I'm swamped.

Ok, this isn't exactly news to anyone who knows me, but lately I feel like I've started to really overload myself even more-so than I've done before. It almost seems as though I decided that the last quarter of 2002 should be lived with as much overhead as possible. So, to that effect, I have seemingly taken on numerous projects I normally would not have. For example: I'm involved in my kids' school as the Transcriber of Minutes (Minute-Man! That's me! :) ) for the Parent's Council that meets once a month. I'm a Volunteer Leader (Rusty!) at my kids' Beavers Group that meets weekly (I've even thrown my hat in the ring as FundRaising Chairperson!). On top of that, I'm taking the Introduction to the Principles of Insurance (LOMA Course 280) for work until mid-November, and an Introduction to the New Testament (Theology) course with Chantale once a week. Other work-related courses to come: Implementing IIS server 5.0, Visual Basic, SQL, Oracle, Windows 2000 Server, and more! Every night of the week, I have something occupying my time. I almost have to SCHEDULE leisure time with Chantale! On top of all this, my Supervisor is on a leave of absence until December. This means, naturally, that part of his workload falls on my shoulders. Meetings and Paperwork, anyone? All this, added to my on-going involvements with other personal projects (Comicopia being the longest-running) keeps me hopping like a crackerjack.

*sigh*

The only good thing about being so busy, though, is that I don't have much time to think. Think about the fact that this past weekend represents the beginning of a new Visitation Schedule with the kids. Due to the distance of where they live and the school they attend in relation to where Chantale and I live, I had to agree (for the best interest of the kids) that in order not to impact their school work so much, I would only see them every second weekend for the school year. Thus, for the first time, there will be a large gap between the times we can have the kids to ourselves. Luckily I'll still get to see them at Beavers on my "off" weekends, so that'll lessen the hurt. But still, you can imagine how it feels... It does indeed make us appreciate our time together all the more, though. That is also a very good thing. And heck. Look at how quickly time flies. James turned 8 years old last week. Melyssa's turning 6 years old in 6 months. Pretty soon they'll be able to travel on their own and will be free to do as they please... which includes hanging out with us as often as they want :)

"Obla-dee, obla-da, life goes on, yeah! La-de-da and life goes on..."

Life is weird as much as it's strange...

Chantale and I have been talking about kids recently for various reasons and the question came up about kids being born sick. I told her that there is someone in my family who suffers from a form of autism. I wasn't sure where he falls in the family so I told her we'd talk to my mother about it soon. All I knew was that I met him and his brothers in Italy many years ago.

Last night, we were downstairs talking with my mom and I asked her about him. His name is Francisco (where I used to think it was Frankie) and he's the oldest boy of my mother's oldest brother, making him my first cousin. This perplexed me to no end because I know my mom has a younger brother (living in Montreal), an older sister (living in Italy) and an older sister who passed away years ago who used to live in Argentina. I had no recollection of her older brother, my uncle! The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a face to it. We left and she said she would go through the photo albums to get me a picture.

With all this discussion, this morning, my mom calls her sister in Italy only to find her in tears. Apparently her brother had been found earlier near the main church in the city (it's a huge church up on the hill - Madonna del Pettoruto) on his way to work. He suffered from some kind of blockage in his lungs and he passed out. They rushed him to a hospital in Cosenza (about 25 minutes away) looking more dead than alive. He's now in intensive care and we'll get more news later tonight when my mom calls for an update.

Needless to say, she's very shook up by this as he's only 2 years older than her and I'm feeling a little freaked out about the fact that we spoke about him yesterday and then this morning he almost dies...

Ok, more strange things but this time on a good level.

As I mentioned before, Babies seem to be a main topic revolving around my life right now. Chantale and I have talked about them on various levels (ie; how many we'll want, names, activities they'll be involved with, etc). We know it's a few years from now, but the topic keeps coming up. Why? It's in the air!! Her aunt is pregnant. An ex-co-worker of hers is pregnant. An out of town friend of ours is pregnant. Heck, even my mom's cat got a neighbor's cat pregnant!! Everyone around us seems to be pregnant!!

Last night, we're just channel-surfing and the various shows we watched involved babies: Dharma & Greg was an episode where Dharma thought she was. Friends was the episode where Rachel comes home with her new baby. Heck, even Dateline had a feature on Vince Gill and Amy Grant and how they also had a baby together!!

Actually, that last storyline was the one that got me somewhat nervous. See, the road they travelled to be together was quite touching. But when their wedding was broadcast and I watched them exchange vows... I suddenly had a panic-attack!

Omigod! Chantale and I are getting Married!!! Less than a year away! I've gotta prepare!! My speech! Probably in 3 languages!! My vows! Toasts! Ohboy!!

Let's just say the reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Mike, it's time to get your ass in gear, said I to myself. Woooo....

This past weekend was a really nice one. Chantale and I will probably suffer from it, though, as we both had tons of work to do, but, we were both so wiped from the previous weeks that we basically spent the weekend relaxing together. We slept in, lounged about, and simply enjoyed each other's company without needing to rush about town as we've been doing for so long. Outside of my going to help out at the Beaver's Car Wash on Saturday and seeing the kids, and a leisurely walk through a shopping mall that afternoon, we relaxed. We honestly couldn't remember the last time we did that.

Sunday afternoon we had lunch at my parents along with my brother, his girlfriend(?) and his in-laws. We had a nice meal, chatted, and got the wine production going for this year. That evening, Chantale and I went to the Casino Cabaret for a showing of Danse-Sing. It was a lavish production number with some great songs and great dancing. Personally, I preferred the show we'd gone to a few months ago (Cinema-Show) as I didn't find all the singers in Danse-Sing to be as good. Out of the two male leads, one growled and yelled a lot, and the other just didn't keep time properly with the songs he was singing. The female lead was also a "yeller". Besides all that, though, we had a wonderful time. We both really enjoy stage shows be it dramatic plays or musicals and so far we haven't been disappointed. We got home that night in high spirits. I decided to end off the evening by going out on the balcony and having a Vanilla scented cigarillo my Best Man Francisco gave me, while Chantale made us a large bowl of popcorn. I sat there in the cool night, enjoying the sky, relaxing some more, and picturing how on the night of our Wedding Reception, I could envision us along with Francisco, his wife Line, and a few others just lounging outside the Reception Hall, smoking celebratory cigars at around 3am… :)

Having a weekend like this does wonders to the spirit…

Well the weekend has come and gone and it's back to the working grind. I was thinking on Friday, after I'd picked up the kids and was driving home, just how much time and mileage I spend in my efforts to see them and be a part of their lives. As much as it could be considered a hassle, I really don't feel that it is. It's worth it. When I get to the school and have the both of them yell out "Daddy!" and run into my arms screeching in delight, it just makes me melt while it fills me with pride and joy. :)

We had a nice pizza supper that night and an early night for Melyssa who wasn't feeling too hot. James stayed up a bit as my brother and his wife came over to give him the birthday gift they haven't been able to deliver in a few weeks :) It was a Tiger etching, and a model Hummer. James was ecstatic! We sat around the table chatting and I realized how my little guy has grown up so much. The 4 of us (my brother, his wife, Chantale, and myself) sitting at the table, and James holding court. It was a really sweet moment :)

The weekend was nice and relaxing with the usual Saturday Gymnastics for Melyssa and then Beavers for the both of them with Chantale and myself helping out. A nice lunch and nap followed and then some activities. James etched, Melyssa painted and afterwards James and Chantale worked on the Hummer. After supper, we settled into our PJs for Family Movie Night. This time around we watched Winnie The Pooh: Boo To You! (the Halloween special) followed by The Santa Clause (which Chantale hadn't seen before). As always, Chantale made some excellent BBQ Popcorn we all devoured and had a great night. :)

On Sunday, we were all quite tired. After church and lunch, we all napped! Then, we packed our stuff and headed over to Chantale's parents' place where her mom was home recovering from pneumonia (instead of being up north with the Turgeon family) and Chantale cooked us all a fabulous Thanksgiving supper! Green beans and bacon, Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Gravy, and Ham cooked in pineapple juice along with cooked pineapples! It was scrumptious!! :)

Monday was our complete day-off. We spent most of it in our pjs as we lounged around the house doing arts and crafts and just enjoying having nothing to do :) We all took nice long baths and by 3:15pm, we loaded up the car again to drive the kids back. It was a beautiful weekend and we were saddened that it seemed to end so quickly. (Chantale admitted to me how she realized how much she actually misses the kids when they're not around...)

Ah, the life of a parent. Filled with so many peaks and valleys... But definitely wouldn't change it for the world, except if I could spend more time doing it :)

I knew today was going to be a wild one. Any time I have a really great and relaxing morning, I just know it's not going to last. Let me give you today as an example:

I woke up feeling rested. I washed my hair and shaved, all in the frame of mind that I didn't have to rush because I knew what I was wearing so it would go easier. I picked up around the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen, and then even decided to wash the pile of dishes sitting on the counter! (Some of you might be thinking that this is not what you call relaxing, but to me it is - slow, peaceful, moments to reflect). I made my lunch, had a bowl of cereal as I watched the morning weather news, and then got dressed. Still feeling very relaxed and at ease, I sat down at the kitchen table and even etched for about 15 minutes! Brushed my teeth, got my jacket and bag, kissed Chantale good-bye (she was still in bed - at 8:20am I would be too if I didn't have to work), and left. I hesitated on calling in to work to see if everything was going well. I decided not to just because there was no reason to stress myself out since I was feeling mellow.

Cool but nice, crisp, day. I get to the bus stop and watch the 8:25am bus leave. Rats. Bad omen? Nah, don't think about that. I had a nice bus ride and then spent another relaxing 30 minutes on the metro as I read my copy of Men's Health magazine. Another cool, crisp walk to work and I walk into the building feeling fine.

I don't even get to my desk before my co-worker says, "Good Morning, Mike. You're not going to be happy". That was all he had to say for me to know what it was that had gone wrong. So, I laugh, take off my jacket and drop my bag and sit down to solve. What a mess. Things were going wild all over the place. Almost felt like the computer equivalent of fireworks with blasts in every direction. It took 3 hours but it's all finally under control. All systems are back online and my missed meeting of 10am was re-sheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:30am. Now I can get back to getting the "ship" back on track and schedule.

So, now that I can breathe, I'm still in quite a good mood. I didn't suffer any headaches yesterday and even got to see my commercial on Global in primetime. Cool :) I didn't believe that Global was one of the stations carrying the Standard Life commercial so it came as a very pleasant surprise :)

I'm looking forward to heading over to A.L. Van Houte at lunchtime and enjoying another relaxing hour of coffee and reading. I keep thinking how really expensive a daily coffee is. But when I think of how much enjoyment I get out of taking an hour to myself to just relax with a book (or a friend) and a cup of coffee... well... it suddenly becomes worth it. :)

Had a funny moment last night after VB class. I left the building with the teacher who asked if I was heading to the gym (as we had talked about working out and keeping in shape during one of our breaks when he came across my copy of Men's Health Magazine). I told him that I couldn't because I was off to another course. He asked what other course I was in and did a double-take when he heard me say "Theology" :)

I realize just how far off Theology is from Programming (in whatever language)and shrugged my shoulders simply saying "I like to have a broad range of subjects in my life". Heck, I even had to leave class for 2 hours the day before in order to go to my LOMA class! So outside of my day to day work, on a regular basis my brain goes through: Computer Programming, Theology, and Life Insurance. And this doesn't even include all the stuff I do for a hobby on my own time!

Adding comics, wine, cigars, writing, reading, and so much more to that "time list" sure keeps me busy. But, it does, after all, keep life interesting. :)

Well, I decided that making supper wasn't good enough for Chantale tonight. I wanted to give her an extra-special treat so I asked her out for supper :) (What? Just cause we're engaged doesn't mean I can't ask her out on a date! :) )

I felt like driving somewhere so she picked me up at Joliette Metro and I drove us to the Vieux Duluth in Pointe Claire :) We had a really nice supper in a very empty restaurant :) Great and very tasty food as always :)

We got home 2 hours later and took a nice hot bath together :) Afterwards, well, there was that matter of a summary report that's due tomorrow. So, after I made us each a cup of tea (Echinacea for her, Apple Cinnamon for me), she worked on her computer while I took care of other business on my laptop.

(at about this point I can picture most guys slapping their heads at all this romantic hoolaballoo :) )

And now, almost 2 hours later, I made us each another cup of tea (again, Echinacea for her, Camomille for me) and she's finishing up her report while I'm clearing through old emails. Thus, I decided to log back on here and post this little report. I'm still quite amazed at how quickly time flies :)

While driving to the gym last night, I was once again struck by how extreme my taste in music runs. I mean, I spend more than enough time enjoying bands like Gene Loves Jezebel, The Specimen, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Suzi & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, etc. By the same token, you'll often find me grooving along to The Clash, The Alarm, Generation X, The Ramones, etc. And, of course, my old stalwarts; The U.K. Subs, The Exploited, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, and so much more! Yet, I hold early bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys and so on and so on in my heart as well. You can add in early rock tunes from , Aerosmith, Styx, Supertramp, etc. I went through my Gangsta Rap phase when Francisco introduced me to Tupac Shakur, NWA, and the rest of the Doggs. And when Chantale entered my life back 4 or more years ago, she introduced me to many female artists I hadn't heard of before (since I gave up radio in preference to my own station: CSAV Radio). Thus, in comes Sheryl Crow, Sarah Maclaughlin, Chantal Kreviazuk, Natalie Imbruglia, Natalie Merchant, Faith Hill, and more including Country Music! What a wild mix! And when you throw in the fact that I like to work on my writing and Comicopia while listening to classical music, it gets even weirder!!

All this was going through my head as I was driving, remembering how ecclectic my CSAV Radio broadcasts got at times. Heck, the CDs I had in the car during the drive to the gym were further proof of it: Punk Lives (a 2-cd collection of live Punk bands), Bryan Adams, The Pretenders, Moist, Blue Rodeo, The Clash. I even have a Sesame Street CD of Cookie Monster's Greatest Hits! :) In the meantime, what was actually in the CD Player? A Celtic Christmas. Soothing, beautiful celtic music.

At the gym, I was lucky enough to be alone. So, I took out the Grrlish Tracks broadcast Chantale put together for an early January 1999 broadcast and let the gym rock to great female vocals.

I guess I can honestly say that I've got a song for every mood, occassion, or event. The magic of music always reminds me of how important it's been in my life. Which, of course, explains my brief stint in Dirty Feet, my creation of Why Bother, and my settling into CSAV Radio (which almost made it to the Internet Airwaves!). I just can't deny it: Once a performer, always a performer :)

Hey! I spoke with my manager today who filled me in on what he thinks of the work I've been doing the last couple of months. For those who don't remember, I've been filling in as Interim Team Leader while my Supervisor was on a leave of absence. Well, my boss let me know how very happy he is with what I've been doing and is very happy to see how well I've taken to being in charge and how the Team is doing great. I've had praise before but more in a general way. Today's was the first time I got to hear how my boss sees me in a new/different role. It was quite satisfying to realize that he does indeed see me in the role of Team Leader which is quite different from Systems Analyst. Basically, he now has tangible proof of my past management experience and it agrees with him. This, of course, bodes well for the future :)

I spent some time Saturday night reading through some old emails I had totally forgotten I still had. See, when I left DPM back in 1999, I took a copy of my emails to keep at home. Since I was (and still am) using the same mail program -Pegasus Mail- it was simple to create another user id in order to keep them separate. Well, saturday night I remembered about them and decided to switch into that user id and read. I remembered having deleted thousands of them so I knew there wouldn't be that many. But still, the ones that were there filled me with so many memories it almost became hard to breathe at times.

Sure, there were the typical operational ones of my telling my assistants to do some kind of work, or informing users of work being done on their systems, but there were also a lot of personal emails. Of course, like anyone else, I do send the occasional personal emails :) The range of emotions were vast and wide. From personal and intimate messages with Chantale, to friendly joke mails with others, to some heart-breaking and very personal ones. Heck, I even found the email strangeanimal sent while organizaing my farewell supper at Casa Greque!! :)

So what's this all about then? Just that no matter how often I think back to that company and all the time spent there, I can't deny the fact that the people I worked with became a big part of my life and many things happened then which still affect me now. Sad things like folks I considered Friends whom I can't get a hold of. Good things like folks I considered Friends whom I'm still in contact with. And Very Good things like folks I considered Friends who I consider Close and Very Good Friends :)

I guess I'm just blabbering and waxing nostalgic because of all those messages which got me thinking to how different my life is today. Driving to the Gym last night, I got to thinking again about how incredible my life is with Chantale. As wonderful as it is now and special as its been in the past, there is always the promise that "tomorrow" will be even more so. And every morning when "tomorrow" comes, I realize that the "yesterday" which just passed was indeed nicer and better than the "day before last" :)

My Life seems to read like the most amazing Love Story at times. Every chapter brings new revelations and something's always happening, but no matter how the storm rages around us, together we weather it. And no matter how sunny the skies, together we enjoy it more. And no matter how hurt we may feel after a nasty fall from whatever event, we help each other up, nurse each other back to health, and then, together, carry on proudly with our heads held high.

I'm so exhausted I almost passed out during my class. Even now my eyes feel so heavy I wonder how I'm going to get through the next 2 hours. And I've already got 3 coffees in my system. *sigh*

And I just wrote up a long email to thothmeister in regards to my BBS, The Savage Land. We are no longer in the "salad days" of BBSing. 1991-1994 is way gone. All our fervent and loyal callers have moved out of town or simply stopped BBSing once the Internet became so prevalent. Now, the board is a ghost-town. It's staying active simply because it does not interfere with anything and doesn't cost me anything. The system, games, files, etc have been paid off years ago. But no one comes knocking any more. Every couple of months, though, an "old-time BBSer" will dial us up and completely freak out over the fact that TSL still accepts calls. There's a sense of pride in that but they don't really find themselves getting back into the habit of calling regularly and soon fade away again.

I have to face facts: The Savage Land Bulletin Board System will soon have to close its doors. I've been "missing" it for a long time, even while it's active. But the thought that the computer will go silent fills me with the blues... When the time comes, I hope some of the old users will want to meet up at Picasso's like we used to on a regular basis to toast its memory. Outside of that, I'll keep some of the more important posts from the Archives and probably just upload them on my web site. But then, the jungle will cease to be. Ending another era of the early electronic communication age...

Ok. Now that I can breathe a little, I can fill you in on the weekend! :)

As you know if you've been reading, Chantale and I got up early on Saturday morning and headed out to the Colisee in Kirkland for an advanced screening of Harry Potter. We were there by 8am but bleary-eyed and nursing our free coffees, we were happy :) The movie itself was incredible! Yes, there were some scary scenes (the Spiders and Snakes in particular) wherein I'll be covering Melyssa's and James' eyes when we see it with them next weekend, but overall I didn't find it that bad. Chantale hid under her coat for the entire Spider scenes whereas I took it in with relish :) It was just so increidbly well done visually that it would have been a shame to not look :) (Then again, I'm a horror buff and she isn't :) )

After the movie, we headed over to Future Shop to do some DVD Player checking. As we purchased Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone (yay! Original title!) widescreen on DVD last week, and picked up the Spider-Man widescreen collector's edition box on Thursday, we knew the Player would be coming soon. At Future Shop, we just didn't feel right. Everything is so in-your-face that the comfort level is way down. After gathering some info, we hopped back into the car and headed to Dumoulin. Much better. And the guy who served us was friendly and very helpful. We talked for about half an hour reviewing all our options and getting all the details. Finally, Chantale and I were left alone to look around and decided on a Panasonic R32 in silver. We decided it would be our shared (and early!) Xmas gift. We signed on for the extended warranty and the salesperson even threw in a bonus 35mm camera :)

Very happy with our purchase, we went to show it off to her mother and then went home to begin the massive clean out/ clear out of videocassettes. We went through our movie collection and divided them into 3 parts: the ones I could part with/give away (turned out to be 21), the ones I could store (LOTS!), and the ones we wanted up on our shelves. Then, I tackled all the tapes I kept with favorite shows recorded on from ever since I had my first VCR. There must have been over 60 of those. All the Star Trek tapes (about 12), all the Star Trek Next Generation tapes (about 20), all the Babylon 5 tapes (about 14), and so many others! These, of course, are just regular cassettes. I kept about 15-20 of them for daily recordings (of weekly shows like Crossing Jordan, CSI, Hidden Hills, Friends, Survivor, etc etc) and have a HUGE bag left to give away to whomever wants them. (If you want a series, let me know. Otherwise, I'll give them away to people to record on!). With everything packed and stored, the place looks SO much cleaner! Our current plan is to only purchase DVDs of the movies we really loved and slowly, very slowly, replace some of the videos we want on DVD. Not all old movies will be replaced, though, which is fine. But the classics like Godfather, Star Wars, Scarface, Pulp Fiction, etc, definitely will :) Always in widescreen, of course (whenever available).

After a wonderful supper of Alfredo Carbonnera with some exquisite homemade wine, we settled in for some Harry Potter viewing :) In fact, that's how we spent Sunday! We woke up early because our neighbors seemed intent on making a huge racket (sounded like they were building a bomb shelter). We stayed in bed and listend to the Trivia Show on the radio. I suggested something for brunch so we jumped out of bed and filled our tummies. After the very wonderful brunch, we watched the extras on the Potter DVD, took a short nap, had another light supper, took a relaxing hot bath, and then settled in for Spider-Man (with popcorn and Boomerangs! :) ) Basically, we spent the entire Sunday in our pjs just lounging around enjoying the snow falling and the coziness of our apartment. Exactly what a wonderful, lazy, Sunday, should be!! :)

I guess the fact that the DVD Player was our Christmas gift made the huge snowstorm of this weekend and morning quite fitting :)

Class is going quite well. In fact, we're ahead of schedule and will thus be finishing early today. Which is great for me since Chantale and I have to go pick up the kids from school, rush home and grab a quick meal, and head over to the Beavers meeting as Melyssa will finally be getting invested tonight! :) This should be really fun for her :)

Afterwards... we drive Chantale to her parents' place as she's house and dog sitting. The kids and I come back home and I get them into bed as tomorrow morning begins another hectic schedule of: driving Melyssa to Gymnastics, picking her up from Gymnastics so she and James can go to Beavers, driving home for lunch, driving James to his 1st Communion class, go (probably) visit my sister with Melyssa, pick him up, drive to meet up with Chantale for supper! On Sunday, more than likely go to church in the morning and then we're driving back to the East End to meet up with some friends and other Beaver volunteers for a 1pm showing of Harry Potter!

Basically, I'm glad the local Petro Canada has gas down at 69.4 today as I'll need a full tank for this weekend's travelling!!! (I didn't mention all the driving I'll be doing, just most of it :) )

On top of all that, there's homework and studying to take care of! Boy, it's a good thing that we had such a relaxing weekend last weekend as things will be hopping this time :)

So much happened this weekend but I don't really have the time to write it all up! However, as quickly as I can, here are the highlights:

Picked the kids up early on Friday and the Beavers Investing was truly something special. Melyssa was SO excited to have gotten her scarf and allowed to wear her hat. I don't remember the last time I saw her so happy and bouncy :)

Sadly, that same night, she got hit with a nasty bug. When we got home from dropping Chantale off at her parents, they went to bed and continued the sleeping they'd been doing in the car. I was on the phone with Chantale until almost 2am before I went to bed. At 3am, Melyssa comes into my room complaining of a neck and tummy ache. I have her stay with me for a bit but she can't calm down. We go to the bathroom to check her temperature and she ends up throwing up (on the floor before I got her to the bowl). Poor kid. After cleaning up and cleaning up, I get her to bed. Within a half hour, she's up still feeling sick. I get her to the bathroom again and she clears herself out. Phew! Back to bed by about 4am. At 5am, she's throwing up in bed, not having been able to get to the bucket by her bed. I'm there, cleaning up, helping her out and changing her clothes. I get her settled in bed and go dump all the sheets in the washing machine. I didn't care it was 5am, those sheets needed cleaning! Back to bed... and back up at 6am as she threw up again. *sigh* By the time she finally got back up at 9am, she was feeling much better. With half a toast in her, we went to Beavers simply because I felt she needed some air and there wouldn't be any jarring activity for her. When we got back home, she didn't want lunch, just sleep. She basically slept the entire afternoon. She was sick again by the time we got back to Chantale's parents but, happily, by about 7pm, she was eating properly. Sunday she was completely normal.

Saturday night after the kids were in bed, Chantale and I played Lord of the Rings RISK (did I mention I picked it up? :) ). It was a blast! By 2am, I begged off as Sunday was going to be another busy day. 2 Activity Highlights come to mind for Sunday: I took James and Melyssa to see Harry Potter with some other Beaver friends. Melyssa was somewhat bored by it (too young to get into it I guess) but James absolutely loved it! His review: Wicked Cool :)

The second highlight was watching the Als win the Grey Cup :) After dropping the kids off, I went back to Chantale's parents house and we all watched the game, chilling with some excellent food and excellent coffee. I also got a BIG thrill out of seeing my Standard Life commercial come on the air during the 3rd quarter :) Makes me wish I had taped the entire game so I could have a piece of television history in which *I* actually made an appearance!! :)

Ok, out of time now. More much later!

i want the eyes of a child.
i want to be able to look at the world in wonder
- not in disgust
i want to be able to go about life expectant of good things
- not of fear

i want the eyes of a child
so my spirit can be lifted with joy
not trampled underfoot by the harsh realities of life

i want the eyes of a child
so i can look everyone squarely in the eye
and smile appreciatively at the welcome reflected
- not cower in terror

i want the eyes of a child
so i can walkabout and smile openly at all i meet
- not hide my face in shame

i want the eyes God gave me when i was born
to look upon the world He created
before the advent of man altered it and all of us

and although it's impossible to do so right now
the time will come when the rising of the sun
will fill me with the light and strength to carry on

this i know, that as things done come undone
the eyes of a child give way to those of age and wisdom
and i will re-learn to see creation and every one
with the eyes of the child, that is within me still...

-Mike Aragona
November 26, 2002

Well, the trip is booked. Chantale is heading over to New Zealand to partake in a 12-day Contiki Tour of the island! She'll probably be leaving here on Jaunary 5th or 6th as it'll take her some time to get there. The tour officially begins on January 13th and goes through the 24th. Sometime after that, she'll begin to make her way back home.

She's been wanting to travel for a long time now, and has constantly stated that she'd be taking a trip as a Graduation gift to herself. After all the hard work, long hours, and many years of studying, she deserves it.

Whoop! She just called to tell me her insurance is taken care of now, too! :) One more tick off the list :)

Yes, she'll be going on the tour alone, although she might fly down to Sydney with her dad so they can hang around a few days before she begins her tour and he heads back here. That part's not decided yet, though :) Am I jealous? Nah. A little envious though as it would have been amazing to go as well. However, it'll be good for her to go off on her own and do what she wants (within reason, of course! She is still my fiancee ya know!! :) )

How am I going to survive a month without her when I was hardly able to stand a week back in 2001? Well, our bond is a lot stronger now than it ever was, that's for sure. But, we're also strong individuals as much as we're a strong couple. I might not have as much fun during that month as Chantale will, but I'll have my own things to do :)

Plus, we'll have plenty of chances to take trips together. We are planning on spending our lives together you know :)

Have a FANTASTIC trip, darling!!

At the gym last night I encountered something I never expected to. A girl comes out of the locker area talking on her cell phone and does NOT stop until I'm almost finished my workout almost a half hour later!! I watched her using the step machine and kept asking myself: is she here to work out her body, or her MOUTH? Pathetic. After I was done, I couldn't wait to hit the showers. Not just to wash the sweat off of me, but to get that image out of my head. Don't know why it aggravated me so much, but it did.

Anyhow, driving home I decided that I wanted to stop off at Maxi's in order to pick up some food. The closer I got to it, the more I realized I wanted to get everything I needed to put together some great meals for the upcoming week. So, from an expected trip of picking up a few items, I ended up spending over $125 on food!!! A lot of money, but what a stash! Fresh chicken breast so I can bake a chicken-mozzarella-salami in mushroom sauce recipe... mmm... Ravioli, 3 cheese tortellini, maple syrup ham, delisio rising-crust pizza (really incredible!), fish sticks, chicken sticks, some new flavors of Lipton Sidekicks (they really help!), lots of juices, bagels, butter, eggos, ground beef (for some hamburger helper!), salad, nachos, yogurts, and I even surprised Chantale with a Rainbow Sorbet :)

Speaking of Chantale, with all the hectic craziness of exams and whatnot, we've spent the last couple of nights in a nice relaxing way. When it's time to get to bed, we'll unwind for a bit with me lying on my back, reading some comics, and she'll lie with her head on my chest so we could read them together. The best part of this very cozy experience is giving her background info/lessons on the heroes and stories we're reading :) *happy sigh*

Well, the word came out today. My supervisor, who's job I've been doing since September as he's been off on leave of absence, has given in his resignation. My manager has asked if I would be interested in the position full time. Of course I accepted. It has to be posted internally, first, though, but I am currently the Interim Team Leader of Application Support - NT, so I'm obviously his choice.

Next week they'll begin the rounds of seeing if there are other internal candidates and then we go through the selection rounds. Basically, I'll be interviewing for the role I've taken on for the last 3 months :) It should all be decided by the end of the year!

...ever stop to think.... and then forget to start up again?

how about the opposite? ... some times i feel i think too much. other times i think i feel too much. some times i wonder if i think too much. other times i think i wonder too much.

it's a strange feeling to realize you're experiencing something you're constantly aware of. thinking.

my brain is always going off somewhere. sometimes i can actually follow it. other times i have no clue as to what's going on. my brain seems to have a mind of its own. possessed or something.

what am i thinking about right now? things i could be and would be doing if i didn't have to work every day. of course, if i wasn't working i'd be thinking about getting a job so i could have money to do the things i wanted and needed to do.

my eyes feel like they're looking on the inside of my head instead of what's on the outside; in front of me. and i slowly start to confuse myself as my winnie-the-pooh mug begins to chase the butterflies on my box of kleenex...

i think i need a change of scenery. gonna head out and indulge myself with a cup of coffee and peruse comicopia... deadline coming up soon...

Well the time has finally come and now, four months after the fact, the TV Commercials are off the air. It was a really fun couple of months watching the tube waiting and wondering when I'd see my face again :) But, all is not completely over! The company is now in the process of re-editing the footage to prepare 2 French and 2 English 15 second versions of the commercials to air during January and February. And then, they will re-edit 30 second and 10 second spots to be used March through August. At this point, I don't know if any of my footage will be used, but when the news is known, and if I'm selected, I'll obviously let everyone else know!! :)

(I wonder if I can start a letter-writing campaign for fans to ask the company to choose me :) )

Keep reaching for the stars! :)

Hey there!!

I JUST got the news about the new television commercials!!! There will be 2 new 15 second spots running January-February 2003. I will, once again, be making an appearance in one of them! The cool part is that I appear twice again!! The best part is that one of the appearances will actually be NEW footage!!!

Wooo-hoooo!!!!!!! :)

To all good things, an end must come...

The Sermon at Church today was all about that. And I guess it's only fitting I use the phrase to let you all know that, indeed, an era has come to pass. The Savage Land BBS which will soon be reaching its 12th year, will be going off-line before the end of 2002.

Yeah, it has been 12 years now, and a lot has happened to each and every one of us. TSL holds so many dear memories that it feels a little painful to have to take it down. But, most of those memories are from quite a number of years ago. After all, the Internet has indeed hit BBS' hard and although I've held on for all this time, it has suddenly become way too expensive to keep it alive. Pulling the plug now is the best thing to do.

Anyhow, I'm letting you all know of this because over the years, you've all touched The Savage Land in many ways. And thus, if you feel inclined to, Friday December 20, 2002, at Picasso's, we will hold our last Savage Land Xmas GT, doubling as a good-bye GT, too. Zabu, Jitterbug, Galaxion and I will be there and it would be nice to see you. And if not, well, there's always the Archives :)

Peace, everyone. Thanks for all the memories. Happy Holidays!

I've been promoted :) I've now officially taken over my supervisor's position (which I've been doing since September) and am now Application Support Coordinator :)

Yay me! :)

Well, it's somewhat done! Chantale has her Contiki Travel package and last night she booked her flight! Off she goes on December 31st and is tentatively scheduled back on January 29th. A month. It seems so long, and yet at the same time not so long. Maybe that's due to the fact that January is beginning to look like a busy month for me. But that would only be during the days. I know I'll miss her most at night. Especially as she won't be snuggling into me as we read a comic book or two before turning off the lights... *sigh* Oh well. I'll just have to look forward to all the make-up time when she gets back :)

- Christmas Shopping: Almost done! Had an incredible trip last night as we hit a couple of stores and found something for everyone on my list within minutes of entering each store! Bonus! :)

- Work News: My Team is taking me out to lunch today :) How wonderful a way of letting me know they're happy with me being "boss" is that? :) We're actually going to Dundees (one of the possible LJ meetup spots).

Speaking of LJ Meetup, I'm not going tonight. Will go NEXT month. Tonight, Star Trek Nemesis :) (and, of course, I've got work on Comicopia to take care of...)

I've been so busy I just realized I haven't written anything up on how my weekend had gone! That's a shame because it was really incredible!

After spending countless dollars at the S.A.Q. on Saturday, Chantale and I headed to a celebratory supper at La Porte Greque with her parents and sister. We were celebrating her parents' Wedding Anniversary, her sister's promotion, Chantale's University graduation, and my promotion! It was a blast! From the champagne before supper to the Beringer's Founder's Estate Chardonnay wine during supper, there were smiles aplenty to match the excellent food and great company :)

Sunday, we slept in and after a frisky wake-up call, we headed to the Ovarium for my graduation gift to Chantale: a Floating Bath followed by a Massage. Granted I was also privy to the same things, but it was a gift for us, enjoyed by both :) Being the second time we've taken the Floating Bath, it was a lot more enjoyable. I definitely found the time to go by quickly! The massage, on the other hand, was a little anxious. We'd never had one and weren't exactly sure what to expect. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable, but we both know it'll be more so next time :) Yes, of course there'll be a next time! Heck, my masseuse was someone very interested in Native American culture and actually taught me a few things! One of them being what kind of medecine the Black Panther "brought" to humans. And it really does say a lot about the unconscious reason I chose it for my protector!

After relaxing in the lounge, enjoying an Almond Tea and watching the giant goldfish for a while, Chantale and I decided to get a bite to eat. We'd spent the entire afternoon at the Ovarium!! What a heavenly time! So, we jumped into the car and headed out to St. Hubert in the West Island for a hot chicken sandwich :) Considering we live in the East End, we sure spend a lot of time in the West! :)

When we got home that night, completely relaxed and at ease, was it any wonder we could only think of cuddling contentedly in the dark for hours on end... ;)

I'm having a pretty good day :) Outside of the fact that I've been very much stressing on Comicopia for the last while (and this morning especially!), I've been quite good. Took care of everything regarding Comicopia and decided that there really was no choice but to leave Deadline where it was, but simply push the mailing off of the issue until I get back from Lac St. Jean (where Chantale and I will be once again for Xmas).

Heh. This morning, the Lord of the Rings soundtrack was playing while I was driving in. Hearing celtic chanting and deep bass drum beats while weaving through traffic in drizzling rain was quite surreal, let me tell ya! :)

Work-wise, things have been steady but not overpowering.... yet. They will be. I "see" them coming. But they'll hold off until 2003 :) But there's NEWS! I was just contacted and asked for my authorization to allow Standard Life to use my photo (from the commercial stills) for a POSTER that'll be on display during the I&T Kick-Off in January! :) (this one-day meeting (followed by a cocktail) in January is where all the I&T workers of the company get together and hear about our plans for the next year). I've been quite proud of being one of the very select few in IT to be part of the commercials and the idea that they'll now be using my face (along with 2 or 3 other IT workers) for the kick-off posters is... well.. a really BIG kick!! :) I've been laughing about it since the call came in a few hours ago :)

Add all this to the good-feelings I got last night when Chantale and I went to the kids' school to see their Holiday Concert and I'm flying high :) I couldn't go see Melyssa during the afternoon, but Chantale went. At night, we were both there and after James grade sang, he ran into the audience and spent the entire time on our (mostly Chantale's) laps. :) Melyssa eventually joined us during the intermission for the final Nutcracker play, too. What was also really cool was how after the show, I introduced Chantale to a number of women from the Parents Council. Lots of ooing and aahhing along with "Wow, she's beautiful! You really lucked out, Mike!" made me smile. And then one woman says "I love his smile!" turns to Chantale and says "that's probably what got you, eh?" DEEP RED BLUSH by me :)

So, yeah, I'm quite in a good mood :) And it's almost quitting time at which point I go pick up Chantale and then the kids. And tonight, we're heading to Picasso's! :)

Ever hear that song? By Sheryl Crow? I often feel like that these days. Running from one thing to the other and back again and off again and one more time! :) This weekend was definitely a case of going all over. Starting from Friday night with picking up the kids from school, going home, starting to clean up (if you can imagine this, it took me about 3 hours in total to wash and dry all the dishes that had piled up over the weekend!!), off to Picasso's for a nice meal with Chantale, the kids, and Jeff. At home, Chantale was totally fed up with how Melyssa excema was just NOT getting better and thus headed off to the pharmacy to try to get her some 1% cream. They wouldn't give it to her without a prescription and so Saturday morning I got up at 8am and attempted to get an appointment for Melyssa at Tiny Tots (this, after being up till about 4am chatting with Chantale). Appointment made, I took off to Wal-Mart and Zellers for some last minute-gifts (at 9:30am) and then to the copy shop to drop off the copies needed for Comicopia. Went back home, picked everyone up, and headed off to the clinic. Melyssa and I went in while Chantale and James went to Fruiterie 440. From there, we headed home for a quick lunch and then, while Chantale and the kids stayed home to bake cookies and continue cleaning up, I headed off to Maxi for groceries, Jean Coutu for Melyssa's prescriptions, a speciality store to get an halogen bulb that had burnt months ago, the post office to try to get special mailing envelopes for Comicopia (they don't make them any more!), back to the copy shop to get the copies, and back to Jean Coutu to get the filled prescription!

Are you dizzy yet? I am!

Finally got home just in time to rush through a shower and continue preparation for supper. My best man and his wife were coming over and as it was one of my "speciality" meals, I was getting everything ready food-wise (outside of what Chantale had already prepared - table, candles, dip). It turned out to be a really good meal, btw. With some good wine and excellent coffee :) We chatted till way past midnight. I couldn't believe I was able to stay up that late on just 4 hours of sleep from the previous night!

Sunday wasn't that bad/hectic (outside of having to get up early because the kids were making noise). We went to church, then to the in-laws (yes, I've considered Chantale's parents as In-Laws for a while now :) ), for some coffee and German Donuts. Afterwards, Chantale and I went looking for Aqua Babies while the kids stayed behind to help with the baking of Apple Cakes :) When we finally got home, the kids took their baths, I made supper, and we had a pretty nice fourth advent meal. We took them back (after enjoying a Petro Canada car-wash) and then headed off to pick something up for Xmas.

When we got home, we ended up turning around and heading back to the West Island for some Apple Cider at Second Cup :) Crazy :) A few hours later, got back home and wrapped a few more gifts before calling it a night. And still, it wasn't lights out until after midnight...

I may be losing a lot of sleep lately, but considering it's been filled with making the best and most of my time with Chantale, you won't hear me complaining :)

Work today has been busy as well but I'm glad it's almost over. I'm looking forward to going home even though I've got a stop to make at the Copy Shop again as well as another Post Office run before getting some food and then heading out to see Lord of the Rings 2 !!! :)

wow. that was a lot of writing. of course this means there'll be no replies/ comments/ posts on it... :)

I got the latest Bad Signal today and Warren Ellis explains it. He's feeling what I'm feeling but at least he's able to put it out right. Here it is:

bad signal
WARREN ELLIS

I wonder how many people really felt the heartpunch of Joe Strummer dying. Without The Clash, punk had no focussed political voice, and without that, the 1980s would've sounded very different. It's the Clash that informed west coast American punk. It's the Clash that told Billy Bragg that, yes, he could make songs about what was in his head, long before he found Woody Guthrie. Acts like Chumbawamba are the thinnest echo of what the Clash could be. Without the Clash, punk would've turned into nothing but bloody Sham 69.

Pausing to think about it, Joe Strummer sitting down and dying at 50 isn't that much of a surprise. He pulled some infamous geographicals, disappearing on three-week binges, losing his shit on stage and harvesting fans with the edge of his guitar. These are not things conducive to a healthy cardiac system, believe me.

But it's still a punch in the guts. Mick Jones faded away -- kept moving as long as he could, with "E=MC2", "V-13", the autumnal "Good Morning Britain", and then vanished into the mist. Joe Strummer kept moving. Looked back maybe once, with the Pogues, on a storming cover of "Honky Tonk Woman." But that was it. Kept doing new things, formed new bands, developed, pushed forward. And sure, not as many people were listening. The Clash suicided around 1985, and Strummer walked away from music for what was probably a crucial period.

But a year or two ago, Strummer was flying home from Australia with his family. Economy class. His stepdaughter was giving him shit about it: "I thought you were a big-deal rockstar." He told her to cope with it. And then a member of the cabin crew spotted him. Said, stay here. I'm moving you to first class. You're Joe Strummer and in 1981 I saw you live and you changed my life and you are going to fly first class. Strummer talked about it in a newspaper, with utter disbelief.

Joe Strummer had glory about him. Listen to "London's Calling" and tell me I'm wrong.

I was talking to Laurenn about this yesterday -- probably the only person I was talking to yesterday who really understood what was going on in my head, Niki won't get it until Vince Clarke or Meat Loaf pop their clogs -- and she said something to the effect of, If I'm this sad today, what will it feel like when Exene Cervenka goes? That sent me to Lydia Lunch's website, my own personal touchstone from that era.

But that's the thing about losing your youth. All your touchstones start dropping away into dark water.

And I live on a river.

-- W

Where does the time go? Was in bed by 1am, up at 4am due to Melyssa needing her pump, and then tossed and turned for a bit trying to get to sleep knowing my alarm was due to ring at 6:20am. How in hell are you supposed to sleep expecting an alarm!?! Bah. Ended up resetting it for 7:15am and still made it out of the house by 8am. Felt like I was on another planet as I walked to the bus stop with NO ONE in sight. Weird.

Kids came over last night and had a blast opening stocking stuffers and gifts. It was Melyssa's turn this year to get a sleeping bag (since we're off camping with the Beavers in 2 weeks). She was so excited she wanted to sleep in it instead of her bed last night. Of course, James took out his bag, too (it's identical actually) and slept in his. cute :)

Christmas this year was... peculiar. As opposed to being one-big-long joy-fest, it was more like a joy-fest with commercials. In other words, we had "moments" of joy and festivity interspersed with moments of... well.. not. (Heck, I came in to work this morning and found that I forgot to unplug the xmas lights I installed on my desk and they had burnt out... (shrug))

However, lots of goodies were indeed had at xmas time. Mainly, lots of nice shirts (I was really running ragged for a while), a humidor from my in-laws (way cool!), and lots of DVDs to go with our new DVD player ;) The stocking stuffers the kids gave Chantale really hit, too. She was very suprised and very happy with them :) (giggle) I like fun surprises!

Anyhow, I'm at work now. Had a bit of a rough morning but it's all smoothed out now. Chantale's going around today on last-minute business (getting her tickets, getting New Zealand and Australian dollars, etc). We were up late getting through the necessary packing lists (and freaking out for a bit trying to ensure she had the right baggage). Tomorrow... she flies off. Woah. It's been a somewhat emotional weekend in that regards, but we're holding up. I'm sure tomorrow will be another matter, though. The kids are quite sad that she'll be gone for a month as well. She's getting some jitters, too, but that's mainly because there's been SO much running around getting the plans finalized that she began to wonder if it was all worth it. I explained to her again how it IS worth it. She'll have an amazing time. And I. Well, I'll be counting the days, of course :)

Tonight, we have supper at my parents (since we can't all be there tomorrow night). The kids will, of course, have more gifts to open. And probably a few more tomorrow when my sister and brother come over. And then one more on Jan 1st when the three of us head over to my in-laws for brunch. :) Extended families may be rough some times, but you can't deny that it makes for interesting times during the holidays :)

Maybe more later. If not, tomorrow. (btw, I have missed reading all your entries these last couple of days :) )

...and I'm currently a mess. We had a very teary farewell last night and only got to bed at about 2am... with a 6:30am wake-up call. In a way it was good we got so many tears out of the way last night because it helped us keep our composure this morning. We all held out until we said good-bye at the gate. But, it wasn't too bad. I guess we were being strong for each other (weak smile). Her flight, if on schedule, should leave in about 5 minutes from now, which means she could be in Toronto before noon.

The kids... I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't exactly sure they knew what was going on although I suspected James understood. He was adamant last night that he come with us to the airport this morning. They were well-behaved and at the gate gave Chantale a big monkey-hug each :) We waved good-bye and left. As we got through the parking gate and made our way onto the 520, James got very quiet and before I knew he, he burst into tears saying how much he missed her. Of course, I was tearing as well and attempted to console him while keeping an eye on the road. He calmed down after a bit and then, by the time we merged back onto the 40, I found Melyssa all bunched together. When I told her to sit up, I realized she was crying. No, she was bawling. All the way home I couldn't console her enough. In fact, when we finally parked the car and got out, my mom was worried about why Melyssa was crying. When she told her that she was missing Chantale, my mom almost started crying.

It's only a month. It's only a month. It's only a month. It's only a month... but right now it feels like eternity...

I just got off the phone with Chantale. Her wait at Pearson Airport hasn't been too bad as she's chatted with other travellers making their way to Honolulu. She was going to go get her boarding pass now and is expected to get on the plane since it still has open seats. It should leave Pearson at 5:30pm and land at Honolulu at 10:35pm. From there, she'll have to scramble to make a connecting flight at 11:55pm.

*sigh* It was nice talking with her. Even the kids got to say hello which helped them, too.

One of the last things she said to me was "I'm gonna marry you when I get back, you know!" to which I replied, "you bet you will!" :)

...It's almost time to go downstairs for N.Y.Eve supper with the folks. In the meantime, I've been online a lot. Even cleared up my inbox at my home account! That was daunting :) But, as everyone who's signed up to my Jokers List (send a blank email to jokers_r_us-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to join), or on one of my personal mail list (like my Recipe Exchange list!) knows, I've gotten through them :)

Well, I guess I'll shut up now. I've got too many entries for today already... :)