I am sooooo famous

In every issue of Regina's independent newspaper thePrairie Dog, they have a contest where if you spot a typo you can e-mail them and you get entered to win a whopping ten dollars. Well, folks, I am now 10 dollars richer. Yep, I won the contest and a photo of myself now graces the Prairie Dog pages for the next two weeks. Normally the first one to enter wins, but this time around the Prairie Dog editors went for the most creative entry. So after sorting through thousands upon thousands of entries (OK... they probably only had maybe 11 people enter...), they chose my stunning piece of prose. It's nice to see my sarcasm has finally paid off for me.

a quick "picture" of my life...

It's been a while since I last posted but I've survived my school-induced coma relatively unscathed. I wrote my final for my spring course this past Thursday and I was going into the final with an 80 so I am extremely happy with that. English is such a subjective subject, so one prof may give you an 80 for a paper that is for all intents and purposes a piece of shit, while another prof may give you a 65 for a paper you are really proud of. This spring course was taught by a prof who gave me two of my worst undergrad marks. Now he has given me my two highest marks ever in an English course with an 83 and an 85 on my term paper, so I guess my style has finally meshed with his marking scheme.

I just got back from hosting karaoke at The Pump and it was quite the experience. I trained with Zubazz a couple times before, but tonight was my first time all by myself. Overall it was pretty fun, but it definitely had its moments where I could've just ripped my hair out. For the first 45 minutes I was pretty much just singing to myself and the bartender, just trying to hold off dead air. Most of the people there were pretty cool and laid back, but of course you have to have those people who just HAVE to get their songs in right away. If I played my cards right I could've walked out with at least 50 bucks in my pocket for people wanting desperately to sing next, but I settled for a couple of free beers. Damn morals! But the most fucked up thing about my night was two different people wanting to sing "Picture" by Sheryl Crowe and Kid Rock. As most of my friends know, this is probably one of my 5 least favorite songs on the planet since everyone and their dog sings it at karaoke. When the song first came out, I thought it was a decent, middle of the road song. Then it suffered the fate of many hit songs... it gets played to death, and it becomes a karaoke staple. (*on a side note, here are some songs that should just be forbidden at karaoke... Garth Brooks "Friends in Low Places", B-52's "Love Shack", Joan Jett/Britney Spears "I Love Rock n Roll", and Meat Loaf "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights"... and of course "Picture"...but I digress*). About 1 minute after this one girl, who I shall refer to as Girl #1, wanted to sing "Picture" with some guy, this other girl puts up the same song. After telling Girl #2 that someone else just put up the same song, she thinks about it for a couple minutes and decides to sing the song anyway with her boyfriend. Then five minutes later she comes up to me and begs and pleads to get her song up RIGHT AWAY because it's "getting late" and she "has to work in the morning." I was hoping to place the two songs a few songs apart to save a bit of monotany, but then GIRL #1 comes up to me and wants to be up RIGHT AWAY too. She was due to be up right away anyways because of her spot in the roatation, but I told her that another couple wanted to sing the same song too, but then she goes on a big tirade of how her and her guy-friend will do a way better job of singing the song than the other couple, so I just threw my arms up and decided to let them both sing the fucking song... back to back. A karaoke-off was about to take place. I don't know what would go through someone's mind to willingly want to sing the same song RIGHT after some one else, but Girl #2 was so adamant about it. So after two rousing renditions of "Picture", Girl # 2 and her boyfriend stick around for another half hour or so. So much for having to work in the morning. I'm used to being on the other side of the karaoke equation... going out with a few friends and singing some tunes. It is quite a drastic change being on the other side of hosting and trying to run a smooth show. I have a newfound respect for Zubazz and Stacey and Dee Dee and Gerda and Tina who are veteran karaoke hosts. But overall it was good experience and I worked out a few kinks and by the end of the night I was feeling a lot more natural and had a good groove going. Besides the pure boredom of it being dead for the first 45 minutes, a couple mislabled discs, a few people ditching out on their songs, and a handful of impatient people, it was pretty fun and it'll be a nice little part time gig to have while going to school.

I also have to mention that the Oilers absolutely dominated the Hurricanes tonight, so Game 7 will take place on Monday. After Dwayne Rolason got injured in Game 1 I thought the Oilers were doomed. And then they got down 3-1 in the series. But I think they can pull it off now. Jussi Markkanen is standing on his head and the rest of the team are playing with poise and confidence. It's looking like the Stanley Cup will finally come back to Canada, and it's pretty sweet that my favorite team are the ones who will likely do it.

a quick breather before i head back into hibernation mode

I am going to be a major hermit this week since I have a 20 page paper due this week for my spring course. The course has been pretty intense since we cover a ton of material in only six or so weeks. So this week will be hell, but it'll be worth it once it's over. So I will be dropping off the face of the earth for all intents and purposes this week. School-induced coma.

On a side note, I trained with Zubazz again this past Saturday for the karaoke hosting gig downstairs at The Pump. Besides a few minor glitches, I think it went fairly well. It'll be a nice little part time job for the fall. It was pretty amusing this past Saturday when this older guy came up to sing "Born to Be Wild." He was something straight out of the movies. He reminded me of a hybrid between Iggy Pop and Randy "Macho Man" Savage. He looked like a dead ringer for Iggy, but his voice was all Macho Man: "Step into a Slim Jim! Dig It!". Alright, time to dive back into the books.

GO OILERS!!!!! (no.... I am not a bandwagon jumper)

Last night, after 16 long years, my Edmonton Oliers defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. While it is nice to see Oilers jerseys and t-shirts all over the place, it is pretty much the same sort of thing that occurred a couple years ago when Calgary made a huge run and all these closet Flames fans came out of the wood work. While it is nice to root for a Canadian team, Edmonton has always been my fave team. I really started to get into hockey in 1990 when I saw the Oilers come from behind 3-1 in their first round series with Winnipeg to go on to win the Cup. Messier, Ranford, Kurri, Anderson, Lowe, etc put on a hell of a playoff run that year. But since then, the Oilers gradually became a glorified farm team, being forced to trade all of their top talent for financial reasons. But despite those hardships, I remained a fan. Every year, once the Oliers were eliminated, I prettly lost interest in the playoffs. Now, in the new salary cap era of the NHL, the Oilers are back in full force. Dwayne Rolason is standing on his head, Chris Pronger is playing like the best player in the league and the Oilers are dominating. I've always liked hockey, but when YOUR team is doing great, it is an unbelievable feeling. It's been a LONG time since I've been this excited about sports.

Xavier Rudd

This past Wednesday, I had a chance to check out Xavier Rudd with Jeremy Fisher at the Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon with my dad. It was an amazing show, and definitely the most unique live show I've ever seen. Jeremy Fisher opened up, playing some well-written, literate acoustic pop songs and telling some amusing stories in between and during his songs. He was running a bit behind before the show so he never made a setlist, so he was basically just making things up as he went along but it definitely worked.

As for Xavier Rudd, I've heard his recorded material and it has a definite Ben Harper/Jack Johnson/Dave Matthews stoner vibe, but this guy is a one man band. He simply has to be seen to be believed. He was playing various slide and acoustic guitars, digireedoos, percussion, wind chimes, and a gong more or less at the same time. The only thing he was really missing was a cow bell, but I'll let him off the hook for that. I guess he's been at the Winnipeg Folk Festival for 3 years, so hopefully he makes his way to the Regina Folk Fest in the near future.

Happy birthday to me (a.k.a. Holy sh!t am I getting old)

Today is my 30th birthday. The big 30. 30 seems to be a defining age where you are apparently supposed to have all your shit together. It is also an age where you are supposed to know that you are DEFINITELY not 20 anymore. But the truth is that a lot of my friends are roughly the same age as I am, and most of us are in roughly the same position. A generation ago, it was a lot easier for people to get great-paying jobs and it was possible for a family to live on one income. As a result, people got married a lot earlier in life. Now, even with a university degree, a good job is not guaranteed. People have to expect to bounce around a few jobs or careers by the time they retire and they have to expect to marry later on in life, if at all. So as I hit 30 today, I don't want to sit and dwell and where I should be right now or what I could've done differently, because good bad or otherwise, everything I have done prior to this day has led me to where I am and for the most part I am a pretty happy and lucky guy. I have had the privelege of making numerous lifelong friends over the years, I have an awesome girlfriend, I am a few short months away from my second university degree, and I have plans to work overseas for a year or two. And right now Safeway is paying me to NOT work for them. So as much as 30 can be a "line in the sand" age, I am far from washed up or dead. I'm still full of piss and vinegar and I'm only getting started. So happy birthday to me.

More new music to check out...

There are way too many good albums coming out at once lately. I picked up the new self-titled Pearl Jam album and it is by far their best since Yield. Their last couple albums have been a bit more mellow and experimental in nature so it's nice to see them have an urgency in their songs again. There's nothing fancy here, just good, straight ahead, aggressive rock songs. I also purchased Stadium Arcadium by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It's 2 cds with 28 songs so it's a lot to get into, but so far it sounds pretty cool. I'll have to wait a bit to give it a final verdict. I also highly recommend Broken Boy Soldiers from Jack White's new band, The Raconteurs. 10 songs, 33 minutes. Perfect. I am also a big fan of Bruce Springsteen's new album of Pete Seeger traditional folk songs. It makes for good clean Bush bashing fun.

While on the subject of birthdays...

It's a day late, but I have to also extend a belated happy b-day to a future Mrs. Ruda, Shades. Even though your b-day celebration at McNally's got ruined because of some uncalled for melodrama, happy birthday. Shades and Rude Dude have been dating longer that April and I and they seem like the ultimate happy couple. She is one of the sweetest and kindest people you will ever meet. So cheers to you. And also thanks for letting me steal some pics fromm Tues.

Happy B-day Tina!

Today is Tina's birthday. Our birthdays are 4 days apart so for the last 2 years we have had week long extravaganzas to celebrate. Unfortunately this year, Tina is in Calgary so we won't be able to see each other for our birthdays. So Tina, if you see this, try to have a wonderful birthday. It seems like our whole group will be splintered up this weekend, so we'll have to make the best of it with the friends that are still around.

It's already been a year...

Wow. Today is me and April's 1 year anniversary. Even though we were for all intents and purposes dating for a while before this date one year ago, May 18 marks the first day where we officially decided to do the "boyfriend/girlfriend" thing. We were spending so much time together that it was foolish to try and just pretend we were just "hanging out" or whatever. And now it's been a year. Time really does fly by. In some ways it seems like yesterday when we first started dating, but in a lot of ways it does seem like a long time. A lot has happened in this past year. We have both had close friends move away, we've moved in together, we've had countless amazingly good times (with a few unfortunate bad times thrown in for good measure). I think the first six months of any relationship is the part where all you see is the good side of the other person. After a while, you gradually start to see that the other person does indeed have some flaws, just like everyone else on the planet does. I'm generally not a big confrontational person and I'm not a big fan of the fact that April and I have been fighting a lot more frequently than in the past, but I think it is largely due to a lot of outside circumstances. Mainly, I think our living arrangement adds a lot of unneeded stress. 5 people in a 3 bedroom place is just too cramped for everyone involved. I think all of us are starting to get on each other's nerves with the usual roommate-pet peeves. We just don't have enough privacy. Most of the time I don't even feel at home. I feel like it's a big come and go centre. I think once September comes and our lease is up and April and I can get our own place, things will be ten times more better. But even though things may not be as rosy as when we first started dating, I still think I'm in a relationship that can last. I still love April with all my heart and I think if we can survive until September, then we can survive anything. Right now is just a major test for us, but I think we can pass it relatively unscathed. We've both put a lot into this past year, and I think we've built a solid foundation for a wonderful future together. So happy anniversary honey!

More Good Music to Check Out

There has been a plethora of great albums out so far this year, and there's a few more coming out in the very near future. This Tuesday the new Pearl Jam album comes out and it's supposed to be their best disc in a decade. Red Hot Chili Peppers also have a double album coming out in a couple weeks time. Anyways, here are some great albums that are JJ-approved. Do yourself a favour and check them out.

The Strokes - First Impressions of Earth.
The Flaming Lips - At War With the Mystics.
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.
Sam Roberts - Chemical City.
Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins - Rabbit Furcoat.
Goldfrapp - Supernature.

My guilty pleasure

As most of my friends know, I have some pretty diverse interests. I love music, literature, and running. When it comes to music and movies I have what some people may call elitist or snobbish tastes. I take the time to try to discover great music and movies that aren't forced down our collective throats via commercial media outlets. However, I have one guilty pleasure doesn't really mesh with my other interests. I like wrestling. There, I said it. I love the pro rasslin'. I am probably one of the few people on the planet that would enjoy going to a theatre production one night, a punk rock show the next and then a wrestling card the next. A friend of mine is a wrestler in the local High Impact Wrestling promotion so April and I met up with Mr. Real to support our friend Mike "Big Daddy Kash" Roberts for his match this past Friday at the German Club. It's been many years since I've checked out a live wrestling show but I had a blast. It's worth going just for the people watching experience. Let's just say that a regular wrestling crowd isn't full of society's elite. Stained t-shirts and sweat pants? Check. Bad facial hair? Check. Fat chicks with fem-mullets? Check. Half the crowd looked like extras from Trailer Park Boys or Fubar. Very classy indeed, but it was a good time. I was really impressed with the talent of most of the wrestlers. Obviously at this level you have to expect a few miscues here and there but overall the whole roster put on a good show. The faces really played up the crowd and the heels knew how to push the audience's buttons. I really had no idea what to expect from the show but I was pleasantly surprised and I would totally go again. It's nice every once and a while to just turn your brain off for a couple hours and just enjoy a good ol' rasslin' match.

Wooha!!!!

Life is going pretty sweet for me right now. After going through hell working on my thesis for far too long I got word that the U of R has finally implemented an optional course-based MA where a student can either take 6 courses plus their thesis work or else just take 10 courses. I've put a lot of time and work over the last year and a half but it has been such an excrutiating process. When I got wind of the course-based option I got really excited because it meant I could take one course this Sping and Summer and then take 3 in the Fall and finally be done my MA by the end of December. And now I just got word that my letter of acceptance is in the mail so I will begin my course May 2-June13 or so. It is gonn be soooooo nice to get back into the classroom atmosphere and actually feel like a student again instead of feeling so lonely and desolate working on a thesis that no one on the planet besides my advisor could really talk to me about. I really feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders. After a year or so of false hopes I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel to finishing my MA. This summer is gonna kick ass. I never found IT with my thesis but I sure found IT after I disgarded it. Life is good. Winnipeg was great, the Oilers are 2-1 in their series with the Red Wings (Sweep my ass!), the Folk Festival is coming up in a couple months, Sarah and Dave may come down for my b-day weekend next month... alright, time to go for a run and enjoy the weahter. Over and out.

Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand

A couple hours ago I rolled back into town after spending the weekend in Winnipeg. Our trip was a bit rushed since we left on Saturday and came back today on a Monday, but it was definitely worht it. It was nice seeing Sarah and Dave and Emmy again although I wish I coud've seen a bit more of Sarah and Emmy. Saturday was a gala gong show of a night with me, April, Dave and Stacey. It probably is a good thing that Dave and I aren't in the same city because I think my liver would be incinerated. Seeing Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab For Cutie at the Burton Cummings Theatre was amazing. We probably had the worst seats you could get at the show but we still had a really good view of the bands. The sound was stellar and both bands put on a great show. It's probably a good thing that Death Cab played their hour set first because their mellow, melodic, atmospheric songs probably would have lost their power after Franz Ferdinand's fun, frenetic set. I just realize I kind of went crazy with the alliteration. Oh well. Death Cab is a band you go to sit back and just listen and enjoy while Franz Ferdinand wanted the crowd to have a fun time and dance their asses off. Apparently in a lot of other cities, Death Cab closed out the show. I think that would sort of be like Green Day opening up for Radiohead. Both are great bands but seeing a low-key show after an energetic fast paced set would be a little anti-climactic. My only complaint about Franz Ferdinand's set was that they never played "Jacqueline" or "Tell Her Tonight" from their first album, but I guess you can't always get what you want. Anyways, the trip was too short but it was really nice to get out the city for a couple days. Now it's back to reality for a little while.

Are people freakin' retarded???!!!!!

Maybe I'm completely offbase here, but I'm not a huge fan of drunken friends calling 8 times between 3:30 am and 4am on a Monday morning while they are partying, calling me a "pussy" because I'm not out hot tubbing with them. If I would've decided to party with them, I think I probably would've hooked up with them about 6 hours or so earlier. I live with 4 other people and some people (like my girlfriend) actually have to work Mondays. It's 9am right now and on a night where I just wanted to veg out and get a good night's sleep, I am lucky if I even had 3 quality hours of sleep. What great friends I have. No matter how plastered I have gotten in my life, I still have always maintained a common courtesy for others. This hibernation thing is looking more and more appealing right now.

meh

Today was one of those days where I should've just hid under the blankets and cut myself off from the world. My wrist is sprained, I had to get April's car from an impound lot that was eerily reminiscent of the movie Deliverance thanks to me getting her car stuck in a parking lot paved with mud, my parents were excited to come out to The Pump to check out BILF in action but by the time we got there it was insanely lined up, so my parents were all dressed up and nowhere to go... April, Nadine and I decided to wait in line for an hour to get into The Pump. Is any bar worth waiting in line for? But I figured if we're gonna cab it home I may as well wait it out. And Motley Crue were rumoured to make an appearance after their concert but that never materialized. I sang a song with BILF in front of a crazy, packed crowd and I wasn't even into it. Usually that is the biggest rush in the world but not even that could get me out of my funk today. blah. Oh well, I guess life can't be a frickin' cherry on a sundae all the time. I just feel like hibernating for a while right now. La dee frickin' da.

Music you should check out

A few days ago I bought the new album from Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Ballad of the Broken Seas. I'm a fan of Mark Lanegan's solo work as well as his grunge era days with Screaming Trees. Isobel Campbell used to be a member of Belle and Sebastian. Their styles are quite different, but the results of their collaboration are very impressive. Lanegan has a very gruff, whisky-tinged voice which adds a unique dimension to Campbell's soft, fair voice and songs. They alternate singing lead, but the best songs are the ones where they trade lines and harmonize with each other. I would recommend downloading "(Do You Wanna) Come Walk With Me," "Black Mountain," and "Honey Child What Can I Do?" to see if this album is your cup of tea or not. I read some really good reviews about this album so I downloaded 6 or 7 of the songs. I was really impressed so I went out to HMV and bought the whole album. Definitely money well spent. It's a good album to listen to on a rainy afternoon or at a coffee shop and it would fit comfortably in a David Lynch film.

SP SP SP SP

Oops. I just realized that I spelled "champagne" wrong a couple posts ago. Good thing I'm an English major. Yeah. Alright.

a few pics

Tina e-mailed me a few pics from this past week that she took while was down so here they are. Lots of extreme close-ups.

The Juno Awards

I finished watching the Juno Awards and I am really grateful that it was only 2 hours long instead of the usual 3 hours that most awards shows tend to be. I think it's safe to say that Pamela Anderson hosting any kind of awards show is a bad idea since it requires this novel concept called READING. I don't think there is anyone on the planet with worse comedic timing than her. I almost felt bad for her because she was bombing so bad with the crowd. I was expecting a hook to yank her off the stage at any second. It was like watching a car wreckage... you really shouldn't watch but you just can't help from staring. At least Buck 65 was there to do some semblance of damage control. And I've heard of people driving SUVs before but I have never heard of a SAV... maybe it's some new hybrid vehicle that isn't available in Canada yet. Who knows. Canada has a wealth of music talent, but they weren't at the Junos this year. Aside from Broken Social Scene, the list of nominees, winners and performers was pretty underwhelming. Nickelback, Michael Buble, Diana Krall (I respect her talent but how is it possible to get nominated for a frickin' Christmas album???), Rex Goudie... it was truly a pathetic event. At least last year had Gord Downie freaking out at his mic stand. I was hoping to see Feist, Stars, Arcade Fire, or even Neil Young perform but we get left with Michael Buble and Hedley. Oh well...time well wasted.

Regina Folk Festival 2006

I just read in the paper last night that this upcoming Folk Festival will feature Steve Earle, Feist and Ani Difranco. I just about shit my pants when I heard because Steve Earle is hands down one of the best songwriters ever and Feist is one of my fave new artists. Plus Ani Difranco is a pretty damn cool singer/songwriter/independent record label owner. Last year had a great lineup with Sarah Harmer and Sarah Slean, but this year will be kickass. August can't come soon enough.

Break out the champaigne...

Wow, time really flies. It has now been a year since I started my blog and what an adventure it's been. There have been tears, laughter, paper mishaps, whip cream incidents, strippers, live shows, road trips, the single life, the almost-married life, shorn scalps, ass slapping, friends coming and going, and everything in between. I started this blog at first for mere shits and giggles but it has now become a nice way to document my life and perhaps amuse a handful of readers. So I raise a toast to a wonderful year and many more to come. Cheers.

The Return of the Princess

Last night Tina came into town so a bunch of us went to McNally's for a fun night of karaoke. The whole rowdy gang was there... me, April, Tina, Gianni, Mark, Zubazz, Shelene, Rude Dude, Shades, Craig, Mr. Real, Jai Mo, Ryan, Dan Silljer, Kevy and Stacey. It was an eventful night to say the least... It was a night full of shameless mugging for the camera, interpetive dance, and paper mishaps... and some things that will just remain unsaid. Without further ado, here are some pics.

Spring is finally here

A few days ago, Spring officially arrived. Yesterday and today, it finally felt like Spring. I've gone for my first two runs of the year in just shorts and a t-shirt so I finally get to show off my pasty arms and legs. I can't believe how white I've gotten. April used to glow in the dark but now she is more tanned than I am. That is just wrong. I like Spring way more than summer because even though we just had a mild winter, it still affects everyone's mood. Spring feels like a renewal or a rebirth. I'm not a huge fan of 30 plus degree weather so I am a big fan of the milder 15-20 degree weather that comes with Spring.

Today I am also pretty excited because Tina is coming in from Calgary for a few days so tonight a few of us will be doing the karaoke thing at McNally's and tomorrow we might check out the acoustic jam at McNally's as well. I'm also counting down the days until April and I go to Winnipeg to see Franz Ferdinand with Death Cab For Cutie. I've been getting more and more into Death Cab lately so it should be an amazing show in a nice, intimate venue. I've also been introduced to a new singer-songwriter by my dad of all people. His name is Xavier Rudd and he sounds like a cross between Paul Simon, Dave Matthews, Ben Harper, and Neil Young. You can check out his stuff at myspace.com/xavierrudd. I guess he is pretty much a one man band when performing live. He is coming to Saskatoon next month so I guess my dad and I are gonna make a road trip to see him. Should be interesting.

Schoolwise I've been getting quite a bit done, but I'm my own worst critic when it comes to rereading my thesis proposal and my first chapter. I keep editing and re-editing. Maybe I'm just making this too seriously or something, but I want my final work to be unique and I want to be happy and proud of the final result. I just wanna get this damn thing done so April and I can hop on that plane and do the overseas thing for a year or two and get on with our lives. While I'm glad to be done with Safeway, I'm getting tired of the whole starving student life pretty quickly. Okay, enough procrastinating. Back to Kerouac....IT...IT...IT...must find IT.......

Ashley MacIsaac for PM?

So I was reading today that Ashley MacIsaac, Cape Breton's eccentric fiddler extraordinaire wants to put his name in to be the next Liberal top dog. Should he go on to become this country's next Prime Minister, I believe he would be the first to have openly admitted giving the golden shower to young men. And to have gone on Late Night With Conan O'Brien sans undergarments.

Happy belated St. Paddy's Day!

This past Friday was St. Patrick's Day, a day where every liver on the planet takes a collective gasp, clinches it's teeth, and braces for 2am to finally come. This St. Paddy's Day was relatively low key for me. On the Friday, April and I relaxed at home, listened to some Pogues and Spirit of the West and I had a couple cans of Guinness. However, Saturday I went on a pub crawl with April and her sister Autumn (who just turned 19). This was not so low key. We hit Bart's, The Distrikt, The Pump and....uhhh...errrr...JD's. Fortunately, Autumn's first time at JD's didn't exactly astound her so we cabbed it back to The Pump and did some karaoke downstairs while Zubazz was hosting. 5pm til 2am is definitely a long time to drink consecutively but I survived it relatively intact.

It's been a while

Yeah, I know... I've been slacking with this whole blog thing. So I suppose I should update this for all my loyal fanbase out there. A couple of weekends ago it was Brandy's birthday, so a few of us went out to McNally's to see BILF in action. It's been awhile since I've seen Brandy and Trevor so it was nice touching base with them again. It's weird going from being roommates with someone and seeing them everyday to hardly seeing them at all anymore, but I guess that's how life goes. People get caught up with their daily routines of work, school and relationships that it becomes easier and easier to lose touch with people. Oh well. That being said, it was a fun weekend and here are some pics from the weekend of Mar. 11.

a whole lotta blah

The past two weeks I've been adjusting to life post-Safeway, and I'm quite enjoying it. Now I'm wallowing in a sea of Jack Kerouac and Tom Waits lyrics. It's nice to be able to focus on school without having to stress out about paying rent and bills and not feeling like a puppet on Safeway's strings. It was definitely very weird and somewhat surreal walking out of the store for the final time in my uniform. Of course for my last shift they had to give me a closing office shift, but it was kind of nice training someone else to take my spot. I poked my head in the store a couple times since my last day and all I see are all these new, young faces. Safeway is definitely phasing out the experienced workers who actually know what they are doing in favor of highschool kids who make nothing and could give two shits about their job. Safeway got their bodies. There's that old adage that if you pay with peanuts then you get monkeys. Well, Safeway can have fun with their monkees now. Okay, enough venting about Safeway... Serenity now! It has been so nice these last couple weekends to actually feel like a normal citizen and enjoy a normal Sunday activity like Sunday brunch. I can't remember the last time I've been able to partake in the brunch experience. It may be a simple pleasure that lots of people take for granted, but I've been pretty hyped about it so far.

Things have been going fairly well in my other aspects of life. Although April and I had a pretty big fight last night, but we survived it relatively unscathed and I do believe it has made us stronger. Fighting can actually do some good sometimes. I think last night about a year's worth of minor and major pet peeves finally came to the surface and and we had quite the verbal bruhaha, but after the smoke all settled we both realized that we still do really love each other and that although our relationship may not be perfect, it is still pretty damn amazing most of the time and that it would be foolish to throw it away over a few odds and ends that easliy fixable. I have to thank Mark and Mr. Real for helping me with some good advice last night and helping me realize that I do have an amazing girlfriend that loves me to death. I wasn't in a very good frame of mind yesterday before the blowout and I was dwelling on all the negative aspects of our relationship and I was allowing my frustrations to override my better judgement. I think the fight had a cathartic effect on April and I. It's like a big weight has been lifted and April doesn't seem as stressed as she was and I feel a lot more relieved and happy with our whole situation. I have a renewed zest for making this IT with April. I really do feel like the luckiest guy in the world again. It is an amazing feeling that I hope everyone can experience at some point.

Tom Waits "Hold On"

Sweet! I now know how to put videos on my blog. Well, here's a video by Tom Waits if you click on the link. Enjoy.
Hold On by Tom Waits

Metric - "Monster Hospital"

I'm just experimenting with adding media to my blog. Here's Metric's video for "Monster Hospital", courtesy of PCPlanets.com. I hope it works.

Monster Hospital by Metric

Franz Ferdinand

So I am pretty stoked. On April 23rd, April and I are going to Winnipeg to see Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab For Cutie. As most of my friends know, Franz Ferdinand is by far one of my fave bands of the last 5 years. Both their albums are great from top to bottom and they get rave critical reviews as a live band so now I get to find out first hand what their live show is like. Another great thing about this show is that it gives me an excuse to see Sarah and Dave again. Look out Winnipeg!

Happy April's Day!

For most people, today is Valentine's Day... a day for couples to be ultra sweet and lovey-dovey to eachother (and for card companies, restaurants and florists to make tons of money)...or a day for single people to loathe. I guess April and I fall into the former category, but more importantly today is April's birthday, so happy birthday honey! Unfortunately April works most of today, but we do have plans to go for a quick supper tonight and then we will head out to McNally's for a fun-filled night with a bunch of our friends. So while today may be a day when every person in a relationship may feel the pressure to do something special for their significant other, I don't want to make this day a once a year deal because it has been designated "Valentine's Day." Doing something nice and sweet for your loved one and spending lavish amounts of money one day a year does not make up for the other 364 days that you spend with your loved one. I think too much has been made of this day. Lots of people in relationships feel unnecessary pressure to do the stereotypical Valentine's acts: flowers, mushy cards, romantic candle-lit supper, etc. It is also a day designed for single people to feel inadequate because they do not happen to be in a relationship during those 24 hours. April and I exchanged gifts last night (including her birthday present), and April felt that her gifts to me would be underwhelming because of what her mom, sister and friends had said to her about my gift. I know lots of people have gone through this same dilemma on Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day should not be about one-upmanship or who can woo the other person more. I love spending every day with April. I love going out with her, I love staying home with her, I love talking on the phone with her, and I love missing her when she's gone. So while presents are nice, they are not everything. So I want to make this day more special for April because it is her birthday. So I see this as being April's Day... not Valentine's Day.

Stars

Last night April and I saw an incredible show at The Distrikt. Montreal's Stars played a wonderful set, preceded by a stellar opening act The Thurston Revival. Vancouver's The Thurston Revival were a great surprise. They consist of two singer/ multi-intstrumentalists who create a lot of wonderful and eclectic noises for just two people. At various points in their set, they reminded me of a beat poet performance, a psychedelic Elvis on acid, The Clash, and a rockabilly Lou Reed. A really unique band. Rolling Stone named Stars' latest albums one of the top 50 albums of last year and deservingly so. Their epic, orchestral pop music translates really well to the stage. Last night they played as a seven-piece, texturing their songs with horns, violin, keyboards, guitars, bass and drums, with some electronic dance loops thrown in for good measure. Their songs range from slow movie soundtrack pieces to crazy arty electro dance pop. It was nice to see a near capacity crowd attend this show. The Distrikt has pretty much the same layout as the old State did, but it remains the best club venue in town to see a live band.

Here's Stars' video for "Ageless Beauty"...
Ageless Beauty by Stars