If I owned a gun, here's what I would do:

Pick it up, grab some bullets, place them in the clip or the cylinder (I dunno if I'd own a revolver or a semi-auto), cock it, point it at my head (where's the best spot? temple? under the chin? in the mouth?), and pull the trigger.

Nah, I don't really want to die...although life sure would be easier if I were dead. I'm actually pretty happy these days. Things are good...I have many friends (and they actually seem to enjoy my company), a decent job, a good place to live, and a bit of money in the bank. So why do I joke about suicide? Because I go to the pub/bar with friends and everyone seems to be able to chat it up with members of the opposite sex (ie. hit on or get hit on) and I have no clue what I'm doing. Seriously, I have no clue how to hit on a woman. What do you say? In movies, the situations are always different and seem to just present themselves. Either that, or they just don't have audio of the dialogue that goes on in a hit on session (you noticed that? they'll show a guy talking to his buddies about how he's gonna go chat up some chick...but when they show to guy actually going through with it, he'll go whisper something in her ear and you never find out what it was he said to make her laugh...it's a fuckin' piss off!). In this day and age of sexual harrassment suits, I'm never sure what is ok to say or do...yet I see other guys push the limits of what I would think is appropriate towards a girl they've just met, and they often don't have problems. Course those guys are generally more fit and better looking than I...which is probably where a lot of my problem lies. Maybe I should hermitify again and start up a strictly regimented workout routine and get fit before trying to woo the ladies? MetalMike did that...seems to have worked for him. I just hate working out. I like exercise...running, playing sports, etc. Ah fuck it...whatever. I'll just go with the flow, keep up this social life I've gotten into and hopefully pick up some pointers along the way...and maybe something will just happen and it'll all click. I am very slow on the uptake, so maybe I just need some patience. Oh wait, I do have patience...what am I fuckin' whining about?

Before going out last night, I saw Lie With Me at the film fest with Q&S. It was good...although there is an abundance of wang (to be expected in a film about sex). Earlier we went for breakfast at Floyd's (actually, we were gonna try Babe's Diner on Esquimalt Rd, but not long after walking in Q & I realized the place was not the cleanest (smelled like smoke, there were flies all over, and it was just a little weird). Floyd's was much better, although I lost the Mahoney toss (I'm now 5 for 7). After the movie I went to the VCC for my first volunteer projectionist shift. Pretty easy...we setup the projector, tested the tape, then played it once the audience was ready to go. Oh, I turned the lights down too! The first movie was El Perro Negro, which was old footage from the Spanish civil war that had been pieced together into a buncha stories. It was sorta boring, but interesting and meaningful to some I'm sure. The second movie was a/k/a Tommy Chong and it was excellent. It was a documentary about Tommy Chong and his going to prison for selling bongs. Very well done.

I go see another movie now.

My bike tire wasn't getting fully inflated and I couldn't figure out why, until this afternoon. I just wiggled the valve a bit and I think dislodged something, then I pumped it up and all was good. So much nicer riding on a properly inflated tire...you can go much faster!

Saturday I had a "training" session at the film fest office to make sure I knew how to use the video projector. No biggie. It's a bit lame that my volunteering will be almost the same as what I do for work. I would have liked to learn how to run a 35mm projector. After that I watched James Bay vs Velox with Becky...James Bay won and it was a good game (and a good day to watch a rugby game). I didn't watch enough rugby when I was in New Zealand, and I'm still not clear on all the rules...but it is a cool sport and I'm getting more and more into it.

After watching a bit of Ottawa killing Toronto on the ice, I saw the first period of Vancouver killing Montreal, then I headed to the Wicket for ACPness 2006. I was the first one there and the room we had intended on meeting in was booked for a birthday. We found space in the games room and all was well. It was a good gathering...about 8 classmates showed up...would have been nice to have more though (we were expecting more). I made up some ACPDVDs full of some of our best and worst video productions from the program. I brought the lappie too, but we didn't watch any. People did appreciate the DVDs though. Myself, Frenchie, Ruhly, Laurie, and Colin ended up closing down the bar (some guy gave us the majority of a pitcher he had ordered and didn't want to go to waste...right as the bouncer was trying to get us outta there). We grabbed a slice at Brickyard, then I dropped the lappie off at the station and walked home. I'm cheap when it comes to cabbing for some reason.

Sunday I wasn't much hungover (I seem to have mastered the art of watering up after a night of drinking...although this time around I wasn't even really that drunk). I rode my bike into town to pick up the truck and the 'puter. The crew was practicing for the election show at work, but I didn't bother them. Hercher, Steve & Ang, and I went to the Prairie Inn in Saanichton to check out the Belly Buster burger (we'd heard rumours that it was enormous and barely conquerable). The back story on this is that a guy at work found a picture online of a guy that looks like Hercher, with his face buried into one end of a huge burger...so we decided to go out in search of huge burgers. I'm coining it Burger Patrol, and I think we're gonna try to hit up a different joint every month or so. The Prairie Inn Belly Buster was large, but didn't live up to the reputation we'd gathered. It was nowhere near unconquerable. Herch and I got the coleslaw side and were disappointed as it wasn't very saucy. Steve got the fries...would have been a better choice (and could have easily finished them). Ang, for the record, did not enjoy a Belly Buster...but she did eat a smaller burger. So we were a little disappointed, but it was a good meal nonetheless.

Later Sunday I picked up Grandma and we headed out to the boonies for a visit with the folks and to have Russian dinner with the cabbage rolls, petehe, and borscht Grandma had made before Christmas. Gord and Brandy were down (with Bailey of course). It was a simple evening. I didn't have much to talk with anyone about, so I was pretty quiet. I helped dad with some stuff on his computer again...he's learning the ropes of transcoding video and burning DVDs and stuff.

Election was Monday. I can't say I'm excited about Stephen Harper and the Conservatives leading the country, but at least they are a minority. It really doesn't matter who gets into power...they'll all fuck up some shit, and they all have at least one good idea that they might carry through on. I don't blame my fellow Canadians for giving up on the Liberals (lead by Paul Martin, they were pretty much doomed), but it would be nice if the NDP could build up a stronger presence and become a true contender. I wasn't too busy on election night...both stations had their election shows. A-Channel's was quite good and very slick (except for the OPP incident). Citytv's was a little less slick, but good too. City's ran way long (waiting for Harper to talk (and then finish)) and caused a little bit of grief as everything ran on a tilt overnight and I had to re-arrange a buncha stuff in order to get back on track by 6am...but I got it done.

Got back to the skating on Tuesday. I did well actually. I was doing turnarounds at a faster speed than I was the last time I skated (over a month ago). I took the stick and messed around with a puck for bit. Tuesday I also gave up on Letterman...for a little while at least. The show has gone a little downhill in recent months and I've only been watching it out of habit and tradition (and hope that it'll get better). Dave is still waaay better than Leno, but Conan and Kimmel both have pretty good shows (not that I'm switching to them). I have now cleared up time to focus on the Daily Show, Colbert Report, 24 (which I wasn't going to watch, but then decided to), and Kenny vs Spenny (which I understand is quite hilarious and well done). And movies...I have movies to watch.

This has gotten plenty long enough. I hadn't updated in a while, but now we're caught up and the world is happy with rainbows and butterflies again.

So I go into the bike room after work on Thursday, and my bike has a flat rear tire. Ugh. I have a spare tube in my jacket pocket, plus the tire removal tool, but on this bike I ride to work, the wheels are not quick release...they require the use of the 5/8" wrench, which I do not have. So I decide to pump the tire up and see if it loses air fast. I pump it, it seems to hold air all right. I decide the ride home, and hope to make it before the tire goes flat again. By the way, it's pissing rain on Thursday night. I hit the street and ride at my normal rate. It goes well until probably half way...when I realize the tire is getting pretty low on air. I could stop and pump it up again, but as I said, it's pissing rain. I didn't feel like stopping, even if I could get under some shelter. I continued to ride and let the tire go completely flat. I rode pretty much the last kilometre (or more) with a flat rear tire. It was not fun, nor easy. You can't go very fast with a flat tire. Ah well, the wheel survived and I put a different tube and tire on it yesterday...it's all good.

I am single handedly going to put Floyd's Diner out of a business. Sara and I had lunch there yesterday, and yes, I Mahoney'd it and won the toss. I'm 5 for 6 now! In true Floyd's fashion it was a good Mahoney...I think it was a chimichanga, with fries. To top it off, Sara couldn't finish her soup, so she got it packaged to go and gave it to me to have at work for dinner. So nice! It was good too...potato bacon.

Didn't get up to much else yesterday, except work of course...but that was pretty dull also. Battle was sick, so Mildy was in with me.

Monday was good. I went to the college in the morning to take a few pictures for a DVD I am making up. Lois let me into the TV studio, and we caught up on what's going on. Ran into the Wood, so chatted with him briefly. Carol was there too...hadn't seen her in many years. Once I had secured the pictures, I headed over to Becky's place to take her out to the Brick in Langford (I didn't even know the downtown Brick had closed). She wanted to get a stand for her new TV, and had her eye on one at the Brick, but didn't know where it was. She ended up buying one, but it wasn't the one she originally wanted (that one was a flimsy piece of garbage), and they didn't have it in stock, so we didn't even get to get it. Oh well, it was a fun little excursion out to Langford. We went back to her place and she showed me her pictures from Australia and New Zealand. It was pretty cool, cause we did many of the same activities in Australia and she has some pictures that are very much the same as mine. I think she had a better time though..she definitely made friends better than I did. I still have to show her my pictures.

After I left her place, I went to meet with the volunteer coordinator for projectionists for the Film Festival. They're not letting me run a film projector, because I don't have any prior experience and the learning curve is apparently steep, but I will be running a video projector for a couple of films. The meeting with the guy didn't go nearly as long as I'd expected...there was no training or anything, so I was done early and just hung out in the Brickyard, then at work (before actually starting to "work").

The cold lingers on ust slightly, but I feel well. I think I will start running soon...maybe tomorrow. Glad to have the sore throat gone...very annoying.

Since my last post, my condition has not changed a great deal. I had a fairly sore throat that night, and it continued right through til pretty much this morning, when I am now getting some relief. I'm not gonna be a big whiner and complain that it was the worst feeling ever...there has got to be way worse feelings than that. But it was an annoying sore throat...especially in the way it stuck around. I've had sore throats before, but I don't think I've ever had one that hung around for over four days. Wacky.

Anyways, I took Wednesday and Friday off from work so as not to infect anyone else. Probably should have taken Thursday off too, but I thought I was on the mend. Thursday night, I could not sleep...I was awake until around 7:30am, when I finally managed to get a couple hours of shut-eye in. I tried to go to sleep at 2:30am, after reading for a half hour. No dice. Then I watched some TV, tried to sleep again...no go. Then around 5:15 I realized I wasn't anywhere near tired, so I put Fahrenheit 9/11 in the ole DVD player and watched it all the way through. I heard Sarah get up and ready for work upstairs as I watched the movie (not that she was loud). I haven't not been able to sleep like that in quite a while. Very strange.

Poker night last night...we had 14 people playing on two tables hosted by Q&S. The Planman parents were in the mix, as were Jack and Adam from work. The tables merged once we were down to 10 players. I lasted to the merge, and then a little while longer. At one point, on the first table, I was the chip leader. But I squandered it and made a few poor decisions and had nothing to bully with at the merged table. Of course not getting dealt any significant hands didn't help either. Planmom was out fairly early, but Plandad lasted longer than I. In the end (around 1am) it was Sarah #3, Jack #2, and Calvin #1. Ah well...at least I beat Choy.

Pretty quiet weekend otherwise. Been watching a lot of movies, taking it easy, drinking a lot of tea and getting good doses and Vitamin C. I should be fine to work tomorrow. I must get better before the end of the week as Saturday is ACP Reunion/Binge-Drinking Shindig and I don't wanna have to lame out on that!

Being sick is BORING! I better be better tomorrow.

Letterman was hilarious tonight...he seemed to be off his game. He tossed all his blue cards (as he usually does)...except he still needed some (like the Top Ten List) to carry on with the show. It was funnt seeing him search the floor for the right card.

Ya.

I beat Choy at squash!!!! Not only did I beat him, I frickin' shut him out! We played on friday and while he did kick my ass most of the time, I managed to take 2 games from him. The aforementioned shutout, which was just amazing, and our final game, which was tight all the way to the bitter end, which ended up being a 9-8 victory for the Planman! My game was on, my shots were low and hard and I seem to be getting the hang of things. It's great!

Friday night, Battle was all fired up and actually wanted to go out for a beer after work...so we joined up with the upstairs crew and headed out, ending up at Irish Times. We had a beer before they closed down, then parted ways...Becks and Hoar continued on to party at Upstairs (although I heard there was an issue, and they ended up at Steamers with The Yeech), Battle and I grabbed a slice at Pacific Rim, and Ken & Adam headed home. Nothing too exciting to talk about, but it was a fine outting.

Saturday I lazed in bed, watched The Deer Hunter which was ok, but long and kinda boring because of it's length. I did go for a run...a 6 song run. That evening I met up with Yeech and Herch at The Monkey Tree Pub, and Sara and Ross joined us to play Music Bingo. The food was good, as were the beers (and I'm entered into a contest to win a beer vending machine!), and the Bingo was pretty fun. They play a song, you see if it's on your Bingo card, if it is, dob it and when you get a line (or two, depending on what she specifies) you yell BINGO! and run up to claim your prize (that's the idea anyways). Ross took third place in the first game, he got some Rickards Red glasses. None of us won anything in the second game played, and Sara, Ross and I left before game 3 was over. Herch and Yeech played one more game and Herch took first place, earning himself a $20 gift certificate to the pub! Sara, Ross, and I left early to go see Fun with Dick & Jane...it was good and funny. Enjoyable.

After the movie, I parted way with the couple and met up with Herch and Yeech at Irish. We had a couple beers (I signed up for a Beers of the World card the night before and need to work on stamping off each of the beers they have on tap so I can win cool prizes!), and shot the shit. We were trying to find the whereabouts of Becks, Polly, and the other girls involved in girls night. Finally we got a response that they were at Hugo's, so there we went. Hugo's was fine, but crowded (as usual). There were only a couple of the girls left, and they didn't stay too much longer. We danced a little bit, but there wasn't much room for lettin' loose. Herch left, Yeech and I followed soon after. I had a couple pieces of pizza at Pacific Rim again, talked to some guy on the street for a while...he was concerned about his friend who just picked up an apparent "dog" and wanted my advice on how to help his friend. It was a kinda funny interaction. Then I went home.

Sunday morning I woke up earlier than usual, but dozed back until my radio went off. I had a date at 11:30 with a girl I'd met on lavalife...we were going for brunch at Floyd's. I nicked my lip while shaving...as is always the case when you're shaving for a greater purpose than just shaving. Ah well, it wasn't that bad. I got there on time, and she arrived right after (her name is Jen). We didn't have to wait too long to get a table, and conversation didn't seem to be a problem. I mahoney'd it as usual...this time I got an omelette filled with some sort of chutney chicken type mixture...it was good, but not the best I'd had. Jen had banana french toast, which looked pretty good. I flipped for the mahoney, as usual, and I won the toss, as usual. I'm 4 for 5! Go Tails! Jen and I walked around town a bit, checked out Lyle's place, then parted ways. It was a good date and we never really had any lulls in conversation. I think I'll be seeing her again on Thursday.

That pretty much sums up the weekend. I'm making buns again...different recipe this time. Hopefully they'll proof better this time and be light and fluffy and yummy.

I went running in Tuesday morning (morning for me is noon for most people). First time I'd been running in a couple months...no problems though. Well, there was one problem...the ear bud headphones that came with my digital audio player kept falling out of my ears. I quickly gave up on them and continued the run sans music. There were a lot of people out running...on a normal day, I may see one or two other runners on the streets...tuesday I musta seen at least 10! Lots of people making good on their resolutions I guess. Silly people. Mine is a resolution as well, although I did run before, so it's not like it's a big resolution. I ran this morning as well, and didn't see any other runners...a couple of women walking and that was about it. I got new headphones yesterday...Panasonic ones that hook over my ear and fit nicely inside my hearing canal. They worked well...not once did I feel like they were going to fall out. One problem is wind noise...they catch wind, but I quickly stopped noticing it. The only other issue was that the left ear one seemed to be making a clicking noise...like something rubbing against something else. It was totally annoying, but it was a little. Probably just wasn't sitting quite right.

I'm sticking with 5K runs for right now, but I'll soon be going longer. I plan on doing the TC10K again this year, and I've already registered for the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in the fall...I want to do it again, and do it proper this time (no walking).

I think I will start classifying my run lengths by number of songs listened to, rather than actual distances. Today was a 5 or 6 song run (I think...I lost count to be honest). On a big enough scale, song lengths all average out to be somewhere in the 3:30 neighbourhood I believe...maybe a little longer.

I got all homemakerish (again) yesterday and made my own hamburger and hot dog buns. I bought smokies and chicken burgers on Tuesday when I went shopping, but decided I would try my own buns, since I was in a baky mode recently. I made the dough from a recipe I found online, and they turned out ok...but they didn't proof very much so they ended up pretty dense and smaller than I would have liked. I could have let them rise longer, but I got impatient. It may have been too cold in this place too...I don't keep it balmy. I'll try again...probably a different recipe next time. Any good bread recipes? send 'em my way.

Any ideas for what I should try to bake or make next? Heather suggested pastry, which I'm up for tryin' (I got shortening I need to use).

I have decided what my first woodworking project will be. A cribbage board! I don't know what happened to the one I had, but I shall now make my own. I wanted to make a utility box for the back of my truck, but I think I may just buy a cheap canopy now...seems easier and more practical. I just hope I can find one that doesn't create too many blind spots...one thing I love about an open pickup bed is the visibility it provides.

Pfffft! That was dumb. I break even at the casino yesterday, so what do I do tonight? Yes, I go back and drop $60. WHAT WAS I THINKING? Why do I push my luck? Ah well...had to happen sometime. At least I got to play for almost an hour before my money was drained. The year is not off to a grand start.

Oh, 2 more resolutions I thought of:

- Get better at skating
- Build a new and improved planman.net

Welcome to 2006!

Q&S (and I to some extent) ended up hosting this year's (or is it last year's?) party. 14 people were in attendance, including a few that aren't from the core group. John and Mo were over from Vancouver and seemed to have a good time (I barely knew them at UVic as friends of Q & Rol...they're cool though). Polly had her new man, Will, there...seems like a decent dude. Lianne and Jason came as well...although they are fast becoming part of the core group it seems. Of course Choy came and brought Laurel (who ditched her other friends to hang with us!), and Rol was there, but sans Katie cause she was sick. Yeech & Becky represented from the A-Team and ended up staying for the entire party (originally Becks was gonna leave to meet up with others...but then she realized we were just as, if not more, cool). My intermixing with the work friends and the core group friends seems to be working well (I've tried before and results were not so good).

We played games for the majority of the evening...trivia type games including "2005 in review", brain games including "New Years Anagrams" which Rol turned into "Dirty Anagrams", a personality game where we had to guess who made which New Years Resolution (we all wrote down our resolutions and put them in a box earlier). They were all fun and there were prizes which were cool. The big game of the evening was a digital camera alphabet hunt. We had to leave the house in groups and get pictures of things beginning with the full spectrum of letters of the alphabet. Every unique picture was awarded 10 points and bonus points were awarded if the pictures included nudity, team members and emergency officials, or animals. We alloted one hour to complete the task and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Some groups took off in their cars and went all over town, while some of us stayed around the neighbourhood. I was teamed with Rol and John, and while we managed to get a picture of something for every letter of the alphabet, we were pretty tame with our picture taking. Q, Choy, and Jason got the best batch of pictures (in my opinion)...they covered a lot of ground on foot and racked up quite a few bonus points too. All the pictures are in the pics section of the site. I want to organize a bigger and better rally/scavenger hunt/Amazing Race type event now...I think I will plan one for the spring or summer and get a bunch of people involved. I wanted to do it last summer, but never got around to it.

There was some drinkin' goin' on at the party, but it was pretty tame. We did "champagne" at midnight, and a few of us did some shots around 12:30 (which I started to feel at about 3am when I was going to bed).

Sunday I didn't have any recovery to contend with, which was good. Q&S had the place cleaned up pretty quick (not that it was that messy anyways). I watched Patton, I put the pics up on the site, then it was New Years dinner time. Every year we (the family) has Chinese food on January 1st. In recent years it has branched out to include friends...Peggy and Will are always there, and this year I invited Q&S along as well. We ate at Purple Garden over by Cedar Hill X Rd & Shelbourne. The food was pretty good, but the place was busy and getting in line for the buffet was a bit of a pain in the ass. The place isn't laid out all that well. It was fine though. Afterwards, as modern tradition goes, we hit up the casino to see how fast we could lose our hard earned cash. Q&S&I hovered over the blackjack tables until seats opened up. I played my usual smart way by putting my break even money in my pocket once I got up a bit...it came in handy because after two different tables, I left with the same amount I entered with (plus $1...which I put in a slot machine and lost). Gord & Brandy hit up the Royal Ascot...but the horses weren't too good to them . The rest were all slot machine fiends...I'm not sure how they all fared, but Grandma and Will both came out ahead, so that's cool.

2006 Resolutions for Planman:
- Take on some woodworking projects (I've got access to Q's tools, so I may as well)
- Run more regularly (I have signed up for the half marathon again)
- Learn & practice more on the guitar
- See what I can do about getting some female companionship goin' on
- Start and finish the many DVD projects I have lined up to do
- Keep up this recent boom in social life that I have attained
- Play lots of squash and get good enough to beat Yeech, Herch, Choy, and Q
- Get some brainstorming going on for the books or screenplays I want to write

That's plenty...I should be able to manage at least a few of those (preferably all). Go big or go home, right?