What a freakin' DAY!

There was way too much going on yesterday. However, it all seemed to work out really well.

BeerFest Aftermath
Friday night was a gong-show involving the following excellent things:

• Live Music
• Beer(Fest)
• "Sniper Wolf"
• SFO
• The Purple Onion
• Partying with my sister, whom, I learned, I miss a lot more than I previously realized

Saturday morning dealt with cleaning up the wreckage and having the classic greasy-spoon breakfast. After that, I spent 5 minutes brushing the snow off of my car - it had snowed about 6 inches through the previous night and that morning. I then drove one of my friends home and then...

I went to Work!
In the words of my friend Jane, "wow, you math nerds are hardcore." As far as working on Saturdays go, yesterday was pretty good. I finished everything that needed to be finished and didn't have to spend more than 3 hours there. I also got a chance to have a laid-back conversation with my boss about all kinds of things - you know, one of those talks where the wise teacher casually bestows his knowledge upon the pupil. It was sweet.

Co-ed Bridal Shower
I went to a bridal shower for my friends. It was quite the experience, actually. I hear that those things are usually boring as can be, but it was a lot of fun. Having a chance to meet up with those two lovebirds. lol. If I'm not mistaken, I overheard the bride-to-be say, "Well, I'm not so much excited for the wedding as I am for marriage."

That's the way it's gotta be! She's got such a good head on her shoulders.

Kegger
Yes, that's right. After the shower, I headed over to a kegger and BBQ. It was a year-end deal for the university wrestling team, but because of the brutal weather, the host decided to open the invitations up to any of his friends. I walked over there from my apartment - a solid 40 minutes - and was greeted by SFO, red-faced, and somewhat damp.

The dampness was because he had a shower. He had a shower because he had just previously been in the sauna. Indeed, this house had a sauna. The sauna would periodically produce sweaty-wrestling-dudes who would then go outside and wrestle in the snow. It was crazy to watch. I had a few beers.

Up to this point, everything had happened before 7:30.

Movies!
The night before, SFO and I had told each other that we should rent Kill Bill Volume 2, because neither of us had seen it, but both of us wanted to. So, what better time to do just that than at 8:15 pm after having done the best you could at a kegger?

We made the long walk back home, cracked a couple beers, and threw the movie on. SFO's consciousness barely made it past the opening credits. I hung on through the whole movie.

I cried at the part where B meets her daughter. There I was, all the events of the day preceding, at about 10:30 at night, crying to KILL BILL?! Holy crap.

During the movie, I realized that it would be done by 11 o'clock, and with SFO passed-out, I'd need to find some other companion for further festivities.

Vagina Monologues and Fedoras
Jane is a real go-to-girl for good times†. This weekend was no exception. I called her up and she said that she was going to go out dancing soon, but currently she was over at a friend's place having wine and something something... VAGINA MONOLOGUES?

"Matt, are you going to be ok with this? I mean, this place is full of girls. You will be the only guy here."
"Yeah, I can handle myself." Damn, that's hilarious.

I grabbed my fedora and made for the door. Upon arriving at the place, I recognized that Jane was absolutely correct. I was the only guy there, but it wasn't hard to fit in. The ladies were incredibly welcoming. One of them went so far as to give me a cute nickname, "Empire." This was largely due to the fact that she was very drunk, did not catch my name and "Empire" was the word displayed on my shirt.

Sincerely, though, it was a great time*.

Following this, we headed down to the bar for drinks and dancing. After walking one of the lovely ladies home, I myself, once again, made the long stroll along the river to my apartment.

Arriving home at just after 3 am, I had had a long, satisfying, convoluted day.

I usually hate to juggle activities like that, feeling that I'm often unable to really "give'er" as I switch from one to the next, but this time everything turned out really well.

I was full of vigour and resolve.

However, this morning, I find that I am now in need of the latter.



†A friend of mine pointed out that this line makes it seem like it was a booty-call. This is not the case. I was not desirous of booty. Just company and an atmosphere conducive to dancing.
* And they all agreed that my fedora is awesome. I would not have typed this if it was untrue, nor would I have typed this if SFO hadn't hated my fedora so much. That's right SFO, if you're reading this, I typed that just to spite you!

Alone

This week has gone pretty much as I had expected. No phenomenal epiphanies or terrible tragedies... And nary a Triple-E to be heard. Well, I suppose there was one thing that was something like an epiphany. Maybe not an epiphany so much as a reminder?

My roommate has been going in to work an hour earlier than usual. So, when I get out of bed in the morning, I'm the only one in our little concrete box*. It feels really empty.

Winding my way about the place while getting ready for work and making breakfast, I find it strange to have no one around. Even though, thinking back to how the daily routine was when I lived with my family, the times that I did have someone around, I generally didn't talk all that much to them. I scarcely acknowledged their presence some days.

But either way, I still have had a taste of what it's like to be alone, even if just for a few minutes in the morning, in a quiet room high above the street. Only a taste, though.

Don't want to imagine what a mouthful of the stuff is like.



* It's actually a great little place. And if it is a little concrete box, it's at least a little concrete box with a view.

A Concert, a Long Wait and a Flight

Alright my friends! It has been long since I last made a post up in this maw and it has been even longer since I recounted any emotionally intense aural sensations!

This last week was incredibly insane as I will describe in a blog post at another time, but for now, I will say this:

Collective Soul kept me up late and caused me to be quite dazed throughout the following morning, during which I flew to Ottawa.

I will work in reverse chronological order!

A Flight!
Neil Young - Down By the River
Ah yes, Neil Young. While perusing the selection of digital music in the in-flight entertainment library aboard my flight, I came across practically nothing of any interest. Except, of course, for Neil Young's Greatest Hits. Neil is the hammer. That's all there is to it.

However, I don't know what it was that got me so into the song on this particular listen. But there I was, crammed in my seat despite the fact I had stowed most of my "prairie-winter-worthy" clothes in the overhead compartment, and I was letting every single note of that guitar solo sink into my skin.

On a Plane!
Matthew Good - Champions of Nothing
After a month and a half of not having seen her, I was only hours away from seeing Jessica again. I was past security in the airport, waiting to board my flight... The weight of all those weeks still holding me down. I think that the lyrics in this song will always haunt me when I hear them. At least, they will if I am paying attention.

When Hollywood runs out of Indians
Only the Indians will know

A kick in the head
Pass it around
Beggin' for a bed
Pass it around

As haunting as the lyrics are, though, I find that there is something triumphant about this song. I can't quite put my finger on it. There's just a sound to it that seems relentless, determined. The title is very fitting in that way.

The song ended. The boarding call was made. I did not drag my feet.

A Concert!
Collective Soul - Shine
I have wanted to see Collective Soul ever since I first heard the rockin' riffs of Gel on the radio. Their self-titled album was the first CD that I ever bought. I've since lost that CD, but in the time I had it, I listened to it enough to have remembered practically all of the lyrics to it. Along the way, I also heard a lot of their other stuff, though I sort of lost track of them after they released Seven Year Itch.

Having lost track of them, I had no idea that they were coming to town until a mere five days before their show. I hastily called up SFO and we procured tickets. It was an incredible show. They destroyed the place with their incredible energy, their smooth stage performance that only years in the business can bring. December, Gel, World I Know, Heavy, Why Pt. II... they were all there. But Shine didn't join them until the bitter-hammer end of the encore.

All I must say is this: Shine did exactly that. The Edmonton Event Centre shook as those Post-Grunge rockers pounded the place. It defies words. It really does.

Music makes the people...

Achieve orgasm?

Ok, maybe not really, but that's the term my friend Sean used when I we had a conversation about tunes a little while back.

"Was it a music orgasm?" he said.
"Yeah, I guess it was. But not compared to this one other song..."

It appears I have these more often than I had realized before Sean coined the term. So, I've decided to keep a running list of my various Euphonically Ecstatic Events, or "Triple-E"s, if you will. These are not to be confused with the Libyan city of Tripoli. I am not likely to discuss Tripoli, but in the event that I do, you'll have the comfort of being able to see what I'm saying.

The glory of the written word. And so on.

One thing to note about this: any particular Triple-E is due to a combination of my mood at the time; the sort of activity that I was performing at the time; and, of course, the particular song. Can't have a music orgasm without some tunes, eh?

"Triple-E"s in recent memory:

1. Paramore - Misery Business
- When this one surprises me on the radio while I'm driving, I usually amaze myself with my ability to stay out of the ditch.

2. Matthew Good - Born Losers
- The other night, I heard this one on the radio while coming home and it brought a tear or two to the ol' peepers. I say peepers because I am certain it helps me to retain my manly reputation even after admitting that I cried to a song.

3. Darude - Sandstorm
- I pretty much went berserk when this one came on at - that's right - the company Christmas party. However, given the atmosphere at the time and the abundance of great people, beer and good food, I cannot rightfully attribute the entire Triple-E to this song.

More to come*, I'm sure.


*Wah-wah.