Crash

So I managed to get into a motorcycle accident on Friday morning. It's taken up some of my time so I haven't posted in a long while. The next snag is that I leave tomorrow for the Gorge for three DMB shows which equals radio silence until next week. Have a great Labour Day long weekend!

-new pictures have been uploaded to my Life In Macro set on Flickr - my fav:

-still haven't got my last trip pics uploaded so I'm throwing one up here - let's go Iconic; this one is of my English friend, what he refers to as 'his' bridge, with San Francisco in the background

Alive And Almost Kicking

Wookiee called to tell me that I haven't posted in a long time. It's true. I've been working 12 hour days at the cubicle farm because things have just exploded there. Meanwhile I've been going through some intensive tests trying to score a plum job. The competition started with over 500 people, and now that I've made it through 3 exam screening levels, there are about 6 of us who have advanced to panel interviews. So I'm also studying up hard for that, plus I've got my first Psychopathology test on Monday night. As a result, while I have had blog thoughts stumbling about my skull, I've been too wiped to do much about it. So this one's for Wook.

While I explained to him why I hadn't posted, I flipped on a sports channel looking for the Edmonton/San Jose score (NHL playoffs for those who are unaware) and there was a Phoenix Suns game on. I never watch basketball and I've never seen Steve Nash play, but because he's Canadian I'm very aware of him and his talent. I mentioned to Wook that he did in fact look like an awesome player on the court and we discussed his recent MVP win. After we talked about the unlikelihood of a Canadian playing in the NBA, let alone being so fucking successful, Wookiee said,

"Yeah, Steve Nash...he's the Gretzky of hockey."

Who'd have ever thought I'd find pictures of Steve Nash playing hockey? Fucking crazy.

It's Official

I'm beyond broke. As of a minute ago, all of my flights, car rentals, and accommodations for DMB were booked through to the end of September. I will be lucky enough to see at least two shows every month from June to September. Will I be lucky enough to land a job to pay for it all? I have no idea. But at least I can start paying it off now. Ah, those blessed & evil credit cards, what kind of life would I have without them? Pros and cons abound. Now that those trip bookings are out of the way, this is my last bastion of procrastination before I break into the textbooks. One Archaeology presentation, two final exams, and three other social commitments before I finally hit the two week break between terms. Trust me, I'm not complaining in earnest. I'm too damn lucky for that.

A Summer Prediction

It's going to kick ass. No bones. I just found out about 30 seconds ago that The Warehouse confirmed all 13 of my ticket requests for this summer. This means that I will be going to 13 Dave Matthews Band shows in: Toronto, ON, Darien Lake, NY, Saratoga Springs, NY (x2), East Troy, WI (x2), Charlottesville, VA (x2), Gorge, WA (x3), and New York, NY (x2). Bringing my total show viewings up to 43. Sure, I'll be out of a job in a month, but I'll be racking up the debt traversing the land and riding a giant wave of musical joy. I'm also taking a wicked Psych class this summer term and found out that a friend of mine is taking it too. I wonder who will join me in my travelling escapades this time? Regardless, I predict lots of laughs, sun, riding, and good times. So in this tiny moment between term paper deadlines and final exams, I'm going to tune it all out and bask in the glow of the glorious months to come.

Foiled!

First the good news. I was told by my boss yesterday afternoon that they want me to keep coming in to work and that they would find some way to pay me until the HR glitch is fixed. This could take anywhere from two weeks to two months, so I hope they 'find some way' to pay me until then. Okay, so last night when I got home I started to unpack my bag and clean some stuff up in my place so that I could upload pictures, blog, do some online banking, etc. I was enjoying some music and on a cleaning roll when, bink, the power went out. I live in a fairly wooded area and the having the power go out is nothing unusual. Often it comes back on just as I've finally felt my way through the dark to the oil lamps and lit a match to get them going. So last night I waited in the dark for a few minutes before going to light lamps and candles, but the power stayed out. My dad had taken my car and I didn't have a battery operated radio so I had no idea what was happening or how long it would last. I didn't want to ride my motorcycle somewhere either because with the power off, so was the alarm. An unidentified woman broke into my house twice this year (a long story I won't get into here) so I didn't want to leave the place undefended. Instead I reclined on the couch in the kitchen and listened for signs of an intruder. The house started to get cold, but maybe it wasn't as cold as I thought because of my acclimatization to Cuban weather. It's amazing how little there is to do at night when you don't have electricity. The lamp lighting was too dim to do any reading, and I was pretty tired anyway, so I just gave up hope of the power coming back on and went to bed. When I woke up this morning everything was back online, so I hope that tonight, I will finally be able to see if I took any decent pictures in Cuba. Either that or you'll likely find me at the Canadian Tire buying a generator.

Back In The Wet

I got home at about 11:30 last night and I was back to work again this morning at 7:00, so as you can imagine, it'll be a little while until I get a post up about Cuba. I'm definitely looking forward to uploading my pictures tonight. It was raining when I got home, and it made me so happy! I think I had my fill of hot, humid, sweaty grime over the past week - although I am liking my tan. In other news, my boss just came in this morning and told me that there was a little glitch with my contract extension while I was away. Right now it's looking like I'll be sent home and I have no idea when I'll have a job again. Perfect timing. I just spent a few grand last month doing the New York and Cuba thing. Yeesh. Well, the good news is, if I'm unemployed for a little while I can concentrate on school, which starts up again next week, and maybe even post like a devil blogger...whatever that means.

Still On The Go

I have pictures to post soon! I have been in New York for the past week and have been harried since. I had to speed directly from the airport to class to write an Archaeology final exam. Now I'm back at work and spending my nights cramming madly for my English final, which constitutes reading a whole lot of stories and imagining what kind of essay I might be asked to write. I can't wait for this last exam to be over so that I can spend one whole day just relaxing (and maybe even posting) before diving into preparations for my next trip in two weeks time. For now I'll leave you with an interesting article about some US scientists who say they have discovered the secret to the narwhal's tusk. It is one impressive multi-functional tooth!

All Hail NyQuil

On Sunday I was feeling the beginnings of a cold, and by Monday it was starting to pummel me with its first waves of destruction. In retaliation I took a dose of NyQuil Monday night after class and when my alarm went of for work Tuesday morning I e-mailed work to say I was staying home and then took another dose of NyQuil. I woke again at around 1 p.m. and took another dose of NyQuil before waking up again at about 6:30 p.m. I spent a few hours eating and drinking to replenish my stores before taking yet another dose of NyQuil to enjoy my fourth consecutive regenerative coma. When I woke up on Wednesday I was remarkably better, and after two more doses of the Quil I was good for work the next day (today). That's all it took, two straight days of NyQuil diet and my body has gained the upper hand on the viral grossness that has infected me. How I got through illness before NyQuil I do not know. I am continually amazed by NyQuil's awesome power, and you get it all without the hassle of altars or sacrifices!

Deep Fried Broca's Area

I haven't posted for over a week now I think. I've been mad swamped with school, work, and hanging with Wookiee. After November, when his girl returns, the Wookiee quotient will be removed. Maybe then I'll get enough sleep to regenerate the brain and come up with some random stuff to post up. I've had a thought here and there of what to write about next, but either my brain is too fried to make the stories work, or the stories were just no good to begin with...I think my vote lies somewhere between those two problems. I've still got some major work and school deadlines to attend to in the next couple of weeks, as well as a couple of personal life deadlines following quickly after...so the posting might be a little erratic until the arrival of 2006. I've got some pictures on my home computer to share when I get a moment, but today I was inspired by something else, which I will leave you with now. I'm using a co-worker's computer today so that I can scan documents all day. On her cubicle wall is one of those dog calendars with a different little picture of a dog for each day of the month. At the very top there's a large quote from somebody named Chapman Pincher that says, "Happiness is dog-shaped, I'd say."