#94. 2 Different Ballon Animals

Jeebus, it's been a long time since I've done anything off this list! But don't fret, gentile friends, for I've at least managed to attain something.

Dan the Balloon Man is a local balloon artist who'm I happen to be acquainted with. For the last few years, I've mentioned how I might want to learn the basics of ballon animalry from him, and he's always toldme he's willing to teach.

Well, a few weeks ago, Dan called me up and informed me that he's looking for a protoge. Seems he's in high demand lately and needs an apprentice to take some of his local bookings for a... generous wage. The catch?

Learning everything he knows about balloon art.

So now, I'm learning to make balloon animals - one of my 101 things - and I'll eventually be making generous money for it.

So, I can make a dog... I can make a kangaroo... that's two animals! I can make a few more, mind, but the criteria here WAS two... so there you go!

In other news... working on MANY of the books on this list, building my CD and DVD collections and with the summer coming around, I can try for the festival tour again.

Huzzah!

#85. Book Signing

Now, I'll admit that I got #84 up in December for this one to be completed as well. This past week, George R. R. Martin was in town.

Now I've been all over GRRM's stuff this past year. Reading the first three books of his exciting Songs of Ice and Fire series was on my list as #66, and he's on my list for #84. So when I heard he was coming to town, I made sure I was avaialble.

Wednesday night came. I met Morgoid, and a few Gateway folks at Greenwood's on the south side, and even saw my cousin there. GRRM talked for a bit about writing, answered a few questions, then sat down at did the signing.

I was the second guy in the line! I even managed to sneak in a quick question!

Anyway, he signed by hardcover copy of "A Feast for Crows" and my "A Game of Thrones RPG, Deluxe Limited Edition", so this 101 thing is all wrapped up.

#84. 50 Favourite Authors

Okay, I procrastinated, wracked my brain, and otherwise nearly went mad, but I eventually narrowed it down to 50 authors who I currently consider to be among my favourites. This list is going to remain forever tentative, and is subject to change at my whim, though I strongly suspect that many of these authors are going to remain here for a long, long time. I listed everyone with the work of theirs I like the most. So, without further ado, presented in alphabetical order...

1. Adams, Douglas (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
2. Brooks, Terry (The Sword of Shannara)
3. Campbell, Ramsey (The Doll Who Ate His Mother)
4. Costikyan, Greg (Another Day, Another Dungeon)
5. Crichton, Michael (Jurassic Park)
6. Dalkey, Kara (Genpei)
7. Danielewski, Mark Z. (House of Leaves)
8. DeLillo, Don (Cosmopolis)
9. Doyle, Sir. Arthur Conan (The Hound of the Baskervilles)
10. Ellis, Warren (Transmetropolitan)
11. Fforde, Jasper (The Eyre Affair)
12. Flint, Flint (The Philosophical Strangler)
13. Foley, Mick (Mankind: Have A Nice Day)
14. Gaiman, Neil (Books of Magic)
15. Gibson, William (Neuromancer)
16. Golden, Christie (Vampire of the Mists)
17. Guanzhong, Luo (The Romance of Three Kingdoms)
18. Hodgeson, William Hope (The House on the Borderlands)
19. Holt, Tom (Snow White and the Seven Samurai)
20. Jackson, Shirley (The Haunting of Hill House)
21. Jackson, Steve (Fighting Fantasy)
22. King, Stephen (The Stand)
23. Kirkman, Robert (The Walking Dead)
24. Klein, Naomi (No Logo)
25. Kushner, Tony (Angels in America)
26. Lewis, Clive Staples (C.S.) (A Horse and His Boy)
27. Livingstone, Ian (Fighting Fantasy)
28. Lovecraft, Howard Philip (H.P.) (At the Mountains of Madness)
29. Lowder, James (Knight of the Black Rose)
30. Martin, George R. R. (A Game of Thrones)
31. Miller, Frank (Sin City)
32. Moore, Allan (Watchmen)
33. Moore, Michael (Stupid White Men)
34. Morgan, Richard (Broken Angels)
35. Poe, Edgar Allan (The Raven)
36. Pratchett, Terry (The Colour of Magic)
37. Shakespeare, William (Twelfth Night)
38. Shelley, Mary (Frankenstein)
39. Simone, Gail (Villains United)
40. Stackpole, Michale A. (X-Wing: Rogue Squadron)
41. Stephenson, Neal (Snow Crash)
42. Stevenson, Robert Louis (R.L.) (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)
43. Stewart, Jon (America: The Book)
44. Stoker, Bram (Dracula)
45. Thompson, Hunter S. (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas)
46. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (J.R.R.) (The Lord of the Rings)
47. Vaughn, Brian K. (Y: the Last Man)
48. Wick, John (Legend of the Five Rings)
49. Willingham, Bill (Fables)
50. Zahn, Timothy (Heir to the Empire)

#91. Fast Foodless

It dawned on me yesterday that I'd gone a full week without any sort of fast food. Not only didn't I miss it, I hadn't even noticed that it was gone. Weird!

So, yeah, I accidentally completed another thing, and life goes on.

Maybe I'll make a habit of it? Who knows?

Or maybe I'll go get some A&W, because that stuff's delicious.

#8 and #17. Road Trip to Another Province

This past weekend, I attended WPNCUP (Western, Prairies and Norther College and University Press Convention) in Vancouver with 27 of my fellow Gatewayers.

It was pretty awesome.

It is a 14 hour trip, roughly, from Edmonton to Vancouver. I volunteered to drive one of the cars out, and was loaded up with three other volunteers; Mike, Alicia and Ronnie. It was alot of fun travelling the mountains, chatting and listening to stand-up CD's.

We passed only one other group on the road. Just as we entered Jasper National Park, we saw that "Lead-Foot" Chloe, our deputy news editor, had been pulled over for doing something like 110 in a 50 zone.

We stopped in Japser for lunch, then trucked on through the night to arrive first at the hotel in Vancouver, outpacing the other five vehicles by at least an hour. Results, we win. In order the cars to arrive were: Me, Dan, Chloe, Chris, Mike and Adam in the late van the next day. Dave and Nick cheated and took the plane.

We spent four days in V-tropolis. On Friday, Scott L, Mike, Steffi and I went and spent four hours in the Park, then went downtown and got T-Shirts made at a store called Cherry Bomb. The day ended with a party at the hotel bar, and our senior news editor Jake got HAMMERED. Like, Lazer-Drunk. I've never seen him so happy.

Saturday was the conference. I attended Daniel Wood's "So you want to be a Magazine writer" seminar, which was really informative. Then I headed over to the libel seminar, and learned about Canada's draconian libel laws. Scary stuff. After the vegan safe lunch (UGH!) we headed over to Heather Watson's "Gonzo Journalism 101" seminar, and by then I was done with the conference for the day. I returned for the vegan safe dinner (ARGH!), the left to get meat with some other Gatewayers instead of staying for the keynote speaker.

That night, there was a party. The first bus left at 9:30ish, and took us to an illegal underground jazz-club in a derelict building off an alley downtown. All you can drink alcohol for $10, a live cover band, and tons of college students in an illegal club? FUCKING AWESOME. Got a little drunk. Didn't get much sleep. Woke up too damn early for the 14 hour trip back.

Anyway. The moral of the story is illegal clubs are the shit... no wait, the moral is I totally kicked the ass out of #8 and #17 both. Cheers.

#41. Open Adoption Record

On October 2nd, 1981, Jo-Hanne Beauchamp, a 15 year old student from the Mynarski Park armed forces base gave birth to a healthy baby boy whom she named Paul.

Paul Beauchamp spent only a few days in the Red Deer hospital where he was born. His mother was young, and wanted to finish high school and go on to college. She knew her parents would help her look after the baby if she chose to keep him, but in the end she decided it was best for her, her parents and her baby boy if she offered him up for adoption.

On October 16th, Paul was taken up to St. Albert from Red Deer by Clara Jonsson, a social worker with the province. There, Paul was put into the care of Jacques and Tora-Lea Bourgeois with the view for permanent adoption. Jacques and Tora-Lea immediately fell in love with the baby boy, and the extended family recieved him well.

They renamed him Scott. He is me.

#63. The Ex-Girlfriends

Many assumed that this was an impossible undertaking, but after many months, and a great deal of almost creeply stalker-esque tanacity, I have located all of my ex-girlfriends and at least touched base with them.

Of course, I remained friends with Orianna and Leah, so talking to them isn't much of a feat. Also, I keep bumping into Jaime, so I know more or less where she ended up.

The real mystery was what ever became of Melissa and Andrea, and I finally can close that chapter on my life. For the purposes of privacy, I won't delve into their personal lives here on my blog, but I will say they're both doing well and were happy to hear from me again.

It's good to know that I never made any enemies of ex-girlfriends.

So, strike number 63 - one of the tougher entries - off the list.