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.