Today I got the news about a former colleague's passing.  It was someone who taught at my school at the beginning of my career there, yet whom I always have spoken highly of long since they left my school, and who I truly enjoyed having as a colleague.  I felt really sad when I heard of it this morning, and it was tough to get through the day pretending everything was okay.

I realize it's amazing the number of people whose lives will intersect with mine throughout my career.  I feel like I've been so lucky to work with so many amazing people, even if it is only for a few weeks, months, or years.  I guess it's important to let everyone know how much they mean to you, because you never know when or if you'll get that chance again.

I'll reveal myself invincible soon.

This.



And this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-bartolotta/happiness-tips_b_3956114.html

That's it for now.  My bag is packed and I'm off to camp tomorrow.  See ya on the flipside.

I think that ghosts like the cooler weather.

Happy autumnal equinox everyone!  Now I can listen to this song on heavy rotation:



I had a really nice weekend as I suspected.  Drinks, brunch, and the Junction Music Festival all happened.  I had to stand out in the rain to see my pal Nigel's band play, but a rain jacket and umbrella made it OK.  I'm in the market to splurge on a pair of Hunter rainboots because I've been coveting them for years now, and I wish I'd done it already because my feet got soaked in my Chucks.


This morning brought the end of an era somewhat for me.  For a year now, I've been going to meetings with my Kenya group once a month on a Sunday morning and today was the very last.  It was very bittersweet.  It was great seeing everyone again, and it was nice to celebrate such an amazing experience, but it's weird to think that that part of my life is over, and that we won't meet again for awhile (unless we plan a reunion... which I'm sure we will).  Endings in life are weird things in that they are often quiet in practice, but have a big impact on your heart.

Speaking of Kenya, I cannot believe the news from there.  I went to an upscale mall in Nairobi on our last day in Kenya, but not that one that the shooting happened at, although I was in the same area of the city.  When awful things like this happen in the world, I always feel horrible and confused at how hateful and violent humans can be, but it's especially disheartening when it happens to a place that I just visited about a month ago.  Travel definitely connects us to other places in the world, and you end up wanting the best for those places, and when senseless tragedy strikes, it's pretty dark.

Anyway, that was my weekend.  Next week will be busy.  I'm heading off to supervise my school's students leaders at a camp from Wednesday to Friday, so it's kind of like a vacation from work, but I'll still be working.   But really, supervising a bunch of nice kids isn't much work. 

Shut us like a portmanteau.

List of autumn-y things that I'm digging right now.

1) The ULTIMATE Pumpkin Chai recipe from David's Tea.  I love this tea when steeped normally with a bit of milk and stevia.   However, making it traditionally on the stove with one part milk, one part water is amazing and it smells so good.

2) The new Los Campesinos! song.  Songs about death are great for the autumn. 

 3) I got some clothing that I ordered online in the mail today!  I've spend many hours browsing the cute clothing on ModCloth.com, but have never bought anything because I am always apprehensive about buying clothing without trying it on, especially things like dresses.  But then, I saw this really cute sweatshirt that sums up two of my biggest loves in one comfy looking shirt and I decided to take the plunge.  I'm going to spend hours curled up on my sofa reading while wearing this sucker.

I decided to try a dress since I'd might as well get the most out of the shipping I was going to pay.  I got the Coach Tour Dress in violet, and it fits really well!  I'm super happy with my first ModCloth purchases!

 

4) Speaking of reading, I've got a pile of spooky fall-type books to get through.  I've been slogging through Kelley Armstrong's "Omens" because it was highly advertised on the subway and looked interesting.  I'm not loving it but will get through it.  Next I have "The Silent Wife" by A.S.A. Harrison to read.  It's advertised as being for people going through "Gone Girl" withdrawal, and since I loved that book, I picked up "The Silent Wife".  After that, I have the new Neil Gaiman.

5) My weekend plans look like fun.  Drinks on West Queen West, and then the Junction Music Fest to see a friend's band play.  That will be followed by more drinks.

Yay autumn!

Blurry Nights

I wish there were more hours in the evening. Once I'm done with work, and then the gym, and then making dinner/lunch for next day/getting my shit together for next day, the evening slips away so quickly as I drink tea and catch up on other stuff. I want more evening hours for reading and watching Netflix and sourcing out new music stuff.

More evening hours please! This school week is going well so far.  My classes are good, and I have so much on the go the days fly by.  I wish I could clone myself because I often need to be in several places at once, like today at lunch when I had a meeting and I had to set up for a lab.

One of my favourite songs of 2013, hands down, is "Blurry Nights" by my perennial crush, Hayden.  He just released a video for it last week (I think), and it's nice eye candy, for sure.  That man ages well. 



The new Matt Good album is streaming in full over at CBC Music.  Loving it so far.  I hope I can find it on vinyl next Tuesday.

I had a really great run last night.  I love cool fall weather for running.  I signed up for the Scotiabank Waterfront 5K race on October 20th.  I'm thinking it will be a great race for me to break my old personal best.  :)

All for now.  Weekend is shaping up to be fun. More on that later.

p.s. Thanks to everyone for well wishes etc when it comes to my mom.  It's much appreciated.  I can't wait 'til she's home though.

Had a good trip home. My mom had her surgery on Friday and is in good spirits after it. I'm not sure how long she'll be in the hospital undergoing rehabilitation, but she's comfortable and out of pain so that's great. I was able to help my dad out around the house, do some grocery shopping and run errands so that was good. He usually does all those things himself, but he doesn't do as well without my mom around. Other than hospital visits and driving around town, I didn't do much this weekend. I was able to combine exercise with some socializing though. My Toronto friend Karen was in town for the Dragonboat festival. I ran to the river to watch her race and say hi, then ran back home. I also went to a yoga class this morning too. I feel good that I took care of myself as well this weekend. Now I sit waiting for the accursed always-delayed 9 pm train. Taking this thing always makes for a rough Monday. The other train is at 8:30 am, so that's why I am always stuck with my nemesis. Yes, I've decided that my nemesis is a train. Happy Monday!

Yesterday evening I was sitting at my dining room table, marking quizzes, drinking tea, and listening to vinyl in the background.  I was in a great mood because I'd had a good workout that evening, and had come home and spent time cleaning my kitchen, and preparing food so I'd have healthy lunches for the week. 

As I sat at the table, working, I thought that, hey, this may not be glamourous but it's a pretty awesome life.  I'm drinking tea out of a mug from one of the many places to which I've traveled.  Yes, I'm doing work, but it's pretty awesome that I make a good wage for doing something that's valuable and not back-breaking.  I'm listening to music.  I have a pleasant cat friend to keep me company.  Life is good.

I took a break to phone my parents.  I'd phoned them earlier in the day to see what was up, and they hadn't answered, which had worried me because they are always home at the time.  Perhaps one of them had knocked the phone off the hook and hadn't noticed.  Anyway, after waiting a while and attempting again, my dad picked up.  My first thought was that this was not a good sign and I was right.

My mother had fallen earlier in the day and was in a lot of pain after the fall.  She went to the hospital and it turns out that she'd broken her hip.  She was in the hospital awaiting a visit from a specialist and would have to have surgery.  That's pretty much all my dad could tell me.  No idea of what recovery would be like, how long she'd be in there, etc.  Not much info.

I spent the rest of the night feeling really down, and worried, and fearing the worst.  I felt helpless and completely frustrated that there was nothing I could do to control the situation or figure things out or anything.  I wanted to talk to my mom so badly to hear how she was doing, but my parents are technological dinosaurs without cell phones, hence there was no way to reach her.  I hate knowing that she's in the hospital, and she hates hospitals, and is in an immense amount of pain right now.  I'm pretty sure that being a worrywart is a trait that has been passed down from her side of the family, and I'm sure she's worrying about the outcome of this injury too.

I had a hard time getting to sleep.  I thought back at how just a couple of hours ago, I was feeling so great, and then, BLAM, total turnaround.  At one point, I wondered why life would tease me like that, but I guess it's better to get bad news when you're OK as opposed to when you're miserable about something.  At about 1 am, I decided to take something to help me sleep.  This morning I went to school, and pretended like nothing had happened.  When I talk about things, I get emotional, and I didn't want to break down, so it was easier to stay composed and pretend that nothing happened.

During my prep period, my friend who also went to Kenya came to visit me in my office.  I had messaged him the night before because I knew that I'd be going home this weekend, and could not make our second last Kenya meeting on Sunday morning.  He and I were supposed to provide snacks for the meeting, so I'd messaged him the night before to let him know that he'd be in charge of snacks, and I'd throw in some money. 

Last night, he'd been working on figuring out how to make mandazi, which is a Kenyan fried dough treat which we'd had there, for snack.  He had a trial batch and wanted to me try one.  All I can say is that that was definitely the best part of my day.  Eating something that reminded me of a place and time so dear to me, as I was sifting through life's next challenge.

The rest of the day was tolerable.  Work takes my mind off of things.  I got to talk to my dad and my aunt (better with details) tonight and found out more.  My mom's still waiting for surgery, and I'm going to head down there on Friday to see her.  I could go earlier, but they feel that there is no point in that, there's not a lot I could do, and there are my responsibilities here.

Oddly enough, I felt a little bit better this evening.  I appreciated small things, like how my fluffy shower mat feels on my feet, and how good my shower gel smells.  I made an amazing cup of pumkin chai tea, using the traditional way where you simmer milk, water, sugar, and tea on the stove.  My friend Mathew called me and we had a great long phone conversation.  I booked my ticket home using my VIA Preference points, so the trip is free.

I know the next while is going to be tough, but I'll handle it somehow.

I read my stars last night, they told me I might end up in your hands.

It was a good first weekend of the school year. On Friday night, after a killer workout mind you, I met up with some friends to wish arrivederci to a friend who is headed to Italy to teach for a semester. It was great to catch up, eat pizza, drink wine, and eat the biggest slice of tiramisu I ever did see.

I spent about half of Saturday hiding inside from the rain, but then headed out for more gym, and a bunch of errand-running. It was one of those weekend days that's vital to make your week okay: you know, getting all of the laundry, housework, and paperwork that's necessary to get through the next week.

Today I had good sleep-in, and then headed to the AGO for the Ai Weiwei exhibit. The AGO always has some great stuff going on. This exhibit was illuminating and had some really large pieces of sculpture that I wonder how they managed to ship to here from China. Anyway, it was definitely a must-see.

The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing, and I've managed to avoid it thus far. I've gone plenty of times in other years, but I didn't go last year, and this year looks like a no-go too. One of my pals from work is a heavy-TIFF goer, so maybe I'll see if I can get a ticket to one of the movies he's got on his agenda.

That was the weekend, now onto the week!

Don't you worry kid, we'll be seeing you.

I had quite the commute to work this morning. There was a delay at Chester station, so I couldn't change trains at Bloor station to get to work. Instead, I had to go all the way around the loop, and switch to a westbound train at St. George station. What this means is that I had an extra twenty minutes to sit, play Candy Crush Saga (how did I get addicted to that game?), listen to the new Neko Case album, and drink my coffee. Glad I made my coffee stop before I got on the train. Anyway, of course, by the time I got to St. George, the delay was cleared and trains were running regularly again. I made it to work on time, thankfully, but it wasn't even that stressful because this semester my prep period is first thing, so mornings are less hectic. Of course, being that it's the first Friday of the school year, I'm not struggling with a million things to do yet. My classes are actually prepped for the next week, so I'm just chilling a bit. And listening to the amazing new Neko Case album. It's so good it makes me want to cry. I love that woman. I hope she comes back to Toronto soon. I wish I had more coffee. Hmmm, this is something I could take care of right now. Next Friday I'm sure I'll be scrambling yet again. I should enjoy these quiet moments.

Fall Music

I loved that today, being the first day of school, also felt like the first day of fall.  Who wants to wear their summer clothes when they spent their last weekend of summer picking up a few new pieces for fall?  Not me, and I was happy to wear a new dress today.  The best was that since it was rather cool, I could wear a new(ish) jean jacket on the way to/from school.

Anyway, I'm also getting super excited for music that's being released this fall and I'm glad that the weather is co-operating.

Of course, today was the big release of Neko Case's new, and VERY EXCELLENT album "The Worse It Gets, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You" and I picked up the deluxe edition on vinyl today and I'm listening to it now on my little record player and loving it.  It's such an amazing album.  This is my favourite song.



One of my musical guilty pleasures is emo pop-punk sounding music.  I have always had a huge crush on the lead singer of the band Dashboard Confessional, and I was happy to stumble across his new side project, Twin Forks, who is coming out with a new EP on Sept. 17th.  This song is adorable.



On Sept 24th, Matthew Good is coming out with a new album that I'm looking forward to.



And, lastly, my beloved Los Campesinos! are coming out with a new album soon.  They posted this trailer, and I've already pre-ordered the (pink!) LP.



Yay fall!

And it's over.

I always hate this night.  Yes, yes, I know, I just had two months off, so I should quit complaining and griping.  But, it's always nerve-wracking going back.  I know that I'm not going to get a good night's sleep tonight, even though I've been doing this for ten years.  Gah.  Also, what time do I have to leave the house?  I always forget.

The last weekend of summer was pretty sweet.  I hung out with my pals Mathew & Luke on Friday night and we watched Dateline and made fun of Keith Morrison.  This is a hobby of mine and Mathew's, and Luke just joined in because he lives across the street from Mathew.  Keith Morrison is so creepy and Bill Hader's SNL impersonation is spot-on (sad that Hader is gone from SNL this year). 

On Saturday, I ran the Color Me Rad 5K race at Downsview Park.  It was really fun.  You wear a white Tshirt, and then as you run 5K you get pelted with colour bombs of dyed cornstarch and sprayed with liquid colour.  It's pretty fun.  I ran it with a friend who did a beginner's running clinic at the Running Room, and a couple of friends she met at the clinic.  At the end of the race, I found out that her friends were the instructors, and I was able to keep up with them, so woo-hoo to me!  I have no idea of my time for the race because it wasn't timed.  Oh well.

On Sunday, I went to check out Stars play at Nathan Phillips Square.  It was just a one-hour show in the evening in the rain.  It was great.

Today I did some back-to-school fashion shopping at the mall and then read a bit.  I've got my lunch made and now I'm going to go pack my gym bag.  It's crazy that I'm back to the grind tomorrow.

Seriously, last September feels just like yesterday.  How does time go by so quickly?