Cou CHA-CHING

What an amazing weekend!

My birthday couldn't have gone any better! Perhaps more funds in my pocket but still an incredible and unforgettable weekend. For a few months I had been planning the birthday trip to go see The Led Zeppelin Symphony at Casino Rama in Orillia. The planning hit a few bumps in the middle of May as I struggled to get a credit card from CIBC. Within the last two weeks, I obtained the tickets, got a room booked and stole a car to drive (30 hours before). The plan was for Becca and me to go with my two best friends Adam and Sean. Sean being my current co-worker in Rubberland. Adam made it, but Sean was a bastard and ditched us so that he could work on Saturday and make 200 bucks. What a stupid move on his part. All day in the truck, I heard the ads for the concert, I heard Zeppelin and I saw numerous Rama buses speed past us. It was brutal. Mapquest said it would take 2 hours to get there. We left at 7 and got there at 8:11. I love my car and all it's speedy glory. I no longer drive on highways. I use them as my own personal race track. Until I'm pulled over for excessive speeding I will continue to get places in horrifying time. (Guelph to Allen Rd. in 23 Minutes.)

The concert was amazing. Not only will I be able to say that I have heard a live performance of Zeppelin's orcheastra pieces, like Kashmir, but I can also say that I have witnessed a live performance of Moby Dick, complete with the 10+ minute drum solo. I had goosebumps by the end, and had sunken back into my love of drums, questioning my pursuit of the guitar once more. A symphony was accompanied by a live rock band consisting of Alegra, playing an electric violin that was strapped to her shoulder and shaped like a lightning guitar, GEORRRRRRGE SANTRON on lead guitar, and two guys playing Bass and Drums. The singer.....was a tool. A bonified Tool.

"Have you guys got 7-11s up here? You know those things called Slurpies?"

Wanker.

He proceeded to banter between each song, quite poorly, about his history with Zeppelin. Which had the potential for interesting, if he had actually had a history with Zeppelin. He bought the records and listened to them......If only we all had those kinds of memories. He had the hair of Robert Plant but not the voice. The "highlights" of the show, that I overheard, were not the amazing sounds, like the crazy Cello players keeping up with "Whole Lotta Love" but a stupid stunt where some poor girl was given the oppurtunity to conduct the orcheastra during "Dancing Days" but really turned into her waving her hands in a circle for 4 minutes straight. Brutal. To cap it off. They ended the show then proceeded to do 3 encores of Stairway to Heaven followed by the other two. I can't remember what they were because I was shocked that they didn't put Stairway last, and I was also delighted to watch all the stupid people get up and leave then go and sit down between each encore. I wore my Zeppelin shirt and felt like an outcast amongst the crowd of 40 and 50 year olds.

We left the show and went back to the Best Western and got a few drinks and some room service with 5 minutes to spare. We watched the beginning of Clerks on my portable DVD then fell asleep.

Free Continental Breakfast followed by a trip to the Gym. I pretty much just sat on the bike to keep up the biking everyday notion but then had a lot of fun sprinting on a treadmill. It had been a while since I was on a treadmill, or in a gym for that matter. I got such an adrenaline rush after i got that thing really going. I really liked the notion that I was going so fast that something terrible could happen at any moment. Becca and I went back to the room and collapsed on the bed while Adam did a little studying outside. Counters are fun. We drove around looking for the downtown strip and found a street festival then ate lunch at Weber's. We then went for a walk on a nearby nature trail where I had fun with my new video camera and all of the crazy picture effects it has. Saw a duck bite another duck in the ass. We went back to the hotel and I read a bit of Fear and Loathing (to get in the mood) while Becca and Adam took a nap. It was so hard to not just leave them in the room. With no gambling on Friday night, it felt like 6am Christmas morning. The fun and excitement were right there and it was happening that day but it was too early. We decided to watch the rest of clerks, a family guy and two 70's show while we drank some beer we picked up in town. Only halfway through the beer did I finally realize Adam's subconcious joke. We couldn't decide what beer to get so he just picked one of the featured on the wall that he liked. We got a twelve pack of Lucky.

We finally got to the casino via shuttle and it all went down. We got into the casino and it was literally a rollercoaster ride.