busticated

nice lunch today with issy - i will say this however, when at brown's social house, stick to the burgers, everything else, so far, is really mediocre...so there. that's that...great to see issy as usual. but my plans after lunch were all a bust - no soil at the joint i usually get it from, the wood i needed to get cut in half is too big for the saw at oscar grann....bummer, pam and tobe weren't at propellor so i could discuss my new bed frame they're gonna help me make...so i have decided to report back home, do some cleaning and later on go to the gym and sweat it out.
good times. sometimes you just have to give in.

g. xo

by nature.

i am, by nature, pretty lazy. i try not to be. and i do get shit done but on days like these - rain and such, it sure makes it hard to get outside. or even think about getting off the couch or stop puttering at home and procrastinating.
yesterday i stayed home almost all day - save for a walk to the drug store to get some drugs for my head. i felt like shit yesterday - whenever the weather changes i get these terrible pressure headaches and get very dizzy and just plain feel crappy. cam came by to give me a plant for my big yellow pot and a few times while he was here i thought i was gonna fall over....after he left i thought i was gonna hurl from the feeling. once i get some sinus medicine in me i'm generally ok but yesterday it lasted long into the night...i feel a little better today, the weather changed again so...less headache.
no lawns today. but i was suppose to cut tomorrow but we'll have to see how that goes - i believe it's suppose to be crappy most of the week...
i am going to go out to tsawwassen today to have lunch with issy and also pick up some soil at a nursery near her place. i need a few bags to top up the garden and they're having a sale there so a little lunch and then some food for my garden as well. kinda.
tomorrow morning i'm heading to the plant auction with miss marcy and grabbing tomatoes and flowering plants to make it all just so out there on my deck...i think ailsa and fiona are going to come by on the weekend and help plant everything.
ok...have fun in the rain.

g. xo

bombers. champions.

thursday night the bombers captured their first regular season championship. yup, after winning the spring/summer league last year, the bombers are the top of the heap for 2012 winter league. pretty good.

proud to be a bomber.

g. xo

beware...topless photos below.

burger search...donut downer.

today was long lawn day. my pal jessica, daughter of topanga cafe tom and new mom of twins, needed an emergency cut and i was shocked when i saw the length of it but...i was game. (she's like family, if it was someone else calling, someone i didn't know, i would have passed on it...)

it was a go i'll tell you. i could only cut so much since once you got down a little it was super wet and clogged the mower. but, in the end, it looked pretty good. lawn order to the rescue. i still haven't seen the twins...

i needed a little lunch after that so i called the garbs and asked him if he wanted to try max's burgers over on eighth ave near whole paycheque. ever since refuel closed we've been burger starved and max's is our first burger together since then. we need to find another go to when we want a burger...vera's is bullshit (usually) has no margs...so...we have a few choices but have to work through it until we find the next burger joint we can call out own. and after visiting max's today i'm here to tell you, max's is not it. not by a longshot. crappy bun, poor toppings, tasteless 'special sauce'. thumbs down. oh, and the fries are limp. take the garbs' word on this - pass. next up pourhouse in gastown.

 

we then tried to bring our spirits back up we decided try the new donut place at hastings and carrall. the garbs had heard it was pretty good...um, maybe not so much. and really, a three dollar donut? when the garbs asked why it was three bucks he was told it was because they used organic ingredients, made them by hand, etc....so does ethical bean and they charge half the price. so what's the deal? we almost headed to la taqueria just to get something in us we liked so we could forget the food we had had in the last hour...we didn't, but we should have.
tonight i'm gonna bbq some chicken and make a nice salad action so that should make up for the junk i ate today...

have fun...

g. xo

and working hard gets you.....

answer is: fuckall.
(caution short rant coming....)
it is this time every year, duh tax time, that i wonder what it's really all about. and i know i am not the only one. next to having to work for and with people you don't like, even hate, taxes are the next sure thing on the list. and really, it's not the taxes exactly, but the manner in which it all happens and the shitty explanations as to why this and why that and...it just fucking sucks. i sometimes think i was happier and without care when i made much less. life was simpler. not working as a corporation in the film biz, working twelve hours a day, etc...i often think of moving to a small town and working in a home hardware store and just being. seriously. i never will but i do think of it. often. and it also this time of year, that my thoughts drift to how much i hate vancouver and what it has become - and i'm allowed, i was born here, i've seen it change. it's not friendly, it's not nice, it's not sunny but for a couple months of the year, it's congested, it cares not about preserving it's past but would rather tear it all down and build something that looks exactly like the build right next to it.
and heaven to betsy if you want to try and get ahead and perhaps own a home, i was lucky and was able to get in early in my life but if i had to start now it would be impossible. i will have a mortgage for ever. i will have to work until i drop.
i was thinking when i was in new york that people come from all over the united states to live in new york. they dream of it. they pay thousands of dollars a month to live there, often with room mates, just to be in the city. to be a part of it. but when does the bloom come off the rose? a cheap place in new york now is 3000 a month. so 36k a year just for rent. nice. when does the light go off that this is ridiculous? that kansas may be ok. that living on the sunshine coast my be a-ok. working for the city there. i'm no hippie but this treadmill is bullshit.
and i'm not alone in thinking this way. it just hits me more this time of year and the weather doesn't help. and i have thought of selling and moving to another place because of the noise downstairs but would lose in the neighbourhood of 45k doing so, so that won't be happening.
i guess it just is. there are always options i suppose but sadly my work network is here, and not sadly, my love is here and all my amazing friends and of course, without saying, issy is here and floyd is an hour away. i need to figure something out. i have entertained the idea of becoming a bus driver. seriously. pension, decent salary, six weeks vacation, etc...noble occupation. i was also speaking with someone who knows what's what about other jobs within the film biz and will look at them seriously as well.
my needs are not huge. the day to day. if i was to move to a small town. a couple decent places to eat, a hockey team to play on, a job and high speed internet.
it just seems that we all have to work so hard just to stay in the city so we can what? be close to canucks games? eat at the same restaurants over and over even though there are a thousand? drive too far to go to work? live in one of the worst drug infested cites in north america? i guess so.
ok...
have a great wed. night.

g. xo

home just in time...

...for the president's cup parade. anyone know the route?

g. xo

fat guys and tree leaves

i had to transfer today and saw that i had a middle seat on the second flight, so i had to get that fixed. i'm an aisle guy. i need that. i shift around and hate bothering people if i have to go to the bathroom and...i need the aisle. so i got it. and was happy and even happier when she told me there was no one sitting next to me giving me a little extra room to spread out.
then, just as the doors were about to close and the guy next to me one seat over and i were going to have a little room between us, he came down the aisle. the fat old guy. and as he got closer i knew it was all over, and it was. i got up and he mad ehis move for the middle seat and in the process put the middle arm rest up because with it down he wouldn't have fit between the seats - or at least it would have been tight. so there i was with a guy who not only was wide enough to be pushing against me - in fact partially on my seat - but who also crossed his arms a lot so his elbows were in me and let his legs fall to the sides so his leg was in my area too...so great. i know, i know, i should have said something but with my luck being pretty good the last few days it was bound to happen. we were in the very last row so i just spend the better part of the flight standing and sometimes sitting in the back area near the bathrooms either reading or watching a movie on my phone...i did sit next to him for little bits here and there but all his shifting made me wanna knock him out so i just got up and did my own thing.
i made it home without starting anything and i see that as a win. so...
and when i got home my japanese maple has gone bananas. when i left it had some shoots but now it's in full bloom. nice. as are my japanese willows. next week a trip to the flower auction with miss marcy to get this garden started again. oh, and more mary jane this year as well....

g. xo

good bye washington. hello milwaukee!

i can have problems sleeping. it's true. and while not really the princess and the pea, i do have trouble with new surroundings and beds in hotels and can lay awake for hours sometimes. yesterday i went from the Y in NYC to Oh My in washington dc at the doubletree in....a hilton number of sorts. pretty good. but around 1:30 am i started hearing this odd low rumbling sound. over and over. and in time. like a low steam engine a few doors away.
snoring. i could hear, or more like feel, a person snoring next door. and it was wierd because i couldn't really hear it was almost like sensing it. but it was there and it would go for 10 or 15 minutes. then stop. then start again. and maybe the reason my room, that would have been a $250.00 room in new york, was $88.00 in washington. i did get it on hotwire so that helped but the fact that i had a view of the freeway - which i couldn't hear - and knew when others had come to the floor by the chiming of the elevator announcing their arrival...maybe that's why it was cheap. all in all it was a very nice hotel and the staff were awesome.
the airport was fucked. the ronald reagan airport. too many people, for too many flights first thing in the morning, all trying to get through security via one section of the airport. it's a small airport and they were having some pipeline issues today and we were all just getting to our gates just as the planes were boarding. one TSA agent had to ask her co-worker, after i had handed my ID to her, if my ID was for canada or mexico. seriously. these people are keeping you safe when you fly in the USA.
good times.
i'm now cooling my heels in milwaukee before i fly out to seattle in an hour or so.
see you all soon. have fun today.

g. xo

and congrats to the bombers who won their playoff game the other night and that will allow me to play one more playoff game thursday night. nice.

welcome to washington, d.c....today rain and construction. enjoy.

sometimes things start to go south for no good reason, or just because and it's no one's fault. could be a turn in the weather - that happened today. could be weird sunday only construction on the subway that you need to take to get to your hotel - that happened today. could have a baseball game you have tickets to rained out - that also happened today. and so it was. by the time i got to the hotel here in washington, d.c. i was already (well nearly) spent. up early from last night's wedding action. a three hour train ride - i do like the train though. but walking in the rain for many blocks after having to get off the subway, take a bus to the next stop, then getting poor instructions to the new stop once on the subway, etc...i was looking for a way to salvage the day and not just stay in the hotel room - which is very nice i have to say...double tree inn by hilton. fancy. cheap. hotwire.com doncha know.
as i was walking to the hotel i saw a couple women in washington capitals jerseys and asked them if the caps were playing today, and yes they were, at 3 pm. hhmmm. maybe i should try and see if i could score a cheap ticket. is hockey a big draw here? i don't know. well i know now.

i took the subway over to the verizon centre where the capitals were going to be playing the boston bruins and started looking around for tickets. they had some for sale at the ticket booth, the cheapest being $125.00 and the rest around $200.00 and some much more. way more. i looked and talked to the scalpers outside and they were no better, in fact, naturally, worse.

i had a talk with the ticket booth woman and she said to wait and maybe they would release some better tickets because the $125.00 were way up and maybe some $150.00's would come up or....and then, as i waited for her sign that some new tickets had been released, a woman came up to me and asked me if i was looking for a single ticket. well yes i am. she them handed me a ticket and when i asked her how much she wanted for it she told me she wanted nothing for it. that a friend of hers couldn't make the game and wanted her to give it away. i asked her if we'd be siting together and she said not that she was not and that i wasn't to sell the ticket or cheer for the bruins. i told her yes to both and thanked her and told her that she had really done something nice and that she had saved my day in washington.

so great. three rows from the ice in the corner with the camera guys in front of me but of no bother at all...could see into all the corners, everything. great seat.
and are they, washington, into hockey. in a word, yes. very much so. but in a very aggressive american kind of a way. guys running down from rows up to pound the glass and yell at the refs. lots of well rehearsed chants and cheers. when the announcer says what time a boston goal was scored, in unison, the crowd yells, "who cares". when tim thomas had a goal scored against him they'd yell, again in unison, "that's all your fault, yes, all your fault!". and more.

it was a great time. went to overtime, boston won in the end. sad fans all around me. and then home to the hotel on the subway.
i'm really tired and will sack out soon as i have to be up mega-early to get my flight to seattle...good times.

i'm ready for my own bed.

g. xo

yesterday was a big day in the big apple - as much as i feel awkward using the term big apple while here i'm saying it now. ailsa and i had a little time alone yesterday morning to walk around and get some coffee and see what was what before she had to go and get ready for the wedding action, so that was nice...new york agrees with garvie, she really likes it and talks often of coming back - she's been many times before and likes what it has to offer. i like what it has to offer as well but it somewhat smaller does than most it seems...

but what i needed and wanted yesterday in a bigger dose was some tacos and gavin had recommended a taqueria in the back of a store on tenth ave near 47th so after ailsa and i parted i hoofed it down to 47th and made my way to the back of the store where the women were serving all manner of mexican goodness out of a small window.
i was not disappointed. if i lived anywhere in that 'hood i'd be on a first name basis with those women and my spanish would improve greatly - i got to use a little of my spanish there and it felt good. three tacos and a large mexican coke later and i was good to go. and go i did. i walked a little more, bought some sneakers and then went back to the Y for a little relax before putting on my 'sunday go to meeting' clothes and to ailsa's hotel to get the car to the wedding.

 everyone was all done up and looked great - ailsa in a beautiful dress she picked up in vancouver, dorothy in a lovely long purple number, fiona in a wonderful flower girl dress with sash and tom dapper in a striking blue suit. i looked like a guy wearing a vintage suit someone could very well have died in but it was all good....i think. i actually looked in the mirror at one point in the bathroom at the wedding and thought, 'i don't look like a complete idiot...'

 

and so it was. gavin marrying michelle in a bookstore in soho. it was awesome. it's kind of hard to imagine until you get there and see the space and see it with all the people and the all the trimmings. i have not been to a lot of weddings in my lifetime but would have to say it was probably one of the best i have ever been to...and after dinner and little dancing, at around 9:30 pm a waffle truck showed-up and the world was your oyster. so maybe it was the best wedding i have ever been to.

the rain had been predicted all week to be falling as they were suppose to be doing their photos and, as luck would have it, held off until we were all heading home in cabs fat and happy from a great dinner and waffles afterwards. a great start to a brand new chapter in their lives.

i want to thank the brown's and michelle's family - whose last name i have forgotten here and now as i speed down the amtrak line towards washington, d.c., for inviting me to attend the wedding and allowing me to be part of the whole week in nyc and witness the fervor that is wedding planning and production. it was a great few days - a little baseball, a little museum, some great food, walking, wedding, waffles...nice.
i'm on my way to the washington nationals game, which i'm hoping is not rained out and will head back to seattle tomorrow morning.

have fun today!

g. xo