Pemberton Recap-Part 1

I'm still too tired, exhausted and busy with piled up work to even start to do the real recap post of Pemberton Musicfest other than to say it was a fantastic, disgusting, dirty, exhausting, tiring, and euphoric weekend and I have so many stories to come. My camera is still mid developing so for now I'm just gonna post some generic shots I grabbed off the newspaper websites.

This is people starting to fill the field for Metric on Friday. Dusty, with a gorgeous background of the mountains!

A shot of the crowd from the stage at night (note this is one of the four main stages)

The Bacardi B151 Tent, which was pitch black all day long and made you feel like you weren't in a festival complete with 4 full bars with rain showers behind, 6 beds to lay on, many loungers in the sun, 2 vip stages with couches and more.

The Tragically Hip-Best Canadian Band Ever.

He may not have come back to my tent for some love making, but he did sing a song about wanting to Fuck Me Like an Animal.

Hizzo and I are tight after P-fest. He gave us a shout out. We gave him a shout out. You know how it goes.

Rock. God.

I don't want to alarm anyone but I think Tom may have been "on the pot".

That's it for now, but a full recap to come soon...

MotherF#cking Pemberton Music Fest, Baby!

AAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


Sorry, I'm just a little bit excited. At this time Thursday midday I'm going to be basking in the sweet sweet sexy music of Pemberton MusicFest. Ticks were bought months ago (courtesy of my bestest wife/friend Leanne as a birfday gift)and excitment has sloooooooowly been growing, but it struck me yesterday like a ton of bricks.


It's almost time! It's really here. And now muchlike Christmas I can't sleep? So much to do, so much to pack, where do start?


Well first off I'll start by telling you some of the great bands I'm going to see between Friday to Monday.

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers


• Jay-Z


• Coldplay


• Nine Inch Nails


• N.E.R.D.


• Metric


• Serj Tankien (Lead singer of System of a Down)


• Interpol


• Sam Roberts


• Tragically Hip


• Death Cab for Cutie


• The Flaming Lips


• Wolfmother


• Wintersleep


• DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist


• Chromeo

Yeah, are you jealous yet? You should be. That's only a snippet of over one hundred bands playing music over five days at the largest Canadian Music festival ever set to date. Forty thousand people tenting near the little town of Pemberton one hour north of beautiful Whistler, B.C. (home of the 2010 Olympics).

This is my first time camping for more than 12 hours or partaking of a festival of this size and to say I'm stoked in the understatement of the century. So much to do and so little time, and work just keeps piling up.and none of my questions come with premade answers...

Can I survive off beer and veggie burgers for five days straight?

Will either Pharell or Trent R. want to come back to my tent wth the promise of sweet lovemaking under solar panels and a gatorade popsicle?

Can I bring walkie talkies back in style?

Is beer or a ceasar a more appropriate drnk for a hangover?

Can a hair straightener be plugged into a car battery?

Will find a guest blogger by Wednesday night?

Will my pale skin finally get the tan it wants, or the pink it knows?

Wll there be any students there and how much do have to pay them to not tell the stories of their half naked drunkass instructor?

How will I survive without facebook/blogging for almost a week?

Is t inappropriate at 28 to wear a cowboy hat and throw out the devils sign during concerts?

If Gwenyth is there with Chris, think she'll share her tips on how her hair is so goddamed shiny all the time?

When Jay-Z realized just how awesome I am at rapping back '99 problems, do you think he'll invite me on stage for a mash-up?

I still have so much to do but all can do is bounce around rockng out to Freefalling n my underwear.....so pretty much the same as I'll be doing in four days!

What you can expect, when I'm "with the band"

There Was Someone Looking Over You

"Check for bodies."

"She was going so fast. There's no way someone could have survived that."

"Look for someone down the embankment, they could have been thrown."

Those were the words I woke up to one year ago. I knew I had just been in an accident, a horrible accident. As I layed, pinned against the steering wheel upside down it all started coming back to me. But before I could reflect on the eighty seconds that changed me forever, I had to address the immediate.

There was gas leaking and I needed to get out. So with a body bruised and pummeled by sheets of metal and exploding glass I had no choice but to break free and slide my body over the layers of jagged glass leading to the ground. Adrenaline and shock kicked in making the cuts and tears from glass virtually painfree and unnoticed, adding to the layers of glass deeply protruding leaving permanent scars and ribbons of cuts still with me to date.

The rest was a blur, I didn't notice my shirt was off. A firstaider covered me. The ambulance took so long and the shock grew deeper. I could tell it was probable I would lose consciousness again so I started rattling off information that could be pertinent for strangers who had just witnessed a car roll across four lanes of highway into oncoming traffic before skidding on its roof to hit a rock embankment.

"My name is Meghan. I'm 27. I'm hypoglycemic and allergic to penicillin and sulfurics. My parents cell phone number is in my phone under Parents. Call them. I'm currently not taking any medication."

The ambulance came. I looked at the crumpled remains of the car I loved so much. My first car. My graduation present. Now a twisted piece of sheet metal, a skeleton of itself. It was gone. I looked at my body. Streaks of gravel, broken teeth, obvious concussion, torn muscles. Pavement where skin should be and tears staining a face covered in glass and oil. But I was still here. I was lucky.

" I don't know if I believe in angels. I don't know if I believe in God. But I think there's someone out there that didn't want you to die tonight. I've been to dozens of accidents that weren't as bad as this where the people didn't walk away. You shouldn't have walked away. But you did. You're lucky."

The cop who witnessed it all said. He was saying it to be kind but also to be truthful. I was getting charged while still bandaged and in pain. He was nice and gave minimal charges despite my truthfulness.

"Yes, I was speeding. Excessively. Yes, I was smoking. Yes I looked away from the road, but only for a minute...and I lost control."

It only took a second, a split second and everything changed. If I had killed someone I would have been charged with manslaughter he said. I would have deserved it. I felt I deserved more punishment for all the pain I caused. My family who had to get a phone call informing them their daughter was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident. The friends who had to see me in the hospital, their gasps audible as I was wheeled through the ER a mass of IV bags and braces. My brother who had to search hospitals to find me. The people who found out by hearing it on the news. The staff who was accomodating to the months of physiotherapy and doctors appointments that followed.

One year later and I'm still so affected. Just as how at age fourteen I vowed to never drink and drive after having a friend killed by a drunk driver, I have been affected by speed. The flashbacks and nightmares that followed for months. Knowing if I had rolled one more time......if the truck had been ten feet closer.....the cowboy hat that saved my head from the crushed roof.....the oversized sunglasses saving my eyes from the splinters of glass.........The depression. The fear. The embarrassment. I am just now slowly starting to drive on the highways again, and it is terrifying but I know I must do it. I will conquer it.

At age twenty seven I was faced with my own mortality, in a brief moment that I cannot ever describe in words. It changed everything. I heard today of possibly two other accidents that have happened in the Okanagan within the last twenty four hours. Likely relating to speed. One with fatalities.

The need for speed isn't all about hotshot punkass shits with souped up Civics street racing that kills. It's the people that want to make the long weekend traffic that much faster, get to the camping spot, the festival, the relativies. It's anyone. It's me. I need the adrenaline rush. But now I also respect my mortality and that of others.

And with the streaks of tears back on my face as the floodgates have reopened, I wear my scars proud rather than ashamed. I survived my own stupidity and that's my daily reminder. I don't need the speed to feel alive, I feel alive by slowing down and respecting my life and others around me.

Estrogen=Crazy

The blog title prob made a few people cringe, but I have to admit I'm chock full of it right now with a side of progesterine. The fun of trying to ensure my uterus is not chock full of babies every month.

Of course with trying to get pill dosage right, a fun little rendevous with the morning after pill about 5 weeks ago and my normal crazyasaloon mood swings, right now to say I've been emotionally charged lately is an understatement.

This is not boding well in trying to convince my one guy friend that all redheads are NOT indeed insane.

But rather than continually feel guilty for the raw nerve endings of my psyche I'm starting to see the actual Benefits of it. Right now through my manic highs of snorting laughter and lows of offended tears I'm seeing that I am Aware of my emotions more right now than I have been in a long time. It's scary and real.

I crave food right now with the salivation of a pregnant woman.
I want kisses that are salty with passion, not bitter from booze.
I hurt when people say rude things rather than brushing it off.
I appreciate the many things people do for me, which don't come with enough thank yous.
I enjoy the new friendships I have been making and growing from.
I lust for a sense of balance between the adult I am and the immature girl that reflects back.
I hope to look better than my exboyfriends shiny new girlfriend at the dinner party Saturday.
I'm happy he's happy, but just unhappy it was so soon afterwards.
I wish people would take me more seriously. Doing stupid things doesn't make me a stupid person.
I rage when people are careless with feelings.
I hesitate to accept casual sex as substitute over substance.
I absorb stories from others, like sunshine on my face.
I speak advice I can only wish to follow myself, someday.
I care too much about the little stuff while knowing in the end the big picture will work out.
I envy people with families right now. At 28 it finally struck me...Wives. Husbands. Children. As it brings purpose that my lifestyle is too selfish and insula rto permit.
I miss a sense of belonging at work.
I love me, flaws and all.
I hate that I have to remind myself of that.

If anything this time period has allowed a sense of emotional freedom and catharsis, not wanted but expected and appreciated. A hormonal imbalance that can create a sense of chaos and inner confusion at times that make me wonder if I could be tiptoeing towards a breakdown of sorts, but with it also brings a clarity and empowerful of appreciating all the deeprooted feelings you push aside during your day because you're too busy with stuff.

What are you feeling?

The Bachelor Party

All I had planned this weekend was to float down the channel on Okanagan Lake, Everything else was supposed to be chill and relaxed and hijink free. Seriously.



I didn't plan on a bachelor party staying in our motel all weekend. With twenty hot guys between 26-29. (Dear diary, jackpot.) I didn't plan on drinking from 2pm til 4am straight. I sure as hell didn't think that the lake would be warm enough to swim in at 3am. Or that I would manage to slide down the slide into the lake without spilling my beer.


I didn't think I'd make out with a guy three hours after I slapped him out for suggesting such atrocity. The nerve. And that I'd almost get kicked out of the strippers for taking pictures. Not even of the strippers but the groom to be all pretty in his dress and makeup.


I sure didn't think his friends would ditch him to try to coug' it up so my partner in crime (Leanne) and I would be the ones to take him home and put him to bed. Or that the motel manager would be there when I tried to break into the hotel pool. Sans clothes.


It was just surreal to take pictures with Elvis at some point, break my phone for the millionth time, become friends with guys named Samantha, the Greganator, Farva and the hot waitress. Or that I'd be drunk til 10am. And have barely enough time to go for breakkie (Dennys-breakkie of champions) with my friend and his kids. It's very hard to not swear in front of children whilst hungover. Very hard.

I didn't think it would be one of the best weekends I've had in a long time, but it was and that's what makes those road trips so awesome. When there's no plans and just the want to have some fun in the sun. I'd post pics but already know the rules of the bach party are to not do that so will refrain.

Oh and I wonder if management was able to get the sandcastle worth of sand out of the bed. Don't ask.

Princess Pirate Meghan Day

Has a nice ring to it, no?

But no, as yesterday was my birthday I think I'll celebrate 28 by embracing the maturity of age and descent into 30 with some wisdom and sage advice from one blogger to another. Let me give guidance and insight to those younger bloggers out there so they can learn from the many mistakes I make, over and over.

Then I thought, fuck it. Pictures will give the same message. *

Because growing older means becoming resourceful.

Now would be a good time for any delurkers to give me the present of coming out for birthday wishes :) Have a great day.

*This pic is from a couple years back. I did not celebrate my birthday by peeing in a male urinal. It was a low key dinner with a couple drinks, that's all. 28 was supachill.