day in court

appeared in court in Shubenacadie today, to help my ex defend against a speeding ticket she received when i moved to Dartmouth as a result of our separation. we were successful. this has been hanging over my head since May of last year, and i'm so glad it's done. i have completed my responsibilities there: here's to moving on.

thursday night at Gus' Pub

jumped on the bus after work to see the Nymphets and the Maynards. as usual, i was there much too early. so, i sat and nursed my beer, listening to hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s, exchanging text messages with James (who was at the Marquee), and watching people come and go. eventually the Nymphets took the stage - sad to say, i was less than impressed. the night began to get a bit bizarre during their set, though. a tall young man arrived (who I believe to be an exchange student from an African country) and immediately upon coming in the door began waving and speaking to no one in particular. eventually he took to the floor to perform some highly stylized dancing. he was joined by a young woman, which caused her boyfriend/date/male acquaintance to storm out. she then went to the bathroom, and on returning to her table told her friends that "i have to leave, i did something wrong." her friends reassured her, "you didn't do anything wrong", so she went back to dancing. a gentleman who i estimate to be in his 70s got up and gave us a shuffling dance for one song. oh, and he made a valiant effort to win the free drink promised to the best dancer during the Maynards' set. Heath was not as drunk as he was at the Stage Nine gig last week, but drunk enough. Stalker Dave made some comments that indicate he may be gay for Heath. the young exchange student kept berating Heath that he should not be swearing...

sunday night

what happened to everyone for movie night last night? i know it was cold out, but come on! i have to come from Highfield Dark by bus! :)

since there were only three of us (Mike, Cat, me), we ended up watching ABBA videos the whole night - actually very fun. there are some great pop songs there, and it's always enjoyable to sit back and criticize the dress, hairstyles and mannerisms of the 70s. and the costumes! and the accents (which is actually unfair, but they can make fun of mine anytime)! and the nose-picking (it's true)! and the inch-thick coating of vaseline on the lens! and the Bergman visual references! and the apparent cosmetic surgery! and the video effects! and the meaningful, sincere, longing gazes into the camera! and the thigh-high boots! okay, now i've said too much.

on the partially watched movie front, yesterday i watched the last half-hour of The Barbarian Invasions (quite moving, full of dignity and honest feeling), and 10 minutes of A Mighty Wind (the scene in which The Folksmen are horrified to learn that The New Main Street Singers are covering their song "Wandrin'", stealing their opening number - seen this one before, very funny, Mitch and Mickey almost poignant).

errands

off to the mall this morning. i need a microphone for my computer.

congratulations to Death by Nostalgia on the CD release. i have to work tonight, so unfortunately i won't be at the release party. have a good time, everyone - i'll see you at brunch.

something filled up my heart with nothing

most of you probably know that it's been a pretty stressful time for me over the recent weeks. both of the team managers in my department have been out sick, and i've felt like i was carrying the department on my own. the nature of my job has been to try and learn everything on the fly, and it's rare that i feel like i'm on top of things or really know what i'm doing.

today, i created a situation that resulted in my being pulled into the office of the Senior Manager of Operations and dressed down. the repercussions of what happened will probably affect the entire project. the Senior Manager will have to answer to his superiors both internally and on the client side. the result for me is that i was summarily removed from the department i was supervising, and will be demoted to phone work as of Monday.

i want to say thank you to everyone who has provided a listening ear when i've needed to talk. i apologize if i've asked for too much, or leaned too heavily, or complained too annoyingly. you all have helped me, you all sustain me. and i still refuse to be broken.

i had considered going to see The Umbrellas of Cherbourg this evening, but just was not in the headspace to enjoy it. went to see Polanski's The Fearless Vampire Hunters, or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck at Dal after kat mentioned it to me (many thanks!). it was odd, heavy-handed, slapstick, bizarre, absurd and very enjoyable. i think it had something to suit every taste. a suitable antidote to a tough, tough day.

stay tuned. if overwrought hand-wringing is to your taste, you'll find my life a treat. ;)

when you're slapped, you'll take it and like it

just got in from seeing Port of Shadows at the Khyber. really, really good. 1938, had a film noir atmosphere. mike and i agreed that the best scene was when the protagonist, confronted by a "gangster"/poser, doesn't waste a punch but instead slaps the guy four times. the gangster almost starts crying! hilarious.

OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT I'VE NEVER BEEN THIS FAR AWAY FROM HOME

PSA: Kaiser Chiefs are insanely, monstrously, obscenely good. please listen, won't you?

thanks to kat for musical sustenance...

JoeRobot

...is waiting for spring.

which end is up?

i know everyone has nothing better to do than obsess over the minutiae of my life, so i'm sure you've noticed the changes to my schedule off to the right, here. one of the team leaders in my department is off sick for 2 weeks right now, and the other will be out for surgery next week. this means that i *used* to have this coming weekend off. guess i'll have to wait until the following weekend and see what happens. so long, brunch.

it's a bit of a lonely life.

extraction

so, just got back from my consultation with the oral surgeon who will pull two of my wisdom teeth. the surgery is scheduled for March 2 - i'll have to take a couple of days off of work, i guess. it takes 2 - 4 hours to do "the procedure". who knew?

you're gonna make it after all

too soon to say for sure, but everything might turn out all right in the end.

the future and its unrelenting brightness

i've updated my work schedule in the sidebar. the implicit assumption is that i still have a job after monday.

and in closing

went to see Jules et Jim at the Khyber this evening. i've never seen a Truffaut film before, so it was a treat. i liked how it hit the ground running in bringing the viewer up to speed with the characters - "we're going to take 3 or 4 minutes and give you the backstory and then we'll get to the story that we're really interested in". there's a certain utility in that. the narrative seemed to function more as a space within which ideas about men, women, love and relationships could be explored. whether the film was merely descriptive, or meant to prescribe the behaviour of its characters in a general sense, i couldn't tell. the characters describe themselves as "pioneers", trying to "reinvent love". is the ending a tragedy in which the characters are punished for their hubris in pursuing their unorthodox relationships, or are they martyrs to this new vision? personally, i think it's punishment, but then, i'm somewhat conservative in these matters and we see what we want to see...

and how could this day end any better than with a glass of Glenmorangie and the State of the Union?

story so far

the trip to the dentist went relatively well, considering it's been longer than i care to admit since i've seen one. still no cavities! the bad news is that i'm going to have to have a couple of wisdom teeth pulled, since one is completely horizontal in my jaw. apparently this is not the ideal configuration. i guess they'll have to put me under for the surgery - i've only had surgery once before, and it was just a local anaesthetic then, so i'm not sure what i think about the unconsciousness part of the procedure...

went over to Musicstop and listened to a salesman talking to some guys about buying a first acoustic guitar. i decided it was time to leave when i began to see the sense in buying a $500 - 600 guitar to LEARN on. i hate that, when you don't really feel like you know what you're doing, and maybe you should consider yourself privileged to even be allowed into the store, and if you pick the wrong thing everyone is going to roll their eyes or laugh. okay, so that's a bit extreme, but you get the idea.

hoping that the evening shapes up better than the day has...

busy day off

off to a dentist appointment at Mic Mac Mall this morning, then to Musicstop in Halifax to look at guitars, then the Khyber tonight for the Truffaut film, "Jules et Jim". fun!