Date time.

OK I was holding out a bit before the next entries. I was not sure if I was going do them and am figuring that writing these next entries to be the right thing to do. I had a date late February. A lovely woman that I had met at a restaurant outing in January had a agreed to spend the afternoon with me at the skating rink at the Old Port area (of Montreal). It was nice - a friendly skate and talk up and down the wild stretch of the man made frozen lake and canal and ending with coffee and pastries at the local coffee shop. I don't think I had laughed as much in a while and was happy the both of us honestly had enjoyed our time together.

Winterlude.

I've been keeping busy these last few weeks. The events and days blur into one another in my mind so do not pay attention to my horrible chronology.

I have never skated on the Rideau Canal which was my main motive for signing up for a day trip to Ottawa's Winterlude Festival with the local single's event organizer. There's also something epic about a road trip like a feeling anything can happen. In any case a day trip, 48 singles, and a yellow school bus made its way to Ottawa. The city was in a festive mood upon reaching the downtown. Hundreds of people could be seen on the canal in almost perfect zero degree weather. I made the unfortunate mistake of not bringing my own skates. So a lunch, a 30 minute line up, and a $50 deposit later I was making my way up the canal. I did 2K of the 8K stretch on my own since the group had been scattered over line ups and trips to seasonal concessions on the Rideau. Made my way back at around 2 in the afternoon. There had been a group of us by this time tired of all the reminders of winter looking for more indoors activities. I followed a small group of us but lost them and ended up window shopping till the planned evening get together at a popular Irish pub. The dinner was somewhat memorable with happy conversations only shared with perfect strangers, a shared journey and raised glasses.

The memorable day in Ottawa was shortly followed by an (anti) valentines day party a few days after. The room was full and it was nice to be amongst faces I recognize from previously attended events. I danced most of the night and shared a slow with a beautiful kindred spirit. For once a nice way to end a day I have many times ended in disappointment.

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Valentine.

I don't think I've ever celebrated the day. Either been single looking into the ritual or not single and had a denouncer of the poor saint as a partner. My previous long term girlfriend actually was often preoccupied with making sure her father's birthday was well taken care of on his special day. Think I've imagined what it would be like. Be often along the lines of some outing specifically picked to relive the emotion of a first date. The food, fun and excitement with of course an almost definite twist of some wanton uninhibited activity of passion behind bedroom doors (or perhaps not) at the evening's end. I caught a twitter from Veronica Belmont yesterday commenting about how it sucked that people wait for this day to do something extrordinary for their partner. Though I do want to agree and not fall into a marketing conspiracy to buy cards, trinkets, and boxes of chocolate I twitted in response that if we did that special something everyday it would eventually become ordinary and we would have to come up with something else special to take its place... Have a wonderful Valentines day.

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Social.

It's been a few weeks. Work has been busy but I managed to do my social rounds of Meet-Ups and single events most of which are quite notable.

I signed up for a Martini lesson somewhere up on the Plateau area which the local singles event coordinator had organized at a bartending institute. The instructor was fun and lively as was the turn out for the event. To keep it brief I'll say the mix of happy people all taking their turn at tending to their selection of a Martini was well worth signing up.

Friday that same week was sort of a marathon of events. Well, OK, it was two events but the trip between the two was a little discouraging. My evening started off at the end of a long day at a Cheap Ethnic Eatz meet-up. This event was at the St.-Ambroise Restaurant in Place St.-Henri - a wonderful French restaurant with an amazing yet affordable menu done up in "post-modern-faux-medieval" and tucked away in a converted industrial building behind a maze of business lofts. I had a sea food stew which sold itself to me when the waiter mentioned it was the chef's grandmother's recipe and later did not disappoint. The service staff itself was not at all of your typical snotty classiness though the food could have been easily served with such and was surprisingly fun and proud of their establishment. It well deserves a revisit someday in the summer over a date or group event.

Oh ya, the second event... I promised to meet a friend who had been dying to go dancing for a month at the dancing club called the "Rouge" where a "Nitelife" meet-up group was having an event. I don't usually enjoy dance clubs but for some reason I was enjoying just being in the middle of a sea of "nitelifers" in various stages of their chosen euphoria. As for meeting anyone, I wrote that thought off. I don't charm the ladies well on just my looks and having to shout over music doesn't help my situation. I made the best of my night though and enjoyed what ever I could from dancing and observing.

Saturday brought me to the Cinema du Parc for a watch of "The Wrestler" featuring a reborn Mickey Rourke in the lead role. The movie was all Rourke as he made the character and the pain very believable. The movie was sort of done in the style of a documentary which added to the raw feeling you got from the film. It's definitely worth a watch at the theatre.

Finished the week off at another singles event. At the suggestion of a friend I was going to try my had at drumming much like the folks at the Tam-Tam on Mont-Royal park. Crowd was small but the music enthusiast who lead the event made the event worth a try despite my lack of rhythm.

With Valentines on the horizon there's definitely more to follow...

Eventful.

I had a full week of events to keep me in the social game and my mind off work. Tuesday was a singles get together to watch a hockey game at the Irish Embassy. Of note there were only 2 guys (me inclusive) out of a group of 6 in a typically male oriented event. To my further surprise I found this event more fruitful at connecting with a few female faces.

In contrast to Tuesday, Thursday took me back to the House of Jazz. Met 1 or 2 ineresting faces but was a little dissapointed with the ambiance and the live band. Don't think I'll be heading back there any time in the near future.

One other event of note was an event organized on facebook. The crowd was mainly French but were very friendly. As for the place the Boule Noire has got to be the swankiest pool bar I have seen in town. It definitely earned a reference and revisit sometime soon.

I as well saw more movies with the movie meetup group. Not much to write about other than Frost/Nixon was a well acted movie.

More to come in the weeks to follow.

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The Week Back to Business...

It's been a busy week.  So busy I've had to seriously watch my bedtimes to keep up. And I have not had time to keep faithful to my blogs, twits, and podcasts...

I have, however, kept up with my slowly developing social life. A flurry of activity scheduling of Meet-Ups and singles events ranging from round table discussions of paranormal activity to watching Oscar contenders.

Things I have learned about myself these weeks - not a whole lot this time other than that I like mohitos... I have, on the plus side, met some new people and learned that I have more in common with some people in my new social circle than I thought. I have also reconnected with some old friends and family and went through some kind of mini day of reckoning from it.

I have been feeling something is coming up on the horizon though I'm not quite sure whether it is good or bad or an inkling of where or who to expect it from. Despite my skeptical nature the holiday blues has got me hungry for change and waiting anxiously closed eyes and feet forward.

On the Verge of a Monday.

Back to work tomorrow. I'm feeling a little cheated though of my time spent over the holidays. I had big plans and expectations most of which didn't pan out or have ended with sour notes.

Which brings me to this entry on notes for next year. 1) Wait till the last minutes to buy last minute gifts for last minute visits. I have 3 presents waiting for owners at the moment. 2) Extravagent spending alone amplifies the emptiness. Last time I spend any holiday alone in a nice expensive room. 3) Echoed by my lovely corner store cashier - spend New Year's Eve with your friends and family. Saves you the trouble of being misunderstood at a very emotionally packed nexus of drunk or troubled strangers.

Happy Monday all.

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