I'll dispense with the pleasantries right away and cut to the Neil Finn chase. As I previously mentioned, Best. Concert. Ever. The Palais Royale is an old dance hall from WWII and it's right on the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto...it has gorgeous acoustics. I saw Sloan there back in 1998 on my seventeenth birthday and it was magical. Neil was even better, though. His opening act, Ed Harcourt charmed the pants off both Benjamin and myself--thinks Rufus Wainwright by way of the Strokes' Julian Casblancas. He had a trumpet player and an accordion player, and played piano and guitar. Rock and roll needs more trumpet.

As decadent as all this was, Neil was truly the highlight of the evening. Opening with 'Pineapple Head', we were enthralled. By the third song--'One Step Ahead', dedicated to those who had seen Split Enz play the Masonic Temple in 1980, before I was even born--it was officially the best concert ever. Once again I had to keep reminding myself that Neil is nearly the same age as my mum. He did three encores, each time saying "oh, okay, one more song". 'Distant Sun' nearly brought tears to my eyes...the trumpet player from Ed Harcourt came out to play on it...my dad may never recover from the fact that he missed 'Weather With You'. It's just as well he didn't come down with us, though, the scalpers' tickets were going for $140.

Afterwards, Benjamin and I waited around outside to see if there was any chance of meeting Mr. Finn. It took a good hour for him to emerge, and when he did, we barely had a chance for a quick 'that was a great show, Mr. Finn' before his handlers whisked him away. But even that was enough for me.

Today was a crazy day at work. The Jesuits connected with World Youth Day organized a pilgrimage for 800+ Catholic youth from all over the world to the Martyrs' Shrine and Ste. Marie. They're spending four days up here, and today was the day they visited Ste. Marie. So that would've been crazy enough on its own, but we also had 988 general public visitors...it was great. I had some terrific discussions on the more spiritual aspects of Ste. Marie, which is something I don't have a chance to delve into very often. (Which can be just as well, given my complete lack of traditional religious beliefs.) That said, it was still fascinating to see all these kids from all over the world...and I got to play with walkie-talkies and go in the canoe for our waterway presentation, so I had a great day.

I also met my new roommate on Tuesday (pseudonym pending, must confer with Benjamin), and I quite like her. She likes 'Undeclared' and 'Star Wars', and we have a class together.

Mike and I are going to see Sloan tomorrow. Sloan! woo. I'm not as excited as perhaps I ought to be, but it will still be awesome. if I can stay awake. ;)

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