The Briar Patch

I recently made a post about 2002 just in passing how big the Eminem Show was that summer and it got me thinking about that whole fucking year. The fact is, it was the most insane and probably most formative year of my life. I guess I am gonna get nostalgic for a minute here. I am not really spending much time editing this, so sorry if it is a bit harder to read! Honestly it is kind of filler until I can travel blog again. Before I get to 02 I need to set it up. In summer 2000 I moved to Edmonton from Grande Prairie. I was going to take journalism and you would all be reading my adventures when I was done. Truth be told I wasn't ready. Not responsible enough at 19. I moved down with my best friend Ditch and his girlfriend Shwa. We got a 2 bedroom in Oliver. $600. (Now they start around $1400) I cant blame them, it was my choice to be a meat head but I was terrible in school. I started at GMCC and they did fun shit like go to the water park. Which is an irresponsible kid gonna do? P...

Time to post this, I realize I started it a month or easily two months ago. A lot has happened over that time, so some of this is dated. It is easier to make quick entries like this right now so sadly for the next little bit I doubt I will be working on any travel blogs. The next two entries will be a two parter and MAYBE by the time they are up my life will be calmed down and I can get back to travel..... It is time for the X-Men to save the MCU. Ratings are down, we have super hero hangover even F4 didn't do amazing. Its time for the Phoenix Saga. They have tried with two terrible movies and it ended both X-Men runs. Time to do 20 movies like the Infinity Saga with Phoenix in the background until the final showdown with her as well, the villain. I want to see the original 5 in the first movie and yes Magneto as the villain. A few solo offshoot movies and Giant Sized X-Men is your first crossover. You can cover so many classic stories and please do Mutant Massacre, the whole MCU c...

I have ranted in a better thought-out blog before, but I need to vent on health care!  Throughout most of my life, I have had the fortune or misfortune of dealing with the healthcare system. Some of it is due to family and friends being involved in it. Once in a while, I have had to rely on it, and it is easy to notice over the last few decades that things are getting worse and worse. I've already vented on it, but I just have to get more off my chest about our current healthcare system. No matter what party is in power, they should be willing to repair the healthcare system; this should not be a political issue. I realize that different people will want to fix it in other ways. Still, no matter what party they should want to put the money in (like a lot of cash! and not wasteful spending but actual targeted spending), put the time in, put the effort in, and make Alberta healthy and happy once more. It can't be a Band-Aid fix anymore. We keep doing that with everything, doing m...

Again, this is in a series of travel blogs; if you read this, you may want to read the others first. Have already put up travel basics and a few days in Paris.   Religion is possibly the best and the worst of all of humanity's creations. I am sure I could do some Google research and find out when the first noted religion existed, but I am not about to do that. The first caveman that made up a story about why the sun rises and sets was probably a religion. I am sure an all-mighty god of some sort did it. In the beginning, religion was great; it still can be. It gives people a reason for why things happen, and there is mental security in that. It can be all wrong, but it still provides what people need: reason, belief, faith. It also gave meaning and support. When a Viking died, he went to Valhalla to sit with his ancestors, not just rot in the ground. There is a beauty in that. I used Vikings because that really isn't a mainstream belief anymore (except for online weirdos that ...

This is in a series of blog posts; if you haven't read the others, you might want to give them a read first. Started in Canada and have been to Paris already.                                                       Florence Villa Hotel   Before I carry on, we should get into the travel tour bus lifestyle. Not Motley Crue wasted for weeks, but first-world tourists travelling Europe on a slightly less luxurious bus. I think we had a good handle on it, so that's how I will break it down. My day typically started at 6. Again, like Paris, my wife started before that to do hair and makeup for pictures. It was 50/50 on the trip who did that. Some women, it was every day, others never, and others sometimes. I assume it was based on the day's itinerary. Anyways, she was pretty much up every day around 5. 6 is enough time for me to read...

  Are we still pretending chump got shot or have we moved on from that lie? I wonder why the Epstein files aren't being released? Betting there is more drama to try and take eyes off that but slowly MAGAt is crumbling.... I shouldnt say that, the hardcore dumbasses will always be hardcore dumbasses. Its the half bright ones having doubts. Dexter Resurrection has been awesome. Finale next week and I can't wait to see it play out. Twisted Metal is awesome. over the top violence, actual witty jokes. It is everything The Boys should have been.  I have to laugh at trigger warnings, why are they there? If you are going to listen to a podcast on a serial killer, chances are there will be something graphic. If it is going to trigger you, then don't listen!! Its like starting a porno saying, hey you might see boobs!  Since I am not doing long winded comics rants I will say the Age of Revelation looks awesome, after reading X-men #19 my mind has changed. Thought it looked dumb but ...

I started this before I decided I needed to concentrate on one thing. So this is my last focus pop culture / comic blog for a while. Pretty happy I have been doing travel writing, but I want to get this posted, so I have no distractions. Comics, I love them. I have loved them since grade 3-ish?? So, 8 years old, 35-year love affair. I mean, it started before that. What are comics besides still cartoons, and what kid doesn't like cartoons? I guess I am gonna go on about my comic history in this blog. (This was started before I decided to focus more on my writing. So for real, last non-travel blog for a bit) Saturday morning cartoons are the start of it. It is true that back in the 80s and 90s, we had Saturday morning cartoons. There wasn't just a network dedicated to cartoons; you had to slot them in! It was a treat to see them, and we all loved them. It would make sense that a generation raised on cartoons would enjoy comics, a physical copy to hold in your hand and reread anyt...