As most of you know, during the television season, I watch a lot tv. I usually have two or more shows to watch each night (except Saturdays, although there’s at least Hockey Night in Canada which includes two hockey games, so I guess that counts as two shows, right? haha.) But there’s been a writer’s strike for the last several months, and before Christmas most of my shows had run out of new episodes to air. Which means I’ve been exploring other ways to entertain myself. To wit:

• I’ve discovered there are other channels out there in my digital cable package.
• I’ve started reading more.
• I’ve started listening to those digital music channels more. Of particular interest is the 80’s channel, especially from 6-9pm, when it’s New Wave music.
• I’ve played with my Nintendo DS for hours on end.
• Right now I’m also packing/sorting/organizing as well in preparation for my big move.

And I must say, I thought I would miss my shows, but to be honest, I haven’t. Not at all. Sure, I’m upset when I get a reminder like I did last week, about how 24 was supposed to premiere next week, but I haven’t felt too upset about. Honestly, I tend to get more upset with the lack of shows in the summertime, so forget this dearth of shows. 

Speaking of, I should really get back to some sorting/packing activity. Toodles!

Okay, so it wasn’t the photos themselves that took me back, but rather their content: my beloved old, used audio cassettes! You remember them, we used them before CDs and mp3s. In preparation for my move, I’m starting to go through my stuff and purging the unwanted, as there’s no sense in bringing along stuff that’s not needed. At any rate, I had a blast going through these boxes (there were 2). I salvaged all the mixed tapes I made (I was a big fan of the mixed tape, mostly for me, but I had ‘mood’ ones that I’d pull out depending on what mood I was in.) You know those days where you were sad because the boy (or girl) you liked didn’t talk to you in between classes? You’d pull out the good old boot tape. On those days where things were going well, you might pull out the dance tape, or the rock tape.

You’ll see by the pictures that my tastes were a-l-l over the place, and they still are, which I like. That means I’m never bored of my collection, and there’s always something interesting to listen to. One day I’m sure I’ll get rid of the mixed tapes too, but for now, I’ll keep them safe, as they’re still filled with lots of memories, you know? Although I did salvage a few of my retail tapes too, like the very first one I ever bought (Platinum Blonde’s Alien Shores — great album!), and a few of my foreign language ones I haven’t yet replaced in CD. And I even rescued one particular one that I have to send to a friend as a joke, because it’s just too funny (I can’t tell you what it is just now, because he reads this blog too, and I don’t want him to see what it is before he gets it in the mail! I’ll edit the post after he gets it so you can get in on the joke too.)

Definitely a nice way to spend part of the evening, reminiscing and having fun.

Over the weekend I thought I’d try to take advantage of the exchange rate, and ordered some CDs from Amazon.com. I would have ordered them from the Canadian site, however they didn’t have all the discs I wanted, but .com did, so I ordered from there. Anyhoo, they arrived in the mail today, which I am very pleased about, but I was also dismayed to see the package. Now, keep in mind that I ordered three CDs, that’s it, just t-h-r-e-e. Here is the box they arrived in:

Can you believe that? For three whole CDs, they used a box that could have held about 35 CDs. Come on.
I give you another picture with my tv’s remote control for scale:

And what did I buy? Three albums by or featuring Imogen Heap: iMegaphone, Speak for Yourself, and Frou Frou’s details. (Imogen does the vocals for Frou Frou.) You’ve probably heard some of her music on the television, as there’s been a couple that have made it on there. In fact, that was the first place I’ve heard her. But after listening some more, I realize she’s really good. I highly recommend her music, if you’re looking for new artists.

Yes, I have finally made it home from my trip to Vancouver, and in one piece! haha. As most of you know, I now am a big wimp when it comes to airplanes, so I’m always pleased now when I manage to survive a plane ride. Check out the photos from my trip here: Flickr.

Highlights of the trip:

1. Seeing Incura at the Red Room. My friends tell me that live music clubs are slowly being forced out of their locations in Vancouver, and the Red Room is one of the last surviving ones. Incura is a local prog-rock band that played there Aug. 11th, and it was a great show! I’ve not heard them before, but I highly recommend you go check them out on MySpace real soon, as they could be blowing up at any moment.
2. The Nearly Neil concert at the Harmony Arts Festival. Bobby Bruce heads up this Neil Diamond cover band, and he not only plays Neil Diamond songs, but he looks and sounds like him too. Just incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed all the songs, although Sweet Caroline was the high point for me, as that’s my favourite.
3. The ferry ride to Bowen Island. The weather had finally turned sunny & warm, so we headed out.
4. The Vancouver Canadians baseball game. The C’s, as they’re known in Van City, are one of the Oakland A’s minor league affiliates, and they play at Nat Bailey Stadium. It’s a cute little stadium where every seat is a good one, and the crowd is lots of fun.

Of course the super highlight was hanging out with the Rock Dude and the Rock Queen on their home turf, as I hadn’t done that in 9 years. I’ll be posting some pictures here shortly, but Wordpress & Flickr are misbehaving a bit right now, so I can’t do it just yet. But you can click on over and check them all out if you like.

All in all I’m sure glad I made the trip over, as we had lots of fun. We did a lot of free or nearly-free things too, which is always good. I walked so much that I think I sprained the ligament/tendon on the top of my foot! That was a little annoying, as it made it hard to walk, but I kept on moving. Starting Monday I’ll be sitting on my butt all day at my new job, so I figured a little pain was okay to deal with.

Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but between organizing myself for the new job, and then deciding to take a last minute trip, I haven’t had much time. I’m actually writing you from Vancouver, one of my favourite cities. I decided to take a super last minute trip to visit some friends of mine, Rock Dude & his wife, Rock Queen, as I hadn’t been over here in years. How long has it been? The last trip I took to Vancouver was in 1998, and my last to BC was in 2004 for their wedding. So I am long overdue for this one.

Managed to snag the last flight of the night out of T.O. which was actually good, because then I slept a bit on the plane, and arrived at 1am, so I could just go to bed right away. None of this staying-up-as-late-as-you-can thing to overcome jet lag. The time difference is 3 hours, so nothing too horrible, but still enough to mess you up. Oddly enough, after only one day I feel pretty good. We went out last night to hear some live music (more on that in a moment), and I wasn’t tired at all, surprisingly. We were all expecting me to crash a bit before we went out, considering I should be 3 hours ahead of everyone, but no, I felt fine, and was rocking out to Incura till the wee hours of the morning. Okay, not the wee hours, but till about midnight.

Speaking of live music, the Rock Dude & Rock Queen are big proponents of live music, in particular of local bands. They’re always going out to see this band or that. So last night they took me out to the Red Room here in Vancouver, one of the coolest places to see a show, IMO, and there were three bands playing, Jackfish, Chris Witosky and the headliners, Incura. They’re a prog-rock band based here in Vancouver, and I must say I quite enjoyed them. The Rock Dude wasn’t sure if I’d like them, since he was a bit concerned about me enjoying some Madonna & the Police videos earlier in the day (haha). But that’s just cuz we haven’t talked music in ages. The Rock Dude & I went to high school together and he had forgotten that my musical tastes are all over the place. So yes, while I will enjoy a good Madonna pop song, or a rock tune from Placebo, a head banger from Def Leppard, or even a good rendition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, I’m up for pretty much anything except country. So off we went.

The Red Room is a pretty neat venue for live music, small, but not too small, plus there are some tiered seats near the back, so if you don’t wanna mosh out, you can chill in the back. Jackfish and Chris Witosky were good as well. But everyone was there to see Incura. They came out and just ROCKED! Good tunes, with lots of changes in tempo, so the songs seemed much better than just a prog-rock song, if that makes sense. The Rock Dude is a drummer by passion, so he was just jamming to Zul as he hit the skins with abandon. Kyle, the lead singer, was just all over the place! He jumped and danced and sang like a madman! Great stage presence, as well as knowing how to interact with the crowd. Sure, they had lots of friends there, so they were able to call them out by name, but still, he knows how to talk. I hate seeing bands where the singer or the musicians don’t do much with the crowd, you know?

Before this turns into a tome, let me just stop the Incura talk by saying you should definitely check them out. Kyle says they’re hoping to get out east later on in the fall, so if you see them around Toronto or anywhere nearby, I highly recommend going. I know I’ll be there!

That’s it for Post 1 from Van City. Stay tuned for more reports from the West Coast.