I have a tendency to just type and not think about what I'm typing...and then hit "send" before considering what I've said. Thats precisely what this is for.
I also miss keeping a track record of all the little things that happen to me on a daily basis.
So, anyone reading this will likely be someone I know, as I've recently changed locales... I guess I should explain myself a bit.
Recently I realized that someone was reading my blog and didn't like something I may (or may not have) written about them, or someone they knew. They left a ridiculous remark about the whole thing and when I went back to investigate (as me, with my awesome techno-abilities knows how...) I decided that for the sake of my sanity to change the settings of this blog. It's now no longer searchable through search engines (so bookmark it, if you're a usual reader) and the address has been changed.
It's sucky that it had to come to this, but it also came down to job security. After the last incident with my blog (who would have thought anyone cared so much about what I wrote?!) I don't want to risk my career on something as silly as the randomness that pours from my mind through my fingertips.
That being said, it's not like this blog is private. It's just been protected from searches. If you want to share it with someone, add it to your readers (hahah...that thought amuses me... means someone feels the need to have my babble fed to them!) or whatever, thats totally cool.
And like before, while I am responsible for what I say, I'm not going to point fingers and name names. If I'm bitching about someone, I generally wouldn't use their name to protect their privacy and so on. If someone reads it and feels the need to comment and bash me, thats really not my problem. However, I do have to cover my ass somewhat, so my apologies for this uprooting and making myself harder to find.
Last night was the Mars Volta concert in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre.... it was awesome!!!
We left my house around 6:15 and headed for Toronto. The doors opened at 7 the tickets said and we didn't want to have to be waiting around for a while, so we weren't in a huge rush to get there. The drive to TO took forever, not sure if it was anticipation or what. I was pretty exhausted though. Once we got there, we found the place and tried to find parking close, but there wasn't really. We ended up parking on the street behind the venue and walking over. We had to wait in line for maybe 15 min before it started moving, but then soon we got to the front.
Where they informed me that I had to leave my camera!!! Argh!! I have the worst luck. At shows where I can't bring it I have it, and when I could use it, I don't have it. So we got our wrist bands and went to find a place to stash it til after the show. I took my card and battery out, though the camera is worth the most, but I figured if I lose anything, I don't want to lose everytthing. Went back to the door, cut past everyone and went in.
Everyone was checking their coats, but I had not interest in doing such a thing. We headed into the concert area through a maze of hallways and tried to find a space.
Now, I'm short, and this is one of those things that always annoy me at live shows. No matter where I go, there is always a freak tall person in front of me and I can't see shit for them blocking my way. At the Alexisonfire show a month or so ago I at least could elbow people when the crowd moved around, but I didnt see this happening. So, fortunately there was a ledge along the side of the hall, about 8 inches wide, just big enough for my ass to sit on, with a bit of a balancing act. But it was perfect!! I could see over all the tall people and had an awesome view of the stage.
The show itself was awesome, thoroughly entertaining to watch. Cedric (lead singer, for anyone who doesn't know) is the human equivalent of a bird of paradise (with a little bit of Captain Jack Sparrow... ) performing what looks to be interpretive dance moves. Granted, it's the kind of music that allows for such creative freedom, so it wasn't that far off.
The band played for close to 2.5 hours (I had to hop off my ledge a couple times due to my legs losing all feeling and just not being able to balance much longer) and played around 11 songs. I think I read somewhere that that equates to something like 15 minute songs. Every song is epic. I think I recognized 3, maybe 4 of the songs, they played a few off their new album due out next week.
I wish I could find more words to use to describe the whole night, but I'm exhausted. The show ended after 11 and it was close to 2 when we got home. The balancing up on that ledge caused me pain in my neck and I've been taking back pain meds all day to allow myself to move without agony. I sorta wish the show had been at a venue with seating because it was a long show to stand (or balance precariously on a ledge) through. I also wish I'd had my camera, but oh well. Thats what YouTube is for!!!
This weekend was a fun adventure up to Ottawa to visit friends and family, and like always it was lots of fun.
I left work on Thursday night at 7, and then had to drive down to London to pick up Dave (gotta love driving an hour in the wrong direction) and then we left his house around 8:30. The roads were pretty crappy, with slushy snow and lots of transport trucks and all that fun stuff. But we still had fun. Made a few coffee/pee stops and eventually arrived in Ottawa at 3am!! I was freakin exhausted by then.
I left a note for my cousin to wake me up around 9:30 and so she did... and brought cute little Wylie into the spare room to wake us. That kid is adorable. It had been close to 3:30 by the time I fell asleep, so 9:30 was much sooner than I thought. But we got up, drank coffee and ate some breakfast before getting ready for the day. We eventually left the house to go for all you can eat sushi and then I took Dave to the store I'd worked at over the summer to say hi to people and figure out what the plan was for the evening.
We got to the store and said hi to everyone and SC told us that she'd be home around 5 and we could come over then. So we left, took my friend Tor's book to his work (I've only had it for like, 4 years) and then went to the liquor store to pick up something to drink for the evening. We then went to SC's house and hung out and helped get the place ready for people to come over.
The night was good, we hung out and ate and drank and played Guitar Hero. Whoot!! I was given a really hard time about not making an exception for SC's birthday in my dessert fast (Sorry!!!) but I held strong and resisted. Okay, I lied, I had one bite of Dave's piece. But that was enough to satisfy.
Went to bed around 1:30 after a long but great talk with Dave about all things past present and future, and got up and had breakfast with SC in the morning before going for coffee and heading to visit Meghan. After that, went to Ray's Reptiles with my cousin Meg, and the whole family. Got to hold a baby parrot, a tortise, tarantuala, pet an alligator and a sugar glider as well as a huge boa constrictor. Lusted after the cool cameleons they had for sale and marvelled at the cute bearded dragons that they were selling.
After all that, went back to my cousin's place and my aunt and uncle came over, and we ordered pizza and hung out with Wylie. After dinner SC and her bf came over and we spent 4 hours playing Rock Band. Most addictive game EVER. We played til late at night and went to bed. I slept like a rock and dreamt about concerts and reptiles.
Meg woke us up again with Wylie on Sunday morning and we went out for breakfast at Cora's before heading home... my part of the drive was great... sunny, dry, easy. Dave's part wasn't quite so great.... he got to drive through Toronto during the massive snow storm that only was hitting the west side of the city... but we got through that and back to london by about 6:15... not too bad. I didn't stay there long before heading home to my own house, which didn't take too long even with the blowy snow that was happening.
If I had taken any pictures this weekend, I would post them... but I didn't really manage to get my camera out at all. I'm waiting on SC to send me pictures from her camera....
It's been really warm here lately. Well, warm for January anyway. We had a thaw earlier in this week that resulted in lots of flooding and fun things like that.
I remember when I was a kid, the spring thaw was a great reason to get the rubber boots on, complete with shopping bags over the feet because the rubber boots leaked, and got out to the "back forty" (as my brother calls it) and proceed to play in the water.
These are the things that parenting magazines warn people against. Imagine it! Sending 2 kids, maybe 3 out to play in the spring run off. It's uncertain how deep the creek is and how cold the water really may be.
My brother and I had all kinds of strange spring time rituals. Remember now - we grew up in the country with 50 acres of land to explore. My dad had this GIANT styrofoam block that was used for target practice that had developed a few crevaces in. James and I would take this giant block to the back yard and proceed to try to sit on top of it and not fall in the water.
Or what about the times we would dare each other to walk across the deep ditch in the front yard and see who fell in. The hole isn't that deep now (probably only about 2.5 feet at most) but when I was only 4 feet tall this was immense!!! Until the ice blocking the culvert in the hole thawed we had our very own icy cold mud pool!!!
Other odd things we did included "filtering" and drinking the run off water. I think old hoses and coffee filters were employed. Pretty disgusting when you stop to consider it's mostly farmland nearby and I'm sure we were ingesting loads of E.Coli bacteria. Amazing we never got sick.
Another super exciting thing that happens in the spring (and I speak in the present tense because it still excites me) is when the park in Glen Allan floods. I drive past the park every day on my way to work, and I have to admit that the sight of the river flowing way over it's edges had me stopping to take pictures. A few times in my life the river has over flown into the park and the water has sat there for some time, coming to just past my knees (I know this because I ventured into the murky water to investigate).
I wish sometimes that I was still a kid and could go outside and play in the water. But then I remember that I don't LIKE being cold and wet and would much rather cosy up in my bed and read a good book. -- alanna foell : professional photographer : www.afphotography.cjb.net
Ice Cream - also includes gelato and sorbets. Donuts, danishes, tarts, squares, pastries, cookies.
Puddings and stuff like that too.
I'm still debating whether muffins are going on that list or not. I really really like the muffins at Williams. Maybe I'll set a limit of 1 per week. That should be enough to get me through.
This will not be that hard, I've done it before. It's only 2 months. I did it before for 3.
I promised to start writing more often... not sure what else to write about so I'll write about my pains...
Since christmas I've had this bizarre pain in my pelvic/kidney area, and I have no idea what it is. I've been to the doctor and had a few different tests done. The doctor's called me back yesterday and told me to come in and find out my results.
This is the part I hate. I know there is something wrong with me. And I want to know what it is. But at the same time, I don't really. Cuz then I have to deal with it. But I guess dealing with it is better than continuing to feel pain in my side without reasonable explanation.
It's been a long time since I posted anything and I feel kinda bad about that.
I could come up with a tonne of excuses about why I haven't updated my blog, but really it comes down to the fact that I more or less forgot!!
I haven't decided on a new years resolution yet, maybe it will be to get back to my posting, one post a day. Not sure what I'll write about, but the idea of even getting one small idea out there is probably better than going a whole month without writing anything at all.
Christmas and New Years were good. I worked a lot over the holidays with only christmas day and the 27th off. Actually, wait, no, I had the 29th off as well and the 1st. I guess I'm lying. It seemed like I worked a lot, but really I just worked a lot on the days that I would rather have been doing nothing or spending time with family. Speaking of spending time with family, I went to Toronto after working Boxing Day and hung out with my cousins, including my Australian half-cousin Jonathan. He and his girlfriend are here visiting for something like 6 weeks.
And guess what he brought me for xmas : TIM TAMS! Boo Ya!!
Christmas was good present-wise. Highlights included my snowboard (which wasn't a surprise, because I picked it out and paid for it hahah), a tassimo coffee maker, tickets to see Mars Volta in Jan, and the mango slicer I specifically asked my cousin Meg to get me. I also go a bunch of I fully intend to post pictures of these things if I can figure out a way to put html coding into my email posts.
New years was an adventure as well. I've found the last few years when I go out for new years I've had a great time. This year we went to Sartaj's place in Toronto and had a potluck type party. We played some drinking games and random people stopped in. The funniest part was at 11:36 when some of the people there left to go to Nathan Philips Square we (Dave, Dave, Christian, Sartaj, Ange and Me) decided that maybe we'd go too. But first we had to do a tequila shot and then get ready and by the time we go out the door it was 11:47 and thus we had to RUN to our destination, which was a city block over and 2 up... and incase everyone wasn't already aware, doing shots and then running (especially when you're not in the habit of running in general) is not fun. It's painful and probably life threatening. We made it to the square in time to push our way into the crowd and hear "2.... 1.... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!" Afterwards we made our way back to Sartaj's place in the rain and then played some more drinking games before going to bed around 3:30.
Other than all that, I don't know what is new with me.
I promise to update more often. I know all you people missed me :P
