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The Dramatic Chipmunk

Checkout one of the funniest 5 second clips you'll see on the internet. On YouTube you'll find all sorts of variations of this.

The Big 5-0

Well, this ending up being a bit of a bust. Didn't plan this one well at all.

My birthday falls during the Montreal Jazz Festival and I usually go to one of the headliner shows that night. Tickets usually go on sale for those headliners at the end of November or beginning of December, True to form the announcement came out the beginning of December, At Place des Arts Pick Martini was was playing. I don't know them from a hole in the wall but over at Theatre de Nouveau Monde Holly Cole was playing. Bingo! I'm a big Holly Cole fan so this was perfect. She was playing on the 28th and 29th. Even more perfect.

Tickets went on sale on a Saturday. I work at Air Force on Saturdays and am usually at lunch plus the computers there are no good for ordering things online. I tried calling Admission but lone was busy so I tried the theatre directly and got through immediately. Scored two tickets, second row center. Hoo Haw. Realized afterwards that I probably should have gotten the ticket for the 28th as I might have other plans for the 29th given that it was going to be my 50th.

Called up my friend Sandra who usually goes with me to my birthday concerts but she was was less enthused, not really a Holly Cole fan but she'll go along. Flash forward a few months and the CFL publishes their schedule for the 2007 season the Als home opener is on, yep, 29th June. Sandra more or less made it clear she was more interested in the Als game than the Holly Cole concert.

Meanwhile Sandra and Marc Adolph were planning a party for me on the 30th. Ok, so I have an activity on my birthday (which one I don't know) followed by a party. I can live with that. Finally it's a few days before my birthday and it's becoming increasingly clear that if I go to the Holly Cole concert I will be going by myself so I better do something with the tickets and just go to the Als game. On Wednesday I put the tickets up for sale on craigslist. First time I have used them. Turned out ok because by Thursday I had them sold and the money in hand. I was sad to see them go.

So after yet another uneventful day (I've really turned into a slug this week, more on that later) I ended up doing what I would normally do on a regular game night, have a bite to eat out, usually at Amelio's, and then attend the game. Even the Als couldn't rise to the occasion of my 50th birthday (and no birthday greetings on the big screen like I saw at least once for another person). Not only did it absolutely pour rain in the first half but the Als only scored one offensive point in route to a 16-7 lose to Saskatchewan, the other six point were conceded by Saskatchewan as safeties. Then just to really top things off my party has benn postponed a week since this is a long weekend and apparently many people who wanted to come can't because the are going away for the long weekend.

So, I continue with my string of uneventful birthdays for milestone ages. Oh well. If I had actually planned things a bit more instead of doing things at the last minute I could have found out beforehand (instead of during the game) that 29th of June was a full moon and I could have done something totally crazy and ran off to Thailand for a full moon party at Kho Phangan or something equally momentous.

The concert that wasn't

I sold my Holly Cole tickets for tomorrow night through craigslist. First time I used craiglist and I must said it was a rather painless operation. These were great tickets, second row middle. Sigh.....

I bought them back in December when they first went on sale. My birthday (29 June) always falls during the Montreal Jazz Festival so I usually buy whatever headliner is playing that night. Holly Cole is one of my favorite singers. I think I've seen her at least 6 or 7 times in the last 17 years including some of her early ones at the Spectrum in the early 90's. For the Jazz Fest the announced dates were 28 and 29 June, perfect. I happened to be at Air Force that day and, being a quiet day, decided not to go to lunch and instead called for tickets. Admission was busy so I called Theatre Nouveau Monde directly and got through right away. Basically had my choice of seats and without really thinking ordered tickets for the 29th. Afterwards I realized I should have gotten tickets for the 28th since this year is my 50th and I might have other things going on. Oh well, it would somehow work out. Later they added two more shows (30 June and 2 July) but I passed those dates by.

Although I was enthused about the Holly Cole concert my friend who usually comes to my birthday concerts was not. It was like well if nothing else comes up then I'll go. So, of course, something else did come up, the home opener of the Alouettes. So now I had tickets to a Holly Cole concert, a ticket to the season opener of the Alouettes and my birthday. I sort of held out til the last minute finally opting to go to the Alouettes game because if I had chosen the Holly Cole concert I probably would have gone by myself with the birthday party being held on Saturday.

So I used craigslist to sell the tickets and it ended up being a rather painless operation. Roberta, who is actually more of a fan of the opening act, Michael Kaeshammer bought the tickets from me. I always have a problem selling anything I have so I was a bit sad to depart with the tickets so the Als had better win tomorrow night!

The Simpsons Movie

Coming to a theater near you at the end of July meanwhile you can feast your eyes on the trailer and play around on the supporting website where you can recreate yourself as a Simpson's avitar.