So apparently I’m a huge douche bag and bought tickets for the WEMF when it’s the same weekend as the CFI - Transnational Student Leadership Conference. *sobs* …So I have to pick one.

Originally it was a no brainer! I mean, this is the LAST WEMF… How could I miss it? I love electronic music, I have plans to go with AMAZING people and the festival always delivers 800xs more fun than promised. So my first inclination was to say “ta ta!” so the atheists and jump onto the music snob train.

However, after further consideration about what would actually be more beneficial to my life in general… and the fact that I’ve volunteered myself for more responsibility than I should have at the conference… and that I forced Kate to go so that I wouldn’t be alone… and that I wouldn’t mind spending the weekend with the intern… I decided I should probably go to the conference. *huge sob*

Sooo if you wanted to go to the WEMF, but didn’t get tickets in time, I have 2 totally up for grabs. Best offer gets them, really. Although I’d prefer to sell them at the original price… not any higher, … I know they’re going for like $300 some places, and I’m not ready to do that to people who just want to enjoy some music and connect with their inner… … …whatever, you know.. drop acid.

Lemme know if you’re interested! AND if you do go - you must give me a 100% fully loaded run down about how amazing it was. Because seriously, I’m really sad I’ll miss this.

I can’t even formulate into words how amazing this boy is. Fo’ shizzle.

Yeah…I’d totally marry him.

… I did it.

I bought my first thing off of iTunes. In one sense I hate that I just bought something off iTunes, on the other hand I’m glad I supported this artists. (But how much of the money ACTUALLY goes to the artist? I don’t know. Thats why I like buying CDs at concerts, you see the money go into the hands of the artists. Like when I saw Matthew Barber, I went up to buy the CD, and when I realized it was HIM that I was handing the money to it felt good that he was getting the money.)

Anyway, what did I buy? Greydon Square. Seriously. I love politically charged rappers, it’s just so hot. And he goes on about carbon dating in one of his songs, and a bunch of science junk. UGH. Awesome. And I’m going to see him in June. DOUBLE UGH. The only bad thing about him is that he’s a member of the Rational Response Squad. I love atheists and everything, and I love people who devote their life to reason - but… their site is so shoddy. And they’re all so unprofessional. And they’re some of the most inflammatory people I’ve ever spoken to. They draw in the immature angsty teenager group so their blogs and forum are just too annoying to read.

But Greydon is super talented, and I’m really excited to see him at The Amazing Meeting 6 in June. (And my sweetness in starlight) Eek! That’s going to be one good weekend. With any luck I’ll meet Teller too. I don’t care so much about Penn, but I really want to hug Teller because he’s SO cute. And if I do meet Penn, I’d like to remind him of the time that he was a witch on Sabrina… just so he rehumbles himself.

Green sweater!

I’m making the stupid face because I haven’t actually showered today, and my face shows it… but the sweater is pretty! My mom picked it out, really. She said it looks pretty on me, so it must. Right?… Right?

Job!

I wrote before that I had started a new job mapping and such. Well, I lasted about 2 days at that store. On the Tuesday night of my training my mom and I were hanging out watching a movie and the phone rang - I cursed it because I hate it when movies are interrupted - and it turned out to be a person who I was waiting to hear from.

I am now the manager at a pretty big clothing retailer in Canada. (I’m not going to say the exact one, I’m starting to learn the value of “less information is better” when it comes to blogs…) So I’m pretty excited about that. I start on Sunday. Woo!

Book!

I’ve become a pretty big lover of the library… Books for free! Who’da thunk it? But there was one I couldn’t find at any of the libraries in the Guelph system - Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. So I bought it today, and I’m really excited to read it. The woman is amazing, she’s been through civil war, had personal experiences with female mutilation, forced marriages… it’s crazy. I’m excited to read about her story, and will definitely do a post about it when I finish it. …I feel like it’ll be just as good as A Long Way Gone, which to date is still by far my favorite read.

I read God Grew Tired of Us and Love Is  A Mixed Tape last week. LIAMK was really quite bad, but I’m starting to like cultural reference books less and less. GGTofUS wasn’t bad. The movie was better, which is something I generally don’t say. I’ll tell you this much though, when I found out the guy could barely speak a word of english I certainly felt bad for calling him a horrible writer to my mom.

Favorite drink!

Double vodka and cranberry. … I can’t get enough. …But I get the cranberry on the side, because they always over do it. I’m like “just like, a squirt” and they fill the rest of the glass. D’oh

Favorite blog!

I have nooo idea how I came across this blog, but… I’m in heart. Not only does he recommend music! (you all know it’s the way to my heart) but he’s a fantastic and entertaining writer. Rawr… Hopping Into Puddles (aka Michael), I love you.

Music!

It’s not really new - I just strayed for a while. I just went through a big hip-hop phase, lots of Sweatshop Union, K’Naan and CunninLynguists … constantly. But just the other day I was putting on unlabeled random CDs that I’ve made and found one that consisted entirely of Iron and Wine and Sufjan Stevens. So I’m back on my quiet music kick… The Six Parts Seven and Jose Gonzalez… Mmm. (Aww remember when I worked at the radio station and could upload new music ALL the time… I miss the radio station… a lot.)

Six Parts Seven: Stolen Moments
Pinback: Concrete Seconds
Iron and Wine: Love and Some Verses

Delicious, isn’t it?

It’s nearly 2008. I think my favorite part about the last couple weeks in December is looking back at the past year, and seeing what came out of it that was definitely worth the time and effort put into it. So here it is - the my tops lists:

Top 10 albums:

1. LCD Soundsystem - 45:33
2. Rascal Flatts - Still Feels Good
3. Craig David - Trust Me
4. Pinback - Autumn of Seraphs
5. Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
6. RJD2 - The Third Hand
7. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
8. The Six Parts Seven - Casually Smashed to Pieces
9. Elliot Smith - New Moon
10. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

Runners up definitely - Feist, Radiohead, M.I.A and Of Montreal
Actually, i think this list of top albums might actually destroy mine… Not only is it a good list, but it’s also 100% Canadian. Woo! Feist!

Top 10 songs:

1. Apologize - Timbaland ft One Republic
2. Hot Stuff - Craig David
3. Toy Solider - Britney Spears
4. Alaska - Camera Obscura
5. The Way I am - Ingrid Michaelson
6. Bartender - T-Pain ft Akon
7. +81 - Deerhoof
8. Blueberry Tree Part II - Husky Rescue
9. My Moon My Man - Feist
10. The Past Is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal

Top 5 movies:

1. The Lives of Others
2. Little Miss Sunshine
3. Sweeny Todd
4. Amazing Grace
5. Surfs Up… fo reelz

Top 5 personal moments:

1. Moving home from BC… I miss BC a lot, but it is good to be home. And it looks like I’ll be here for a while, and that’s okay.
2. Getting alcohol poisoning. …I know, it doesn’t really sound all that good, but honestly - it made a good story and has terrified me into drinking less and less each time I go out.
3. The CFI leadership conference. It opened my eyes to a lot of things, introduced me to a lot of people and gave me an opportunity to converse with a lot of open minded, like minded people my age for a few days.
4. My first night out with Future Shop folks. Shit. Show. I established quite the name for myself that night. Gah.
5. Getting to meet Baby AJ! The birth of Baby Ella!

Top 3 games:

1. Oblivion!
2. Guitar Hero 2 - seriously, 3 isn’t really that much better. There are some good songs, but… meh.
3. Bioshock!

I hate halo 3 and the orange box. …so i dont even want to hear it. call of duty 4… it’s more than decent though. As is Assassins Creed, but I haven’t played it enough to put it in a top list.

Top 5 TV shows:

1. Heroes!
2. Flight of the Conchords
3. Planet Earth
4. Yo Gabba Gabba
5. The Office

Top 4 under-reported news stories:

1. Somalia … for some reason, few people knew about the + 1 million Somalians fleeing from their homes - while the UN sits back and watches.
2. Mansions in Luanda … Post-Civil war Angola had an economic growth rate 12.5% higher than China’s 11.5% rate. Thank you oil reserves!
3. 100 000 troops … Lined up along the Ethiopian and Eritrea border, just waiting to have at it, much like the crisis that happened there in 2002.
4. More reasons why teachers need to have background checks, character tests and need to be watched closely. Seriously.

Top 5 books:

1. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
2. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
3. The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester
4. Dirt - The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery
5. Busting the Limits of Time by Martin Rudwick

Top 5 environmental stories:

1. Walmarts green appeal. …They’re still not perfect. They still encourage suburban sprawl. They still suck money out of people. They still pay employees shitty wages. But they are doing great initiatives for the environment. That is all.
2. Moving from “environmentalists kill the economy” to creating green jobs to increase economic growth. Creating new economic sectors that cater directly to the hippies. Solar panel companies, organic farms… the new green economy should create over 6 million jobs by 2015.
3. The world’s 15 greenest cities
4. The Great Biofuel Hoax
5. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its 4th Assessment Report in which it declared that global warming is “unequivocal” and that it was “very likely” that most of the observed warming was caused by man. More than 2500 scientists worked on the report. The panel’s work was recognized with a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which it shared with Al Gore.

Top 5 natural disasters:

1. Bangladesh Cyclones

2. Mexico Floods

3. Hurrican Felix

4. Greece Forest Fires

5. Peru Earthquake