CaptainOrange

I'm old enough to have started buying my music on Vinyl, though most of my collection was cassette. I only transitioned to CDs late in my university career. I kept a number of my records for 20 years after I no longer had a turntable. Eventually, they hit the dustbin along with nearly every cassette I ever bought. Did I ever own those songs? They certainly own my dreams. I feel like the songs are part of me. It doesn't seem right that I have to pay to own part of me. Ah, the success of the RIAA. Oh, yeah. This isn't a rant against the music corporations. This is a celebration of a few albums that I've rediscovered. I eventually became embarrassed with my possession of each of these. Now I've had to pay for them again. I look back and realize that I was lacking in self confidence. I found it hard to maintain or defend any opinion, not just those involving music. Styx: Kilroy Was Here My first album (1982). I was 10 years old. I know I just bought it for the...

Drive-throughs are perennial whipping boys for my ire (along with escalators). Today I walked Leora to school and decided to stop at Tim Horton's for a coffee. Being "time delighted" (as opposed to time obsessed), I ran some tests. I Spotted 13 droids in total. 3 on till, 5 on coffee/sandwiches, 1 on tables/cleaning, 2 in kitchen, 1 passing out advertising for a new product, 1 manager.  The manager told me that Friday and Saturday are busier and the staff may be as many as 15! Time trials: indoor line-up vs drive-through with the time penalty for driving displayed at the right. The most bearded James... Ever!* 3:30-6:04   -2:34 3:52-8:44   -4:52 0:50-6:32   -5:42 2:55-7:10   -4:15 4:55-8:31   -3:36 6:10-5:50* +0:20 7:12-6:51* +0:21 2:00-6:51   -4:51 1:30-6:15   -4:45 0:38-5:31   -4:53 1:01-7:44   -6:45 Notes: Trials run 8:45-10am Wednesday, Nov. 2nd Location: Cumberland and 8th. They have just widened the driv...

A couple of days ago, Wendy bought me a replica of Bilbo's sword, Sting. Needless to say I was ecstatic. The Hobbit has been my favourite story for as long as I can remember. From the time I was 10 years old, I pretty much assumed that one day a great big adventure would walk through my door and sweep me away. It was going to be a hard road and I would resist, but in the end I would wind up growing in ways I couldn't have imagined. When I got married, I began to realize that adventures come in more shapes and sizes than I had at first thought and that opportunities to save the world as we know it were relatively rare (still don't know anyone who has done it). So, we're on the subject of stories... A few weeks ago, I was asked to tell a story in front of an adult audience. This was to be part of my job at the library and I was excited. I've been enjoying the illusion that I am being paid to become a master storyteller. The mundane details of my job are bec...