26 posts tagged “random”
Remember a while back when I posted about the random assortment of foods I had never (or only recently) tried in my life? I feel I should update it, being that it's 2008 and all. And maybe find some new foods to try. Most of the foods I tried recently for the first time were mediocre at best. My taste buds weren't missing much.
Foods I Tried For The First Time In 2007 (from the 2006 "Haven't Tried" list)
figs, sea vegetables, pomegranate, white vinegar, tequila, sauerkraut, oreo cookies, green olives, kraft dinner
...and a few that weren't on that list, that I had forgotten about, also tried for the first time in 2007/2008:
coconut cream pie, corn chowder (first chowder of any kind!), Ben & Jerry's ice cream, carrot soup, beets, pumpernickel bread, barley, split peas, pinto beans, sour cream glazed donut, date square, couscous, crunchie chocolate bar, portobello mushrooms as a burger, eggs benedict, red grapes, chai tea latte, cranberries
I still haven't tried:
pistachios, seitan, heavenly hash ice cream, mole, dutchie, french kruller, boston cream donut, those greek vine leaves with stuff inside, tapenade (see also: olives), pork rinds, fun dip, sherry, ice wine, any salad dressing other than italian (ie: french, ranch, thousand islands), quiche, huevos rancheros, lobster, scallops, mussels, oysters, clams, caviar, relish, schwarma,
fruit cake, onion rings, jack daniels, gyros, sauerkraut,
bubble tea, wild rice,ibs, green olives, watercress,
herring, perrier/club soda/san pellegrino, wonton soup, matzoh balls,
creme brulee, tiramisu, street meat, puffed wheat/shredded wheat, brandy, chicken wings, wine gums
- I scored 100% on this My So Called Life quiz.
- I'm on the cusp of purchasing the best boots EVER. I spotted them at one of my favourite shops late last night and had it been open, I would have promptly purchased them. I'm giddy with excitement - it's next to impossible to please me when it comes to boots.
- How amazing is the movie Legend? I watched it again this weekend...Tom Cruise is in FINE form in this film.
- For 95 cents you can get a wake-up call from www.wakeupland.com that includes five snooze calls. Amazing.
- Funnies via Augusten Burroughs' blog: "Both of my dogs have whiter teeth than I do, btw, and neither of them has ever brushed, not even once."
Newly discovered bands
Foals
Modeselektor
Cajun Dance Party
Taken By Trees
Newly amazing albums
Apparat - Walls
M83 - Digital Shades, Vol. 1
Boys Noize - Oi Oi Oi
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
M.I.A. - Kala
Ian Brown - The World Is Yours
Babyshambles - Shotter's Nation
- I'm thinking of doing a throwback to my old school days of carrying around a knife. I was thinking maybe a butterfly knife?
- It's totally unfair to play Jamiroquai's Canned Heat in a place like Chapters. I was there earlier today and was FIGHTING the urge to dance in the stacks. The irrepressible urge eventually won, and me and two other strangers were fully engaged in our own dance party in front of the "Chapters Recommends" wall. Excellent times.
- Favourite new insult (via Emma): to fillet. "I'm going to fillet ____ when she comes back from vacation - she left me with so much tedious/needless work to do."
I can't stop listening to Fancy Footwork (the album AND the song) by Chromeo.
Last night at the Travis show, the music playing beforehand was incredible - it smelled like something Scotty or Mike from Miasma days (back in 2003) would play; I wonder if it was! I heard this wicked song that reeked of The Cure, but I didn't recognize it at all. I mean come on; clearly I know every pre-2001 song by The Cure. Imagine my shock when I got home to google some of the lyrics, to find out that the song, called The Baby Screams, is from the 1985 album The Head On The Door. Naturally I own that album (although it's on vinyl), so WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD THIS SONG?! Grab it here and have a listen to how amazing it is!
My review of the Travis show is here. It was just as incredible as when I saw them in their late 90s/early 00s heyday. Fran's definitely still got it. I was pogo-ing so hard near the end, getting completely trampled on (thank god I wasn't wearing open-toed shoes), I had to catch my breath in order to recover.
How did they mobilize 1500 inmates in The Philippines, AND teach them a choreographed dance to Michael Jackson's Thriller? Who knows!
The stairwell at work smells like sauna coals.
I've been in a major funk for the past couple of weeks. But I don't think it's anything a dance party & some jaegerbombs can't cure. I plan to make both happen tomorrow night. Gotta round up some troops first.
SOMETHING has been pollinating in the last few days and it's rustled up a lot of discomfort. I have been rubbing my eyes and sneezing a lot, and so have a lot of people around me, I've noticed. What is it...ragweed? UPDATE: Here we go. Thanks Rich! Damn you, cladosporium spores!
Yesterday I went to see Tortoise at Lee's Palace and there was some sort of drumming festival/competition taking place at Dance Cave on the second floor. When I ducked out to use the washroom, I walked in on a completely naked woman (not wholly unattractive) standing in front of the mirror fixing her hair. WTF? And then she just walked right past me and out the door, like it was altogether normal for her to not be wearing any clothes at Lee's Palace on a Tuesday night. Poor timing for her if she expected not to be ogled - Lee's was about 85% dudes last night.
For much of last night I had a wild roti hangover after eating a spicy vegetable korma roti from Gandhi House - it felt like I was hallucinating. I didn't have a drop of alcohol yet my mobility was impaired and I was seeing things. The spice is nice but it may have been a little too much!
Smoothies taste so much better with organic strawberries and tequila in them.
I enjoy it when guys wear really fucking bizarre t-shirts that command attention. Like:
- "I'm not Santa, but you can sit in my lap." (30-something IT type on the subway)
- "I'M HUNGRY" (large man walking down Queen Street - there were condiment stains on the shirt)
- "Get the F out." (Daniel Radcliffe lookalike at the juice bar)
This past long weekend I...
- downloaded my first ever ringtone and applied it to my phone.
- bought an iPod Shuffle for the gym. I've loaded it almost entirely with deep bass thumping progressive house and live DJ sets. However, I was aggrieved to learn, just now, that unlike the larger scale iPods, you can only use/load the Shuffle with music from ONE computer (PC or Mac, not interchangeably). Grr. But I do love my Shuffle. It's tiny, pink, and I can't stop staring at it. It's gonna be a great little sister to my 80gb juggernaut that currently houses my entire music library and more.
- brunched at Bonjour Brioche. Why have I not been there before? I'm furious with myself! On Saturday night at around 4am I was chatting with some friends about my intense craving for french toast. John A. suggested that I head over to Mars Diner on College for a quick fix. How would I get there at such an ungodly hour? He told me to take a cab and I actually paused to consider it. Jonathan's idea was better though - wait it out a few hours and have baked french toast using day old croissants at Bonjour Brioche. It was a decadent meal - Nick and I split a sweet potato & ginger soup and a brioche; he had the Croque Madam and I had the french toast.
- consumed copious amounts of sangria on Sunday night. Even more great music was enjoyed. And countless drunken antics, including an O Canada/I Think We're Alone Now singalong medley at The Embassy. It will be YouTubed shortly.
- spent Friday all day at Canada's Wonderland again! The Lazy River and I have had a longstanding date for the past two Fridays, and possibly the next few as well.
- started watching the HBO series Big Love and also completely caught up on So You Think You Can Dance (Season 3). I love Lauren, Lacey, Hok (!) & Neil the best!!
This morning on the subway ride to work, the thirty-something dude sitting beside me was completely wasted. He reeked of alcohol. And he seemed to be heading somewhere, not heading home to sleep. I read on Digg yesterday that young adults account for more than half of all 'alcoholics'. The other night on the platform at my stop, the TTC workers were rocking out Black Sabbath, Soundgarden and Rush while touching up ceiling paint in the station. They had a huge ghettoblaster plugged in and were taking timeouts from the paint job to air guitar and rock out devil horns. WTF?
Talk about guilty pleasures: I'm loving the new illScarlett album (I can't stop listening to Nothing Special & Life Of A Soldier. Jonathan and I are embroiled in a discussion about it right now that's revolved around repeating the same three statements over and over again.). You can listen to the album here, if you like!
I've had to type the word REUNION a lot lately, and for some reason I can NEVER spell it right on the first try (this most recent time included :@). Why the fuck?
Between Flickr & Facebook, I never upload pics to Vox anymore. If you want to see what I've been up to (with my new camera), head over to Flickr!
All this talk about roid rage made me remember that I miss Mivi, and this fun little convo we had just before she left on vacation!
[16:16] Jonathan Soja has joined the chat.
[16:17] Michelle V has joined the chat
Michelle V: i need to dropkick someone
Kat: how about a suplex?
Kat: http://img.search.com/thumb/4/44/DelayedVerticalSuplex.jpg/230px-DelayedVerticalSuplex.jpg
Michelle V: oh i know what a suplex is my friend
Kat: LOL - have you ever administered one?
Michelle V: cannot say i have
Michelle V: krystin would be easy for me to try that on
Kat: LOL!!!
Jonathan Soja: HAHAHA
Kat: when/where
Michelle V: in a playful way
Kat: suplexes aren't playful
Michelle V: don't want to hurt anyone
Michelle V: oh except that one cuntmuscle...
Kat: for that may i suggest a DDT?
Jonathan Soja: an uppercut to the solarplexes?
Michelle V: LOL!
Michelle V: that's my favourite
Kat: or a sidewalk slam
Kat: who are you jonathan, the champ?
Michelle V: HAHAHA
Kat: i'm listening to a sexy song now
Kat: it's a bit inappropriate
Kat: look how indepth this article is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_%28professional_wrestling%29#Tombstone_piledriver
Michelle V: hence the sudden need to suggest various wrestling moves to try on fellow coworkers
Kat: on SAID coworkers
Michelle V: ha!
Kat: ...or the people's elbow
Kat: that's an easy one to administer at work
Michelle V: the people's eyebrow is even easier
Kat: HAHAHAHA
Michelle V: though the only thing hurt are feelings
Kat: michelle i heart you
I titled my blog 'working for the weekend' because it makes me think of that Patrick Swayze/Chris Farley Chippendales skit on SNL from like 10 years ago, and it makes me chuckle.
My weekend (which started on Thursday since I took Friday off to recover from the MMV-Heyyyyys) in a nutshell:
- Thunderheist & Crystal Castles @ The Social: rounded up a solid crew of about fifteen friends to attend this monster jam. The house DJ played some amaaaazing old school tunes to warm us up before Thunderheist came out. I was so buzzy just anticipating Crystal Castles and dancing really hard that Thunderheist was a bit of a blur. When Crystal Castles took the stage people started having outright dance aneurysms (not only because of the constant strobe lights) and they didn't stop till they left. Incredible pics of the event taken by Kid With Camera (I don't need to tell you how ridiculously talented KWC is) are here. We capped the night off at The Drake, where they were serving alcohol till 4am (thanks Pride Week!). Actually that's a lie - I capped the night off watching infomercials about pilates and hip hop abs.
- Spent my day off on Friday at Canada's Wonderland by myself. It was the first day that Splashworks was open during the week this summer, and what better time to get over my anxiety over wearing a bathing suit in public than on an off-peak day before school lets out? I spent a few hours floating along the Lazy River, periodically requesting a push from a stranger when I inevitably got stuck in a 'dead end', splashed around in the wave pool, and otherwise spent the entire day with an inner tube tethered around my waist. After Wonderland I headed to Michelle's birthday party @ Montana's and then ate an obscene amount of greasy food @ Fran's. One of these days when I go to Fran's, Joe will actually be working! I always seem to miss his shift. Oh, and who knew Fran's had a fully stocked bar, including Red Bull + Vodka?!
- Spent Saturday strolling through the village for Pride Weekend (we must have JUST missed the Dyke March when we were there), FINALLY saw Nathalie after a hiatus of five or six months (visiting from Ottawa) and then lounged on my patio doing crossword puzzles till it was time to head out again for Stacie's birthday festivities. Participated in a language-off (French & German) before going to Hemingway's for the rest of the night.
- Sunday...had a rough and slow start to the day so I didn't show up to Joe's bocce ball tournament in High Park on time. Everyone was in full 'character' - wearing those braided sandals with black dress socks, short shorts, wife beaters, copious amounts of chest hair, crucifixes, hair rollers and sundresses. Every time Joe yelled out to his parents in typical Italian fashion, he had to remind them to play along in character. Participated in a few three-legged races and then threw a frisbee for a tireless Sheltie puppy until it was time to leave. I moved from one Italian-themed event to the next...Nick hosted an Italian potluck where an obscene amount of food was prepared (and consumed - there were almost no leftovers!). We had tomato & basil soup, grilled zucchini, baby greens, osso bucco, jumbo pasta shells stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese, butternut squash risotto, and so much fresh bread that yeast was practically seeping out of my pores by the end of the night.
In unrelated news, I am anxiously clicking refresh to find out if one of my girl crushes is going to be at Much HQ in the very near future. If she is, I may erupt. Promise. To illustrate how exciting the news is, peep this convo I just had with Jonathan about it:
Jonathan Soja: she's coming?!
Kat: It's not confirmed yet tho
Jonathan Soja: :O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O:O
Jonathan Soja: SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Kat: dude i know!
Jonathan Soja: SHUT UP
Jonathan Soja: NOW
Jonathan Soja: I WILL DIE
Jonathan Soja: DIE DIE DIE
Kat: omg omg omg
Jonathan Soja: i'm gonna throw up
Kat: what will you do if you meet her?
Jonathan Soja: shit, piss, barf, cum, burp, and sneeze all at the same time.
Holy swizzlesticks - I haven't blogged in a month!!!
Here's my braindump for the past month.
Things I've done:
- Tiki Lounge party for FilmCan
- Dan's 29th birthday potluck at a wicked studio space/loft
- sat through an excruciating two hour catholic mass that nobody in attendance believed
- chatted with hot model twins (!)
- walked home from Queen/DVP (~2 hours)
- tried spinning & kickboxing
- taught an eye makeup tutorial
- brunched at Aunties & Uncles
- filed my taxes
- nearly beat John at Scrabble
- attended Svensk! (Toronto's Sexiest, Sweatiest & Most Swedish dance party) ... rocked out to the likes of The Sounds, Ace Of Base, Roxette & The Cardigans with Jonathan, Martin, Adam, Michelle & crew
- gotten caught in a spontaneous mosh pit, panicked and unable to get out
- been blind drunk by 9:30pm on a Saturday, precisely 24 hours after laughing/pointing at a girl stumbling around on College Street doing the same
- Santa Cruz boat party!!
- received a pep talk from two strangers
- went to Vancouver to work at Virgin Fest; killed six hours in the Vancouver airport with Justin & Wendy
- watched sea otters clean themselves for an hour straight
- met one of my favourite people ever, in person, for the first time in six years
- lost my wallet (in Vancouver)
- had my wallet shipped to me with EVERYTHING still in it
- tequila
- new fringe
- got slaughtered in UNO
- LCD Soundsystem + Hot Chip DJ set at The Social, and the source of my ultimate frustration - not being able to track down a song that James Murphy played that night by some obscure artist called Pumpkin Monster.
- an obscene amount of dancing
Bands I've seen:
- Do Make Say Think
- Klaxons
- Placebo
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Rock Plaza Central
- Peter Bjorn & John
- LCD Soundsystem
- Arcade Fire
- Patrick Wolf
- Arctic Monkeys
- Brand New
- Virgin Fest Vancouver (!)
- Enter Shikari
Songs in ridiculously high rotation:
Gwen Stefani - 4 In The Morning
R. Kelly vs. Broken Social Scene - I'm A Flirt (Shoreline)
Rihanna - Umbrella
Blonde Redhead - The Dress
Super Furry Animals - Slow Life
Enter Shikari - OK, Time For Plan B
Travis - Closer
Kaiser Chiefs - We Are The Angry Mob
Brand New - Limousine (MS Rebridge)
Momus - Trans Siberian Express
Groove Armada - Get Down (which I heard at the motherfking Social on Monday and LOST MY MIND TO!!!)
And the most recent addition
Ian Brown - F.E.A.R. Fuck - this was a fairly difficult song identification - I heard it last night in a resto and got an inkling that it might be Ian Brown based on the voice so I googled all of his song lyrics until something seemed familiar. Why haven't I heard this song before!? I'm furious with myself.
Mmm, updates.
First a blog drought, and now, a blog bonanza!
In the past seven days I have...
- washed my hair exactly once. My scalp is all "I'm loving the break from sodium lauryl sulfate!"
- vehemently defended the correct pronunciation of Knut
- seen Snow Patrol thrice. Reaffirmed my love for Silversun Pickups (solo show on May 9!). Realized Damian Kulash (OKGO) is fucking hot.
- Met my rock 'n roll boyfriend (Paul Wilson) and he actually remembered me from the previous night's show. Lit up Ricoh Coliseum with dozens of sparklers during "Run". Spent many hours on the highway. Fought with wrestling fans.
- consumed several pounds of dilled new potato salad
- attended a cool photography exhibit and was propositioned to attend a photo shoot
- tried Guitar Hero 2 (actually completed two songs after many tries)
- had it pointed out that I talk about hair excessively (do I??)
- located the ever elusive "Fake" album by Adorable online (!!)
- stumbled in on an industrial/goth night where I was the only person
NOT sporting black lipstick, a lip ring, dreads, platforms or fishnets.
- slept an average of 4-5 hours per night
- attended some other shows: Lily Allen (super cute and an amazing performer!), a Montreal triple threat bonanza of Malajube, Champion & Chromeo. Total dance party. In between sets the DJ was basically serenading me with the following playlist:
- MSTRKRFT - Easy Love / She's Good For Business
- Daft Punk - Robot Rock / Around The World / Da Funk
- Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy (2005 remix)
- Boards Of Canada - Vegetarian Soup
- Switch - Just Bounce 2 This
- Cut Copy - Saturday
Here's the Junior Boys setlist from last night @ Mod Club Theatre. Great blend of Last Exit & So This Is Goodbye, IMO. Had they played "Three Words" or "Bellona", it would have been a perfect evening. Also, Jeremy (keys) needs to either get some sleep or realize his life is a lot better than the facial expressions he makes while on stage would have you believe.
Count Souvenirs
The Equalizer
Teach Me How To Fight
Like A Child
Birthday
Double Shadow
So This Is Goodbye
In The Morning
More Than Real
Encore:
Under The Sun
PS: I love setlists!
