Day 101 – January 31st

A strange day to say the least……..firstly I met up with Olivier for lunch where he calmly told me some news that I thought was absolutely tragic……yet to him didn’t seem like a big deal……..even as I write this some 10 hours later there is a sadness inside me.

After work I ventured up to Yonge/St Clair to finally meet Sarah from speed dating……within a minute it was clear why I regarded her as my 1st choice from the evening, she has an infectious smile…..is easy to talk to…..and in my opinion is very pretty as well.  To ad to the list she has a solid career a healthy lifestyle and will be running a marathon in the near future……….how did our date go…….it lasted about an 1.5 hour although I wouldn’t say it was classic…….first dates are traditionally a little awkward though so we’ll wait and see………..she said yes when I asked to meet her again at the end of evening……hopefully she meant it I’ll contact her Monday when I guess I’ll find out.

To continue the dating theme, the dating agency sent me a letter detailing a new girl today and she sounds great although they forget to pass on her phone number I’ll follow up tomorrow.  To quote a line from the girl’s profile “She enjoys basketball” I will handle this one with care, as we all know what happened the last time a “basketball girl” came into my life.

Get home I find an email from someone I have not spoken to for probably a decade, “Suzanne”…….a girl I grew up playing squash against………looking back she is probably someone I should have asked out back then but never did.  From what I have heard she is married with a child now, and still living close to where we grew up…….I wonder if she is still playing squash, I guess I will find out in the next couple of weeks….it is good to be in contact again.

The internet/email has certainly brought people closer, but given people no longer talk on the phone or face to face as much anymore has it also driven people further apart.  I will ponder that question.

It is just one day until Kobe is in town with the Lakers, he warmed up by scoring 39 points albeit in a losing effort in Detroit we’ll see how he fairs tomorrow.  To continue on basketball Bosh made the all-star game, but Toronto’s point guard Jose Calderon sadly did not………….if Kobe is arguably the greatest star in basketball, then Tiger Woods is definitely the greatest star in golf, another tournament and after 1 round he leads by 2 strokes it is quite simply ridiculous.

With regard to stars past……David Beckham has been left off the England squad, given England are playing a friendly I find this move pretty hard to understand and if he remains stranded on 99 appearances it will be a disgrace.  I have no idea how much money Beckham must have generated for England over the years, but I would probably say of the fans I have seen wearing England shirts with names on them over the past 10 years at least half would have said Beckham.

Mood for day 8 out of 10.  (Hopefully Sarah will want to meet again).

Day 100 – January 30th

I did a look at the calender and appear to have lost a couple of days, although am not sure why hence why the date and day count are not sequential from yesterday, hopefully I’ll do a better job going forward.

The Raptors have just laid an absolute beating on Washington, following last night’s heartbreaking defeat a 40 point win is exactly what the doctor ordered and I have yet another bobble-head to add to my collection as well. It is now just two days until Kobe and the Lakers are in town……….

I met up with Jim at lunch, he is always good value……and appears happy as can be, he is in a solid relationship and whilst from my perspective he appears to be moving things along pretty quickly I guess it is each to their own if you find the right girl. As for myself nothing on the dating front today, I call Erika in a couple of days whilst tomorrow I will finally get to meet up with the British girl, it seems an age since I met her at speed dating.

I continue to have aches and pains…….my flu just appears to be hanging on and on……..my gums continue to hurt a little……but the biggest concern at the moment is my left hip, I must have some kind of trapped nerve and doesn’t appear to be able to loosen it.

Mood for the day 6 out 10 because of the aches and pains.

Day 97 – January 28th

I am still feeling a little run down so once again have not gone to the gym, in addition I have obviously got some kind of trapped nerve in my hip.  Today was another date with Erika, we went out for dinner and stayed for two hours so that’s a good sign, she is easy to talk to and I look forward to meeting her again, no doubt by tomorrow I will have been dumped….but we’ll roll with it for the time being.  She is extremely low maintenance and as with our first date she insisted on paying half the bill.

Got home and started watching the Raptors in Washington, an overtime game but sadly a crushing defeat for the Raptors, watching the game it is clear the Raptors are in need of  more rebounding as they simply get eaten up on the glass.  It will be interesting to see if they perform any better in second half of this home and home in Toronto tomorrow night.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10………usually on days when the Raptors lose my mood made rating is low, but will give Erika the credit for the boost in today’s score.

Day 96 – January 27th

I am not making a very good job of trying to focus on one women at a time as the dating agency has just sent me someone else she is Scottish although I am yet to speak with her.  As for the other people it is Erika (Tuesday), Sarah (Thursday) and Mellisa who is now moved into her brand new apartment next Tuesday.   I also finally got around to calling Vesna although she is yet to return my call.

The main thing that has happened today though is that I have crippled my hip, I have no idea what has happened given I have been off exercise for a week but I now have a shooting pain running up the left side of my leg….I am nervous as to how I will feel in the morning.

On Wednesday I will have lunch with Jim………..for those who don’t know I met Jim at the same dinner party that I first met Teressa……he was completely smitten with girl so much so that he took her on a first date to Niagara on the Lake……….this certainly being far more ambitious than my usual “coffee” date.  It will be interesting to see what he will make of the Christmas Day Massacre story……….when no doubt I scared Teressa for life with regard to Christmas Day. (You will need to read my post of December 25th to understand what that means).

I also connected with my old bank in the UK today in an attempt to close my account and get the money transferred to Canada…….it doesn’t seem that long since I opened the account on my first day of university…….but in reality it would be the fall of 1992 some 15 years ago……that’s almost half my life, where has the time gone.

In other financial news, I finally received a mail-in rebate cheque for something today, this wouldn’t really be note worthy other than the fact that I mailed in the rebate in September and therefore it has taken “just” 5 months to process.  Unbelievable!!!!

Mood for the day 5 out of 10 (My gums are hurting again).

Day 95 – January 26th

I feel tired today, probably because I was up half the night watching the final of the Australian Open…..finally a tennis event without either Nadal or Federer in the final it certainly makes a refreshing change.  Some things in sport however never appear to change, Tiger Woods first event of the year and he dominates winning by 5 or 6 strokes.

My cold is now hanging on by it’s fingertips, I am so close to shaking it…..yet can’t hopefully in the next few days I will be rid of it once and for all as I haven’t worked out in a week.  I went for my usual Sunday evening stroll, I guess to some people it would be classed as exercise but for me I think not.

I received a call from Vesna today and will return it on Monday, when I should also give Mellisa a call.  There is a lot to look ahead to this week on Tuesday I will meet Erika again, on Wednesday it is Raptor bobble-head night, Thursday will be my first date with Sarah (the British Girl) but for me the highlight of the week should come Friday.

As everyone who knows can confirm I am a massive basketball fan, and in my opinion the best player in the league would Kobe Bryant, certainly if I was playing a pickup game and I had the first selection I would pick him.  He and the rest of the LA Lakers are in town for there one and only appearance of the season Friday night.  To say I am psyched would be an understatement.

Mood for day 7 out of 10.

Top 5 – Concerts

I have been fortunate enough to see numerous great concerts in some incredible venues over the years, any kind of live event appeals to me but there is always something special about seeing CD’s and Videos transformed into a “Performance” by the artists themselves.

But how do you select just 5 of these to form a list, what criteria should be used, obviously everyone has a different point of view, but for me the “performance” is everything.  If I just wanted to listen to the music I would purchase a CD, at a live event I definitely want something more and as a result the following have all been factored into the decision: Audience Energy, Creativity on Stage, Selection and Quality of Songs/Performance.

Obviously an artist can not perform consistently every night, but I can only base it on what I myself witnessed and as a result renowned concert artists such as Coldplay, U2, Phil Collins and The Police all failed to make the cut, whilst I enjoyed their concerts they couldn’t match up to the 5 performances listed below………so in reverse order.

5) Erasure – Massey Hall (The Erasure Show)

I almost missed this concert as I was attending a dinner party the same evening and had originally sold my ticket, however following a change of heart, I bought a ticket from scalper in row 5 of the floor.  What a great decision that proved to be, maybe it was the size of the venue, maybe it was because I was so close to the stage but more likely than not it was the energy provided by a mainly gay crowd that made this into an all time classic.  The whole audience appeared to know the words to every song performed and they certainly weren’t afraid to get up and dance.  The front man Andy Bell played off the energy the whole night and it was basically 2 hours of non-stop greatest hits.

4) Bare Naked Ladies – Skydome (SARS benefit concert)

This may have made the list because it was part of much larger event, the concert comprised numerous Canadian artists including both Avril Levegne and Tragically Hip, but BNL pretty much stole the show.  From the opening number where they appeared on stage in full surgical gowns the home town crowd was vocal in there support, obviously playing in your home town helps but the band certainly played to it, making numerous references to the great city of Toronto and the venues they played prior to becoming international stars.

3) Madonna – Air Canada Centre (Re-Invention Tour)

I was slightly nervous going into this one as my mother was arriving in Toronto the same day and any major delay to her flight and we’d have both missed the concert.  At the scheduled start time there was no sign of Madonna and a Mexican wave started going round the stadium……usually they die out after a couple of minutes but this was continued and continued for a full 45 minuets until she appeared on stage and the venue pretty much exploded.  What followed was 2.5 hrs of none stop hits, and series of dancers, costume changes that were incredibly choreographed.

Love her or hate her……..she is quite simply a performer, she acknowledges her mistakes when she makes them and has an energy level that women half her age would be proud of.  It takes a brave women to be confident enough in her own abilities that she can stage her own crucifixion whilst keeping the crowd memorized at the same time. Obviously it also helps when you have a 20 year library of greatest hits to perform.

2) Michael Jackson – Wembley Stadium (History Tour)

If Madonna is the queen of pop, then Michael Jackson is certainly the king.  Now this is a man who if you believe what you read in the media has certainly had his fair share of ups and downs……..but this day was most certainly an up.  It was quiet simply remarkable, a stadium filled with 90,000 people is remarkable all on it’s own, but in terms of how to put an event together this was something else.  A 5 minute countdown began and on zero a huge explosion engulfed one end of the stadium, once the smoke had cleared a “crashed” space craft was on the stage…….the door opened and there was Michael Jackson.

In my life I have never heard a crowd make so much noise when that door opened.  If I thought Madonna had a lot of material, well Michael Jackson has just as much………and the concert embraced all of it.  Everything that can be deemed classic was there, The Hat, The Glove and of course the moonwalk……….and the concert was like watching a series of videos coming alive on stage………for Thiller there were zombies all over the stage, only to be replaced by men in suits for Smooth Criminal, did he perform any classic songs, sure take your pick from Thriller, Beat It, PYT, Bad or any of the other muli-million selling songs he has at his disposal.

1) INXS – Wembley Arena (Elegantly Wasted Tour)

And the winner is……..INXS not the new INXS but the original with Michael Hutchence as the lead singer, from what I have seen on TV Freddy Mercury is the greatest showman of all time…………..Michael Hutchence is the greatest I have ever seen live.  What’s the best way to start a concert, it is obvious you run full speed the length of the stage and dive into the crowd, after security have spent a couple of minutes dragging you out and returning you to the safety of the stage what do you do next………simple you run full length of the stage and dive into the crowd again.

When he finally made it back to the stage, the band performed a series of hits that was punctuated with stories of shows both large and small that had taken place all over the world.  Sometimes they say the most powerful words are the ones that aren’t said and that would certainly be the case in this particular concert, after saying the opening line ” All veils and misty” from the song Mystify…….Michael simply held the microphone to the crowd and didn’t say a world whilst the sold out crowd carried home the song.

I have never been so energised  leaving a concert………yet strangely a few months later Michael was dead (suicide) maybe the fact that I witnessed this concert so close to the end of his career has clouded my judgement a little……….but in my opinion this was quite simply the greatest concert I have ever seen.

Whilst not necessarily making the final list the following all deserve special mention in the following categories for the best that I have seen:

Best female vocal performance: Christina Agullara

Best male vocal performance:  Elvis Costello

Best musical performance: Phil Collins (Drums)

Best use of technology/video: Pet Shop Boys

Day 94 – January 25th

I feel as though I am turning the corner on my cold, fortunately my opponent backed out of squash this morning and as a result I rested up for another day.  Given I am still a little “out of it” not much has happened today and I am posting this very early in the day.  What is going on is that Golf is back, they don’t appear to have taken much of break and unsurprisingly not much appears to have changed i.e. Tiger Woods continues to dominate as I write this he leads his latest tournament by 7 strokes.

In the afternoon I went to see the U2 3D concert film…….it is remarkable, 3D has come a long way since watching Jaws with green and red glasses.  The concert is in perfect colour has unbelievable sound and at times you feel as though you are stood in the middle of the live audience.  As a result of this I will be posting the first of my “Top Fives” later on today………the top five concerts I ever seen.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10.

Day 93 – January 24th

I am still struggling with my cold, although have picked up slightly given the Raptors have just handed Milwaukee an absolute beat-down.  I think that maybe I am not thinking straight because today at the game I sat in the wrong seats and was asked to move, I was only one row out but given I have been sitting in the same place for 5 years there is no real excuse to not get it right.  I think I was distracted by the pretty Chinese Girl who was sat next to me and as a result sub consciously went to sit next to her even though it was the wrong seat.

A strange thing happened over coffee today, I sparked up a conversation with Shannon, a girl from the Wellington Club, and we kind of chatted about going to a Raptor game together……I am not sure if she was joking or not but will follow up over the next couple of days.

Even though I feel terrible, I will make a feeble return to the squash court on Saturday…..although it also looks as though I will have to go to work for a little on Saturday……….I will not even comment on what I think of having to work on a Saturday.

As I write this, Sharapova is leading the tennis 1-0 and the second set is pretty close, I will predict Sharapova hangs on for the win.

Mood for the day 6 out of 10.

Day 92 – January 23rd

Well the Raptors managed to take down the Celtics last night so that was great and then I stayed up into the night to watch the Australian Open tennis…….a final of Sharapova and Ivanovic two of the pretiest women on the tour if that’s not a ratings winner I don’t know what is.

They say what goes around comes around and it certainly did last night……last summer I watched Nadal crush some guy in the Rogers Cup whilst last night it was Nadal receiving the crushing himself…….be interesting to see if Federer will keep the top seeds alive and kicking tonight.

Not much else is going on, my chest cold has become a stomach flu……so as a result not much has happened today………I did however set up a second date with Erika for next Tuesday so check back then for an update.

Today I got stung with my property tax bill, $699 that I won’t see again……do I feel as though I get good value for my property tax dollars, I will ponder this and post a response in a couple of days.

Mood for the day 7 out of 10.

Day 91 – January 22nd

I continue to feel like garbage but managed to stagger into work, the whole day has been pretty much a daze though and I’m not really sure what is going on.  After work I went to tour Goodlife McCaul the club is OK and I will probably join at the end of the year once my membership with TAC expires.  If I can get Wellington and McCaul for approx $70 less than the price of TAC then that would be a beautiful thing.

The dating agency sent me a new women today……but she has get this two kids, obviously I said no……they said she is extremely pretty……….uhm, still no.  Two Kids, Two Kids……I have no use for it, no bloody use for it.

The Raps are currently in a nail biter with Celtics, be interesting to see if they will be able to pull it out, I will predict no.

Mood for the day 6 out of 10.