holiday obligation

Today, on this first day of winter, the impending holiday season is on my mind. I'm getting tired just thinking about it all. Running to and fro. Idle platitudes "Hi, Merry Christmas", "Season's Greetings", "Happy Holidays". Just like the form letters I get at this time of year. Do I really need to know what kind of year your dog had, in the form of a typed letter addressed to "Dear Friends"?

Somewhere along the way, adulthood hit me like wrecking ball. It swept me up and now I'm desperately clinging to it as it swings back and forth endlessly.

I was just this morning, thinking of my best friend in grade 5. His name was Malcolm, and he died 4 years later from leukemia. I remember playing foosball up in his bedroom one afternoon after school in grade 5. We were listening to ELO. By the time he died, we had drifted apart. He was going through chemo and he wore bad wig. And he started hanging around with the smokers. I crossed paths with him once. We shouted insults at each other from a distance. I teased him about his wig. He teased me about some insecurity. I don't think I saw him again, because he didn't come to school very often. Then he died. I think my last words to him were insults about his wig. After he died, his family moved away. I never got a chance to thank him for being my best friend in grade 5 and 6. What did I know? I was just an insecure kid...
I feel a cold coming on; my feet are cold and there's a tickle in my throat.

Stay warm.

memory demands so much attention

i've decided to get an ipod. not today or next week, but in the near future. i love the idea of taking all of my music with me, wherever i go. i've already started grabbing songs from CDs.

i was thinking about a song, and a memory. the song is "Missing You", by John Waite. and the memory is a slow dance in high school with an ex-girlfriend. i am not sure if i will include this song on my life soundtrack or not. but i do know this, whenever i hear this song, i think of that halloween dance...

it's so cold out today. i can't seem to get warm. maybe i am coming down with something. oh boy! just in time for christmas!

cheers to anyone who reads this... happy holidays.

o

how i stumbled upon the polyphonic spree

my favourite movie of the year is 'eternal sunshine of the spotless mind'. i went to the website and listened to the soundtrack, and heard a couple of songs, including two by a band i'd never heard of - the polyphonic spree. when the dvd for the movie came out in september, i bought it, and watched a video for a song called 'light and day' by this same band. then, a copy of Paste magazine arrived in my mail box. the first song on the cd sampler was a different song by the polyphonic spree, a song called 'hold me now'. i started to put all these clues together, and found their webpage. and for an early christmas gift this year, i got their latest cd, together we're heavy.

they seem almost cultish - a band of over 20 members, all wearing long robes. i bet they put on a great live show.