Wednesday, February 28, 2007

adding and subtracting at issy's.



today mishi and i headed out to issy's to drop off some boxes of stuff she needed to store. and while we were there i went through a few of my boxes and threw away a bunch of stuff. i've been into purging lately so i thought getting rid of a bunch of stuff there would be good. when we left there-after a visit with issy and some coffee and cookies-it looked better downstairs tah it did before we showed-up. i like getting rid a crap. issy also checked mishi's blood pressure while we were there, why? i dunno, but issy says mishi has gthe blood pressure of a 17 year old. then if ws off tot he dump to get rid of the crap from the basement. it mainly went top recycling but some was dumpworthy. mishi had fun throwing stuff outta the elephant onto the transfer station ground.
then-off to bosa for a sandwich. of course. we dropped by BOC and then headed to my bonecracker in north van. man, i need that shit but it hurts sometimes. i exchanged my cushions in the bombast chair today as well- i wanted a firmer cushion and they-he (russell) was happy to do it. the chair feels so much better now. it's fat-guyized now.
corie and i have hockey tonight at 11:15 pm..which sucks. and then 7:45 pm tomorrow and two games on the weekend. you'd think i'd be getting in better shape with all the hockey and gym work...but i feel worse now thatn i did a few months ago. just old i guess.

ok...off to hockey.

xoxo

g.

mishi at the dump.


Tuesday, February 27, 2007

often is a word i hardly use.


tonight was a meeting of the minds at topanga. ok. well, not exactly a meeting of the minds but a meeting/gathering of the BOC contingent. since we don't have a show right now we're not all hanging out every day so i thought i'd organize a little dinner with all of us-well, not everyone showed up....eric forgot, andy was a no-show as were dar and mike. but it was still a good time and the kids at topanga were excellent as usual...i thought it was good that i have walked there a few times lately from gastown but joel did me one better today walking over from west van to topanga. and then he had the burrito/chili relleno full dinner....but bailed on going full el presidente. it was good. nothing really to report except to say it was good to see all the boys in one place.

i'm tired....

too much topanga.

g. xo

our man al.



more al.



corie and our man al.



dan and paul.



joel enjoys the cake.

the end is near...or here...

bertuzzi to the red wings????? well, my love affair with the wings just may be over. i've really got to get my head around this. i hate that guy.

g.

Monday, February 26, 2007

well officer, i ain't gonna lie....



(alot of this is mumbled and jumbled...it's late and i'm tired...so...read with that in mind...)

for years i smuggled stuff across the border. and for years i got away with it. i lied. and lied a lot. and only a couple of times got caught, and even then only got slaps on the wrist. so now, i say exactly what i have and the last two times, and i had some bounty, nothing. nada. no duty. just, "good night, see ya...hit the road.." so what's the point? fine with me....and it helps me out. actually tonight it helped out mishi and garbs as they had some all new glitter vinyl with them as well and some other crap. i had a bottle of booze corie had wanted and they didn't even ask if i had any booze....
this morning we all headed down to seattle to go and buy some vinyl we had been looking for that the garbs had found online-some colors have been hard to come by and he found some in two different locations, so off we went. after which no trip to seattle would be complete without a trip to momma's mexican kitchen. the garbs had the carne asada elvis burrito while mishi and i opted for the nolasco-me chicken, mishi veggie... i like that place.
we also dropped by easy street records, urban outfitters, and all the regular haunts-plus a trip to the trader joe's for some crap we just can't get here. like them peanut butter filled pretzels..man, them things is good...three bags good. they have some great stuff there for cheap...mishi bought a couple new chairs at area 51 which are pretty cool bungee seat chairs...hard to explain-check the photos...on the way outta town i mentioned that i had a hankering for a dick's burger and the garbs loves the burgers so off we went to the dick's over on 45th near libby's place..then afterwards it was over to libby's to see if she was home. sure eniugh she was. we had a nice visit with her and her pooch, looked at some cool samples of fabris she has, showed her the stuf we had bought and then hit the road once again...that girl is so great! i may get her to recover my old red chair...she does very cool recovering upholstry work. she's doen work for peter buck, eddie vedder and lucinda williams...so i'll fit right in with my chair...or not.
ok,...i'm tired...check the photos...check the cool new vinyl colors...

g. xo

lots of pics in no order at all...

mishi and libby check out swatches.



the new bungee chair.



new glitter for the kids.



cool tower near trader joe's.



garbs has had enough of urban outfitters. off to dick's we go.



done like dinner.



the elvis burrito.



libby and me.



libby's cool ride.



this backhoe fell off the flatdeck (when he had to stop very quickly) and onto the car beside it stopping the car dead. the guy driving the car was/is a cop. another second either way and he was a goner.





more of the bungee chair.



the food sure is cheap for what ya get.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

muc, buunt, garbis, larry and me

i had some grand plans for today. actually i didn't. i needed to cut some wood-i didn't. i needed to get some groceries. i didn't. i wanted to pack-up some shit i sold on ebay. did that. i wanted to give some shit to larry-mishi's fat alcoholic former shop landlord. did that. sort of. garbs and i actually did that together. larry, without getting into all the details, basically overcharged mishi and her former partners on rent for the last 12 years to what amounts to approx. 60K-70K. no shit. not a made-up story for fun. he's an asshole and karma's gonna be a bitch. to be sure.
ok...enough of that.so i had plans and then muc called and asked if i wanted to go to the giants hockey game...um, sure...so after i packed-up at a few items at BOC i headed over and grabbed muc and headed over to buunt's to get him and go to the game. paul clarke ahd given him some tickets so it was a free-for-all...nice. the game was a bit of a blow-out but it's always great to hang with the belke boys.
off the seattle tomorrow to grab some more fabric for more garbis industries bags. we may have found a place that has it much cheaper than the stuf i bought in portland and closer. we'll see. i may drop by boeing surplus as well...never a dull minute there.

ok..bed soon.

have fun.

g. xo

the belke boys enjoy the giants.



oh laureen, oh larry, oh you stinkin' drunk.



there's a guy i know. a lot of us know. he's a dick. and i know this may not be the place to say anything but, this guy, larry, is a fuckin' asshole. he is a waste of skin. he is a terrible human being. larry is leaving us-sort of, so now is the time to say all the things to larry that have needed to be said. i'm gonna hold off a little-kinda late now i guess but, i will keep it to myself for a minute or two more. some others though may be telling him, right now maybe.
it is amazing how someone, with the help of someone else, can take advantage of people they say they like. steal thousands and thousands from them with a big old smile on their face. another dick in the equation is a dude named mark. not a mark you know. a mark i know. a mark i'll be giving a talking to. sorry to be so cryptic but now is not the time. very close though. soon the pound of flesh will be extracted.
and a happier note... it's sunday. time to get some groceries, go see the garbs, have a coffee, maybe go to the gym...
yesterday-sorry i forgot about this-was the unveiling of the IE Creative Ocean Commotion ball machine thingy. it's one of them machines where the balls get moved around by a series of conveyors and chains and pulleys and go from top to bottom and run through rails and slides-one of them things. super cool. it took them 3000 hours to build over a time of three years. it was commissoned by Ocean Cement. it's not right outside the plant on granville island. last night they had a party to celebrate the completion of the project. i'm not a party guy so i went by for a minute or so, said hello, and then headed home to fall asleep on the couch. i had played hockey earlier-where corie and i connected on a nice goal-and then a big dinner at topanga with penelope and corie, so i was done.

ok...errand time.

g. xo

the ie creative ball machine thingy. good work kids.




the queen's daughter, cassidy, gets ready to go rock out friday night.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

happy birthday jill



29 nine years ago today, jill - the queen of caffeine was born. and thank god for that. so many times on set as we've been fading fast and needing something to keep going, jill would come to the rescue. and still does. smoothies, coffee and always a smile. i like sitting on her truck bothering her as she makes her drinks...

so happy birthday jill....

garn xo

Friday, February 23, 2007

zack and i have coffee and more good shit...



here are a few pics from my coffee action today up at jj bean on main street-where i ran into the kids from the jj bean on granville island...they just can't get away from it.
my friend sindi brought her little bambino along-zack. he seems like a good kid-not too fussy. i even held the little guy. then, while i was holding him he reached out and grabbed my coffee cup and pulled it over the edge and spilled what was left of my coffee on me...it was ok..he's a kid. it's not like i had to be anywhere important or anything. it was good to see her, i haven't for a long long time...

aftermath of the coffee spill.



me and the zackmaster.



sindi and zack.



zack.



and this my friends is the new best soda in town. i bought it at bosa but i'm sure you can get it around. it's like the orange flavor of san pellegrino-aranciata but it has a little something extra in it that i can't figure out. it's nice. get it in ya!



ok. i'm off to the gym.

g. xo

coulda been...



i really blogged it up yesterday...really left nothing for today. i was up very early today, ate some breakfast-coffee, waffles, bacon, etc..watched some things i recorded on the old pvr and then..went back to bed. now i feel all wonky and crappy. whatever. and i'm going to go meet a friend of mine for coffee at 1 pm so i've gotta get my shitola together...i have not seen this particular friend in years. so many years she is now married-which i didn't know, and has a kid-maybe two-more things i didn't know. i believe she works in my neighbourhood at the safe injection site...but i'm not sure of this. i really don't know too much about nothin' today.

also, as it turns out, i'm helping the queen fix her front door tonight and hook-up her new computer box thing. i 'm not a pc guy so it should be fairly entertaining. as long as i get noodles i'm in.

ok.

go time.

g. xo

Thursday, February 22, 2007

cool shit.....man.

ok..so i don't tell you much. i really don't-or maybe i do. but here's some cool shit coming down the pipe. none of which you need at all.

still fuckin' cool.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/configure.asp?sid=FLEX-4.2



http://www.macscoop.com/articles/2007/02/21/tons-of-mac-hardware-releases-for-q2-black-imac-on-the-way



http://nonobjectbook.com/CUin5/

unclear perspective

since i turned 40, almost three years ago, i have been thinking about direction-or lack of it-or unclear and undefined goals. i have none really. sure, i have a few RRSP's, but not much. not enough to make any sort of difference. i have some savings. not much, certainly not enough. i have an apertment i almost own-but still owe enough on that it pains me and the fact that i should have been more forceful with my money and payed as much as i could, when i could on it, instead i still owe on it when i could have onwed it outright a year or more ago. so be it. but the future has always been something i have looked towards and thought about without any real thoughts of now. what i'm doing now. so fucking hippy but, it's true. lately i have been thinking more about what i want to do vs. what i have to do. i know it's wrong on one hand not to have a clearer idea of my future but, what about now. my father once told me that i had to make hay while the sun was shining-he later-years later-told me he felt badly for that. that he, himself, wished he had taken more time for himself and the family and traveled more, had more time off instead of working all the time. that he felt badly for instilling that work ethic in me. a good work ethic is a great thing to have, and i have it, but i think i have maybe just a little too much sometimes. corie called me a hummingbird once, that i need to be busy to be happy. or at least content. maybe that's true.
i do know that i need certain things to be 'happy'-whatevr that really is. i need to be doing something. yup, that's the truth. i need to have movement of some sort. i can not sit on a beach and watch the world go by-i have tried but it's not my deal- i like driving for that reason. i need to help out. i need to give more than i take-not because i want some sort of recognition that i did so, just because.
ok..so that's not what i had started out to tell you-but i did. so sue me.
when i was born my father was 25 years old, i think if i've do my math correctly. as was my mom. but for this exercise i'm using my dad as the ruler. yardstick. whatever. when my father was 42, i was then 17-give or take. this baffles me. i could never imagine myself with a 17 year old kid. freaks me out. makes absolutely no sense. which brings me to my point, finally...what the hell happened to me? to many people i am surrounded by? what happened to us? or is this just another example of our generation being so much different from our parents. our parents, most of them, had one career, one house, one spouse-sometimes that didn't always work out...my father, when i was 17, had a house, a wife, a career, two cars, RRSP's that amounted to something, a retirement plan, etc. all the eggs in the basket, my eggs are scattered all over hell's half acre. at best.
i dress like a 15 year old. collect toys. still think of new tattoos to get. drive around looking for the perfect burrito-and will continue to do so, haven't and will probably never find 'the one', and just kinda live life like there may very well be no tomorrow-but without all the drugs and alcohol. i live in a box, the biggest box i will probably ever own.
my father's/my parent's life doesn't mirror mine even in the slightest of ways. should it? do i need to grow-up? or is this the way it is suppose to be? i do know that since tom's death i have been living life a little differently, at least to me-maybe just in my head. i have a greater understanding of what i need. and that it could all come crumbling down tomorrow and the fact that i bought that white kaws chum last week means i had it at least once before i died. sure, it's a material good but one i wanted. i sat in santa cruz wondering, last year, if i should pull the trigger on a bigger toy deal and ultimately i did it. why? because i wanted it but also because at the time mishi's mom was dying, santa cruz made me think of tom and how fucking short the time really is. now, i'm not talking about my imminent death or anything of the sort but i am going about certain things differently now in regards to work and play.
i want to do some letterpress work. i want to cut grass. i want to make bags with the garbs. i want certain material goods. i want to eat dinners with my pals. i don't want to work. i will work. and i'll work hard. but i'm only working hard to do the rest.
do i care about the future. sure, and it scares me. i will have to work until i drop. will be holed-up in a small place near a main roadway and a corner store. but that's ok. it'll also be close to a place i can get a great burrito.
i've been lucky. yup, i said it out loud-kind of. a mother and fatherwho, after everything-drugs, booze, getting kicke out of school over and over, etc-still love me. friends who are second to none and more coming on board all the time. it could be worse. don't get me wrong though-life is shit, i'm just trying to wade through it as best i can.
so what about the differences between me and floyd? i guess that's the way it is. in the end i can't change too much now. my uncle is retiring in june and at lunch with him the other day he and floyd talked about retirement and how it should be and how it really is. i'm not sure i'd be very good at it. i think i the end i'll be a handyman of some sort, cutting grass, fixing sinks and stoves and getting paid in casserols and six packs of stella.

could be worse.

g. xo

doesn't her husband hate me?



my space is so wacky....well, not really but it can be strange. i used to just add anyone who asked to be my internet pal but now i am much more careful who i add-because frankly, most of the people who ask or bands that ask-are dicks. ok, they're not dicks but they have no idea who i am, they're either collectors of myspace pals or bands who want to promote their shitty album. and most of them are shit. the other day local-sort of, folk-rocker holly mcnarland was on my 'adds' list. really? holly. i'm pretty sure her husband-unless she dumped him-jay, hates me-if he remembers me at all. he and i had a few music discussions long ago that ended with him thinking i was a dick-and vice versa...he was working for muchmusic at the time and pretty fuckin' cool. anyhow...where the fuck is he now? maybe he's rich and famous and i just don't know it...suffice to say i ain't adding her to my friends list. even thiough she is so rad! i'm sure she's very nice but she ain't making it to my ipod and she ain't makin' it to my pals list.



and the new nikon digital camera is a beaut! i don't need it, but man, i want it...i'll buy it when it's a year old and cheap.

ok..i have to drive to surrey/north delta now.

g. xo

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

spike rocks it topanga style...



renee (spike) has been in town for a few days and tonight was the first night i was able-due to her work schedule while here, to see her. i thought it would be nice for her to see people she knows as well at the same time-kill a few birds at the same time...she hasn't seen corie in a long time and mishi in, well, a few weeks when mishi was down visiting her in tucson, but i knew she's like to see mishi. she met mishi at the pickle earlier where she also met the garbs for the first time. i picked 'em up and we met the companion and corie at topanga.
we ate like champs. spike had not been there in at least three years. it doesn't seem that long since she lived her but i guess it's true....so nice to see her and have a chance to have dinner with her.
afterwards we drove her home and then mishi, garbs and i went to the home depot as i wanted/needed to buy a laser level to put up the hilton paintings. mishi couldn't find what she was looking for so it was a bust for her...then it was off to the manhattan building and some games of galaga (sp?)...that's a good time...if i had that game in my house i'd never leave home...
now..sleep...

g. xo

spike...



gettin' 'er done in the kitchen...



this couple had matching jackets and couldn't stop checking thier phones...



mishi gives 'er on galaga...



mishi fuels up for galaga later on...



nic and kirsten followed us to topanga-again...




the garbs...



blurry spike and mishi...



blurry corie and companion...



the garbs can say so much with just a gentle gesture...



the garbs makes it clear he wants some more cake...