Fracture
(Bob Marley - Turn Your Lights Down Low)

So I'm back from Jamaica. I haven't had a chance to gather the pictures and put together any fancy slideshows yet but I will tell you that I did have a good time, for the most part. I did have a sad moment on the last day of the trip that sort of bummed me out. While the gang went to the beach for the last time to frolic in the water, I decided to lay under the big Jamaican apple tree and read in the hammock. While reading Coupland's latest book The Gum Thief, I came across a passage where one of the main characters expressed his belief that at a certain age, people no longer wanted to be themselves. They wanted to escape and be anyone else but themselves. It's a common daydream of a lot of people; myself included. But this topic just reminded me of how lately I've felt like I've lost touch with a lot of my close friends. That somehow, the person that I am, or have become, isn't in line with the people they've become.

As we get older, it seems to me that the large diverse group of friends start to fracture into smaller collectives. Each collective having a solid base of commonalities. Whether they've recently started a family and share experiences in raising newly born kids, are going through new home ownership and renovation projects, or if they're still single and fighting off the waves of peer pressure to settle down -- there is some sort of common ground. As I look at some of these collectives, I can't say I feel like I fit in anywhere.

It's a lonely feeling.

I feel like I'm constantly trying to keep these friendships alive. Trying to keep the larger diverse group from diverging. As a larger group, I can relate to everyone. As more succinct entities, I seem out of place.

The irony is, the more I think about it, the more apparent it becomes that my constant need to organize group events for my friends is to stave off my own insecurities of slowly fading away from these peoples lives. And yet in the end, this group trip to Jamaica did nothing but remind me of this.

I sometimes wonder if I stopped caring, if all the friendships I've worked to maintain over the years would just wither up and fade away.

Blind Date
(Feist - My Moon My Man)

Mundane thought of the day...

If you're an ugly guy with no money, you should find out where all the hot blind chics hang out.

So I started googling for "places blind people hang out". This was one of the links that was returned...

Blind Golf

I've seen people hit with golf balls on regular sighted courses. What do you think the chances of getting hit on this course are? And what are you suppose to do when someone yells FORRRE? Roll up into a little ball and pray for the best? This is just a recipe for disaster.

That being said, I bet you'd find some really hot chics here.

Yes I'm going to hell.

I'm feeling fine!
(Maroon 5 - Won't Go Home Without You)

I started walking to work recently. My company office moved closer to my condo and the walk is about 1.6 km each way. I have always hated walking. Walking anywhere seems slow and tedious. I can’t seem to get over the fact that I’m wasting minutes of my life just getting from point A to point B. I think that says a little about my personality in general. I don’t typically stop to smell the roses on any journey. My journey is all about getting to the destination. I realize this has to be a shortcoming of mine or at the very least a failure in my upbringing. Yes, I blame my parents.

I’m looking to change though. I think these extended walks have at least given me some quiet time to contemplate/plot revenge on the world. I find with the daily rigors of life, there isn’t much time to do that. Which by default means that the people who are actually plotting in the world, don’t have lives.

I still don’t really stop to smell the roses. There aren’t many roses on the way to work, both figuratively and literally, just a lot of litter, traffic and smog. I wish people would stop chucking garbage out their car window. Biggest. Pet Peeve. Ever. Just do what I do, chuck it under the seat in your car and wait for the smell to remind you later to throw it out.

All that aside, I’m feeling good about this small change I’ve made in my life. Watch out world, there are more changes to come!

I've got the vacation Jones
(DCFC - Movie Script Ending)

I just made this video yesterday...but I've watched it about 10 times already. It just brings a smile to my face remembering the good times.

These are clips from a friend's wedding in Hawaii last year.

I'm headed to Jamaica in 2 weeks with some friends...hopefully we can create some memorable moments like these.

Don't Call It a Comeback
(Jonathan Coulton - Re: Your Brains)

Hello World!

Don't call this a comeback because I'm not sure how long I can keep this up but the gf asked me to revive this blog because she feels like it's some sort of a healthy medium for me to release some of my passive aggression and pent up anger. She also thinks that it shows a softer, deeper side of me that I don't typically show to people.

The question though is, do people in their early 30's really care to meet new people? I'm finding that the older we get, the more we shy away from introducing new people to our close circle of friends. The only exception being new significant others. Which leads me to a new rule I recently came up with for some of the guys in my group.

When you're actively pursuing a girl, you can introduce them to the group but please do not make a habit of bringing them out with the group until you've sealed the deal. Why you ask? Well if the girl becomes a regular at the social events and somehow, you fail in your pursuit, it makes things less awkward when we start avoiding her and not including her in our social festivities.

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So I just got back from a weekend in Montreal for a friend's bachelor party. Without giving any names of the friends or posting pictures of the events, I think I can go into a little bit of the weekend without incriminating anyone in particular. Besides, who reads this blog anyhow?

So here are a few things I observed from this trip...

1) Strippers are apparently more conscious these days about being sanitary. They actually use hand sanitizer before giving lap dances. The question I have is, what about the rest of their body?

2) When you're drunk, your first instincts are probably a bit off. For example, when a stripper is rubbing clear liquid on her hands, it's probably not lubricant.

3) Paris Hilton has a surprisingly large fan base of teenage girls. What exactly are they looking up to? Is it her credible singing career? Is it her credible work on camera? Someone explain this to me.

4) Driving around Montreal with your window down and blaring old 80's tunes is surprisingly fun.

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If you're my age, you probably missed most of the crazy internet lingo kids have been creating these days. But if you're interested in keeping up with what's hip and happening online, you can definitely catch up with these websites.

www.lolcats.com
www.lolcode.com

I try to learn one or two new things every week and then completely abuse it with all my friends and coworkers.

Like Rickrolling. I learned about this 2 weeks ago and turned into a Rickrolling machine!

If you're unfamiliar, the art of Rickrolling involves posting a misleading link with a subject that promises to be exciting or interesting, e.g. "World of Starcraft in-game footage!" or "Paris Hilton naked again!" but actually turns out to be the video for Rick Astley's debut single, "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Paris Hilton naked again!

My favourite part is at 2:07 when the black guy jumps on the fence. That's a dance move that only the 80's could invent.

In addition to Rickrolling, I've also added a few new internet words to my vocabulary.

PWN (verb)

An act of dominating an opponent.
e.g. "Oh snap, you got pwned!!" or "I totally pwn your ass in scrabble!"


FTW
"For The Win."

An enthusiastic emphasis to the end of a comment, message, or post. Sometimes genuine, but often sarcastic. Originated from the game show Hollywood Squares where the result of the player's response is expected to win the game.
e.g. "Jabbawockeez FTW!!!" or "Egg McMuffins FTW!!!"

r0x0r

Rocks, very good. Used in place of "that guy rocks".
e.g. "omg he r0x0r!!"

and similarily...

suX0r

Describes something that sucks.
e.g. "this blog srsly sux0r."

And with that...I'm going to bed!