I hate being as emotional as I am. Actually I am not sure if emotional is even the right word, and I'm not in any state to figure out what the right one is.
I didn't realize it would be this hard to have to sleep so far away from my family. I can barely see the screen for all the tears. I just love my family so much...
I am currently trying to figure out how the whole leaving thing will go. I don`t exactly want to get on the airplane a blubbering mess. So I was thinking that I would say bye to everyone at home and get my father to drive me there. It will give me time to get my head into the trip and not have to wait in the (inevitably) long security line with my family watching me. It was hard enough when I had to do that going to Singapore, even though I knew that I would be back in a mounth. I know that they would rather see me off safely, and it is nice to know that, But I REALLY don't want to have to ask some burly security guy to hold me :D
Lately the thing that I hate most of all has come clearly into focus. More and more in my industry out here in Nova Scotia I am seeing the phenomenon I like to call "Stubborn and stupid old people." They are like an annoying bug that just won't go away. And they are stunting the growth of carpentry and cabinet making out here in Nova Scotia. "How so?" Well I am glad you asked. The problem is that they are ALWAYS right. The way they figure it they have been in the the industry since times untold. So a little upstart with a few years (or mounths) of experiance can't possibly find a better way of doing something. Even if that young person has done more of something than the Old person, the old person still knows how to do it a million times better. Take today for instance, We are doing an upscale condo in Downtown Halifax. it is a great job and we are expected to do a good job on it, which we are. The problem with the old person comes in where staining wood and then finishing it is concerned. I have done all of that up until now here at this shop, and when I was with RCS that is pretty much all I did there. So I KNOW how to stain something to make it look good. I also know the spray equipment we have like the back of my hand. I know how to get it to work right. But since S.A.S.O.P. (Person not people) was told we have to do a good job on this condo he believes that he should be doing all of the staining and spraying, while I am his bitch (someone who does all the crap work, like picking things up for him). Half of my time is spent doing that for him, and the other half is spent fixing his screw-ups. If he would just listen to a tenth of the suggestions I voice the whole process would go a lot quicker and I wouldn't mind him doing all the spraying. It comes back to him having been around when I was in diapers. If he was spraying like this back then, than we were both producing crap, just in different forms. The whole industry down here is like this. I'm not under any illusions that things are going to be greatly different out west. but at least that is where most of the young people are going, so I should have more people out there that think more or less like I do when it comes to the trade that I love. I also won't miss "Well jeez, but it is so expensive out there" Which is more or less the first thing that every SASOP says when they hear I am moving.
The last thing I would like to say is that as a rule I love older people, they do (when they are not the kind mentioned above) have a lot to teach us young people. So if you are an old person reading this I really hope that you are the kind not listed in the above rant.
Blue Dragon: Finally a Menu based RPG from Japan for the XBox 360. Music is by the guy who has done work for the Final Fantasy Franchise, Art by the guy who did the Dragon Quest games, and the slightly popular manga Dragon Ball Z. Hironobu Sakaguchi (who is my gaming god figure)Created it, he has done every one of my favourite games, and made another amazing game. I'd marry him if He wasn't a guy or I wasn't straight.
Bio Shock: More game goodness. Scary and amazing. Three word Sentences. Repeated four times. Anyway one of the best FPS I've played in a very long time, AND it's on computer or Xbox. It makes me want some plasmids, without the going insane part.
Monkey Majik's new album 空はまるで(Sora wa maru de): Two Canadians and two Japanese. This album has been one of the only things playing on my Ipod for a while. I Love it. It has a fresh upbeat feeling to it. It also boasts collaborations with m-flo, SEAMO, and the Yoshida Brothers. All three songs are especially great. It is nice to see people over here actually digging the shamisen on the Yoshida Brothers song. If Monkey Majik ever comes to Vancouver I'll camp out if I have to to get tickets.
Pull-ups: Because I can actually do them now.
Shure Ear buds: I DID spend waaay to much on them. But the sound is amazing, and the passive noise canceling ability of these is almost unsurpassed.
My tattoo: The kind of people who look at it then purposely avoid me, don't talk to me. Which is good I don't need that kind of person in my life anyway. It also starts conversations with random strangers :D
On the seventeenth of September at 7:45 I will be leaving here For British Colombia :D The amount of things that i still have to do is staggering. And I must at some point remember to get those change of address forms from the post office. Hopefully writing it here will help me remember. I wouldn't put money on it though. My cousin Mike out there has a dog which is great :D And he says he has a large backyard. I'm interested to see what that means in Vancouver. Probably not the few acres I have here. They are both really interested in guitars so I will be bringing the parts that I have over there and make one or two. I still have much more sorting and packing to do. So I should get back to that.
I would have to say one of my biggest pet peeves is having someone tell me something that I obviously already know. Like a co-worker showing me how to sand a panel, an action that I have done hundreds of times in the past. Or my father telling me that I have to clean off my material before I laminate something. I've already laminated more miles of things then a lot people walk in a year. Or best yet! One of my bosses coming in and graciously informing me that once you get a tattoo it isn't easy to get off. That is one of the reasons that I wear hearing protection all the time, it helps drown out the useless advice.
This weekend was really full. Friday night after an 11 hour day of work My brother and I went to the first night of "The Dutch Mason Blues Festival" in Truro. I went to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and was not disappointed by him. For me though the best discovery was a woman named Sue Foley. One of the best blues artists I have heard in a while. I'm currently trying to find some of her music. I also have to say that it was a treat to get to see Charlie A'Court before I head out west. Forgetting earplugs was the worst part of the night. Thankfully most of the ringing has gone from my ears now. Saturday was spent at the wildlife park and watching The Bourne Ultimatum with my brother. I heart Bourne. And he has one wicked kotegaeshi (Aikido reference). Yesterday My brother and I went to see the Buskers festival on the Halifax Waterfront. We didn't find it to be as good as years past, but still great. And today I am back to work on a cabinetry for a "Luxury" condo somewhere downtown Halifax. For someone with so much money the owner has horrible taste. These are the ugliest colours I have had to work with yet. Well not quite as bad as Dark ebony, which I think would be the colour of my hell.
Ahhhhhh The job from hell is finally over. Now I have some time to myself. Biggest news is that in the middle of September I am moving out to the west coast. B.C. Baby. Leaving here will suck ass, but I am excited to live in Vancouver. Should be a blast. I don't have an abundance of stuff so packing shouldn't be so hard. Cleaning my room will be though. The hardest part is going to be saving up the money. In other news my Japanese isn't coming along half bad. Who knew that all it took was not having a japanese girlfriend... Whoa. And with the Japanese population of Vancouver it should only get better. I am sure they will all come to fear me wondering when I will pop out of the shadows and start demanding conversation in Japanese. If that happens I might start wearing a cape, it would add to the mystique.
As usual I seem to be able to talk to old ladies and gay men more freely than most other people. It has been mostly gay men recently though. There seem to be a lot at the gym I go to. It is refreshing though to be able to have an intelligent conversation at the gym. Usually it is just guys talking about muscles and how many heavy metal plates they can stack on top of each other and still lift them. But Friday I had a great talk with a teacher in our school system. Working with tradesmen doesn't exactly fill my need for conversation, though my swear word quota has been surpassed quite handily. I suppose that is one of the biggest reason s that I like going to the gym, I enjoy conversation about anything. Even massive stacks of metal plates. More tattoo happenings to report. I keep getting compliments on it, which make me feel good, and I have been talking to a lot more people because of it. Seems to be a good conversation starter. While I was talking to one lady at the Pizza place I go to (who also got her tattoo's at Utility) about the fact that I now want another one, when an old mad butted in and asked if I was addicted to pain. He didn't seem to want to understand that it didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. Also it has stopped itching. Thank God.
aggravated