Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Trials of choosing a picture.

Welcome to rant number one.

Why is it so blessedly hard to choose a profile pic? I have some theories...

  1. You can never find a pic that doesn't have the double chin.
  2. You don't want to look like the narcisstic jerk or jerkette with the pic taken by yourself to make yourself look hot... (Girls... pouty lips don't make you look hot... and if I ran into you at the grocery store looking like that pose... I'd offer to make you an appointment at the clinic to renew your anti-psychotic meds)
  3. The drunk pictures of you were funny when you were twenty-ish.
  4. Pictures of you and your drunk buddies aren't really cool when they look like they're trying to lick you ear.
  5. Why do people take pictures of their rides? No, seriously... why is that?
  6. Lastly... you want it to be a fairly accurate depiction of who you are now.

I have two pics so far. And they have interesting stories.

My profile pic (in the orange sweater) was an agency shot and it doesn't have me with a big goofy grin... if you ran into me I might even be wearing that sweater and you could say I recognize him from his photo

The pic in the last blog was my victory photo. I had a serious health issue in September of 2007. I had a routine surgery go bad... I developed a staph infection, a pulmonary embolism, had fifteen days of fever, spent seventeen days in hospital, lost twenty seven pounds (which made me look unhealthy), seriously became anemic, and was off work for two months. I missed a lot of bowling which I do on Thursday nights. I came to visit my team when I was finally on the mend and my sister, Becky, took this pic. And I thought I went through crap but I look great.

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

I don't know Mike from Canmore, but I might know Joe from Fort Simpson.


Welcome to the ramblings of a 37 year old married father of two, who lives in the far north of Canada. Like most people I work, ponder, complain, and joke about all things on and off the internet. I'm highly concerned about things like my weight, my dreams of being back in the spotlight (more about that later) and finishing the dozen scripts and stories currently struggling to fight its way out of my brain and onto some form of media. I had to get some of my creative talents to use, and I hope to entertain, enlighten, and... what's another 'e' word... evacuate your stress level be maybe making you chuckle a little.

That was my opening paragraph. I am not a writer... I am a storyteller. I actually suggested this blog idea to my counsellor as a means for my rants... and self therapy. I hope to have my postings range from bizarre to domestic, serious to silly, and hopefully at least interesting. I have opinions on a lot of things, however I am not a concrete person... you will always find room for debate... and if you're flexible like me... we'll get along just fine.

First, I am as I said. A married father of two boys and I was born and raised in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. My wife is Frances, and my boys are Ian and Jacob, who are four and two respectively.

If my past jobs are an indication of who I am today... I've done just about everything: taxi driver; rodeo security; forestry tower operator; actor (I appeared briefly on a television show as a paid actor); singer; advocate (that's what I call my Social Work education); security officer at a diamond mine; worked with kids as a (I'm not sure what you'd call it) family support worker (?); and lastly as a receptionist at a medical clinic. I've actually probably missed something. But that's okay, it's enough to start with.

I have many interests. My creative side dabbles in writing, singing and photography. I love entertainment from some shows on TV and movies... I'm a big fan of watching movie trailers for movies that won't come out for nearly a year later... this means you, Star Trek. I like all sorts of music... it would be easier to tell you who I don't like. I surf the internet and I play my Xbox 360... probably too much. A friend of mine called me a "facebook whore", because I have some eight hundred friends... and counting. I'm the guy at work who prints off interesting news articles at work for people to read. I call myself a "skeptic believer" which I describe as someone who believes in paranormal activities but has a good BS detector. I do have a ghost story, which I'll share at some point.

I drink too much Coke, have a belly, don't exercise enough (my wife would question the definition of 'enough') and struggle to find the time to be creative.

I live up here in the Northwest Territories (pop: 40,747) in Hay River (pop: 3,568). I was born here, but I hope to die in Tahiti. I know the history of the area fairly well, and have been known to give some the visiting doctors good tours of the sights of the area. Hay River is situated on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake which is the eleventh largest and sixth deepest lake in the world... if you were keeping count. I may not know Mike from Canmore (Air Farce!), but I might know Joe from Fort Simpson.

Anyhoo (this isn't a typo as I sometimes type how I talk), I briefly touched on my life as an opener. If this was my pick up line at the bar... you'd be on your third drink and thinking you'd like to check out the washroom. So, hopefully you'd like to visit me every now and then.

Talk to you later.