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nowplaying

What’s going on in my iPod right now?

U2.

It’s all about U2.

I’m slowly getting excited. I brought myself up from disappoitment months ago when I wasn’t able to get tickets to the show.

Now I’m slowly creeping back up.

Tonight: Have a mid-term in my Intro to Mass Communications class. How do I feel about that? Well, it’s multiple choice/true/false questions. Normally that is fine, but I am not a fan of memorizing dates and places and people’s name. “What year was television first introduced in Canada?” “Who sent the first radio broadcast?”

I am hoping that the teacher doesn’t dwell on names and dates, but more on the principles taught in the course. So far, he is a pretty kick ass professor. Best I’ve ever had. He’s even realizes that we won’t retain much from his class, but he feels that if we remember ONE THING that he taught for the rest of our lives, it’s worth it. I agree.

nowplaying: Sunday Bloody Sunday – U2

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The Encounter with Krista

So I forgot to add my favourite part about Saturday night at Patty Boland’s. As soon as I walk through the door I stumble into my good friend Krista leaving the place. She has this incredulous look on her face of “What the heck is going on here?!”

I talked to her on Monday and we all had a good laugh about my great outfit on Saturday night.

I’m sending out a thanks to Krista since she has done two cool things in the past while for me:

  • Helped me with my constant painting questions. If anyone needs any help with their interior decorating, Krista is the person to help you. She’s a virtuoso!
  • Having a killer party at her place a few weeks ago. Sadly enough, this was the night after the Collective Soul concert so I was still feeling pretty rough. Anyhow, there was some great nacho dip being made (I’m assuming by her) that I shall have to steal the recipe for. Granted, I won’t even bother making it, but it’s good to have in case I break down and having the craving for it. I must admit that I was shocked to see Krista’s pad seem so…NORMAL! Here she’s going on about interior decorating and whatnot so I’m thinking I will be walking into the most eclectic living space in the world, but no. The walls are white. Krista, what are you waiting for?
  • Hey, I know you read this blog, where are the pictures from that night?

I’m thinking I should have more of these posts where I talk about friends and family so they can say “Hey! I made it onto the blog!”

In other news, I’m looking into this whole $40 M prize for the 6/49 draw on Wednesday.

Would $40 M ruin my life? I’ll let you know. 😉

update: Alright, so I noticed James’ comment asking how the money would ruin one’s life. I’m not denying that I would have a kickass life afterwards, but it’s where you get into the whole “Do I give money to my friends?” issue. If I had a wad of cash to spend, I would most likely want to give a little back to my friends…pay off their house, buy them an island, whatever. But once you go down that route, it’s all or nothing. You either figure out EVERY SINGLE PERSON that would be offended if they didn’t get some cash coming their way, or else you don’t bother so you don’t piss off anyone.

Example: I pay off James’ house. But not Matt’s.
Well, Matt is now pissed. Matt will question what kind of friend I am to him. Chances are, that would strain our friendship.
Maybe I’m overanalyzing this a whole lot. Let’s be honest…I would have a few years to think about this problem while I am on an island somewhere playing old Sierra computer games. Hello Daventry!

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Romero Lives!

Am I ever glad that I’m living in Ottawa and not Pittsburgh – soon to be Zombie Haven.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/41676

Also, if you’re in Toronto, check this out!
http://www.torontozombiewalk.com/

Links graciously taken from The Wolfshack.

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You too can see U2


Monday morning. Studying for a mid-term. My throat is itchy on the bus. Can the day start off any worse?

Get to work. My cell phone rings. There’s only one reason why it would do that in the morning.

Joelle: CALL BOBFM! WE JUST WON THE U2 TICKETS! I’M RUNNING RIGHT NOW!!!
Translation: I can only imagine that Joelle was either on her way to work to get to a phone, or on duty (she works as a teacher).
Joelle entered into a contest to the local radio station, BobFM so that we can win U2 tickets. Supply the radio station with two names and then once a day they will call out those two names. If the two people call within 9 minutes, they win tickets to see U2 at the Corel Centre as well as a pre-party called the Bono-Bash with free drinks and food. Also, on Friday, they were giving these tickets out every hour from 8 until 6 in which Trish GRACIOUSLY accepted the duty of listening to the radio all day long in case my name was called. I was in a meeting for most of the morning and was unable to listen to BobFM. Let it be stated here for her valiant efforts, she shall be rewarded with a supper at St. Hubert’s.

Background: U2 is coming to town. I was on Ticketmaster at 10:00 AM the day of the sale. Three hours later, never got through the system and never got tickets. I was not impressed.

Back to the Present:
I call BobFM. I’m so frantic that I misdial the number 4 times. Take a breath dude.
BobFM: Good morning, BobFM!
Me: Hi, this is Palmer calling in for the U2 contest.
BFM: What’s your phone number?
Me: 555-5555 (for all the Internet folk reading this blog)
BFM: Hold on.

(listening)
BFM: Alright, we have someone on the line for the U2 contest. Joelle are you there?
Joelle: Yes! I’m so excited!
BFM: Great. So we’re still waiting to hear from Palmer. Do you know where he is?
Joelle: No, I just called him. Maybe he’s on his cellphone?
BFM: Maybe it dropped the connection or something.
Me: WHAT THE HECK MAN!? I AM RIGHT HERE! HELLO, CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!

At this moment I grab the other phone to call in, maybe they don’t know that I’m on the line.
Turns out they were just fooling around with Joelle.
BFM: Hey look who it is! Palmer!
Me: Hey, how’s it going?

All the ramblings of congrats go on about this and they ask what our fave U2 songs are where I’m totally drawing a blank and say ‘Elevation’ which is a crappy tune, but oh well, what can I do? I’m on edge here. For the record, Streets is the best song ever.

So there you have it. On November 25th, Joelle and I are hitting up a pre-party with food and drinks, and then watching the U2 CONCERT!!!! I AM PUMPED!

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Concert Reviews

What Being a Boyfriend *Really* Involves

A weekend recap for those interested in what I actually do with my free time, and not just interested in my random rants du jour.

Friday: Went to Barrymore’s with Mike and Joe to see Comfortably Numb – Canada’s own Pink Floyd cover band. They played The Wall in its entirety, as well as a retrospective of other delights from Dark Side of the Moon, Division Bell, and classic cuts. I was very impressed with them. If you shut your eyes, it was like being in the room with Floyd. I belive I read they are actually endorsed by Floyd as one of the premiere cover bands out there. I figured out that they played for 3 1/2 hours. Insane.

Saturday: Roamed around town with Joe which brought us to Cam Kong eventually (I can see Holly exclaiming “Cam Kong!? Where was I?) and then we ended up at Rob’s place for dinner. We worked on my Hallowe’en costume which worked out fine. For the people whom haven’t heard what I’ll be dressing as, I may as well keep it a secret until next Saturday when we hit up Duncan’s place for the big party.

Went to Melissa’s for Mike’s birthday which was a great time full of jello shooters and good eats. Unfortunately, we had to leave to go to another birthday party. Vero’s friend Chantelle was having people over and then heading out to Patty Boland’s.

What can I say about this party we went to? Vero told me that everyone had to dress up in 80s/90s clothing. Considering all my clothes are still from the 90s, I figured ‘No Problem!’ and wore a nice AC/DC t-shirt. However, Vero had other plans. As you can tell from the picture, I was decked out in a nice Bahamas muscle shirt along with sweat bands and some leggings (not seen in the picture unfortunately). Vero is lucky for the following reasons:

  • I’m a good sport
  • I’m a little crazy
  • I had quite a bit of alcohol in my system at this point

We arrive at Chantelle’s party to find no one else has dressed up, not even the hostess. Ah well, not a big deal. I’m in no mood to go change. The highlight of the night was when they wanted to take a swing at a pinata (sp?) and Chantelle’s brother takes a stick in full swing (we’re talking with all the force in the world) and misses the pinata but clocks Chantelle right in the kisser. Beautiful. In my life, I have never seen an event such as this. She turned out alright and only had a bloody nose.

Went to Patty Boland’s with Vero and we managed to skip the lineup since we were decked out in these great costumes of ours. However, once we got inside, someone passed us the message that the rest of the gang has decided to go back home and watch a movie. We decide to stay and rock out for the rest of the night. The common ‘Happy Hallowe’en’ phrase was used when people commented on our outfits in which they responded “Hallowe’en is next week” in which I would reply “Good one buddy. Do you really think we would be dressed like this if it wasn’t Hallowe’en?”.

Quite the crazy night. I highly recommend everyone dresses up for Hallowe’en on a random day and see what people say.

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Our Lady Peace in Toronto!!!

Guess who just won a trip package to go see an exclusive show in Toronto?!

Awww yeah! On November 6, I’ll be taking a bus down to Toronto along with Vero, catching a show of Our Lady Peace at Massey Hall and staying at the Bond Hotel! I’m so pumped! Our Lady Peace haven’t even toured Canada yet in support of their new album.

AWESOME.

I can’t believe my luck with OLP in the past…so far, I’ve got to see them at a soundcheck thanks to Amanda, do a concert review for the official website (which included tix to the show) and I believe I may have won tix to another show that I remember.

AWESOME!

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Reviews

Review: One Thing Remains by Default


I picked up the new album from Default the other week. Default is one of those bands that aren’t on the top of my list, but don’t piss me off either.

However, I’ve found through the years that I tend to like it when a band changes their style from time to time. Their second album ‘Elocation’ was more of the same. I thought that maybe the third one would be different. Nope. More of the same.

Is more of the same a bad thing? Let’s take AC/DC for example. They’ve spent years and years and years figuring their ULTIMATE RAWK FORMULA and now that they’ve found it, they stick to it. Is this a bad thing? Depends on who you ask. On one hand, if people like adventure movies, they’ll keep watching adventure movies. So, if I like the AC/DC formula, I’ll keep buying their albums. Will I say that they are revolutionary and “YOU HAVE TO GET THIS ALBUM!!!” to everyone I see? Probably not. So, as long as Default sticks to their formula and doesn’t release a shitty album, I’ll keep buying. The only band I ever stopped buying albums from were the Cranberries. After their album “Bury The Hatchet” I realized it was a message to me to stop buying their music because that album was really really REALLY bad.

Miscellneous Ramblings/Updates/Questions:
– watched ‘What The Bleep Do We Know?‘ at Ben’s last night. Decent documentary on how humans and interactions and reality, and basically…quantum physics.
– My friend is in search of a Pumpkin costume. To not ruin the surprise, I won’t let you know who is looking for it. Let me know if you have one.
– Any takers on that iPod Photo I’m selling? It’s a steal baby. Christmas is coming up. Buy your loved one something.
– Leave some comments if you would like! I tend to check out James/Ferda’s blog as well as Matt’s every day and we leave each other our own little community notes. You should check out their blogs because they give you a snapshot of their (exciting?) lives.
– School is going well. I handed in my first essay a few weeks ago so if it comes back with a fail grade, I’m dropping out now! I can’t hack it! 😉

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No More Tea

From ChartAttack

Well, more accurately, it appears Jeff Martin is calling it quits. According to a statement, Martin is working on finishing a solo record and will tour in support of the finished product. The singer is ready to shift his focus to himself.”

I must admit I’m a saddened by this news. I’ve followed The Tea Party ever since Edges of Twilight.

The article makes it sound like Jeff Martin is going to just do his own thing…maybe there is hope that The Tea Party will come back together eventually (and not end up like David Usher and Moist).

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Uh…what?


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This Goes out to the Eye of the Tiger Himself – Paul Duffy

Picture Yourself…leaving work. Walking down the escalator. Your music in your ears. Then you see some people start to run. You know what it means. There’s a bus about to leave!

I squint my eyes to see what number bus is leaving. Yep, it’s the 27. The one I want after a hard day of work. I take a couple steps down the escalator but then realize it is futile.

But something stirs in me. It’s the music. What’s the ONE SONG in the universe that can move a man to do more than he thinks he can?

Eye of the Tiger. Coming from my iPod magically.

I start to sprint. I run. I dodge people left and right with my goal in sight. Then the guitars come into the song.

DUHN. DUHN DUHN DUHN.

I make it to the bus. I DID IT!

I laugh at myself at the absurdity of it all, but in my mind I can only envision one person.

Paul Duffy doing pushups every time he hears this song. Whether it’s at a wedding, a dance, a funeral. He will do the pushups.

I never had respect for Paul Duffy. Until now.