Faust Arp
Why hello there internet land! Long time no speak.
I feel like I haven’t written a meaningful post in ages. Mostly because my life was rather dull. Let me just check and see where I last left off…Good grief. It was May 5th when I last wrote something that pertains closely to my life. So let’s see, I’ll try and begin from there.
School had ended, it was the best semester I had ever had. My jazz band mark sucked, so I appealed it and got a better one. I decided to go home to Calgary.
The Gap
Found work with the Gap, and eventually the City of Calgary. Applied to countless jobs. Had an interview to be an audio editor with CJSW, the University of Calgary radio station. Didn’t get it. Sad. Missed lover. Was missed by lover. Hated Calgary. Lots of friends who I thought were closer didn’t seem interested. Saw my good friends and that was good. Had fun. Went to a show. Saw my old band teacher (awkward). Went to Thunder Bay to see my grandparents. Drank rye and had es cargo with them. Hated life. Fought with Parents. Folded Jeans @ the Gap. Folded Shirts @ the Gap. Put up tents for the City. Folded more jeans. Put up more tents. Hated Calgary. Decided to move. Fought with Parents. Came to Victoria. Had to deal with psycho mother. Found a place. Living with lover. Happy.
That’s more or less the last two months of my life. In a nutshell. Calgary just doesn’t suit me that well. I dislike the lifestyle, and just the atmosphere of the city. It was good to see a couple of my close friends, but they’ll still be my friends no matter where I am so coming back to Victoria didn’t matter. I left playing on a ultimate frisbee team, which I’ll miss, but I’ll survive. It was good being active again. I just have to get out running. I finally finished my book (The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) and it was good, the ending was a little unexpected. I’m going to start reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon which I mentioned in a previous post.
The last week has been hell though, but it’s looking up. I was here with my mom looking for a place to live. I used mainly Craigslist, Kijiji, and the UVic housing site to scope out places. It sucked trying to remember what each place offered and who lived there and stuff. I saw a lot of really shitty places where 9 other people lived and some with owners that wanted to be my parents. And I didn’t want that. I wanted to be independent in a nice household, with ceilings that weren’t so low that I hit my head.
I ended up finding a great little character home close to my lover. The owner is a 49 old mother of three who has a little shitzhu. The bathroom has been converted to a splash room, which as most of you don’t know, is a room where everything can get wet. The shower head hangs from the ceiling, which means I will have no problems washing my hair on the top of my large 6’4″ frame. And a vintage oven/stove. So I’m pretty stoked, I move in sometime this coming week.
My mother drove my absolutely crazy over this week. Hell, the entire time I was home, both my parents drove me crazy. I think my mom asked me 4 or 5 times if I was depressed. Had me rate my happiness levels from 1 – 10. Pestered me why I wasn’t eating a lot or why I didn’t go out or whatever. I just didn’t want to be around them. They continually asked me if my lover was the only reason why I wanted to move and they questioned her character which was insulting to me and her. When in Victoria, my mother was indecisive, emotional (she cried at least 10 times over the course of 3 days), and just overall really stupid. It doesn’t make sense to me that she would be this emotional over me moving. This has happened twice before when I’ve had school. You’d think she’d be used to it by now. And I’m not one who is emotional or shows very much emotion, so it’s hard for me to be sincere about it. Sigh, she’s gone now so I can relax and enjoy myself in Victoria.
Tokyo Police Club's new CD: "Champ"
But I have to find a job now. I’ve already applied at quite a few places and the Gap might hire me back as well. So things are looking up and I’m trying to stay busy, without spending a lot of money. That being said, I am going to the casino tonight. So shush. Maybe I’ll win $100 in blackjack or something. That’d be pretty awesome.
I’ve been listening to a lot of new music lately. The new Broken Social Scene CD = not good. The new New Pornographers CD = good. Citizen Cope = really good. New Deftones CD = really good. New Secret and Whisper = good. The new Tokyo Police Club CD = really good. Go check them out now!
Pixar's best new short: "Day and Night"
I saw Toy Story 3 yesterday! It was really good for a 3rd movie. Not sure if it’s good as a stand-alone film. But still really great. I loved the short Day and Night at the beginning. May be one of the best ever, behind the chess player of course. Pixar really knows how to get things done.
I’ll leave you with that short! Hopefully I can start posting more now that I feel up to it. Have a good one!
A Few Thoughts on the First Month
So September has turned over rather quickly and already we’re into October. I find this quite amazing, I’ve survived a month of school.
Let’s take count of what I’ve done so far.
- Moved into my 4th home in one year.
- Started six new classes
- 4 Electrical Engineering Assignments
- 3 Linear Algebra Assignments
- 4 Music Theory Assignments
- 1 Listening to Music Assignment
- 5 Jazz Band Rehearsals
- 15 Hours of Work
- 25+ boxes of Peak Freans
- 5+ Solid Hours of Rock Band Played
So as you can see I’ve been a little busy. School is hectic and work sometimes makes that nicer, and sometimes not. Like today. Work tonight was really lame. Some world renown singer came in and made noises that I’ve heard my girlfriend make randomly. And apparently she gets paid to do this. I would compare it to listening to a Pentacostal worshipper speak in tongues. Weird stuff.
The last two things on that list relate to my roommates. I have moved in with three guys that I knew from last year and I think that has made a huge difference. Knowing each other, we can joke around and be a little more confrontational if we need to be. It makes living together a lot funner and easier. We all share meals, and D, who has become a good friend of mine, cooks most (if not all) of our meals. And we eat together. We divide up the food and the bill on a whiteboard and everything is generally hunky-dory. Three of us have a Peak Frean obsession (the cookies with the cream and the fruit jelly in the middle) and we can go through about 5 boxes a week. It’s a fun, slightly ridiculous thing we all have. And then there’s our rockband. My one (rather wealthy/frivolous) roommate went out and bought Rockband for the PS3 within the first week of living here. We all created outrageous characters and then a band. And it works out perfectly as we all have an instrument in which we enjoy. K, isn’t comfortable enough to play hard guitar, but medium is too easy, so he plays bass, I naturally play drums, D sings gloriously (seriously, the dude sounds like an angel sometimes) and B plays guitar. So we fit. They want to dress us as our band for halloween, but I’m not too keen. My character will be quite hard for me to reproduce on a budget. I’m thinking of just going as Elvis Costello/Buddy Holly.
Halloween Costume - Elvis Costello?
Halloween Costume - Buddy Holly?
We had a party last week which was eventful to say the least. We had some friends over and watched the Flames beat the Oilers, and then K’s girlfriend wanted to watch Animal House. The rest of the party goers didn’t think this idea was too hot, but she was fairly addament about watching this movie. I find this is kind of ridiculous, and this applies to anyone who throws a party at someone else’s house. If you are throwing a party, make that clear, don’t leave it to the house owner to throw it, you should be there. You should be there before to clean up, prepare and help out, not arriving at the specified time. This way, you can make your plan clear, and organize any alternatives if need be. So already that was not going well. Then she added alcohol to the mix and things did not turn out in her favour, which looked even worse on her part. She did get to watch her movie, albeit on a laptop in the kitchen. After the game, some friends from my old old (original) rez and I went back to see the new renovations that had occured over the summer. And the place is so nice, it sucks to be the last one in a place that gets changed after you leave. It’s happened a lot to me…
Anyways, I get back home, and my friends take off, and then, the real fun starts. 7 RANDOM people, walk into our house, and start snooping around and eating our stuff. By this time, K is dealing with his girlfriend, and B went off with his, so D and I are left to defend our kingdom on our own. We eventually get them settled into the living room, and it is clear that these folk are drunk, high, crunk, whatever the fuck you wanna call it. They were gone. So that was fun to handle. I did my best to just be chill and accept them and try to get them to leave on their own terms, but D wanted them out ASAP, but was far too kind to just kick them out. Eventually we did get them to leave, and immediately locked the door.
So Saturday was an interesting night to say the least.
My reviews have been peppering the Martlet in the last few weeks, and I got an email from the new arts editor this week about meeting him about doing some more stuff. So maybe I’ll be able to do show reviews and band interviews and stuff! Budding new music journalist here! Watch out!
In other news, I am staying here for Thanksgiving. My girlfriend and I are going to a potluck which should be nice. (No dishes! Woo!) Also, my jeans should be here soon! So very excited for those! Thank you again if you read this!! 
I’m trying to think of what else to write about. Jazz band is frustrating as always, still no respect from the percussionists. Still can’t practice. Haven’t got anything to play. So it’s pretty lame. I had to put the vibraphone in a recording room last week because no percussionists were there to let me in. Apparently the percussion instructor guy wasn’t too happy. But I really had no other choice unless he wanted someone to steal them. But whatever.
The VJ results get posted in 6 days if you are keeping track! So stay tuned for that. Also, more videos to come in the Em Vs. Jay challenge! Me thinks I’m winning. I might also do a post soon of what I’ve been listening to lately!
What has your September been like? Done anything thrilling? Tell me!
I think that’s about all! Have a good night, morning, day, wherever you are.
Later days,
- J
Something that’s NOT a CD review…
Greetings,
So yesterday was a busy day, for CD reviews that is. I wrote 4 yesterday, which you can view below, and combined with the 3 others I have finished previously, I will have a total of 7 to send to the Martlet come Monday. Which may be a little overwhelming, but we’ll see what happens.
Today was my first day of training for Applebee’s. I was up @ 7 to be ready for 9:30, our training session today took place in a classroom in Clearihue (one of our school buildings here at UVic). It was basically a class on Applebee’s. Although I understand that we need to be learning the theory of the stuff, and what have you, plus the restaurant isn’t even completed, so the opening has been pushed back to Sunday, maybe even Monday or Tuesday. I just want to start working! Grr! It’s so hard to try and focus in a classroom and learn how to cook. You need to be actually doing it! Hopefully soon!
In JuST B news, we’ve been invited to a party at the Gap on Government Street here in Victoria for their Exclusive Premire Party for their new line of 1969 jeans! Pretty cool for a little time blog from Victoria with only a few hundred views. http://jstb.wordpress.com/about/
Other than that, not a lot has been going on with me lately. Trying to stay busy.
Here’s something that may be amusing to you, Smart-Car Tipping.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/pranksters-go-smart-car-tipping/article1253835/
Also, Usain Bolt did it again, another world record, I don’t understand how this guy does it. It’s incredible.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bolt-shatters-world-record/article1253787/
Or if you want something like my blog, but not at all, go watch Jenn and Katie at http://www.youtube.com/user/thoseweekendgirls
I hope you’re enjoying my blog so far. I’m going to try and maintain the quality and quantity of posting, maybe check out my foe-toes if you haven’t already!
Speaking of photos, I’m slowly becoming my mother. I haven’t been out taking photos for just the art, and the serenity that it gives me. This may be attributed to my use of film and lack of digital camera. But I’m now taking photos to keep the memories. So that I can remember this summer and a lot of the things we did. I can definitely start to see the appeal of keeping photographs as mementos. I hope you enjoy mine.
That’s it for now,
Later days,
- J
