Hey kids, uncle Monkey Boy is in the hizzouse again. I'm at work, waiting for Kevin (my supervisor) to get out of his meeting and for people to return my phone calls. I've wanted to talk to you for a while but never devoted the time to do so. I'm sorry if that makes you feel unwanted. You should probably get more of a life and stop crying.
I had a great week off last week. Vacation rules. We started off the week in an awesome way - at a cottage! Our good friend, Kari, invited us to spend the weekend in the Muskokas. It was her birthday the day before (HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN!) so there was cake and cupcakes. Mmmmmm. To balance out the junk food we were eating (which was suprisingly minimal), I started out the weekend with a 9km run on Saturday. I didn't know how far the run was until Sunday when Steve-o and I drove into Port Carling. Not bad for a guy who NEVER runs, though I do exercise some of the time. Oh yeah, the weekend... We hung out, played some boardgames, finished reading 'Rumours Of Another World' by Philip Yancey (killer book), started reading the new Cottage Life magazine, went on a boat tour of Lake Joseph (the homes on that lake - I refuse to call them cottages - were absurd and angering) and went water-skiing. That was a blast. It's only my second time skiing and I managed to drop a ski - ON PURPOSE! Of course, I didn't stay up long (i.e., more than five seconds) on one ski. It's hard to find balance again. A great time was had by all - all being Kari, Melanie, Taxman, Beth, Karen, Steve-o and I. Oh, and I'm sure Kari's parents had an excellent time too.
When we came home on Monday, we went to Melanie's parents' house because her brother, Mike, was down from Toronto for his birthday. Chatted a bit, gave him some small gifts and then proceeded to East Side Mario's for Brad Archibald's birthday party. Brad is Shannon's husband. Shannon is one of Melanie's best friends. Brad is really funny. His brother, Steve, is a pilot for the private airline that flies U2 while in North America. He is the pilot for Adam and Larry. I kid you not. Mike just about crapped himself when he thought two of his passions (flying and U2) could come together in one event. Bill will undoubtedly be jealous. The food was good, the company was fun, we went home exhausted.
On Tuesday, I went out with Whitney. I figured, if she is in the province, I might as well spend some time with her. We went to the mall, during which time the sky unleashed the most incredible thunderstorm I had seen in several years. It was much needed to break the heat we had been enduring. After running through the downpour to get to the car, we went to a local Middle Eastern/Columbian restaurant for lunch - delish! Melanie and I went there the following day too and it was excellent again. A falafel for $1.99? You better believe it! On Wednesday, I sat around most of the day while Melanie worked (as she had on Tuesday) and then got to see Whitney (with Melanie and Mike) and Lindsay Kunkel that night. We watched Napoleon Dynamite late into the night. That's number six, folks!
I don't remember what we did on Thursday. I know I played baseball that night (we won but I played like junk). Friday had Taxman and Chad and I at the gym. Melanie and I then experienced the warm hospitality of Mike Slack, his fiancee Andria, and the Wolfes (Mark & Lisa). Mike got stung by a hornet on his head. He made killer ribs. We laughed a lot. Those folks are good for that, which is part of the reason we like hanging out with them. One of the other reasons is that they smell good.
On Saturday, Taxman, Darryl Timko and I set out at 9 A.M. for the Warped Tour at Molson Park in Barrie (now called Park Place since Molson shut down their plan there). We were excited. Darryl and I were finally going to get to see Mae while Taxman wanted to see The Starting Line, My Chemical Romance, Matchbook Romance and Fallout Boy. We left freaking early because the gates opened at 11 A.M. and, from my recollection, bands were supposed to start at noon. Well, traffic was wretched so we didn't get to the park until 12:30 or so. As it turns out, bands started at 11:10. Who was on first? Mae. That's right, we got screwed. We got to talk to Dave (singer/guitar) later in the day and he said the band was supposed to play one of the side stages but was informed 40 minutes before the gates opened that they were going on first on the main stage. Dammit! We were totally bummed. We'll have to wait until the fall to see them, when they are supposed to do a headlining tour. We did get to watch Thrice (very impressive), Matchbook Romance, The Starting Line, Fallout Boy, MxPx and most of Emery. TSL and FOB were good - except that they appeared to be stupid. Let me expound on that...
Why do bands think it is cool to swear? Or insult their fans/audience? When you call the people watching you 'motherfuckers', it's not a compliment. Nor is it intelligent. Sticking your middle finger up is not shocking anymore. It's dumb behaviour like this that turn me off a lot of bands. I don't know why kids still scream and get excited when bands say cusswords.
On Sunday, I went to church, where I talked to a few friends (Sue & Len, Ben, Rod & Patti, Andy & Diane, Mike Slack) and found myself sitting beside some old friends, Josh & Bethany Vanarnhem (Bethany is a Mullin). We gabbed and gabbed and gabbed, mostly about Stoney Creek Alliance, our old church. I left several years ago, they just left a month ago. That place is so unhealthy. It's incredibly sad and upsetting. I got to chat in the afternoon with Christina Vandermark (Mike's sister) who was in the Creek before she and her mom went to Holland for two weeks (lucky!). Mike and I went to see the movie Millions, which was super-great and then we watched the first half Return Of The King. I highly recommend both of them.
Monday, Melanie and I decided to spend some time together for the first time in quite a while. We drove out to Cambridge, where we visited the Southworks Outlet Mall, which houses an antique market too. We ate at the Black Badger because the other two restaurants we were going to eat at were closed. The food was ok (the wings were excellent) but the service was poor. We were both incredibly tired when we got home so we watched one episode of C.S.I. and then started a second before we conked out. I was in bed by 9:30. I felt great the next morning, very rested.
Yesterday, I was back to work for the first time in 10 days. Back to the drudgery of people not calling back and colleagues not doing as much work as us. Excellent! In the evening, we went on a mini-shopping spree at Shopper's Drug Mart. I had collected enough Optimum points for $75 free!! As it will shock none of you, we spent $30 on pop. That amounted to nine cases. Mmmm, cold, delicious pop. Yes, most of it was diet pop. Hahahaha. We closed the night out by watching two episodes of Dog The Bounty Hunter. I love that show so much. It's on tonight again - woo hoo!
Back to work today, only I've got little work to do right now. My job is so much easier and quick when people call back. Unfortunately for their reputations, it's professionals who aren't calling back. Why don't they? This is part of their job! I don't pretend to understand. It's almost noon and my stomach is starting to devour itself. I hope I have some work to do this afternoon. I hope you are well and not bored. Or, at least, bored away from work. That's a good kind of bored. That'll give you time to visit the links I've included. See ya real soon!