Catching up on things

A few months back, I got blog-tagged by my friend the Dude (aka Mark Lefebvre). On the day of, I was flying off to BC for a week and thus didn’t have time to spend on answering it. I was planning on doing it when I got back, but of course got sidetracked by things like the Christmas holidays with most of my family coming into town for the holidays. Plus I got recalled back to Canada Revenue Agency just prior to the New Year, and then recently had numerous Chinese New Year’s demos to participate in.

Now I finally have a bit of time to sit down and actually fill this out. Oh well, better late than never I suppose. This is for you, Dude. (oh, and wish Francine a happy b-day)

1) What were you doing 10 years ago?
At that time, I was struggling my way through a career as a freelance writer writing for local street rag (or, as they prefer it, urban weekly) View Magazine, and not making much money from it. I was also finishing up my last season as a producer/movie critic for local cable-access show “Entertainment Spotlight”. Of course at the time I didn’t know that it was going to be my last season as my exec-producer had a heart attack. There was also some sort of internal power struggle at the station that caused them to dump many of their volunteers.

The worse thing about this was that I didn’t even know that I was dumped until I flipped on the channel and saw two guys doing my shtick on a show called ‘Entertainment Spotlight’. I made inquiries about what happened, and their response to me was so arrogant and contemptible that I placed a Chinese curse upon them (along with sending a few letters to their superiors, including the President of the company). I like to think that it worked as the show never even lasted the season, and the new station manager (who won the power struggle) was canned months later. So kiddies, the moral of this story is never piss off someone who was born in the year of the dragon.

2) What were you doing 1 year ago?
Last year, I was starting my new gig with the aforementioned Canada Revenue Agency (aka Revenue Canada) where I was learning the little intricacies of Income Tax so that I could be a Client Service Agent. That’s the person you talk to on the phone asking why you got reassessed or if getting breast implants are an eligible medical deduction.

3) Five snacks you enjoy:
- Miss Vicki’s Sweet Chili and Sour Cream chips…. They are to die for
- Taco Bell… love those double-decker tacos
- McDonalds’ Sausage and Egg McMuffins
- Chocolate macaroons
- Shrimp chips

4) Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
This one I had a bit of a struggle with since I know most of the lyrics of a lot of tunes having performed them on various karaoke outings over the years. I managed to whittle it down to these select few:

- “Thunder Road” by Bruce Springsteen
One of my favourite Springsteen tunes, which ranks right up there with “Hungry Heart”, “Born to Run”, “My City of Ruins” and just recently “Jungleland”. I love this song about this regular guy pleading with his high school sweetie to run away with him.

- “The Paris Match” by The Style Council
Though most people probably have never heard of him, I consider Paul Weller to be a rock god up there with the likes of Lennon, Bowie, Lou Reed, Joe Strummer and Elvis Costello. This former frontman for The Jam and The Style Council has written many a political and class-conscious tunes, but has also composed a few haunting yet soulful ballads. There are two versions of this song, one sung by Weller himself and one by Tracie Thorn. I prefer the former version that features a concertina solo that I’ve always liked. In case anyone is keeping score, "The Paris Match" barely won out over my other fave Style Council tune "You're the Best Thing" (Cafe Bleu edition).

- “Marry Me A Little” by Stephen Sondheim
I am a fan of musicals, so much so that when I used to try out for productions at Hamilton Theatre Inc. (HTI), I would always choose Sondheim song as an audition piece. He is one of my favourite composers of all time because he features the strongest lyrics mixed with unique melodies. I know many of his songs off by heart, but this tune is one of his lesser known numbers which was cut in the original production of his show Company, but has since been put back in. This is one number that, should I ever decide to audition for another HTI show, I would use.

- “Delilah” by Tom Jones
One of the regular songs I usually perform at karaoke, along with “Zoot Suit Riot”, “Jump, Jive and Wail”, Van Morrison’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You” and any Sinatra tune. Besides, as far as I’m concerned Tom Jones is a god, but not just any god. He is the God of Weather. I may explain it one of these days in a future blog should the readers demand it.

- “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley
All I can say is this: who cannot help but be happy when you hear a Fat Elvis tune?

5) Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
- Pay down my and my family’s bills, and set up some trust funds for my niece, nephews and godchildren
- Vanish for one year, perhaps by travelling or staying in a nice little hideaway that I know. My friends and family will not know where I am. Then out of the blue, my friends will get airplane tickets mailed to them and I will fly them out on an all-expense paid trip someplace. I’ve always envisioned flying my friends out to NYC for a steak dinner, or to London for drinks at a pub.
- Buy a car. Nothing fancy nor expensive. Just a Japanese car with good mileage or a hybrid.
- Put some money into my Sifu’s martial arts school.
- Keep working, but on a part-time basis. Also read up on how to create a decent webpage to showcase my movie reviews. I hate remaining idle (been there, done that, got the souvenir t-shirt).

6) Five bad habits:
- I have the tendency to procrastinate
- I am known to cuss like a sailor or longshoreman
- Have a bit of a temper (but it’s getting better)
- I speak faster than I think. (translation: start talking about something before thinking through what I should be saying)
- I’m a cynic, yet have somewhat of a romantic streak in me (yeah, a double-whammy)

7) Five things you like doing:
- sleeping
- travelling
- hanging with my friends on a Friday and riffing on any movie/show we watch a la Mystery Science Theatre 3000
- watching sporting events live
- writing (if I’m in the right frame of mind)

8) Five things you would never wear again:
- acid-wash jeans
- this maroon-coloured, new wave-type sweater that I thought was cool when I bought it at Stitches. I was 19 and didn’t have much taste for clothes back then
- anything with velour on it, like a v-neck or an old tuxedo jacket
- corduroy jackets
- I’ll probably never wear the outfit that I wore as a groomsman for a friend’s medieval wedding unless it was Halloween.

9) Five favorite toys:
- gamecube
- computer
- DVD player (yes I am a tech gadget guy)
- Playstation 2 (don’t own one, but play it at friends)
- Board games, particularly Settlers of Catan and Trump