I'm a liar, I'm a fighter, I'm a skater, I'm a Beatle

+ I have lost two fitted sheets in the last three years to my futon mattress. As in, my feet wear right through them! Right now, it looks like the Hulk slept in my bed or something, or that my bed had an epic-sized Hulk-out minus the purple pants. I am hoping that a futon slipcover dealie will be better equiped to handle such nonsense.

+ A-dub and I went to see "Up" on Tuesday night, in three dimensions no less. Pixar is crazy. They're making story-driven movies with great animation. I am never disappointed in their movies, I just like some less than others. But ever since "Cars", which I wasn't too big on, I've enjoyed everything.

+ I need to watch "Ghostbusters" soon before it kills me. Bidding on a copy of the 25th anniversary Blu Ray on eBay as we speak.

+ My commute to and from work is a little long, and I decided I need a smartphone of some kind. I was going to get a Nokia E71, but then this new iPhone got announced and they dropped the prices on last year's model. So with some serious negotiating and research, I'm getting a 16 GB iPhone 3G for $175 and my monthly plan is $7 more than my current one.

+ Number 1, I am sick today. I had a really bad stomach ache last night, and sent Amanda home (and apparently she got one, too, out of worry for me perhaps!). I woke up, called in sick, slept all morning, and have faced a series of gurgles and belches all day. GROSS.

+ Number 2, I am seriously contemplating an iPhone.

+ Number 3, I am embroiled in a bitter and long confrontation with Canada Post. I ordered a spiffy Harrington jacket via eBay from the UK way back in April, and it cost me around $100. As it turns out, my PayPal account had my Calgary address as a default and the package went there by mistake. When I got a tracking number from the seller on ebay, I checked Canada Post and not only was it delivered to my old address in Calgary SOMEONE SIGNED MY NAME TO RECEIVE IT. Naturally, I was irate and called Canada Post and they basically told me it was delivered as addressed and they would do nothing and they treated me like a conspiracy-theory-making moron. They told me I should call the new tenant at my old address and ask for it back and suggested I just go away. WHAT? I told them that I suspected the Canada Post employee who delivered it signed for it and left it at the door and they told me no one would EVER do the wrong thing at Canada Post. I demanded an investigation be launched, and they supervisor I spoke to begrudgingly complied.

A few weeks later, a frustrated man from the Calgary office called me and said the investigation is taking a while and that he will get back to me. Then he calls back and gave me a huge, long apology and explains that the man who was to deliver the package is under investigation and has admitted to doing the wrong thing. They wouldn't tell me what he did, but apparently he's done other things before and felt a "sense of entitlement" and thinks he works for himself, not Canada Post. Then I demanded a refund and the guy said I was being very fair and he would talk to someone. He called back half an hour later and claimed he could give me nothing at all, and that it was too bad I lost my package but the customer always suffers in these situations. I got a supervisor's number, and left a few messages then was told the package was on the way!

Apparenlty the new tenant at my old address must have "accidentally" signed for it (my name?) and felt guilty and sent it back...yeah, right! Which doesn't really go with what the first guy told me in the first call, which makes me believe he was made to lie during every subsequent phone call because he said too much. In any case, the package finally got to me today unopened. What the heck is up with that? I am pretty sure this postal worker guy had a bunch of mail stashed in his house and delivered it when the investigation began. What a crock. Of course, I can't prove anything. At least that jacket is now hanging in my closet where it belongs, and it looks great.

+ For some reason, I have been feeling the overwhelming desire to watch many movies I've never seen but felt I should have, or movies I haven't seen in years.

++ "Lucas" - Now why on earth had I never seen this until this week? It's got a great cast and it's very likable! I liked the very young, boyish Winona Rider making doe eyes at Lucas through the entire movie. I also liked the fact that I felt like I knew a few Lucas's in my time, and that it had Andi from the Goonies in it. I also remember seeing the trailer for this around 800 times on that Superchannel preview show that used to come on channel 11. That's also where I saw the trailer for "Help!" another 800 times.

++ "The Last Action Hero" - What a spectacular flop this was. Arnold Schwartzeneggar plays himself playing an action hero, and is followed around by a wide-eyed kid who seems like a cheap carbon copy of Bastian from "the Neverending Story". Actually, this is pretty much a weird combination of that film and "Sidekicks". I like when he calls himself the famous comedian Arnold Braunschweiger. I also enjoyed the "You wanna be a farmer? Here's a couple of acres!" bit.

++ "Good Burger" - I had no idea Kenan Thompson was on "Snakes On a Plane" and is currently on Saturday Night Live! It's also got Sinbad and Abe Vigoda(!). This movie makes me want to eat at In-N-Out Burger again. I also enjoyed Sinbad's character the most.

++ "Short Circuit 2" - This is probably what I will watch today. Before I saw this movie, I had no idea that people considered Indian accents hilarious. I've always wondered if people thought Indian accents were funny before "Short Circuit" came out, or if was because of it. I totally forgot that Michael McKean is in this! I also forgot how much Wall-E looks like Johnny Five.

+ "Ghostbusters" turns 25 this year, and two cinemas are having double-bill screenings in town. I think it's essential I go to at least one of them.

+ UPDATE! I found an amazing place to get pho today! It's been tricky. I lived within walking distance of two really good places in Calgary, and haven't found anything here yet. Until today! It was some of the best pho I've ever had. I knew it would be good because these two food critic dudes were sitting behind me and one said he brings other food critics from out of town there. Wow. Seriously. My life is complete. Good pho AND good handmade chinese noodle soup. What else could a boy want?

+ I got some pretty sweet Wrangler sta-prest pants on eBay. Sta-Prest pants are one of my favorite inventions, right up there with Levi's jeans and western wear shirts. Yes, I only like clothing from the 1970's, it seems.

+ Tonight Amanda and I are going to watch "Good Burger", which neither of us have seen, but it seems like a good choice for the amount of brain power we have.

+ I'm not going to lie to you. I saw "Drag Me To Hell" and loved it. I showed up wanting to see something in the "Evil Dead" style, and Sam Raimi did not disappoint. It was scary, funny, scary and funny at the same time, and full of ridiculous touches and moments. There were even a few Looney Tunes/Three Stooges type gags thrown in. I'm pretty sure this movie could have been an Evil Dead sequel of sorts if you really think about it. It kind of felt like something Rami had to get out of his system after doing all those Spider-Man movies. What made the movie better, like everything else in Vancouver, was that there were several screaming Korean and Japanese girls in the audience. It seems like everywhere you go, there are plenty of both and they scream and squeal in delight.

+ Before the movie, I went for these hand-made noodles in the Crystal Mall food court like I had at Pacific Mall in Toronto. WOW! This little lady made them right in front of my eyes. My mind could not register what was going on. She kept folding and folding and folding the dough until she had this crazy mass of delicious noodles which she put in my soup. I have had two different things at the Crystal Mall, and both were fantastic. That food court is crazy, making me wonder what the one at Aberdeen Mall is like.

+ As of Monday, I've been unsingle for an entire year. It's crazy. I actually don't remember single life anymore. I forget what it's like to stay home on Friday nights and watch Kung Fu movies because I have no better options. Of course, there were many many months of being in a relationship but being alone, as we lived in different cities. However, that's changed and life is so much better now that we are together. It's weird how it all turned out.

The other day I told someone I never post in here because my life is mundane and not angsty. They told me they like boring details. Coco, this is for you!

+ So dating is not only good for my emotional well-being, it's also good for my waistline! I am down to 200. It's 55 pounds more than when I was 145 pounds 13 years ago (YIKES!) but still less than my peak at 238 pounds in around 2004 (YIKES X 2). We've both lost weight in the last six months and have both had to buy new clothes on account of it. The good thing is we both like healthy foods and snacks and are pretty veggie heavy in our meals. So I am slowly vanishing. I also got a gym membership. It will continue.


+ You remember how I used to be a huge movie watcher (no, I'm not still taking about my weight)? I think I'm a bigger reader now. It's one of my favorite activities. I am obsessed with Black Jack. It's a manga by Osamu Tezuka of Astro Boy fame which is about this scarfaced surgeon who does all these weird surgeries, and al the stories have crazy Twilight Zone twist endings. I can't stop reading it. I bought four volumes on Amazon, and will not stop until I read them all. I was ripping fast and furious through Akira, but I'm on a break from that right now...still phenomenal, though. And I just picked up all three volumes of Osamu Tezuka's Dororo at Book Off today for 20%, plus at used prices. Seriously, Tezuka is fantastic. Every Black Jack story leaves me satisfied, and MW was even crazier.

+ That new "Star Trek" movie is amazing, and I hate Star Trek. Or I thought I did. I now remember that I did actually like the 60's show as a kid. Spock looks like a scenester. Lots of Vancouver scenesters have pointy eyebrows and bowlcuts.

+ I bought vintage Wranger Sta-Prest pants today. And come to think of it, I already owned a pair of these, or close to it, in 1996 that I loved. And Levis has similar ones that I need to buy. They had amazing amazing Levis Sta-Prest pants, too, but they were so short, they looked like hardcore shorts from the mid-90s.

Let's talk about things I'm going to eat today or have eaten!

+ Last night I made Mandy and I dragon bowls for dinner. I made a pot of brown rice, then threw in chopped kale, soy sprouts, cut carrots and tofo bit, let it all warm up, put it in bowls and topped it with cold Naam miso gravy. They turned out highly scrumptious. My favorite part of the recipe is that you could make it so many different ways, with so many different ingredients. Steamed broccoli would be good, and I would like to try different dressings. The Naam makes a shiitake mushroom miso gravy that would be delicious.

+ Today for lunch, I'm going to make a grilled cheese panini. I've been hooked on paninis since I got my electric grill, but haven't tried too many variations. I need some recipes! I need to figure out what kinds of meats and vegetables would be good. All I know is that a grilled cheese made in my electric grill is heavenly.

+ Someone left a juicer in the freecycling wall of the laundry room. I bought seedless oranges. Time to make homemade orange juice! Now we'll see how I really feel about orange juice, since I don't like the bottled kind.

And in non food related news;

+ Fred Perry is teaming up with the Specials to release 30th anniversary shirts. It will cost a pretty penny, but I simply must have a black and white polo shirt with a tiny checkboard under the Fred Perry laurel embrodiery. We'll see, though.

+ The other night I had a dream that I worked for this company that saw fit to use some of my vintage Japanese and Chinese movie poster collection to decorate their corporate van.The next day, I realized I felt like since I started a new job, I sold a big part of myself to my work. Like I can't dress like I used to or act like I used to in the name of collecting a bigger salary and getting a pension.

I've been thinking alot about how life changes when you get older. I don't randomly hang out with 37 different people anymore on any given Friday or Saturday. Most of my life revolves around getting enough sleep, and making sure my bank account is balanced and my girlfriend is happy. I don't find semi-sketchy situations, like living in bad apartment buildings or seeing bands until all hours of the night, as appealing anymore. I also explained to Amanda that I'm out of practice of sleeping in and staying up late It's like I'm getting smarter and more responsible, and less fun. I also don't hate dressing up for work at all. It's fun! I think I have realized I've been missing out by not wearing Fred Perry shirts all these years.

In other news, I miss listening to music at my desk at work.

+ T and T chicken is hard on the jaw, but I still eat it, anyhow.

+ Odd things I saw this week: a man with a moss and feather hat, and a man whose scooter was made up to look like a Jesus science project.

+ I had no idea they filmed the end scene with the bullies in "the Neverending Story" right here in Vancouver in Gastown! I want to learn more about movie locations.

+ I just watched "the Wrestler" again and I think it's one of my top movies of all time. That promo at the end stabs me in my non by-pass surgeried heart.

+ I sit on the 8th floor overlooking the worst part of Surrey. First I saw a crack addict picnic, complete with a flailing junkie. Then the cops showed up, and broke it up after searching a dude. Then I saw some lady at the bus stop on a cellphone, and all these people were staring at her. A while later, an SPCA truck showed up and a guy jumped out with a garbage bag. I thought, "is he clearing trash so animals don't eat it?" and then I realized he was picking up a dead dog! It was sad, and yet, I almost had to escape to the bathroom to laugh.

+ The other day Amanda and I saw the snottiest yuppie couple in an SUV. They were amazing. The lady had the funniest sneer on her face, and I can only assume they will name their children Dakota and Sierra.

+ Amanda and I went to the Elbow Room Diner yesterday. She said it was notable, but I couldn't remember why. Then when we got there, I realized it was one of those places that abuses you for fun. I made the mistake of asking the waiter to bring me a water, and they charged me $2.75 for it! I didn't realize you have to get your own coffee and water at this place. They also have a separate bathroom for the gender confused or gender transitioning. There's signed pictures all over the place, and it's one of those places where there's not a lot of space and it's always crowded. It was fun getting abused when you kow they're really pretty nice at heart in there. It's better than when a certain Winnipeg singer-songwriter used to be our waitress and would legitmately treat us like crap---no gimmicks involved!

+ I start my new job on Wednesday, and to my initial horror, I found out this place is business casual. No more jeans to work, expect on jean Friday! I was a little stressed out as I've never liked dressing up or business clothing. Then I realized that this is an excuse to buy some fun UK 60's designer and non-designer clothing. I picked up a Fred Perry polo shirt, a Ben Sherman shirt and a few pairs of sixties style trousers, some shirts and cardigan sweaters. I think I'll look fine and dressy without feeling like some jerk in an Arrow shirt and bad dress pants. I have never believed that just because something is expensive, it'd be worth wearing. I guess I always feel I have to maintain a certain sense of style no matter what!

+ I need more than six pairs of underwear. I shouldn't have to do emergency laundry on Easter Sunday because I have no underwear.

+ I went to see the Tranzmitors on Friday night, and they are among my favorite bands going right now. They are the masters of the snappily dressed pop punk genre of the 70s complete with depressing sad jerk vocals and happy-to-be-sad lyrics. They were lots of fun to watch, and sounded as great live as one could possibly expect. They also have a brand new CD out which compiles all their singles and their 12" record. It's tremendously good, and handy for those of us who lost our turntables in the Calgary move of 2006.

The only scary thing was that the club was on East Hastings, which was full of druggies, sketchos and other unsavoury types at 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night. I'm not one to judge, but I don't particularly like spending a Friday night watching people in dirty clothes screaming at each other or no one in particular, or exchanging money for mysterious goods and services in tiny bags. If you've ever seen the Simpsons where Lisa accidentally takes the bus to Crackton, that's pretty much East Hastings. We took a cab home (my idea) and they were just starting to set up the hobo shanty towns all over the place. This is why that general vacinity smells like urine most of the time. What's worse is that we went back to that area yesterday to go to Army & Navy. It's just as bad in the middle of the day.

Oh well, now that I'm starting a new job, I won't be taking the bus through Crackton every morning. I'll now be working in Surrey, where they stab or shoot you for no particular reason.

+ Here is where I confess what a semi-mess my life has been the past six weeks. Scratch that. My career.

In desperation, I took a job at a "personal excellence" company. All day long, everybody talked about living up to your full potential and selling people courses on financial independence while making crappy (and I mean crappy!) salaries and wasting their lives. I was in the awful position of either not caring about my work at all or giving my talents and abilities to promote some jerk whose teachings rub me the wrong way. Some of what he says is common sense, and most of it is hooey and he taps into that whole "improve your life by throwing people a bunch of mystical sounding crap to latch onto" school of teaching. Amanda said she could see it wearing on me, little by little and was worried they would brainwash me. In any event, just when I started, I took a day off to do an interivew at one of the top 50 employers in BC. Sensing the job I took was not for me, I gave a throroughly convincing interview and tried my best to wow them.

I got offered the job yesterday and I start April 15! HOORAY! Which means a good salary, pension, and benefits like I've never seen. These are things I never thought would happen to me when I was broke as a joke in Montreal. And the best part is, I don't have to pay for bus passes anymore. Handy, because the job is in Surrey and that's a three-zone pass!

Some day, I will write a long post about working for a personal excellence company.

+ Dating Amanda has been doing weird things to my personal life. I don't have time to watch movies as much anymore, and free time comes in more shorter blocks instead of long stretches. I have taken to reading and discovered I love it. She is finding the same thing. We've both been plowing through books! I have discovered I especially love classic manga. I'm reading some stuff by Osama Tezuka, the guy who invented Astro Boy. The one I'm reading now, "MW" is highly twisted. I also read "Dororo", which was really fun, and I've decided to start reading the Astro Boy manga, as I was a big fan as a child. I also discovered that the Akira trade paperbacks are out of print, but not in the UK! I ordered a few volumes and can't wait to dig into them! I also got the Akira Club book for my birthday, which features all the title pages of Akira from when it was originally serialized. Who knew this stuff would be so fun?

+ I also have been listening to the new Propagandhi on a daily basis and it is truly great.

+ Having no balcony and no barbecue access since I moved to Vancouver, I bought one of those indoor electric grills. Since then, it's been all grilling all the time. Amanda and I have had some pretty stellar meals lately. Last week we had grilled chicken marinated in peri peri sauce, which i could drink out of the bottle if required. Last night we bought sushi-grade salmon and grilled it with lemon juice, oregano, lemon dill and fresh ground pepper. Both were crazy good, and that thing grills vegetables like all get out. I think we're learning that while eating at restaurants can be good, sometimes nothing beats a home cooked dinner. Also, we made waffles with this crazy organic mix she had kicking around. The first batch was mush, the final batch was light, crisp perfection. I think our next experiment is going to be to make bread.

+ Lots of other things are going on: I bought a crazy universal remote that does everything, I'm looking for new headphones, I went to a hockey game, I'm still waiting for a birthday care package from my parents, I ordered my birthday present from them, ordered the new Propagandhi CD, bought the new Bell Orchestre album and decided I really need to see "JCVD".

+ I have been watching more movies than usual this week. I watched "Chungking Express" with Amanda this week, and she absolutely loved it. Last night I watched "Ip Man", which is the new Wilson Yip/Donnie Yen movie. It seemed like a modern version of a Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest historical epic. Low on story, high on martial arts. It was pretty rock solid. Tonight, Amanda and I watched the high def remaster of "Pinocchio", and it was fantastic. The animation looks so much better in high definition, and the sound was really good, too. I couldn't help but think about those weird old A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eyih5WaWYo"> stop-motion cartoons</a> I used to watch every Saturday.

+ I've had this bus driver the past two days, and he's a combination of Nigel Tufnel and a 1970's medeival-themed progressive art rocker. Today he yelled "Move to the back of the bus please. I'll just sit here if i 'ave to" in a british accent. I thought "Wow, that guy's angry" and then I thought "I guess he's still upset that whole art rock scene didn't pan out."

+ I like the Handsome Furs. It's like Wolf Parade, but more focused. I always liked Dan's Wolf Parade songs best. The Handsome Furs remind me of when I used to see Dan Boeckner all over the place: on the Metro, Seagal's, on the street. Actually, I used to see Richie from Arcade Fire at Segal's, too. I guess it was the official grocery store of the Montreal music scene. Everybody was obsessed with that Murphy guy that worked there with the rat tail and Zubaz pants, I guess. Dangit! Just thinking about that place makes me miss it. It makes me want to visit Commercial Drive, where there are Portugese grocery stores.

+ A-dub and I went to see "Watchmen" last night. I really liked it, and she could only admit that it was a good movie on many levels but didn't care for all the violence and depressing characters. I think people expect certain things from a superhero movie that "Watchmen" just couldn't deliver.

In any case, this movie was a tricky proposition for me because I love the source material so much. I thought it was a great adaptation of the comics and handled the story and characters well. The casting was great, and they did a lot with film that you couldn't do with pen and ink. The soundtrack was well done, and everything looked right. I realized that most comic movie are loosely based on the comics and this was actually an adaptation, which is getting rarer. In any case, I really don't have any complaints. My favorite sequence was the history of the Minutemen/Watchmen sequence set to "The Times They Are A Changin'". I mostly enjoyed the dorky 1940's superheros.

+ I just noticed "Howard the Duck" is coming out on DVD at last! I almost bought the UK version last year. What a horrible bit of nostalgia from my past. And "Red Cliff 2" is coming out! YES!

+ I turned 35 this week, and celebrated by giving myself near-heartburn at New India. It was one of those dining experiences where I felt all sweaty and weird the whole time, but it was worth it. I do love curry. Maybe too much. Can you love curry too much? I probably can.

+ Amanda is having girl's night tonight. I have to figure out what to do with a rare night to myself! I'll probably sleep on the couch.

+ I didn't realize that Takashi Miike has been directing a TV series called Keitai Sousakan 7! As I've probably mentioned many times before, I actually enjoy Miike's more mainstream stuff better than his more bizarre underground stuff. This is definitely more on the mainstream side of things, but I suspect it's got those weird Miike touches. It's about a teenage boy who solves mysteries with the help of a cellphone who transforms into a robot. I'm acquiring an episode as we speak. I'm dying to see it!

+ I miss having an income. It feels like some of my favorite online shopping sites are calling my name, begging me to spend money. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing. Of course, I have a feeling I'll be working again very soon after Friday's interview.

+ Today was rainy and damp and dreary and I enjoyed every minute of it.

+ I went to BOOK OFF again today. I learned today that it's a huge chain of used bookstores in Japan, and the Vancouver store is one of a few overseas locations. Apparently they have a device that shaves the edges off the pages to make them look new. They have a huge section of photobooks from movies and books of sketches from Studio Ghibli films. That's insane. They also have a crazy wall of Japanese used movies and CDs. They had a whole whack of group sounds albums from the sixties! Once I get a job, I'll have to hit that store and buy some stuff.

I also went to Yokoyaya quickly. I want to marry that store. I swear, the quality is phenomenal for a dollar store! It's officially my favorite place to buy things like dish soap and household items. Not only is the quality great, but everything comes in fun packages. You can't lose. I also discovered the part of Chinatown that Chinese people actually frequent. It was crowded and crazy and full of odd little stores and a super sketchy mall. This week I plan on checking out Aberdeen Mall, with more crazy Chinese stores and another Japanese dollar store.

+ I had a job interview yesterday, and it went very well! I hope to hear back soon.

+ I'm just curious? Who actually reads this thing anymore? I don't think people make time for blogs.

+ The Bell Orchestre show was truly amazing. I basically only got to say hello to Richie, and that was it. The show went way too late, and could have been way better if they didn't include that horrible Beast band on the bill, or cut their set short. Wow, they were terrible. They reminded me of everything I didn't like about Montreal. You know, bearded Francophone scenesters with some goth lady on vocals with horrible jazzy vocals and annoying music. Why is Montreal obsessed with awful sounding bands that are trying to be trip hop. Bell Orchestre were tremendous, though. The new album is going to be excellent, I feel.

+ The weather has been gret here for pretty much three weeks straight.

+ I want to go exploring today, but I don't know where.

+ Tonight you can add Bell Orchestre to my list of bands I used to pay next to nothing to see and now have to pay astronomical prices and service fees to see them at some venue. I wish I could see them in Richie's apartment again, although he doesn't actually live there any longer.