Wordful Metric Love

At the restaurant, after a pint of Italian beer at the other restaurant...

At the concert, after an additional half bottle of red wine...

I do not get out much.

Music plays a big part of my relationship with my husband. When we began dating, we didn't seem to have a whole lot in common on the surface. Other than the fact that we found each other outrageously attractive. Ahem. 80's hair and hormones. Enough said. However, at the basic root of connectedness was our taste in music. Which I discovered after he made me the first of many "Mixed Tapes". (For my younger readers, tapes were what succeeded records - wha??? - and preceded CD's - yeah, and CD's preceded mp3 downloads, I know, I know).

David Sylvian, The Cure, and Duran Duran, all in one spot? I was hooked.

So over the years, we've attended several concerts, and it has become our couple thing. Since the arrival of my daughter, I've blogged accounts of our date nights with Duran Duran, Feist, John Mayer and Rush. To say that our taste in music is eclectic is an understatement.

In April, when we found out about the upcoming Metric concert, the man said, "Why don't we go?"And after thinking about it for half a second, I replied, "Of course!" I first heard of Metric back in 2004. They were edgy, new, indie, alt, kool... all those things. I wanted to be Emily Haines.

Not only is Metric oh so cool, little did I know that they are the BEST LIVE BAND EVER. And now they're on the cusp of something huge. Their latest gig? Eclipse, the movie. Yeah, THAT Eclipse. As I said, something huge.

I actually have my own video of them that night, that the man took during the concert. However, I was loudly hooting and hollering and dancing and flailing around so much - it was embarassing - mostly to my husband. (As I age, and as I blog, there is less and less that I am embarassed about.) Even when the girl behind me grabbed me by the shoulders for a simultaneous pogo to "Gimme Sympathy", I obliged.

The evening ended with an acoustic version of one of their 'classics'



My new nickname these days? Just call me: Combat baby.

(upcoming in August ... if I had 500 spare bucks, we'd probably be able to swing Green Day. Too bad I don't - boo hoo...)

PS: just found out they taped the Tonight Show for later, well, tonight. Check them out if you can!

It's all about the kids - Fragment style

Don't forget to check out my gal pal's place, add some comment love...


I had a wonderful post to recap my 8 hours of unadulterated bliss that was my date night last Friday ... but alas, it remains in my head. I've got to get it just right to capture the moments properly.

So in its stead today, I bring you fragments brought to you by, who else... my kids.

*****

At the grocery store produce section:

"Mommy, Daddy leaves his apples courts all over the house. It's not very healthy and dirty. I don't think he should do that, do you? He needs to set an example for me and L-boy, after all, he's not a BABY, is he?"

Totally unsolicited, I swear.

Poor Dad, he's not only got to deal with a superior wife, he's now got a superior daughter in the house too.

*****

In the minivan when reminiscing about past summers.

"Mommy, why do some people have babies before they go to university, and THEN they get married?"

Uh, is she trying to tell me something? Perhaps not as she's only five years old. Let's probe a bit.

"Well, some people do that, but that's not the easier way to do things."

"But that's what you did, Mommy!"

HUH?

The Boy piped in: "What do you mean, G? Mom went to university way over 20 years ago (I must interject, not WAY over, maybe a couple of years beyond...but I digress) and I'm only TEN!!!

The Girl (obviously upset, you know how 5 year olds get because after all, they know everything now...): "But don't you remember, when Mommy and Daddy went away to UNIVERSITY, and Yee Yee and Uncle Fibb-itt and baby J took us to the island and we buried you in the sand? That was last summer!"

Now I got it.

"Oh sweetie, Mommy and Daddy were away celebrating our ANNIVERSARY and we went away and left you with your uncle and aunt."

"Oh."

And I thought 'Whew'.

*****

Remember my suspicions about a conspiracy theory? Well I was RIGHT!!!! I dropped the boys off, and looked around for other kids... and other than the birthday girl, there was one other girl invited. That was IT. It was a freakin' double date!!! Birthday party = Two 10 year old boys plus two 10 year old girls (+ a Dad, at least) = Double date in my mind.

The Boy thought it was funny though. And he suggested that we check out the ice cream and crepes at Cafe Demetrie, and that Despicable Me was a wicked good movie.

Nonchalantly. Perfect.

And he was right - about Despicable Me. It was wicked good.

*****

Have a great weekend, guys.

PS. One other milestone that I forgot. Remember my MAD PASSION for all things BODYJAM? Well, geez, wouldn't you know it ... my instructor asked if I would join her on stage for the new release next week as they're going to be featuring BodyJam superstars! Whoot! Now I just have to dig something up from the disco era ...and yeah, I'm that old that I might actually have some remmants available. Sigh.

Late posting about Canada Day - eh?

I'm late to the party again. Better late than never, I suppose.

I realized that I didn't do my traditional Canada Day post. (Although traditionally, my Canada Day post only consisted of a pretty picture of the maple leaf flag, and a virtual Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian bloggy peeps.)

This year, though, the last 9 months, exactly, I haven't been been around these parts much. And as I've been taking a bit of my long weekend time to travel around twitterland, the blog world, the Facebook enterprise... it turns out I've been missing a lot. When I first started blogging there weren't that many Canadian bloggers, and many of my blog friends (and the pals I was so excited to meet at BlogHer 09) were non Canadian. How ironic, then, that there's now a plethora of Canadian bloggers - and they're reaching out! I managed to find them and squeak into the Canadian part-eh. If being Canadian means anything, it means loving a party.



I. AM. CANADIAN. I even worked at a brewery at one point, for crying out loud... and met my other half there, to boot. Can't get more romantic than that, love over a beer.

I look at my life, my family... at me. As a part of the first born generation of immigrant parents, I feel distinctly Canadian. I grew up trying to assimilate, to avoid most of what I thought were trappings of a Chinese background. But being in Canada, the culture, the Chinese traditions - had a place to thrive, despite my best efforts to avoid them. Osmosis, people. Only as I got older, became an adult, and met people (ie especially the husband) who appreciated the differences, could I myself appreciate the enriching experiences that my background could bring to being "Canadian" .

My kids' family tree is looking more like a forest, with roots dating to ancient China and France, Scotland, England, Germany... My boy has been watching the FIFA games and during England-Germany match, he figured - "Hey, I've got English and German roots, so whoever wins, I'm covered!"

We are Canadian. And damn proud of it.

So I'm off to check out other Canadian party bloggers now.

With beer in hand, of course.

Happy Belated Canada Day, folks.

A 10 year old wants to FB friend me and other freaky Friday Fragments

(say hi to my Pal Mrs 4444 while you're there)
I'm likely one of only a handful of Canadians who has to go into work today, in middle of the Canada Day long weekend. I've been trying to take the shine off the "L" on my forehead. Needless to say, I don't have a lot of time to scratch these fragments out . You can call this pseudo dedication to this long neglected blog.

*****

Despite my reservations about letting my boy baby (humour me) have Facebook, it's happened. His best friend is moving out of the country, and this is the sole method of keeping that relationship alive. He struck this deal with his father, of course. It just does NOT cut it that his mom is FB friends with his friend's Mom, uh, sorry, that doesn't count. Nor does regular e:mail, or the fact that he's got Xbox interactive (also a deal he struck with his Dad).

Within 24 hours of signing on, he had 63 friends. It took his Mom 24 months to accomplish the same.

Now I'm sitting with 11 new friend requests from the under 10 set. Dilemma.

*****

More boy news: the little girl who technically asked the boy out on his first date via post-it (a little mini SJP situation in reverse?) has invited him to see yet another movie, this time under the guise of a birthday party. He really wants to go because he really wants to see the movie, and guess what, she's conveniently also invited his best friend (male) to the party. Oh I know it's all fun and innocent, and it will be a matinee ... but I'm all about conspiracy theories. I think I may have to admit - there is a little twinkle in his eye when he talks about her, and he did hang out with her at the recent community BBQ a couple of weeks ago. She's a cutie.

Help. Me. I am so NOT ready for this.

*****

Speaking of dates, one week from now, DATE NIGHT!!!!

I am so excited.

We are going to see a concert - you know, that's our "thing".




Cannot wait. Squeeing as I type.

What to wear? Another dilemma.

But one I think I can handle. Shopping anyone?

*****

And I must add this. I love Alex Wong. He's cute, humble, Asian, Canadian ... and dancing genius. He's the only Canadian who's ever won the coveted Prix de Lausanne.

He's killing it on this seasons' SYTCD.

Check this ballet dancer out here.

*****

A shout out to my Canadian and American friends for the long weekend, and a great "regular" weekend to the rest of my bloggy peeps!