It's not over yet!

The last week has been very busy. Runnin' around doing all the Christmas stuff and what not. I haven't shaved since Boxing Day. I got a real Ipod! Now I can look like all the cool kids.
Mom and Al flew back to Vancouver this morning. I hope they have a good flight.
The only dishes that aren't done are this morning's breakfast dishes. Oh, that makes me feel good. But then I look at the mountain of laundry and......
You can tell how hard I am working on that as I sit here blogging.
Guitar Hero: World Tour is out on PS2. 189 at walmart for the full kit. Oh, how tempting.
I got a sweet deal on some winter hikers last night. Regular 150, on clearance for 30!!! and they fit!!!
Amelia had me up at 315 last night. I put her back down at 4. Stared into the darkness til 430ish, on the computer til about 520, stared at the darkness til about 6 and finally fell back to sleep. Just one of those nights when the brain won't shut up.

Should make for an interesting day.

Taking down all the Christmas deco tomorrow. And hopefully getting the rest of the house back in order too.

Happy New Year!

Snow

I like snow. I really do. I like it better when it doesn't fall on my sidewalk or driveway. After I shovelled last night after supper, I sat in an Adirondack chair on the back desk and just sat. I listened to the wind. I watched the branches sway in the breeze. There is just something just so relaxing about snow. I was reminded of a line from the Neil Gaiman book, The Graveyeard Book, "a silence like falling snow" ( that might not be exactly the quote but I borrowed the book from the library so I can't refer back to it just now). I love that line. Luckily, I have a neighbour with a snowblower and he does, like, the whole block. I try to get my own done on my own anyway because I am not going to rely on someone else to do something I am fully capable of doing myself. Besides there are others in the 'hood that shouldn't be doing it for themselves, so I would rather he help them.
Out of Friday-Saturday-Sunday, there was only one day that I had to work and that was the only day that it didn't snow like crazy. On the other 2 days, I stayed home and missed a concert that I REALLY wanted to go to but it wasn't worth the risk, and the Hinch Family Christmas was rescheduled. So two things I wanted to do were affected and the one thing I didn't want to do (work) was not. Figures.
I don't have to work anymore this year. But, the kids are not going to the sitters for the rest of the year either. So that is like work. haha but I don't get paid. Well, I kinda do. Since I don't have to pay the sitter, it's more money in my pocket.
I really need to shave.
I really need to wrap the presents for Becky.
Amelia is destroying the tree. Again.

This is what I think about at 330am

I'm not anti-social really. It's close, but not really ANTI-social. I'm not
against being social. I just avoid it. At least in public. At home, shit,
I'll talk for hours with friends and stuff. But in public, I avoid people
like the plague. I just don't like talking to be people I don't know. And
often I don't want to talk to people I do know. For example: I use the
drive-thru, not for convenience, but so that I don't have to talk to anyone
in line. In a store, I will search for something for a half hour before I
ask for help. Or just give up. If I see someone I know in a store, I will
avoid them. Except for close friends. I avoid taking my kids to the park
because I don't want to talk to other parents.
I am sure there is a word for how I am but I don't know it.

By and large, people are stupid.

I judge people alot but I don't give a rat's ass what people think about
me.

F*ckin' baseball players. Honesly, C.C., what the HELL are you going to do
with $20+ million PER YEAR? It would take me 400 years at my current pay to
make $20 million.400 years!!!Let's see, 162 games a season, pitch in (for
ths sake of the math) one out of every 5 games, so roughly 32 games. That's
about $625,000 per game. Per game. That's over 12 years of my salary.
Nobody is worth that much money. nobody. anywhere. for anything. And there
is no loyalty left in the game at all. It's all about money. No "I believe
in this team and I think we can build a contender." no no no! It's who's is
gonna give me the most money? That's why I hate the Yankees. With the money
they spend, they should win the World Series, hands down, every year. But
do they, no. All they do is drive up the price of mediocre players and put
elite players out of the reach of many teams. The Yankees pay a luxury tax
higher than the entire payroll of some teams! and does the luxury tax
really help the other teams? No. The shitty teams are still the shitty
teams. The exception would be Tampa Bay but they will never be able to
afford all that talent in few years. (a la Florida Marlins). But I still
love baseball!!!

My feet hurt, I think I pulled a muscle in my calf,my shoulders, knees,
elbows and back hurt. My eyelids hurt. My lips are chapped. My ears need to
be flushed. I didn't shower today. I need to brush my teeth. My hands are
dry and always dirty. I need to shave. This is a long post. Listen to me
whine!! LOL
If you haven't stopped reading this post by now, too bad, because I am done
writing it.

In the news!

London, New York-

Earlier today, Hands Christian Sanderson was caught "pleasuring himself" in
the window of his high rise hotel room. When asked to comment on his lewd
behaviour, Sanderson replied that it was merely "research for his next
book" and "no man is an island". While that may be true, Mr. Sanderson, not
all books need illustrations.

Upstate New York-

Researchers at Durvalley University at Hampton have concluded a multi-year
study in which they have discovered that people who are restricted to a
total of 4 hours sleep in a 24 hour period may experience periods of
drowsiness and a lack of energy or focus. This latest revelation comes
right on the heels of the University's last study linking excessive food
consumption and weight gain. School officials are hoping that these studies
will help put Durvalley on the university map and teens at the local high
schools have taken up the mantra "Who needs MIT? We have DUH!!"

NHL All-Star Voting!!

I don't know why it's in French. It is supposed to be English. Just VOTE FOR BLACKHAWKS!!!!

20 minute tick-tock

i just took at sip of water.
I burped.
Twice. Second one was better.
My nose was irritated, so I itched it.
I am chewing gum.
I gave someone a thumbs-up.
10 minutes left.
Scratched the other side of my nose.
then both together, kinda. hard to explain.
Adjusted my glasses.
Tugged at my earlobe a few times.
Scratched my wrist.
Licked my lips.
Chugged some water.
Rubbed my upperlip and stroked my beard.
Resisted the urge to scratch the end of my nose.
Scratched my leg a couple times.
ah, 19 minutes is good enough.
bye.

Aw man!!

I thought my throat was sore because the air was dry. But now I am not so
sure. I have a headache now too. And, it wouldn't make sense for a "dry air
sore throat" to be accompanied by a phlegm-y cough. Of course, I left my
Advil and my Cepacol in my other backpack. Which is at home. I won't be
home for another 3.5 hours. Just pretend like you feel sorry for me?
Thanks.

I can't wait to get new work boots. I really hate the ones I have.

I wanted to get up around 1 and piss around on the internet for before I
got Grace off the bus this afternoon, but I think I will sleep right til 3.
I am so bloody tired.

"How can I be lost, when I've got nowhere to goooooooo? Search for seas of
gold, How come it's got so coooold? How can I be lost, in these memories I
relive? How can I blame you, when it's me I can't forgiiiiiiiiiiiiive?"
-Metallica

Napanee Santa Claus Parade of Lights

Apparently the parade was good. I wouldn't know because I wasn't there.
Becky was very emotional because Grace was so excited and it was snowing
and it was beautiful. But that is just what she told me, cuz I wasn't
there. I heard it, and saw some lights down Belleville Road way, as I was
leaving for work. I wish I had been there to see Grace. She told Becky she
could feel Christmas in her belly. What a sweet kid!
Christmas is going to be so exciting this year! But not without a few
"sharing discussions"!!!!

NEW BLOG

For all my metalhead readers (and new potential readers) I have started my new blog.

KINGDOM OF NOISE!!!

www.kingdomofnoise.blogspot.com

Not much there yet. But there will be.

The Grace Dilemna

We're really struggling with behaviour issues with Grace. We're running out
of ideas. Positive discipline doesn't work and neither does timeouts or
taking away priveledges. Punishment is lost on her. It has no effect. She
does feel remorse because she apologizes genuinely. But most of the time
it's only if she has done something by accident. For example, if she knocks
Amelia over by accident she apologizes profusely and is almost in tears if
Amelia doesn't calm down. But if Amelia has something Grace wants, she'll
push her down and snatch it without batting an eyelash. The snatching thing
has not extended to daycare and possibly school too.
She doesn't listen to anyone. Not me, not Becky, not her teacher, not
anyone. Trying to get her to do anything not of her own initiative is like
pulling teeth. Counting to three usually works but I have to do it for
everything. (Grace-Anne , you need to get out of the tub..1. Grace-anne you
need to get out of the tub...2) Her hearing is fine, we've had it tested.
And through our own observation we know she can hear just fine, she just
chooses not to.
At school, she had become "that kid". No one wants to sit near her, or play
with her because she doesn't play nice or sit still or listen to the
teacher or leave other kids alone or do her work or follow intructions etc
etc. AHHHHH!!! It is just frustrating knowing that there is a good kid in
there somewhere. Good Grace is in there somewhere, I know she is, but how
do we get her out?!
Attention is a big thing with her. In two ways. 1) she craves it. No matter
how much we give, she always wants more. Especially from me. 2) She has no
attention span. She can't sit and do anything for more than 5 minutes. She
says she is full after taking 2 bites. Meanwhile she whined for 20 minutes
that she was so hungry. Why? She's bored with it. No matter what we eat,
she takes a few bites. "I'm full!" Bullshit. We can usually get her to eat
a sufficient amount but it's a long painstaking process that only fouls our
mood. We have to play endless games to trick her into eating more or (much
to my shagrin) feed it to her. I hate having to do that but she has to eat,
right? yes, she does have to eat then. If we just let her go without
eating. otherwise she is keeps getting up saying she is hungry and then she
doesn't get enough sleep which makes the next day very rough indeed.
She is defiantly independant. Like if you try to help her with her boots or
coat, "NO! I can do it!!" And it's not like we are trying to rush her or
anything. Just trying to help! And if she does let you put her boots on
it's just because she is being lazy. I know this because it is accompanied
by " You do it".
She has great attention when it comes to TV. But that is not attention,
that's zoning out. All in favour of a total TV ban? "AYE!!" We need to make
TV a serious treat. She needs to EARN it.
What really frustrates me is her complete lack of focus. examples: "Grace,
I am going to go your water, I'd like you to have your jammies on when I
get back" and return to her jumping on her bed or something. No focus, no
respect. I have to tell her 15 times to get on the toilet, to brush her
teeth, to put her coat away. everything and anything. i just don't know
what to do.
With her lack of focus and zero attention span it makes me think ADD. No
hyper activity though. I don't want to give her drugs though. I am at a
loss. If we can't turn her behaviour around me may have to pull her out of
school. it's not fair to the teacher, or the other kids. But I don't want
to do that either. I just want to scream sometimes. Scream at myself
because I feel like I am failing as a parent. I've tried to hard to be a
good Dad and it's not working. At all. Not in my eyes anyway. I dunno.
I have a couple theories. Like things she doesn't express that don't allow
her to focus or remain clearheaded. 1) headaches. we've had her eyes tested
and she is a bit farsighted but she has another appointment to dilate her
eyes so they can get an accurate prescription. Maybe the eye strain is
giving her headaches so she can't think straight and she isn't or can't
express it. 2) conspitation. She is far from regular. She has had bowel
issues for years. Maybe the whole pooping thing causes enough anxiety that
is always on here mind and she loses track of what she is doing? YOU try
giving her a suppository! or forcing down Colase. I dare ya. Been down that
road.
Grace has told Becky before that her head was all jumbly. Maybe that means
something.
Any advice is greatly appreciated but please keep in mind that physical
discipline is NOT an option.

What a day!

I woke up on the wrong side today. Right from the get-go I have been crabby. (hold on, need to add Gojira to my winamp. ahhh there we go) I was not very nice to Grace this morning and I think that messed up her day. She wouldn't follow instructions at school today and actually refused to so some things and got timeouts. Very distressing. She is having some issues right now with authority, telling the truth, and defiance. We have some stuff to try.

I bought some Hemp Beer today. Made by Cool Beer Brewery in Toronto. It doesn't taste bad at all. Or like marijuana. And it's HEMP not marijuana so I am not getting high on it. lol. They use hemp instead of barley. German hops. Good stuff. At the LCBO. It's a red lager in case you want to know.

I made pancakes from scratch tonight. cornmeal pancakes with butternut squash to be exact. From some cookbook. God damn tasty, I'll tell ya that!!! Whole wheat flour too. Oh yum!! I have tons left over. Breakfast!!

I didn't end of watchin either movie from my last post. I watched Some Kind of Monster. The Metallica documentary. Loved it. I love metal docs. I might start watching Black Metal: A documentary tonight. That or Get Thrashed.

88 Minutes

Becky and I watched the movie 88 Minutes the other night. Very good movie.
Al Pacino and lots of suspense, keep you guessing, all that good stuff. One
major flaw: Leelee Sobieski.
She sucks.
Like she's really bad at acting. I'm serious. I don't how she lands roles!
(I have some ideas....) She's not even hot! (She REALLY reminds me of my
sister, so that makes it kinda a creepy)?
So basically, yeah, Leelee Sobieski is a terrible actress.

While she is a better actor, I find Kirsten Dunst nauseating. It's her
teeth. They are all messed up. I don't know how to spell the sound I just
made.

Who else sucks? Martin Lawrence. I can't stand that guy.

Should I watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Pineapple Express tonight? I
can't decide.

To-do list for the next week or so

Just in case I lose my list....

Measure living rooms and get numbers to Dave
Call Purolator to arrange a pickup
Mail books back
Help TL with internet
Get the scooter inside
Strip down the van for parts
Scrap van
Make dentist appt.
Make appt with eye doctor
Make appt with Dr. Kenny for orthotics prescription
Give myself a haircut
Give the backrooms a good tidy up/organize/pitch shit out
Call StarChoice to activate second receiver
Burn movies off the MyBook
Download missed Heroes episodes
Download missed Clone Wars episodes
Make wedges for doorways
Lobby solar system to slow the rotation of the earth so there is more
daytime to get everything done and more nighttime to sleep, without
altering the gravitational pull.

You used a paint scraper to clean out your eavesthroughs??

yes. yes I did.
I needed to get in done yesterday and it was all frozen in there.
So, I hacked at it for a bit until I was able to pull a chunk of ice-leaves
out. Then it was simply a matter of sliding the scraper under the ice and
popping a chunk up. It worked pretty good! My hands didn't get cold because
they didn't get wet.
I also got all my brush broken up and piled for the town to take away
(which they did).
Now, there is still alot of leaves in the flower beds but I am going to
leave (no pun intented) them til Spring. Little compost and insulation.
My grass could actually stand to be cut. I could do it just to use up the
gas still in the lawnmower. But it's November and below zero, so maybe I'll
pass.

So I'm 30 now.

I turned 30 years old on Saturday. No big deal, it's just 30. Maybe it is a
big deal. 30 years is a long time!! that's like half a lifetime!! But by
the time I am 60, technology will have advances to a point where, if they
can't cure it, they can at least put my brain into like a machine that I
can manipulate with my thoughts. Frank Herbert called them cymeks. They
could live forever and for a time, they ruled the galaxy. Until they were
overthrown by thinking machines. But I digress.
I got a new shirt from Becky and the girls, and I had pizza for supper.
Chad and Kelly came over and we watched a dumb, pointless yet funny movie
(Smiley Face).
The real fun was a few weeks ago at my surprise party. Did I blog about
that?
I think I did.
Enough of that crap, now to the raunchy sex!! Oh wait, that's my other
blog. JUST KIDDING!!!! haha not really. check it out at
www.theadventuresoflittlematty.com
You clicked on it, didn't you! Perverts!! Just kidding, perverts.

you know, every time I blog I get that Bonnie Raite (that doesn' look right
but you know who it is) song "Let's give 'em something to talk about" in my
head. But instead it's "Let's think of something to blog about". Try it,
it's fun.

Becky picked me up a sleeping mask a few weeks ago. Man, do I ever sleep
good with that on. Like a log! Best $3 we ever spent!

Well, I'm out of ideas at the moment.
Bye!,

Sorry it's been so long

Sorry it's been so long since last I blogged, loyal readers!!
It's not really that nothing has happened, but rather, that alot has
happened!! Life happened.
Amelia's vocab is exploding. My fave new word is poop. hahahaha
" I poop?"
I was driving with Amelia in the car the other day listening to Cavalera
Conspiracy and I can see her banging her fist and nodding her head in the
back. Awesome! She does let out the occasional "rah, rah rah!!" too which
is really cool. I'll warp her mind yet. Grace was the same way at that age
but now "Daddy's music is scary". Meh.

I did a bunch of leaf raking this week. I don't have much yard but I
managed to get 16 leaf bags full so far. Probably another 2 in the gardens
around the driveway. Monday? Tuesday?

I still need to sell my van. Scrap yard will ony give me $125. sucks ASS!!
the tires are worth more than that. I hope the only dude left interested
comes to get it soon. I'll relist it on Kijiji tomorrow.

The time has come for me to get musical. I forsee some time ahead where I
may be able to plug in the amp and give'r. I need to find some scream time
too. I am way out of practice and that's not good. Conditioning is key.

I got a Blackhawks toque in my case of beer. Good times.

I'll be 30 years old in about 40 minutes. I will start the celebration by
eating some leftovers.

I hope I have time to clean out the car tomorrow. That would make me happy.
and then wash the car and the van. That would make me happy too. Like a
good washing. i really want to wipe down inside the doors of the car. not
the door itself but where the door overlaps the body. It's all dusty and
dirty and I want to clean it. Maybe when I stop for dogfood in the morning
I can get some sponges or something to wash the car. cleaning clothes or
some special thinger. one sponge is not enough. whatever. As long as it
gets cleaned out and shop-vacced it will be a happy birthday.

later dudes!

That was a little close

There was a vicious little storm Sunday night. It didn't last long but it
caused enough damage in that short time.
Around 8:30pm, watching the tv, whatever normal night. I could tell it was
windy out but I wasn't concerned. This isn't hurricane area or anything.
Now, I can't remember exactly if I was already standing or if i jumped up
when I heard the crack. I went to the window to see what the hell was going
on and I look out and see a tree (well most of it) fall into the street.
The top of said giant branch lands in my front yard! Inches from the
porch!! I didn't know at the time what tree it came from.
I went to the door and looked out to see debris flying down the street.
Leaves, branches, everything. Horizontal.
We quickly turned off and unplugged the tv and computers. Then we grabbed
the camera and video camera. Pictures are on my Facebook and I haven't
ripped the video off the disc yet.
It ended up being 3 big branches off the tree across the street. Most of it
went down the street blocking driveways and taking out power and one came
across towards our house. Branches actually made it over the fence into our
side yard. Branches were stuck in the power lines and all over the street.
The police came and blocked the street off until they got the power lines
fixed away and the town showed up to get rid of the branches. They cut the
bog logs up a bit and used a loader to make piles on the neighbour's lawn.
They came back in the morning to chip up all the brush and take away the
logs.
They came back today and took the whole tree down. I got video of that too.
It's through the screen door because I was stuck behind the new couch which
was wedged in the door frame to the living room.

Overall, it was pretty exciting. About as exciting as our 'hood gets.
Needless to say, the people who JUST bought the house across the street
(haven't moved in yet) came over in the morning to find most of their tree
in piles on the yard.

Because I am bored

A single bead of sweat rolled across his temple as he say huddled in the
darkness. His nerves were getting the best of him, for there was no reason
to sweat in the cold dampness. He took little solice in the fact that since
he was still shivering, hypothermia hadn't set in. Yet.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to move. If they
didn't find him, he'd soon succumb to the cold or starve. Cautiously, he
stood. His ears perked up,scanning for any sounds that his movement has
been detectd. But all he could hear was the beating of his own heart and
the distance echo of water dripping into a pool. Not even the scurrying of
rats to tell him he wasn't alone. Maybe they had fled too. To somewhere
deeper. Somewhere safer.
He weighed his options. Back the way he came,in hopes they had moved on?
Too risky. He had heard the screams and had no intentions of joining that
chorus. With only one choice left, he slowly and silently moved further
into the tunnel.

Correction Notice

I believe I made an error when explaining the name choice for my new (as
yet un-started) metal blog, Kingdom of Noise.
I had said that I took it from a short story by Neil Gaiman (incredible
author, check him out). I read the story again and it didn't see that
phrase anywhere.
I thunk.
The day before I read that particular story, or possibly even the same day,
I finished reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. Both stories are
based in Hell (The Kingdom of Noise. screams of agony torn from the souls
of sinners (country and rap artists))
You can see where I got confused. Pretty easy for me.

Fun with words

Butterface: a word used to describe a woman with an attractive body but a
not so attractive face. i.e. Everything looks good, but 'er face!
(I don't use this term, just for the record)

Generock: a combination of "generic" and "rock". Used to describe a
multitude of generic rock bands I have a hard time differentiating. Most
notably Nickleback, Theory of a Deadman and Seether.

Instru-metal: a sub-genre of metal music. Instrumental metal. Sadly, this
sub-genre is falling into a state similar to generock. It's getting harder
and harder to tell the difference between bands. If you are interested,
check out Pelican or Ottawa's Electro Quarterstaff.

Bored: my usual state during working hours. outside of breaks.

And now, because I have nothing better to do, I will attempt to remember
all the different ways I can, of referring to the act of pooping.
WARNING: this is kinda gross.
Go poo(p)
Take a shit
Take a dump
Number 2
void my bowels
pinch a loaf
drop a deuce
pop a squat
drop the kids off at the pool