I think I need you to be here with me

We all want a better life
I think I found it in this place
Everything is so sublime
You should come with me
We all want a better life
I think I found you just in time
And I feeling so divine
We all want a better life
And I'm not going home
I'm not ever going home



Esthero will forever remind me of Jarod, NYC, Hiro Ballroom and an incredibly drunk performance.

I'm camping this weekend

The goal is to turn everything off - no BBM, no Facebook, no Twitter, no nothing.

Well, there will still be texting and calling, but going without those would be ludacris!

Tonight, Jarod, Steve & I are hitting Elk Island Park for a little overnight trip. Me, two gays and a big dog in one tent. I'm so excited.

Jarod and I get to set up the site soon.

I'm pretty sure it will go something like this:



I'll talk to you all in a few days.

The rest of Week 1 - Pooped

The rest of week one was exhausting. The thing I forgot to mention was that two days before the Opening Ceremony, the company I work for was involved with a very large, very important event. What this meant was I had already worked 60 hours by the time Friday rolled around.

But fuck it - the Games are only here once, so party I did.

That made the following days more mellow. I watched hockey games with Team Vancouver, saw a live taping of the Colbert Report, did a media tour with CNBC, and just played it cool. The houses were super busy, and difficult to get into.

But on that Thursday, Jarod came for a visit. After a brief presentation, he realized I was right (as always) and that the Games were something he had to see. So he did.

That Thursday I fetched him from the SkyTrain station and we wandered about like tourists. We sat, we smoked, we gawked at the cauldron and the rings, went home and got ready to go out again. I had received a guest pass to USA House and Jarod tagged along with me.

This was the same nigh Evan Lysacek won the gold medal.

We got off the elevators and were greeted by huge group of people with their camera ready. They were disappointed it was just Jarod and I. I was totally freaked out.

We saw Vera Wang, hid out in a corner and were ambushed by a little press event. The gold medal was maybe 5 feet away from us - and we were Canadian! I had no idea how affected I would be by the medal, or to be near someone that happy. Imagine working your whole life for something, and then, just hours earlier, you achieved your goal, your hardwork paid off and you are the best at what you do.

Whoa.

Jarod. the photog, got some great pics of the medal and such. We had a fun little time. We left, went for a pint or two (I can't remember) ate some pizza, then went for third dinner at 3AM. On a Thursday.

We gorged and went home to ready ourselves for the next two days. I may have slipped into a light diabetic coma.

Let's play catch up!

Edmonton last weekend:

I love my visits home. They are busy as hell, but I love my visits home.

Friday night I got to pseudo-win Catan - it was a pseudo-win only because the game was called-off due to distraction. But I would have won. It was inevitable.

Saturday I met one of my oldest friend's new, fucking adorable, baby boy. His name is Luca. He lives in Slave Lake. He is adorable. I also got to see her being a mom, and a really good mom. She's glowing and it's weird, but awesome. And well, Luca's eyes are this crazy blue colour I didn't know existed.

Saturday night I got to see why Smelly has been busy all the time. His renovations are done - and they look amazing. It doesn't even look like the same house. I can't believe that he, in all his nerdy glory, was able to execute what he did. He is surprisingly competent, although I can only imagine what his wife had to go through to get it there.

After Smelly's we went to a backyard bbq my friends were hosting. Those girls throw good parties. How good? So good, it got a group of thirty-somethings (and me) to stay out until 5am. What is that?! The first thing my ma said when I woke up: "5AM. That's when you come home?"

Apparently.

Sunday was brunch with Chunk, Lis & Jarod. Chunk is about to pop. Seriously, that is one big Korean. After, we checked out her new, huge, digs.

It's weird to see your friends moving into different life phases. New homes, renovations, new babies, pregnancy. It is weird mainly because I am living the same life I was at 22. Other than my job and a new city, nothing has really changed. Still single. Still renting. Still doing ridiculous things. *sigh*

Sorry, tangent.

So, That was last weekend. I need a nap just thinking about it. I didn't get really any time to spend with my parents. I did get some good girl time with mom on the drive to and from Slave Lake and I did see my pa's new place of employment.

Ok, so I did get to hangout with them. Nevermind. This is why I write about it. Because otherwise, I would forget about it.

My hat for your pants

The past several times I have gone out with Jarod and Steve, Jarod has been the one getting 'fall-out-of-the-cab' drunk. Literally.

So, I was kinda expecting the same when we were in China.

I was kinda wrong.

We left the hotel and had difficulties finding out nightspot of choice.

Finally we got there, paid $20 to get in and prepared to watch Jarod go. It just so happens though, that I was the one to be 'that-girl'.

Why, you ask? Well, I was drinking gin & tonics all night, and to my surprise, they were free-pours, equalling about 4 oz of booze (according to Jarod).

Oye.

The music was great, the view was stellar and the boys were cute. So the drinks kept on coming. And coming. And coming.

Which explains why I was the way I was.

Steve had never seen me that messy, Jarod had never remembered me that messy and needless to say, I had a fucking blast.

Gay for Jarod

Well, not really. But he is pretty fun.

Jarod came for a visit this weekend. The thing with Jarod is that he is ... whatever. Literally, "Jarod, do you want to ...?" Jarod:"Whatever"

He is up for anything and if it sucks, he will inform you. Happily.

He got in Thursday night, we went for dinner, late. We only ate at like 10PM. Dinner was really good. Mashed potato spring rolls, proscuitto pizza ... MMMMM. Not healthy, but so good. The place was called Lickerish. Really good. Then we came back here and proceeded to play Wii until 2 AM. And I had to work the next day.

The next day was torture. I was horribly tired and it was my busiest day at work yet. I didn't even have the chance to properly Facebook. Hi, busy. But Jarod met me for lunch, picked me up and chilled out for a bit. We went to a Japanese tapas restaurant by my place. Again, really good. Super ineresting dishes and sushi. What more could you want?

After dinner, we had tickets to check out Mark Farina at the Commodore. He was really good. Some danceable, not too hyper, house music. I got to dance my little butt off and watch Jarod shake his ass.

Saturday was going to be an adventure. Jarod found out that Harrison Hot Springs is close to Vancouver, so off we went at a ridiculously early time. The drive was like Lord of the Rings, all misty mountain hoppy.

When we get to Harrison, we find the resort, assuming you can buy a day pass and hang-out. Oh no. You have to have a service at the spa, and the only one she had available was a 25-minute massage for $60. We passed and decided to go for the cheap, public version.

Now, I don't really get hot springs. They end up being like hot pools, especially when they are indoors - which the public one was. It was a little low brow, but then again, so are Jarod and I. But it was fun to get a little randomness in, with a person who might actually be more random than me. Weird.

Any more visitors? Smelly? Harp? Eve? ANYONE???

I'm Morinville!

I love long weekends! Everyone is willing to go out and there is always stuff to do. I love long weekends.

Thursday date night. Ro Ro and I wanted to go dancing, look at young boys and there were a couple of options. The number two dj in the world (this is how they were promoting it. Isn't there a better way to say that like say - one of the world's top djs?!) was staying at the hotel. I got to chatting with his promoter and he hooked me up with a couple of tickets. Off Jarod and I go to the West Edmonton Mall.

The djs were really good. But the crowd was, well ... young. I wonder what is going to happen to this generation of kids when the drugs and the red bull have done their damage. Anyways. We stayed out late and ate some McDonald's. (Jarod only ever eats McD's with me, and then he blames me for it. Please note however, he is always the one who suggests it.)

Friday I was quite excited for. Like I have said, I love live music, and The Constantines were playing at Starlite. I only really knew one song of theirs, Soon Enough, but these guys freaking rocked!

I went with Lis, and met Kristin and Roger there. Lis and Kristin are EASILY two of the funniest people I have ever met and I swear I almost peed my pants at least twice. They didn't love the show the way I did, but I LOVED IT! They kept the crowd involved, they were pretty high energy, and it was just a really great rock show. Totally dug it.

So that was the start of my weekend. Tonight has the promise of drunkenness, so I might even be able to have enough fun to get another post out. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

i

Three Small Town Albertan Do NY Right

As I alluded to in my last post, Jarod and Steve came for New Year's Eve. I was super excited. I love my parents, but I was in need of some interaction with people that laugh at my jokes. Jarod hates laughing, so thank god Steve was with him.

I picked them up from the airport and we returned to my apartment to get ready and grab a bite to eat. Since I am a creature of habit, I suggested we walk around the West Village and see what is available. We found this cool little restaurant and ate. Had some drinks and found out where a couple of gay bars were in the neighborhood.

We walked to the gay bar and realized it was a major club. None of us were really in the mood for a big club, so we reenacted mine and Jarod's last trip here. We bought a couple of bottle of beers and brown-bagged-it around the East Village. I love the East Village. Eclectic and youthful, with little-to-no pretense. We continued to drink and enjoy the neighborhood. We didn't hit any bars or anything, and then just made our way back to the apartment.

Saturday came. We got up and went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have said this before, but the Met is truly awe-inspiring. The vastness of this museum is incredible. You have an inherent appreciation for the stuff here simply because most of it is so freaking old.

After a few hours at the Met, we were getting a little hungry. Grabbed some pizza and decided to hit Little Italy for dinner. We subwayed it to Union Square, my old stomping grounds, and walked to Little Italy. I am a firm believer that you can't really see a city unless you are walking it. Walked through SoHo and down Broadway. Found some great street finds and eventually made it down to Little Italy. Found a good little dive restaurant and had some cheap, but good Italian.

Saturday night is when the insanity started. One of our street finds told us about this party in the West Village. He was selling some really good house c.d.s so we trusted that this would be a decent party. We come home, put on our Albertans-in-New York best and hit the town.

We get to the party and it is in this warehouse or gym of sorts. The crowd is super cool and chill and some KILLER music. There was a dance-off that Jarod participated in. He busted out some Ukrainian dancing on a breakdance tip. It was awesome. I have never been more in awe of him in my entire life.

We stayed at the party till like 5 in the morning. Jarod got VERY drunk and fell out of the cab when it stopped by my apartment. HILARIOUS!

Sunday was painful. We only got out of the apartment around 1:30 pm. We are not 18 anymore, and sleeping after drinking that much is much appreciated.

We then get our hungover asses out of the house and hit MoMA. I really like a lot of the stuff at MoMA, but there is a huge chunk of it that I just don't get. Modern art is a little over my head. Like a red canvas, sorry, I don't get it. So, meh, we finished that and then went to Grand Central Station. Every time I have been in GCS before, I have been running to catch a train or heading somewhere. I have never had a chance to hang out in the terminal and appreciate how cool it is. Very nice.

Finished at GCS and went to meet my parents for dinner. This was a typical Dias dinner. I mean, dad was harassing the wait staff, I was getting annoyed, mom was trying to keep it together, and poor Jarod and Steve got to witness all of this. Good times.

We did nothing of interest for NYE. We were tired, had no desire to stand in a crowd of 1 million people (yes, 1 million people) to see the damn ball drop, so we came back to the apt and hung out here. Didn't even really realize it was midnight till it was after midnight. Haha, I hate New Year's. So much expectations for a night that is usually just mediocre.

All in all it was an ab fab trip. I love having people here to talk to and laugh with and do the shit I want to do.

Next up ... Eve in 11 days! YAY!!!! I am so fucking excited it hurts.


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