The Eleventh Volume

So I spent the past 2 weeks preparing for probably something I didn't expect to change my highschool life so drastically.

For three years, I spent highschool being quite silent and reserved. Doing only school work and staying after school only when needed. When Daniel Dixon drags me into doing stage crew work for the WIzard Of Oz Musical, I wasn't expecting the laughs, the issues, the dancing, the lifting, and especially the friends.

The first week was stagnant full of preparations, Painting sets and lifting crap and workloads, but the second week was fascinating. Getting out of school after second block was fun, and not really knowing what was moving on and off until 2 minutes before the scene change. Many props were a hassle, some props were heavy. But with help of some of the cast, things became super easy.
By the final night, we had an intense system of movement going on. So many jokes going on too, loving tin man's cowbell, teacher jokes and inside jokes of our own (i.e visual arts gallery/Sammiches)
Everytime I watched the play unfold in front of me, I fell more and more in love with the actors and the songs and the play itself. Honestly until this play I'd never fully seen the Wizard of Oz. I found myself at points just dancing along to the music with fellow crew and cast members. I met so many awesome hilarious people in the fine arts section of our school that I had never even met before, and some people I haven't really met until the musical. I couldn't name all the great people I've made friends with and met. But I'm sure I'll get the chance to work with them again. I hope atleast. To those who were cast and helping us back stage, you all are stars.

OH. ORCHESTRA, YOU'RE SEXY FLAWLESS.

There's three thousand things I could write about. Including dancing/chariots of fire, walking around the neighborhood, grounders, photoshoots, being tired, meeting people, injuring myself due to photobombing, props, costumes, and more.

You all sing amazing. You all act so great. You guys dance... well, most of you dance decently.

K but actually. I've got nothing to describe what went on but I hope I get to work with all of you again soon. And if not, I hope we can still see each other in the hallway and we can high five or wink or dance it out or something. Thanks to everyone who co-operated with our stage crap. :D Being extra-curricular for once was a blast.

So to re-iterate, How did The Wizard Of Oz Musical change my life?
1. Experiences,
2. Being extra-curricular,
3. Friends.

I love you guys.

P.S. LORENZO YOU SEXY.

These Kids Wear Crowns - Break It Up
My day at a Much Music Video Shoot as an extra?
Haha, pretty awesome. Me, Jal and Markel.

Show up at 9 AM.
Blah, Blah, Legal Matters, Blah.
Wait around and eat food for 7-8 more hours in the awesome weather but cold wind.
Get thrown into a room of giant deadly lights, and giant cameras, and smoke machines.
Did I mention the room was 10x10m... Did I mention there were like 50 people in there?
Jumped around the room like the ultimate party ever.
Met a kid named Nik Carmargo. Awesome kid for sure.
Jal gets noticed for his whiteout TKWC glasses. :)
"Everyone put on your party faces"-- Alexander lols at mine :D
More video shooting, few breaks. More shooting. (Me and Jal were prominent extras I must say.)

...THAT'S A WRAP! :D

For those who don't know, Jesse Giddings is a MuchMusic VJ. He was there for the shoot aswell. He got a video of the total party that it was...



Haha yeah, too many lights, too much smoke, too many people. Perfect party ever.

Afterwards on the wind down. talked to nik a bit more, got photos and signatures from most of the band members. Got invited to party with them by Alan; if only were were 19. :P
Haha, seems like the band loved us. The future holds alot for These Kids for sure.

No updates? WTF
Don't worry. the update is coming at the start of next month. It'll be a huge one including all of my Olympic Break.

Video Unrelated- But still pretty awesome.

PS IF YOU CAN READ THIS, I LOVE YOU :)

Lol.

This has rocked me in so many ways. This is my Olympic Break.

Day 1: Friday (After School)--

So right after school, Fred's like AY, WERE GOING TO SURREY TO PARTY. I like to party. So we head down there. Getting a taste of what the spirit is like down there was okay, Little did I know it was only to get more intense later.

So check this. That night, A band called Blue Rodeo was playing there. They were quite country rock, but I liked it :) It was good.

Day 2: Saturday (Jal :P)

So I like run my way over to Jal's work at like 8:30 pm, We either had the choice to make bedoiun soundclash at 9:30 in Richmond or we could check out this singer called Jessie Farrell at Livecity Downtown.
We didn't have time to make Bedouin Soundclash.
Jessie Farrel was pretty good for more country rock! :P

Day 3: Valentines (Singles Awareness Day) :D:D

So this morning, Abay wakes me up with this text asking what we're doing. Everyone else was busy so I'm like. Come over, we'll head downtown. Livecity Yaletown is pretty intense, biggest one I've been to so far. That night, we saw Mother Mother.

Then we were waiting for Daniel Wesley to come on, as this was happening, Some girl is like HEY HEY CAN I STAND THERE MY FRIEND IS THE DRUMMER. So she stands beside me. Cute but she was quite a bit of a mess. I could tell she had spent the day partying.
The whole performance for Daniel Wesley was her asking me to hold her drink as she recorded the band or put her gloves on, as abay watched and laughed.

Day 4: Monday= Awesome Kicks in Yo.

Jal, Fred and I head out to Livecity Downtown for some good stuff. We get inside the venue and watch this east coast indie band called Grand Theft Bus.
The thing with indie is that you can totally hear the difference between the east coast and west coast styles.

This became really appearent once Jets Overhead took the stage! Haha I loved seeing them live. We were standing in front of the bassist. I dont know, She was either always into it or really tripped on acid. It doesn't matter, The bassist really drives the band. Hearing Heading For Nowhere live was AMAZING! Once they were done though, the crowd was too excited to just let them leave. One more song. One more song. It was chanted, and they returned for an encore of 2 songs, playing their old stuff. :)
After the show, They were signing on the side. So we got photos and signatures. (Free Poster Fuck Yeah! :P)

Later on that night, we were heading by CBC and we got to be in the background of the forecast :P
(Second night where some random girl has started talking to me. She was standing in the background too while her friends were in cover from the rain, "Gah, My friends are douches! :P" haha, I said "Mine too." :P

Day 5: Tuesday- OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL

Tuesday. Haha. Tuesday. It was fuckin..crazy. for sure.

Check this. Me and Fred show up to Livecity Yaletown. We chill in the stands until some funk band called "Soul Stream" makes their way onto stage. I was loving this. They were so goddamn chill. and pretty good, until some familiar riff makes its way into me and Fred's ears. A familiar riff of "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire! We were singign it out. They proceeded to play more Earth Wind and Fire and There were only 2 people in the stands who were singing it all. Fred, and this guy named Lucas! I think this guy was pretty chill. He seemed to know his thing and get well into the music.
When Soulstream was done, a french band called "Vulgairs Machins" take the stage. I'd like to say they're pretty good. They were good. But I couldn't enjoy because I was busy pushing all the Mosh pits back from destroying me :P That crowd was rowdy. You could tell this night couldn't end well.

And it didn't...

Yeup.

I was there. Fred was there. I was over on the right. safely. Fred was in the mess. and what a mess it was.

We left when they announced shit was over. I really hope everyone involved recovers well.

Back to the Party.

Day 6: Wednesday- (Recovery)

So check this, I take the day chilling it out because all that was really tiring. But I don't chill out entirely. I make my way down to surrey that night. Hot Hot Heat was playing. But also another band called Bend Sinister. Who sounded okay but I didn't get into that much.

Hot Hot Heat comes on, We make our way back up the crowd. Guess who's there. LUCAS :) Fred, starting his portfolio of people we meet during the games, Asks Lucas for a photo. :D

When Hot Hot Heat comes on, there is nothing but more moshing douches hoping to repeat the Alexisonfire incident. Thankfully, It didn't happen, But Fred, Jal and Daniel get lost in the crowd. We could definitely see Daniel and Fred figthing off moshes. Me and Johnstone just watched as Daniel took on his first moshes. :D (Watched and Laughed.)

Hot Hot Heat was good. They had some good energy and crowd going. But other than that, not much to say than swaying crowd and craziness.

Day 7: Thursday- Err hey! :D

So my cousin comes in on wednesday and is like HEY FAMILY I HAVE TICKETS TO THE SKELETON RUNS WHO WANTS IN. go figure, Everyone else in my family was BUSY! D: So they tell me to go. If it wasn't for this, I would be at Our Lady Peace, whom I heard was pretty awesome. I still had alot of fun. The shuttle there and back was good time for chilling out and listening to my music. We step off and explore the Whistler Village. Then we head up into the Mountains by Gondola (Excalibur) to watch the Olympic Skeleton Runs!

Whistler was warm. The sun was up and I was sweating as I was climbing my way to the starting line. Whistler was cold later though. By the end of the night I was freezing.

The runs themselves were crazy. All the goddamn Skeleton racers are pass by you at like super fast. Like you see them for a whole .5 seconds. Getting a photo is near implausible.

Day 8: (Hello there, Seawall.)
Decent day. Rageless. (Anyway)
So I met up with fred at night at Robson's plaza. And we waited it out until Hey Ocean was performing! :D They were fucking amazing, The Lovefool Cover was great! I was just choked that they didn't play Fifteen words cuz the male lead didn't feel like singing it today.

There were so many crowdsurfers. Me and the people nearby were like keeping eyes out and throwing others up into the crowd. At one point we told everyone to like stop since too many people were falling! :P MY NECK STILL HURTS.
We met most of the members after that. They were over on the side, so we walked over. We talked with Ashleigh Ball (Singer) for a while. We complimented her poncho. Which is fucking badass. We also asked if she would be playing Fifteen Words at tomorrow's Surrey show. She said they plan to since they have a longer set! She also asked for Me and Jal's name. Hmm. Cool :D

Day 9: (Ashleigh Ball.)
Said The Whale. Decent.-- But...
Yeup. Saw them once again the day after. Hey Ocean! is pretty amazing. Today was more of a mess than robson though. Less crowdsurfers nonetheless. Today I brought along Alex J, Katrina and Christen. :D

Katrina met 2 random people after being seperated AGAIN during concerts. (She got seperated back at Believers Never Die 2)
Christen got punched in the face by some minimosh behind us of drunk guys. Got myself a Hey Ocean shirt, don't expect me to wear it anytime soon!

They played Fifteen Words. It made my night.

Day 10-14---
Spent the days hanging out and gaming with the guys. Getting ready for the Computing Competition. Writing the competition. nothing interesting to report other than that I guess.

Day 15- Two Hour Traffic and Wintersleep
I was hoping for something more. Two Hour Traffic was announced as a "Powerpop" band. --> me excited. But when they took the stage, they lacked the power part. For some reason, the energy I was hoping for just wasn't there. Their drummer doesn't play much other than kick-snare for some odd reason.
Wintersleep was another story- on the same page. I didn't know what to expect from them, but their chill rock alt. sound made for a chill way to relax.
I won't bullshit the niceties here. Not one of the better days.

Day16-- "The most beautiful eyes and red hair- It matched the Canadian Flag she was wearing!"

HOLY FUCK. Man, I started today with a fucking shitty start to everything. It's like the god of disappointment rained down fucking oblivion. Once my day got started though, it was okay. Well fuck. we were late for Inward Eye. Don't know how the hell that happened. IllScarlett was okay. Some good stuff you can really chill to, but there wasnt much to jump for. At this point. I'm craving to jump around- The next band delivered.

Yeup - Marianas Trench was a Clusterfuck- Kids who aren't used to concerts were being pulled out from the crowd because they couldn't handle the crowd swaying. My ears hurt from all the girls shouting around me. The band was pretty decent though. I love how the rest of the band can also sing pretty well for adlibs and backups.

Day 17- Nothing.

Day 18- I've seen more bands in 2 weeks than some people will see their whole lives.

Wow it finally sinks in. The Olympics are over. This will never happen again in my lifetime. It's been a great two weeks. I owe it to my parents for being so chill about me staying out to party and see these bands and stuff. I've spent alot of time writing this post. and I hope you like it. Anyways... Today.

I went to Daniel's to watch the game. which was pretty intense. In my mind I had a feeling USA would tie the game. But when Crosby scored that Overtime goal, I had one thought on my mind. One thing I told myself after Sydney lacked points over the last three games...


His plan. All along.

Afterwards, me and Fred dragged ourselves downtown to see the party. A party it was. The streets were crowded, People chanting "FUCK YEAH CANADA". Hugs were free, photos were bombed, and spirits were abundant. I have never seen something to insanely awesome. And it's sad, because I may not see something like that again.

So in Conclusion.

Thanks to everyone who went with me to see all these bands, I'd have no motive to go if you weren't there.

Thanks to the bands who played for free, making my life just a little bit easier.

Thanks to Vancouver, hosting the greatest two weeks of my life.

Thanks to the people who humored me by text message during long transit trips.

Thanks to British Columbia, bringing some of the most infectious musical talent, as well as the best breathtaking sights.

(Thanks to those who didnt TL;DR this)

It worked guys! The bracelet worked as intended. I found myself feeling pretty optimistic today, It's nice not relying on my friends for support as much. They're pretty awesome though.

I'm sorta happy. I got some pretty good feedback, alot of people noticed it, a few even mentioned it straight up. I feel like it's becoming more of a statement than a reminder.

Originally, it was meant to be a reminder. like how people tie a ribbon around their finger to remember? yeah it's like that. Anytime today when i felt off for whatever reason, I just remembered that and things panned out okay.

Remember:
I don't need your heart to bleed,
When your heart is all I need.

Peace on, Markout.

"Oi, Suzy! uhm, FUCK YOU."
confused? check this shit out.

http://markdimzon.deviantart.com/journal/

k anyways, after that. I was like. Gonna make myself something cool.
so I made this.

Yeah man, if you're confused. ITS A GODDAMN BRACELET. made from earbuds.



WHY? YOU ASK? well. Ill be wearing it.


It'll be a reminder to me when I'm stressed out that I've got music to look to. And music's pretty much what this blog's about right? so here.

http://www.myspace.com/maddyrodriguez

Yeah man, I know, DISband. but she's got a nice voice.
Check out "Happier than ever"
That song is so chill. seriously.

Anyways, peace guys.

Remember:
Don't break hearts, Try to shake hands.
We're living in a time of living's last chance.

Markout.