The Alder Grove

2011-08-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

Saying Goodbye...

Yesterday, it seems like all of Canada joined together to say goodbye to a man who lead a political party that in the past has been all but dismissed. The NDP has never really held any kind of great power in Canada. It's been a party of ideas...dreams of a country of social equality and justice. Dreams of a country that would never leave anyone behind. And Jack Layton was the greatest leader of that party since the first leader, Tommy Douglas who was a Methodist minister until he found a new calling, the calling of his country.

Jack Layton was as much a source of inspiration as Tommy was. I remember during the last election when people thought he was crazy to say that he was running to be Prime Minister. Imagine...a leader of the NDP even *considering* that they could one day take the reigns of power from the Torys or the Liberals. But Jack believed. And he made us believe. He made us believe that we could all be better, more caring and compassionate...that we could do anything. I remember Jack, waving his can after his hip operation at rallys like he was Braveheart and leading us all into battle. And when the dust settled on election night and the NDP had become the Official Opposition for the first time in Canadian history we realized he was right. We could do anything.

Now, in what seems like the blink of an eye...he's gone. It hardly seems real. But in watching the funeral today (as I worked all day yesterday) and seeing the funeral procession I realize he's really gone. This man of such passion and inspiration. This man who spent his life serving the people of Canada and giving a voice to people who had none. This man who made us think about what was possible and who brought such passion and dignity to an arena where such things are so very rare.

Seeing the thousands of messages written out in chalk, covering Toronto's City Hall and the entire sidewalk from people everywhere is so moving. People talking about how they have never voted before but were so moved by him that they voted for the first time. Even a woman whose little son asked her to please go vote for him since he was too young to vote. And then watching Olivia, Jack's widow, coming out to comfort people in the crowd who came out to mourn her husband...I don't know how she's so incredibly strong and full of such grace under such circumstances.

I don't know where we go from here. We've lost such a powerful voice to cancer and so quickly. None of us expected that he wouldn't beat it. He was Jack Layton after all. Our political arena, and our country will never be the same. I hope we've learned enough from him to carry on his legacy and to make him proud of who we become from here.

We'll miss you.

"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world." ~~ Jack Layton 1950-2011

2011-08-22T22:31:00.002-05:00

It's been a rough day. It's not just the screaming, tantrum-throwing back-to-school shoppers (and I'm not just referring to the children) but this day started horribly with the announcement that Jack Layton had died.

For those who don't know, Jack Layton was the federal leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada. A left-wing, socialist party and proud of it. Our first leader was Tommy Douglas, otherwise known as the father of the Canadian health care system. Jack took the reigns of the party about eight years ago when it was struggling to stay alive and lead it from 13 seats to 103 seats and the status of Official Opposition. He was more than just a fighter, he was a force of nature. Turns out the only thing that could stop him, was death itself.

Watching the news coverage tonight, it's hard to keep from tears. The whole country is in mourning for a man that you didn't have to agree with but you had to respect. I however, did both. His optimism was infectious and you couldn't help but believe him when he said something that an NDP leader was thought crazy to say, "I am running to be your next Prime Minister". People kept counting Jack out, shaking their heads at his naive optimism...or delusion...depending on who you asked. But those of us who believed in him, his passion and his policies knew that one day it would come to pass. And now, on the cusp of his greatest victory...all those "one day's" have now become "could have been". The dream of seeing Jack Layton take the keys to Sussex Drive have been dashed and one of our greatest leaders has been taken from us much too soon.

I'm not someone who gets worked up much about people who die. I'm a pagan and I believe that this is not the end of existence, this physical self. But Jack Layton was inspirational. A man who brought a level of dignity and passion to a profession where both are sadly lacking these days. His humour, charisma and compassion touched everyone, no matter what side of the political spectrum you were on. He championed homelessness, violence against women, gay rights and the environment among many other causes. And he had the talent to unite politicians of any stripe.

He was destined to be a great leader. His great-grand uncle was a Father of Confederation. His great-grandfather was a blind activist who founded the Montreal Association for the Blind. His grandfather served in the Quebec Union Nationale government. His father was a Tory minister under Brian Mulroney. And his wife Olivia Chow, is the much loved MP for Trinity-Spadina in Toronto. And his son now sits as a Toronto councillor.

Jack wrote a letter to the people of Canada just two days before he died. I haven't made it all the way through it yet because I know I'll break down in tears when I do. I'm a proud supporter of the NDP and I always will be, no matter what happens in the days and weeks ahead. I will never forget the electric campaigns with people waving orange pom-poms and chanting Jack's name. The wonderful "You Don't Know Jack" slogans when he first became leader.

But most of all, I will never forget the hope that in inspired in all of us. RIP Jack, we will miss you more than you know.

2011-07-20T21:54:00.001-05:00

Ok - I think I've now recovered from this year's Mariposa Folk Festival. It was really cool and I actually got to leave the tent this year! It had it's crazy making moments as usual but it went a lot smoother than normal. This was the first year with the co-coordinators so I'm slowly breaking 'em in, lol.

High points...

- Reid Jamieson not only wrote a song about folk festival volunteers but HE CAME AND SANG IT TO US!! He's set the bar pretty high for the rest of the performers. (And the song is downloadable from the main page of his website, you should check it out as it's a fantastic tune)
- Irish Mythen!!! Love her!! She brought me another box of cds on Sunday and couldn't leave the tent 'cause everyone wanted her to sign their cds. She's a wonderful, brassy character with a big Irish accent and her white cowboy hat and she spent the day cracking jokes. "Oh, the Welsh...the Irish who didn't know how to swim" was one of my faves. Along with the site of her giving Del Barber a neck massage while stating she was a little Thai woman in another life. Then she said to Del, "Shame you passed on the happy ending" to which he responded, "I don't recall saying no to *anything* " :)
- Danny Michel...always a good time when there's a cute guitar boy around. And I adore Danny to pieces. One of the nicest guys I know.
- Wendell Ferguson. Really, that's all you have to say. And there aren't even words for how much I love having Wendell around. He's a cornball and a delight which I mean in all the best and the worst ways possible, lol. When someone tells you a joke and says, "Oh, I've got a million of them"...Wendell really DOES. And he's never met a pun he didn't like. Last time he played here, I gave him a pin that said, 'Puns, never explain and never apologize'. He could just come hang out every year and I'd be good.

Now, every year I have a little musician crush. Please...like I'd do this without cute musician boys to flirt with?!?! This year, it was Yeshe. And I had this year's "moment of glory" and it involved him. :)

So, Yeshe is this artist who was born in Germany, lived in Africa for a while and now lives on the east coast of Australia. His accent is amazing and he's got incredible tats on his arms that tell a story in Maori. (Boy howdy, I'd read that story...lol.) He's got this intense, spiritual thing going on and was telling me about the instrument he plays from Zimbabwe, the Mbari. I'd seen them before but never heard someone play it and when it combines with his gravelly voice it's like music heaven. We talked about the role the Mbari plays in tribal life and it's spiritual significance. He's absolutely fascinating and definitely attractive.

So, after he drops off his cds I'm talking with the teens that work with me in the tent and we're pricing...thinking he's left. It's all, love his accent and damn, he's sexy talk...meanwhile he's behind us in the tshirt section where I'm sure he could hear all of it. C'est la vie! :)

I swear to the Goddess that the damn mosquitoes this year are some freakish genetically engineered breed that are impervious to insect spray. Next year I'm thinking mosquito netting over the whole tent.

Summerlicious post to follow!!

2011-03-24T18:18:00.005-05:00

So...I left here at 6:30pm on Sunday and headed to the bus station for the LOOOOONNNNNGGGG trip to New York. Got to Toronto around 9:45pm and the bus to New York was running late. We ended up with two buses, one to make all the stops in Ontario on the way to the border and the one that I was on that bypassed that and went straight to the border with a few stops in upstate New York. I was sitting behind a woman who is Canadian but now lives in Florida and a very...Brooklyn woman, lol. Across from us was a woman originally from Puerto Rico who now lives in NY and just got married to a man who lives in Cuba that she met while on vacation. She had a rather creepy porcelain doll that looked exactly like her and was dressed up in a big white dress that looked rather like a wedding dress. The two women in front of me had a lot of conversation about that...

Anyway. Went to sleep and didn't wake up until we hit the Peace Bridge sometime after 12:30am. Customs at the U.S. border is always a hassle but we had some rather hardass guys on this time and as soon as the one guy heard Cuba, all bets were off. Better yet, she told the border cop that she didn't have anything plant related in her bag...but he found a rose cutting that her Cuban boy had given her and figured if she's hiding that, she's hiding something else. So the other 15 people waited for her to clear customs. Nearly an hour. Then there was the 40+ minute wait in Buffalo for the U.S. driver to get there. We *finally* got back on the road at about 3:15am. This is where I go back to sleep, lol.

7:35am I wake up somewhere outside of Syracuse and it is SNOWING! Not a little...a LOT. I haven't even seen snow like this where I live in Canada! Driver says that it's snowing like this almost the whole way and there's not a plow or sander in sight. Yeah, were going to be really late. We didn't leave the rest stop in Bermington til nearly 9am with news of more inclement weather ahead. We got to NY in the 16-17 hour later range.

Still a little early to check in at the hostel so I stowed my bags and went to seek out some actual food. (Dude, I'm here celebrating the 25lbs I lost...I'm so not eating Burger King at 8am.) Thank god I brought travel portions of fibre mix with me. (I drank a lot of orange juice with fibre added this trip, heh.) I sought out Community Food & Juice which was up at 110th St. and ordered the omelette but they were out of spinach and mushrooms! So I was a little bad and had it with cheddar and smoked applewood bacon (but I only ate half of the omlette and only a little bit of the bacon). They use all local and organic produce and it came with this amazing hash they make with potatoes and carrots. I could have just eaten a plate of that it was so good. Plus, I had whole wheat bread with that and a cup of organic Earl Grey tea. Very yummy.

I went wandering Midtown and getting the hang of the subway. Wanted to figure out where the NBC building was for the next day. Did some window shopping and went to bed early all excited for what the next day would bring...

Dr. Oz!!!

~~~~~

Day Two

Set my alarm for 5am to get ready early and allow time for getting lost. Out the door at shortly after 6am to make my way to Rockafeller Center and figure out where I'm going once I get to the building. Since I'm a dork, I naturally had to be the first one there...assuming this would mean I'd have an amazing seat and you'd all have stories to hear about how I was on camera all the time and met Dr. Oz...all that sort of thing. Yeah, WRONG! I have a theory about that that I'll share later.
At any rate, I'm in line at 6:38am (once a very nice security guard directed me to the MSNBC Digital Cafe). I'm totally the only one in the building who doesn't work there. No one else shows up in line until nearly 7am. We wait, as the line gets longer, until about 8am. Then they check your confirmation letter and your ID and let you in to get your ticket and wristband. You are then advised to meet at the escalator downstairs at 9am. And they mean 9am - not 8:58 - 9am. If you try to come one minute earlier they will chase you off...and they mean it. :) They then take you up the escalator and sort you in another line according to the number on your ticket (which, btw, is just the order you get lined up in and does not really have any bearing on how good your seats are when you get to the studio). You wait there and then one of the young people that work there (likely interns) takes you back downstairs to wait by the elevators. You can't go up until they've finished rehearsing the show.

Let me take this moment to state that it is probably either really sad or slightly scary how much I actually know about Dr. Oz. To pass time, the intern played Dr. Oz trivia with us and I actually know more than *I* even thought I did. :-D

By the time our group goes up, nearly half the audience was already seated. I get seated about three rows up, in one of the middle sections and the end of an aisle (about 6 seats in which was too far away when Dr. Oz came up the aisle to say hi especially with the women next to me who jumped up right in front of me). I'm kind of beside a monitor wearing a red blouse with black stitching, as an FYI. The audience guy came by to find out who'd be interested in being Assistant of the Day and a few women in the rows ahead jumped on that. I'm sitting there going, "F*%k that", and in the first pause informed him that I traveled 17 hours by bus to be here JUST for this taping. Ha! Suck on that ladies, lol. The guy took my name and seat number and *everyone* in my section was saying that they were totally going to pick me for AOD and making plans to make sure their stuff was out of the way. Audience guy was emphasizing the importance of being excited and really into the segment...and who's going to be more excited than someone who came all the way down from Canada by the Greyhound?!?!

Then there's Richie Byrnes, the warmup comic who's really funny. He cracks up Dr. Oz several times during the taping by chiding him about stuff he does on the show. "I wonder what food he's going to take away from me THIS week." "I'm allowed to eat walnuts...walnuts is what I've gotten out of this show...I had a walnut parmesan last night." "Dr. Oz likes to soak his nuts...makes 'em nice and juicy. And you can freeze your nuts but it's tough to defrost them." He goes through the thing with applause and telling you not to read along with Dr. Oz when he reads from the teleprompter and emphatically says that, "If Dr. Oz is standing in front of you while doing a segment...LOOK INTERESTED!!" :-) Then he does the whole thing of getting people to cheer when he calls out states in the area if they're from there - New York *cheers*, New Jersey *cheers*, etc. Then he asks who's from out of the country so naturally I chime in and he busts out a couple of Canada jokes and we head into the taping shortly after that.

So, they did a segment on Alzheimer's that was really fascinating! Then they did one on improving memory...then it was time to reveal the AOD!! Which was....totally not me. And not only was it not me...they woman that came down didn't seem all that into the segment. To top it off...the segment was on things that cause foot pain. WTF?!?!?! I'm a shoe fitting specialist...I deal with this every day. That's MY TOPIC!! DAMMIT!!!!!

So, I sit through a couple of game segments and In Case You Missed It with my crushing disappointment about missing out on something that would have been so much fun and so cool to experience (especially when it's right up my alley) and wandered back to the hostel thinking I'd change and wander a bit but then decided to try and get standby tickets and go to another taping. Unsuccessful. But the very nice intern told me that you can only usually get standby tickets for the morning tapings.

Took a moment and made a decision. Still had stuff I wanted to see in NY and I really wanted to see another taping of the show before I left because after I shook off my blues over the first taping...it actually was really fun. You know, if it hadn't been for EVERYONE in my section going on about how they'd totally pick me and the audience guy saying that the fact I traveled that far by bus "really goes a long way", I wouldn't have been so surprised and disappointed over the fact that I wasn't. People blow up that balloon of expectation really far and it's always startling when it pops. I decided to go down to the Port Authority and change my ticket for Wednesday so I could leave at night instead of the morning and try the next day for standby tickets. Got that done, cancelled my hostel reservation in Toronto since I wouldn't be getting there now until Thursday morning and then went to forage for some dinner. Went to Macy's for a while, saw some of the north part of Central Park and did a lot of walking and window shopping before heading to bed early for the next day again.

Day Three

Repeat of the morning before. Got a standby ticket as the weather wasn't great and a lot of confirmed holders didn't show. First standby of the day but had to wait until 8:30am and come back to the MSNBC lounge to make sure they would seat standby ticket holders. Luckily they did. This time about 3/4 of the people were seated before us and I was in the very last section, second row from the top in the very outside aisle where I knew Dr. Oz would never come and I was right. He did great the people there in the front row but didn't come up the aisle so I struck out with the goal of mentioning the OZzomes and how well we've all done to him. I gave it my best shot but to no avail! It would have been great but it wasn't meant to be. But I have to say, Dr. Oz very funny and playful on the set. He was rocking out to a song that was playing in the studio at one point with his fist up in the air. Richie made a comment about the purple gloves (which did not make an appearance at either taping) and said that Dr. Oz is a Prince impersonator on weekends. "Wouldn't that be hilarious if it was true?", he said, and then lead the audience in a rendition of Purple Rain. So, 2nd show they taped a section called "5 Wrong Turns to Cancer", a segment on skin allergies and a game where the two ladies had to wear cheeseheads called "Choose That Cheese". And no AOD at this taping, so they must have shot 2 of those segments at another taping or it won't be part of the show at all. He had to do a couple of pickups from other shows where something must have been noticed upon editing and he did "In Case You Missed It". And for the record...I'm wearing a fuschia v-neck tshirt, lol.

Oh - forgot to share my theory that I mentioned in the blog! It's a viewpoint thing in regards to the seating at the Dr. Oz taping (and a few other things). When I go places by myself I view it as being independent and too impatient to deal with various people's plans...I now think that people at these places say, "Oh, look, here's a single woman with no friends....is there a corner we can stick her in?"

I was going to do Top of the Rock after the taping and went to Starbucks to get a skinny vanilla latte to take up and drink while enjoying the view but Betty, the very friendly woman who works there, told me there was 0 visability right then. Having been inside all morning I had no idea what it was even doing outside. But she and I chatted for likely a good 10 minutes about a whole lot of stuff and then I ventured outside in search of food. My original plan had been taping, Top of the Rock, Museum of Natural History and Central Park. That changed in a hurry as soon as I stepped outside into the rain/slush that was coming down. And it was COLD. So I headed down to Times Square and found the TKTS booth to see what discounted Broadway plays they had for the afternoon matinee. Got 1/2 ticket to "Anything Goes" with Sutton Foster and Joel Grey at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. (For those who don't know, it's a Cole Porter musical. And if you don't know who Cole Porter is...you should be dragged out into the street and shot. Kidding! Mostly...)

The show was *amazing* and it was a thrill to see Joel Grey onstage. A much better way to spend an afternoon than out in that miserable weather. They got a well deserved standing ovation. Afterwards, I went up to see Trader Joe's at 72nd and Broadway. Bought some of the organic popcorn with olive oil that Dr. Oz had on his show (I'm munching on it now and it's really good), some healthy fig cereal bars called "This Fig Walked Into a Bar", and some organic dark chocolate with almonds. I *love* this place...wish we had one here! Then I went a couple doors down and got a fantastic slice on NY pizza (hey, I might be on a weight loss kick but with all the walking I'm doing, did you *really* think I'd pass on a slice of great NY pizza??)

I met so many people while in New York...the really great people who work at Rockafeller Center, Betty at Top of the Rock, a lot of great people in line at Dr. Oz, all the random New Yorkers I've talked to on the subway and while standing in various lines around the city (when I'm excited I'm chatty, I can't help it. It's weird though 'cause I don't normally talk that much.)

I've discovered a few things while in the Big Apple. Midtown has a lot of rather attractive, friendly and extremely helpful police officers. And, it seems that pedestrian cross signals are completely optional. More like a suggestion than an actual rule. Seriously, people will walk right out in front of taxis and whatnot, against the light and barely even get honked at. Around here even if you cross with the light you take your life in your own hands as no one pays much heed to pedestrians.

Went a little early to the Port Authority as Mother Nature has once again decided to throw what is much like hail, down upon New York. Wanted to get down to the subway with my bags before it's too slippery. Sat in a cafe for a little while updating my travel journal until this young British couple got into an argument and he threw her yogurt across the room. Yeah, my cue to leave and wait elsewhere for the bus. Bus came at 10:30 and this time the weather only caused us to be 2 hours late getting to Toronto. So, it was only 13 hours on the bus this time. But I got in my visit to The Healthy Butcher (though no bison this time of year and it'll be 3 weeks until they get Elk), David's Tea and a quick trip to Lush (because it would be 10 kinds of wrong to go to Queen St. and not visit Lush). Then I got a coffee and a 6" sub and heading to the bus station to go home.

It was bittersweet leaving New York. I had such a fabulous time and met so many great people (I missed one though, lol) that I really didn't want to leave!! On the other hand, it'll be really, really nice to sleep in my own bed. Even though I have to go back to work tomorrow and back to my mundane life. No more tv show tapings and Broadway shows, hanging out in Times Square, taking in the lights and sights of the city...I'm going to miss it. But I don't think I'm done with New York yet. I think future plans are already in the making...

2011-02-21T20:36:00.002-05:00

So, whilst working on my genealogy this week I found out that I have a distant cousin who is apparently a ghost in Oakville. Seriously! Has to be one of the absolutely coolest things I've found in my genealogy. :)

My 1st cousin 7x removed Rachel Silverthorn is said to be one of the ghosts haunting Erchless Estate in Oakville. I haven't found out much about it yet but it's mentioned online that she dropped dead one day at the garden gate and has haunted the place since. My ancestors in that line were United Empire Loyalists who had a grist mill on the majority of what is now Etobicoke. Rachel married Colonel William Chisholm who was the founder of Oakville (a place I lived in for three years and had no clue that part of the Oakville Museum was in a place my cousin used to live in!)

I must go and say hello to her one of these days. :) The times that I have actually SEEN spirits have been amazing enough...but even the chance to see one that you are related to?!?! I could *never* pass that up.

~~~~~

Still carrying on with 11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It. Some days are harder to fight the temptation though! Gave in and had a good old fish and chip dinner on Friday that was a little high on the fat and calorie scale (but it was DAMN GOOD!!) I'm holding steady as of this morning but hopefully I'll be down a little by Wednesday when I have progress check.

My brother was over for dinner talking all about that damned Paleo diet book. He's now talking about how bread and pasta cause arthritis. *sigh* He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Hello? You NEED whole grains in your diet. Anyone worth a hill of beans in the nutrition or medical field will tell you that you need grains and fibre for TONS of reasons (especially for heart health).

Still making plans for NY!! Can't wait to try out the restaurant that Dr. Oz mentioned on his show, Castle 79. Yes, I am going to a vegan restaurant...which is a sentence I never thought I would utter in my entire life. See what that man has turned me into? ;-)

2011-02-15T12:31:00.002-05:00

So far so good! I'm down over 15 lbs so far with Dr. Oz's 11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It. Some days are a real push to get in that cardio!

Next week I'm going to try out some interval cardio classes at the gym and see how they go just to change it up. I really want to make it to my 1st goal before I head to NY at the end of March. Just got tickets for Dr. Oz a couple of minutes ago so it's official!! I'm goin' to NY!!! Maybe I'll get to be assistant of the day. That always looks like fun. :-)

I may have to sew myself something new to wear! Right now though, it's hard to know what size to even make anything in! I doubt I'm going to have enough cash to go out and buy something before I head to NY. Unless I win the lottery before then, lol. Hours are scarce at the store and I haven't had a raise under the new manager which rather sucks. The former manager was always insistent that since I was full-time, I be paid at least slightly more than those hired for part-time. But that's gone the way of the dodo.

I'm so tired of retail but there aren't a lot of jobs to choose from in this town. The job at the festival office (that I waited around for nearly 4 years to open and desperately wanted...to the point of passing up other opportunities in hopes that I would get it), I did not even get interviewed for. Despite being uber-involved in the festival for years. I really, really wanted it and didn't even have the chance to fight for it. Not that I'm bitter or anything, lol. But whatever.

I'd love to go back to school but how the hell could I ever afford to on what I make when I can barely keep up with the bills? But screw it - I'm going to NY and I'm going to have some damn fun because I deserve it. Plus I can do it without spending a lot since I stay at the hostel and I don't do a lot of "touristy" stuff. I just like hanging out in places, taking photos and the like. Think I'll need to take the digital *and* the film camera to Manhattan. :-)

2011-01-12T01:45:00.002-05:00

This is actually the end of the 8th day that I've been following the gospel of Dr. Oz for his 11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It. So far so good! Tomorrow is progress day on the site. I had no idea that there was a webcast tonight while I was at dinner and will have to miss the one on Thursday too (though I'd rather be here and watch that then go to my meeting, lol)

Speaking of dinner...it was the staff dinner out and they went Italian, which I have not problem with, but I went through in my head my Do's and Don'ts that Dr. Oz and Dr. Mike have for eating out. Had to really read the menu more than usual and settled on the Basil Pesto Fusilli with pine nuts - substituted whole wheat pasta for the white and added the chicken breast for the lean protein. It was SO good too. I had eaten an apple before going to make sure I did not overindulge like crazy and ate the proper portion and had the server pack up the rest. Didn't give into temptation when the girls were eating that artery clogging garlic bread and cheese either. BUT...I left myself a good 1000 calories for going out tonight so I did indulge in dessert since I've been a very good girl all week. I had a wonderful little piece of baklava and a coffee (no sugar and just a bit of 2% milk instead of cream).

We'll see what happens tomorrow with check-in but it's looking like a really good start. Hopefully I can keep it up for the whole program. I'm even thinking about heading down to NY for a taping the ending week of the plan. Dr. Oz is just so much fun to watch, so informative and incredibly inspirational. I hope he and Dr. Mike know just how much we appreciate everything they do for so many people and they deserve to be celebrated for it.

2011-01-09T08:23:00.002-05:00

Day 6 of 11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It!! So, I haven't had a Diet Coke since Wednesday night. Yesterday I could have killed for one but I had a ginger ale as a substitute and had a coffee yesterday afternoon to kill the caffeine headache (with just a little vanilla for sweetness and some almond milk in it).

Bought a digital scale for home so I can kind of monitor my weight a little since I sometimes forget to do that at the gym. Though I might end up taking this back since it's a pain...you have to tap around on it to turn it on which makes me a little batty. But I've been to the gym everyday for the past week and today will be working out at home since buses don't run today. Yesterday I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and a total of 24 minutes on the treadmill (varying incline and speed). Then walked to the grocery store and walked home instead of waiting for the bus. According to my new scale, I am now at 228.6 which means I've lost almost 2 lbs! And there's still 4 days before my progress check at ShareCare.

2011-01-05T21:18:00.004-05:00

We are now into day 3 of the 11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It challenge that Dr. Oz started Monday. Keeping up with the 30 minutes of exercise per day and tracking my food in a notebook since I still haven't gotten my confirmation email for the site. I did get an email for a fitness assessment and did that so I've got a start. Went to the health food store and finally tracked down the Inca Peanuts that he mentioned on the show (they call them Jungle Peanuts here hence the difficulty finding them) so my snack food at work now is the peanuts and pumpkin seeds. I might add some dehydrated fruit to that next week.

Took my waist measurement last night AND....I've made it to the magical 35" number!! Wooohoo! :) Now the bottom half has to play catch up. But if I do more focus on muscle building at the gym for my legs maybe it will.

Guess that's all I have on that right now...until I can get going on the challenge site!

2011-01-04T16:34:00.002-05:00

So, I am totally on the Dr. Oz bandwagon (I was on it early as I bought You: The Owner's Manual when it first came out but then for some reason I kind of got off the bandwagon for a while...but I am totally back on it now...lol).

Babbling. :) Anyway, I've been working out at the gym and losing a lot of weight so far (I am down from 270 lbs to 227 lbs) and am about halfway to my first weight loss goal. I've been watching The Dr. Oz Show for a while now (in addition to my other favourite show, The Healthy Gourmet) and implementing a lot of stuff that he's been talking about into my routine.

And now...he is introducing...11 Weeks To Move It And Lose It.

So, he launched in on his website yesterday but it's been a slow registration process (I'm still waiting for my confirmation email to get on the site. We're at 24hrs + and counting). In the meantime, I am referring back to what the trainer at the gym outlined for me when I joined and recording my food, water and exercise in a book and making sure I stay within my calorie range. I did the exercise circuit yesterday that Dr. Oz and the Nike trainer had on the show for 30 minutes plus an additional 10 minutes on the Gazelle. Today I did a 30 minute weight circuit at the gym plus an additional 10 minutes on the elliptical.

In two weeks, I'm planning on joining a yoga class. I was going to do it starting tonight but then next week is the staff dinner and I'd rather start it and stay with it than start and stop and go back. I figure that yoga will add a new dimension to my fitness regime and change it up, use different muscles and the like.

I've got a Twitter buddy so far and made a Twitter list for tracking so as soon as I can get into the challenge website, I should be set to go! I have hopes that I can get to my goal weight/size by my birthday (April 2nd) which is just shortly after the end of the 11 weeks in the challenge. I want to get down to about 185 lbs and a size 16 as my first goal and we'll see where we go once I get there.

Brace yourself for a lot of health and wellness talk over the next few weeks.

2010-12-24T21:53:00.001-05:00

Wrote this last night...I'm easily amused. The staff was singing it all day, I'm surprised we didn't scare everyone off, lol.

The Becker Shoes 12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, two
Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, three winter
boots, two Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, four fuzzy
slippers, three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a
shoe

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, FIVE SMARTWOOL
SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and
a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, six gift
cards, FIVE SMARTWOOL SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter
boots, two Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, seven Tana
products, six gift cards, FIVE SMARTWOOL SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers,
three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eight leather
purses, seven Tana products, six gift cards, FIVE SMARTWOOL
SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and
a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, nine pairs of
gloves, eight leather purses, seven Tana products, six gift cards,
FIVE SMARTWOOL SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter boots, two
Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, ten coloured
watches, nine pairs of gloves, eight leather purses, seven Tana
products, six gift cards, FIVE SMARTWOOL SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers,
three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven
Switch Flops, ten coloured watches, nine pairs of gloves, eight
leather purses, seven Tana products, six gift cards, FIVE SMARTWOOL
SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter boots, two Birkenstocks and
a Quick Snap on a shoe

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, twelve pairs
of Bogs, eleven Switch Flops, ten coloured watches, nine pairs of
gloves, eight leather purses, seven Tana products, six gift cards,
FIVE SMARTWOOL SOCKS....four fuzzy slippers, three winter boots, two
Birkenstocks and a Quick Snap on a shoe

Feel free to go back to what you were doing now. ;-)

2010-12-05T13:16:00.002-05:00

So, took my new measurements today and apparently I'm doing something right as I've lost another 2 inches off my waist and a little over an inch from the hips. Think I'm down a full pant size now which is awesome and might mean a bit less alterations when I go shopping. :)

Taking it to the next level now with eating better. Spent a fair bit at the health food store in picking up items like chia seed, soya protein powder, psyllium and whatnot. I'm taking some of the advice from Dr. Oz (who I've loved since way before he was on tv...I've had You: The Owner's Manual since it came out). I bought a bamboo steamer this week, so I'm going to work on eating more fish.

Breakfast today was oat-based cereal, flax bread with peanut butter and probiotic yoghurt with a cup of tea. Chicken and little pasta for lunch. Cup of white tea with a little more yoghurt for a snack. Dinner will be penne with chicken, brocolli and sundried tomato.

Ongoing process! :)

2010-07-18T21:36:00.003-05:00

So, apparently somebody actually read my blog who's not a spammer. Go figure. :) I've been a very bad blogger in recent months, a lot of that due to work and a lot more due to Mariposa organizing. And then there's that trying to have a life thing, lol.

The festival is over for another year - the 50th anniversary went by like a shot. It was so busy inside the Emporium this year that I actually did not manage to get out to hear any music, aside from the one song by The Breakmen I heard at the beer tent when I went out for food. They were awesome, btw. Bought the cd based on that one song...and I hardly ever do that. It was disappointing that I have pimped Fordy for years and couldn't see him play this year. Really wanted to catch at least a little of a workshop with him but just couldn't manage it.

Fordy let me in on a little tidbit of info though for all the little Fruheads out there (and I know you are out there, lol). Mike and Murray are working on a cd based on one of the Fruvous-based bands - The Cocksure Lads. Billed as "the best British Invasion band to never make it across the pond".

I mentioned that it should be told that the tapes were found behind the wallboards of a house that was recently torn down and that these previously unreleased tapes are just now seeing the light of day. We'll work on the backstory. :)

The rest of the weekend is kind of massive sleep-deprived blur. I've still got piles of paperwork to finish and my report to do. Eeep. Hopefully I can make a dent in the post-apocalypse around here on Tuesday when I have the day off. Good news is, I'm going to have help for next year because I really can't do it all by myself anymore, it's gotten too crazy. Looks like the tent will have three coordinators next year so I might actually get out of the tent...and perhaps not have to wait like, five hours to go to the facilities.

I keep remembering that it's Chris Lusty who volunteered me for this job. I'm not going to forget about that Lusty...ever. ;-) Everybody just kept coming up to me saying, "I hear your running the Emporium next year". Interesting year. I do like taking care of the Emporium but I also kinda miss the days when I actually got to see some of the performers play, especially the workshops. It sucks a little being stuck in a hot, humid tent all weekend.

In other news...Green Earth Organics sent me an email on the day that I was going to order my new bin that Orillia has been dropped for deliveries. Massively inconvenient and I've no idea what to do with these blasted bins that they apparently aren't coming to pick up. The email was rather blunt and lacking in information too. Then the woman I talked to on the phone for information said she'd call me back and didn't bother. Nice way to run a business.

But anyway...trying to decide what priority to put stuff in regarding money this fall. I was to take the Arts Administration class at Georgian's Continuing Education. I'd also like to take Tai Chi at the place across the street from work and maybe take tap dancing lessons. Hey, I'm diverse ok?

Think that's all I've got right now. More later folks!

2010-01-30T11:23:00.000-05:00

Was in Toronto yesterday for Winterlicious and enjoyed it immensely! If you don't know what Winterlicious is...it's when all the restaurants that you could never afford to eat in normally, offer prix five menus for a low price. There were some very intriguing menus too.

I had to take advantage of the opportunity to have lunch at Canoe. Yeah, everything they say about Canoe is totally true. Fabulous view from the 54th floor of the TD Building, the staff is amazing...and the food was as close to perfection as you can get. And I HAVE to talk about the food.... :)

For a starter I had the Warm Northern Woods Mushroom & Smoked Chicken Tartlette, Winter Root Crudite, Pumpkin Seeds & Flax. Gorgeous - mushrooms and smoked chicken on flaky pastry on a bed of mixed greens. Normally, I loathe dressing of any kind on my greens but this had a nice, almost tart vinaigrette that blended so well with the rest of the dish. While waiting for the main, I had a non-alcoholic cockail called a Stojito - white cranberry juice and mint syrup topped with soda and shaved coconut. Wowza...really, really good. For the main, I had Goat Cheese Tortellini with Broccoli Pesto, Rocket & Preserved Tomatoes. Rich, creamy...likely one of the best pasta dishes I've had in my life. Now, let's talk about that dessert. :) Warm Nova Scotia Gingerbread with Lemon Curd and Sour Cream Gelato. Warm, sweet and spicy gingerbread with a light cookie on top with that sweet and slightly tart lemon curd combined with the creamy and tart gelato was so good, I could have licked the plate. I thought about it too, lol.

Kudos to everyone at Canoe for such amazing service. I'd go back without a moments hesitation...and eat everything on the menu.

Dinner at the Rosedale Diner was good as well. Though the starter was underwhelming - Smoked Wild Boar & Spicy Chocolate Crostini, Carmelized Onions. Ok - spicy might be an understatement. I would have liked to have been able to taste the meat but my mouth was burning. However when I got the main, all was forgiven. Poutine au Canard. Yes, duck poutine. And it was amazing. Let's get it out in the open, I've never had poutine before. Everyone always says it's good but to me it looks like a heart attack on a plate. But after having the poutine at Rosedale...who the hell cares. Delicious shoestring fries in a hot, rich gravy and incredibly creamy and delicious cheese with big pieces of moist duck confit. Yeah, tell me I won't be having this again when I'm in Toronto. (Their regular menu isn't too badly priced actually). For dessert, Madagascar Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee which was just this side of heaven.

Plus, I had some fabulous dinner conversation with Babs from Strombo Show chat fame. :) After dinner, I wandered down to city hall at her recommendation and caught the tail end of the fireworks, watched the skaters and the things shooting fire for a bit until I started getting really cold, did some window shopping while in search of a hot cuppa tea, listened to a really good drumming busker for a while and then settled in a the bus station for the last little bit and read.

Really good day. But I wish I'd brought an order of that poutine home. :-D

2010-01-05T13:51:00.000-05:00

I know...I know...bad blogger. I really haven't had anything to write about recently. Most of my thoughts fit in a Tweet lately, lol. It's winter and it's cold so I'm mostly playing catchup.

Had a thought last night that I'd love to see Being Erica flashback and have her run into Strombo as a Much VJ. Just 'cause it'd be cool and really funny. :) I'd also like a crossover episode between The Forgotten, Criminal Minds and CSI: NY. The Forgotten Network starts indentifying a John/Jane Doe only to find out it connects to a serial killer the CM team is investigating. They track down the killer who then flees to NY where they enlist Mac's help in bringing him to justice. OR...we could just have a crossover between The Forgotten and CSI: NY. Alex meets Stella at a party and tells her about the work he does. She tells him about the unidentified street kid she and Mac worked back in season one and the network takes up the case.

Still working for an Aha! moment on my family tree. I'm at a plateau and can't seem to find that little bit of info that pushes me to the next level. My one branch is really causing me issues. Apparently my Snider relatives have Dutch ancestry but I can't even find my info on my 3x great-grandfather.

My 3x Great-Grandfather was John William Snider. Based on various information sources, I have estimated his date of birth as 7 Oct 1876 in Reach Township, Ontario, Canada though his marriage registration puts his year of birth as 1872. His parents names were Alfred Snider and Jane Mills both born in Quebec, Canada. I believe that they had five other children. Emma/Emeline Snider born Jul 1866 in Reach Twp. She married Alfred Ball 25 Apr 1906 in Orillia, Simcoe County,Ontario, Canada. George Snider born abt 1865, Charles Snider born abt 1870, Alida/Lydia Snider born abt 1859 and Edwin Snider born abt 1866 - all in Ontario. I have them on the 1861 and 1871 Census of Canada in Reach Township and their ancestry is listed as Dutch.

John William Snider married Bertha Jane Higgerson 15 Oct 1902 at St. James Church in Orillia, Ontario. She took the name Bertha Louise Higgerson on her marriage certificate, and when she died 11 Jul 1907 she was listed as Alberta/Albertha Louise Snider nee: Higgerson. She was born 9 Oct 1879 so was just shy of her 23rd birthday. They had one child, my grandmother Alberta Louise Helen Snider born 20 May 1907.

I cannot find John on any of the census records, I can only find the family before he was born. I cannot find him on any census after the death of his wife either. I can find her on the 1901 census before they were married - living with her parents Hiram Higgerson (born Higginson) and Elizabeth Higgerson nee: Baker. After the death of her mother, my grandmother Alberta is on the 1911 census living in Orillia
with her aunt Evelyn Borman nee: Higgerson and her husband William John Borman (who was oddly enough first married to Evelyn's sister Charlotte before she died at age 19 after the birth of their son. He died in WW1 in Belgium.)

Not only can I find no trace of what happened to John after the death of his wife...I can literally find no trace of either of them physically. John bought a plot in the St. James cemetery in 1907, the year his wife died and there is no one buried there. I know he purchased it because I have the original purchase receipt for the amount of $10 that has been passed through the family and not a single
person seems to have looked into it. According to the cemetery, the four person plot is still empty. Which makes one wonder...who buys a plot the year a loved one passes and yet never uses it? I've contacted the church and every funeral home that was operating at the time and no one can find any information on where Bertha might have been buried. (The church has a burial record for her but it does not indicate where she was buried.) Did my ancestor simply leave and abandon his daughter or did something happen to him?

Ah...the joys of genealogy...

2009-10-28T10:29:00.003-05:00

I am on total dance show overload this year. This is the first year I'm watching Dancing With the Stars and that is only due to the combined lure of Donny Osmond and Mark Dacascos aka The Chairman (or the Cha-Cha-Chairman, lol). Plus So You Think You Can Dance Canada has just finished it's run and then there's the American version of the show. So Mon-Thurs dance shows. Really? I enjoyed SYTYCD US more when it wasn't competing with EVERYTHING!

Hopefully next year I can go back to ignoring DWTS. ;-)

I've got to say though that I was really disappointed with SYTYCD Canada this year. There weren't many routines that made hang on the edge of my seat watching raptly. The only routines that I can honestly even say I remember are the ones that Emmanuel and Kim did together - like the magic act routine. That was awesome and danced incredibly well. Two of the absolute best dancers this season who both got sent home before the final four. Based on who did end up in the finale...I think there are too many teenagers voting for cuteness on this show and not for the quality of the dance. Based on the entire season, my final four would have been Emmanuel, Jayme Rae, Everett, and Kim. I still can't believe that Mighty Mouse won. She's a good dancer but the best of the whole season? I didn't see much out of her that was....authentic...for most of the dances she did.

Most of the whole season was just, forgettable. Not like season one that gave us Nico and Allie who were brilliant and authentic in absolutely everything they did. Allie was cute as a button too but when she danced there was a real passion there that I don't get at all out of Mighty Mouse...ummm...Tara Jean.

Whatever, goes hand in hand with Canada's lack of support for talented musicians I suppose. Go for the flash and not for the substance. Good thing for Nico that he has talent AND cuteness.

Hopefully I'll get better from the US version this year. The crop of talent looks promising - I'm really rooting for that insanely talented krumper Russell as well as Bianca and Phillip (yay tappers!!!), Ellenore and Ryan. Those are the early favourites though I haven't watched last night's show yet. Always open to change. I just hope I get more oommph out of them than I've had from others lately.

2009-10-01T20:39:00.003-05:00

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

So, what did I do with the portion of my vacation that I spent in Toronto you might ask? Weeellll...got up and caught the bus to the Big Smoke on tuesday morning and since check in time at the hostel is 4pm I decided to do my first batch of looking for my Baker ancestors at the Anglican diocese archive across the street first. They had pulled the relevant material for me so I sat down and spent a couple of hours looking through the Markham baptisms, marriages and deaths. And what did I find?

Bupkiss. Nada. Running out of ways to find where in England these people came from. *sigh*

I still had time before check-in and decided to go and have dinner and headed for Shopsy's which is my most visited spot in the city due to good food and great location for me. And I get to the corner of Yonge Street only to find it GONE!!! Dude, this is a landmark! Where the hell am I going to eat breakfast? I don't want to travel blocks for reasonably price eggs and bac-y. WTH?!?!?!!?

But at this moment...I'm hungry so I headed for The Old Spaghetti Factory down on the Esplanade instead. Had a nice chicken parm with mushroom and tarragon whole wheat spaghetti, the usual salad with no dressing, sourdough bread and a cuppa coffee with some chocolate ice cream for dessert. Then off to the hostel, make bed, drop off stuff and decide what to do with my evening. I had contemplated going to a movie but nothing's playing that really floats my boat. Decided to head up to Bloor and locate the Toronto Reference Library for the research tomorrow and then head down and look around in Sonic Boom for a bit and see what music there was to be had. Nothing that really jumped up and said, "take me home!" though that I saw so I then decided to go book shopping as I'm desperately in need of something to read. My copy of "The Family" has been on backorder since August but Tuesday night I wanted something more fun than stories about the misbehaving members of the American right-wing. Off I went to The World's Biggest Bookstore (aka Geek Disneyland) in search of Madeline Albright's book, "Read My Pins: Stories From A Diplomat's Jewel Box" that Rachel Maddow was talking about. Didn't find that but then decided to look instead for Marie Osmond's new book, "Might As Well Laugh About It Now" which looked like a fun read. Can you believe that TWBB was out of it?? So they checked and the Chapters over by Queen and John had one so off I went again, down on the subway and then over on the streetcar...managed to get there about 20 minutes before closing and picked up Marie's book. Was REALLY tempted to pick up Leonard Mlodinow's book "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives" but thought I'd better hold off for now.

I was getting fairly tired at this point so I headed back to the hostel to get ready for bed, get organized for the morning and read for a while.

Wednesday morning I went in search of a new breakfast place and discovered that there is now a Wimpy's at Church and Dundas!! I discovered Wimpy's when I went to Kitchener to see The Osmonds earlier this year. Crisis averted. :)

Headed up to the library and spent hours going over city directories, books about Markham, cemetery records and the online resources like the newspaper archives. And what did I find about my Baker ancestors. You guessed it...

Bupkiss. Nada. (Though I did find some entries for my Baldry/Bauldry line.)

At this poing I had to rush to get down to the CBC studio for the taping of The Hour. I was getting hungry but didn't really have time to grab food but luckily there's this thing I didn't know about where on Wednesdays at the Bloor subway station, Pizza Pizza has tables selling squares for $1!! GENIUS!! (It's to benefit the United Way too!) I am now happily munching away on the way to the studio...would have liked time to to back to the hostel and change and pretty myself up but I'm running late as it is.

When I finally make it, it's about five minutes prior to the ticket "booth" to open. I'm fairly far back in line this time around but I've been front row often enough. Guests are hockey players that are being taught to figure skate for a CBC reality show and "The Anti-Gore". Little disappointed though 'cause some people in line said that Michael Moore was on the show. They didn't realize that that interview had been a pre-tape. Bummer. But it's still cool seeing Strombo do his thing. He's doing his cold opens from the hall now though. And they've graduated to an actual green screen that descends from the ceiling. Plus they don't give the same fire safety talk that I usually hear. No colour coded elevators and stairs. Now the stairs (or Stair as they apparently say) have a picture of a stickman running down stairs. Some of them, we're told, have the stickman with his hair on fire. *g* Plus, they've done away with the 'cross the street when you exit the building, don't get his by a car 'cause that would suck...to escape the fire and then get hit by a car while crossing the street' jokes.

After the show I went up to G and asked about the radio show. He tells me that he pulled it off the air BUT...he's going to have an announcement coming up about a new show. A nation-wide one. It's not going back to live though (though apparently it will *seem* live). And a voice from the past may be joining this new show. Someone fans of the old talk format might have missed. G is saying it might be starting first week on November so hopefully we'll here definitive news soon!

Also, G mentioned after the show wrapped that he was "doing a thing" with Anthony Zuiker the same night!!

For anyone who doesn't know the name - he's the creator of the CSI shows (though I gave up the original when Bill Petersen left, I still adore CSI: NY) so I decide to head up to it. Went to the hostel to drop my research notes off and grabbed a chicken burger and headed up to the Indigo books at Yonge and Bloor.

Strombo interview Anthony about his book, "Level 26" which is a really dark sounding book with an interesting concept. And he talked a lot about his career and the creative process behind CSI. Very interesting. Would have stayed around to shoot the s&#t with G but he had a bevy around him and I was still really hungry. Headed to Wimpy's again for a good hot turkey sandwich.

It was about 9pm at this point and I decided to do a little more work on an errand I call Project Peanut Butter. I have a deep and long lasting love for Jif peanut butter (choosy moms chose Jif, after all). But every place around here where I have bought it previously no longer carries it. So I turned to the trusty internet machine and found a thread on Chowhound that led me to believe that Longo's carried it. Earlier in the day, I had checked the two downtown locations for Longo's and found that neither had it. So I started scouring convenience stores and foun 1 jar of creamy and 2 jars of crunchy at one on Dundas between Church and Jarvis. 3 small jars is a good start. Head back to the hostel with my booty to get the rest of my stuff packed up and read before bed.

Now, if you travel a lot and stay in hostels like I do, eventually you end up sharing a room with a crazy person. The last crazy person I had was the night before my Stephen Fearing instore when I came up to see his Hugh's Room show. She yelled all night before I lost it and told her to shut the *bleep* up so that I could get some sleep. Last night (this morning really) the woman on the bottom bunk below me tossed and turned on her creaky bed all night, kicked my bed every few minutes and got up about every 10-15 minutes to go to the bathroom. This went on from 2am to 5am when she suddenly jumped out of bed, threw her clothes on and left the room. Then she came back in the room. Then she came back in the room and sat on her bed and packed. Being tired, I made a comment under my breath about being able to sleep now. She accused ME of keeping her awake by snoring! Then she called me a bitch and left the room again.

Ok - let me say a couple of things....

1) I've been staying in hostels for somewhere around 10 years and I have never once had anyone make mention of me snoring or making ANYONE unable to sleep.

2) I'm pretty sure that you have to actually BE ASLEEP to be snoring. (And btw - when I got up on Tuesday morning she was fast asleep so...???)

3) Even in the off-chance that I WAS snoring - get over it. It's a dorm room in a hostel. I've shared a room with snorers before and if they keep you awake, bring earplugs. I'm kept awake by people turning lights on and off and I bring a sleep mask. I don't bitch and complain about it. If you can't take the such hardships then you should have booked a hotel room a private room in the hostel so as not to have to mix with the rest of us.

4) A good way to make yourself unwelcome at a hostel is to piss off a regular that the desk staff knows. Needless to say I made mention of it at check-out.

So I was fairly pissed off at around 5am and knew there wasn't a hope in hell I was going to go back to sleep so I figured, screw it. I got my stuff and left a few hours earlier than I had intended. Made the walk to the bus station, stopped at Tim Horton's near Dundas Square for an Earl Grey tea and some timbits for the bus ride and checked at the Mac's near the station and scored three more jars of Jif! So at least Project Peanut Butter was successful! :)

Got home fairly early, did some errands (as no food in the house) and am now really, really tired since I've had hardly any sleep in the last day or so. Think I'm heading for bed...

2009-09-22T11:01:00.002-05:00

So...computer has to go back to the shop this afternoon for the third time (don't ask, lol) due to a driver issue with the cd/dvd burner they just replaced. HOPEFULLY, this will be the last time and I can get back to my normal day-to-day computer use, especially since next week is my vacation and I want to do some genealogical research. I'll be heading to Toronto early next week so that I can do library research in past issues of the Toronto newspapers as well as checking baptismal records at the Anglican church. Trying to take at least one branch back to the specifics in England.

I'll get to more stuff later when the computer is home to stay!

2009-08-26T10:13:00.002-05:00

I was going to do a real blog post on the weekend but unfortunately my computer decided not to cooperate with my plans. Everything is on hold until my computer is fixed now and I'll be unreachable by email and not online now until this is done as well.

I'll be glued to SYTYCD Canada, finishing adding recipes to my cookbook and likely updating my Book of Shadows and my grimoire in the meantime. Might do some scrapbooking too. Maybe I'll even get some work done on the book I'm writing that I might just finish by the time I die, lol. Hopefully I'll be back online in a couple of weeks.

Try not to miss me too much in the meantime. ;-)

2009-07-20T19:16:00.002-05:00

"Two goats were in the parade and they behaved admirably..."

Yes - I finally have time to blog again. The festival is done for another year, reports are in, paperwork is done and my life is my own...until we start planning for next year's festival. And being that it's Mariposa's 50th anniversary, it should be quite the party. Especially if certain plans work out the way I hope they will. (And if they do, there could be a very cool reunion happening. Maybe more.)

Sales were down a bit this year from previous years - no massive standout in the artists. Not sure if it was the lineup or the way the lineup was utilized but no huge rushes on product after the workshops like usual. You can never predict what's going to break. My personal fave this year? Prosad and his wicked combination of sitar music, western beats and world music. He calls it Trance Sitar and it's amazing! (www.trancesitar.com) He's cute too. :)

Last week was just about all I could take at work with the "citidiots" up to their million dollar cottages to annoy us. Plus, it's been like 2 weeks since I had an actual day off from one kind of work or another. Yesterday I did NOTHING! Read, made pizza and just generally goofed off. Did a little genealogy and some more today. Finally had a chance to get to the library to do some more research and hit the gym (since it's been about three weeks since I've had time). That's where the quote at the top came from - story from 1912 in the Orillia paper about the Orange Lodge parade in celebration of the "twelfth". Which, I don't know what that means yet but that's on the list of things I need to put into context.

I absolutely LOVE old newspapers. I want a microfilm machine so that I can peruse old papers at my leisure. The just don't write like this anymore - this article is a prime example --

NOT A QUIET WEDDING // Nor a pretty one either

The Packet has long been looking for a wedding which was neither "quiet" nor "pretty", and the long looked for has come at last. Some people would not undertake to get married if they thought it would result in putting six men in the hospital and five in the gaol, but that such seems to have been the cost of a wedding that took place at Oshawa last week. Here are the particulars as given by the Reformer.

It is alleged that Storieville was the scene of a bloody riot last Saturday night, when fifty or sixty Poles were engaged in a pitched battle between Roman Catholics and Greek Catholics. The weapons used were knives, plates, beer bottles and empty kegs. Some misunderstanding arising at the wedding seems to be the occassion of the trouble. Just as the dance was in full swing, somebody turned out the gas, it was then the trouble began. A severe skirmish that lasted over an hour ensued, during which time a fair representation of the massacre of Rome was staged. Men were slashed in every conceivable way. An alarm was sent to the police and four constables in charge of the chief soon brought the battle to an end. The casualty was six men placed in the hospital who received attention from Dr. Ford. He stayed with them till six in the morning, and with the assistance of the Superintendent of the hospital and four nurses, endeavoured to bind up their wounds. The amount of sewing necessary made the operating room resemble a tailor shop. One man had to have fourteen stitches taken to repair his wounds. Another received a bad cut in the abdomen an eighth of an inch from his heart. The room in the hospital where the victims of the riot were taken resembled a tent bospital on a battle field. Five more of the rioters were placed in the lock-up, and appeared before Mayor Gibson on a charge of riot on Monday morning and were remanded for three days. In the room where the fight took place, great pools of blood remained on the floor and the blood on the snow gave evidence that the fighting had been fierce in the street.

2009-06-07T09:56:00.002-05:00

I had a very startling moment while doing genealogy today. I was taking a bit of a look into census records in New Jersey as I stumbled across this site today - . I went on doing some searches for people in my Silverthorn/Silverthorne branch and came across a reference to my 9th Great-grand Uncle Nathaniel Silverthorne and one line jumped off the page at me.

Baptism LDS - Date: 2 July 1988

Now I've always had a realization that the Latter Day Saints perform baptism for the dead but I've never really thought about in terms of MY ancestors. And while I've no real issues with the members as a whole (they're very nice people who can believe whatever they want)...I have to admit now this one belief has taken on an entirely new viewpoint for me. Seeing that online this morning hit me with this sense of anger and very deep offense, quite frankly. I got this feeling of "we don't care what this person believed in, we are right and they were wrong".

I was quite surprised by how deeply offended I've felt all morning. And this is from someone who has very little use for organized religion in general, being that I'm a pagan and nothing will sway me back to the fold of dogmatic faiths. However, my ancestors belonged to their own faiths and had their own beliefs that they found strength and community in. Back in the 1700's, the church would have been extremely important to people like Nathaniel. To have another religion feel that they have the right to circumvent another's faith strikes me as ... arrogant.

Face it, none of us know the truth and those that claim they do are moderately deluded. I prefer my simple pagan faith where deity is in everything that surrounds me and worship is done under the trees and the clear blue sky. And I respect that people believe in whatever gives them some sense of comfort, regardless of what it is. But don't try to convert me or my family. Not while we're alive and certainly not when we're dead.

2009-05-26T15:18:00.002-05:00

And Miles To Go...
I'm becoming a huge fan of the arc trainer at the gym. The eliptical doesn't even feel like it's challenging after using this thing! I did 10 minutes on it today and then decided to switch over and do 10 minutes on the eliptical but got bored and went and did another 5 minutes on the arc trainer. So from now on I'm going to do my lunch workouts with 15 on the arc and 10 to cool down on the recumbant bike.

It should be disturbing that I enjoy working out in the gym enough to blog about it. :)

Almost got nailed by yet another driver not paying attention to pedestrians here. I swear that we have the worst and most self-involved drivers in this town than anywhere else in Canada. Maybe North America. See the little light up there that looks like someone's walking? Buddy, that means get the HELL out of my way. I'm going to start carrying a pocket full of rocks with me to throw at cars when they nearly run me down - think that might get their attention?

Tomorrow it's off to Toronto in the wee hours of the morning. Going to have breakfast at the Shopsy's, grab some good coffee, hit a few bakeries for some yummy stuff (likely in Greek town) and see another taping of The Hour. Norman Jewison is a guest tomorrow so it'll be cool if he's there and that's not a pretape.

Anyone know of a really good Italian bakery in Little Italy? I think I'm hitting Serano Bakery over on Pape but I'm still looking for a great place for some really good and tasty Italian bread and pastry.

Now I'm going to find someway to waste some time before dinner - later all!

2009-05-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

What part of "Stay Right" do people find so damn hard to understand??? Ok, I don't mind you walking on the bike trail...even on the parts of the bike trail that run almost parallel to the boardwalk...but do you think you could stay the HELL OUT OF MY WAY? At least not step out directly into my path while I'm going fairly speedily and enjoying my ride? I'd prefer not to go ass over teakettle from my bike thanks so much. And if I do....I'm taking you with me jackass. And you would deserve it for NOT LOOKING! Hi...moving vehicle here - just because I'm not behind the wheel of a car does not mean I'm not going to do some damage to you when I hit you for being momumentally stupid. And by the way...this isn't a sidewalk...it's a BIKE PATH. Do you think you could maybe give me three inches of room to get around you without you and your dumb teenage friends walking four across and yakking on your cellphones, you selfish jerks? Trying to keep a rhythm and speed here and I keep having to brake 'cause I can't get around you and there are other people coming up the other side. And don't pretend you didn't hear me because my brakes squeak right now and even YOU aren't so completely self-involved that you didn't hear that.

*sigh*

Ok - rant over. Serves me right for thinking I could go for a nice bike ride in the middle of the afternoon in this town. Should have known that I needed to get up and ride in the early morning before the idiots get out of bed.

There are days that I hate this city and nearly everyone in it.

2009-05-10T15:27:00.002-05:00

Esprit de l'escalier

So...I watched 1408 last night (actually just after midnight so technically this morning) which naturally meant that I was totally freaked out again and had a hard time going out into the dark hallway to use the bathroom. So then I decided to finally watch Religulous so that I could actually get to sleep at some point.

I love Bill Maher. I love his humour and his in-your-face honesty. And while I am a person of faith, I wouldn't call myself religious. Most pagans tend to be more laid back about such things I think. Outside of burning us at the stake, we take criticism well. And we don't believe so much in a God as that we believe that Deity is in everything that surrounds us. The absolute best parts of the movie though were Bill talking to the guy with the marijuana religion and...Father Reginald Foster. The good Father should go on the road instead of working at the Vatican 'cause he's hilarious!

Anyway, after I went to sleep and had a strange dream about being at the Osmond Fireside and it was the same but after I left to go get my bus and stuff one of the Elders who was there when I was talking to Jay about my pentacle said to the one with the forms, "Put a big red X on THAT one...". (Supposed to be receiving a 'gift from the Osmonds' for attending the Fireside. I expect it's LDS related and they're probably rushing one out to me, lol.) Like being put on the equivalent of an LDS hit list I suppose. I've now got this image in my head of some kind of emergency baptismal list for we heathen types. ;-)

While I'm still a tad upset over the whole Rick Springfield thing - I so totally stoked that The Skydiggers and Luke Doucet are coming to the festival this year!! (I've probably mentioned that already but it bears repeating.)

But I'm going to go focus on The Stromo Show now and hang out in the chat room. Later y'all.

2009-05-08T22:37:00.003-05:00

New Random Mumblings...

So, I'm still on a bit of an Osmond high - my friends can make fun of me all they want but I had such a good time (as can be evidenced by previous blog entry, lol).

*However*...my music high has been tempered just a tad. One of the other acts on the old bucket list is one of my "guitar gods". Rick Springfield. And I've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting to see him live finally. Hoping against hope that just maybe, he'd play the concert hall at Casino Rama. And he's finally coming. And do you know WHEN he's coming?

That's right...the saturday night of the folk festival.

Now, I *could* say to hell with it, blow off my responsibility as coordinator for the night and just go rock out for the night. Buuuut....I'll probably be a good girl and tough it out listening to Buffy St. Marie (or whoever is headlining saturday) and not pass it off to the other volunteers. *sigh* Being a grownup sucks sometimes.

I'm also a bit bummed that very few of my volunteers seem to be returning this year. I've only got 3 or 4 coming back thus far. Though I do seem to be picking up a few more locals which makes sunday night easier so there's that. Another good thing about this year's festival? Dude, I not only get cutie-pie Luke Doucet on friday night...but THE SKYDIGGERS ARE PLAYING!!! And peeps should know that I *heart* The Skydiggers. Wish I had Stephen and the other Rodeo Kings again though. They make my life interesting. Especially Tom Wilson. He makes everyone's life interesting. (Have I mentioned lately how much I want to go on one of Stephen and Tom's little insane road trips?)

:-)

I'm likely going to put the genealogy aside for a little bit, at least til after the festival. I've platteaued and I'm not sure where I'm going from here anyway. Can't get any new info on my Davis line past my Great-grandfather (really need to get one of the paranoid males in the family to do the DNA testing thing since my maternal one turned up nothing). No luck thus far with tracing my Snider/Snyder line back to Quebec, let alone finding out where the Dutch ancestry fits in. Nothing further on where John and Jane Baker came from in England and nothing on Hiram Higgerson's parents to even nail down the parents as Levi/Eli or Amelia/Martha. Weeks surfing for obits lead me to no real information and I still haven't even found where Hiram and John Snider/Snider are buried, let alone the resting place of their parents.

Bah. I need a trip to Toronto to see if I can find something to break down the wall. Not gonna happen until at least the end of the month. If I don't spend everything I have on shoes that is. But I REALLY want to get down this month for another taping of The Hour and see George again. I just really enjoy looking at him, ok? :) Gotta see if I can pick another USB drive and take the boy some music he might not have heard yet. And maybe cookies. Wonder what I can get him to do for my white chocolate/macadamia nut cookies? (Pardon me, while my mind ponders the possibilites, lol)

Well, I'm thinking it's bedtime. I'm a bit sore tonight after doing 15 minutes on the elliptical at the gym during lunch then doing another 20 minutes on the gazelle with my FitFlops on. Plus, work was crazy busy today. Got to admit, I'm feeling the thing in the legs tonight. It's a good thing though. I'm almost down to 38" in the waist and I've dropped 1/2" in my hips and thighs since I last checked. So, go me! :) I've just got to drop my post-Teletech weight and get back in shape.

And btw - I'm going to fix the music thing on here Mel. I swear. Hopefully sunday I'll see if I can put a jukebox on here and update the ones on the Myspace pages before George's radio show. And maybe even update the music collection page.

2009-05-02T20:03:00.003-05:00

OSMONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooohooo!! Back home from an amazing trip to Kitchener to FINALLY see The Osmonds in concert. Wayne, Jay and Merrill did not disappoint either. I'm really regretting not going to the St. Catherine's show on thursday night now. Hindsight and all that. Man, I had so much fun it should be illegal. And I'm crazy tired. :)

So...I get up at 5am on friday morning, get everything together and get ready, and head off on the 6:15am bus to the terminal. 7am and I'm on the Ontario Northland to Toronto where there's close to an hour wait so I go get a latte from Timothy's and catch my Kitchener connection. Get in close to 1pm....looooonnnnng bus ride. Not as long as the trip down to Media, PA but still. Do my usual grabbing of transit maps and walking out to the nearest street, pick a direction and start walking. Check in at the hotel isn't til 3pm so I kick around King Street for a bit. Around 2, I find a stop for the #7 that I know goes close to the hotel and wait for a bus while picking up a conversation with a woman who is from Cuba and lives in Kitchener.

Get to the hotel, do the check in thing, take a "disco nap" and then freshen up. (6 hours on a bus and all ya know.) Went over to Wimpy's for dinner and had a MASSIVE burger and fries. Dude, this thing was the size of a bread & butter plate. Good thing I was doing a fair bit of walking 'cause I'm pretty sure that thing was over my calorie count, lol. And then....off to the show!!

Center in the Square isn't much from the outside but it's really impressive inside the theater. Nice seating with loads of leg room too. Makes me wish our Opera House had seating like that in it. And the concert was more amazing than I had ever hoped! After wanting to see them for such a very long time, it was awesome to have it happen and to have fantastic seats for the show. They did a lot of the hits like One Bad Apple, Yo-yo and He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother plus a medley of love songs and a medley of brother acts. They naturally did the BeeGee's thing that freaked me out the first time I heard it on the live cd...and Jay does a disturbing Michael Jackson impersonation when they did ABC. ;-) No Love Me For a Reason or I'm Still Gonna Need You though but I'll live.

And good grief but Wayne...ok, I knew he's a bit unique and all. And I've seen clips of him going off on his joke moments....but I had no real clue just how he can flip the show off the rails and how valiently Merrill tries to keep it moving. He usually loses mind you but man, he tries. And Wayne tells the kind of jokes that I really shouldn't laugh at 'cause they do tend to be cheesy but boy, can he deliver those things with....enthusiasm. :) You know the ones I mean. Like when he was talking about the last time he was in Canada. "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Yeah...those ones. But my favourite was when they were introducing Heartache Tonight and Wayne was giving it alternate names. Lots of alternate names. And he got into stuff like, "Get Off The Stove Granny, You're Too Old to Ride the Range." And the one that made everyone do the sharp intake of breath followed by unavoidable laughing, "Hope You're Living As High Off The Hog As The Pig You Turned Out To Be".

They did the Auctioneer song too which was so much fun and Jay did a huge drum solo that was AWESOME!! And when they came back on for the encore, they did a song I'd never heard before, most likely called, The Lady in the Second Row or something close. It was a great tune and a bunch of us went up to the side of the stage to dance about, clap and carry on. (Hey, I require NO encouragement for audience participation.) And closed the show with I Believe...and mentioning they'd be doing a Fireside the following morning.

Being as tired as I was after the show and my mind wandering to getting back to the hotel plus being on a music high...I didn't look too closely at the card other than the intersection I needed to get to the next day. Checked with the front desk to find out where it was and it wasn't that far from the hotel so I figured that I'd figure the busing out the next morning before breakfast. Didn't notice AT ALL until I was on the #12 and almost there that it was at the LDS church. Keep in mind that I have no idea at all at this point what a Fireside even IS! I figured it's just the kind of little event I've been to at a lot of churches. You know, those little receptions with the church leaders and locals and whatnot.

Those who know me know that on a good day, I'm not even remotely comfortable in churches. They just go a bit against my Pagan nature. And the fact that I went to Kitchener wearing my pentacle was a tad more uncomfortable. Not that I was going to take it off - that's just not me. However, when I got there, I realized the event was in the LDS chapel. There were also a lot of Elders in the lobby. There were also a lot (and I mean a LOT) of LDS members in the lobby. You'd think by now I'd be used to being the only non-Christian in the crowd but this felt particularly odd. So, it turns out that a Fireside is sort of a meeting of congregation for the Latter-day Saints with hymns and speakers on religious topics. Yeah....did I feel conspicuous? Not that I really have any problems with the LDS church (outside of the gay marriage thing and they are hardly alone on that). Hey, if I were looking for a Christian church they would be right up there on the list. (Though I think I like the Baptist hymns a bit more, they've just got more ooomph.) But anyone who knows the story of my near-death experience, also knows that my faith is on extremely solid ground and has been for years. But it was quite a lovely meeting and the Osmond brothers gave lovely speeches, only graced by Wayne's interuptions of levity a few...dozen...times.

BUT...I totally met the Osmonds after!! I was not expecting that to every actually happen. And Jay Osmond has now vaulted to the #2 position, closely tailing Jimmy, for the position of my favourite Osmond. Sorry Merrill but you've been bumped. Jay is just about the sweetest person - I mean they all are - but Jay knocked my socks off. You need to understand the reactions I get from my pentacle most of the time. I either get weird questions about tarot readings or random people that I'm supposed to know because appparently all Pagans should know each other ... or people think I'm Jewish. (Note: The Star of David has SIX points, not five). But Jay just said that he was really interested in my necklace and wanted to know what it way. I mentioned that I was a non-Christian and that the pentacle symbolized the elements of Fire, Air, Water, Earth and Spirit. He seemed surprised but we talked briefly about Spirit being the fifth element and about how long I've waited to see them and how great the show was and whatnot. What a charmer....I now see why he's at the top of so many Osmond fan's lists as their favourite. :) Scooted over to get Merrill's autograph though he had a lot of people waiting so we didn't really talk and then Wayne who I chatted with very briefly...and then it was off to get the bus home as I had a 4:15pm connection to make in Toronto.

I know I've glossed over the whole trip a bit...but I wanted to hit the highlights before I go to bed tonight and I start to forget things. The whole trip was so wonderful and it was such a blessing to actually get to meet the three of them, if briefly. I'd go and see them again in a heartbeat. Though it'd be awesome if I didn't have to spend 6 hours on a bus to do it, lol. Guys, how about a show in Toronto...or Casino Rama?? And bring Jimmy next time too. :)

2009-04-22T10:56:00.002-05:00

One of the most fun parts of doing family history is the search through old newspapers. Why can't the papers of today been even HALF as interesting??? The down side is that you can get so caught up in reading the news of the day, that you forget to look for the information you needed in the first place! :)

This is one of the best articles from yesterday's search - I love this one.

Orillia Packet & Times - September 20, 1906

Here is a timely hint for next year's Mayor; A Rochester official proposes that the city buy 500 goats to eat the weeds in vacant lots. As side issues, he suggests that the city could sell the milk of the goats, hire them to secret societies for initiation purposes, and by shaving their beards every fall, use the hair to make fur collars for policemen.

2009-04-13T23:09:00.001-05:00

My mind is like a parking lot,
Each memory has a separate slot,
I never forget a name or face,
I just can't find it's parking spot.

~~ Elinor K. Rose

2009-04-12T20:55:00.002-05:00

Ok - so perhaps over the last few years I have developed a slight to moderate crush on Kiefer Sutherland. Just maybe. And hey, who wouldn't want to marry into THAT genepool?? Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas as in-laws? Hell yeah. Grandson to the man who is considered the greatest Canadian ever (and former leader of the political party that I happen to belong to)?

I do like the homegrown boys the very best. :)

Speaking of rather cute homegrown boys....another sunday is done and another edition of my sunday night Strombo show is over. Not that there was any *actual* Strombo tonight as the show was a pretape so it was the gang online chatting with our lovely Amanda who is left to tend the fort all by her lonesome. And she does a wonderful job. (Though a live show every so often would be nice too.) I'll just have to take me down to Toronto for another taping of The Hour in May. Probably around the 14th (if any of the regular online girls happen to be interested, lol). Has to be the payday after I get back from Kitchener from seeing The Osmonds!! (Laugh all you want but they are on my list of acts I've loved forever and never seen live so I'm going dammit).

Finished round one of the spring cleaning and the bedroom looks all pretty and smells like lemon and such. Shiny. :) Found stuff under the bed that I almost forgot I owned! Tomorrow is back to work and hitting the gym on lunch. I was a good girl and did zumba twice this week but I don't think I really did enough resistance on the circuit. Such a balancing act...

Off to pack the gym bag! Later taters...

2009-03-11T23:08:00.002-05:00

Virus with capos....

Just a short entry tonight 'cause I'm tired and I have to be at work later on this morning. Just got home from seeing Stephen Fearing at the Orillia Opera House and he was his usual wonderfully talented and goofballish self. I've so missed him at Mariposa in the summer.

Uncharacteristically (at this point I've no clue if that's right, lol), I did not take either a camera or a notepad to the theater so I'm not even going to try and put together the set list. Thought there were some tunes I haven't heard in a long time - including Willie's "Trying to Start Out Clean" requested by Bernie from the office. I loved her "play something by a heretic" request. :) (Stephen mentioned a posthumous Willie recording!!)

Lusty pulled one on me this afternoon. I had a thought that he would but I thought...nah. Wrong! Around 1pm in walks Lusty and Fearing...the dynamic duo themselves. Twas a nice little surprise. Always pleasant to get a nice hug from a wayward musician in the afternoon. :) Little bit of chatting and then they went forth to wander and cause chaos elsewhere, lol.

Ok...that's all I have the energy for tonight plus my powers of typing are leaving me. I've got work tomorrow followed by zumba class at the gym so stay tuned.

~~ L.

2009-02-07T23:29:00.003-05:00

Ok - I have an admission to make. Generally speaking I HATE American Idol. And Canadian Idol...all the singing shows really. Yes, I'm a music snob and I'd rather have someone stick an ice pick through my ear canal than listen to bad singing. It's physically and mentally painful. People who can't carry a tune and still insist on singing in public should be dragged into the street and shot. Stick to singing in the shower where I can't hear you dude. And shows like AI have a handful of good singers and a whole boatloat of crap. And divas. Sometimes really crappy divas...and they usually come with either an overinflated sense of their importance or some kind of an attitude of entitlement. I really enjoy the ones who pray before going onstage to "watch over them". Seriously, you think God cares if you become the next American Idol?? You don't think he's got bigger concerns in the universe??

But...I've watched some of AI this season for one reason and one reason only. David Osmond was going to be on the show. Picqued my curiosity just enough to watch. Unfortunately, David temporarily lost his voice on 'group day' during Hollywood week and was voted off the island. Major bummer....no longer a reason for me to watch really. You can all go back to learning how to put out a wonderfully commercial record with no soul that will get acres of radio play now. I'll go back to hanging out with my indie musician friends who are slogging it out in anonimity.

~~~~~

Speaking of indie musicians, I saw Danny Michel here in Orillia at the Opera House on Jan 31st. He was his usual awesomeness (like the other 15 000 times I've seen him live, lol). Cracked me up after the show as I was hanging out in the green room, chatted Danny up a bit as I'm always good for. ;-) Realized I forgot to tell him something so I sidled back up as these two girls with accents were getting cds autographed and one had bought "Fibsville". Danny seemed...well...a bit appalled really. Told her that was not a good cd to buy if you hadn't heard him before. I was surprised as I LOVE LOVE LOVE that album (not that Danny could make a crap cd if he tried). He turns to me and asks my opinion and I told him it was a wicked cd. He reiterated his opinion and then forbade her to have it...told her to take the new one instead.

I was torn in that moment whether to turn on my inner cd selling machine and try to get her to buy both. But I wasn't in charge of the table. I should have done it anyway but I was a bit tired and my reflexes slow, heh. (Dude, I can sell cds out of the box while walking artists from the Mariposa Emporium to the cash trailer. I had one of the African drummer guys last year laughing over my sales pitch to this woman who came up to ask about his cds.)

~~~~~

Still working on the family history thing. Too tired tonight to do a full genealogy post, maybe tomorrow or later next week. I've found some kids and grand-kids relating to my line from John Griffin and Elizabeth Jane Cooper. 11 children ... including my 2x Great-grandmother Hannah who had 14 children!!! (John and Elizabeth had 33 grandchildren that I know of and I'm sure there's more as that's only 4 of their 11 kids.)

HA! Take that Osmond family. ;-)

2009-01-01T23:14:00.002-05:00

I've gotten a bit of a headache for my efforts today but I finally tracked down my 3x Great-grandparents Baker on the 1851 census and discovered 5 2x great-aunts and uncles I previously did not know existed.

1851 Markham Twp, York

Baker John England Episcopalian 46 M M
Baker Jane England Episcopalian 45 F M
Baker Ann England Episcopalian 18 F S
Baker Jonethan England Episcopalian 16 M S
Baker Sarah Canada Episcopalian 13 F S
Baker Elizabeth Canada Episcopalian 10 F
Baker Julia Canada Episcopalian 1 F
Baker David Canada Episcopalian 5 M
Baker Charlott Canada Episcopalian 2 F

Elizabeth was my 2x Great-grandmother, her brothers Joseph and Daniel were both born after 1951. I had known about Charlotte Baker from her marriage to James McNeill (thanks to some cousins from this marriage that wrote in my Great-Aunt Evelyn's autograph book from school). But the others I had never heard of prior to discovering the census record.

The internet is a wonderful thing. :)

2009-01-01T10:06:00.002-05:00

PLAYLIST FOR OBAMA...

Ok - so starting Monday, CBC Radio 2 is going to start collecting ideas for a Canadian playlist as a gift to Obama from his neighbours to the north. I'm not only totally happy about spreading the wealth of our great music but it makes for amazing publicity for an artist when it's reported on. Like when they did the article a couple of years back about what was on George W.'s ipod and my buddies in Blackie and the Rodeo Kings were listed. (At least the man has good taste in music.)

I'm been giving it some thought the last hour or so (like anyone could expect that I would pass up an opportunity to publicize Canadian music) and came up with a list of things that President-Elect Obama should be listening to.

1. D'arcy McGee by Mike Ford
~~ A great song from his Canada Needs You: Vol. 1 cd about Canadian history - something that Obama should know a bit about, along with more Canadians. Before JFK, there was Thomas D'arcy McGee. He was a journalist and a poet along with being a Father of Confederation who was assassinated in 1868.

2. The Old Prince Still Lives At Home by Shad
3. Sunday Morning by K-os
~~ Obama's a music lover and based on some of the tunes he's mentioned, I think he'd love both of these amazing songs from two amazing hip hop artists, one new and one very well established in Canadian music.

4. I Used To Love You But It's All Over Now by Jackie Washington
5. Jackie Washington by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
~~ Jackie is one of this country's legendary blues/jazz players and not enough people these days still know his music. He's 87 now and still gets out there and plays music festivals but he started his career working the trains and playing wherever he could. Canadian 'supergroup' Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, wrote a song about him for their High or Hurtin' cd.

6. Lace and Pretty Flowers by Willie P. Bennett
~~ Another underappreciated Canadian legend, Willie is likely best known as Fred Eaglesmith's mandolin player. But he was one of our greatest songwriters and we lost him this year. (Blackie and the Rodeo Kings got their name from one of his songs as well.)

7. Chelsea Morning by Joni Mitchell
8. Early Morning Rain by Gordon Lightfoot
9. If a Tree Falls by Bruce Cockburn
10. Closing Time by Leonard Cohen
~~ Icons of the Canadian music scene, fixtures in the old Yorkdale scene that Obama should listen to...just because. :)

11. Riverboat Fantasy by David Wilcox
~~ Gonna make you do that dance you did on Ellen again.

12. Bo Diddley by Ronnie Hawkins
~~ Our adopted son "The Hawk", gave us so much great rock music between his own and his being the catalyst that created The Band. Hey, and it's a lesson in cross-border relations. There is no one anywhere on earth that is quite like Ronnie Hawkins - talented, outspoken and completely outrageous...he definitely deserves a spot on the list.

13. Hallelujah by Rufus Wainwright
~~ I've never been a massive Rufus fan but I do love his cover of Leonard Cohen's song. The 'loud and pround' offspring of Louden Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle is also deserving of a place on the list.

14. Gulf War Song by Moxy Fruvous
~~ A little reminder for the future president about events past that still rear their heads today from the quintessential Canadian band.

15. Good Mother by Jann Arden
16. Broken One by Luke Doucet
17. Tennessee Tobacco by Danny Michel
18. Lay It On The Line by Divine Brown
~~ Amazing songs by some great artists that should be on everyone's playlists no matter who you are. Seriously...go find them...now.

19. Song To The Moon by Joanne Kolomyjec with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mario Bernardi
~~ My token classical choice. While there will be tons of people recommending Glenn Gould on their lists (which is also deserving as Gould is genius) I wanted to showcase the talents of great Canadian soprano Kolomyjec doing Dvorak instead.

20. Last Saskatchewan Pirate - The Arrogant Worms
~~ Every lists needs a little comic relief so naturally I picked The Arrogant Worms. This is just a crazy, fun, very Canadian tune that will haunt you for days after you hear it. And it's even better live when you can sing along and do the hand motions and through your fist in the air. :) (I picked up on the recommendation by Rich MacInnes-Rae that everyone should know how to spell Saskatchewan as well.)

Starting Monday, go and join in!! http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/obamasplaylist/

2008-12-27T10:23:00.002-05:00

So, it's that time of the year again where I post my top albums for the year. I think I've been doing this in one form or another since I started high school in '84 - back in the days when we'd hang out at the Sam the Record Man downtown. That was where I discovered Bowie, Roxy Music, and all the other music of the day. I'd pick up whatever 45's were new and take them right home after school, put them on the record player and just play them for hours. I miss hanging out at a local record store staffed by people who were passionate about music. And part of me missed running a record store and being able to help other people discover the music they've never heard before. (Which was the only reason I put up with management that didn't give a shit and the crappy pay that I took for 8 very, very long years.)

Who will teach the children about Pete Seeger? :-) But...I digress.

TOP ALBUMS OF 2008

10. Little Jackie - The Stoop
9. Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces
8. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
7. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
6. Hawksley Workman - Los Manlicious
5. Ron Sexsmith - Exit Strategy of the Soul
4. Elvis Costello - Momofuku
3. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
2. Serena Ryder - Is It O.K.
1. Danny Michel - Fur and Feather

Honorable mentions: Mike Ford - Canada Needs You Vol. 2, Divine Brown - The Love Chronicles, The Killers - Day and Age, Adele - 19

2008-12-25T10:29:00.003-05:00

A Merry Yule to all as we celebrate the rebirth of the sun for another cycle in the wheel of the year. I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, no matter what you celebrate this day.

Blessed Be.

2008-11-22T23:16:00.002-05:00

Everyone should go and sign the petition to save Dirty Sexy Money from cancellation. What the hell is ABC thinking?? I mean, DSM is like the great soaps that I remember from my misspent youth. This is an awesome show and if it gets cancelled before I find out what Simon's master plan is and how he intends to pull it off or who killed Dutch....I'm going to be really pissed off. Come on...is Nick's marriage to Lisa really over? Is Lisa really going to end up with Jeremy? And if not, will that end up meaning trouble for the gallery? Will Karen really marry Simon? What's the dish behind Simon's hold over Nora and her little brother? And is that glass swan *really* just something that holds sentimental value for Simon? Is Tripp going to try and move in on Nick's rebound relationship or will his marriage to Latisha survive?

I have way too many unanswered questions to let this show go down without a fight...

http://tvseriesfinale.com/articles/dirty-sexy-money-petition-to-save-the-abc-tv-show-from-cancellation/

On another TV note...I have come to the conclusion that the majority of people voting on SYTYCD Canada don't know what the f^&% they are talking about. Seriously - Isaak is still on the show and both Danny and Vincent have gone home??? Really...Isaak is still there - the guy who give nothing to his partner, gives nothing on a performance level is still there and Vincent - the technically brilliant, emotive and versatile dancer who Jean-Marc called "the perfect foil for any woman" goes home??? They keep telling Isaak that he has to step it up, week after week and he continually performs at the same level and yet people keep voting for him.

WTF?!?!?!?!!?

If he ends up winning this show, I will be disgusted yet again by the taste level of the viewing public and will never watch this show again.

I'm once again disappointed in my country when it comes to their voting record. *sigh*

2008-11-03T22:40:00.001-05:00

A LITTLE NOTE TO AMERICA....

Please, don't fuck this election thing up tomorrow.

Thanks,
Your neighbours to the north.

:-)

2008-10-28T21:53:00.002-05:00

So, I'm at work the other day and I notice an older gentleman wearing what looks like a crew jacket for "Passchendaele". After I ask him what I can help him with, I ask him about the jacket. He tells me it's an interesting story. Turns out his son-in-law is Tom Pretak! (FYI - Tom is a producer on the movie and has also worked with Paul Gross on "Due South", "H2O" and "Men With Brooms" among other things.) So, we chatted about the movie and I told him about seeing it on opening weekend and how wonderful I thought it was. We talked about how talented Paul is and how fantastic it is to have such a talent that has stayed and worked in this country, fighting to make great art and tell great stories about Canada. And we Tory bashed a bit over the arts cuts.

So, I used to chat with Ed Robertson's mom and now I get to talk up Tom Pretak's father-in-law. ;-)

(Dude, I believe I am now 2 degrees of separation from Paul Gross!! Woohoo! *g*)

2008-10-17T07:45:00.002-05:00

All of us in Canada should be ashamed of the pathetic voter turnout in this country. 59.1 percent??? It's the absolute height of laziness to not spend 5 minutes of your life casting a vote for the people who are in charge of your country. There are people in the world who fight and die every day to have the right that those of us who live in democratic societies take for granted.

You have no right to complain about how the government handles your tax dollars unless you get up off your ass and vote! I'm thinking that Australia has the right idea in the whole compulsary voting thing.

2008-10-15T19:07:00.002-05:00

Well, I've been on vacation for the last week and a bit. Second day back at work. Spent lots of time doing genealogy and a few days down in Toronto (which was wicked fun!)

It's possible that my 1st cousin 2xremoved, George Hiram Borman, fought and died during the 2nd Battle of Passchendaele. The timing seems to fit as he was in Belgium and died on 23 Oct 1917. He was also with the 116th Battalion which was involved in the battle from what I understand. I have to request his war record to find out for sure. Weird that I find this out the week that Paul Gross' movie, Passchendaele opens though.

I'll be working my way through the war record requests soon. I've got George's to request, along with my grand-uncle Edward Davis' and my Great-grand uncle Albert Victor Forbes. And those are just the ones I know about. I've got a bit more of a difficult time when it comes to my grandfather though. Jack Davis joined up with the U.S. Army and was stationed in Panama during the building of the canal. I have to figure out how I find his service number or whatever to aid in requesting his records. I know what battalion he was serving with but I'll have to do more research to see if that's going to help.

Hey, I finally went to a taping of The Hour when I was in the city and totally want to go to another one now. That was fun! And my, that Strombo is one good-looking dude in person. Even more so than on tv, my friend. I might even go so far as to call him...a biscuit. :-) And dude...he was interviewing Alice Cooper!! Mr. Mayhem himself was like, five feet away from me talking about how much he enjoyed doing The Muppet Show!! Awesome stuff.

Couldn't stick around after the taping though as I was meeting a friend for dinner before we headed off to The Pheonix for a rally/concert called the Not a Conservative Party. Yes, trying like hell to get people not to vote for Mr. LackofPersonality himself. Hosted by The Department of Culture (departmentofculture.ca), they were raising money to take out ads in some swing ridings in an attempt to take out some Tories. Great music, a little friendly Harper bashing (live and prerecorded) including stuff like this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT9VxjLtEZw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtM2ccc8yT0

You can also find the spots that were made for their "Gone in 30 Seconds" campaign on YouTube.

The day after the election, I still fail to see why people are voting for this man. The whole party is based on one of their lies. Every time I turn around he's breaking a promise, part of their platform or even the laws the party set up itself! He comes across as an uncaring, soulless, control freak who tries to micromanage everything and yet has control over nothing. He's secretive, tries to stymie the press and not only cut back arts programs critical to so many groups who were already relying on money that they were to be allocated but also tries to inact laws that allows them to censor the arts. And I won't even get into their fascist copyright laws that they are trying to inact. And god forbid that we should ever have a coalition government. You need to be able to compromise for that and Harper doesn't play well with others. It's either his way or it's a confidence vote that can trigger an election.

When are people in this country going to wake up and deliver the two parties that keep getting elected a nice big smack upside the head? Why do people keep electing tweedledum and tweedledummer? We need serious change in this country for once but it's obvious that we don't seem brave enough to take a chance on it. We need serious electoral reform in this country but we don't seem to have leaders brave enough to take a chance on it.

Nice to see that from the top on down, we're just willing to take it. Maybe we do get the leadership that we deserve instead of the one that we vote for.

2008-10-07T17:03:00.003-05:00

So, I'm in the midst right now of reading the Conservative platform that Harper has *finally* decided to release. Not that it does any good as I have already voted in the advance polls so if he was hoping to sway some of us to voting for him, he's missed his chance. Like I'm going to vote for a party who can't even tell me what they plan to do once they are in office. I wouldn't buy a car without looking it over first, why would I vote for someone to run my country without a bill of goods?

So far, I'm really not impressed with his platform at any rate. Nothing that he's proposing really seems directed at someone like me anyway. I haven't come across anything that helps my community, nothing that assists those living on minimum wage, nothing about supporting public transit, nothing that helps with the rising cost of tuition or assists people with going back to school for training, nothing in his section on Canada's natural resources that actually works to protect them and keeps them out of foreign ownership, not nearly a strong enough stance on polluters ($6 million for businesses like Exxon? That's barely a slap on the wrist), not nearly enough on the environment especially when it comes to the North, there's a carrot in there for the arts to try and shut people up but nothing about a plan to replace the programs Harper cut that helps groups promote Canadian arts around the world or programs that strive to preserve and archive our artistic past. There also isn't enough about improving food labelling in this country like we want via the Center for the Public Interest. And his section on crime is just downright scary.

I'm happy that I didn't wait for this piece of crap to come out before I voted. It's shallow and does nothing for the working class when you compare it to the NDP platform. Hell, after reading Harper's plan, I'd rather vote for Duceppe.

NOTE:

Everyone should go to this site, listen to the song that some of the wonderful artists of this country (you know, the ones that Harper doesn't give a crap about) have put together and then sign the pledge.

Stop Harper!

2008-09-30T21:42:00.002-05:00

YES!!! The final piece in the federal election is finally here! You just can't have one without Rick Mercer being back on the air. And boy, he came out swinging. :) No one is safe...and we like it that way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hfGy_b87gI

And I'm totally with Rick on the leader's debate. Maybe we'll see someone cry. I'm hoping one of them says or does something that makes Harper's head explode. Now THAT'S entertainment.

2008-09-28T09:32:00.002-05:00

Ok - here's what I don't understand about the current election. Harper keeps making comments that indicate that "ordinary people" don't relate to the arts, and how Dion (and I've heard comments to the same effect about Layton) shouldn't be voted for because he's out of touch due to being some sort of "educational elitist".

Sooo....education is a bad thing to have in the leader of your country? They always say that the great thing about our neighbour to the south is that anyone can be president. (Apparently true, considering who's in charge down there.) That's a good thing? I personally wouldn't want just anyone to lead my country. Damn right that I want someone who is extremely well educated to be our leader. Damn right that I want someone who has been exposed to many different thoughts and cultures, someone who's travelled and has actually TAUGHT is various subjects that are important to Canadians.

And why does talk about the "out-of-touch elitest" types being "latte drinking"? Listen - *I* am a regular person. Dude, I work in retail for minimun wage. And here's a news flash - I appreciate the arts plus I drink lattes too. What, "regular people" can't appreciate a really good latte? People who are critics about that have obviously never HAD a really good latte...

Do I want someone who is educated and intelligent to run the country? Damn right. Jack has a BA from McGill University in Montreal in 1970; MA in political science from York University in Toronto in 1971; PhD in political science from York in 1983, with a specialty in economic public policy.

Do I want someone who knows the challenges of the cities of Canada? Yes, Jack Layton was a Toronto councillor, Deputy Mayor of Toronto and President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. He also served as chair of committees such as - Chair of the Toronto Board of Health, Chair of the Economic Development and Planning Committee of Metro, Chair of Metropolitan Toronto's Planning and Transportation Committee, the Advisory Committee on Homeless and Socially Isolated Persons.

Layton is the founder and co-chair of the White Ribbon Campaign (to end violence against women), he's a strong advocate for AIDS patients and workers, he's been involved in many environment projects, including the deep lake-water cooling (where cold water is pumped from the bottom of a lake as a heat sink for climate control systems) of downtown office buildings and the Better Buildings Partnership, which promoted higher efficiency in energy consumption. He's also taught in the graduate program at the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University and is a published author.

He is married to Olivia Chow, the NDP MP for Trinity-Spadina and has two children.

Is this the sort of man that you want leading this country? I know it's the one that I would want.

2008-09-26T11:08:00.002-05:00

I'm so stoked for my vacation!! :-) I've got plans baybee. There's the usual "around the house" stuff I want to get done plus I want to take LOTS of photos. Might be going out on one of the boats that go out on the lakes around here. I'm really excited about going to Toronto for part of it too. Hopefully I'm going to see a taping of The Hour, plus I'm going to do some research. And I'm going fabric shopping in the Fashion District and Little India. Before I come home I'm hitting the farmer's market in the St. Lawrence district and then going over to The Danforth and getting some great Greek pastries.

Can't wait!!! :)

2008-09-24T19:57:00.002-05:00

I'm really excited about the upcoming Canadian federal election. I have hopes that Canada is ready for REAL change and maybe we can get the Tories out of office and finally put the NDP in. Jack Layton would be the best thing to ever happen to this country. I don't trust Stephen Harper and I never will. I wouldn't even buy a car for him, let alone vote him in to power.

I'm really fed up with people who keep voting the Tory/Reform party back in. Did we really learn nothing during the Mulroney years? I'm also a bit fed up with an electoral system that really doesn't listen to what people want. We really need some form of proportional representation but I don't think it's ever going to happen as long as either the Tories or the Liberals are in control. (Or if people keep voting down attempts to change the system without educating themselves about the issue.)

I've been giving a lot of thought recently to moving back from whence my ancestors came. Though most of my ancestors have been in Canada for almost as long as there has BEEN a Canada. Recently, my cousin Wayne sent me some information about a branch of my family on my mom's side.

Turns out that my 7x Great-Grandfather, Thomas Silverthorn was a Loyalist who came to Canada in about 1786 from New Jersey with his wife Johanna. He had a land grant of 600 acres in Niagara but it did not come through until after his death. Thomas' son John also received a land grant of 200 acres in Niagara, and John's son Joseph received a land grant in Toronto Township (now the Region of Peel). This was at a time when the population of York (Toronto) was 800. John would later purchase about 400 acres in Etobicoke for about 200 pounds plus his Niagara land. John and his son Aaron, built a saw and grist mill on the banks of the Etobicoke Creek, just north of Dundas in 1811. The mill was large enough to cut 10,000 feet of lumber per day, and the grist mill saw about 200 barrels of wheat per day. A small community grew around it - first known as the District of Silverthorn and later as the Villiage of Summerville. Today there is no evidence remaining that Summerville ever existed.

Aaron's son Newman, loved the land that the Mill Farm stood on. He wrote a complex will entrusting it to all his future generations to attempt to preserve it. But he couldn't forsee the vast growth that would occur in the Toronto region and eventually his Grandson Gideon contacted all the heirs to get their signatures to start the sale of the property. After being in the family for 148 years, the Mill Farm was sold to developer Mark Cavotti and Associates in July 1958 - 400 acres from Dundas Street to Burnhamthorpe Road, running along the Etobicoke River. They explained Newman's feeling about the 100 acre hardwood forest on the farm and Mr. Cavotti promised to preserve the trees wherever possible. Apparently he even wrote a covenant into building deeds requiring them to preserve the trees on the land.

Apparently, a housing development called Markland Woods and a golf course now stand on this beautiful piece of property. Also, it would seem that Silverthorn Collegiate is named after this branch of my family. Nice to know that I had an ancestor who did his very best to preserve this land for future generations. He did a great job, but the developers get it all in the end, don't they?

In other news...I'm still searching for my errant Great-great grandfather. The one who's not buried in the plot he bought in 1907. Which is the year his wife died and she's not buried there either it would seem. Plots are completely empty. Where the hell are they, you might ask. I have no clue yet. John William Snider goes *poof* after she dies. Their only daughter is living with other family members on the 1911 census. So I figure he either died and I haven't found a record yet, he deserted his daughter and moved out of the province or country, or he enlisted somewhere.

*sigh*

Sometimes you find out really interesting things while researching genealogy...and other times it's like beating your head against a brick wall.

More later!

2008-07-19T20:00:00.002-05:00

I'm still recovering from this year's Mariposa. Holy chaos Batman! Granted it got of to a really, really, really slow start (mega delays in everything from tent setup, getting water for the volunteers and just getting the Mariposa product to the grounds...which is NOT going to happen next year if I have to go and rent a car myself). And there were lulls in the action. But damn, when people came into the Emporium they poured in. In droves. Add musicians into the mix and look out! Monday after the fest I was toast. Spent three hours at the site chatting with Bernie and making sure stuff goes where it was supposed to. I still haven't finished unpacking the stuff I brought home. And though I finished my post-festival report I still have to do up the sheets of Mariposa product sold for accounting plus my "handbook" for running the Emporium. And there will still be shake down meetings I'd imagine.

And then I can start planning next year. :-)

Highlights from this year?
- got in a bit of flirting with the amazingly talented (not to mention quite hot) Alex Cuba
- after telling Pavlo that I've been a fan for years he said to me (and you have to imagine the sexy Medetteranean accent), "Oh, you keep that up and I will have to come over there and hug you". (Ahem, go for it baybee...)
- actually getting a hug out of Pavlo. (Frankly, he's lucky I let go. *g*)
- Christian's alarming impersonation of Pavlo. (I could say so much...but I will restrain myself...)
- finally getting to meet John Gorka after seeing him play at Falcon Ridge so many times. We had a great talk about FR, the workshops with Jian the last time he was there with "young" Mark Erelli and "old" John Gorka
- John Gorka being impressed with almost all his music being sold and giving me a copy of all four cds he still had. (I *love* him...such a sweetie.)
- Lucy Wainwright-Roche being conceivably the cutest girl alive
- hanging out with my awesome volunteer crew! Such a bunch of troopers. :)

I've got a bunch of plans in motion to hopefully make next year's festival run smoother. We'll see what happens. You know what they say about the best laid plans...

'til later!
~~ L.

2008-06-23T07:32:00.003-05:00

"Some people see a glass of water that's half full. Some see it as half empty. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be."

Those words were on all of my books in high school. They were written by one of the few people on earth I would call my "idol". But he was more than that, he was like a mentor when I was growing up. Albeit from a distance. His comedy rocked my world from the very first time I heard it. And he taught me about things I'm pretty sure my parents would prefer he hadn't. :)

The world lost a giant in the world of comedy yesterday. The last true revolutionary, one of the very last in a line of truly great stand-up comics.

George Carlin passed away at the age of 71. I can't tell you how much I'm going to miss him. I never met him but he changed my life and my view of things. I remember being about 11 and sneaking into my brother's room when he was out so that I could listen to his cassette of "A Place For My Stuff". Granted, I didn't quite get *some* of the jokes but they stayed with me for years as I kept revisiting them. Growing up in cottage country, there weren't a lot of people when I was in high school that I related to. It's still the same, all the teens (or adults) seem to want to do is go out to the bars and get hammered every night. It was always hard to find that little niche of even slightly intelligent conversation. It still is. Carlin was my sanctuary, the sane voice who thought kind of the same way I did and said all the things I wished I could say. But he said them better.

Thanks man. It all meant so much to me. I hope you knew that.

George Carlin
May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008

2008-06-09T00:07:00.002-05:00

Alrighty ... no love from the Osmond Brothers forums. Rather standoffish people compared with the music fans I generally hang out with. I guess folk fans just tend to be a bit more of a community - at least that's the vibe I'm getting from the online folks. Mind you, even the Bobby Rydell fans jump on the welcome wagon with more enthusiasm. But whatever.

I stumbled across this indie movie on Facebook tonight and everyone should check it out.

http://ctuprovo.com

It's made as a nonprofit to showcase filmakers (and we totally know I'm up for some good indie action, heh). The movie is a wicked parody of "24" with our Canuck buddy Keifer Sutherland. It's about two fans of the show who have to help CTU stop a terrorist attack on Provo, Utah.

AND...

It has Donny Osmond playing the bad guy. Dude, what more could you ask for? Plus, it's better than most of the crap that makes it to the theaters.

More later...

2008-06-06T21:28:00.002-05:00

Well...I'm still waiting for the GeneTree kit to arrive in the mail. I had hoped to get it this week so that I could get the ball rolling. I am *so* not good at the waiting thing, heh. I'm quite anxious to see what it turns up! Hey, I could have relatives in parts of the world that I haven't even *guessed* at yet! (And of course, there's still the possibility of being cousin to the fantabulous Osmond clan to contend with. :-D )

I would rather like to know where I get this ... ummmm.... "slight" music obsession of mine. Ok, I admit it. I'm a MASSIVE music geek. Happy now? :) But for the record - going on the CSI boards and discussing the chemical composition of luminol and the various techniques associated with forensics and pathology do not necessarily qualify me as a science geek as well.

They don't.

Really.

Moving along....

Gearing is likely out on the east coast by now. I really should send the boy an email to find out how he's fairing. I still contend that the reason for the move is only partially motivated by the new love in his life. Now that he's finally got that Juno under his belt, he's eying that East Coast Music Award. :)

Kidding! (Mostly...ha!)

Oh and Stephen (if you read this!)...if you and little Tommy Wilson need a roadie at some point, give me a call. Seriously dude, I totally want to go on the road with you maniacs. Be good material for the book my friend. You know how to reach me. I work cheap. Plus you know that I bake a mean cookie and I'm not above bribary.

Drea and I will be going down to the Sound of Music festival on the 15th to see Fordy and the Worms perform. Trevor was trying to talk The Mur-man into doing "TV Weather Guy" with the Worms for the occassion!! That would be amazing! Though it means that I won't be home that night for my weekly fix of Stromo's radio show. *sniff* Should I go around to the station that night and see if I can hang with George? I AM still trying to get him to take my invitation to the festival as my guest. Hmmm....

On another note, I'm still working on the Osmond meets Mariposa project. Jimmy's still on tour so I likely won't know for another month if he's interested in accepting our commission. I really hope so because I got my first pin today and he does really nice work. Plus, I'm ... encouraging ... the artistic committee to see if we can bring the brothers to the festival. We'll have to see what happens. I can only hope!

Later all!!
~ Leanne

2008-06-04T16:20:00.003-05:00

Alright - first off, there's a new song playing on the blog if you haven't noticed. One of my fave Osmond songs and I love the way they sound doing this live.

I sent away for my DNA testing kit from GeneTree on monday. It should be interesting. It's a good time 'cause they are running a special promotion right now with The Osmonds. All about connecting extended families, very cool. They test in 170 countries and one of the things they are doing is to see if you are related to The Osmond Family. :) I very well could be as their mother's maiden name was Olive Davis, my family name. And their Davis' are from around Wales as are mine - so who knows? I could be a "latent Osmond"! How awesome would that be?? But even if I'm not, I could connect with parts of my family still living in Englad/Wales/Ireland/Scotland (heh, pick a branch) or even my relations that might still live in Holland where my Snider relatives are from.

But I still want to be related to The Osmonds. (Even though it might mean I've had a crush on my cousins since I was 7...)

On another topic - Fordy's cd release was so much fun it should have been illegal!! Kath showed up and came over and sat at the table with Drea and me. Right up front. It was crazy, silliness...just like the good ol' fru-days. :-) Mur-man was playing bass and adding to the general silliness as he tends to do. Not that Fordy needs help with that. From his commands to "PADDLE!!!!!!!!" on "Les Voyageurs" to his wonderful new bouncy "Expo 67" it was just a blast. I was in pain from laughing so hard. Oh!! And there were two NEW DUSTY FOSTERBOARD SONGS!!! (All the Fruvous fans are yelling at the screen right now and anyone else is just confused, lol.)

I just got done postering downtown for the Mariposa festival. Three and a half hours of walking my friends. The things I do for you, lol. Now I only have about 100 other things to do before July gets here.

Later taters,
Leanne

2008-05-21T19:40:00.002-05:00

Alright, I admit it. I've always had a deep seeded love for The Osmonds. It kind of went to the back burner for a few years but when I saw the 50th anniversary concert back in March it has now resurfaced with a vengence! I must say that I had a major crush on Donny when I was about 13 ... but I couldn't believe it when I saw Jimmy after all this time. My oh my, has he grown up nicely. The last time that really comes to mind when I saw him was back when he played Troy Phillips on Fame. He had a lovely singing voice then as well, but nothing like it is now. He sang one of Wayne's songs called Rainin' and my knees went positively weak (and that is *rare* my friend).

Needless to say, I will be seeing The Osmond Brothers live when they come to Canada next year. :)

Jimmy does some awesome artwork and designs pins and whatnot now too. I'm thinking of seeing if Mariposa wants to commission him to do something for OUR 50th. That would just be awesome beyond belief.

On another note...I apparantly own four plots at St. Andrew's Cemetery here in town. Some of you may know the exercise in frustration I have been experiencing that is known as tracing my family tree on my father's side. These people...were not helpful. Especially by great-grandfather John William Snider/Snyder (take your pick - those are the only two spellings thus far but who knows). His wife died in 1907 at the age of 27. He bought these plots in 1907. Is she buried there? No, of course not. Why would logic enter into it. Is he buried there? Of course not. Where are they? Who the hell knows. I don't even know where he went after she died. I can't find a single record on him, not even in the census. He just goes *poof*. So...now I own four empty plots in the most desired part of the old section of the cemetery, right in front of my great-grand aunt Olive Higgerson's grave. GGF Snider left a receipt for the purchase that has been handed down though my grandmother and my cousin Vera for the last 100 years and no one even realized that our family owned the plots and they were unoccupied.

No clue what I'm going to do with 'em yet. Keep one, and sell the others possibly. Or find out what the cost involved in relocating grandma Davis and Vera to where they should have been buried had anyone realized the significance of the receipt. (It really is in a lovely spot.)

Hey! Anyone going to Fordy's cd release party at Hugh's Room? I haven't seen Mikey since the instore/going away party here at the mall right before they canned my ass. (Good riddance to bad rubbish anyway - their loss, not mine.) I'm so excited to hear his new songs all based on Canadian history post-Confederation. (Me = dork)

Speaking of musician friends - Fearing is moving to the east coast!!!!! My jaw almost hit the floor when he told me. Mostly for personal reasons (so he claims - my opinion is that now that he's won a Juno, he's now wanting an East Coast Music Award.) *g*

Later taters - I've got Mariposa work awaiting me and I have to watch the Osmond concert...again. :)

2008-04-18T19:26:00.002-05:00

I can't even put into words how depressing it is that Ronnie Hawkins cancelled as Mariposa's sunday night headliner. Dude...how much was I looking forward to The Hawk closing out the weekend with the kind of party only he can throw? I've wanted to hear him play for ages and I've never had the chance - and to have the possibility of meeting him??? Man....

I need more ice cream now.

To brighten my mood I just finished watching High School Musical 2. (Shut up.) Is it just me or does anyone else think that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are the new generation of Frankie and Annette? I think that the High School Musical series could be the next Beach movies. (And I find it ironic that Zac sang a lyric about Frankie and Annette in Hairspray.) He's seriously cute too. :)

In this era of the remake, I wonder if there are any of the movies that The Golden Boys starred in that will be eventually remade. Naturally I think that Bye Bye Birdie with Bobby Rydell that would be top of the list. Who would you cast? Think we could see remakes of Thunder Alley or the Dr. Goldfoot movies? ;-D

Ok, I'm rambling now. Movie time...

2008-03-27T18:39:00.002-05:00

I know I've been absent for a bit. My computer and I had some issues to work out with a professional. Everything's fine now though. :)

It's amazing how much I look forward to sunday nights now. Strombo has a radio show on the Corus network and a bunch of regulars hang out on his myspace page and joke around. Great conversations (we get into it with George and Bob occasionally, heh) and some really great music makes for a really fun three hours on sunday night. Way better than the crap on tv. And I rather enjoy hearing George say my name on the radio from time to time. (Usually when I'm bugging Bob...everyone has to have a hobby.)

Another thing I rather enjoy about Strombo is we are both total music geeks. I've never met anyone (not that he and I have *actually* met..) that has the same level of music/pop culture "obsession" that I do. Absolutely love that. There are so few of us. :)

Speaking of music geeks - I think I'll scoot down to the big smoke and see Fearing at the end of April at Hugh's Room. Which means I'll be baking cookies, lol. The things I do for cute musicians. Maybe I should go down for a taping of The Hour in April. I wonder if Strombo goes for a homemade white chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookie? Hmmm....

More later folks!

~~ L.

2008-02-18T11:31:00.002-05:00

I was going to write a blog on a few topics today but I can no longer find the words. At around 6am this morning, CBC radio announced the passing of an icon of Canadian music.

Willie P. Bennett died in his home in Peterborough on Feb. 15th. Those of us who knew Willie's music know that we have lost one of the great voices in songwriting at only 56 years old.

I've met Willie in the past though I can't say that I knew him. He's a friend of a few musicians that I know. I loved him and his music to pieces. He was the inspiration for musical "supergroup", Blackie and the Rodeo Kings who take their name from one of his songs. He's definitely not the most famous Canadian songwriter there is, he's probably been better known though his work with Fred Eaglesmith than for his own music. But his songs are true treasures and I hope that some of you who might read this may check out his music.

The blog song has been changed today - to one of my favourite of his tunes. Lace and Pretty Flowers. We're going to miss you "Uncle" Willie.

2008-01-27T20:10:00.000-05:00

Ok - I just finished listening to this week's broadcast of The Strombo Show, streamed on the internet from Q107 in Toronto. As I do every week. As I did every week on his old show on *that other station* he used to be on. I'm a loyal listener, I'm an active participater via email and George's myspace page in whatever conversation is happening. On the old show, I used to get "rung in" at the start of the show and had quite a few comments read on the air. Plus, I watch The Hour every night. You might say that I rather enjoy George Stroumboulopoulos in his various fields of endeavour.

But....I'm not feeling the love as of late.

The new show kicked off back in September (I think it was September, maybe start of October) and I've pretty much made a request every single week. I've made them on the Facebook page, the Myspace page and I've email them in. I've gotten a total of ZERO requests! I am the Susan Lucci of The Strombo Show.

Last week, someone with my name got a request for Green Day. Everyone on the Myspace page thought that was me but dude, I would NEVER request Green Day. EVER! And for the last few weeks, I've been requesting (among a couple of other things to give him a choice in case he hates my requests)...the uber-amazing Tom Waits. Well, tonight he played a song by Tom Waits. For someone else. Not for me. The dedicated listener who doesn't complain after he's played M.I.A. or Tegan & Sara for the 100th time.

It's much akin to the feeling that your boyfriend is cheating on you. Sort of. ;-)

*sigh* I'm going to go and eat icecream now and cry myself to sleep. I'll do a real entry about other things later this week and maybe change the song on the page. Maybe I'll put up some Tom Waits since no one will play it *for* me...

2008-01-01T13:20:00.000-05:00

Random thoughts and such...

So, what did I do New Year's Eve? Well, since pagan new year is Samhain and not the end of December...I watched 1408. And it freaked the HELL out of me! Seriously. I will never view The Carpenters the same way again. (But damn, that was a good movie. And not only is John Cusack sensational in it but Sam Jackson can deliver a line like, "It's an evil f*%$#ing room." like no one else can.)

It was 2:30am before I could turn out the light and go to sleep.

On the weekend, I watched a great movie that blew my mind in an entirely different way. Five People You Meet in Heaven just ripped my heart out at the end of it. Jon Voight is magical in this film and the whole movie was just so powerful. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'm going to go to the actual theatre and see National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Should be fun! :)

I don't know how much longer I can wait for 12 Miles of Bad Road to debut somewhere! I'm hearing March '08 now. Gary Cole and Lily Tomlin will be freakin' brilliant in this. (If they can ever end this writer's strike. For the love of all that is holy. I'm getting so desperate for television entertainment...I actually started watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels. This can't be good on any level people.)

I pulled out my dvd set of Voyagers! again to watch the few eps they gave us of that wonderful series. I still miss Jon-Erik Hexum. Brains and talent wrapped up in such a nice package. I can't believe that it's been over 20 years now since he died. What is it about some of the ones with so much to offer that get taken way too early. It still makes me sad when I see one of those rare interviews that he did. He seemed like such a great guy. Be nice if his movies made their way to dvd now. He didn't have a chance to do much in his short career, what there was should be out there.

I keep having this recurring dream where Jon-Erik and I are staging a production of The King and I. Don't ask...

Have I mentioned that The Dead Zone and Big Shots have both been cancelled? Well they have. And I'm depressed about the state of television. CSI: LV has really sucked for the last couple of seasons, which breaks my heart because I adore William Petersen and I have ever since he did To Live and Die in L.A. back in the 80's. What happened to the cool, geeky science stuff that got worked into the episodes? Where are the great scenes with Grissom and Doc Robbins quoting poetry over a corpse? Where is the show that got me hooked so many years ago? CSI: NY has been doing a WAY better job of being entertaining. At least I get some forensic investigation in my show about forensic investigation. Pretty soon CSI: LV, Dirty Sexy Money and Criminal Minds are going to be the only really good shows on tv. Oh wait...they already ARE!

2007-12-25T15:44:00.000-05:00

Merry Yuletide greetings all! Happy holiday, whatever you celebrate. :-)

So, we did our usual unwrapping of gifts (doggie too - she *loved* to open presents) and then had some lunch. Turkey is now in the oven and the trimmings will go on shortly as well. Let's see, I got a speaker shaped like a bust of Elvis for hooking my portable cd player or mp3 player to and a diecast model of the General Lee. :) Plus I got copies of Labyrinth, Cinderella, 1408, Ultimate Manilow and Elvis Presley: Aloha From Hawaii on dvd.

Yes, I'm a geek. If you've read this blog at all, you'd already know that. :)

I am still working my way through loading my cd collection onto the computer. 9175 songs and still counting. I'm going to need an external drive, heh. I haven't even *approached* the vinyl yet. Or the cassettes. (I wonder if you can hook an 8track player to a computer? Hmmm.)

I realized the other day that I haven't bought many new cds this year. I mean, I've bought quite a bit but nothing that actually came out this year. So much so, I don't even have a "Top 10 albums of 2007" list for what might be the first time. I do have...a top six.

~ Danny Michel - Welcome Home
~ Blackie & the Rodeo Kings - Let's Frolic Again
~ Alex Cuba Band - Agua Del Pozo
~ Soundtrack - Hairspray
~ Norah Jones - Not Too Late
~ Harry Connick Jr. - Oh My Nola

I didn't get any music cds as presents this year so I'm going to have to pick up the stuff still on my gift list. I really need Hawksley's new cd, the new one from Jeremy Fisher and a few others.

My holiday got a little bluer with the news that both The Dead Zone and Big Shots have been cancelled. Sure, take all my hotties off tv why don't you. And with no Jack Bauer in sight either. If it wasn't for Strombo I'd be all out of the hottness. Eventually, The Hour is going to be the ONLY decent show on television anywhere. I'm hoping and praying that some of the new shows coming on CBC in January are going to be good. Since The Jane Show left tv, Little Mosque on the Prairie has been just about the only Canadian show on tv worth watching. I really miss The Eleventh Hour too, damn that was a good show. And Made in Canada. It's not like you can get an abundance of Canadian programming on dvd either. MiC only had one disc put out on dvd. I also have Getting Along Famously from the CBC. But I'll likely never see The Jane Show or something like History Bites on dvd. Or any of the classics. Where is The Friendly Giant or Timothy Pilgrim?

And speaking of stuff that has not been released to dvd...where in all that is holy is my Midnight Caller release??? Gary Cole is the man and I want to revisit Jack Killian if you don't mind. And my dad *really* wants Alice on dvd. Could someone get on that? Along with more releases from Facts of Life, WKRP, and Fame please.

Ok - maybe a bit more to talk about later but I have turkey stuff to do...

~~ L.

2007-12-05T20:42:00.000-05:00

Omg ... I just got an email about a special show Bobby Rydell is doing in Philly on Jan 27th. Big band show in what seems to be a more intimate club setting. With a meet and greet after the show.

Let's talk about how many body parts I would consider parting with to make that show. But just after the holidays...I'd have to win the lottery to be able to swing the trip. (Heh, I'm still paying for the trip from March!) Especially since I've taken a bit of a cut in pay since changing jobs. (Hey, it was either less pay or lose what little sanity I currently am hanging on to. :D )

Bah. I wanna go!! *pout* I've never met Bobby. (I did get to meet Fabian in March and had my eleven year-old fangirl totally come out, lol.) Now I'm going to have to watch Bye Bye Birdie like a kagillion more times to try and take my mind off it. And the 'Beach' movies. (Except for How to Stuff a Wild Bikini. I'm sorry, but now matter how much I love John Ashley I simply cannot get past the scene with that horrible song and the image of him in his little swimsuit on the beach with an ELECTRIC guitar. My suspension of disbelief can only handle so much - and mine stretches *a lot*.)

I just can't get warm tonight. The city buses were about 20 minutes behind schedule due to the road conditions. News flash: IT'S REALLY REALLY COLD OUTSIDE TONIGHT! I'm trying to work up the ambition to draw a bath. Tomorrow night should be fun, store is open until 11pm. I'm working til 9. Then I get to walk home and friday go to work at 9am. (Who does the downtown board think will be shopping downtown at 11pm on a thursday night in Orillia??)

Sunday I have to try and figure out what I'm doing for the emporium budget thing. Apparently no one else has ever done a budget for it so I'm breaking new ground. Cool beans for me, lol. ;-)

Hey, have I mentioned that I'm really, really cold? Ummm....yeah...I got nothin'. *g*

~~ L

2007-12-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

Quick Update...

I know, I know...I've been a very bad blogger. Life occasionally gets in the way. :) So, new job is good. I love working downtown. Nice and easy to get to. Easy to run errands and within walking distance from home for a change. Plus there's the benefit of not sitting in a crappy chair all day and listening to people whine about their cell phones. Or answering dumb text messaging questions all day. (omg, you'd think it was rocket science!)

Saw Denzel Sinclair at the Orillia Opera House. Great performer but I miss seeing the laid-back jazz thing in comfy little jazz clubs in T.O. (Drea - remember that *very* cool club that The Lesters used to play over in Little Italy? Gods but I miss that place. Those were some of the best friday nights you could ask for.) Ah, the pre-marriage hooker conversations. Heh. :-)

Finally saw the new movie version of Hairspray. Nice. Great casting I must say. James Marsten may just be making the crush list after his performace as Corny Collins. He's in good company. (Feel free to discuss, ladies.)

Jeff Goldblum
John Cusack
George Strombolopolous
Danny Michel
Fabian
John Schneider
Nic Cage
William Petersen
Gary Cole
Kevin Spacey
Bobby Rydell
Gary Sinise
Billy Hufsey
Jesus Solorio (SYTYCD Season 3)
Frankie Avalon

Those are the ones that currently leap to mind. Any suggestions on who I might want to add to the list? :D

2007-10-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

Well...I finally did it y'all. Tonight was the Golden Boys show and I finally worked up the nerve to get up onstage and dance the twist when Fabian sang Tiger. I got talking to a woman who was a huge fan and we decided that we'd both be the first two up and we were. Let me say that after standing all day at the store and then getting up there to do that ... that I'm very glad it's a short song 'cause my legs and feet are feeling it a tad now. :-) And I'm not a very good twister (plus it turns out that it's difficult to twist on the stage in sneakers, heh). But I did it so there's another new thing for me this year, keeping up my grand tradition/new years resolution from seven years ago (to do something, no matter how small, that I have never done before). Go me, lol.

It was such a great show tonight though. The guys changed it up a bit tonight. Bobby sang Goody Goody! The Bye Bye Birdie medley was different than I've seen before (as was the film clip intro that started the night off). Fabian actually mentioned one of his films in the show, lol. Oh! And Frankie did a bunch of songs from the Beach movies, which was awesome. :) No rarities though, even though they snuck a few covers in here and there. Frankie did a Bobby Hart song whose title I can't recall right now. I didn't get my Venus serenade this time, he spent a lot of time in the bleachers this time aroung. And the meeting Bobby thing never happened - maybe next time. I'd really like to see one of his solo shows or the Rydell/Avalon show for a change of pace. Have to see if I can make that happen next year perhaps. Depends on how far I have to go to do it and getting time off work.

So much fun tonight though. Too bad I can't see them more often - though I suppose seeing them twice this year isn't bad. :) I have to drop 'em all a line to spread some appreciation for the good time.

New job going well (of course anything is better than the *last* job). Fabulous little italian place downtown that serves great paninis and killer cappucino. But who knew there was so much to know about shoes?? It's a good time there though and I love working downtown. Makes my life so much easier getting around. Now if I could just get Tele**** to pony up the grand in vacation pay they owe me...

~~ Leanne
(New blog song - Bobby Rydell, I'll Never Dance Again ... my absolute favourite Bobby song!!)

2007-09-23T20:51:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little entry right now - thing have been nuts! Let me just say that if people knock at your door at and try to talk you into switching your home phone to some company that starts with an R ... fight the urge. Our home phone and my internet have been screwy and/or completely non-functional for almost a month. And now I still have to send this freakin' equipment back.

BUT...

On the brighter side - I have a new job starting Oct 1st!!! :-) It's back in retail, but it's a nice little boutique type store right downtown. I can walk or easily bus to work and no longer will I need to eat lunch that is either frozen or in a can.

I feel like Scarlett O'Hara. "As God as my witness, I will never wear a headset again!"

:-D

And speaking of God. There's a guy who seems to work for the Liberal party in some way who has been messaging me on Facebook. It seems at first that he is concerned for my political wellbeing and now he seems to be trying to convert me. NOTE: There is about as much chance of converting me *back* to Christianity as there is in getting me to vote for the Liberals.

For those who don't actually know me, here's the Cliff Notes. I was a member of the Baptist church up until I had a near-death experience when I was nineteen. I was in a boating accident and came closer than I like to remember to drowning. (Yeah, I was once one of these dumb teenagers who thought that lifejackets like, so totally did not match my outfit.) At any rate, something happened that day that it took me a long time to figure out and come to terms with. It eventually lead me to the Path I now walk as an Eclectic Pagan. (I will talk more about that in the upcoming month as Samhain, or "Hallowe'en" to the rest of you folk, draws closer.)

Oh yeah, and I'm a *member* of the Federal New Democratic Party. Jack Layton is the MAN! :)

So that's the last couple of weeks in a nutshell. I get to hand in my letter of resignation tomorrow and as of wednesday I am no longer employed at the call center. I should have at least one Mariposa meeting coming up soon and in just a couple of weeks ... it's The Golden Boys at Casino Rama!! Is anyone taking a pool as to whether I will chicken out of getting up and dancing The Twist onstage with Fabian? I'm front row this time - yee haw!! Keep an eye out for the full show report. I'll do a more in depth entry at some point and I'll be changing the blog song to my absolute favourite Bobby Rydell song in honour of the upcoming concert.

2007-08-29T22:04:00.000-05:00

Ok - you'll notice that the previous post with that rather annoying video box is gone. Having had some time to research the subject, I have now found a way to embed the music right into the html of the page. I will likely update the music on the page now on a fairly regular basis when I feel like posting a new tune. :) The song Whatever Happened to Bobby Rydell by Charlie McGettigan and Paul Harrington is still currently the song of choice though. Very cool tune.

Speaking of annoying - I am so incredibly fed up with internet providers. It seems that I have a choice of the one with crappy customer service but really great connection speeds for services I want, or really good customer service and totally crappy connections speeds for the services I want to use. Bastards. The main home phone was switched over to Rogers and I THOUGHT I was simplfying things by switching the internet over too. Tech guy had to drill a hole in the front of the house and string all sorts of cables and splitters to install the damn thing ... and the bittorrent client that I use to transfer files with now gets 9 kb/s rate instead of the 80 kb/s rate that I had with Sympatico.

Newsflash: that totally does not work for me. I cannot take 8 freakin' days to download things that I need to download. (legal live music sharing and such) And Rogers has very politely said...tough luck.

So now I have to get the guy back out here to uninstall this whole mess and spend another hour on the phone with Sympatico to cancel my cancellation of the service and pay whatever needs to be paid to get it rigged so that the phone is through Rogers and the internet is still Sympatico and then set everything back up on my computer that I just finished uninstalling.

*sigh*

2007-08-02T21:59:00.000-05:00

I've forgotten over the last few days to say blessed be to those who join me in celebrating Lammas (or Lughnasadh). May the Lord and Lady shine the light brightly on the path at your feet.

2007-08-02T21:11:00.000-05:00

I am very sad now...one of my fave boys on So You Think You Can Dance is gone. Ok - so I knew that Dominic wouldn't win the whole shebang but I was really hoping for one more week. Three of my five fave boys are now gone. First I lost Jesus (who was sent home WAY too early frankly), then I lost Hok (who's dancing I've adored since I saw him audition last year) - and now Dom's gone. Hopefully both Pasha and Danny make it to the final four - along with Lacey and Sabra. Sorry Lauren and Neil but neither of you have really "gotten" to me during this season. (Ok - other than Mia's contemporary piece last week....but frankly, too little too late compared to the consistancy of the rest of the field.)

You know, I didn't want to like Dom when the season started. I was bitter when they kept him and sent Jesus home. But damn...he goes out there with such focus and just pours himself with such dedication to whatever he's doing. And he's such a charming little goofball, how can you *not* get to like him? Maybe we'll see him and Hok in something that Shane Sparks will do in the future. :)

I wish that Jesus Solorio had a webpage or a myspace page to find out what he's up to. I thought he was just such a beautiful dance and an equally beautiful person.

Have I mentioned lately that I'm really excited about seeing The Golden Boys again in October? ;-) I'm stoked that I'll be right up front this time with the "cool kids" instead of at the back sitting next to the couple from the American Gothic painting. (eep...) Is anyone taking a pool yet on whether or not I chicken out when they invite people onstage to twist with Fabian?

And who on earth is reading this from Emeryville, California? Hardly anyone comments on here though there seem to be a few regular readers - who the devil are you people? *g*

2007-07-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

I've finally finished up the last of this year's Mariposa work. The paperwork is all in, reports are done - I can take the next two or three weeks off before planning starts for next year now. :) I had a ball being back doing what I do best though. I've missed it.

Today was the first day in quite some time where I actually didn't have to do any work. I did a bit of job hunting but other than that I took today OFF!! Watched some Carnivale, listened to the soundtrack to Hairspray and got a rather surprising walk down memory lane over on Facebook. There's not only a group for my high school on there ... but my elementary school too. Scary stuff. I've repressed most of those memories I think - shame that other people haven't, lol.

It got me thinking again about David Clark and wondering what ever happened to him. I had a crush on him the entire way through school. Major crush. I wonder what ever happened to Andre Powell? He rescued me from a bully on the schoolyard once. I wonder if there are any of my teachers still there? Hillcrest my close it's doors soon from what I hear, it'll be a real shame as it's a beautiful school. Much as I disliked school, it's sort of sad to think of a part of your childhood closing it's doors forever. So many memories in those hallways.

I came across photos from high school while scanning them onto my computer last week. Pictures of Jason "The Man in Black" Silk, Brian Fish at the O.D. talent show, pictures of Mrs. Reynolds' class the year we did the S.A.D.D. (Santa Against Drinking and Driving) door at Christmas, of Mr. Halbot, and good friends like Sharon Brown, Cassie Langman, Sherri Simcoe and Mirelle Kuhn. I wish I'd been better at staying in touch. I used to see Mr. Halbot at the mall quite often. I still have to finish the book that I promised I'd use to make him famous. ;-D

Egads, the 80s. The summer of Glass Tiger concerts, seeing David Bowie live at the CNE after the Toronto Rocks taping, late nights with CityLimits hosted by Christopher Ward, millions of Duran Duran and Rick Springfield posters on every inch of my bedroom wall ... oh, the music. What songs would be on the soundtrack of my life....

2007-07-22T08:37:00.000-05:00

The craziness of Mariposa has tapered off now for another year. What a weekend! The Emporium sold almost everthing that wasn't nailed down and I had to run off a couple of times on saturday to see if I could wrangle more cds out of some artists. I knew that artists like Serena Ryder and Hawksley Workman would sell really well when people heard them but the "out of nowhere star" of the weekend was Matt Andersen. Everytime the guy played, hoards of people decended on us.

The only drawback to being in the Emporium is not really being able to enjoy the music at the festival. There's always too much happening for me to wander about. At least the first year went fairly smoothly and now I've got a better idea of what to expect NEXT year and some thoughts on how to make it run a bit better. All that's left for me to do now is my report to the organizing committee which I have to get done today while all the things I have perculating in my head are still fresh. :)

OH!! And I bought my tickets to The Golden Boys show here at the Casino in October!! Front row tix baaabeee! Just left of center. Up where the fun people sit this time, not back in the midst of the walker brigade. Maybe, just maybe....I'll get the nerve up to go and dance the twist on stage with Fabian this time. (Hard to say, Wayne Parker couldn't get me up there back in '88/'89 to sing Don't Forget Me.) Hey, and being that I'm going to be right in front, maybe Frankie will serenade me with Venus or Bobby Sox to Stockings. I love that he just wanders the whole audience, right up to the bleacher seats in the back. I wonder if I should go in 50's style - poodle skirt and such. Hey, if I'm going to get up and make a spectacle of myself on stage then I might as well go all out eh?

Of course, the thing I'd love most to do that I haven't yet would be to meet Bobby Rydell. I've loved his music as long as I've known what music was. My grandma had a great record collection that I played everytime I went to see her - Bobby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and so many more. (I wish I knew what had happened to them all. Out of all the records I used to play of hers, strangely the one I ended up getting my hands on somehow was the rarest - a recording from a British show, Meet Me at the Pig & Whistle. Lots of British pub songs. And the only person I've ever heard mention it was Mike Myers strangely enough.)

Ok - I have to stop procrastinating now and go get some actual work done!

2007-07-03T21:22:00.000-05:00

I think I'm about as ready as I will ever be for Mariposa this weekend. Holy cow - with doing so much work on the program plus setting up the page on Myspace and whatnot plus taking on Emporium coordinator, working at my crappy job .... I'm going to be one tired puppy come Monday. I'm tired *now*! After the weekend is over I'll be able to spend my free time for a while on my massive genealogy project and getting back into sewing again. I got a shiny new sewing machine for my birthday that's just waiting for me to have some spare time.

I'm putting it in print right now and you can hold me to it. I'm not writing the program next year. Way too much on my plate.

I've got a line on a job that I want right now. Wish me luck y'all 'cause it pays *really* well, great location for me and the hours are much more agreeable. Plus I don't have to listen to people bitch and complain all day about their cell phones.

2007-06-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

I have absolutely HAD IT with the place I work at! We all have our breaking point and today is just it.

They have decided to decline my request for two vacation days for the Mariposa folk festival weekend. Ok - I am not *attending* the festival .... I'm the Emporium Coordinator. Which means that I am committed to being there. Like I'm committed to being there EVERY YEAR! Except this year I'm in charge of the entire merchandise area, which is where the foundation makes a good portion of their money every year. I've got an entire section to run and a whole crew of volunteers and there is no way that I cannot be there.

So, people who want to take the weekend off to get drunk can get time off but someone spending the weekend doing volunteer work in the community for a non-profit arts organization gets totally shafted? Even when you put in the request about three months ago?? WTF is that?

This is the part that gets me. So I talked to a friend who's a supervisor and she had me file a request to change the two days off for extra hours at the beginning of the week. If that is declined then I can put in a request to have the two days off as unpaid leave. Follow me on this one...

I get declined for vacation days. I can switch out for some extra hours the rest of the week. If that gets denied then I can request the same two days off with no pay that I was turned down for originally with vacation pay ... with more than $1000 in accumulated vacation pay that I have absolutely no access to. And if I get the days off without pay then I will need to make up the lost hours on the same shifts that would have been denied when I put in the request to switch them out in step #2.

Does that make sense to ANYONE?

If I can't get that weekend off then there's a good chance that I'm completely done with this job. There's absolutely no flexibility with them whatsoever. They complain about being short staffed but they obviously don't care enough to even attempt to keep the agents that they have. Personally, I don't even feel on the whole like I'm even treated like a person. And I certainly don't feel valued.

There's a call center in Barrie that's hiring and they pay $17.44 to start! Plus benefits! And unlike where I currently work, there aren't any websites simply devoted to people who hate working for them. It can't get any worse than this. Granted I'm not crazy about the commute but I don't see that I have any choice in the matter right now. I'm pretty much being forced by "management" to quit. It seems idiotic for a place that says they are so short-handed to force me into quitting instead of just giving me the two days off that I need but I seem to be running out of options.

Some days life just doesn't even seem worth the effort....

2007-06-05T20:32:00.000-05:00

You want to know how far down my life has come since The Golden Boys escapade back in March? (Dude, was that only three months ago???) Highlight of my week? I got enough air miles to redeem for a George Foreman grill/griddle combo.

Seriously. I was totally excited when I got home tonight and saw the box.

Ok - those who know me really well know certain facts about me. I'm a complete music geek. I have a massive book collecting fixation. I have a moderate (shut up) addiction to pre-1990's pop culture. And I LOVE shiny new kitchen gadgets. Few things make me happier than having the time to cook or bake something. Especially when I can cook or bake to music. :)

I am so happy that I have tomorrow off 'cause now I can play with my new toy! (Alright, I was happy to have the day off *before* I got the new toy...just due to the fact that I deal with complete morons all day but still....)

On a musical note...I really need some live music. If only I didn't have so much stuff to do to wrap up Mariposa. Granted, it's of my own doing - well most of it is my own doing. Some of it...I just sort of fell into. I think the whole freakin' festival knew that I was taking over the Emporium before I did! :-) I think I might need to lighten the load a tad next year though. This is getting a tad nuts. I'm going to spend most of this week finishing up the majority of the program and I've still got my volunteers to schedule and such.

And I finally got my hands on a couple of hot little numbers - Colin Linden's most recent disc, Easin' Back to Tennessee and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings new release, Let's Frolic Again. Both will be getting a ton of play this week you can be assured. I just love these adorable wackos to bits, lol.

I just had a rather depressing thought the other day. What am I going to do when I run out of movies that Fabian has done??? It's going to happen eventually when I manage to track the rest of them down. I just bought Kiss Daddy Goodbye a couple of weeks ago but I haven't watched it yet because that occurred to me. Bobby Rydell really should have done more movies. I've seen Bye Bye Birdie about 15,000 times at this point. Plus I've been .... ummm .... liberating a few items from a certain website that people inhabit to put clips up on whose name I won't mention. I guess I'll have to complete my Frankie Avalon collection next. Not that I'm like, obsessing or anything. 'Cause we all know that I totally don't do that over music acts. Not me, nope. Well I don't....

Wow...this entry was really random. I think this job of mine is killing brain cells.

2007-05-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

Wowza! I just watched the season finale of CSI: NY and damn...that episode kicked my ass all over the room. I'm totally not going to spoil it for anyone. But since West Wing went off the air, there has not been a single show on the air that has made me gasp during an episode and yell things at the tv so many times in an hour. Hot damn, but THAT is how you make television people.

When I contrast that with the lame and thoroughly uninteresting finale of the flagship CSI? As much as I adore William Petersen and always have - the finale was highly disappointing. It was just dark and weird. And not weird in a good way. I mentioned a few things over on TalkCSI that I'm wishing for...

- a return to the fun and slightly weird CSI that I used to love (where have all the "Jackpot"s and "Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas"s gone??) Can we PLEASE find our sense of humour again people???

- I'd like the real Grissom back please and thank you. Where is my mad scientist/bugman? I haven't seen Grissom do anything with weird or slightly gross experiments lately. And he hasn't tortured Greg in the name of science in eons.

- I'd like some forensics back in my forensics show besides someone handing someone a report

- "GSR" can disappear thanks. And it can take it's handle with it. We're just going to have to rename the test now to get away from it. I've voting to rename the Gunshot Residue Test, the High-Velocity Projectile Residue Test. HVPRT. Ok, so it doesn't have quite the same ring but we have to make the sacrifice. (Hey, if we get rid of Sara after what happened in the finale, maybe Greg can actually get some screen time.)

- Do we even *have* a team anymore? The screen time is way uneven.

- I'm still waiting for my scene where someone breaks into Grissom's apartment while he's getting out of the shower and he's forced to defend himself in a towel. Frankly I'm not accustomed to WP being in anything where he stays clothed this long. It's freaking me out.

In other news...I'm really hoping that HBO is ordering eps of 12 Miles of Bad Road. Hello, Gary Cole and Lily Tomlin doing a show that sounds like Dallas on crack?? I'm so there. :-) There's also news of a show coming up starring Michael Vartann, Josh Molina, Christopher Titus and Dylan McDermott. I don't even need to know what it's about. Seriously. The could sit around a stage and read the phonebook and I'd watch those four.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering - yeah still at "the job". The walls are closing in on me. If you hear about someone going nuts in a call center and a mass casualty rate in Southern Ontario - that'll likely be me....

2007-05-10T13:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm feeling a tad better than I was in my last entry. I had a good cry, ate some ice cream and had a night of self-pity but I'm ready to get back on the horse again. Still have the massive disappointment that I lost such a fantastic opportunity but frankly, it's their loss. If they don't want someone on the Orillia arts council that brings my amount of knowledge about the local music industry or the amount of enthusiasm and dedication I would bring to the position....I'll just take it elsewhere. Not sure where yet, but I'm on the search again.

I'm mostly bummed that I had so many plans for the arts council and the downtown ticketing office that I can't implement now, and it would have allowed me to spend a lot more time volunteering in the arts community, but so be it.

Things I love this week...

-- Seeing the Facts of Life episode 62 Pickup again with Bobby and Fabian. So much fun! My favourite scene is the bit with them and Tootie at the start of the episode...

Bobby: Don't you know who we are?
Tootie: Should I?
Fabian: I should hope so, we sing all over the country. We're known as The Golden Boys.
Bobby: (a little overconfidently) I'm Bobby Rydell.
Tootie: Who?
Fabian: Don't worry, his own mother doesn't recognize him. I'm Fabian.
Tootie: Who?
Bobby: (exasperated sigh) You know, when the two of us weren't any older than you, we were singing on the Ed Sullivan Show. (Bobby gives his best "I'm a famous guy" look)
Tootie: Who?

Of course the really fun part is when Beverly Ann tells the story about how the place they live used to be a boarding house for musicians playing in Peekskill and we flash back to 1962. Complete with pompadours and the four girls as the singing group, The Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la's (you sort've need to say in groups of three la's, heh).

-- Bobby Flay. Ok, I've recently become addicted to watching Iron Chef America. Not only do I enjoy watching Bobby Flay cook 'cause he's a genius but he's also cute as hell. He's also got a show on that I love called Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Competative much? :-)

-- Danny Michel. Ok, I've always loved Danny...anyone who knows me will attest to that. But he just put out a live dvd/cd set that is so freakin' good that it calls for a spot on the list of happy making things this week.

-- my PVR. I resisted but I finally broke down and got a digital recorder for my tv. Should have done this eons ago.

-- So You Think You Can Dance. S3 is on the way! If it's *half* as good as S2 I'll be a happy girl. Even happier if we see an appearance over the season from Benji! (I hear that Dimitri is helping Mary out this season!!)

-- News that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is coming back! Yeehaw!!

That's all I've got right now....

2007-05-08T20:13:00.000-05:00

Well....my dream job just went up in a poof of smoke. Regardless of years of dedication to the local music scene and my desire to grow more in the field of promotion with the arts community. Regardless of the work I've put into the folk community and the work I'm still putting into this year's festival....I still got passed over for the director's position with the arts council. Apparently I don't meet their criterea - so sayth the Dear John email.

To say I'm crushed would be an understatement right now.

Some days it just seems like no matter what you do or how much work you put into something, you still end up with nothing to show for it. Now I have to face the fact that I might spend my life in this crappy, dead-end job 'cause frankly, the more time I spend outside of a job in the arts community, the less likely I am to ever go back. I could have been so good at this position even if there are a couple of areas of it that are newish, I was completely up for the challenge. But....so much for that. If you've got all of this work, all of this passion for it, plus a bunch of people in the arts community who think you'd be great at it .... and you still don't land the job, what the hell hope is there? I might as well troubleshoot cell phones for morons for the rest of my life.

Apparently that's the only thing I'm good for. *sigh* Somedays you just don't want to get out of bed...

2007-04-27T20:52:00.000-05:00

Ok...I likely get *way* too excited over the stuff I get off of Ebay. But tonight I came home to find not only my 45s of Venus and Bobby Sox to Stockings by Frankie Avalon but also my 45 of The Love That I'm Giving To You. And the thing I love most about it, aside from it being one of my fave Fabian songs is that the b-side is a song that I've never heard before, You're Only Young Once. And that song is from one of the few movies of his I've never seen - Love in a Goldfish Bowl. I totally can't wait to hear it! But I'm saving it for Sunday when the place is empty and I can crank the stereo to truly appreciate it. Eight....or nine times... ;-)

Have to find out when tix go onsale for The Golden Boys here at the casino in October. I want to be right up front with the fun people this show. You know that painting of the old couple with the pictchfork outside the cabin (American Gothic??). That's who I was sitting next to at the last casino show. Swear to god. Exact same expressions too. I mean dude....Frankie Avalon stood RIGHT THERE and sang VENUS and those two did nothing!! Granted I probably looked like a stunned fish (kinda like I did in that pic of me and Fabian from the Philly show that will *never* be posted online, lol) but still....

Right. Wandering off the point again as usual. I'm sure I *had* a point at some...point.

But since I'm having a random night - I might have job news soon. Wish me luck! This is an absolutely awesome chance, a total dream job that I'm perfect for and I WANT it!! More money, less hours and it's right up my alley. I'm so totally nervous about the interview too.

I'm watching West Wing dvds to take my mind off of it. Best line ever...."Of course I wrote a concession speach. You want to risk the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing?" My life is so incomplete without my weekly dose of Tobey. :)

2007-04-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Hope springs eternal!! They might *actually* kill off Sara Sidle on CSI!

Now don't get me wrong, I liked Jorja Fox when she was on The West Wing. And I liked her character on CSI during S1 and most of S2. But somewhere along the line, her fiery, smart and spunky character turned into a whiny, obsessive irritant with daddy issues and started following her boss around like a puppy. And then to be betrayed by the writers of the show by passing up the opportunity to explore much more interesting and mature relationships with their leading actor who I've admired since To Live and Die in L.A. and instead cave to the scads of fourteen year old girls who think that it's really great that the older man who is her boss is sleeping with the girl who works for him.

'Cause what's really original on tv is a man with a midlife crisis sleeping with a younger woman with daddy issues.

But hey, maybe I'm one of the few that thinks that the scenes between Grissom and Sara are horribly painful to watch. I get less grossed out by Doc Robbins cutting open a corpse and having a rat burst out (like recently, heh). I just feel so cheated out of the massive possibilities they passed up on with the many women they *could* have put Grissom with. Sofia was originally brought in as a love interest and the two of them melded so well. The electricity could have burned out my tv. And their personalities complemented each other. Sara is one step shy of being a shut-in. She'd probably never even leave her place if she didn't have to work. Whereas Sofia is a sexy, vivacious and outgoing woman. And speaking of sexy women - Catherine knows Grissom better than he knows himself. Talk about yin and yang. Apparently Tarantino thought so too, the way he set them up as Nick's "work mom and dad" in Grave Danger. And though she technically works for him too, she's more his equal. She's been a supervisor but chose to come back to her 'family' and I'm sure that if they were a serious item, they would be able to resolve any work conflicts and wouldn't have to run around behind everyone's backs. And then of course....there is Lady Heather. The only one who knows Grissom right down to the soul. (Granted, he rather screwed that relationship up but hey...a whole season of Dallas was a dream. We could fix that relationship...)

Ok - much longer entry than I'd intended. Let me finish by saying that if Sara's character is getting bumped off....I'll be throwing a party! :)

2007-03-30T21:42:00.000-05:00

You know what I still can't get over about Philadelphia? It came up online tonight, and it's one of the things that pops into my mind when someone asks me about my trip.

Sidewalk sanders.

The first sign of snow that one day I was in Philadelphia, everywhere I looked there was a guy in a sidewalk sander laying down ice melter. To call the snowfall a 'dusting' would be fairly accurate. And there are actually city employees out there in *force*. Ok...I live in what is affectionately known as the "snow belt". Do you know how much snow we have to get here before the sidewalks even get plowed?? And no one here would even think about putting ice melter down on the sidewalks to clear it to the pavement.

Someone who lives in Philly should tell me if this is like, normal behaviour there. If you'd have told me that they did this I would never have believed it. You can tell you're not in Canada anymore when.... ;-)

2007-03-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

I just got my copy of Soul Hustler aka The Day the Lord Got Busted on VHS today! Finally found one on Ebay .... and naturally I can't get my vcr working. I got a Rogers cable box a few weeks back and I did have the vcr working with it but then I rearranged some of the hookup and now the vcr is doing weird things. But I was planning on swapping out the box for one that records (why I didn't get one of those in the first place I don't know). I think I'll wait til Dad leaves the house tomorrow night and scoop his for a couple of hours so I can watch it.

And yes, I know you're all shocked to know that it's a movie starring Fabian. Oh, and I got a copy of Little Laura and Big John too. It's just been released on dvd! :) I've never seen a movie yet with Fabe playing a bad guy so these two should be interesting. I have just got to put this on here. This is what it says on the video cover about Soul Hustler...

BEHIND THE SAINTLY IMAGE WAS A MAN OF EARTHLY DESIRES
After the death of hs wife and child, Matthew Crowe (Fabian Forte) drifts
around the country with nothing but contempt for himself and life in
general. But when he wanders into a small town revival meeting and cons the
gullible congegation out of a sum of money, his life takes a sensational and
much more lucrative direction in Soul Hustler.
Intoxicated by his new-found power, Matthew resumes his journey, but with a
new purpose in mind -- to find another ripe and unsuspecting congregation.
In his dizzying rise to sensational popularity, this slick huckster fools
many a dedicated disiple while managing to hide his fondness for drugs and
some rather kinky sexual proclivities.
Building to a crescendo of feverish fanaticism, something has to give--and
does--causing Matthew's appalling fall from grace. Peeling away the
scandalous and manipulative veeer of modern hypocrisy, Soul Hustler
is a shocking expose of errant evangelism gone mad.

Ok, so you know that the phrase that got my attention was the part about "kinky sexual proclivities". ;-) He looks pretty hot with a beard too I might add. I wouldn't *ever* have pictured him with one but you know...not bad, lol. Can't wait to actually see it! Some of his movies are proving ellusive. I don't think that Love in a Goldfish Bowl has ever even been released on anything. I still have to get a copy of Maryjane when it pops up on Ebay next. Disco Fever, Crisis in Midair, Getting Married, A Bullet For Pretty Boy and The Devil's 8 are among the few that are missing from my little connection.

If any of y'all are interested...

http://aradia13m.pitas.com (music collection)

http://aradia13q.pitas.com (movie collection)

http://aradia13_n2.pitas.com (book collection)

Yes...my collections have their own web pages. Ok...it's out of the bag. It's a tad OCD of me I know but I'm a bit of a compulsive list maker. (hello, understatment. *g*) And yes, I'm a bit anal when it comes to my music collection in particular. Right now I'm creating a catalogue of the traded/legally downloaded live shows I've collected. And I have to drag my box of 45s out so that I can put them up online with the B sides included. Yes, I'm that obsessive. :-D

Oh, did I mention that I have four more Bobby Rydell vinyl albums coming? Now, if I could just snag a copy of Rockin' Hot by the ever so Fabulous Fabian I would be a happy girl. Lost out to rabid Annette collectors on the Fireball 500 interview 45 this week. That was rather crushing. *sigh* But, I get to watch Fabian be a very bad boy so I guess I'll live. (Don't mind the strange mood I'm in tonight peeps.)

I'm a tad stressy tonight. I'm looking for another job. Much as I love answering phone calls from crazy Americans whose world has come to an end because their cell phones haven't worked for a whole ten minutes of their lives, I am looking elsewhere. The local arts organization is hiring for their office here. If I get it it means I can go back working with local artists again, both music and visual arts. And it's downtown, which means I can walk and bike to work everyday. And I really, really, really want this job. It's only part-time but hell, if I have to get another part-time job to go with it I will. I so want to go back into my field again and get back to what I do best...supporting the arts in our community. Plus, since it's a non-profit, I'll get to get experience in grant applications and the like. Have I mentioned just how much I want this job?

Wish me luck people. If I have to take much more of this current job, I could possibly lose whatever sanity I am currently holding on to. If you hear about a rampage at a Canadian call center...could very well be me. ;-)

2007-03-17T17:16:00.000-05:00

So, in the whole "getting to know Leanne" thing, here's a really important note. I talk about music a lot. Like...90% of the time. :-) And I'm a bit of a walking encyclopedia of the obscure too. 10 to 1 that I could mention like, 100 really great bands that you've never heard of. And I probably have autographed cds by them too. (Hey, I like to give everyone their rock star moment, lol.)

I just stumbled across a guy on myspace that I am completely in love with. (Granted that happens on nearly a daily basis where musicians are concerned but disregard that. :-D ) Ok - I don't know him ... we've never even met to date. But....damn...has he got a sexy voice. Don't even know what the lyrics are, I don't need to know what the words mean (sometimes that can just totally spoil it even). Baby, just keep singing to me like that. You need to check this guy out. And I need his phone number. ;-)

http://www.myspace.com/alexispuentesalexcuba

2007-03-15T21:19:00.000-05:00

Hey all - the rest of my pictures from the Philly trip are now up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariposaland/

There were a lot of people that I seem to have missed hooking up with on the trip! The guys are just going to have to book another show in the area so that we can all try this again. I'll post a little itinerary or something and we'll see if we can't do better next time. :)

2007-03-14T19:57:00.000-05:00

The Philly photos are now online!! Enjoy! And comment to your little heart's content too. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mariposaland/

I'm hoping to put a lot more of my photography online at some point in a slightly organized fashion. I've got so many snaps - it's a passion for me that originally sprung out of my near-death experience and the whole epiphany I had after that. (There's a blog entry back near the beginning of my blog here if you are interested in that whole business of my boating accident.)

On a completely unrelated note, an email I got today got me to thinking about what people find humour and whatnot in. It's rather interesting when you consider it. A lot of people find the base "bathroom" humour hysterical. That's about the *only* thing that I don't find funny. Not because it's not but just 'cause I suppose I find it to be a tad juvenile. I probably laughed at it when I was like...eight. :)

Somebody at work the other day said something and prefaced it by, "but I don't want to offend anyone..." That's fine ... BUT ... for those of you who read my blog, know this. I don't get offended. Ever. Not even if you make Barry Manilow jokes. (Though I will point out how immensely underrated he is on several occassions if you do.) And I find everything funny. I blame that on the Irish in me. I don't think that we look at anything all that seriously. I mean, people die and we throw a party. We tend to celebrate life and not mourn.

Has anyone here ever heard a song by a band called DaVinci's Notebook called Another Irish Drinking Song? It's basically about how every Irish song is pretty much about three things.

Death
Drinking
Falling down after drinking

I should also mention here that I have a rather drastic tendancy towards sarcasm. I'm working on weaning that back, especially on the internet. I know that it's hard to interpret sarcasm on the net. But then, it's hard in general to be funny in print I suppose.

I may be rambling a bit here but this is meant as a little bit of a preface into me as a person for those who read this and don't know me. There are bound to be things that I say (or email as the case may be....some people may know what I mean if they are reading this) that may possibly offend. But since nothing actually offends me personally...I tend not to see that until someone points out that it's upsetting to them.

And one thing I do really well is guilt. I can feel guilty about stuff for years. Like way after the person who mentioned whatever made me feel guilty even remembers the conversation. Inevitibly I start to apologize...to a point that I'm sure is probably really annoying actually. Which then makes me feel like I'm bothering people. (Which leads back to me feeling guilty again, lol)

So...I suppose this is an upfront apology for inevitably something that will say to at least one of you reading this. I am truly sorry. I didn't mean it. Honest.

*huggs*

2007-03-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

I was thinking tonight...with all my talk of The Fabulous Fabian and all that I should post my happy little livejournal colourbar. :) I really should go back to doing some fanart and icons and such. This one of Frankie (from that great scene in Fireball 500 with Frankie and Fabian) being my fave Livejournal icon to date of course...

2007-03-13T19:40:00.000-05:00

Mariposa

Kind of a bummer to have to go back to real life after the big trip. *sigh* If I only I could be paid for 'professional fandom'. :) At any rate - to business again. For those of you who stumble across my blog and also happen to hang out on a little page called MySpace, I've recently set up a page for the Mariposa Folk Festival.

http://www.myspace.com/mariposa_festival

My involvement with the festival goes back quite a few years now but I seem to get more jobs every year. Guess that's why I got the "super volunteer" medal from Tom last year. :) But I love doing it and supporting such great artists every year. Such a wonderfully diverse and slightly odd group, lol. A hell of a lot of work but also tons of fun with sprinkles of chaos and madness on top!

And frankly, I blame it all on Stephen Fearing.

That's right Stephen...if you're reading this right now .... you folk guitarist you. Granted it was my idea to invite you over to the record store for that instore appearance but still. My life has gotten a lot busier and a tad weird and surreal since you mosied on into it. (Those who hang out with me at shows know *exactly* what I mean by that too.) Strange how a person can go from "folk guitarist icon and hero" one day of your life to exchanging cheesy musician jokes via email or hanging around at the beer tent the next.

But those people who have never checked out our lovely little folk festival should come on out! Come sit on the grass by the lake, soak up some summer sun and listen to some tunes. Lots of the musicians that are playing have pages on myspace and you can check out their music. I'm knee deep in writing bios for the program now that my vacation is done (I'm already craving cheesesteak again dude) and I'll keep posting the artists on the blog there as they are finalized.

And if you come to the festival make sure you stop by the CD Emporium and say hi! I'm running that this year too! Eeep!

2007-03-12T19:50:00.000-05:00

Post trip observations

Not only am I not a big fan of airports, I can really do without the flying thing. It takes five times as long just to navigate the airport, security, baggage, customs, etc than it does to take the flight! And it seems that Air Canada is not the promptest airline in the world.

I am never flying again given an alternate method of travel. Never. (Though seeing the clouds from the other side is really kinda cool.) But I'm staying home for a while after this. Good Goddess but it is good to be home again. This was definitely a trip to remember though!

2007-03-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

March 9, 2007
5:15pm

I can't believe that my first trip to Philly is coming to an end soon! I'm having fun engaging random Philadelphians in conversation and telling people that I came down from Canada to see The Golden Boys. I'm excitable, what can I say. Apparently they find the fact that I joined Bobby and Fabian's fan clubs and that I was so excited about meeting Fabian to be ..... cute. :) I'm getting a few kind of, "Aww....isn't that sweet" looks, heh. I think I'm getting the hang of the 30th St station and SEPTA now though. Dude! Even Hamilton doesn't have this many one-way streets. I got down to Pat's today for a cheesesteak (yum!) and ventured to see the Italian Market and then down to Bobby Rydell Blvd. I'm not all that sure what I expected south Philly to be but....I think I get Bobby's jokes about Hugo Peabody a bit more now. First off, what is with 11th St anyway? I seem to have lost it somewhere around Wharton and wound up on 12th Street. Walking along thinking, "Good plan. Let's get lost in south Philadelphia by myself." I have to admit to not being all that comfortable walking down there alone. I'm from fairly rural Ontario let's remember. Orillia's isn't exactly the sticks but we're neighbours. ;-) But I've walked down Church Street at 3am in Toronto where the hookers hang out and no problem. Maybe it's just a subconcious "I'm in a foreign country" thing. Plus, some jackass threw something out of him truck window - not sure if he whipped it at me, if it riccocheted or it something broke off whatever it was but I got pelted in the leg with *something* had enough to make me stagger and make me check to make sure my leg wasn't bleeding or anything. F#@& but that hurt! But I figured that I'd come this far and dammit I was not leaving until I'd made it down as far as Bobby's section of 11th Street. Took some more snaps and then made my way back up, this time I grabbed a bus back up to Chesnutt Street, grabbed some dinner and headed back to the hostel.

As much as I've enjoyed Philly and I had such a good time at the concert, I'll be really glad to get home now. I miss the doggie and I really want to sleep in my own bed again. This is a really great city but I really miss Canada. I've got some good snaps that I'll post online when I have some time and I've had lots of cheesesteak. But travelling to another city and another country sure makes you appreciate home. It was great to go on this little adventure by myself though, it helps to shake the cobwebs out from time to time.

2007-03-12T18:08:00.000-05:00

March 8, 2007

2:40pm
I didn't write in here much last night 'cause I was pretty wiped out after 8 1/2 hours of walking around Philadelphia. I picked up my usual assortment of touristy souveniers - some lapel pins of the Liberty Bell and of course some postcards for my album. I should see if I can find somewhere selling antique postcards of Philly somewhere on antiques row. Hmmm....

At any rate, I am currently in Lancaster. OMG! I thought Union Station in Toronto was big and confusing. Totally not prepared for the 30th St station here! I tackled the subway and only managed to get lost once. (Hey, I can get lost way better than that on the TTC in Toronto! I'm very impressed with myself thank you.) But I came up to street level, looked across the street and thought....holy crap!! And not only are there like, a million crosswalks to venture across but it's a tad confusing inside. You have to find the right stairway to go down to get to the right train and it doesn't seem like they are in any particular order either. But it could just be me. Usually is. :-) I managed to find stairway 8 and get the train though. Had a little trouble getting a taxi in Lancaster but I made it to the hotel! It's weird though 'cause the hotel is actually in this big outlet mall. Y'all know my feelings on malls, lol. Needless to say after just taking a look around, I'll be hanging out in the hotel and then going out to dinner before the show. Think I'll mosey on over to the Bob Evans for something before the show.

11pm
Just back to the hotel after the show. I love seeing The Golden Boys so much! Why did I never see them live before last year?!?! I think I got a few really good pictures that I'll be posting online either Wed or Thurs when I have a day off and I can get things a bit more organized. I may have to touch up a few though 'cause I started off taking pics with no flash. I am so not used to this newfangled digital camera business yet. :-) Fabian expanded on the whole story about the car accident that everyone on the Yahoo group was abuzz about. He said that the car was racing that ran them off the road and their car flipped three times, went end over end and landed on the roof! The whole room was more than a tad stunned. So glad that he's alright. He went on to talk about how he thought he could do the show the next night as he was feeling pretty good with the morphine and vicaden. (I can only imagine!) He said that he didn't fall off the stage...he just walked off of it. (Which explains Frankie's whole, "Fabe, this is the edge of the stage. See all this tape?" bit at the show, lol.)

The set list is similar to the Casino Rama show but man, what a great concert. They did the American Bandstand intro and Bobby was first up. I just love his whole Bye Bye Birdie medley and all the clips (I should watch that again tonight). He did Volare and Wild One and Forget Him too. He doesn't do Kissin' Time though, at least not at either of the shows I've been at thus far. I'll be patient. :) He never loses that beautiful voice.

Fabian did his set second. Old Time Rock 'n' Roll sounds *so* good when he does it. And of course he did Turn Me Loose and Tiger and had people up on stage twisting. I, of course, chickened out about getting up on stage to do the twist. I was just too nervous to do that onstage with Fabian. Maybe I'll work up the courage when they come back to the casino in October. We'll see. I'm always surprised that Fabe doesn't do any of the songs from his movies. Of course I'm biased as I'm one of those "kids" that has always known him more from the movies than his music (though I know have almost all of his albums on vinyl now). I think This Friendly World from the movie Hound Dog Man is one of my absolute favourites. Come to think of it, I think Fabian is the only one of the three guys that doesn't even mention his movies let alone sing songs from them. Bobby does a whole medley and he only did one movie! Fabian did so many that I love. (Just as long as he doesn't do the theme from Five Weeks in a Balloon. I mean, he did a great job singing that song in the movie but it's not much of a song to work with, heh) But movies like Hound Dog Man had a lot of great songs in it. Of course my absolute favourite song of his is Long Before. LOVE! I doubt he'd do that live though. He does sing I'm a Man while he talks about what gall he had singing that on "the Dickie Clarkie show" when he was 15. I'm a bit surprised he never sings Kissin' and Twistin'.

But I digress, as usual.

I always enjoy Fabian's jokes at Frankie's expense I must admit. No matter how many times Fabian does a "look how short Frankie is" joke it still cracks me up. I just wait to see how low he's going to put the mike stand. It was so cool being in the third row though 'cause Frankie came down and sang most of Bobby Sox to Stockings right there in front of the first row. *swoon* (Yes, that would be my fave Frankie song :-D ) And of course, he did Venus and De De Dinah. And the requisite "Frankie Avalon recreates his role as Teen Angel" moment where he gets encompased in a cloud of smoke to the point of being obliterated from site and then coughes and wheezes. It's corny but it still makes me laugh hysterically. :-D OMG! And Frankie's bit with the piano player where he's telling jokes and the guy sits there like he's stone! And he does his little visit to the music from the Beach movies (although my favourite, Don't Stop Now is another absent tune. Though he'd need at least one girl dancer for that I suppose. Ok, THAT I would volunteer for!!! LOL!!)

Then of course we have the tribute and then the Mouseketeer farewell song (so cute). This is where I started to get really, really nervous. I'm meeting .... Fabian. Have I mentioned lately that I've had a crush on him since I was eleven and I saw him in Five Weeks in a Balloon for the first time? Not to mention the first time I saw him in Thunder Alley? (Hello, shirtless Fabian in bed.) How cute was that scene with Fabian and Annette when he's telling her all about his blacking out behind the wheel and asks her what they should do and she says she doesn't know. Then Fabian leans over and says, "I know, let's have a Coke.". (Ok, so you have to see the move but trust me....it's really adorable. And so is his pompadour.) You know I have to mention again that it's really criminal that the pompadour went out of style. *sigh*

Ok, so back to me being a geek and getting insanely nervous about meeting Fabian. After a bit of effort in finding Art, he led us (there was another couple there to meet him too) to the backstage area and .... there was the man himself.

I know I hang out with a lot of musicians up here with being involved in Mariposa and it seems to a lot of people that I'm really cool and collected 'cause I put on my "look at me, I'm a professional festival organizor" persona but deep down those who know me best know that I'm a music dweeb and I geek out after the whole thing is over. But Fabian....is a movie star. He's done films with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart! And he is one of those people that I never thought in my wildest dreams I would never actually meet! It never even would have occurred to me. But...there he was, large as life. I honestly am not even sure what all I said though I'm reasonably sure that it was formed in coherent sentences. I gave him the scrapbook of my photos and the poetry that I put together over the last few months. He seemed to really like it. (I hope so! I feel like he's given so much to me that I wanted to give just a little token of appreciation to him too. And after going on and performing after the week he's had made me even gladder that I brought it down from Canada with me.) I was a little shy about asking him to pose for a picture but he was so sweet and so gracious. He is completely charming, no wonder so many women have crushes on him. :)

Oh, did I mention that he kissed my hand after I gave him the album? Yeah, hi. Anyone have a little pail I can disolve in? Thanks so much.

Ummm.....what was I saying? Hmmm...oh yeah. Discussing the meet & greet, heh. Anyway, there was a rather large grouping of people around Fabian (shocker) so it was a brief yet meaningful encounter, lol. And I got to talking to the other guy I'd been waiting out front with. He came down from upstate NY for the show and we chatted about online groups and shows we've been to and ended up exchanging email addresses. This is one of the things I love about musical communities is the people that you meet through artists and shows. I've still got friends from back in the day when we travelled around for Moxy Fruvous and now I'm still meeting cool people through shows. Awesome.

Happy dreams tonight. :)

Oh! Total quote of the night from the concert! (Not exactly verbatim 'cause I didn't have my notebook out...)

Bobby: Look at what I won...two weeks in Niagara. That's right. Me.
Frankie: That's two weeks on Viagra.
Bobby: Hey, could be quite a trip.

2007-03-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

March 7, 2007

11:45am
Holy snowing! Dude! I thought I might escape the snow for the week but it looks like I brought it with me. :-P I found South Street though and I think I'm going to window shop. Checked out Chesnutt Street before heading down 4th to South and I'm getting a coffee before doing more walking. I'm going to give heading to Bobby Rydell Blvd a try today but hard to say if I'll manage it or not. Looks like a bit of a hike and I'm not sure if I'm up to tackling SEPTA just yet, heh.

It's just about noon now and the snow that was quaint at 8am is not so much now. Seriously. Tired of snow now! Though I've got to say one really weird thing I've noticed is that almost as soon as it started snowing, there's all these city guys out with spreaders putting down ice melter. Everywhere! There's barely even enough snow to cover the sidewalks. If I was back in Canada there would have to be a foot of snow to even have the street plows out! And we totally don't have city employees putting down ice melter - if we're lucky maybe the sidewalk plows will be out. Crazy Americans. :-) I'm hoping to get to Pat's today so that I can do the whole bonding with Fabian over the cheesesteak thing, lol. (And I've totally been dying to try my very first Philly cheesesteak...they look so good!)

Ok - yes. Travelling for me is all about a concert and the food. Who needs tourist sites I say. ;-)

It's really something though walking through the historic district of Philadelphia. Seeing all of these momumental buildings is impressive to say the least. I don't think I realized just how big Philly really is! I've only just scratched the surface so far. I walked through this beautiful area of red brick rowhouses today, past St. Mary's where there is a really old graveyard. The snow was coming down and it was so quiet and peaceful. I wish you could really capture moments like that.

Had a very nice and quiet breakfast this morning at this sort of 50s style diner on Chesnutt between 4th and 5th St called Benny's. Cool little booths and pink and turquoise trim around the walls. Very nifty I must say. I should finish my coffee and go back out into the snow now that I'm a tad drier. Can't go back to the hostel til at least 4:30 when they open back up again. I'll likely turn in early tonight since I have to tackle finding my way to Lancaster tomorrow for the big concert!! Amtrak here I come!

2007-03-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia, the journey :)

March 6, 2007 12:10pm

So, the journey has begun. Sitting at Gate 162 in Pearson International Airport waiting for my flight to Philly. This flying thing is a whole new experience for me and I've never seen Philly either so it should be interesting. It was a bit worrying earlier standing in the line to check in when a rather burly man came up and pulled us out of line with a "follow me", which was totally not a request. But it turned out that he brought us around the corner to a shorter line and not like a strip search or interrogation room. :-)

Dude! In two days I am going to meet Fabian!!! This is at least in my top five coolest things to happen in my entire life...EVER! I've no clue what I'm going to say to him but if I manage to be coherent than I'll consider that a win, lol.

1:15 pm
I've gone from Gate 162 to 160 and now I'm at 164. Still waiting. The flight was supposed to be taking off right now and we still don't have a plane or even an agent at the door. And the damn phone on the desk keeps ringing, you think they'd realize that no one is here!

1:55pm
Still haven't boarded yet. But one of the smartass guys hanging out waiting for the flight just answered the ringing phone on the desk with, "we're sorry but there are no agents to answer your call right now, please call back". Hah!

While I'm waiting, why don't I talk about the drive here in the airport shuttle? Yesterday there were two massive pileups on both sides of the major highway connecting where I am to Toronto. 30+ cars in both and the highway has been shut down for at least nineteen hours. Southbound were we have to go has now cleared but the northbound lanes are still shut, partially due to the leaking propane truck. However, everyone driving in the southbound lanes is gawking at the accident in the northbound lanes and the traffic is completely gridlocked. What is it with people??? Finally got to the airport around 11am.

Plane boarded (at long last) at nearly 3pm and it took about 1hr 15minutes to make the trip to Philly. Got through all the rigamorol at the airport, got my baggage and found where to catch the R1 train to central Philadelphia and walked up Market Street to Bank St where the hostel is. So incredibly tired and Bank Street isn't as much of a street as it is an alley really. Spent the night hanging out with some of the girls in the dorm room. One of them is originally from San Diego but lives in Erie PA now and she's in town for an opthomology conference. She spent time living in Japan and she draws anime. (She was thinking about being a professional animator but went to med school instead.) Another is a girl from Korea who is a foreign student at the University of Virginia where she's studying archetecture. (After we talked about the concert I'm here to see and all about Fabian, she wanted to hear his music. I had the greatest hits cd with me so she put it on and listened to the whole thing and has now proclaimed herself a big fan. She agrees about how cute he is and said that her favourite song of his is A Girl Like You. :-D )

More to come, hang tight!

2007-03-09T18:11:00.001-05:00

I have been a very bad blogger as of late. Promise that will change. I just haven't had a lot to write about as of late, there has been a definite lack of inspiration. That is going to change now though. Upcoming posts about my new level of involvement with the Mariposa foundation as well as about my trip to Philadelphia (that I am still currently on!)

But first, let me take you back to *last* March. This is a warmup to upcoming entries. :)

Last March I found out that The Golden Boys were coming to Casino Rama. For the out of touch, that's Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon and Fabian. (Go google them if you don't know who they are already ... *huge* singing stars who started their careers back in the 50s in a nutshell). I've loved Frankie since the first time I saw Grease (where he played Teen Angel) but I have to admit not knowing a lot about his music before that (not counting the biggies like Venus and Bobby Sox to Stockings). And my grandma used to play Bobby Rydell along with people like Sinatra and Dean Martin so I thought it would be really fun to take a bit of a trip down memory lane since I hadn't really heard his music in a while. Fabian on the other hand, I was much more familiar with his movies (especially Five Weeks In A Balloon and Thunder Alley, just to name two faves) than his music (outside of Turn Me Loose and Tiger). But seeing as they are all in their 60s now I didn't know what to expect. I had so much fun! And I left being a huge fan of Fabian's ... enough to join his fan club. (And Bobby's too but I digress.)

I've admired Fabian as a actor for years. I fell in love with him when I was 11 and I first saw Five Weeks In a Balloon. Still a favourite movie and one I know have on dvd. It's remarkable how someone you have never even met can become such a huge part of your life and just bring joy and inspiration every time you see them on screen. Fabian is one of the few that hold that upper echelon of "stardom" for me. (I may go further into that in a later entry). So, needless to say what happened *this* week was so very wonderful and I will go into detail in another entry. Several entries to follow about the trip, my impressions of Philly and the Golden Boys show and it's aftermath. ;-)

2006-07-14T23:15:00.000-05:00

A Path Through the Darkness

An act of violence
In the blink of an eye
Their lives were gone
And we stopped
Watching in disbelief
Then came the fear
The overwhelming sadness
Enveloped humankind

My deities have come to me in dreams
The Earth Mother weeps for her children
Not only for those
Lost to this mortal coil
But for those whose hatred
Stole away their lives
The Sky Father shakes his head
Bowed in sorrow
Wondering how things
Could go so wrong
We did not create you to hate and kill

We gave you paradise
You, who were our chosen ones
Elevated above all others
You were to be the guardians
Yet, you destroy this world
You destroy each other
Where are the gifts that we gave you?
Compassion
Honour
Empathy
The ability to love
To care
To hope

You arose from the body of the earth
To the earth you will return
The same world sustains you all
You stand under the same sun
The same moon
Why can't you see?
Under the skin
You are not so different

Hatred upon hatred
An endless cycle
Where will it stop?
How many more of our children
Will we watch die?

I awaken
Tears fill my eyes
The cycle continues
And I pray
Not only for the fallen
But for the living

Lord and Lady, hear me
Gather the souls of the lost
Into your arms
That they may find rest
Shine your light upon the path
That shows us the way to peace.

~ Leanne

2005-07-27T23:04:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how down I'm still feeling about losing my job at the record store. Eight years of my life I put into that store and to have the new operations manager basically swoop in and inform me that I'm no longer required is rough. To just be terminated on the spot - don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out...

I loved my store. I took so much pride in running it. I've always believed so much in Canadian music that to have even a small hand in supporting it was a dream come true for me. Plus I've gotten to do instores with artists that I admire so very much and in the process I've developed so many friendships that I feel overwhelmed sometimes.

Now...I just feel irrelevant and completely unwanted. I know that my being fired wasn't my job performance. I ran one of the busiest stores in the chain and had extremely high sales at a time when most stores are suffering. My margins were high and my customers devoted to us because of our selection and the knowledge of myself and my staff. It was all 'corporate politics'. And my ops manager was a real bitch who made it clear from the get-go that she didn't feel that *I* should have been the person given charge of the store. To hell with the fact that I know more about music - especially Canadian music - than nearly anyone you'll ever meet. It's my entire life and my driving passion.

I feel like I've lost much more than my job. I feel like I've lost my entire identity...

~~ Leanne

2005-07-16T05:41:00.000-05:00

Another one to add to the list of reasons why I'm apparently not "one of the cool kids"...

I just don't get the whole Harry Potter obsession. Lord of the Rings either, quite frankly. Hey, I'm all for whatever gets kids to read but I'm not talking about kids. I'm talking about the ADULTS who are completely obsessed with all things Harry Potter. The ones that write fic about it - which is frankly another thing I don't understand. Slash too. I find it disturbing for the most part actually. Someone needs to explain the appeal of this to me. Some of my online friends watch a movie and all they can even *think* about is the slash/fic they are going to write or want someone else to write. But whatever floats your boat I guess. I just don't see the appeal.

Movies, books, music, art in all forms has always been a major factor in my life. But I always enjoy art for art's sake. I don't review it. I don't discuss it to bits and pieces. Actually, I rarely discuss anything I've seen/heard beyond that I've 'experienced' it and whether I liked it or not. For me any art form is a very personal experience and the more I hear it discussed/debated/analyzed to death, the more the joy of the experience is sucked out of it. I don't mind hearing people's opinions on whether they enjoyed it or not but all of this exposure for these blockbuster sellers just makes me ill.

I want to follow where the ARTIST leads me. After all, it's their art. Writing fic involving someone else's vision just seems so wrong to me somehow. Somewhat sacriligous in a way. I hold those whose work I admire in the highest regard for their talent and I have so much respect for what they do.

Besides, why would I want to write in someone else's world when creating your own is so much fun?

2005-06-20T09:16:00.000-05:00

Last night I was sitting on a bus, watching the sun go down over Toronto in a blaze of orange. Thinking of him and wondering. Wondering if he might be sitting at home, watching the sun go down over Toronto. And maybe thinking about me.

~L.

2005-05-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

I feel...very small and insignificant tonight. This has been a bit of a rough day and it's taking its toll. My passion for supporting Canadian artists is just so a part of me that I always get blown away when I meet people who couldn't give a damn. I went postering on the main street of town today - asking local businesses if they'd be interested in putting up a poster for the Toronto singer/songwriter we having coming to play at our store at the mall. Some places were more than willing, some were less than willing. Most were polite even while declining. Some were not. And one was so incredibly rude and downright hostile that it has totally taken all of the air out of my balloon.

This, coupled with my yet-to-be-successful job hunting are all very discouraging. I'm usually a really happy and optimistic type but I just can't rouse any of that tonight. I have so much that I want to contribute when it comes to this amazing music we have in this country. I just don't feel like I accomplish anything at all. I believe in independant music so much but some days it just feels like I'm beating my head against a rock and that no one even notices. Or cares.

I guess part of my problem tonight is that in addition to the tough day - I'm feeling a bit lonely. I haven't had a real day off in about a month. All of my friends these days live in Toronto and I rarely even get to see them since I took over the store. Plus, there's that guy in the city that makes my heart go pitter patter even though he doesn't know it. You know - in a 'barely acknowledges I exist' sort of way. Everything I want is there and I'm not. And I'm no closer to being there either. Not unless I can find a decent paying job - and not retail. Dear Goddess, but not retail. Seventeen years of the abuse from people is quite enough. I'm getting a little tired of being treated like everyone's indentured servant. Especially in a company where I've only had two raises in eight years (one when I went to full-time and one when I became manager).

Ok - I'm done with the "pity me" entry. Except to say that I could really use a hug tonight....

~~ Leanne

2005-04-10T18:36:00.000-05:00

I have several bones to pick about smartass people spouting off about how the music industry is persecuting them and messing up their lives.

A few days ago, a BitTorrent tracker that I have used fairly frequently was shut down due to a legal threat to the ISP that hosted it. Some people may not be aware of what BitTorrent is. It's a peer-topeer file sharing program that has developed into a way for those who do live taping of concerts to share these shows for free. The shows that such people trade are by taper-friendly bands and no one makes any money off of these shows. A totally legit use of P2P sharing and people go out of their way to make sure that no artists copyrights are violated. This time though, something slipped through a crack and they got smacked down for it. The culprit? A videotaped recording of a Nirvana show.

You might wonder, since I run a record store, why it is that I would frequent a place that deals in P2P sharing. Downloading is a complicated discussion to have and most people's discussions on the subject make me see red. The trading of live shows is not at all the same subject as downloading really. The artists distributed through live trading are ones that don't mind if you tape the shows and share them as long as you aren't doing it for a profit. The people who do the taping are true, diehard music fans. They tape the shows, spend hours transferring them to computer and putting them online for the love of the music. It gives the whole world a chance to hear music they might never have the opportunity to hear anywhere else.

In the kerfuffle over this particular tracker being shut down, there are angry posts being directed to the newsgroups, lists and forums about how evil the record companies are and how they intend to never buy another new album ever again. And how that stores who sell albums made by major labels are evil, soulless coporate monsters who work for the devil.

On behalf of those of us who make our living by selling music, thanks a lot. And you don't know what the hell you're talking about.

To know what you're talking about, you would have to actually know how music actually travels through the industry. And you would need to know the difference between the labels and the vendors. Yes, I used to think I knew everything there was to know too. Then I ran a record store.

Everyone has been spouting off recently about Universal Music. And how they want to boycott it due to it being the evil corporate monster that it is. Good luck with that. Universal is not only a label, it is a vendor as well. What does that mean? It means that about 80% of the music on the market is distributed to stores (*all* stores) through Universal. That includes small independant labels too (like MapleMusic and True North Records here in Canada). Universal is hands down the largest distributer of music around so boycotting them pretty much means not buying music. Even that cool little indie store you like to buy your tunes from handles product distributed by Universal so get over it already.

Then of course, there are the ones that say they are only going to buy used cds from now on. I'm sure that the artists who are trying to make a living through music would like to add their thanks to mine for your never ending support.

Something not a lot of people understand (and something I just love trying to educate the people who shop in my store about) is this - major label artists support the independant musicians with regards to recording contracts. I have people tell me that it doesn't bother them to burn copies of that new Jennifer Lopez or Nickelback cd for all of their friends. After all, THEY don't need the money. OK....skipping past the obvious part of that thought that I find offensive (and getting past the 'who the hell ar e you to decide that an artist has made enough money off of the work they spent two years of their life putting together' factor)....there's another part to this no one thinks of. Yes, the record companies make tons of money from the Jennifer Lopez's and the Britney Spears' of the world. But the record companies use a great deal of that money to promote albums by all of those recently signed artists that you haven't heard of yet. Everytime a label signs a brand-new artist, it costs a lot of money - advances to the artist that they might not recoup, advertising, tours, appearances all cost money. Big ticket artists are the only reason that labels have the money to spend to put out the next Andy Stochansky or Arcade Fire cds. Do you really think they'd take chances on new and unproved artists if they didn't have that kind of safetly net?

Music is the driving passion in my life, it always has been. I live in Canada and I feel so blessed that we have such a musically rich and diverse landscape here. Running a record store is something I have always wanted to do because although I have no real talent for it myself, I feel a giant need to support those who do. I love promoting music. It's a powerful force in my life and to have people demean it's value makes me absolutely crazy.

I have many friends who are musicians struggling to make a living through what they love to do - make music. Everytime you try and screw over a record company it causes a ripple effect through the whole industry. And you make it that much harder for independant musicians to not only get their music out there, but for them to make a living making music. And it makes it harder every year for those of us who passionately promote music to have jobs. Pirating hurts people in all facets of the industry.

~~ L.

2004-12-21T20:06:00.000-05:00

The Retailer's Diatribe About Christmas Shoppers
(Warning: Not for the faint of heart :-D)

I've been a tad absent from here recently - the peril of running a retail store this time of the year. Especially one that sells music. Ah, the joy of the holidays. The screaming kids throwing temper tantrums while their parents ignore them completely. The stressed-out, rude and inconsiderate customers who feel their day isn't complete until they drag every last drop of holiday cheer out of poor, highly underpaid retail workers. The hordes of shoplifting parasites. The people setting themselves up in the mall to inflict hours worth of Christmas music sung out of key to even more out of key accompaniment. It's no wonder I don't have much holiday spirit these days.

I've worked in retail for seventeen years. Seventeen very, very long years. There are days when dealing with people can suck out your will to live. People bitch, argue, talk to you like your an idiot and sometimes swear and curse at you because they can't get their own way. Customers can be a lot like spoiled kids. Except they're bigger and have more colourful vocabularies. I wouldn't even repeat some of the things I've been called by people this time of the year for really stupid reasons. Sorry, it's the holidays dude. Purolator doesn't deliver packages on Christmas like Santa so there's no way I'm going to get any more of that new release by whoever right now. MAYBE you should have thought about doing your shopping more than two days beforehand, there's a thought. Since when is your ineptitude my responsibility?

You know what would make my life easier? If a million people would stop asking me if I have things. Do you have *any* idea how many times a day I get asked? This time of year, at any given time, there are as many as four other people working at the store. So why is it that people seem to actually look to see which employee looks the busiest and probably the most stressed out in the store and figure THAT'S the person to ask a question of. You know what? I can't sell anything to anyone if people don't leave me alone long enough to get some actual work done. Do people think shipments receive themselves into our inventory?

No, they don't think that. Not only don't they think that - they don't care. They don't care that I've got 25 boxes worth of product that needs to be gone through and matched up with it's packing slips before I can receive it into stock. They don't care that I've been on my feet for the last eight hours without so much as a chance to take a drink of water let alone sit down for just a minute. They don't care that I've worked the last six days in a row without so much as a lunch break just to stay ahead of the massive piles of work that accumulate this time of the year and that after Christmas is over, after boxing day is over - I still have to inventory the entire store and then I'll have about two days to pull, detag and process by entire return of extra stock. You know why they don't care about any of that?

Because THEY have a list. And they have to have everything on their list. And it's all my fault if I don't have what's on the list. Christmas is completely ruines because everyone has to have their stuff and anyone who comes between them and having all of their stuff is the bitch who ruined their holidays and deserves to be punished for it. Yeah, Merry Fucking Christmas to you too.

I can't even bring myself to celebrate the Solstice tonight. I'm exhausted - mentally and physically. I'm so tired of having pseudo-holiday spirit shoved down my throat. I've developed a serious dislike of Christmas music and specials. Do people really need to start playing White Christmas as soon as we hit December? There are only a handful of truly good Christmas songs and once I've spent an entire month listening to them I'm about ready to slit my wrists. And while I'm on the subject of Christmas music....why in the name of all that is holy, does every person who's *ever* had any sort of musical career think that it's necessary to release a Christmas cd?? Does the world *really* need Jessica Simpson singing yet *another* rendition of Jingle Bells? Ugh.

I always thought that the keeping the spirit of the season was the whole point. No matter what religion you are (if any) and what you choose (or don't) to celebrate, this time of the year is supposed to be about peace and goodwill. Apparently that spirit of goodwill doesn't extend to people in the service industry. Goodwill to everyone *except* the people who work at the mall. Feel free to crap on their day. That's why they make minimum wage after all, so that you can be rude and obnoxious to them and the slave labour has to take it. They should put that in a card. "Best of the season since *you* don't work for minimum wage at the mall. Merry Fucking Christmas" is what it would say.

~~ L.
(who is not always this bitter and will feel much better when the season is over for another year. Honest. *g*)

2004-11-11T02:00:00.000-05:00

While I was in Toronto this weekend, I bought a brand new set of tarot cards. Something I likely shouldn't have spent the money on but when you find a set that call to you, what can you do? These are gorgeous - they incorporate all the various kinds of mythos. Egyptian, Greek, Celtic, Aboriginal, African, Japanese and even some Christian symbols. I just broke them in with a reading (hard to say how reliable it is considering I haven't *actually* dedicated them yet) but all the signs point to dramatic change in the future.

I drew a tower card - apparently something is going to shake my world. Hard to say if that's for good or ill until we see where things point.

2004-10-31T10:55:00.000-05:00

Another Samhain - one my favourite nights in the wheel of the year. Pagan new year now begins. I have a bit of a cold today and I'm a bit worn out due to work so I don't think I'll be doing anything elaborate tonight. I will however be doing a large tarot spread tonight since it is the best night of the year for divination.

If I were feeling highly amitious, I'd clear off my alter and change things around. Maybe even rededicate it and whatnot. It's been ages since I have since I haven't really been casting much lately and I packed a few things away. I though perhaps I'd be moving by now. *sigh*

I wish holidays were not so watered down these days. Everything is so commercialized that nothing has any meaning to people any more. It's all about things and not about meaning to the vast majority of the populace. When did people lose touch with the origins of what they claim to celebrate? When did they lose touch with their roots? Where has all of the passion and creativity gone?

When did everyone lose touch with the past?

~~ L.

2004-10-27T23:46:00.000-05:00

Well, the holiday season is upon me in the wonderful world of retail. It officially began last week actually, when my thursday shiment went from the usual four boxes to twelve. This year is shaping up to be crazier and harder to endure than *last* year was, which is really saying something. It bodes well for increasingly stressed out, crabby customers who have no patience for anything and can't understand why on earth you can't get their special order here in the next two days. Excuses are inadequate because they need it and they need it before Christmas dammit! Where's my transporter when I need it?

I don't think I've truly enjoyed the holiday season since I started working retail - definitely since I started working full-time during the season. Customers just have this way of sucking every last drop of enjoyment right out of the whole thing. Some days it seems like they can suck out your will to live, period. When exactly did material possessions become the be-all and end-all of the holidays? (Whatever holiday you choose to celebrate during the winter months *g*). When did Christmas (or other occassion of choice) become more about things than about faith or the spirit of doing good unto others?

When exactly did Jesus tell you to go to the mall?

~ L.

2004-10-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

Guilty pleasures....

I fail to understand the concept of musical "guilty pleasures". I don't see how music fits into a category like that. There isn't anything in my music collection that I'd be ashamed to admit that I like because frankly, it's all really good music. People who use a term like that are really close-minded and it drives me crazy. How can you just write something off when you haven't even given it a chance?

That said, I have to admit I'm not a fan of the latest trend of pre-packaged pop music and over-rated singers who get their record deals by being bashed about on a tv show. But my bias there is mainly because I know so many *actual* musicians who have so much more talent than any of these "created" performers will ever have and yet will never be as famous. There's just something inherently wrong with that. I just wish there was more support out there for music in this country. The thing I find with working in a music store is that most people have absolutely no clue just how much music is out there *right now*. And it's so very good. Sometimes it just boggles my mind by just how much fantastic music is out there, I'd love to be able to get to more of it truth be told (and I see a LOT of live shows).

One of the best things in the world is going to see people play who so obviously love to play music. I have the pleasure of knowing a lot of such people as well as being huge fans of their music. And it is such joy just to watch them play. I'm sorry, but you just can't get that kind of passion out of the latest Canadian Idol winner and to say that you can just misses the point.

But hey, if all you're after is adequate then who am I to argue. I suppose the songs are decent enough even though they are pushed to the shelves so fast that I doubt there is much actual craft behind them. But dammit - where has all the passion gone? People seem to have such short attention spans these days. Just go after whatever they tell you is the "next big thing". Or whatever latest rehashing of the past there is (can you believe that Rod Stewart is doing ANOTHER cd of standards? That's the third one in about a year and a half. Talk about being at the end of your creative life). I thank the Goddess for people like Ron Sexsmith. Somehow this incredibly talented, honest and passionate singer/songwriter actually manages to get airplay on radio and tv in this country. He's got a strong fanbase that seems to expand with every release he puts out. Performers like him give me hope for the musical taste of the general population.

While I don't think there should be such a thing as a musical "guilty pleasure" I do wish that people would diversify the music they choose to support. Go see a local band - they can use your ten bucks more than Ryan Malcolm or Clay Aiken.

~~ L.

(By the way....someone from Golden.net reads this a lot. Don't be afraid to leave a comment and let me know who stops by! :-D)

2004-09-15T22:36:00.000-05:00

It's days like today that make me desperately want out of retail. *sigh* I get so tired of taking abuse from people over such idiotic things. Apparently because I can't provide information about upcoming Osbourne's releases that makes me worthless and useless and entitles said person to hurl insults and obscenities at me from not only in the store but from out in the mall.

After this kind of a day it would be nice to come home to someone who would hug me and say something nice or funny that would make me smile. Or even to an online conversation with a friend who would listen and then say something reassuring and then tell me a wacky story to take my mind off of how empty my life feels sometimes. But I don't have any of that tonight. Just me and the computer. The people I want to talk to the most, are just nowhere to be found. I just feel so defeated, sad and very lonely. Some days it just feels like your very best just can never be enough.

The fact that I'm not having job offers isn't helping. I would have to assume that the music retailers think I'm too qualified to work for them and that I'd demand too much money because not one of them has called me for even an interview. Too qualified for some...not enough for others. I didn't anticipate it being this hard at this point in my life.
I don't know what I'll do if something doesn't happen soon. I can't stay here - I just can't. And yet I can't go anywhere either.

Gods but I'm lonely tonight. And I really need a hug....

2004-09-12T20:33:00.000-05:00

THE PATHS MY ANCESTORS TRODE...

I've been having one of those kinds of days again - the one where my mind is as much in the past as it is in the future. I think it was the bagpipes coming from the Legion parade on the main street. They always seem to rouse this sense of my history in me. Well, not *my* history but it touches base with that core of where we come from and makes me once again long to walk in the places that my ancestors knew.

I do a fair bit of genealogy. I'm fascinated by history, names and places. One of my paternal great-great-great-great grandfathers (Richard Gill) came from Birstall in Yorkshire, England. He was a weaver by trade. I've still a lot of work to do on the paternal family tree. There are a lot of holes though I know most of that part of my ancestry is mainly Welsh. On the maternal side, more history arises thanks to my uncle. I've a great-great grandfather from Murston, Kent whose wife Hannah I can't put a place to yet - though her parents were from both from Kent. James Wakelin of Rainham and Sarah Hubbard of Hartlip. They are the main British part of the tree, most of my mother's people being Irish and Scottish. I've Irish ancestry mainly from Limerick believe it or not and Scottish from the areas around Tyree and Argyll.

There are times where a certain piece of music or a random comment can almost make these places tangible to me though I've never seen them. There are some times, in those moments before sleeping and waking where I can almost smell the dew on the grass. Those moments where you're not entirely sure where - or when - you are because the thought is just that vivid. I occasionally have such vivid dreams of Ireland and Scotland - very different but very real dreams though I rarely remember the details. I've never been sure what exactly it was that brought them on. A part of me feels like perhaps it's an ancsestor reaching out to me from the other side that I have opened myself up to through my genealogy. Or maybe it's a piece from a past life creeping up from my subconscious. Either way, they usually envoke this sense of longing or loss when I wake up from them and realize they aren't real.

~~~~~~

If you ever go across the sea to Ireland
Then maybe at the closing of your day
You will sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh
And see the su go down on Galway Bay

Just to hear again the ripple of the trout stream
The women in the meadows making hay
And to sit beside a turf fire in the cabin
And watch the barefoot gossoons at their play

For the breezes blowing o'er the seas from Ireland
Are perfumed by the heather as they bloom
And the women in the uplands diggin' praties
Speak a language that the strangers do not know

For the strangers came and tried to teach us their way
They scorned us just for being what we are
But they might as well go chasing after moonbeams
Or light a penny candle from a jar

And if there's going to be a life hereafter
And somehow I am sure there's going to be
I will ask my god to let me make my heaven
In that dear land across the Irish sea

Blessed be.

~~ L.

Addendum....

I've noticed that at least one person has visited the blog recently (oh, that spy of a sitemeter!) Feel free to leave comments to let me know you were here and who you are! I feel so lonely talking to myself. ;-)