up in the big smoke

concert count

2008-05-03T03:13:00.004-04:00

#42: Jason Mraz (27-Apr-08) - Kool Haus

ah jason mraz, what a long hiatus he seems to have taken. i saw him at kool haus about two and a half years ago, so it definitely has been a long time. he hadn't released an album with new material since then, but has had a bunch of things released on the net.

he had a bunch of opening acts, which i skipped out on the first two. one of them was a magician! i've never heard of or seen a show where there was a non-musical opening act. and his name was justin kredible! what a perfect stage name for a magician! he also served as an MC for the show and introduced the other acts.

the second opening act was the makepeace brothers. i'm not sure if they were actually blood brothers. i don't know anything about them, but they came out for a song with the 3rd opening act, bushwalla. i swear bushwalla had a song released at least 5 years ago because that name sounds so familiar, but i can't put my finger on it. he was good too, very energetic and random (ie. stripping down to a unitard for the last song).

then justin kredible came back on stage to do a magic trick, and put a tent up on stage and jason mraz magically appeared out of it. what an entrance!

jason played a mix of new and old songs, which was good and expected. talking to a friend who went to 2 different shows in california, it turns out that he has 2 different set lists and rotates them. which makes sense, just to mix things up a bit. the only thing i wish he did was play more of his upbeat, fast songs. at times i thought there were too many slow songs, which slows the tone of the show down. i really can't wait for his new album to come out, it will be long overdue.

one of my favourite things that people do at shows is invite everyone on stage (opening acts and other people who are on tour with them) and do this massive song together. matt costa did it, and so did jason mraz. it was actually a song that bushwalla sang, and all the opening acts and support people came on stage to play the tambourine, jump around, dance, and generally have a good time. i love when they do this because everyone looks like they're having so much fun. so they did this, and then they abruptly stopped the song and froze in position. then justin kredible introduced every single person and took a polaroid of them and threw it into the crowd. they were frozen in place for a very long time, it was quite impressive. by the time he got to jason, he whispered to justin to hurry up b/c everyone was probably getting tired.

i thought that was the last song before the encore. but it wasn't, jason came out to do an acoustic song. and then he left and came back for the encore. i forget how good his songs are from both his first 2 albums. and his voice is absolutely amazing. great show all around.

next up: kanye west's glow in the dark tour at my favourite venue, the molson amphitheatre!

concert count

2008-03-01T19:01:00.006-05:00

#41: Matt Costa (27-Feb-08) - The Phoenix

what a long concert drought!!!!! i blame it on the winter, everyone seems to go into hibernation.

i bought tickets to this show months ago, mainly because i've always wanted to check out a matt costa show, and partially because i was just itching to go to a concert (and the tickets were cheap).

even though i didn't know much of his music, i've heard good things about his show, and his connection to jack johnson automatically earns points in my books.

but poor matt costa got all his gear stolen after his show in winnipeg, and then after that, they got into an accident and their van did a few flips on the road. the keyboard player was hurt, i think. but like a true dedicated artist, the show must go on. and i'm glad it did. his music and his live show is so entertaining. he just has happy music, something you can tap your foot to, and leave it on in the background for any occassion.

apparently he was either drunk or high at the calgary show, but he seemed sober in toronto. for the last song before the encore, all these people, whom i assume is part of his crew and their significant others, came out to help sing, clap, and play the tambourine. i liked that because it seemed like they were having so much fun. i actually recognized more songs than i thought i would, which is always a plus at a show.

once again, the phoenix is an awesome venue for shows. love the small club show. great show to end the drought.

next on deck: kanye west and the glow in the dark tour with rihanna, lupe fiasco, and N.E.R.D.! just got tickets today for the show in may at the molson amphitheatre. solid line up. solid venue.

when in rome....

2007-11-25T10:52:00.001-05:00

...do as the romans do.

i was in montreal last week, and i had:

- steak tartar (for the first time - yum!)

- crepes

- rack of lamb

- french toast

- montreal smoked meat sandwich

good city. great food. what more can you ask for?

concert count

2007-10-27T13:26:00.000-04:00

#40: Matthew Good (26-oct-07) - Massey Hall

the day before, raine maida was busking on toronto streets for 12 hrs to raise money to build a school in the congo with war child. then i had tickets to the matt good show the next day. it's like i'm back in university going to see our lady peace and matthew good band, but both have gone solo now. (although i don't know if OLP have broken up or if raine is just doing his own thing for a bit).

i really like matt good's newest CD, even though his other solo efforts have been ok, but not to the MGB calibre, in my opinion. it seemed like he had taken a long time between records, and in the meantime, he blogged about his battle with being bipolar.

so we ended up being late to the show b/c when i pulled out my tickets, it turned out that i brought one ticket and the receipt instead of the other ticket. i usually rip off the receipt (which is printed on a ticket and it's all connected when they mail the tickets), and pin the tickets to my bulletin board. but i guess i ripped it in the wrong place at the start and didn't notice until we were about to walk in. good thing i live downtown and the venue was downtown, so we just took a cab back to my place, and i found the other ticket in my file of receipts, and went back to massey hall. we missed 3-5 songs (depending on which usher you ask).

he had a glass of wine with him on stage, which was constantly refilled, and he was definitely slurring his words when he talked. the performance was great, but you could tell he was drunk when he talked, which was pretty funny. he was filming the performance (coincidently it was being filmed by duncan from our lady peace!), but he kept saying that he messed up so many times they probably won't use any of the footage.

i was hoping he would sing some old MGB songs, and he didn't disappoint. he sang apparitions and suburbia, my all time favourite MGB song from beautiful midnight. and the whole show was acoustic, which was really amazing.

between every song, he would talk. and lots too. at one point, there was someone with a laser pointer, so matt proceeded to make fun of the person. he's like "laser pointers are so 1997. i don't get the mentality of 'oh i'm going to bring a laser pointer to the matt good show. i'm going to point it at the guitar and no one's going to know it's me.'" and then another time he talked about how he wanted to do a record about the homoerotic tendencies of the lord of the rings.

he played for an extra long time too. he played for a little over 2 hrs in total, which is pretty amazing these days. he seemed to be alot more mellow than the usual ranting matt good, i think it was the booze.

so overall a good show. now if i went to the david usher show a few weeks ago, that would have rounded out my favourite-university-era-bands'-lead-singers-gone-solo tour.

i have no upcoming shows lined up either. maybe a little bit of a concert drought for awhile.

concert count

2007-10-18T19:33:00.000-04:00

#39: Maroon 5 (04-Oct-07) - ACC

ahhhhhh. i was so excited to see this show. both maroon 5 CDs are amazing, and i was so angry i didn't get tickets to their club tour a few months ago b/c i thought that would have been a million times better than seeing them at the ACC. but that wasn't completely true, the show was still really good.

it was at the ACC. so think of a hockey arena and how the stage is always at one end of the rink. there are floor seats and then the regular seats. we had the first row of the seats on the side, so we were pretty close.

the opening act was the hives. i was looking forward to seeing them b/c they were always one of those bands i've wanted to check out b/c they're the type of band and music i would like.

i enjoyed their set. i think mainly b/c the lead singer was such a performer. he was hilarious and would keep talking to the crowd. at one point, he even said something about how he's meant to be on stage b/c he's so entertaining or something like that. their music was good, i can't say i was overly into their music based on their performance though. it wasn't like when i saw muse at virgin fest for the first time ever, and was so impressed with their show that i became a fan.

then the main act. oh adam levine. so cute. he kinda reminds me of a young sting. this is a picture i took without zoom to show how close we actually were sitting.

i hadn't really listened to their old CD in awhile, and i really forgot how good it actually is. and they sang so many songs from their first album, which was great. one of my favourites is still 'this love' and i took a long video of it (check it on my facebook profile to watch it). i made a conscious effort not to sing while taking the video b/c it's always hilarious when i watch youtube videos of live concert footage and either the person taking the video or someone beside them is singing so loud you can't hear the musician.

i was actually really impressed with their stage set up. i wasn't really expecting much. but they had two runways that went into the audience, and the light show behind them was good too. there was also a wide range of people in the audience. from the dad with his two kids under 12 years old sitting beside me, to the near 40 cougars in ed hardy tshirts, there pretty much was everyone at this show.i don't really remember much more about the show, except that i was super impressed by it and ended up having a even bigger crush on adam levine. i don't care if he's a manwhore, it's purely a celebrity crush.

2007-10-16T18:46:00.000-04:00

i literally gasped when i saw that there's going to be an M&M meat shop opening right by my house. there's none downtown, and they're all out in the suburbs. so besides the one time i bought some stuff at the store near my office in the suburbs, i've never had any M&M stuff since moving out to TO.

i'm very excited about this one opening up. it looks like it'll be ready soon! i've never really had any of their stuff in edmonton before because i was lucky enough to get homecooking. but now that i'm living on my own, i'll be stocking my freezer!

concert counts

2007-09-17T21:04:00.000-04:00

#34: i.an.eye (07-Sep-07) - The Rivoli

a friend of mine went to school with one of the guys in this band, and my old roommate had mentioned before that she thought i would enjoy their music based on knowing my music taste. they're kind of a reggae folk band. in general, i'm not a huge fan of reggae, which is one reason i didn't like bedouin soundclash very much. obviously, i know these bands aren't the prototypical reggae band, but you get the point.

so i.an.eye is basically comprised of 2 guys, and they have a supporting band behind them. apparently one of their first shows, all they did was play jack johnson covers. but now they have their own material. it was pretty good. not too reggae, it was pretty relaxed.

apparently they're going to try and do a tour in europe, so that's pretty cool.

#35a: Virgin Festival (08-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

i won tickets to the festival from a local radio station, so i was pretty excited about that. i wanted to go, but didn't necessarily want to shell out money for it, and didn't know who would do the same. but i won two tickets, so a friend of mine came with me.

first up was paolo nutini. we only really caught a song and a half of his set, which is really disappointing b/c i relaly wanted to see him perform. but the ferry was hard to predict, and ended up taking longer to get over to the island. the only full song we heard was pretty good.

then it was k-os. i've never seen him perform, and it was pretty good. i don't know any of his stuff except for his singles, but it was enjoyable.

next up was m.i.a. i was interested to see her set b/c i've heard lots about her, but never really know any of her songs. she was actually really good. i liked her show and performance, but i dunno if her music is something i would listen to all the time.

then we went to the other stage and checked out parts of matt costa's set. we couldn't see the whole thing, b/c we had to go back to the main stage and see the arctic monkeys. even though i've seen them perform before, i still wanted to see them again. they have such a distinctive british sound, i love it.

2nd last act was interpol. i was really looking forward to their set b/c i've never seen them before and their music is so good. and they didn't disappoint. their live show was great and it made their songs sound even better. definitely my favourite act of the day.

the day 1 closing act was bjork. i've never heard any of her stuff before and only know her as being weird, so i was intrigued at what kind of show she would put on. it was definitely weird too! i honestly couldn't even understand the words she was singing, and it was just all around weird. so after 2 songs or so, we decided to leave. we'd seen enough to make judgement!

#35b: Virgin Festival (09-Sep-07) - Toronto Island

day 2 started with tokyo police club. i've already seen them perform as well, so it wasn't a new show in that sense. i wonder when they're going to release another album b/c all their songs are so short and they only have one album.

then we missed the stars set, mainly b/c we were standing in line waiting to buy funnel cake.

metric took the stage next, and like the first time i saw them in whistler, it was good, but i wouldn't consider myself a fan of their music. some of their songs are really catchy, but i dunno what it is that is stopping me from actually loving their stuff.

then it was the killers. i was really excited for them b/c i've never seen them perform. and they didn't disappoint. it was a great show. i have their second album on my ipod, and i remember really liking it. great show.

then the smashing pumpkins closed the festival. i was definitely looking forward to this set the most. even though i'm not their #1 fan in any respect, i think i only have one album (meloncholy and the infinite sadness), but it was definitely one of their best. they sang lots of their classics along with their new stuff. i really wish they sang 'disarm' though, that's one of my favourite pumpkins songs. we basically waited for them to perform 1979, and then left. which i think about half the people there did as well. 1979 was great though. billy corgan did an acoustic solo version of the song, and it sounded really good.

all in all, a great virgin festival again this year.

#36: City and Colour (11-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

day 1 of my city and colour shows. attack in black opened up this show (they did shows 1 and 3. casey baker did shows 2 and 4). they just released their album, and it sounded pretty good. i bought it at the merch table afterwards. i only caught half of their set though.

we had row 4 seats to the right side. and it turned out that dallas was standing on the right! what luck! he did these shows a little differently. he had the 2 people from attack in black come out and play the bass and drums behind him. so the songs were definitely louder. at first, i was mixed as to whether or not i liked the new way of performing the song. why mess with a good thing? but i was really surprised by it and really liked it. it mixes up the songs a bit, and i'm sure he must be tired of performing the same songs the same way for almost 2 years. he even made a comment about people thinking he's ruining their favourite songs.

one of the best things of city and colour shows is that dallas talks to the crowd all the time. and he's so funny, without really trying to be. he usually does it while he's tuning his guitars. and sometimes it takes him awhile, so people heckle and yell out stuff constantly. so it gets a little annoying at times, but whatever.

he played a few new songs, and some covers as well. he's going to be on a neil young tribute album where a bunch of people perform neil young songs and the proceeds go to neil young's son's charity. i don't know what the song is called, but it was really good. the CD comes out at the end of this month, so i'll probably pick that up just b/c of dallas.

he also played boiled frogs acoustically, which sounds so different without the loudness of a band and without george screaming in the background. and then he played another cover with the two other guys and they all sang a verse. also a good song, but no idea what it was.

somehow doritos were brought up during the show, and dallas was like "top 5 doritos flavours, think about it, we'll talk in 2 days." he likes doritos.

he played a few songs with the full band, then did a few songs acoustically, then the band came back. for the encore, he did save your scissors, but mixed it up a bit.

#37: City and Colour (12-Sep-o7) - Danforth Music Hall

day 2. we ran a little late at dinner, so missed the first song. we had row 2 seats on the right again. this was exactly the same set list as the day before (surprise surprise), and some of the same jokes too. gotta give him some slack though, he can't mix things up every night.

it's too bad i missed the opening act. i thought attack in black was doing all 4 shows, but casey baker opened up this show.

after that doritos comment the night before, someone at the show knew someone who worked for doritos and sent a box of chips to the venue. how cool is that? and how much do i wish i was that person? so much.

there was this super loud singer guy who sat in the row behind me. he sang so loud and would clap so loud, before the song even ended! i wouldn't mind if he sang a little quieter, but he was almost drowning out dallas. wasn't the girl he with embarrassed? i would be.

at the encore. when dallas was talking about save your scissors, and how widespread it got, he referred to west edmonton mall! he was saying how he was walking through a mall with a skating rink in it (he said he didn't have to say what mall it was but said "how many malls in canada have a skating rink in it?") and the song was playing while people were figure skating. and that's when he realized the song had gotten bigger than he thought it would.

#38: City and Colour (13-Sep-07) - Danforth Music Hall

the last of the shows i was seeing, but the 3rd of 4 shows in total dallas was doing. this was going to be a concert first for me. this was the first time i'll go to a show alone. i had front row seats, so that's why i did it. i don't think i've ever had front row seats. the first picture is one i took from my seat without any type of zoom. not bad.

pretty much the same set, except he added one more song to his acoustic part. the more songs the better!i felt a little weird having front row seats. i felt so exposed for some reason. like i couldn't take as many pictures, b/c he could obviously see me doing it and i couldn't hide behind people in front of me. and i didn't want to stare, so i kept looking away, but then i realized i was there to see him, so why would i look away?

i timed it perfectly to get there right when he started his set. there was no way i was going to sit through the opening act, then wait alone in between sets for dallas to start. so i showed up right before dallas took the stage.

even though i went to 3 shows in a row, i wasn't bored or anything. i enjoyed each one, and was glad i did it. i wasn't the only one who went to multiple shows either. dallas asked if people had tickets to multiple shows, and there were quite a few people who cheered.

check my facebook profile for a video i uploaded of the show. it's the part where dallas sings a part of justin timberlake's "my love" in the middle of his song. so good.

i'm outta control

2007-09-06T21:50:00.000-04:00

friday sept 7 - i.an.eye at the rivoli (local toronto band, potentially going to this show with friends, but not 100% confirmed yet).

saturday sept 8 - virgin festival on toronto island (performers i want to see include: paolo nutini, k-os, matt costa, arctic monkeys, and interpol)

sunday sept 9 - virgin festival on toronto island (performers i want to see include: tokyo police club, metric, explosions in the sky, editors, the killers, smashing pumpkins)

tuesday sept 11 - city and colour at the danforth music hall

wednesday sept 12 - city and colour at the danforth music hall

thursday sept 13 - city and colour at the danforth music hall

that's right, it's not a typo, i'm going to 3 city and colour shows in a row. he's having 4 shows.

the best i've done was 4 (or 5?) shows in 9 days. but 6 in 7 days is a little outta control. even i recognize that, but i'm excited. and i won the virgin festival tickets from a radio station, so that's a freebie music weekend with tonnes of bands and artists i want to see.

many concert count posts to follow.........

2007-08-23T19:08:00.000-04:00

i saw an amazing race clue marker box in front of the muchmusic store today on my way home.

it was locked, so i couldn't open it and steal a clue, if this is really for the show. the next installment of amazing race, they'll probably be in toronto!

but they've already come to toronto a few seasons ago. there's been so many seasons, they're reusing cities already.

concert count

2007-08-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

#32: Kenny Chesney (18-Aug-07) - Ford Field, Detroit

background info: i go to alot of concerts. sometimes i buy tickets before knowing who can come with me. so a few times i haven't been able to find someone to come, so my friend amy has been my backup, even though we have different tastes. she likes country. she loves kenny chesney.

fast forward to last weekend. my chance to repay her for the times she's come with me.

not only was it just kenny chesney. it was pat green, sara evans, sugarland, brooks and dunn, and then kenny chesney. we were there for 7 hrs! it started after 4, and ended just after 11.

i do admit that i had a half decent time. it's what you make of it, so i could have sat there and be a grump, or just try to have a good time. i didn't mind sara evans and sugarland, female country music singers aren't as country as men. brooks and dunn was intensely country, i wasn't totally paying attention for pat green, and then there was kenny. i think i had more fun watching everyone go crazy over him, than actually watching him perform.

since i didn't know any of the songs, the girls i went to the show with were always telling me the lines beforehand, so i could at least sing along. a few songs with the words "honky tonk" and the ultimate was the last song kenny chesney did called "she thinks my tractor's sexy."

i don't think i have an issue with country music itself, it's just stupid songs about tractors and chesney also has a song called "voulez-vous barbeque." i just don't understand stuff like this. it's as if they can write whatever lyrics to a country tune, and people will love it. throw in truly country words and it'll be a hit.

overall, it was a half decent concert. i didn't have a bad time. i don't know if i'd go to another one. the road trip to detroit was good. it was cool to see another place i've never been to before. we didn't get lost in 8 mile, which was a relief.

#33: Justin Timberlake (20-Aug-07) - ACC

nothing like a little JT to balance out the country weekend.

this was the second time i've seen JT this year. it's the second leg of his tour and he came back to toronto again. since the 1st show was so good, i had to go again, and this time, we got the more expensive tickets instead of cheaping out. and it was well worth it.

the only difference was the opening act. this time around it was good charlotte. i wanted to see them perform, but by the time we got there, we only caught their last two songs. they played a really short set, and we also got there a little later than i had wanted. i've always thought joel madden was cute. the skater punk who dresses preppy, love his look. the songs we did see were good though.

then JT came on. it was the exact same show and same set list as the first show i saw, but i didn't care. JT was still awesome.

our seats were on the ends this time, think of a hockey rink, and think behind the goalie. these seats aren't as good b/c the screens are kinda hard to see. but i'm glad i already went to the other show so i knew what i was missing.

timberland performed during the intermission. but it was the same mix of songs as the other show. he didn't sing, it was more like he was DJ-ing and mixing a bunch of songs together.

a good contrast of concerts this week.

another funny story

2007-08-19T18:46:00.000-04:00

i went to detroit this weekend with some friends to go to a country music concert, but that wasn't even the funny part. (i'm not a country music fan, but i told a friend i would go with her, and i was excited to go shopping).

so before we left, we made a stop at target. i don't think i've ever been to target before, but i was intrigued. it was exactly like zellers. but we found some cute clothes to try on.

we're in the fitting rooms trying on some stuff, and this lady outside the fitting rooms seemed to be trying to get our attention and holding up a shirt. just a short sleeved pink button down shirt. i was in a tunic top and leggings i was trying on, and krista was already done and waiting for us, and we were the two who noticed the lady. this is the coversation that ensued:

krista (looking at the lady): are you talking to us?
lady: yes.
krista: we don't work here.
lady: look at this top, isn't it nice?
krista and me together: yeah it's cute.
lady: yeah there's a whole rack of them here. in the maternity section.
me: ok. (short pause) but i'm not pregnant.

then i start laughing my ass off. i think the lady's daughter was in the fitting rooms as well, so i felt kinda bad we were laughing at her mom. i don't even know what the lady said or did after that b/c i was laughing so hard i didn't pay attention. and i just wanted to change back to my regular clothes right away.

i wonder if she didn't have glasses on and thought one of us was her daughter.

or maybe it was a non-maternity top hidden in the maternity section and she wanted to share her finds with us.

or maybe she thought i was pregnant.

i was unsure about the top i was trying on, but i definitely didn't buy it after a lady potentially thought i was pregnant in it.

ouch.

funny story

2007-08-04T20:24:00.001-04:00

today i went to get my hair cut, and i go to the aveda academy, so i get a different person each time. i don't have any loyalty to hairdressers, so i always go through the obligatory conversations of them getting to know me, etc.

the dude i got today was like 40 or 50 years old. he was telling me all about how he's been to hong kong like 20-25 times and that he loves it there. i told him i've only been there once, and that was like 15 years ago. in which he proceeds to ask me "did you go with your husband?" i didn't know if i should burst out in laughter or in tears. did he ask me that b/c at his age, that's the 1st thing people would assume a travel companion would be, a spouse, and it wasn't a direct jab at my age? or did he actually think i was old enough to have had a husband 15 years ago?

i responded with "no. i was like 7 or 8 years old. i went with my mom."

hahhahahah.

great haircut though!

concert count

2007-08-02T19:08:00.000-04:00

#31: Muse w/ Cold War Kids (01-Aug-07) - Arrow Hall

so i've already seen both of these acts on separate occasions, and both by accident. muse was playing at last year's virgin festival and cold war kids opened up for tokyo police club. and when i saw both bands the first time, they both put on a great live show. which meant this show would be awesome.

the group i went with weren't so much into cold war kids, so by the time we got to the venue, they had already started. i wasn't overly concerned since i've seen them already. but we caught most of their set, in between getting merchandise and waiting in line to get into the beer area. cold war kids didn't disappoint. they were as good as the first time i saw them. they played a new song too, which was cool.

then muse came on. i only have their newest CD, and i honestly don't like listening to their album that much. someone asked me on a scale of 1 to 10, how much i like them. i gave them a 4/10. but i would give their live show a solid 9/10. it's not like their songs sound different, but there's something about hearing them perform it live that makes it so much better.

one thing that was a concert first for me was that muse did 2 encores. it didn't make it that good when it was still a planned 2 encore show. the house lights didn't come on, so it was obvious they were coming back.

now the venue. this was the first time i've been to arrow hall. it's just one of many halls in this convention centre out near the airport, which is one major reason why i never go to shows there, it's too far. i'm not overly a fan of big halls for concert venues, so it was as expected. it was bloody hot in there too. my friend was a big muse fan so he wanted to be up close, which mean being in the middle of a hot and sweaty crowd of people. i was fine with it, but you can see better when you stand further back, so i basically didn't see anything the whole show. it didn't really bother me though, it's about the music anyways and i'm not the biggest muse fan in the world so i don't mind not actually seeing them.

all in all, 2 great live acts. 1 great show.

next up: kenny chesney in detroit. oh you read that right. i'm being dragged to a kenny chesney concert in detroit as payback for dragging a friend to all the other shows i want to go to. should be interesting. besides the concert, i'm excited for the road trip! not only is it kenny chesney though, there's brooks and dunn, sugarland (i think that's what they're called), and that girl who did dancing with the stars and then quit b/c she was going through a divorce. it's like a country music festival! i'm from alberta, but all my life i've never been to a country show, and now i'm going to detroit to see one!

then right when i come back i'm going to my 2nd justin timberlake concert of the year. just to balance off the chesney.

concert count

2007-07-22T15:44:00.000-04:00

#30: Alexisonfire/Billy Talent (13-July-07) - Molson Ampitheatre

2 favourite bands + awesome venue + front row seats = one of the best concerts ever.

sandy came down for the concert b/c she loves billy talent, and i love alexisonfire, so this was pretty much our dream concert. we got front row seats, right behind the mosh pit, which was even more exciting. we got tickets on dallas's side, of course.

there were about 4 opening bands, and i would have liked to check out some of them, but by the time we got there, and squeezed our way through the crowd in front of the merchandise table, we only actually caught aof and billy talent.

aof came on first. and what can i say about their set. it was highly energetic, as to be expected. george was rocking his jean cut offs as usual. even though, technically, billy talent were the headliners, i was looking forward to seeing aof more. they played mainly songs from their new album, crisis, and threw in some old favourites like happiness by the kilowatt and .44 calibre love letter.

ian from billy talent came out to sing part of rough hands with aof, which was pretty cool. and that only meant someone from aof would probably come out and sing part of a billy talent song during their set. having front row seats were also amazing! i love the molson amphitheatre already, and having front row seats made it even better.

this is one is my favourite pictures i took of aof that night:

and here's one of dallas to end it off:

then it was billy talent's turn to end off the night. they started their set the same way they did at their last tour, with the screen, and ian, aaron, and jon slowly get revealed, then ben runs out in front of the screen before it drops.

we were sitting so close, check out this picture of ben in his signature singing position.

when billy talent were singing their new single, surrender, dallas came out to sing part of the song for them! i was so preoccupied to get a video, i didn't get a picture of it.

so all in all, a great show. i ended up buying two shirts from the merch table. one of aof and one of billy talent. the billy one i actually wanted to get at their last show, but they sold out by the time i got there. and i was lucky to get the aof shirt b/c it was the last one and they just started selling the ones off the wall. during the aof set, dallas said that it was when they were touring together in germany, that he and ben thought it would be a good idea to play a show together at the amphitheatre. i'm glad it actually happened!

it's too bad i didn't catch the other bands. i wanted to check out attack in black b/c they were just recording a new album, so they would have had some new songs. maybe next time.

upcoming shows: JT in aug, multiple city and colour shows in sept, maroon 5 in oct, and matt good in oct.

the evolution of my place

2007-06-18T23:24:00.000-04:00

blogging has been neglected for awhile. this post is for adam. i aim to please.

so i've officially lived in my place for a little over a month now. here is the evolution of my new home:

before the move in - this is my living room, kitchen, and bedroom before i moved in any of my stuff. these pictures were taken after i got the keys from my landlord, feeling pretty stoked about moving out on my own.

a few weeks after moving in - so things are getting put in place, things are still a bit messy in the place, but it's beginning to feel and look like a real home. these pictures were taken right before i flew to edmonton for a wedding, so that's why the suitcase is out.

the week after i got back from edmonton, i went to a cottage with a friend for the weekend. and this is what i came back to:

there was a flood in my apartment over the weekend, and it probably was soaked all weekend until someone told concierge about a puddle in the hallway on saturday night. i had left right from work on friday afternoon, so i wasn't home to prevent the severity of this accident. so at least i came home to the problem taken care of and didn't come back to my apartment like a swimming pool. i came back to a bunch of fans and de-humidifiers in my apartment, the underpadding completely gone, and the carpet ripped up off the floor. my furniture was moved to the far side of the living room too.

it was officially the 4th week i had lived in the place before this debacle happened. make all the jokes you want about me clogging the toilet, but even if the toilet is clogged, it doesn't continue to pump out the water. there must have been something wrong with the toilet. that's my story and i'm sticking to it! there was a big rain storm while i was away, so i'd like to think that had something to do with it as well.

so i had to stay with a friend while my apartment was being dried. and then my landlord had to get a contractor in to fix it, so that didn't happen until saturday, so i was out of my place for a whole week. i'm glad i have good friends who took me in!

my carpet ended up getting replaced. i like the old one better though. and the contractor didn't fix the baseboards b/c he didn't bring a pressurized nail gun. shouldn't he have known he'd need that?! so my landlord wants me to call the building mgmt office and ask them if they can fix my baseboards when they send someone to fix the hallway baseboards. i'll do it, but i think they'll tell me he's responsible for the suite. i'm not even sure if they checked the walls for water damage or mold. does anyone know how i can check for that by myself?

so i'm gone all next week on vacation, i hope nothing like this happens again. i'm turning off the water when i leave this time!

computer problems

2007-06-06T23:32:00.000-04:00

i have a new wireless router since i moved b/c the other one was my roommate's. i'm no techie, but i'm not completely deficient either, so i set up my router. i know i definitely did something wrong with the encryption b/c my wireless connection wasn't working, but i could still connect to the internet if i connected everything with the wires.

then today, it stopped working. i called rogers first thinking it was the modem, but we figured out it wasn't the modem b/c i could connect to the internet if i connected my modem directly to my computer. so the rogers guy was probably annoyed i wasted his time, but he gave me the number to linksys.

this guy was so annoying. first of all, it took like 3 times spelling out my last name for him to figure it out. i even said "t as in tom, s as in simon, and e as in edward" and he still couldn't get it. and i confused him even more when i told him how to pronounce it. so i told him it's like the letter "c" and he's like "oh it sounds like "c" but it's 3 letters. cool. i love it." why don't you fix my router!

after talking to him for an hour, he couldn't figure out what was the problem. he kept telling me to reset my modem and then unplugging the router and trying it again. i swear, i did this about 5 times with him. and when i was resetting the modem, i had to hold it for 30 secs, so he's trying to make small talk with me. the first one was "how's the weather?" then he asked "what sites do you visit?" i replied "on the internet?" b/c i had no idea what he was talking about. so i told him i just check my email, and he's like "cool." i should have told him all i use it for is porn.

he had to escalate it to a senior technician, but none were available at the time, so he asked if someone can call me back in an hour. it's 11:30 pm. no. someone can not call me back in an hour.

i can appreciate that it must be difficult to help someone fix their computer over the phone, but after spending an hour on the phone with someone, i expect my problem to be solved.

he came back

2007-05-30T19:29:00.000-04:00

today at lunch, a friend and i were walking outside since it was such a nice day. waiting on the corner waiting to cross the street, all of a sudden there was this massive police motorcade coming through, and blocked off this intersection for these black SUVs to go through.

who was so important to block off a busy toronto downtown intersection at lunch? i'm pretty sure it was arnold schwarzenegger. he's in town for some reason. and i'm pretty sure i saw his tanned forehead in the back of the SUV b/c the window was partially rolled down.

would they have done that if the governor of california wasn't a movie star as well? i doubt it.

oh arnie.

concert count

2007-05-29T19:02:00.000-04:00

#29: Robin Thicke (27-May-07) - Kool Haus

i don't even remember the last (or first) time i went to an r&b show, so this show was a bit out of the ordinary for my regular concert going experiences. first of all, i knew people would be more dressed up at this show. my normal t-shirt and jeans won't cut it here. so i upgraded to a nicer top, but that's the extent of my definition of dressing up. i just can't wrap my head around dressing up for a concert. but some people certainly did, in dresses and heels.

the opening act was a local artist named roz bell. he was really good. not necessarily r&b, but just a dude with a guitar. i didn't really have interest in seeing the opening act, but we made it to see his whole set. i liked his music, so i'll probably buy his CD that comes out in the summer. guess this is one good reason of catching the opening act, i actually discovered new music.

then robin thicke came on. all the girls screamed for him, as they should b/c he's a musician. being a musician (and one who sings r&b songs, at that) definitely makes him more attractive, but what is with the old man moustache he has? it's so pervy looking, and would not fly in real life if he wasn't a musician.

he put on a good show though. i've only listened to one of his CDs, but i found out he has an older one that wasn't as successful. some songs are lame, but overall, it was an enjoyable show. he had a little area in the back sectioned off for his family. no, alan thicke was not there, but the rest of his small-town side of his family was.

#28: Fall Out Boy w/ +44 (27-May-07) - Molson Amphitheatre

ok, so kind of a teeny bopper concert, but whatever, i'm not ashamed of going. it was a really good show. +44 was one of the 3 opening acts, and i missed half the set, which is too bad b/c i like them too. but i've seen blink-182 live before, and it's half of the same band, so more or less, i've seen them live. they did play a blink song too. rock show.

then FOB came on. their set was as to be expected. upbeat, happy, fun, basically all the things a mainstream emo-pop band would be like. during one of the songs, pete wentz and the other guitarist somehow started playing in the middle of the audience behind us. that would have been cool for the people who sat around there.

FOB didn't play an encore. this is the 3rd show i've been to where there hasn't been an encore. i'm not totally sure how i feel about that. on one hand, encores have become totally expected now, and i hate waiting for them to come back when you know they haven't played their best song yet and will be back, regardless of how loud people clap or cheer. but on the other hand, when they don't play an encore, i feel like i'm losing out on something. all in all, a good show. it was like indulging in a guilty pleasure.

and i love the molson amphitheatre. best outdoor venue. can't wait for the alexisonfire/billy talent show there in july!

and this concludes my 4 shows in 9 days.

concert count

2007-05-26T14:25:00.000-04:00

#27: Social Code (24-May-07) - Mod Club

i got free tickets to this show through the edge radio station's website. woo hoo, free is always good! and even though social code is from edmonton, i never had their CD or seen them live. so now that i'm in toronto, i have to support the edmonton bands even more.

i bought their new CD the day before and listened to it. the show was really good, i really like their music and i'm surprised it has taken me this long to get into this band. i bought their first CD at the merch table. i only knew their first single (beautiful) which is so catchy, and most of their songs actually are really catchy too.

it's kinda weird how social code came out before ten second epic, but TSE seem to have made it bigger and faster. but both bands are equally good.

tonight i'm going to see +44 and fall out boy, and tomorrow is robin thicke. after that, there's a bit of a lull in concerts. but it's the summer, so i'm sure there will be more coming up!

toronto summers

2007-05-23T20:46:00.000-04:00

it's starting to get hot in toronto. and that means multiple warnings during the day. heat, humidity, or smog, or any combination of the three.

today there was a smog advisory. i was walking past yonge and dundas square and i looked at the screen that was playing the 24 hrs local news channel. it had this warning for the smog:

breathing may be hazardous to your health.

well that's something new. breathing will kill you, not breathing will kill you. you can't win here.

concert count

2007-05-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

#26: Damien Rice (18-May-07) - Massey Hall

i almost didn't buy tickets to this show, but i'm glad i did. it was a little heavier and louder than i expected. when i think of damien rice, i think of a guy with his guitar or piano. but the show itself was really rock and loud, but with a cello on almost every song as well. that was an interesting juxtaposition, but it sounded really good.

i also wasn't sure if damien rice talks during his shows. he went through at least 3 or 4 songs before he talked to the audience, and then he proceeded to tell this long story about how the next song was written.

another thing he did was sing without a mike and without his guitar plugged in. the same thing chantal kreviazuk did at her show at massey hall in feb. but this time, i was in the 3rd row. either way, everyone would be able to hear, no matter where they were sitting.

one weird thing he did was the last song he did in the encore. someone dressed like a waiter came out on stage and poured him a glass of wine, and he sang while drinking it, and acting like he was drunk. stumbling around on stage with the glass of wine. i thought it was weird. it was like it all of a sudden turned into musical theatre or something.

he said he's coming back in sept. not sure if i'll go again, but i'm sure glad i went to this one. he puts on a good show. and his band is really good.

next up: fall out boy.

new place

2007-05-09T22:37:00.000-04:00

i got the keys to my new place today! yay! it's official. i'm moving on saturday. it's totally doable, it doesn't feel like i have that much more packing to do. my place is pretty tiny, but it's fine for one person.

here's the living room...
i'm quite happy with the living room, it's a good size and a square shape, so it makes decorating a little easier b/c there aren't any weird angles or corners. it's a west facing suite, so in the afternoon, it's going to be mad hot, so i'll need to get good curtains. the door to the balcony is to the left of the windows. if you can kinda see, there's not much of a view, there's some construction a few blocks away, but if i look south, i can kinda see the lake.

here's the kitchen, which is to your immediate right hand side as you enter. since it's an open concept, it makes the suite look bigger.

i especially like the shelving unit on the ceiling. not quite sure what i'm going to put up there though. probably more decorative stuff b/c i can't really reach up there, so i shouldn't really put anything that i'll need to use often. or maybe wine glasses. if anyone has any creative ideas, i'm all ears.

and this is my bedroom, the room with the most issues for me.

as you can see, the door is for the closet, and there's another one on the other wall (not shown), creating a little nook in the room that theoretically would fit your bed (on the left side of the pic). i didn't have proper measuring tape, but i used my feet, and i think my bed frame is about half a foot too wide for the nook. which is fine, b/c then i'd just flip it and use the other wall, but now i'm scared my bed is too long and won't fit that way either! damn ikea and their bulky wooden bedframes! even if i fit my bed in, i might not be able to fit my dresser and/or bedside table. the bedroom definitely has some annoying angles with each corner taken up by something (2 closets, the heat/AC ducts, and the door). i really hope it'll somehow work out or else i don't know what i'll do.

so the room has two closets, they're not massive, but a decent size. i might have space issues still though. and the hall closet is tiny too b/c half of it is taken up by the washer/dryer. i think i might have too many hangers for the closet space i'm about to move into. i've already purged quite a bit of clothes while i was packing, but i think i need to do more. and shoes will have to go on the floor of these closets. i was hoping that if my dresser couldn't fit in the room, i might be able to fit it in the closet. but i don't think that can happen.

and this is the bathroom...

pretty standard. nothing special to report. except that i wish there was some kind of shelving unit on top of the toilet. maybe i'll find something at ikea and ask my landlord if i can put it up if it matches the cabinets, etc.

so yeah, that's my new place. the building is gorgeous, so i'm very excited to live there. even walking there today after work made me happy. there's so much going on around that area, especially in the summer when the jays are playing. i live right beside the skydome! if anyone has some smart storage or decorating tips, pass them along!

can't wait to move.

packing progress report

2007-05-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

day two of packing. didn't feel like i got as much done as day one, but still making good progress.

i'm up to 8 boxes..... all stacked neatly in what used to be janine's room, aka the dining room.

i've also probably packed a little over half my clothes, and that is what is in this gigantic suitcase and duffle bags.

and this is what remains on my bookcase and CD towers. my desk used to sit in the corner too, but i sold it on craig's list.

packing

2007-05-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

i hate it.

i've packed one big suitcase and 6 boxes, and it doesn't feel like i've made much of a dent in my stuff. but it is going along smoothly in that i feel like i'll get it done. i'm aiming to move by saturday. i've already booked the movers, just need to book the moving elevators for both my buildings.

i'm just taking a break, so thought i'd post something boring.

i'd post pictures of what a mess our apartment is right now, but that just takes so much effort right now.............

last week, i just realized i can actually see the lake from my apartment. i never looked past the buildings until someone mentioned it. i've been living here 2 years and never realized i had a lake view! foolish.

CN tower stair climb post mortem

2007-04-28T19:57:00.000-04:00

i did it!!!

albeit, halfway up the climb i was starting to second guess my decision, but it was really good. and i'm glad i did it. 1776 steps. 144 flights of stairs.

i finished in 25:50. the website said the average person takes 30-40 mins to complete the climb. but i think they're overestimating to make people feel better. i stopped at least 5 times to catch my breath, but happy to report that my first rest stop wasn't until around flight 55. while we were standing in line, there was an old man who had to be over 60 years old, wearing his shirt from a previous climb, and he finished in 20:41! this is my shirt, if it wasn't 5 sizes too big, i would wear it with pride:

apparently this year's money is going towards fighting climate change (which i didn't even know the WWF was involved with, but it makes sense they would). so this is the front of the shirt:

i don't know if i will do this again. the next one is in october for the united way. i'll consider it, but next time, i'll actually train for it!

surprisingly, my legs aren't too sore right now. ask me again tomorrow, that might be a different story.

CN tower stair climb

2007-04-19T22:39:00.000-04:00

a few months ago, i foolishly told a friend i would do the CN tower stair climb with him in april. and all of a sudden it's next saturday and i've done no training and no fundraising.

so if anyone is so inclined to help the WWF (for all you animal lovers out there), go to this page and type in my name and pledge me.

https://wwfcentral.ca/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?&pid=380&srcid=375&tab=1

no pressure though b/c i'm most likely doing the hbc run for canada again this year, and will be asking for donations. so ration out your pledges people! or be super generous and pledge twice!

thanks in advance! and think about me next saturday morning when i'll be huffing and puffing up 1776 steps. oi vay, what did i get myself into.

concert count

2007-04-18T19:36:00.000-04:00

#25: John Legend with Corinne Bailey Rae (17-Apr-07) - Hummingbird Centre

this is the show i chose over the john mayer show. i didn't see john mayer's show, but i don't regret this decision at all. such a great show! i went with my friend vanessa b/c we both love john legend and corinne bailey rae. i love it when i'm as excited about seeing the opening act as i am the main one. it rarely happens, and i can't remember the last time it did.

we missed the first 15 mins of corinne's set, which was too bad, but the rest of it was still amazing. her voice was so clear. sometimes artists sound different when they perform live, but her voice sounded just as good as it does on the CD. and apparently corinne used to be in a rock band (she told the audience), so she sang this led zeppelin song to bring her back to those days, but she "made it her own," as the judges on american idol would say.

and then it was john. oh john legend. i didn't even read the old post from when i saw him the first time, but i'm pretty sure i'm about to describe him the same way. john legend is smooth. in every sense of the word. his voice, the way he walks, the way he plays the piano, how he dresses, everything about him.

i like his 1st CD more than his 2nd, so i was happy that he played a good mix of both. and this tour was definitely a bigger production than the last time he was in toronto. there was a light show, a screen at the back of the stage, and a larger band. he even had brass instruments! the 3 guys playing the sax, trumpet, and trombone even have to do the choreographed dancing like the back up singers. i was pretty amused just watching them. a few times i had to remember that i came to watch john legend.

for one of his songs, called slow dancing, i think, one of his people chooses a girl to dance on stage with him at the end of the song. i wouldn't want to do that b/c i would literally freeze up (i hope sandy reads this post, she will tell me if i used the word "literally" correctly). but i was really excited for the girl who got chosen.

john also called corinne back on stage to do a duet. it was really good. and since i missed their performance on the grammys (with john mayer, coincidentally), seeing them perform live is obviously better.

all in all, an amazing show. and just like the first time i saw him, i left the show giddy like a school girl.

next up: damien rice at massey hall.

concert update

2007-04-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

next show: corinne bailey rae and john legend.

tickets i had to sell: john mayer (why do the johns have to play on the same night!)

tickets i will have to sell soon: ten second epic (it's on the same night as my roommate's bachelorette party).

tickets i just bought: justin timberlake (yes he's coming again, and yes i'm going again).

on another note: i have to find a new place to live and i hate apartment hunting. urgh.

mill hood

2007-04-10T23:42:00.000-04:00

got my new chart magazine in the mail today and they have a section called stylin' which is basically a picture of an artist, and them talking about what they're wearing, etc.

this month's feature is on canadian hip hop artist, cadence weapon, aka rollie pemberton. if anyone doesn't know, he's from edmonton, and more specifically, from millwoods, my neighbourhood.

so millwoods has gotten it's fair share of bad press, and now has somewhat of a bad reputation for a southside neighbourhood. i still stand by my feeling that there's no way millwoods is as bad as the northside. anyways, this is from part of the article on cadence weapon:

"pemberton, who grew up in the sometimes rough neighbourhood of millwoods in edmonton, alberta, still wears his local childhood soccer team shirt. 'i like to rock my kids' soccer shirt to the club and people are like, 'millwoods? what's your problem, man?' and it's blue.'"

at least they put "sometimes rough." it probably gives him more street cred to say he's from a rough neighbourhood. but wouldn't it be funny if he was actually from riverbend?!

there's nothing wrong with millwoods. i still think it's safe!

concert count

2007-04-05T21:50:00.000-04:00

#24: Tokyo Police Club (04-Apr-07) - Mod Club

so my previous dilemma was averted, my friend james came to the show with me, but i was going to go alone if i didn't find anyone.

i'm glad i went b/c it was a great show! got there in time to see both sets, and they were both great. cold war kids opened up for tokyo police club, and i hadn't heard any of their music before, but wanted to check them out based on stuff i read about them. and they didn't disappoint. i really liked them and ended up buying their CD at the merch table. marco - they do a great live show, i wouldn't be surprised if you are right and they're the next big thing.

then tokyo police club came on and they were really good too. although, all their songs do kinda sound the same in the sense that they're all very high tempo, fast songs. they're from newmarket, so i'm all for supporting canadian bands.

as many concerts i've been to, and as many concerts that are at the mod club, i, surprisingly, had not been to a show at the mod club until this one. i like it, it's a good venue. ten second epic are playing there when they come back in may, so i'm looking forward to that show.

in other concert news: billy talent, alexisonfire, cancer bats, attack in black, and die mannequin are playing a show together at the molson amphitheatre on july 13th. i CAN'T wait for that show! love billy talent and alexisonfire already, have seen attack in black before and like them, want to check out cancer bats, and don't know who die mannequin are. i love the molson amphitheatre for shows too.

next up: john legend and corinne bailey rae at the hummingbird theatre.

upcoming shows

2007-03-27T20:56:00.000-04:00

this is my m.o. - i hear about a concert i want to go to, i buy two tickets, then ask around to see who wants to go. this tactic has left me with tickets to 6 upcoming shows.

april 4 - tokyo police club
april 17 - john mayer
april 17 - john legend
may 5 - ten second epic
may 18 - damien rice
may 26 - fall out boy

ok, so don't judge me on the fall out boy show. i think it's going to be good. outdoor venue, and +44 is on the bill too.

and yes, the two johns are on the same day, so i'm going to sell the john mayer tickets b/c there's no way i can go to two shows in one night.

my "buy now, ask later" policy has also left me with potentially no one to go to the tokyo police club show with. they're playing with the cold war kids, who i've heard about, but have never heard any of their stuff.

so here are my choices:

1. sell the tickets. shouldn't be a problem b/c it's at a small venue and both shows are sold out. i'm pretty wiped from work these days, so a concert on a school night would be draining.

2. go alone. i don't really have alone-a-phobia, but could i go to a show alone? when dallas green was playing 4 city and colour shows back to back last year, i did try and see if there were scalpers who had an extra ticket to the last show, but no luck. good thing i caught the first show. that was for dallas though, i wouldn't think twice at going alone to his show, but for a band i don't know very well?

hmmmmmm, dilemma. thoughts?

on a dallas related note - the live city and colour CD/DVD came out today. everyone should go buy it. the dvd was filmed in march 2006, which were when the 4 shows in toronto were!

random stuff

2007-03-22T20:30:00.000-04:00

1. a homeless guy said i was as beautiful as the day. and i still didn't give him any money. he should have called me a cold hearted bitch.

2. the city and colour live CD/DVD comes out on tuesday. can't wait. everyone must go and get it.

3. facebook has taken too much of my time, i hardly even update this blog anymore. oh dear.

and to end off this random babbling.....

***Your Birthdate: September 22***

You tend to be understated and under appreciated.You have a hidden force to do amazing things, doing them your own way.People may see you as strange and shy, but they know little.Your unconventional ways have more power than they (and even you) know.

Your strength: Standing up for what you know is true

Your weakness: You tend to be picky and rigid

Your power color: Silver

Your power symbol: Square

Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourbirthdatemeanquiz/

yao!

2007-03-17T14:00:00.000-04:00

went to the raptors game with my roommate last night and they were playing houston. it totally didn't click in my head why so many chinese people were at the game, but it's b/c yao ming plays for the rockets! there was this guy sitting right behind the rockets bench who would stand up with a china flag during every time out.

the raptors lost, but scored 100 points so we can redeem our ticket for a free piece of pizza at pizza pizza the next day.

yao ming is 7'6" tall. he hardly has to jump to score. but it was pretty amusing watching him run b/c he's so tall and lanky.

a pretty boring post...........

public transportation

2007-03-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

normally i walk everywhere. i walk to work everyday, and if it's between a 30 min walk and a 10 min subway ride, i always choose to walk. but because it's been so cold in toronto these past few days, i've taken the subway or the bus to and from work.

between the two types of transportation, i much prefer the subway b/c it comes every 5 mins or less, has way more room, and is much faster. but to get to work, it's easier to take the bus at the front of my building, than to walk to the subway.

i've noticed that there are also very different people who take the bus versus the subway. both days while i have been waiting for the bus, the other person started talking to me, even though i'm clearly listening to my ipod. i don't mind small talking with strangers, but it's after work, i rather not talk. but if i was to take the subway, there would be no way someone would strike up a conversation with me on the subway platform as we wait. do more crazy people take the bus? can't make that effort to go underground and take the subway?

so today after work, while i was waiting for the bus. the other lady in the bus shelter starts ranting about how the old shelters were much better b/c the sides went all the way down to the sidewalk, so air wouldn't come through and make you cold. so she asked me if i remembered these "beautiful bus shelters" she was describing, and asked me why i thought the sides didn't go all the way down. so i answered "it's probably easier to clean." i don't think i was being rude, but i think she wanted me to join in on her rant about how cold it was and how the shelter didn't shield her from the cold at all. nevermind the fact that she was wearing an ankle length coat, and the temperature was maybe -8.

i think i'll be taking the subway from now on.

concert count

2007-03-04T20:26:00.000-05:00

#22: Chantal Kreviazuk (24-Feb-07) - Massey Hall

such a family affair. raine maida opened up for chantal, which was cool because i've seen him millions of times with our lady peace, but this is the first time i've seen him solo. he only sang one OLP song (innocent) and the rest of the stuff was new material. sounded pretty good overall, and i love raine, so it was cool to see him perform again. chantal came out to play piano on some of his songs.

then chantal did her set. i've never seen her perform live before, but i highly recommend it to anyone when she swings by your town. her voice is so clear and it was a really good show overall. i thought i wouldn't really know many songs since i've barely listened to her new album, but she sang quite a bit of the older, well known songs as well.

the other thing i liked about the show was that she talked to the audience quite a bit. i like those kind of moments at concerts b/c it makes a more personal connection with the audience. chantal kept saying umm alot, and she was trying to stop it, so she kept trying to replace the umm's with 'right then' because the british always say it in place of umm.

she talked about her kids and then at one point, between songs, her youngest son luca started crying backstage and everyone could hear it. so she called her kids out on stage and they sat on her lap and sang ba ba black sheep into the mike. it was so cute. then on the last song of the encore, her son rowan ran out on stage and chantal let her sit on her lap while she finished the last song. she whispered into his ear "you can sit here if you sit quietly."

one of the best things she did was for the first song of the encore, she came out to the edge of the stage, sat down with an acoustic guitar, and sang a song without a mike. because massey hall is a great venue, she didn't need a mike to be heard by everyone.

good show.

#23: Ten Second Epic (25-Feb-07) - The Opera House

i love going to different venues for shows. this was my first time at the opera house, and it's awesome. reminds me of the phoenix, and they both have similar rock shows all the time.

so there were 4 bands playing this particular night, but i only went to see ten second epic. marco got me listening to them since he knows some of the guys in the band, and it's totally my type of music. on top of that, they're from edmonton, so i gotta support the local talent!

they only had about a half an hour set, but it was high energy and fun. the lead singer was sick and had completely lost his voice in the morning. he went to the doctor and they gave him a prescription for steroids, and his voice came back. so when he told that story, he was saying he had roid rage and that his dream of winning the 100m dash is gone b/c he didn't want to be the next ben johnson.

their songs are fun and they're coming back to toronto in may, so i'll probably go see them again. their video is on heavy rotation on muchmusic right now, so i hope they keep riding this momentum. yay for edmonton!

ludicrous contest

2007-03-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

i was on the subway one day and noticed an ad. it was from the canadian cancer society and was a contest they were promoting called 'driven to quit.' basically, they're encouraging people to quit smoking by entering this contest. you have to register before feb 28, and have to quit smoking for the month of march. after the month is over, they randomly draw a name, do a urine test to prove the person has actually quit smoking, get verification from their chosen "buddy," and ask a skill-testing question.

but get this, the grand prize is a car! a 2007 acura csx. and there are some secondary prizes of 32" LCD TVs.

so i'm all for getting people to quit smoking. i personally do not smoke, but know people who do. but to reward someone with a car or tv to stop doing something they personally CHOOSE to do, is completely ludicrous. and who's to say the winner doesn't start smoking again after they win?

what's next? the heart and stroke foundation giving away trips to people who lose weight to lessen their chances of a heart attack?

i understand smoking is highly addictive and a difficult habit to kick. but i really don't think giving away a car is incentive for people to make a long term life change. sure, they'll try to kick the habit for march, but after the contest is over, how does the cancer society help people not to start smoking again?

i'm sure other gimmicks have been tried before to entice people to quit smoking, and maybe i'm being too cynical, but i have a real problem with this contest. why doesn't anyone offer a car to non-smokers who don't start smoking?!

i know some intelligent people read my blog. thoughts?

check out www.driventoquit.ca if you want to learn more about the contest.

aloha maui

2007-02-25T00:06:00.000-05:00

ok, i have peeled myself away from facebook to finally write a post about my vacation. for the record, i'm hating blogger right now b/c it timed me out of my session, and it didn't save any of my changes, so i had to write this post all again!

i went with 4 other friends from back home, but only one still lives in edmonton. one is in vancouver, two in calgary, and me in toronto. even though we don't see each other as much, we are still very close and talk all the time, but this vacation was a good chance for us to get together. especially since it's usually very difficult to coordinate everyone's schedules these days.

natalia, sandy and i flew into maui on saturday, and sim and thils on sunday. this was our first day on the beach before the other two girls got there. the weather was impeccable, also considering i was leaving -20 degree weather, i was especially happy. this was kaanapali beach, where there's a row of nice hotels right on the beach.

we stayed in the city of lahaina, which is in the western part of the island. we rented the top floor of a house used for vacation rentals. this house was super cool, and also nicknamed the tsunami house because it is entirely made of concrete and can withstand huge tidal waves. it was originally built by jerry garcia. then a porn star lived there. so i'm sure some crazy stuff happened in that house. the property manager (sean) and his wife and dog lived in the pool house. a guy named armand and his mother lived on the main floor. a girl named mattie lived on the second floor and her boyfriend victor was visiting at the same time we were there. and then we had the 3rd floor. the staircase in the middle connected everyone together.

there was this crazy massive banyan tree in the middle of lahaina. thils and i are standing at the main trunk, but this tree branches off and creates different trunks, so it almost looks like there are several trees in this park, but it's really just one. there are 12 major trunks, is over 60 ft tall, spans over a 200 ft area and shades 2/3 acres. it was a crazy looking tree.

another thing natalia heard from someone who had been to hawaii before was that there is a banana bread stand in the north part of the island that is suppose to have the best banana bread in the world. who can say no to that?! so we went on a little excursion to find this stand. the drive was pretty amazing b/c it was along the coast and through the mountains. so many hairpin turns too, so that was a little crazy. and once we got closer, and were really in the residential part of the mountain side where this stand was, the lanes became smaller and really only had room for one car for both directions. so when we came across a car wanting to go the opposite direction, we'd have to find a somewhat wider part of the lane, squeeze as close to one side as possible to let the other person drive by. it was kinda crazy, but the banana bread was indeed good. at one point it was a little scary b/c we were driving out and back to the highway, but there was another car coming, so we sqeezed over to the cliff side of the lane, but we were in a ford escape, so it's not a small car. i wasn't sitting on that side of the car, but apparently we were really close to the edge of the cliff. i don't want to die in hawaii by going down a cliff in our car, just b/c we wanted to get banana bread.

one of the things we had heard from a few people who have been to maui before was that we needed to go on one of the bike tours down haleakala national park, which is in inactive volcano. we signed up for the sunrise tour, so they take you up the mountain to watch the sunrise, then you bike down it. we also did a self-guided tour, so we could go at any pace we wanted to. it was also flippin' freezing up at the summit before the sun rose. we were standing there shaking from the cold. it was a nice sun rise, but way too cold. sure we knew we were going up a mountain, and it would be cold. but who knew it would be THAT cold!

we had to be at the bike shop at 3:30 am. it was an hour away from our house, giving ourselves some wake up time, etc. we had to wake up at 1:30 am! we went to bed at 9:30 that night. this is a picture of the girls waiting outside the bike shop before we went up the volcano. it was so early, we were all pretty delirious and giddy.

so when you're in hawaii, you have to go to a luau. the only one we could book so last minute was at the hyatt, so i'm sure it wasn't a authentic luau. but it was still lots of fun. this is a picture of us in line before the luau started. there was tonnes of food, and it was a buffet dinner. we set up a game plan before going to get our food. no salad, minimal bread, load up on all the meats, and a little bit of vegetables on the side. the food was so good! and i totally ate too much. this whole all-meat game plan was a little much, but oh well. there was also unlimited alcohol, but we didn't get trashed, it was a classy place! they had performances, dances, and skits. it was also valentines day, so i think the luau was extra busy.

natalia and sim wanted to go surfing, so armand took them out one day. sandy, thils, and i hung out on the beach while they were surfing. they were pretty good too, both could stand up by the end of the lesson.

natalia ended up crashing with another surfer. she grew there, we flew there! (a blue crush reference we kept using the whole trip). i'm assuming she was a local because she was pretty good on the surfboard, but i'm not sure.

we walked around town a few times, and this is a picture of us hanging out by the pier, chilling out, taking in the scenery.

we hung out on our patio (or as it is called in hawaiian, a lanai) every night because it was so big and a nice place to relax. it also had a view of the beach. this night, victor and armand came up to hang out with us as well. apparently the neighbours were saying we were being too loud, but whatever, it's a vacation rental house.

spending so much time in the sun, it's important to put on sunscreen for protection. sandy took this to a new level. she started with spf 70, then downgraded to 45. she would put on two coats in the morning, and then reapply every hour or so. but considering it probably takes about 15 mins to reapply, she probably reapplied every 45 mins. every time she felt hot, she would reapply the sunscreen. this is a picture of her with the sunscreen on the beach. but that day was kind of cloudy and rainy, i don't even think any of us took off our clothes to be in our bathing suits on the beach that day. but there's sandy, applying the sunscreen. it was a running joke all week, sandy and the sunscreen.

since we rented a car, we could drive and see more of the island. this is one spot we stopped along a highway to take pictures. the view was spectacular. this is me, sandy, and natalia.

this is my diPod relaxing on the beach with me. i got some sand stuck in the earphones. oops. a little souvenir from maui. is it kind of weird that i talk about it like it's a living object? perhaps. just a little.

so that's about all from my trip. i had an incredible time, and it went by way too quickly. was nice to hang out with the girls again, made me feel like we were in high school again, even though we're way older than that now.

...'til the next girls trip, but that probably won't be for awhile.

new addiction

2007-02-20T23:47:00.000-05:00

my new addiction to facebook has hampered my attempts on posting an entry about my maui vacation. will get to it soon.

dilemma - john mayer is playing a show at the ACC on april 17. bought tickets last week. this week, find out john legend is playing a show in toronto with corinne bailey rae on april 17 as well! bought tickets this week. which one will i go to? leaning towards john legend b/c it's at a better venue (hummingbird centre. think winspear centre in edmonton), and corinne bailey rae is awesome too. even though i've seen john legend in concert before, i think it'll be a better show than john mayer. now i'll have to find someone to buy my john mayer tickets. oops.

here's a teaser pic from my trip.....will post more soon. just get me off of facebook!

trip prep

2007-02-09T20:41:00.000-05:00

this is the extent of my packing so far...

night before leaving on my trip and i'm not even close to being ready. oh well, at least i can sleep on the plane! i'm pretty sure all the clothes i've taken out of my closet as "potentials" will not fit in my suitcase. and i'm also pretty sure i have pulled enough clothes for a month long trip. time to make some cuts.

off to maui.

full picture post to come in a week! stay tuned....

aloha!

so very excited

2007-02-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

came home to my chart magazine, but i didn't have too much time to read through the whole thing, so i just flipped through it. came to the back cover, and was so excited!!!

top right corner....city and colour live cd/dvd coming out this spring!!!!

can't wait.

is it spring yet?

maui countdown - 5 days.

concert count

2007-02-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

this will be a 2 for 1 post.

#20: Justin Timberlake (30-Jan-07) - ACC

i got a little bit of slack from my boss about going to this concert, but i'm not ashamed of going, it was awesome! pink opened up for justin, but i didn't intend on seeing her set, so by the time i got to my seat, she was singing her last song. but she was all skanked out. isn't her song 'stupid girls' about not being like one of those girls?

this picture is when the show just started and the screens were down. the stage was a circular stage in the middle of the floor.

he played the piano on lots of the songs, and the guitar on one of them. this picture is him playing the piano (at the center of the stage). overall, the show was really impressive. whether or not you like his music, no one can deny that justin can put on a good show. timbaland was there to sing a few songs with him. and there was an intermission as well. it was actually quite good. they put the screens down again and played all these new songs (nelly furtado, the fray, etc.) and even timbaland's new song with justin and nelly. it was really good. his album is coming out in march.

justin pretty much sang every song from his new album, all the singles from the 1st album, and one more song from the old album. all in all, his set was a little over 2 hours long, which was longer than i thought it would be. just when i thought it was the last song, he'd keep singing another one. and of course, the dancing was amazing.

not that i would want to wear a shirt with justin's face on it, but the merchandise was super expensive. a t-shirt was like $80. there were a pair of underwear or booty shorts or whatever they were, with sexyback printed on the ass that were $50 or $55. such a rip off, but i'm sure they sold tonnes of merchandise.

there weren't as many little teeny boppers at the show as i would have thought. but i sure cheered and screamed like one of them.

#21: Billy Talent (02-Feb-07) - ACC

nothing like a billy talent show to balance out going to see justin timberlake at the beginning of the week.

i've seen billy talent perform at the horseshoe tavern before, which is the type of venue i prefer over big arenas like the ACC, but i still think it's impressive and a sign of their popularity that they can sell out big arenas.

i had better seats for billy talent than i had for justin timberlake, but i forgot my camera and only had my camera phone for billy talent.

there were a few opening bands. moneen, anti-flag, and rise against. i only really wanted to see rise against, and i got there just in time. they were great. they sound really good live and their set was really energetic.

then it was billy talent's time to play. the amount of energy ben (lead singer) has is quite impressive. and he was battling a cold too. for both rise against and billy talent, there was a little too much of unison clapping, "do what i say" type of stuff that i hate doing. the mosh pit was crazy too. i had seats because i'm too old for that stuff now, but i was watching it periodically and there's no way i would survive in that.

there were so many little boys at this concert. and i mean 8-10 year olds. definitely their first concert experience, and it was really cute. there were 3 little boys sitting behind me and they had to stand on their seats when the show was on because they were too little to see over everyone.

so all in all, a good week for concerts. next up on deck: ten second epic.

maui countdown - 7 days.

2007-01-31T00:49:00.000-05:00

tonight was the justin timberlake concert.

wow.

it was amazing.

will post a full concert count post tomorrow to do the show proper justice of its/his awesomeness.

must go to sleep now.

hopefully have nice dreams about JT.

i'm addicted

2007-01-27T15:46:00.000-05:00

...to mtv shows. their brand of faux/quasi reality shows are addictive.

might have started with laguna beach. watching spoiled rich kids usually pisses me off (ie. my super sweet 16), but the drama on laguna was hilarious.

then the hills, the laguna spin off. what was lauren thinking dating jason again! now season two is starting soon. i'm going to try not to watch it.

rob & big. who doesn't want to just hang out with them because they seem like so much fun. i feel sorry for drama though, always gets picked on and has to clean up the mess rob & big make.

now there's the new show called 24/7 following a bunch of guys in hollywood. kinda hooked on that too. a group of friends who all do different things (club promoter, musician, actor, director, music producer, etc.) and their day-to-day life.

and today, i just watched an episode of dancelife. i didn't think i would like it because i'm not a jennifer lopez fan. but i can't resist a show about dancing (except dancing with the stars).

and the great thing about mtv is that they will repeat these shows constantly. so even though i have no idea when these shows are actually on, if i turn to mtv on the weekend, it never fails that i will be able to catch all these shows.

i think i may lose brain cells each time i watch this channel.

maui countdown - 14 days.

upcoming shows

2007-01-24T18:56:00.000-05:00

jan 30 - justin timberlake at the ACC. so excited about this one!

feb 2 - billy talent (with rise against, moneen, and anti-flag) at the ACC. not very often do i want to catch the opening acts at concerts anymore, but i'm almost as excited about seeing rise against as i am seeing billy talent. almost.

feb 24 - chantal kreviazuk and raine maida at massey hall. kinda interested in what raine will perform. seen him plenty of times with our lady peace. hope he does some OLP classics.

feb 25 - ten second epic at the mod club. i think they're opening up for another band, but i really just want to catch ten second epic. gotta support the edmonton talent.

apr 4 - tokyo police club at the mod club. should be a good show.

life is good.

2007-01-21T17:32:00.000-05:00

corinne bailey rae - trouble sleeping

just bought her CD last week.

according to this survey, i have no life

2007-01-18T19:38:00.000-05:00

from ed's blog...

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Have fun.

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
( ) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
Total: 5

( ) The Princess Bride
(x) AnchorMan
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 9

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 16

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 23

( ) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
Total so far: 25

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG
Total so far: 29

(x) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber
Total so far: 33

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 36

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child's Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 41

(x) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean's Eleven
( ) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 45

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(x) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 50

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
( ) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 58

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 69

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
(x) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 73

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 79

( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
( ) Highlander
(x) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 82

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 87

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
( ) Chronicles Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
Total so far: 90

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 92

( ) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 95

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
(x) Evil Dead
(x) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 102

yep, this confirms it. i have no life. i think actually taking the time to do this thing already tells me i have no life. oh well, at least i've seen some good movies...and some bad ones too.

dallas in edmonton video #2

2007-01-16T03:24:00.002-05:00

singing the newest alexisonfire single at his city and colour show in edmonton. kinda digging the whole 'prisoner' look. :)

love it.

dallas in edmonton video #1

2007-01-16T03:24:00.001-05:00

youtube is acting up, i've tried 3 times to post this video, and it never worked, then all of a sudden they all appeared at once. oops.

anyways, this video is for michael, and also my random blogger friend.

this is dallas singing that lionel richie song in edmonton. he sang it in calgary as well. definitely better than that guy singing karaoke on your blog michael.

so funny. i wish i was there.

in the words of destiny's child....bills bills bills

2007-01-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

when i was home for the holidays, i was at the bay pretty much every other day. sometimes we would go to 2 stores within the same day. everyone wanted to use my discount, which is fine with me, i love shopping.

i jokingly said to rose one day that my next hbc credit card bill is going to come in a legal sized envelope because it's going to be so big.

i came home to this waiting in the mail box.....

yes, my bill came in an 8.5x11 envelope. i have never seen or experienced this before. it's not like the bill was actually that many pages, but it still came in this big envelope.

i have reached a new echelon of shopping where a regular letter-sized envelope cannot contain the size of my bill. at least most of the stuff was not mine.

workout ideas

2007-01-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

this is a post to ask for suggestions.

for those of you who don't know, i'm going to hawaii for a week in february. i'm super excited about it for a few reasons:

a. i've never been to hawaii before.
b. i love vacation time.
c. i won't be at work.
d. i'm going with 4 other good friends from home (although we now live in toronto, calgary, vancouver and edmonton).
e. girls trip!

so hawaii means bathing suit territory. obviously, it's not realistic to lose dramatic amounts of weight in a month, and in no way am i delusional to think so. but does anyone have any ideas of things i could do to be a little more active this month? i don't have a gym membership, and in no way do i intend to sign up for one, so going to the gym is out of the question.

i walk to and from work everyday, so that's a good 40 mins of walking a day i do. this week, i have walked up my stairs in my building when i get home from work, and i live on the 15th floor.

any ideas of what else i can do?

2007-01-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

scrubs musical

zach braff + singing about poo = hilarious.

watch the scrubs musical on jan 18th.

so i lied.....

2007-01-02T23:18:00.000-05:00

so it's not very often random people find my blog, read it, and actually comment on it. so when someone did, i'm more than happy to oblige and do yet another aof/dallas post.

went home over the holidays, which was nice because i haven't seen my friends in almost 5 months, so it's nice to catch up in person rather than over the phone. and since most of us moved out of edmonton, it's even more rare for all of us to be back home at the same time.

one of my friends gave me a belated birthday present, and she knows me so well because this is what she got me from eBay.....

a signed picture of dallas!!! ok, so there are tonnes of fake stuff on eBay (just ask my brother who bought knock off razor blades!), but that's a picture of him signing the picture. so the seller could have forged a whole bunch of pictures and sent the one of dallas signing it to every person, but that's not the point! it's a cool gift. thanks sim!

this weekend is also the weekend dallas is doing some city and colour shows in calgary and edmonton. i bought tickets for my friends in calgary for their christmas present, so i'm excited for them to go. i was going to buy my sister and brother-in-law tickets to the edmonton show, but they're going to a wedding instead. this is a family wedding, so i guess they have to go. but a cousin's wedding versus a city and colour show, that's a tough choice.

my cousin marco works at a skate shop in edmonton. and it turns out his manager is in a band, and somehow knows dallas green. when i was at the store buying something, marco says "craig knows dallas green." and he asks me if i'm going to the show and that he could introduce me to him. well, sadly, i am not going to the show, and i will not be introduced to him. but honestly, i know i would make a fool out of myself. thanks marco for bringing up my unnatural obsession to a complete stranger. but thanks for giving me a discount at your store!

ok, so i think this is truly the end of my aof/dallas posts. until the next one......

the fun never ends

2006-12-20T19:58:00.000-05:00

yesterday i watched the making of the new alexisonfire video on mtv and then watched them on much on demand. dallas was hilarious at the video shoot. this girl was putting dirt on his clothes to try and make them look dirtier, and he started pretending to pose for a calendar. yes i know, i'm biased. he could have been sitting still on tv for 10 minutes and i would find it amazing.

some might think it's getting to the point of overkill with all the aof stuff, but not me. keep it coming.

and i just heard on the radio today that billy talent is doing a small club show on boxing day in support of a charity the drummer aaron set up for MS. he has MS. he named the organization FUMS. i think it's pretty self-explanatory what it stands for. not only is it a show with billy talent, but moneen and alexisonfire are playing as well! the show sold out in 8 minutes, which isn't surprising. i'm not in town on boxing day, so i can't go anyways. but it would have been a good show.

going on this billy talent/aof theme. i just found out that billy talent was a surprise special guest at the first aof show last week. that would have been an awesome surprise. i've seen billy talent at the horseshoe tavern, and it's awesome seeing a show at a small club.

ok peeps, for the 10 people who read this blog. i think this is the end of all the alexisonfire/dallas green obsession posts.

on an unrelated note, so looking forward to going home on friday. rose - don't forget to pick me up at the airport!

good things come in threes

2006-12-18T20:28:00.000-05:00

is that how the saying goes? who cares!

either way, i rounded out my alexisonfire weekend by going to the autograph session today.

starting top right, then going clockwise, is chris, then wade (he seems to like to sign with his birth year as well), jordan, george, and dallas in the middle.

i didn't think i would be able to go b/c i'd have to leave work relatively on time, which is almost impossible on a monday. but i kept thinking about it, so i just decided to leave and then go back to work after the signing. now, i believe in signs. and i got two signs that i should go to the signing today. first, while i walk to work, i listen to my ipod. it was left on the playlist where i have all alexisonfire and city and colour songs, on shuffle. out of the 5 songs i listened to, 3 of them were my favourites from last night's show. this is kind of a stretch to call it a sign, but while i was walking, i was hoping those songs would play. then, while i was walking to the signing, thinking i was too late, i passed by a shop who had speakers outside, and they were playing a city and colour song! now that was a sign that i would get there in time.

they were only going to be there 'til 5:30, and i left my office at 5, got there in 10 minutes, thinking there'd be a huge line up and that i'd be turned away. but when i got there, there was maybe 2o kids standing outside. correction, 19 kinds and 1 old guy. i take solace in the fact that i wasn't the oldest person in line. who cares about the fact that he was getting the CD signed for his 14 year old niece! i was outside for maybe 15 minutes, then i got to go inside.

when i got near the table. i could see the band looking at me. most likely not in the "who's that hot girl" kind of way, but more like "who's that girl who doesn't belong" kind of way. keep in mind, i was coming from work, so i'm in black pants, my black peacoat, and a pink pashmina type scarf. i wasn't dressed in skinny jeans, chuck taylors, or had my hair brushed over my face. nevermind the fact i could possibly be anywhere between 5-8 years older the average person who was there. when i was still waiting, there was a girl who came out and was freaking out and almost hyperventilating. thank goodness i wasn't like that.

like the angels and airwaves autograph session blog entry, i will recreate the dialogue between me and the band.

me: hi.
wade: hi.
me: how are you?
wade: good.
me: thanks. (move to chris) hi.
chris: hi.
me: thanks. (move to jordan) hi.
jordan: hi.
me: thanks. (move to george) hi.
george: hi.
me: thanks. (move to dallas) hi.
dallas: hi.
me: thanks. have a good day.
dallas: thanks, you too.

i knew i had to say something more to dallas, but all i could come up with was "have a good day"?!?! at least i didn't blurt out "i love you," although that would have been both mortifying and hilarious.

so that rounds out my alexisonfire weekend. two great shows, and i got my cd signed. here's hoping the next time i get to meet them i come up with something wittier to say than "have a good day."

concert count

2006-12-18T01:41:00.000-05:00

#19: Alexisonfire (17-Dec-06) - Kool Haus

ok, so this was the 2nd alexisonfire show i went to this weekend, and they did not disappoint. you might think that going to 2 shows by the same band within 2 days of each other is crazy, but it was great. they had a different set list as the show on friday, and they sang my favourite song (rough hands)! dallas also did a solo of 'side walk when she walks' and that's what this picture is of. i've seen him do this at aof shows on youtube, so i was very excited that he did it at this show.

george was rockin' his denim cut off shorts again. this was show 4 of 6 in a row for them, and their energy level was still at a peak.

learning my lesson from the last show, i got there a little early for this show. i thought there was only one opening band, but there ended up being two, and the show started later than the friday show, so i actually saw both opening acts. attack in black was really good (bought their EP at the merch stand), and fucked up wasn't really my cup of tea, the music was great, but i couldn't understand anything the singer was singing. george came out to sing a bit of one song with them.

one of my favourite things at concerts is people watching. there was this lesbian head banging couple who were standing in the same vicinity and totally head banging when aof started playing. i didn't know people still head band. one girl was so into it, she was basically bent at the waist and her top half of her body was parallel to the floor while she was going crazy.

there was also this asshole guy picking a fight with some random guy. this guy who was standing behind me told the security guard, and he kept watching the guy, and the first sign of trouble, he kicked him out. dude was probably too drunk.

part of the aof extended family is an organization called 'skate 4 cancer.' it was an organization started by this guy who decided to skate across north america to raise money for cancer research. so he was there selling merchandise as well. check out http://www.skate4cancer.com/ to learn more about rob's dream. he was at his own merch stand selling his s4c shirts.

so that's the end of my 2 aof shows in dec. i'm so glad i bought tickets to more than one show. and in all honesty, i wouldn't mind going to more. the amount of energy at these shows were amazing. lots of bands/musicians thank the audience for their support, but i really feel like the aof guys are humbled by their fans. during this show, dallas thanked everyone for coming out, and said that george always say that they're just 5% of the band and the other 95% are the fans. here's to the next aof or city and colour show i go to...

this 2nd picture was the one i took at the phoenix. i was closer to the stage at this show, so i'm really happy about how this picture turned out. it is now the background picture on my phone. i took both of these pictures with my phone, pretty impressive camera. just in case you didn't figure it out already, that's dallas.

concert count

2006-12-16T02:04:00.000-05:00

#18: Alexisonfire (15-Dec-06) - Phoenix Concert Theatre

this was my 1st of 2 alexisonfire shows i'm going to, and it was great. granted, i got there late and missed part of the beginning, but i wasn't too concerned with that b/c i knew i'd be seeing them again in 2 days, so i'll just make sure i get there earlier.

it was a great show. lots of energy. also an all ages show, which meant all the kiddies were out in full force. i love seeing the kids sing and get so into the music and move their head to the beat. but i don't like the rowdy kids who think it's cool to act like they're still in the mosh pit when they're not.

aof played 'happiness by the kilowatt,' which is my favourite song from 'watch out!' but they didn't play 'rough hands,' which is my favourite song from the new album. or maybe they played it earlier and i missed it. who knows. i'll find out on sunday, i guess.

the show started super early, and i totally miscalculated how long the opening band would be on stage. hence, arriving late. so the show ended super early too. when it was all said and done, probably finished by 9:15 after the encore. we grabbed a drink after the show, and were out of there by 9:30. i got some half decent pictures with my phone, so when i figure out how to transfer them to my computer, i'll post them. and of course, i had to stand on the side of the stage that dallas is at. he was awesome. during one song he was singing, not playing at that moment, i don't want to say he was dancing b/c that probably wasn't his intention, but he just looked really cute b/c you could tell he was so into it and enjoyed performing so much.

they're also filming these 6 club shows they're doing in toronto for a dvd, so i can't wait for that to come out. even though i don't have many of those concert dvds, i would definitely get them for a show i was at.

a friend of mine came with me, and she does not like aof at all (she's a country fan), but she said she enjoyed the concert. she's still not going to run out and buy their cd, but it was better than she thought it would be. of course it was, i wouldn't expect anything less.

the venue was also really good. a smaller club, so it was easy to see. but lots of people, and lots of sweaty people, so that was gross. and the mosh pit was quite big for the space. i like seeing different venues i've never been to before.

great show. can't wait til sunday for the repeat.

big ups update

2006-12-12T23:34:00.000-05:00

finally got my chart magazine in the mail yesterday and in the article about dallas, he talks about how he was at west edmonton mall (which he called "the edmonton mall") and he was walking past the skating rink and 'save your scissors' was playing, and he was weirded out by it.

this has nothing to do with me, but yay for edmonton! i'm just excited he shared a story about edmonton and it was a good one!

the end of the year issue of chart is always good. everyone should go pick up a copy.

one of my favourite sections of every chart is the last section called "the grist 13 and the shitty 7." basically they list out 13 cool things, and 7 shitty things. always included is the insult of the month (this month "blingtard"). my favourites from this month: from the grist 13 - "guyliner. do it to freak out your parents. do it to pick up goth chicks." from the shitty 7 - "tic tac citrus. about as flavourful as sucking on a hobo's toe."

k-fed was named grist man of the year. "hands up if you're reading this and you were on CSI this year. yeah. thought not." so true.

big ups

2006-12-06T20:45:00.000-05:00

a big shout out to dallas green for being chosen as chart magazine's artist of the year. i can't wait for my copy to come in the mail now.

i also read that alexisonfire is doing an autograph session at a skate shop on queen street on dec 18. i'd love to go, but i'm a little hesitant because:

a) i'm going to be the oldest person there (even though i'm not old at all!), i'll feel so cheesy.

b) i wouldn't know what to say, and will probably act like a giggling schoolgirl.

c) i might be so stunned, i'll freeze up.

d) i'll have to leave work early (really, that's the least of my worries).

e) i'll embarrass myself.

who am i kidding? i'll probably end up going regardless.

anaheim vs edmonton

2006-11-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

ok, so two nights ago. the oilers lost to the ducks. this is significant b/c this was pronger's first game back at rexall place after asking for a trade at the end of last season. blah blah blah, almost everyone knows the story.

i was watching the highlights on the score. and they did a post-game interview. the intriguing part was that christie chorley now works for the score, and she was one of the girls rumoured to have slept with pronger, and thus making his wife demand a trade. since i haven't been in edmonton for a bit, i never knew who this girl was. then i saw her on the score.

watching her do an interview is mind-numbing. she was interviewing the ducks' backup goalie, who's first language is not english, but she was the one stuttering during the interview.

then she tried to be cheeky and funny, and was like "oh tell us what your theory about pronger wanting a trade b/c of how cold it is here." and he's like "yeah it's cold here, i was standing outside of our hotel waiting for a taxi and my toes were almost frozen." worst question-asking skill ever when she basically told everyone what he was going to say anyways.

maybe she was nervous someone would boo her too.

new phone

2006-11-27T20:42:00.000-05:00

check out my new phone.

it's pretty sweet, and i had been using my old phone for at least 3 years before i called rogers to ask about an upgrade. and it turns out, my corporate plan allows upgrades every 12 months, and they give me a $200 credit each time towards my new phone!

why did it take me this long to figure this out!?!

the one thing about getting new phones is learning how to use it. and there may be features from my old phone that i like better. for example, my old phone can be set to ring and vibrate at the same time. my new phone can not. but what does that matter, in another 12 months, i'll have a new phone again! that is, if rogers doesn't change their rules during that time.

shopping crazy

2006-11-25T18:00:00.000-05:00

a friend asked me to go christmas shopping with her this weekend, and this was the damage i did.
i don't even think this picture does it justice as to how much i actually bought. there are bags within bags. and as you can see, most of it is from the bay, except the hmv bag. even the red bag is from the bay.

to my defence, most of it was christmas shopping for other people. i bought myself a new winter jacket, and some CDs, but the rest are for other people, so i feel it's justified.

but now thinking about the size of suitcase i have to bring home with me is a little concerning.

quarter life crisis

2006-11-24T20:56:00.000-05:00

I got this in an email, and even though it's a little long, it's so true. when i turned 20, i used to joke that i'd go through a quarter life crisis, but i think it actually happens around 25. is this too emo?!?!

The Quarter-Life Crisis
by unknown

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are a lot of things about yourself that you didn't know and may or may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you do not realize is that they are realizing that too and are not really cold or catty or mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job. It is not even close to what you thought you would be doing or maybe you are looking for one and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and are scared.

You miss the comforts of college, of groups, of socializing with the same people on a constant basis. But then you realize that maybe they weren't so great after all.

You are beginning to understand yourself and what you want and do not want. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging a bit more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and add things to your list of what is acceptable and what is not. You are insecure and then secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you or you lay in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough to get to know better. You love someone but maybe love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you are not a bad person.

One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap and getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision.
You worry about loans and money and the future and making a life for yourself and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out.

2006-11-21T22:34:00.000-05:00

Apple Ad - iLife (for all you apple lovers)

so i'm sure everyone has seen most of these apple commercials. i love them! they are so witty, and i appreciate a good commercial when i see one.

i saw a new one tonight, but i couldn't find it on youtube, but it had a great last line. the PC lays down on the floor in defeat and says something like "just let me lay here and depreciate." great marketing. whomever says marketing doesn't work is fooling themselves.

even though this guy was on the show "Ed" and in some movies, his coolness factor goes up with each of these commercials. he's gotta build up his credibility after being in the herbie movie with lindsay lohan.

useless IT guys

2006-11-19T15:33:00.000-05:00

i recently got my desktop switched to a laptop at work, so it's easier to bring work home or work from outside the office. this could have been a dumb move on my part because who really wants to work at home, but i do it anyways, so i might has well have a laptop instead of emailing myself all these large files.

everything worked fine yesterday, but when i tried to login today, it didn't work. tried it a few times, tried logging into different domains. no luck. so i call our helpdesk to get someone to help me out and figure out what's wrong.

the guy had no clue what was wrong, put me on hold a few times, and finally took my phone number because he had to ask someone else and then call me back. he calls back and he has this other guy on the line, who i imagine is the IT guy on call this weekend because he was at home.

i tell him everything that went wrong, what i did yesterday, and he couldn't explain why it wasn't letting me log in. he basically thought i was stupid and kept asking me if i changed my password recently, if i've tried rebooting the computer, and if i typed in my password incorrectly more than 3 times.

i'm not stupid, i know how to use a computer. in the end, the dude couldn't help me. so i asked him what the problem may be because there's no point in bringing my computer home with me if there could be the chance it might not work. but he didn't know what the problem was, and i'm sure in his head, he still thought i typed my password incorrectly. he said he couldn't help me until i connect back on to our server at work.

so all in all, i think our helpdesk people are useless. unless you need to reset a password, they pretty much don't know how to fix anything else.

music notes

2006-11-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

i stopped into HMV on my way home to pick up a few CDs. i hadn't bought any new CDs since september b/c of my shopping fast in october. i had a few in mind that i wanted to get, and i knew i'd find a few more once i was there.

10-15 mins in the store, i had 7 CDs in my hand, and i'm sure i could have found more if i didn't make myself go to the checkout. and i had a few i wanted to find, but forgot the names.

these are the CDs i bought, quite a mix, i think:
- illscarlett
- damien rice
- +44
- matt mays
- matt mays + el torpedo
- chantal kreviazuk (got tickets to her show in feb!)
- john legend

$99 for 7 CDs, that's a pretty good deal.

i could technically save some money and download these albums instead of buying them. but i don't download as much as people might assume i do, since i listen to so much music and love it so much. these are a few reasons why:

a) unless someone shows me how to download music, from which sites, and where i can find it on my computer, i'm too lazy/technologically deficient to figure it out myself. my friend's brother set it all up on my computer for me and showed me how to do it.

b) i don't know how much of the revenue from CD sales actually goes back to the artist (i think they make their money from touring, not so much CD sales), but i feel bad for downloading sometimes. but only certain artists. for example, i had no qualms about downloading the killers, but i didn't want to download matt mays. depending on the artist, i would consider downloading first, and then buying their CD.

c) i like having the actual CD in my hand, looking at the pictures, and reading the liner notes, thank yous, and lyrics. having a big music selection on my computer is not as satisfying as seeing my CD collection grow. i've made a rough estimate and i think i have approximately 320 CDs right now.

so that's my music update for now. i think i'm in the wrong industry. as much as i love shopping, i think it'd be so much cooler to work in the music industry. or for a music retailer. hmmmm....

(btw, i hope everyone watched those two city and colour videos)

2006-11-12T19:34:00.000-05:00

confessions - city and colour

another new song by dallas. he sang this one when i saw him in concert in march.

watch both videos. so good.

2006-11-12T19:32:00.000-05:00

sensible heart - city and colour

a new song by dallas - i wish i was going to another city and colour show.

reversing the trend

2006-11-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

i'm going through a concert drought right now. haven't been to a show in awhile. but i have lots coming up. 2 alexisonfire shows in december, justin timberlake in january, billy talent in february, and i just bought tickets to the chantal kreviazuk and raine maida show in february. i'm really excited about them all.

also can't wait to get a holiday soon and go home. i'm tired of work.

2006-11-08T20:17:00.000-05:00

Grape Fall

michael taught me how to post videos on my blog!

so here's my first video post. the radio show i listen to every morning played the audio to this video for weeks, so i finally found the video. the woman sounds like she's crying. which isn't funny, but it sounds funny.

he's bringing sexyback

2006-11-05T13:10:00.000-05:00

guess who has tickets to the justin timberlake concert in january?!?!

ME!!

i'm so excited to go b/c it's going to be such a good show, guaranteed.

pink is opening up for him, which is blah, but she probably will put on a good show too. i think i would be more excited to see her husband carey hart than her.

i can't wait for this show.

upcoming concerts i'm going to: 2 alexisonfire shows in dec, justin timberlake in jan, and billy talent in feb.

city and colour show in edmonton

2006-10-31T21:00:00.000-05:00

since basically everyone who reads this blog lives in edmonton, i'm doing my part to share concert news with you.

there's a city and colour show at the winspear centre on jan 6th. tickets go on sale this saturday (nov 4th) at 10 am through the winspear ticket office. tickets will go fast, so if you want to go, you should make sure you get up and get the tickets.

tickets on sale at www.winspearcentre.com or www.unionevents.com or by phone at 428-1414.

i really recommend going to this show, it's amazing. and dallas interacts with the crowd so much, so it's fun.

and for those calgarians who might read this blog, he's doing a show in calgary on jan 7th. tickets also on sale on nov 4th at 10 am from ticketmaster.

i wish he was doing another show in toronto.

no shopping pact update

2006-10-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

so my month of no shopping is almost coming to an end, and surprisingly it has not been as tough as i thought it would be. there have been a few times where i was close to cracking, but i didn't.

i did buy those concert tickets to alexisonfire and billy talent, but that is a time sensitive purchase that i couldn't put off for the month.

my roommates both got a let on the pact (for going to calgary and buffalo), and both of them bought stuff, so even if i did buy something, i think it would be justified that i was just making it fair.

but now i'll have to somehow continue this momentum so i can save money.

rose - where's my spreadsheet?

i need a financial advisor

2006-10-26T21:24:00.000-04:00

ie. someone who can teach me how to save money.

i never leave balances on credit cards, but periodically dip into my line of credit to tie me over until i get paid. nothing major, but i really shouldn't need to do that. i think my problem is that i don't have a budget, so i spend money without really thinking if i should or not. don't get me wrong, i have a savings account, and actually have money in it, but not as much as i know i should have.

i also use my credit cards all the time. i want to maximize my collection of travel points with my visa, and i use my hbc credit card to get my staff discount. i guess i should start paying off my purchases right away, so it doesn't come as a big lump sum to pay off at the end of the month.

rose said she's going to make me a spreadsheet to track my spending in november, then i can pinpoint where i need to control my spending more. i already know it's in food and shopping. two areas where the spending can vary greatly.

so does anyone have any tips on how to save money?

i love this video

2006-10-19T21:18:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpfpON3IoeQ

so i'm not technologically inclined, and have no idea how to put the actual video on my blog, but that link is to the new justin timberlake video, and it's awesome.

he's coming to TO for a show in january. fingers crossed i get tickets!

thanks for the reminder

2006-10-17T20:04:00.000-04:00

i called the td travel centre to book my flight back to edmonton for christmas, and the guy asked me if i was between the ages of 25-59. ouch, thanks for the reminder that i'm getting older. i'm not sure how my age is relevant to flying unless i'm under 13 or over 65.

i'm going to start following kathy and rose's lead, and start lying about my age. if rose is 23, that makes me 20. sweet.

i booked my return flight from edmonton to toronto because there was a seat sale, but i'm waiting to book my departing flight from toronto to edmonton until later, crossing my fingers there will be another sale soon. otherwise, i guess i'll pay the crazy prices. i think i can get a flight to london (england) for cheaper than a flight to edmonton right now.

heroes

2006-10-16T19:06:00.000-04:00

heroes is fast becoming my favourite new show this season. it's on tonight, if you haven't seen it yet. and on sunday, they're doing a marathon of the previous 3 episodes that have been on.

basically, it's about all these random people all around the world (mainly in the states), and they are all slowly becoming aware of their special powers. one guy can fly, another can teleport to the future, and another can hear people's thoughts.

then to throw a wrench into everything, there was this professor who was trying to track these people down, and then he gets murdered. so now his son is trying to finish his work for him. and there are all these weird murders happening and the fbi are attributing them to this guy named syler. the murdered people are usually missing their brains. the adopted father of the girl in high school, who basically can't die no matter what she does to hurt herself, is also on the hunt for these heroes, and has just found out his daughter is one of them.

anyways, i'm sure i'm not doing this show justice by explaining it, but it's good. you have to watch it.

public service announcement

2006-10-16T18:14:00.000-04:00

(michael - i'm stealing your PSA idea)

when walking on the streets, please try to walk straight!

something that is becoming one of my pet peeves are people who can't walk straight, and end up walking into my path. this happened to me twice today, and i was thoroughly annoyed. i'm walking straight, minding my own business, listening to my music. when someone in front of me decides they can't walk straight, and slowly sways into my path. and i walk fast, so i end up having to halt a bit, change direction, and walk around them.

now, if this person was already walking in front of me, then i'll give them the benefit of the doubt and not get as annoyed with them b/c they don't know i'm behind them. but really, they should be able to walk straight regardless. but this afternoon, this girl and i were waiting at the crosswalk for the light to change, and she still proceeds to walk diagonally into my path.

i'm beginning to think i'm invisible.

i did something crazy/stupid/obsessive, or all of the above

2006-10-11T22:46:00.000-04:00

billy talent are coming to do a show in february.

alexisonfire are doing 4 club shows in december. 4 shows back to back, at different venues.

the presale for all 5 shows started this morning. i bought tickets to billy talent, and 2 of the 4 AOF shows.

some might think it's crazy to buy tickets to 2 shows of the same band on the same tour, but i don't think so. i didn't buy back to back days, i get a day of no-AOF in between the two. and i figure it'll be easy to sell the tickets if i decide i don't want them. i can post something on craig's list or a message on the AOF myspace page, and that should get rid of them easily.

some might also think it's crazy to buy tickets to shows where i don't even know who i'm going with. but this is my concert philosophy. if there's a show i want to see, i usually just buy 2 tickets and ask around later to find someone to go with. so far, it hasn't been too difficult to find someone to go with, but i don't know anyone who likes billy talent or AOF, so this time around, it might be a different story.

ah well, if i have to end up giving the ticket to someone to come with me, i'll do it, but i'm not missing these shows.

and as a follow up to my last post...i accomplished most of my list. slept lots. cleaned my room (not to the extent that i would have liked). ironed and put away my laundry. did an entourage season 2 marathon on monday (i love this show!). ripped some CDs to my computer (got up to the letter "I"). watched both oilers games on tv, but fell asleep for most of them. and did some work. so all in all, a good weekend.

long weekend to-do list

2006-10-06T18:47:00.000-04:00

i'm a big list maker. this weekend's to-do list includes (in no particular order):

1. sleep.

2. clean my room.

3. put away laundry.

4. sleep.

5. watch entourage season 2.

6. rip CDs to computer to load on DiPod.

7. watch oilers game.

8. sleep.

9. do some work for work.

10. sleep.

i know i can complete 4 of those things on the list. the rest are all secondary.

who wants this shirt?

2006-10-05T00:05:00.000-04:00

marco and ed already turned it down. it's probably not tight enough for michael's liking. so it goes to ryan.

how ridiculous do you think my no shopping pact is now? if i was allowed to look at clothes for myself, i wouldn't be looking around in the mens section, and you wouldn't have inherited a shirt out of it.

i think this shirt is sweet.

no shopping pact

2006-10-02T22:59:00.000-04:00

my roommates and i made a no shopping pact for the month of october. we all shop too much, and decided to curb our spending on unecessary items, so we are not allowed to buy clothes, shoes, accessories, and other non-essential items.

of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. for example, both my roommates need to buy a suit to go on interviews for residency. if they find a good deal or a nice suit in october, we can't allow this little pact get in the way of something that is basically a necessity. and then one of my roommates is going to calgary for the long weekend, so we said it'd be ok for her to buy stuff b/c it's hard not to in the land of no pst. and then my other roommate is going to buffalo with her future mother in law, and with so many outlets, that will most likely become another exception.

but after that, no more exceptions...that we have thought of yet. seriously though, i really need to curb my spending. i shop way too much. we did say we would allow gifts for people, so i might just end up buying stuff for other people this month to satisfy my need to shop.

it's day 2 of the month long pact, and i'm going well so far. ask me around day 15. i may be going through some serious shopping withdrawal.

rockstar baby

2006-10-01T12:07:00.000-04:00

i saw a bunch of kids at the v festival. babies, toddlers, elementary aged kids, you name it, they were there. i thought it was kinda weird to bring such young children to rock shows b/c i would think the loud music would wreck their eardrums. but not this kid in the picture. such a rockstar baby, i love it. when/if i have kids, and i want to bring them to a rock show (which i don't think i would unless i was married to the rockstar performing, otherwise, i don't see a point to bring a child), he/she will be wearing headphones like this kid. very a la apple at the live 8 concert with gwyneth watching coldplay perform. except her headphones were pink.

concert count

2006-09-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

#17: Red Hot Chili Peppers (25-Sep-06) - Air Canada Centre

well, this concert wasn't much to write home about. i was a little disappointed, and maybe i had too high of expectations, or maybe i was just too tired from work to be really in concert mentality.

first of all, what is with the abundance of weed at concerts? does it really enhance the experience? because it ruins mine when everyone around you is getting high.

one major reason why this concert wasn't great was the sound. the volume on anthony keidis's mic was kinda low and sometimes you couldn't even hear him. he was still really hot though. but like my comment about john mayer, he also needs a haircut. something like what he had in the otherside video. that was hot. he still had lots of energy to dance around stage though.

the best part was actually the encore. john and chad came out first and did two short covers of sunday bloody sunday and went right into smells like teen spirit. and then flea and anthony joined them on stage for a few more songs. the light show was also quite impressive, as michael mentioned in his posting.

the funniest part was this guy sitting beside me got so drunk that he passed out during the encore! hilarious! i didn't even realize until the lights came on and we were all getting up to leave, and he was hunched over in his seat sleeping.

another sign that i'm getting old: i can't stand for a whole concert. my legs were getting all sore halfway through it, and i was already dreading it when people started standing at the beginning of the show. just can't do it anymore.

so all in all, not the best show i've been to. definitely not as good as the first time i saw them at the coliseum in edmonton.

next up on deck: nothing! i think this may be the first time i don't have any concert scheduled while reviewing the last one i went to. oh no!

in unrelated music news - i just about freaked out when marco told me dallas green was at his store in edmonton over the weekend. i can't believe it. so close, yet so far. but he didn't even talk to him! i'm surprised dallas didn't go up to marco and tell him to stop copying him and wearing tight jeans. why can't i run into dallas randomly on the streets? although, i might faint.

computer nerds - help!

2006-09-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

this post is probably more for ryan.

how can i convert my videos from AVI format to something i can download to my DiPod?

and any idea of how to rotate a video? i took a video, but not in landscape, so unless i tilt my computer, it's at the wrong angle.

i don't know anything about technology.

quarter of a century

2006-09-24T10:29:00.000-04:00

i've officially moved out of the 18-24 demographic and into the 25-34 demographic. does this mean i'll stop watching laguna beach because it's not targeting my demo group? yeah right.

so far, it hasn't been a great start to 25. i had a stressful week at work. and then when i went out on friday with friends, i had a little too much to drink at home, and basically went to the bar, got sick, and then went home, where i got sick again. at least i felt better the next morning!

i guess at this point, all it can do is get better. here's to joining the quarter of a century club. cheers!

the "DiPod"

2006-09-20T21:51:00.000-04:00

so i finally joined the iPod family. sure i had a shuffle, but it's limited in function, and i definitely need more memory than 512MB.

i got the 60GB iPod. it's being discontinued, and all prices on iPods have been reduced, so it went from $460 to $350. the 30GB one is $300, so after a day of deliberation and being indecisive due to buyers remorse, i finally made my decision.

i had originally ordered it from bestbuy.ca, but went to the apple store, and they had one left, so i bought it. it gives me more peace of mind that i can bring it back to the store if something goes wrong.

one of the main reasons i would want to get the 30GB one is because i can get it engraved, and i wanted to call it the "DiPod." oh well, it is still the DiPod, just not branded with it.

i can't wait to put all my pictures on it, all of season one of prison break, probably my whole music collection, AND still have room left.

i love my DiPod.

2006-09-17T20:14:00.000-04:00

john mayer needs a haircut. badly.

but he sounds amazing.

she's no justin timberlake

2006-09-15T23:50:00.000-04:00

today was the first of two free concerts for the grand opening of the new best buy in downtown. beyonce performed tonight, and john mayer is performing tomorrow. not in the actual store, but in yonge and dundas square, which is right outside of eaton centre.

i walked by tonight to see if i could catch any of it, and there were tonnes of people. i don't think i saw beyonce, but she did bring dancers too, which surprised me b/c i didn't think she'd make it into such a big production. then i just left b/c i don't like to be in crowds of people unnecessarily.

i'm looking forward to seeing john mayer tomorrow though.

two worlds colliding

2006-09-14T23:27:00.000-04:00

did anyone see miami ink this week? did anyone notice the girl who wanted to get a bird tattoo to remind her of her grandpa and she brought in the city and colour cd cover! or at least a picture of the cd cover, i'm not sure if she actually has the cd or just found the picture on the internet.

now i know a tattoo artist did all the artwork for the cd, are there copyright laws for tattoos? the end result didn't look exactly like the cd cover though. the tail was extended and colours changed. maybe ami knew it was another person's work and changed it up a bit.

concert count

2006-09-11T00:10:00.000-04:00

#16b: Virgin Festival - Day Two (10-Sep-06) - Olympic Island

today's lineup was packed. besides alexisonfire on day 1, day 2 was definitely better.

we had planned to get there to see matt mays, but only ended up catching half of his set because i had a broken bag incident on our way to the show (the strap snapped), so i had to stop at eaton centre to buy a new bag. matt mays only had a half hour set, so only seeing half of it meant i only got to see 15 mins. too short. he was still really good though. he's one of those musicians where i keep wanting to check out, but haven't yet.

then we didn't know some of the set times changed, so ended up catching only half of wolfmother. did get to see them perform 'woman' though. the lead singer has a crazy wicked afro for a white australian dude.

after wolfmother was sam roberts, who i was looking forward to seeing. i just bought his new cd, so wasn't too familiar with his music. he was really good, and i love his new single 'bridge to nowhere.' was never a fan of 'don't walk away eileen' and he didn't sing it. watched his whole set, and it was great.

next was the strokes. besides 'last night' i don't really know any of their songs. but their music is great and the show was equal in caliber. i stayed to watch their whole set, but my friend left early to go to the other stage to wait for zero 7, who she was looking forward to the whole weekend.

i was planning on catching part of zero 7 before going back to the main stage to see the raconteurs. but they were running late on schedule on the 2nd stage, so i didn't end up seeing any of zero 7. i saw the whole set for the raconteurs instead. besides 'steady as she goes,' i don't know any of their songs, but they were pretty good. jack white doesn't sing all of them, which i didn't know. jack white made a comment about it being hard to get into canada, i wonder if he had problems or if he were referring to massive attack.

so massive attack was suppose to close the festival, but broken scene was there last minute to fill their shoes. we caught 3 songs and left because we had already saw BSS at their own festival earlier in the summer and it was already getting late.

all in all, it was a good weekend. it was bloody cold when the sun went down (i brought my down vest on sunday). i bought a sam roberts tshirt and an alexisonfire tshirt. met some funny people in the line up for the ferry and got to see some great performances i otherwise would never see.

concert count

2006-09-10T01:26:00.000-04:00

#16a: Virgin Festival - Day One (09-Sep-06) - Olympic Island

i love outdoor music festivals, even if sometimes i might not know half the bands, it's cool just to be outside. but today was actually kind of cold and it had rained in the morning, so it wasn't the nicest weather for an outdoor show.

we started the day off with seeing buck 65. i'm not familiar with his music, but ever since he DJ'ed at the junos, i've been impressed, so i wanted to check him out. it was a really entertaining show, his songs are really catchy. i don't think i'll get his CD, but he's definitely a musician who puts on a good live show.

next we wanted to check out the dears, but didn't really stay long enough to hear more than one song because we went to get food instead.

so we went to watch starsailor next. i have their first CD, and i remember really liking it when i bought it. they're one of those british bands that are very coldplay-ish, so it's a given that i'd like them. they also put on a good live show and it made me want to get their 2nd CD. love those brits.

we walked back to the virgin stage to wait for kid koala, but the muse were still playing, and we caught most of their set, which i'm glad we did because they were really good. this is a prime example of why festivals are good. i get to check out bands i don't know much about and see if i like them. now i like the muse and will probably buy their CD.

kid koala ended up losing his first set, and only had his second set after gnarls barkley. if the schedule was followed properly, i would have been able to see gnarls barkley and still have time to walk back to the futureshop stage to see alexisonfire. but no, that didn't happen, and i caught 2 songs of gnarls barkley and left. i'm okay with it since i really only wanted to see alexisonfire today, everyone else was just filler.

i watched aof perform alone because my friend didn't come with me (story to follow), and it was awesome. because they were doing this festival, they didn't have a separate date in toronto for their tour they're on right now. which is too bad b/c they only played for an hour. it was great though, i've never seen aof perform before (except seeing them at mtv), so i was looking forward to my first aof show. dallas didn't disappoint. he was amazing. george took off his shirt, even though it must have been only 10 degrees at that time. and wade is really funny, he definitely should talk more. he said there are two things he hates the most and they are white guys with dreads and beach balls at rock shows. they sang a mix of old and new songs, which i thought was surprising since they had only an hour anyways, so i thought they'd sing most of their new songs. i really wanted them to sing rough hands, from the new cd, but they didn't. it's my favourite song, mainly because it has lots of dallas in it. they said they're coming back to TO in december to do 4 shows, so i'm definitely looking forward to going. i just need to find someone who likes aof to come with me!

so the reason my friend didn't come see aof with me was because she was on stage dancing for the flaming lips!!!! while we were waiting for kid koala to start, these two scruffy looking guys come up to us and ask if we like the flaming lips. even though i've never heard one of their songs, and the only reason i even have heard of them is because i saw a story one time about justin timberlake performing a song with them, i told the guy yes. so we asked if we wanted to dance on stage in costumes during their set. i asked what time we'd have to be there, and he said 9:40, so i said no right away because i'd been looking forward to aof the whole day and i wasn't going to miss it. but my friend went. i know some people are going to call me crazy for passing up the once in a lifetime chance to do something like this, and the roadie guy who asked us said the same thing, but i don't regret it. i know i'll see aof some other time, but i also don't know any songs by the flaming lips, love aof to death, and don't necessarily want to make a fool of myself.

the promoters had to shut the flaming lips down early because the festival was running overtime, and they have a strict curfew b/c it's on olympic island and there are residences around there, so there are very strict noise laws. they ended up only playing 30 mins, which totally suck for anyone who was waiting for the flaming lips. i saw the lead singer up close though b/c i was waiting for my friend to come out from backstage, and security was trying to clear everyone out, so a security guard took me backstage to meet up with my friend. everyone got shirts that said "i ____ with the flaming lips. a) danced. b) had sex. c) took drugs." and option a was circled. that was kind of cool to get a free tshirt out of it, i admit, but i still don't regret skipping out on it for aof.

all in all, today was a good day. it totally made my day to see aof. the only crappy thing about all day festivals is that there are always multiple stages with set times overlapping. tomorrow will be difficult to coordinate since there are more bands and more of them overlap. i want to see... wolfmother, sam roberts, matt mays, the strokes zero 7, broken social scene, and the raconteurs. massive attack was suppose to be the closing band, but i heard they didn't get their visas or were turned away at the border or something, so BSS took their spot. i've already seen BSS, so massive attack would have been way cooler to check out.

hopefully day 2 is as good as day 1.

ah....university

2006-09-05T20:35:00.000-04:00

the joys of living right beside the u of t campus...frosh week. means i get to hear chanting at all hours of the day. last night, they were chanting at 11:30, when i was going to sleep. and still chanting at 3 am, when i woke up in the middle of the night. looking out my office window today, i watched kids play leap frog across a street, and splashing around the fountain in nathan phillips square (think the fountain in front of city hall in edmonton). i'm so glad i never participated in orientation in my first year of university. on friday, they usually have some sort of dance at the open field beside my house, which means it'll sound like i'm pumping the music in my room, but it's actually from outside.

i remember the first year i started working after graduating, it was so weird not to go back to school in september. i want to go back to school. no obligations. work is only full time for 4 months. all you need to do is study and go to classes. and there's always an end to look forward to. now i'm in the real world. i hate the real world because it only gives me 3 weeks of vacation and i have to pay rent. boo to responsibilities. and i'm turning a quarter of a century in a few weeks. boo to turning older.

otherwise, everything's just peachy. some friends were visiting over the long weekend, so that was good. i miss my friends and hanging out like we used to. those were good times.

alex...is...on...fire!

2006-09-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

just got back from seeing alexisonfire on mtv live. we sat in the balcony seats, which was fine because i didn't want to be on the couch or on tv. i was probably at least 5 years older than the average person there, it was kinda funny. but we were sitting by the dj, and they panned across the top balcony at the beginning of the show, i just hope we didn't get on tv b/c we were sitting on the end. so embarrassing.

anyways, the show was really good. it goes much faster watching in person than watching on tv. daryn is funny, jessi is blah. also saw dan walking around, so cute, and taller than i thought he'd be. alexisonfire sang one song, than sat down to do the interview, and after the show was over, sang 3 more songs.

i absolutely love dallas. more and more everytime i see him. i can't wait for the v festival and see an entire set. i really think george is going to lose his voice completely in 10 years if he keeps screaming like that.

i dragged my two friends to come with me, both of which did not know any alexisonfire songs. one is a country music fan, and the other is into r&b and hip hop. i think they still enjoyed it though.

funniest thing from the show, they were being interviewed and talking about tattoos, and george said he wanted to get a tattoo on his face of the face of a good looking man. i almost died laughing.

2006-08-22T23:28:00.000-04:00

you know that show mtv live? the one with the guy who used to be on ytv? i'm going to one! alexisonfire is performing on sept 1st, and there were still spots available to be in the audience, so i'm going with 2 friends. i'm so excited.

on a unrelated note. what are the stages of a sunburn? i think i got burnt on friday, wasn't too thorough with the sunscreen, but i'm beginning to think it's not a burn anymore. right now it's still kinda reddish, but also really really itchy. but my skin isn't peeling either. is this a sunburn? or should i go see the doctor about it? and if it is a burn, what do i do about it? i rarely burn in the sun (maybe it has happened once before), i usually just get darker!

ask me...

2006-08-17T21:24:00.000-04:00

what time i left work today...7:15 pm

what time i ate a meal today...8:00 pm

if i'm a workaholic...yes

if that's by choice...sometimes

if i have a life...no

if i want to continue like this...no

if i see an end to this pattern...not in the near future

i do this to myself.

jam packed weekend

2006-08-16T22:29:00.000-04:00

wow, long time no post...

i had a full weekend last week.

friday was the taste of the danforth. it's basically like the taste of edmonton, but all greek food, and in toronto. there were lots of people there too. it was good, but nothing especially special, so i don't think i'll make it a yearly tradition to go.

saturday was wakestock. the wakeboarding competition. it was cool, but i was mainly there for the music. and out of all the bands playing that day, i just really wanted to see sloan, and they didn't disappoint. i don't pretend to be a big fan of their music. i think i have one or two of their CDs only, but i have seen them play live a few times and their live show is always really good. there just fun people and their songs are really good. i should really be a bigger fan. the wakeboarding was cool, but i couldn't really see, and we got there late, so missed some competitions. otherwise, there was way more than wakeboarding. there was a skatepark, motorcross, and some tents set up to sell stuff. also saw a banana split eating competition.

sunday was the rogers cup final. i had planned to go to watch the rogers cup for months, so we went to the finals. it was roger federer vs richard gasquet. richard who? well he put up a good fight. he won the first set easily, federer wasn't on his 'A' game, but came back and won the last 2 sets. this is a pic of federer serving. it was fun to watch tennis in person, too bad the men and women switch between toronto and montreal each year for the rogers cup. if i want to watch mens again next year, i have to go to montreal. i really wanted to watch roddick play, but i think he withdrew from competition before the tournament started. and it would have been nice to see agassi play before he retired, but he withdrew as well.

weekend's over, now it's back to the daily grind....

reminder

2006-07-26T22:09:00.000-04:00

i just watched a video on dallas green's myspace page of live concert footage from his tour with dashboard confessional and i was reminded of why i love him. his voice is as calming as listening to the ocean. i want more city and colour songs! at least alexisonfire is coming out with their new CD soon and i'll see them at the virgin festival in september. woo hoo!

i'm not technologically inclined enough to know how to post videos on my blog, so go on youtube and do a search on dallas green. or check out www.myspace.com/dallasgreen.

and if you don't have his CD yet, go buy it. sometimes by city and colour.

please, no comments on dallas being too emo. he's perfect.

"who do you think you are? hilary duff?!?!"

2006-07-23T19:37:00.000-04:00

i went through my clothes and purged an equivalent of a garbage bag worth of clothes. some of it was stuff i brought to toronto with me when i moved here, but still haven't worn once yet. that's pretty much a signal for me to get rid of them. there's still some stuff i couldn't quite let go of yet, even though i haven't worn them in a year, but the next big purge, i'll let it go.

even though i got rid of a significant amount of clothing, it still doesn't feel like my closet and dresser are that much lighter. is that a sign that i have too much clothes? probably.

the last time i did a big purge of clothes in edmonton, i think i got rid of 3 garbage bags of clothes. to my defence, some of the stuff was really old, like from junior high, and i just hadn't donated them yet. when i told my friend how much i got rid of, his response was "who do you think you are? hilary duff!" i wish i was her, then i'd be dating joel madden.

and some of the stuff i donated still had the tags on them, and i'm sure there were a number of things i had only worn once. i have a problem. i recognize that. my roommate is equally as bad for shopping as i am, and i think we feed each other's addictions because we love showing each other what we bought. so we were saying that we should try and not shop for a month, and we'd do it together, so it won't be as hard. we have tentatively picked october because we're both going away in august, and september is my birthday, so october looks like the lucky month. damn, it has 31 days in it too.

i haven't even gone through my shoes yet either, but those are harder to get rid of.

what's the deal with...

2006-07-17T20:11:00.000-04:00

...the ridiculous heat, humidity and smog in toronto. it has been scorching these past two days. temperatures around 34 degrees and over 40 with humidity. on the worst days, there are heat, humidity and smog alerts. i'd like to call it the triple threat. thank goodness for air conditioning. i thought i'd try to sleep without it last night, but i think i lasted about 5 mins before i had to turn it on. so much for conserving energy.

...the new fad of wearing thick belts right under your boobs? i'm all for the empire waist, but not when you create it yourself. i really don't understand this trend, it just looks ridiculous. it's part of this new 80's revival of fashion. it looked ridiculous back then, and it still looks ridiculous now. i completely believe that belts are an accessory item for women, and not a necessity. your pants should never be that big that you need a belt to keep them up, its purpose is to complete an outfit. but not up around your rib cage.

...wireless bluetooth technology. great for driving, but unnecessary when you're just walking around on the streets and your hands are completely free. does it really take that much energy to hold a phone up to your ear? if you can't do that, you shouldn't be talking on the phone.

this concludes the random rants for today.

concert count

2006-07-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

#15: Panic! at the Disco (15-July-06) - Molson Ampitheatre

a friend of mine won tickets to this show and asked me to go, which was awesome because i wanted to go to this show when i heard they were coming, but wasn't sure who would come with me.

i must say, panic! puts on a great show. it was very theatrical and almost like a circus, must be their hometown influence (las vegas). if anyone has seen their video, they had dancers and performers dressed like how they're dressed in the video and would perform during the songs, which is kind of odd for a rock show, but kind of refreshing. at one point in a song, the lead singer did a little dance routine with the performers, which was cute. i definitely have a new musician crush (i just read that he's only 19! whoa, i feel even older now).

i was curious at how they would put on a show with only one CD of 13 songs, but only add up to 40 mins. i'm pretty sure they sang every song and they did a cover of tonight, tonight by the smashing pumpkins (which was great), and in the middle of the show, they had a little intermission where their performers came out and talked to the crowd a bit and said something about each member of the band (they said the lead singer was still a virgin, he's in a band and is so cute, i highly doubt he's a virgin). when the band came back, they had all changed their clothes, which was probably a good idea b/c it was hot today (mid afternoon, with humidity, it felt like 38 degrees!) and they were all in long sleeved shirts and other things.

the other neat thing about the show was the array of instruments. they had a cello player for most of the songs and the lead singer played the piano for many of the songs, and they used a banjo in one of the songs too.

they have a really young fan base, which just made me feel old. but it still was a great show, they have really happy upbeat music and it's definitely fun to listen to. for the last song, the lead singer jumped into the crowd while he was singing.

so they ended up only playing an hour set, and there was no encore. i think this is only the 2nd concert i've ever been to where there was no encore. i think that's fine, might as well play all your songs and only give an encore when the crowd really makes you want to come back to play more. in my opinion, encores shouldn't be planned.

all in all, a great show from a great band. how could you not like a band with song names such as "lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off" or "there's a good reason these tables are numbered honey, you just haven't thought of it yet." i've made a comment before how i like songs with weird words in them; panic! uses "aubergine" in one of their songs. i didn't even know what the hell that is, i had to look it up. who knew music could be educational too!