waazubee; the new bohemian

friday night, i was invited out to a birthday dinner at a restaurant called Waazubee on Commercial Drive. i know that i've been raving about every restaurant in vancouver lately, and how they are "so vancouver". but seriously though, when you get bison meat lightly doused in miso sauce on a bed of bismati rice...where else but in vancouver? my meal featured tender lamb on foccacia sprinkled with blue cheese and carmelized onions AND THE BEST FRIGGIN GARLIC MAYO FRIES I'VE EXPERIENCED since i upgraded from McDonalds to Harvey's. not too pricey either, at least not Toronto King Street pretentiously pricey.

last night, i was going to go clubbing in Surrey with my coworker Patty, but we opted instead to stay in kitsilano for a couple of drinks. we headed for the New Bohemian, which pretty much was like clubbing, in the sense that you were in a dark room full of young beautiful twenty-somethings with a deejay playing loud electronic music, but instead of dancing, you lounged in these large, luxurious cushioned booths while eating and eating and eating. Dr. Strangelove was playing in a loop on a projector on the wall. we ordered wine (i ordered some local BC pinot grigio and wasn't disappointed), seafood cakes, soup, and a cheeseplate which came with the juiciest fruit i've ever seen a trendy restaurant manage to serve. this was probably a lot closer to Toronto's King West joints, but the food was at least quite decent and not too too overpriced.

unlike Toronto though, this was not the first stop of our night but rather the terminus. for some reason, Vancouver sleeps early, maybe so we can can get up early and enjoy the sunshine and the mountains and oceans to the fullest. at any rate, i've never stayed out past midnight in this city. guess i'll have to go clubbing another time...and try not to get shot.

open mic at cafe deux soleils

cafe deux soleils is another Vancouver establishment, also a vegetarian cafe, but for hippies instead of yuppies. their open mic nights have also become a rather famous affair, one of the longest running open mics in vancouver, gaining so much popularity that musicians have to get their names drawn out of a hat to perform. i've been lucky because i've been picked every time i've shown up.

the acts tonight are a pretty interesting and eclectic bunch. there's the accordian player who does a happy kid-friendly cover of Nine Inch Nails ("i wanna hug you like a teddy bear / i wanna make you eat a mud pie..."). one girl reads poetry about rude guys. a purebred hippie plays blues harmonica and then tells us that he loves us all very much. another guy plays the jinbay while rapping about being high, one of the many hybrid hiphop hippies that Commercial Drive features. i play a short set. some girl tells me she loves me. i can't see who; the lights are too bright in my eyes.

i sit at a table with a couple of kids i've just met. they are just the right combination of polyamourous/queer that allows them to oggle and comment on every single performer on stage, no matter what shape, size, or gender. since most of my songs are really weird (ranging from topics like flashing your rooommate to biting your friend's boyfriend's neck), i think i've won their approval. they kind of remind me of my friends from my past lives, just because they seem like such an eclectic bunch. the girl who moved from texas to new york to vancouver, carefully erasing all traces of her accents each time. the boy with the lion's mane, telling me to come sit at his table because his girlfriend has a crush on me. the girl who tells me, "you're from ottawa? but you're so...cool..." only to have me find out that she's actually from Toronto. the boy with jeremy's glasses who says nothing all night, except, at the very end of the night, quite seriously, "don't try to be a smoker in kitsilano."

they invite me to chill out at their place after the show ends, but i tell them i've got to get back to my own pad. i pretend that i live on the Drive, but really, i'm staying with my grandparents. it's not the first time that i wish i was living here.

*****

tomorrow i leave for portland. i'm theoretically supposed to meet Ryan Patey there, but our "plan" consisted of him calling me the ONE minute i was away from my phone, and leaving me the message: "why aren't you answering your phone? okay, let's meet in portland sunday night. i don't know the address yet. and i might not end up going to portland. oh, by the way, i'm going into the wilderness so you won't be able to talk to me for a few days." so it looks like i'm going to be exploring Portland on my own.

Saturday: 27 degrees and sunny
Sunday: 30 degrees and sunny
Monday: 28 degrees and sunny

yessssss.

sunbathing on the drive

parts of Vancouver make me feel like i’m in a beautiful dream and should be on my guard to wake up soon, or that by some miracle i gotten into heaven after dying. it just seems too good, too perfectly tailored for me to be real. especially this part of town where grandma lives on Commercial Drive. half of the stores are some fair trade independent coffee shop. every other store seems to sell used books, guitars (this one shop is full of Gold Tone instruments), records, pizza, vegetarian restaurants, or shops with "ACTIVISM" in their names.

despite my grandmother’s complaints about it being so cold she has to sit by the heater, it’s actually it’s sunny and the beginning of patio weather right now. the concept seemed so foreign to an Ontario girl used to March winters, that when i walked past people drinking sangria on the patio and chatting, i did a double take. something about those people seem awfully happy and awesome...oh wow, they’re drinking booze outside!

i think the most heavenly/dreamy quality of everything is the fact that i'm not sitting in a cubicle working. although i have to say i encounter an awful lot of people around here who could easily be my clients.

i haven't been back to vancouver since i was twenty-one. i have spent a few of my summers hanging out here, exploring. just taking the bus into town from the airport flooded me full of amazing BC memories:

...going to a party with meg, hanging out in the back porch, drinking Growers and just chilling out...

...busking on the streets with my grandmother's guitar on a hot summer day...

...attempting to visit every single record store in the city...

...taking a trip on the ferry to Vancouver Island, spending the day sitting on a dock in a quiet town, watching my cousin fish...

this summer is going to be amazing.

NOTE: the rocky mountains blow my mind, even from the airplane. i can't believe i've never set foot in that part of the wilderness. this will have to change.

NOTE: the airport's self-check in machines offer services in English, French, Spanish, and Korean. i love taking over the world.

okay, i better go and prepare for this interview now.