Past Blasting

In my concert review from last week, I mentioned that I drove from my parents' house where I had spent much of Thanksgiving weekend. I failed to mention that I brought their pick up truck with me.

I had a few jobs to do and so this week I rented a 40 foot ladder in order to install bird spikes to the ledges of my building, drove to Kitchener to pick up a piece of furniture, and drove to my parents' cottage in Bala to load up a palette of flagstone.

I headed to Montreal for the weekend and on Friday four of us packed into the Toyota Tacoma and headed to my parents' farm to drop off the flagstone and to switch into the luxury of my Corolla. I felt badly about hauling my friends for the detour especially since the journey from Montreal to Toronto took about 7 hours.

When we arrived, I quickly remembered how much I've missed driving in Montreal and I realized that my eight years living and driving in Montreal is directly responsible for all the speeding, traffic and parking tickets that I have earned in the time since I left. If you are not, at any given moment, breaking at least three laws people honk at you for being inept. I have long stated that I prefer Montreal drivers because at least they know what they're doing. They are horrendously aggressive, but they do know how to drive well. Sure they might not follow the rules of the road, but I'd rather be on the road with good bad-drivers than bad good-drivers.

After arriving in Montreal, the first job was to visit the SAQ and pick up some drinks. We proceeded to pour them down our throats the only thing that would have made it more efficient is if we had hooked it directly to our veins. After scarving down delivered Altos burger specials, we headed to a karaoke bar of all places. My renditions of Modest Mouse's "Float On" and Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" were weak at best, but still fun. We closed the place down and headed home.

For some reason, while everyone else slept off a hangover, I decided to wake up for Soccer Saturday. I watched a wretched game between Liverpool and Blackburn, and then headed out to Place Milton for breakfast.

The afternoon was a wash, and I settled in to watch the Leafs/Habs game. By the end of the game my early morning caught up to me and I was fading fast. By the end of the first period of the Flames/Oilers I was bagged. After I trip to the bathroom, I wandered past my bed and was seduced by its call. Ladies and gentlemen we have a new definition of lame.

The next morning saw my return to Cafeteria for breakfast. It was essentially the same but with higher prices and, oddly enough, better service. We then hit the casino. I won $25 playing the mechanical horses and then lost $20 playing roulette. The saddest part was that they've raised the minimum bet per spin to $5. That means that while I really like sitting for 20+ spins, I was only able to sit for four. I was happy to replenish my Casino de Montreal moist towelette supply though.

For dinner we went to Magnan for steak and then headed to the Spectrum for the Death Cab for Cutie concert (see review).

All in all a fun weekend, but one of those times when you realize that you're getting older. I wonder sometimes if there's any way to avoid it, but coming to terms with late 20s life is going to take much more reflection.