Everybody, everyday, engages in different types of relationships in different ways. Family, friends, business, romantic... ultimately every interaction is a form of a relationship. Since I got back from the KISS road trip, I have really been putting a lot of thought into this subject.
Building business relationships in my career has always been something that I am good at, however, relationships in my personal life have always been something that I have put very little effort into, in fact, most of the time, if they weren’t going the way I wanted them to go, I would just let them die. I have spent night’s home watching TV (and anyone who knows me knows that is not really any kind of enjoyment for me) rather than pick up the phone and call around to see if anyone is up for something. For the most part, almost every girlfriend that I have ever had has given up on me, and moved on with their life in a direction that didn’t include me. Oddly enough, Melanie (my ex-wife) is one of the only ex’s that I have had over the years who actually speaks to me and genuinely seems interested in how I am doing.
Since I found out about Achmed, I have started to look at relationships in my life in a whole new light. I have always been career driven, and really from that point of view I felt that my relationship building skills have always been pretty good, but my personal life was something that just existed in the background. I had my guitar guys and my hockey buddies and my handful of close friends, which no matter how much I screw things up will always be there. I had my family, who are kind of required to be there even if I don’t put any effort into it.
My divorce made me rethink that, so did counseling, so did a few new people in my life over the past couple of years and more recently, so did Achmed. Have you ever heard the saying that relationships are here for a season; a reason; or a lifetime? I believe that saying is true and I believe that sometimes people don’t realize which type of relationship they are in, which is what causes all the problems.
Relationships are no different than a garden (and I know nothing about gardening).
First you have a lawn, which represents your best and closest friends and takes up the majority of the garden, and with very little care, just some regular maintenance; will give you a lovely blanket of green and a nice foundation to build everything else on. Occasionally you get some weeds, but if you deal with them, they are fixed, if you let them take root, they ruin your entire lawn.
Then you have a tree or a few of them, probably a maple, which will grow and flourish with virtually no care at all and always be there to provide you the shade you need, no matter what. This is your family. The trees and the lawn are there for your lifetime.
Then you have your flowers. The perennials are the ones that die every year and come back every spring; they are generally green and not a lot of colour, but very reliable and always show up. They don’t take a lot of care, but you still have to pay attention to them. These are the seasonal relationships, they come in and out of your life, and you might miss them when they are gone, but you know something will be back to replace it.
As for the annuals, these flowers show up once in a lifetime. They are vibrant and colourful and smell nice. They take the most time and effort. They attract butterflies and birds and make your garden come alive and you could just sit there and take in the beauty all day. These are the relationships that come into your life to perk you up, get you over a tough spot, but then they die and go away. The perfect annual flower is the one you will never forget and all of them serve a purpose.
Personally, I have always had trouble remembering which type of flower is an annual and which is a perennial. And in life too, I have had trouble figuring out which relationship fell into which category. In business it is usually obvious. In my personal life, not so much!
A lot of people who know me really well will tell you, I am an emotional dumbass and the trail of broken relationships that I have left behind me probably confirms their suspicions. I guess my point is that I have recently realized how fragile and short life is and learning to recognize what type of relationship category someone is in will help in the long run.
So, I am going to enjoy my garden and appreciate the flowers, colourful or green, when they show up, and learn the lessons they have to teach me while they are here, and remember them when they are gone. I am also going to consider what type of garden plant I am in other people's lives... hopefully I am not a weed!
This kind of gives a whole new meaning to “Stop and smell the roses”.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I Haven’t Forgotten My Purpose Here
It was brought to my attention today that I have kind of gotten away from what this blog was all about in the first place. I wasn’t actually going to write about my frat-boy weekend, because truthfully, that is not the way I generally behave. That certainly doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do it again... maybe in another year or so, not anytime soon.
The fact is, I was encouraged to tell everyone about my weekend by the guys who were there as well as some close family and friends. The purpose was not to convince everyone that I thought I was indestructible, more to let people know that I am quite capable of living a normal, active life, even though I will spend the rest of it with a brain tumour. Also to make anyone reading this realize, just because you act like a child sometimes, does not mean that you are one. People’s personalities, desires and behaviours sometimes fluctuate based on events happening around them.
Sometimes people take themselves too seriously and don’t let their hair down... in the 4 Guys case, Jason is the only one who actually has enough hair to let down (although he has the most grey), so the rest of us have to compensate in other ways I guess. The KISS weekend was just an event in time where we all got to forget about life for a few days and enjoy the moment. For me, and for the other three guys, it was an unforgettable weekend where we all left our baggage home and put reality on hold for a few days. I think that everyone should try it once in a while... it is good for the soul. We all have real jobs and real lives; obviously we don’t all live like that every day.
So to get back to reality, I can tell you that between to screaming in my head and the pain in my jaw the past two days, my reality has smacked me in the face like a frying pan since I got back from my rock star lifestyle. I spent the majority of my Saturday riding around on my bike (yes, the motorized one) and stopping to smell the roses (or in this case, the ocean) once in a while. I was a nice day and more of the kind of reality break that I prefer for the most part... but I will still have another KISS weekend (hopefully a few) before I die!
I have a lot of paperwork, as far as my job goes, to keep me busy for the next few weeks (although, yes, I still have problems drifting off into ‘What if...’), then I get to go back to Halifax for a few days. I am not sure if my ban on Argyle St. will be lifted by then, but it doesn’t really matter... they will never recognize the real me anyway...lol.
My belief in life is about experiencing new and different things as much as you can. I may have gone a little overboard on the KISS weekend, but how are you going to learn new lessons if you don’t push your limits? I certainly don’t regret my four day of debauchery, but I also have no intention of doing it again anytime soon.
Perhaps the next time I see some fool acting like an idiot I won’t be so quick to judge that this is the way they are all the time. After all, not even I can be a saint EVERY day... anyway, tomorrow I will get on with Part 4... “The Foccacia Bread and the Stagette Party”.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
The fact is, I was encouraged to tell everyone about my weekend by the guys who were there as well as some close family and friends. The purpose was not to convince everyone that I thought I was indestructible, more to let people know that I am quite capable of living a normal, active life, even though I will spend the rest of it with a brain tumour. Also to make anyone reading this realize, just because you act like a child sometimes, does not mean that you are one. People’s personalities, desires and behaviours sometimes fluctuate based on events happening around them.
Sometimes people take themselves too seriously and don’t let their hair down... in the 4 Guys case, Jason is the only one who actually has enough hair to let down (although he has the most grey), so the rest of us have to compensate in other ways I guess. The KISS weekend was just an event in time where we all got to forget about life for a few days and enjoy the moment. For me, and for the other three guys, it was an unforgettable weekend where we all left our baggage home and put reality on hold for a few days. I think that everyone should try it once in a while... it is good for the soul. We all have real jobs and real lives; obviously we don’t all live like that every day.
So to get back to reality, I can tell you that between to screaming in my head and the pain in my jaw the past two days, my reality has smacked me in the face like a frying pan since I got back from my rock star lifestyle. I spent the majority of my Saturday riding around on my bike (yes, the motorized one) and stopping to smell the roses (or in this case, the ocean) once in a while. I was a nice day and more of the kind of reality break that I prefer for the most part... but I will still have another KISS weekend (hopefully a few) before I die!
I have a lot of paperwork, as far as my job goes, to keep me busy for the next few weeks (although, yes, I still have problems drifting off into ‘What if...’), then I get to go back to Halifax for a few days. I am not sure if my ban on Argyle St. will be lifted by then, but it doesn’t really matter... they will never recognize the real me anyway...lol.
My belief in life is about experiencing new and different things as much as you can. I may have gone a little overboard on the KISS weekend, but how are you going to learn new lessons if you don’t push your limits? I certainly don’t regret my four day of debauchery, but I also have no intention of doing it again anytime soon.
Perhaps the next time I see some fool acting like an idiot I won’t be so quick to judge that this is the way they are all the time. After all, not even I can be a saint EVERY day... anyway, tomorrow I will get on with Part 4... “The Foccacia Bread and the Stagette Party”.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Monday, July 27, 2009
4 Guys and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band - Part 3: The Jazz Chronicles
At 7:00 AM I woke up for the first time... my bladder was so extended that I could not even sit up! There was someone in the can, unloading their bowels for all they were worth... finally the toilet flushed and I rolled out of bed and painfully made it to the bathroom... only to hear the shower start flowing! “F#@%” was all I could get out of me at that point! I will admit that the bar sink started to look pretty appealing. I made it back to the couch only to trip on a suitcase or something, stumble back on the mattress and hit my stomach with such force that the bladder containment almost became an embarrassing issue. By the time I finally got comfortable again, the shower stopped and Matt strolled out wrapped in a towel... it seemed like it took him about an hour, but I am sure it was only a few minutes. I made it to the toilet and relieved and myself with such force, that I thought the back of the toilet was going to break off. After I peed out my 4 gallons of liquid, I made it back to the rack for my second sleep.
A couple of hours later, as I started to pry my eyes open, all I could smell was stale beer, drunken sweat and curry farts from Jason’s dinner... that coupled with the spring sticking in my back from the couch and I realized. ah yes, welcome to Day 2 Kevin, you have had a pleasant visit from the Beer Fairy… you know, the one who takes all of your money, beats on your head and shits in your mouth!
That was pretty much the exact moment that Jason walked in the door after his breakfast, morning swim and visit to the hot tub. “Good morning guys, it’s a beautiful day out there, let it roll.” That was when I noticed that Jason doesn’t actually need to be drunk to have the cheesiest of grins. Approximately 20 seconds after he walked in all you could hear was the “chsht” in 4-part harmony, of opening beer cans. That is correct, I was not even technically up yet and it started all over again!
Since Jason was so cherry and rested, we all called him a ‘prick’, and I told him that he was rude and obnoxious the previous night. He said, “That’s funny, I thought you were boring!” Amazing how alcohol can so easily change one’s perception of any given situation.
Todd and I got showers to get ready to take on the day... two separate showers! By the time the first round of beers were gone, the rest of us, excluding Jason, went out for breakfast. The place where we ultimately ate, The Bluenose, was about 3 blocks East of our hotel. Since we had no idea where to go, we headed North, then we headed East, then we headed South, then we headed West. After a half-dozen stops at pubs, only to find out they don’t open early enough for breakfast on a Friday, we finally ended up practically next door to the hotel again.
This place was like a greasy spoon with out the grease, the food was good and they served Caesars with breakfast. Looking at the plate of food, you could almost feel your arteries harden before you even ate anything. Our table was very quiet, one of the few times that anyone could say that about any table that we sat at for those days.
After breakfast we ate, we picked up Jason and went to Mountain Equipment Co-op, and then Matt had a business lunch so the rest of us went to a bar for lunch. This is really where the best-day-ever started... Spring-Garden Road, here we come. Matt went to a meeting, Todd went to bed and Kevin and Jason went to Starbuck’s.
Jason was ahead of me in the line and ordered some kind of smoothie... not one to miss out on an opportunity to mock someone’s coffee taste, I asked for “a Man’s coffee” and interestingly enough, the girl knew exactly what I wanted.... BOLD. This particular Starbuck’s has a great vantage point for people watching, a favourite pastime of mine when I am on the road because it is really not very exciting in St. John’s.
One thing that Jason and I agreed on was that Halifax was a great city for legs and asses and as those of you who actually follow this blog already know... I am an ass man. Eventually, we got the “where r u?” text from Todd as he crawled out of the rack again. A little while later he shows up, and before anyone could even say hi, Todd blurts out, “there are a lot of nice asses in this town!” Jason smiles and says, “Let it Roll.” Honestly, I am not really sure what he meant, but we all agreed anyway.
Nearby, there was some great live music playing and we were all saying that it is too bad that there is no patio around here somewhere where we could get a pint. No sooner said than realized, we were sitting next-door to a roof-top patio. (I have to say, Halifax is a great city for finding a deck to sit on and order food and drink... St. John’s could take a few lessons form them!) We felt obliged to finish our coffee (well, my coffee and Jason’s girly drink) and hit the deck. We hit the deck at the bar whose name I forget but used to be The Thirsty Duck only to find out that the ‘great live music’ was not a band at all, but a CD of a band. Oh well, good tunes are good tunes!
We sat down and Todd ordered a pitcher, I said I was going to wait until later for beer and just have water. That decision lasted just long enough for the waiter, Jason and Todd to look at me like I was from a different planet... so; we made it two pitchers to start. Although we were having a great time on the deck, and slowly creeping into the same mental zone that Jason and Todd were in on the Thursday, once we ate, we went to the beer tent at the Jazz Festival, which was right around the corner, which seemed to have good live music until we showed up.
When we got toe the ticket tent, Todd asked, “How much are the tickets?”
Cashier: “Tickets for what?
Todd: “I don’t know you are the one selling the tickets.”
Cashier: “Here is a list of events for the festival...”
Kevin: “Do you have a beer tent in there?”
Cashier: “Yes we do.”
Kevin: “How much are the tickets to get in here?”
Cashier: “For which event?”
Kevin: “For the one happening right now with the beer tent.”
Cashier: “This afternoon’s event is free until 5:00 PM, then you will be asked to leave and pay to re-enter tonight’s event.”
Kevin: “Thank-you, we won’t be coming back, we are going out to listen to good music tonight.” I was obviously well on my way to frat-boy mode by now.
Kevin: to Todd “C’mon dumbass, we are allowed in now.” I don’t think that Todd had fully recovered form Thursday’s episode yet.
Once we knew it was free to get in, Jason bolted for the gate and got in ahead of us and gathered directions to the beer tent. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, the band was not bad, we had decent seats and we were all basically on vacation... to top all of that off, the beer people kept forgetting to ask Jason for his beer tickets, so if the beer had actually been any good, we could have drank for free all day.
There were two flaws with this setting; first of all, the beer was not all that good. Secondly, Matt had recently texted us to find out where we were... he was going to be in for a treat when he showed up, this time he didn’t even have a sober buddy to talk to while we were all being obnoxious.
While we were waiting for Matt to arrive and catch-up (we had already decided, in his best interest, that he should hit the shooter bar for 20 minutes before he actually speaks to us) I had to have one of my monster urinations. The only portable toilet anywhere near us was reserved for staff and musicians… well, I play guitar, that must make me a musician… at least that is the way I looked at it. Now that I think of it, why would they put all of the portable toilets on the other side of the fairgrounds, away from the beer tent? Anyway, I went into the restricted toilet and Jason stood outside and waited for me. While I was enjoying some relief, the hot brunette singer form the band (yes a lady) walked in on me taking a leak. Jason watched the whole thing; he thought it would be funny. The poor girl was so embarrassed. When I stepped out she completely turned red and tried to hide her face asking me, “Is the lock broken?” I looked at her a little bit confused, “There’s a lock?”
Not long after that Matt showed up and Jason gave him a beer ticket. Matt says, “Thanks guys, that’s very kind of you.” Jason replies, “Don’t thank us yet, the beer tastes like sh!t.”
Two minutes later Matt sits at our table with 2-double rye and gingers (his catch-up method of choice). We all look at Matt’s drinks and at the same time say, “Where did you get that?” He looked at us like we were idiots and said, “At the bar.”
Jason: “We thought you could only buy beer?”
Matt: “Well, you thought wrong.”
Jason: “Well, there is not much point in continuing with this so-called beer then.”
The three of us must have looked a bit dull in the head on the realization that we were drinking something that we didn’t like just because we had bought tickets for it.
During this little interaction, Max came by. Max is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Siberian Husky, completely black with blue eyes and as gentle as a lamb. And luckily for us, Max likes beer!
I dumped my beer out, Jason fed his to the dog and dumped the rest of it in Todd’s glass while he was gone to the bathroom and me and Jason went and got a glass of rum to wash down the crappy beer. Todd came back from the bathroom and drank the rest of his beer because he couldn’t bear to throw it out. We told him later that he was drinking Max’s leftovers… he didn’t seem to mind.
By the time we were out of drink tickets, it was pushing for 5:30 and we had made arrangements to go to the Lower Deck for dinner and have a a semi-early night to rest up for the big KISS concert the next night.
We could not have been more misguided on how our evening would turn out.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
A couple of hours later, as I started to pry my eyes open, all I could smell was stale beer, drunken sweat and curry farts from Jason’s dinner... that coupled with the spring sticking in my back from the couch and I realized. ah yes, welcome to Day 2 Kevin, you have had a pleasant visit from the Beer Fairy… you know, the one who takes all of your money, beats on your head and shits in your mouth!
That was pretty much the exact moment that Jason walked in the door after his breakfast, morning swim and visit to the hot tub. “Good morning guys, it’s a beautiful day out there, let it roll.” That was when I noticed that Jason doesn’t actually need to be drunk to have the cheesiest of grins. Approximately 20 seconds after he walked in all you could hear was the “chsht” in 4-part harmony, of opening beer cans. That is correct, I was not even technically up yet and it started all over again!
Since Jason was so cherry and rested, we all called him a ‘prick’, and I told him that he was rude and obnoxious the previous night. He said, “That’s funny, I thought you were boring!” Amazing how alcohol can so easily change one’s perception of any given situation.
Todd and I got showers to get ready to take on the day... two separate showers! By the time the first round of beers were gone, the rest of us, excluding Jason, went out for breakfast. The place where we ultimately ate, The Bluenose, was about 3 blocks East of our hotel. Since we had no idea where to go, we headed North, then we headed East, then we headed South, then we headed West. After a half-dozen stops at pubs, only to find out they don’t open early enough for breakfast on a Friday, we finally ended up practically next door to the hotel again.
This place was like a greasy spoon with out the grease, the food was good and they served Caesars with breakfast. Looking at the plate of food, you could almost feel your arteries harden before you even ate anything. Our table was very quiet, one of the few times that anyone could say that about any table that we sat at for those days.
After breakfast we ate, we picked up Jason and went to Mountain Equipment Co-op, and then Matt had a business lunch so the rest of us went to a bar for lunch. This is really where the best-day-ever started... Spring-Garden Road, here we come. Matt went to a meeting, Todd went to bed and Kevin and Jason went to Starbuck’s.
Jason was ahead of me in the line and ordered some kind of smoothie... not one to miss out on an opportunity to mock someone’s coffee taste, I asked for “a Man’s coffee” and interestingly enough, the girl knew exactly what I wanted.... BOLD. This particular Starbuck’s has a great vantage point for people watching, a favourite pastime of mine when I am on the road because it is really not very exciting in St. John’s.
One thing that Jason and I agreed on was that Halifax was a great city for legs and asses and as those of you who actually follow this blog already know... I am an ass man. Eventually, we got the “where r u?” text from Todd as he crawled out of the rack again. A little while later he shows up, and before anyone could even say hi, Todd blurts out, “there are a lot of nice asses in this town!” Jason smiles and says, “Let it Roll.” Honestly, I am not really sure what he meant, but we all agreed anyway.
Nearby, there was some great live music playing and we were all saying that it is too bad that there is no patio around here somewhere where we could get a pint. No sooner said than realized, we were sitting next-door to a roof-top patio. (I have to say, Halifax is a great city for finding a deck to sit on and order food and drink... St. John’s could take a few lessons form them!) We felt obliged to finish our coffee (well, my coffee and Jason’s girly drink) and hit the deck. We hit the deck at the bar whose name I forget but used to be The Thirsty Duck only to find out that the ‘great live music’ was not a band at all, but a CD of a band. Oh well, good tunes are good tunes!
We sat down and Todd ordered a pitcher, I said I was going to wait until later for beer and just have water. That decision lasted just long enough for the waiter, Jason and Todd to look at me like I was from a different planet... so; we made it two pitchers to start. Although we were having a great time on the deck, and slowly creeping into the same mental zone that Jason and Todd were in on the Thursday, once we ate, we went to the beer tent at the Jazz Festival, which was right around the corner, which seemed to have good live music until we showed up.
When we got toe the ticket tent, Todd asked, “How much are the tickets?”
Cashier: “Tickets for what?
Todd: “I don’t know you are the one selling the tickets.”
Cashier: “Here is a list of events for the festival...”
Kevin: “Do you have a beer tent in there?”
Cashier: “Yes we do.”
Kevin: “How much are the tickets to get in here?”
Cashier: “For which event?”
Kevin: “For the one happening right now with the beer tent.”
Cashier: “This afternoon’s event is free until 5:00 PM, then you will be asked to leave and pay to re-enter tonight’s event.”
Kevin: “Thank-you, we won’t be coming back, we are going out to listen to good music tonight.” I was obviously well on my way to frat-boy mode by now.
Kevin: to Todd “C’mon dumbass, we are allowed in now.” I don’t think that Todd had fully recovered form Thursday’s episode yet.
Once we knew it was free to get in, Jason bolted for the gate and got in ahead of us and gathered directions to the beer tent. This was supposed to be a joyous occasion, the band was not bad, we had decent seats and we were all basically on vacation... to top all of that off, the beer people kept forgetting to ask Jason for his beer tickets, so if the beer had actually been any good, we could have drank for free all day.
There were two flaws with this setting; first of all, the beer was not all that good. Secondly, Matt had recently texted us to find out where we were... he was going to be in for a treat when he showed up, this time he didn’t even have a sober buddy to talk to while we were all being obnoxious.
While we were waiting for Matt to arrive and catch-up (we had already decided, in his best interest, that he should hit the shooter bar for 20 minutes before he actually speaks to us) I had to have one of my monster urinations. The only portable toilet anywhere near us was reserved for staff and musicians… well, I play guitar, that must make me a musician… at least that is the way I looked at it. Now that I think of it, why would they put all of the portable toilets on the other side of the fairgrounds, away from the beer tent? Anyway, I went into the restricted toilet and Jason stood outside and waited for me. While I was enjoying some relief, the hot brunette singer form the band (yes a lady) walked in on me taking a leak. Jason watched the whole thing; he thought it would be funny. The poor girl was so embarrassed. When I stepped out she completely turned red and tried to hide her face asking me, “Is the lock broken?” I looked at her a little bit confused, “There’s a lock?”
Not long after that Matt showed up and Jason gave him a beer ticket. Matt says, “Thanks guys, that’s very kind of you.” Jason replies, “Don’t thank us yet, the beer tastes like sh!t.”
Two minutes later Matt sits at our table with 2-double rye and gingers (his catch-up method of choice). We all look at Matt’s drinks and at the same time say, “Where did you get that?” He looked at us like we were idiots and said, “At the bar.”
Jason: “We thought you could only buy beer?”
Matt: “Well, you thought wrong.”
Jason: “Well, there is not much point in continuing with this so-called beer then.”
The three of us must have looked a bit dull in the head on the realization that we were drinking something that we didn’t like just because we had bought tickets for it.
During this little interaction, Max came by. Max is a cross between a Labrador Retriever and a Siberian Husky, completely black with blue eyes and as gentle as a lamb. And luckily for us, Max likes beer!
I dumped my beer out, Jason fed his to the dog and dumped the rest of it in Todd’s glass while he was gone to the bathroom and me and Jason went and got a glass of rum to wash down the crappy beer. Todd came back from the bathroom and drank the rest of his beer because he couldn’t bear to throw it out. We told him later that he was drinking Max’s leftovers… he didn’t seem to mind.
By the time we were out of drink tickets, it was pushing for 5:30 and we had made arrangements to go to the Lower Deck for dinner and have a a semi-early night to rest up for the big KISS concert the next night.
We could not have been more misguided on how our evening would turn out.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
4 Guys and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band - Part 2: Chicken Curry Pasta
So, when I left off last time, Matt and I were struggling to catch-up with Jason and Todd. It wasn’t so much the fact that we felt a juvenile need to be impaired, but more to the point we all had to share a hotel room for 4 nights and were probably going to be hanging out together a lot… and these guys were really obnoxious and annoying. Matt and I had to put ourselves in a mental state of tolerance.
Martin and Jane (the two strangers who Jason and Todd had befriended at the restaurant) were lovely people and seemed to be doing the same thing that Matt and I were… drinking enough to be able to tolerate Jason and Todd. Everyone was buying rounds for the table. Our poor waitress, Jenny, was really struggling to smile at times… until shift change and she was finished with us… that grin could have lit up the entire downtown on a dark night when she said, “Ok guys, enjoy Halifax, I am going now!” I am sure if she had her time back, she never would have told us she was leaving, because it only started a drawn out discussion on where to go that night, which I am sure she would have rather avoided.
Jason: in a drunken slur “You’re leaving us?”
Jenny: “Yes. I am off now and going to have some drinks with the girls.”
Jason: in a drunken slur “Girls!!!??? Where are you going tonight?” (this is the part where I am sure Jenny wishes she had lied and quickly ran away if she had her time back)
Jenny: “Well, we are all going to BBQ and drink some wine and then go out dancing at The Seahorse.”
Todd: also in a drunken slur “So if we go to The Seahorse, will you dance with us?”
Kevin: now in full catch-up mode “We would be happy if you even spoke to us by then.”
Jenny: “Oh, I will definitely come over and see you guys.”
That is when Jason stood up and went into full Borat-Mode, saying “High Five!” looking at everyone at the table with his cheesy / drunken grin. I will blame Jason for what followed because he started the ball rolling… we all stood up and started yelling “High Five” or “Very Nice” or “It’s Good For Me”. Ten minutes later we noticed that all of the tables immediately surrounding ours were suddenly empty. This was yet, another trend that continued on through the weekend. Perhaps drinking at a restaurant in the middle of the day is not something that the people of Halifax are used to.
After that show of maturity, Jenny came back with our bill.
Todd: “So we will see you at The Seahorse tonight?”
Jenny: “Well, we might go to The Seahorse, so if we do, I will see you guys there.”
Kevin: “What other bars might you end up at if you don’t go to The Seahorse?”
Jenny: “You know, it is such a nice night out, we might all just stay at my friend’s house.”
Jason: “C’mon… you ladies are going to go out somewhere… where are you going?”
Jenny: “Well, there are so many good bars to go to, it is hard to say.”
Interesting to note here, that Matt, who is chronologically the youngest on our little band of merrymen, was certainly the most mature at this point and silently watched the three of us make fools of ourselves, only to point it out later. Also interesting to note is that Jason and Matt are both very happily married Jason was just being “a good wingman for you guys” so he says.
Kevin: “So if we went to a bar tonight, which one should we go to?”
Jenny: “The Seahorse.”
Todd: “So, you are going to The Seahorse?”
Jenny: “I really don’t know where we are going… it is a slight possibility that we could end up at The Seahorse.”
Jason: with the cheesiest of grins I have ever seen, “We will meet you at the Seahorse.”
Jenny: “Well, I am probably not going to be there tonight.”
Matt: finally speaks up, “Don’t worry Jenny, I will keep these guys out of The Seahorse.”
Jenny: “OK, you guys have a great night.”
We never saw Jenny again, and incidentally we never made it to The Seahorse Thursday night either.
Throughout this multi-hour interaction with Jenny and The 4 Guys (it almost sounds like a porn movie), all of us and Martin and Jane continued to get louder and more obnoxious as more beer came to the table. Jason’s mantra “Let It Roll” started to become the quote that legends were made of. Every time someone had something fun to say, Jason screamed out, “Let it roll,” and slapped Matt somewhere on his person (they were seated next to each other). Matt is a big guy, built like a linebacker and Jason barely made it up to Matt’s shoulder. At one point Jason slapped Matt in the chest or stomach or somewhere that was easy for Matt to reach, and Matt grabbed Jason’s arm and said, “If you do that one more time I am going to break your arm!” Jason put both arms in the air and screamed, “Let it roll, whoooooo!” I don’t think he actually ever slapped Matt again though.
We paid our bill and headed out on our next adventure. Jason and Todd had still not checked in to the hotel, so they went to the hotel and Matt and I hit the beer store. After all, what is a guy’s road-trip with out beer in the room? We weren’t gone all that long, but when we got back with a case of beer each, Todd and Jason were sitting on the couch drinking room service beer. Apparently, they could not wait the extra ten minutes for us to get back to the room, so they ordered four $10 beers to hold them over. When Matt asked, “Where did you guys get the beer?”
Jason smiled and replied, “Check-in gift, some guy just brought them to our room.” The next morning, Jason had zero recollection of ordering room service, and we only found out for sure when we checked out on Monday.
By now it was dinner time and the first pair of lads had been drinking since 10:00 AM. Todd fell asleep, sitting up, with his eyes open. It was creepy, but by now all of us were suffering the side-effects of too much beer so we all stood there laughing at him. Then we went out to eat. Todd woke up a couple of hours later and didn’t have any idea where he was, how he got there and when he walked out of the room, was completely lost. I would have loved to see the look on his face when he figured he was alone in a strange city with no idea where anyone is… this precisely is why texting is such a great road-trip tool.
Matt, Jason and I… or more accurately, Matt and I brought Jason along for dinner at The Economy Shoe Shop. This would become one of the places that will miss us the most… or at least miss our money.
Grabbing a table in the corner, we immediately ordered… can you guess? That is correct, a round of beers…pints of Hoegarden to be specific, which is kind of a spicy Belgium beer. Jason likes Canadian Light… so that is probably enough said there! This particular beer comes in a very large, very heavy pint glass that takes the average person two hands to lift when it is full. Jason is not the average person, so he opted for resting his chin on the edge of the glass and licking the beer up like a dog. Jason is no Gene Simmons, so he only got a few inches from the top when he gave it up and decided that he didn’t need to drink anymore that day.
With each bite of his chicken curried pasta, Matt and I saw Jason literally shut down… much like a robot turning off each individual muscle. By the end of the meal, Matt and I had ordered another round of beers… actually, that is not completely accurate… Matt ordered another beer and I drank the rest of Jason’s… only the next day did I realize that his tongue slime was probably all over that beer… oh well, it still tasted good. Eventually the waiter (one of the few male waiters we had all weekend, and probably the only one who actually hates us) came over and asked if we were done with our plates. Matt answered coherently; Kevin answered coherently; Jason, slumped over in his chair with drool coming out of his mouth and one eye completely closed, made a back-handed motion toward the waiter and said, “Phimpt…” We are not completely sure if he was trying to speak or vomit, but the waiter scowled and took his plate.
Jason continued to slip into a coma as Matt and I finished up our beers and paid the bill. This is when I decided that I needed one of these glasses. When I was a student, my apartment was full of beer labelled glasses and apparently I had now slipped into complete frat-boy mode. I had decided that we needed to bring Jason back to the hotel because he was only going to drag us down for the rest of the night… Matt happily agreed and said, “Let’s go.” At that instant, Jason popped out of his chair like he was spring-loaded into it and ran down to the corner before Matt and I were even off the patio. I really don’t know where he got the energy, only seconds earlier he was all but a corpse. We had also told Jason that he had to carry the Hoegarden glass back to the room so me and Matt could hit the casino and play some blackjack. Well, I had to sneak the glass out after all since he had taken off like someone who robbed a bank, but we still made Jason carry it back once we caught up to him.
We dropped Jason at the hotel and hit the casino. I love my Vegas trips, and Matt loves them even more, but we can both honestly say that Halifax is no Vegas. We took our beating at the table and agreed that it was a mistake to come… they don’t even give out free drinks while you are losing your money in Halifax!
By now Todd had stumbled awake and had texted me to see what the plan was for the night… when I look back on it, I am the guy who was supposed to be taking it easy and resting Achmed and I am the guy who stayed up all night and basically swapped drinking partners. I would claim that they are all light-weights except that Todd and Jason have young children who keep them awake all night and Matt had just gotten back from Vegas where he was on vacation with his wife. Between jet-lag and late-nights, I guess the other 3 guys had an excuse to be needing rest that day… no tot mention that Jason and Todd had been drinking since 10:00 AM!
Matt went back to the hotel and I met up with Todd at a mutual friend’s hotel and we had a couple of beers before we went out. And if you were to guess what bar Todd wanted to go to… what one would come to mind? That is correct; we went to The Seahorse… however Halifax is nothing like St. John’s when it comes to going out for a night’s entertainment. There was a big J@$*$ line-up when we arrived! In Halifax, it seems that people go out for a night of entertainment and alcohol just happens to be part of it… very likely why I like going to Halifax! In St. John’s, people want to get loaded and go out, and entertainment just happens to be part of it. Anyway, there was no point in being pissed off and I was not about to line-up for an hour, so we went to The Shoe Shop… this place was really starting to become my home away from home.
Eventually, we all ended up at Cheers and there was a decent band playing, but by now I was starting to fade. I hung out with the guys for a bit and headed back to the hotel… with no accidents or fall-downs along the way!
Now to explain the sleeping arrangements… two double beds, one pull-out couch and 4 guys! It really was a frat-boy weekend! Well, Jason and Matt had already scored the beds… so I pulled out the couch and took complete command of it, leaving Todd with the option of the floor or sliding in with one of the other guys.
And this was just the first day.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Martin and Jane (the two strangers who Jason and Todd had befriended at the restaurant) were lovely people and seemed to be doing the same thing that Matt and I were… drinking enough to be able to tolerate Jason and Todd. Everyone was buying rounds for the table. Our poor waitress, Jenny, was really struggling to smile at times… until shift change and she was finished with us… that grin could have lit up the entire downtown on a dark night when she said, “Ok guys, enjoy Halifax, I am going now!” I am sure if she had her time back, she never would have told us she was leaving, because it only started a drawn out discussion on where to go that night, which I am sure she would have rather avoided.
Jason: in a drunken slur “You’re leaving us?”
Jenny: “Yes. I am off now and going to have some drinks with the girls.”
Jason: in a drunken slur “Girls!!!??? Where are you going tonight?” (this is the part where I am sure Jenny wishes she had lied and quickly ran away if she had her time back)
Jenny: “Well, we are all going to BBQ and drink some wine and then go out dancing at The Seahorse.”
Todd: also in a drunken slur “So if we go to The Seahorse, will you dance with us?”
Kevin: now in full catch-up mode “We would be happy if you even spoke to us by then.”
Jenny: “Oh, I will definitely come over and see you guys.”
That is when Jason stood up and went into full Borat-Mode, saying “High Five!” looking at everyone at the table with his cheesy / drunken grin. I will blame Jason for what followed because he started the ball rolling… we all stood up and started yelling “High Five” or “Very Nice” or “It’s Good For Me”. Ten minutes later we noticed that all of the tables immediately surrounding ours were suddenly empty. This was yet, another trend that continued on through the weekend. Perhaps drinking at a restaurant in the middle of the day is not something that the people of Halifax are used to.
After that show of maturity, Jenny came back with our bill.
Todd: “So we will see you at The Seahorse tonight?”
Jenny: “Well, we might go to The Seahorse, so if we do, I will see you guys there.”
Kevin: “What other bars might you end up at if you don’t go to The Seahorse?”
Jenny: “You know, it is such a nice night out, we might all just stay at my friend’s house.”
Jason: “C’mon… you ladies are going to go out somewhere… where are you going?”
Jenny: “Well, there are so many good bars to go to, it is hard to say.”
Interesting to note here, that Matt, who is chronologically the youngest on our little band of merrymen, was certainly the most mature at this point and silently watched the three of us make fools of ourselves, only to point it out later. Also interesting to note is that Jason and Matt are both very happily married Jason was just being “a good wingman for you guys” so he says.
Kevin: “So if we went to a bar tonight, which one should we go to?”
Jenny: “The Seahorse.”
Todd: “So, you are going to The Seahorse?”
Jenny: “I really don’t know where we are going… it is a slight possibility that we could end up at The Seahorse.”
Jason: with the cheesiest of grins I have ever seen, “We will meet you at the Seahorse.”
Jenny: “Well, I am probably not going to be there tonight.”
Matt: finally speaks up, “Don’t worry Jenny, I will keep these guys out of The Seahorse.”
Jenny: “OK, you guys have a great night.”
We never saw Jenny again, and incidentally we never made it to The Seahorse Thursday night either.
Throughout this multi-hour interaction with Jenny and The 4 Guys (it almost sounds like a porn movie), all of us and Martin and Jane continued to get louder and more obnoxious as more beer came to the table. Jason’s mantra “Let It Roll” started to become the quote that legends were made of. Every time someone had something fun to say, Jason screamed out, “Let it roll,” and slapped Matt somewhere on his person (they were seated next to each other). Matt is a big guy, built like a linebacker and Jason barely made it up to Matt’s shoulder. At one point Jason slapped Matt in the chest or stomach or somewhere that was easy for Matt to reach, and Matt grabbed Jason’s arm and said, “If you do that one more time I am going to break your arm!” Jason put both arms in the air and screamed, “Let it roll, whoooooo!” I don’t think he actually ever slapped Matt again though.
We paid our bill and headed out on our next adventure. Jason and Todd had still not checked in to the hotel, so they went to the hotel and Matt and I hit the beer store. After all, what is a guy’s road-trip with out beer in the room? We weren’t gone all that long, but when we got back with a case of beer each, Todd and Jason were sitting on the couch drinking room service beer. Apparently, they could not wait the extra ten minutes for us to get back to the room, so they ordered four $10 beers to hold them over. When Matt asked, “Where did you guys get the beer?”
Jason smiled and replied, “Check-in gift, some guy just brought them to our room.” The next morning, Jason had zero recollection of ordering room service, and we only found out for sure when we checked out on Monday.
By now it was dinner time and the first pair of lads had been drinking since 10:00 AM. Todd fell asleep, sitting up, with his eyes open. It was creepy, but by now all of us were suffering the side-effects of too much beer so we all stood there laughing at him. Then we went out to eat. Todd woke up a couple of hours later and didn’t have any idea where he was, how he got there and when he walked out of the room, was completely lost. I would have loved to see the look on his face when he figured he was alone in a strange city with no idea where anyone is… this precisely is why texting is such a great road-trip tool.
Matt, Jason and I… or more accurately, Matt and I brought Jason along for dinner at The Economy Shoe Shop. This would become one of the places that will miss us the most… or at least miss our money.
Grabbing a table in the corner, we immediately ordered… can you guess? That is correct, a round of beers…pints of Hoegarden to be specific, which is kind of a spicy Belgium beer. Jason likes Canadian Light… so that is probably enough said there! This particular beer comes in a very large, very heavy pint glass that takes the average person two hands to lift when it is full. Jason is not the average person, so he opted for resting his chin on the edge of the glass and licking the beer up like a dog. Jason is no Gene Simmons, so he only got a few inches from the top when he gave it up and decided that he didn’t need to drink anymore that day.
With each bite of his chicken curried pasta, Matt and I saw Jason literally shut down… much like a robot turning off each individual muscle. By the end of the meal, Matt and I had ordered another round of beers… actually, that is not completely accurate… Matt ordered another beer and I drank the rest of Jason’s… only the next day did I realize that his tongue slime was probably all over that beer… oh well, it still tasted good. Eventually the waiter (one of the few male waiters we had all weekend, and probably the only one who actually hates us) came over and asked if we were done with our plates. Matt answered coherently; Kevin answered coherently; Jason, slumped over in his chair with drool coming out of his mouth and one eye completely closed, made a back-handed motion toward the waiter and said, “Phimpt…” We are not completely sure if he was trying to speak or vomit, but the waiter scowled and took his plate.
Jason continued to slip into a coma as Matt and I finished up our beers and paid the bill. This is when I decided that I needed one of these glasses. When I was a student, my apartment was full of beer labelled glasses and apparently I had now slipped into complete frat-boy mode. I had decided that we needed to bring Jason back to the hotel because he was only going to drag us down for the rest of the night… Matt happily agreed and said, “Let’s go.” At that instant, Jason popped out of his chair like he was spring-loaded into it and ran down to the corner before Matt and I were even off the patio. I really don’t know where he got the energy, only seconds earlier he was all but a corpse. We had also told Jason that he had to carry the Hoegarden glass back to the room so me and Matt could hit the casino and play some blackjack. Well, I had to sneak the glass out after all since he had taken off like someone who robbed a bank, but we still made Jason carry it back once we caught up to him.
We dropped Jason at the hotel and hit the casino. I love my Vegas trips, and Matt loves them even more, but we can both honestly say that Halifax is no Vegas. We took our beating at the table and agreed that it was a mistake to come… they don’t even give out free drinks while you are losing your money in Halifax!
By now Todd had stumbled awake and had texted me to see what the plan was for the night… when I look back on it, I am the guy who was supposed to be taking it easy and resting Achmed and I am the guy who stayed up all night and basically swapped drinking partners. I would claim that they are all light-weights except that Todd and Jason have young children who keep them awake all night and Matt had just gotten back from Vegas where he was on vacation with his wife. Between jet-lag and late-nights, I guess the other 3 guys had an excuse to be needing rest that day… no tot mention that Jason and Todd had been drinking since 10:00 AM!
Matt went back to the hotel and I met up with Todd at a mutual friend’s hotel and we had a couple of beers before we went out. And if you were to guess what bar Todd wanted to go to… what one would come to mind? That is correct; we went to The Seahorse… however Halifax is nothing like St. John’s when it comes to going out for a night’s entertainment. There was a big J@$*$ line-up when we arrived! In Halifax, it seems that people go out for a night of entertainment and alcohol just happens to be part of it… very likely why I like going to Halifax! In St. John’s, people want to get loaded and go out, and entertainment just happens to be part of it. Anyway, there was no point in being pissed off and I was not about to line-up for an hour, so we went to The Shoe Shop… this place was really starting to become my home away from home.
Eventually, we all ended up at Cheers and there was a decent band playing, but by now I was starting to fade. I hung out with the guys for a bit and headed back to the hotel… with no accidents or fall-downs along the way!
Now to explain the sleeping arrangements… two double beds, one pull-out couch and 4 guys! It really was a frat-boy weekend! Well, Jason and Matt had already scored the beds… so I pulled out the couch and took complete command of it, leaving Todd with the option of the floor or sliding in with one of the other guys.
And this was just the first day.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Achmed’s New Portrait
Have you ever had an MRI before? I have not, well, until today. I have never been buried alive either, however I think the two must be pretty similar. (I’ll get back to the road trip tomorrow)
Today was my first one in what I hope is a long line of annual MRIs to monitor Achmed after the nuclear blast. It is a pretty simple procedure actually. You show up at the hospital and wait... well; actually the showing up and waiting was a bit of a trip in and of itself today. For those of you who have never been to The Health Science Centre, it is a big brick building that has been built in pieces, (based on the health budget of the time I guess) and has no rhyme, reason or common sense direction to get anywhere. Well, I have always said that common sense is not common, so perhaps I should leave that part out.
I arrived at the hospital this morning at about 6:45 AM, without my morning coffee and with nowhere near a full night’s sleep! I don’t normally haul my ass out of the rack until around 7:30... so to start with, I was not smiling when I got there. At the main entrance, the information booth was closed... in fact, I have never seen it open so I don’t understand why they don’t just make it a coffee stand and have it serve a purpose. There is a big pole / kiosk in the centre of the opening lobby with names of departments and arrows pointing in the “right” direction. Unfortunately, I have always had trouble going THROUGH brick walls so I opted to go around them.
Maybe Achmed was playing tricks on my head, but I seemed to never really get back on the right path to the MRI room. I did however; end up at the Emergency Room. According to television shows, the ER is the brain of any hospital and should be able to point anyone in the right direction for any procedure. Well, apparently the ER never had its coffee this morning either.
There were these two ladies sitting behind the counter having a friendly chat about last night’s events, so I thought, “cool, two friendly faces to help me find the right spot.” WRONG!!! It seems that these two ladies were only interested in being friendly to each other... apparently “friendly” was not listed in the job description when they were hired.
Briefly transcribed, the conversation was something like this:
Kevin: “Excuse me?”
Kevin: smiling “Excuse me please?”
Two Ladies: glare
Kevin: “I have an appointment for an MRI...”
Lady One: “This is emerge.” Turn away to Lady Two.
Kevin: somehow still smiling “Yes, I realize that, but I followed the signs and ended up here.”
Lady One: “You need a requisition.” Glare
Lady Two: “You missed it.” Glare
Lady One: “Do you have a requisition?”
Kevin: not really smiling that much any more “Yes, well I have a requisition and apparently I did pass the turn, but I wonder if you could tell me how to get there so I don’t get lost again?”
Lady One to Lady Two: “I’m not really sure how to get there from here. Do you know?”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Just back the way he came I think.”
Lady One to Lady Two: “Is it just down that hall?”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Back that way to the right somewhere I think.”
Lady One to Lady Two: “I think if he goes back there he will find it.”
Kevin: in his mind, wanting so much to scream, but kind of smiling “I am right in front of you! I can hear you! Just pick a door and send me along!”
Lady Two to Kevin: “Go down that hall and turn right and go the end and turn right again, and there is a door with a ‘3’ on it.”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Do you think that is right?”
I didn’t wait for an answer from the ladies I just smiled and left. I am not even sure if I said ‘thank-you’ because I had no idea what they were talking about and I didn’t want to cloud the partial information with speech and get lost again. Fortunately, between bits and pieces of their discussion and my ability to know my left from my right, and the happy coincidence that they too knew left from right, I eventually found a door with a ‘3’ on it. This door, however, was not where I was supposed to go! Luckily, I am able to read and didn’t need to ask anyone else where I was supposed to be heading... I found a sign which ultimately led me to the registration desk.
The lady at the registration desk was much nicer. She didn’t smile, or say ‘hi’, or show any concern for me in any way, but she was not rude and she did address me when she spoke (although she looked at the computer for the most part). After I was checked in, I got send to the waiting area. Fortunately, her directions were a little more clear, but I was a little nervous that I was going to miss my trip in the magnetic tunnel with all of this blind direction talk. I found it... I also found Sarah and Judy in the same waiting area as me.
Have you ever watched the old “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”? The ones where Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh used to dress up as these two little-old-ladies and walk through the park and talk about everyone else? Well, I am pretty sure that Cathy and Mary were imitating Sarah and Judy.
And Sarah and Judy weren’t quiet with their discussions either. Maybe they both have hearing loss... and for a brief moment I wished that mine was much worse. I know how old everyone is from their community; who had affairs with whom; who died first and how old they were; who won the jackpot at bingo last weekend and how bad their feet are today. It wasn’t bad enough but when one of them went in for their scan, the other one turned to me, and without missing a beat continued the conversation. If I had had any energy at all, or my devilish streak was showing through even a little bit... we would have had a big argument over the fact that she thinks the motorcycles should not be allowed on the road if quads aren’t... well, I just smiled... I think she would have beaten me in a debate anyway... tough broad!
So eventually I got my turn to go into the magnetic room, and there in the centre of the room was a large, white tunnel... looking to me much like a coffin! The interview for the MRI machine, for me at least, was a recap of all of my old injuries and surgeries. I showed her my scars (she was a sweet lady but I never got her name... great sense of humour too), told her about my broken bones, where I had metal in my different body parts at one point or another. She seemed particularly interested in the radiator blowing up in my face incident, my three broken noses, as well as the time I drove a chisel through my hand... after I rattled everything off, she looked at me with a very inquisitive expression and said, “Are you sure you are not forgetting anything... like bullets or shrapnel?” Now that I think of it, maybe she was serious and thought I was a gang-banger or something.
Finally, the moment of truth... sliding into the tunnel. I love open spaces. On the flip-side of that coin, it seems that I really don’t like being closed in at all. That translates into my actual life as well. I am pretty sure that when I finally do kick the bucket my headstone will likely say, “He liked his freedom, he must really hate that box we stuffed him in!” (If anyone reading this is around when they plan my funeral, I would like to be cremated please!)
Anyway, the MRI lady told me I might as well get used to sliding into this tunnel, seeing how I am probably going to be having 40 or 50 of them before I do go to the big MRI machine in the sky. She put a facecloth over my eyes to dull the senses of my surroundings... it worked. From what I understand, they offer you valume (I don’t know how to spell it, you know, that relaxation drug) for the Gamma Ray Modulator... I am not much for drugs, but I believe I will take it!
Once you are inside this magnetic tunnel, it kind of sounds like a jack-hammer going off next to your head, so they give you earplugs to help with the noise. Yes, well, there is also a little speaker for the lady to talk to you while you are in the machine:-/... how well do you think I could hear her with earplugs in to drown out the jack-hammer? I just said, “yes” or “fine” or “ok” to every question. You know how it is when you are talking to someone that you just can’t understand, but you don’t want to seem rude, so you nod and agree. Well, my head was strapped in; I couldn’t nod, so I agreed.
Eventually, she let me out... it probably felt like being released from prison... I have never been to prison and it is actually one of the areas of living that I try to avoid. No one told me that my head was in a cage and the facecloth hid it from my view... sitting up almost became unpleasant, luckily for me she was standing over me and pushed my chest back down on the table. Good thing I don’t have a heart problem. No one also told me that they raised the table up off the floor while I was lying on it. Poor little thing, I am almost 200 pounds, I almost broke her arm when she tried to catch me.
After that she let me put my clothes back on (I was wearing hospital greens for those of you with dirty minds) and I was allowed to go back to work. It was only mid-morning and I felt like I had already put in a full day.
Eventually MRIs will probably be standard diagnostic procedures in our world... they are not that bad when you get used to them.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Today was my first one in what I hope is a long line of annual MRIs to monitor Achmed after the nuclear blast. It is a pretty simple procedure actually. You show up at the hospital and wait... well; actually the showing up and waiting was a bit of a trip in and of itself today. For those of you who have never been to The Health Science Centre, it is a big brick building that has been built in pieces, (based on the health budget of the time I guess) and has no rhyme, reason or common sense direction to get anywhere. Well, I have always said that common sense is not common, so perhaps I should leave that part out.
I arrived at the hospital this morning at about 6:45 AM, without my morning coffee and with nowhere near a full night’s sleep! I don’t normally haul my ass out of the rack until around 7:30... so to start with, I was not smiling when I got there. At the main entrance, the information booth was closed... in fact, I have never seen it open so I don’t understand why they don’t just make it a coffee stand and have it serve a purpose. There is a big pole / kiosk in the centre of the opening lobby with names of departments and arrows pointing in the “right” direction. Unfortunately, I have always had trouble going THROUGH brick walls so I opted to go around them.
Maybe Achmed was playing tricks on my head, but I seemed to never really get back on the right path to the MRI room. I did however; end up at the Emergency Room. According to television shows, the ER is the brain of any hospital and should be able to point anyone in the right direction for any procedure. Well, apparently the ER never had its coffee this morning either.
There were these two ladies sitting behind the counter having a friendly chat about last night’s events, so I thought, “cool, two friendly faces to help me find the right spot.” WRONG!!! It seems that these two ladies were only interested in being friendly to each other... apparently “friendly” was not listed in the job description when they were hired.
Briefly transcribed, the conversation was something like this:
Kevin: “Excuse me?”
Kevin: smiling “Excuse me please?”
Two Ladies: glare
Kevin: “I have an appointment for an MRI...”
Lady One: “This is emerge.” Turn away to Lady Two.
Kevin: somehow still smiling “Yes, I realize that, but I followed the signs and ended up here.”
Lady One: “You need a requisition.” Glare
Lady Two: “You missed it.” Glare
Lady One: “Do you have a requisition?”
Kevin: not really smiling that much any more “Yes, well I have a requisition and apparently I did pass the turn, but I wonder if you could tell me how to get there so I don’t get lost again?”
Lady One to Lady Two: “I’m not really sure how to get there from here. Do you know?”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Just back the way he came I think.”
Lady One to Lady Two: “Is it just down that hall?”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Back that way to the right somewhere I think.”
Lady One to Lady Two: “I think if he goes back there he will find it.”
Kevin: in his mind, wanting so much to scream, but kind of smiling “I am right in front of you! I can hear you! Just pick a door and send me along!”
Lady Two to Kevin: “Go down that hall and turn right and go the end and turn right again, and there is a door with a ‘3’ on it.”
Lady Two to Lady One: “Do you think that is right?”
I didn’t wait for an answer from the ladies I just smiled and left. I am not even sure if I said ‘thank-you’ because I had no idea what they were talking about and I didn’t want to cloud the partial information with speech and get lost again. Fortunately, between bits and pieces of their discussion and my ability to know my left from my right, and the happy coincidence that they too knew left from right, I eventually found a door with a ‘3’ on it. This door, however, was not where I was supposed to go! Luckily, I am able to read and didn’t need to ask anyone else where I was supposed to be heading... I found a sign which ultimately led me to the registration desk.
The lady at the registration desk was much nicer. She didn’t smile, or say ‘hi’, or show any concern for me in any way, but she was not rude and she did address me when she spoke (although she looked at the computer for the most part). After I was checked in, I got send to the waiting area. Fortunately, her directions were a little more clear, but I was a little nervous that I was going to miss my trip in the magnetic tunnel with all of this blind direction talk. I found it... I also found Sarah and Judy in the same waiting area as me.
Have you ever watched the old “This Hour Has 22 Minutes”? The ones where Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh used to dress up as these two little-old-ladies and walk through the park and talk about everyone else? Well, I am pretty sure that Cathy and Mary were imitating Sarah and Judy.
And Sarah and Judy weren’t quiet with their discussions either. Maybe they both have hearing loss... and for a brief moment I wished that mine was much worse. I know how old everyone is from their community; who had affairs with whom; who died first and how old they were; who won the jackpot at bingo last weekend and how bad their feet are today. It wasn’t bad enough but when one of them went in for their scan, the other one turned to me, and without missing a beat continued the conversation. If I had had any energy at all, or my devilish streak was showing through even a little bit... we would have had a big argument over the fact that she thinks the motorcycles should not be allowed on the road if quads aren’t... well, I just smiled... I think she would have beaten me in a debate anyway... tough broad!
So eventually I got my turn to go into the magnetic room, and there in the centre of the room was a large, white tunnel... looking to me much like a coffin! The interview for the MRI machine, for me at least, was a recap of all of my old injuries and surgeries. I showed her my scars (she was a sweet lady but I never got her name... great sense of humour too), told her about my broken bones, where I had metal in my different body parts at one point or another. She seemed particularly interested in the radiator blowing up in my face incident, my three broken noses, as well as the time I drove a chisel through my hand... after I rattled everything off, she looked at me with a very inquisitive expression and said, “Are you sure you are not forgetting anything... like bullets or shrapnel?” Now that I think of it, maybe she was serious and thought I was a gang-banger or something.
Finally, the moment of truth... sliding into the tunnel. I love open spaces. On the flip-side of that coin, it seems that I really don’t like being closed in at all. That translates into my actual life as well. I am pretty sure that when I finally do kick the bucket my headstone will likely say, “He liked his freedom, he must really hate that box we stuffed him in!” (If anyone reading this is around when they plan my funeral, I would like to be cremated please!)
Anyway, the MRI lady told me I might as well get used to sliding into this tunnel, seeing how I am probably going to be having 40 or 50 of them before I do go to the big MRI machine in the sky. She put a facecloth over my eyes to dull the senses of my surroundings... it worked. From what I understand, they offer you valume (I don’t know how to spell it, you know, that relaxation drug) for the Gamma Ray Modulator... I am not much for drugs, but I believe I will take it!
Once you are inside this magnetic tunnel, it kind of sounds like a jack-hammer going off next to your head, so they give you earplugs to help with the noise. Yes, well, there is also a little speaker for the lady to talk to you while you are in the machine:-/... how well do you think I could hear her with earplugs in to drown out the jack-hammer? I just said, “yes” or “fine” or “ok” to every question. You know how it is when you are talking to someone that you just can’t understand, but you don’t want to seem rude, so you nod and agree. Well, my head was strapped in; I couldn’t nod, so I agreed.
Eventually, she let me out... it probably felt like being released from prison... I have never been to prison and it is actually one of the areas of living that I try to avoid. No one told me that my head was in a cage and the facecloth hid it from my view... sitting up almost became unpleasant, luckily for me she was standing over me and pushed my chest back down on the table. Good thing I don’t have a heart problem. No one also told me that they raised the table up off the floor while I was lying on it. Poor little thing, I am almost 200 pounds, I almost broke her arm when she tried to catch me.
After that she let me put my clothes back on (I was wearing hospital greens for those of you with dirty minds) and I was allowed to go back to work. It was only mid-morning and I felt like I had already put in a full day.
Eventually MRIs will probably be standard diagnostic procedures in our world... they are not that bad when you get used to them.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
4 Guys and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band - Part 1: Arrival in Halifax Rock City
Well, a road trip with the “4 Guys” might be good for the spirit but it completely flies in the face of the healthy lifestyle I have adapted myself with (Winston Churchill would love that sentence). Truthfully, you could probably say it is a method of reinforcement to return to healthy living when you get home, and a means of questioning how you ever lived through university. I now know why all the Privateers who got off the boat 200 years ago looked all pale and sickly... they were living on chicken wings and grog when they landed in Halifax!
It would be a fair statement to say that Achmed enjoyed his first road trip with “The 4 Guys”: Matt, Jason, Todd and Kevin, and equally fair to say that if what we did was blow off steam then Mount St. Helen had a mild form of gas back in the 80s. (those of you who don’t know what I am talking about are probably too young to keep reading after this paragraph.)
For those of you who follow this to monitor my health, I can tell you that I have blown all of the cobwebs out of my head... and I am hoping by sometime next week to be able to think clearly again... or at least see clearly again. As far as stress relief goes, mentally I am at the top of my game right now; as for cognitive performance and physical stamina, I am hoping to be in proper working order again by Thursday morning, that is when I bring Achmed to the hospital to get his portrait taken and see how well he is developing.
For those of you who only read this blog to break up your day, (I expect this is going to be at least 2 or 3 parts)... I have a little story to tell you about 4 guys and a rock-and-roll band! (Someone should write a song with that title)
Day One (Thursday): The 4 Guys actually started off as two separate pairs of friends who all loved KISS and decided to do a joint venture trip to Halifax to see them. I have never seen the movie “Detroit Rock City” but I imagine that those guys journey to see the “Greatest Band in The World” must have been similar to ours. Jason and Todd were on an early plane to Halifax and Matt and I were on the post-lunch flight, and the two trips could not have started much more differently. The use of text messaging on a road trip has to be one of the greatest-things-ever!
Just to skip the boring details and summarize the key points for the first half of the day:
9:00 – Jason and Todd get to the airport for their 10:00 am flight
9:02 - Jason phones me to see where I am with the tickets
10:00 – Jason and Todd get bumped to the 11:00am flight
11:00 – Jason and Todd finally get on the plane. Jason orders 4 beers instantly and then the attendant ask Todd what he wants… (this multi round ordering would become a theme of the weekend in a few hours)
Noon – Matt picks me up to go to the airport and the first thing he says is not, “hey how are you doing?” but, “Where are the tickets?” (this particular question would also become a reoccurring theme over the next 24 hours)
12:30 – Matt and I check-in at the airport and head to the bar for lunch where we have ONE beer each and a bowl of soup.
12:32 – Matt asks me to text Jason and see where they are (they couldn’t check into the hotel until we showed up)
12:33 – Jason texts me back… “at airport”
12:33.5 – I show text to Matt
12:34 – Matt says, “Are these guys so cheap that they are sitting in the airport until we show up to split the cab?”
Through a few more texts, we find out that their flight got bumped and they were hitching a ride, with a few friends that they met on the plane, to downtown Halifax.
From that point on things went pretty smoothly. Matt and I got to Halifax without incident, grabbed the first cab we saw at the airport when we walked out into the sun and texted Jason to see where we were headed. They two lads had landed at Staynor’s Warf on the Halifax waterfront. I texted back that we were going to check-in and meet them at the restaurant. In theory this all sounded like a solid plan.
By the time Matt and I got to the restaurant, there was a small party happening with some of the local businesspeople and Jason and Todd were hosting it. The hostess couldn’t be happier to see more people join the table. When I told her we were joining “that table over there”, she kind of smiled and said, “oh, you are joining them…” and she waved us by. I didn’t fully understand her expression until Martin and Jane yelled and waved us over to the table, “Hey guys, how are you doing, we have been waiting for you.” For the record, neither I nor Matt had ever met Martin or Jane and as far as we can tell, before lunch that day, neither had Jason and Todd. There were a lot of empty bottles on that table for a lunch. Matt looked at Jenny, our poor waitress, and said, “we will have 2 beers please”… then I said, “I will have two also, looks like we have some catching up to do if these two lads are going to be tolerable.”
I realize that this all sounds kind of boring, but you really need to know how it all started to understand how it all ends. And judging by this post, I think this is probably going to be a 6-part series… because it was probably one of the best road trips in the history of mankind!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
It would be a fair statement to say that Achmed enjoyed his first road trip with “The 4 Guys”: Matt, Jason, Todd and Kevin, and equally fair to say that if what we did was blow off steam then Mount St. Helen had a mild form of gas back in the 80s. (those of you who don’t know what I am talking about are probably too young to keep reading after this paragraph.)
For those of you who follow this to monitor my health, I can tell you that I have blown all of the cobwebs out of my head... and I am hoping by sometime next week to be able to think clearly again... or at least see clearly again. As far as stress relief goes, mentally I am at the top of my game right now; as for cognitive performance and physical stamina, I am hoping to be in proper working order again by Thursday morning, that is when I bring Achmed to the hospital to get his portrait taken and see how well he is developing.
For those of you who only read this blog to break up your day, (I expect this is going to be at least 2 or 3 parts)... I have a little story to tell you about 4 guys and a rock-and-roll band! (Someone should write a song with that title)
Day One (Thursday): The 4 Guys actually started off as two separate pairs of friends who all loved KISS and decided to do a joint venture trip to Halifax to see them. I have never seen the movie “Detroit Rock City” but I imagine that those guys journey to see the “Greatest Band in The World” must have been similar to ours. Jason and Todd were on an early plane to Halifax and Matt and I were on the post-lunch flight, and the two trips could not have started much more differently. The use of text messaging on a road trip has to be one of the greatest-things-ever!
Just to skip the boring details and summarize the key points for the first half of the day:
9:00 – Jason and Todd get to the airport for their 10:00 am flight
9:02 - Jason phones me to see where I am with the tickets
10:00 – Jason and Todd get bumped to the 11:00am flight
11:00 – Jason and Todd finally get on the plane. Jason orders 4 beers instantly and then the attendant ask Todd what he wants… (this multi round ordering would become a theme of the weekend in a few hours)
Noon – Matt picks me up to go to the airport and the first thing he says is not, “hey how are you doing?” but, “Where are the tickets?” (this particular question would also become a reoccurring theme over the next 24 hours)
12:30 – Matt and I check-in at the airport and head to the bar for lunch where we have ONE beer each and a bowl of soup.
12:32 – Matt asks me to text Jason and see where they are (they couldn’t check into the hotel until we showed up)
12:33 – Jason texts me back… “at airport”
12:33.5 – I show text to Matt
12:34 – Matt says, “Are these guys so cheap that they are sitting in the airport until we show up to split the cab?”
Through a few more texts, we find out that their flight got bumped and they were hitching a ride, with a few friends that they met on the plane, to downtown Halifax.
From that point on things went pretty smoothly. Matt and I got to Halifax without incident, grabbed the first cab we saw at the airport when we walked out into the sun and texted Jason to see where we were headed. They two lads had landed at Staynor’s Warf on the Halifax waterfront. I texted back that we were going to check-in and meet them at the restaurant. In theory this all sounded like a solid plan.
By the time Matt and I got to the restaurant, there was a small party happening with some of the local businesspeople and Jason and Todd were hosting it. The hostess couldn’t be happier to see more people join the table. When I told her we were joining “that table over there”, she kind of smiled and said, “oh, you are joining them…” and she waved us by. I didn’t fully understand her expression until Martin and Jane yelled and waved us over to the table, “Hey guys, how are you doing, we have been waiting for you.” For the record, neither I nor Matt had ever met Martin or Jane and as far as we can tell, before lunch that day, neither had Jason and Todd. There were a lot of empty bottles on that table for a lunch. Matt looked at Jenny, our poor waitress, and said, “we will have 2 beers please”… then I said, “I will have two also, looks like we have some catching up to do if these two lads are going to be tolerable.”
I realize that this all sounds kind of boring, but you really need to know how it all started to understand how it all ends. And judging by this post, I think this is probably going to be a 6-part series… because it was probably one of the best road trips in the history of mankind!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Achmed's First Road Trip
Do you remember Christmas Eve when you were a child? The anticipation of what you were going to get and the excitement of Santa coming to visit your house; no to mention you were on holidays from school had you up all night. Well I have been looking forward to seeing KISS since I was a little boy and I think that last night was my Christmas Eve.
I first saw KISS on TV at my Uncle Don’s house when I was about 8 or 10 years old. All his kids were a lot older than I was and they were really into this KISS band with all their make-up and rock music and fires on the stage, etc… I am sure you all know what KISS is all about. Anyway, watching that concert on TV was all new to me and I thought, “I need to see this show in person.” That evening was probably partly responsible for my life-long fascination with live music. Another TV concert I saw there was The Bay City Rollers… fortunately that never deterred me from music!... Well here I am, about 30 years later, and I am heading to Detroit Rock City… well, Halifax actually.
This has been a pretty good week for me. I have basically had no headaches; I am sleeping better than I have in months; the weather has been beautiful; and I got a couple of nice rides in. If it weren’t for the ringing in my head, I wouldn’t even know Achmed was following me around. It is in stark contrast to last week, where I could hardly haul my ass out of bed on some days, due to the throbbing pain in my jaw. It seems that just like the fluctuations in my hearing, I have fluctuations in pain and discomfort levels in my head. That is really good when I am in a valley, but as Borat would say, when I am in a peak “It’s not good for me”.
So, in a couple of hours I am hitting the road and not taking my computer. Four guys sharing a hotel room and living like frat boys for a long weekend is just what the doctor ordered. Actually, the doctor didn’t order it at all, and I am not telling him I am doing it until after it is over… just in case he doesn’t approve.
I haven’t been keeping this blog as updated as I had planned, but when I am experiencing headaches I don’t feel like spending my time sitting at a desk, and when I feel great and it is nice out, I don’t feel like spending time at a desk either… except for work (don’t worry boss). Perhaps Monday night I may have a few stories to tell about Achmed’s first road trip… although I am not sure how much of it I will be able to put here…
I must go open my presents, in this case the envelope with the tickets in it, and catch my ride to the airport. I hope that you all have an excellent weekend, I know I will!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
I first saw KISS on TV at my Uncle Don’s house when I was about 8 or 10 years old. All his kids were a lot older than I was and they were really into this KISS band with all their make-up and rock music and fires on the stage, etc… I am sure you all know what KISS is all about. Anyway, watching that concert on TV was all new to me and I thought, “I need to see this show in person.” That evening was probably partly responsible for my life-long fascination with live music. Another TV concert I saw there was The Bay City Rollers… fortunately that never deterred me from music!... Well here I am, about 30 years later, and I am heading to Detroit Rock City… well, Halifax actually.
This has been a pretty good week for me. I have basically had no headaches; I am sleeping better than I have in months; the weather has been beautiful; and I got a couple of nice rides in. If it weren’t for the ringing in my head, I wouldn’t even know Achmed was following me around. It is in stark contrast to last week, where I could hardly haul my ass out of bed on some days, due to the throbbing pain in my jaw. It seems that just like the fluctuations in my hearing, I have fluctuations in pain and discomfort levels in my head. That is really good when I am in a valley, but as Borat would say, when I am in a peak “It’s not good for me”.
So, in a couple of hours I am hitting the road and not taking my computer. Four guys sharing a hotel room and living like frat boys for a long weekend is just what the doctor ordered. Actually, the doctor didn’t order it at all, and I am not telling him I am doing it until after it is over… just in case he doesn’t approve.
I haven’t been keeping this blog as updated as I had planned, but when I am experiencing headaches I don’t feel like spending my time sitting at a desk, and when I feel great and it is nice out, I don’t feel like spending time at a desk either… except for work (don’t worry boss). Perhaps Monday night I may have a few stories to tell about Achmed’s first road trip… although I am not sure how much of it I will be able to put here…
I must go open my presents, in this case the envelope with the tickets in it, and catch my ride to the airport. I hope that you all have an excellent weekend, I know I will!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Happy Endings
Those of you who know me even a little bit already know that I am not much of a television watcher, but I do like good movies (I also have a few guilty pleasures of shows that I record and watch the whole season of in a short amount of time, which is kind of like a few movies) and one movie which I thought was great … “The Notebook”… yes, I can hear all my buddies who know I watch blood and guts movies laugh at me now! Obviously I am secure in my sexuality to be watching a “chick flick” and telling everyone it is a good movie, plus I guess I am a sensitive guy…
I was at my cousin Jillian’s wedding this past weekend, and though I am a bit jaded when it comes to long-term relationships… particularly those which are legally binding… I always like to see people find what they are looking for in life, and Jillian and Kirk seem to have started down the road of a happy ending… not to be confused with the type of happy ending that comes with an Asian Massage!
It was my first big family gathering that I knowingly brought Achmed along to, and although I have seen most of the people I saw Saturday night prior to the big reunion, it was the first time I had seen a big load of them all at once. You know how people say that the only time they get together is for Weddings and Funerals… why is that? Obviously geography is one reason that can’t easily be overcome, but most of the relatives who made it are already living here, so why does it take an event to get together?
Lately I have been making conscious decisions to become more present in the lives of people in my life and I have tried to stop taking everything for granted and that has included not waiting for someone to die or get hitched to see them. I don’t know how I am actually going to accomplish this. Between my Mother’s family and my Father’s I have almost 100 first cousins, not including spouses!!! I can legitimately say that I don’t even know them all… which is terrible… but a fact. Of course, with a family that big there is always someone either getting married or dying, so once you throw in a few Christmas parties, maybe that is enough to see everyone.
Anyway, the other night is was nice to hang out and chat with people about stuff and not about brain tumours. It can get a little tiring and I would like to think I have a lot more to offer a conversation than technical aspects of something that most people don’t know about, and really probably don’t want to know about. Last week was a pretty headachy week for me and that ultimately takes a lot of wind out of my sails. A constant throbbing in your jaw and head can get a bit tiring, so hanging out and forgetting about it for a night was nice.
As for the wedding, Jillian and Kirk seem to have found what they are looking for in life to move towards their happy ending, probably it will be something like the dude from the Rockford Files and the lady that played his wife in “The Notebook” found.
As for me, I have started to treat each day as a new opportunity to have a new happy ending… life is too short to go to bed in a bad mood.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
I was at my cousin Jillian’s wedding this past weekend, and though I am a bit jaded when it comes to long-term relationships… particularly those which are legally binding… I always like to see people find what they are looking for in life, and Jillian and Kirk seem to have started down the road of a happy ending… not to be confused with the type of happy ending that comes with an Asian Massage!
It was my first big family gathering that I knowingly brought Achmed along to, and although I have seen most of the people I saw Saturday night prior to the big reunion, it was the first time I had seen a big load of them all at once. You know how people say that the only time they get together is for Weddings and Funerals… why is that? Obviously geography is one reason that can’t easily be overcome, but most of the relatives who made it are already living here, so why does it take an event to get together?
Lately I have been making conscious decisions to become more present in the lives of people in my life and I have tried to stop taking everything for granted and that has included not waiting for someone to die or get hitched to see them. I don’t know how I am actually going to accomplish this. Between my Mother’s family and my Father’s I have almost 100 first cousins, not including spouses!!! I can legitimately say that I don’t even know them all… which is terrible… but a fact. Of course, with a family that big there is always someone either getting married or dying, so once you throw in a few Christmas parties, maybe that is enough to see everyone.
Anyway, the other night is was nice to hang out and chat with people about stuff and not about brain tumours. It can get a little tiring and I would like to think I have a lot more to offer a conversation than technical aspects of something that most people don’t know about, and really probably don’t want to know about. Last week was a pretty headachy week for me and that ultimately takes a lot of wind out of my sails. A constant throbbing in your jaw and head can get a bit tiring, so hanging out and forgetting about it for a night was nice.
As for the wedding, Jillian and Kirk seem to have found what they are looking for in life to move towards their happy ending, probably it will be something like the dude from the Rockford Files and the lady that played his wife in “The Notebook” found.
As for me, I have started to treat each day as a new opportunity to have a new happy ending… life is too short to go to bed in a bad mood.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Evening Rides
Life has been treating me pretty well lately, well, you know, with the exception of my new buddy that makes my head throb and my bell ring, but other than that, I have no complaints.
Achmed has had a pretty positive impact on my lifestyle. As far as my physical health goes, I feel better than I have in years, thanks in no small part to Amanda and Carl. I feel stronger, fitter and all around more well balanced. Mentally I feel like my mind is clearer in what I want out of life... except for when the headaches get really bad, or I am exhausted because I don’t sleep regularly these days. My little buddy in my head seems to have rejuvenated me into living the life that I want to be living, instead of letting life dictate to me what is going on.
I used to be a bit of a work-a-holic and would stay at the office for hours to get something finished, or bring work home and stay at it all night or weekend. I will still do that when it is necessary, but usually it isn’t. Yesterday I did something that may have been a first for me. It was sunny out and at 5:30, in the middle of putting a report together, I closed my computer and decided I could finish it in the morning. Then I left and went home, cooked a big feed of salmon, mounted my steed and popped out to see a few friends along my evening ride. My lawn may be almost 2 feet tall, but at least I am out doing something rather than crashing in front of the tube... which would have been very easy last night in the FROSTY July heat!
When I am out on my bike, it makes me forget that Achmed is hanging out above my right shoulder, it is pretty much the only thing that I do that puts him out of my mind. That is probably why I ride almost every day. I have taken lots of stops over the past few weeks... watching sunsets, listening to the waves on the beach, feeling the wind on my face... the little things in nature that I love and had started to take for granted. Lately I have started just popping into people’s houses while I am in the area. Not for any reason other than to say hi, maybe have a coffee... sometimes just because I need to use the bathroom!
It is going to be a long eight weeks before I get my MRI report and find out my radiation schedule, and sometimes the waiting frustrates me because I feel like everything is on hold. So don’t be surprised if I just show o up on your doorstep some evening, after you haven’t seen me for 2 years, just because I drank too much coffee and need to use your facilities.
For now, I plan to keep on living the life I want to live, even if there is a slight temporary pause in it.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Achmed has had a pretty positive impact on my lifestyle. As far as my physical health goes, I feel better than I have in years, thanks in no small part to Amanda and Carl. I feel stronger, fitter and all around more well balanced. Mentally I feel like my mind is clearer in what I want out of life... except for when the headaches get really bad, or I am exhausted because I don’t sleep regularly these days. My little buddy in my head seems to have rejuvenated me into living the life that I want to be living, instead of letting life dictate to me what is going on.
I used to be a bit of a work-a-holic and would stay at the office for hours to get something finished, or bring work home and stay at it all night or weekend. I will still do that when it is necessary, but usually it isn’t. Yesterday I did something that may have been a first for me. It was sunny out and at 5:30, in the middle of putting a report together, I closed my computer and decided I could finish it in the morning. Then I left and went home, cooked a big feed of salmon, mounted my steed and popped out to see a few friends along my evening ride. My lawn may be almost 2 feet tall, but at least I am out doing something rather than crashing in front of the tube... which would have been very easy last night in the FROSTY July heat!
When I am out on my bike, it makes me forget that Achmed is hanging out above my right shoulder, it is pretty much the only thing that I do that puts him out of my mind. That is probably why I ride almost every day. I have taken lots of stops over the past few weeks... watching sunsets, listening to the waves on the beach, feeling the wind on my face... the little things in nature that I love and had started to take for granted. Lately I have started just popping into people’s houses while I am in the area. Not for any reason other than to say hi, maybe have a coffee... sometimes just because I need to use the bathroom!
It is going to be a long eight weeks before I get my MRI report and find out my radiation schedule, and sometimes the waiting frustrates me because I feel like everything is on hold. So don’t be surprised if I just show o up on your doorstep some evening, after you haven’t seen me for 2 years, just because I drank too much coffee and need to use your facilities.
For now, I plan to keep on living the life I want to live, even if there is a slight temporary pause in it.
From Achmed and Me... Live Life!
Monday, July 6, 2009
My New Talent
My job has a lot of sitting at a desk and constant communications to people for one project or another and since the weather has gotten nicer out, I have gotten into the habit of not really spending too much time at my computer during the weekend, other than checking my email once or twice. For someone who is absolutely tied to technology and communication for my job, I have an amazingly low infiltration of it in my personal life... I don’t even have a phone line in my house... granted, the one in my pocket seems to be always either ringing or buzzing. That is probably one of the reasons I like being out on my bike so much, I always turn my phone off... not because I don’t want to talk to you, more because I am afraid if my hip starts to vibrate I may panic and drive into a pole or something!
Anyway, as far as communications goes, this was a very interesting weekend for Achmed and Me. On Friday night I went to a fundraiser for a guy who grew up in the same vintage time-frame as I did. I don’t know him well, but he seems like a decent fella and has a $6000 a month drug habit to support. Ok, that doesn’t sound right, he has cancer and his drugs cost $6000 a month... drugs which are not covered by the healthcare program in New Brunswick, where he lives. (On a completely unrelated note to my point, his friends raised almost $60,000 to help his fight against cancer Friday night, www.andrewsfight.com you can donate here if you are feeling generous). So, at this fundraiser I ran into dozens of people who I haven’t seen since university or high school and I kind of realized what a terrible person I actually am at staying in touch with people. This city is not all that big, and one would think if all of us are living so close to each other, how come we never see each other? Maybe we don’t want to, or maybe we get too caught up in life and just start missing out on living. Whatever the reason is, I ended up not getting home until 4:00 in the morning because I was hanging out with groups of people who I may go another 20 years without seeing. I had actually planned on going home at 10 or 11 o’clock and getting a good night sleep... but really, who am I kidding... it was Friday and there were bands and lots of lost and forgotten buddies... and what was I going to go home to... my cat? I opted on staying out!
Saturday morning, (well actually it was closer to Saturday afternoon) I hauled my tired carcass out of the rack and hit the road to go visiting. Well, I ate a pile of grub and drank a gallon of coffee then I hit the road. I popped in to a few places and visited a few of my buddies, not for any particular reason, just because that is what you should do every now and then to your friends. Then Saturday night a few of us had what is supposed to be a poker game every 3 or 4 months, but what I am pretty sure has taken more then two years to put together. (See, it is not just me who sucks at staying in touch with people.) Well, that led to another 4:00 night. So Sunday morning I am lying in my bed with Mikey licking my face (for those of you who have not been following, Mikey is my CAT!), and I think, as I inhale cat breath and stare at the ceiling, “I am getting too old for this Shit (and as I say it, I can hear Detective Roger Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover’s) voice from Lethal Weapon).” For all of my healthy lifestyle choices that I have made, particularly over the last year and especially over the last couple of months, it seems that when a group of guys who knew each other as teenagers all gather for a night, the desire to live healthier gets kind of thrown out the window, so it is probably a good thing that I do only see all these guys every blue moon.
So, Sunday afternoon I spent my afternoon in an Energy Healing Seminar. I was the only guy and I am pretty sure I was the only one hungover (a room full of positive energy is almost as good as Gatorade in a case like this). This was one of the most interesting afternoons that I have ever had. I really didn’t know entirely what to expect, and I kind of only went because Amanda (my energy healer for those of you who don’t follow along) was going to BC for 3 weeks and I was hoping to find someone there to replace her while she was gone. You know, someone who could make my energy tingle in all the right places… for those of you with dirty minds, you are waaaay wrong in what you are thinking. As it turns out, I have the ability to move energy in people too. Either that or everyone there was trying to make me feel good because I could do something…now, even though I messed up everyone I tried to help (luckily Amanda was there to fix the problems I caused in the ladies), it seems that I have developed a new interest, so all I have to do is figure out how to harness this power so I can take over the world… or at least take over my world and keep Achmed on a short leash.
So NOW, I have a whole new level of ability when it comes to communicating with people and with Achmed… I just have to figure out exactly what language it is and how to speak it properly, but it seems that I may be on to something.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Anyway, as far as communications goes, this was a very interesting weekend for Achmed and Me. On Friday night I went to a fundraiser for a guy who grew up in the same vintage time-frame as I did. I don’t know him well, but he seems like a decent fella and has a $6000 a month drug habit to support. Ok, that doesn’t sound right, he has cancer and his drugs cost $6000 a month... drugs which are not covered by the healthcare program in New Brunswick, where he lives. (On a completely unrelated note to my point, his friends raised almost $60,000 to help his fight against cancer Friday night, www.andrewsfight.com you can donate here if you are feeling generous). So, at this fundraiser I ran into dozens of people who I haven’t seen since university or high school and I kind of realized what a terrible person I actually am at staying in touch with people. This city is not all that big, and one would think if all of us are living so close to each other, how come we never see each other? Maybe we don’t want to, or maybe we get too caught up in life and just start missing out on living. Whatever the reason is, I ended up not getting home until 4:00 in the morning because I was hanging out with groups of people who I may go another 20 years without seeing. I had actually planned on going home at 10 or 11 o’clock and getting a good night sleep... but really, who am I kidding... it was Friday and there were bands and lots of lost and forgotten buddies... and what was I going to go home to... my cat? I opted on staying out!
Saturday morning, (well actually it was closer to Saturday afternoon) I hauled my tired carcass out of the rack and hit the road to go visiting. Well, I ate a pile of grub and drank a gallon of coffee then I hit the road. I popped in to a few places and visited a few of my buddies, not for any particular reason, just because that is what you should do every now and then to your friends. Then Saturday night a few of us had what is supposed to be a poker game every 3 or 4 months, but what I am pretty sure has taken more then two years to put together. (See, it is not just me who sucks at staying in touch with people.) Well, that led to another 4:00 night. So Sunday morning I am lying in my bed with Mikey licking my face (for those of you who have not been following, Mikey is my CAT!), and I think, as I inhale cat breath and stare at the ceiling, “I am getting too old for this Shit (and as I say it, I can hear Detective Roger Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover’s) voice from Lethal Weapon).” For all of my healthy lifestyle choices that I have made, particularly over the last year and especially over the last couple of months, it seems that when a group of guys who knew each other as teenagers all gather for a night, the desire to live healthier gets kind of thrown out the window, so it is probably a good thing that I do only see all these guys every blue moon.
So, Sunday afternoon I spent my afternoon in an Energy Healing Seminar. I was the only guy and I am pretty sure I was the only one hungover (a room full of positive energy is almost as good as Gatorade in a case like this). This was one of the most interesting afternoons that I have ever had. I really didn’t know entirely what to expect, and I kind of only went because Amanda (my energy healer for those of you who don’t follow along) was going to BC for 3 weeks and I was hoping to find someone there to replace her while she was gone. You know, someone who could make my energy tingle in all the right places… for those of you with dirty minds, you are waaaay wrong in what you are thinking. As it turns out, I have the ability to move energy in people too. Either that or everyone there was trying to make me feel good because I could do something…now, even though I messed up everyone I tried to help (luckily Amanda was there to fix the problems I caused in the ladies), it seems that I have developed a new interest, so all I have to do is figure out how to harness this power so I can take over the world… or at least take over my world and keep Achmed on a short leash.
So NOW, I have a whole new level of ability when it comes to communicating with people and with Achmed… I just have to figure out exactly what language it is and how to speak it properly, but it seems that I may be on to something.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Friday, July 3, 2009
A Concert With Earplugs?
I have always thought that anyone who wears earplugs at a concert was getting old, so either I am getting old or Achmed has taken over a little more than I thought.
Tonight I went to see The Tragically Hip for the 6th time; it practically makes me a groupie. In fact, the only bad that I have seen more (if you don’t count bar acts) is Blue Rodeo, although they are technically tied now until the end of July when I will see them for the 7th time.
Anyway, I am not trying to brag about how many concerts I have seen, but I appreciate live music and trying to get my point across. This show was a little different than any other one I have ever been at… I wore earplugs! It seems that I have become somewhat anal in protecting the remaining hearing that I still possess.
In the beginning of the show, when I stuffed those little orange, foam bullets into my ears, I couldn’t hear a thing and all I could think was what a waste of $75 (for the ticket, not the earplugs)! Within a minute or two, my hearing adjusted to actually be quite in tune with what was going on around me and I could hear everything that the band said and played along with being able to hear the people I was with talking… well, shouting actually, but they would have had to shout anyway.
Now I sit here thinking, “I have been to a lot of concerts in my life and that assault on my ears has probably been pretty destructive… these ear plug things are not a bad idea!” All that time that I thought people were nuts for drowning out the noise at a concert with earplugs, and now I am one of those nuts.
But you know, my ears are not ringing now (ok, that is kind of a lie, the Achmed ear is always ringing, but the good ear is not ringing as well now) and I heard everything just fine at the concert. I think I have discovered a new concert accessory and I might even put a pair in all of my jeans… just in case I accidentally come across a concert… I need to be prepared.
I am starting to think that this whole Achmed thing is having more positive effects on my lifestyle than negative ones!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Tonight I went to see The Tragically Hip for the 6th time; it practically makes me a groupie. In fact, the only bad that I have seen more (if you don’t count bar acts) is Blue Rodeo, although they are technically tied now until the end of July when I will see them for the 7th time.
Anyway, I am not trying to brag about how many concerts I have seen, but I appreciate live music and trying to get my point across. This show was a little different than any other one I have ever been at… I wore earplugs! It seems that I have become somewhat anal in protecting the remaining hearing that I still possess.
In the beginning of the show, when I stuffed those little orange, foam bullets into my ears, I couldn’t hear a thing and all I could think was what a waste of $75 (for the ticket, not the earplugs)! Within a minute or two, my hearing adjusted to actually be quite in tune with what was going on around me and I could hear everything that the band said and played along with being able to hear the people I was with talking… well, shouting actually, but they would have had to shout anyway.
Now I sit here thinking, “I have been to a lot of concerts in my life and that assault on my ears has probably been pretty destructive… these ear plug things are not a bad idea!” All that time that I thought people were nuts for drowning out the noise at a concert with earplugs, and now I am one of those nuts.
But you know, my ears are not ringing now (ok, that is kind of a lie, the Achmed ear is always ringing, but the good ear is not ringing as well now) and I heard everything just fine at the concert. I think I have discovered a new concert accessory and I might even put a pair in all of my jeans… just in case I accidentally come across a concert… I need to be prepared.
I am starting to think that this whole Achmed thing is having more positive effects on my lifestyle than negative ones!
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Canada Day / Dominion Day / Memorial Day
A lot of people reflect on where they are in their lives on New Year’s Day. Many people, especially when they start to get into the second half of their life-span reflect on their birthday. Some people ponder their life on their child’s birthday, or maybe their marriage anniversary.
My biggest day of reflection has always been July 1. Not because it is Canada’s birthday, nor because it is a holiday that breaks up the week. July 1 is the anniversary of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel, France. 684 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment died that day in 1916.
This is the first year that I have had my new little friend Achmed tagging along for my day of reflection. I am 41 years old, and based on the law of averages I am about half way to last call. This year my birthday gift from the universe was my new little friend Achmed, who is going to be my new passenger for the rest of the ride. At least if all goes well in Winnipeg (the nuclear blast zone) he will be, and really, if things don’t go well in Winnipeg (and they need to dig a new trench), it is not going to be much of a ride anyway, so he probably wouldn’t want to join in.
Lately he has been reminding me pretty regularly that he is there. Between the headaches, the fatigue and the chronic ear-ringing Achmed is starting to get on my nerves (I never actually meant that as a pun… but I guess it is kind of funny now…lol). I don’t know if the tiredness is related to Achmed directly or indirectly because he keeps me up and most of the time and does not allow me to get a full night’s sleep. Either way, in my opinion the tiredness is his fault.
So today, after I slept in and missed the service at the War Memorial, I took Achmed out on a long ride on my bike. It was a nice day for it, not too windy, not too hot, not too much traffic… a good day to be mounted on my steed and exploring the Greater St. John’s area. Riding a motorcycle clears my mind… it kind of has to, if you are not paying attention to what you are doing and everything around you… it could be lights out and you get to last call early.
One of my stops was Topsail Beach. For those of you who have never sat there on a nice day, I highly recommend it. And for those of you who don’t live here, spend some of your tourist dollars and come check it out! (I need to put that on the record, just in case I ever run for public office). Anyway, sitting there on the grass with ice cream dripping on me, I watched a couple of sailboats meander around the waves in the sun. It was as peaceful as the sunset I saw on Signal Hill the other evening, and there was enough of a breeze to drown out the ringing in my head… and for a little while I forgot that I had a little lad growing on the right side of my brain. It all made me think of the stark contrast of the battle field in France and the reason that July 1 was a holiday here in the first place, long before we even joined Canada. I can’t help but wonder how many people in our country today never even thought of Beaumont-Hamel and if they did, did they really remember.
If you are tipping your glass tonight, remember our lads who never came home, and those who did… and thank them.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
My biggest day of reflection has always been July 1. Not because it is Canada’s birthday, nor because it is a holiday that breaks up the week. July 1 is the anniversary of the opening day of the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel, France. 684 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment died that day in 1916.
This is the first year that I have had my new little friend Achmed tagging along for my day of reflection. I am 41 years old, and based on the law of averages I am about half way to last call. This year my birthday gift from the universe was my new little friend Achmed, who is going to be my new passenger for the rest of the ride. At least if all goes well in Winnipeg (the nuclear blast zone) he will be, and really, if things don’t go well in Winnipeg (and they need to dig a new trench), it is not going to be much of a ride anyway, so he probably wouldn’t want to join in.
Lately he has been reminding me pretty regularly that he is there. Between the headaches, the fatigue and the chronic ear-ringing Achmed is starting to get on my nerves (I never actually meant that as a pun… but I guess it is kind of funny now…lol). I don’t know if the tiredness is related to Achmed directly or indirectly because he keeps me up and most of the time and does not allow me to get a full night’s sleep. Either way, in my opinion the tiredness is his fault.
So today, after I slept in and missed the service at the War Memorial, I took Achmed out on a long ride on my bike. It was a nice day for it, not too windy, not too hot, not too much traffic… a good day to be mounted on my steed and exploring the Greater St. John’s area. Riding a motorcycle clears my mind… it kind of has to, if you are not paying attention to what you are doing and everything around you… it could be lights out and you get to last call early.
One of my stops was Topsail Beach. For those of you who have never sat there on a nice day, I highly recommend it. And for those of you who don’t live here, spend some of your tourist dollars and come check it out! (I need to put that on the record, just in case I ever run for public office). Anyway, sitting there on the grass with ice cream dripping on me, I watched a couple of sailboats meander around the waves in the sun. It was as peaceful as the sunset I saw on Signal Hill the other evening, and there was enough of a breeze to drown out the ringing in my head… and for a little while I forgot that I had a little lad growing on the right side of my brain. It all made me think of the stark contrast of the battle field in France and the reason that July 1 was a holiday here in the first place, long before we even joined Canada. I can’t help but wonder how many people in our country today never even thought of Beaumont-Hamel and if they did, did they really remember.
If you are tipping your glass tonight, remember our lads who never came home, and those who did… and thank them.
From Achmed and Me… Live Life!
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