Personal Blog: One Last KISS Goodbye

Time to close out the year.  

It's the wee hours of December 28 at the time I write this, as we're staring down the barrel of the New Year.  Every year is interesting, each with its own highs and lows.  Generally, the year's been pretty good.  The fact is, that anything crappy that happens usually bears fruit eventually that brings us into better times.  That's something to keep in mind, specifically when things get rough.

On a personal note... actually this whole blog entry is personal... the last couple of months has been less than great.  The wife's health has presented its share of challenges for her, but she's bounced back from all of it, as she always does.  When (if?) I grow up I hope I get to be as tough as she is.

November 18 was the pinnacle date of the year, kind of, in that we would see KISS for the last time in Montreal with our daughter and her man.  We took off on Friday the seventeenth for Quebec, driving through what would be quite a challenging ride at times, with heavy rain hampering the road conditions.  Generally, though, it was an uneventful trek.  We got there in around nine hours, in spite of the bad weather.  I drove all the way there and then back on Sunday when we left.  When we got to the motel that we'd booked online on Friday night, it was far from overwhelming, but perhaps adequate.  It wound up being a rather sleazy, seedy place in an older part of Montreal, but the room for four adequately enough housed us for the weekend.  It was close enough to the Bell Centre where the show was going to be, maybe a 45 minute walking distance if we'd chosen to do that, which we did.  We thought we'd walk so we could see some of the sights a bit of downtown Montreal.

I remember telling the kids that they'll love Montreal.  We'd seen a few shows there, and the crowd was always raucous and the people gracious and friendly.  Last time we were there for a show was in '05 for the U2 Vertigo Tour, which broke all the records at the time.  We'd seen KISS a couple of times before that.  Every time we'd go, the concert was like a huge party among 18,000 friends.  Janice and me were pretty excited to experience it all again, and to let the kids experience what we did.

It was an odd time for the KISS End of the Road Tour to be winding down, with only two weeks of shows left after this.  The band was to play Quebec City, Ottawa and then Toronto after Montreal.  Thank God we were going to see this.  As anyone who knows me realizes, we were robbed of our opportunity to see this show in Bangor in '20 because the borders closed because of Covid, and Ticketmaster refused to refund our tickets.  So we were out over $400.  Surely we wouldn't get screwed out of seeing this tour again.  Right?

We left the motel around noon-ish, and began our trek on foot for the Bell Centre area.  Montreal is loaded with little shops and boutiques, something for just about everyone.  I'd never seen so many Tesla cars in one place.  You can barely hear those cars when they drive by.  But something seemed different about the city this time.  The people seemed a bit more tense and impatient.  The stores we went into offered less than subpar service.  In fact, one of the only smiles I'd seen was when I stopped to give a homeless man a few dollars.  The vibe in the air was certainly different from times gone by, bearing in mind that it's been eighteen years since we've been there.  But a lot can change in a year... let alone 18.

We had to navigate around long protest marches that were going on in favor of the Palestinians in the Israel/Gaza war.  Lots of cops around keeping things in order.  It was a peaceful protest, though in my opinion pointless.  Nothing these protesters did was going to change anything that was going to happen half a world away from us.  

Ultimately, we settled into a little basement bar downtown - the name of which escapes me at the moment - drawn in by the KISS music that was blaring from their speakers beckoning the likes of ourselves to come in and have a bite.  We did just that.  The people were all KISS fans in there, some wearing makeup and costumes even.  Yet I just didn't get that friendly buzz that we used to get.  Don't get me wrong, everyone was well behaved, but that brotherly feeling amongst everyone was kind of lacking like it was in the past.  Even the servers were kind of cold.  But the food was great.  Janice and me ordered our usuals; she got her Club Sandwich and I got my fish & chips.  I forget what the kids got, but we all enjoyed what we had; though Alexandra wasn't feeling totally great, thanks to Tom.  Cole had an eye on her.  He'd just gotten over a bad bout of norovirus prior to the trip.  We had our meal and we were off to the streets hovering around the Bell Centre until showtime.  The air was quite chilly, so we stopped into a shop where I bought a toque.  We also stopped into a Tim Horton's, where we sipped our beverages to bide the time away.  

To the venue we go, with the throngs of KISS fans - you'd know them when you saw them - descended upon the arena.  I was a bit nervous about the tickets being on my phone, worrying about connectivity issues, but those fears were unfounded as we were quickly admitted when our turn came.  We checked out the merch table, which had a monster lineup of fans waiting to snap up the various items being offered.  Janice really wanted the hoodie they had, but someone had bought the last one just before she could reach it.  And that last one went to Alexandra.  No worries, we can just get one for her online, and probably cheaper, since the venue tacks on their own fees for selling the merch.

Then it was time to take our seats.  It was then that I realize we'd gotten the shittiest tickets for a KISS show ever.  The stage was massive, but in an arena of that size from the balcony, it seemed smaller than it was.  It was the biggest stage production KISS had ever put on, and it showed; but from our vantage point, we didn't get to see it head-on as if we had seats in the bowl.  The seats themselves were cramped and tight.  And it seemed that the show was standing room only in the whole arena except for the section we were in.  Janice and me were the only ones standing and screaming in our section at times, and the guy sitting next to Cole was being a complete dick with his man-spread seating.  Some kid in front of us was busy recording the whole concert on his phone not even interacting with the show.  And some big goof behind us dressed up as The Demon poked at Janice telling her to sit down as Paul Stanley flew to our area of the venue.  "I got boots that make me nine feet tall!  I can't stand up!"  Well you should've thought about that beforehand going to a KISS show then, shouldn't ya, cupcake?  He muttered something in French and Janice turned and barked at him, "ENGLISH."  It didn't get much better.  Somebody else in our section threw a full glass of beer at that same guy but wound up dousing us, too.  All said, it was the worst crowd experience I'd ever had at a KISS show.

But as far as the concert goes, it was a wild one.  Lots of fire, bombs, effects, confetti, even balloons filled the air at various points of the show.  Gene and Tommy (band members) got on lifts that took them overhead midway through the arena.  Paul, as I said earlier, flew to our part of the building for a few songs.  Lasers galore.  The video screens made sure that even seats like ours could get a good view of the band, which was nice.  Eric's drums rose a couple of times - each guy got their own solo spot, specifically designed to give the rest of the band a breather from the more than two hour set.  Gene didn't fly to the ceiling this time though, opting instead for a lift that brought him up, probably for stability purposes.  Not to mention The Demon's not getting any younger, in his mid 70s.  He did the whole breathing fire/blood spitting thing, complete with probably the most evil looking imagery even by Gene's standards.  The band was TIGHT.  I'm not sure if they've ever sounded better, but KISS has always sounded great to me live.  I neglected to mention that the opening band, Crown Lands - a two-piece outfit - was quite good, to me reminiscent of earlier Rush, and they were given a ridiculous amount of stage room and lights, and the sound for them was as good as KISS' was.  KISS has never been about trying to show up an opening band.  In fact they'd help them however they could.  But back to KISS.... it was pretty cool also seeing Sam, finally, make the stage.  Sam is the giant serpent on

Gene's side of the stage that would blow smoke at various points of the show.  There's not much for me to say about the stage pods - giant octagonal light rigs, probably over a dozen of them, that rose and descended at various times of the show, with all different colors and imagery on their video screens.  I say not much to say, because from our point of view, we only really saw them from the edges instead of face-on.  By the time the encores came around, we all knew we were going to see the guys playing 'Rock and Roll All Night' for the last time, and the crowd was bonkers for the umpteenth sing-along.  This audience, I have to say though, is not the same audience we're used to witnessing in Montreal.  Loud and boisterous, yes, but Montreal usually went beyond that.  This isn't limited to the people in the venue.  We got this same vibe from everyone in the city.  Perhaps the air was tense from the demonstrations - or perhaps it's the population explosion of Montreal.  The Quebec government isn't a favorite in the polls these days, with a lot of segregation issues and terrible linguistic policies that make it often less than welcoming.  I know that we four didn't exactly feel the love from Montreal this trip.

The show got over, we left for the streets to hail down a cab back to the motel.  Pretty cheap, really, $25 got the four of us back.  We had a bite to eat, with probably the worst Big Mac I've ever had that seemed like it was assembled by a blind man with half a pint of sauce.  One gas station I went to to try to get a pack of Tums, I was met with an attendant who didn't understand a lick of English and he just looked at me like I was an alien, so I said 'nevermind' and moved on.  That's generally the reception we got from this trip.  We got up the next morning and didn't waste a whole lot of time packing up and getting back on the road home.  

And the road home was pretty good.  Another nine hour drive, uneventful, with the weather being far better except for the odd snow squall.  We got home early Sunday evening, leaving us lots of time to unwind before we would all be home to decompress from the trip.  All in all, this wasn't a great experience.  We took in the show, which was the best part of everything of course, but I will say that we won't be going back to Montreal anytime soon for any reason.  In fact, now that KISS is done, I don't know that we'll hit the road for any show now.  I certainly won't accept nosebleed seats for a concert ever again, either.  Still, Alexandra and Cole say they really enjoyed themselves, aside from various issues I already mentioned, and they were appreciative of all of it.  It was actually a Christmas/birthday present for Alexandra.  We paid for pretty much everything for them and were delighted to.

The following three days were something else.  I was still recovering from nearly 20 hours of driving over three days when I took a bit of a bad trip with one of my cannabis oil doses, thinking that it would brighten my mood a little, but the opposite happened, not necessarily because of the oil.  I was in bed for three straight days without eating or drinking anything.  Literally.  Not a drop of water or a crumb.  There are other reasons I was spiraling that I can't get into here.  I finally came around a bit Thursday that week, but would need a lot longer to recover.

Alexandra didn't fare so well.  Upon returning, shortly after she wound up with her own bout of norovirus.  Come to find out, after the KISS show in Montreal, they went to Quebec City, but then had to cancel the next three shows because of Paul Stanley getting sick from what appeared to be the same vicious virus.  He even said he wondered if it might be 'his time', he was that sick.  So this norovirus is a particularly harsh one, not that it's ever a picnic.  But that's how close we were to missing this show, again.  Man would I have been upset!

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to get some things done that were gnawing at me.  I needed to get a couple of remote starters for the car, because the ones we had for the last 13 years kind of bit the biscuit.  Plus there was a chip in the windshield that we took on our Montreal trip that I had to get repaired, which wound up spreading, and we don't have comprehensive insurance on our vehicle, to that set us back $400.  I had to get my license renewed too, another hundred or so dollars.  Needless to say, this made us have to scrimp when it came to Christmas.  But, such is life.  No one gets a free ride.

I remember the day I got all that done, we thought we'd celebrate a bit and get stuffed cheesy bread and pasta from Domino's.  When I came back from picking up the order, I found Janice in the bathroom being sick.  So yes, Janice's number was called for the norovirus and now it was her turn.  Boy, was she sick.  Scary sick.  I'd never seen her that sick from a stomach virus before, and it just wasn't letting up.  She spent a whole day running to the bathroom with it coming out of both ends.  It was so sad and upsetting that it made me cry.  I did what I could for her, tucking her in, rubbing her head, doting on any of her needs.  It was crushing to witness - the person I love the most being so ill.  She goes through enough with the illnesses she has without having to deal with this.  And again, this isn't just any stomach virus.  This one was particularly vicious.  I read up on some things about this bug going around, and apparently it's pretty widespread.  I even Googled if there'd ever be a cure or better treatment for norovirus.  Come to my surprise, they are actually making headway on an eventual vaccine for this, though it's probably a few years away.  I thought maybe I'd take some kind of preventative measure if I could.  I read that oil of oregano is shown to be at least somewhat effective against stomach bugs.  When I went to the store to get Janice supplies for her pending BRAT diet, I picked up a bottle of oregano oil capsules.  I took one when I got home.  Janice finally seemed to be settling down, though recovery would take days.

But wait, there's more!

When I woke up late Friday morning, I went to the bathroom and, boom, it was my turn.  I mounted the porcelain throne and grabbed the wastebasket, and the room started spinning.  My God, there's nothing worse in the world to me than puking.  I've written about it before here, that when I was young, up until I was about ten or eleven, I was sick almost every Christmas.  A couple of times I was so sick that I couldn't hardly move.  My brother Pete would attest to that, because I remember him carrying me to the bathroom so I could do my business.  Memories of all those times stuck with me, and I've never been able to calm down while being sick since, so I gasp and choke for air and panic.  Janice and me both think I have PTSD from those wild vomiting days when I was young.  Alas.... in this particular instance, I didn't throw up.  I felt like I was going to, but I didn't.  This made me wonder if that oregano oil actually had an effect on the virus in my stomach.  My gut, though, different story.  It came out of me like a firehose, as Janice put it.  So much, and so bad, in fact, that when I stood up to clean myself off, ... let's just say the next thing I remember I was hearing "Michael!  Michael!  MIKE!"  I lifted my head to find myself on the bathroom floor, having lost consciousness and cracked my head on a couple of things on the way to the floor.  Janice was beside herself.  I re-mounted the throne and let it rip some more.  Janice.... God love her.... cleaned me up and helped me back to bed.  I was white as a sheet and sweating like a racehorse, she said.  Of course, that wasn't the end of it.  About an hour later, I hobbled back to the bathroom and took a seat - more firehose-worthy dumpage ensued.  This time Janice had her eye on me, pride be damned.  I once again stood up to clean myself off, and once again down I went, out cold, cracking my right side on the bathtub on the way down.  Janice woke me up again, prying me off of the bathtub, once again cleaning me off.  I was out cold so I was dead weight until I came to after a couple of minutes.  The thing that bothers me the most about all of this is how this must look to Janice.  We both love and care about each other so much that it's quite distressing when one of us sees the other in this kind of shape.  I had to go back to the bathroom a few more times, but it was uneventful, and I just had the runs.  So even though I didn't throw up, it was as if I had.  Come to find out, upon me investigating, there really is a phobia about being sick like that. I have never had an easy time being sick - I can handle a cold or even a flu, even Covid, but not a cursed stomach virus.  My life is literally in danger now if I have to deal with that, to the point that Janice wants to be near if it happens, because the last three times now, I've blacked out and fainted, and twice gotten head injuries over it.  This time, I wound up with three goose eggs on my noggin from collapsing.  Even right now I can feel them.  And on this particular occasion, I actually cracked a rib on the bathtub.  We even worried there might be a floating rib from this, but I got x-rayed and the crack is indeed there, but no floaters.  Thank God.  But now I have the next month-plus to get over this rib injury.  Just what is it with me and rib injuries, I have no flippin' idea.

To add icing to that cake, I wound up with a monster sinus headache that lasted well over a day, bad enough to make sunlight a dire enemy.  I'm prone to these often, so I have Sudafed Advance to ward these headaches off, very successfully.  I used to lose a few work days due to those.  But thankfully I found S/A and was able to take care of it.  Here's the thing, though.... there's a shortage everywhere of this particular med.  So I didn't have it this time and had to ride it out.  And man, that was a long 24-36 hours.  Excruciating at times.  But I got through it.

So for anyone reading this thinking I'm one of those man-babies when he gets sick, you're right.... kind of.  Only when I have to be sick to my stomach.  And it stems from childhood trauma.  It makes me shudder to think of what might've happened had Janice not been around when all this happened to me. 

I've read that cognitive behavioral therapy can help this a great deal, but alas, I've been seeking that for my mental illness since forever.  I'm convinced there is no help for me and that I'm on my own.  I actually need help in that area now more than ever, but it just isn't there for me.  My cries for help fall on deaf ears of professionals.  Knowing this just makes me even more down.  I feel like I'm quite literally on my own.

Anyway, Christmas indeed wound up being super low key.  I like to read for mass at church at Christmas time, but I had to tell them I couldn't because of all this kerfuffle.  So I've basically been housebound for the last four or five days.  Janice seems to be mostly recovered, thankfully, as she has work and all.  I'm much better now, but still in recovery of sorts.  All this being connected to the PTSD thing, it plays on my mind as much as it does my body.  At least digestively, things appear to be nearly better.  And the goose eggs have shrunk.  The thought of a potential concussion isn't lost on me either.  Like I need more of those!

What we've decided to do about Christmas dinner is put it off until New Year's Eve and have the kids over then.  We were just in no shape at all to do it over the actual Christmas holidays.  The bright side of it all is, we got through it.  That virus is behind us now, and we're a bit stronger because of it.

Also, it was my birthday on the 26th, and though I don't post hardly at all on facebook, I do appreciate the birthday wishes.  If you're one of those folks and you're reading this, thank you.

I'd like to thank my friend Wayne for checking in on me, too.  A little thoughtfulness can go a long way.  I think he realizes that.

This will likely be my last blog entry for the year.  What a way to go out, eh?  Frig.

I hope you had a great holiday, and that you have a great New Year's to go with it.  Stay safe and love and care for each other.

These Are the Days of Our Lives.... week 1

 January 1, 2023

Started out snowy today here in Moncton, then changed to rain for the rest.  New Year's Day - the Eve involved Janice and me at home enjoying chicken wings.  We were invited to brother Greg's but opted to stay home so we could stay a bit calmer and retire without worrying about being under any influence. * Logging onto the internet, I decided to try to figure out why I've been having an ongoing thrush problem.  I came to the conclusion that it's due to my use of cannabis oil, which dries me out overnight and I wind up waking up with major cotton mouth.  I'm concerned, somewhat, that it's migrated to my gut, which I found out, can happen.  Upon further investigation, candida can be quite problematic.  I'd dealt with it before, and went on an elimination diet to rectify it.  It's not easy to do, but so very worth it.  Even better, upon reading up on it, I believe it's the cause of Alexandra's ongoing maladies, which has doctors baffled.  She also uses cannabis for anxiety.  I truly believe that if she embarks on a journey of the elimination diet, that she'll finally solve the riddle of what's been ailing her.  And me too.  *  Janice and me went for a drive this evening, getting our traditional hot chocolate/iced coffee and taking a spin around the rainy city.  We spun out to Magnetic Hill and then off to Dorchester, just because.  We love being in each other's company and just talking about whatever comes to us.  I've been talking to her a lot about the book my man Shawn Cook gave me a few years ago, "The Book of Joy", that I finally came around to reading, and am just about finished with.  It has the ability to change one's outlook, and I must let him know how much of a difference it's been making.  I will re-read it and even make notes, once Janice reads it herself.  *  Upon coming home, Janice suggested we get take-out, which we've admittedly had too much of the last couple of weeks, which will change beginning tomorrow.  I tried this Horseradish Burger King Whopper that was really good, and Janice had a bacon one.  Burger prices are crazy now!  It'll be a long time before we do that again.  Besides, I like to cook.  *  We came home to Marbles the cat and ate, giving Marbles his supper (freeze dried chicken breast), and watched "Pro Wrestling Territories" on Crave, a fun show to watch for any longtime wrestling fan.  Then we migrated upstairs to put in the "Prometheus" blu-ray, watched the extras, and then the movie with subtitles.  And once again, we picked up a lot watching it that way.  It's a movie that gets better as it ages.  *  Time to retire.  I'll attempt to sleep with no CBD/THC oil in an effort to cut down, in light of the candida threat.  

January 2

Janice went back to work after a short holiday respite - had a decent sleep.  Janice brought home a lemon loaf that Alexandra made for me for my birthday, probably the best one she ever made even, and that's saying a lot!  *  Was cloudy out today with temps hovering around plus or minus three.  *  We went to Champlain Mall to check out the calendar sales, seeing as their prices aren't cheap beforehand, and we got three.  The Mall was quite busy, a lot of kids there since school isn't back in session yet, but it was nice to see the livelihood after the last couple of depressing years of covid.  We hit the gym right after that, and saw that the new Popeyes Chicken take-out still had lineups stretching down Mountain Road two weeks after opening.  *  Expecting Planet Fitness to be busier than usual post New Year's Day, but it was just average, which is fine by us.  It was freeweights Shack Day, or shoulders and back.  20 minutes cardio warmup followed by over an hour of free weights, and another 20 cardio.  Janice is getting scary strong!  She whipped my ass on New Year's Eve.  She's determined to lose some lbs. before summer, and really the rest of the year.  I better keep up the gym work or she'll wind up burying me!  *  Back home to shower, weigh in - I'm at 182-ish, Janice was 191-ish - and supper with ribs, green beans and air fryer fries.  Our air fryer is a piece of dog dung.  It's an Insta-Pot brand air fryer that was pricey and very inadequate, after using it for several months now.  I don't recommend it at all.  Our little boy Marbles had his soup for supper with us.  He always has supper with us everyday, it's a family thing.  *  Later off to the bedroom to take in "Alien: Covenant" on blu-ray.  Good movie, but doesn't quite measure up to the finesse of "Prometheus" before it.  *  News-wise, we're keeping our eye on the U.S. congress, where nimrod Kevin McCarthy is looking to be Speaker of the House, but is being met with a lot of resistance.  If he doesn't win the position, it'll be the first time in 100 years that it goes beyond the first ballot.  That's the mess the republicans are right now.  *  Since I'm writing this the morning after Jan. 2, I can comment that last night's sleep was horrendous.  I used the shower massager after the gym, but it failed to alleviate the oncoming tremendous headache that would rule the night, coupled with a sinus headache, which is something I've dealt with a lot since the change of seasons.  I was nearly in tears, it hurt that much.  Since I took Kirkland brand Robax before trying to sleep, I had to wait at least 6 hours before taking Sudafed Advance, which is the magic bullet for me when it comes to sinus pain.  I only got to sleep around 7:30 in the morning, woke up at 11.  And here I am.  Onwards and upwards.  *  I should also notate that today is now five whole months since my last anxiety attack.  That's a serious milestone for me.  Wasn't without hiccups here and there, but thanks to my cannabis oil when it counted, I kept it in check.  Janice is tremendously understanding when anxiety creeps up on me.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

January 3

It's 1:20am on the 4th actually right now, and I still haven't slept, but here we are.  Another mild day in cloudy Moncton, with occasional drizzle and temps hovering just above or around the freezing mark.  *  Today I didn't go back to sleep, and opted instead to watch the shenanigans in Washington as McCarthy couldn't get his Speaker gig in the U.S. House, even after three ballots.  I find it pretty entertaining watching the GOP tear each other apart after all the lies and false pledges during the election cycle.  *  But anyway, Janice came home from work and I boiled a bunch of eggs in prep for making my lovely egg salad sandwiches.  *  We headed to the gym once again, feeling bitchin' sore in the neck and shoulders - both of us - from yesterday, but thankfully, no headaches.  It was freeweights leg day, probably one of the more brutal leg days in a long time.  Janice put in her time for cardio as well like she's pledged to do, and we dropped into Sobeys for some stuff for my sandwiches and some Carlsberg and Heineken.  Came home to shower and proceeded to make the mix for the sandwiches, consisting of:  nine boiled eggs, one small shredded carrot, Miracle Whip, garlic powder, green onions, salt and pepper and a splash of Frank's Red Hot.  I cooked some bacon in the oven too, for the first time, and I don't think I'll do it any other way going forward.  I put it in the oven on baking sheets and parchment paper at 400F for about 20 minutes - came out in sublime quality.  *  Watched MSNBC to take in the commentary on the day's events, we went to bed, and here I am.  A pretty normal day.  Ah yes, we did drop into Janice's store too with the intention of getting Diflucan or something like it to try to counter what might be Candida in my gut, but I got cold feet after realizing it was in the fem section.  Janice said why not ask the pharmacist - I said because I don't want everybody to know I'm this walking bread machine... we already have one of those to make real bread.  She'll ask the doctor when she can get hold of him what I ought to do.  But, laying off the cannabis oil so far in the New Year seems to be paying off right now, too.  We'll see how it goes.  I also need to talk to the doc about my hands, where the tendons in the palm of your hand tighten and contract.  You can see the tendons in the palm of my left hand, and I can't flatten it on a flat surface, and I need padded gloves for things like going to the gym.  It hurts sometimes.  I want to get it looked at before it ... well.... gets out of hand.  Sorry.  *  Guess Janice, Marbles and me will retire now for the night, hopefully with better results than last night.

January 4

Another calm day weatherwise, temps around the freezing mark, dipping a bit lower to minus six after dark.  Winter has been kind to us so far, but we know it ain't gonna last forever.  *  Got lots of sleep last night; guess I was so tired from a lack of it the night before that I caught up.  What woke me was a dream turned nightmare I had.  I dreamt that my old work called me up and asked me to go in to help, as the receiving area was a mess - I was flattered and delighted that they would regard me in this way to ask, so I went in.  At the drug store I worked at, the receiving area was a massive mess.  Empty pallets all over the place, stacks of them, and full ones loaded with product.  The receiving room where the loading doors were was in complete disarray, and trucks were arriving.  And it was on a Sunday, of all days, but the way the company is these days, you wouldn't have been surprised.  I got the place cleaned up and ship shape, and the store owner, the last one I worked for, comes in with his arms crossed and says, "I need to talk to you in my office.  We know about the $90,000 that went missing when you left because of your bad orders."  MY bad orders??  I don't even do the orders!  I told myself to wake up, this must be a nightmare.  So I did.  I went back to sleep and was back in the same place.  I think this stems from an actual accusation that I was responsible for an order gone bad made by the new boss I worked for after the one left that I worked for, for 10 years, had left.  He tried to pin it on me, and I think told the owner it was my fault instead of his own.  It's stuff like this that drove me over the edge and forced me into disability.  Anyway, I shook it off.  *  I watched day two of the fecal fiesta that is the nomination for House Speaker in the U.S., as they went another six rounds of voting without picking anyone.  What a fustercluck.  The legacy of tRump just keeps rolling and destroying that country after letting that clown out of the box back in '15 on the escalator to hell.  *  Janice came home, and had to go to the post office on St. George Street to pick up a popcorn maker for Alexandra that Lex had ordered, and was shocked at the clueless service there.  My wife and kid deserve the kind of pay P.O. employees get and not the slave wages that they do have.  Loblaws is a greedy, self-serving outfit that cares little about its workers.  I know that firsthand.  *  We resolved to go to the gym again, but first put ingredients in the breadmaker to have fresh bread for egg salad sandwiches again tonight; to find out that mice got into our cupboards hand helped themselves to the flour.  Little bastards.  So when we went to the gym, we went next door to Dollarama and got plastic containers for anything that was cardboard or paper wrapped on our shelves.  *  We start out in the gym, embarking on our 20 minute warmup on the treadmill, and I decided to get my running legs back.  Janice did her usual steep uphill walk, and I ran - only to feel something pop in my calf after a mile and a half.  I nearly collapsed.  It hurt like hell to try to walk it off the last half mile, probably not a great idea, but I'm hoping it's just strained.  We continued to work out, doing our freeweights Chest and Arms workout, or Charms Day as we call it.  We go pretty hard, but not overly hard.  Janice really puts her best into it.  We expect to be sore tomorrow, but a good sore.  We did our stretching, another 20 minutes on the treadmill - though I kind of limped through it - and headed home.  *  Popeyes is STILL crazy busy.  It's long after 9 at night and the restaurant is still packed and a lineup for the drive-thru stretching out of the parking lot.  I think people are finding out what we found out when we first tried it in the States years ago, that it's the best chicken around.  And those biscuits and sides are something else!  *  Got home to the smell of the breadmaker being just about done its job making our bread for the sandwiches.  Eventually we made them and DAMN they were good.  We ate the leftover bacon from last night too, and I ran into what my childhood dentist used to call a 'fender bender' - or a broken molar.  What a drag.  Thankfully, it doesn't seem sensitive, and I have an appointment for a checkup next month anyway, so I'll get that looked after then.  Anyway, we had that sandwich with a beer while we watched AEW on TV, with a banger of a show that was possibly the most entertaining one they've put on to date.  What a crazy, boisterous crowd.  Great athleticism and storytelling.  *  Janice cleaned up, and it's upstairs to bed we go.  Gave Marvelous Marbles Hagler his meat stick treat, and settled into bed.  *  We learned late tonight via text that one of Janice's brothers suffered a stroke, but he seems like he'll be okay, though he's in the hospital.  It's scary news that no one wants to learn of their sibling.  Prayers for him to recover... and I hope to God it won't be difficult.  Hopefully better news tomorrow on that.  *  That's the kind of day it's been.

January 5

Weather has kind of been in one place all week here, around the plus or minus three degree mark, and maybe a flurry here and there, but no real action.  A suspiciously calm winter up to this point.  The gorgeous Cindy Day has done a marvelous job with her predictions on her website.  *  Not a bad night of sleep.  Woke up to the usual, being kind of addicted to the House Speaker drama in the States while the rest of the country is salivating over hockey.  Canada won, I hear?  Seriously, the whole Speaker of the House voting thing is exactly what everyone says it is, Groundhog Day over and over again.  Actually, it's beginning to look frightening more than funny.  *  I'd said at the conclusion of the previous day that Janice's brother had suffered a stroke; turns out, doctors only thought that was a possibility, and he actually is having heart issues, not unlike their father did handy to the age he's at right now.  So the situation is a lot less dire, but still in need of desperate attention.  Here's hoping he gets it.  *  Janice and me had a short nap when she got home from work, then we got up and hit the gym again.  My leg is much better today, but no running for me.  Instead, I wound up walking uphill at 15% for 20 minutes, while Janice did her usual sweating boogie.  We then did the machine Shack Workout, where we work the shoulders and back on the machines, since we did the freeweights version a few days ago.  We'll be sore tomorrow, in a good way.  Janice wanted to hit the gym more in an effort to knock down the weight.  We've been there everyday so far since the new year for at least two hours a day.  We finished off today again with lots of stretching and another half hour or so of cardio and headed home for supper, where I grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs in my own homemade spice mix with Bulls Eye sauce, cooked rice on the side and made peas/corn together for myself, and just corn for Janice, where she has an aversion to peas.  I usually made grilled chicken in olive oil, but opted this time for Pam Olive Oil cooking spray.  It actually turned out better.  We both loved it.  We had it with vodka and Diet Canada Dry - after I'd primed myself with a Vanilla Diet Coke and Jack Daniels.  I'd never tried Jack before, but it was part of a sale at Christmas, so I thought I'd try.  It's okay I guess... not as good as Crown Royal, but better than that Forty Creek crap.  The best is Canadian Club 12 year with Diet Vanilla Coke - tastes just like Butter Rum Life Savers.  Janice is loyal to her vodka and Diet CD.  When Lent season hits, we go dry and cut out alcohol altogether.  Haven't even had any cannabis oil yet since New Year's.  I used to take it before bed for sleep, but adjusted to going without it.  My suspicion is, as I stated before, that it dries me out so much, I suspected gut issues.  I'm feeling a lot better these days.  *  Gave Marbles his kitty chocolate (don't worry, not real chocolate, just looks like it), hit the sheets and now it's time for lights out.  

January 6

Pretty boring reporting on the weather on this, as it's been the exact same thing pretty much every day this week.  Temps around plus or minus 3, but it was cooler last night at around minus 6, enough to make our oil heat kick in, so I cranked the heat pump up a bit to thwart that.  We got an oil delivery the other day, a whole 45 litres!  Damn good - the heat pump is paying off big time.  Since we got it last summer, and the government announced later that they were subsidizing them a few months later, I have to figure out how we can get some of it paid for.  In the meantime, it's paying for itself.  *  Not the best of sleeps last night.  I dug into some Hawkins Cheezies at bedtime and paid for it all night.  I asked Janice to call me from work to wake me up at one for a blood donor appointment at 1:45, but it wasn't necessary because I was up way sooner.  I almost cancelled the appointment, the gut rot was so bad.  But I sunk some water, ate a Drake's cake and was good to go.  *  Made it to the blood clinic on time, and it didn't take long to bleed out a pint - something like six minutes.  They patched me up and I was on my way.  This is number 17 on my donation count.  I wanted it done today because of a tattoo appointment I have on Sunday to get my Irish cross touched up, and a couple of other things.  Touch ups are free with the girl that I get to do my ink work.  *  Dropped the car off for Janice at her work and came home to watch the circus that is the House Speaker vote thing.  It stretched on to late in the night with a fight even breaking out on the R side.  McCarthy eventually won, after 15 rounds of balloting.  He basically sold his soul to the extremists in the party to get it, though.  Anyway, it was fun to watch this week.  *  When Janice came home from work, we were both pretty pooched, and opted to go upstairs for a short nap to catch up on some Z's.  That 'short nap' turned into a three hour snoozefest, evidently one we needed.  We decided to give the gym a rest today, where she was quite tired, and I was kind of shaky from my blood donation, which is normal and usual.  We'll go back tomorrow and I'll scale back a bit for the next couple of weeks while I build my count back up.  Last time I went full tilt after a donation and thought something was desperately wrong, but of course it wasn't.  I can admittedly sometimes be a hypochondriac.  It's a Cook thing, I think, with some of us!  *  Speaking of which, I looked into Dupuytren Contraction disease, something I realized I had for a little while now.  Actually Janice had pointed it out and helped me investigate it.  It freaks me out a little bit, because my brother Rick's fiancee May has very serious issues with her hands, and I've seen what she deals with - I don't know that that's what she has, though.  All I know is she's gone through hell with it.  I think I have it in both hands, one more pronounced than the other, but according to what I read, I have to get it taken care of before it takes off on me and becomes irreversible.  The treatment for it isn't pretty!  I think surgery is in my future for this, but we'll see.  A lot of needles involved.  Ugh.  Could be worse, though.  But, this is further evidence that I need disability, I guess.  I did so much work at my job in the past 15 years with my hands with heavy lifting that it's kind of just caught up with me.  The worse hand is the left one, so that'll probably be treated first.  Then I'll have to probably get the right one treated, which, I imagine, means I'll have to learn to wipe me arse with my left hand.  (!)  Believe it or not, Janice offered to help me with that!  I said, uh, NO.  I'll figure it out.  But is she a keeper or what?  But she says the same about me. If I had to do the same for her, I think I'd need a barf bucket to keep up the pace while I did that for her!  *  Tonight on the menu, Janice made herself a rare treat of Kraft Dinner - rare because it's probably not the healthiest of meals, but not the worst either.  A treat.  I had my own treat - creamed peas on toast with homemade bread.  You either love that or hate it.  My family grew up on it, where we were quite poor and made do with what we could get at times, but we all really loved this stuff.  And it's cheap.  *  I had a Dr Pepper Zero with vodka, and one with Diet Canada Dry tonight, and Janice had a pair of DCD/vodkas, and we relaxed into the night, and sent ourselves to bed, not before giving our black and white bomber Marbles his meat stick treat, and here I am ready to sign off, with my wife fast asleep beside me, and Marbles camped out on my lap.  The weekend is upon us.  *  And that's the kind of day it's been.

January 7

A few flurries today, no big deal, as the weather holds steady here in mighty Moncton, again temps hovering plus or minus three.  The weather has been pleasantly boring so far this year here.  *  Had a tough time getting to sleep last night, probably due to the long nap we had last evening.  I wound up reading some more of the "Book of Joy", nearly finishing it.  What a great, potentially life-changing book.  I want to read it periodically to inspire myself to keep growing as a person, which I really feel like it's doing.  Anyway, I think I might've got to sleep around 7:30am, and woke up several times between then and around four in the aft.  Janice slept like a rock for a long time, as she often does on Saturdays to catch up with her sleep she lacks during the week.  *  We gobbled a waffle before heading out to gas up at Costco - the only place we buy gas - and dropped into the store for a few things.  I really like this Spyder wear that they have, and tonight I got this black and gray pullover that'll be good for the winter and spring, and cool summer nights.  Janice got a pair of active-wear pants, and we got a few other things.  Align probiotics were on sale, which we take daily.  Picked up a few guilty munchies to boot.  Dropped into Sobeys to get stuff for tacos for supper.  *  Boy this is boring eh?  This is adult life.  *  We dropped off our stuff home and then hit the gym and did machine Leg Day and a lot of ab stuff, followed by stretching and the usual hour of cardio.  Janice is kickin' it... she wants to do at least three miles a day pretty much every day.  That's basically what I do.  Today was a little rough because of my blood donation yesterday, but not terribly difficult.  We've been drinking this stuff called Bio Steel, a Gatorade substitute, pretty much, and it's pretty tasty.  We get it pretty cheap at Costco.  Back home we go.  *  And then it's suppertime.  We had this taco kit that's half hard shells and half soft, because we like to wrap the hard shell tacos with the soft ones.  I find it a pain in the arse when you eat a taco and it basically self destructs a couple of bits in, so the soft taco holds it all together.  We made it with a pound of farmer's market ground beef, red bell peppers, green onions, fresh garlic and Tex Mex cheese, with the taco seasoning of course and sauce.  Bitchin' stuff!  The leftover meat mixture we ate with these plain tortilla chips we had from our last batch of nachos.  *  Warning:  one of Janice's stocking stuffers was a can of Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey Lemonade with honey... grossest shit I think I've tried to drink in ages, and Janice agreed.  Yech!!  So I opted for a Blackfly Orange and Vodka, and Janice had her usual DCD/vodka.  Dessert was strawberry shortcake that we recognized as my birthday cake which we also got at, you guessed it, Costco.  Another thing we got there was 30 free run eggs, since we're going to eat more of them.  It'll likely be omelettes tomorrow for dinner.  *  Retired upstairs shortly after that and watched "Turner and Hooch", one of Janice's all time favorite movies.  She laughs so hard when she watches that!  I actually recorded her laughing at it a little on my cell phone.  Took in Marketplace, which was about high sodium dishes at restaurants.  No surprises there, really.  We don't eat at restaurants a lot, between that and the crazy tipping you have to shell out, we just don't find it's worth it.  Besides, I like to cook.  *  Tattoo day tomorrow.  I'll post shots of what I get done on facebook and Insta.  *  And that's the kind of week it's been.