Post Christmas post.

I layed low while I was home for Christmas. I needed sleep, OJ, and movies.  I showed up for all obligatory events (group of 9 dinner, family dinner, Christmas Mass) but can't say I possessed enough energy to do much else.

I'm healthier now. I came back late last night and had a Simpsons marathon with friends today.

Now I'm up late browsing library ebooks.

I read two dark books over the holidays.  Excellent books, both of them, but dark dark subject material.  Sometimes I find there is a correlation with good writing and dark material.  I guess that's the price you pay if you are discerning about your literary fiction.

I'll write more later.  Am I descending into summer vampirism's little sister - Chrismas break vampirism?

Soft Offering (For the Oft Suffering)

This is the title of the first track of the new Hey Rosetta! album, Second Sight. I like the play on words, as I'm feeling a little oft suffering today. As soon as my holidays hit, I was hit with some sort of rattle in my lungs and fever.

Today I packed my suitcase for the holidays and dragged it to Union Station while bathed in a cold feverish sweat. I feel better now that I'm comfortablely ensconced in my seat with a Toblerone and a crappy paperback that I picked up at the train station news-stand. I actually don't think I can sleep anymore... I went to bed last night at 9 pm and slept on-and-off until 2 pm. That's how crappy I was feeling.

The last day of school was fun. The talent show went smoothly, we had a nice staff luncheon, and there was an after-hours incident with Italian moonshine that I'd really like to tell you about someday.

Before my sickness hit me, I did mange to make brunch w a friend and see the movie "Wild". Both were good. Hey: the Bier Markt has a really great brunch. For dessert you can get fresh donuts that you can dip into cappuccino creme sauce.

I did the "it's close to Christmas but no one's going to buy me a 3/4 length sleeve Tshirt with foxes on it" at Anthropologie after brunch.

Okay, time to read my shitty novel with my train coffee.

Is it Friday?

Montreal was super fun.  I had a great trip, and I even had time to relax, sleep in a little, and binge on Netflix.  The wedding was lovely, and I loved walking around snowy Montreal on Saturday evening with a group of friends that I don't see nearly often enough.  (It was an afternoon wedding.)  On Sunday, I spent the afternoon shopping, eating poutine, and exploring with my friend Gloria, and then I had a very pleasant train ride back.

This week is one of the hardest of the school year.  I'm checked out, the kids are checked out, but we still have to do work, especially with the end of the semester looming in January.  Tomorrow and Friday will be long days because I'm involved with student council who is planning the talent show.

I just can't wait until Friday and the holidays.

The sea is a good place to think of the future.

When I arrived yesterday in Florida, it was rainy and cool.  The skies were dark and gray.  It wasn't what I pictured.

There's a cold front here; but it's still warmer than it is back home, or so we told ourselves.  However, this afternoon, the Sun came out and everything felt better.  It was still cool-ish, but the sunshine makes all of the difference.  (I should have packed more sweaters; I never pack enough sweaters whenever I go somewhere where I'm convinced it will be warm - Florida, Kenya, Europe in the summertime.)

This afternoon, once I was free from conferences, I threw on my hoodie and my sandals and went down to the beach.  I had a little nap on a cabana chair, and then decided to walk up and down the beach.  The walk was lovely.  The water was cold, but after I took off my sandals and walked along the edge, I acclimatized and it started to feel warm.   I found a sand dollar and some nice seashells, saw some cool looking seabirds, and watched the sun set. 

There was a wine and cheese reception this evening, where each conference participant got two drink tickets, but because people knew/met people who didn't want their drink tickets, we ended up with many more than that.  We mad friends with some Americans, had tonnes of fun, and then went to a restaurant with a giant fish tank for dinner.

Now it's time for bed.  I hope the Sun shows up again tomorrow.

Colour me in.

This city's getting too small for me.

This all goes back to one of those shitty dating experiences that you are bound to experience if you are going through the torture that is dating in this day and age.

Back in September (the first day of school actually) I went on a really great first date with a guy with whom I had a scary amount of things in common.  Music.  Baseball.  Books.  Travel.  Lefty political leanings.  Social justice.  He'd even been to Kenya for crying out loud.

Anyway, at the end of the date, he asked me out for that weekend right away, and even texted me before I got home to reiterate that he'd had a good time.   We kept texting each other for the rest of the week.  However, come Saturday morning he texted me saying he was really sick with the flu, and could we reschedule for the next weekend.  Well, unfortunately I was out of town the following weekend, and a weeknight wouldn't work 'cuz he was out of town.

We kept texting tonnes during the interim, and finally when I was back from my weekend away, he asked me again to make plans for date #2.

Then I never heard from him again.  Yup, it went from "do you want to go out on Saturday?" to silence.

Crazy, huh?  But based upon the dating experience of other people I know, and my own, it's just a drop in the bucket.  Maybe he was a pathological liar or something, and I dodged that bullet.

Fast-forward to this Saturday when I'm waiting with my friend Sara to run a 5K race for charity.  I'd done the same race last year, and had a great time, so decided to do it again.  It's in my neighbourhood, and you get a Christmas-themed medal and a hotdog at the end.

As we're waiting, I remember that the race is for the charity that disappearing dude works for.  I tell my friend the story, with "I really hope I don't see him here," tacked onto the end.

We run the race, get our medals, and eat our hotdogs.  Before we head out, we decide we need to get our picture taken, because if you don't take a picture, it didn't happen, right?  (Ha-ha.)  We go back to the start/finish line to get our pictures taken, and ask some random guy to do the photography.  He's one of those that will take about ten pictures from different angles to ensure that you get a good shot.

After our pictures are done, I notice out of the corner of my eye that disappearing dude is at the start/finish line handing out medals. Ugh!  He could have totally given me my medal and I wouldn't have noticed.  When I get home, and look back at my pictures, he is in every single shot.  Talk about photobombing.  I spend about five good minutes cropping him out of every shot.  I'll admit, it was catharctic.

Anyway, I think that Toronto is getting too small when my bad dates show up in the background of my pictures.

***

I leave for Florida in the morning!  I'm trying to be excited but I really wish I was going with some of my close friends on this trip.  But alas, I am not.

After that, it's a weekend wedding in Montreal with my friends from university.  Even though that will be cold, I'm looking forward to the train ride (I love trains).  I haven't been to Montreal in forever, so I'm looking forward to doing some exploring.

Happy Monday to the rest of you!

Sloooooooooo-an, Christmas, Florida & Montreal

1) Sloooooooooo-an

On Saturday my friend Mathew, and some other friends by extension went to see Sloan on the final night of their Commonwealth tour.

As you all know, I am a huge Sloan fan.  I'm sure I could write hundreds of thousands of words on why I think they one of the greatest bands ever, but I won't bore you.  Let's just leave it at that I really really enjoyed their two-set show.  Yup, you read that correctly.  Sloan are so awesome that they open for themselves!

Highlights of the set for me included some gems from "Twice Removed": "I Hate My Generation" & "Worried Now".  I also loved "If It Feels Good, Do It" because that's an anthem to live by if there ever was one.

 

Bonus: I bought myself a super cute Sloan toque!  Of course, it ended up be 14 degrees today, so I couldn't really wear it.

2) Christmas Tree: I just finished putting mine up while listening to She & Him's Christmas record that I picked up in St. Louis back in May. 

3)  I'm being sent to Florida for work next week (Dec 8-11).  I'm being trained for our school's fledgling International Baccalaureate program.  I'll be in classes every day until 3:30 pm, but I'm hoping that the weather is nice so I can spend some time in the sunshine.  Then, as soon as I get back from that, I'm off to Montreal for a wedding.  Talk about crazy busy!

Tiptoe through our shiny city with our diamond slippers on.

Wow, what a fun weekend and so much random stuff to write about.  I think I'll just make a point form list.

• Visitors!  I got to spend some time with my dear pals Wes from Vancouver and Matt from Winnipeg.  There were art galleries, afternoon drinks, wedding guesting, brunches, new socks, record shopping, and a Gilmore Girls marathon involved.  So much fun.
  
• I went to my friend Katie's wedding with my faraway pals.  It was lovely and much fun.  Bring on the winter wedding season, I say.  (I have one more.)
  
• I finally found The National's "Boxer" and the Weakerthans' "Reconstruction Site" on vinyl.  At HMV of all places.
  
• Wes and I went to a Raptors' game on Monday and holy shit it was fun.  Did you know the Raptors are doing exceptionally well, and are at the top of their division?  Yes, a Toronto sports team is doing well.  Can they please not be like the Jays and actually manage to keep it going until the playoffs?  PLEASE.  I beg of you Drake, keep this going.  (Drake is the Raptors' celebrity ambassador and that's why I am beseeching him to keep the Raptors winning.  Also, I kind of like Drake.)
  
  Oh, they won too.  Raps 104, Suns 100.  Pretty close and really exciting.  I suspect this won't be my only basketball game this season.
  
• Speaking of sports, my baseball buddies (Mathew & Vic) and I have our 15-game passes ironed out for next season, and I'm going to complete the bobblehead trifecta again, I promise you all.  Great players this year are going to be passed out for free in bobblehead form: Bautista, Stroman and the new guy Martin.  Also isn't it funny how obsessions come out of nowhere and take a hold of me?  Two years ago I didn't really care about baseball, and now I'm a freak.
  
• Speaking of obsessions, Matt from Winnipeg got me hooked on what has become the most popular podcast ever: Serial (serialpodcast.org).  Go listen now and report back to me.  I would love to have an hour long conversation with someone about this podcast.
  
• I also love the new Taylor Swift album.  Yes, I know.

And that is all. :)

Nostalgia.

How do I write this post?  It's sort of a crazy stream of consciousness that went through my head through the past two days so I'll lay it out like that.

Yesterday I ran the Holly Jolly Run which is where people run the Santa Claus Parade route before the parade.  Then my friends and I TTCed up to Museum station to watch the parade from that area. 

Back in university, which was, oh shit, going on 15 years ago, my dear friend Becca T and I would take a study break on a Sunday and go watch the parade from that very spot.

Fastforward to present-day, where I'm in the same spot, with different friends, and I see the University of Toronto Engineering Marching Band go by, and then I remember the dreaded *other* Rebecca, who was in that marching band, lived in the same building as Becca T and I, and annoyed the hell out of me.  For the first few months, my Rebecca, the good one, did not like U of T, and was filling out transfer forms to go to the U of Ottawa.  I remember my fear that she'd leave, and the dreaded other Rebecca would ask me to be roommates the next year.  I would have to, for quite possibly the first time in my life, not be a nice person, and say no just to save my own sanity.

Luckily, and quite possibly because of its close proximity to fun things like the Santa Claus Parade, U of T finally grew on Becca and she stayed.  Incidentally, the dreaded other Rebecca moved out of our residence, so I wouldn't have had to be her roommate anyway.  I saw her a few times after that.  I remember once going for coffee with her and some of our friends and I mentioned that my goal was to become a teacher, and she scoffed at me, as if it was an inferior career suited to the lowliest of minds.  Ironically, the last time I ever saw the other Rebecca was when I got talked into joining the Faculty of Education broomball team in by BEd year.  We played against the engineering team, of which she was a part.  I don't remember the outcome of the game, but for the sake of narrative, let's just say it was a convincing win for the educators.

Anyhow, I left this year's parade a little bit early to walk through the part of campus where I lived for my university career (3 years in residence + 2 years in an apartment directly beside my old residence).  Things have changed; there's a giant condo going up across from my res in once used to be a parking lot, the residence itself seems to have shiny new windows, and the closest convenience store is now a coffee shop. 

However, the rest of the neighbourhood is the same. I can still vividly remember my first day at residence where the Residence Dean knocked on my door to tell me my new roommate, someone who I'd eventually find out is the good Rebecca, wouldn't be arriving until the next day.  I felt kind of flummoxed, since everyone else was unpacking their rooms and getting to know their roommates and there I was alone.

I had not brought thumbtacks with me.  Since I had extra time, I went to the mall across the street to buy some.  That felt like quite the adventure, and I can still picture how big, shiny, and cosmopolitan the downtown neighbourhood felt to a small-town kid like me.  And to think that was going to be my home for the next four years (at least).  Holy shit.

I returned with my thumbtacks to a flurry of activity in the room.  Somehow the mysterious absent roommate had arrived even though she wasn't supposed to, and her family was helping her unpack. Ahhh.  I introduced myself, most likely awkwardly, and set about hanging up pictures of my favourite bands.  When my roommate asked me who the bands, were, I was shocked and appalled that she didn't know, which I now tease her about all the time.  Becca was worried because all she knew of rock music was there was a band where the lead singer committed suicide, and she was afraid that I liked that band, and that it was a sign that I was potentially unbalanced.

Funny to think that two people who were first so apprehensive of each other became great friends for life.  And that I converted the girl who knew nothing about bands, into an awesome concert buddy.  In fact, once my friend Greg commented "it's so awesome that you two were randomly put in a room together.  You both love music so much!" Oh it wasn't always like that.

Just walking through the old neighbourhood brought back these memories, and then I started watching season 4 of Gilmore Girls where Rory goes to Yale, and once again, I started thinking about my fond memories.  Then, I entered into the downward internet spiral of "maybe I should get my master's!" etc. etc.  This all ended with me dragging my degrees out of my closest, and swearing that I should hang them up somewhere, and then digging out the silver medal I won as a graduation reward.  All of this reminds me that I am indeed smart, because I don't think that my university self could have predicted that one of the side of effects of adulthood is that you feel kind of dumb a lot of the time.  Weren't the degrees supposed to negate that feeling?  That's why I should hang those suckers up. And the medal too.

Yesterday I texted Becca T to tell her I was in the traditional standing spot for the parade.  She replied "remember the other Rebecca and the engineering band?" then proceeded to tell me how she was excited for the Twin Forks concert in Vancouver.  I love how things have changed, but they're still the same.

Oh, and you might be wondering why I'm still up so late on a school night.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow (well today) because the dreaded ugly chin rash from September has reappeared.  So I'll have to keep my chin up still, ha-ha.

Under Control.

Work is, at least.  I have all of the marking under control, and the planning aspect is under control thanks to the fact that I have someone else (student teacher) teaching 2/3 of my courses.  This momentary calmness will last another week, and then it will be back to normal.

I volunteered to "supervise"  boys' basketball practice on Thursday as a favour to my pal Nigel (who repaid me last Friday with the shaving cream high-five) and as a strategic move.  I figured that if I was forced to stay in the building an extra two hours every Thursday, I could dedicate that two hours to intensive marking, and hopefully stay more on top of things, and reduce the amount of homework that I have to do.  Well, since I'm on top of things, right now I'm chilling and blogging.

(Note: "supervise" refers to the fact they just need a certified teacher around.  There are very nice volunteer coaches who take care of all of the sports stuff.  I'm just sitting in an office right now.)

Anyway, it's nice to have my work life under control at the moment.  I should be using my time to start planning the new course I'm teaching next semester, or even working ahead on exams and such, but I feel that during this Thursday's forced stay at school, after blogging, I'm going to curl up with a book. 

Tomorrow is a PD day, so tonight kind of feels like Friday.  This weekend will be mostly chill I think.  I'm doing a run before the Santa Claus parade with my friend Sara.  It should be fun. 

I'm super excited because my friend Melly, from Winnipeg, told me last night she need a couch to crash on in Toronto on Monday.  I haven't seen her since she lived in Kingston two years ago.  I tell you, November is the month of faraway visitors!

Well, that's about it.  I just wanted to use my extra time to check in on the old blog.  :)

Remember to breathe.

I had a wonderful couple days with my pal AlieMalie.  We went to Swiss Chalet for Festive Specials, shopped around Yorkdale, and I took her to one of my fave Toronto restaurants: The Ace.  It was really special getting a ride to work from a far-away friend on Friday (bonus alliteration points right there), and I'm glad that she could squeeze in a visit in between work insanity.

Friday was a rather average day at school, other than the fact I got pranked.  During second period, when my student teacher was teaching, four kids & my pal Nigel came to the door, although I didn't notice Nigel at first.  Two of the kids are on student council, and they said "Miss, we have come here to thank you for all of the extra work you do for the school.  You put in a lot of time doing things extra things like student council and we really appreciate it."

"Oh, wow.  That's really nice," I said while beaming.  "You guys have really made my day."

"As a thank you, we'd like to give you an honourary high five," they continued and proceeded to give me enthusiastic high fives.  When I got a high five from Nigel, I noticed that my hand became covered in a white foamy substance.  Oh no!  I had become the victim of a shaving cream high five!

My class started to laugh at me uncontrollably, and pointed out that I had shaving cream in my hair.  It was pretty funny, and I appreciated the prank. It made my Friday morning a little more interesting.  It was also funny because I was wearing my favourite blue button down shirt with swans on it (Target fashion for the win), and about ten minutes after I thought I'd cleaned up all of the shaving cream, I noticed a big glob on my shirt.  The swans had camouflaged it.

After school was pretty fun because a few of us went out for drinks in celebration of a friend's birthday.  Then, I came home and had a nap before Friday night outing #2: Twin Forks at Lee's Palace with my friend Elaine.  The band's set started at 11:30 pm.  I tell you, going to something that starts at 11:30 pm makes me feel young!  Elaine and I met up for coffee at about 10, and then got to Lee's just in time to find a good standing spot.  This is my third time seeing Twin Forks this year.  They are the new project of Chris Carrabba, the founder of my favourite emo band Dashboard Confessional.  They put on a fun show.  My favourite moment was the encore when Chris did a solo of Dashboard's "Remember to Breathe".

The rest of the weekend has been chill.  I made a lot of progress on my favourite project these days: I'm now well into season 3 of Gilmore Girls.

I was supposed to do a trail run somewhere outside of Peterborough with my friend Rasa today, but she was hurt and she had to bail on me.  I tried to find another friend to take her place, but no one was able, and it wasn't really worth it to rent a car.

I did however sign up for a couple of Christmas-themed runs to do with another friend.  We're going to do the Jolly run that precedes the Santa Claus parade next Sunday, and the Santa Shuffle at the beginning of December.

I also booked my trip to Montreal in December to attend the wedding of one of my friends from university.  I'm looking forward to getting out of the city, enjoying a long train ride, and staying in a hotel.  It will be fun.

Do you ever rewind to the summer you knew me?

Things I like these days:

1) Walking down the residential street that leads to my work and smelling that nice autumnal smell (which is decaying leaves, I think).

2) Scented candles.  Seriously, what have I become?  Two weekends ago I bought one of those giant three-wick candles from Bath & Body Works, in Pumpkin Apple scent, and it's almost gone.

3) Being at work a little bit less.  In October, I felt that I was pulling anyway from 9-hr to 13-hr days at school almost every day (and that doesn't count weekend hours spent marking).  This week I don't have the need to stay as late, and somehow I am almost caught up on my marking.   Nice.

4) New albums.  There's a lot of stuff coming out these days, and I'm easing through it.  These days I'm listening to Andrew McMahon In the Wilderness, which is perfectly pleasant.  Then I'm going to get the new Hey Rosetta! album.  I'll follow that up with the new Damien Rice album.  (Notice how I'm doing these one-by-one... I'm not good at multitasking when it comes to new music.)

5) My purple puffy vest.  It's not that purple though.  Super dark so I can get away with it.  Vest weather is short, and must be taken advantage of.

6) Vistors. My pal AlieMalie is in Detroit for work stuff, and is going to trek to Toronto for a couple of days starting tomorrow.  And then in a couple of weeks, my pals Matt from Wpg and Wes from Vancouver are going to both be around for a mutual friend's wedding.  Yay!

Halloween and Hibernation

Halloween is always a crazy day at school.  Kids and staff in costumes, candy everywhere, and not much work getting done.  It's surprisingly draining.

This year a bunch of us dressed up a my school's computer science teacher.  This guy is a dear friend, and quite a character.  He wins the teacher costume competition every year without even trying because he is hilarious.  Anyway, we all decided to go as him.  All that was needed was a short black wig, glasses, a polo shirt, jeans, clunky shoes, and a lanyard of keys around the neck. 

It was a success.  When the kids walked into my room they would say things like "oh no! another one?  How many of you are there??" It was pretty funny.

On Halloween Eve, I was going to borrow my friend Mathew's house to hand out candy.  He's a grumpy old man (who is younger than me) who turns off his lights and does not give out candy.  I like handing out candy, but don't get to since I live in a building.  Anyway, operation candy will have to happen next year, as Mathew ended up having a party to go to that night, so I stayed in with another friend, ordered Chinese food, had some drinks, and watched Halloween episodes of the Simpsons.

The rest of the weekend was so chill.  I essentially hibernated.  I did manage to go out to get groceries but that was it.  I got a good amount of housework done, and an even larger number of episodes of the Gilmore Girls watched.

In fact, I really wish I could have another hibernation day tomorrow, but it's Monday, and it's back to the old grind.  And no more pagan holiday to justify slacking off.

Happy Halloween!

Wow, I can't believe that October is coming to a close. 

I don't have anything else of substance to say, so I'll encourage you to click here and look at these awesome Simpsons Halloween costumes.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/declancashin/cant-sleep-clown-will-eat-me

So much to blog about...

...so little time.

But my period 3s are working hard on a test, so I can point form update.

1) Dream Serenade at Massey Hall on Saturday was *AMAZING*.  Lineup was:

• Lou Canon
• Greylands
• Jason Collett
• Sarah Harmer
• Barenaked Ladies
• Hayden
• Billy Talent
• Aaron & Matt from The National
• Feist

There were all kinds of special treats like when Aaron & Matt from The National joined Hayden for the song "Dynamite Walls", when Sarah Harmer joined Billy Talent for "Surrender", and when Hayden joined The National for "I Need My Girl".  And of course, there was a group sing along at the end.

Even though I enjoyed sets by some of my very favourites (Sarah, Hayden, The National, and Feist), the highlight might have just been The Barenaked Ladies, whom I've never seen live before.  That's shocking considering they are a mainstay of Cdn music, and I'm a mainstay of Cdn music concerts.  Anyway, at the end they did a mashup of current pop songs (Roar, Wrecking Ball, etc. etc.) that had me roaring for laughter.

And this was all for a great cause.  Hayden's daughter has a developmental disability, and the funds went to the Beverley School, which is for students with developmental/physical disabilities.  As an educator who does work with some students with these disabilities, it was very close to my heart.

Good news: it was the First Annual Dream Serenade, so I look forward to going again!

2) LIGHTS at the Danforth Music Hall on Sunday night was pretty great too.  She's an excellent live performer, and it was a super fun show.  And, I was super happy to have a comfy seat up in the balcony, and it was done by 10:30 pm.  A perfect activity for both the young and old in me.

3) It's Election Time! FINALLY.  I hope our new mayor has a last name other than Ford.  I am proudly voting for Olivia Chow if you are interested.  I am not voting "strategically" because I don't want another conservative running my city.  I'm voting with both my head and my heart for the best and most progressive candidate.

4) Ugh, the Jian Ghomeshi scandal has got me down and I'm sickened.  Obviously we don't know for sure what happened, but I feel (just like I felt with Rob Ford) that where there's so much smoke, there's gotta be fire.  I always enjoyed his radio program, Q, and liked him so it really sucks that he's turned out to be an awful and abusive person.  Boo.

Cancel life.

Sometime ago, I read that every season of Gilmore Girls was going to be on Netflix, but only American Netflix. Boo for me as I haven't gotten around to figuring out the trick that allows a Canadian to access American Netflix.  This is actually OK because I spend more time on Netflix figuring out what to watch as opposed to actually watching stuff.  Therefore, I prefer having the smaller selection that Canadian Netflix offers.

Back to Gilmore Girls.  I used to watch that show sporadically back in my university days.  I believe it was on on Friday nights, and usually I'd be partying, studying, or on a train to Stratford on Friday nights. I was always in and out of that show, but I really did like it.  I was sad when I heard that it would only be on US Netflix.

But then, all sneaky-like, it appeared on Netflix this weekend!  Well, actually it might have been before that, but I didn't notice until the weekend.  My friend Wes had tweeted "The entire series of Gilmore Girls is on Netflix. Cancel life," but I'd missed that since I was like doing stuff or something as opposed to being on Twitter.

However, upon my discovery, I spent a chilly afternoon/evening indoors watching yesterday.  I got six episodes in and the show is bringing me so much joy!  Did you know Kirk had a bunch of different names at the beginning?  And it's so sweet to watch Rory connect with her grandfather at the golf club.  And the wake for Cinnamon, the cat?  I wish I lived in Stars Hollow.   I sometimes think I belong more in a quirky close-knit small town as opposed to the big city.  Surely there must be one of those out there that needs a science teacher, right?  And there's gotta be a version of Luke's Diner in that town too.

So, in summary, if you need me, I'm probably watching Gilmore Girls. 

Another life, another weekend.

This is my favourite song by a long shot these days.



Topic #1 - Signs of Aging

I'm getting older (and so are you, sorry).  I'm noticing that my willingness to put up with a lot of shit decreases as I get older.  For example: I am much more willing to fork out money for a cab these days because sometimes I can't deal when it comes to public transit.  For example, this morning I took a cab downtown to board a shuttle bus to get me to the starting line of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 5K.  Last year, I got up at the crack of dawn, and took a bus and then another bus to get me to the shuttle buses.  It was cold, and I had to wait a long time for each TTC bus.  This year, all I could think was eff that, I'm forking out for a cab.  And I did, it was glorious not waiting out in the cold.

As I get older, I hate lines more and more.  And waiting, gawd do I hate waiting.

But I do enjoy being able to take a break every now and then and relax.  So I'm not all about the hate and the "I can't even".

Topic #2 - Cross Border Shopping Trip

Yesterday, I went on a cross border shopping to trip to "The Buffalo" with my friend Mathew.  We call Buffalo NY "The Buffalo" because Mathew is the worst when it comes to talking to border agents.  He was once asked where in the US we'd been, and he said "The Buffalo" and it's been called that ever since.

His performance coming back this time was slightly better, although he kept looking over at me when the agent asked if either of us had accepted gifts while we'd been over.  Afterwards, I ribbed him for that because I was like "Why were you looking at me?  Did you think I accepted a gift when we split up?  Or should I have declared that I got a sample of beer at the grocery store?"

We ended up having our car searched, which has never happened to me, but once they saw that it was full of cookies and yummy food from Trader Joe's they let us go quickly.

I know you might roll eyes at this, but I'm so glad that you exist.

Probably the VERY BEST song for a Canadian Thanksgiving is the one below.  Press play, please.



I love that the only thing that even approaches a love song by my favourite band is this one.  It's not cheesy, and speaks of the kind of affection and appreciation that I really hope that everyone has in their lives.  The kind that's not fleeting and fickle as romantic love can often be (and everyone write about that kind).  Although if you have romantic love that is not fleeting nor fickle, I'm so happy for you! :D

My favourite phrases from this song are:

1) "How you make me laugh so hard." --> I think one of things that I value most in life is a deep, long laugh, the type that takes your breath away a little, might make your stomach hurt a lot (or a bit), and is really hard to stop.  Little laughs are great, don't get me wrong.  But those really hard laughs make life worth living.  I'm lucky to have so many people in my life that bring me these laughs.  Like when I'm in London hanging with my dear friend Claire, and we are killing ourselves over "Fish Christy thinks vertically", Giggy, a dog on the RHOBH who is very committed to the cause of children with alopecia in Missouri, and a tonne more.  Or my pals Alex and Wes, who buckle up growlers of the world's best Pumpkin Ale* in the backseat.  Or, closer to home there's my friend Mathew who just sends me into hysterics with indecipherable texts about playoff baseball and Dateline NBC.  Or my co-workers, with whom I'm writing a sitcom script that describes everyday absurdity. 

Bascially, I'm thankful for anyone who makes me laugh so hard, is what I'm trying to say with the above rambling paragraph.

2) "And you tell me to fuck off when I need somebody to." --> This one isn't as fun as #1, but seriously friends who will tell you to fuck off when you are being stupid about something are great too.  I have the very bad habit of beating myself up over so many things; I'm my worst critic, and I think I most often need to be told to fuck off when I'm tearing myself down.  And my friends are there for me to tell me that I'm being idiotic with all of the self-deprecation.  Or, to tell me to fuck off when I'm just being annoying or whiny.  That happens sometimes too.

And I guess, on this Canadian Thanksgiving, I'm most thankful for people who make me laugh so hard and tell me to fuck off.

*If I were in St. Louis right now, I would be drinking so much of Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale.  It's probably best for my liver that I'm not.  That stuff tastes like the beer version of pumpkin pie.  Sooooo good.

It's been a hard year, and I only know.

These days I'm listening to LIGHTS' new ablum, Little Machines, on heavy rotation.  I like it.  So much so that I decided to grab a ticket to her October show at the Danforth Music Hall.  Yes, after the totally awesome me-date I had going to see the Cons at the Danforth, I've decided the Danforth's balcony is my favourite new place to hang.

I love this song.



I'm also super in love with the NPR stream of Stars' new album No One Is Lost.

You know where to find me any time you want me.

This is my favourite October song.



I can't believe that it took me until the early hours of October 8th to listen to it.

I should be sleeping but I'm not because I passed out on my couch after drinking two strong beers (Delerium Tremens!) at a work pub Pictionary event.  It was fun, and boy I can't draw.

Before the pub, I spent sometime wandering on College St running errands.  It was a nice afternoon for this, and I just missed the rain that's been falling steadily all evening.

I think I had more to write about, but I've completely forgotten.  I'm always writing brilliant (I'm sure of it) blog posts in my head while on the subway or walking around, but they disappear as soon as I sit to write.  I should take notes.

So maybe next post you'll get something a little more interesting than my favourite October song.

End of camp, new week already.

I'm still rather exhausted from three days of keeping up with 40 teenagers at camp, but it was a fun time.  Lots of laughs, beautiful autumn scenery, hikes, and late night nights.  On Friday, I returned to the city, dragged my stuff home on the TTC, changed out of my muddy jeans and sneakers, and headed off to see the Constantines at the Danforth Music Hall.  It was an excellent show, and thank goodness for balcony seats.

I've been pretty lazy for the rest of the weekend.  I finished re-reading "Gone Girl" and went with my pal Mathew to see the movie.  I thought the movie was an excellent adaptation of the novel, and I'm glad that I read the novel again, so I could really see what was changed from print to screen.  (I first read the book two years ago, so wouldn't have remembered all of the details.)

And with that, another week begins, but at least it's followed by a long weekend.