Thanksgiving

Listening to the Arcade Fire in my underwear.

I'm cold, I think the window is open.

Home is where beds are made and butter is added to toast

In light of the wayward oven, the normal festive meal was replaced by Swiss Chalet, this was not so much a disappointment, nor was it a pleasant surprise, it simply was. Spending time with my brother and sister makes me really homesick, anyone reading this who has lived with young kids knows how amazing it is to see them experience things for the first time.

We spent some time playing with my computer's camera and the corresponding software.



Those few hours chased away the blahs for sure.

On the drive home I noticed for the first time how early it's getting dark out, this happens every year but almost always knocks the wind out of my sails.
The letdowns you can't escape always sting the most.

-Andrew

I'll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go

I had Thanksgiving last night with my friends, something I'd like to see become an annual event. It was a heartwarming little get together made whole by cheap wine and cheap laughs. The evening was rounded out with a screening of the Born to Run DVD, discussions of Brian Wilson and shirtless wonders.
I'm driving to Cole Harbour right now, sitting square in the backseat of my grandparent's van. My parent's oven suffered a breakdown today, meaning no turkey. I had a dream last night that involved my mom getting hurt, I think it may have been a premonition, in regards to the broken oven.

Time marches on.

-Andrew

Om nom nom

This is tasty.

I just found this....

HAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHH

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

I swear I saw snow today.

So it begins.

It's getting colder now and darker, and awesomer. For the first time this season I had to force myself to get out of the shower, it's pretty cold in our house now. Fall is a different animal than the rest of the year, everything has an urgency to it, I think it's probably some sort of instinct forcing us to get things done with before winter, I don't really know though, I'm not a scientist.

There has been a guy playing jazz guitar in the evenings across the street from my work the last week or so, it's been pretty great. Something about walking around downtown at dusk with that kind of soundtrack backing you is radical.

My mother called to ask if I wanted to go on vacation with them in March, I said that my life was too up in the air to commit to it, so no. This was either the most or the least adult thing I've done so far, I just can't tell.

-A

Sunken Treasure

Take a gander at these gems.

Thanks Dartmouth!

My favorite youtube music videos

Ryan Adams - I Taught Myself How To Grow Old



The Weakerthans - Gifts (Propaghandi Cover)


Jeff Tweedy - Gun


Paul Westerberg - Here Comes A Regular


The Pogues - Fairy Tale Of New York



Neutral Milk Hotel - Oh Comely

Yeah But Still.

I just realized that there may actually be people who read this, an exciting development in my life as a "blogger", I am now self aware.

But anyway...

This weekend was awesome, I managed to get my room in tip top shape, everything is as it should be. I'm currently however on the lookout for a small comfy chair in which I can nestle in the corner...I'll come up with some pictures tomorrow.

We (myself, Robyn, Amir, Lindsay, Zane, Alex, Lachlan, Ryan, Kate, Kara, Trainor and Emily) also went to the Riverbreeze Hunted corn maze in Truro. It was pretty fun, super scary, but really deep down genuinely fun. There are long stretches of dark buildings and people chase you with chainsaws and it's super awesome. I don't have any real photos of it, but these will give you a pretty AWESOME idea of what it was like.




Next weekend is Thanksgiving, I'm having dinner at my apartment on Saturday, I'm very very excited and will be preparing some tasty treats for all to enjoy.




Get excited.

More of this all.

-Andrew

Hey there

I've been thinking a lot about the changing of the seasons, it's easy to get preoccupied with things you have no control over. Fall is a false sense of security, it's a warm thought on a cold day. It's the first time you feel guilty for hogging the blankets, and the last time you felt sorry for sleeping alone. It's your first walk in that new jacket, lapels turned in, cuffs cuffed, zipped to the chin. It's the grays of the city blending with the grays of the sky. The days get shorter, yet somehow feel longer than they ever have. It's that old sinking feeling rising up through the sewer grates.

It's fall man, just fall.

Realistically

At this point in time I should be used to this kind of stuff, right?

I've hit a wall.

I went on a sweet little trip last weekend, spent a day in Montreal, saw Sigur Ros, bought some shoes, ate some junk food. On the way back I get stuck in St John for like four hours which was boring as hell, but whatever, Sigur Ros, no care about anything else ever.

Work has begun to completely dictate my life, which is really really depressing. Despite the amount I'm working I'm still not really making that much more money. I desperately need a better job right now.

At any rate, fall is here, fall rules, best season.



I want to go somewhere like that soon, somewhere rural where I can go for a red and orange walk through the woods.

That would be nice.

-Andrew

Those cold September nights when the only company you've got is the rock stuck in the sole of your shoe. Despite everything your heart says your brain can't help but disagree. It's a hard road now, but things will pay off. You're just now starting to notice your breath contrasting with the sky, and the swirling mix of pain and pride is the only thing brighter than the moon. Press on, be still my friends, soon your cold feet and warm hearts will find their way home.

What it do, what it do.

Often when asked how I'm doing, I respond with a languished "I'm doin'". I don't entirely know what I mean by that.

Things aren't bad right now, by all accounts they're good. I have a decent job making decent money, I see my friends more than I ever have, and I successfully pirate cable, an impressive daring and, if I may be so bold, admirable feat. However I find anguish in the things I'm lacking, whatever they may be. Despite the fact that I'm young and have literally my entire life ahead of me, I can't help but feel that I'm wasting my time on the day to day routine. In choosing to take this year off school I've really made my life devoid of any kind of constructive structure (constructre???). The ins and outs of the day to day have gotten me down. I find something really insulting about knowing every morning when I wake up to go to work that I have to do the same thing every morning for the rest of the week. I don't think this is my job's fault, the blame instead falls squarely on my hairy shoulders. My job is fun, it's relatively easy, and generally speaking I enjoy the company that comes along with it, the issue however lies in how the work relates to my personal satisfaction and general sense of worth. There is no way to spin my job and make it seem like what I'm doing is in any way constructive or useful, I'm just a cog in the retail machine, the ends that I justify has no positive impact on the general populace. I need to find work that is rewarding in both the monetary sense and the emotional/mental sense. I want to know that my day to day routine feeds into some higher more meaningful purpose.

Ultimately I feel that this is probably everyone's deepest desire in terms of work and working, and realistically nothing sets me apart or entitles me deserve more than anyone else...but a boy can hope right?

While we're here, lets go over some summer highlights in picture form.

THERE WERE LOTS OF THESE CRAZY FUCKED UP SHED SHOWS. ALEX TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF.


ALSO WE DID KARAOKE LIKE WOAH.


AND I WENT DANCING A FEW TIMES AND GOT DISGUSTING AND SWEATY AND RULED.


SOMEHOW I BECAME A COLLEGE GRADUATE, WHO'DA THUNK IT


I spent a few days in August in PEI with most of my favorite people, it was one of the best weekends I've ever had.


LOOK AT THAT SUNSET MAAAAN


-Andrew
xo

Picture if you will...

Today Amir and I successfully proved that people can infact sit out on the awning above our entry way, this is a very important development and will prove useful in the coming summer months.

1999

I remember the millennial shift pretty well, PRIME had just started running All In the Family reruns pretty often and were doing an all night marathon. My family gathered in our basement recroom, pots and pans in hand, to watch Archie Bunker spew ignorance, I think at some point we ordered Chinese food. At the time I wasn't too into Chinese food, and my mother, in her infinite wisdom had ordered me a sub sandwich from the local pizzeria. With the fear of Y2K looming over us, we patiently waited for Liz Rigney and the BT crew to declare the new year.

Right now I'm sitting at work on my last shift, my long long excruciating last shift. In a lot of ways, it's kind of like January 31st 1999,  replace the sub sandwich with a pound of cashews and two litres of orange juice and the parallels are shocking... My year 2000 will be the wonderful world of unemployment, IE ten weeks asleep. 

Yep.

I leave in a few days for sunny Orlando Florida, it's either going to be totally awesome and the most fun ever, or just be terribly terribly stressful. If nothing else it'll be a great break from this god awful routine I've got myself stuck in. I'm hoping to find some new shoes.

That was how you write when you have nothing to say.

-A

B-Sides

Good Friday, all I want to do is buy some groceries, that's all.

Instead I'm going to spend the entire day listening to hours and hours of Sloan B-sides and Live Bootlegs.

-A

For Fuck's Sakes

Corner Gas is the worst show ever.

I think I anti-laughed.

-A

Week in review -OR- How I Spent my Spring Vacation

I always do it too much.

I'm not dwelling so much on specific events as I am on specific moods/feelings/ideas. Quitting my job was kind of the first big launch off to war for the week, and kinda set the tone for everything to follow. For the first time in my life, I'm completely unsure what's going to happen to me, I have just enough money put aside to pay my rent from now until June, after that I'm really really really hoping that the combination of education and nepotism come through for me. The idea of being unemployed is entirely fucking radical though.

This week was full of spending time with my friends, which is something I'd been neglecting a lot lately, so I'm glad I had that. Making new friends is awesome, and I established some things with some people this week that I'm happy about. I also got to see one of the best speaking engagements ever as given by KRS-One, he talked a lot about Newtonian Mechanics and Quantum Physics and God and how they all relate to hip-hop, it was pretty amazing.

This was also one of those weeks when you want really hard to be able to be there for people, but as a dumb kid you have no real way to. I have this problem where I want to be able to be supportive, but I'm so passive aggressive and shy and awkward that I never really know how to be. My great-aunt died this past Friday, which really put a damper on my entire weekend. Knowing how much it upset my grandmother made is a lot worse.

Speaking of family, I think I fully realized how awesome and supportive and generous my family and friends are. I don't think that a person is defined solely by the company he/she keeps, but rather by the strength of the relationships they form. I think the people in my life are the most worthwhile thing I have going for me, if you're reading this, you know who you are, you know I love you, and you don't know how much I really do appreciate everything you do.

Tomorrow I'm going to go back to school, I'm a bit worried that I'm not doing that well. The next month has to be me trying as hard as I possibly can to do as well as I possibly can. April is going to be the month I really try hard to grow up. Holding on to being sixteen, despite what John Mellencamp thinks, probably isn't the best thing for everyone.

I need to make an Easter mix cd for my Easter party. I think it's going to be the following songs, in no order....

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Linus and Lucy
Sonic Youth - Do You Believe in Rapture
Modest Mouse - Jesus Christ Was An Only Child
Nas - The Cross
Wilco - Jesus Etc

I'll think of more.

I'm tired.

-A

I just moved my bed.

I think it's in a better place now.