Still On My Brain

I have a board game for you.

It's a good one, but it's pretty tough. I've played around 2,500 games over like 15 years, probably more than 95% of people. But I'm really not so good at it. I think maybe I just don't get it. I get the rules and stuff, but it's not really like monopoly where you go the same way around the board every time. It's like monopoly with no directions, and only jail and free parking. Good move and it's free parking, bad and you're in jail. No chance or ventnor.

Anyway, I'm trying really hard to figure it out. And the problem is that I find it to be a really good judge of general intellect. Well, that isn't the problem. The problem is that I kind of suck, and it kind of means that I'm not really that smart. I mean, after 25 hundred games I should almost have it.

The game rewards or punishes the use of the 2 things:

• Observation and evaluation skills
• Making long and short term decisions

After a lifetime of playing sports with people who 'will never be good' - you know the ones I mean (I'm not trying to be a prick) - I'm one of those people now! I've read books, watched documentaries, and spent a life playing this awesome game. And I'm not giving up! I'm just really jealous of people who 'get it', and I wish I could.

So yeah. You go try it, and get good. I'm gonna keep trying to make a monopoly - hopefully the yellow ones...

Oh and it's chess.

'I'm taking it slow

feeding my flame

shuffling the cards of your game'

Surrounded

Ahh the sunshine is here. And it's finally warm.

In my spare time this summer I really want to accomplish a few sports related things. I want to get really good at tennis, and I have to learn to coach. One's a 'want to' and one's a 'have to'. But both should be a blast.

Me and Blake are going to play a bunch of tennis this summer, and we're both looking forward to getting good at another sport. He's the racquet expert, so I'm with the right company. I think that's the key to learning stuff. Surround myself with good company.

The same is going to apply with my coaching situation. I'm going to be coaching an elite team, and right now I can't provide elite coaching. Which isn't cool. So between now and August I'm going to surround myself with the company of good coaches around town. I have a bunch of contacts, and I can't wait to pick their brains.

Anyway, I'm off to the tennis courts!

Have a good week.

'Coming back for even more of the same?'

Get Out Alive

I'm not usually a fan of mainstream, cliched rock. Bands like Nickelback, Theory of a Deadman, and U2 just don't do it for me. But I really like Three Days Grace, even though I'd classify their sound in the same class. Especially this song.

Working at prom on Saturday night was awesome. The most fun I've had at work in a long time. That, combined with my spring cleaning of old photo's, and I've been feeling nostalgic for like a week. It's kinda fun! Not that it was always good times, but I really miss the old days sometimes. Yet things are really good right now.

I'm kind of switching up the way I use the internet. I changed all the blogs I read except 1 or 2 (of like 10 maybe), and now I have a whole new slew of 'cool' people to learn about. I also changed to isohunt from torrentz, and I'm loving the switcheroo so far.

This week is quieter than this weekend. My cousin, my uncle, my brother, my oma, and my nephew are coming for a visit. It's not a reunion at all. Really. But it's gonna be a blast. I can't wait to see everyone.

Oh yeah. I totally forgot, and I keep forgetting. I'm moving. Not until June 1st, but it's close to me. I'm really excited for the change. I moved into this house in September 2005, so it's been a little while in the ghetto. I'll miss some things around here. But then, there's a ton of reasons to be nothing but excited. I'm moving away from Jer, and in with JC. He has a house across town, and it's exactly where I want to be.

So that's that. Thanks for reading.

'I spent a life time knocking round
the same old patch of concrete'

Straight Lines

About to head to work. I like saying that, but I haven't been doing it enough. I really need to find more consistent work. Or maybe, I need to stop being lazy about things. Haha.

So a bunch of people in my life are getting married soon. It's a strange reality that I knew I'd face sooner or later. This summer and next, not to mention a couple last summer, marriages are getting to be pretty common in my circle. I mean, I'm really proud of my friends and brother for making the move. That's not it. I feel like I'm nowhere close to that sort of thing. And I can't help but feel like there's something wrong with that. I know it's my thing - but that isn't overly reassuring.

I'm excited to work behind the bar tonight. I get along good with people. After spending most of my day being mopey, I'm excited to interact with people.

The weekend is fast approaching. It doesn't really mean anything to me anymore. I have like 4-5 days off every week anyway. But more things happen on a weekend, so here's hoping I can cash in on some of it.

Anyway. My blog has been nothing short of a total snooze lately. I just don't have it. I've been doing really neat, new things in the last few weeks. Or months. It's just really hard to try to make anything sound significant on here anymore. I don't understand. My life was pretty similar last October, yet I found 17 entries, most of which didn't suck. It's hard to find a decent one in my last 17. Not like it's going to make me stop writing, it's just a half assed apology towards the reader. It'll get better!

Now go do something! It's sunny outside!

'Lately I'm a desperate believer'

Tusk

Good week.

Lots has been going on. First and foremost, Landon moved out for the summer. That really says it all. I'm down to one roommate for now. It's going to be a lot quieter around the house.

I played tennis and saw Thornley on Monday. It was a pretty good match, and a really good show. I need to work on my forehand I think. If I keep playing ball all summer with Blake, I think I can really get decent.

I've been in contact with the head of Nanaimo soccer, and I've expressed my interest in coaching a soccer team next season. So we met today, and I'm the future coach of the U21 team, which is on the more elite side of soccer in this city. Which excites me. I get to hold tryouts, hire a manager, etc. It's gonna be really cool I think.

I went through all my stored boxes today, deciding what to keep and what to turf. I am keeping roughly 5% of everything I accumulated between the ages of 10 and 20. Some photos, a book or two, and that's really it. I was pretty nostalgic all day because of it. I miss the way things were sometimes.

'You could waste your time in the sunshine every day'

Better Than Oh

Oh boy. I've been angry many times today. I guess what I would call 'stupid stuff' in hindsight, probably wasn't stupid at the time.

I thought about myself being angry all day. I just seemed to keep getting angry at things, people, situations. It led me to a hypothesis.

The Illusion of Common Sense

I guess I've spent years experiencing people, situations, and things; to the point where I assume some sort of basic common sense out of people. Wrong, wrong, wrong. This mistake is why I get angry 95% of the time. And I'm practicing to get out of that trend, now that I realize it.

There's lots of examples where you can assume common sense in people. Driving, communicating, etc. Throw common sense out the window. It's dead.

I always enjoyed learning virtues in grade school, but I can't remember learning prudence. Ahh prudence. Exercising sound judgment in practical affairs. First, throw out your expectations of what people consider practical affairs. Your and my opinion of that differs so widely. I think that's where I get angry. What I consider a practical affair is definitely not for some people. Like parking your car at Wallmart. You drive everyday, you park every day, you practice communication with other drivers every day. So parking at Wallmart should be a practical affair. Then the universe reminds me that so many people are not prudent. "ieurtwhgufhadfgdfgkjgfn fuck you", says the universe.

That's just an example. I'm not angry because I went to Wallmart too many times this week.

So I'm working hard to not expect common sense of people. I would rather someone shock me by acting prudent, than becoming angry by the vice versa. Common sense is an illusion to me now. It isn't actually real. Was it ever?

* * * * *

Ok, I'm over that. It's just - it isn't that easy. Write about it, understand it, and boom - I should be done being angry. I'm just not. Expecting less out of people is quite the undertaking.

Also, I don't deal with anger really well. Well, maybe better than... oh. Better than some. But I stay angry for too long. I'm glad I don't get angry often. It pretty much fucked up my day today.

Well, tomorrow. And tomorrow. And tomorrow.... It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

'But she doesn't know that I left my urge in the icebox'

Snakecharming The Masses

God. I need to write more.

How was your week? I was pretty much MIA last week, with housesitting and stuff. I haven't slept in my own bed since I posted last I think. Regardless, great week. 

There's a lot going on these days, but when is there ever not? Here's what's most significant to me.

My dad has only 2 weeks of medication left. He's been on 5-a-day pegetron and 1-a-week interferon for the last 46 weeks. Let's just say it was a hell of a year for him. It was a happy birthday for him yesterday, and I can't begin to imagine the May he'll have. I always knew that my dad would fight any opposing force. It's just proof that the boy has game.

I'm having a really good time these days. And that doesn't really include working that much. So in essence, the good times are killing me. Who said that? With tennis, hikes, and other adventures, it's pretty much the life right now.

Oh yeah. My bud gets back in a few days. He's been on sabbatical for almost 5 months, and he's gonna be my best friend again on Wednesday. Fucking rights. I miss the good ol' days of, you know, like Nov '08.  

This week I keep on rolling. Housesitting ends. Playoffs begin. Landon moves away. Saul moves home. I play I work I sing I dance I steal things. lol.

Have a good week. Oh and Britney, you're a tool. I love watching people like you, do what you do.

'While I waited, I was wasting away.'

Homecoming

Do you ever crave something, but don't know what it is you want? I have that, but like on a big scale. I really want to figure it out now.

Things are busy right now. I like that. I feel like a had the perfect day today, and I didn't waste any of it. (Side note - blogger.com tells me that "didn't" is misspelled. It's annoying.)

Well, for the first time in almost 9 months, I have to be up at 6am to work. Probably coincides with the fact that I haven't been to bed before midnight in 9 months. Tonight it'd take a bottle of wine and an hour on the treadmill to break that streak. I'm buzzin.

Not much of note going on besides 1) I'm busy; and 2) being busy is gooood.

So there's thing on youtube called The Obama Deception, and it "destroys the myth that Barack Obama is working for the best interests of the American people." Lol. Of course, I don't even give a tagline like that a chance. I didn't watch it. I just passed judgement that it's propaganda from opposition (republican losers). It took me a day before I started asking questions about myself. I've decided that I'm gonna watch it, then make a new opinion.

Maybe I'll do that tonight...

Have a good weekend. Hopefully your saturday night is a little more earth shattering.

'This could be the very minute...'

Fool In The Rain

Ahh April.

I have plans for like the next 4 days, which is really good for me these days. Normally I wake up and don't know where my afternoon is gonna take me. I work lots in the next few days, and I start house-sitting on Sunday for like 8 days.

Oh! I re-discovered my bass guitar. I had put it down for most of march. The boys were pretty busy with school since spring break, and we haven't practiced more than a few times. Anyway, I started listening to some really hard, bass-heavy rock, and I was really stoked to learn a bunch of it on bass. And now I can't get over 'The Mars Volta' and how cool their bass is in some songs. I try to act like a guitar god sometimes when nobody's home. I crank it up, and just rock out. And then I always laugh at myself, 'cause that's just silly.

So I had soft hands again after not playing bass for a month. Now my hands are thrashed, and my fingers throb. It's really weird that I can't develop long term callouses. Oh well. I think if there is one characteristic about me that doesn't suit my life in the least, it's my stupid soft hands.

My stream of consciousness is everywhere these days. If I just jump everywhere when I blog, it's because my typing can't keep up with my brain.

I was a fool in the rain this week. I'm not going to say why. But I was. Then I was searching for a description in my head while I was walking today, and Led Zeppelin randomly came on my ipod. There it is. That's what I was the other day. A fool in the rain. That piano never made so much sense.

I don't really have much more to say. There's lots more going on, but my head is swirling like it usually is. I can't process anything worth writing about.

So have a good weekend. If it's sunny for you, then shine on. If it's raining, then cheer up, or enjoy being a fool in the rain.

'Now I will stand in the rain'