Insane…

I heard on the news this morning that a police raid happened yesterday in east-end montreal. 18 street gang members were arrested. it turns out that St. Michel – where this happened and where I spent 30 years of my life and where my folks still live – is now “home base” for the Crips. Montreal-North – where I spent 4 years of my life and hung out during high school – is “home base” for the Bloods.

What I’d like to know is… when the fuck did this happen? And, more importantly, when the hell did the Italians give up control of that area? … shit.

actually, i do know the answer, but it’s not worth posting…

sometimes i wish God would get all “Noah’s Ark” or “Soddom & Gommorah” on our asses and wipe the whole lot of us out so we can start all over again…

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An update of sorts…

I’ve been silent, it seems. Thus, a quick update.

Friday – icky rain/ ice storm. Lost power as soon as we walked into the house at 5pm! Didn’t get it back until 7am on Saturday. All night long the wind howled, the ice rain pelted, and things flew around the streets. On top of it all, the sky was a bright cyan blue, flickering and thundering. Bizarre. Felt like we were standing underneath a UFO and its anti-grav mechanism was bathing us in its eerie glow. On the upside, it was nice to snuggle on the couch with my wife and listen to the radio for news updates πŸ™‚

Saturday – my dad turned 71!! How wonderful is that? πŸ™‚ We all drove over to have lunch together and it was really nice to have the entire family together – although, yes, as always, there are sibling squabbles to deal with πŸ™‚ Still, we were 13 in all and it felt a little crowded at times πŸ™‚

Saturday, I also signed the contract to get my driveway paved. 4 years later it’ll be nice to not have to deal with the gravel single driveway any more. Come June, we’ll have a paved double driveway πŸ™‚ Plus, it gives me the time required to squirrel the money away to pay for it.

Sunday – Kid’s XMas party. Melyssa couldn’t come as she had a Gymnastic test to see if she would advance to the next level. Thus, it was just “us boys” and my wife πŸ™‚ Had a nice time although I left it feeling like there was definitely something missing. Kyle had fun which is the most important thing. I laughed at how he was scrutinizing Santa πŸ™‚ He didn’t smile throughout all the pictures we took, but when we were done, THAT’S when he finally smiled. Sheesh πŸ™‚

Sunday, I also finally had enough and bought a second car seat. Winter is not the time to play musical cars any longer. Now, there’s one in each car and thus exchanges and pick-ups are a lot easier to plan! πŸ™‚

Still a lot of things left to do around the house (the building of the room downstairs was completely halted this weekend – no time) but next weekend should also be really nice. It’ll almost be fully Xmas oriented as we’ll be putting up the tree and final decorations, then I’ve got a special movie picked out for the Saturday night Family Movie πŸ™‚ On Sunday, yet another Kid’s Xmas Party πŸ™‚

You know, although I’ll be spending a lot of my Xmas vacation time working on that room, I’m so pysched to actually get time to be at home πŸ™‚ It’s all a countdown now πŸ™‚ 14 more work-days to time off! πŸ™‚

And, in case you’re still reading, the news on the James front is… still waiting. His surgery has been post-poned once more. This time, new tentative date is December 18th. sigh.

Okay, my wrist is killing me again. I’m stopping now.

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why not?

Another silly meme for a Friday afternoon πŸ™‚ this time, from my love

No matter how you slice it…

my shortened name:

M : best kisser ever.
I : Great in bed.
K : You’re wild and crazy.
E : You are dead sexy

or my real, full name:

M : best kisser ever.
I : Great in bed.
C : You are really silly.
H : You have a very good personality.
E : You are dead sexy
L : Unbeliavably great in bed.
E : You are dead sexy

I’ll make your eyes spin πŸ˜‰

The letter breakdown is after the cut: Continue reading

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Meme Time

Yoinked from because… baaaah. πŸ™‚

Go to http://www.popculturemadness.com and select the year you turned 18 (greatest hits). Snip the top songs from the list and paste it in your journal. Bold the ones you liked; strike out the ones you disliked; and italicize the ones you know but don’t exactly like nor dislike. The ones you don’t know will stay common text.

Continue reading

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A Simply “By the way”

Just wanted to note that last night, I finished my NaNoWriMo novel.

I had never fully jumped into doing it this year, but I did spend several hours on the train writing it out. I wrote out about 22,000 words in my notebook before finally admitting to myself last week that I really wanted to do it.

I think it was seeing the certificates of the last 4 years on my wall at work that gave me the final kick.

Anyhow, once that decision was made, I got down to the nitty gritty. 1 day and 2 nights later, 50,000 words was passed. I don’t like their icons this year, so I’m using an older one for this post ;p

Today, I’m tired but happy. And am especially glad I can use my train rides for other things (like reading and reviewing comics (I’m at #76 of 100 over at Off The Rack ()), and working on Comicopia (who’s deadline is less than a month away!)

Voila. πŸ™‚

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Just Saying…

Ever feel like you’re sitting alone somewhere (even surrounded by a crowd) and are just cackling and rubbing your hands together?

Yeah, today it feels like that, too.

Nothing to say, I just wanted to show off my new icon πŸ™‚

Yes, I’m sappy, and I don’t care. I love my wife. πŸ™‚

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Letter Meme

Why not? It looked like fun πŸ™‚

The LETTER of the day is….S!

Comment and I’ll give you a letter; then you have to list 10 things you love that begin with that letter. Afterwards, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own.

gave me the letter “S”… This won’t necessarily be in order (except maybe for number 1… πŸ™‚ )

1)Sex! – come on. How could I *NOT* make this number one? LOL! Love Sex? Yup! Need I say more? πŸ™‚

2)Sesame Street – yeah, that might come weird after #1, but SS was an important part of my growing up, as well as James and Melyssa. And now, Chantale and I are having a lot of fun watching Kyle Ethan getting in on the action, too, especially with COOKIE! πŸ™‚

3)Smiles – giving or receiving. A smile lights up a person’s face and takes the pain away. I love to smile, and I love seeing a smile on everyone’s face!

4)Space – the final frontier… πŸ™‚ I’m talking about the real thing here, not a television show. I love the idea of floating up in space and all that’s unknown out there, still waiting to be discovered. Segue onto…

5)Stars – Nothing makes the night look so much more peaceful than a sky full of stars. The beauty, the majesty, the mystery! I spent many, many, hours in a Planetarium when I was younger and had the time. I miss sky-watching and star-gazing…

6)Stories – and StoryTelling of course! The imagination is a wonderful thing, and stories are the food that keeps it well fed and healthy! I love reading, telling, and writing stories. Can’t get enough!

7)Song – and Singing! There is so much that is magical, poignant, and just downright wonderful about singing and songs that can touch people. A day can be made brighter with the right song. A moment can be made that much more special with the right song. And the right person singing that song? Wonderful. I like to think that for some songs, I’m that right person myself πŸ™‚

8)Synergy – this might be one of those “buzz” words that have been used to death in corporations, which might make it difficult to hear here, but the Synergy that comes from the right creative people to build something that is better than the sum of its parts, just can’t be denied. Look at the difference between The Beatles and Paul McCartney & Wings. Without Lennon to bounce off of, Paul’s music – good though it still was, just didn’t have the same energy. Ditto on the reverse. I count people in the same way. The stuff that Chantale and I do together is amazing! As good as the stuff I do on my own is, with her on a project, we rock. Heck, just look at Kyle as our greatest example to date! πŸ™‚

9)Science – be it Medical or otherwise (Anthropology, Human Relations, etc), Science fascinates me. I love what we learn from it, and I love what we’ve gotten from it. Again, knowledge is power, and the only true unfortunate is when men in power use that knowledge for evil deeds (even while stating it is for “good”) that corrupts the discoveries.

10)Sun – I enjoy the night (especially when writing/ blogging/ surfing), but I love the Sun. It is what rejuvenates me and puts that Spring in my step. The dark, cold, winter months are extremely tough to live through. I prefer to be hot than cold, too πŸ™‚

*phew* That was fun! But I realize that there is still so many other S words! Like: Serenity (not the show), Science Fiction (which also falls under Stories), Sweets (from Ice Cream to chocolates!), Sensitivity (don’t tread on others), Safety and Security, Stews (mmm, beef!), etc. etc… πŸ™‚

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S(l)ing it

“Will you still see me any more?
When the fog lifts and fade?
Or will you close the door,
And forget what we have made?
And the sunshine fades away,
Every second of the day
We watch it disappear
Hiding all that was clear
I think we can make it,
So don’t give up easily
You’re close enough to reach me…”

-Stella, “Paying Your Blues” (c) Mike Aragona


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Ouch.

“Life” morale was so low yesterday, that I was seriously thinking of going completely offline (as opposed to keeping the low profile I’m doing now). Really. I had reached a point that I was just completely fed up with the comics industry (probably a lot to do with what I read in http://occasionalsuperheroine.blogspot.com/), the writing business, work, etc.

I’m just so tired! And I know how whiny that sounds.

Personally, things are great! We’re building a room in the basement and will be in renovations for months. We started this weekend and it’s both really interesting and going rather well. Also, we bought a new car that we’re picking up tomorrow night (the insurances are a bit of a nightmare, but I’m taking care of that). Even work is good in the sense that I laid all my cards on the table two weeks ago and met with a Manager, 2 Senior Managers, the Chief Information Officer, and now things are back on track.

On the other hand, that secret project I had started, as much as I’ve enjoyed what I’ve written, I’m too exhausted to continue it. I doubt I’ll complete it by next wee. My VERY secret project is now suffering from funding so I’m a little down in the dumps over it. I wanted to begin this in December, but now… I’ve got a couple of money-making jobs to do, but can’t find/ make the time for it. This is just plain stupid but it’s really true. I’m wiped.

ExpoZine on Saturday? Right now, the odds are against me attending. Very high probability that I won’t be able to make it.

Paradise Comics Toronto Comicon next year? Due to the change in date, the odds are now also against me attending it.

James surgery was postponed for the THIRD time today. It’s now been moved to December 4th. And today? He called me at 2pm to tell me he was taken home because at lunch time, while running around, he fell to the ground because he was having trouble breathing. Some of the side effects of those anti-inflamatory pills he’s taking (and needs to continue taking until the operation) include Chest Pains, and Stomach Pains. 3 extra weeks of this now.

Unfortunately, Chantale is also getting some run-around lately that’s causing her no amount of stress and I’m not really able to offer her any help, outside of taking care of her each night.

It’s no bloody wonder I’ve got a migraine today. First one in about a week, though, but still there… I got about 8 hours of sleep today which I don’t remember doing in a long time. This morning? Still exhausted. Slept on the train in. Today? Still exhausted. I’m just fucken drained…

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Done!

The Search is Over.

This is now ours. The first car Chantale and I have to our joint names.


2007 Mazda5 GT in Brilliant Black.

We pick it up early next week.

Yeah! πŸ™‚

Cross-Posted to BOTH our Journals! πŸ™‚

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