TheMaxOnline is currently being revamped with the help of Wordpress! I hope to have it back up in full by December.
This week I went to two concerts. Monday night, Adam and I went to see David Usher at the Seahorse downtown Halifax. It was the… fourth? or fifth time I have seen him. This time, he did an acoustic show so no drums or electric guitars, which isn’t what I’m used to when I see him live. While his records do tend to be more on the mellow side (in relation to, say, his days with Moist), his live shows are more reminiscent of what you’d get from a Moist album. It was a good show but I think I’d prefer his electric shows because his songs are better suited with the full band and all the noise.
Unfortunately, a setlist from the show isn’t online anywhere so I’ve had to go by memory and have probably forgotten some songs and it’s definitely not in order but here goes:
Everyday Things
Devil By My Side
Love Will Save The Day
Faithless
Jesus Was My Girl
Forestfire
Fall To Pieces
Je Repars
Sparkle And Shine
Alone In The Universe
My Way Out
Black Black Heart
The Music
Brilliant
Kill The Lights
Science
Encore
St. Lawrence River
Push
F-Train
On Friday night, we went to Sarah Harmer with Jesse and Charleen at the Cohn. It was my third time seeing Sarah. Her last time here was back in 2006 when she was doing a more bluegrass tour in support of her last album I’m A Mountain. This time, she was touring for her new record Oh Little Fire and played a wider variety of songs from all of her records. It was probably the best performance I’ve been to by her.
One Match
Around This Corner
Pendulums
Silverado
The Marble In Your Eye
The Thief
Dogs & Thunder
Tether
Goin’ Out
I Am Aglow
Oleander
Silver Road
Careless
Late Bloomer Washington
Almost
Uniform Grey
Captive
Encore
The Hideout
The City
Lodestar
Encore 2
Basement Apt.
Afterward, Adam and I waited around for a bit until she eventually came out to meet the very few of us that were left. (us two, plus one other guy). She signed my CD “thanks for sticking around” Awww!
Holy moly! It’s been awhile since I’ve updated. Well, I have been busy with this site in some ways. I’ve been working on updating myself with the process of HTML and the various relatives of it (ie. XHTML and CSS) and the proper ways of using both and I think I’ve got it! Next I’m going to educate myself on the power of Wordpress because I plan on completely redoing my site. The magic of it is that when I’m done, I hope to actually be able to update from my iphone. I think that might actually result in more updates and probably more interesting things as well because the way I picture it in my mind now, I’m not going to have to limit myself with organization the way it’s done now. It’ll be organized, of course, but much more loosely. I picture Wordpress as allowing me to be able to organize based on individual content updates rather than by how something fits into a group. So I’m hoping to gradually work on that and have everything up within a few months. Until then, updates on here may be sporadic since it might be possible that what appears here now won’t be around so I’ll save the good stuff for then.
When I was much younger, single-digit years young, my bedroom used to be diagonally across the hall from my parents room. My sister’s room was the next door and the bathroom was directly across from my door. Even at that age, I had some very specific sleeping arrangements that had to be met before I could fall asleep.
First of all, I had to be in bed before anybody else. Nights that I was last in bed, I had trouble falling asleep. At age 6, I think it was comforting knowing that everyone else was still up occupying the rest of the house. I felt safer. I had to fall asleep with my door open and the hallway light on.
I remember up until around age 4, I used to roll out of my bed almost regularly. I wouldn’t know anything until:
*thump!*
I would wake up on the floor and immediately jump back in my bed as if nothing happened because within seconds:
*step* *step* *step*
My dad would come and check on me. Definitely not in an angry way. I think I was embarrassed that I kept rolling out of bed. A lot of kids had problems of peeing in the bed. My problem was rolling off the side.
When I got a few years older, if it ever happened that I had to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I’d always be so hesitant to flush the toilet afterward. I always hated the possibility of waking up someone else but it’s inevitable… I had to flush. lol. So I’d gear myself up and push the handle and then run and jump into my bed as quickly as possible. I don’t know if anyone ever actually woke up.
In my teenage years, I moved downstairs in my house to the basement level. Things quickly reversed and I had to be the last person to go to bed or else I couldn’t properly sleep. I also had to have it pitch black. I had to ensure that every standby light on my stereo and TV had to be covered because any light at all was interference.
I think nowadays, I might be a bit more lax in my sleeping requirements. During the day, I can fall asleep in almost any arrangement. When the sun is up, I can go down anywhere. But when I have to go to bed for the night, I have to have certain criteria. I don’t like light coming from a concentrated source, such as my computer’s “on” light. I think it’d be easier to sleep with a lamp on then something like that.
Although lately, staying asleep seems to be an issue. I’ve never actually had *insomnia* but I guess for as long as I can remember, sleep has always been an issue for me one way or another. My life has always revolved around how my sleep is going.
I haven’t been blogging much lately because I find it difficult to find something new and interesting to write about consistently. Not much changes in my day-to-day life that would require me to write in here and I feel like it’s boring to write about the same things every day. I’m happy, healthy, moody, and that’s about it. My plans for the future never really change and lately I’ve been coming up with tons of new ideas and things I can start doing. New hobbies. That sorta thing. But I’m the type of person to keep most of these to myself until they either come to exist or I lose interest, whichever comes first. So certainly writing about my ideas in a blog is kind of pointless.
However, I’ve been inspired to write and keep writing, not so much about just my day-to-day but about odd stories and events from my past. I’m an awful storyteller but occasionally I’ll be remembered of some odd thing that happened when I was a kid, or from a few years ago. It might make an interesting blog, much like what makes books by David Sedaris so amusing. Mind you, I’m sure my life’s events aren’t half as interesting, fascinating or hilarious as his but it’s an idea.
So without further adieu, I will call these series of blogs Perception & Personality. They’ll be as sporadic as this blog was before but it’ll offer another dimension to what I can write about.
September is half over and at the end of the month, the year will be 3/4 complete. Wow! 2010 still feels new. In fact, writing “2010″ still feels novel and I always pause after the first “0″ to ensure I don’t write a second “0″ next to it. But alas, I’ll soon be writing “2011″. Weird…
It has been occurring to me for a while that I never blogged about the Lady GaGa concert I went to back in July… well, of course, it was amazing! And like I always do, I’ll put a setlist:
Dance In The Dark
Glitter And Grease
Just Dance
Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
Vanity
The Fame
LoveGame
Boys Boys Boys
Money Honey
Telephone
Speechless
You And I
So Happy I Could Die
Monster
Teeth
Alejandro
Poker Face
Encore
Paparazzi
Bad Romance
My seat wasn’t the best view but still good enough to enjoy the show immensely. For such a big performance with lots of stagework and crew, the show still felt natural and flowed very well.
Nothing new to report this time around however. It’s been getting cooler. I’ve been putting small touches on my apartment over these past few months with some new furniture, mostly shelving and a coffee table. I’ve been trying to make my apartment feel more like home lately and it’s working. I love where I live. It feels very nice here. In some ways, I am looking forward to Winter and feeling cozy at home.
I will also finally hopefully be adding new photos here as well sooner than later. I also got around to getting an HTML book so I can also work on a whole new revamp (and purpose) for my site eventually as well. No rush though. I’ve decided to stop trying to rush getting things done and just let it happen. We’ll see how well THAT approach works for everything. lol
I showed up for work two hours early today. So I have two hours to kill. I used this time to listen to music and go to Starbucks down on Barrington St. The walk to work was quite nice. The weather is warming but since having a hurricane this past weekend (Hurricane Earl), it has almost literally ended the summer. Before the weekend it was the hottest week of the season with temperatures reaching the mid 30s and a humidity of 41• at times. Crazy hot. Then we get some wind and rain and there’s a mild chill in the air. You can smell Fall and it smells wonderful. Fall is typically my favourite time of the year. September and October are just great months. Things smell crisp and fresh and just feel happier. Breaking out the sweaters and all that jazz.
Despite the hurricane, well, thanks in part to the hurricane I had a really good weekend. Nothing spectacular happened but it was just a good weekend. It ended with me feeling much better than I have been. Looking back on the summer, which I’m sure I’ll be doing soon, it was a good one overall. I’m sure I’ll be reflecting on that soon enough.
Looking ahead, I’ve come up with some tasks and things that I want to start working on. Firstly, I’m going to try to upgrade my knowledge of website development this Fall. I want to know about HTML5 and more on CSS as well as more about this particular program Wordpress.
In addition to that, I’ve begun my attempt at learning how to play guitar. I’m doing it on a chord by chord basis, hopefully graduating to be able to play transitionally by being able to go from one chord to another swiftly. In addition to that, I’ve been writing songs again. I’ve set a goal that I want to have a handful of songs finished complete with either guitar or other musical accompaniment. I’ll be using either of my computers to help record these.
Speaking of computers, I also want to get into more photo editing. Unfortunately I haven’t been doing much photographing lately. This is lower on my list of priorities but I think will come hand in hand with website developing when I get a bigger grasp on what I want to do with that.
I think that’s all I have in mind. I feel like I’ll be busy with these things though. Mostly just things to occupy my own time for the time being but lately I’ve been craving the creative side of me again. I want to see my own results. It’s been too long since I’ve made anything that I saw results with.
Lately the topic of movies have come up quite often in conversation. Often the conversation starts off with “have you seen such-and-such a movie?” and my response is typically “no”, followed by an immediate gasp and “how could you not see such-and-such a movie???”. It’s kind of cute at times but then it’s kind of frustrating. I’ve never been a movie person. When they’re on, I enjoy watching them and typically get quite into movies. But I feel that watching movies takes a lot of personal planning and commitment. When I watch movies and television, I can’t really do anything else. I have to be fully focused so I find I rather lack the ability to focus attention on visual arts as much as other forms of entertainment. I’m just simply not as interested. Plus, I also wonder where some people can find all the time to watch so much tv and movies. I rarely even do anything and I feel like I don’t have time for them.
However, lately I have been attending the movie theatre more often (courtesy of Adam mostly) and watching a few television shows so I figure I can give some of my thoughts on each one.
~Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog~
This movie was created during the writer’s strike a few years back. At only 45 minutes or so it wasn’t a full investment. It’s also a musical which admittedly aren’t my thing but it still had a fun storyline revolving around Dr. Horrible and his attempt at getting the girl or his desires, the girl from the laundromat. The songs were catchy enough and the cult following this mini-film has made it worth the watch.
4/5
~Inception~
This film was intense almost immediately and one with very little downtime much like The Dark Knight, also directed by Christopher Nolan. After seeing Inception, I decided that I need to see Momento again because I remember liking it and now that I’m more familiar with Nolan’s technique as a director, I very much like his films.
Inception is a movie that could lead to easy confusion if you step out for even a moment because of the traveling through dreams that go into multiple levels. The build-up to the premise of the film also requires a lot of explaining in the beginning but it doesn’t bore you. The final scene is also one of my favourites from any film because it leaves things open to interpretation.
5/5
~The Kids Are Alright~
The second film in which Julianne Moore plays a character that is sexually involved with members of both sexes. (the other being Chloe, a movie I also enjoyed). This film revolves around family life of a lesbian couple and their two children who find their biological sperm-donor father. His role in their lives begins to effect the life of the entire family but is more meddlesome than positive. I liked this film from a social perspective because people are capable of doing things they otherwise would never do if the situation led them to it. It’s a window into human nature and ways that different people deal with problem depending on their position in the situation, or their perspective.
4/5
~Scott Pilgrim vs The World~
I heard lots of positive things about this film. It almost felt like a requirement even though I don’t think it’s a movie that would normally be my forte. I’m not a comic book reader nor am I a gamer but despite that, there were aspects of this movie I liked a lot. Some of the antidotes and jokes were very well played out. The characters were well played and presented. What I didn’t care for was the actual storyline. I felt that if it wasn’t for the effects and settings, I wouldn’t have been drawn in at all. The storyline didn’t keep me interested but every other aspect did.
3.5/5
~The Last Exorcism~
I saw this film at a pre-screening a few nights ago. I was anticipating it since I saw a huge poster for it on Yonge Street in Toronto. After the first ten minutes I was disappointed that the perspective of the movie was that of a documentary-style of a former pastor who performed exorcisms but wasn’t a believer in them. The first half of the movie was very skeptical and it almost seemed like it was meant to be somewhat of a comedy. It wasn’t until the subject of the exorcism showed up in the Pastor’s hotel room that it took a turn and started to actually feel like a horror movie. An upward turn but also made me appreciate the format of the film and the buildup. It was unexpected but in a good way. I enjoyed the rest until the final five or so minutes when there was another unexpected twist but one that I felt pushed the boundaries of what makes a film realistic and what makes it feel fake and, in the sense of a storyline twist, a cop out. Unfortunately, these final moments seem to define the entire movie for most of the people I know that have seen it and thus have dismissed it as being “the worst movie (of the year)(ever)(etc).”. I still think it was a good movie despite how the last scene was presented. I would make a few minor tweaks, whether with the writing or the presentation. Either way, when “demons” are involved I prefer to keep their presence as vague and non-visual as possible.
3/5
Ever have an irrational fear? Something you know is mostly in your head but for whatever reason, you can’t shake it when put in the situation and as much as you try to control your thoughts and get your mind to control itself and neutralize, you just can’t seem to get a grasp over it.
Over the last few years, I’ve developed a fear of heights. Absolutely no reason whatsoever. I’ve never fallen from anything higher than a foot, never fallen off a ladder, down steps, etc. But standing on a ladder kind of freaks me out. Flying doesn’t scare me but during my flight to Toronto last month, sitting by the window in a small plane scared me and I had to cover the window until we were too high to see the ground.
I’ve also discovered more recently how intense my fear of water was. I think it’s related to my unfounded fear of enclosed spaces (which also relates to a fear of space travel and deep-sea travel) but I’m afraid of water. In the past, I HAVE jumped into deep water and successfully swam. I don’t know why I’d be afraid of water because, again, I’ve never experienced a situation that would cause it. But I think this one might be further ingrained since, for as long as I can remember, I’ve never liked having the flow from the shower head going over my face.
In these situations, I start to panic.
A different kind of fear that has raised its ugly head that I feel I have less control over but that I feel should be something I should be able to control is my fear of being cheated on. It comes and goes and I know can be pushed down if I force it by remembering that I’m trusting. But even then, it’s hard. I try hard not to act on it, not to get accusational, even jokingly, but it’s hard. I guess I still lack the self-confidence of knowing that I’m worth it not to be cheated on. I’ve been assured and reassured and I’ve expressed past events. It sucks when the one person you feel you trust more than anyone else you know lets you down and as much as I want to, it scares me for that to happen again. And I’m always wondering: what if? The opportunity is there. What if? It can happen. Accidental or otherwise. I don’t have the panic attacks but in my mind frame, it’s on the back burner. What if?
I know that it’s a two-way street as well. As wrong as it is for someone to cheat, it’s also wrong to not have enough faith and trust in someone that you’d expect them to cheat. I think what bothers me the most is that it might happen and I’d never know, and I’d essentially be a fool but not know it. But then I think about it further. Being cheated on isn’t the end of the world if it’s confessed immediately. Something to work through. I know I definitely make it out to be a bigger deal than it is. And furthermore, I also wonder… if it happened and the possibility was there for me to never find out… is ignorance bliss in this case? I find that aspect to be somewhat of a difficult one because I also tend to have ways of finding things out… so while I might suggest that some cases might be better to leave it in the past and never mention it, I still think I’d rather know even if I’d never otherwise find out unless I was told by the people involved.
What brought this whole thought bubble on? Absolutely nothing. My mind wanders without reason at times. But sometimes it is helpful to put those wandering thoughts into words and explain myself to myself. It helps me to reassure myself that I’m hopefully just being silly in even letting the thought occur. As long as I can also tell myself that I can control the wandering thoughts. I think it takes time to be able to do that and I think I’m succeeding so far. Not completely yet so please bare with me!
Just got back from a delicious dinner at Morris East which followed my first ever massage. I’ve never had a professional massage before but it felt nice to have my sore legs being worked on. A very relieving pain but well worth it. I wish I could detach my arms and do what she was doing. My legs are always soooo sore.
Afterward, Adam and I went for a swim. Well, he swam and I waded in the water because I’m scared of water and can’t swim.
Morris East is a pizza place downtown that has probably the best crust I’ve ever had. The toppings aren’t so much my thing but it was still delicious nonetheless. A very nice spot.
This Monday I’m going to be going into Codapop, a recording studio for what may be somewhat of an interview. Mostly just going in to check it out. The owner is looking for some part time sound engineers and it’s probably exactly the type of job I’ve wanted with the type of clientele I’d be interested in recording. I’m nervous but also excited.
Last weekend, Adam and I went to Boston. It was a fun weekend. It mostly occurred because I had a bunch of days off in a row. Admittedly I asked for Friday off also under the assumption that I’d have the weekend off like I usually used to. (I also got Monday off as well which I didn’t ask for). What frustrates me slightly is that if I do ask for a day or two off that results in going somewhere, it seems like people have to say something about it. Whereas people that request time off to do more local things such as a friend’s birthday, a movie night or exams, to me it’s all the same. Asking for time off work is potentially inconveniencing other people. The difference however, with me is that I will only do it under the guarantee that it’s not an inconvenience to anyone else. Because I’ve had my fair share of time off. I’ve no intention of stepping on toes. But if it works in my favour, I will explore.
That’s all for this time. Weather is great, lack of sleep isn’t. Things are well anyway.