Early Saturday Afternoon

Hmmmm... again I am left sort of pondering what the hell is going on with Barb. Another 'no call' night, therefore a definite no-show. I am beginning to really start doubting all this, but I would sure love to figure out why. It would be such a great relief, I would think. I knew she'd be off around 10-10:30pm... but realistically, when 11-11:30pm rolled around she was sort of written off for the night... which really sort of sucked.

I was talking with Jen about it this morning and it isn't like I have these giant expectations for the evening, shit, we should be just going and hangin' out as mates and such. There is no indication that there would be any more, nor would I be pushing it. So, I do have a tough time believing that that sort of reasoning would come into play. I wasn't surprised by the not going out, she has ditched me several times previous.

Am I just not catching the drift here?

I'd be surprised if she phoned me today and told me what happened... I did leave her a sarcastic text message around midnight last night, saying that I'd better cancel before she does, leaving the sarcasm to work its magic. It is kind of tiring, as I was under the idea that we had made plans and that we were goin' out, so I didn't make any other plans with anyone else for the night. It's really more disappointing rather than angering... I'm really sort of at odds of what to do. A part of me wants to confront her on the phone and just have it out... but there's the big part of me that just wants to get on with getting on. The latter being the more viable option.

So, the evening was sort of left with a few beers, Chris and his ex, Lisa. I had heard the reputation that preceeded her and it isn't the most flattering of reputations. A wee bit of crazy mixed with a pinch of psycho. Ha ha. She had actually assumed his MSN yesterday morning and we had chatted for a bit while I was gearing up for work and doing my entries into the Tales. It seemed a tad odd on there... and Chris was also sending me text messages apologizing for her behaviour. That was kind of funny. After Jen had gone babysitting for the evening, I was getting a tad bored sitting around the house, so I wanted to know if they were out already at the pub. My boredom was gonna let go to start having a pint or two before the theoretical meeting with Barb. I had sent an MSN message, then a couple text messages... and Lisa was wondering why I just wouldn't go downstairs to see what was goin' on. My response to that was 'Due to the age of technology we live in, human contact isn't necessary.' I was mildly freaked about meeting this crazy reputation head on. Anyways, I did head downstairs after I sent that message and met Lisa, who looked a lot like Julie, except MUCH taller and Chris. Both of them were well on their way... Lisa already being out at the bar for a while and Chris sprinting with bottles to keep up.

There was nothing comfortable about being in that room with those two. There was an err of uneasiness, Chris becoming a drunk jerk and Lisa just not knowing what to say... even though she's a tad drunk. We each finished a drink and headed off to the Yardhouse. I wanted to take it rather easy and have a couple Guiness to ease myself into the evening. I thought it would be slow enough to make a couple pints last a couple hours and then once Barb would call, I'd still be alright if I possibly had to drive somewhere... although my plan was to actually come down and meet me down in Kensington... but we all know how that worked out. But even the plan of drinking slowly wasn't working too well... the Guiness wasn't as slow going as I would have hoped. I must really like it now, 'cuz I can drink it without any problems of taste or feeling.

Chris was under the impression that Lisa would be taking off and meeting Mark, her sort of Calgary crush, as she lives in Vancouver at the moment and is only here on vacation. Chris thought that Mark would call Lisa and Lisa would bail out on us, leaving us to admire what we could in the Yardhouse. Well, it was ages for Lisa waiting for Mark to call... but I think when she went off on her many trips to the bathroom, she had probably let Mark know where we were drinking and to come and meet us. I may have missed the memo at the table, but she may have mentioned that Mark was coming, which set Chris into a major foul mood. Apparently, as the story goes, Mark and Lisa were on a trip (of business or something) and that they had to share a hotel room together, while Lisa and Chris were still dating. The jealous gear had kicked in... and there was a tad bit of confrontation at the table about the whole thing, which didn't help anyone's mood. Not long later, Mark had actually shown up and Chris locked up pretty tight in his bad mood. Well, Mark seemed like an okay guy... we were chatting quite a bit about hockey and I somehow was impressing him with my knowledge of the game and stuff, so it wasn't really a problem for me. In the meantime, Lisa was trying to pry Chris out of his shell... but that didn't seem to work. The two of them finally took off after a drink... no one really seemed comfortable and that was pretty much that. We grabbed the tab and headed out.

Chris and I hit the liquor store around 10pm... grabbed some Keith's and went back to the house and hang out and continue to wait for the phone call, until I wrote her off around 11pm. He packed'er in pretty early and I stayed up for another one, waiting for Jen to get back from babysitting watching a bit of Memento. And that was pretty much the night.

Hey, don't think there isn't gonna be a picture in this post... rather, there's gonna be two.



I got home rather early yesterday, getting out of work around 3:30pm... I thought it would be great since Jen was thinking about goin' to Superstore to get stuff for her BBQ today, but when I got home, the screen door was locked, which is getting more and more annoying as it can't be opened from the outside, so I knew Jen was home. As it turned out, she was sleeping on the couch and it took a few phone calls to inside the house for her to wake up and let me in.

Jen wasn't too motivated to go to Superstore, rather she just wanted to go to Safeway today, in fact, she just left a moment ago, whilst writing this post. Instead, she wanted to go for a bike ride/skate with me, so we did a lap around the river and that's where I got that picture from. Her on her leisure bike, not goin' very fast, which was okay. It was a nice day to be out for a skate. Actually, I'd wager that today would be good too.

And my other picture for today...



Since Jen is having all sorts of people around today for her BBQ, she wanted to clean up the backyard. Jen cleaned up the crap from Costas and I mowed the lawn, front and back, for the first time since livin' here. So, I grabbed a shot of the newly cut lawn, though you can't really see the pattern that I tried to make, goin' around the perimeter, much like what I used to do at the house in Kelowna. I do enjoy mowing lawns... but today it was the first time that I used an electric mower... which REALLY sucks. There is next to no benefit of a lawnmower with a power cord that you shift around while mowing. Maybe I was just spoiled growin' up to have a gas powered mower, but I do have a new appreciation for them.

Right now, I'm thinkin' about getting into the shower and preparing for my day and evening out. I want to go meet up with Kristy today and I've left a message on her phone, about an hour ago. I'm pretty sure she'll call me back when I jump in the shower... Murphy's Law and all. She said that Saturday afternoon would be best for her, which really means just about any time in the afternoon, then I'll give Alan, Alex and the Royals bunch a call and see where we're gonna get started for the evening. I have a feeling that Alan is gonna make it into a gong show... hopefully, it doesn't get too expensive.

Jen has people showing up to the house anywhere between 3pm & 5pm for her BBQ, I'm thinkin'. She has invited a lot of people, it will be interesting what percentage of those invited show up. I'm sure I'll be making an appearance in there somewhere as I'll probably have to get changed in between meeting up with Kristy and then going out with the lads. It'll just work out that way, I'm sure.

Oh yeah... one story before goin'. Jen and I went to Starbucks yesterday after I jaunt on the wheels, so she could get a drink before heading to her babysitting gig last night. Shannon was there with a friend of hers and Paddy, one of the guys Jen works with at Starbucks. We were there for a while and a chat. On the way back, we were walking down one of the alleys in Kensington where Jen came across a crumpled up $5 bill. "Look!" she exclaimed and handed it to me. As she hands it to me, she says she wanted me to open it up, because someone might have pissed on it. Well... I absolutely lose it on her, in a comical way, saying (sarcastically) how people don't pick up $5 bills, rather they pee on them. I'm trying my best to make seem really silly for what she said, but instead she was in hysterics as I'm making up this routine on the fly. As we were walking down 10th Street, she opens up her wallet and motions me to put but the bill in it... "Well, if I'm having to put it in, will I have to be around when you take it out?" "Are you carrying tweezers or wearing a HazMat suit if I'm not around?" Oh, it was good fun.

I just wanted to make sure I had written that one down... I really wish I captured that routine on tape or something. It was actually quite funny.