Mark Wood

The title sounds like a music group but i assure you, it is not (As far as I know.) But I did spend Thursday and Friday in Toronto working on Migrating Laptops for the Pharmacy Liason Officers. There is a funny story that I have been telling people but I would much rather not say it to everyone. It basically involves a Porno CD, and I will leave it at that.

So I spent the time not working for the Ministry of Health with my cousin David who was coming down to Kingston anyway for some much needed R&R. We got to hang out and look around and hang out a bit. I decided to take in a play and went to see Jersey Boys again at the Toronto Theater for the Arts. I was lucky in that I baught my ticket at the door and was able to get a seat for $35 (Tickets are normally $65 to $130.)  I was also lucky because I got a seat in between two people but one of them did not show up. This was good for me as I am very broad shouldered and dont fit into the seats very well. But I was able to enjoy the play and took the TTC “Red Rocket” back to the hotel room.

Then David and I boarded the VIA train back to Kingston to spend the weekend shopping for xmas gifts for my family and for Amy’s family. So far I only need gifts for about 4 or 5 more people then I should be all done. Hopefully I can get that done this weekend. It was nice to hang out with David and Amy as it gets very quiet in my apartment with only Edyy and myself living there.

This weekend Wendy, Julie, Amy, Dustyn and I all took a trip up to Toronto to see two musicals. The first musical we saw was Jersey Boys, which is the story of how Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons came to be a band. They sang a majority of their popular songs and had a really good story to go along with it. I can see why it won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical. We took the 20 minute subway ride to North York Centre Station and walked the block to get to the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Being an overweight person, the seating was not comfortable at all. It felt like I was sitting in a sardine can the entire time. This was extremely not enjoyable. But once I got past the feeling of being canned and became engrossed in the musical, I had a really good time.

The next day in Toronto we went to the matinee of Avenue Q at The Elgin Theater. This was the musical I was most excited to see. I have been listening to the CD for the past two years and loved how it felt like I was brought back to my childhood, yet still reminded that this was adult content with the brief puppet sex scene and all the swearing. The seating in this theater was much more comfortable as the seating was for normal people, and not people the size of Amy. Knowing all the songs made the play a little less exciting cause I had figured out what was going to happen already by listening to the CD. But there were some non musical parts that made it entertaining. The great thing about this musical is that it sounded almost identical to the original Broadway musical that I had been listening to which made me feel like I was watching it on Broadway.

After Avenue Q ended, the five of us walked 15 or so blocks down to the CN Tower, only to be met with thousands of people also wanting to go up and see it. So we all decided that since we had already seen it, that there was no point of going again with it being this busy. So we stopped for a drink on the very humid and sunny day and made our way to China Town (Spadina St). We took a look at a few stores and I ended up buying a coconut so I could try real, fresh coconut milk. It was very different but something nice from the everyday. We ended up making it back to our Hotel room around 9:30 after we stopped for supper at the Elephant & Castle. I have 4 pints of Guinness and an OK Chicken & Mushroom Penne. Dustyn and I wanted to have a few more drinks, so we went down to the Hotel’s Bar and had another Pint and a Martini. At that point I was feeling the effects of both the booze and the 4 hours that I just spent walking around Toronto. I got into the hotel room, changed and passed out almost instantly. All in all it was a good night.

The next day we all packed up and head out, but before we left, we stopped off to get some food and something things that people wanted to pick up but forgot to the day before. I walked into an HMV and looked around at their 4 floors of music and DVD’s and games. I did not see their sign advertising that they had Ninteno Wii’s in stock until we walked back pasted the door. I had been looking for a Wii for the past few months but had not been able to find one in Kingston. So I took the opportunity and purchased a Nintendo Wii. Sadly I am not going to be able to play with it since I will be moving in 7 days and I don’t want to have to package it all back up. So I figure I will keep it packaged until I move into my new place on the First.

I am both excited and nervous about moving in 7 days. I am excited because this is going to be MY place. This is not going to be like moving into residence, this is going to my very own apartment. For that one reason, I am excited. But at the same time, I am nervous about the move because of the fact that I am not sure when the place is going to cleaned and painted and I have a surgery coming up on Wednesday that might make things harder for me to move. Thankfully I have many wonderful family and friends that are helping me move. I don’t think I will be posting anything that week as I wont have the internet till the 2nd and I am sure I will still be unpacking.

I was on my way out the door to catch the bus on monday and did my normal “Specticals, Testicals, Wallet and Watch” check to make sure I had everything I needed for the day. Well when I got to the Wallet part, there was nothing in my back pocket. Ok, that was fine, I must have taken it out, I’ll go get it and be on my way. Well the 2 minute search turned into realizing that my wallet was not in the apartment at all. So I called the last place I knew I had it.

I was on my way home from Ottawa after seeing Amy for the weekend and her convocation. I took my ticket and ID out of my wallet and placed my wallet back in my back pocket. I got on the train and that was the last time I remember seeing it. So I called VIA in hopes that someone found it… No such luck. So I desided to call all my credit card companies and my bank to cancel my cards. What I also did not realize at the time is the fact that I had everything in there. So once I got to work (late I might add) I thought about everything that was in there and started doing some investigation on what I needed to do in order to replace it.

Well I started calling around and looking online and came to the sad realization that it was going to cost me over $100 to get everything back. $10 for my Drivers Licence, $10 for my SIN, $27 for my Birth Certificate from BC and $65 for the bus pass for the rest of the month (which I had ALREADY bought on the first of June). Not only did I have to spend so much to get everything back, but I had also taken $100 out of my bank the day before cause I felt for the first time in months, that I wanted to have some cash on hand.

So now I am out all my ID and my entire “life”, which I have to replace, but I am also out $100 cash. That means I lost over $200. And I don’t think I left it somewhere or it fell out of my back pocket either. I really think someone pick pocketed me, and took off with everything. I felt so violated once I thought that because it was someone I did not know, getting that close to me and stealing something that really ment a lot to me.

The only feeling I think I can imagine it to be like is rape. But only 10 time less violating then what rape might be like. Just having someone reach into your personal bubble and poping that bubble for their own greed.

I was more upset over losing the $100 then I was everything else. Only because I know I can get everything else back. I know it would have cost, but I CAN get it back. But now I am left to pick up the peices and continue on. I have applied for everything and will get most of it in 3 to 4 weeks. Unfotunatly, I will have to change my Health Card and Drivers Licence because I found out that I will be moving soon (Thats another post when I have some time).

All I can say about this is I hope it never happens to anyone else because it really effects you in a weird way and I really hope the person that took it, took the money and tossed everything else out. And if they want to use it to ruine my financial life, they better hope I never find out who they are.

Ok, so I have been really busy for the last month and have not be wanting to make a long huge post about my great trip to Toronto to see the musical Wicked and attend Medieval Times. But I finally have some time and I feel like writing a lot today.

So, lets start back a month ago. Amy, Julie and Eric arrived at my place around 10 to pick me up for the long trip to T-dot. We all got packed into the small Hyundai and I set up my GPS on my laptop so we knew where we were going. It was about a 2 and a half hours drive but we arrived at our Hotel without that must of a problem. We checked in around 1 o’clock and then brought our stuff up the the room on the 14th floor. Well it was really the 13th floor, but I don’t wanna get into that. So we claimed beds and set our stuff where we were going to sleep. Julie was asked not to sleep with Eric by her Boy Friend, so I was asked to sleep in the same bed as him. I thought about it because I really wanted to spend time with Amy and sleep in the same bed as her since we love to cuddle with each other. I gave it some thought but declined because I do not get to see much of Amy.

We had a few hours to kill before the musical that night. So we went to the Eaton Center which was a few blocks down from where we were staying and right across from the Cannon Theater. We toured the mall for a while and walked around here and there before we walked back to our hotel room to get changed for the musical. We had planned to do so many things that we had to hold off on some of them till the next day. So we all go ready and made it a few minutes late after the doors opened. Gladly it still takes some time before they let us go to our seats, so we were not all that late. Unfortunately none of us had a camera so there were no pictures taken of the inside. The play was about 3 hours long and a lot better then I thought it was going to be. I give the writer credit because this was a well done play. I had a few questions because not everything matched with the movie The Wizard of Oz, but other then that it was great. Amy will go on for hours about everything so I will spare everyone the major and minor details other then the fact that this play is defiantly worth seeing.

We got home later that night and went right to bed since we had lots to do in the morning before the Medieval Times later in the evening. We got up bright and early, 9 o’clock (for four 20/21 year olds, thats early) and got ready to walk around Chinatown for the afternoon. Go look out from the CN tower and take a ride on the subway in Toronto. We also wanted to take a ride on the tram, but we were not able to find the time to do it. We walked the entire trip of about 10 or 15 blocks. It was cold out but walking around really helped to keep us warm. Well me at least because everyone else was still cold from being so skinny (Chalk one up for heavy people). We went into various stores in Chinatown and then made our way to the CN Tower. We walked around the dome for a bit and stood on the glass floor. I was scared at first being as heavy as I am, I did not want to be the first guy to fall through, but I read later in the dome, that it can support up to 14 full grown hippo’s. And since I don’t weight one full grown hippo, I went back and walked on it. We made our way out of the CN Tower and stopped for a hot dog from the street vendors. Nothing is better then a street vendor hot dog or sausage. MMmmmm good. After we walked and ate our food,we made our way to Union station and hopped on the Subway to College street which was a block from our hotel. We got back to our hotel and rested a bit before we left for Medieval Times.

We ended up being about a half hour late because we did not judge how far we were properly and got lost on a maze of roads. The good thing about it is that they make you wait an hour before they let you in to your tables. So we only waited a few minutes. We were to cheer for the blue Knight and since we paid the extra $7 dollars, we got front row seats. The Tournament was awesome and I ended up losing my voice I was cheering so loud. Sadly though, our Knight lost because he was kicked in the nuts by the Black & White Knight then was cut open. It was too bad because he was doing really well. The Red & Yellow Knight ended up with the Princess and killing the bad guy. It’s different every time so you never know if you are going to be with the winning Knight or not. We met with all the actors afterwords and realized that our Knight was huge. He must have been about 6 foot 5 or something like that. He was really nice and let us get a picture with him. I ended up using my entire disposable camera at the event. It was the best time I have had in a LONG time. We made our way back to the hotel and went to sleep almost right away as we wanted to head out by 10 am because it was a 5 hours drive back to Ottawa for everyone.

We got up the next morning and signed out and got back on the road. We were going to stop off in Kingston long the way to drop me off, but I was able to spend the weekend at Amy’s place so we all drove right on to Ottawa. This was my first trip with friends only and it was SOOO much fun. I cannot recommend enough to people to just go on a two or more day trip with some friends and just do everything you can. It was a great relaxation from school and everything else. Amy does not believe me when I tell her I really liked the musical Wicked, but I think that is because I am not as excited about it as she is. I keep telling her that I really liked it, but I would not pay 100 to see it again because it’s too expensive. If it was $25 to $50, then I might think about it. Good times were had by everyone and it really makes me want another trip some time soon. If I can muster the money together, I really wanna to back to Oromocto with Amy to visit some of my old friends. But who know when I will be able to get the money and the time to leave again.

November 11th has come and gone. The memories of those events still remembered by the many veterans are still strong in their heads. I recently attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This was not my first Remembrance day ceremony as when I was an Air Cadet, I was “forced” to every event. I was one of the handful of cadets that wanted to be there on the bitter cold and raining day. So as a tribute to everyone that fought to make my life better, I have been to the remembrance day ceremony every year since 1999. I know it’s not that long of time, but 7 of 21 years is 1/3 of my life.

I got home from Ottawa a few hours ago and went though my email. A friend of mine emailed me a Tribute to the Fallen Soldiers over in Afghanistan. I thought since the only place I could find it was on putfile.com, I would upload it to everywhere I could. This tribute moved me a lot and I think it should be shared with the world. I have uploaded it so far to YouTube.com Which is where the embedded video below is from. Google Video.ca and Video.ca It is also found at www.putfile.com/nbsailor, just click on the black box and it will bring you to the video on putfile.com

I have pictures from the ceremony yesterday but have not had any time to edit and shrink them. I need to do some school work tonight and tomorrow, but I should have time on Wednesday to upload them for everyone to see. I will make another post once I have uploaded them. For now please enjoy A Tribute For Our Fallen Soldiers.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
- John McCrae

I’m on the train going home from a great trip at Amy’s place. This weekend has been going so well, that I don’t want it to end. Amy and I got to the train station on time and we were able to relax for all of 3 minutes till the train arrived. I’m used to the way the train looked and was amazed when I saw two Via 1 cars and two coach cars, I thought this is going to be great. I know that there was not enough coach cars for all the people that wanted to get on the train. To my surprise, the started boring passengers on the second Via 1 train. Since I was at the back of the pack, I moved in the other direction and jumped right onto the via 1 train.

I must admit, this is the lap of luxury, There is enough room for me to sit with my feet all the way out and still have enough room for my laptop. The head rests are great as they do not let your head go to far if you en up drifting off. The colours are much nicer and I love the ability to use curtains to shut out the bright light, (if I was traveling in the summer.)

So, now that I have told you about how the end of the weekend was, now, I’m going to get into how my entire weekend was.

So it really started off in Friday, as I woke up @ 8:30 to get ready to go over to my grandmothers place for breakfast. The reason I got up so early on my morning off, is because it would be the only time I get to see my two great aunts that are down visiting. I go roped into making the French toast, which I must admit, some of the best French toast I have ever had/made. I had a huge headache after wards, but happily is went away before classes started. I was able to apply for a job on campus as I am still looking for some income so I don’t have to pay a lot back once I am out of school.

I got on the train and even though there were alot of people getting on, I was able to secure my own seat without anyone beside me. I got off the train after reading the entire ISSC Constitution and by-laws and making changes to it and adding things in since it has not been done in over 6 years. I got in and Amy and I were alone for a while so we had some alone time together and cuddled until people got home from the casino. We all went to bed early since in the morning, Amy’s grandparents had to catch their flight back to BC and I had to help David move.

I was planning to go see off Amy’s grandparents as well, but I ended up going to bed too late and did not feel like getting up that early. I was able to get to Dave’s place on time, which was 8 am, but Dave was not there. His brother, who as said he would help him move as well,let me into the building since he was able to get in himself We waited around for about 30 minutes till Dave and his father Jim showed up after getting the truck. We loaded the one bedroom apartment in about 45 minutes in the back of the Hertz truck. I said my goodbyes to everyone and got picked up by Amy. From there Amy, Julie and I went to the Metcalf fair and hung out there till about 1 since Julie had to be at work for 2. Amy and I then went “out” for super and we got some French fries from the wagon not to far from Amy’s place. We then went to the AMC 24 in Kanata and saw Crank. I personally loved the movie and will be writing a review on it in a later post. We went home and that basically ended the day.

Today I did nothing but lounge around in my PJ’s and watch some TV. Since it had rained in the morning I really did not feel like doing anything. Also because I was leaving, I did not feel like going places since I had to catch the train at 6:30. So I ate supper at Amy’s place and was off to the train station from there. That brings us to the beginning of the story with the great ride home in the first class train.

I started off the day by going to work. I know it was St. Patty’s day, so I knew I had to wear something with green on it. So I did. There is not much on my undershirt, but it’s there. I got a ride to work today from a friend that just happened to see me standing at the bus stop. It was really cool because it was the Nerds Squad Buggy. I was amazed at how much room there was in this small car, but it might have been since I was really leaning back in the chair. My friend is the head Geek at Best buy, and he is the one that makes all the house calls and everything.

We talked for a bit about how his life is not going all that well write now. I told him to keep his head up, but think about moving on. I think I’m going to try and talk to him more since he reminds me of David a bit. But older and with some really cool certificates.

I got on the train to head to Ottawa for the weekend at around 5:45. Amy got off work a few minutes after and will be meeting me at her place. I think I’m going to see if she wants to go out the bars to have a green beer or not, Or if she just wants to have something at home. I guess I will have to wait till next year if she just wants to stay home and not go out. Meh, it’s not like I really like beer, I just want to say I had a green beer on st. Patrick’s day.

Once I got into Ottawa, Amy was waiting for me with her parents and we went back to Her place. We stopped over at the LCBO and I got some things and a beer. We arrived at Amy’s place and her and I both had some supper and I added blue food colouring to my beer, making it green since beer is yellow. It was a Heineken, which I had never tried before. Needless to say it was not all that good so I ended up choking it all down. But I can now say I had green beer.

That was about all I did that night since I wanted to spend time with Amy. Guess I will have to go out next year or have more of a party.

So my family and I went to the Hershey’s Chocolate Factory in Smith Falls last Thursday. Spencer drove while I used my streets and trips to find out where we needed to go. Serina, Kyle and Nancy were sitting in the back of their new Jeep Liberty. It took us exactly an hour to get from my place to Smith Falls.

We stopped off and had some lunch since I kinda felt like the workers would be on lunch as well at that time. So we all decided to go to McDonald’s since it is the kids favorites. As we were driving to McD’s we pasted the Scotia Bank that Amy was doing her work placement at. I asked if we could stop in, but to no avail.

We ate lunch then went on our merry way to the factory. We got there just as the workers were getting off their lunch breaks. Am I good at calling things or what. So this was the first time for everyone other then myself. I have already been on the tour two or three times before. Everyone thought it was so cool seeing how everything is bring made. I was there to see the Reece Peanut Butter Cups being made. But again, they were not being made. Maybe another time I guess.

After the tour, we went and got a tone of Candy. I’m sure if were to buy all of this in a regular store we would have spent well over $60, but we only spent about $31. I got myself about a pound of Reece’s piece’s, a pound of chocolate covered raisins, and three strawberry milk bars. I’m set for a while now.

As we were going back to Kingston, Spencer, doing his very few kind things, dropped me off at the Bank so I could see Amy, while the rest of them took a bathroom break at the Wal-mart right beside the bank. I saw Amy for all of 5 minutes, but it was really nice to get to see her all dolled up. I walked over to Wal-mart and got back on the road after a short pit stop myself.

The trip back was ok, after Serina and kyle passed out because of a sugar high, the trip home was rather quiet. Mom feel asleep as well which gave Spencer and I some time to Joke around at my mothers expense. We love you mom. All in all it was a good trip since I have not been on one with the rest of my family in a long time. I hope to do it again someone.

Sadly I am on my way back home. I am writing this entry in notepad since I don’t have access to the net on the train. I’m sitting near the front and the group seats, the ones were they are facing each other. The person sitting in the aisle seat has a new born baby sleeping in her arms. The mother is reclined back a bit so I can see the baby really well. IT’S SO CUTE. It almost makes me want one when it looks like this. There is another on the train that I can hear that is a little older and still awake. I want one of those too. But not till I finish my two more years in college and get a job and at least an apartment and married.

The train ride is nice since I have my big head phones and I can’t hear anything while I am listening to my music. So the faint sounds of the other baby crying when the music goes down or changes don’t bother me all too much. I’m listening to a bit of everything from Rock and reggae to classical Beethoven and Jazz. Some Beatles in here too but only the songs that I like from theirs.
I go back to work placement tomorrow to help out Rob since Peter has gone away with his Programming girlfriend to Washington for her reading week. I’m getting 40 hours towards my 112 hours. I should be done my work placement VERY early, some time mid to late March. I’m not sure if I’m going to keep going or what since I’d have some more free time to myself if I didn’t, but I’m also looking for a job there for the summer afterwards too. I’m going to have to talk to the owners to see what they want to happen. If I work there part time and get paid, it would be great having a second income for money, but we shall see what will happen with it.

Going back to the gym has been harder then I thought. I’m not motivated to go anymore. I want to spend time with Amy at night and see her in the morning, but she can’t stay the nights I go to the gym in the morning since I leave very early. I know I have to go if I want to get this weight off. I love Amy so much but I think I’m going to have to suck it up and tell her to stay in Rez the nights that I am going to the gym in the morning and have her come over the nights I don’t have gym. It looks like right now I’m going to be going Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and MAYBE Fridays. I say maybe Friday because I workout in the morning of Thursdays and then I’m on my feet for 6 hours for work placement. I’m usually dead after that but I’m sure Richard will get me to come on Fridays by calling me a wuss.

401 east and west bound from and to Brockville and Prescott was closed on our trip down because of a massive accident on both sides. There was a 5 semi crash going to Prescott and a huge line up because of another 9 or so car pile-up 2 minutes on the other side. I’m sure there was a death on the 5 semis because one of the cabs was disengaged into just scrap. There was another death on the other side because there was a tarp over the car which had run into the back of a semi. It was crazy seeing everything on our way to Ottawa. What surprises me more is the fact that people cannot slow down when they know the weather is the shit. I just don’t get it. I think in all total, we saw about 15 or so accidents. 10 of which the car had gone off the road.

The 416 was great. Not a lot of people on the road and everyone was well spaced and no one really passed anyone else. It was very calm and relaxing. I’m sure it was a lot nicer for Amy’s father Greg.