Do you feel it?

NHL hockey is returning tomorrow.

And the Canucks top 2 defencemen are injured.

Storm's a brewin'...

Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo is freakin' HUGE!

The Blarney Stone last night was the most fun I have had in a very long while. For the first time since I can remember, I was NOT the Designated Driver.
Oh Happy Day!

Not only that, but my friendship worlds collided with my blogging worlds and my wings. It was a spectacular collision of awesomeness.
What are wings you might ask? Well, in my inability to get anything going with any girl, I have given up on maintaining my hair. As a result of this, my hair is getting longer, and so are my pseudo-burns. They flip up and outwards a little bit, hence the term wings.

There was plenty of dancing, and plenty of drinking. I started with Guinness, and then worked my way over to the hard stuff. But shots are expensive, and $80 later I had no more money to spend on alcohol. It was no matter though, I was sufficiently buzzed enough that I managed to deploy the secret weapon for Operation: Kim Possible.
Let me explain. My friend Wayne brought (for some unknown reason) a rose made of ribbon. When I told him that I still liked Miss K, he gave me the rose ribbon and told me to give it to her when the time was right. Operation: Kim Possible didn't exactly feel like a resounding success. I'm a chicken, that's why I didn't try and kiss her or anything. I also don't have any moves to speak of. So I just try and be myself, and see if she likes me for who I am. Then I let the feeling be known as "mutual" and then the kiss just happens.
I know I should have made a move. I know I'm being stupid in not making any kind of move. But seriously, I'm still pretty guarded about fully liking any girl just yet. I mean, I just found out that the last gf (the whore) is now engaged to her new Utah bf. Ouch. Being the-one-before-the-one is not really something I'd like to experience again, thank you very much.
I'll stop being silly. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy my immensely changed life and get used to it.
Change is hard to get used to, even if it is a positive change.

Right, back to the events at the Blarney. As the subject says, I did in fact get to meet fellow blogger, notjoecheese. Pockey, Cranberry, Shipkicker and that girl possessed were all there as well. (I can link, TGP. Can you?)
Notjoecheese - You're freakin' huge. I'm sorry I keep saying it, but eventually, I will get over your proportional enormity and we will be able to have a civil conversation. If I don't pass out from your bigness, that is.
Pockey - Your Operation: Makeout was a success? I wish I had stayed a bit longer, dammit. We need to discuss this further. Let's watch Gilmore Girls again soon!
Cranberry - I want ALL 85 of your pictures. Is there any way this can happen?
Shipkicker - I'm very glad you liked my Transformers T-shirt. You're ridiculously good looking.
TGP - I'm gonna call you as soon as I post this. But your curls need to happen more often. You were one of the cutest girls in the room last night. Hooray for curls.
Wayne - Thank you Thank you Thank you for taking pictures of Miss K. My batteries died halfway through the night, so I highly appreciate the pictures you let me have.
Holly - I feel like there were discussions between my friends and you that you've not told me about yet. I think you should let me know just what is going on. But I'm totally glad you're part of our crazy little group now. We get together just enough times as not to annoy each other when we hang out. It's so much fun when we're all together though. I love it.

At last, there is nothing left to lose.

That's it, that's all. I'm finally finished working for E-One Moli Energy.

My last day was full of music, laughter, tears, drama, and an evacuation (for an electrical fire). I would go into more details, but I've got to tell all of my friends about it first. Suffice to say, it was a night I won't soon forget, and I will greatly miss my work friends.
I didn't end up stealing the poster, Phats. It's right outside the lunchroom, and right at 3am when I was going to make my move, we had the evacuation. Well, in the process of an evacuation, everybody in entire plant goes to the lunchroom. My stealth abilities are good, but not that good.

Now that I'm all finished at the battery plant, I've got BIG plans.
First, the Blarney Stone tonight. It's going to be mayhem, pandemonium, and scandal all wrapped up in a neat little package. I've secured a ride home, so there's going to be a very drunken Mike H to take care of (TGP, I'm looking at you). Jager Bombs, here I come!
Second, now that I have a regular Monday to Friday schedule, I can concentrate more on a weekly basis, instead of a crazy 4-days-on-4-days-off basis. This includes having a running day, a letter writing day, a blogging day... The possibilities for devoted days are endless. I can't wait to have a normal schedule!
Third, I'm going to California! And I hope to have an actual vacation, not like the time I went to Puerto Vallarta and had to do something everyday. Or the time I went to Disneyland and had to do something different every hour. No, this vacation is going to epitomize everything a vacation is supposed to be. Sunny California, here I come!
Fourth, more pictures! I like taking pictures of things, people, etc. So I'm going to make an effort to do this more often. I'm sure all you out in blogger land would enjoy looking at these as well.
Fifth, I'm thinking I need a new blog address. Something that doesn't remind me of batteries, because I don't make batteries anymore, and that's exciting.

That's all I've got for now. It was my Mom's birthday yesterday, so my sister and I have to finish making her photo collage present, because she's coming for dinner to our house tomorrow!

Hooray for the best time of my life right now!

Someone will need you tomorrow

There's this safety poster at the battery factory. I've seen it every single day I've worked there for the past 3 and a half years, 5 times a day. It's right outside the lunchroom, and I walk past it every time I take my break.
It says "Someone will need you tomorrow" (hence the title of this post), and it has a picture of a baby on it. Cute kid, in a diaper. I guess it's supposed to remind all those with a family waiting for them at home that they should think about safety first. The message is good.
For the past year, whenever I saw that poster, I never thought that anyone would need me tomorrow. Well, I mean, I knew that there were no kids that would need me tomorrow. Something could have happened to me, and life would just go on uncomplicated for everybody.

But now, I feel like that wouldn't be able to happen. There are kids that I see every week that need me, in my opinion. I feel like I'm actually important now.

It's kind of nice.

My Funny Valentine

This is how I wear my heart on my sleeve. I make a mix CD about how I feel about Love and post it on my blog. Make this CD if you want. Then you'll have a little piece of Mike H to listen to whenever you're feeling blue. It really cheers ME up whenever I'm feeling lonely. (I've been listening to it a lot lately.)

Letters to Cleo – Want You To Want Me
Andrew W.K. – She is Beautiful
Cake – Love You Madly
Blessid Union of Souls – Hey Leonardo
Kylie Minogue – Love at First Sight
Phil Collins – You Can’t Hurry Love
Police – Every Little Thing She Does
Jack Johnson – Bubble Toes
Wannadies – You and Me
Sky – Some Kind of Wonderful
Van Morrison – Sweet Thing
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrel – Ain’t No Mountain High
Gwyneth Paltrow – Bette Davis Eyes
Roy Orbison – Pretty Woman
Bjork – Venus as a Boy
Frank Sinatra – The Way You Look Tonight
Michael Buble – Come Fly With Me
Nat King Cole – L.O.V.E.
Beach Boys – God Only Knows
The Cure – High
Reindeer Section – You Are My Joy
Stereophonics – Have a Nice Day

Shiver me timbers!

My pirate name is:

Iron Tom Bonney

A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

"Everybody's changing and I don't feel the same"

I've got a cold. I hate colds.
My eyes won't stop watering, my nose won't stop running, and I think I've got a mild fever.

Sucky.

I called in sick to work today. I might call in sick again for tomorrow. That's something I've never done before, 2 sick days in a row. I never get this sick. But, on the plus side, I don't have to go to work.

I'm giving my notice next week. Seriously. On Feb. 12th (Maybe the 13th if neither of them decide to come in on Sunday) I'm officially announcing to my supervisors that I quit.

Then I'm going to take the month of March off. Probably sell my car. Go to Southern California with my friend. Work a part time job at the Rainbow Before and After School Program a 10min walk from my house.

I'm going back to school. Something in the childcare field. I'm just too darn good at it not to do something about it. It's what I should have done 7 years ago.

2006 really is gonna be big for me, TGP.

Hitting a Rough Patch

Lately I've been hitting a bit of a rough patch. I've been trying to keep a "stiff upper lip", "look on the bright side of life", "every cloud has a silver lining", all that jazz. But I just can't do it anymore.

***DISCLAIMER***
Just a warning, this is a depressing blog entry. So if you're here to be entertained, you best stop reading now. I'm probably only going to bring you down too.
***END DISCLAIMER***

I've hit the proverbial wall. I actually think I hit it back in 2002, when I got dumped, dropped out of University, and got a job at the battery factory. Now, of course life went on, and nobody really noticed this wasn't what I was supposed to be doing, myself included. After a couple years at the factory, I was about to quit but instead I found a source of potential happiness.
That ship has come and gone, leaving an emotionally broken and battered ME in it's wake. I just can't do it anymore. On my days off, I wake up and just lay in bed for 3 hours watching television. Well, I'm not actually watching it, I'm more just flipping channels for 3 hours looking for something worthwhile to watch. It isn't until around noon that I actually decide that I've had enough time to mope, and I get out of bed.

"When you're in bed, you're dead" - Morrie Schwartz

I've read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom three times; twice since '06 began. This book contains a meaningful life lesson that everyone should learn. I've told many a friend that they should read this book, but few people take my recommendation seriously.

"The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to the community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

All I have done of this since I graduated from high school 7 years ago, is devote myself to loving others. A co-worker tells me how uncommon it is to find a guy like me who cares so much about other people. TGP's Mom tells me how uncommon it is to find a guy who communicates as well as I do. My Mom tells me how proud she is of me when it's obvious I'm having a tough time of things. She also apologizes to me for making my younger sister and I such caring people, because we always seem to get hurt by the people we should believe in.

The only glimmer of hope that I will defeat this feeling of grey that I've been moving through for the past 4 years comes from my Mom. She has unofficially hired me to help a kid at her after school program. This boy comes from a broken family, (another thing that's been bothering me lately) and purposely hurts the other kids with words and by hitting, just for the attention, that he's apparently not getting at home. It's obvious his mother just doesn't know what to do anymore, and his father is obviously not creating a healthy home environment for this boy. My Mom figures I can make a difference in this boys life by showing him a better sense of right and wrong. But I'm not totally sure I'm the right guy for the job. I barely believe in myself as it is.

I need to quit the battery factory
I need to start believing in myself
I need to start devoting myself to something that gives me purpose and meaning
I need the courage to take the leap
I need someone to push me, I just don't know if I can do it alone
I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and get over it already
I need to cry less
I need to feel love again...

Weezer - The Good Life
When I look in the mirror, I can't believe what I see
Tell me, who's that funky dude, staring back at me?
Broken, beaten down can't even get around
Without an old-man cane, I fall and hit the ground
Shivering in the cold, I'm bitter and alone

Excuse the bitchin', I shouldn't complain
I should have no feeling, 'cuz feeling is pain
As everything I need, is denied me
And everything i want, is taken away from me
But who do I got to blame? Nobody but me

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!

Screw this crap, I've had it! I ain't no Mr. Cool
I'm a pig, I'm a dog, so 'scuse me if I drool
I ain't gonna hurt nobody, ain't gonna 'cause a scene
I just need to admit that I want sugar in my tea
Hear me? Hear me? I want sugar in my tea!

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!

I want to go back, I want to go back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
And I don't even know how I got off the track
I want to go back…Yeah!

…And I don't wanna be an old man anymore
It's been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin' booty, makin' sweet love all the night
It's time I got back to the Good Life
It's time i got back, it's time i got back
and I don't even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back…Yeah!