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Archive for the ‘life or something like it’ Category

Its hard to fight the heart sometimes

Posted in Dave Babych, life or something like it, tagged , , on September 30, 2010| 2 Comments »

Man, I have the major cranks today.  I am crabby McCrabberson right now.  I’ll need a few sips of Sea Cider to get back into the normally happy spirit I carry around.

I think it has something to do with waking up at 6AM for bootcamp.  Bootcamp was fun… its the waking up at 6AM that is less than fun.  I haven’t had a proper exercise and Bootcamp leader Karla taught me a lot.

Like did you know, under that belly fat there are muscles?  I know right!  And not just one or two, but like a whole bunch.  Anyways, I met a bunch of them this morning on the wet grass of Clover Point.

It’s looking like my idea to jet off to Tofino for a quick weekend might not happen.  We’ll still go, but maybe not till after Christmas.  Coral and I are trying to horde our treasure and build back up our savings account.  A trip to Tofino will either raid our reserve or go on credit, and neither is wise or prudent.

Speaking of wise and prudent… we did buy hockey tickets!  Huzzah.

We’ll head off to Vancouver on December 26th to see the Nucks and Oil.  Oh course we’ll be travelling with our hockey friends David Eleanor and Lindsay.  plus this year the Fallon Gong and Alyx are coming.  It’ll be a party. I am always excited to see a Canucks games as they are my team to cheer for.  But I love going to see the Oil as I have a soft spot for that Club and its Dave’s team.  So we wear our jersey’s and trash talk and drink the night away.

OK, French Onion Soup is in the oven and beeping.

Go with yourself.

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the end of the road: Tofino

Posted in life or something like it, tagged , , on September 29, 2010| 11 Comments »

Its criminal.  I haven’t taken the Highway #4 to its terminus since the summer of 2003.

I first moved to Victoria that summer and like any recent immigrant I was a combination of excited for my new community and broke.

My brother CJ and sister Andrea borrowed Mom and Dad’s mini-van.  Loaded it up with my girlfriend and Andrea’s friend Candice and off to Tofino we went.

We didn’t have much of a plan.  A van full of kids and camping gear.  Beer.

When we arrived in Tofino, the first camp ground took a look us and just said, “no.”

wow, friendly folks.

We drove around for awhile and it was getting dark.  We found a camp ground that would have us and quickly fired up our tents and tarps.  I mean it was July, the rains was about to come.  My brother CJ got a fire going and we put on some over priced steaks and veggie kabobs from the Tofino Co-Op.

Beers.

Rain.

So.much.rain.

My brother and I stayed up till late.  I was sitting in a puddle.  Probably not piss. I hope. No it was cold. It was rain water.

The next day, all bleary eyed, I awoke to plane engine noise.  Our campground was beside the airport.  And by airport I mean strip of grass carved out of the rain forest.

We decided we wanted to surf, so into town we went to rent all the gear.

Like I said, it was July so obviously it was gray and misty and fucking cold.

Surfing was hard and brutal and I am not sure,  but someone likely drowned.

It wasn’t beach time like you might expect at Willows.  The beach was gorgeous and wild… and cold.

We went in to town for food, but everything was really expensive so we ate diner grub and headed back to camp.

The next day, we took that scary, twisting #4 back to the city.  And that was Tofino for me.

I did enjoy it… but I’ve never had an excuse to go back till now.

Coral has never been.

Now I gotta go back!

But this time, hotel and maybe I’ll leave the surfing off the itinerary.  Maybe I’ll watch surfing, but I’m not getting in the water.  OK, maybe I’ll get in the water.

If you are a Tofino person or have a great recommendation of an affordable place to stay for me and Coral, please leave a comment.

Go with yourself.

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Mundi Street

Posted in life or something like it, music, Wedding, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 18, 2010| 5 Comments »

I grew up n Mundy Street in Coquitlam.  If I were 27% cooler than I was (does that sentence make sense?) I would have vandalized every street sign to be “Mundi” Street.  Much more glorious in Latin.  I think ‘mundi’ translates to “of the world.”  Kinda sexual.

I went through a Latin phase as a young buck.  That is Latin for, “I never put my hand on a boobie.”

I used to take books out of the library that tried to explain all the ‘um’ in stadium and jive talk like that.  Like I said, my life path at the time pointed straight to virginitytown.

I was standing in line Fairways on Tuesday.  Buying the parts of a lunch as I have done hundreds of times before.  Standing in front of me was a beautiful woman and in front of her was a Dad and his daughter about the age Madelyn.  She wanted to help Dad… just like Mads.  Super adorable. “I can do it.”

The woman in front of me was fawning over the little girl.  She was gorgeous.  Kind of an alt rocker Suicide Girl type meets nerd.  Normally the tattoo’d look is not my style…and I never really saw the front of her… but I could just tell she was an attractive person by looking at her vegetarian food on the conveyor belt and the way she played with the stranger’s kid in front of her.  Now that I am an old pervy Dad… women that are cool with kids are cool with me.

I spotted on her arm one of the tattoos, it said ‘Mundi.”  “Hey, I lived on Mundi Street,” I thought to myself.  I tried to glance the rest… ‘sic’ ‘transit’ ‘gloria’ ‘mundi.’

A Brand New fan?  huh.  I like that band too… but tattooed on her arm?  and ‘mundi’ isn’t part of the title.

When I got to work I punched the phrase into the google machine and it spit out this: Sic transit gloria mundi is a Latin phrase that means “Thus passes the glory of the world”. It has been interpreted as “Worldly things are fleeting.”

Knowledge is power.

What I mighty fine tattoo… but it turns out “something in Latin” is a popular style of tattoo.  Not saying I ever want to get one… but sometimes I do.

Coral was thinking I should get a Pisces fish on my arm… to represent Madelyn.  She is a Pisces, neat.

I like the idea of lyrics or words, more my style… but that is less bad-ass than some sleeve tattoo.  Maybe I should work on doing those 100 push-ups then I’ll have some arms worth tattooing.

***

In other news…

Your favourite Victoria Wedding DJ (I hope) is in action with a pub gig tonight.

Coral and I will be doing our husband/wife all vinyl DJ set at Smiths Pub starting at 9PM.  Smiths $12 Burger and Beer special pairs exceptionally with quality music selected with care.  I hope you can come.

***

Lastly…

Pinkerton from Weezer might not be the greatest record ever made… but it has to be one of Weezer’s best.

The record didn’t see much love when it was released back in 1996.  But because it is weird and different… it lives on as a bit of a cult favourite.

Seeing as I personally can’t handle Weezer’s “good” music…. their weirder, older stuff is my fave.

Weezer is going to re-issue the record in October.  If there is a vinyl run with this re-issue, I’d consider adding a Weezer record to my collection.  Maybe.

Go with yourself.

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A weekend in Twitpics

Posted in life or something like it, tagged , , , on August 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

A weekend in Twitpics!

Mads enjoying some ice cream backstage at The Blue Sky Festival

Afra, Mark and Vince Vaccaro getting ready for their set at The Blue Sky Festival.

Sunday, we headed to Sidney to see Jon and Roy! Sunny at the Sea.

A pic from Coral's phone. We hit Sea Cider for some patio drinking and farm life late on Sunday afternoon.

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I love living in the city

Posted in life or something like it on August 11, 2010| 2 Comments »

I love living in Victoria. One of the main reasons why I love the Garden City so much is because of the girls.  Everyday, its like there is a hot girl convention in town.  And all you have to do to attend, is be there.

I know that people that live outside of British Columbia will roll their eyes and go, “yeah yeah yeah, I know… the scenery in BC is so nice.”

But the reality is, the SCENERY in BC IS very nice.  I can always tell the Canadian men that have recently moved to town. They are the ones sporting a semi in their jeans all day.

I like Victoria because everyone seems to be out and about.  I bike to work everyday at around 10AM. And everyday I bike past a parade of people biking, walking, running, trekking.  On a weekday at 10AM?  Amazing.  I went downtown to buy some running shoes… and a never ending chorus of ladies would just run into the running room, grab a drink of water and ducked out.  the clerk didn’t even pay them any notice.  None.  The man is so accustomed to hot, sweaty girls in athletic stretch pants coming into his store… his eyes, they do not gaze.  That does not happen in Toronto (or the clerk was gay?).

I bike home and I pass another crowd of folks out for leisure time.  Young people, old people, friends, seniors.  There are 91-year-old Betty’s going for a stroll in Victoria right now who remember what rationing was during war time.  But you can bet that while they were saving their lard to make bombs to kill Nazis, they were smoking hot doing it.

Its mental.

My running shoes are pretty nice.

Go with yourself.

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back to the grind

Posted in life or something like it on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »


We’re back from Edmonton and points around… I’ll share some road stories and pictures when I get a chance to decompress.  The thing I crave the most after a holiday, is a vacation.

Go with yourself.

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all I can do is what I do

Posted in being cheap, life or something like it, music, neat-O gang, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on July 22, 2010| 7 Comments »

My man Ryan from The Paper Cranes left a comment on my blog from the other day about which computer program might help me master the beat production.  he recommended the Mac program Logic.

Ryan Awram from The Q! also rocks Logic so what I would like about that is that we can share knowledge at work.  I think Logic also has some similar attributes to Garageband which comes standard on the Mac.  That might allow me to learn the Garageband as I already have it, then graduate to Logic if/when I get the hang of it.

I went down to Simply Computers on Quadra, where I normally go to stare at Apple stuff, to look at Logic.

I asked the sales rep about Logic and he steered me toward Ableton… again.  Always with the Ableton.

Ableton is expensive, BUT the sales rep said I don’t need the super duper version… the basic $500 package would be good for me.  And he said that Ableton is working with Rane (they make Serato mixers) to be compatible with Serato DJ software (and I hope my Numark???).

yeesh.  brain hurts.

Its all pretty amateur for me right now and will one day require me to make a decision and jump in.  The issue I mainly have is money.  Coral is hoping to go to University or college in the fall and will need tuition/computer/earn less money for the family.  I’ll need close to $1,000 to rock the wedding fair in the fall and that has to be the priority as success there will guarantee me the opportunity to earn the money I need for fun toys (and to pay the mortgage).  Fun toys now… wasted chance at future business.

man, being an adult sucks.  Garageband for now.

***

In other news, my set for the party Friday Night is taking shape and I like the direction.  I am stressing about it as I don’t really know what people will want to hear.  But I think if I play what I like, I’m opening… no harm no foul and like any performer… all I can do is what I do.

I’ll practice it tonight before bed and if its a good hour, its gold for Friday at Sugar. It’ll be some Brooklyn meets Ibiza chillwave and blisscore beats with some classic soul/funk/R&B.  Might be a trainwreck, but last night at 2AM… it sounded good.  I’ll try it again on the decks tonight, if I can mix it together and the story makes sense in my brain, it’ll be what you hear as you file into Sugar. if this mix that is my head doesn’t come together I was also feeling a modern rocky/remix/local beats set.  Maybe I can do both… a side A and a side B kinda dealio?

Details >> – Well Served – @ Suagr Nightclub

Lastly… I still love Four Tet.

Go with yourself.

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HO! DJ!

Posted in life or something like it, music, Wedding, tagged , , , , , on July 21, 2010| 7 Comments »

I am trying to set some goals and grow as a DJ performer and sometimes it can be hard because… well being a DJ is a singular enterprise.

I only really know what I do.

Now I have been blessed to know some generous DJs who have helped and shared with me.  Jess Taylor and DJ Anger being two early ones that helped me and later J Reign, Marshall, DJ Trekk, DJ Clinton, Rauri Lazers, DJ Fatso and of course DJ Murge.  But at the end of the day… it is a self education.

What I constantly think about is creating my own beats and sounds… but I really have no idea how to start.  My buddy Tyson gave me a midi controller keyboard thing and I have Garageband?  I guess I can start.

And now I have a destination… I want to get on the bill Camp Bisco in rural New York.

New York times >> A festival of Its Own

What an adventure that could be… if I can talk them into letting me have a slot.

It’ll be a money losing proposition.  That is certain.  Traveling to New York to DJ can’t be cheap.  I’d for sure be bringing Coral and even Madelyn… so its more a professional holiday?  sure, I like that word; professional holiday.

AND then I want to DJ in Baltimore! ha… ok, one step at a time.

***

in other news: when you type ‘Victoria Wedding DJ‘ into google, my website comes up! Spin The Black Disc.

Thank you everyone for the support.  I am sure being a wedding DJ isn’t helping my goal of club DJ too much, but the baby has got to eat (and it’s actually really fun… so far).

Go with yourself.

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a shade of coral

Posted in life or something like it, tagged on July 20, 2010| 9 Comments »

a "coral" coloured Chevy Nomad

When I first met Coral, one of my favourite things about her is (was?) her name.  Coral.

I never knew a Coral before her.

I did not know there was a colour shade called coral.

If I was scuba diving I’d be afraid of coral.

I never knew that corals coordinate behavior by communicating with each other.  Whoa, there is probably a life lesson in there about relationships… maybe near the bottom of the wiki, in the footnotes.

There is a band called The Coral.

One day I will visit Coral Gables, FLA… I might even bring Coral, but then, that might be one hell of a trip and fuck with the space time continuum. Maybe Coral would hang in Coral Springs? then we’d meet in Orlando?  I dunno.

I bought Coral a classic 45 single on Coral Records.

One time the History channel showed this boring naval battle.  I wanted to change the channel because I thought the Bachelorette was on but then the announcer said, “this major battle of World War Two was fought between US and Australian forces against the Imperial Japanese… it was called the Battle of the Coral Sea.” And then check this out, it was a marathon of Coral battles!

When I move to the desert one day in the future… I’ll keep my eyes peeled for coral SNAKES!

Coral is a real nerd too.  beep beep bop bop nerd nerd internets.

And sometimes Coral makes movies! I can’t understand any of them because they are in a different language.

Our long term financial plan call for winning the lotto… but I am sure she wouldn’t be against winning our retirement at bingo?  In The UK?  With the Gala Coral Group.

if Coral ever left me for another man (or progressive woman) I could only be with a woman with an equal to or greater than name.. like maybe MTV Real World cast member Coral Smith… middle name Jeanne?  WTF, Coral’s middle name is Jean!

Now coral is my favourite colour, my favourite city(ies) in Florida (and Ontario and Illinois) and my third favorite thing found in the ocean (after sharks and Zombies).

an actual real life "Coral" with alien Stitch.

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Such a Perfect Day

Posted in life or something like it, tagged , , , on July 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

Such a perfect day in Victoria.  With this heat and blue skies it feels like holidays in foreign lands but the cost is so much better.

Victoria almost feels like the interior with this heat the wraps around you the second you step outside.

I walked to the radio station today.  Through a park, on a trail along the Gorge, across the trestle bridge and along the Selkirk Waterway before finally having to cut inland and onward to the Quadra Village.

With the water and the boats and parks I could be forgiven to think that I was not on my commute to work, but rather a trek on an expensive vacation.

Oddly, one of the smells on my trip that launched my memories reeling to holidays past was the smell of engine exhaust.  For me, some of my great times were had at Christina Lake at my friend Bob’s cabin.  A cabin that you could only get to by boat and where each day on the water had temperatures that screamed up to the 30s.  With so many boats around, the smell of engines hung in the air. And though engine fumes and filth is not a pretty thing, that smell does trigger in my mind the feelings of vacation.

I’ll take it.

two more weeks till Coral, Maddy Oh Yeah and I head off on our summer adventures.

Go with yourself.

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