He's Like A Detuned Radio

There was a box in my closet. It had been there since August 2002 and hadn't been touched since. When I went away to Windsor, I had a number of odds and ends lying around my room that I didn't know what to do with so I threw them all in a box and stuck them in the back of my closet.

Partially egged on by my graduation, I decided to dig out the box and to sort through it, as part of an effort to clean up my room and to formally move from high school student to adult looking for a job. (My room sort of skipped the whole university phase since I was only here four months a year and I had more important things to do then be concerned with how the walls looked and how cluttered things were.)

Among the mess of the box, I found stickers and postcards from Edgefests (remember Joydrop and Copyright?), TTC Student Cards, report cards, Magic Cards (all land, unfortunately), my medal from the Pythagoras Contest in Grade 6 (still my crowning achievement in life), 2 unused tickets to see the Stereophonics and pictures from the OAC Formal that I never remember having taken. And Shaggy.
A box of forgotten objects can bring back a rush of memories very unexpectedly. These weren't things that were buried, for the most part, and they weren't things that I was trying to forget, as much as I wanted to try. They just slipped away as time went on.

Next stop, the pile of papers behind my desk which I knew is mostly stuff from the trip to California that I didn't want to throw away and the box I brought back from Windsor with me. Maybe I can stick that one in the back of the closet, only to dig it out when I move out.

I am one very lazy motherfucker. Now if I can just find my medal from the Science Olympics. Nerd...

So I was at the Scarborough Town Centre tonight walking around as an excuse to get out of the house. I walked over to HMV, wandered around for a bit, and couldn't find anything that I was looking for. Not the first time that's happened at that store. I figure I'd walk over to Music World to see if they had anything decent. I walk over and it's closed up. Gone forever. Well, that's a shame, especially since I didn't get to raid it for discounted music. I figure while I'm here I might as well head down to Sunrise to see if they got anything interesting. I arrive there to see the store ransacked and posters on the walls saying "25% off everything in the store" and "50% of all CDs". Sunrise is closing and according to girl at the cash, it'll probably happen within the week. And of course, along with Sunrise this means that the Ticketmaster will be going as well.

It's disappointing to see that HMV will be the only music retailer left in the mall but it's clear with their recent expansion and these two closures that they were the place to buy music.

I picked up:
Breathe (Single) - Prodigy
In A World Called Catastrophe (Single) - Matthew Good
Walk Idiot Walk (Single) - The Hives
Helicopter (EP) - Bloc Party
Bloc Party (EP) - Bloc Party
Music:Response (EP) - The Chemical Brothers
The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two (Album) - DFA Records
Silent Alarm Remixed (Album) - Bloc Party

And I paid all of $48.37 for these 8 gems. I'm pretty sure that the two albums would have cost that much at their normal prices at HMV.

In other news, I completed my degree today and am now a graduate. Yay!!!

Placebo? Ew, they're from like 1998. I guess this is a decent lineup for '98.

Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bjork, Tiesto, The Arcade Fire, Interpol, Manu Chao, Willie Nelson, Air, Happy Mondays, Decemberists, Faithless, Gotan Project, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, Paul Van Dyk, Arctic Monkeys, Roots, Jarvis Cocker, Sonic Youth, Crowded House, Placebo, Satellite Party, Stephen Marley feat Jr. Gong, Kings of Leon, DJ Shadow, Kaiser Chiefs, Kokono No. 1, LCD Soundsystem, Nickel Creek, Travis, Damien Rice, Black Keys, Blonde Redhead, Infected Mushroom, New Pornographers, Peeping Tom, Placebo, Rufus Wainwright, The Rapture, Explosions in the Sky, Richie Hawtin, !!!, Benny Benassy, Felix Da Housecat, Hot Chip, Jacks Mannequin, Julieta Venegas, Lily Allen, Lupe Fiasco, Ozomatli, Peaches, Ghostface Killah, Jose Gonzales, Amos Lee, Brazilian Girls, Fountains of Wayne, Regina Spektor, VNV Nation, Coco Rosie, Cornelius, Gillian Welch, Junior Boys, Pharaohe Monche, Roky Erickson and the Explosives, Soulwax, Sparklehorse, The Kooks, Tilly and the Wall, Andrew Bird, Peter, Bjorn & John, The Frames, Gogol Bordello, Comedians of Comedy, Justice, MSTRKRFT, We Are Scientists, Yeva, Grizzly Bear, Amy Winehouse, Avett Brothers, Circa Survive, The Coup, The Cribs, CSS, Digitalism, Erol Alkan, Evil Nine, Girl Talk, Klaxons, Noisettes, Spank Rock, Tapes 'n Tapes, The Fields, Tokyo Police Club, Rodrigo Y Gabriella, DJ Heather, The Feeling, Fratellis, Mike Relm, Silversun Pickups, Busdriver, Brother Ali, Nightwatchman, Bojones, Mika, Pop Levi, Anathallo and Fair to Midland.

Wow, that's creepy. The two posts preceding Bombtrack were both songs by bands on the bill. Spooky.

Holy Crap. I should be going to sleep so I can get up in the morning and see the official lineup but everyone is reporting that Rage Against The Machine is going to reunite and play at Coachella.

Must calm down and sleep. now in the fire.

Update Via Pitchfork.

"Rage will headline the festival's final night, April 29, while Björk will headline on Friday, April 27 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, April 28."

Other bands include "the Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Air, Crowded House, Tiësto, and Kings of Leon."

What's not to already love?

I found this online tonight and it reminded me of a memorable day from the past at Albert's. To Albert, Peter, Phil (this may not have been the day that he was skulking around in the backyard but let's pretend it was) and the rest of the voyageurs out there.

Flash Element TD

Warning: Do not attempt if you anything better to be doing, I lost an hour and a bit playing this. Top score was 3329 and level 37.

So it's time for some good news. As anyone who saw this post knows, my mother is currently undergoing chemotherapy and she had an appointment last Monday with her oncologist.

My mother had a full body CT scan on December 29. The results from last Monday showed that there was no new growths on her brain or breast and the ones that did exist on her lungs had either shrunk or completely disappeared. This was shocking news to everyone involved and it now looks like chemo will be over by the end of March at which point there will be another CT scan to see if it's all gone. So by my count, that's going to be only five more treatments and she's going to be done. And then by July she'll have her license back and eventually things can back to normal.

Everything seems different now that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I can see myself getting a job and starting at the beginning of May (after a trip to Coachella). Maybe even a job I'll enjoy where I can put my degree to use.

I got my marks today for the 2 Arts courses for last semester and I passed. Kind of knew that it was coming but still, it means that I've completed all of my required courses for graduation. Now I just need the faculty to approve my Arts classes, get the course code on one credit changed and I can apply to graduate.

New Year's Resolution #1:
I have to learn to use chopsticks again, it's at the point where its just embarassing. All that time in Windsor and now I look an idiot when we go out for sushi.

More to come...