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Jason Webley

A couple of nights ago, Alex and I went to go see the acclaimed Jason Webley at the King’s Head. I’ve heard a CD of his, and stories of leading crowds with a giant carrot (which I was glad to see made an appearance) to his shows, and performances under bridges at midnight… I had to go. The saddest thing was that both Alex and I had to work very early this morning, so we didn’t get to stay the entire show because a Very Sweaty Man was opening for him, and took an hour to secrete half his body weight in perspiration through song. Not bad song, but that wasn’t the memorable part. But then, after a short break, Jason stepped up, after having taken me down through the pitch black fire exit, earlier, to see the “tomato” he drives around. It was pretty… tomatoey!

All I can say is what an incredible performer! He had a mic on the ground to catch the enormously energetic foot stomping used as percussion, an accordion, and a “sandpaper baritone” voice which sounded far more aged than his youthful face would lead you to believe. I’ve never seen anything like it. Crowd participation was almost voluntary, and I was lucky enough to see some songs performed I’d never heard, as well as “Icarus”, which is such a clever piece of art itself. Some of his songs sound almost Russian in style; Eastern European at the very least, mixed with an infectious drinking-song-style of performance that just leaves you in awe to watch. I wish I could find the lyrics to some of his songs, they’re so intelligent and artistic, I was just amazed. Wow. I wish he came here more often.

Today was a good day at work. But with a bit of a shock:

Rob: “I just got back from New York”
Me: “Oh yeah, my friend was just in New York last week too. She went to see a lot of shows down there”
Rob: “Oh god. I had this $90 ticket to see this broadway show, some musical…”
Me: “WHICH ONE?”
Rob: “Ohh… Rent. Oh god, I left halfway through. They were just singing EVERYTHING. Like when they’re on the phone. “Hello… I am on the phone now…””
Me: [Jaw drops in horror]
Rob: “It was like, someone PLEASE throw a pie. I even booed during the “moo” part”.

I can’t believe Jenn missed out on tickets to that guy. *Laugh* Anyway, so I’m really enjoying work now. For the first time in my entire life, I really like my job. I know I was whining before, and I do hate customers like that. But customers will always be like that, and they’re the same regardless of where you work. But I’m having such a good time at this place. My co-workers are rapidly becoming friends I hang out with, and we have such a good environment. Everyone’s around the same age, and only COOL people work at Best Buy right!

Pastime in good companye

Time for an update, as things have been really… new, lately. Strange word to use, but pretty much the only applicable one in this case, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. As I mentioned before, the Sound and Fury boys are in town (and as I also mentioned, GO SEE CLEOPATRICK AT THE FRINGE), meaning that Shelby and Richard are here staying with me for a week or two. Daniel is out of town, and I seem to be doing just fine. I am so grateful for the company here; living with people while Dan is away is generally a good thing, but living with these lads is… a gift, it really is.

Last night was wonderful. I got to go backstage for their first play of the fringe, and read (and laugh) along with the script as I got ready for rapid costume changes. I can’t wait to actually SEE the play now! Afterwards, spent the evening watching Spider-Man 2 (I’d forgotten just how BEAUTIFUL that movie was!) with Shelby and tea, which was just lovely.

This morning I was taken out to lunch before work, which was unexpected and completely unnecessary!! It was excellent food though, excellent company and made me feel much better. I want to say that right now I feel very lucky to have met these people, and luckier still to call them my friends. It’s unlikely they’ll ever read this, but I feel very grateful and wanted to note it down.

Nightmare

So, last night I not only had a dream that I remembered in the morning, but I had a dream that was so real and so disturbing I was in tears when I woke up. I haven’t experienced that in a LONG TIME, and it was very bizarre to go through that rapid loss of sense of the reality of it all as I regained proper consciousness. I wish I’d written it down this morning, it would have been much more detailed I’m sure. All I remember is it being night, and I was going for an interview at some posh hotel, and it was raining outside, and there were three of us, myself included, going for the position. All of us were dressed very smartly, in black, and then I found out the position was for a beer vendor. And I decided to run away into the storm instead. I don’t remember what happened next, but the most memorable part of my dream was the latter part. I’m not sure of the tie between the two, or if they really were two separate dreams, minutes or hours apart, but the second was horribly disturbing. I somehow came to the decision that I had to die, I had to give myself up for something, and I’d have to a) have my throat cut so I’d suffocate more quickly, and b) have my heart taken out. Not through surgery or anything, just… taken out… I’m not sure how. And my mum had to be the one to do it, I remember that. And I remember there was a time on it, a countdown of sorts, and I was trying to convince my family (and Sajah, my parents’ dog) that I had to do this… and I was going to be laying down on some sort of limestone, open rock type… coffin, almost, when it was being done. I remember getting into it and thinking that I’d spend my last few minutes writing letters. I had to write three, one to my grandma in England, one to my mum and dad saying I loved them and I was sorry, and one to Daniel, because he couldn’t be there. I remember telling him I was going to do it, but he couldn’t be there on the day because he was away doing shows somewhere. And as the lid closed on me and I was about to go through with it, I stopped it all. I couldn’t do it. I had a strong sense of HAVING to go through with it, but panicking and feeling that it was wrong, and running out of time. I said I couldn’t go through with it without saying goodbye to people; I couldn’t leave Dan knowing he’d be away travelling and knowing I’d be dying, and he was out there doing shows. And so I didn’t go through with it; and I remember Sajah being angry at me for not doing it. And then I woke up, crying.

Back in Winnipeg!

Hello hello!

Didn’t think I’d be back so soon, but cancel all indications to write to me in Ontario this summer, because I’ll be back in Winnipeg where I belong. I’ll be seeing Sean Manson, spending birthdays with people, going to Edmonton, being by Dan’s side another Canada Day, and being generally happy. I came to realise what really mattered while I was away, and yes, it comes down to me being a big suck. I couldn’t stand to be completely isolated with no form of communication for five months. The phone didn’t work, there was no internet, no bus service or transportation of any kind… it was insane. The bugs were bigger and more copious than I’d ever imagined, and everyone around me was a drunk or a pothead. Well, not everyone. But there was nothing to DO out there – so people just got high or wasted and spent nights passed out in front of bonfires. NOT my sort of people – and I didn’t want to become isolated by not joining in in that crap.

The work wasn’t bad though. I had the best boss ever, the funniest false gay Jehovah’s witness chef ever, and some really nice girls in my dorm who made me a lovely goodbye card. Some are from Winnipeg, so we’ll hang out in October.

I missed all my friends, and the thought of missing out on a whole summer with all of you just killed me. I was miserable every day I was there, and it just wasn’t me. So I’m back! Happiness really is more important than money, and I don’t care that I spent a lot to get out there, I’m just happy to be back in Winnipeg.

And speaking of Winnipeg, I got home to find our neighbours digging a hole in the front garden, after having passed a lifesize wooden cross in my garage. We went to investigate… and found a turkey as well.

Back briefly

Back in Winnipeg after only a week and already I’m finding it hard to use a keyboard again. God only knows what I’ll be like in October. So, it’s been an interesting week at that. I’m staying in a 17-girl dorm, with 7 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and a single phone between the lot of us. Speaking of which, CALL ME!

1 (807) 226-1047.

WRITE ME LETTERS!

c/o Totem Resorts
Box 180, Sioux Narrows, ON, P0X 1N0.

I hated it at first; everyone seemed to be a bloody pothead and everyone had done this sort of thing before, but I’ve met some cool people. A girl from Uganda who lives in Winnipeg who knows a guy I went to high school with, Brad the Bald Chef who pretends to be a gay Jehovah’s witness, and some others. Not everyone’s my sort of people, and it’s hard to sleep with so many people around all the time, but I guess I’ll get used to it.

My first serving experience was a WEDDING. I got to wear a tuxedo though, and serve over a hundred people fancy meals. It was hectic, and I couldn’t carry the big trays on my own yet, but I got through it no problem. And then we got to eat wedding food afterwards. I’ve never SEEN so much food in one week as I have recently!

I’ve earned two nicknames already. “Crash”, which I earned from my HELICOPTER TRIP (!), and “Roast Beef”. I like.

I finally have a really cool boss. 🙂

This Tuesday we have wine tasting at 9am “to help us learn”, and then a boat ride to one of the other islands. And I get a Smart Serve certificate, which means the end of dead end jobs when I get back for the winter!

I am missing you ALL though. A LOT. I miss Winnipeg, and I miss being around people I love. I’m off again on a Greyhound late tomorrow afternoon, but hopefully I’ll be back in a few weeks to see you all, even if it is just for a day.

*Hugs*

PS: ROBYN, YOU WATCHED 8 HOURS OF MI-5! NICELY DONE! 🙂

Chris Moyles always makes me smile.

This is just… just for me. So I don’t forget.

“You don’t clap in the posh section, do you? After you’ve gone through really bad turbulence?”

“You don’t clap ANYWHERE. ‘Oh, hooray, I’m not dead. I’m not in the sea, with one of those life jackets with the whistle and the torch so you can entertain the sharks. You know, the torch, so I can point it at my body, so they know which bits to eat first.'”

Awesome night of mystery and fun!!

Right. I’m going to write about my WONDERFULLY AMAZING NIGHT last night, because I have to remember EVERY single detail. It was seriously the most fun I’ve had in such a long time… and who cares if it doesn’t matter to anyone reading; it was GREAT.

Dan said he was going to take me out to 3 mystery places last night, and I got all these really confusing clues. Every time I asked a question I got some philosophical crap in return, which was really funny! We left at about 7:30 I guess, and he drove around random streets for a while, before going in to park in Osborne Village. Then he pulled out… and went into another parking spot, because yes we were really going to Osborne. He took me to Buccacino’s – I’d never been there before, but it was reeeally nice! I had the BEST FISH EVER and learned all about the Oregon “Organ” Trail 🙂

After that, he said we had “41 minutes” to get to where we were going next… which was aweird kinda time, so I thought maybe we were going to a movie. He’d said he wanted to see The Ring 2, even though I was WAY too sared, but he drove to Grant Park… pulled into the parking spot… I was all scared and couldn’t believe we were going to see it. And then he pulled out and went back down Grant Avenue. It was almost ten and I said “how long until we have to be there now?” He said 3 minutes… and the only place we were close to was Jenn’s. He pulled up outside her house and said we were picking her up… I was SO CONFUSED because she’d told me how busy she was on Saturday night doing various things… “SHE’S NOT GOING TO BE THERE!” I was yelling, and he was like… “do you think I told her to say that?” At THIS point I thought maybe we were going to the JUNOS, because I knew that’s where Jenn was… I was all set to get out and knock on the door and say “Jenn’s not here, is she? THANK YOU!” – but then he pulled out again and said actually we’re not picking Jenn up at all!! Then we headed down towards Kenaston… I seriously thought we were going to Superstore at this point. “What! They’re open late on Saturday night! And we have no food! … We can get some wasabi peas too…” THIS time though, we went towards Academy, up and down for a while.

“That guy looks like Neil Goodridge!”
“Let’s go back, we have to catch him up! WE HAVE TO!”
“It’s not him, he wouldn’t BE here, WALKING, on his own!”
“We can still catch him up, let’s turn around!”
“But he has a moustache!!”

Finally we parked and he said maybe we could catch him by foot. So we got out… I was still confused… and we actualy ended up at the Uptown Bowling Lanes. He’d booked us a lane for a couple of games… glow bowling!! With Oasis! And funny bowling names 🙂

After that, we headed towards home… and then made a sharp right onto Wellington and looked to be going back towards Osborne Village again. He kept saying “aww crap, I made the wrong turn..” and looping around, and then did it AGAIN… and then pulled into a parking spot backwards. I asked him what he was doing, and he said “I’m going to reverse down the one-way street when there’s no traffic so we don’t have to go around again”, and I started freaking OUT! “That’s WRONG DRIVING DAN!!!” *laugh* At that point he just stopped, parked… and we ended the night in G’s Martini Bar, which was very nice. After a little while there, we came home, and then snuggled off to sleep.

Awesome night! 🙂

Fired!

I know, I know, I’ve been neglecting my blog for a while now. Sorry. But things haven’t exactly been great as of late, and I haven’t really felt the motivation to write about how I got fired last week.

Yep. One minute I’m sitting having my annual Employee Review, telling the manager how a) threatening people with write-ups and dismissal isn’t a good way to get people to want to work, and b) that it’s hardly fair to expect some of us to go 9 hours without a break just because there aren’t enough staff trained in more than one area of the store. My suggestion to train some of the front store staff in the post office was met with “they don’t want to be”, and the one about having managers trained, so they’re able to provide a break? “It’s not my responsibility to work till”.

And so two days later, she fired me for my “attitude”. Still, since then I’ve heard one person there is taking stress leave because of her, another has chosen to write a letter of complaint instead of fill in the review form, another quit – and that everyone’s pretty mad at that place right now. Dan might be right, maybe it is a blessing in disguise – I never have to work in that environment again. And maybe Alex is right, at least I went down “sticking it to the man”!   Nobody else was going to bloody say anything; who wants a bad review? Then again, who wants to be fired… but maybe now, they’ll do something. We’ll see. So if anyone is hiring, give me a call!

So that’s that. I’m not mad any more. I just wish I had the security of knowing I had a job…

The start of something good

This weekend had its ups and downs, and everything in between. I had to work uber-early on Saturday and ended up being sent home half an hour early because they refuse to schedule enough people to allow me a break once in 8 or 9 hours and they felt bad. I also had the angriest man alive come in and yell at me about some parcel, slamming his fists down on my desk and waving bits of paper in my face… he ended with “Canada Post is going to the darkness”, though, so I guess that kinda made up for it. 🙂

I haven’t been feeling good lately either, but I can’t really go into detail here. I think that everything will be okay though, and I thank Jenn for being the incredibly wonderful person that she is.

Jenn and I went to see Finding Neverland on Sunday night, which was SO good… I won’t spoil it at all, but it was wonderful, and I liked the bit about the whale. (“What whale?”)

Then last night, she came over for a bit to help me out… and then we went off to see The Night of the Iguana at MTC. Saw lots of people we knew, and the play was heaps better than the last pile of rubbish we saw… it was kinda long though, and we were both so tired that I think that got in the way of our enjoyment a little bit. But I came home, and though I was afraid, things actually turned out lots better than I expected, and I think this is the beginning of things being great again.

Cross your fingers for me, please…