SPRINGTIME-

So I have been told that it has been quite a while since my last blog entry…. And what can I say so much has happened to me that I don’t know where to start. 

Well… let’s start from about the time when I went to Australia. That was basically for the month of March and since then time has been in fast forward for Supernal. To speak of my trip to Australia; well it was an awesome trip and I saw and did so much that I feel that my “memory card” was full from day 9. My first journey was alone and was a 30 hour flight (including stop-overs) to Australia. I was a bit anxious about the flight, the length of it and the fact that I was flying alone, that I let my doctor talk me into taking a drug much like Valium; a relaxing anti-anxiety drug that had the potential for addictive dependency. I was actually looking forward to the relaxed, mellow high that was promised, since I am no friend of turbulence and flying over large bodies of water. Instead, I ended up feeling woozy and I actually threw up in Honolulu, which was a disappointment and only the beginning to my world of vomiting! I met my family in Sydney and flew to Cairns, which is a far-north, resort-type of region. That basically means that meals are about $30 on average but it also means that you are here in the middle of nowhere for a reason. I spent my first full day on a Sky Rail that went 6.5 km into a tropical rain forest, and then the next day I spent at the Great Barrier Reef. One of my best experiences “Down Under” was here, when I had the opportunity to snorkel in the Reef. I was so seasick from the ride 65 km offshore, that by the time we started seeing the coral and the tropical fish, I was so seasick that I ended up “Feeding the Fish”, or in other words, vomiting into the Pacific Ocean! It was actually so cool, a whole bunch of fish started swarming around me once I started throwing up, and apparently I was more than happy to feed the frenzy of tropical sea life that was there to greet us. Awesome experience, although I basically passed out in the sun after that and got a very painful sunburn.

To summarize my Australia trip I had an amazing time and got to explore Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. I visited Steve Irwin’s “Australia Zoo” and got to witness a real crocodile feeding! I also got to hand-feed Kangaroos several times (they are actually very friendly and charming… well, atleast when in captivity) and I also got to pet and hold a Koala. I swear I have the pictures the prove it. The Koalas were my favorite and I was surprised at how cute and cuddly they actually were. An interesting fact about Koalas is that they sleep about 20 hours a day; not because of the heat but because the Eucalyptus leaves they eat are not very nutritious (and are actually toxic to all other animals) and they don’t have a lot of energy to spare during the day. I was very disappointed to see so many Koalas sleeping at all times but it makes sense why they seem so damn lazy! I saw a lot of the Australian landscape, including mountain ranges and many ocean views. My favourite ocean spot was Surfer’s Paradise, which is surprisingly a whole city that includes a vast region of high and dangerous ocean waves. Overall the best city to visit is Sydney, which has so much culture, history and an amazing skyline! Australia in general is very much like Canada; the culture, diversity and geography is very similar….minus the obsession with Cricket, the driving on the left hand side of the road (THAT was fun) and activities such as “Tea Time” and eating Vegemite! All the same, I felt like I didn’t miss much when I came back to the Northern Hemisphere. 

Right when I returned the band was very busy with the video shoot for “Light it Up”. It was a flurry of activity for 2 full days, and we had a blast. We basically had as much fun as you could have considering we had a 7AM call time, and were performing and shooting all day to the same damn song over and over! I can’t really divulge the details of the shoot until the actual video is released, but let’s say it was full of stunts, music, and bits of violence thrown in! Currently the music video is being edited, and I patiently await the edit that you will all get to see. What fun. 

The rest of the last month I am technically forbidden from talking about; let’s just say that I spent a week at the posh Fairmont Royal York on Front Street in downtown Toronto. I slept a total of 10 hours over three and a half days, and had the most stress and chaotic fun ever as I vocally trained with some of the most talented singers you can find across Canada. No, it was not for Canada’s number one-rated show of all time. And no, I wasn’t on camera at least 20 different times… 

As if all of this were not enough excitement for one to handle, we will be in the midst of moving the rehearsal space June 1st when Brent moves into a new house. This one is lacking a roof suitable for throwing trees off of it, and there will no longer be a basketball court for a driveway. It also is not across the street from a McDonalds, nor attached to a religious temple, so we will have to adjust. Conveniently it is located much closer to me, almost a drunken-stumbling distance away if you will, so I am looking forward to it. 

Supernal has been busy writing some new songs with our new drummer Jonny Swank. Jon Jon is nice. He smiles a lot and smells good but can beat the crap out of any drum you put in front of him. For this reason he makes me a little scared. But he also makes me dance and jump up and down…. I guess you just have to meet him to get it. He has a lot of flying experience that impresses me, and we are so happy to have found him; so the future is looking bright and sunny, just to match the weather out here in Toronto.