BONK!

yesterday when i was playing pickup hockey, i was skating towards a guy to forecheck him. he shot the puck but it was on end, and it was right at my head. i'm not a fast skater, but i was skating right into it when it hit. i wear a helmet and full facemask, but the force of the puck stunned me for a second.... more so than my usual catatonic state...

i wobbled to the bench and sat down for a couple of minutes. this happened right at the end of our hour of hockey, so i didn't play again. i went home, worked for a while, and was fine, save for a slight headache. then i sat down to write in my journal - not this one, but my hand-written one. and i found i had all these deep, profound thoughts (compared to the usual mindless drivel i spew normally). I wrote a few pages out wondered where it all came from.

then i remembered the puck to the head, and i thought about head injuries. I see the brain as a complex set of connections between the many brain cells we have. and i always thought that when we bonk our head, we sever some of those connections and this leads to memory loss or whatever. but maybe sometimes such a blow to the head creates new connections up in the old noggin and we somehow open new channels of thought.

i'm going to find a puck, and grab my helmet........

all this talk of music.

the mixed tape has always fascinated me (in this day and age, it seems more appropriate to talk about the mixed CD...). what songs do you put on the mix to make the ideal medly of songs. it depends on the audience. is it a friend? a relative? someone you don't know? or is it for yourself?

i've grabbed all of my CDs onto my hard drive now. nearly 5000 songs. And iTunes allows me to create play lists. so i've made a few. one list, i call my ultimate list. songs i never tire of hearing. included on this playlist are the weakerthans left and leaving, none of the above, psalm. also appearing, rheos, the hip, C&K among others.

i've also created a mellow rock list. and a retro list.

it's kinda cool because it keeps track of which songs you've played the most. i could spend hours putting together different play lists. i probably will....

keep listening.

s

what is important to you?

is it...

- a big house?
- a fast car?
- the latest technological toys?
- to be the best at whatever you do?
- a good night's sleep?
- being surrounded by people who adore you?
- peace and quiet?
- saving the environment?
- making sure people like you?
- sleeping in?
- travelling?
- getting your body in shape?
- being knowledgeable in current events?
- having your points of view heard?
- independence?
- proving yourself?
- a roof over your head?
- learning new things?
- your dreams?
- fitting in?
- being different?
- making contact?
- finding people who understand you?
- reading?

.... i'm just asking...

library of intimacy

last night i had the most interesting dream. i was in a university library, wandering around from floor to floor. i was in the basement, just wandering, then i went upstairs to some other floor. then, for some reason i went back to the basement. i passed a small, dark room, and near the door, i saw, on a shelf, a photo album with photographs of my dad when he was in his 20s or 30s. so i stopped and walked into the poorly lit room. my older brother sat on a wooden chair and smiled at me, like he was expecting me. he proceeded to show me the shelves full of photo albums and scrapbooks from him, my parents and my sister. they all gave these books to the library. i remember thinking that they were giving up such personal things for the general public to be viewing. i then pulled off a scrapbook of a woman i didn't know. in it, she had diary pages with forms she had to fill out for her driver's test. there were two sets of forms, which implied that she failed her test the first time. i didn't read her hand-written diary pages, because i felt it was an intrusion.

Rain Rain Rain

.... keeps coming down, down, down.

has it come down to this? do i have nothing to write about besides the weather? or how the weather used to be?

yesterday we had a rare winter thunderstorm. and it poured down rain. most of the snow is gone now, except for the piles where we shovelled to, and the remants of a snow fort in the backyard, in the shape of a 'C'.

it's so mild today, if it was March, i'd sense that it was the beginning of spring.

i'm currently reading a book called 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'. i'm enjoying it. it's a first-person narrative, and the narrator is a 15-year old autistic boy. in the book they mention a brain teaser that i'd heard before. it goes like this.

let's say there are 3 doors, and behind one of them is a new car. behind the other 2 doors, there's some crappy prize, like a goat. so the host askes you to pick a door you think the car is behind. without telling you if you're right or wrong, he opens one of the doors you didn't pick, and shows a goat. then he asks if you wish to change your choice.

example: the doors are numbered 1, 2 and 3. you pick door #3. he only opens door #1 and reveals a goat. he then asks if you wish to change your pick from #3 to #2. is it in your best interest to change your pick? which door gives you the best chance of winning the car - the original pick you made (#3), or the other remaining pick (#2)?

this is called the monty hall problem. what do you think?

a new year, a new colour, a new outlook...

only with age do we become aware of the passage of time. another year is upon us. is it just me, or does 2005 seem like some far-off time in the future? back in the 80s, if you would have asked me about the year 2005, i'd probably say we'd have flying cars, and computers in our brains. somethings never change; other things never stay the same.

i'm sitting here listening to JKS singing about a manitoba city. this past weekend, we painted our living room. i'm always amazed at how simply changing the colour of the walls in a room can change the entire mood of the room. it's such a simple little task, and the outcome is so dramatic.

as of right this minute, i have 2208 songs in my iTunes. i don't yet have an iPod, but I will soon. 176 albums (so far). 6 days of songs. 9.71 GB.

the song on now, is called Utilities (also by JKS). it goes like this:

i have this feeling that today doesn't like me

the air tastes like flowers and paint

there's a sinkful of bottles and cutlery

and the car has got a list of complaints

i just wish i were a toothbrush or a solder gun

make me something somebody can use

we can wish on the pop of a lightbulb

or those photos lying yellow and curled

loosen boxes near-abandoned electronics

in the corners of the basement of the world

guess our wishes don't do dishes or brake repairs

make them something somebody could use

got a face full of ominous weather

smirking smile of a high-pressure ridge

got more faults than the state of california

and the heart is a badly built bridge

seems the most i have to offer doesn't offer much

make it something somebody can use

make this something somebody can use.

14 days (2 weeks)

A lot has happened in the past 2 weeks since my last entry:

- A huge earthquake shook Indonesia, and the ensuing tsunami has taken the lives of thousands.

- We had a snow storm here, with nearly a foot of snow. A white christmas was nice, but within days, most of the snow was gone with a typical Ontario winter rain.

- I didn't get an iPod for Christmas, but I did get a good collection of books and CDs. Also a bit of $ to add to my newly started iPod fund.

- I made a donation to the Red Cross.- I bought a new hockey stick for a price that would have bought me a dozen sticks about 15 years ago (ok, maybe 20 years ago).

- I used said hockey stick in a game of pick up over the break. I scored one goal.

- I went for an annual New Year's Eve mountain bike ride in the snow, or more accurately, the slush. I got a flat tire, and had to change a tube out on the cold trails.

- I didn't think about work at all.