I was born in High Level, Alberta but grew up in Barrhead, Alberta.I have always been something of a performer, from a very early age.Whether it was concerts for my family, plays we’d do in school or sports, I always loved entertaining people.I think, when it comes down to it, the lure of an audience is what got me interested in theatre at the beginning.
I took drama classes all through Jr. High and High School and it was a no-brainer that I would make the jump to drama at University.
When I got to University, I thought I was somebody entirely unique and interesting.Apparently everybody else thought the same thing.They were also much more talented than I was.Not one to be discouraged, I continued to audition for various shows and though I didn’t get into everything, I was able to hone my skills as a performer.I didn’t do many big shows at the University, but I certainly did a lot of little ones.There were many directing scenes for class, small, one-act plays for a lunchtime production company and there were various other classroom projects and improv shows that I had my hand in.
It was in my 3rd year when I met Shaun and we did our first project together: Anticipation, a one-act play.It was a great little script where I just got to be angry and yell at people.What a role! After Anticipation, Shaun, Derek, another friend and I decided to do a sketch-comedy: Divine Incompetynce Presents: A Bag of Meat. That’s when I realized how much fun Sketch-Comedy could be.It had been something I was always interested in but didn’t have the means or right group to do it with.Unfortunately, school got in the way and we didn’t have a really good chance to continue.That is, until now.
Inside Dave's Brain
June 7, 2013 Radio ads killed the radio star
As I sit and wait for a Skype meeting to happen, I figured I might as well start a new blog entry. Why the hell not? I've got nothing else to do and you lot must be getting squirrely.
Today my tirade is going to be about the radio and their inability to play songs all the way through.
It seems as though a lot of the things I find frustrating are the things my dad would go off on tirades about when I was growing up. And this one isn't any different.
I remember being a kid and listening to the radio as we'd be driving, say, to hockey. Some great song with an epic guitar solo, say, Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, would come on. We'd listen to the song and then the great guitar solo would end the song. The only problem would be that they faded it out well before the song was over. And the next thing you hear is the DJs stupid, annoying voice. Yeah, because THAT'S better than Mark Knopfler's solo. Oh man would dad ever get angry. He'd go off about how the song isn't over (which is true) and the best part ABOUT that song is the solo (which is true) and how nobody wants to hear the DJ talk anyway (which is true). I'm sure at the time, I would think that perhaps dad was overreacting. I mean, I was a kid, I'm sure whatever dad said, I probably thought the opposite.
Now, however, I couldn't agree more. Why the shit do radio companies think it's okay to alter songs? Is it to shorten them? Look; I know that radios get funding through advertising so the less time between commercials, the better for them. But to me, that doesn't mean you can have something that somebody has decided is perfect and then take it and cut it, remove parts and put it out the way you see fit.
I mean, people don't do that with Shakespeare. Wait. Okay. Bad example.
It's not like people do that with movies when they put them on TV. Wait. Okay. Bad example.
Okay fine. People do it all the time. But why with songs? Is shaving 10 seconds off REALLY saving that much time? And in some situations, it's not just shortening guitar solos.
I was listening to the radio play What It's Like by Everlast the other day. THEY TOOK OUT AN ENTIRE VERSE. They removed the following:
I knew this kid named Max; He used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs.
He liked to hang out late at night, liked to get shit faced, and keep pace with thugs.
Until late one night there was a big gun fight Max lost his head.
He pulled out his chrome .45, talked some shit and wound up dead.
Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of his pain.
You know it crumbles that way, at least that's what they say when you play the game.
But then they kept this part:
God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news.
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose.
Then you really might know what it's like.
To have to lose.
THAT PART DOESN’T MAKE SENSE WITHOUT THE FIRST PART. Why? WHY do they have to take that verse out? Now it’s really fucking with things. I like to sing along with music and when they cut out a whole verse, it messes with me and, in all honesty, I think it does a disservice to the song. But that aside, they should really be worried about pleasing me. Don’t they know my opinion means everything?
I dunno. This is day 3 of me writing this. I kind of come back to it when I have the chance. For some reason I’m less angry today than I was yesterday so it’s not as big a deal to me. I mean, I still hate it but all that earlier stuff comes across as really bitchy. Which it is. And I suppose I could go change it but in three days I’ll probably feel the same way again when I hear a condensed version of Big Wreck’s Blown Wide Open and I’ll be glad I went off on that tirade.
I guess what I’m really trying to get at is that songs are 3-5 minutes long. I don’t know why we need to shave off that 30 seconds here or the 1 minute there. It’s not like they’re playing all 17 minutes of Ina Gadda Da Vida or all 43 minutes Thick As A Brick or something. What you’re playing are 3.5 minute pop songs. They’ll be over soon enough. If you don’t want to play the whole thing, fine but maybe just don’t play that particular song. I’d rather not hear it on the radio than hear the condensed version and get all road-ragey when I’m driving. And really, that’s just better for everybody, n’est pas?
May 8, 2013 Why must you turn this blog into a house of lies?
Ugh. Okay. Attempt three; I have two other documents open which have been created in the past couple of weeks. They are attempts at some form of blog entry. I've actually been trying in earnest to get something up for you all but my last two efforts have come up short. I've re-read both of them and have decided that they weren't good enough to post on the blogosphere.
"But Dave," you're probably saying, "something is better than nothing!"
Is it, loyal reader? Is it really? I've read my stuff. It achieves a pretty high standard...
...
Okay. It at least has some flow and organization...
...
It's poignant and life-altering?
...
Shit.
Well I just didn't like these two, okay? Deal with it.
Instead, I'm going to talk about something that you probably aren't getting enough of elsewhere.
Dentistry. That's right. Dentistry.
How is it possible, that in the time of universal health care, going to the dentist isn't covered? It's ridiculous!
This is the part of the blog where I was going to list all the facts about gum disease but I'm a slight hypochondriac and I decided that looking all that up would make me just think I have it. Which I probably do because I CAN'T AFFORD A DENTAL CHECKUP.
I would love a job with benefits. Benefits would mean things like dental check ups and blue cross for cheap medicine. Thankfully (and I've knocked a lot of wood on this) I'm a pretty healthy person. I attempt to exercise, I eat moderately healthily so I haven't had to purchase a lot of medicine. I did a number of years ago when I got shingles (fyi: shingles sucks) and it cost something like $90 for a week's worth of pills.
That also sucked.
But compare that to people who have to pay literally thousands of dollars for dental work. How is that possible? I know a guy who drove his motorcycle down to Mexico to have a root canal because it was cheaper than getting dental work done in Canada. Another guy I know had to get a filling (I think) and couldn't afford it so he just got the dentist to pull the tooth. How can we let this happen?
And don't get me wrong, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth here (HA!) and I'm grateful for what IS covered but why is it that we can go to the doctor and have the government pay for it but we can't do the same for the dentist?
And people HATE going to the dentist! It's not like they'd be abusing the system, thinking "Well this isn't costing me anything, I'll just go once a week." We'd use it when we needed it. It would just be nice to be able to go and know that everything is alright (or, god forbid, we need emergency dental work, it's nice to know we wouldn't have to apply for a small loan.)
Ultimately, I think it's tragic that something like going to the dentist costs 3x what I pay in rent so it means I have to forego any oral care beyond brushing my teeth. But what scares me is that as a result, my teeth might end up looking something like this:
Yikes.
And hey, I got my Simpsons reference in for the day. Swish!
You know what's mundane? Emptying out a year and a half worth of emails from your inbox. The upside to it is that you get to find old jokes and messages from people and you can laugh at them again because it had been so long since you'd received the email that the jokes become funny again.
Other than that, though, it's dull and mundane. And it makes me question some of the emails I decided to save. I have - no joke - an email from November 8, 2011 from Pizza 73 confirming my order. WHY DID I THINK I NEEDED TO SAVE THAT? Also, In case you were wondering, I ordered a pizza (the Grand Slam, whatever that is) 12 Lemon-Pepper wings, a 6-pack of root beer and a 6-pack of gingerale.
*Please note it was not only for me but also my roommates. This was not just an order for David*
As I keep purging my inbox, I have come to the grim realization that I eat Pizza 73 a lot...
I have grown weary of deleting emails so I have elected, instead, to focus on what matters: updating my blog.
...for the first time in 2.5 months. Oops.
What can I say? When I get busy, I get busy. And then it's just you guys that suffer. If it's any consolation, I have a friend who used to write a really great blog and I've been waiting 3 years for an update. So really, when you compare me to Meg, I'm doing great!
But seriously: if it weren't for Shaun prodding me, I'm not sure I'd ever blog so really you should thank him for keeping my blog updates punctual.
Anyway, back to the meat of the thing. You know what I miss? Well as of right now, I miss actually having some sort of topic in which to write about. I used to be able to just pull something out but it seems lately, half the reason I put off blogging is because I can't seem to muster any subjects. I'm sure if I really thought about it, I could find something to ramble about but then it would just be a cookie cutter blog and who really wants that?
Maybe I'll do another top-10 blog. I haven't done one of those in quite some time. I mean, I won't do it today. This one is nearly finished and it's pretty chalk-full of nothing. But at least I've accepted that. No, the next one will be better.
Wait. Isn't that what George Lucas said after The Phantom Menace? Aww crap. Have I turned into George Lucas? Does that mean that I'm gonna have to go back through my past blog entries and digitally remake all the photos, and stuff? And now every subsequent entry will be crappy, poorly thought out, rushed and just an attempt to bilk people's time out of them with no real reward on their part? NOOOOOOOO!
Okay. I can fix this.
Did it work?
Oh. Also. In case you haven't noticed, we (and by we, I mean Shaun) completely redid the website. Troll around. Find new changes. It's fun!
January 29, 2013 It started one way and ended up something completely different...
Has it been nine days already? Man this is a huge commitment, no wonder it takes me 3 months to blog!
I think I need to start composing a list of blog subjects, lest I just start rambling in my blogs and we all know how that could end up...
So what to talk about today? That, my friends, is the $64 000 question. Incidentally; did any of you guys ever see repeats of that show? I'm a pretty big fan of trivia game shows (namely Jeopardy!) but that one was so dull.
My folks used to have the gameshow network at home. It was part of a cable incentive package or something. They never paid for it and when it went away, nobody in the house really ever noticed.
Anyway...
So I remember when the network was still new and interesting, I'd watch it and check out all sorts of reruns of random gameshows; Match Game (boring), the original Family Feud starring Richard "Smooches" Dawson and yes, the $64 000 question (which, until I just double-checked, I seemed to think was actually the $10 000 Pyramid. I think it's the having money values in the titles that threw me. Either way, I remember having seen both of them.)
So because of my fleeting interest in the gameshow network, I've come to some conclusions:
Family Feud has always sucked but MAN that Richard Dawson got a lot of kisses. Good on him, really. I mean, he was like 60 years old when that show was on, wearing plush suits and kissing women 1/3 his age. He should be an idol. But then I remember he hosted Family Feud, a show since hosted by the likes of Richard Karn (Al, from Home Improvement), Louie Anderson (Do you remember HIM?) and now Steve Harvey. When you look at the lackluster names of people hosting that show, it's pretty easy to see why it sucked. The only good host, ever, of that show was John O'Hurley (Peterman from Seinfeld. I know. I only know him by that too. I had no idea until now that his name was John O'Hurley)
Match Game suuuucccckkkkkeeeddd. There's a remake on the Comedy Network right now and it's got all the current "stars" who are C-list people trying to make people remember they were once (or, for some, never) relevant. I feel like that was pretty much the premise of the original Match Game. Granted, I feel like that was sort of the case back then. Not entirely, as upon doing research, I discovered people like Gary Burghoff (the incomparable Walter "Radar" O'Reilly from both the movie AND television production of M*A*S*H)
...okay. The more I researched into Match Game, the more I realized there were some pretty cool people on there. I think, at the time, I didn't know who some of these celebrities were, so I thought they were lame. Now I know better. However, the show still sucked.
OH! And there was the Newlywed Show. Also lame but it was fun to watch people look like asshats. Also, they used the word "whoopie" so that was fun. As a general rule, though, I wasn't a fan of it.
The one show I really wished they would have had on there was Let's Make A Deal. I grew up listening to Jimmy Buffet (well, my parents listened to him and, as a result, so did I.) One of the albums they had was A-1-A (which I actually have now, because it's amazing.) On said album is the song "Door Number 3" about Let's Make A Deal. It always sounded like a ridiculous concept for a game show. I think I would have enjoyed getting a chance to see it. Apparently there's a remake of it now, but in all honesty, I don't think it would have the same charm as the one from the 60s...
So what does this essay of rambling nonsense have to do with anything? Absolutely nothing. As per usual, I started writing one thing and this random crap came out. I don't understand my own brain sometimes. But when we really dissect the past several droning paragraphs, I think one thing has become abundantly clear: most gameshows are crap. I don't know how so many of them were so popular for so long. I don't understand why people insist on remounting them over and over and over again. They're weak sauce and not worth watching. (Don't even get me started on Wheel of Fortune)
Except Jeopardy! That show is off the hook. (Also, in case Alex Trebek ever reads this: (which, let's be honest, would be the coolest thing EVER) I would like to take this opportunity to formally apply for Jeopardy!)
So there you have it. My thoughts on the gameshow world. Thanks for reading. I guess. Also, if this seems unorganized and jumbled, it probably is. I wrote it over 2 days, at about a paragraph at a time and really didn't go back to see what I had previously written.
Well here we go again; it's a new year… sort of. I mean, we have been in 2013 for the better part of a month now but we're still in January and I still think it's 2012 so I'm still calling it a new year.
Anyway, I suck. Like; a lot. I haven't blogged since October and that's just pitiful. I'd like to say it's my New Year's resolution to blog more but we all know that would fall off sooner rather than later, so let's not pretend like I'll be following through with that.
However, I'm here now, so let's just enjoy the time we have together, shall we?
What to talk about?
There are such a wide variety of topics we could cover since the last time I actually wrote something; the election (yeah; it's been THAT long), the lockout (or lack thereof), the football playoffs (Go Pats), Christmas, New Years… All of these things I can talk about. But I'm not going to touch any of that. Instead you get a long, rambling blog about…
Swimming.
That's right. Swimming.
I've started doing a podcast with a couple of buddies from high school. While we have yet to actually put on online, we've been doing a lot of test runs and I think it's actually pretty fun.
What does that have to do with swimming, you ask? Well on the surface; nothing. I just wanted to pitch the podcast so you guys know it'll be coming and when I publish the link to it, you'll check it out.
However, there actually is some relation to my swimming subject:
Jake (or Jacob - I'm not sure what he's going by now) is training to do an Xterra race in either Kelowna or Regina this summer and he asked Mike and me whether or not we'd be interested in doing a team race at the Nordic Centre in Canmore.
Now, I'm all about team things. I play hockey and I used to play flag football and slow pitch. I love the idea of being on a team for something. I'm also making an attempt to get back into shape. When Jake mentioned this idea, I was all over it. We then had to divvy up the roles. Jake used to race mountain bikes so obviously he got the 40km trail ride, leaving the 1km open water swim and the 10km trail run to Mike and me. Well my problem is my old knees just ain't what they used to be.
I used to be able to run 10k with a fair amount of ease but that was close to 10 years ago. Since then, either because of my lack of running or just the fact that my body is getting older, I can't run more than 2-3k without my knees quitting on me and making me limp for the next 4 days. It's really not worth it.
That basically meant that I got the swimming leg.
Neat.
I love swimming. And by that, I mean, I really enjoy messing around in the ocean when I'm on vacation, or goofing around in the creek near my cabin. I don't much care for swimming for exercise. At least I didn't used to. There's a bit of a difference when the fear of drowning is on your side…
My grandpa lived in Canmore his whole life (save for the time he spent overseas fighting for our country) and at one time tried to gauge the depth of Quarry Lake (which is where the swim is to take place.) He ran out of rope at 600' and apparently still didn't reach the bottom. Do you know what that means? It means when I drown, I've got a long bloody way to sink. I don't much feel like doing that.
As a result, I'm making an effort to hit the pool on a (somewhat) regular basis. I've only been once since the new year, but that'll change. It has to change. Because if it doesn't, there's a strong possibility my corpse could end up getting eaten by something like this:
Seriously, how creepy is that fish?
And we just can't have that, can we? After all; If I died, who would blog once every 3 months? Mike? Derek? HAHAHAHA!
Sometimes I start typing a blog with an actual idea of what the subject will be. Sometimes I’ll start with an idea and figure that one particular subject will be all the context of the blog – and sometimes it is. But sometimes, like last week’s entry, I’ll start on one subject and get completely sidetracked and it turns into a whole different entity.
Last week, my intention was simply to talk about Jake’s wedding (or, as my iphone thought when I was putting it into my calendar; “James Weeding” which I thought was funny so I kept it as is.) Somewhere along the way, I started talking about my weekend as a whole. I don’t know how, or why that happened. Sometimes my fingers move faster than I intend and all of a sudden there’s a novel on the screen with no substance (which is pretty much most blog entries I write: all filler, no killer.)
I suppose could try to write about Jake’s wedding again. But I tried that once and I guess even my fingers thought that was a dull subject. So I won’t.
And anyway; to hell with Jake.
So now that brings us to today’s subject. Which is nothing. I have literally nothing to talk about but keep typing in the hopes that maybe my fingers will do something for themselves and write a miraculous blog entry. Although, if that happened, you all would know it wasn’t me writing it, because (as Shaun likes to remind me ever so often) I suck. So I feel like no matter what I write, it has to have some modicum of shabbiness, lest I get judged for having somebody else write it. And I’m no cheater. I do all my crappy work on my own – just ask the 8% I once got on a math exam (don’t tell my parents)
But in all fairness, math was never my strong suit. Granted, neither were English, Social Studies, Biology, Physics, Chemistry or English but Math was always my worst one. I could just never grasp it. You know what I was really good at? Phys-Ed. Man, I rocked at that. If there was an honour roll for Phys-Ed class, I’d have been valedictorian. Okay, maybe not. But I would have been, like, first runner-up.
Jeez. Looking back at that last paragraph, it’s hard to believe I got into University at all, let along being capable enough to get a Master’s Degree. And yet, here we are. 8 years of school, 2 degrees and Do you want fries with that?Welcome to WalMart! I’m still actually doing what I’ve been trained to do. I’ve got no real complaints.
Except for that damned gas that turns you inside out…
October 3, 2012 How I spent my final weekend of September
I was in Jasper for a wedding this weekend. The groom was (is) one of my oldest friends. We tried to figure out when we first knew each other and we couldn't really put an exact time on when we met. It was more of a "I knew of Jake and he knew of me and then we just sort of became friends somewhere along the way" sort of thing. When Jake told me a while back that he was getting married, I was super happy for him. I had met Samara on a couple different occasions and knew that he was the person for her (Jeebus, hearing this in my head, it sounds like a best man's speech. Don't worry, it gets way less sappy and way more awesome in a minute here...) When he asked if I would be in the wedding party, I was both surprised and honoured. Then he told me the wedding was on September 29th, in Jasper.
"No problem!" I thought. "I'll be doing nothing else that weekend, it'll be a nice weekend to escape to the mountains!"
And then Pearl Jam announced they were playing a show in Missoula. For those who are reading this blog for the first time, first of all: where the hell have you been? You've been missing out on comic silver! (I say silver because calling this blog comic gold seems a bit too pompous.) Secondly, though, and possibly more important: I am something of a Pearl Jam nut. Go back through the depths of my blog and you'll find completely Pearl Jam related entries. But I digress...
Pearl Jam announced a show on September 30th. In Missoula. The day after Jake's wedding. Well crap.
I thought that maybe I wouldn't go to Missoula, that I could skip this show. But then I was informed that it would be one of the most epic shows of theirs in a long time. And that it was in a venue of 7500 people. And that it was a lottery to see if you got tickets.
Well crap.
So I figured, "Well here's what I'll do: I'm not terribly lucky, I never win anything, so I'll just enter my name in the lottery and if I don't win, then I can go up to Jake's wedding guilt free."
And then I won.
Well son of a bitch! What are the chances of that?
And NOW I was on the hook, because I had 2 tickets of the 8 we needed to get people in. And the bitch of it all was that I had to be in attendance to get the tickets. I couldn't have them mailed to me and give them to my brother to take. No, no. I had to be in Missoula the day of the show to get them. (I make this part sound like I'm so oppressed about having to drive to Missoula and HAVING to see Pearl Jam. D'aww!)
So here I was, forced to go see my favourite band. Again.
As a result of overcommitting myself, my weekend ended up unfolding like this:
*Deep Breath*
Swap vehicles with my cousin on Friday afternoon because I didn't want to take my truck all the way through the mountains to Jasper. Leave Calgary mid-afternoon on Friday and drive to Jasper. Get to Jasper mid-evening and meet the rest of the wedding party whom I'd never met before and had to make friends with (which was easy because they were awesome people, just complete strangers before that day.) Eat supper, chat with Jakes parents whom I hadn't seen in probably 8 years (or longer.) Go for beer with the groom and fellow groomsmen to get better acquainted with them so it's less awkward the next day (again, which was no problem because, well, they were good dudes.) Wake up the next day, hang out with Jake and the rest of the dudes in Jasper because the ceremony wasn't until 5pm. Come back to the cabin, shower, shave, get suited up. Take pictures of just the groom and groomsmen while we wait for the girls to finish getting ready. Meet up with the girls, take more pictures. Come back to the site, stand up for ceremony. Go have dinner - an incredibly delicious, quite obviously costly 3 course (4, technically, but I didn't have dessert) meal that might have been the greatest combination of things I have ever put into my stomach. Finish dinner, make my rounds saying goodbye to friends new and old, leave Jasper at 9:30pm. Drive through the pass in pitch black conditions - it was a cloudly night, thankyouverymuch Mother Nature. Get home to Calgary at about 12:30. Pack for Missoula. Get to bed about 1am. Wake up at 5:30. Shower. Pick up Amish. Drive to Ben's place. Pick up Benny. Leave Calgary at 6:30am. Drive to border. Cross border. Stop for gas and buy beer (because you can do that in the same place when you're in the States.) 10am, crack a beer (because, well, you're on holidays.) Get to Missoula around 2:30pm, meet up with Mikey, Mac and Amisha. Drink more. Pick up tickets. Drink more. Go see Pearl Jam. Get told you can't take your camera in because it's "too professional." Go back to hotel to drop off camera. Go see Pearl Jam (for real this time.) ROCK OUT (Seriously; one of the greatest Pearl Jam shows of my life.) Come back to hotel, drop stuff off. Go to bar. Drink More. Bar closes, go back to hotel. Drink More. After 22 hours of being awake and most of those hours involving alcohol, go to bed. Wake up at 9am to turn off the TV that Benny had left on. Go back to bed. Wake up at 10am. Go across to the grocery store, buy Advil and that's it. Take advil to try and cure hangover. It doesn't work. Go for a swim to try and cure hangover. It doesn't work. Have a shower before you leave to try and cure hangover. It doesn't work. Leave hotel and stop at McDonald's to try and cure hangover. It doesn't work. After 21 hours, leave Missoula. Start to drive home. Stop by Flat Head Lake to jump in (on October 1, no less) to try and cure hangover. It kind of works. Drop Amish and Amisha off in Whitefish. Stop in Eureka, MT for gas, beer and cigars. Get to border. Cross border. Consider stopping to jump in the Elk River. Idea gets kaiboshed by Mikey because he's already running late enough. Don't jump in the Elk River. Keep driving. Hit Alberta. Split up with Mikey and Mac somewhere along Highway 22. Drive through hazy Southern Alberta because there are obviously fires somewhere around. Hit Calgary. Drive to Benny's place. Find my truck that Danny had left for me when he picked up his car. Jump in truck - adjust seat because Danny is huge and I'm not. Drive home. Watch (barely) Monday Night Football. At 10pm eyes get so heavy that I cannot stay up anymore, go to bed. Try to watch an episode of the Office but can't. At 10:45, I turn out the light. At 10:52, I get a text message but don't hear it because I'm so tired, I've already succumbed to a deep sleep. Tuesday morning, wake up and go to work.
*GASP*
That was my weekend. And. It. Was. Awesome. I logged a lot of miles and very little sleep. I made friends from ALL over North America (while being in both Jasper and Missoula.) I drank a lot and as a result, I felt bad about drinking a lot. But mostly, I made a lot of memories. I'll get the bootleg of the Pearl Jam show (as I always do) and I'll re-listen to it and the amount of memories I made should all come flooding back.
I've never been to Europe. For that matter, I've never been outside of North America. But I have seen Pearl Jam 11 times in various exotic locations. (Exotic meaning not Calgary.) Someday I'd love to get to Europe. There's a lot I would love to do there. Odds are, when I do finally end up going, it will coinside with a Pearl Jam tour, because lord knows, that would be the ultimate. In the meantime, however, I am willing to nearly kill myself in the pursuit of adventure and excitement... and Pearl Jam. And in order to do that, often it involves one of the greatest pastimes a person could do: the roadtrip. I'll keep on keeping on to make everything work out. I wouldn't have missed Jake and Samara's wedding for anything. In all honesty, if Pearl Jam had played the night OF their wedding, the wedding would have trumped it. That's how much my friends mean to me. However, because I could have my cake and eat it too (though, I did miss out on cake at the wedding... dammit!) I chose to do both. And will continue to do both. Because I can.
Thank you Jake and Samara, for letting me be a part of your day. But more importantly, thank you for letting me leave it early for Pearl Jam.
Okay. First of all, I’d like to point out it’s just over a week since my last entry. Look at me go!
Secondly, and I’m sure this will come as no surprise to any of my loyal reader(s) but I’m going to go off on a bit of a tirade here. I can hear your jaws dropping from here.
AND: this tirade isn’t even going to be about hockey being cancelled. Again. For the second time in less than a decade. Which makes me want to cry.
No no. This rant is going to be about drivers. What the shit is wrong with some of you people?
Yesterday, I was on my way up to Stony Plain to go spend time with 2 friends of mine from high school. One of them is getting married in just under 2 weeks and we decided it would be in our best interest to get together and play Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 like we used to when we were younger. (And by play, I of course mean that Jake and Mike – mostly Mike – would take me to school and I’d run around the map, not knowing what the hell I was doing. Much like Jim…)
Anyway, in order to actually relive our glory days, I had to drive up to Stony Plain for the day. Now, with our sweet divided highway, the idea of driving 3 hours and change to a neighbouring city shouldn’t seem like that big a deal. Especially on a Sunday when, in all reality, people should be either at church or watching football. But apparently yesterday was THE day for Sunday driving.
When I was younger and less calm, I used to have a titch of road-rage. It’s has quelled somewhat in previous years but every now and then it still surges to the top and I have the *odd* outburst of anger at idiots on the road. Yesterday was one of those days.
I’ve heard people phone into the radio and state “Because I’m going 110km/h on the highway, I shouldn’t have to drive in the right hand lane because I’m going the speed limit!” You know what I say to that? MOVE OVER! Yes, you’re going the speed limit, but the signs clearly state “Slower Traffic Move Right” and do you know what you are to somebody who comes up behind you at 120km/h? Slower traffic. So when you see somebody coming up behind you, even IF you’re going 110, MOVE THE CRAP OVER!
And you know what’s even worse than people who just coast at 110km/h in the left lane? (Well maybe not worse, but equally as bad...) People who are in the right lane who pull out directly in front of you but maintain their speed (which is slower than yours) which makes you slow right down. Oh. My. Galt. Rather than waiting that extra 3 seconds to let you get in front of them, they pull out and make you slow your own progress down because they’ve decided that you can drive at their pace and not your own. I’m twitching just thinking about it.
Both of those types of people were on the road yesterday. Both made me want to pull out my (non-existent) gat and bust a cap in somebody’s ass. But seeing how my gat is non-existent, it just meant that I yelled a lot.
And then my truck started shaking, and I had to pull over and restart it and then the check engine light came on and hasn’t turned off yet. So, you know, that happened. Ugh. Sometimes driving is a pain in the ass.
Anyway, that’s my rant this week. So when you’re out on the road, please don’t be a dink. Because when you are, it sucks and I get yelley.
Okay. This is terrible. Usually there's a bit of a hiatus between my blog entries but this is just pathetic. I wish I could say I had an excuse like I've been busy filming (which I haven't been) or that I've been so consumed with work that I haven't slept more than 4 hours a night (9 hours last night.) Ultimately, as this blog's subject states; I suck. And I'm sorry. I feel as though perhaps I've lost some loyal readers in this process of my sucking but I hope you'll come back and remember the good times we had.
I'm sure you're wondering what it is I've been up to all these months that have kept me from, well, letting you know what I've been up to. And the answer to that, dear friends, is pretty much nothing. Like, seriously, pretty much nothing - walking my dog, fishing, the odd work shift (Except for maybe Evil Dead: The Musical which is on right now at the Pumphouse and has sucked the better part of my last 3 weeks. Which makes my absenteeism even more unacceptable but Shaun and I have, in recent years, discovered that we are infinitely less productive during the summer months. And, in spite of the fact that Shaun has kept his weekly blog alive, I have done my fair share of keeping the sucking part alive. So, you're welcome Shaun.
I discovered, a few weeks ago, that I enjoy fishing. I know; I'm as surprised as you are.
Up until this summer, I had never purchased a fishing licence in my life. That means the last time I even considered fishing was when I was 15 (15 being the last age you can be to fish for free and not worry about some pesky licence.) When I turned 16, I was far too spastic and, for lack of a better word, energetic to fish. I was too busy doing "important things" like golfing and riding my bike and going boating with friends to worry about something "lame" like fishing. (Don't get me wrong, I still like doing things like golfing. And if I had a bike, I'd ride it. And if I had a boat, we both know damn well that I'd be out on the water skiing (or attempting to wakeboard and failing miserably.))
In recent years, however, I have discovered that fishing is something that I'd enjoy much more than I'd originally thought. Given my busy lifestyle and inability to often get out of town, the idea of being able to stand along a river or creek, listening to the water and enjoying some solitude and quiet is something that has appealed to me more and more.
So with that in mind, and knowing my brother was the proud owner of not one, but two flyfishing rods, I asked if he could give me his old one and teach me how to fish. Naturally, with his older (and let's face it, cooler) brother wanting to learn how to fish, Mick jumped at the opportunity. And by jumped, I mean took his sweet time getting me his old rod, despite my repeated asking and finally taking me out to learn what to do.
Once we went the first time, however, I was hooked (ha HA!) That week, I went twice more; once with my cousin and once by myself (though Scout came with me that time. She's actually an unreal fishing dog. She just lays on the edge of the bank and waits for me to tell her she can go swimming. What a girl!) Since then (which was the beginning of August) Shaun and I went out when we were, in reality, supposed to be working on {BLANK} related things. I was going to go one more time last weekend, but my damn spool broke and I had to swap it out for my other one but that meant re-spooling my line, etc. and I didn't have time to do it standing in the middle of Dogpound creek.
I know, that living in Canada, my opportunites to stand in a creek and fish are limited (mostly due to the fact that it's entirely possible to get snow in June) but when the opportunites to do so actually present themselves next summer, you know where you'll be able to find me. Well, in all honesty, probably not - I'll be in the middle of the forest. So find me if you can, but I wish you happy hunting.
Oh, and in case you wonder what it is I've been catching, here's my "trophy fish" thus far.
He/she's about 12" long, put up a pretty decent fight and scared the hell out of my dog. And don't worry, I let him/her go.
It's good to be back, friends. More to come (I hope)
June 20, 2012 At the risk of sounding like Dr. Frankenstein
HE'S ALIVE!!!!!!
Yes, that was in reference to myself. Look, I know I'll sound like a broken record if I apologize for not writing and then talk about how busy I am. Let's not dance that dance again, k? Let's just move on and skip to the part where I have something interesting to say.
...
...
...
...
Crap. Well let's just pretend I'm interesting and you can read my ramblings anyway.
I had no intention of broaching this topic until I used it in my subject heading. Then it dawned on me that it's somewhat relevant mostly because I've had this conversation twice within the last week. (Now you're all scrolling up to see what the subject heading is, aren't you? I knew it!)
There are a lot of crappy movies being made recently. And to be more specific, there are a lot of crappy movies being made about monsters; vampires, werewolves (or vampires AND werewolves together *facepalm*), zombies (though most zombie movies of late have been pretty okay...) You know what we haven't seen recently? A good Frankenstein movie.
I'm fascinated by the mythology of Frankenstein. Of all the major monsters in horror movies, Frankenstein's monster (Adam, I believe, and will henceforth be called that in my blog) is the only one who isn't actually one. He's seen as a monster by the people and that's what sets him off. Everything else (dracula, the wolfman) are monsters for what they do and have to be stopped. Adam is made to be human, tries to be human and is rejected because of the way he looks. Ultimately, who the real monster is (or are, as it were) are the people who reject Adam - Dr. Frankenstein being amongst them. It's the perfect allusion to the way humanity acts in real life. A well done Frankenstein movie could be very poignant right now (though I fear about 95% of the world would miss the point.)
Of course after writing that, I IMDBed it and apparently there's a movie called I, Frankenstein coming out next year starring Aaron Eckhart and Bill Nighy. Dammit.
I suppose I could have just deleted this and started all over but we've come this far and clearly there's no turning back so I might as well keep going.
While it will be interesting to see what happens with this movie, I fear that it will not amount to much (mostly because Stuart Beattie hasn't done much other than the Pirates of the Carribbean franchise (all 5 - soon to be 6 - of them.) That's not to say I don't have faith in it (Aaron Eckhart doesn't often sign on to do crap) but there's the possibility that it could be, well, this.
Anyway, let's wait and see what happens. I know I'll check this movie out. Like I said; I love the mythology behind the story, I love the idea of what the tale stands for. I'm excited that there's a new one coming out. It could be interesting. However, if this one flops, we can't give up hope on the Frankenstein idea. I mean, they've done all the other ones to death, why not have another go at this idea, too? Let's just make sure Christopher Nolan directs it.
Addendum
MOTHER F***** Moments after I finished posting this, Shaun sent me this image:
Apparently this is what the movie is based on. Not Mary Shelley's Book.
Why can't people just make normal things?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Well friends, I'm back. For now. And by for now I mean, well just that. I know it's been a while since I've written and to my loyal readers, I'm sorry. To my fairweather readers, I'm sure you haven't even noticed my absence. And if you've just stumbled upon this blog; welcome friend. Have some kool-aid and stay a while...
The past several months have been somewhat chaotic. If you've been reading my stuff at all, you'll know this both by the stories I've written as well as the lack of blogging. I told Shaun the other day that I can tell I'm busy because I have literally no time to blog which means you lot suffer. However, I'm trying to make that up now. At least for this week.
While the past few months have been hectic, the next 5 weeks might just kill me. I am currently in the process of production managing Sage Theatre's Ignite! Festival. I'd imagine that you're all wondering what the shit that is. Well let me enlighten you: Ignite! is a festival for emerging artists in the city. And I don't mean like one or two. It's a butt-tonne. (Butt-tonne being the accurate method of measurement when it comes to a plethora of artists.) This years' festival is featuring 6 pieces of theatre, a dance series (featuring 3 separate dance pieces with various dancers) and a music series (featuring an unknown amount of music folk.) Each theatrical piece has a director, stage manager and at least 1 designer as well as number of actors. My job is to make sure it goes smoothly from the production end. My first major task was to create the rehearsal schedule. I sent it out last Monday and as of today, I am in the process of working on the 7th version of the schedule. It's been exhausing. And on top of that, I get to run production meetings and deal with any technical problems that may arise. Well then. That's no problem, right? Well I'm also working AND designing a show at the end of the month.
Oh. Not to mention (if you haven't seen it already) Shaun and I are working to try and gear THIS little project up for PitchFest.
So amidst PMing, designing, working and {BLANK} related jargon, it's going to prove to be an exhausting month.
Now don't get me wrong: it's going to be tiring and stressful but it will be worth it. I belive so much in Ignite! that being a part of this is amazing. I designed 2 shows for it over the past 7 years of its incarnation. Without the festival, a lot of people would go unknown and unnoticed. It's 5 weeks of pure insanity for 3 days of performances but the end result is totally worth it. I know many of my colleagues have done work on Ignite! in one form or another and it's paid off in the long run. In fact, the better part of the current Sage team are Ignite! alumni and who knows where we'd have been without this opportunity. So if it means sleepless nights for a month to make sure that up-and-comers get a chance to shine, strut their stuff and prove what they can do, I'm on board. 100%.
Ignite! closes on June 16th and I think it's safe to say that June 17th will find me passed out, drooling on my pillow. So if you don't hear from me between now and then, that's why.
However, I do promise to try and make more of an effort. Even if I'm just mashing keys, it's better than nothing, right?
...though if you want that you might as well just go to Mike's blog. BOOM!
Hey! Remember when I used to blog frequently? Yeah, so do I. I know, it's been a while. I'm going to try to right that again - but it's been somewhat chaotic since my last check-in. Besides, how can I top that last blog entry?
Do you want to know where I'm updating from? Prince George. That's right. THE Prince George. It's an, erm... interesting? town. It actually has the same feel as my hometown for some reason. Anyway, I'm here doing a lighting design for Theatre NorthWest which is really exciting. I have this dream of working nationally as a designer so I need to start somewhere. Granted, I didn't think that somewhere would be P.G. but it's something. We can't ALL just jump right into the Toronto theatre scene, right? To be brutally honest, I didn't even know there WAS a theatre company out in Prince George. But there is. And they're lovely people!
***
2 weeks ago today I was in Mexico. Glorious, glorious Mexico. I tell you; when you spend one week in Mexico, come home to work for a week then get on a plane again, the last place you want to go is Prince George. But sometimes you don't get to choose where you go. You just go.
Anyway; Mexico was awesome. I did all sorts of things that I never thought I'd get to do: Get a tan in March, watch somebody (ie: my dad) catch a Marlin (120lbs and delicious, btw), hold down tequila. Yeah, it was a pretty excellent vacation. It certainly has made me look forward to summer arriving in my fair city. I got myself a nice tan which I fear will have dissolved as a result of being cooped up in a theatre for the better part of 2 weeks. But that just means that I'll have to get out into the sun some more this summer. I have a great plan involving 2 weeks at my cabin with my dog. If all goes according to this great plan, it should be more relaxing than Mexico - if nothing else than the fact that I get 2 weeks instead of 1 and it's also with my dog, who didn't get to come with me to Mexico. So in the first couple of weeks of July, if I don't blog, just think back to this one and you'll know why. I'll try to send a reminder blog before I leave...
***
I am currently listening to All or None by Pearl Jam. It is the final song from the album Riot Act, their 7th of 9 "official" studio albums. Why is this news, you ask? Because for 40 straight days, I couldn't listen to them. I (stupidly) gave them up for Lent. In my opinion, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I know it sounds stupid, but it's true. I listen to Pearl Jam every dayso to go 40 days without them was no easy task. I had to flip the station when they came on the radio, I had to change the CD in my alarm clock. I even had to make a "Not Pearl Jam" playlist on my iPod so that I didn't risk having them come up while I was listening to music while working. At one point towards the end, Last Kiss came on the radio as I was leaving work. Now I don't love that song by any means; it's great to hear live and it's Pearl Jam so I'll listen to it but it is nowhere NEAR the top of my favourite songs. Anyway, when I heard that it was on, I had to flip the station. And it sucked. I was so desperate to hear PJ that even LAST KISS would have sufficed. But I switched. I hated it.
Yesterday (obviously) was Easter Sunday and it meant that Lent was over. Now lent in the Smith family is pretty ridiculous. There are only 4 of us who are confirmed Catholics but somehow our sacrifices have worn off on the rest of my family. I'm not sure how it originated (maybe it was a solidarity thing) but a fairly large group of them will give something (or thingS) up for lent, including chips, chocolate, candy, soda, etc. As a result, when midnight hits on Easter Sunday, there's something of a feeding frenzy at the cabin. Chips get passed around, chocolate gets opened... it's pretty awesome. Anyway 2 nights ago, while the great Easter ritual was in process, I was able to put Pearl Jam on and listen to them for the first time in over a month. Granted, the majority of my family (Cam) doesn't like PJ as much as my brother, cousins or I do, so I was only allowed to listen to 2 songs before somebody (Cam) went and turned them off. So that meant I just got a taste of the sweet, sweet music. To make up for it, I've been listening to nothing but Pearl Jam for the past 2 days. One by one, I've been making my way through their albums chronologically and am currently on number 8. (Riot Act ended a while back. I've moved onto their self-titled.) It's been great. Once these are done, I'm moving to live bootlegs. Life feels right again.
Oh. I've also brought a live DVD of theirs, as well as Eddie Vedder's solo tour DVD. I plan on watching those over these next 2 weeks, too.
Well friends, I hope this has been of interest to you. I'm sure it hasn't. There's not much substance to it but at least it's something. I'm sure I'll find something to bitch about in the next little while so I can give you guys another ranty blog post. In the meantime, you're stuck with just grab-bag style updates and more discussions about Pearl Jam. Mostly because it's what I know.
Hello again, friends! My apologies for my absence of late. It's been chaotic. Plus, I was lamenting to Shaun that I had nothing good to write about. A sad excuse, I know but it is what it is. However, do I have a story for you loyal readers now!
Have you ever had one of those days where you continually have things happen to you, and finally it all gets capped off with one large incident that puts a bizarre end to your day? That was my yesterday.
To begin; it was a day where I decided to be productive. I had been given 2 large floor speakers a few months ago and they had sat in my living room since then. Yesterday, I decided they needed to move to the basement. As I was hauling one of them, I accidentally dragged my knuckles along the stippled wall and started bleeding almost immediately. Nothing major but a crappy way to start the day.
I got to work and was going to close the door of the loading dock, as there had been a riser rental and the door had been left opened. As I walked to the door, I walked around the empty steel riser cart but cut the turn too close, smashing my kneecap against the angle iron, causing me much pain. I believe my exact words were "Mother Fuck! OW!"
Lastly at work, I ground more knuckles against the bricks behind the bar. I figured that had to be the end of it, right? Nothing more could happen? Ha! Wrong.
So... I finished work and the lovely folk from Fool For Love as well as some acquaintances from the audience were all going out for a drink at the Auburn. "Hell yes, I'll go for a drink!" I thought. It had been one of those days, why the hell not?
After dropping a friend off downtown, I drove to find a parking spot. As there was nothing directly in front of the Auburn, I drove further east. I parked right on 9th Ave, across from the Epcor Centre. Walking back to the Auburn, on the SW corner of 9th Ave and 1st St, I saw 2 drunk guys beating the crap out of a single dude. And I mean beating. When I passed them, they were laying their feet into his midsection. Not wanting this to go on any further, I dialled 911. As I was waiting to be connected, the guy ended up getting away, heading North on 1st St. The drunk idiots left him and went South.
I figured it was all over but as I was on the phone with the dispatcher anyway, I figured I'd explain what had been going on, at least this way the cops could maybe find the guys. As I explained the situation, he asked me for a description. It all happened so fast, I wasn't able to give much to him; only their generic look and their clothing. However, as I was talking to him, they reappeared, coming back down 9th Ave. and they were harassing an older couple. By older I mean they couldn't have been younger than 55. I'd put them at 60 even. They went after the couple, getting in their face and swearing. This went on for a few moments...
...until they saw me.
And then it got interesting.
So the drunker of the two started to approach me, saying something along the lines of "What did you say to me?" and showing me his bloody knuckles, (a testament to his "toughness" perhaps? I dunno) trying to threaten me. Meanwhile, I'm still on the phone with the dispatcher who's saying "Run David" but I was somewhat frozen with both fear and mild bewilderment - how does something like this happen on a Tuesday night?
So, I started backing away, saying to the guys, "Hey guys, I didn't say anything to you, I'm just on the phone with my buddy. I'm not concerned with you guys." and trying to walk away. By this point, I was directly outside the Auburn, but not wanting to draw them into the bar, I go the opposite way. So I (stupidly) turn my back on the guys, thinking that if I ignored them, they'd leave me alone.
Wrong.
I hear one of them yelling "Hang up your fucking phone!" and then: BAM! From behind, I get cold-cocked with a shot to the face. I make a noise of shock as my phone goes flying onto the sidewalk. I turn around and see one of them coming after me, ready to swing again. At this moment, (in spite of the fact that it took about half a second) I had the ability to think about which would be a better option: taking a swing or running. I chose the latter. Off I went, speeding down 9th ave, running in the far doors under the Calgary Tower. Once inside, I ran towards the Auburn and into the bar, not thinking the guys would follow me.
Wrong. Again.
I came in, crouched at the end of the table facing the door I had just come through, hoping to see the guys run past the bar. They didn't. They came right in, yelling "Where is he?!" obviously looking for me. (I still don't know why.) They spotted me and started walking towards me. At that point, the manager of the bar and one of the Fool for Love actors moved towards the guys and got in the way. They ushered the two out from the way they came. This gave me the opportunity to go back outside and grab my phone from the sidewalk, which was still connected to 911.
I started talking to the dispatcher again, who asked if I was okay. I told him I was fine, that it was just one shot to the face. He asked if I needed paramedics which I declined (I'm pretty sure my hand and my phone absorbed a lot of the punch. My face isn't even bruised today.) At this point, the police showed up. I made my way to them, and told them I was the one who made the call. They asked where the two guys were and I told them they were outside the Auburn right by Vertigo. They went into the Calgary Tower complex and I followed them. One of them drew his tazer and they all started walking briskly. Down where the two guys were, we could hear that one of them was still causing a scene, which caused the police to out-and-out run down the hall. They tackled the guy and held him to the ground, putting the cuffs on him. They picked him up and he started yelling "I didn't fucking assault anybody!" as they were taking him down the hall. The cops pointed him out to me, asking if he was the one who was causing all the disturbance. I acknowledged that it was, as well as his counterpart in the blue jacket (who was also cuffed by this point.) They took both of the guys to the police van and I don't know what happened to them after that, well, beyond some major shit downtown, I'm sure.
I went back into the bar to have a well-earned drink, and was about to taste the sweet, sweet nectar of Jameson when one of the policemen came back in and had me fill out a statement. I filled it out, signed off on it and as the policeman left, he thanked me and said "Yeah, that one guy was quite a handful, wasn't he?"
And that was it. I went back to the table, sat down and took a drink, still buzzing from the whole incident. I couldn't get to sleep until about 3am last night because I was so wired. I've never been a part of anything like that in my life. It was absolutely crazy.
As I was laying in bed, trying to sleep, I kept running over the situation. I continued to replay it in my mind, thinking about the different scenarios that could have played out. For instance; what if they had actually attacked the older couple? Would I have gone to defend them? I like to think I would have but who knows? It's not an easy call. Thankfully I didn't have to make it. In all honesty, I'm happy that they took after me instead of keeping with that older couple. At least it was somebody their age who could get away from them. It's such a coward's move to go after an older couple.
Anyway; I don't know what the result of all this is going to be. Maybe the guys just spent the night in the drunk tank and got released today. Maybe they will be charged with assault. Would that mean that I'd have to go to court to be a witness? I dunno! This situation has never happened to me. I'll just have to wait and see, I guess.
When it all comes down to it, I'm happy I had the wherewithal to phone the original incident in. It's not an easy choice to make in the heat of the moment. I'm just glad I was able to do some good…
Dave, <br />
That is absolutely terrifying. I was so nervous to keep reading - I am glad you are okay and that the police showed up and took care of business. <br />
Love you and take care of yourself. be careful out there haha
Angie
Mar-15 12:39am
Oh my God! Dave, that's so terrifying! I am so glad you are ok and that you had the sense to call 911 (and that you were in a decently public place!). What an ordeal! I second Kaity: Love you and take care of yourself out there!
Margie
Mar-15 9:52am
That's crazy - I was like Kait - nervous to keep reading - I can't believe that happened to you. So glad it turned out the way it did. Love you.
February 21, 2012 And away we go!
I'm baacccckkkkkkkk!!
Last time I checked in, I was in Edmonton. Now I'm in Calgary. A lot has happened between now and then, including the opening of Shadow Theatre and Sage Theatre's co-production of Fool For Love which was excellent. I'll be heading up to Edmonton to tear it down on March 4th and then loading it back in down here in Calgary on March 5th. It could be a good time.
Anyway, life got busy and so I'm getting back into things with another somewhat ranty blog entry. (Shocking, right? I'm usually so subdued)
*ahem*
Moving along... This is something that has plagued me for quite some time. It's a trend I've noticed more and more in recent years and quite frankly, it saddens me:
When did our society become so lazy that we've taken to using single letters as methods of communication? R U 4 real? It's annoying, it's unnecessary and quite frankly, I think it shows a lack of education or at the very least a lack of caring.
My brother-in-law told me he read a news article a while back stating that grammar and vocabulary were diminishing as a result of the texting era. I looked online and found this article which may or may not be the one but it says everything Cam had mentioned. It's not actually surprising but it's exceptionally depressing.
I take pride in being able to write fairly well constructed sentences using polysyllabic words as often as I can. I do it in email, I do it on Facebook, I do it while writing my blog. Hell, even when I tweet I use proper sentences
...and yes, I do it in texting.
Why is it that we've decided to forego our education and ignore proper english for what saves approximately 30 seconds? It it that much harder to type "You" vs. "U"? Or "Are" vs. "R" Seriously, how much time is it actually saving?
I can somewhat accept children of a younger generation because they've been growing up with this shorthand (thought it's still not something I like to see) but it's people of the older generation I don't get. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few different people - people who are older than me - who have started basically dumbing themselves down in text messages and it makes me cringe just a little bit. These are supposed to be educated people! Do they not feel some sort of shame when they do this? Why do they find it necessary.
I guess with old cell phone technology it somewhat makes sense, what with T9 wording and all (though that's still a pretty lousy excuse - I still made the effort.) However, nowadays, with smartphone technology and full keyboard texting, it's a terrible, TERRIBLE excuse.
I refuse to actually get lured into this "trend" of laziness. I'm exceptionally lazy when it comes to some things but vocabulary and proper sentence structure and spelling is not one of them. As aforementioned, it is a source of pride for me and always will be.
Anyway, now I'm done. I feel moderately better. Thanks for listeni… er… reading.
C U L8R
Man. Even when I'm being ironic it feels dirty to me.
You know what I miss? Drive-in movies. I remember watching Honey I Shrunk The Kids at the Barrhead drive-in when I was just a lad (according to IMDB, I would have been 6 years old. Probably 5 as I probably saw the movie before my birthday. (August 10th, in case you're wondering...)) I have vivid memories of sitting in my parents friends' truck watching the movie. I remember there were bats flying around the screen. I remember the little radios that you ran to the vehicle. I remember the walk that you had to make to buy candy, popcorn and soda. I remember it was just good times.
I really do feel like this is something a later generation doesn't know what they were missing. There's something to be said about being able to stay in your own sound-proof room, watching a movie. Imagine: no babies crying, no ass-hats talking behind you, nobody's cell phone going off and ruining your viewing experience. PLUS, if you brought a date and the movie got boring, you wouldn't have to feel weird about being "that guy" (or girl) if you wanted to just make-out with your date (not that that's something on the forefront of my mind... *cough*) It's not like anybody is going to get disrupted by your actions.
Now, I guess there is a flip side to my wishes. There are 2 things glaringly wrong with drive-ins: The first is the sound quality. Yes, it was really cool having your own little speaker in your own little booth but that speaker wasn't really pushing out Dolby surround sound. It was like watching a movie through an AM radio. Imagine a movie like Saving Private Ryan or The Matrix or Serendipity Heat with all the action, music, and deep rumbling bass. Now imagine listening that through a clock radio. Yeah, not the same. The way movies are nowadays, you need better speakers for crystal clear sound and you simply won't get that at a drive-in.
The second (obvious) problem with a drive-in is the seating. You're in your vehicle for 2 hours. I just spent 3 hours driving from Calgary to Edmonton yesterday and by the end of it, my ass was pretty sore. I'm not sure I'd really want to spend that time in my truck watching a movie. Plus my legs cramp so I'd miss being able to stretch them.
Huh.
I guess I can see why drive-ins are a thing of the past. Movies have evolved past their usefulness.
Okay world. Fine. I get it. Let's just forget I ever brought it up. Drive-ins are passé. Now there are movies where you can lay down! Reclining chairs in theatres: BRILLIANT! Who needs a truck when you have a la-z-boy?!?!?
Now this:
Sorry. This wasn't my most inspired blog entry. I promise better things in the future.
