Doonesday Machine

2007-07-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

Later skaters!

I'm gone, Toronto! Try to have fun without me! And I'm gonna say goodbye to this blog, at least for the time being. Keep track of my arctic adventures (and misadventures) in Iqaluit, Nunavut at my new blog: Baffinblog.

Luckily, before I left town, I got to say goodbye to some friends. Here's some pics from my going away party:

Later in the night, I decided to take pictures of my friends looking tough. If anyone in Iqaluit gives me a hard time, you'll have to deal with these rough-looking folks:Awww... isn't that a touching farewell?

2007-06-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ready to Launch

Only 3 days left until I'm off to Iqaluit. Less than 2 days left in Toronto. The countdown is on. I'm not sure it's entirely hit me yet. Over the past week, I've been a bundle of highs and lows, of super-excited-ness and sadness at leaving. But the excited part of me is definitely winning - I'm gonna be up north for almost endless light (at least for now), the sealift, Nunavut day, and countless other unknown adventures. I've never been away from southern Ontario for this long, and I've never been so uncertain about what to expect in a destination. But, I'm about as prepared as I can be, and I know I'm gonna kick ass in the vast treeless expanse of my new home.

Besides my preparations for going away, I've started taking an ESL teaching course online. I get to research websites like this one, featuring an ESL song sung by someone with an accent so Australian it hurts. Not unlike Crocodile Dundee's large knife stabbing you repeatedly.

Tonight, as most people who would be reading this already know, I'm having people over to say goodbye, drink some beers, and generally have a blast. So come on by!

2007-06-18T15:55:00.000-07:00

Brewin' up trouble

Here's a picture of my new friends, the carboys of beer that I brewed with Evan. Well, to be honest, he did most of the work. Ryan is also involved financially in our venture of 100 large bottles of homebrewed beer - an enterprise we've dubbed "Dr. EvRy's." Don't think of it so much as beer, but as a prescription with numerous health benefits.

My recent beer brewing foray, I hope, will help me survive my upcoming year plus in the north. The clock is ticking on Iqaluit, because I've booked my ticket for July 2nd. I was freaked out about leaving so early for a bit, but I haven't been too terribly busy with other things lately (besides my job search), so I'm mostly packed and almost ready to go. It'll be a hectic couple of weeks until then, however.

Mainly, I've been working weekends, doing the Keep Cool campaign for Toronto Hydro and the Clean Air Foundation. Today I'm recovering from a hot weekend of working outside.

Oh, and before I forget - I'm hosting a going-away party Friday, June 29th. The bottles of Dr. EvRy's should be ready for drinking, and the porch is looking fantastic these days, so come on out!

2007-05-28T17:02:00.001-07:00

How to be Entertained

Not too much to report with me. To be honest, I'm not sure where the past week or so has gone. I've watched a bunch of movies, drank a bunch of beers, applied for a bunch of jobs up north, and tried to organize a bunch of my stuff for my impending arctic adventure.

One of the highlights of the week was Tuesday, when I went to see the Gillian Welch & Bright Eyes show at Massey Hall. It was great. Gillian and her collaborator David Rawlings played an acoustic set with just their two guitars, with mostly songs off of Revelator. Bright Eyes, on the other hand, had a fairly ornate band in place, with a string section and two drummers (both girl drummers, who always rule way harder). They played mostly songs off their newest, but played them well, and threw in a few older favourites for good measure. The highlight of the night was towards the end when the Bright Eyes band accompanied Gillian as she played her song Look at Miss Ohio.

In regards to movies, I went to see Inland Empire, the new David Lynch film. If you can call it a film, since it doesn't have a plot, and I'm not sure it has characters either. I do know that it was three hours long, and Laura Dern is a really good actress (even though I'm not sure what role she was supposed to be playing, exactly). Ryan and I have taken to punctuating our conversations with the phrase, "well, at least we're not watching Inland Empire." Because it really does mess with you.

I've also been spending alot of time sitting in parks or on my porch, enjoying the weather and reading. I just finished reading How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson, editor of the magazine The Idler. It's a great read, and I highly recommend it. In addtion to giving some great, intelligent excuses for being lazy, it also makes an argument against our society's frenetic drive towards overwork and consumption. The book gave me an idea to start a political party, called the Idleness Party of Canada. Its main goal would be a 30 hour work week. Unfortunately, some people in BC beat me to the idea: www.worklessparty.org

Oh, and last, but certainly not least, I made a strawberry shortcake:

2007-05-17T07:49:00.000-07:00

Fond Farewell (for now)

May has flown by so far. I've been trying to spend as much time as possible with Karen (aka Kate Nova), to stave off the inevitable, which catches up with me tomorrow when she flies off to the Arctic. I plan to follow her in a couple of months - wish me luck on my job search. The weekend before last, we went to Ithaca, New York, home of the famous vegetarian haunt the Moosewood Restaurant. as well as the Ithaca Bakery, which is solar powered and makes a mean breakfast sandwich. Basically, it was a little lefty haven in the Finger Lakes of New York State, where we camped among gorges and waterfalls. After eating at the Moosewood, we were especially excited:The last week has mostly involved making the most of Karen's last days in Toronto for a while. It's gone way too fast. We partied last weekend, where I developed a drink in her honour - The Arctic Urbanite:
- 2 parts vodka
- 1 part blue curacao
- 2 parts ginger ale
- twist of lime
Combine vodka, and blue curacao in cocktail shaker with ice. Shake. Pour into glass, add ginger ale and lime. Substitute club soda for all or part of ginger ale for a less sweet drink.

So, Toronto, you have 24 hours left with your most awesome resident. Enjoy it.

2007-05-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

Video killed the radio star

In case you were wondering what I was doing with my time off this week...

From ilovenukes.ca:

2007-04-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

School's Out!

Well, at least until I get a job teaching. In the meantime, I had my last class as a Bachelor of Education student today! And after 8 months, I've gotta say... teaching pretty much rules. I get to be a nerd, wear cardigans and corduroy jackets, and I can justify watching art films, reading books, and pretty much every other activity I enjoy doing by saying I'm prepping for class. And kids are not nearly as bad as reported. In fact, they're pretty much like us "grown-ups," except that they're far more open to possibilities than most of us care to be.
On top of that, the weather's getting warmer. I plan to spend most of the summer "prepping."

2007-04-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Back at home, further from the equator.

Well, I've made it back to good ol' Canadamala. I mostly arrived unscathed, with just a bad cold, which my voice is still wrecked from, and I've already managed to pass on to my brilliant, talented, and beautiful girlfriend (sorry Karen!). The many-coloured "alfombras" that covered the streets of Antigua as part of Easter festivities, and the religious processions that walked over these creations of coloured sawdust, flowers, etc, are now just memories and photographs.

Now, I'm only two and a half weeks away from finishing my B.Ed!

Next adventure: Iqaluit, Nunavut.

2007-04-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mayan Ruins, Salsa Dancing, and Coffee Plantations

It´s been an eventful week here in Guatemala. I spent the weekend just over the Guatemala-Honduras border, where there are the remains of a big ancient Mayan city, and where the climate is waaay hotter and more humid than the mountains around Antigua and Guatemala City. The ruins were amazing, but it was almost more fun just to experience a more tropical climate and jungle-y area, with parrots and giant trees. Also, although my hotel there was a bit of a hole, it did have hammocks to lie in... and boy, do I enjoy a good hammock.

Monday, I started Spanish lessons again. I only took 3 days of spanish classes this week, 5 hours a day. I had a new teacher this time, and he was a bit of a taskmaster...as a result, I feel like I´ve crammed in alot of Spanish learning over the past 3 days. It was really good to come back to spanish classes after a few weeks immersed in the language to realize I´ve actually made some progress, and know a whole wack of spanish words. I even have a fancy diploma that proclaims me to have reached the level of "intermedio medio" (Mid-intermediate) in Spanish... although, I have to say I think that was awfully generous of them.

In the afternoons, I´ve mostly tooled around the city of Antigua. Yesterday, I went for a bike tour to a nearby coffee plantation. It was pretty cool... the plantation itself was a modest, fairly industrial place. Cool, because it wasn´t very touristy, and I learned neat stuff about how they process coffee beans... less cool, because I didn´t get to taste any coffee, and we got stuck in a rare spell of rain while cycling back into town.

I´ve also taken a couple of Salsa lessons, which have been super fun... although ocasionally stressful, as my arms and body and legs don´t always want to get along as well as my brain demands.

Oh, also, I´m sick again. I currently can barely talk. I´ve done a ton of amazing things on this trip, but I´ll be happy to be back in Toronto in a couple of days, where the germs are less plentiful and more familiar to my body.

2007-03-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Chicken Bus

Everyday, to get from Antigua to Guatemala city, I take what´s called a chicken bus, a uniquely Central American creation. This is basically an old school bus that has been repainted from its original yellow to a variety of bright colours, and is used as public transportation between cities throughout Guatemala. Often, they have a new front end put on, to help get through the mountainous terrain, not to mention achieve some pretty terrifying speed and unlikely acceleration. Each driver has an assistant to help collect fares, to direct the passengers to the bus and the vehicular traffic around the bus. They´re really good at the directing passengers to the bus part... so good that most rides feature 3 people in a seat designed for two, as well as numerous people standing (luckily, they´ve added some extra bars for holding on to). Pretty much all chicken buses (at least the reputable ones) have a name. Mine is called Primorosa and she´s been pretty good to me. (Actually, there are a few Primorosas... I think the name helps people figure out exactly the route it´s going on, or else maybe who owns it).

This week, I´ve developed an incredible knack for having the fattest lady on the bus decide to take the seat next to me. This is especially remarkable considering how skinny and generally small most guatemalans are - obese guatemalans must make up a very small percentage of the population. I´m not quite sure what I´m doing to make myself so irresistable to these particular females, but I would like to learn how to stop.

Tomorrow is my last day commuting to Guatemala City via chicken bus, as well as volunteering at the project. I´ll miss both the bus and the school. The fat ladies... not so much.

2007-03-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Guatemala, in sickness and in health

I´ve made it to the halfway point of my Guatemala trip, although not without mishap. Shortly after writing my last blog entry, I started feeling a little off. After my first day at the projet on Monday, I came home, and couldn´t sleep because my stomach was hurting so badly. Long story short, I didn´t make it into the school in Guatemala City on Tuesday, because my body was busy expelling the toxins that I´d ingested in the local cuisine, leaving me weak and feverish. Luckily, I recovered enough to make it into school on Wednesday, and started eating proper meals again on Thursday. Oh food, my old friend, how I missed you.

School has been going okay as well. The grade 2´s and 3´s have learned that I make a fun jungle gym, especially the boys, and they spend much of their time hanging off me. The grade 4 &5 girls have been a little slower to warm up to me, but I´m starting to have stilted conversations with some of them. Which is really my main obstacle - my near total lack of spanish. I mean, I know enough to do tourist stuff, but when it comes to being in a classroom for a full day, I´m mostly pretty lost, and have admittedly felt kind of useless much of the time. When I take the bus in in the morning, I´m filled with dread - not because the school is that horrible, but I think because the atmosphere of the neighbourhood is so depressing and opressive that it hits me like a strong smell every time we drive into Guatemala City. (Although, then again, that could be any of the number of actual strong smells that pervade Guatemala, such as diesel fuel, garbage, etc.)

Anyway, in a nutshel, the days are long, and not easy, but they have their moments. Many of the kids are so cute they make me want to puke - but in a totally good way.

This past weekend, I got to be a tourist for a couple of days. On Saturday, I went to Lake Atitlan, a deep lake surrounded by volcanoes a couple of hours outside of Antigua. The air was fresh, and the town I stayed in, Panajachel, was laid back and pretty - a perfect respite to my hectic urban Guatemalan week. I hung out on the beach there a bit - not a spectacular beach by any means, but any beach in a tropical country can´t be all bad. I took a boat trip to a nearby city, Santiago. There was a music festival just outside of Santiago - after getting off the boat, I took a Tuktuk there ("Tuktuk" being a type of taxi that consists of a scooter with a contraption built onto it to allow passengers to sit behind the driver. I presume it´s named after the sound it makes.) After riding in the tuktuk along the lakeside, passing mayan women washing clothes in the lake, I came to a field in the middle of nowhere where a makeshift stage was setup with a big band playing latin music, while a mostly white audience sat or stood or danced. That night, I ate dinner overlooking the water, with the lights of the town of San Pedro visible across the lake like a cluster of stars, and a quarter moon in the sky bright enough to make the silhouette of the nearby volcanoes visible.

Sunday, I went to Chichicastenango, famous for its sunday market day. As advertised, it was huge, crowded, busy, and haggle-tastic. I bought a bunch of crap, since that´s all there really is to do there.

Anyway, I´m exhausted as usual after my day of school. Hasta luego!

2007-03-18T16:33:00.000-07:00

From a Scarborough visual art classroom to Guatemala

Apologies for the silence on the blog front. Since I last blogged, I finished my last 4 weeks of classroom teaching, thus completing the requisite number of hours required by the ministry of education to receive my teaching license. I also turned 30 (most everyone reading this was likely at the party, which was an absolute blast. Thanks to all those who attended, for making it totally memorable. Well, except for some brief forgettable moments later in the evening, and the next day, which I´ve since chosen to forget.)

As you can see, it´s been a busy past month. I should also mention that I´m in Guatemala. I´ve spent the past week trying, with marginal success, to learn spanish. I´ve taken classes every morning this past week for 5 hours a day starting at 8am, with Rafael, my teacher. I´ve attempted to tell him my life story, along with details about the geography of canada, all in spanish, while trying to properly conjugate verbs (as long as they´re in present or future tenses... I have no idea about past tense), and the difference between "por" and "para".
My hotel is amazing, and Antigua is an incredible city. It´s a maze of decrepid colonial architecture, painted deep pinks, yellows, oranges and reds, all surrounded by volcanos. One Volcano looms to the south, remarkably close to the city, and another to the West, Fuego, has been having small eruptions lately, sending plumes of grey smoke into the sky. Yesterday, I hiked up Volcan Pacaya, another active volcano just outside of the city. I didn´t get all that close to the top, but I was close enough to see rivulets and bursts of orange-red from near the apex. I climbed through black volcanic rock as far as I could see, while bursts of heat came from cracks in the rock below my feet. In short, it was awesome.

On Friday, I went on a tour of Camino Seguro, the school where I start volunteering tomorrow. Most of the various buildings they use were modest but clean and functional. A couple of them, including the building that houses the grade 2 class I´ll be helping out in, are quite new. The neighbourhood is basically a slum, consisting mostly of shacks constructed from corrugated iron. We also drove to the Guatemala City cemetery, which overlooks the garbage dump. There were clusters of hundreds of people swarming around the newly arrived trucks of refuse, trying to pick through the mess for recyclables they can sell. Overhead and perched on nearby crypts were at least as many vultures as there were people in the dump. Making all this even more surreal is the bright Guatemalan sun shining down through the haze of methane gas that hovers in the air.

Anyway, that should mostly bring things up to date. This week will be a busy one. I´ll try to get pictures online soon, along with another Guatemala update in a week or two.

2007-02-08T17:23:00.000-08:00

Super Bowl(ing)

Today is an exciting day... my last day of class for two months (well, unless you count teaching a class, which is actually way more work). I celebrated with a couch nap this afternoon, and I'm about to watch The Office and drink a beer. Wow, I'm so old...

Speaking of which, I turn thirty in under 2 weeks. Yikes! The good news is - party at Graffiti's, Sat. the 24th. Be there or be a shape consisting of four equal sides.

Last weekend I stayed in Kingston. I was visited by a beautiful angel. I believe she was an angel because she appeared in a haze of white clouds. Oh, wait, that haze of white was a snow storm. Well, regardless, I stand by my original statement. We spent super bowl sunday doing what I assume everyone does on super bowl sunday... went bowling. (I'm told some people watched some football game that day. I'm not sure why). It was a great honour, since I escorted a 10-pin bowling virgin. Most 10-pin bowling virgins have only been 5-pin bowling before... few of them have only been candlepin bowling before. The verdict? "Your balls are big, but they have holes in 'em"
Ahem.

2007-01-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

Better than Bluegrass...

Last week I learned something about myself. I learned that I faint (or almost) when I get a needle. Before you start snickering, this is not because I wuss out upon its injection. A few minutes after, apparently my blood pressure drops, and I turn white as a sheet. This has happened twice in the last few months. There is nothing quite as emasculating as being suddenly surrounded by old ladies ready to catch me if I fall, and then being wheeled away by one of them in a wheelchair and given a box of juice.

Anyway, other than that, things have been awesome. Last weekend I played Shinny for the first time in years, sat by a fire in the cold of Dufferin Grove Park and had a blast.

I came across this awesome article about refugee soccer players

I signed this petition, which you should sign too, urging Toronto to ban styrofoam containers.

Tomorrow (Saturday), I'll be at the Foggy Hogtown Boys regular matinee at the Brunswick House. This week should be especially good; the Foggy Hogtown Girls are being formed just for the occasion of a breast cancer fundraiser entitled... wait for it... "The Boob-Grass Jamboree" I swear I'm not making this up. I am, however, giggling uncontrollably about it.

2007-01-12T16:23:00.000-08:00

Giver of gifts, listener of podcasts, keeper of knowledge

Okay, I believe the holiday season can now be declared officially over. So take down your damn christmas lights, people! Otherwise I know people who will come and covertly unplug them in the dead of night. I'm serious about this.

To recap: I was busy in December. My Christmas shopping involved one big trip to the bookstore. As a professional english literature educator, I'm sure you're all clamoring to know what books I bought everyone, given my vast and insightful wisdom into such matters. Please, don't all clamor all at once... here it comes, the books, and the people they were purchased for.

Ryan: "The Push Man and Other Stories" by Yoshihiro Tatsumi.
Purchased, actually, on a separate trip to the Beguiling. Japanese comics done in the late 60's, early 70's. I'd never heard of this book or this artist before, but when I saw it in the store, something about it's combination of Japanese low-life weirdness screamed "Ryan." That's why Ryan is my friend.
The "Push Man", by the way, is (or was) a guy on the Tokyo subway whose job is to push the last few passengers into already packed subway cars during rush hour.

Evan: "The Omnivore's Dilemna: A Natural History of Four Meals" by Michael Pollan
I saw the author on the Daily Show a little while ago, going on about how the majority of the American diet is composed of corn now, due to its prevalence in processed foods. But this book is way more involved, following the journey of how different food makes it to your plate.

Margaret: "The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook" by Albert Bates
Best book ever! I basically ran into it at Indigo, and immediately knew it had to be purchased for someone. Possibly everyone I know. You've all been warned.

Mom: Fodor's Italian for Travelers
My Mom's taking a walking tour of Italy in June. Don't you just hate her already?

Dad: "The Ultimate Golf Book : A History and a Celebration of the World's Greatest Game" edited by David McCormick & Charles McGrath
There is a real lack of literate books about golf.

Rich: "How Soccer Explains the World" by Franklin Foer
There are, however, quite a few cool books about soccer. Apparently, it explains the world. Rich Gaskin, I'm sure, knew this already. However, someone wrote this book before he did.

Stay tuned... my goal now that I've posted this is to have everyone on the list above submit a review of their given books. Well, if not everyone, at least a few of you.

I'm back at Queen's, mostly wishing I was back in Toronto, and back teaching again. That will happen soon enough, though, I'm sure. In March, for those who don't already know, I'm going to Guatemala to do my alternate teaching placement. I'm currently shopping for loud, tropical shirts.

My latest obsession, the thread that ties my nomadic, confused existence together, ish my podcast subscription to This American Life. It's the best radio show in the history of time. New episodes every monday. Sign up quick so you can hear the episode about building superintendents - brilliant! Hosted by Ira Glass, the guy with the best name ever. Seriously, who doesn't want to be friends with and/or listen to a radio show hosted by someone with such a name? Or any of the other fine contributors, such as Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, or David Sedaris, or innumerable other great people involved in this show.

Consider yourself updated!

2006-12-27T08:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas Week

Holidays are in full swing. I am done my practice teaching in English, and now have two weeks off of sleeping, drinking, and eating. Well, I do have other, more responsible things to do as well, but the less said about those the better.
Christmas eve was spent in Oakville, with my Dad and June, and my bro, and a big meal.
Christmas day was spent in Toronto with my brother and friends who had no family obligations this year. I woke up, drank many cups of coffee, talked to numerous people on the phone, and watched the Charlie Brown Christmas special - which just gets better as you get older, I've determined, and also brings back memories of my triumphant performance as Charlie Brown himself in a school play when I was, like, 8 years old or so. In the afternoon, a group of us went to see "Pan's Labyrinth," which I really enjoyed; although it is a little heavy on the grim realities of evil sadistic fascists in 1940's Spain, and a little light on the fairies and satyrs and general fantasy storyline. I was in the Christmas mentality of an 8-year old, so got extra emotionally involved in the storyline. I covered my eyes and squirmed in my seat alot.
Then the bunch of us went for ethiopian in my neighbourhood, and drank much wine, and talked of absurd, totally non-festive christmas topics. It was awesome.
Now, I'm in Kingston at my mom's, with my aunt and bro, celebrating christmas number three, which involves possibly more cookies and food and wine than the first two christmases put together. My mom pretends to try to be low-key about christmas, but she's such a mom she can't help herself.
Below: The explosion of christmas that is my mom's house. In the background, my mom is in the kitching making her one-thousandth pound of food, and I'm doing a Charles Wysocki puzzle that my family has determined has a homosexual theme. (More on the puzzle later)

2006-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

Sleepy,
but, I will leave you with a bit of enlgish-teacher-nerdiness:
First, you can vote for Word of the year,
and, to build your vocabulary with a Word of the day.
I clearly need some sweater vests. And possibly more cardigans.

2006-11-03T16:56:00.000-08:00

Hey kids,

Look, I appear to have regained the ability to update my blog!
I still haven't ranted about teacher's college yet. But don't worry, that'll be coming soon.
Since I'm stuck in Kingston for another couple of weeks, I'm living a virtual Toronto life by following the municipal election. Check out Spacing Votes for a civic-nerd fix, in large part provided by Gleaner editor Karen. There's a recent link there for a newmindspace event where the carbon dioxide that contriubtes to global warming was represented by 3000 black balloons near metro hall. David Miller came to it and told off the feds - there's a video on the spacing site. Also, check out newmindspace for further cool campaigns, like the process for naming your alley in the city, and an upcoming event involving a whole bunch of LED lights.

2006-10-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Phew!

Well, it's been a busy past month. I've had one day off so far in October, and that was Thanksgiving. For those who don't already know, I'm at teacher's college now, taking some baby steps toward adult responsibility. Sort of. I've spent the past month of weekdays at my placement at a high school in Scarborough, while working every weekend giving away free compact flourescent light bulbs as part of the Bright Ideas campaign. But now that's over! Now I'm back in Kingston, going to classes at Queens. And, frankly, taking a break... I plan on doing as little as possible for the next week. But I do have time to finally finish posting my journal notes from my San Francisco trip...

Aug. 29, 7:30pm
"Another beautiful day in San Francisco - actually, a beautiful day in Wine Country, only an hour outside of town. San Francisco itself has been and remains cloudy, frequently foggy, and generally not summerlike at all, even in the heart of August. But as soon as you go over the Golden Gate bridge and head north into wine country, the sun appears and spreads across the rolling hills. It was a good day: I saw some old-growth redwoods, drank a great many wine samples, including wine from an organic/biodynamic winery (Benzinger's), and another winery that was entirely off-grid, using largely solar power. Oh, and the tour that I took used a van that ran on 100% biodiesel. Apparently one of the owners of the tour co. is involved in running the San Francisco biodiesel cooperative. Sweet! Ah, San Fran, I'm gonna miss you. I will most certainly be back here soon, with friends next time for sure."

Aug. 30th
"Well, I made it. I survived going across the country, and down the Pacific coast, and I even survived San Francisco - it's wealth and poverty, its comforts and its sketchiness - and now I'm on a plane. We've flown over the mountains around Yosemite (I think) and nearby deserts without any civilization for miles - no roads or anything. I've flown over a patchwork of rectangular fields that looked like a quilt, laid down perfectly flat, that I assume was the Great Plains... a region made for flying over if there ever was one. I even passed through other fields that appeared in patches of yellow and green in perfect circles.
I connect to a different plane in Atlanta. I really can't wait to be home. I've felt sorta sad for much of the flight so far. Not because I'm sad about leaving San Francisco, really. I'm more sad about how big the world is and how there's never enough time to see nearly enough of it. And you can certainly never take all of the people you love with you to even the places your heart might feel you must go to. I feel, right now, that when I get back to Toronto, I could consider never leaving. Everything it lacks? well, all that just means that maybe it's my job to fill those lacks, those empty spaces I might find that cry out for further fullness. Because that's what any good city does - it brings all the beauty from all around intself, and from all around the world in some cases, and focuses it in a way where you can really live with that beauty as closely and as comfortably as possible. Sometimes the beauty gets mixed up with the dirt and the trash and even looks ugly from time to time, but that's all part of the bigness and wholeness, I guess. And I will say Toronto does, for all its shortcomings, make what it has real and comfortable and (relatively) kind. Or maybe I'm just getting dull and old.
I'm also sorta happy to be coming home because last night was a bit trying. I was determined to go out, since it was my last night in town. Eric Gaffney, this guy who was in Sebadoh for their first couple of albums, was playing a show. I got a beer in my neighbourhood (ah, the Mission) at a place called Cha Cha Cha, a nice bar where a three-piece Mexican group was playing live music. Cool. Then I walked along Mission to catch a bus. At the closest bus stop, there were 3 mexican guys. It was odd- one of them had his back to a storefront window (that I think was boarded up), and another guy faced hime directly and talked to him - not quite yelling but talking very forcefully and deliberately in Spanish. The third man stood just off to the side of both of them, with one arm outstretched, holding a book against the wall (or storefront window) directly beside the firt guy's head, as if meaning to block off the man's vision to one side, or possibly blocking off anyone who might want to see who this person was. For some reason, I'm not sure why, I think this book was a bible - it was a hardbound and serious looking book. One thing I remember for sure was the look in the face of the man whose back was against the storefront, because he looked scared - really scared. I though of doing something, to make sure he was okay, but since I was alone and really didn't have any clear idea of what was going on, I continued walking down Mission to the next bus stop. With a feeling of dread.
The show was pretty good, and the bar it was at was typically San Francisco cool. I left before midnight to try to avoid, or at least diminish, a sketchy bus ride. No such luck. There were two loud girls, teenaged, who got into a fight (only verbally, thank god) with some guy who came on who wanted to sit nearby, which they didn't like. Then the guy started smoking, which really escalated things to the point where the bus driver came over. And it was a crowded bus, with no way to avoid the unpleasantness around you. So, in other words, despite San Francisco trying hard to be like another country, a totally separate fantasy world, I was reminded that it remains part of America."

Hmm... I should've ended on a more positive note. Because San Francisco is really beautiful, and haunts me still.

Coming soon: pictures!

2006-10-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm in my third week without a day off... too much going on to mention.
Tide yourself over with this

2006-08-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

Sausalito Mojito Burrito... Oh, San Francisco

Some journal scribbling from my wanderings.

"Aug. 27 - 4:30pm

I've stopped for a cappuccino in the SoMa (South of Market area) neighbourhood, on my way back from seeing a Giants game. As I was standing in line to buy a ticket, this guy in a Cinncinnati Reds cap came by and asked if anyone needed just a single ticket. He didn't even want money for it- he just had an extra ticket to give away. Sweet! So, I got in for free, to see baseball in a real ballpark, with real grass and views of the Bay. Like so much else in San Francisco, it's so beautiful it almost brings tears to your eyes. Especially after seeing so many games at the concrete bunker that my beloved Blue Jays play at. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but it really is as neat as it looks on TV, with Kayakers and other boaters haning out in the Bay waiting to fetch home runs, and lots of space to chill out near the water when you're not in your seat.
I was thinking about taking this ghost tour tonight, but I'm pretty tired. I might just chill out at the hostel... I have to book my plane ticket online, and I wanna book a tour of wine country tomorrow, which'll mean getting up early."

"Aug. 28 - 9pm

After a day of serious walking, I'm finally getting a chance to sit down and chill. I'm at a vegetarian restaurant right now ('Herbivore'), right near my hotel... why do I ever even leave this neighbourhood? Today I walked from my hostel, past Mission Delores, through Haight Ashbury, and then all the way through Golden Gate Park to the coast, where I took off my shoes and waded into the ocean. It was a long trip, but well worth it; walking across town like that reminded me of driving across the continent: long, filled with worry and weariness, but also with untold surprise and satisfaction and calm at the end. I really do wish I'd biked it, though, as I had originally planned. However, after putting off my wine country trip until tomorrow, I slept in way later than I intended, and I felt that it wouldn't be worth my daily bike rental dollar. So, off I go, walking way more than a normal sane person would consider. After getting to the coast, I wanted to take transit back, but i also wanted to check out Presidio too, another big park around the Golden Gate bridge. On the transit map, it looked as though by taking a couple of different buses I could go through it, and pass near the water, so I tried doing that. Unfortunately the one I hopped on short turned when it got to the park, The bus that properly went through went in a loop, not going the way I thought it would, and only every half-hour. I decided to walk even more, which wasn't such a good idea, since it took me about an hour to get out of the park (it's huge!), and it was starting to get dark. It is cool in the Presidio woods, though - I had to idea there was so much forested parkland in San Francisco.
Although i'm tired now, earlier, especially while walking through town and along Haight, I was telling myself how desperately I wanted to stay in this town and never leave, and I'm sure I'll feel that way tomorrow too."

2006-08-28T00:20:00.000-07:00

FOG CITY

I've made it to San Francisco, where my days are filled with wonder and veggie burritos. I'm about to pass out, but here are some snapshots of how I got here:

"Aug. 23 – 7:30pm

I’m on the ferry to Vancouver Island. After much deliberation, and finding out that a hostel in Victoria had room for me, I decided not to stay in Vancouver, nor get quite to Seattle or Olympia Washington (since that would’ve been undoable today by ferry), so I split the difference, and Victoria it is. I plan to leave first thing in the morning for Washington state.

I’m happy to finally be at the coast, at the Pacific Ocean proper (or at least the Georgia Strait… close enough) I feel like my Piscean nature is most at home near oceans. The Great Lakes often don’t quite cut it. I sat at the ferry terminal and watched the birds – seagulls and some grey birds and smaller birds that I didn’t know what they were. They seemed happy to be there, I thought. A girl on the bus had dreadlocks, and a big blue backpack with a gasmask attached, and strawberry shortcake (as in, the children’s toy) luggage. I overheard her talking to someone at the ferry terminal, saying she takes the gas mask with her wherever she goes, just in case shit goes down. She was going home to salt spring island. Ah, the left coast.

I’ve rarely felt as alone and as free as I do on this boat right now. And I think that loneliness is the price of freedom, and that freedom is the gift of loneliness."

"Aug. 24 – 8:30am

I’m in Victoria this morning, and the problem with my plan to come here last night is that, like whenever I get to a new place, I don’t really want to leave so quickly. But, as I write down the date, I realize that I can’t afford to linger, because if I do the weekend in San Francisco will slip away from me. Yesterday, as great as the ferry was, the bus+ferry+bus combonation took forever (left Vancouver at 5pm and didn’t get to my hostel until 10). And now that I’ve committed myself to this course of action, I have a day of ferries and slow buses ahead of me, probably getting no further that Olympia tonight.
Oh, I’m at a diner having a proper breakfast this morning – they have numerous types of egg benny here, including 3 vegetarian options (I had mine with tomatoes and asparagus, on homemade corn bread). The waitress called me honey. She also touched my shirt to feel how soft it was, which was weird. It’s my grey MEC fleecy shirt, the same one I was wearing in Missoula, actually. Apparently, it drives the small town (or smaller-city) girls wild… in this case, a 40 or 50-something girls. Oh well, I'll take whatever kindness I can get."

Actually people in BC were generally super nice, especially Victoria.

"Later that day, 3:20pm

I’m on my second ferry ride of the day, this one going into Seattle. Earlier I went from Victoria to Port Angeles, on the Olympic peninsula. I thought it would be a cool way to go, but other than the ferry rides themselves, the drive has been pretty blah, and so was Port Angeles itself. I could have gone to Port Townsend, possibly a nicer town, but I would’ve had to have taken a of local buses, which would’ve taken longer, especially since I just missed one of them, and the timing was perfect for this sort-of-express bus I’m taking that’s going straight into Seattle.
This is a cool ferry ride right now, though… I’m gonna go enjoy. Oh, but first, I’ll leave you with an anecdote… as I was getting on the ferry, there was a family ahead of me, and the mother said to her young daughters: “Uh oh, no pets allowed. I guess that means daddy has to stay in the car.” Zing!"

"Aug. 25 – 10pm

A lot has happened since I last had the chance to write anything. I’ve made it a very long way down the Pacific coast to the most beautiful city of them all, San Francisco. As to how I got here….
Well, I got to Seattle, which I sort of wanted to miss initially, but I’m really glad I went. I got off the bus, put my big red backpack in a locker at the bus station, and went for a walk, intending just to use my laptop to get on the internet at a coffeeshop and hop on a bus or train that evening, within a few hours. I walked, almost accidentally, right to Pike Place Market, which was great. Lots of coffee shops, local produce, and right on the water too. A lot like St. Lawrence market, but bigger and better and almost right on the water. On my way in, I passed Safeco field, where the Mariners play, and while drinking my triple-espresso Americano, found out there was a game that night, within a few hours. Since the train I wanted to take didn’t leave until the next morning, I thought it would be a great idea to stay the nigh. According to my travel guide, there was a hostel right up the street – everything was working out perfectly, and I was high on life… and probably also caffeine.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans in store. As I approached where the hostel was supposed to be, I saw scaffolding around it, and up close I found a sign that said the lease had expired and the hostel had to move around the corner… to be opened in September. I found another hostel near Pike Place Market with a view of the water… cool! Except it was full for the night. Another hostle was out of business. No luck with the cheaper hotels in my guide book, either.
Luckily, I’d also been checking out craigslist for the possibility of a rideshare going south. There was one person on there that wanted to leave either that night or tomorrow morning. I called, and at first the girl riding down to San Fran wanted to wait until the next morning. But soon she called me back and said she’d found someone else who wanted to leave that night, and we arranged to meet later that night at the Greyhound station.
This was ok by me – this would be even more of an adventure, and way cheaper too.
My first inkling, however, that this driving option might not live up to my romantic expectations came fairly quickly. After waiting about a half hour past our arranged meetup time at the particularly dodgy greyhound station, this girl Paula called me, while still driving, saying she was just pulling up to the station. Our conversation went something like this:
“Hey, I’m just about to pull up to the sation, but I’m not sure where to stop or park or anything. I thought there’d be somewhere obvious, like, at the front. Is there somewhere obvious where we can meet up at the front?”
“Well, there’s sort of a front. I’m near it right now, right on Seymour Street.”
“I don’t really see anywhere that could be the front. It’s not really obvious. I thought it would be obvious, you know. I’m just gonna park my car.”
“What does your car look like?”
“It’s, like, just a grey truck.”
“What street are you on? I’m on Seymour St., between 8th & 9th.”
“I don’t really know. Let me see. Okay I’m getting out of my car. I see some greyhousnd buses. Can you see me? I’m wearing a feathered hat.”
“No, I can’t see you. Do you know what street you’re on? Then I can find you.”
“Uh, I’m on . You know, I really hate driving in the city. I get all turned around. You know, like, this isn’t really my city. I see these greyhound buses, and a city bus stop with a lady waiting at it. Can you see me now?”
Around this point I’d walked around the Greyhound station at least once.
“Listen,” I said, “Can you get to a street corner? What street corner are you near?”
She went on for awhile about hating cities, and this not being her city, etc, etc., until eventually telling me a street corner that, as I quickly found out on my map, was sort of close to the bus terminal but was definitely quite a few blocks away. When I figured out roughly where she was, and after she complained and rambled about how stressed and confused she was, I suggested she relax, and I could come to where she was. She didn’t like that idea, and hung up on me, saying she’d call me right back.
After all this, thankfully Paula managed to figure out htat she’d been at the Greyhound courier terminal the whole time of our 10 minute expensive roaming-charge cell phone conversation, and made it to the passenger terminal where I was."

"Sat. Aug. 26 – 11:30am

Okay, I had to stop writing last night because I was just too tired. I slept almost 12 hours of much needed rest. I’m eating Huevos Rancheros on Mission St., and a Mexican country band just walked by wearing full, black and red cowboy gear (tassled shirts, cowboy hats, boots, etc.) and carrying their instruments. This neighbourhood is considered “Little Mexico” and most people are speaking spanish. Swoon.
I’d like to finish my story of my journey down here, but I’m sitting near the open front of this café, and a big black guy just came by and asked me for something to eat, then told me about god for a little while. He gave me a bible passage to read: 6 Timothy 6:10. He even wrote it down for me.
Anyway, as for my trip from Seattle… Eventually, about 10:30 or 11pm, we were on the road. Me, Paula, and this other girl Chris who responded to the craigslist posting, and who apparently had no money to put towards gas, but was willing to do most of the driving. (Dodgy!) It was good to be on the road, and on an adventure. Paula’s 36, and as our meeting demonstrated, a world class flake of the the sort the west coast attracts like wildfire. However, also a pretty interesting person. She told me she lives in Maui for about 6 months of the year doing massage therapy. 3 months she works trimming marijuana, and the other 3 months she just travels. She was on her way to San Francisco to meet up with some people, and then was on her way to Burning Man.
Chris, well, as for Chirst, I never did really find out what her story was. Despite not having money for gas, she was wearing a fleece shirt and down vest, both emblaxoned with the “North Face” logo (not cheap) and nice new-looking shoes. She was 34. She never really told us why she was going to San Francisco, much less how she ended up with no money.
The only thing I know for sure about Chris is that she absolutely did not get along with Paula. The trouble started after Chirs took the wheel for a while, late at night after Paula had been driving for a few hours. Paula went to the back of the covered bed of the pickup truck to try to get some sleep. After a couple of hours in which Chirs did, admittedly, drive fairly fast, and almost nod off I think because the car went off the highway a bit a few times, Paula knocked on the back window and said she needed to pee. When we stopped, I got out of the car and Paula told me she wanted me to drive because Chirs was “scaring the fuck” out of her, and proceeded to list the ills of her driving all while the window to the back of the cab was open and Chirs could obviously hear everything. But, just in case Chirs didn’t hear, Paula made sure to give her a thorough list of her driving problems to her face. Paula ended her rant by saying “I’m not criticizing, I’m just giving you some suggestions.” Which in my book doesn’t mean you’re not criticizing, it just means you’re a hypocrite. I appreciate that Paula was worried about her car, but her reaction was, uh, shall we say, less than tactful. I mean, why agree to take someone without gas money in the first place? Chirs, needless to say, did not drive the rest of the trip. In fact, Chris slept for the vast majority of the first 10 hours of the 15 hour drive.
I was willing to put up with Paula’s idiosyncracies for most of the trip. We stopped in a cool town called Weed, near Mt. Shasta in California close to the Oregon border, at this organic café where I had a homemade blueberry muffin. Paula drove around trying to find a friend of hers near there who had a pair of her pants, apparently (don’t ask). We had no luck. We also stopped at a Walmart so that she could look for a small scooter to take to Burning Man.
Eventually, it was all a lot to take, especially on a practically non-stop 15 hour drive, and things came to a head towards the end of the ride. Firstly, once Chris was awake, Paula basically treated her like a leper, which I found pretty hard to witness. I drove the last leg, and approaching Sacramento, we got to an exit which split off the I-5, onto a highway called the 505, I think. The sign said it led to San Francisco… but Paula wasn’t sure and didn’t have a map out, of course. I was hesitant to get off the I-5 when we weren’t sure, and Chris thought we could switch on to the I-80 leading to San Francisco further along and it would be quicker. Paula was no help at all, basically; she blubbered and sputtered about being too “cracked-out” from lack of sleep and too much driving.
As we drove further along the I-5, Paula finally dug out a map. It turned out that the 505 was, in fact, a shortcut to the I-80 towards San Francisco. The I-5 went south for a little while, and then would turn east, towards Sacramento and away from San Fran. As Paula started freaking out, I saw on the map that around where the I-5 turned east, there was a smaller highway that continued straight south, going through Davis and connecting with the I-80. I could see which highway while driving, but when I saw a sign with an exit heading to Davis, I took it. Paula, in a state that could only be described as increasingly hysterical, wasn’t sure about anything. In an effort to appease her, and to make damned sure we were going in the right direction, I got off the highway. Despite looking at the map and proving that, in fact, this was the correct way and the right highway, and only took us in a slightly different route than the 505 would have, Paula just couldn’t stop herself. She laid into Chris because she gave us the wrong directions, as well as everything else Chirs had done wrong. She didn’t attack me directly, but pointed out repeatedly how stupid it was to have gone the wrong route, and how we would end up driving through San Fran in rush hour, and how it was wrong to have pulled off the highway into a busy area, and generally just did an excellent job of making sure everyone was at least as miserable and stressed out as she was, with absolutely no constructive suggestions. All this while I was trying to drive. How I managed to not have a heart attack, and not snap at her, I have no idea. Somehow, I bit my tongue except to point out, early on in her freakout, calmly, that now that we missed the exit, that there wasn’t anything we could do about it. I kept on thinking about how I hope, as a teacher, to never have to deal with a child as immature as her.
Once we got to the I-80 leading to San Francisco, Paula calmed down for a bit. I’d say our route added 15, maybe 20 minutes tops, to our trip all told. Maybe not even that. She apologized to me for freaking out, sort of. But never apologized to Chirs, despite treating her in a way no human should ever be treated. And, of course, once we got over the Bay bridge and into the city, Paula started freaking out about directions once again. If it wasn’t for the fact that Chris navigated me perfectly by whispering over my shoulder from the backseat, I might never have escaped from that damned car.

8:45pm

I had to head out from my morning spot, café la Taza… the day was getting on, and I’d spent quite a while writing there and my huevos rancheros had long gone cold. Las night, I had a quick verrie burrito at one of the many little joints in the Mexican neighbourhood my hostel is in. Now, after a day of walking around the city, I find myself in a neat little place in an Italian neighbourhood, drinking montepulciano from a little cup instead of a wine glass, at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar Store Café. It overlooks Washington Square park, where apparently Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe got married. I’m sitting right at the bar in this cozy spot whose ambiance is only diminished by the bad classic rock played too loudly. They just played Thin Lizzy’s “the boys are back in town”.
Anyway, I pretty much finished my rideshare story, but one last rant to get the last bits of bad taste out of my mouth. Yes, that girl Chris was super dodgy. After we got dropped off, I asked her if she had a place to go and stuff. She said yes, and then (ominously) that she had “something to take care of first” I’d love to know her full story. As for Paula – so many questions that I probably shouldn’t even think about… why even offer a rideshare, much less take somebody with now money for gas, when you’re so damned self-centred and have no tolerance for other people… or any adversity, for that matter. How can you lead such a charmed life, and yet be so resolutely determined to be miserable, and to drag everyone else down with you? I thought about telling her that as I left, that other people would love to lead the life she does, to tell here that she really should take the time to enjoy it.
Oh, and I almost forgot. We pulled off the highway just before the Paula freakout, and she suggested her and I split a hotel room in town. She had people she could stay with, but she reasoned that she couldn’t meet up with them right way, and wanted to sleep as soon as she was in town. She knew of some hotels that would be almost as cheap as a hostel bed if we split the room. I hesitantly and tentatively agreed at the time; but obviously backed out as quickly and as delicately as I could when the time came to actually reserve the room as we got near town. In conclusions, Americans are crazy.
I would almost go as far as to advise staying away from Americans altogether, but I have to say that would mean you’d miss some great stuff. Foremost amongst that greatness is San Francisco, which is, incredibly, worth all the suffering it took to get here. Practically everywhere I go almost brings tears to my eyes. Last night, I only had to walk the block around my hotel to go past some of the coolest bars and cafes I’ve ever seen. One little spot had a guy playing acoustic guitar and singing in a wistful Ryan Adams/Mark Kozelek/Elliot Smith sorta voice. I felt like I was in an episode of the Gilmore Girls, with a Grant Lee Phillips character as my personal troubador. Bah, I hate to compare stuff to television… how about this… it was like an even cooler Graffiti’s that I’d stumbled across, and I was filled with the sense that there were thousands of places like this throughout the city. The bar opened all along the front, with chairs and tables spilling out all over the sidewalk. To top it all of, it’s called Revolution and had a big red star as a sign. Swoon! Later on last night, the same bar had this group playing almost classical music, with a violinist and a girl who sounded like she was singing almost operatically. Cool.
Tons of history all over this town. As I said, I’m sitting now in a neighbourhood with many Italian places and there are old neon signs lining the streets, like in old pictures of the 20’s or 30’s or something. So many little bars make the best of their history, as if nothing’s changed except the culture around them and the people inside. To say San Francisco is vibrant would be an understatement – it makes other cities seem like lifeless carcasses in comparison.
Today, all I did was basically just walk. I went to City Lights bookstore, where the beats used to hang out and have their stuff published. I went to a “really really free” market near where I’m staying, where people were playing music and just giving stuff away – even barter was way too uncomfortably capitalist for them. I walked right through downtown. I went to Pier 39 on the waterfront, which was kinda sucky and touristy, with the very notable exception of the incredibly number of sea lions which hang out right near there – you can practically reach out and touch them from the pier, and they lie on floating docks. They look super cool.
I walked up Telegraph Hill, with a great view of the bay… even though it got really foggy and cloudy this afternoon.Didn’t see any parrots, like in the movie, but walked right where much of it was shot. (if you’re reading this and haven’t yet seen the documentary “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph hill” go rent it, you’re missing out.)
Oh, also, I bought a bottle of wine for $4. Tomorrow, I’m planning to go see a Giants. Game. I love it here. I hope someone tells me the winters are really bad, otherwise I might never leave. "

2006-08-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Travellin' Man...

Okay, It's been a little over a month since my last update... life in Toronto got a bit busy with a job and a big project, so I headed out of the east and into the west. I'm in Vancouver now, after driving to Kelowna in 5 days... which, as I discovered, is not really enough time to drive that far, especially by yourself. At least if you wanna retain your sanity. Luckily, the waters of Lake Okanagan and the mountain air of the BC have refreshed me enough to continue on. I'm at a great cafe in Vancouver right now, so I think I finally have time to recount some of my adventures thus far. Because I've only had spotty internet access and a tight schedule, I've kept a bit of a journal, which I'll refer to now in quotation marks, with occasional interjections for stuff I've left out.

Actually, first of all, I should recount the first part of my trip, since I didn't write about it at all... I didn't get out of Toronto until about 1pm on Tuesday the 15th. I got over the border with no problems whatsoever. They have these camera things at the border which I assume x-ray your car or something to make sure you're not driving anything explosive. After that, telling the border guard I didn't have any alcohol, firearms, or fruits or vegetables seemed to make him happy. I spent the first night camping near Grand Rapids, Michigan. I went into downtown for dinner, where I was met by throngs of people leaving the local arena after American Idol on tour got out. Ick. But, other than that, Grand Rapids seemed like a pretty cool midwestern american city. Like a little Chicago... more on Chicago below...

"August 16, about 4pm

I’m in Chicago now, and I’m riding the El – whoah, I just went by Wrigley field. Well, now I know where I need to go to find it. Now the train’s stopped. I really like Chicago – I’m staying in a hostel on the north side of the city, and I drove through downtown along the lake on my way in – it was, and I don’t use this word lightly – breathtaking. The shoreline goes on forever, and its just all so big. I mean, of course, Toronto is big too, and I’ve been to many big cities, but Chicago is also so spread out – it’s tall, and wide, and big all over.
Now I’ve gotten off the El, and I’m at a pizza place downtown – the bigness continues – add 2 lanes or more to a Toronto street, and add 5 stories to every skyscraper downtown. Although, as I was riding the El in the area closer to where I’m stayi8ng, it was much less dense. A lot of good mid-rise buildings, and parks and such. Geez, I could just ride the El all day – it’s a great way to see a city. I’ve often thought Toronto should build more subways, but screw that – Elevated trains are way cooler. Why be stuck underground when you could be looking at the beautiful city you’re in? Give your transit ride some much needed context and enjoyment. It goes underground here near the city centre, but central business districts are always a bit impersonal anyway.
I keep on comparing everything to Toronto – I’m not sure why. In the past, I’ve been proud of Toronto as “liveable” in comparison to other North American cities. But I’m starting to wonder if that just means we’re boring – streets of staid Victorian houses along tree lined streets, filled with people who are scared of any different or new or too big development. Meanwhile, outside of those Victorian style houses, we’ve largely obliterated a lot of the rest of our history – especially the 20’s & 30’s & 40’s, some of my favourite periods, especially in North American history. Out where I’m staying (near Loyola University, north of the city and near the lake), it’s a pretty damn nice neighbourhood, yet completely unlike Toronto. What if, in Toronto, we filled in all the single-family homes with 3 or 4 storey buildings, and filled in spaces with parks (real parks, too, not just fields of grass). Would people talk to their neighbours more? Could there be more inclusive and tighter communities? Or would we just end up with more American-city-type problems?

I just ate a deep-dish cheese pizza – it was excellent. I also just got a glass of water, and the waitress placed a straw in a wrapper beside it; I’ve always felt that straws in wrappers were something quintessentially American. I remember really noticing it on trips to the U.S. as a kid. Like, seriously, can’t you put the straw in the glass for me? Is it a health regulation? Are American hands so filthy that they can’t even touch a straw? I guess a lime or lemon wedge would be out of the question. I can’t help but think that this points to the essentially puritanical nature of the American character. Or else I’m just overanalyzing… that’s just the way my mind works.

Oh, btw, I’m drinking Honker’s Ale now, a local microbrew, right after a pint of 312 – named after a local area code, I assume, since the tap handle is shaped like a telephone headset. Which is a damned great idea – I must started brewing 416 lager (which will, of course, be unavailable in the 905). Perhaps soon to be followed by Centre of the Universe Ale (not available in Alberta)."

it took me forever to get out of Chicago.... I ended up on a highway that wasn't the interstate, which was annoying and took more time. But, eventually, I got through to sioux Falls:

"August 18, about 9am

I’m at a Perkins restaurant inj Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and all the omelets have ham in them. Actually, I think one of them had turkey instead… I guess that’s for big fat Midwesterners who are on a diet.
The theme of American bigness continues, except here in the Great Plains, that bigness in spread out to impossible widths. And I only just got into South Dakota – I thought I’d never escape from Minnesota… it went on forever, just expanses of green nothingness. By the end of the day I was exhausted, totally sick of driving, and not nearly as far west as I’d hoped I’d be. And the worst part is that I’ll need to keep on driving like a maniac to make it to Kelowna on time.
Although yesterdays’ driving got to me a little, there were some major highlights. The best by far was stopping off midday near Baraboo, Wisconsin at Dr. Evermore’s industrial sculpture garden, home of the world’s largest junk sculpture. (http://www.drevermor.com/) This place was amazing –There was one big, huge fantastical sculpture towards the middle of the place, and a few other big ones here and there – but more impressive was the incredible number of small to mjid size stuff; mostly bird & insect-like creatures; it was like an alien colony. I can’t really do it justice in words – luckily, I took an absolute ton of pictures.
Other occasionally transcendent moments included driving over the Mississippi river in Minnesota – absolutely breathtaking (unfortunately, the other, oh, 4 or 5 hours through Minnesota felt like a 4 or 5 years). I even ended up in Austin, yesterday… but not exactly as I would have hoped, since it was Austin, Minnesota. The only thing to do there is go to the Spam museum… but it was closed, so no Spam-themed souvenirs for back home, unfortunately. I gassed up across the street from the museum, where the air all around positively reeked of the smell of Spam. I also briefly stopped in Blue Earth, Minnesota and took a picure of a 60ft. tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant.
Anyway, I’ve finished my French toast, so I should be on the road. Oh, last night I camped just outside of Sioux Falls, at Big Sioux recreation area, in a town called Brandon, South Dakota… which I thought was quite fitting."

"10:52am
Okay… I’ve barely gotten an hour outside of Sioux Falls, and now I’m pulled over to the side of the road. It’s started raining harder than I’ve ever seen while driving. Visibility is absolutely non-existent. It’s so windy that rain appears to be coming at the car from the side, as if it’s shooting across the earth from the north. I have absolutely no idea how long this is going to last. This sucks. I was already worried about my time. Damn damn damn. There are tons of other cars by the side of the road as well. The only vehicles driving are trucks, which actually makes the roads even scarier."

"Sat. Aug. 19 – 7:45am
I’m at Tom’s Main St. Diner in Buffalo, Wyoming. Check out this note from the opinionated menu: “Potatoes are a great idea. Someday I hope to meet the fella who invented hash-browns (soaked in an industrial strength preservative and quick frozen) and tell him how badly he screwed up. We do home-fries; par-boiled real potatoes cut up on the grill and browned in a light oil. Good, basic food.” I love it… it sounds like Steinbeck complaining about processed food in “Travels with Charley.” Finally, an authentic small town diner, with coffee that doesn’t totally suck. They also have these great big thick white coffee cups with the diner logo on them, which I must own.
Anyway, my drive is turning out to be fairly stressful. I’d love to be on the road right now, but I’m forcing myself to eat, because I didn’t really eat a proper lunch or dinner yesterday. After breakfast, all I had was a Taco Bell 7-layer burrito and various snack (apple, banana, almonds, etc… admittedly, a lot of snacks, I guess.)
Although I’m close to Yellowstone now, which was my initially planned destination for last night, that extra distance looms large. Even if I had gotten there, I’m not sure getting to Kelowna in one day is do-able… add those extra hours and it’s almost impossible. I will likely need to camp tonight again, hopefully I make it into BC to do so. I’d half decided to go to Glacier national park, because it’s on my way if I take a slightly different route off the I-90, but now I’m not so sure. Any extra time taken on slower roads will kill me. I’m already veering off the I-90 to go through Yellowstone."

Aug. 20, 8:30pm

Hallelujah, I’m finally in Kelowna. So far all I’ve done since dropping the car off this morning is take care of some of the necessities of existence that I’ve been neglecting up ‘til now – namely sleeping and eating (3 hour nap plus big healthy salad with pita and hummus). In fact, I’ll probably go to sleep for the night fairly soon, since I’m still exhausted. Last night, I pulled over at around midnight, slept a few winks in the car while parked in the lot of a recreation area somewhere in Idaho near Coeur d’Alene. I woke up at 5am to make my final drive, making it (almost) in time (I got to Kelowna in time, but got lost in town trying to find the airport). Thankfully the border patrol/customs guy didn’t stop and search my car, even though I get the impression he rightfully should of and was doing me a favour letting me pass.
Yesterday was cool, but way too hectic to properly enjoy. I drove through Yellowstone, with a few very short stops along the way at some of the geysers, hot springs, and Yellowstone grand canyon. All that suff was cool, although being there on a Saturday in the middle of summer made it incredibly busy and touristy - and being in a hurry made it impossible to get off the beaten path at all to escape from that. There were a ton of bisons throughout the park, which wa probably my favourite part of going through there.
Oh, and I almost forgot, before Yellowstone I drove through the Bighorn mountain range, wich was one of the more beautiful and unique parts of the Rockies that I've seen.
My only other stop was very briefly in Missoula, Montana to grab a coffee and food for the road in the early evening. A very cool town, actually, where the few people I talked to were incredibly nice. (well, mostly just the guy who made me my pita and the girls at Starbucks.... the first Starbucks I've run into since Chicago, and practically the first decent coffee... there's alot of bad coffee in the great plains.) Also, a car full of girls drove by and honked at me and told me they liked my shirt. I guess that's what people do on Saturday night in Missoula. Too bad I had to get back on the road - I would've liked to have fully experienced Saturday night in Missoula.
Tomorrow, I'm determined to take a hike and properly enjoy the wilderness a bit, since I've missed so much in my hurry to get here. After that, I really want to get to San Francisco - but the idea of being on the road anytime too soon makes me sick to think about. All I can think of is curling up next to a redwood tree and giving the rockies and this whole damned continent a bit of the time and respect it deserves."

"Aug. 22 - 3:30pm
I'm on the bus headed to Vancouver from Kelowna. We just stopped in Chilliwack, and are driving along the ..., on what must be one of the best stretches of highway I've been on - if not the best - and I'm extremely grateful not to be driving; to have the luxury of just looking outside at the mountain, and occasionally nodding off. Even if there is a baby on board who occasionally starts screaming, it's a small price to pay. I hate to say it, but I think all the nice scenery from accross the country I just took days to drive accross is all clustered in this 6 hour stretch of BC. Right now, we're in a perfectly flat valley, with a mountain not too far in the distance. As we've driven, the mountains have become more and more lush with trees, as we get closer to the coast and away from the scrubby sandy soil and sparcely treed mountains of Kelowna.
Oh, yesterday I did take a hike, by the way; up and down Knox mountain, and along the edge of Lake Okanagan. I aslo had a swim and put in some beach time. All in all, a very good day of relaxation. I considered staying longer, but I've got it in my head that it'll be cool to ferry from Vancouver to Seattle, and I hope to do that tomorrow.
Hey, we just got into Abbotsford... and passed a place callled "Ethical Addictions" coffeehouse. I like that. Speaking of other small observations, I got a taste of the undercurrent of weirdness in BC this morning, on my way to the bus station. First, I saw an anti-abortion protest outside of a hospital, with a rown of signs, and a mother with 2 small girls in tow wearing a sandwich board. Blech. Also, a holistic practitioner near the hospital had a sign which featured 2 of the seven dwarfs from the disney version. I took a picture, so as to later determine exactly which dwarves they were (I swear one of them was dopey).
The first think I wanna do when I get to Vancouver is get a cappuccino... mmm..."

(actually, it was a latte)
Anyway, yeah, now I'm in Vancouver, which is really a heck of a lot like Toronto, except with mountains, and way more junkies. Waaaaaay more junkies. Also, it feels like September here, if not October already.

Okay, I should go. I've spent an awful lot of time in this place, and they may ask me to leave soon. Unless I get another coffee, which I may do after so many bad coffees throughout the land. When I next post, I hope to be in San Francisco.

2006-07-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's Summertime

Temping today - a rare day of work, although I'm mostly just surfing the web all day.

Tonight- Risk night. Global domination is at hand.

This weekend, Montreal.

Last weekend... well, I checked out the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, which was actually way cool. Watched the world cup finals at Amadeu's. Had another remarkably busy Sunday night at the Queenshead.

Oh, the weekend before I went to the last screening (for the foreseeable future) at the Royal. They showed 2001: A Space Odyssey. Apparently, they've been bought by the owners of the Regent, so hopefully it'll open again as a theatre soon. I was also reading today that the last repetory cinema in Montreal closed down recently. What's going on? At least the Revue has a movement to save it.

2006-06-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

Off the woodwork, off the payroll, (hopefully not quite off the rails)

Hey kids! I got the business about not updating my blog (thanks Jill). This is especially unforgivable, since a lot has been going on. I worked my last day at the bank of Canadian Imperialism last week. Since then, things have been pretty awesome, I'd say.

I do have a couple of new jobs though. One involves promoting this Toronto Hydro program called peakSAVER ...basically, I'm spending a few weekends at a Home Depot in Etobicoke trying to bug people while they're shopping. They all think I'm trying to sell them credit cards, and I feel like saying "No! I quit that job! I'm actually doing something morally sound!" If you weren't too lazy to check out the link, it's basically an energy conservation program where people voluntarily sign up to have their central air conditioner monitored so they use less power on peak days (when I'm breathing smog while riding my bike home to my hot and notably un-air-conditioned 3rd floor Bloor St. apartment.) To me, it's a no-brainer to sign up for it (it costs nothing and you get $25), but it's a lot of work because I need to find people who live in the City of Toronto (Mississauga is right near the store) and who have central air. And even then many people either too selfish or too untrusting to sign up. Oh well, overall not such a bad gig. This is my last weekend of doing that.

My second new job is watching the world cup. I'm officially a soccer fan now. All week I've woken up to have my morning coffee while watching the morning game, followed by a pint or 2 in the afternoon. I'm building my soccer vocabulary through the soccer announcers ("Off the wordwork" = Off the post or crossbar of the net, players are "chaps", etc.) I'm pissed that I have to work all weekend, because there are a ton of amazing games on, including the Portugal/Netherlands game, which is both the best matchup of the first round of the final 16, and a battle between my Portuguese neighbourhood and my Dutch heritage.

Anyway, I need to run. I'm fully unemployed as of Monday, so I should be writing in this more often.

2006-05-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Goin' up north, eh.

Well, I'm off with.... well, most of the people who could possibly be reading this... to a cottage for the long weekend.

While I'm gone, anyone who cares to should check out eNDProhibition

When I get back, I'm planning to read this free e-book I just discovered: "The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer"

Oh, and happy 30th Birthday, Andria!

2006-05-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

Blogless!

Well, I managed to go the entire month of April without updating this thing... As sometimes happens, I get caught up in the act of actually living, instead of just doin' stuff online. Where to start? Well, I've been DJing regularly. The high points include doing a Zissou Society sunday at the Queenshead, where I had the biggest Sunday turnout thus far (although it hasn't really carried over into the past couple of weeks), and I did a Saturday dj gig with Rich (aka DJ Rankin' Whitey) which was fun. Rich got a bunch of prizes donated, and did a raffle for the women's shelter down the street which managed to raise $350.

This past week, I went to see a movie as part of Hot Docs, called Oilcrash. Basically, the movie's all about how oil is getting scarcer fast, and will inevitably run out sooner rather than later... and although we take it for granted, much of western society is built on oil, and without it our way of life will have to change drastically. The movie was also really good at making the connection between war, opressive regimes throughout the world, and the oil industry... which will only intensify as oil becomes scarcer. A fitting movie to watch the day after Harper's budget that took money away from environmental initiatives to give to the military. Also interesting... before the movie started, they showed an ad for an SUV, the Cadillac Escalade. Whoops!

Speaking of corporate weirdness, I had a bit of a surreal experience on Thursday... Rich called me at the last minute and asked if I wanted to go to this party that Vice magazine was doing, because he was on the guest list. I wasn't super into it, but I felt like grabbing a couple of drinks, so I figured I'd go check it out. There were djs and some bands, and most of all... free booze. It was sponsored by Adidas, so when this one band goes on, Rich points out that they're all wearing Adidas shoes. We heckled them; as they deserved (even though they didn't sound too horrible). In the front room, they had a few (like, 4 or 5) display shelves with shoes lit up behind plexiglass. So, even though you sort of felt like part of the display if you stood too close to them, it was mostly fairly subtle. So, after moving away from the band/advertisement in the back room, Rich mentions that he wants to cause some anarchy. At this point, I should point out that I'm not at all drunk (I'd only had 3 or 4 drinks), but I do have an idea. I check out the plexiglass fronts on the shelves, trying to figure out how well they're attached... not very well, but enough to dissuade me from trying to take them off to liberate the shoes inside. But, I do realize that the shelves are not attached to the wall at all... so I decide to flip one around so that it faces the wall. Immediately upon doing so, this girl comes up to me and asks me to turn it around back to how it was. At this point, Rich and I were planning to leave anyway, and I have 2 options: either do what she says and become an active participant in Adidas marketing, or do what I want and leave my improvement to their decorating scheme as it is. I chose the second option. And walked out of the party... with the girl ensuring I don't walk in any direction other than the door, and her telling the bouncer not to let "this guy back in". Wow, what a badass I am... turning around shelves like that. In retrospect, I wish I'd caused more trouble, but I didn't want to maliciously give the people working there a hard time. I even introduced myself to the girl who kicked me out (whose name I forget) and the bouncer walked me out the front door (Adam). I think I made a comment on the way out about how tight corporate control is. Ironically, right before this happened, I let this girl into the washroom ahead of me who was an Adidas rep who helped throw the party. So much for being a good person.

Anyway, I need to eat, and then run to DJ night. See ya there. Until next time, check out a couple of new links I've put up here. Also, here's another pic of Paul's baby, William. I think it's the funniest thing ever:

2006-03-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Pizza Bluegrass Scrabble Music

Hey kids... miss me? The past 2 weeks have been fairly eventful, although not necessarily busy. If that makes any sense.

Let's see... first of all, let me post some pics from my party a few weeks ago (actually, almost exactly a month ago, but who's counting) But, I realized that I never posted the awesome birthday card J gave me. Here it is:

Then, we played Scrabble. Once, J got sad cuz he got some bad scrabble tiles. When he was sad, he looked like this:

Then, I gathered together a scrabble posse to gloat. My scrabble posse looked like this:

Let's see... what else is new. Evan's off to South America this week. I'm totally jealous. Although I'm devising my own plans of heading off for some travelling come the fall.

This weekend so far, I've been immersed in country music. Friday night I went to Dave's Pizza on St. Clair to see Sam and Helen and Stompin' Tom's guitar player whose name I forget playin' country music. In a pizza restaurant! (Note: the deep fried calzone is better than the baked.) Then I went to the Saturday bluegrass matinee with the Foggy Hogtown Boys that they're doing every Saturday at the Brunswick House. I haven't been in there since they did the renovations... it's looks good, and it's a good place to see music actually. Last night I met some of my brother's friends from his work, who all went to Karaoke at the Gladstone for a little sendoff.

Other stuff happened too, but maybe I'll talk about them in my next post. Unless they weren't important and I forget about them, or if I do something else more interesting, or I'm just too lazy. Whatever.

2006-03-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

No Clever Headline

Firstly, it's Sunday. You know what that means... Queenshead. Be there. DJ Death Ray joins yours truly, DJ Dooner, and my sidekick (or maybe I'm his sidekick... hmmm...) DJ Rankin' Whitey. We're testing out a scrabble night, possibly to continue every second sunday if successful... so bring your scrabble hat. Or, if not, just listen to the tunes I play. There will be much Devo, for your eggheaded enjoyment. Probably the Jam, and Jens Lekman, and the new Neko Case, and my various other recent obsessions.

Last night I had a bit of a... well, maybe not epiphany, but at the very least a "moment". My mom was in town, and we went out for my 'birthday' dinner (my actual birthday was a few weeks ago, but it was belated for my aunt, uncle and mom). Anyway, I had a cake, and blew out the candles and had to make a wish, as per birthday etiquette. And as I though of my wish, I had a hard time deciding. I have great friends, and altogether a great life lately. Mostly, I just dislike my job, but at least it's part time. I'm not in love, and not with a girl, but I'm happy on my own right now, and I realize that you can't rush that kind of thing... in my experience, it tends to sneak up on you. So, overall, i'm feeling pretty positive. And that was reinforced later that night, when I went over to J's, and he gave me some prestents as part of an incredibly belated gift exchange. And my friend Bianca totally out of the blue gave me this book "Vinyl Hayride" filled with retro Country album covers. Holy smokes! How much do they rule? (Hint: altot)

So, long story short, I'm feeling pretty sunshiney, especially since the weather's been cooperating. Come out to Bedhead tonight and feel the love.

2006-03-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

Reach out and touch someone

Woo hoo! I just got my computer connected to the internet via wireless! I can update my blog properly... well, sorta, except that there's nothing very new to report. I spent the past few days working a bunch of overtime for the man, since it was rrsp season. Today was a full day... work shift at Karma co-op in the a.m., followed by some Siris time. In the evening, I did my literacy tutoring, then went for a quick beer at the Gord Perks campaign thank you party. Most people I met during the election weren't there... however, Gord did give me a hug (awww...) and told me to e-mail him...

I have a busy weekend ahead... I'm supposed to visit Paul tomorrow and see his new baby, which I'm excited about. Here's a pic (hope you don't mind Paul) of little Will's smushed up, pissed off, newborn face:

Also Annemarie's invited me to some big dinner for her work Saturday night. I've been promised that there will be a mariachi band there. So I cannot miss it. I will report back on that.

2006-02-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

The day after...

So, last night I had my birthday/housewarming/evan's going-away party. It was fun... scrabble (and scrabble themed gifts... thanks J!), lotsa food (my curried hummus was enjoyed by all), and lots of good people. I've had a bit of a bummer of a week... I found out I didn't get this job I was hoping for... plus girl problems... But last night was the perfect thing for my mindset, and generally a great time. Thanks to everyone who came! And if you didn't... suckers!

Tonight, dj night goes ahead as scheduled. Come out, and challenge me to a game on my keychain-sized scrabble board. If you win, I'll buy you a shot.

2006-02-19T19:49:00.000-08:00

From Caribbean breezes to whistling winter winds...

Phew! It's been a busy past few weeks. The month started out with my move into my brother's place, which I'm taking over for the next 6 months or so while he does some travelling. In the meantime, things are cozy but comfortable with both of us in a 1bedroom apartment.

Immediately after carting all my stuff into here, I took off for a 1 week getaway to the island of St. Martin. I would post some pictures on the blog here, but I'm using my brother's mac, which doesn't like me posting photo's (I've already lost a fairly long blog entry the last time I tried to post photos). Basically, st.martin is half a dutch colony, and half french, but mostly just your standard beautiful caribbean island covered in amazing beaches. Yeah, I know, you hate me. I spent most of my time on the French side, and was impressed by how culturally french it is... filled with french people doing french stuff - smoking, cursing americans, and taking off their clothes at the beach (or, at most, speedoes for the males and topless females. And, I should point out before you get too excited, mostly old french people without clothes.) The dutch side is a bit more touristy, with casinos, fast food restaurants and larger resorts. If only my dutch bretheren were less agreeable and more surly, like the french, maybe they could've done a better job of maintaining their culture. I only wish I had stayed at a resort on Orient Beach (where I almost booked). But luckily, I stayed a short walk away from another favourite beach, Rouge Baie, where I spent many an afternoon swimming and drinking red stripes. Ahhhhh....

I'm currently plotting a way to spend all of next winter on a carribbean island.

But now I'm back in Toronto, where the past week has gone by like a blur as usual. If you were hoping to reconnect with me tonight at my usual sunday night at the Queenshead, unfortunately there's something else going on this week, and I have this week off. But fear not! Sundays continue next week. Also, I'm throwing a party this coming Saturday the 25th, to celebrate my birthday (happening on Tuesday), my new place, and my brother's future travels. If you're reading this and haven't already gotten an email, just contact me for the 411, yo.

So, those are the highlights of my past few weeks. Are you tingling with all the excitement? I'll have more news, and some pics to post soon. Keep in touch!

2006-01-25T21:23:00.000-08:00

Fighting the good fight

Well, I think I may have finally recovered from the election. On Sunday, I was pretty much out knocking on doors all day, with a brief break when there was a brief rah-rah session when Jack Layton dropped by Bloor Street. It was an interesting day of canvassing, since I was in an apartment building where I'd guess about half of the people I talked to couldn't vote, because they weren't yet citizens. It really gives you a huge appreciation of how mutlicultural this city is, when you speak to people of all different colours and cultures, all in one 20 storey apartment building at Bloor and Dovercourt.

Monday, I spend a couple of hours as an indoor scrutineer for Olivia, followed by many hours of outside scrutineering for Gord. I'd never done either of those things before.... basically, inside scrutineers hang out at the polling station and keep track of who votes, and make sure everything's done fairly (like, trying to ensure the Liberals at least pretend like they have respect for the democratic process... because, wow, did I ever hear some stories!) Outside scrutineers check with the inside ones to see who voted already, then go out and knock on doors of people who said they were supporters, but who haven't voted yet - and beg them to pleeease get out and vote!

So, after many hours of canvassing, hanging out with a great candidate with a grasp on the issues, who could actually make a real difference in how the country is run, talking to hundreds of people who were supporting us, and totally believing that yes! this is really happening! feeling that people are really coming around... these disparate people, from wildly different backgrounds, are coming to believe that progressive change is needed, to clean up the environment! to bridge the gap between rich and poor! to really make the country a better place to live!

And then the results come in for Davenport... and they're exactly the same as last time... and I realize that I've made no change at all, along with hundreds of others who helped out that day, and the status quo remains.

I went to the party at Lula Lounge, and in my exhaustion felt totally miserable. A feeling I have yet to entirely shake. That's what I get for being so damned optimistic sometimes.

But, on the bright side, Olivia won... finally! Ah, how I miss my old neighbourhood sometimes.
And I met some pretty cool people over the course of the campaign, and I'm totally thankful for the experience.

After canvassing at that apartment building at Bloor and Dovercourt, where so many people weren't yet citizens, I felt like I was working towards the next election. I guess maybe I was. Along with all the other NDP supporters, who are made up largely of 20-30 somethings, maybe sometime soon we can push those Liberal and Conservative dinosaurs out of the way... if only they weren't so damned heavy!

2006-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

If you hadn't noticed, there's an election on...

and people put absurd, colourful signs on their front lawns. And other people try hard to ignore these obvious signs, and pretend that it all doesn't matter. But I sorta think it does matter, at least a little. That's why I've been spending much of my time volunteering for the ndp lately. Last election was the first time I ever did such a thing, calling people on behalf of Olivia Chow, and hoping not to be yelled at. This time, I'm going door to door... I've gone out a couple of times for Olivia, and yesterday went out with my own candidate, now that I live on the other side of Ossington, Gord Perks. Most of the canvassing I've done for Olivia was tiring, but yesterday was actually pretty fun. I talked to Gord a bit, who's a very down to earth, intelligent guy. I especially enjoy talking to people who are considering voting Green, and going on enviro-rants. Or the people who aren't sure if they'll vote at all... even if I don't convince them to vote for the good guys, I feel like I'm doing something positive by getting them out to vote at all.

So, yeah, get out and vote... you have one week to tell Martin and Harper to fuck off.

(On a side-note, I asked Gord where he went to school, thinking he had an M.A. or PhD in Environmental Studies or something... apparently he's pretty much entirley self-taught. Even though he teaches a class at U of T. Which makes me think twice about the M.A. in environmental studies that I've been contemplating lately.)

For your amusement, here's some election related links:

Paul Wells

Babble (the Rabble message board election thread)

PM Forever - a turn-based game that allows you to run a campaign. Hurry though, because it apparently stops working after the election.

2006-01-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

Felix 1990(?) - 2005

Amongst the events of December, the most significant and sad was the death of my cat, Felix. Those who knew him throughout his life might be familiar with him as an aloof, rambunctious kitten, or in his later years as a sometimes ornery but increasingly affectionate cat. He went through alot in his 15 years... going from an indoor to an outdoor cat... moving from my dad's to my place... living with a dog... but I'm glad to say that I was with him throughout it all. There will never be another cat quite like him, and I miss him.

Here's a pic of Felix and I from a couple of years ago.

2006-01-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Have I told you recently to come to my DJ night?

Well, get your ass down there. Tonight, or next Sunday, and every other sunday after that. It's a new year people... spend it with fascinating people and rejuvinating music. Make new friends. Drink cheap pitchers of beer. There's a projection TV with a dvd player there now, which I'm starting to use to put cool movies on in the background. I plan to have asian films playing over the next month... give your senses a feast of sight and sound! Join us!

2005-12-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

waaaaaahhhhh...
Time is a relentless ride

Wow! The last time I posted on here, I put a picture of a tree with it's leaves turning colour. Since then, as most of you already know, it got cold... fast. Leaves on trees didn't stand a chance with a December that tasted like January. What's new since then? Alarmingly little. Still working at the stupid job for stupid stupids. Actually, in a fit of dumbness on my part, I added shifts and worked full-time for most of December. Urk.

I had a job interview last week. Didn't hear back today. I'm assuming that means I didn't get it. Oh well. If anyone knows of a job that doesn't suck, let me know. Preferably part-time, and must allow me to keep the majority of my soul... (such as it is)

Oh, in Februrary, I'm taking over my brother's apartment - a sweet 1 bedroom right on Bloor Street. Those extra 10 minutes I currently have to walk north up to almost-Dupont are always a pain. Plus, it should be great for having company over... if you're reading this, you're already invited to my birthday party/housewarming that'll happen in mid-to-late februrary.

Speaking of Birthdays, it's Annemarie's having a birthday party tomorrow. If you're reading this, wish really hard for all of her birthday wishes to come true... all together now...right... NOW!

2005-11-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

Thirty years

It was Doley's 30th birthday today! I baked him a pie. The last time we ate pie, was at the cottage. It looked like this:

In his honour, here's a picture of a tree I took outside our place today, to document the season.

On Saturday, there'll be a get-together to celebrate. It's the big three-oh for Ryro. I don't know where we'll be going... but I'll let all the Ryan posse know as soon as I can. I'll also do my best to ensure there are embarassing pictures to document the occasion for posterity.

2005-11-06T11:59:00.000-08:00

Tumbling into hibernation

For a while there, I was pretty good about the blogging, but now it's been a month since my last post. not that there has been a lack of things to write about. A ton is happening, esepecially in the last week. Between me and those close to me, a cellphone has been lost (mine), a grandma has passed on (not mine, but still sad), and hearts all around have been bruised and beaten up.

I was looking at my travel journal from last year, and today last year I travelled from Granada to Cordoba. Now, I'm settling into a winter back "home". And for the first time in a while I'm thinking about what I'm going to be doing long term... after spending much of the last year not thinking about life much more than a couple of months ahead. Not that I've come to too many conclusions, really. I feel like I'm entering another period, like this time last year, where my life could be pulled in a lot of different directions pretty soon. And I'll need to pick a thread and follow where it leads.

In more mundane details, the fall has been beautiful. I've started drinking huge amounts of tea, making my way through different kinds of Stash teas. I also joined Karma Food Co-op this week, which should be cool.

Anyway, I'll try to write more soon. Come out to the Queenshead tonight. To be honest, I don't know who's going to be djing besides me... I'm going to call Rich and my brother to see if they can make it. Next week DJ Nothing (Andria) and DJ Dirka Dirka (aka Derek) will be helping out. See y'all there.

2005-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

My pillow smells better than it ever has before
and the day is bright as october is outdoing itself
but I feel kinda crappy, my stomach spinning and my head aching,
but my heart feels good, so what else can I ask for?
I just wish I could shake off my often inadequate body
let it fall like red leaves to the ground

In more mundane news, I went on this human river walk on Sunday, tracing the path of where Garrison Creek used to run and now only flows underground. I'm writing an article for the Gleaners, and took some pics:

Also, October is a month of wikked awesome music. Went to see Lucinda Williams on Monday at Massey Hall. Totally amazing. This woman sitting next to me enjoyed it more than I did though... she would go on between songs about how amazing lucinda was, and start moaning orgasmically. Frankly, it made me a little uncomfortable. And when Lucinda would say something sort of funny, this woman would laugh wayyy too much.

Also, I saw my old creative writing professor Leon Rooke, who sat right behind me at the show. I was too shy to say anything, as I'm positive he wouldn't have remembered me anyway. Still, it was cool that he was there.

At the end of the show, Lucinda told everyone to make the most of every moment because you don't get too many of them. Corny, but true, especially for me lately. But I'm pretty confident I'm making the most of things these days... and it rules.

Such as going to see Chixdiggit on Saturday at the Horseshoe... truly one of the absolute funnest live bands on the planet. That'll totally kick ass... they know how the make the most of every fuckin' rocknroll moment. Fuckin' right!!! whoo!

2005-09-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

When your heartstrings break

Spent the day working at Annemarie's office, putting together bookshelves. Tonight, I'll probably swing by Dave's Pizza on St. Clair, where Sam (Petite... plays in the Backstabbers) and Helen (a frequent guest at country sundays at Grafitti's in the market) and another guitar player whose name I forget are playing. Also, I'll go by the Queenhead where Rich is DJing tonight (aka DJ Rankin' Whitey).

As for the week: started work on some articles for the Gleaner, applied for a few jobs, and generally was at least semi-productive this week. Actually, generally speaking this week has been pretty awesome.

2005-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Scrabblicious!

Phew, it's been a busy week and a bit since my last post. I'll start with my weekend... I got off work on Saturday at 4pm, came home to eat dinner, then it was time for the fifth and deciding game of my scrabble series with J. To recap: the series began at the cottage back the first week of August with a friendly game, which J won. Being a gentlemanly sort, he allowed me a rematch, which I won. Shortly upon our return to Toronto, we played what was meant to be the rubber match... I won by a small margin, but didn't feel as though such a victory was satisfying, due to its close margin and a couple of questionable turns. So, I offered to continue the series into 5 games. J repaid me for my kindness by kicking my ass solidly in game 4 - our first 3 games were all decided by less than 10 points and were evenly matched throughout... game 4 J won by, like, 30 or 40 points. So, it was on to game 5... below is a photo essay detailing the evening.

Left: J unzips his travel scrabble set, where it all began at the cottage, and home of the holy score sheets.

Right: The sacred documents of game 1-4.

Above: me reinacting my despondent face after game 4.

The last few moves were the most tense... going into the final couple of moves, J had a solid, pretty much insurmountable lead; I had an "A" left, and I had pretty much conceded victory to J. BUT... at the last minute, I found a place to place it - spelling "MA" & "AX", a 13 point play! Which gave me the lead... victory was now mine! HOWEVER... J had different plans, placing an "F" on a double letter score to spell "FOR" - a 10 point play! giving him the lead! BUT WAIT... it's still not over.... because J had one extra tile, and I had none, meaning the 1 point value of his letter gets added to my score and subtracted to mine... making the game a perfect TIE! But, the scrabble rule book has something to say about that too... as the photo above demonstrates, the player who has the highest point total before the extra tile scoring is calculated wins in case of a tie... Thus, J emerged victorious.

Right after that intense scrabble match, I went to this crazy retro 80's dance party thing which I would never normally go to, but a bunch of Gleaner (community newspapers I used to work for) folks were there who I don't see often enough. It was really fun, and I got way too drunk, stayed out to 3am, only having to wake up at 8am the next morning because I'd told Andria that I'd go to Paws in the Park with her in the morning. Which was fun, even with my hangover in the rain. I got home, slept for a couple of hours, just to go out again for dj night. Which was fun, although a little quiet cuz it was raining so much. But DJ Short Pants (aka my brother, who's going to hate that I called him that) was really good... next time he dj's, you suckers who stayed home had better come.

With all that going on during my weekend, I can't even remember right now how I spent last week... oh yeah, I got posters done for Bedhead... check 'em out on a lamp post near you.

Speaking of crazyness, I'm currently functioning on almost no sleep again today, after yet another crazy night last night. But crazy in a different way. A good way... That I'm afraid to jinx by writing about it. Sorry... maybe next time.

2005-09-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

Just a boy/totally dressed in corduroy

It's a good thing I do a weekly dj night, or else I'd never update this blog... but instead of just telling you about this edition, i'm actually going to open the door into what's going on in my life.

But first, I'll get the dj stuff out of the way: bearded guest dj - check. music I wanna play: Replacements, Death Cab for Cutie (their new record is really excellent by the way), Postal Service, Magnetic Fields, International Noise Conspiracy, Richard Buckner, Bruce Springsteen, etc, etc... y'know, the usual sorta stuff, with a few curves thrown in there for good measure.

As for what else is new: had my back bike tire stolen... fuckin' jerks. ah well, i guess this is a sign that I should buy a new bike... although i'm hesitant to buy one now, when the winter's coming and I don't know where I'll keep a shiny new bike all winter. So I may buy a very basic, cheap ride, which is all I really need. If anyone has any bike buying advice, I'm all ears...
I may give my old bike to bikes to cuba, who have set up shop at the car free day events today on Concord Ave. south of Bloor (just south of my house). Speaking of which, if anyone reads this in time, they're playing a movie called the End of Suburbia in the parking lot of Long & Mcquade on Bloor at 8pm tonight, which should be cool.

Also, I hung out with Paul on Wednesday. Our usual talk of socialism and baseball also included a discussion on the benefits of corduroy pants. Stay tuned for a gallery of corduroy pants. Feel free to send me pictures of your corduroy pants; i'll post them!

Other than that, not much is new. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted this week (dj night posters remain unfinished, and I still have some other design stuff I need to do). I'm sort of feeling like I'm at a crossroads now... I'm nearly ready to quit my job, I may wanna move outta my house soon, and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Ever since I got back from my trip to Spain, etc, back late last year, I haven't really made any long term plans. I had stuff I wanted to do, and I've accomplished very few of these things so far because I was working too much for the most part. Even over the past month I've been part-time, I've added extra shifts pretty often, because I was a bit worried about money. which was a stupid way of thinking, I think... there's too many other things I wanna do that I need the time for. I'm approaching the one-year anniversary of when I left for that trip (Oct. 10), and I'm either going to start developing long term plans soon via a new job, and some other changes, or else I may just find a new adventure and skip town. I'm determined to quit my job before the end of the year, and if i don't have another, i'll probably skip town again for a while. That's all I've managed to figure out so far. Most of this week, I've been sorta down, because I haven't been productive enough. I've been sleeping in wayyy too much... and I'm wondering why I don't have that thing in my life that makes you wanna get out of bed in the morning (that is, besides the crappy job that *forces* you out of bed in the morning), and I'm wondering what that thing is for me.

Anyway, that's my little rant for the week...
also, check out my new links on the right side of the page... in particular, I've discovered the flying spaghetti monster, the deity of a religion whose followers dress in pirate outfits, are called "pastafarians", and, well, that's just the tip of the iceberg really.

2005-09-11T12:47:00.000-07:00

9-11 DJ night

Tonight is the September 11th edition of Bedhead Sundays, featuring DJ Dirka Dirka. We'll try to avoid any planes crashing into the Queenhead, and we'll do our best not to curtail your civil liberties. However, don't be surprised if some wild conspiracy theories are thrown around, and possibly a plot to overthrow the president of the united states. Using pillows.

Pillow fight revolution! Rise up people!

2005-09-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

It's sunday, folks... c'mon down.

2005-09-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Fatigue

I have to admit that up until recently I haven't been following the New Orleans hurricane devistation too closely. Firstly, I just don't follow current events as closely as I used to. Plus, I'm so used to the media hyping up hurricanes like this that always happen... it's kind of a 'never cry wolf' complex.
But wow... reading over the last couple of days its hard not to have your mind blown by the devastation of a city that size. And now, the only people left, and the only people effected, are the poorest of the poor... that's what struck me today. And the fact that it takes the largest natural disaster in American history for the American news media to pay any attention at all to poverty, and those that are poor.
Then there are the "lucky" ones who got out, who stayed at hotels and are running out of money fast. Thousands who are quickly becoming nomads out of a Steinbeck novel.
The other thing I think about... geez, this'll probably put a damper on Mardi Gras this year...
I was going to post this great picture I found in the Globe today of a guy with a shotgun, who works at a bar in New Orleans and takes his shotgun to work in order to keep the bar open (now that's dedication) - but I couldn't find it online.
So, instead I'll post something a little more uplifting... If I was in Spain, I could be at the Tomatina festival, covered in tomatoes. Awesome.

2005-08-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

Forgotten blogs like jellybeans in a giant jar

Well, my efforts to keep regular entries in my blog have fallen by the wayside pretty quickly. Which sucks because there's a bunch of things I could have written about in this time. And I believe this week may be one in which things may shift in my life yet again. But I think it'll be a good shift.

However, I'm currently undergoing a sudden period of insomnia, after spending most of the past month sleeping constantly. This may be good news for my blog, but I can't imagine it'll do much for my baggy eyes or my general health.

I'll stop being oblique for a second and run down the past month: went to cottage. It's rare that life is like a beer commercial; rarer still to have that be a good thing.
Here's a pic of me dressed up in my cottage best - cowboy hat & wife beater - with jailhouse tattoos drawn on by my friend J using a sharpie. Visit his sharpie tattoo parlour and skate park, conveniently located at the corner of queen & bathurst.

Also, fully part-time at my job. But haven't really taken full advantage of it yet; especially since I've added some shifts, and next week I work a couple of days at Annemarie's office. I'm a glutton for white-collar punishment. Although in the case of working at a call centre, it should more acurately be called grey-collar: drab, soulless, devoid of the goodness and purity that the colour white suggests.

Also, dj night. Every sunday at the queenshead. Please come. Don't make me beg. Okay, I'll beg, but I won't bow before you. Okay, maybe just once. Just come to my dj night, dammit. Pitchers of beer are $10! What does this city have against cheap beer?! Actually, my friends have been pretty good about coming by for the most part, and they're the only ones reading this, so props to my peeps, yo.
And thus, I'll leave you tonight with the following new catch phrase for my dj night:
Bedhead sundays at the Queenshead: like a sharpie tattoo in audio format.

2005-07-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

I'm less impressed with courier font than I was previously

I work at a call centre for a bank. Some days are okay. Friday sucked. At one point I turned to this guy I work with, who's generally pretty cheerful...
"Kent, I think I'm losing all faith in humanity."
"Oh, I already have!" he replied, sort of laughing, but also serious.

Which is a pretty good way to sum up my job. Minus the rant about how stupid corporations are, and modern capitalism. But I'll save that for later.

Soon, I go to part time, and focus on my real career: being wicked awesome.

2005-07-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Green Cross

Firstly, I'd like to announce that I really enjoy courier font.

Secondly, I bought a package of clorettes last night. I bought them because I've been drinking too much coffee working nights, and I've fallen into fears built by years of advertising about offensive breath. Maybe I'm succeptible since my dad frequently has bad breath, and it's not pretty. I've never quite had the heart to tell him this, but if he ever reads this... well, there you go, dad.

Anyway, as always, I had a period of indecisiveness at the gum display. I got clorettes because they seemed old-skool; they have a pretty basic logo, just a cross, that promises bluntly to get right to the medical point of the matter. I even got "original" flavour. Plus, I refuse to buy any gum that promises through its advertising that it's guaranteed to get you laid. Which is 90% of the minty gum industry. Also, I'm sick of "extreme" "icy" flavoured gum. If I want extreme, I'll jump out of a plane, or run with the bulls in Spain.
However, the problems with clorettes soon developed into an excel spreadsheet:
1 - I love the logo, but it's a bit too honest... the stuff tastes like medicine.
2 - Maybe this is contrary to point 1, but not only does it not taste good, but the flavour doesn't even last. Maybe I've gotten too accustomed to those "extreme" flavours I hate.
This short life span is in part due to....
3 - The gum is at least 50% outer shell. This means that after the initial burst of flavour, you're left with a microscopic piece of chewability that suffers the problems of point #2.
4 - Don't like blister packs. The blister-pack-manufacturing industy must have one heck of a sales force and team of lobbyists. 5- Actually, I don't really like gum. Why the hell didn't I just buy regular candies?

Anyway, next time I'll try to talk about something other than the minutae of my consumerism.