Falling off the Wagon
Hello, my name is Martin and I'm an infrequent LJ poster.
It's been three weeks since my last post.
I think I've finally re-acclimatized myself to life here in Ottawa. It was a long, painful and depressing process. Long because I've hardly been getting any work and for the first two weeks I was hardly setting foot outside my apartment. Painful because I stressed myself out over a great many things which led to massive stomach pains and me now being on acid reducers. Depressing because, well, the rest of the world kept turning while I was off on my adventure. Things here had changed during my absence, where I had not. In general, they changed for the better, I'll be the first to admit. It still took quite some adjustment on my part to figure out where exactly I fit in with the new scheme of things. The good news is that I'm now keeping busy, healthy and am comfortable with my surroundings.
In the process of discovering the source of my mysterious stomach pains, my doctor also suggested I be tested for HIV, Hepatitis and Syphilis. The last time I'd had it done was last summer, so I agreed that it was a good idea. I was cleared of all charges, thankfully and not too surprisingly. Despite not expecting anything I still managed to worry about it quite a bit. I found out a few weeks ago that the old host/ess from Circus, Raquelle Rocket, passed away from Aids recently. I don't claim to have known him/her well at all but we did shoot the shit a few times back in the day and it was scary to hear about something like that happening to someone you used to be around on a regular basis. Let's just say that the news didn't make me any less nervous to find out the results.
I also asked to find out my blood type, since I would be getting poked anyways. It had been a source of consternation for my mother since I was a teenager. She had even bought me a home testing kit that I was too chicken to use - not liking the idea of stabbing myself with some little contraption. I'm A positive, as it turns out - in case you needed to know. I wanted to be B so I could make stupid puns about always having to "B positive!" (rim shot!)
I've taken up Yoga again, which I did sporadically a few years back with MAB. I went back to the same place on Monday, with Halley this time, and we had an intense workout in the Hot Room. My entire upper body is now in rebellion though, especially my shoulders and pecs. I want to start going on a semi-regular basis, I'm thinking once or twice a week, because it helps with the tension in my shoulders and neck as well as my troubles breathing. Essentially, I breathe in a very shallow and irregular fashion and often find myself having to take deep breaths to keep from getting too light headed. Whether I do go as often as I'm currently planning to will remain to be seen - I tend to get lazy before too long.
Before I left for camp I decided to read lots of books while I was there; I failed miserably. Mostly because one of my camper's had a Nintendo DS which he lent me on a fairly regular basis. I managed to finish Super Mario Brothers (which was awesome) and Mario Kart DS. I did read "Son of a Witch" by Gregory Maguire, sequel to "Wicked" and I also read Dumas' "The Three Musketeers". The former I devoured in no time, the latter I read slowly and over an embarrassing 5 weeks. I'm not used to reading in French, for one thing, and while the story was really good I would not call it gripping. At 700 pages, reading 10-15 a day, I felt like I was making ridiculously slow progress. I am glad I read it but I'm also glad I can finally move on. Now I'm reading "Le Matou" by Yves Beauchemin. It's a fairly popular Quebecois book and while I'm only about 70 pages in it's been quite easy to get into so far.
On one of my many walks I decided to go to the Ottawa Public Library and renew my card, which had been inactive for about 2 and half years. They didn't give me any trouble when I thought that they might. No outstanding fines or anything. I then proceeded to ransack their VHS section, renting "Au Revoir les Enfants", "Out of Africa", "Steel Magnolias", "Some Like it Hot" and "Apocalypse Now Redux". I've only watched the first 3 so far and I liked them all, especially the French one. Very well done movie but also very depressing. Will and I also rented another French movie "Cache" which was amazing and creepy, I strongly recommend it, as well as "The Inside Man", which I adored. My passion for Clive Owen grows each day. I saw the trailer for his new movie "Son of Men" today and I can't wait to see it. Oh, I also recommend "The Descent" if you like typical horror movies done well. They're not usually my cup of tea but I did enjoy it.
That's about everything I'm able to jot down for the time being, hopefully I'll post again soon. But probably not.