AAAkkk Ö Then the blogÖ Man thereís just not enough time. Iím trying to post before midnight. I should just tell myself I have to post AFTER midnight. Hey, wait a minuteÖ Iím here right now. I saw what I wrote there. I guess I donít have to tell myself at all.

Itís been a long day. Itís Friday tomorrow and I donít know why that excites me. Weekends are kind of meaningless around here. Itís all kind of one giant long week. No waitÖ maybe itís all kind of one giant long weekend. After all, I suppose I do what some people do on weekends all week long. Maybe I need therapy.

There have been no more salmon in the alley. I went out there and looked. I sort of half expected ñ oh I donít know ñ a steak, or some shrimp, or a salad, or something. Maybe the fish was a sign. It could have fallen from the sky. If that was the case, Iím glad it was only a salmon and not a piano or something. There was an earthquake south of us in Washington today and I wonder if it had anything to do with our fish. HmmmÖThose things usually happen in threes. Iíll be checking the alley tomorrow.

My neighbor quit smoking a couple of days ago. I suppose he didnít want to have the temptation of cigarettes in the house, so he sold me what he had left. He smokes these damned PrestoPak things. They are fucking gross. I saw the guy today. He was smoking. It made me feel better somehow.

Yesterday there was a dead headless fish in the alley. Really. It was just lying there in the grass at the side of the road. I pointed to it and said "MmmmÖ Forrest fish". I considered taking pictures of it every day until it rotted away, but ended up just leaving it there. Today it showed up under my boat in the backyard. Jo stuck a garden fork in it while I held the bag open. We both remarked on what good shape it was in. It looked like it was all ready to go for dinner, and someoneís dog had stolen it. Probably the dog that was checking it out just before we threw it away. What a strange street this is.

A couple of you asked this week what it is that I do. A lot of people ask me that. (It could be just because of my hair. I guess they can tell I don’t have a real job.) My answer depends on what day it is. Yesterday I was a recording engineer. Today I am engineering, designing a logo for a local company, and working on a screenplay. Tomorrow I will be a musician, engineer, writer and an animator. It’s not that I have so much talent (I don’t), it’s just that I don’t have a regular job. I suppose that’s also why all my friends with call display are never home. But I do enjoy an afternoon chat-up. That way I catch my friends before they start drinking, and can feel better about avoiding them at night when I’m working.

Life about here in Vancouver is expensive, and a lot of what I do is properly described as GAMBLING. Creating things is like buying lottery tickets. You can’t win unless you buy one. Each project is a gamble…an exchange of time for a chance at creating a more expensive art… for a down-the-road payoff.

If you live in Canada, the opportunities for this kind of work are fewer than they are in America. A Canadian has to create a lot of stuff to make money, and even more stuff to get noticed in a land of talented overachievers. So I made a lot of stuff. I helped my buddies make some of their stuff, and I almost made a living doing this for 20 years. So what now? Well…

As some of your efforts get recognized, people start looking at your other stuff. I got a phone call from LA today. I too (pen-monkey) have call display, and was expecting a call. I picked up the phone and heard nothing but laughter for a full two minutes. It was not who I thought it would be. I won’t tell you who it was, but it was someone high up the food chain that I am doing some work with. He said he had been a Little Guy fan for a while, and in tracking me down he had visited ZeD and found the Super Jeffie episodes. He was laughing at Super Jeffie takes a shit. I wonder if he had been drinking.

I wasn’t really sure I wanted these guys to see this kind of thing from me. I might need a new secret identity.

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I got even more not done today. Great. Now I can look forward to even more stuff not to do tomorrow. I did write a cute little etude today for a Swedish film. NoÖ not one of those films. Now I think I know what those way-back-then composers must have felt like. I donít know if thatís a good thing or what. Iím trying not to think about it.

Instead I will try to think of something for god to say to Super Jeffie.

AckkÖ Itís almost midnight againÖ must postÖ Toodles

Iíve got so many things to doÖ and so little vodka. A fix for that would involve going out into a world that seems to be strange and cruel. I donít know when that happened to it, as I donít get out much. I guess I donít need a drink that badly.

Iíll just stay here in the chemical mist that is my basement. With my friends the video monitors. Maybe Iíll scheme for a while. I just hope I donít scare myself like I did when I tried to write that terrorist script. In an hour and a half my dad figured out how to take over the world. I couldnít write it down, I was so worried that it would be read by someone. That CIA guy was real interested in the idea though. I traded it for a week in Vegas, and a pair of handguns.

Maybe Iíll just go out for that drink.

I got a pamphlet in the mail last week. Well actually it was in my hydro bill. It turns out the police are worried about dope growers in our residential neighborhoods.

The pamphlet described the typical grow house. You donít see anyone. Some of the windows are blocked. There are security measures visible. There are childrenís toys about and seldom or never children. There are gardening supplies in the yard. Bright lights can be seen from the basement.

This describes my house perfectly. I probably use too much electricity too. Now Iím just waiting for the neighbor next door to call the cops the next time I fire up the animation lighting.

Just keep saying itís a sovereignty issue between Canada and America. I am tired of us going along with those guys all the time. I mean itís like WEíRE A WHOLE SEPARATE COUNTRY you know. Why should we be a part of their retarded social programs? We have enough of those here (see "gun control" below). Canada should have the world by the balls. What happened?

Isn't the world supposed to end today? I guess it didn't if you're reading this.

AnyhooÖ I wanted to tell you about dinner at the Greek restaurant the other night.

We were taken to a fairly fancy place on Lonsdale (upper) where we sat outside in the warm evening air. Decent but uneventful meal until my significant other finds a big chunk of plastic inside one of these squid things she was eating. She tells the waiter politely Ö just so the kitchen will know. He tells her right away that itís a squid bone. No kidding. I saw itÖ it was totally plastic. He whisked it away. We didnít say anything more. Oh well. Good thing Iím not a critic.

So anyway... I'm glad we're all still here.

Boy ... one thing you don't want to do if you're writing all day is more writing. Music feels easier, but writing is writing. Still the blank page waiting for the ink to be put just so. Tonight there is only rum in the house. Cola keeps me awake, so should I have rum with some kind of juice? Would that work? Should I wear my pants rolled?

Is freedom in thought a prerequisite for freedom in existance? Boy... I loose interest in some things fast. I'm hungry. Toodles.

I tried to meet with some industry types last week, and all I got was this lousy film.

So my buddy is renting this place to some guy, and he picks last night to throw this guy out. Only he throws the guy out at my house. I mean we're sitting there doing some producing (it's a tough job) and my buddy goes outside with him and throws him over my car. It's not like I live in Surrey or something. Another stressfull day, and a late post. Oh well.

There's more to that story, but I'm so tired.

All told the gun registry has now spent over a billion dollars (thatís $1,000,000,000 for you Englanders) in an attempt to register all the guns in Canada. I should feel safer now, but I donít. I now live in terrible fear. Not because I think the neighbor has an unregistered gun, but because my government can waste a billion dollars and no one is accountable.

Gun Control or another make-work tax swindle?

Iíll tell you now, if I had guns I would not register them. For one ...there is no proof that registering or otherwise controlling guns leads to a decrease in gun related deaths. In fact the incidence of violent crime seems to RISE in a largely unarmed populace. Check the statistics in Quebec, where there are few guns, and compare this with those from gun-soaked Vermont, or New Hampshire. Of course, it could be just because they are French.

In Australia and England registration led to confiscation. The violent crime rate in these countries is high and growing. Switzerland has the lowest violent crime rate in the world, and EVERY HOUSE HAS A GUN and the citizens are trained in their use. Itís probably not a good country for home invasions like ours is.

The claim that 4223 "children" die because of guns every year is not quite a lie, but is certainly misleading. Out of that number, 3593 of those "kids" were between 15 and 20. If we compare that percentage of the population with the figures from, oh say 1944, (how many young people died in W.W.II?) the "child victims of gun violence" numbers must certainly be on the wane. Oh... and how many of those "children" were shot committing a crime? Lots.

So far the gun registry has cost Ottawa 1 billion dollars. A grand total of a little over 4 million guns have been registered. Well actually only 3 million, because 270,000 were already on the books, they double registered another 200,000+ and another three-quarters of a million are registered without a serial number. Ok out with the calculatorÖ Iím just guessing here, but I think this could be done for less. Thatís $500 per gun properly registered, and thatís just the startup cost. They say it will cost 75 million a year to maintain. How many guns are out there unregistered? How many will remain that way? How many guns do the criminals have? Will we ever know? I think not.

There is not much information on how many more guns have been registered. LUFA claims there are four million gun owners in Canada, and 16.5 - 20 million guns. The registry has an 80% non-compliance rate.

All of this to prevent violent crime. The government says itís working, but seems to have no figures to back that claim. The Department of Justice has kept no records and has done no audits to assess whether the registry is doing ANYTHING for all this money.

Most of those in the know say the final setup cost will be 1.5 billion. We all know the real costs will be even higher, as these costs do not include court time or enforcement. Holy crap, huh?

Sorry about the rant, but it's been one of those days.

Yo...
A very long day today. More work on the album. So nice to work on music. Another meeting this morning at the coffee shop. It's all coming together at once, just like I was worried it would. Two TV projects and another screenplay are about to go. It's been a long road. I just hope I get to tell all THOSE stories someday.

I have started yet another screenplay with Tod Timley (not his real name). It's a sidesplitter. Should be a quick one. It's writing itself.

I just have to avoid a few people that are turning into deep dark pits of need, swimming around me like sharks. There is just not enough time for it all these days. Thank god there's still enough time to drink.

So Iím looking through the box of books from my mothers and I come across a book on ADD. Iím not sure what this means, or why she would be reading such a book. I wouldnít have thought much about it except for her comment after I jokingly saying I probably had that disorder the other day.

She said, "You probably do".

Well Iím gonna read that book. I tried earlier but I just couldnít concentrate on it.

Itís a good thing Vancouver has a hockey team. That way we can help all those other teams break records. I guess the Canucks themselves break records. Like tonight when the other guys got five goals in one period. Usually the most goals against is four. (Itís happened 7 times in playoffs). A record! The Wild broke a record too. Itís the first time theyíve scored six goals in one game. Iíve been watching the local team fall apart for 30 years. They sure are good at sucking though.

My day today went like the game, only it fell apart before I even got up. Nothing bad, just all aggravating. A fair business day, in that tomorrow I might pay the phone bill. I should really start working for people in Vancouver, and not in NY or LA. And long distance on the cellÖÖ. ouch.

Iím trying to do this every day Ö look how close to midnight Iím posting to see what a rush Iím in.

Desperation is a stinky cologne.

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So there I am, out in the back yard posing a little cloth doll in front of a video camera, when the little neighbour kid comes over. Don't worry... the dad called her back before she got to close. She looked at me with a grin that said "I know you're crazy". My ex used to look at me that way sometimes.

Before that, I was doing some real work. But not real work. A friend of a friend lost a daughter in a car wreck. It was a very sad thing. She was one of those beautiful over-achievers everyone loved. A thousand at her funeral. We got together and built some music for her and her family. It seemed like the thing to do. It took a long time. It's finished today.

Her sister wrote;

"You have not only touched the lives of all you came in contact with, but through our words of you, a group of musicians have brought you to life again with music. Our hope is that this melody will carry to the heavens above so you can feel the everlasting love we hold in our hearts for you. You are now our guardian angel. Our love for you, transformed into beautiful words and notes that ring through our hearts, bringing joy and happiness like every smile you gave.

For this is not a sad song, but a healing, a celebration of you. Not only remembered in our hearts but in beautiful song."


Hug your kids tonight.

It's good to get back to doing that music stuff again. Working on E's album has been a real pleasure. It leaves a lot less time for screwing around, but it's very satisfying. Today it feels like summer, and the good weather is a welcome change. It rained for almost a full month here. I'm feeling pretty fricken lazy right now. Perhaps it's time for a drink.