Sorkin'd

OK, so, I go on writer kicks. Most of the time it's actual writers - Palahniuk, Salinger, FItzgerald - but now it's a new one. TV writers! Right now there's a profoundly sad scene going on in an episode of The West Wing, which made me want to distract myself with something. And since I just finished a medium level of sudoku in 2:04, I felt this was the best place to put it.
I always loved The American President, since it came out in theatres in 1995 and my dad took me to see it. (No, I didn't get a lot of it then, but I still liked it.) It's one of those "always on TV" movies that I get a little excited about, even though I have it on DVD. More than one copy. Then I heard all about how great The West Wing is, but... well, I didn't think it'd be good enough for 13 year old me to enjoy. Now? Love. Love love love. I've burned through 3 seasons in about a month. I watched Studio 60 out of curiosity, and because I think Bradley Whitford is awesome. Now I just can't get enough. I know it's a completely idealized liberal white house setting in the West Wing, but whatever. It's fucking television. Isn't that the point? Some of it's too emotional, and some of it's just ludicrous, but it's damn enjoyable. Way to go, Sorkin. Way to go. If you're into ridiculous melodramatic white house shenanigans, it will also be for you.
Oh, and Oral Roberts died. I'd say finally, but I guess that's disrespectful. Good for him for believing in something, even if it was offensive and frustrating.

Best. Present. Ever.

So, uh, this is probably the best thing anyone could buy for anyone else. Yes, my friends, this is a TAUNTAUN SLEEPING BAG. Note the sweet already-there pillow, lightsaber zipper, and [I quote] "printed guts lining." AMAZING. Between this and the Darth Vader toaster, I would be the happiest girl in the world.

Edit: Adding a couple more amazing finds. Darth Vader slippers and DV digital clock. Fucking rad. Slippers size small; they'll be a little big but I can deal with it.

Stuff.

Like most relatively normal people, my house is full of crap. I've moved countless times in the past few years and I get rid of stuff every time, but man. I still have a lot of junk.

There's the usual litany of childhood relics. Books I loved (Annabel Lee, A Little Princess) but never read anymore. Cards from my 2nd birthday. A million pictures of my dog. These are things that I'll eventually have to part with, but until it becomes absolutely necessary they're moving with me. Report cards, love letters, the usual bullshit beginning-of-the-relationship notes and scrawlings about work meetings on napkins that remind me of a specific day or memory. I'm pretty sure this is something other people do. Right?

But I realized today that while most of these little old relationship reminders are hidden in piles of papers and tucked into books as placeholders, there are a few that stand out in the open. As much as this might be a TMI moment, this came to me today when I got dressed and noticed that I still have a pair of underwear from a 3-pack of an old boyfriend I lived with. (No, I'm not saying who.) We bought them at Wal-Mart or something, he took 2 pairs and gave me the third. I don't remember why - I can actually go for about 2 months without running out of clean underwear, not like I was desperate for a new pair or anything - but it struck me as cute and kind of silly and I kept them. They make me smile and think of the little things he used to do for me. He had a knack for pissing me off (often on purpose because he thought I should lighten up) and always knew how to catch me off-guard with some stupid little gesture (like the underwear thing). It struck me that he also gave me a little troll doll (why were those things ever popular?!) carrying a flag that sits out on a shelf with my favorite lamp. Beside that is another weird Jamaican hot sauce doll (you'd have to see it to understand, even I don't really get it) from another guy I was with for a while.

Then I looked around the rest of my living room.. whoa. band posters on my walls, more lamps (also remembered that I never use any of my lamps...), random pieces of art, foreign cigarette packages, hats, toys. Things I would definitely have thrown out ages ago, were it not for the way I think about the men who made me so happy with them at the time. I'm not super cluttered; maybe because I have a bigger apartment now so I can spread this shit around, but I don't feel like I'm at that hoarder stage. So is it weird that I keep all this ex stuff? Is it weirder that I didn't notice until today? Funny, right now I just remembered that this was part of a plotline in a How I Met Your Mother episode. Are you supposed to get rid of ex stuff after a relationship's over?

FACT.

Places I could drive that are about the same distance away as Halifax:
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Chesapeake, Virginia
Dayton, Ohio

...all of which sound like way more fun. Less than the distance to Halifax:
New York City, New York
Boston
Philadelphia
Washington

...even better.

Saturday night, 6pm. Trying to decide if I should finally get dressed and do some of the 8 billion loads of laundry hanging out in my bedroom. I think it's time.

Tonight, Tonight

In case you're wondering what I've been doing with my ever-precious time, here are a few answers.

I'm in school, or at least registered in classes that I occasionally attend. I dropped one more today. Why do I suck at school?

Working more: I love it, my wallet loves it, but it's turning me into (more of) an alcoholic. I do love my work people though.

I found every episode of Law & Order online. Nerdy? Yes. Essential to my knowledge of the character development of Lennie Briscoe? Absolutely.

I've watched this about 8 times, trying to get the Russian down word-for-word to the English text. I know the first page or so of this book by heart, and I wish I could read Russian to see how it plays in Nabokov's first language. The thing about this dude is that he speaks English as a third language, and he has a vocabulary waaaaay beyond anything I can ever dream of having. (How's that for an awkward sentence? But you get my point.)


Found a tumblr blog randomly, I think from The Superficial, and I'm reading through archives. Kindacarsick, if you're interested. Hipster alert, but in a fairly un-irritating way.

I'm thinking about going to New York for Christmas instead of back out East. I figure I'm only there for a few days, I'll see a few people and stress out about the people who I don't have time/the schedule to see, and it's hella expensive... then again, Manhattan on Christmas day will probably be quiet and boring. Maybe good for wandering around and taking pretty pretty quiet(ish) New York pictures though. Any input is appreciated.

Hymn For the Newly Departed

I'll put something better here when I'm not trying to navigate a weird french keyboard, but for now here's a video of a bunch of people I am very fond of when they made a music video. I was in town for the original date of the shoot, but they had to switch the date. Balls. Anyway. Enjoy.

birthdays.

One's a day late, and one's a couple days early, but it's birthday weekend for 2 of my very best girls.


This one's been kicking around a while, and I can't get through a day without talking to her at least 4 times. Thanks for being as big a weirdo as me, and leaving me fantastic messages I always listen to at least twice. (The first time I'm usually laughing.) Here's to many, many more years of watching ridiculous movies and trying to fake our way through the classics.





You might hate this picture, but it sums up some of the best times we've had. Pushing the questions of our burgeoning alcoholism aside, we've never lived in the same city but always manage to stay in touch.I can say anything and you always manage to know exactly what I'm talking about, even when I figure it's such an obscure irritation or love of something that no one could possibly share. We're older, and you're probably wiser, than when we met, but I think the basic idea of 2 awesome girls who love good times has stayed the same.

xoxo!

on repeat

It's old, but it's so good that I don't care.

Welcome Back, Kotter!

Okay. It’s been a while. Backing up, I went to New York and had an amazing time. We walked for days, met some (ahem) interesting people, ate some great food, and saw some really fucking cool shit. (Taco Bell and late night drunken McDonalds aside, of course.) One thing I’d never done before was the NBC studio tour; it was a lot more historical than I thought it would be, but super neat. We saw Brian Williams’ set (!!! See above photo, of course) and checked out the SNL studio, took a ton of cheesy pictures, and accidentally flirted with tour guides. (Sort of accidentally.) This was also when I decided I am officially too old to be doing shots. At 22, I’m hitting that “I’m too old for this shit” Murtaugh stage. Sad? Maybe. But don’t worry; I’m not quite ready to be a responsible grownup yet. A pleasant mid-20s limbo will suit me just fine for the next few years.
Last week – wait, 2 weeks ago – I went out East. It was great to see a bunch of people, but I didn’t get to see everyone I would have liked and even those I did get to see felt a little rushed. Some of my closest friends were unavailable during the only times I could see them (people I know who have kids in Halifax, when I was only free in the evenings because of family and work stuff; people in Moncton who were working nonstop), which sucked. It was bad timing for me to be down there, but family reasons made it the only time I could go and not get yelled at by my mother. Very few people have met her, and those who have are generally unnerved and/or a little scared of her. This afternoon I had a scary dream about her, actually. So I know that the rules dictate I do not cross her. She was already ticked that I wasn’t staying in Chester with her for more than a day, I wasn’t going to risk anymore of that animosity by changing the dates I was coming down to not coincide with her vacation. Like anyone who knows the feeling of having to visit home, it was alternatively stressful, frustrating, pleasant, boring, and filled with days of trying to hide every bad habit I have. I was glad to get home.

Chester, last summer. Pretty. Too quiet.

For the past 6 months or so I’ve been borrowing (yeah, borrowing) internet from my upstairs neighbor. She doesn’t know well enough to lock her network, what does she expect, right? Problem is, now she’s moved to the Bahamas to marry some old friend of hers and work for a windsurfing company or something, and now I need to make a decision about my internet. While this may seem like a simple thing to deal with, I’m completely wrapped up in it. I could get digital cable with a PVR receiver that lets me record shows that I’m out for, and watch them whenever I want. Think of all the Law and Order and Simpsons episodes I can’t download that would become available to me! I’m not a big TV person, in the watching-it-for-lack-of-something-better-to-do sense, but at the same time it’s something I can see being a really fucking enjoyable luxury. Also would decrease the need for me to have super high bandwidth and a large download allowance. I can get this package for roughly the same that I was paying before for basic cable and internet that didn’t even work well with my router, so it’s pretty tempting. On the other hand, I can just get a really high speed connection for probably less money and use that to download whatever I want to watch, which is what I’ve been doing for the past few years anyway. But then there’s news programming, and hockey games, and shows that are un-downloadable. Then there are a bunch of contracts that are involved in all these deals, which is even more confusing. Yeah, this is probably only interesting to me, but if anyone’s got insight I would love to hear about it. I want to make this decision as quickly as possible, because going to the café down the street for hours at a time is starting to get old.
I registered for some classes today. I basically went through and quickly registered for anything that looked interesting that had availability. My registration days opened up back in April, but I couldn’t finish paying off my tuition from last semester until the end of July so I couldn’t go for anything. I know I really need to get a bunch of prerequisites out of the way, but I also want to really think about if I should switch my degree from English and history to just history. Today I downloaded the requirements, I think I remember what credits I have, and I’ll see what I can do in the least amount of time. As it is, I think I might have some interesting classes if I can stick with some of the current choices. Maybe a shitty schedule, but whatever. I’m also thinking of getting more work – I know that part of the reason I completely lost interest last semester is that I just wasn’t busy enough. I’m used to working part/full-time, going to school full time, and keeping myself busy; when I don’t, I get totally lethargic (and stop using words like lethargic, opting for 2 syllables or less). I think the number of semicolons in this show my renewed enthusiasm in being productive and not as brain dead. I hope it works.
Ooh. Back to TV, it’s Mad Men day! Season 3 starts tonight. Tomorrow morning I’ll be at the Concordia library by 8:30 to find a streaming link and watch. If it’s anything like last night, I’ll be passed out by 9:30. PARTY.
(Posting this morning, that is exactly what happened.)

Reee-mix

I'm pretty sure 2/3 of the people who check this were on this trip, but still.

That is Meredith's fancy picture from the Brooklyn Bridge; I had a dead camera and a fear of bridges, so I didn't go up as far as they did. Even though it rained for the first day, we had an amazing time. I drank too much and enjoyed the company of random cowboys, but still had a blast. One of the best birthdays ever.
I leave for Halifax tomorrow morning at 11. I'm trying to get to the airport via the STM for the first time ever, because I totally don't trust it, but since I leave hideously early anyway I figure I'll be okay. I'm leaving my house at 7:40 to get to the airport by (theoretically) 9:04, which leaves an hour for fuck-ups on my end and on the metro/bus' end as well.
I'm totally going to do the 5 favorite places thing, but I think I'm going to wait until I'm on the plane tomorrow. Or in the airport, I hear they're fancy and have electrical outlets these days. For now, I need to get cash to pay my rent and probably do 8 million loads of laundry and dishes so my apartment isn't super depressing at messy when I come home next week. What will help get this party started?

(I don't know, it got in my head earlier and now I can't stop. And this is the only decent video that I can embed, sorry for the shitty quality/random editing of "questionable" language.)

north american scum

I'm leaving for New York tomorrow morning, for my birthday. With some amazing friends. It's going to be wonderful (even the 8 hour bus ride is going to be great), and I'm stoked to drink copious amounts of champagne on Wednesday. I actually have a note on my computer saying "blog post: 5 favorite places in NY" that's been there since October that I never got around to writing...I guess that'll be done when I get home on Thursday. Right now it's time to clean my apartment and pack and give up on the procrastination I've been honing for the past few days.

Passive Aggressivity

Oh man. I love Passive Aggressive Notes. I really do. Some of them are just the funniest things in the world, and some are ridiculous, and some are just pathetic... but they're just about all super entertaining. A recent entry included this gem, from a string of p-a facebook status updates. It made me laugh. Out loud, as the internet is saying these days. I'm uploading it from the Flickr stream from the site, check it out if you're as amused as I am. (They're not all this sad/pathetic, but they are almost all this snarky.)

O Captain! My Captain!

It's Patrick Stewart's 69th birthday today. Here's to the best damned captain Starfleet has ever known. (Yeah. I said it.) In honor of Capt. Picard, I bought a new pair of jeans. And I watched this a couple times.

Weather Fail

PostCrazy

Get it? Like PostSecret? But mine's just about the fact that this is post #3 in 24 hours. GO INTERNET.
When it's this sticky and gross out, I tend to stay inside and avoid dealing with gross sweatiness outside unless completely necessary. (Side note: someone just knocked at my door at 8:30 on a Sunday night. Am I alone in refusing to answer the door unless I know someone's coming over?) That equals a lot of internet party time.
I've been having nightmares about secrets coming out, and just nightmares in general a lot in the past few days. Do you think that means anything? I generally fall into the "dream interpretation is bullshit" camp. But I'm open to suggestions that will make me feel better.
Since I know a few people who read this when they're at work and need something to do, let me throw a few things out there for more time-wasting fun.
Slate's Top 25 Bushisms of All Time. Still makes me giggle.
If you're a fan of JD Salinger and have read Franny & Zooey, I suggest this short review by John Updike from 1961. Simply because he's kind of an ass.
I don't know if these are as funny if you don't watch 30 Rock, but here's everything Tracy Jordan said in Season 3, completely out of context (and still hilarious).
Top 10 Food & Drink Hacks from LifeHacker.
World's Weirdest Animal Babies!
...enjoy.

Future of the Left - Travels with Myself and Another

Do yourself a favor and buy this record. My friend Anna introduced me to this band last year, when we went to New York to see them play with Against Me! and Ted Leo & the Pharmacists. The band's live show is fucking electric. I don't think I've ever been that taken with an artist or group on a first listen before. I've gotten pretty lazy about music in the past couple years; I still listen to my favorite albums from 5 years ago, and only buy records from bands I know that I'd like to support or records I know I'm going to love because I've already heard 'em before. Luckily, I have audiophile friends who push great music on me and some of that great music naturally enters into my collection. Some people might know part of the band from Mclusky, a band I'd never heard of until trying to understand where the hell FotL came from. The album's aggressive and a little odd, but completely worth listening the whole way though (and the whole way through a second, and third, time).
Here's Future of the Left on Myspace if you're curious.
Edit: here's the video for The Hope That House Built. I don't get it, but I still like it.

...and just like that, I lost my head.

Cheating. It's one of those things that carries such a huge stigma, and deservedly so. But it's also one of the most universal experiences in the world. Cheating and betrayal, which someone told me recently was "the one experience everyone can relate to." Now, before you try and talk me off a ledge, this isn't something that I'm particularly affected by right now, but it's just been cropping up in a few conversations lately and I've been thinking about it. I've been on every end of it; I've been cheated on, repeatedly. I cheated on my boyfriend, in retaliation for his infidelity (not the most mature response). I've been the girl that guys cheat on their girlfriends with. That one's the worst. Besides the self-loathing that comes with the package, you've got to worry about the other person finding out and punching you in the face. But sometimes the temptation is irresistible.
A few years ago, I was in a pretty unhealthy relationship. It was fun for a while, and then it was work, but I didn't want to give up because I was not that person. I was not the person who got invested in something and then just walked away, even when I knew it was the best thing for both of us. I think on some level neither one of us wanted to let the other down, and that's why it lasted for a year and a half longer than it should have. He wanted to be the boyfriend he thought I needed, and I wanted to change him so that he didn't end up dead in 5 years from an overdose or alcohol poisoning. Eventually, instead of deciding that it would be a good idea for us to go our separate ways, we moved in together. Millions of complications later, I found out that he'd cheated on me. And I proceeded to have a months-long affair with someone I worked with.
It wasn't just the thrill of knowing we could get caught at any point that kept it going. It was the basic idea that neither of us were getting what we wanted or needed out of our respective relationships, and while we did not want to be together in any real sense we also didn't want to risk being alone again. (unrelated: just found a sesame seed on my knee. can't remember the last time there was something with sesame seeds in my kitchen, and apparently I need to clean my cupboards.) I don't regret it. I regretted it when his girlfriend found out, I regretted it when I had to work with her almost every day for another month, and I probably felt bad for her for a little while. Not as bad as if she hadn't told me about the guys she'd been fucking for the past year of their relationship, but I did feel bad. We weren't friends, but we had a cordial relationship that worked smoothly. What I mean is that it was something that really did help me grow, and made me realize that I needed to be alone for a while. I had to get over that fear of not coming home to someone, or having someone to balance out the crazy in me when I get a wild idea. And I put up with a hell of a lot less now, which is also significant. Of course, I haven't really been in a relationship since that last boyfriend, which was almost 2 years ago now. I'm a little worried that I might finally understand too much about people, that really being happy with someone else is incredibly rare and complicated and hard to sustain. But I think I'm finally willing to try.
Edit: here's an article from today's New York Times about how marriages in the US are stronger than you'd think.

Keeping up appearances

Tonight, I couldn't sleep. I went to a barbecue this afternoon that got a little crazy, I went home, and had a nap. When I woke up, I could still feel the sticky 30 degree day on me (at writing time, 2:11am, it's still 26...an hour ago it was 29), so I took a shower. As much as I love showers at 11pm, they have the (generally fortunate) side effect of waking me up.
I digress. What I meant to say is hi, how are you, hope the kids are good, and I'm trying to be adventurous with this extra time of mine and changing things up here on this ol' internet web page thing. Patience, friends - hopefully I can get it looking neato soon. Just have to remember how to fuck around with HTML again first.

I'm trying to watch the Sopranos. Obviously it's groundbreaking and brilliant and blah blah blah, but I just can't get into it. Maybe it's because I'm using really old crappy quality .avi files, but this is the second or third time I've tried to watch it and I just get distracted. If anyone loves this show, tell me when I should just give up (I'm on episode 3 now), because I'm going to persevere and try to get through at least 6 episodes before I call it quits. So far it's just been a lot of stuff about ducks. And then someone gets killed. And there's some weird 60s music. That's all I've gotten so far.
I've been looking for a good edition of Trivial Pursuit for a few years now, and a few weeks ago a lovely friend of mine picked up the 80s Master Edition for me at a second-hand store. Since then, I've spent hours just reading the cards. I take a handful on the metro with me and test myself, seeing how many answers I can get. As always, I suck at the sports questions, I'm decent at politics, and I do well in music and news stories. I have noticed that there are a few reliable answers that I can fall back on:
-hockey questions are almost always Wayne Gretzky.
-anything about cars, and the car business, is Lee Iacocca.
-piano or musician questions are, 2/3 times, Liberace.
-anything about scandal? totally Iran-Contra.
There you go. Now you know the secret to me winning at this game for the rest of my life. I love board games. I love playing them, probably because I'm pretty good at it. My Achilles Heel is Risk; I refuse to play ever again. I am TERRIBLE and it is stress city. I've been trying to find a copy of A Question of Scruples for a while as well, but with no luck so far (if anyone ever sees one, plz pick it up and I will totally pay you back!). My best friend and I used to play it all the time growing up, and it always made me giggle. It's not even that great of an exercise in board game prowess, but the hypothetical situations those writers have come up with are hilarious. If you're unfamiliar with the game, it's basically a bunch of cards with "morally questionable" situations on them. Each player has 5 "question" cards (example: "You are walking down the street and a blind man in front of you drops a $5 bill. Do you stop him and give it back?") and 1 answer card with Yes, No, or Depends on it. The cards are read to another player that will hypothetically answer with a yes, no, or depends - you choose the person you're asking based on the answer card (y/n/d) you've got in your hand at that point. For example, if someone who knew me pretty well had that card, they'd ask me if they had a "no" answer card, and they'd ask a nun if they had a "yes" answer card. Get it? It's awesome. I don't know why it slays me so much, but it does, and if you ever get a chance to play I suggest you do it. If you get it for me for my birthday in a couple months, you can even come over and play with me.
This city is getting a lot nicer again. I love Montreal springtimes. Everyone decides that it's time to get outside, which (ignoring the assholes and inconsiderate idiots who don't understand how to walk/drive/bike) is pleasant. This is the 2-month window before it gets unbearably hot, so I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible. I've got friends coming into town next weekend, then I'm hopefully off to Toronto the next weekend for NXNE. I'm not big on music festivals, but I realized that I've gone up this time of year for the past 3 years and I want to see some of the delightful people I know. It's unlikely that I'll be around again this summer, and this might be the trip I take instead of going back East again. I have many reasons to go back there, but right now I'm just not in the mood to deal with it. Funny how one person can ruin an entire trip, but I don't want to see that happen. Keeping it light and fun is the way to go, and I know that won't happen this time. That means I'm going to have to encourage everyone I like to come up here, but I think it's worth it. Besides, who doesn't want to take a trip to Montreal? That's right. No one.

Lazy Sunday

No Chronicles of Narnia, but I've got a good Sunday routine down these days: cleaning, laundry in the evening, getting some groceries, making something delicious with said groceries, and listening to NPR podcasts. Tonight I'm adding in some dep wine, because I'm classy.
My very very good friend Ellen graduated from McGill's Schulich School of Music on Friday. I learned all kinds of things, and had others confirmed for me.
Learned:
There's a pretty small grad class for the music school, probably every year, and it's full of music jokes that most of the audience didn't always get.
Parents are jerks with their cameras and will step in front of you at every oppertunity.
People do not understand the direction "keep out of the aisles during the ceremony."
Confirmed:
Someone always doesn't turn off their phone, and there is a muffled ring at some point.
Even in convocation speeches, universities will still ask for money.
Bagpipers are always funny-looking in pictures. Sorry, dudes.
Beyond all of this, it was pretty nice. Not too long, and afterward we took some cheesy pictures and drank lots of wine (ok, *I* drank lots of wine). Here we are at the reception:

And here is Ellen with one of my favourite music schoolers (former music schoolers now), Nick Davis (never just Nick, always Nick Davis):

I have about 20 pictures from Ellen's harp recital featuring Nick in that classy pose. I'm a huge fan. Ellen left today for Toronto; on Friday, she's playing Nick's wedding. Before she left she and her roommates moved into a brand new lovely apartment, and yesterday we did some cleaning and moving around while blasting Down At The Khyber. It inspired me to grab some new cleaning supplies and go to town at my place as well. I didn't, of course, but I totally plan to in a few minutes. I think that some of the new cleaners (biodegradable!) that I bought are the most exciting purchase of the past month. Does anyone else get excited about buying new things for cleaning? I don't know, I just find very few things as satisfying as a really clean and fresh new sponge or mop. Lovely!
...I need a job.
Happy Sunday!

WELL!

So. I guess I've been doing this for over a year, and I wasted my 1 year anniversary on a whiny rant. Well played, Victoria.
I still don't know what this whole thing is about. I thought that if I kept it up, eventually I'd come up with some sort of theme. I didn't. I think I'm okay with that. Random updates are pretty fun anyway, right guys?
I'm working tonight, at the school bar again. I guess it's just "the bar" now. I usually save "the bar" for the bar down the street that I frequented nonstop when I first moved here, and still stop by occasionally, but I think the past year has bumped Reggie's up to #1. I keep having strange encounters with regulars I don't remember. Yesterday, for example, I went in to get my new phone pimped out (hey! I got a blackberry thanks to an amazing girl in Moncton and now I can't stop playing with it!) and after talking to the dude who was taking care of me for about 5 minutes he asked me if I was hitting up Reggie's tonight. Apparently he thought I remembered him, even though I was just being my ebullient (nice word, amirite?!) self. Then I felt kind of guilty. But he hooked me up with some sweet dealz, and I just promised that I'd buy him a drink sometime.
I keep accidentally deleting things on the phone, but now I'm starting to get the hang of it. I've progressed to adding music and playlists on there, so when I'm heading downtown or out somewhere with a specific purpose and probably just want some music for the metro ride I don't need to bring an iPod with me. Convenient!
The shitty side to working tonight is that I'm missing out on Joel Plaskett. I looooove JP shows, and an old close friend plays in his band, and I was super looking forward to this show. Unfortunately, my desperate financial situation has warranted choosing work over funtimes. I think we're still meeting up for dinner and/or breakfast tomorrow morning, but there's nothing like listening to a crowd singing along to True Patriot Love, Down at the Khyber, or Love This Town in Halifax. There aren't many times when I really miss that city, but listening to that song along with a few hundred displaced Maritimers and superfans is one of them. I think it's probably a lot like hearing One Great City! in Winnipeg. Except, you know, less ironic. I think I have a soft spot for JP because my first real relationship started with glances at each other at a couple of his shows, and the next few years included a lot of stupid inside jokes about Joel and his songs. And, of course, many more shows. He's an artist that I will always associate with one person, which really sucked when we broke up (ahem, each and every time we broke up) but mostly just leaves me with fond memories now.
I'm doing laundry for the first time since I came back from Moncton. I feel like a bit of a dirtbag. I really want to wear my new green-with-white-polka-dots summery halter top to work, but I think I need to fight that urge. First, I'd probably spill shit all over it. Second, it's a little ridiculous looking and the only way I think it'll really work on me is with a pair of denim capris and silly heels. I can't pull these things off. I buy lovely clothes sometimes, and then realize that most of them just plain don't suit me. Ah well, a sale is a sale and I'll find somewhere to wear it. When the mood strikes, and it's something do-able (i.e. I'm going somewhere that does not require me to bend over constantly) it's nice to have interesting clothing. I'll let you know if such occasions ever actually occur.
For now, here's a little of what most of us are missing tonight. I'm going to fold, and then try on 5 or 6 shirts and end up going with the first one.

Unsatisfied.

Oh, xkcd. You are pretty brilliant.

Today is one of those days where I feel like throwing a tantrum on the floor and screaming about how nothing is fair anymore. Instead, I will drink some tea, think about going for a run but decide that it's too wet/slippery/dirty/cold/early/daylighted to do it, and listen to sad bastard music.
Then I will try and find a job, because that is something I have control over.
/rant. Sorry, this isn't supposed to be some whiny wah-wah-wah livejournal type bullshit blog, but sometimes I need an outlet.
In other news, I found out about this film today. William Shatner stars in the only full-length, completely Esperanto film ever made? SOLD. If anyone knows where I can find this movie, please please PLEASE let me know. Props to NPR's Wait Wait..Don't Tell Me for keeping my head filled with useless trivia and current events stories every week. If you're a podcast type person, I'd highly recommend it. It has its slow moments, but for the most part it's totally worthwhile. Plus, it reminds you of news you missed and gives you some great little anecdotal news stories to pass out at parties and awkward gatherings.

Christmas TV

it's ok to have scars, they will make you who you are
it's ok to have fear, as long as you're not scared of going here
and in the middle of the night just call if you wanna talk
because you know that I'll want to talk too
it's not bad if you two think of what might go wrong
but you can't blame me for secretly hoping that I'll prove you wrong
it's ok that I pray that you will miss your flight
and have to stay with me for one more night
it is brutal, it's brutal why can't you see
it's brutal, it's brutal, where have you been
because we're far apart and my lonely heart finds it hard to get through the night

I've been listening to this song almost on constant repeat for the past day. Here's the Last.FM link, and here's their myspace if you want to listen to it. I heard it in a great scene from the Chuck season finale and I totally had tears in my eyes by the end of it (yeah, I'm sappy and get emotional at well-crafted television scenes. whatever.). Pretty. They're playing here in August, and I want to go.

Fucking AMAZING.

Wow.

Now this is dedication. As a capper for this, a lovely Star Trek week, I give you a story. It's about a man. He's got 26 tattoos...about Star Trek. He's got 3 sons...named after the captains from TOS, TNG, and DS9. How some woman agreed to marry this dude is beyond me. But I am impressed.

...STOP! Noodle time.

There..Are...Four...Lights!

I'm in Moncton. I had a sketchy breakfast sandwich that turned out to be kind of delightful, from a crazy-sounding woman at a little sub shop around the corner from my friends' house. No Star Trek movie yet, but hopefully it will happen this weekend.
Let's start off with a little Patrick Stewart, something everyone needs first thing in the morning:

Ahh, that's better. Now, for your daily trekkage, here's a collection of some of the best Star Trek (TOS) t-shirts. EN-JOY.

Trek Week...Almost as good as Shark Week.

From the ever-talented RStevens at Diesel Sweeties.

May the Fourth be with you

That's right. I Star Wars punned the date. But it IS Star Wars day, so you can't really blame me. But guess what? It's also the beginning of what is, unofficially, Star Trek WEEK, so this post is dedicated to the hotness that is Star Trek:TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, and even that sometimes-trainwreck Enterprise. So, if you want to get a little taste of ST madness, read this article from the geniuses at AV Club. It's called "Space-racism is bad: And 17 other not-so-subtle lessons learned from Star Trek." I'm pretty stoked about it. If that's not enough for you, here's a link to yesterday's Cake Wrecks post, featuring awesomely well-crafted Star Trek deliciousness.
WANT.
I'll update with a few more Trekkish favourites over the next few days, until I head to Moncton on Thursday. I'm pretty stoked for that trip, for a variety of reasons, but mostly to have hugs and eat noodles with Kate and CM.

Checkit

These pictures are so fucking cool. Wow.

Plz!

So guys! My birthday is in less than 3 months, and I know that has the internet thinking, "Whoa..what should I get her?". So I want this shirt. I forgot about it until tonight when I was clicking through DinosaurComics archives and came across the comic that inspired it. Love.

Tuesday's Grey & Wednesday Too

Finally, some rain. Yesterday I turned into a lobster, but not one of the cute ones. One of the ones that are randomly striped and have shadows of the palest white possible, alternating with super-redness everywhere else. I like spring and summer rain days. It's nice and warm, but not too hot, and it really clears the air and makes the next day that much better. Also, today was Homemaker Day! Started with some puppy-sitting, some walking around in the rain, and then home for breakfast and baking.
Something I've really gotten into since I moved here is cooking; I've been trying to make at least a few meals from scratch every week instead of relying on the plethora of take-out and deliciously simple ready-to-eat options at the stores around here. Soon, my typical day consisted of bagels, pasta, and some random Indian food (or Persian, or Trinidadian, or Jamaican..). Trying to remedy this while I've got time on my hands by making a lot more food from scratch. I want to get back out to the market at Jean Talon sometime this week if I can to grab a ton of fresh vegetables, fruit and cheese. My theory is this: if it's in the fridge, and I've spent a fair amount of money on it, I'll have to eat it, right?
The grocery store across the street is kind of a shithole. Not the best selection, first of all, and definitely not quality produce. But it's convenient and I hit it up at least once every two days (I don't really go get groceries that often anymore - I pick up what I'm thinking of using for the next day or two instead. That means I've gotten to know pretty much every employee there, and I'm sure they think I'm a little nuts.) I got some bananas to use in smoothies that weren't the best, and since I had a few laying around still I decided to make some really simple banana muffins with a mocha almond crumble topping. I love to bake, but I'm not really big on *eating* the baked goods... so Ellen and her roommates sometimes get generous bags of cookies and stuff from me whenever I do.
I decided to use up the peppers, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and celery that have been sitting in my fridge for the past few days. For lunch I made a little pizza (called my mom for her whole wheat anise pizza crust.. pretty delicious). Now I'm finishing up a super simple pasta sauce, with the rest of the aforementioned vegetables and some onions, garlic, a can of tomatoes, and some broth. Not super hungry yet, but I've made enough sauce to freeze for another day anyway. Besides, I'm a big fan of small meals often, so this should work out for a while.
I'm assuming that it's okay to chop up a bunch of fruit and freeze it in portions, right? I like making smoothies in the morning, but some days I just forget or don't do it or whatever and I figure that freezing cubed strawberries and mangoes and the like would be a more economical way of doing it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
On a completely unrelated note, whenever I go to the pharmacy I have a look at the ibuprofen section to see if there's any extra-strength around. I could never find it anywhere in Quebec, which was a little puzzling. I mentioned that to a friend today who told me to look it up. Finally found a line on the Advil Canada website, noting that extra-strength Advil is found in blah blah blah except for in Quebec where it is behind the counter. Behind the counter! What the hell, Quebec. Advil's too dangerous to give out in 400mg doses, but Tylenol's okay? When I'm in NB next week, I'm buying 5 bottles to bring back. I'm getting sick of taking 4 caplets every 4 hours when I'm headachey and cranky. If anyone has any more information about this little quirk, let me know.

Drag The River

What do you get when you throw together some of punk's all-stars like Jon Snodgrass, Chad Price, JJ Nobody from The Nobodys? A fucking serious alt-country band. Now, I'm not a fan of the label "alt-country," because they're just an amazing band with incredibly varied roots and an interesting sound. But that's the category iTunes files it under. What can you do. I've been listening to You Can't Live This Way since I finally got the whole album a couple weeks ago.
I got introduced to this band - specifically, to this record - late last year by a new friend who's got pretty great musical taste (and by that I mean that it mirrors mine pretty nicely). He sent me over a couple tracks, and every time I went into a record story for the past 6 months or so I've looked around to see if I can find anything by them. No dice. I've got a decent collection of All and Armchair Martian (side note:whenever I type Armchair Martian I still get the Ataris' Song For A Mix Tape in my head - "there was jawbreaker and armchair martian, built to spill and the descendents") and I've always thought both bands had strong lyrical content and super catchy tunes. This record totally blew me away though. It opens with Death of the Life of the Party, and consists straight-up danceable/hang out-able/rock out-able/play over and over-able songs from start to finish. These are classic drinking songs, folks. Lyrically the album is stellar. Lines in every song stick out for me, like the first time I heard Left & Leaving (okay, so no one's as crazy as JKS, but these guys know their shit). Lizzy is my personal favorite (can't find any live videos or anything of that one, that's a last.fm link). I think I fell in love with it from the unapologetic chorus: "I'm the kind of man your mama hates, I wouldn't blame you if you did too/if you think I wrote this song for you, you'd be wrong." Makes me dance in my seat on the metro a little too.
Anyway, 200% worth checking out. Seriously. When I was looking at tickets for that Old 97s show at Maxwell's in Jersey I saw that they're playing May 17th or 18th with Joey Cape for 10 bucks. If I've got a full-time, decent paying job by then I'll probably splurge and hit up NYC for the weekend. I can't really afford it, and I'll be taking the bus for 16 hours total to see 2 bands, but really.. I'm taking a train trip for about 35 hours for a show and a weekend with some amazing friends, so that's nothing.

Punk Rock Girl

This song gets in my head every once in a while, and it's impossible to get out. A couple months ago I was trying to remember where I found this comic, and of course it is from the ever talented Mitch Clem. I read Nothing Nice To Say daily for years. I think this was the first webcomic I got into, after someone left the url on Cathy's computer during ECMAs in 2003. Anyway, enjoy. Read some NN2S archives. Or, you know, just shout anarchy.

The Good Times Are Killing Me

I met this guy at a neighborhood bar in the summer of 2003. I'd been single for.. well, probably about 2 weeks, really. My boyfriend and I had been so on and off that I honestly can't remember when we really broke up for the last time, but I know that on my birthday that year we were more or less together. I was optimistic at the time, because I was still hopelessly in love with him, but I knew that he was seeing other people and I just wasn't the person he wanted to be with anymore. I held on for as long as I could, but when I was out with a newly formed group of very eclectic friends I had the strange new experience of really being "hit on" in a bar. I'd been pretty oblivious to that whole phenomenon in the past, because I'd always been there with my boyfriend and hadn't noticed if it had happened before. But this guy was sweet, he was cute, and he was interested in a way I was really not used to. He made me feel like the most important person in the room, which was a theme for the next couple of months. Anyone I'd been seeing before that was someone from work, or a friend first, and I never had the nervousness and excitement of getting to know someone from meeting out of the blue like that. Sure, we had mutual friends in the city - he was a musician in Halifax, I was..well, I knew musicians in Halifax - but it was a delicate and meaningful couple hours of conversation, compliments, and subtle touching of the hands that made it memorable. Even though it took me about 20 minutes to remember when exactly this was, I can remember our conversations and the first things he said to me. We slept together that night, but literally just slept together, completely clothed. I think I wanted to make him mean more than just a possible one night stand. The next morning started out awkward, but he insisted on taking me to breakfast at a cafe (the first time I ever saw a bagel with hummus on it, strangely enough). He held my hand as we walked across the commons, which I also thought was an incredibly sweet gesture. I didn't hear from him for a week or so, which started me on an obsessive thought process that I'm sure is common to all of us who fall for people too quickly. I mean, I'm not someone who starts planning my wedding after a couple dates or anything, but whenever I meet someone new all I want to do is talk to that person and have that series of Firsts. We went out a few more times, mostly making dinner and drinking too much wine at his place in front of a fire in September and October when Halifax gets that damp cold for the first time. He was sweet and charming, and I was overwhelmed. At the time, I was planning on leaving in a few months to move to Ireland, so things didn't get too serious and eventually we stopped calling each other. I met someone else, that got serious (even though it shouldn't have), and I ended up staying here. A few months later, he came back to that same neighborhood bar and sat down with my boyfriend and I. After an awkward few minutes of him trying to put his arm around me and his hand on my leg under the table, my poor boyfriend got the whole explanation and I took this guy aside and explained that I was now with someone else. The expression on his face was heartbreaking. He explained that the only reason he stopped calling me was that he thought I was going to be out of the country in a few weeks and he didn't want to get to like me any more than he already did. That was the first time I really hurt someone like that; it was completely inconsiderate and selfish and I hadn't given it a thought when I started seeing someone a couple weeks later. Even though I didn't know him all that well, it was a situation that has stuck with me for years. I ran into him only a couple more (awkward) times; I think he decided to start going somewhere else. I'm not narcissistic enough to think that it was entirely because of me, but I think I may have been a factor. When things started going downhill (and finally crashed at the bottom of the proverbial hill) with the boyfriend, I called him one more time. I got his answering machine. The outgoing message was recorded by a woman who was also living there, which made me hopeful that he was then happy with someone who wouldn't just let him fall to the side.
He sent me a message on the internet (the inter-what, you say?) today. It was simple, just saying hi and that he'd noticed something I'd posted to a friend a few days ago. But it made me think about all the people that get hurt unintentionally, and how much it really fucking blows.

Oh Oh Oh

Also, I just noticed that the Old 97s are playing in Philadelphia and just outside New York in June. Considering a road trip-type excursion, depending on my work status and possible days off. They're #1 on the list of bands I desperately want to see but haven't yet. If anyone's up for a jaunt, let me know.

Inventory

First of all, this is a list that I really like. I don't think I've posted it on here before. It's Romance Minus the Schmaltz: 29 Falling-in-Love Movies We Actually Believe In. A pretty great inventory of movies like Annie Hall, Eternal Sunshine, Roman Holiday... movies that are definitely "romances" but have other little quirks that makes them accessible, appealing, and sometimes very real. I especially like how the writers explain their choices; a quote about Brokeback Mountain, for example: "...anyone who’s ever been in a long-distance relationship can identify with the feeling that the time spent with a beloved partner is portioned off from everyday life—so sacred and rare that it’s almost unreal." Wall-E made this list too, so trust me when I say it's worth checking out. I love a lot of the writing over at the AV Club; Nathan Rabin is one of my favorite things about twitter. If I lived in Chicago, my dream job would be being his intern, or just someone who could follow him around all day fanning him with palm fronds. Side note: the AV Club Taste Test column is a train wreck in the best way possible. I'm currently watching a video of Internet Eating Sensation Dave Cheng enjoying an entire chicken from a can. GROSS. But I can't look away.
The other thing I wanted to share was this cute little thing my friend Mike put up on facebook. Kind of one of those typical fill-in-the-blank things, but you have to pick one band and use their songs as your answers. He did it with Bikini Kill, or Buzzcocks, or some punk band with a B in their name. I chose the Old 97s because a)I love them, b)they have a pretty extensive catalogue, and c)their song titles are sometimes brilliant. So!
1. Are you a male or female: Singular Girl
2. Describe yourself: Victoria
3. How do you feel about yourself: Drowning in the Days
4. Describe your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend: The Fool
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Timebomb
6. Describe your current location: I Will Remain
7. Describe where you want to be: Barrier Reef
8. Your best friend is: My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin'
9. Your favorite color is: Four Leaf Clover
10. What’s the weather like: Blinding Sheets of Rain
11. If your life was a television show what would it be called? Let The Idiot Speak
12. What is life to you: Murder (Or A Heart Attack)
13. What is the best advice you have to give: Dance With Me
14. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Adelaide
15. If there was a drink named after you, it would be called: Busted Afternoon
16. Favorite time of day?: She Loves the Sunset
17. Your favorite form of transportation?: Old Familiar Steam
18. In the morning: Hands Off
19. At night: Designs on You
20. Describe your sex life: Melt Show
21. My theme song would be: The Other Shoe

Fireworks, pt. 2

Some of those "I'm all giddy about what might happen here" songs, in no particular order:
The Reasons - Weakerthans
Deeper Than Beauty - Sloan
Soft Machine - By Divine Right
Fireworks - Tragically Hip
Stall Tactics - Two Minute Miracles
West Coast - Coconut Records
The First Five Times - Stars
Freak Me Out - Weezer
Falling For You - Weezer
More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Jayhawks
Truly, Truly - Grant Lee Buffalo
Rollerskate Skinny - Old 97s

Saturday wait, and Sunday always comes too late

I bite my nails. I've been very proud of myself lately for abstaining from this particular habit, but after a night at home with the TV and an overactive imagination I am not sitting and admiring the perfectly shaped white tips any more. I'm actually kind of excited to work on this again; I'm a big fan of setting attainable goals for myself. My term papers may even take a backseat for this, I'll be honest. On the subject of bad habits, I re-read Sarah Hepola's Crying in Restaurants series today. (part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6, if you want to read them all... and I suggest you do.) I'm not usually a crier. I get where she's coming from, though. I don't cry in restaurants, but I get set off my the littlest things. I saw a business card yesterday that made me bawl my eyes out for about 10 minutes. I don't think that crying is necessarily a catharsis - a phrase I remember from reading Freaky Friday when I was 10 for some reason - but I sure felt better afterward yesterday. Strange. Anyway, read it.

Ahh, college life

Yup, I have this dream. Sometimes it's even for real, leading me to drop a class or two. Ugh.
Gonna try a new broccoli soup recipe today, adding a little but of bacon for that delicious smokiness and changing up some herbs. Should be magically delicious!

Fireworks

You know when you start to feel pretty strongly about someone, and you start listening to more and more of certain songs that remind you of that person? I think this is more directed towards those of us who are into lyrics. I love to just rock the fuck out, don't get me wrong, but bands like The Weakerthans, Wilco, and The Eels are some of my favourites because of lines like "we're talented and bright, we're lonely and uptight, we've found some lovely ways to disappoint." Or "laying in bed tonight I was thinking about how a careful man tries to dodge the bullets while the happy man takes a walk... and maybe it's time to live." When I start thinking about songs like these (Aside and PS You Rock My World, respectively), and I can't hide the smile on my face, I know I'm pretty into someone. One of my staples is Fireworks by The Tragically Hip. I think I'm going to make up a playlist, or at least a top 10 most-listened-to-with-a-stupid-grin-on-my-face songs. I'll keep you posted.

I jumped on the twitter bandwagon! I was bored the day I left Montreal for Moncton, and instead of doing something productive I decided to explore a new avenue of social networking websites. For those who are also on there, I recommend this article by Margaret Mason, "14 ways to use Twitter politely." Ahh, The Morning News. You never fail me.
When I was in Moncton, I bought a lottery ticket for the first time in my life. Now I'm sort of addicted to it. Gambling: it's a problem! The person who got me into it is now my enabler. We go and buy $20 of tickets for each 649 draw and agree to split the winnings. I'm doing my babysitting-in-exchange-for-free-laundry tonight, so I'll have nothing to do but check the winning numbers and watch hockey. PARTY! Time to think winning thoughts.

Roll Credits

After almost a week in Moncton, it's time to head on home. I was thinking this morning, and I realized that there are certain events and places I frequent pretty much every time I'm here:
A Motorleague show
The market on Saturday to get noodles and giant coffee
Another random show (this time, the Tireless Sedans)
A strange afterparty
Random bouts of cleaning someone's house/apartment, just because it's fun to play music and clean things, really
Zen Garden (today with Kate and Christine)
Breakfast breakfast breakfast - this time, Jean's twice
Ordering in random (sometimes sketchy) pizza

Delicious! My list for next visit includes the Barnyard BBQ (sorry Kate), Crystal Palace for sweet pirate mini golf, a wedding (my own?) and Big Stop breakfast. Everyone here made this an amazing 6 days (especially since it was supposed to be 3). I spent time with people I don't usually get to hang out with, and got to have lots of time with the people I love. It makes me miss this place and the maritimes a ton, but at the same time I can't wait to get back home. Also, I'm still worried that I left my stove on before I left. SURPRISE!

hai!

I spent a lot of my time on the internet.
a lot.
This has made me an expert at several things, the most prominent being time-wasting. I have a list of websites that I can always go to whenever I want something funny/interesting/stupid to read (hello, Craigslist missed connections). Here are a few of my new favourites:
Sorry-Mom.com, aka "I bang the worst dudes." We've all been there. Pissed off or amused readers send in pictures of the ones that got away, and in hindsight make you ask yourself, "Huh. What the FUCK was I thinking." Seriously, I've had to think long and hard before deciding if I was going to enter anything in here. There have been a few charmers in the past several years that I'm pretty fucking glad I have nothing to do with anymore. Here's a little sample, in case you're too lazy to navigate over there: "This special guy unexpectedly invited his overweight elderly lesbian friend out on our date. When I said no to his threesome suggestion, he banged her instead, later describing it as “diving into a giant unattractive bag of marshmallows.” Here’s hoping he lasted more than three mediocre minutes with her." Wow.
List of the Day has, by far, the most potential to ruin your day. I say that with love, because it's hella entertaining and frequently updated. I don't really get who updates it, but I know it's a dude in the movie/tv business in some way. I never watch all the youtube clips, but I love some of the lists (13 Movies I'll Never Watch Unless You Kill Me And Prop My Lifeless Corpse In Front Of A TV, 6 Signs That You're In A Bad Third Movie Installment). Besides, yesterday I *did* watch the "Don't you put it in your mouth" PSA and felt very nostalgic.
Onesentence.org simply states "true stories, told in 1 sentence." I found this site through LotD (above) and I think it's brilliant. Sometimes super funny, sometimes incredibly sad or thought-provoking. A few highlights:
-My best friend of nine years still won't let go of the time I accidentally pushed her in front of a taxi before ripping her out of the way.
-I believe the monkey who jacks off outside my window will miss me when I move.
-Today I saw a chicken walking up 9th Avenue and, being very tired, he sat down on a metal door in the sidewalk beside a couple of Mexican guys.
-When I was 5 or so my mom would tell me to lie down before she tied my tie and I just now realized at the age of 19 that she did this because she's a funeral director.
-As you were breaking up with me, all I could think about were those mornings when you compared the Pop-Tarts and gave me the one with more frosting.
-The worst thing about secret girlfriends is that when they get hit by cars you're not supposed to cry.
-I waited for him to hit me, instead he replied, "She'll probably cheat on you too."


Now, as we all know, I have a habit of writing these posts when I should be something else. On that note, I'm supposed to be heading out - possibly, weather-dependent - on a road trip today. I am not packed. I am not dressed. My apartment has not been straightened up. My teeth are brushed, but I'm pretty sure I want more coffee. We're supposed to leave in an hour and 15 minutes if all is on time, and I'm supposed to be meeting everyone else downtown. That would take about... 30-40 minutes, especially in this weather. Maybe I should get going, huh?

I looked through old posts to see where I'd posted this, but I couldn't find it... so I'm going to go with it again. Fuck you, penguin is probably one of the funniest things on the internet. I love it. I have been LOLOLing for reals over here for the past few minutes. If you've got time to kill, read through the archives. AMAZING.

Picard Alphabet

How have I never seen this? It's quickly turned into a night of watching Ricky Gervais and Picard clips.

An open letter

Dear Montreal,

I know we've had our bad days. Sometimes you hide under a metre of snow, making it incredibly difficult to move around. Then there are the days when you just get covered in ice, making sure that unless one is wearing ice skates it is impossible to go down a city block without falling on your ass. The summers - oh, the summers! - with the sun beating down, and 40 degrees! It has always fascinated me, the way the temperatures bounce around. And the way that in the winter, the city seems like a wind tunnel, but as soon as it tops 33 there's not a breeze in the air.
I don't mean to complain, Montreal. Far from it. I want you to know that even through the bad, you've stuck by me. On those days when it seems like nothing can improve, somehow you manage to make it up to me. Someone tried to hit you in the crosswalk, you were elbowed three times when walking down the street, and some guy felt you up on the metro? Here's a $20 flapping in the gutter! You can barely breathe because of the intense humidity and smog out on that terrasse (because you don't believe in patios)? Whoops, your waitress forgot to charge you for that last round. And your depanneurs! Why, beer and incredibly cheap wine in the same place you buy lottery tickets and cheese curds at the counter? Brilliant. Just brilliant.
What I'm saying, really, is that even though I may roll my eyes upward and curse your name sometimes, I want you to know that I do love you. Really, I do. Your diverse neighborhoods and ethic food stores keep me satisfied day-to-day, but it's your heart that will keep me here.

Vacation, all I ever wanted

So far, it's been filled with overindulgence in every possible way. I've been to 8 shows since I got back East, and 2 more to go before I head home to Montreal. I'm planning on soaking up as much of the Marquee as I can before they tear it down in a couple months.

I got into Moncton on Thursday, the 18th, for a Festivus show. That's right. Festivus. My train was 3 hours late (it was a festivus miracle!), we had a grand ol' drunk time filled with ripped-to-shreds pants and sub-zero temperatures and belting out songs off-key onstage. The Monoxides show the next day was amazing, with guest appearances from a bunch of great people. Finished off a Moncton music hat trick weekend with an acoustic cover night that closed with some mandolin-accompanied Limp Bizkit that went on for about 16 minutes. This was all followed by North of America, King Konqueror, more and more and more New Brunswick rocking out, Christmas, and a great last night at the Marquee with punk covers of some wicked bands done by some incredibly talented musicians. All in all, a great trip back.
I want to go again in February, but I think part of the reason I get so excited and I have so much fun is that there are only a couple times a year I get to party like that.
Much more to say, but it'll come later. Now it's time to get back to reading Supreme Court cases. This was a saved post I wrote about a week and a half ago, and I want to get it up right away (yeah, that's what he said).