www.myles.ca

The Victoria Day weekend has passed which is the unofficial kick-off of summer.  The sun is warm, the leaves have all come out and it’s time to enjoy the great outdoors. I had myself a nice vacation last week and I had some time to think about the kind of summer that I wanted to have. I have some rules I want to follow for this year.Â

1. No Live TV. With the last of the season fanalies under our belts, I have no real need to watch the tube. So, I’m not going to watch anything that has commercials without someone else present. This will allow me to watch movies and such and I can enjoy a nice quiet evening with Jenny in front of the TV if we choose. This means that when I’m at home on a ‘laundry night’, I will be almost forced to do something productive while I’m waiting for my socks to dry.

2. No Restaurants without wait-staff. If I have to order the food and take it away on a tray, then I can’t go there. Hopefully this will get me to eat a little healthier. The only exception to this rule is the salad-bar place in the concourse of the building I’m working in. Salad is good.

3. 1000 km by September 1st. When I got my new bike, I set a goal to ride one thousand kilometers by September 1st. I still have that goal and I’m well on my way at almost 300km so far. I just have to maintain my 50km per week sub-goals.

4. 1000 pictures by September 1st. All I have to do is take 250 pictures a month for that. Shouldn’t be too hard.

5. Post Every Week. I’m going to post every Monday right here to let you know about my progress.

 Well, just five little rules for the summer… wish me luck.

~ Jason

Ok, so I joined Facebook, big deal. I’ve never been a big fan of social networking sites; they’ve always kind of bugged me. People have been talking about Facebook left and right so I figured, “what the hell” and signed up.

There are good things and freaky things about Facebook. On the plus side, the flexability of the security is pretty sweet. It seems to be fully configurable. You can display limited information to certain people in case you don’t know them, trust them or like them. On the not-so-plus side, it’s a little creepy in that you get a feed that updates you on what your friends have been doing. I now know whenever my friends do stuff like become friends with other people, join a group, change their profile, etc.Â

It’s only been like a week since sign-up and already I’m in contact with a few old friends that I never thought I’d ever talk to again. I’ve even been contacted by a couple of people that I didn’t remember at first. I had to search my memory for a while to pull back any information on them at all.

I even have a name-twin. Some dude named Jason Myles contacted me to be his ‘friend’. He’s a high school senior and because I’m sure you want to know… he had a very good time at his prom last night.  See, a little creepy, but entertaining.

Overall, I think I like Facebook. It entertains me for now.

 ~ Jason

I don’t really know what triggered this memory, but today on the subway, I had a clear flashback of a wedding I went to in ‘92 or ‘93.

I was in the Celtic Frost at the time (a competition pipe band) and our pipe major, John McLeod was marrying his long-time girlfriend Vicky. The pipe band was invited so I made the treck from Sault Ste. Marie to Sudbury for the happy occasion.

It was a nice wedding but the highlight was playing during the reception. There were three of us from the Drum Corpse there and after playing with the pipes for a few tunes, we decided to play our “Drummers Salute”. Since we were all snare drummers, we decided to split things up. Brad played the snare, Ted played the bass and I played the tennor drum.

It was magic. When I say that playing was the highlight, I honestly mean it was one of the highlights of my life (so far). I don’t really know what happened but it was one of those singular moments where everything leaves your consciousness except for the music. While playing, everything just clicked. The world just faded… there wasn’t even a sense of self. It was one of those perfect moments.

When it was over, Brad, Ted and I looked at each other in shock… it was like we weren’t a part of what happend, we were just present. The crowd went cazy. I remember the look on John’s (the groom’s) face when he walked over with some shots for us.

Very few moments in my life have been able to equal that one.

One of my fondest memories is mixed with sadness, however. A little while after that wedding, John, the groom committed suicide. I guess he was struggling with some issues for a long time. He hung himself at work.

Anyway, I don’t know why that memory hit me between Davisville and St. Claire on the way to work today, but I’m kind-a glad did.

~ Jason

Today is my birthday. Thirty five years ago today, I was born in Sudbury, Ontario. It was a Saturday.

I guess we’re supposed to get introspective on our birthdays. It’s a time to reflect on what we’ve done and what we are going to do. Thirty-four was a good year and thirty-five is shaping up to be even better. Wish me luck.

It’s also the first anniversary of my quitting smoking. At 4pm last February 26th, I had my last cigarette. I really did think that quitting was going to be difficult, but really it wasn’t. I haven’t cheated or slipped or had a single drag.Â

I attribute my success to two things:

1. All of my close friends who smoked, have quite. I no longer have any smoking buddies.
2. I can’t smoke in bars or restaruants any more. I have noplace to smoke.

Well, it’s been a year now and I still have no desire to start again. Sure, I get pangs to smoke but I really don’t take them seriously.

~ Jason

From 2007 Pic A Day

~ Jason