weekend

The last few days have been a little hectic - but things are calming down now, which is good.

We went to a couple of shows over the weekend... one for Don's CD release at the Rex. It was pretty rammed, and the music was of course amazing.

On Sunday night we went to Mitzi's Sister, where Jessica was playing a show. Leah was rocking the flute/vox on a couple of songs. The show got pushed back at the last minute, so we ended up unwittingly arriving an hour early, which was kinda neat 'cause we got to hang out with the violin player and her husband.

Last night, after getting back from Humber, I went down to Paul and Becky's to borrow Dan's truck. We then proceeded to move all of our stuff out of the studio and into our apartment. There is currently (among other things) an entire drum kit scattered around the living room, and a little air organ in the kitchen. Somewhere in the move, my table broke, so I will have to rewire it at some point. We also hauled Jen's desk and Mae's backdrop rolls over to their house before returning the truck, gratefully filled with gas and beer.

That's it for now...

The Immigrant

Immigrant Design has been getting some much needed updating of late, with a couple of older projects finally reformatted for the site...

The Weekend

You know the deal:

Friday - we went out for Korean food for dinner, and then rented the Color Purple... old school, featuring, among others, Oprah Winfrey. Despite that, it is a pretty good story... I hadn't watched it since high-school, and I didn't realize how overly dramatic some of the scenes are (in my opinion, at least)

Saturday was the church annual general meeting. It was a good meeting, but too long.

I sort of hoped to watch the world cup rugby final afterwards, but instead I went in to the office and prepared lecture material for today's classes. Turns out South Africa won the world cup - not that I care about rugby, but it would have been kinda fun to watch.

Sunday was church - afterwards Jeremy and Bradley came over, and we ate sushi from Hosu bistro. That place is killer, btw. Then we stayed up a bit too late for having to get up at 6. Not that people had to get up at 6. Except for me.


Turns out students don't particularly mind if their 3 hour class doesn't go for the full 3 hours (at least, those that mind are pretty quiet about it...) Today we talked about both metal and glass, all in just over an hour.

Hamlet

If you don't listen to This American Life, you haven't heard this episode on prisoners performing Hamlet...

I highly recommend the show (podcast it), and this episode in particular.

Late Update

So - I'm a little late at the old weekend update, but here goes...

On Friday night, Leah was playing a show (of the CD release variety) with the Loitering Heroes. It was at the Tranzac, which is a great place for shows, and the first time that I saw them play with new drummer, Nico (I might end up taking drum lessons from him, once the drums are set up in our apartment!) Some new songs too, which are pretty sweet.
Afterwards, we hung out (sushi, Starbucks) with Bradley. Among other things, we talked about how his thesis is freaking him out, and his plans to take the bus out to California to record with Jason Martin (and Leah and I, if we're up for it).
The rest of the weekend pretty much saw me working on lesson-planning and putting together assignments for Humber kids. Seriously, the rest of the weekend, except for Kevin and Jenn's housewarming, and church.
Yesterday I was at Humber, dispensing quizzes, assignments, and my own precious knowledge! Afterwards I went grocery shopping and made dinner, and then went to bed before my migraine headache kicked in too hard.

And today I am back at the office... and listening to the recently (at lunch) purchased R.E.M. live album(s). So far I am actually pleasantly pleased (I was worried, to be honest). I am hoping (against the odds, I fear) for their new album next year to be HUGE...

I am old.

Long Weekend

Mostly we had a couple of Thanksgiving meals - so we made a few pies.
Also - I ran sound at church, for the first time in a while, since everyone was away for the weekend.

Football

Yesterday after work, some people from the office played soccer against folks from the architecture office that's a floor above ours.

I signed up, expecting a friendly game at Trinity Bellwoods or something. The next thing I knew, I was given a black Umbro team shirt, and told that we were playing here.

The guys from upstairs seemed kinda shocked when we didn't all show up wearing cleats and shin guards, and that our goalie didn't have gloves... and I couldn't help overhearing conversation about where and when there next game was...

Needless to say, we kinda got schooled - although not as badly as I suspected we might be. I learned that my soccer skills are pretty weak - turns out if you don't play for, like, 20 years - you lose most of whatever ability you had (which probably wasn't all that much anyway - 'cause you were 10!) By the second half though, things were getting better - the mostly forgotten soccer area of my brain was starting to wake up (even though my body was perhaps still a little behind.)

Another thing I learned is that, even with the occasional subbing out for breaks on the sidelines, a full-on 90 minute game on a full-on official size field is absolutely killer. In the last few minutes I was fighting off cramps in my calf muscles (and then had to bike home, too!)

Unfortunately, one guy fell during the game and landed nastily. He ended up going to the hospital, 'cause his collarbone was, um, definitely not in a normal position anymore. It sucked - I was talking to him while people were off getting the security folks and looking for someone with a car - and I had no idea what to do or say to help. I haven't heard if it was broken, or just out of place...

Check out these lyrics...

I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
I saw the Devil in the Garden, he was bringing Good News
He told me I could be in charge and then he brought me a noose
I put it right around my neck, I thought I'd wear it (just loose)

DriveXV

For those interested, Stereogum organized a 15 year anniversary tribute to Automatic for the People... download/read about that junk here.

(In case you didn't hear, they also did a 10 year anniversary tribute to OK Computer a few months back.)




Both bands have albums out in a couple of weeks...

Backwards

It is rainy and grey, so I rode the rocket in to work, rather than my bike. I was listening to Endtroducing, and that, together with the grey, made me want to keep walking, past the office, and down to the Gardiner and the train tracks. Somehow the trash and graffiti and concrete of the 'terrain vague' can be more comforting than the office.

Last night we went to see Douglas Coupland read from his new book. It was the first time I have ever been to a reading, and it was pretty neat. I will say that I preferred the times when he was just talking about stuff, in between chunks of the Gum Thief (which I haven't read, but probably will once the winter forces me onto the subway every day). Afterwards people lined up for him to sign their copies of his books.

I also went to Humber and taught a class on Flooring. It was very exciting, and afterwards people lined up and I signed copies of their Interior Detailing textbooks.

On Sunday, I was going to play drums at church. After setting up the whole kit, I discovered that the kick pedal was missing - turns out it was left out last week and the folks at St Andrew's locked it up for us. So I didn't play drums.

On Saturday I spent the day putting together Powerpoint slides for my lecture on Flooring. That evening, one of Leah's friends from highschool came over to visit. After dinner in Koreatown, we strolled around the Nuit Blanche festivities. This mostly meant walking through frustratingly dense crowds, and seeing almost nothing of the exhibits. Basically we went for a long walk. It was good.

On Friday, Leah went to the Rivoli to sing backup for everybody's favourite country duo. I went to a long church meeting at the pastors' house.