Some Of This, Some Of That, And Some Of This....

First and foremost let me say, I apologize for my tardiness. Truth be told, I wasn’t going to post this week because I had a “to do” list the size Ron Jeremy’s box knocker, and the weather hit a balmy 13 degrees today, and I wanted to enjoy a bit of premature spring air. But as I finished up my movie and laundry tonight, and as I made myself a cup of tea, I realized that 3 am or no 3 am, there is a lot of stuff I want to cover, so I booted up the computer and dove right in. No gimmicks, no set ups, nothing, just some plain old proverbial wood to chop, so let’s chop, shall we?

Last Week’s Post

Last week I posted about a crazy psycho broad from an online dating site, and word spread like wildfire. It received almost triple the amount of traffic in one week that the second most traffic’d post has received since it was posted. What that other post was about isn’t important, it wasn’t even by me after all, and it was just slanderish bullshit that somehow seeped through the cracks by a Napoleon complex having hater that managed to backdoor my blog, but anyway, I’m getting sidetracked here. This is a special thank you to any and all of the readers that hit the share button, or called a friend and said check this out, or just overall did anything to help drive those numbers up. It’s really something to see Facebook posts, comments and shares by people that I didn’t even think read or followed my stuff, let alone to see complete strangers getting in on the action. I, or should I see we, because you have just as much to do about the numbers as I do, obliterated the stats, and helped solidify the reasons behind me being dubbed the “Peoples Blogger” in the first place. Oh, and I guess a special thank you should go out to “Bac4AnotherCheeseburger”, or whatever the hell her name was, for being that crazy and giving me material in the first place. But if we are going to thank her, then I suppose I should thank me for being oh so ridiculously attractive and overall generally amazing to the point that somewhat would become so infatuated to begin with. Now that everyone responsible for that Herculean like post has been stroked accordingly, let’s get on with the show shall we?

Changes To The WWW.

So how does everyone like the new layout by the way? If you’re on the mobile site, you won’t notice a difference, but the actual web page has been revamped and personally, I like it a lot. Part of it was due to suggestions by my new correspondent from the old world, who for the record has yet to submit a post so I can actually take a week off (Jesus, I’m starting to sound like Eli here). He suggested the RSS feeds and what have you, even though I still don’t fully understand them, and Eli came up with the “submit your email address bar” which is pretty cool too. If you don’t know how to use it, it’s simple, just pump your email addy into the field, and bang the submit icon, and whenever the blog is updated you get a friendly email reminder to have a read. It’s kind of redundant I suppose since you were already told to shortcut and favorite me on any and every technical device you use, but it’s still a cool back up plan, and I encourage you all to take a second and fill it in. I’ll wait. The other reason we had to update the site is to accommodate BusDrivaTV. Yes progress has been made folks. We officially have our own YouTube page and we are ripping and raring to go. I don’t have my theme music though, so I haven’t started VLOGing anything yet, and it looks like Eli and I are playing our favorite game of “the chicken or the egg” once again, but none the less, progress has been made. I’m actually really impressed with the work he did, the videos, once they are made and posted, again, once I have theme music, will scroll horizontally above the written blog itself, so everything is conveniently there and easy to find. It looks pretty damn good too. Oh, and guess what I found in my inbox the other day? Order forms for coffee mugs! Guess who’s starting to feel appreciated around this place for a change? That’s right, ME! Now Dickhead made it clear that because this is MY endeavor, the financial onus is on me for the coffee mugs, being that he finds it frivolous, and he has a budget to operate in, blah blah blah, but here’s what he doesn’t know. Nancy down in accounting and I have been secretly, well, umm, secret’ing for some time now, and she lets me submit ANYTHING. So I’m not too worried about that, stay tuned on when they come in, and what you have to do to get one, it shouldn’t be too long now.

Vacation Recap

I was on vacation last week, and I spent a few days out in good old Montreal, the “Escort Capital” err, the “Hip Hop Capital” of Canada (my bad). For a guy that hates French as much as I do, what a ludicrous fucking language, I actually really love that city. The history, the aesthetic, the entertainment, the overall “je ne sais quoi” if you will, I don’t know what it is to be honest, but I just really love that damn place. And between me, you and a stripper named “Neo”, all I need is one reason to move there, or for that matter, one reason to not be here, and I’m gone. Brass tax is simple on this one too, the cost of living out there is between half and one third that in the Greater Toronto Area, yet the minimum wage in Quebec is only 60 cents less than it is in Ontario. Throw that in the mix with ten dollar “full contact lap dances”, the ability to buy beer at the convenience store, and the unknown reason that they get colour-ways on their Nike’s we can only dream of in Toronto, and its simple math. As for a recap on my vacation, well, nothing really needs to be said on that. My main man and I went out there and did what we tend to do, we wrecked shop like we were put on this Earth to wreck shop. Here’s a funny stat though, apparently when the theme of your getaway is “do like Kanye and Jay would do”, a few days there actually works out to be more expensive than a week at a really nice all inclusive resort in Cabo….. But what can you do, memories aren’t cheap, right, and isn’t that the reason we work? Last note on my vacation. Yes I got “roofied” and ended up in a strange apartment somewhere. Who’s? I have no clue. I woke up with blurred vision, and no idea how I got there, or how I got back to my hotel for that matter. But in true Brad fashion, I somehow made it home alive and in one piece, and was back out there the next night for round 2. But to whomever thought it was a good idea to drug me and my buddy for whatever reason you did it, I have one thing to say to you. Thank you, we had a great night, and aren’t accountable for a single moment of it, because we can’t remember a damn thing!

Rest In Piece

The last subject of the day is a touchy one for me, so I’ll be brief. I’m not here to discuss if he was the greatest, or if he had lived what would have happened. Would he have gotten better, would he have gotten worse? Who cares? This is stuff that isn’t really important to me, because it’s irrelevant now. And all the millions of things I would like to say, and trust me, I could fill nine posts with related material, would honestly be a little overwhelming for you to read, and for me to even write. So, I’ll just some it up in one sentence. I MISS YOU B.I.G.
I remember where I was the night he was gunned down. It was March 9th, 1997, and I was working an overnight shift at the Esso gas station at Yonge and Finch, just going about my regular duties, cleaning up, sweeping and mopping, when the now infamous radio broadcast was aired….. “Brooklyn born rapper, Notorious B.I.G. is dead…..” (I’m sure you know the rest of it). Losing Christopher Wallace may have been just about music to most of you, but he was much more than that to me. Sure he transcended the genre, yeah he brought the East Coast back, and of course he made two of the greatest albums Hip Hop has ever seen or ever will see, and no one appreciates any of that more than I do. In fact not a week goes by that a serious Biggie set doesn’t get thrown down, either in the room, the car, or the iPod at the gym. But what B.I.G. did for me personally, changed my life forever. He made it cool to be larger in size, and average in looks. He laid the groundwork for  “Swagger”, to offset any lack of attributes someone, like for example myself, may have had. He made “attitude and cool” just as appealing, if not more so, then looks and a body. If it wasn’t for Biggie Smalls you wouldn’t have the Brad you have here today. He came around at a time that I was just coming into myself, and I was scared, and insecure. Hell, I was 15 years old, awkward, and a stand out, a natural screw up. But this crooked eyed Jamaican, whom I never had, nor never did meet, found his way into my tape deck, and just did ridiculous things to my mind. I adopted his wit, and his bravado. I studied the way he told stories, the details he would go into, the gusto in which he spoke. Through him I learned how to use metaphors humorously, how to properly make light of bad situations, and how vernacular was just as powerful as anything else in this world could ever be. Basically, because of B.I.G., I learned how to spit game in ways that no man of my stature should be able to spit game. Just give me 5 minutes, and your mine. And there aren’t a lot of people out there that will even remotely try and debate that. So one more time, and we will cut to some music and get out of here for another week. I miss you B.I.G. And thanks for everything……………….. Tell ‘em Puff