BUSY BUSY BUSY

Wow, the holidays are here and unfortunately, they are still far away. Man, this last week has been nuts and the next few days (until year end) will be just as bad. This is definitely the busiest time of year for us (at work) because of fiscal year end and I think I thought I was done all my stuff so I kind of underestimated it this time around. Anyway, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's dim but hopefully it will brighten up shortly.

In other news, I went to the Symphony last night. I saw Handel's Messiah performed by the TSO at Roy Thompson Hall. I think I went there back in the day but I don't know for sure. Anyway, it's quite a beautiful building and definitely very impressive on the inside. The performace was okay in my books. I mean I liked the instrumental part for sure (and the trumpet solo was definitely the highlight for me). But the vocals (the 4 soloists anyway) weren't doing it for me. Too much religious singing I think (but I guess that's what Handals' Messiah is about right?) The Toronto Mendholson Choir was also there and that was pretty impressive (there were about 120 of them in total I think).

I would definitely go back and see another symphony show BUT I think I would prefer a show that had much more instrumental music (and less vocals). Oh yeah, and I definitely wanted more percussion.

I saw a couple movies last week.

Syriana was quite good. Definitely a flick I've gotta see again. So much going on and so much information. It was quite interesting to see how involved everything is with oil in the middle east and I guess oil in general. There is such big money and everyone gets so greedy to have any piece of it. Also, they showed one storyline that followed some youth who had no other options to earn money or feel important. It showed how easy it was for them to be manipulated into thinking that certain malicious ideas (like bombing or taking out innocent people) are actually acceptable. That these things will promote and create positive changes. It's a thinking movie for sure and quite jumpy with multiple scenes similar to Traffic.

Walk the Line was a really good movie. I didn't know anything about this film before watching nor did I know anything about Johnny Cash. But man, that was a solid film. Joachim Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon acted very well and they did all of their own singing in this movie (found that out after). The rise and fall and rise again of Johnny Cash was quite the story. Reminded me a lot of the movie Ray actually... The scene in "Ontario, Canada" was interesting - I wanna know if that actually happened.

Unfortunately, it looks like volleyball is done for the year. Tuesday night, Thursday night and Saturday afternoon are all done for the holidays so now, I've gotta wait for next year. I can't wait to get back on the court. In the mean time, I've found a squash buddy in the condos across the street so I'm definitely gonna try and get some squash in over the next little while.