Just thought I'd share, before I get back to making tests...
I was on the Trailer Park Boys tonight! Twice!
There's still a couple more possible scenes I could be in (only two episodes left), but I'm more than happy with what I got, anyway.
In tonight's episode, you'll see me in my black golf shirt with blue stripes. The first time, Lahey's drunk, and coming to tie Randy up in a garden hose... you'll see me and a younger dude walking towards the camera. The second time, Randy is running alongside the car while Lahey's driving. You'll see Neal up on a deck (with a bong), and then, on the other side of the trailer, you'll see me standing at my BBQ (waist up, I think, beer in hand... shades on, I believe).
Preserved for all time on one of my favourite all-time shows. Bitchin'.

Wow. That season finale of Lost was somethin', wasn't it? Can't remember the last time a TV show had me so gripped for two hours. Such good plot developments! I wonder what next season will be now. Will it be a return to the island for some? Will it follow their rescue and what happens after it? I never thought that the rescue / scene that proved an, at least, partially successful rescue would be on tonight. It just stinks it's not on again sooner! Wait... if all those Brawny-paper-towel-Jack scenes were after the rescue... who was in the coffin at the unattended funeral? Maybe John? He kind of turned on people towards the end, there, and would have no family to attend. Maybe Ben? Hmm... wish I got a better look at that paper.

There's still a chance I could get 100% for next year. Some postings came out today, and while there isn't much on them that applies to many people, there's a couple of full-timers. Of course, they're both in different schools teaching things that are out of my comfort zone / specialized areas. This means that I'd basically be doing my best, but maybe just biding my time until something I'm better at comes along. If I got one, at least I'd be guaranteed 100% for the year after next, and so on. Wish me luck!

In a show of true honesty, ala Chunks...
Tim, something is all wrong since your keg party. Was it the beer, meat, or chips? As Dean said, about a similar incident, "The packing is all wrong."

I've come up with a new show for Cable 10 this summer. It's called "Pirate Bastard". It's just in the rough development stages right now (by "rough development stages" I mean making it up off the top of my head right now), but it will involve 21 people from around the Maritimes. Two captains pick teams of ten (other dude comes in later), and those teams will be dropped at undisclosed and inhospitable locations (I'm thinking Georgetown and perhaps Mimenegash. Something like that.). Each group must take a small boat on a trek around the Island to find the treasure (still being worked out). They will end up going to a series of locales and islands, doing various tasks, until they get to the final destination, Boughton Island. The X-factor of the whole show is that the last person to be picked (at the beginning) becomes the "Pirate Bastard". He takes three people of his choice from each team at the very beginning, and forms his own team of seven. They sail their own ship under a pirate flag, trying to thwart the other two teams. If they win, they get the prize. How they win can be figured out later... inciting mutiny on other teams, finding the treasure first (and getting to play dirty), stealing resources and rewards from other teams... something along those lines. I'll think some more on this. Feel free to add ideas.

Ahh... the long Victoria Day weekend. Friday saw the usual night of trivia. We were one point out of first after one round, but lost out in the second round. Didn't get 1st, 2nd, or in on the three-way tie for 3rd. Sucks. Ah well. This post-season of trivia's a wash, anyway. That's not the worst of it, though. We discovered that the money Hunter's gives out can only be used on food! That sucked. I was counting on free liquor Friday. What's the point of trying to win if you can't win booze? What makes it even worse is that Hunter's is transforming the upstairs to a place called NightCap from now 'til September. This means, among other things, that you can't order food up there anymore. Just cheeses, cakes, pies, desserts, and drinks. What's the point in going now? I'm not bloody well going to compete so that I can win some bar bucks to buy brownies and bon bons to go with my beer. On the upside, looks like Doc's trying to get us some cheques (for regular season winnings) from the other venue. Hopefully that'll happen before next week!

For those of you that don't live in this area, it's been cloudy and raining for days on end. C and I wanted to go looking at trees and shrubs and stuff, but it was too wet to be outside for too long. We looked at a few things, got her a Fiskars garden tool set, and that was that. We also went to see the new Shrek movie, kind of on a whim. I found it to be pretty much on par with the other two. I enjoyed it. Funny. A nice break. Last night was also another shindig at Timmy Tim's. 'Twas more sedate than the last one, but at least Lynch was up past nine! Had some beers, a bit of Old Sam, listened to some tunes, ate some meat... usual stuff. Good times. Drove Neal and myself home across roads that seemed to be paved with worms, on account of the rain. Also saw the first frog of the year on my way up the driveway. At least I think I saw a frog. Man, it better have been a frog.

Today, C had a great breakfast ready this morning with fresh fruits and egg/cheese/Stovetop stuffing muffin things. Went to church. Played some Xbox. Pretty standard.

Sure, I'm still a bit bummed about the whole job thing... and intimidatd by having to go pretty much completely out of my comfort zone next year. But, hey, what can I do about it? I guess I should just suck it up and be happy that I have anything. Some folks will lose more than me. Some folks will lose their whole position. I do have to check into this whole tenure thing, though, and find out if me signing at 80% will frig me up for the rest of my career (ESD not ever owing me more than 80%... heard rumours of such things). My acceptance of my situation doesn't mean I'm going to be complacent about it. I'm still going to talk to the admin at some other school(s) and watch the job postings from now 'til September.

I was going to type something on teaching music, but I'll save that for another post later.

Highlight of the day: getting a message from Maple Music in my email about new sales, going to their site, finding that they're not all sold out (which happens pretty frequently), and buying myself an autographed copy of Rufus Wainwright's new CD. Bitchin'.

So. I just found out about next year. You know, the contract that I sign to get my tenure. I can stay in my school, but I have to drop from 100% to 60%. If I want, I can pick up another 20% if I teach music to grades 1-6, plus 7/8 health. Both hateful. Especially the music. Really especially the music. I don't know if there's much worse than 1-6 music. It also seems like there's nothing in any nearby schools to help top up my time to 100%. I was hoping that if I got cut, I could at least pick up some science or social studies or something at a nearby school. But no. Doesn't look like it. Pretty much only openings in music and French. Doesn't even look like there's any openings for anything teachable in the area, from 1-12. This sucks.

Kickin' it pre-school!



That kid really flips head over heels for breakdance battles!
Sure I empathize for the kid... but... is it wrong that I laughed at this... just a little?
Feel free to leave your own good pun.

Did you forget to buy your mom something for Mother's Day?
Here's an idea! Voici a snippet to get your attention...

"...the intention was not for children to buy a dildo for their mother."

You just can't make that stuff up.

Here's something that came to mind that I find tough. Tough? No... just hard to look at, I guess. People with eyes that look in different directions. Apparently, it may be called strabismus. Like, which eye do you look at when talking to people with this? How the hell do they focus on things and function? Another thing that's annoying about it is how, in some people, the poor aleyenment comes and goes. Like, sometimes they look all normal, and then all of a sudden they're back to looking like a stunned bloodhound or a chameleon. Do their eye movements reflect their brain activity? Like, they're aligned when they're focused, and wonky when daydreaming? I dunno. I just know that I always found it hard to watch Leanne Battersby on Coronation Street and that beady-eyed freak of nature on 7th Heaven. Thank goodness that show's gone to its eternal resting place.

The only person that could ever pull it off and use it to their advantage was Marty Feldman. Young Frankenstein was awesome.

Hmm. Lots to say, eh? It's been a while! It seems I've fallen into another blogslump. Sometimes, like the beginning of this year, there was scads to write about, and lots to say, with enough time to get it out. Now, not so much to say (or I forget things before I write them), and maybe not so much time to do it. So what's up?

I didn't get the bonus song this week at trivia. Dammit! It was "Hocus Pocus" by Focus. Frigsakes. Who'd know that? One person did. Just not me. We did pull out a 2nd-place finish, anyway. I don't think we have a chance in these "playoffs" though. We're 4 weeks into the 8-week span, and our average score is a few points off the pace. Ah well. Many more different people and good teams show up now, so it's a bit more difficult. At least the two of us won for the regular season! Not like we got our money yet, though.

Got our cars serviced at Capital Honda in town. I don't like them. Too many of them ooze "greasball" or "slimy" or "slick". Now, as my Civic is almost all paid for (couple more months), they say I need new brakes (pads and shoes or something like that... 2 parts anyway), and a new oil pan (at $275!! plus labour!!). When I get it done, I think I'll go back to Summerside. They're all class there. No matter what your car's in for, they always wash it. Plus, they always have courtesy cars. In C-town, when we brought in both our cars yesterday, I asked about a c. car, since we were both carless. Here's basically how it went:

Me - Do you guys have a courtesy car?

Service Lady - Mmm... sure. Who was your salesman?

Me - I bought my car in Summerside.

Service Lady - Oh. Well... our salesmen only give out cars to people they sell to. The c. cars are their own cars... demos. They don't like giving them out to people they don't know.

About then is when C came in, a little fiery. The lady offered to drop us off somewhere. I just basically shut it all down and went, "Whatever. We'll walk." Like, holy frig. You'd think... that if we're giving you nearly $500 in service today, and that you'd probably like to try and sell us a car someday... that you'd go the extra mile to earn our business and make us like you! But no. No. Not cocky cock goblin greaseball C-town Honda. They're fine to just extort service money from us and ask if we'll let them change the dealer plate on the front. Well, no fuckin' way. I'm thinking I'm going to take my car from your garage, with the bird shit still on it, and get those extra needed (so they say) repairs in Summerside, even if it's a bit of a long drive. Frig them. Frig 'em!

Only 31 school days left. Holy crap. One is a trip. One is a end-of-year picnic @ the park day. The day before that is grade 8 grad, and a write-off teaching-wise. Three other days, I'm with the 8s on a trip. A couple of other days there's Track & Field, visitors / presenters / whatever. What's that leave... 25 days to teach max? That's only just over four six-day cycles. Holy crap.

We got our new front door. It arrived a bit scuffed up, and with the wrong hinges. It's being returned tomorrow.

Still trying to figure out what to do plant-wise with our yard. We're thinking frig the flowers, let's dig 'em up and put 'em all in one or two places. Let's only get trees & flowering shrubs. This may be the rough plan. Flower beds are too much work. They're for chumps.

Facebook still monopolizes a lot of time. It really is a great site for catching up and keeping up with folks, and sharing pics / etc. Like my buddy Trevor said, "...no longer meeting people in person or accepting phone calls. All human interaction is to be done through Facebook."

Still check the news on FARK every day, along with other regular blogs and sites.

Still gotta do those Feist and Plaskett reviews. I will though. I will!

Went to see Spider-Man 3 yesterday. A couple of hokey parts, sure, but I liked it. A bit choppy, what with two new villains and their own story lines and all, but still effective. I like how human they make Parker. I think 2 is the best of the three, but 3 is definitely worth seeing, too.

Looking forward to the summer concerts and all, still. And the new movies that are coming out (even just this month)! I don't like how we get fewer pays this summer, though, and that we keep having these new unexpected expenses pop up. Especially annoying since we're trying to repair our building / garage, and do a couple of doors. It sucks. It's like the only thing that gets me stressed. That, and the fact that I still have no idea on my job situation for next year.

Anyhoo... ciao, for now, I guess.

PS - thanks for the Parisian postcard, Paige!
PPS - I'm sure I've seen at least one marked courtesy car at C-town Honda before. Cock goblins.

Four! Four weeks in a row now, with no trivia wins. Plus, four weeks since the trivia changed locales, and still no money for winning the regular season either. Hmph. Doc says Neal and I are still neck-&-neck with another team right now for a victory. I guess we must be doing OK every week, but just not enough to win. For these playoffs, you see, he's taking each team's six best point scores out of eight weeks. I don't expect to get anything in these playoffs now. Although, I am on a bonus song streak! The last song of the eve is always the bonus song, and it's usually quite hard to get both the artist and the track's name. However, three or four of the last four weeks (I think it's all four, but I can't remember what they all were), I've gotten it! Plus, at least twice, I've been the only person in the place to get it. Oh yeah. I'm bad. I like that people react to these bonus answers with a mix of shock and disgust. Maybe even veiled respect. I also like it when folks are happy when they don't win but still beat us. We're just two dudes! It's funny. For the record (ba-dum-ching!), the two songs that nobody else got were tunes by Cat Power and The Eagles of Death Metal.

We went looking at some trees and flowers and stuff yesterday. So many nice trees, from magnolia to peach, to lilac... too bad we haven't the slightest idea about what to do with our spacious, plain, and regular-shaped expanse of yard space. When we were at Jewell's, we saw a display of these things:
Perfect Petzzz. Basically, some of them look ridiculously lifelike. So, of course, you're tempted to pet them. C pet one, and was like, "Wow, it's really soft." Right about then, when she glanced back at it, that's when she noticed it breathing. Freaking breathing! I guess pressure on its soft little belly must set it breathing... making the belly rise and fall, and pretty realistically, too. Fucking weird. Bubbles would love them.

Speaking of Bubbles, anyone see me or Neal in any episodes of the TPB yet this year? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Bought some new tires at Canuck Tire on Saturday. Had a buy-one-get-one-at-half-price deal. They say installation is free, but it cost $39.80 before taxes for the not-free balancing. Seems high to me. But what do I know? I'm no carologist.

Still never bought a White Stripes ticket yet. Anyone think I should? I dunno how good a whole show'd be.

C and I cleaned out our building yesterday. Lots of old pieces of gyproc, squirrel debris, pieces of lumber, vinyl stuff from when the house was done, lots of crud that was there before we bought the place. It was good to finally get it all in order. Now it'll be easier for my pa to come and help fix the roof on it!

Well, I should get goin'. There's a 1-hour episode of Going Coastal/Much East/Whatever all on Joel Plaskett at 12:00. Gotta get the VCR set! And, yes, Colleen, I'm thinking of the review. I've been putting ideas together in my head as I've been listening to it. So, expect a review on Ashtray Rock and Feist's The Reminder soon.

First of all, let me just get this out of the way... Rapcat:


There. Now that we have that gay revelry behind us, we can move on.

Tickets for the White Stripes' show on July 11th go on sale tomorrow. Should I buy one? They're $42.50 plus stuff. Hmm...
I thought that this was kind of neat...

White notes that family from his father's Scottish side spent "a couple generations" in Nova Scotia before heading south to work in Detroit car factories.
"There's family all throughout there - all around Sydney Mines and Antigonish and all those places," says White, who's also half Polish.
"Supposedly there's ties from me to (fiddlers) Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster."
White admits he has no proof of this, so fans may want to take that claim with a grain of salt.

So, I did my observed lesson way back on Monday. It was with my 5/6 class. We did a review of previous stuff first, had a little Q&A chat, and then we talked about drag. To experiment with it, we made testable questions like, "If I do A, will B happen?" Then, the kids would make their planes and fly them to see how it all works, modify the planes, try it all again. We just got started on that part. Next Monday we'll wrap it all up. It went pretty well, though, which is good.

Our union made a tentative agreement with the province a few days ago. I probably shouldn't say too much about it. What I will say? It may not be the best for me, but I'm glad that I am where I am, at least. Also, if you're a new person hoping on getting a permanent or probationary teaching job in this province in the visible future, fuhgeddaboudit. It'll be darn-near impossible.

I am still addicted to Facebook in a major way. It's ideal for seeing what people are up to, and keeping up with everyone.

Whoever invented the beer widget was a visionary genius. I find the beer flatter, but the pouring is way more enjoyable. It's like a keg of draft in a can!