Deadline reached?

Tomorrow may possibly be the day the divorce is final.

We have some sort of meeting where Jaime and I sit down with our lawyers and a judge, and from what I understand if everything can be worked out in this half hour then this is it.  Now it's not a meeting that we have to be present for, since our lawyers have the ability to act on our behalf, but I'm going.  Not sure if the ex will be there or not.  I didn't have the heart to ask her today, because I'm sure this day is just as hard for her.

This meeting has been weighing on my mind for weeks, but especially today.  I don't know what to expect and I fear the finality of it all.  The true end to a huge chapter of my life.  I went to hot yoga tonight to try and clear my mind but now that I'm home and alone with no one to distract me it's eating me alive.  I just hope sleep comes quickly.

In all honesty, when I proposed to Jaime in May 2002 I never ever dreamed that our relationship would ever end in divorce.  I pictured us having kids, at least one of which would be adopted.  I pictured us settling into a home that our children would bring their children home to and that we would build so many happy memories that we'd never run out of things to talk about.

But I will try and focus on the fact that possibly the nightmare will end and Jaime (and hopefully myself as well) will have some peace and find our new normal.  My heart aches.

A portion of the crew...

Who do we think we are?

I just had the most epic weekend of my life. 

A group of fourteen of my friends went to Moncton, New Brunswick as a mini road trip.  We met at Colins' place at 7:45 am Saturday morning to load into a few vehicles and hit the road.  Of course that was delayed, because really it's Saturday morning and some of the friends decided to drink Friday night and have as little as one hour of sleep.

We headed straight to Magic Mountain and spent the day riding water slides, the lazy river, swimming in the wave pool and lounging poolside in the sun.  All and all a great summer day.  Then around 4pm we left the water park and checked into four hotel rooms and got ready for supper.  Supper was at an Irish pub called The Old Triangle.  We all got a good and hearty meal and then headed for the liquor store to get ready for the evening festivities.

Earlier in the day, while preparing for dinner, Colin called and organized for us to travel in style when we went downtown.  At 9:30 our stretch Cadillac Escalade arrived and picked us up for a two our cruise around Moncton.  We popped champagne (and followed with many other bottles of alcohol), took a ton of pictures and sang along to an amazing mix of music on one of our iPods.  To be rolling in that kind of style it's easy to see why celebrities live lives of excess.

And finally at 11:30 our ride ended at the club.  The drive parked out front, rolled out a red carpet and we all got out.  During which time, Ashley became red carpet road kill, falling down (on purpose) on the red carpet and Tori walked over her for an amazing photo op.

We headed inside and danced our asses off.  We were definitely a group that got noticed and probably mainly for the fact that we were new faces in the community.  There are so many funny stories that came out of that evening but for me there is one that stands out.

There was a man, with his group of friends, dancing in a mesh tank top.  MESH!  Where does one even find a mesh tank top??  Other than that I don't think he was that bad of a looking guy.  I guess fashion in Moncton is ahead?? or behind that of Halifax.  Anyway, he noticed me dancing and came over and asked me to have a dance off.  Me, feeling drunkenly confident in my dancing accept.  We start a battle in the centre of the dance floor and before I know it he grabs my shirt and rips it up and over my head.   

Clearly the lesson is to NEVER TRUST A MAN IN A MESH TANK TOP!

All in all I had an amazing weekend.  My group of friends never cease to amaze me.  We have never all traveled before but all went well and we had a ton of laughs over breakfast this morning bringing up all of the experiences from the night before.

Always Connected

I sometimes sit at my desk and wonder how previous generations stayed connected.  Today it's so easy to be in contact with anyone.  My friends and family are only a phone call, text message or email away, but for the majority of my Mom's working career there wasn't even email.  And let's not even mention that there were party lines instead of multi line phones and call waiting.

I am sure work has been drastically effected by diminished output because of our ability to be constantly connected.  Within my circle of friends alone, we have streams of emails in facebook, that the majority of us reach via our cell phones during work hours.  And text messages are sure to always get someone's attention when a matter is more urgent.  These two forms of communication have become my default, because I don't have to use any of my employers resources.  Thereby diminishing any fear that my VP of Financial Reporting tried to instill in us for using work systems for private use.

Who knows what is around the corner... perhaps I should seek out the technology that would render cell phones ability to send/receive texts or an Internet connection and sell that technology to businesses to ensure their staff can't access these systems and therefore force employees to work harder.

Fountain of Youth

There was a span of time, like say the last 5 years where I could fall asleep at the drop of a dime.  Didn't matter what I was doing just before laying down... could be a late night 6km run... could be watching TV... anything and it didn't matter.  As soon as I'd lay down I would be asleep.  And I needed that sleep.  If I wasn't getting it, I was no good at work and fighting to keep my eyes awake at 2pm.

But I think I found the fountain of youth and I'm going to share it with you, under the understanding that you will share this information wisely.  Bombay Sapphire Gin.  Something about this liquid has transformed me in the last few months into someone in their early twenties.  Here's an example...

My sister flies in Wednesday night.  I pick her up at the airport, we come home, I get my son settled for bed and I get ready to meet up with my friends at karaoke night.  I'm tired because it's halfway thru a work week and it's pushing 11pm, but that feeling won't last long.  By 12:30 I am at the Palace with a double G & T and I'm rock solid.  We hop bars because the place is empty but I still dance the night away until 4am.  Not to mention that while walking by Venus Pizza, while I'm surrounded by 4 or 5 other guys, a girl comes up to me points her finger into my chest and says "You're sexy".  Hello... I'm the oldest in the group but I still got the attention.

I crawl into bed at 5ish, up at 9:30 and spend the entire day out in the sun celebrating Canada day, catch the fire works and up early Friday morning to drop William off to his Mom before heading to work.  Work all day, come home do work around the house until 2am, crash and up at 8am to do more work around the house.  Have more family arrive in town... take them shopping around the city before cracking my 40 oz gin I got at duty free.  I'm easily smashed by 4pm.  At this point it's looking like any plans to go out will be a write off... cause I don't think I can still party with the young ins at 32.  But hold up... got the jams pumping, little bit of supper and a few more shots and I'm heading to the Lower Deck.  The family is getting a bit lame but I run into friends.  We're dancing to Signal Hill on the patio.  I'm making new friends, drinking doubles and shooting Jager Bombs with my friend's boyfriend.  Cut to an hour later and I'm en route to the Paragon for retro night.  Of course my friends are leaving the dance floor to do shots of Jager.  I'm not one to be left out... but then I also do a shot of tequila with another friend and then of course follow with Gin.  We close that place... must be 1pm.  A friend and I grab a cab to Reflections, while the other fools walk.  And once inside grab a gin and hit the dance floor until 4am closing.

We walk to Pizza corner and suddenly one of the guys has a ride for us.  I decline at first until I realize they are heading my way.  On the ride I am convinced that I should go swimming with them.  Somehow I'm convinced and am on the shore of lake bannook.  Probably half an hour of swimming, sun is very much on it's way up before crashing at a buddy's place.  Awake and doing the walk of shame by 10am for another family filled day.  Even to the point that I work on an assignment, have dinner with family, see my sister off to TO, take a 20 minute nap, go for a walk on the waterfront and crash at 11pm.

I know it's going to take it's toll... but I've had a couple of rough summers, this one is starting out pretty grand.  I'm not going to let it fly by without me.  I can always catch up on sleep... but can't catch up on memories.

Raise a glass of youth, my friends!