Getting busy again...

So although dragon boat is slowing winding down (our last regatta is this weekend!) my week has been really busy. I finally got my visa letter from U of Edinburgh in the mail last Friday and have been working really hard on my visa application. There are so many forms that basically ask the same questions, and I have no idea whether or not I have to fill all of them out. There's an online application that I have to do, plus an Appendix and Personal details form from the UK Border Agency website. The online application cost $261.00!!!!! My god, I really hope I did it right. I had to take new passport-sized photos for the application and when I go meet with the visa application people, I have to get biometrics completed which are fingerprints and another picture. I'm already cutting it really close and I hope that the queue for getting a student visa to the UK is very VERY short. It's supposed to take 6-8 weeks and I'm meeting with the application office this Thursday and leaving for Edinburgh August 1st. And I'm really glad McMaster didn't screw me over either. Luckily, I was going to Hamilton anyways this Wednesday in the afternoon for dragon boat practice at Bayfront Park (we get a free hour from Lively Dragons for registering for one of their regattas) and now I can just go earlier to pick up my transcript! And I'm lucky because I applied to pick up my transcript after convocation waaaay in advance (like back in May) so I was on the top of the pile. *Sigh* It's pretty stressful right now with the forms and hopefully I have everything filled out. It even said on the UK Border Agency website that the main reason people are turned away from getting a visa is due to insufficient documents so I have the originals and copies of EVERYTHING. I should probably dress nicer too so at least I look like a student about to study medicine and not a student bum.
Hopefully the meeting goes well!! Wish me luck :).

NIN|JA

Ok, amazing concert!! This tour is NIN's last tour ever! Or so they say...I'm really hoping they'll tour again in a couple of years, I didn't get to see Trent Reznor's crazy biceps last night, he kept his leather coat on all through the show. Kyle and I waited and stood around the front of Ontario Place in the most disorganized line ever (we ended up having to switch between 3 different lines...). But we eventually got to the front of the line and got to stand right by the gate for the whole show.

Opening band was Street Sweepers Social Club and they were amazing! I had no idea Tom Morello was in that band and he made the f'ing show! He rocked out after every song and during one of his solos, he played the same string on his electric guitar but just turned the tuning knob back and forth. And in another one, he played it with his teeth! AND in another solo, he unplugged his guitar and took the plug to his hand and made some crazy sounds. At one point, he told everyone to "stand the fuck up" and he points to the crowd, "you two girls, I see you, get the fuck up. hahaha, that girl just mouthed the words 'fuck you, i won't do what you tell me' ". GREAT STUFF!!! The rest of the band was amazing. They started with the Star Wars theme song and they call came out with coordinated clothing, same SSSC t-shirts and these crazy Beatles Yellow Submarine-like coats. I wish they played more.

When they finished, the crowd was getting pretty rowdy, we were all PUMPED. They went crazy with the fog machine and I'm pretty sure I inhaled more of that fog than air for most of the NIN set. They only played for an hour and a half and they finished with Hurt which was amazing. Trent was rocking out too hard and ended up falling on his ass but he made it look cool. He was throwing all of the equipment EVERYWHERE. The set guys were busy for the entire hour and a half picking stuff up from the floor, catching the mics that he keeps throwing, and lifting stands up and down to accommodate him. We were able to stand in front of Robin the entire time and he made mullets look cool. It was semi-busy in the front and dreadlock/mohawk in the back, pretty intense stuff right there.

After their set, Jane's Addiction came on but it definitely wasn't as rockin'. All of the songs sounded the same and I had no idea what the heck the lead singer was wearing...one of the pieces was a corset...wtf?Anyways, I don't really have much else to say about them, they were OK.

Overall, I thought the concert was great! I wish it was a little crazier, I wanted to be pushed around a little bit more and I was a little disappointed with the light show. There was a lot of strobe but it definitely wasn't like the big tv screens like their last tour. So I was a little disappointed that it wasn't crazy! Kyle thinks it's because of the mixed crowd, half being NIN fans and half being Jane's Addiction fans.

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In other news, the banners for Mac Dragon Boat are finished! They look super kickass and I can't wait for everyone to see them tomorrow at Pickering Regatta!! I just have to do some crude grommetting but other than that, it'll be super gnarly :). Also! I just found out I am now unconditional firm with U of Edinburgh which means I'm officially in their system and am a student for the new school term :).