Dear LJ Friends,

I feel like a hero in my new RD shirt. I also love my first ever country album (Brad Paisley's Mud on the Tires).
Peter Pupkin.
P.S. I am getting bored at not having anything at all to say.

Dear LJ Friends,
It's been so long I almost forgot my traditional greating. Anyway, nothing big this post. Julie is in KL, so I miss her, but I am having loads of fun with family. At any rate, my main purpose:

I GOT THE NEW BNL ALBUM AND IT IS F***ING AWESOME!

Peter Pupkin

I assume some of you guys have seen the headlines in The Sun, the Globe, the Citizen and Le Droit! Stephen Harper! Where is this motion to recognize Quebec Nationalism coming from! And where is it going? If your motion is serious, then I don't agree with it. BUT, if you are playing the political game I think you are, then you are my new hero and I just might vote for you.
Peter Pupkin
What do the people reading this think?

Dear LJ Friends,
I am back in Canada.
Peter Pupkin

Dear LJ Friends,
Tomorrow I am heading off to New Hampshire - Lake Winnipesaukee to be precise (the place from the "What About Bob". There is a camp there and I will be working there for two months. So, you will here from me even less than you do already.
To tell you the truth, I am going to miss some things, namely, friends, St John, Ottawa, free movies, Julie and, MOST OF ALL, what I will not have for these two longs months spent in a bunk bed with a bunch of kids aged 6-16. What I will not have for ALL THAT TIME...is my RD....(sob).
Peter Pupkin.
P.S. I will miss Julie more, though.
P.P.S. Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

Dear LJ Friends,
Today has been an interesting day. It felt...good.
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Now that Parliament has extended the commitment of our boys and girls to the hunt for insurgents, it is probably about time that we all had a debate on the validity of this war and the way in which the Conservatives are going about it. Personally, I think the fight should continue. First, any government which willingly hides terrorists who are strongly suspected (and I believe they took credit for it) of the violent and terrible attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre is committing an act of war. Secondly, whether or not the invasion was right, it was done and now there is a new government which would collapse or be forced to fight a civil war should Western support be pulled. Now that we have started, we must see it through to the end or we will have committed a far greater evil than when we invaded. As for the method, it serves no purpose to me to simply leave our troops in Kandahar and not go out after the insurgents. After all, there are people in the mountains who might just need supplies and if the area is not safe, Red Cross cannot get to them. Besides, in this situation, it is necessary to keep the insurgents on the defensive so that 1/ they cannot plot more attacks and 2/ they cannot regroup so easily and fight back against the troops we have there. To follow the advice of men such as Volpe, though perhaps the safe bet, would prolong the war and would not serve stability in Afghanistan.
Having said all this, it seems to me that Stephen Harper is going in the back door with this one. He seems to be afraid of parliament, trying to force them into rush decisions so that they cannot have time to challenge his actions. 6 hours debate at 2 days notice? I think that the vote had already passed by the time I found out there was a vote or, for that matter, was aware that there had been a time-frame to Cretien's committment. As much as I agree we must see this through, is Harper going about it the right way in Parliament?
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Has anyone seen the movie The Promise. It is in Mandarin with English Subtitles and has not done well at the box office. However, that aside, I would just like to say that I thought it was really really good. It was told in the style of a myth with very little transitions between scenes and some of the stunts were a little fantastic (ie. jumping over trees while fighting each other with swords and outrunning a stampede of bulls). And for both of these, I liked it. The story is about a young woman who, as a child, made a deal with a goddess that in exchange for beauty and power and wealth, she would lose everyone that she loves. Years later, she is quite happy in her beauty until a series of events (including mistaken identity) cause her to fall in love with a general, or is it a slave? The story deals around the principle of what is more important: life or honour? I give it at least 4 out of 5.
Peter Pupkin.

Peter Pupkin is not in possession of all EIGHT seasons of the awesome, magnificent, wonderful, cool RED DWARF.
Peter Pupkin

Dear LJ Friends,

This is a tribute to my grandfather who passed away in New York this past weekend. He died on St Patrick's Day. This is appropriate not because he was Irish, but because he thought of himself as Irish. He was the second kind of person (those that wish they were Irish). I took the Amtrak down to New York City on Sunday and came back on Wednesday. I am not an emotional person. However, I did get very nostalgic going to the Big Apple. This was the last time I will go down and be able to stay free of charge in the city. It is more a turning point for my father becase New York City can no longer be called his home. He grew up at 76 West 69th St (one block from Central Park) and now when he comes to the city, Central Park will have to be a day trip instead of a nice walk after dinner or a place where he can play some pick up baseball with the other kids on the block.
It was very nice to see some of the family again. Julie...they are all coming to our wedding. I talked with them, swapped some politics, talked about my recent engagement, showed up off Julie's photo to my uncle Jerry and so on.
At the funeral, I was a pallbearer. I found it a very good way to say goodbye to Grandad. I also read from the Book of Wisdom. The reading made me think. It is hard, when we live so well, to think of this life as an exile. But that is what it is. It is an exile, just as it was for Prospero in The Tempest or for the Israelites in between Egypt and the Promised Land. Forgetting this is why Christians tend to look at situations in too much of a wordly light, disregarding, intentionally or unintentionally, the principle that it does not matter how much we suffer in this world, because our primary goal is not to be happy here, but to get to heaven.
My sister sang beautifully from the choir loft. The closing hymn was "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" which I now love even more than before. My heart swelled when I heard it.
Aside from the funeral, I think that the most memorable thing I will take with me is sitting on the fire-escape outside Grandad's window and counting the taxis with my nephew. Whenever I would visit my grandparents, I would sit outside the window at about 6pm, when the taxis are busiest and count them. This time, however, not only was it the last time I would ever get to do it. I passed the tradition, however short lived in him, on to my nephew Christopher, who came to NYC with us.
Sincerely,
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Well, I haven't written in a while, so I think I will update. I am looking into a camp in New Hampshire for my summer job. Baring that, I will get a second job here and just do lots and lots of duties with St John.
My grandfather died yesterday morning and I am going down to New York for the funeral. I had not seen him sincemy cousin's wedding a couple years ago, but we did talk on the phone every now and then. I am most happy, though, that he did hear about Julie.
I have also signed up for the Knights of Columbus and may be going through my first initiation soon.
Sincerely,
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
I just had my wisdom teeth out. Doesn't this suck. You get back to home cooking, served regularly and you get put on a 48 hour liquid diet!
Peter Pupkin

Dear LJ Friends
Well, lets take stock of the past week. I did well enough on my exams I think. I nailed Elizabethan Shakespeare (no that was not a pun based on her being "The Virgin Queen") and I got some decent to good marks on two assignments. The problem is St John. Am I really cut out for being an officer. Or is it just that I need to learn to be an officer, by being an officer, which would mean my going through this really tough year of being lazy and generally disorganized so that I will one day go on to be a Superintendant of some division in Kingston when I am not teaching elementary school kids. Maybe it's not a matter of nagging to get me organized, but maybe I need some people to be dependent on me. I try to get things done, but I procrastinate too much and then it seems like it is half-assed. I do training and I feel like I am getting second-guessed all the time. And when I am not, I feel the tension in the room telling me I am about to be. I have experienced people telling me I will get better. I have people who love me telling me I am good. I just want to be good.
Aidan.

Dear LJ Friends,
Well, I am just updating because I haven't been on in a while. I am loving my new Red Dwarf DVD, I am looking forward to Model Parliament (more than you would know) and, although it is stressful at times organizing courses for people and training people who know more than me, St John remains FUCKING AWESOME. Anyway, I really don't have much else to say right now. There is just not enough angst in my life.
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
First of all, I would like to ask if anyone else thinks that MJ has gone crazy or something, thinking that I put my real name on my last post, when very clearly, it gives my nom de plume! Anyway...more important than that...I HAVE THE NEXT RED DWARF EPISODE (episode 7 of a total of 8). When I get all 8, we will be talking more than TWENTY-FOUR hours with the dwarfers and their antics! Not including bonus features!!!
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Well, tomorrow my brother-in-law might have a new boss. And it is all up to us Canadians. Choose wisely, Canada.
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Well, the new year has arrived...and...I have nothing really to say to that. It's...nice...I guess...
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
I was trying to figure out some banking and if the changing of hands at my bank meant there would be some in Ottawa...anyway...I was on the net and...
can anyone tell me why it is necessary to have a Credit Union for Women????

Dear LJ Friends,
So, x-mas is now over and it has been a great deal different than past years. No one was here for the most part. Instead of 11 children in one house, there were only 3 and so I was woken up in the morning by my mother instead of a bunch of noisy children. AND!!! There was NO CHRISTMAS PAGEANT! It was still a nice christams, because we enjoyed each other's company, had a lovely dinner and had fun with my brother's kids and the presents. I am very excited that using my birthday money, I have ensured the arrival of the next Red Dwarf season on DVD from Amazon at my sister's house in Cantley...CAN'T WAIT! Anyway, not much more to tell, it has been a relaxing christmas. I am also, thanks to my sister, Kristin, up to date with my collection of Great Big Sea music.
Merry Christmas,
Peter Pupkin.

Dear LJ Friends,
Well, here we are. We are either finished or nearly finished exams and we are heading out for x-mas very soon. I have on more exam on Tuesday, I have to pick up my train ticket on Monday and I am OUTTA HERE on Thursday. I will probably start reading the Da Vinci Code on the train ride home...then I will hide it in my bag from my father so he won`t give me the lecture about..."you know the book is fiction, right??" "Yes, Daddy, I am still a good Catholic, don't worry."
Anyway, I do feel quite bad that I have not been able to prepare for christmas like I used to. It doesn't feel like it is almost christmas. It feels like it is almost the end of exams. We didn't get to go through it like in highschool. We'd begin with an Advent Mass at school. We would do some christmas shopping. We would finish up some papers, maybe (not big ones and NO exams yet) and then we would finish school and get ready for the family to arrive. Now, I have very BIG papers. I DO have exams and, this time, I AM the family that is arriving. It feels so weird. Oh my gosh, the Douglas boy has grown up so much...
Sincerely,
Peter Pupkin.