Can You Hear Me Now?

This was one of those great weekends that are busy in a fun, relaxing and very fulfilling way.

It started on Friday (as most weekends do, I guess) when I got to spend an easy day at home puttering around, doing a bit of work, and tidying up so my mom didn’t have TOO much to do when she got here to spend the weekend with me (she always cleans when she’s here. I can’t stop her. Really, I have tried! ) She arrived at the exact moment we had to leave to head up to the Calgary Folk Club, where (ding ding ding! Guess what’s coming?) the Polyjesters (surprise!) were playing, opening for folk singer Mollie O’Brien. We arrived before the doors were officially open, but when the band waves to you, I take that as a cue that no one will stop me if I just walk right in. So we did, and I introduced my mom to the guys. We got a couple drinks and chatted with them for a bit. Then we got ourselves great seats right in front of the stage for the show. The Polyjesters were fantastic as usual, and received a standing ovation and an encore from the 200+ crowd that was there. ::clapclapclap:: I guess that is a rare occurrence for an opening act at that club… but these guys WOW everyone they play for. They exude so much energy and have so much fun up there, it just carries over into the crowd and everyone has a great time. I could gush gush gush for hours, but I’ll spare ya this time. Mom looooooooooooved them!!! (I knew she would, of course). She even got called “mom” and received big hugs from Jason and Sheldon (so yeah, they made it into her heart! It’s sooooo easy for them though). Mollie O’Brien was wonderful too! She has an absolutely gorgeous voice, and it was an acoustic set with just her on vocals and her husband on guitar. I bought one of her CDs; after she sang a song called “When I’ve Got The Moon” I decided I had to own that!

Jason gave me another copy of their documentary “Are We There Yet?” because the first one I got didn’t play all the way through, I couldn’t get it past this one scene no matter what I tried! This one is perfect and it shall never leave my DVD player. Hee! I realized for the first time after watching this all the way through, that Jason also plays the piano. Really well. Hot damn, that guy is so frickin’ talented it’s scary. They’re all so talented. And funny. Silly. Certifiable. Koo koo!

After the show, mom and I were waiting for a cab. We were standing at the glass doors when this woman came along and I guess she didn’t realize there was a door there; she literally walked right into it BANG! It was the funniest thing ever (she was not hurt, so we could laugh, and she was not drunk… just not watching where she was going I guess). She was oh-so-very embarrassed. Then she tried to go out the door for real, to quickly escape the humility of having witnesses to her clumsiness, but she was trying to open the “please use other door” door. It just was not her night.

When I got home I checked my mailbox, and my Jakalope CD was there!! Yippeee!! So even though it was after midnight I went straight to my computer and put it in and played the whole thing before I went to bed. Soooooo good!

On Saturday mom and I went to Olive Garden for dinner. As usual on a Saturday evening there was a long wait, so I put my name down and we took a seat. Almost an hour later we were watching them seat people we KNOW came in after us, so I went up to check if we had been overlooked. The hostess looked at her list and saw that someone had highlighted my name as already being seated, asked her co-workers “who did this??!!” in horror and then quickly sat us. The manager came over a few minutes later and apologized for the mix-up, and asked if we had ordered appetizers or anything. I said “no, just breadsticks and salad with our meals” and he said “well, why don’t I pick those up for you then”. Gasp! I was expecting, if anything, an offer of a “free tiramisu” after dinner. But to get our entire meals bought! Naturally, with free dinner coming, we figured we’d get desserts to go then. Heh. Turns out that’s all we paid for in the end; even our wine and Bellinis were taken care of! Woo hoo!

So we came home and watched Desperate Housewives (the repeat, mom missed it last week) and then devoured half of our sickeningly sweet desserts while watching figure skating. Because we’re cool chicks who know how to spend a Saturday night!

This morning after setting the clocks back giving us an extra hour of coffee drinking time, we just hung out and watched “Ghost” on TV… I forgot how much I loved that movie! At 2:00 I headed over to the mall to meet with Eric on his break. What an awesome kid, I love this guy, he is going to change the world. He is the only 17 year old I have ever met who cannot WAIT to turn 18 simply because he wants to be able vote. He is such an activist, he has written letters to every politician from Alderman to Prime Minister and every position in between, advocating for the Youth in Care programs and gay rights. I guess he attended a talk an Alderman gave regarding the Youth in Care programs, and wrote him afterwards referring to some ignorant remarks he made about “these troubled youth” and said “it doesn’t help us when arrogant politicians like you don’t know what you’re talking about… did you even read your speech before you presented it??” or something like that. Heh. He received a phone call from that Alderman shortly afterwards and they had a good long talk. Go Eric!

The mall was a MADHOUSE. Kids in Halloween costumes EVERYWHERE. I didn’t know that the malls have now become a place for them to go trick or treating… this is apparently a new thing the malls here started this year. Every store and food vendor has candy to give out to the kids. So they get to collect candy all day at the malls and then go out again in the evening… crazy! Needless to say I hightailed it out of there as soon as I could. My scooter doesn’t like trying to maneuver around hoards of children who are not known for watching where they’re going.

Mom was gone by the time I got home. I’ve got left over Garlic Herb Chicken Con Broccoli for supper and a new episode of Desperate Housewives on at 8:00. And new CDs (I bought a 3-CD Louis Armstrong set today too for $10!) And my Polyjesters DVD! Woot!

It’s Fred and Robyn’s 6th anniversary today. They’re one of my favourite couples, I’ve been reading their journals for years and feel like I know them, they’re such great people. They met online (she lived in Rhode Island, him in Alabama) and are one of the successful online love stories I know of… as are my friends Scott and Cheryl in Georgia, who met on ICQ when he lived in California. I met them in person a few years ago, so unlike Fred and Robyn, I actually KNOW those two. I always love a good true life love story though, and these people have a couple of the best. They’re such happy couples and great examples of what marriage should look like! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Fred and Robyn, I KNOW you’ll be together forever! (BTW, excellent successful marriage tips from Robyn here).

And please, if you never read another online journal entry again, at least make sure to read this one before you stop.