Dollars and Nonsense

Sometimes I wish I could perform a Jedi Mind Trick on people in check out lines.  With a gentle hand swipe, I would say, "You don't need to argue.  You need to pay and go home to enjoy your afternoon."

As much as I have a very Dutch notion of finding a good deal, I utterly despise people who are cheap.  To further qualify and specify this, I'm speaking about people with a cheap state of mind, who perpetually teetotal through their lives.

While I was out today picking up a few things, I found myself in a small line at a Zellers.  A lady and her son were paying for something and there was some sort of confusion about how many Zellers Points were being deducted from their account.  Fine, whatever.  I know that it sucks to be ripped off by a big box store, and it sucks even more when it takes two employees and an assistant manager to figure out the calculus equation it takes to fix the problem.  This is not even the issue; it's what happened after this initial problem which really stuck into my craw.

You see, stores are charging 5 cents for plastic bags now, and I am totally in support of this initiative.  When this lady was told this, she very politely and reservedly announced an objection, then asked the poor check out person why they're doing this now...and then finally after the brief explanation that "people are carrying bags around with them now to save on plastic" and the like, she said that she wished she was told up front.

And to myself, I wondered...WHY?!

Lady, you obviously have the time to waste standing in front of the cashier arguing over $5 accumulated on a plastic swipe card.  If you were told about the whole 5 cents added to your bill up front, you would have just had the same argument at a different time.  People like you are what is wrong with capitalism because you insist on paying bottom dollar for everything and you have no concept of the value of anything.

It took a lot for me not to say something to this cheap lady in front of her son, who himself under his own 11 year old breath said, "so complicated."  Good for you kid.  You get something that your Mom won't ever understand.  Time is way more valuable than stuff; you have to choose your battles.

And this is the reason I said nothing in the moment and dumped it onto this blog.  I could conceivably still be arguing with this lady right now and not enjoying my purchase at home.  In case you're wondering, I paid about $25 and got a pack of soda flavored freeze pops and a copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (which saved about $10 from other prices I've seen around these days).  A good deal even considering the 10 minutes I wasted buying it!

Red Dead Redemption: A Short Chronicle

In the last couple of weeks, I've been exploring the vast landscape contained in the game Red Dead Redemption and there have been moments which have affected me in ways I did not expect.

On one play through, where I decided to roam the outskirts of the countryside, my encounters included two full on wars with entire gangs of cattle thieves, kidnappers and ne'er do wells.  After one of the battles, the snakes and vultures started their approach to the wasted campground.

Later, as I was returning to one of my home bases, I encountered someone who asked me to go to a new town I hadn't yet visited, so I got on my horse and started down the unfamiliar dirt road.  Upon that journey, I encountered another stranger (an old man picking flowers) who asked for my assistance in picking a bouquet for his wife.  My horse and I trotted down by a rickety bridge and a stream, and after a moment of surveying the land my protagonist uttered, "What went on here?"

At this point a group of wild boar charged me and my horse and killed the poor thing...I took out my double barrel, laid them to waste, skinned them for their hides and continued on my way trying to find some flowers for an old man.  Of course, the peril of such a task was not done, as now a pack of wolves attacked me, causing me to use a rifle to scare them off and kill one of them.

The real me gasped a little, heart jogging a little faster than normal, as I paused this moment to reflect on the untamed and random nature of my exhilaration.  I wasn't even following the story; I was just picking flowers for an old man, and the world I explored turned on me.

"Game" isn't even the right word anymore.

Dirty Work 5/13/2010

The latest installment of your soon-to-be-favorite weekly podcast.

Mixing in some talking about shitty Montreal hockey fans, video games, music and a lot of bad jokes, this episode features a stellar list of great new tracks and old favorites alike.

Have Fun and Enjoy.

Dirty Work 5/13/2010

Denis Arsenault's Podcast

Dan-e-o on Dirty Work

Hey Kids.

Last week, we had a blast interviewing Tha O Show's own Dan-e-o on my weekly radio show Dirty Work on CJLO.

Follow the link and check out the interview where Dan and I talk about music, entertainment, and even throw in a bit of wrestling talk.

Enjoy and let us know what you think.

A Eulogy for Booey

Tonight we lost a member of our family.  His name was Booey and he was our oldest cat.  We took him to the emergency room tonight because he was short of breath and wasn't moving very much.

The vet on staff, said that his heart was "galloping" as if there was a third beat to the usual two that would make up your average heartbeat.  After the X-rays were displayed, we discovered that his lungs were filled and surrounded by fluid.  When I heard that it would be a matter of weeks before nature would catch up to him and treatment would only buy months at best, my wife and I decided that putting him to sleep would be the best thing.

I've cried more in the last few hours than I have in a seriously long time.  I had only known him for four of his ten years, but I have to say that he and I became friends (even though I knew deep down that his Mama was first on his list).  He was always reliably in one of a few places at any given time, and few were ever as vocal about their feelings as he was.

When I met him, he was about 6 and it was at the end of my first date with Rae Rae.  He sat across from me beside the television, staring at me for hours, not moving at all.  He stared so long, that he got a little cross-eyed from the whole thing, thus coining the visual state of "Boo-eyes".

His Norman Bates side was also a constant source of comedy in the home.  If I was petting him and Rae Rae was in the room, he would enjoy the petting, while following Mama around the room saying little sweet "maaahhms" to her.  That's right.  He was so enamored with her, that he would literally say "Mom".

Whenever we would have a party or just a few people over, he would camp out in the closet and wait for the noise to subside.  Like in any get together, it would get down to one or two stragglers hanging out and -- very slowly and cautiously -- he would eke into the room to investigate.  When he walked, it sounded like high heels; he was ever tiptoeing, not realizing that it was always a lot louder on a hardwood floor than he desired it to be.

The wound is still fresh in my heart.  I keep looking at those few places that he would usually be sleeping, wishing that he would be there.  We have three other cats who we love very much, but Booey's absence is felt deeply and the home does not feel like it is full anymore.

When I lost my grandmother in 2003, although I loved her deeply, I did not cry very much.  In the presence of the whole family, filled with a mixture of emotions that added up to an over-spiced food dish, I felt an overwhelming amount of restraint.  I think I felt it better to be strong for my Mom, than to join in with everyone else.

Tonight, when faced with the end of Booey's life on this planet, my heart swelled and sank all at once and I couldn't have stopped crying even if I tried.  We were with him right until the end, and it was done in a humane and honorable way.

Unlike the complexities of human relationships, the love of Booey reminds me of the simple pleasures in life, which can be just a pat on the head or falling asleep at your feet...and your life is better because they're there.

Farewell my beautiful boy.  I'll miss you.  If there's a heaven anywhere, I know yours would be filled with Elton John mixtapes, olive sampling trays and a couch piled with blankets.

Dirty Work Podcast

Hey Kids,

I humbly invite you to check out the 3/4/2010 edition of my radio show Dirty Work here in podcast form.

Live tonight at 8pm EST here when you click "Listen Now" or locally in Montreal at 1690am.

Much Love,

BD

In (Perpetual) Defense of Professional Wrestling

Much like Chris Rock has said about Hip Hop, I love pro wrestling but I'm tired of defending it.

It has been around (in one way or another) since the dawn of civilization and considered to be the oldest sport in existence.  Ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians all had storied histories of contests between two men battling in a ring in front of large crowds.  There are also strong traditions of wrestling contests in India and Japan that go back as far as the beginnings of their cultures.

Lets skip ahead a few thousand years and go to the roots leading into the modern concept of what we know today as Sports Entertainment.

Aside from the American Indians having a strong background in wrestling to solve differences, and Abraham Lincoln wrestling over 300 matches in his lifetime, there were a bunch of Irish immigrants who settled in the Vermont area in the 1800s and with them came a long standing custom of fighting in front of crowds in the New World.  The soldiers of both sides of the American Civil War used their downtime to wrestle each other.  Once the war ended, many of these ex-soldiers did it for money at county fairs.

Bedtime Stories

Some nights to get to sleep, I pop in a DVD of a George Carlin interview from near the end of his life.  He talks about his whole life and work, unravelling a tale of odd twists and turns, unconventional education, military radio, love of language, coke-fuelled performances...and all calmly with the decorum of a 70 year old, still-working-shows-on-the reg-at-the-time kinda dude.

Funny thing

When I was in grade 2, we wrote in these journals and over a course of days I wrote (from what I could remember) the movie The Karate Kid Part II out in long hand.

Daniel-san, with his face sympathy and never-changing voice and Mr. Miyagi with his one word proclamations of wisdom always bailing him out whenever he gets in a jam.  (And say what you want, but the man kicks some serious ass!)

I also had an Olivia d'Abo reference come out today from this movie.

It's like my brain said, "I wanna take a little vacation.  I know!  How's about 1986."

Always On Ground

Every time that I cross the threshold of my place of employment, a switch goes on in my head and I'm altered until I walk out again at the end.


This is not a universal circumstance for everyone...it's more about working in an environment where tension is not only present, but helpful to your performance.  But the catch is that you have to project an image of altogether cool and control to everyone around you, otherwise the urgency that you are harnessing turns into panic.


Without getting too specific, I move things from one place to another all in the service of high end customers.  I keep them moving high up in the air at high speeds and keep them from breaking down.  In this service, there are an awful lot of requests that follow from multiple sources, and things go political at the drop of a hat.

My New Radio Show

We had our last Siamese Libertines show tonight on CJLO.  Lots of fun, nostalgia, hilarity, sugar, caffeine and sugar abounded.  It was the end of an era lasting 7 years and about 3 years for yours truly.

I now assume the time slot of 8pm to 10pm EST on Thursday nights going forward.  I have chosen the name of the show and I'm starting next week.

The show is called "Dirty Work" and it'll be full of musical goodness and all sorts of tomfoolery.

Radio Cures All

In about a week or so I'm starting my own radio show.  I'm trying to come up with a good name for the show, so here I will brainstorm some names:

Ludvig Von Awesome's Soundwave Trap

The Ghost of Indie's Past

The Pretentious Douchebag Top 10

Song For the Dumped

Up until yesterday I was in a band.

I woke up, had coffee and went to practice thinking it would be a time to play, forget about life's troubles and generally enjoy myself.  Well that was totally the wrong mindset to have before walking into a "band meeting".  And this meeting felt like the many of the final conversations that I and some of you occasionally have when you are breaking up with someone.