On My Now Unadorned Tongue

Earlier this week, I decided to take out my tongue ring. It was a very hard decision. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that it was causing me pain. I had been thinking about taking it out for a couple weeks. On one hand, I had no real reason to take it out. On the other hand, after 11+ years, the novelty was wearing off. When I first got it, it was part of a whole ensemble. And now it was the only thing left of the image of that 20 year old guy. (baggy pants, big earrings, backwards hat etc) That's precisely what made the decision so hard. I got it done only a few months after Becky and I got together, so it was almost like a symbol of "us". (The tattoo on my finger and our wedding rings are the real symbols) I had basically gone my whole adult life with it. It had become so much a part of me that I hardly ever noticed it.

But I noticed when it hurt.

I've been sick a couple times this year. When I saw the doctor the first time I mentioned that the back of my tongue hurt. He said it was because of my tongue stud. I said, no, it doesn't hurt there, it hurts at the back. He said yes, but if a bit of food or something causes a small infection at the piercing, the lymph system drains at the back and could cause a secondary infection. Hence, the back hurts.

With my most recent sickness, it wasn't the back that hurt. The top and through the middle of the piercing hurt. Enough so that I felt I should take it out. I thought I'd clean it, give the tongue a rest and go from there. I cleaned it up. (lots of crusty stuff on the bottom ball. Not a good sign) I put it back in a day or so later. When I was pushing it back through a bunch of white gross stuff came out the hole. Not a good sign either. But I left in for most of the day. When I had it back in it felt awkward. I was amazed at how quickly I had adjusted. Alas, near the end of the day it was hurting again. I figured the pain was for a reason so I took it out again.Possibly for the last time. I doubt I'll put it back in but it's hard to let go of something that you've had for so long.

I've gotten used to not having it in pretty quick. And I feel okay with my decision. I can do a razzberry again! Although, I have noticed that I fiddled with it ALOT. No worries. My dentist is happier this way. Other happy people may include my parents and conservative friends and relatives. But I didn't take it out for them. If that was the case, I would have done it 11 years ago. No, it was just time.

Mind you, if I was a girl, I would have toughed it out and left it in. It's way cooler/sexier on a girl. Always has been, always will be.

Snowboard Cross, The Secret Doctrine and if I have time, something else.

As much as I enjoy rooting for Canada I haven't watched much of the Olympics. Mainly because I'm the only one in the house that wants to watch it. I'm not the kind of guy that goes to another room to watch, or makes everyone else go to a different room. I'm just not. But I did catch the final of the Women's Snowboard Cross. Wherein Maelle Ricker of Canada won Gold. What impressed me most wasn't the race itself. (But, damn they fast) It was the sportsmanship. All 3 medallists were thrilled. I saw no disappointment at all. The were congratulating each other and all that. Then, when they had the flower ceremony, the silver and bronze medallists were practically pulling Ricker up on to the podium. And Ricker, being Canadian, modest and polite and was waiting til her name was announced. I just thought the whole thing exemplified the spirit of sportsmanship and fair play that the Games are all about.

 

For the last little while I've been picking away at The Secret Doctrine by H.P. Blavatsky.  I think I'm going to take a break from it. It's WAY over my head. There are so many terms and concepts that are going in one eye and out the other. I'm not doing myself any good by continuing to read it without understanding. I didn't pay anything for the book so if I never feel I am up to tackling it, I'm not out anything. Maybe if I read Isis Unveiled first, I might get it more.

Do I have time? Yeah I have time. Who was I asking? Myself. And I answered myself. That's bad,  right? Yup. AH! I did it again! OK.  There is a machine at work that has an alarm that sounds like the Ku Ka Ra Cha (or however it's spelled) (cucaracha?) and it's annoying. That is all.

Come on!

Did you see those clowns protesting the Olympics in Vancouver? What a bunch of idiots! Smashing some innocent merchant's window, throwing newpaper boxes into the streets. Attacking a guy voicing his opinion and then kicking him while he's down! Violently resisting arrest. How do they think any of this is going to benefit their cause? Instead of wasting taxpayer dollars on the Olympics, they'll waste it on the Olympics AND cleaning up the mess, paying the extra police, and prosecuting the offenders! The best part is that most of them were wearing masks! Show your face you chickenshit cowards!! Sorry about the language.

Summer vs. Winter Olympics

Yay! The Winter Olympics are underway! Nothing but figure skating in prime time for 2 weeks!!  Anyway, I got thinking (I know, dangerous) and it occured to me that the Summer Games are for normal people and Winter Games are for lunatics.

Here's what I mean. Most of the Summer Games events are events that normal, everyday people could participate in. Not at an elite level, but in some capacity. We all did Track & Field in public school. Everybody (able-bodied) can run, jump, throw, cycle, swim, play tennis, basketball, badminton, or volleyball, etc. All without huge risk of serious injury. There are exceptions, don't get me wrong. Like Pole Vault, lots of the gymnastics stuff and diving for example. But even so, the risk of serious (I mean like KILL YOU) injury is appreciably low compared to the Winter Games.

The majority of the Winter Games events carry a huge risk. Like luge/skeleton/bobsled. Hurtling yourself down a giant ice slide at well over 100kph is not something you do in Phys. Ed. or at the local YMCA. Ski-jumping! Are you nuts!! That's like skydiving without a parachute! Downhill skiing is dangerous too. They are going FAST! Some of those wipeouts are pretty horrific. Even aerials and snowboarding carry a decent risk. In the Winter Games you have to look for exceptions for events that don't entail the possibility of breaking your neck. Like Cross-country skiing/biathalon. Even speedskating requires a helmet.  Don't think figure skating is immune either. A bad landing could thwap your head pretty hard on that ice.

So basically, like I said, any normal person with enough training and good genes could do Summer Games. Even high(er) risk ones. But Winter Olympians (at least ski jumping and luge etc) have to be stone cold crazy to even try it!

Also, may the Georgian luger who died during training this week rest in peace or be granted a pleasant rebirth. (Depending on your beliefs)

We're on the move!

Becky and I (and the kids) are hopefully moving sometime in the very near future. We have found a new home which we have put an offer in on, and will be listing our house this week. If all goes well, we could be moving in April. (I'm on vacation the first 10 days of April so that might work out well)  Some people are wondering why we would want to move anyway.

Basically,

When we moved into our current house we thought it was perfect. We thought it was all we'd ever need. Big rooms, lots of them. A workshop of sorts, etc. Close to schools, and downtown. We knew it didn't have a big yard but at the time, we only had 1 child. And since we were so close to TPCS, we'd just take her to the park there. Everything sounds good right? And it was, for a while.

But things change.

We had Amelia. But we had four bedrooms so that's not a problem. But it's not as easy to take 2 kids to the park. By yourself. Or with both of us really. This is when we started to realize that the yard just wasn't big enough. But we dealt with it. And we started to make some changes to try and make it more appealing. I put up a fence. I put on a new deck. But it still wasn't working. Meanwhile, inside, we were constantly switching rooms, painting rooms and rearranging rooms. I think this may have been a subconscious manifestation of a need for change. Or a sense of dissatisfaction. I think we had a revelation sometime in late November/early December. It's time to move on. We aren't happy here anymore.

There are some other reasons too. It's loud. There is always people rippin' up and down the street driving cars that need serious exhaust work. A thousand buses drive by every day. The garbage/recycling truck wakes us up every time. And the dogs! Our dogs aren't quiet but there are enough dogs in the neighbourhood that make such a racket we think our dogs are outside barking when they are inside sleeping!

Also, being on a corner lot offers ZERO privacy.

So more or less, we're unhappy with the location of our house. Even moving to a bigger lot in town doesn't seem like the solution we're looking for. From the moment we started looking, we didn't even consider anything in town. Getting out of town is what we want in our hearts. We want a big yard, with privacy and quiet.

We've found a beautiful (if unconventional) house which fits our requirements with a few added bonuses. We know it might slip through our fingers, and we are okay with that. There's other houses out there and we aren't in a desperation situation. That being said, as great as the house we've found is, we have no delusions that we'll be there forever. Nothing is forever. Needs change. Desires change. And you have to change along with them. If nothing ever changed, the world would be a VERY boring place.

My First Blackhawks Game

The Time: 7:30pm Tuesday, January 19, 2010. The Place: Scotiabank Place, Ottawa, ON. The Event: Ottawa Senators vs. (The next Stanley Cup Champion) Chicago Blackhawks.

I'd been looking forward to this game my entire life. The first Blackhawks game I've ever seen live in person. I'd been feeling ill for a week prior and I would be damned if any sickness prevented me from going to the game. And of course, the worst I'd felt was that day. The lingering sore throat was still bothering me and now it was accompanied by a headache, fatigue and nausea. I didn't care. I was going no matter what. No way was I going to miss it. By the time we got there I was feeling fine. Still had a sore throat but other than that, all was good. We had a couple (or a few, depending on who you were) beers and headed inside.

Both on the bus and inside the arena there was an abundance of Blackhawks fans. Love it. With the team only coming to Ottawa every couple years, it's really no surprise. Said Blackhawk fans were plenty vocal as well. Possibly most vocal would be my Uncle Karl. He was part of the "few group" outside the bus. I'm not much of a chanter but he more than made up for me. We managed to squeeze my (life long Leaf fan) Dad into a Blackhawks jersey for the game. The Kimmerly's have the photographic evidence.

I was really excited to see the players in person (from a distance). Eventhough I am older than the vast majority of the team, I felt like a kid. It was a great feeling. Another great feeling was watching Marian Hossa score a shorthanded goal on a breakaway. It may have been the single most exciting moment of my life. (Marriage, kids births etc excepted) Chicago ended up losing the game 4-1 due to some lackluster play on Chicago's part, some questionable officiating, and a very lucky Senators goaltender.

Despite the loss, I had a great time. I look forward to next time. Although, it'll likely be Montreal or Toronto. Either way, I'm doing what I have to to get tickets. I'm addicted now.

Boredy Bored Bored

Gah! I am so bored!! I emailed myself 3 books to read today. All 3 are duds.

1. Crowley's Book of Lies. It's all weird. Structured like poems and stuff. I can't make heads or tails of it. It makes no sense. It's all references and symbolism. There's notes and commentary after each "chapter" but that doesn't help. If anything, it makes me more confused!

2. Some Big Long Word That Starts With An "R" by Nostradamus. It's not in English. And I can't read whatever language it's in.

3. Death in Dunwich - A Call of Cthulu Adventure. I had no idea what this was about. It was in a big folder I downloaded with hundreds of occult and conspiracy books. Turns out, it's some kind of murder mystery game. Apparently there is a die to roll and depending on what comes up it determines what information you are given. In any case, it made about as much sense as the other two books.

I tried to email myself The Secret Doctrine by Madame Helena P. Blavatsky but it was too big for Gmail. Then I tried Isis Unveiled by Blavatsky but it was too big for the email at work. Rats. I really want to read those. Guess I'll have to another way.

Sometimes I wonder

Sometimes I wonder how alot of the things we eat and drink came to be. Fruits and vegetables are pretty self explanitory. As are nuts. But what about bread? It's a fairly involved process. It can't have been done by accident. I mean, who's idea was it to even grind up wheat to make flour?

I guess an even more inexplicable item would be beer. Let's make a drink out of barley and hops! Again, I fail to see how this could be an accident. Someone had to come up with this stuff. Cake, pasta, rum, the list goes on.

There's all kinds of geniuses out there. Some are astronauts, some are particle physicists, and some are cooks.

Can you tell I'm bored today?

My annual sickness has arrived

Every year I get strep throat. It usually comes in Jan or Feb. Well, it's Jan this year. Last night my throat was feeling a little sore but I thought it was just dry. As the night progressed I figured it wasn't as simple as that. I stopped on the way home and got some Strepsils. When I woke up I knew what was going on. I know that kind of pain anywhere. So I've been poppin' sore throat drops like they are going out of style and it still hurts. To make matters worse, the headache is here now, I'm sweaty and my energy level is dropping fast. I hope I can make it thru the last 5 hours of the shift. When I get home I have anti-biotics to start poppin'. I'm gonna sleep all day and then go to bed early. I really want to take the girls sledding Thursday but now I don't know. Let's hope I get over it faster than Becky did.

 

Also tonight, I've had a craving for cashews and for pepper. Weird.

It did sting a little.

I come back from holidays and I ask my trainee, "Are you back with me now?" She says "If it's okay with you, I'd rather stay with "Joe"." (names have been changed to protect the innocent) OK. "I just learned so much more from him," she says. The conversation lasted another 20 seconds or so. I respected her wishes and told her where "Joe" was.

I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. One one hand, it's kind of a slap in the face. And on the other hand, I'm almost glad to be rid of her. She said that Joe explained things to her and let her do it, whereas I would show her how to do it the first time (while explaining) and then got her to do it. Actually doing it myself helps me explain it better. She learns better by doing it herself. Her learning style and my teaching style didn't match. Sometimes when I was explaining things to her I felt she was ignoring me. And other times, I'd tell her how to correct something and ten minutes later she'd totally ignore the problem and not implement the solution. I think I'd be better off training a new hire instead of a transfer. Sometimes I got the feeling she thought I was "just a kid".

Yeah, Joe's been here longer than me and has been doing this job longer than me and has been training longer than me and probably knows more than me but for her to be so blunt about it....Like I said, it was a blow to my ego, but if she ends up sucking at her job, at least you can't pin it on me. Besides, watching someone work, waiting for a training opp is pretty damn boring.

Whatever.

Christmas is almost over.

And it was a good one. Just have to go see the Grammas and the Lewis's. And Gene's coming over. Here's the rundown.

Christmas Eve: At Becky's sisters. Tyler had to work til 7 so the girls just played with Robyn. Rob made me a pretty potent rum & eggnog. But really, the rum just rose to the top. didn't get stirred up. The eggnog was really yellow. Like fluorescent. We had a nice turkey dinner and exchanged gifts. I got a pretty nice tea pot for loose leaf tea. And some flowering tea. I know, I'm a grannie. Had 2 rounds in the hot tub! Hot tub at Christmas. Oh yeah.

Christmas Day: We kinda got up before the kids. The girls opened their gifts first. Both very excited. When all that landfill paper was unwrapped, Becky and I attempted to open our gifts. We were constantly interrupted by requests to "open this". And of course, kid's toys need an instruction manual just to get into the box! We made it through before Dad, Zena, Dana, Barry, Dakota and "Uncle B" (Brian) came for breakfast. Poor Dakota had a wicked cold. More gifts were exchanged and we padded our bellies some more. It was a pretty nice morning.

(Next year, Becky and I are going to set alarm and get up even earlier ahead of the kids and open all ours before the get up.)

Boxing Day: We were slated to go my parents for supper. And we did. But not without some adventure first. We were going to kill some time and go look at a couple houses we saw online. One happened to be down a dirt road. There was 2 entrances to this road off the main road and they came together in a Y. We took the first one and came upon 2 cars being pulled out of the ditch. We tried to turn around and the front wheels got stuck on some ice. The 2 guys waiting for the vehicles helped us get going. So we went to the other entrance. When we came to the Y, the car didn't turn. We went right into the ditch. Luckily it was mostly snow bank but there was no way we were getting out under our own power. So I ran up the road to grab the tow truck before he left. We got pulled out after about an hour of standing around in the rain for about an hour. Needless to say, it did not leave a good impression of that road. We decided just to not look at the house and head home. Even though the road was "the worst I seen it in 30 years", I didn't want to see it again. We made it to Dad's more or less on time. Played some Wii, watched Canada HAMMER Latvia, exchanged more gifts, (we got a CAA membership. We needed it) and had another turkey dinner. More belly padding.

27th: We had the McCaugherty clan over to our house! Our first time hosting a holiday get together. It went great. Not everyone could make it but they were here in spirit. If we had a teleporter we could have had them here. haha. It wasn't a meal but there was more than enough snacks. MORE than enough. My belly should get more padded over the next couple days as I finish everything off. Then to get back on the EA Active Wii workouts and the elliptical. Or rather, start those things.

All in all, it was a great holiday season. Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Merry Christmas!

and Happy Holidays.

I had a messed up dream the other night. as always. This time I remembered. I was a replacement Chicago Blackhawk. If someone got injured, I would play in their place. So they didn't have to call anyone up from the minors.  I remember I was Patrick Kane, and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Wouldn't that be great!?

Get Thrashed!

I just finished watching Get Thrashed. It's a documentary about the history of Thrash Metal. It was pretty good. I'm kinda late to the thrash scene so it had a lot of info I didn't know. Thrash started in like '82-'83 when I was 4-5 years old so you can understand that I wasn't a metalhead back then. All I heard was Sharon, Lois and Bram or the country crap my Mom listened too. I got some CCR and stuff like that from my Dad, but it wasn't metal. I didn't get into metal til "One" by Metallica and even then, I wasn't INto it. I hadn't denounced everything else yet. (Sepultura did that for me) Of course, I got into the Big 4, had no idea about Exodus, Testament, Kreator, Death Angel, etc etc. I have heard of them before this but didn't really know the history or how they fit into it.

If you are into metal at all, I highly recommended this doc. Great music, great insight. It's different than Heavy Metal in Baghdad because it's not just about one band. It's not quite as good as Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, but better than that one Penelope Spheeris did. The Decline of Western Civilization 2: The Metal Years. I might even say it's better than Global Metal. The sequel to Headbanger's Journey.

I really dig documentaries on stuff I like. And I love metal.

the Countdown is on.

I will officially be on holidays in just over 7.5 hours. 18 days off. With one exception. I have a double-time shift Dec 29. It's only one shift. and it's double time. So it's worth it. I'll have 3 days "to myself" this week. kinda 4. but I'll be sleeping most of one. I'll try to get all my Christmas shopping done Wednesday so Thursday and Friday I can relax. And by relax, I mean clean the house. I can't wait. Woo! (dripping with sarcasm) At least I can crank some tunes to keep me movin.

Also, the Olympic Torch is coming through Napanee in the morning. It's passing a block from our house. I'm gonna take the girls to see it. They don't know the significance of it, but it's something I can explain to them when they are older. It's a once in a lifetime experience. I still remember when Rick Hansen wheeled through and we went out see him and make a donation.

Excellent Documentary

I watched The Union: The Business Behind Getting High last night. An excellent doc about the business of marijuana. It really showcases how stupid the war against marijuana is. Billions of dollars have been wasted try to enforce marijuana prohibition. It hasn't stopped anything. What it does, is make criminals out of innocent people, and fills prisons that run on our tax dollars. If pot was legalized and regulated similar to alcohol, instead of wasting tax dollars, it would generate tax dollars. The LCBO generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the province every year. Marijuana could do that too and ease the tax burden on the rest of us. Lower income taxes, scrap the HST crap, etc.

Marijuana is still a drug. Alcohol is a more dangerous drug. Nicotine is even more dangerous. Yet, MJ is the only one that is illegal. MJ has numerous health benefits. Look at how many people a year die from tobacco. Or drunk driving. Or prescription meds. Or caffeine overdose! ZERO people have died from marijuana. Not one death can be attributed to marijuana alone.

I am not condoning drug use. I wouldn't condone cigarettes or booze either. But really, if you are going to have a vice, marijuana is probably the "healthiest" choice. Don't get high and drive. That's just stupid. Or go to work high. etc.

I could go on and on about this, but really it would be best if you just watched the movie yourself. Think about it. It won't necessarily make you go out and start smoking pot but it should make you think. And open your mind a little. If alcohol was illegal (like it used to be), would you break the law?

Not only am I bored, I'm feeling "ranty"

Here goes.

Ever since they changed the hiring process at work, the new hires are becoming increasingly "questionable". To put it nicely. Nate and Adam's group wasn't bad but after that....

They're getting cocky. You're productivity is higher than mine? So what. I still make more money than you.

Lazy, lazy, lazy! Oh dear gawd, lazy! Taking shortcuts, not following procedure, more concern for numbers than actually doing it right. And who has to clean up the mess? Me. And the other people that should let them learn from their mistakes the hard way. Trouble is, most of the time they wouldn't be the ones getting burned by it. So we'd have to fix it anyway. Don't get me wrong, when I was new I made some mistakes too but it wasn't because I was being lazy. If anything, it was because I was trying to do (the right thing) too much.

The guy I am working with tonight is especially aggravating. I don't want to go into specifics because I don't want to get in trouble.

It seriously makes me wonder how these people made it through the process when I know at least a half dozen people that would be ten times better than some of these guys who haven't made it through.

Maybe idiocy is just drawn to me.

Because I'm bored and not in the mood for Theosophy

I wrote this in my notebook and now I will copy it to here.

Am I just a figment of my own imagination? Is any of this real? Not in a Matrix sense because that would mean I have a physical body. I mean more like a dream. Like my life is the recurring dream of some other entity. It is said that dreams don't last as long as they feel. What may seem like days is mere seconds. I believe that the human brain is capable of so much more. So it seems reasonable to me that the entirety of what I feel is my existence, is a small imagining of some entity's mind when it is not in what might be a conscious state. Of course, if I'm just a character in a dream, what I think isn't real anyway. Or is it?

But, what kind of mind would dream up a place like this anyway?

sigh

I miss my wife. we've both been working so much we hardly see eachother.
I had a coffee this morning and I've felt like shit all day. I swear I'm allergic.
On sleeping pills now.
nothing on TV.
i think i'll fall asleep on the couch now.

I feel better now

I took a littel time last night/this morning and found a quiet place. I set an alarm in case I fell asleep and I meditated. I did a relaxation meditation. I felt much better when I came out of it. I missed meditation class the last 2 weeks and I haven't been very good about practicing. I think I just needed to relax, chill out, center myself. I guess it worked. I feel much better today even though I didn't sleep well at all. I should get lots of sleep tomorrow so that will help too. And after tonight, only 10 shifts til holidays!!! That's a reason to smile!

Not in the right headspace

I've been reading The Key to Theosophy by H.P. Blavatsky.  It's really interesting stuff. It's formed as a question and answer explaining what Theosophy is basically. What their beliefs are and what not. Lots of stuff about Karma and re-incarnation. It holds many parallels with Buddhism. But it's not simple stuff. First of all, it was written in 1889 so the language is a little different. Plus, the concepts are quite complicated. So I really have to have my "head in the game" to comprehend it. My head is not in the game tonight. Problem is, the only other thing I have to read is writings by Aristotle! Even older writings and just as (if not more) complicated! So I am wasting the time away blogging about it.

I was going to start reading The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hall on my next break but I don't think I am in the mood for that tonight either. I may just whip out my notebook and write down whatever comes to mind. Make notes about whatever music I am listening to. What I should do is meditate. I need it.