donuts - i told you to get me donuts! ...

ok, every year, all of us cousins get together and do a santa gift exchange. we all bring a wrapped gift and put it on the table. we draw cards and either the high card or low card gets to pick first. this usually sets off the first round of the debate on the official rules. the rules are extremely complicated, and get debated vigorously each year. the only rule that everyone always agrees on, and is strictly enforced is the opposable thumb rule. if your thumbs touch the gift, it's yours.

anyways, the exchange is one of those one where you can either pick a unwrapped gift or steal someone else's. and the gifts are usually alcohol based. this year, there were three shooter snakes and ladders in the exchange. very odd.

now, i don't like to give just alcohol. i like to go for some kind of twist. this year, i am pretty damn proud of my idea. i decided to give a bob and doug gift basket.

beer - check
bacon - check
toque - check
dvd - check

but how do i wrap it?




quick! pit stop at tim horton's. wrap everything in donut containers!

put big donut box on the top.

as gift is being opened, "these can't really be donuts?"




oh yes, my friends they are.

cue cousins falling on floor laughing.

christmas is going to the dogs...

****update - i think i have solved the photo problem.*****

one of the things i like about the blogging world is that i'm constantly remembering things that i've forgotten.

like reading dale's post reminded me of a long conversation i had at work years ago. one of the nice things about working retail is you spend a lot more time talking to the people you work with. you really get to know them much more than in an office situation. dale reminded me of a long conversation i had once about how there needed to be more xylophones in rock music and that a tribute album really needed to be done. dale, i don't know what happened to my dream!

'goober' and my xmas ornaments are teaming up to kill me. here is my version of the events. just in case, something "happens" to me. last sunday, i am walking in my house. the path is clear. suddenly, 'goober' appears and pushes a box of ornaments in front of me. i trip. i am in pain. my ankle is killing me. i think nothing of it.

however, as the week progresses, my ankle still hurts. i take a look at it mid-week, and i can see it started to bruise. and on friday, it hurts so much, i decide to have a little soak in the bath and i see that my ankle is turning many colours. purple, brown, black, blue, yellow. bad 'goober! bad 'goober'!

today it seems to have stopped adding any additional colours. and the pain is beginning to subside.

i leave you with a series of photos. i think i will call it... 'goober' - a study in snow.

i'm drinkin' up christmas!...

****updated - for some reason i forgot to title this post.. corrected!****

first off, before i forget, here is possibly my favourite ever web search referral to my blog.

"how do you get a chicken out of a bottle without breaking the bottle or killing the chicken"

i've had a bunch of bizarre celebrity encounters recently. here are some of the highlights.

1. a band member from a certain band that i have made no attempt at hiding my hatred for. now, granted, i do know this person, but i haven't talked to them for years.
2. a singer whose cd i mentioned in my blog.
3. an artist whose work i love.

i mention this not to brag, but just to try and explain how weird my headspace is these days. nothing is surprising me anymore.

i am so happy to have my car back and running, i wanted to hug it this morning. is that wrong? now i just have to figure out where i put the thingy for my tape deck so that i can run my mp3 player thru it.

our favourite bad tempered zombie listed a few of xmas traditions that her family partakes in. as always, i am stealing her idea and posted a few of my own.

1. the traditional xmas music gift. formerly a cassette, and now a cd. the making of which is best accompanied by shortbread, chocolate, eggnog, and baileys

2. christmas eve must be spent at the railway club. and without planning, i must see my christmas friends there. it's weird if i don't, and it's even weirder when i see them in summertime. we all get very confused.

3. now, some of you may know i collect christmas music, but when it comes to decorating the tree, i prefer to do that to the sex pistols and sometimes smokey robinson. this comes because as a teenager, i bought both these albums and played them for the first time while decorating the tree by myself.

4. these decorations are among the first to go up on my tree. jack and zero go up near the top of the tree. usually near marilyn. lock, shock and barrel must always be separated. they get up to no good if they aren't. ernie and bert however must be very close to each other. and usually near the back for privacy.

5. we always have lemon meringue pie for dessert.


hope everyone is having a great weekend. i know i am!

bass! how low can you go? ...

today's random list is full of my fave countrified songs.

1. gift – sugar
2. bring the noise – the unholy trio (i can not get enough of this song). listen here.
   
3. poor little critter on the road – the knitters
4. count down our days – fembots
5. dick in dixie – hank III
6. everybody loves me but you – juliana hatfield
7. teach me to breathe – dave pirner
8. the good ones – the kills
9. take my money and run – cuff the duke
10. it begins – girls against boys

have a good weekend y'all!

another one rides the bus...

i think december will be mainly a month of postings of random things. i will probably be working six days a week and some night shifts so i think that will work best.

first off, i found out what point 11 from my previous point meant. i called up my friend with low blood sugar and she said, what the girl meant was that people with low blood sugar get cold easily. there you go. you learn something new every day.

if i do change my blogger name to 'pancakes' then goober will become 'waffles'

and now random bus stories...

sometimes when i get on the bus, for fun i will sit next to the person who makes it most obvious that they do not want someone sitting next to them. is that mean?

on the skytrain the other day, a grumpy old man sat in front of me. he asked me if the umbrella next to him was mine and after i said no, he threw it. now maybe he meant to throw it down, but he ended up throwing it across and nearly hit the woman sitting there. he didn't even apologize, just kept grumbling to himself.

today, i got to see this totally old couple in their 70's, sitting on the bus, holding hands and flirting with each other.

while waiting for my bus, i watched this incredibly beautiful girl flirt with this totally nerdy geek. and she was really flirting big time. hair tossing, smiling, moving in close.

then when the bus did come, our bus driver harassed all of us about our transfers. look, i know this is a weird route, where the zones combine and you can actually go two zones on a one zone. but we didn't make the route! nor assign you to it! so deal. and don't try and make me pay extra you bastard!

yippee! it's friday tomorrow! and i got my car back today! whoooo hoooooo!

cold as ice...

ok, confession time. i stopped watching 'the hour' two months ago. i always wondering what would make me stop watching it. i mean if brooke hogan didn't, what would? apparently the answer is three roman polanski jokes. i wasn't even sure i wanted to go to a taping. so how do i feel now? stay tuned.

but first...

randomness from two days of attending 'the hour' in vancouver.

1. yes, i went to the hour with mel. i don't know how this is possible but she is even nicer in person than online. sadly, i could not wear fancy boots. so i wore red and black starred creepers instead. also, when meeting someone for the first time, bring gifts. mel and i exchanged xmas cds. she also brought chocolate. there was no way i was not going to like her after that. (ps.. get a passport lady!)

2. i need to buy a clown mask. of course, it will have to live in the farthest corner of my basement.

3. the tim hortons on dunsmuir, near the railway club serves the coldest ice caps i have ever had. i felt like my whole esophagus was frozen. (i can not believe i spelled that right on the first try). oh, and cream cheese and ice caps are not a good taste sensation.

4. just when i think it is not possible to love rick mercer anymore, i learn something new and even better about him. and my heart grows like the grinch with more love for him.

5. i am a bigger techie geek than i thought i was. i spent most of the taping watching and listening to the production crew. on an additional note, i really miss using my slr. i feel like i've been cheating on it with my digital.

6. certain bc "stars" are even bigger assholes than i thought.

7. brett butt is really really funny.

8. i am obsessed with taking photos of pancakes.

9. certain people are freakishly smart. so much so i may have to change my blogger id. i am thinking of perhaps "pancakes".

10. do not listen to south park songs when listening to your ipod alone in crowded streets. because you will laugh out loud and everyone will know you are a freak

11. overheard in the lineup. "are you checking your coat?" "no, i have low blood sugar". what does this mean?

12. sweltering tv studio + downpouring rain + no umbrella + no hoodie = one potentially sick clown.

and now the answer... seeing the show live, especially on tuesday made me think i might just give it another shot and catch up on a few episodes that are on my pvr. especially because i think there's a steve earle interview in there somewhere.

happy hump day everyone!

you stupid girl...

tip #97 - when working various shifts, make sure you check your schedule prior to going to bed. or else you end up getting up more than three hours early. and yet, still not make it in to work on time.

today, i also didn't tie up the dog securely when i let him out for his morning pee break. hence goober had a nice long free range run thru the neighbourhood. so long, i think it freaked him out. i came out and he was running like mad to get to me. which never happens.

tonight it is so cold and wet that goober is barking, demanding to be let in. he will have none of this!

today's musical obsession.. john hiatt.

mainly this song.



but this song does contain this line that i love " i'm yellin' at the kids in the back cuz they're bangin' like charlie watts"

here in my car ...

before i go into my other stories, i just have to say.. i want a zenn car.

here's the piece rick mercer did on it.

went to seattle the other day. my car is still not working so got to be a passenger. i like being a passenger sometimes. i tried to act like greta garbo with my scarf at the gas station but i think the effect was ruined by the fact it was a black and white striped wooly scarf. plus i had forgotten my sunglasses.

since i was the passenger, i decided to walk to the peace arch while we were in the lineup for the border. every so often, there is talk about changing it and the outcry is always.. but the children donated their pennies for it!





this picture was actually hard to take because this alpha male was screaming at the car next to him. something about merging and one line. i was trying to not get him in the shot because i thought he might freak out on me next.





no shoes came home with me this time. season 5 of 24 did tho. along with these.

coming back, the wait was four hours to get back in canada. so we went for dinner, drove 1/2 hour to another border and we were home before we would have even gotten to the border at the other crossing. why do people wait in lineups that long?

i mentioned earlier that bahamian was my current fave word. i am totally obsessed with this bahamian singer/guitarist named joseph spence. he's like a drunken, demented blues/folk/calypsoian singer. and i mean that in a good way.

hear him laugh.

hear him sing.



have a good week everyone.

seven and seven is...

i've been tagged again! bad tempered zombie demands to know 7 new things about me and after much thought, here goes.

1. i have met three out of the five members of bon jovi. one's an idiot, one's an asshole and one was awesome. and the winner is... mr. jon bon jovi! i joked with him. he was incredibly nice, very flirty and possibly more attractive in person than onscreen. even to one who is not attracted to that sort.

2. until about five years ago, i never cursed. now, i swear like a motherf*ckin' truck driver. oddly enough, this happened around the time i started to go to calgary. i'm not saying there's a connection but....

3. as a child, my parents very rarely took me to see kids movies. this led to a rather amusing moment in show and tell where i reviewed the james bond film my dad took me to. i'm not sure my grade two class grasped the complexity of my review. which mainly consisted of stories about violence and sexy women in bikinis. sadly, my review was cut short by my teacher.

4. i have a not so secret desire to throw a drink in someone's face. this comes from watching too many old movies. this isn't as easy to do as one would think. not only does the person have to deserve it, you have to be holding the right drink as well. beer is not appropriate. especially in a bottle or can. it's got to be a cocktail or highball. one day, one day.

5. if i am looking at cds in a store or library and find one misfiled, i can not leave it there. i either file it correctly or give it to a clerk. it drives me insane. and don't even get me started on going to someone's house and finding they file their cds haphazardly. alpha-chronologically people!

6. i hate raisins with a passion. on the other hand, i love anything grape flavoured.

7. i love jambalaya. not the food. the word. it is possibly my favourite word. although, i do currently enjoy the word bahamian.

ok so here are the rules:

• link to your tagger and post the rules.
• share 7 facts about yourself, some random and some weird.
• tag 7 people at the end of the post and list their names.
• let them know they were tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

i don't really have 7 people to tag so i have only tagged three. play if you like. no biggie if you don't. :)

evelyne
just a cool cat
chick

if you peel away the skin is there anybody there...

i'm seriously thinking of 'outing' myself.

no, no. not in the sense you may be thinking of. the lovely mel has invited me to attend a taping of 'the hour' with her. and i am most tempted. and to be honest, a little nervous.

so many questions are running thru my mind. should i go? do i need to go in full clown makeup? and more importantly, what shoes do i wear?


ps.. i tried to change the time of this posting (just to make it current) and i got a big fat red error message....illegal post time. i'm such a bad ass. :)

well i drink gin monkey drink gin too ...

i'm sorry but i can not stop laughing at the following.

troupes of monkeys are out of control in india's northeast, stealing mobile phones and breaking into homes to steal soft drinks from refrigerators, lawmakers in the region have complained.

"Monkeys are wreaking havoc in my constituency by taking away mobile phones, toothpastes, sipping coke after opening the refrigerators," Hiren Das told Assam state's assembly.

He said the primates were "even slapping women who try to chase them".

here's a link to the full story. i'm just sad the colbert report is off the air. i'd love to see what they'd do to this 'monkey on the lam' story.

******update*****

here's a better "monkey on the lam" video.

thank you, driver, for getting me here ...

look at me, two posts in one day!

i think my bus driver today was a fake. he wasn't wearing a uniform, was wearing tear away pants and runners. his driving was erratic (although that may prove he was an actual bus driver!). he was letting people off randomly, even tho it was an express bus. and when we got to the skytrain station, he parked the bus and jumped off before all the passengers, and left the bus wide open.

wouldn't that be funny if he was a fake?

rock 'n' roll, hoochie koo...

hmm, for two weeks in a row, my player is starting off fridays with l.a. hair bands. should i be embarrassed?

1. you're so vain – faster pussycat
2. let it roll - velvet revolver
3. 15 step – radiohead
4. goodbye yellow brick road – elton john
5. feel good hit of the summer – queens of the stone age
6. rock this town – stray cats
7. dear lover – social distortion
8. the avalanche – sufjan stevens
9. hopeless case of a kid in denial – the hellacopters
10. an introduction - joel plaskett emergency

happy friday everyone! hopefully i will be able to get my car back on the road this weekend.

carefree highway...

ok, i told allison i'd post by tuesday so here are goes.

why does our rental car have saskatchewan plates? oh well, let's pretend we are from ray-gin-a. because 668 is having trouble with the words sas-kat-chew-an and sask-a-toon on this trip.


not much to say about this is except that this is one big ass smokey the bear.









this is a place called the enchanted forest. it was closed for the season but we wanted to take some pictures so we pulled into the parking lot. as we pull in, this incredibly fierce dog rushes up to the car and we are trapped! eeekkkkk!

ok, what really happens is this huge german shepherd saunters over to our car at about .0005 mph and looks at us. i'm pretty sure he was mooching for either cookies or love. but we weren't taking in chances.
but we are trapped! visual proof! he eventually gives up and saunters back up to the house.





one of the outside buildings. but what's in the window?







eeeekkkk! clown!










ok, time for an educational stop. just like on the trips with our parents as kids. the site of the last spike in the cpr.







ok, it's not a proper road trip tale without some mention of food. i was fascinated by these beehive structures on our drive and one of them had been turned into a bar and grille called 'the burner". they do a breakfast buffet that was possibly the best road breakfast i've ever had. two big thumbs up on the french toast. they make it with cinnamon and it was so good i forgot to take a picture of it. and it was dirt cheap as well. plus they had pancakes, sausages, bacon, really really good ham, home fries and hash browns, scrambled eggs with actual veggies in them and fruit. and a selection of juices and tea. and did i mention it was cheap? plus we learned that these structures are for burning wood. so it was educational as well.

somewhere along the highway.







sadly another crazy tourist place that was closed. i've been here before and wanted to see the goats again. plus they had really good pie.




the outside gates.

after this, it was pretty much back home and all city driving.

the end. :)

fabulously lazy...

i have no good reason for being away and yet i can barely work up enough brain power to post my random top ten today. i have given myself until tuesday (since it's a long weekend) to be lazy and then it's time to shape up!

here is my friday random top ten.

1. jamie’s cryin’ – van halen
2. centuries - stars of track and field
3. jump – van halen
4. dreaming – blondie
5. good morning starshine – serena ryder
6. dashboard – modest mouse
7. hit me! hit me! – mustard plug
8. intervention – arcade fire
9. come on – lucinda williams
10. let’s get it on – jack black

have a good long weekend everyone.

long live the weekend...

yay it's friday! i'm so happy. hopefully the weather stays as gorgeous as it has been for most of the week. i love the fall.

here's my early morning friday random top ten.

1. 1 a. m. - beautiful creatures
2. walking in the shade - the colorifics
3. human thing - the be good tanyas
4. what ever happened? – the strokes
5. turnin' on the screw - queens of the stone age
6. i am a rock – hated
7. line up – elastica
8. intro/bongo song (mr. flash remix) - flosstradamus/zongamin
9. new radio – bikini kill
10. grow up and blow away – metric

happy friday everyone and hope you all have great weekends. if the weather stays like this, i will be out enjoying it with the goobster.

grouches of the world unite...

i was over at bad tempered zombie's site, and i can't believe i just found out that it was national grouch day!

so i have stolen her post idea and am posting some things that are currently making me grouchy.

1. the fact that the majority of people do not know how to drive in the rain in vancouver. slow down, leave extra space and use your lights. is that so hard? here are some more tips...

2. the fact that although i was actively recruited to apply for this job at work, they have decided to repost it to see who else it out there. and the fact that they didn't tell me until after the job was reposted.

3. roman polanski. jokes about roman polanski and young girls. praise about roman polanski. the fact that i had to take not one, but two books out of the library about roman polanski for a piece i'm writing.

and now, here's a classic from oscar the grouch.

sunny days...

what a beautiful fall weekend we had. i spent it outdoors with 'goober' and trying to solve a storage problem in my bedroom. i think i have decided that the cure will be buying a cheap wardrobe.



here's my better late than never friday random top ten. again, it's very random.

1. woman – wolfmother
2. black betty - nick cave & the bad seeds
3. red flags and long nights – she wants revenge
4. the arctic circle – final fantasy
5. it's all a swindle – ute lemper
6. my blue manhattan – ryan adams
7. burnout – green day
8. give me flowers while i'm living – the knitters
9. edge of seventeen – stevie nicks
10. them bones – alice in chains

hope everyone had a good weekend!

it's supposed to rain tomorrow which leads me to the question of the day... why does nobody in vancouver know how to drive in the rain?

bad to the bone...

i was going to post some gargoyles for allison but i thought instead i would post what i can only imagine 'goober' was thinking of all day.

1. when going for a walk, make sure you go so fast that your owner's arm nearly comes out of the socket. especially when owner is carrying a bag of poop.

2. alternatively, stop and start often so that your owner nearly slips and falls on the wet grass.

3. anything you find on the ground, make sure you put it in your mouth and pretend to chew on it. watch as owner works her way into a frenzy trying to get you to drop it. which you did about five feet back.

4. cry and insist on bringing a toy with you. then while walking, drop it and refuse to carry it.

5. look sad as owner drags you home. go make puppy dog eyes at her brother and get treats.

i got some dirty boots - yeah dirty boots...

happy turkey day everyone. or tofurkey if that be your thing.

no turkey for me today. 'goober' seems to have eaten something that has disagreed with him and hence, instead of going to the relatives for dinner, i will be staying home. i am sure he is ok, but i'd rather stay home than clean up later.

saturday i braved the lineups at the border and went down to seattle. i bought way wicked boots! for twenty bucks! i bought some other stuff but really, i am most excited about my boots.

i've already worn them around the house and feel pretty damn good about them.

added bonus... i'm annoyed with a friend of mine, who's been pretty selfish and mean lately. the boy she thinks is cute, i am convinced has a shoe/boot fetish. she would not ever wear any shoe that would would fall into a girlie shoe category. if she continues to be mean and selfish, i may just have to wear these shoes out next time we are all together!

this is cool store i used to go to all the time, but i haven't been for a few years. it's called gargoyles statuary. and well, the name pretty much sums out what it sells. i bought a gargoyle that holds business cards. now i have to get me some business cards!

here's my thanksgiving random top ten. i haven't played for so long! very very random this week.

1. get back - veruca salt
2. by and by - paul robeson
3. movement revolution - cranston foundation
4. capricorn - the go
5. friends of p. [album version] - the rentals
6. letsgetabitarockin - the 101ers
7. this charming man (manchester) - the smiths
8. are you gonna be my girl? - jet
9. rowboat - johnny cash
10. september - earth, wind & fire

question.. are there thanksgiving songs?

bad reputation...

as i sit and anxiously await the season opener of the mercer report, i will take a few moments to reflect on tonight's episode of 'the hour'.

first the good.

my girl, joan jett on the hour.

and now the bad.

am i the only one creeped out by the jokes about roman polanski? especially references about him and miley cyrus (aka 'hannah montana')? and does sly stallone really deserve to be tagged with polanski in a joke? am i really supposed to be laughing at this? and just because there's a "rant" about polanski afterward, does that make it ok?

and f.y.i. .. the correct phrase is joan jett is an inspiration, not was.

karma police...

sometimes people get what they deserve.

i'm driving to work today. traffic is brutal. it's taking 15 minutes to go two blocks down lougheed. i'm sitting there, in that foul, impatient mood that one sometimes gets in traffic. a couple of assholes pass me by driving in the bus lane. the usual thought pops into my head. why isn't there a copper around when you want them? i crawl along a little more. and then joy, oh joy! the cops are out! and they have not one, not two, not three, but seven cars pulled over! and i can see them giving out tickets! and wait, is that a lexus i see there? :)

the rest of my commute is golden.

please teach me to breathe...

well, i was finally able to get into a clinic last night. i've tried to go before but i haven't been able to get in before their quota was reached.

now, every few years or so i get a wicked cough that doesn't go away. i go to the clinic, i get a codeine cough syrup and bam, my cough is gone. end of story.

however, this trip was a little different. first off, i get this totally old school intimidating doctor. first thing he says to me is.. your breathing doesn't sound very good. umm, i had no idea my breathing was off. i wasn't really having any trouble with it. apart from the coughing. he has me blow into this tube and then says, that's not very good. he rapid fires a ton of questions at me, i don't feel he really makes sure i understand any of them, calls me an allergic person and keeps asking me questions about changes in my life that might cause allergies. are you sure there is nothing new? umm, yah, i am pretty sure i do not have a new pet or a new plant. i might not be that brilliant but i think i would remember if i brought home a new dog or fern.

i feel slightly better when he tells me i scored a 4.5 on the tube and i should be at 5. he says i didn't do that bad. thanks for freaking me out! considering i can't take that deep of a breath without going into a coughing spasm, i feel better. he hands me a prescription and sends me on my way. i can tell it's not codeine but apart from that, i know nothing. until my pharmacist calls me over and says, have you ever used this type of inhaler before? i'm like what? i've never used an inhaler before at all! she was all like really? i find the instructions complicated, and my dosage is so confusing, i have to write it on the calender.

question - why does it seem like every drug's possible side effects include what you are actually taking the drug for? apparently the drug i am on can cause coughing. how am i supposed to know the difference between the cough i have and a cough caused by the drug?

on the upside, i am coughing a little less today. of course, i am still think codeine would have done the trick as well. and at half the price.

where where the hell is bill?...

a little camper van beethoven for you guys.

i am sorry i've been away and i'm sorry i will be away a little bit longer. i am trying to kick a nasty cold that is starting to develop into my usual smokers cough. lucky me, i get the cough even tho i don't smoke! i'm taking things easy and waiting until my doctor will give me codeine. mmmmmm... codeine.

my schedule at work has also changed and i'm doing more physical labour which is also contributing to my absence.

i will be back soon.

i will leave you with a question. i'm in the middle of a heated discussion with someone. and one of the points of discussion is this. do men find humour sexy in a woman? not do men find women with a sense of humour sexy, but is it a point that drives them wild?

just eat it, eat it, eat it, eat it . . .

sorry folks, i've been busy. and sickly. and in a pissy mood these days. but i'm off to the pne today so hopefully that will cheer me up. can one be in a bad mood with mini doughnuts in one's hand?

here it is... friday random top ten.

1. on the verge – le tigre
2. i said stay – the neckers
3. intro/bongo song (mr. flash remix) - flosstradamus/zongamin
4. rockers to swallow – yeah yeah yeahs
5. yu're so vain – faster pussycat
6. hands tied – mobile
7. sisters of mercy – serena ryder
8. sleeping lessons – the shins
9. king of the mountain – kate bush
10. in the beginning – the stills

hope everyone had a good weekend.

ps... 200th post btw.

she's not a beauty and she don't wear fine clothes...

i am totally obsessed with this song. have been since i was a little kid.

it's from an episode of the partridge family that just kills me. it's called 'soul club'. the partridge family visit the ghetto. guest starring lou gosset jr and richard pryor. plus boomer from battlestar galatica plays the leader of a black panther type organization. keith and richard pryor co-write a song ("kind of an afro thing").

here's the visual.



and here's your new music tuesday track

partridge family - bandala

slow down, you move too fast...

for the past few days, every drive home i have seen fire trucks and ambulances. and massive car accidents. let's take it easy out there folks.

here it is, friday random top ten.

1. blue orchid – the white stripes
2. red flags and long nights – she wants revenge
3. in your honor – foo fighters
4. you are a runner and i am my father's son – wolf parade
5. the eraser – thom yorke
6. the light that guides you home – jim cuddy
7. down with safe – hot little rocket
8. rock 'n roll man – the neckers
9. charles in charge – smudge
10. stay with you – the goo goo dolls

have a good weekend folks. i'm a party queen this weekend so i won't be around much.

don't cause me pain...

too exhausted for words tonight.

besides words can not express how much i love this song.

you don't have to prove
your manhood to me constantly
i know you're the man can't you see
i love you righteously

why you wanna dis me
after the way you been kissin' me
after those pretty things you say
and the love we made today

when you run your hand
all up and run it back down my leg
get excited and bite my neck
get me all worked up like that

think this through
i laid it down for you every time
respect me i give you what's mine
you're entirely way too fine

arms around my waist
you get a taste of how good this can be
be the man you ought to tenderly
stand up for me

flirt with me don't keep hurtin' me
don't cause me pain
be my lover don't play no game
just play me john coltrane

from world without tears...

lucinda williams - righteously

there's a fire...

nothing much going on this week. i worked. i played with the dog. i attempted to sleep. oh, this morning i woke up and smelt smoke. i briefly considered panicking, but i was too exhausted. plus it smelt more like cooking than fire. i thought maybe it was coming from outdoors so i stuck my head out the window and yep, the smell was coming from outside. i guess someone was bbqing breakfast at 8 am.

a day late in posting, but not in playing. here's this week's friday random top ten.

1. family tree - loretta lynn
2. druganaut – black mountain
3. all the things you are - andy stochansky
4. there's a fire – longwave
5. island's gone bad – shapes and sizes
6. drain the blood – the distillers
7. out of luck – pointed sticks
8. all that matters – pointed sticks (weird, two pointed sticks songs in a row.)
   
9. square one – coldplay
10. who's joe? – new order

have a good weekend everyone. i might go to a hot rod show today but more likely, i will stay home, cleaning and organizing. i feel quite frazzled in my home lately.

rock rock till you drop...

well, i did it! i finally saw the smokin' 45s. after two misses in calgary, i saw them last friday in vancouver at pat's pub.

vancouver's los caminos opened. they play instrumental surf rock. they were good, but not really my thing to see live.

while we were waiting, the singer from the smokin' 45s started handing out t-shirts. cool ones. well, to be honest, he started throwing out shirts. my friend and i each caught one. then we felt bad because we had to ask if we could exchange them. i mean, we were flattered he thought we were that tiny, but....

the smokin' 45s played an awesome set. rockabilly with the heavy emphasis on country. the singer is also the drummer and he plays right up front. and even tho his kit is tiny (can you even call it a kit?), it's not minimal at all.

i love a stand up bass, especially when the bass player does this! and check out those shoes!

we bought cds after the show. five bucks! how cool is that? and i loved the fact that when i was buying them, the singer introduced himself to me.

it's too bad there weren't more people at the show. but those of us that did show up, had a good time.

the last bad was six pack jacket. rockabilly with more of a punk edge.

my brain isn't really working that well today and i'm having trouble writing. let's just say i had a good time at the show, i loved the smokin' 45s, and if you like rockabilly you should buy the cd.
it was even worth some drunk skanky chick kickin' me in the stomach while she was trying to dance. and i'm totally glad i skipped out on a mini-reunion of sorts.

and here it is, your new music tuesday track.

smokin' 45s - small doses

have a good week everyone!

rock of ages...

it's been a weird week. i'll share more on that later.

i was amused by seeing this guy walking towards skytrain in my hood caring a big fake boulder. i assume he was coming from the movie prop shop. and it looked like he was going to take the skytrain to wherever he was going. i mean, if he drove, wouldn't he have parked in the lot?

it's friday and it's time for random top ten.

1. stablemate - palace music
2. american life – madonna
3. girl’s club - bill janovitz
4. how deep is your love – take that (this is funny on so many levels. take that keeps popping up in conversations i have.)
   
5. forget my name – danko jones
6. story of my life – social distortion
7. wish the world away (original band demo) – american music club
8. cruel – calexico
9. juré craché – amnésie
10. 7 months, 39 days - hank williams III

have a good weekend everyone! i am off to play a round of ball with the dog and then heading out to finally catch the smokin' 45s!

touch me i'm sick...

really, that should be don't touch me. i've been sick since early saturday morning. or late friday night. whatever one wishes to call it. a touch of the stomach flu i believe. but enough about that.

i have declared tuesdays new music tuesdays. i am going to see if i can post one song from each album i own. this should take about five years. :)

i thought long and hard about what song should be the first one. this is a song i've been listening to a lot lately. and singing over and over again in the car. it's by one of my all time favourite artists, mr. johnny cash. among the many things i love about johnny cash, is the fact that once he records a song, it's his. i remember once driving home, listening to the local 'alternative' radio station and thinking, this song, it sounds so familiar yet different. i finally realized it was soundgarden's 'rusty cage'. which i now think of as a johnny cash song.

here he covers a steve earle song. an artist i've recently rediscovered thru my project of listening to every cd i own. i got into a heated discussion with a friend of mine about steve earle vs bruce springsteen. i said the problem for me was that i didn't believe when springsteen sings. but when steve earle sings about hard times, i know he's lived them.

here it is. the inaugural track in new music tuesdays. it's from the 'unearthed' box set.

johnny cash - devil's right hand.

my fave line is

"loads a mite slow and i soon found out
it can get you into trouble but it can't get you out"

(ps... i'm not sure how long i am going to leave these tracks up for. i'm thinking of deleting them in a week. so get 'em while they last!)

summertime, an' the livin' is easy ...

gershwin lied.

summertime livin' is damn hard. i was checking my calendar this week and i am busy every weekend until september! birthdays, bbqs, picnics, gigs and trips are eating up my free time. where is the me time? and more importantly, when do i do laundry?

plus, there is the always the lawn.

i think 'goober' is sabotaging my lawn mower. i was mowing the lawn yesterday, and every time i came back outside, after taking a break, he suspiciously ran away from the general direction of the lawn mower.

i woke up this morning, and not only had 'goober' snuck up onto the bed last nite, he had maneuvered himself so that he had his head on the pillow next to me, he was stretched out and his paw was on the remote control. if he was snoring, he could have been a bad date. :)

time for friday random top ten.

1. fake friends - joan jett & the blackhearts
2. modern music – black mountain
3. thrills and sensations – the quakes
4. earth intruders – björk
5. e-pro – beck
6. hey, i'm gonna be your girl – the donnas
7. pop queen – ben lee
8. good times roll – the cars
9. beautiful ones – suede
10. gold digger (featuring jamie foxx) – kanye west
    

happy weekend everyone!

music, music, music...

***EDITED POST***

one of the things i like to do when i travel, is buy cds from local bands. for me, it's way better than a t-shirt.

my first local purchase was the latest cd by the now defunct band, fake cops. it's called "thundertheft". their first ep also qualifies as one of my all time favourite cd titles... "absolutely your credit is excellent but in a certain way we also need cash" (you can download a track here). i bought that cd on another trip to calgary a few years back when i went into sloth and basically said, sell me some good local stuff. i was saddened to hear of their demise a few months back, and even considered coming out for the show at broken city. plus they were playing with the neckers who i've been wanted to catch for awhile (more on them down below). i don't really consider them punk rock but everyone else seems to so i guess maybe they are. anyways, i knew i wanted to buy this cd from the opening seconds of the cd. you can go to their myspace page and download a bunch of songs. including my favourite, the opener 'better call a priest'.

next up, was a trip to sloth and a purchase of the neckers first ep "a whole mess o' trouble" (you can download stuff here.) one of my many musical weaknesses is garage/punk so the neckers fit right in. apparently billy hopeless from the black halos have declared them his favourite calgary band. it's ok, but i prefer their next cd, their first full length much better. if you like this kinda of stuff, go to their site and download 'don't wanna worry' from that album. i need to see this band live!

one of the many things i love about sloth, is that every time i go there, i get a free cd. they always seem to have some label sampler and unlike the majority of samplers i have received in my lifetime, they are actually really good. the one i got this time was a vice recordings sampler. i haven't listened to it yet, but it looks good. bloc party and the boredoms are a couple of the bands on it. (ps i am listening to it now and i am totally digging it. you can learn about it here).

last of the local cds i bought was greg (name witheld) "passage". this one is in the singer/songwriter vein. it's a bit more rockin' than his first cd, but i have the same issue that i had with his first one. the vocals. i've seen him live and vocally, he's quite strong. but on cd, they come off really weak and tinny. i didn't really get the first cd until i saw him live and heard what the songs really sounded like. so, this only gets a so-so rating. "dissolve" would be my favourite song off the cd. you can listen to it on his myspace page if you are interested.

i also finally made it up to melodiya records. i've been meaning to check out them out for awhile now. it's a very cool little indie store. i was first introduced to them as a label. a label which they have recently re-activated for the vinyl version of chad vangaalen's skelliconnection.

we were walking near stampede and some stampede yahoos say to us... there's a hoedown going on. whatever. then we get to the station and oh, there is a hoedown going on! i don't know who they were or if they were a real band or what, but they were pretty cool to watch. especially from high up.

i did manage to catch a couple of bands this time out. as mentioned, we went to the castle pub. it was 'fuck the stampede' night. total hardcore night. we caught a band called 'epidemic' whose bass player totally fascinated me. he'd obviously trained on an upright bass or cello, because all of his finger and hand work was based on that. he even had the neck up a little. the next band was calledy 'dry fisted' . more hard core. here's the deal tho', the show cost us 8 bucks. for four bands. we only saw two, but that's four bucks per band. i felt that since neither band sucked, i got my money's worth. i also wanted to pick up a 'fuck the stampede' button but the kiosk people left super early. i can't understand why as it seemed like they had tons of stuff left over.

for the second stampede in a row, i tried to see the smokin' 45s. for the second year in a row, i failed. however, they are coming here in august and i will attempt to see them once again.

i wanted to go see this band called 'cowpuncher'. but my friend took me to the wildwood instead of the ironwood. totally different areas of town. so sadly i missed them as well.



next up, stampede!

the little old lady from pasadena...

i saw the coolest thing yesterday. i was driving back from the garage, and i looked into my rearview mirrors and i saw what looked like a granny riding a motorcycle. which is pretty cool on it's own. however, she had a sidecar. wicked. but inside the sidecar... a big ole' dog. with goggles on. way too freakin' cool. and the dog looked like he was having the best time ever.

anyways, it's friday and it's random top ten time.

1. jolene – dolly parton
2. home for a rest – spirit of the west
3. i wanna jump your bones – launderettes
4. attack me – the parkades
5. just another day – serena ryder
6. colorful - rocco deluca & the burden
7. broken face – pixies
8. one way ticket – the darkness
9. spin the bottle (lp version) - the juliana hatfield three
10. rosalie come and go – ryan adams

happy friday the 13th everyone! whooo hoooo!

eat the rich...

***EDITED POST****

i will return to my toronto adventure but i've decided to blog calgary first as there isn't as much to tell.

i'm going to attempt theme posts. let's start with food. did i mention i ate in calgary? here are some highlights.

first off, the airport. i nearly missed my flight. seriously. my luggage barely made it on. however, i was rewarded by cookies on the flight. let's see, no food all the way to toronto. on a five hour flight. cookies on a flight from abbotsford to calgary that's barely an hour long. yah, that makes sense. i did get row 13 again tho. not planned either. whoo hooo!

i left my jacket on the plane. i realized before i got off, so i stopped and had to wait until everyone got off. but i was reward by a sighting of nuns! whoo hoo again! remind me one day to tell you my pope/spanish nuns story.

first food event in calgary. a trip to inglewood (even tho i kept calling it kensington in error) and a visit to spolumbo's. mmmm, i had the spicy italian sausage.














in the plastic containers are limes that i had to go into boston pizza and ask them for. because the store we bought the beer in was sold out of limes.

we had to go back to the store to get a bottle opener. the opener we bought turned out to be a piece of crap plastic that opened four bottles before dying. it was also a wine opener but i can not believe that it would have even opened one bottle without breaking in half.

dinner that night was at the awesome drum and monkey. i have raved about their mac and cheese before. and it's just as good as before.

we had just sat down when this large party came in. i offered to move down to the next table and you would have thought i had offered to buy them a round of drinks the way they went on and on. really, it's no big deal. it's one table over.

later on, in the castle pub, i saw the best thing in the bathroom. sure, condoms are handy, but what about before that? what about getting to that stage? what happens when i want to make out?

oh, thank god, i can buy gum in the bathroom now! kissable breath for everyone!









the next day, we decided to hit the palomino club for lunch before stampede. now, i raved about this place as well. however, this time, it was so disappointing. i have been going on and on about this to my bbq "posse" back home and they can't wait to come out to taste it. i was already to text them when i got there about how good it was. but alas, they were not serving the full menu. only three items, and no choices in sides. just beans (blech!) and coleslaw (which was ok). and the service kinda sucked. plus they played friggin' john cougar! what happened to hank III and merle and johnny?

the idea behind going to lunch before stampede was so we wouldn't be that hungry. oh well, more room for bad food. first stop...

mmmmm, bannock. this picture is actually from last year because the stand was so packed, i couldn't even see the sign. i love bannock. my pne "posse" mourn the fact the bannock left the pne years ago and has never returned. i ordered two helpings in their honour. but i only ate one on the fairgrounds!

this is the most bizarre thing i saw. the picklestickle was odd, deep fried cheese cake was odd, but deep fried coke? i was too afraid to try it, and i couldn't see anyone else trying it either at this point. the girl making it was so not happy to be in the glass booth, being stared at constantly. here's a recipe for it.

a bucket of mini doughnuts?!

i also saw a woman eating a huge slab of fudge. like it was a sandwich. i almost threw up. but then again, i don't really like fudge.

we also ate some salt water taffy. chocolate got the thumbs down as it was not very chocolatey. my friend said the same for the vanilla. i gave a thumbs up on the butter rum. and my friend did the same for the mint.

we ended up driving around looking for a place to eat dinner. at ten to midnight. luckily it was stampede and everything was open still. we ended up at the 1410 which we thought was just going to be pub grub, but it was actually really good. i had a little bitty steak with awesome mashed potatoes. we are going to go back next time for brunch.

some of you may remember my quest for pancakes in calgary. so you can imagine my excitement on going to my first ever stampede breakfast.

oooooh, i'm so excited i could do a happy pancake dance right now. where is the breakfast? who is putting it on? what company is sponsoring my first ever stampede breakfast? and whose bright idea was it to break in the new bottle opener at two in the morning?




get out! they have free breakfasts at the funeral home?! how happy is my inner goth child now?!







mmmmmm... pancakes.








well, it's been a couple of hours since we ate. better get a little snack to keep us going. chocolate? ok. and what's this? oh, it's bernard callebaut. i choose two truffles, an expresso and a irish creme. oh yah, and a dark bar for later.

oh, is it lunch time already? time to hit the ship and anchor pub. and because one breakfast isn't enough for me, let's have breakfast again. but this time, on the patio. mmmmm, yummy toast.

i have no desire to discuss dinner that night. let's just say it was standard pub grub. but i did eat my second piece of bannock when i got back to my calgary abode.

for breakfast, i went to peter's drive-in. (if you go to their website, you can read what hugh jackman says about them). i choose the cheeseburger but no shake. i was saving room for a little treat.

i love drive-in's and diners. it makes me happy when i find one. i have to remember to find a good diner for my next trip to calgary.




wow, i heard the wages were high in calgary. here's the proof. this is better pay than a lot of skilled jobs out here.







off to kensington, and i had to treat myself at crave. my photo of my cupcake didn't turn out because i was so excited to eat it. i had the crave-o-licious which is chocolate cup cake with blue vanilla icing. perfection!


later on i saw this sign. now, i misread things a lot. i've decided it's because i'm a speed reader and my brain is faster than my eyes. or is it the other way around? anyways, i thought this sign said no potstickers. i nearly dropped my cupcake when i snorted with laughter.


well, that's the end of my food tour of calgary. join me next time for.... music.

i melt with you...

good lord, i'm back from calgary and we are in the middle of a heat wave. if there is one thing (and we all know there is not just one thing) that i can not handle, it is heat.

i've missed all of you and thank you very much for all your messages.

calgary was fun but not fun. if toronto's theme was "fabulous getaway", calgary's would be "if it can go wrong, it did."

i ate (lord, did i eat!), bought a bunch of cds, ogled bmx bikers, petted many a cute pig and questioned why people think bandannas should be worn in public if you are not a dog,

i am very glad to be home. i am especially glad to see 'goober'. i seemed to especially miss him this trip.

if i don't melt in this heat, i will be back soon.

mr. cab driver...

we pick up the story after the taping of 'the hour' (i'm going to come back to that)



here is a close up of the glen gould statue/bench outside the cbc.




i liked this statue as well. i'm not sure what it's supposed to be of. rabbits maybe? there were a whole bunch of them





i headed back to my friend's place. oh, i forgot to mention something. i have no keys to my friend's place. so i can't come and go as i please. which means i am forever rushing about with very little time to do anything at my friend's place. which leads us to the first catchphrase of the trip. it's something my brother once said to me. we were going to run some errand together and he expected me to be ready like that. he says to me.. i keep forgetting you're a girl. meaning i need at least five minutes to get ready before leaving the house. just because i look dressed, does not mean i am dressed. anyways, i had to say to my buddy "remember, i'm a girl". although he shouldn't have needed a hint because his dog went into my suitcase and proceeded to pull out and chew on my "feminine" products.

the next task at hand is to figure out where i can buy a nxne wristband. all i really wanted to know was if i could buy one at my first gig. but we had massive issues with the advertising, the website and even the people at the nxne headquarters. we went all the way down there, to find out no, we couldn't buy the wristband at the headquarters, only at the gigs. well, that was a big waste of time.

next we went to this bar/restaurant and met "l" there. our server reminded us of mariah carey and was called something like sweetie. it wasn't sweetie but i can't post what it was. i was warned about her breasts, but even with the warning, they were still a distraction. honestly, i do not know how straight men function in the world sometimes. even i had trouble ordering with her breasts in my face.

next, "l" and i ditch my t.o. buddy and hop into a cab. the driver is yakking away on his cell phone. i say "lee's palace's" and off he drives. i am thinking to myself, that he doesn't seem to be driving the right direction but maybe he knows a different route. a few minutes later, he gets off the phone and says, "where are you going". you idiot, you mean you've been driving us around and you don't even know where we are going? i say again "lee's palace" and he says, i don't know where that is. what do you mean, you don't know where lee's palace is? meanwhile, he keeps driving, with the meter running, as we are frantically trying to look up lee's palace in this mini guide we have. finally we give him an address and he acts like he vaguely knows where we are going.

we get up near the vague area of the club and traffic is pretty bad. we finally jump out and our cab driver has the nerve to try and keep our change! yah, no i don't think so. i make sure i take every penny that he is so unwilling to give to me.

anyways, we make our way down to lee's palace. the reason we are heading there is to see kathleen edwards. i love her. thanks to our idiot cab driver, we got there late. i don't know if she played my favourite song ('hockey skates').

the only half decent shot i got of kathleen edwards. the show was good, but the sound was bad. or at least it was near the bar which was as far as we could get in. all banter was lost to us.

i enjoyed the bartender at club as he told everyone to move out of the way when i went to order drinks.

we watched part of jim bryson's set. he's part of kathleen edwards' band. it was ok. not great, but ok.

we leave lee's palace and end up going to some bar for some girl talk. second phrase of the trip is coined. "suck it up". which is what you say when something doesn't work out. you had to pay for a cab? oh well, suck it up.
ooooh... pretty. ha ha.


'l' and i depart and head our separate ways. i head back to the bar where toronto buddy is dj'ing and proceed to amuse myself by annoying this guy at the bar who is talking to my friend. this guy so does not like me. i find this highly entertaining. he tried to play the " i know way more about music than you do' card with me. yah, i don't think so buddy.

we head home. day one is done.