Went and saw two concerts this week. Well, actually the first (The XX) was last Friday. It was pretty mellow but good nonetheless. These guys just need to mix in a few (more) upbeat songs to vary their sound a bit... On Monday I saw Sigur Rós. This is my favorite band of the last 20 years, if not of all time. I LOVE them. I have seen them 3 times and every time is amazing. They are an Icelandic post-rock band known for its ethereal sound, and frontman Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals and use of bowed guitar. You have to be patient with this music. You can't put it on for 20 seconds and decide you hate it. You need to let it seep into your soul, People!!! Someone sent this to me and I guess it's kind of interesting. But I don't really get what the point of it is. Confused... Hope you enjoyed your day off. We teachers, of course, were working hard. Last month my mom turned 70 (wow!). As my mom loves dance (and so do I) and my dad doesn't, I offered to take my mom out for dinner and to a dance performance - just the two of us. I gave her a list of all the dance performances coming up: Ballet BC, The Nutcracker, a traditional Chinese dancing group, etc. It was a fair bit of shock, then, when she chose (right away!) the following performance from the list: That's right. Tonight I'm headed out with my mom to see the "Bad Boys of Dance". I can't believe I am being honest right now. Should be... uh... interesting.
While you are out having fun, relaxing, sleeping this weekend, I'll be preparing report cards. It's kind of like Midterm Exams for teachers. You know... tons to do and not enough time to do it in. It's a good time for everyone (you AND me) to take a look at what we have accomplished so far and to ask if there is anything we can do to be more successful second term. For you, that might mean doing more homework (or doing it on time), or coming for extra help, or studying more for tests / quizzes. For me, it might mean changing how I present information, or how I run the class, or how I assess your understanding of material. Here's to a successful second term! By the way, don't feel TOO sorry for me. I have a good reward for my hard work this weekend... two fairly epic concerts on Sunday and Monday night. Do you know / recognize these two gentlemen? They may be old but they are about as big as music stars can be. Thanks to Bijan for scoring me tickets to "The Boss" (the guy on the right). Going to see Neil Young on Sunday. VERY excited. I know, I know. He's old. He's not the best looking of guys. And (if you've ever heard him) his voice is not the greatest. But this guy is the best. THE. BEST. I used to despise him when I was a young. Then, shortly after I graduated from high school, I heard "Cinnamon Girl" on the radio. It was so good I ran out and bought "Decade" - a "best of" album of Neil's. I know this is weird but, after hearing the first few songs, I phoned my friends to bail on a party we were going to, TO STAY AT HOME AND LISTEN TO DECADE OVER AND OVER AND OVER!!!! Wow! Neil has done everything! Hard rock, grunge, country, folk, techno... He's a music icon, a Canadian hero, a living legend. I've seen him a bunch of times before and he never disappoints. Looking forward to Sunday night... I know, I know... the last thing you want to watch is ANOTHER lame rap video related to school (math / science / socials , etc). But these ones are actually GOOD! Well, the one above is OK, but it relates EXACTLY to what my grade 11's were doing today... so I put it first. But the one below... it's not just good. It's AWESOME!! Wait to you see the performance by the guy at 2:00. Cracks me up every time... he's actually good! Oh, and "NO HYPOTENUSE" at 1:49 is simply EPIC!! Enjoy! I love music. And I LOVE going to concerts. I'll go see (almost) anything. Got a free ticket to Justin Bieber? I'll take it! Anyway, I figured out this summer that I've seen over 200 concerts in my life. And I've seen some big acts - U2, Radiohead, Metallica, Tool, AC/DC, Prince, Roger Waters, The Police, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, etc. These are some of the bands that are often named amongst the best live acts of all time. But the one guy who I haven't seen - and who is often named as the greatest of all! - is Bruce Springsteen. And today I got my tickets to see "The Boss" in November! Yahoo! Thanks to Bijan who got through on his phone so I could get some good seats. You da man Bijan!! More exciting news. I ordered a new suit on-line (from Indochino - does anyone else have their ad showing up EVERYWHERE on your Facebook / Gmail / etc?) and it arrived today... and it fits great! Psyched to wear it for my (big) birthday next week. Here's the suit (probably don't wear it as well as this guy)... Sadly, I also got a flat tire on my way home on my bike. Not a huge deal (had TONS before) but had big problems getting enough air in the new tube. FRUSTRATING!! Here is a picture of me changing the tire. JOKING!!!! I don't wear spandex... well, at least not when I am riding to school. What happens on the weekends need not be mentioned here...
|
P. WadgeI am your teacher. Obey me. Archives
June 2021
Categories
All
|