Studenting, Part 3

well, first things first.

i am officially enrolled in four classes, all english, for the winter semester. only moments ago i opened an email from a professor who's been helping me along. it was the final link in the chain that had me going to school full time.

that is to say the final link besides the "not having a house" link, but that's a minor link because, well because i'll explain.

dave and i went to visit joel today.

we hadn't been to his new house; we had been invited a few times; we decided it was time to go.

along the way we stopped in university town for me to look at a house, which, as you may or may not know, is not really on the way to joel's house at all, which isn't actually joel's house but kim's but you haven't met her yet so it doesn't really matter.

but we did stop at the house, despite the detour, and i am a better person for it.

dave knows his stuff about the owning and renting of houses. i know my stuff about houses i don't want to live in. i also know my stuff about the signs people put in windows when they are trying to get people to visit their house because they have a room that can be rented out.

there were a few of these signs all around the house that had six people living in it.

tomorrow i am going to look at these houses to see if they want to be houses that Bird Morley lives in, or if they'll simply be houses that Bird Morley visited once for a brief moment.

mostly it was the leaves in the hallways, the dishes in all the sinks and the "i don't really know the other six people who live here, but i'm sure they're normal people" comment from the dude showing the room he had yet to move out of.

all in all it was a good day. joel is doing well living in his friend kim's house.

(this time i am going back to school for a third undergrad but perhaps for a teachable, i haven't quite decided)

Stickies: Nov 5

Stickies: Created Thursday Nov 5, 2009 @ 10:01:55 am EST

it's ten oclock now...

... and today i have to:

- laundry

- photoshop project

- work at five

- work out schedule

- pay rent

- renew gym membership

- clear out katey's laundry room/puddy walls

Stickies: Created Thursday Nov 5, 2009 @ 10:36:58 am EST

things i actually did..

- ate last of a bag of tostitos multigrain rounds

- watched sportscentre am

... ellen

... cp24 for a half hour

- text'd jon

... adam

... leanne

- watched it snow

- ate a bowl of Just Right

- took a poop

... read a few pages of Generation A

- played with photoshop

- turned off Road to Avonlea when it came on

- started a list for katey's christmas present

... but it's got nothing revolutionary on it.

- started writing to steve walkom

- emailed janelle about her schooling

- paid mastercard bill

moving frames

mostly what's happening in my life is boring, generic things. little items of everyday life moving in and out of the frame.

this week i started with a beard, now i have a moustache; but that is completely understood because, as everyone knows, moustaches come from beards.

my rent was due on the first, but i don't want to live at Victory Towers anymore because one of the old men that lives there smokes out his window and lies about it like a rebellious 14 year old.

he makes the whole house smell of stale cigarettes and misery.

time to move out.

not to worry though, a new place has been found. it overlooks the railway, has a room for me to move in and they don't smoke cigarettes in the house.

done.

(they do have a cat, and by they i mean the one guy. but there were no cat hair anywhere ... i don't see it to be a problem)

(although if you remember from the story that i didn't write, so you can't remember it because i didn't write it, about four months ago i nearly stayed in a house with a couple of cats . Geevee would've been a great roomie, but her cats showed their preference loud and clear. the tiny cat particles were too much for my asthmar to handle)

in closing, it seems my life is just made up on one little item of life moving in and out of the frame in the five minutes it took for you to read this far.

thanks for tuning in, and until i write again

i'll leave you with a few moustache pictures to warm you heart.

cheers,

--b

cliche

So.. I am writing again.

(I want to stay away from the cliche remarks of the time that passed while I wasn't writing, the possibility of false hope saying that I promise to write more, or anything else that might draw attention to this being my first post in a long time)

(a very long time)

In closing I am writing again.

Perhaps I'll explain why I couldn't, and wasn't, another time.

(that, my dear reader, is a teaser ad)

jurrasic'ly parked

Dennis,

I graduated university two years ago, spent some time traveling and working a few odd jobs around to keep me going; bartending and construction mostly. I'd like to involve myself in a creative environment, although I don't know how to begin. I've been looking into more school, perhaps another undergrad, or a college course, but I don't know what route to take.

Currently I have an Honours Undergrad from an Ontario University.

Do you have any suggestions? Or, perhaps, some internships coming available. You can reach me at this address.

I found your email on your website where it said your were the contact for the Toronto office. I did not, however, say that you were the CEO of the Toronto division; that little bit of information I found when I dug further into the Toronto branch of the website. I guess someone meant to put a contact, not the contact.

I am sure you'll get back to me though, I'm sure a busy man like yourself has lots of time to write an email back to a kid who found your email in a thirty second search of the corporate website.

I do hope to hear back from you soon, although I'm sure it'll be a bit longer since I am not actually sending it to your inbox but leaving it posted here for your staff to find in it's daily search of the networks.

If you do happen to stumble across this letter, I do sincerely thank you for your time. In my mean time, however, I'm going to sign up for a creative writing course.

Bird

Because in the end, it`s my floor

Mom,

I don't have much of a commentary today, but I do want to share a video from yesterday's episode of Q on CBC radio1. Jian Ghomeshi, radio host on radio1, interviewed Billy-Bob Thorton and ... well, see for yourself. You could listen to it, but seeing Thorton`s blank stares reminded me of an experience of my own.

you can read what John Paolozzi, of radio3, has to say here.

It made me uncomfortable, then I hiccoughed a small fit of laughter then I asked my computer if this was actually happening.

I might have jumped over the desk; although in all likelihood I'd've been sitting there, shaking wishing I had the courage to jump over the desk but thanking that the desk was there stopping Thorton from coming at me.



Last night a guy came into the bar, with some foreign substances reeking havoc with his inner bits. I told him, Johnny we'll call him, I told him Johnny, are you all right?

He stared at me, eyes wide like he opened a ninja turtle action figure on Christmas morning to discovered that it wasn't the gift he had always wanted but a demon device sent to steal his foreign substances.

Why? he asked me. Why do you ask that?

Oh, this is going real well, I thought to myself. And I could tell it was just going to get better. I shifted the bar chair I was propping my foot on to be more out of my path back behind the bar and more into the path of his to mine.

I just wanted to check in, I calmly sputtered out. nice one scaredy cat, just tell him he's not getting served.

So, are you going to ask me if I'd like drink, he asked.

ah, no. sorry johnny, i think you`ve had enough for tonight.

He made a move for my chair and in a flash I was back behind the bar and making for the local hockey team I been serving for most of the night.

Johnny sputtered and spit and made his way slowly to the door. Not that he was moving particularly slowly, but it was made slower when he stopped at everyone, gave them a thug hug, shouting about how sober he was and how out he was being thrown.

Then the hockey team, three of them celebrating a birthday of one of them, asked to buy him a drink.

In retrospect I should have got him a rye and coke and a shot of lime juice and no rye. People who have had lots to drink, or who have foreign substances floating around their bits, tend not to know the difference.

Like making a White Russian for a drunk guy, in a red hat, a week ago, with Worcestershire instead of Kahlua; but that`s another story.

I said no and Johnny left, no more angry than when he came in but that`s only because he had lost all range of emotion two hours previous.

The hockey team said I should have gave him one drink so they could talk him down which means I should have gave him one drink so they could mop the floor with him.

It was my floor. I think I made the right decision.

One guy in the group recapped the events each time a new member joined the group, each telling more descriptive than the next. By the end of the night we were heroes who tried, in vain, to save a damsel in distress.

Anyways, enjoy the rest of the day.

Your son,

--b

just because

Dear mom,

Mands and I have new email addresses. Well, additional email addresses. You can still reach us at our usually ones, although you can reach us at our new ones too! Here they are, in all their .Jpeg glory.

Thanks for reading.

--b

the new bird morley

Since I've arrived home, from Ireland, I've been moving around a bit. I took my time moving from Pearson airport to the other dublin. I made a road trip out to Alberta and toured around for two weeks, then took my time moving from Hamilton airport to Dublin again. I've been working in St. Ratford and crashing on couches of friends and family, and visiting and moving and visiting some more.

I've been having a pretty sweet time, people have been very accommodating and very patient and have never told me that I've worn out my welcome.

I hope I haven't, and I hope I never do.

I just got a new cell phone number. The old one I had, turns out, is long distance from St. Ratford which, as it turns out, is the latest city I am spending my days in. I am tending bar on most weekends, a shift or two through the week, and spending the other hours at my day job and sleeping.

Also going to buck and does, but that is another, less important to this story line, story.

So I got a new cell number, which I just told you, and if you been talking to me over the past six months since my arrival back in Can. I've likely told you this several times.

Let me explain.

I arrived in T.O and went to the skydome because i was scared of the big country that i no longer knew and needed to be somewhere that I felt comfortable.

So i went to the monument that I, and the world, knew best. There, as I waited for a good friend of mine, I purchased a SIM card and joined a one year commitment with Canada.

I wanted to pay-as-i-went, she wanted me to pay-more-than-i-should and I left the story paying much more than that.

I had my first Canad'ian cell number in over a year; a T.O. local number.

I moved around for about two weeks with a T.O. number, visiting friends and family, crashing on couches and not wearing out my welcome.

I arrived in the city, and picked up a local number.

Number number 2.

I was happy at home for about a month, got restless and decided I might like Edmonton so I got local number for there.

Number number 3.

Getting home two weeks later meant another local number, which would be one more than the last number number.

Today I was talking with rogers for the third time in three weeks. The first time I was on hold and got a call from Greg who was announcing the birth of his new baby girl. The second time rogers hung up on me and the third time I got a new number.

that makes five.

This one is a St. Ratford local because ... well, you can remember what I wrote above.

I sent out a mass text to 49 people in my phonebook. It has been a great day because I've heard from so many people who I haven't heard from in a long time. I think I might change my number every month.

"You do that anyway!" shouts drunk guy from the crowd.
"shut up, you. I have a blog, you don't. I'm funny, you're not. Shut the eff up and don't bother me at work."

Below are the responses that I've received today so far and I'll add to it as, or if, more come in.

Think of this as visiting facecrap.com

Enjoy,

--b

sent: 9 of 49 delivered
"I'm the new Bird Morley"

received:
Leanne: "Again!"
Mike C: "Pardon"

sent: "i said: I'M THE NEW BIRD MORLEY"

recieved:
Ms Maloney: "we don't want any"
*Greg: "finally, we r rid of the old BM!"

*who, as it turns out, isn't the same greg that just had his baby

Dave H: "and i am the improved wendel clark. lol"
Bre: "that was three of the weirdest texts i've ever recieved. lol. cant wait to meet the new Bird face to face. lol"
2525: "destination landline. reply E to rogers txt 2 landline msg in Eng"
2525: "destination landline. reply E to rogers txt 2 landline msg in Eng"
Uncle Mark: "Neils Bird?"
Mandy: "stop getting new numbers"
o - colter: "who Bird Morley"
aunt mary: "thx Bird. what area code is 226?"
heatger work: "Bird Morley?"

sent: "it's alright, i don't know my co-workers have last names either"

recieved
heatger work: haha mines [last name]. nice to meet ya lol"

sent: "likewise, see you on the weekend"

received late on March 30th:
bobbi p: "lol okay"
evan: "who is this? <.evan.>"
dinker: "what is that suppose to mean"
bob smith: "improved?"
craig: "what?"
Mike C: "Will the real Bird Morley please stand up?"
Greg: "let me know ahead of time next time u r in town"

*which is when i realized it wasn't the same greg who just had his baby

katie: "Just got your msg the Bird Morley. Congrats!"
eli: "are nothing"
eli: "not"
eli: "+1."
The Kid: "I did get your txt, but i didn't text you back because it is costly under my plan"

in person, late evening, april 1st
GeeVee: "did you send me a text saying `i`m the new Bird Morley`?"

Lost Prizes

I woke this morning and put on my best Irish National Rugby Jersey. A part of me wishes that I was heading to a match, another wishes I was living out of my rucksack and yet another is very glad to be behind a bar in southwestern Ontario.

Not behind a bar tonight though, tonight is an evening for friends. This means spending an evening at the pavilion in Dublin and green beer at a watering hole in Stratford.

Yesterday, the day after the snow has disappeared, I found my hurley ball which marks nearly four months to the day my having lost this very ball in the amongst the evergreen trees on the day before the snow came, and stayed, for the winter.

It was watery and soggy and happy to come home. I could tell by the way it sat quietly next to the heater in the entrance way, slowly warming up and waiting patiently for itself and the ground to dry and be back out playing in the sun and rolling in the dewed grass.

Have a wonderful paddy's day. I'll talk to you again soon.

slainte,

--b

K'Naan on Radio3

We are no longer having the technical difficulties that plagued us for about only fifteen minutes.

Perhaps I am a bit of a dramatic, perhaps I was over reacting by making a post about technical difficulties, perhaps I was over whelmed thinking that I'd never get the layout back to the way it was, perhaps I was lacking sleep or caffeine or those other things that I might have to have in order to think coherently and chronologically.

In the end everything looks the same, and everything is regular; at least in the world of my blog.

In the world outside the blog, which has be very much more alive in the last four weeks.

I have an old friend who is waiting patiently for his wife to give birth to his first born. The youngling was due last Saturday, March 7th, and appears to be very happy and healthy where he or she is.

I am also waiting patiently for the baby to arrive.

I went out for coffee with an old friend on Sunday, and to dinner that night at her mothers. It was a good dinner and it was nice to be off the farm for a short while, even if it meant being on another farm.

I've also developed a love for the cbc radio network. The music you've been listening to while reading this post is courtesy of radio3.cbc.ca and I think it will play every time you view this page. If it does, I'll take care of it and turn it into a link instead.

(which is what i've had to do)

This has been an update of the life of b. Stay tuned for some more entertaining reading in the near future. Also, Mands has learned how to create pod-casts; perhaps we might hear a bit more from her soon.

Technical Difficulties

Over the next few hours there will be a many things changing at salutmaman. I hope they are for the better, perhaps only time will tell.

In the mean time please feel free to search the words cartel, hypoventilation or pollok.

We Apologize for the Inconvenience.

*Update*
The operation was a complete success; that is to say stage one was. You're not going to notice anything right away because it'll take a day or so for it to make the switch. I hope to have something more for the unveiling of the upgrades, but alas, for now, I don't.

Sorry for being so vague, but I don't want to ruin it.

And really, in the end, it isn't that big of deal anyway.

(Although feel free to post if you know what it is.perhaps the first person can post something rediculas so that other people don't feel silly about being wrong. perhaps no one will post because no one is reading)

;)

damn

i called ireland again, hoping to talk with roy, and learned that roy was still not there and my irish accent was total rubbish.

i am quite sure i left the guy on the other end of the line wondering who the dumb american was and why he felt it necessary to mimic him.

damn.

(as a favour to a friend i'd like you to follow this link and vote for chris and tash)

missing

i called ireland today, more specifically to the university of limerick, the shelbourne pub and roy, and within moments my irish accent was back.

i miss it.

i chatted with finn for a few minutes, nolan for much more and left a msg for roy on his mobile.

i miss them.

monday i start a new job, basically an executive assistant at a construction company; although that's the name i am giving it, not my boss.

i want to enjoy it, but i want to travel too.

perhaps if i take trips out of the city i can couchsurf instead of stay in hotels.

The Queen and The Silver Fox

While I don't nearly have the tales to tell of new ally and walk ways explored, I do have a few experiences of walking an old one again for the first time in a long time.

As you know, since getting home I've been on the farm. Life has been quiet, a few chores here and there. While we haven't any free range pigs or chickens, and we don't have an old apple tree in the middle of the pasture that I can lay under with my blue jean overalls, no shirt and a bit of wheat grass to chew on and nap beneath my wicker hat, it does, in a more contemporary sense, remain relaxed.

Today I have the house to myself. I've set myself up with a pot of coffee, my guitar to my right, an address book and pad of paper.

I've been seated for three hours and thus far: no letters. Well, none hand written.

But that's beside the point.

I've got back into a bar I worked at six years ago. Working a few shifts on the weekend, making more cocktails than I can remember and at the same time
remembering how different, wonderfully different, it was to work in Cork.

But that's beside the beside the point.

The new bar is the same, essentially. Everything is in the same place it was, the equipment and tables and doors and windows. Even some of the semipermanent furniture, that is to say the regulars, hasn't changed. Just outside my peripherals the other day, well yesterday in fact, I heard two familiar voices ask each other if what they saw was a familiar face.

This familiar face, so they said, had changed a bit, but not overly. beard was grown, new glasses worn and hair cut shorter, but besides all that, the Queen said, I was still the same Bird.

With his english accent, he agreed and we dove into some old memories and quick recap of the missing six years. His grey hair, if he didn't die it, would be
red, or so he claimed. She didn't want to just up and move to Panama because she wasn't sure if she'd like it. I was behind the bar again. It seemed that in
six years nothing had changed at all.

It is a very odd feeling, following the footsteps of a me from before, and I have yet to figure out what it is I am learning about him.

If I figure it out, I'll let you know.

For now, I am awaiting winter to allow for Prince Tourism to ride through town and awaken Sleeping Stratford. I miss the transients, the movers, the
nomads and the travelers. They will come, and when they do I will welcome them with open arms.

So many signs

There were so many signs. I should have picked up on all of them. However hindsight is twenty-twenty and knowing now isn't knowing then.

He approached the bar, ordering a round of drinks. Jagerbombs all around. When just as he was about to order his pint of Guinness, he recognized me.

As he approached the bar I thought to myself how familiar he looked. Just a fleeting moment, a flicker of something, someone I used to know. Perhaps not well, but knew none the less. He ordered his Jagers and then, just as it hit him it hit me.

Craig Kelly I thought. At that same moment he shouted my name.

We shook hands and laughed. Nothing specific, simply thoughts of things.

you were in Ireland, weren't you?
sure, sure I was.
How's Nolan? Did you ever meet up with her
craig kelly doesn't know Nolan i thought. How do you know Nolan? asked I.
St. Columban Soccer stupid. Are you ever going to 'coach' us again?
craig kelly doesn't play st. columban soccer.

Things were making less and less sense, and yet at the same time it was making more and more sense. This old friend, whom I had worked with over the stretch of a few summers between semesters at his father's construction company, was confusing me, though only slightly mind you, more and more.

We'll have to catch up again later, I said. I've got to get back to serving up drinks. Let me buy you a pint though.

I poured off his Guinness, my fourth to be poured in Canada, and shook his hand again.

Good to see you again, Bird.
Good to see you too. I'll be damned if Craig Kelly hasn't changed a lot since I saw him last.

I was cut early that night, only half an hour since my old friend had come up to the bar. I poured myself a cola and joined him and his buddies at their booth in the bar.

These are the guys, my old friend said as I vigorously shook hands with one whom I had never met but was pretending to be old friends with.

We small talked again, for a little while, but it was when I asked about his sister, whom I had gone to elementary school with and whom had just had a child, that my embarrassment, which I had no idea was growing, peaked.

You think I'm a Kelly, don't you, said my friend formally known as Craig Kelly.
Not anymore, thought I.

I took a sip of my cola.

It doesn't bother me, said old friend. But I am not a Kelly, I'm a Culligan.
This is bad, thought I.

I took a sip of my cola.

You didn't know who I was when you bought me that beer, did you.
Well, that's not entirely true, thought I. I thought I knew you.

With an awkward smile I finished my cola.

Well Culligan, (because at that time I did not remember his first name to be Ben) I can't say that I have been more embarrassed. Ever.
It doesn't bother me, really Bird. It doesn't bother me at all. It still was great to see you.
It was great to see you too, Culligan, and I hope to see you again.

Though next time as Ben and not as Craig Kelly.

I left through the back door.

2009, Day 3

So here's the deal.

The holidays have come and gone, and I've survived them both. We got snowed in a bit too, and, again, we survived them too. New Years came and went, and, as you might have noticed the trend, i survived.

It seems that with all the planning and stressing and thinking and shopping and walking and drinking and watching of movies that no matter how much you plan to start earlier and earlier each year with everything that needs to go on to make a successful holiday season that it still only ever lasts fifteen minutes.

I am tired. I need a vacation, though from what I don't quite now.

I have started working a bit. It's for a neighbour just up the road who has a job in Toronto building a house. He called me up to give him a hand on a weekend job, a Saturday to be exact which I would have complained, what working on a Saturday and all, except that Saturdays only count for people who work. After he called me up for the weekend job he asked that I help out a bit more, and after I helped out a bit more I ended up more or less semi permanent.

These things just seem to happen that way, and it made for a nice end to the holidays to be back on a job site, with a bit of purpose in mind and some cash coming in to pay off what I have left to pay off.

There are a few more tales to tell about my western adventure, which I hope to get to at some point. Thank you very much for tuning in over the past few weeks even though there has been nothing to tune in to. There have been a few photo's posted up on my flickr, which you may not have seen since I made no mention of them here.

With that in mind I will leave you with one of my favourites from that collection.

Happy New Years All!