Saturday 18 July 2015

Bluesfest with the Hip

I went to Bluesfest to see my favorite band, The Tragically Hip on Thursday, July 17th...one month before I take off for SE Asia.

Okay, did not have a ticket, so I went on kijiji and found one for $50. The girl and I met and she gave me my pass and said if I had problems getting in, I should call her.
My pass


Made me think that maybe this was a little shady and that I may have lost $50. Well no one ever accused me of being quick on the draw, so it didn't occur to me until she was long gone with my cash.

I was a little concerned about the weather, as I had heard Thunderstorms in the evening, but then I heard rain in the afternoon, then nothing till the next day. I arrived to Lebretton Flats, with a gym bag with popcorn, gator-aid, rain coat, a point and shoot camera and my pass in my pocket. The question now, would I get in, or did my kijiji friend get away scott free with my hard earned cash? I approach the pass checker and slide it through....nothing, NNNNOOOOOOO! The attendant says try again, so I do, but I know I got scammed!!!! I go through what I will say to the kijiji girl, how she'll just laugh and block me from her phone....Green!!!!!! Yes, I'm in, that girl was alright by me! First I find my way to the back stage, who promises to have Canned Heat playing. I get there and see them perform a handful of songs, including  Going to the Country. They were very good at their craft, even 50 years later. It rained a little during the show, enough to pull out my raincoat and put my hood on, but it was intermittent and not too hard.
Canned Heat
I decided that I should head for the main stage with 45 minutes to go and get a close spot for the Hip show.  I did get a good spot, but not as close as I thought, as many others had the same idea as I. I looked around a few minutes after I camped out and saw that I was quite close and I had arrived just in time as the crowd had swelled to quite a large number in not a lot of time.

I would review the show, but I am not into dissecting these things, I'll leave that to the pros. I will just give you my account on the events that I experienced. First of all, the rain, boy there was a lot of it, turns out my raincoat is more of a windbreaker and I was pretty wet. My point and shoot camera, stopped working as it was too wet and too broken. The show was awesome, The band played the complete album Fully Completely. All songs in the order as they appeared on the CD, they warmed up with a few other songs before and ended the show with a couple more songs. As the show was general admission, there were many people milling about during the show and pushing past to get closer. I did not like that too much, but not a big deal, as most were way bigger than me...lol. Then the rain let up for a bit, then back on...full force, boy was I wet. I'm sure other people were wet too, but who cares about them, this is my blog. The concert was awesome, they were the Tragically Hip, and we as fans were the Tragically Wet!
Gord Downie The Tragically Hip


After the show was over, it was time to walk to my mom's house to get my car, a nice walk, except if it's raining, I make my way down Scott St. and just as I am coming towards Tom Brown Arena, a car comes whipping by and does a drive by puddle spray, all over me, but the joke was on him, I could not have been possibly wetter....sucker!!! A block from my mom's place my phone beeps, wow, it's still alive. I climb my mom's porch, put down my bag and check my phone...not bad, relatively dry. I made my way home and went to bed.

That was my first experience at Bluesfest, although it was wet...very wet, it was a positive experience all around and I will go back, in a few years....if I'm back.

Thanks for reading, see you next time :)

Tuesday 14 July 2015

Ottawa to SE Asia ...

in One Quick Decision





This is where I am as of now


Hi all, this is my first attempt at a blog, so you will have to bare with me as I stumble through the process and the growing pains of being a top notch blogger (like the other guys).

The reason behind this 'blog' is simple in a not so simple way.  I have decided to make a pretty drastic change in my life. I have chosen to take some time away from all that I know and hold near and dear to myself. I am leaving my family, friends, job, and all my personal belongings back in Ottawa and move to South East Asia for at least one year.

I am presently on a countdown for the new chapter in my life. I leave my home city of Ottawa via Air Canada on August 17, 2015 and have no return plans as of yet.

I hope to be updating this site on a regular basis (once weekly or more) with interesting anecdotes and adventure updates to keep you readers coming back for more.


This is where I'll be soon