new music

i bought some new CDs this weekend, and i can't get enough of them.

1. city and colour
this is dallas green's (lead singer of alexisonfire) solo stuff. i'm pretty sure it's just him, and not a band, but he goes by 'city and colour.' it is AMAZING! i loved it instantly and probably listened to it at least 5 times the first day. it is acoustic stuff, and completely opposite from his screaming alexisonfire stuff. if you like acoustic, mellow music, you'll love this CD. he's coming to toronto to do 3 shows and i want to go, but i don't know anyone else who knows his stuff. everyone needs to buy this CD!

2. imogen heap
she is the female singer of frou frou, who sings the song 'let go' from the garden state soundtrack. you know which one. i had downloaded some of her songs before buying the CD, but i wasn't immediately attracted to it. i bought the CD anyways because it was the only other one i wanted in the 2 for $25 deal at HMV (city and colour was the other one). it's really good too, but i listened to it after city and colour, so it had big shoes to fill.

3. bloc party
i haven't even had a chance to listen to this CD yet since i've been so preoccupied with the first two. now i feel like i won't even give it a fair chance because all i'd want is for the CD to be over so i can say i listened to it and then switch back to the other ones. from what i've heard about them, they're good.

on another music-related note, james blunt is coming to toronto to do a show. but it's the day before the coldplay concert. i've never done concerts back to back before, but first, i have to find someone who wants to go. i'm going through a concert dryspell, i need my fix.

when i was at HMV, a jack johnson song came on, and this is the conversation i had with the salesgirl ringing through my purchase:

salesgirl: oh i love jack johnson.
me: me too. i can't wait for the curious george soundtrack to come out.
salesgirl: oh is he on that?
me: yeah, he did the whole thing.
me (in my head): how can you NOT know that if you claim to love jack johnson so much. and you work at hmv. no excuses.

if i could work at hmv and make enough money to live the lifestyle i want, i would. but then again, so would hundreds of other people.

the day after tomorrow

is anyone else a little worried about the insanely warm weather this winter? it's the end of january already, and we haven't really had a winter yet. and it's not just because i've moved, the winter in edmonton has been uncharacteristically warm too.

i'm no expert on global warming and all that, but i know that the temperature on average has slowly become warmer by a few degrees every few years. and this causes ecological issues with the ice caps, water levels in the seas and oceans, habitat changes for the wildlife, and whatever else.

now, i don't think we're heading towards global annihilation as a result of this warm winter, but it does worry me to a certain extent. i wonder if this just means we'll be in winter until july.

it's like the day after tomorrow, except opposite. and jake gyllenhaal isn't trapped in new york city.

on another note, i made a dentist appointment today. the receptionist was "looking at the end of february" but then i told her i'd like to come in sooner because my wisdom teeth are coming out, so it's on feb 7th instead. i did not want to wait a month to see a dentist because i'll probably have to wait another month until i can get another appointment to get them taken out.

i'm full of wisdom

for those of you who read ed's blog, you already know...my wisdom teeth are coming out. i was hoping to be lucky and never have them come out, but about a year ago, i had x-rays done at the dentist, and they already showed them underneath my gums.

one side is coming out straight, but the bottom right one is coming in a little crooked. at about a 45 degree angle. it hasn't broken the gums yet, but i'm scared of them pushing my other teeth out of alignment.

so now i have to find a dentist in toronto, and get them checked out, and probably get them taken out. hopefully my dental coverage includes taking out wisdom teeth, or else it'll be a hefty bill. too bad i didn't get them when i was at home and under my dad's dental coverage. now i'm suppose to be independent and know how to handle all this stuff on my own. but i don't.

and it's even crazier that ed, michael and i are all getting our wisdom teeth right now. when i told my mom, she's like "you too?!" since she's heard ed complaining about his. and he even wanted to show her, but she refused to look in his mouth. hahaha, that's motherly love.

wish me luck on not looking like a chipmunk for too long.

vote or die

p. diddy almost killed me.

but with some peer pressure, i went to vote. i'm kept relatively up-to-date on election news because i watch a few news programs regularly. but i can definitely do more to learn about each party's platforms. and a friend of mine made a good point, even if you're not an expert on each party's stance on every subject, you have a general idea of what each party stands for.

my reluctance to vote also stems from my opinion that there's not a great party to vote for, and definitely not a great leader. the cliche that it's voting for "the lesser of two evils" is really what it comes down to.

i did want to vote though to help the statistics a bit. young people are one of the groups that traditionally has a low voter turnout, so i wanted my vote to count. if we want politicians to listen to us, we have to show that we actually take part in the democratic process.

and each vote is worth money to the party, albeit, not that much. but if i'm given the power to give a party some money for the next election, then great, i should use it. i'm a natural spender.

whether you went to vote or not, i don't really care. but either way, i hope you're comfortable with your decision.

i'm scared of moving

today i helped a friend move. like me, she has roommates, and didn't have to buy furniture like a couch or kitchen table. basically, she has stuff in her room. but boy, was there lots of stuff though.

we didn't even have to move the big stuff, like her bed, because she's getting movers for that. but there were still bags and boxes full of other stuff. by a quick estimation, my room is roughly double her room's size, and i definitely have double, if not more, stuff than her.

which brings me to the title of this blog.....i'm scared of moving. i don't want to even think about the day i have to move because it'll probably take me a whole week straight to pack. and then at least a week to unpack. coming to toronto, i brought 4 suitcases, sent 5 boxes by greyhound, and had my parents bring me a box of winter clothes when they came to visit. i have accumulated more stuff since then.

i'll be moving in about a year and a half though, because both my roommates will be graduating from university. which means i really should be saving money because the next time i move, i want to be moving into my own place, one where i will own and pay a mortgage on. saving money isn't exactly my strong point, but i'd like to think i could do it. i saved enough money to go on two big trips, i should be able to save money for a down payment. i don't want to be paying rent for the rest of my life.

and when i get my own place, i want a nice flat screen tv with HD. there's nothing like watching a hockey game on HDTV. it's effen amazing.

damn growing up and making grown up decisions.

word verification is killing me

i think at least 1 in 20 times i leave a comment on a blog and it asks for the word verification, i get some letter wrong. is it my inability to recognize letters? is it the twisty-ness of the letters that throw me off? either way, it never surprises me when it asks me to do it again. i think it's because it's not actually a word, so typing out a string of letters that don't make sense is messing me up. or i'm dyslexic and the letters are playing with me.

i hate dell

if i haven't ranted to you about my hatred for dell yet, here's the background info before i start the new story.

so when i moved, i had to buy a new computer. i've heard great stories about dell, so i decided to order a laptop from them. long story short, they sent me two laptops and charged me for both. this resulted from their error after cancelling my order and not telling me it gets automatically reordered, but did the sales rep tell me that when i ordered another one? no.

so after almost 2 hours on the phone, and speaking to at least 7 different people, i kept track and wrote all their names down, they finally scheduled a return for me. they were basically trying to offer me discounts or freebies so i would keep the extra computer and they wouldn't have to pick it up. unless it was going to be free, i wasn't going to keep the computer. this is why i hate dell.

today, i had to call them because the free printer that came with my computer was not installing on my computer. i followed the instructions, and it didn't work. it's suppose to be idiot-proof because the printer came with the computer, but it didn't work. so i did it the old fashioned way and inserted the CD into my computer to install the printer. the CD wasn't reading.

(side note: i'm pretty sure my DVD-RW drive isn't working properly anyways, so it doesn't surprise me that it didn't read the CD)

so i called tech support to ask them for help. after staying on hold for 15 mins, i finally speak to a person who tells me i am at the computer support line (even though i pressed the option for printer support) so he transfers me to printer support. stay on hold for about 5-10 mins and after giving all my information, it turns out the guy transferred me to the US printer support line, not the canadian one! american guy couldn't transfer me back to canadian support, so he gives me the right number to call.

fine, i call it. stay on hold for a longer period of time, finally talk to a guy, he helps me, and 50 mins later, my printer works.

at this point, i'm just being so abrupt with the guy too. giving him short answers. when my computer was restarting, he was trying to make small talk and asking me how my day was. my response: fine. then silence. i have no patience talking to these dell people because everytime i call them, it makes me hate them even more. i've never had so many silences in a phone conversation before, but i didn't mind. the less i talked, the less i got angry.

i even used the time i was waiting for the new driver to download to read ryan's blog about video games. normally, i probably would have just skipped it, skimmed it at best. but i read the whole thing, making sure i read every single word, rather than talk to the dell guy.

and because it's a dell printer, i have to order dell ink cartridges. damn them.

thank goodness i have a good cordless phone though. it keeps track of talk time and has speakerphone, or else i would have had a stiff neck from waiting on hold, and then i would have been even more angry with dell.

i hate dell.

can someone go grocery shopping for me?

i've been back home for 5 days now, and i have no food at home. i'm almost done my pre-cooked frozen food stash too! i've eaten out a few times this week because it was my last week at my store, so i went out to eat with coworkers. and now it's sunday, and i just finished my chicken fingers and i have a feeling i'll be hungry again soon. too bad the grocery store is already closed for the day. i might give into temptation and buy a hotdog from a street vendor. nothing is better than street meat.

i've been staring at a computer screen all day today because i have to prepare for a presentation this week, and ultimately, i'm too lazy to leave the house.

so again, i'm throwing it out there... can someone go grocery shopping for me? i like pulp in my orange juice. thanks a bunch.

back "home"

so i'm back in toronto after my whirlwind 6 day trip back to edmonton. it was good to go home though, i shopped and ate lots, hard to say which one i did more of though.

i've become accustomed to my new life in toronto though, and it took me going home to edmonton to really feel it. i am used to my big comfy bed, i don't know how i ever slept on that hard twin size mattress. my mornings are all about routine, and having to pack up everything and establish a routine in a different place throws me off for the first while. and not having a car in edmonton is difficult. i am stranded if no one can come get me. good thing i have friends with cars.

side note - ed FOB'ed out the car since i've left. it's like someone threw up japanese anime toys all over the inside. i'm exaggerating now, but i never thought he'd do something like that. next thing you know, he'll be giving the double peace signs when he's in a picture.

going to calgary for the day trip was awesome too. it was like old times with the gang. we're all still the same, just with jobs and all that. even though we're 24, some of us sure don't act that way. do mature people actually have contests to see who is the most mature? my answer is no, but there was a contest, and i was a judge.

i took advantage of shopping without PST. it was good, and i bought lots. when we were shopping, i told rose that i was shopping like a person with money. not even a rich person, just someone who had enough disposable income to shop the way i was shopping. but i've always been like that and it's hard to change. i almost couldn't fit everything into my suitcase when i was packing, but it wasn't all clothes from shopping. i even got a 'heavy' sticker on my suitcase on the way back!

big shout out to matt for holding our shopping bags while we shopped. i thank you, but my bank account does not. you were right though, you freed up our hands to shop more, and that's exactly what i did. if i was holding all those bags, i probably wouldn't have bought as much. there's a fine line between feeling good about carrying lots of bags because i bought lots, and holding too many bags and getting tired from shopping. i would have crossed that line if you weren't there. (for a complete listing of my great buys, it's all in the comment section of rose's blog).

i still didn't get to see everyone though. adam - i called you, but no answer. i'll have to catch you another time.

now i'm back in my adopted home, but i think it's fast losing the adopted title. i'm still an edmontonian at heart though.

airport security

going through airport security is usually pretty smooth for me. i don't have spare change or keys in my pockets, i take off my jacket, and put everything through the x-ray machine. but going through pearson, i beeped. the guy made me take off my shoes. i beeped again. then he made me take off my belt. i stopped beeping, but had to re-cloth myself before speed walking to the gate because my flight was already boarding.

then i had to change flights in regina. i thought i 'd get something to eat there since i didn't have time in toronto, but they only have a crappy cafeteria in the regina airport. when i walked through security, i contemplated taking off my belt to avoid all the hassle, but didn't. and then i didn't beep. i guess security isn't so tight in regina.