this blog and hitting that mark will be a milestone in and of itself.

So, the countdown begins. It's 2009, My Final Year for this blog, and hopefully a more interesting year than 2008.

Snowed

Dreama arrived with her kitty on Tuesday. The kitty stayed, but Dreama traveled on to pick up her daughter and make a break for a border or two.

And it's freakishly cold here. I put all the blame on you-know-who, freshly arrived from the Arctic!! She can deny it all she wants, but it's been a nasty "start" to winter. She arrives in Vancouver to the heaviest snowfall in the past decade. She arrives in Victoria, where snow in December usually amounts to 6 inches, but this year (so far) is over 2 and a half feet! Seattle? Snowed in. She's heading to Las Vegas... they got snow too! This woman's gonna make history by the time she reaches Mexico!

We're getting more snow before Christmas. The forecast is for close to 6 inches by Christmas Eve. This will be our first "White Christmas" in 10 years.

and it's all Dreama's fault. ;)

Packing

We're moving in the spring and my in-laws have volunteered themselves to pack up our house.

Sadly, they seem to think having us pack up to move into our new home (under construction....soon... and should be ready in April) before Christmas.

Our dining room is boxed up and stored in the back of our garage. Most of my office went there too, but I defended my computer while armed with a hockey stick.

Then they tackled the kitchen. Apparently, we don't need to eat anywhere.

My brother-in-law has been helping us "de-clutter" for staging the house for the real estate market. We thought de-cluttering meant getting rid of some stuff.

Not everything.

It's gonna be a bare Christmas with everything packed away.

Noobs

Work's been a big distraction of late. Hell, work's been a big distraction since early 2007. The little promotion-with-no-pay has eaten up time, that's for sure.

I forgot to mention that the team I'm on grew from the original 5 guys to 11 in total. Sadly, each addition has, in my opinion brought the quality of the team down just a little bit more.

The first "noob" to join the team has proven himself quite lazy and doesn't like working through things. When I ask him questions, I usually get stared at, so when it's a yes or no question, I go with the safe "no" from his stare. Not only lazy, but fat as sin! I know I'm not a bodybuilder/hunk-of-a-man, but when we'd run up to the top floor of the building to grab breakfast (5th floor to the 8th floor), we could run. He meets us there once the elevator arrives. That, and his desk chair's taken such a beating, it now moos whenever he leans back in it. The poor thing. It needs to be put out of its misery.

The second "noob" is someone I worked with before and he's fine. He's funnier than I recall, but I was on a team of 50 then, not 11. He gets into his work and stays there for the majority of the day.

The third and fourth "noobs" arrived on the same day, with ZERO experience. One is better than the other and can sit down and focus on work for hours at a time. Sadly, he really enjoys the company of Noob #1, so he can stray into the laziness from time-to-time. The other "noob" was someone I never paid much attention to before a few weeks back, but usually every day since, I find myself snapping at him. Usually, I snap after the 4th time I've repeated myself. There's been 2 occasions I've asked him a question and he's responded with a question of his own and I've said "Are you seriously asking me that?" I get the feeling he doesn't understand that I have years of experience over his weeks and sometimes it's best just to answer questions when asked.

The fifth and sixth "noobs" arrived while I was on vacation. I didn't know one of them was on our team for a week as he never spoke to me. It took a while, but I discovered he doesn't speak to anyone unless spoken to first, so he totally doesn't fit with the rest of the team. The final "noob" seems friendly enough and has some previous experience, which helps, but he's not an efficient worker. Sadly, I can see his monitor most of the day and he's usually got some casual game running for "distraction." Not good. We don't have time for distractions.

And I don't have time for noobs.

Guy

With time to spare on my visit to the dentist, I made my way across the street to a shop I'd wanted to check out for some time. I entered the store and saw a familiar face inside.

No, it's not someone I actually know --or even met, before really. He's one of the coffee bar guys on my morning train. A little odd to suddenly run into him. He recognized me too. He's seen me on the train and he's also seen who I usually sit with. In fact, they've talked quite a few times in the station. I often wondered how they could know each other, before the obvious answer came to me: She gets a coffee every morning. At least once a week he serves it to her. They have a chance to talk. Simple.

He came over to talk to me and commented on recognizing me from the train. I told him the same. We talked about a few things and I mentioned (not sure why) that I've seen him talk to the hottie I usually sit with. And he says, "Oh. Oh, you must be that guy!"

And my response was a simple: "What guy?" And then his cell phone rang. He took the call and excused himself. I walked around the shop for a bit and when I turned next, he was waving goodbye as he walked out the door.

Wait. I'm that guy! WHAT guy?!? Am I that guy, who creeps her out? That guy, who longs to talk to her every morning? That guy, who bases the quality of his entire day based on whether or not he see her smile? That guy, who would give anything to learn more about her? That guy, who's been too afraid to ask her name because he doesn't want to come across as creepy? What guy?

What guy!?!

Mouthed

The last thing I needed during a couple stress weeks at work was something else going wrong... like, say, a filling coming out. That happened a week ago, Thursday.

What's worse is I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the filling came out. No matter where I rolled my tongue around, everything felt the same. That was bothersome. I assumed it was a very back molar, because I wouldn't regularly put my tongue on those anyway. When it came to dinner that night, I was very careful with my food. Except for one piece of cold broccoli --which the hit the bad spot. There's where the filling popped out. Owie.

So, somehow with everything else going on, I needed to find time to see my dentist. My dentist made it easy on me, though. They could book me for mid-November to "take a look", but then it would be some time after that before they could do anything for me.

So, more than a little frustrated, I sent out a message on my company messageboard to see if anyone could recommend a good dentist for an emergency. One of my bosses recommended a place. I wasn't sure why he'd CC'd a couple other guys on the email, but a reply from one of them explained it all. "It's supposed to be a secret" (including a link to the dentist's website), he said. I clicked on the link...

Have you ever thought to yourself, while watching those medical shows on TV: "Why is it that every doctor and every nurse is so good looking on these shows, but in reality, there's no one like that!"

I found the dental equivalent.

This office is filled with smokin' hot women. No wonder it's supposed to be a secret!

I went in on Monday this week and have to say, it was easy keeping my mouth open. Getting my jaw off the floor after was a bit more difficult, but I eventually managed to do it. The dental assistant (wow!) sat and talked to me while we waited for the dentist and talked about commuting on the train (she takes the train too, so I made her an honorary Train Hottie). Then the dentist walked in. Ho-lee cow! She probably could've convinced me of anything, I was so distracted the entire time she was there! But then, when it came time to actually check my tooth, she leaned over me, put a couple fingers in my mouth and her other hand on my shoulder and said: "This'll hurt a little."

To which the only response my now-idiot male brain could come up with was "muh-ha."

After my appointment, I made another one (don't judge) to get the filling (and a couple others) re-done in a week.

Afterward, I noticed a shop across the street I'd always wanted to check out. Since I still had time before I said I'd be back at work, I decided to go across and check it out.

When I walked in, I met someone I wasn't really expecting to....

But that's a story for another day.

Dumped

Upon my return from California, I discovered I'd been promoted (is that the trick? Go on vacation?). No, no raise, but it makes me look good later on.

With the promotion came a couple dump trucks filled with work and responsibility. Topping it off was the expectation that work I'd done previously could also be done at the same time. Add to that mix that an extra "fun" thing I got to do in Springtime had quintuplied in size and they wanted me all over it and suddenly I found myself with 14+ weeks of work to between October 15 and 31!

How I got through it all, I just don't know.

It was a lot of work dumped on me (with more to come!), but I'm hoping it reflects in the end in March when careers are finally decided.

Canned

No, not fired.

There's a lot I could say about the week I went to California and a lot more I anticipated I could talk about. Sadly, the truth is the day after we arrived in Orange County, I'd nearly drowned myself drinking water as the heat really got to me.

And with drinking water came Montezuma's Revenge... California-style.

So, 3 days in Disneyland also meant two days where I visited every men's room in the park. And I have to say, I was impressed with how tidy they were (especially compared to the half-dozen or so I visited in Legoland). Yep, lots of days on the can. That's how I was "canned."

I know Disneyland's supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth((tm)?), but the fact that every bathroom had someone singing in it was a little annoying. "A Whole New World"? Annoying. "Hakuna Matata"? Annoying. "Whistle While You Work"? VERY annoying! "Some Day My Prince Will Come"? More frightening than annoying.

I'm recovered now, but it's been over 2 weeks since I got home. Eesh.

Decaf

I closed out August with a week of overtime. I ended up with 65+ hours worked that one week. This past week, I closed out September in a similar fashion: A 60+ hour work week.

I'm very tired.

One of the things that happens when a bunch of us work late, is we swap stories and 2 of us were talking about big mistakes in our past. My big mistake was, naturally, Sex Caffeine.

I had a... "moment" earlier this year where it looked like my wife and SC would be working in the same department at my old office, but that never came to be, fortunately. But the thought of that made me recall that that department usually publishes an annual report with photos. I haven't seen her in years and I was curious to see how she looked.

So, off on an internet search I went and, bingo! I found the latest report.

And there she was.

And there she was not looking so good.

She looked great with short hair, but she's grown it longer, maybe just past the shoulders, but it looks feathered. Her face, though, is showing some signs of aging too. I couldn't put my finger on what had changed, though. She's had some work done, that's all I know. My eyes are too tired to figure it out.

Whatever the case, seeing was believing and I'm quite happy that "seeing" her again did nothing for me.

I'm caffeine free, decaf, for sure.

Creation

I have, so far, 3 books filled with ideas and purposely bought a new cell phone with a QWERTY keyboard just so I had somewhere to jot down ideas as they came to me.

Brilliant, yes?

Well, no, actually. My ideas seem to come to me just as I'm about to fall asleep or as I'm in the shower. Can't write or type in the shower... *grumble*

The other morning, I came up with a great idea for a comic book and of course I was in the shower. Fortunately, as soon as I dried off, I didn't bother changing out of my towel until I'd finished writing everything down. About 3,000 words written down and I was quite dry after the shower by that point!

I've got a friend and former-classmate from school who's interested in drawing it, so now I'm re-writing everything to give her more to work with. I've got the script, I've got the story and characters, and I've got an artist. Let's see how this one fares, yeah?

Dreams

Last week, I had a horrible time sleeping. Going to bed wasn't an issue. Neither was falling asleep. I was pretty damned tired after a busy week of work the week prior.

The problem was, my dreams kept waking me up. In fact, over three nights I had the same *sort* of dream repeatedly:

I'd be doing... something, and suddenly someone would be standing beside me and telling me to stop what I was doing. As soon as I stopped, like a magician with a heavy cloak, the strange person would pull out 3 objects and tell me to interpret them.

I only remember one dream vividly enough. Same thing again and when I was handed the objects, there was a container of kitty litter, a shovel, and a flute. "Interpret."

And then I'm awake. Again.

For 3 nights this went on. And it wasn't just once a night, it was more like 5 or 6 times every night. Finally, exactly one week ago tonight, the dreams stopped.

To be replaced by this one:

The woman on the train who constantly... daily... drives me crazy with the way she looks (and reads... it's so cute), and acts, is alone with me in a train station. She's looking at me and I'm looking at her. And she's biting her lip just like she does when she's reading the morning paper. And I finally, finally have enough nerve to talk to her. Months of sitting not 2 feet from her's done nothing, but now I'm suddenly compelled to talk. The time is right and we're all alone.

I walk over and she looks up at me (she's shorter than me). She says nothing but brushes her blonde hair away from her glasses (she doesn't wear them all the time, but she is today). I open my mouth and everything falls out at once. I tell her that I've got a big-time crush on her. I tell her I love watching the crinkle in her lips when she reads and the looks she gives annoying people on the train when they get in her way. And I tell her every time she smiles at me it's like the rain's have stopped falling and there's only a warm sunrise left to enjoy. I tell her I'd give anything to get to know her. Her dreams, her aspirations, the things she's alwyas wanted in life. And I tell her that if there's any justice in the world, there's someone loving her and telling her just how beautiful she is. And I tell her that, if there's nothing else important in the world, the most important thing for me to know, right now, is her name. If the looks, the smiles, the laughs she's done in front of me mean anything, the least I could get from her now is her name.

And then she crinkles her nose. She leans over to me and get close to my face. Her icy blue eyes look me over and I can smell the citrusy-smell of her perfume. She's as close as she can be without touching me and opens her mouth to speak. And she says to me "That's the lamest thing I've ever heard. This isn't Hollywood. There's no happy ending." And off she walks as the train arrives.

And then I wake up.... the very next day, I heard this song and it brought the whole dream back to me. And as miserable as it made me when I woke up at 3 in the morning, I still have a skip in my step when I walk to work every morning. Especially those mornings with the sunshiney smile....

Misery loves the cruel way that you speak to yourself
And I love the cool way you look at me
And we've got a lot of time to get this right
At least that's how I hope it's gonna be

When you go looking for a little light real late at night
And you don't like the things you see
I'll be right here waiting in the dark for your knock
Oh, I want you here with me
I want you here with me

I hold you close and whisper in your ear
"There's nothing to fear"
I know the things you want to be
I don't know if they will ever come for anyone
Oh, I want you here with me
I want you here with me

Human

During my morning commute a few weeks back, I'd noticed a girl giving me a funny look. I gave one back to her as she looked like one of My Kids.

She was one of My Kids.

It turns out she's working less than 2 blocks away from my office downtown, so I've earned myself a new coffee buddy.

There are two stories in one here and I'm telling the funny one first. 'P' is one of My Kids I've rarely discussed before. She came in and did her job and we'd talk about college and studying and life/sport in general, but that was about it. She did a fine job and I liked her, even though she was mistakenly "hired" to work for me.

When we were organizing our new hire orientation, DQ (remember Drama Queen? I wish I could forget her!) spotted 'P' and thought she was one of the other girls. 'P' was rushed over to the orientation room, given her info pack and started to learn of her job responsibilities and such. I was running late (most likely putting out fires) and was scheduled to talk about 45 minutes into the orientation. When I came in to speak, needless to say I was curious who this girl was, since I'd interviewed all the others and had never seen this one before. I got the story later from DQ, proving once again just how incompetent she was. I decided since 'P' went through the orientation, if she was willing we'd keep her on and see how she did. And she did fine.

It's hard to believe now that the case of mistaken identity occurred nearly 5 years ago. But it did.

Cut back to 2008 and the funny story... The guys I work with decide it's time for a Starbucks break. There's 2 within walking distance of our office (isn't there everywhere?) and I convince them to go right instead of left --since the one to the right has better service. Right we go and we're sitting and enjoying our drinks when my supervisor points out this brunette looking over at our table. I, somewhat casually, look over and she smiles. I've told the guys about my past and my reputation, but it's time to put it into action. "Guys," I said, " She's giving me the look. I'm gonna go talk to her." "Oh right," says my supervisor, "Good luck with that!" as he laughs. I get up and say to him "I bet you in less than 5 minutes, I can get both a kiss from her and her phone number." He laughs some more and I turn and walk to this girl. As I'm walking, one of the guys chuckles "It's his wife." But one of the other guys has met my wife and clears that up. "Nah, it's gotta be his wife." But the one guy is insistent "That's not his wife."

I'm now talking to the girl. I laugh, she laughs. Then she gives me her phone number which I put in my cell along with a picture of her. As I turn to walk away, I stop with an "Oh wait, I forgot something" look and turn and give her a kiss on the cheek --which she then returns.

:)

My supervisor and co-workers are shocked into silence. I'm the man.

Actually, I'm the jerk who set them all up because 'P' is one hilarious girl. She also took their picture with her cell because she loved the look on their faces!

OK, that was the funny, here's the other part of the story.

'P' and I did go out for coffee a couple times since. She's filled me in on her life and what's she's been up to work-wise and love-wise. She's doing really well and I'm happy to hear it all. I like hearing that My Kids are doing well in the big world. She also tells me how she hated working for me. She hated my boss (From Hell!) and she hated DQ with a passion. She didn't like my immediate co-workers either. "But if you hated everything about it, why are you sitting here, willing to talk to me?" I ask. "Because you were different," she replies, "You weren't them. You treated us differently." "How did I treat you differently?" I was curious. "You treated us like we were human beings," she says.

In my 7 years working there, with the 900+ people I interacted with over those 7 years. With all the hard work and effort I put in and never felt got paid out, 'P' summed up in one sentence everything I needed to hear. She justified the 7 years in less than 30 seconds. Thanks, P!

Slipped

I used to be organized. I had to re-write that last sentence. It originally said I was "quite" organized, but I don't think that's exactly true. Growing up, my room was always messy --not that I liked that. I don't like messes, but they sure like me. And once a mess gets too big, I never know where to start to clean it up.

Even now in my little office, I have boxes stacked on boxes, games stacked on games, books & comics stacked on comics & books... and trading cards, and DVDs and rolled posters in the corner, a messy pile of clothes in the corner and an impressive array of empty cans close to my feet (and what could possibly go wrong there?).

I've always wanted to take a picture of my office for a professional website and have little links explaining different things on the walls and shelves:

• The comic picture on the wall which is the cover to a magazine that had my first published work.
  
• The enlarged picture from my trip to Scotland where it looks like we're all walking off the end of the world.
• The video game poster for the very first game I (proudly) worked on.
• My Cthulu action figure.
• The autographed hockey cards (designed by yours truly).
• My Weighted Companion Cube. And if you don't know what that is...
  
• The... boy, I hope that's an empty energy drink can.

I don't take that picture, though, because to see all these things, you have to push through the piles of my life. Things that get in the way, things that stop me from working on projects, things that once were projects and have been abandoned for one reason or another.

Mostly things that slipped by without noticing until it was too late.

This problem has been getting exponentially worse over the past little while. I can look back over the past 8 weeks and see things where I told myself "You have time, it's still weeks away" to "It's a week away" to "It's tomorrow" to "Aw, crap."

In early July, I'd booked some tables to sell off some of my stuff that just won't make it to eBay because of the logistics of it all. There's value there, but the time to get it on eBay, sell it, pack it, and ship it is too much. But to put them in a box and say "this is the price" and hopefully sell a majority of it would be a boost. Early July I booked the tables for this weekend. And only yesterday did I realize I never sent the money to pay for it. I emailed the organizer and wasn't at all surprised to receive a message back saying "I gave away your tables." Understandable, and I only have myself to blame.

In early August, I had an opportunity to get some hockey cards signed by one of my all-time favorite players. A forum I'm a member of had a notice that he'd be in the region at a hockey camp in mid-August and that one member would be present to collect stuff and get them signed. I'd already designed some cards with his image on them and my thought was: "Great. A little touch-up here and there and I can get these printed and mailed off." I needed to do about an hour's worth of work on them, save them on a portable flash drive (seriously, how convenient are these babies?) and get them printed at a local drugstore. Total time: 2 hours, max. Total cost: $3, including the envelope and stamp. The camp was mid-August and the day after it was over I realized the work I'd done never even made it to the flash drive. I'd missed out completely.

Around the same time, I'd received an email about a contest designing a goalie mask for the local NHL team. Sweet! A big chance to promote myself and my apparent-artistic abilities. I spent hours culling images and symbols for the mask to make it truly inspired and creative: suiting the personality of the goalie who would eventually wear it. The contest closed August 25th and I realized on September 2nd that I'd neither finished it nor, obviously, submitted it.

Another date missed. And another. And then another.

I'm mad at myself. I'm just behind in everything I'm doing and for everything I'm working on, there's never a completion. It just keeps going because I keep slipping. I need to change this NOW.

But I don't know how.

Listen

I had a mini-"discussion" with my sister over Facebook the other day. She's totally hooked on the new Kid Rock song which just made me shake my head again and again. Kid Rock? Gah.

It's hard to believe we're related, my sister & I. We had a musical mini-meme (and I had to explain what a meme was...) and our tastes in music couldn't be more different.

• Where I'm listening to the Creaky Boards, she's listening to Kid Rock.
• Where I'm listening to Sufjan Stevens, she's listening to Def Leppard.
  
• Where I'm listening to Mock Orange, she's listening to Black Sabbath.
• Where I'm listening to the Stars, she's listening to Poison.

While I, at some point in my life, have listened to all those she listening to (save Kid Rock --ew!), it's like she hasn't evolved her tastes at all. My music selection is constantly changing. Thanks to sites like NPR.org, I'm discovering groups and musicians I've never heard before. I love it!

Now to convince my sister to give it a try...

Buddies

Dreama, for one, gets on my case about my love of women. I can't help it, I'm addicted.

:)

But, I will say, some situations I do not enter into on my own and this latest adventure can solely be blamed on my wife for both encouraging it and praising me for it! Praising!?! Yeah, I know!!

It all started when my father-in-law's stepsister and her family came to visit from the East Coast. I'd met the family once about 10 or so years earlier. Needless to say, there's not too much I remember about the family, except that the couple have 3 kids: twin boys and an older sister. I should have remembered that a lot can change in 10 years...

It was a hectic day at work and I was relieved to know that I could come home to a hot meal and visit with family. It's true, I like my wife's family better than my own, so what could be better than adding more family into the mix? I got to the house and walked through into the kitchen. I shook the uncle's hand "Hey, Uncle *** nice to see you again." I hugged his wife "Aunt ***, you look great!" A good wave to the boys: "Hey boys! Wow! You've grown!" And then I turned as the 18 year old daughter bounced into the room.

While my mouth said "hello" my brain had other words in mind. "Holy shit!" was pretty much the only words revolving up there. Beautiful, bouncy 18 year old blonde girl. My brain died in that instant.

To make matters worse, she gave me a huge hug. She was very excited to meet me because current job involves one of her favorite activities and my last job entailed her ultimate favorite activity. So, she was really wanting to meet me! And, needless to say, we had plenty to talk about. Dinner that Thursday night came and went. We continued talking about various things until I said I really had to get home (it was, at this point, close 1 in the morning and I leave for work at 6:30). So, another hug and off I went for home to sneak into bed and try my best not to feel like like some old pervert. My wife rolled over as I got into bed. All she said was "I"m so glad you two are getting along so well! Keep it up."

I think all I managed to say was "Yuh-huh."

Friday was a difficult day at work: I was tired. And I also had to tell my friends about the hot blonde I was encouraged to spend time with the night before. I love being a "hero."

When I got home that night, it was back to the in-laws' for dinner again. The dinner conversation all seemed to revolve around this poor girl's inability to keep her bathing suit top on whenever she goes swimming. I heard stories of her brothers loosening her top on her and stories of her diving prowess and to come up out of the water sans top. It was almost too much for my imagination to take. And the the uncle asked the big question: "What are our plans for tomorrow?" Without a moment's hesitation, the wrong brain of mine spoke:

"We could go to the beach."

Silence. No one spoke for a few moments. And then, the uncle nodded his head "The beach sounds great."

What?! No one should be listening to me at this stage, especially the father of the 18 year old hottie who can't keep her bathing suit on. Why are they listening to me!?!

Aside from spending a Saturday at the beach, we also went shopping in various locations around Vancouver and had a great dinner at the only restaurant close to work that I had yet to try. And no, fortunately for my mental condition, the girl did not lose her top at the beach (but was still quite the sight to see.

We stayed up late Friday night talking, until around 2am. After a busy Saturday, I'd planned on getting to bed early, but my wife convinced me to entertain the girl when she came over that night to play Guitar Hero. We played games and talked until 4. Sunday was more of the same and I was definitely feeling the effects of being... 29 (dammit!) to her 18. I was a slug getting to work on Monday. I had a couple pictures on my phone which I shared with the guys. Most saw me as a super hero by that point. That's me: Pervo, the Sleepless Man!

The family left early Tuesday morning. As sad as I am to think my new buddy is en route for home, I'm also really really happy I can finally calm down and get some sleep. I"m not built for 18 year olds. It was a great lesson my buddy taught me.

Bat

I learned a valuable lesson this week while taking the morning train to work. When I see something that may, in any situation, freak people out... it's best not to act casual about it.

See, on Monday I was sitting and vegging, listening to music on my phone when the Train Hottie next to me started leaning in closer. A little odd, to be sure, but I was fine with it. Until I realized she was almost sitting on my arm.

And getting closer.

OK, music is off. Earphones are down. "What's up?" I ask. The Train Hottie looks at me --still getting closer, says "I think there's a bird down the stairs." So, I lean out and over as the Train Hottie is now just about completely in my seat. Yes, indeed, there's something flying around down there.

Wait. No feathers, lightly flapping leathery wings. "That's not a bird," I say, "That's a bat." And I lean back in my seat.

OK, big lessons learned:

1. Don't point out the obvious when people freak out about bats.
   
2. Don't point out a freaky bat and then casually plan to go back to listening to music on your phone.
3. Don't say "That's a bat" as the freakin' thing flies up the stairs. People will scream.

Naturally, there was many things that could've gone better. But, the point of the story is not to act so casual. I've never seen a train empty so quickly when we finally got to the station.

I stayed behind for a bit because I didn't want to head down the stairs to early and have people think I was a pussy or something. I'm sure they think I'm a jerk, but not a pussy!

[follow-up: the bat was caught with an empty coffee cup when it came to rest on one of the lights. The conductor took the cup and brought to a local animal rescue office where the bat was eventually freed. Since I'm a jerk, I thought it would be funny to place the coffee cup on someone's desk and walk away.]

Painless

It's only a mile, but when you fall out of shape, a mile suddenly becomes much much longer than you last recall. It's even longer when your trainer says "run."

Jerk.

Not really. He set up a new "circuit" for me that includes a 1-mile run. Fortunately, as exhausting as a 1-mile run can be, it was broken down into 1/10th of a mile for each run --and it was followed by some other routine. So, I'd start running and go full-speed for 1/10th mile, then when I hit that mark, I'd get off the treadmill and do something like 20 push-ups or 20 pull-ups. As my trainer started me and I was huffing and puffing after the first tenth, he had me do 20 squats while holding 20 pound weights. It was a full day before I realized he'd doubled the weight from my last circuit.

It was a challenge to get through the mile and there were times I wanted to just collapse, other times I wanted to throw up, and even one time I was ready to give in because of the stitch in my side. But, my trainer kept me focused and I pushed through. I finished the mile and I finished my circuit. And thank God, he didn't say "OK, let's go again."

I expected after such an intensive workout that I'd be both asleep and in pain by the time the train pulled into my home station. As I showered after the circuit, I contemplated rolling down the stairs of the train car and out to the station because there was no way these legs would be functioning.

Nothing happened.

So, I was sure since nothing hurt after getting home, that by the time I woke up early the next morning I'd be feeling the burn with every step. But nothing happened.

During work, I was sure after sitting at my desk for hours at a time, something would be burning. But again, nothing.

No pain. I had a day off from the gym and headed back yesterday and never had any pain. And after yesterday's repeat: no pain again.

This is a big hurdle to get over. I'm glad I'm over it. Again.

Survive

After the odd "job recommendation" I got a few weeks back, I was quite concerned about the future of my job. I knew there were "big changes coming" at work and my fear was that those changes wouldn't include me. Even after my boss told me my contract renewal was 99.9% ensured, I had a feeling that 0.1% had compounding interest.

So, as the end of July loomed, I was pretty much convinced it was time to pack up my belongings and say goodbye to my new friends. Upon hearing that we could be losing a good percentage of the people at work as part of the "big change," I did start bringing stuff home. There were plenty of goodbye messages from other people in my inbox, people who were about to leave on holidays who felt they weren't coming back and were leaving contact information. I got the same email ready to send out as well.

Just before hitting 'send' at the end of July, my boss called me into her office. "here it is," I thought, "the end is here." Instead, she had my contract extension sitting in front of me.

I'm safe and I've survived. I worry, however, about the friends I've made. Will they last too?

Despite my survival, I did apply for the recommended job. If it happens (and I don't think it will), there'll be more "big changes" coming.... especially in my life.