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top100of2021 · 3 years ago

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The Top 100 Songs of 2021

Hey everyone, if you aren’t familiar with what this is, it’s my favorite 100 songs of the past year. For every song, I mix in some kind of personal story or anecdote. I do this every year - just change the year in the URL line for 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 or 2014.

The Spotify playlist for this year can be found here. Kyle is working on the Apple Music playlist and in return, I will give him a Buffet Royale gift card. EDIT: Here it is! https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/top100of2021/pl.u-5g0yh8N6zZa?

The list is less about the songs and more of a lookback at the year we endured and the memories we’ve made. A Christmas card, if you will. If your favorite song didn’t make it, you can write your frustrations down on a napkin and then take that napkin and wipe your ass. I don’t really care.

The title is a bit of a trick, as we don’t have 100 songs on the list this year. It’s only 85 - the lowest number for a list I’ve written since the first one in 2013. This is because Covid-19 took our planet and - as Matty Lew famously quotes often - “bent us over and showed us the fifty states.”

I have a feeling that Covid-19 isn’t leaving us anytime soon (Omicron baby). Hopefully by next December, the worst it gets for anyone is they have a sniffle on the couch while they fart around watching re-runs of Between the Lions.

By the way, a disclaimer: For anyone who isn’t in the list or feels they’re not in it enough: I WANT to always be doing something, and hanging out, or talking to people and learning a new POV. I’m just shitty at initiating often. Hit me up at 780-893-2443 or fire me a message over Messenger. Let’s figure it out.

Onto the list, shall we? (No Ronan, not that list, shut it):

100-86: All Too Well (10 minute version) - Taylor Swift

This section is reserved for the points that I wish we could have wrote about - the memories that weren’t made in between January - June.

There was a lot of discussion in this time about what we’d do when the vaccines released, but so little action. A lot of this time was spent just roaming aimlessly around YouTube watching clips of Saturday Night Live or House.

I want to thank the Alberta government, Covid-19 & stupid ass cold (or too hot) weather for taking away about 15 points from this year’s list. Easily one of the most frustrating times in my life.

The feeling of loneliness and isolation sucks ass. We know that all too well, so if it happens again...imma head out.

Literally throwing this in here but, remember that fire in Erin Ridge? That was nuts. I could see it from my house.

85: Industry Baby - Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow

We’ll start with the movie industry baby!

Matt left the industry - which is too bad, as we can’t call him Landmark Lew anymore like we do in the desk.

Once we got theatres back, I saw a few flicks with Matt & Kyle.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - I liked this movie, especially Ben Kingsley and the bus scene. My qualm is with the writing with Awkafina especially near the end. One arrow? That’s all she needed? Really?

No Time to Die - This was shot beautifully. It’s also closer to the wackier Bond films of the pre-Daniel Craig era. Sure, the plot is muddled and half the time I don’t know why Rami Malek’s character is inspired to do what he does. It’s still a really fun time even though there isn’t much epilogue.

Dune - Matt hated this. I liked it but by the end I was definitely thinking wow....this was a great prequel to the movie I WANT to see. Music slaps. Looks beautiful for the most part. Acting is quite good. The name of the character Duncan Idaho is super goofy but all-in-all, I was entertained. It’s a tad long.

84: Cure for Me - AURORA

The vaccines aren’t really a cure for me - but they certainly helped.

I got my first Covid-19 vaccine at Remedy R/X in May (thanks Stephanie) and got the 2nd one at the EXPO Centre in June. My mom and I recently got our 3rd dose - BOOSTED!

The moment I got that first dose - it felt pretty awesome with a bit of relief that I wouldn’t infect more vulnerable people I’m close to.

Hopefully you got it too. There is no viable reason not to (unless you’re legit allergic, that would suck).

Moderna Gang or Pfizer Gang? I have both in my system.

83. Far Out - Ben Howard

Once people started getting their vaccines more, the “Best Summer Ever” was on the horizon (sigh).

It seemed far out in January but alas, we made it to reopening.

One of the really nice things was being able to go to Cafe Amore again with my dad, Kaitlin + Mike. I still love their Pollo Parmigiana with a side linguini with the tasty Caesar Salads. They treat us like family.

A bit of an odd story but when the province was announcing reopening, I was actually in the hospital for a small procedure. Don’t worry, I walked home after.

When I got to the front of the hospital before the procedure, there was police and healthcare workers everywhere. Apparently, a guy had a heart attack in the lobby. You never want to see that, but hey...if you’re going to have a heart attack, there’s no better place!

This was the same day that Ken Holland had a press conference about the Oilers “best summer ever” that was ahead. Matt and I knew it wouldn’t be.

82. How Not to Drown - CHVRCHES, Robert Smith

I now work for the rights holder of the Edmonton Oilers.

That doesn’t mean I’m not a frustrated fan anymore.

I absolutely love their top five forwards - and you know Evan Bouchard is going to be a Klak favourite for years to come.

They still don’t have the forward depth, defense or goaltending to be any kind of serious contender. That sucks when you have two of the best players in the universe scoring at Mario Lemieux-like paces.

Oh well. Once again, if you’re reading this, you know I can help fix the problem. If you have a connection to the team’s front office, I’ll work for a bag of Cheetos if it means I can turn the ship around. I want a Stanley Cup in my lifetime. I want to win for the city of Edmonton.

Also, Zach Hyman and I are twins. Here is the proof. Wyatt calls me “Klak Hyman” now.

81. Her - Poppy

Despite the pandemic, I was fortunate to still be able to make it to some Edmonton Oilers games.

Matt took me to three pre-season games - all wins! We shared a Lime to get to Rogers Place - it was quite intimate.

I also got to go to the Oilers vs Kings with Josh, Amy & Ronan! Sure, they lost 5-1, but doesn’t matter to me. Any game is a treat at the rink.

Josh warns you though - the popcorn is gross.

Also this is completely unrelated but...Raphy: “Her?” I literally just brought up that reference to fit this song title.

Anyways, here is a picture of the boys at Rogers Place. Thanks Amy!

80. .intoodeep. - Dead Poet Society

When we were in too deep with Covid-19 last winter, we had to figure out a way to still celebrate New Years Eve.

That was the beginning of the Facebook parties.

The first big one we did was the “New Years Bored as F” chat - which was open to anyone on FB Messenger to come and join. It had issues - for example you could only join via desktop or through certain app versions - but it’d have to do.

Kelsey, Jordan, Adrienne, Samantha, Matias, Brian and others all stopped by to see what the hell was going on.

Dyl, Pam, Matty Lew, Rachel, Brenna, Ronan, Raphy, Flem and I ended up being the group that went past 1am playing games late into the night. Some of us still drank, hoping to be able to celebrate in person for 2022. It looks like that’s a possibility...although fuck Omicron.

Weren’t you driving Aaron at one point? I swear to god you were driving and on the chat.

79. Quiet on Set - Remi Wolf

Many Corona chats would end up spawning after January 1.

We did a birthday bash for Ronan.

We had a Valentines Day Mixer for about five seconds.

We had a solid crew play Jackbox on Zoom - not Drew though, he was too busy gaming.

We survived the Brazilian Variant. We freed Britney Spears. We concluded that Ben Askren took a dive (okay that was just me).

There were several Sociables nights. One was with the boys (Ben, Christian, Ronan, Drew, Raphy I think?) that got wild.

One of the crazier ones was the Good Ol Fashioned FB Rager - that one was Raphy, Ronan, Matty Lew, Christi, Maria and myself - and that one was absolutely the one I got the most drunk at. Fun but yikes.

Whether we had Brenna, Braydon, Nick, Jordan, Wyatt, Dyl - it was always more fun than doing nothing. By the end, we had a core crew that showed up to most of them - Matty Lew, Raphy, Ronan, Christi and myself.

It helped pass some of that dead time due to Covid-19 and helped me at least have some kind of a social life. Maybe someday we’ll do another.

Lew, that Oilers squad should have easily won the Cup. Sergei Fedorov was on fire. Dammit. Guy Carbonneau didn’t lead well enough. GUY!

78. Wrecked - Imagine Dragons

We even played Oregon Trail at one point. We got to make up the character names and it’s time to reveal some of them: Kyle Bodnar was the only one of our party who stayed alive, so congrats to Kyle on being the sole survivor. Drew died easily.

And Kelsey...well...you complained of exhaustion and then just died. Sorry.

77. Let It Scare You - The Zolas

Covid-19 or the cold didn’t scare Kelly, James and I from having a fire at James’ old place in the middle of winter.

We ate some Subway, talked about NBA Hot Shot + sports betting for a bit and shot the shit - which at this time was REALLY nice as I had barely seen anyone at that time. Thankfully, it wasn’t -30.

You know Fireman James can get a damn good flame cooking.

Speaking of NBA Hot Shot, that was a real interesting fad. I opened one pack for $15 bucks and sold my three cards for $400 only fifteen minutes later. NFTs man...it felt more gimmicky than a trend but with the internet, you never know. (Date this for later). Shaye got into it too.

76. Silk Chiffon - MUNA, Phoebe Bridgers

Another rare fun activity during the shitty period of 2021 included grabbing my skates and getting to play some hockey on the rink at Braydon’s dad’s work.

Braydon played goalie while Drew, Dyl, Matty Lew, Colin, Ben and I tested our endurance with long ass games of World Cup and a 2v2 tournament that I was completely out of shape for.

Dyl & Matty Lew carried me to big victories. Ben got absolutely knobbed in the crease.

Big thanks to Braydon and his dad, who also came in the clutch with water bottles for us. That was prime.

75. brutal - Olivia Rodrigo

My March Madness record is brutal - I mean, I haven’t won the bracket ever in my life.

To be fair, our pool always has 20+ people in it all fighting for the glorious championship every year.

It was a battle with crazy moments. Drew & Reeve finished last because a member of the Bragg extended clan has to take that spot every time. I always enjoy talking to Emily about her bracket, she’s one of the people who puts the most effort into it.

Oral Roberts! (Yay Josh!). Alabama got taken out by UCLA in a thriller that smoked a few brackets (Josh sorry). Jalen Suggs hit a half-court buzzer beater to bring the Zags to the title game. On Sunday, also known as God’s Day, Sister Jean brought her wrath to take down Illinois and kill Christian & Kelly’s brackets among others. Not mine - easily one of my best picks of all-time.

Colin and I got wiped out near the end as Houston laid an absolute egg. Jeremy thought he was in great shape but the Cuse got crushed. It came down to Samantha (Gonzaga) vs Kelsey (Baylor) and KBod took the title...with only a little help from Kyle :)

Ronan and Braydon still took home some money. Despite hating my life watching my teams get fucked constantly, you bet I’ll be back next March for more pain.

74. Stop Making This Hurt - Bleachers

As I started coming out of Covid-19 hibernation more, the weather got a bit better too. I asked Covid-19 politely to stop making this hurt and it obliged a tiny bit.

This led to a few nice fires in people’s backyards.

Brenna had Ronan, Brian, Matias and I over for some party games & drinks. I think that was my first time trying CBD in pill-form (which has helped in a lot of ways including reducing anxiety). Hey Brian...get exposed. Wasn’t that NICE?

Aaron had several of the boys over in his backyard with his fairly large firepit. I brought one of those Costco chairs with the big shell to sit in, because once I saw Mike Serra sit in it at Robson, it inspired me forever to be comfortable.

At the end of the night, there was some discussion about golf and the upcoming scrambles. Will said hey we should go to the range soon - and that opened up a whole new can of worms for the summer ahead.

73. U&ME - alt-J

I wanted zero part of the golf scrambles initially. Between you and me, I knew I’d suck ass at golf and it’d be a large learning curve, plus I didn’t want to really be made fun of after for how shit my swing was.

Braydon, Mike and Will invited me out to Sandpiper to give me some tips and to give me a practice run. It went extremely poorly but, I was trying to listen a bit one step at a time and not get overwhelmed to what Braydon was saying. He is a good teacher.

Then I got fixated on it. Mitch opened my eyes to swing it better even more, and I constantly hit the driving range with Matty Lew, Ronan, Mike Serra, Kelly, Ben and others as we all tried to get in shape for the scramble. I even strained my back and fought through it for some reason (don’t call me a hero). Ronan and I even hit up the Pitch & Putt.

There were good days and really bad days. All in all though, it led to a lot of fun hangouts. Would all of that practice be worth it? Well...

72. transparent soul - WILLOW, Travis Barker

I got paired up with captain Braydon, Ben & Amy for the first scramble at The Ranch out by Acheson. Mike Serra, Kelly and I had talked strategy at a range session the night before - but we quickly figured out that none of it really mattered (especially myself).

Despite arriving at the course feeling like a transparent soul, It was a pretty entertaining day of golf. I hit a few shots for our team (surprisingly) but overall we just had some drinks and each had our good moments. Ben especially hit an amazing chip to save par from the fringe. Amy went into a full British accent by hole ten. Braydon kept us in it, even though we tied for last. Matty Lew threw his club across hole 16.

Afterwards, Mike Serra hosted a wicked party that felt like the first safer one of 2021 thanks to the first vaccine dose. It truly was a throwback to better times (and easily one of the best days of my year). Thanks Braydon for convincing me to come out and Mike for the effort put in to have us over.

Drew, Christian and I’s trek home took days...weeks...a month? Lots of stops along the way. It was daylight by the time we got home.

71. Casanova - Blake Rose

After that first scramble, I was feeling more confident in my golf game. However, my dad, Lorelei and her sister and I hit up Cardiff and that for sure didn’t help - it was a brutal round for me in the heat. The horseflies dominated the course. Still, it was really fun drinking Rock Creek around eighteen holes, and I’d gladly do it again once Lorelei’s foot is healed and the snow melts.

For the next three scrambles, I went from the outhouse to being Casanova in the penthouse.

Okay...not exactly.

For each scramble, I got a bit worse and drank a bit more. After all - you have to contribute something to your team. Someone has to carry the party load.

The overall standings told a different story. Josh, Matty Lew and Brian carried me to a title in scramble #2 at Cougar Creek (Josh’s driving, Matty’s irons and Brian’s amazing chip early kept us in sync). I fired a drive into an outhouse wall.

Colin, Braydon and Mike strategically came together to overcome my shitty driving in scramble #3 to keep it together.

Somehow, partly because Josh dropped out, I had a chance to win the fabled Summer of Scrambles Cup for 2021. Thanks to Dyl, Drew & Amy, the championship was mine. Dyl hit literally every iron on green, Drew nailed his drives and Amy came in clutch when she was needed off the reds. I literally hit one putt and that was it.

I wasn’t there for the ceremony. Unfortunately after my best drive of the day on hole #18, things got...blurry in the memory department. Thanks to Dyl, we found my putters though! Yes, two of them. Whoops. That last Vizzy was the killer Amy.

But hey, they don’t ask how. They ask how many. I’ll be back in 2022 to defend my title.

70. Life of the Party - Kanye West ft. Andre 3000

Other than golf, the “Best Summer Ever” had other moments.

Taylor Thompson invited us to her dad’s new place. It was so small, it’s basically a tiny hut. Despicable.

Just kidding. That place is ridiculous. Whether you’re in the massive basement with the TV in front of the sink or the backyard playing lawn games, it’s easy to be the life of the party in that environment. (RIP doorknob though).

It was nice to see a bunch of people for the first time in a while. Fun fact: I hadn’t seen in Raphy in person since January until that day. He hugged everyone except me. Broke my heart, dick.

I still had a good time even though I was pissed about the Duncan Keith rumours that came true later in worse fashion than I imagined.

This is also where I met Chelseay - who unfortunately was paired with me for my worst game of pong since Colin and I suffered on the big Banff table. She’s pretty cool though - more on her later!

There was also an animated discussion about sitting down or standing up to wipe your ass. So, that was a neat group talk.

69. Get Better - alt-J

Matias and I heard that in an effort to get better, Fort Edmonton Park was opening a new exhibit highlighting the Indigenous history in Alberta.

It was truly informative and well done. It’s probably the best part of Fort Ed now. We learned a lot about the Metis & First Nations history especially around Edmonton. One of the cooler things actually was all of the St. Albert history that was included. Hell, some younger Metis kids had a team called the Sturgeon River Rats. That’s sick. I want to steal that name.

It’s more of a museum-type thing than the rest of the park and it truly stands out. Mati and I explored the rest of his old work stomping grounds while he put up with my awful jokes as usual. I’m still wondering what they are hiding in the basement of the John Janzen below the stairs.

Well Mati, in honour of that day, here’s another one in reference to this point of the top 100:

“Nice”

Also, this one is for the Hoe Squad.

Horse.

68. Someone Else - Deb Never

I won’t lie - I wanted someone else at the 2021 NHL Draft.

I went over to Matt Mosewich’s place to watch a draft full of unpredictability - after all, many of the players barely played due to the pandemic.

When the Sens took Tyler Boucher, I yelled woah off the board.

When the Red Wings jumped in front of Edmonton to take Sebastian Cossa, we cried.

When the Oilers passed on goalie Jesper Wallstedt for Xavier Bourgault after trading down, well....we were devastated. At least Bourgault has played himself onto the World Juniors squad for Canada.

Nothing was crazier though than Montreal stepping up and selecting Logan Mailloux on live television. Logan had been involved in a breach of privacy sex scandal and asked teams not to pick him. So of course, the Habs picked him. I instantly got a text from someone in the hockey world that said “what the fuck Habs?” It was maybe the most shocking draft pick in my history with the NHL. He has yet to play a game this season.

Matt and I are still stunned.

67. Hush - The Marias

This song was actually sung by Maria Czyz.

I have to stay hush on my big 24-team OSHL fantasy hockey league right now. It’s not going well.

My draft went poorly and I ended up with a lot of fringe players. I do love Conor Garland, Nils Hoglander, Roman Josi and Timo Meier, among others, but my team stinks.

I’m glad we still managed to pull off the draft though, especially after a big delay and people not shutting up when it mattered. Congrats to Dave on his new child. Mackenzie Blackwood, you’re killing me. Thanks to Cam and Blaine as always for managing to keep it all alive.

66. Moth to a Flame - Swedish House Mafia, The Weeknd

A moth touching a flame would go badly. Pretty much as badly as my NFL fantasy season went in one of my leagues.

A 3-11 season and a trip to the shit bowl to face Drew is on the horizon. Literally all my best players got hurt and Patrick Mahomes cost me too many times. No excuses though - I didn’t draft well enough. The title comes down to one of Josh or Raphy. Reeve and Braeden had a lot of trash talk, especially about Darrell Henderson, but fell short pretty fast.

The other two leagues aren’t looking as bad, with me in the final in both. It’ll be great to battle my nemesis Wyatt in the final. Sorry Shaye, Dallas D had it on blast. It’s also be nice to get a shot at Declan in the other final, a TSN throwback. Yahoo predicted me to go 1-14 in that league and instead I finished 1st in the regular season.

When it comes to NFL fantasy, you never know how your team will perform. It’s all in the heat of the moment. Boy does it make Sundays go by fast near the end of the year.

Mike Serra is probably still trying to draft while we are all on auto.

Drew also hosted once again for us, and Raphy brought so much beer. Jess was wondering why it was so quiet - IT’S SERIOUS BUSINESS.

65. yoga - bbno$ ft. Rebecca Black

Over the course of the year, some of the other boys and I got involved in fantasy drafts across all leagues and a bunch of active Instagram chats where we throw in good memes and hot takes.

Declan, Evan, Levi, Wyatt and myself all know each other from the Bell days. Teagan will try to rob you in a trade and sounds like a robot in a fish tank during the draft. Grayson, Brett, Ben, Eddie, Jake, Austin and Thomas are all the passionate kings who contribute to the conversation.

Hall and Eichel for DeBrincat, what a steal.

I won our baseball draft because my team was peaches and cream. Levi sure gave me a good run though. We need to do our big group extravaganza sooner than later. That’ll be a wild night.

64. All My Favourite Songs - Weezer

Sometimes I take my list of all my favourite songs on Spotify and hit up a party or a Crown night...on a Lime scooter.

St. Albert got Lime scooters all over the city and boy, they’re so helpful for getting around when you want to drink somewhere.

I hate that they’ve been nerfed compared to their Edmonton counterparts, only going about 14 km/hr. But especially for Raphy and I, they change lives. Unfortunately, we learned they don’t fit in the trunk of the average car. We also have to wait for the spring to see them again probably, and I wish more were available in my area.

Raphy and I tried to share one once. It was an unsuccessful attempt.

“How’d you get here?” “Oh I Limed” “Me too!”

I’ve yet to see someone use a helmet while riding one.

63. NDA - Billie Eilish

Christian, Ronan, Raphy and I hit up Whyte Avenue for some board games and food one Saturday evening. Surprisingly, the Uber driver didn’t make us sign an NDA after telling us some interesting stories.

The driver used to live in Belize. He told us about how great and beautiful it was to live there...but also said he carried a gun everywhere and that someone from Calgary was beaten to death by the police while on vacation. So, that’s something you don’t expect to hear while taking corners on Groat Rd.

But at least the sex is cheap! His words.

We ate at Damso Izakaya, which was the perfect Japanese food experience with Sapporo on tap (one of my favourite beers honestly). The sushi was excellent. We then headed over to Table Top Cafe to get in a few rounds of Codenames and Coup. I’d never played Coup - but it was a good mental challenge of reading people. Christian couldn’t read my poker face. Can’t read my, can’t read my, no he can’t read my poker face. “Income!” - Raphy.

Ronan, Raphy and I hit up Buckingham for a bit afterwards, but that was a bit of a dud. Ronan I know you just laughed reading that.

Shout out here to Mike’s Famous. You know the place on Whyte especially near the end of your night. How clutch is it that they’ve sold donairs there for years and deal with every asshole in the history of Edmonton?

62. Spiral - 21 Savage

I recently had a super busy day where my ability to stay awake spiraled throughout, but we soldiered through.

After a long 6am-2pm work shift on the board at good ol’ Corus, Kyle picked me up for some Ticket to Ride at Matt’s place with Connor joining the gang. It got competitive but I was just happy to fill my tickets in my first playthroughs.

“I’m unfuckable.” - Kyle. The new Edmonton location of Jack’s Burger Shack provided some scrumptious eats.

Connor drove me back to St. Albert for some Ugly Sweater Bowling with Aaron, Will, Amanda, Christian, Samantha, Mati, Rachel, Conrad and Mike Serra. I did not have an ugly Christmas sweater, so I bought a random green-looking sweater from Value Village for five bucks right before we started. Some dude complimented me at the alley because my taste is impeccable.

We drove to Boston Pizza after to discuss old children’s shows and Disneyland. That’s still a bucket list group trip for sure. Thanks for organizing Rachel!

Matias dropped me at Crown to end the night with Drew, Braeden, Dyl, Ronan and Josh. “Wow, that family got bigger huh?” “Do you enjoy slides?”

61. House Burn Down - King Princess

I felt like if I got sick, the house would burn down - but that’s not what happened.

I had a minor non Covid-19 illness for a weekend and decided to dive into The Last of Us.

Honestly...it’s a good game, but not a masterpiece. I’m sorry. Part of it is just because of when I played it - while it probably slapped in 2013, I’ve done a lot of sneaking mechanics in Wolfenstein and the zombie story has been done so many times that it just didn’t grab me emotionally as much as it did for others.

Despite that, I still enjoyed it. The voice acting is awesome and I adore the clickers. I don’t own a PS4, but hoping to play Part II in 2022 if anyone wants to lend it to me or figure out a way we can hook me up to that experience. I’m also hoping to buy Guardians of the Galaxy, that game looks like it’ll serve the source material with justice like the movies did.

Part of The Last of Us’ upcoming HBO show shot in Edmonton! Brenna got to see it right by her work.

60. If You Ever Leave, I’m Coming With You - The Wombats

It had been a while since I last did an escape room. There was the one at Smartypantz, and the one that Ben and I just pelvic thrusted at the camera by the end.

Christian, Raphy, Rachel, Samantha, Mike Serra and I hit up Escape City to try out Mutiny. I thought it’d be a lot harder for us but we made for a great team and all contributed in the bowels of the pirate ship for a successful run.

Without spoiling, one part we all joked about ended up being actually what we had to do. That made us drop to the floor laughing (literally).

We didn’t even get the last puzzle. I yelled “Fuck It” after guessing a map course, pulled a rope and somehow got it right. That 0.2 seconds was probably the happiest moment of my year. Complete bullshit in a good way.

Afterwards, most of us hit up Watari. Raphy and I were going to Uber but the van leaving had room so...we’re coming with you!

My body was not prepared for Watari. All-you-can-eat Japanese food coming in waves. You’re supposed to finish in 1.5 hours, but we still attempted to shovel all the food we ordered down our gullets. We basically got booted out because a table of 17 were waiting for us.

At one point, the waitress dropped a platter of like, 30 Chicken Gyozas on the table, and Sam said she’s never seen Christian look more scared in his life. We all started looking around the table. “Who ordered that shit?” - luckily none of us. We were about to explode.

It was a wonderful day. We checked out a crazy Christmas decorated house before Raphy and I wrapped up with Sam at Christian’s house. I’ll easily take more of those types of days any time of the week. Poor Rachel had her peg leg blocked in the photo LOL.

59. The Kiss of Venus - Dominic Fike, Paul McCartney

Speaking of Christian’s house, the outside gazebo in his backyard is so sick. What a pad.

You can watch movies on the projector or just have a couple of brews with the boys like Ronan, Ben, Drew, Christian and I did in the summer.

Christian also hosted a few great chill nights in the basement. He throws on a few tunes and it’s awesome to browse through his large collection of movies and find our favourite scenes.

Sometimes, we even watch trailers. I tried to show Christian and Raphy a trailer for a new movie called Swan Song, with Mahershala Ali & Glenn Close. I hyped it up, saying WHAT A CAST!

They instead found this little number: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heN0JtJu4pE

I don’t know what the fuck that was, starring Uzo Aduba (not really, it’s Udo Kier but I butchered the name), but boy did that make us chuckle. I think we were there until 5am that night. Those nights are so underrated.

Also Christian, that Kenny vs Spenny was so fucked. Better than Jason Kenney at least. That guy can kiss my ass.

58. All Eyes On Me - Bo Burnham

All eyes were on Josh for his surprise party that Amy threw for him at her house.

The eyes were also on the television as we witnessed one of the best boxing matches in history - Fury vs Wilder was an absolute monster showdown. A battle of warriors. Even some of us people on the other side of the television felt KO’d.

Thunderstruck did a number on a few of us. Matty Lew got frisky on a few phone calls. Raphy caught me sneaking a Papa Johns pizza into my mouth on the front porch. Mason walked into his house at 3am to see a bunch of guys in his living room having a conference.

Thanks for putting that together Amy! I always appreciate a fun hangout when it’s nice and close to my house. We still need to partner up in pong to do some damage.

57. Take My Breath - The Weeknd

I didn’t have much breath left after most Balls Deep games this season.

It was a pleasure being able to play ball hockey once again. None of us really knew when we’d ever be allowed to.

We don’t have many playoff wins plus zero titles, but we have a lot of fun while getting exercise and scoring some big goals.

We have a fairly solid roster at the moment. Drew & Dyl both led the way with some big 5+ goal outings. I was never in the shape I wanted to be but still organize it all as captain (and of course, the Dave Tippett game).

Raphy is our best defender (and slams a stick real hard, that’s what she said). Ronan is our Warren Foegele and works hard every night, turning on the jets.

Matty Lew comes up big in the crease as ESSC Leclaire.

You do NOT want to go in the corner with Pam, she’ll fuck you up. Nat still scores often from the slot and despite her telling me to not pass it to her as much, I’m still going to do it. Kelsey brings us championship experience and even served as our captain for a game (as did Dyl, when the party van was just a wee bit late). Taylor Maton probably gets more whacks in the hand or blocks the hardest shots more than anyone else on the team.

Brenna, Mike Serra, Christian (who is on a scoring streak) and Braydon came in clutch subbing in at times. We also got to meet up after the game for a few outings at Campio or Earl’s or OJs or Browns Crafthouse to load back up on fuel for the next week and bond as a squad.

Erik would join us sometimes for those as his day started for the rise and grind.

The team is preparing for the 2022 season working hard in the gym. (I say that as I go downstairs to grab another shortbread cookie.)

RIP Sportsdome.

56. Sexting - Bo Burnham

Yeah, there really is no way I can tie the song title into this point. I mean I can talk about E....you know what, Ronan and Raphy shut up.

I’ll just mention in this point that I wrote some fantasy hockey advice for a bit for Fantrax. I’m taking a bit of a hiatus on that, but if you want to see an example of a column, I’ll link my NHL playoff fantasy column here from 2021. https://www.fantraxhq.com/fantrax-playoff-commissioner-nhl-playoff-pool-cheat-sheet/

It’s sick getting paid to write about the NHL. I’d be very down to do more of that. I also got Montreal right to win the North Division! Don’t pay attention to some of those other picks.

As for that podcast? Well...I still want to get it off the ground. I even created an intro with the help of a few individuals. We’ll see what 2022 brings. At least Connor Halley, Cody Janzen and Hernan Salas invited me as a guest on their respective podcasts. Here is an example of one of those: https://megaphone.link/HOC4377584956

55. Hello - Hollow Coves

Raphy and I got to say a big hello to Dallas Green once again as we saw City & Colour at the Jubilee, the first concert I had seen since the start of the pandemic.

Dallas was amazing as usual. The highlights included The Grace (one of my favourite Dallas Green vocal performances ever) and an acoustic performance of This Could Be Anywhere In The World by Alexisonfire.

Sleeping Sickness & Lover Come Back also slapped - but the audio was a bit tainted by my garbage singing so, not posting that video.

Spencer Burton isn’t a bitch. Great guy and he had a good song in that set.

Other than some members of the crowd forgetting basic social etiquette, it was a great performance. Thanks for the birthday gift Raphy - we almost forgot about the damn thing, but it was great being able to catch his show before his entire touring party caught Covid-19. We also ate BURGERS IN THE CAR, BRIAN.

Also, I know you added songs from my top 85 to your damn playlist ahead of time. Including this one. Come on Raphy. Exposed.

54. Close To You - Dayglow

It might be hard to get close to one another if more restrictions pile in with Omicron destroying the province.

At least we snuck in a tour and a hangout of Colin and Taylor’s new apartment in Edmonton before the buzzer.

The heated floor is nice during the cold Alberta winters and because it’s Taylor’s place, it’s no surprise to see Disney in the cupboards and all around the Christmas tree.

We watched the Oilers lose to Ethan Bear (of course) and then Raphy, Ronan, Colin, Taylor, Dyl, Matty Lew, Braydon, Conor O’Kell and I played a card game while rotating the Lazy Susan around.

“What did the shepherd surprisingly whisper to his sheep?”

“I’m hungry like a wolf”

We got down and dirty with our answers. Dyl really brought the high-brow jokes to the table.

Thanks Colin and Taylor for hosting. You have a cool new place that I hope is the home of a poker night in the near future. That table just needs the felt.

It was a fun night and nobody sucked.

That’s what she said.

53. All You Ever Wanted - Rag ‘n’ Bone Man

I got all I ever could want from a 25th birthday.

Christian, Raphy and I hit up Original Joe’s for some drinks - not knowing how crazy everything was about to get.

After being joined briefly by Jordan and Aaron for a cameo, all of a sudden a plan started to form - hitting up Mercer’s Tavern to get lit.

Alex A, Ronan, Drew & Amy met Raphy, Christian and I at Drew’s place for a pre-drink. After an Uber ride with Drew and Christian where we talked about “science” - we landed at Mercer where Brian (in his U of A hoodie), Matias, Jordan, Aaron, Brenna, Jess and Dyl all ended up making appearances. We made moves on the dancefloor or in my case, chilled on those couches in there because I was faded. I have a picture with Amy’s sunglasses on that I barely remember. The DJ was...not good but we battled. Someone slapped my ass.

I’m not very good at making plans for my birthday - so a big thanks to everyone who made at least something memorable happen. Also thanks to Alex, Brenna and Amy for the shots, I owe you.

If this night was a pirate ship, it’d be called The Bearded Lady.

RIP Mercer Tavern. Hopefully the new bar going in is just as good.

52. Selfish - Jack Gray

When Jason Kenney said that outdoor gatherings would be allowed in June, I selfishly started thinking internally of people’s backyards and who could host a good time.

I can’t lie - Jamie Cole’s backyard came to mind first. So, I was pretty grateful that Jamie did indeed host a shindig.

The boys argued about which golf courses slapped and which ones could be skipped. After all, the Olympics were on live from Tokyo at 1am.

“Ravencrest? That has a mosquito problem.”

“Well then Sturgeon has an ant problem then.”

“Cardiff has horseflies. Yeah I hate Cardiff.”

Every time we are in that sunroom, someone just has to bring up who is the best centre ever in the NBA.

I also had a great chat with Lukas in the kitchen about skydiving & adventuring. That was neat.

Thanks for hosting Jamie. Jamie studies veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary and those animals are getting one hell of a caring doctor.

51. deja vu - Olivia Rodrigo

Boy, I was pretty shocked when Christian texted me and said “You know what, I’m throwing a party.”

After all, Christian’s basement used to be THE hub. However, he hadn’t really done that in years. Understandable - throwing these can be a real pain in the ass.

But alas, the night finally came. It also went by SO fast. Ben, Erik, Christian and I had a shot and then things got fuzzy. The party started super late which helped speed everything up, I think. It was deja vu to the old days.

Lots of pong, both in the backyard and outside. I went on some drunk uncle political rant in the living room but people DIDN’T hate it, I think. I annoyed Anna, as usual. It was great to see a lot of people though, especially because times are fewer with Covid-19 in doing so. I think I even said to Larissa “see you next year!” as she left out the front door. (She lives in Calgary TO BE FAIR)

Thanks Christian for throwing things back to another time period and for navigating the planning waters when I threw a wrench into it. Kelsey and I played the longest game of pong in history.

Hell, even Braydon had a shot. That is rare.

50. Run It - Rick Ross, Rich Brian, DJ Snake

Oh, we absolutely ran the show at Buckingham for Drew’s birthday.

After a quick pre-drink at Drew’s pad, the rest of the night was a LOT of dancing. Their playlist is awesome...to me...it’s a controversial topic depending on who you ask.

Ben bought me a shot of Jamieson, which was clutch and started the real send-it period. Chelseay, Jess, Alex and Megan brought their A-game on the dancefloor. Ronan showed off to the boys. Conor always rocks that grey toque. Dyl kept unbuttoning my shirt. Raphy came in clutch with the Uber at the end of the night.

Rest in peace to Lew’s night, which was lost to a donair. Man had to eat.

I petition that every bar has to play I Write Sins Not Tragedies at some point of the evening once a month, minimum. I also took a bunch of pictures for random people (ya ya Ronan it wasn’t THAT close).

Also rest in peace to my back, which got scratched trying to evade a group of people on the stage and catching the big window door. Also weird - that massive Congo line to La Bamba once the lights turned on. In honour of Joey, pretty cool.

49. Shy Away - Twenty One Pilots

Brenna, Raphy and I decided we weren’t going to shy away from Halloween festivities on Whyte Avenue this year.

I’ve never gone to Whyte on Halloween weekend, but always heard it’s a gongshow. That was probably accurate. Some of the lines to get into places were ridiculous (right Aaron?)

Luckily, there was no line at Black Dog - which has a solid rap music basement dancefloor. It also featured an awesome Team Rocket costume duo.

We then made it into Buckingham (do you see a theme here?) where there was a smashed pumpkin all over the dancefloor. 1979 baby.

We met Stephanie, Dani and Sean and hung out with them for a bit afterwards. Sean was digging the Ducky Tie costume - I love my How I Met Your Mother references.

Despite the craziness, it was loads of fun. Brenna also is clutch on drinking nights - a very helpful wingwoman.

I won’t lie - if you tell me Jesus is King is the best Kanye West album, you’re crazy. Just saying.

48. MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) - Lil Nas X

I call my dog by her name, Xena.

Xena is small, scruffy and loves to play - especially with her new toy Pop Tart.

She’s just a really funny dog. Xena loves to jump all over me when I come home and chases me around the house. We also got her a tennis ball launcher for firing upstairs and in the backyard.

She won’t replace Kosmo, except in volume. But we love her in her own way. Go Xena Go!

She’ll never read this.

47. End of Me - Billy Talent, Rivers Cuomo

I crashed the Honda FIt, but it wasn’t the end of me and cars. Finally.

I recently bought a 2012 Honda Civic - the first car I’ve owned since my accident. Amber wants me to name it, but I haven’t done so yet.

It’s weird owning a car - so many of you have given me a ride somewhere before that it may be odd seeing me driving around too. It’s not perfect aesthetically or anything, it’s just a solid grey Honda vehicle that I can eat burgers in. Raphy, Josh, Ronan and I did already, got you again Brian!

I’m very excited to take it on a road trip this summer. To Banff? I think so.

46. Addicted - Jorja Smith

I would be addicted to traveling if I had unlimited cash. Despite Covid, I got lucky to be able to go on a bigger trip this year.

Matty Lew and I hit up Kelowna for a few days. It was right as shit was hitting the fan in Alberta with the Delta variant, so we needed to get away.

As Matt said it: “We got here in a tin can.” - We had a solid hotel room right across from the airport. We basically had a pool and a hot tub all to ourselves. On our first day, we took a trip to the kangaroo farm.

Being able to pet and feed a kangaroo popcorn satisfied the cute factor for me. We also got to pet a big capybara, which is basically a mega large hamster. Well worth the admission. The wallabies are cute too.

Some weird stuff? Well, the emus are creepy. One goat just humped another in front of a bunch of people, so that was lovely.

We met up with Mitch after at BNA for some pizza and beer. We also ate lunch at a place Mitch suggested called the Mad Mango Café. They had a huge menu of everything but specialized in Laksa. Delicious (and usually I’m not one for spice), and the proof was that everyone else in the café was also eating it. Grand choice.

45. Bite Me - Avril Lavigne

Shout out to Sarah Fox, who sent me this song early in the morning. I then replayed it for hours that day.

On day two of Kelowna, Matt and I got bit by the nature bug and hit up the Myra Canyon railway trestles. You’re fairly high up, biking over big gaps in the hills, tall railroad bridges and through carved tunnels.

You get an amazing view of the city of Kelowna throughout. It was probably the highlight of the trip.

Later in the night, Mitch, Matt and I got invited to Liquid Zoo by our waitress. What’s Liquid Zoo you may ask?

It’s exactly what you think. We didn’t attend.

44. Back to Oz - Sufjan Stevens

BC felt like the land of Oz when we rolled through hills on our left and Okanagan Lake on our right as we drove to Vernon.

Matt and I hit up an orchard farm and bought way too much food. A full apple pie, a box of cookies that I finished on the drive back regrettably. Apple juice. We also visited a bee farm and bought MEAD. MEAD!

There also a homestyle barbecue place that knew how to cook a brisket.

At night, we competed at mini golf at Scandia. Matt won. Now, this is totally a nerd moment for me, but I had just watched an episode of Yesterworld on YouTube about Chuck-E-Cheese vs Showbiz Pizza Place and the battle of the creepy 80s animatronics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HXTwLbvQPM

The rival to the Chuck-E-Cheese animatronics was The Rock-afire Explosion. So I was STUNNED to see a version of them just sitting at Scandia behind the curtain. It is the creepiest thing ever as you’ll see in the photo below. Note: The TV in the picture was also flickering and it was dark back there.

Also, after a casino run & a few brews at an Irish bar with live music, Matt and I facetimed the ESPN News Desk. Ronan and Drew loved the line:

“Hey you have to send it tomorrow.” “I’m aware.”

PISS!

43. Romeo - Jungle ft. Bas

We didn’t hike to Romeo’s tomb - but Paul’s Tomb is a neat hidden gem of an area on the outskirts of downtown Kelowna.

Matt and I trekked down there for a “swim” - although the water was damn cold so it was more of a waddle.

We also tried some goat cheese. It was gouda. But it actually wasn’t.

At night, the two of us took our talents to the town. After Matt had a journey with some onion rings, we ended up meeting a bunch of different locals. CRAFT brought some interesting discussions, especially right before we left...

At some point, I hopped a fence onto the beach and then proceeded to climb it over again. Matt knew at that point that I probably needed to go back to the hotel.

We did take some fun pictures in front of that statue though.

42. The Walls Are Way Too Thin - Holly Humberstone

On the last day of Kelowna, I visited the Vibrant Vine winery - it was a very “hippie” like establishment with 3D art and live music in the outside yard. They feed you A LOT of wine - but I drove, so I bought a bottle and brought it back to the room.

Matt and I chilled out and drank while watching Casino Royale - which is the best Bond film, I may add.

I hope the walls weren’t thin because Matt and I made a shit ton of jokes every night. I laughed extremely hard and was probably a nuisance. Especially while listening to the music channels.

Overall, it was a great trip to British Columbia. Just don’t wave to the bus driver when he’s about to leave. He’ll ignore you. Right Matt?

You've got to know when to hold 'em...

41. Bed Head - Manchester Orchestra

(Hey Sam! It’s this band! I wrote this point at Christian’s house and he said it was a shit band.)

I usually have bed head before a big trip because I never sleep well before one. There’s lots of researching, Googling, overthinking and overall desire to be as prepared as possible to not miss anything special away from St. Albert’s home base.

In 2022, I’m looking at several places to potentially go...as long as another virus doesn’t fuck us.

In Banff, I’d love to hike Sunshine Meadows & finally check out Peyto Lake.

In Whistler, I’d love to party hard at night and check out the bobsleigh track for a few runs.

In Victoria & Tofino, I want to run my feet across the sandy beaches and check out the ports.

I even have some interest in visiting Seattle as well as exploring the little islands and parks that surround Washington.

Last but not least, if a big-time opportunity arises for a trip to Disneyland or Vegas, depending on who it is with, I will grin from ear-to-ear.

40. Go Wrong - Hauskey

Sometimes in life, things just go wrong. We all hope for the best, but challenges await us at every corner.

It was quite cool when some of the boys got together to find Teemu Selanne to give a message to one of our friends going through their own challenge.

Selanne is a beauty. Big thanks for taking the time to send some positive vibes.

Also - unrelated, but I am glad you took Igor Shesterkin in your draft last year over Mikko Koskinen. That was the right move Colin. Every time.

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39. KD & Lunch Meat - Boy Golden

James hasn’t made the boys any KD and lunch meat yet at his new place in Morinville.

We did order some Chinese food though. It was aight.

James had a massive year. He made the absolute right call in acquiring a RAV-4 for his jeep. Jill and James also adopted a new friendly dog named Toby. Toby loves jumping on tables, especially when we are in the middle of a card game. He does bring a lot of love.

James’ basement is also pretty sick. It’s the perfect pad to play some Halo or watch a few episodes of The Office. It seems soundproof and could absolutely host a banger. He did, in fact, after our 2nd scramble. We played Honeycomb down there and Drew had a real rough go. In fact, he pussied out and didn’t finish the cup. (Although he was in trouble)

James has his life in order. Funny exchange between him and Jill when Kelly and I were over for games night:

James: “Hey can you pick up some chips from the station?”

Jill: “No”

James: “Thanks!”

Someone go claim that box of Tit Tees that are sitting by his furnace.

38. Rockland - Gracie Abrams

Rockland was not the site of the “final” hangout between Evan, James, Kelly and I.

I say final because Evan left us behind in Berta after this. Traitor!

James’ house hosted us and it didn’t really hit that it was the end of an era until the four of us went up the steps from the basement.

The four of us have played so much Smash Bros. in Evan’s basement. Tons of Bayonetta, Little Mac, Ganondorf & ...random character. Countless Halo rocket battles, energy sword “cleaning up the garbage” kills, and spike grenade sticks because Evan said nobody uses those and I made it my personal vendetta to stick him with one every night.

Jackbox battles where James goes hard in the paint with a creative answer. Then James would...ahem...send a fun snap after.

We even shot real guns once.

I remember having a suit on from NAIT and sliding into Kelly’s basement, meeting the three of them exhausted from my day and glad to be hanging out with the boys. That was five years ago.

Until next time.

37. Colorado - Milky Chance

I once lived in Colorado, in a hamlet called Erie, which is near Denver. I’ve told people this many times, but it seems to surprise somebody every time.

Last year, I took a job at 630 CHED that involved part-time technical producing and I didn’t think it would go anywhere.

Everything changed.

In case you wonder what I do for work, I reach out to people all over the world and book them for multiple radio shows across the Corus Radio Network. I work with hosts to create the best show possible for people to engage with. Since May, I’ve worked on every show on 630 CHED, several shows on 770 CHQR in Calgary, a few in Vancouver for CKNW & some shows that broadcast nationally in Canada, such as the post-debate special. I’m a show producer - which is a nice title that makes me sound like I have a tiny bit of power.

I enjoy it quite a bit, especially since most of it has been from home. You meet a lot of smart, accomplished people with great stories to tell and information to spread. The hosts are all easy to work with in their own way. I have to give a big thanks to Kelsey Campbell for the opportunity to show I can be a valuable member of a team in media. It’s nice to have an important role.

I still produce technically on the board sometimes. I produced a few Edmonton Elks games this season. It’s just not my cup of tea if it doesn’t come with airtime or has bad hours. Luckily, that role may be reduced for me a bit in 2022.

36. Keel Timing - Manchester Orchestra

Even though I’ve shifted into politics a lot, I still miss sports. The timing to be in sports radio just hasn’t worked out for me too much lately.

I still got to produce a few shows of Inside Sports with Reid Wilkins, joining him on air once.

I do miss the boys at TSN 1260 though. Who knows Connor, Matt, Eric, Hernan, Lowetide, Dave, Dusty...maybe again someday. I know too much about the sports world for my voice to not be out there on it.

While not sports, one of the few on-air shows I still partake in is called The Shift. It’s an overnight national show that plays in multiple cities, including Edmonton. You have to write the show like it’s TV - there are daily segments that need scripts.

If you have never listened, here’s a show podcast with parts that I was on air for. https://omny.fm/shows/the-shift/did-you-know-in-toronto-cyclists-can-get-speeding

There are some gaps when doing that show because the host Shane is in Airdrie, Brendan is in Vancouver and I’m in St. Albert or Edmonton. Eric, who hosted in that clip, is also in Vancouver. Technology rules.

It’s nice having a job with so much variety. It allows for your brain to always tackle a new challenge. I look forward to seeing what the hell I do next. More sports podcasting? Would be nice.

When you hit this part during the road trip on speech-to-text, remember that next time you should just ask me to voice it. That’s my job!

35. Echoing - Kings of Leon

If you are technical producing and there is an echo sound coming from the phone line, it’s likely an old lady who doesn’t know how to turn her radio down. The Garden Show is one of our busiest and...that happens a lot.

Sarah has seen this plenty of times.

I haven’t been able to meet everyone at 630 CHED on a daily basis, but Sarah was someone I knew from the Bell Media days. She produces the morning show and Shaye Ganam’s show weekdays. Not only is Sarah excellent at her job, but she also makes producing the morning show a lot more fun with her jokes & stories, even if we’re just texting back and forth about random quirks in the broadcast.

Also, Fox is one of the coolest possible last names. Only the coolest people can pull off blue hair, or purple hair, or whatever colour is next.

It’s also been nice to work with hosts like Daryl, Shaye, Ted, J’lyn, Shane, Eric, Scott, Martin, Morley, Reid, Dave, Rob and Chelsea, who is now a mother of a little girl, Layla. Congrats Chelsea! Sorry I didn’t catch you at Crown, but I’m sure I’ll produce for you soon.

Brad, Chris, Cass, Demi, Ryan, Talia, Brendan, David, Randy, Eileen, Andrew, John, Mike, Cody, Angie, Kellen, Escott of course and many others I didn’t list here - thanks for your continued help as I navigate a new part of the industry.

Also, a big thanks to Chris Weihmann, who listened to all my shit at Bell and is still my partner in crime when it comes to radio. You can hear Chris’ voice in TV ads for James H. Brown and HeartFit - even though that was also news to him. I wouldn’t be here without that guy. Can we go have lunch together man? It’s been way too long. I need to share more radio conspiracy theories as soon as possible.

34. justified - Kacey Musgraves

I wanted to bring up a few people here who are definitely justified in getting a shout out.

Dyl destroyed Matty Lew at Chell last night, way to go, even got the spread. Thorsley joined our fantasy league finally, don’t call it a comeback.

Justin graduated film school with a diploma, and is now working on his directorial debut. That’s very sick. This guy is making a movie in 2022 and you’re damn right it’ll be spectacular. Very much looking forward to what Justin will bring to the screen.

Scott bought the coolest Japanese import vehicle and I’m jealous. A 2006 JDM Honda Odyssey, a beast. Just don’t leave the parking brake on. He also got closest to the pin on 17 and makes Best Buy his personal bitch.

Desmond, Damian and the gang still have to watch the Oilers...haha. Remember H.O.P.E? Yeah. Desmond, you should buy a Koskinen jersey.

Hank grew maybe the best beard of all-time. It was such a ship captain look. Like, you’d look at Hank and go “this guy navigates water bro” - which I mean, true. Hank still watches Little Mosque on the Prairie on DVD probably, right?

I still get to cameo on Bernard’s shows in BC - congrats on getting to do some morning show work!

I will force Will today to listen to one of these songs, which will be his first glimpse into music beyond 1980.

Jieco hit up Whitecourt and scouted out the land for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up mattering, but I still miss you man.

Dwayne got in with the La Ronge Ice Wolves doing play-by-play. It’s never a dull moment talking sports with you. Especially those hot, hot takes. The Bucks won, what are you going to do now?

Eve does the Lord’s work and makes sure that kids watch Arthur and remember the quality kids programming that kept us alive. Rachel joined on this valiant effort too.

Rufus, woof woof woof woof.

Larissa + Nishaka, glad to hear you’re doing great. I’m still waiting to see your research project on if you can taste the salt when you dunk your balls in soy sauce.

Nick + Lana is an extremely cool tandem - I didn’t realize until Christian’s party that Nick is a fucking tall guy. Lana didn’t get annoyed with me at Smash Bros night which is lovely and maybe a first. Nick won that right? I can’t use the damn controller like that.

Erik joined THE FORCE. He is a man of great honour and integrity. I also would 100% pay to see him pull Drew over.

Montana and Tyler became big stars at Global Saskatoon and Daily Faceoff respectively. I get it, you’re kind of a big deal, but Nathan MacKinnon? What a bum to have to interview. Montana even helped me book a guest indirectly. Kat also joined the Now Family, which is tubular. Ian moved to Calgary and Mariah keeps the Virgin bandwagon alive but also gets to do national shit now, which is freaking sweet. Hannah is rocking it now that she’s moved to Windsor - I’m pretty sure I watch every Cheap Wine Wednesday and Bodacious is clearly the best.

Tony keeps killing it for the Oilers. Terry finally had his wedding, congrats good sir! Hutlet filmed and edited a commercial that made it to Sportsnet, which although impressive, just isn’t as good as The Deal.

Nash, Tanner, Teagan - just shouting you out cause I know you’re reading this shit. Hope you’re all doing well gents. Tesla, I hope you’ve felt at ease enough during these tougher times. Your positive vibes is something I dearly miss. Kelsey Shapka, same to you. Keep thinking positive, and give me a bath bomb recommendation, for my mom as a gift! Katherine, I still love the pictures of Heidi, Heidi should be a dog model.

Tyson, I am pro-beard. I think it looks mature on you.

Craig, I like our exchanges on the Twitter - but the Leafs are probably losing in round one again. Or maybe round two!

Dayn, I totally agreed with you on the new AB curriculum. I wish they had you go in there and help them take out all the bullshit trash, especially in Social, LA and Science.

Darren, I see you with my 20/20 vision. :)

Christyne lived in England for a bunch of this year! She’s back now to freezing cold uncultured Edmonton (I mean, welcome back!) but I am very curious to see if she brought an accent home.

Shane Clausing had one of his questions make it through to Jason Kenney and it was a good one about, justifiably, how fucked Grand Prairie was for Covid-19. Shane also had one of dreams come true - Big Ben retiring. Just, first a wasted season.

Lt. Eric + Dani, two extremely cool people who hit up Roughrider games and are fun to have a drink with. Eric though...please stop making me hungry with those damn barbecue IG stories.

Matt Iwanyk, still love talking Oilers and Elks with you and yes, my phone is still cracked.

My Uncle Jav keeps trucking on the weights. I wish I had that kind of discipline working out. Brady...oh man, the Leafs. Are they ever gonna win? Come on. Jason Roberts - I hear your show often driving to CHED and back. It’s great to hear your voice and talents in Edmonton. Amy, thanks to you and your mom for fighting the most important pandemic battles. Lucyk, those damn Eagles...best of luck. Is Hurts the guy? Aiden, you might actually beat me in the pool this year. Tavares is on fire.

Hello Auntie Linda and Uncle Mike! We should REALLY get the band back together when everything is safe. I feel like I’ve said it more than a few times, but let’s put this into action. Nico, be there too, it’s been too long.

As I was saying at Central, Wallstedt was the pick Brett. Congrats on making it to the ECHL, once a Cyclone, always a Cyclone. Josh, you’re going to continue nailing it for the Oil Kings and I hope to see your videos during Oilers games more often.

I could go on and on, but if I haven’t talked to you in a while, feel free to reach out. There are a lot of people I wonder about and then get a bit chickenshit to text up. So it’s a two-way street. But still, feel free.

33. DITTO - Aries

Ditto from above, but this time, shouting out people who got engaged. I’m getting so old, so many more people I know are getting engaged!

Nate, congrats buddy. Isn’t it weird that so many of our class ended up at Bell? Geez.

Sam Saunders, big congrats to you my man. It’s been a while but always enjoy talking to you.

Brady...my man. Early Happy Birthday and really couldn’t be happier for one of the nicest guys on the planet.

Tyler...I still credit you for turning around my life a bit so many years ago with our talk in the upstairs of the RockRidge main cabin. Big congrats man.

Keirra, seeing that was pretty awesome. Best of wishes to Nick and yourself, sounds like the best times are just beginning.

Nat and Garrett - it’s been a long and winding road Nat. You had to fight through a lot to get to this point. I’m really glad to see you happy. Garrett is a super nice dude and I hope the summer of 2022 is euphoric bliss.

Last but not least - Mike and Andrea. FINALLY! JESUS!

Haha but actually, every soul in St. Albert were hoping for that to finally happen and it’s great that you two still find great passion in each other so many years later. It’s what many couple should aspire for. So, massive congrats to the both of you.

Mike, maybe you guys can drive that Warthog into the sunset. Andrea, I know you’re big on English with the new curriculum and all, but, is there any way this can make it into the vows? It’s not quite English. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=me%20hoy%20minoy

32. One + One - Death from Above 1979

Lilly is now EIGHT years old! I did the math - one + one + one + one + one + one + one + one.

I’ve been trying to hype my little sister on Donkey Kong December and now she has a Nintendo Switch, which is very good for the whole family. Thanks Santa!

Grade 3. Time flies so fast. Nobody sings better karaoke and I think we have a future artist on our hands here too.

When you start making YouTube videos Lilly, I want to be a fun side character. Might still be a few years away. For now, train up on Mario Kart, because I’m ready to compete.

Lilly is so full of joy always. We could take a lesson from her on living life in the moment. She also gave me a Dominik Kahun card and is smart enough to know her Leon Draisaitl card is valuable. Rock on.

31. Boilermaker - Royal Blood

This song is for two absolute dogs.

Wyatt took a huge step in his broadcasting career this year and joined the Whitecourt Wolverines as the play-by-play man and jokester supreme. Wyatt also sent me potentially the greatest photo of all-time. Hot...or Hot? It’s annoying that your Ducks drafted well. Please don’t unleash Jonathan Taylor to destroy my ass. You’ve had to battle adversity this year and I’m sure it wasn’t easy. If there’s someone who can find the humour through all of the bad shit and persevere, it’s you man. I see your career on the up-and-up in 2022 and yes, let’s do a damn podcast.

Levi just lost like, 400 bucks at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, so rest in peace to his wallet. But hey, Alain Vigneault got the boot, that’s a big W on the year. If Carter Fart is back, I quit. You were the closest to taking down the team of cream. Jesus Christ, Levi is one of the people that makes me laugh the easiest. “I bet that guy barks when he makes love” I love all of our sports chats, old street team references and the devotion to the church of Rasmus Ristolainen. We need to get buzzing here, maybe a trip to Mars next year. That’d be the play brother.

30. Jail - Kanye West

Man, this would have been a banger at a Josh house party. It played in the basement of Black Dog and it was fantastic.

Speaking of Josh, I’d be in jail if every joke I made to that guy made it public. I can get so savage around him. Partly because Josh just has a great laugh. RIP Harambe baby. Remember when they didn’t use Grealish in the shootout? Southgate absolutely tripping on acid while betting for Italy on Bodog. Josh also listens to all of my fantasy rumblings that end up absolutely wrong, except on Henderson, who he wisely traded away.

I feel like I got closer to Amy this year, and not just because of a few good burgers. We shared some good talks and laughs. I’m glad you made it out to the island and had sympathy for me when I was losing a shit ton of money for the Super Bowl. You made it through some heavy bumps in the road that life handed you - and your reward will be an amazing 2022. Also, the sunglasses at Mercer really made me look stylish and definitely hid the fact I was blitzed.

Cheers to both of you! Wild two years eh?

29. Rocky - Still Woozy

Even when things get a bit rocky, Gabby is always looking ahead to what’s next and working hard to achieve her goals.

She’s extremely smart and magically got her cat to pose for album cover of the year. Your hotel vacation sounded so luxurious - they really should do that for you more than once a year!

Nobody is more excited to start 2022 with online classes. Maybe eventually the weather will finally calm down and give you a chance to skate again?

We’ve had so many wonderful chats that go in depth on any topic. Hoping the new year is the fresh start that kickstarts good feelings and kills any toxicity. I’m glad Ottawa was fun - the East is calling your name for more adventures I think!

See you at the Stampede this summer. 100%.

28. Hope - Arlo Parks

Brooke, I feel like you give a lot of people hope.

“Wait why?” is what you may be thinking but hear me out: It’s inspiring seeing an awesome person also able to experience some of life’s greatest treasures.

Which for you is a new child! AAHH BROOKE IS GOING TO BE A MOM!!!

Brooke’s child is going to be indoctrinated into the Disney fandom which is also exxxccceeellleennnttt (evil laugh).

Seriously though, that child will have more Disney stuffies than a World of Disney store. The Steamboat Willie one made me smile. It’ll be such a treat when you get to take your kid to Disneyland for the first time. What a fairytale.

Maybe it’ll be a road trip. After all, nothing is more California than driving that hippie van out with the ocean beside you. The Sturgeon River will do for now.

Congrats to you and Brett. That’s so cool. Probably worth a new Wilderness Explorer badge, I’d say.

27. Wet Dream - Wet Leg

Amber, this song is super inappropriate but also a bop so, it just made too much sense to fit your vibe.

Maybe someone should tell that nun about this track.

You know what they say:

Once a panini, always a panini.

KERMIT MODE.

Amber is going to help me get my Bachelors Degree in Liquor Consumption in Banff in a week or so. She’s in Washington so, not sure when she’ll read this. The cats are probably eating humans right now but that’s okay. Gizmo peed on Jordan’s leg.

I’m glad your liver survived slo-pitch and that you didn’t tear your ACL skiing this year. We should probably invite Allie and some goblins for a darty this summer. I hope you crush 2022 and we get to hang out more. It’s always a hoot joining into Amber’s antics. But in the meantime...

Look at this hot piece of ass below. #Daddy

26. That’s Life - Still Woozy

Life hasn’t been the nicest to my sister lately.

Kaitlin though is a fighter - and she doesn’t let any of it hold her back. She just got straight As in school despite all of the shit thrown at her.

I very much enjoyed her crazy filters with Lilly, especially the train. WOAAAAHH - Lilly. That was so funny.

Kaitlin will be one of the cool librarians who will make you want to sneak out of class to learn about how to make a robot or turn a picture of Rick & Morty into a neat artistic keychain.

Wishing you and Mike the best for 2022. “Fist bumps Mike”. I’m hoping you and mom win at bingo and take me back to Anaheim.

Also, can we cheer about Caillou dying this year? About time.

25. Duo - Sam Gellaitry

I’ll tell you about two awesome duos. A duo of duos.

My grandma and grandpa are just the most wonderful people. I think I get a lot of my drive to fight through adversity from my grandma. My grandpa is where I get a lot of my compassion and sense of humour.

My grandma also made sure that I remembered to EAT. My grandpa told me the story about the Hand and I never forgot.

My Uncle Greg & Kim are also a great duo. My Uncle Greg has already helped me so much in the last few days with my car in the cold weather. He’s always willing to lend a hand and teach you something. Kim has the best laugh and smile - thanks again for the cupcakes! MMMMM

I’m so fortunate to have great family to turn to. Grandma, you should have stolen the coffee maker LOL. I love you all.

24. Your Power - Billie Eilish

Drew has the power to annoy the hell out of me but also make me cry laughing only seconds later.

He’ll probably beat me in the Shit Bowl and never shut up about it. His team after all is apparently the best even though he’s playing me.

Nobody fights me on points more in the ESPN News Desk than Drew but also he’ll defend me to the death if someone tries to shit on me.

Drew and Jess welcomed a new puppy, Henry, to the stable...which is good because Drew needed a doghouse for which to stay from time to time.

Remember when Bob dropped 45 on the table and just left?

Nobody can mix it up quite like Drew. Hope you liked those Skip orders.

youtube

23. Sun Goes Down - Lil Nas X

“From the afterlife”

It doesn’t matter if the sun is just going down or rising - I can expect a phone call from Jordan at any time of the day. Since he switched from Freedom, it doesn’t drop every time anymore either.

Right about now, the funk soul brother, check it out now, the funk soul brother.

Remember the putting course?

“Well did you want me to get him for free?”

THE OILERS!

Oilers sign Richard Park.

Jordan usually finds a way to make me laugh or provides a new perspective on something I hadn’t thought of. He just bought a new Dodge Ram that he can take on trips to Vancouver Island in the future. We usually go into long conversations about how bad Edmonton’s situation really is.

Jordan is also the Scandia mini golf champion after a clutch hole-in-one.

Nobody gets into weirder or funnier situations than Jordan. Maybe Rufus.

22. The Bottom - Gracie Abrams

Hey Kelsey, you feeling 22??????

Well, there is no Taylor Swift so, you get a song that kind of sounds like Taylor Swift.

Kelsey took risks this year and they paid off for her. I’m proud of Kels, that you took a lot of steps in your life to make yourself a happier and more fulfilled individual.

DONDA DONDA DONDA - yeah the chant didn’t make this list either lol.

Kelsey is an ESSC champion and a March Madness bracket winner. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was a little jealous. Kels also picked up where I left off with the food challenges and instead did Oat Milk Latte reviews. Did they have good oat milk lattes in Hawaii?

I think this is a good track for you too Rachel. It was nice to see you at bowling again and of course, it’s common knowledge that having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card. I think you’ve come a long way too on your path this year and that’s uplifting to see.

Holy Family Catholic School? That one will take me a while to get used to.

I hope you two have an excellent Bad Bitch 2022. Hashtag it if you need to.

21. Not Dead Yet - Lord Huron

Shannon, this one is obviously your track.

Hopefully in this weather, you’re making good use of that Comfy. Especially after you took this year to move into a new sparkly apartment downtown.

I did eventually follow your advice and treated myself. Thanks for that. Hoping to do so more often.

You could probably tell I was a bit nervous reading to your class of grade 3s - I didn’t know how loud the Google Meet was, so I felt like I should be a bit heavy on the volume, but then it’s kind of strange reading that loud...in summary, I overthought it all per usual. Lilly said I was good, she was behind the computer.

That was probably the most well-behaved class of students I’d ever seen though. That tells you the teacher is probably top notch.

Thanks to Dugs, I had my first ever drink from Remedy Café. Which I believe officially makes me a white girl. I think that’s how it works.

I always, always, leave something behind in your vehicle. That tradition is not dead yet.

You always keep me guessing Shannon. That’s not changing anytime soon.

20. Weekend Run - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

To be fair, Anna and I don’t run - we do more of a weekend walk.

Remember when the weather was nice enough that you could WALK OUTSIDE???

Anna and I have deep philosophical talks about life’s greatest mysteries.

Or, we talk about hot celebrities. It can’t all be about saving the environment okay? Harry Styles is waiting out there for you and he even wrote you a delicious song!

I don’t use TikTok. Anna owns TikTok.

One of the first texts I sent this year was to Anna complaining about the government staffers fucking off to Hawaii and the Caribbean. There were a lot of “shoulder to cry on because what is happening!!!” exchanges.

Anna got to go to a wedding this year, and Toronto. She also painted an awesome Midsommar portrait because she’s a wizard with a brush.

When Anna isn’t texting me about booking her booster before me...WEIRD FLEX OKAY?? - she’s an amazing listener and someone who I go to all the time for perspectives and well thought out opinions. We can talk about literally anything and I’ll come out of the conversation having learned something. It’s a valuable trait and Anna does it with compassion and sympathy.

If we go to the roller rink, you know I have to probably drive us there right? We’ve never done a driving hangout, we were the two holdouts on having a car left! I’m looking forward to us both going through whatever torture the world manifests next.

19. Mirror - Sigrid

I’d like to thank Kaylin for her Instagram post highlighting her struggle with Body Dysmorphia Disorder and what she goes through.

I’m not going to get into the full story but for those of you who don’t know, I also have BDD. I’ve had it since about grade eight. It can definitely be a struggle, and anyone who wants to know more can hit me up and ask.

It was weird seeing someone else I know have it for the first time in my life. It helps though to know that someone is going through the same thing you are.

Everyone deals with something. The point is to understand each other, communicate and learn from one another.

Oh, and have as much fun as we can. That’s the most important part. It’s easy to forget some of the shit we deal with if we can have fun. So, I thank everyone involved in this top list for helping me forget about the bad stuff.

18. I Am Water - July Talk

“He’s like a fish out of water...IN the water!”

Remember that one Shaye? Also, remember when I took you out thanks to the Cowboys D? Tyreek Hill even tried to help you but alas, not meant to be. RIP Derrick Henry.

The king of the Toronto Rock of the NLL, Shaye is just getting started in his media career, especially with his newly found contacts.

Hell, 2022 may be the year he finally sees a Calgary Flames cup. Yuck.

Through all the last minute requests and bullshit, Shaye does it all and stays afloat. He really adopted the “not over until it’s over” saying that we kept from NAIT. You are fresh full of good ideas and would be fun to see on air, if they finally give you that shot someday. I hope someone does.

In the meantime, maybe you can make it to the World Series of Poker and buy us a way into an NHL organization? Just a thought.

Thanks for listening to all my rants man. Let’s keep fighting.

17. Come in Closer - Rhye

I mean Christian, this was on your most played Spotify list so it’s only justified. Also, it has come in the title. Giggedy.

I remember we talked for a few hours about our March Madness picks and you didn’t even consider Ohio State, I have no idea what you were thinking. But I don’t blame you for Illinois, I heavily considered it.

You can talk to Christian about literally anything. Movies, music, life...it doesn’t matter, I always know he’ll listen to every word and provide really good and entertaining feedback to it.

It wasn’t the easiest year to be an inside brown guy. Christian tried to do his best to safely navigate the pandemic even more than myself. I have to give massive respect to him for that. We really learned how everyone loses their shit in this scenario and Christian is a strong willed guy who powered through to the end. I really appreciated that you tried to stick with the Whitecourt trip with me and that you listen to my drunk uncle rants.

But he HATES Interstellar. Aw man. Like this guy is just the biggest Christopher Nolan hater on the planet, right? If you don’t know Christian, he just adores Terrence Malick. Now there’s a damn artist. Chef’s kiss. He’s also so excited for Morbius.

Never feel bad about asking me to hang out - you’re one of my favourite friends to talk to and be around. It’s always a fun time and I hope we get to more often in 2022.

I owe you a new mask though. I dropped the ball, looked everywhere and can’t find it. We also should do some kind of Five Nights at Freddy’s VR night just to see Ronan shit his pants.

16. The angel of 8th ave - Gang of Youths

Samantha, this isn’t a ranking of people - it’s a ranking of songs.

That being said, I put you one ahead of Christian so you can tease him about it later. Lol.

Sam continues to be a superb friend and one of the nicest human beings around - as close to an angel as it gets. We had a great catch-up dinner at Browns (ahem, the restaurant) where literally everyone also showed up uninvited.

Samantha had a year of exploration herself. She had the sketchiest job ever that sounded like it was a horror movie - but now has a real interesting job with the Justice and Solicitor General Visitation Centre helping connect families to people who are incarcerated. One day, one of those big arguments over the phone will probably be Drew and Christian fighting about who stole cereal from his cabinet. Quick trip to jail cause it’ll get violent, but they’ll kiss at the end.

Sam also joined the YEG Cycle gang and had one of the best quotes of the year, about trying to beat KBodSwag and Mike in March Madness.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling when you’re simultaneously rooting for your loved one but also wanna see them get stomped cause winning feels good”

I hope life gives you plenty of wins Sam in the upcoming year. You deserve it.

15. Missing Piece - Vance Joy

Giving Ben & Chelseay a Vance Joy song because...duh.

Ben is still the cutest human being alive. He was also my go-to guy for the municipal election ranting (long live Bob Russell) and you can forward all your complaints to him, Stony Plain residents. He loves it. He’s probably playing Clash of Clans at this exact second.

He’s dating Chelseay, who I knew right away would be one of the coolest humans as soon as she introduced herself. “Cheesy” Chelseay brings that friendly Halifax energy to everyone she comes across and has an infectious personality that makes it really easy to talk about anything with her.

Chelseay got a phenomenal opportunity to move to British Columbia for a few months to help people who lost their homes to environmental disasters last year. It’s perfect for Chelseay to flex her kind heart to lend a hand and to also add to her resume down her ideal career path. I can’t wait to hang with you more when you get back to this province.

It’s also super impressive to see how much Ben has already accomplished as a project engineer. His future is only brighter from here. I know you likely asked Santa for a more consistent golf game in 2022 - so did I.

Best wishes to you both! There aren’t many missing pieces for either of you to have great success.

14. CORSO - Tyler, the Creator

Saved this one for you Lew. CORSO blasted in our rental car in Kelowna.

Matty says the most ridiculous shit. It’s mostly hilarious. He also can get pretty philosophical and it led to excellent discussions.

Matt finally realized this year that the BBQ Crunch is a great burger and he should have ordered it in the first place instead of the Dino Burger or whatever the hell that was.

I was going to put a bunch of ridiculous quotes on here but man, some of them I just can’t add. Like building a bridge in Catan, or stuff about atomic bombs and nukes on the gram. Or the full Gambler. What a bust at the end.

Matt was in almost every video chat we did in the first half of 2021. I probably didn’t talk to anyone more in that time period face-to-face. I still can’t agree that Joonas Korpisalo would do anything for the Oil, I’m sorry. But I can agree that you can throw up a mean X. Matt also is now a ref, as long as his bone spurs don’t kill him. He helped support youth employment with his role with ACES armchairs too.

CRAB BATTLE!

Cheers to sending it for another year. Here is a pic of Matt’s puppy, Murphy.

13. LUMBERJACK - Tyler, the Creator

Two Matts, two Tyler tracks.

Matt Mosewich usually has some kind of beard going, which is close enough to a lumberjack.

We at least got to see two awesome World Juniors games at Rogers Place until shit hit the fan.

If I were hiring a staff for a front office for a hockey team, you’d be first on my list. I’m not Chayka’s bitch anymore. Matt and I spend every day talking about the Edmonton Oilers and how we hate how right we are about them all the time. It’s just two guys who love a team so much that it physically hurts to see how mismanaged they are. Fuck.

It’s hard to squeeze people in this league - freshly squeezed Ken Holland.

BROOOOOOberg. Dave Tippett my god. Fuck you Jon.

Hockey aside though, Matt and I are on the same wavelength on a lot of hot button issues and he makes me laugh a shit ton. Without the guy, I’d go clinically insane from bottling up my Edmonton emotions. But he’s also just a great friend in general too.

I don’t know how to feel about Matt and Kyle joining the empire, but I wouldn’t be surprised to give into their power someday.

Hoping your building gives you more peace and quiet this year instead of construction and gas leaks. If the Oil do ever win the cup, we’re going to cry like a bitch.

12. You Only Live Twice - Drake, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne

You only live...twice? Well Kelly, as we texted about, the queen never dies as a lizard robot person.

I’m sure you have taken note that the Kings are only two points back of the Oilers now.

Kelly is a military man so you better damn respect him. He does know where the skeletons are buried at West Edmonton Mall - he knows where the dragon sleeps like a baby.

If he ends up with the time, maybe Kelly takes a trip to East Asia or Europe. A big time trip where he just gets lost in the sauce. That could be one hell of a learning experience.

I always enjoy our political chats or when we talk about how Duncan Keith is actually a biohacker. The pandemic definitely cut into our hangout time but also you just had a determined year chasing that bread and a dream. Can’t fault you there. You’re one of the brightest individuals out there and you’ll settle into a perfect spot for your skillset eventually.

I hope you enjoyed Mass Effect: Legendary Edition with my tax dollars.

11. help herself - bbno$, Diamond Pistols

Brenna is always offering up help, putting people ahead of herself.

You haven’t had the easiest holidays, but I am confident sunnier days are ahead for you.

Brenna is always working on a new piece of art. She loves creating projects depending on her mood. From Christmas ornaments to phone wallpapers to even glamouring up an incredible looking resume. You won’t find someone more creative and open about why they made something.

There was also that small period where we thought you’d end up with many fans! Instead, you became a fairly knowledgeable bartender and mixologist - right now, The Black Pearl is where Brenna’s talents shine.

Brenna took me on a cocktail adventure through Jasper Ave - including a secret speakeasy behind the bookshelf at Baiju. Or I guess, not so secret now because I just mentioned it. That was so much fun except for the dent in my wallet.

Brenna is incredible at sticking beside her friends and trying to find where the fun is at in life. You can rely on Brenna to be there for you in thick and thin. Looking forward to hopefully more mutually positive chats as our lives sort themselves out. Thanks for this picture by the way - I hate so many of myself but this one is prime.

10. Golden Restless Age - Kings of Leon

Brian Anda obviously gets restless when I’m not hanging out with him.

Haha, jk.

Brian and I had a great lunch at La Crema Café, a place that we have strong history at. He almost chose Calgary over us but he just can’t leave the BOYS. I was so close to not doing the bottle thing but alas, I couldn’t help myself.

Brian received every text from me about every NBA signing this summer. James did too actually. That was a lot of spam but hey, it was SUPER active. So much big time movement right?...to be fair, DeMar DeRozan is lighting it up for Chicago.

Brian, Mati and I went for a lovely walk right when the Covid light of day was starting to show in the skies. I was happy to see Brian join the scrambles - and hope we can get some tee times down next summer.

Mr. Shoulders is a loyal friend who understands where I’m coming from and I hope we can keep a friendship for a long, long time.

I have a good feeling that in 2022, you’ll be checking a lot of boxes off your list.

9. Fake Fame - Dear Rouge

Well Mitch, you won’t like this song at all so I will link a real banger for the people here. Ladies and gentlemen, The Claw is the Law.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=640440240316078

Oddly, the caption says it’s The Pause, The Law - which sounds more like a Covid-19 song from earlier in 2021.

It was a year of progression for Mr. Stykalo. He moved to Kelowna after a big time new job opportunity. He went to Tower Ranch and ate incredible clubhouse food. His landlords smoke a lot of weed.

We visited his place and it was quite nice but as expected, there are plenty of references to Hook. I think there were at least four.

Eventually, Mitch wants to head out to Vancouver and I mean, who wouldn’t want to work there if they had the means? Plus, the concert scene would be pretty sick down there.

It’d spark a guaranteed tour stop for Tower Hill.

If it’s not Vancouver, you’re still going places man. That water slide company would have been gnarly. We see a lot of shit in the world in similar ways and I respect the conversations we have. Keep visiting periodically and hey, maybe I’ll see you in Whistler next summer. You’ll have to remind me when your company does their retreat.

Also a shoutout to Austin, who introduced me to old 70s Kung Fu movies, which you can find on THIS YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/c/WuTangCollectionDope - full movies on here too!

8. Hurricane - Kanye West

Alex Matias and I almost got stuck in a hurricane in Erin Ridge.

Okay, not quite, but the wind picked up right when we got into the car and then it just started POURING. We were sheer minutes away from getting sent to the shadow realm.

We got into some perilous situations a few times this year. Even down by the library, we almost ran into a coyote pack waiting on the other side of the bridge. “I only see 2, if there’s 3 or more we’re fucked.”

“Oh shit, we’re in trouble.” Start running.

I always enjoy adventures with Mati, even if it’s as simple as looking for a Halloween costume, softball gloves or walking around the city.

Whether we’re discussing his future in education, which is a bright one, or Mart Kenney (lol), I usually come out of a dialogue having learned something from him. He’s also my Defunctland buddy - I have NOT watched the FastPass one but I will this weekend!

Mati is simply one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Can’t wait to see what’s next for you my man.

7. Off The Grid - Kanye West

Evan is now OFF THE GRID!

Why is that? Well, he left our province, our glorious nation of Alberta, for...Ottawa?

What’s so special about Ottawa? Parliament? Pfft.

Seriously though, you took a brave leap and got into Carleton. I’m so proud of you man. Your path to CSIS is in the clear and I have no doubt that you’ll find your way there.

And hey, you even got to see Gavi - that’s quite the special moment too ain’t it.

Evan is a winner. I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s in your contract that once you work at Winners, you are a winner for life.

I’m going to miss our breakfasts and walks around St. Albert’s river valley. Whether it’s politics or life issues, we often find ourselves on the same page. Not only that, but you’re one of the greatest listeners I know. You hear what someone is saying and apply sound advice. You also laugh a lot at my downright shitty dad jokes. Even if it’s a sympathy laugh, I’ll take it!

I really appreciate you Donlevs. It was great seeing you at WEM. Come back once you and the other bureaucrats solve Covid-19 okay?

6. Fair Trade - Drake, Travis Scott

Hey Mike, I’ll trade you my shittiest bench guy for Alvin Kamara for the final. Fair?

Whenever I see Mike Serra, I get hyped and amped. I know I’m going to laugh a lot when entering a conversation with him. If he starts laughing, you start laughing.

Mike is an observant guy. He sees some of the more subtle background stuff that I see. He’ll mention some really neat under-the-radar stuff cooking that makes me think differently.

Midway Mike baby.

That prank on Sam was ruthless.

We both got to learn golf together, and even though we both suck, it was a lot of fun. Mike also knows my sleep schedule is insanity, so he can message me at any non-business hour and probably get a reply shortly. Hell, we even did a 3am late night drive.

You had a year of reflection and I hope you find you’ve grown, because I think you have man.

“Looks at Mike” “We’re gonna have to carry.”

5. Time I Love To Waste - MAY-A

Czyz, I gave you a bop. Cause you love bops.

I told you 4000 times you’d get into med school and oh look at who got into med school!

Christi made the big move to Wales from Germany because she heard I have some Welsh heritage and wanted to meet more Klaks. There just happened to be a school there too.

Boy, I’m stumped on what to say about this year. It was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for both of us. A lot of the BE HAPPY gif. TIGGERED. I know Canada is too uncultured for you now but I am MANIFESTING your return someday.

I’m just really grateful to have someone like Christi in my life. She listens to me bitch all day and somehow isn’t annoyed! Maybe you’re insane, or just a magnificent friend.

Remember we sang those country songs? You should show Marg the remix I made after that. I also want to see more of Drunk & Full of Sweets Czyz. So wholesome.

We’ve both made so much progress, even if we don’t always believe it. No matter what happens in 2022, I just want you to know you have a supporter and believer over here through anything that happens. We’re in this fight together.

Whether it’s a call where the internet cuts out at the top of the hour or a stream of audio messages, I love talking with you Czyz and it puts a smile on my face.

It’s time that never feels wasted.

4. Peach - Future Islands

Peach emoji. This song is for Aaron because he likes DAT ASS.

Flem and I message each other absolute garbage every day.

Remember how many memes I sent during the insurrection?

Sometimes we actually hang out though in person too. Like when Flem came to my house in the Austin Powers mobile that ripped like a fart.

SLAVE! SLAVE!

Aaron, this year is a new beginning. We get to start from scratch and that’s well needed. Aaron has a kind heart and is just a good bro. I don’t just talk to him daily for shits, it’s because he’s a funny dude. We rant to each other about anything and find the humour of it and then poo and pee. 2021 ended in a tidal wave of bullshit. I’m with you man as we try to navigate this next wave of diarrhea, we’ll find the promised land soon enough.

I’ll probably never portage a canoe though in my life. You are crazy for that shit.

Time to let the animal out of the cage for 2022. Aaron is about to be UNLEASHED.

3. That Funny Feeling - Bo Burnham

Ronan + Raphy, I don’t know what I did to deserve two incredible friends like you guys. I hit the jackpot I guess.

I know I usually fill this up with inside jokes, but I wanted to take a moment to say I think it’s awesome how even though we’ve evolved as humans over the years, there’s just a special bond there.

Raphy sent me a Cameo from Patrick Russell for my birthday. Friends for six years huh? PEGGLE 2! That was unbelievable. Raphy is also the best teacher hands down. Sometimes I can’t hang with Raphy because he’s on a family trip. Raphy also had the best bio on Instagram of all time.

“Why are you looking at my profile Brennan?”

Ronan makes me laugh every damn day. I love turning to the guy and he’s got a shit eating grin on his face every time. He’ll always drive me to A&W too without question. (Speaking of....HIIIIII). Ronan now works at MASH, where he bartends and hopefully doesn’t have to walk into a blown up bathroom. That’d be stinky!

Without you guys, I’d be the guy from ESSC speed dating. That would suck so bad. I’m already trying to avoid being a dad. For now. I need my boys who understand me when I say: I’m kinda digging the red nose right now. (Ronan just said okay, I bet). It’s an inconsistent hype train.

“I know everyone is focused on...but I can’t keep my eyes off...”

I’m glad that even if the seasons change, I can always count on Raphy and Ronan to be there. They’re the absolute best humans a person could ask to be around.

The big 3 forever. Well actually, big 4 forever, but Brian is stuck in line at Atco.

Absolutely gooned.

2. That Life - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

I am so grateful for the life I’ve been lucky to have - and so much of it is because of my parents unconditional love and support. It’s an honour having the parents I have as role models and people to aspire to be as I become a hopefully wiser and older adult myself.

Thanks Mom, Thanks Dad - I love you. Thanks for being there for me and for the opportunities you’ve given me in my life. It’s a blessing to have you.

Happy New Year Mom, JD and Lilly!

Happy New Year Dad, Lorelei and the girls!

1. The Bandit - Kings of Leon

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Thanks everyone for reading, and have a wonderful 2022!

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