A Sad Day For Canada

"A sad day, both for Canada and for those of us on the Left. Jack Layton, leader of the NDP has passed away." -Billy Bragg

"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And together, we'll change the world." -Jack Layton (1950-2011)

Why Does Tonight Feel Like Monday?

READY STEADY GO!  was a blast on Wednesday night! This is shaping up to be quite a fun weekly event. I think I mostly like it because it's really low key, like I said before Wednesdays are my Fridays so by the time they roll around I'm looking for something good to do. This is it.


I'm getting my passport, finally. How it is that I don't have one is beyond me but when I say I haven't been on vacation in YEARS I fucking mean it. It has been well over ten years since I've stepped on a plane and that's pretty sad if you ask me. Thankfully I'm changing that and going to Florida with the bf in a couple of months. We're going to meet his dad & step-mom (yikes! but awesome) and go to freaking DISNEY WORLD. I don't even care that I'm almost 30, this will be amazing. We are going to go to Universal Studios, too which is also going to rule. I'm basically a kid here, we'll see how long I make it before I start counting down sleeps.



This is the passport photo, I went today because I thought I looked sorta babely, but then of course put me in front of a stark white backdrop, tell me I can't wear lip gloss or smile and this is as good as it gets. The girl at Black's told me there was a possibility the photo could get rejected because it looks like I'm smiling. I can't help it. THIS IS JUST MY FACE, OK? So maybe I was trying to channel a little Tyra with an attempt at 'smiling with the eyes' because really? I'm not a criminal, I don't want my picture looking like a mugshot, thanks.



This tee shirt is pretty much every reason why I indulge in my inner mall rat from time to time. It's a tee shirt with a pug wearing huge glasses. It is incredible AND incredibly comfy. Double win.



This is the last thing I have to talk about. If you dig what I do, you can vote for me as 2010's best local DJ here in Toronto via NOW Magazine. I don't know if I actually have a shot at winning this thing, and that's alright but it'd be sweet to get a bunch of votes and make NOW realize that there are not just dance beat/electronic DJ's, but awesome rock DJ's too. I can make a packed dance floor move all night just as well if not better so hey! It'd be cool to get a lil' recognition around here. 


What you do, is go to THIS PAGE RIGHT HERE and vote DJ Misty Rock n' Roll under the Best Local DJ category. Alternately, you can just go right from www.nowtoronto.com to the BEST OF > Music section and vote from there. If you do, thank you!

READY STEADY GO!

Well, I woke up at a healthy 4:30pm today, fucking overnight shifts I tell ya. But thank goodness, tonight is READY STEADY GO! over at 751 on Queen St. Rob & I are dj'ing, and he's already got his drinking vest on. Where's yours? There will be drink combos a go-go, 1/2 price nachos & quesadillas plus retro video games and movie trailers. How can you go wrong? Right, you can't. See you there!

Help Me Stay Awake

Loyalty Is A Lost Art

Overnight at the shelter makes for sleepy looking eyes. I'm wide awake but you wouldn't have thought it if you saw me before I left for work tonight. I was curled up with my little dog and after a day of walking around the Annex, we were both beat. The shelter's been emotional the past couple of days, I think it has something to do with the full moon we had two nights ago. Whenever the moon is full, emotions seem to run high in the shelter but I think that happens anywhere. I've been finding myself doing more counselling than usual the past couple of days but hey, that's what I'm here for. I'm glad I can lend an ear.

Here I am enjoying my pre-work dog snuggles, I would never trade these for anything in the world.

I wonder if it's because the astrological sign is in Leo right now, but a topic that keeps coming up in both life and conversation lately is loyalty or rather, disloyalty. That seems to be the underlying cause of a lot of the heartache I've been hearing about from the women here in the shelter and in my own life as well. Extracting family and/or friends from your life because they prove to be disloyal time and time again is never easy, although almost always necessary. But as I tell the women who reside here, the hurt does go away especially when you don't allow someone to continue to be fair-weather. I wish it could be easier, of course but such is life.

Rare Arthur Lee Doc

Untitled from Django's Ghost on Vimeo.

Whoa, whoa whoa whoa! My love it comes in colours!! Vivid colours filled with interviews and live Arthur Lee/Love footage. Incredible. This will be my viewing pleasure this evening (and perhaps yours as well) courtesy of a mystery man named Crimson Crout and www.dangerousminds.net

Whatcha Gonna Do? Ready Steady Go!

Don't forget this Wednesday night you can READY STEADY GO! at 751 (Queen St. W.) to all your favourite punk rock tunes and the music that spawned them. If you dig The Nashville Teens, The Clash, The Sonics, The Cramps, Gene Vincent, The Temptations, Otis Redding, Etta James, The Stooges, Janis Martin, The Dead Boys, Dion & The Belmonts, The Kinks and a whole lotta other awesome tunes by the obscure and the famous, then be there daddy-o or you will most certainly be square.

Back To The Nightly Grind

Back on the midnight shift at work for the next couple of months. It will be interesting to document my descent from sanity as I begin to run my routine backwards from the bulk of society. I actually don't mind the late nights, I think I'm a nocturnal person for the most part and can stay up fairly easy but once the sun starts to rise, I start to lose it a little. But it's really not bad, as one of my co-workers put it, the worst part is travelling home feeling tired from the end of your day as everyone else is fresh and starting theirs.


I don't really talk a lot about what I do aside from DJ'ing on this blog like I'd promised, so I will a little bit now. I work full time at a women's shelter with women who have experiences with homelessness, mental health and addictions. I'm a front line staff member/case worker which means that I do everything that assists with the everyday running/functioning at the shelter like basic housekeeping and cooking (for 30!) although I mostly do more in depth work which includes counselling, crisis intervention and assisting women with things from hygene to recovering missing I.D. to finding employment and housing.




Some days it's tough, I can't sugar coat that. There are days where I want to tear my hair out. But for the most part, I love coming to work and hoping that I can be a positive change or at least a friendly smile for the women who stay here. If I can lend an ear, be an advocate, play a game of cards or do work with the gals in the garden up on the patio I'm a happy camper. But these overnights...oh man, wish me luck.