I've been tagged!

Yay! Just as I was going to go to bed because I couldn't think of anything to blog about, I got tagged by April. (Although I did go see "The 40-year-old Virgin" tonight and it was freaking funny.)

Okay, so 5 fun facts people just might not know about me...

1) The first concert I ever went to was a Melissa Etheridge concert when I was 15. I wasn't really a fan but for some reason my friend had bought tickets for the concert and invited me. I really wanted to go because I'd never been to a concert before. It was fun, even though it was totally random and I don't feel the need to ever see her live again.

2) My favourite movie of all-time is "The Wedding Singer" with Adam Sandler.

3) I have a crush on Jon Stewart.

4) Every Monday morning as I'm taking the subway to work, I listen to the song "Manic Monday" by the Bangles.

5) I re-read Harry Potter books when I'm stressed out or working toward a deadline. When I was in university, you could tell it was exam time because I'd be reading Harry Potter. My strategy was to reward myself with a couple chapters for every hour I studied.

Okay, not these aren't very deep things but I suppose they're marginally interesting.

To be proper, I'll tag someone else - Matt.

So Brown Eyes I'll hold you near 'cause you're the only song I want to hear

So, I'm seriously loving the new Death Cab for Cutie CD, Plans, that I picked up yesterday for the low low price of $9.99. I'm addicted to the first three songs and I'm listening to them over and over. Souls Meets Body makes me want to have a couple drinks and dance (most likely it would be bad dancing).

Last night I helped my friends, the Ws, move. It was the most chaotic move I'd ever participated in, but I had fun anyway. It's pathetic; I moved back to Toronto so I'd see my pals from university more often but it seems like we only get together for birthdays or other occasions and when someone needs to move.

I survived the move despite the late hours (I didn't get home until past 2 am) and the rain. On our last trip to their old apt, WJ had left me in the car with the door open and the keys in so that the alarm was going off.

He came back and said "Are you annoyed yet?"

"No, I'm a teacher, I'm very good at blocking out annoying sounds."

"Well, I'm a father, I bet you I'm better. Let's have a contest." (The Ws have a 3-month old baby who is so cute and didn't cry at all during the move. What a help!)

So we sat in the car while the keys-in-the-ignition-door-open alarm went off for quite a long time laughing our heads off. I guess that's what late chaotic moves do to people. In the end, we had to call it a draw. Neither of us were prepared to lose that battle.

Batten down the hatches.

I wrote off Sunday and Monday and just relaxed, read, and watched TV. I really can't remember what else I did.

Today, I went to school to pick up some books and binders and things. It was nice to see some people. The plan is, tomorrow I'm going to spread out on the dining room table and start doing some planning while what's left of Hurricane Katrina comes to town. According to the Toronto Star, we're in for a soaking all day tomorrow.

Tonight I'm helping some friends move. Yuck. I hate helping people move, although I have to admit I once had fun moving. I'm sure this will be okay.

Well, I think I am going to have a nap and then wander up to Grand and Toy and buy some binders so I can spend tomorrow getting organized.

p.s. Does anyone watch Rockstar: INXS? Go Suzie! And she's from Toronto!

I must be psychic.

Here is evidence to support my hypothesis that I may possess psychic powers. Okay, so there is only one piece of it right now, but perhaps it will grow.

Tonight was the Tori Amos concert. I planned to meet my pal OE there. He was going to be a little late because he was showing a house. (He's in real estate.)

When I got there, I decided to check out the merch counter. I saw the cute little bag that's pictured below. I decided to splurge on it, even though it was ridiculously priced.


Anyway, I sat through one of the opening bands, The Ditty Bops, and no OE. (They were delightfully eccentric.) Then, the break between said band and Tori. Still no OE.

Then, Tori graces the stage wearing a gorgeous peachy-pink dress. Still OE. I'm so sad, this would be his favourite part of the concert - just seeing her entrance.

About an hour into Tori's set, still no OE. Finally I get a call saying he got swamped at work and cannot make the concert. I'm so sad! First of all, it must have been a really bad situation, since Tori is to OE as Ben Folds or the Weakerthans are to me. Plus, seeing Tori without OE is like apple pie without the ice cream. We always go together when she's in Toronto. It's tradition. I hate when tradition is messed with, especially by the whims of the housing market. Finally, I'm rather sad that I'm at said concert alone, feeling a little losery. But still, better to be the loser-y one in the stands, as opposed to the one missing their favourite musician because of stupid work.

So how does of all this prove I'm psychic, you ask? Well, the fact that I indulged in retail therapy before my sad situation occured may strongly point to clairvoyant powers on my part.

If Hogwarts existed, you'd better believe I'd be applying for the post of Professor of Divination.

p.s. There is also some evidence that Tori herself possesses some mindreading powers (or Legilimancy as it is called in the Harry Potter world). After OE phoned me, and I was sad, she started playing all of my favourite songs. Hah! We could be co-workers at Hogwarts!

Odds and Ends

Well, the new bed arrived last night and I had a great night's sleep on it. The ol' futon is now in the living room.

Saw this picture yesterday on the CBC website and it made me laugh hard. It's a snow leopard cub at the Berlin zoo and this was his reaction to his first public appearance. I often feel the way he looks.





Check out this post from mblog. I had to call my mother and tell her about it.

Tonight is Tori Amos. I was feeling a little stressed because my buddy OE and I are were supposed to go and I was leaving messages on his phone all week to remind him of the concert and I hadn't heard from him which worried me that he may have forgotten about the concert. I finally got in touch with him today and it's all good. Phew.

This afternoon I have to put together a new CD shelf that I bought.

Pics of Aussie Fauna

Since Alexandra mentioned that she liked pictures of Australian animals, I thought I'd post some more from my trip.

(From top to bottom: a clown fish [perhaps Nemo?], a dingo, a hairy-nosed wombat, a crocodile that we saw in the wild, a kangroo lazing about, a tasmanian devil, a cassowary, kookaburras, a koala with her baby)

Happy 100th Post to Me!

I had orginally had a different title for this post, but then I noticed that this was my 100th Post. I'm quite surprised that I've made it this far. When I started my blog, I was so sure it'd be something I'd do for a week and then abandon.

This week I've been engaged in an end-of-summer-mad-scramble. Even though I still have one week left of holidays, I've been spending this past week trying to get a few errand-y type things done. Next week I'll have to start doing some work, so I won't have time to do things then. I know that once September starts, I'll be super busy I won't be able to do very much. So, if it doesn't get done this week, it may have to wait until next summer.

My projects for the week have consisted of some back-to-school shopping, putting together my Aussie photo album, and buying a bed. Today I got the bed; it will be delievered this evening. I still have my futon from university and it's time that I grow up and get a real bed. There really isn't anything wrong with the futon - it's super comfy but it drives me insane because it's really low to the ground. Some mornings it just takes too much effort to get up from that thing. Anyway, dear ol' futon will now have a new role in life - being a couch and a place for guests to sleep.

So I get hang out tonight and wait for bed - they say it'll be here sometime between 4 and 10. Worse than the cable people!

Tomorrow night I'll be making my return to the venue of last night's show. This time I'll be seeing Tori Amos. I'm excited!

I have a headache, I have a sore back, I have a letter than I can't send.

Well, I'm back from the *free* Clay Aiken concert with a headache from the screaming of all of the middle-aged women.

His current tour is called "The Jukebox Tour" because dear ol' Clay goes through pop music hits from the 50s to present. It actually reminded me of the format of the class in popular music that I took in university. It was all right and, as expected, quite high on the cheese factor. After my initial shock of actually being at such a concert (it was after all, my very first pop concert; I define a pop concert as one where there are wardrobe changes), I let go of my inner snob and had a bit of fun singing along.

Clay scored some points for a) singing "O Canada" when requested; b) knowing the lyrics to "O Canada"; c) an excellent choice of back-up singers; and d) a display of some self-deprecating humour.

Clay lost points for a) some song selection - most notably his choice of 80s songs. I thought if he'd sung "Material Girl" it would have been a riot; b) his attempts at dancing like Elvis; c) NOT wearing any plaid during the songs about the 90s; and d) singing a few too many ballads (snore).

Oh, he lost and gained points for acting very teachery when interacting with the crowd at times. Point lost for, well, acting like a teacher. Points gained because I grudgingly admit that I could learn from his classroom managagement skills.

Below are some pics I took using my phone (hence the quality). The first shows the stage during the Elvis montage. The second is the video dislay of Clay; most likely taken while he was earnestly singing a ballad. You can totally tell it's him by the hair!

A strange, but enjoyable, evening...

As promised, I will fill you in on the strange event I went to tonight. But, a strange event occurred at the prelude to the strange event...

Anyway, TB, her friend A, and I went to a restauarant in Little Italy to hang out for awhile. While we were eating, Zack Werner, the "grumpy" judge from Canadian Idol came in and sat down at the long table that was beside us, where a large group with children and adults of various ages were seated. It's always funny seeing someone from TV in person. They look the same and sound the same but I guess it's just the shock of seeing someone out of their usual environment that makes it strange. I had the same sensation when I was taking a few large courses with hundreds of students in university. When I'd see the professor walking around campus, I'd feel like I was seeing someone famous. I knew them, but they didn't know me.

TB commented that she wouldn't want to be Zack's server; she'd feel like he was judging her. Sure enough he gave the waiter some comments. However, they were all positive. It appeared he was picking up the tab for the group. He told the waiter that'd everything was really good and that he'd done an excellent job. So, maybe the grumpiness is just a front for the show.

Anyway, the "strange" event that we were on route to was a private party for a member of one of my favourite bands. It's not that it was strange in itself, it was just strange that I somehow got to go. Obviously, I'm just a fan of the band and don't know the guy. TB's friend A is friends with this musician and was invited to the party and told him to bring some friends along. He knew TB and I (we'd met a couple times before) were fans and invited us.

Anyhow, we assured him before we wouldn't embarass oursleves by quoting lyrics of our favourite songs and we'd leave our band T-shirts at home (don't worry, those thoughts wouldn't have occurred to us anyway). We'd lay low and be cool. We requested that he would not introduce as his friends who were big fans of the band. We were just some random friends that had come along for a good time.

The party was a cool little club that is reserved for private parties during the week. It was pretty nice. When we got there, A went to talk to his pal and introduced us and we shook hands. So far so good. They talked for a bit and then A brought up we were fans, which was kind of embarassing. I couldn't really hear what he was saying since it was loud, so I didn't know that he had done that until after the fact. A had told his musician friend that he had friends who were friends of the band to which the musician said "that's cool, you should introduce me sometime" or something rather nice like that. So, A decided he should specify that we were the friends. It was okay though. A apologized afterwards and explained his rationale but we were cool; I mean he had brought us there.

For most of the party we just hung out and chatted and had some beer. It was an enjoyable evening. We were wondering if other members of the bad would be there, but they weren't. There were a couple other musicians that I recognized, but mostly regular people. Still, it was cool. It's not every day that I get to go to a private party of someone from a band I love.

(Un)intelligent Design

In my daily blog skimming, I came across this post from Philogynist, which got me to pondering and googling the "theory" of "intelligent design", championed by George W. Bush.

I majored in biology in university and I focused in the areas of evolution and the evolution of animal behaviour. I've always been interested in ongoing creationsim vs. evolution debate that still rages, mainly in the U.S.

Anyhow, I find intelligent design particularly disheartening, since it's being touted as scientific and many states are requiring that it must be taught in the science classroom alongside evolution. There is no way to scientifically test whether or not an "intelligent designer" is behind life so please don't call it a "science". I found an excellent critique of intelligent design in the New Yorker. Thankfully, I teach science in Canada, where I don't have to worry that I'll be required to teach ID. Phew.

On the lighter side of ID, here's a really funny article from The Onion and one from the Toronto Star. The article from the Star is written by Linwood Barclay who postulates that theory of "unintelligent design" could very well explain Dubya et al. I'd recommend going to the trouble of subscribing to the Star's website (it's free) just so you can read Barclay's columns. They're usually pretty freaking hilarious.



Oh, and here is a picture of Harriet the Tortoise who I saw at the Australia Zoo (home of Steve Irwin, the infamous Crocodile Hunter). She's 174 or so years old and is the oldest living animal in captivity. Charles Darwin himself brought her from the Galapagos to England and somehow she's now in Steve Irwin's hands. I bet you she does not support the theory of intelligent design either.

p.s. Tonight I'm going to what I think is a rather strange event. I'll blog about it after the fact. This post script is just a teaser.

Ideal Waste of Time

Here's a fun waste of time that I came across the other day. I've played with the physical 20Q toy in a store before; it's a little ball that will guess what you are thinking of by asking you 20 questions. Anyway, now there's a website version.

I thought about a potato, and then a rose. 20Q got them in under 20 questions.

I decided to think about an 8-track tape. It took 20Q more then 20 questions to get it, but I was impressed that it was schooled in retro technology.

My thoughts drifted to a duck-billed platypus. The closest 20Q got was to guess an echidna, which I think was pretty good. Duck-billed platypusses (platypi?) and echnidas are examples of egg-laying mammals. Egg-laying mammals are evolutionary relics; there are only three species around today, two of which are found in Australia. (I learned about all of this when I took a mammalian diversity course in university.)

Being the geek I am, I was very excited to see echidnas and playtpusses when I was in Australia. Here are pictures of the spiny echidna (taken at the Taronga zoo in Sydney) and a duck-billed playtpus (taken at the Sydney Aquarium).

Do they know it's Halloween?

Chart magazine reported today that Beck, Chris Murphy from Sloan, Feist, and members of the Arcade Fire among others have recorded a UNICEF benefit song called "Do they know it's Halloween?" The song is intended to be a satire of all-star benefit songs.

It's cool. You can listen to it here.

I'm going to do a bad, bad thing.

Today my roommate called me from her work. She told me that she was offered free tickets to a concert at the Molson Ampitheatre and accepted right away; even before she knew what the concert was. Here is sort of how the conversation went.

"You sometimes watch American Idol, don't you?" she asks. The danger of having a roommate is that some of secrets you're really not proud of get out.

"Ummm, on occasion. When nothing else is on... Oh no, it's not the American Idol tour where it's all of the finalists??" I don't think I could handle that, even if is was free.

"No, no he didn't even become American Idol."

"Oh dear Lord, it's not Clay Aiken is it? "

So there you have it, I'm going to see Clay Aiken just because it's free. I actually think it will be hilarious and we'll get a good laugh out of it. A pal of hers and a pal of mine are coming along so I think we'll have a good time, and I really hope that there is some alcohol served. Oh gosh, I bet there are going to be a lot of teenage girls holding up signs. The only time I've ever been to a concert like that was when I saw Dashboard Confessional. I think the reason why I like Dashboard is that they totally bring out my inner teenage girl.

My pal TB is going to come along too. We actually watched the American Idol that Clay was in and were very angry when he didn't win. That was back when we were in university and it was okay to watch any tv show, no matter how lame, as a procrastination tool. TB suggested that we make "I Love Clay" T-shirts to wear.

(Aside - My roommate just came home with the tickets. They're worth $60 each! Ye gods! We also have VIP Lounge tickets. We're hoping they will be serving drinks, and lots of them, in said lounge area. We also discussed why she couldn't have been offered tickets to a good show, like the Foo Fighters show that just passed.)

Anyhow, the concert is on Thursday.

I recently got the sixth season of Them Simpsons on DVD. I've been watching it in bits and pieces. Such a good season. Today I watched the deleted scenes and there was one that killed me. There's a little kid eating a popsicle and Homer leans over and takes a huge bite of it. The kid says "Hey - that's my popsicle!" and Homer replies "I'm aware of that." Oh, they should have left that in.

You took a wild orchid and turned it blue.

I'm totally into that White Stripes song right now. The first time I heard a clip of it, I thought it was awful. Goes to show you that first impressions aren't always right.

I finished the Dracula book I was reading (The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) yesterday. I really, really, really liked the book when I first started it but it proved to be about 200 pages too long for me - I got a little bored with the story and just wanted to know what was up with Dracula and where exactly his tomb was. When the protagonists actually meet up with dear ol' Drac and discover his diabolical plan, I thought his plan was very lame. I'd give the book 3.25 stars out of five, since the first 2/3rds of it was amazing, but it lost a bit steam at the end. I'll have to lend it to my dad and see what he thinks.

As I was walking by a Toronto Sun newspaper box today, I saw a headline that I decided to investigate further. A boy fell out of the Zipper ride at the CNE yesterday and into the arms of employees. He was not hurt. It turned out that the door of his cage was not closed properly and it opened while the ride was in motion. I find that freaky, since when I was in grade 7, the Zipper was my favourite ride. The thought of being on that ride while the door opens sends shivers down my spine.

I need to go the CNE this year. I've never been. I say this every year and I've done nothing about it.

P.S. I really hate the Toronto Sun and don't even like mentioning one of their articles in my blog, but said article caught my attention and I ended up blogging about it, so what I am gonna do? Close my eyes while I walk by their newspaper boxes? Perhaps, but that might result in me walking into a hydro pole or something and injuring myself.

Oh God. I just realized that I was belting the song "Natural Disaster" (by Joel Plaskett) along with my iPod. If my neighbours were in the hall, they could totally hear me. How embarrassing that would be since I'm the worst singer in the world. If I tried out for Canadian Idol I would totally be a shoe-in get on tv - I'm that bad.

Now and then I must aspire to go out of the ordinary and set the world on fire.

Well, I went to the Joel Plaskett Emergency show and it was extraordinary! It didn't rain either. If you've never seen Joel Plaskett, either playing solo or with the Emergency, you must go.

The Harbourfront was a pretty cool place to see a show. I love seeing music outdoors. I also haven't been down there since last summer, so I guess it was nice to walk beside Lake Ontario, despite the slightly odd odour. I should have taken some pictures of the Lake but I was thinking I'd do that after the show, but my stupid camera batteries died. I have Duracell rechargable ones, but they die soooooooo quickly. When I was in Australia, I used the Energizer Lithium batteries and they would last for a week and a half of picture taking. Far, far superior, even though they're not rechargable and quite expensive. Now I'm stuck with these crappy Duracell ones.

I was quite excited to see Chris Murphy from Sloan at the concert. He was sitting a couple of rows behind me. A few people (mainly university aged boys) were going up to him and shaking his hand. He was very polite about it. I kept myself quite composed and dignified; I just text messaged TB to tell her what she was missing.

Anyhow, here are a couple of pics I took. They're not very good, but whatever.

Insert Curse Words Here

Argh! It appears that Death Cab for Cutie tickets are sold out! (They're playing here in October.) Now, they didn't sell out in 20 mins, or some ridiculously quick time like that. I checked earlier this week and there were still tickets left and I thought "Oh, I'll get them later..." Well, I forgot until today, and I just checked Ticketmaster and no luck. I am sooooooo not pleased with myself. Why didn't I get them right away??

Anyhow, I survived the crazy weather of yesterday. It's pretty humid today (but not too hot) and looks like it's gonna rain at any second. This evening, there's a free Joel Plaskett Emergency show down at the Harbourfront and I'm planning to go, but I'm not liking the looks of this weather... But, I think the fact that I don't have Death Cab tickets is going to make me go, rain or no rain.

From Environment Canada

A weather warning:

Environment Canada's Official Weather Warnings

Warnings City of Toronto 3:31 PM EDT Friday 19 August 2005

Tornado warning for City of Toronto continued Radar is detecting a line of severe rotating storms in the Torontoarea. There ha ve been several reports of tornadoes and damage within this line of storms. These storms are moving eastward at 70 km/h.

City of Toronto 3:31 PM EDT Friday 19 August 2005

Tornado warning for City of Toronto continued Radar is detecting a line of severe rotating storms in the Toronto area. There have been several reports of tornadoes and damage within this line of storms. These storms are moving eastward at 70 km/h.

Somehow this post about shopping and plants turns into a post about tattoos.

When I get tired, I end up staying up far too late. At about 9 pm tonight I was exhausted from a long day of shopping with my crazy high school friend (CHSF). I almost passed out in the Eaton Centre. I was still pretty tired when we made back here, and she left at about midnight, so you'd expect I'd be in bed by 1:43 am, but alas, I am not. I'm sad that summer's waning, but I really do think I'm almost back to get back to a routine. I'm a creature that thrives on routine.

But anyhow, had a good shopping day. Got some threads for back to school and a new plant for the apartment. Hopefully this one won't wither away and die. My old plant was a beautiful Ficus benjimina; alas, it was quite a high maintenance plant and it withered and died under my care. I don't think my new plant is as fussy. Or at least I hope. If it is, I'm just gonna have to resign to fake plants.

(Note: After reading over my sentences about my old plant, I have to admit that I totally sugar-coated our relationship. It kept dropping its leaves all over the place which infuriated me. Nothing sucks more than having to constantly pick up after a plant. After it was down to its last hundred leaves, I decided that I was not picking up any more leaves and I put it out on our balcony.)

I brought CHSF to the cheap book store and made her buy the first Harry Potter book. I was quite proud that I did not succumb to buying any books there. That place is dangerous for me.

CHSF has about 8 tattoos. Today when we were in a kitchen store, I found a set of coasters that matched the sun tattoo on the back of her neck. I said "Look, you can get coasters that match your tattoo!" She replied "I don't need coasters that match my tattoo." An employee overhead and laughed and said "Yesterday a lady bought some placemats that matched her purse." So, which is more logical - coasters that match your tattoos or placemats that match your purse? I argue the former, since I'm sure your tattoo will be around the coasters much more often than a purse will be around placemats.

CHSF has a band of pink elephants tattooed around her arm. They have been mistaken for pigs.

Speaking of tattoos, an old internet friend was chatting to me tonight and showed me a picture of his new tattoo. It's on his leg and says "Do you like robots?" It's in black writing and I had to ask him a billion times if it was real.

A friend of mine told me that my old grade eight teacher, his wife, and his kids all got matching tattoos.

I was watching "Tommy Lee Goes to College" the other night, and although Tommy Lee is totally scuzzy, he is attractive, in a dirty, dirty sort of way. I think that I enjoy the whole guy with lots of tattoos on his arms oddly attractive.

P.S. I'm a blank canvas.

It's all Dracula's fault.

I think I am the procrastination queen. Especially in the summer. At least when school's on, I have deadlines and other things to keep me going.

I have had to a) clean my apartment and b) do laundry for a dog's age now. I swear, I've been putting these two tasks off for over a week now, because when it's summer vacation I can always say "Does is make any difference whether I do it today or tomorrow?" to myself and honestly answer no.

Luckily, my craziest friend from high school is coming to visit me tomorrow. She's cleaned up her act since then, so I decided I should clean my apartment in her honour.

But the procrastination hasn't ended there, I still haven't done the laundry. I've argued that it really makes the most sense to do that at 10:30 tonight, since I'll be guaranteed to get four washers at once.

I blame Dracula for all of this. I'm so addicted to the book "The Historian" that I mentioned before. I highly recommend it, even though I find I'm reading it at a slower pace that I usually manage. Which is okay, since if I read a book slowly, I feel I've gotten my money's worth out of it. The past couple of nights I've been staying up until about 4 am reading which means I'm not the quickest person in the am/early pm. Hmmm, perhaps my late nights indicate a natural inclination toward vampirism in myself?

Well, I've got three hours until I have to do my laundry, so it's back to the book for me!

1 girl movie (return to me) + red wine + chocolate chip cookies + nail polish + roommate = 1 enjoyable girls' evening!

Now it's time for the Daily Show. Steve Carrell is on!

The hours get shorter as the days go by.

Yawn. What a sleepy Sunday.

Today I wanted to go to a little get together that a friend of mine was having in Mississauga but I couldn't score a ride out there. Oh well, c'est la vie. I'd also used said get together as a reason not to go to another friend's housewarming party in Stratford, but really, the main reason I didn't go to the housewarming party in Stratford is that it is out in Stratford and I was there last week.

Soooo, instead I lounged around the house, my lounging interrupted by a couple of phonecalls. Then I wandered up to Yonge and Eglinton, where I looked around in Indigo and read a few chapters of Motley Crue's The Dirt. It's a pretty interesting, and often disturbing, read. I might just buy it, I dunno. It's pretty thick and it would take me forever to read it at the bookstore. I don't think I could actually shell out the money for that book though. I'd feel guilty owning it. I guess that's what so many years of Catholic school does to a person.

Hmmm, I should really get that book at the library, then I can finish it for free. I still haven't gotten around to renewing my Toronto library card since I moved back to the city. I think it's because I haven'te needed to go the library because I have a huge pile of books at home that I still need to read and I keep adding to the pile by adding more book. Today I added to that pile yet again. I picked up The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova which looked too interesting to pass up, plus it was 40% off. It has something to do with finding out the story behind Vlad the Impaler, the man behind the Dracula legend. I am going to start reading it tonight and I hope it's really good. I'm going through post-partum Harry Potter syndrome. It occurs after the latest Harry Potter book comes out and I read it twice and then I have to find another book to read when all I want is the next Harry Potter book. Sigh. Only two more years if I'm lucky.

Last night I took a picture of the night-time view out of my bedroom window. Not too shabby. When we moved into this apartment, my roommate and I flipped a coin for the bedrooms. This one has the view, the other has an ensuite bathroom. I lost and got the view. I can live with it.

Trouble and strife trying to get to sleep...

For some reason sleep just isn't happening for me tonight, so I decided to take some time to stare at my computer screen, hoping that will make me sleepy.

The Sloan concert was good! I got there just in time to see David Usher, who always puts on a good show in my opinion. Then I had enough time to grab an overpriced bottle of water and make it down to the floor to see Sloan. We got wristbands to get down to the floor with our free tickets - Sloan sure does take care of their fans. Luckily my concert-going pal made it a few songs into Sloan; he was a bit late since he was working in Cambridge.

It's too bad my pal TB was out of town for the free Sloan show. We normally take a trip up to her cottage every summer to see Sloan play at the Kee-to-Bala, but this year we missed it since I was in Australia. I'm glad that the summer didn't go by without at least me getting a chance to see Sloan. I'll have to give her the update that Chris Murphy's cut his hair a bit but was still up to his old tricks of scissor-kicking and licking the mike.

Anyhow, I found a new toy to add to my blog:

Music Video Codes By VideoCodeZone

They seem to have quite the range of videos to choose from as well. I can see I'll have to make sure I don't overdo it.

My favourite concert moments

When Ben Folds reminded me of the time that Ben Folds Five brought Snow on stage when I saw BFF at the Warehouse in 1999, I was inspired to compile a list of my all-time favourite concert moments. Here they are in no particular order:

• The first time I ever saw Hawksley Workman play and he came out and sang the song No Beginning, No End. His amazing voice hooked TB and I immediately. We had just randomly gone to the concert because a pal of mine loved Hawksley and put some of his older songs on a mixed tape (remember those?) for me. (Rivoli, March 2001)
• The second time I saw the Weakerthans live, they sprinkled confetti on the crowd at the end of the show. When got home we still had confetti on us and it made for a good apres-concert picture. (Lee's Palace February 2002)
• The "Other Man Dancers" - Sloan had some people dressed up in animal costumes doing an interpretive dance during The Other Man when we saw them at Sneak Peak. Bonus - we'd gotten free tickets to the event. (ACC, May 2003)
• The Joel Plaskett Emergency doing a medley of pop songs including and Avril Lavigne song and R. Kelly's Ignition. (Horseshoe, Spring 2003)
• Hayden having the Elk Lake Serenaders (aka Cuff the Duke) back him up. (Lee's Palace, Novemeber 2004)
• A random guy asking Hayden to marry him, followed by another drunk guy being kicked out of the show, then Hayden playing "Woody", a great song about his cat. Catch it on the double CD set Live from Convocation Hall. Glad that I was there. (Convocation Hall, Fall 2002)
• The moment the giant light-up W stage appeared during the song Only in Dreams when I saw Weezer. (Molson Ampitheatre, Summer 2002)
• The Constantines and Weakerthans covering the Travelling Wiburys' End of the Line together. I love happy moments where two bands come together. Cheesy? Perhaps. But definitely enjoyable. (Lee's Palace, April 2005)
• Ashley MacIsaac playing "Stayin' Alive" on his fiddle when he opened for the Tragically Hip at their now-defunct Another Roadside Attraction festival. (Molson Park in Barrie, Summer 1997)
• The Smashing Pumpkins' "Farewell to Canada" performace at Summersault 2000 and they played my all-time fave Pumpkins song "Mayonnaise". (Molson Park in Barrie, Summer 2000)
• And of course the aforementioned BFF/Snow collabo...

Well, I don't think that's definitive but it's a good list of concert moments that have made me happy. I tried to only include specific moments as opposed to a whole show. I've seen many whole shows that are beyond enjoyable.

Anyway, perhaps I will have to update the list tomorrow after my free Sloan show!

If I'd worn socks, they would have been rocked off.

First of all, the Ben Lee/Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright concert was great! Ben Lee was all cute and charming and proceeding to rock the socks off of the crowd. Some guy actually threw his smelly socks on stage.

Ben Folds followed with an awesome performance. This is the fourth time I've seen him and I think perhaps it was the best show that he'd put on. He played some old BFF songs, including Brick, Philosophy, and Army, where he led the crowd in singing the trumpet parts (if you've heard Ben Folds Live, you'll know what I mean). He also did a really hilarious cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't Shit" and a very good version of "Rockin' the Suburbs". I think my favourite was when he played the song Gracie from Songs for Silverman, which is a very sweet song for his daughter, but played it very up-tempo.

Ben brought up the last time he played at the Kool Haus (which was in 1999 and I think the venue still had the more respectable name of the Warhouse) and he'd brought Snow onstage. Oh yes, I mean Snow of "Informer" fame... This was before his comeback too, so it was quite entertaining to see Snow play informer with Ben Folds Five. I'm so glad that Ben reminded me of that!

Anyhow, after Ben's performance, a good 1/3 of the audience actually left. I rolled my eyes. Ben and Rufus are very different, but I honestly don't understand how people who obviously appreciate good music if they like Ben would leave and not see Rufus. Rufus was really good and played a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which was great. I think my favourite song was "Beautiful Child". Seeing that song live has given me a new appreciation for it, and I think it's now my favourite Rufus song (at least for the moment).

Anyway, TB and I met up with a friend of hers at the concert who had brought her camera and got some awesome shots which I will post as soon as I get them. Which might not be really soon because she has to get a new cable to connect her camera to her computer...

So next on my concert-going agenda is a Sloan/Finger 11/David Usher show that I won tickets to. Yeah, I seem to be having quite the winning streak this week considering I never win anything. Perhaps I'll go find some more contests to enter online...

I've also found myself a new musical boyfriend. A couple of months ago I'd downloaded the song "Unplayed Piano" by Damien Rice. This song was written for Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest for 10 years. For more info, you can go here. Anyway, I bought his album O on Tuesday and it's excellent!

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket - I'm luckier than I thought!

Well, it's been awhile since I've update the ol' blog. It's not that I've been extremely busy, but since I was at the 'rents for a bit, I was confined to using very dial-up which was slow and I had to pay for it by the hour.

I took the the train back to Toronto this evening and was greeted by a good phone message. A couple weeks ago, my roommate convinced me to enter a contest in Eye Weekly and I won! My prize? A Death Cab for Cutie DVD and poster! Not too shabby! Anyway, I'll probably end up spending $4 tomorrow on the subway to go collect my prize. As Homer Simpson has been known to say: "Ya gotta spend money to make money!"

So the rest of my trip home was pretty relaxing. On Saturday, a couple of my high school pals and I went to our friend's family cottage. We had a few pretty good parties there back in the day. We had a bit of a tamer evening though; we played a couple of games of Cranium. If you like party board games, be sure to get it! A warning: if you have a drama queen friend, she may end up showing a bit too much skin while acting out things like strip poker and the Barenaked Ladies...

On Sunday, I ended up running over to Zellers to get some stuff for my mom and boy, was that trip a fiasco. Here are the things that annoyed me:

1) One my way there, I was driving behind a tourist who slammed on his brakes and almost caused me to hit him. (In Stratford, if it's summer, and you encounter a really bad driver, conventional wisdom dictates that this person must be a tourist.)

2) When I was checking out, I almost got what I'm pretty sure was bleach in my eye. I was putting a bottle of it on the counter and I touched my face somehow and noticed that my hand smelled like bleach which lead me to the conclusion that the bottle was leaking. It wasn't, but I'm pretty sure that there was dried bleach or something on the bottle that I very well could have gotten in my eye! Damn Zellers!

3) While leaving the store, the first set of automatic doors wasn't working and instead of holding the door for me who needed a shopping cart to carry my purchases, the woman walking in front of me slammed it in my face! Aren't small town people supposed to be polite?

4) At least the second set of automatic doors was working, but there was this big gang of seventh graders sloooooooowly walking in front of me, blocking my exit from the store which caused the automatic doors to close on me. Argh! I should have run them over with my cart!

5) While I was trying to leave the parking lot, some crazy woman in a mini-van came flying around the corner at about 60 km/h not realizing that it is much safer to drive slowly in a parking lot.

6) When I got home, it turned out that I'd gotten one wrong item on my mom's shopping list so I had to go back to the store and exchange it for the right thing. But, being such a nice daughter, I did not complain and just did it. (I did get to eat my parents food for free for a week after all.)

Anyway, tomorrow is my Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright concert. I'm soooooooo excited about that!!!

Here's a hilarious probing analysis of "Hollaback Girl" that I can across awhile ago via the blog in Eye Weekly. Great stuff.

Only in dreams

My dreams are always very vivid. I remember a lot of them, but sometimes they get lost five minutes after I wake up. Often something I come across during the day will make me remember my dream.

I'm watching the Daily Show in the background and they've got a bit about John Bolton's appointment as UN ambassador and it's made me remember one of my dreams from last night.

I decided since I still have month of vacation left, I should travel somewhere else, so I hopped on a bus to Washington DC. When I got there, I started to tour the government buildings and I wandered into one where John Bolton was giving a press conference and it was open to the public. That piqued my interest and I wandered in and sat down beside three twenty-something girls.

As we waited for the press conference to start, we discussed that we were all opposed to John Bolton's appointment. They thought it was great that I agreed with them because I could help them with their protest. Instead of shouting "boo!" at him, they each had a piece of paper that they would hold up to spell out the word "boo". They had wanted a fourth person to hold up the exclamation mark, so they asked if I would do it. I said sure.

Anyway, when John Bolton walked in we held up our signs. He looked at them and became really really upset. He asked us to come speak with him in the hall. He wanted to know why we disliked him so much and we explained we didn't think his attitudes would make him a very good ambassador for the UN. He said that he was very sorry for his comments in the past, and thought the UN was such a great organization and vowed to listen to other countries. He then asked us for our emails so he could keep us updated on his progress and gave us his, so that we could email with any comments or suggestions.

Yeah, so that was my dream. Maybe Bolton's not so bad. Yeah... right. Only in dreams, as the old Weezer song goes.

Metablogging...

Since I really did the grand total of nothing today (okay, that's a bit of a lie - I did meet up with a pal for coffee and show her my Australia pictures and then hang out with some pals at MJ's pool..), I will blog about blogging.

In teachers' college I learned that thinking about thinking is called metacognition, so I shall dub blogging about blogging "metablogging".

I'm surprised that I've kept up my blog for so long. When I started it, I figured that it would be like any other journal that I started, I'd go strong for a week or two or possibly even three, and then it would slowly stop. A few years later I'd pick it up, and then try to continue it in a sort of "Well, now it's three years later and my life is totally different and I can't believe I was concerned about all that crap since now my life is so much more complex but oh, if I could only re-live the innocence of three years ago" type statement. But surprisingly, I'm starting my 6th month of this blog, admittedly with a dry spell sometime in April and May.

So why have I kept up my blog for so long? I don't really know. Why do bloggers blog? I guess we all enjoy having our thoughts, beliefs, opinions and feelings up there on the web ready for someone to stumble across and say "Oh yeah, that's right" or perhaps "Whoa? What's this person thinking?" I think that might be why I blog.

One way I found that blogging has helped me is that I'm much better at writing down my thoughts. While I was travelling in Australia, I kept a pretty rigourous travel journal, and I found that writing in it was much easier than usual. I attributed to this to my blogging. Not only was writing easier, I found that I felt freer to jot down any thought, no matter how inconsequential or meaningless it may seem at the time. When reading back over my journal, I found that these "meaningless" thoughts were my favourites. Such as the time when I was flying over the Mississippi River, eating a pretzel, and I decided to pull out my journal and write about it. I liked that moment and I probably would have forgotten it. So, thank you blogging, for allowing me to save my Mississippi-pretzel moment forever.

Metablogging... over.

99 red balloons floating in the summer sky...

Well, I had a good day yesterday in London hanging out with my TO pals. We went shopping for awhile where I bought some frivolous stuff - but at least it was all on sale. It makes me grumpy about how all of the stores have their fall stuff out already. I don't want to think about that yet.

After shopping we had dinner then headed over to the London Balloon Festival. It was pretty neat. I wish I had brought my camera to take pictures, but I'd forgotten it in TO. We watched the balloons go up, which was neat. The first two balloons that went up were huge and very patriotic. One was a big Maple Leaf and the other was a flag. We were standing very close to them as they were filling them up with air and at one point it felt like they were going to fall over on us. After those two, a bunch of regular shaped balloons went up and then there was la piece de resistance - a huge green T-rex. It was so cool - I wish I had a picture of it! Unfortunately, his tail didn't really get inflated and his hindquarters deflated while he was in the air, but it was a really good balloon.

After we'd had our fill of balloons we played a round of mini-golf. I love mini-golf even though I lost. Yeesh, and I thought mini-golf was my sport.

Coffee & Trains

My dear friend TB kills me. Today we were on the same train. I was going to Stratford to visit my 'rents for a bit. She was on her way to London to visit our old mutual roommate. Anyway, I'd convinced her to take the train with me because a) the Saturday morning train is really cheap for some reason; and b) they give you free refills on coffee. Honestly, I love sitting on the train in the morning while drinking coffee and watching the Southwestern Ontario scenery go by.

As soon as the train started moving, TB started saying "When do we get the coffee? I'm so excited for the coffee! How do they serve it? Do they have a cart like on planes or do you order it and they bring it to your seat? Is it here yet?" I explained to her that they serve it on a cart and that it would be coming shortly but we were on the last car so it might take awhile to get to us. I was sitting in the aisle seat and could see where the cart was so I assured her that I would let her know as soon as it got to our vicinity.

Well, dear ol' BT got out her change purse and waited. Finally, the cart came and the girl got her beloved coffee. No sooner than two seconds after we were served, I looked over at her cup and it was completly empty. "I wanted to make sure I was ready with my empty cup when the refills come around," she explained. "I wouldn't want to just get half a cup."

Awhile later the cart was passing by us and stopped. TB reaches over me and stops it with her cup. The attendant was quite startled to have a cup stuck out at her abruptly and said "would you like a refill?" Anyway, I laughed so hard at the girl. She was so excited about her coffee. I'd never seen someone railroad a serving cart in such a manner.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with TB and old roommate in London. It'll be weird hanging out with my Toronto friends on my sort-of-home turf.

So far I've had an okay time back in Stratford. I just went for a drive to Shoppers and Zellers. I find driving always such a fun novelty when I'm visiting. I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I don't even run into people I know anymore here. Which is a mixed blessing I suppose. I no longer run into people I'd sooner forget, but I also don't run into enjoyable people either.

Which 90s subculture do you belong to?

Thanks to Aphelia for leading me to this quiz. And, I was very happy to find out that I'm indie! Woo! All of my hours rolling my eyes at my friends who love Nickelback have paid off.



I'll take this oppurtunity to recommend the new Cuff the Duke CD to all. I'm loving it right now. And, it looks like the CD is $10 pretty much everywhere, so everyone should buy it. I guess Cuff the Duke is totally the buzz band of the moment; they've been in all the newspapers and even on that stupid CTV entertainment show that has Ben Mulroney on it. Oh no! Are they going too mainstream? What shall I ever do? I wouldn't want to lose my Indie designation...

In that instant it started to pour.

Today I watch the movie "The Corporation". Good stuff. I especially like what Michael Moore says at the very end of the movie. Kudos that it's a Canadian film too. I also felt a sense of shame while I was watching the movie and thinking about how attached I am to certain material goods in my life - like my iPod.

Tomorrow I'm taking the Saturday morning train to Stratford to stay with the 'rents for a bit. It'll be good to catch up with my pals from home.

I think that right now I'm in a bit of a downswing coming off of my Australian holiday. I just don't know what to do with my time. There's a lot I could be doing - cleaning, organizing, planning for next year, reading, exploring the city - but I'm not. Well, maybe some time in Stratford will be good for me. I'll walk around the river. That's always good.

Oh here's my favourite Koala picture from my trip. I think I took it at the Rainforestation in Kuranda. I caught the little guy having a snack!

"I love you for the Destiny's Child!"

Yet another relaxing day in the world of my summer vacation.

Anyway, I told my roommate that she should come see Rufus & Ben with TB and me on August 9th. One of today's tasks was to go pick up her ticket for her. I figured that was only fair since the girl works insane hours and I'm on summer vacation...

Anyhow, while I was waiting in line to get her ticket there were these two young guys (maybe 19) behind me. They were very excited and talking in Spanish. One of them comes up beside me and says "I love you for the Destiny's Child!" Now, the funniest thing was that I heard the "I love you" part way ahead of the "Destiny's Child" part and I was quite taken aback, since strangers don't confess their love for me on a daily basis. But once the Destiny's Child part registered in my brain, the shock turned into me trying not to laugh really hard. They ended up telling me how they came up from Mexico especially for the Destiny's Child concert and were, quite obviously, very excited. I had to enjoy them for their enthusiasm, even if it was for Destiny's Child.

Oh, and after all that, the Rufus & Ben concert is sold out, so poor roomie can't go. I'm relieved I have my tickets.

If only I were taller I'd see past the clutter and plan my escape...

So I really did a whole lot of nothing today. I walked down to Yonge & Eg and wandered around some shops for a bit but that's about it. Oh, I got at Tiamo at the Second Cup because they're only $2 on Wednesdays.

I wasted some time using this fun thing. I sent TB a painting and she asked might she acquire a print for her cubicle at work. Here's one of my masterpieces.

The Life of a Penguin is NOT the Life for Me.

I had a busy night tonight. First I met up with TB to go to the Cuff the Duke CD release party at Soundscapes at 6:30 pm. Man, it was sooooooooooo hot, but their performance was really good and I picked up their new disc for $9.99! Woo!

Then I met up with an old neighbour from my days in residence to see the flick March of the Penguins. It was very well done. It's a documentary about a year in the life cycle of Antarctic emperor penguins. They certainly didn't evolve to have an easy life. At the beginning of winter, they walk 70 miles from the sea to their breeding ground where they pair up. (They're monogamous for one year). The female lays an egg, then passes it over to the male to take care of it while she walks 70 miles back to the sea to eat. Then, she wanders back to the breeding ground, feeds the chick (who has hatched while she was away) and takes over for the male who walks the 70 miles back to the sea (he's starving by this point). Anyway, the male and female take turns feeding the chick, who is super cute by the way. Finally, after 9 months, the parents leave the chick who goes on its own way to the ocean.

The film-making was amazing. I can't believe that the makers of the film spent so much time in Antarctica. Added bonus: narration by Morgan Freeman.

Here's a picture of Australian little penguins and a Fjordland penguin that I took at the Taronga zoo in Sydney. I loved that zoo. It was definitely my favourite of the many we visited in Australia. The best thing about it is that it's pretty compact so you don't spend half your time trekking around the zoo. Not that I can really complain. At least I'm not an Emperor Penguin.

Worried that your blog is dull?

Check this out.

Weirdness with Blogger Images

Okay, so I just discovered Blogger's new Images feature which makes uploading pictures sooooo much easier. But with my last post, I find that the text in between the pictures is sometime disappearing... Weird. When I scrolled my browser up and down, or highlighted the text, it would reappear.

Odd.

So yeah, there is text in between the pics in the last post.

Funny Australian Signs

One thing that my travelling buddies and I noticed in Australia was that many of their signs were very illustrative. Here are some of my favourites.

Below is a sign on one of the crocodile enclosures at the Australia Zoo which is home of the infamous Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. It instructs the proper position for viewing the crocodile. As noted, other positions will result in death.

Here's a picture of the foam Steve Irwin that made an appearance at the Australia Zoo. Guess the real one was busy that day. Anyway, the quality is rather poor since I was pretty far away. I will admit that he's also not a sign but still funny.

Our good buddy Mr. Foam Steve Irwin made an appearnce at the zoo's "Crocoseum". Gee, did they make that word up?

An interesting sandwich board that we passed by at the Brisbane bus terminal.

Another wonderfully illustrative sign at Mossman Gorge.

A helpful sign warning you of stingers at the beach at Cape Tribulation. If you look closely, you'll see that there is a bottle of vinegar in between the yellow sign and the white sign. Luckily, we weren't there when stingers are in season. They're pretty bad in the summer months and are apparently very very painful.

And one more helpful sign to show you what not do when by crocdile infested waters.

It's good to be home...

I think one of the nicest things about taking a holiday is actually looking forward to coming home. After a very long flight from Sydney to LA, a quick connection, and a significantly shorter flight from LA to Toronto, I made it back to Canada in one piece. Even better, I survived the traffic from the airport to my place.

So I think I have the weirdest case of jet lag ever. I was pretty tired when I got back, but I spent time chatting with my roommate and then TB came over to collect her souvenir and see my pictures. We drank a bottle of Wolf Blass Rose to commemorate my visit to their winery in the Barossa Valley outside of Adelaide. Even after that, it took we awhile to fall asleep. Anyhow, the thing that makes my jet lag strange is that I woke up at 7 am this morning, after only about 6 hours of sleep and couldn't get back to sleep. All this after not sleeping for over 24 hours... Odd.

Anyway, I killed time in the morning playing around on the Interent and then I went to the overpriced crappy grocery store that is a short walking distance from my apt to get some basics. I had lunch followed by an afternoon nap. Then it was off to see "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" on the Imax screen at Paramount. I enjoyed it a lot. Even better, I got to see the preview for the next Harry Potter movie on such a big screen. I had also seen that trailer in Australia when we did the Gold Class Seating thing. I'm so excited for that movie.

Speaking of Harry Potter, I of course of course of course picked up the new book the day it came out when I was in Australia. I'm glad that the Australian version, like the Canadian version but unlike the American version, was printed on rainforest-friendly paper. Anyway, I loved it and finished it long before the plane ride home. My initial plan was to save it for the flight. But once I started it, I couldn't stop. I can't wait for the next (and last) book!

Anyway, after the movie, TB and I wandered around Queen St. and did some shopping. I fell in love with a limited edition purse designed by Paul Frank for John Deere that has old fashioned tractors on it. It's really neat. It was on sale (but still expensive) but I bought it. So that's my impulse buy for the summer. After that, we had sushi for dinner then we wandered to her apartment so I could see her Thailand pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I definitely will try to upload some fun pics from Oz on here tomorrow!

Only two more days and one really really long flight to go...

Well, now I'm in Sydney! I've been here, for about 36 hours and I like the city so far, despite the fact that it is "the dead of winter". You should see how some of the people here bundle up for their 18 degree weather.

In Adelaide, many of the locals were crying about the "cold spell" they were enduring. It got as low as 12 degrees during the day. Oh, the humanity!!!

I really liked Adelaide, it was a very British-y city with a really easy-to-navigate layout. I think if I were to live in one of the Australian cities that we've visited, Adelaide would be it. I'd live there despite their cruel winters. Sydney's good though; I was happy to get back to the hustle and bustle of a big city. Adelaide felt kind of like Toronto if it had been injected with a large dose of a heavy sedative.

Destination #2 - Cairns

Wow! Cairns has been absolutely amazing. I love this place. We got here on Saturday. Beautiful weather greeted us. It has been 25-27 degrees each day with sunshine and 0 humidity. I've heard about the heat wave in Toronto and can't say that I'm sad to be missing it.

Cairns is right on the Pacific and is surrounded by rainforest-covered mountains. Our hotel is 3 blocks from the ocean. Since it's the dead of winter here, Cairns isn't too busy. It's got Night Markets and lots of neat restuarants and things for travellers. Right now we're on a down day so we hit an internet cafe to get caught up.

On our first day here we went on a Great Barrier Reef Cruise. It was amazing! FF got seasick. Snorkelling there was amazing!

The second day we went on a tour of the rainforest. We took a train to Kuranda, which is a village in the rainforest. We took the Sky Rail back, which was so cool.

Looks like it's time to leave the cafe and head down to the ocean! I love this place!

Week 1 in Oz

The good news - I've survived the 13 + hour flight from LA to Brisbane. The better news - my week in Brisbane, which is nearing its end, has been amazing! First off, the weather has been absolutely beautiful. It's been sunny every day and about 22 degrees. Wonderful. And don't forget, this is the dead of winter for them. Lucky ducks.

Here is a quick summary of my activities thus far:

July 1st - Flew from Toronto to LA. Had a 3 hour layover in LA where we had dinner. MC confused the American waiter with use of the word cutlery. Boarded flight to Brisbane at 11 pm.

July 2nd - We lost this day.

July 3rd - Arrived in Brisbane at 6:05 am after being in the air for over 13 hours. My feet were swollen. Miraculously met up with W's roommates visitors and shared a "Maxi Taxi" to W's place. Caught up with W, had a wonderful shower and watched my feet return to their normal size. In the afternoon we visited the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where FF met the goal of her trip - holding a koala bear.

July 4th - MC, FF and I took the bus to the Queen St. Mall. Arrived back at W's for a BBQ with roommates, other visitors and other residents of Brisbane's Canadian ghetto.

July 5th - Took long train ride out of city to the Crocodile Hunter Zoo. Crikey!

July 6th - Saw "Batman Begins" in Gold Class Seating. Paid $17 but got to sit in a super comfy lazy-boy recliner and was waited on hand and foot. Learned the invaluable lesson that eating a chocolate sundae in the dark usually means I'll end up with ice cream on my shirt.

July 7th (today) - Wend on bus tour of Sunshine Coast. Visited a ginger factory (surprisingly fun), learned about the legends associated with the Glasshouse Mountains and visited Noosa, a posh beach town. Would have enjoyed Noosa more if we didn't spend the majority of the time there in a restaurant, waiting for our lunch. If you ever find yourself in Noosa, do not eat at La Vida on Hastings Street. Afterwards, we continued to Under Water World. Met up with W's roommate's visitors who had gone swimming in the shark tank there. Yes, you read right, swimming in the shark tank. They said it was amazing.

That brings me up to date. Tomorrow we don't have much planned except doing some laundry and going to a pub. Then on Saturday, we're on the plane to Cairns. I think Cairns will be great.

I've taken loads of pictures and I'll upload a bunch when I'm home. I'm going to devote an entire post to "Australian Signs that Make Me Laugh".

G'day!

Bon voyage a moi!

Well, today is departure day!

What that means is that I survived the last day of work (no problem). I got my courses for next year and they're not too shabby. I have some grade 10s mixed in with my grade 9s. The day I get a senior course, I'll probably keel over from shock. But, on the bright side, it looks like I have my own room!

But blah blah blah about that.

So I'm off today! T-about 6 hours until my flight. I'm mostly packed, I just gotta throw a couple more things together and finishing tidying the national disaster zone that is my apartment. Blech. I hate cleaning.

Anyway, I may blog a bit while I'm in Brisbane. After that, it might be awhile.

Au revoir!

This might amuse me for hours.

Go here to have fun with all of your favourite pictures. (Found this on Raymi's blog.)

Our Wishes Don't Do Dishes

So last night's Christine Fellows/John K. Samson/Bry Webb from the Constantines concert was amazing! All three acts were excellent. Johnny K did not fail to disappoint TB and myself. Although, I'm pretty sure if he came out and sang Frere Jacques we'd be pretty happy. He sang a couple new songs, which is where I got my title from. Oh man, I really wish that my wishes did do dishes.

Christine Fellows was really good. Her band was great. She had the drummer from the Weakerthans and the bass player from the Weakerthans in the ensamble. Both TB and myself bought her new CD "Paper Anniversary", I've been listening to it all day. I think my fave songs are Souvenirs and Phantom Pains.

Today I had to run a few errands. I'm almost through my list of things I need to do before I leave on Friday. A trip to the mall tomorrow and a couple phone calls and I should be done (except packing).

Today I had to make a trip to the bank 'cuz my bank card stopped working. I was just thinking last week how it was probably coming up on my bank card's 10 year bday. I got it when I got my first job, which was at the end of June when I was 15. Anyway, yesterday it refused to work at the grocery store and at the bank machine. I'm just glad that it did that before my trip, since I'll prolly use it at least once to get cash in Australia.

Arghhhhhhhhhh! It's sooooooo hot! I'm actually glad that I'm going off to a country where it's their winter time. However, I think it'll be in the teens or twenties everywhere where I'm going. I'm so not a heat person.

The joys of wireless internet...

Right now I'm sitting on my lovely 27th floor balcony writing this post. I love wireless... except when it decides to cut out randomly for a couple of minutes, usually when I'm in the middle of something important. Anyway, it's nice to be sitting in the *slightly* cooler air outdoors as opposed to inside the apartment.

Only 4 more full days of the 2004/2005 school year. And I'm pretty much done everything, so I'm really only gooing to make appearances for those days and clean a couple more things off of my desk. Summer's here!

More importantly, I only have 5 more sleeps until my departure day for Australia! I can't wait. I really, really need to start packing. Well, at least tonight I did some laundry. Clean clothes will help me.

Tomorrow night TB and I are going to go see John K Samson of the Weakerthans/Christine Fellows at the Mod Club. It will be a good time. We've only been to one concert before at the Mod Club, and it was a great venue. We especially liked the fact that all of the minors had to be up on the balcony, while we older folks got to be close to the stage.

I am quite disappointed with my concert going patterns this year. Part of the reason I wanted to move back to Toronto was to go to more concerts. So far I've only been to *gasp* two concerts in 2005. I went to see Cuff the Duke/Joel Plakett Emergency in January and then The Constantines/Weakerthans in April. Both concerts were excellent, so where I am lacking in quantity, at least I am compensating in quality.

I'll be missing some good shows while I'm in Australia, but I can't complain too much about that. In August, I have my Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright double bill coming up, which I am soooo looking forward to. Also, I just heard that Tori Amos is playing at the Molson Ampitheatre so I'll have to go with OE, as is tradition. There are also some good free shows (ie Joel Plaskett) at the Harbourfront in August. So, things are improving.

While I'm in Australia my best concert buddy in the world (TB) will be rockin' in the free world sans moi. She's got Edgefest on July 1st (the day I leave) and then she's going to Live 8 on July 2nd (the day that won't exist for me).

Man, it's hard to think of a title for this post...

Well, I wisely ignored my horoscope from Friday's Metro which said that I should get out of going to a party. On Friday, I went to a pal's bday party. Good times. This evening I went to dinner at FF's place in Whitby. Her OISE pals were there and her parents cooked 7 dishes. My faves were the stuffed peppers and the lotus rice.

While I was on my way to the GO train at Union Station, people running Bell Canada's Cityrun or some such nonsense almost ran me over. Why they were running throught the station is beyond me.

This column makes me laugh. I like poking fun at Stephen Harper. I think I'm going to print it out and send it to my dad.

Here's an article from the Toronto Star that seems to suggest we Torontonians have a tendancy to be sanctimonious and rude towards Americans. I bet his experiment would have had way different results if he'd said he was a Democrat...

Anyway... only five more days in Canada! I'm leaving for Down Under on Friday. I'm now officially starting the hardcore countdown!

Edit: That's the last time I'm calling Australia "Down Under". When reading over my post, I thought it sound gross and cliched and awful. Blech. Never again.

Mischief with Domain Names

I was reading the Globe and Mail online today and came across this article that tickled my fancy. A Liberal MP was angry in the House of Commons because an anti-same sex marriage group had bought his domain name and used it to set up a site urging constituents to email him complaining about his pro-same sex marriage stance. Anyway, Jason Kenney, a Conservative MP, said that it was his own fault for not having the common sense to register his domain.

Rick Mercer heard this kerfuffle and decided to check if Jason Kenney had registered his own domain. Of course, he hadn't. So Mercer bought it and re-directed it to the Communist Party of Canada. Anyway, check out Mercer's blog. He wants readers to email him with other suggestions for re-directs. Kenney responded to this shennanigan with "what's good for the goose, is good for the gander." Anyway, I find this whole thing rather amusing... I love it when Conservatives are ribbed. Although I would have enjoyed a stronger reaction from them.

Anyway, I had a pretty good day. I love this time of year because I can leave work a bit early-ish. Tomorrow my boss requested to talk with me, probably about my position next year. I'm all paranoid that she'll be like "Remember when yesterday I told you we'd have a permanent position for you? Well, things have changed and we don't..." Today I actually turned down an interview, so that has increased my paranoia. I'm sure it'll all work myself out. I think the reason why I sort of make up stuff for myself to worry about or be paranoid about is that I have my grandmother's genes. She worried so much she gave herself ulcers. I was pretty good at supressing my worry level in university because I had to, or I would have self-destructed. In fact I got too good at it and I got to the point where I didn't even worry about exams.

Well, enough rambling about my neuroses. This evening I've been killing brain cells by watching silly reality tv. I watched the results show for Canadian Idol. The Moffat didn't make it. I kind of felt bad for him, since ya figure he should be a shoe-in with his experience. Maybe he was nervous since he didn't have his brothers around... I was kind of sad that the Italian guy from Toronto didn't make it through. Maybe he'll show up in the wild-card show. Hey - I'll miss that show 'cuz I'll be in Australia!! That's a happy though.

Now I'm watching that "Dancing with the Stars" show that is popular for some reason. I mean, for reality tv, it's definitely low on the sleaze scale. C-list celebrities dancing is actually quite high-brown entertainment in our times. I guess I should appease my 10-year-old self and cheer for Joey McIntyre.

Fun sites!

Okay, here are some fun sites I've come across lately from other people's blogs and recommendations from friends.

Post Secret - I'm thinking about what I could send in now.

Subservient Chicken - Ask him to do something a bit naughty. (Note: Recommendation of this site in no way is an endorsement of Burger King.)

Store Wars - For you Star Wars fans, or for you organic food fans.

An exercise in futility

So anyhow, I only had a one year contract at the place where I currently work so I've been in the market hunting for a permanent position. Today I found out that a permanent position will pop up where I am now, so the two interviews I've been to in the past week and all of the resumes I've sent out have turned out to be unnecessary. So anyway, this is really really good news and I'm quite happy. I just hope that everything is finalized before I leave for Australia so that I don't have any nagging paranoid thoughts in my brain...

Today was a really good day at work - I guess mostly because of the news I got regarding my position. I spent about 2 hours cleaning the explosive mess that is my desk. I decided to call this task "reducing the entropy of my workstation". Entropy, for those of you whose thermodynamics are a little rusty, is the tendancy of the universe toward disorder. Consider the universe (or at least the part of it that's occupied by my desk) to be a little less disorderly. Homer Simpson might be angry at me, since one of my all-time fave Homer lines is "Young lady, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!" (This was his response to Lisa's perpetual motion machine.)

Well, I had said in an early post that I was gonna go for a walk and take some pictures. I think I said that last night. Well instead, my roommate and I ended up watching "Spanglish". I didn't really like it... So, after Canadian Idol, I will go for a little walk.

Canadian Idol aside - Can you believe that there is a Moffat in the competition? Shouldn't there be a rule exempting former pop stars from this sort of compeition? Isn't the point to find an unknown?

Guilty Pleasures: Music

Anyhow, last night when I was supposed to be sleeping, I was thinking about my musical guilty pleasures.

I argue that you can secretly like a really bad song by a really bad artist, and not have to worry about it compromising your musical coolness as long you classify it as a guilty pleasure.

Here are some of mine:

• Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson - Despite the grammar of the title, and the fact it is sung by an American Idol winner, I like this song.
• After watching that show "Hit Me Baby One More Time" a couple of weeks ago, I've got a new appreciation for Arrested Development (think 1992) and actually have "Tennesse" on my iPod.
• I turn the radio up in my car (on the rare occasions when I'm driving) and "Fighter" by Christina Aguilera comes on.
• Ditto for "Bang Bang Boom" by the Moffats. Oh, methinks I need to put that on my iPod.
• I actually like the Santana/Chad Kroeger from Nickelback song from a couple years ago. Can't think of the name. But at least I still hate Nickelback.
• "Lost Without Each Other" and "Penny and Me" by Hanson. Yeah, thes are two new songs that came out last year by the kids who sang Mmm-bop. Is it my fault they're catchy?
• Okay, I don't mind the new Mariah Carey song "We Belong Together"
• I listen to Manic Monday by the Bangles on my iPod on my way to work every Monday morning. Corny? Perhaps.
• I have a fondness for pop-punk which is probably one of the most over-saturated and cliched genres. But "The Anthem" by Good Charlotte is fun, dammit. And yes, I am aware that one of them is dating Hillary Duff.
• Gwen Stefani's new stuff. I think her solo work is filed under guilty pleasure, but it's totally respectable to like No Doubt.

Anyway, that's the list for now. I'm sure that I will think of many additions.

Coming soon, Guilty Pleasures: TV, Guilty Pleasures: Movies, and Guilty Pleasures: Frivolous Products.

...with a hey and a ho and a hey nonino...

Oh my! Classes are over! Just four more days of exams and cleaning up my desk and getting marks in and stuff and that's all folks!

What will next year hold? I'm not sure... I've had two job interviews and I'm going to apply for some more jobs tonight. At least I know that I have a position. I just would really like to know where. Like right now please. I'm so impatient.

Anyhow, I had a good weekend in Stratford. I really enjoyed As You Like It. The music was really good. The Barenaked Ladies were responsible for it, and I purchased the CD and really like it. It's fun stuff.

Hmmmm, this is a boring entry. I'm tired. I rented Spanglish to watch tonight but I dunno if I'll actually do that. Maybe I'll just go for a walk or something. I keep wanting to go for a photo-trek and take some neat-o burrito Toronto pictures to post on my blog. It would give my digital camera a work-out since I've barely used it since I got it. Maybe I'll do that...

Stratford-ho!

Well, just a quick post before I start to madly pack so that I can grab a bite to eat before I hop on the train to Stratford.

Today was a pretty good day at work. I'm feeling kind of emotional since it's the end of the year and I don't know if I'll be back there next year. I'm going to miss a lot of the little hellions.

Tomorrow I'm going to see "As You Like It" at the Festival with MC. I'm looking forward to it! Tickets were only $20 'cuz we're young. The Festival's trying to attract a "hipper" audience by offering cheap tix to those between 18-29. Woo ageism! Now, not only the seniors get the discount.

Over 'n out!

Everyday's a holiday with you...

So anyway, I had a day, not a bad day, but a day that has made me feel rather morose. So, I've decided to compile a list of happy things, in hopes of cheering myself up.

So here's my "perhaps if I think about these things I'll feel happier" list:

• Weakerthans concerts
• Unwrapping a new CD to feel its smooth, perfect, shiny new face
• Sleeping in on weekends
• $2 Chillatte Wednesdays at the Second Cup
• The Daily Show and America: The Book by the Daily Show
• A good music video; these are rarities but some examples are "Keep Fishin'" by Weezer, "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters and "Rest of my Life" by Sloan
• Having a concert to look forward to (eg. Ben & Rufus on August 9th)
• Getting $100 worth of free cosmetics because of my Shopper's Optimum Points (oh gee, I kind of feel like a corporate schill for saying that)
• Starting a new book and getting engrossed in it immediately
• Discovering an awesome new song and listening to it over and over again (eg "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars)
• Cinnamon Buns body wash by Philosophy (oh-oh coporate schill time again)
• air-conditioned subway cars
• taking the train home to Stratford for the weekend (will be doing this tomorrow night)
• Will Ferrell
• My friends
• The view from my apartment
• Solving a good math problem (occupational hazard)
• Kuuduk
• The fact that I leave for Austalia in two weeks from tomorrow!!!

So maybe if I curl up in bed with a good book, listen to my iPod and think about these things, my icky mood will dissapate.

If not, tomorrow is Friday!

Had to think of one of my own...

I still really like those flags created for that Portuguese journalism magazine. Today I thought what Canada's flag could represent and here's what I came up with:

Canada
Red - those in favour of gay marriage
White - those opposed to gay marriage

Now, obviously my ponderings aren't well-researched, but I'm pretty sure that polls have indicated that the majority of Canadians favour gay marriage. And, with the gay marriage vote coming up soon in Parliament, I thought my interpretation was pretty timely.

Today was another hot, hot, hot 'n humid day. I decided to leave my apartment and go read some books in the air-conditioned comfort of Indigo. This is always a dangerous undertaking, since it often ends up in me buying a book... This time I walked home with "Running with Scissors". Tonight I think I'll sit on my balcony and read while listening to my iPod.

Another highlight of the day was getting $100 worth of free cosmetics from Shopper's by redeeming my beloved Optimum points! They had a today-only special where if you redeemed 34 000 points, you'd get $100 worth of free stuff instead of only $75. O happy day!

Anyhow, I'm off to read 'n listen to music. Oh, and I have to do some laundry. My summer wardrobe just isn't big enough to allow me to go too long without having to do that chore.

Here's another one...

USA
Red - in favour of the war in Iraq
White - against the war in Iraq
Blue - Not knowing where is Iraq

Knowing the world we live in

I received the image below in a forward from a university friend. They were created as an advertising campaign for a Portugeuse journalism magazine. The artist used statistics from sources such as Amnesty International. They had images for other countries as well. For more info

China

Red - Minors 14 years old working
Yellow - Minors 14 years old studying

See me comin' to town with my soul...

Well, it's been a good weekend so far!

Last night was TB's (27th) bday party. A group of us went out for Thai food then came back here for cake 'n ice cream 'n wine 'n a long game of Apples to Apples. It was a good time and I got to see some ppl I hadn't seen for a very long time (insert OE's name here).

Then today, I got up earlier, did the dishes from said party, and went to meet TB and FF for bruch at Flo's in Yorkville. FF and I did a little bit of shopping in the afternoon and then I came home and crashed for a bit on my bed.

I went to see "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" tonight and really liked it. A good mix of an action movie and a romantic comedy. Good work Brangelina.

I splurged and got "Guero" by Beck tonight. I'm transferring it to the iPod and then it's off too bed for me.

It's bananas! B! A! N! A! N! A! S!

My pal in Japan sent me a postcard that I received today with this picture on it. Makes us think of our old cat Cat. This picture really makes me laugh because it is verrrrrrrrrry OE-unfriendly. OE is my dear friend who is very into animals. He hates anything that looks slightly degrading to an animal. For example, he can't stand the movie "Breakfast At Tiffany's" because Audrey Hepburn throws her pet cat (also named Cat - in fact this is where we got Cat's name from). He hates this movie even though he loves Audrey Hepburn.

What else to say about this day? Well, it was hot, hot, hot! Yesterday, I bought a fan, which is so nice to have in my room. I carried the thing all the way home on the subway, which for some reason, gave me a sense of satisfaction.

Only 3 more weeks and two more days 'til I leave!

p.s. I almost lost this post because of random internet problems but I was smart enough to paste it into Word before the cruel gods of 'net weather could wreck their havoc!

Welcome to Procrastination Nation

Today was a day of procrastination for myself. I realllllllllllllllllllly shooooooooooooooooould have been doing work, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. I woke up at a fairly early time. Well, early for me on the weekend. I showered and then settled down to a leisurely breakfast and watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons on DVD. Then I was good enough to do dishes and tidy the kitchen a bit. Then, I lazed around browsing the Internet for awhile, then called my mother. Realizing that I'd wasted enough time to be hungry for another meal (it was around 5 pm), I decided to venture out to do a bit of grocery shopping. I decided that'd I'd eat supper, then settle down to work.

No go. I wasted some more time on the 'net. (God, I hate how I do that). Then, I watched the Simpsons again. Deciding I needed some fresh air, I went for a mini-stroll around Chaplin Cres. and ended up at the Second Cup, buying myself a Chillatte. Came home, drank it, called my mom again, then settled down to work.

So, as punishment, tomorrow I will be staying late at work, in a hot non-air conditioned building when it's 31 degrees out finishing what I should have at least started today. Blast my oily hide.

When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire!

Still loving the song "your ex-lover is dead" by Stars. Today I played it for TB and she muchly enjoyed.

TB is back from her trip to Thailand. She brought me back a really pretty pillow case that really goes with my attempted red/gold colour scheme in my room. Although this scheme has now included some purple thanks to the desk that J&A gave me...

We went to Paramount to see the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" tonight and it was quite good. TB and I admitted to each other after the movie that we had both cried at several points during the movie. But, in our defence, so did all of the teenage girls who were in the theatre with us.

Then we went off to Alison's hangout for Cosmos (in my case), Corona (in TB's case) and brushchetta. I decided to go for two cosmos and they gave me a happy feeling. I haven't really drank in so long that I was surprised. Usually liquor doesn't affect me too much whereas beer and wine do.

Today I did the laundry that I've been putting off all week so I'm quite proud of myself. Tomorrow I need to do a lot of work to get me through the last two weeks.

Two in a row!

I'm making an effort to get my blogging back up to speed. It's a habit like flossing and exercise I guess.

Well, it's Friday. Another week down and two more to go. Then two more weeks after that and it's Australia time.

MC emailled me today asking if I wanted to go see "As you like it" at the Festival (the Stratford one, of course). They Festival has a new incentive aimed at bringing young ppl to the Festival... If you are between 18-29, you can get tickets for $20 (no more than 2 weeks in advance though). I say this is a good deal, and I will see a few plays this year. MC wants to get the tix for the 18th, which works perfectly 'cuz I was thinking of coming down that weekend anyway for several reasons:

1) It's Fathers' Day;
2) Pick up my Columbia sandals which I left in Stratford; and
3) Give MC her travel docs so she can be as excited as I am.

So now we can add 4) See "As you like it" to the list.

I'm also going to have to read up on that play since I'm unfamiliar with it. Oh, and the cool thing about it is that the Barenaked Ladies did the music for it. Neat-o burrito.

Well, I'm hungry so I'm gonna have an early dinner.

Holy... My ficus plant is the saddest looking thing ever. It's lost 3/4 of its leaves. I suck at taking care of houseplants.

Still really sucking at the updates...

Oh man, a pal just asked to link my blog so I thought I'd better update it quick! Guess that means I should say something.... umm.....

IT'S JUNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The end is in sight.

And, I'm so excited for Australia. Today I picked up all of our travel docs. What fun just to look through them. I'm thinking I really need to make a list of what I need to do before I leave.

Anyway, right now I'm watching the Daily Show. Thank God it's off reruns. Also, thank goodness I have Jon Stewart to make a witty comment after W's and Cheney's assinine comments about the AI report. Jon Stewart eases my pain....