2022

44 Years of Living

Posted on by Hosehead

Tomorrow, I’ll turn 44 – the same age that old man had his last kid. Fuck! That gives me all of the middle-aged man feelings. It’s wild to think back of who I was when I was younger and things that were learnt, places that I’ve gone, and people that I’ve met. I thought I would just take a rip today and go into the vault of the brain and see if there’s anything that I could share that helped me get to 44. You are welcome for the unsolicited advice. It’s not that I really know is better or worse than others – these things have helped me try to become a good man.

Don’t take life too seriously – it’s easy to go down a path of finding things to get angry about. Everyone is a weirdo – it’s just so much better when you embrace it.

Accept everyone – regardless of anything. You judge the person based on the person and nothing else.

Negative people are energy suckers – it’s some karma here but if you put out good vibes – things generally end up working out.

Watch Star Trek! It’s not just a show but it’s moral and ethical compass for how to live your life. It’s the way the world should be trending.

Travel! There’s not one time where I regretted going somewhere. I’ve definitely had buyers remorse for “stuff” but never for an experience.

Mentors are life changing. it’s difficult to get through life but if you find someone that just completely understands and challenges you, it makes you a better person. If you find someone that fits this mold – stay in touch.

Become comfortable being on your own. It took me a long time to get this one down. If you have a hard time living in your own head by yourself – the more shit that goes in there – it becomes difficult to just be happy by yourself.

Exercise/walk/hike/run – everything is a balance – if you work on a computer all day – your mood/anxiety/depression can all increase. It’s wild what a quick run will do for my mood.

Kids are cool! I’ve got 8 nieces and nephews – watching their personalities form is so fu**ing great. You are likely important in their life and you need to be a role model – it’s your duty.

Social Media is creating a generation of narcissistic sociopaths – this is just an observation that popped into my head – not advice.

Show empathy towards anyone that struggles with mental health and addiction. It’s difficult to know exactly how to help but when you can’t see the struggle, it doesn’t mean it’s not there.

There’s no reason to be loyal to a job. You can be loyal to people but companies generally only care about one thing. Moving to different jobs will give you a better perspective of what “good” looks like.

and on the opposite spectrum… If you find a boss/manager that you love working for – think long and hard before leaving there.

Be an open book with your life. It’s easier to build relationships when the other person knows exactly who you are.

What sparks your internal drive? Figure out what that is and build your career/hobbies/talents around that. Driving yourself to get better constantly is healthy – unfortunately some people’s obsession is $$$, which can (not always) have the opposite effect.

People say that the years move faster the older you get – that’s definitely true. Cheers to 44!

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Petting Turtles While at the Poker Table in Vegas

Posted on by Hosehead

Some of my social media accounts were hacked last weekend and I’ve spent the entire week changing passwords, reporting incidents, and apparently helping people make BIG money in crypto. The low point was sitting at the Jays game, watching them get blown out on Sunday, baking in the sun, and fire-fighting with my Instagram account. If a little kid booted me in the balls that’s the only way that things could have gotten worse.

On the positive side, I received a disability cheque from the Government due to having colitis. It was comical going through the interviewing process… “how many times do you go to the washroom per day?” “Would you say the amount of time in the bathroom has caused your work to suffer?” Would you be more productive if you weren’t in the washroom so much?” It made me feel like George Castenza that I have a permanent work office in the can.

I’m going to Vegas twice this year. I really have no idea why I like Vegas so much – maybe the fact that it’s utterly ridiculously fake or that there’s is action at all times, or, that you can people watch the entire vacation and likely be amused. The last time there I saw a man with a cowboy hat at a poker table, the next morning he was still in the exact same seat but wearing shades. It makes me feel better about myself that my mild gambling habit hasn’t caused me to rip a cowboy hat and play poker for 12 straight hours.

The key to Vegas is having a plan. You can get stuck in stasis with sooo much to do and see – that you end up at a Pauly Shore comedy show and eating at Johnny Rockets. Have a plan, stick to it, and forget the Visa in the safe in the room.

Began running again, it really helps take the edge off of a stressful job. I’m also back in the nodding club… this is the people that are also exercising and taking care of their bodies – you get a slight nod of acceptance every time you run past them. The former club I was in (The Falls Road Bar Fly Club) has revoked my membership and is only allowing a single Guinness for each trip there.

My old man is a Hawks fan and I’m a Flyers fan – we currently have a contest of who is the worst run NHL team in the league between our two favourite teams. Tony DeAngelo for 3 draft picks!?!? He fought his own goalie, had a racial slur on ice, and was pissed when Trump was banned from Twitter to the point where he tried to fight it online. Yup, Flyers doing Flyers things with that pick-up. Maybe, they should see if they can pull Ron Hextall out of retirement.

If you ever want to feel bad about taking care of yourself – go to see a dental hygenist. My teeth are actually in pretty decent shape according to my dentist, but if my hygenist had anything to say about it, she would believe that my teeth might begin to fall out like a meth addict if I don’t begin flossing 16 times a day.

My favourite people to talk to during sales calls are from the South. There’s nothing better than getting a verbal from a guy from Tennessee with a “hell ya, I can get that done before then”.

Sara and I are finally going to pull the trigger on a dog. She has attempted to trick me by saying we can just visit dogs, or, we should get a robot dog, or, what about a fish. I’m standing my ground and we’re going to get a dog from the human society… fast-forward 6 months, Daryl is petting a turtle named Benny after Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek… “this isn’t so bad, I guess” Benny looks up at Daryl wondering what the fu** he’s doing petting him.