Can You Hear Me Now?

Okay, so where was I. Ahhh, yes. I’m only about a month behind…

Sunday, April 13 - Sunday, April 20:

Sunday brought Rob Szabo back to Calgary again, for a show at the Ironwood. My friend Kim came in from Red Deer and picked me up around 5:30 ish and we headed over to the venue to meet Rob for dinner. It was sooooo good to see Rob again! It had been too long, in my opinion. And Jason came to see him! That was awesome. Jason plays Rob’s music and videos on Kitchen Radio, so it was about time he came to see him.

Me and two of my favourite people

After the show and packing up his gear, Rob and I came back to my place. I got to keep him for a few days!! It was nice to be able to spend some time with him, as the last couple of times he’s been here it’s just been for the one night, and he left the next morning for another city. This time he wasn’t flying out until Wednesday morning.

On Monday, we drove out to Carstairs to hang out at Jason’s house. I had not been there for quite some time… the last time I was there, he still had part of a living room, where people could sit on the sofa and socialize. Now, the living room is cut off from the kitchen by one of those office cubicle partitions, and the entire living room is a recording studio. Two of the upstairs bedrooms are completely geeked out with various computers, studio, sound boards, radio station equipment and stuff I don’t even know where to begin… the hallway is lined with racks of CDs and posters from various gigs. It’s unreal! It made Rob very happy. Jason and Sheldon are becoming big time promoters in the area, with Kitchen Radio, the Mountainview Music Festival, and organizing tons of performances for other musicians passing through. Jason’s house is the headquarters! He basically lives in the basement, and the entire upstairs is devoted to the business of independent music.

After spending a few hours in Carstairs, we drove back here and I got on my scooter for a quick trip to the mall. I think. I can’t quite remember the order of everything hehe But I do know that after that I had to rest a bit before we went to My Favourite Vietnamese Restaurant for dinner. We finished up close to 9:00, then I was BEAT. Done. Ready for an early night after a long, busy day. So I stayed in and went to bed early while Rob went back to the Ironwood where the owners wanted to give him a night out and buy him lots of drinks.

The next day was a quieter, get-stuff-done kinda day. I took my scooter out, and we went over to the mall to eat and pick up a few things, I don’t remember what it was I needed, but I’m sure it was important. Then we went across to the Safeway, so Rob could get some organic food and I could get my Soy milk (Wal-Mart had run out). Also, so I could visit Starbucks and get a latte. I look forward to more warmer weather, which we are NOT expriencing as I write this, so I can scooter over to Safeway more often. It’s a little too far to go when it’s cold and/or windy.

After we got back here, I hid in my office while Rob re-arranged furniture in my living room. I needed the TV closer, now that I have digital and need to read so much small print on the screen. I gave Rob directions, then hid away. I came out once for a brief moment, but saw the mess in the living room (he had to empty everything from the cupboards of my hutch in order to move it) and felt so guilty about asking him to do this, that I hid back in my office until it was all done. I’m very, very happy with the set up now! I’ve got my chair and TV over to one side, like a little private area, and the living room is “over there”. I like it much better. And if anyone is ever over to watch TV, they can just turn the TV towards them a bit.

Then it was time to make dinner plans. We were meeting with Spencer and Sam, a couple of Rob’s friends we had Indian food with back in October when he was here with Peter Katz. This time, we managed to get reservations at Aida’s, my VERY favourite restaurant (period), for Lebanese food. We had a lovely dinner, everyone was very impressed with my choice of restaurants (it’s SO GOOD). I had one whole glass of wine and could barely walk out of the place. Geez!

When we got back here, Rob hard boiled eggs to take with him the next day and packed up while I watched The Biggest Loser finale. Rob was all, “I thought you hated all that diet stuff.” Yeah, I do, but I did watch the season premiere, and it’s always fun to see the AFTER stuff. Even if more than half of them will gain it all back. And a woman won for the first time!! YAAA! Actually, I’m not sure of the Biggest Loser long-term stats. They lose it so fast and are separated from all temptation for so long (even those sent home know there is a TV show to appear on at the end, so that is a good motivator). It’s only natural that when “real life” hits them again, that they gain it back (plus more). Hopefully they get addicted enough to exercise that they can keep some off. I’m just not a big fan of the unrealistic expectations of that show… “I only lost 6 pounds this week WAAAH!!!”

Aaaaanyway, the next morning I got up early to say goodbye to Rob, (sniff, sniff) and then I went to work at a client’s for the day.

On Thursday, Peter called. He was in town that day before heading down to Lethbridge for a show on Friday, then back here for his show at the Ironwood on Saturday. He picked me up and we went to the Samosa Grill for a wonderful Indian food buffet lunch. Oh man, I could eat that food every day! Peter is so sweet. He bought me lunch and then we went to Starbucks after for some lattes. It was a lovely afternoon with a lovely person.

On Friday, I had a doctor’s appointment. My doctor has moved his office (again), and I didn’t even know! Luckily I looked at his address online when booking my Access trips, but I didn’t even realize it was a different address than last time because it was still in the NW part of the city and I don’t go often enough to memorize it. Anyway, the driver was trying to drop me off at a giant Superstore (which is not only a grocery store, but has a gym and offices and stuff) and I was all, “no way! My doctor isn’t in the Superstore! He’s in a mall in Beddington…” but we were at the address I had given. So I reluctantly got out of the car and wandered into the store and found the elevator to take me upstairs to the medical offices. Sure enough, my doctor works out of there now. Nice of them to let me know. They swore they called every patient, but I never got the call. Now that I know where it is, I remember seeing the medical centre’s name on my call display, but they never left me a message or anything.

By Saturday, I was beat. After Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday being out and about every day, I just couldn’t do it. And we all know what happens when I push myself and don’t listen to my body. So I called Peter and left a sobbing voice mail message that I wouldn’t be able to make it to his show. Of course he totally understood, and if it wasn’t for the family friends he was staying with having a big Passover dinner, he would have come over to play a private show for me before going to the Ironwood. Awwww. As it was, he called me from the back room before he went on stage to play me a song over his cell phone (because he is about the sweetest person on the PLANET), a new one he just wrote:

As he mentions in the start of that video, “I’m stranded in Calgary because of the snow storm”. He was supposed to head to Saskatchewan on Sunday morning, but he wasn’t able to. So, he called me and said “the bad news is, I can’t get to my gig in Saskatchewan. The good news is, I can come over and play a private concert for you.”

That’s right, people, Peter Katz called me and offered to come over and play a private concert FOR ME IN MY HOUSE. bold italic all caps exclamation marks

Of course, this was a little difficult to keep to myself. I thought I better call a few friends and see if they could make it over. Joelle lives close to me, so I called and left a message for her. When she called me back, she thought she was too late, and apologized for missing it. I said “he’s not here yet! Get your butt over here!” and she called Sheldon, who was on his way over to Joelle’s, to meet at my place instead. Sheldon was the first to arrive, then Peter in his mis-matched socks (so cute haha) and finally Joelle made it, bringing coffee with her at my very desperate request.

It was, to say the least, amazing. To be seated all comfy in my chair with Peter Katz playing and singing just feet from me. Hello, heaven! I recorded this little video, which I’ve kept pretty quiet because I don’t know if Peter would want it seen by all You Tube users. But for you guys that read my blog, I’m going to allow it! Peter had sung his heart out at his (PACKED) gig the night before, so his voice was a little rough, but we don’t care.

Photos from the week (I didn’t take many) above can be seen HERE.

To be continued…