October 9th was my birthday! So of course, I spent it driving from Hamilton to Ottawa. But when I got there, I was surprised with a treasure hunt to a little bakery where I found these little treats from Shannon:

They were absolutely delicious, but so rich that we couldn’t eat more than one, and even later on I had to try to pawn them off on other bands because my stomach couldn’t handle the ‘buttercream’.

After that, I went out for celebratory poutine and a milkshake with Josh Hogan, and then I went to the show, which I was SUPER EXCITED FOR! I got to spend my birthday listening to awesome metal bands in a really tiny venue: Ninjaspy, What’s He Building In There? and Ace Kinkaid. My set went really well, but there was one hiccup during my final song with the sampler, but I shut it off, kept singing a cappella, then brought it all back together towards the end, and everyone recognized what an awesome save it was, and started applauding! It was a great moment. Ninjaspy was great, although they didn’t play my favorite breakdown (size of the room became a factor, ha!). What’s He Building In There were really cool, again blending genres with metal, and I’d become good friends with these guys over the next few weeks. Ace Kinkaid was an instrumental act, and jesus, they were great, and I’ve actually written a review of their disc which I might put up here if they’d like. After the show, I crashed at Ignacio’s place, where we caught up on each other’s lives, as well as our newest favorite comedians!