Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Now with 32% more BLAM!'s LiveJournal:

[ << Previous 20 ]

Friday, July 10th, 2009
4:10 pm	In memoriam As much as I love suspense, there is no way to tell this story without hinting as to how it is going to end. I’ve been very contemplative this week due to the death of a music giant. No. Not the freaking pervert. Martin Streek was a DJ for my favourite radio station, and was instrumental in introducing me to many styles of music. He graduated high school with the promise that he not only was going to be a DJ, but he was going to be a DJ at 102.1, a small FM station in Brampton. The station was in financial trouble, and the fact that they only played “alternative” music well before “Alternative” was the norm, meant that they couldn’t pay him off of the bat. He just hung around there and helped out with things. One day somebody suggested that the station could make money by hosting video dance parties at high schools and colleges. The owners thought that this was a great idea, so they started to look for a driver for the truck. Martin stepped up, studied, and got his licence. His job was to drive all over Ontario in a 10 ton truck and set up and tear down the equipment 3 out of 5 days of the week. This idea saved the company and put the radio station on the map as the cool radio station of the current young generation. One night the DJ misjudged where the stage was and fell, hurting himself. Martin picked up the mike and lit up the stage. He found his calling. During the 90’s, Kevin, Pete, Tom and I would more or less follow this guy from club to club to listen to what he was mixing together, and to watch him command the crowd into a frenzy as he infected everyone in the room with his raw enthusiasm as to how awesome the music was. There was always a line going up to the DJ booth as people waited to talk to him and request songs. If he showed up at a club, then that club was packed. He was so popular that he was able to secure steady gigs at some of the biggest clubs in Ontario. We all knew that we could go to the Kingdom on Fridays, The Phoenix on Saturdays and The Vinyl Underground on Sundays to catch him doing his magic. He was hired by the radio station in 1984, and the station grew from “a little yellow house” with a small antenna into the biggest station in Canada, with a streetside broadcasting office in the Eaton Centre, using the CN Tower as it’s antenna (REALLY!). During those 25 years, he saw people come, and people go… But he stayed constant. His knowledge of music was only matched by his close friend Alan Cross, who went on to becoming the Production Manager of CNFY, and recently got promoted to corporate as an executive. I went from enjoying his high school dances to clubbing out every second weekend to now, where I would tune in to him on Saturday and Sunday nights and listen to his live-to-air broadcasts from the clubs that I used to all but live in. He was ageless. Anybody who knew his age wasn’t talking about it, at his request. Sporting a shaved head and a goatee, he used to skateboard into work in defiance of the grey hairs in his beard. At days from my 36th... I still am amazed that he had the energy to rock it so hard. And then in mid-May there was a new voice on the radio. The graveyard shift punk-girl was doing the primetime broadcast (and doing ok at it). I, along with most, assumed that Martin took a vacation. But this vacation was lasting longer than was normal. I checked the website for the radio station… and saw NO trace of him there. I later found out that his reign over the alternative clubs of the GTA was over as he had been let go from the job that he loved. I was saddened and outraged, but I was looking forward to what he had planned. My first instinct was that the bloodless corporation saw that the king of their alternative music franchise was some guy in his late 30s… and decided that this was not the demographic that they were aiming for. It turns out that Martin had only done one job interview in his life : The one for that radio station. Everyone who had met him knew that he loved the station enough to tattoo the logo on himself. He loved the music, and he loved doing what he did, and he put 25 years of blood, sweat and tears into that station. June 16, 2009, an unemployed, never married, childless Martin Streek turned 45. On July 6th (Monday), Martin posted this message in his Facebook : “So...I guess that's it...thanks everyone...I'm sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though)... Let the stories begin.” One of his friends read this as something ominous and went to his apartment to find the door with a post-it upon it : “Call 911” His friends and ex-colleagues have been tearing themselves to pieces trying to glorify the man while vilifying suicide and discussing as to what were the signs, were there signs?, who did he last talk to?... etc. I’ve been talking to Kari and Kevin a lot about the meaning of life lately, and have scoured the internet for answers to some of those questions, when I came across this on a discussion thread that put a new focus on this event : Somebody asked as to where the funeral was going to be, and one of Martin’s actual friends replied with (paraphrased) : "Remember who you are, and what is going on. YOU lost a radio legend. WE lost a friend. His mother is devastated and we want our time and space to grieve properly. If YOU have no idea as to what his cat’s name was then, really, we don’t want you at the funeral.” The desire to ask certain obvious questions fell away after reading that. He was just an awesome DJ that I had the chance to talk to a few times. He was a lot more to many people. I’ve reconciled this event as these revelations : - I have questions, but I don’t have the right to ask many of them. - He was a selfish ass for putting his family and friends through this - He is a legend that will be remembered by thousands Last night I listened to a 5 hour tribute to Martin by his mentor : David Marsden, a creaky fogey in his late 60s. At first, it was weird listening to a retiree talk about the hottest Canadian Alternative DJ ever (Chris Sheppard is the only possible contender)… But that man knows his stuff. The playlist was a celebration of Martin’s energy, and it closed off with a few songs that were guaranteed to pull tears. Kevin’s and my conversation ended like this last night : Kev C says: you do realize the Martin provided much of the soundtrack to our lives right? that's been bothering me for a few days now how will I evolve? am I simply to age now? A chapter in thousands of lives just closed for good. To the best of my knowledge, he never pulled the plug on a set before it was finished. Why did he pull the plug on the big one? The above story embodies the “live fast, die young and leave a pretty corpse” mentality… But it highlights the devastation that is left behind when somebody decides to take their own life. My thoughts are on the good times, and my condolences to his family and friends. Wherever you are, Keep it locked in and cranked, Martin. We will miss you Rich Current Mood: crushed (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 10th, 2009
7:54 pm	I am about to go out again... Not dead, I'm just dating... :P Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
7:41 pm	Good lord, it has been a while. esp, concidering that my last post was pretty much self-destructive-sounding. I no longer wonder why a distant friend from Florida called... I think that I am going to try this again. To those that wondered, or worried, sorry. Really. Current Mood: contemplative (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
1:45 am	Rich gets BF points +5000! FTW! Crikey. I should alter my photo... the glasses are from 3 sets ago... and had LONG been donated away. Apparently an Ontario schoolteacher gets an evaluation at their 3rd year, and their 8th, and then every 5th year past that. This evaluation consists of a day-long inspection as to how you teach, godless amounts of paperwork, and getting nitpicked by the principal and veeps for 2 days. Kari, my GF, just finished her 8th year evaluation (3rd year + 5 years). My weekend started with her calling me in a tearful panic on Thursday. She stated that there was no way that she was going to pass this, and that she was thinking of another occupation. I calmed her down on the phone, and promised that I'd visit on Friday evening to help her coordinate. Friday night came. It was LATE Friday night. Work was brutal that day, and I had a 2 hour commute. We went out for supper, and went back to her place to plan. Saturday, I got up and started on some work that I NEEDED to get done. Kari slept. I knew as to what she needed to get done, and that needed a clear head. Insomniac Rich could get up whenever he chose. She got up eventually, and I prodded her to get to work. Once in a while I would catch her on her chatboards... and poke her to focus. She put me on guellitine duty to prepare new props for her classroom. I chopped bristolboard for 2 hours, as she worked on her presentation. I kept myself busy as she worked, and checked on her once in a while if she was on her laptop. I told her straight to her face : "This is your career, and your apartment. You asked me to come to help you focus. I am going to do that. But if I go over my limits, you can tell me to buzz off". She didn't for the weekend. She suddenly realized that she needed to clean out her portable for this evaluation... and I offered to help. So I got to help a Grade 4 teacher with cleaning out her portable. She took me out for greek as a reward. Sunday... much of the same. I was getting a little cabin crazy, and a little irritated as to how unprepared she was, but I wanted to help her pass this review, or god help me, she would go through another one in 6 months. I chopped more stuff, but didn't need to poke her as much, as the deadline was MONDAY. I don't think that she had gotten as much done as she would have liked. Instead of take-out, I cooked us a meal : wholegrain mustard on salmon, panfried with garlic pasta and soyabeans. We enjoyed, and I pressed her nose to the grindstone again. About here I found out about my uncle. Monday night, I met her... and she was calm and confident. Monday went well. :D I was again in freaking Ajax (2h commute). She took me out to a Mexican place as thank you. I love Mexican. <3 It was 8:45... when she lamented that her printer had run out of ink. I looked her in the eye with the "I've been your gofor for 36 hours... WHAT NOW?" look, and she asked me to find a new cartridge before Staples closes at 9... Needless to say, I think that she had passed her evaluation. She has a review later this month... Her vibes mixed with mine led to some serious sleep. REALLY. Sleep. Current Mood: sleepy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
1:14 am	The rain never ends My dad is an only child, and mom has a brother. Sunday I had found out that Uncle Ed is in the hospital with multiple organ failure due to decades of alcohol and pill abuse. He is not expected to outlive the month. I have happy memories of him from todlerhood to my teens. I don't know as to what happened, but his first marriage failed in the 80s. Maybe that was the turning point? He seemed to give up on life and decided to take up a new relationship with the bottle. He married again to somebody that nobody liked, but that short marriage produced my goddaughter. I think that I have at least one more cousin that I don't know about. How many people can claim that they have at least 2 cousins, and have no idea as to how many? I haven't seen him in 15 years. Actually, I saw him 7 years ago at my niece's Teagan's Christening, but he arrived like a ghost, sat in the back, and looked so haggard that I didn't recognise him. He left at the second that the ceremony ended. I didn't see him. I didn't recognise him. Apparently he is laying in an ICU just 90 minutes from my house, and 15 minutes from my girlfriend Kari's place. When I found out about his plight, I was at Kari's... I called the hospital and was told that I wasn't close enough of a relative to visit. I did find out that both of the cousins that I know about had visited him... and had left. The older cousin Sarah (age 30), I know well. The younger cousin Chanelle? I've not seen her in 16 years, and she is 18 now. Chanelle is the one who lived with him, and dropped off the face of the planet with him, trying to keep him alive. I am Chanelle's godfather. I have NO idea as to what my goddaughter looks like, nor any idea as to what kind of life that she had living with a single alcoholic father. I think that the lack of contact with him originates with my mom. It cringes within me to accuse mom of something like this... but her reaction to this news was to state that she didn't want to visit him in the hospital, since she wanted to remember him at his peak, and not what he had reverted to. I think that she was protecting us from what he had become... since he's not the first in our bloodline to drink themelves to death. I know that he is unconcious, with little hope of waking up ever. Cousin Sarah has declared a Do-Not-Recesutate, and has started to declare herself as the legal guardian of his estate. I have no objections to this. She had to live with him when he was well, and wept tears when he went missing. I had just hours ago gotten contact info for Sarah, and intend to call her to take her out for supper. My small family is about to shrink. Sunday, I was numb. Monday I accepted what has happened... And now it has struck my betwen the eyes. My uncle is probably going to die in the next month, due to his own stupid neglect of his system. Sorrow is racing with disgust, rage and depression. Current Mood: melancholy (Comment on this)
Friday, November 14th, 2008
4:13 am	The big hard C Just as I almost get my shit together... I get a worrisome email from my dad. Reading into the email, it looked medically bad. Meeting him for supper confirmed it. We supped on pizza and good scotch, and talked about life. He wants to get back together with mom in a big way. Mom, of course is still hurting from Ron's death, so I see that as unlikely. If things go badly... I don't know what I'm going to do without my dad. I've been awake all night. Current Mood: worried (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
8:57 pm	I want to move. This place has too many memories. I have stated my love for Kari... but we have only been dating for 2.5 months. I do not know as to where I will be in a year. Current Mood: thoughtful (2 Comments |Comment on this)
8:35 pm	Motherly unpleasantness During thanksgiving I had a fight with my mom. In my 17 years as an adult, I have never had an argument with mom. :( I do not deal well with emotion, and avoid it like the plague. The meal ended, and most were away... And mom and I were talking. She flipped out over something that I thought was trivial, and started to hit me verbally in areas that only family would know about. I felt my literary fangs grow and I WANTED to attack back... But she is my mom. She even uttered "am all I am to you is the woman who gave birth to you!?!" My first instinct to an emotional attack is to attack back hard, deep and permanant. But she is my mother. I bit back what I wanted to say, and listened to her. 2 days later, I was pondering about demanding an appology from her for acting like that. My brother and sister are incredulous that I would think that... but my world is populated by me. I saw that society sees me in the wrong... but I wanted to attack back. In between then and now, I got her birthday gift. It's a nice digital photo frame. I saw mom on the weekend and gave her the gift. She appreciated it. I think. Women will continue to confuse me. :P Current Mood: confused (Comment on this)
8:18 pm	One of my newest drugs is REALLY f*cking with my head. I started the drug 3 months ago... and the dose was doubled a month and a bit ago... And my insomnia, anxiety and depression is gone! Yay! Now I sleep until 10, am twitchy and cannot remember a damned thing. I've always been a bit of an airhead... but I forget things minutes after they are said to me. I have taken to carrying a notepad with me, so that I can scribble notes as people talk. I have an appointment with my doctor on the 2nd of December to get off of this med. I am noticing that my performance at work is suffering. This drug has to GO. Current Mood: irritated (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
11:02 am	Canadian drugs ROCK I am sick. I am on cold meds... and am BLITZED. This is my second day sick... And I miss Kari. It's sad that I have grown so attached to a person so quickly... But it happened. I <3 her. :) I hope it lasts. Why is there F'ng SUGAR in my NeoCitran?!? It is coating the bottom of the mug! Current Mood: loved (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
7:40 pm	My personality My dad had just returned from a long trip (1.5 weeks), I have not been able to contact him since he has returned (Monday)... and I had just tried. The message that I had left on his machine was this : " Fine. Ignore your eldest. Let's see what retirement home that you end up in! Muhahahahahahahah *click* " Can you feel the love in the air? :) Current Mood: mischievous (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
10:02 am	Thanks alot jerks! For 4 years now, I have been a linebacker for the Kitchener\Waterloo Gators Football Club. It's a recreational league, and gave me a chance to get out and excercise in a competative manner once in a while. I enjoyed those Saturday mornings. It is mid-September, so I was wondering as to when the league starts up again : It DID 3 weekends ago! I got cut from the team by being ignored! The weekend went awesome, but this sours the morning quite a bit. :( Current Mood: pissed off (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
6:11 pm	Date : Whocaresnow? In the past two months, I have seen Kari more than the rest of my friends put together. Some I need to get in contact soon, and some I want to... but it has been wierd spending so much time with one person. It isn't a bad wierd, just unprecidented. We have been really in synch with the other to the point that one will suggest something, and the other will follow due to curriousity, and honest appreciation as to what was suggested. Some say that opposites attract... But I am finding alot more comfort in the situation where my interests match hers to within 90%. We can investigate mutual interests with equal interest, and discuss the differences later. We have lost track of "number of dates". Where does a date start and end when we meet at times, and separate at times, and see the other for 9 days out of an 11 day span? This weekend started with a light outing on Friday. In the early morning, K and I were in search for a good breakfast, and decided to wander the Guelph Farmer's Market. As any farmer's market, it was crouded, and stuffed with people attempting to sell sausages, cheezes, veggies, fruits, native weavings, ethnics foods... etc. We scanned the market and found Rosa at her secondary job, cooking up breakfast dishes. We chatted to her briefly, and moved on to scope out the rest of the market. After, we were hungry, and I suggested that Kari hit the luncheon that Rosa was manning, while I hit a Turkish stall that rubbed me the right way. On the way back to our rendezvous, I picked up some Mennonite cinnamon and sugar doughnuts that she had expressed an interest in. Kari and I had found a seat, and she seemed delighted that I got the doughnuts. We shared the other's meal (even though hers was verboten to me : eggs, cheese and backbacon). We talked about life and plans while ploughing through half of the goodies before us. The rest came back to my place, as we dashed around preparing for the Waterloo Renn Faire. The arrival and initial wandering was uneventful. We ran into Kari's University friend, and marvelled at the goods at some of the shops. Eventually, we ran into my best bud Tom and his squeeze Bren, with her kids. We hung out for a bit, but two single 30ishes don't really want to plod behind a party with kids... More to our pace, Rosa and Rob showed up. The four of us wandered the Faire, chatted, drank and ate. We ended up in the tavern (BIG SURPRISE), and sang with the singers, drank our half-pints, chatted about our lives, and some intimacy was recorded on film and posted on the interwebs... The faire was close to closing, and Kari and I left early to change our clothes, and meet her parents. ::grit:: I have never failed to impress a set of parents... but still I was on pins and needles. I cleaned myself as well as I could, and met Kari to drive us to her parent's place. We drove through several areas that were familiar to me, and then we turned into an area that I knew was a deadend. I commented and protested a bit, and then I had realized that we were HERE. *compose* The condo was nice. Her parents introduced themselves nicely. We chatted for a bit, until I had realised that Kari and my tardiness had kept them from their meal for about an hour. We sat quickly, and Kari's mother served a veritable feast. I dug into the saucy chicken pan and came up with a small, but diet friendly serving. Dinner was excellent. I was offered seconds, but declined due to my diet restrictions. They seemed to have accepted that. Somewhere in the conversation of dinner, WWII came up, and as to what our relatives were doing... My Grandmother spent time in Auschwitz. This did not crash the conversation, but lowered the joviality from friendly to factual. Kari's dad (Paul) and I realized this pretty quickly, and we talked about the 30's and 40's quickly. No Fauz Pas was uttered, it was just a period of time that I'd rather embrace with family. We ended with supper, and I had helped clear off. We settled to the livingroom, and talked about our adventures. I think that we had enjoyed the other's company. I concider the night a success. I am looking forward to seeing Kari again. :) We spent the evening talking about Current Mood: ecstatic (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 14th, 2008
11:49 pm	One month How much can a life change in one month? A month ago, I went on my first date with Kari, and met a delightful woman who actually engaged me mentally and was interseting. Today, a month later, I took Kari to eat with Dad and I at his place, where I grilled up some tandoori chicken, while dad cooked some asperagus and rice. All went well. Kari talked politics and history with my dad (his fave 2 topics). She gaffed about 3 times, but dad didn't let her know about it, since it was obvious that he was impressed enough not to dispute her outright. Sunday dinners at dad's are going to be colourful as they get to know the other, and her left wing politics grind against his right wing politics. We chatted, ate and were social, and the night went well. Dad hugged Kari when she left, and invited her back any day. Current Mood: content (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008
2:27 am	I am now 2 dates behind... Saturday I had gotten up, and was looking forward to introducing Kari to my friends Andrea and Dave. I puttered around and fixed some stuff up, but got tired and took a nap. !!!:O!!! I was 45 minutes LATE for the date! I leapt up from my bed, and texted her. I rushed to the shower to clean off, and checked my cell : no messages. I mellowed myself down and drove to the mall that I had asked her to meet me at... and she was there. Nearly a full hour late, and she is there. I kissed her and thanked her for her patience. She was demure, but I think that I could tell that she appreciated the acknowlegement. We reconcilled, and decided to haul ass to meet with Andrea and Dave at the sushi bar. We got there, ordered drinks and browsed the menu. The food was set pretty easily by the fact that Andrea, Kari and I will eat almost everything, and Dave would stick to just tempura. The meal went well, all were happy. I suggested after dinner plans... and we decided on movies at my place. We skulked a few movies at the Rogers Video, and decided on 21 (yawn) and Persepolis (It DESERVED the Oscar). We watched Persepolis first... and Dave and Andrea excused themselves from the evening. *cough* I drove them home. Tuesday night, I met with Kari in Port Credit at a Thai place that she had recommended. The food was excellent, the company was better. We paid up, and went for a walk along the lake. Much was exchanged, including how we felt about dating (similar), and if we wanted to see others (*NO!*). I think that I am dating Kari in a steady relationship. Her family seems to be more conservative than mine, so she is going slow... But I've been babbling to my family and friends for nearly a month. She already has an open invite to visit my mom, dad and sis, if we pop by. I rather like her. :) Current Mood: happy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 6th, 2008
12:30 pm	Date 6 : Meet some of her friends I think that she had decided to introduce me to her friends slowly (BIG STEP). The Toronto Dr. Who Information Network (club) meets monthly in the back of an english pub for a Tavern (what they call their meetings). Kari is ecstatic that I can understand her when she talks about these things, none the less that I can follow up on some of the conversation. I got there on time, parked my car in a lot that was beside the pub. I walked in, wondering as to how this evening was going to go down. She answered it when she saw me, by getting up and walking towards me grinning and planting a more than just friendly kiss upon me. The pace had been set. There was just one other member there at the moment, and he creeped me out a little. He was 40 to 60, but gave off the aura of not planning to be on the planet in 10 years. I concentrated on Kari. Slowly, people arrived, with Kari mentioning "Oh! Ryan is here!", and me turning and putting on my professional friendly face and taking the initiative with extending my hand and smiling, while stating "Hi Ryan! I'm Rich!". Kari was anywhere between stroking my shoulder to leaning against me to identify as to why the blazes I was there. All met me well. I enjoyed their company (it peaked at 14 people), and even was able to toss out a theory that they had not thought about : "The TARDIS is a 4th dimensional living machine, one should postulate that it should be able to heal from damage eventually as was evidenced by The Rise of the Cybermen in the 10th Doctor". That caused a bit of a conversation among the tech-heads. Kari had to go (being a 4th grade teacher, being TIRED is a bad thing), and I offered her a ride back to her car. She drives to the edge of Toronto, and then takes the subway in. She happily accepted. We drove back to her car, chatting. When we got there, we had a prolonged goodbye. I am enamoured. She is totally smitten. We are happy. :) Current Mood: ecstatic (Comment on this)
12:22 pm	Loyal Friend While I had Kari over at my place I had a revelation. I had some leftover dregs of creme cheese left over in a tub, and subconciously I called out "Squeaky! Come here boy!". I heard a chirrup from the basement and a rapid patter of little feet as Squeaky rushed to see why I was calling him. I put the container on the floor, as he licked and purred. Kari was astounded. I have a cat that comes when I call. Just today, for no reason than I've not seen him in a bit, I called him. He chirruped from upstairs, and sat beside my chair. I petted him affectionately, and he rolled in happiness. He then rushed to the window to observe whatever caught his eye\ear. Kari is allergic to cats lightly, but I've got a little friend that loves me unconditionally. Kari has told me that she has meds that can counteract the cat allergy. :)) Current Mood: loved (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
2:47 am	My jaw hit the floor so hard that there was a ringing noise. I had discovered and have confirmed that my friend Colleen is concidering herself single again. We have orbited the other as friends attracted to the other for over a decade now. Never had she and I been single at the same time. I've always wanted to date her. She became single from her marriage *A* week after I started dating Kari, and I've been totally obscessing about Kari since I started dating her. Honestly, I think that Kari is more compatible with me, but it seems like cruel fate that would render Colleen single while I was all but single (damn my sense of loyalty). That marriage lasted 3, maybe 4 years! I wrote her out of my "potentials" category when I watched her put on his ring. She was smitten and happy... and had seemed from then onwards, until I noticed that her FaceBook Profile went from "It's complicated" to "Single" in the span of a month. I'm going to visit her and talk to her about this. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I am enthralled with Kari, just as a hot friend becomes single. As I put in my business emails : ::headdesk::headdesk::headdesk:: Current Mood: indescribable (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008
1:43 am	I think that I have a girlfriend again. Kari and I have been out 33 hours together over the span of 5 dates. (Yes, I am a math geek damnit. Don't ask me as to WHAT I track and plot on charts. :P) I've planned 4 future dates, and she's invited me out to 2 other date ideas. I got interested, enthralled, delusionally happy and then grounded myself quickly as reality sunk in. I am in my mid-30s, and don't have time for another throw-away 5 year relationship. I have friends with teen spawn, and I've had to look inside of myself alot in the past few years to determine as to what I want. She is a sweetie that obviously loves kids, but we've only been out 5 times. Is it time to start talking about big picture plans? Right now, I am just going to have fun, as it has only been 2 weeks of dating so far. I look forward to finding out more about her. :) Current Mood: enthralled (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
11:02 pm	I walked into one of my typical lunch watering holes, and found one of the cutest bartenders that I've ever known. "Hi Kirsten" I greeted her, as she grinned and pulled out 2 menus. Ken and I talked for a bit, and we noticed that Kirsten was scetching somehing that looked alot like a flower, or a deep fried blooming onion (I was hungry). We asked her about that, and she cheerfully told us that she was designing the tattoo for her lower spine. She said that she had thought about it alot, and decided that it was a good idea. Ken and I exchanged a glance, and looked at her again. "Um. You know that a lower back tattoo pretty much condemns you to a natural birth, no drugs, right?" came out of my mouth. She looked at me horrified, as Ken nodded. I explained that an epidural needs to pierce a certain part of the spine and that tattoo ink isn't pure enough for an anasthesiologist to risk the liability of introducing that ink to the spinal cord. A tramp stamp in Ontario means that you're dumping all of your kids with NO drugs. She stammered a bit, and revised her plans to a smaller shoulder tattoo. The above is true, but nobody wants to see a fleet of 60 year olds in 40 years walking around with melted ivy/dragons/celtic ink on their lower back. :P Current Mood: pessimistic (3 Comments |Comment on this)