Monday June 23, 2008

Goodbye George Carlin (1937-2008)  :’(

Saturday June 21, 2008

My goal is to learn these two songs by Summerfolk. Yikes…

Friday June 20, 2008

I hope all of you who are able are going to see Dala and The Undesirables tonight Saturday night in Meaford! I promised Sean Cotton I’d recruit as many of you wankers as I could, but I haven’t been doing a very good job talking to people this week, and I don’t think anyone reads tcow.org much anymore. SO, go to this concert. Drag your friends (and enemies) along. I promise, it will be fantastic.

Speaking of Sean Cotton, if you want to witness this fantastic man bar-tending, singing, and playing guitar all at the same time, you should head down to Not My Dog in Parkdale any Monday night for Mo’ Music Mondays, hosted by Brian Macmillan. It’s a tiny bar, but a hugely good time!

56 days to Summerfolk 2008! I figure I need to practice about 3 or 4 hours of guitar a day if I want to be even close to where I would like to be when it arrives. I can’t believe how quickly it’s coming up! I’ve been so slack with the practicing though. Half an hour, almost every day, at best. :(  I could blame the guitar’s action, which badly needs to be adjusted… But really, I just need to get my ass in gear and work harder. The day before I head to Owen Sound for Summerfolk, I’m going to see Don Ross and Andy McKee, two of my guitar heroes, play together at Hugh’s Room, my favourite music venue in Toronto. It’s going to be the best week ever.

Finally, yesterday I all of a sudden felt nostalgic for 1999. They were some good times. Specifically, this:

Wednesday June 18, 2008 part 2

I just sold my 12 string guitar today. I haven’t played it in a couple years and I’m short on space and money, so it seemed sensible.

Then I found this:

Sigh… :S

Wednesday June 18, 2008

Why can’t I ever sleep anymore? This is starting to get ridiculous.

Wednesday June 4, 2008

I’ve been notified that I haven’t yet mentioned in either of my weblogs that I’m moving soon. Soon, like this Friday. I suppose I could have put it in my MSN personal message, but I don’t really care for those. You might as well get a blog if your personal message is going to be that long and detailed! Anyways, here it is: I’m moving to a new place on Friday, yay! It’s not far from here. 10 minutes or so in a car. More on the bus. My phone number will be the same too. That’s all I had to say… I still hate weblogs.

Friday May 23, 2008

I’m doubtful that many people will happen to read this before it’s too late, but in case you do, I’ll be in Owen Sound for the weekend. My agenda so far is: Friday around 10pm, get into Owen Sound. Wander around town doing some recreational drinking. Saturday when I wake up, take a trip to the Bean Cellar for some coffee and an Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich. Then until 8pm I have no plans. If you’re free and would like to hang out, do call! I’ll most likely be in the downtown area. I might also have some free time on Sunday. I’m not sure what time I’m leaving yet.

Wednesday May 21, 2008

Dear Rogers Wireless,

    I appreciate your optimism, but please don’t mistake my being locked into a 3 year contract, or my lack of other options in telephone providers for “customer loyalty”. I would sell you out in a second if I had the opportunity and could do so without incurring harsh financial penalties from you. Early morning telephone calls thanking me for choosing Rogers are nothing short of patronizing. Please just go away and be happy looking at your massive quarterly profit reports without bothering me anymore.

         insincerely, Jon

Tuesday May 20, 2008

Did I mention I hate blogs now? No, not yours! Just this one.

Friday April 25, 2008

My little sister graduated college with a baby. Way to go Joanna! :)

Thursday April 3, 2008

Sometimes when I’m staring at my computer, surfing the Internets for hours on end, I forget I’m in Toronto. On the Internet, you’re everywhere. And nowhere specific. Then some random loud noise from outside will snap me back into reality, like, whoa… According to Ray Kurzweil, a man who has a lot to say about technology and the future, one day humans will be able to upload our consciousnesses into computers and no longer be tied to physical bodies (who’s only real function is to keep the brain alive (which it’s apparently just barely doing anyways for much of the population)). So we’ll be able to zip around the Internet, go wherever we want, communicate with whoever we want instantly… There’s complications with this scenario of course, like developing multiple personalities by just copying the data that is your consciousness, or Bell throttling your connection speed if you don’t pay enough. Hell, if Bell is still the boss of the Internet infrastructure (ie. the phone lines) when this consciousness-uploading technology is possible, then I think I”ll opt to stay with my physical model.

It’s really quite nice outside! Get off the damned Internet.

Monday March 31, 2008

I got drunk tonight and installed Linux! Kubuntu 7.10 to be exact, in case you were an uber-geek and were wondering. Unfortunately I don’t quite know enough uber-geeks, at least in the Linux field, and was reliant on my brother to get this thing up and running. But for some weird reason he decided he needed to sleep. This was supposed to be simple! Well, it was.. an adventure. But now I’m up and running. I can use the Internets, chat on MSN/GTalk, play Solitaire… What more could one possibly need from a computer? My system will dual-boot (I hope!) so if I absolutely need Windows I can still get back to it. But for now, this whole idea of free, open-source software really appeals to me.

Last night, Kayla’s belated birthday party. It was fun! All the cool people were there. Apparently I left early. But on the way home I randomly walked into a random bar that I heard music coming from, and was very surprised when I ran into the waitress, who I last saw serving me coffee at the Bean Cellar! Life has been full of weird random coincidences lately.

Goodnight!

Wednesday March 19, 2008

I’m really sick of getting sports stories in my news feeds. I don’t care about sports! Now even if they’re local. I never played sports, I only watch them when there’s friends and liquor involved, and I just don’t even want to read the headlines. Most newspapers, in print or on the Internet, have a whole section set apart for sports. And these sections on the web usually have their own RSS feed too. The Toronto Star has about 100 separate RSS Feeds for all your different interests. SO, if I wanted Sports, I would subscribe to the Sports RSS. When I subscribe to Local New, Top Stories, International News, etc, I DON’T want Sports headlines delivered to my feed reader. I want NEWS! But the sports come anyways, because some ass-hat has decided that sports stories constitute local news. Whoever you are, fuck off already! If I find out where you live I’m going to come beat you nearly to death with a rolled up sports section. </rant>

Monday March 17, 2008

 Jon’s guide to getting a good sleep every night

 - 6 ounces of vodka before bed

- 2 ibuprofen & 1+  cup(s) of coffee in the morning

- regular liver transplants

Tuesday March 11, 2008

I absolutely HATE birds! Like, really really hate them! It’s not just that I was prematurely woken up by hordes of the damned creatures outside my window several mornings in a row now, though that has contributed largely to this outburst. But when you look into a birds’ eyes, you can see, they are pure evil! They have no soul. Not that I believe in souls to start with, but whatever quality it is that gives most humans and some cats and monkeys possess that gives the illusion of having a soul, it is clearly lacking in birds. They would pluck out your babies eyes in front of you and squak in delight to all its friends. Or associates. I doubt birds have real friends. Many nature documentaries have convinced me that birds are the most conniving, thieving, backstabbing species out there. Oh, their cries! Think of the call of the seagull, hawk, turkey vulture.. the raven! Those aren’t pleasant happy sounds at all! And the militaristic, oppressive regime of The United States of America certainly didn’t choose the bald eagle as its official mascot because it was soft and cuddly looking. Birds are an evolutionary throwback. But they chose the wrong path. Monkeys are so where it’s at now. I say, the food chain can do without them! I propose the mass extermination of birds everywhere! They’ll only lead to trouble in the end.

 Well, let’s keep the chickens anyways.. I like some eggs with my bacon.

(Please keep in mind, I’m no botanist. I don’t actually know anything about birds! Some of my information may be factually unsound.)

Sunday March 9, 2008

Friday night (more like Saturday morning) I randomly went to a rave at Blak with James. Despite the good review at that previous link, it’s one of my least favourite party venues in town. Too dark. Too grimy. Just not a comfortable place. Possibly heavy doses of narcotics help with that. I was able to justify the cost in my head though by the fact that this party was a benifit gig for the victims of the Great Queen st. W Fire of 2008. On the way home at 4am I ran into this random neighbour of mine for the third time this month waiting for the good old 313 night bus. Having someone to chat with makes the trip a lot less boring, even though we were probably too drunk and obnoxiously loud. That’s what you get for taking a bus at 4am!

So anyways, the interesting thing, and the point of this whole blog post, was when I was reading my news feeds the next morning to discover that a man had been shot dead by police very close to where I was waiting for the bus, about 5 minutes after we left. I wonder if the man who was shot was the same crazy guy I was talking to before I got on the bus. That would have been a strange coincidence. This crazy guy asked for a smoke, and then proceeded to talk non-stop, but the only bits that were remotely intelligible were something about hating the English and Jews, having Mafia connections, and starting a war. Fortunately vodka makes me immune to crazy people.

That’s the second shooting I’ve just barely missed! Once in Mississauga, Trevor and I were on our way to the movies but aborted the plan due to freezing rain, and someone got shot in the parking lot of the theatre we were going to, at the time we would have got there. I always miss the good stuff! :P Now… time to be lazy. It’s Sunday after all! God said “Don’t do shit today or I’ll get pissed off again and kill you all!” or something like that…

Friday February 22, 2008

I’ve been looking at want-ads for bass players on Craigslist lately, and they always seem so formidable, frequently using words like “serious” and “dedicated” and “professional”. I followed links to the bands’ MySpace pages wherever they were available and came to the realization that I could easily play most of the stuff I heard, in my sleep (or possibly drunk). So, I’ve decided to put more effort into actually finding a band to play with. I believe I’ve only had my bass out once since Summerfolk. It’ll be good practice. I’ve been putting lots of work into guitar though and hopefully I’ll have some new material to roll out soon.

 I’m taking an impromptu trip to Owen Sound this weekend. Chances are, if you read this blog you already know that though. I’ll be getting into town sometime in the evening on Saturday, so don’t hesitate to call/text me if you want to hang out. I’ve got absolutely no plan yet. Things always seem to work out anyways.

This entry seems too short… Oh well!

Monday February 18, 2008

Ottawa was a blast! I didn’t get outside much but we had good times visiting with Mike and Anthony and other random people who showed up. I just got back to Toronto around noon. We planned to go to bed earlyish last night and leave Ottawa around 11 this morning, but instead after still not being in bed at 5am Martin decided we should drive home then. Cars aren’t terribly comfortable to try to sleep in, but we made it alive, and I’m real glad to be out of the car, off the highway. I’ll probably put some pictures from the trip over on the TCOW Weblog Photo Galleries at some point in the near future.

In other news, I just learned that Foo Fighters and Against Me are playing at the Air Canada Centre next month, a few days after my birthday, and decided that I really really wanted to go. Unfortunately tickets were sold out long ago, and the low bids on E-Bay start up around $150. I’m sad now. :( If anyone happens across a couple of tickets to this show for $50/each or less, let me know IMMEDIATELY!

I haven’t slept since Saturday night. I should probably do so now. Goodbye normal sleep schedule!

Thursday February 14, 2008

Last night I went down to a tiny bar called Not My Dog and watched The Undesirables cover all of the Rolling Stones album Exile on Main St.  It was terrific! They also played some of their own old favourites. It’s really great to be able to see them in such an intimate venue. Corin and Shaun both have a brilliant passion for whatever they’re playing that comes out even more when you’re sitting right up by the stage, or in this case, an area of the bar where they moved a few tables out of the way so they could set up. It made me wish for Summerfolk even more! Sadly, they won’t be playing there this summer, but there’s lots of other good folk coming back, like Jory Nash. Speaking of Summerfolk, according to my calculations we are exactly halfway through the year to the next one! Just a few more months of this disgusting cold, snowy weather and we’ll be back in our tents getting drunk (optional) listening to wonderful music late into the night. I can hardly wait! And now I’ve wasted more than enough time blogging about entirely unimportant stuff, so I better hop in the shower, make supper, and fold my laundry (clearly not all at the same time!) in order to make it to The Cameron House in time to see Corin Raymond and The Sundowners play their last gig there before Corin and Shaun head off on their tour of Australia, not to grace Toronto with their music again until April.

Tuesday February 13, 2008

 Despite getting to sleep early (relatively, of course) and having minimal interruptions from the alley-dwellers, I woke up this morning feeling pretty haggard. So, the first thing I did after crawling out of bed was to drink a can of Red Bull. I thought this would make an adequate substitute for coffee, as we had no cream. Unfortunately, rather than give me energy (”wings”… Damnit I hate Red Bull commercials!) all it did was make me feel sick to my stomach. Lesson learned? Probably not… 

The goal today is to go grocery shopping, then head downtown to try to find some thermal long underwear (would you believe Walmart didn’t have any?) before I go to Ottawa this weekend (weather permitting). I hear it’s quite cold there! Ottawa might turn out to be a nice adventure. Or it might end up being dreadfully dull. We’ll see. It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do here! I also need to buy a new keyboard. I’ve been through three in the past two days. Don’t ask. The grocery shopping is done. Six minutes between the time I walked in the front doors and the time I left, with a full list! This is why I prefer to shop alone. My efficiency would make Stalin jealous. :P

I made a flyer for Drunk & Bowl ‘08! You can see it at TCOW.org. I think it looks half decent for a few hours Photoshop work. I hope everyone can make it! It’s my favourite party of the year. (Not including Summerfolk, which incidentally, we are halfway through the year to!)