Fun and Games Dept

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Earl and I are back from our weekly outing to Saranac Thursday night. It’s actually after 2:00 in the morning and I have just awoken from several hours of sleep. I was apparently put to bed immediately after supper, around 9:00 p.m. That should give you an idea of how the evening went.

It is Boilermaker Weekend in these parts plus the weather was picture perfect, so the brewery was packed to the gills with people. Earl and I hung out with friends, where we discussed everything from Obama to sex to work stuff. Earl didn’t do a lot of talking as his voice is pretty much shot from a “lively” discussion he had with one of his employees earlier in the week. He still takes a good picture though.

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I let Earl play with my iPhone for a few moments during the evening. When I was downloading the photos from it I noticed a photo of someone I didn’t recognise. Earl was apparently taking stealth shots.

I always enjoy the people watching on outings such as these. I noticed that there aren’t as many people wearing the trendy, big sunglasses found elsewhere. Most of the guys have aviator or ‘biker’ sunglasses and many of the women are opting for the modern looking sunglasses rather than the aforementioned big, bulky retro glasses.

The music wasn’t bad. I don’t know who the band was but they focused on country music. They were in tune for the most part, which is always a good start when you’re singing on stage. Unfortunately the lead singer had a really bad habit of whistling into the microphone between phrases of any given track he was singing and it was making my ears hurt. We had to go to the outer limits of the crowd to keep me from doing the Pavlov’s dog trick. I don’t find it appropriate to drool in public.

After a few beers we headed over to Zebb’s, where I apparently ordered a delicious meal. Much of it is in the refrigerator in a take away box. I guess I’ll have it for lunch tomorrow.

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Earl and I headed to Sylvan Beach for the afternoon to celebrate Independence Day. Upon our arrival I immediately discovered that the battery in my digital camera was dead; thank the Universe for a relatively decent camera in the iPhone.

Sylvan Beach has a year-round census of just over 1,000 people. Located relatively half-way between Utica and Syracuse, Sylvan Beach is a village and popular summer resort destination on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake, the largest landlocked lake in New York State. Though close to the Finger Lakes Region, Oneida Lake is not considered to be one of the Finger Lakes, as it has a primarily east-west orientation (the Finger Lakes run north-south).

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Oneida Lake is a popular destination for people of all shapes and sizes and socio-economic standing. The “downtown” area is populated with several resort type shops, restaurants and beach side bars. The radio station I used to work for would hold it’s annual Summer Bash Concert on the beach each year in the late 1990s. The largest artists we had at one of these gigs included Alisha and Kim Syms.

There is also a 1960s era amusement park reminiscent of Seaside on the Jersey Shore (not Jersey Shore, Pa.) Earl and I kicked off our afternoon with some games of Skee Ball. We’d never played Skee Ball together before; I like to think that he was impressed with my Skee Ball skill. The “270” on the machine to the left of Earl in this photo is my highest score of the 10 games we played. We gave all of our prize tickets to a youngster that was playing at the machine next to Earl.

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After our fun with Skee Ball and walking the beach a few times and admiring the scenery, we stopped at Eddie’s Restaurant, a large restaurant with it’s original 60s motif. To be seated we stood in line under the sign that said “Parties of 1 to 4 ↓". The other line said “Parties of 5 or more”. If memory serves correctly, Grandma and Grandpa Country would head to Sylvan Beach several times during the year to eat at the restaurant. I had the broiled salmon with cole slaw and french fries.

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One of our stops along the walk was to snap each other’s photo along the Barge/Erie Canal. It’s at Sylvan Beach that boats traveling along the famous canal are dumped into Oneida Lake, which they must cross it’s entire length to pick the canal back up in Brewerton as they head towards Buffalo.

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Even though Sylvan Beach is relatively close to our home, it’s rare for us to make the drive to hang out in the area. With today’s gas prices, I’m certain that we’ll do it more often this summer. There are more photos available on my Flickr account and they can be found here.

I don’t know why the members of the American society continue to amaze me but they do. I’m not talking about a good type of amazement; I’m referring to various incidents that leave me shaking my head. I often wonder if I expect too much people or if I continue to live in some sort of Pleasantville fantasy-world. In the past 36 hours I have encountered the following:

1. After the “Yes, We Have No Donuts” incident (as outlined in the previous entry), we headed over to the closest convenience store to see if they had any cookies to satisfy our craving for something sweet. We were in luck, there were two types of individually wrapped, moderately appealing cookies. Earl and I snatched one of each up and I took them to the register. The cashier said nothing. She scanned each cookie and then stared at me. Apparently it is now up to the American consumer to look at the cash register display to know how much to pay the cashier. Thank goodness for technology else we’d be relying on the good ol’ reliable ESP. I gave her a 20. If I was standing in my cherished Ireland, the cashier would then say “Thank you” for giving her money, but the permed-one (as I had nicknamed this cashier in my head) snatched the money and threw a lesser amount in my direction. It was up to me to pick the cookies off the counter and walk out. Never mind asking for a sack. I dealt with it, but I couldn’t keep my mouth shut after all because I said, “This is where you say thank you.” Then I left.

2. I worked the early shift this morning. I’m loving being back at work. I’m loving the crew I work with, I love the company I work for and I love playing with all sorts of technology. I’m not a morning person but I do my best to deal. The phone rings. I answer, thanking the caller for calling and saying “This is J.P., can I help you?” “Are you having a problem?” was the response. I was REALLY tempted to say, “Yes, I feel gassy today” but instead I said, “Not that I’m aware of, are you having an issue?” This is when the caller said, “The internet is down and it’s usually you’re fault.” Now, let’s be real. The “internet” wasn’t down as if it was there would be worldwide mass chaos. After some well-worded questions on my behalf, “May I ask who’s calling?” “What sort of trouble are you having?”, I discovered that the caller wasn’t even a customer of the company I work for; she had just randomly picked a number in the telephone book and called it. “You provide the internet, fix it!” She hung up on me when I told her I couldn’t help her because I had absolutely no control over her little piece of the internet.

3. At the end of my lunch hour I headed back to work along the freeway that usually ends up on my video blog entries. As I approached the downtown interchange, the car in front of me slammed on her brakes in the middle of the freeway at the interchange before my exit. She stopped TO LET THE CAR ENTERING THE FREEWAY ON IN FRONT OF HER. There are no traffic jams in this area; cars and trucks are moving around 70 MPH and she stopped in the middle of the freeway. A quick-reflexed jaunt onto the shoulder and my Acura remained intact. After the car pulled off the ramp and in front of her, she was on her away, undoubtedly looking to create more mayhem elsewhere.

Earl and I were having a conversation with my sister and brother-in-law last week about our feelings about the United States and her people. I’m not as much of a fan as I used to be. It’s one of the few points in life that Earl and I don’t agree on. My sister doesn’t agree with me either but my brother-in-law, the Canadian, agrees with me. Like many Americans I’m fed up with our government and all it’s shenanigans. I don’t know if it’s the current administration setting an example or what but it seems like people are becoming downright rude or stupid or both. I’m not looking for a Mary Poppins existence, I’m hoping for just some basic civility. I try to live my life being the best person I can be. I set a high standard for myself that I strive to achieve and I guess it’s dumb of me to assume that others would do the same. ‘Mediocrity’ is the new level deserving of a standing ovation.

And that is why I dream of living elsewhere.

It’s been a little more than 24 hours since we arrived home from our trip to Toronto and I have to admit that I’m still feeling a little wiped out. There’s a certain challenge in making your body go from “weekend mode” to “workday mode” in one night’s sleep and I guess I’m not up to that challenge because I feel like I’m still in weekend mode. To keep things interesting I’m working the early shift for the next two days. If you can’t remember my initials you can always just call me “Zombie”.

Saturday night Earl and I went to the Beef Ball at The Opera House. The atmosphere was festive in an intriguing sort of way. The energy was intense. The music was incredibly loud (and very good). I can’t believe I managed to snap a photo with my iPhone but I think you get the idea from this photo.

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Naturally Earl and I dressed appropriately for the evening.

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After we had enough of the Beef Ball we headed back to Church Street where we met up with our long lost friend Mark. We haven’t seen him in a number of years and there he was, as bubbly and huggy as ever. It was good to see him. After watching the boys for a bit, Earl and I hit the hotel room around 3:30. Surprisingly we were both sober.

The Beef Ball inspired me to take my DJ gigs into more of a tribal/trance direction. I enthusiastically watched the DJs do their stuff and while I play pretty much the same songs as they do, their remixes are more intense sounding. I really enjoyed the thump of their mixes and hope to do my own version of it.

Sunday morning we decided to head out before the parade, which I know is very un-gay like but we had a long drive home and we had to be checked out of the hotel by noon. It was a good thing that we did head out, because the drive from Toronto to Buffalo (normally 1 1/2 hours at the most) clocked in at nearly three hours due to endless construction and strong thunderstorms on the QEW. At least our wait at the Peace Bridge was less than five minutes. By the way, for the first time we were asked our relationship to one another by a customs official and I replied, “We are lovers!” I almost said “w00t!” after that but I didn’t feel that piece of punctuation was necessary, plus it would be hard to manage without the obligatory hand flail. The border is a serious place. You’re suppose to be very afraid to come into the United States, not flailing your hand and saying “w00t”. I believe he typed the information into his computer so now it’s documented though still not legal in the Federal Government’s eyes. Bastards.

We finally got home a little after 5 p.m. and started the every joyful task of doing laundry and figuring out what to cook for supper.

All in all it was an eclectic, enjoyable weekend. I think I’m ready to move to a big city.

Sears Pride., originally uploaded by iMachias.

This is why I will shop at Sears and K-mart. Walking into the north end of the Eaton Centre, home of Sears, shoppers are greeted with this gay pride display. It is not the only gay pride display in Sears and one of many gay pride displays throughout the Eaton Centre.

Earl and I purchased gay pride bracelets from the Eaton Centre Info Desk. They were $5 a piece and 100% of the proceeds went to a local HIV/AIDS charity.

Eaton Centre, and Sears, rocks.

A few random thoughts from our first night of Pride weekend here in Toronto:

1. Walking hand in hand with Earl up and down Church Street puts my head in the clouds
2. Drag queens riding bicycles in full regalia is kind of cool
3. People being themselves without inhibition is wicked cool
4. I really hope that the roaming charges for text messages is not outrageous as I have been going crazy with messaging various boys
5. Standing in line to get into a bar and then standing in line once inside the bar to get to the second floor doesn’t really do a lot for me. I did both but once I was in line for an hour to get to the second floor of the Eagle I felt like I was missing too much. Mingling amongst the crowds on the street is just as enjoyable
6. The number of businesses flying rainbow colours here in Toronto is astounding
7. “Well I certainly can’t find that at K-mart”
8. I love Canada and her people
9. I live in the wrong city to be an effective club DJ as I have seen literally thousands of people dancing to the exact same tracks that makes the bunnies at home go “WTF is this?”
10. I’m ready for another day of the festivities

Earl and I are officially installed in Toronto for the weekend. We’ve already met up with dave and a few of his friends whilst we were milling about on Church Street after lunching at O’Grady’s. There is a certain amount of freedom attached with not having to drive tonight.

Toronto is one of my favorite North American cities.

Earl and I are poised to head into Toronto. My sister and my new brother-in-law are off to meet with high paid people about the new house they’re purchasing on the 30th so we are in their house alone right now. We haven’t run through the halls naked or anything. Well, maybe we did.

Last night after dinner we did some shopping at Zeller’s. It’s much like K-mart and feels wicked comfortable to me. I found some good deals on camo shorts. I love camo shorts. We then came back to the house, wear I went into the bedroom to change into comfortable clothes and promptly fell asleep. I woke up a little after 8 this morning. Earl apparently tried to wake me several times but I wasn’t having any. My body probably figured that I was going to put it through it’s paces this weekend so I should fill up the sleep deficit ahead of time.

Now we are getting ready to head into Toronto. We assumedly can’t get into the hotel until 3, so we are just going to window shop and such beforehand.

Jennifer and David’s Wedding., originally uploaded by iMachias.

Earl and I are safe and sound in the greater Toronto area for the weekend. This afternoon we witnessed a wedding: my sister Jennifer married her fianceé David in a small civil ceremony. We were joined by David’s son Bates, and their friend Gary and his son Albert.

There’s a bunch of photos on my iMac page.