a trick?

MUCH to my disbelief last night I was let in on a little secret that left me scrambling... I didn't believe it at all... In fact... I spend a better part of the conversation trying to figure out if it was a hoax....
But it was true.
So that means....
that though it will be late in it's arrival, I'll have a date for Manda's wedding next week.


Dalton's coming home for reading week.

(I'm SO excited!)

Big

With the wind there comes a change....
or restlessness?
Please pray, I've got some fairly large things to deal with right now. Thanks Ninjas.


In other news:: speaking of "Big" that's a movie I haven't seen in awhile. I'd be up for a viewing if you were....

Also, speaking of "Big" there's the big farewell to be done as we bid ado to the ladies... Two weeks today.

Also speaking of "Big" there's a big ol'wedding taking place next Friday... That would be... ONE week from today.

Popeye would be crying

My spinach woes::

Last night we got together to celebrate the engagement of Amberly and Steve at Caseys. Ams and I did quite a bit of reminiscing... The day we all first met, it was just a year ago. Strange.
That time in the Bean- Manda and I were out for our daily mug, T.Lam walked in with Ams, Then VanDan showed up with Dolly and Steve. It was funny because we'd never all hung out before... We just all showed up at the same place at the same time. Who would have known then......

But that's all besides the point. The point is, Caseys is NOT serving their spinach salad due to the E.Co scare and I am devastated.

the hand off

Out for my walk today, I could have sworn it was the end of June and not the beginning of October.

Some sights stain your mind.

I was walking past a coffee shop when I noticed this guy at his car. Most people don't go to their trunk when they get out at a coffee shop, so he sort of caught my attention. He grabbed a small carry-all bag, navy blue, and shut the trunk. This little guy around 5 or 6 jumped out of the car and met him at the back. The man (presumably little guy's dad) passes him the bag and crouches down. He's down on his knees and he wraps his arms around the little guy in a great big embrace. Not a hug... More, a "hang on for all you're worth". It lasts a little longer than your typical father/son embrace. The man is POURING his love on his child.
As it's happening, I know instinctively what's going to happen next.
The man straightens up and the child peers up at him... Both of them are so in love. Then the little guy looks around his dad and spies what they are there for, he throws his arms up, bag banging against his elbow as he runs to a woman, she's walking toward him, cell phone to ear, cigarette in the other hand. She greets him with half a hug, still talking on the phone, I worry about the cigarette by his little head. She doesn't even acknowledge the man who's just delivered this precious little guy to her, she turns him as he tries to wave and she walks back to the picnic table, still smoking, still on the phone.
They sit down and she's still not speaking to him.
I don't know the full story.
But I cried while I watched the short form.
Happy Thanksgiving.

drummy drummy drum drum

a collection of emails::

Subject: Chicken?I think not!
to those of you who thought "hey, i'm kinda hungry...maybe i'll go get something to eat..."
... IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!! at 6:22
(my clock said: "beep beep....beep beep....beep beep") there was an earthquake in Hunger-bay...... good thing I didn't confuse chinese food with the cat under my bed......
your try-some-chickenballs friend
mark

Subject: A lady? I think not!
to those of you who thought I was a lady...
IT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE!!!!! at 6:22
(my clock said 6:32.... but mine's 10 mins slow!) there was an earthquake on the Thundermug...... good thing I didn't confuse the earth shaking with the lady under my bed...... your trumpet friend
mark

Subject: Lazy? I think not!
to those of you who thought I was Lazy...
IT WAS A milkshAKE!!!!! at 6:22
(my clock said 6:32.... but mine's 10 mins fast!) there was an milkshake in Thunderbay...... good thing I didn't confuse a milk shake with the cat under my bed......
your triumphant friend
Mark




Sometimes in your life, a person makes such an impact in your life, that you hang on to the most ridiculous things. Sometimes a person shapes you in such a way that years later, you can't imagine who you would be now if you hadn't known them before. Sometimes you are so influenced by a person, that you lose your train of thought while you are holding a microphone when they walk into the room.
Sometimes you just aren't brave enough to tell them what they've done for you.
grandpa train, it was good to see you again.

Reflections

fall seems to be a time of reflection.
or at the very least, fall seems to bring reflection to me.
everything around me causes me to pause and look again. the colours standing against the graying sky, the geese drifting to a halt on the fields bare of their crops.
blankets of fog. not just blankets, heavy down comforters of fog, enveloping me.
this morning I drove up to peterborough, and the fog was whisping and swirling around. I had a 15-20 foot envelope of visibility to work in most of the time, like a large parachute of vision pulled tight to the ground by a dozen school children. sometimes the chute was lifted and I could see a little farther, and sometimes for the briefest of moments, the air left the chute and fell to the ground as I hit a thick wall of mist, seeing nothing but the hood of my car.
at one point a single sun beam broke thru the clouds above, and I saw for the first time a rainbow inside the mist. It was amazing, it flickered like a candle, swept across the trees beside me and then lit them on fire with colour. orange became ORANGE, reds became RED and the green dripped with the deepest hues I'd ever seen.
amazing.

house

The other night was house group.
I LOVE house. It's great, small group stuff for the teens at a church in town that I help with, each week we get together for a few hours of ridiculous fun games, and some serious chat time. We've only been going for a few weeks so far this year, and it's been neat to see where these kid's hearts are.
ANYWAY
part of the House experience is a service project out in the community once every 4 weeks (I think.. maybe it's less often?) So the other night we had our first. We combined the two groups and hit the town for a food drive that covered most of the town. It was advertised on the radio all day, and people were talking about it around town... here's the thing...
These teens were doing something to help others.
They were taking time to help others.
They were using normal teen time that would have been used for homework or hanging out with their friends to serve others in need.
We went door to door, and I COULD NOT believe the number of people out there who closed the door.
We'd give our speal, "we're from.... and we are doing a thanksgiving food drive to help out our local food bank.... would you have..."
and people would either close the door, or if we were lucky, they'd say "not at this time".

a box of Kraft Dinner guys... that's all we want!
I was really surprised at the fact that at the Thanksgiving season, people weren't willing to share what they had, even when we made it easy for them by coming to their home... I know most people say they don't help out because they don't have the time.... but seriously! All in all I was dissapointed in my town. I'm a little frustrated still.

stolen pic

Lantern Festival
Originally uploaded by vario in da haus.

So, I did go to the lantern festival, and I did take many pictures.... the thing I didn't do was get a copy of any of those pictures. OK by me, turns out I'm a lousy photographer, and most of them were blurry. I think the ones T.Lam posted at his site were shots he took.
Anyway, I've procured this photo from flickr, and it's all lights and colours, and basicly that's what the evening was... lights and colours and lights and colours.. it was beautiful.
Going in a large group isn't so much advised. It's dark. It's crowded. go on a date instead.
I'm excited to go again next year, I'll be sure to go a little earlier in the evening to really take things in.

passport to a new land

so what do my hand and my passport have in common this week?
They're both covered in stamps letting me into cool places...

Thus far, the Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place, and the Toronto Zoo.

I love the zoo.

gross

the only thing worse than having mice in your apartment, is having one with it's head split open in your trap.