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18 songs

22 Jul

My friends like to remind me that my taste in music sucks.  They tell me this all. the. time.  Two friends have even – on multiple occasions – threatened bodily harm if I didn’t turn off my music or switch to something more their style. In other words words, switch to something good.

I don’t take offense to it, though.  Actually, I like my music. I’m certainly not worldly when it comes to music, so I can’t really judge.  And while there are times when I even find myself questioning some of musical selections, I know what I like. So scoff if you will – I’m not switching stations.

Here is today’s list:
18 random* songs currently on my iPhone:

Note: Justin Bieber is most certainly NOT on the list… I’m not actually sure who he is, but his emo hair irks the shit out of me, and I kinda want to punch him in the face.  Anyway, on to the list…

  • Van Morrison, Wonderful Remark (he’s kinda God to me)
  • The Pixies, Where is My Mind (Pixies = rage. OMG! Love them!)
  • REM, Electrolite (Michael Stipe is a poet and I love him.)
  • U2, Numb (this is the perfect song to listen to at maximum volume while driving around Slea Head in Ireland on a foggy day with your best friend. I know because I did it)
  • Hole, Jennifer’s Body (I love Hole, and essentially everything Courtney Love has ever written/recorded.  I actually cried when I heard her sing Reason To Be Beautiful live.)
  • Paolo Nutini, Candy (I admit to singing this song very loudly when I’m alone driving in my car. I make no apologies.)
  • Juanes, Es Por Ti (OMG, Juanes = sex. on. a. stick.)
  • The Ramones, California Sun (The Ramones have been known make me spontaneously break into dance in the middle of my kitchen on more than one occasion… though I wouldn’t actually call it dancing, it’s more like flailing my arms in the air while shaking my bootay)
  • Amy MacDonald, This is the Life (I had higher hopes for Amy MacDonald when I started listening to her a few years back, but I haven’t heard much from her since then. It’s too bad because she’s really good.)
  • Bad Religion, Social Suicide (because American Jesus would just be too predictable.)
  • Prince, Raspberry Beret (Oh how I wish I had a heavy alternative version of this by Sean Panting. I would go to Junctions in St. John’s every night Thursday after work back in ‘the day’ to hear his band, Drive, and EVERY single time I would get them to sing this for me.  Then I would usually make out with him. teehee!)
  • The Band, The Shape I’m In (I really, really love The Band. But then, everyone does, right?)
  • The Pogues, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Funny story: so I’m chilling out in my hotel room in Dublin and I get hit with a total revelation: If póg mo thóin (pogue mahone) means kiss me arse, then given that they were bad asses, and Shane MacGowan was the biggest one of them all, then SURELY The Pogues were in fact The Arseholes.  I proceeded to call them The Arseholes for about a week, usually when I was drunkenly being one myself in the company of disgusted irishfolk.  It never dawned on me that pogue actually meant kiss.  ’cause yeah, I’m all s-m-r-t like that.)
  • The Grateful Dead, Ripple (deadhead since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I went into mourning in 1995 when Jerry Garcia died because, yes, I was really that much of a loser. True Story. Ripple is the guiding song of my life.)
  • This recording of the Gayatri Mantra. I’ve chanted this for years now.  I’ve also been known to sleep with this on repeat.  Is that weird?  (little piece of trivia that I discovered a few years back when the familiar words grabbed my attention as BSG was coming on – it’s used in the the opening theme music. I admit that this fact has lessened my devotion to the mantra, but I still chant it, and I am completely in love with this musical version.)
  • The Tragically Hip, Another Midnight (Gordon Downie = poet. I effing love him!)
  • Amelia Curran, The Mistress (I discovered her last year, and honest to gawd, I still can’t get enough of her.  If you don’t know who she is you NEED to go give her a listen.)
  • Hara, Muro Shavo (I admit to not really having any other Hara, but it kinda represents the mishmash of bad euro pop dancy stuff that I hear and love when I’m in the vineyard. Embarrassingly, I have a lot of it…and that might very well be the root of my friends’ complaints.)

*given that iPod shuffle kinda sucks balls in that it selects from a set number of songs, I usually get stuck with a series of random songs by two or 3 artists at a time. If anyone knows how to change that please let me know.  In any event, I selected these ‘random’ songs by putting the player on shuffle and hitting forward until I got 16 songs that I felt gave a good representation.

5 things I would probably die without

20 Jul

  • internet. i won’t even go camping if the campsite doesn’t  have wi-fi.
  • baths. i have tried to live without a bathtub and it made me miserable.  I am not flexible on this one.
  • sundried tomato pesto. I could eat it with a spoon if I’d let myself. Every time I eat it I declare that if I could only have ONE food item for the rest of my life it would be sundried tomato pesto.
  • a camera. point and shoot, slr, digital, film, I don’t care.  I need a camera.  mental pictures just don’t cut it.
  • a journal. electronic or paper, I have been a religious journal keeper since I was 8 years old.

10 things that make me smile for no apparent reason

19 Jul

…other than they just make me happy.

  • cupcakes.  that’s an obvious one.
  • my nephew.  he is awesome, and I absolutely love him. I would do anything in this world for him.  I also love that even at his young age he has my sense of humour.
  • sitting next to the ocean. preferably on a foggy day when there is nobody else around.
  • watching children play.  either on their own or together, I love seeing the pure joy on a child’s face when they are immersed in play.
  • my old cat Fubar.  I miss him terribly.  He was such a bad ass, which is probably why he was the best cat ever. I smile every time I think of him.
  • fresh brewed coffee waiting for me when I wake up.  no explanation needed there.
  • this shade of green.  it has become known within my circle of friends as lori green.
  • the smell of lemons. fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, lemon oil.  mmmmm… lemons.
  • driving over that little hill past the split just as you come into Ottawa  after a long roadtrip. it’s at that second that I realize I’ve made it  home.
  • lilacs.

Note: I had to change the numbers to bullets because this damn theme defaults to letters instead of numbers. wtf?? If someone could fix that for me it would also make me smile.

moshing

13 Jul

We arrive at the Sound Academy amidst a throng of baby doll dresses and fishnet stockings; we make our way past the most gay men I have ever seen in one place at the same time (who knew Courtney was so big with the gay boys!?), and we proceed to the VIP line where we are – get this – ID-ed.  We move on to the stairs, get our bracelets and make our way up to the balcony.  As I look down at the floor below I feel my heart sink as I see an opening about 5 people back from front-row-centre. I look over at Joni and say “You realize there’s no way in hell I’m staying up here, don’t you.”

She takes a gulp of her wine as, I am certain, she is flashing back to 1995 – memories of herself screaming at me to kill the Hole (or she will kill me) run through her head.  “I think I need another one of these first”, she moans, as she heads back to the bar.

A few minutes later we’re standing on the club floor surrounded by what I can only describe as a motley crew of teenage whores.  I love it.

We stand, chat, fight off people trying to force their way past us for a better spot, all while a young band from Ireland tries to get the crowd pumped for the show that is about to begin. There is no need – the crowd is rife with anticipation. You can hear people wonder aloud whether Courtney will show, if she will be out of it, will she be on a tirade, will it be a good show…   It’s funny how everyone wonders the same thing.

Anticipation builds until the band finally takes to the stage.  Courtney wales out the lyrics of Pretty on the Inside, then kicks it in to a heavy version of Sympathy for the Devil.  She transitions into Miss World and I see two young girls in white baby doll dresses and plastic tiaras singing along to the words in front of us.  I lean over to Joni and scream “you realize we have tattoos older than some of these people, right?” She nods and looks at her feet.

Before she gets a chance to raise her head I am jumping on the shoulders of the guy in front of me and headed for the mosh pit.  Old habits die hard.

channeling my rage

9 Jul

I have tickets to see Courtney Love in Toronto this weekend, and I fully plan to channel 16 years of pent-up rage into every second of that show.  When I emerge I imagine I will be a sweaty, bruised, and completely content pile of satisfied mush.

…where to begin

4 Jan

In the past four months I have felt like a wanderer, and I have to admit that I am relieved to finally be able to settle down (for a while). Where have I settled? Well, in an unexpected twist, I find myself in Edmonton, Alberta. I didn’t set-out to settle here.

Here’s some of the back story:
About two years ago I decided that I needed a change. I’d lived in Ottawa for about eight years at that point, and was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. I needed a change. Finally, last spring we decided to move, and thought a move  ‘out west’ would be suitable; after all, the job market was good, and people were friendly. It would be an adventure.

We decided to move with as little as possible, so we spent much of the year getting rid of just about everything we owned (save my beloved books, things I cherished, and as F puts it, ‘way too many dishes’). We headed out on a great cross-Canada adventure, Calgary-bound.

WAIT A MINUTE!: Calgary?

Well, how was I to see a global economic crisis looming?! How would I know that it would arrive in Calgary just days after our arrival? Not so much work now, eh? Fortunately for us, I received an unexpected job opportunity (that I couldn’t refuse) in Edmonton. In a frenzy we travelled back and forth between the two cities looking for apartments, moving our belongings, and moving – during Christmas.

So now we’re here, and I find myself adjusting to a city that was not even on my radar. I admit that upon first inspection it was much more appealing to me (to us) than Calgary. It just seemed a bit softer – a little more like Ottawa…which we are quickly recognizing as one of the greatest cities in Canada to live in.

We get homesick. a lot. especially when we step outside to feel the minus 30+ degree weather. Eek! It’s going to take a while, but I hope we discover lots of great things in this, our unexpected home.

I am old

12 Jun

I am old.  That’s what I realized tonight when I was surrounded by 100+ 16-year-olds.  Actually, I realized that I was old when I discovered that as of my birthday, I am exactly twice their age.  That’s insane.  These people were BORN the year that I was their age. 

I don’t feel 32, I feel more like 25…I think.  Well actually, I feel like I’m 64 tonight as I sit here with a big glass of wine and feet so sore I don’t think I will be able to walk tomorrow!

I remember when I was 16 -  I was just like those girls.  My “oldness” really struck home when I went to the bathroom and was completely disgusted at the mess of tissue all over the bathroom and actually CLEANED THE BATHROOM.  Yes, it has finally happened. I am my mother.

I like being this age, though.  I am finally, after all these years, comfortable in my body; confident in my talents; self-sufficient; blissfully happy in my romantic relationship; I can drink a bottle of wine without getting stupid-drunk; I am respected by my peers; have made some mistakes, and learned from them; and I have a circle of friends who I trust completely and love dearly, with whom I can act completely silly without feeling self-conscious about my behaviour.

I remember being 16 - it was awesome – I had friends, lots of fun, and no cares; but if I had the opportunity to go back and do it again, you couldn’t pay me to do it.  I’ll take being old, thank you!

Anyone else out there realize you were “old”?  How did it happen?  Would you go back so it all again?

the one where she trades in her apartment for a gypsy caravan…

7 Apr

my horoscope for 2008 said that I would spend the year traveling.  No kidding.  I spent new years eve in a snow bank outside of Fredericton, remember…

So life has brought me to a point where I have to decide if I should stay or go.  F and I are leaving in three weeks to head to Romania (I know that doesn’t sound very romantic, but seriously, if you’ve ever been there you will understand my love for the god-forsaken place, if not…I’m afraid you will just have to take my word for it!)

We go back there to take possession of a vineyard that we started the buying process on two and a half years ago.  I have to give you some background: F’s grandfather had a small vineyard in a tiny village in what is essentially wine country.  After the war ended, communism took hold in their country; F’s grandfather refused to join the system and decided to resist.  That wasn’t such a good thing for him, in that every time he built his house the government would tear it down. After harvest, the government would take his crops; so this went for many years. Eventually, realizing that he would not give in, the government took away his land and gave him the worst land in the village.

F, a young boy at the time, promised his grandfather that one day he would take the vineyard back.  On summer breaks during his university years he worked to save enough money make his promise a reality.  Eventually he saved enough to buy back most of the land, but his grandfather died before that happened.

Two years ago when we went to Romania we bought the final piece of the puzzle, as it were.  Essentially it was the hill and valley that joined the pieces of land that he had slowly collected, and with this final piece, F’s grandfather’s vineyard would be restored.  We bought it for about $5000 Canadian.

Two years later the paperwork is finally complete. Apparently it takes that long to trace land that has been stolen, sold and resold. It is a beautiful piece of land bordered by cyprus trees, and in the summer, filled with sunflowers.  Seriously, Frances Mayes could not have written a prettier landscape.  With this land comes a tiny house that is just over 200 years old.  It is this little house that will be my home base for the month of May.  We will be spending the month re-planning the vineyard (we have hired two helpers, and we will be planting about a thousand organic vines) and I’m going to learn how to keep bees! I’m very excited. Oh yeah, and there are about 200 litres of last year’s wine waiting for us there!

Once we return from Europe we start our nomadic life in Canada travelling from East to West visiting with friends, and trying to figure out just where we will settle for the next year (until I finish school.)

This brings me back to where I trade my apartment for a gypsy caravan…a sparkly pink one at that;) There is something so exciting about not knowing exactly what the future holds.  Of course, I know what some of it holds…the control freak in me could never let me fly by the seat of my pants; but that being said, the idea of not being quite sure what is coming at a specific point in time is a very exciting concept for me right now. I don’t know exactly where I will end up, but I’m pretty sure it’s going to be one hell of a ride!

break

29 Feb

In what seems to be a trend amongst some of my favourite bloggers these days, I’ve decided to take a blog break.  I hope you understand.  Lately I’ve been extra pressed for time, and I have found blogging more of a hassle than a pleasure.

I will still read my favourite blogs and comment on them. Those of you who are my flickr friends will see my photo updates, but otherwise, for the time-being, I’m taking a bloggy-break.

I hope to be back in the not-too-distant future, but if I’m not, I hope you will understand.

Thanks,
l.

hair

14 Feb

I got my hair cut this week and I found a really nice, dark (but not too bright) red.  Now all I need is a good hair day to take pics…

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