Manwich

Manwich

Had a long walk last night as part of my plan to get HDL Cholesterol up and my LDLs down.

Part of my walk involved going through a park near my place.

And in that park is a small bay with a pedestrian bridge.

And last night as I was going on the bridge, I saw a young guy standing on the railing and looking down... and that set off alarm bells in my head

I looked at him as I was walking... and as I walked past, turned around and said "You okay?"

He didn't say anything.... and I repeated it 2 more times before he responded with a 'no'.

So I walked to him and asked him what was going on... and we started to talk. He came down from the railing and we talked more.

Essentially he was thinking of killing himself. The whole Covid thing, losing his job, not being able to see friends has gotten him seriously down and feeling like he has no purpose.

We had a long talk and I essentially shared some of my own experiences and what I learned over the years in terms of how to get through difficult times and stay sane.

I also told him that if he hurts himself, he's also hurting everyone who cares about him and that as bad as things seem, it will pass and it will get better... and then cited how vaccines for everyone are on the horizon and other things.

And I also pointed out that as a young, able-bodied guy, before he departs this world, he should do a list of things first... including asking a girl he likes out... me saying "what do you have to lose? If you try and fail, you're no worse off than you were before. But if you try and succeed, then you are better off... unless she turns out to be psycho. If she's psycho, then dump her and move on".

Incidentally he actually did ask the girl out while I was there and he now has a date for this Friday.

Though I warned him not to build up this girl and the date too much in his mind... and then we had a discussion about dating and how dating is tougher for guys when they're young, but it usually gets easier for guys as they get into their 30s and 40s (as long as you're of sound mind and body).

I also talked to him extensively about the worst time in my life I had in the past and how I got through it and what I learned.

We exchanged info, let him know he could call/text me any time and I walked with him for part of his way home (he lives in my area).

After we parted and I was heading home, there was another guy I crossed paths with. He seemed to be in good spirits.
We said hello... and he asked me if I was okay and whether I was homeless (I supposed this was due to me walking at 11:30pm at night)... I told him I was fine. I would have chatted with him, but it was getting late and I had plans to watch SNL with my daughter (which I was already late for).

I have to say... it was one of the more unusual walks I've had.

And I got in a total of 18,223 steps yesterday.

And now I shall give you two songs that helped me through the most difficult time I had:

Manwich

He’s her first real boyfriend.

At first, my daughter wanted him to wait outside in the cold, but I invited him in.

I found it amusing how this freaked out my daughter.

So while she was finishing getting ready, I had a little chat with him

He seems like a nice guy.

It went well.

And today my daughter called me… told me she’s going to his place because his mother wants to meet her.

I told her “Have fun!”

Lol

Side note: my daughter is in her late teens and she’s old enough to have a boyfriend. Hell… I had my first girlfriend when I was 17… and my GF of that time was the same age as me. So I’m as fine with it as I’ll ever be. Of course part of me feels a bit of trepidations over all of it. But I can’t expect her to not ever have a boyfriend… I just have to make a leap of faith in her that I did a good enough parenting job that she will make smart choices… including when it comes to relationships

That’s all for now.

Manwich

… and this is the end result:

And then this for desert along with an assortment of chocolates and cookies

Note my son and daughter are 21 and 18 respectively and have gotten quite good at cooking

Manwich

Today I celebrated my divorce going through.... which went through on Thursday.

First I celebrated with my girlfriend in Niagara On The Lake... where I had one Vodka Martini, a greek salad, a chocolate peanut butter tart and then coffee.

Then I celebrated with a couple of friends at South Side Johnny's where I had wine, a burger with salad, some very good onion rings, some more red wine, then a Vodka Martini, then more wine, then a free shot of rye Johnny had with me on the house, then another wine.

Then I celebrated some more with one cat named Marion. She was purring on my chest when I picked her up and patted her and then sat on the couch with her.

While doing this, Ryan, the other cat, came by. He was obviously jealous. I went up to my room. Ryan followed as he usually does. Then I celebrated some more by holding Ryan and patting him. He also purred while I patted him and he sniffed my face.

I'm off to bed now... good night.

Manwich

Last weekend, I was driving to Chudleigh’s Apple farm with my GF and the kids. Driving along the 401 in traffic and the car in front of me knocked a big chunk of large tire treads. Had to make a split second decision on whether to swerve around it or go over it.

I elected to go over it.

Well doing that broke my exhaust… and my car suddenly became loud.

Now mind you I have a 2008 Fit… and it still has the original stainless steel exhaust… which I already knew was getting close to needing repair/replacement.

So I made plans to go to the nearest muffler shop near my work and get an estimate.

I ended up going to a Midas near my work. I went to them before. Now In this instance, they said I needed a whole new exhaust, including the cat.. and quoted me $2500 (!!?!!!)

Naturally with a quote that high, I was gonna get a 2nd opinion.

Went to a Canadian Tire near my work (one of the better ones which I’ve gone to in the past).

They were honest with me and told me they don’t do that type of work themselves. They just farm it out. And she gave me a card for JPG Exhaust in Oakville… near the Ford plant where the Ford Edge is assembled.

Stopped by there, they didn’t have time. Scheduled 8:30am Thursday morning. Thursday morning, I get there, they look at it, say I need a muffler, a flange and a spherical kit… for about $700 including tax. Deal!!!

They had my car fixed up after about an hour… way faster than I expected. And now my exhaust looks like this:
![alt text]( image url)

And my Fit is back to being quiet… well quiet for a Fit anyway

Now you may not know this about me, but I’m divorced with 2 teen kids that I have full time and my ex comes over to visit from time to time to see them.

My ex doesn’t have her shit together. And she has been highly resistant to getting the help she needs (mental).

But this week, things took a turn for the worse where basically my kids told me that she is detached from reality and needs to be committed. And my daughter was at the point where she told me that if mom keeps coming to visit, she was going to move out and something needs to be done.

And they both gave me the distressing specifics

So this was very concerning… thought it over and I decided that my kids and I would do an intervention… either we took her to CAMH (the best mental hospital near us in Toronto) or we would take her home… but she could not stay.

There was a long discussion, sometimes heated but we managed to get her to agree to the CAMH route… and we were at the hospital with her until 2:30am Wednesday night… which means that in practice, when I was at JPG Exhaust at 8:30am the next morning, I was operating on about 2 hours of sleep.

But I got through the day. Called my boss and let him know what was going on. He’s very supportive. And so was/is my girlfriend who is coming over today.

And my ex is still at the hospital right now… and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the start of her being on the road to getting better.

Needless to say, it has been a very EXHAUSTING week…