Not so boring anymore.

October will be the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I will still be at Chapters but the exit is clearly marked. I will be starting the Visual and Game Programming Course at the Art Institute. It's fucking expensive, but it is in line with all the other schools. For the next 18 months I'll be super busy, but it's for a good reason. So that I can get my ass out of the retail industry and away from these menial service jobs where you have to suck it up and deal with assholes. Will going to school full time and trying to work full time drain me of the last remnants of my sanity? Possibly, but I would rather go insane doing this than to wait for the last dregs of my soul to be sucked into the black abyss of customer service. I want to be the asshole!!! I want to have people wait on me hand and foot as if my ass produced gold shit!!! I'm not getting bitter am I?

18 months and counting to freedom.

Boooorrrriiiinnnngggg!!!!!!!!!!!

Work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, masturbate, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep, work, eat, sleep....

I think I might be in a rut.

Jackpot!!!!

It's been a while, so I figured I should update. Joined the masses on Facebook, go ahead look me up, I'm always looking for more friends. Went through some of my papers that were still in boxes, and I found awesome stuff!!! 2 passes for Festival Cinemas (Fifth Avenue, Park Theatre & the Ridge), 6 passes for Empire Theatres, I also have about 200 passes for Alliance Atlantis Cinemas, but they're in Toronto and so are no use to me. Plus I found about $100 in GC's, Earls, some Spaghetti place in New West, HMV, and Chapters!!! Sweet Deal!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane... then I came back

Well, I took some vacation time this last week (I had to, otherwise I would lose it). Went back home to visit and to see my sister get married again. It was a nice small ceremony, only 10 of us, at the Banff Springs Hotel. I even took some pictures...

Runa & Bob, the Bride and Groom (as if that wasn't obvious enough) and some tourist who wouldn't move.

Dad, Mom, Cousin Marge (Runa's Godmother), and Jenny (Bob's Mom).

Jenny & Terry (Bob's Parents) and Doug (Bob's Brother) behind the candles.

Doug & Karen (Bob's Sister in-law and of course his aforementioned Brother)

It was fun, drank some beer, enjoyed the scenery and got woken up by the fire alarm at 1 am. At least we knew it wasn't Doug, because he had gone back to Golden with his parents and Karen.

Part 2 of my little vacation got a little surreal. I went out to Packer's Place Pub to catch up with a friend of mine. He was DJing that night, so I figured I would surprise him. Turns out I was the one surprised. First off it wasn't just a music night, there was an art show beforehand. When I saw who was putting on the art show, the type of art and the venue suddenly made sense. Here's some more pictures:

I forget the names of the pieces but I do know the 3rd from the left was called "The Second Coming" or was that Cumming....

and a close up, complete with singing vagina's. Smitty is a crazy guy, oops actually it's Infinity now, he keeps changing his name. I think he just played host to the show, I think the artist is some sexually frustrated old guy from Vancouver.

Other than the art show, it was a typical Sunday night at Packer's. I ran into some more of my friends there too, Scott, Michelle, Karl, Sykes, Peewee (although he doesn't go by that anymore, so I guess that would be Dave now), and Ian, so I managed to catch up with almost everyone, except Bill who was in Greece or Cyprus. Drank a fair number of Stella's too. It was a good time.

I'll leave off with a picture of Mount Seven. You can't see the 7 yet but in July, I should be back to take another picture so you can see the 7 then.

Further Adventures of James in the Big Smoke - Pedestrian Rage!!!

Well, today started out like any other day in Van. It was pissing rain and it was past noon, good start to my day. I needed to get some more bus tickets so I figured I would stop by Safeway on the way to the bus stop for work. I also figured I could kill two birds with one stone and get my coke fix at Safeway as well. That's when things started to sour, first there were no 1L or 710mL bottles of Coke at Safeway. Fine, I'll pick up a bottle at Mac's on the way to the bus stop, but first my bus tickets. Well the Customer Service desk was out of tickets and a manager had to go get some more. 10 minutes later, I finally had my bus tickets, so I head off to the bus stop.

As I approach Mac's I can see that my bus has already left. Fuck! Now I'm going to be late, well if I'm late I might as well have my Coke too. So I grab my Coke from Mac's and head over to the other bus stop to catch the other bus. The 5 drops me off in front of work, the 6 (the other bus) drops me off two blocks from work, but close enough. So I catch the 6 and head off to work. Everything is fine, rush hour is just starting but the bus moves along nicely, even with herds of people getting on & off.

My stop comes and I get off, the rain has let up a bit so I don't bother with my umbrella. I get to the intersection of Granville and Robson where the light is green to cross Granville, although with the Canada Line construction the color of the light is moot for the North side of the street. Unless some idiot wants to crash their car into a giant pit. I notice that traffic is a bit backed up on Robson, since there are two cars sitting in the intersection waiting to go west on Robson. The light changes and now the little man says that I can cross Robson, but there is a problem, there is a mini-van straddling the fucking crosswalk. Hmmm, which way should I go, in front of the van or behind the van. Well this other guy makes a decision before me and ducks in front of the van. Okay, decision made, I will follow him. At this point the traffic begins to move on Robson, just as I go to step in front of this van he starts to move forward. Hello!!!! Pedestrians crossing here, reminds me of a line from a movie "Hey!!! I'm WOKIN' here!!!" Now I'm not the only pedestrian trying to cross at this point and since my left knee is now in jeaprody I give the hood of the van a whack with my empty hand. The van stops and I continue to cross. Of course while I'm crossing I give the guy the "what's up" signal, you know shrugged shoulders, palms upraised, arms spread. Now as I finish passing the van I hear the guy driving smack his window, so I turn around making the assumption he has just fingered me. He seems to be pissed at me because I delayed him, smacked his van, had the audacity to cross the street, I don't really know and nor do I care, but now I'm pissed. So I start walking back to the van and he goes to open his door but now I'm in the way and he can't. I then start yelling at him index finger out thrust and rapping on his side window. I believe my words were "YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING CROSSWALK!!! YOU'RE IN THE FUCKING WRONG!!!" I then pushed his door closed and walked away.

I would like to point out sections of the motor vehicle act that give me the righteous indignation to yell at this ass. Section 179 of Part 3 of the MVA states:

Rights of way between
vehicle and pedestrian
179. (1.) Subject to section 180, the driver of a vehicle must yield the right of way to a pedestrian where traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation when the pedestrian is crossing the highway in a crosswalk and the pedestrian is on the half of the highway on which the vehicle is travelling, or is approaching so closely from the other half of the highway that he or she is in danger.
(2.) A pedestrian must not leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle that is so close it is impracticable for the driver to yield the right of way.
(3.) If a vehicle is slowing down or stopped at a crosswalk or at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the highway, the driver of a vehicle approaching from the rear must not overtake and pass the vehicle that is slowing down or stopped.
(4.) A pedestrian, cyclist or the driver of a motor vehicle must obey the instructions of an adult school crossing guard and of a school student acting as a member of a traffic patrol where the guards or students are
(a) provided under the School Act, or
(b) authorized by the chief of police of the municipality as defined in section 36 (1).

And Section 189, Subsection 1C of Part 3 of the MVA:

When vehicle stopping prohibited
189. (1.) Except when necessary to avoid conflict with traffic or to comply with the law or the directions of a peace officer or traffic control device, a person must not stop, stand or park a vehicle as follows:

(c) in an intersection, except as permitted by a sign;

In short, he shouldn't have been in the intersection when the light changed and secondly as a pedestrian obeying the traffic control device I had the right of way, so thppppppppt!!

This rage that seems to be bubbling just below the surface in me needs a better outlet. Maybe I just need to get laid more often. Daydreaming about pushing people into glass display cases because they are walking down the middle of the aisle in the mall is probably not the healthiest. Resisting the urge to say "GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY" instead of "excuse me" is also probably not the best either. I should probably make some changes to my life, reducing the number of times I watch Fight Club and listen to the Fight Club OST would probably be a good starting point. We'll see... we'll see...

Just for you shotyme

Well, I watched "Jesus Camp" and her are my two bits on religion and this scary movie.

Let's start with the Separation of Church and State. Apparently these Evangelical Christians believe that, that is where things started going wrong with God's Country (the U.S. of A. of course, and their words, not mine). Well, it's my understanding that the United States constitution prohibits the Church & State from coming together, I think it's part of the First Amendment (yeah the free speech one). So if the separation of Church & State was written into the constitution, that must mean the separation occured during the formation of "God's Country". That must mean that the United States started wrong... but... it's... "God's Country", how can it be wrong?

Next, creating an "Army of God," okay, I've flipped through the bible and I didn't find anything about an "Army of God" on earth, created by us. The only "Army" god has is his/her angels. Now creating this unnecessary army by brainwashing/indoctrinating children seems mighty wrong in my eyes. Then reasoning that since Muslims are doing the same thing, it's okay for the Evangelical church to do the same thing. Did you know that by the time a Muslim child is 5, they know to fast for the entire month of Ramadan, and that's just for starters, by the time they are 18, they are ready to blow themselves to bits for Islam. Great that's just what we need, a bunch of Southern & Mid-western, white Americans blowing themselves up for Allah... ooops, I meant God. If they are hoping that this army they are creating will fight against Islam, I think they will be sorely dissappointed. I see them blowing the shit out of other Americans, who don't quite share their fundamentalist views on Christ, be they Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or even Buddhist. Athiests and Agnostics are smart enough to stay away from places of worship, which is the most likely target for the suicide bombers. Of course Mall of America would also be a tempting target, but I'm sure that some of the 80 million or so Evangelicals frequent that unholy place. Okay, back to the actual indoctrination part. A lot of it seemed to smack of Pagan rituals, speaking in tongues, trances ( a few pictures of children seizing on the floor), etc. Of course I know that a lot of the Christian rituals are stolen right from the Pagans, even the holidays are glossed over Pagan Celebrations. Jesus wasn't born in December, he was a summer baby.

Satan, yep he's out to get you and your soul. Watch out, he's trying to subvert you right now!! I must be an agent of Satan since I don't share the same views as these Evangelicals. Of course I have a mind of my own and can think for myself so I must be touch by the devil. Now throughout the entire documentary, they speak of how Satan is out to get you and how you must fight temptation, blah blah blah. I found an interesting article in of all places the internet, which I think sheds some light on the subject of Satan and his place in the bible and "God's World". Check it out at: What the Devil? Prince of Darkness Is Misunderstood, Says UCLA Professor . Personally I think that Satan, the serpent, the devil, etc. is just a cop out. If we are to believe at least a portion of the bible, at least the part where God gives us free will, Satan sounds a hell of a lot like an invention of Man. It's not my fault that I broke a commandment, did something bad, etc., the devil made me do it. A good example of this comes ironically from both the documentary and CNN. About 2 months ago, Rev. Ted Haggard popped up on CNN and the various other reality filters (or news channels, whatever you want to call them) amid allegations that he was involved with a man who not only provided the Reverand with drugs, but also participated in gay sex with this man. He at first denied everything, but once he was fired, he relented and admitted to the whole shebang. If you watch the documentary, you'll see the less than honorable Rev. Ted Haggard condemning homosexuals (I almost fell off my couch laughing when I saw that part of the documentary). Gotta love it when karma comes around and smacks you around like Mike Tyson did with Robin Givens (too soon?).

These poor kids, are being home schooled, brainwashed and taught not to think for themselves but to act as sheep for their church. Belief in something greater than yourself is all fine and good, but to take it to this extreme is unhealthy for the mind. Believe in Creationism if you will, but if your child is going to be working in the real world, you might want to think about teaching them about evolution as well. They don't have to believe in it, but they should know about it. Hell I learned that people thought the world was flat, if evolution is wrong, well I guess we'll have egg on our face the same way people in the middle ages got it when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Balance, moderation, whenever things are taken to excess it causes problems. Remember New Years? If you don't, you probably remember the hang over the next day. Things taken to excess. Same applies to religion, politics, alcohol and donuts, moderation is the key.

One last poke at the Evangelicals... most of the 80 million of them live in a belt across the American Mid-west and into the Southern US. Now let's take a look and the number and frequency of natural disasters that occur in this "Bible Belt." Tornado's frequent the prairie states, in fact they even have an alley that runs through Kansas and Oklahoma. Hurricanes come up from the Gulf Coast and wreak havoc, not as regular as Tornados, but they do tend to cover a wider area and even spawn a few Tornados to boot too. That Mississippi river has been lassoed by the Army Corp of Engineers, but it still tries to burst it's banks at least once every few years, and when it does it tends to cause widespread damage. Amazing how this all seems to happen in the same area all of these Evangelical Christians call home. What's really funny is they don't believe in Global Warming, which causes more extreme weather. If we're lucky they'll be wiped out by more Tornados, Hurricanes and Floods. Also there is a fault that runs up the Mississippi Valley, not as active as the San Andreas, but they could still have a devastating earthquake at anytime. If there is a God, he seems to be the angry vengeful God of the Old Testament when it comes to the "Bible Belt."

Well that's enough for tonight, I think I will go and bake myself some delicious fucking cookies!

ttfn

Evidence from New Years

Yep, Yoni had pictures, so here are some:

Me being a drunk, dirty old man, looking at the dirty pictures while waiting in line to get rid of some used & abused alcohol. Note the drink in hand, remember $69 all you can eat & drink.

Look at all the peoples!!! The place was packed, definitely going again for next New Years.

I think that's Matt in the front, then Yoni and another one of Yoni's friends in the back. Not sure where I am, probably getting more alcohol.