If there was something else that people were discussing this past besides the heat (and the humidity), it was Canada Day. Well, that and the fact that, the same day, my nephew Jack turned 18. It’s amazing because it seems like just yesterday my folks and I were heading to the hospital in Oshawa to greet him as he made his way into the world. I mean, I say it seems like yesterday and yet so much has happened since he was born. I want to thank everyone who responded to my posts on Instagram and Facebook about Wednesday being his birthday. It was much appreciated.
With Canada Day and the mid-week break coming so soon after our trip to Whitby for Jack’s graduation (which seemed like it took place over a weekend, even though it was Monday – Wednesday), I am having a hard time remembering what day it is. I mean, Tuesday seemed like a Friday and today seemed sort of like a Monday. Well, except that my Mom and I decided to hit the road to the One of A Kind Antique Mall in Woodstock today.
All I can say is that it’s a good thing that we went first thing in the morning and not at the height of the afternoon. First of all, there were very few people (and most were dealers) in the store when we got there and even getting there when we did, it was still sweltering, despite the best efforts of the staff. By the time we were on the final leg of our trek through the store, I was really wilting.
This turned out to be the second straight trip to an antique and collectibles store (the other being the one we went to in Whitby) where I saw a few things that caught my eye but I ended up not buying anything. My Mom got a couple of books, a blouse and a wooden basket that she’ll put her plastic flowers in and so I was glad to see that.
Even with everything else going on, the job hunt continues. I am still hoping to hear back regarding the job that I had a telephone screening interview for. After I followed up with the interviewer, she replied that she had sent my information on to the hiring team at the organization offering the job. With this week being interrupted with Canada Day holidays, I’m not giving up hope just yet. I haven’t heard anything by the middle of next week…well, that may be a different story.
Meanwhile, I have continued to do the job search and sending out applications. During the first two days before the Canada Day break, I sent out five (5!!!) job applications. While most of the jobs are still in the immediate area, I did send one for a remote job (albeit based out of Hamilton, Ontario). I’ve never been sure how comfortable I would be in applying for a job that I couldn’t easily go to their physical location, but the job really appealed to me and so I’ve gone for it.
I keep saying that I am giving up on watching Spin City but the truth is that Charlie Sheen and Heather Locklear have grown on me. Plus, I’m on the last season, with a handful of episodes left to watch. Being a completist (says the guy who still has a bunch of seasons of Red Dwarf left to watch and still hasn’t finished his NASCAR 1987 Year in Review project he started in 2020), I figure I’ll see the series through to the end.
Once that’s finished, instead of starting in on all the A-Team episodes I’ve PVR’d, I may turn my attention to a series on Amazon Prime called The Runarounds. It’s about a bunch of guys having just graduated from high school and want to spend the summer finding success with their band. The band portrayed in the series has become a real-life band as my nephew went to see them in concert in Toronto a while back.
If you know me at all, you know how much I love TV series and movies about rock bands, whether fictional or otherwise. Between the Blues Brothers, Daisy Jones and the Six, the All For Nots (major points to anyone that gets that reference) and the Wonders (from That Thing You Do), put me in front of a TV screen with a band on it, and I am hooked.
I’ve only watched the first episode but I am really enjoying it. It might be something I really need to sit down and watch, rather than just have on in the background while I’m working on the computer. I know there are probably a few original tunes in the show but I’ve also heard everything from Led Zeppelin to what I think were the Killers (if I’m remembering it correctly, which doesn’t always happen these days).
A while ago, I learned that there had been an unaired pilot based on Kevin Smith’s 1994 film, Clerks that, as one might expect, had been posted to YouTube. (This is not to be confused with Clerks: The Animated Series which I remember watching when they aired, and later picked up the complete series on DVD). Earlier this week, I decided to kill 20 minutes or so and checked it out. First of all, I went in knowing that it was supposed to suck and I really wondered what a PG version of Clerks, filmed in 1995, would look like.
As for my “official review,” I’m not sure how a sitcom based on a low budget comedy that romanticized the slacker culture and featured two pot dealers as side characters would get greenlighted for a mainstream network in 1995. I mean, if you’ve seen the movie, do you really foresee some suit-and-tie TV executive watching Clerks and thinking “Yeah, we could pop that into our 9 p.m. timeslot on Thursday nights”? At the same time, anyone who had watched Clerks would have found themselves watching a neutered, watered-down version of the movie.
While I will give the show props for shining a light on people working in the retail industry, which even to this day is woefully underrepresented in most media, I think even an audience coming in cold with no expectations would have been hard-pressed to express an interest in tuning in every week to see Dante, Randall and Veronica, as well as the original characters created for the show.
Of course, the pilot for the Clerks series reminded me a little of That 70s Show (mostly the part where they end up on the local water tower) which began airing in August 1998 and ran for 200 episodes. So anything’s possible.
This next item is for an event that’s a ways off but I want to give a shout-out so that people can put it on their radar. As long-time readers know, I am a big fan of the Reuse-A-PalooZaha events that are held here in Oxford County. There were a couple in April and my Mom and I went to the one in Brownsville. Earlier this week, I learned that there will be two events in September: one in Enbro on September 12 and another in Sweaburg on September 26. So, if you live in Oxford County and have some used items in good condition that you no longer have use for, don’t send them to the landfill, bring them to Reuse-A-PalooZaha.
So, over the last couple of weeks, I’ve actually had some pretty positive communication with some friends, old and new. Obviously, a lot of it had to do with my nephew’s graduation and birthday, which was very much appreciated. I’ve also had some interaction on my John Milner’s Track Talk Facebook page which makes me happy. (Thanks Adam!) Best of all, I’ve had a couple of people drop me a voice mail (Thanks Jay and Lyz). As someone who feels disconnected at times, especially at this stage of my life, and often hates the division I see on social media, it’s nice when the platform can also bring us together.
Meanwhile, my Mom and I may be heading out for another adventure on Monday. It will obviously depend on the weather and a few other factors. If everything comes to fruition, there will definitely be details in next week’s blog.
And one last thing, speaking of my blog, I’ve started an archive for my blog posts. It’s a work in progress, just like a lot of other things on my website. Right now, you can go back and see posts from the beginning of the year and if you scroll down far enough, you can see my old blog page and all the entries that I had posted there. Eventually, I will be added pages for all the posts I have as far back as I can find (which could be all the way back to 2021). And no, I’m not sure why anyone would be interested in going back to read what I posted in 2022, for example, but it’ll clean up the site a little.
johnmilner.ca 