Got lots of work today, but it was a great party, everyone brought excellent food and drink to the potluck, the Kris Kringle gift exchange was excellent, and best of all, unlike the last party, nobody called the cops on us!
I have yet to upload the photos, but in the meantime, here are a few writeups of the party:
A little trivia: This is my 700th entry since switching to Blogware in late June (I made the first one on June 24th.)
The Accordion Guy seems to be otherwise occupied at this particular moment. I claim this space!
As he has done for me, so shall I for him, and so now I use voice of Joey:
I have travelled the universe and seen things that no young man has any right to see, but I have seen nothing like this weekend ever before. We have made the rounds, we have made the guacamole, we have made the…oh, never mind.
Photos to be posted on Monday.
But seriously folks, I’m having a great time in Toronto, and Joey has been a fabulous host/tour guide. I’ve met a gaggle of area bloggers, drunk the local brews, seen the sights and escaped the giant pile of snow that awaits me at home.
Joey! Bring me another mai tai!
I’m on a weekend-long date with The Redhead, who came up from Boston on Friday night. She’s great company, makes a mean guacamole, enjoyed last night’s GTABloggers get-together, and is one helluva cute giggle-machine.
Says The Redhead: “I like Canada.”
Thus far, I have not had to punch out anyone in a bar or console lovesick Glaswegians, nor has she collapsed screaming into the fetal position, demanding that I speak in verse. But there’s still a lot of weekend left…
While she’s here, we’ve given each other posting privileges on each other’s blogs.
I’ll give you folks a moment to retch.
Back? Good. Anyway, expect some posts from her here, and some from me on The Redhead Wore Crimson.
Betsy Devine pointed to this cute Flash goodie last night on the #joiito IRC channel: Gollum gangsta rapping a little ditty called Towers are the Players! (Note: A teeny bit of swearing)
Rannie’s printing up some stickers for the GTABloggers Christmas party taking place at my house tomorrow night:
Someone should tell Scott from hellomynameisscott.com about this. I think I will…
(By the way, be sure to check explore Scott’s site. He explains the philosophy behind his wearing a nametag every day, and it’s along the same lines my carrying the accordion about as much as possible. And thirty pounds lighter!)
By the way, let’s all give Rannie a big show of appreciation for all the work he does for us — he truly is the heart and soul of the GTABloggers!
And remember kids, “penultimate” does not mean “better than ultimate” or “best”, but “second last”.
The details about the party are here and here, and if you want to come, RSVP with either me or Rannie.
There’s lot of music on my iTunes, but if you have any favourites, bring your MP3s on CD-ROM or CDs and we’ll feed them to the machine.
For the bold, there are two bottles of Jagermeister in my freezer.
If you’re counting on Jeremy to bring Krispy Kremes, don’t. Apparently, he had some kind of traumatic Krispy Kreme-related incident that’s turned him off them, possibly for good. He has in all likelihood been saved from diabetes.
If you really want to blog the party in real time, there’ll be at least two computers available — we’ve got 7MB down / 1MB up DSL, and 802.11g WiFi permeates the house. We are 1337.
There will be a “Kris Kringle” gift-exchange game ($10 value). I’m throwing in something pretty cool.
Sorry, the hot tub truck will not be present at the party. I try to limit my annoying the neighbours across the street down to a civilized once every three years. (The last time they were annoyed was my birthday party in 2000, when Chris Cummer arranged for a fireworks show on my street.)
The lack of hot tub means that there will be no string bikini photo ops. Meryle will still be there, however.
If you have a musical instrument (I’m lookin’ in your direction, LizVang), feel free to bring it. There’s always time for a jam session!
If we are very lucky, Paul might demonstrate his super power for all of us. He did it at my birthday party, and Sam was so impressed that she got him a T-shirt proclaiming said power.
The tub-full-o-beer will be in full effect.
Don’t forget: it’s a pot luck thing. I will contribute barley sandwiches and veggies and dip.
There will be a special guest blogger from another country, and she’ll have special guest posting privileges on this blog starting tomorrow. After the bars close, I will be taking this special guest blogger to Toronto’s most notorious speakeasy, The Matador.
Let’s start this post with lyrics from the almighty Loverboy!
Everybody’s working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody’s goin’ off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh
You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go
The launch party for Spacing magazine takes place tonight at The 360. Details about the event can be found:
Earlier in the evening: My first rehearsal with the new band started by my friend Pete. After a long hiatus, I return to the instrument where I first cut my live-performance teeth: the synthesizer.
(I’d call myself Synth Guy, but local synth guru Steven Sauve has already earned that title.)
Pete’s providing the rehearsal space as well as the keyboard, a brand new Korg Triton, favourite piece of gear of Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. I’d love to put this baby through its paces.
Later in the evening: From rehearsal, pick up a friend and the airport and play tour guide of Accordion City’s finer, if divier, drinking establishments.
Probable stops, in case you’d like to join us:
Earlier in the day: More tour-guidey stuff. Chinatown, Kensignton Market, Queen West, perhaps some of the Yonge Strip?
Evening: The GTABloggers Christmas party is at my house, and you’re invited! See here and here for details, and be sure to RSVP with Rannie. Please RSVP — I’d like to know how much beer to get. It’ll be good beer too.
The party is a potluck, so:
Late night: Unconventional tour-guiding as we go to Toronto’s most notorious speakeasy, The Matador.
Evening: Kickass Karaoke! It’ll take place upstairs at the Rivoli, and I’ll try and make the special guest sing.