GO AHEAD DER AND GIVE ME A DOWNLOAD EH?
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Baby, It's A Heartache
It's no secret that I love warm weather. I love to wear shorts and tank tops and sunglasses and hang out in sunshine all day. I absolutely loathe winter and am usually ready for the mercury to creep back up to 20 degrees by October.
Along with really enjoying hot weather, I love making summer mixtapes. Usually right after I'm done with the school year my first order of business is to make a mix that I can jam to while I'm cruising around on my skateboard. It is only June right now, but I've already made two mixes and I'll post them here!
These are currently my shit and also, at least I think, great pairings with hot temperatures:
DOWNLOAD EYEBALLS HERE!
DOWNLOAD DUDEFEST 2012 (THAT'S WHAT I NICKNAMED THIS SUMMER) HERE!
Enjoy!
Along with really enjoying hot weather, I love making summer mixtapes. Usually right after I'm done with the school year my first order of business is to make a mix that I can jam to while I'm cruising around on my skateboard. It is only June right now, but I've already made two mixes and I'll post them here!
These are currently my shit and also, at least I think, great pairings with hot temperatures:
DOWNLOAD EYEBALLS HERE!
DOWNLOAD DUDEFEST 2012 (THAT'S WHAT I NICKNAMED THIS SUMMER) HERE!
Enjoy!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
She's Out Of My League, I'm Insane
Yesterday I had a pretty bad day. Without going into specifics I was in a shitty mood and couldn't really shake it for most of the day. I realize that this pretty much goes without saying and is common sense, but I really don't like being in bad moods. Whenever I feel like shit I try to resolve it immediately because well, you know PMA and enjoying my life and stuff. I've felt pretty good since and these are the things I think have done to help:
1. Put on Vacation by Bomb The Music Industry! I liked the album when it came out but since it has really become way more than just an album for me. I listen to it so much that when I suggest throwing it on the ol' turntable Party Pat says "I dunno man, we've listened to it a lot lately." I just can't get tired of it. I know it inside and out and love it way too much. It pretty much became my best friend this past semester and it never ceases to make me feel like $1000000 and always puts a smile on my face.
2. I decided to start running again. Now I've only gone for modest runs the past two days but I gotta start somewhere, y'know? I took running pretty seriously in high school and was on the track and cross-country team each year I was. I really like running for a variety of reasons, which I am obviously about to go into detail about. The main thing is that it's not a finesse sport and it doesn't matter if you're a "natural athlete". Some people are just born more athletically inclined than others, it just the way it is. Some people can just wake up a huck a football half the field or are born with a fantastic baseball swing. With running it doesn't matter how good of an athlete you are, it matters how hard you train and how hard you push yourself. The person who runs the race hardest wins and that's all there is to it. I'm very uncoordinated and suck at sports, so this aspect of running has always appealed to me.
Another is that though baseball is easily my favourite sport, long distance running is the only sport I've done that makes me competitive. I played baseball my whole childhood growing up and while I wanted to win, the main reason I played was because it was so fun. Running is the only sport I've done where I psych myself up and push myself as hard as I can and think in my head "Push it. Pass this fucker. You trained harder. You are better than him. He doesn't deserve to beat you." While I like the positive physical affects of going for runs, the main I like to run is because I like to race. Going for runs makes me want to get better and race and beat people in races.
I also really like that running isn't a glory sport. My high-school was a very athletically inclined place with huge football and hockey programs. While those jocks were the guys who ruled the school, the cross-country was quietly the most successful high-school program in North America. Sure meatheads would wear their jerseys on game day and high-five everybody after wins, but we were the best. We just didn't brag about it.
Finally, obviously the effects of going for runs on my body is great. I haven't exercised since I left high school and stopped running and am in terrible shape. I never gain weight no matter what I eat because of my ridiculous mutant metabolism, but my body sucks at what it does. Running won't give me huge muscles but it will put me in incredible shape and give me more energy.
3. I watched a few episodes of the X-Files and some good movies.
4. I woke up, went for a run, made some sandwiches and started blaring Heads Are Gonna Roll by The Hippos. They were another one of the ska bands from the 90's who despite being great and far better than most of the "big" ones, never made it. Their aforementioned second album fucking rules and is much more than just a ska record. They take a ton of country and alt and post-punk and 80's influences and throw them all together. No two songs on the record sound the same except for the fact that they all sound amazing. Ariel Rechtshaid is a fantastic song-writer and should be employed as a song-writer for pop artists right now if he isn't already (The band broke up in 2003). All their songs are catchy and cute and have great bass-lines to go along with horn and synth parts that get stuck in your head immediately.
5. The Jays whooped the Red Sox today and Hutch threw at Doucheilis.
One of my fav Hippos jams:
1. Put on Vacation by Bomb The Music Industry! I liked the album when it came out but since it has really become way more than just an album for me. I listen to it so much that when I suggest throwing it on the ol' turntable Party Pat says "I dunno man, we've listened to it a lot lately." I just can't get tired of it. I know it inside and out and love it way too much. It pretty much became my best friend this past semester and it never ceases to make me feel like $1000000 and always puts a smile on my face.
2. I decided to start running again. Now I've only gone for modest runs the past two days but I gotta start somewhere, y'know? I took running pretty seriously in high school and was on the track and cross-country team each year I was. I really like running for a variety of reasons, which I am obviously about to go into detail about. The main thing is that it's not a finesse sport and it doesn't matter if you're a "natural athlete". Some people are just born more athletically inclined than others, it just the way it is. Some people can just wake up a huck a football half the field or are born with a fantastic baseball swing. With running it doesn't matter how good of an athlete you are, it matters how hard you train and how hard you push yourself. The person who runs the race hardest wins and that's all there is to it. I'm very uncoordinated and suck at sports, so this aspect of running has always appealed to me.
Another is that though baseball is easily my favourite sport, long distance running is the only sport I've done that makes me competitive. I played baseball my whole childhood growing up and while I wanted to win, the main reason I played was because it was so fun. Running is the only sport I've done where I psych myself up and push myself as hard as I can and think in my head "Push it. Pass this fucker. You trained harder. You are better than him. He doesn't deserve to beat you." While I like the positive physical affects of going for runs, the main I like to run is because I like to race. Going for runs makes me want to get better and race and beat people in races.
I also really like that running isn't a glory sport. My high-school was a very athletically inclined place with huge football and hockey programs. While those jocks were the guys who ruled the school, the cross-country was quietly the most successful high-school program in North America. Sure meatheads would wear their jerseys on game day and high-five everybody after wins, but we were the best. We just didn't brag about it.
Finally, obviously the effects of going for runs on my body is great. I haven't exercised since I left high school and stopped running and am in terrible shape. I never gain weight no matter what I eat because of my ridiculous mutant metabolism, but my body sucks at what it does. Running won't give me huge muscles but it will put me in incredible shape and give me more energy.
3. I watched a few episodes of the X-Files and some good movies.
4. I woke up, went for a run, made some sandwiches and started blaring Heads Are Gonna Roll by The Hippos. They were another one of the ska bands from the 90's who despite being great and far better than most of the "big" ones, never made it. Their aforementioned second album fucking rules and is much more than just a ska record. They take a ton of country and alt and post-punk and 80's influences and throw them all together. No two songs on the record sound the same except for the fact that they all sound amazing. Ariel Rechtshaid is a fantastic song-writer and should be employed as a song-writer for pop artists right now if he isn't already (The band broke up in 2003). All their songs are catchy and cute and have great bass-lines to go along with horn and synth parts that get stuck in your head immediately.
5. The Jays whooped the Red Sox today and Hutch threw at Doucheilis.
One of my fav Hippos jams:
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Rob, I'm Telling You This For Your Own Good. That's The Worst Fucking Sweater I've Ever Seen. That's A Cosby Sweater.
Top 5 Best Moments Of The ASOB Reunion Show:
5. Them bringing out all the old members to play songs off of Pornocracy and Built To Fail.
4. When they played "RSTLNE".
3. How genuinely emotional the band got towards the end of the set.
2. The "Hey heeeeyyyyyyy.....YEA!" during "Last On My List" and how I turned around and James was ready to belt out the "YEA" with me, right on cue.
1. Every time the chorus hit during "So Let's Go! Nowhere".
Top 5 Beers In The World:
5. Genny Ice
4. Genny Ice
3. Genny Ice
2. Genny Ice
1. Genny Ice
Top 5 Attack In Black Songs:
5. Ever Faster
4. Inches And Ages
3. Cut And Run
2. The Love Between You And I (Widows version)
1. Broken Things
Top 5 Things I Miss About Home:
5. Day-long drinking binges with Dwyer, Damien, Winkler, Paul and Pat.
4. Ridiculous nights around Bathurst and Spadina.
3. Late-night shitty TV and sports watching with my brother.
2. Jack and Trixie.
1. A lot of people I care about.
Top 5 Things I Do Not Miss About Home At All:
5. How far Scarborough is from anything that rules in Toronto.
4. Constantly looking over my shoulder, walking quickly and keeping my phone and ipod out of site when I'm in Scarborough and it's past 12 AM.
3. Wainting for the 116 at 2:30 AM at Kennedy.
2. The TTC.
1. Sleeping on the couch in the basement.
Top 5 Things I Am Most Excited About During This Jays Season:
5. COLBY.
4. NO MORE LIND.
3. E5 keeping this up.
2. Jose eventually going on a real huge tear.
1. Maybe having a shot at contending?
Top 5 Records I'll Be Jamming This Summer:
5. The Hippos- Heads Are Gonna Roll
4. Saves The Day- Stay What You Are
3. The Copyrights- North Sentinal Island
2. Attack In Black- Marriage
1. The Nix86- Evil Empurr
Cool, I'm going play guitar for a while, watch Pretty In Pink, pass out and then try to find a job tomorrow.
5. Them bringing out all the old members to play songs off of Pornocracy and Built To Fail.
4. When they played "RSTLNE".
3. How genuinely emotional the band got towards the end of the set.
2. The "Hey heeeeyyyyyyy.....YEA!" during "Last On My List" and how I turned around and James was ready to belt out the "YEA" with me, right on cue.
1. Every time the chorus hit during "So Let's Go! Nowhere".
Top 5 Beers In The World:
5. Genny Ice
4. Genny Ice
3. Genny Ice
2. Genny Ice
1. Genny Ice
Top 5 Attack In Black Songs:
5. Ever Faster
4. Inches And Ages
3. Cut And Run
2. The Love Between You And I (Widows version)
1. Broken Things
Top 5 Things I Miss About Home:
5. Day-long drinking binges with Dwyer, Damien, Winkler, Paul and Pat.
4. Ridiculous nights around Bathurst and Spadina.
3. Late-night shitty TV and sports watching with my brother.
2. Jack and Trixie.
1. A lot of people I care about.
Top 5 Things I Do Not Miss About Home At All:
5. How far Scarborough is from anything that rules in Toronto.
4. Constantly looking over my shoulder, walking quickly and keeping my phone and ipod out of site when I'm in Scarborough and it's past 12 AM.
3. Wainting for the 116 at 2:30 AM at Kennedy.
2. The TTC.
1. Sleeping on the couch in the basement.
Top 5 Things I Am Most Excited About During This Jays Season:
5. COLBY.
4. NO MORE LIND.
3. E5 keeping this up.
2. Jose eventually going on a real huge tear.
1. Maybe having a shot at contending?
Top 5 Records I'll Be Jamming This Summer:
5. The Hippos- Heads Are Gonna Roll
4. Saves The Day- Stay What You Are
3. The Copyrights- North Sentinal Island
2. Attack In Black- Marriage
1. The Nix86- Evil Empurr
Cool, I'm going play guitar for a while, watch Pretty In Pink, pass out and then try to find a job tomorrow.
Hey, Hey.....YEAH!
My first summer in Guelph is in full swing now. I still haven't found a job, though to be honest haven't put the most effort into looking and I'm pretty much flat broke. This leads most people to ask me "What do you do all day?" and I can't really answer that well.
I'm lucky because a decent amount of my friends who I attended school with stuck around this summer, so I don't have a shortage of people to hang out with. And hang out we do. I live with my best friend who I've known since senior kindergarden. Another two of my very good friends live only a block down the street. A house of friends is only two blocks in the other direction. I've been playing bass with a group of great friends and could not be happier about playing music again. They live only a town over and are just a $7 bus ride away.
Basically what I'm trying to get at is that there is no shortage of people around for me to see and I love it. Even better is that we always have room in our house, so friends come and go for weekends.
But still, what am I doing? Well I just returned from a trip to New York City. While I was there I got to see the Arrogant Sons of Bitches play a reunion show, which I never though I would be able to see in person. Three Cheers For Disappointment has been my favourite album since the first time I heard it right at the end of 11th grade, so seeing these songs (along with many other amazing ones from the band's back catalogue) was extremely important and special to me. Not to mention screaming as loud as I possibly could to "Have Fun Rotting By Yourself", "Yeah, I Don't Know What It's Like To Be Around A Bunch Of Hipsters", "Last On My List", "So Let's Go! Nowhere!" and "Built To Fail Motherfucker" with James during the encore. Fucking amazing. On top of that, during Dan Potthast's set opening the show ASOB came out to serve as his backing band for some mu330 songs. Great night.
On top of my ska orgasm on Sunday night I also got to see a Mets game at Citi Field, show my brother around the city for his first time and meet a ton of rad people along the way. I love New York and especially Brooklyn and really want to move there at some point in my life.
The weekend before this I went to Montreal for the second edition of Pouzza Fest. The weekend was a pretty ridiculous bender, topped by staying up all of Sunday night to party in the streets. Even better than hanging out and having amazing times with a whole whack of friends was seeing amazing bands the entire time, especially Classics of Love, The Suicide Machines, Lagwagon, The Lawrence Arms, The Menzingers, The Bouncing Souls, Cheap Girls, Junior Battles and lots more.
A great part about travelling to go to music festivals like The Fest, Death To False Hope Records Fest and Pouzza over the last few years has been that I've accrued a ton of great friends all over North America (and even Austrailia and the UK!). So when a group of them were making travel plans for Pouzza Fest this year, they decided to come up to Southern Ontario a week early to see a house show in Waterloo I played and to hang out! It was more or less the best.
This stretch of events take us back to May 15h, the date of the show. The weekend before the show three of my closest friends came up from Toronto. I hadn't seen them in a long time and we had an absolute rager of a time. I miss the fuck out of them and don't see them enough so that weekend was a great time. The week before all of this consisted of my friends and I in Guelph relishing in our freedom from school by drinking and smoking and hanging out and skateboarding and raising hell and attending a particularly funny roof-top party on Wyndham Street.
This was, and I say this without exaggeration, the best month of my life. It really had everything I could have asked for.
So people keep asking me what I'm actually doing because I graduated and have no job. The easiest answer is that I've been having the time of my life and doing exactly what I want to.
I'm lucky because a decent amount of my friends who I attended school with stuck around this summer, so I don't have a shortage of people to hang out with. And hang out we do. I live with my best friend who I've known since senior kindergarden. Another two of my very good friends live only a block down the street. A house of friends is only two blocks in the other direction. I've been playing bass with a group of great friends and could not be happier about playing music again. They live only a town over and are just a $7 bus ride away.
Basically what I'm trying to get at is that there is no shortage of people around for me to see and I love it. Even better is that we always have room in our house, so friends come and go for weekends.
But still, what am I doing? Well I just returned from a trip to New York City. While I was there I got to see the Arrogant Sons of Bitches play a reunion show, which I never though I would be able to see in person. Three Cheers For Disappointment has been my favourite album since the first time I heard it right at the end of 11th grade, so seeing these songs (along with many other amazing ones from the band's back catalogue) was extremely important and special to me. Not to mention screaming as loud as I possibly could to "Have Fun Rotting By Yourself", "Yeah, I Don't Know What It's Like To Be Around A Bunch Of Hipsters", "Last On My List", "So Let's Go! Nowhere!" and "Built To Fail Motherfucker" with James during the encore. Fucking amazing. On top of that, during Dan Potthast's set opening the show ASOB came out to serve as his backing band for some mu330 songs. Great night.
On top of my ska orgasm on Sunday night I also got to see a Mets game at Citi Field, show my brother around the city for his first time and meet a ton of rad people along the way. I love New York and especially Brooklyn and really want to move there at some point in my life.
The weekend before this I went to Montreal for the second edition of Pouzza Fest. The weekend was a pretty ridiculous bender, topped by staying up all of Sunday night to party in the streets. Even better than hanging out and having amazing times with a whole whack of friends was seeing amazing bands the entire time, especially Classics of Love, The Suicide Machines, Lagwagon, The Lawrence Arms, The Menzingers, The Bouncing Souls, Cheap Girls, Junior Battles and lots more.
A great part about travelling to go to music festivals like The Fest, Death To False Hope Records Fest and Pouzza over the last few years has been that I've accrued a ton of great friends all over North America (and even Austrailia and the UK!). So when a group of them were making travel plans for Pouzza Fest this year, they decided to come up to Southern Ontario a week early to see a house show in Waterloo I played and to hang out! It was more or less the best.
This stretch of events take us back to May 15h, the date of the show. The weekend before the show three of my closest friends came up from Toronto. I hadn't seen them in a long time and we had an absolute rager of a time. I miss the fuck out of them and don't see them enough so that weekend was a great time. The week before all of this consisted of my friends and I in Guelph relishing in our freedom from school by drinking and smoking and hanging out and skateboarding and raising hell and attending a particularly funny roof-top party on Wyndham Street.
This was, and I say this without exaggeration, the best month of my life. It really had everything I could have asked for.
So people keep asking me what I'm actually doing because I graduated and have no job. The easiest answer is that I've been having the time of my life and doing exactly what I want to.
Monday, May 7, 2012
You Took A Piece Of Me
I think this band really rules a lot. They play ska. They rule. You can listen to the entire album right here!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Sorry About The Mess
I didn't realize until after I woke up and cruised through Twitter once, but today is May 4th. This is significant officially for 0 reasons (Bird Day?) (Greenery Day?) (Lance Bass' birthday?), but significant unofficially for two reasons as it's considered both Jawbreaker Appreciation Day and Star Wars Day (Again, unofficially.). The More I think about this, the more I think it's pretty fucking dumb.
The Jawbreaker thing is because they have a popular song called "Sluttering (May 4th)" off their album Dear You. I guess that's fine? It seems like pretty much every band who has a song that has a date for a title experiences the same thing. For example, May 16th is Lagwagon day, August 8th is NoFX day, August 19th is Ergs! day, etc. Though the Jawbreaker one is by far the most popular (The Lagwagon one is kind of popular as well.), I think that this is more an example of fans of a band trying to show they like them and get others to like them as well. While I'm sure the multiple postings of "Sluttering" by friends may get a little annoying today, it's pretty harmless, mostly because Jawbreaker rules and more people SHOULD listen to them. It seems kind of dumb to me that a band's day would be based off the title of one of their songs, rather than the day they formed or played their first show or released their landmark album, but OH WELL right?
The Star Wars thing really grinds my gears though. Yes, yes, yes, I'm aware I've mentioned it here before, but let me have this one. As far as I can tell, the entire "Unofficial Star Wars Day" comes completely from the fact that "May the 4th be with you." sounds almost exactly like "May the force be with you." I don't know if it's just me being a jaded asshole or not, but basing a "day" around those two sentences sounding the same is pretty fucking stupid. Why not May 25th, the day it was originally released? Anything other than fucking May 4th because that date is completely irrelevant and it drives me up the wall. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love Star Wars. The original three movies are among my favourites ever and I watch them pretty regularly, but this day just seems like the dumbest thing to me. Especially since most of consists of people posting "may the 4th b wit u. LOL such a nerd!!!!!!!" or something to that effect on Facebook.
Or maybe I'm just overreacting? Probably.
Go Jays go.
The Jawbreaker thing is because they have a popular song called "Sluttering (May 4th)" off their album Dear You. I guess that's fine? It seems like pretty much every band who has a song that has a date for a title experiences the same thing. For example, May 16th is Lagwagon day, August 8th is NoFX day, August 19th is Ergs! day, etc. Though the Jawbreaker one is by far the most popular (The Lagwagon one is kind of popular as well.), I think that this is more an example of fans of a band trying to show they like them and get others to like them as well. While I'm sure the multiple postings of "Sluttering" by friends may get a little annoying today, it's pretty harmless, mostly because Jawbreaker rules and more people SHOULD listen to them. It seems kind of dumb to me that a band's day would be based off the title of one of their songs, rather than the day they formed or played their first show or released their landmark album, but OH WELL right?
The Star Wars thing really grinds my gears though. Yes, yes, yes, I'm aware I've mentioned it here before, but let me have this one. As far as I can tell, the entire "Unofficial Star Wars Day" comes completely from the fact that "May the 4th be with you." sounds almost exactly like "May the force be with you." I don't know if it's just me being a jaded asshole or not, but basing a "day" around those two sentences sounding the same is pretty fucking stupid. Why not May 25th, the day it was originally released? Anything other than fucking May 4th because that date is completely irrelevant and it drives me up the wall. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love Star Wars. The original three movies are among my favourites ever and I watch them pretty regularly, but this day just seems like the dumbest thing to me. Especially since most of consists of people posting "may the 4th b wit u. LOL such a nerd!!!!!!!" or something to that effect on Facebook.
Or maybe I'm just overreacting? Probably.
Go Jays go.
Monday, April 9, 2012
How About The Beatles? Or Fucking... Fucking Beethoven? Side One, Track One Of The Fifth Symphony?
I think I've decided that I'm going to make every title for these a High Fidelity quote. GREAT IDEA RIGHT?
Top 5 Things That People Do That I Don't Understand:
Top 5 Things That People Do That I Don't Understand:
5. Say they hate coffee
4. Enjoy Intervention
3. Eat Subway with regularity
2. Prefer Tim Hortin's coffee over any other variety.
1. Not fart in public
Top 5 Fav Animals:
5. Bats
4. Ring-Tailed Lemurs
3. Raccoons
1. Doggies
1. Sharks
Top 5 Most Confusing Things On Earth:
5. Existence
4. Girls
3. Girls
2. Girls
1. Girls
Top 5 Ska Bands From Long Island:
5. The Vagabonds
4. Highschool Football Heroes
3. Edna's Goldfish
2. The Fad
1. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
(No BtMI! does not count for this category.)
(It was always pretty cool when LI bands would come through Toronto on tour. We were close enough that we got to see a lot of really cool bands before they broke up. They were always way better than ours.)
Top 5 Most Confusing Things On Earth:
5. Existence
4. Girls
3. Girls
2. Girls
1. Girls
Top 5 Ska Bands From Long Island:
5. The Vagabonds
4. Highschool Football Heroes
3. Edna's Goldfish
2. The Fad
1. The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
(No BtMI! does not count for this category.)
(It was always pretty cool when LI bands would come through Toronto on tour. We were close enough that we got to see a lot of really cool bands before they broke up. They were always way better than ours.)
How Can I Be So Self-Important In The World Today?
Graduating from university is a very scary thing.
I know most who read this are friends of mine, if you don't know me personally I'm currently ending my last semester of university. I also took an extra year to finish my degree, so while about half the people I know had to face up to what I'm now thinking about a year ago, I'm only dealing with it now. The 5th year I took for my Bachelor of Arts gave me a way to put of thinking about graduation and life after Guelph , but this semester has forced me to finally face up to it.
This is the first time I've had to seriously think about where my life is going. Some people find that graduating high-school can be a pretty big crossroads for them, but that wasn't really the case for me. Sure, I was confused for a little bit about where I was going to school and had really no idea about what my major was going to be, but I knew I would going to a university in the fall and that school was going to be occupying at the next four years of my life. It's not like I had a total life-plan, but I knew where I was going next.
Ever since enrolling at the University of Guelph, every summer has been more or less the same: Move back to Scarborough once the winter semester is done and then start working during mid-May to make money for the upcoming school year. At the end of the past four years I knew I already had a job lined up and knew that I was going back to finish my degree after that.
Since then Guelph and working at Ontario Place has been a safety net for me. Neither had any long-term benefits for me really as people don't really jump over each other to hire people have four years experience of learning about the Italian Renaissance and lifeguarding was a student job and nothing more. I enjoyed it and it gave adequate pay for my lifestyle at school. They were perfect for the time but didn't really do anything for the future.
So now I'm faced with something completely new to me: Figuring out just what to fucking do with myself. I just finished my first exam and am now 1/4 of the way through my final final exam period, which in turn means that I'm very close to completely finishing school. Also, though chances were slim I was heading back to the water-park for a fifth year, Ontario Place announced this winter that it would be closing pretty much the entire park until 2017 (The second sentence of that article hit the nail on the head. Ontario Place is a shithole, crooked and a black-hole for tax money (Which paid negligent assholes like me!). Get me drunk and I'll tell you all about it.), which meant that even though I wasn't planning on going back again, the safety net of having a job already lined up for me was gone.
Pretty much all I know about the next 4 1/2 months is that I'm going to be living in Guelph. I've gotten a few leads on jobs, but have nothing concrete lined up yet. But this end of semester isn't the worst deadline, because who knows what the fuck I'm doing come September.
Basically what I'm saying is that it's pretty scary, man.
But every shitcloud has a silver shitlining. I'm really excited to live in Guelph this summer, as I've never spent the season here. I'll have my own house for the whole summer, which is pretty awesome. I've also got a cottage trip with my best friends from home, visits from some American friends, Pouzza Fest and a trip to New York to see the Arrogant Sons of Bitches to look forward to.
Not to mention 159 more games of Blue Jays baseball!
So I guess even though this is a pretty terrifying time for me, I shouldn't complain because some people have it a hell of a lot worse, eh?
I know most who read this are friends of mine, if you don't know me personally I'm currently ending my last semester of university. I also took an extra year to finish my degree, so while about half the people I know had to face up to what I'm now thinking about a year ago, I'm only dealing with it now. The 5th year I took for my Bachelor of Arts gave me a way to put of thinking about graduation and life after Guelph , but this semester has forced me to finally face up to it.
This is the first time I've had to seriously think about where my life is going. Some people find that graduating high-school can be a pretty big crossroads for them, but that wasn't really the case for me. Sure, I was confused for a little bit about where I was going to school and had really no idea about what my major was going to be, but I knew I would going to a university in the fall and that school was going to be occupying at the next four years of my life. It's not like I had a total life-plan, but I knew where I was going next.
Ever since enrolling at the University of Guelph, every summer has been more or less the same: Move back to Scarborough once the winter semester is done and then start working during mid-May to make money for the upcoming school year. At the end of the past four years I knew I already had a job lined up and knew that I was going back to finish my degree after that.
Since then Guelph and working at Ontario Place has been a safety net for me. Neither had any long-term benefits for me really as people don't really jump over each other to hire people have four years experience of learning about the Italian Renaissance and lifeguarding was a student job and nothing more. I enjoyed it and it gave adequate pay for my lifestyle at school. They were perfect for the time but didn't really do anything for the future.
So now I'm faced with something completely new to me: Figuring out just what to fucking do with myself. I just finished my first exam and am now 1/4 of the way through my final final exam period, which in turn means that I'm very close to completely finishing school. Also, though chances were slim I was heading back to the water-park for a fifth year, Ontario Place announced this winter that it would be closing pretty much the entire park until 2017 (The second sentence of that article hit the nail on the head. Ontario Place is a shithole, crooked and a black-hole for tax money (Which paid negligent assholes like me!). Get me drunk and I'll tell you all about it.), which meant that even though I wasn't planning on going back again, the safety net of having a job already lined up for me was gone.
Pretty much all I know about the next 4 1/2 months is that I'm going to be living in Guelph. I've gotten a few leads on jobs, but have nothing concrete lined up yet. But this end of semester isn't the worst deadline, because who knows what the fuck I'm doing come September.
Basically what I'm saying is that it's pretty scary, man.
But every shitcloud has a silver shitlining. I'm really excited to live in Guelph this summer, as I've never spent the season here. I'll have my own house for the whole summer, which is pretty awesome. I've also got a cottage trip with my best friends from home, visits from some American friends, Pouzza Fest and a trip to New York to see the Arrogant Sons of Bitches to look forward to.
Not to mention 159 more games of Blue Jays baseball!
So I guess even though this is a pretty terrifying time for me, I shouldn't complain because some people have it a hell of a lot worse, eh?
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