Is there anything better?!

Free Food. Great Seats. A Convincing Win. Is there anything better?

Last night Melissa & I headed down to the Bell Center for a second straight game together. This time, we arrived when doors opened and we headed straight for the food. We were sitting in the Desjardins section so everything was free from the coat check to the food. We had managed to eat our weight in food long before the game, or the warmup for that matter, even started. They were amazing seats, I just didn't particularly enjoy the people around me. People generally think that sitting up in the whites/greys/blues is too far away from the action and that it's much better to sit down in Desjardins or the reds but I completely disagree. The atmosphere up in the higher sections is a million times better. You're surrounded by people who can't really afford to go to tons of games so they make every second count. You're surrounded by people who took the time to go home and get into their habs gear to sport the teams colors. Sitting in the Desjardins section, I was surrounded by suits and people who couldn't really find the energy to even STAND UP when the home team scored. You call yourself real fans? Honestly.

Aside from that minor detail everything was great. Free food always tastes better, especially when it's followed up by a great game. The guys worked their asses off and in the end, came back from 3 deficits to win it. Melissa is becoming more vocal with every game and my right ear can prove that. She also seems to have grown quite fond of Halak, whom I highly approve of. The end result was a 4-3 win in OT and I finally got to witness my first game winning OT goal from Kovy. Next game isn't until January 31st.

FREE FOOD!

Final Score!

Three Weeks...

The six year old I babysit showed me her Christmas list last night. Instead of asking for childhood toys like barbies or games she was asking for an ipod and a cell phone. Is that normal? Is technology really taking over this generation of children? As a child I spent my years in fantasy worlds with my pound puppies and my barbies...I can't imaging choosing a piece of metal, that was guaranteed to break, over that. Even to this day I miss the days that I could disappear into those worlds. I hope that she isn't missing out on those things. Her three year old sister had other things on her mind...makeup. I would say that a three year old is way too young to experiment with makeup, but she spends half the time eating it or painting the floors with nail polish.

I'm trying so hard to put money aside for a new camera. I don't want to bring my crappy old one to Cabo and deal with it for 2 weeks while I'm there. My life has basically been taken over by work but the end result is a trip to Mexico with one of my favorite people so I guess it's worth it in the end. 21 days

As for big events coming up in my near future...well the list is growing:
December 20th - Habs/Sabres with Mel.
January 10th-23rd - Cabo San Lucas with Jenn & family
January 24th - NHL All Star Practice with Laura/Kathy/Ava/Etc
January 31st - Habs/Kings with James
February 20th - The New Cities in Montreal with the gang
March 6th - We The Kings/The Cab/ There For Tomorrow in Montreal

A little over a month....

Just picked up tickets to the NHL All Star Practice in Montreal on January 24th and I'm already ridiculously excited. That should be a very intense weekend, especially since I'll be coming home that Friday from Mexico. Running on no sleep while watching Evgeni Nabokov practice may be the death of me♥

I absolutely love them. I'll be ecstatic if the Sharks win the cup

Thriving Ivory

I'm having a slight Thriving Ivory obsession. I first heard them back in August in Cape Cod while Laura & I were watching some VH1 before hitting the beach and I just remembered to download their cd. I highly recommend it. They're amazing. The lead singer has one of the most unique voices out there.

So close to being done....

Three classes & one day away from being down at Abbott. 2 essays and one oral away from being finished homework for 9 months. Now I have to find the motivation to start writing them. The next 9 months are going to be amazing though. I've waited a long time to take a break from school and I'm finally getting it. I'm hoping to travel a bit to Mexico & Cuba as well as work a lot. I started back up with 94.7 so that should take up a good chunk of my time as well.

Hockey Packed Weekend

If I won the lottery tomorrow I would call the Bell Center and ask them if I could move in. I swear that it's the one place that makes me happiest. Last year I got to spend almost every week in there but I've been less fortunate this season due to the horrible new ticket system. I did however get to experience something that I have never ever experienced before...back to back hockey games inside the arena.

On Saturday night I met up with Laura & Jenn and we headed to the Bell Center. It was long overdue but Jenn & I finally got to see a game live together. We were surrounded by the worlds most boring people though which was a super downer. It was made up when we went to visit Laura in her seats though. I befriended a very drunk guy who came down from his seats to inform me that he loved Higgins too....and when I left he went back to visit Laura to ask where I had gone. I love the Bell Center drunks, they're actually some of my favorite people..haha. I noticed last season that I was at so many games that the spark wore off at times. On Saturday I got to experience the goosebumps and the thrills all over again because it had been over a month since I had been there. It's seriously one of the best feelings in the world. We ended up winning the game 3-2. It wasn't the most exciting game but it was worth the money and a W in the end is always a positive thing.On Sunday Laura & I headed back downtown for the Bulldogs game. I've wanted to see Pacioretty play for awhile now and it's always nice to see Chipchura and Stewart. We had AA seats right behind the goalies net which was fucking surreal. The only bad part was the sound of the pucks hitting the glass during the warm up..it sounded like someone was shooting at us. I got to watch little things that I would never notice from far away, like the concentration on Marc Denis' face when he's trying to find the puck. It's kind of scary. The game was great despite the loss. It was high energy and Pac scored a beauty of a goal in the third. We also got to experience some Chipchura rage right in front of us and an intense Stewart/Fata fight in the first(which basically made it worthwhile). We didn't want to leave when it ended though. The seats were incredible.Now that the weekend is over I have to get back to reality. One week left of classes before 9 months of vacation so I have to attempt to finish all my assignments or else I'll be at risk of failing and I do not want to do that...

Marc Denis

Greg Stewart

Never Want to Leave

Sometimes I wish I lived in San Jose...

It just warms my heart that the San Jose Sharks are currently owning almost every team in the league. They've been my second favorite team for awhile now and I couldn't be happier to see them at the very top in the West. The only shitty thing about having another favorite team in the West is that there's very little opportunity to see them. February 28th is going to be great. It will probably be one of the only days that I leave the Bell Center happy no matter what the outcome is. Getting the chance to see Nabby, Marleau, Thornton, Michalek and co live for the first time.....I feel bad for whoever ends up going with me. Dealing with a slumping Montreal Canadiens team isn't as hard when the Sharks are red hot. I need to get Nabokov on the back of my jersey soon...it's long overdue.

Andrew McMahon

This man is probably one of the people I admire most in the world...

Escaping the winter

Mexico in January with Jenn...

Cuba with Melissa, Agnes & James in March....

I cannot wait to be done with school in less than 3 weeks. This upcoming year is going to be absolutely crazy. What's better then lying on the beach, away from the snow, with your best friends?!?!

Habs?

It's a depressing day when I'm not excited to sit down and watch a hockey game. Every team has a slump...and every team plays bad games but it's just painful when a team packed with talent plays with zero passion. I don't know whether the team got too high and mighty and assumed they would just roll past teams straight to the Stanley Cup...or if the pressure from the city for the 100th season is weighing too much on their shoulders, but whatever the excuse something needs to be done now or I may go into a depression. I wish I was paid 4 million dollars to skate around in circles and lose the puck. No wonder players have no drive anymore. Might as well have a team of monkeys in jerseys out there.

You need someone in your dressing room to step up and wake the other guys up. Saku has stood out more then anyone over the past 2 weeks and it's clear that he's trying to get everyone back on track but when Tanguay's the only one listening and Kovalev has his hands over his ears...well no one gets anywhere. People can sit there and point fingers and whichever players they want, but the team as a whole has been just awful over the past two weeks(Ottawa game aside). The only person who can back away from all this criticism is Carey Price who played an outstanding game tonight. It's too bad he had to stand on his head and make 46 saves in a losing effort. If anybody deserved a win tonight it was him. I don't know where Higgins has disappeared to or why I'm having 06-07 flashbacks to Kovalev. It's Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde with that man.
On to Ottawa....where the Sens are actually playing worse hockey then us, if that's even possible. That game should be interesting. Someone will have to win and it'll be a toss up between shitty and shittier. Maybe they'll both just self destruct out on the ice but I have confidence that Carey Price can outplay Alex Auld. At this point though...I shouldn't get my hopes up.

Pure Genius

I've been a massive fan of Andrew McMahon for years now and I've never had the chance to see him up close and personal during a show. All my concert experiences at his shows have been from the back of the venue so yesterday we decided to switch it up for his newest show in Montreal. It was a beautiful day so Melissa, Agnes, Alex, Jenn & I lined up at 1:30 and were first in line. We made friends with the people who joined us soon after and managed to entertain ourselves for 5 hours on the pavement. Highlight of the waiting period was seeing Andrew heading to sound check. When we were finally let in at 6:30 Melissa & I positioned ourselves front and center, directly in front of where Andrew would be sitting. Those next 2 1/2 hours were brutal. The opening bands were entertaining, especially the second act but time felt like it had stopped when we were waiting for them to set up Jacks set.

When he came out....I can't really describe the feeling. I let my inner fan girl out, big time. That rarely happens but I honestly didn't care yesterday. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the entire set and I'm pretty sure Mel looked exactly the same standing next to me. He's amazing to watch live. His intensity is overwhelming at times. He looks completely wrapped up in the music, it's unreal how passionate he is. The best part of the set was when he surprised everyone with Cavanaugh Park. Incredible. The crowd was great too. Unlike the spazzy Hedley crowds I'm used to. All the fans were really fun to be around and everyone was just there to enjoy the music instead of see who could touch Andrew for the longest(although Mel & I had that mini contest in our heads).

It will probably go down as one of the best concerts I have ever been to.

2 Days

Can I just skip over tomorrow & head straight into Friday? I don't think I can wait any longer.

The First Star: Christopher Higgins

How do you come back from an embarrassing loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs? Blow the Ottawa Senators out of the water. What a game. I came down with the stomach flu last night so I really needed something to get my mind off how shitty I was feeling and this did it. Higgins was unreal tonight. It's like someone lit his pants on fire because, for the first time this season, he stood out. I always defend him because he works his ass off out there and has a great passion for the sport but it's night like these that make me smile..because I don't need to say a single thing. It was the first time this season that the team played a convincing 60 minutes and, while Price played a stellar game..he didn't need to stand on his head to get us a win. I'm hoping this continues against Boston on Thursday. My only concern at this point is Kovy. He's been pretty much invisible out there lately. Aside from that..I adore my team.

I miss your smile, I miss your face.

I can't really remember the last time I slept a decent amount of hours. This week was absolutely ridiculous. I managed to jam pack everything possible into a few days and now I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Last night was amazing, as always. I went to what will probably be my last hedley show for awhile with the gang last night. It's still so surreal for me to see them playing in front of such a huge crowd when I can still remember them playing for 150 people back at Club Soda when I was just 16. The guys put on a great show and played a couple of new songs that were incredibly catchy. The best part of the show, as always, was when For The Nights was played. I don't know why but whenever they play that and Jenn & I latch onto each other to sway, I always have the biggest smile plastered on my face. It's moments like those that I'll never forget.

After the show we headed out for pizza as we normally do and then went over to Foufs until about 2:30. It was definitely an interesting night full of very interesting people include Danny the Penny Man.

T.A.I

17 Days

I kind of adore this boy. Someone needs to feed him though.

I hate how dark it is @ 5:00

I desperately need some motivation. With five weeks left to go I've started thinking about cleaning out my locker permanently and walking out of Abbott for good. I think I complain too much. I mean my workload hasn't been that heavy it's just that I'm already picturing what I want to do and where I want to go once college is over and done with...so my mind just isn't where it's supposed to be. I also can't really stop thinking about Mexico in January. On top of that, where am I supposed to find the motivation to make some crappy cup & bowl for hand building? When will I honestly ever use that again?!

I also have an awful confession. I like the new Simple Plan song. For some reason I find their music ridiculously catchy even though I think they're absolutely awful. How does that work?!

The habs really need to do something about this schedule of theirs. Having to go without a game for 6 days can't be natural. Thankfully we ended with a win so I didn't have a reason to be mad about that until Friday. I'm so proud of the guys this year. You always worry when the expectations are so high but they've been doing great. I liked being the underdogs last season but this year I kind of like having everyone realize how talented these guys are. On top of that...Carey Price? That kid is going to have a hell of a career. Long before everyone jumped on his bandwagon I was following his career with the tri-city americans and he has yet to disappoint me..which is saying A LOT.

Love these guys.

I love my team. I love this years chemistry.

Excuse me if I say what I mean...

Despite the fact that I feel like I've been hit by a truck, this weekend was worth it. 19 shows later and I still enjoy it like it was my very first show. While I enjoyed the show on Friday and the antics that followed later that night, Saturday will probably go down as one of my favorite performances by the band. Our seats were amazing and it's really neat to watch Jakes eyes light up when the crowd sings along. It's something special. I go to a lot of shows and I've seen a lot of bands but I thank god for this band because I would never have met some of my best friends. People constantly ask me why I've seen these guys play so many shows and they always ask me if I get sick of the sets and my answer is always the same....it always brings about a new experience. I'm looking forward to November 7th.

Spending time with some Ottawa nuts

Best line up experience of life.

CT Bonding

Last night Jenn & Mel & I decided we were going to have one of our random, usually quite pointless, ventures downtown to do a little CT bonding. We ate at Nickels and are slowly becoming regulars there which is kind of sad on so many levels. Then we decided to head out to Club Lambi but not before I got a really great creepy prank phone call. Definitely memorable...although not nearly as bad as the homeless man throwing what I PRAY was beer at Mel & I last week.

We ended up heading to Club Lambi with Karen & Kathy and there was basically nobody there. It felt like a really awkward private concert. Aside from 5 or 6 other fans of the bands we were the only ones at the venue and we were sitting closest to the stage so that made matters even weirder. The opening band Hero wasn't all that great, not very good stage presence and kind of boring if I'm going to be completely honest. I was actually looking forward to seeing Afternoon Zero because I had heard good things about them and I only realized today that I knew this because I had seen them already. They didn't disappoint though. They were great and their sounds were super catchy and after we were pushed to stand by the stage by the lead singer we had even more fun. We headed home after their set because I'd never really heard of Hello Operator and I was way too wiped out from our incredibly tiring trip to Nickels haha. All in all it turned out to be a fun night and we discovered a new band in the process which allows for more shows in the future!

So it begins

After having over a week of almost complete relaxation and relief of homework or tests, I'm about to get back into the swing of things starting bright and early tomorrow morning. It's not a very pleasant feeling. I just need to get through this semester and pass everything and then I can take some time off and enjoy my last bit of freedom before University. I have this terrible problem when it comes to laziness. If I'm lazy for even one day I can't find my motivation the next day. If I'm working 3 days in a row and going to school then I won't be tired at all..it's the second I take a day off to relax. That gets somewhat annoying at times. 7 weeks left....I think that's manageable.

Tuesday->8:30-5:30 non stop classes
Wednesday-> 10:30-4:30 classes. Hello Operator @ Club Lambi with Mel, Kathy & Karen
Thursday -> Work. Editing for The New Cities documentary with Kelly & Mel
Friday -> Work. Hedley at Club Soda with the ladies
Saturday-> Hedley in Ottawa with Jenn
Sunday->Visit Carleton Campus with Jenn. Brunch with Emma

On a completely random note...this season is going to be insane