So I’ve made up my mind: life is bland whether you are working or not. I do very much enjoy not working. I have all this time to cook and sit around and start book clubs called “Liberal Rejectionist Revisionary Visionary Literary Socialites” (AKA The Finer Things Club for all you Office fans). Our first book, thanks to Sarah, is The Little Prince.

I’m not sure how I found time to read this mostly illustrated 109 page childrens’ book into my time, especially since I have been completely wrapped up in RuPaul’s Drag Race. God I love Drag Queens. I wish I could BE a Drag Queen, and according to my gay bestie, there’s nothing stopping me. Then again, he wishes he was a woman, so it’s only fitting he encourage his lady friends to try and impersonate men (who impersonate women). I have been trying to find a drag show to attend, since seeing a real live fully fabulous and over the top drag show is #489 on my list.

My inspiration

Otherwise, life is bland. I’ve been working on papers and getting through the last 3 or 4 weeks of this semester. I then get a full two weeks to mentally reset and prepare myself for the long haul of spring and summer courses. Other than my short trip to Red Deer to see Hey Ocean do a show, I have no travel plans until June. Even then, it’s just Kelowna. I shouldn’t disparage Kelowna so much, I’m rather excited! At least there is water there.

So I took a break from cleaning, studying, writing and all that good stuff this afternoon and used it to clean up my music collection. Since part of the cleaning process let me properly set up my giantess of a laptop that holds my music collection, I’ve also been able to listen to it for a few solid hours. Between the downloads, moving, deleting, and – sure enough – grooving, I got to thinking about how important music was to my travels this summer. It kept me company during lonely nights in Guelph, drowned out chatting people on the overnight bus to New York, and distracted me on long flights across the continent. My Ipod only holds 2 GB, but it provides me with hours of entertainment on the road and gives me some solace when I’m missing certain people’s company.

Here are my fave songs for certain travel situations!

Needing Sand and Sun: Madera – Hey Ocean!
Packing: In Love With a Bad Idea – Matthew Good
Pre-Flight Jitters: Time Bomb – Beck
First Leg: The Distance – Cake
Roadtrips: Running Down a Dream – Tom Petty
Overnight Travel: Turn Up the Stars – Hey Ocean!
At the Hostel: What I Got – Sublime
No Itinerary: Ruby Soho – Rancid
Traveling Alone: Two Hoboes- DJ Champion
Train Travel: On A Train – Waking Eyes
Lost and Confused: Sing Me Spanish Techno – The New Pornographers
Homesickness: I Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
Destination No Where: To Here Knows When – My Bloody Valentine
The Ride Home: Jimmy – Tool
Back At Home Blues: Everyday is Exactly The Same – Nine Inch Nails

Adam packed away my cord for my camera and sent it in a box to the states, so I had to go buy a new one yesterday which is why there is a 24 hour delay in uploading pics and such from my Hey Ocean experience. They are an absolutely awesome band with a stellar live show, and if you ever get a change, GO SEE THEM!!! It was so nice to see Sarah (see inset of us looking like we’re shocked!) and meet her friend Angie.
It was fun, I like to dance and hang out, but I do remember why I hate live/intimate shows. It’s all fun and nice, but then EVERYONE decides to dance, and you have 50 people on a dance floor meant for 15. That’s fine and dandy, we survive, until 6 people get too drunk, you have the one girl running on and off the dance floor every 30 seconds to get a new drink which she then spills on everyone. Oh and then two people decide to try full-on swing dancing for the first time while under the influence of one too many rum and cokes. That’s where I draw my line. Getting knocked over by people swing dancing at a show steps over my line of awesomeness.
Nonetheless, Hey Ocean was amazing and gorgeous. Not that I base my opinions of bands on how they look, but when you have to look at people for 2+ hours, it helps when every single one of them is pretty hot. The lead-ish singer Ashleigh (see inset, on stage with bassist David) is adorable and it gets better as she pulls out her tambourine, jazz flute, and xylophone. Yes, a xylophone. Nothing captures my heart quite like a cute blonde playing the xylophone. The guys in the band are full of energy, proof of which was displayed in one of their last songs where they all got out drums and proceeded to pound out amazing beats together (Ashleigh dashed off stage to the ladies room at this point – intimate show, or what?). They were nice friendly and hung out in the bar between sets and after the show. Encores were called repeatedly until they finally said “we have no more songs to play”, and went off chatting and taking pictures. Further proof of their popularity was the fact I bought on of the last CDs available on the table. I don’t think a person in the bar left without buying a piece of the magic to bring home and enjoy.

Here is a video of their last song of the night

Check my photobucket for a few more pictures, all courtesy of moi for the time being.