Speed Trials

Moving day is upon us (Thursday) and I can’t wait. Though I will miss my little room, and how I lovingly restored it to some semblance of order after the departure of its previous tennant. This is what it looked like up until last night…

Now it’s filled to the brim with boxes, the shelves are down, and there’s hardly any room to move at all. I packed up all of my CDs right away, and quickly realized what a mistake it was!! Nothing to listen to. I had to dig up my box of tapes, dusty and shunted away in a corner, and it was like Christmas in August!! Screaming Trees, Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead, Jesus and Mary Chain, Sebadoh… Even Sloan’s Twice Removed, now too old, worn, and virtually unlistenable made me sigh with nostalgia.

Speaking of Dinosaur Jr., I am seeing them in concert on September 1st. It’s a little weird, and the press photos shows them as aged hipsters, but I’m hoping the show will be tops, and I’m really excited about it.

Also, just a little tangent here, I’ve realized that I haven’t gotten into any new music in such a long time for the simple reason that I don’t “get” the whole downloading thing, and I’m too ashamed to still spend my hard earned cash on actual CDs. So I sit in this no man’s land of music, listening only to old relics and whatever I happen to glean from the men in my life. The more things change, huh…

Des fois je me trouve bouleversé par l’esprit collectif du monde. Les gens qui se regroupent le font de façon intracontinentale, et avec une rapidité étonnante. Lorsque j’étais en Australie, Andrew et moi on a été introduis à Camille, une chanteuse parisienne avec un style de chanter aussi particulier qu’impressionnant. Son vidéo autant que la chanson ont restés prix dans ma tête, tel que je pouvais chantonner son refrain des semaines et semaines après l’avoir entendu. Hier soir, en parcourant les annales de l’Internet, mon amie Sue-Ellen m’a montré le site de Nouvelle Vague, un groupe qui font des couverts de chansons Punk et New Age, mais de façon contemporaine, incorporant du Bossa Nova, Jazz, et Pop. L’effet est hypnotisant. Tout le monde devrait écouter ces chansons: www.nouvellesvagues.com

Voici une photo des deux membres du groupe, Olivier et Marc, ainsi que Camille, dans toute sa gloire française!

Nouvelle Vague jouent le 15 septembre à Montréal, et si je n’avais pas déjà mon billet pour voir Corb Lund ici à Ottawa, j’y serais sans faute. Hélas… Ça sera pour la prochaine fois.

I am on day two of a ten day “cleanse”, and it is a low, low point. Let’s save some time and simply innumerate what is wrong with me today:

1. So, so tired. I went to bed at 9pm last night, and still, I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open.
2. Really irritable. The faintest sounds coming from the cubicles beside me is setting me off, big time.
3. Unfocussed. Trying to speak is a demanding chore. I can’t get the words to come out in the right order, and I can’t lay out my thoughts in clear sentences, either.
4. Joints very sore. My knees and elbows especially. Biking to work today sucked.

The girls at work and I have decided that it’s because I’m going through withdrawal. I’ve cut out cigarettes, booze, and coffee all at once (oh yeah, and food, too), so it’s bound to have a deep effect on me. We’ll see how it goes.

I mean, it seems to be par for the course, day two styles! But man, the last thing I want is to be at work. And I have to go out tonight.
And tomorrow I’m doing the Zipline with Nic. What bad timing!

Okay, the Zipline: check out this website http://www.aventurelafleche.ca/en/index.php
I’m really looking forward to it. Martin was telling me about the Zipline he took when he was in Costa Rica, how it was miles high, above the canopy of the jungle, and that you couldn’t see the end of the line, on account of the mist. Somehow I think he might be a little underwhelmed tomorrow…

So I just got an email from an old friend, Andrew Sparks-Clark, who has launched something pretty darned cool. It’s called Small Room Live, and basically it’s a venue where lesser-known bands can perform, and their shows are then broadcast on the website. It’s like a Top of the Pops, but indie-rawk style. What a cool idea! Here is the logo, and the website.

www.smallroomlive.com

Also, I just got an email from my friend Danny, and he had this to say about Roscoe:

“Roscoe RULES at ultimate, we’re going to score that guy some cleats and he’ll be a beast. The other team had “three cheers for Roscoe” at the end of the game, they liked him so much. So he was a real rock star, hero-type. Thought you should know, to feel the big sister pride and all.”

And I do…

Ottawa is really small. It’s a little town masquerading as a big capital city. And in many instances, it’s a drag to live in such a dull place, especially when there are tons of wicked cool big cities out there to explore. But then, every once in a while, you get the kind of night I had two nights ago, and you realize what matters is not the size of the city, but the size of your heart (or something).

I have been living between two apartments for the last couple of weeks, one in the Market, the other in Chinatown. So after work I usually have some reason to bike between the two at least twice (my clothes are in one place, whereas I sleep at the other, I have some food at one place, and a toothbrush at the other – things like that). So on Wednesday I had a date with Jeff at 6:30pm at the Manx. Fine. I biked to Pao’s apartment, picked up the laundry, biked back to my place, went to the laundromat, went back home, did the excercise tape, collected the laundry once it was done, and by 6:25 I was on my bike, making my way up Gilmour to Elgin. As I crossed Bank, who did I see turning the corner? Angelo. I slowed down, said hi, he gave me a tap on the helmet, and though I’d just been racing for 2 hours to not be late for Jeff, I stopped and had a ciggy with Angelo. I asked for a rescue from my date (always good to have an out when going on a first date) and he said he’d call me in a couple of hours. I left him to meet Jeff.

Though, truthfully, there was no need to be rescued from him. Really nice guy, we had a good time. We talked a lot about food, and about art, and blah blah blah. It was a really nice time. And in some weird “oh my god Ottawa is so small” moment, he asked about my new job, and I mentioned Alexandre’s name, to which Jeff replied, “Well, I know he’s back from his trip because I spent the weekend with him and his wife at our friends’ cottage”. So we got on the phone to the friends, who will call Alexandre and tell him that there is this crazy girl in the city who is stalking his friends, desperate to hear from him. We’ll see if it produces results!

So then Angelo called me, and I made up some bullshit excuse that I had to meet Pao’s landlord about the leak (at 9:30pm) and that I’d have to cut the evening short. Jeff was very understandable, and we parted ways pretty amicably at the entrance of the Manx. At this point, the rain was coming down pretty damn hard, but it had somewhat let up, so I decided to risk it. Well, I made it a block down the street when the skies just opened up and dumped water down on me. I was completely soaked. I decided to stop in at the Aloha and wait it out. I walked up to the bar, ordered my drink, took a big gulp and surveyed the room. That’s when I spotted Jeff sitting at the other side of the bar!!! Hahahaha. He took it well, and even ordered me some shots. I called Angelo and told him to meet me at the Aloha, but he said no, that I should go to his place. I told him I’d finish my drink, and be right over. Then Josh walked into the bar, and I went right up to him and put my arms around him from behind. (because, obviously that’s what I need!) He told me to stick around to watch his roommate’s band play (Manpower) and they were really good times. Some of the bike couriers were there, and it was just a good scene all around. Finally after a few songs, and after I finished Josh’s drink, I took off down to Angelo’s place.

Which brings us to the crux of this post. Capital Punishment III, a courier race being held this weekend, and Angelo is organizing the Saturday run. He needs me to be a checkpoint girl, and I’m totally stoked for it.

Here is the flyer for the event. http://www.magma.ca/~daydreamsquare/images/Capital%20Punishment%20Bicycle%20Poster.jpg

I have a feeling it’ll be good times all around. And I know I will bump into everyone I know in the process!!