NEW YEAR'S EVE!

I don't know about you but personally I hate New Year's Eve.  It's overrated, you always feel obligated to go somewhere and do something historical and epic.  You can never miss the "biggest party of the year" where you'll make memories that last forever.  That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard.  New Year's Day is just another day.  I can't even really remember last new year's eve, but I vaguely remember sitting around the house with a couple people having a beer or two, that's about it.  The last time I "went out" for new years was 2009 when I went home to Manitoba for a visit over the holidays.  I remember spending an hour or more waiting in line at a bar that was supposedly the "place to be", we made it inside just before midnight.  I was standing at the bar just getting my first drink when I suddenly heard people shouting "TEN....NINE....EIGHT....SEVEN...." 

What a joke, we spent all of our time standing in line, waiting to check our coats, and getting our drinks before we even realized what time it was.  Then after the countdown was just like any other night, standing in a crowded bar getting smashed around by drunken idiots wearing affliction shirts yelling at the top of our lungs trying to have a half ass conversation.  I don't know about you but I am no longer a fan of that scenario, at all.  It's just not enjoyable, who really wants to lose their voice screaming at their friends, spending 6 dollars on a drink in a way too hot and way too crowded bar? Just to have to wait in the cold for an hour afterwards trying to get a ride home.  Not this guy.  This year I'm deciding to either go to a friend's place for a gathering or stay home altogether, I'd much rather be comfortable, fed, slightly inebriated and keep my voice for the next day. 

BOXING DAY CHAOS!!

I'm not big on boxing day shopping.  I hate waiting in lines.  I hate wading through seas of people trying to find a good deal on an item that I don't really need.  I hate waiting in traffic, personally I just hate boxing day altogether. 

Let's face it, in this day and age you don't have to go to the store anymore to get a good deal on something, that's what the internet is for.  You can find all the same deals in the store online, with no waiting in line, no wading through the sea of crazy boxing day shoppers and no headache of waiting in traffic.  I attempted the boxing day trip today just to see what the atmosphere was like, needless to say I got to work early due to lack of wanting to wait in line to save ten bucks on the sequel to Batman on PS3.  Future shop was a madhouse, I've never seen the parkade so jam packed with vehicles and I'd never seen the store so full of people.  It was pandemonium.  Just trying to get down the aisle was tough enough, not to mention try to  grab what I was looking for.  And then, as soon as I had in hand what I had come for I made my way to the checkout counter only to realize that the line wasn't as long as I had thought at first glance.....it was longer!  There must have been 80 people in line. 

Now if I was one of those materialistic people that I don't really care for I would've waited in line like the rest of them, but I'm not, I promptly set down the game and walked out.  No way was I wasting an hour of my boxing day standing in line getting sore feet and a sore back for 10 dollars off.  No thank you.  I'll see what sort of deals they have online.

As Canadians I know we love a good deal, it's in our blood.  But is it really worth it to try and get that deal on a day like today? It's beautiful outside, most of us are a little hungover from turkey and wine, wouldn't you rather go out and enjoy the day?  Do you really need that flatscreen because it's 100 bucks off?  Wait 3 months, it'll be cheaper than that, it's always is. 

CHRISTMAS TIME!

Well another christmas time has come and gone.  Another year away from the folks and family, seems to happen more and more when you get older.  But the saving grace is having friends around that will take you in like you're one of their own.  It's almost a bonus really when you're away because you get invited to numerous dinners on the day and nothing is better then getting your fill of turkey, stuffing and all the fixings, just to make room a few hours later and head down the road and do it all over again.  Then head home to tuck into a turkey coma on the couch wrapped in a warm blanket in front of the tv. 

I can't say I'm not jealous of the people who get to spend their holidays with their families and open presents like they're 10 years old.  Cashing in on all sorts of things from cash and gift cards to video games and clothes.  For some people the holidays have always been about gifts and material posessions, for others, like myself, it's all about the company.  Mom asked me what I wanted for xmas this year and, as usual, my answer was just to see my family and friends back home, which is only a short 3 weeks away.  You get to a certain point in life when you realize that it's not about what you have, but who you have.  You can't take your stuff with you when you die, sure it's awesome having nice things but if you have nobody to share them with then what's the point? 

I myself can't wait to get home and hug my loved ones and spend time with them and my friends.  I hope that you all got a chance to do that this holiday season and if you didn't then I hope you get to soon.  Merry Christmas everybody and happy holidays.

What Happened To Good Old Conversation?

So I've noticed that over the last few years with the introduction the internet, cell phones, and facebook, that people don't talk to each other anymore.  You find more people out in public texting then you do talking.  Have you noticed this?  It's crazy, I've even seen people sitting across from each other at a table texting each other.  What the hell man?

I remember the time before cell phones you used to go over to your friends place and actually have a conversation with each other.  Now we're too busy we just text, or facebook chat.  It's understandable if you're talking to someone across the country, or even across the city, that's acceptable.  But when you need to get a hold of someone and you text them instead of call them, that to me makes no sense.  Why does this happen?  I think that society as a whole has become anti social, now of course there's exceptions.   Some of us, like me, like to engage people in face to face conversation.  I enjoy it because you can study body language, facial expressions, sarcasm, it's important.  Too many times I've been in a situation where I send a girlfriend a text and she turns it around into something completely different, it's happened to all of us.  You can't get the subtleties of speech through text, you just can't.  What I'm trying to say is get out there and converse with people, strike up a conversation with a complete stranger.  It's fun sometimes, sometimes it's shocking, sometimes is surprising.  You'd be amazed at what can happen if you just ask a simple question. 

Old Age and Hangovers

Ugh, I went out drinking this past saturday night.  It's Monday, and I'm still feeling the faint lingering effects of a hangover induced by Gin, rye whiskey and driftwood ale.  I think back to when I was in my late teens and early twenties, pounding a case of beer, slamming 5 shots of various alcohols and finishing the night off with jaigermeister was nothing to me.  I could get up the next day and do it all over again.  Now I have half a bottle of wine and the next day my head pounds like the bass drum on a hip hop track.  I guess it's just something that comes with getting older.  Just a fact that we all have to face, we just aren't as young and resilient as we used to be.  The good thing is though, we do save a lot of money when we go out.....sometimes.

My sunfire is no more

Transportation is a very important part of life, whether it's walking, riding the bus or a bike, driving a motorcycle or car, skateboarding, or even riding a unicycle.  We all need to get around.  Throughout my life I've had my fair share of vehicles.  And let me tell you, they've never been anything fancy, at all.  My first car was a 1983 Mazda RX-7 with a rotary motor, I bought it for 1300 dollars, and it even came with an extra car for parts, which I used more than once.  I only owned it for a year or so and man was it fun.  I bagged the hell out of that car, made sure I put a thumping stereo in it, which is what you do when you're 16.  It was a two seater but we took numerous road trips in that car, two in the front, and two buddies laying down in the back next to the subwoofer, good times, but it eventually had to go.  Next up was my parents old 1990 toyota camry, now as far as I'm concerned toyota makes one solid car.  That thing got me through a lot, 4x4ing offroad, road trips to bush parties, taking it halfway across the country to northern alberta, I even maxed it out at 188km/h, it just wouldn't go any faster.  Eventually I traded it to my sister for an old 1989 chevy half ton that our grandpa gave her, because come on, let's face it, guys should drive trucks instead of cars.  But there is something about a girl driving a truck......mmmm.....okay back to it.  That chevy made it from Manitoba to Alberta for my first journey away from home to setup up camp in a new city.  Eventually it made it to Red Deer and finally I decided to sell it, of course with my bad luck it started leaking antifreeze the day the potential buyer came to check it out.  So I only got 800 bucks for it, but I was able to buy my latest ride.  A 1999 pontiac sunfire 2.4 litre GT.  $3000, it was the most I'd ever spent on a car, and ya know what? It did what I needed it to do, several trips into the BC mountains, lots of winter driving through Alberta, and eventually I packed my entire life into it for the final voyage to Victoria.  Two years I've had it in the city here with me, after a little fixing and a ridiculous amount of money spent on an out of province. safety.  I always said I'd drive it until it died.......well that day came today.  I was on my way to pick up my friend to drive him to the airport this afternoon, when I heard a bit of an odd noise when I hit the brakes, not thinking anything of it I continued on.  A few blocks later I noticed, in my rear view mirror, that I was smoke screening the guy behind me.  What the hell? I thoought to myself, is that my car? So as I slowed down at the next red light a little old lady pulled up next to me pointing to the back of my car to which I mouthed the words, "that's not good".  She quickly mouthed back "no it certainly isn't", it was kind of funny really, but I wasn't laughing.  I was rather angry.  So I pulled off the road and parked the clunker.  While it sat there smoking i made a phone call to my coworker who quickly filled me in that I'd blown the head gasket.  And I knew that it's not a cheap fix to fix a head gasket, so I gutted it of everything I own, subwoofer, cd player, all assorted belongings, phoned my friend who I was on my way to meet and let him know that I wasn't going to make it, got a ride and left it for dead on the side of the road.  As I drove away a calm came over me, I knew it was it's time and I'm cool with that.  I'm in Victoria, I thought.  I don't really need a car that bad, so now I'm carless and thinking that it might be a blessing in disguise.  And also thinking that no longer will I purchase vehicles that aren't road worthy, I'm gonna grow up and someday buy a new car with warranty.  lol.  Sometimes it just pays to have peace of mind.

Unusual Youtube Videos

I love youtube, and I love funny and unusual comedy videos.  I spend a lot of my time in front of a computer in my line of work, so I have a lot of time to cruise the internet looking for interesting stuff.  In particular, funny videos.  So of course I had to share my latest find sent to me by a buddy at work.  You might like it, you might not, but if you're anything like me, you'll love it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvbO74624UU

It's called Tuesday, and it's one of the funniest and most unusual videos I've ever watched.  I need to find myself some friends like these guys, that's for sure.

Motivation

Sometimes in my life I've found myself wanting to do something but I also find a lack of motivation to do it.  There are many factors that play into motivation.   Sometimes you don't have time, sometimes you don't have the money to do what you want, sometimes you think that it just isn't attainable, other times you find that your brain puts up all sorts of mental blocks that prevent you from reaching what you really want.  So what do you do?  There's a number of things that are necessary in getting what you really want and finding that motivation. 

One major thing is realizing that sometimes you have to sacrifice things that you do everyday to rearrange your life in order to get motivated.  Whether it's cutting down how much tv you watch, how much free time you spend hanging out with friends, or "vegging out" on the couch.  We get into these routines that tell our brains that we're comfortable just doing what we've already been doing, we tell ourselves that this is what we do and it doesn't need to change.  This year I found out that that's a load of bullshit.  The only thing that's preventing us from doing what we want is us.  Getting to the point where you can really change your routine and break out of the confines of a comfortable life is tough, really tough, it's one of the hardest things that a human being can do.  But once you do it, and see that getting what you want isn't really as hard as you though, it's the most rewarding feeling you can ever experience. 

Telling yourself you don't have enough time to do something is just a lie, and we all do it, everyday, over and over again.  Sometimes we need help from a friend, sometimes it's in a book, or on a website we see online, or something you hear from someone passing you by on the street or at the gym, who knows.  Motivation is not an easy thing to obtain, but once you get it, there's no stopping you.  All it takes is a small decision to change something in your life and stop making excuses. 

A Shout out and helping Hand

I've only been blogging for a few weeks now, but a little bit of incentive for it came from my good friend Kyria Brown, she's been blogging for about 2 years and she has a lot of interesting posts.  Check out her blog here, http://kolive.blogspot.com/, enjoy.   She posted my link to her blog as well so I had to return the favor. :D

Parkade Problems

Okay, it's time for a rant.  I was heading downtown for a haircut on Friday morning around 1015am, traffice was crazy due to the fact that it was a Friday in Victoria and nobody seems to go to work, and it's almost christmas as well.  So I thought, "I'll just park in the parkade".  So I pull up to the entrance and punch the button for my parking ticket, I noticed that a truck was pulling in ahead by at least 30 seconds or so.  I pull around the entrance and surprise, he's sitting in the middle of the parkade on the ground floor, not moving.  What the hell man?!? Get moving!!! I have somewhere to be.  So he proceeded to climb 6 floors of the parkade going 3 km/hour, there's nobody in front of you, you can go a little faster, of course there aren't any spots on the first five floors, no surprise there.  FUCKING MOVE!!!! I had to phone the hairdresser and let her know what was happening, what a frustration situation, there's no way to pass this asshole, can't go another way, I have to sit here and wait for this retard to pull his head out of his ass and find a space.  Why can't people realize what they're doing? Seriously, if you can't drive then don't get on the road for christ's sake.  That is all, for now.

Sensory Overload

I've noticed something over the last few years since the internet blew up and everyone started plastering it with anything and everything they can think of.  We have way too many options when it comes to passing the time.  It used to be, at least for me back on the farm, that you'd spend your free time on a quad or dirt bike ripping down gravel roads and through ditches and fields.  The internet and cell phones were still years away so it wasn't even something that we thought about.  I think back to when the internet first came around, it was crazy.....and slow.  Dial up modems would force you to sit for 10 solid minutes while a naked picture of Gillian Anderson loaded up in front of you.  But you'd sit there and wait.....and wait.....and wait. 

Nowadays we can see full HD video online with the click of a mouse and 2 seconds of loading time.  So when it comes time to kill 30 minutes I find myself sitting with my fingers hovering over the keyboard, and I have no idea what I wanna watch or hear.  It's frustrating sometimes.  No longer are we forced to wait for anything, we can have anything we want right now! And that's the problem.  You go out with friends for a beer and most times you can look around and see half of whoever you're with with their faces buried in their smartphones watching videos, texting or tweeting.  Just remember the days when you didn't even have a cell phone..........just let that sink in for a second.

How awesome was it?  To me it was a great time in life, you actually had face to face conversations with people, no tweeting, no texting, no facetime, just actual face to face time.  What happened to us? Walk down the street and count the amount of people in 4 blocks that have earbuds in or their heads tilted down looking at their phones.  It's astounding.  And it's only getting worse.  But what can we do?

I guess the only thing we can do is make an honest effort to cut down our use of technology.  Talk to someone, strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, read a book, take a hike, go for a walk, turn off the tv, just do something different.  So often we get into a routine in life and think to ourselves, this is life, this is how it is, it can't change.  Yes it can!! All you have to do is try.

Women's equivalent of old man strength......old lady wisdom

My friend Darcy was the first to read my blog this week, she thoroughly enjoyed it which made me want to write even more.  She also had a question about one of the posts.  She read about "old man strength" and asked me, well what do women get then? 

You wanna know what women get?  Well they do get a little stronger, then you get to the grandmotherly age of around 55 to 65 and you get grandma strength, but that's a whole other post right there. 

Women get a whole lot less dramatic, A WHOLE LOT less dramatic.  Ladies you may not know this about yourself, and if you're reading this you won't agree, but you are dramatic.  REALLY REALLY dramatic.  You cry, all the time, over nothing, you blow everything out of proportion no matter how big or small it is.  Your boyfriend says something stupid and you twist it around to make him seem like an asshole.  Here's some advice, we're men, we say stupid shit, most of the time without even knowing what we said, just go with it.  It happens, everyday, we don't mean for it to sound hurtful, we're just morons.

Women get better looking, between certain ages of course.  18 to 25, hot, 25 to 33, sexy, 33 to 40, beautiful, and I'm stopping there, any further and I'm liable to get slapped. 

Women also get wiser, they drop the drama, focus on the important things in life, start to realize that all of us guys are retards, and that makes life better for us.  They also learn how to organize a lot better, a 33 year old woman will lose her keys and lip gloss a whole lot less than a 23 year old. 

Now not every woman is like this, some don't change at all, some do.  It all depends on personality, environment, friends, family etc. 

If I've missed anything, please feel free to let me know and I'll be sure to put it up.

Time for TV

Lately I've been meeting a lot of people who say they don't watch a lot of tv.  I've always wanted to be one of those people, but I've always had roommates or lived with people who enjoy tv as much as I do.  So as much as I'd like to cut down, it's really tough.  So instead, I just pick and choose what shows to watch, and most of them I just download because I hate commercials. I just wanted to share so awesome shows that I like to watch.

Dexter, great characters, great acting, it just keeps getting better and better.

How I met your mother, hilarious characters, clever and creative writing, all around good wholesome comedy.

Sons of Anarchy, show about bikers, nothing more to say, pure awesomeness.

Wilfred, crazy guy with a split personality sees his neighbors dog as a chain smoking pothead person in a dog suit, awesome!

It's always sunny in philadelphia, it's seinfeld on crack, this show makes me laugh almost everytime I watch, even if I've seen the episode 10 times, it still gets me.

Breaking bad, watch it if you haven't, you'll get hooked.  Dying teacher starts cooking crystal meth with his ex student, very worth watching. 

That's just a few, I'll blog later about other stuff, I was bored so I needed to write something.

Oh Christmas Time

Well it's christmas time again.  A time for giving, a time for family, a time for christmas carols, chocolate, over eating, drinking too much, arguing, traffic jams, long lines, angry people, heart attacks, shouting, and that all around feeling of wanting to slit your own wrists. 

I, personally, hate this time of year.  Don't get me wrong, there are parts of it I really enjoy.  Getting to see my family......in January because flights cost over double what they usually cost.  I like snow, but we don't get any out here on Vancouver Island, except on the mountain, which rocks.  This time of year has a lot of downsides though, christmas music makes me wanna punch a baby in the face, christmas drivers make we wanna shoot their tires out, and standing in line at any store makes me wanna blow the damn place up.  People always say they're going to do their xmas shopping early, but we all know that never happens.  So everyone is left scrambling at the last second, making it impossible to do anything during the day between November 15th and January 1st.  UGH!!  It makes me wanna sleep for 2 months straight and wake up after the mess is over with.  Aaaah well, it's almost over, just 20 more sleeps to go or so.

The Nightclub

I'm 29 years old, the way I look at it my clubbing days are behind me.  On this past Friday I had the luxury of joining a few friends for a few drinks at work before we hit up a nightclub.  Now there's many things that indicate that you're getting older, people call you sir, you find the occasional grey or white hair in the morning, nose hair grows all day everyday, and you get hungover everytime you drink.  This night, however, it was a different indicator of old age.  So I walk into this nightclub and take a look around, I could've swore I walked into a high school dance.  It was brutal.  These kids looked like they just walked out of Mr. Wilson's english class.  It was a very interesting place to people watch that's for sure.  It was also interesting to think that I used to look that young at one point of my life, and used to get that hammered drunk as well.  Walking into that club was a nice little reminder of what I am done with when it comes to going out for a night.  I'll stick to a nice quiet pub where I can actually carry on a conversation with someone without having to scream my face off.

Call of Nature during a meal

God dammit!! This one sprung up out of nowhere, I"m right in the middle of eating dinner at work and I gotta go to the bathroom, what would you do?  Power through the meal and make a sprint for the bathroom? Put down the fork, empty out the system and reheat your meal? Or eat on the toilet?  Let's get real here, that last one is disgusting and not an option at all.  It's always a tough call on this one.

Old Man Strength

So I've been asking around about this particular subject, and have been surprised to hear that not a lot of people know about it.  Have you ever heard of old man strength?  If you have, then this won't come as a surprise at all, but if you haven't?....well then let me tell you all about it. 

Remember back when you were a kid and your dad was the strongest person in the world? Or uncle, or grandpa, pretty much any male figure in your life.  They were always the strongest people around, stronger than any friend you had or your older brother or his friends, your dad could do anything.  And now that you think about it, he never hit the gym 5 days a week, he'd usually come home from work and chill out, or in my case, go out to the barn and do chores and ride horses for 4 hours a night or more.  One day someone told me about old man strength and now I'm going to tell you.

Old man strength is something that every man gets at a certain point in life.  It usually comes around the age of 30 to 35, in my case, I'm starting to get mine at the age of 29 and it's freakin' awesome.  Old man strength gives you the power to lift more weight in the gym, push a pretty girl's car out of the snow, carry heavy suitcases with ease and open any jar that is set in front of you.  Not to mention that, if you work out on a regular basis, it opens a whole new world of possiblity in the gym.  Old man strength is an amazing thing to look forward to when you start to get older.  Embrace it, it's one of the good parts of aging.

What do you really want?....

I've never blogged before today, I'm the type of person who comes up with random ideas that I like to share with people but don't always have the opportunity to get what's on my mind out to the masses in time.  So I thought I would give this a try and my first topic is what I really want out of a career.  Like a lot of people my age, 29, I've worked in a lot of different fields of work.  Landscaping, service industry, cooking, shoe sales, fitness, television, which is where I find myself now.  I went to college with the dream of someday becoming an actor or a tv personality reading you the news before you drift off to sleep at night.  Halfway through college I thought I had it all figured out, until one day someone told me that it would be very very difficult to get a job in front of the camera and said I should just take the easy road and get behind the scenes with a better chance at employment.  So of course, I let that person influence my decision and took the easy road, which I later found out was also the low paying, you're going to have to work two jobs and live paycheque to paycheque road.  So now after 5 years in the tv news industry I've finally decided to go another route.  I'm starting acting classes soon and heading down to california next fall.  Why? Because deep down it's what I really want to do, don't get me wrong, I have a good paying, secure job with benefits and the whole nine yards.  It's a good living, but it's not what I really want to be doing with my life.  I feel like a cog in the machine here. 

So it begs the question, when in life do you make a decision to throw away the secure and safe and take a risk and pursue what you really want?  It's not an easy question to answer.