Birthday Boy

Monday January Fifteenth, Twenty-thirteen: Twenty-One Today.

Been celebrating all weekend.

Friday night my boss Tony MacDonald and the rest of the gang at work ordered in Pizza and Wings for my birthday. The busy winter season is still going strong at the shop and we're knee deep in Christmas Movie set props. Cranes and rigging too. Toronto is 'Hollywood  North'. Low budget movie houses that can't afford their own shops come to us for building and maintaining their sets and equipment. We worked late to have their stuff ready for their Saturday Morning re-shoots. They kept us busy through Saturday too.

One of the camera operators slipped and fell on some ice. Bashed the stabilizer on the hand-carry rig. I repaired and rebuilt it. Delicate aluminium parts needed replacement. I milled the new parts from titanium steel so they're more durable and will survive the next bash. I rebuilt it lighter and stronger.It was nice to work on something more challenging than the usual costume jewelry I’m usually assigned.

Things will settle down as winter filming winds up and we can go back to doing custom cars and fixing toasters until things get crazy again with the Summer Filming season.  It was nice to work on something more challenging than the usual costume jewelry I’m usually assigned.

Saturday night I got together with a few friends. Hank brought along a few University archery team mates. Connie and her partner Stephanie from high our old High School were there too. Connie is like Pam Poovey with a Princess Di haircut and her partner Stephanie is a petite Asian girl. As well as Hank's girlfriend Susette.

The neighbourhood is filling up with hipsters. Wall to wall tattoos, piercings, hair and beards that are excessively groomed. All wandering from one Micro Brew to the next. IPAs... Indian Pale Ales. You guys know that stuff's cheap? It's what they gave to the sailors while the Captain had proper whiskey and heartier brews.

We picked up some stouts and went to the Battle Ground. The place isn't licensed to sell but they allow you to bring your own wine and real beer. The kitchen provides lots of greasy fried goodness and you can make a meal of just appetisers. Mountains of Poutine and Nachos. The BattleGround is in a big warehouse next to the Stockyard Abattoirs with indoor archery ranges, horseshoe pitches and axe throwing lanes.

We started out in the archery range but the wimpy 30-pound draw and blunt practice tips on the arrows meant we had to be satisfied with tight groupings without splitting any.

After we ate, we hit the Axe Throwing Lanes. Hank and I turned the targets into matchsticks with our Hurlbats.

Sunday dinner with family and here I am back at work Monday.


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