The past weeks

So I’m hoping to eventually write more on most of these items (especially my job, the move, and the choir) but for the time being…

Some of the stuff that’s been goin’ on since my last entry:

Job
I’ve been at this job for about 10 weeks now and continue to enjoy it. I like my colleagues, the work itself is interesting, inspiring and challenging. It looks like that my contract will be extended for an additional month or so, and I’m pleased about that. I’m used to the long hours at this point (though I’m still not a fan, and I feel pretty unproductive during the latter part of the day). I’m proud and humbled to be a part of this project.

Move
So we moved to a new apartment this weekend. It’s a great place in a great neighborhood. We had professional movers, which was a first for me. This turned out to be even more helpful than we originally anticipated for number of reasons, including the fact that our bed did not fit into the apartment normally (meaning, through the door) and had to go through the front window…and we live on the second floor. It was a sight to behold. The new place is spectacular. We are nearly finished unpacking.

Choir
I sang with a number of choirs during university. The director of my favorite choir (We perform sacred and secular music from the African and African-American tradition. This includes spirituals, choral symphonies, gospel, hip hop and more) recently formed an Alumni version of the group, which will rehearse and perform several times per year. The membership will shift depending on availability of the singers. This group is traveling to Europe for two weeks in October to do a series of public performances and workshops. I will be participating.

In mid-July, I traveled to State College for two rehearsals and a “warm up” performance with the choir. I hadn’t been “in” this music for quite some time, and had not seen many of the other singers since finishing university in 2000. I was nervous, but the entire weekend was incredible and surpassed my high expectations. I’ll have much more to say about this later. Amazing.

Fitness
Not so good. I’ve not been as disciplined about this over the past few months as I should have been. I’ma make a significant effort to change this in the coming weeks…gotta be in better shape for the tour…does my tuxedo even fit anymore…hmmmm.

Kittens
No, we did not get a kitten. A while back Jen’s Mum noticed that there were four orange cats hanging around their house. Long story short: She took them in, two of ‘em gave birth to three kittens each (they were pregnant before Jen’s Mum rescued them). So, for a period of several months, there were ten cats living in their basement. They were a lot of work for her, and Jen has been making regular trips to visit and help out. I went with her several times. I’d never seen kittens that young before…amazingly cute. Click here for a link to some video clips.

It was neat to watch them grow so quickly. I wasn’t able to visit as much as I would have liked due to allergy issues. I’ve always been allergic to cats, but my body reacted to the kittens ever so much more so.

At this point, four of the kittens have been adopted. Two of them remain (they’re going to go as a pair) as well as the four adult cats. If you live in the GTA and are interested…you know what to do. Seriously…they’ve had all of their shots and are all healthy. The adults have all had “the procedure” as well. There is no financial cost to you. Seriously.

Hot Weather
For the last few weeks of July and the first week of August, we had an unbroken streak of ridiculously hot weather. The humidity was near 100% during this period, so the daily high temperatures of 34-36 degrees Celsius actually felt more like 42-44 degrees Celsius. This was not fun. I imagine many of you experienced a similar hot streak. Yuck.

Poker
I participate in a few internet forums. One of them is related to poker. There are a fair number of GTA folks on the forum and we’ve started getting together about once a month to socialize and play cards. Jen’s glad that I’m out there socializing, and so am I. I wish I could say these guys (95% are men) were totally degenerate, alcoholic gamblers with few interests other than cards and booze…but they’re actually really nice people. We have a pretty good time, and the vibe is relaxed and light as we’re certainly not playing for serious money…that would take away the friendly atmosphere see.

New Sneakers
I don’t like pretty much everything associated with the experience of shopping. This is especially true for clothing. However, I recently bought a new pair of sneakers to replace the pair I’d been wearing to the gym for five years. It was a good decision…and a necessary decision.

The sneakers are vegan, fit very well and were not too expensive. Hooray.

Still Rockin'

I'm currently writing an update that covers the time since my previous post. I hope to have it up soon.

Quick and Dirty: Everything has been going very well.

My New Job Rules

It's great. Here are some things that I am required to do as a part of my job:

1. Research and learn about stuff that interests me.

2. Go to concerts without paying for them. Example: Next week we (myself, my co-researcher, the production coordinator and the two directors) are going to see Slayer...because the band sent us tickets.

3. Shape the direction of a film that will eventually be a part of the lives of thousands of people.

4. Communicate with metal musicians, fans and scholars around the world.

5. Drink beer and watch television whenever England is playing a World Cup game.

Nifty.

It's not all great though....the hours are long and the salary is certainly not what I was making at the University...but I'm a heck of a lot happier.

Other things that are happening:

-We're moving to a new apartment in mid-August...it's freakin' great.

-I'm going to be in Belgium for two weeks in October...doing a concert tour with a group that I used to sing with.

-Yar.

A New Job

I’m very pleased to say that I was offered the job that I referenced in my previous entry. I’ve not signed the contract yet but, assuming that everything is “as advertised,” I’m on board (as they say). I sent out a mass email about this a few days ago, but in case I missed anyone, the text appears below:

“I'm starting a new job on Tuesday and I'm darn excited. I'm going to be working with a film production company here in Toronto. I'll be doing the research for an upcoming documentary film about globalization and heavy metal music. This will be the second film about heavy metal produced by this company. You can learn more about the first film (it is excellent, won a bunch of awards, hit all the major festivals, was released worldwide, etc.) here. It was just released on DVD as well...most stores should have it.

This job pretty much combines all of the academic work I've done over the past few years. Cultural Studies theory + musicology + nuanced knowledge of popular music subcultures (especially metal) + academic/popular writing. It's like I designed the prefect gig for myself…funny how life works. AND the office is in a super-cool location that is only 20 minutes from my apartment…awesome.”

I believe that the contract is for three months, and may be extended beyond that.

Biggity bam.

Numbers

1. Jen and I were in the US for a few days for my fraternal Grandfather's memorial service. He died late in 2005, but the fam waited to have the service until now so more people would be able to come. It was a nice couple of days and I got to connect with extended family members that I'd not seen for many years.

2. After we returned from the states I got sick with the worst cold I've had for several years. Incredible sore throat, fatigue and one bout of nausea where I vomited (no joke) 150 times in less than 3 hours. Lovely. Good thing the nausea was only on that day. Jen caught the same cold a few days after me, so we were both in pretty bad shape for about 10 days total. We are both better now. Mostly this illness pissed me off becuase I couldn't get to the gym. Bah.

3. I have a second interview today for what could very well be the coolest job ever...I'll let you know.

Trip Report Day 4, Part 2: Arlington and D.C.

So we got down to the Mall and proceeded to walk towards the Washington monument (one of the most ridiculous phallic symbols in the world…heh). Several in our group had not been to D.C. before and were really interested in checking out a bunch of the monuments. Jen had not been to D.C. either, but she was more into spending extra time at the various museums, so our group split up (I later decided that this was a good idea…its really difficult to do a walking tour of this area with a group of people unless the exact itinerary has been previously determined.)

Jen and I headed for the American History branch of the Smithsonian, which was top on her list. We spent an hour or so there. Highlights for me included a Paul Reed Smith Dragon guitar (maybe the most beautiful guitar I’ve ever seen). The best part however, was Julia Child’s kitchen…her actual kitchen. I guess her estate donated it to the museum. The display is the entire room along with all the knives, pots etc. EXACTLY as she has it set up. For a food nerd like myself, the opportunity to see perhaps the single most important kitchen in the history of the world was great. I went a bit nuts. Jen captured this on video.

We visited the Natural History museum to check out the dinos and then meandered through the sculpture garden. At this point it had started to drizzle a bit so we headed back to the Metro to go back to Arlington.

By the time we got back to the pad the skies were dark grey and it was pouring rain. We had plans to meet a good friend of mine (from my Service-Learning Coordinator days at BGSU…she now lives in the Arlington area and attends graduate school (though she is soon to relocated to the Boston-area)) and her beau for dinner at 7:00 P.M. They called and asked if we could meet a bit earlier…so we did. The arrived at the pad and came up to the room. I like H-dog a lot and whish that we were able to see each other more often. Her guy was really cool (as expected) and there was an instant rapport (which made everything more comfortable for me. I was concerned that Jen wouldn’t have a good time (since she didn’t know H-dog too well) but I shouldn’t have worried…all was well.

The plan was to drive to a place called The Lebanese Taverna, which is well known in Arlington. The business was started some years ago by a family of immigrants and they’ve now expanded to several locations as well as a catering business. H-dog had picked the place, so I figured she would know thing like…how to get there. (Let the good natured dissing begin!)

We drove for about 25 minutes (a few circles around the Arlington area) to get to a place that was five minutes away…very fast…in the pouring rain…in the dark. H-dog is really smart and a very good person, but she does not exactly drive in a manner that inspires confidence that the destination will be reached without an elevated pulse rate. But arrive we did…nifty.

We went into the place and ordered dinner. Lebanese cuisine and vegetarianism are not best friends, but we didn’t have a problem finding stuff for all to eat. The service was just okay (I’m sure it would have been more attentive had we ordered multiple bottles of wine and dishes involving expensive hunks of death). The food and conversation were excellent however. Jen was not feeling super-well when we arrived, but she raved about her food. The dressing of the salad was some sort of pomegranate-based combination that really appealed to her. Hooray.

It was nice to reconnect with H-dog and meet her beau. It’s too bad that the evening could not have been longer, but it was a great time. They dropped us off at the pad on their way to feed a friend’s cats. The rest of the evening was much like those of the previous nights, complete with game shows and beer. It would be our last night with the crew and I said my goodbyes before going to bed. I’m really glad that we got to hang for a few days…makes me nostalgic for the hot humid BG summers, sittin’ around drinking The Champagne Of, and not being too worried about “real world” lives. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

Trip Report Day 4, Part 1: Arlington and D.C.

This day had been set aside for doing the tourist thing in D.C. Jen had never been to D.C. before and wanted to check out some of the museums and such. The crew (minus B-dog who elected to stay behind and grade papers) headed out in the late morning. The plan was to take the D.C. Metro downtown. There was a Metro stop a few blocks from the pad…nice.

The system is pretty easy to understand in terms of getting from one place to another, but the fees for said service are f-ing complicated. In Toronto, you pay a flat rate no matter where you want to go. In D.C. the amount you pay depends on where you want to go, which seems like it would make sense economically, but it seems overly complicated to me. As it turns out, pretty much no one knows how much it costs to get to certain places. Almost everyone uses day/weekly/monthly passes, or passes that can be recharged an infinite number of times. Woo hoo.

We all bought day passes and headed to the train. The trains seem to arrive every 5-8 minutes or so, which means very long waits compared to the T-dot. Our train finally arrived and I was shocked to see that it was carpeted…weird.

It took about 15 minutes to get to our destination. We were hoping to check out the International Spy Museum, but when we arrived all the tickets for that day had already been distributed. Oh well…not a big deal. The crew looked around the gift shop for a bit while I chilled outside. This was the first day of the trip when the weather was not 100% fantastic. It was quite a bit cooler and overcast with the occasional sprinkle (oh yes, “real” rain would arrive later).

TMD wanted to check out the Chinatown area (this happened to be a block or two from where we were) to get some lunch. This was fine by all of us, so off we went. We settled on a place that specialized in fresh noodle dishes and appeared to have a few veggie options…at least according to the menu. Props to the crew for making an honest and genuine effort to make sure Jen and I could eat but…it was not to be.

The vast majority of Chinese restaurants I’ve been to do not actually have vegetarian dishes. Sure the plates might not actually have pieces of meat or fish on them, but 95% of the “mixed vegetable” dishes are cooked in something that contains meat or fish stock. I’ve been lied to many a time at restaurants (not just Chinese places, but establishments serving many types of food) about this and my trust factor is low on this issue.

Jen and I left this place and found a joint a few doors down called Kanlaya Thai Cuisine. I was initially impressed by a few things. First, the menu was clearly divided into “non-vegetarian” and “vegetarian” sections and there were an equal number of dishes I each section. I was still not totally convinced that we were cool (damn near everything Thai has some sort of fish sauce involved, even if it is just a touch), but after a few words with the staff as well as customers exiting the joint, I felt good about it.

The food and service were excellent on all counts. We were lucky to arrive just before the lunch rush (everyone in D.C. seems to start their lunch hour exactly at noon), and did not have to wait for a table. We started with the Tofu Tod appetizer, which was perfectly cooked, though the sauce could have had a bit more punch. I had the Vegetarian Pad Thai for my main (and was thrilled when the server asked if I wanted it with or without egg…not only was it veggie, but they were aware that some people might want it vegan…top shelf) and Jen had the Tofu Preow Wan, which had an excellent sauce. An excellent lunch with very reasonable prices. If you are looking for a good lunch spot in D.C., check out this place.

Next on the agenda was getting down to the Mall area to hit the museums/monuments etc. Small debate at this point about whether to walk or take the Metro a few stops. This was one of those moments when I realized that I had indeed become more of a “city-person” than I had been before moving to the T-dot. Jen and I were both up for walking (the distance was well under one mile), but the rest of the crew was against this. The felt that, hey, we’d paid for the day passes for the Metro, so let’s use it (a fair point). City folks walk…a lot…a whole lot, but hey the group said “Metro” so I went along with it.

More later.

A clarification

Regarding the rant about food that appears the the previous entry...none of my comments were directed at the members of the BG crew that were at the conference...they always made an effort during the trip to make sure that everyone could eat. My rant below is more general, as it is a situation I've encountered hundreds of times.

Word.

Trip Report Day 3: Arlington

Jen woke up early to catch the morning panels at the conference. I did not.

When I woke up I got some coffee from the pad’s lobby and did some reading. The weather was once again perfect…totally clear, no humidity, warm temperatures. Springtime seems to arrive in central Virginia about three or four weeks before Toronto. All of the trees have their leaves, flowers are blooming.

Jen came back a bit after noon and we headed next door to Mario’s for some lunch. I’ve spent much of the past few years studying food and the people who prepare it professionally and with that in mind, I’d like to state that the fellas at Mario’s have mad skills. Not skills like Thomas Keller mind you (though I am certain he would approve of the food they put out), but they do the dance better than just about anyone I’ve seen. The head cook that afternoon was a guy named Lefty who has been there for decades. I watched him making no less than ten complicated sandwiches at a time, each with a dozen ingredients, cooked different ways…it was unreal. During my brief stint as a chef I had a hard time keeping five different pans going at once…this guy was amazing. He was constantly adjusting everything, yelling out questions to customers to ask if they wanted such and such on their food. All the while he was also having several conversations with his staff and bantering with a regular customer in a routine that I imagine they’ve performed every day for years. I was in awe.

WE took our food outside to eat. I had a veggie sandwich (my only critique of the place: this sort of food is called a “hoagie” dammit, not that three letter word that starts with an “s”) It was full of good stuff, cooked perfectly…delicious. Even the fries were perfectly seasoned…fuck yes.

Jen was moderating a panel in the afternoon (and presenting a paper on the same panel as well), so we went over to the conference. Her paper was excellent as always. The panel was okay overall. Afterwards, everyone made plans to go get some food. Actually “making plans” is not really what happened. Some lady that B-dog knew arrived, and someone mentioned that they knew of a great BBQ place nearby. This met with loud approval from a number of people and the decision was essentially made. This new woman made the comment, “I’m sure they have salads or something for the vegetarians.”

Here come a rant (though I didn’t say this at the time)

This is a situation that happens all too often and I no longer put up with it. Her comment was problematic in so many ways…here are just a few
1. No, you were not “sure” that they would have “something” suitable for a vegetarian diet. You had never been to this place before.
2. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask everyone if this decision was okay instead of immediately marginalizing the opinions/choice of particular people.
3. I’m certain that if someone had said, “Well, I can only eat kosher/halal food,” they would have been accommodated and not tacitly discounted. Well guess what kids, my food choices are about as close to religion as I get. In many ways I “practice” this “religion” much more than most people do with their various “faiths.” How many “Christians” do you know that do to church twice a year and never think about their “faith” except for when they are in a bad situation and “need” something.
4. If you want to dismiss my beliefs, fine…you can fuck off.

Oh yeah, if anyone thinks that “we are always making exceptions for you, and our dining choices are determined by what you can eat,” here is a tip. Go to the fucking steakhouse when I’m not around. I don’t see you very often and you will be eating without me more times than when I am there…do you REALLY need to eat a big hunk of death at this very minute? When I am there, choose food from any of the vast number of styles of cuisine that have choices for everyone. THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS EARTH EAT A DIET THAT IS MORE SIMILAR TO MY NEARLY-VEGAN DIET THAT YOUR MEAT EATING DIET YOU STUPID ASS. End of rant for now.

So I left and went back to the pad for some more reading and a nice shower. Later that evening the crew hung out again in much the same way that we did on the previous evening…it was awesome. Same good folks, same good times. B-dog got a pizza that was covered with sausage patties. I’ve never seen anything like it. Each slice had a patty that was about the size of a deck of cards. Maybe I’ll figure out how to post pictures on this thing so you can see it…icky.

Trip Report Day 2: State College to Arlington

We were in no hurry to get on the road so Jen and I woke up around 9:30 A.M. One of my favorite parts of staying with my folks is walking upstairs each morning. The coffee is hot, there are always fresh breads of some sort, high-quality orange juice, it’s great. My Mom had already left for her day working at the school so Dad and I chatted for a bit.

Jen wanted to do some shopping before we left. The Canadian dollar is amazingly strong against the US dollar right now so we decided to take advantage…a little. There is this particular clothing store in SC that Jen likes and she’s had success finding excellent jeans there in the past…so off we went. One hour and fifteen pairs later, Jen found one pair that she wanted to buy…hooray.

Today we would be driving to Arlington, Virginia (a suburb just west of Washington D.C.) for the “Real” reason that we were on this trip in the first place. Jen was presenting a paper at the 4th annual meeting of the Cultural Studies Association. We went to their first conference in Pittsburgh (where we had an entire CMU dorm complex to ourselves including their creepy Anne Rice-ish courtyard) and Jen went to the second one in Boston. Jen had put together a panel with a few folks that we knew from the BG years.

The drive took about 3.5 hours and was uneventful. The weather was warm, sunny and clear…makes for great driving.

We pulled into our digs around 4:00 P.M…heh. The place was on one of the main streets in Arlington, near many restaurants, and it was literally 150 meters from the conference site. It was not the most…erm…high quality lodging. The website makes it look far more snazzy than it actually is. However, the price was right, it was comfortable enough (and certainly safe) and the whole gang was staying there. Biggity bam.

The crew had yet to arrive so Jen and I strolled over to register her for the conference, which was being hosted by George Mason University. I didn’t know much about GMU prior to arriving, and I didn’t learn a whole heck of a lot. There seem to be three different campuses in different cities. However, unlike many schools with “satellite” campuses, each GMU location offered totally different degrees, coursework, etc. The Arlington campus seemed to consist of two buildings…that’s it…they were nice buildings though.

We then went to a convenience store. What’s the big deal you ask…booze, that’s what. Virginia is one of those wonderful states where beer is sold in convenience stores…and the prices are next to nothing compared to Toronto. With the Champagne Of in hand, I left happy.

Jen and I went back to the pad and napped for a bit. We left messages for the crew and were about to head out when B-dog arrived. Jen and I had not seen him in nearly two years (the same for the rest of the crew) so that was nifty. We headed to “downtown” Arlington to an Indian place that had a good rep with the locals. The food was pretty good overall, but the breads stole the show. Far and away the best pappadums I’ve ever had and the nan was exceptional as well.

We stopped by a branch of that large chain of organic grocery stores to stock up on some foods for the fridge. Too many yuppies and hipsters.

By the time we got back, the rest of the crew had arrived. They went out in search of their own dinner. TMD (who arrived to discover that someone left five beers in his room fridge…bam) wanted to go out to some local booze-swilling establishments. It didn’t happen. Instead we spent the evening chilling, catching up and drinking some fine Pennsylvania beers. The Game Show Network was on the tube (another amazing thing that we do not have in Canada)…good times, especially since I don’t really like “going” places or “doing” things…the hassle you see.

I was feeling hungry so I went next door (I like going next door). That’s right…next to our pad was a pizza/sandwich/ice cream place called Mario’s that has been in business since 1957. Most of the cooks have been there for at least 25 years. They all have full health insurance, retirement, etc…fucking great. I had a few slices (very good and very cheap) and went to bed.