Aug 29

I remember seeing you in spaghetti straps, knapsack held up by your ass-back..

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pic_sneakydees
Originally uploaded by meegs.

Here’s a filling-in-the-blanks sort of post. I have been less than methodical about entries. But I’m abusing free wireless in a new cute cafe @ Harbord & Grace - Linux Cafe….Here goes:

Well, I’ve written an OLIP-required bio - what more masturbatory piece of writing is there than coming up with (no pun intended) a summary of your life that justifies your employment without sounding too braggart-ly about your accomplishments? Besides personal ads, & uh, blogs, not much else - I guess I’ve been practising for this request for longer than I thought. There’s probably going to be a deer-in-the-headlights photo to accompany this cobbled together piece of fine lit.

I have received some sweet e-mails of lates, from around the world, no less. Thanks so much for the kind words about my former classmate - I feel bad for airing my dirty laundry on the web, but whatevs.  Overall, going home put a lot into perspective, back in touch with old friends & got my ass in gear to finally commit to the Run for the Cure this Year & any other cancer research shindig that comes
across my radar.  Tho I already had the big C on my mind with my Mom & all, it was a wake up call.

Spent Sat nite at a bud’s low-key housewarmingish party & it was well-timed & well-enjoyed…I guess the same can be said for Fri’s shindig @ the ‘new’ Mercurio on Bloor/St. George. Very nice, great (bilingual?) staff & great food….Tho the beau got a tad queasy & uneasy - I’m usually the over-indulgent one with free food & booze….

Got back in touch with ATX ex-pat & NXNE vet - finally meeting this week & looking forward to in-person congrats that are in order….a preggers bud in the GTA…Time to break out the knitting needles & make the future punk rock babe a pair of booties….or maybe just a teenie tiny scarf….if I learn how to cast off…

I was getting worried about my bud Peg out there in dog-eat-dog LA (To live & die in LA?)….was great to hear that she got my care pkg & is settling in well & enjoying AFI - & anticipating Burning Man…Man, I dunno if I could do that ‘fest…I’m low maintenance… but that sounds like a challenge - very off-the-grid…I can’t imagine moving twice in a season - over 3 states, no less. - Kudos, Peg & thanks for letting me know that you’re doing all right!

& to all that didn’t get this via e-mail - here’s a shameless plug:

It’s finally here….The official date for the Pickups CD Release Party is just round the corner, so save the date for Chrissakes. Notorious for breaking the hearts of low-fi twang lovers in the GTA, The Pickups are ready to rock the Sneaky Dee’s upstairs for a night for great tunes, good company & cold beer. How to remember this Kodak moment?
Try taking an album home for posterity. Join the Pickups & celebrate the birth of their debut release - an alt-indie-rock briss!

Date - Friday, September 16th, 2005
Time - 9:30 PM
Place - Sneaky Dee’s Upstairs, Bathurst & College (Southeast corner)
Cost - With CD & 2 Exclusive Downloads = $10, Cover Only = $5
Performances - Mike Evin opens, The Pickups headline
More Info - www.thepickups.ca, www.mikeevin.com

Hope to see you all there - please pass this on!

On that note - I’m out…
meegs

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Aug 25

"Mmm banana, another treat from the road…."

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billyboobs
Originally uploaded by meegs.

My Dad & I are riding with his co-worker-ish cohort from the local car dealership so he can pick up a trade-in in Brampton - a weird dynamic. Car dealerships attract an interesting coterie of retired ‘employees.’ This guy is a piece of work - his laugh is a dead-on Chris Farley in Tommy Boy raspy breathy chuckle - which punctuates all the non-sequitor comments full of mispronounciations, ‘eh?’s & whatdoyouknows….but he is a wealth of local weird facts - FYIP: 1976 was the worst year for tent caterpillars in the PS & M region - FACT.

Just runnin’ on back to the GTA via a family van trip - overall, I spent less than 40 hours in Parry Sound this week….but they were all enjoyable hours, funeral included (morbidly - is it creepy to say that I thought it was a ‘good’ funeral?). A classmate said to me that what hit her the most was that the last time she had seen many of our crew was at another funeral for a classmate’s mom…ouch. Hopefully with an office job in the fall I can remedy my lack of communication habits. Tho I’m no huge fan for religious ceremones, I can see how comforting it must be to have a congregation rally round, sing familar hymns & recite memorized passages. It was far more personal than I expected, probably because the local priest had known Rach so well & spent time visiting her in & out of the hospital. I am so thankful that I got a chance to attend Rach’s funeral - that I wasn’t working, travelling or too far away to get there in a pinch. The priest even announced the 2006 R.A.C.H. tournament dates - which was always in the back of my mind - so I’m glad that i can at least say that I”m saving the date - thankfully it’s later in June than this year (June 24-26, btw - any GTA baseball buds wanting to visit cottage country & meet interesting locals & sample ‘the Brunny’ are more than welcome to crash with me….).

Yesterday, my only full day in the town, was a weird combo of the comforts of home, reminicing about a life lost, meeting old classmates & finally catching up with my bud, Rob. The highlight of the vist by far was a Wedding Crashers/DQ date with R-dog - hearing about the trip to AUS, upcoming plans, the move, school, her fam, etc…always good & chill times with that girl. We can pick up from where we left offf regardless of how much non-face time has passed between us. Besides catching up on town gossip, it was good to just hang out again & I am very much looking forward to having some old-school nights out this fall in the GTA….& some sassy batch’ette nights before NYE…some LMT Connection - “y’all know what freestyle is??” & also we are both Running for the Cure - I’m committing this to online (editable, tho) print so I don’t punk out & shirk my responsiblities…It’s time to put my money (& sponsor’s) where my mouth is, get my soon-to-be-trained ass in gear & work it for a good cause.

I did forget to meniton that last weekend I made it out to (finally) see Jeff’s band - The Big Three - at their last summer gig @ Apothecary - a surprisingly great venue in the heart of the bass-worshipping cabinet-rattling club district. Not only was it badass to hear them rocking the rooftop patio as soon as I stepped off the Spadina streetcar south of Adelaide, watching the lineups of Plastic Pammies waiting in line for the-next-big-$9-drink-one-name-warehouse-cookie-cutter-club passeed the time between three solid sets from TBT, The Old 55s & SomeDude & the Situations (fak, man, change your long-ass-forgettable band name already). Jeff & the guys are taking some gigging time-outs to record @ Metalworks in the wee hours & put together an EP.

Speaking of 1st albums….Martin’s ‘The PIckups’ CD Release Party is a go for Friday Sept. 16th @ Sneaky Dee’s - save the date! That week is shaping up to be a wicked b-day bonanza with a Sat show w. Ruven & the Beau right after - a Japanese punk band & Wolf Eyes….

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Aug 23

Breaking everybody’s heart, singing everybody’s song….you can’t sleep forever, everyday they torture us, say nothing stays together…

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TowerHillGarden
Originally uploaded by meegs.

So wow, never imagined that i’d be prompted to post from the road - but desperate times call for desperate measures. I guess my indecisiveness vis a vis a return to PS needed a catalyst, but I would never in a million years expect to be heading home to attend a funeral for a former classmate. ugh.

I am typing on my iBook from my latest form of affordable transportation (don’t ask how much the train to MTL cost, please) - the infamous Greyhound. What is usually a bittersweet trip at best is now a bizarre brain-dead, still-in-shock journey back to the hometown for what is to me an unimaginable ritual goodbye.

My Dad rang me while I was buying groceries yesterday & dropped the horrible news that my former French Immersion classmate, Rachel, had passed away days before & that on Wednesday there would be a service held in town. It is a safe bet that I am not the only ex-townie making this pilgrimage to pay my respects to a truly incredible woman.

I first met Rachel when I was ten years old & we were making the best of a new language & set of classmates at an awkward (st)age in life. Throughout high school we went our separate course & social circle ways, but I will never forget the personal challenges she met head on as a teen & tragically, would have to continually meet & rise above for the rest of her life.

I can’t get into the details of the disease & treatment & affliction - honestly because I won’t pretend to be able to speak intelligently or well-informed on what exactly she was coping with. With any loss there is a considerable chunk of time devoted to reflection, regret & thankfulness. I’m remembering her unimaginable amount of energy, spirit, humour and humility while her immune system was AWOL, but at the same time regretting that I never took the time to tell her this specifically.

Two years ago, her family organised an ambitious weekend-long charity softball tournament, at which I travelled with my then-Ottawa-dwelling buds, Norm & Alisha & embarrassed myself fully, but reconnected with many of our former-FI classmates & saw Rachel for the last time.

Unfortunately, NXNE & the 2nd annual tourney fell on the same weekend this year & I chose the former because of previous commitments & personal ambitions. So yeah, I feel shitty about choosing the GTA schmooze & music option over the grassroots charity tourney in her honour. But in and of itself, that’s also a selfish indulgence of energy - regret for things passed.

In a full narcissistic turn, all this makes me wonder what the fuck I would want to do for a last goodbye….my mind wanders to the High Fidelity scene where the employees compare ideal funeral tunes….The Irish wake is too rowdy & not my style, but there is a catharsis in that tradition that is entirely taboo in straight-laced ceremonies…The key phrase is my mind wanders…..
out of steam
peace
meegs

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Aug 18

"We are collapsed in the act of just being here, three blues, two greens and a beer…"

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set-yourself-on-fire
Originally uploaded by meegs.

Back in the cloudy & grey & windy GTA & loving it. Although the Montreal/Morin Heights week & a half went by super fast in hindsight, I did miss my sad little routine & realized how accustomed I had become to my new neighbourhood. Hardest of all transitions was getting my ass back into the gym. Tho I ran a bit in MTL, once we headed to the Heights, there wasn’t much forgiving (or safe) terrain - or motivation to get me running again…The combo of half-assed swimming, lax workout sched, masses of delish food - especially rich Italian desserts, meat-eating menus and late-night snacking conspired to teach me a brutal lesson in phys. ed upkeep. My trainer caught me struggling this a.m. & was met with a sheepish smirk on my end. Besides grunts & groans from the Y, I am reintroducing masself & reappreciating the hood. I now have a bakery, gym, pub, cafe & other local locales (a boss newly discovered Pho joint) - something that I didn’t capitalize on when I last lived in TO’s Little Italy district. With Ottawa living, it was a no-brainer, there was the downtown stuff, the Market stuff & the Glebe stuff…without a car & not willing to bus it everywhere, my options were pretty limited. I’m not knocking my last Canuck hometown….just don’t get me started on the lack of decent music venues & take-risks promoters…but I am finally feeling at home in this Portuguese hood with the Churrisio scent wafting up from the takeout downstairs.
Now to recap MTL time, which was absolute madness….Annie’s wedding, the Saturday prior, primed us for the dress up part of the programme. The Danforth Catholic ceremony preceeding a down-home reception, speeches & mixer was sweet & the My Apt daneathon capped off the evening with some downtown panache. Within the span of a day we witnessed the comprehensiveness of wedding celebrations - keep the old peeps happy, save the BonJovi for the late hours - & the efficiency of the one-day hoopla. We weren’t given this brevity in la Belle Provence….Wow. Even a day after we got back I was knackered. Just completely wiped out & drained. There is no succinct way to wrap up & write up all the bizarro, drama-filled & intense episodes that swirled around this knot tying. Live & learn - all in all the end result was a beautiful ceremony, tons of fam (some unexpected, many late) attending. Overall, my life-lesson takeaway was that as much you-go-girl empowering stuff that women are fed about this being their special day, most couples bend over backwards to accomodate the quirks & quarks of two families & friend sets & end up dragging what could be a cut & dry party into an interminable mass of rituals, traditions, gifting, carding & waiting. I still can’t begin to pretend to understand sibling & big-fam politics…my Mom is so tight lipped about her own Waltons-sized upbringing that I have no insight beyond-three peeps family units …
Besides (& of course, including…) the wedding stuff - I had a brilliant time in MTL - the shops, atmosphere, Old Port, downtown, etc, etc. We visited a great new bar (that was promptly outed in the Gazette the weekend of the wedding ‘D’oh!’) called Baldwin Barmacie with a hella good DJ (& she’s crazy cute, too!) spinning everyything from Portishead to Final Fantasy to Stars - a girl after my own heart…..Should be getting back to plugging away at my massive reading list. Still unsure what the rest of the summer brings (besides more dentist appts. ahh boo) - maybe a trip up north again? CNE excursion for mini donuts & corn dogs (cue crass ‘Kids’ quotes)? A Constantines gig?
who knows & who cares…
meegs

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Aug 09

Road Tales

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So I have since returned from the hometown, touched down in the GTA, visited the burbs for a wicked & epic wedding & I’m writing live & direct from la belle province. Montreal is everything TO wishes it could be, a hipper older sister to a dowdy, too serious & rushed anal-retentive younger bro. Tho my days here are limited, I’m only here til Monday, I am reveling in my longest stay yet & looking forward to a trip to the Old Port today, a cruise ’round the island & some touristic sights inbetween. Yesterday we did St. Catherine & meandered about, I picked up some cool beads & checked out the somewhere-between-Kensington-Market-&-puritan-QueenWest vintage boutique that the hood had to offer. So much ahs happened since my time in Parry HOot, but i can’t really register it all to archive it here.

I am so grateful to have had a drink with a NXNE bud that I had only been in touch with via e-mail since the ‘fest. As I age, I am finally appreciating the strength that having femme friends brings. I witnessed this first-hand at Annie’s amazing wedding & felt a twinge of jealousy at the supportive posse of gals that had arrived from her MA programme at Waterloo. While I don’t regret peeling thru my MA in less than a year, I do regret not taking more time to cultivate friendships with Ottawians of academia….tho Canuck Studies is an odd program of people from all sorts of displaced disciplines, lifestyles, ages, etc….I need to take some responsibility for not connecting more with my classmates…ahh boo.

Anywhoo, on the brights, my NXNE bud tipped me off on the first of two amazing upcoming job opps that I am neutered from applying for due to my OLIP obligations…ahh boo two. I guess que sera sera & I can’t keep double guessing this commitment - I know that everyone who’s participated in this in the past has nothing but raves & great memories & friendships to report…but I get worry-warty about the sacrificies I’ve made already (before the thing starts…) for the interviews, apps, etc. I guess we’ll figure this out as it comes…

In more exciting news, my best bud phoned me mid-shop yesterday to report the happiest of happy news…at least for a twenty-something chicka. She is usurping the bureaucraziness & wedding the dingo that has eaten her baby. Congrats girl & apologies if you haven’t completely spread the word yet…but who the hell reads this goddamend thing anyway? Wedding phenomes are in the air - as my 3rd or 3 weddings approaches & my girl’s New Year’s Eve ceremony is on the horizon….DId I mention that I caught the goddamned bouquet at Annie’s fete? It was an absolute freak of physics & nature…no movement necessary, just an absolute bullseye pitch into my kisser. Please no registry jokes, ladies….I just couldn’t pull a Sex in the City & let those dasies plomp to the ground.

Many more adventures & anecdotes, but no time to report’em…off to the Old Port of MTL for some sightseeing!

Peace
meegs

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