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Christmas Time Is Here...December 18th, 2006WELL, I just friggin' wrote out my new message to you and then my stupid internet browser got rid of everything. Stupid pop-up blocker crap, anyways, this is pretty frustrating and I'll try to recreate the sentences as they were but please note that it'll be a point form, stream of consciousness type entry. I have a burning desire to play some tunes on the piano and things to do tonight but I want to share a few highlights of the month that passed so, here we go, in 2 minutes or less! Recap: 4th year, fall semester- toughest semester yet, not in the amount of work specifically, although that was pretty busy at times, but more in the necessity for high-quality work and the percentage of marks appropriated to it. most classes had final papers worth 40%. That's intense. But I managed it all very well, including a final week of classes that saw me write 4 papers in 7 days, 2 all-nighters thrown in there for good measure. Marks should be pretty good for these classes and that makes me very please...if the marks come back crappy, I shall be very angry. But I'm not worrying about it so don't even worry about it. Don't even worry about it was one of the big catchphrases on the Challenge Weekend retreat that happened last month. What a spectacular time, had a lot of fun, music and prayer...really found a lot of good vibrations with that group of people, which has helped me to be more aware of the positives in everyday life...no reason to take things for granted, always things of which to be thankful. Montreal's playing great hockey. Koivu's really stepped up the past few games, goaltender duo of Huet and Aesbicher is working, really solid teamwork too, these are things I like to see, puts a smile on my face, watching those Habs games on RDS in between class readings or assignments, haha. Got a new face around Joe's Place(rhyme!) these days and she's kind of a big deal. But really, she is. Her name's Alicia and she's a hometown gal, going to that other Ottawa university. the one that isn't as cool as Carleton. That aside, I enjoy spending time with her and shall be doing that over the break I hope. Really great getting to know her. That doesn't mean, however, that I'll be ignoring the greatest crew of peeps in k-town, DA U. Looking forward to all the lads being back in town for some good ol'fashioned hangouts. Man, have I ever missed those! A shame that Nigel won't be back this Christmas, we will miss him. But, as as far as I know, everyone else will be in town and that is excellent. I'm feeling really good about this break- Christmas with my dad and sis on Thursday, Christmas with my mom and sis on Xmas Day, also I'm playing at the Christmas masses at Holy Redeemer (piano and djembe), got Da Cheat (Tom's) b-day on the 27th, a wedding between two friends from Challenge on the 29th, road hockey games, Blazing Saddles, new year's fun, regrettably but not so regretable, a little bit of work/money-making thrown in there too...all and all, a very eventful two weeks to come! So what else is there to say? MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Some particularly cool and crafty Christmas Youtube viewing for you: HA-LARIOUS, MUST-WATCH XMAS Themed Material November 9th, 2006 Recap: Those big papers got finished! Now, that doesn't mean I'm safe, because it is paper season after all. Still have 5 papers in total due in the rest of the semester but I'm not worrying about them yet. Hallowe'en was swell- I carved the pumpkin, put a Montreal Canadiens logo on it, looked real good. Got a few pictures of that. Habs beat the Sens that night too, bonus! Man, Montreal's playing some good hockey, that makes me happy. Also, the Bob Dylan/Foo Fighters concert was a great time. Really glad I went. The Foos stole the show. Dave Grohl is such a passionate performer and his stage presence is really infectious and fun...just rocking out, having a great time, bantering with the crowd. And their 7-piece band, complete with violin and accordion and the like was so tight! Dylan's set was fine but it was void of energy. Seemed like they were just busting their chops, going through the motions. Dylan's getting old...it's easy to tell and he offered no real conversation with the crowd, save through his harmonica playing which was stellar. The new tunes from the new album were played really well though- probably cause he didn't fool around with the arrangements and his vocal abilities lined up better with them. All and all, glad to have seen him, he did have his moments. Look ahead: Challenge weekend retreat on Friday. That's going to be great, really looking forward to it, especially cause you put so much time and effort into planning and preparing...it'd be a drag for it NOT to be good, haha. Other than that...well, brainstorming ideas for See Joe Smile, hoping to get out of town soon to visit my dad and generally, I'm content with life. Consistently busy but content. Amen. October 23rd, 2006 Quick update: School's picking up. Got a few big papers due in the next few weeks so I've gotta keep up. Challenge Weekend's coming up, that's exciting, coming along well. Bob Dylan and the Foo Fighters are playing 2 weeks time- that's also exciting. Hallowe'en is soon, that's kinda alright too. Not as big of a deal perhaps as it used to be....but we'll see. I think I have an idea for that evening. Also, I've been writing again...a little. Not all the time, not like last year with the Project and all those songs. But I'm definitely averaging one song a week now...and that's a good start. We shall see the fruits of that labour soon on the myspace site perhaps. In conclusion, the World Series is awesome. I like Detroit and I like St. Louis for playing good baseball. I look forward to seeing this series go 7 games. Hooray!! Stay out of trouble now y'hear? October 8th, 2006 Happy Thanksgiving to all you lovely people. 4th year of university is pretty hectic. Combine that with a general unmotivation to really get going and you have a very sluggish September. That's the appropriate word- sluggish. There were a few notable exceptions: a very ridiculous Friday night in the first week of the month that saw Kyle, Herndu and myself go to Walmart while it was on its 24-hour open weekend, buy candy, get a free pizza and buy "The Price Is Right" dvd video game to play on tv or computer. That was pretty darn hilarious. The Who concert on the 15th was one of the highlights of the year, the best show I've seen yet (although the Pixies/Weezer concert is a close second). What else fellas? Oh yes, there was the send-off Monday Night RAW night for Nigel where he and I, along with Bateman and Leafloor proceeded to consume 8L of wine from roughly 9pm until 4am. That was hilarious...what a swell evening. There are a few parts I don't recall at the moment but I'll document them as soon as I find those memories, hahaha. It was a great way to go out for Nigel and Chris, who are now in Edmonton and I hope doing well for themselves. That sums up September for the most part. October has taken over the calendar now and I am glad to see it. It means autumn is in full effect...and though this does mean the yardwork needs to get done sooner than later, it also means pretty scenery, cool evenings and daylight savings time ending (gaining an hour on the clock is reason for celebration, I shall go into detail on this soon). The school schedule's going to get busier and I lament it, but we strive onwards to productivity and efficiency, right? Ha!
See Joe Smile performed their first concert last night. I'm glad it was a success; there was a great crowd out and all the musical acts (Tim Anderson & Joey Racek and Lukas Grant) played fantastic sets. I'm always a little surprised but mostly very content to see everyone come together before the doors open to an event and get everything set up and ready to go. Things came together last night (albeit a little late) and it was very satisfying. I sincerely think I will update here again soon. And I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up. Thanks to all of you who tried the Joe's Place Challenge (Musical Edition). I'll put another one up later in the month. Enjoy your turkey and don't work too hard this week ahead. August 31st, 2006 The lookback: The week off (14th-18th) was decent. Played on CKCU, Ottawa Live Music, which went very well. Pretty fun, mostly all the phone calls in, that made the show a lot more entertaining. Good experience to have playing solo as I'm not all that used to it. I much prefer the band dynamic. Last week (21st-25th) ended up being a full week of painting, more early mornings...but it was decent. We had a good house to work on, good family there and Dustin and I survived 5 more days. Haha, we're so glad to be finished now. It was a great experience and we learned a great deal about painting, work habits, management, weather and ways to make our job easier/more fun. That last one was key. Highlight was seeing the Lynx play (finally) against Syracuse with Herndu and Jay last Saturday. That was a heck of a lot of fun. Well done boys.
The lookforward: School starts a week from today. I'm not all that excited but I s'pose I'm ready. My mind isn't really focused on it yet. More concerned with my G Test coming up. Really really really want to pass that and get it out of the way. One less thing to be apprehensive about, y'know? Especially considering if I don't pass, I have to start the Driver's License process all over again, right back to square one, G1. And that's dumb. And I don't play that sh*t, that's ridicklus'. August 12, 2006 Alright, it's 2am and I'm tired so we're going with point form. By the way, good to see you...maybe you're sleepy too, maybe you're distracting yourself from being productive. That's cool, whatever, I'll chill with you... *minutes pass* Good times. Well, painting is over for now, and, possibly, the summer. We have next week off- Dustin's going to be working a week up at the Gracefield Camp he spent time at last summer. This provides me with a much-desired period of time to possibly sleep in, and if not sleep in, at least hang out with people and not worry about painting the next day. I can't believe summer's 3 weeks from ending....I guess the benchmark for that would be the improvement of my painting skills. Hopefully, I see a good chunk of change with my next paycheque- those books won't pay for themselves (though they ought to!). Yep, I'm all professional at painting now... Also, next Thursday night (Aug.17 going into Aug.18), I'll be LIVE on 93.1 CKCU FM, on the Charles Anthony show from midnight to 2am. How exciting is that? This little red-haired boy will be all by his lonesome, with a piano and maybe an acoustic guitar, playing tunes from his notebooks and random sheets of paper where his mind spilt out from his head. Same show that WBPE played on last year so it's a guaranteed fun time and yes, yes, yes, we'll be taking phone calls and emails in the studio so please do contact the studio and ask questions, make jokes, comments, requests, etc, etc. It would be mean a great deal to me. That concludes our briefing. I've got a pile of about 5 cds waiting to be reviewed so I'll do those on my week off....and good work with the Joe's Place Challenge- glad to see you guys doing so well. Next on my list of things to add to the site will likely be fixing up the poetry section. Until then, keep the sunscreen handy and your sweaters in hand- the weather is beautiful but cool in the evenings currently. Be prepared! August 2, 2006 We're back. We survived the forest. Actually, that was almost 2 days ago now. It always goes by too quickly. That's the bottom line. Very relaxing though. No video this year- couldn't find a video tape for the darn thing before we left as I have none left at the house. Oh well, Herndu did a super job taking pictures and short video clips and I appreciate that very much, as the pictures turned out really well, capturing some key moments. Chuck fell out of the hammock yet again; we all laughed, I think it was a moment of reassurement. To know that no matter where we are in our lives, the camping trip is a hideaway, a space of 3 days in time that never changes in structure or content, save for the randomness that creates the fun and laughter we've grown accustomed to these past 5 years. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, talking about the school year to come, what we want to do with our lives, and whether the Playstation 3 will be better than the Nintendo Wii. (Yeah, that rhymes, Boo-yah!) There was a huge poker tournament the first night as Yearnny, Liska and Dave were up camping as well. I do believe Herndu won that- congrats. No wardens came by to give us warnings nor did we receive noise complaints all weekend. That is a success in itself. I believe we went to bed quite a bit later that night. I'm always one of, or the last to go to bed...just the way it is. Oh yes, lots of eating too...and drinking.....drinking beer. Haha. Our beer consumption has increased over the years; that's probably the major difference between Year 1 and Year 5, the addition of more friends notwithstanding.
Lazy mornings, hilarious nights, a little bit of rain in the afternoons. Trip into town, trip to the beach, driving easy on the countryside. Chunky soup, noodles, a dinner for hungry boys. Accentuated by, smores for dessert, they make our stomachs glad. Euchre in the evening, ridiculosity ensues, have our expectations ever been failed?
Chuck: The chem-engineer, I wanna get "fucked", Chef extraordinaire, Rulebook. Thanks, that was fun lads. And Tom, we missed ya buddy, but so glad you came over Monday night to share stories. We learned a new card game that night, Lethbridge (Alberta), and it promises to outdo Texas Hold'Em in our crew I think. We'll see what happens. BE THERE. Peace. July 28, 2006 Camporia- noun, place, describing a particular location where one camps, predominantly in the state of euphoria, producing many memorias of the happy variety. Haha, that's not expecting too much. Sure, there will be low-key moments and downs to balance out the ups but I am not so silly as to consider perfection necessary this weekend. I'm simply looking forward to spending quality time with the lads, swimming a bit, really really taking it easy (and not just saying I'm taking it easy) and yes, throwin the ball around too. Sports is always a good idea. I shall recount the tales of the next few days when I return next week. In the meantime, do you see that arrow to the left in the box of links? Go there. That's the brand spankin' new Joe's Place Challenge, primed and ready for your answers. This month's theme is music. Rock on. |
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