Breaking the silence

I saw a tumbleweed roll by my screen when I visited the blog tonight, so I figured it was a sign that I should post something.

What's new in my life...well, maybe I'll make a list of things and then write a blurb about each one.

1. Pearl Jam
2. My house
3. My job as a nark
4. My job as a.....snark......
5. The Blue Jays
6. X-Men 3
7. The Da Vinci Code movie
8. 2 minute rice
9. The weather and the lack of air conditioning
10. Music
11. Alfred Hitchcock
12. Assorted matters

It took me about ten minutes to think of 'assorted matters' because I really can't think of what else is going on in my life.

1. I went to two Pearl Jam shows at the beginning of May (9th and 10th). I bought their new album a week earlier and listened to it about fifteen times in seven days. I've listened to it at least 20+ times since then...a few songs I've listened to a good 30 times. Such a great album. Nothing spectacular, but just solid music the whole way through. They took sounds from each of their albums and incorporated them throughout the album. Anyhoo, the two shows were fantastic, although the second night was much better. They played a song called State of Love and Trust (my all-time second favourite song...yeah, I have lists for everything) and, when I realized what they were playing, I absolutely flipped out and totally rocked out for the full four minutes. I've always wanted to hear Breath (my favourite song), but they didn't play it and haven't at all this tour. SOLATrust is from the same soundtrack as Breath so at least I got a fix of that album. I was sitting next to a woman who must have been in her fifties and she was dancing along to all of the songs and has clearly been a PJ fan since 1992. It was pretty cool to see something that age get so into the songs. When they played Black I could see her kind of tilt her head back, close her eyes, and sing along. Good stuff. I'm sure she wasn't to pleased with me singing at the top of my lungs for the whole 2+ hours! The merchandise kicked ass, but the prices did not. $88 for a hooded sweater that was actually the coolest sweater I have laid eyes on. In conclusion, Pearl Jam has been rocking my ears for just over a month.

2. Holy crap there's so much work still to be done on my house. I've been rearranging rooms multiple times, unpacking boxes, moving boxes, throwing out boxes, dropping boxes, gardening, and moving boxes. Our bathroom should be finished by the end of the week; our kitchen should be done by August; and the front of our house should be done within a month or so. I'm going to stop there because just thinking about what needs to be done is getting my flustered.

3. My job as a nark...so basically I've been following a guy named Mark around his office and marking down everything he does with a palm pilot. Picture those 'Hands in my pocket' ads and that's me, only replace 'Hands in my pocket' with 'Dave with a palm pilot'. If you haven't seen those ads, just laugh anyway...it's funny. Mark works for a company (TCCAC) who provides services and placements for people who have been discharged from hospital and need services (walkers, nurses, therapy, special baths, etc.) or people who need placement in nursing/retirement homes. Mark assesses the clients at their houses and then decides if they qualify for what they request. Some of the client's we visited had the saddest stories and some were in high spirits. It makes for a very bi-polar day. I don't know how Mark handles talking to some of these people. I'm talking about very very sick, elderly people who are just down in the dumps. Anyhoo, the purpose of my job is to mark down the length of every process: how long it takes to download client info, walk to get their chart, walk back, make notes, fill out the necessary forms, and email the info to the assistant. Tedious job, but it pays and that's all that matters. Camp starts in 24 days :) Oh, funny side-note...I listen to music on random and when I got off the subway to go to work, Don't Stop Believing by Journey began the moment my foot hit the ground...if you can hear the beginning of that song in your head you can see how it would sound funny while walking. At least I found it freaking funny.

4. Snark isn't even a word.

5. The Blue Jays...even though we lost today, they keep me very happy. I f'n love this team. That's all I'll say.

6. X-Men 3: WTF'nF?! (spoilers follow so don't read if you're going to see the movie) There was no point to this movie other than to bring Beast to the big screen and to show Magneto start to regain his powers at the end so they can make a Magneto movie. The best part of the night was when Adam and I saw Natalie Portman at the Chapters next to the theatre and followed her up two escalators so we could be in her presence :) Stalkers 'R Us.

...I took a long break to play cards with my mom and now I am le tired so I'll finish this up tomorrow.

Dave