Back

My back is getting worse again... rather quickly...

Crap...

We are 16 again!!!

Serious. After months of walking and bussing I bought a car. It is totally like we are sixteen again. How amazing it is to just drive Uptown (Downtown) instead of waiting for the bus.

We are sooo cool without a radio and without automatic windows. We rock...

16 again...

Cook Luck...

I just won a 55$ ticket to a networking event... heh...

A Day of Studying...

1 Part Long Days of Studying + 1 Part Cheap Seafood + 1 Part Awesome =

p.s. What is the average of Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom? I'll let you figure it out...

Bermuda Shorts Day!!!

For those of you who don't know, yesterday was the last day of classes for university students at the University of Calgary making it the annual holiday of Bermuda Shorts Day (BSD). Usually I would be in attendance, but with my not attending U of C this has posed to be a challenge.

Either way, things sounded as amazing as ever. Successful engineering pancake breakfast, then the 6th Annual BSD Beer Mile, followed by sofa races and an afternoon at the beer gardens.

I will not elaborate too much but I highly recommend checking out the following links:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Students+loose+Bermuda+style/2918482/story.html - Bermuda Shorts Day

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/04/16/calgary-university-uofc-bsd-bermuda-couch.html#socialcomments - Couch Races

http://www.cbc.ca/video/player.html?category=News&clipid=1471037386 - Couch Race Video

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/alberta/2010/04/16/13615026.html - Couch Race Photos

Based on how this has been skewed in the news there have been a lot of interesting complaints from people who are not related to the situation at all... I think they should remember that this is an annual tradition and if you are not directly impacted by it let it go. If you are adversely impacted by it then you definitely have a right to complain, but the rest of you... go grinch your own lives.

Jesse Cook

The Imperial Theatre

So, Jesse Cook was/were in Saint John on Tuesday. It turns out that most people my age don't actually know who Jesse Cook is, and for the benefit of those few, he is an extremely talented and famous Canadian flamenco guitar player.

Seeing he was in town I was able to pick up a ticket and make it to the show. First thing first, the Imperial Theatre is amazing. Evidently it is almost one hundred years old and it definitely shows. It looks like it belongs in the 1800's.

I sat down beside a lovely lady and we mingled a bit before the concert (thus my knowing the Theatre is almost one hundred years old).

Concert started and it was amazing. They played and played and played some more. We hit the intermission and then returned. Now, instead of just sitting and watching like many concerts, Mr. Cook (oh thats funny to say) requested that we all stand to have a giant Rhumba party. This was in response to how usually you get one person would just stand up and start dancing, and then be humiliated when they opened their eyes to see everyone sitting. So, to avoid that we all got to our feet and had one big Rhumba party.

Okokok... I did not dance, but I stood there and was in the vicinity of people dancing, and thus, the Rhumba party.

I was sad to see the show end but the performance was good. We stood and applauded for the encore, and stood, and stood, and stood, and stood for like... forever. I was starting to wonder if they would come out before the crowd gave up and just as I seemed to wonder that they appeared.

The show was good, but the encore was amazing. Jesse Cook is known for a cover of a song called Fall at your Feet, and it was in the encore that this song appeared. Let me give you the image of what they saw. The guys (Cook and his band) came out from behind the curtains and Jesse was handed a different guitar. His regular guitar plugs into an amp, but this one was solely acoustic. The guys walked to the front of the stage where Jesse sat, his backup guitarist stood on his right and the rest of the guys stood (without instruments) on his left.

I have never seen anything like this.

He asked us without mic, "Can you hear me?" We could. "Good, this place is probably better for this kind of thing anyways."

It looked like two instruments with the two guitars, but they produced a full sound. The violinist turned to vocals and the other two guys created full percussion with just their hands and feet. It is kind of funny, as I listened I did not notice, but the clapping and stomping creates a full percussive undertone that adds depths and breadth to the piece. The singer has a certain quality that fits very well into the song, especially with his incredible ability. As always Jesse wows.

It was just amazing to see the guys standing there. No amps. No mics. With two guitars, and few clapping hands, and a voice they filled the Theatre with music.

Here is a video of the live performance:

This video is the official music video for the song, the movie is not as impressive, but you can hear the song much clearer:

I had bussed to the concert, which is fine, because I tend to bus everywhere and my seat neighbour was aware of this. It just came up that I was a student, and I am sure she could guess. 10 o'clock rolls round and the concert is ending. About to head out my seat neighbour offers me a ride. I am fairly certain that it was not on her way, but still, she offered nonetheless. I was happy to expect.

I love the maritimes. It is not everywhere where that would happen to you. She saved me ages as I would have to wait for the bus and then take it home.

Thank you!

Home, and in bed, all I could hear was the strumming of that perfect guitar made by the fine hands of a craftsman with a seven year wait list... the concert was amazing.

All ye heathens in my generation who do not know who Jesse Cook is... you have missed out.

p.s. This version is done by James Blunt, and is one of my personal favourites...

New York, New York, Day 4

Up early as usual, checked out, and on the bus. It was my last day in New York so I did not have any huge plans. The bus fought its way through the traffic and into the city. I was on my feet and following my maps. Subway. Why, oh why?

I found the station, I mean, it wasn't that hard... I mean, it too great feats of, well, something and it was grueling and, whatever, I found the subway. I looked at my map and I knew which lines I needed to take. To me, all of the lines look like they go the same way so when a train came I hopped on. This, perhaps, was not the best move. I looked at the little indicator bar as to where we were going and it was some place that I had never heard of. Crap. So, the next, and first, stop came and I got off of the train. Luckily I was still on that main train corridor and I had not gotten too lost yet. I waited for the train that I was "supposed" to take and then got on... again.

This time it was the right train, and as I looked at the indicator bar thingy it told me so. Uptown and away until I got to the stop for the Museum of Natural History. The subway station is actually inside the museum which was rather convenient for me as it was just about impossible to get lost.

Museum of Natural History

I was off of the subway and into the museum. At this point I had identified a trend in New York museums, and that is that they are all enormous. That in mind I started looking for... anything. It was a good thing that I had no other things to do that day because I found myself looking at stuffed animals (like... real animals... but stuffed) and neanderthal bones. I was looking at the formation of the earth, and geology, and gemstones (oh how I love gemstones, anyone who has known me since I was a child can attest), and meteorites. The meteorites were actually fascinating. They had one in the museum that was a little smaller than a Volkswagen (the old ones not the new) and to support it there was a structure going down out of the museum and into the bedrock. It looked about how I thought it should, as a melted piece of space rock, but man was it cool.

Yep... thats a blue whale alright... uh... how did they get it in here?

They say this happens in real life... but no one has ever seen it... ever...

Stampede!

Alright, so it has been highlighted that I am a geek... back to how those who know me can attest. Anyways, I was deeply fascinated by the look at the homo sapien and the neanderthal. This will spurn a short story, when I get the time, regarding the overlap of these two species. It seems to be pretty clear that we killed them out, like just about everything else on the planet (including ourselves), and that seems to be worth writing about. Almost as if we were the species to win, but would it have been better if we weren't? Everyone has their own opinions on that I am sure, but I for one, do not necessarily like the direction this world of ours is headed.

Wow, that was a mild tangent. Back to the plot. I spent a few hours in the museum and then had exhausted my ability to internalize dead stuff and rocks. I went back out into the world, and into Central Park. It was right across the street so that was rather convenient. I had seen the lake with the row boats earlier, but I wanted to see the other lake that I saw from Rockefeller Center. I was much closer now so I was able to walk up to it. The breeze hit the water and cooled off and it reminded me of home. I will be able to return one day.

The Big Lake in Central Park

Renewal

The flowers were out and I got a few photos and then had to make my way back. It was afternoon and I only had a few hours left. I made it to another subway station, and miraculously did not get lost as I headed back downtown. I stopped at Columbus Circle and then continued on foot.

Triumph

I found a nice "hole in the wall" pizza joint and sat down for a relaxing meal.

For Mell

Walking. 8th Ave. Times Square. Reading the New York Times in Times Square, then 42nd St, and the bus.

Waiting. Exhausted. I heard the war stories of other travelers.

The bus arrived and we boarded with a deadened enthusiasm.

Adios New York

A long ride home filled with "Step Brothers" and "Up" and very little sleep.

The bus arrived at 7:00ish am. By fluke timing of the city bus I made it home by 7:30ish am. In bed by 7:31ish am.

Up at 11 am.

Class at Noon.

Overall, it was a great trip. The price was right and the memories will last a lifetime. I did not see everything in New York, after all it is a big city, but I am young, and I have time.

Till then New York.