theMediaman.com

Well, this weekend ruled.

After the concert on Friday, Cecilia had a BBQ party for a few friends. Reg called up and asked what I was planning on doing, so I arranged for him, Hwan and Dangerman (for the uninitiated - aka. Reg’s brother, Kendrick) to join us. I suggested that they bring meat since Cecilia wasn’t planning on the extra people. She told me that she had enough food, but we’re big eaters.

Even I was a little shocked when I saw a full minivan arrive with Hwan, Angela, Reg, D-man, Girl and a2chow riding along (Jenning arrived later). While I should have put two and two together to realize that they were also going to come, it was still a surprise. Good thing they brought food!

Angela and I swapped BBQ duty (”It’s my turn now!”), everyone enjoyed the food. There was lots to eat but we managed it all. Definately a success, and only one undercooked sausage in the bunch (my fault *hangs head in shame*).

Saturday, Simone took advantage of some $23 two-for-one coupons for Blue Jays tickets. Reg and Dangerman joined us, and we got 500-level seats behind home base, fifth row up. Not bad tickets considering the fact we got them at the ticket window half-an-hour before the game started. Unfortunately, we were surrounded by Cleveland Indians fans on all four sides. There were more Indians fans there than in Cleveland!

The Jays lost 3-1, but they made a good game. Not ultra-exciting, but it was close enough to make it fun.

That was the weekend… Monday was another story…

When I woke up, the washing machine was already running. I talked to the father of the family upstairs this afternoon and asked him not to wash before 9:00 AM if possible, and he seems fine with that. However, before this afternoon was this morning.

I heard when the washing machine went on, and when I thought it was done, I wandered into the shower. Well, as it turns out the machine was only between cycles. Set to cold, that eliminated all pressure in my shower. I have one of those little showerheads that balances the hot/cold water, but when there’s no cold water to balance, the only choice is a blast of scalding hot water.

Cold water is harsh, but hot water is potentially damaging… especially when you’re nek’d!!!

I turned off the water, and started shaking myself off before toweling down. On one downstroke of my arms, my left middle finger hit a metal rail. Very, very painful. But that’s not where the morning ended…

I pulled a “Paul”.

Main Entry: Paul

Pronunciation: ‘pol

Function: verb

Etymology: Latin Paulus, from Greek Paulos or Paul Brown

: to cause foreseeable grief to one’s own self through any action or inaction.

Simply speaking, I wanted to see how accurate the red line on my Ford Escort’s fuel gauge is. I guessed wrong.

The car made it to the offramp of the 404 at Steeles, when it started to shake. I managed to get it over to the shoulder (across two lanes) before it cut out. Luckily, there was a gas station a short walk away, but I still had to blow $12 on a gas can. Actually, they could charge $30 or more for those things and you’d still have to pay it.

All day I smelled like petrol. I still do. I’ve washed my hands and arms several times, including a few times with lemon juice (a recommendation from Paul, the expert).

All this in my first waking hour of the day. Beyond a sharp pain that appeared in my right shoulder around two o’clock, not much else disasterous has happened, but I’m still carrying a bit of venom over today.

Perhaps it was simply to balance out the cosmos for how great my weekend was. Maybe God’s back to his old, sadistic tricks again. Whatever.

Simone & Friends took me out to a concert last night. It was a collection of local bands - most if not all of them were from Northern GTA. One of Simone’s friends is the sister of the guitarist in Zygote - who was kind of the headline band. They’ve got a really great sound, but the group before them were called The Salads and have a single on the Sleeman “Unsigned Artists” web site. They’re pretty good - I was trying to think who they sound like and Simone mentioned Rage Against The Machine. Granted the message isn’t there like in RATM’s music, but they were still good.

My favourite band of the evening was Buzz (I think that’s the name). They had a great sound, a great show and a great performance. They were out of CD’s when I went to buy one, but I’m still looking. The usual search on Google for “Buzz Toronto” brings up that Comedy Central show or The Cretienizer.

If you hear anything about the band, let me know. Until then I’ll have to just enjoy my free Zygote CDs that I got at the door last night.

Why don’t I update this Journal very often? Ask Blogger. I can write an entire entry, then have it lost when I try to publish it. I should really find an alternate for my next version of this site. Anyway, I’ll try again.

Using some accumulated overtime, I managed to turn Victoria Day weekend into a four-day vacation. It was something I really needed. Although the temperature never went above 7 C, I took a couple bike rides, a few walks, read Micheal Moore’s new book and followed up with a few light-hearted left-wing discussions. I avoided the phone and even my e-mail for all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday. It was just what I needed after burning out at work. Simone was a little disappointed that I didn’t call, but she couldn’t stay angry at this cute smile for too long.

The X-Files finale was really good, even though the first half was a clip-show. Nine years of Sci-Fi Drama compressed into one hour. Chris Carter - the series creator - has a habit of making each episode entertaining for long-time X-Philes as well as making them accessible to viewers who have never seen the show.

The second half of the show was The Revelation - where we find the Truth behind what the Hell has been going on for the last nine years (and since the Roswell crash - for that matter). One of my predictions came true. The rest was wonderfully chilling. Even though the next movie is supposed to be a standalone story, I hope it’s going to ease a few fears brought on by the end of the series.

Wednesday night I saw Star Wars: Episode II. About half-way through the film, things start getting really confusing. More than The Phantom Menace, this film might benefit more from the viewer not having seen episodes four, five and six in the series. However, if you didn’t gain the exceptional love of Yoda from previous films, you may not laugh out loud with excitement as much as I did when Yoda took on a powerful Dark Jedi in the greatest lightsaber dual on film to date. Think - Ninja Frog!

We saw the movie on the newly installed digital DLP projector at the Woodbridge Colossus. Although I really hate Roger Ebert, I have to agree that movies shot in digital and projected in digital are brilliant and sharp. No matter how good the hardware is, traditional film always blurs the screen during quick pans. Even during speed of the “car chase” scene on Coruscant my eyes never missed a single detail. I would recommend one if you’re building a home theatre - shop here.

My brother, Dave, came over and saw my apartment for the first time. Rather than for pleasure, the visit was more for business. He’s helping a friend with some of the print material for benefit for Fanconi Canada. While I recruited Toby to do a lot of the previous work, this was a last minute thing. We had a few beers, some pizza and actually got some work done.

Entertainment Tonight just showed the teaser trailer for the next two Matrix movies. It will be available on the Internet at theMatrix.com by midnight EST.

If I could only use one word to describe how cool these movies look, it would be;

Swords

If you’re a Matrix fan, you’ll get tingles in your spine just from that thought.

Yesterday I drove stick-shift for the first time. In a parking lot, Paul let me take his Saturn for a spin. After a few laps I managed to make it to third gear. It was fun, but there’s a lot of thinking involved and I’m still positive that my next car will be automatic.

Things I learned about standard cars:

1. The car won’t turn on until you push down on the clutch,
   
2. The stick doesn’t move out of neutral and into position until you push down on the clutch,
   
3. You have to push all the way down on the clutch to make it work,
   
4. Have your foot on the gas before letting off the clutch, or the car will stall,
   
5. Third gear is really fast for a parking lot,
   
6. When slowing down, push in the clutch. If you don’t then the car will come to an abrupt halt - a very, very abrupt halt.