Another new beginning following up yet another ending...

Sitting in the bus, for the last day of the year (2008, that is ;-)... I know, I've been neglecting you recently, but the holiday season is usually pretty busy for me. And this year, I decided not to take any vacations so that I would keep some for a trip down south in a month or so.... Without my kids... for the first time since... since I have kids...

I also challenged myself to finish the work I'm doing on my Novel by Jan 5th... Even that didn't get as much attention from me as it should have... But I still have a few days (and nights) left... We'll see... Go MAD Go!

For a lot of people, the end of the year is an opportunity to look back at what happened in the last year, and to plan the coming one... I usually don't do that myself... Actually... I do it all year long... Everyday, we receive from the past and we give for tomorrow... I'm always thankful for all that happened before our time to make life so enjoyable for us today so I invest energy today to try and help make the times after ours at least as enjoyable if not way better than ours!!!

Still, the end of the year is often seen as a transition point. The year number changes on our calendar. People working with budgets close one and open another one. For some of us, our work vacations time resets. There is also a song from Paul Piché (a traditional Quebec signer from the 70s), that says "C't'aujourd'hui l'jour de l'an. Y faut changer d'maîtresse mon Joe"... I let you figure out the translation...

I'm personally not very good with traditions myself (I told you in my previous post how non-conformist I like to be ;-), I don't really look at the year number on the calendar (on the rare occasions where I physically write a check, I sometimes have to think twice before writing the year number), I don't do budgets, I pushed a week of vacations into next year... etc...

But this year... The end of the year marks a moment, and I swear it wasn't on purpose, I know there are better times to do this... But it happened like that... For some reason... But I have a first date on Friday... So this is a period of transition for me after all.

Even though the cards were on the table since the beginning of my previous story, it is not easy to play the last hand and let the other player know that the game is over. Many great songs have been written to remind us that there are no easy ways to say goodbye. But GG was kind enough to make it easier for me... She was very sweet... Thanks for everything GG... You were great... xxx

But now... About that first date... I have been debating with myself if I should blog about this or not... I know both GG and the new lady will read it... But we all know I'm a good guy, right? So what could go wrong... Still... hesitation... Probably because the good guy in me was thinking that we should not talk openly about things like that... Why not?

What convinced me to talk to you about this? Well... While trying to plan this first date with the new lady, we had a few back and forth emails of possibilities (note that we already know each other pretty well, so it's not my typical first date with someone I recently met either on the Net or any other way)... And while I was verbosely explaining my thought process for why I would go about it one way or another, she actually mentioned that it would be good blog post material... So voilà... Now you know... :-)

BYE
MAD

P.S.: Now I hear some of you think: "Who's that lady he's talking about? If he already knows her, maybe I know her too!"... Don't even go there...

P.P.S.: Others might be thinking: "Hey! He said that his thought process about the first date would be good blog post material, but he doesn't share it with us, WTF?"... I'll keep that one for later... OK? ;-)

P.P.P.S.: HAVE A VERY HAPPY, MERRY AND FUN NEW YEAR!!! Enjoy it to its fullest and make it worth it... It won't come back!

MAD-Boxing morning...

Salut,

Sitting at Starbucks, having an espresso chocolate brownie thingy for lunch (and breakfast actually). I don't eat very well these days. Leaving room for improvement next year... I need a few good resolutions to get in better shape... :-)

I was planning on doing some late xmas shoping this morning but the stores were closed. So I had a first latté then, and went back home to shower (long story, maybe some day I'll tell you about it ;-). I thought the stores would open at noon, but nope. Only at one... so I started feeling a little hungry and aimed at specific a restaurant, but it doesn't open until three... ho well...

So here I am, alone at Starbucks, having a brownie and waiting for the long lineups to get in the stores that just opened so that I can get in to snif around and see if I can find gifts for family coming over to my place tomorrow for our traditional xmas/new year party on a Saturday in the middle, whatever the real day others celebrate.

I kind of like to be atypical, or non-conformist if you prefer. Beeing the dad of a split family kind of helps, but even as a kid, I don't know why, but I often strived to do things differently. I almost always question the norms... I do admit that they often make sense, and I do follow them in those cases. I'm not the kind to globally reject all norms, but I try to make up my own mind about it...

But I think you already guessed all that by now... Anyway... I'm done with my coffee and brownie now (I don't type as fast on a phone as on a regular computer keyboard of course, and I will most likely have a few typos to fix once I get to publish this online)... So I hope you are enjoying the holidays... Talk to you later...

BYE
MAD

A very merry whatever to you all...

Salut my loved ones,

Sitting in my bed (or actually laying, but not lying which is a typical francophone pronunciation mistake, and not laid either, I would never lie to get laid, but that is a whole other topic ;-), typing this on my new phone. "Why use your phone if you're at home?" I hear you say... first, my Dell is on the floor besides the bed out of battery. I intentionally left the power supply in the living room last night so that I don't abuse it in bed (I also left the Mac in the living room)... so when the Dell battery died on me, I had to resort to my TV to finish the incomplete lullaby that would eventually put me to sleep.

Also, I really like my new Google Phone, it is our xmas bonus this year...I know...spoiled... :-)

So I wanted to take this opportunity wish you all a great "whatever you celebrate at the end of the year". Some of us call it xmas even when we don't believe in the cults of the religion that invented that celebration. The idea behind it is kind of universal anyway. For my part, I stopped believing in many things that I used to take for granted without thinking about it to much. Now I only believe in what makes sense to me (though I do agree and accept that some things just don't, but I have faith that it could :-)... Still, the idea that a man called Jesus (or whatever other name he could have had) once claimed that we could and should love each other in times where love was nowhere near what we believe it is today (and I do believe in love, yes that word again, "believe", and even if many think that love makes no sense, still :-), I think it is worth celebrating this alleged birthday by sharing love with the people that make our lives worth living...

To you all that make MY life worth living, I wish you a very merry whatever... because I love you all...

BYE
MAD... with sore thumbs not used to these phone qwerty keyboards

I miss you…

Salut,

Sitting in the bus again, just dropped the kids at school for their last day of the year. They were still in their PJs, so excited to eat breakfast at school and spend the whole day in their pajamas…

And me? Well… I was wondering in the parking lot… How do I feel? Or actually… Do I feel?...

No excitement… Yet, I’m not feeling down either. I remember a few years ago, we had about 11 parties spread over 15 days around the xmas break… This year… hum… much more humble… But again, not feeling bad about it… I’m fine… Truly…

Am I boring? I’m not bored though… There are so many things that interest me that I barely have enough time to do half of it. Like writing here, I don’t do it enough, I miss it… But at the same time, I sometimes feel guilty doing it (no, not because of the kind of things I share with you, I have absolutely no guilt about that :-)… I could use this time to complete the re-write of my Novel (I’m up to chapter 7 (out of 18) now, page 120 (out of 303)… I gave myself a deadline for this, I want to complete it before the end of the year…

Not having too many parties (though now that I think about it, I already have 3 scheduled, not counting new years eve that I plan on celebrating alone with my kids, with a nice dinner à trois and a night of games and TV shows, they love that), so, I was saying, not too many parties, so probably enough time to spend on my Novel re-write.

I should also spend some time working on the music I want to put on a CD that I will insert in the book sleeve… I still have a lot of work to do there and it is not progressing fast… But that doesn’t need to be completed before I go publisher hunting again… I think I can present this part of the project as a work in progress…

So, with all this regain of interest and energy of working on my novel, combined with the fact that I recently switched projects at work, so I spend more time learning and getting familiar with the whole thing, I have much less time to post here… And I miss it…

As for the guilt… well… yes I do steal some bus or train time that I could use to work on my Novel… And when I get to the office and polish the post before I publish it online, I steal some time that I could invest in learning more about the architecture and infrastructure of Chrome (a great product by the way, very well done, you should try it :-)…

So there is a little guilt involved in writing here… But I think it is worth it… First, it is a treat for me, and I think I deserve it… Second, I actually train my writing skills… And third… well… if it makes me feel better, then it is worth the time investment while I’m at work, because if I feel better, then I will be more productive…

Ho! What did I just say? Writing here makes me feel better, so I do feel… Wow!... Thanks… It is all because of you… Otherwise, why would I write here if it wouldn’t be to be read by you… So actually, it is not to write here that makes me feel better, it is knowing that you will read me… So when I feel (this word again), when I feel that I don’t post here often, I actually feel that you don’t read me enough… And I miss you…

BYE
MAD… Starting to feel IT!

Similarly different

Sitting in the bus again. It’s the beginning of the last week before the Christmas break. It is also a good day to break in to my brand new pair of Rockport boots (thanks Charles and Stephen for the advice, you guys were right, these boots are great, though a little tight on the ankles for my own taste, by I guess my weirdly shaped feet will soon make themselves at home in there :-). I say that because it is raining today, on top of a thin layer of icy snow… Fun… lot’s of fun… :-)

But I didn’t want to blog about boots and weather this morning… Yes, for once, I actually have something to say this morning, and not just improvise on the spot as I often do. I received a few comments recently from people enjoying the read of this blog (and I really appreciate it, first and foremost the fact that they actually read me, and then, wow, they enjoy it, cool, that’s the goal, but to top it all off, they tell me about it… I think I died and gone to heaven ;-).

But what I find interesting (and you might then understand the reason for this post subject line), is that some people tell me that they think just like me (or that I think just like them, depending if they are as egocentric as I am, or not :-). While walking to the bus this morning, it reminded me of comments I often got while I was Internet dating (and yes, I said “was”, but that’s a whole different topic, maybe in tomorrow’s bus ride, but don’t worry, I’m still single, just not dating on the Internet anymore… ;-).

On one of the dating sites I used to go to, there is an automated message you can send to others (when you are not a paying registered member) that is entitled: “We are so much alike!” (actually, it is ”On se ressemble.” in French, but I thought I would improve it a little in English ;-). I also got registered members send me their own messages to tell me how much we were alike based on what they had read in my profile, or after we chatted for a little while…

At the same, time day after day, we keep realizing how different we are from each other. Men and women for example… Whoa… so many conflicts are based on the fact that we are different, we think differently, we are internally wired differently. I’m not saying that we are not equal; this is totally different. It's not about one being better than the other (though man are usually stronger physically and women are more emotional, but I don’t think that physical strength is more important than emotions, and vice versa, they just complete each other so well ;-).

And I think it is a huge problem when we can’t see or accept these differences. This leads us to assume things about others based on our own self (just in case you didn’t know, this is what we call projection, we project ourselves into others, and then what we perceived is largely influenced by our point of view).We then get to expect certain behaviors from others because this is how we would behave ourselves. (I actually blogged about something similar on my French blog MADeries.) We each have our own idea of the rules of the game we are playing, and we each have been dealt a different set of cards. We can’t change the cards we were given, but we can decide how we play them (as Randy Pausch was saying), and I like to add that we can also discuss our understanding of the rules with the people we want to play with.

Because, in the end… We are not that different after all. This is the reason I can actually tell you the things that go through my mind as I write this blog, and you might find it interesting because you think similarly (and hopefully, I write it in a way that you find entertaining, otherwise, why bother, I’m not smart enough that only what I say is interesting, it is also how I say it, right?).

If we would be so different and would keep on projecting ourselves on others, we wouldn’t stop fighting… But we do… We stop fighting and we love each other… Yes, we do love the differences between us. But we also find comfort in our similarities… So can I please be comfortable with you? Do you think we are similar enough? I promise to keep working hard at entertaining you with my differences, OK? Let’t try that…

BYE
MAD the similarly different guy, you love it or you hate it ;-)

Beating the clock

Sitting in the train, which will most likely happen more often next year since they finally added more departures on my line, and it will thus be more convenient for me. Then again, it is still a bit inconvenient since they are far less frequent than the buses and so when you miss one, you need to wait much longer… as I just did… And my lungs are still burning from running (almost) all the way from the office to the train station, only to see the train leave while I was stepping out on the deck.

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My plan was to leave the office at 4:20, but I was so taken up by what I was doing that I didn’t see the time fly and only woke up at 4:32… Still… I tried… And failed… you can’t beat the clock…

This morning, I was luckier… I had another of these weird mornings… It started with the wipers of my car dying on me because I was asking them to get rid of a few inches of snow on my windshield. I know, I shouldn’t do that, but I just wanted to start the car so it warms up while I remove the snow from it, but the wipers had been left on… When they started, I tried to make them faster, just to help them and then I heard a "clunk" and they just stop in mid-air… hooo nooooo….

Still, I could get the kids to school and then, I had to come back home to wait for the cleaning lady who was sick yesterday. So I would give it a try… I’m not very good with repairing things, but I’m brave and always game to try. It often gets me in trouble but it also sometimes get me out of it. This time I succeeded, but I had to bring the car in the garage, which implied that I get the other car out of the garage (bad idea… yes, having two cars can also be a bad idea, … anyway). Once I fixed the little arm that attaches the wipers to the motor, I was in business. But I figured I would leave the frozen car in the garage while I get rid of the snow in my driveway and only put back the other car in afterward… Anyway, it sounded like a good idea, since the other car is not very good on snow (this is why it usually waits for me in the garage).

The problem is, that other car (though I love it very much) was not able to climb back in the garage… Damn… Even after I removed the snow. Last time I did remove the snow, it was raining, so there is a thin layer of ice in my driveway and it seems to be enough for my small car to not want to climb it… I even put salt there, no help, I tried with and without the anti-sliding thingy that comes with the car... no help… I realized that it must have trouble because the rear propulsion (as opposed to front wheel drive traction), so I tried backwards… BINGO… So the car is in the garage…

But the cleaning lady isn’t there yet, and it is close to the time I need to leave to catch the last train of the morning… So I decided to finish shoveling the driveway and then get inside to make myself a coffee and breakfast, I’ll simply take the bus… And then… Ding dong… She’s there… I have 10 minutes to get to the train… That would be very tight… So why not? Let's try…

Give the lady her money, say hi and bye at the same time… and run to the train… I try not to go too fast, last year, I bumped a pole and made a big dent in my bumper by trying to catch a train… Still I get there almost on time, the train is still there, but the doors are closed… weird… I get out of the car quickly and look for my keys to lock the car… D’Ho! I left them in the car… And the car is still running… Whoa… That’s a big stupid mistake… Luckily enough, I have the reflex to search my pockets for my keys to lock my car as soon as I walk away from it…

Anyway, I got in front of the train doors and they suddenly opened for me… thanks Sesame… :-)… And it took off before I had a chance to get ot my seat… Talk about split second timing… Well… tonight… It didn’t work out as well… Ho well… You win some, you lose some… But you can NOT beat the clock… It will keep on ticking, whatever you do, however you do it… Unlike you, it will never stop… Or at least, not in a foreseeable future at least… But we will… Our clock will stop… We can’t beat that… So let’s make the best out of it… Even if it means to miss a train once in a while, to run like crazy and still don’t make it… To have our lungs burning, even though we stopped running for over half an hour (I really need to start the gym again)…

Hey… I just beat one clock… I finish writing that post before the train left the station… Now I can spend the rest of the ride working on my novel… Will you read it?... No, not this post, my novel... Even if it is in French? Let me know if you want a copy of the original version, or if you prefer to get the new chapters as I rewrite them, I’m finishing the 5th of 18th chapters now, which is about 80 pages out of roughly 300… Interested? Let me know!

BYE
MAD… Still coughing… Damn…

About repairing VS getting a new one?

Sitting in the bus again. Rushing home to get the kids to their dance and acting classes on time (yeah, right, wishful thinking).

I need to get new boots… I walk much more now, and since I’m often at the last minute, I walk quickly, and without proper shoeing, it ain’t now fun. I had a very comfy pair last year, and had to resort to my previous pair this week ‘cause the newer ones died on me. A big hole on the side is letting all the slush in and it ain’t no fun either… Especially these last few days… So I’m now using an older pair of boots that don’t let anything in… Except pain!!!

I wonder if I should try to get the newer ones repaired. Would it be worth it? It’s not just a question of money. I can easily afford new boots, and could definitely afford the repair. It is more about the trouble that goes with it. Seems like it is so much easier these days to get new stuff as opposed to get the old things repaired, I wonder how we got there…

A few generations away, people would repair themselves what was broken (at least most of the time), and most of these things they had, they built themselves anyway. Nowadays, we depend on so many things that we have no clue how they work, we wouldn’t dare trying to repair them ourselves.

Like recently, I decided to sew a few pairs of my favorite socks that had holes at the tip of my toes (I know, cutting my toenails more often would help prevent such problem, but would you please get off my back? Look at your own toenails! Are they always bright and shiny? Well… shut it! will you? :-).

Anyway, I really like these socks, they’re comfy and look pretty good on me. And since I hate shopping and don’t mind playing with needles and pins, I decided to sew them myself (as opposed to others who like to suit at will, I would rather sew ;-). I was chatting with a very good friend of mine (a woman, of course), and she was very surprised that I would do this as opposed to simply buy new socks… Even she doesn’t repair socks (and she has three boys), she says nobody does that anymore, especially men (stereotype intended here :-)…

So it seems people don't repair things anymore, they prefer to get new things… Could this be why relationships don’t last as long either? Do you see a pattern here? ;-)

Anyway, change of subject, the other night, when I got stuck standing up in the bus for an hour and a half, there was this woman standing behind me (until I decided to turn around and then she was in front of me… haaa… much better… :-)… Well… She’s right in front of me again… Except this time, there aren’t that many people in the bus today, so I’m sitting, but she is not… weird… even though there is a lot of empty seats… Is she doing this on purpose? Is she sending me a message here?

Ho, and, BTW, she removed her clothing… Well… not all of it, of course, but she got her coat and a few other accessories off… Which makes me think it might not be the same woman, it is not the same coat… But woman do that sometimes… Change clothing…. Right?

No, I’m pretty sure that’s her. I remember well, because…. Well…. First…. She stood in front of me for about an hour and a half… And… I kind of have some experience at looking… right? And she has a few noticeable features that I quickly recognized… And no, I’m not talking about big boobs!!! Thought her small pair looks pretty nice, especially with this little hearth shape necklace that elegantly falls right into place… Wow… ;-)

Also, I had noticed her before we got in the bus the other day… While I was walking quickly to the bus (I told you, always at the last minute), I walked by and noticed her because she was walking almost as fast as I was while crossing the train station (which doesn’t happen often, I’m pretty quick… long legs… ;-)…

So I recognized her that other night in the bus (mainly from her coat, ‘cause, even if woman change clothing often, they rarely do it between the time they’re quickly walking across a train station and a few minutes late when they climb in a bus)… Actually, I just realized that she must have been standing behind me in the line up to get in the bus that was about 15 minutes late the other night… Interesting… So maybe… the reason she is standing in front of me now is that she recognized me too and decided to expose her nicely looking slim body right in front of me…

Dream on MAD… You’re not THAT interesting… At least not at first sight… Unless she reads your blog and couldn’t wait for you to talk about her… Et bien voilà! It’s done… Nice meeting you… And your name is…. ???

BYE
MAD

Canadian Winter Chaos

A longer one
Sitting in the train this morning. Yesterday was our first snowstorm chaos. I left the office at about 8:50 PM, got to the terminus on time (the bus was supposed to leave at 8:58, but it only arrived at the terminus at 9:13), but there was a looooong line up. I have never ever seen this at that time of day, and only rarely, even at rush hour… wow…

On top of that, the bus took took a long detour to another bridge (I heard of delays of up to 5 hours to go home on a route that usually takes less than an hour with regular traffic). So I got to my car in the bus terminus parking at about 10:20 (the bus ride is usually 15-20 minutes top, and this time, for one of the very rare occasions, of course, I was standing up, no seats left, of course, and thus no writing, whether for you or for my novel, ho well..). I then took a few minutes to scrape off the ice and snow off my car, and then a few more just to get out of the parking lot… ‘cause… ‘cause… I’m dumb…

But to my defense, I will state that I got home pretty late on Monday night (guess why? ;-), and had to get up very early Tuesday morning, because our office was sponsoring an innovation in technology interest group breakfast (or something like) so I had to be at the office before 8AM. So I didn’t get check the weather and didn’t think twice before choosing which car I would use… stooooopid…

My Mazda RX8 is not made for the Canadian winters… Ho… I do have winter tires, of course, otherwise, I would still be in the parking lot this morning… But my little toy is not very high above the ground, and the parking lot had not been cleaned yet… D’Ho…

But anyway, I eventually got out of there, and the highways were pretty clean, but still, I was being careful and didn’t really benefited from all the advantages of owning a nice car like this… When I got to the last turn to my street… Ho no… They had not cleaned it up yet… Damn… though… There always is a bright side… I had less snow to remove from my drive way, ya know… But… I got stuck twice… In the middle of the street… A few 100 meters from my home… Câlisse…

Anyway, I finally got home a little after 11:00, and took a few attempts for my little baby to climb up the little slope of my driveway (after spending 10-15 minutes to remove the snow from there, of course), up the to the garage where it belongs in those rough Canadian winter days… You can bet, that this morning, I took the Murano (though it had about a feet of snow on it, and about a centimeters of ice to top it off, though it was fun to break the ice crust with nice fluffy snow underneath it :-)… Was almost tempted to take the clean and warm RX8 that slept in the garage…

Talking about sleeping… I got woken up by my kids this morning, even though they were with their mom… they called me at 7:15, to double check if their school was opened, they didn’t believe their mom… Aren’t they sweet?... Though I was sleeping so tight, ‘cause you can guess that I couldn’t get to sleep right when I got home, I was all wet and sweaty and full of adrenaline, so I had a beer, watched the tube a bit and did some email (I know, I’m addicted to email) so I didn’t get to sleep until about 1AM… Ho well… I love those kids anyway... Of course…

And even the winter weather… OK, yes, it caused chaos yesterday… Ho! BTW, GG had a lucky bad luck event yesterday. She had a little accident with her car on the way to work. Nothing serious, no injuries and no damage to the car (fortunately), just the towing fees and some scare. So she worked from home… Talk about a lucky bad luck ;-)

And looking outside the train window this morning… It is simply gorgeous. Ice rain can create such marvelous landscape. Even dead trees look nice this morning. There is an field close to the train tracks crossing highway 30 where many trees have been dead for many years. It usually looks like a scary swamp as we see in movies… But this morning… It looks great… See… We can find beauty everywhere, even in the result of a chaotic snowy/ice storm…

Ho… Talking about beauty… I should get my eyes off the laptop screen and see if I can also find some interesting landscape within the train, not just through the windows ;-)…

Have a good one!

BYE
MAD

My lonely Sunday...

Salut again,

still sitting in my living room but not on the same sofa, I took the opposite one this morning... Working from home until the voting office opens... I take a little break to have a healthy breakfast (what? Nutella is very healthy you know) and a nice hot café latté... miamm... And thus I decided to tell you a little bit about what I did (or didn't do) yesterday...

When I wrote about it yesterday, before I actually started my day, even though I told you I didn't have a plan, there were a few things I wanted to do... Like working on my Novel (didn't do it), get some work done (didn't do much, just hit a few walls, ouch!), do the laundry (I finally started it this morning, I had to sleep in the guest room because I had removed the sheets from my bed and they were lying on the laundry room floor, I didn't feel like putting them back, they're in the dryer now), get some rest (I got a good chunk of that), and have dinner at la Piazzetta with my parents... Got half of that done... My parents couldn't make it...

I got through a few backlogs of personal emails, listened to some music, had a few beers and chips, learned a new song on the guitar and vocals (Your song, from Elton John, great song, I just love singing it... If only I could sing it right!!!)... I also lost plenty of time trying to get my cell phone plan upgraded with a data plan (now that they are getting closer to be affordable), but both Rogers and Fido's web site are just plain broken unless you want to get a new phone... I don't want a new phone, even if you are giving it to me for free... I already have a phone that I love... I just want to be able to frikin use it as it was designed to be... to access Internet wherever I am without having to pay zillions of dollars in monthly fees... geeez... I guess I will have to call... I hate calling these people, this is why I looooove the Internet so much... Ho well...

And then, it was already time for dinner (geee time really flies)...

My plan was to go have dinner with one of my favorite friends, the one that often goes to bed with me and get me to go to sleep later than I sometimes wish I would.. You know who... My computer of course... :-) I wanted to go work on my novel while having a good salad at my favorite local restaurant but faith decided otherwise. I arrived there at the same time as two couples that are good friends of mine, they were with their kids (and the kids are friends of my kids, of course, but my kids weren't there, they're with their mom, I told you I was alone yesterday, weren't you listening? :-)... So... I didn't get to work on my novel, but I had a great dinner with friends...

It was interesting to hear them half jokingly bitching about their relationships and how they all have to make compromises for each other, and all these other things we complain about when we are in a relationship... Yet... I could feel the love between them... Real love... And I couldn't help being a little jealous of their complaints... As I was saying yesterday, about complaining that we don't have enough time for ourselves, and then, when we finally do... we feel lonely... Aren't we all fucked up or not?

Anyway, it is now time for me to get my ass off the couch and go vote before I get to work and be productive, so that I feel I deserve all these great perks that Google gives me (at least up to now)... But before I go... I want to come back to this complaining thingy... I usually try not to complain about anything... If it is too cold in the winter (or on a freezing autumn day like today... geeez -20C...), I remember the moments in the middle of summer when people were complaining it was too hot to sleep because their air conditioning was broken (or nonexistent)... I didn't complain then, because I knew that it would eventually get so cold that I would miss this over heat... Of course, these are extremes, but what I want to get to is, like whether you're in a relationship or not, stop complaining, make the best of it... the opposite side will show up soon enough and you will then complain that you miss what you were complaining about before...

Got it?

Now just shut up and get productive (ho, sorry, I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to myself... Go MAD Go... literally! :-)

BYE
MAD... Having fun... as always... :-)

What a week-end...

Salut,

sitting in the living room, still in my PJs... Yes, I do wear them, but only when I get up... Guess what I wear when I sleep? When I DO sleep ;-P...

I was thinking, while typing the first word after Salut, above (which is a classic BTW, in the last 20 some years I have been using email and other sorts of virtual communication, I always started my message with "Salut [somename]," and end them with "BYE\nMAD" :-)... But I realize now that I start most of my blog post by saying where I'm sitting... Maybe I should change my name for Sitting MAD :-)... Whatever...

I had a great week-end so far (and intend to rest a little bit today so that I can properly attack next week, which seems promising too). First things first, office party on Friday. As I was telling you my my previous post, me and an another guy were volunteers to take care of the entertainment and be the skemmtanastjóri (which stands for something like Master of Entertainment in Icelandic). We only had a few people that registered to present something, but it ended up much bigger than we anticipated...

Many people stepped up to the plate with amazing performances... we had a lot of fun... I filmed a few of these performances but didn't get to transfer the videos in my computer yet. They will most likely show up in my Youtube account at one point... Stay tuned...

And last night... I went to see Mes Aïeux, they are amazing!!! I already love them on CD, and live it is even better... I'm not a big fan of folk or traditional music, but they do it in a kind of modern way and put a special touch to it that I just love... Very good musicians, great arrangements, all sorts of instruments and excellent vocal harmonies too... But what I love the most about them is their lyrics... So well written, funny, good rhythm, etc... Simply... Excellent...

OK, now to my Sunday alone... What will I do with it? What would YOU do with it? Do you often have full days alone with nothing planned like that? I must admit there are two edges to this sword... It is attracting in the sense that we often feel we don't have enough time for ourselves... And yet, when we do get some... We feel lonely... At least I do... But I don't want to complain about it... It's my choice... and I respect it... So let's see how I use this day... Of course... I'll try hard... to.... HAVE FUN!!!

Talk to you later...

BYE
MAD

On or off... stage

Salut,

sitting in the train… For once, I was in the train about 10 minutes before departure… I usually get it at the last minute (and once in a long while… too late…)… It’s a p-day at school today and the activity for the school day care service only starts at 9 so I went to have breakfast at the little café with the kids… they love that… and so do I… :-)

At the time I got in the train, there wasn’t anybody, so I couldn’t really tell you about the cuties around me (‘cause I know you are all craving for that, right?)… But I just added this paragraph as we just got through our 5th of 8 stops (which I rarely do, add paragraphs; you usually get a single stream of consciousness with only a few minor spelling tweaks done afterward). Why do I add this paragraph you think? Come on, I know you can easily guess… yess… that’s it… A good-looking girl just took the side seat right in front of me…

I’m sitting in a front facing seat with no other seats in front of me, but the side seats where she is sitting, so I get a pretty good view of her young body… I would say, she’s about 25… OK, maybe 21… I have no clue… Definitely much younger than me anyway… So I thought I would share this with you by inserting these two new paragraphs here, that I wrote after the rest, but that you get to read before… I love this… And hey, it could have been worst, I could have told you about this even younger red head teenager that got in a few stops ago… but I won’t… OK, now back to what I was writing about 20 minutes ago… ;-)

Tonight is our office Christmas party… Last year we were about 20 (about 12 employees and 8 spouses) and this year we should be about 30… So not too big, yet, not that small either. I used to be part of the Christmas parties organization for the last few years at my previous job, and was usually the MC of the night… Tonight, I’m sharing this task with one of our two interns.

The theme tonight has been suggested by one of our Icelandic colleagues who tried to make us believe that it is a tradition in their country to have the MC(s) motivate people to expose some special talent of their own to entertain the rest of the gang (now you’re starting to see where I was going with the subject of this post :-)…

I have been pretty busy at work these days and my CoMC is not the most vocal guy, so we didn’t succeed much so far in convincing people to sign up to take a part in the entertainment tonight (we both did, each with a partner, but that’s about all we got). But I have a few ideas of how I could convince them on the spot… And I have warned them that they should prepare something because they will go on stage whether they like it or not…

I often wonder what scares people when comes time to express themselves in front a crowed? Other people’s judgment? Lack of self-confidence? Lack of interest? I have a hard time with that, because, for me, it is the other way around… I have a hard time sitting in a room when there is a stage and I’m not on it. So others could ask: “what’s wrong with these people that are always looking for the follow spot?”, and my answer is very simple… IT FEELS SO GREAT!!!

I simply love being on stage… I really miss it when I don’t have opportunities to show my talent in front of a crowed. “Show off!” some people would shout… but of course… What’s wrong with that? Everybody likes to be entertained, right? Everybody likes getting attention, right? OK, some will say: “Ho, he is so much in need of attention, poor kid”… WHY? What is wrong with needing attention? When someone eats do we say: ‘ho, he is so much in need of food, poor kid”… Or when we breathe? OK, I think you get it… :-)

It is true that some people may become annoying with it. We don’t have the same level of endurance regarding entertainment… And we don’t all appreciate the same type of entertainment (don’t worry I won’t get naked with a light shade on my head ;-)… But still, I really get the feeling that many people over exaggerate their fear of stage and thus will also over complain about those who do like to be on stage… Are they just jealous? What do YOU think?

All in all, this is simply about HAVING FUN!!! So why not? :-)

BYE
MAD the stage addict…

The Beauty and the Bus

Salut,

sitting in the bus again, as I do on an almost daily basis (if you don't count week-ends and days when I take the train, or bring the car downtown). I was walking under the rain in the parking lot and thinking that it's been a while since I told you bus stories involving good looking girls.

Oddly enough, I'm currently sitting besides two beautiful young women, both with long dark hair and pale colored eyes. Maybe they are twins??? Hhhhuuummmmm twiiiiinss.... :-)

One of them has a very good-looking diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand... Lucky man... Lucky man... The other one is reading a book, so I can't see her fingers... The book is in English, but I can't see the title... ho well...

The bus is packed (as usual, which is actually a good thing, less cars on the street, or at least, across the bridge). We're sitting on the three side benches that we must flip to sit on, so not too comfortable, and my left arm is stuck against a little half wall/handle by the side door, so it is not easy to type... But it is worth it... The young woman reading besides me smells pretty good... :-)

What? Can't I enjoy this? If we put perfume (or use any other perfumed products on our body), isn't it so that others appreciate our smell? How often do you hear someone say that they appreciate the smell in a jam-packed bus? So think again before calling me a pervert (or whatever other term you might have came up with) when I tell you that I like the smell of the beautiful young woman reading besides me with her paled colored eyes brightening through her long dark hair... OK?

I know, I know, most of you reading this have heard me say things like that before, and if you are still reading this far, it is because you appreciate it... No need to thank me... But please leave a comment if you feel like it, right TD? :-)

We just got off the bridge now. Not that I can see a thing through the wet and humid windows, I just feel it on my butt... We stopped getting the bridge bumps and now we are getting the bad road vibrations we always get on the island...

We have a tendency to blame the city (or the province) for the bad state of our roads, and they truly deserve a large portion of that blame... But there isn't much that can be done against our local weather, without substantially more money, and I don't often hear people saying that we don't give enough money to the government... But hey... If we can't complain about the way the government takes care of our roads, what can we complain about? Not the smell of the people in a jam-packed bus, right? At least... Not me... Not today... When sitting besides the Beauty in the bus... :-)

Cool… We just got passed the first stop (the only one before the terminus), and neither of my beautiful neighbors stepped out… Let’s see how long our paths will be the same… I might tell you more about it a little later… Maybe before I actually post this… but then again… maybe not… We’ll see… Till then… HAVE FUN!!! :-)

BYE
MAD

The carrot and the stick

Salut,

sitting in my bed... I have a hard time getting up these days... I usually wake up often during the night, but now I just got two nights in a row where I don't think I woke up once in the 7-8 hours I slept... Yet, I still have a hard time coming back to life... weird...

I dream a lot though... I always dream quite a lot, but I get a feeling I'm dreaming much more these days, and very weird things too... For example, last night, there were many images of the current blurryness at work, but getting to work on ice skates, and having an ice skating path through l'échangeur Turcot in Ville St-Jacques, near the Angrignon exit, including an ice rink overpass...

That was weird, but even worst than that, meeting Marc Labrèche playing a guitar and borrowing it from him, only to realize it is all fucked up, OK, missing strings, having strings just going half way through the neck, OK, but then he gives me some sort of appendage that you stick to the guitar as a neck replacement, that was a little weirder, but the worst of it, is that I had a hard time playing the guitar because it was full of... spaghetti and meat sauce... Now THAT's weird...

I usually dream about stuff that are a little less weird, and I actually enjoy the other lives I live while I'm sleeping. But that's not what I wanted to to talk to you about this morning. I was thinking about a very interesting conversation I had with a friend last night, where I was telling him about how pain and pleasure drives our lives, and not money or the economy.

I think Freud said that we only have things driving us, sex and survival. Darwin would agree since we need the survival instinct to... survive and the reproduction instinct to... Of course... reproduce... And this is why sex is soooo much fun... Otherwise, who would reproduce just for the fun of it... And since survival can be so painful, yet crucial, we have to go through pain to keep having pleasure...

the carrot...

and the stick... ;-)

I truly believe that we are only driven by pain and pleasure... How much pain are you willing to endure to get to the pleasures you want? How much pleasures are you willing to deprive yourself to avoid the pain associated to earning those pleasures? And yes, I admit that the economy is a strong portion of that, how much money are you willing to painfully invest in the pleasure of buying?

I have a brother who is voluntarily single (and have been for a while) because he says that having someone to satisfy his needs of companionship that he strongly feels about 2 days a month, is not worth the investment of the painful compromises you need to make when you live with someone else during the other 28 days of the month... Or something like that...

So what drives YOUR life? The economy? The society of mass consumption, which we live in? Or... the carrot... and the stick?

BYE
MAD... The carrot?
or
MAD... The stick?
S:-P