Patrick Fails the Integrity Test

I've been a little bit down today. It was a day off and i spent most of home in a bit of a stew. I decided to go out and buy some of my favorite cookies. I had eaten the last 2 this morning, so i was out. I figured it would get me out the apartment a little which would be good for me.

The cookies arent just any cookies. They are red wine biscottis. The best cookie ever to have with tea, and i do like my tea. They are a little pricey (you get 8 of them for $5), and they are only sold at one grocery store as they are made by a local baker. Its not really near me, so i have to drive to the inconvenient store when i want some. I pretty much always want some if I'm having tea, and when it's cold i have tea a lot. In addition to only being sold at the one store, they frequently sell out, so sometimes i drive down there and they don't have any.

I decided if they had them i was going to buy 4 packages. Yeah, i was gonna drop $20 on cookies. But i only eat 2 at a time, and and most have then twice a day, so even at maximum consumption, that still means I'm buying an 16 day supply. I dont usually eat them twice a day, so its more likely to last me around 3 weeks. Not too bad right?

They had them thankfully, so i didn't drive down there for nothing. They had 6 packages, and i grabbed the 4 i came for.

Here is where i fail the integrity test. They cookies are made in a local bakery and brought to the grocery store. This means they don't have a bar code on them. I've never worked in a grocery store, but most of the people who work the registers see the little sticker that says "PRU #33" and they know how much to charge me, $4.99 per package.

Well the girl i got tonight just tried typing in "33" for each one. This charged me $.33 for each package. So even though i was buying 4 lbs of sugar, some milk, and 4 packages of $5 cookies, my total came to $5.01. I asked her if she thought that was right and she said she did. And that was all the fuss i put up. I quickly accepted my $.33 cookies.

Part of me feels guilty for accepting these unusually marked down delicious treats.

Another part of me wishes i had grabbed all six packages they had...

On a side note, i watched Towelhead tonight. It was kinda gross. It was a bit like what i thought Hard Candy was gonna be like, but wasn't.

Now im gonna go watch 24. Once i make a hot cup of tea. And grab some wine cookies. Mmmmm.....

Looking for advice

So i been on a bunch of dates with a girl. The dates have been good. She's attractive, she's successful, we have good conversation, she seems to be pretty into me, and she has a very stable and successful career.

The problem is that i think our general worldviews are a little too different to make a long term relationship viable. I'm not gonna to get into the details, but i have a hard time thinking our differences would work long term. Additionally, on some level i guess i must not be *that* into her, as I've been willing to overlook bigger stuff than that in the past.

We had a date tonight. We had a nice dinner (Japanese, Mmmmm), went to see a movie, and then back to her place. We just hung out, listened to music, talked, and kissed. Nice, but again, i just don't think we make sense long term.

So here is the question. How do i tell her? I've had too many girls that for whatever reason didn't think i was the guy for them and just stopped calling/contacting me. I'm not gonna go that route, cause it sucks for the other person, and its just avoiding sometimes necessary relationship related unpleasantness, in a passive aggressive kinda way. I don't want to be like that to anyone, but at the same time, i don't want to make it *too* unpleasant for either one of us. Is an honest and clear e-mail too impersonal? Is it too cowardly to leave this on a voice mail? Do i have to do this in person? In person seems like it would be going out of my way to make both of us uncomfortable. Any ideas?

Busy Season?

I know i have mentioned how few concerts I've seen recently. Hopefully this is about to change...

02/28 - Anathallo - Drake Hotel Toronto: Always great to see Anathallo.

03/15 - Holler, Wild Rose! - The Boat Toronto: Great band that my old college RA got me into. I think I'm the guest list for this one. Hopefully with a plus one?

03/19 - Matt Nathenson - Hard Rock Cafe Niagara Falls: My sister loves this guy. Singer songwriter acoustic type. I haven't listened to him myself yet, but he's gonna be 5 mins from my apt.

04/01 - Efterklang - El Macambo Toronto: Havent decided if this show if enough pull to get me to TO on April Fool's day, but sure to be a great show.

04/03 - Glasvegas - The Mod Club Toronto: All I've listened to recently is Glasvegas. Mod club is a great venue and i just found out about this. Hopefully there are still tix...

04/06 - Cold War Kids - Water Street Music Hall Rochester: I've been waiting to see a CWK headlining show. They were great when they opened for Muse

04/17 - 04/18 - Neko Case - Trinity Center Toronto: I could listen to Neko sing all night.

04/21 - The Appleseed Cast - Horseshoe Tavern Toronto: April is a busy month, but this would be a great band to see at the Horseshoe

04/25 - Jeff Martin - Infinity Buffalo: This is must see, especially if Jeff brings The Armada with him.

04/30 - The Dears - The Mod Club Toronto: This would be Epic. I love Missiles.

05/08 - Mogwai and Twilight Sad - The Tralf Buffalo: I can't believe this show is in Buffalo...

05/19 - Leonard Cohen - Copps Coliseum Hamilton: Would be great to see him again.

05/21 - The National - Kool Haus Toronto: I'm still kicking myself for missing their show in Buffalo at the tralf. It was $12. I'm a moron.

My Name is Geraldine, Im Your Social Worker

I had an urge to write tonight, but i didn't have something i felt a huge need to get out, like i usually do. I'm not sure I'm the worst writer ever, but I'd wager I'm pretty close. Maybe this will be the post that lands me firmly at the top of the list. Ill keep my fingers crossed. =)

I'm trying to think of positive things to express. I'm getting close to ending my concert drought. I haven't seen a show since Nine Inch Nails in November. If there ever was a concert evening that i needed to replace with a better concert evening quickly, it was that one. It's hard to believe with my usual concert pace, it's been this long since I've seen a show. Chalk it up to no one good coming to Buffalo and no one good *enough* coming to Toronto to make it worth my time to drive up there.

Random things:

I can read and re-read questionable content all the time. Sometimes i just click on random, and then read like 50 strips in a row. It never gets old.

I started a game of Phantasy Star. I haven't played the game from to back since i was about 14. We'll see how it goes. At least now i have it in HD.

I spend day after day loathing the need to get everything moved over my old pc to the new one. The music is the largest task, but even simple ones like photos and bookmarks I'm shying away from. I can't figure out if I'm just lazy, or i just cant into that much background structure anymore. I used to find that stuff relaxing. Especially with the music.

They have released a book that reprints all the black and white issues of Zot!. Im super stoked to get it. Thanks to Kelli for making me aware of it. I think I'll order it tomorrow in fact.

I bought my first Beck CD Monday. It's "Sea Change". It was playing once in a cd store i was shopping in (in Oshawa of all places) and i was really digging it. We'll see if the appeal lasts outside of that mythical realm that is Oshawa. I also bought the soundtrack for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, just so i could have his cover of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime". It's excellent, though i think its about a minute longer than it should be.

Prior to yesterday's purchase i only owned one song by him. His cover of Daniel Johnson's "True Love Will Find You in the End". It's not as good as Matthew Good's version, but it's still nice to have.

Interestingly enough, the CD I've been wearing out lately is the Glasvegas CD. They are a noisy, fuzzy guitar, atmospheric Scottish band that writes 60's pop songs that are filled with traditional Scottish cursing. The interesting thing is that the US version of the CD has 2 bonus tracks, the 2nd of which is a cover of "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime". I like the Beck version better, but the Glasvegas version isn't half bad.

Ive eaten lunch at Red Pepper 4 times in the last seven days. It's tasty. I wonder why I'm also repetitive with my lunch choices? Ill eat at the same place over and over until I'm sick of it, and then do the same thing somewhere else.