Two things...

And both are absolutely true!

1. You know Betty freaking Crocker? Well, her husband is a guest right now at the lodge. Theres 19 guests in total and Mr. Crocker is one of 'em. Who knew I would ever be cooking Breakfast, Lunch and Supper 8 days in a row for Betty Crocker's love machine. weirdness.
2. An airplane crashed today!! It was a float plane that was taking off...got a few feet in the air and then all of a sudden it started wobbling back and forth, a wing clipped the water and tumbled the sucker once around and then down. Luckily the pilot wasn't hurt, and even all the cargo that it was carrying was salvageable from the lake.

Allo allo!

I'm still here.

I'm tired...I'm sore...but I am about as happy as a fat kid on a smartie!

Torte Girl and I are getting worked to the bone. My day starts at 5 in the morning and finishes off somewhere around 9:30-10:00 at night. There's a 3 hour break in the afternoon as well. This is every single day...no day off.

Tough going, but the people here are my kind of people. Down to earth, good folk for the most part. And the location. My oh my! Location, location, location. I'm in the middle of freaking nowhere and this camp is pretty freaking nice! I'm going to be updating my flickr account on a regular basis, so if your interested in pictures give a click on the link in the right hand sidebar.

I dont really have much of anything else to say, I'm tired and right now would rather be sleeping but I thought I should jump on here and wish everyone well. Hope good things are coming your way and I will see you peeps when I see you, which hopefully will be a bit more frequently now that I am starting to fall into routine.

My new backyard...!!!

I'm there.

More to follow after I have some sleep.

...

I really need sleep.

...

But! YAY!!
.
.
.
.

*edit*
And no more air mattress!!
*edit*

Stargate: Continuum teaser.

Sapporoooooooooooo....!

Horrible is the best word to describe thing's right now. All kinds of terrible. It's not that there is anything really wrong, but at the same time nothing is really right either.

It just all feels very bleak right now.

This slight interruption in my departure date to the fishing lodge has really thrown me for a loop. I'm at odds with what to do with myself pretty much around the clock. It rained the entire day today as well, so I was more or less forced indoors.

I'm down to two packs of Sapporo Ichiban noodles, three boxes of Mac & Cheese and four spicy smokie sausage type thinges. I couldn't even afford the expensive Macaroni. Had to get the cheap no name crap. :P
Anyways, gonna be tight, I still have a minimum of 3 days to go...prolly more like 4-5. Hopefully I can mooch a meal off a friend somewhere along the line.

My head is a swirl with plans for the fall and slowly but surely trying to rough out some sort of action plan from where exactly I am gonna go when I am done with the fishing gig. Things with the Torte Girl are lopsided at best. I don't even wanna go there or think about my situation with her until I am out north. Some things are best left until the time is absolutely right, and I honestly wonder now if we have gone to far to ever rekindle any kind of romance between the two of us again. Gods know I want to...but I don't know now...everything is just so...skewed.

Vexille.

It's all kinds of bad ass!!

~Website~

Seriously, I really enjoyed this. The animation was bang on, and the story was strong enough to keep me caring all the way through. What a pleasant surprise this one was.

Outlander.

"Outlander is a motion picture about a humanoid alien that crash-lands his space ship on earth in the eighth century in what would now be Norway. If that wasn’t bad enough, there is also a monster on his spaceship that starts terrorizing a nearby viking tribe. Eventually the the alien has to team up with the vikings to try and kill the monster. The movie has at times been described like a cross between braveheart, highlander, and predator. It fuses science fiction elements with a period action drama."

>>Linky<<

GAH!

So, I'm not leaving.

...

Tomorrow that is. Which is when we were supposed to leave. Which is why I have planned and executed everything so perfectly up to this moment.

Now I'm told (the freaking day before lift-off) that it wont be until somewhere between June 13th-17th.

I have 60 dollars to my name...I'm sleeping on a freaking air mattress...and I am angry as hell.

But at the same time I am loving it. Its the surprises, the pitfalls, the challenges, that I have always been most eager to encounter on my grand master scheme.

Here's to hoping that the dude who is letting me crash at his place is OK with me staying a wee bit longer.

60 bucks! ARGHHHHH.

Now what?

Send soup please.

My new home...

For the next few days...

Not gonna lie...I hate sleeping on air mattress type thingies...

Still, it beats sleeping on the street.

Oy...!

Hectic couple of days. I can feel it all catching up to me.

Helped some friends move the other day. They were roommates splitting apart and going into they're own places (amicably). Some of you will know one of them as Johnny Swift from the T.B. forums.

I'm not gonna lie...moving a BIG ASS full sized sofa up nine flights of stairs as narrow as Satan's ass crack is not an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. Two days later and I'm still feeling it.

Getting old I guess.

Tonight could very well be my last sleep here in this apartment of mine. Not to sure, might still crash here tomorrow evening as well. I'm all set for moving tomorrow, I'm very surprised how condensed I made my life...in fact check it out! The below picture shows you how stripped of everything I am now.

Thats my life right there. EVERYTHING else is gone. Those big Rubber Maid bins you see in the picture are all books. Theres 9 of 'em in total and they will be safely stored at a friends house as I gallivant around.

It really struck me tonight as I puttered around packing and cleaning up stuff, I have completely sabotaged my life. I took all the security and creature comforts I had and chucked them away. I have no safety net, and theres no direction to go but forward. I have officially stepped out of my safe, secure little bubble.

I had no choice though. Ya gotta stretch a little if you want to grow, and as extreme as it is, kissing my entire familiar existence goodbye feels hell-a-good!

So thats that. This is the last blog post from my own place...I have no idea how often or how little my blogging will be for the next week or so. I touch soil at the lodge late on the 6th of June...I'm sure I will be around before then, but in case not, you can be looking for me sometime around then at the latest.

Unless of course they don't have their wireless set up there right when we get there.

But that would be silly. How can anyone live without the internets...?

Nobody home.

I got rid of all my furniture today...including the TV & sound system.

Its weird having the place so empty. Just have a table and my bed left now.

doo-bee-doo.

I guess its really happening.

I'm outta this apartment sometime this weekend, crash at a friends pad down the street for a week and then I'm off.

Basically I'm past the point of return. No looking back, I've gone to far now.

More 2008 jams...

A week after making this blog entry, here, I find myself suddenly overwhelmed by another onslaught of some TOP NOTCH releases.

I dare not leave them unmentioned. They are that good.

• The Dandy Warhols - Earth To The Dandy Warhols.
• Ladytron - Velocifero.
• Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea.
• Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer.

I'm not sure of actual release dates on any of these beyond the fact that it is in 2008, but holy cow man...some GREAT music so far this year! I'm particularly digging the hell out of the new Wolf Parade album, but really I cant complain to much over any of these releases.

He leaves behind some wonderful tales.

Robert Asprin (1946-2008)

"On May 22, 2008, Bob passed away quietly in his home in
New Orleans, LA. He had been in good spirits and working
on several new projects, and was set to be the Guest of Honor
at a major science fiction convention that very weekend.
He is survived by his mother, his sister, his daughter and his
son, and his cat, Princess, not to mention countless friends and fans and numerous legendary fictional characters.

He will be greatly missed."

~LINKY

Fond memories I have of the Myth books. Sad that those tales have now come to an end. Thank you Robert for sharing your imagination.

My new belt buckle.

I've been on the lookout for a 'Canadian' belt buckle. A maple leaf, beaver, flag...something that was Canadian anyways. I wanted it for when I go overseas.

Problem was everything that I found was to gaudy...or ugly...or something. Just to over the top I guess. I wanted something simple.

I dunno...the buckles choose you, you don't choose the buckles.

Anyways, just randomly stumbled across this one...and I have to say I'm pretty happy. Its subtle, but there ya have it, its definitely Canadian.

I only have three buckles now...but I want lots. Its going to be my new...thing, I always meant to amass a large buckle collection...but like I said, they choose you.

So far I think the bloody buckles have been far to choosy.

Nanook of the north...and the books that he took.

So, I've really been trying to put a lot of thought into my book situation for when I go up north. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty terrified of the situation.

Thing is, I don't know how much free time - or how little free time I am going to have. What happens if I end up having loads of time free and I burn through the books I brought with me? What if I end up facing the better part of four months with no book by my side? What if, what if, what if!!!

Am I really dedicating a whole back pack just for books?

Am I crazy?

...

Don't answer that.

I'm excited though! Heres what I have.

All three of Joe Abercrombie's First Law books. They are, The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and, Last Argument Of Kings. If you haven't heard of these books...then for shame. Apparently they are a nice gritty, fast, in your face, stomping tear up, thrown at you like a fist in the gut. All 3 books are in TPB style and average on 500 pages each.

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson. Its a stand alone cyber punk story that had heaps of praise thrown at it when it was first released. I've always meant to get to it, and plan on using it as a spring board to read Stephenson's work for the first time. This book is also TPB style and runs 470 pages.

The Fionavar Tapestry collection by, Guy Gavriel Kay. The omnibus includes all three novels, The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire and, The Darkest Road. Another set of books I have always meant to read but never got around to. You can see that I am putting my time to good use, its a great opportunity to play catch up. The omnibus collection runs 774 pages, and it too is in TPB style.

I also have a book called, Survive. Its a short story collection of cannibals and castaways. Its basically centered around humans in terrifying, extenuating circumstances. It runs 300 pages.

I also have the first two of the Malazan books by, Steven Erikson. I've tried to read this series before, and on all attempts I failed. I'm determined to get a grip on them because I know when I do I will love them. I'll probably buy one or two more of the series before I set off. Theres a good 6-7 of em (give or take) and they are in paperback so thats nice and cheap...and the books are freaking huge for paperback releases so thats good. All the books pretty much average on 700-900 pages a pop so thats pretty good.

Also I have yet to read (or get) Scott Lynch's 2nd book in the Gentlemen Bastard series, Red Seas Under Red Skies. The first book was phenomenal and I'm super eager to read this one. It's in Hardcover though, which makes it more expensive, and more bulky to take with me.

Another hardcover that I want is, Iron Angel by, Alan Campbell. Its the second book in the Deepgate Codex series, and if its anything like the first book, Scar Night, then hell yes, I'd love seconds please.

These two are up in the air though. I wanna buy em and take em with...I'm really excited to dig into em...its just cost and room.

To many books...to little time.

Am I being silly? Do I have enough? Do I even need those last two hardcovers I mentioned? Can I have books mailed to me out there? What books of these I emtioned have you read? Get me excited for them...tantalize me...

The Graveyard Book.

"Hear this tragic tale: a sleeping family, a talented murderer, and an adventurous toddler — orphaned, but not assassinated. Small and alone, by accident and luck he escapes the scene of the crime and climbs a grassy hill to safety. At the top of the hill the boy finds a fence, and on the other side, a dark, quiet place.

And what is to become of him"

Its Neil Gaiman. Need I say more?

~Website~

And now...

I walk to the hospital for the very last time.
Picking up my final paycheck and getting the last of my remaining holiday pay.
Goodbye walking to the hospital every day at 6 in the morn.

...

WA-HOOOOOOOOOOO!

Iron Sky.

In 1945 the Nazis fled to the moon. In 2018 they are coming back.

~Linky~

Survey says...

I am happy to report that after last nights viewing of the latest Indy flick, I am in no way disappointed. In fact, I feel that I have now come to the conclusion that I enjoyed it even more then I thought I would.

Indiana Jones is pretty important to me. To say that I grew up loving this franchise would be an understatement. Its safe to say that for a number of those very young (but very influential) years I subsided entirely on three things. Indiana Jones, G.I. Joe and Star Wars. Somewhere in there comic books and Sci-fi/fantasy novels came into play and I could start ranting off on a whole other tangent, but we'll save that for another day.

Suffice to say, I was pretty nervous going into this film. With the let down of the last three Star Wars movies I wasn't all to sure if I would be able to handle another bastardization of what was surly holy scriptures from my youth.

*Slight spoiler ahead*

There were times where I wasn't all to sure about what I was watching, there were times when things seemed just a little over the top on the slapstick. The part with Indy and Marion in the quick sand and Mutt hurling a giant snake at Indy to use as a rope for escape...meh...just didn't feel that part. Mutt getting sacked in the nuts as he straddles two army vehicles careening through the jungle...another part that I felt myself wince, and lets not forget Indy surviving a nuclear explosion by hiding in a lead lined refrigerator.

*Major Spoiler ahead*

I just don't know how I feel about the aliens.

Now I knew full well ahead of time that things revolved on an alien society...I was preparing myself for that, and held tight to the belief that Lucas, Ford, and Spielberg knew what they were doing. However as I watched it unfold, I still couldn't entirely wrap my head around the fact that Indiana Jones was facing off against an alien race. Or helping them...or whatever. Gimme Nazis, gimme brutish Thugee cult followers, gimme mad crazy Pigmy's...but leave my aliens to people like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Still, if there has to be aliens (sighs) then I have to say that they pulled it off the way that it had to be pulled off. Ford felt like Indiana, the movie felt like an Indiana movie, and really thats all that I cared about.

I'm going to go see it one more time before I head up north (and seclude myself from any of the new movies coming out this summer *grumbles*) and maybe then I will have something a bit more structured to say in regards to this long anticipated adventure.

Batman Gotham Knight trailer hits...

And its pretty bad ass!