Wow it's been a week since I posted last.
Whenever I sit down to blog, I usually wind up writing down twice as much as I expect. Yet when I think about updating my blog, I always have nothing of real interest to write about.
A few things happened in the last week, but it really wasn't that interesting. Especially in comparison to my summer. I haven't been listening to a lot of music. I haven't been spending any money on super happy fun times. I haven't really been doing much. I'm waiting on some tests to come in the mail so I can write them and get going on my certification, but I'm not really studying a whole lot for that. So there's things I probably should be doing, but you know.
Me and the boys have been playing really good music recently. Looking back to when we started - or when I joined them rather - it is mind boggling to me how far we've come. I can finally start making critical judgements of my play and the play of others. We are at the point where we can play a song and discuss more subtle points of music (i.e. tone, volume changes, negative space, etc.), rather than just poring over who plays what note when. I like that. It's also nice to hear the honest criticisms of friends and band mates about our play. It shouldn't be too long before we finally create an EP.
Other than that, not much else is worth reporting on. Baseball playoffs start tomorrow, and for once my cable (all 4 channels) will be showing some. Fingers crossed for the cubbies game on fox...
I actually just got to thinking. I had to go ahead and check the schedule to see IF the cubbies were on fox or not. First round is entirely on TBS, then the rest of the playoffs are on fox. So fingers crossed that the cubbies make the second round!
I've been following the news a lot lately. check out 'sxephil' on youtube.com. The guy is seriously worth the plug. I've been following the bailout and the american political scene pretty close. It's been an interesting few weeks in the good ol' USA. But don't worry. I may be getting my cubbies fix on fox, but I'm not getting my news fix there.
Anyway, it's midweek. Enjoy the rest. Thanks for reading.
'Reality is frisking me'
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Happiness and The Fish
Aha. Another week.
I had a nice weekend, although my weekends keep getting extended into tuesday. I spent the actual weekend spending a considerable amount of time at my parents' house, although they weren't always there with me. Saturday I went over there for dinner, and relaxed/ watched baseball, which was just what I had planned on doing.
Speaking of baseball, the season played out just the way I wanted it to. Midseason there was kind of a tease into a couple of really neat storylines, and 2.5 months later, all those stories are still a go. Yankee stadium is closing after 85 years, and it went out with a pretty cool farewell tour. Tampa Bay went from worst to first and should probably go bust in the first round of the playoffs. Finally, the cubbies are finally heading to the playoffs. They will hopefully win the world series and the longest WS winless drought will be done at 100 years.
Saturday night I went to jeff's after he invited me to come play video games and hang out. It was fun, except jeff couldn't make it. He wound up going on an impromptu date with some random. So I played rockband with his brother all night. It wound up being pretty fun anyway.
Yesterday I went to Ucluelet on a bit of a whim. Not like running a half marathon on a whim, but like going somewhere warm with drinks and friends kind of whim. Jen's dad has a timeshare or something at a condo there, so we went up for a night. We walked and took a few pictures today, but we were more than happy to just laze around for the most part.
I actually saw something quite remarkable at the waterfront in Ucluelet this afternoon. A group (pod, herd, gaggle?) of sea lions were hanging around and fishing for the crowd on the pier. One sea lion (that's twice I've spelled 'loin' instead --> freud) was taunting seagulls by thrashing the fish it had caught above the water. It was pretty wild to watch. But after watching 'planet earth' I guess I really shouldn't be shocked that it happens, but rather feel lucky to have caught it.
The rest of this week is a mystery still. I'm going to go figure it out.
'But did anybody wonder
What Annie might have in mind?'
I had a nice weekend, although my weekends keep getting extended into tuesday. I spent the actual weekend spending a considerable amount of time at my parents' house, although they weren't always there with me. Saturday I went over there for dinner, and relaxed/ watched baseball, which was just what I had planned on doing.
Speaking of baseball, the season played out just the way I wanted it to. Midseason there was kind of a tease into a couple of really neat storylines, and 2.5 months later, all those stories are still a go. Yankee stadium is closing after 85 years, and it went out with a pretty cool farewell tour. Tampa Bay went from worst to first and should probably go bust in the first round of the playoffs. Finally, the cubbies are finally heading to the playoffs. They will hopefully win the world series and the longest WS winless drought will be done at 100 years.
Saturday night I went to jeff's after he invited me to come play video games and hang out. It was fun, except jeff couldn't make it. He wound up going on an impromptu date with some random. So I played rockband with his brother all night. It wound up being pretty fun anyway.
Yesterday I went to Ucluelet on a bit of a whim. Not like running a half marathon on a whim, but like going somewhere warm with drinks and friends kind of whim. Jen's dad has a timeshare or something at a condo there, so we went up for a night. We walked and took a few pictures today, but we were more than happy to just laze around for the most part.
I actually saw something quite remarkable at the waterfront in Ucluelet this afternoon. A group (pod, herd, gaggle?) of sea lions were hanging around and fishing for the crowd on the pier. One sea lion (that's twice I've spelled 'loin' instead --> freud) was taunting seagulls by thrashing the fish it had caught above the water. It was pretty wild to watch. But after watching 'planet earth' I guess I really shouldn't be shocked that it happens, but rather feel lucky to have caught it.
The rest of this week is a mystery still. I'm going to go figure it out.
'But did anybody wonder
What Annie might have in mind?'
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Sick, Sick, Sick
The week started out real nice, and just went downhill.
I did manage to get a lake day in while the sun was still shining. It felt nice to lay on the beach, but it was almost bittersweet. The beach was almost completely empty, and the water was a little chillier. It didn't feel like summer. That being said, I like the changing of seasons. I would say I like autumn more than winter and spring in a lot of ways.
Tuesday I felt myself getting sick, which I was not in the mood for. It gained momentum on wednesday and peaked thursday. Wednesday and thursday I barely slept, so I've been a zombie until today. I have been getting good sleep after 5am, but not before. So this morning I just let it roll and slept until noon. I really needed it.
Sick on thursday, I went for a run with saul to try and sweat the sick out. Didn't really work out, but it was nice to get out once in those few days. I introduced saul to some hill running. It is quite different from just running westwood, and I think saul liked the way he felt. The incline of hills instantly ramps up the intensity, and it's interesting to get a really good workout in a short time.
Saul wanted me to help him create a program to get him from where he is, to somewhere else he wants to be. So I created an 8 week schedule for him, and I'm going to try push him and keep him motivated. A few other people have also enlisted my help in nutrition advice. A friend actually worded it like, "mike, come help me lose 10lbs." I really can't do that. So I'm the free advice giver basically, showing people where to find information so they can help themselves. I showed them the way to the glycemic index and the Canadian food guide. That's about all I can do. I actually did really poorly in my nutrition class last year.
Tonight I'm going to my parents for dinner. I haven't seen them in a few weeks, and it's going to be nice and relaxing. It's been tough to relax in the evenings at my house lately, especially in the last few days when I was sick. Landon had a birthday, we've played music, and roommates have gone out several times this week and come home late. Each evening is different, but this week there's been something going on every night. No complaints, it'll just be nice to relax. Maybe I'll watch some baseball.
Have a good weekend. Thanks for reading.
'Who decides who paddles over the falls?'
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Weekend Wars
Ahh the weekend. Not like it really matters to me anyways right now.
Went downtown last night to hang out with a few friends. I wound up having a pretty decent time, but I didn't feel so hot this morning. When we got home from downtown, there were other friends hanging out at my house, so we kept it going until 3:30am or so. Early last night Jeremy and I decided that we weren't going to sit at home all night, so we tried to organize something. Nothing really came of that, so we just went downtown and ran into some friends of ours, and just hung out with them at the Cambie.
Today was a pretty uneventful day, so it was fine that I didn't feel so well. Earlier this week I qualified for a semi-important poker tournament online, so I played that and a few others today. I airballed all of them. Oh well. There was plenty of football on t.v. to cheer me up.
Speaking of which, now that the NFL has started, and the MLB and CFL are getting good, I'm following sports a little more than I did in the summer. I'm hoping the chi-cubs really do well in the postseason. I watched Peyton Manning play football today after too long of only watching him in commercials. I had almost forgotten that he's good at ball as well. That, and I saw Derek Jeter tie a meaningful record at yankee stadium today. Which totally gave me goosebumps. There's something about the spectacle of sports achievements that really gets me.
I almost feel bad about playing online poker and watching sports when the weather is like this. I imagine the sun is only going to last another few weeks. I really want to try to make an effort to get out in it when I can. A lakeday in the near future is highly probable.
* * * *
Oh man, I found a song that I am totally in love with. I haven't found a song in a long time that I instantly get super hooked on. The song is 'closer' by Kings of Leon, who I'm liking more and more. Their new album was leaked recently, and so far it's pretty good, although I'll have to give it a few weeks before I can say it's as good as the Death Cab album that came out earlier this year.
Find that song, and give it a whirl. I only took one time for me to love it.
'Stranded in this spooky town'
Went downtown last night to hang out with a few friends. I wound up having a pretty decent time, but I didn't feel so hot this morning. When we got home from downtown, there were other friends hanging out at my house, so we kept it going until 3:30am or so. Early last night Jeremy and I decided that we weren't going to sit at home all night, so we tried to organize something. Nothing really came of that, so we just went downtown and ran into some friends of ours, and just hung out with them at the Cambie.
Today was a pretty uneventful day, so it was fine that I didn't feel so well. Earlier this week I qualified for a semi-important poker tournament online, so I played that and a few others today. I airballed all of them. Oh well. There was plenty of football on t.v. to cheer me up.
Speaking of which, now that the NFL has started, and the MLB and CFL are getting good, I'm following sports a little more than I did in the summer. I'm hoping the chi-cubs really do well in the postseason. I watched Peyton Manning play football today after too long of only watching him in commercials. I had almost forgotten that he's good at ball as well. That, and I saw Derek Jeter tie a meaningful record at yankee stadium today. Which totally gave me goosebumps. There's something about the spectacle of sports achievements that really gets me.
I almost feel bad about playing online poker and watching sports when the weather is like this. I imagine the sun is only going to last another few weeks. I really want to try to make an effort to get out in it when I can. A lakeday in the near future is highly probable.
* * * *
Oh man, I found a song that I am totally in love with. I haven't found a song in a long time that I instantly get super hooked on. The song is 'closer' by Kings of Leon, who I'm liking more and more. Their new album was leaked recently, and so far it's pretty good, although I'll have to give it a few weeks before I can say it's as good as the Death Cab album that came out earlier this year.
Find that song, and give it a whirl. I only took one time for me to love it.
'Stranded in this spooky town'
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Trying To Find A Balance
Not much to report these days.
I like to blog and write when there's stuff going on, but this week has been really slow. I suppose if I think hard, I can come up with something interesting. I'm really into guitar hero, chess, and video games in general right now. But not in a bad, I-can't-do-anything-but-be-a-gamer type of way. It's just amusing me right now.
I'm in the midst of sorting through getting certified as a personal trainer. It's going to take a few weeks for my request to challenge all the courses to get approved by the BCRPA. In the meantime, I've already got my first aid, and now I'm just checking out job possibilities. I'm looking at various gyms as well as city/muni gov type jobs. That being said, I don't think I want to work at a pool.
The sunny weather is finally back, which I'm really stoked about. Of course, I'm not doing as much outside stuff as I was in august, but I like warm septembers. I've been out to the driving range plenty, and out to westwood occasionally.
Well this weekend I'm going to see a movie with friends (the good kind), going to watch a clippers game, and going to watch mariner soccer. I'm kinda bummed about the mens soccer team because they seem to have a weak team this year, and may not make the provincials that they are hosting. Regardless of whether they win or lose, I'll enjoy watching them and seeing the familiar faces around the park.
Moving on, our house is sort of changing shape. We're back into school year mode (well, jer and landon are), so we're back into playing music mode. There are instruments, amps and chords everywhere. After a weekend without our kitchen table, we decided to scrap it, along with the kitchen chairs. We really never ate there anyway. Having more space is really nice, I just hope it doesn't get clogged up with junk over time like the table used to.
Speaking of playing music, playing with the boys is refreshing again. I always enjoyed playing, but we always played the same stuff, and had the same routine. Now we're jamming more with ideas, different people are singing, our repetoire is growing, and we seem to be moving towards recording an ep soon. I would really like to nail down four songs in a recording studio. I feel guilty sometimes when I play with the guys. They try to push me to create dominant and heavy, yet fun and jumpy basslines. And I am lacking the creative gene for the time being. And basslines can't really be heavy and jumpy at the same time. Oh well, I'm trying to find a balance with it.
'And when I finally get the color
Won’t be nothing left to paint on'
I like to blog and write when there's stuff going on, but this week has been really slow. I suppose if I think hard, I can come up with something interesting. I'm really into guitar hero, chess, and video games in general right now. But not in a bad, I-can't-do-anything-but-be-a-gamer type of way. It's just amusing me right now.
I'm in the midst of sorting through getting certified as a personal trainer. It's going to take a few weeks for my request to challenge all the courses to get approved by the BCRPA. In the meantime, I've already got my first aid, and now I'm just checking out job possibilities. I'm looking at various gyms as well as city/muni gov type jobs. That being said, I don't think I want to work at a pool.
The sunny weather is finally back, which I'm really stoked about. Of course, I'm not doing as much outside stuff as I was in august, but I like warm septembers. I've been out to the driving range plenty, and out to westwood occasionally.
Well this weekend I'm going to see a movie with friends (the good kind), going to watch a clippers game, and going to watch mariner soccer. I'm kinda bummed about the mens soccer team because they seem to have a weak team this year, and may not make the provincials that they are hosting. Regardless of whether they win or lose, I'll enjoy watching them and seeing the familiar faces around the park.
Moving on, our house is sort of changing shape. We're back into school year mode (well, jer and landon are), so we're back into playing music mode. There are instruments, amps and chords everywhere. After a weekend without our kitchen table, we decided to scrap it, along with the kitchen chairs. We really never ate there anyway. Having more space is really nice, I just hope it doesn't get clogged up with junk over time like the table used to.
Speaking of playing music, playing with the boys is refreshing again. I always enjoyed playing, but we always played the same stuff, and had the same routine. Now we're jamming more with ideas, different people are singing, our repetoire is growing, and we seem to be moving towards recording an ep soon. I would really like to nail down four songs in a recording studio. I feel guilty sometimes when I play with the guys. They try to push me to create dominant and heavy, yet fun and jumpy basslines. And I am lacking the creative gene for the time being. And basslines can't really be heavy and jumpy at the same time. Oh well, I'm trying to find a balance with it.
'And when I finally get the color
Won’t be nothing left to paint on'
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Run, Baby, Run
I had a weekend. Again.
I've had such an eventful summer in so many ways. And this weekend was a good close to it.
I guess I'll start on Friday, my birthday. I ran westwood, got sushi, and cleaned the house for the evening. People started coming over in the early evening, and there were probably 50-60 people over at some time or another that night. It was really fun. A buddy of mine made drinks for girls all night with booze that a bunch of the guys chipped in and bought. I was really happy that everyone had a good time and that nothing shitty happened. There were no fights, sick people, or rowdies. Yet it was a really busy, drunken, great time. An old friend wound up showing up who I haven't seen in a few years, and it was actually a really good time catching up and having a few drinks.
Saturday morning was spent cleaning the house. It was in pretty bad shape, but with the three guys in the house, along with a few volunteers (thanks btw), it was clean by noon. I got out of the house and watched the Mariners home opener, then went to my parents house for my birthday dinner. It was a really great day. I realized something after dinner, something that's becoming a bit of a trend. Whenever I've overeaten in the last few weeks, I've immediately gotten sick to my stomach not even ten minutes after I've eaten. And it doesn't matter where, what kind of food, or anything like that. It's only when I eat in excess, which I love to do. My parents and friends were all very generous in getting me stuff for my birthday. I'm so damn lucky.
Today I ran a half marathon. I found out on friday that Jeff was running the harbour city half marathon in town, and I offered to join him. On a complete whim. I don't really know why, but sometimes I think that if I put to much thought into doing something, I'll never do it. So I registered, completely untrained and unprepared for what a half marathon actually is. I just thought, 'ahh, only 21km's. I can handle that'.
So this morning I crammed in the pasta that I'd made last night, looking for a last minute carb blast before heading down for the 820am start. I sort of overate, and didn't think anything of it, because my chief concern was to get plenty of energy. I knew that I'd be fine by racetime, which was like 2 hours away when I ate. I double checked by going to the bathroom twice before leaving, because having to go while running is deadly.
Anyway, the longest I'd ever run before today was 10km's, and I don't remember it at all. So I checked out the race course route. I was shocked. The route goes from one end of Nanaimo to the other, and then back again. That in itself almost made me sick. I'm a big numbers guy, so I decided that I would try to maintain a 5 minute/ km pace. I run westwood at a 4min/km clip, and I figured I could keep the 5min/km pace up 21 times in a row. Me and Jeff were going to run together as long as we could, but not wait if one was holding the other back.
We started at the front of the pack when the gun went, and the first km was kind of frantic, with people all around jockeying for position. Somewhere during the 2nd km I got the now familiar feeling in the depths of my stomach, and I needed to find a bathroom. Just great. Thank you. There were two bathrooms on the course, one at 9.5km's, and another around 18km's. So I winced for the next 7km's or so.
That being said, we did every km until the bathroom at a 5min/km clip. Perfect. After the bathroom, I hit the 10km mark feeling amazing. 52 minutes for the 10km, which included the bathroom break. So that was basically a perfect pace. At 13km, on the parkway heading back, I hit mike's version of heartbreak hill. It was grueling for me, and it was a topic of much discussion after the race. At 14 or 15 km (I don't know which, I was starting to feel some spins), I had to go to the bathroom again. Again, thank you. At this point I had several voices in my head telling me to stop, and since I wasn't listening to my ipod anymore, I was starting listen to my head. I didn't though. I wound up stopping a second time for the bathroom, and I also hit every water station twice to keep from dehydrating. I ran the second 10km in 53 minutes or so, and I was impressed that I could keep my 5min/km pace up for so long.
I ran the 21st km in 5 minutes, and finished around 1:50:00. Jeff had motored on since I had stopped at the first bathroom, and kept a perfect 5min/km pace, finishing at 1:45:00. Jeff wound up getting 2nd in our age category, and I got in fourth, although I chatted with 3rd place as I crossed the finish line with him. If it hadn't been for the bathroom breaks, I would have finished right next to jeff. Either way, we were both pretty stoked on what we'd done.
It was strange, normally I love listening to my ipod when I run. Yet I stopped the ipod after 2km's, and took off the earphones after 4km's. So I was carrying an ipod that I wouldn't use, and gels that I wasn't really planning on eating. So I ditched the gels, and carried the ipod along. It was a really cool experience, and I wonder what some training could have done for my time. But now I have a serious indication of what a marathon would be like. And I'm NOT ready for that yet.
Not a bad weekend to start off another year.
'Run around the same old town'
I've had such an eventful summer in so many ways. And this weekend was a good close to it.
I guess I'll start on Friday, my birthday. I ran westwood, got sushi, and cleaned the house for the evening. People started coming over in the early evening, and there were probably 50-60 people over at some time or another that night. It was really fun. A buddy of mine made drinks for girls all night with booze that a bunch of the guys chipped in and bought. I was really happy that everyone had a good time and that nothing shitty happened. There were no fights, sick people, or rowdies. Yet it was a really busy, drunken, great time. An old friend wound up showing up who I haven't seen in a few years, and it was actually a really good time catching up and having a few drinks.
Saturday morning was spent cleaning the house. It was in pretty bad shape, but with the three guys in the house, along with a few volunteers (thanks btw), it was clean by noon. I got out of the house and watched the Mariners home opener, then went to my parents house for my birthday dinner. It was a really great day. I realized something after dinner, something that's becoming a bit of a trend. Whenever I've overeaten in the last few weeks, I've immediately gotten sick to my stomach not even ten minutes after I've eaten. And it doesn't matter where, what kind of food, or anything like that. It's only when I eat in excess, which I love to do. My parents and friends were all very generous in getting me stuff for my birthday. I'm so damn lucky.
Today I ran a half marathon. I found out on friday that Jeff was running the harbour city half marathon in town, and I offered to join him. On a complete whim. I don't really know why, but sometimes I think that if I put to much thought into doing something, I'll never do it. So I registered, completely untrained and unprepared for what a half marathon actually is. I just thought, 'ahh, only 21km's. I can handle that'.
So this morning I crammed in the pasta that I'd made last night, looking for a last minute carb blast before heading down for the 820am start. I sort of overate, and didn't think anything of it, because my chief concern was to get plenty of energy. I knew that I'd be fine by racetime, which was like 2 hours away when I ate. I double checked by going to the bathroom twice before leaving, because having to go while running is deadly.
Anyway, the longest I'd ever run before today was 10km's, and I don't remember it at all. So I checked out the race course route. I was shocked. The route goes from one end of Nanaimo to the other, and then back again. That in itself almost made me sick. I'm a big numbers guy, so I decided that I would try to maintain a 5 minute/ km pace. I run westwood at a 4min/km clip, and I figured I could keep the 5min/km pace up 21 times in a row. Me and Jeff were going to run together as long as we could, but not wait if one was holding the other back.
We started at the front of the pack when the gun went, and the first km was kind of frantic, with people all around jockeying for position. Somewhere during the 2nd km I got the now familiar feeling in the depths of my stomach, and I needed to find a bathroom. Just great. Thank you. There were two bathrooms on the course, one at 9.5km's, and another around 18km's. So I winced for the next 7km's or so.
That being said, we did every km until the bathroom at a 5min/km clip. Perfect. After the bathroom, I hit the 10km mark feeling amazing. 52 minutes for the 10km, which included the bathroom break. So that was basically a perfect pace. At 13km, on the parkway heading back, I hit mike's version of heartbreak hill. It was grueling for me, and it was a topic of much discussion after the race. At 14 or 15 km (I don't know which, I was starting to feel some spins), I had to go to the bathroom again. Again, thank you. At this point I had several voices in my head telling me to stop, and since I wasn't listening to my ipod anymore, I was starting listen to my head. I didn't though. I wound up stopping a second time for the bathroom, and I also hit every water station twice to keep from dehydrating. I ran the second 10km in 53 minutes or so, and I was impressed that I could keep my 5min/km pace up for so long.
I ran the 21st km in 5 minutes, and finished around 1:50:00. Jeff had motored on since I had stopped at the first bathroom, and kept a perfect 5min/km pace, finishing at 1:45:00. Jeff wound up getting 2nd in our age category, and I got in fourth, although I chatted with 3rd place as I crossed the finish line with him. If it hadn't been for the bathroom breaks, I would have finished right next to jeff. Either way, we were both pretty stoked on what we'd done.
It was strange, normally I love listening to my ipod when I run. Yet I stopped the ipod after 2km's, and took off the earphones after 4km's. So I was carrying an ipod that I wouldn't use, and gels that I wasn't really planning on eating. So I ditched the gels, and carried the ipod along. It was a really cool experience, and I wonder what some training could have done for my time. But now I have a serious indication of what a marathon would be like. And I'm NOT ready for that yet.
Not a bad weekend to start off another year.
'Run around the same old town'
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wait Until Tomorrow
24 tomorrow.
Yay for birthdays. I've got most of my day planned out for tomorrow, and it should be pretty relaxing. Which is all I really want. I've had a few hoo-harrahs in years past where I'm away from home or really busy on my birthday, and it's no fun. I really don't make much out of my birthdays, but I do really like to relax and hang out if I can. Tomorrow looks good like that.
Haha. That being said, we're having a party tomorrow night. By we I mean my roommates and I are hosting a birthday party for me and Ryan. He's turning like 27 or something. I think a lot of people are coming actually, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the people I haven't seen in a while. Landon is making drinks for people all night, and we've got a pile of alcohol that we plan to share with all our friends. So come for a drink and catch up. lol.
School has started again, and I'm not there. It probably feels exactly like last week. So I don't mind. Now that school is on, and I'm not there, I am starting to feel a knot tighten that's saying "find a job" and "what are you going to do?"
I'm been playing a ton of music lately, especially now that Landon and Jeremy are home. We played together as a band for the first time in 4-5 months, and it sounded shockingly good. I mean, it was bad, but there was actually some coordination at some points. I'm going to play music no matter it sounds like. Obviously I'm going to strive to be a better musician, and to gel the best I can with the group, but I'm not going to quit because we suck. We've got some new stuff, with different band members writing music and/or lyrics. It seems like I'm the only one not creating anything. I have a hangup against creating music I think. If I present the band with something, it's only going to be if I'm truly happy with a complex and meaningful song. I won't if it isn't. And if it is, I'll be so critical of how everyone plays it that I probably won't be satisfied anyway. I'll get over my own catch 22's at some point.
Anyway, I have a really enjoyable weekend ahead. Birthday, malaspina soccer on saturday (yeah watching, not playing), and spending some time with my parents.
Oh yeah. Really important news to me was delivered yesterday. My dad's been sick and taking really serious medication for the last 20 weeks or so. His tests results show that he's not sick anymore. So he'll finish the 48 week treatment, and hopefully be healthy for the long term. I haven't given it much thought, but that really puts my mind at ease in a lot of ways. I get used to living with certain stresses, and I think I don't react positively enough when I free myself of them. He's getting better, and that's really great.
Hope you have a good weekend.
'Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm lost'
Yay for birthdays. I've got most of my day planned out for tomorrow, and it should be pretty relaxing. Which is all I really want. I've had a few hoo-harrahs in years past where I'm away from home or really busy on my birthday, and it's no fun. I really don't make much out of my birthdays, but I do really like to relax and hang out if I can. Tomorrow looks good like that.
Haha. That being said, we're having a party tomorrow night. By we I mean my roommates and I are hosting a birthday party for me and Ryan. He's turning like 27 or something. I think a lot of people are coming actually, and I'm looking forward to catching up with the people I haven't seen in a while. Landon is making drinks for people all night, and we've got a pile of alcohol that we plan to share with all our friends. So come for a drink and catch up. lol.
School has started again, and I'm not there. It probably feels exactly like last week. So I don't mind. Now that school is on, and I'm not there, I am starting to feel a knot tighten that's saying "find a job" and "what are you going to do?"
I'm been playing a ton of music lately, especially now that Landon and Jeremy are home. We played together as a band for the first time in 4-5 months, and it sounded shockingly good. I mean, it was bad, but there was actually some coordination at some points. I'm going to play music no matter it sounds like. Obviously I'm going to strive to be a better musician, and to gel the best I can with the group, but I'm not going to quit because we suck. We've got some new stuff, with different band members writing music and/or lyrics. It seems like I'm the only one not creating anything. I have a hangup against creating music I think. If I present the band with something, it's only going to be if I'm truly happy with a complex and meaningful song. I won't if it isn't. And if it is, I'll be so critical of how everyone plays it that I probably won't be satisfied anyway. I'll get over my own catch 22's at some point.
Anyway, I have a really enjoyable weekend ahead. Birthday, malaspina soccer on saturday (yeah watching, not playing), and spending some time with my parents.
Oh yeah. Really important news to me was delivered yesterday. My dad's been sick and taking really serious medication for the last 20 weeks or so. His tests results show that he's not sick anymore. So he'll finish the 48 week treatment, and hopefully be healthy for the long term. I haven't given it much thought, but that really puts my mind at ease in a lot of ways. I get used to living with certain stresses, and I think I don't react positively enough when I free myself of them. He's getting better, and that's really great.
Hope you have a good weekend.
'Just because I'm losing, doesn't mean I'm lost'
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
So Much To Say
Amazing weekend!
The show was great, the drive was great, and everything in between was great.
Jen and I drove to Washington early saturday morning to watch dave matthews at the gorge on sunday night. The only regret I have is not buying tickets for the saturday night show as well. We came back yesterday, and some of the photos look amazing.
Saturday morning we caught the first ferry, and sat at the border for an hour or two. It wasn't bad at all. From there we went to the outlet mall, where I got some new shoes that I've been looking everywhere for. For lunch we went to Tulalip Casino for their lunch buffet, which is an amazing 10.95$. I was astonished by the quality of some of their food. They could get away with being a mediocre casino buffet that serves cheap food to the masses, but it was totally the opposite. Of course, I ate half the place.
A side note. When you order ice tea there, they give you actual tea, over ice. Very tasteless. Is it like that everywhere?
After lunch on saturday, we drove the remaining 250km's or whatever to the gorge. The last 200km were very scenic, and to see the Columbia river emerge from the desert was pretty cool. We drove down some deserted road, and at the crest of a hill we started to realize the magnitude of this weekend at the gorge. There were so many thousands of people camping. It was ridiculous! So many people. So we found a spot to camp, set up, crashed, and enjoyed our sunday thoroughly.
The show. We walked from our campsites to the amphitheater, which overlooks a curve in the Columbia. The walk was a few km's, so we brought alcohol on the walk (naturally). We were then screened through a gate like 100 meters in, where we had to ditch our booze. Weak. I wasn't about to pay for the 11$ beer inside. No really, 11$ tallboys.
When we got to the venue, we started looking for seats. I bet 20,000 people got there before us, and there were 10,000 people behind us. So seating was a challenge. As we found a mediocre spot, a few friends from back home found us, and showed us amazing seats. It was almost perfect. We enjoyed the last half of the O.A.R. set, and patiently waited dave.
DMB themselves were rad. The band opened with 'seek up', and got the crowd totally pumped. It was closing night so I figured it'd be pretty sweet. Their best intro to a song (in my opinion) was definitely 'warehouse'. It looked like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8rdsBUuxd4
The best song they played was probably the last song before the encore, which was "all along the watchtower" with the "stairway to heaven" solo. Tim Reynolds was there with the band playing, and the guy is a sick guitarist.
I'm not sure how long the show went, but it was over two hours for sure. I heard that on friday and saturday night the band played for closer to three hours. When it was done, we had a long walk (more of a shuffle) back to camp, and the congestion of people made a canucks playoff game look like a florida marlins home game.
Yesterday was fairly uneventful. We woke up, packed up, and left by 8am. We stopped along the way, and caught the 545pm ferry home. All in all, it was an amazing weekend. The friends, the show, and the scenery made everything perfect.
And not a single thing went wrong all weekend.
'We're here for a good time. Not a long time'
The show was great, the drive was great, and everything in between was great.
Jen and I drove to Washington early saturday morning to watch dave matthews at the gorge on sunday night. The only regret I have is not buying tickets for the saturday night show as well. We came back yesterday, and some of the photos look amazing.
Saturday morning we caught the first ferry, and sat at the border for an hour or two. It wasn't bad at all. From there we went to the outlet mall, where I got some new shoes that I've been looking everywhere for. For lunch we went to Tulalip Casino for their lunch buffet, which is an amazing 10.95$. I was astonished by the quality of some of their food. They could get away with being a mediocre casino buffet that serves cheap food to the masses, but it was totally the opposite. Of course, I ate half the place.
A side note. When you order ice tea there, they give you actual tea, over ice. Very tasteless. Is it like that everywhere?
After lunch on saturday, we drove the remaining 250km's or whatever to the gorge. The last 200km were very scenic, and to see the Columbia river emerge from the desert was pretty cool. We drove down some deserted road, and at the crest of a hill we started to realize the magnitude of this weekend at the gorge. There were so many thousands of people camping. It was ridiculous! So many people. So we found a spot to camp, set up, crashed, and enjoyed our sunday thoroughly.
The show. We walked from our campsites to the amphitheater, which overlooks a curve in the Columbia. The walk was a few km's, so we brought alcohol on the walk (naturally). We were then screened through a gate like 100 meters in, where we had to ditch our booze. Weak. I wasn't about to pay for the 11$ beer inside. No really, 11$ tallboys.
When we got to the venue, we started looking for seats. I bet 20,000 people got there before us, and there were 10,000 people behind us. So seating was a challenge. As we found a mediocre spot, a few friends from back home found us, and showed us amazing seats. It was almost perfect. We enjoyed the last half of the O.A.R. set, and patiently waited dave.
DMB themselves were rad. The band opened with 'seek up', and got the crowd totally pumped. It was closing night so I figured it'd be pretty sweet. Their best intro to a song (in my opinion) was definitely 'warehouse'. It looked like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8rdsBUuxd4
The best song they played was probably the last song before the encore, which was "all along the watchtower" with the "stairway to heaven" solo. Tim Reynolds was there with the band playing, and the guy is a sick guitarist.
I'm not sure how long the show went, but it was over two hours for sure. I heard that on friday and saturday night the band played for closer to three hours. When it was done, we had a long walk (more of a shuffle) back to camp, and the congestion of people made a canucks playoff game look like a florida marlins home game.
Yesterday was fairly uneventful. We woke up, packed up, and left by 8am. We stopped along the way, and caught the 545pm ferry home. All in all, it was an amazing weekend. The friends, the show, and the scenery made everything perfect.
And not a single thing went wrong all weekend.
'We're here for a good time. Not a long time'
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