On the Side

Well, if you read my last blog (it's okay if you didn't), you would know that I wrote a little bit about the sweet, fresh band: Hey Ocean! I saw them in d-town Van city last week, and ever since then, I've just fallen in love with their music! I'm so happy that my sister's friend caught one of their CDs that they threw into the crowd, because he gave it to my sis and she relayed it to me! Now that I have their CD, I am having a very difficult time trying to study/get assignments done this week... is it because I'm just groovin' to this band so much!?... Maybe! Am I stressin' out?... Yes. Anyways, here's a little tidbit of what I'm talking about... Check it out!

Hey Ocean - A Song About California from John Poliquin on Vimeo.

p.s. My sis photo-shopped this pic of me (below) while we were out enjoying the buzz of Van city! Notice something behind my ear? That's her proposal of a potential tat for me (a measure of music)... looks sweet, but how much would that hurt?!

p.p.s. After my mid-term spell, I'll hopefully get a lot of Olympic postings up! Stay tuned.

Olympic Blast

I have returned to Winterpeg from Van City, sadly. The time out there was incredible! I can truly say that it was one of the most epic atmospheres I have ever been a part of. A sea of people cover the downtown Vancouver area each and every night of the week; it's UNREAL! Friday night was just nuts. We managed to push our way to the front of a Hey Ocean! and Said the Whale FREE concert in Robson Square (the cool looking, skating dome place they always show on TV)! The energy was off the scale! I saw the most simultaneous crowd-surfing ever, and the venue was a street square! It was just packed. I documented it pretty well I have to say!! I can't wait to get started on editing all of the footage I got! I can't even explain the time I had out west with words! Hopefully you can get some sense of how phenomenal it was with some visuals. Plus, I have so many stories to tell!!! I don't know where to start, I need to get organized... so until then, don't go away!

p.s. I'm watching Ski Cross right now!! My new favourite Olympic sport, for sure! The massive air, the catastrophic crashes... it's the most exciting thing on television. In Kelowna they had a Ski Cross run that I tried and I loved it! I had a massive adrenaline rush; so good.

Olympic Fever

Well, I've never experienced an Olympic games live before, but that will change later this week! Today at 1:15pm I'll be headin' out west to go ski in Kelowna with my buddy Froese. After a few days, we'll be flying back over to Van City to check out some epic events. It's gonna be super sweet! I'm also gonna try to take a bunch of videos and pictures, so stay tuned... I'M SO EXCITED!

Symphonies

I'm lovin' Vimeo right now. Thanks to Cam, I'm really enjoying the videos from user DP (who I think is a part of Kid Cudi's crew; correct me if I'm wrong). Here is a very interesting music video of Dan Black's song: Symphonies, which is a remix featuring Kid Cudi (I've become a big fan)!! It's very unique. Check it out!
p.s. I know you already posted this Cam, but I just had to post it again, because it's that good!!!

symphonies from Théo Roque on Vimeo.

Stranger Texts

I'm sure this has happened to most people, and yesterday, I took full advantage of the situation. What do you do when you receive a random text message from a stranger?! Some people would just shrug it off and not reply, while others would simply reply, "Who is this?" Here is what you have to do: Go along with it! Yesterday, I was sitting in my physics class and my lab partner (side note: usually you end up with strange lab partners, but mine is pretty awesome, I am very fortunate), who sits beside me, mentioned that she had received a random text, which said, "It's snowing here!!!" I was intrigued with the area code. It was (678). Hmm, I tried to think of it's location; it was definitely somewhere down south in the States. My lab partner did spend some time in Texas, so it might have been possible that she actually knew this stranger. After a few minutes, I came up with a brilliant idea and then asked her for the stranger's phone number. Here is an account of my text messaging conversation with the stranger:

Manuel: "It's snowing here!!!"
Stranger: "Who is this?"
Manuel: "Just a friend from up north."
Stranger: "Umm does this friend have a specific name?"
Manuel: "Ya, it's Corinne (lab partner's name), sorry, who's this?"
Stranger: "Um thisis adrianna do I know u?" (Don't worry, my grammar isn't brutal, she literally wrote this)
Manuel: "I was wondering the same thing. Haha whatever, does it not usually snow where you are?"
Adrianna: "No im in ga." (Thanks grade 10 Geography for making me learn ALL of the States!)
Manuel: "Well, up here in Manitoba it snows all the time. It's brutal." (I SHOULD HAVE SAID MB!!!)
Adrianna: "Where ismanitoba?"
Manuel: "Haha, it's Canada's middle province!"
Adrianna: "Ok then well im sorry and im ot quite sure how the heck this happened cause i thought i was txting my friend so umm have the best winter u possibly can considering how cold it is lol." (UNREAL! I laughed so hard at this)
Manuel: "I appreciate it. And no worries, I hope you can enjoy the rare occasion of snow in Georgia! I also hope you're able to find your friend's actual number."

Notice how I knew what GA meant!!! Dang Americans, teach your children some International Geography for once. I should have said I lived in MB, she would have been immensely confused.

After my second class, I headed to the library to meet up with my lab partner and report on my progress with the stranger. It turns out that she had gotten about the same info out of Adrianna as I did. However, Adrianna apparently thought that she was texting her friend named Hilarry (which she spelled like that, so I'm guessing Adrianna is less than 14 years old), because that's what she told my lab partner. We were laughing about how we were confusing the heck out of a 14 year old, and then I suggested that she should text Adrianna again, saying that her name was Corinne as well (which it really is; I'm the one who lied about my name... and my gender. Meh, it was fun; plus she'll never find out!). Corinne decided against it, but then she told me to text: "Do you know Hillary?" So I did, and I hope it confuses Adrianna even more! She hasn't texted back yet, but hopefully she does in the near future (I would). It better be a witty out-of-the-blue text.

Just imagine two strange international numbers texting you, and somehow one of them knows your friend's name! But then again, she could just assume that the two people know each other because of their identical Manitoba area code. Nah... she probably ignored that fact (she would have caught on sooner, plus she's 14).

Song Studying

I was having some trouble yesterday trying to study for my Anthropology exam... which I wrote today (procrastination is stressful). So I decided to grab a guitar and sing-a-long with my notes. I managed to conjure up this ad lib song quite easily, and I'm surprisingly really impressed with it! No word of a lie, this is one of my best improv performances ever. It is also a pure joke, even though it seems super serious (so don't judge me!); I try not to laugh in the middle of it, it's very subtle. I can't even believe that I withheld my laughter (I usual can't help it). I call the song: The Leahy Brothers and the New Guinea Tribe... Check it out!

Song Studying from MannyG on Vimeo.

25 Facts

This is a note I wrote for facebook a while back and now I think it's time it made an appearance on my blog. I never do facebook fads, but this was one exception. It's funny how it was a year ago (in one week exactly) that I posted this, and I just now thought about it again! Here's a way to get to know me... I also hope you get a kick out of some of these; take a read:

1. When I was born, I had a virus underneath my left eyelid!! Therefore it was injected three times with a steroid to get rid of the virus. That is why I hate lookin' at myself in pictures, seeing my left eye being smaller than my right! Also, I guess that means I have taken steroids...

1.5 I was born in Brandon, MB then moved to London, ON when I was two, then moved to Winnipeg, MB when I was 13, then went and lived in Germany at Bodenseehof for 6 months, then lived in Sweden at Holsby Brunn for 2 months!!! Good times.

2. My birth mark is a white spot/blotch that shows up in my hair on the right side of my head. (White Spot is my favourite Western Canadian restaurant).

3. I was allergic to peanuts for 17 years of my life. I had to eat a whole lot of peanut butter in the hospital to make sure I grew out of the allergy... I'd say it was about half a jar. Don't like it at all!!! I'm also allergic to horses, cats, rabbits, dust, pollen, wool and grasses.

4. I have a 1 centimeter in length scar on my forehead. It's from diving off my friend's porch when I was 9. I'm not sure why I was doing this. I was probably pretending to be a superhero or something. And apparently my friend saw my skull.

5. I actually was furious at a Blue Man during a Blue Man Group performance in England. What happened was, the Blue Men were wandering the theatre and acting like they do. One decided to come up to me and take off my hat (without asking), inspected it and then proceeded to put a blue thumb print on it! I couldn't believe it! I actually started to flip out. This was my precious Toronto Maple Leafs hat! In the end I went to talk to him afterwards when they were standing outside and he actually talked to me and said "Don't worry lad, it'll come out in the dryer" in a classic English accent. I got my picture taken with him, we settled the matter, and that was that. To this day I still have that thumb print on my beloved hat.

6. I am ambidextrous. It's weird though because I definitely prefer to write with my right hand, though I also have to wear my watch on my right wrist, so it is conflicting at times. For sports it alternates.

7. I really love to sing and harmonize to songs! Also I love to add in echos or extra bits, just 'cause, and it's so much fun! I always have a song in my head. I just love music. I play Piano, Drums, I played Trumpet in high school, and have started to pick up the Guitar this past year.

8. I love sports. Especially FOOTBALL (Soccer). The real game of football. Also known as the Beautiful Game. I would play every day if possible. My favourite player would have to be Peter Crouch, enough said.

9. Last year I actually played on the Swedish Division 8 or 9 Skede football (soccer) team! You'd think to pronounce it (Skee-d) but actually it is pronounced (Ha-way-da). The Swedish language is messed, though very cool.

10. I laugh all the time. Basically, I just love to laugh. I actually think about something that was funny over again after the first time and laugh at it a second time. I make myself laugh all the time, just thinking of certain possible scenarios in present situations... don't worry about it.

11. Apparently I do an excellent "Beaker", from the Muppets, expression.

12. I had a long, full, pure white mullet when I was two years old, and I rocked it!

13. When I go to bed on very cold nights, I pretend to seizure violently under the sheets just to get warm.

14. I'm a dance machine! The move I'm most known for is also my signature, which is "The Shopping Cart". I pull it out once in a while, NBD. I also love to dance to classic techno beats and other catchy tunes with friends; especially in vehicles.

15. It is my dream to be a contestant on the reality show "Amazing Race"! I mean, traveling and competing, what more could you ask for?!?!

16. I would also love to be a character on a T.V. series. I think it would be a blast, plus I love acting.

17. According to the facebook application "Where I've Been", I have visited 5% of the WORLD!!!! I love to travel!

18. I'm a very big procrastinator, it's actually unbelievable. If it doesn't have to be done right away, I won't do it, it's as simple as that! Even if I try to do something early, it'll never happen, I just find something else to occupy my time. Preferably something entertaining!

19. I went 100% for shooting free throws my first year of varsity basketball (for you americans Junior year). I also went a few games shooting 100% in my varsity career, no biggie....!

20. I love roller coasters, but not spinning rides. My first roller coaster was when I was 6 and it was on the Great Canadian Mine Buster at Canada's Wonderland!! Yeah, that's right, amazing. It was with my Uncle Jonny, and when we were going up at the beginning, being transported to the first drop, I turned to my uncle and said "This isn't so bad". I had another thing coming... It freaked me out, but I have loved them ever since!

21. When I was four years old I was at the West Edmonton Mall. At one time in the day, I had my hands in my pants, and since my Uncle Paul saw me, he asked, "Hey, what are you doing there?" I was slightly embarrassed and I ended up saying "Just checkin' my blood pressure." Personally, I do not know how the four year old me could have thought of that response!

22. I love to "people-watch" and see all the funny things humans do. Especially at school, because there's just so much happening around you. Taking Sociology, I would say, has influenced this act, most definitely.

23. The thought of eternity scares the living daylights out of me!! Because I know my mind is not capable of even comprehending the concept. But at the same time I am very excited; praise the Lord!

24. I'm generally a pretty shy guy, until I really get to know you. I'm also very laid back. It may be because I'm a drummer or that I actually have a low blood pressure in my veins... who knows.

25. I am very proud of my Dad's Children's Gospel Album: Booster Shot. It's unreal how I publicize that album, it's just so awesome.

Bonus 26: My Dad's a Shrink...

I hope you've enjoyed.
p.s. If you can, check the comments below the post on facebook... hilarious!

A Tribute

Well, I re-edited this video! Don't worry, I didn't do this expecting you to watch it all over again (I mostly did it for Vimeo, but that's just a side note); although if you want to... Check it OUT! This is a small tribute to my good friends, Thom & Laura, who's wedding (down in Minneapolis last August) was the reason as to why this video was made! Thom got his greencard a couple weeks ago, so now he can come back to CANADA! Hooray! Therefore, I re-post this as a toast, for the love of Thom & Laura, because they are heading up here in a couple of weeks!

p.s. ...I basically just added a song to it (Swordfish Hotkiss Night by Empire of the Sun) and cut out the still-frame pics. Dang, I wish that I could go back and get a scene with the newly weds for the video. Sorry about that, I wasn't thinking.

My Man Cabbie

Wow, Cabral Richards really deserves to be given the title: One of the funniest vloggers slash interviewers ever! I laugh super hard every time I watch his work! Here is a segment he did with Kobe Bryant for his ongoing interview series with the legendary b-ball player. Check it out! p.s. His Twitter is hilarious as well...