The New Floodgates of the Mind

I realized, after posting about Chantale being in New Zealand last year, that I’m coming up on my payment date for LJ. So, considering I was always planning on signing up for another year, I went ahead and did it. Thus, I’m back on track for another 12 months. Deal with it. 🙂

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And in other news… I sent out my last email joke of the year last night to my Jokers Mailing List (jokers_r_us@yahoogroups.com i believe is the url). Today, I got a reply from someone telling me that they visited my web site and wished I were gay and would have liked to meet up. Now there’s an offer I never got before! Sheesh. 🙂

A year ago today… Chantale was on the plane on her way to her month-long tour of New Zealand and Australia while I stayed home due to work and family responsibilities.

Guess where she wishes she was right now instead of at the Bank? Especially when the morning announcer stated that it was 25 degrees there.

Well, to be honest, I wouldn’t mind being there myself right now…

Coming Attractions are just too irresistable some times… 🙂

Van Helsing
Studio: Universal Pictures.
Project Phase: Post-production.
Who’s In It: Hugh Jackman (Abraham Van Helsing); Richard Roxburgh (Dracula); Kate Beckinsale (Anna); Shuler Hensley (Frankenstein’s Monster); Will Kemp; Kevin O’Connor.
Who’s Making It: Stephen Sommers (Director, Screenwriter); Industrial Light & Magic (Special Visual Effects); Scott Squires, Ben Snow (Special Visual Effects Supervisors).
Premise: The fearless vampire killer Van Helsing must use all of his cunning and skill if he is to survive his final battle with Count Dracula as well as the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster.
Release Date: May 7, 2004.
Comments: If VAN HELSING is anything like Sommer’s two MUMMY films, expect it to be a rollercoaster ride with cutting-edge special effects. We’ll also bet that Hugh Jackman will be set to become a $20 million dollar superstar after the opening weekend of this picture.
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Yup, I’ve got a feeling it will indeed be a thrill-ride 🙂

L’amore e un fumo fatto dai vapore dei sorrisi
-W. Shakespeare

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs
-W. Shakespeare

Dolce e l’alba che illumina gli amanti
-Anonimo

Sweet is the dawn which breaks upon lovers
-Anonymous

Went to catch The Last Samurai last night. We used the free passes we had gotten from when we had seen Return of the King and experienced a temporary power failure. I was impressed. Really, it turned out to be a much better picture than expected, DESPITE Cruise. I try not to watch movies with him in it, but sometimes it can’t be helped. I’m just tired of him being the BESTEST at everything. Bestest Vampire. Bestest Pool Player. Bestest Pilot. Bestest Secret Agent. Gimme a break. Luckily the supporting cast in this movie were awesome. The Samurai Warriors and village were very sympathetic and I loved seeing the dichotomy between the Honor they lived with and the slimey, money-hungry way the “others” did.

Also managed to see the trailer for Troy which looks like it’s going to be quite something. And with The Iliad still fresh in my mind from last year’s reading, I know I’ll be enjoying this. Add to the fact that the trailer for the new King Arthur doesn’t look half-bad either and it’s definitely shaping up to be another swordfest banner year 🙂

It’s funny. There’s a guy at work who gets on a lot of people’s nerves. However, I’m told that Socially, he’s a great guy and a lot of fun. This, apparently, excuses him from being a dick at work. I’m sorry, but I won’t even bother to ATTEMPT to go out socially with someone if they act like an idiot-with-an-attitude at work. Sure, this may not be a problem with regular friends (after all, I haven’t worked with all my friends so I can’t say if they’re assholes at work), but for people I actually WORK with, it makes a big difference to me. Personally, that is, not Professionally.

And that’s my sermon for today. I leave you now for lunch. 🙂

Who would-a thunk it? It actually snowed last night 🙂

We had a really good Christmas yesterday. Christmas eve was nice with the in-laws and lots of food, but yesterday was our day.

All said and done, there were 13 of us at the house, tons and tons of food, excellent meal, wonderfully tasty deserts, amazing coffee (with probably the best espresso ever made) and lots of joy and fun 🙂

It was our first Xmas Day hosting and it went off superbly. My mom made the pasta, Chantale’s mom made the salad, Chantale made the hors d’oeuvres, meat, and rice, I set up the veggie plates, etc etc. There was a LOT of food, and it was all very tasty. In fact, we got my mom hooked on a brie/cranberry dish 🙂

Really, it was probably the best xmas day celebration I can ever remember having. Everyone had a great time and everything just felt so right.

Santa was very good to all of us this year, too, which makes it all the more special. 🙂

I could go on and on, but I won’t 🙂 I just wanted to come online and post this up. Now, I’m going back upstairs and enjoy the rest of this very relaxing day 🙂

As I won’t be back until after midnight, let me take a moment now to wish you all a very Happy Xmas (to those celebrating) and Happy Holidays!

And to all, a Good Knight (snicker) 🙂

Just got off the phone with Mom. She’s at home and feeling a little better but still no news of the stones. She’s still taking her prescribed painkillers and still can’t drink much liquid due to digestion problems.

She seems to be hanging on a little better, and I really think the short visit Chantale and I paid her on Sunday has helped lift her spirits up. She wanted to drop in for a short visit today but wasn’t physically able to. Of course, as it’s still a day-to-day thing, I’m hoping we’ll all be able to get together at our house on Xmas day.

I’m still working from home and it’s actually much busier than I had originally anticipated. I’m also trying to keep the kids entertained but that’s a little more difficult. You can’t really blame them, though. They’re home with me, they want to play with me. They understand that “daddy has to work” but it doesn’t mean that they have to like it 100%

Initially, I was supposed to take them into work with me tomorrow, but now even that may be altered. Man, there is just nothing that’s really stable or on-target these days, it seems!

Anyhow, I wanted to thank those of you who have sent me your good vibes and best wishes (you know who you are). They have helped me smile a bit more. Heck, I even ended up sending out jokes on my Joke list after over 2 months of silence! 🙂 I think my over-600-members appreciated it as well 🙂

Not exactly in the best moods these days. Mom was re-admitted to the hospital on Friday. Seems another stone is apparently forming. We visited her yesterday and she wasn’t doing so well. She had been doped up most of Saturday as it were. Rough and emotionally draining. Suddenly there became a high chance of cancelling out on our Xmas day hosting…

That’s the kind of mood that I’ve been fighting with all week. Chantale’s been wonderful in lifting my spirits, and last night was truly magical as we decorated the tree when the kids came over. The end result was amazing, especially with the backdrop of our new curtains courtesy of my in-laws who bought them for us for Xmas.

But, prior to all that, I wanted to just chuck it all. I was ready to chuck Comicopia, I was ready to chuck LJ. In fact, I had removed most everyone from my list and was getting ready to delete it. Just have not felt like being here. Haven’t felt like reading and did not want to BE read. Got a phone call on friday that could easily be summed up as a ‘farewell/ suicide note’ from a friend of mine. I’m tired of carrying it all.

I’m home today since my Mom can’t obviously watch the kids as she was initially supposed to. I’m so greatful to have an understanding boss, especially when it comes to matters of family.

I’m drained.