The weirdest thing about Sunny Delight is it's viscosity...

... I mean, what's up with that stuff? Why's it so thick? It's practically syrup. Tasty, though, but I did hear about some lady from New York that just loved it and drank so much that she turned yellow because of how much beta carotine or something she was injesting. Urban legend? You tell me.

So anyway, Bella practiced both yesterday and today, and on both occasions Matt and I had some random episode waiting for the bus on the way home.

Yesterday we got to our skytrain station and to our surprise our bus was still there, which it shouldn't have been, because we were about ten minutes late for it. We didn't question a good thing, though, and just jumped on. Once we got on the bus we realized that something weird was going on because the bus driver was standing in the entrance of the bus talking to some woman, and getting upset at her, saying something about how he had 20 years of first aid and was a life guard for ten years or something to that effect. Then he went outside and whistled at someone we couldn't see and yelled, "You! Get over here! Now!". Then some random army guy wearing a beret walked up. We were both thoroughly confused, albeit somewhat amused, when the guy next to us leaned over and explained as much as he knew, which was that this old guy sitting at the front of the bus was drunk and the lady the bus driver was talking to was concerned for him and had called an ambulance. Well, eventually the driver just left with the old dude still on the bus, which resulted in some interesting, although mostly unintelligible, conversation between the drunk guy and the bus driver. That's episode one (this is almost like Star Wars).

Episode two occurred tonight as we came home after practice. We were going to have to wait about forty-five minutes for our bus, so I decided just to ride the train down the line and then come back because it's warmer and more interesting that way, but Matt got off and waited at our stop. I went about four or five stops down and then came back (witnessing a miniature episode of my own at the stop I turned around at, with some dude watching himself dance in the window), and as I was getting off at our stop I some guy with the hilt of a light-sabre (I told you this was like Star Wars). You know those expensive toy lightsabers that came out this Christmas? Well, it was one of those, although the guy had apparently taken the "poly-carbonate", or some such thing, blade off - for what reason, I don't know. Well, this guy seemed pretty enamored with his lightsaber. When he turned it on it looked kind of like a blue flashlight, but if he waved it around (and believe me, he did!) it would make those lightsaber noises. So we were sitting there, waiting for the bus, and this lightsaber guy is talking to some other guy that's also waiting for the bus, telling him all about how he took the blade off the thing, how his friend makes six foot tall Transformers that actually transform and that you can drive around when they're in truck form, etc. And then he'd turn on his lightsaber and swing it around vigorously, making that lightsaber noise. Random.

Well, in other news, our practicing was in preparation for our trip to Toronto this weekend. The practices went quite well, better than I had expected, and I think the show should be a good one. It'll also be nice to get away for a while. Apparently we're doing a radio show out there again, the same one that we did last time we were in Toronto, which was lots of fun. Matt's taking off early, but the girls and I are staying until Sunday or Monday, I think, so it should be fun. Maybe I'll meet Avril Lavigne and break her and her boyfriend from Sum 41 up. I'm crossing my fingers!

***

Well, will you look at that. I just read Matt's blog and lo and behold he decided to detail our little encounters himself. So, if you want another perspective on what riding transit in Vancouver is like, click on the link that says "Matt" to the right.

Gaen ta be quick

It's late, just got home from work (stayed late) and I'm tired, but thought I'd mention a few things:

1. Just finished mixing the second of our two new recordings today. Both turned out marvelously. We did "Didn't Mean to Break Our Love" and "Get You Alone". Didn't Mean 2... is going on a split 7" we're doing with a band called Columbus on a label called Pop Echo from Edmonton, and Get You Alone is a demo we're taking to Toronto next week.

2. This is closely related to #1, but it's so exciting it deserves it's own number. We just received the Joy Electric remix Ronnie Martin did of Crystal Tears!!! Seriously, I nearly peed my pants. That dude is my hero, and he remixed a song the band I'm in plays, that I sing lead vocals on!! (if you can call that singing) Holy crap! Speaking of dreams coming true. And then I got an email from him today saying "Keep in touch". Damn straight I'll keep in touch! Dang!

3. Yesterday I had this woman come talk to me at work, and she ended up telling me that apparently she was a certified genius. Yeah, how about that? I think I believe her, though. She wasn't saying it in an arrogant way, just as a matter of fact. Anyway, she told me that there are eight intelligences and that apparently I have one "in spades", that being "Social Intelligence". She told me she knew that by the fact that I had no problem maintaining eye contact, and apparentely social intelligence is a rarity in males, and so therefore I am unique. Well, that's nice. She also seemed to hold the same views that I have regarding school, which I found both refreshing and amazing. I wished I could have talked to her longer.

4. Today I was "sighted" twice. Once while Tiff and I were coming from mixing, at the Broadway/Commercial Skytrain station. These scenester looking kids were like, "Hey, aren't you guys in Bella?". The second time was at work (which is actually really embarassing). I was giving some people my spiel about this sale we're having on ski passes and then one of the girls was like, "Aren't you in Bella?", and I was like, "Yeah", and she was like, "Cool", and then left. Random. And rare, actually, to be spotted twice in one day, let alone week or month.

5. And number five? Shoot, I can't remember exactly. I'm going to save this as a draft, step out for a smoke on my pipe and listen to our new tracks on my iPod, and then I'll come back in and maybe have remembered. I'll let you know how it goes.

...

Alright, I'm back, and unfortunately I didn't remember whatever it was I was going to say, but I did come up with three completely different things:

1. These songs are fecking brilliant! No, seriously, I am really excited about them. I placed them in sequence in my iPod and darned if they don't sound really good together. We are poised to take over the world!

2. It's really REALLY cold out there. I could hardly hold my pipe I was shaking so much. Now, before you folks in Saskatchewan begin to deride me for my thin BC skin, I might point out that it's a WET cold, and that makes ALL the difference.

3. There are a lot of raccoons around here. I had one standing there checking me out for awhile, probably because I was in the way between him and his little perch on our tool shed. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not the raccoons that keep unlatching and leaving our gate wide open, not the neighbours delivering our mail.

And there you have it.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!!! I just remembered #5! It also has to do with talking to some lady at work (who knew?):

5. I was booking a ski lesson for this lady over the phone and before we hung up she was like, "Thank you, you've been very kind. And you have a really nice voice. You should be on the radio." Ha ha, ok, so it's not that exciting, but at least I remembered, right?

Upon review, it strikes me that this particular post sounds quite self-centered and egotisitical. Boasting about our new songs, boasting about my social intelligence (?), boasting as though I'm some sort of celebrity being "sighted", boasting about my iPod, etc. Heck, I'm practically in Oasis from the sounds of it. Sorry, I really really don't mean to come off that way. This is just some random stuff that's been happening lately (like the last few days), and, considering that I'm the only one living my life, it happens to revolve around myself. This isn't making it any better, is it? How about: I LOVE DALMENY!!! Go kweebeck! Remax!

Fin

Anybody Have a Fisheye?

So I've been sitting on the computer for far too long now, pissing around wasting time into the wee hours, as I normally do (in The Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis made this really great point about how Satan doesn't divert our attentions with great scandalous sins, but rather occupies us with crap that we're not really even into at all, but somehow get caught up in anyway - my habit of staying up late looking at nothing in particular on the Internet being one of those things) ... and I just went into the kitchen for a quick bite and something to drink. I popped my head into the living room for the heck of it and was greeted by what I consider to be a great sight - a whole bunch of random musical equipment, some empty Dr. Pepper cans stacked on top of each other (been on a kick lately) and some other dissheveled-looking odds and ends (a lamp with the shade slightly askew; my sweater bunched up on the couch, etc.). Yeah, that probably sounds weird that I think that's cool, but hey, I'm weird, ok? Actually, I was reminded of an essay I wrote for one of my dossiers in high school English class. I always used to find my messy room very fascinating as a teenager (I can just see Matt shaking his head right now), because I figured that were a random person or stranger to step in there, they'd get this quick glimpse of who I am. Well, for one, the fact that I'm not the tidiest person (now Matt's nodding), but you know, all the CDs stacked on top of each other, each case speaking volumes (at least in my opinion), the papers strewn about with half-written lyrics on them, an acoustic guitar propped up somewhere. I just thought it was neat. This was kind of like that. Oh yeah, anyway, I wrote this paper about that - something about the beauty of this sort of "chaos". I also mentioned something in the essay about when I saw this random chair under a streetlight when I lived in Drumheller for the summer, and Mr. Bartel seemed to think that was a bit more inspiring than my messy room, but you know, chacun son gout, right?

Well, moving on here, I just liked how that stuff looked. I mean, it's real. Nobody set that up (the scene I just witnessed in the living room, that is) - it just happened that way. And I thought to myself, "Dang, I wish I had a camera with a fish-eye lens so that I could capture this moment". It might just look like a messy room to some, but to me it means more. For one thing, I think it's a monument to a burgeoning music career. Someday someone (like me, for instance) could look at this hypothetical picture and think, "Dang, that's what the room Bella recorded some of their early demos in looked like". For instance, some of my favourite pictures in the entire world are the ones of Jason and Cloud and Wayne Everett in the studio with Gene Eugene on the inside of Starflyer's Fashion Focus record. I absolutely love those pictures. It makes me wish I had been there SOO bad. Granted, those were pictures of them in the "studio", but this sight at our place wasn't half bad, what with all the aforementioned musical gear in there. Heck, even my amp sitting outside my door at the end of the hall looks pretty hot. Makes me want to play it, or take a picture of it or something.


Wow. That's probably more than anyone ever wanted to know about what I think about messy rooms. I mean, not all messy rooms, but you know what I mean, right? Or maybe you don't. And maybe NO one at all cares, and even if so, I still wanted to write this and I feel satisfied for having done so. I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that in my wasting of time this evening I was just reading Adam Duritz and Billy Corgan's blogs. That must be it.

Oh, and the bathroom smells really good right now. I think it might be the new shampoo Matt just bought, although I don't recall him taking a shower.



I guess that's it.