electricity!

edmonton's 2012-2013 broadway season was just announced last week. it will include mary poppins (july), rock of ages (november), and billy elliot (march 2013).

their 2011-2012 season will be closing later this month with blue man group. you bet your ron swanson, i'm going.

late night at the symphony

got to experience the edmonton symphony orchestra (again. much better seats though) on friday night. they played classic movie scores from the original planet of the apes, aliens, body heat, the gershwins' "but not for me" from the musical girl crazy. that song was also used in movies such as manhattan, four wedding and a funeral, and when harry met sally.





my favorite among the songs they performed that is john williams' score for "catch me if you can." listening to it being played live is beyond superb. don't get me wrong, the planet of the apes orchestration is amazing too. it's just that i connect more to catch me if you can than i did with the others. 

they had a guest saxophonist. ashu. he's very talented and shows emotion in every part of every piece. i'm a fan of musicians who can take you on another level with their performance. they drift you into their aura of passion and just leave you amazed by their talent.


oh right yeah.


i also got to meet william eddins briefly. the conductor, yes.

being canadian means being lucky

i've only been a resident of canada for 1295 days and i'm proud to be here. i can't think of any better place to be at right in this very moment (oooohhhh....greek islands). so far, canada has been really good to me and my family. and living in edmonton has been swell.

i'm gonna share with you what the metro ran the other day. something from rick mercer that made me smile...

being canadian means being lucky. there are almost seven billion people in this planet and we make up around 33 million of them.

the odds of a random citizen on this earth being canadian is about half of one percent.

it's a long shot that delivers a hell of a jackpot.

a citizenship, that for most of us, cost nothing to acquire, but yet is our most prized possession.

being canadian means we have freedom of mobility. if you want to change your name to a symbol and move to british columbia - you wouldn't be the first, you won't be the last.

being canadian means we can worship whoever and however we want. which is why when we meet a member of the worldwide church of the raelians (who worship a holy trinity of UFOs, extraterrestrials and tantric sex), we shrug and say to each his own.

being canadian means that if your finger comes into contact with a band saw, you pop it in a plastic bag along with some ice, and it gets sewn back on for free.

being canadian means there is now a five-cent surcharge for shopping bags to encourage cloth bags. don't use this for a severed finger. in that case, pay the nickel and go with the plastic.

being canadian means we are each protected under the charter of rights and freedoms. in canada, harold can marry samantha, carol can marry johann, and achmed can make an honest man out of frank.

being canadian means you can vote. and when we do, governments come and governments go - and yet not a single shot is fired. which is appropriate because in our nation's capital, the canadian flag flies proudly over a tower that we named peace.

EH? EH!

happy canada day!

44 llib

the very controversial bill 44 passes through alberta legislature.

the bill gives the right for parents to pull their children from classrooms in which teachers discuss sexual orientation, sexuality, or religion.

crappy bill.

i honestly feel bad for those kids who will get opted out and deprived from such knowledge. i think this bill will produce moronic close-minded individuals. i must have had a "sheltered" liberating educational experience, who knows. i've attended a christian school for most of my in-school learning years. i remember being encouraged to question and discuss things that others tend to ignore. i've had a handful of exceptionally opinionated teachers who taught about what to expect in the so-called "real world". it was a christian school where gay students, closeted or not, are treated with the same amount of respect. at least it was like that when i was there.

i see no need for my parents to pull me out of class that teaches about the existence of the third sex and religion and other what have yous. they supply me with their own views and opinions about things. the most fun part is they know that i have a well functioning brain that judges well and a useful heart that knows how love. they know that they can only teach me as much....it is always up to me and my own judgment if i'm gonna agree with them or not.

compromising your own opinion is far different from avoiding a fist fight, i tell ya.

as @eadnams said on twitter, "I think world religions/cultre shud b a clas in public sch.d majority of d world blieves in *something*"

with that, i am lead to believe that growing up in a 2nd world country is a major. plus why? because we give a crap about what the 1st world countries and the rest of the world are up to. we talk about them in....wait for it......yeah, you got that right,....school. we talk about them in school. i am thankful.

alberta is moving backwards with this bill.

hence, the "44 llib" title of this post

red

finally! the red christmas cups are back at starbucks! well not only starbucks. tim hortons has theirs back as well. stuff like this sucks us more into this giant bubble called the christmas season. it's weird though that even with the red cups back, the snow fall is still inching its way in. i mean, come on! can we get more christmas-y up here?

hell yeah! check it...canada's biggest christmas tree. yes, it can be found here in edmonton. mayor stephen mandel and santa lighted it up just this afternoon. because of the nice weather, churchill square was packed with so many people who are getting their christmas groove on. there were fireworks as well which was beautifully synchronized with the music.

canada's biggest christmas tree @ churchill square, downtown edmonton

*siiiigh* i feel very christmas-y now. this photos made me play christmas songs on the computer. tonight's popular jam, "merry christmas and happy holidays" by *nsync and "winter wonderland" by rockapella.

thanks to mack for the photo of the tree.


oh and one more thing that i'm really bananas excited about? my 23rd beer day! yay! it's gonna be 23 on 23. how cool is that huh? plans? i'm kinda leaning on the getting really really drunk side. oh but who knows what the red piano has to offer lol

eliminate health care...

...premiums. eliminate health care premiums.

the province of alberta is eliminating health care premiums as of january 2009.

until then, albertans pay the same way.

now you get free health care and gay marriage!

nice.