Sunday Post

Wow... I'm actually sitting down in front of my computer on a Sunday night... of a long weekend!! Geez... it must have been a good weekend.

Was it?

Oh yeah.

Let's see... Friday... meet Jeff after work at Joey's in the NE. It was thought that we were going to have ourselves a relatively quiet weekend... being the long weekend and all. But no... of course not. The lightbulb came on in Jeff's head and BAM! A plan to head to Banff that night was brewed and was ready to pour. And once one idea gets into that boy's head... they just don't stop. Granted, it's gotta be said... I think he was on fire that night.

Once the ball was rolling about the Banff plan... he found a hottie sitting with what looked to be her Mom & Sister (again, just assuming) and we came up with a saucy plan to hit on her. It included a note, a bottle of wine and a waiter that looked like Clark Kent. Unfortunately, as it turned out... she was engaged (with a giant rock, says Kent) but looked as if she was flattered nonetheless.

So, we kept Benson waiting for a bit... and then headed back to Langdon to get our shit together and head out to Banff.



And then there we were... the looney tunes that we are. Goin' to Banff... Jeff drove this time... took his gas-guzzlin' Jeep and away we went.

We were in Banff for just after 10pm, I believe... got into the hotel and from there we went... we went in search of good times. Between Mel's and HooDoo, we did find some good times. There was lots of talent around and lots of booze to make the talent look even better. Ha ha.

Mel's had it's cheaper vodka specials... which made for some good drinkin'. HooDoo had it's Quebec-born minx Genvieve (spelling is only a guess and a little of how she explained it). Lucky Benny did get a lap full of that too...



Good man! He loves it.



We also met a couple girls from Vancouver... Jen & Sam. I had walked over to there table, when Benny wouldn't and chatted with them a bit. And then sat down... and then the guys came over. And then the night sort of ended at HooDoo and then they came back with us to the hotel room.

And no... no one got lucky, despite Benny being allegedly sent for condoms... ha ha!! That was quite the discovery in the morning. 'Where did these come from?'

Anyhoo...

I ended the night with walking the two ladies back to their hotel, which was on the main drag. On the walk back to the hotel... Jeff was outside wandering around. I don't know what he was looking for... I'm not sure if it was even me he was looking for. He was a bit of a rambling mess when I found him... nor could I actually remember what we were goin' on about when we walked back.

Saturday morning... I wanted to get back to Calgary for the evening. I had the New Pornographers concert to go to that night... so I had no intentions of anything more than going home. Well... I was the only one who had those sort of intentions. Both Benny and Jeff had decided, after I passed out, that they wanted to stay another night in Banff and ended up pre-booking a room at the Banff Springs Hotel. Gah!

So there it was... they wanted to stay... I said I didn't want to... I mean, the concert was a high priority for me. The New Pornographers are wicked... and deserve to be seen, since they're not really a full-time band as it is. I wouldn't even begin to imagine when they'd tour again. So, with that being said... I really wished that I had driven to Banff, 'cuz then I would have been able to just leave the boys to their excess choice of another night. I did have an inkling that there was a chance that I'd head back to Banff after the concert... but I wasn't too sold on the idea right then and there.

We had a shitty meal at Wild Bill's in the morning... that's not the place to go if you want breakfast. They don't have one. We should have left when we heard the bad news. But we didn't. After that we went up to the hill and I let the boys get their room at the Hotel... yeow! That was a lot of money dropped on a hotel... yet another reason why staying didn't fit with me. Geez, I make half or less than what these guys make... I don't think I'll be getting myself into more debt by staying in a fancy-ass hotel. That actually scares the life outta me.

The drive was remarkable on the way home... crystal clear blue skies and a lot of new snow on the mountains. We absolutely motored on the way home as well. The trip from Banff to Langdon was an even 90 minutes. It was sure good to be home though. Granted, I didn't stay in too long, 'cuz I had some running around to do before heading out for the night. Including calling people to see if they'd want to go to the concert with me.

Yeah, another free ticket on the day of the concert. How like me is that gonna be from now on?

I literally called everyone that I knew wasn't working, in Italy or on their way to Banff... if I had their number on my phone, of course. Well, that didn't work. I did my running around, called everyone and still had no one to go with... so I was resigned to the fact that I was going to another concert by myself... which isn't too bad in the end. Oh yeah, Tegan didn't want to go since she was super-depressed... which was fair dues, but I was hoping that sort of thing would cheer her up a little bit.

I called Tammy-Lee to see if she was still busy... she was. I called Barb to see if she'd go to Banff if I decided to go after the concert... voice mail. Geez, my options were not turning up much of anything then.

So, I went to the Wildfire to have a beer before heading to the concert by myself... sort of a last ditch effort to see if there was anyone I wouldn't mind taking with, just to use up the ticket. My effort went in vain, of course... 'cuz there wasn't really much of a chance that it would have happened anyways. I had a couple beers and a chat or two with some people there and that was about it. Good enough... off I went.

Now, the New Pornographers... like I said, they aren't a full-time band. So, they weren't really tight... and it was their first stop on their new tour as well... so there were definitely bugs to work out in the show. Nevertheless... I got a lot of the tunes that I really wanted to hear and sing-along to. The Bleeding Heart Show and Mass Romantic were definite highlights. I was kind of surprised by Miss Teen Wordpower as a concert selection... pleasantly surprised of course. I made up mix discs of New Porn, but that song wasn't on the 21 track selection. 'Twas cool though.

During the show, I kept receiving text messages... Jeff egging me on to go out to Banff. Calling me a sell-out if I didn't... needing his wingman... which, I suppose was partly true. He does need someone to keep him on the straight and narrow. I don't know which text message it was exactly... but I caved in. So after the show had finished, I hopped in the car and was off.

Driving the Trans-Canada in the dark is certainly an adventure... you know, when you get out of the city lights and into the darkness of the transition from prairies to mountains. It gets dark out there!

Halfway out... Barb finally returned my phone call. She'd finished work and was out for her drink to start her week off. She called to let me know that she wasn't ignoring my messages... which was nice of her to say. I told her to give me a ring when she knew that she had some time to spend with me... and hopefully she will.

I was in Banff around 11:30pm... all the park gates to pay the park pass fees were closed and I parked in a lot with "no overnight parking." Amazingly, got away with both offenses... woo hoo!! Met the boys in Aurora and it sorta went from there. There was more great talent in there... but our luck wasn't quite as great. We got some nice pics of the bartenders and such, but there wasn't really any sufficient and/or available talent to take back to the guy's rooms at the hotel.



The night ended for me when the boys went looking for food and I passed out in bed. I was pretty schwhacked again and needed to just fall asleep... which I did with the greatest of ease.

My plan for Sunday morning was to head off and make sure I got back to Langdon in time to see my sister off back to Victoria... which I had woken up just after 8am, got my shit together and didn't even wake Jeff... like he had asked... and was gone.

The traffic was pretty dead on the highway... and since it was really light out, I could really concentrate on where I was going much easier and that allowed me to pin it quite well. I think I probably averaged around 150km/h for most of the way, except through Canmore and a few of the bends that are a little treacherous through there. I thought luck was on my side.

I was wrong.

Coming through the construction on Glenmore Trail, I was coasting down into it... my foot not even on the gas, actually more slowing down 'cuz of traffic, but I was still doing 72 in a 50 and got busted. Fuck me! My 1st speeding ticket handed to me by a cop. I had a photo radar ticket once... but not anything like this. Shit. $150 or something like that... geez, what a pain in the ass.

Then the day was sort of a lazy waste... watched the piss-poor Canadian Men's team lose again to Finland. That'll be for tomorrow's post, I'm sure. Watched quite a bit of the Daytona 500 as well. Fixed the brakes on my car... topped up its fluids... got a tad dirty... and that was pretty much my day.

Tomorrow... no plans, just gonna make some phone calls. Wanna hang out with one of the girls I think tomorrow... if I can. And that's that. Thanks for comin' out!