These Girls Are Craaaaaaaaazy (Part 2)

The rest of my week, I'm afraid to admit, was distinctly uneventful. Life in the hostel wasn't fun anymore, it was just a pain in the ass, because I was having to get up earlyish for work and having to go find a bathroom to get ready in (and piss everyone off in the process) because I couldn't switch on the light in my room since everyone would still be sleeping. So I was stoked on life when yesterday (Saturday) finally rolled around! It was my mum's 60th birthday yesterday so I got to speak to her on Skype on my break at work in the cafe next-door which made me super happy, and straight after work I legged it back to the hostel, chucked all my stuff in a taxi and moved the hell in to my apartment!! I won't talk about how awkward the moving-in process was..I definitely already told you...but let me tell you that unpacking my suitcases and hanging up my clothes was more enjoyable than should probably even be allowed without supervision from an appropriate authority! Well I was being supervised, as Kelly had kindly popped over the road to help, she offered to assist me in unpacking but I just said 'honestly, no, I really am enjoying doing this' so she cooked me tea at her place instead, bless her, and we watched Failure To Launch (part of the Matthew McConaghey triple bill!) because she has cable TV in her room. Damn I miss adverts so much!!!!!

My first night in my apartment wasn't the best I must admit, you know I don't sleep well in unfamiliar environments and I had a whole range of new smells, sounds, sights and shites to get used to so I ended up going to work on two hours' sleep...not the best. This was clearly demonstrated by me completely misreading my work schedule and arriving almost a whole hour early...as in an hour before the shop even opened! Faillllll! So I went across the road to the Eaton Centre where some kind of early-morning dance class was taking place, right in the middle of the shopping mall, went to the food court and got an enormous McDonalds coffee and read my book. Lovely! When I finally started work it was disgracefully dead (blame the Olympics!) and I also had to deal with my first rude customer which didn't exactly detract from my sleep-deprived grumpiness and general boredom with standing around all day and occasionally hanging up some clothes. Never mind.

My day improved considerably though when I bit the bullet and asked Fubu if he could hook up guestlist for the NFG show...I do hate asking most of the time but there simply weren't tickets and if you don't ask, you don't get! He asked Chris of Fireworks if they had any spare slots (because apparently NFG hate when people ask...understandable) and eventually it came clear that there were no slots but there might be some tickets. At 30 bucks a pop I was prepared to pay for the tix but I was hoping it would damn well be worth it! At the very last moment, the tickets came through and I called up Tara and Kelly to ask if they wanted to go but they'd already made other plans for the evening and didn't really want to part with 30 bucks, which was fair enough. So I decided to ask Andy if she wanted to go, she'd said previously that she'd like to go but that she didn't have that kind of money spare but I was so pumped on going to the show that I thought it was worth an ask, I even offered to buy her ticket I wanted to go so bad. She said yes after checking her bank funds, but then as if by a stroke of a miracle Fubu texted me and told me that I was now on the guestlist with the tickets waiting under my name, this was at almost 6.30pm with Fireworks playing at 7pm so I went like streaked lightning over to the subway station to go meet Andy who was collecting me in her car ('Vicky, I just washed my hair in like, 20 seconds'...hahaha). Let me tell you that getting through the subway system was hard work, Canada had just taken gold and all out on the streets the cars were stopping in the road, people were waving their flags and yelling and dancing and high-fiving everyone and the underground was no different! When I got to the station Andy was picking me up at, I was waiting by the road and four dudes in a car drove past, leaned out their window and said. 'Hey, we've been send on behalf of the TTC (Toronto Transport Commission) to collect hot girls. Get in'. I just retorted 'UNNNNNLUCKY' and prayed Andy got here fast hahaha!

The show itself was at the Sound Academy, a warehouse-like venue outside downtown that seemed almost impossible/undesirable to get to if you didn't drive?! Put it this way, Andy locked the car doors when we were driving through the streets to get there! I was gutted when we got there because, as usual, I'd missed Fireworks, but not to worry too much as Hellogoodbye, Saves The Day and NFG were still to come! We found Chris of Fireworks fame, who had sorted out our list, and you know how I'm really awful at remembering everything? Well Chris was who I was hanging out with loads at Fuel that one and only time that we went and his mates beat up the Santa Claus!!! Honestly when he reminded me of that I was like OH MY GAWDDDDDD! The fog just cleared! I'm such a douche :( He was being such a dude introducing me to his female friends from Toronto and 'getting me in the social circle' hahaha! So good!

Back to the show, Hellogoodbye were fun and Andy liked them (she's never heard them before), HGB sound a lot heavier live which was hilarious! I'm sorry, Saves The Day, but your set was not hilarious. I do love a bit of Saves The Day, especially in the summer, but to watch them live is like watching paint dry. It's just like how I adore Death Cab For Cutie, but as soon as you stick them on stage, I'd rather be anywhere else. Just not gripping viewing in the slightest.

However, NFG's set was worth all the effort alone! Everyone was being thoroughly entertained before they played by a dude in the audience who was just rocking out to the overhead music like it was his last day on earth (you know there's always one...just like how there's always one, or a million, in the NFG shirts. Present and correct) but since it was the 10th anniversary tour of the NFG self-titled album, they played that in its entirety...my 15 year old self was crowd-surfing her little heart out! Jordan's voice blows me away, he never falters for entire sets, he consistently sounds like he's got a cold and I love it. Bless him. I love him. And his cold! They went off stage for a bit, acted like that was that, and then came back on with a different backdrop and played a bunch of 'new' stuff. They finished with My Friends Over You...of course...it's the song of the century I heard!



After the show Andy drove me home, she had some other friends in the car and as we drove through downtown the celebrations were still in full flow, so we wound down the windows and cheered at passers-by! Haha :) We also noticed that the CN Tower was lit up GOLD!!!



We got stuck behind a streetcar, but then we noticed that there was a passenger on the streetcar who was full-on bumping, grinding, shimmying and shaking with the pole, the seat and other passengers...god knows whether or not there was any music to accompany his dances but it most definitely topped off my night in the most appropriately ridiculous fashion!

Look forward to the following blogs from Vicky-land, coming in the next week or so...

- Through The Peehole - first exclusive shots of my apartment!...when I've got some damn furniture and I'm not using a carrier bag as my knicker drawer!
- Niagara Fails - We're going on 'holiday' to Niagara Falls this weekend and intend to get soaked, gamble and terrorise some hotel residents probably, so look forward to that one!
- Tard Rock Cafe - will Vicky get a job that doesn't make her want to kick everyone?
- Trapped Under Rice Krispies, Polar Bear Club Sandwich, Four Year Strongbow and Every Time I Pie - oh my god HELL YES we are road tripping to see these bands play together, possibly to more than one date! I think the correct term is 'TICK'

Ok bed time now, job interview in the morning...can't be late to my THIRD GODDAMN INTERVIEW THERE!

Love youuuuuu! <3

Some Girls Are Crrrrraaaaazyyyyyyyyyyy!

Well well well Woolly Edge I did enjoy those pics and blogs, it appears you're more dedicated to this blog than I am...or is it that I've spent the entire past week at work, then unpacking/packing/unpacking/moving rooms/packing/moving rooms/packing/unpacking/packing/moving into my apartment?! ...Oh that one!!! Right time for an update!!

So last weekend Andy and I decided to hit downtown! First stop was a club called Crocodile Rock to say hi to one of Andy's friends whose birthday was being celebrated there, we paid five dollar cover, did a shot each, said hello then had to hightail it to another club to meet up with another one of Andy's ace friends Vivek (the one whose condo I got too drunk in and almost destroyed the bowling alley), who bought us a delish Mojito each in a fancy bar and then got us in on guestlist to a club called Circa (normal cover is 25 bucks...YEAHHHHH RIGHT!) because one of his friends had hired a booth for her birthday that night! Love it! Partying!

So more about Circa...basically, it's the most mind-effing club I've ever been in! For starters, it has escalators between the floors (of which there are many)!!! Then there's the stilt-walkers, the fire-breathers, the acrobats from the ceiling, the guy playing electric guitar on stage along to the songs (bear in mind, the guitar wasn't plugged in at any point. DENIED), the toilets that had a shower in (with glass walls?) and also was decorated to look like a morgue, complete with fridges, the hairdressers' chair (and hairdresser...yeah you could sit and get your hair cut.) and the KidRobot themed room that had giant plastic rabbits that we totally forgot to take photos with!! I was having a ball and we took loads of pics in front of this amazing wall that was covered in...loads of pics! It's the one that's in my profile picture on facebook...yes maybe we enjoyed it a bit too much?! The only downside was that we didn't get much change from 20 bucks for two Amaretto Sours and I spent the night evading a weirdo whose opening line was 'You're not from Toronto. I know that. Nobody dresses like that in Toronto.'...weeeeeeeeeeird!

We bailed after a while though because we wanted to go back to Croc Rock! Now this is where things get messy, I've filled you in on the events that aren't bloggable ;) but let's just say I spent the latter part of the night being a thorough gobshite and ruining someone's life from a different country. Ha! After we left we went in search of burritos, then ditched the burritos and got McNuggets and snacks, and then JP ran over the top of an actual car right in front of a club and somehow, SOMEHOW, avoided getting shot!!

After that it was back to Scarboro for a good sleep in Andy's bed and then up early the next day to head to the beach! :)

First stop was Andy's mum's house! She cooked so many choc chip pancakes and insisted that I ate a ton of them, which I gladly did! I had such a good time hanging with her fam and meeting her siblings, I've missed the family dynamic so it took the edge off the homesickness I felt creeping in slightly. I also met her dogs Emma and Annie, Emma being a purebred British bulldog no wonder she wanted to jump on me and lick my face! :)

We piled into Andy's car and headed to the beach, I was surprised by how quickly we got there - it's so strange, Toronto's a really metropolitan, built-up city but the beach was literally just 'down the road' (as in, at the other end of the monolithic road that is Queen Street!) and it was SO gorgeous. It was a really fresh-feeling, nicely breezy day, the sun was shining but there was snow and ice on the rocks on the beach, definitely the best hangover cure. We also took Annie the dog for a walk because there's a special designated area on the beach for doggies, she had a blast playing fetch, finding balls hidden in the sand and doing massive dog poos! I saved one just for you Woollard, don't you worry. My favourite part of the beach was the little cove/inlet with a beach house and a jetty...apparently when the tide's really high and the waves are bad they crash over the jetty and it's fun to dodge them...hmmm I'll wait and see for that one!

After that we went to get Starbucks and I bought a fake American Apparel-style hoody from a place called Arlene...exact same quality, colour and softness but for half the price! I do love me a good bargain! Then we dropped off the lil' ones (the kids not the poos), and then I insisted that Andy took me to this restaurant by her house that serves Vietnamese food where I'd had the most incredible chicken and noodle rice paper wraps a few weeks back and once again it did not disappoint!!! I also got to meet her friend Dan who was a total sweetheart and dropped the bombshell that these Canadian freaks play i-Spy wrong! WRRRRRRRRRRRONGGGGGGG I TELL YOU!!! We attempted to go to the cinema later that night but we missed the showings of Shutter Island so instead we went to Tim Horton's for coffee and doughnuts, and I entertained Andy by walking through the drive-thru ATM...my God Helen, what have I become?! I'm a sheer rebel!

Beside's TGI's...

OK! Last one for now, other than working, the last week or so has been spent sorting our very belated Christmas Do! Thats where the pic of Gunner came from, as we met in Jakes bar for pre drinks before heading to a little club i'd hired out, Hugh DJ'd, i remember very little to be honest, I did the awards, which afterwards I realised that I had given most people the wrong prizes! (Like giving Gemma a Topman giftcard and Tom a Topshop one, and Elliot a piece of cardboard without a giftcard attached! Woops!) That took me a while to figure out but i sorted it eventually!

Anyway my night was cut short because Lil Gemma drank too much so I escorted her back to her halls, which was both hilarious and dangerous since we ended up face planting more than once (fuck knows how when i had flat boots on!) But i went home after that, I know when ive had enough!

Other than that ive been hanging out with my family and catching up on some me time which is a favourite passtime of mine as I'm sure you know!

The pic is of Ross eating a double quarter pounder with cheese squashed inside the free cheeseburger they give you for having a student card! Holy mackrel! Its a good job the youngest Woollard plays rugby 3 times a week!!


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Floorpunch!

So just to top off a busy 5 day stretch on the Tuesday Floorpunch played Leeds with True Colours and neverXagain (some of whom are in bxp with Saker).

To say it was 12 quid in, it was pretty packed, Floorpunch's only northern date so there were loads of people i've never seen before there which was a nice change, got to catch up with Hazel and Billie, and Bjorn from R&F was hanging out with True Colours so it was good to see him again.

Kam told me both bands were staying at mine, 11 in total, thankfully TC were headed straight to the Antwerp show because FP had 9 people just for them! I guess 5 shows, you would just bring your mates along! And they sure did :)
They actually only stayed for a few hours, most of them stayed up and got showers/ hung out which was fun, they taught me about college basketball, (which im still not convinced about, there is just too much going on!) And again I proved cups of tea are the way forward! Though the singer is a coffee trader which blew my mind, he showed me youtube vids of him shouting at the stock exchange, nuts!

Then they left at like 4am, which put my sleeping pattern to shit for the rest of the week, but they were super nice which is always a bonus of having a band stay!

Ps, liena joined me, forgot she loved both bands, she was so siked, im pretty sure she would have moshed if she was that way inclined, thankfully she's not. So we just had a sing along in the back instead!
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Polar Bear Club #1

So after I got home from Boro I headed straight to Liena and Niall's for a good cuppa tea and to see one Stanley Richard Somerville, who is currently driving Polar Bear Club, which is always a treat! Tyler who manages Broadway Calls was also hanging out with them for a few days so it was good to catch up on whats going on with them :)

So they played in Manchester on the Monday night with Shook Ones and Title Fight, they all play Cockpit this coming Tuesday too so you'll be hearing more about them aha, here a pic of me, Jane and Benny P half asleep on the way home from the show....
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The morning after the night before.

So ive decided i'm going to try my best to recall the past three weeks and update you in small bursts, so get ready!

I guess ill start with Boro then shall I! So got a lift up there with Carrie and Ben, who were randomly and super convieniently visiting family for the weekend, so had a good catch up which included finding out Ben's going to be AGM of Jamie Olivers new Italian opening in Leeds in April!
Did a quick car swap and headed to asda with Lauren for cheery lambrini and relentless supplies, ensue sugar rush!

Headed to a bar and then onto the Empire, who knew you could provide for an entire citys worth of people in one multi storey destination hey! The place was rammed, especially Henrys cheesy pop room which was INCREDIBLE with him playing all the hits, Gina G and backstreet boys included! Just like been 15 again, would do again. Infact will do again soon!

In the morning Lauren and Henry took me for some serious carvery goodness before doing another quick car swap and heading back home.

Heres a pic of a massive bruise Lauren got when we somehow ended up stood in the middle of two dooshbags that started going at it for no apparent reason! (Actually it was just one guy wanting to start shit, he picked on the wrong funny looking indie kid though and got his face smashed in! Oh sweet justice! Still, highly innapropriate when im trying to make shapes on the dancefloor!)
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I have so much to catch you up on!

But for now here's Gunner giving us jager shots pre chrimbo do!
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