Stranger in a strange land.
Got back late Thursday night, but went straight to my parents' place in Ajax; they sold their house and moved to a basement apartment outside the city a week ago. This is a drag, because there's no way to get into the city from there, meaning I'm doing a lot of crashing with friends for the next week.
Spent Friday going through the storage space, sifting through tonnes of crap to box up all the books I want to send back to Vancouver. Also found a good number of older Ugly Pop releases that have been out of print for awhile-- not huge quantities, but certainly enough to make a bit of much-needed revenue for the label and help get some new releases out there. Was also subjected to a visit by my brother and his wife, with newborn twins in tow. Said brats are as gross and obnoxious as one might expect, and I refused demands to hold or coddle them.
Headed into the city Friday evening, grabbing a quick but painless dinner with the folks and stopping at Groovy to purchase a new pair of Gazelles before meeting up with a friend for drinks at the Cloak & Dagger. That was super nice, and even the DJ was good for once (lots of soul and '60's garage) and we ended up staying out much later than planned, knocking back rum & Cokes and bottles of 50, eating hot dogs and walking the deserted streets of a city I've always loved but am now experiencing a curious lack of feeling or fondness for. Finally saw her home and walked over to Zoe's place in a great mood, arriving around 2 AM and hanging out with Bennett for awhile before sleep beckoned sometime after 3.
This afternoon, I saw Million Dollar Baby-- which was absolutely excellent, and had the look and feel of classic early '70's American cinema-- and flipped through the same records that were clogging the bins at Sonic Boom last time I was here six months ago. That said, I'd love to be able to drop $30 on a picture disc copy of Sodom's "In the sign of evil" 12". Tried to surprise Nicole at Book City but apparently she's working a weekday 9-5 shift now, so no dice. Now I'm going to walk around some more before meeting Zoe at 7 when she gets off work at Rotate. Coffee and "The great war and modern memory"? Sounds good to me...
Spent Friday going through the storage space, sifting through tonnes of crap to box up all the books I want to send back to Vancouver. Also found a good number of older Ugly Pop releases that have been out of print for awhile-- not huge quantities, but certainly enough to make a bit of much-needed revenue for the label and help get some new releases out there. Was also subjected to a visit by my brother and his wife, with newborn twins in tow. Said brats are as gross and obnoxious as one might expect, and I refused demands to hold or coddle them.
Headed into the city Friday evening, grabbing a quick but painless dinner with the folks and stopping at Groovy to purchase a new pair of Gazelles before meeting up with a friend for drinks at the Cloak & Dagger. That was super nice, and even the DJ was good for once (lots of soul and '60's garage) and we ended up staying out much later than planned, knocking back rum & Cokes and bottles of 50, eating hot dogs and walking the deserted streets of a city I've always loved but am now experiencing a curious lack of feeling or fondness for. Finally saw her home and walked over to Zoe's place in a great mood, arriving around 2 AM and hanging out with Bennett for awhile before sleep beckoned sometime after 3.
This afternoon, I saw Million Dollar Baby-- which was absolutely excellent, and had the look and feel of classic early '70's American cinema-- and flipped through the same records that were clogging the bins at Sonic Boom last time I was here six months ago. That said, I'd love to be able to drop $30 on a picture disc copy of Sodom's "In the sign of evil" 12". Tried to surprise Nicole at Book City but apparently she's working a weekday 9-5 shift now, so no dice. Now I'm going to walk around some more before meeting Zoe at 7 when she gets off work at Rotate. Coffee and "The great war and modern memory"? Sounds good to me...