Reliving the little goth within

Back in the day when Savage Garden, The Reverb and 5ive existed - and when The Velvet Underground only catered to the fair-skinned Vampire wanna be's - these were the tunes that compelled me to do that white glove goth dance, haha!

Assemblage 23 - Ground
A good staple.

Razed In Black's Oh My Goth was their biggest hit, easily. And even so, you probably never heard of it unless you were in a goth club all night!

 

I first heard this tune whilst at the Purple Onion in Downtown Vancouver waaaay back in 2003.Everyone was nattering about how amazing Voltaire was. He was huge in Seattle at the time, and it was spilling into Van City. Haven't heard much of him since though...

 

Whilst unpacking, I found my goth clothes! My leather gloves and thigh-high boots. My pilot goggles and blue bob wig. My crazy pouffy skirts and super skin tight spade dress. They're still fun to wear. Thank goodness for Halloween. :)

The Navy SEAL Workout

Yes.

I did it.

I'm sure it helps to train at the Armoury with a friend who is in the Army. The motivation is definitely there. We push each other when we can tell there aren't enough reps. (Or in my case, I'll 'forget' what number he is on.) He also helps me with my form, which is so important. I always thought I had good form, and he has confirmed it, which makes me so happy!

I'm not stacked or jacked, but there's definitely lots of muscle in me because I was able to do the RX workout #1 in full. Leg work has always been my strong suit.

TRX workout #2 is a whole other story. It's trickier with the balance because you're basically only on your hands the entire time while your feet are in the balance thingies. I seriously need to work on my upper body strength. That was so tough!! It's also during TRX that you can tell what side is your dominant one muscle-wise. I found it odd how I was able to work so much longer on my left side than my right...I am a Righty, so I thought my right side would be the dominant one!

Anyway, the Navy SEAL workout is all about core and upper body. I did 20 chin ups! TWENTY! I could never do one before. I did so many push-ups. I couldn't count (again, great to have a workout buddy for that reason too!) And it only took an hour to do the entire circuit.

I took a day off from working out the next day and hit the gym today to work on legs.

For some reason my arms are still on fire. Guess the SEAL workout is the way to go!

Damini

I can't remember the last time I asked a guy out on a date. To be honest, I think it was way back in college.

I mean, the online dating thing doesn't count. It's called online dating - you're going to get a date out of it. And girls get approached by guys all the time. But phoning someone up, or asking to their face is holy nerve-wracking. Now I get it. You guys get mad props.

Little Talks

I first heard this tune this weekend on the radio, which has probably been around for a little while, but I never listen to the radio. I had moved this weekend and I decided to plug into the FM stations because I didn't want to waste the battery on my iTouch. And hurrah! New tunage to discover!

This video is  so stellar. Finally, the art in music videos are back in this mini masterpiece!

This is an older one, but has good vibes and reminds me of Costa Rica:

I thought I had this tune on my iTouch - all the City and Colour tunes sound so damn similar - but they are catchy damn it. And so I love this one too of course!

Cartoony music vids

Remember Stardust?

Young Folks...

 

Cartoons not for Young Folks...

Young Blood

While cruisin' up to the Ottawa Rapids in my Cruz, I was rawkin to SiriusXM Radio's BPM station. And I couldn't get enough of this tune:

I came home and downloaded all of the Naked and Famous tunes (plus another remix) which stand well on their own. (Hey, you never know! Sometimes the remixes are way better!) Awesome tunes to play while cookin' up a storm or chilling on the patio at home.

I have blisters on my hand from clutching too tight to my golf clubs Friday and the centre of my back is still on fire from paddling my ass off Saturday - so wonderful! These little aches are reminders of big memories. Now my legs are sore from stair climbing and one-leg presses at the gym. Ahhh ... the feeling of being alive!!

Rafting was an excellent adventure! I had a super cool guide and the other folks in my raft were really easy going and fun to joke around with. The older guys were a little lazy, I have to admit. Me and my girl T were doing far better on the rowing - lean forward/pull back! A couple weeks prior I was focusing on the rowing machine at the gym and I think it paid off. The DOMS would likely be a lot worse if I hadn't prepared my body for it beforehand.

 

But nothing could prepare me for the humongous bloated dead moose we saw. We couldn't tell if it was a horse or not, but the antlers were a give away. There were loads of bugs and birds around. And in one spot the size of my fist, the skin had been ripped off, so you could see the yellowy mush inside. Then our guide told us about the time she stepped in a dead cow while she was rafting in Ecuador. Oh man, so gross.

 

I can't wait to go rafting again!!

Cool musicians and nice people are sometimes one in the same

Speaking recently about reconnections - Eric sent me an email Sunday night! The last we communicated was way back in September 2010.

He's a super chill dude, very fun, and we met when his band came in from Ottawa to play at The Riv. I had just started freelancing with Uncharted Sounds and The Draculas was the first band I interviewed with UCS. Eric is no longer with The Draculas, and now has his own band, recording in LA and touring all over the place.

I was happy to hear from him. (It's always nice to be remembered too!) We lost touch as people do. No hard feelings or anything. I had a boyfriend at the time (The Parisian) and took our meeting as a fun experience. So, Eric and I are going to try to reconnect while I am in Ottawa for my rafting adventure.

It's really shaping up to be an extraordinarily fun  weekend!

Some tracks:

 Loved this one the first time I heard it in High Fidelity. (That soundtrack just rules, man.)

My dad introduced me to this tune - it's now my all time favourite John Lennon track:

 
Here's another oldie but goodie: