One Day Weekend

Amazing what you can fit in a 36 hour period. Again, I didn't do/see nearly half of what I wanted to, but I did have fun.

Tried Ethiopian food for the first time this weekend. I'm glad they didn't tell me it was gonna be Ethiopian before I got there because I'm pretty sure the jokes would have gotten out of hand. Also had sushi, the greatest food in history. And made plans with Rob to sit down and blow like $100 each at a sushi resaurant in one night... really get my fill.

Actually if I can say one thing about this weekend is that I really got to know Rob M. really well this weekend... and he's hilarious... and a near match to my awesome "Sport Disc" playing. But I will not allow my friendship with him cloud my goal to steal his girlfriend.

Also got to know Jeff's lil' lady Rhonda a little better this weekend. She provided the ride I needed to get me up to Regina and back and even spent a good half hour listening to me bellyache about lost love. By the way Rhonda for the record, it's ok to chastise your child infront of me, frankly I was shocked at how lenient you were over that... I'd pop a cork.

All in all it was a really good weekend. Like I say, I didn't get everything I wanted to do done, but I did manage to enjoy myself and take some of the edge of living in Weyburn off... maybe I should rent a room in Regina and live there on my days off .... the food is better

With so much drama in the RGC

Well I'm heading off to Regina again tonight, coming back early Sunday sometime. Just really need to get out of Weyburn for a bit. Also, Jeff insisted.

So just waiting for Rhonda who is generously coming about 20 minutes out of her way to pick me up. What a sucker! LOL. But ANYWAYS, got something to do for the next day at least. The neighbor is gonna look after Bootsy for a change, but hey if Andrew is reading and wants to hang out with her smelly dog butt (Bootsy, not the neighbor), go right ahead.

BUT I should really get going and get something done before Rhonda gets here. I'll try and call y'all.

Oh Lord it's hard to be humble,..

...when you're perfect in everyway.
I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day.
To know me is to love me
I must be a hell of a man
Oh Lord it's hard to be humble
but I'm doing the best that I can.


That song is dedicated to me. And the massive ego hit I took last night. As I may have mentioned yesterday, I've been playing alot of guitar lately, and thinking awfully well of myself. Real top of the heap. Then I went to open jam night at Carves last night. I'm not worthy. They threw me up on stage for a few. Now I held my own, was a bit uncomfortable so I handed the bass over to my fellow Lord of Thump, Toddy and he made me feel like a parapeligic. Thanks Todd, I gotta keep practicing!

In other news, that last post that I did was number 400... anybody close?

I'm not too sure why,

but I've been playing guitar a LOT lately. Like between 3-6 hours PER DAY. For a while there I was lucky if I was getting that in a week. I'm not too sure why I've been on this kick. For the most part, I'm not working on anything for any of my other bands, I'm just playing. Sometimes my bass, sometimes my acoustic, but I'm definetly playing a lot of guitar. Maybe its the cange in jobs or the change in weather. Who knows.

But I'm very open for jamming.

Things I Realized tonight

1. I'd hate to be a coach in the NHL this year. I think only Gretzky is safe from the axe this year.

2. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has a fucking screw loose and had better watch his mouth or he'll be watching his castle melt under a mushroom cloud in a couple months. Now I don't love violence, hell I don't even condone it, but I know the United States. They're high strung, they're loosing an unpopular war, they've got another nation threatening nuclear war and you come along spreading bulllshit, someone is gonna snap and push the button. You are playing a game of fucking Russian roulette with the only nation in history to use nuclear weapons (a Weapon of Mass Destruction) on another nation. SMARTEN UP, I DO NOT WANT TO SEE A NUCLEAR ATTACK IN MY LIFETIME, EVEN HALF A WORLD AWAY.

Sorry.

3. Rich people need to dummy the fuck up. Read this to see what I mean. My GOD. I mean there are children STARVING TO DEATH in your own country and you ADD ANOTHER 30 FEET TO YOUR YACHT!. Wow. Sometimes I feel guilty for buying a case of beer to just keep in the fridge. I feel empoverished now.

4. Tommorrow marks the 20th anniversay of the Chernobyl Explosion which has disaster stricken the Ukraine, at the time a member of the USSR. The side effects from that disaster could potentially be felt for the next 20,000 years. Everyday my government and the government of many countries around the world allow for the production of power using nuclear energy, who's radioactive byproduct while emission free leaves a deadly solid waste for thousands of years. An amazing photo-documentary called "nuclear NIGHTMARES" that I viewed HERE last night really shows what we, mankind have done to ourselves. I think we need to step up to the plate and get some real work done out here. People, global warming presents more threat to Americans and mankind in general than terrorism.

5. I'm really anti-nuke tonight.

6. I feel sorry for this guy.

7. Tool's new album is just MAD good. AHHH! --- um I mean... I can't wait 'till it's out, the SINGLE is MAD good... yeah.... I'm gonna buy it, serious.

8. Regina, you made FARK! Good Article too.

9. This is some cool shit.

10. Anyone remember Pog? What the hell was up with that? Why did I and millions of others get sucked into that. Yikes, thanks for the brainwash!

So I'm standing there,

warming up my supper, when I realize, "This fucking microwave only goes up to like 15 minutes! What if I wanted to nuke something unattended for 16 minutes or like a week? What would I do then? This whole situation is just totally screwed up. How could I have been SO happy with THIS microwave for so many years with such a debillitating handicap.

I don't think I've ever cried so hard.

I feel so.... arthouse

So went to Regina for the day Saturday. Partied at Rhonda, Jeff, Rob, Kat, Rob, Kristie, Steve, Fidel, Poochy, Geech, and half of the rest of the world's house that night. Had just a blast and got a really mindblowing jam in with Rob. Unbeleivably good jam. Like for a bass and guitar only, this was quite possibly one of the best jams I've done. Not too sure what the rest of the people were thinking who were there, but it was blowing my mind and I was half the show.

Did the jam with Old Skool yesterday. Once again, our guitarist didn't make it, so I did a few songs on acoustic with the singer, did a bass, keyboard, drum, vocal jam with the rest, but it was a little lacking. No one was really into it, and I was not in the mood to jam with them... I was still reeling from the night before. Just wanted to do free jam all afternoon.

And then since everything in Rock comes in trilogies, Dave just re-opened WMD. So in other words, it is well possible that WMD will be jamming again and possibly be doing a show. Which just blows my mind. I'm actually super-stoked for this as I was gonna buy a new effects processor in the next few months, and that would just be a wicked place to begin using it.

Also yesterday, Rob gave me a ride home, at the same time giving me some extended use of one of his SLR cameras. I haven't done film in this method since junior high. I'm pretty stoked as he has a dark room too thus (hopefully) allowing me the ability to develop my own photos, allowing control and greater affordability.

I bought three rolls of film for it today, a roll of really cheap ASA 200 film, Polaroid (Wal-Mart Branded) (which I shot this afternoon at SVECC, figure I'll make my mistakes on the cheap stuff), a roll of ASA 100 Black and White, Kodak ($5.89 seemed a bit much, but I wanted to try it out), and a roll of ASA 400 Colour, Fuji.

Also a Happy Birthday who doesn't have internet, thus does not know I wished him a Happy Birthday here.

At Rhonfa's

Made a snap decision to come to Regina tonight. Just jumped into a car load of smelly men and drove to Regina to help some friends move, party, jam and just hang. I was sent to the computer to look up TABs but since I think TAB is the work of the Devil, I will instead use this free internet connection to insult my hostess. SU'P RHONDA!!!! LOL

SO yeah... got band practice tommorrow... if I can groove on bass tommorrow like I grooved tonight, I'm a shoo in.

I'm exhausted

Man.

Between switching my biological clock from night to morning, actually waking up at 4:30 AM, the poor/no sleep I got at my grandparents' house and the 2 hour walk to Souris Valley I just took with Bootsy, I'm ready to hit the hay. I beleive that were I to hit the sac right now, I'd enter a coma.

Riders : You got rid of Greene, got a new kicker and some other good decisions. I'm even beginning to understand whay you got rid of Holmes. I think this shakeup is just in time. Danny... keep sharp, we're still watching you.

A Shout out...

Just like to give a big shout out to Jon from Down_Lo who also donated blood yesterday. Everyone go over to his site and be nice to him too. Click here to go.

Only 3 days left until Rechargeable Future is launched. What the fuck was I thinking? This new job has just kinda out a kink in things.

The new job kinda sucks, but it pays real well, and ironically the more it sucks, the better I get paid (booyah). I'm gonna try not to bring this one home with me, so hopefully, you'll never read about it on this blog.

Mom, I cut my hair, now get off my freaking back.

Dad, hi.

I'm BLEEDING!!!

Well ok not anymore, but you DO have to be nice to me, I gave blood.

Now for the record. I hate giving blood. I really do. I hate the needle, the fingerprick, the questionnaire, everything. But if you go with some other fun loving people and set out to make friends, it's not too bad. Even thought I could stand to pick up some women while giving blood. How cool would that be?! No but seriously, I sat beside this one great gal whilst giving blood and chatted with her for a bit... seemed cool.... too bad I was too chicken to get her number.

Ah well.

GIVE BLOOD, PEOPLE HAVE TO BE NICE TO YOU, IT'S THE LAW!

Hey Nature...

Bite me.

Fuck. Oh well, wet and cold mean only one thing. I get to play videogames and eat nachos all night. God has willed it. Because if it was nice, I'd be required to take the dog on a long walk, do some yard work and generally be productive. But nope, it's very cold, very windy and very wet, so God has given me his sign to play Splinter Cell and Atari Classic Games. Thy will be done Lord. (Hey if people can translate all that stupid crap they do from the Bible, I can translate some innocent videogames from a low pressure cell).

Guess Who Just Heard the New TOOL Single!?!

ME!

I was cruising home in the ol' mini-van and it was on 104.9. Yes it kicked major ass. Yes I can't wait for the album. Yes I don't know how to properly form a sentence.

Easter in Melville

Went to Melville for the weekend with my parents to visit my grandparents. It was just us for the weekend as they really aren't able to have the big get togethers anymore with their health problems. Talked alot about life and their plans for the future and stuff.

They're also trying to get rid of alot of things in their house that they don't want to move to the apartment when they go. Grandpa gave me a huge stack of astronomy and space books (which I was really into as a kid) and told me to come back in a little while and take his telescope, which is an impressive peice of equipment. Although I've gotten totally out of touch with astronomy and space, I have kept my eye on the big space news items and I'm sure I'll get plenty of good use out of that telescope... if only to spy on sexy neighbours ;). But seriously there are a few big time space events coming up in the coming years that will be great to check out with the telescope. Now I need to re-familiarize myself with the basics.

Grandpa and Grandma were also trying to give me their old electric organ which from a musical point of view, I'd love to have, but I'm not sure I have the room. I'll just wait patiently for a bit, and maybe I get a bigger place, then I'll take it. Mom and Dad both said they'd take it at their place until I could find a place for it, so we'll see... it seems like alot.

Been dealing with some guilt issues with taking this stuff. I know they want it out of their life and are happy to see their family enjoying it, but I'm taking peices of their lives away, and profiting from their misfortune. I suppose it's better than losing this stuff in an auction sale, but it still doesn't seem right.

I Wish Weyburn Had a Dog Park

A slow day at work and since it's my last day and with a "what are they gonna do, fire me?" attitude, I've been reading Waiter Rant, an excellent blog on the life and career of a 37 year old waiter in New York. Anyways he talked about taking his dog to the dog park (and an unfortunate incident that happened there)... and I just realize how much Bootsy would just love a place like that. A big open space to run around and play with other dogs... oh sure she'd probably get eaten by a Bull Mastiff, but hell she'd have fun doin it.

Like yesterday morning, I tied her up on her clothesline and went inside to sort laundry when I hear her barking away. She's usually pretty quiet so I go out to see what's up, and there is someone walking by with these two HUGE dogs... like big greyhound looking things.... not sure what they were, but they were tall and lean. Anyways... as we all know Bootsy is 1 foot fuckall and can barely open her mouth wide enough to pick up her toy Care Bear. So I just stroll out and kneel down next to her and pat her on the head. "So what's the game plan Boots? I mean, they're six times your size... you couldn't take on of them let alone two. They're not gonna be charmed by your cuteness as easily as I am. And besides, you've put on a couple of pounds over the winter... you're gonna have a hell of a time keeping up with them. So what's the plan.. how you planning to go about this?"

Shut her right up. Who says you need to hit your dog?

That said, she gets a swat on the nose from time to time.

Good Friday Sausage Party

Well, had a bunch of folks over last night for a backyard sit, then an inside jam. I think we managed to blow Davin's feeble mind.

Being billed as a Good Friday Silly Hat party, we did pretty well. Everyone at least tried... some with more success than others. I think Steve wins for his kick-ass pimp hat. Alas even though the silly hat party was my idea, my had wasn't all that silly. Actually it was just my camping hat... I feel bad, but I still managed to have a good time.

Today's my last day at Movie Factory. I'm gonna miss this old creaky store... so much history. But at 3:00 today, I turn in my badge and my gun (as long as I don't get shot by terrorists before then). So come by today before 3 and say hi!

Then Tuesday, I'm off to work at the Weyburn Leisure Center, maintaining my friggin' ass off. Woo.

There are a few things burning my asshole right now....

Ok first... the mothballing of the Renegades. Yes, it's a means to a long term solution for the troubles that have plagued the Ottawa team, but I've had my CFL schedule firmly magneted to my fridge since February and I really feel it's a total jack off that I have to print a new one and put it up... I mean what a waste of paper! Bastards.

Second... it seems not a week goes by that I don't read about the current Conservative government doing something I don't like. This is to be expected as I'm a pretty hardcore small "L" liberal. That said, the Harper government has been making a disturbing trend of controlling the freedom of speech and expression of members of the government and of public servants. I don't think I'm alone in thinking this is dangerous and not very democratic. So thank you Stephen Harper government for denying Canadians freedoms that I thought couldn't be denied. I've learned something... and guess what... Canadians have too... you're gonna have a hard fight next election bub.

Finally, a pet peeve. People come into the store on a daily basis, will see me serving a customer and instead of letting me finish the transaction will burst in and insist on me answering a question. This is so rude. It takes 2 mintues TOPS for me to perform a transaction here. If you can't wait in line for a minute, you've got you're priorities all fucked up. It's a movie store.. anything can wait... it's not like you've just shot yourself.

Another Boring Rainy Day

Yep.... just a dull boring rainy day in Weyburn. Luckly I got called into work early today, so my boredom will be satiated.

Got to Gannon's tower (last level) in Zelda last night so barring any severe hand injuries, I should be done in the next few days.

Still no movement in the garden yet. Sat outside and screamed GROW at it for about 20 minutes untill one of the neighbours decided to stop telling me to shut up and just hit me with a shovel. They seemed awful upset that I woke them up at 2AM, but they had ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD to dump me in a culvert north of down. Fucking ingrates... they don't get any fresh herbs this summer. Or lettuce either.

I managed to sex/mom joke my brother today without even hinting that I was the one doing the deed. I think it really was a triumph among "I screwed your mom" jokes. I should be knighted... no sainted.

I suppose I should add..

Saskatchewan follows suit .. by trading away all their good players.

IN other news some old guy just ran in here and goes "You got an old porno you want to sell cheap?" Why not check that we have porn first there bud.

THIS JUST IN : Ottawa folds for season, Saskatchewan follows suit.

I'm burning the Rider hat. Screw this.

Fuck You Legend of Zelda : Wind Waker

Fuck you right in the ear. Man this game is pissing me off.

Oh sure it's got a great story and is nicely tied in with it's predecessors. Sure it's got a cool new look. Yeah the puzzles are hard, but not too hard. But why oh why do you have to be so fucking ANNOYING. I have a theory that Nintendo purposely makes games like this endlessly frustrating so that you're forced to throw your controller/game/system/sister at the nearest brick wall, but addictive enough that you'll then go out an buy a new one (or as mom and dad to make you a new sister if that's the case).

I mean right now, I've been working on the same 3 rooms for like 45 minutes. I know how to solve them, but everytime i get close this hand thing grabs me and tosses me back to the beginning. Fuck I never liked those hands in any version of the game.

Also, Nintendo, stop putting fucking ice levels in your games. All they do is piss people off. They aren't fun, they're infuriating.

Finally, Danny is a sick bastard and if you ever meet him, don't shake his hand.

I GOT BLISTERS ON ME FINGERS!

So the plan today was to start a little herb/salad garden out my back porch today. God felt it was more important that it rain. I'm not too upset though. We need rain really badly out here and I needed to be stuck inside to practice some songs and clean house.

Band practice was also cancelled today. One of the parts of being in a band with a bunch of 50 year olds is that they hurt themselves CONSTANTLY. So our guitarist is out of commision for a bit. Oh well, it gives me time to polish up my chops. Paul McCartney was no hack on bass.

So yeah. Yesterday I was sitting out back with the landlady and the Horseshoe Gang (as I will now call all the old people that congregate in that area). We got to talking about gardens and plants. So I decided I'm gonna grow a little herb/salad garden. I Michelle and I went to Crappy Tire (Canadian Tire for everyone else who hasn't shopped there) and got some seeds and a watering can. So now you guys have lots of pictures of my garden to look forward to in addition to pictures of wild flowers and Bootsy! Woo Hoo!

Awesome I Fucking Shot That!

So I got my hands on a screener for the Beastie Boys' ultimate concert film, "Awesome I Fucking Shot That". I'm 3 songs into it and it is the fucking greatest thing I have eveer seen on film. Mix Master Mike can father my fucking children. I don't even care.

Shot at their concert at Madison Square Gardens in 2004, the band gave 50 lucky fans in the crowd a camcorder each with the only rule "once you start rolling, no matter what, don't stop". After some amazingly creative editing and a perfect performance by the boys, what resulted is an amazing film.

It's out in July. Don't rent it, BUY THE MOTHERFUCKER. It's goddamn amazing.

I wish I could be paid to shower

Ok finally a post I really feel like I want to post... the last two were kind of weak, sorry I just wanted to push down that one about the concert.... it just disturbed me to re-read it and be reminded of it.

Anyways, yeah. I should be allowed to shower for a living. I'm very good at it. I can get completely wet... head and all and I could spend an 8 hour shift in a shower if the hot water held out. So to anyone out there looking to train a professional showerer, drop me a line. One of the advantages is I'd never be late for work because I'd never need to shower before going to work.

Also anyone looking to do some good vocal recordings would be wise to put a mic in that shower.

SCoop!

Well this isn't much of a scoop, but people have asked me to inform others, so here I go. Davin and Mark will be down for Easter. I also have a source that claims Rob will be down this Saturday.

That is all.

Postin' From Work

Firstly to keep me out of trouble, it's super busy here at work, I'm not slacking off, I've just hired a young immigrant (legal I might add) to take my dictation. There, that should cover my ass.

By now you should all notice the recessive update of the page. I ended the war. Since Dave has appeared to fall off the face of the planet and I was sporting like a 30 kill lead, I'm declaring myself the winner and undisputed champion. Plus I assume he was really killed.

Bootsy got away from me yesterday. I tied her up in the yard, went inside to get some work gloves and came back out to find her on the other side of the fence, smelling a pile of leaves. Needless to say, once she realized she was free, she ran like the wind. Found her about an hour later with the help of my mom and her car. Just stolling along a couple blocks away,... like she belongs there. Stupid Mutt.

Having no luck with the job situation right now. Definetly considering going back to school in the fall. I'll have no help and very limited resources, but if I put my mind to it, I might be able to do it. Only one way to find out... try.

Other than that, lifes pretty boring. Underemployment sucks and I really hate job hunting. Really just thinking that if an answer doesn't come soon, I'll just move and try for the education thing. Only downside is that if I plan on doing it in the fall I'll need to have a job AND go to school, which could make things real tough for keeping my pup. But we'll burn that bridge when we get to it I guess.

I thought about not posting this

Ok, I'm aware that I'm online. I've found out in the year and a bit that I've been blogging that my site can be Googl'd, people link to me, people pass my page on to others. So I'm fully aware that the following post might be seen by the people I'm talking about. If so, well so be it, these things need to be said.

Last night I went to a show in town at the "Old CO-OP" now "Paradise Market". Although I've exited the scene in town and my type of music really isn't being done, I still like to support the arts, especially this type because hey, no one else will. So when my old pal Rob called and said there was a show, I was there.

I'm gonna start with the second act. I'm not even sure what they were called. They were very hardcore and well I think they did a decent job. I have nothing bad to say. Maybe not my scene, but competent and good. Whoever you guys were, good job, keep it up.

The last band, I didn't even stay for. Why? Read the following about the opening act.

The opening act was by one Mike Froh (if he Googles himself, he has now found this post). It was shit to the worst degree. Oh the music was ok. Again, not my scene, but definetly well built. Where I have issue is his over-inflated ego and appaling unprofessionalism. For someone who has been playing for so long and who made no compromise to say that he was fresh off tour about sixty time, he sure doesn't know how to perform. Between the constant bragging about his success (and by the way, alot of fucking people have been on tour, I don't know the name of your goddamn band so how good can you be), his forgetting a song and actually STOPPING and asking the crowd for the words, starting a song with a guitar that wasn't tuned (hint : tune before you hit the stage, I've played with 12 year olds that know this little tidbit) or just his total unpreparedness, made it quite possibly the worst single performance I've ever seen. I left before his other band, the headliners played because I couldn't stand to see him again. He did this dedication towards the end of his set to a young girl who had passed that was so goddamn insincere that I felt sorry for the girl because her memory was being whored for false sympathy. Jesus it was the worst fucking thing. It makes me feel better about playing in a cover band because at least we're unpretentious and fun. If it's the best we can do, so be it, we're not full of shit. Mike Froh, your solo shit was THE worst show I've ever seen, and I've seen my share.

On the plus side, I know I'll approach all my shows better after seeing that. I've never seen someone lose a crowd so effectively. If I do the opposite of him, I should be set.

I'm Giggling My ass off

So at the Movie Factory, one of the things I do alot of is promotional design work. The webpage, promotional posters, ads and stuff like that. Corey gets some cheap design work and I get to flex my design muscles and practice using The Gimp, which is a free, open source alternative to Photoshop (Not as easy to use, but definetly as powerful).

Well today I had to come up with something to promote our 2 movies for $20 deal. I'm fairly proud of the results :


The caption/tag line will of course read "I Can't Believe My Eyes! 2 Movies for $20!"

Well I think it's entertaining.