112: I thought I'd be taller

Oh, how to describe this weekend. Where to begin. Well, I suppose that, as with most of my stories, I'll begin at the end and work my way back to the start.

I woke up this morning, tired and groggy, and set out (it was cool and windy, not so great but at least sunny,) and headed out to the GO station where I had to pick up my bike, which had been locked up there since the afternoon before.

Normally I would of course have ridden the bike home after having ridden it there, but, well, it was such a busy evening that things just sorta fell by the wayside. but we'll get back to that.

Saturday was the second of two unusually busy weekend days. Both days were unusually busy in and of themselves, and particularly unusual in that I had two busy days in a row. It started with me not really having any idea what to do with my Friday, until I remembered that I had to get my health card replaced. So I gathered up my ID support and biked down to the Health department, which took longer than expected because although I took the "short" way, there was heavy construction and I ended up having a number of obstacles to overcome.

So I got there and filled out some paperwork and.... waited. I figured to myself, I should'a brought my DS, although the wait wasn't intolerable. The entire process barely took a couple minutes anyway, just the place was surprisingly busy. (I've used that word a lot about this weekend. Hm. Run fetch me a thesaurus.) Then I had lunch and just wandered around the Dorval crossing for two hours until I was satisfied that I'd spent/wasted my day, then biked home the "long" way, which probably saved me about 20-30 minutes.

Friday was a promising disaster in the makings. After dinner with Dad, I headed out to the WOSS Fringe. This is a move I struggled even to explain to myself. Strictly speaking, I am done with White Oaks. There's no reason I should ever be there. I went to the Sears show back in February because it was convenient to meet up with Pat and Chris there. I went to this Fringe show with the same attitude in mind, but showed up late, missing the first show. When it let out, I ran into Adam, and then Becky, Ryan, Ana and Deniz Ergun. It was really nice to see them, although by this point it meant I pretty much was locked in to staying rather than simply walking away proudly. So I caught up a little with them, but it seemed like I was disrupting their usual dynamic, which I understand. It doesn't make me feel like a million bucks, but I understand.

so I went in for the second play, which was kinda funny, and the third, which was kind of a bummer (although a lot of people reacted very strongly to it - and it was written by Sam Hogan, with whom I am vaguely acquainted.) Afterwards, I charmed Cassie Cummings into giving me a lift to the GO Station (by applying the time-honored tactic of putting her on the spot.) With the shows having ended at about 9, I had a brainstorm. Joe was having a show at the ESC, where he was due to start at about 9:40, the GO train would be heading east at 9:30... this could work.

So I headed down there and caught the train, then hopped in a cab (not the smartest idea, but the most efficient) to arrive at the ESC just in time to hear Joe doing Energy, his second-last song of the night.

I found it important to get to this show because it was due to be Joe's and Viki's last for a while, and I figured attendance would be low (for them anyway - the room was actually quite well-filled,) and we've had some good memories of that place over the past year or so. Also, after feeling incredibly awkward throughout the night at Fringe, I felt I needed to get back to the future. I just headed out there, as usual, without much plan to get back, hoping things would pan out.

Well things did pan out, as despite his misgivings about the fact that he was working the next day, he and Viki stuck around for the next few acts, after Viki's set. There was an acoustic duo (Me: "They look like Tenacious D in 10 or 15 years!") that did some 90's covers (an underpowered Lenny Kravitz "Fly Away," "Wonderwall,") and some classic rock/oldies ("Sympathy for the Devil" "Brown-Eyed Girl.") Their closing few songs included some botched lyrics (notably on a Jason Mraz tune, which stuck out like a sore thumb to Joe,) and in a closing medley incorporating a number of songs into bookends of Sublime's "What I Got."

The act after that was an acoustic trio that attempted to strip down some Pearl Jam, Pantera and Slipknot tracks to an acoustic guitar, a conga drum, and a girl's smokey voice. It.... didn't work so much. Particularly, their version of "Alive" was like a harrowing war chant. But they seemed to have fun and didn't sound bad, it's just their attempts were misguided.

The last group of the night was an incendiary funk-jazz fusion combo with a tough, soulful black female lead vocalist, wriggly Filipina backup singer, a blazing afro-headed guitarist and a groovy white rhythm section. After a couple of numbers where the uncertain audience was just hanging bak trying to appreciate the beat, some of the people (not me) got on the dance floor, even eventually Joe and Viki, much to his chagrin. The way I see it, if you've got somebody, it's cool to dance. If I'd gotten out there, I'd be a dork.

When I sensed I was at the brink of "Too late" I called a cab, but before it arrived, Viki's family offered to give me a lift to Clarkson station, thus saving me a few bucks (the cab dispatch didn't seem to heartbroken that I canceled my fare.) I hung around for ten minutes until the last train arrived, then walked home, glad I'd escaped boredom, idleness, and nostalgia-flavoured anxiety about my place in life.

Yesterday, after hanging out with Amanda at the mall (and finally buying Lost Season 4,) I went out to Hamilton. It's the plan I'd intended to put in motion a few weeks ago, where I skipped out on dad's, had McD's for dinner, got to Hamilton for the 5:30 rehearsal, then come home in time to do... something. Whereas the previous night, I'd had to choose between Fringe and Joe's, and ended up doing both, this night I could only do one or the other. So I was watching the rehearsal from 5:30 until 7:30, more or less... which by the way is a transcendent experience for me, I can't praise those guys and gals enough for what they're doing with my words. Even the parts I wasn't sure about seem to work well. This play fucking works.

So by the time everything was wrapped up and I was ready to head back to Oakville, it was pissing rain. Wandering around by myself, drenched in search of the Mac bus shelter, muttering "Fuck my life, fuck my life!" and holding a bus ticket graciously donated by Cary's assistant director. Finally I saw the flashing yellow lights of a bus and I ran to catch it, making it in decent time and making sure the bus went by the GO station.

Of course, by the time I got to the station, the bus to Aldershot - by which I'd go to Oakville - had already left. so there's me killing time at Hamilton Go eating Skittles and reaching zen of damp, slightly exhilarated boredom. Luckily, I'd thought to pack my DS, after Friday's health card outing.

On the ride back to Oakville, I negotiated pick-ups for later that night. We'd been trying to work out bowling for some time and Saturday seemed to be the day when it would all fall into place. Before the rehearsal, Cary was telling me he'd gotten an offer to come back to Oakville to do a favour for his (rich) friend, but he really didn't want to go back to Oakville, and also mentioned he'd feel weird going back and not going along with me to bowling. I told him that, based on what he told me, I wouldn't mind - althoug hit was nice of him to consider me.

So after 9:30, CB pulls up to the station with Chris Ferg and Adam in tow, and we head off to pick up Pat and RyLai, while, to my surprise, Ryan Wheeler and Doug were due to meet us at the bowling alley, which was nice - apparently they were at Fringe, and hey, why not bowl? It was great to see the both of them, as we haven't hung out seriously since maybe the first year or so after graduation. We've all kinda... drifted apart, as is natural.

So the eight of us got two lanes, which worked out to about $12.50 apiece (with six it'd been $10, and RyLai cashed in a promise to recoup a free half hour from an earlier bowling trip.) I did my usual "below average but comparatively great" way, although Adam actually beat me the first game, then collapsed like a house of cards. We then retired to Stout Monk for White Russians and nachos. During this time, stories were told, including Pat's assault, and the stuff I missed by leaving Ryan's birthday way early. Both stories fascinating, shocking and troubling in their own ways.

At the end of the night, we decided we weren't done, and, with limited "spur of the moment options," we drove out to Hamilton to hang out with Cary. The first option was casino, but as you'll recall, I don't have any photo ID right now.

Satisfied with the zeitgeist of the moment, we headed home and I headed to bed. I've been kicking around all day since retrieving my bike. The last choice of the weekend was not really a choice - my mom has been having drama with my Palmerston cousins again and we didn't go up there for Elizabeth's son's birthday (yeah, real big-hearted) but I'd missed a call yesterday where apparently I'd been offered a chance to get a ride up there, which I would've had to accept if I'd gotten it, which would've ruined my "morning-after" decompression.

All in all, it was a great weekend. If I could build on that for the future I'd be glad.

Keep on rockin'
-Scotto