The weather has turned quite cold. It seems Alberta dumps summertime the moment that September is upon us. Waking up in the morning, I get greeted by frost-tinged windows and my breath appearing in front of me. I’m not impressed.

Tanya’s back from Victoria and ready to slip into her full-time position. She used to be on contract at Talisman, which meant every 4 or 5 months she’d start biting her nails over whether or not the contract would be renewed. With that taken care of, she can concentrate on other things, like her University night courses. It means we’ll be seeing less of each other, but I think it’ll work out okay. After all, how much of me can people actually take?

I bought Stand By Me on DVD. that movie kicks ass. Even though it’s set in the 50’s, all of the themes and characters echo with anyone of any generation. I get choked up at the end when Gordie’s grown up and his best friend has died. It reminds me how important it is to keep ties with all of you. Even if it’s just a little e-mail every week or two, at least it’s something. It’s easy to completely lose touch with people and let them fade out of your life.

On a less somber note, watching Stand By Me also got me on a downloading spree of 50’s and 60’s tunes. My relatives should be all pleased when I come home for Christmas with some mix CDs of old hits. I could DJ quite the malt shop 🙂

I also picked up a Wacom digital drawing tablet for my computer. It’s a pen and tablet that you can draw on the computer. It’s a heck of a lot more intuitive than a mouse, but I’m still getting used to it. It’s strange drawing in one spot and seeing the result up on the screen. With a bit of luck, I’ll be churning out masterpieces with it soon. If not, it’s the most expensive mouse pad out there 🙂

Heading into fall means I’ve got a new class starting up. I’m excited more than any other time. This time I’ve got the curriculum all done up and reorganized. The schedule is set up and I have all my reference material and hand outs ready to go. It relieves a lot of the stress of starting up. Every class has a different dynamic and the more time I can spend figuring that out instead of the day-to-day scheduling, the better.

With the long weekend coming up, I’ve actually got no plans. It’ll probably just be a relaxing break before I plow into the fall semester. Of course, the best laid plans never work, so we’ll see…

I’m getting used to wearing the glasses again. It’s nice having a light and stylish pair instead of the old monsters I wore in school. I used to be so paranoid that glasses made me look like a horrible nerd (little did I realize that was just my personality) and I’ve even gotten compliments that the glasses make me look better. Intellectual, stylish, blah, blah, blah… it’s just nice having the option of contact lenses or glasses.

So, I’ll just wrap this up with a little bit of cheesy happy stuff. Feel free to call me in the evenings. Remember that if you’re in Ontario, then you’re two hours ahead of Calgary time. Phone, leave a message and I’ll call back as soon as I can. Email is good, but voices are better…and of course at Christmas, the real thing is better still.

Take care,

It was quite the crazy week and a half.

Last Thursday I saw Sarah Taylor, a good friend of mine from back east. I had missed seeing her at Christmas. She was traveling through town on her way to visit family in BC and it was amazing that we were able to hook up for dinner. It’s been a year since we last saw each other and obviously, tons of things have changed. It was comforting and strange at the same time, but very cool overall.

Then last Friday, I severely pulled a bunch of muscles in my back. It was probably one of the most painful things I’ve ever experienced. Worst of all, there was no real dramatic reason. I was just jogging home from Tanya’s and then I was in massive pain. I limped home, and then it got worse.

At one point on Friday I was actually inching across the floor so I could get to a phone and call for help. Every breath or movement had me in agony. I know that sounds oh-so Zubby dramatic, but that’s literally what happened. I was living that horrible commercial where the woman yells “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

Getting my friend and co-worker Graeme to take me to Emergency was fun, too. He Fireman-style carried me out the door, while I screamed in pain.

There’s nothing quite like waiting for 3 and a half hours before a doctor looks at you with all seriousness and says “Hey, you really messed your back up!” They go to school 8 years to learn that! Then, he asks me to put on a hospital gown…udder stupidity.

Being literally paralyzed for the better part of the weekend was excruciating and scary. It scrapped last weekend and half of my week as I lied around zoned out on painkillers. Needless to say, the week left little to report. Regaining full mobility by this weekend was a blessing.

Everyone I talked to after I recovered had extreme opinions on Chiropractors. Some said they were a blessing and that they totally fix you up. Others considered them quacks, pseudo-medicine and devil spawn. No one was really neutral about them…strange stuff.

I went and saw The Cell on Friday…it was total garbage…music video editing put to a serial killer story that makes no sense. Jennifer Lopez’s acting is as deep as a pizza pan (thanks, Jord 🙂 Even the most serious parts had me laughing out loud. The mental battle that was more like a Xena fight scene, the BS Hollywood psychology, the inane dialogue… Please save your money and avoid it like the plague.

However, I did rent a documentary called Trekkies that had me howling. If you’ve ever felt weird or out of place, have no fear, the maniac Star Trek fans they have in this documentary will make you feel normal and they aren’t as depressingly sick as a Jerry Springer episode. Well worth the price of admission, and I even hate Star Trek in the first place.

Last night, Jordie and I hung out at the Roxbury (a mid to high class bar and club). I didn’t realize that they had a comedy night on Sundays. That reminded me of how I wanted to try amateur night at Yuk Yuks last year. Every so often, I get that itch and I want to see if my old “gift of gab” (as my Uncle Iain calls it) would hold up in front of an audience. It’s one thing to present to students or socialize with friends, but making an audience of strangers laugh could be amazing, or totally mortifying.

Otherwise, things are pretty quiet. Tanya’s in Victoria visiting her family and Jean (my roommate) has been away on business trips. I’m just lazing around, reading and drawing.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed me about the C-Train incident. I appreciate the support.

Until next week,

When I think about it, my hands shake a bit…

Okay, I’m getting ahead of myself. I should set the scene.

The week went well. I’ve been working my butt off on finishing the final draft of the new course curriculum. It’s pretty much done now. I handed in a CD-Rom with all the hand outs, examples and lessons on it. That’ll make September and beyond a breeze and inadvertently makes a nice portfolio piece if I want to teach animation anywhere else.

The weekend was equally nice. We had Monday off, so I decided to be adventurous and went with a crew to go play paintball.

If you’ve never played paintball before, I’ll set the scene. You pay money to sweat like insane and be scared like crazy that someone’s going to shoot you. Getting hit with a paintball is like getting drilled with a crab apple by a bully in elementary school. I’ve got 8 “crab apple” welts that are making me limp today. The two in my left knee are particularly sore.

The best part of the day was being holed up in a hollowed out bus with 4 other maniacs and being assaulted outside by the other 13 in our group. It was like the Alamo on caffeine. The sound of pinging metal and splatter of paint was everywhere. When I got nailed in the side of the head, I saw stars. Of course, the bus crew lost, but we fought valiantly.

I would die in two minutes flat during a real war. Just running in overalls with a semi-light gun exhausted me within half an hour. If I had full gear and a real gun, my heart would explode long before any enemy got to me. I’m pretty thankful I lead such a relaxed life normally.

But contrary to what you’re thinking, my hands aren’t shaking because of paintball…

I went to grab the C-Train today and go home about 45 minutes ago. The C-Train’s a subway-type train that’s above ground. The day went quick and I was relieved to be heading home. I was sore from paintball and the sun was beating down.

At that moment, a man collapsed and fell into the tunnel.

He wasn’t unconscious…he seemed calm actually. I think he wanted to die there as the train came in. That scared me the most.

It was one of those eerie moments when everything slows down and nothing seems real. Like it’s all happening somewhere else and you’re watching it on TV. Except that now, I was involved. Three guys and I jumped down into the tunnel to push him back onto the platform. I knew what I was doing, but it didn’t feel like reality. I could feel my paintball wounds pulsing with my heart, but that was it.

Now that I think about it, I’m shocked how many people just watched. A couple people ran to the platform edge and helped us get him up, but most just stood in silence while it all happened. We all got out just as the train blasted the horn and missed us by about 20 seconds. A minute later, I was sitting on the train and riding home like nothing had happened.

No drama, no death or Hollywood gore; Just a weird thing that happened today. I’m more scared now that it’s over then when it was actually happening. Why do people think suicide is some solution? Why are people so docile?

Yeesh. Gotta go. Anyways, all’s good now. Take care everybody.