Blogtastic Woaksie

Saturday, March 02, 2002

Tom got a bunch of us to go and see Christopher Lawrence at Sonar. We meet up first at Tribeca for drinks and dinner. We got to Sonar at about 10:00 and it was very quiet. The first dj was good. CL was billed as Underground Trance. I found it hard to dance to. The rhythm is fast. It got better. We left at about 1:20 and most of us walked home. I got asked where the street walkers/workers were by a guy in a car. After about 5 “What”s, he said “I need a whore”. Oh sorry mate, can’t help. Got home about 2:00 and felt tired all the next day.
posted by John Woakes 3:53 PM

Saturday, saw Di for brunch. It was a beautiful sunny day so I got my bike out. I first went to Sports Junkies to pick up the money I got for selling my snowboard. It was a glorious day and I really enjoyed the bike ride. We sat outside in the sun. Di has some strange friends. Taylor has 2 boyfriends who don’t know about each other. The other one stalks her boyfriend and listens to his voice mail (she cracked the code). Di always complains about finding it hard to meet new people but is only looking in horrible night clubs. She has started a new job working for the City of Coquicklum (ouch – that isn’t right). She calls it sleep-working. She seems pretty chipper but it is a long commute and she needs more brain stimulation. Damian walked by. He was out looking for milk in a bottle that had a sell by date past tomorrow. Milk tastes better out of a bottle!!?? Had a sort of long cycle home. The sun was just amazing and False Creek beautiful. I phoned Ran from Science World but they are in the States at the moment.
posted by John Woakes 4:26 PM

Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Monday, went to see the guy from Investors Group. We started off a bit tetchy. I was like I know what I am doing and I don’t agree with what you are saying. He was saying I shouldn’t invest so much in Pivotal. But I do like that they know their tax stuff and the life plan idea. I worked out he wants my monthly money that I am at the moment using for the Employee Stock Purchase Plan. He then said he wanted $10,000 to start and $50,000 in 3 years. I can work with that what with Mon’s inheritance coming through. It did get me thinking that I should max my RRSP this year (i.e. in the next 3 days). I got a RSP loan and did it the next day.
posted by John Woakes 10:31 PM

I am staying with Alexa at the moment because Tom is at my place. In fact I am typing this on her antiquated IBM ThinkPad. I was looking forward to spending some time with her. Turns out she has to go to Toronto and Ottawa on Wednesday and won’t be back till Saturday night. Monday, she gets back from work after my financial thingy. Tuesday she gets home about 10:30 and Wednesday she is gone. So I have the place to myself – which is cool. I like my own company. We will just have to do the togetherness thing some other time.
posted by John Woakes 10:38 PM

I started Pilates today at lunch time. I only turned up an hour early. Duh. It was interesting. My head juts forward. My shoulders are rounded. My ribs stick out. My bum sticks out. My hamstrings are at one with my bum. Not a pretty sight. But I have well developed calves – phew, one saving grace. It was hard, very hard to do the exercises. They require a lot of concentration and very unusual muscle control. I could feel it in my stomach afterwards. She said I need to work on my hamstrings as they are very tight. I signed up for the Intro package. 3 more sessions in the next 8 days. I really hope it works out and that I can get on top of it. I really like the goals.
posted by John Woakes 10:49 PM

I went to see the film Microcosmos at the Ridge tonight on my own. Alexa is away and I could not get anyone else to see it. It was charming – the life of a meadow at insect level. Not a great brain workout but very beautiful, at times funny and with very little dialog. Two snails making out was amazing. They end up caressing each other sort of standing on the ends of their shells. It was actually very sensual. The last piece, a mosquito coming out of it’s pupa was quite stunning too.
posted by John Woakes 10:58 PM

Looks like Mon’s money is coming through. I got an email from Hatti and Mike asking for bank details for the deposit. Looks like if I go with the Investor’s group and pay off my RSP loan I won’t have too much left. I was thinking of taking a month up at Whistler for my sabbatical which would be next year. That might be out of the question now. So a new idea – cycle across Canada. Obviously needs some research but I seem to remember someone saying it could be done in 6 weeks. Would doing it on my own drive me nuts? Or could I get Alexa or Martin to join me for parts of it?
posted by John Woakes 11:08 PM

Monday, February 25, 2002

On Tuesday I went to a Financial Presentation put on for Pivotal by the Investment Group. One of the things they talked about was leverage where you borrow money to invest and make a packet. I decided to get an RRSP loan and look into it. They phoned me up and made an appointment for next Monday.
posted by John Woakes 2:35 PM

Wednesday – special moment in time at 20:02, today 20/02 year 2002. I got an email from Brenna saying the symmetry will never happen again – but it will on 21:12, 21/12, 2112, not that I plan to be here for that one.
posted by John Woakes 2:39 PM

Thursday, wanted to go boarding but the hill was closed due to excessive rain. Not good. I was all kitted up and about to leave the house when I thought I would just check the snow line. David and Alexa were there. I tried to phone Sally to tell her and ended up chatting with Troy for about 30 minutes (a record!). Dave, Alexa and I decided to go out for dinner as we had a car for the night. We went to the Clove on the Drive. It was cool. Good food and we talked about sex and intimacy. Alexa invited him up to Whistler for her birthday.
posted by John Woakes 2:49 PM

Friday, Tom is in town. He came into the office and we arranged to go for a drink before Alexa and I go for dinner with Debra. I got talking to Donna his girlfriend and it turns out her and Alexa went to school together. Alexa recognizes her instantly when she turns up. Alexa has a class photo with the two of them standing next to each other – aged 11. We eventually leave to go and have dinner with Debra, Jen and Nadine. That is quite a laugh. Jen and Nadine are in really good form and we chat about all sorts of stuff. Debra has dyed her hair various shades of blond and red and it looks great. Makes her look younger. By the time we get home I have drunk quite a bit. Alexa performs the impossible, again, as we have successful sex for both of us!
posted by John Woakes 2:58 PM

Saturday, we head up to Whistler in the afternoon after I bottle 30 bottles of home made Shiraz. It is hectic but we make it. We get there as the others (Tom, Donna, cj, Mike and Mike’s brother Wojtek) get off the hill. We actually see Tom and Donna getting into the elevator. We get some beers while they get changed and washed. We end up going out to the Mongolian Grill. My first time. You choose your food and they cook it. It all looks good and I choose the most, 3 time as much as Alexa. Go to bed stuffed. The next day is a beautiful cloudless sunny day. It is cold but not windy. We hope the hill will be quiet because Canada is playing USA for the gold medal in the winter Olympics at 12:00. The hill is hard packed and the powder, what is left of it, has a thin crust on it. The lower runs are icy but we have a good day. Canada wins 5-2 which is a fairly tale ending for Canada as the women’s team beat the US too for the gold too earlier in the week. We catch the bus back as does Tom and Donna (just, by about 20 seconds). I am bushed. Alexa and I have a bath and a beer together and an early night.
posted by John Woakes 3:14 PM