The private radio experience

I drove to Seattle and back over Easter — great trip. Photos to come.

But when I was there, I did something I’ve not done in a very very very long time:

Listened to PRIVATE RADIO. *gasp!!

And it truly was an experience. I did a fair bit of driving when I was in Seattle itself, and didn’t change the station off of the one I first landed on when I got in the city. And they literally played the same 5 songs evey single hour. I couldn’t believe it. Now, granted it’s not like I’m up on what the cool kids listen to, so maybe it was a much needed pop-music crash course (and eye-opener — apparently Rihanna likes S&M??).

But this catchy little number has been in my head ever since. Don’t think I’ve heard it here in Canada — has anyone else caught it? Am I ahead of the trend now, or sadly behind?

Either way, you can’t beat masked monkeys and coordinated dance moves.

WAS THIS DRAWN ON AN ETCH-A-SKETCH?

It’s not that I don’t pay attention to pop culture. It’s just that I don’t do the You Tube thing. I don’t really watch videos online. I think that’s because that became really popular and common when I moved up north. And because my internet cost 60 bucks a month and only gave me 2 gigs of bandwidth a month (and worked more or less at the speed of dialup) and it just wasn’t practical.

So I’ll admit, I’m a little behind the ball on this critique of WORST “MUSIC” “VIDEO” ever.

I’ve been hearing this song actually for a week now (maybe more). My colleague, who has 2 teen kids (one with a razor-sharp sense of irony and who is on my facebook because I think she’s hilarious) has been singing it (at least the “Friday Friday Friday” part) but somehow remixed it with Beiber’s “Baby Baby Baby” chorus, and the 15 second song loop from the dancing singing Saddam Hussein action figure toy that has appeared at the bureau since I got back from vacation.

Yes, seriously.

So this evening my loving sister forced me to watch the truly toxic “Friday” music video. If you, like me, haven’t seen it — you need to.

The following is a live-stream of my horror as expressed to my sister while watching this abomination.

WAS THIS DRAWN ON AN ETCH-A-SKETCH?
THIS IS NOT SINGING
THAT KID IS NOT OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE
OMG FRONT SEAT OR BACK SEAT? LIFE IS SO HARD!!
“We we we so excited?” SHE HAS LOST THE ABILITY TO USE VERBS.
I think she’s brain damaged.
At least she knows the order of the days of the week?
I’m very worried for the future.

New favourite song: Wine Red – The Hush Sound

Stranded at the Tampa airport — well I guess I’m not stranded any more. I WAS stranded, now I’m just becoming way too familiar with their in-terminal concession stands and the duty-free.

Bought myself some espresso-flavoured vodka donchaknow. My doctor friend from Rankin Inlet had a bottle of it once. It tasted like happiness.

Speaking of coffee, but not of tastiness, the coffee at the “Quick Connection” might be the worst of all time. Not only does the coffee taste like toe jam but they don’t have real milk or cream so I had to use this pseudo-creamer that is just wretched.

So yes, I’m getting all-too familiar with the Tampa Bay airport. Missed my flight back to Canada this morning, but more or less through no fault of my own. Apparently a month ago they moved the flight from Tampa to Denver ahead 6 hours (from 13:15 to 08:30) and never notified me (or never notified the booking agency, who never notified me). And for some reason when I checked my flight status before leaving the condo this morning, it still said the plane was leaving in the afternoon. Anyways, I got to have a bit of a panic attack when I did the self-checkin and the computer said my flight had already departed. I’ve never missed a plane in my life (besides because of weather delays on earlier legs).

Anyways, so instead of getting home at midnight and having to go to work tomorrow, and then picking up the pup from the kennel (on the opposite side of the airport) after work, I get into Kelowna tomorrow mid-afternoon Mondaty, can then pick up the dog right away, and don’t have to go to work til Tuesday. Not ideal for the skeleton-crew staff that we’ll have at the bureau this week, but there’s not much I can do about it.

Also I decided to be a diva when I was in Florida and got my nails did. They are fancy, and I’ll admit, am having some difficulty typing with them. It’s mostly my right thumb which is normally King of the Space bar that’s irritating.

Fame found and lost

Every now and then I go to a show with my mom, or see a musical with friends… and get a pang of longing for a life I left behind (what feels like) a long long time ago.

Friday was one of those days. While home for Easter, the high school I went to happened to doing a production of Fame, and it brought back a flood of memories.

I was a bit of a mutt in high school. Part drama geek, part science nerd… all parts quirky. And the high school I went to was the “country school.” There were two “city schools” in Charlottetown, and one “country school” about 30 minutes from town.

I didn’t mind going to the “country school” — aside from the seasonal spreading of liquid pig manure on the nearby fields — and I understand why my parents chose it. But I was ALWAYS insanely jealous of the “city schools” because they got to perform musicals at Confederation Centre of the Arts.

I was part of an acting troupe in my youth, and had done the annual Christmas show on the mainstage for a number of years in my teen-hood. I watched with bright-green envy as the kids my age from in town auditioned and starred in The West Side Story, Carousel, Beauty and the Beast… the list goes on.

But Bluefield was never included.

Then a couple of years ago the school started doing its own productions, based out of the auditorium (instead of Confed Centre). It’s not Broadway by any stretch of the imagination, but I would have given my left lung to be part of it.

Two of the people I used to perform with were part of this year’s “production team.” I did a little facebook-stalking and came across this video from the Olympics.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/index.html?assetid=3f0dd073-472b-441e-ac0b-7969f751257e

For those who aren’t going to bother to watch the full 2.5 hrs… I know probably about half of the people that make up the “young company” (seen at about 4:00) as they call it. It was my dream to be one of them, oh so many years ago. They used to do these amazing free shows outside Confed Centre during the summers. Just stunning hour-long musicals, normally on some obscure topic, like immigration or remembering the world wars (they were sometimes sponsored, I believe, by Veterans Affairs Canada).

It’s very weird to look through the spy-glass and see a life path I could have chosen, but didn’t. I can’t help but feel a little twinge of loss, and wonder what life would be like if I were up on that stage too. And if that would have made me a different Jackie than I am now.