*cough

Which is basically what I've been doing since Saturday night. I started coughing during Girls' Night, which evolved into a sore throat in addition to the cough on Sunday. I stayed home from work today, feeling marginally better but not sure I wanted to be driving myself anywhere. I had no specific deadlines today at work so better I miss one day and get over this than have it drag on all week.

Thursday night was the Collective Soul concert in Fredericton. I worked a bit late on Wednesday night so I could take off around 4 on Thursday, pick up T-L and Van and head to Fredericton. The highway was clear for the most part, but I was really uncomfortable driving it that day, in part because it's a shitty highway to begin with, but mostly due to the anniversary of the deaths of friends 9 years ago who had been driving on that highway. Thankfully we travelled without incident and the weather co-operated as well.

It had been so long since I'd seen a concert at the Aitken Centre that I'd forgotten how bad the acoustics are. It's a hockey arena, not really made with the intention of hosting other events. While the band was great, the sound was so bad that it ended up ruining the concert a bit for me. I also had a giant row of speakers in my view. In the end it certainly wasn't worth $55 plus the drive, but I can't blame that on the band. What I would like to see is their new live DVD, in my living room with surround sound, and I think that would be worth the $30.

I felt bad for the band that night. I wonder if they knew they'd only draw 1500-2000 people? It was a pretty small crowd, even with student ticket prices being $25.

What was really sad that night at the show was the girl who was around 10 years old who got sick from the wacky weed smell. Her parents had to pack her up and take her home quite early in the evening because she'd gotten so sick. There's 3 tickets down the drain because some idiot decided he/she couldn't have fun at a concert without pot. News flash, jackass: smoking is bannded in indoor places in this province. Of course, you were likely oblivious to the fact you ruined this poor girl's night. Personally, I'm pretty tired of attending concerts and getting bombarded with smoke of any kind, especially pot. I wish there was some way to control it, but in a venue that is dark and holds thousands of people, there's not much that can be done.

Friday I had another frustrating day at work, so I was really glad to leave and go home when the time came. I don't even remember much of what I did, I think I read until John came home and then we chatted.

Saturday was a lazy day. I had told myself I would get out and walk both days this weekend, but I didn't end up getting out at all. Saturday I just had no energy, was feeling pretty unmotivated to do anything, and the inherent distance issues in my relationship were really getting to me. I headed to church and was then happy to have plans for the evening. I picked up Jenn, we did an errand and then headed to lemongrass for supper. I'd barely seen her since I got back from my trip so it was nice to catch up. After supper we picked up Suzy, headed to the liquor store, then over to Lisa's. We chatted, watched Dirty Dancing, Jenn broke out the Carmen Electra Aerobic Striptease. Good times. Then I started having coughing fits, I thought due to my being dry so I got some water, but that wasn't helping a whole lot. We drove Suzy home, picked up Stew, dropped off Jenn and Stew and I crawled into bed at 2am. Been a while since I was up that late.

Sunday I felt worse, having the sore throat in addition to the cough, so I slept in, did laundry, but didn't feel enough like doing the cleaning I needed to do. I tried to rest in the afternoon, took a nap, but at 6pm I realized I wasn't well enough to be going anywhere, so I had to call Mare and tell her I wasn't able to make it to the Oscar party. Hope everyone had fun though.

I did stay up to watch, crashing on the couch earlier in the show and then crawling into bed to watch the latter part of the show. John doesn't normally watch the show, but stayed on and chatted with me and ended up watching the whole thing. I hacked and coughed my way through it.

I did enjoy the show, here are my highs & lows:

• Michelle Williams - Christina Aguilera called, she wants her lipstick back. Mustard yellow with ruffles? Ew.
• Helena Bonham Carter looked crazed. Or high. Or something, just not normal.
• Charlize Theron - giant bows went out with the 80s.
• Naomi Watts - too bad you got your dress caught in the shredder. Nice of you to match your dress to your skin color, that way it just blended right in. *rolls eyes
  
• Oscar montages suck. Academy, if you're so worried about attracting a younger audience, why are you filling an hour of the show with montages? The "In Memoriam" is fine, that serves a purpose. The rest is crap filler. The show is long enough without crap filler. Save the montages for a big milestone, not every friggin' year.
• Jon Stewart did a good job, not outstanding, but good. I laughed. A lot of people didn't, though, and the consensus this morning seems to be that he won't be asked back. He looked nervous in the beginning, the opening monologue seemed pretty stiff, but as the night wore on he had some great lines.
  
• I want one of the stuffed penguins
• Music being played during the whole acceptance speech was ANNOYING.
• Why, why, why did they ever think it was ok to cut short the acceptance speech on Best Picture? As I heard or read this morning (can't remember where), what was ABC worried about, starting Jimmy Kimmel on time???
  

So Crash won best picture. Personally, I don't think it deserved the win, but there are lots who will and do disagree. John and I rented Crash while I was in SoCal, and it left me with the feeling that LA is the worst place in the world, full of racist bastards. I just found it really depressing, and I didn't feel as though Sandra Bullock's or Matt Dillon's characters would actually change after what happened to them. It's not as though I thought Brokeback Mountain was the best movie ever, but I thought it had more redeeming qualities than Crash.

*cough, cough. Time for some more Advil C&S.