Lots to write about. I said goodbye to my parents this morning. My mom decided to rinse a few pieces of fruit for me to bring on the trip. It might not seem like a big deal to most folks, but she got the fruit from the fridge in her wheelchair and rinsed them all under the tap with her stronger hand. It was a sweet gesture.

So, I backed out of the driveway this morning, with my mom waving at me, a shadow of my mom in her wheelchair. I picked up my friend and drove off to Niagara Falls.

Maybe an hour on the road, my friend needed to find a washroom. So sad that his bladder is weaker than mine. We stopped in Hamilton at a Tim Hortons. Surprisingly, we didn’t buy anything there. It was windy on the skyways. Still, it was a pleasant drive.

There are guys out there who like Jann Arden’s music. My good friend is proof.

We got to the Falls, parked, and visited a lovely restaurant for lunch called Monticello. I have always pronounced it mon-ti-chel-lo, with cello being the stringed instrument. Folks in Minnesota pronounce it mon-ti-sel-lo, with cello sounding like cellophane. My friend jokingly called it mon-ti-ckle-lo, as if he were Grover messing up with the pronunciation. It was cute.

We went to Clifton Hill and walked up and down it. We spent some time at the arcade. Disappointingly, there weren’t any Pacman games for me to play. Oh well. I do like skee ball. I’m pretty good at that.

We headed to the Falls. It’s a beautiful sight to see. Tons of people were there. Took lots of pictures and visited the souvenir store. I had to get a couple of rolls of film, too.

Pretty close to where I had parked, we stopped at an ice cream parlour and ordered some goodies. I had a root beer float with triple chocolate brownie ice cream. It wasn’t exactly a healthy treat to have, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Parking was only five dollars, which was a steal for me. My Manitoba-plated car was parked next to one from North Dakota. How about that!

I spent my time enjoying my float at the ice cream place while observing what licence plates were on each car passing by. Most were from Ontario and Ohio. I saw the first Rhode Island plate in my life. It was a pleasant experience.

We left the downtown area, which seems like being in the U.S. with TGI Fridays and Ruby Tuesday, even though we were on the Canadian side of the Falls, and headed to our hotel. It’s kind of like a motel, but it’s a hotel with continental breakfast, a swimming pool, and so much more. The room is very cozy.

After resting for a bit, we headed to Niagara Fallsview Casino. It’s beautiful both on the outside and the inside. Lots of parking underground, except that the signs said park out everywhere. They aren’t two separate signs. The words aren’t even on different coloured backgrounds. One sign. One colour. Two different arrows. The car in front of me got confused by that. Luckily, I kind of figured that there were two instructions on one sign as I drove along.

It’s absolutely gorgeous inside. There’s shopping, yummy restaurants, and friendly folks at the information desk. I had to ask the guy there were I’d find the box office. He pointed me to the place and picked up my tickets. The woman there exclaimed, "You have excellent seats!" when she found my tickets. I had no idea what seats I had been assigned. It’s on the first-purchased-first-seated ritual. I ended up in the third row, off to the side. I was incredibly close to the stage. Oh. My. Gosh.

So, we got there early and decided to visit a buffet restaurant across the street. The food was great there. The roast beef was delightful. I particularly liked the lemon coconut bar for dessert.

We had lots of time to kill. I visited the casino’s gift store. I bought a pair of red transparent dice and a pewter keychain. We then hit the casino.

I turned to my friend and asked just before we entered, "What are my chances of my getting carded here?" He was aware that security folks at casinos do not believe that I’m nineteen years of age or over for some reason. I wasn’t chewing a lot of gum. I didn’t have my cap on backwards. I wasn’t wearing jeans that were too tight to breathe in. They weren’t even falling off my waist.

I walked in and was stopped by the security guy. Standing in front of me, he asked, "How old are you?"
Not expecting that question to come out of him, I said, "I’m thirty-two."
"You’re thirty-two?" He calmly asked.
"Yes," I stated.
"Okay."

I hope I still get mistaken for a young person when I’m in my forties.

There was a huge lineup in the casino. I finally realized that it was for the buffet. Weird.

So, we played the slots. I put ten dollars into the machine and won it all back. That was pretty neat. My friend lost his ten dollars.

We then proceeded to the Avalon Theatre. Friendly folks helped us get seated. The place gives you complimentary soft drinks. I sipped on diet Coke. I was seated off to the left of the stage, incredibly close up. I was so happy. The seats were comfortable. They were velvety red, without any armrests. I like them.

The show started at 20:35, with Jann coming on stage. She wore a suede, rustic teddy bear-brown, long blazer with punched-out little flowers at the bottom of it and where the pockets were. It was belted, too. She had a tight black stretchy shirt underneath and a nice, long, black leather skirt on. It had a slit down the back, showing her tall, black leather boots that she had on. I was so close up that it was amazing seeing that much detail.

She opened with "in Canada," which happens to have a sentimental and special song to me. She looked over to where I was frequently, as if I seemed familiar to her. I don’t think that was the case, but she did smile my way. Perhaps I was one of the few in the area who was singing to every word of every song that she was singing. It helped that her mother was in front of us. She seemed incredibly proud of her daughter.

She started off cracking a joke about trying to do the Celine Dion thing at this casino by getting her bass player to wear see-through pants, wiring him up the ceiling, and swinging him onto the stage last night. Apparently, that didn’t work well and he had to go to the hospital for medical help. The doctor replied, "I can see you’re nuts." Cute.

I have said many times that going to a Jann Arden concert is like going to a comedy festival and a concert all at once. There were lots of memorable moments.

She said at one point, "This guy is taking a picture of me with his phone!" She then posed for the fan, lifting her skirt up a bit and posing in as sexy a position as she could. After he got her picture taken, she asked, "Did you get the picture? I hope so. I just pulled a muscle in my ass doing that."

Another funny moment occurred when two females were late getting to her show. She asked, "Did you two just get here? Kind of hard to tear yourselves from those blackjack tables, huh? Okay, let’s start the show from the top. We started with ‘Waiting in Canada’" She and her band went on to play the song as if someone were playing a tape of it with the fast-forward and play buttons on simultaneously. It was a hoot!

I laughed the hardest when she and one of her band members were doing a typical scene from Iron Chef. Absolutely hilarious!

Her set list was fairly similar to the one used back in January of this year, although there was more audience participation when she and her band did some improvising. She sang, "Fernando," "Killing me softly," and "Highway to hell," with everyone singing along. Wonderful.

She sang "Only one," which happens to be one of her favourite songs to perform. I love when she performs that live, too. "Insensitive" was partially sung to a reggae beat. That was neat. She ended with "Good mother," guaranteeing to bring the house down. It didn’t fail last night.

She came back with her manager’s new baby. She helped cut the baby’s umbilical cord. It was "like cutting calamari". Ha! She sang "Unloved" for her encore. It was a wonderful concert. She did not disappoint.

I took a number of photos of her. I can’t wait to have them developed. I love her. I’ve seen her three times in my life, tying my record with Madonna. I’ve actually seen Melanie Doane more times than any other act.

After the concert, we went to use the washrooms in the casino. We then played another slot machine game. I won $20.25, putting $5 into the machine. I can’t complain.

Guess what? I saw my company’s cash-dispensing machine at the casino. I was so happy.

I paid for parking there. It was only $5. It was cheap. We then visited Shoppers Drug Mart to get some pop and a few goodies.

I did quite a bit today. I’m too tired to write about it, so that’ll have to wait till tomorrow.

It was worth it the hour’s drive for over to see Jann perform. I’d do it again. I hope she plays again soon.

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Song that's stuck in my head: Jann Arden's "Sorry for myself"
Yummy food eaten today: Fish and chips
What I crave: Water

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01