Omniscient Reminiscing Deficiency
This week is going to be a humdinger. I'm working overtime everydayand possibly over OVER time a few times, to rack up some hours, bank some coin and pay down my credit card, for once and for all. I really hate that I am a slave to money but it could be worse - I could be a slave to Campus Crusade or 700 Huntley Street - I'll take money.
This past weekend was a little whirlwind-ish in essence as Sarah and I hit up three towns (Cobourg, Westport/Godfrey, Ottawa and then back to Cobourg) all in the span of 72 hours. Sarah had a decent time girlin' it up with Katie for a bachelorette party but came out with the realization of 'clubbing just doesn't appeal to me anymore'. I tend to agree with my dear girl on this point. I had the chance to do a little solo-driving, which was mind-clearing and spiritual, and visit Todd for a short time as I was a stone's throw away from Iawah so I figured I'd make the trek. What was a bonus about this visit, aside from the awesomely deep and enlightening talk with Toddley, which is always a welcome and rejeuvenating feature in my life, was a surprise visit from the Charnman. Wow. That's all I have to say. Well...I guess I have more to say, really. I had not seen the enigma that is Charn in probably...four years or so and in doing so, I realized how he is someone I could sit and listen to for hours on end about a great many topics. It was great to hear the doc wax intellectual about life, medicine, medical tv dramas AND zebra mussels. Apparently, Wolfe Lake (of Camp Iawah) is now infected with these suckers and is generally being considered a promoter of the 'STD of Ontario Lakes' and is being seen as 'too promiscuous with the number of boats it lets in'.Funny. I also got a chance to just chill with Steve and Joel of Ottawa fame and wouldn't ya know it, I got my bro to tag along as well (such photo evidence of which can be seen below) 
and spend some time with the 'rents. I felt a little awkward getting my dad to drive me and my brother to our friend's house (ahem) but the best part was stopping at the beer store ON THE WAY and my dad asking me to pick some up for HIM! Ah, the strange nuances of growing older.Back to the grind for another week. Excuse the cheese here- God, thanks for good visits with good friends. Thanks for a great drive where I got to remember that I truly have nothing to fear with You. Thanks for forgiving me. Help me not to let my thoughts run rampant away from me and talk myself out of over-anxious moments. You have never left me, and you want the best life for us all, and for that, I am speechless and grateful.
Turn Off The Sun(July Swelter)
The Halfway Point of July seems to a mark of extreme heat and sweltering. There are heat warnings everywhere, in all regions of Ontario. But actually, in walking to work this morning, between 9:30 and 10 am, and walking at a leisurely pace, I found it quite pleasureable. So many of us spend large amounts of cash to get somewhere with this kind of heat and now, thanks to Mister Warming (first name Global), we have it. The only tropical setting missing is ocean, palm trees and beach, but those things are seriously overrated. Coconuts falling can cause serious head injuries and beaches only ever leave you with sand in crevaces of your body that you never knew existed.
I'm trying to stay positive, and just live life for all it's worth. Another week of work is launched and another weekend passed me by. Sarah and I had a great time doing NOTHING (all previous plans were cancelled) but playing Carcassone, going to MEC to buy rocks so sarah can start her indoor climbing wall, drinking a few beers, having some fruity summer wines, tandim crosswords, and that was about it. We have to move from our current establishment soon, which will be a bit of an effort, but not that much of one because we are only moving a few hundred feet from our current apartment. Still, lugging furniture would suck serious ass on a day like today, no matter HOW far you'd be carrying it.
Picked up the new Coupland book 'J-Pod' - it proves to be a grabber and already, from the first few lines, I was laughing to myself in the commonality of a phrase from work being used in the book when a programmer asks a co-worker for help - 'Don't ask me. Just google it.' Ah, geeks. I yearn tobe a better one.Oh, check out some new reviews at andthehitsjustkeeponcomin.blogspot.comas the collective have been churning out the critical gold. New reviewsinclude:DAVID BAZAN (AJ, jounralist extraordinaire, writer for CTV.ca)THOM YORKESUFJAN STEVENS (BWil, the bowmanville man on the scene)ARCTIC MONKEYS (JonDogs, a mondo wordsmith)QUEENS OF THE STONE AGEMATT MAYS (yours truly).
An Unlikely PairBy The Din of the Arcade Light
So last night, at around 9:45, my cell phone rings and the namethat shows up on my call display reads 'Andy Bayer'. I thoughtto myself that this was strange because Andy goes to school inSt. Catharines at Brock during the year and I was pretty darnsure that number, on my call display, is for his phone number atresidence...but he's home in Cobourg for the summer. Perplexing.I'm perplexed just typing it. Anyways, I answered the phone by saying'Andy Bayer' and the voice says back 'Matt McKechnie' but itwas NOT andy's voice. Even more perplexing. Then the voice says'It's Brian Macdonald'. Now there were a few odd factors at play here:1. I was just thinking about Brian earlier that day.2. He lives in PEI.Long story short: Brian is in town this week for a big church/Presbyyouth conference happening at Brock all this week. Random. Anyways,we realized that as the week was getting on (and he had forgotten my cell number on the island), chances of he and his wife and sarah and I getting together would be slim, as he had to stay on campus at all times.So last night, at 11:30, I drove over to Brock and we shot the shytefor a few hours, re-hashing old and new alike. As we sat in the lobby of the Brock res, watching the screen and listening to the Journey-esque music of an antique arcade game that
boasted '39 arcade classics', we watched various screenshots of oldschool games like Pacman, Pacman Jr, Donkey Kong(1 to 3), Dig Dug,Galaga, Combat (or something like it) and many more. What was randomabout that antique machine was that for years, Bri and I spawneda friendship through playing what would be now classified as 'antique'or 'old school' video games (mostly Sierra, Epyx or Activision) and herewe were, years later, both married, he with child in tow, and in more complex stages of life, re-united by the glow of a video game system.What it made me realize though is that if Bri and his family hadn'tmoved to the house two doors down from mine in Ottawa, wayback in grade seven, we probably never would have become friendsor been each other's best men in each other's wedding parties. We havevery different personalities, and even very different theologicalviewpoints at times, but that doesn't keep us apart. I don't think thereis a theory or equation to friendship - sometimes the ones you thinkthat will last forever fall to pieces and the ones you wrote off beforethey developed end up being super-tight. But in this tumultuos timeof life, I am thankful for a rock in the storm like Brian. Even in sayinglittle to each other, we said a great deal. Blessings on you, Bonnie and Abbey.(Also, Double Props that it was a week of old school hook-ups as
Sarah and I drove to Kitch to see Julie and Nic and Mer and Phil -the sisters of Sunkissed Keilah, my old band, and friends for manyyears. Julie has a cute, cute daughter and Mer is still as wackedas ever - actually Julie is too. Their husbands are both rad individualsand I hope Sarah and I live close to them all someday.)Go and see a friend this week. Just do it.
