Sharkboy

TIFF is in town, the Toronto International Film Festival, and although it is a prestigious event, I’m not really interested in shelling money to participate in it.

In September, half of Hollywood comes to town for the TIFF. It is a fan festival, they play tons of commercial movies that will have a wide release in a few weeks or months, so the urgency of having to see the big films totally goes away with that, if I wait next month I’ll see the same film at regular price ($13), not the augmented festival one ($22.25). I’m not necessarily cheap, maybe I just have a tad of common sense. I realize that it is a big deal for others and they do prepare for it for a long time, take their vacation this week and stay in town to see as many films as they can, get the bragging right to say they saw a movie first at the festival, sometimes in their “raw” version, before the studios get involved, and I don’t denied their emotions, it’s just not for me. One thing I must say is that this fan festival has accurately rewarded lots of movies which went on to win Oscars…

Just on Friday, a good friend asked me on email if I was planning to attend any showings and I took my time answering as I know some people might be sensitive to my insensitivity, so I typed this: “No tiff-ing at all for me, don’t like that circus of fakeness… I’ve only been to one TIFF movie, it was a documentary of the audition process for the revival of A Chorus Line on Broadway… and it was amazing… but it was ridiculously overpriced at $20 a ticket, there was a super long line to buy in person, then on the morning of the movie we had to line up for 1.5 hr so we could have a decent seat in the theatre, and to finish me off completely, I spent that 1.5 hr listening to the pretentiousness of the conversations from “would-be” or as I like to call them “homemade” movie critics and they “oh so la la” reviews. My ears were bleeding just after the first 3 minutes, so no, no tiff-ing for me.”

And then, on my way home, just on Friday again, I was stopped on Gerrard St as the Ryerson Theatre was emptying out after a movie, this “security guard” held his hand up at me to stop walking to let the movie goers past first. I looked at him with one eyebrow raised and said: “Dude, it’s a movie line up, talk to me when it’s something important” and I pressed my way expertly through the movie crowd without as much as touching one of them. Of course, with the face I was making, no one attempted to touch me either…

So yeah, I know TIFF is a lot more than what I just wrote about, but now you know why I won’t be tiff-ing.

This is just a friendly public announcement message for all the new Ryerson students at the downtown location. The residents of Toronto understand that you are excited to have left mommy’s and daddy’s place for the first time in you life. We also know that 25% of you will be going back home before Halloween because it’s just not working out for you and you can’t adjust to the new lifestyle or your grades are just sucking the big one too much. The residents of Toronto understand all that. What they don’t understand though is why you feel the need to get out of your apartments or dorms and go to classes or shopping or go for walks in your fucking pyjamas. Another thing that the residents of Toronto don’t understand is why you all feel it’s ok to have your after class discussions on the sidewalks and block the entire way for those walking by. That’s why the residents of Toronto built Starbucks, or other restaurants, or libraries, or parks, cafeterias, or malls… Another thing the residents of Toronto are questioning is why were you all at HMV today spending your student loans on CD’s and DVD’s and Star Wars t-shirts (although those are freakin’ cool) instead of buying books for classes… And this resident of Toronto doesn’t want to hear, while in line at the cash register, about Cassandra who hasn’t been to classes yet because she’s still sick from the Monday night party… Cassandra probably took a spot away in that class from a very deserving student who would have completely rocked that professor’s world with her brilliant ideas, but no, she couldn’t come because Cassandra stole the spot so she could come to the big smoke to party her ass off… Way to go Cassandra, you selfish bitch…

This month, I am scheduled at the Information Booth at work… It’s a very lonely and small place with bad ventilation and room enough for 1.5 person. I call it The Cage.

And joy of all joys, the Info Booth is the first place people go to when they arrive at our court location, this is where we “triage” them into the different waiting rooms they will have to go and give them all the different forms they have to fill out while waiting their turn at those particular counters. It’s a fairly simple job, although you do have to be very versed in all the office functions, but you are the first person they see after receiving a traffic ticket and not one of them is happy to see you. So I ask how I can help them, they briefly describe what they’re looking to do, I give them a number and, if necessary, forms to fill out. I then direct them to their specific waiting room. In a perfect world, each person should be at my counter less than 20 seconds. The info booth will see approximately 350 people on a “normalish” day. Sometimes it’s more… in fact, often it is more. It is a busy desk and there’s not much time for niceties.

Here’s a sample of what happened today before lunch.

1. This was the 3rd person I saw this morning after the doors unlocked, she slapped her ticket on my counter and said: “This officer committed a grave injustice by giving me this ticket. It was obviously an emergency for me to be on the phone.” I asked: “Are you looking to take this to court?” She said: “No, I need you to tell me where I can find his boss so I can complain about it”. I pointed to the information on the ticket showing which division the officer worked for and asked her to get in touch with that police station. She replied: “So, you’re not going to do anything about it?” to which I said: “Yes, I can give you a form to fight it in court.”

2. As you enter our office, there is a great big huge sign, 24 x 36 in, with big bold letters that reads: PLEASE OBTAIN A TICKET AT THE INFORMATION BOOTH. A woman asked: “Do I have to get a ticket like that sign says?” I said: “That’s what the sign says…”

3. After explaining options to a guy, he asked me to repeat, to which my “are you serious” face came on right away and he said: “I know you’ve already told me but I wasn’t listening.” to which I replied: “Yeah, it’s pretty much par in this place.”

4. After the second greeting to someone whose turn it was but wasn’t paying attention, the woman finally turned to me and said: “Are you talking to me?”.

5. One guy arrived at my counter and said: “I want to pay this”. I gave him a numbered ticket to get to the counter and said he cashier would call it shortly. He then replied: “No, I mean, I want to take it to court”. Without rolling my eyes too loudly, I printed a different kind of numbered ticket and gave him a form to fill out. He then asked: “How long do I have to change my mind if I decide to pay the ticket?”. I told him he’d have to make a decision by the time they call his number. He went on: “Will I be able to discuss this with a Justice of the Peace before I pay?” I looked at him and said: “it’s really your choice to do whatever you choose to do and we’ll make sure you can do that today, but you have to stop changing your mind every time I answer your questions.” Then I got: “Ok, I’ll pay!”

6. One guy came with a parking ticket which we cannot accept at our location as they have their own offices throughout the city. I asked him to take a look at the offices at the back of his ticket and that he’d have to go to one of those instead. He insisted that we were one of the locations to which I said: “Sorry sir, I’m afraid we’re not”. He insisted on handing me the ticket anyway, so I turned it around and showed him the 4 locations I was referring too. After looking at it quickly, he ripped it off my hands and was about to say something, but didn’t, and stormed out and then added: “I’ll get my day in court, don’t worry asshole!”

7. About 30 minutes later, another person came in with a parking ticket, this time he wanted to pay, so I explained that he couldn’t do that here and referred to the back of his ticket for location. So he immediately said: “What the fuck are you good for then?”. Without missing a beat, I replied: “I’m told I make a pretty good spaghetti sauce!”

8. The counter at the info booth has a very small opening in the plexiglass window, big enough to slide papers back and forth really. While it wasn’t busy, one guy came and asked if I could throw out his half-emptied coffee cup and paper wrapping from whatever he had just eaten, putting them on the ledge, like I was suppose to force them through the little opening in the window… I replied: “No, I can’t. But if you just turn around, there’s a garbage can right there.” I’m not kidding when I say that a big fat ugly beige square garbage bin was less than 5 feet away from where he was standing…

9. This lady came back to my counter with the form I had given her to fill out less than 15 minutes ago. She asked if she should get a new form or would they accept this one. I took a look at what she was holding. All the information had been written then scratched off and written again on top of the scribbage and some of it scratched again… I didn’t answer, I just gave her a new form. I’m sure she figured it out she was supposed to rewrite it all over again before they call her number.

10. After explaining the specific paperwork a gentleman had to do to file a motion to change a court date, he quickly unbuttoned his shirt to show me a VERY recent incision on his chest and said: “How can I do all this after I’ve had heart surgery?” I told him he could get assistance from any family members, it was allowed. He picked up the papers and asked what he was supposed to do when they called him at the counter. I said: “Well, don’t be so graphic next time you want to tell someone you’ve had surgery and make sure you forms are filled out, the clerk at the counter will do the rest.”

11. One guy arrived at my counter and said: “I have a terminal illness. What can I do about this ticket?”

12. One guy arrived at my counter and made the international sign of “writing in the air”, you know, the one you do at a restaurant to signal the waiter you’d like the bill? I just said: “Sir, I can answer your question, but I don’t do mime”. He asked for a form to request a court date…

13. As I was finishing with a customer and he was picking up his papers on the counter, the guy behind him rushed himself in front of him so I could help him right away. I wanted to point out how rude he was so I said: “You couldn’t wait for that person to be finished before rushing the counter?” He replied: “No, I don’t want to be late to file this”…

And that was just the morning’s best moments…

Yeah, I realize it’s been a week since we’ve returned. It’s really tough to come back to my old routine after such a fantastic vacation where we had continuous fun and excitement from the first to the last airport. We did a lot, never really stopping to sleep more than 5 or 6 hours a night. DR is actually detailing our adventure on his blog and is much better at it too… Click here for a sample of day 2 & 3 and look for the other days.

In 10 days we travelled from Toronto to New York City to Los Angeles and then drove from Huntington Beach to San Francisco on California Sate Route 1. Could I recommend this drive more? No, impossible.

Although we visited so many marvelous places and met wonderful people and saw so many jewels of California, I did take 2, 214 pictures after all, what impressed me the most was returning to San Francisco after 24 years and falling in love with the city all over again. Could I live there? HELLS YES!

I had found this self guided walking tour in one of my tourist guides called The Steps Of San Francisco and I was sold on it as soon as I read that it would take us to the exterior filming location of Mrs. Madrigal’s house from the BBC’s Tales Of The City, the famous “Barbary Lane”, actually known as Macondray Lane in real life… The tour talked about climbing and descending the many stairs of Telegraph Hill and the area. It sounded like a bonus, we could work off all the great food we’d been eating in the city and take many pictures along the way. So one foggy cool morning, we set off from Japantown and took the California St Cable Car to Chinatown so we could start our walk.

Tracks

Sitting in one of the world famous cable cars

Come walk with us:

Our walk started at the famous Condor Club at Columbus and Broadway. That area is known for it’s “Gentleman’s Clubs”. Condor Club was the first and remains just as popular these days. Of course, some competitors opened up along the way…

Condor Club Plaque

Gentleman’s Club Row

The tour then directed us to our first hill to climb: Kearny St.

This street rises almost vertically. For obvious reasons, it’s a one-way going down only. And the sweating started.

We then took a staircase down filled adorned by gorgeous small trees and flowers all the way to Montgomery St.

And down we go

Walking down!

Once we reached Montgomery St, which is considered the Wall Street of San Francisco when in the financial district, I turned around and noticed this amazing view of the steps we had just walked down from:

How can you not want to live in a city that gives you this?

We continued our trek going on an upward incline and saw that the street became too steep and they offered us this great staircase to go forth:

DR and the Staircase

We were warned to look back while climbing these stairs for a “dramatic” view of the Transamerica Pyramid building…

This is as dramatic as one gets in the fog!

We were now looking for the Filbert Steps but took our time, this area was gorgeous and we took lots of snapshots of the area:

DR and the City

Me and the Bay Bridge

Filbert Steps Plaque

Filbert Steps from the Levi Plaza

Famous Telegraph Hill Historic District

And then after reading that sign, I instinctively asked DR if he had ever seen the documentary on the wild parrots of Telegraph Hill and like some kind of magic, unusual noise came from the trees above us and I quickly snapped a shot of some of the famous birds… Eerie….

Famous Telegraph Hill Wild Parrots

We ended up taking a little coffee break at the Starbucks in the Levi Plaza and thank god we found it on our own (it wasn’t really hidden) because when I asked 3 different people if there was a place to have a quick bite and coffee, the first one raised his hand to stop me from talking and indicated another person next to him that I could asked… The second recommended this really expensive place across the plaza that didn’t open for another hour, we’d have stuck out like sore thumbs in our shorts and damp tshirts… The 3rd one said their was lots of place around, motioning to the street… As we left, we walked right pass the Starbucks… It was right there… Doesn’t anyone at the Levi Plaza drink Starbucks??? Levi Plaza people… sheesh.

After our little refreshment, we were ready to attack the Greenwich Steps for our next destination: Coit Tower.

And then we saw the Greenwhich Steps…

At the base

Along the Greenwhich Steps

Half way up, the Famous Julius Castle… sadly closed down. A shame.

After a little break it starts again

A few steps in we saw this sign

Almost out of breath we arrived at Coit Tower… our little guide told here there would be breathtaking views from up there… The fog had cleared, the clear blue sky lit up the place and it was very beautiful… That’s when DR started making the breathing noises like he his breath was taken away by the beauty… that joke lasted a few days after that.

DR with just a few more steps to reach Coit Tower

Coit Tower Plaque

Christopher Columbus statue at the base of Coit Tower

Lombard St from Coit Tower Plaza

Alcatraz Island from Coit Tower Plaza

From the top of Coit Tower

After taking the $7 elevator ride to the top and we continued on our journey and found the steps leading us to Washington Square.

Looking back after the first series of steps…

Arriving in Washington Square with the magnificient St. Peter & St. Paul’s Church

Fireman sculpture in the Square

Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store giving an authentic Italian heritage look to the Square

We crossed the Square and continued on Union St where we found Taylor St and made a turn and right there… right there… that view… that house… that wooden staircase… that Lane…

Macondray Lane, used as Barbary Lane in the filming of Tales of the City

Mrs. Madrigal’s House

The famous wooden stairs Mary Ann climbed when she first met Mrs. Madrigal

Another view of the Mrs. Madrigal’s house… For the purpose of the TV series, only the exterior of the green house was used, they used a set for the apartments and courtyard scenes

On the other side of Macondray Lane from Jones St

The walk then took us to the last destination: Coolbirth Park. A tiny little park with a grandiose view of the bay and the Financial District… We were lucky to have the place to ourselves when we arrived, apparently it only accommodate 12 sunbathers on a regular day.

Coolbirth Park

Right there and then, I’m sure DR was making these little breath noises reminding me his breath was taken away by the views.

photo by jchip8, posted on pixdaus.com

When I go visit now it’s not the same.

The small island I grew up on has just changed so much. All the fields are gone, all the cottages are gone, the forest is gone and the charm of the place left with them all.

My parents discovered that area south of Montreal before my sister and I were born. It used to be a location for them to escape the big city on weekends, one of my uncle bought a cottage there and the family would gather and share the place. After awhile, most of them decided to make this island their home. Then my sister and I came along. To say that we grew up in the country is not necessarily a lie. It was a summer vacationing spot with beaches and cottages and a campground. A river on one side and a large canal on the other so that boats would be able to travel and avoid rapids through a system of locks. It was the place between farmland and small town. The place was joyful and that’s where people escaped to. We grew up fishing, swimming, boating, cycling to our heart’s content and in the Winter the place was desolate and ghostly with its few permanent residents. Through the years, more and more people made their permanent homes on the island but it was still enjoyable and without theatrics or drama.

One of my Summer friends who’s family would use their cottage as residence between June and September lived a block away from me. We’d always spent a lot of time together. My cousins would often join us as well as other cottagers would too. One of our favourite place was in the field next to his home. In the middle of this field was a majestic weeping willow whose lower branches made it easy for us to climb onto. We each had our resting spots on it, some higher than others and when in the tree we could easily talk to one another or goof around. I remember the one Summer they showed Planets Of The Apes on tv and all of us watched it together. That night, the tree became our Planet Of The Apes home. We were all of a sudden Apes with a purpose, my cousin who was the toughest of the gang became a gorilla warrior… my other cousin was an orangutan… My friend and I were just chimpanzees. We knew we were the cools ones.

One other time, we decided that we’d try to build a tree-house in it… that lasted a couple of afternoons until the time I climbed down and stepped on a piece of wood with a nail sticking out. His mom heard me scream and swear and said that it was too dangerous to build in this tree and to stop right away. See, swearing is something I did even when I was only 9 yrs old.

One Summer there was a Jerry Lewis movie marathon of sorts, this particular station would play one of his movies every Friday at 7pm, as kids we loved him, he made us all laugh. One Friday night, after connecting 2 really long extension cords used for electrical lawnmowers, we were able to bring a small black and white tv to the tree and watch the Jerry Lewis film outdoors as the evening set.

Whenever my Summer friends came back for the season, we made the weeping willow tree our base and our days very often ended with the plans to meet up at the there after breakfast to decide on our day from there. All our parents knew of the tree, they felt safe with us not being that far away, always sort of in sight. The tree was our fort, our camp, our club. This tree was special to us, it represented a lot, but most importantly it witnessed strong friendship of young men growing up.

It was a staple of our youth but even after growing older and in our teens we’d sometimes stopped by. That’s where my cousin tried his first cigarette. We stole a beer from one’s dad once and shared it at the tree. We kept some treasures hidden there too… a swiss army knife, just in case. There was a GI Joe that flew to the top once and was to high to try and get. It eventually fell down but the action figure was manky and weathered…. One time between a break from college, I visited the island and the tree. I sat on the lower branches for kicks… and it was easy to be transported back to those warm days of boyhood.

One Summer night, when I was 29 yrs old, while living in Montreal, I received a phone call from my mom telling me that the tree was gone. She was always good like that, she knew I’d be totally upset if I had visited and noticed the tree cut down to nothing. Apparently some idiot had bought the lot and decided that the location of the house should be EXACTLY where the tree was, instead of maybe, I don’t know, building around it and making his front lawn spectacular with this free regal landscaping jewel. So they cut it down. At the time, I was sad but I had no idea I’d start crying when I finally had a chance to come visit my parents and notice my old haunts gone… Just a big hole in the ground where cement would be poured in to make a foundation for an ugly house.

Last week we went to see The Help and a weeping willow plays a part in the movie and for minutes there I was transported back to my youth and my Summer days… and I smiled… it was a woosh of fresh air and I was might happy for the memories it brought back too.

Friday night we went around the area and distributed the Garage Sale poster that DR made for us. We tried to gather some buzz without having to go through the Craigslist way and we thought posters would do it well with the amount of pedestrians in our neighbourhood. We both tweeted and instagrammed about it too. The people must know we’re doing something, right?

Saturday morning, we got up early, had a good hearty breakfast, tried to find some last minute items to take with us and then made our way to Postbear’s house as he was our host for this delicious event. On our way there, we realized quickly that some asstard had gone around removing our posters in the middle of the evening or night… all gone… Grrr squared.

We took a good 20 minutes to set up properly, emptying all boxes and bags we had brought over the night before and noticed we had not bring the AIDS Walk poster DR had made to promote his event. We made one quickly so people would know that the crap we were selling was actually for a good cause. As usual, I gave the first item away to the first person who was interested in buying. First item is free, after that, it’s fair game with the $0.25, the $0.50, the $1…

It started with a bang and then an hour later… (insert dust balls blowing around in the wind with windy noises)… it died.

Then it picked up again… and died again… and picked up again… died again…

The stinkiest person bought the most from DR and I (cat tent, plush toys, books, movies, robots) and the craziest (had a towel wrapped around his head and offered us beers before he left) bought the most from Postbear (a huge box full of mixed cd’s). One lady with a pretty bad wig bought our dvd of Good Hair with Chris Rock. There was a little war of scooters on the sidewalk as one was blocking the entrance which was easily solved when Old Stinky decided to go get a poutine and return later. One lady complained that we had not advertised and she knew nothing about this sale (she didn’t buy anything, I guess to spite us). One lady really wanted an item that Postbear was selling, it was an Harlequin that was an inch wide and 9 inches long with a rope that when pulled would make the arms and legs dance and sold for only $0.50. Yeah, she really wanted it but unfortunately she no longer had ANY wall space to put this on. One person complained it was pretty dead.

Half way through the day, I saw how many VHS movies were left and since I didn’t want to carry any of it back home, we made a FREE VHS sign and then they started to move a bit faster. Some people refused to just take them for free and gave a few dollars for the charity, others didn’t feel any ounce of guilt and just picked up what they could carry. It was all good with me, as long as they found a home. One guy said he was a DJ and couldn’t believe all these VHS for free. He took a dozen and whistled his way out of the gate. Maybe he shows old movies in the background as he DJs, who knows… or does he DJ movies? Can’t really dance to that, can you?

All in all, it was a good day and DR and I sold all most items at super discounted price of under $1, except for a Cuisinart ice cream maker which went for $5. We raised $130 for the walk and we’ll gladly put under Postbear’s name for all his help.

Oh, and I sold my very first piece of art (I say that loosely of course). That green and pink vampire skull sold for $5, the other huge money maker we sold that day. I made sure to thank the lady who bought it as it somewhat flattered my ego… Art is so subjective, for every 100 people who hate something, one will like it.

We ended up leaving a few items by the curb, free for the taking. Of course, it was like honey for bees when people saw it. I had to “kindly” remind people to leave it as they found it when I started seeing things fly in the air as the rummaging went on. Postbear told us that he went to check the piles this morning, and what was left was still fairly orderly. My faith in humans is not completely gone.

Thanks to everyone that dropped by, always nice connecting faces to names from the blog world.

We attacked the living room recently.

We filled boxes with books and movies and toys and other things.

The money we raise will benefit DR’s AIDS walk on September 29th. Go take a look, he’s very determined and has already raised quite a bit of money, I’m very proud of him.
It’s all for a good cause so please drop by empty handed and leave with bags full. (Bring your bags, I don’t want to charge an extra $0.05)

If you say that you saw this post, I will let you choose 1 book and 1 movie for free. I’m sure DR will throw in a robot too.

The dust on all the items is complimentary.

I’ve been on the phones all week at the office… Two of us are in charge of answering all the calls for this month. Can I just say how much I’m looking forward for the 10 days away in California coming up?

Being on the phone means that people who call can be at their most nastiest without any repercussion… The best I can do to get away from it is hang up when people get too nasty, but otherwise, I listen to their many complaints, I try to hurry them to what their question actually is, I wait while they look for information I need because apparently you can wait on the line for 30 minutes without making sure you have your driver’s licence handy or any of the court documents needed to get through to their cases. It also means we’re the people’s bitches… they feel they can whip us with words and insults and lies… I do get used to it after a while but my temper flares easily…

So with that in mind, I’m out of patience very easily once I leave the office… and the poor people who cross me on the street get it… and they get it good….

As I left the building, there was a toddler, maybe 3 years old who was playing in the door, totally blocking people’s way. I scanned quickly around the area and saw who I thought my be the mother… As I tried to go outside, the toddler spun around and run right into my crotch… it didn’t hurt but as a grown gay man, I’m quite sensitive about young children and their proximity to my crotch, the last thing I need in life is someone getting the wrong fucking idea… So I grab his hand and look in the direction of the absenty mother and say loudly: “Where are the parents of this child?” The lady I was looking at replied: “I’m his mom”… Without flinching I walked in her direction to hand her the little boy and said: “Can you look after him because at his age his obvisouly not ok with looking after himself”… I didn’t even get a thank you for bringing back her son, all I got was a: “I knew where he was all along”…

Every morning before work, I go read and enjoy my Venti Bold at a Starbucks. I say enjoy which is usually the case but not yesterday… I sat at a table and took my book out of my bag… After a few minutes, this douche sat next to me and whipped out his cell phone and started fighting with someone, I assume his girlfriend, but it wasn’t a quiet fight, this was loud, getting a lot of attention from the people around, until he hung up and loudly said: “fucking cunt!” That raised a few eyebrows around but no one really addressed it… He then took his Toronto Star and started going through, when he was finished with one section, he’d just throw it on the floor… all the sections made it there piling up in a mess… then he started going through his man purse and took out all sorts of papers he obviously didn’t need and would crumple them and added them to the pile of newspaper… His phone rang, the worst rap song I’ve ever heard… He got up, left his half finished coffee on the corner of his table, took one last bite of his breakfast sandwich and threw the rest on top of all the papers, like it was normal… I was so annoyed by all his noise and not being able to read that I couldn’t help: “Are you going to leave this mess like this?” He just said: “If it bothers you so much, why don’t you clean it up” and continued with “I fucking told you, I’m not fucking interested in fucking moving in together. I need my fucking space”. I looked at the girl next to us and said: “So he can leave all his garbage around I guess”…

Walking home tonight after work, listening to music, blocking the world around me, I suddenly heard over my music someone talking loudly or screaming behind me, I could heard the footsteps of someone running, it was definitely coming at me… I turned to see a couple, man and woman in the early 30′s, both of them with dogs on leashes, running straight at me… It obviously startled me and I’m sure my face showed it too. They were running to their car which just happened to be park where I was walking at the time. I looked at the woman, than at the man and they were now laughing out loud. I said: “You’re both riots. Lucky I didn’t have the reflex to kick your dogs by scaring me like this.” He said: “You touch my dogs, I’ll fix your face.” She said: “It’s just a joke asshole”… But it’s true, my first reflex when I saw two excited dog coming at me was to defend myself, I don’t know why they thought it was a funny thing to say…

Right now, all I want is to finish the bottle of Australian red we opened with dinner, watch tonight’s episode of Shark Week, have a relaxing weekend and make sure I see Rise of the Planet of the Apes sometimes before Sunday night….

This morning we decided to go through our books and pile them up for the upcoming garage sale we are doing with Postbear on August 13th. I have tons of books, and I am keeping some, but I realized that I have never re-read a book in all my life, so why keep them on the shelves. They do take a lot of space… We made a mountain just short of 75 books of all kind. If you drop by the garage sale on the 13th and you want some books, I’ll gladly give instead of selling. It’s just one of the perks of being a SharkBoy reader.. hehe.

After the books, we attacked the movies… that was a lot harder and I must admit that not a lot of them made it in the pile… Same goes for movies as books, if you come by and want one, it’s free… if I don’t recognize you, just tell me who you are. I never recognize the people I only know by nickname online through their tiny little pictures.

Going through the movies, I found some more treasures left by Postbear on his kittysitting days… I have to admit that I always laugh out loud when I find a new one.

I was surprise to see the whole Pink Panther series, I couldn’t remember buying that… when I opened it, it was even funnier seeing the movies hidden in there. Also earlier this week, while looking for a cd, I found this amazing Insect Fetish Erotica lodged between cd cases… and DR found this great ID card hidden under his keyboard when he picked it up for a cleaning.

Movies hidden inside the Pink Panther case.

And then, after going through the movies, I found a bag full of Star Wars toys I had been collecting over the last year… They were all there in their cases and I kept thinking that I should really display them… so today was the day:

All new unpacked toys

Then I ran out of room and I was left with all of these:

I’m gonna need a bigger shelf…
All lined up on a shelf for my own enjoyment