Raffi & memories

Oh yes, i did!

I bought this wonderful Raffi album off of Itunes the other day. I was doing a lesson for a music course on I, IV, V chord progressions and was using songs to illustrate how useful and used those chords are. "Going to the Zoo" is a perfect example.

I, like many of you, have really strong memories of that record from my childhood. I think I first heard it when i was 6 or 7 years old. We had it at home and we also had it at school.

Hearing it brings back fun childhood memories and i think i remember every song on it.

I can also recall going to see Raffi in concert at some point. I remember it was an indoor concert and there were a lot of kids screaming.

As an aside, i also remember going to see the Irish Rovers in a park somewhere, or at least walking around trying to find them. It was also the first time i ever heard a kid swear like an adult. Up until that point, every other kid i'd ever heard swear just sort of blurted out a randomly placed four letter word as a non-sequitur. But as we searched for the Rovers in the park, this child turned to me and in a very adult sounding voice whispered, "where the Hell are those goddamn Irish Rovers", which was worse to my ears because it involved God, the Devil and 1/2 of my heritage.

I have to say, though, some albums from your childhood and teenage years don't hold up when you listen to them later, and some do. "Singable songs for the very young" really
holds up very very well.

Arch-enemy

I often wonder what would happen if i ran into my old arch-enemy. My nemesis. Steven Pellerin.

When we lived in Scarborough, he lived down the street. I truly have no idea he was my arch-enemy, but yes, he was Doc Oc to my Spidey, Lex Luthor to my Superman. I believe it started around the age of 6.

There was violence. I remember violently grabbing him by the back of the shirt and yanking on it violently until his dad came out to stop me. I don't think it had any real effect other than to violently stretch the neck hole on the shirt, and to confuse Steven.

Really, that's about all i recall, other than the fact that we were sworn enemies.

I do wonder exactly what EVIL he is up to now, what SINISTER PLANS he is concocting, what DIABOLICAL MISHAPS he is stumbling into as he plots my INEVITABLE DOOM.

I just hope he's not on the other end of an interview session or loans approval someday. Or at least, i hope that he doesn't possess a ridiculous memory like i seem to.

Bike busticated blues

ARRRGH. I was on a lovely leisurely bike ride when for no discernible reason, the derailleur broke and flew into the spokes of my bike. I should mention i was about 10 km away from home at this point. The worst part was that because the derailleur was jammed into the spokes, the rear wheel could not turn. I had to carry the bike far.

I'd personally like to thank the 300 people in pickup trucks who drove by the guy carrying a broken mountain bike as i walked down the 80 km/h highway. What am i going to do, rob you from the back of your pickup truck if you give me a ride??

Eventually i decided to bite the bullet and just kind of ripped the derailleur mostly off. It was pretty obvious that it would have to be replaced anyway. At least this allowed the back wheel to turn, meaning i could scooter ride the bike home down hills. That sped things up.

I DID get a lot more exercise than i'd planned, so that's a plus. Negatives are that i was planning on doing my homework and heading to the first couple rounds of trivia at Molly's, but that's a no go now.

I also used the time home to make up a song for an assignment for the vocal music class i'm taking. The downside is that it basically sounds like the Beverly Hillbillies theme. The upside is that most kids today haven't seen that show, and it's about outer space & rockets (the song, not the show).

A few things i would change if i could.

First, if i could go back in time and tell myself to learn French really well, i would do so. I studied it up until grade 12, and was OK with it back in the day, but have not kept it up and have consequently lost it. Knowledge of French (or any other language) would come in very handy in my job searching these days. There was not as much in the way of French immersion schools back when i was a kid. If you can enroll your kids in one, i'd say do it. It will give them an edge in their future.

Next, i'd force myself to have stayed in piano lessons. I really did not enjoy the Royal Conservatory course of study back in the day, but i know some phenomenal piano players & other musicians who stuck with it and turned out amazing. I do recall this: when i had to learn something that i was unfamiliar with, it would take about a month or two to get it down. When i got to learn something i liked or something familiar (like a theme song from a TV show, musical, etc) i would learn it in about 3 days. Just something to consider.

There are loads of other things i'd probably change too, but those seem the most pertinent at the moment.

______________________________________________________________

Oh boy, i saw ANOTHER pizza sign kid today. This time it wasn't a skid or a sexy lady, but rather what appeared to be an 8 year old boy. He was standing on the corner waving a pizza sign around. Aren't there child labour laws against this sort of thing? I also saw two people dressed up as pizza slices, and that was last week on a very hot day. Hopefully they didn't pass out.

Bean shooter man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

Check out this guy and his phenomenal sling shot skills. Mad mad skills.

In the fridge

I am not sure what to post about, so for inspiration i'm going to go into the kitchen, open the fridge and see if anything in there inspires me...one minute.

So, yeah, i could take the typical approach and write about just how much rotten food there is in there, but that's not interesting really. I could also write about some of the specific things in there, stuff i like, but i've probably done that before (8.5% yogurt, Strubb's pickles, Grey Poupon, etc).

I have probably already explained how i put compostable garbage in the freezer so as not to stink up my kitch. It was recently pointed out that i *could* instead simply compost in the backyard.

I could talk about the stuff on the outside of the fridge, things like postcards, pictures my students drew me, magnets, etc. The most classic is one of Dave Withers wearing a wig, doing an 80s dance pose.

I see that i've basically written a post about nothing but sort of about the fridge. I am not impressed either. However, i DID find CHOCOLATE CIGARS in the fridge, in the door! Not candy ones, but Philly brand ones that i must have bought a long time ago. That is exciting. Maybe i will have one after dinner tonight. I am not for smoking at all, but a cigar on occasion is fine with me. These ones are cheap but hey, they taste chocolaty so that is fun.

Biltmore still can't do it

I decided to take a trip in to the Biltmore Hat company's discount showroom today. I haven't been in there for 10 years. The last time i was there, the largest size they had was 7 & 7/8ths and that was not large enough for my head.

I of course had the classic head size conversation that i have with everyone. It usually goes like this:

me: so i have a really giant sized head and can never find hats that fit.
them: ...really...(said with disbelief). Well, we have size 8 & 3/4 here.
me: just so you know, it likely won't be big enough.
them: ...really. Well here, try this on (handing me a paltry size 7).
me: it does not fit. At all.
them: ...weird! Well surely this 7 & 1/8th will fit.
me: (trying it on, way too tight) nope. Not even close.
them: ok, try this size 7 & 3/4 (etc, until we work our way up to their largest).

Etc, etc. And nothing fits. The largest one they had came really close to fitting, but was butt ugly. And...sadly...just like 10 years ago, they cannot custom make me any hats that might fit. The lady said that perhaps if i went to one of the retailers (in Toronto), they could put in a request and it might work out if it came from them, rather than me walking into the ACTUAL FACTORY and PROVING BEYOND THE SHADOW OF A DOUBT that my cranium is GROSSLY OVERSIZED WHILST BEING DIMENSIONALLY TRANSENDENTAL.

Seriously, no one ever believes that my head would require a larger hat size. I have won bets over this. The bets are always carefully worded - i don't say "my head is bigger than yours", but rather, "your hat would not fit me" or "i bet i require a larger hat size than you do".

List of people i've shamed:
- Paul Neira
- Andrew Kemp
- Gary Flynn
and so on.

Yes, it's because i have a strange oblong shaped skull. If you take a circumference of my skull vs other guys' skulls, it's likely that theirs will be greater, but the oblongness of my cranium is what prevents hats from fitting.

And of course, i'm bald. Meaning i NEED hats, especially in the summer. I can usually get a baseball cap to squeeze on, but they aren't classy or fun, and in fact most of them don't really fit. I want to wear a nice classy straw pork-pie hat so people will think i'm hep, and so my head doesn't get any more freckled on top.

I tried to appeal to the lady behind the counter at Biltmore. She said there was nothing she could do, unless if this was for a wedding...somehow marriage would make it possible to get a larger hat made up, but not my freakish hat-handicap.

In short, i wish i could wear a classy Biltmore hat, but they cannot meet my special needs. I really like the look of their hats, and have for years, but i guess it's not likely to happen.

Biltmore, if you read this, now's your chance to prove yourselves.

Work out fine

Look, Michael Barclay made us all a mixed tape for Canada day!

He included this Clashique Rock mash-up (no, not what you kids today call mash-ups) by Joel Plaskett. Great tune.

(if you see this through Facebook, you likely won't see the video. So click here. And if the hyperlink doesn't work, look up "work out fine" on youtube. And buy his records!)