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I recently got to cross off something from my “life list” that I didn’t really even realize was on it! I had the privilege of recoding on Organical‘s new album.

I’d played cello from grade 3 til grade 13, and rented one a couple summers ago to see if I could still play, and it’s a lot like riding a bike.. your muscles remember what to do. It’s really neat. I was a bit nervous being recorded since it’d been so long since I’d really played. I pestered Darren to put notes on paper for me (what can I say, once classically trained, always classically trained.. even if it is for a rock/metal album!), and set out to practice the music, and listen to the track to get a feel for what they were looking for.

The recording session was great, it was two hours of laughing at the ice cream truck that decided parking outside of Ed’s house was a great place to blast ice cream truck “music”, and figuring out what was going to work best for me to record. Metronome in one ear was all I wanted (to all the guys’ disbelief).. but I think I could get used to the way they do it (all the tracks playing in both ears, including what you’re playing, and you play along with it), but it would take practice. After a few days I got the feeling back in my fingertips too (didn’t have the calluses I did when I used to play all the time)!

I’m so so excited to hear the final track, and what a cool experience to be the FIRST musical guest on an Organical album (according to Darren’s post)! And of course, the first classically trained! That’s me… classin‘ up the album!

Thanks so much guys for the awesome experience and I look forward to the CD release!

Cheers!

Went to get my bike, and.. I have a flat tire.

I’ve been riding bikes my whole life, and I’ve had to pump the tires after a winter or whatever, but never a truly, truly flat tire. It was extra disappointing since I wanted to ride to Film Buff to get some amazing ice cream.

So I have this new bike I got just a couple months ago, it’s super light, awesome 80s teal colour, and finally the right size for me (deemed necessary after a particularly bad wipe-out last Sept on my old heavy huge bike which left me with glass in my knee, huge cuts, bruises and damaged pride). We’ve started to get to know each other better over the past few rides, and it’s been really awesome. This bike is so light, it barely takes any effort to fly down the street.

I must have run over something on our last outing, so.. Dear Bike, I’m sorry.

So I gotta fix up my awesome bike for it to continue in its awesomeness. I’ve never changed a tire, and yes I’m going to pay for someone else to fix it. I started to call around and decided that I should make this a blog to save anyone else from calling around should they stumble upon this.

Keep in mind these prices are just what I found today (July 2, 2009) and could change at any moment’s notice, but these are the places I called (that picked up) in order of cheapest to most $:

MEC: tube replacement: $3+ (depending on brand), install: $5, total: $8+
Set Me Free: tube replacement: $5, install: $9, total: $14
West Side Cycle: tube replacement: $5+, install: $10, total: $15+
Cycle Shoppe: tube replacement: $6, install: $12, total: $18
Bikes on Wheels: tube replacement: $?, install: $?, total: $20

MEC, you’re awesome. You never let me down, and you get the honour of fixing my bike!