The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Happy New Year. What an interesting couple of weeks this has been. I didn't intend to write personal horseshit on this site when I started it, but I will here today.

If I didn't have such a great group of friends and my family nearby, I am convinced I would be doing all I could to live in a place that is warm all year long. During my trip, I woke up to go for bike rides on the island, I golfed, I read a book on a lawn chair while drinking rum and cokes, and looked up occasionally to watch the river current slowly flow towards the ocean from where I was situated. Those were some of the highlights. It was a trip that was way overdue for me.

I also made the one hour trek north of the island to Savannah, Georgia to help my good friends move out of their place. They had been bugging me for two years to go visit and I only just made it last week. What a great city. Great scenery and I loved walking down the cobblestone pathway to the riverfront to find some cold beer and fresh oysters. I must admit I regret not getting down to that city sooner than I did.

On the drive down, I also tuned into the best radio station ever. If you are ever travelling the interstate highway in Tennessee and are within a 100 mile radius of the state, tune into 100.3 "The River". This station has very little talk, and continual great music. A playlist example: Bob Marley, Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, REM, The Beatles, and Jimmy Buffett. They play the best mix of music. I wish they had their station broadcast over the internet.

On the trip back, everything changed of course. I got food poisoning from a steakhouse in Findlay, Ohio after eating spring chicken. This hit me in a traffic jam ten minutes after leaving the restaurant. I checked my messages during the jam and found out that someone very very close to me had just been checked into a hospital. I then drove through the worst snowstorm in my life while driving a truck with a trailer hitched which was carrying many valuables. I could only see where I was on the highway in Michigan when I drove underneath the overpasses. The road was not plowed and there were no tracks to follow. Many cars in ditches. Very few on the road. We were the only vehicle at Port Huron/Sarnia at 1:00 AM last Friday morning. It took us 8 hours to do a 4 hour trip. On another side note: 14 million Americans fell asleep at the wheel last year and 2 million of them got in accidents. Thank goodness for the inventor of rumblestrips. They saved my life over 10 years ago in Virginia. Don't push your luck when your eyes are closing, I tell you. However, you could always bite your tongue until it bleeds to keep you awake too - this was suggested to me earlier tonight. I'll try that next time.

I saw the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers over the holidays as well. I read the books twice when I was a kid. I remember being pissed off when I tried to see if there was a movie version over 10 years ago and all I could find was a short cartoon version that didn't even make it past the first book. I must admit that the first two installments by Peter Jackson have been very well done. The third part of the story is the best and I can't wait to see the next installment. On a side note, I like to think I'm a pretty social and easygoing guy, but I can't stand noise in a public theatre. I hate when people laugh at parts that are supposed to be serious, and I can't stand listening to people chew on popcorn and their junior mints. Then again, I snuck a can of beer into the theatre, so who the fuck am I to talk?

Today I distracted myself from reality and I saw some great football playoff games and then went to my favourite pub here, Molly Blooms to catch the world junior hockey championships. Russia defeated Canada. Most of the bar patrons were very sore losers. I love Canada, but come on, we lost. Deal with it. It's alright to be emotional, but don't jeer the team that beat our country fair and square.

I'm such a geek for carrying a small notebook everywhere I go. I've acquired memory overload recently and prescibed myself one. It has come in handy though to write ideas down, to write important reminders, and to get phone numbers.

Sometimes you can be fortunate enough to have time to grieve in advance of bad situations or events, or have the inate ability to sense things are going to be difficult before they actually happen.

So the beginning of 2003 is here and I'm at the lowest point of my life in many key areas. On the bright side though, after I'm done climbing out from this hole, I will carry with me the new found appreciation of many things I didn't see around me that I could only have witnessed by being in the shit situation I'm in. I truly am thankful. Heroes don't come easy.

The mind can be your worst enemy. Stop self pollution. The line we walk is thin, so keep moving on.

Here's to a great 2003.