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Ever have one of those moments when you have too much to say about something so you end up saying nothing? That's been my last two weeks. Not terribly condusive to blogging is it.

Last-Last weekend was the Vancouver Folk Festival. I worked most of the time at the fest so I didn't really get to see much of the performances save for when I was walking from point A to point B. Mostly it was a titch boring as the job I was doing didn't involve a lot of mental strain. It was also an emotional weekend as it was the year anniversary of the death of a friend. His memorial tree and bench also happened to be mere feet from where I was working. I did see a lot of other dear friends that weekend though and that's always very nice.

Last weekend was the Mission Folk Festival. It was WAY too hot to be in Mission. I did my best to fight heat exhaustion but the sun fought back harder. It also didn't help that I worked all weekend lugging gear in and out of a sauna-like moving van. Of course the music was fabulous and the evenings, sitting around listening to the musicians jam, was a real treat. I also got to meet some rather exceptional people and that too is always very nice. Will I do it again next year? I would...if not for the heat. That's pretty much a deal-breaker for me.

THIS weekend I did not work (WOO!). Instead 2 of my best gals, JJ and J, and I went out to an incredible meal at O'Doul's to celebrate J's birthday. We were all quite heady with it all. Our server "Hot Jayson" was even kind enough to chill our "water" to take to the beach after to continue the celebrations. What a beautiful evening. This also marked the 10 year Friendiversary for JJ and I. I'm so incredibly lucky to have such fabulous gals in my life. They truly are my sisters (along with K who now lives in Victoria).

But there's more...yesterday I had grand plans to go hang out on a beach to celebrate a co-worker's birthday (who's number I lost so I wasn't able to locate them) and then wander around Illuminares. As much as I love a good lantern festival there was no way I was going to miss seeing the Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir when I found out last minute they would be in town. I thought I was being smart and didn't show up to The Railway to meet up with last weekend's friends until 11pm, thinking I'd get there in time to maybe catch some of the 2nd act and settle in for some good ole mountain music. But in true Vancouver style, the first act (The Mountain Bluebirds) was still on stage. Fortuitous for me though as it ended up being a band I'd heard about and had been wanting to see. As they themselves state it's where Paperboys banjo players go to die - Brad Gillard is their regular banjo player and Cam Salay was filling in. Next up was Old Joe - which played quite an array of styles - mostly revolving around folk-punk. My favourite was the klezmer-punk tune. They fit quite nicely in with my collection of odd genres. And really, how could you not love a band that does a song about the CBC. Ahhh, and then The Agnostics. I'm a little bit in love with Judd Palmer. The man's a children's book author, a puppeteer and a banjo player. *swoon* But beyond all that, he's a downright lovely fellow. I'm not even going to try to describe the band - just go to their website and listen to them. The one drawback from this evening of musical treats was that it reminded me how much I HATE seeing shows at The Railway. It's got to be the worst room in the city. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so good at booking great bands, but they are, so they end up trying to pack way too many people into that front room. It's just wrong. At least their sound system seems to have been upgraded. I really hope the next time The Agnostics come back it's to the Media Club (unlikely) or Richards on Richards.

This morning is the first time I've slept in past 9pm in over a decade.