December 31, 2004

cue every memory at half speed.

1. What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before?
Ran someone else's campaign, drank legally, wrote a final hung over, worked three jobs at once, bought pinstriped pants.

2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yes, and no.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Clearly not, because I can't remember any.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yeah.

5. What countries did you visit?
The US.

6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004?
To move out.

7. What dates from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 24; the end of the Spencer Crusade.
February 16; the slate meeting
April 8; ACF 13.
April 14; 19th birthday.
April 24; E7A Awards Night.
June 28; My first federal election.
September 7; school starts again.
October 1-3; AUS Whistler.
December 12; The Arcade Fire.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Four jobs, two months, sanity maintained.

9. What was your biggest failure?
The first chunk of summer.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the opposite; the back is getting better.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Gear for making tshirts.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
They know who they are.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
They know who they are, too.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Tuition. The clothes, food, booze, etc.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Work.

16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
Winter: Blur - No Distance Left To Run
Spring: Squarepusher - Tetra-sync
Summer: The Plastic Constellations - No Complaints
Fall: ...trail of dead - Heart in the Hand of the Matter
Winter: The Arcade Fire - Crown of Love

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Maybe a few pounds thinner.
c) richer or poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Gym time, studying.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Commute.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
At home.

21. Did you fall in love in 2004?
Yes. No. I'm confused.
Hold me?

22. How many one-night stands?
None.

23. What was your favourite TV program?
24.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I have better things to do.

25. What was the best book you read?
Both comics, again. Invincible, or maybe 100 Bullets sneaking in just under the gun.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Annie.

27. What did you want and get?
Material stuff, jobs.

28. What did you want and not get?
Material stuff, jobs.

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
Napoleon Dynamite.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
19. Met some friends at the Wolf and Hound, then went to see Squarepusher.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Less stupid people.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004?
I like pants.

33. What kept you sane?
Certain people.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Fancy? Not really any of them.
Kiefer Sutherland continues to be awesome, though.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The spoon vs whisk debacle.

36. Who did you miss?
Mostly Jill; everyone else I see fairly frequently.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Neil.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004:
People are idiots.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
what's the plan? what's the plan?
is it a dream? is it a lie?
I think I'll let you decide.


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December 30, 2004

shopping with Rob today:

"So, wait. Do you guys hang out in business casual all the time?"
"Yeah, pretty much. This is about as dressed down as we get."
"Oh."
- salesperson in the Gap, as Rob tries to figure out how often we'd match if he bought these pants.

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December 28, 2004

do you ever get halfway through a post, realize you're not making the point you want to, scrap the whole thing and then close the posting window?

because I just did that.

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December 26, 2004

Christmas used to be a production over here; lights, tree, togetherness, all of it. Since we've moved, it's basically been canned. Despite the endless media bombardment and everyone else's LJ posts, it could be any day in November right now and I wouldn't notice.

I did get what I wanted; the coat was an absurdly early gift, mostly because I called my mom on it and she agreed that it was bloody cold out now (December 5) and there was no real point in making me wait. My brother, on the other hand, forwent any thought and bought a TV, claimed that it was his gift to us all, and promptly monopolized it at any opportunity. It's 4 and a half feet across, and although it's nice, it makes the whole place seem a lot smaller; the bizarre layout of this place means I can now watch TV in the bathroom mirror if the door is open.

There isn't really a point to this; just a quick vent before I go back to designing shirts and doing campaign stuff. Hope yours was better than mine.

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December 22, 2004

things

will eventually do the year-in-review meme.

not for a while, though; I just rented the first four episodes of 24 and will probably be picking up the others with great rapidity.
___
campaigns are odd creatures.
___
Tuesday tours are mine next term! woo!
___
Am putting some thought into running for Senate now; I'm considering doing it in March, and it might be easier to do it when there's five spots open instead of just one.
___
Also considering these pants. Thoughts? Opinions?
___
Have figured out my schedule and that I can fit the gym/pool in three days a week; I'm all excited to go back.
___
I'm a little torn on the redesign. On one hand, I've been using this one since mid-June, which is pretty much unheard of. On the other, it works.

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December 20, 2004

new heights of genius

made the heart/headphones/high fidelity shirt (well, the heart/headphones bit; the quote goes on later), and I PUT THE HEART ON THE RIGHT. the hell was I thinking?!

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December 19, 2004

that was an interesting night.

I'll never look at Hunan the same way.

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December 16, 2004

fuck you, osborne g!

really.

why is it so far away?

in any case, I'm done exams. still have 3 distance ed assignments to do, and then I can relax, by which I mean make t-shirts, redesign, and play videogames all day.

[edit: and run other people's campaigns. damn you, spencer and gavin!]

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December 15, 2004

I enjoyed this.

you might, too.

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December 13, 2004

with my lightnin' bolts a-glowin'

My introduction to the Arcade Fire came through a webcomic called Questionable Content; the author put up a comic about how, at their live shows, one of their members' entire function was to bang a large drum, dance around, and rock out at appropriate moments.

His name is Will. He did exactly that, and he did it very well.
Also there was Richard, who looked like a bit like Napoleon Dynamite, had bells attached to one leg and played all sorts of instruments.
The two of them fed off the crowd, the music, and each other to produce spontaneous displays of energy and emotion, sometimes with one wrapping the other in a towel while the one being wrapped plays a guitar, sometimes playfighting between songs, or dancing with Sarah the guest violinist.
During Neighbourhood #2 (Laika), they donned motorcycle helmets, grabbed drumsticks, and made noise off of any hard surface, including the plastic cow taped to the kick drum, the proscenium, the motorcycle helmets, each other, the glockenspiel on stage, and ending with Richard perched atop a chair drumming his sticks off each other while Will looked around, then tackled Richard, crashing down to the floor, where they wrestled for a bit before slumping, drained from the exertions and the emotional content of their performance. Moments afterward, they rose, embraced, and prepared to launch into the next piece.

And this was the second song.

They followed it up with a pair from their ealier EP, before leading into a new song and then the mostly-French Haiti. The band infused their songs with life, both by virtue of simply being there and pure musicianship, and despite their claims to have "never really toured before", the band knew how to get and keep a crowd moving. Une Annee Sans Lumiere provided a breather before Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) segued into Rebellion (Lies), and the normally stonefooted Vancouver hipster crowd became a sea of bobbing heads and twisting bodies, abandoning themselves to the emotionally charged music and mirroring the actions of the band, who, despite looking like they were going to pass out at any moment, powered through, taking a well deserved rest before Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles).

The show closed with the energetic Crown of Love and Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels) which featured the crowd singing to the band, and Will wrapping Richard's head in a towel before simply collapsing.

Hampered by a midnight curfew, the encore almost didn't happen; luckily, the band waited patiently for the filler music to stop, dancing to it while they waited, before surprising us all with a cover of the Talking Heads' Naive Melody. Another round of applause and trepidation went by before the band assumed their positions for In The Backseat, the last song on the album and a fitting, cathartic closer to an emotional show.

After the concert I walked out of the Commodore; sweaty, hoarse, exhausted and wearing a ridiculous grin. I wasn't alone in doing so.

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December 11, 2004

paging dr. freud

everyone else has bizarre flying dreams.

I had one last night about beef; specifically, some sort of psychedelic steak that was the centerpiece of a seriously weird dream.


...I blame Hinduism.

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December 06, 2004

some hiatus that was.

Stolen from Collins:

A) First, recommend to me:
1. a movie:
2. a book:
3. a musical artist, song, or album:

(B) I want everyone who reads this to ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.

(C) Then I want you to go to your journal, copy and paste this allowing your friends to ask you anything & say that you stole it from me.
___
I'm not writing for a while!
I swear!

PS. Wolf!


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something of a hiatus

ambient/downbeat playlist? check.
books and notes? check.
diet coke in fridge? check.

won't be writing things here for a while; probably won't see anybody until after the 16th (unless it's at the Arcade Fire show).

might have a redesign up for 2005. no promises.

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December 03, 2004

I don't know why I bothered coming home.

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December 02, 2004

hellfuck!

losing a shift in the computer lab job next term. the pay raise offsets it, but I was looking forward to what would have been an extra $50 a week.
---
it appears that when brenda says she'll put you into the pool for the CRO position*, she won't. they approved committee staff yesterday at council, which means that hiring went on a while ago.
I shouldn't be surprised, but I am disappointed.

*and if she wasn't in charge of hiring for the position, then a note letting me know of this would also have been appreciated.

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