Up until now I’ve eaten whatever I want, whenever I want, at any time of the day (or night).  I’ve dranken and smoked as much as I wanted.  While I’ve had a blast, and somehow managed to stay in good health, it has also come at a price.   Part of which is that I’ve accumulated years of repressing emotions and anxieties instead of dealing with them.

I gave up drinking and smoking (it’s been about 6 weeks now) and am learning how to cook more dishes because if I eat much more red lentil soup, I’m going to turn into a lentil bean!  :)

I’m counting this foray into better health as a Yes Man experience, because when you give up old crutches like booze and smoking, you have to learn new ways to deal with things.  I’m finding that this is true for me, and in a sense it’s making everything feel like a “I’m saying yes to life” experience.  I’m looking forward to posting more frequently now that I have this new motivation.

Technical update. I want to thank everyone for their emails up until now.  I hadn’t realized how many people were reading the site!  That was surprising, to say the least.  Also though, I’ve managed to catch about a zillion spammer comments and so in an effort to clean that up, I’ve removed all comments from all pages, including the good ones.

I hope you’ll all continue to share your stories and comments with me, once I figure out how to add the captcha human verification thingy.   Have a great day and say YES to life!

Zakk Wylde brought his Black Label Society Berserkus tour to the Sound Academy in Toronto just a few days ago.

Now, I’ve been a Zakk Wylde fan for probably 20 years and a Black Label fan for as long as they’ve been around, which is probably 12 years.  I’ve bought (yes, bought) all the BLS CD’s minus the last one, and listened to them for hours and hours, mostly with my buddy Ding.

Nothing could have prepared me for the onslaught of that wall of Marshalls that Zakk and Nick tore through that night.  Guitar squeals were in full force (I think my left ear is still slightly ringing from it) and so were the solos. They brought their “A” game and the crowd present were handsomely rewarded.

Let me just say that the show was so great, it inspired Ding and I to start our own BLS cover band with Ding on drums and myself on guitar.

Long live Black Label!

We spent the first part of the sunny afternoon enjoying a bbq and playing a backyard version of golf. After delivering a sound thrashing to my golf competitors and enjoying some tasty steaks, we ventured inside to play some music! We played some old school rock like AC/DC and KISS before ending the afternoon’s musical delight with an extended version of Frank Zappa’s “My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama”.

Bonus points went to J-Rock for his amazing drum solo, and to my brother for somehow playing a Bach melody within his solo section. Rock on!

The first phase of our plan is undergoing testing as we speak. Stay tuned…

He’s a very savvy player and has beaten me before.   However, I have routed his forces many times, leaving the chess board dripping with the virtual blood of his army.  I enjoy playing chess against him, so the prospect of another game is appealing to me on that level.  As well, I always learn at least one new Spanish swear word per match as an added bonus!

Let the carnage  begin…

This is something I’m glad I did. It was a fun exercise, helped my friend out and gave me a chance to brush up on my Spanish, which I’ve been meaning to do anyways. Milli grazie!

We saw all kinds of birds and water creatures as we skimmed along the river.  The water was quite low in some places so we could see little creatures running around on the river floor.

The greatest and most unexpected moment came when a giant crow swooped down out of nowhere and attacked my canoe partner for a few seconds.

I don’t know if its nest was nearby or what, but in retrospect, it was funny to see my friend try to shoo this squawking bird out of the air with her paddle!

Next time we’ll bring Raid: Crow Edition…

The idea for this blog came after seeing the movie “Yes Man” starring Jim Carrey. After pondering the theme of the film for a while, I realized that much like the lead character, I had also been saying “no” to new opportunities reflexively, even habitually.

It was quite a wake up call for me to realize how narrow my existence was becoming so I’ve decided to turn a hard left and try something (lots of things) new. More than anything, I want to break out of this lame and uninspired rut by following the movie character’s example. I have decided to start saying yes to all opportunities presented to me until further notice.

So far I’ve seen that some opportunities are more exciting and invigorating (and even nerve racking) than others, but all of them represent an open door to new opportunities I would not have had if it wasn’t for that one little word. Yes.

Welcome aboard and feel free to send me your comments, questions and dares…

I arrived back in town at about 2pm and met up with my sister and her husband. We headed out to one of the many conservation areas around here. Them by car and me by motorcycle.

My brother-in-law followed behind while I led the way. It took a little longer than it might have because he was doing a steady 40kms/hr the entire way. He was probably concerned that my father’s 1988 street banger might fall apart if he went too fast, which is reasonable enough.

Anyways, we got to the park, packed up a few granola bars and some bottled water, and got on our way. We took the longer trail deeper into the woods. This particular park is quite large and picturesque. Lots of trees and fresh air. If it had been only a little warmer, I’d have jumped in the water! I hadn’t been here since I was a kid so I’m really glad this came up to say yes to.

We stayed the whole afternoon, and even made a stop at a bird watching tower, as my brother-in-law kept asking me if I wanted to keep going! As the day turned to night, i got ready to go home, but not before my sister asked, “Do you want to go canoeing with us tomorrow?”.