Viva la Vida!

Yes, I finally did it.

After many years of lingering, I finally ventured out to my first ever concert last Thursday. It was Coldplay, at the ACC, and yours truly having a great seat for the event (see above). Any concern I had of the show not living up to its billing were quickly put aside once they got on stage.

I always thought sporting events were raucous and loud, I had no bloody idea concerts took it to another level!

The crowd was on their feet for the 90-minute set, and singing along to every word, which was mind-blowing to say the least. I had only just heard Viva La Vida the night earlier and thought it was a solid album. Post-concert, it's been on high rotation on my iPod.

Setlist:

Life In Technicolor
Violet Hill
Clocks - complete with green lights shooting around
In My Place
Viva La Vida
Yes
42
Fix You
Strawberry Swing - videoscreen displaying psychadelic strawberry images
Chinese Sleep Chant (B stage)
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face (B stage) - Cool remix on a stage about 30 ft away from us.
Speed Of Sound
The Hardest Part (Part 1) - Chris Martin flubbed the song midway...
Yellow - Beautiful set (see above picture)
Lost - The first song of the album I immediately liked
The Scientist (Acoustic)
Death Will Never Conquer (Will on vocals - )
Politik - best performance of the night in my opinion
The Hardest Part (Piano Version) - to make up for the "flubbing"
Lovers In Japan - midway through the song, flourescent butterfly confetti dropped into the audience
Happy Birthday (to Will Champion)
Death And All His Friends

Unfortunately, there was no encore. While many in the crowd grumbled, I was content with seeing 90 minutes of one of the world's best bands live. Hearing them play made me realize how many hits they've concocted. While they might be formulaic, they still know how to put on a hell of a show. And I guess it's true, you never forget your first!

Five Months Later...

Hey yaars!

It's been way too long since I last blogged, and at the behest of a few friends, I've been convinced to write again. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I'm an open book when I speak of my personal life, which is why I had to actively prevent myself from writing anything which I'm almost certain would get me in some form of trouble. And since I've already put my foot-in-mouth over lesser topics, I figured a hiatus was in order. But now that I'm back in training, I hope my tales of grandeur still amuse!

While it would be impossible to summarize the last few months in a few paragraphs, it probably makes the most sense to divide my life into three divisions - personal, work, and sports. And as before, I'll try to keep to my quasi point-form structure.

5 Months Later - Life as a Professional!

If you look a centimeter above Beckham's head, you'll see my torso (I'm the one with the grey/red TFC jacket)

Truth be told, working at the Air Canada Centre is still nothing short of a dream. Of course, there's always the peaks and troughs of work, but I've never once even considered mailing it in for a day. And I've had some of the crappiest days ever, including :

- working a 10 hour day on 2 hours of sleep
- coming in early to prepare some reports, whilst attempting to fight off an ear infection/fever
- being the man on point by myself for a Raptor playoff game, filling every which sort of request imaginable!
- On playoff game day, finding out the TTC is on strike the day I don't have car access.
- Attempting to come into work during a snowstorm, almost getting into an accident numerous times on the way in

Again, I'm not at all complaining, just explaining what I've gone through!

On the more positive side of things, I've had the opportunity to experience many moments which I'm sure will last a lifetime. A few of the unforgettable moments I've experienced...

- having tickets to actual seats, for an actual Leafs regular season home game. Being able to watch the Leafs beat the Hurricanes 5-4 in Golds made me feel like a wide-eyed kid again
- walking by Jermaine O'Neal past the visiting team locker room and thinking "Holy Sh*t this guy is big!"
- winning the February "Star of the Month" award and receiving company wide recognition. And yes, I did have a Sally Field moment (They really, really like me!)
- Watching my first ever playoff game in a Suite, during which I spilled a cup of Coke all over myself
- The "Sea of Red" at Playoff Home Game 1, cementing my love for the Raptors
- Golfing for the very first time in the company tournament, and learning I have an okay short game
- Stepping into Wednesday morning meetings in the 6th floor boardroom, where I'm certain the ghost of Conn Smythe lurks (ok, so maybe it's just a big painting, but it's majestic!)
- Touching the Larry O'Brien trophy
- holding the NBA 3-Point Champion trophy
- visiting the Raptors locker room (so many times on game days!)
- getting tickets the MLS All-Star game right by the corner flag. Yes, Becks came within 10 feet of me. And when he smiled in my direction, my heart fluttered...I will never again say he's over-rated!

There are many more I'm sure, but these are the moments I can easily recollect. I hope my future with the company is brilliant. I'll be sure to enlighten you all of my travails as they happen :P

5 Months Later - Personal...

- Mom still on my case about "growing up" and seriously considering marriage

As has been the case for the past 10 years or so, my mother has this need to dream of her future daughter-in-law. She has actually made a point of throwing out a few names to me, which I'm still trying to come to terms with. And if that isn't enough, she's planning a trip to the motherland (Pakistan), where I'm sure the goal is to collect as many pictures of eligible bachelorettes. I'm sure you can all imagine how I must feel at selecting a potential wife as if she was coming from a Consumers Distributing catalogue.

Admittedly, it won't be as old-fashioned as it was during my parents time. My mom has somehow discovered the wonders of facebook and video conferencing, and is already beginning to look through my photos to ensure that I have only suitable material online. And most surprisingly, she's actually open to having her son go on actual dates with a girl before deciding. Of course, there's a 10-date cap before the ultimatum...


- My brother the Casanova

While I've been the humble, modest, and traditional son, my brother's gone down the other route. He seems to have girls flocking to him whenever I see him in public, and he has no problem telling family that this is due to his 'sexiness'. Not to sound old, but when I was his age, I was barely allowed to look at girls, forget flirting!

I'm convinced he's up to a lot of craziness which he's great at concealing from us. And yes, I'm sure you all can actually read the envy I have for him in these words! :P

- Chicago...

An aunt and uncle of mine (two siblings of my mom) are currently visiting in the U.S. from Pakistan. The plan we've all had is to find a way to schedule some time where we could all meet in the Windy City for a few days at my cousin (aunt's daughter's) home. At the beginning of this month, my boss (after some negotiating) gave me the time off. Upon announcing this to my Chi-Town relatives, we were kindly told that my cousin's husband is very busy working at home these days and that he gets 'disturbed very easily'. In other words, while we've been saying you should come, we never really meant it, so piss off!

The past two years when we've visited Illinois, we've stayed at this family's place, and it was evident that they weren't exactly giving us the red carpet treatment. With that being said, it's customary in our culture (and especially our family) to open your home to family. To call us a disturbance made it sound like Zan and I were coming home at 2AM drunk and belligerent. I'm still trying to understand how we could disturb when the daily schedule of Zan and I consisted of the following :

a) wake up, get ready, and have breakfast
b) Take our rental car out for the day to either shop, catch some baseball, or sightsee
c) Come home either in the evening after already having dinner, watch some tv, and sleep

Anyhow, this has caused an international incident, where my Mom has made no qualms of telling each and every sibling of hers around the world of this insult. On the plus side, we've received a very open invitation to visit Europe this fall. While normally it would be a bit pricey, I figure that since we're not going to visit our American relatives anytime soon, a EuroTrip may be in order!

Super Jamario!

Hey yaars,

I write to you now, hours away from what could potentially be a very good (or very bad!) night for Raptor fans. This evening, we have two Raptors in the NBA All-Star skills competition, and I'm hoping they put on a show for the rest of the league to see. Let's hope Jamario Moon (photo on the right) lights up the dunk competition, and Jason Kapono drains enough 3s to repeat!

Oddly enough, the skills competition is a big deal in our home. We watch it every year, and always have family around to enjoy the action. Believe it or not, there's ALWAYS at least one cool dunk to admire, even if it does take 100 attempts to nail it!

And on to the notes...

- I actually shopped at Roots for the first time, ever! While I've liked their merchandise, I've always found it a bit on the pricey side. Luckily, they had their Leaf items on sale, reasonable enough for me to stuck up on a hoody, scarf, hat, and polo shirt!

- Adding to my tales of traffic woe, I got stuck in the massive snowstorm last Tuesday. I knew that morning it was going to be cold (hence the driving), but had no idea of the snow till about 10AM. A rush-hour drive home, which normally takes an hour, took 2 hours and 45 minutes, with a few scares along the way! It was the worst drive of my life, and one which has taught me to never drive at the slightest possibility of inclement weather!

- I received two anonymous happy new year texts, which really had my brain stirring. Luckily, after some mistaken texts sent out by me, I now know who the people are! We need to have a text message signiature feature!

- Thank God the writers are off strike. If I had to watch anymore American Gladiator episodes in prime time, I think I would have switched to Indian TV for entertainment!

- The Raptor = best mascot in Toronto. Watching him sommersault dunk (off a trampoline), is a sight to behold

- Further signs of the apocalypse - little kids jumping up and down at sporting events singing "Superman that ho".

Alright, I'm off. Things to do and people to see. Happy Family weekend everyone!

Go Leafs Go!

Hi everyone,

It's a quite saturday night in the Rathore household, so I figured this would be a nice opportunity to blog. Hope everything is well on your end (whomever you are), and here are some tidbits to keep you amused.

- Kobe Bryant is even better to watch in person. Yesterday evening he poured in 46 points, and in a brilliant all-rounded performance, was excellence personified. It might have been the most impressive individual performance I've ever seen in person. It even topped LeBron's 24 point 4th quarter against the Raptors on Jan. 6th.

- I feel for Portsmouth's Benjani. He has 12 goals this season in the English Premier League, and as one of the league's best attackers was coveted by many teams. Portsmouth decided to sell him for 7.6 million pounds to Manchester City. They used 7 million of these funds to buy Jermaine Defoe from Tottenham, thus netting 600,000 pounds. Unfortunately, now there are disputes over whether the paperwork was completed before the 11:59 PM deadline on Jan. 31st, and now Man City is refusing to agree to the deal. So now we have a suitor who has changed his mind, and his old team no longer requiring him, having also spent the money they expected from his sale. It's a ludicrous situation which is very interesting to follow.

- No Country for Old Men is a very suspenseful movie to watch. Unfortunately it leaves on such a whimper that it almost ruined the film for me. I need some closure on the movies I watch!

- Last night after the Raps game, when we were leaving the ACC, a friendly worker handed me a mini-basketball upon leaving the stadium. Upon further inspection, I found the ball emblazoned with the armed forces and government of Canada logos. What better way to spend taxpayer money to recruit soldiers, than to give out mini rubber balls with your logo?!?

- If I haven't said it before, I'll say it again. Anyone with an iPod SHOULD invest in a pair of solid headphones. The JBL's I bought a few months ago have been brilliant, and I was very appreciative of their performance this week, when I had to suffer through using earbuds one night.

- I get the suspicious feeling that the Twins know something about Johann Santana that we all don't. Why else would they trade him for 4 relative nobodies?

- Last week I saw a homeless person reject food from someone! A good samaritan offered up a full box of sushi to him, to which he responded "no thanks, it makes me stomach sick". Now really, if you're starving, wouldn't it be more advisable to have a full stomach and be in the bathroom a few hours later than to stay hungry?

Alright, well I'm off to listen to some podcasts. Enjoy the Super bowl tomorrow and put your money on the Pats. Everyone's falling in love with the Giants and is forgetting how good this Pats team is!

*You're a Superstar..."

Hey yaars,

I'm back for 2008, with good news to begin with. I figured it would be best to fly under the radar for the first few weeks of the new year in order to prevent any "evil eyes" to veer my way. Luckily, I can say with much happiness that I've passed my 3-month probation period and am a full-fledged employee of MLSE. Huzzah!

It's difficult to precisely describe how much of an effort I've made to walk on eggshells the whole time. After the "experience" of the summer, I wanted to ensure that I didn't make any enemies, endeared myself to my colleagues, and also proved that I was an asset to the organization. I think I've achieved all of the above, and am eagerly waiting the new responsibilities that head my way.

It's been a very eye-opening experience at 40 Bay St., and nothing but positive. Say what you want about the performance on the court, but on the business side they are VERY professional and will make every effort to ensure that all of their employees strive for greatness. The encouragement and kind words I've received not only re-enforce, but have motivated me to go to the next level.

For those out of the loop, this last summer I gave a concerted effort in a previous position, only to be told by a higher-ranking colleague that I was "useless, a mistake, and not having a good work ethic". That's hurtful enough, but it hurt me more knowing what I had done for the organization and how much help I had provided. It didn't help that I was essentially ignored for the last week of my tenure.

Looking back, I really feel that certain people were insecure with my presence. I'll pinpoint it back to the end of summer when I completed a project which had my department impressed. I truly feel that moment catalyzed a reaction where I was repeatedly thrown under the bus in efforts to remove me from the equation.

Having said all that, I'm so very thankful that I've been graced with such wonderful fortune. I finally put to rest any doubts I had over my competency, while working with colleagues who treat me with the respect anyone should deserve. I may be looking back with some sour grapes, but I really tried to be fair in my thoughts and have still maintained the same opinion.

Yes, I know that starting the new year with a vent-session probably isn't the most cheery thing to do, but I needed to get some venom out of my system. Those of you who know me well are aware of the pride I take in my work and know how much I value my self-respect. Which is why I'm loving every second of what I'm doing right now!

Now that all that's out of the way, here are some of my random thoughts!

- I was at the Raps game against Cleveland on Jan. 6th when LeBron took the game by the scruff of it's neck in the 4th. My question was, and still is, why the heck wasn't he being double teamed? I'm no basketball expert, but when a guy is torching you left, right, and centre, shouldn't you make life a little difficult for him?

- I don't give Zan much credit for his auditory senses, but for once I'll give him some kudos. He encouraged me to listen to Lupe Fiasco for the first time, and I must say that The Cool is possibly the first hip hop album I've enjoyed from start to finish. Not only is he a great lyricist, the beat for each one of the album's tracks stray from the typical bass-heavy beats that are in every rap song. I'd recommend the album to anyone, with a 5-Star rating.

- Is it wrong that I want to see the new Rambo film? Rambo was the first Sly Stallone character I saw as a kid, and for whatever reason my pops always liked him over Arnold as his favourite action star. Human growth hormone or not, for 62, he looks VERY good in that film

- Not that I want to overstate my current situation, but I wanted to underline how happy I am in comparison to my situation 4 months ago. While back then I was told I was useless, my current boss has encouraged me to throw ideas his way, ask questions, and get my name out there. You really have no idea how morale-boosting when your boss says he's got your back, contrasted to the laissez-faire mentality I had to work with before.

- Guitar Hero 3 is bloody addictive. Until of course your brother practices like a madman and shows you up every day. I'm still having difficulty grasping some of the harder songs in medium, whereas he's perfecting them!

- Super Bowl Sunday is next week. While I've teased Zan about his love for Brady and the Cheat-riots, I can't possibly see the Giants win this one. They're close game in Week 17 had more to do with the Pats letting them make it closer than it did with the Giants perseverance. And there's no way in hell Eli had FOUR straight games without a turnover. If I had money to gamble with, I'd pick the Pats to cover!

- What's up with everyone going to Cuba these days? Is it really cheap to go there, or is it just heaven on earth? Regardless, I'm expecting Cohiba's from everyone who's went!

- So Britney's going out with an Afghani-born Paparazzi photographer. This might mean that I actually now have a shot! Say what you want, but she's bloody rich, and I still think she's good-looking (50% of the time).

- Akin to baseball and 2002, I find myself falling in love with basketball this year. I guess when you have access to games and you get to see these giants up close, it's a little easier to enjoy. Plus, the Raptors are a playoff team, which makes things interesting

- After waiting 3 months, Cedric FINALLY gave me my birthday present this year. This is an improvement from 2 years ago where he waited 13 months to give me a gift certificate (which I think to this day was a guilt-trip gift). Anyhow, he's given me this great book on sports economics by Andrew Zimbalist which details why teams do what they do. Let's just put it this way, the fans don't come first if it affects the bottom line!

Alright, I think I've blogged enough to bore y'all. I'm off to watch No Country for Old Men. I hope it's as good as everyone says it is.

Ciao!