Words of '07.
Personally, I love that "facebook" can be used in every context.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Cab-astrophe
New: An Ottawa-based group has released a report is recommending the city bring in more taxis to help people find rides home from bars and at night time. They are calling for at least 60 more taxis. Service in this city runs a little differently with over half of all cabbies owning their own vehicles. Owner-drivers can decide not to work evenings and weekends which is when the taxis are really needed. They call for a higher rate at night to attract more drivers to that shift. The city is also being encouraged to allow taxis from the counties around Edmonton to alleviate the stress. Most taxi drivers don't like the report. CBC Radio Edm.
If I were a cabbie in Edmonton I would be so not worried. The problem is less that there aren't enough cabbies and more that there are zero dispatchers. If you call the cab company and actually get something other than ringing or a machine, they'll tell you to go wait in the street because they are too short-staffed to connect you. And if they do connect you, chances are the cabbie will opt to pick up someone off the street as they travel the distance to where you are. They have a ridiculous amount of business. And they price gouge like it's going out of style. Dear Ottawa group: our city is not like your city. I've taken cabs in both, and this is a whole different world out here.
Want a cab? Walk to a hotel. Seriously.
If I were a cabbie in Edmonton I would be so not worried. The problem is less that there aren't enough cabbies and more that there are zero dispatchers. If you call the cab company and actually get something other than ringing or a machine, they'll tell you to go wait in the street because they are too short-staffed to connect you. And if they do connect you, chances are the cabbie will opt to pick up someone off the street as they travel the distance to where you are. They have a ridiculous amount of business. And they price gouge like it's going out of style. Dear Ottawa group: our city is not like your city. I've taken cabs in both, and this is a whole different world out here.
Want a cab? Walk to a hotel. Seriously.
"Jesus" fails to live up to the hype
Last night, the roomie and I did something we absolutely love to do together. We went to the Jube. For the past year we've been hitting up every "Broadway across Canada" event we can fit in, which really just consisted of The Producers (her Christmas gift from me last year) and Mamma Mia (my birthday present from her). For her birthday this year, I got her tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar, a show that she's been wanting to see since she took her musical Broadway class in university. Last night was the night.
We performed our regular routine of pre-show Starbucks and catch-up (these days we don't see all that much of each other, even though we live in the same apartment) and squirmed with excitement.
All of this excitement was for naught. I never thought I'd say that Jesus let me down. I'm a pretty easy person to impress, really. And it seemed like roomie and I were the only two un-enthusiastically clapping politely and remaining in our seats at the end of the show. The entire time I was just thinking about this article from the Journal back in November about how Edmontonians give the standing-O too freely.
In the "Stand Off" which coincides with the article, "Hal" says, "Edmontonians tend to give anyone recognizable a standing ovation. The quality of the performance isn't taken into consideration. It appears that some performers get a standing ovation just for being here."
I think this is definitely what happened here. Ted Neeley, almost 40 years after appearing as Jesus in the rock-opera, has resurrected his role here in Edmonton. Neither roomie nor I was impressed with his very 62 year old sounding voice in the role of a young prophet. He sounded old. His rock and roll wailing grew old fast. If you're going to make Jesus a rock star, make him a rock star.
Last night's show at least was riddled with technical difficulties. From the back of the auditorium we could hear the microphone feedback. We couldn't hear one solo artist who was obviously singing his heart out. Sound levels fluctuated often.
Not to say that there weren't good moments. There were a few good songs, namely the Jesus Christ Superstar title song and the section of the play which featured King Herod. The comic relief. The actor who played Judas was also extraordinary and personally, I feel his talent far exceeded that of Neeley.
Both roomie and I, neither of whom are overly religious, came out of the theatre feeling blasphemous. It irked us how Mary was portrayed for outright throwing herself at Jesus and claiming she's in love with him (whereas our impression from her Catholic and my Lutheran bible-studying upbringings lead us to believe otherwise) and for having it seem like Jesus was falling for her wanton ways. Yes, it's speculated by some that the two may have had a love affair, but there was much lost by this portrayal. Also, Jesus' mother Mary reaching out to Jesus from afar as Jesus wheezes and wails and begs for water on the cross? Someone gave that boy some water, yes? Not here. The two main women in his life merely watched while he died of thirst.
Also, I felt the ridicule of the crown of thorns, the throwing lots for his clothes, carrying the cross through the streets were all completely lost. Because the show didn't feature any of this, which is kind of big in the story. As well as the other criminals on the mount, one asking for a place in Heaven. That's the whole point of Jesus dying, yes? So the sins of others can be forgiven?
We felt as though this Jesus was whiny. Annoying. Very un-superstar. At one point roomie turned to me and whispered, "Will he just die already?"
For the Journal's bit on JCS, go here.
We performed our regular routine of pre-show Starbucks and catch-up (these days we don't see all that much of each other, even though we live in the same apartment) and squirmed with excitement.
All of this excitement was for naught. I never thought I'd say that Jesus let me down. I'm a pretty easy person to impress, really. And it seemed like roomie and I were the only two un-enthusiastically clapping politely and remaining in our seats at the end of the show. The entire time I was just thinking about this article from the Journal back in November about how Edmontonians give the standing-O too freely.
In the "Stand Off" which coincides with the article, "Hal" says, "Edmontonians tend to give anyone recognizable a standing ovation. The quality of the performance isn't taken into consideration. It appears that some performers get a standing ovation just for being here."
I think this is definitely what happened here. Ted Neeley, almost 40 years after appearing as Jesus in the rock-opera, has resurrected his role here in Edmonton. Neither roomie nor I was impressed with his very 62 year old sounding voice in the role of a young prophet. He sounded old. His rock and roll wailing grew old fast. If you're going to make Jesus a rock star, make him a rock star.
Last night's show at least was riddled with technical difficulties. From the back of the auditorium we could hear the microphone feedback. We couldn't hear one solo artist who was obviously singing his heart out. Sound levels fluctuated often.
Not to say that there weren't good moments. There were a few good songs, namely the Jesus Christ Superstar title song and the section of the play which featured King Herod. The comic relief. The actor who played Judas was also extraordinary and personally, I feel his talent far exceeded that of Neeley.
Both roomie and I, neither of whom are overly religious, came out of the theatre feeling blasphemous. It irked us how Mary was portrayed for outright throwing herself at Jesus and claiming she's in love with him (whereas our impression from her Catholic and my Lutheran bible-studying upbringings lead us to believe otherwise) and for having it seem like Jesus was falling for her wanton ways. Yes, it's speculated by some that the two may have had a love affair, but there was much lost by this portrayal. Also, Jesus' mother Mary reaching out to Jesus from afar as Jesus wheezes and wails and begs for water on the cross? Someone gave that boy some water, yes? Not here. The two main women in his life merely watched while he died of thirst.
Also, I felt the ridicule of the crown of thorns, the throwing lots for his clothes, carrying the cross through the streets were all completely lost. Because the show didn't feature any of this, which is kind of big in the story. As well as the other criminals on the mount, one asking for a place in Heaven. That's the whole point of Jesus dying, yes? So the sins of others can be forgiven?
We felt as though this Jesus was whiny. Annoying. Very un-superstar. At one point roomie turned to me and whispered, "Will he just die already?"
For the Journal's bit on JCS, go here.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
An update of sorts
Life has been a little crazy as of late.
Work has been a madhouse. I've been filling up my time with friends, including meeting new friends and saying goodbye to some old(er) ones. It's strange how close you can get to people in such a short amount of time. Sometimes you just click with people. Sometimes people surprise you in fabulous ways. And sometimes they let you down.
Christmas is on the horizon and while I often say that I am not a big fan of Christmas, that's a lie. I'm not a big fan of the rush and the swarm of people in malls and the consumerist buy-buy-buy of the holiday season. However, I am a huge fan of finding something for someone which I know they will absolutely love -- seeing the look on their face when they get that perfect, yet unexpected gift, family, old-fashioned christmas carols and holiday drinks at Starbucks.
This month I made the first trek back to my university city. Wasn't there long enough to scout out the old haunts and count all the things that have changed -- but had the opportunity to spend a fabulous weekend catching up with old friends... which is absolutely worth the air fare back there.
We also picked up a girl at the bar. She hates this story. Maybe because we exhaggerate just a little. (Exhaggerate? Me? Never!) We actually met her cute male friends while she was off dancing with a boy and took them back to our house to play Cranium. They got a kick out of how I hid my flip-flops under a little deck near the bar so I didn't have to walk home in ridiculous heels (gorgeous yet not so fabulous after dancing most of the night away). We got to kick their behinds after they trash talked us all the way back to the apartment. It's pretty much a win-win situation. It's always good to meet new people, and it's fairly easy here, I find, since most people have come from somewhere else we usually find ourselves in the same boat -- not having nearly enough friends around. We befriended this sweet girl and made her come to our Halloween party, though she was apprehensive of course, and she's been stuck with us ever since.
Sometimes life is about letting people go as well. Whether it's letting people you've become close with leave the city to begin a new chapter of their lives (in Saskatoon? Yeah... okay). Or whether it's about writing off a friendship that was very obviously not meant to be.
On that note (which seems unrelated and isn't overly really) -- drive safe during the holiday season. It's coming up fairly quickly with Christmas parties (I've already been to two!) and whatnot... so drive safe. Stay sober, pay attention, buckle up, slow down. All of that. That's my little lecture for the day.
Work has been a madhouse. I've been filling up my time with friends, including meeting new friends and saying goodbye to some old(er) ones. It's strange how close you can get to people in such a short amount of time. Sometimes you just click with people. Sometimes people surprise you in fabulous ways. And sometimes they let you down.
Christmas is on the horizon and while I often say that I am not a big fan of Christmas, that's a lie. I'm not a big fan of the rush and the swarm of people in malls and the consumerist buy-buy-buy of the holiday season. However, I am a huge fan of finding something for someone which I know they will absolutely love -- seeing the look on their face when they get that perfect, yet unexpected gift, family, old-fashioned christmas carols and holiday drinks at Starbucks.
This month I made the first trek back to my university city. Wasn't there long enough to scout out the old haunts and count all the things that have changed -- but had the opportunity to spend a fabulous weekend catching up with old friends... which is absolutely worth the air fare back there.
We also picked up a girl at the bar. She hates this story. Maybe because we exhaggerate just a little. (Exhaggerate? Me? Never!) We actually met her cute male friends while she was off dancing with a boy and took them back to our house to play Cranium. They got a kick out of how I hid my flip-flops under a little deck near the bar so I didn't have to walk home in ridiculous heels (gorgeous yet not so fabulous after dancing most of the night away). We got to kick their behinds after they trash talked us all the way back to the apartment. It's pretty much a win-win situation. It's always good to meet new people, and it's fairly easy here, I find, since most people have come from somewhere else we usually find ourselves in the same boat -- not having nearly enough friends around. We befriended this sweet girl and made her come to our Halloween party, though she was apprehensive of course, and she's been stuck with us ever since.
Sometimes life is about letting people go as well. Whether it's letting people you've become close with leave the city to begin a new chapter of their lives (in Saskatoon? Yeah... okay). Or whether it's about writing off a friendship that was very obviously not meant to be.
On that note (which seems unrelated and isn't overly really) -- drive safe during the holiday season. It's coming up fairly quickly with Christmas parties (I've already been to two!) and whatnot... so drive safe. Stay sober, pay attention, buckle up, slow down. All of that. That's my little lecture for the day.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Speech by the sisters three: Jenna and Andrew
Thank you Andrew and Jenna for having us be a part of your special day.
Andrew was always pretty clever.
When we played house, he was the best banker he could be. He guarded that stack of Monopoly money with everything he had.
He drew up an air-tight contract to ensure that when he offered to pay me $5 an hour for playing "boy games" with him, he'd never actually have to pay out since I couldn't bear to stay in for the hour he had stipulated. Don't worry Andrew, there were times we wished that you had gotten a little brother too... just to save us from playing whatever you wanted to play.
And anyone who has ever had the pleasure of seeing the accounting books that Andrew had for his farm set -- keeping track of revenues, expenses, market prices and so on -- knows that this boy has a lot of brains.
That being said, we can say with full confidence that making the decision to marry Jenna was the smartest thing that Andrew has ever done.
Andrew and Jenna go together like peanut butter and jelly. She's sweet and he's stuck on her.
Welcome to our family Jenna.
Cheers, to Andrew and Jenna. To love, laughter, and happily ever after.
Speech: Meg and Stephen
Thank you Meghan and Stephen, for letting me be part of this incredible day.
A while back I received a rather inappropriate post card in the mail and was told by the new Mrs. Bartolo that it was my job to make sure she walked down the aisle this morning.
…I can tell you all that this was the easiest task I’ve ever been given.
From that first conversation detailing her run-in with a strange boy on the bus… to the ecstatic phone call in the middle of the night from Tobermory announcing their engagement… it’s never been of any doubt that these two would end up together.
Even when Meghan was not so impressed with her new husband, like the time I visited the pair and Meghan decided to take shots for every sip her increasingly intoxicated boyfriend was taking, her love for this man was apparent.
Even clutching the toilet bowl, insisting I hold her pukey hand in mine… Meghan talked of nothing but their future together. …Now that’s love.
From the many visits to Ottawa over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to witness Meghan and Steve’s love each other as well as their love for pushing each others’ buttons…
…And now they get to annoy each other for the rest of their lives.
People claim that fairy tales don’t exist but I beg to differ. The real fairy tales are the ones that we make ourselves. Contrary to the stories we read as kids, fairy tales aren’t always easy. Relationships aren’t easy. They take work. There will be bumps in the road. The important thing is that when you hit those rough times you remember why you got together in the first place.
For those of you who don’t know the story of Meghan and Stephen, you’re in for a real treat… a real modern day fairy tale.
You see, once upon a time, back around four years ago, there was this girl with a smile that could light up any room. As you can see, she’s doing it here and now with this room today. This girl was at the bus stop, with her eye on a mysterious hottie. Anyone who knows Meghan knows she’s nothing if not subtle. So she took off her dark sunglasses and began flirting with this boy in earnest once they had boarded the bus.
Giggles, the hair flip, the whole nine yards.
In order to speed up the process, our protagonist decided to give this mystery boy fair warning before her stop came up. Though she made everything so obvious, to her dismay, she received no acknowledgement from the boy. So she cut her losses and went on her merry way.
A few moments later, walking down Sparks Street, the girl turned around to find our mystery boy literally running down the street towards her. Being the suave girl she is, she decided to play it cool and slow her pace to let him catch up as she watched his reflection near in the windows beside her. As she was patiently waiting to cross the street, our boy gently taps her on the shoulder and calmly says….
“Excuse me, you were supposed to ask for my phone number.”
After a firm handshake and waiting the two standard days to call, our lovebirds have been together ever since.
Earlier this week, I was talking to Meghan about boys, clearly not a shocking topic of choice. Meghan oh-so-wisely told me…
“You will not find love. No matter how hard you look. Love will find you. And, it will probably be at a very inappropriate moment, as it doesn't have the greatest timing, nor does it care what is convenient for you.”
Apparently love waits until you’re late for work and forces you to do things you’d never do. Like follow a gorgeous woman down the street, armed with only a vague idea of what to say and with your pride on the line.
My only advice for you today, Meghan and Stephen, is to remember those little moments. Remember Stephen, what pushed you to get out of your seat and follow Meghan down the street, even though it was totally inconvenient and out of character.
And Meghan, remember what had you focused on this cute boy (other than just his cute backside) and what made you say yes to the gentleman who gave you an introductory handshake when all you wanted to do was throw yourself at him.
Meghan and Stephen, this day today and your love for each other is proof that fairy tales do exist.
Congratulations Meghan and Stephen on your beautiful wedding. Cheers -- to love, laughter and happily ever after!
A while back I received a rather inappropriate post card in the mail and was told by the new Mrs. Bartolo that it was my job to make sure she walked down the aisle this morning.
…I can tell you all that this was the easiest task I’ve ever been given.
From that first conversation detailing her run-in with a strange boy on the bus… to the ecstatic phone call in the middle of the night from Tobermory announcing their engagement… it’s never been of any doubt that these two would end up together.
Even when Meghan was not so impressed with her new husband, like the time I visited the pair and Meghan decided to take shots for every sip her increasingly intoxicated boyfriend was taking, her love for this man was apparent.
Even clutching the toilet bowl, insisting I hold her pukey hand in mine… Meghan talked of nothing but their future together. …Now that’s love.
From the many visits to Ottawa over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to witness Meghan and Steve’s love each other as well as their love for pushing each others’ buttons…
…And now they get to annoy each other for the rest of their lives.
People claim that fairy tales don’t exist but I beg to differ. The real fairy tales are the ones that we make ourselves. Contrary to the stories we read as kids, fairy tales aren’t always easy. Relationships aren’t easy. They take work. There will be bumps in the road. The important thing is that when you hit those rough times you remember why you got together in the first place.
For those of you who don’t know the story of Meghan and Stephen, you’re in for a real treat… a real modern day fairy tale.
You see, once upon a time, back around four years ago, there was this girl with a smile that could light up any room. As you can see, she’s doing it here and now with this room today. This girl was at the bus stop, with her eye on a mysterious hottie. Anyone who knows Meghan knows she’s nothing if not subtle. So she took off her dark sunglasses and began flirting with this boy in earnest once they had boarded the bus.
Giggles, the hair flip, the whole nine yards.
In order to speed up the process, our protagonist decided to give this mystery boy fair warning before her stop came up. Though she made everything so obvious, to her dismay, she received no acknowledgement from the boy. So she cut her losses and went on her merry way.
A few moments later, walking down Sparks Street, the girl turned around to find our mystery boy literally running down the street towards her. Being the suave girl she is, she decided to play it cool and slow her pace to let him catch up as she watched his reflection near in the windows beside her. As she was patiently waiting to cross the street, our boy gently taps her on the shoulder and calmly says….
“Excuse me, you were supposed to ask for my phone number.”
After a firm handshake and waiting the two standard days to call, our lovebirds have been together ever since.
Earlier this week, I was talking to Meghan about boys, clearly not a shocking topic of choice. Meghan oh-so-wisely told me…
“You will not find love. No matter how hard you look. Love will find you. And, it will probably be at a very inappropriate moment, as it doesn't have the greatest timing, nor does it care what is convenient for you.”
Apparently love waits until you’re late for work and forces you to do things you’d never do. Like follow a gorgeous woman down the street, armed with only a vague idea of what to say and with your pride on the line.
My only advice for you today, Meghan and Stephen, is to remember those little moments. Remember Stephen, what pushed you to get out of your seat and follow Meghan down the street, even though it was totally inconvenient and out of character.
And Meghan, remember what had you focused on this cute boy (other than just his cute backside) and what made you say yes to the gentleman who gave you an introductory handshake when all you wanted to do was throw yourself at him.
Meghan and Stephen, this day today and your love for each other is proof that fairy tales do exist.
Congratulations Meghan and Stephen on your beautiful wedding. Cheers -- to love, laughter and happily ever after!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Today's Starbucks wisdom (#283)
"The most important thing in life is to stop saying 'I wish' and start saying 'I will.' Consider nothing impossible, then treat possibilities as probabilities." -- David Copperfield
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