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Kevin
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: People
- Hits: 2
Finally, a couple of months later I make the call. Kevin, who'd tracked me down on Facebook, an old, old friend from back in the day.
40 years ago, to be precise. He'd contacted me, curious as to what's become of me.
And I'd - not avoided, but - well, being half sober that late at night is not my strong point.
Kevin, he was a fellow busboy when I was 17 in University, he moved on to bar, I just moved on to a different restaurant. Earl's, the first one ever, on the Calgary Trail in Edmonton.
We hung out, a little, like co-workers do. My memories of him, primarily the time when he tried to introduce me to smoking pot, only he went to meet his dealer and they were out of pot so he took a bunch of magic mushrooms instead.
I'd never tried these either, and so we sat up late into the night eating a bag of mushrooms. To what we thought was no effect, laughing, laughing louder at how were swindled out of our last 20$ for what were basically placebos, laughing, seeing him off, out the front door...
And for the next 3 days whenever I shut my eyes I'd be assailed by the muppets from hell, like that scene from "Labyrinth" wherein the muppets are waiting for the girl to complete the spell for the goblin king...
Then, another time, drunk and driving my old Ford Granada - purchased from "Rent a Wreck" and my mother would often joke "Bought a Wreck" which was funny because it was true, but being young I often acted under the bad advice of my father...
I knew nothing about cars. Apparently he didn't either, but that's another story.
So we somehow conceived the idea of visiting West Edmonton Mall, portions of which were still under construction, and poorly flagged, so we drove to the bottom of what would later be the lake - middle of the night, getting out to look around, Kevin taking a leak on what would become the underwater aquarium, and then getting busted by security, one of whom I knew from University, we shared a computing science class, "Mr. C" he called me for my false bravado walking into exams I wasn't even slightly prepared for...
And so we were given the tour and then urged politely to leave the property...
Light, considering, but that was the era, no need to police every little infraction and indiscretion of youth.
***
We catch up, an hour maybe on the phone, half-litre of Vodka, his life, mine, he seems to think I'm living the life.
I suppose, after a fashion, there's no reason I shouldn't be...
His own, filled with middle-aged regrets, nothing having worked out as planned, but - as often the case, there wasn't a plan, none, at least, that was explicitly stated and so all the fallen-throughs and disappointments, they're a bit crushing.
And his, well, I'm suspicious of this, my own death-bed dreams, are these people calling to catch up, say hello, goodbye, farewell, is it them that's leaving or me?
Eavesdropping, Big-City Blonde
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Conversations
- Hits: 2
And, cafe this morning, eavesdropping, my table behind the Big-City Blonde. She's moved back to Nelson, according to a mutual acquaintance, only - to listen to her, she's not.
She's a big day-timer, an 8X11 inch binder with which she schedules her life, I'd make fun of it but really, having a schedule seems like a positively good thing. I mean, I have one after a fashion, only it's perpetually being upended by work and annual inspections.
Anyways, eavesdropping, not even, she talks loudly with purpose, the intent that the whole cafe knows her business, and I'm not sure that it's not a little bit for my benefit...
...so she's moving back to Vancouver, been here a couple of weeks, dating pool is too small, she really wants to get married...
...she's 40, beautiful, and I'm wondering where the hell do you come from that marriage is a priority, but - I've met others of the ilk, it's a thing, for certain people, and while I'm looking like that guy who stares into the camera, disbelief at what he's hearing, "am I the only sane one here...?" expression on my face, trying not to be obvious, because now she's got her camera out to take a selfie and I don't want my incredulous expression to be showing up in the background...
The Annual Inspection
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 2
And an email, the annual unit inspection, and - as if I didn't already know I'm being confronted with my shoddy housekeeping and the hoarding up of artist materials. I need to find a way to make this all work.
I pop by the office, try and bribe the building manager with some of the tasty kimchi I made the other day, but she's having none of it...
It's good, it's gotten a bit much this mess that sees me heading to the library rather than deal with all the skeletons I've pulled from the closet and laid out upon the floor, and while I'm rebelling against at what at most amounts to 2 or 3 hours work it will - once accomplished - ease my soul.
The Fastest Brick in the World
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 2
MacBook Air Yosemite, this morning, writing, all artistic on my Apple. I think to go to Chat GPT, I have some questions, and I discover that like tinyMCE it won't load. I get "Site security" issues, apparently Chat GPT is feeling insecure. And upon ignoring those, proceeding with caution, at my own risk, am confronted with a blank screen.
This, of course, is BS, and I'm getting rapidly annoyed with what is proving to be the fastest brick in the world.
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