10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Holy Stressful Batman!
These wedding plans and headaches are driving me bonkers. Our former agent has a bunch of our arrangements all banged up and that is making our life wicked stressful, as we want to have everything planed and organized and ready to roll soon so we can just kick back and count down the days. Tomorrow should be a telling day, as we're supposed to be talking with the Regional Manager to sort some of this stuff out. That being said, we've been waiting to deal with him since Wednesday...

2. I'm an Awesome Server / Bartender
Yeah, I'm tooting my own horn again... so what? We're in a bit of a lull period right now on the hill with Christmas and everything being done and people trying to save a little cash this month, but still I manage to make $100 every day without fail. Now, sometimes that means I have to work five or six hours, but considering no one else is really pulling in that kind of money consistently, there can only be one conclusion... I'm Awesome!

3. Good Old Nintendo Thumb
Remember when you used to spend hours upon hours playing Nintendo and your thumb would develop that soreness that verges on becoming a full-blown callous? I'm dealing with that right now thanks to two days spent finishing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and six amateur fights on Fight Night Round 3. Impressively enough, I'm still banging out articles galore this week too.

4. Missing Magazines
Sarah and I signed up for some magazine subscriptions a couple weeks back through one of those "Get 3 magazines for $6" type of deals. Canadian Living arrive a while back, but we're still waiting on Self (for her) and GQ (for me), except they were all supposed to have been sent out at the same time. Something tells me that our friendly local post office either (A) put them in the wrong mailbox and the people didn't bother returning them or (B) decided to keep them for themselves. I hope I'm wrong on both fronts, especially because I want my Jennifer Aniston issue of GQ!

5. Speaking of Jennifer Aniston...
We're back around to Season One of Friends - we watch them in succession - and I have to admit that I really miss that show. There hasn't been anything that has made me commit to watching it every week on the sitcom front since Friends left the air. I know it's kind of hokey and whatever, but for my money, the stupidity of Joey Tribiani will always be hilarious.

6. False Promises
So a while back I told you about me getting a proofreading job with Fight! Magazine. I don't think it's happening... I emailed the Editor a couple weeks back and have yet to receive anything back. Was it just a case of telling a disgruntled reader what they wanted to hear or did I slip his mind? I'm not sure, but one thing I do know is that they could still use me because there are more mistakes in the current issue...

7. Elk are HUGE
Saw a bunch of them driving home from Marley and Me this time last week and sweet merciful crap would those big bastards ever do a number on our poor '93 Honda Civic! I mean, we wrote off the Corolla smacking into a deer, so I could only imagine what kind of carnage would ensue slamming into one of these monsters. D'you know what's worse? There are caribou and moose that are around these parts and even bigger still...

8. Sharp as Marbles
I don't expect to be surrounded by MENSA candidates working in a restaurant, but some of the brilliant questions that get shot my way are amazing. Questions: How do I make lime water? Is France on the ocean? What's a jiggaboo? Answers: mix bar lime and water, sort of and a very derogatory term for black people that if you say again I'm going to knock your teeth out.

9. Exciting News from the UFC
Dana White said earlier this week in a press conference that he's working on bringing the UFC to... wait for it... wait for it... VANCOUVER! Sarah has already been informed that regardless of date and cost, I will be in attendance at this event.

10. College Football is Equal Parts Awesome and Annoying
There were some great games this week - Texas and Ohio State was outstanding - but in the end, when all was said and done, there was controversy and it annoys the bejesus out of me. How there still isn't a playoff system in place to determine one unquestioned champion is beyond me. Yes Florida won the BCS Championship, but Utah went undefeated and crushed Alabama. And they still ended up 4th in the AP Poll!

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Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other

When I was leaving work this evening, I told my supervisor that I would give her a call in the morning once the restaurant opened to see how busy we were and find out if she needed me to come in for my shift at noon.

Her face lit up; she was thrilled with my selfless act to help her keep labor costs down and provide an opportunity for my fellow servers to make a little money, so I let her roll with it.

Why am I really going to call tomorrow morning, besides not having to drag my ass down the hill in the rain? They're threefold.

1) Sarah is on nights tomorrow, so going to work all day would mean zero together time. While it's true that she's likely going to sleep all day regardless of my decision, the persistence of a certain pug will get her up at one point or another, so we could share a little breakfast during the afternoon if I stayed put.

2) Writing is way more enjoyable. Work is in a lull period now that the holidays are over and while I've still been pulling in a yard (read: $100) a shift in tips, it's been over five hours of work and that doesn't sound as pleasurable to me as sitting in this chair penning some pieces for The Love of Sports and getting another Soundtrack song up earlier for all of you to download.

3) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I don't care how much of a geek I sound like - and I know video games + Star Wars = Huge Geek - but there is something really fun about walking around massacring Stormtroopers and Imperials alike with Force Lightning that would be more fun on a Friday afternoon than serving four tables and standing around bored.

But hey, if my supervisor wants to think I'm just being a good guy, who am I to tell her otherwise?

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Honey, I Know What I Want for My Birthday

One month from today, I turn 30.

On our drive to Brampton this AM to help Sarah's Aunt and Uncle move - a move that was craptacular, part due to my strained neck muscles that are limiting my range of motion and part due to nothing really being packed - she asked me what I wanted for my birthday.

Generally, I'm not really great at answering this question, because since I was about 12, there hasn't been anything that I really wanted that I thought I had any legitimate chance at getting. Not that she wouldn't buy me something I wanted, just we're moving and that's going to cost some serious coin so I doubt she'll be interested in dropping a couple Robert Bordens on a 360 and Rockband for the new condo...

But I might stand a chance with these.

My man Marc Ecko - fashion designer, baseball brander, mogul extraordinaire - has released a new line of gear featuring... wait for it... wait for it...

STAR WARS!

We're talking Storm Trooper helmet t-shirts that look killer, a red Warrior hoodie, The Gold Bikini tee and my new wishlist topper - a Boba Fett hoodie! The damn thing looks like Boba Fett's gear, right down to the knicks and dings in the armour.

It's either that or the Storm Trooper "Send in the Troops" hoodie.

Or better yet, this can be what Garry gets me and Sarah can still get me, I mean us, a 360 and Rockband.

What? She could play it too...

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