They only come out at night

Last night after April and I left McNally's, we went to Subway/Mac's because April was hungry for a sub. As we were leaving, this guy I went to highschool with many moons ago was sitting on the pavement and was asking people for a ride home. Me being the good samaritan that I am decided that it would ok to give this guy a ride home. I remembered this guy as being pretty hyper and quite the comedian back in our highschool days. But I guess he has fallen on some pretty hard times. As we were driving him home, he blurts out that he was diagnosed as being bi-polar when he was 18, hasn't been on his meds for a while, is flat broke, lives on $200 a month, and his grandpa died on Christmas Day. Needless to say, I instantly regretted being so generous with offering him a ride. I really didn't plan on having a complete and utter nutbar in my car, but I lived to tell the tale. For some reason, the words "I'm off my meds" aren't the most comforting thing I want to hear coming out of someone's lips at 2 in the morning.

Stop the press!

I recently heard some absolutely stunning news that I was totally unprepared for. I am quite taken aback about this actually. I think it might take a long time for me to get over this news but I'll try. I've gone through a few traumatic events in my life. I've lost loved ones. I've had close friends move away. I've seen Bill Berry quit R.E.M. I've gone through Kurt Cobain killing himself. But THIS? I am just totally flabbergasted. Just speechless. But here it is. Kevin Richardson has quit the Backstreet Boys. Yeah, I know... It's hard. I mean, who else could be "the older brother type" in this landmark musical group? I just don't know how I'll be able to go on. Now there will only be four other guys to over-emote and do the classic hand gestures of the "pull-down-hand-clench" and "the finger wave" and the "twirling Jesus pose." Okay, a moment of silence... But life MUST go on... It MUST...

Words to live by...

Last night April and I were playing Super Mario Bros. 3. While I was playing, April told me some sage-like words that I believe could be applied to life in general: "Give 'er shit and don't die." When you think about it, that's all you can really do in life.

New music...

There has been a glut of great new CDs coming out an in insane rate the last couple of months. So much greeat music, so little money and time to listen to it all. However, I recently picked up the solo debut from Amy Millan of Stars, Honey From the Tombs. It's a nice, mellow, mostly acoustic album of predominantly folky/country songs. It's a nice departure from her Stars material. I also picked up the new "best of" album from classic '80's indie/college/garage rock band The Replacements. The Replacements are one band that everyone should own at least one album of, so this best of is a nice introduction to Paul Westerberg's influential band.

Soooooo close...

Yeah, it's been a few days, but I was pretty disheartened watching the Oilers lose game 7 to the Hurricanes this past Monday. Mark and I watched the game at O'Hanlon's on a big screen. It was exciting watching the game with a bunch of hockey-mad people, but everyone at O'Hanlon's was pretty disgusted and disappointed when the 'Canes scored that final empty net goal with roughly a minute remaining. Once that goal was scored, half the place walked out to the patio in disgust. While I obviously would prefer the Oilers to have won, they had a helluva run. Here's to next year. On a side note, a few of the cast members from Corner Gas were amongst the crowd watching the big game. So I can now lay claim to the fact that I got to use the urinal next to the one that a certain Brent Butt was using. Woo.

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.