Day 1 of a new life. Why do I feel so sad?

Well, as of 6:00 pm yesterday afternoon my life as a heavy-duty mechanic came to an end. And although I won't miss the work very much, I found out yesterday that I will indeed miss the people involved.

I worked for K & P Drever for just over 4 years and in that time I came to meet and know alot of people. Because I was the least experienced person in the shop, I was responsible from early on in my career for going on parts runs when the other mechanics needed parts. Over the years of doing this I made some great connections at the different parts places the company had accounts at and I even made some friends. There was always somebody somewhere who had my back and went out of their way to get me the parts I was looking for. These guys took care of my parts needs, and a few even became interested in my life. Yesterday I was able to spend the better part of my last day searching for parts for the other mechanics, and this allowed me to say some goodbyes to those who I will truly miss. And it was good to know that I'll be missed right back.

I'm not the most emotional person you will ever meet, but some things do get me worked up a bit. "Goodbye guys, thanks for all you've done for me over the years." Seems like a simple enough thing to say, right? Yesterday it was incredibly hard to say. With every hand shake and every "Good luck Rich, I'll miss you pal" I had to choke back the tears. I never realized how much seeing these guys everyday meant to me. So if there is going to be any adjustment in my new life, this will be it.

Thanks to all the guys at Traction, Gregg Distributors, and Fleet Brake for making 4 dificult years of work a little more bearable. Getting to know you guys made getting through my days at K & P worth every minute.

Where'd all my hair go?

It's getting to be that time of year again. A time when the temperature rises, and with it my desire for short hair. So I did today what I've done a few times in the past: I buzzed off all my hair.

I went into my usual hair salon and got my old friend Mo to crop it all off. And as he has done many times in the past, he paused and said " Are you sure?". Just being cautious I guess. After assuring him that it's what I came in for, he proceeded with a smile. And in just a matter of moments, I went from having unruly, messy and hard to work with hair, to having an air-conditioned skelp. The plus side is that I'll definately use less shampoo. The down side is I can see I'm loosing more and more hair each hair cut. Sucks getting older and inheriting your Mother's family hair gene. Not that I'm complaining, I still grow lots of hair, but I miss my old locks sometimes. I'm doing better than alot of guys in the hair department, I just don't know for how much longer. But needless to say I like the look. I call it the "Jason Statham" look. Now if only I had his jaw line, swimmer build, and kick-ass accent. I could be an action movie superstar!!!!!

Or not.

And tonight makes it 2-1 Flames!!!!!!!

Well, the Calgary Flames responded to the critics. They responded to the skeptics. Most of all they responded to the fans. Tonight, they showed why they are considered Cup contenders as they beat the Mighty Ducks 5-2 down in good old sunny California. A commanding performance from start to finish allowed the Flames to get tonights win. And now we have home-ice advantage back. Let's hope the team continues this fired up (no pun intended, really!) style of play Thursday night and records another win, and takes another step closer to drinking out of the holy grail of hockey: The Stanley Cup!!!!!

Yes, I'm quite excited. I love playoff hockey. Go FLAMES Go!!!!!!

2 more days!!!! And other fun stuff.

I have 2 more days left at work. 2 more days to endure in what I can only describe as "Hell on Earth" combined with toxic smells, dirt and grime, and the worst attitudes amongst grown men ever collected in one place! Well, okay, it's not quite that bad, but somedays it feels like it is. So in 2 days I have my freedom. I'm very stoked :)

I've also added a few links to some fellow bloggers of mine. Check em' out if you have a chance. I'll be adding more soon when I remember the names of my other friends blogs. (I've had a rough day and I'm having Kokanee for dinner so...... my mind is not here right now.) Cheers everybody!

Oh boy!

And now my blog likes me again:)

I'm going to bed now. Stupid man-made junk!

What the f......?

Okay, my blog hates me. I've been trying to post a movie review and for some reason the review won't update. That pisses me off. I've never had a problem before, and I don't wish to have any problems now. Has this ever happened to any of you? I hope it's just a temperary glitch. If not, then I guess I'll be writing the review again. Damn man-made junk!

Silent Hill, it's not for everyone.

I just came back from seeing the new movie Silent Hill. I'm a big fan of the video game franchise and I'm also a big fan of the director Christophe Gans. With my fingers crossed, I went to see this movie hoping that it would remove the bad taste left in my mouth by every other video-game based movie I've seen (Resident Evil exampt). Unfortunately, this was not to be.

The movie itself, from a visual standpoint, is quite stunning. Christophe managed to capture the eerieness and macabre atmophere you find in the video game. Too bad he didn't spend more time on the writing. The whole movie feels like a Uwe Boll directed mess. And believe folks that's not a good thing.

If you've ever played Silent Hill then you know that the story is always a bit twisted and things are never fully explained. But if you haven't played the game and you are going to see this movie, take caution: The movie is just a trippy and confusing experience, loaded with poor acting and over-the-top gore! I don't know if I can fully blame the actors though, you can only do so much with crap. And everyone tries their best in this movie, it just doesn't help. Right from the beginning of the movie I got the impression that the story was going to be weak. With no initial back story, we the viewers are thrust right into the heart of this creepy little town of Silent Hill without fully knowing why. And up until the last 15 minutes of the show we're still left guessing. Now like I said before, if you're a fan of the franchise then this is to be expected. Every game's the same way. I guess I was just hoping for so much more given the people involved and the oppertunities available. Silent Hill could be a very good, incredibly intense experience if done right. Too bad the movie makers didn't capitalize on this. I found too many parts of the movie to be cheesy, and not enough of the movie made me jumpy. I crave that jumpy, uneasy feeling in my horror movies and the scary video games I play. I'm have these feeling playing the Silent Hill games and I wanted to feel this way watching the movie. But movie just doesn't deliver.

If you like your horror movies with little story direction and alot of visually graphic scenes, then you'll like Silent Hill. If you're a fan of the franchise and are stoked to see the game brought to life, you'll probably like it as well, but will most likely feel like I do. If you're a curious movie fan and are looking at Silent Hill to be an entertaining scarefest, stay away! You'll only be dissappointed.

So consider yourself warned, Silent Hill is not for everyone. Not even me.

And the Flames take game 1!!!!

Many of you who know me out there know I'm a big Flames fan. Well tonight they took the first step in their quest to win the Stanley Cup by beating the Mighty Ducks 2-1 in overtime. Good old Darren McCarty scored the game winner. What a game! It's good to see the Flames start off on the right track and hopefully they can continue this way of playing all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. I know I'll be cheering them all the way, and with any luck they can avenge 2004's 7th game loss by bringing the cup back to Calgary. Go Flames Go!!!!!!!!!

And now we have 2.

My roommate and studio partner broke down and bought a new computer tonight. He was going to wait until after the upcoming Calgary Comic Book Expo on May 7th., but I think the craving just became too much. He was there when I picked up my new 'puter, he got to see the joy in my eyes when I set it up, and it was too much for him to bare. That, and he got a pleasent surprise from his former employers in the form of an ample payout. So I guess that helped speed things up too.

So now our studio is up-to-date. We have 2 new computers and a big boost of ambition. I couldn't be more stoked! All this, and we recieved a preview copy of our new comic book in the mail yesterday. It looks soooooooo sweet!!! Seriously, it brought a tear to my eyes. This is the most ambitious project we've done to date, an actual full colour, 24 page comic book from Out of Mind Studios. It's based on the webcomic we produce called Twice Thursday. And we are like proud parents folks, let me tell you. As soon as I figure out how to post images I'll load the cover image for all to see. In the mean time just click the link I have to Twice Thursday and enjoy. And if you do happen to read this blog, live in the area, and you have nothing to do on Sunday May 7th, come to the Big Four Building and support some local talent. We would all sure love to see you. Okay, enough with the product plugging!

Man, what a crazy (in a good way) week this has been. And it's only going to get more crazy(still in a good way) from here. Bring it on boyo, bring it on!

The trouble with cars.

I have an older model car. It's a 1991 Ford Tempo. It just rolled over the 200,000 km mark about a week and a half ago, and up to that point in time it's been quite reliable. But that has since changed. It began acting up shortly after the milage reached 200,100 km. First it started surging, then acted like it was running out of gas, and finally it stopped wanting to run. I knew I had to do something.

On Monday I decided that I was going to give the car a tune-up. Now as I've mentioned before I'm a mechanic, so this would seem to be a simple task to anyone on the outside looking in. But I'm a heavy duty, large diesel engine mechanic; not a small fuel-injected gas engine mechanic. And trust me, there is a world of difference between the two. Never the less I embarked on what I believed would be a problem-solving mission. Change the oil, the oil filter, the air filter, and the spark plugs and the problem would be solved. Right? Right!?!

Wrong!

You see, not having the knowledge necessary to work on a fuel-injected system can cause a whole lot of trouble for the person making the attempt. I was filling that role nicely as not only did my efforts not solve the problem, they actually seemed to make things worse. This did not impress me.

So I decided to limp the car home and take it in to my local area mechanic in the morning. Now, if you're are familar with Calgary, or really, any other large city, then you'll understand that commuting an hour in rush hour traffic with a car not functioning on a full capacity can be some what unnerving. I truly believe that the entire city was out on the road driving like asses just trying my patience. They wanted me to snap. I wanted me to snap. But I had bigger issues to deal with. My car wanted to blow up, and I just wanted to get it home. Every light turned red when I approached it, and every pedestrian needing to cross the road did so as I approached their crosswalk. I was freaking out. And so was the car.

I made it home intacted, and although I felt like drinking heavily upon arrival I felt it best to just let things go and focus on getting the car fixed. I dropped the car off in the morning and was told I wouldn't get the car back until today. And what a relief it was to get a call this morning telling me the problem was solved. "It was a simple sensor is all" the voice on the other end of the phone said. "She runs like a charm now!". Great! So a couple of days, a whole lot of headache, and $300.00 later, my car is fixed. I may have doubled the value of my car today but at least it's fixed. With my work being so far away I need a decent set of wheels to rely on. Even if it costs a fortune. That just the trouble with cars I guess.

Well, this is new!

Hello world? Well, how the hell are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking. As you may or may not know, this is an entirely new thing to me. Blogging. What the hell is blogging?
Well, I guess this is.

You see, I'm a bit of a late bloomer. For the most part, everyone I know has a blog. And they've all had these blogs for some time. Me, well....I guess I have one now too. I just bought a fancy new computer today. It was both absolutely frightening and exhilerating, because I took a big chance. A very big chance.

I'm a heavy duty mechanic by day, or at least I will be until the end of the month. I quit my job a week ago to focus on my nightly activities. I'm an aspiring artist and writer. I'm part of a small studio. And I have a webcomic. It's all very time consuming and I need more time. So, due largely to the fact that I'm unhappy with the work I do (the pay is great, the grease and oil are bad) I decided to dedicate more time to doing what enjoy. I love comics. I love drawing them and writing them and creating them and...well, I'm sure you understand. So this is where the "big chance" I mentioned comes in. I won't be making the same kind of money I was as a mechanic in 2 weeks. I'll only be working 3 days a week. But I can honestly say I've never been happier. I feel I have a direction now, and having 4 days a week to be creative is just what I need. I'll get to have new experiences, and maybe fall on my face a few times along the way. But that's cool. I can live with that.

And now with this fancy new blog, I have someone to share these experiences with. That folks, in my humble opinion, is very cool. Definately something I can live with.