The Story of Stabby

This entry my take a while to write so please bare with me...

Yesterday was an adventure. While preparing to make hamburgers and fries for Scott, Jessica and myself, I had a minor accident - my hand slipped and I ended up slicing open my left index finger. Blood sprayed everywhere, and Jessica quickly called 9-1-1. Paramedics arrived and I was taken to the Victorian Emergency Room. After a seven hour wait with Scott, Jess and my mother, I saw the (only) doctor on duty and had five stitches put into my finger.

Oh what a day. The doctor put four needles into the wound, but the freezing didn't take, so four needles later he attempted to put the stitches in. It still hurt like a bitch. I remember why I hate needles. Seven + hours in the ER and I was sent home.

Ended up crashing with Jess at about 4AM, woke at noon and then slept some more. Went to dinner with Jackie, Joshua and Scott...then later in the evening went to redress my wound and found that the doctor didn't stitch my hand properly...

In the ER I had told them that the blade went right through my finger - they didn't think it did and chose not to listen to me when I told them it had. So the inside part of the cut wasn't stitched. Joshua, Scott and I went to the Mis ER, where I was looked at within an hour. They cleaned the wound and looked at it. The doctor said it should have been stitched, but there wasn't anything he could do to fix it now. Fuck.

Scroticus and I make quite the gimpy pair now. Scott's brace is off now, but his mobility is still greatly reduced. I'm left handed, so everything (including typing), is being done with my much weaker right hand. Grrrr. At least we're close and can help each other out.

Now I am off to sleep once more. I shall post pictures of the gimpy pair soon...

- Stabby Gibson

The Return of the...'Peggers

Joshua and I have returned home from a very great trip, with lots of new memories and best of all - lots of pictures! Our journey to Montréal was a rather successful one and we enjoyed all of our time there. While I won't be able to fit every story in, I shall endeavor to recap as best I can:

Day One: Early wake-up to arrive at the Winnipeg airport. Smooth flight to Toronto with a two hour layover and a successful (and brief) flight into Montréal. All is good. Make it to Heather's god-forsaken apartment and head off to shop. Don't actually purchase anything of genuine use...but do manage to get a museum pass. Visit with Heather; post Bon Jovi of course.

Day Two: Wake up and head off to the Botanical Gardens. Chuckle at Station Pie IX. Take lots of photographs in the insane heat, love the Chinese Gardens. Slightly disappointed in the Japanese ones however. The Insectarium, while interesting gave me the creeps...and was filled with creeps - errr, children. Wander over to the Biodome - had a blast there. Loved the little penguins and the various parts of the centre. Educational, fun...and very impressive. Wahoo bio. Meet up with Heather in the evening and enjoy a nice dinner at Carlos & Pepé's. Even ended up running into an old highschool friend - weird, huh? Wander to Old Montréal...damn Basilica is closed. Who closes a church? Sleep...and end up falling out of bed. Grr to Heat.

Day Three: Exhausted by heat. Boo-urns. Get up late - obsessed with going to the Market (which we never made it to). Return to the old port (Vieux Port) and go to the Archaeology Museum. Me-thinks Heather and Joshua were a tad bit bored...I, well, lets just say heaven. Lots and lots with the fun. Japanese Pottery Exhibit, Burial Sites, Pre-1800's Archeological Site. Saweeet. More shopping, wander around the port and see beautiful fireworks around La Ronde. Exhausted, wander back to Heather's.

Day Four: Morning arrives and it's off to breakfast! Brunch. Lunch. Whatever they call it in Québec. We go to Chez Cora's and have more fruit then one can possibly imagine. Go for a whole day of shopping...get Heather clothes and myself...ummmm, nothing. Boo-urns to that. Oh well. Dinner at fancy, cool Chinese place in China town. Good food galore. Lots of fun, again. End the night by seeing an amazing fire-dancer display at Just For Laughs. Wow. Double and triple wow. We even ended up checking into a hotel...Heather's place scared me too much. We fell in love with air conditioning...and Heather slept on our glorious, cold, floor.

Day Five: Heather is sick for work. Yeah...right. We shop, return to the old port and end up going for lunch at this very fancy, beautiful patio restaurant. After we head off to the Science Centre where we play around like kids, watch clips from Ice Age and have a blast with the exhibits. Did you know Joshua, Heather and I can power a microwave just with our legs? Now you do. We ended up seeing a 3D IMAX movie on underwater creatures - very cool. Everything should be in 3D. Everything. Next we go to the worst bar/restaurant I have ever been too...left after a mere fifteen minutes. I complained a lot - it worked. We ended up going to a place called Zyng Noodlery. Quite good. Oriental food once again. Eventually part ways and crash in nice cold hotel room.

Day Six: Wake up...and return to the Basilica. While not terribly impressed with the religious aspects, the design and construction is amazing. Wander around Chinatown once again, $15 swords. Too bad getting them on the plane would be tricky. Shop till we drop...spending too much energy and money. It was a fun time though. Meet up with Heather and spend exhaustive hours trying to pick out a dinner restaurant - during which Joshua runs into a highschool friend. Weird. Double weird in fact. We decide finally on Mike's and I get a pizza. Heather gets a job offer - me-thinks she should take it. Take it Heather...take it. Head back to Heather's and say our farewells. We'll miss you!

Day Seven: Off to the airport after watching the news for the first time in a week. My how the world has changed. Get to the airport and kill three hours until our flight. Rough ride, but we make it to Winnipeg safe and sound.

It was a great trip all in all. Thanks Heather for letting us stay with you, despite the creepiness factor. I had a blast and I loved Montréal dearly - Ottawa still holds my heart though. I had a great time and now have a lot of memories (and a lot less money). It was nice to get away...

...but in a way it's nice to be home...

Montréal

It is just past 11pm on July 12th, and I am just preparing to head to bed. Tomorrow I have to be up at 4AM. Now, with my work schedule as of late this isn't an odd occurance - what makes it unique is the fact that in several hours I will be on a flight en route to Montréal, Quebec. I'm all packed, ready to go...Joshua and I have selected out seats and checked-in online. Everything is coming together.

Today has been a frantic day, to say the least. I've been so busy cleaning and preparing. My apartment is starting to look livable, like a home. Did a bunch of laundry and packing...and now at 11, I can sit down and rest and take it all in. Tomorrow I will be in another city, touring, quite likely lost and with a little bit of luck having the time of my life.

There will be no 389 LBS drivers, no apples thrown out of windows - and there shall most certainly not be any Trucker's Paradise. I will have my camera with me - of course, ready to take hundreds of pictures. My I'm quite looking forward to this.

Also today, it is Michelle's birthday. Happy Birthday Michelle! My parents also had their 20th wedding Anniversary. Wow, 20 years. Honestly I must say that I'm impressed...for 20 years doesn't seem to be a common occurrence these days. Congrats to Michelle and my 'rents.

Five more hours and we'll be on our way to the airport. Seven more hours and we'll be in the air. Fourteen more hours and we'll be landing in Montréal. Yay.

...somehow I doubt I'll get to sleep very easily tonight.

Summer Holidays

1. Days Until Holidays: Two
2. Days Until I'm Unpacked: ?
3. Days Until Michelle's Birthday: One
4. Days Until Jessica's Birthday: Fourteen
5. Days Until Heather's Birthday: Twenty-six
6. Days Until My Screenplay Is Due: Fifty-one

What do you get when you put a slightly OCD afflicted invidiual into a slightly messy apartment? A very frustrated Christopher. My kitchen is almost done, but damn there's still a lot more to go. On the plus side, I got a new(ish) free microwave...on the down side I have no idea where I'm going to put it. Got lots of space in the bedroom...but somehow I don't think it would really do well in there.

In two days I leave for Montréal for a week. Woot, woot! Joshua and I haven't finalized all of the details just yet - but it looks like we're going to have a great time. I just have to survive today at work and then we're home free! After some convincing by Josh, I'm working on my screenplay once more with a new goal - August 31st. With any luck I'll be able to get a lot done on the trip.

It looks like it's a beautiful day out. We still haven't really got any significant amount of rain - some people are loving it, some are hating it. I'm choosing not to complain. I work until 10 tonight and if I can survive that, then I'm free for a week on holidays. Woot! I definitely won't have to complain then.

Mental Note: Bring sanitizer to Heather's place in Montréal.

Life is finally coming together, or so it seems. My summer isn't working out like I had expected it to, but so far it seems better then I could have anticipated. Yay for life starting to work itself out. On that cheerful note, I'm going to wrap this up. I'll be sure to post pictures and blogs from my trip...hope you all have a great week!

Woot! Three updates in a month! New record for this quarter!

Six Characters

Kaylee Lynn: Kaylee is an 11 year old girl, who died in a horrific accident. She is a very curious individual and questions many aspects of her life (and subsequent death). She has an innate ability to notice the slightest details about a person. In her life she was a dancer and a writers, and was considered an outcast in school.

Rebecca Schultz: Rebecca is a 21 year old woman who during her life suffered from a form of paranoid schizophrenia. She believed that she was a prophet and wrote scriptures, mathematical codes, and novels as a response to the delusions in her head. She was a mathematical genius in life, however was never taken seriously due to her condition.

Angela Raine: Keeping with tradition, my screenplay will also have a woman of the Raine line. Angela is a forty-something house-wife, who has two children, a husband and is also an acclaimed novelist. She has spent her life in an abusive relationship and writes as an outlet. She doesn't care about her two kids, and they hate her. She went to school to be an English Teacher, but quit after her first year of teaching.

Daniel Margolis: Daniel is a 17 year old male who is a highschool student in a local school. He gets relatively good grades, is generally well adjusted and works in a local dance studio. While not a terribly good dancer, he tries and looks up to the older and more experienced teachers at the studio. He is also openly gay, single and is in love with one of his co-workers.

Carter Gilroy: Carter is a 35 year old male, who works as an accountant for a large corporation. He is very unhappy with his life and is an alcoholic, spends much of his time doing drugs and gambling. Several years ago he tried to clean himself up, and even go arrested for drug possession, however he has recently returned to his former ways.

Takoda Ashby: Takoda is a 29 year old male, who has recently graduated from medical school and has just begun his career as a doctor. He has been hired by the government as a medical examiner and was present at that accident were Kaylee died. He is very analytical and serious, and has almost no sense of humour at all.

On My Own

If anyone ever thought my basement or bedroom could get a little messy - wait until you see my apartment. Yes...I have moved out into my own apartment...

A bunch of people helped me move in on Monday and Tuesday, we did a bunch of shopping and now I have most of my stuff in my very own apartment. Things are all over the place and I have a lot of unpacking to do, but it's done. Thanks to Kevin being much stronger then I am, all of my furniture made it from the basement into the apartment. All of my glass furniture also made the trip successfully.

So here I sit, updating my website and posting in my blog. I should have pictures of the place online soon - though right now I don't plan to take many pictures. I should have gotten more on moving day, but oh well.

This'll just be a short update - need to get back to cleaning and sorting. I hope all is well with everyone...take care and when all is ready you can come see the new place. Bye!

O Canada

Summer is here, and along with Summer comes our annual Canada Day Get-together. For the past five or six years we have hung out at my place and gone to see the Fire-Works at the Assiniboine Park. This year, however we will be breaking tradition. Between recent developments with Jessica and Scott, we will not be able to attend (the steadily worsening fireworks displays). We're going to relax...and I intend to enjoy the down time...

July is definitely going to start off differently, and will be a month of changes.

On July 3rd, I move out into an apartment - a home all on my own. I applied for a place on Wednesday and was approved almost immediately. I get the keys Monday afternoon, and I can't explain how excited I am. I have a lot of work to do, packing and such, and I've drafted many people to help me...and eventually it's all going to get done. I feel terrible having to leave Lana behind...but it was an eventuality I knew I would have to one day face. I'm really going to miss home and especially her...

Mid-July, I'm going to be going to Montreal for the first time. Joshua and I are planning a week long road trip to and from Montreal...a nice get away to escape not only work, but Winnipeg in general. It'll be nice to leave the city and have a mini vacation. It's definitely well deserved and I'm sure we could both do with a holiday. I'm quite excited to see old Montreal and of course to visit dear sweet Heather.

Later this month I also register for classes. Yay for the University of Winnipeg...fourth year, holy. What have I done with the last few years? Scary.

Finally, this month I hope to get a new job. I've all but given up on waiting for RBC to finally contact me, and Joshua and I may have new jobs lined up at Convergys. While I know it's evil, it's well paying and something I should be able to do with some proficiency. I hope to keep working at Safeway part time...but if I'm going to afford living on my own (and going to school at the same time) I need something with more hours. In comes Convergys...time to sell my soul.

A lot has changed in the last month, my sister has graduated, my friend's lives have changed and my views on the world have shifted...so much has changed, more then I can even really relate here. My new place is going to have a nice little office for me - so hopefully my writing can get back on track once again. Time to revisit my list of goals from April:

1. Support My Creativity - Working on it...
2. Complete Screenplay Draft - Failed...
3. Complete Novel Edit Draft - Due December 25th, 2006
4. Plan May-Long Bash - What a bash it was...
5. Move Out On My Own - WOOT!
6. Learn One Great Song - Due October 14th, 2006
7. Archive My Life - Slowly working on it...
8. Run In The Marathon - My running partner broke his knee...
9. Find Happiness - Think I might almost be there.

Two failed, two succeeded...several still in progress. I'm getting there...let's hope July is as productive as it will be different.

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." - Jawaharlal Nehru

...Happy Birthday Jennifer, where-ever you are...