Zub Tales

Crazy weekend and through a great week 🙂

Glenn was in Calgary all weekend. It was amazing seeing him out here. We hung out and wandered the city. It reminded me of a lot of great times in Ontario; I miss all of you guys and gals. It was great, but nostalgic and strange at the same time. He’s gone to Banff to try and nail down a job there. Part of me hopes he doesn’t quite find what he wants and that he comes back to Calgary. Damn, I’m selfish. Still, an hour away is better than halfway across the country.

He and I went to this Comic Art Expo on the weekend. It was small and crappy, but I actually had some pretty good conversations with people. Some of my students were showing their stuff there and I was pretty proud of them. Must be a strange paternal instinct for my students… sigh.

With the summer in full swing, my morning class’ attendance is spotty. Good weather just does that. Oh well, they’re old enough to decide their priorities for themselves. The afternoon class still has nearly flawless attendance and they’re fun, too. A good group.

I went for lunch with Mike Dargie on Monday and he was point blank with me. He asked me what I wanted out of my future and where I was headed. Strange. He’s all giddy about his new job and that’s given him some heavy duty confidence. He raised some good questions though. Made me think a bit about the last 6 months. Mind you, I came to the same conclusion: I’m damn lucky to be teaching and enjoying it. It may not last forever, but I’ll make the most of it while it’s here. I’m not shutting out opportunity, but I’m also not on a mad quest either.

Actually, it’s been quite the testosterone-male kind of week. I don’t know what it is, but I’ve been bordering on macho-type stuff all week. On the weekend I was talking about how much I wanted to kick the crap out of this obnoxious “ganster-wannabee” guy on the C-Train I take to work: Ignorant bastard.

Then, I bought Fight Club on DVD today. Best film I own. It cuts right to the core. It’s shocking, brutal and amazing. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s about kicking the crap out of people. It’s the two extremes: having nothing and going wild or being a person made from their possessions and losing hope. It shows how both extremes are bad and where they lead you if you’ve got no balance. Weirdly enough, American Beauty is to Baby Boomers what Fight Club is to Generation X. A sharp stab past the prettiness showing how bad it gets underneath. Of course, most reviewers are Baby Boomer age, so it gets Academy Awards…Fight Club just makes people angry.

Still, testosterone is in the air. I’ve gotta calm down and just take it easy. I’m excited and energized lately, but I don’t know exactly why. I think I’m finally accepting that things here are going great and that they’re not just going to blow up in my face. It gives me confidence and strength in what I’m doing. It’s very liberating, actually.

The weeks are flying by and my parents will be coming out at the start of July. That ought to be nerve wracking. I’m sort of unprepared for my parents to invade my schedule out here. Of course, it’ll be incredible seeing them, I just know it’ll take a bit to get used to. I’ve really developed my own way of doing things and their schedule of life may bump it a bit. Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Otherwise, all is good and nothing to report. Tanya’s doing awesome, although she’s sort of dreading that Petroleum Conference and the inevitable protests that will follow it. Her building is right in the thick of the mess and I’m hoping it doesn’t get out of hand.

That’s been the week. Signing off for now.