October 7 2002 : Assorted Stuff Over The Edge Page 10

BC Rivers Day at Fort George Park

Never Buy a Used Hamster

By Erin Baker
Does any of this sound
familiar to anyone? You're
away from home for the first
time, feeling kind of lonely and
thinking about buying a new
pet to keep you company. |
found myself in this situation at
the beginning of the school
year, and have since then
been on
somewhat of
a “wild ride”, a
la Mr.Toad.
My first
thoughts went
immediately
to a brand new puppy, that is,
until my frugal side kicked in
and | budgeted how much this
would actually cost. My next
idea was a hamster. They're
cute and cuddly, don’t cost
much and are easy to take
care of.
| then did the next logical
thing and went to Value Village
to look for a cheap hamster
cage. Do you know how much
they want for a used cage?
$30 and that didn’t even
include a wheel. Off | went to
Petcetera to price out a new
cage with all the fixings,
including furry little animal,
and the price came to just over
$60, a little out of my price
range. | went home defeated,
thinking that my dreams of
hamster ownership were out
of reach. When low and
behold, the Buy and Sell was
on the kitchen table, opened to
the page advertising small ani-
mals and cages. The first ad
was for a hamster, cage, food
and wheel for the amazing
price of $30. | called them up,
got their address and drove
over to see the merchandise.
There it was, everything |
wanted, right down to a peach-
es and cream teddy bear ham-
ster named Gus. | was over-
joyed, paid the 13-year-old
supplier in cash, and took my

| woke up to find dollars,
Gus on her side,
quietly shaking...

new friend to her new home.
We had 4 glorious days
together until the 5th morning
when | woke up to find Gus on
her side, quietly shaking.
Knowing that something was
wrong, | mournfully called the
vet and asked the price of a
consultation to see if Gus
would ever recover. When |
was quoted $45
| hung
up the phone
and sat down
with my
thoughts. | went
back to Gus to
hold her, and realized that she
would never be the same.

With a tear in my eye, | got out’

the Yellow Pages and called
the Prince George Veterinary
Hospital. A very nice secre-
tary told me to bring Gus to
the office, and she would tell
me their procedures on putting
small animals down. | placed
Gus in a comfortable box, and
we went to the vets. The nurse
was very helpful, informed me
that Gus probably had a brain
tumor (a common malady in
hamsters) and consoled me
during a weak moment. For
only $16, they put Gus down
and cremated her with some
other small rodents.

| decided that my empty
cage shouldn't go to waste, so
| did it the right way, and
bought a new hamster, whom |
named Steve. Steve has been
living happily in his cage for
the past month, with no com-
plications. He enjoys running
around in his hamster ball,
and burrowing in his cedar
shavings. This experience has
helped me grow as a human
being and taught me a very
important lesson; never buy a
used hamster.

Travel On An Amazing International Program!

Are you seeking adventure, challenge, education,
practical work experience? Dreaming of seeing Asia,
Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Central & Eastern
Europe? Canada World Youth has volunteer programs
for youth 17 — 20 who are eager to learn & work ina
team in areas of education, information technology,

business, social services, or agriculture. Contact CWY at
www.cwy-jcm.org or toll free 1-877-929-6884. Deadline

Dec. 6/02 for programs that start summer 2003.

Music for a Cause

By Tara Rogers

BC Rivers Day was held on
September 29th at Fort
George Park. The scene
resembled Canada Day, only
with a small crowd and colder
weather. After perusing the
many booths regarding the
importance of the Fraser and
Nechako Rivers (and deliber-
ately avoiding the Children’s
Tent), your writer picked up a
program explaining what the
day was all about: ‘BC Rivers
Day offers a strong reminder
of the importance of the
Nechako and Fraser Rivers
have in our history, our health,
our environment, and our
economy. Complete with Gary
Fjellgaard yodelling in the
background. Gary Fiellgaard
even told the crowd to not
encourage him to continue his
yodelling. Fjellgaard is actually
a pretty talented
musician/singer/songwriter
with a Juno to his name, who
also just happens to yodel.

Next up on stage was
Barney Bentall, formally of
Barney Bentall and _ the
Heartbreakers. Bentall played
an acoustic set, rehashing old
hits such as ‘Got Something to
Live For’, ‘Gin Palace’, and his
biggest hit of all, ‘Do Ya?’. He
told the crowd that ‘Do Ya’ was

written in 20 minutes under
the influence of a couple
cases of beer. Bentall also
shared with the crowd that he
was now a Cattle farmer and
had semi-retired from the
music business. He certainly
looked the part, dressed in an
old pair of jeans, a black shirt,
and a khaki ball cap. Bentall

played for an hour or so,
thanked the crowd, then took
his leave.

After deciding that it was too
cold to stick around for Orchid
Highway, the trek was made to
the car. Has anyone ever men-
tioned that parking sucks at
Fort George Park?

BC Rivers Day was a celebration of the importance of the Fraser and
Nechako Rivers. It was held in Fort George Park. Many musicans
and groups played, such as Orchard Highway, pictured here.

Great Big Sea Rock The Multiplex

By Stephane Morgan
_ The Multiplex was filled yet
again, by “die hard” Great Big
Sea fans when the band
played the venue on the 23rd.
The band was joined by fellow
Newfoundlanders, Crush, as
their opening act and the
night was filled with dancing
and carousing that didn’t stop
until well after the second
encore. :
Crush was a_ welcome
opening band, and although
the crowd didn’t quite know
the lyrics for their songs as
well as they did for GBS, the
jumping and partying wasn’t
hindered by it. In fact, it was
almost amplified as one fan
managed to throw a black bra
on stage. The bra itself was
used as a prop for the rest of
their set, moving from Paul
Lamb’s guitar to the mic

stand...and finally ending up
on Paul’s head.

When Great Big Sea finally
came on, it was pandemoni-
um. Unlike some concerts,
though, that energy didn’t
once die down. The scream-
ing and cat-calls didn’t stop
and the everyone sang along
with “Sea of No Cares”, the
title tack of the new album
and the base for the ‘No
Cares’ tour. People chanted
for their favourite songs and
Alan Doyle replied, laughing-
ly, that not to worry, because
“[they’re] going to play all the
hits, even ones that aren’t
[theirs].”

They definitely delivered
with this concert. They played
a mix of fast and slow songs,
seemingly randomly - but the
crowd moved with it easily. By
the end of the night, everyone

was dancing, it didn’t matter
where you were or who you
were with.

The band was incredibly
personal, running across the
stage, through jokes and
innuendos around easily. Alan
threw the customary “Beware”
out to those with bedroom
windows after “I’m a Rover”
and their rounds of “Mary
Mac” grew faster and faster.
They did however manage to
disturb quite a few members
of the audience though - did
you know that “Gideon Brown’
isn’t about boat envy it’s
about...well we'll just leave
that to your imagination.

Although some of the jokes
were slightly “recycled” from
their last few tours the fans
didn’t mind one bit. Afterall...if
it ain’t broke - don’t fix it.