Lame.

Everytime that I've been given 3 consecutive days off work, I've been called in on the middle day to cover a shift for someone, therefore breaking up so-called weekend. I was given wednesday, thursday and friday off work this week, which pay cheque-wise I wasn't happy about, but I really do want the break. I had a feeling that I would be called in at some point and lucky for me, that didn't happen.

I was looking forward to 3 days off to chill and get things done. Yesterday was cold and raining and I opted just to stay home. Waste of day 1. When I went to bed my throat started to feel scratchy and when I woke up this morning (afternoon) after a terrible night of sleep it was even worse. All day I've been feeling gaggy, a little runny, a little feverish, and just overall shitty and in no mood to go anywhere or do anything. Especially not in the cold, overcast, rain. Well I had a guitar lesson scheduled and I had to go. The extra $30 a week really helps, especially considering I earn it in a hour. But I had to walk to get there, and back. And I left my good umbrella in my mom's car. By the time I got there I was so cold and miserable I could've cried.

I'm really hoping that tomorrow will be sunny and that I'll be feeling better.

Now Playing: City And Colour - Day Old Hate [Live]

What I Say VS. What I Think

Setup:
I'm at work. It's 10 to 9 and I'm counting cash and trying to close. Music lessons are coming to an end for the night (thank god) and I'm rushing to get things done so I don't miss the bus home. Guitar student's mother is sitting, waiting to take her daughter home.

Actual Conversation:

Customer: "What's that music I hear?"

Me: "Ummmm.... It could be a lot of things. I mean, you're in a music store."

Customer: "I hear someone singing. Do you offer singing lessons?"

Me: "Yeah, the singing you hear is coming from a vocal lesson."

Customer: "Who's singing? Is that the student or the teacher?"

Me: *recounting the money for the 3rd time because the women won't shut up* "It's both of them, together."

Customer: "Oh I love that song!"

Me: "I don't know what it is, but it's driving me nuts quite honestly. I've been hearing it over and over all day and it's annoying."

Customer: "It's Lady Gaga, Monster Ball."

Me: "OH. WELL." *makes a face*

Customer: *now humming and singing along* "I love this song. I love Lady Gaga. Isn't she great?"

Me: *silence*

Customer: "My daughter dressed up as Lady Gaga for halloween and it was just great. She had the sun glasses and everything. And everyone knew who she was. It was just great.... just great."

Me: "Mmmhmm."


What I'm actually thinking:

Customer: "What's that music I hear?"

Me: "What the fuck do you think it is? Look around you, dumbass."

Customer: "I hear someone singing. Do you offer singing lessons?"

Me: "I don't know. Why don't you just look at the sign directly in front of your face."

Customer: "Who's singing? Is that the student or the teacher?"

Me: *recounting the money for the 3rd time because the women won't shut up* "Shut the fuck up. I'm busy."

Customer: "Oh I love that song!"

Me: "GOOD FOR YOU. I'M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU. REALLY, I AM. NOW SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP."

Customer: "It's Lady Gaga, Monster Ball."

Me: "Well NO FUCKING WONDER I FEEL LIKE SHOOTING MYSELF IN THE FACE."

Customer: *now humming and singing along* "I love this song. I love Lady Gaga. Isn't she great?"

Me: "I don't know. Why don't you go find her?"

Customer: "My daughter dressed up as Lady Gaga for halloween and it was just great. She had the sun glasses and everything. And everyone knew who she was. It was just great.... just great."

Me: *reaches for the bottle of chloroform."


Maybe customer service isn't for me.

What A Dud

...and a disappointment at that. On friday, I was suppose to be playing my first real show. By real, I mean more than playing a cover at my high school's coffee house last year. The fact that I was on at midnight didn't help either. All of my friends who were suppose to come backed out due to work/school/whatever on saturday morning. Yes, some of my loser friends actually have school on saturdays. I was really disappointed. Nobody made an effort on my birthday (blog to come) and while I know 12 is late, especially all the way downtown, I was just really upset. On top of that I was concerned that I wouldn't be asked to play any more shows after selling only two tickets. I was asked to aim for 30. I got to the venue and was told "There's a good amount of people in there." I swallowed hard. I'd been losing sleep over this day. Not eating, having panic attacks, hot and cold flashes. It was a big deal to me. But I just needed to break the ice and then I'd look forward to playing many more gigs in the near future. I walked up the flight of stairs and into the room where the stage was. I had to be there an hour and a half before my set time.

I anticipated going to chill back stage, maybe have a beer. Just calm down. I was told to lean my guitar against the wall and go watch the show. I walked in to find the venue, which probably could have held 1000 people, with MAYBE 60-70 people lingering around. MAYBE. There was no reason for me to be there early. There was no backstage, no soundcheck, no sign in, nothing.

The band that was on when I got there was The Light Division. They are a signed band that the promoter Supernova brings out to show "Look what we can do for you." I didn't realize this at first, but I did realize that they really had their shit together and the instant I walked into the room I felt out of my element and ready to cry. The crowd was small, but the stage, the lights, the venue... "This is all bigger than me".

The bands that went up after them where terrible. Every single one of them. They were kids, like me, and although my ears started to bleed, at one band in particular, I felt much more at ease.

By the time 12:15 rolled around there were 30-40 people there. I got up on stage, banged out my set one out of tune song and lame joke after the other, jumped off the stage and went home. I had to be at work for 9am saturday morning. The dumbasses at Supernova forgot to collect the money from me so I gave my friend his $10 back. The whole thing was pointless. I played to a bigger, more responsive crowd in my high school cafeteria last year, and this did nothing for me in terms of preping me for real shows. This wasn't a real show. It wasn't worth the stress, or panic, or loss of sleep and calories. It wasn't worth the gas wasted on going down to fucking Queen St. It wasn't worth the disappointment and upset I felt towards my friends who bailed. And it certainly wasn't worth getting 4.5 hours of sleep before working a whole shift the next day.

If Supernova did call me back and ask me to play another show, I'd say no. It's not worth my time/effort. Nothing was accomplished from it. In fact, it was totally pointless.

To all those kids who want nothing more than to play music, and can't get into a bar yet, Supernova isn't the way to go about it. Don't waste your time.

Because I Am A Geek

This is the simplest, most awesome idea ever. I have all my ticket stubs, from everything. My birthday is on thursday.... just sayin'.

Come Say Hi

"Yesterday was the worst day ever, and tomorrow won't be better..."

Or at least that's how I felt when I woke up Friday morning. I have this habit of not taking things seriously when I should, but then getting SO stressed out about small unimportant things, that I lose sleep.

Thursday, I took the day off work because I had to go downtown to attend a meeting about my upcoming gig. If I didn't go to the meeting, I couldn't play, it's that simple. The meeting was called for 6 PM and was only suppose to last around half an hour. I had a guitar lesson to teach from 3:30 - 4:30, and I knew that I'd be cutting it close, but at 4:30, I took off and ran out to Yonge Street to catch the bus.

Long story short, I got stuck in rush hour traffic and at 6:10 had just made it to Queen and Yonge. There was a bunch of construction and I admittedly underestimated how far down the road Douvercourt was. At 6:30 I was still a solid 15 minutes away from the venue and that's when I got a call from the promoter. I explained the situation and although I had missed the meeting, one of the staff members waited for me to give me the paper work and tickets. When I finally got there it was a quarter to 7 and I was beyond stressed and aggravated. I got all the flyers and tickets and everything else which took about a minute and I was sent on my way. 2.5 hours of travelling in each direction for that. Needless to say, I was pissed. Why couldn't they just mail it all to me. Ugh.

So it's now 7:00 and getting dark, and I'm standing alone on the sketchy corner of Queen and Douvercourt waiting for a streetcar/bus/anything that will help me get home, when some big Persian gangster guy whistles at me. I turn to look at him. He winks, throw a gang hand sign, and blows a kiss at me. At this point, I nearly shat myself in fear.

9:30 and I'm finally home, eating dinner and panicking that I have to be at work at 9:15 AM. Of course everything worked out just fine, but I really need to stop sweating the small stuff.

"Hey suburbia, hey suburbia, hey suburbia, we're in love with you."

It's About Time

I guess Canada Post took their sweet time deciding to charge me duty, but my long awaited parcel finally arrived today. Or rather one of those "Come pickup your shit" door hangy things did. Looky what I got!

Restaurant Review: Moe's Southwest Grill

Moe's Blows

I'm a huge fan of Chipotle, and fresh made burritos in general. After hearing good think about this restaurant and reading multiple reviews claiming that it was even better than Chipotle, I had to check it out.

When I walked in, my first impression was that the restaurant was dull and dingie looking. The florescent lights reminded me of a hospital room and the old, dirty floors and chairs made me think of a run down Swiss Chalet.

I ordered the Art Vandalay which is what they call the vegetarian burrito. I wasn't that hungry going in, so I was prepared for this to be way too much food, as Chipotle's burritos are massive, and rightfully so for the price. The prices at Moe's were pretty much equal to Chipotle, but the here the chips and salsa are free. Chipotle charges $2 for theirs.

My burrito was around the size of something you would order from the big bell menu at Taco Bell for $1.29 but it rang in at around $10 with a fountain pop and tax. I chose the black beans, which I was told were spicy, but was let down as they had no taste whatsoever. The rice was either undercooked or old and dried out because it was hard and chewy like aldante pasta. For me, the rice is the best part of the burrito. I love Chipotle's lime cilantro rice, but on top of being hard, Moe's was flavourless.

The only thing that gave my food any flavour at all was the chopped jalepeno peppers and chipotle mayonaise that I had them add. I should note that Chipotle doesn't offer a burrito sauce or jalepenos, but everything else there has such a great flavour that it isn't neccessary. The sauce tasted sort of like the southwest chipotle sauce from Subway. It was good.

The free corn chips tasted like something you could buy in a bag at the grocery store. They weren't particularly bad, but were nothing special and definately didn't compare to the fresh made chips that I've had at places like Mucho Burrito and Chipotle. I'd much rather spend the extra $2 and get something good. Also, Moe's salsa tasted like Old El Paso's jarred extra chunky.

All in all, this place was a major let down. The portions would not have filled me if I was hungry (and I'm a slender girl) and I could have, and should have walked around the block to Chipotle where I could have gotten three times more food, that was better quality for the same price, served in a bright, clean enviroment.

Side note: I was told that Moe's sings and chats with you and greets you with a big friendly "Welcome to Moe's!" That didn't happen. In fact, 3 out of 4 employees working the counter could barely speak english. But that's neither here nor there, I suppose.

Thumbs down.

Um... Canada Post, Did You Forget About Me?

It's Friday. Where the hell is the delivery I've been waiting for? Better question, why wasn't I given a tracking number. Grrrr.

Stuff Is Movin', Stuff Is Groovin'

Too much all at once? I don't know. I feel a little overwhelmed, a little excited, and very nervous. It seems like since my internship at Dine Alone Records ended in January, I've done nothing at all. Now I'm out of school and I do less than nothing. I am constantly nagged about how I don't have a job, I sleep too much, I don't help out at home and blah blah blah.

Well now all at once, in a matter of a week or so I have so much coming together that I can't keep track of it all and though nothing has happened yet, I'm stressing myself out pretty bad. It's a weird habit of mine. I stay pretty calm in situations when most people go ape shit (probably because I mostly just don't give a damn) but then all these little things pile up in my head and I think about them and think about them until I drive myself crazy. I lose sleep. I make myself literally sick to the stomach.

For the past month, I've been teaching guitar lessons privately. No big deal really, just helping some little kids learn the basics. I had a few students here and there, but as of now, I have one student on a regular basis- a little boy that lives a few blocks away from me. It would seem that this is a simple gig and the money is good in relation to the time I put it. But now that school is back in, I travel to this kid's house for the lesson. Looking at the weather forcast and seeing that it's suppose to rain on a day when I need to walk there stresses me out to the max. I don't even really know why. I hate the feeling of wet clothes. (Yes, I also hate swimming) Maintaining my hair is such a hassle, the last thing I want is for it to get wet and frizzy and have to straighten it all over again. The humidity that comes along with rain makes my face feel sticky and greasy. I am anal about my skin care. I wash my face more often and using more products than someone with OCD. I hate when it rains and there's worms and snails all over the side walk. Am I just being an overdramatic girly girl? Absolutely.

Today I got the thumbs up that I got the job I had applied for last week. I am now a Customer Serive Representitive at a music school/store in the lesson department. Ideally, it's a perfect job for me. I can wear whatever I want, I get to be around music all day, I get more than minimum wage and I'll just be sitting in an office, i.e. no scrubbing floors, making smoothies, dealing with illiterate moron managers *cough Freshly Squeezed, cough*. The only down side is that it's pretty far north of where I live. It will run me $4.25 in bus fare each way, and a decent walk in from the bus stop on Yonge street. Again, instant thought: "What if it rains?!?!" Now I'm caught between "I have too much on the go" and "I'm only part-time there, that's not enough money, especially if I'm not in school. I'll need another job too". STRESS!!!!!!

To add a cherry onto the sundae, I just got offered my first real gig. I was sent an email asking if I was interested in playing at a Super Nova Battle Of The Bands. To be completely honest, I signed up for the website after having a huge blowout with my mom about how I wasn't going to school because I just wanted to play music. She argued that I wasn't even making an effort with that. So I signed up online a while back and completely forgot about it. Then this email came in and my first thought was to laugh and delete it. I'm not ready for that. But why aren't I? Isn't it about time? SOMEHOW, I still have no idea how this happened, but I played guitar and sang at my high school's coffee house last year. To say that I'm not a singer would be a major understatement. I'm still convinced that the teacher who gave the thumbs up to my audition was either heavily intoxicated, or mixed me up with another student. Seriously. Well I played and sang the *easiest* cover song ever. 3 power chords and vocally, maybe 4 notes. I didn't bomb it, and I didn't make an ass out of myself but I only did OKAY at most. Keep in mind it was only one song. I was on stage for less than 3 minutes total.

To wrap up the babbling, I agreed to play this upcoming showcase at The Great Hall in Toronto and am now playing a half hour set. Great. I'm going from playing in front of 100 kids and parents that I've known for years to playing in front of god knows how many complete strangers. It will be a mix of originals and covers as I don't have 30 minutes worth of original material. Seeing as how I don't have a band, I will also mstly likely be the only solo performer at the event. It's more than a month down the road and I already feel like puking, but I know once I do this, assuming I won't get booed off stage, that it will be the best feeling ever. So now I have a meeting to attend downtown about this show and on top of it all, a dentist appointment somewhere in the middle of all this chaos. It doesn't help that I have no support at home about all this either. My family thinks I'm throwing my life away with music.

If you feel like watching me humiliate myself in front of hundreds of people, the show is at The Great Hall at Queen St. West and Dovercourt on October 22. Tickets are $10 and can be bought through me.

"When it rains, it pours."

"Don't stress the small stuff. The big things will figure themselves out."

Dear Post Office...

Dear Post Office,

Hurry the hell up. Where is my package (hehehe)? Tomorrow is Friday. If it doesn't arrive I will be very upset. This letter has no real purpose. I just want my stuff. K, thanks.

Nicole

Why Does Mail Have To Take So Long?

I'm expecting a package. It's coming from over seas. I've been searching for the contents for a while. I'm very glad that I have finally got a hold of them. The package should be here in 3-5 business days, which means earliest Wednesday, latest Friday. Pics to come.

I Could Put Rubbermaid Out Of Business

This is how I pack up leftovers.

Joey sure does love speghetti.

Music Monday: Deaf Havana

I love these guys way too much. Think of them as the British Watch Out! era Alexisonfire. They write really catchy, melodic- yet heavy music. Their record Meet Me Halfway, At Least is kick ass all the way through. The guitarist/singer James Amadeus Veck-Gilodi has quite the set of pipes on him, dare I say reminiscent of a young Dallas Green. The screamer (who unfortunately left the band this past May) is brutal (in a good way). I think I wrote about DH in my last old blog, but like I said, I love them big time. Check out the video for their song Friends Like These from their 2009 release Meet Me Halfway, At Least. Bonus points because James is actually wearing an AOF Watch Out! shirt in the video.

Ping!

iTunes Ping. What is it? I don't know. Should you care? Probably not. I have no idea why, but I signd up for an account. Follow me.... if you want.

My Wish List For My 18th Birthday

Today is September 4, 2010. In just 40 short days, on October 14, I will be 18. Every since I was a little kid, I had this habit of typing up a wish list of all the things I wanted for my birthday every single year. I would write how much it costs and where it could be bought and then I would print out 10 copies and leave strategically around my house. Despite the fact that I'm not a baby anymore, this year will be no different. Anyone who ever says "I don't want a gift" or "Really, there's nothing I want" is full shit. Everyone wants presents. It's your birthday, the one time of year when you can be as big of a glutton as you want. Since I'm turning 18 this year, I feel like I entitled to ask for bigger things than usual. 18 is a big deal. And so, I present to you, my 2010 birthday list.

1. A car. Any simple Corvette or Lambo will do. I'm not that picky. I just don't think that it's fair that all these kids on My Super Sweet 16 get a car before they even turn 16. I'm going to be 18 damn it. It's about time. Oh, and it has to have a vegan leather interior.

2. A Mac. I've been using the same old crappy Dell laptop since the 9th grade. And no, I'm not spoiled. I paid for it myself. But it's getting older and crappier by the day, and this time around I want a Mac. One of the big pretty desktop ones with the purple wallpaper.

3. An elephant. There are three good reasons I should get an elephant. Think of it as a multiple-purpose gift. It would be a pet, a vehicle and a bodyguard all in one. Seriously, who would mess with a kid on an elephant? I will name him Stampy as an homage to Bart Simpson. I will share my vegetarian food with him, so feeding him isn't an issue. And if I get Stampy, I will be okay not getting a car. It's a package deal. I don't want to be greedy or anything.

4. Rise Against. They're my favourite live band and I haven't seen them since July 2009. That's more than a year ago! I want them to play a show on the deck in my backyard. If they are not available, the Foo Fighters are an acceptable substitute.

5. A Smoke's Poutinerie location on my driveway. Poutine from Smoke's is my favourite junk food ever. I crave it all the time, especially in the middle of the night, but the closet one is more than an hour's drive away. That just will not do.

6. George Clooney.

7. A tattoo. Actually I want a few. Joey's paw print, a music note, some lyrics, etc.

8. An LCD tv. I'm still using an old CRT. I want a BIG HDTV mounted to the wall in my room.

9. A trampoline floor and a velcro ceiling. You do the math.

10. A dumpster full of foam and a ramp of equal height. Again, I think this is pretty obvious. I want to ride my bike/skateboard/mom's minivan/anything with wheels up and off the ramp where I can then land in the foam pit.

I'm An Apple Dork

I watch all the keynote presentations. Even for products I don't own, won't own, can't afford, or don't want. All in the same breath I can acknowledge how useless a product is and then confess how badly I'd like to have it. Once the products are for sale, I watch all the videos that demonstrate how to use them. You know, those loevly little videos with the white background, and the guy who has quite obviously had a manicure? I don't have a Mac or an iPhone or an iPad. Just a plain old iPod Classic. But if I was rich, I could drop a a dangerous amount of cash in the Apple store. Good thing I'm not. Does anyone have a link to watch the keynote presentation from this morning about the new iPods? I'm not going to buy one. But I'm dying to watch the video.

Score!

I have this really weird habit. I don't even understand it myself. Anytime I go into a music store, I obsessively check the bins of all my favourite bands, even when I know that I own all their releases. It doesn't really make sense. I don't know what exactly I'm expecting to find when I do this, but I do it nevertheless. Maybe I'm hoping that for some ridiculous reason HMV would have that long out of press self-released demo CD that that obscure indie band released six years ago, that now goes for $200 on eBay. Maybe I'm just a dork and I like to look through all the album art and think "Yep, I have that one, and that one, and that one." There's really no logic behind it.

There used to be this used CD store down the street from my house called Deja Vu Discs. It was old and scummy and dirty, and had the lingering spell of a hospital during dinner time. It seemed that all the employees were mentally handicapped, not that it matters to me, but they were pretty incompetant when it came to helping you find something. I was a young kid at the time and was frightened by the staff, and the smell, and it seemed like not a whole lot of people knew or cared about the place. Several years ago it closed down but I found out that it is actually a small chain throughout Southwestern Ontario. The next closet location to me in North York and though I've been there a few times, I found it to be much like the other location- smells like mold, and full of retards, but today, I was in the area, so I figured why not just run in quickly and see if there's anything worth having?

Well here I am, going through my routine nerdiness in the punk section. "Alexisonfire? Have it, have it, have it." "Blink-182? Have it, hate it, have it." "Cancer Bats? Have it, have it, hav.... What the hell? This can't be what I think it is. Holy crap, it is!" I found the long out of print self-titled, self-released first EP by the Cancer Bats. Best part of all? The $5.99 price sticker. Mine! Once I got home, I checked online and confirmed that this is indeed limited to 1000 and long out of production.

As I walk around the other side of the shelf to keep looking I casually walk past the "Compilations" section. Comps aren't my thing. I'd rather make my own playlist. I mean they were cool when you were 8 and they featured all the newest pop hits, but this is 2010 and I have iTunes. As I walk past it, something catchs the corner of my eye. I see the word "Bedlam". What? No way! It's "Bedlam Society Mixed Tape Vol. 1". If you don't know what I'm talking about, you won't care, so I won't bother explaining it. People who love Alexisonfire and related bands know what a significant piece of Dine Alone Records history this is. Collectors look for this CD like crazy. I am not a collector. I've never quite understood the whole collecting thing, and quite honestly I couldn't afford to if I wanted to. But at $7.99, I just couldn't leave it sitting on the shelf there. I really wish there was a way of knowing how long these two gems sat in the store unwanted and overlooked by everyone.

Well this was certainly a nice surprise an hour after being hit with a $155 vet bill. My poor doggie is sick... again. I figure I lived this long without owning these two pieces, and I'm okay continuing on this way. Besides, I already have the Cancer Bats EP on vinyl. They will be going on eBay soon where a fanatic can get stoked and enjoy them and I can take care of Joey's needs. Not a bad day overall.

New Blog, Fresh Start

I've deleted my old blog many times, because I felt the need to censor something that I had said, or wanted to say, for one reason or another. Then I'd remember that the whole reason behind me starting a blog was so that I could say whatever I wanted without being censored. So I'd restore the blog. Then I'd delete it. Then I'd restore it and so on. Well I've deleted it for good this time. Www.getyourhairoutofyoureyes.blogspot.com is no more. I had nothing important to say anyways. Most of it (and there wasn't much to begin with) was just non-sense and jibber-jabber. The layout was boring and ugly, and to say that the URL was a pain in the ass to type would be an understatement.

So here we are. Www.NicoleIsStoked.blogspot.com. Now that's better, isn't it? Easier to type, easier to spell, easier to remember. You can catch me here whenever I have something to rant about. Believe me, that's more often than what is probably comsidered healthy.

To all my friends on Twitter, Facebook, message boards, in real life, etc etc who have blogs, it would mean a lot to me if you'd put a link to mine on yours. (Now that sounds like we're talking about something else.) Note to self: Grow up. If you do, leave a comment with your link and I will gladly return the favour.

Peace!

p.s. If you haven't already, follow me on Twitter! www.twitter.com/NicoleIsStoked