MikeMike brought the shots. Oh dear…

It was a rare weekend indeed. Friday night I had KK, Captain, Dean, MikeMike and JoeyJoe all over for the night. These are my oldest friends, some of which I’ve known for over 30 years. *whistles* It was a fun night. MikeMike who will now also now known as the Pollock Warlock, brought over 100 Jell-O shots. I don’t recall all the booze used but blue jell-o was 151 Rum, green was Rye, yellow was Lemon Liqueur… I don’t recall what red and orange were. I’ve never done Jell-o shots before and the Warlock made them strong, often substituting booze where it called for water. The Warlock was the first to arrive and naturally that meant shots, I think we had about seven each before anyone else had even arrived. I’m not sure if it was all that sugar or the booze or both, but, bam! that was a quick way to get your buzz on. The Warlock is a thoughtful soul and brought me a bottle of tasty rum called Barbarossa Spiced Rum (which has a lousy web presence BTW :P). Naturally we had to do a shot of that (it was delicious too! very sweet, lots of vanilla and caramel) and a shot of my 12 year old Rum. Yarr! You’d think we were pirates after all that Rum! We had a few minutes to chat about our surgeries. It was oddly comforting to hear someone else have a similar experience and is doing well. It sounded like his surgery was significantly more serious than mine however. Eventually everyone rolled in, I think Captain was last. KK, Dean and Captain all brought guitars, amps, cords, effects pedals etc. etc., and I moved the drums up to the great room… so the room looked crazy once all the gear was finally setup.

Greatroom pre-Rock.

It was fun to jam – there wasn’t a whole lot of rhyme or reason to our madness but it was a lot of fun. I think everyone but JoeyJoe took a shot at the drums. I did some lovely death metal vocal work. Good times. I think we played pieces of some Rush, Pixies, AC/DC, Blood on the Dancefloor (ha, thanks Warlock), Iron Maiden and Art Brut songs. It was a Friday night so the boys, all of which worked then drove up to Bolton, were starting to lose power by 1 A.M…. by 2 A.M. everyone was passed out. Funny to think how partying changes as you age… Before crashing at 2AM would have been scoffed at. Everyone but JoeyJoe stayed over.

I was happy to see everyone survived the night. We decided to get a nice greasy spoon breakfast. We sat down and were about to order when KK said, ‘I don’t think I should be here’. Right because he was pale as a sheet and looked like one hurting unit. He ended up sitting in his car while we ate. Breakfast was good. The little all-day breakfast diner in Bolton isn’t much to look at, but the food is solid and it is always busy there so they must be doing something right. We said goodbyes and I returned home with Captain. He was going to Medieval Times in Toronto so we hung out for the afternoon. I introduced him to Borderlands (360). *grin* He left around 5ish. I ran the dog then chilled most of the night.

I recently bought Guild Wars 2 and put in some time to check it out. I recently got rid of my Warcraft account and I was looking for something to fill the void. Well, GW2 turns outs to be quite a delightful smorgasbord of MMO goodness. First off it looks gorgeous. Not the cartoony WoW look but clean and spectacular. The UI is very slick and modern, dare I even say sexy. The gameplay offers a curious redefining of MMO questing. The game has events that trigger spontaneously in an area and alerts local players to join in the action. Really it is the same kill this, fetch that quests but they feel much more organic and real to have it occur instead of finding a dude with an exclamation point hovering over his head. I think I’m around level 14 playing a Necromancer and I’ve only discovered 2% of the map! The world must be enormous. So far I’m very impressed and the gameplay is addictive and fun. It is clear GW2 >>>>>>>>> WoW. I’m sure I’ll talk about this game more as I progress to 80, PvP and SvS!

Bdot was wise and got out of town and stayed at BBB’s for the weekend. On her way home she scored some impressive additions to our wedding gear. Good hunting hon. Tonight she is picking up a ton of wine, I’m at the dentist. Bah, some trade off.

Hiking map for Palgrave forest

Sunday I cleaned up after the Rock and took the dog for a hike on a Bruce Trail Side trail hike in Palgrave Forest. I did 5 to 1 and back again. The dog flushed a wild turkey. They are always in the area in the Fall.

Music is one area bdot and I are far apart on. But after a few hours of listening to music on youtube, I think we found a few bands we could agree upon. One hidden gem we came across was the Piano Guys. They are a charming blend of classic and modern blending in cello, drums (the cello is often used as a ‘percussion instrument’) and of course piano. The Piano Guys have a unique sound like classic meeting light prog-rock. It is looking like some might may its way into the wedding.

And Gary ‘insert expletive here’ Bettman has officially locked out the players. So this NHL season will at least not start on time if at all. Joy. It is pretty frustrating and the lack of urgency continues from BOTH sides. This is infuriating and insulting as a fan. Disappointing. Both sides are taking advantage of the love hockey fans have for the game. UNLIKE NHL!