My parents' visit in pictures

I can't actually remember the last time I posted a picture, so I thought I'd give it a go on the new system. Here are a few pics from when my parents and my aunt were here :o)


I love my city!


Everyone looking manic in Stanley Park.


Very windswept and all looking pretty awful.


Me in the icy waters of Lynn Valley Park, which I highly recommend.


This is my mum, my aunt and me in Stanley Park, looking strangely 'related'.

There are more, but these are mostly the 'people' photos. More 'arty' photos to come, if you're not all bored by now.

The L-Word

So, Def Leppard was fantastic! The only gig I've been to where everyone was on their feet before the band had even got onto the stage, and everyone was singing along with every song they played. Sad to say, I even knew the ones they sung that weren't actually their songs, but were covers of other people's. It was really interesting to see how the drummer played with one arm, and all the keyboard pedals under the drums that he stamped on (with his bare feet). I admit that it was a little disconcerting to see them all in their 40s, playing songs that I remember from when they were 30, but it was a great concert nevertheless. I was hoarse when I came out, having sung for an hour and a half and cheered in between, but it was worth it....

Sunday afternoon was spent at the PNE in the rain with Sunshine, her two friends and one friend's small children, which frankly was my idea of hell, but I tried to be supportive and went along anyway. The fair at the PNE was full of rides, attractions, random Superdog and pig racing events, and strange parades, which the kids loved and which nearly sent me over the edge, because they played the same music whilst crawling along at a snail's pace. Once I'd heard the song about having fun three times, it was enough to make me throttle someone. But anyway, it was "an experience" as they say.

On Monday I filmed the L-Word with Sunshine's friend Lins, who we'd roped into becoming an extra as well. There were 400 extras there and it was utter chaos, with a lack of food, a lack of time, and absolutely no provision made for everyone wanting to sign out at the same time when we'd finished filming. However, the director was really funny and all the crew were lovely, except for one of the actresses who was a complete drama queen (I don't know which one, cos I don't watch the show, and anyway I wouldn't slander her here for fear that she'd sue me, since she looked the type....). She chewed someone out for something that was completely her fault, whereupon I lost all respect for her. But the day was interesting, if a little lengthy as they tried to get shots right, and I eventually got out of the damn place at 10:15pm, having been waiting for 45 minutes to sign out.

Yesterday brought shopping with Christie, where I ended up with essentials such as an umbrella and toothpaste, as well as a not-so-essential bag, and today I am sitting in front of the tennis. Though I now need to go and have a shower and start work, since I have had 100 forms sent to me to proofread. The weather has been rainy for the past few days, so I think summer has really gone now :o( that sucks!!

Strange.....

.......the things you learn in the course of a day. Songs that I had previously spent most of my 26 years thinking had been done by Rick Astley (as it sounded like him) were actually done by Michael McDonald, who I had never heard of. Oh, how my illusions have been shattered!

This week

Just to clarify my last post, when I asked why we sing "Take me out to the ball game" in the seventh inning, I wasn't so much asking why we sung it, but why it was stuck in the middle of the seventh inning. I can see the traditional point of singing it, but why do we disrupt the seventh inning by getting everyone to stand up and sing? It's kind of strange - you would have thought that the beginning of the game would be better.

So since my last post I have been to five baseball games, have done some work for my company, have bought two pairs of shoes and a jumper (total sale $50 thanks to the Army and Navy store), have done one day of filming on a horror movie, one day of invigilating an exam, one night of abortive drinking to celebrate Christie's exams finishing (abandoned due to massive headache), and am preparing to go to Def Leppard tonight, after looking forward to it for months! Tomorrow brings more baseball with Sunshine, possible dinner with Christie and Patty, and Monday brings some filming on The L-Word, though I don't think we have to get involved in the lesbian action. I have also bought more concert tickets (this seems to be my Canadian vice, in the absence of decent chocolate to gorge) and am now going to The Killers with British Sea Power (good recommendation, Denise) and Athlete. In the continuing 'eclectic taste' theme in which Def Leppard tickets were booked, Foreigner are coming to Richmond in November and I am tempted to go, even though they must be Def Leppard's age or older. But when will I ever get the chance to see them again? They may keel over at any minute!

I have applied for two jobs which I actually want, as opposed to ones which I don't want but which I applied for in desperation. I am hoping that at least one will give me an interview, as another winter of no job and basement darkness will probably send me over the edge. Mind you, I still haven't checked my lottery ticket, so I could be a secret millionaire.......

Baseball mark 2

Well, the Canadians won tonight, by a landslide, but the management decided to go mad and give everyone free tickets for tomorrow afternoon anyway. I may just go.

This evening's match was much more beer-fuelled than last night's, and I was near the token group of guys getting drunk and shouting well mannered abuse. It was very entertaining. I also bought a veggie dog and some mint choc chip ice cream in a plastic baseball helmet, to really get into the spirit of things. Tonight's National Anthem nearly rivalled last night's for sheer stupidity, although it was nowhere near as good musically speaking. However, it takes just as much believing. Hold your breath people. Tonight's anthem was sung by...... Ronald McDonald. I love this country!!

And can anyone tell me why we sing "Take me out to the ballgame" in the middle of the seventh inning? Apart from the fact that we all seem to be totally mad?

Spam

It's hit a new low..... I just had to remove a spam comment from my blog! How sad that spam can even comment on your life now....

Take me out to the baseball

So yesterday I decided I would use one of my free baseball tickets that are sitting in my room doing nothing, and took myself off to the Canadians game against the Boise Hawks. After trawling the streets nearby for parking (who wants to pay $4 to park in the car park right next to the stadium, for the prvilege of having your windows shot out by baseballs?) I managed to jam my little car in a spot a block and a half away, finding subsequently that I could actually see the car from my position in the stadium. Useful to call the police if anyone tried to break into it....

Anyway, it was Hawaiian night at the stadium, so lots of people were wearing hideous shirts and grass skirts, and they had hired some Polynesian dancers to perform at various points during the evening. There were random giveaways, strange compeitions, some fairly decently priced food for sale, and some fairly uncomfortable benches, but it was a good night. Apart from the fact that the Canadians lost, owing to the 8th inning score of 5 runs by Boise. However, there were a few highlights during the night; in ascending order of fantasticness.....
5) The opposing team's catcher falling over when jogging to his position.
4) The playing of "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" during one break, which Greg sent me a while ago and which I played to my parents when they were here, resulting in my aunt and my mother both buying Big & Rich's album.
3) The Eddie Izzard-esque bad keyboard four note tune that all baseball stadiums seem to have (Wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah [key change] wah wah wah wah, wah wah wah wah [How about I play some Mozart? No, just keep playing that.....] wah wah wah wah.... ad infinitum)
2) The announcement that came in the third inning; "The owner of a gold Mercury Sable, registration number blah blah blah, your car is STILL RUNNING..." Much laughter.
1) The playing of the Canadian National Anthem by, and I kid you not people, the Vancouver Ukelele Circle. It was so funny I almost died of hysterics. I'm sure it's very bad form to be laughing during the National Anthem, but the entire stadium just lost it. Think George Formby with his friends, singing O Canada speeded up. Priceless.

I'm going again tonight, as it's 'Guaranteed Win Night ' - if the Canadians lose, we all get a free ticket to another game. Which could be interesting, given last night. I'm going to sit in a different bit to see if I can catch a baseball though.

Oh, and just for good measure, OUR SWIMMING POOL IS BEING FIXED AS I TYPE.....WOOHOO!!! Party at my place :o)

Rollerblades and Jude Law

So it's been quite a random day so far. Up at 7am to talk to work via e-mail, as Shaw Internet was cutting off our service from8am-4pm to do some maintenance work. A bit of chatting to people in England and some tennis watching took place, and then the rising gas prices spurred me on to go to Canadian Tire and get some rollerblades, after seeing them advertised for $20. To say that Canadian Tire was chaotic is a gross understatement. It only opened last week, and it was packed with people trying to get good deals. Add to this the fact that the computers lied about how much stock they had, the BC Lions football players meeting people and signing autographs, and the live grand piano player in the foyer, and you have a surreal experience. After an hour and a bit, I finally got hold of some darn rollerblades and came home. And then sat and typed in the skates for two hours, to get my feet used to them.

In other news, there seems to be some debate over Jude Law's 'goods' which were photographed by some cheeky bastard journalist as he got changed into swimming trunks at his mother's place in France. Apparently he is "No Tommy Lee" (for which I can only be thankful) and has been ridiculed for having a small dick. Make your own decisions here. I fail to see why not having a huge penis makes him less attractive, but there you go. I still think he's extremely hot, in a cute-but-secretly-bad-and-not-to-be-trusted way, so if you ever read this Jude, and want to escape from the media frenzy, you're still welcome in Vancouver............

How to enrage me

Basically, be Todd Bertuzzi. WHAT A DICK.......

For those of you who don't know his name, he's a hockey player. About two years he assaulted a player from the opposing team on the ice, for no apparent reason, breaking three of the guy's neck vertebrae. The camera footage shows him skating up behind the guy and then punching him in the neck with all his might. They didn't know if the guy he assaulted would walk again initially, but eventually he recovered, although he still can't play hockey. And what did Todd Bertuzzi get? A suspended sentence and a fine. Whoopie. He's a hockey player, he could pay the fine with his eyes closed. And what does a suspended sentence do? Are they waiting until he assaults someone a second time to send him to jail? Every time I see him on the news I get worked up. Tonight more than usual though, because he's just been moaning about the fact that the guy he assaulted won't respond to his attempts to contact him, "Some people just won't forgive." Um, hello, but if someone punched me in the back and nearly paralysed me for no reason, I wouldn't exactly return your calls either. The poor guy has only just started exercising again, and still suffers from post-concussion syndrome, whereas Bertuzzi is about to get back into professional hockey and earn shit loads of money per year. Fair? I think not. Grrrr.

Anyway, today I took the car in for a service. They did a 47 point check and the usual fluid/oil changes, then gave me a list of things at the end that they think I should replace. The car's actually in pretty good condition, but in about 6 months I need to replace the back brakes and have the drums looked at, and - sadly for me - the alternator needs replacing :o( The quote? $400. Can't exactly avoid it either, since eventually the car just won't start if the alternator goes. I need a job, people! I went and bought two lottery tickets whilst the car was being fixed, just in case.

After my parents left last week I did laundry and cleaned my room for about two days, as it was gross. I've also had my first 'hip hop fusion' class, which was fab, gained some free baseball tickets, met two friends for brunch, three for dinner and another friend for lunch, invigilated an exam series for Simon Fraser University and taken my belly dance class. Today I went swimming and dragged Christie to Subway, before coming back to more washing. Sadly there hasn't been much work for me this week, as they're going through a quiet period before the madness starts again. The exam invigilation was good though, as it's at least a toe in the door that I've got a Canadian employer. There are five more scheduled invigilation sessions before Christmas, and I'm also going to do a Markers course so I can qualify to mark the exams once they're done.

Oh, and today I got phone interviewed for a new TV show that's coming in October. It's basically Debbie Travis getting 10 people between 19-30 together who are pissed off with where they are in life and their lack of career direction, sticking them in a delapidated house and getting professional electricians, painters, decorators, carpenters, designers etc to give them training and help get the house done up. At the end they decide who's done the best work and made the most improvement, and you can win a large amount of money plus an apprenticeship. I sent my application in a while back and ranted about jobs not being available, and apparently it worked..... They picked some people they thought looked interesting and they're phoning them, before deciding if they want to interview in person. Then if you get picked, you get to travel to Toronto and get into the house... sounds interesting to do anyway. I doubt they'll phone me back, since when they asked what my ideal career was I told the truth and said Forensics, rather than lying and saying Real Estate or Decorating. But I thought that lying now would proably screw me later, so what the hell :o)

PS: Thanks to Patti for this week's interesting news story!!

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating.....

Here is the review of the Ryan Adams gig from the Georgia Straight, Vancouver's entertainment guide. Thanks to Cassie, who led me to the review by quoting one of the fantastic lines from it....

Ryan Adams and The Cardinals

By adrian mack

Publish Date: 11-Aug-2005
At the Commodore Ballroom on Tuesday, August 9

In spite of his best efforts, Ryan Adams made it out of the Commodore alive on Tuesday. The mercurial and possibly very troubled singer-songwriter has been provoking reams of copy for as long as he’s been making records—in fact, it’s hard to figure out if he’s more prolific as a composer or a loud-mouthed dickhead. He’s a major talent in both respects.

The first two-thirds of his performance was low-key to the point of narcosis. The high drama and spectacle came much, much later and was so exquisitely painful and humiliating that it seemed like a setup. It wasn’t—something just cracked—but an hour of midtempo plod in the Crazy Horse vein established a Mogadon vibe that wasn’t improved by silent longueurs between songs. Adams didn’t say a word during this portion of the set. Most of the interest was provided by his hair and the chance that it might slide off. Hunched over a black SG or a piano, the alt-country veteran displayed the browbeaten mien of a man who spends the day avoiding blows to the head. Not surprising, really, as he habitually fights with band members, critics, and fans. That doesn’t explain the apparent attack of ennui up on-stage, though, especially considering what happened later, but suffice it to say that “To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)”, the great faux-Dylan rave-up from Adams’s first solo album, Heartbreaker, was reworked into a tepid slice of gothic country that received a disproportionately generous cheer. And so it went on, the same dirges ending in squalls of unhinged guitar. Adams seemed to be channelling Neil Young from his Tonight’s the Night period, giving us uncompromising sludge peppered with beautiful moments of relief (“What Sin Replaces Love?”, “Mockingbird”), all of it underscored by barely contained psychosis.

And then the container broke.

Adams went visibly and incontestably nuts at the two-thirds mark, first threatening to punch someone in the face, then railing about the Internet, then bargaining with the crowd for a smoke break. He got it, and when he bounded back on-stage the man was reenergized, to say the least. Starting with a cover of “Wonderwall”, the manic version of Ryan Adams complained that the Commodore was filled with snakes (like New Mexico) and was apparently swarmed by invisible aphids during “Sylvia Plath”. He bitch-slapped his sound guy. “Ryan Adams!” he said, baiting the hapless knob-twiddler. “He’s so fucked up! He’s the end of music! It’s not my fault if they forgot to build a house at the end of the street, Mister Man!” This was one of a number of baffling speeches that he would make for the rest of the performance, though his second skirmish with the sound department was a little less equivocal.

“Dave!” he screamed. “What the fuck? Are you taking the night off?!” In fairness, Dave seemed to be doing a fine job while Adams, struggling to stay upright, was more or less engaged in relearning to play guitar. Later, bassist Catherine Popper would tell him to go fuck himself when he melodramatically called a halt to “Let It Ride”. It wasn’t necessary—Adams had already fucked himself quite comprehensively by that point.

So there you have it. I exaggerate not.....

A serious disappointment

I had forgotten that I was going to post about Ryan Adams until Denise reminded me of the gig. Christie and I went last night, and by the end of the night I was ready to throttle him and demand my money back.

The night started off with a guy who Ryan Adams produces, called something I can't remember, which was vaguely like Jesse Malik. He was good, except for the fact that he put on a cheesy voice to sing. Ryan Adams didn't come on until 10:25pm and then he didn't announce anything or say hello, just walked on and started singing. 'Beautiful Sorta' was the first song, which was ok, and then there were two crap songs I didn't recognise, followed by two more songs I didn't recognise which were ok, and a completely slowed down version of 'To Be Young' which was pretty crappy. It wasn't until the seventh song, 'Please Do Not Let Me Go' that things started to pick up a bit. There was a bit of banter going on, with some strange ramblings, but overall he was pretty sane until the interval, when he decided that he was going to take ten minutes "To have a cigarette" after which he would come back and play until they kicked us out of the club. Sounded good, but whatever he had in the interval was definitely not of the nicotine variety. He was pretty rambling before, but after the break he stopped in the middle of songs and started again, threatened to punch someone in the crowd, went on about America and the bombings with sound effects, had a ramble about marajuana, swore more in three sentences than anyone I have known, and finally made a derogatory comment about his female bassist. She looked as though she was about to walk off the stage and shove the bass up his arse, and the front of the crowd (who had heard precisely what he'd said, as opposed to us at the back who didn't catch it) started booing in her defence. There were a lot of shouts of "Shut up and play some music" which would have been good advice, if only he'd taken it. There were only a few songs that I recognised, along with a few that were actually really good, in amongst the dross and the insults. Christie and I left before the end, so God knows what happened after we left. I wouldn't have been surprised if Ryan Adams had challenged half the crowd to a fist fight and the police had turned up.....

Recommendations: keep listening to the songs, don't bother with the live show....

Just for Denise.....

I'll post something today. My parents and my aunt are currently at Vancouver airport, where I have just dropped them along with their luggage. Their flight is in a couple of hours, so I hope it goes ok and they aren't sitting next to any screaming children. I was sad to see them go, and they were sad to leave, but at least this means that I can book a flight back to England at some point this winter and have something to look forward to.

We did all the usual touristy things during the time they were here; a week in Victoria (Butchart Gardens, Sooke Harbour House, Witty's Lagoon, Metchosin, Shawnigan Lake, the Malahat, stuff that I can't remember) and then a week and a half in Vancouver (Lynn Canyon, Stanley Park, Van Dusen Gardens, Spanish Bank, a salmon BBQ at the Anthropology museum, and more stuff I can't remember). I've eaten far too much good food and not paid for anything, and my room is a tip because I haven't done any washing or cleaning for two weeks. I'm browner than I was before, although my legs are still bright white. I've bought some Chinese slippers, a lovely Chinese embroidered top and Beck's new CD, whilst receiving the presents my parents brought over with them, including some wonderful UK chocolate. Mmmmm. All in all, it has been a fantastic two weeks, and I am very sorry that it has now ended. Sob......

However, Christie and I are going to see Ryan Adams in a few hours, which I am really looking forward to. So that should make up for the departure of my parents in some measure. I now need to win the lottery so they can move over here for good. Any ideas? :o)