Runaway Future

Walking to work today, in the flurries, seemed serene. I like this weather, not freezing but cool and crisp enough.

Having difficulty getting things done off my to do list, as normal working day stuff keeps popping up. Hopefully today, my phone doesn’t ring and I can just get things finished.

I’m booking the hotel for Moncton today too.

I have so many things that I plan on doing today, so hopefully this all works out to be a productive day.

Last night at curling, I completely felt out of it for the first game. I was tired and my body didn’t feel attached. It was weird. But I curled well, although we lost. The second game was better, had some caffeine and some food. And we won. Yay.
Curling again on Thursday.

Deco Cafe, underneath Deco Restaurant at the base of our building just reopened. Before, Deco Cafe had soups and sandwiches and salads and like coffee and tea and so on. Seems standard fare, but the soups were amazing and it was a really nice feel to it. They’ve since closed and renovated and now have a new decor as they focus on ribs and chicken. I had a pulled pork sandwich from there yesterday and it was pretty bad. Also the prices of things, like tea have gone up. Seriously, who raises the price of tea?
Anyway, it looks like they’ve lost my business, and judging from comments around the water cooler, I’m not the only one. Why mess with a good thing? Deco Cafe was just starting to get rolling before they closed it.
Shame.

I don’t have much to say, just some news to pass along.

First off, I found this article interesting about Isaac Hayes quitting South Park.
Apparently, he had issue with their depiction of Scientology. But he played it off as more problems with religious intolerence in general. The quote from Matt Stone is gold:

“This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology… He has no problem — and he’s cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians.”

Stone told The AP he and co-creator Trey Parker “never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.”

Finally, on the Daily Show, Eric Burns was on talking about his book, Infamous Scribblers, about the starting days of journalism in the States.
Anyway, Burns obviously wanted to make a serious interview and the Daily Show has been almost a hot bed for constructive criticism (re: roundabout discussion) on the state and failings of journalism in modern society. Anyway, Stewart prevented the always riveting lamenting about journalism, by focusing more on the fact that Samuel Adams (yes that Samuel Adams) was a journalist at the time. Making jokes about the beer and so on. Again, the usual problem with the Daily Show, at times it’s too “fake news/comedy”, at times it isn’t. Still needs to find its stride and do away with actors pimping their movies.

EDIT:
This is the next morning, but let’s just pretend it’s still last night.

I felt like I did absolutely nothing today at work. Not good…

On Friday, Murf told me to watch Conan, so I did. He went to Finland because he looks like their Prime Minister. Anyway, it was probably some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen Conan do. Plus he got like mobbed by fans everywhere he went.
In this clip, Conan is visiting some people who wrote him letters from Finland.

I’m not going to lie. These past weeks have been difficult. Some of it has been detailed here, probably a bit more explicit for comfort, but I felt almost required, in order to expunge the small things.

The meeting went pretty much as I suspected. I have until the 20th to finish up my to do list, and all the small tasks at hand. The loose ends. Then I’ll be saddled with some extra work. I have to spend that Monday learning the project code and then I have to say yes I can do it, or no the organization is screwed. Hmmm, let’s wonder which one will end up being the answer? I’ve actually almost come to peace with the idea. It’s a project that I want to see through to the end, so being in the driver’s seat is the best spot for me.
It’s kind of like the skate park. The day I left was the day they were preparing the frames to lay the concrete. So the concrete is poured, the kids have a slab and the project dies. We were so close and then because I had to walk away, it seem like such a failure. Not to mention the fact that my contract had expired at the beginning of the month and I had volunteered my time for the remaining three weeks before I returned to Halifax. The best news I heard was when I found out someone else was going to see it all through. The last time I was in Shelburne, I saw the ramps. Finally complete.
This project at work has the potential to be huge. There’s national interest, as well as national protest. It’s a troublesome niche, because there’s so many parties involved. I intend to salvage something useful out of this debacle and hope for the best.

At the same time, I’ve started to think beyond. Think of what will happen when I leave my current job. It’s pretty much a given that I probably won’t be going back to school, but it is also more then likely that I won’t be working at the same place in three or four years.
Last weekend, I had a conversation with the people upstairs about Scotland and going there. We talked about work visas, work, living etc. It’s become an option. Hell, the UK has become an option. I want to live elsewhere and I feel the same connection with Scotland as I do with Alberta, I may have never lived there, but family has and so it’s like reconnecting with roots. There’s no language problems, there’s money to be made, it’s a change. Something to dream for.

I’ve tried writing this post about three times and each time I’m not satisfied with the results. I have too much work to do to write here and that weighs on me.

St. Patrick’s Day -> Who’s in?
March 30th, free concert at Parade Square -> Who’s in?

Iran ‘poses major US challenge’

To start, here are two excerpts that I like from The Secret Mulroney Tapes. It’s starting to grow on (I also realised this week that it’s signed…neat).

“I don’t want a puff job. I find myself so goddamn frustrated, as a modest student of history, wanting to know what was the guy really like? Did he get laid? Did he look after his family? Did he swear? Did he get drunk? It’s safe to say that the only bloody Canadian prime minister who really comes across as a human being is Macdonald. I’ve always said that if I were ever lucky enough to be in that position as prime minister myself, I would not object at all to people reading about my warts and my failings. They’re part of me. So as I say, I don’t want a puff job”
- Brian Mulroney

“…the defining mark of Mulroney’s character was his need for approval. Lacking internal validation, he spent a lifetime in search of himself. We are all insecure, but it is how we handle those 3 a.m. feelings of inadequacy that decides what kind of men and women we are.”

This week has been busy, and there’s still no sign of letting up.

Tomorrow is the big meeting that will dictate a lot of my future with the organization and how my job will change.
Thankfully, tomorrow, I also get to go curling. I curled twice on Tuesday and we won both games. I knew it was going to happen, I curled really well. I read a quote from Mark Nichols that goes along the lines that you curl better with a smile on your face. Seems to work for me, I’m starting to relax and enjoy myself, still taking the game seriously but not over-analyzing it.
Curling has become my refuge, where I can go to let it go, erase the weights of the world and just focus on the subtle movements of polished granite on ice.
I haven’t really been going to the gym that much, it’s all been curling. The way I hold my broom when I sweep has made this bruise about the size of a toonie on my rib cage. The way I slide out from the hack has beat my knee up. I don’t care. I need this.

I haven’t been able to take some time to write for HF. It’s hard, I need to do it, soon. It’s like writer’s block.
But, I have been able to progress in my plan’s on covering the Memorial Cup. We’re close to booking hotel rooms. Yes!

I had a doctor’s appt on Tuesday. I’m off the pills and onto a gel stuff.
Also sat beside Steve Murphy, who it turns out has a birthday the day after mine. I brought this up and he said that he was obviously a bit older then me. Yeahh…that’s why he’s the most trusted news man in Atlantic Canada.

On April 15th, we’re putting on an Easter Egg Hunt for kids in Dartmouth, through work. I get to be the Easter Bunny. This excites me, just because…I get to goof around.

Today was terrible. I don’t know what to feel or what to say.

Here’s a funny story about Rick Mercer and the Liberal leadership. Here’s the link to the auction mentioned in the article.

Here’s a less funny but more interesting article about Dave Chappelle.

Adam West voices the mayor on The Batman. How cool is that?

I have more to write but no time/inclination