Hey guys, been a while with the long weekend and all. I'm sitting in demarais before my class and just got off work...went to bed at 1am and somehow woke up seconds before my alarm went off at 5am and felt..quite refreshed. freaks me right out. 

I had an alright long weekend, hope you did too. worked a little as my family is out of town but we never really made a big deal about thanksgiving in the first place, but i get it's a lovely time to spend with those you love so i hope that's what you ended up doing! 

i'm first going to retort to the latest post of the Tales of Taco and say that i have recently become very fond of urban cycling, as Ottawa is made really well for it. i can pedal to class/work in about 5 minutes as opposed to a 15+ minute walk. the only downside is i can't walk and listen to my tunes, but sometimes i make the time for just that. hell no, i do not have earphones in while cycling. that's when you become a douche cyclist like the ones Taco discusses. I cannot stand cyclists who act as this "pedestrian/vehicle" hybrid species. either you are on the street, or you're walking. you don't ride on the sidewalk. when you ride on the sidewalk, and when half the douches don't even have a bell on their bike (which by law you do, for the rec.) you run the risk of hurting someone walking. it's not fair to use a space deliberately made for people to safely walk on and zip around on it. unless it's the uOttawa walkway. that shit is wide and i'll ride on that when i please. when cyclists run reds, it's fine. they can throw themselves in danger all they want. I stop at stop signs and reds. they are there for a reason. i don't see them as a hindrance to my momentum but more a "you should probably make sure you're not about to become a paraplegic" type of thing.

Ride safe. you've got every right to be on the road, but that means...you're on the road. 

(Taco the cyclists probably don't see you, but carry on) 

What I'd like to talk about is how one acts in the workplace. i work at the second cup on laurier right across from the university. it's busy as shit, all the time, really. this can and does wear me down as do most of all retail positions. sometimes you see a customer and generally want to say "fuck off, please" but obviously this is a no no. the thing about retail is that everyone knows it's one of the biggest lies we throw up. the employees aren't happy to be there nor do they want to put in the time for the money but a job's a job. i get that. i have good shifts and bad shifts but no doubt there is something i'd rather be doing that working. you get that. the thing i cannot stand that sometimes happens at my work is one of us will somehow make it seem like the customer fucked up. e.g. i go to make one drink and the customer says "oh sorry, i said two of those."..who am i to say "no you didn't" when in reality i probably did hear them wrong. there's no point in me going UGH like the customer is super annoying and rude when all they did was order. i guess whenever you really don't want to do your job you need to visualize from the customer's end. i get i'm just some person making your coffee and you don't really care about my well being or health, but then again i don't really care for the customer's, i just smile and nod and feel a slight twinge of hope in my heart that their day is going well so far, even though their face will be forgotten in about 5 minutes (except those tall ladies that come in. please come back, like often.). so yeah, just imagine being a customer and having to be confronted by a total dickhead behind the counter. that's not fair. you represent a service, so just give 'er for the time you've been slotted. leave all the bullshit going on at the door because no one who is asking for a coffee or new pair of shoes cares, unfortunately. you don't have to act like their friend, they have friends. you need to be nice and do your job. because nothing about your job makes you a big deal. not to your co workers or a customer. also..

you didn't get a job to make money.
you got a job because you ran out of it. 

anyways. that's a rant. what's up with me? two big things really...on the 19th i'm shipping out on an adventure to Namibia in southern Africa. my dad and sis are there and we're basically renting a 4x4 and driving around dunes and desert. i am beyond excited. lots of videos! 22 hours of flight time however..

Ottawa->NYC->Johannesburg->Windhoek, Namibia.

that reminds me i need to get a big ass memory card...

in other news...NEW GUITAR. Taylor GS Mini Mahogany topped and left handed. it is bloody gorgeous and her name is BabyTay LeJames. deal with it. it's a small bodied guitar but a relatively average scale (length). sounds very bright and has a mellow low end for nice round chords. sounds a lot like what dallas green plays, but less expensive. i'm hoping to play a lot of open mics starting next week, also i had this silly idea of an open mic tour where i go to other campus towns and steal the hearts of all the women and then wake up and realize none of that actually happened. been writing more often too...haven't been in a long time. i tend to write more when i find new music to get inspired from. currently listening to a lot of Lumineers and Fake Problems. what i have NOT been listening to is the Mumford record. i dunno why i'm just going to let the hype die the hell down and then actually go into it with the love i had for the first album. not really a fan of that "i will wait" song, or whatever it's called. but i'm sure there are pure gems on it. please don't bombard me with "omg listen to thiiiis"..yes the lyrics talk about heads and hearts and making love roam i'm sure your life is in shambles and this music is saving it. only my best friend Kyle is allowed to throw music in my face, because it tends to be amazing stuff. 

but all of you should listen to the Gaslight Anthem. everyday. 

I'm really thankful for people who know how to be real and cut the bullshit when they can. it's way more insulting to pretend to care than to just not even letting certain topics come up. just don't pretend to be someone's friend. no one is asking you to. if you want to be my friend, chances are that you already are. i'm not saying the "you're not my friend i don't have to be nice to you" view is what i'm rooting for here, hell naw. it's important to start as kind to everyone. if you can't even start out being kind...you're lost, man. you've just lost it.


keep the memories in your bones

M



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