I am the idiot child.

Hey remember before when I said I was heading to Edmonton on Saturday? Yeah, well, turns out I'm leaving tomorrow. I fucked up my booking and wouldn't have caught it but for the fact I sent my itinerary to the buddy who is picking me up and he noticed the date discrepancy. So thanks, G. You're a god among bros.

And I'll see you tomorrow.

Where to now, my idiot child?

Last post before the holidays and, in all probability, 2008. Seems like a good time to do a year- ender.

Music: Not a great year. As I'm sure I've said before, I'm old and jaded, so finding the latest new shit isn't a huge priority for me. Too much out there and too much of it is crap. Usually, the critics would be a good way to separate the wheat from the chaff, but much of this year's crop of critical favourites can be summed up in one word: "unlistenable." See: Battles, Justice, Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Patrick Wolf. This was also the year of letdowns. Radiohead put out another record and people continued to pretend to care, The Arcade Fire dropped a stinking deuce, The Shins's third record fizzled, The Shout Out Louds released a lukewarm record of Cure covers, The Hold Steady look like they're running out of ideas and Bloc Party put out a record that was jut kinda, sorta okay.

On the positive front, there were some gems. In no particular order my picks for this year are:

• Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
• The Long Blondes-Someone To Drive You Home
• Electrelane-No Shouts, No Calls
• M.I.A.-Kala
• LCD Soundsystem-Sound of Silver
• The National-Boxer

Film: For me, this year was all about the films I didn't actually see. If it was critically acclaimed and/or arty, I probably missed it. "No Country for Old Men," "Juno," "Control," "I'm Not There," "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead," "Atonement," "Michael Clayton," "The Savages": missed 'em all. Of The few I did see and liked included:

• The Darjeeling Ltd
• Once
• Zodiac
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Knocked Up/Superbad

Books: Yeah, I didn't read much from this year. This looks like a good list to work from, though.

Life: Big year. New city, new job: really a whole new start. Shaking the dust from the old town has been nothing but good. In fact, it's the best thing I've ever done in my life and it showed me that taking a risk can pay off. That's something I hope to explore more in the new year.

I'm leave for Edmonton this Saturday, so have a great rest of 2007.

Schmoozy

I am not a good schmoozer. My girlfriend would disagree, but there's a difference between working a room full of people whom you know and pressing the flesh with total strangers.

I am shy.

By the time I'm drunk enough to walk up to a total stranger in hopes of striking up a conversation and possibly a connection, I'm too drunk to be coherent. This weekend, I a sauntered up to a sorta famous CBC radio host and stumbled through an awkward conversation about my record label. In this case, the chap looked drunker than I was, so the whole episode probably didn't register. Nonetheless, I walked away feeling pretty dopey. I am always very self-concious when I'm in an altered state. This is why I had such a lousy time of it with girls. Up until four years ago.

Four years. If you had told me then how things would be today, I don't know if I would have believed you. or even if I would have wanted it this way. But here and now, I know I do. It's great.

Welcome back Pisser.

The Virgins-Fernando Pando

Street spirit

It snowed this weekend. I did not see this coming, having moved out here in part to escape it, but there it was on Saturday morning: a thin white blanket of snow covering the green grass, still more tumbling down from the sky. Seemed like a good time to get into the Christmas spirit. A trip to Canadian Tire returned a cheap fake tree. With a box of decorations and mugs of eggnog-laced coffee in hand, with Elvis crooning on the stereo, we set to work...

The snow was all gone by the next day, washed away in a torrent of rain that also threatened to bring sludge and filth down from the mountains in what's apparently an annual Vancouver tradition: a boil water advisory. Speaking of brown water and sludge, I booked my flight back to Edmonton for the holidays last week. I expect it'll be the last time I head out for Christmas. Between the cost and the general hassle of traveling during that time of year, I figure there's no reason not to wait for a cheaper and quieter time to go home in future. Still, I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends, revisiting some old haunts and maybe finding some new ones.

I might even get around to posting again before then. Who knows?