Author: Jason Doucette

I finally got my mail. Well, Angela got it from the building office, but hey, my mail. I’ve been looking wistfully through the office window for about a week now, and now it’s all mine. Two nifty boxes from Big Wheel Recreation with stuff from Jimmy Eat World, Jebediah, Jejune and Piebald. Five 7 inch albums – now if only I had a record player… I thought it was getting funny when none of my hardware could read the funky Piebald CD (number 376 of 400!), but it turns out it was upside down, which was funnier since nobody was there to laugh. This almost takes away the pain from my eBay purchase, which also arrived today. I got my new Vectrex game, but it’s not playing very well. Thing is, it could just be the contacts on my console, so it’s not like I can say I was ripped off or anything, any more than I can say that I was rudely awoken by a troupe of performing ninja bears, and I say that all the time.

When I’m really tired and I close my eyes and start to nod off, I get these hallucinations – like I can still see the whole room even though my eyes are closed, and then things start to happen, like people stop by and talk to me, or swamp monsters root through my sock drawer, you know the standard stuff. Everything seems perfectly natural, and then I open my eyes to say something and the room’s empty. Does this happen to anyone else, or is this just an early sign of schizophrenia? Hey, remember how I said I’d migrate the old site stuff over? Remember how I said that on the old site about the old old site stuff? Well, it’s still going… Three new additions to the features section today, all about a year old, but hey, whatever. I’m actually not too proud of some of it, but there were cross links and I’m the king of lazy – remember, broken spine and all. I’ll convert more soon, it’ll be nice to have only one site version to care about.

That Black Hawk Down movie is really getting on my nerves, and I’ve never seen it. Put aside the fact that it’s a war film by Jerry Bruckheimer, and just TRY to ignore the advertising. “Critics everywhere are saying Black Hawk Down is the best film of the year”. 1: If these critics are everywhere, I wish they’d show themselves. The idea of invisible movie critics hovering over my left shoulder really creeps me out. 2: If you call something the “best whatever of the year” and it’s January, you go to jail.

My spine is broken. I’m lying flat on my back enjoying the modern convenience that is a wireless laptop. The sad part is that I think this all started from walking around in snow. I’d make a really sucky Inuit-type guy. Now my back feels like it’s on fire, pretty much 24/7. Apparently this puts me in highly esteemed company, or so I’m told. You know who you are, or at least someone who knows who she is knows who you are. In other news, I managed to drag my wounded butt into work for a while today for the joy that is PC refresh, where the Thrust received a new “developer” configuration desktop, which you will note is not a laptop as requested. Check this out – 20 gig hard drive, partitioned to 7. I’ve thrown a fair chunk of my development tools on, and there’s 2 left, which I can easily fill on Monday. Fortunately el Ted is bringing in the magic that is Partition Magic along for the fun filled ride, and nothing but mayhem shall ensue.

I pass by a Flight Centre (cheap travel agent chain) every day on the way to work, and they’ve got a big sign in the window about how a major national newspaper did a survey and decided that they’re the best place to work for in Canada. That’s cool, great for them. But why, oh why, OH why, did they have to list the top 50? Now I start each work day reflecting on how McDonald’s is a better place to work than my employer is. McDonald’s. Also listed on the “better than here” side is Telus, phone company of the West. I think the reason we lost so many points is because I have to work WITH Telus, which no doubt increases their sense of mirth while crushing my group’s morale. Those are the only two companies that caught my eye, what with my various reasons for spite, but I really should broaden my horizons and look at some of the other companies that are happier places than here. Hey, I think there’s even a few worse places to be, so maybe I’ll find a good one and make it my new get up in the morning slogan – “hey, at least it’s not rat-gut pharmaceuticals” or whatever.

The gym’s been busy this week. I go in the morning before work, and the only reason I can manage to drag my butt in is because it’s around the corner from my home. That makes the number of people that have been there lately surprising, because I’m pretty sure they don’t live with me. I think they need to implement some kind of waiver policy when it’s busy – someone at the door should decide if you need to go in or not. This morning there was a girl on the treadmill in front of me who had visible tendons between her shoulder blades. Not the part by your neck, the stuff in the middle of your back. I didn’t know there were even tendons there, but there aparently are, at least in women, and I didn’t even have my glasses on. People like that reduce the need for medical cadavers – you don’t need to cut them open, just a glance will reveal 90% of human anatomy. Anyway, it was pretty freaky, and halfway through my set she left to be replaced by an unattractive man, so I should revise my “you need to go in” policy to be “I need you to go in”. Yeah.

The cable people called today offering me 2 months of basically-free cable (after the internet discount anyway). I figured sure, why not, might as well, etc, I mean, it’s been something like six years since I had it. I think I need to call tomorrow and cancel the order though. See, a friend of Angela’s was trying out for a Much Music VJ job, and I wrote the cable company to tell them that I’d subscribe if they could call the music station and pull a few strings. I read just this morning that he didn’t get the job. Nice try cable people, but my weakness was temporary.

Just bragging now – Angela and I went to the weekly antique sale down at the market, and I found a Vectrex game system with a Berserk cartridge! This was the first time I’d even seen a Vectrex for sale outside of eBay, and I figured it’d be way out of my range, but I asked anyway, talked the guy down, and I now own a Vectrex! $50, or I guess something like $35 US. I haven’t been actively collecting for years, and I’ve lost touch with everyone I knew who would care about this, so I figure there’s gotta be someone out there who can appreciate what a good mood I’m in. This just in: I was looking for a link to a Vectrex site for this entry, and it looks like people are still writing games! Sweet!

Ok, comments appear to be working now, for reasons unknown, and the archive is 90% going. Next up: a story about a gay dog, probably Thursday. I’ve been thinking about what it would be like to have super powers. Without a bunch of super villains around, I’d probably have to go door to door opening jars for people.

I got a call last night, most likely from a cell phone: Me: Hello? Caller: (background noise) Me: Hello? Caller: Hello? Me: Hello… Caller: Is Mahesh there? Me: Sorry, you’ve got the wrong number. Caller: Who am I calling? Me: You’re calling Mahesh. Caller: Oh – is he there? Me: No.