"You went where? ...to a MEGADETH concert?!"
"What? *shrugs* I was curious and it was free."










Megadeth had enough explosions that should've sent the US border guards scrambling for another terror alert - and oooh fire! Since 'piglet' and 'fire' usually means 'roast', I stayed far, far back. Dave Mustaine threw a bit of a temper tantrum in the middle of the third song... actually what he threw was his guitar; he launched it across the stage at stagehands and promptly stomped off stage. Riot-inciting behaviour, you say? - nah, luckily they managed to fix whatever 'malfunction' Dave was having and all that he would comment on the 'malfunction' was that we deserved better. Oh so true, so true. They played Symphony of Destruction. Classic. Did I mention that's the only Megadeth song I know?

Tanja's Weekend O' Fun.

aka: Tanja's 35th!
aka: Camping @ The Pinery

Culprits:
L-R: Moi, Tanja, Nubia, Patricia & Brenda

... wait a minute, where's Catherine? CATHERINE?! - y'wuss.

The Foreboding Sky.









The Redwood Forest.









The Pinery Dunes................and Burt By Tanja











Patricia and Tanja are offering their services - anyone need a BJ? Ha! Sorry couldn't resist. Ah I miss the Polariods where we would write all our crass comments; damn Polariod for discontinuing my film!


Um, Brenda?








WTF Brenda?
No wait,
I don't want to know.





Marshmellows
+ hot chocolate
+ warmth from the campfire

= happy campers.



See, Patricia's a happy camper.







Tanja's surprised; how did we manage to sneak a cake along without her seeing?
But not as surprised as we were; thought for sure she'd find the cake, considering it we hid it in the 'drinks' cooler; how'd she manage to miss THAT?


Yum, breakfast.









But what's with the double yolk eggs?
Ack! Mutant foods!





And as a final salute to our
2006 Tanja's Weekend O' Fun,
we say 'Tits up' everybody!


A giant hug to you all, x.

Our Annual Canoe & Kayak Day-Trip.

The organizer of this annual event is none other than Extreme Pete. It must've been six years ago when he first asked me to join in - um, no thanks. The following year, he asked me again - oh no I don't think so. Yes, admittedly I was hesitant and sceptical at first - I mean c'mon! It's Extreme Pete; there's a reason why he's called Extreme... mountain biking in the dead of night on a forest trail with only a headlamp would be one example... and I don't even want to bring up the 'collar bone incident' - gives me chills just thinking about it. But he assured me that it was nothing suicidal like that. In the end, persistence paid off and the following year, I joined in... and never regretted it.


It was a great turnout! We launched about 15 canoes/kayaks, with 24 adults, 5 kids and 1 dog, Coco (No, not Roxy; she stayed home under protest - she had picket signs and rotten vegetables too).


Our Day-Trip starts off in Cambridge (about an hour's drive west of Toronto); we launch from Seneca Run, paddle down the Grand River, which turns into Oneida Run and we're out at Paris (small Canadian town). In total, it's a 32 kilometre paddle and normally takes about 7-8 hours. We did it in 4 1/2 hours - AND we even stopped for lunch! Oh yeah, we rock!

We had a few mishaps, luckily no one injured or anything like that... just wet. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT paddle into rapids sideways or backwards!

Coco demonstrates a mishap with Laurel and Mary. Hehe, Roxy would've done exactly the same thing. That's why no Roxy.

Thanks to Pete for organizing it again.
Can't wait for next year!

September 13th was SNOW PATROL DAY!

Thought I'd document Snow Patrol's day in Toronto as I did with Editors last month, but it's hard to keep up with those long Irish legs of theirs. Plus, didn't help that they were LATE and I was not on bike - I had to hoof it which always takes longer around town.

Gary and Nathan were supposed to arrive at MuchMusic at 5:30pm for a live interview... then it was 5:40...5:45. Finally at 5:54 their huge black chauffeured car pulls up with only 6 minutes before the show ended. Tsk tsk tardiness!

Here they are running in:


Quick Nathan, go that-a-way!








See, long Irish legs.










But in their defense, rush hour traffic in Toronto is asinine.
No cameras allowed inside MuchMusic. Poo.

Since I was still stuck at MuchMusic when I should've been hoofing it to their next scheduled stop, I didn't make it to their quickie radio interview with Dave. I headed over to MTV instead. But to my surprise, they arrived on foot (ha! Must've gotten tired of sitting in traffic).

As you can see my camera wasn't ready - I was expecting their vehicle to pull up.







By the time I got my camera set, I only caught the back of Gary as he ran in.

Drat. Need to strap some weights on those boys to slow them down. No cameras allowed inside MTV either. Hmph.

But you can watch 'Burt and Ernie' in their interview on MTV Live.


By the time they finished up at MTV, it was time for the show. Augustana opened and played a 40-minute set.
Snow Patrol played a solid 14 song set plus 2 encores...with the exception of a very minor glitch during the intro, it was an err-free night.

Song List:
Intro - Spitting Games
Wow
Chocolate
It's Beginning To Get To Me
Headlights On Dark Roads
Grazed Knees
Chasing Cars
Shut Your Eyes
How To Be Dead
Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking
Make This Go On Forever
Ways & Means
Run
You're All I Have

Encores:
Open Your Eyes
Tiny Little Fractures

This is just a teaser for SP Boardies...

at least until I get my SP Boardies Gallery/Photobucket sorted, whichever comes first.








Paul, you make me laugh with your theory of pizza-sandwich ergonomics!






Thanks for such a great day guys!
A Snuggleupagus-sized love to you, x.

Kayaks loaded - check.

Mountain bikes loaded - check.

Clothes packed - check.

Plants watered - check.


Hmm, am I forgetting anything else?
Feels like I'm forgetting... (a cold wet nose on my lap)...
Ah yes, the dog. C'mon Roxy!

Well I'm off for ten days in Massachusetts. See you! x.

... And then there was one.

Today was Melanie's last day of work. We agreed to meet up at Rower's Pub with two other ex-employees, for Roland's acoustic one-man show, to consume a bevy of liquids and to discuss a little more than just the weather.

L-R: Heather, Meaghan, Melanie & MOI.

I'm so disheartened about the situation at work and everyone is urging me to leave. "Abandon ship Sylvia!" - that's their consensus - "You're too loyal to them but you owe them nothing!". We've been watching the downward spiral of our happy little department for a while now; we were all very happy in that department once... sigh. Need some time to think things through. Thank God I'm leaving on a 10-day holiday tomorrow morning.

Here's a picture of Roland during the first of his three acoustic sets.

You ROCK Roland!