I am Second

Casually surfing the net. Reading things. Watching things. I found an interesting website the other day.

www.Iamsecond.com

A collection of video testimonies of famous people or just people who love Jesus. Each one explaining why Jesus is first and they are second.

I am really down with the idea.

Patman the second

New Segment: Dating Advice from cultures biggest strike outs

I was watching "The Phantom of the Opera" yesterday or the day before and I realized that one can learn much from the Phantom in terms of how to approach a lady and win a date and perhaps that great joy of marriage. From observation one can only learn what is not recommended but knowing what not to do is half the battle.

Therefore I give to you...

If you want to impress the ladies like the phantom does...

1) Prey on the Naive.
Naive people are dumb that is why they are naive. Therefore you can convince them of all sorts of things that are both not true and highly unlikely.

2) Prey on preexisting errors within the person:
With Christine it was the whole my dad died and he promised to send me an angel. Become that angel and you win.

3) Become useful in their lives
The phantom taught singing which was a straight line to the heart.

4) Sing:
Somehow when a guy sings, and sings well he can sing whatever he wants to sing without creeping out the lady... I mean really try speaking the song "Music of the Night" to a girl and see how that goes...

5) (and this is where he falls off the deep end) Build a replica mannequin of the girl you desire, put a wedding dress on it and show it to the lady.
No comment

At this point if everything falls apart the Phantom recommends developing a plot to kill everyone and force the lady to love you forever.

I hope this give some fresh perspective to the dating scene out there. Good luck and God speed.

Patman the hopeless

Note: If you need a good mannequin designer I know a guy.

The Back of the Line Club

Once and a while I think I have a good idea. For it to be a good idea it doesn't have to be useful, worth something or even beneficial. It does however have to waste time and be entertaining to me and perhaps you.

My most recent good idea is the Back of the Line Club.

At camp we have a long line during our meals and last year we found that as senior staff we are stuck at the back for about 20 minutes on a good day. So we joked about having a back of the line club. At the time we jokingly called to order, checked old business (of which there was none), checked new business (of which there was none) and then adjourned. It was funny and didn't mean too much.

However this year Jim and I have decided to up the ante. We now have officially formed the Back of the Line club. We have meetings at every dinner meal and record those meetings in our handbook. The meetings are generally a discussion of policy and procedure within the group. Further we have expanded ourselves building new membership and establishing an alumni.

It has been one of the best ways to pass idle time I have ever encountered. Tonight we welcome (hopefully) three new members and applications are coming in daily.

Patman the President of the Back of the Line Club
"We Got Your Back"

Where did I go?

Just when you thought patmanthepat.blogspot.com was dead. It lives.

It turns out that when I finished school and was working approximately 14 hours a week my amount of time spent doing extra curricular like blogging went down hill. It lends to my theory that in order to make wasting time (play) valuable you must balance it with spending time (work). Too bad.

I would have loved to play and never work.

Patman the playfilled

A moment til seriousness

So my last post was heavy (comparatively to my normal posts) and I just got back from my Camden Missions trip and I want to write about it but I feel it will be heavy. And I don't really want to write something heavy after something heavy so this is a momentary lapse til seriousness.

so what do you call a nun who can't sit still?

A roamin' catholic.

Pmtp

Is there honor amungst the thieves?

I hate everything oppression takes from them...
I love everything oppression gives me...

Patman the UnJust.

...Til Somebody Loses an Eye

School is done and I have time to waste.

So I have reinstated some of my old video game favorites. (this likely won't last so I will indulge while I can)


1- Elder Scrolls III- Morrowind
Nothing like battling the undead to give you that "I'm out of school" feeling. I gotta tell you as a Christian it is vital that I spend some time fighting demons and this game gives ample opportunity if only I had the courage to enter those darn Daedra shrines. But in all seriousness there is nothing like an open ended RPG. I have made myself to be a person with high sneaking abilities and uses a bow. This means I steal things and then hide and then attack things from far away without them noticing. Fun.

2- The Sims II
A far cry from the Ghostgate I have also begun reinstating some family life in The Sims. I developed a Patrick character who has decided to live the life of the politician (so true to form). I have married a nice lady from down the street and we had our first daughter who I named Nancy (for unknown reasons... well really I was having a hard time thinking and I cracked under the pressure). Life is good but its getting hectic and my wife wants to have another baby... time to build a second floor to the house and poor Patrick is getting so old. Well thats 'life'

3- Minesweeper
I've referenced this game before but if there are still mines out there waiting to be swept then we need to pick up our detectors and take them out.

4- Wii Sports
Made a return briefly at Kid's Fest this week. Always a big hit with the children.

And last but never least and likely not a surprise for the longterm reader....

5- Age of Empires 2

What more can I say. Classic.

This is all in responce to the lack of attention I had been given video games during my semester in school. Likely I will go back to my regular habits of maybe one game here and there... either way: Enjoying myself.

Patman the less than busy

If I sit calmly at my desk...

If I sit calmly at my desk my work will finish itself.

Hands folded in my lap. A bit of music playing. My computer on but no text opened. A curious grin lining my face. I sit and contemplate the finer things in life. All things seem finer with a paper or two to do. I could play a game, watch a show or even work for my church but this paper is priority. And for that reason I sit calmly at my desk.

Perhaps more effort should be taken to complete my work but I always was an idealist. It's past midnight I could always attempt to sleep calmly in my room and see if my tasks will complete themselves but that's really a pipe dream compared to my sitting calmly stratagem.

I may be going out on a limb here but I am confident in my ability to work less and achieve more. Perhaps making a "crappy graph" would capture what I am trying to do. And so I will sit calmly at my desk and my "crappy graph" will finish itself.

And there it is. I have reached a new blog-o-graphic low. Good night everybody.

Patman the Accomplished

Sleepless in Toronto

I know what you are thinking: "Wow! Just when I thought Pat was done with clever titles he comes up with something so original!" But hold your horses its actually a terrible title but I appreciate your enthusiasm.

2:37am- church in the morning, work in the evening and planning in the afternoon... yet here I am awake. I tried to sleep but couldn't.

I often wonder why I have bad sleep habits. It could be a lifetime of bad habits with sleeping leads to a total abandonment of all things. It could be that I just like staying up late. But I have come to the conclusion that it is often the time that I stop doing things, worrying about things, and get to blindly think about my life. It's for that reason that most of my introspective blog posts happen after 1.

No one expects anything from you at 1 am...

Oh, except maybe to sleep.

(Interesting thought: Yelling and Yawning in photographs are very similar... can you tell the difference?)

Pmtp

It has to be said

(This is a strange digression but someone has to say it)

Every Christmas my mother buys be and my sisters Archie comics for our stockings (which are more of a traditional gift than anything since I only read them when young). But in my efforts to not work I picked up the one form this Christmas and I just want to say...

Why doesn't Archie just stick with Betty?

Patman the Frustrated

People I lived with: #2 Andrew Thompson

(A note on above: It is always wise to post pictures of friends online particularly when that photograph is both a joke and never intended to be shown elsewher)

Now to business...

Andrew Thompson and I were roommates in 2004-2005. At the time we served as Residence Advisers for what was known in residence as 3 North. Andrew had been my previous RA and I was fortunate to have him as a partner. 3 North, under the guidance and direction of Andrew and I, followed the theme of "Where's the beef?" which was a spiritual search for depth in our relationship with Christ. The title was Andrew's idea. Andrew was still neater than me when it came to our room but he was a little more messy than Brad (I think I was a cleaner than the previous year too or at least I tried)

Important Info:
When: Sept 2004- April 2005
Where: Tyndale Residence, 3 North, room 314, ex. 2314.
Best features as a roommate*: Enjoyed late nights, pizza and movies (those three often went together), he had a car (although this isn't the top feature it is a good one), he was a much wiser man than I, "glory".
Worst Features as a roommate: Andrew worked nights at the Sheridan hotel from time to time, he was a better student than me, he also had a great ability of knowing exactly what I was doing wrong and informing me in a meaningful and engaging way (which although helpful is never easy).
Would I live with Andrew again? I would have to say yes. It went well for both of us. At this point Andrew is married and therefore it is unlikely that we would ever be roommates again.


So there you have it for Andrew Thompson.
Up next: A brief discussion on the PHOB-pad

Patman the Pat

*On the note of great features: Andrew also had an uncanny ability to trick people into thinking he was being genuine (a skill I quickly learned to see through and imitate). My favorite experience of this was a time when two keen people very impressed with their own knowledge base came into our room and struck a conversation with Andrew (attempting to win his admiration through how smart they were). Andrew listened for a while and eventually chimed in with "but what about the Hulah Mundai (a clearly fictitious document)?" And these fine gentlemen of intellectual prowess, rather than look the fools, engaged Andrew on the subject of the Hulah Mundai for a good ten- fifteen minutes. I meanwhile sat on my computer holding in laughter. Eventually Andrew gave up the ruse and these intellects never came back with something to share.

New Blog Trend #1

Well its paper writing season so I figure it is apt for me to distract myself with blogging. For this season I have decided to make my dedicated topic:

People that Pat has lived with and is living with.

It is a fairly short list but full of enough character that hopefully it will be enjoyable.

First on the agenda my first technical roommate: Brad Longard (Shown Left: stealing watch)

As my first roommate Brad suffered and rejoiced through that awkward stage of figuring out what it means to have a roommate. I was a slob. Brad was not. And that conveniently divided our room directly in half. Still to this day I remember being confident on which side of the room was mine.

Important Info:
1) When did we live together: Sept 2003- Sept 2004
2) Where: Tyndale Residence, Forth Floor, room 420, ex.2420
3) Best features as a roommate: Staying up late writing papers, watching 4 episodes of Seinfeld is mandatory before bed (in fact he introduced me to Seinfeld so I owe him much) and Chris Cartel (I will say no more).
4) Worst Features as a roommate: Had a girlfriend and therefore was never present, did better in school than me, too clean for my own good and he introduced me to Yanni with a desktop background of Yanni coming out of a pool saying "Hey Baby"
5) Would I live with Brad again? Yes but not as roommates (I think he would agree). (I would note that given the option of living with Brad but being his roommate versus not living with Brad at all I would choose: live as roommates)

So Brad was the first.

Patman the Pat

Next up: Andrew Thompson

Reflection on Ireland #2: This time with some Photos

In all fairness I haven't blogged because going away for two weeks in Ireland doesn't lend to significant blogging. Again being fair going away for two weeks of your life means that you have about two weeks of work to catch up on which again doesn't lend to blogging.



But being fair to others I think that I can still give reflections on Ireland (as long as the reader fully understands that these are reflections after the fact)






This reflection is on the value of good friends.

To be completely honest with you, because the internet is a place for complete honesty, the highlight of Ireland had little to do with geography. It is a stunningly beautiful country with amazing places to see, visit and kiss. But the real highlight of this trip was spending two weeks with my good friends Norman and Wendy.

If I was to look at my friendships I would say that a good ninety percent* of them took me years to develop trust, interest and love for one another. But once and a while you meet people that upon meeting you click and friendship is born on that very day. Perhaps friends at first sight. And Norman and Wendy are, to me, those kind of friends.

I appreciate their hospitality and their ability to put up with me for two weeks straight. I appreciate their sense of humor and that they get mine. I appreciate their insights into life. I appreciate the fact that although we met at camp they were able to get past my keen ability to separate myself from people and care for me.

We shared some very good times together and because of it we now have a common link for all time. They are welcome at my doorstep at any hour of the night and I know I am welcome at theirs.

Seal iontach le chéile

Patman the loved.

*Feel free to throw yourself into that 10% of quick friends friends because I love you

First Reflection on Ireland

Well it has been about four days. First of all I will note I have spent zero Euros so far, which is an exciting premise. Second, I am deeply aware of the good friends I have here, particularly in Norman and Wendy, without whom I could have never come or at least would have never come.

I want to take a brief moment to describe a subtle moment of my trip so far. Being that I am taking part in the Irish lives of Norman and Wendy, who still have things like church commitments and classes to attend, for just a little bit, I have spent sometime engage people who I never would have on just a vacation. Most particular of those engagements was a walk a took the other day with Farren, Wendy's Rector (Pastor).

Wendy needed to go talk to someone and Norm was in class so Farren offered to take me on a walk to the peer. We never did make it to the peer but rather we went up Killiney hill. There was nothing particularly touristy about the walk, except perhaps the stunning view of Dublin City (photos to come at another date). But what I really appreciated was the Irish-ness of the whole experience. Rolling hills, greenery everywhere, and talking with a chap, in what I imagine as a typical Irish jacket and cap, about the little things in life. The whole thing screamed to me that I was experiencing Irish life and it was gorgeous.

This has been an excerpt of Patman's journey to Ireland so far if you wish to here more please turn the cassette to side B.

Patman

Ireland

I am in Ireland and blogging.

I have officially reached "international journalist" status.

Patman the International