of the beach and clothes

the other day was september 11th. a date that i couldn't wait to arrive, courtesy of david usher and the intimate acoustic performance he did at rw&co. a store, by the way, that i'd never heard of before, but when i heard about the contest, i promptly joined their mailing list and entered the contest. in a shocking turn of events (in my life at least), i won! for my trouble i received 2 passes (whoo hoo) and a $50.00 gift certificate to the store! yey me. however, after checking out the boring clothes on the walls and racks - i'm not sure what i'll spend my gift certificate on.... after spending the summer at the gym - i do need new pants though!

but more important than the clothes, obviously - was the acoustic performance itself. as always, the performance was incredible. in such a small venue with so little other instrumentation i was able to lose myself in the texture and strength of david's voice and marvel at what sounded like new keyboard arrangements on old favourites like 'push'. it really was special and i consider myself fortunate to have been there.

my pictures are really blurry (no flash allowed, please and thank you) and none of them really turned out with the exception of this one :

while going through my camera, i also found some more bad pictures i took at david's beachfest 2007 show. the guy moves so damned fast on stage that i often just end up with a blur where a person should be. this one is a little atmospheric, a little not.

a gurl needs a goal (or something)

i'm playing with the idea of switching blogs. i've set up a new one at wordpress - a new one that suspiciously has all the same content as this one. ;-) i'm not sold on the idea of moving yet. i am a creature of habit and there are some things i'm not groovin' on at the new home.

for instance - the stats tracker sucks at wordpress. if i do make the plunge, i will bring my current stats tracker with me. it rocks. and i'm still getting used to the layout differences and the fact that even though there are at least 2 dozen more templates to use - that the one i've picked locks me into the dread capital letter. oh, we should all have such problems. troubles and woe.

i whined about this in an earlier blog, but my trainer is moving to a new gym and my sessions with him are ending soon. i think i have 3 more weeks or so with him. still so sad about that. i'm happy to be on my own in the gym - but i'll miss his energy and his enthusiasm.

two days ago we've picked some new goals for me to attain before he leaves. one of them i did tonight! whoo hoo for me. i bench pressed 40lb dumbbells. who knew. when i started this whole thing on april 20, i had no clue that i'd be doing stuff like this. yey me. not only did i do 40 - but i did 13 solid reps of 40! before we started tonight, my trainer said he figured i'd be able to do 4 or 5 solid ones and to give it what i had. i sailed past 5 and kept going. so exciting. now of course, we're talking 50lbs. he thinks i should be able to do 2 or 3 reps. haha. sure - why not!

the other goal - which i have serious doubts about - is a chin-up. a full on chin-up. that's a lot of upper body strength and i'm not sure i'm there yet. we have 3 weeks to get me there. crazy. tonight i did 2 with a counter-weight of 35. that poor performance isn't going to get me to a chin-up! we'll see how it goes. i have faith though - why not. why couldn't i?

everyone should invest in multiple sessions with their own trainer. they help you to open up fitness and physical possibilities that you would never have dreamed attainable.

another goal (haha) i have for myself is to get on twitter. sounds simple, huh? damn. this thing is fighting me tooth and nail. david usher is talking about sending twitter notices (tweet, tweet, little birdie) for guerrilla-style accoustic sets that could happen anywhere, anytime. i would be most unhappy to miss that! but twitter doesn't love me right now. i've sent them an email - let's see what they can do.

big day tomorrow. boot camp, yoga and a facial. how lovely. a self-indulgent day dedicated to me!

[music : adele | "daydreamer"]

it takes confidence

while outside eating my lunch this afternoon, i happened to look up from my book and noticed a very obnoxious hot pink delivery truck. that's right - there's no two ways about it. it was a pink cube van. hot pink. and it was a holt renfrew truck! all i could think (besides, damn, where's my camera!) was, "it takes a man who is very confident in his own masculinity to drive around the streets of downtown toronto in a hot pink truck." holts seems to be making hot pink their signature colour. check out their website to see the colour their delivery vans and paper shopping bags are this season.

i happen to work close to holts and my gym is close to holts so i end up seeing a lot of the holts-ites in the area. it's funny really - i don't know what it is about obscene amounts of money that makes you just look like a holts person. perhaps is the impeccable (expensive) clothing, perhaps it's the precise haircuts and make-up - but i'm starting to think it's the footware that probably ends up costing approximately what i pay in rent each month. maybe it's all those things combined. maybe it's just the fact that money gives these style mavens a dose of confidence, may it be real or simply an illusion seems to not matter.

my hair stylist moved to montreal a year ago and i've been lucky enough have had my hair cut by her twice since she's left. once she came for a visit and fit me in and the second time was in march when i visited montreal. the other cut i've had in the past year was at the holt renfrew salon. i made a grave error and thought that since i wanted a bob, that a place like holts should be the perfect place to get a classic cut with a modern twist.

and wow... was i ever wrong...

i ended up looking like a soccer-mum. *shudder* it was such a non-edgy, boring, safe, staid cut. not at all what i was used to after more than a decade of having my hair cut at coupe bizzarre. i was used to walking out after my cut and feeling the confidence that the amazing haircut would give me. that for a day or two my hair was perfect and looked exactly the way i wanted it to look. needless to say, i did not go back to the holts hair butcher. my hair is getting a little long and a little unruly, but i'm thinking i'll hold off for a cut until i go to montreal in october! hopefully i don't cave before then. and if i do - i'm wondering if i should go to vidal sassoon. i know, it's probably a mistake waiting to happen - but that's the thing about hair - it grows back! it's just the times when you're waiting for it to grow that are murder....

[music | nlx, "code red"]

education

a few things i learned today :

my trainer is moving gyms in about 6 weeks. :-( so sad about that. i've loved working out with him. he's given me so much confidence in the gym. i'll make the most of my 17 remaining sessions!

i hate humidity. actually, i didn't learn that today. it was simply reinforced knowledge.

i'm developing allergies! ack! i went for a 3 hour walk (or so) in high park last night with michael and this morning i woke up with no voice, itchy itchy eyes and a scratchy throat. oh - and a puffy face. lovely. someone told me it's ragweed season. why am i developing allergies now!?! *sigh*

there may be pay raises coming at work. maybe, just maybe. i'm not holding my breath though. not-for-profits tend not to have crazy pay raises!

[music | david usher, "in this light"]

shudder, how embarassing....

to think, when i last wrote here i was watching a gawdawful music reality show. not just watching, gleefully and faithfully blogging on it.

well. what's happened over the past year?

work has gotten busy and then no so busy and is now crazed again.
it's my own fault - i have some work-addict tendencies that i must squash. especially because there are so many other things to do!

i've been to both paris and to tuscany since i last wrote here.
really. believe it. i can hardly! paris was october and july was tuscany/rome. i feel so fortunate to be able to have visited two of the worlds greatest cities in less than one year.

health and fitness for all!
i've realized i'm getting older and not younger and therefore have begun this business of taking better care of myself. better now than later. my mom had a health scare in the spring (right around my birthday, no less) and thankfully, it's not as bad as initially feared. it's still not great, but it's not immediately catastrophic. send some healthy thoughts to her - will you?

anyway - her health scare prompted me into action for my own health. i have a few issues i've been avoiding for a while and began to own up to them to myself. this prompted me to the gym. not only to reactivate my 3.5 year old membership, but to sign up with a personal trainer. that's right, since april 20th i've been working 3 hours a week with a trainer. i'm nearly at the end of my sessions (my visa will be reeling for months, if not years to come) - but so far it's been worth it. i'm leery about the whole scale/size/inches thing - but let's just say that i've noticed some major differences in not only how i appear, but more importantly, in how i feel. even better than that - i honestly feel like i've built a new foundation that will last the rest of my life. i'm all about the strength training now. i guess i should do more cardio, but a the moment i'm loving the feeling of being the only gurl in the free weights area with these testosterone guys. heehee. it's a trip.

i have started keeping fish.
and now have two tanks! it's a lovely hobby that's turned into a full fledged fishy-obsession. i even have a small tank in my bedroom and my fish are having babies! they are promptly eating their babies, but we'll work on saving the next batch. ;-)

what else is new. a few and sundry items.
i've decided i hate my downstairs neighbours (both sets of them). jerks, slobs and cheapskates. is it really so hard to take out the garbage on your scheduled week? and is it so hard to pay for the garage you're renting from me? and is it really so hard to collapse boxes for recycling and to not put random junk in with the bottles? seriously....

i've fallen under the evil-sway of facebook. it sucks up many many hours of otherwise productive time.

i'm tempted to move from sympatico to rogers. anyone out there have any advice? i find sympatico's customer service is either non-existent or that it resembles strapping on full body-armour in order to absorb the battle. but really, would rogers be any better? i have my doubts. but at this point i'm convinced that if i could burn the bridge to bell - that i'd be a much happier person.

i am looking forward to september and october when i will see david usher no less than 4 times, tori amos 2 times and regina spektor once. as shan said - 'rocktober is shaping up to be incredible'!

[music : sia, 'numb']

rockstar : supernova : final episode

good gods - didn't we get rid of ryan star already? damn you u.s. verizon users for subjecting us to ryan's annoying original song one more time.

after the survivor-like show wrap-up (my, how far our little rockers have come. or in dilana's case, how far we came and then faltered) we moved on to the performances.

toby rand - karma police (radiohead)
this is one of my all-time favourite songs and as such, i may be a bit rougher on poor old toby, but you know what... his accent was really distracting. and the very poignant song just became an insensitive mess (why the fuck did he ask the drummer to go ape-shit?). no. just not right.

toby rand - chemical dreaming
well, you know... magni stole this performance. and toby is too into the props (magni's head, magni's guitar).

lukas rossi - fix you (coldplay)
not a coldplay fan. but lukas' version of that song gave me goosebumps on my shins! you go lukas! barb - i hope you're there to watch your boy win this thing!

lukas rossi - headspin
we've heard this song loud and fast twice already, so tonight lukas slowed it down. you could hear every word out of his mouth and his voice was just gorgeous.

dilana - roxanne (the police)
toby's presence and lukas' vocal brought this song up past where dilana had been able to deliver it.

dilana - supersoul
after telling us one more time about what the song is about (get over yourself already) she started to walk through the crowd. where upon we immediately lost sight of her in the crowd. i don't know why she kept insisting on going into the audience. you're the singer. you're supposed to be a rockstar - stay on the stage! :-)

magni - hush (deep purple)
i don't know why - but for some reason when magni finishes i'm expecting brooke burke to say, "and coming up next - ike and tina!". i liked it though - so fun.

magni - when the time comes
this was another intense performance from magni. loud and it looks fun to play. magni should get his old band together and play this with them. ooh. tommy lee's comment was mean and unnecessary. boo tommy!

who is going to win this thing? well, i've made no secret that it has to be lukas (as far as i'm concerned). i think the final two will be lukas and toby. magni will go home first. dilana second.

the end.

rockstar : supernova : week ten

when i got home tonight i played back my pvr recording of rockstar and was greeted with "tonight's show will separate the great from the truly amazing" ack. did i tune in to rockstar? yes, yes i did. let's not get ahead of ourselves brooke - this is merely a slightly more cool version of american idol!

dilana - behind blue eyes (the who) & supersoul (original)
nice for her to be carried out... i'm sure she's really injured, but leading into the song she performed, it just seemed like a sympathy ploy. and if you're stuck on a stool - don't jerk your lower body around like frog legs on a sizzling griddle. i'd have to say this performance was pretty underwhelming. we have gotten her vibe and it's worn thin. her original was another sad attempt by her to curry favour (please forgive me, i was bad, i have learned and i have grown). that's fine and a good message - but it's literally all we've heard from her for two weeks now. the one note is yesterday's news.

magni - back in the u.s.s.r. (the beatles) & when the time comes (original)
elvis meets the beatles.... interesting....his stage performance is getting a little stale for me too... he doesn't really have any dynamic moves on stage. don't get me wrong, i don't need to see magni dancing - but a little more than the pacing/wandering would be nice from time to time. and his original was good - sound a bit like what i imagine gavin rossdale's band bush would be doing now if they were still recording. driving, urgent but not incredible.

storm large - suffragette city (david bowie) & what the what ladylike (original)
love, love, love the outfit, the touch of sexy androgynous is never wrong, especially when you're covering bowie. she really thinks about the songs she's doing and makes certain her look matches the song. smart woman. and she just killed this song - so great to watch. is she one of the 'truly amazing' brooke was referring to?? teehee. and dave navarro getting up with her was inspired. and her original was sultry and threatening at the same time, what a groove. the best original in the show so far.

lukas rossi - livin' on a prayer (bon jovi) & headspin (original)
when the song began, i was concerned - i couldn't understand the words in the first verse, but as the song went on, he seemed like he grew more confident with the lyric. a very different rendition of the song, it had some spine-chilling moments. oh - and his hair is really cool this week. but i'm not diggin' the fact it looked like he and brooke both raided the same 80's-pirate inspired closet this week. the original was effortless and heartfelt. a boy who sings about his mum always scores high!

toby rand - mr. brightside (the killers) & throw it away (original)
a very straight-ahead jock-inspired cover everyone's favourite killers track. i love toby, i really do - but this cover really needed the darkly odd quirk that brandon flowers brings to the song to really have it make sense. as my friend said, 'toby doesn't look like he's had a loner-awkward moment in his life'. you need that awkwardness for this song. then again - i could just be a killers purist! how sad is that? and he intro's his original by talking about being wasted - he should lose points for obviously pandering to the crowd! despite a frenzied performance (complete with groping) this is just not my type of song. but, i seem to be in the minority!