Rewind this track right here, close your eyes, and picture me rollin

Hope everyone has had a good Halloween weekend. I know Evan partied hard. We did our thing here last night. The night mostly involved a little bit of drinking and a lot of staring at girls at Tequila. I would say I had a good time, although I ended up spending more cash than I had originally planned. The week of being sober definitely came to an end, so I will try again to lay off the bottle starting this week. This could prove to be a challenge as this week is Manager buy-in on Thursday. For those of you who aren’t in the know, the buy-in is an annual event where everyone in the firm who got a substantial promotion (to manager or partner) buys their way in to the position by paying for everyone else’s drinks for the whole night. Apparently it is ridiculous (once all the important people have left).

Today is quite odd, because there was a time change. I have never before lived in a place where the time changed, and I think everyone is a little confused. I believe that I get to sleep in an extra hour tomorrow, but I am uncertain. I may be showing up for work late. I’m sure that’s not the end of the world, as I don’t really know what I am doing at work anyways. I am having a better time now though, because I don’t need to work any overtime.

I’m sitting on my bed typing this, instead of writing on the bus again. That will likely resume tomorrow morning. I just got back from Winners where I bought a sweater so I don’t need to wear a dress shirt one more day per week. I am slowly filling up my closet with clothes that are more comfortable than dress shirts. The dress pants I don’t mind because I buy them too big for extra comfort, but tucking in shirts is wrong and I hate doing it. Tucking in a golf shirt isn’t so bad, because they move around with you, but dress shirts are horrible.

I hope lots of kids come by our house tonight, because we bought a fat sack of candy and I don’t really wanna be the one finishing it all up (although I will if necessary). If it turns out we only get one or two kids they are getting more than their share of peanut butter cups.

I have noticed that the more I write the shorter my paragraphs get. I suppose this is because the initial idea for my post is the first paragraph and everything afterwards is my wasting your time. I suppose I should try and develop a style of some sort, or try and find something substantial to write about before I start, but that’s not really my style. I prefer to ramble aimlessly and possibly touch upon something important haphazardly. I have no idea where that sentence was even supposed to go, but I know it doesn’t make much sense. I also find that I don’t care all too much. I pretty much write these because I don’t like e-mailing people, and I figure this gets me out of it. If anyone was important enough for me to e-mail they are likely reading this anyways. I guess this means I have about 4 friends worth e-mailing. Fuck ya.

This was probably the least useful post I have ever had. It did initially have a point, but I lost it somewhere. I also started my NFL 2K5 season this week and I am definitely losing at it. I doubt my team makes the playoffs. I wonder if that has ever happened before. I would think they design the game with the idea that most people who play through a season will be good at the game and likely end up winning the Super Bowl. I am curious to see what they have set-up if you don’t make it that far. Hmm.

Alright I’m out. Peace.

such strong opinions but not your own...

Writing on the bus has turned me ultra-prolific. Granted I still have nothing to say in my posts, but I do end up writing more.

I picked up the new Mos Def cd the other day and I am still waiting for it to grow on me. Mos is one of my favorite rappers and Black on Both Sides is one of my top 10 cds ever. This new one is very different as almost all of the tracks have Black Jack Johnson playing on the,, giving the whole thing a weird rap-metal vibe. However, I do trust his genius and I am sure that in a couple months I will be pressuring people to listen to it.

Back to my previously mentioned top 10 list, I think now would be a good time to break those down. I should probably do this by genre and compile one big one from there. Please keep in mind that these lists are for full albums only. Were I to do this by favorite songs the artists would be markedly different. But that is for another bus ride.

Punk
1 - Thrice: The Illusion of Safety
2- NOFX: Punk in Drublic
3 - Strung Out: Twisted By Design
4 - Dillinger 4 - Midwestern Songs For The Americas
5 - Rancid: ... and out come the wolves
6 - Atreyu: Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses
7 - Choke: Foreword
8 - Oswald's Walking Connection: First Intermission
9 - Sixty Stories: Anthem Red
10 - Propagandhi: How To Clean Everything

Hip-hop
1 - Deltron 3030
2 - Mos Def: Black on Both Sides
3 - Little Brother: The Listening
4 - Akrobatik: The EP
5 - DL Incognito: A Sample and a Drum Machine
6 - Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek: Train of Thought
7 - Jurassic 5: Quality Control
8 - Blackalicious: Blazing Arrow
9 - Outkast: Speakerboxxx
10 - Snoop Doggy Dogg: Doggystyle

Other
1 - Radiohead: OK Computer
2 - Nirvana: Unplugged
3 - Bjork: Post
4 - Esthero: Breath From Another
5 - Placebo: Placebo
6 - The Pixies: Death to the Pixies
7 - Placebo: Without You I'm Nothing
8 - Sublime: Sublime
9 - Pet Shop Boys: Behaviour
10 - Pure: Generation 6 Pack

K that's is the list as best as I can pull off the top of my head. I lost all my cds in the Toronto airport 3 years ago, so I may have forgotten a whole lot of good ones, but everyone can live with that.

Next time I do a list it will be my favorite songs. Then you can compare and contrast and do all types of ill shit.

Warm Regards,

Justin

I wouldn't be here today if the old school didn't pave the way

Another day, another dollar. This is good because I have large debts to cover due to excessive drinking a couple of weeks ago.

I always thought that if I got on the bus the same time everyday, I would see the same people. This has yet to be the case. Even with bus drivers. I have no explanation for this phenomenon, other than perhaps I am not actually getting on the same bus each time.

It’s been a while since I wrote about the books I have been reading, so I thought I would give you a quick rundown. If we are going by authors my main focus since moving to Calgary has been Douglas Coupland. I borrowed “Hey Nostradamus” from Quach the day I got here and read it that weekend. I few weeks late I picked up “All Families Are Psychotic” in the bargain bin at McNally. I found both to be good reads, and especially enjoyed Coupland’s consistent journal entry style. The first book I read of his I often recommend. “Microserfs” is the story of some Microsoft workers in the early nineties. It’s very good in my estimation.

The other books I have been making my way through are “Final Accounting: The Rise and Fall of Arthur Andersen” and I am still plodding through “Titans”. “Final Accounting” is interesting mostly because you can find the traits of Arthur Andersen in every other big 4 firm. These are the same traits they say poisoned the company from the inside, leading to its eventual downfall. It’s like that NOFX song, “Dinosaurs will die”. "Titans" is a good book, but it continues to be way too long (as if I thought it might get shorter as time went on).

The bus is exceptionally hot this morning, causing me to wish I had not worn my scarf. I still have yet to determine what appropriate work headwear will be in the dead of winter. I somehow think none of my toques are going to qualify.

I went biking with Danielle on Tuesday prior to the movie. I definitely forgot to check my bike before we took off, and ended up riding on soft tires the whole way. This may have been a good thing though, as it was very icy. Due to the random winter here I don’t think I will be packing up the bikes this year. I do however think I need some winter tires. On the weekend I will price these out and compare them to the budget. I will also buy Halloween candy to hand out to kids on Sunday. Fuck ya.

That’s it kids. Later.

We got the beat to make the planet rock

The bus is really empty this morning because I got on an earlier one. I know that not having a car is lame, but I like taking the bus. It is a nice, mindless activity to frame my day at work. The hardest part about riding the bus is deciding where to sit. There is no need to worry about traffic, or cops or anything.

Team America was a good show. You kinda forgot it was puppets until they wanted you to remember it. Or at least I did. The movie sure won’t change your world views, but it does make you laugh at people who take themselves too seriously, which is always fun. Plus it was cool to do something during the week with people who aren’t my roommates.

The bus is slowly filling up now and someone had to sit next to me. I am certain this chick is creeped out because some dude next to her is scribbling in a journal. This is not a regular bus activity like listening to music loud enough so everyone can hear, or awkwardly trying to start conversations with your neighbour. That is always a winner.

Realizing that this post will be short, I don’t really have anything else to say right now. I am hoping I will get a chance to post this over lunch or something. I guess we will see.

On a completely different note, yesterday I ragged on Jon and his friends for not wearing bike helmets, even though they had been. Obviously I feel like a huge tit, but I really do hate it when people don’t wear helmets. Do they really think people are checking out their hair when they are flying by them on a bike? This seriously bothers me. It can’t still be considered uncool to wear a helmet. That would be fucking ridiculous. Yet everyday I see people biking without proper headgear. Goddamn.



Peace.

we never grew out of this feeling that we wont give up

I've had this post written since Monday but haven't been able to post it until now due to timing issues. I make no claims to quality as I wrote it on the bus. I am going to try to write a post every morning because it keeps me awake for a bit. Now I am transcribing this verbatim so everything should be read as if it were Monday. Fair warning.

Last night Andy Mark and I went to see Yellowcard at Mac Hall. Just to give those of you who have never been there an idea of the venue, if you take the Ridell Centre at the U of R and multiply it by 4 with way better sound, this is what you get. I mean, James Brown is playing there in December.

First band we saw The Matches. The music was forgettable, but they had real good stage presence, and energy up there. Little kids were eating these guys up. Next up was the Starting Line. They opened with a song I actually recognized, so I am thinking it must be on Dave's iPod. They were surprisingly good and had the crowd moving lots. Because I don't know any of their songs it was kind of hard to really get into it, but I think I will look into these guys.

The last band of the night was Yellowcard. This is the third time I have seen them in 2004 and I have enjoyed them each time. The sound guy did a beautiful job with the violin last night. This was the best sound I have heard at a punk show, period. The played a lot of old shit that I didn't really know, but it was entertaining nevertheless.

I would like to take some time to talk about the girls at these shows. If I ever needed a babysitter for my small child I would just go to a big ticket pop-punk show and find one instantly. I'll be damned if I wasn't the oldest person in that whole crowd (and we are talking 1500 people). I hate situations like that, because I know I am being creepy by looking at any of the girls. Fuck ya.

One thing I was disappointed in was that the girl I fell in love with Story of the Year at Warped was nowhere to be seen. You know the one I am talking about Mike.

I am now more determined to dig up the harder punk scene in Calgary. I also plan on attending shows solo in an effort to meet people who are not involved in the accounting profession. I mean Belvedere is from this city and so are the Tirekickers. There has got to be a scene somewhere.

Complete aside here, but I didn't drink a drop of alcohol this weekend. Hooray for me.

One more random thing, as I was leaving the show last night I ran into Katherine Marcinkowski. Turns out she moved here two years ago. Weird.

K back to real time. I saw Team America: World Police tonight and liked it. I will write about it tomorrow while I am on the bus. Hopefully.

That’s it. Peace.

And if you don't smoke why the hell you reachin' for my dutch

I’m doing a pretty bad job of keeping a regular schedule on this thing these days, and for this I apologize. I don’t know who I am apologizing to, but there it is anyways. This past week was absotively retarded. I had to work on the bunkest engagement ever, even though I wasn’t scheduled on it. Put in one night until 12 and one night until 2. Shit like that makes me not want to do this job. Thankfully my next week should be better.

I even missed my first basketball game, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. It would be fun to play but I guarantee everyone on the team would want me off the court after approximately 13 seconds. I think I should be good at basketball, but I have no reason to be thinking that. Whatever. It snowed today which is kinda lame, but then I remind myself that I wanna be snowboarding often this year, and snow is helpful for that. Plus this is Calgary and apparently weather is a random device here.

If anyone who reads this also reads Evan’s blog they would notice that he somehow keeps a coherent train of thought through his entire post. I am unable to this because I have no specific message in mind when I start writing, other that spilling thoughts. So here is another thought: I dropped out of CASB on Friday night after a fine night of drinking. Nothing like making executive decisions after a night at the ballet. Good times all around. What this does do is free me up for the time that Halo 2 will no doubt consume. I think that’s awesome, and I have decided that I am not too worried about what the people at my firm think of me, because almost everyone there tries far too hard. It would be so easy to make the entire accounting work experience more fun, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I can’t recall if I made mention of the streets last time I posted something, but they are still awesome. I’m telling everyone to get A Grand Don’t Come For Free. That’s all.

I fixed my internet by unplugging the modem for 15 seconds. Some one at work told me to do that. It worked just like they said it would. I am pleased as I enjoy the internet and all it has to offer (not just naked ladies).

I wore my Elton Brand jersey out on Saturday. Good times, and I didn’t even get stabbed. Plus I drank Strongbow all night like a little girl. That stuff is hilarity in a bottle.

Last thought: I am sick of carrying my stupid computer bag to work everyday, as it certainly does not fit everything I need it too. In its place I have dug up the following bag that I have concrete plans to purchase: The Crumpler Wack-O-Phone. This is mostly for Jon to comment on and hopefully give me a bit of advice about the purchase.
K that’s it, back to the 50 Greatest Canadians (Avril Lavigne at 40? Are you fucking serious? How did she beat Glen Gould and Gordie Howe? Wack.)

I'm dumbing it down, so clap your hands

At one point in time I had a whole lot of posts saved up as word files that I was going to upload as soon as Mike’s server came back online. Unfortunately, he has taken too long installing the pink lights in his case and pretty much all of those posts have become outdated and lame. I am not sure what this says for the rest of my backlog of posts that continues to rest on mike’s computer, but I may have to check this out when they once again become available on the internet.

In my time away from a blog it appears that this pastime has become more popular among my friends. While this does give me more links to post, I can’t figure out how to do this. It also manages to expose my blog as the fraud it was, as while Jon’s traffic is out of my league, I was always able to surpass Sean and Mike’s blogs in traffic. Now however, I fear I cannot compete with Moose Jaw’s native son, or the pride of Christopher Lake. It appears I just don’t have that many friends. Perhaps that is a good thing as I can post whatever the hell I want in my blog, whereas Evan feels the need to attempt to censure the comments on his side. He is a regular Tipper Gore. Plus I use the quasi-word blog too much. Awesome.

So I have been in Saskatoon all weekend and it was entertaining. That is all I really have to say about that. I always enjoy my time here and it is nice to have people cook for you once in a while. This must be how my roommates feel when I make supper.

I have purchased 4 cds over the past week or so, and with the exception of the Jadakiss album they are all spot on. What the hell was I doing buying a Jadakiss cd you ask? I have no fucking clue. So the new K-OS is once again brilliant. I can’t wait to catch him on his way through Calgary. Hopefully someone will accompany me. The new Talib is another solid effort. I think he is definitely cementing himself as one of the best emcees of the post-gangsta era (yes I do feel that was an era and I also feel it has now passed). The last cd I picked up was definitely a gem. I had not heard The Street prior to this purchase, but I copped “A Grand Don’t Come For Free” on a lark and in its own way it is incredible. I’m sure most people laugh when they first hear it, but to me it was refreshing. Like listening to Dizzee Rascal for the first time. I like something different and people are definitely doing that over there.

I’m going back to the house of dodgy internet today, so I may not hear from anyone for a while. Once again I would like to point out that a good method of reaching me is my fancy new phone number 403.451.8190. Even if you just want to leave me your number I could do the reaching out. Anyways, hope everyone had a good holiday.

Peace.