These days I'm trying my damnedest to maintain this blog on a more frequent and personal level. That said, let me take this opportunity to fill you in and summarize how my November travels went...

On the night before my flight to Ontario, my friends' The Enigma and Serana Rose happened to be in Van and decided to kick it at my place for the night. As always, great conversations and jamming by the fire was a great time.

The next morning I slept in and missed my flight at 10:30am leaving from Van City. Speaking from experience with national trips, if you miss your flight you'll be nailed with a $150 fee for rescheduling; no matter how good your excuse is. When I woke up I immediately called in from bed (30 mins before my flight was scheduled to take off). For some unknown reason, the agent advised me that they were only going to charge me $50 to rebook for later the same day. Rewarded for bad behavior, I wondered? Needless to say I didn't complain.

I more than punctually made it to my next flight taking off at 4:30pm. Not an hour into my flight, a stewardess accidentally knocked my full cup of ginger ale into my lap while i was buckled into my seat. Room temperature or not, that sucked. At least it was entertaining to the passengers surrounding me. I couldn't really get too upset; shit happens. I've definitely had trips start off better than this.

Fast forward to landing at Pearson Airport in Toronto late Saturday night. I was picked up by my old friend Dave (in secondary school his nickname was “Weasel” or “Wheezy”). He was expecting me at around 8:30pm, but due to my flight mishap he stood by until I eventually got there after 1am. It was such a huge help; he drove me all the way to my Aunt's house in Baxter from Toronto even though it was out of his way. The guy wouldn't even accept gas money. Thanks again, Daver! I owe you one when you get out to the West coast!

The next day I picked up my aunt's Dodge Charger took a drive to Alliston to do my ritual lunch stop at Eastside Mario's. This is always my chance to visit my good friend Rachael for a Cheese Cappelletti, which she  adamantly refuses to let me pay for. This restaurant is a great destination on any given Sunday night, as they host my long-time friend Grant of “Into The Entropy” for an acoustic set from 9-close. This always ends up being the perfect rendezvous point for catching up with old friends that I grew up with and never get to see. I usually make a point of doing a song or two with Grant since the novelty is there.

All was good in the hood, then a friend of a friend accidentally knocked his full drink in my lap. Two pairs of jeans down, three to go at this point. It's a hard knock life; for Russ.

See what I did there? Womp womp womp...

This trip ultimately turned out to be a blast. I was busy with lots of bookings and got to hang out and catch up with many friends that I seldom have the opportunity to chill with. Mike and crew in Barrie, Dave and crew in Richmond Hill, Amelia and Ava in Tottenham, Liza, Sharon and Lauren in Toronto, Brandon, Melissa and my family in Hamilton, The whole Alliston crew including Into The Entropy, Nicki, Heather, Tracy and Dean, Taya and family in Oro, my family in Baxter... The list goes on. Also my good friends Tye and Jen happened to have their daughter, Olivia while I was in town! Congratulations, you two!

After my 8 day trip to Ontario wrapped up I flew directly to Winnipeg to continue doing my art for a few more days. Work aside, I got to kick it with my friends from Iron Lotus as well as Kady and Avi downtown. I didn't have nearly enough time to see everyone I would have liked to, but that's the life I live. There's always next time!

On a side note, you may have noticed that I was dabbling with a mustache in many of November's photos. I shaved it off a couple weeks ago, as it got quite annoying on a maintenance level.