Drunkin Blog

Well i just got off the phone with Linny. Yes Linny. Hotty from the U of A. Friend of Jenny. Without being an ass....cone cone cone....hahahaha. She wanted a drunk blog she is going to get a drunk blog.

Now the only reason i could think of, as to why Linny would want me to write a drunk blog, would be my drunken indescresion when it comes to just about everything. So I will take this time to say that I am drunk and I am writing. First of all....lets talk about Linny. Linny is a suck ass. She writes in her blog, and as long as no one pushes her buttons, all is good. This week she wrote a blog, and i decided to push her buttons....in response....she deleted her entry.....LAME.

Linny....make your points.....stick to them....and if people dont like them well tell them to FUCK OFF.....or just blame it on tappers...thats what we all do.

It is friday and there is no Wayne...Tappers as usual has no shirt on and is trying to convince the world he is gay. I think Taps just has a got girlfriend so that we cannot question his gayness. GAY.

I am getting ready for bed. Jenna is coming to town tomorrow. I miss Jenna. I hope she is ready for a big Newman hug...cause i need a big Jenna Hug....Goodnight.

Ciao

Rat Scallion

jovlrtu fovlotu fpvl/ yjrd hot; esd divlomh ,u vpvl/ yjr v;pvl dytivl pmr smf djr esd fpmr/ jovlptu fovlptu fpvl/ (figure it out...its easy with a shift)

Now although I may not have the best grammar or for that matter, even good grammar, I still know a rat scallion when I read one. Hiding behind your well groomed words, trim, coiffed and airbrushed of any meaning. The shark breaching the surface of the water in search of prey. What pray tell....prey.... may I ask is he searching for in the sky? Shit hawks and flying seals.

The breaking of glass houses, or the spine of a cliche. Wrap it in sandwhich crumbs, and call it a day.

Strawberries left over, for all on the floor. Sandis down on her knees, they call her a whore.

I will consede grammar, and fragments alike, but the shark still is ugly, and the dolphin quite nice.

Cliches are forgiven, and you might not be gay. Take a wiff of that pond, ahhh...what can i say.

Thanks for the witty, words of your trade...i needed a laugh, laughs in spades. (damn cliches)

You asked for blogs on sharks...football...and hockey....tomorrow we will talk about the Flyers.

Dolphins VS Sharks

I have always considered it quite self evident that Dolphins are superior to Sharks. As if one could not tell, just by looking at these two creatures, which one had the upper hand. Even a mere child would be able to tell you which one he/she would rather play with, or trust to look after the family pet.

However, the esteemed blogger and rat scallion Smidpig, would have you believe otherwise. So I feel, for the sake of all that is holy, and just in the world. That we should put this dog to bed, or should i say shark to tank.

Lets first look at sharks. Sharks are big and ugly. They have large noses, and crooked teeth. Not just one row of crooked teeth, but multiple rows of crooked teeth. And more often than not you will find scraps of not just parsley between these teeth, but entire rotting animals. And as if God was not cruel enough, he put the sharks eyes so far back on its huge head that if it opens its mouth it cannot see and often runs into things. Sharks are mean and prone to temper-tantrimes. They are also very bad actors and rely heavily on the musical talents of their "themes songs" to pull them through their performances.

Taking all this into consideration lets see if we can come up with an image of what a shark might look like if it were a human.
Just look at the picture and hum to yourself
Danadaaana... ...Danadaaaana.. .Danadaaana"
you get the picture

Now lets take a look at dolphins. Dolphins are pretty good looking. Not good looking in an arrogant way, Good looking in that dolphin next door way. They have awesome smiles, and beautiful teeth. They are friendly, easy going, and love to perform. Dolphins can be both playful and chillaxidasical (circa nmz 2006). Willing to play fetch with a beach ball or diving ring, or just swim around on their backs with a good book. So now lets take a look at what a dolphin might look like, if it were human

Now if you want to hum anything here...if you need a sound track at all ... I think
"mmmm mmmm damn thats fine"
Might be appropriate.

Like I said at the beginning of my blog. It is pretty much self evident. In fact it is so self evident that one would have to be a homosexual to prefer sharks over dolphins, and thus i must call to reference my blog dated August 16, and entitled "Unwanted Comments on Myspace".

SmidPig...you have the floor.

The Kite Runner

Winter is on its way. The mornings are getting darker and darker, and as always it is harder and harder to get out of bed. I definatley think someone should run for office on the platform of a 5 hour work day, between November and lets say March. That way I would not have to drive to work, or home from work, in the dark, because you see, sometime over the summer, my headlights got all screwed up. Now at first I thought they were both burnt out, but, after a few wacks with the old knuckle-hammer, one of them came on. So now each morning when I go to start my truck, I must turn on the lights, go to the front of the truck, and give the one working light, a nice wack. So basically what I am trying to say is, i need to get my headlights looked at, now that the darkness has set in.

Last night was spent tidying up the house and then reading. I am mid way through a book called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was recommended by Cat at Crush. She has an awesome sense of literature, and I have shared a few classics with her over the months. But I could not have imagined her picking such a fabulous read. For a girl of twenty she really knows a good book when she reads it.

The story is about a young afghan, growing up in Afghanistan. Amir is a young boy from a wealthy family. In the culture of the time, he has servants. His servants family lives with his family side by side. One of the servants is the same age as Amir and his name is Hassan. Hassan and Amir are the best of friends, until one day, when Hassan is attacked by a group of other boys, and Amir does nothing to protect him.

The attack pushes Hassan and Amir apart, as well as deep inside of themselves, recoiling from the world around them, and the book progresses from there. It takes us from that betrayal, to the invasion of afghanistan, to america, into wedlock, and then back to Afghanistan, where Amir is given an opportunity to make ammends with his lost friend, and .......... I will let you read the book to find out what the...... stand for.

It is an excellent book, and a must read for all of us who attempt to understand both the world around us, and the world within us. His imagery is simple, yet compete. He evokes memories from his readers pasts like an ancient snake charmer. I once heard it said that the sign of a good writer is that feeling you get while you are reading the work. The feeling that the writer is looking over your shoulder. A feeling that the characters are not only his characters, but your characters. And this could not be more true than with this novel.

After reading, it was time for bed. I was able to talk to Shauna for bit before bed, and that made me quite happy. Even though I hate talking on the phone, it was nice to hear her voice. She is as busy as ever. Running around like a chicken with her head cut off. Today is the Bad Religion / Drop kick Murphies show in edmonton, so as you can imagine, she was even busier than normal. Being that busy and still having the time to chat with me, even for a few minutes, made me fall to sleep with ease. Thanks Shauna, you are loved and missed.

Not much on the plate today....Trying to get re-focused at work. Lately I have been getting very little job satisfaction, and have even debated quiting or going back on the tools. The labor market in Calgary is so crazy, that I could probably go back on the tools and work the same hours, make the same money, with none of the stress. But alas, I hope it is just a passing thing. Jason, Rob and I sat down yesterday and I had a venting session. I hope it will lead to the three of us developing some plans that will get things working properly around the office and in the shop. Rather than just the same old, dealing with problems when they boil over. hopefully this will happen soon, or I am going to have to make some big life decisions in the coming months.

Thats all for me for today... I hope everyone is well out there in cyberville .... Good luck with the show Shauna, dont forget to sleep lol

A few weeks of Introspection

Well after a few weeks of mulling over the whole blog thing, I am back. I tried to start a new blog that was not as accessible, or well known, but it brought be little satisfaction. I also tried to use this blog without talking about my life, and what is going on in it, and found that even less satisfying. I guess this blog has become part of my life. Another way of keeping a journal. Another way to practice the craft or writing. Another way of sharing.

Sharing....now that is a funny concept. I sit here in front of my computer "sharing" my thoughts with people (and I hope more importantly friends) As well, the blog allows me to record these thoughts and ideas for myself. But it is not really sharing. I learned this the hard way more than a few weeks ago, when I attempted to share something very personal to me. Unfortunately, that something was a person from my past.

It is funny how someone can log onto my blog, read my most inner thoughts. They sit at their computer like some voyear, criticizing, and speculating what it all means, and what I am going through, without ever once picking up the phone to talk to me. And then when I make a move to expose them, to bring out their role in the whole drama, they get all defensive and ask that their privacy be respected.

So what about my privacy. Now I know you might say, you are writing the blog, you have given up your right to privacy. And this might be the case. But this is 2006, we are well into the age of the internet. Blogging is something that is being done by millions of people. Some might view it as more than it is, but what it really is, is just a convenient way to put thoughts on paper....i mean, on the internet. And well, isnt the internet the "paper" of our day. Our digital scrapbook. Complete with photographs, thoughts, banking, it is pretty much becoming just an extension of our own minds. We are infact for the first time, being given the opportunity to "look inside the heads" of the people around us.....Or should I say the people willing to participate.

In a way it is great, we can see, for the first time, that we are not alone, that we are human, and that we all have fucked up thoughts in our heads. This could not be more relevent, in the wake of the Dawson shootings in Montreal last week.

Sometimes I think my thoughts are racing out of control, and that I might better serve humanity by putting a bullet to my head. (No Jason I was not trying to steal your schticke) But then I see on the news, a blog from a vampire-man who openly suggested killing people, and then went out and did it. He had a blog, he was sharing his thoughts, in a biblical sense, he was like a "man screaming in the desert". But no one cared to listen. Or if they did they listened quietly, like a voyear, or a peeping tom. They sat like witnesses to murder, and did not act, because by acting they would have to admit that they were there watching the whole thing.

We do it everyday, we drive by people in the street, begging for food. We ignore them. We pretend we are not there. We watch autrociities around the world being broadcast on cnn nightly and we do little but turn down the lights, and pray that no-one knows we know. When someone asks us our opinion we shy away, and start talking about hockey and football (now dont get me wrong.....hockey and football are great) and pretend we did not see it. Pretend we do not see the dead bodies in the streets, or the man standing hoodwinked in the prison with electrical cords attached to him.

Ok now that is a bit drawn on...you get the big point. But the little point is just as bad. I share my blog, because I have friends who share their blogs. WE SHARE. If you are not part of this SHARING process well then fuck off. And if your name, or god forbid, your picture finds its way into my blog, it is because you have given it openly and freely to me. If you dont want me to share something, then tell me up front. Ian, this is for you, or this is just between us. I can respect that.

OK that was a lot of bantering.....but hopefully now I can enjoy my blog again.

September 11

Well it is hard to believe, but it has been five years since the collapse of World Trade, oops I mean the World Trade Center. Yes five years ago today, we all sat glued to the television watching the horrific images over, and over, and over again. The Media did everything possible to ensure the images and the fear were etched into a personal and collective memory.

It is unfortunate that since September 11, 2001 we have been lied to on so many occasions by the governments of the world, that now many of us are cyinical about the events that took place that sunny September morning. It is too bad that only a short while after that day I had to witness a "great man" stand before the united nations and tell me that Iraq was an Imminent Danger to my safety, and that they were planning an attack that would make 9/11 look like a mere bully knocking over a sand castle. God knows if they could convince Colen Powell of something, I would be a simple target.

But who are "THEY" anyway. Today I had lunch with a friend. A man I respect in the highest regard. We differ in our opinions on many things. He holds me to account for my sometimes discriminatory remarks and for this I owe him a world of gratitude. Most of those remarks are discriminatory towards "America". It is out of my conversations with him however, that I have come to realize that much of my anger and contempt towards "America", should also be directed toward myself. Today he made a valid point. That point is simple, "All of this....The attack on the World Trade Center....The invasion of Iraq....the attacks on Israel.....they are all the product of a simple idea.....And that idea is Racism and Discrimination"

I guess I had thought, that because I dont say Nigger. Or because I respect the multicultural society I live in, that I am not prejedice, or that I dont discriminate. But the fact of the matter is, whenever I voice my problems with "America" or "Israel" I am showing my prejudice. It is because I lump everyone into the category that I can "hate" what they are doing. What I need to consciously do is avoid lumping things together. Because not all "Americans" want war in Iraq. Not all "Iranians" want Israel to be destroyed. Not all "Canadians" are saints LOL

Rather than lumping people and ideas together, we need to look at and oppose specific actions or ideas. I am not "anti-american", I simply have problems with the course of actions that Mr. Bush has taken in the past few year. This is not prejudice because many of my american brothers and sisters feel the same way. On the other side of the coin, I cannot, blindly say that I support or understand the position of Osama bin Ladin. For surely I do not believe, nor could ever believe that the killing of innocent women and children on 9/11 was Just. I must hold each person, and each idea up to the light of scrutiny.

So on this day of rememberance. When much of the world is being asked to pledge some sort of change in themselves, that will help us grow as people and also ensure that an event such as 9/11 never happens again, I pledge this.

I will make a conscious effort not to allow my prejudices to affect the way I view the world. That I will make an effort to investigate the specific problems I have with a specific person, and will not simply judge any man or woman by the company they keep, or the government they May or May Not support.

Just because someone is American does not make them a baby killer, and Just because someone is living in a cave, under the simplest conditions, does not make him a saint.

I hope that when history looks back on this period, that I will not be proved to be the fool. I pray that when history looks back on this period, we will not be shown as accomplices to murder or genocide. I hope that when history looks back on this period, it will show it to be the turning point toward dialogue and resolution of two fundamentally opposed ideas. FREEDOM and SECURITY.

Someone once said that with great power comes great responsibility. I hope that those people who currently weid this power, will realize the gravity of their responsibility to our species.

Our little Space Station Called Earth

Well I have decided to keep this blog. However, it will longer contain anything personal about my life, other than my thoughts on things going on in the world outside my window.

Today the space shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral, after many delays, without a hitch. This mission is extremely important to NASA because it is the first in a long time to carry a payload to the International Space Station http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
This mission is also important to Canada, because both Canada arms will be used. The first arm is located in the docking bay of the shuttle, and the new arm that was installed awhile ago, is on the Space Station. On this mission the arm on the shuttle will "pass" the payload from shuttle to the arm on the station. It has been nicknamed the Great Canadian Handshake.

These two instruments form a fundamental and necessary part to the International Space program. As a Canadian I am proud that although we do not have our own vehicle to explore and experiment in space, we are still able to develop technologies and instrumentation that is sought after by other agencies and the world community as a whole.

For those of you who know me, you know I can be a little anti-american or anti-war or whatever you want to call it. As of late I have found myself also being kind of anti-capitalism and I am not sure where or when that started to take route, but in an attempt to curb my anti-capitalism thoughts I have decided to go back and read some more Ann Rand.

Back in the day when I was a pro-capitalist two of my favorite books were Atlas Shrugged and The FountainHead. That was not a long time ago. For my latest reading I have chosen her book entitled "Capitalism, The unknown ideal". So far it is an excellent piece of scholorship. Now, you might be asking yourself "what does any of this have to do with the Shuttle" Well let me tell you.

Basically the Space Shuttle and the project of building the Space Station is a remarkable feat of capitalism. In a day and age when war shows us the darker side of the fight to gain new markets so capitalism can grow, it is nice to see an effort that shows the pinnacle of what can occur when free markets work together. These projects are not just a beacon of light for the sciences they are also an expression of community. When nations from around the world can work together on such a complicated project it shows us truly that the stars are the limit.

It is unfortunate that efforts to master the sciences seem more achievable than our efforts to build a healthy community in our own back yard. I guess whats almost ironic about it is, is the thought of what will happen when we do build a "homestead" out in space. Will the astronauts on those larger ships of the future close the hatch doors to prevent less desirable astronauts from coming into the parts of the station that they have laid claim to. Will those astronauts hoard food, or use it to fuel their own little experiments, while others on the station lay rotting in bays and hangers around the station.

It seems to me that Capitalism is a great system for creating things. It is the only system that provides the rights and the freedoms for us to fully Master anything. However, for Capitalism to fully be a new world religion, we are going to have to do something first. That something is basically "getting along with and respecting each other". And it appears to me that in the thousands of years of civilization, that is something that has never really got off the ground. ANd thus even Capitalism seems poised to fail.

I should also point out, that at the most fundamental level, there are many things going on with our modern form of Capitalism that do not resemble Capitalism at all. What I see today in the world is an emerging Corporatism which stands in juxtposition to Democracy and Capitalism, and seem to be taking us back to something closer to feudalism, with corporations filling the role of the vassal,but that is a discussion for another day.

Maybe the End

Well I just returned from a weekend in Edmonton. And all that I am going to say is that it was awesome. But it had some unfortunate side effects.

I am not sure if it is a good thing, to put myself into a setting, where I am truly happy, knowing that I can do nothing to bring it into my ultimate reality. It is like taking a vacation, into a world far beyond ones means. And ultimately it just adds to depression. I am also learning that honesty sometimes may not be the best thing.

For instance I love my blog, but in recent weeks I was shown that blogs have a darkside. I wont get into it. But if you look back, you will see some esoteric remarks, that allude to certain problems.

This weekend, I also learned from a friend that I am not alone, and that she too had her own blog (her own thoughts) used against her. That her blog and her thoughts were actually used to isolate and manipulate her. I have always thought a blog was a great way to comunicate my thought to friends that I have been distant with, and myabe this was not a good idea. I guess maybe i was a little selfish in my thoughts.

I guess I have been misguided in believing that showing a bit of ones real self, is a good thing. And thus, I think I am going to take a break from blogging for awhile. I guess it is back to the journal for me, until i can sort out once again....Friend from Foe....For it seems that from my recent conversations with people, you never really know when people are trying to manipulate you, and using my friendship, not to make my life better, but to serve some ulterior motive. So to those people I guess I will stop giving them fuel for the fire.

For my real friends out there, it may be a little more time consuming but I will do my best to find a way to keep in touch.

And with that I bid you all adieu.

The aquarium grows

Well let me start by saying that i am sorry for missing out on Ernesto's dismal finale. I spent the beginning of the week being audited for my COR certification from the ACSA (ALberta Construction Safety Association). And this was very time consuming, and very important. The short and sweet of it is, I failed. In order to pass you need to score a 80% overall and achieve 50% or higher in each element. And unfortunately I scored 80% overall but failed two elements (Procedures and Statistics). This is not a terrible thing, but it will mean that I will have to have a limited scope audit in the near future. (hopefully in November). And once I pass that we will recieve our COR certification.

Outside of work. I managed to get the carpets in the apartment cleaned on Wednesday. Thursday however was an action filled day. I was suppose to play golf with Ron, Dave and Matt. But we all sort of jammed-out around mid-morning. Then according to Murpies law the weather got good in the afternoon but it was too late.

After work, I went to Francos and picked up some new fish. 2 Clown Loaches and 2 Bala Sharks. Here are a couple photos off the internet of the new guys.


So far they have been great additions to the tank. However, the clown loaches need to eat blood worms, so this means i have to change the diet of all my fish. I am going to try putting one packet of blood worms in in the morning, and then Cyclid flakes in for dinner. I am hoping this will meet everyones needs and all my fish will be healthy and happy, but i will keep you posted.

After dealing with my Fish, it was off to Crush for Pams going away party. Pam is one of the full time servers at Crush and is an awesome girl. She and her boyfriend will be spending the next six months travelling around the world. As an ex traveller myself, I think this is awesome, and I know she will have a good time. Unfortunately Brad was at the pub last night, and for those of you that dont know Brad, Brad is the person who always ensures that I am my old self. Whenever we are in the same room there are plenty of shooters, and plenty of debauchery, but also plenty of fun.

All in all it was a good night of drinking and socializing. Much needed considering the amount of time I have spent alone in the apartment since cutting back on the drinking. Soren showed up and he has tonight off, so he will try to make it over for the BBQ

Yes once again we will be having a friday BBQ on our wicked patio. I will try to take some photos and post them after the weekend. So far the attendance should include myself, cory, ryan, wayne, jennifer and her boyfriend chris, jessica, j-ho, famous shamus (dj from shine fm, the christian station in town. Very cool cat, if you havnt listened to the christian station, you should give it a try, its not what you think..88.9 in calgary), Sarah, Soren, Jason Lee, hopefully Tyler, and who-ever the hell else shows up.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Edmonton to hang with Shauna. I have been thinking a lot about her lately. Not too sure what that means. She has been a very good friend now for like ten years. Probably one of my best friends actually. One of those people that has seen me at my best and seen me at my worst, and still manages to call me a friend. And I pretty much think of her the same way. So many friends seem to be on your side when you are who they want you to be, but seem to run and hide when they realize you are just a simple fuck up like everybody else. Shauna is definately a blessing in my life, and Shauna if you are reading this, Thanks for being you. Big love from Newman.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Caio