Fresh and rejuvenated from another 12 hour sleep, I will give you my condensed account of the events of last thursday. Hiro covered everything, so I won’t go too far into things.

There were alot of people whose names I forgot. These people had a prom that night, and we crashed their party.

END

Apparently Nana has beaten me to the reporting of tonight’s escapades. However he has graciously left out the details as to grant me the honour of telling the story.

It all began earlier this week. I sent out an e-mail to Nana, Tony, and two other hometown friends, Ryan and Jordan. I e-mailed them to let them know that I’d be in town for a couple of days because I had to take my G driver’s license test on Friday (today) and I suggested that we should go out for some wings and hang out while I was in town. I shortly thereafter learned that NCC (our old high school) was having their prom on the Thursday night. Tony also knew of this and had suggested we go crash the after-party in order to reinforce the point that we are “bad-ass”.

Fast forward to Thursday evening. The 5 of us went to Kelsey’s to go enjoy some cheaper wings. I say cheaper because at $0.49 each, they can’t exactly qualify as cheap wings, however they are indeed cheaper than their usual wings. Over the course of the 2 hours or so that we spent at Kelsey’s, Tony became quite drunk. We then left to go enjoy our night out in Belleville. Now as you may or may not have heard from the rantings that have taken place here at Pleasant Interruption, there isn’t much to do in Belleville. Surprisingly, driving around aimlessly with a bunch of good friends while listening to loud music is a lot of fun. Throw in some yelling at random people, an abundance of honking, driving on surfaces that cars shouldn’t be driving on, and a little bit of drift-style driving and you’ve got yourselves a rather high fun factor.

As we drove around all over town, we worked desperately against the clock to find out where the prom was being held. We first tried the placed called “The Banquet Centre” or something stupid, which is where our prom was held a generous 2 years ago. We drove around their parking lot yelling at the kids a couple of times and then drove away, thinking we had found the prom. We later returned to ask them where the after-party would be but then we found out that it was the prom for some other school. Disappointed, we drove all across town to various other locations that we thought may be holding the NCC prom. We finally got a hold of a younger friend who had gone to the prom, and through him we found out where the after-party was being held.

By the time we had arrived at the house, most of the grads were already there and the DJ had arrived at the same time as us. I must say, it was a pretty solid prom after-party. Granted, it was nothing compared to any university kegger but as far as high school goes, I was impressed. They had a huge bonfire going, a couple of porta-potties, a shitload of tents, and DJ’d music! It was kinda weird being at a party with a bunch of kids that were 3 years younger but it was nice to see a lot of familiar faces too because when I was in high school I had talked to all these kids when they first started high school.

What was destined to be a mediocre night took a turn for the better. A friend of mine Andrew graciously (or drunkenly) gave me a beer. Around the same time I saw Tony had somehow acquired a beer as well. Shortly afterward I went into the house and saw one of the girls (also a friend of mine) who lived at the house. I was like “Uhh do you have any beer I can have?” and she’s like yeah hang on…goes to the fridge, then returns with a beer. I then asked “Whose is this? And can I have more?” She told me that it was her mom’s and that she didn’t want it anymore. I’m not sure if she was telling the truth or not, but I really didn’t care. 30 seconds later I was walking out of the house with a free 6-pack of beer.

I’m a nice guy so I shared my spoils with Jordan and Tony and we continued to enjoy the night. Not too long afterward, Nana came to me saying “Hiro! Are those full bottles of beer over there?” I glanced over at the side of the house and like an oasis in a desert there laid half a 6-pack of beer. We cautiously walked over to the bounty and confirmed that they were indeed 3 full bottles of beer. After ensuring that nobody was looking we quickly snatched the prize. Silly kids, who leaves their beer lying around out in the open? As we were walking back toward the bonfire, eagle-eyes Nana identified another stash. A box of beer lying in the shadow of a shed. Upon examining, we were greeted with 4 more unopened bottles of beer.

In summary, we ended up leaving the party having consumed over 15 free beers.

Good times.

Good times, indeed.

Tony, Hiro, and I, along with Jordan and Ryan (some friends from our high school days) crashed the Nicholson Catholic College Prom after-party. We all graduated two years ago, except for Jordan, who graduated three years ago. Stories about this night will be told by the three of us bloggers sometime in the upcoming week (I hope). Until then, keep checking back for your Pleasant Interruption.

Ok, prepare yourself for a very fast-paced post.

The reason is as follows: I have been wanting to get back into the blogging rhythm for a while now. However my problem is that I have a huge backlog of important events in my life that I need to report, yet to talk about them in full would most likely require entire posts dedicated to each topic. As such, I am in this endless cycle of wanting to write about what’s happening in my life yet I don’t want to talk about it until I’m caught up on things to talk about. And faced with such a huge list of things to talk about, I don’t get around to doing it.

Tonight I went out for wings with Nana, Tony and two other friends, Ryan and Jordan. The subject of blogging came up and after a short discussion with Nana, we concluded it is best that I simply state the important events, with some quick description, that occurred in my life so that I can resume regular blogging.

1. On May 24th I was supposed to get my G license. I went in and filled out a form asking how many times I had driven on the 401 and other highways in the last 3 months. I answered with approximately 3-4 times. As a result the examiner wouldn’t let me do the test because she said I was “too inexperienced” and a “safety risk”. I believe it was due to the fact that she was a bitch. I was further insulted when the clerk inside told me that I should “go practice” my driving skills by driving aimlessly on highways.
2. I went to Halifax for the last week of May for my sister’s graduation. It was on May 26, the day of my birthday. It was incidentally the most boring birthday of my life. However later that night I tagged along to a grad party thing or whatever at some bar and ate a shitload of food for free. I also went out and got drunk for the 3 following nights so it wasn’t a total waste of a week.
3. On the following Friday I had a joint birthday party for myself and my roommate Dave and it was quite possibly one of the messiest nights of my life. I remember making it to the bar, stepping out of the car while repeating to myself “act sober act sober act sober act sober” and the bouncer actually let me in. About 5 feet past the bouncer I saw my roommate Mike and remember yelling “MIIIIKE I MADE IT IN!!!” The next thing I remember was following my other roommate Tony and his girlfriend Mel out of the bar. This was not because I had gotten kicked out, but because I had spent an hour or so in the bar that I absolutely have no recollection of, and then left. I then woke up the next day with 3 “Pesticide in Use” signs and a giant wooden “Churchill Townhouses” sign beside my bed. I also learned that having a camera is very important in recording events because when I looked through the pictures the next day, approximately 50 out of the 110 pictures showed events that I did not remember and for all intents and purposes never took place, had it not been for the camera.
4. I am part of a group at school called the UW CREW. Think of what a high school student council does, but on the scale of a university. We planned, organized, marketed and ran a school-wide trip to Wonderland in under 2 weeks. About 4 of us spent about 15 hours/day in the office. My daily routine pretty much consisted of getting to campus at 9 am then going home after 1 am the next day. It was the busiest 2 weeks of my life but it was also the funnest 2 weeks of my life.
5. Myself and my roommate Mariano are the main stage managers for the Canada Day celebrations in Waterloo. It’s like the main festival for all of the Waterloo/Kitchener/Cambridge area and draws like 80,000 people. The headliners are Magneta Lane and Emm Gryner. There will also be an appearance by….Robert Munsch! Yes that’s right, the man who wrote The Paper Bag Princess and dozens of other children’s books. I’m pumped.
6. Last Wednesday (June 15th) I officially withdrew from Computer Engineering. Because it’s halfway through the term, I can’t start any new courses so I’m no longer in school for the rest of the summer. In the fall I’ll be switching into a Business and Economics program.

This concludes the condensed update of my summer life. Now hopefully I will continue making regular posts.

Ok, my unintentional hiatus is now over, and I need to keep up with the blog, but in the time that I have not posted, I have: Found God, Discovered the formula for Cold Fusion, Deciphered Davinci’s Code, single handedly and simultaneously brought down all the communist and fascist regimes. Unfortunately none of this has happened, I just wanted to pull your leg, and make my life sound a little more interesting. (joy!)

Anyways, it’s time for me to finally give the “Out of Exile” review

Audioslaves sophomore album has gone beyond expectations, this one stands alone from their first CD though, because the songs seem to have a better cohesion, rather then their first one, which was basically Rage Against the Machine, with Soundgarden in the mix. Not to say that their first album was under par, but that this one sees to stand alone, compared with their last one. Their first single from “Out of Exile”, “Be Yourself” has topped the rock charts, (The song is based on The Beatles movie “Let It Be”), and has shown the band in a more mature, focused direction, which will most likely bring more great hits in the future.
Their new CD has many quality songs such as “Your Time Has Come”, “Man or Animal”, and “Heaven’s Dead”, but listening to just these songs won’t do the band, and the CD any justice, so I recommend that you listen to the entire album, because it is great. I was a little disappointed that the CD did not have any hits that could have paralleled “Show Me How To Live”, or “I Am the Highway”, but like I said before, this one seems to stand apart from their other one.
The lyrics are more deeper with this album, songs such as “The Worm” and “Dandelion” hold special meaning to lead vocalist, Chris Cornell. With “The Worm” it reflects his past, how he was consumed by drugs, and close people around him that have just left him. Also with “Dandelion”, it was written as a dedication to his young daughter.
Like any song with Tom Morello, there is always a solo, and in this album, the solos are just incredible, they aren’t like the old 15 minute long trippy solos, but solid short, and give the songs an awesome dimension that can only be understood if you listen to it. The other members, Tim Commerfold, and Brad Wilk, also provide amazing base and drums respectively. Commerfold commented that “Out of Exile” has been the best CD he has ever done, and with a career like his, this meant a lot.
So with this quick review, to sum everything that I have said, you need to listen to this CD, because it is amazing.
GO NOW!!

Other Things:

- Ok, Clearly, my experiences in Belleville haven’t been good so far, and to make things worse, just add Cops, I now have a very large “Disliking” for the Belleville Police. All because my friend and I were driving around in an older model “boat” car.

My friend, lets call him “Phoenix”, now Phoenix and I had been driving around town in his fathers car running some errands, and after we left DQ, cops began to follow us, and after a few streets and turns later, they decide to pull us over. They began harassing Phoenix asking him a bunch of stupid questions, and they began to talk about how the car is a rust bucket, and should be off the road. Now let me tell you this, his father drives that car all the time, and he has never been pulled over by the pigs, EVER. Now I do have respect for the police, they are there to look after us, but for this, I knew we did NOTHING wrong.

We stopped by the beer store earlier and didn’t bother to put it in the trunk, because we just thought that we’ll just end up back home, so it was on the floor in the back seat, and considering the car, it was hidden pretty well, you had to peek in over the seat to really see it (The beer is “Bohemian” if you wanted to know). So when the cop was talking to Phoenix, he peeked in and saw the beer, and because Phoenix is underage, I thought we were in deep, because on top of this, his fathers car didn’t have any registration, or insurance on it, or any that we knew of, because he rarely drove it. So the cops began harassing Phoenix about the beer and why didn’t we put it in the trunk, rather then leave it out front.
Here is an idea of how the conversation went:

Cop: Have you been drinking tonight?
Phoenix: No I haven’t had anything at all.
Cop: Anything?
Phoenix: Well…Milk, and water.
Cop: I meant alcohol.
Phoenix: Nothing!

They just asked a whole load of stupid questions, and Phoenix, was scared, like he was shaking, not because he’s a wussy or anything (maybe he is, I don’t know), but its because he can’t afford to get another speeding ticket, or else he won’t be able to drive in from out of town to go to work. So when they finished harassing him, intimidating him, they just left. WITHOUT seeing any registration, or insurance on the vehicle. Now you can sit there and tell me that they called into the dispatch to get the confirmation that the car checked out, and that the names coincided. But you tell me this, if you were a cop, stopped some kids driving around in a shoddy car, with no registration and insurance, just a license, and beer in the back, wouldn’t that be pretty suspicious?
Anyways, it just made me angry that the cops stopped us for really just doing nothing wrong, now if I was drunk, and causing problems, then yes, I probably deserve to be stopped, but here, nothing was done wrong. Just a bunch of small time cops looking for the next big bust, so that they make the headlines (above the fold). Thanks Belleville.

- On certain mornings when I walk to work, at the “four corners” there is this man, usually at the same time each morning, in the phonebooth by the bank, and what he does is put the phone up to his ear, and then start jamming on random numbers really quickly with his index fingers from both hands. Kinda’ weird, and thought it was worth noting.

- The show “Rescue Me” is pretty good, it takes place around the lives of a group of firemen from a firehouse in New York, now its not a reality show, or a 9/11 thing, cause that’ll be sappy, and be used for massive propaganda purposes. Its a scripted show, starring Denis Leary, and it just follows the lives of some of the firemen in the house, each one facing personal problems of their own. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious. The show is well written, and acted. So if anyone has the time, watch it. If you don’t have FX TV (Fox TV division) then its on Showcase on Tuesday’s at 10 PM.

- Oh yeah, I almost forgot, The RoamerS show, it was awesome as Nana has already stated. The CD is amazing as well, my personal favorite’s are “Give Me Back My Son” and “Crake”. I have to also say thanks to Emma (Mark’s Mom) and the entire Wilson clan for being so darned nice to us and making the experience a memorable one. Hopefully we can return and visit Tabbington next time The RoamerS have another show, sometime in the near future.

We’ve had a slew of personal posts recently, and I’m sorry about that. But here’s another one.

I’m at my parent’s house now, probably for the rest of the summer. I’m away from my music, my adopted city, and most of my friends. Any thoughts of romance have been left in Ottawa as well. Belleville just isn’t the kind of place where I’d want to start something up.

To make matters worse, Belleville has always has some sort of hold on me. Whenever I’m here I revert to lazy Nana. I’ve caught up with Maury (you ARE the father) on daytime tv, but I’m still behind on my soaps and stuff. The women from The View and Regis and Kelly are my universal constants.

I have an inexplicable attraction to Lunette the Clown from the kid’s show The Big Comfy Couch (she is not a child herself, I assure you).

I’m listening to Beck’s new album non-stop for the rest of the week.

This isn’t how I imagined I’d be spending my summer.

Hiro has some news to talk about, but I don’t know when he’ll get around to it. I need to visit Tony again.

The good news is that I’ll be back in Ottawa for Canada day, if things go as planned.

I just saw Tony Little in a Geico commercial.

Okay, first of all. I promise to continue with my “Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Listening to (bandnamehere)” column when I get enough money to buy cds and junk.

I’m back in Belleville now, so I’m back into my pattern of laziness. For those of you who don’t know what or where Belleville is, I’m going to tell you that it doesn’t really matter. It’s my adopted hometown, and the hometown of fellow bloggers Tony and Hiro. This town just makes me insufferably lazy, and that’s as far as I want to get into the subject.

Last weekend I went to my friend Mark’s place (in Kingston, Ontario) to support him and his band, The Roamers. They had a cd release party at a local establishment called the Grad Club, which is located on the Queens University Campus. The other bands who came out to play were an up and coming band called “Elizabeth” from Vancouver, British Columbia, and a band based in Waterloo, Ontario called “Knock Knock Ginger.”

Elizabeth played really well, with nice harmonies and vocals that reminded me of At the Drive-In. That’s all I have to say about them really.

Knock Knock Ginger are the kind of band who make you want to jump up and move your limbs all over the place. But we didn’t do that of course, cause we’re all indie hipster kids, who cannot dance for fear of losing cred. I can dance of course, because my name is comprised of a consonant-vowel combo, repeated. That’s worth 30 points of cred-akin to a triple word score in Scrabble or something. Anyway, Knock Knock Ginger rule. I especially like the song titles “The Dancy Song”, which (unfortunately) isn’t on their website. When their cd comes out I’ll definitely be picking it up.

The Roamers were the last act up. They were headlining, so it doesn’t make sense to be the first band because we could watch the headlining act and leave. That’s why the headliner goes last. I’m assuming that you’re all mouthbreathing idiots out there because I want to take up more space on the site with my text. That’s why I’m explaining everything in an unfunny way.

The Roamers went through their new and fantastic songs, starting with the sexy summer sizzler “Crake” and moving through all the songs on their new album, and a few favourites from their first cd. They called me up on the stage to sing a song (a cover of “You’re Just What I Needed” by The Cars), so I got to ham it up in front of the crowd. They closed the show up with a very 70s sounding song called “Tunnel Vision” (which I always call “Television” for some reason) which is quickly becoming one of my favourite Roamers songs.

The night folded up pretty quickly after this, with a quick cake cleanup by Mark’s awesome mom Emma (hello, if you’re reading) and the selling of some cds and stickers and stuff. It was a strong opening to the official unveiling of the new Roamers songs. These guys can only go up from here, and it’ll be interesting to see how things go (and I’m not just saying this cause I know the guys in the band… well, maybe a little bit)

END

P.S: the keyboard player (who is a girl, if there is any confusion here) from Knock Knock Ginger gets 20 cuteness points from yours truly, and 10 awesomeness points for being an awesome dudette: a total of 30 points. She tickles the keys, and tickled my heart.

Discuss.

So have you ever noticed how whwnever the Justice League has to fight some giant monster, Batman is always swinging around trying to do stuff, but then ends up thinking up strategies to win the battles? There’s alot of dust on my desk.

I finished reading a book where the climax was where the main character throws caution to the wind, turns gay, and has crazy sex for the next 100 or so pages. It wasn’t very believeable.