The Art of Smuggling Water:

Anyone who's been to an event in a major arena lately may have noticed that they are doing a lot more bag checks now than before. This tends to make it a lot more difficult to conceal food and drink items into the entertainment venue. Solution? Put it in your clothes. They only search bags, not bodies. The best way, as I discovered today, is to put it in a jacket, preferably one with inside pockets. That way you can either wear it or carry it with you in one arm while the unsuspecting security guy simply rummages through your bag/purse. This lesson took place today at the Concert for Toronto (aka SARSville), so while I casually walked into the first gate we found, my friends had to travel a little further to find a gate where bags were not being checked as vigilantly. The concert, by the way, was kick-ass. There was one interesting thing: it was maybe half-full in the Air Canada Centre, but it looked pretty packed at the Skydome. The decision to purchase ACC tickets was made through a very detailed thought process:

1) I couldn't get to the Skydome page when I was buying the tickets
2) I don't think the experience would have been as good if I were surrounded by screaming teenagers in a venue that isn't really known for its acoustics
3) I saw Sarah McLachlan live for the first time in four years, playing a new song for the first time in six years
4) After Sarah finished, everyone in the ACC left, except for a handful of us who stayed for the Tragically Hip (who totally rocked), making our own exit at the end of the night quite effortless

Okay, that last point was something that we found out when we were there, but yeah, it still kind of sucked being in the less rocking arena. Makes you realize the percentage of tickets that scalpers can get their hands on. The main lesson of the night is for everyone to see Barenaked Ladies, Jann Arden, and Sarah McLachlan play live at least once in your life.

This last part is a blast from the past for everyone who reads this and went to Islington or MCI. After the concert, we (me, Howie, and Ada) went to Vinnie's (a bar) to meet up with a couple of people, namely Natasha and Eva. Of course, when we got there, the group also consisted of Jimmy Woo, Alisa (Eva's sis), and Vanessia (I think that was her name...you know who I'm talking about, right?). And there were of course the people we didn't know, but that was okay. Within 1 to 2 hours, the group expanded to include Mike Rawle, Owen Bartley, Ramsey (!), and Andrew Cowan. I didn't get to talk to many of them, but keep in mind I had not seen most of these people for at least five years, and even back then I didn't really talk to them that much either. But it was an interesting scenario, all of these people coming together almost sporadically despite the time and distance apart. This seems to be an epidemic, as it has been happening to a lot of people I know. Maybe we could call it PARS (People Appearing Randomly Syndrome).

"First we'd climb a tree, and maybe then we'd talk"