Stouffville, Ontario Canada (647) 962-1997 gwstudios@rogers.com M-F 8:30am - 2:30pm & 8:00pm - 11:00pm

Month: June 2023

The gift card boom…

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I’m sure anyplace that sells gift cards has seen a dramatic uptick in purchases lately. Priming the economy with $25 vouchers for teachers all over the country as we hit the very last day of school. After having to telecommute the kids in for classes for several months over the last three years, I’d say the gift cards are warranted. So, thanks to all the teachers for keeping our kids alive between the hours of 8:25am, and 3:00pm each week day. Throwing in an education is top shelf utilization of their time. Round of applause!

So summer officially kicks off at 12 Noon today, when the doors fly open and the kids run out into the mid day sun. Soon cries of “I’m bored” will be heard around the province. Unless you’re a farm kid, then you’ve got chores, and duties to perform sun up to sun down. If I hear my kids belly aching I’ll drive them right down to the farm to pull weeds and rocks on their hands and knees for a few hours under a very unforgiving sun. Pass around the hand trowels and hoes, and set them loose on thistles and crab grass to eek out the boredom complaints into the hard baked soil. You wanna act like your toys, books, games, and movies ain’t no ‘thang‘, then I’ll put you to work to save grandma’s back out in the fields of pumpkins and vegetables. Tell me again that you’re bored, I dare you.

This summer everything is open, so we can try a little bit of lots of stuff. Bowling, mini putt, movies, rock climbing, arcade, go karts, wandering a mall, the beach, Wonderland, the Zoo, Air Riders, Laser Tag. Have a better set of experiences this summer, or at least more varied this time around. Weather dependent too though. This forest fire smoke, bad air quality might force us indoors with crowds, so higher quality masks are going to be a thing for us. Batting cages, driving range, swimming, bike rides, these can be thrown into the mix aswell. I am positively giddy thinking about all the new experiences we can choose between. Price may very well be a factor too. We already have a Zoo pass, and Wonderland seasons passes, so those could shoot up the ranks as our go to, since parking and entrance is paid up for the year. Splash pads and water parks abound!

Alas, it is Friday, the last one in June 2023. How quickly it comes at you! Six months of the year done, and in the books. Wowzers. Both kids will be in numbered grades come the fall. Hard to believe time has gone by so fast. Don’t get me wrong, we had some slow as molasses days and/or nights, but man oh man the years start coming and they don’t stop coming.

Teaching self reliance.

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It has come to my attention that we are not doing a super job at teaching our kids to be self reliant. Not to the point where they need to find jobs, and shop for themselves, no. At this point I mean, fetching themselves a drink, and making their own breakfast. Nothing major. I’m just tired of having to feed these kids while they lie in bed with hunger pangs, and it not even crossing their minds to head to the kitchen to grab a drink, or pour a bowl of cereal, or eat a snack bar of some sort. Instead they’ll get ready for school, with our help and then whine that they didn’t get any breakfast. Get up! Walk the fifteen feet to the kitchen and grab fruit, make toast, pour yourself a drink. These aren’t major under takings that I’m talking about here. Ugh.

Maybe I’m just tired and cranky because yesterday involved a tonne of walking, standing, and being on my feet outdoors in the smelly unclean air. My hips ache, and my eyes and chest didn’t feel all the better for it either. But I think these kids are more than capable of sorting out a snack for themselves. 90% of what they need is kept at a level where even the youngest can reach it. Maybe I need to move some food stuffs around, and we’ll have another little demo on how to mix their own chocolate milks, juices, find testable bread, and where the bowls, and cups are – again. The early morning attitude is too much. All that angsty vitriol is too damn high! Perhaps another lesson with the can opener, and toaster are in order. Get these kids up to speed for summer, because I’m busier than ever with work, and I don’t fancy playing maid, butler, chef, event coordinator, and chauffeur all fucking summer long.

Hold on. School’s just called, youngest has a sore throat and I need to collect her and bring her home. So much for horse back riding, and meeting the friendly donkey tonight. Now I need to sort out how to grab my oldest once school is done, and juggle the two for this evenings birthday party out in the woods. Guess I won’t be staying to meet and greet all the animals. Which sucks. But sick kid comes first.

Have her in bed with some pain meds for the throat. Perhaps she’ll sleep? Doubtful. But stranger things have happened. Air quality wasn’t even all that bad outside when I cut the grass this morning. Maybe she caught my wife’s cold, but it has hit her throat first. I’ll have to bust out the Covid tests over the next several days if symptoms persist, and test her a bunch. This was the last real full day of school left. Guess they won’t be doing tomorrow’s half day either. Puts my plans on hold for a bit then doesn’t it. Welp! Not much I can do about that. We will just have to wait and see if she perks up and can drink like normal, or if she is actually out of sorts. I know the coming summer, and changing from kindergarten to grade one has her very concerned. Could just be she’s upset. Don’t know. Need more information, and data points to draw from. Right now, she is medicated, resting in bed with a drink and a show she likes, and I can check her temperature and fluid intake over the next few hours.

Work wise, I got nothing to say today. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.

Wedding Anniversary…

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While we’ve been a couple for 21 years, it was our 13th wedding anniversary yesterday. A rainy, stormy, muggy hot & humid day. We’re still both exhausted from our youngest’s birthday party from the weekend so we have opted to celebrate between ourselves at a slightly later date. Like next week, after all the school stuff is complete. My wife has her school’s Graduation Ceremony tonight, so it just makes sense for us to push a dinner & night out to a time that better suits us. Which is great, no need to be under the gun to perform on that day, which was a very busy Monday after all. I know – so romantic! My skin is still singing from the weekend sunburn, so I’ll take a welcome respite while I can get it.

I know that right out of the gate, like midway through this saturday morning my kids will be hollering “I’m bored!”, expecting us to have an action packed schedule set for them with things to do. But, ace in the hole, I think we’ll be far more inclined to go bowling, to the movies, wander a far away mall, hit up Wonderland, or find a glow in the dark mini putt, or rock climbing place this year, than any other year before. I realize COVID is still very much a thing, but with suitable respirators on, there is no reason we can’t go and do stuff this year. Plus the kids are older, ever so slightly more self reliant, and we can do more adventurous stuff every now & again. Not every day, mind you, but we can do something out of the ordinary before swimming lessons pick up in mid or late July. I for one am pumped! Go team!

Take it easy, it’s only Tuesday!

A special kind of exhaustion…

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Comes from running a childrens party that lasts for more than four hours, with tie dyed take home shirts, arts & crafts, swimming, trampolines, a tire swing, and a lengthy patch with a pinata. Add in mid day sunshine, heat and a fair bit of humidity, and a bunch of kids six and under, and you have absolute mayhem, chaos, and madness. Went off without a hitch, besides my own sunburn, and the burn with wife had too. So attentive to keeping the festivities rolling along we didn’t reapply sunscreen after each session in the pool, and we are singed.

But now I don’t have to think about parties again until December, so heading into the summer months on solid footing. I’m going to take it easy today. Our last gymnastics block is today, and that concludes this school years extra curriculars for a few months. What a year it has been. Book reports, school trips, clubs and activities. Next year they’ll be in grades 1 & 4. Homework will be a big part of both of their lives moving forward. That and staying on top of reading! Math homework, counting, and all that follows. Lots of colouring, gluing, and using scissors if I remember the first borns time in grade one at all.

Take care.

Fingers crossed that the weather holds.

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We had just over 1.5 inches of rain fall yesterday, which is alot. Calling for even more rain and storms today. I’m hoping we can get through our outdoor event or atleast 2/3rds of it before we see anything that would take us indoors. We have a pool party, tie dye t-shirts, and arts & crafts for the birthday party, and I’d really prefer to keep that all outdoors if I can help it. So here’s hoping the weather holds, and all is well.

This party has 90% of my focus today, but the reality is once it’s done, and we clean up I will need to come home and work for a few hours to put some oversized posters together. I put almost 2 hours in on late Friday night, technically extremely early Saturday morning before going to bed. So I’m not starting from scratch, thankfully, but I am also not done either. It’s a bit of a rush, so I need to get to like 90-95% approval rating on the first pass otherwise this won’t make it to press on time for the event. Going to need to be methodical, and do it by the numbers. Perhaps go a bit overboard so no small additional tweaks come back early Monday morning.

I need to head over to our event to set up balloons and streamers and what not. Have a great Sunday June 25th, 2023. Ciao Bella!

Laughing at the absurd.

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And other helpful hints we’ll discover in this thirty seven step program to becoming a Tax Free Tech Guru in just nine easy payments of $699.87. Follow me on IG for more… or don’t, you cuck.

The kids have discovered mobile games, namely a ball rolling game of balance, bouncing, puzzles, and fine motor control. It also sparks a daily wobbly for the ages, with rage, tears, gnashing of teeth, and hair pulling. God I love technology. Not that we don’t have a plethora of 2D Atari games that they have played and enjoyed before. Now their spare time is spent on the spare phone playing a bunch of free to play games, and avoiding ads, or unstoppable prompts to visit other websites. Such fun. Why couldn’t they like Tetris, or Mario Kart Racing… no accounting for taste.

Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed for better weather tomorrow for our birthday party plans. Much of which revolve around being outdoors, and in the pool. Tie dye is awful messy to try inside. Same with art & crafts painting. We need at least a lull in the rain to be able to enjoy ourselves just a bit. I have some shopping to do for snacks, and drinks. I also need to wrap my daughters gifts. Bake a bunch of cupcakes, and decorate them too.

Was out having a drink or two last night, so I’m a bit slow going this morning. I had a late night RUSH request for first thing Monday morning, so when I got home I worked a few hours last night to get a jump on this fairly extensive ask. 4 posters, all 32×68″H, in need of touch ups to the products, background, models and lighting. I have the basis for my work blocked in, and now I’ll spend another 4-6 hours or more refining, tweaking, and cleaning up. Luckily one of the four posters was really just a background swap, and will take far less time to plan & execute than any of the others. Score!

I think that message came in before 11:00pm last night, so not the latest rush order I have ever had. That’s freelancing for you in a nut shell. You can have flexibility to do family life events, but also be prepared to get, and execute on new work after midnight and over weekends etc etc… which I don’t mind ultimately. If I can do school drop offs and pick ups and see my kids every day, I’ll take a few late nights, or weekends in my office/studio getting things done. Fair trade in my opinion.

So what is the new american dream? I think it’s coming up with some kind of popular grift that makes money by selling an idea, with very little substance, but not onerous enough to warrant legal action against. Take my course, buy my plan, come to my conference, learn this one simple thing, do you want to be a real estate investor? Things of that nature. No longer an invention or product, but the packaged sale of an ideal, or winning ideology. Very fascinating. Mostly empty platitudes and common sense wrapped up in tech guru verbiage and a vagueness to waved hands, or finger temples, charismatic speaking engagements. It’s wild y’all.

June is almost done, and yet another school year along with it. Crazy. 6 months of the year done too. Half way through. My numbers here are WAY done. I’ve done 25% roughly of last year’s all time numbers. I haven’t written any shorts that garnered consistent attention, so no surprise there. Big difference between 14-22 views a day, and the current 2-4, with a handful of zeros mixed in for good measure. The disconnection of JetPack/Wordpress and other external sites is a factor as well, but I think it’s my lack of creative writing that has placed my viewership in a nosedive. Better than previous years, without a doubt. But sadly lacking in comparison to my All-Star showing of 2022. No matter. This isn’t a vehicle to fame and fortune. It’s an outlet I needed during the height of the Pandemic, and it’s aftermath which is still ongoing.

Happy Saturday, you made it! Ciao Bella

Under a bit of a time crunch today.

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I promised to volunteer at a kindergarten event for today, several weeks in advance, and now (of course) I’ve gotten some last minute projects that require immediate attention. So I must be very diligent with my time, and planning today. First things first I got the kids fed, dressed, cleaned up and off to school with the appropriate gear for the day’s events. Next I will spend 2 hours working on CMYK logos, and then it’s the better part of three hours volunteering before I’m home for an hour to work, then pick up, and finish off the afternoon working as the kids watch a movie with snacks. Hopefully we can beat the rain due sometime this afternoon. Fingers crossed. Ciao Bella!

Acerbic Anaerobic Excercises for the forthright and direct.

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Some days the hardest part about writing is coming up with a useable title to follow. Usually I utilize it as a lead in for my one sided conversations, other times it’s a click baity nonsense jumble to attract attention, and other times I think it’s a funny thing to say. Doesn’t really matter. I don’t think a mere title has ever gotten me more views, clicks, eye balls or deeper reading into the ole back catalogue of 555 days of entries. Some will say it is a numbers game, others tap into rage, some humour, and others technical skills or an educated treatise on a subject worthwhile of attention. Not this guy. Domestic Duties Monday, or Wednesday, Hump Day, Middle of the Week Day diatribes about laundry, messy kids, the local weather, and jabbering on about freelance graphic design, or attempting to finish my short story collections, and an illustrated children’s book. You won’t find Nobel Prize winning content here. A fair bit of snark is available though. Plus TMI stories of Crohn’s Disease, and intestinal distress. Glory to those whom behold such words. Words, I say! Explicit, delicate, sonorous words. Munch. Blather. Bile. So many to choose from.

I have some website headers to produce today, a few more photo edits to make, and a series of event posters too. Work is a bit lighter this week. I do need to hit up the local Lifelabs for blood work this afternoon, so that’s there, sitting on my mind. Here’s hoping my requisition form is still in good standing, or it may be a shorter visit than intended. Then a late day school pick up for my oldest, whisked off for an indigenous day downtown with a school club for a speaking event. They all seemed pretty excited about it. Happy to see it. Now I just need to wait around between 3:00pm, and 4:30pm or potentially later for their bus to come in. Hopefully they will update us using the parents Facebook group. That would be a really great service.

Pretty sure today is Thursday. Mid to late June all ready, I can hardly believe it. I mean I should, my Visa bill came in all ready so that’s always a strong indication the month is about to close out. Had another birthday party invite for the kids today, up to four now for the next two weeks alone. At this pace I’m going to go broke buying Lego sets for other families. Ha. Ain’t that the truth. Thus far I have planned nothing for the summer. To be totally honest I haven’t had the time to think. Well, up until this week I had been going pretty hard with work, but I saw a real slow down very recently, and I did some additional tree pruning, and house cleaning. But I haven’t given much thought to summer activities beyond the park, the farm for weeding, rock removal & watering, or swimming at the in-laws. We can visit area splash pads, but the pool is more private, and has far fewer interlopers. I don’t expect I’ll be all that busy until late August and beyond. As the events have to happen before we can audit them, or conduct research. I have done almost no wood working this spring either. Was too busy with freelance design work (which is a good thing). And what little extra time I did have available I spent cleaning up, tearing down, and reorganizing the space to make it feel more open, and less cluttered. Now I can fit my lawn mower down two aisles from front to back of my shop space and not get snagged on anything. A miracle. That allows me to move bicycles around for repair & maintenance work too. A true boon. I do have a big box full of burnable stuff to go out, but I’m not that concerned about it right now. I have done a pretty decent job of decluttering and opening up floor space, so for now I am satisfied.

Well, I need to eat breakfast and send some proofs off for review. Talk again soon. Ciao Bella!

A good nights sleep can be so elusive.

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If there was one thing (among many) that I would change in my life it would have to be the quality of sleep I get on a consistent basis. I’d like more nights of restful slumber, and fewer spent restless, tossing & turning, or hot, and awake watching the seconds tick away on the clock. I think that that one particular change (if I knew what change to make) would have positive knock-on effects throughout the rest of my day, and thus improve my life just a tiny bit. As it stands I do get ok sleep off and on, but I’d rather have a 70-30 split of great nights sleep to bad, than say a 51-49 split. Is it the mattress, pillows, air quality, temperature, air flow, sound, the amount of ambient light in the room at night, stress, illness, my evening routine? I don’t know what factors into the good sleep nights versus the bad ones. I know that acid reflux contributes to some of the bad ones, so now I try not to eat after 8:00pm if I can help it. I’m also not shy with the Tums if I have any inkling that my stomach is going to wreak havoc on my night. So many factors to consider. Also, do I have sleep apnea? I know that I snore. I have to sleep on my side or belly to really get any rest at all. Things to ponder as I get older still. Fun times. Deserves a more thorough exploration. Perhaps some documentation, a list or spreadsheet of trial and error tactics to try. I don’t know, I’m not a specialist nor a medical professional. I’ll put a pin in it and will have to revisit.

Fear not, today is Wednesday. You’ve made it to the middle of the work week. Congratulations. I know that some weeks sort of suck. But fear not, you are closer now to the end of it, than the beginning.

We have a weekend full of birthday parties to look forward to. Hope the weather cooperates between 10:00am and 2:00pm each day of this weekend. Otherwise it can rain or storm all it wants. I need to wrap my kid’s gifts at some point soon too. I kept it fairly low key this year. There isn’t much that they don’t already have lots of. Also, on a side note, can you believe that schools out for summer by next Friday before noon! That’s insane. Funny how a school year that feels like it never ends suddenly creeps up on you and just ends. What a weird phenomenon. But I bet that comes from focusing on the end date and nothing else beyond it. I recently read that Buzz Aldrin was so focused on walking on the moon that after her accomplished it, he came home empty and devoid of purpose and became deeply depressed, and an alcoholic. I get that. You see it all the time with people who have Fairy Tale wedding dreams for The Day Of, and nothing else planned for the hours, days, weeks, months, or years after. We are weird that way. Blinders on for this one thing – get it, or do it, and then…. nothing. So odd.

So this whole DIY submersible thing, what a shit show eh? They were not selling it with that unserious NBC/ABC reporting they did on OceanGate a few months or years back. I’m not a big fan of massively open water, so the idea of going into somebodies cobbled together burial chamber seems foreign to me. I don’t even like the idea of the glass bottomed tour sub at Sea World that was just 2 ft from the surface. I hated that ride with a passion, and you could have just stood up and touched the surface. So 4000m down… nope! No. Nuh-uh, never, nada, nein, nyet. But then I don’t much like snorkeling, and wouldn’t bother with scuba gear either.

And not only that but now you have organized pods of Orcas just having at it destroying yachts, and other seafaring craft by attacking the rudders. Madness. Stay out the water. Let us all collect our thoughts and regroup. That’s all I’m saying. Those things in the water have several millions of years of evolution on us, so best to leave them be. What a week! Ciao Bella