Guess Who!

Yup. That's me. 14 years old with my billet in Japan, Satoshi. When I was in Middle School, a great bunch of us went to Hong Kong and Japan on a student exchange trip. That was way back in 1995, a whole decade ago. Man, that's unbelievable.

On the weekend, I dug through all my stuff that I had packed away. I also found my journal that I kept while I was away on the trip. I might actually take a couple of excerpts and put them on the Blog... maybe that'll be something for me to do later on today.

Another record visitor day yesterday... 284 visitors, showed up. Thanks all! Keep it coming! Everyone is welcome to take a peek in...

Woo Hoo for Wireless

The wireless network is now setup. The router came on Monday, set-up yesterday and now the card came today and now I'm sitting out on the front step of the house writing this entry. How awesome is this? I'm loving it. I'll even get a picture celebrate the occasion.

Saying this though, I will need some mosquito repellent, because they are out in full force again today, since it's so nice. Be right back!

That's better. Hopefully I can write in peace now. Excellent.

Well, I went out for my skate as well today. Picked up some chips, beer and the mail. Probably when I finish up with this I'll start throwing the ball around as well. I've heard that the neighbourhood slow-pitch team plays on Thursdays, so I've gotta keep my arm loose. You know how it is.

Ah man, I'm just so glad I'm wireless now! Hooray! How did I ever use the computer before? The signal strength of some of the other wireless networks around is also quite good in the neighbourhood.

Another bonus of having my laptop on the wireless is now I don't have to take the network cable out of the PC each and every time I want to get on the net with my laptop. That way my Dad can have my PC back to his own use. He still probably thinks that it's his machine anyways, although I did pay for it. He's good like that... just like my cell phone that I left behind. Well, I re-staked my ownership claim right away to save the trouble of doing it later.

Now... if only someone would MSN chat me so I can use my webcam outside. That'd be cool. I'm such a nerd!

Good Morning, Wednesday!

I like this picture. This was the group on the Sunday before I took off from England. We were at the Queen's Head in Bergholt for the night. This was pretty much the only picture I didn't look over done... which I was. That was the 4 tequilas in a row night... and I had one before that as well, not to mention the amount of beer. Crikey... how I was still able to function and/or remember, which I do... is beyond me!

From left to right: Lars, Hannah, Lucy, Barry, Me & Nicolette.

The previous 24 hours was a record for visitors to the site, 271. Not a great deal, but it makes me a little happier. It beats the previous record of 258 sometime last month. I'm signing up for even more traffic exchanges and that seems to help. Last night, I found Click Voyager. It's a manual-click system, but it isn't quite as great as the other ones. It takes 5 of your credits for 1 to come back, but they do come back right away. This morning, I couldn't seem to get credits fast enough before they were gone. That's encouraging, I guess. Hit Safari likes to use up all the credits I earn right away as well. I might just have to hire someone (or get more referrals) to do all the credit surfing for me. I've already got a couple referrals for Deep Sea Hits and that's a pretty good exchange, so get onto that one if you want some good credits!

In other news this morning... the text messages from England have started. Uh-oh... this could get expensive! Lars has made contact via text messages already and well, he's gonna test out the phone calls, but I have a feeling that it might not work... thank goodness. The text messages could be more than enough for me.

I've found that there are a lot of searches done for Google Adsense and Googlepex that end up at this page. Why? Adsense is okay, but no one clicks on it... and Googlepex sucks, unless you actually want to pay more money than you'll make by the people who are supposed to click on your ads. Crikey!

Here's a news story for you guys... bring on the hockey enforcers!! That could be a pretty good show. But let's just bring back the NHL and we could see a little bit of fighting on a regular basis!

Do You Know This Man?

The Faceless Corporate Entity finally has a face. You look straight into his eyes and see the perils of your hours on hold and rebates that never came back. His boredom is his putty... to mold and sculpt into your anger & insanity. This, my friends, is evil personified.

Just kidding, he really isn't that bad. Justin just might be the landlord of your building though... those holes in the walls, ladies, are not to drain your apartment if it floods. FYI.

Okay, so I'm going overboard again... but that's what you get when you say that the Blog doesn't talk enough about yourself. HA! You Mr. Justin have been warned.

Actually, there's a good chance now that there will be an satirical look at this entry by the man himself in the comment section. If not, why not, Justin? You're a funny guy... you should be able to do it.

He's also a wise man, he speaks nothing of the truth. As per the example of today's MSN conversation...

J: Good god man, run!
C: from?
J: Naomi!
C: oh right... yeah... evil, eh.
J: Holy crap... if half of what your drunk ass wrote is true, run and don't look back.
C: yeah... that's the idea... she's over across the pond, more than likely not to be heard from again.
J: Don't send her your email address.... I realise I may be a little late with this warning but jeese! Why would you want 10 seconds more of that crap.
J: Oh, and your blogs cool. :)

See what I mean... wise man. A cool Blog! That's a good friend. Thanks for the tip, mate! He even tried to vote twice for no on the poll... but sadly, he couldn't. HA!

Ah well, we can't win 'em all, eh!

Bringing More Traffic

Well, since I'm not doing a whole lot except for looking for jobs and stuff from home, I generally do a bit of Blog surfing for credits. So, if you come here via a traffic exchange, you're probably from one of quite a few. BlogExplosion, Blog Soldiers, BlogXchange, Blog Clicker, Blogazoo, FortuneCookieHits and HoneyHitz were my previous seven exchanges that I'd surf with. The latter two, I would run on autosurf and collect the credits.

This morning, I found a couple more manual surf sites that you may have seen before or got here with already: Deep Sea Hits and HitSafari. Already I'm impressed with Deep Sea Hits because of their bonus system is a game of Hangman for credits. It's quite cool. I've got upwards of 13 credits per game, which is really cool and it comes fairly often as well. I haven't done enough surfing with HitSafari yet, but it's different in it's design and it looks a lot different than BlogExplosion & BlogXchange, which are fairly stale in comparison.

I think there are going to be a couple lucky people that I referred from as well. I'll probably do quite a bit of surfing for them. If you click on the links provided, I'll refer you to these sites and then you can do the same for me! *Big smile*

All the sites are quite good for getting credits and hopefully getting readers instead of surfers. Hits are hits, but readers come back. BlogExplosion is still the best for readers, I find. That's my A+ recommendation. It's a community of readers, which seem to like to read the Blogs. I like the content on BlogExplosion a lot.

My Song of 2005

Well, every year (since 1996), I kind of make a note in my head of my favourite song of the year. It doesn't really mean anything, there isn't any trophies or statuettes to be given out... but I do tend to measure it up against the song of the year in most of the major award ceremonies (ie. the Grammies, AMA's, Juno's or the last couple years with the Mercury Music Prize). I'm glad to say that I'm really part of the huge conglomerate most years and my taste is generally just mine.

For the honour, I've just really got to be passionate about the song. I don't think I will get into the reasons why some songs won... 'cuz well, that's just not gonna happen. HA! But I'll just list what have won before...

Previous Winners Include:
1996: Lightning Crashes by Live
1997: Building A Mystery by Sarah McLachlan
1998: Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls
1999: The Future is X-Rated by the Matthew Good Band
2000: Stand Inside Your Love by the Smashing Pumpkins
2001:
2002:
2003: Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes
2004: Chicken Payback by the Bees

You know what, I've lost the little piece of paper in my head with the list of best tunes of the year. Those I remember, for sure. I will fill in the blanks when I get a chance. A little research never hurt anyone, eh? Only two years to go...

I've gotta say that 2005 has already brought out some killer tunes. With me leaving the UK, a couple of them earned some pretty good nominations at the moment for Song of the Year.

Other Side of the World by KT Tunstall and Half Light by Athlete are the two front runners for the honour. They are just fantastic tunes and I keep listening to them over and over again. Blue Orchid & My Doorbell by the White Stripes would take a good look as they get played quite a bit still and since the Arcade Fire have released Laika & Power Out as singles in 2005, they could also get some serious consideration, because Funeral is one of the better albums I've bought over the last few years. Positive Tension by Bloc Party is a real pick-me-up of a song as well, definitely my favourite from that album.

You see what I mean, there's tons of good tracks this year and we're only half way through.

I think I did an album list, but it was very corresponding to the Song of the Year list, I think I just kind of gave up on it. Well, I'm sure I'll update my list soon and give more nominations as the year progresses. Hell, in my boredom, I might just draw up a fake statuette and be as tacky as the other award ceremonies. Oh yeah... where can I buy a red carpet?

Sunday Night Personal Philosophy

The Verve Pipe's "The Freshmen"... one of the great songs on the 90's and one of those that always stuck with me, especially again now when I found the CD amongst the pile to copy to my MP3 player. It sort of brought up some contemplation of sorts... I've sort of been pondering all day actually. Not just today... Friday I was at it a little. But today my Dad said something about me getting old and making a career choice. Ugh.

I don't know when I came up with it in the beginning, but I always had said to myself that I would really like to sort out my personal life before I did anything about my professional life. When I came up with it though, I was probably actually in Middle School or something and I don't think my proper terminology came into play. I probably thought to myself that I would rather get myself a girlfriend before I worried about anything else. And to be truthful, I think that has been my philosophy from the time that I made it.

I never really have made any career choices in my life. I probably should have in hindsight. But in my lack of luck, confidence and determination, I have yet to succeed in both categories. Don't mind me for getting deep at the moment, it's kinda been one of those nights of pure thought amongst the boredom.

High school was a combination of crushes. It wasn't really until I made it to Calgary where there was a little more promise, but I wasn't really content with it all. My career path was heading to nowheresville and my personal life wasn't quite exciting enough for me.

Actually... Calgary, I opened up a few too many times and I got burned pretty bad. So, my philosophy really needed a revision. Putting myself out to a few too many girls who I seemed to like wasn't doing it. I raised my eyebrow in interest to quite a few lovely ladies, but the more and more I got burned, the further and further I pulled back into my shell. It just wasn't it for me. I don't know what it is (or was, maybe still is) about Calgary, but it was either my luck or my look that wasn't doing me any favours. My revision in the end was to just let them come to me and I'll sort it out.

In actual fact, I've probably sacrificed a lot (or a few, who knows?) of yes's that if I chased I might I have pulled together. Nevertheless, my revision should bring in the one's who would actually like me and that would keep me from wondering at least that far along the thought process.

In another admission, yes... I think WAY too much. My wheels are always turning... I think I have a pretty fit little hamster running on my wheel for the amount of thinking I do.

Unfortunately, my trip to England fielded some pretty poor results in the way my philosophy theoretically would have worked until well, the last few weeks where the results were untested and full of potential. Isn't that always the way, eh? Granted, it's rare of me to give my hopes such a chance of late and don't think I'm being too cocky, 'cuz it actually makes me crap myself that I may sound like that... 'cuz I'm not.

One conclusion that I have made, since I have made the revision and made (and hung out with) all my friends in England, I've just had a better time socially and that brewed a little more confidence in the way I go about things. So in turn, this revision is more of a positive thing because I am that much more confident. That I like... the pre-England me was a pretty good mess... now, not so much. YAY!

The last conclusion before I fall asleep... my original philosophy hasn't really changed. I'm a muddled mess career-wise, because I want to (somewhat?) get settled with someone (that I know likes me - the revision) and then I can build the remainder of my life around that. I don't think that's a terrible plan, but I suppose time is sort of running out in a way. Great, another thing that could potentially scare the hell outta me!

Well, that was good... I was going to stay up all night thinking about this. Generally, I would write this kind of thing in a Microsoft Word document and hide it from the light of day, but a few beers through the day say to me: "Go on, publish it!" Good night, all!

Around Langdon

Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) now playing... which is fitting, 'cuz here a picture my parent's house in the neighbourhood. You can't see the window I'm sitting next to, because it's in the backyard... so I can't really give you a definition of where this entry is coming from. It's quite a nice little place in Langdon, most of the houses in the neighbourhood are actually quite nice. There are some really big houses that have probably been in the area the longest and now they are building little starter homes for younger families and what not all over the place in the small suburb. The population is ever-growing it would seem... it has grown immensely since I was here before I left for England. From the backyard, you could see the horizon quite nicely and the wonderful sunrises in the morning. Now, you're lucky to even see it through the windows of the houses in behind.

This is the great monument to consumerism in Langdon. A liquor store, deli, drug store, bakery, post office and maybe one or two other shops or services for the small area. Not pictured is the bottle depot, pub and corner shop (and gas station) which are kind of spread away from the monument. I'm already somewhat of a regular at the liquor store. Hell, just yesterday I was just there again for some Sleeman's Cream Ale. Yum!

A round-trip walk in Langdon, should only take about 25 minutes. There are quite a bit of houses in the neighbourhood and that 25 minute loop should take you from the house around to the monument, around the gas station, past the bar and then back around to the house. It isn't too far and it isn't too bad when you have an MP3 player (or some other music device) in your pocket to keep you company.

Well, that's sort of a brief overview of what I'm calling home at the moment. The week didn't pan out any job opportunities, so the counting of days will continue in Langdon. Hopefully once I get my driver's license again, I'll be a little bit more active in heading into town when I have to be. I'll be able to take my Mom's truck about town and what not... oh, it'll be great being back on the road, that's for sure. Just for general joy and then necessity purposes. Woo hoo!

One more concern I have... what the hell is with Lime Pepsi? I saw it in the shop a few days ago and as soon as I did see it... curiosity got the better of me and I had to try it. But where did it come from? I disappear for a couple years and all of a sudden, Pepsi thought they'd become cheeky and introduce a Lime version of my favourite cola. I mean, when were they gonna tell me in England that I had this to come home to? Probably never, right? Well, yeah, curiosity got the better of me and well... it's just like the Lemon Pepsi that they had (or Pepsi Twist, if you will). The introduction of another citrus fruit did nothing fantastic with the taste and frankly, I wasted another $1.50 for nothing... or whatever they cost over here.

Today, I'll be doing more of the tour to see some more family. Gonna go see Donna & Bill today at their new house in New Brighton. Should make a good afternoon of more beers and storytelling. I'll bring my camera along to track the madness, which there could be a little bit of... you never know with my family. Woo hoo!!

I don't know when we're heading over... but it's still early for anything to happen yet... so I have time to write a few more e-mails and stuff!

Welcome to Langdon

Population: Who knows?

Well, Friday night and I'm here Bloggin'. YAY! It's not that I don't have any friends... well, okay, that's sort of true. Canada isn't the place where I keep a lot of my friends. Anyways... yeah, no plans tonight. Just got a few bottles of Rickard's India Pale Ale with me and the night should smoothly disappear.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to do some networking within the neighbourhood. The parents tell me there is a slow-pitch team for the road we live on... I could use some of that action. I just need to get out and play something. I've been trying to get a hold of Kristy to see if she has any spots available on her teams, but she's been very coy in avoiding me for whatever reason. I must chase her up. Granted, saying that... I'll need a way to get to these places if I'm going to play. Nevertheless... sports = important. Enough said.

Listening to: The White Stripes self-titled debut album... "The Big 3 Killed My Baby!"

Today I was playing with banners again. I thought I'd do one for me now. It's all quite easy, I don't know why I didn't do one earlier. It just sort of fits the mood and style of the Blog, no? Ah well, if you link to me, copy and paste that with the link. Just a thought. I think I might leave it with comments and stuff all over the place. You might just see it around for a while... you never know!

Hmmmmm... it seems to me that I'm feeling a tad playful tonight... or scatterbrained. Silly beer... you always make me do silly things. Tee hee.

More pictures and stories tomorrow!

Congratulations to my Uncle Wayne for becoming a Professor at the Kelowna campus of BCIT!

Friday's Boredom

Well, I'm hoping Roger & Gillian are having a good time despite the flooding at Glastonbury. The photos of the flooding look pretty bad and they've said that a few bands had to be cancelled or re-scheduled. Yikes! I still wish I was there though... somehow Homelands didn't quite scratch the itch of the festival life for me.

Speaking of music... what's with this Live 8 thing in Barrie? Only 35,000 tickets? Isn't Molson Park an outdoor venue? Outdoors meaning space... shouldn't you be able to fit more people in to see this sort of thing? Isn't Hyde Park in London going to have over 200,000 people? Sure the difference in size between London and Barrie, Ontario is quite massive... but this is Canada, one of the sparsely densitized countries in the world. You could just erect a stage in a week or two in the middle of prairies, Manitoba (middle of the country as well), and have as many people you can possibly fit into a Manitoba field (with their mosquito repellent) and call that a benefit concert. Surely Celine could helicopter from Vegas to Winnipeg a little easier than performing via satellite... c'mon, show up, Stick Lady.

Last night, Julie gave me a link to an excellent Blog site... PostSecret. It's actually quite scary, but entertainingly fascinating at the same time. There is some quality perspective shown on this site. People who anonymously dispell their secrets on postcards are some brave souls. They say some things that you have a feeling a few more people than these select few think to themselves. The lack of sadness of the death of others are quite interesting, because they do gie the reasons why they don't feel sad or guilty for not being sad. Check it out, it's pretty awesome.

The web poll, to the left, is showing that Naomi should get my e-mail address. I should have posted a link to the story where the poll kicked off, but I didn't. So I'll do it here. No one should be uninformed when it comes to polls. So click on that link if you have no idea what it's for. I think in a week's time, if they poll does read 'yes,' then I will get Barry to send her a text message with my e-mail address. I just have this feeling she's gonna wind me up again. Saying that, I realize that there were a few people who really enjoyed the Blog when she was winding me up via text messages. I can't say I'm not a glutton for punishment, but I suppose Louise is right when she said, I could just ignore her if I had to. The comment was also published here.

As it stands, with a very small turn out, 66% say yes the e-mail address should be given out. Although I'm critical about what the general public has to say, I might as well amuse some people with rantings and ravings about the looney toon that winds me up like a clock.

I've got to say that this NeoCounter Country lister is quite cool. I guess I never really realized that more than half of the visitors on this site are from the US. So, it's only fair I say hi to my American readers, since there is so many of you. It's also quite fascinating that Italy is in the Top 3. Now how many of you actually read this Blog regularly probably is much lower than the number of hits, but what do I care. At least you showed up once, right?

Today I've also been doing the Exchange sites. BlogExplosion and Blog Soldiers were giving out extra credits like mad today. I loved it. I have lots of credits with both of them at the moment. BlogExplosion is usually quite good at getting the readers back to me as soon as I get the credits, but since I have a lot of time on my hands, I'm doing a good job of keeping ahead of the traffic. Blog Soldiers is usually pretty full with credits for my site. I think I could even leave that one a couple days and I'll still have lots left.

At the moment, I'm stretching out with BlogXchange for a while. BlogXchange plows through the credits I earn really quickly and they're also not too bad about giving bonus credits as you surf. Although there was a couple days that it would bring up it's bonus click game (if it is a game) and it would give me zero bonus credits. It would do it consecutively for quite a while. It was really doing my head in for a while. If you're not gonna give me credits, let me surf. Ah well. I'm on there now, earning my traffic and it hasn't been bad to me with bonuses today, so that's alright.

Click those links to get to those Blog sites. I do recommend them if you don't use them already.

The phone calls still aren't coming. I don't want to wait until Monday to get interview phone calls, I would love to plan it now. There was nothing on Monster.ca this morning for me. I should check that again soon for something new. I'll probably check a few more sites while I'm up and at it as well. I really should stop jerkin' around on the Blog sites. It's already quarter-past one.

Right... off I go.

Here I go...

I'm goin'...

Goin'...

Gone.

Lucy E

These are in fact, the first and last individual photos I have of Lucy E. Would you believe, that they are in fact, less than one calendar year apart? I can't really. I've scoured through my 2,500+ pictures I took from my 26 months in England and I only have less than a year's worth of pictures of Lucy E.

I'm sure she won't enjoy that first picture, but it's her fault that they're here... allow me to quote her (after asking for a topic to write about):

-----Original Message-----
From: EDMUNDS Lucy (AXA-I) [mailto:Lucy.Edmunds@]
Sent: 24 June 2005 10:02
To: Clayton Corley; JEFFRIES Lars (AXA-I); Pledge, Barry A
Subject: RE: Chao!

Talk about me…

Always a winning conversation piece!!

So, here ya go, Lucy... maybe the comments will roll in and you'll become an online celebrity. Maybe one of the 200 people who show up to this site will take notice of you and you'll become famous.

But like I said, I am actually rather astounded that I only have pictures within less than a year of each other. The first is from June 26, 2004 and the other is from June 10, 2005... have we only known each other for that long?

Ah well... who says you need to know each other for a long time to be good friends anyways? Has anyone said that? Can someone check that for me? That'd be great!

Not to worry though Lucy, I have better pictures of you to remember you by... and to give out to those modelling agencies that surf this Blog on a regular basis. Right, guys? Right? Oh, don't let the poor girl down...

There's your conversation point... converse amongst yourselves.

My Small Campaign

That's the stuff... my Bring Back Bertuzzi logo. Loud and proud! I say enough is enough with the whole being PC in hockey now. The NHL should be as tough as the players were in the 70's... no helmets, thin pads, real goons and no sissies. Why back down to the politically correct now, when the NHL is a celebrated test of strength, might and courage. Mr. Bettman and his ex-NBA let's-not-touch-each-other-'cuz-it's-a-foul cronies can go for a long walk.

Don't get me wrong, I don't condone the actions of Marty McSorley or Todd Bertuzzi, but a right of passage is a right of passage. Both Donald Brashear and Steve Moore know what the game is all about, pure un-adulterated passion and vigor... hell, Brashear is a "fighter" and Steve Moore plowed Markus Naslund head-first into the boards causing a several week stay on the Injured List. I'm thinking they're aware of what can happen in a game of hockey.

Actually, I have no problems with Brashear... he had to be the coolest guy out of the bunch. It's hockey, he said... nice one! If Steve Moore decides for a civil suit or whatever he has left in his bag of tricks, he shouldn't be allowed to play in the NHL even when he's fit and ready. Hopefully he does make a full recovery!

If Canadians want another Stanley Cup next season, you would have to imagine that the Canucks are the best hope. Two 50-goal scorers would pretty much win you a lot of games in this league where it's tough for a team to have one. The Flames only beat the Canucks because the Canucks couldn't generate enough offense and they went on to lose in 7 to Tampa. If Canada had Bertuzzi at the Worlds in February... the Czechs? What a bunch of pansies. They couldn't control Big Bert.

Save my banner on your site... have it scroll... have it out there for everyone to see! Not to mention, get the BC Government to legalize marijuana... they need to chill out.

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

It's Alive! It's Alive!

Thank goodness for my Dad... he was able to pick up the essential power cord that I required for my laptop to work with the US plug sockets! Just for those who don't know, I'm in the middle of nowhere without any mode of transportation or else yes, I would have picked it up myself. The power cord is plugged in, the battery is now charged and Opiated Sherpa Productions is back online the way it should be. Well, what should be the first order of business with the laptop? How about a picture? Yes... I haven't been able to get to my archive, so a picture will be my first priority.


This is Dewey. It's my Mom's bird, a lovebird parrot to be exact. You wouldn't know it to look at it (or if you did, you must love parrots) or by the name, but it's a she... and sometimes, she can be a bitch. Talk about personality in an animal... this one is hilarious. Anyways, here's your picture to show that the laptop is back up and running... finally!

Soon, I'm hoping that both my wireless router and laptop card come in, then I will be able to move Opiated Sherpa Productions to the deck in the backyard on nice days. The seemingly refrigerated basement, although it's best to keep Sherpas refrigerated, doesn't get a lot of sun. Myself personally, would like some sun from time to time. This job hunt keeps me on the computer a lot, the computer in the basement... it's all gonna change! Things are looking up again.


Okay, one more picture, just to celebrate. That's the refrigerated basement with the makeshift office of the Opiated Sherpa... not the most glorious of offices, hell, there isn't even a secretary (not to say there will be one when I move offices to the backyard).

A link for the lads that I visit from time to time myself... the Hot College Girl Battle. This truly makes great use of the internet. Make sure you bookmark this page... fantastic!

One more link I came across today... this one made me laugh out loud while reading it's earlier posts... Tight X4. This'll be one that'll read when I need a good laugh... and they use the South Park charicatures as well... just a reminder, here's mine!

Nice one, well... I wanted to get this post off before midnight... and I will do that with minutes to spare. Today I also copied two CLASSIC Cake albums, Comfort Eagle and Fashion Nugget. Both of them are fantastic. Unfortunately in my travels, I haven't been able to get the rest of the albums in the catelog... but it's in my list of things to do. Maybe one day I'll publish that as well.

How do you like the the Online Visitor countries list to the left (and up over top of the ads)? I was dead-impressed when I saw it on another site, I just had to have it. If you go to the bottom of the page, there is a list of the Top 5 countries that visited... neato!

With time to spare STILL... I'm done for the night.

This Morning's Competitive Streak...

Go on you Blues!! One key signing down and one more to go. The Chelsea signing of Asier Del Horno does a lot of good at suring the side up at the back. I'm glad we have him now for depth, because as much as Wayne Bridge is my favourite for the left-back position, Del Horno will keep him on his toes and the competition for the position will make it a tough place for any attacker to bring the ball down to.

Next on the list is a striker... a good quality 20 goal man to solidify our attack up front. It was unfortunate that Drogba and Kezman didn't pan out the way that they should have, because then we wouldn't need to go shopping this summer. Kezman will go, Drogba will stay and Chelsea will end up buying someone else. Drogba will be good to stay, mostly for European Cup matches, because he did play well in the Champions League. The trick for Chelsea this summer will be to find a Premiership-type striker. Not Adriano or Eto'o... a Premiership striker. Both European strikers are quality players, but they remind me of Drogba the year previous before Chelsea bought him.

Apparently, Michael Owen's name has been thrown around in the hussle and bustle at Real Madrid, which would be okay... but not quite the player I would prefer. My preference actually lies in Andy Johnson at Crystal Palace. A bigger frame, a younger body, a couple England caps and already a good season in the Premiership under his belt. A place like Chelsea would do great things for him and as the wallet does like to open, Palace would be silly not to command a huge price for him and I think he's the guy to do it. He's my preferred striker for the role, but when the money talks, I'll support whatever Jose does... he hasn't really disappointed me yet!

Now if the NHL and it's Players Association (NHLPA) can finish up this new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) soon, then a whole and complete joy can return to my sporting life. I can't wait to see my Canucks again. The off-season can kick-off... they can hold a makeshift draft so Sidney Crosby can be drafted... the Free-Agent market will kick in... and we can have a Hockey Draft this year!! Oh, how I've missed those. We can re-instate Todd Bertuzzi into the league and the world will be right again.

I'm not a big fan of online campaigns to do stuff... but it might be worth my time and effort to make up a little badge to start the 'Let Bertuzzi Back' campaign.

Finally, the Battle of the Blogs on BlogExplosion... still not doin' so well. I almost need to hire someone to properly animate my logo... that'd be pretty hot! I ended up 3-5 yesterday, but as I'm writing this now, I'm going up to 2-1 today. An overall total of 16W-22L. See what I mean, I need something a little more flash with my Opiated Sherpa logo... something that will drag the eye in... I need my laptop to work for that. All my art stuff is on there. I just hope my Dad gets me that power cord today... woo hoo!

Bring back Bertuzzi! Bring back Bertuzzi! Bring back Bertuzzi!

I'm Beat...

What a hot day it was today. My goodness, it easily cleared +25... I think I saw +28 at Chris & Dale's (my Aunt & Uncle) house this evening when I went to visit. The heat alone makes me want to crash really badly.

Got to see Josh & Graham today... my two little cousins, who are a lot less little than they were two years ago, I must say. Now if I can remember how old they should be, I would tell you... but my memory isn't supersized at the moment, I'm only working with a small. It was good to see the boys and I get to see them again on the weekend. Probably an all day Saturday sort of family deal. Cool with me... should be a blast. A little road hockey, basketball, soccer and trampolining all day. YAY! Got to see a bit of Josh's lacrosse game as well... that sport gets more and more brutal the older these guys get. Yikes.

Gonna make a new poll tonight... after the result of Is Anyone Gonna Visit Me Here In Canada came up... 72% No. Aw well... what can ya do?

Tonight's poll question involves the Sherpa's favourite little hell-raiser, Naomi. Barry today must have received a text message from her craziness asking for my e-mail address. The question is, should he give it to her? Leave your comments if you vote as well... if you've been paying close attention to the story thus far... you'd see posts like Steaming or Text Message I Probably Shouldn't Have Received. Already those posts should get you to vote no... and I really don't have a defense, except that I'm somewhat overly kind hearted when I'm not in the face of extreme emotional conditions... anyways, have your vote... skim through the rest of the Blog if you need further evidence... try the April & May archives for faster searches.

G'night, y'all...

Some Links For You...

What great news!! Teddy Ruxpin is back... another one of the great childhood cartoons/toys has made his glorious return. Now, that's what I call good news. Teddy Ruxpin, in my childhood memory, was one of the great cartoons that I would make an effort to get up at 6am to watch before I went to school in the mornings. My parents were never able to actually buy me one of the talking toys, but I've gotta say that I was sure excited when I did see one. I'd get my kids one, if I had any kids... what a great wholesome toy. A storytelling bear... what more do ya need these days?

I can't remember the Blog that I pulled it off though... I'd give it a shout if I could remember, but the excitement got the best of me there.

In other good news... Triumph the Insult Comic Dog has returned to insult the Michael Jackson fans outside the courtroom proceedings. The link may not bring you to that exact movie, because I can't seem to find it, but it will show you some more of Triumph's... well... triumphs. HA! The Star Wars geeks is another good one. Or the one where he takes on Bon Jovi. Awesome.

Hmmmmm... my telus e-mail address has crapped out for the time being, if you're trying to e-mail me... just a thought.

Damn... they've just announced the Canadian Live 8 line-up... I wanna go... too many good bands NOT to see.

No phone calls yet for jobs... patience.

Did get an e-mail back from Westpeak. They've got the cords I want for $12.99... woo hoo!

That'll do for the links.

Fragile

In the essence of me finding the remainder of my CD collection tucked away with all my stuff... this morning, I would like to post a reminder that the Fragile by Nine Inch Nails is a 2-disc set of genius. It just has to be said. Even as it's a heavy piece of Industrial Metal, to me, there's an element of relation that I get from it. Call me crazy. Call me a dark sinister force. Hell, call me Satan, if that floats your boat. This is a pretty good fuckin' album. What bugged me the most was when the new NIN album came out, I read an interview with Trent Reznor and he said that this album was done when he was in a bad place and he doesn't even rate this album as one of his better ones. WHAT?!? Saying that... I'm not the biggest NIN fan and I will never claim to be... but what the hell am I missing out on for him to say that this isn't great? It was so great listening to it again anyways.

This isn't much of a CD review and I'd like to keep it that way.

Other CDs I managed to copy last night:

• "Pretty Together" by Sloan
• "Kid A" by Radiohead
• "Zuckerbaby" by Zuckerbaby
• "Flood" by They Might Be Giants
• "Sixteen Stone" by Bush
• "Something Like Human" by Fuel
• and a few embarrassing pop CDs that would look mighty funny against this list.

There's not many left to do now... woo hoo!! Bring it on!

Could Have Been Better...

This afternoon finds me still without a job or even a couple phone calls. The phone calls didn't even have to be for jobs for me to feel a bit better about the day. I have been waiting for a company, Westpeak, to get back to me about my AC Adapter problem. It's like they're already trying to order the whole thing, when I just need the power cord for it. This could be the hardest piece of kit I'll ever try and get. Ha ha!

I managed to send my resume to a few places today. I signed up with a couple job finding websites, including the CIBC jobs site. Louise says anyone can become a personal banker... but if I have to wear a suit, then... well, I can't say I'm the biggest fan of suits. I don't necessarily want to wear a suit, so I'll do my best not to. A desk job would be pretty easy, but I think I'll just put back the weight that I lost in England in no time. It's quite hard to find a print job in Calgary or so it would seem. I'm sure there has to be something along those lines around here somewhere.

So while I've been on the job hunt, I've had the pleasure of keeping up with a few guys, new and old. The old days of WhizzleKitten & Gout have surfaced in e-mails, while the GoldenBozo has been leaving little messages here and there on the site. Good men!

I've done alright on the BlogExplosion Battle of the Blogs as well... as an under .500 Blog, I've done well again. I had 5 wins to my 2 losses today and gained a few more Mystery Credits than what I had earlier. I don't know what more to do with these Mystery Credits, but probably waste them on more challenges and battles. The banners don't seem to work for driving traffic my way and well... I did a lot of surfing today, so the credits aren't really needed there either.

Damn... I should really go outside. It's nice out there.

It Caught Up...

I could barely sit through the end of the US Open yesterday. No, not because it's golf, I like golf. I don't know if it was the night out with Jen or the fact that I had travelled recently, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open for too long. I battled the idea of going to sleep with getting into the shower and that worked for a while, but around 8pm, I was out for the count. I think I woke up once and it was dark out. The alarm clock in my room isn't plugged in, so I had no idea what time it was either. Oh well, up bright and early with the sun this morning.

Saturday was quite good. Mom and I decided to get out and she showed me around to pick up some things. I wanted to find something to get my laptop working again, so I can use pictures and video and what not. No one has seen any of my photos yet, so my AC Adapter is like my number one (or two, you know a job) priority. We took a trip into town and looked around a couple stores so I could find a UK to US plug adapter. Well, I'm beginning to think they don't exist although I think I found one on eBay, which I did purchase, but I want it now! Staples, Office Depot & Future Shop were all pretty much useless. I did find a Universal AC Adapter with several different plugs and cords for $149.99 at Future Shop, but that was a little excessive in the price department. After a wee bit of looking, Mom and I went for lunch.

The city as a whole hadn't really changed a great deal since I've been gone. A few new buildings here and there and some buildings changed owners and shops, but overall, it still looks like the Calgary that I'd left behind. For the most part. I can still remember a great deal about being here in the first place and I can pretty much remember where most of the important things are, so that's alright. It wasn't until I headed over to Jen's place where I saw some of the biggest changes.

After a bite to eat and some time back at home, my Mom dropped me back in town at the Chinook train station. Already, the train system has changed... the line has been extended further to the Northwest and South of the city, as expected... fares are now up to $2 for 90 minutes of travelling within the city... and well... I suppose that's it. It wasn't cleaner, the voice over the intercom was the same, just said the stops a tad differently and the people are still generally freaky on the train.

From Chinook, I had to head North into the City Centre to get to the Sunnyside stop, just on the other side of the downtown core. The graffitti had changed down the line going into town, there is a Jesus sign after the 39th Avenue stop (that I always had contempt for) that had changed and then once we reached the Stampede station stops, then the changes were quite mad. Where there was a run-down house and a couple other rubbish buildings, there now laid a GIANT CASINO! I mean, this thing is huge... where the hell did it come from!?! Well, I think I know where Kelly and I are gonna hang out now. I don't think it's quite open yet, but my goodness, the Stampede won't be a rodeo feature for too much longer if there's gonna be that much gambling goin' on. Once I passed that, there was a great big condo complex being built in the Stampede ground parking lot. Now, I think, I'm not sure, but my friend Julie might have bought her condo there. I didn't think it was quite that close to the grounds, but I think this is the one. It looks like it's gonna be a good place, except during Flames games (if they start playing again) and the Stampede. The traffic and noise is gonna be horrendous around there. I'm hoping that she got it fairly cheaply and that there is double-paned glass throughout her place.

Those were the two biggest changes that I noticed and since this was sort of my neighbourhood when I lived in downtown Calgary, they did concern me a little more than most.

Something I had been forgetting to mention thus far and this is why I wish I had my laptop working, was that the rain was awful on Friday and Saturday. The rivers began to overflow all over the area and houses and neighbourhoods either had flood warnings or were even evacuated for a while. When the train left the downtown core and over the Bow River, I could see the river overflow its banks and start taking up a lot of the pathways. The river was really moving as well, it was a mini-natural disaster and in some ways, it's kinda fascinating.

Anyways, passed the river and headed over to Jen's place. To no surprise, she wasn't even close to being ready go out drinking at all. We were supposed to see her friend's Rock-a-billy band, but they had ended up playing throughout the week and either decided or had it scheduled for them not to play Saturday night. Oh well, no worries, there was beer to be had.

I met Jen outside her place as she was giving me directions on the phone. She was nice enough to greet me in her pink SpongeBob Squarepants pajamas. Yeah, no shame from that girl. Well, the tattoos and what not probably mean that she has little shame as it is... like pink pajamas is really gonna hurt her self-esteem. She really hadn't changed too much from the last time I saw her. I won't be mean and pick out the little changes, but in essence, she was the same. She did show me a new tattoo and all, but that's about all I'll go into. :)

Inside her place, I met her housemate, Donna, her dog, Costas, and two cats... errrr... Missy and ..... uhhh... I can't remember. Oh well, it was a full house in there.

Nevertheless... we went drinking! Yeah, man, get to the important part, eh? Once Jen was FINALLY ready to get out, we headed out into Calgary. Unfortunately, the indecision bug bit us both on where to finally go, as we passed the overflowing Bow River again on the walk into town. That's a lot of water.

We eventually made it to the Drum & Monkey in my old neighbourhood of Victoria Park. This was the little pub that I sort of frequented before I moved out of the area to go to England. My old apartment was about a block away. Unfortunately, I didn't go see the ol' brick box of a building, but I digress. The Drum & Monkey is a great little pub. You can take Canadian Tire money on Tuesday nights and buy beer. How great is that? The tunes were awesome in there that night as well... some White Stripes, Bloc Party and a couple other bands that reminded me of being back in Colchester. In there, I was back to drinking Keith's and Jen found the Big Rock beer, Grasshopper. Mmmmm... Grasshopper. A lovely wheat ale with a slice of lemon. It goes down a treat.

The big surprise in there was when Kerri-Rae, a waitress at Earl's that I fancied walked in with a small party. I don't know if she saw me, but I definitely saw her. I didn't really have the nerve to go say hi, which I don't know why, but I was also entertaining Jen for the time being, so I thought it would be rude to go over and chat for what could be a little while. You never know, right? She looked well. I really should have gone over and said hi. Ah well... if she's about, I'll probably see her around again.

Well, a few drinks in there and another beer & martini in another bar on 17th Avenue pretty much did it for Jen. I was still alright, but I think she wanted to get back... we stopped at a liquor store along the way home for another 12 Keith's as well. We barely made it through the first beer before crashing out.

Poor Jen... she couldn't hold her alcohol in the morning. Unlike me, the now-conditioned drinker, I was fresh as a daisy in the morning. She made several trips to the toilet, instead of going to church in the morning... ha ha ha... she did pray to a God though... the porcelain one. Wicked!

Father's Day was also somewhat of a non-event. I offered to take my Dad (and Mom, again) to lunch yesterday... somewhat declined. I did manage to buy my Dad a smoothie at Orange Julius in the Chinook Mall... but he wouldn't let me pay for his hot dog. And then in the evening, he complained (rather jokingly) to my sister that no one cared... "Oi!" was my response.

Well, this entry has taken long enough... and there's no pictures! Blimey. I'll probably chime in again soon.

Saturday, Day 3 back from UK

Good morning, everyone... it's Saturday and man, is it still wet here in Calgary. You know, I didn't come home for the weather, that's for sure! Ah well, I didn't exactly want to come home, so the wet welcome is kinda appropriate in the karma sort of way, no? The skies are breaking up a bit this morning, which is promising, but there is more rain on the way, says the weather reporter on the news. Hooray! Apparently, the week before I got home, there was flooding in and around the Calgary area and there was more expectations of that again.

Yesterday, was sort of a wash out though (pardon the pun). I never became un-stranded until my Mom got home after 5pm and then we were able to go get some beer. Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, quite possibly the greatest product of Nova Scotia. I got hooked on that stuff on a work trip to Halifax. Lovely. For most of the day though, I spent it looking for jobs (somewhat half-heartedly), Blog surfing and copying CDs to my MP3 player.

19 CDs of missed goodness. It might not seem like a lot, but I wasn't doing it ALL day. When I was job hunting and Blog surfing, I couldn't really copy, because this ol' PC doesn't like the hard work that all programs create for it. This machine needs a swift kick in the ass (or more RAM, a DVD burner and a new motherboard). I can't believe some of the guilty pleasures that I had found though in my rummaging.

Topping the list of "guilty pleasures" in the music collection was LiveonRelease. A Canadian all-girl pop-punk band that were miles before whatever that new one that has just come out in the UK is called... ummm... wait, I'll go look for it. Damn, this is hard, are the pop or rock or what? Ah well, these are all girls, they play a sort of punk-ish genre of music, a good laugh. Their one big hit was "I'm Afraid of Britney Spears," a must for everyone who loves a good laugh. Nothing more than that really, I think there was one more half-decent tune that you'd listen to by yourself with no one else around... ha ha! On the MP3 player they go... ha ha! What's also funny is when I went to go find the ad that's to the right of the paragraph, Amazon.com also suggested to buying Joss Stone... ha ha ha ha!! Yeah, they're the same! Wicked.

Also in the guilty pleasures list was well, not a lot really. Most of the bands that I copied yesterday and last night are well worthy of my MP3 player. Pearl Jam's Vitalogy, Hole's Celebrity Skin, Garbage's Version 2.0 and Moby's Play. All little gems that were dug up in the pile. How they didn't make it over in my trip, well, isn't quite beyond me, but in hindsight, it sort of is.

I was pretty happy to find Esthero's Breath From Another. The band name is a link to their website and the album name is a small review from NME.com. Their first single, Heaven Sent, is such a great screaming tune in their hip-hop/jazz fusion. Wicked!

It's really good to find these discs 2 years on... it's almost like I bought them all over again. Speaking of buying discs all over again, the list of missing CDs from the trip looks like this...

• RHCP - Californication
• The Full Nine - self-titled album (I know where that went though)
• Big Sugar - Hemi-Vision (I thought I got it back)
• Tenacious D - self-titled album (my fault not chasing that one, I know where that one got to)
• Jay & Silent Bob Strikes Back DVD (no idea who would want it, since it's Region 1)

Oh well... it all coulda been worse, I suppose. The worst thing is is that I have these empty cases that I now have to throw away. I have very much doubt any of them will come back, so out they go!

Anyways... today's business. I gotta get showered and will probably head out to get some of the necessary parts to get my laptop up and running. That way I can get my cameras up and running and get some pictures back up on the Blog. I know how much you'd rather see a few pictures than Amazon ads.

Also today, I will probably start to see the rest of the family in town. Go see the munchkins, Josh & Graham today. I will get some pictures of that, for sure. Unless they're busy. Apparently that family never stops moving. I heard that they might be entertaining some people today, but I heard it was all people we know, so a party-crash could be in the cards.

Then tonight, I'm meeting up with Jen. The band that she wanted to see tonight instead played twice during the week, so we'll be goin' out for a couple drinks around town. That'll be cool. Can't wait to see ol' Cowtown at night again. I'll try for some more pictures from that as well.

Anyways... that should just about do it for me this morning. I don't reckon you'll get much more outta me today and that you'll all have to wait 'til tomorrow for something else.

Laters!

Aw Crap...

Three things... I'm living (truly) in the middle of nowhere, it's miserable outside AND I have an accent.

Now yes, I am in the Calgary area, factually just outside of Calgary in a suburb called Langdon. In the two years that I've been away, I had assumed that the place would grow because it had cheaper land values than inside the city, prospects for it's own schools and towns nearby to be somewhat self-sufficient. Well, those three are true... BUT they still haven't sorted out any general public transportation for me to get into Calgary. Maybe it's just me then. Maybe I am the only one who doesn't drive (at the moment) in this small, somewhat desolate place. I guess the other terrible thing out here is that I don't really know anyone except for my folks. Literally, since they're working, I'm stranded for the most part. Oh man, do I have to find some work and fast!

Secondly, in the "Aw Crap!" sense... it's miserable outside. Even if I did want to walk outside, which I might need to get beer and snacks at some point today, I would have to venture out in the grim circumstances we call weather. I can't beiieve the British Government let me come back to this. Isn't the rain supposed to just be in England? No, I think Colchester is supposed to be sunny all weekend. Calgary is expecting heavy rainfall with the possibility of some flooding in the surrounding area. Surrounding area? I best be moving out of the basement tonight.

Lastly... I have a hybrid accent! Aw crap! Obviously, I didn't have a REAL English accent for the locals to say that I did, but now I don't have a REAL Canadian accent either, 'cuz I draw out some of my words in an English sense. I thought it was more the idea that I could speak the lingo a bit better... not that I have an accent. Sure, I like saying "mate" and "go on then," but not even my Grandmother could recognize my voice on the phone after 26 months in England. Crikey! Damn, there I go again. I only hope that I don't sound like those dorks who put on an English accent to try and persuade people that they're partly English. It's not my fault... I blame it on Barry! You know, just 'cuz I can.

Anyways, onto less pressing issues... no wait, I need coffee... and then a pressing issue. Why not?

Ahhhhh... filtered coffee. One reason it's good to be back.

Right... pressing issue. I still don't have my laptop running yet! Ahhhh... and being stranded restricts my possibility of it being up and running. I don't have access to my photos, video or anything else. The AC adaptor that I mentioned earlier did come, but it didn't produce enough juice for my laptop to work. Damn UK standards.

I'd wager, if the UK were to radically change all their circuits to the Bog Standard North American voltage and what not, which is considerably less, logically as it stands in the last 45 seconds, they might just use less energy as a whole country. You could correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you need a gigawatt of power to light a 40W lightbulb.

Well, since I'm stranded, I'll make the most of it. Job hunting online, Blogging (doing as you read, and I speak) and Blog surfing (how else did you get here?). Oh yeah and I'll be raiding my CD collection for more hidden favourites. Unfortunately, on my old PC, which I'm on at the moment, isn't quite the newest of machines and does lack the wherewithal to copy music and have me Blog at the same time, so I won't. I'll copy when I do something else.

Well, I'm gonna continue my surfing... will probably write again soon, I'm sure. Got nothing better to do at the moment.

Forgotten Tunes...

When I moved out to England, I really couldn't manage the entire 200+ CD collection in one move. Nor was it all sent out in the second wave either. So in my return today to Calgary, I have already put my CDs that were with me on the trip away and to find my glorious favourites that didn't make the trip.

So far today, I think the biggest highlight of mine would be finding the album 'Metasexual' by Joydrop. Even though I haven't heard it in 2+ years now, I found it and put it on just now to find that it still has that slight infectiousness that it did to me when it came out in 1998. The single 'Beautiful' is still a really good tune for me, probably worth a download if you haven't heard it in a while. I'm not gonna go into a whole "review" of the whole CD, that doesn't quite appeal to me. I just thought I would make a mention of it right now, since I can. I will mention my favourite tunes on there though, worth a download:

• Beautiful
• Dream Today
• Over + Under
• All Too Well

Oh man, I've found some really great CDs that I've missed... which I remember I've missed as well. Maybe I'll write them out as I copy them and Blog at the same time. Don't wanna overdo it, right?

Home Now...

Well, kidlets... the 10-hour flight has been concluded and I'm home in Langdon, a small suburb outside of Calgary, where my folks live. Remarkably, the flight wasn't too bad. I popped a sleeping aid pill to help me nod off and I was down and out before the plane lifted off the ground. Unfortunately, I was sat next to a very uninteresting person and that was just a visual observation... I didn't talk to this woman at all, but I just wanted to get some sleep. I think I managed about half the flight asleep. I had my MP3 player in my ear for most of the journey and that helped me sleep.

The flight journey came up over Iceland, Greenland, over the top bit of Hudson's Bay, through Nunavut & NWT, catching a bit of Manitoba & Saskatchewan and then over Edmonton and landing on the East-West runway at Calgary International Airport. We arrived about 17 minutes early due to a good tailwind for most of the journey. Giddy up!

Unfortunately, I won't have any pictures up on the site for a little bit as I am writing this on my old PC. My laptop has a UK plug and well, I don't have an adaptor yet, as I didn't get a chance to pick one up yet. My Dad picked me up, dropped me off at the house and went back to work for the day. Hopefully tomorrow I will have that all sorted, unless my AC Adaptor that I ordered on eBay finally shows up in the mail today. That'd be a bonus. Unfortunately, I still have to wait for my Mom to show up for the mailbox. Rubbish!

Anyways... it was a safe journey home, for all those wondering... time to unpack a bit. Get all my CDs sorted out and clear all the crap out of my room.

Live From Gatwick

Greetings y'all. Just gone on half-four in the morning in the terminal. Had breakfast already, just waiting for a gate announcement for my flight. The drive was nice & clear to the airport and made it through check-in and security in great time.

These internet terminals really suck, very hard to type. Will only make this short, but thought I would make use of my free time.

Now I'm getting excited to get home. Will be good to see everyone now. Just the 10 hour flight to go.

I will chime in again when I get home.

Cheers!

The Last Weekend: Chapter 10

Well, I thought there would be a few more locals at the Queen's Head when I walked in there in the evening, but it's rather unfortunate the way the crowds have started to die down in there of late. When Jo, Mark and myself walked into the pub; Gary was standing up at the bar (wasted), Doug was sitting at the lad's table with Dibs and a few of the other golfing guys were also standing up around the bar. It was pretty dead. John & Jean were both working behind the bar that day as well.

Just a note: I didn't bring a camera.

It wasn't long before Doug & Dibs took off and I was able to say a proper goodbye to Dougie. A good man, that Doug. He was one of my priority "see ya laters" at the Queens. I don't know if there were too many... but I did get most of them.

Jo, Mark, Gary & I sat around the table nearest to the window and downed a few pints between us. Gary, like I said before, was pretty wasted and when he gets that way, he gets pretty annoying... sorry to say. A few attempts at wet willies and making poor conversation, as drunks do, just made it really difficult to kind of stand him for the longest time. Charlie & Mark walked in and I said hi, they asked questions, not a lot was said and that was about it.

After Kimi Raikkonen won the Canadian Grand Prix, Mark and I went downstairs and played some pool. We played a couple games and had a good laugh... I think I lost both of those games, so he was laughing much more than I was... heh heh.

During the second game, the gang walked in... thank goodness. Barry, Lars, Roger, Lucy, Hannah & Nicolette all walked in and I was really pleased to see them. It could have been a really queer night if they didn't show up. They did say that they were going to show up, so I did have some warning at the time, but who knows how long that they were going to stay for.

They came bearing cards and a framed picture from the night before, which I have posted before, but I'll post again...

It's such a great picture and a great memento to take home with me. Thanks guys!! The cards were great too... really good sentiment in them and nothing was really all that sad.

A few games of pool, quite a bit to drink and a real good time. There was a lot of laughs and the night just went swingingly. Played another games of pool with Nicolette and we had a laugh. Hannah also pulled out a game where we had to pick up a box with our teeth without anything but our feet touching the ground. Every round the box size would shrink and well... that's a game for drunks if I've ever seen one. Congrats to Hannah and Lucy for picking the flat piece of cardboard from the floor. All bendy and what not... yeow!

John, the landlord, also pulled a trick out of his sleeve as well. Four shots of tequila... at once. Phil had already bought me one and who knows how many pints I had that night as well... man, I was pretty much up for the challenge anyways. I have seen some good video footage from Lars' phone to say that I have done it all... man, was that funny. It tasted pretty awful after four. To my credit I wasn't sick at all during the rest of the night, I think... ha!

So yeah... that pretty much sums up my weekend. When we all left it was pretty late and well... the finer details aren't really Blog worthy... so, I'll leave my weekend at that.

Thanks again to all who were there... gonna miss you all!!

The Last Weekend: Chapter 9

The second time I came out of my coma, Roger had come down and into the lounge where I was doing my best to hide from the daylight and he asked me if I wanted a lift back to Wormingford. Well, I was well up for it, because I just wanted to clean up and sort of relax after such a mad night. I awoke a little bit more to see that I was covered in a few of my jerseys that some of the lads had worn and I was using them as blankets as I slept. That was nice of 'em. When I slightly came to, I realized that all my bags and computer stuff was around Lucy's place, but Roger was good enough to say that he'd take me up there to grab it. Wicked, nice one!

We piled into the car immediately, because Roger wanted to get to ASDA to pick up a few things as well in the morning and he was ready to go. I was pretty ready to go, other than getting the sleep out of my eyes. So, I grabbed my jerseys that were laying on top of me and we hopped in the car.

The drive up to Lucy's was quite funny because Roger didn't know the way and I really only partially knew, because I was either pissed, in a taxi with people, it was dark out or I was pissed... yeah, pissed twice. The only trouble was that we couldn't find the right road that turned off of Straight Road before all the little turns that I would recognize from smaller trips. I think we turned down two or three other roads before coming backwards on the road that we were supposed to be on in the first place. That wasn't so bad, we weren't lost for very long.

Now Sunday was going to be my day and/or night in West Bergholt to see some people in the Queen's Head. I really wanted to make sure I got there and stuck to my plan.

Coffee was nice as I packed up my bag of stuff, recovering the jerseys that Barry & Lucy wore on the night and having a laugh about the night before. Then we started sitting outside for the smokers and then all of a sudden there seemed to be a plan brewing. Lars was on the phone and wanted to meet up and all of a sudden there was a small breath of fear that the day might not turn out the way I had planned it to go.

We went off to pick up Lars and then the attention turned to food. Everyone needed food and then to copy some photos for Dirty Hairy Mouth at Roger's. Uh-oh... I said to myself, the panic was inching in. Nevertheless, with my panic stricken look, I conceded to the idea of getting back to Roger's with a pizza, copy the photos for Dirty Hairy Mouth and then head back to Wormingford.

That plan was alright... mission accomplished. A pepperoni pizza & Goldmember went down a treat that afternoon and when that was all said and done, Roger gave me a lift back into Wormingford. Jo had texted me on the way back asking when I was gonna be about and then offered to pick me up from the house to head down that way. Wicked!

I got home, sorted myself out, made a small Blog and Jo & Mark showed up in no time at all to pick me up. Excellent!

The Last Weekend: Chapter 8

Chapter 8 sees our cab ride back to Roger's house to continue the party. As the date stamping on the photos suggest, we didn't make it back until after 1am. Now, it begins to really get a bit hazy. There isn't a great deal about the stop at Roger's that I can really remember, so this could end up being a really short chapter. Hmmmmm... maybe I should have just included it in Chapter 7. Oh well, who really cares anyways?

I suppose one of the really clear things I remember doing while at Roger's was when Chris (not Jones) went out for a cigarette run, I climbed up on a table with my camcorder to give him shit as he walked up the road. When he was out of earshot or couldn't think of anything else to say, instead of calmly getting off the table, I decided to jump, but my feet seemed a lot heavier than normal and well... I fell off. The funniest thing about it was that I had it all on camera and the footage looked went all digitally hazy in that funny manner and you can just hear me moan and groan that it really hurt. I did end up with a really sore knee in the morning, it has to be said.

Then really... it was just sitting outside, laughing, joking, sitting inside, laughing, joking until the sun started to come up and I passed out on the couch. Yay me! I think I was fairly exhausted by that point anyways. That's just way too much partying for anyone...

It's a shame that there wasn't much for pictures, other than Roger's face plastered against the sliding glass doors of his house. Really creepy pics in the night vision mode.

The Last Weekend: Chapter 7

Justin and his oranges (or tangerines, whatever they were), a few more beers, some good tunes out in the back garden of Lucy's house and the party was really beginning to kick off. Justin was wigging out something fierce. He was laughing his ass off for no apparent reason and he was really feeling those 'shrooms. What a guy! We had a 7-seater cab around the house just after 8pm to take us all into town for our mission. I put on my white Team Canada jersey underneath my red one, to give to the first person who I saw. I had some personal preferences to who I'd have wanted to show up first, but I'll just keep that to myself, you know, just in case feelings are hurt. I know, as if they would.

To the Hog's Head, driver!

Justin was still wiggin' out in the cab, which was terribly funny... but as the night progressed, I kind of lost him, so I didn't get to see him be exceptionally funny later on. I hope a lot of it is on tape... I haven't seen it all yet, so I don't really know.

I do believe that Pearce was the first one to meet us at the pub and he was the lucky soul to take on the '98 Team Canada jersey. Lucky guy! Neil had shown up as well, only for a quick Coke or something, because he was gonna be out racing the Subaru the next morning. That boy and his car, eh. Like I said, he only stayed for a Coke or two and then I walked him back to his car and got the somewhat hilarious picture of us in the car park. I also snuck a picture of his car again, as you do, as well.

After Neil had left, there were a few more faces that had shown up. Roger, Leo, Chris, Holly, Emma and Flint were about when I had returned. It was really great to see everyone who showed up and getting to say a hello and for some, a quick "see ya later."

Holly was quite sad to see me go. I still can't understand why, 'cuz we had only really seen each other a handful of times. She asked that I walked her home and since she was quite inebriated, I thought it might be a good idea. Before hand though, I did get this great picture of the two of us... she really didn't look quite that sober, for the most part. I'm just glad the picture came out really well. So as promised, I walked her home and chatted a bit about coming back and what I was gonna do. Anyways, I felt a little hurried since I did leave my party behind at the Hog's, so hurried hugged & kissed her goodbye and ran back to the party. When I arrived, the party was ready to set off for Twisters.

By this time as well, both Hannah and Nicolette decided to cancel, as Lars had informed me. That was mildly disappointing. Oh well... roll on, Twisters!

Amazingly, we didn't get into Twisters until after 11pm. Shocking behaviour. I had a CD with the Arcade Fire's "Rebellion (Lies)" with me so Gilly could play it for me, but unfortunately I was too late, 'cuz he didn't play it in the end. I do recommend that song, if you haven't heard it already. Wicked! Nevertheless, I found myself dancing my ass off in Twisters again. The tunes were again fantastic and the guy who was wearing the pink scarf on another trip in there was also on the floor, which was cool. A high five and what not and I was off. Had to tear up the place again.

Chris Jones (a la the Amberblacks) was also kicking about... he found me on the floor doing my thing and he handed me a White Russian (mmmmmm milk). I'm guessing (and it's not just the picture talking) that he was pretty wassssted as well. In the loud music of the night, we yelled our "see ya laters" in each other's ear, a quick handshake & hug and I think he had to duck for cover, because I couldn't stop my crazy dancing feet. Unfortunately, I was already holding a pint, so I had to quickly dispel with the milk-based beverage... down the hatch!

I also got to see Rob in Twisters as well. 'Twas good to see him as well. I was well shocked not to see the rest of the band kicking around, especially Andy. I'd wager that Andy was probably already kicking it off in Route. Ha ha.

I found myself to be the only one dancing from our group for the most part. I think someone joined me at some point, but I'll be damned if I can remember who it was. I reckon it was Lars. Yeah, let's just say Lars. Everyone else was in the back garden of the pub and I ran back and forth from the floor a couple times in between the wicked tunes.

But before I knew it, the music had died down. I was trying my Pearce's chant for one more tune, but failed miserably. Fortunately, I was able to grab a photo with Gilly and it turned out quite well and I ended up chatting with a bloke from Chicago, because he had recognized the hockey jerseys and I tried my best to point them all out to him. Then we had a really good chat about hockey in general. I think he said he was a Rangers fan and everything, so I had to give him a little schtick from the '94 Cup Finals. Good lad... I hope he e-mails me so I can send him the picture of him. He's got my card... or at least I gave it to him.

Then it was outside for us the rowdy bunch... but that didn't stop the madness. Outside of Twisters, we got the group shots of all of us in the jerseys and they turned out really quite well. After a couple of the good group shots, the lot of us decided to moon the camera and there was a couple good shots that came off the camera. I would post them, but some of these traffic exchange sites might qualify it as porn... and well, we can't be having that. I want my readers! What I didn't realize and it's apparent in the photos, was that there were still some people in the pub and were looking out the window at the show we put on. How funny is that?

The walk back up the hill to get some food was quite funny. I finally got a chance to jump on Barry and pull his jersey over his head and pretend to give him a couple good punches... it had to be done. It's on tape as well and I think Lucy got a good photo of it as well. Ha ha ha... awesome.

Now, the stop for food at the top of the High Street was a little sketchy for me... I think I was testing out the autopilot function again when we got up there. I do kind of remember wondering to myself if I was actually hungry or not... but I settled with not having anything to eat, because everyone had gotten something. There was some good footage from the top of the hill, which was kinda funny. I was giving Chapman a hard time, while Barry was giving his "ol' Police mate" a hard time. I kinda missed that whole story and probably wouldn't do it justice. That's what you should put on a Blog site, Baz, your recollections of the evening.

Off to Roger's we went!

Good Morning...

Wow... the morning of my last day. Better post some more chapters of the weekend, eh?? Got some editing to do of some of the old ones... but I won't tell ya what it is. It's only a small spelling error. Ooops.

Here's a great pic from last night with Lars. I'm gonna try and make this my last pic of the night. And thanks for the 'ass or elbow' shot Lars, well impressed.

Let the Packing Begin...

Good morning all!

The Last Weekend story will be tried to be worked on over the next couple days, but I have to finish up a lot of packing and what not around here. So, bear with me if you're keeping up with the story.

So let the fun continue and happy reading!

The Last Weekend: Chapter 6

Aaron: "I need food."
Lars: "Yeah, I'm hungry."
Me: "Vodka/Red Bull."

Sadly, I did get food (a lovely foot long Meatball Sub), but I didn't get any Vodka/Red Bull when we eventually got up Saturday morning. My buzz was a while before getting going... but not too long.

When we finally managed to get up, Aaron wanted to take off for home right away. So I said my "see ya laters" and he was off. Such an excellent night with Aaron, I'll be missing him!

I decided to make a move myself shortly after. Lars was going to meet Barry and Lucy at the pub for a bite to eat and to start their way back to La La Land. I wasn't quite up for it, instead I went to get the sub and get on a bus to get home. That was a much better plan. That way I could get myself sorted, get the jerseys for the evening and grab my laptop because we wanted to copy some of the photos to my laptop and get them on CD for those who wanted them.

I ate the sub on the bus, since it was a meatball sub, it makes the bread soggy quickly. The sooner, the better. The meatball sub is also my favourite after-bender meal. It seems to sort out that midday grogginess well. When I got home, I got myself sorted. I got the camera back on the charger, got in and out of the shower, packed up all 8 of my jerseys, pack my computer and so on and so forth. In a couple hours time, I was back on the road into Colchester.

On the walk from the High Street, where I was dropped off, I decided to walk past the Hole in the Wall pub and go by the car park before getting to the Hog's Head. But as I was going past the Hole, there was a distinctive yellow shirt in the window and wearing it looked like a guy who looked exactly like Lars. Hey! That was Lars. In I went. Apparently in my time in Wormingford, the signal black hole sucked up the text message that Barry had sent me telling me that they had moved on from the Hog's.

I put my huge bag down on the floor, got myself a beer and sat down. It wasn't long before Lucy came in and joined us and it certainly wasn't too long that we were bringing out the jerseys. Barry got to play as Martin Brodeur for the night in my Devils jersey, Lucy got my Canucks third jersey and Lars got my Minnesota Wild shirt with Gaborik on the back. In a matter of no time, Jutty and Tom showed up, giving them the Columbus Blue Jackets and Atlanta Thrashers jerseys respectively. Chapman wasn't very far behind those guys and he got my Canucks home jersey.

During the morning and early afternoon, I had been trying to get to see both Kate, from the Hog's Head, and Nicolette out and about. Kate had called me up early in the day and she told me that she was at the Hog's for a few. I thought I'd be down there to meet her as well as the guys, but of course, Barry and Lars had moved on to the Hole in the Wall and it did sort of escape my mind a little bit. Nicolette on the other hand was all more of a matter of timing. By the time all the guys arrived to the Hole in the Wall, she was heading into town and we were heading on up to Lucy's place to start playing with the pictures and stuff. Okay, that should pretty much bring me completely up to speed.

On a side note, I had been talking with Barry & Lars over the last hour (this entry is taking forever) and remembering more things as I go along. Please bear with me.

So yeah, the plan was to head up to Lucy's get some pictures sorted out off of her camera, which were excellent, by the way, get a few more beers in us and then head out for about 7pm for the jaunt into town. Lucy had to make two trips in her car to get the lot of us. I thought I'd stay back for the second and hope to hear from Nicolette and maybe even meet up with her in town before heading up to Lucy's. Unfortunately, I didn't hear from her and Lucy was pretty quick to return to pick us up. Chapman, Hughes and myself all bundled into the car with Lucy and we were up at hers in no time.

When we arrived up at the house, Jutty was just starting to get into the mushrooms and the beers were already in full force. Scream if you wanna go faster! Yeah, that's right Jutty, you crazy fool...

"You guys are cool sitting there, but in behind you is going really crazy."

Well done, mate... upstaging the rest of us with your antics.

P.S. - You have nothing to apologize for, mate.

The Last Weekend: Chapter 5

You would think a Burger King bag, 20 Chicken Nuggets and the 11pm train back to Colchester from London would be enough to signal the end of the day. HELL NO! During my time on autopilot; we had left the train and station and made it into Colchester to end up at the front door of Bar 33. Not to be confused with Bar 38 in London. We must have grabbed a cab from the station up into town, because I slightly remember getting out of the car and being in front of the bar. Leo's brother, whoever he is (never met him), was working the door and let a few of us in free, but not all of us. Actually, I think we were lucky to get in at all being how late it was. How late was it exactly? No idea. I was the last one of the queue to get in and I didn't get in for free... shame. So I had to run to the bank machine, grab another few quid out and finally get in.

I'm not sure where we met them, but the lot of us met up with Lars' younger sister, Piia, and her mate... no idea what her name was. Ha ha! I have reason to believe that they were already in there and that was probably why we actually showed up there. Now, I can't say that I was in complete control when I came out of autopilot when I got in there, because I do remember some things. We danced a bunch more, but I can't remember what kind of music it was. I think it was mostly R&B... not like it mattered. I was wrecked and any beat would have gotten my feet moving, that's for sure. Piia's mate was a saucy little minx... I remember her dancing between Aaron and I for a good portion of the evening. It was sort of laughable really, so I laughed.

We must have been in there for a couple hours at least. Time really doesn't exist anymore when you're in the state that we were in. When we left, the idea was to walk Piia's mate home, 'cuz she was in a complete state. I mean, if she remembers anything that's ever happened in her life previous to that night, she might consider herself lucky. HA! There was pole dancing on Head Street, which was funny. There were some interesting photos from that by Lars. There was a lot of chanting and singing and yelling... I think Aaron and I were trying to remember White Stripes songs to yell and scream, but we were failing miserably.

When we passed by Quilters and over the bridge back towards North Station, someone or somehow the Old School scene of Frank the Tank going streaking, "Come on guys, we're streaking!" came into my head and well, someone else decided to dare me. So... off came the clothes (down to my boxers, wasn't really comfortable with the Full Monty) and off I went. Slap, slap, slap; my bare feet as I hoofed it down from the Victoria Inn to I think the Hair Factory (I should find a map to show that) until I reached Lars, Piia and mate-in-tow. "Come on guys, we're streaking!" Lars was not impressed. Actually, he sorta raged a bit trying to be as quiet as possible and well... there's me not being quiet. Ha ha ha! He made his angry face and well, I turned around and started to hoof it back the other way. On the way back, there was a guy on the other side of North Station Road and he yelled over to me if I wanted a cigarette... I declined his offer politely. After I passed by him, all of a sudden what looked like a Police car (as I was later to learn was a Military Police car) passed by going in the same direction as I. So, I stopped dead in my tracks and high-tailed it the other way. I was right by a corner-building, so I ran around the corner and hopped over a brick wall, onto a large waste container, down to the parking lot floor. The motion sensor light came on and I huddled into the corner of this small lot. I waited for a couple minutes to see if Lars would have come back, but I didn't see him. A moment or two later, I heard Lucy start calling my name, so I thought it was alright to come back out. So I climbed over a metal gate and ran back to the group where I then proceeded to dress myself again. HA! Hilarious.

I think from there, autopilot resumed control and Lars, Aaron and I were back at Lars' place, Piia had gone home and Barry & Lucy went back to Lucy's for the evening. Absolutely mad night that was.

The Last Weekend: Chapter 4

Bar 38. It was time to go get some 'Oh Canada,' which you would think we could have purchased at the Maple Leaf. But you know, I don't know if we'd ever checked if we could get it there. Oh well. I don't remember too much about the walk from the Maple Leaf to Bar 38. It's that whole fresh air drunkeness syndrome for your memory. I do remember arriving at the bar and someone having to be ID'd... oh yeah, that was Neil. Good ol' Neil... that was quite funny. Boy, did he ever get the hump about getting checked. I wish that was on tape... but maybe it is. That'd be excellent.

The group had gotten larger as we sat in the bar. Myself, Barry, Lucy, Lars, Aaron, Neil, Rob & Jo were the main group and then at our table one of Jo's mates showed up as well, so our party just got bigger and bigger. Well, sort of...

A shot of Oh Canada each went down a treat. After the lot of us each had a shot, they had apparently run out. How awful is that? At least we each got one in. The whiskey liquer that tastes like maple syrup... mmmmmm... tasty.

The highlight of Bar 38 was the magician. This guy was pretty fuckin' good and if I can get his card, I will give a link for him. It's a little bit of advertising, which he'd more than likely appreciate. He was pretty quick and the tricks were quite good. I ended up giving him £20 when he finished up as a tip... he was a bit better than "Don't Pet A Burning Dog" for a tip. Although that would have been funny.

I have a good portion of his performance on tape, but you can tell that I was beginning to struggle by that time. I was swaying back and forth quite badly, but I got a good portion of it.

Now my memory gets pretty fuzzy from here for a bit. After saying goodbye to Rob & Jo, the process of making it back to Liverpool Street and then to Colchester appears and disappears in places and it's kind of tough to gauge what had actually happened. I'm hoping a bit of the fuzzy bits are on tape. I don't exactly feel like watching it to give a proper recap... I'll let you watch the video if you like. Ha ha.

I do remember a little bit on the train with the Burger King bag on my head. There were some great photos of me being absolutely wasted with my Chicken Nuggets that I don't remember buying. Check out Dirty Hairy Mouth soon, because the pics should be posted in the next couple days.