Moving time.

So after two years in my place, and over five years with roomates, I'm finally moving into my own apartment. I found this really great place near where I am living now... it's about 2km west of here. It's sort of a bachelor apt. but there is a bedroom that literally just fits a bed & a closet. That way my bed doesn't just sit out in the livingroom.

It's brand new - never lived in before. All brand new appliances, including a dishwasher (whoo hoo!), and includes MAID SERVICE (double whoo hoo!).

I've been slowly but surely getting rid of my belongings so that I can fit everything. I sold my two plastic drawer sets for $15... my CD shelves for $30... and a bag of old cutlery that I wasn't even using for $10. $55 towards a new couch! I am going to sell my current couch and get a new one once I move, too.

Currently working on selling my round chair, then going to dig out what I have in my storage room & figure out what to get rid of there.

Busy Bee

This week is busy.

Monday at work was pretty crazy. All of our systems shut down on Friday morning, so we're all trying to cram 5 days of work into 4. It's quite challenging.

After work, I went to Markham to go to Michael's (craft store). I found these AMAZING GIGANTIC cocktail glasses (they have Brandy snifters, champagne flutes, martini glasses & margarita glasses). I am going to buy them and use them for my candy buffets (and for drinking giant drinks, of course). They are seriously HUGE.

Anyways, so I bought some crafty stuff for the Wedding show on Saturday - I am setting up a MINI candy buffet. I did a test run yesterday and it looks wicked cool.

Today at work was also busy. I watched 'The City' on my lunch break because I never do anything at lunch anymore.

After work, I went to Yorkdale. I was on a mission to find the Sex and the City Ultimate Wedding Collection. Basically, I am raffling it off at the Wedding Show, becacuse I can buy it at cost from Universal. BUT I won't get it until later on, because I have to order it. SO I was going to buy one to display, then return it. I went to Chapters at Yorkdale, HMV at Yorkdale, and Zellers at Lawrence Square (sketch mall).

NO WHERE HAD IT. UGH so annoying. So I'm going to try to find one tomorrow, or else i'll just have to display a picture or something.

Then I finally came home & I have been watching TV since. On 90210, the girl got a tattoo at Venice Beach that said 'Dixon' and it was definitely done by the guy that did mine (they didn't show him but you could tell, and he's a pretty well known tattoo artist). HILARIOUS.

Okay that's all. More busy-ness to come... I have an event Saturday that I need to get some stuff for.

Grammy comments:

1) Kanye's mullet is gross.

2) Kate Perry was out of tune, BUT had a sweet dress & gets kudos for singing live.

3) Who knew that Morgan Freeman & Kenny Chesney were friends?

4) I still can't believe M.I.A. performed on her due date...

5) I love love love iconic artist combos a la Dave Grohl & Paul McCartney playing 'When I Saw Her Standing There'. There is also a back-up singer that LOOKS like Tom Petty, but is not Tom Petty.

6) There's a lack of music on the Grammys. Don't they normally play the songs of winners, etc??

7) Rihanna & Chris Brown BOTH cancelled performances & appearances after Chris Brown is accused of felony battery on an un-named female.

8) Jennifer Nettle(s?) has an amazing voice... so pretty, and she looks pretty! She pretty much IS Sugarland, sadly.

9) Adele makes singing look effortless, and I hate hate hate her for it!!!!

10) Umm... Gwyneth looks SO good! I thought she was introducing Coldplay at first, and I was going to be very disappointed.

11) Radiohead blows me away yet again. Imagine being in that marching band & getting to play with them!?!?!

12) I think Jason Mraz brought his mom to the show. Cute.

13) The re-cap of the people that died always makes me sad. George Carlin, Jerry Wexler... Norman Smith!!! Levi Stubbs... Jheryl Busby... Isaac Hayes... Bo Diddley :-( ... aw man. Music has lost a lot of legends this year!

14) Awesome blues tribute with John Mayer, Keith Urban, BB King & Buddy Guy.

15) Love Allison Krauss & Robert Plant.

16) Lil Wayne is 26 and has THREE kids already!

17) There's a lot of bleach blonde going on with Green Day right now. Tre Cool is Tre white!

18) Rick Reuben - producer of the year... he should have gotten it when he did the Dixie Chicks album.

19) Album of the Year.... Radiohead!?!?! Ummm nope, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss swept EVERYTHING. Seriously... it was a great album, but really? Album of the year??


Annnnnnnd the Grammys come to an end. The conclusion of the night: 1) I'm tired. 2) I sitll want to fulfill my lifelong dream of attending, and can only hope the ceremony I make it to will be as great as this one.

So today was kind of productive.

I worked last night until 2am. Made some decent money, but was sooo tired when I got home.

This morning I set my alarm for 11am to get up for hip-hop. I woke up but ALMOST stayed in bed & skipped it. Don't get me wrong - I love love love hip-hop class... but anyone who knows me knows I love my sleep.

I ended up getting up because I know I can't go next weekend. I have a booth in a wedding show so I am working that on Sunday. ANYWAYS - hip-hop was sooo much fun. I really love that class. If I could get my cardio three times a week doing that, I definitely would.

Then I came home and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls and ate some lunch, then did the huge mound of dishes. I did a load of laundry, and got groceries. I made a really delish dinner as well. Now I am contemplating going to a movie at Yorkdale. But I might be too lazy...

Hmmm... shall I or shan't I??

I've decided that 2009 is going to be my 'solo' year. Not a lotta friends in the t-dot, been doing a lot of things by myself lately... oh well, it's not bad. Miss friends, but oh well.

Bruce Springsteen

So picture this. I am standing in my kitchen, washing my Sunday dishes. Yes - exciting, I know. The superbowl half time show is on. Bruce Springsteen is playing in the background.

I love Bruce Springsteen. Have since I drove to Toronto with my dad when I was young, and all we listened to was Greatest Hits.

So Bruce starts singing 'Born to Run' and it hits me - this is me. I was born to run. So, I go into my room, throw a few clothes in a bag & grab my toothbrush. I'm out the door before I can even think about it, and I'm in the car driving. I don't even know which direction I'm going to go - I just know that I want to run. That's all I want to do. That's all I've ever wanted to do. That's the only thing I will be happy doing.

I need to get out of here - this place is stifling my creativity. It's holding me back. Everything I do is so calculated, so contrite.

Flashback to the kitchen. Instead of packing that bag, I stand, letting the hot water run over my hands and I think about how I have a dentist appointment in the morning that I can't miss - because as of March 1st, my benefits are cut back. I have a conference call this week and a few super important things to take care of at the office. On top of that - I have a bunch of jobs coming up and clients that are depending on me. Top it off with a rent payment, a car payment, and some major bills, and let's face it - I'm not going anywhere.

Bruce starts singing 'Glory Days' and it all hits me - I don't want to be that person. Glory Days - well they'll pass you by. Glory days... in the blink of a young girls eye.

Where are my glory days going? I want them back. I need to reclaim them - because right now they are fleeting, and in the future - who knows if they'll even be glorious.

The game is resuming... and I hate football.

This is worth it.

http://perezhilton.com/2009-01-09-rihanna-cover

This is an amazing cover of 'Please don't stop the music' by Rihanna. The duo is called The Bird & the Bee. They also do a phenomenal cover of the BeeGee's 'How Deep Is Your Love'.

Love it!

Hiring...

So - after you read one resume, they pretty much all seem the same except the really, really bad ones.

I'm hiring sub-contractors to work for my business as bartenders & servers. I'm doing interviews on Saturday... 17 back to back interviews. Twenty minutes each. It should be good fun.

A lot of the people have some good potential I think. Some had great resumes, and professional cover letters, coupled with at least SOME experience. Others had TONS of experience... and were a little lacking in the email skills. Some were the whole package. I'm really looking forward to meeting them all, and being a hiring manager.

I've also discovered this program called Freshbooks that I can use to do estimate, invoices, pay my staff, and everything. It's great - I brand it all to my company and my clients can log in to check their estimates, pay their bills, etc.

Now i'm just hoping to drum up some more business. Soon I'll have a strong team, and I can focus on getting larger events and bigger clients. Whoo hoo!

So this is the New Year...

It's a good song by Death Cab for Cutie... The New Year.

So this is the new year.
And I don't feel any different.
The clanking of crystal, explosions off in the distance (in the distance).

So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions

So everybody put your best suit or dress on
Let's make believe that we are wealthy for just this once
Lighting firecrackers off on the front lawn
As thirty dialogues bleed into one

I wish the world was flat like the old days
Then I could travel just by folding a map
No more airplanes, or speed trains, or freeways
There'd be no distance that can hold us back.

There'd be no distance that could hold us back
So this is the new year

---

It's a weird situation - things are hopeful, but in my heart I wonder how much can really change just because we count down until the year changes?

My closests friends are already in 2009... I miss them. I feel left behind all over again (just kidding).

Resolutions are useless, but whatever. I'm going to make a list of things to do in 2009.

1. Develop my business to include event planning.
2. Write a business plan and apply for federal and provincial small-business grants.
3. Have a staff of 10 or so people.
4. Get promoted at work.
5. Travel somewhere new.
6. Move into my own apartment.
7. Move to LA (or try my very best to get as close as I can)
8. Go to Europe.

All the best in 09...

B-b-b-b-b-birthday

My birthday... is going to do two things:

1) FUCKING OWN.
2) Be very, very hazy.




So far the plan is this:

15th is supposedly the last day of exams for my program, so pretty much I'll be going insane with my friends in London that night. I want to go out for dinner, then the bar or the Embassy, or anything... I don't care where, but it's my 19th so I'll be drinking. And tons of people from my program will probably come too, which is awesome.

The 17th is the day I go home, and we're going to Montana's, and the bar. That will be amazing because I'll see all my home friends and family.

The 18th, I'm having my closest Thunder Bay girlfriends over, and we're making cocktails and fondue-ing (which is potentially dangerous while combined but my mom will supervise lol).


So pretty much it's going to be ultimate and I cannot f'n wait.

Dance dance revolution

So I feel really out of control lately.

Everything... is complicated. School is pretty much drowning me. I'm in the process of studying for my Intro to the Music Industry exam. I finished a recording engineering one today. Thursday is Intro and MIDI. Those are both bound to be insanely tough, and I'm a little scared.

I am studying my ass off. I refuse to do poorly in this program. I need to work my ass off. I think I am going to quit my job. It's becoming WAY too overwhelming, and I need to focus on school more. And I need to have fun now and again. I want to go out, meet people.

Everything just sort of feels like it's falling apart... and I'm trying REALLY hard to keep everything together. It's taking a lot out of me. Mostly my relationships with people are what stress me out the most. The school stuff is tangible, I can deal with it. It's hands on, and I'm the only one responsible for my destiny in that sense. My relationships, however, have two people involved... and I just feel like the only giver in most of them.

Sometimes I wish I could just be honest... with other people, and with myself. I always seem to set myself up for failure in the relationships in my life. Some of my relationships are better than they've ever been... but there are others that are most definitely suffering, and I'm not sure I'll be able to resucitate them. I guess it's time for things to go their own way. It's just hard to let go of some things. It's hard to let go of a strong notion. It's hard to let go of something you want to work to save. But in all honesty... you can't do it on your own. You just can't.

The flood gate has opened.

So pretty much today was the day I realised the extreme extent of work layed out before me.


A midterm next week... a theory test on Friday... an essay due within the next couple of weeks... an upcoming MIDI assignment... an already late blues assignment... an intro to the music industry test next weekend... a presentation on bluegrass at the end of the month... a song analysis presentation at the beginning of next month... two weekends away from home (with little time to work and/or study) in a row...


I've been doing homework since I got home at 6:30pm. It's time to call it a night, but I have a feeling I will toss and turn. From here on out, my life is school.

I Jinx myself.

So I made a post about how lame Junk Mail is and what do I get? JUNK COMMENTS! Wtf is up with that!?

Oh well, I guess I had it coming.

So today is a boring school day. Class from 9am-10am, then home for like an hour and a half, then I catch the bus back to school. Normally it's until 4:30-5ish, but today class ends at like 3ish. Whooooooooo hooooooooo. We're learning more mic techniques. Should be good times... always is. Except when it's not, because, well, then it's not.

Hopefully Jack's class tomorrow will be more exciting than last week when everyone was falling asleep. As humourous as it was, it took everything I had not to nod off with the rest of em. Instead I resigned myself to mocking those that were falling asleep... this stimulated me enough to stay awake.

I'm going to call and bitch at the phone company today for sending me a bill for the month of September, when I had no phone. The real kicker is that as soon as our phone was hooked up (sept. 30th), I called them to tell them to make sure they didn't charge us for September. Then I get a bill in the mail for Sept. 2nd - 28th. I didn't even have phone service until the 30th! They are such dumbasses.

Anyways, that's pretty much the excitement du jour. I know, it's not much.... but hey, take what you can get. I want to do something fun tonight... but I'm fresh out of ideas.

Love... is a burning thing, and it makes a fiery ring.

Sooo today was a huge f'n waste of a day.

I went to bed at like 3:30am last night... woke up at 6:45 am and drove my roomate to work, cuz otherwise she'd have to bike, and leave at like 5... and I didn't want her to get shanked. So when I got back, I didn't fall asleep until about 7:40am... and I woke up at 3pm. WTF!? How do I manage to sleep so late?

So then we immediately left for dinner at my roomate's Mom's house. It was a LOT of food, I seriously ate so much. But it was SO good. So when we came home, we were tired from turkey. So I decided to watch 'Saved' again. Still love that movie. Still want to marry Patrick Fugit. So after that I pretty much fell in and out of sleep until 10:30pm, while watching T.V.

Bad choice. It's 11:30pm and now I'm wide awake. I have to get up at 7am for school tomorrow... this could be a rough night. Gah. Oh well, I am drinking neocitron right now, and maybe that will put me to sleep. Here's hoping.

I'm listening to some Johnny Cash, some Social Distortion, and some other stuff... good music. I'm kind of glad it's Tuesday tomorrow. Weekends are relaxing, but somewhat boring for me... I need to start going out more often.

Also, I wish Junk Mail didn't exist. I get the lamest stuff. Ugh.

Kay, so this has been long, and pointless... pretty much like my life. hahaha.

Pointless ramblings for the sake of typing

So what is there to write? Nothing exciting, that's for sure... I've had a pretty relaxing weekend. Yesterday, I went and got groceries, and cleaned my apartment a bit. Then people came over, and that was fun. We watched the movie 'Saved'... sooo good. It was my second time seeing it, I seriously love it.

I'm just waiting to leave for Blair's house for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm kind of nervous about meeting her parents... is that weird? I dunno, I just like to make a good impression on people.

I also hate putting myself in awkward situations. That's also why I HATE job interviews. Because pretty much it's a judging session. 'Let's see how uncomfortable this person gets while we ask them relatively useless questions that everyone answers the same way anyways, and based on their demeanor, we may or may not hire them'.

On a different note, I like listening to Chris Isaak. And I still love fall (yes, still, as in... my mind hasn't changed since I wrote that yesterday). What else? What else is there?

I like turkey. And can't wait to eat some this evening. I miss my mommy's cooking, because that woman can cook.

Next weekend is Toronto... I am fairly excited for this. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give myself about a seven. Anyways, I am off. I have to stop at the bank on my way to dinner... here goes nothin!!

P.S. I have had pins and needles in half of my hand for about three days straight. I think that's not right.

Thanks.

So it's Thanksgiving weekend. Honestly, I miss my family so much, and my friends as well... I'm not going to lie, I REALLY wish I was going to be at home for thanksgiving, but I'm also really happy.

Blair is home for the weekend. Her and Ken, possibly Kelly, and Carly, too, are coming over tonight. We are going to make pad thai and, I don't know what else we are going to do, but yeah. It'll be fun... it always is.

Blair invited me to her thanksgiving dinner, which is awesome. I was so worried about spending the holiday alone. I seriously would have cried if I were going to be completely by myself. So tomorrow night, I am going to her house for dinner. I bought some wine to bring today.

This morning, my roomate's mom called me to see if I wanted to come over on Monday night for their thanksgiving dinner. So I may go to that, as well.

I have the best friends in the entire world, seriously. Like... it just means so much that to know that I won't be alone even though I can't be at home.

School is going well. Not too much work so far... I have a feeling I will be inondated with projects this month. That's okay though. I'll get by. I've met a couple awesome people, too, which is always good... I love making new friends.

Work sucks, as always. I had a job interview at West 49... it went really well, so I am hoping that pans out and I can quit stupid Williams. I am so sick of working there, I never want to again. Maybe West 49 will call on Monday and then I can skip my Thursday shift at Williams, screw them over like they've done to me soooo many times, and go see Rosesdead. Maybe, just maybe. But I doubt it.

Anyways, so it's a good Thanksgiving weekend in the longrun I guess. It's good October weather now... I love Fall. It's such a romantic season. I don't mean romantic as in, LOVE EVERYWHERE YAY! but romantic as in, pretty... cozy... etc. If you don't get it now, you never will.

Anyways, I'm off.

Amazing

So... I guess I got a new blog. I have a livejournal but that's sort of boring. This one seems more exciting. Why? I don't know.

So let's start at the very beginning... because, well, it's a very good place to start. (Oh, the Sound of Music... how easy it is to quote from you).

I'm in London. Got a cool apartment, a good roomate... just started re-making friends, since all of mine here seem to have fallen off the face of the earth.

I'm studying the music industry. Audio engineering, production, and music business. Could I have a picked a better program? I think not. Everything about it fascinates me, oddly enough. It's still hard to wake up early for school, but you know, ya win some, ya lose some.

What else? I haven't written anything in a long time. I feel like I am out of practice. I want to start writing some good songs again, but I feel like I can't. Oh well. I've started playing 'piano' again. I say 'piano' because technically I play my keyboard because my mom got rid of my piano, and even if she hadn't, it would be in Thunder Bay.

Sooo I play my keyboard. I am presently working on 'Breathe (2 am)' by Anna Nalick. I'd love to record it and eventually do the vocals myself.

Hmm what else? Well, I don't really think anyone is going to CARE about this, lol, so I am going to end it here. It's 2:40 am and I am sleepy.


Let's end with a quote.

'I stay wrecked and jealous for this... for this simple reason I just need to keep you in mind as something larger than life.'