A Memorable Evening or I Don't Think I'll be Doing THAT Again...

Oh god, where to start....
Someone got hurt at work and I agreed to help cover some of his shifts. Therefore, my 2 days off this week are both filled with work... that means I'll be working 12 days in a row before getting a day off... and THAT'S assuming that I don't get suckered into working on those ones... Oh well, it'll be a couple of nice paychecks at least...
Monday night, Lee and I watched Season 2 of "The Office." He was right, it is sad... so many crappy things happen to the characters... I loved how they didn't sell out and give it a happy ending. It's just another example of how the BBC is better than almost any TV in the U.S. It's best shows never pander to any demographics or audience numbers... They follow what they feel is the vision of the show and are not afraid to have totally unlikeable characters... Very refreshing.
Now... last night... There was a small gathering at Tyler's place... There was myself, Jay, Derek, Kari, and Tyler (and for a while, Ian McKinnis... or as he wants to be called, but never will be... Bowser) We ate some spaghetti (which was delicious), played some WarioWare, and had some McDonald's Ice Cream. Then came the "fun." Tyler wanted to "do some bong hits" so everyone adjourned to the patio and partook. All was ok. Upon entering inside and sitting down, I felt really weird. It was like my heart was beating at lightspeed or something... I suddenly got really paranoid and worried. I thought that I was going to collapse and go into a heart attack or something. It really freaked the hell out of me. I tried drinking some water and splashing my face with some cold sink water, but neither helped. I kept thinking of the "Murkin Incident" where he had pot laced with something that gave him a heart thingy and caused him to need to go to the Hospital. I know that such a thing would not happen with Tyler, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. The last thing I wanted was my mom to get a phone call saying that I was in the hospital od'ing on pot. I was so scared that I actually prayed to God to help me get through it by not having to go to the hospital or stay overnight. I offered up the promise of not doing drugs ever again... Now I am not a big believer in organized religion, but I do believe in some sort of higher power... otherwise, existence is pretty bleak and pointless... and there's no point being depressed all the time... I assume that it was the freaky paranoia from the pot that was fucking with my mind like that... Anyway... I tried to sit back down, but my legs started shaking of their own accord and I got to thinking that standing would be better for me (otherwise I might pass out or go into freaky convulsions... at least that what was going through my mind at the time...) Pacing around did nothing to alleviate the situation and I began to feel a little iffy. I went into the kitchen to get some more water and suddenly felt nauseous. I then proceeded to puke into the sink a few times... The puke was all the ice cream that I ate... I guess Strawberry Shortcake McFlurry doesn't agree with bong hit. It was decided that some air would help so we all went to the porch. I was afraid to sit down so I stood up and did some old fashioned slide stepping for like a half hour. It was during that motion that I learned from Tyler that I was just "tripping" and should come down in a half hour or so... He also let me know that the trip on stuff like mushrooms could last a few hours... based on what I felt like, why the hell would you WANT to feel like that for that long... I wanted the damn thing to end, it was driving me nuts... and in a bad way...
Eventually I thought it would be ok if I sat back down. Everyone else was watching something that the group had filmed for their sketch show... nothing wrong with that... except they were watching it OVER AND OVER AGAIN... with no sound! It was seriously freaking me out.... I asked it we could watch a movie since it would be something I could concentrate on that wasn't my condition. "Love Actually" was the choice and watching it helped a lot. I was then left with the experience I had once before with Lee at his movie night. Things would be said but I wouldn't be sure if I had heard them or just imagined them... Now that kind of stoned I can handle... it's a weird feeling, but not a terrible or paranoia inducing one... Anyway, focusing on the movie really helped and I managed to doze off a little which cleared my head a lot. At about 3:15 ish am, I went home feeling pretty much back to normal... Although once arriving at home, I devoured a bunch of cookies, handi-snacks, and milk. I feel much better now!
Anyway what this whole little freak out has done is made me much more likely to turn down pot now... quite possibly for a long long time... Maybe even forever... I don't know... The experience I had, while in the end being harmless... was not fun at all... Up until this point, I had only really had the whole real/imagined thing or just getting sleepy from marijuana. This "trip" put a blemish on my drug using experiences... It's not something that I want to duplicate. It was akin to how I felt when I was freaking out for those couple of nights during the mono time... Not fun... I don't like paranoia....

So "The Punisher" Sucked or I Stink at Pool and I Know it!

Friday night ended up being a bust as I had to stay at work late due to the breaking down of the semi that we are supposed to unload. Saturday was filled with lounging around, interrupted by work, and then ended off with a viewing of "The Punisher", some pool playing, and some Perkins.
First off the movie... what can I say but shitty. It had SOOOO much potential to be good, but ended up being eight degrees of poo and ass. Too long, sloppy script, cheesy scenes, and not enough of what makes the Punisher cool. Seeing as how the only comics I have read are the Garth Innis ones, by that I mean, crazy ridiculous violence, lots of the Russian, and weird ass plots. The whole time watching the movie I kept saying to myself, "I could do better" or "I would have done that this way..."
After wasting 2 hours of my life on that schlock, Matt, Rob, Kostas, Jon, and I played some pool... well I didn't exactly PLAY pool as I am quite possibly the WORST pool player in the whole world. I managed to lose off the break... My rule for playing pool (rhyme!) is that I can never take more than 5 seconds for any shot... needless to say that it tends to make me suck ass... I usually will only play with girls... that way I can distract them with witty repartee... that and flirt with them....
Perkins was Perkins... I had some banana/Pecan pancakes which were a solid C+. I would have liked more of the filling, but whatever... it was 6$...
Today I had to work and then did a little working out.. My dad got some aerobics steps, so I was busting out on those for a while... I think that this will finally be the week when I pick up the Chuck Norris approved Total Gym from Wal-Mart(the devil). I've been itching to get on one of those ever since I tried it at that guy whose name I don't know's house a while back.
Well, I've got to work early tomorrow, so off to bed now!

I got some Cheap Clothes or Soon I'll be TOO Hip!

Wednesday night I went with my mom to Sears as she has a discount there for a few more weeks (she works at H&R Block) and they were having a "huge" sale. I also needed some new pants as I have been wearing some of mine for upwards of 8 years now. (I've been a 32 waist for something like 10 years...) I wanted a new pair of cargo pants to replace the two that I have had since grade 12 that are now falling apart. I found a pretty sweet pair that can become TWO different lengths of short... pretty swank. I also came across a pair of those jeans that are meant to look old... Normally I wouldn't even think of trying those on, what with them costing more than 100$ and all, but these were marked down from $130 to $20! So I figured, what the hell. I looked pretty freakin' hip in them! So I grabbed those as well. then I got a striped button-up shirt that looks really cool. If I combine the shirt and the jeans I will become uber-hip man, able to look like a couple of hundred bucks for only 40$, able to woo the ladies without really trying (I hope) and able to...ummmmm.... this isn't really going anywhere... so I'll just stop now...
Last night after work, Dave, Jay and I sat around and did nothing... oh wait.. Jay and I each ate 5 donuts! I can be a pig sometimes too! I said no to smoking pot last night (and Tuesday night) thus putting my weekly smoking total at zero. It's more or less just to show that I can say no even when everyone around me is doing it and offering it to me. My willpower is HUGE! Sort of....

Another Karaoke Party Night or Now I Remember why I don't like Going to the Hairdressers.

So last night Jay, Kari, Derek, and I ended up going to the Limelight for this guy who I don't really know's (by choice) birthday. We were essentially the only ones there with the possible exception of a couple who were in and out the whole night. I got to sing "When Doves Cry" by Prince, "The Partisan Song" by Leonard Cohen, and "Superstition" by Stevie Wonder. I was really hankering to try out a falsetto on "Kiss" by Prince but never got the chance... oh well... The birthday boy, Ian McKinnis was totally drunk and annoying as per usual. The real comedy came from his insanely square friend Neil. He is the dictionary definition of square although he did get pretty into his singing. There was a funny moment where these 3 "fat" girls were singing that stupid "Goodbye Earl" song and Neil said (to me in reference to the song) "that's what happens when you marry your cousin." To which I replied (by pointing to the 3 fat girls on stage) "and that's what happens when you EAT your cousin!" Yes, I am fully aware it was mean, but it's not like I was saying that they were bad PEOPLE... just fat people. Anyway... Neil didn't get it, so I had to explain it to him. Jay thought it was hilarious... but then again, he LOVES fat jokes. On the way back, I tried one of the new Smores chocolate bars... they rock. If only they were bigger than 3 bites...
I went to the hairdresser today and was planning on changing my hair color, but ended up not... they were too booked up and didn't have the time... that and I never really asked... oh well... I was, however, reminded why I don't like going to the hairdressers... They always cut my hair shorter than I want. I told the girl this time that I was growing it out and to just neaten it up a touch... she cut off way more than I wanted... I know that my hair was getting sloppy but it didn't need THAT much cut off... I seriously am now set back about 2 months of growing... I am not happy.... She also cut off my fake sideburns... and I now look 10 years old... I did tell her to fix them, but I never thought that meant REMOVE them... Now I have to improvise something in order to look at least 18.... Fuck...

Wooooooooooo! or Take That, Everyone who he Disses!

This is a fun little read. My favorite wrestler of all time, Ric Flair, pulls no punches.

Ric Flair speaks his mind.

That was Mean or My Mom Went Nutso

So my dad found a mouse running around in the basement. We've never had any real problems like that before. My mom flipped out, screaming and yelling... both in fear and anger at having a mouse in the house. We didn't have any traps or anything so my Dad grabbed some raid and sprayed the little guy... It seemed so cruel..... He got all covered in the stuff and curled up and started pawing at his eyes.... I guess they were burning.... It seemed like he was really suffering... Yes I am fully aware that it's just a mouse, but I'd rather see it go quickly then the way this one went. If it was me, I would've tried to catch it alive and then release it in one of the many forest type areas around the neighborhood. At least then it could've had a semi-natural existence. This wasn't even a very big mouse either... it seemed like it was maybe just getting out on its own.... What a life... you live with your parents, finally get old enough to stake out your own life, then ZAP! Sprayed with Raid until deaths agonizing throws come over you.....

It's Been a While or I was Busy, so Sue me...

Playing catch up now...
Wednesday night, Lee came by after work and we watched assorted things, like Daria which he doesn't really enjoy all that much. Thursday I had to work, but after said money making, I went to Dave's where we smoked a little and watched "City Lights." That's one of my favorite Chaplin movies. I find some of them are a touch too long and have scenes that COULD be cut but weren't because Chaplin did literally EVERYTHING in his movies. Seriously, the guy was writer, director, producer, star, composer, editor... He was probably even key grip for all I know... But anyway, City Lights does not have any extraneous moments. It's quite possibly the perfect Chaplin feature. (Along with "The Gold Rush" and "The Circus") It mixes sentiment and comedy very well and despite being silent, you can totally tell EXACTLY how the Tramp feels in every scene. Chaplin was an AMAZING silent actor.
Friday night I had to work, but managed to duck out early to meet up with the gang to see "Kill Bill: Vol. 2." All I have to say about that was, WOW! What a great western! It seriously was an awesome film. I really want to see the two together now, the way they were originally intended. Oh yeah, I also loved the reference to "Fist of the White Lotus." I didn't know anyone else had even SEEN that movie besides my tight knit circle of friends. After the movie we adjourned to Perkins where we had a few laughs and some average food.
Last night, I had been pumped up to go to a wedding social for one of the (former) Balmoral Hall girls that I used to hang out with in High School. Dave had been under the impression that it would rock. I had planned on drinking and everything! I thought that I had set up a ride there with Rob, but then he backed out at the last minute so I had to drive. Neither Jay nor Lee wanted to go, so it was just Dave and I. While it was great to catch up with Jill (the girl getting married) the promised "vast amounts of former BH girls" that were supposed to be in attendance were no shows. There were a few, but not anywhere near vast amounts. One of them, Johanna, whom we used to occasionally hang out with, happened to be there. She has "spectacular boobs" to quote someone. That and she's also really hot... It's too bad that she seems to be an uber-Christian. She's spent that past 6 years (the last time I saw her) working at a Christian camp.... She was surrounded by some equally hot friends, who unfortunately were all from this camp! We tried to spark up some lively conversation and fun-having, but they were not interested... maybe we smelled bad or something...???? They were all boring and shit. Giving up on having any of that kind of fun, we resigned ourselves to eating the free food and waiting for the eventual silent auction draws. I had soooo much food. Oh yeah, the number that was drawn for the grand prize (a 27 inch flat screen TV and DVD player) was ONE higher than my last ticket... it was 060 and I had 059.... That sucked.... I coulda used a free 27 inch TV and DVD player... at least then the evening wouldn't have been a total bust... Speaking of bust.... man that Johanna girl was smokin' (DATED MID 90's REFERENCE) Did I mention that there were a ton of gay dudes at the social? Jill's brother is all out and stuff and he had a gaggle of friends with him. It was like "Multiplicity" or something. They seriously all had tight clothes, and hair gelled up to make a peak on the top of the head... it was weird... they could also all dance REALLY well... One of the ways I can tell I'm straight is my lack of fashion sense and even greater lack of rhythm... that and I like boobs....
After the shitty social Dave and I smoked a little and watched some Brothers Quay animation. If you are wondering what that is, the best way to describe it is as the guys that the TOOL videos ripped off. Totally weird and unique stuff.
Dave commented on the fact that reading this blog might give one the impression that I am a pothead. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have never purchased pot in my life ever. Nor will I. I have no problems accepting it from other people however. It just happens that I know a lot of people who feel the need (god bless 'em) to offer me pot. I wouldn't want to be ungrateful and turn it down (unless I was sick or something). I don't actually smoke that much, maybe a couple times a month tops... it's just that this past week was filled with a little more toking than usual. It can be fun sometimes, but I would never do it ALL the time or anything... I like my brain and only want to escape from it occasionally. And even then, it has to be in good company.

So Far So Good or Daria, I Love You.

So far, today has been pretty good. I handed in my final project for animated film and had a great hour long talk with professor Walz. He gave me a lot of good advice for how to start my film career. I told him about the college movie I wrote and he cracked up! He seemed to think that it was pretty funny. That made me feel good! He said that I should just get access to a camera and start pissing around with it. The more practice I get with filming and directing actors the better. He also recommended that I take a few classes at the Film Group and Video Pool. I should probably get on that!
Last night I ended up going to Tyler's after work to hang for a while. It was fun. We had some "rotten ronnies." I usually will only eat dessert or the OCCASIONAL breakfast there, but I caved in last night and had some Chicken McNuggets. The sauces is what makes 'em. Jay and I each had large milkshakes and both felt funny after. Although part of that could've been the pot... Yeah... we got stoned and played WarioWare for the Gamecube. When high, the game is oddly entrancing. Especially the 4 player jump rope thing. It was almost hypnotic.
I've been watching Daria today and my crush on her grows... if only I knew someone REAL who was like her... oh wait I do, but she's not available... Curse you fate!!!!

So Far, This Week Sucks or Man, Why'd I Agree to Work so Much?

I remember when I was taking some business classes and one of the theorists said that mankind is inherently lazy and does not want to work. At the time I thought "that's kinda harsh, not ALL people are lazy." Well time and the wisdom from age have given me a new perspective. It's not that people are necessarily lazy, although some certainly are, it's just that man wasn't designed to have to work a shitty job for 40 hours a week. To quote "Office Space" we weren't put on this earth to work in a cubicle 5 days a week. There are better things to do on this planet. We aren't here for very long, so we should be enjoying ourselves. Unfortunately, in today's modern society, we have something called money. This thing called money is what runs everything. Stuff costs money and in order to be able to acquire said stuff, you need to have a lot of this money. In fact, just in order to eat and have a roof over your head, you need money. The social safety net does not give enough money to meet all your needs, so you must find a job. Here is a sad fact about "jobs." They all suck in some form or another. It's only when you are lucky enough to be paid for doing what you love to do that a job is worthwhile. Most people never get a chance to do that. They have to suffer through something that, while maybe slightly enjoyable, is not what they love to do. Take my current situation for example. I work at Greyhound. While it can be an enjoyable experience sometimes (no customers to deal with, fairly long breaks, nothing too complicated to remember) it can also suck ass sometimes (repetitive routines, monotony of same thing everyday). That is why I will never work it full time. I would not/could not handle a continuous 40 hour work week there. It's kinda soul crushing. The people that do work there 40 hours a week get sucked in by the fact that you get paid really well and you never have to take anything home. I can envisage myself working part time there (no more than 30 hours a week EVER, but preferred around 20-25) for a few years while I try to get a career doing what I love, creating things (movies, games, etc) But I would NEVER take a full time position there.
Where am I going with all of this.... well this week I work 41 hours at Greyhound. At the time I agreed to do this, I was all "sweet! money!" Now I remember why I don't want to work a regular full time job EVER. It's not that I'm lazy as that theorist said, it's that 40 hours leaves no real time for anything else! Oh sure, you have a couple of days off, but those are usually spent doing all the errands that you had no time for during the work week... either that, or resting up. I think we should NEVER have to work more than... I don't know... 32 hours a week. Jobs should just pay better and things should not cost any more... Yeah, I know... economics doesn't really work that way..... but why are we slaves to theories that were thought up by opium addicts? Seriously, most economics theories NEVER work to begin with... they require a closed system which can never exist in the real world. So why are we forced to accept these crazy theories.... Why are we slaves to them... Why can't a 32 hour work week with 6 weeks MANDATORY paid vacation work? There is no REAL reason.. only theories. I think we should give it a shot. The Kellogg's factory in Battle Creek, Michigan used to have 32 hour work weeks where the employees were paid as if they worked 40 hours. The city also used to have the lowest crime rate in all of the U.S. It also had a thriving arts community, vibrant social scene, and generally happier people. Then the 80's came and all that changed. The factory increased its work week to 40 hours and the crime rate almost instantly went up drastically. Arts and entertainment went down and people became angrier. (I got all this from the book "Affluenza: The all-consuming epidemic) What all this can teach us is that people NEED more free time to do with as they please. With more of said time, they will live better and happier lives. Where was I going again... oh yeah... I value my free time a lot. Even if I don't do anything other than sit around and watch movies. I don't like working 40+ hours because I am not allowed to spend enough time "living." I hope to never have to "work" 40 hours a week in my whole life. (Working on creative projects does not count as work... I could work on a movie or something 40+ hours a week.) This week only serves to reinforce my wish. I have literally no real time to do anything... It's get up, shower, eat, work, come home, eat, sleep.... With only tiny amounts of time inbetween to relax... It sucks ass.
In reading my weird and crazy opinions, you might have thought something like "live in the real world buddy" or "you're on goof balls" and that's fine. Everyone is entitled to their own ideas. Mine are that the world does not have to function the way it is now. We are always told that the markets are the driving force in the world... why does that have to be? Are the markets alive? Do the markets feel? Do the markets love? Do the market die? No, they do none of these things. The world should be run by PEOPLE, not abstract concepts and the laws of consumption. We need to enact fundamental change here. Life is becoming emptier while we all live only to work and consume. We in North America especially, are pushing things toward the brink. Unfortunately, as long as the pursuit of more and more money is the driving force in the world, things will never get better.
Just to make myself a little more clear.. I like things as much as the next person... I have something like 220 DVD's after all... (Look at the link to see what they all are!) I understand that they do not make me a "full" person. They are just things after all. It's the relationships that make me who I am. It's the tremendous people that I know and the interesting things that I see and hear from a wide variety of sources that enrich my life. I just can't get into the whole "me first" and "MORE money" ways of life. It seems so vapid and soulless. I would rather laze around with friends then work my ass off to make enough money to buy the newest Porsche. Does this make me lazy? I don't think so... I think this makes me human.

I Hate Traffic or Man, The Clone Wars was AWESOME!

Not a whole lot to update, but that doesn't mean I can't be long-winded about it! Yesterday I hung out with Rob, Matt, and Kostas for a while in the afternoon. I hadn't seen Matt in a while and got updated on a lot of things that have been going on with him. Not that much is going on with him, but still. We ate brownies and whipped cream, jalepeno potato chips, and other unhealthy snacks and played Baldur's Gate 2 for the PS2. All in all it was a typical day at Matt's which I hadn't done in a while. At night, Rob, Jay and myself watched "Rock and Roll Nightmare" which Jay loves and the complete series of the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons. While "Rock and Roll Nightmare" was terrible save for the last 10 minutes, "The Clone Wars" was amazing all the way through. It almost makes up for the shitty quality of the 2 new movies. Scratch that, it more than makes up for them... it's that good. Filled with action, a great story, and plenty of killing it's what Star Wars SHOULD be. Lucas should have let those guys make the new movies because they rule. Then again, Lucas is officially insane so he would never do the right thing at this point.
I had to go to Future Shop today to pick up a CD binder, some jewel cases, and some more blank CD's. The traffic was unbelievable. I literally took me 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot alone. I used to hate working retail on Saturdays because of the volume of people and now I hate it for shopping. It seems like Saturday is just not a good day to leave the house during business hours.... Too many people..... argh!
I get to work a whole shitload next week. 41 hours! The good news is that some of those hours are time and a half. The Sunday holiday explains one and the fact that they begged me to do a double on Monday and I said only if I got Overtime rates to which they acquiesced. I totally held them for ransom! Tee Hee! I refuse to work double shifts under normal circumstances so they have to pay me more to do so. Another good thing is that Wednesday I have an 8 hour shift where my whole purpose for being there is to help out a truck driver who can't life things over 20 pounds. Essentially I just ride around in a truck all day and help him with a couple of pick ups. Other than that, it's literally NO work. My paycheck for the 30th of April is gonna be sweet. I'll finally have some money! Yay! I should probably save it though....
Was that long winded enough for you?

Doing Nothing is Contagious or The Time Sucking Void

Seriously, I haven't exactly been lighting the world on fire with action the past couple of days. I finished watching the Futurama Season 3 set and have moved onto the Chaplin Volume 2 set. I've also had vast amounts of time sucked away by this stupid computer. It's like I sit down and next thing I know an hour has past... or more! It's all from this damn VCD making... It is like a time vampire or something.... it needs my time or it wastes away to nothing....
I would like to include an excerpt from my essay about "The Man Who Laughs" for the Guy Maddin class for you to examine.
"He works as a circus clown whose sole purpose is to elicit laughter from riotous, drunken mud-lingering peasants. When shown delivering a riveting performance of standing in one spot and pointing at things, the audience responds with glee and cackling madness. Clearly he is a comic genius! His skill at pointing and standing remains second to none but it is not enough to make him happy. "
I thought it was pretty clever... but maybe you have to see the movie to think so.
Oh well, back to the nothing-ness.

A Day of Nothing or Is it Possible to do LESS Than Nothing?

So I did absolutely NOTHING today. I mean I had to work this morning, but after sleeping post shift I literally did dick all. I was on the net for a while reading about Hero Quest. Hero Quest is a sweet board game that was made in the EARLY 90's where you have little figures and a board and stuff. It's a little dungeon crawl game that was super fun. I have most of the released sets for it and I have painted all of the miniatures. There were a few European only released sets which I wouldn't mind picking up but they go for a shit load on ebay. I found a bunch of tools to print out the info from them on your own, but then you still need the actual figures. It's possible to use Warhammer figures however. The amount of Hero Quest resources on the net is staggering. I had no idea how big it still was. There are custom rules for just about EVERYTHING. If I ever get around to buying miniatures again, I can use them in the game! All that is required is people who would actually want to play it with me. Oh yeah, I also found out that they made a more complicated and cool version of the game called Warhammer Quest. It was never released this side of the Atlantic so to try to get some of it will be SUPER expensive. Looking at the game though makes me want to. It looks super cool. The only thing is that it follows the typical Games Workshop bullshit where you have to buy a ton of expansions to get everything out of it. I found a guy selling pretty much everything there was on ebay and I figure it would probably cost me upwards of 300$ U.S. to get it all. I'm not prepared to spend that much money. To just get the basic set will cost me $100 U.S. Ouch! Maybe I'll just concentrate on trying to complete the Hero Quest set first...
Apart from all the Hero Quest reading I did, I can't think of anything constructive I've done today. I managed to get my essay and sketches done yesterday so I am pretty much good to go on the school front. I just need to do some finishing touches on the sketches (ie. put them in a model sheet format.) but apart from that, all is good. I guess I'll just take today as a write off and do nothing for the rest of the night either... Maybe I'll watch a movie or something.... or maybe not....

I'm so Mad Right Now or I was Having Fun

I'm very angry at the moment and I'm not 100% sure if I should be. I went to see "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" at Grant Park with Jay, Karrie, and Lee. The film was awesome, by the way, totally original and fun, with lots of emotion. After that, we got some ice cream and decided to stop by my place to grab Futurama to watch. In saying to my parents that I was just stopping by and on my way out, they totally flipped. "You haven't eaten supper, you have to work tomorrow, you have mono, you'll relapse, the clocks go ahead an hour, you won't get any sleep, you are too sick, etc." It was an endless nag. Then they said that I couldn't go to work tomorrow if I went out now and they would phone in sick if I did. I ended up just getting the things I promised to lend Karrie and passing them on to the guys. I just told them that my parents were being dicks and I won't be coming along. It was easier than giving the whole spiel I got. In a way my parents are right, I mean I shouldn't push it so soon after being so sick. On the other hand, it's my life and my body. If I think that I can do it, then they should respect that and let it be. I am the one who would have to deal with something if it happened not them. That is the way of my life though. My parents like to insert themselves into areas where they should no longer have a say. I am a 24 year old person and I still feel like a freakin' high school student. I'll never really "grow up" until I get out of the house... it's a stagnating experience...

Continuing the Rise to Glory or Futurama, the Forgotten Funny

I am continuing to feel better and get sleep. For the most part the pain in my throat has subsided, although at the very back of my tongue it still hurts a little. I can get down more and more solid food, but it's a little challenge to swallow at the point. I just grin and bear it, cuz I'm hardcore. I can see little white dots on my tongue way back there when I look in the mirror with a flashlight, but considering the fact that my whole tongue used to be that color I figure I'm doing alright.
I did a bunch of work on my animation script yesterday while rocking out to some sweet tunes. My CD player in my room that I USED to love so much has been being a bitch for the past few months. It's tendency to play burnt CD's has been dropping so much that it is now at zero. I took it and it's remote... and it's 5 Disc changer out of my room and put back in old faithful. The single disc, no remote, ghetto blaster style CD player that never fails to play the burnt CD's... despite being bought BEFORE blank CD's were really even on the market. It sucks having to change the CD after every album and not being able to sit on my bed and relax controlling everything with the remote, but at least I can PLAY a lot of my CD's now... Yay!
I've also been watching a bunch of the Futurama season 3 that I picked up. While it never really got its due when on the air, I think it's a great show. Some really killer satire on some episodes. Some of them are kinda blase, but others totally smoke! If you like sci-fi comedy at all, you can't go wrong with Futurama. I just hope that the DVD's are selling well enough so that they finish off the show. There are still 2 more seasons to go!
Today I must work on the essay that I've been putting off. The good news is that we can put our personal experiences in it, so I am totally going to write a 7 page confessional. Guy Maddin would get a kick out of it. He's like that.
I'm starting to feel like the old me again! The old me with a sore back of throat!

Sleep! Sweet Glorious Sleep! or Bubba Ho-Tep was Worth it!

Well to bring you up to speed, I eventually DID get to sleep there Wednesday night, at about 4:30 am ish. It helped that's for sure. Thursday was a little odd as I felt better from the bit of sleep and decided to try to see what I could do. I know that exercise and relaxation were two things that I was not really getting so I did a VERY mild workout at the gym. And by VERY mild I mean that I just did a 25 minute leisurely peddle on the bikes. Then I went to my Tai Chi class for the opening chi-gong relaxation part. I did not stay for the forms part as it is more engaging. Getting home I felt like I could sleep for a while but I was invited to see Bubba Ho-Tep with Jay if I was feeling better. The show was at 9pm, so I knew that I wouldn't have a late evening. I ended up going and it was awesome! Great movie that was totally different from anything you'll see in a while. Part Army of Darkness, part lament of old age, part Elvis/fame satire, part commentary of the life of Elvis, part criticism on what fame does to you, part zombie movie, part criticism on how old people are treated... I could go on. I think that a lot of people in the theatre were expecting more Army of Darkness then they got, but they seemed to enjoy it all the same. Oh yeah, and Bruce Campbell was AMAZING as Elvis. He deserved the Oscar right there baby! I saw one of my profs there but could only talk to him for a brief moment as I wanted to get home to bed. I ended up sleeping for almost 11.5 hours! I would wake up briefly every 3 or so hours because my throat was sore so I would get some water and gargle and fall right back asleep. I figure it's cause I'm about out of the special mouthwash I was prescribed that my throat was bugging me so. My mom went to the pharmacist and they recommended some regular mouthwash that they said should help out. If it doesn't they offered to call the doctor so that I wouldn't have to go down there again and wait in the walk in clinic just to get a renewed prescription.
I was partly guilted into going back to work next week but I did it on my terms. I took some shifts at the cross dock, which are a lot less strenuous. The first 2, Sunday and Monday are literally only about 3o minutes of actual work, the rest of the time you could sleep if you wanted to. Well, Monday that is not so easy and the boss of the place is there and he always makes you do busy work. If he tries that this Monday, I will say, "Look, glassie (he's got a glass eye) I've got fucking mono and I need rest. I did what NEEDED to be done, now I am going to sleep for the rest of the time, so bugger off!" I don't have any other shifts till Thursday and I figure that I should be better by then and if not, I'll just phone in sick or make the other guy do most of the work... But who knows, if I don't feel like I can do any of this, then I'll phone in sick and say fuck it all!
What I really need to do now is try to work on my paper for the Guy Maddin class that is due on Wednesday. It's only worth 25% of the final grade but I still want to do good. I told him that I have mono and it might be all over the place and he thought that would make it really interesting to read. I like Guy Maddin, he's the good kind of bonkos.
Feeling better, but not all the way...

I am Panicking Here or Why The Hell Can't I Sleep?

I am in a panic mode here. I can't sleep. I'm on the right med now so the physical problem I was having is gone.... why then? I can't sit and focus.... There were a few times when a dream started to come but I bounced right out of it. I looked on the net for some ideas and tried a few: warm milk, relaxing sounds, turning clocks around, having a lights turned off (including LED's) I don't know what the matter is.... Maybe I'll never get to sleep again... my body won't be able to take much more of this... in class I've managed to dose off for a bit... but not in bed at home... It's gotten to the point where I micht have to call Tyler and Carrie for some "stuff" to see if that'l help. I want to make it a last resort though and it's probably not the best idea to be smoking pot with mono.... Seriously.... I JUST WANT TO FUCKING SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!