Every year is a 12 step plan

01. JANUARY
~  Work at The Navigator and Maximum Yield simultaneously.
~ Begin wearing my signature stripey sweaters. X-mas presents from Chelsea.
~ The ill-fated The League of Fantastic forms because I want to open for Akron/Family.
~  Consider buying a laptop and then do not.
~ The Metrics reform for one night. Then tacitly agree to never perform again.
~ My head almost explodes from The Wave playing James Blunt twice daily.
~ My car’s turn-signal stops working.
~ I begin my ill-fated attempt to learn electronics.
~ Babel performs on Spacelink.
~ Purchase a MicroKorg.
~ Start email campaign begging the Wave to stop playing James Blunt.

02. FEBRUARY
~ Boss finally gets around to giving me the Office Policies document which I still have not signed.
~ I get turn signal fixed after a month of it not working.
~ Chelsea’s and my relationship problems continue to get worse. Covering the house in Dora valentines does not fix anything.
~ Urbane Decay and Babel top charts in Lethbridge.

03. MARCH
~ Ramshackle 2006 stars Akron/Family. I am almost hallucinating with a bad flu.
~ Release Babel‘s Heavy Moon CD.
~ I get my glasses prescription updated.
~ Go to the Malaspina production of The Orestia and leave at the intermission.
~ I discover Sabbath and never look back.
~ I sleep in the guest room now.
~ I read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse and it changes my life. Or at least starts me on the path to changing how I live my life.
~ I make Lava Cakes.
~ I begin try and divest myself of attachments.

04. APRIL
~ Chelsea and I are broken up officially.
~ Final Navigator production weekend of my Navigator career.
~ Ken and I spend a bunch of money at Jack‘s living-room record sale.
~ Set up a MySpace page for Babel.
~ Feeling my way around Taoism, I renounce the concept of fear in my life.
~ Begin my regular stint on Pins of Light.
~ I find Peter Demmon‘s blog.  Peter and I have a 3 hour internet argument about Episode III. The argument lasts for days actually.
~ Go to 70 Below and have the young man in the urinal beside me saying, “You have a real nineties look about you. I like it!” A line he uses on Tracy later. This becomes the basis for an Urbane Decay song.
~ Kristjanne and David slap each other silly at the Vancouver  Ave house.
~ Develop an ill-fated crush on someone.

05. MAY
~ I adopt my tilde bullet style of blogging.
~ Chelsea and I continue to cohabitate and things are unbearably tense between us.
~ Burrus is back from abroad.
~ Jack begins his pledge to shave his mustache off for charity. Posts a picture of his grade 8 self to sweeten the pot.
~ Someone calls me a “douche” to Chelsea and I take it unreasonably hard.
~ I suddenly stop liking new wave and post punk revival bands.
~ Tell my parents Chelsea and I broke up. My mom isn’t happy about it.
~ Jack follows through with shaving off the mustache.
~ I do not enjoy the early heatwave.
~ League of Fantastic changes name to Qian to open for Ka-Nives at Fascinating Rhythm instore show. I design the first in a series of posters for these shows.
~ Ken and Dave get kicked out of Jack‘s house. I get hung-over.
~ Continue to nuture that secret ill-fated crush.
~ Pet shop Boys release Fundamental.
~ Kristjanne and Lauren and I go to X-Men III and have a good time.
~ Trevor and Dan and I go out taking photos and find a stash of womens’ underwear in the bushes.
~ Chelsea is the first to kiss someone else. I breathe a sigh of relief.

06. JUNE
~ Chelsea moves out.
~ I clean and reorganize the apartment.
~ Chelsea deletes me from her friends list.
~ I consider buying a house plant. I don’t.
~ Jamie talks to me for the first time. It’s awkward.
~ My uncle sends me his “Recently Divorced” screen print.
~ We no longer work 9 hour days at Maximum Yield. Thank god.
~ I find the transition to singlehood difficult and end up eating Jell-o for dinner one night.
~ I begin to give up on the crush as it’s obviously not going to pan out. Mostly because I feel too broken to actually do anything about it.
~ I get carded at the liquor store. Whee!
~ Stephen tells me his marriage is breaking up and he asks if he can stay at my place for a while.
~ Drop a CD shelf on my toe, breaking it and eventually losing the nail.
~ First Games Nite.
~ Theodore is born.

07. JULY
~ Theodore comes home to the 415.
~ Release Babel‘s The Assassin’s Widow CD.
~  Bentley stays with me for a few days.
~  Boss buys a yellow Hummer and starts mandatory staff drinking on friday afternoons. This results in a wall of beer cans on my desk.
~ I design Nada and the Pivot poster for Adrienne.
~ I sink into a depression.
~ Go insane and decide to move to Auroville.
~ Get slamboned beyond belief at Nathan‘s BBQ.  Go to work the next day still bagginsed.
~ At some point around here Jamie joins the Urbane Decay.

08. AUGUST
~ Stephen moves in. Sort of.
~ I go to my cousin’s wedding in Nelson with my uncle and his cousin. It’s an experience.
~ I begin my no crap foods diet.
~ Go to Goluza‘s house with Ann and Ken.
~ I fall in lust with the Doors.
~ Jodi’s wedding party. Miranda and I get crazy hammered.
~ I fall in love with Zep.
~ Babel plays on The Late Shift anniversary show.
~ Form Sister Ray with Mel.
~ I become a devoted Pink Floyd fan.
~ Played poker for the first time.
~ Kiss a girl.

09. SEPTEMBER
~ Punch Chris Clark in the face at Ann‘s birthday party.
~ New staff are hired at Maximum Yield.
~ After a summer of way too much drinking, I try to quit drinking.
~ Go to Cumberland to see Final Fantasy with Mel and Carpenter and Adrienne.  Ade shows me her scar.
~ Mix tape war. Chelsea is nice to me for the first time in months.

10. OCTOBER
~ Jamie‘s poorly attended Beck party.
~ I celebrate my one-year anniversary at Maximum Yield.
~ Robocoon is born.
~ Andrew‘s in town for five weeks. We mend out friendship.
~ My fridge catches on fire.
~ I begin my ill-fated courting of Adrienne.
~ Jamie‘s much better attended Devil and Daniel Johnston party.
~ Stephen goes to a meditation retreat and escapes from it.
~ I get back into shoegaze.
~ Old Phoebe win the battle of the bands.
~ Begin the Maximum Yield redesign.
~ I get the “it’s not you, it’s me” speech.
~ Sister Ray play at a halloween party. Robocoon costume is a hit.

11. NOVEMBER
~ Gown / Sister Ray / Partli Cloudi show.
~ Decide to buy a Bengal cat. Which I do not.
~ Release DWE‘s CD.
~ I go to various movies with Adrienne.
~ Stephen and Carissa‘s pot luck.
~ It snows. I don’t like it.
~ I turn 34. Egads.

12. DECEMBER
~ My heart breaks.
~ Nardwuar show at Fascinating Rhythm.
~ Makito appears on Pins of Light for the first time.
~ Release the Urbane Decay CD Jamie and I have been working on since summer.
~ Kai returns from Europe.
~ Staff party at the Bosses’ house. Lauren‘s birthday party. I pick up a killer flu at one of these places.
~ Work gets hectic and soul-crushing.
~ Games Nites reinstated.
~ More snow. More unhappy about it.
~ I realize christmas means nothing to me. 
~ I meditate. I do some refresher readings on Tao and Zen. I get myself together for the first time in well over a year.
~ Rose and I make peace over the “hat” issue.
~ I start posting videos on YouTube.
~ Go to the Rock-a-thon which I wasn’t going to do. But I do and  Marie and I become friends.
~ Have a relatively benign and nice x-mas with my parents and my uncle.
~ Marie and I have a great boxing day.
~ I declare the no crap foods diet a success.
~ I discover Freaks and Geeks.
~ I help Marie discover the Goonies. Marie helps me discover a lot of disturbing subtext in the Goonies.

That brings us up to today:
~ I bought a new phone.
~ I dropped off Chelsea‘s mail and it was not awkward!
~ I did this entry which took way too long.

First Games Night of 2007

~ Maybe we’ll actually play a game this time? This one is in honour of KP’s return to Nanaimo.

“This movie is all about pedophiles”

~ Last night I made one of the best curries of my career.  It went well with The Goonies. We found a really rad part in the extras too. Which will be making an appearance on this journal at some point. When the time is right. When everything comes together.

~ Got to run errands today. Well, I got to accompany someone running errands. I love running errands with people. It’s like being in a crack commando team on a mission. Only, more like buying hair-dye and picking up photos. Less chance of being thrown in a POW camp too. The feeling might have had something to do with the insane amount of americanos I drank today.

~ I broke a chair in Bocca. Which Michelle and I set aside. But then it got assimilated again. If you’re in Bocca, be wary of an orange chair. It might end your life.

~ I’ve been staying up until 2am and sleeping in until 10:30 every day of these holidays. It’s going to hurt so bad when I start work again and the alarm’s going off at 6:45. Yikes.

Nanaimo

~ Today  I walked to the grocery store in our lovely town.

“Like sand through the hourglass…”

~ It’s the 28th already. These days off of mine are flowing by like a river swollen with spring run-off. I’m going to leave the house today in order to try and make the day feel longer. Also I need to buy ingredients for dinner.

~ When I was at my parents on Christmas, I had the chance to weigh myself. I’ve lost 33 pounds since beginning the “no crap foods diet.” Though I think maybe even more as I was basing that from when the doctor weighed me and basically said, “You have to lose weight or YOU’RE GOING TO DIE.” I think I gained some weight after that. Just to prove him wrong. Christmas has been hard on the “no crap foods diet” as things like gravy, chocolate and shortbread stood toe-to-toe with my will-power and found my will-power lacking. Time to start afresh. After I finish the last three of my uncle’s shortbread. Anyway, another fifteen pounds and I’ll be happy. Though I think the BMI says I should lose 20-25 more.

~ Excited about my evening’s plans.

Today doesn’t get a subject

~ Not much of a day. I mixed / mastered a new Urbane Decay CD. I also worked on the artwork for it. It’s called The Urbane Decay Has Never Kissed a Girl. It covers the months october – december. I guess I’ll put it out in january.

~ I also watched two, maybe three, episodes of Freaks and Geeks. Right now I’m either going to bathe or watch more Freaks.

~ My cat meowed at me lots. Then she downright yowled at me and I haven’t seen her since.

~ It’s insanely cold in my apartment.

~ That was today.

Hurtin’ Bombs

[ A fine collection of “hurtin’ bombs” The Rocky gloves will turn your tongue black.]

~ Today was a pretty rad day. Marie and I celebrated boxing day with Rocky Balboa and baking boxing glove shaped shortbread. Then distributing the shortbread around the neighborhood in boxes. Well, a box. To one house. And we included the really rad half a beat up Rocky head cookie. I’m sure it was appreciated.

Anyway, the new Rocky movie was pretty amazing. Perhaps not cinematically so much as it was just awesome. Awesome in a “I think my brain has been suckerpunched” kind of way. Awesome in a “Did he just say indian” kind of way? Awesome in a “The guy’s name is Mason Dixon?” kind of way.

[ Gift box of love. Not terrfying AT ALL. ]

~ Later, Nathan and I went to Acme for dinner. The waiter quipped, when he brough us our beer where only one had a head on it, “I’m not sure who to give head to.” Nathan wished it had been his parents who the waiter had said that to. Also, turns out the waiter is an Urbane Decay fan of sorts.

Simply Christmas 2006

[ The ties that bind: my dad and I are bound by the scarf my mommy knitted me ]

~ One of the most laid back yet overly documented Christmases I’ve ever had. Got a nice scarf from my mom. And a nice woolie hat [alpaca]. Not to mention the crazy flaming oven mitts [not alpaca]. Lots of fair trade coffee. Also strange fair-trade belt. Yeah, Christmas was okay. Boxing day should be better though. Nasty cookies!

The Night Before Hexmas

~ Quite simply one of the most amazing Pins of Light shows ever. It was our heavy psych Xmas Evil christmas eve show. The first hour and half was a solid set of heavy fuzz rock. The second half of the show was a solid freak-out. It was a revolving cast of a jam with Matt-O, Frederick and Makito taking turns making noises. On the video you can’t hear my fuzzed-out, echoed and looped wall of guitar because it went right into the board and out into the airwaves, but you can hear my gibberish vocal wailing. My tribute to Bolan didn’t get recorded, but it was a ferocious jam. Best show ever. Hell, even Chelsea stopped in to say hi. She brought cookies! We had gifts we opened on air! There was more Sabbath than you could shake a pitchfork at! Blimp rock! Simon the casino-baby Makito found in a shopping cart! The rainbow gun! Exercising demons (not exorcising)! It was all the most amazing bliss ever.

23:11

~ Cooper and I were in agreement: Next year the 23rd bash should be at the Legion.

~  My face still has stubble-burn from when Sandeep randomly violated me.

~  Ken was exceedingly hosebagged. The moment where he dragged the sweatiest Matt-O I’ve ever seen (much les touched) over a table into Marie‘s and my laps was excessive. In the best way possible.

~ Didn’t see Colin Whyte. Was hoping to see Whyte as I missed him last year. Did see Andrew Merrilees though. We exchanged our customary 32 words. I did enjoy his knowing smirk when he said he’d heard of Maximum Yield.

~ J-Sco! Who accused me of having “Lots of girls on the go.” To which I said, “Bbwwhhaaat are you talking about?” I must make myself seem like quite the ladies man on this blog. But here’s the thing: pretty much every girl I mention either has a boyfriend or is a lesbian. So if you have the impression I’m some kind of indie-nerd Leonard Cohen, it is not the case.

~  I always forget that Burrus is amazingly tall.

~  People I didn’t talk to enough or at all: Sean McLaughlin, Andrea, Todd Mason, Denise, Kathyrn Mullis. Oh well, I guess there’s always next year. And I always feel like I want to talk to Craig Taylor even though we have almost absolutely no shared past what-so-ever. I guess it’s just that he’s a familiar face.

~  Had my yearly chat on the smoking deck with Tikki‘s younger brother. I never know how I feel about that. The fact that’s he’s 30 now  blows my mind to pieces.

~  I made plans for boxing day. Well, sort of. I made plans to make plans. Exciting none-the-less.

~  Chelsea confronted me about telling Ken something she didn’t want him to know about. His cover of Lebitschnig being the one who told him was the most hilariously ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

~ It suddenly dawned on me that Kristjanne has become a REALLY GOOD drummer over the last year.

~ I really enjoy Chris Thompson‘s beard.

EDIT: two more things I forgot.

~ Tracy left far too early. I went to talk to her and she’d been gone for hours.

~  I got a really great christmas card.