This past weekend has been good. I remembered on Friday afternoon that I've volunteered to help with Friday night youth until Christmas, so I showed up at 6:00 to head out to the Starfield show in GP. It turned out to be more of a worship service than a concert, but it was well-done and the youth seemed to have a good time. Score.
Robin came over Saturday at 1, we had a lovely chat for a few hours and then headed out to watch Dayton's football game. He'd asked in passing if I was coming to the game, so I'd said yes.. since the field is right behind our yard. Robin and I stayed for the first half of the game, and spent most of our time chatting and playing with J's camera. It was a good, relaxing time. We also ran into Jenaeya, and found out she's going to NAIT to become a mechanic. And she loves it. I'm so glad she found something she likes to do!
Sunday I was all in a scurry, thinking that I had to make a presentation at church about how the Oasis went this summer. Of course, I remembered this about half an hour before church. So I wrote up a speech, slid into my seat a few minutes late, only to find that I wasn't asked to come up. Ah well, the prep will stand me in good stead next week. Jeremie and I spent Sunday afternoon playing Tales of Visperia, a manga video game. Jeremie had rented it earlier in the week, saying that he rented it for 'us', so I figured I should try playing it. It didn't enthrall me, but I do like playing it well enough to do so. Which is good.
Today I'm off to get groceries, and hopefully clean the house/do some laundry when I get home. It all needs to be done at some point, and I did a whole lot of nothing last week while I was recovering from my cold.
Onward and inward!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
the weekend that was.. Hanson
I left Sexsmith Thursday morning, heading for Edmonton. The drive was the same as always: lots of trees, some water, lots of fields and cows and horses. Lots of highway. I pulled in to Edmonton around 2:30pm, stopped off to get Maria some groceries, and headed over to her place for a shower. She was at work and her roommates didn't know me, but I introduced myself and they let me in. I packed her stuff, took a shower (how weird that must have been for them: hi, you haven't met me but I'm going to use your shower), and headed off to meet Maria at work. We bought a litre of chocolate milk to swig and took off for Calgary. We got in to Cowtown around 8pm, and met up with dear Sarah at Moxie's in Market Mall for dinner. The service was pretty horrendous, the food alright, the company fabulous. It's been way too long since we had a good chat.
After dinner Maria and I drove around for awhile looking for our hotel. We found ourselves on a block of hotels and just happened across Hanson's tour bus. What a cool coincidence. We checked in, hot tubbed for about 20 minutes, then headed to the room to crash. I was sick all weekend, and so was exhausted even before all the driving. I also called Mal, who was camping out, to see what time she thought we needed to be at the venue to get good seats. She said 9am. I was hoping for more like noon. Oh well.
We were up at 7am, showered and ready by 9, and had parked & found the line around 9:30am. There were about 6-8 people there already, all of whom had slept in Mac Hall to get the best spots for the General Admission show. It was a great place to camp out, as it was indoors (no rain/cold), and right beside the food court & washrooms. What more can a person waiting in line ask for? Security stopped by early to tell us where to line up, which turned out to be a great thing, since there was hardly any line drama because of it.
Maria and I made posters: one to say 'line starts here', since there's always a ton of confusion, and one to hold in the show that said 'everybody else' (the opening band's name). We got to meet all 3 members of Everybody Else before the show, 2 due to my amazing luck & timing, and 1 because he was walking by & loved my sign. So good.
The Calgary Walk was good (don't know what the Walk is? visit www.takethewalk.net ) for the most part. It wasn't too crazy, and we had a decent turnout. Considering that we only had 20 people lined up by 2pm, I was expecting a pathetic turnout, but I'd guess we had about 100 people total. Not so bad. The walk was scheduled for 3pm, but postponed until 4pm due to the rain. The rain stopped and we headed out for our barefoot 1-mile walk around campus. Maria and I both got a chance to talk with Zac for a bit. It started raining again halfway through the walk, but we toughed it out. Our feet were freezing and numb by the end of the walk, but we were still glad to do it. We filled out these little cards after the walk, so that Hanson would donate $1 for each person who walked to one of the five charities we could choose from.
In the Calgary show we got front row, right in front of Zac's drum kit. It meant that all we saw of Zac was his chin and a cymbal, but other than that it was a good spot. Everybody Else was a great opening band, and Maria and I totally rocked out during their set. They were high-energy, fairly crowd-interactive, and played/sang really well. Carrick also said he loved our sign from onstage. No big deal. Hanson played a pretty long set, about 21 songs including the 2 encores. We were happy about that. Hanson was really good live, as always.
By the time the show let out I was the crankiest I've been in years (no idea why), and Maria wasn't in a great mood either. We hoofed it back to the car, and Maria drove back to Edmonton while I slept. We got in around 3:30am, and I dropped her off at her place before heading on to Erika's to crash.
I woke up Friday around 11am, and the three of us decided to meet at the Edmonton Event Centre at 2pm. That gave Erika time for her band practice, and me a chance to have a liesurely shower and breakfast.
We were numbers 17 & 18 in line at the Edmonton Events centre, so we thought we'd get an alright spot. We headed out to the food court, and to find Maria a sweater. We got back in line in time for the Walk. We headed down the parkade, across the street by the Outback, and around a park. Taylor made his speech on top of a playground slide, which was fun to watch. I wished I'd had more batteries for my camera because I could have gotten some lovely shots there. The colors on playgrounds always make great photos.
When we got back from the walk, people had started another line and didn't want to let us back into our spots. Most of what I remember from lining up in Edmonton is a ton of line drama: people arguing over who is where, refusing to let the people who got there first be first, and all kinds of stuff. Security didn't show up at all to help out. That being said, we had some good chats with Heather, Kim & crew while we waited. The doors opened at 8pm. Security opened a door, and a wave of people shoved their way through. It was pretty insane, due to security's lack of assistance in getting people to line up properly.
Once we were in the venue, we got 2nd row centre, with short people in front of us. Everybody Else was great, and Hanson was completely on. They were happy to be there, enjoyed their time on stage, and performed my favorite cover of all time by them: Ain't no Sunshine by Bill Withers. I had a sister on either side of me, and we danced the night away together.
After the show we headed out to the tour bus, snagged a pic of Zac/Maria/Erika, got my Are You Listening Pillow signed, and hung out with a few other fans for a 1/2 hour or so before heading home to bed. It was 1am, and Erika had to be up to deliver papers by 4. Ugh.
I slept 'til 10am, then got up and showered, felt really sick, and went back to bed. I headed back home around 2pm, got home at 8pm. It was good to be home, and I was glad we got to have such a great trip. Hooray for Hanson tours!
After dinner Maria and I drove around for awhile looking for our hotel. We found ourselves on a block of hotels and just happened across Hanson's tour bus. What a cool coincidence. We checked in, hot tubbed for about 20 minutes, then headed to the room to crash. I was sick all weekend, and so was exhausted even before all the driving. I also called Mal, who was camping out, to see what time she thought we needed to be at the venue to get good seats. She said 9am. I was hoping for more like noon. Oh well.
We were up at 7am, showered and ready by 9, and had parked & found the line around 9:30am. There were about 6-8 people there already, all of whom had slept in Mac Hall to get the best spots for the General Admission show. It was a great place to camp out, as it was indoors (no rain/cold), and right beside the food court & washrooms. What more can a person waiting in line ask for? Security stopped by early to tell us where to line up, which turned out to be a great thing, since there was hardly any line drama because of it.
Maria and I made posters: one to say 'line starts here', since there's always a ton of confusion, and one to hold in the show that said 'everybody else' (the opening band's name). We got to meet all 3 members of Everybody Else before the show, 2 due to my amazing luck & timing, and 1 because he was walking by & loved my sign. So good.
The Calgary Walk was good (don't know what the Walk is? visit www.takethewalk.net ) for the most part. It wasn't too crazy, and we had a decent turnout. Considering that we only had 20 people lined up by 2pm, I was expecting a pathetic turnout, but I'd guess we had about 100 people total. Not so bad. The walk was scheduled for 3pm, but postponed until 4pm due to the rain. The rain stopped and we headed out for our barefoot 1-mile walk around campus. Maria and I both got a chance to talk with Zac for a bit. It started raining again halfway through the walk, but we toughed it out. Our feet were freezing and numb by the end of the walk, but we were still glad to do it. We filled out these little cards after the walk, so that Hanson would donate $1 for each person who walked to one of the five charities we could choose from.
In the Calgary show we got front row, right in front of Zac's drum kit. It meant that all we saw of Zac was his chin and a cymbal, but other than that it was a good spot. Everybody Else was a great opening band, and Maria and I totally rocked out during their set. They were high-energy, fairly crowd-interactive, and played/sang really well. Carrick also said he loved our sign from onstage. No big deal. Hanson played a pretty long set, about 21 songs including the 2 encores. We were happy about that. Hanson was really good live, as always.
By the time the show let out I was the crankiest I've been in years (no idea why), and Maria wasn't in a great mood either. We hoofed it back to the car, and Maria drove back to Edmonton while I slept. We got in around 3:30am, and I dropped her off at her place before heading on to Erika's to crash.
I woke up Friday around 11am, and the three of us decided to meet at the Edmonton Event Centre at 2pm. That gave Erika time for her band practice, and me a chance to have a liesurely shower and breakfast.
We were numbers 17 & 18 in line at the Edmonton Events centre, so we thought we'd get an alright spot. We headed out to the food court, and to find Maria a sweater. We got back in line in time for the Walk. We headed down the parkade, across the street by the Outback, and around a park. Taylor made his speech on top of a playground slide, which was fun to watch. I wished I'd had more batteries for my camera because I could have gotten some lovely shots there. The colors on playgrounds always make great photos.
When we got back from the walk, people had started another line and didn't want to let us back into our spots. Most of what I remember from lining up in Edmonton is a ton of line drama: people arguing over who is where, refusing to let the people who got there first be first, and all kinds of stuff. Security didn't show up at all to help out. That being said, we had some good chats with Heather, Kim & crew while we waited. The doors opened at 8pm. Security opened a door, and a wave of people shoved their way through. It was pretty insane, due to security's lack of assistance in getting people to line up properly.
Once we were in the venue, we got 2nd row centre, with short people in front of us. Everybody Else was great, and Hanson was completely on. They were happy to be there, enjoyed their time on stage, and performed my favorite cover of all time by them: Ain't no Sunshine by Bill Withers. I had a sister on either side of me, and we danced the night away together.
After the show we headed out to the tour bus, snagged a pic of Zac/Maria/Erika, got my Are You Listening Pillow signed, and hung out with a few other fans for a 1/2 hour or so before heading home to bed. It was 1am, and Erika had to be up to deliver papers by 4. Ugh.
I slept 'til 10am, then got up and showered, felt really sick, and went back to bed. I headed back home around 2pm, got home at 8pm. It was good to be home, and I was glad we got to have such a great trip. Hooray for Hanson tours!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My life has been computering lately
I finished off the tour DVD I'd been meaning to make from the footage of when my several gal pals and I took a road trip to see a bunch of Hanson shows last November. I'm so glad it's done, and it turned out really well! This is the cover :)
I also made a new design for the Dueck website, since the first wasn't quite what they were looking for. I'm glad to have something new to show them, since it took me quite awhile to get something good the second time around!
No news on the job hunt front yet, I figured I'd wait until after my long weekend (I leave tomorrow) before I start seriously looking. It's hard to apply for a job and then say you'll need time off in a week.
Anyway, I'm off to take a nap. Tired, zzz...
I also made a new design for the Dueck website, since the first wasn't quite what they were looking for. I'm glad to have something new to show them, since it took me quite awhile to get something good the second time around!
No news on the job hunt front yet, I figured I'd wait until after my long weekend (I leave tomorrow) before I start seriously looking. It's hard to apply for a job and then say you'll need time off in a week.
Anyway, I'm off to take a nap. Tired, zzz...
Saturday, September 6, 2008
the picnic
My work is finally over, as of a week ago. I've handed in all the materials I created this year, rolled all the spare change, and locked up for the last time. It was a good summer job, and I'm glad that I had the time to fill in as the Oasis organizer this summer!
Skyla came over on Thursday. The plan was to go to a fabulous park and have a fancy picnic but, alas and alack, it was raining. We ended up picnicing on our living room carpet, and made fancy Italian sandwitches (Crostini) to go with the sparkling cider and lemon dessert. After our lazing around and food sleepies passed, we rearranged the dining room. And the bit of the living room and my office. I'm happy about it!
Britt and I went garage saling today. Got lots of great stuff! But I have to take off now, we're heading to James and Becky's for dinner.
Ciao for now!
Skyla came over on Thursday. The plan was to go to a fabulous park and have a fancy picnic but, alas and alack, it was raining. We ended up picnicing on our living room carpet, and made fancy Italian sandwitches (Crostini) to go with the sparkling cider and lemon dessert. After our lazing around and food sleepies passed, we rearranged the dining room. And the bit of the living room and my office. I'm happy about it!
Britt and I went garage saling today. Got lots of great stuff! But I have to take off now, we're heading to James and Becky's for dinner.
Ciao for now!
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