A Couple Of Turkeys

Last week Thursday Mason walked to my house after work. Took him 2 hours. I told him to enjoy that kind of energy while it lasts.

Anyway I figured we should reward ourselves with a trip to the local art gallery. It was really neat, but some art is extremely overpriced. We looked at fine art, photography, clay, wood sculptures. My favorite was a massive 8ft x 5ft play dough sculpture. Mason accidentally slammed the door on some painters painting what I believe to be a half horse half human figure.

And Mason and I found the coolest arboretum to hang out in. We sat there for like 30 minutes or more just relaxing and chatting it up. It’s like our new hang out spot in Burlington. We talked about how life would be 20 years from now, with wives and children and our own giant arboretum (with big screen tv and snack kitchen).

Mason and Eggbert

Thursday May 18, it’s been about 10 weeks since I’ve seen Mason and Eggbert, a far cry from when I used to see them every day. Since they’ve moved almost 2 years ago I’ve probably seen them 3 times.

Thursday night I decided to take a nice long walk around Brampton, and I used a calling card to call Mason. Him and Eggbert were taking a walk also and I was on speakerphone enjoying their company. We discussed past adventures, and the possibility that they may move to Oakville for school. We walked for about 1.5 hours together.

Saturday the 20th, I worked until about 5pm. Mason and Eggbert arrived around 2pm downtown Toronto, and hung out with Katie (aka Skatie) while waiting for me. They went to the museum and had a lot of fun. I on the other hand was having an awful day. Nothing was going very well and I really needed some rest. At 5 I cut off from work and then prepped the house, doing chores etc. I then prepped the car. Finally at 8pm I was able to leave for downtown to pick them up. I was so tired, and so frustrated from my bad day that I got lost. Mason and Eggbert had to take a taxi to meet me where I was. I finally got meet this Katie girl after like 4 years. We drove her close to her home so she wouldn’t have to take the subway alone. We got lost as usual but it was still fun, because it was among good friends.

Around 11pm we got Katie home, and then we got home around 11:30. We then went to my mom’s to borrow her cooler and then to blockbuster and rented Chicken Little. We then went to A and P to get some food. We watched that while chatting, and my sis came home and we watched some more while chatting. It wasn’t much of a movie, more for children. We all went to bed around 2:30am.

Sunday 21st, We all woke up around 9am, relaxed a bit, went to Denny’s for breakfast, ate some good food till around 10:30, showered and prepped till about 12:30, went to A&P to get picnic supplies in the rain. We were finally on the road at 2pm. LOL. We had a fun drive through Toronto and then through Peterborough where Mason took over the driving. We shared fun stories and took photos and videos. Along the Trans Canada Highway we stopped at an old gas station. I mean super old. Using the bathroom was scary because it was so dirty.

We got into Bancroft around 5:15pm and stopped right at the Chinese restaurant I went to in 1999 when I was a young Christian. As soon as I saw it, dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of sweet, pleasant memories flooded my brain and my body, reminding me about a time when I was young and full of energy and my life was so darn simple compared to today. If I did get that $5 million last year and God asked me to trade it to go back to 99, I would.

C and her sister met us there and we all followed her to her house where we looked at a really nice lake and a graveyard. The lake was on one side, and the graveyard on the other. We took time to enjoy both the lake, and then the graveyard, reading the tombstones. We then ate some good food. We played a great game where you had to pick out instructions from a bowl and do the funny thing instructed. I had to sing a song, and hop up and down while patting my head. We all had to either do something funny or say something funny. C’s sister is hilarious! She said when her brothers make her mad she just sits on their head! Afterward we left to do some sightseeing, and Mason did a terrible thing by sitting to close to a waterfall. We were worried he could get swept up.

Anyway, we left there, came back and had a nice campfire roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. This might have been the high light of the trip. It was good, and I got some great footage on the camcorder of us all around the campfire chatting and having fun.

At 9:30 we decided to head home. We thanked everyone for the good time and gave C hugs. Her mom asked us to please sleep over the night but we couldn’t, we had to go :(

We then left with Mason driving again. It was dark, and about 45 minutes into the drive we almost hit a doe. We slowed down and shooed it off the road with the car. This was important because there were other cars on the road also and we didn’t want it or anyone getting hurt.

The drive was fun, we had some good laughs and good conversations, a few arguments. My sister and I can’t talk about politics AT ALL or it WILL start a fight, even if we are in agreement. Anyway, we kept driving, and we got lost as usual. We pulled home around 1:30am and watched some TV, and went to sleep.

Monday morning at 9:30 we let sis sleep in (we later learned she didn’t want us to) and we left for downtown Toronto. We got lost and ended up in Scarborough but quickly found our way to the station. We ate some hotdogs and McDonald’s.

At the bus station a little girl, around 8 years old was alone with all her bags. Here dad had left her in the bus line alone to get a hot dog. She was noticeably upset so I helped her take her bags to the bus and kept her company while her dad was away. Mason and Eggbert were on their way home and then after the little girl’s dad came back and they left on their trip.

I drove home and just relaxed for the rest of the day. I realized how important it is for me to have these relaxing times. And I need to do them more often and not feel guilty that I’m relaxing. It’s because I can rest and relax that I can do so much when I’m doing so much, you know?

Ottawa Adventures 1

I’ve never done anything like this before, or maybe my whole life has been like this, I’m not sure – On August 17 on a whim, I picked up and moved. I left most of my furniture (which has been given away to different families who need it). The truth is I’m burned out. I’ve pushed myself very hard for a number of years. Working more than full time, at church every day, and in school full time. This wasn’t sustainable and I knew it. Or at least I know it now.

I’ve tried talking to everyone in my life and telling people to back off and give me some rest, but it’s not possible. Friends and family show up at my house at all hours wanting to hang out, wanting me to help them, and I’m hoping for someone to help me. I go to the Westwood Mall to get my groceries and 2, 3, 4 people who know me want to stop and chat for an hour meanwhile I have 3 assignments due the same night and I’m due to volunteer at the foodbank for a few hours as well.

So I’m living in Ottawa for a while, just a few months while I rest and get refreshed. I’m going through a really tough financial time right now as well so this is poor timing on my part, giving way too much money away, and not saving enough for myself. This fact has caused a lot of stress for my family as well. When you give $X to someone in need, as quietly as you do it, someone else finds out, then someone else, then someone else. Eventually the people who aren’t in need find out, and that’s where the trouble really starts. Money has the power to change peoples minds, to control it. Money can make a person think one thing or the other. Enough money, can even change the human heart (always for the worst). And so I’ve given away a fortune.

There is a food place on Carling Avenue that doesn’t have a name, just a sign on the window that says “Eat for a dollar”. It’s very popular and I’m there often, eating for $1 (tax included).