Sure Christmas is Deadly Sure

Sure Christmas is deadly sure. I mean, all you does is eat and pick at food and laugh about the house opening presents and chatting with family and friends. I had some good pepperoni and lots of good cookies, including squares, cus I would call a square a type of cookie. I mean, I spose they qualify as a pastry or something like that but it's a cookie. I had some good punch and I had some chats. Yup, Christmas is a time to laugh and a time to play video games with all kinds of people. It's a time to catch up with all those people you care about, and those you could care less about. I mean, sometimes you just need to buy a few minutes while the misses is in the washroom. Not that I have a misses. That's another thing. Christmas is a time when there's always someone you have to meet, and someone who wants to talk to you and pretend like you could have a future together, short term or long term. That's it though, God love um. You win some and you lose some I say, and the only way to get a good figure out of it is to play along and see what happens. My body is suffering at the hands of yuletide gluttony, and festive lethargy. ___________________________________________________________________________________ I believe it was Sir Steven Colbert who said it best when he said, "No matter what your race, creed cult or religious affiliation, this holiday season, have yourself a Merry Christmas."

at petes

yeah well Im at petes and its best kind so I just thought Id see if I could get some paragraphization to work.

yesssssssss

Milan, London, TO home

Yeah Venice was nice to stop into and see all the waterways and such, but then I was on to Milan to catch a flight back to London town. I took a train into Milan and then from the train I took the bus that takes an hour to get to the Milano Melpese airport. I got there at 15:55 which was just in time for my flight to start boarding. Boarding ended at 17:15, and the line ups looked longer than I was willing to stand in so I sat down for a bit. My previous flight with EasyJet I had two people ahead of me, so I figured these people must be lined up for an earlier flight and that if I waited a while the line would die down. Besides, the lines didn’t seem to have too many people in them. When I saw that after 20-25 minutes that the line was still just as long I figured I might as well get in line. I was only 20 minutes passed when they allowed you to begin check in so I assumed this time margin was ample for check in and boarding. I stood in one of about 10 lines, though they had about 20 available check in booths. It was now about 16:20 and I had 55 minutes to check in. I stood in my line and watch the other lines around me receding, but my line seemed hung up on one or two people for about 15 minutes and then there was a shift change at my counter. I wasn’t stressing but I was a bit uncomfortable with this stagnant situation. The line moved along slowly and as we advanced it appeared as though there were two lines in one where groups of people who were travelling would alternate between the left and right lines. At 15:50ish I start counting the number of people in front of me and the number of minutes they can each take up in order for me to get through in time. There’s a looming sign behind the check in desks that says, “Please allow 40 minutes to get from this point to your departing flight because we wont wait for you.” I’m stressing now, and I don’t care to check the time because I know it’s hovering somewhere between Go Time, and Too Late. At this point I’m starting to crack a little and I’m already regretting not getting into line as soon as I arrived. There’s this group of 4 people in front of me in line Left, and there are 3 people to my right, who I know came after me, but I’m just following the system and accept the advance of my predecessors with a taste of contempt and an ear of pride in my humility. I get to the front of the line and hand over my ID and booking reference, which the woman at the counter takes and begins the procedure. She looks at the screen and then at my card, then at me as she says, “Your boarding time has passed.” “I know but I’ve been in the line for almost an hour and I just got to the front of the line.” “I’ll see if it’s possible.” She makes a call and then tells me to go to their counter to make another booking and that I wont have to pay because I was in the line up. I thank her and then leave, stressing and a bit unhappy about not getting in line as soon as I got there. I had made it to the front of the line at 17:25, 10 minutes passed boarding time, and my flight was leaving without me at 17:55. I mean, I was only in line 20 minutes later than the earliest possible check in time, so they really don’t allow a very large window of opportunity. I go to the ticket agent and exaplain my situation but he says I’ll have to pay for the ticket unless he has permission from his manager to issue a free ticket for the next available flight. I don’t know the woman who served me but I can go back and check her booth number. The problem is the next available flight is the following morning, arriving at Gatwick in London at 9am, the same time my flight from Heathrow leaves for Toronto. This is no good at all, but he suggests I ask the next counter for flights from other airlines. I do, but there’s nothing. I walk around a bit and stress, then go back and ask if there are any flights from the other Airport in Milano. Nothing. I check the internet on one of those overpriced machines in the airport, and sift through some |Italian. I am online for 2 minutes when it stops working. I figure it is because VISA doesn’t know where I am. I leave and look for a cash machine because I spent my last €7 on the bus ride to the airport. My frantic plan is to check the trains in Milan to see if I can make it to London in time. I can’t find a machine and I check with the bus company who only takes cash. There’s no foreign exchange open at this hour and I don’t have an Italian contact number for Air Canada to let them know I wont make it on the flight the next morning. I’m thinking about losing the $1300, but at this point I really don’t care about it that much. I’m more concerned with the fact that all flights into St. John’s are going to be well sold out. On the bus ride back into Milano I’m thinking about this timing, and starting to realise that there’s no chance I’m going to get from Italy to London at 9pm with enough time to get into my flat, pack things up, and then get to another airport. In time to check in for a 9am flight. 12 hours to do all of that is not possible. I accept the fact that I’ll have to get another flight out of London, but I go to the train station to check anyways. It wont work out. I can get into Paris my 8am at the earliest and take another train from there, but that’s no good so I go to find an internet cafe. The woman who sold me a paneny pointed me in the right direction. I go into this cafe and got on the internet to book my flight out of Milano. It costs €120 but I’m not about to wait until the morning to see if I can swing something with the Easy Jet flight peoples. I buy it, print it and then try to get an air Canada ticket change. Problem is, their flights online can only be changed if you change the entire flight plan, so in order to rebook a flight to Toronto I also have to rebook my flight to St. John’s which isn’t even the same day, it’s two days later, planned for a stopover with family in T.O. This is so frustrating because I’m so close to having it all figured out and the online options are bunk, I guess to encourage you to use the $30 phone service. I try it several times, but there are no other options and there are no flights available into St. John’s, all sold out. The cafe is closing but the woman who works there stays a bit later so I can use the computer. I thank her when we leave, but all I have is a phone number to call from Italy. She points me in the direction of another cafe that is open later, and along the way Erin calls from London to see if I’m going to the Pot Luck with she and her friends. I’m stressing on the phone and a bit unhappy with Air Canada’s internet options. She says she’ll call me back after she checks it out and sees if she can find a number for me to call. She calls back with a long distance number to the Canadian service, where there is an emergency service available, but the wait time is like 15 minutes and I’m calling from a pay as you go phone. I thank her and then go to the internet cafe. NO puck so I call the number and I’m connected in about 1 minute, book the ticket and print it off before my internet time runs out. I don’t have time to email my uncle or family, but Erin does it for me from my account. At this point I feel better but I still have to get back to the airport, wait for the morning to come, check in, get on flight, take train, bus and walk to flat, pack a little, then walk, train, tube, tube, to airport, get on and fly to Toronto, hoping my flight a couple days later works out. Anyways, all that worked out, but I was stressed along the way and thinking about how I hadn’t been in this situation since my tree planting exploits, trying to find my crew in BC after a break and other such adventures. That’s all I care to write. Toronto was nice spent with uncle Robert and family. I’m almost home now with less than an hour before I land in St. John’s. Flight was delayed over an hour but no worries.

milano etc

BLOG 2008-12-20 Rome was best kind, then on to Napoli. When I got to my hostel I noticed there was a lot of litter around the square outside, so I figured I was at another dodgy dans. I went up and met some good people, and a hostel owner who was all fast talking and sporadic. He asks me what I want to see and I say Pompeii, so he hands me a tourist map and then starts circling everything on it and talking fast about what everything is. I should be overwhelmed but I just don’t care, I’m going to Pompeii and the map would be just as useful if I handed it to my nephew Kyler. I was up into around 1am chatting with people and webcaming with the folks. The next day I set out for the train to Pompeii. I have a general idea where it is, but I walked past it the first time and had to go back. When I get there I see this guy that looks familiar. I go over to talk to him and it’s one of the gents from the hostel I stayed at in Firenze. He says, “I think I saw you at the Coloseum in Rome yesterday.” I was there so he definitely say me in my big red jacket, all Canadian, Patriotic like. He was on the way to Pompeii too. It still blows my mind a little that an Australian and a Canadian can end up in 3 consecutive cities that are hours apart from each other, But that’s the way she goes. We had a good time talking English and touring around the ancient abandoned city of Pompeii, and we got a discount on the audio guides and entrance. When we opened the audio guide map it was clear that we were not about to cover all 70-something audio sights on the map. We saw some cool stuff, had a few laughs and took a lot of pictures. We went in just before 12 and around 3-4pmish it started to rain. He was concerned about his camera as our cheapo umbrella’s were not very expansive and you still got a bit wet around the perimeter............. apposed to my internal organs? He decided to head back to catch a train so he could get back to Rome on time, as he had only come down for the day. We said our goodbyes and I headed back into the labyrinth in search of the third and largest amphitheatre. It was raining pretty hard at this point but I wanted to check it out. Along the way I came across Audio guide dialogue sight #34 as I pressed the 3-4 on my audio device I remembered that he had left his ID in order for us to get the audio devices. I was about 15-20 minutes into my walk so I hurried back, the path I had come, hoping he would retrace his steps rather than cut strait to the theatre where he knew I would eventually be. When I got back to the start he was waiting there so we dropped off the devices and took a train back into town where we ate the best Pizza in Napoli. Then we said goodbye again and I went back to the hostel for some chats and rest. It was then I booked my ticket and hostel in Venice. Oh yeah, I had discovered when I awoke that all the litter from the day before was caused by the street market that raged outside my window. I slept through it fine, but it’s so tempting to walk through. The only thing I bought were socks from a place that appeared to be legit with all no name gear for sale. I was half temped to pick up some Nike shocks, but I knew they had to be gafed from somewhere, or illegitimate. They had everything you wanted there for low prices, but in the end it didn’t work out that grate. 50Euro’s for a pair of shocks, is like $85CND? I guess its good, but whatever. Watch your pockets in Napoli, and they tell you not to go out after 12am. I heard several accounts of people trying to scam money from tourists, like one guy who walks through the train and pretends to check your ticket and then asks for a tip. I encountered a guy who was watching me use the ticket machine at the train station. I figured he was just waiting and was trying to hurry me up by talking Italian over my shoulder and pointing at buttons. I wasn’t having any trouble, I was just reading the screen, while eegs was “Helping” me. I eventually gave up because the machine was not accepting my two 50 Euro bills for a 51Euro ticket ohhhhhhhh there’s the euro sign.... now how to I use the 3rd function on a button on this again? Yeah I can’t figure it out, and I don’t have much bat left, so on with it. I leave the machine and the guy is pointing to another one and trying to get me to follow him, but I just walk on to the ticket desk and do it the old fashioned way. This time I wrote down the time and price of the ticket I wanted so there would be no double purchases made. Did I tell you about that? Anyways, if I didn’t I ended up waisting 5 euro on a ticket, no worries, lesson learned. I get my ticket and the guy from the machine waiting for me and is talking Italian and point to his hand and the machine, asking for some money for the “Help” he gave me. I pretend like I don’t know what he’s talking about and say “Ce” holding my tickets. I follows me until I get into McDonalds, which is closed, but the door is open because there are two businesses in there. Anyways, I wasn’t concerned and he didn’t get a smack in the mouth so it all worked out. Hopped on a train and jet scene. I ended up taking a train 2 hours later than I had originally planned, because I had forgotten that the night before I decided to take the earlier, faster, more expensive train, just to enjoy Venice. I was confused at the price so I didn’t buy the ticket in time, and ended up taking the 8 hour train for 22 Euro’s cheaper. _______________________________________________________________________________-- Venice was a fun time, just walked around and took some snaps. Took the water bus up to my hostel, chatted with some people at the hostel and went on out of it. Ate some pizza, that was deadly. Now Im on train to Milano, then London. Get this out when I can. Batt’s dying fast peace fromt he east

Rome

Okay I'm a little behind, but I've been busy and when I stop I'm chatting with people so I don't have much time but I thought I'd drop a few lines for all you thirsty folk who are just dieing for a taste of The David, and all things that are good. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Rome was very nice. The Colosseum lived up to the hype, not something I saw about very many things. I got out of the metro stop at around 10pm and looked up at the Coloseum, all lit up in all it's relic like glory, not to be confused with the sort of glory one found in The Beach Combers. No but serious kids, I looked up at it and just paned across, back and forth for about 10 minutes before I even moved. It was a little bit moving, which I attribute to my fantasy prone personality and thirst for the past. This place saw so many people who fought for their lives just to entertain the masses, kind of like Americas Next Top Model. _____________________________________________________________________________________ I walked up to it and touched it, which is when I discovered that the stone was very soft. There were a lot of initials and names carved in it, because you can carve into it with your finger nails. I did a loop around and could picture the place as it once was. Rome is a very modern city build around so many ancient artifacts and remnants of its glory days. I don't like change, and I wish it still held it's original setting, but the main parts are all unaltered, just the roads and bits between have been built around the older bits. ________________________________________________________________________________ That's all I really want to say about Rome right now. I loved it. I saw a lot of places and hardly got lost at all. On a scale from 1 to 10, Rome gets a gold star. page load error, sorry no pics

travels in florence

Florence December 2008-12-15 I get up and the boss is still asleep on the couch with the door closed, so I guess there’s no breakfast yet. I want to see The David before I leave town so I set out. I got to the spot where it looks to be on the map but it’s not there. I’m at a museum where I am informed that The David is closed for today; dull. I go into the museum, but it’s not strait foreword. I go in and walk around a bit, see some signs that indicate no entry. Oh yeah, I had purchased this umbrella off some guy on the street, finally caving in and buying one. He wanted 5 ero but I wasn’t interested in that price so I take out what change i have in my pocket. It adds up to something like 3.10 or 3.30 and he’s cool with that. He hands me a green one.. no a yellow one, but he has a green one and a black one with red trim, so I go for the black. As I’m opening it I see some yellow too so I figure it might be rastta colours, but when i get it inflated it’s a rainbow. Whatever, it still works. Anyways, back at the museum I’m walking around and I see a sign indicating a place of study, and another place for UNicef help. I walk out of this area and go back to the main hall where I see a flight of stairs with no indication of what’s up there. When I get up there I see some art on the walls so I feel safe. It isn’t dated or anything and it looks like reprints or something. Eventually some woman starts talking to me in Italian and with a bit of English directs me back down the stairs to square one. I give up and go back to the main desk. I don’t have much time and I payed 4 Euro so I better see something old. Front desk directs me back to the staircase that lead up to the area of study, and I notice I sign this time saying MUSEUM. I go up but there’s not much there other than a few old paintings and some furniture for wet nurses. I leave and make my way to the station. I have an hour and I’m pretty sure the directions on the map will take me right there along this big road I see. Great, I’m on my way. I get to the end of the road and things are not so familiar but i see a bunch of lemmings walking with bags and luggage into this castled in area. It’s like a big old fort. It was cool to see but once inside I don’t recognize anything. Time is getting short now, I have half an hour and I don’t know where the station is so I climb the highest flight of steops I can see to the top of the fort wall. When i get there some guy says something in Italian, I ask for English and he says, “This area closed.” I ask for the train station and he points down at a building next to us. I thank him “Gratsia”, and walk down there, but it’s a big empty building under construction. Maybe it’s a new station, or maybe he didn’t like me. Either way time is running short and I need to get to a train that is scheduled to leave in 20 minutes. I’m a little frantic but I’m accepting that I will miss it and that worst case scenario, I have to buy another ticket and leave a little later. I see an officer of sorts at the gate to the fort so I ask him. He knows a little English, but his directions are in Italian. I thank him and piece together his hand gestures as a series of strait, right, left to the station. It works and I get there on time. Train leaves a little late, but here i am sitting on the train to rome, hoping I don’t miss my stop, and curious to see what adventures await me. Maybe I wont get a better detailed map. If I do, it all might seem to bland. Side Notes: -I went out to get a soft drink the first night and when I went to the shop I thought the girl at the counter was the same girl I saw at the information desk back at the station. I soon decided it wasn’t and that they both had the same look. It must be the in thing in Italy. Dark skinned Italian girls with black bobbed hair and dark black eye liner. When I hesitated at her question my cover was disclosed and she started in with the English, “Would you like a bag with that?” She said it so clearly I assumed she knew more, but that was all she knew. A master of her craft. - I’ve been told more than once that I look Italian, but it must just be the Inuit, or Inu in my family tree about 8-9 generations back. I can’t remember which it is on the race or the generation. -1.5L of soft drink is 3.50Euro.

Florence iz dope, my map is not so much

Florence I get up around 10am and the guy who owns the hostel has some free breakfast made. I have peanut butter bread and scrambled eggs. I eat and chat with some other travellers. This one girl comes out and all her friends are asking her questions. I note that she seems a slight bit shy so I jump on board with the questioning. “You wanta fight?” she’s not sure what to say or she heard me right, but in the end she chickened out. After breakfast I venture out into Europea to see what I can see in a day. The map doesn’t have all the street names on it which leads to some losteries. I went some outdoor sights on the way to a museum that was full of a bunch of priceless art. Apparently there’s this one family in Florence that is responsible for bringing all the art together, sort of like The God Father. From there I tried to find The David, but I walked right past it. There were signs up saying something about it, and I should ahve checked it out, but I thought it was farther away, based on the map. I poke around in some shops and make my way down to The Domo. I check out the Domo where you can take some gorgeous pictures at the top. It goes up in stages but, however to get from the front door to the very top you have to clime 416 steps, which counted on the way down. There was one point after 200 that I wasn’t sure if i miss counted, however if I did there are 516, but I’m pretty sure there are 416, and I really don’t care to recount. There were a lot of little windows you could see out through, there to let natural light in. I’ll take a picture of my map later, but somewhere in my last hour in Firenze I lost a piece of it’s tattered edge. From here I am ready to eat, and there’s this one place I have to check out, called GiGi’s where my hostel owner recommends, and so do all the other guests that ahve been there. It’s down a short road I had a hard time finding, but only because I was not looking at the markings he had made on my map properly. He made a square on the corner where I should find it, but I neglected to see the star on the other side of the block, indicating where Gi Gi’s was. In my wondering I found a square with a statue, and a museum I returned to the following day. Eventually I decoded the map and maded my way to Gigi’s. I had a big plate of meat with a side of sundried tomato’s in olive oil. There was a char broiled chicken breast, beef steak, pork, and a sausage. It all tasted very nice, and the sundried tomatoes were impressive. From here I continue my journey, but I don’t end up where I intended on going. I missed two churches, but I saw two others, no I saw three others, and was late to get into another. Or was I in 4? Anyways, I saw some churches, and they were gorgeous, but a bit unsettling too. I want to believe that these buildings were built in honour of God and that he is pleased with such commitment, but I don’t feel that way. It just seems wrong to have so much money put into a building when there were and are people in need of necessities. I know I have a ways to go when it comes to materialism, but I’m making progress, yet I don’t want to seem like a plank eye. I guess I’m right there with them and we need to do something about this direction Christianity has taken. Whatever. I went to a couple markets as I crossed back over the canal. I also took time to take in the view along the canal. It’s right majestic at night. It was getting close to 7pm at this point and I had been walking all day. Dinner is at 9 evey night, but I wanted to get back in time to let the boss know I would be eating this night so he could prepare enough. I buy my ticket on the way back, but I also walk in the wrong direction for a while. The last church I was headed for was close to visitors, but you could hear these birds inside the church garden. I couldn’t see them but they were so loud there must have been hundreds, but I would guess more like thousands. As I continue my journey home I find myself lost again. Not terribly lost, just not on course. I’m not in a hurry, but I really should get a detailed map, because it’s no good trying to find your way when only the main streets are listed. As I’m standing on the corner trying to get some light a bird poops on my head. It was kinda gross, but I had a tissue and I was on my way back. I get back and shower before some social time about 15-20 other guests. The hostel only takes I think 30 so it’s easy to get to know everyone, and food is eaten standing around the kitchen or family room, or on the couches and chairs. For dinner we have pasta with beans, cheese, olives and tuna in it. They make their pasta with a lot more salt. It tastes nice but you need to drink more water, and mind the blood pressure. There’s also a spinach and sausage omelette, and some scrambled eggs with chicken, beans and spice. For desert we have this cake/icream/coffee flavoured thing, it’s good. That’s about it. Then some social time, some go out others stay in. I go to bed around 12am and get up at 9.

Firenze (Florence)

I'm in Florence, Firenze, but here's the story about how I got here. I left my hostel in Milan and walked out to grab a ticket for the street car. I get on the car, but after about 5 minutes I hear this crash and crunching sound as we halt to a stop, with a mini van stuck to the side of the car. I guess they parked too close to the trolly tracks and when we took the corner the sideview window crashed through the sliding door and we pulled the van along with us. So, everyone got off at which point I followed the mob, until everyone started to disperse. We were in front of a bus stop, I checked for my stop, it was there so I got on. You get to travel as much as you want within 70 minutes for 1 euro so I didn't pay any extra. Bus takes me to the train station and I am forced to figure out the how to buy I ticket. I don't see any people selling them so I go to the machine, but it doesn't seem to be working. nor was the second one I checked ___________________________________________________________________ I go over to the information desk and ask when the next train is leaving for Florence. They tell me the trains that go there and direct me to the next one, but it's already leaving. I try the machine and it's not working out for me. I go to the window again and they tell me to check the train service information, so I go there, and homie doesn't speak english. I go back to the machine and try to buy the ticket again, but now it's telling me therer are no seats available on any of the trains until one at 5pm. I try to buy it but it says, "See ticket window." So I walk around and find the ticket window on the bottom floor of the station. I get in line where there are 4 venders selling tickets to my line. Two are unavailable and two are available. When it's my turn to go, a third vender turns his sign over to unavailable, but the guy behind me is encouraging me in Italian to go ahead. I point out that it says Closed in Italian..... Non Something, with closed written inunder it. He's saying "No no, blah blah blah. and after abotu 3 of these point less exchanges some impatient woman half way back in the line starts in with the blah blah blah, and then she hops out of line and goes to the closed window, where she is waved off. I don't know why I was the only person who understood that this "Closed" sign meant that it was not "Open". So instead of walking back to her spot she stands beside me. I'm not cool with this, but there were too many witnesses around to just go ahead and drop kick her. I was ready to pounce when the next window came open, but it was the one to the right, and she was to my right, so she beat me to it. After she finished she said Gratcia and some other words I didn't care for, nor did I care for the "Non Operento" Sign that this vender turned around as the woman left. Now there's only one window available, and it's occupied. not too long after another one opened and I got a ticket for 1pm-ish, which was not available on the machine, so it's a good thing I found this place. The machines must have been messed up because there were loads of seats available on the train. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Train ride was nice, got to see some vine yards and nice country side. Got to Firenze and I have to figure out another bus system. I go to the information desk and tell the girl I need to get the 25 bus, so I need to know how i pay for the bus. She doesn't know anything about buses and directs me to the bus information desk. I tried to make sure she understood my question but she jsut repeated herself so I didn't want to ask again. I figure she thought i was asking her about the schedule for bus 25 when really all I wanted to know was how I got a bus ticket, or did I pay when I got on, I could find the bus on my own. _______________________________________________________________________________________ I find someone else to ask, but it turns out to be a baggage storage, but he points out the bus information spot jsut across the way. I go there and ask for a ticket and where to catch the 25 bus, because i couldn't find a sign around for 25 among all the bus signs. He points down to the right, but this could mean a kilometre in that direction for all I know. I walk down that way, then I notice 25 pull up across the street. So I go ove rand wait for the next one. I get on and put my ticket in the stamper but I'm not sure if it worked. Other peopel seemed to be having trouble with it too, so I jsut left it. I'm watching the stops as I go along, andI tihnk I know where I'm supposed to get off. I get on at 4pm and make my way up this big hill where I get a really nice view of Florence as we make our way up. I'm watching stops but I'm not sure if I've missed one or not. I think I know where I'm supposed to get off but the order of the stops is not making sense. I was supposed to get off at the first stop after Ponte Rosso, the first Bolognese stop, but there are a few Bolognese stops I see, yet I have not seen a Ponte Rosso. I'm stressing a little but not too much at this point. eventualy we are at the top and heading down the other side. then we pull into a parking lot and the bus stops I go up to talk to the bus driver, and he is helpful but doesn't know much English. I'm pretty sure he's telling me that he will continue his route in 20 minutes and will be heading back to the station where I would start all over again, and I think he's trying to get me to walk up the hill a little and take another bus down back the way I came, but I'm not 100% on this. I'm nodding and saying yes to the bits I understand, but every now and then he loses me, and I just look like a tourist who is nodding and saying yes when i really don't get it. Eventually he walks me up to the stop and flags down the bus that shows up in about 20 seconds. he tells the bus driver where I am getting off and I try to give him 5 Euro'd for his time, but he doesn't take it. I get on and watch the stops as we make our way back down. After a while I feel like we must have passed it. I'm watching the stops, but I also hoped the bus driver would let me know when I should get off. He didn't, and the stops are a little different going down than they are going up. eventually we are back into the flat of the city and I'm frustrated. I check the next stop sign and we are almost back at the station. I get off and wait for the next bus to head back to the hill, but it's now 5:21, past my 70 min trip deadline, and I don't see any tobacco shops around to buy a new ticket. I just want to get to the hostel and I'm all in a fix, when I remember that the ticket didn't stamp the first time I got on the bus so my 70 minutes didn't begin until I got on at the top of the hill to head back down. I feel a bit better, but I still don't know if I'll find the stop or not. _______________________________________________________________________________ The bus comes, and its the same guy that picked me up at the top of the hill, so I just get in the back door and feel like a stupid tourist. I watch the stops and see where I get off. It's not where I thought it was, and it's right at the base of the hill. So I get off and take a left as the directions explain, but there are no #8's this way. I look back and there aren't any to the right either. I'm frustrated and walking back and forth. Then I notice there are two 18's so I think it might be one of them and I just wrote it down wrong. Nope, not them. I walk a little farther right and I notice some numbers out of sync, like 18, 18, 16, 14 6, 12. I walk down and see a guy wring the bell for my hostel and I go up with him. I'm there, everyone's great and I'm content. I'll get into travel tomorrow from the train. I need some sleep now. later kids

Milano!!! day 2

Milano Day Twoau I get up at 7 or so because I couldn’t sleep very well. I don’t know why, but I was waking up every hour or so. Get ready for the day and make my way into the city centre. Finding my way there wasn’t too hard, but once I got to the stop I was greeted by an African guy greats me and starts to put this bracelet around my wrist, tells me it’s in support of Africa. I’m cool with it and I’m right there with him the whole way, and then he asks me for a donation to Africa. I take out some change, about 6 Euro’s or so, and I don’t intend on giving it all to him, but he’s like, “You know, 10, 15 Euro’s, something like that.” I’m not really cool with that but I don’t really feel comfortable about the situation, he says he’ll make change, so I take out the 10 and ask him for the change back. “No no man.” He says to me. After some debate he gives me 2 Euro back and I uncomfortable give him the 10 Euro’s. There were 4 of them, but we were in a very public place so I didn’t need to feel as uncomfortable as I did. Then his friend comes up and gives me the same speel. I let him go through and put the string around my arm, but then he asks for a donation. I tell him I already gave some to the other guy. “No no man, but some for me.” I didn’t say it but I should ahve said, “If it’s all going to the same organization then why are you concerned about who I give the money to, and what organization do you work for? Who should I make a check out to? They’ll nag you until you walk away, and then they might even follow you for a bit. (I’m currently talking about this stuff with the other people in my hostel.) Then some guy grabs my hand and puts bird seed in it so the pidgins all cling to my arm and eat the seed. But I’m a little more concerned about these dirty birds, and he’s holding my arm so I can’t pull away. I figured he was after my African support bracelets. Went to the big old church, the sales area where you can buy prauda next to McDonalds, and all the other brands I love so much. Then I went to A Museum where there were some old bits of art such as, School of Athens, Leonardo originals and other relics. Check out a big park where i saw a love bridge, and ate some really good Gilato, with raisons and a rum taste, that may have been from the rum in it, I don’t know, but that’s what I blame the tattoo on. Joking mom. I happened upon the Stock exchange, but I didn’t buy anything there. Saw some stadium, ohhh and this really cool castle that had cats living in the moat. Not a whole lot, but maybe 15-20 around the perimeter of the castle. I’m losing track now, and my battery died in the cold on my camera. I did think to bring another but I was trying to pack light, and the battery was full. I was all puffed out with a video camera and camera, and maybe a purchase. I went to the Restaurant recommended to me by the guy I met on the tram line when I got in. When I got there they said they were starting dinner at 8pm, and this was 6:30. It was pouring rain by this time, but I wlaked around a bit and sat under a strip mall overhang area. Went to the store for some cookies, and then went back for dinner at 8. They were very nice for the way I was dressed, but then again, there was only one other table in the building. I was never short of food. As soon as my sesame sticks were getting low they came back with more, and bread too. I was also given some Salami to sample, and it was good. They also brough out some cherry tomato’s that were marinated in something, along with some round pieces of cheese that, about the size of a cherry tomato, and they almost tasted like bread dough first, but it was cheese through. I liked them very much. My main course was noodles, sort of like lasagne noodles in tomato sauce with mozzarella mixed in all together. For desert I had pistachio gelato. It was a good time and the restaurant was gorgeous. If you’re ever on a date in Milan you have to go there. The staff is all male, and they guys are so friendly. No, not in a gay kind of friendly way. Corso Como, check it out. It’s a bit prizy. The meals aren’t too far over other places, but I paid 6 euro for a coke. I enjoyed it, but I’ll be eating a little more frugally for the next while, as long as I get a taste of the culture. There’s a place here that the guests have been going to called Gigi’s, where you can get a real home cooked Italian meal. The guy who owns this hostel cooked tonight and it was good pasta with beef in it, breaded chicken with chips and salad. 2.5 Euro’s here ever second night, the other every other night is free. I walk around a little more trying to find my way back to the metro, because I was a little lost trying to get there. Went the wrong way off the hop. Anyways, I get back to the hostel and chill.

Milano!!!

MILANO Thursday December 11th I had a flight to Milan, or, Milano. I would rather we just stuck to the native spelling because it does tend to confuse things when you’re trying to catch a train. I got up and headed to the train station. I wasn’t sure which train to catch, but I knew I was heading to Gatwick Airport, and my flight was for 2:15pm. I purchased a ticket from the vending machine and then asked one of the informants at the gate about where I should go. He said, “This is a FCC train ticket.” Apparantley he was working for Southern, another rail company. “The next train leave from platform 10 in 12 minutes.” I thanked him and headed down there. When the guy came around to check my ticket, half way through the journey, he said, “This is an FCC ticket.” I assumed I was on a Southern train, but I didn’t understand why I was given directions to the next southern train from someone who had first told me my ticket was FCC only. I asked him why I would have been told any different, but the problem with explaining yourself is that many people don’t tell the truth all the time, or they at least aren’t overly concerned with correct details. I try not to explain too much because it feels like I’m being listened to in the same manner as all the liers that came before me. He says he’s going to change the ticket, I guess charge me for another ticket without fining me for showing up without a ticket. I could accept that, but I was still upset about the guy who had misguided me. Then he says, “Wait a minute. FCC is having trouble with their trains today, maybe we are allowing their tickets on today, don’t worry about it.” “ Are you sure?” “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” It worked out fine.__________________________________________________________________________________________ The train was about 30 minutes late due to ...... what was it they called it? I can’t remember but I believe it was something like a line problem ahead. When we arrived I was early for check in, so I sorted a few things out before boarding. Packed my jacket into my bag and threw out some old tissues etc. I checked in at 12:45pm and then proceeded to the area where you can buy duty free, over priced goods. After purchasing an over priced Sweet Ty sandwich, that really didn’t taste the way it should, along with some Pringles, I bought a chocolate bar to bog down the taste of the sandwich I had eaten. While eating the chips I discovered that my flight was delayed until 4:25, or 15, or 45. I think it was 4:15pm. I wrote a bit and watched Rudolf during that time, then got on the flight to Milano.___________________________________________________________________________ When we landed I got in line to work on my stamp collection, and then discovered my line was moving faster because it was for European’s only. Once I got through the passporting I went for my luggage. There were only a few bags left going around, and after 5 minutes I realized non of them were mine, and there weren’t any new editions showing up. I had a look around and realized I was at the wrong carousel. I went to the right one and grabbed my bag before heading out to decode the bus system. I was at the right bus, but it wasn’t in English and I wanted to make sure I didn’t just hop on the wrong bus, cus I do that sometimes, so I walked round and check the others and where they were heading. I safely concluded that I was as right as I was going to be, but I was still a little nervous about the language barrier as I had just landed and was uncertain about whether or not I would find kindness in the hearts of these new found people.________________________________________________________________________________ When my bus comes back around I get on with few hitches, as it turns out the bus driver was friendlier than he looked. As we are pulling away some guy runs up to the door and flags the bus down to stop. As we are stopped more and more people come until about 20 extra bodies are on the bus and we are running 10-15 minutes late. Whatever, I got there fine, and my friendly driver even pointed me in the right direction. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hold any stereotypical beliefs about Italians, but I always feel bad about not knowing the language of the country I’m in, so I expect people to be upset with me for this fact. In general they haven’t been. _____________________________________________________________________________ I make my way from the station over around the corner where i expect to find the tram, but it took a little more poking around and a little more walking to eventually find it. When I get to the tram some guy next to me with a snowboard says something I don’t understand, so I say “English?” At which point he asks me, in a British accent, “Do you have the time?” From thereI asked him where he was riding and we chat about snowboarding, travel, school, and What to see in Milan. He told me about this restaurant to go to, as I had asked him where to go for good Italian food. I wont say too much more about him because it might seem sketchy to describe someone who you knew for 20 minutes._________________________________________________________________________ I get off at the stop right in front of my hostel and go up to my room to settle a little. It’s about 10pm now so I ask the front desk where is a good place to eat, and he directs me to a little spot just a few doors down. Maybe he didn’t think I was up for the walk, but none the less, this Chinese run Chinese food restaurant, also sports a mean Pizza, baked in a stone oven with no oil that I could detect, and a very thin crust, the kind dad likes. It wasn’t cut up so I got a few looks walking down the sidewalk with my head over an open pizza box , tearing pieces of dripping pizza off. It wasn’t til later I noticed a big drooly looking stain of cheese juice down my jacket. It was good, and after that I made my way through streets I didn’t know. I kept a general idea of where I was going, but general is not always specific enough, and at the end of the night, after a McCafe delectable, that tasted like Purity lemon biscuits, I meandered my way back, eventually finding my way to shower and bed. Day 1 a Milano, se Fineto.

shopping day!!!!!

Shopping day! Got up on the 8th and headed into the London central area for some shopping. Top of the list was Harrods, as well as.... Henley’s? The 5 story toy store, that sure isn’t cheap. They have a candy shop and a restaurant, sort of like a glorified Zellars, without the Z Burgers, or MSG. I could have spent a longer time there, but I didn’t want to buy much anyways. Harrods was a trip, with this ridiculous statue of Diana and her lover. Check out the photo. Homes has his shirt wide open, and they may have given him a nip and a tuck. Harrods really does have everything, though I didn’t see any automobiles, I did see most other things. They have a huge room full of Chocolate and chocolate flavoured things, and the market area looks like it has the best of all things authentic. From processed meats and cheese, to pastries, cakes, olives and nuts. All kinds of everything, where the upper class types do all their grocery shopping, or send someone to do it for them. Did some shopping here and there, and all was well. The streets are well decorated for the season and it really feels like Christmas, minus the family and egg nog. Yeah, they don’t know about non-alcoholic egg nog here! Sure Thomas amusments even made it out for the event, with some festive rides. After shopping we grabed some food and headed back to Erins. That night we went to see WICKED, a musical about the wicked witch of the west and her side of the Wizard of Oz story line. It was a fun time, and then we went to bed I think. _____________________________________________________________________________- Next day, Tuesday dec 9th we took the train out to Manchester, and I told you most of that already.

yo yo get on the go

Blog from Train to Flirenze (Florence) 2008-12-13 I don’t think I covered this, so I’ll do a short little fill in. Saturday Dec 6th I was at Peter and Karen’s wedding..... Oh yeah I did cover that. Umm. Right, I got up Sunday morning to head to Iziah’s football match, out of bed at 8am I think. I get on the 468 as per useual, but for some reason I felt like this bus was going to take me all the way to East Croydon station, where I was meeting Michael. I was tired and just not thinking strait, really I was. I hate it when people say that sort of thing as an excuse, because sometimes we just don’t function properly, or don’t think things through. Either way, I was not where I was supposed to be and had to wait for another bus to take me back to whence I came. So I get off and call Michael who is taking Peter’s son to the game, and we decide it’s best for me to chil out at the stop he will be returning to once he had acquired Iziah. I don’t know if you can picture all of this, but Michael was taking the bus to get Iziah, then taking the bus with him to the game, while I was tagging along to watch._____________________________________________________________________________________ I was too late and Michael was already on his way to Iziah’s, while I waited for them to return so that we could all go to the game IZiah was playing in. While I was waiting Michael called to let me know he had just been talking to the coach and the game was cancelled, however, Michael didn’t have a phone number for Iziah’s so he had to make the trip there just to tell him about the cnacelation. I on the other hand was free to go home out of it and get some much needed rest.__________________________________________________________________________________ I stopped into McDonalds for breakfast, even though I’m not a big fan of the place, I still find their breakfast to be half safe. I order the bacon and egg bagel avec cheese, and a side of pancakes with a sausage. The pancakes were a good time, but the bacon and egger was not so much. It looked like real bacon, or “Streaky Bacon” in the photo, but it turned out to be that UK bunk stuff that is more like bad ham and more chewie than crunchy. The Bagel was still cold, not toasted, processed cheese was not melted, and I didn’t get my free smile. I’m pretty sure they took free smiles off the menue, due to the strain this placed on their workers, and numerous lawsuits incurred on account of false advertising.__________________________________________________________________________________ I ate my McDisapointment on the bus ride home, and even offered some to the girls next to me who were on their way to church without breakfast._______________________________________________________ When I got back to my flat I washed the surrip off my hands and took a good 3 hour sleep. Church wasn’t until 2:30pm. I got up and headed off to church. I went down to the stop, where only two bus’s show up, route 50, and 198. I wanted the 198, so when it pulled up I got on. After about 15 minutes or so it occurred to me that the announcement onboard was telling me I was on route 50! I don’t know how this happened because I can still picture the 198 on the front of the bus, but obviously it wasn’t. I don’t get it, but either way I found myself on the 50, headed in the wrong direction. I get off and head back to where I can catch the 198, or 468. From here I have to walk about 20-30 min, but along the way I take in a bit of culture with a bag of chestnuts, which I noted were roasting on an open fire. I tried this at home once in your fireplace and it tasted disgusting, but maybe I trued to eat the outside as well, or maybe I was toasting it on one of those synthetic fire logs and the toxins through it off. You’re supposed to peal the outside off, so it;s not like a potato, though it does taste like a very sweet Potato, not a Sweet Potato._________________________________________________________________________________ I get to church just at the end of the sermon and then spend some time spcializing with the church folk and eating snacks.____________________________________________________________________ From there I met up with Erin and we made our way back to her place where I dropped my stuff off before heading to The Maple Leaf, a Canadian pub in London where the Detroit vs Chicago game was playing. It very much has a Don Cherry’s feel to it, and I enjoyed my ribs, even though they were stuck to the bone and a bit too fatty. Erin had a waffle with maple surrip, which I tried, and enjoyed. After that we headed back to her flat for the night. See Next blog for the events of the following day. Fin

Manchester and the like, oh and finished work things

Fan Zone was bunk sure Manchester was a good time. Went to see a black panther art exhibit, a pub that used ot be a public toilet under the main street, and poked around in a street market full of wonderful goodies, without buying any. There were just too mnay things I wanted to try and it cost so much that i just decided to refrain from it all together. It was cold for walking around, but Manchester isn’t short of malls, and shopping centres to pop into and fo-shop. Ummm, I didn’t talk about London first did I? Well I’ll get to that after, just ignor the chronology.________________________________________________________________________________________ What else did I see in Manchester? I guess I’ll put some photos up but the architecture is unique and both functional and skateboardable. On the second day Erin and I were going to the Manchester United Fan Zone to meet the players and maybe get an autograph. While we were in the area we checked out the imperial war museum, and art gallery, mall, and walked around the general area. The mall is right across from the art gal and they are both across the bridge from the war museum. All of these buildings are very nice to look at and tres artsie. Between the mall and art gal is a big common area where some local chaps were play a bit of football. That night we went to check out Old Traffard and the fan zone. We were walking around until I finally succame to Erin’s bidding to ask someone. That’s the difference in males and females when it comes to navigation. I know the traditional view of men being too stubborn to ask someone for directions, but I don’t mind asking for directions, as long as I’ve first put a decent effort in first to find it myself. I tend to remember things better when I figure them out for myself than when I have it all explained to me.__________________________________________________________________________________ So we get some directions and continue to another dead end where Erin notices a sign directing us back the way we came. After asking someone else we were directed ot a tentlike structure. I had purchased a tshirt and a marker for all the autographs I would get, though I wasn’t expecting the whole team to be there or anything. I don’t know why I thought they would be there. I’m pretty sure they are supposed to show up from time to time, however, this was not one of those times. The £3 I paid got me into a big cold area with a big screne playing old matches, and I was luck enough to be offered over pirced food. Fan zone was bunk, but at least I know what it’s all about now, and I did get to see Corry Tetford, I mean, old Trafford. Why didn’t Igo to the game? Because the last train out of town was leaving part way through the game and I had a flight to catch to Milan the next day, which I am now on as I continue to type. I tried to let the guy next to me know that he can wake me up if he needs to go to the toilet, but he doesn’t speak enough English to understand me____________________________________________________________________________ I would like ot go to a football match someday. See, when I was making these plans I found out that for early ticket booking you need to be part of the fan club, which costs £25. Tickets were available to general public later on once they had not sold out, but everything was booked by this time.____________________________________________________________________________________ Manchester is a nice city. It’s not as big as London, so it’s easier to get around and still has lots to offer. I could easily live there, but first I mght have to check out the hockey situation there._________________________________________________________________________________ What else is there to say about Manchester? Very nice Christmas night market, with an ice rink in the city centre, and they have Christmas decorations all over the light poles and what not; on the trees and buildings. Saw some cool little shops.__________________________________________________ So before the trip to Manchester I was in London. I finished up my job on Friday, dec 5th and made my way into South Norwood. Along the way I ended up on the wrong train, though you would think I would have this stuff checked and double checked wouldn’t you? I mean, I have been known to go the wrong way more than once and get lost every now and again, so somehow I ended up on the wrong train. I though it said platform 1&2, but the only thing I can figure is that it said platform 12, I don’t know, all I know is I left around 3pm, should have been in SN by 5, but got in more like 8:30pm. I was off down the wrong rabbit hole when the train man informed me that we were at the end of the line and I had to get off. He gave me directions, back to London Bridge, and from there it was only another 45 min or so. No worries, I wasn’t in any hurry to get anywhere.______________________________________________________________________________ From the station in SN I walked with all my gear back to my flat, and as I made it to the door, I saw Peter and his family pulling up. I had a bit of a chat with Peter, but mostly with his son, then I unpacked a bit and headed out for some food. I went to a spot called Togma Hall where they have some of the best Cury I’ve ever eaten. There were two very similar dishes, but one was £4 and the other £7, I enquired and concluded that on this celebratory occasion I was due for the £7 curry with all the extra spices. I don’t know what the cheaper one was like but this thing was gorgeous. Not too hot, and full of flavour. I find the only the I ever dislike about a curry is when there is too much cumin in it, but one was worth the cash. After that I bought a big chocolate bar to eat on the way to hockey. Hockey was a good time, but the curry and chocolate were burning a hole in my stomach the whole time and when I got off I discovered I had over exherted myself to the point of shaking. I felt like someone had thrown me down a flight of stairs once or twice. The next few days I was feeling all the achs and pains. My hands from gripping the stick, legs, and all around my trunk muscles; Loves it.______________________________________________________________________________----- That night I had my first bath in ages. Don’t get me wrong, I was showering for the past 4 months, but didn’t have a bath, and the one at my flat is an old deep one.___________________________________________________________________________________ I didn’t get enough sleep but I was refreshed and happy the next day, aches and pains aside. I was so hungery by the time the meal came, because I figured 6 hours sleep was better than 5 hours sleep and breakfast. We didn’t eat until 5 or so, but it was very nice. I had a checked breast wrapped in a slice of ham, with sweet chilli sauce and some cheese potato thing. It was good by I was famished. My starter was shrimp, and my desert was Christmas pudding, which they served with sour cream??! Yeah, I woulnd’t have guessed it, but it tasted good nonetheless. I also had someone elses yorshire pudding and a slice of turkey, along with an icecreamsunday that went unclaimed; oh, and some Wedding cake. It was a good time and from there I met up with Erin at her friend Pauls house; well, I guess he’s my friend now as well. Computer is going to shut down any minute now and I will get a writing break. Battery is very low. Yeah , we went to Pauls and watched 3:10 to Yuma, which I had seen on a flight, except never got to see the ending. As it turns out, I had only missed the last 10 minutes, but I feel more concluded. Shut down__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Then I went home and had some sleep out of it. Writing from Milano

Going right off er

Holy Banana's my head is some state of affairs for a boy such as myself. I mean, I am done work tomorrow and I am very ready to be done. I loved my time here, and I say that all the time, but I feel like i don't want to give the wrong impression, because half my excitement is due to the timing of things. i just feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be, and I don;t always feel that way.____________________________________________________________________________________ I went to school with a guy named Jon Coish, and if you ever see him around tell him I said hi. He's a good lad.____________________________________________________________________________________________ I'm ready to live, die, and get on with it.. Which reminds me of a conversation I ahd with an elderly man yesterday when I was looking for some advice, well not really looking but curious as to what sort of advice he would give. So I ask him, "Skipper. if you were to talk to a 26 year old gentleman about life, what sort of advice would you give him?" So he says, "I'd tell him to stop being such a gentleman and get on with it!"___________________________________________________________________________________ I'm done, and I know my head is going to feel different when I move into different locations. I'd like to thank you all for coming out

Don't let the sun go down on your anger

It's in the Bible, but I'm not looki..... alright. Ephesians 4:25-27 Therefore, putting away lying, "[Let] each one [of you] speak truth with his neighbor," [fn] for we are members of one another.26 "Be angry, and do not sin": [fn] do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27. nor give place to the devil. OKay so I've had it a little wrong, or I've been reading a different translation, but this one makes a little more sense. Knowing that sometimes we are going to be very angry without resolution but will have to go to sleep at some point. I find I much rather settle things before I sleep or it will just get pushed down there, and pop up later on sometime out of the blue. SO I was really mad earlier because I felt cheated, but after venting and explaining everything to someone, and then having a couple short conversations on msn, I was getting somewhere. I got things off my chest and then I talked about something completely different, and watched some funny videos, without bringing up my discontent. Then I had a big hot bowl of oatmeal with apple, raisins, cinnamon and brown sugar, avec milk. It was good and calming and now I feel somewhat better. I really jsut need to sleep now, so later on.

David needs to get the bojangles out of Dodge

I'm not going to lie, I have enjoyed my time here in Stewkley, but I am due for some change and adventure. Yes, yes, I've been logged into msn and facepage half the day, but I've been doing things too. Writing and such. check out the plethora of blog.``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Truth is, I really just needed to clear my head and this was a good place to do it. Ouside of the internet there are few distractions, and if you read some of my earlier material you'll get an idea of where I was when I landed in Europia. It all came together very well and again I was stretched, learning a few lessons, and given a few reminders of things I may have forgotten. It's sort of like learning a lesson over again, or maybe just a recap, or a coles notes, I don't know. All I know is I feel like some things I learnt, and others I already knew but was in need of a fresh reminder.¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ So I got my head up, mulling over some ideas for the future and just trying to figure out how they all fit together without stressing. Honestly, I honestly have no worries about the future, and I'm not sitting on my hands either, honestly. See how these ideas fit together and which ones burn up at dead ends. Whatever. I'm just far too excited about Friday when I finish work and set out into some more foolishness. I'm all about getting lost and walking an hour longer than my feet are interested in. I wonder if the Pope will give me a Christmas blessing in Rome? I'll have to look him up on facebook. !!!!!!!¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ So I still haven't figured out how to get my paragraphs to stay one I hit the POST button, but I'm not too worried about that right now.¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Who's reading this? Sure I just got a comment from Jeremy Spence, who I've spoken to bout 3 times since highschool. Maybe he has some software that lets him know whenever his name pops up in text online, who knows. Maybe it's not Spence, and just some joker trying to yank my chain. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ So my posts are getting less EMO these days, and I'll probably tone down the Jesus talks for those folks who are up for a good laugh or a bubble gum read. I hope I have time to write a blog, but if I don't that just means I'm too busy loving it up and I'll post at the end of the ventures. Loves it. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Ohhh! ha! i just membered something. I sent out my first Christmas card ever on Thursday and I got it back in the mail on Saturday. Apparently the buys at British Post don't know where my family lives, so I gotta send it again. What a bunch hey?

Bus'n here now

Buys I'm telling you now. I made some deadly soup today with all home grown vegetables and I'm bloated on two heaping bowls. I'm pretty sure they are two pint bowls. Hold on I'll check ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬``¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Oh my goodness! No wonder I'm hurtin. Sure I ate at least 2L of soup, and a drink ta boot. I'd undo my belt and unbutton my shirt, but my pants are half off me with nar belt, and I only got an undershirt on. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Well, it tasses like Chirstmas I think, and I happen to have a weakness for Christmas. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Starting to feel a little napish now. Tongue's burnt from testing the soup. I know I should have left that big chunk of potato alone. I wonder if the aloe plant in the kitchen will be soothing at all? ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I really wanted to do something productive today but I didn't have it in me. I just felt like I should be doing something, but I couldn't come up with what that thing was. I thought it was "Clean your room for Jesus." But she's spic and span now, and I still feel like something is missing. I'm thinking about when I felt like this in the past and I'm pretty sure it's related to sleep. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Last night I was up late doing some writing and I was feeling good. I slept well, but not a full 8 hours, though I've been aiming for 7 these days and feeling good with that. It was more like 5 hours, then up for 20 min and back for another hour after my client decided to stay in bed another hour. I think the 2:30pm lie in threw off his system; though he sleeps like the tilt all day long, God love um. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I got up and felt alert, but I felt some guilt, or anxiety. Well, not really that, but it's the feeling you get when you know you should do your home work but are not too excited about the idea. Maybe I felt like I should do some exercise, have everything lined up for my trip to Italy. I'm pretty on top of that stuff, so maybe it's just sleep. I also get the feeling when I have been off work for too long, but I'm working 24/7 sure. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Enough about that. I'm too caught up in Christmas. Sleepover at Fosts house, watching movies and playing video games. laughing over a cup of egg nog and falling asleep in front of the fire place. Clementines and cheery cake, dipping home made bread toast in hot chocolate while mom takes off my skates, toes frozen from a day spent out on our backyard rink. A phone call from my big cousin Jamie from across the road, he wants to go up the pole line on behind my house on GT, and I'm too young to realize he either had nobody else to call, or his mother put him up to it. Ignorance is bliss, and I'm elated. The only time I'm ever up there the same time as he and Steve is when we just happened to run into them. If there was ever some dog poo around Steve would stand about 5 feet away from it and call me to come over. I never caught on, and I don't even know if I knew what was happening half the time. Whatever, I'm sure it was frozen poo anyways. !¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ The smell of spruce tree when I walked in the door after school. Early evenings, where there was always enough snow to start making a fort, but never enough patience to finish. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ We always had this green plastic cup under the bathroom sink, with a Kraft Peanut butter bear on the front. Whenever I was out playing in my snow suit and needed to pee,my mother would bring down the cup so I didn't have to go any farther than the porch. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Grade one gift exchange at school and I happened to bring the coolest gift. I don't know how the odds worked out, but I ended up with my own. I was stoked, but Jeremy Spence ended up with his own as well, and his just happened to be the worst gift. A story book about Santa, not impressive. The teacher made us exchange and I was so jealous as I watched him stick a suction cup to the window and propel an action figure into his desk. So many cookies on that last day of school. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I wake up too early on Christmas day so I go out and watch Tiny Toons, and Shake Rattle and Role. I probably could have done with some more sleep, but you don't miss it until after the gifts are opened anyways. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Christmas is huge, and I have books worth of memories, but these are some of the more obscure ones that come to mind. Gone for a walk now.

Christmas is coming

I know it's not even december but I'm feeling the CHristmasnes about me and getting exciting. I guess part of it is the excitement for finishing this job in a week and all the fun adventuries that await me. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ This is just a short note to let you all know that I might throw some of my favourite Christmas memories and traditions at you. It's funny what you remember, and I tend to remember a lot in the order of life events. Get at me wolf David and all things that are good My president is black................

Sometimes the product isn't ready for production

So I get up today and head to the office, but the product is not ready for production. In fact, it is very much in its primary stages shows no interest in the tertiary. I guess it involves too much paper work, and it's much easier to just stay in bed. So I go out and fix myself a hot cup of water with a sprig of lemon, turn the couch around, put on a fresh pair of socks, and place my feet up on the window as I watch the birds having their breakfast. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I turn on the computer to make sure there aren't any businessy type things. You know. email replies, updates to other blogs, and some youtubery. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Clock strikes 9am, and I'm reminded that the product us usually processed, packaged and ready for another nap by this time. There has been an issue in the assembly line as of late, and so I'm not too worried. At least this time there has been no uproar from the disgruntled union reps. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ It's now 9:36am and there has been no change. It's hard to see the birds now with the sun beaming in on my retini, but I'm not one to complain about sunlight. My stomach doesn't feel like anything should be ett, which is probably due to my lack of activity these past two weeks, and the large bowl of serial I had at 1am, after 2 hours of unsettled sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can feel that my body needs exercise, because the operating system is a little buggy, and somewhere in the middle is a whole lot of inactivity. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Today I shall run and get out and about. Yesterday I still felt like I was sinking back into sickness, but I'm pretty sure a lot of that had to do with the half a cake I ate. I've been off the deserts altogether, but a little something once in a while isn't so bad. Of course, once I accept the fact that I wont be having anymore for a long time, I tend to over do it. Cake and a protein shake for lunch. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I'm feeling to relaxed and lazy to be productive yet, but yesterday I felt educational like for the first time in ages. What I mean is, I was fixed on a task enough that I was not giving into distractions and mucking about on the interhole. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I've started in on a business plan for the future. Can't tell you about it, and part of that is because I don't want it to be another one of those ideas I come up with that never com to fruition. Although, part of the reason I tell people about my ideas is so that i will feel half responsible for getting into it and applying myself. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ In the two hours I slept between 11pm & 1am last night, I had a scary dream, and it felt sort of like what people call The Old Hag, where you are awake but can't move your body. Well, I dreamt that my client was sitting in his chair and then he got down on the ground all scared like. I got down with him to ask him what was the matter and he was terrified as he said, "There's an apparition here." I felt a bit gross as if there was something else there with us, but I got the impression that he could see this thing very clearly standing in front of us. I was getting scared and I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes, but I could pick out the objects of the room through my eyelids, and my fear was growing as I felt this dark presence pressing down upon me. My body was starting to feel hot as the pressing grew ever more intense. Then I felt something pressing down against my face with heat, and it was then that I saw a flash of light and woke up in the same fear. I could feel the blanket against my cheek which I assume is what I felt on my face. It wasn't pleasant but I eventually nodded off back to sleep. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ So it's 10am now as the bird clock is indicating to me, and I'm still here in the sun. Watching clay animated Christmas movies every day now, and feeling the festive mood. I'm done in less than 2 weeks, thas deadly sure

I was sick

I@m feeling a lot better now, but for the past two weeks or so I had the stomach flew, or some like bug. Before that I was super healthy. I was following an eating schedule that was meant to improve energy levels. I was doing a regular set of exercises every day, not repetitive from day to day, but from week to week. I also was on a running schedule meant for team sport athletes, which consisted of 2 running days per week and 3 walking days. Running days were: Jog for 5 min, run 45sec, jog 2 min, run 45 etc. for 7 rotations of each. This is one of the best discoveries ever because I always feel great after a good hard hockey game, you know, feeling like you did something but your mind is wide awake, refreshed and alert. It is for this reason it will take me 2-3 hours of winding down before I'm ready for bed after a 1am game.`¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Well, all that went to pot when I got sick and couldn't stomach anything. I'm going to go for a run before bed, and I did a little bit of exercise, but it's funny how you can be thrown back to square one just like that. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ I'm sure there's a lesson or six in this for me, but what comes to mind is how free I felt when I was sick. First of two points; I felt free from following a set routine that I might do begrudgingly, even though I always felt better after the fact. That's a minor point because it's not like I was trying to be a beef cake, I just want to feel good and exercise my muscles so that they are useful when I need them. I also find I'm much more liable to pull something when I'm out of shape, and I notice this in other people too. I'm not thinking of anyone in particular, well, yes I am, but none of you would know this person. I'm talking about the lazy cycle. Can't do anything active because I'll pull a muscle, or I have a sensitive area. Well, for a lot of people, the sensitive area has developed because they are inactive and just haven't exercise the area in question, or the muscles around to help the debilitated bit. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ My second point, or realization was that I spend far too much time planning and worrying about what I'm going to do in the future. If you know me then maybe you're laughing at the fact that I really don't seem to have much of a plan at all. This is true, but I still do too much. See, when I'm sick, my focus becomes recovery. I can't feel guilty about not getting out of the house, or producing a piece of writing, or booking things, finding jobs, etc. all the stuff I put on my list of things to do so that they don't float around in my head in a circle, continuously crashing into my worrisome abode. (Lots of birds in the back yard here, and several have flown into the window, hence the analogy). When I'm sick I sleep and have hot drinks. I feel excuse from the extras and only do the things that need to be done, such as cooking and some cleaning, some. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Although I feel a little more liberated, I understand this is no indication to swing to the other end of the pendulum arch, but to make my way to the middle, and find balance. ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ Balance is deadly sure.

If you bought a new suit for church, then you've missed the point

I used to want to buy a suit for church, you know, to at least look respectable one day of the week. Then I lost interest, and started to hate the fact that people wore suits in church. I thought it was exactly the opposite of what God wants from us. People getting all dressed up in a status symbol to go worship their God in humility and pray that they have a heart for His children.``````------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a conversation about this with my grandmother once and she said something that made sense. "Originally people didn't buy suits for church, they bought them for work because their place of business required them to look a certain way. Because they already had a suit they were getting dressed up in their best clothes to show respect for God." These aren't her exact words but that was the basic idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I can live with that concept, because some people are in work positions where their materialistic coworkers, clients, and superiors are not going to give them the same respect if they don't fall into line and "Look respectable." If you happen to have a good suit lying around for this reason, then it only makes sense that you would show the same respect for God that you would for the business collective. Maybe wearing a suit to work isn't a sign of respect, at least that's not how I would feel. I'd wear it because others are going to respect me more, thus my opinion will be listened to if I adhere to the social norms. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So maybe a suit isn't the best thing for me to wear to church. I mean, if it is associated with social distinction, then it is a symbol of division of class, which I don't think holds any place in the church. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So if you bought a suit for church, then you've missed the point. If you have a suit and want to look your best for God, I can see how you might argue that you wear it out of reverence, and not to impress others. But how intimidating is the church service going to be for someone who is not wealthy, who just lost their job and showed up at church as a step of faith? Someone who needs a break, but all they get is a smile and a hand shake from you in your suit. I know this bit sounds harsh and bitter like, but I really don't mean it that way. The church is always getting flack, but I think some of it is rooted in truth, or is at least a frantic offshoot of truth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I know when you walk into my church back home in a suit you are going to feel overdress, and maybe you get a taste of what it feels like for new people walking into your church. The church building is not somewhere you should ever feel out of place, unless you find something in yourself that needs to change. Does that make sense? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't mean to glorify my church over any other, because that's another thing that makes me sick. Competition, division and bickering between churches. I know there are going to be differences in opinion, but these issues all have to be dealt with in love. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I even thought about buying a suit this year, but I would be doing it for the wrong reasons, in fact I know I would. Vanity is a bad scene, and so is sloth. That's why the Christian walk is about balance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't get me wrong, I've made some ridiculous purchases before. In fact, I'm wearing one right now. A hoodie I bought after tree planting that cost me $109.99+tax. i had a lot of money in my hands and I felt justified in treating myself, but these treats never sit well with me, until eventually I accept that I'm forgiven for my foolish actions and live with my purchase. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I don't know, maybe I'm just throwing stones up in the air and hope they fall on whoever they may.