I’m sitting at the airport in Syracuse with Jon getting ready for leg two of my little east coast swing. Jon is on his way to D.C. for a job fair… so I bumped my flight up. It actually worked well for me because this gives me a little more time in NYC to visit Elisa and Dave.
It’s been kind of crazy reconnecting with all these old friends from high school. Last night, my childhood friend Bryce found me on facebook. It’s been kind of pleasant to hear and see all of my old friends doing so well. Jon, being one of my oldest friends, has been great to hang out with the past week. I just actually ran out of things to talk about. I know that I’m getting old because most of my stories can be categorized to three distinct subjects: my house, my job, or Heather. Although the last one is the best, it still makes me pretty damn boring.
On top of that, I think the cold makes me less funny. Or at least I perceive it that way. I was way off my game the last few days– I wasn’t even getting the pity chuckles. I guess I’m a warm weather comic.
So the last day in Toronto was nice. We went to Dave and Buster’s for dinner where they kept the game on the entire time. I still think that Dave and Buster’s would do excellent in Chico. We played some games there and headed back to the hotel to hang in the hot tub. The only disappointment was the really cool water slide was closed. Oh well. We did teach Amee how to play Marco Polo in the pool. Which proves to me that if indeed I am getting older, I’m not letting go of my youth just yet.
Which brings me to my point today. I thought I was out of my Peter Pan stage, but I don’t think I’m ready to let go of it yet. Nor, really do I think that I am every really going to be ready to let go of it. I’m gaining more responsibility and my life is definately settling down, but I just don’t want to grow up. I want to play hide and seek in Ikea and Marco Polo in the pool. I want to play video games until 2a and be silly. I don’t see the reason why I should let these things go just because it’s not the adult thing to do. I mean seriously, I have more fun in a day than some people do in a week. So it’s a Peter Pan stage because I still want to be a boy, but I know that eventually I”m going to have to get out of Neverland someday… but I’m not giving up without a fight.
But I don’t think I’m the only one in this situation. While hanging in upstate New York, I got to hang with some of Jon’s friends from the Army. I think they are in that stage too because they are rocking on Rock Band. But they don’t want to grow up any faster than I do. So, it brought me a little relief to know I’m not the only one. They were also fun to poke at because they thought that California was full of liberal nut jobs. Which is partically true, but we’re also full of happy cows.
But I am Up and Away to New Orleans for my annual sales conference. It’s going to be great to see everyone that I usually only see once a year. Being in New Orleans, I know that I’m going to get myself in some sort of trouble. I know that one of the first things I’m doing when I get there is find a place for a blackened steak and have myself a romp with Cafe Du Mount for some beniges. Mmmm delicious calories do await.
Filed under: travel
Greetings from Toronto! I’ve been hanging out here for the past four days. I flew into Syracuse to meet one of my best buddies Jon. We planned on staying in Syracuse for the night and maybe adventuring around the area. Well thanks to someone puking on the plane before we boarded at JFK, I didn’t arrive to nearly 1 a.m. So we got to the hotel and just talked for a few hours until about 3a. Jon was tossing and turning and at like 6:30 we just got up and started to head up to Montreal. It’s about a four hour drive to Montreal. During the trip we rocked out, talked and just enjoyed the road trip.
We were both pretty tired when we got to Montreal. However, our room wasn’t ready yet. So, we had lunch and hung out in the lobby until the room was ready. Then we took a nice long nap in preparation for the big night ahead of us. And a big night it was….
One of my friends I met on our Europe trip Liana has season tickets to the Montreal Canadians. She doesn’t have good seats, she has AMAZING seats. Her and Jill, another friend from the trip, picked us up and took us to the Bell Centre (they spell it with an re here… love the French). The seats were centre ice AND FREE food. Oh my, I ate like a champ… I had so much food it was insane. I think I ate as much as I do in a week in that three hours spread.
Being this my first hockey game, I was in awe. The Habs played really well and there were fights a plenty. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the ref taking one of the players out. Then we went out in Montreal. Now, I’ve been to Montreal in the summer and it’s a great city… it’s just so different in the winter because it’s just so cold. Thankfully I ate so much because Jon and I drank SOOOOOOOOOOOO much, but nothing was going to penetrate the food I ate at the game. We went out to a few bars and headed home.
Mostly in Montreal, all we did was sleep, eat, and party. However, I did feel guilty, and Jill and Ricky drove us around Montreal to show Jon the town. We had some great Poutine (fries, cheese curds, and gravy) and more sleeping. Then again, we went out to a bar where I felt WAYYYY too old to be there–but the music was good. I don’t know if I have a higher alcohol tolerance or just the cold, but I was drinking much more than normal. It’s just plain out expensive.
We woke up and heading for Toronto–which was a five hour drive. We got into town and headed to get something to eat before meeting up with some of Jon girlfriend’s friends. When were at the restaurant eating dinner we were watching the Titans/Ravens game. With a little over two minutes left to go in a very tight game, the dumbasses switch the game off to watch the Maple Leafs game… a.) the suck b.) it’s early in the season c.) IT’S THE NFL FUCKING PLAYOFFS! I finished my meal steaming with anger using my crackberry to check the scores. I just hope to Buddha that my plan includes Canada.
We got over to Aimee’s friends house. And it was clean wholesome fun… which was a nice break from the Montreal sinning. Her friends were really nice and I enjoyed the conversations I had with them. We played some Cranium and some pool… then headed back and crashed out.
This morning we woke up had some Pho (it’s a Vietnamese Soup) and decided to head downtown to check out this really old distillery and just walked around. It was weird because it was about 22 today and I was walking around in a sweatshirt. I would be dead. But it didn’t bother me much.
We came back to the hotel to watch the NFL playoffs…. at least i my room I knew no one would turn the damn Leafs game on…
It’s been a while since I had time to sit down and write. Funny enough– that I’ve been on “vacation” for the past three weeks and I’ve never worked harder. Let’s see if I can update and refresh what has been going on since oh… I guess October.
First and foremost, I bought a house. Although I love the house, it has definitely been more of a challenge than I first predicted. I moved in the weekend after Thanksgiving after painting for a week straight. I thought the paint job would be a day, maybe two tops. It ended up taking me nearly a week and half of straight painting with help from friends. I was so excited to paint and by the time I was done with the first room, I was sick of it. However, once you get knee deep, you can’t stop. So I painted, with friends, the two bedrooms, hallway, kitchen, laundry room, living room and doors galore.
After painting and moving in, I decided that it would be a good idea to remodel the kitchen too. This was one the greatest challenges I’ve faced so far in the house business. I moved all my appliances into the dining room and haven’t been with a functioning kitchen since December 17. As I write this update, my counters are being installed. That was after I had to pull up baseboard and linoleum and paint a terrible baby blue kitchen a more suitable, manly color—pastel yellow. Technically it’s called Hampton Tea Room something or another… but to me it’s pastel yellow. My girlfriend Heather picked it and she did a good job. It does look quite nice. More on her later…
So back to the kitchen where the cabinets were installed two weeks ago, but no sink. That was the workings of the plumber. Now, I don’t like crawling around under people’s houses, but damn they make good money. I got sucked out of another 800 bucks paying him to move gas lines and pipes. I decided to replace the bathroom sink during the remodel to a pedicle. I thought this was a going to be a cake project. No so much. APPARENTLY, my pipes were too far apart. So, the plumber had to rip out a piece of the plaster to pull them closer together. Again, stupid me, I thought the sink replacement was going to be a one day thing. Oh no… with the hole now in the wall, I had to patch it—along with the other holes left for the gas lines and the 220 volt plug I had taken out. My contractor told me that it would be no problem for me to replace myself. I don’t consider myself a handy person in the least. I can figure out what’s wrong with a computer in no problem. But these hands were not made for fixing things. But, being extremely over budget, I thought I would give it a shot. I got online and downloaded a video from “This Old House” on how to patch plaster walls. I watched the video and figured that it couldn’t be hard. I hopped in my car and headed down to Home Depot to buy the supplies. I got everything I needed and head home, nervous but excited, to start the job. When I got home, I flipped. There was no way in hell I could do this. I didn’t have the tools. But I tried anyway using a flathead screwdriver and a hammer trying to knock plaster out. It didn’t work. I had a panic attack and retreated to the living room—the only completed room in the house. Just for you keeping score, I have a kitchen with cabinets, no floor, sink, or counter; a dining room full of appliances; a laundry room with no floor; an office door that’s too big for the frame; no bathroom sink; and only the bath tub as a source of water. Fun.
I sucked it up and just put my head down and continued to barrel down at the job. The contractor cleaned up the holes and I learned how to patch them. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to do that. Then I went to paint. Fuck. The paint I got for the bathroom was a shade off… but not too bad once I cleaned up the dust. The laundry room paint wasn’t an issue because it was from the same can. Then I got to the kitchen and after the paint dried, I realized that the new can of paint I got from Lowes of the SAME color was a shade darker. Now granted, through all of this, I have never broken down—but this was the last straw. After all the work and sacrifices I’ve made in the past two months, I’m going to have a finished product that looks like shit. Hell no. I scrambled out to the garage and got the last bit of the pastel yellow from the original can and I was able to fix it. Disaster averted.
Yesterday, the plumber came back and installed the bathroom sink. I felt like Tom Hanks from “The Money Pit” when I heard water. Now, it was only a few days, but it was a small victory that I was able to put the bathroom back together again and call it good. Until the cold water knob decided to go out. Damn.
Today, however, the cabinets and kitchen sink are being installed. Thankfully I have good friends that are willing to babysit my house while they are being installed. And on Friday, the floor guy will be there to put the pergo flooring down. Originally, I had planned on restoring the fir floors that existed under the linoleum. The floor guy showed up on Monday morning at 7:30 after a VERY bad night of drinking at a holiday party and when he put up the first resistance, I sent him away and told him I would buy Pergo. I wanted to go back to sleep. So, when I get home in two weeks, the only things I will have left is the crown molding and baseboards and to move my appliances into the kitchen. After countless trips to Lowes and Home Depot, I’ve grown quite found of the Lowes people—they actually help you. My credit card has dropped five pounds from sweating so much. But I will have a whole house again and I can be at peace… until I start the backyard. (:
In the mix of the remodel, I met Heather. I guess the saying when it rains, it pours. I moved during the busiest time of my work year, finals and the end of the semester, then I start dating after a long absence. I guess it all works for a reason. She is absolutely amazing. She has been so supportive during the time we’ve been dating. She’s always there for me and we have a great time when we’re together. The best thing that I like about her is that she lets me be me. I can be zany and cheesy and not worry. I can treat her well and her not suspect alternative motives. I also love that fact that I have my life and she has hers. We can be around other’s friends and not feel left out or lost. And we both can hold our own. We don’t have to do much to be around each other—we can just hang out at home with a bottle of wine and a movie and be great. But it’s just nice to know that someone is waiting for me to come home or call. I love waking up in the morning and having a text message waiting from her or me sending her one hoping not to wake her up. I love the fact she hates my bed but will put up with it just to be with me. It’s great to leave and even better to come back. It’s still pretty new, so we don’t have a ton of history yet. But from what we have made, it’s been pretty good and I know it’s only going to get better.
So as I’m way above it looks like the Midwest, I am as happy as I have been in a long time. I’ve had to make the decision to abandon my parents because their unhealthy behavior is only going to make me sad. It’s hard to say that, but in reality, they have been a mental drain on me for the past six months and if they aren’t going to get help or a divorce, there’s not really much that I can do for them. My sister moved her wedding day up just to get out of the house. I don’t blame her. So with Shannon’s wedding, that just leaves me as the last of the three not to be married. I just couldn’t imagine being married at 19. I hadn’t even really begun living yet. There has been so much that I’ve seen and done between now and when I was 19 to even imagine what I would have had to sacrifice to be in a marriage. I’m pretty happy that I haven’t gotten married just because when I do decide to do it, I will know who I am better and be able to be a better partner for my future wife. But back to Shannon’s wedding, it was pretty nice. The upside of my parents’ demise is that it has brought me closer to my two sisters than I have before. I have always been off on my own doing my own thing. But they will need some support, they know I am always there—even stupidly by letting my sister on my credit. Her wedding was nice and simple and her in-laws are quite lovely people. I also learned more about the Mormon religion. I wouldn’t want to be one—I love booze too much—but as least I don’t think they are as weird as I first thought. Yet, I was sad for Shannon because the crazies (i.e. my parents) were little to no help. My dad didn’t even come back for the reception because he wanted to watch the Oklahoma football game. A little fucked up I think. Fucked up, but I’m not surprised.
So there we are, I’m in Kansas and heading east to New York to visit my friend Jon. We’re going to spend a week traveling around to Montreal and Toronto. I’m excited that I’m going to go to my very first hockey game. What better game to go to either—the Canadians vs the Leaves. My friends from Europe who live in Montreal hooked us up fat with some great tickets. Then we are going to head to Toronto to hang with Jon’s girlfriend and some more friends of mine from Europe. Finally, we’ll spend two days back at Jon’s recouping before I head to New Orleans for my sales conference. I expect when I get home, I will have another long entry as I imagine I will be one whipped little puppy.
