Three hundred beers

We make fun of ourselves for acting old. For enjoying a bottle of wine and playing cribbage, boggle or rummy. For making supper together and watching downloaded TV for the rest of the night.

Friday was the opposite of old and boring. It was slow dancing in the living room, a serenade while I wrote in the dust on his guitar. It was wandering over to the nearby pub, where we've never been, to watch the football game. It was being pleasantly surprised that it was also karaoke night. It was feeling popular when random girls asked if they could sing with me when my song came up -- Journey, Don't Stop Believin', of course. It was drinking three hundred beers before wrapping the night up with some Boston [More Than a Feeling]. 

Saturday was a write off. A three-hour nap before watching our Roughriders win, and watch grown men beat each other senseless at a friends' place. 

It was a whirlwind weekend of music, football, friends and a bit [maybe more than a bit] of a hangover. It was a weekend that made my heart swell and my knees go weak. A weekend where you want to say, "I love you" so many more times but it just seems like overkill. 

It's a weekend that makes the resulting week of reading worth it.

I may or may not need a vacation. Monday has been painful, part of which is likely due to the fact that my legs kind of want to fall off. Apparently dancing two laps around the track at Relay for Life takes as much out of you as walking all night. That, combined with a complete lack of sleep, have me thrown off my game today. But hey, we raised $5,890 for cancer research, support for patients and their caregivers, and other programs. Not too bad.

Hey baby let's go to Vegas

My computer made me reset my password this morning. Now, everytime I attempt to do something, it inquires as to who I am. Oh, okay, it's still you... sure, come on in.

I have been drinking entirely too much coffee this morning. I am fidgety and vibrating and can not concentrate much on anything at all. It most certainly is not because I am excited to go on a little mini-vacay tomorrow, no, no.

A girlfriend and I went to a wine tasting last night. So delicious. Hazelnut chocolate, delicious fresh bread, Applewood Cheddar, Parmesan Reggiano, an Asiago so young we had to take the diaper off it before we cut it (seriously, that's how it was described) and Australian wines. I need to go to the Barossa Valley, now.

While I didn't buy any of the wines that we tasted, I did pick up a couple (by a couple, I mean four) bottles for my wine rack. Though, sadly, they were out of my beloved Henschke (also from my new favourite valley in the world). Tear.

Tomorrow morning, I'm leaving at the crack of dawn (before even!) for a trip to Vegas with the Boy and one of my oldest friends, her hubby and some groomsmen from their wedding. Thank you Expedia! I promise I won't get married, and if I win a fortune, I promise to share (as long as you leave a comment so I know where to send your cut).

The sweat on our balls is totally worth it

I've been the team captain of our soccer team for the last few seasons. The last captain fell off the face of the earth, and so I stepped up (because I am a sucker, a little touched in the head, or both). Soccer is how I made a lot of friends when I made the leap from Ontario to Alberta. It's also how I met the Boy. So maybe I stepped up because it holds a special place in my cold, cold heart and I wanted to make sure that the fun continued.

Being a team captain is not a fun gig. You have all of the responsibility (which really just means you get screwed when people don't pay their fees). People depend on you to tell them where you're playing and when (because it's hard to use the internet). And if anything ever goes wrong, or people aren't having as much fun as they had hoped they would, you get to mediate and fix things.

This was our first season of indoor soccer. In the past, our focus has been solely on summer soccer and less about playing inside when it's cold. And let me tell you, this has been my favourite season yet.

We've played a lot of really good teams, but our game has improved incredibly fast. We have a lot of new players, and the comradarie, sportsmanship and cheering on our team is second-to-none. We only won one game this season, but we are one of the only teams that has full "spirit" points. We are a fun team. Even when others get rough, or start trying to get around the rules, the way we play doesn't change.

That's probably why the organization has gifted us as the "Team of the Week". It's kind of a big deal, since this is for all sports the organization runs and not just indoor soccer. Also a big deal because it means a hefty gift certificate for beer money.

Go Sweaty Balls, Go!

Real Mary hits Edmonton

My good friend Mary and her lovely hubby were in town this weekend to visit with the Edmonton contingent of the Western PR crew.

We suffered heinous service at 100/Hundred on Friday night. Bimboed staff were flitting around the restaurant in their extra-long tank tops sans pants, though it seemed as though our bimbo was no where to be seen. The food was great, the service was poor. Thankfully, we got on the discussion of "If we were the New Kids [on the Block], where would be we right now?" [The much-loved boy band is in Edmonton for their tour stop at Rexall.] Inquiring minds didn't lead us too far, but it lead to a discussion about favourite members of the boy band and how Donnie was the one all the trashy girls like(d). We concluded we needed a little help from the master, and wandered across the street to Sherlock Holmes' pub, hoping to at least get a few tips from Watson.

Saturday night was a flood of rum, vodka and pink cupcakes as a pre-birthday for Ms. Mary herself. The night was split between drinks at Roomie's and my downtown condo and a pub down the street where we did some shots and drank beer in bulk. At 5:30 a.m., we finally called it a night.

Yesterday, after much complaining and a lot of water, Roomie and I pulled ourselves together to head to the Jubilee to see Hairspray. The show was fun, hilarious and made us want to sing and dance. The Jube's new parkade leaves something to be desired, however, as it seems they didn't account for the fact that all vehicles would be coming (and later, going) at the same time. If you get the chance to see Broadway Across Canada put on the show, I highly recommend it.

Conquest or Cooperation event almost full!

Lost

The weather is getting colder, the mornings darker, and yet still no snow. Not a bad thing.

Though, there was that flash blizzard on Saturday night. As we were getting all bundled up to visit the Farm of Fear/Corn Maze, we glanced out the window to pure white. Fortunately, it was only minutes before all traces of snow disappeared. Though the ground (what we could see of it) at the Corn Maze was sprinkled white and slippery as all get out (I didn’t fall, not even once).

Also, the Farm of Fear haunted house was pretty scary. I am a chicken, bawk bawk. I am also a ruiner with my flashlight. And I knew the guy with the chain saw was right behind me but he kept sneaking closer and oh-my-god-don’t-you-actually-cut-me!

The maze was alright, though the weather was incredibly cold and the corn itself was obviously not in the best shape. It’d be fun to go close to the end of summer, when the stalks are still full and green and high – before the cold weather and maze-walkers who cheat ruin the design.

Weekend recap

Approximately 14 hours of driving for a three day weekend. St. Albert National Park. Fall, in all its glory. Sunshine, coloured leaves falling. An abandoned resort, where we may have been the only guests. Whiskey. Election and voting talk. Learning Trivial Pursuit should not be played while drinking. Great people. Drunken discussions on the economy, politics, energy. Games galore. "I love you." "I know." Football on the beach. A walk in the rain. Nearly falling face-first into the mud on the way to the hot tub. Lunch with Boy's family. Roughriders victory. Baby, baby sister phone call.

[Most of] Boy's family is coming to Edmonton for Thanksgiving this weekend. I'm excited. Domesticity, games, good food. Paint shopping. No doubt about it, my favourite time of the year. And my Christmas shopping has been impressive, mitigating future stress.

Vote Project/interVivos young candidates' forum tonight at Ching's. Be there. Be informed. Vote on October 14. One week away!

FALLing (in love)

Autumn is my favourite of the seasons. I love the way it smells, the chill in the air, the pretty leaves changing and falling from the trees. It's a beautiful time of year. 

There's a lot to look forward to, camping and Thanksgiving and a trip to the corn maze. And no sunburns on the horizon!

Other fun things coming up: film fest, Halloween, indoor soccer.

Not fun things: Christmas. Both because it's the first time I won't be home with my own family and because the whole pre-Christmas, hectic-rush-to-the-mall-to-find-that-perfect-gift thing sucks.

Lazy Sunday

The Boy is gone to Europe with his BFF for a few weeks, where my BFF can also be found these days. I'm pretty envious, but excited for the whole gang at the same time. Ah, to live vicariously through other people.

It's been fairly quiet on the home front, spending a bit of time recharging. Taking care of spring cleaning (a wee bit late), birthdaying a lot (my darling roomate has taken to referring to me as "Paris Hilton" with my three birthdays... which is somewhat unnerving), and reading.

Reading is something that I've not had nearly enough time to do lately. It's something that I enjoy, but that gets pushed to the background. It used to be an escape. I'd be found hidden away somewhere reading the adventures of others and getting lost in the pages of my favourite tales. Much to the chagrin of my mother. She'd give me chores, I'd complete them as fast as humanly possible and hide out in my room with a book until she yelled for me to come back. I spent many nights with the light on, unable to put the book down to sleep until I'd pass out on an open novel.

All of the reading necessary for university ruined that for me a little bit. So much time was spent reading for school that it was no longer enjoyable to do it in my downtime (unless it was some fluffy chick-lit which I could breeze through in a couple of hours).

I finished Kerouac on Sunday and have started in on the pile of unread (or partially read) books I have going on. I have a different book for reading outside in the sunshine than for reading before bed. One for work, one for home. It doesn't make much sense, but hey, that's how I roll.

Other things that have happened since the boy's been gone:

• I won $90 at the casino for birthday deux, vegas style. We were lucky to be at a table with some really nice guys who helped us decide whether to stay, hit or double down.
• I transferred my Ontario licence for an Alberta one. It's still a beginner's/learner's... but hey, it's a start.
• Improved my golf skills at the driving range. Mourned the loss of roomie's car. Poor car had a good, long life (20 years!). CAA/AMA guy didn't even laugh too much when Krista kissed the hood and paid her final respects.

I need a vacation from my vacation

...though I'm long since back. I feel the need to get away once again. Just seems like there's no time to fit in the 18 hours of sleep I could use.

Hiding out

I have a thing for dingy, dark, hole-in-the-wall pubs.

Tucked into a vinyl-covered chair with a giant cup of beer (after the waitress asks for my ID and giggles, "sorry, you look much younger than you are!"), people watching. Soaking in the mementos on the walls, the histories of people before me. Being called "sweetie, honey, baby" by aforementioned waitress as she attempts to coax out my life story.

Sometimes you just need to find a small place where it seems like you're light years out of the city, away from work and life's cares and concerns.

It almost makes being stood up for my meeting worth it. Well not so much stood up. Technically, everyone was just a hearty fifteen minutes late.

Love affair

I have a not-so secret love affair with the mountains. I don't know what it is, but whenever I see them I say something along the lines of "Eee! Mountains!" and get kind of giddy and excited.
We went camping this weekend. Braved the cold, the rain, the snow, the squirrels and managed to have a pretty fabulous time. Saturday was a gorgeous day for a hike.
It's kind of sad to be at work, still smelling vaguely of campfire, tinged a nice shade of pink from the sun... yearning to be hidden away in a tent somewhere with my other great love.
This full week of work is going to be painful.

Shots from Vancouver

Capilano Suspension BridgeFamily photo: Roomie, Me, Heather, Jill
Pretty flowers!
Kid-sized entertainment
Navigating our way around

The best part of Kanye West... any part without Kanye West

A friend and I went to the Kanye West concert on Thursday night. I was not in a good mood.

Work had been a gong show all week (this is the week of insanity), and I had been working on stuff at my desk until 6 p.m. Essentially the last minute where I could rush my butt home, get changed and get to the show. Still a little late.

Overcrowded by teeny-boppers and glow sticks. Girls in weird/skanky clothing. A lot of people not being able to find their seats due to their own stupidity. All of this was oddly amusing. I was friendly and helpful (shocking I know) when the girls behind us were rudely interupted (and kind of yelled at) by drunk dancing chick and her boyfriend who were convinced that they were sitting in their seats (to make a long story short, nice girls were in the right place, DDC and BF's seats were WAY.OVER.THERE. (to quote the ticket-checker girl).

Lupe Fiasco was fun. NERD was what I imagine a seizure on acid would be like (without ever experiencing either a seizure or acid personally). Anything with two drum kits and a drum-off is a helluva good time. Pharrell is amazing. They got girls on stage dancing with them (even though most girls on stage looked so lame and weren't dancing, having fun, grinding back with Pharrell when he was trying to flirt with them).

Rhianna. Rhianna at times looked like she had too much of a dynasty/80's futuristic/Madonna (cone bra, not modern Madonna) influence. But whatever. You're a performer, go for it. She sort of did a medley of her most popular songs rather than singing each song individually... which made all the awesomeness seem quite short. But she didn't have a lot of stage time I guess. At least she left 'em wanting more.

Nearly an hour after Rhianna left the stage, Kanye came on. He had this crazy set involving him on some spaceship, a talking giant computer. It was interesting. Then, 10 minutes of crazy intro in... there was about 30 seconds of "harder, better, stronger, faster". Everyone baited for the song, ready for the hook to come.... and he lost it. He "sang" about 4-6 songs (hard to remember because each one sounded EXACTLY THE SAME even though at one point I turned to my girl and said, "weren't those the words to Gold digger?" "I don't know," she said. "I can't make out what he's saying at all." We were ready to leave. Then he started talking to the computer saying it's been a long time and he missed Earth and women. He talked about how he really needed some pussy. This made me cringe. He played golddigger (the p-word was his intro) and then played Jesus Walks. I have zero respect for someone who is so demoralizing one second and is all sorta-preachy the next. Gross. We left shortly after that.

Left for a couple hours of sleep and a mad-dash packing job before Vancouver.

Lessons

Things learned this weekend:

Rexall beers, while sort of expensive, are much more potent than regular beers. One is a good time. Two are a great time.

Aforementioned beers, in conjunction with lacrosse (which I had never before watched) are awesome. Seriously. I never expected something so violent. Apparently I love any sport where people fight. Lacrosse fights are so much more extreme than hockey fights. It's like a street fight. But with a big stick.

I am awesome at Guitar Hero. Which makes me wish I had actually taken up guitar when I was young and impressionable.

Even people who you think have it so together are worried about whether they're doing the right thing (as a career in particular). I've encountered this a lot lately. The sort-of-quarter-life-crises where people wonder if what they're doing now is really what they want to be doing. Or if where they are living is really where they want to end up.

Writing about the snow makes it disappear! Woo! Yesterday was beautiful. We went to Marble Slab. I am not so much into the mixin's as the ice cream itself. Birthday cake ice cream = takes like promises and rainbows.

Some people don't know that you shouldn't microwave styrofoam *ahem*... I mean extruded polystyrene. And yet, that poutine was still delicious. I may or may not get cancer from it. Good to know that if I go down, Kristy does too.

And now my body aches

I went snowboarding for the first time last night.

Roomie and I have been meaning to learn since we moved here. Her boyfriends kind of taught her, and so last night we went to the hill with another buddy to tackle it on our own.

I am far less bruised than I thought I'd be. In fact, I don't see any visible bruises! It's a miracle! I bruise myself by doing things like walking... and yet falling down a hill does nothing to me. Weird.

We're going to the mountains soon for Family Day weekend... so hopefully I'll be able to manage. It'll also be my first mountains-in-winter trip. Very exciting. It's about time.

"Jesus" fails to live up to the hype

Last night, the roomie and I did something we absolutely love to do together. We went to the Jube. For the past year we've been hitting up every "Broadway across Canada" event we can fit in, which really just consisted of The Producers (her Christmas gift from me last year) and Mamma Mia (my birthday present from her). For her birthday this year, I got her tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar, a show that she's been wanting to see since she took her musical Broadway class in university. Last night was the night.

We performed our regular routine of pre-show Starbucks and catch-up (these days we don't see all that much of each other, even though we live in the same apartment) and squirmed with excitement.

All of this excitement was for naught. I never thought I'd say that Jesus let me down. I'm a pretty easy person to impress, really. And it seemed like roomie and I were the only two un-enthusiastically clapping politely and remaining in our seats at the end of the show. The entire time I was just thinking about this article from the Journal back in November about how Edmontonians give the standing-O too freely.

In the "Stand Off" which coincides with the article, "Hal" says, "Edmontonians tend to give anyone recognizable a standing ovation. The quality of the performance isn't taken into consideration. It appears that some performers get a standing ovation just for being here."

I think this is definitely what happened here. Ted Neeley, almost 40 years after appearing as Jesus in the rock-opera, has resurrected his role here in Edmonton. Neither roomie nor I was impressed with his very 62 year old sounding voice in the role of a young prophet. He sounded old. His rock and roll wailing grew old fast. If you're going to make Jesus a rock star, make him a rock star.

Last night's show at least was riddled with technical difficulties. From the back of the auditorium we could hear the microphone feedback. We couldn't hear one solo artist who was obviously singing his heart out. Sound levels fluctuated often.

Not to say that there weren't good moments. There were a few good songs, namely the Jesus Christ Superstar title song and the section of the play which featured King Herod. The comic relief. The actor who played Judas was also extraordinary and personally, I feel his talent far exceeded that of Neeley.

Both roomie and I, neither of whom are overly religious, came out of the theatre feeling blasphemous. It irked us how Mary was portrayed for outright throwing herself at Jesus and claiming she's in love with him (whereas our impression from her Catholic and my Lutheran bible-studying upbringings lead us to believe otherwise) and for having it seem like Jesus was falling for her wanton ways. Yes, it's speculated by some that the two may have had a love affair, but there was much lost by this portrayal. Also, Jesus' mother Mary reaching out to Jesus from afar as Jesus wheezes and wails and begs for water on the cross? Someone gave that boy some water, yes? Not here. The two main women in his life merely watched while he died of thirst.

Also, I felt the ridicule of the crown of thorns, the throwing lots for his clothes, carrying the cross through the streets were all completely lost. Because the show didn't feature any of this, which is kind of big in the story. As well as the other criminals on the mount, one asking for a place in Heaven. That's the whole point of Jesus dying, yes? So the sins of others can be forgiven?

We felt as though this Jesus was whiny. Annoying. Very un-superstar. At one point roomie turned to me and whispered, "Will he just die already?"

For the Journal's bit on JCS, go here.

Haunted by lemony visions... and the prospect of more weddings

A couple weeks ago I had this incredibly random dream which involved light, fluffy, lemon cupcakes. I can not gets this vision of cupcake heaven out of my head, even though I have long since been a huge lemon fan. Must. Make. These. Cupcakes. The need haunts me and I know not why.

I think there may be a problem with the fact that every time I get a drunk-dial in the middle of the night I fear it is another friend telling me that they are engaged. Who calls me after 4 a.m., boyfriend in tow, merely to tell me how in love they are and yet how they are thinking of me at the same time? ...oh right, Erin does. Stay away from the Koolaid.

Speaking of weddings, my cousin is getting married in Cuba in the spring and I'm seriously considering going. Even with the prospect of Europe. One of my friends called me "moneybags" last night when I was explaining this to which I say... no mortgage, no little family, no car... what else is there to spend money on but travel? Works for me.

Megpie's wedding countdown is three weeks. Brother is getting married in five. Airplane tickets have (finally) been purchased and I don't nearly hate Air Canada so much anymore due to the lovely ticket counter lady at the airport. Though I still hate them plenty. West Jet is my airline love. The dress is nearly ready. My bags are far from packed. My duties are still a little bit unclear. But I am getting a little bit excited. It'll be good to go home and see all the friends/family who I have left back in Ontario. And I shall get to spend the night with the littlest sister in her university abode, which will be all sorts of girly fun (though she must wake up in the morning for class before we head home to the farm).

Still reading Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs. Still loving Klosterman. Even though at times he is ridiculously pretentious and I don't particularly agree with him... I can't remember actually laughing out loud at a book so much. In weird places. Like on the bus surrounded by sweaty strangers. Hilarity. People should read this book if only for this reason. The man is funny.

Last night, went to Packrats with my peeps. Had the best wine of my life. And the food. Oh the food was amazing. Everyone must go (or try to go) here. My new favourite restaurant. Ever. Also, check out the Fringe. Because it is arty and awesome. And deliciously dirty.

Edmonton needs a PR makeover

June 27, 2007: Edmonton is still having problems promoting itself to the rest of Canada. A Toronto PR firm has been hired at a cost of $175,000. Council says Edmonton needs more exposure. Mayor Mandel says in the past we haven’t done as good a job as we should have done to promote the city. Between 2002 and 2004 according to the city, Edmonton appeared 25,000 times fewer than Calgary in National newspapers. Global Edm.

Last night I attended a forum put on by Next Gen re: Edmonton's image in the media. It was pretty interesting, especially from the view of someone who wasn't raised here. Panelists included Bridget Ryan from City TV; Mari Sasano from the Edmonton Journal (‘8 ½ Things to Do’ every Saturday in ED Magazine); Jason Manning, Music Director from Sonic Radio, 102.9 FM; and Ted Kerr, freelance photographer and writer.

I found myself nodding quite a bit to what Jason Manning had to say (as someone who also flocked here for opportunity and is astounded by how great a city this is). Edmontonians kind of brush off pride and put down the city a little bit as Redmonton/Deadmonton/etc. They tend to focus on the negative effects of the boom and what has come of the city's rapid growth versus the positives the city holds.

Bridget Ryan talked about a recent trip to NYC, where her cab driver's eyes lit up to hear she was from Edmonton because he was moving himself and his family here in a couple weeks.

Edmonton does have an image, we need to focus on not hiding the negatives, but also on promoting the good. We have an awesome arts/music scene that is fairly unique from that of Toronto/Vancouver. We have the river valley, which is one of the largest greenspaces in North America. We are a quietly diverse city which doesn't exploit our multiculturalism and segment our population into ghettos and stereotypes (though these surely exist to an extent). We have Whyte Ave, a bustling little community... and downtown, which is getting there. On the flip side, the city has a drug problem which needs to be tackled before it can truely flourish.

Ted Kerr talked about the importance of story telling versus marketing, which I do think is a great idea... focus on the lives and stories of individuals rather than "come to Edmonton because it's the land of milk and honey". Make it real for people. Which also means not lying. Yeah, we have a housing problem. Yeah, infrastructure needs work. Yeah, winter is pretty damn cold (but there are plenty of cool things to do even with the temperature at -40).

I've said it about a million times, and I'll say it a million more. One of the things that I noticed about Edmonton pretty early on is how many successful young people there are. There is a great opportunity for success here, and success early on in life. Which is quite different from the scene in Toronto where you need to know people to get anywhere. For me, as a recent graduate and young professional, I find this incredibly inspiring.

One of the other interesting things that was mentioned is that a lot of great things in Edmonton get overlooked because they don't have "Edmonton" in the name... they opt for using "Capital" whatever or "Alberta" whatever. These are the instances where people automatically assume that these things are based in Calgary (for example, University of Alberta, Royal Alberta Museum, Capital Heath). It's going to take change on a larger scale to change the views of people across the country and around the world. Many people do think that Calgary is the capital since it's bigger and gets more attention.

What do you think? What makes Edmonton great? What can the city do to get this message out?