Book Reviews (a la Jabba)

Considering that it's been a busy fall, I've still been able to read a few books; however, I've read more in the past three weeks or so than in the previous three months.  I figured why not review what I've been reading?

The Silent Wife - A.S.A. Harrison



This book has been touted (at least on subway posters) as this year's Gone Girl.  In the genre of dark, twisted suspense novels about dysfunctional marriages, it definitely delivers.  I've lent it to my dad, and to my work spouse, and it's one of those novels that you definitely want to share with other because you really want to talk about the ending, and what you think may have happened.  Don't worry, I won't spoil it here.  If you like a good page-turner, pick this up!  I read it in less than 24 hours!


He's Gone - Deb Caletti



After finishing The Silent Wife, I wanted another book up the alley of a dark thriller about a dysfunctional marriage.  I used Goodreads to find other books like The Silent Wife and decided to pick this one up from my local bookstore.  It was all right.  It centres around a woman whose husband just suddenly goes missing one day, and the fallout from his disappearance.  It wasn't a bad book; just rather mediocre.

Big Brother - Lionel Shriver




Shriver is the author of We Need to Talk About Kevin which is a book so dark and twisted, that I had to read it twice, and then go see the movie.  I came across Shriver's latest at the library, and it sounded intriguing: this book is about a woman whose older brother comes to visit her, and he has gained about 200 pounds since she's last seen him.  He has no place to go, and ends up staying with her and causing great strain on her marriage and life. 

This book is another read with a bit of a twist ending.  I'd love someone else to read this, so I can find out what they think about the ending!  Shriver is an excellent writer, however, this was one of those books where I found I didn't care much for the characters, and some of the plot seemed rather contrived.  However, the quality of the writing and surprise ending somewhat make up for this book's faults.


Joyland - Stephen King



Stephen King is prolific, and his first book of 2013 is a fun pulp fiction set in an amusement park in a beach town in the 1970s.  It's got ghosts, suspicious carnies, unsolved murder, and an exciting climax atop a ferris wheel in a lightning storm.  This was a fun read!

The Dinner - Herman Koch



The Dinner is yet another book that has been compared to Gone Girl, but I had shied away from it because some of the Goodreads reviews described it as overly descriptive and boring.  The entire book takes place over a dinner between two couples who must discuss the terrible crime committed by their teenaged sons.  At first, I agreed with the reviews; this book definitely started off slowly and I started feeling frustrated because I wanted to know what the terrible crime was, dammit.  However, once the plot starts to unravel, it becomes oh-so-horrific, and oh-so-fascinating.  As the novel progresses, you discover that the narrator isn't quite what he seemed at first, and twists and turns abound!  It definitely compensates for the slow start.  In fact, I got so hooked on this book that I finished it in less that 48 hours.

One thing I do notice from my fall book reviews, I'm definitely into dark twisted novels these days!  Wow.  I'd better make my next read a little bit lighter!  Perhaps something about kittens and unicorns?  I do have a bunch of books on my Kobo that I need to get through, so perhaps I'll start something a little less murderous/crime-riddled/creepy/dark tonight.

Open your eyes, put it in drive, get on the road, and just go.

This song exemplifies my weekend.



I hopped in the Mini Cooper Zipcar that lives next door to me, and headed northwest to Midland Ontario, the small town that my always friend/former colleague Nancy moved to about four years ago.

I'm from a small-ish town, and as such, I love a roadtrip out of the city to another small town.  I feel great driving away knowing the city is behind me, and that I'm going towards something quaint, quiet and small.  I always get excited when I get off onto the highway and onto a road (County Road 93 in this case) that only has two lanes: one in either direction.

I pulled up to Nancy's house to have her run out into the driveway, give me a huge hug and say "you're right where I left you."  I hadn't seen her in exactly two years.  This happens in adult life: time speeds along busily, and it's hard to see friends especially when distance separates you.  But, when you see each other again and you are exactly where you've left off, you know it's a great friendship. (Literally, though, she had left me in her driveway the last time I saw her at her baby shower in November 2011.)

We had a great time drinking wine, catching up, and heading downtown to catch Hawksley Workman at the Midland Cultural Centre.  It was an adorable small and intimate space, and he put on a great show.  He played a couple of Christmas songs, and lots of old favourites.  I couldn't have asked for a better show.  I've probably seen Hawksley at least 25 times, and seeing him again is like reconnecting with an old friend, so it was a perfect show to watch with an old friend.

After the show we went to the local pub which was low on ambiance, but pretty high on delicious nachos.  I totally scarfed those down.  We took a cab back to Nancy's house, and in the morning, she took me to her CrossFit class in a friend's garage.  She gave me every opportunity to wimp out, but I insisted that I felt fine.  However, as my head was spinning a little during a 2 minute plank, I took back my feeling fine remark.  I managed to make it through most of the workout (except for doing handstands), even though skipping rope and then doing sit-ups wasn't the best on a hangover.

We grabbed some coffee, and then I had to sadly head back to the city to return my car on time.  Autosharing turns you into a Cinderella, somewhat.  However, I pointed out to Nancy that when I'm a guest, I always like to leave my hosts wanting more and that's what I did.  It was a great visit, a super rock show, a crazy workout with a hangover, and I had a pleasant drive home in my adorable car.

On Saturday night, I met up with my friend Karen to see another musical friend, Hayden, at the Danforth Music Hall.  I've seen Hayden, oh, maybe ten (?) or so times.  I've been listening to Hayden since high school, and I love his music.  Even though his music can be slow at times, he puts on a pretty good rock show.  I had a great time, and my favourite part was the encore, when he brought out all the openers to sing along with him to "Don't Get Down".

Today I met up with my friend Wendy for breakfast, and then my friend Eric for dinner.  Both of these were enjoyable meals, and yet again I was thankful for time to catch up with friends that I don't see very often.

One thing I appreciate about myself is my ability to keep up with my friends. It's great to have so many people in my life that remain just where I left them.  Even though it's been awhile, we can always pick our friendships back up where we left off, and the banter and support remains in tact. 

I'm falling in love, my walkman and me, with David Bowie.

Packed Wednesday.  I had a busy day at school, followed by some extracurricular stuff, and then a killer training session.  (My body is sore.)

I'd really wanted to see the David Bowie exhibition at the AGO, but because of busyness and procrastination, the last week rolled around, and I still hadn't gone.  I was holding out for a school night or some time that would be perhaps less busy, but my only chance left was a late night viewing tonight.  So I decided to get a ticket for 9:30 pm tonight.

It was a pretty awesome multimedia display.  I loved all of the stage costumes, and the props from Labyrinth, of course.  (I need to re-watch that.  It's a childhood favourite.)  However, since the place was so packed, I didn't get to see everything in the detail that I wanted.  Oh well, I should live and learn to NOT leave these things until the last minute.  I did the same thing with the Tim Burton exhibition at TIFF a few years ago and same thing.

Now I'm drinking tea and thinking I should make a playlist of my favourite Bowie songs.  I'm no Bowie expert, just a dabbler.  

This is not a Bowie song, but a song about Bowie that I've liked since high school.  As I was walking to the subway from the AGO, I had one of those moments where it seems surreal that I have lived in this city for so long, and so many places have fond memories or bittersweet memories for me.

We'll laugh until our ribs get tough.

Do you guys find that as you get older, and perhaps have accumulated more and more friends, and your days get more and more packed, you have such a hard time keeping up with all of your friendships?  I certainly do.  I feel like I have so many great friendships that I just am not able to give them the time they deserve.  But I try to improve on it.

This weekend, I had lots of good friend time. On Friday evening, I had my monthly "date" with my friend Elaine.  We try to book time together once a month, and it's quite effective.  (Although I think we missed out on our August and September dates.)  We joke that we are once-a-month friends, but I find in adulthood, seeing any friend once-a-month is a lot.  Other than my friends from work, and my pal Mathew, I doubt that I see any of my friends once per month.

Last night, I went to the wedding of my friends Rachelle and Jesse.  They are both friends from my university days, and they fall into the category of friends I definitely don't see often enough.  I think the last time I saw them both was at my birthday.  (Gah, so long ago.)   I was very happy to be included at their wedding though, and it gave me a great opportunity to get caught up with other friends from my university days.  In fact, we talked about how even though we don't see each other all that often, it's pretty great that we are still in touch when almost ten years has passed since university.

Getting to the wedding turned out to be a bit of a comedy, and gave me more time with my friends Jon and Ali.  I perhaps didn't leave my house with quite a bit enough time to get there safely.  I had gone for an excellent winter run in the afternoon.  It was sunny, and there was a bit of snow on the ground and not too much snow.  I ran 6 km in a respectable time.  After that, I needed some time to warm up, and then I took my time getting ready.  I was starving by the time I left my house, and stopped at Starbucks for a snack since I still thought I had plenty of time to get to the church.

St. Andrew Station was closed this weekend, so it meant that I had to take an alternate route to my destination.  I could switch trains twice and avoid waiting for a streetcar in the cold.  When I was on a train going south from St. George Station, there was a power outage that delayed the train.  After waiting a minute, I decided to bolt to the street to grab a cab.  I texted my friend Ali at the same time, and she and her husband were luckily in the area of the station, and swung around and got me.  (Good thing because there are always no cabs when you need them.)

We got there just in time, and it was a very lovely wedding.  As I said before, I had a great time catching up with my friends, and on the way home, my friend Jon said "Christy, we need to hang out more because I laugh a lot around you."  Awww, it's true.  I do sometimes laugh hardest around my longtime friends and I need to devote more time to those friendships.

The good news is that I'm making good on this goal already.  Today I read somewhere that Tori Amos is releasing a new album in the spring.  It's called "Unrepentant Geraldines" which I think is an excellent title, and of course I thought of my best Tori-friend Eric, and realized I hadn't seen him in a ridiculously long time.  I texted him, and we have a date next Sunday evening.  Then, I got a text from my friend Wendy (who I haven't seen since March) and she's in Toronto next Sunday too, so I'll see her in the afternoon.  And I made a phone date with my friend Alison, who lives in BC, for tomorrow.

Also, next weekend I'm going to see my friend Nancy who I haven't seen since before her baby was born.  I think the kid is over a year old now!  They live in Midland, and I'm heading up there to see Hawksley Workman on Friday.  So excited.

The great thing about all of these long-time friendships is that they still are in good health despite the fact that life doesn't let me see my friends as often as I used to.  I think that's how you know when friends are truly special.

Oh, winter crush all of the things that I once loved.

I am in love with the Daughter album "If You Leave".  It's beautiful and sad, and even though it makes me emo, and potentially weepy (if I've had enough to drink), I still love it.  Get it.  I know nothing about the band other than I love this album.

Tonight was parent-teacher interviews.  At 5:30, the official start time, people were just slowly filing in, and there wasn't anyone at my seat.  A colleague next door to me said "hey I think you'll like this YouTube video" and tried to load it on his phone.  Then a parent walked up to my desk, so I said "show me later".  I didn't get a break until about 8:00 pm after that.  It was an evening of much talking, but I enjoyed it.

After this night is over, I always feel like it's the official start of the Christmas season.  I should put up my tree this weekend.

This weekend I have a wedding to go to.  I'm looking forward to it.  Two of my friends from university are marrying each other and it's adorable.  I know it'll be super fun.

It's raining out.  I daresay I'm ready for snow.

Tonight I talked a couple of my friends to go for post-interview drinks at the Granite, which I consider my local pub.  (How self serving.)  We drove by the giant light up holiday tiger in Koreatown (will get a picture) and I felt excited for the season.

Although now I'm home, I'm listening to this awesome oh-so-emo album and thinking about how many things that I love about my life, but how there are things that I'm wistful/nostalgic/regretful of.

Oh well, that's life.

At least I have lots of people to laugh with.

This song.

I'm up far too late with this discovery.  My friend Matt in Winnipeg told me a few weeks ago to check out this album, but when he tweeted a lyric from this song today it sucked me in.

Dark.  Lovely.   Awesome.

You always did prefer the drizzle to the rain.

Lots of stuff to catch up on here, I guess.  I survived getting my report cards done.  The Mayor of this city keeps getting more and more ridiculous.  Life continues being really busy.

Friday was a PD Day.  It was our staff day of reflection, and for the second year in a row, we went out into the community to do volunteer work.  My friends and I signed up together to volunteer at a mission for the homeless and socially isolated.

Before our day of service, we decided to meet up for breakfast.  I found a cute vegetarian diner a few steps away from where we volunteered.  It had a wall lined with Pez dispensers which was awesome.  It was great catching up over coffee and chocolate chip pancakes before we went off.

At the shelter, we split into two groups: half of us sorted canned goods for the food bank, and the other of us sorted clothing for the clothing bank.  I was in the clothing group, and I spent my day going through boxes of donations looking for warm things for the winter: coats, hoodies, and things that would be good to layer.

The work that I did affected me.  As you all know, I love clothing and fashion, and I love going out and finding new things, and looking fashionable makes me feel really great about myself.  As I sorted through unwanted items that I knew would be used by people in need, I felt really sad knowing that not everyone gets to make choices about fashion the way I do.  I know it's really superficial, but to not even have the power to make yourself look good must be frustrating.  Or I guess it really made me realize that something that I take for granted, isn't available to everyone. 

We were all in the back room sorting, while the clothing bank's employee (who was a real character) brought new finds out onto the racks in the area where people could look for clothes.  I overhead him trying to find a new winter coat for a woman, but there wasn't much at that point.  Later in the day, I came across a brand new coat (with tags) in her size and I hope it somehow got to her later. 

We got a lot of work done.  The storage room at the clothing bank was a disaster when we got there, and we got it completely cleaned up and unpacked lots of extra boxes too.  It felt good to get work done for another organization, and again, I'm left feeling really thankful that I was lucky enough to get an education, and find a good-paying job that I love and that affords me all of the material goods that I want in life.

I hung out with my friend Mathew in the evening.  We set out to do some Christmas shopping, and ended up buying mostly stuff for ourselves.  (Isn't that how it always happens?)  I don't usually have much luck at Winners, but I ended up finding a really nice designer wool coat for less than half price.  It looks really good on me.  I was going to try and get another year out of my current coat, but I knew I'd found a great coat.  Bring on the cold weather!

On Saturday, I went on a cross border trip with friends from work.  I didn't buy very much at all, mainly just junk from Target.  I went for fun times, and fun times were had.

Today I slept in and then headed off for one of my happy Kensington Market Sunday afternoons.  I went down there to get my hair cut, and also did some real Christmas shopping at the Blue Banana Market.  Yes, I actually got all gifts, and nothing for me.  Then, I treated myself to a grilled cheese sandwich at The Grilled Cheese.  Yum.

Now I'm getting some stuff done, and then I'll curl up with a book.  I could totally use another day of weekend, that's for sure.

It's the least wonderful time of the year.

Report cards are due on Thursday. 

I feel like this year, I'm more behind on paperwork (my least favourite part of work) than ever.  My extracurricular projects have been time-consuming (yet oh-so-rewarding), and life outside of school has been busy with more trips to Stratford than usual.  On top of all of this, I do not have a student teacher this semester, after having one for about five semesters in a row, and I really do miss using that opportunity to get caught up on work.

So you might not hear much from me until Thursday.

Also, I'm keeping in mind the people of the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.  I feel a particular closeness to that country, even though I've never been there.  Over half of my school's student body is Filipino, as are two of my closest friends, and my sponsored child is from there.  She seems to be okay as per emails from the organization and my quick self-taught lesson in the geography of the Philippines.  However, one of my students lost some family members, and another student has been there for a couple of weeks due to a family emergency and I haven't heard anything yet.  The people of the Philippines are very much in my thoughts right now.

Student Council and the unofficial Philippines club are working on some fundraising activities.  It's great that the Government of Canada will match any civilian donations to relief efforts, so if you are able to donate, please do.

Red Cross

UNICEF  (Actually if you donate to UNICEF, it looks like your donation will be tripled... Matched by the government and Loblaw Companies.)

This lonely morning, this lonely morning.

Got the new Best Coast album on vinyl today.  It's catchy fun stuff.



I have nothing really to blog about today.  I mean there is the whole mayoral scandal.  Somehow, the Simpsons summed this up in a clever throw-away gag years ago.

So why write any more about the giant mess that is Toronto's mayoral crack scandal?  He needs to step down so much.  I would say this even if I agreed with his policies (which I obviously don't).

This Best Coast album is really short.  Only 7 songs.  I wish I could train Rilo to turn over records for me.

And that's all I have.

It's the only way I can tell you like letters in wartime do.

Weekends go by way too quickly even though this one had an extra hour.

On Friday night, I ended up staying at school until almost 6 pm.  I had gardening with the environmental club until 4 pm, then I ended up staying later helping my friend Fea and Student Council with a project.  This meant that I didn't really have time to go home before the Matt Good show at Massey Hall, so I did my best to fit all of my school things into just one big bag, and set off for the show wearing my Hunter rainboots, since that's what I'd warn that day since it was a bit rainy, and I had gardening after school.  Wellies aren't the most rock 'n roll, but oh well.

I got my ticket debacle solved (yay!) and then took myself out for some dinner and browsed around the Eaton Centre for a bit.  At the show, I decided to splurge on a Matt Good tshirt, because it's really cute and has gold arrows on it, and also a glass of red wine.  I got up to my seat in the top balcony just in time to catch the opening band, Gentlemen Husbands, who were pretty good.

As always, I forget how much I really do love Matt Good.  He put on a great set.  I loved hearing old MGB songs like Load Me Up, Apparitions, and Hello Timebomb.  I also loved hearing some of his earlier solo work like the song Weapon, and a reworked version of While We Were Hunting Rabbits.  I bought his new album Arrows of Desire (you understand the Tshirt now!) earlier in the fall, but didn't really connect much with it.  However, as often happens with me and music, once I see the songs live, I fall in love with them, and the album has been on heavy rotation all weekend.  It's quickly becoming one of my favourites of the year.

Saturday was a yucky rainy day.  I slept in and finally dragged myself out in search of a new cold weather running outfit.  I used to be a happy treadmill runner, but now I don't like it as much, and I want to be able run in single digit temperatures, and even when it gets below zero.  I knew that today was going to be around 2 degrees Celsius, so I really wanted a new outfit so I could get out today.  I ended up getting new running tights (my old ones are too big and fall down when I run), and an awesome running pullover from Lululemon.  The pullover is brilliant; it's got mesh panels to let you breathe, but it's made out of a soft warm material.  It also has "cuffins" which are like built-in mittens that you can take off if your hands get hot.  No need to mess with gloves/mittens!

After that, I ran by David's Tea to buy myself my very favourite tea of theirs: Santa's Secret.  It's totally too early for Christmas anything, but it's my favourite tea, and I'll probably go through 100 g of it in a months.  It's a creamy black with candy cane bits in it, so it tastes all sweet and peppermint-y.  Yum.

After my retail therapy, I met up with my friend Karen at a pub on the Danforth before we hit up The Danforth Music Hall for Joel Plaskett.  It was a solo acoustic show where he was joined by his dad for a few songs (awwww).  It was great, and he played a lot of rare songs that I hadn't heard in awhile from older albums such as La De Da and Ashtray Rock.  It was a lovely show.

Today I avoided the Ford brothers' radio show (but read all about it afterwards) by going for my cold weather run in my new running threads.  It was such a nice day for it!  Even though it was cold, it was sunny, and all the leaves are still changing on the trees, so my route through Mount Pleasant Cemetery and residential streets was picturesque.  I can't wait for more cold weather runs.

I spent the rest of my afternoon running errands and now I'm roasting some chicken and sweet potatoes for my lunch for the next two days.  It's going to be another insanely busy week with work and workouts, but that's OK.  I think I'm getting more and more used to life being so high speed.

What I want to do this evening is to have a glass of wine, a hot bath, and read a book for awhile because I don't think I've finished a book for a month which is CRAZY for me.  Good thing baseball season is over.

We're long gone.

Life is really busy.

Halloween was fun.  I only really participate in Halloween at school.  It was a rather fun but tiring day.  The Gru & Minions group costume was a hit.  Well done us.

I'm rather tired right now.  It was a busy day, preceded by a busy Wednesday.  I had a long day at school followed by a killer workout at the gym.  Then, I met up at a Boston Pizza (ugh, I know but they have big TVs) with my friend Mathew to watch Game 6 of the World Series.  We'd thrown our proverbial hats in the ring with St. Louis (allegiance to bird teams), but they lost.  Oh well, it was fun.

This weekend is going to be super fun.  I have two concerts: Matt Good @ Massey Hall on Friday and then Joel Plaskett @ The Danforth Music Hall on Saturday.  Let's hope I get into the Matt Good show... I had a bit of a debacle with my tickets, and it should be OK, but I'll say that for sure when I'm in my seat.

I'm seriously going to sleep really early tonight.  My body is sore, and my brain is dead.  I guess that means I'm keeping myself challenged these days?

This is how we do.

I just had the laziest weekend ever.

Well, it wasn't that bad.  I got most of the stuff done on my weekend to do list.  (Save for marking. I skipped out on the marking.  I will pay for this choice later.)

I watched baseball, knitted, and curled up in bed (new sheets!) with Netflix documentaries.  I read a little tiny bit, got a much needed mani-pedi, and took myself out for sushi.  I don't think I really saw another person all weekend and that was okay.

I did manage to extract myself from my apartment today for a long run (10.79 km).  I've been looking up half marathon training plans because I really want to do the Goodlife Toronto Marathon (half of it anyway) on May 4th of next year.  I won't have to start training until the new year, but I'm really excited because I know that I can do it, and never in a million years would I have thought I'd ever run a half marathon.  Until I start my formal training in the new year, I'll throw in long-ish runs when I can.  Also, I realize that winter's coming up, and I have come to the point where I really love running outside, and not inside on a treadmill, so I think that next paycheque, I will go invest in some nice cold weather running gear!

This week will be busy, being that it's Halloween week, and I really need to get my marking caught up on.  I think I'll just be pulling late nights at school each day this week.  Could be worse, I guess.

Also, you might be thinking right now: hey, Christielli, how are you going to follow up last year's epic Halloween costume? 

Well, this year's costume isn't going to be the epic masterpiece of last year, but it will be OK.  It's going to be a group costume.  One of the Alans (who was PSY last year) is going to be Gru from the Despicable Me movies, and ten of us are going to be little yellow Minions.  We have store-bought Minions costumes that we got in September.  Gru's costume is easy.  We have a fake nose, bald cap, and I'm knitting his long striped scarf.  Done.

I'll let you know how it goes, and have good Mondays!  :)

Knees knocking and blood flowing so I want you to know.

Last few days have been super busy and filled with good news overall.

My mom made it home today.  Yay!  I was thinking of going home this weekend, but my parents want a bit of time to settle into new routines, so I'll head home in a couple of weeks.  Glad that she's home finally. 

Yesterday, I got a "wardrobe makeover" at a cool clothing shop in Kensington Market.  Basically, I got to bring in some item from home and try them with other items in the store to find new combinations.  It was really fun: mainly two hours of trying on clothes with someone giving advice.  I ended up buying two really cute dresses and a new pair of shoes.  Will post pictures because they are amazing.

Tonight I got to spend a few hours with friends from university because my friend Gloria, who is living in Sweden, is in town.  It was fun and I had lots of laughs.

This weekend I have very few plans.  I plan on getting caught up on some stuff around the house, and watching Anchorman while knitting a scarf for a Halloween costume.  And not waking up early nor being any place at any specific time.

There is no blues that could sound quite as heartfelt as mine.

Don't worry from the title of this post... I'm not feeling emo these days.  However, my favourite emo-ish band, Los Campesinos!, sent me an email with an early download of their new album NO BLUES because I'd pre-ordered the LP.  

Unsurprisingly, I love the album.  My favourite song so far is "As Lucerne/The Low" from which I lifted the title of this post, because even though it's grammatically questionable, I love singing it.  I can't wait to get the *pink* record in the mail.

The last three days have been, hmmm, I guess a mixed bag would be the best way to describe it.  Multicultural Day was great!  It was a super-fun day and the kids loved it so much.  It was a bit chaotic, but the fun overrode the chaos for sure.  There was so much food, and spirit, and fun, and you could tell that student council was very proud that their hard work brought this to the student body.  Well done to them!

I got to walk around in a Nigerian dress that one of the African students brought in.  A few students commented that I looked like a princess in it, which was kind of cool.  There was a matching headwrap with the dress, but I missed when the student's mom came in to do head-wrappings so I didn't get to wear it.  Also, my Eritrean student brought in a lot of food and proudly served it to me and the student body.  It was delicious.

After we cleaned up after the day, I headed out to Exhibition grounds to pick up my race kit for the Scotiabank Waterfront 5K race that I ran today.  Then, I went downtown to meet up with my friend Elaine for dinner. Friday was such a nice day, although I beat by the end of it.

On Saturday, I had the memorial service for my colleague who passed away last month.  It was really nicely put together, and needless to say it was quite emotional saying goodbye to someone who passed away at a rather young age.  He was the first person to show me around my school when I was hired there about nine years ago, and was so kind and welcoming to me.  All the students loved him. 

Even though it was a sad occasion, it was quite nice to see former colleagues, some of which have retired or moved to other schools.  In addition, a good number of former students turned out for the service.  One of my former colleagues said it best when I said that it was really nice to see her, but the circumstances were unfortunate.  She replied "he brought us together."

Saturday was rainy and yucky, so by the time I got home, I felt like doing absolutely nothing, other than getting some sushi and wine for dinner, and watching the baseball game with captions on as I listened to my new LC! album.  I had to go to bed early, because I had an early wake up call.

This morning I had to be up at 5:30 am to run in my race.  I'd done this same race in 2011, and that year, I think they had the 5K go later in the day which I preferred.  Since it was so early on a Sunday morning, the subway wasn't running, so I was crammed onto a night bus to get downtown.  From downtown, there were many shuttle buses that drove us out to the start of the race at the Exhibition grounds.  The last shuttle bus ran at 7 am, and that's why I had to be up so early.  It was chilly morning, perhaps about three degrees Celsius.  I was pretty glad to get running at 8 am.

It was a really nice run, and I was very happy with my time.  I shaved more than two minutes from my official personal best in a 5K race, which was this same race in 2011.  This year, I clocked in at 31:29.9.  I feel like with a bit more training, I could get under the 30 minute mark for 5K, but I really want to try a half marathon in the spring.  I think I'll wait for the calendar to hit 2014, and then I'll sign up for the Toronto Half Marathon.  I'm excited. 

It was a bit warmer after the race, so I hung around Nathan Phillips Square (where the race ended) to pick up free food, warm up a bit, and take some pictures of a couple of Nuit Blanche projects that are still there.  It was good that I was happy killing time, because I actually had to wait for doors of Osgoode station to open so that I could get home.  The TTC's late subway opening on Sunday mornings is ridiculously antiquated.

The rest of the day I spent relaxing and getting some chores done.  I also had an epic Skype conversation with Becca T.  I miss her.

I took some cool pictures over the weekend too.  I'm too lazy to transfer them here, but feel free to check out my instagram feed.  Happy Monday!

Aww.

I feel like I've been consumed for the past two weeks with organizing my school's biennial Multicultural Day.  This is my third time around in the organizer's chair, and it's kind of getting easier: the first time, I organized single-handedly, then my friend Fea co-organized the second time, and this time my buddy Nadine has jumped on board.  It's made things go more smoothly, and we keeping trying to make the day bigger and better.  In addition, our awesome student council team has been great in helping with organization.  However, it's still a lot of work, and I'm decompressing after a 12-hour day at school.

We've sold about 550 tickets to the student body (which is about 720 in total).  We've organized a showcase with different groups of student performers (the Filipino dance team is amazing), a parade of flags, and we've even hired a troupe of Chinese lion dancers to perform.  After the showcase, students go up to the second floor of the school, where sixteen classrooms have been transformed into pavilions that are decorated and have food and activities to represent different countries/continents/cultures.
It's taken pretty much our entire staff to make this day happen.   But all of the work is entirely worth it when you see all of the energy and student engagement that happens in the process.

One of my favourite moments happened last week when we were planning the African pavilion.  We always have to group the entire continent together because we have a scattering of African students: a couple from Ethiopia, a few from Nigeria, one from Angola, etc, etc.  As we were planning, I remembered an Eritrean boy that I'd taught last year.  I told student council to buy a flag for Eritrea.  I was certain that he'd carry it into the flag parade, and that he and his brothers would help us with the pavilion.

I tracked him down and asked if he wanted to participate.  I think at first he didn't understand the details.  His first response was "Miss, we don't have time to go the embassy to get a flag!"

"No, we already bought you a flag!  You just will have to carry it."

He looked incredulous.  "Where did you find an Eritrean flag?"

"One of the flag store on Spadina.  They sell every flag there."

That's when his eyes lit up and he offered to bring in food and promised to be at the dress rehearsal.

Tonight we pulled together the African pavilion and his brother went all the way home in the rain and back to bring in pictures from home.  It was really sweet.

Oh, and as an aside, the man at the flag store knows me well.  This year our Multicultural Rep on student council (a new position we created for years with multicultural days) went to the flag store.  "$8 a flag!" I told her.  "That's how much we always pay."

She returned telling me that the man at the flag store remembers me well, and said that I'm tough and drive a hard bargain.  I love that I have a rep in Toronto's flag district.

Here's hoping that they day goes super well!

I'm kind of older than I was when I revelled without a care.

I must admit it.  The album that is most relevant to my life is by a 16-year old.



Lorde.  Pure Heroine.  Pure audio heroin.  It's awesome.

"I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air
So there
I’m kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care
So there"

How is a 16-year old singing this? I'm 33 and this is my life.


My goal tonight is to be in bed by 10 pm.


I horrified student council when I told them I love this album. "But Miss!  Lorde is 16!  Did you know that?  I don't have her whole album though."

Me: "Get it.  We will discuss it at our next meeting."


I love horrifying teenagers.  Yet I listen to them.


Oh well.

Tell Miss Lucy better pray for rain.

The best part of the PD day on Friday was when my former colleague/still great friend texted me because Hawksley Workman is playing in the small town that she moved to.  I will drive there at the end of November and we will go to the show and it will be awesome.  I love things to look forward to, especially when they are roadtrips to visit friends and see shows.

My long weekend started off with post-PD day beers with my work spouse, followed by a delicious nap.  Then I met up with my friend Karen for Korean food before we headed off to the Polish Combatants Hall for a concert.  I bet if my Polish Grandpa was still alive and lived in Toronto he could be a member of that place!  I had my first-ever Polish beer there too, so it was pretty fun.

Casey Mecija, formerly of the band Ohbijou, was the opener and was amazing.  I forgot how much I loved her lovely voice.  Her set included some Ohbijou songs, some great new material, and this Nathan Lawr cover which I adore.



Karen invited me to the show, and I was unfamiliar with Basia Bulat, but Karen is a kindred spirit in indie music, so I trusted that I'd love the show.  And I did.  So much that I had to borrow $20 from Karen to buy Basia's new LP "Tall Tall Shadow" which I've been listening to all weekend.  Anyway, since I was going to Stratford this weekend, and Karen wanted more mint smoothies from Rheo Thompson in Stratford (these are pretty much the best chocolates ever), I am paying her back in chocolate.  Which are now sitting in my house but I will not eat them.

Saturday morning I hopped the train to Stratford and got to visit my mom.  She's doing pretty well and just doing lots of physiotherapy at the hospital.  She thinks she should be home sometime next week.  Yay!

My time in Stratford consisted of lots of knitting, watching baseball with my dad, and going on a couple of runs.  It was pretty relaxing and low key and I needed it.

My dad and I decided just to out for Thanksgiving dinner, as opposed to cooking for two, and after reviewing options, my dad selected Boston Pizza.  No turkey there, but I'll have turkey at Christmas, I'm sure.  At the restaurant my dad made me laugh because he was able to use his sweet old man charm to get a free beer.  He'd drank 7/8ths of his beer and noticed a fruit fly in it.  He decided to tell the waitress, and pretended like he wasn't aiming for a free beer, but of course he got one.  It was rather hilarious and he hatched a bizarre plan: "people should just bring in fruit flies in Petri dishes in their pockets into restaurants and drink for free all night."

This morning I got to the train station with a large coffee (should have gotten extra large in retrospect) and it turned out that my train was running more than an hour late.  Oh good.  More sitting time.  But then, it turned out that the train was facing mechanical difficulties so they ordered buses for us instead. I was lucky enough to get on the express bus to Toronto (as opposed to the one that would make stops) and arrived in the city twenty minutes early!

After I arrived I had brunch and then saw Gravity in IMAX 3D.  It's an excellent film, and really does warrant IMAX 3D.

And I've spent the rest of the day napping and wasting time at home with Miss Rilo.  Wish I could have more long weekend. 

Thankful.

Oh man, the long weekend is almost here, and not a moment too soon.  Also, tomorrow is a PD day, so that makes the weekend feel a little bit extra long.  I still do have to go to work tomorrow, and PD days aren't as they are on the Simpsons; we teachers will most certainly not be riding roller coasters while drinking beer.  However, it's nice to have a day where I don't have to plan for anything, nor prepare any lessons, nor expend the amount of energy required to teach.

It is Thanksgiving weekend, and although my life is far from perfect these days, I've been really happy as of late, and I'm thankful for a lot.

1) My school community. I love my students and colleagues, especially those who are my close friends.  I've been super busy the past couple of weeks planning our school's biennial Multicultural Day, which is next Friday.  It's a lot of work, but it really raises spirit and promises to be lots of fun.  I'm excited.  It's brought so many people together; so many students are staying after school practicing performances, decorating classrooms, etc.  The energy around this event is amazing.

2) My parents. So, my mom is still in the hospital recovering from her hip surgery.  My dad tells me that she's getting stronger every day, and I'm really looking forward to spending time with her this weekend.  Because my mom's in the hospital, I've been talking to my dad way more than I usually do, which is rather nice.  Today he told me about how Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and he said "I'm really happy for her!" and he truly did sound happy for her, and for whatever reason, it really warmed my heart.  It's always weird about how really random moments in life can do this.

Also, he told about how he's attending my mom's daily physical therapy sessions so that he can learn how to better care for her.  This almost brought me to tears; there's something incredibly moving about when one person in a couple has to dedicate so much effort to caring for the other because of illness.  It's love in its truest form, and it's incredibly moving, especially when it's in your family.

3) My health.  I have so much energy these days and I feel so strong.  I am so glad that I've worked so hard on myself this year.  Well done me.  I'm also thankful that I have the time and resources to do this. 

There's much much more that I am thankful for, but these are the three particular things that I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving.

I hope that all of my Canadian readers have a great Thanksgiving, and hey, those of you who aren't Canadian should use it as an excuse to be thankful, eat turkey, and have some pumpkin pie (or pumpkin something).  :D

Choosing a name for a stranger.

So, I'm on my third personal trainer.  My last one, who was pretty hardcore, decided to move back to Saudi Arabia, and I just found out last week.  I liked him overall, but sometimes it's kind of cool experiencing a new style, so I'm okay with the change over.

Anyway, so I thought that my first proper workout with my new new trainer was this evening.  I thought it was a 7 pm, but it turned out he'd written 8 pm in his book, and 7 pm on note for me.  The confusion was okay, 'cuz I could use the time to go to Starbucks and read a book.  No big hardship.

As I was in Starbucks, a woman politely interrupted me from reading to ask my opinion on something.  Oh boy, I thought, I do enjoy being asked my opinion.  She was Korean, and decided she wanted an English name to put on her resume*.  She was torn between Sophia and Michelle.  My first impulse was to go with Sophia, and we had a good twenty minute discussion about the names, how they sounded with her last name, and the pros and cons of each.

I think I may have been accidentally using my teacher voice while chatting with her, 'cuz some dude came over to ask us to "lower our sound by a decibel".  Seriously, I don't think it was that loud... Perhaps I was sitting in an echo-y part.  But honestly, since when is Starbucks an effing library!  Gah.  One should be able to have an animated conversation.

Oh well, it was still fun helping someone choose a name.  :)

Oh, and the first workout was pretty good.  I'm kind of sore.  It's been a couple weeks since I did any strength training due to being out of town, then trainer turnover.  I feel pretty great.

*It's actually kind of unfortunate that people in this day in age feel like they need to change their names on their resumes to get a job.  It's 2013, and Canada is supposed to be a multicultural country!

Let's go down to the tennis court and talk it up like yah.

Have you ever had one of those weekends that goes by in a blur because it was so busy, but at the same time, seems like it was about two weeks long because you fit in so many things?

On Friday night, I headed over to a pub after school with some colleagues for some drinks, and then came home and had a great nap.  At about 11 pm I headed out to pick up my good buddy AlieMalie from Union station.  She's living in Missouri these days, but was in Detroit for a week for work, so took the VIA train from Windsor to Toronto for the weekend!

Her train was about an hour late.  I like to joke that VIA stands for Very Inconsistent Arrival, and it consistently lives up to its inconsistency.  She arrived an hour late, and I took her to a Golden Griddle (I know, I know) for late night noms and they we stayed up past 3 am catching up.

We started our epic Saturday in Toronto by taking the ferry out to Toronto Island since who doesn't love a boat ride, and it offers great views of the skyline.  While waiting for the ferry, we hammed it up by taking goofy pictures with paintings at the terminal.  I'm just posting this 'cuz I love the outfit I pulled together for the day: my new aubergine Hunters, black leggings, my gray cat-reading-a-book sweater, skull scarf, and black vest.  I LOVE FALL FASHION.  (And yes, I had to yell that.)

Here's a panorama shot I took from the island:

We walked from Centre Island to Ward's Island, and then took the ferry back and headed over to Kensington Market to get grilled cheese sandwiches from The Grilled Cheese, which always live up to the hype that I give them. We wandered around Kensington, and headed to the Eaton Centre for some shopping.  As usual, I ended up splurging.  I got new legging jeans from the Gap (30% coupon) and a new *plum* raincoat from Lululemon.  It was on sale.  :)

We returned to my place to chill for a bit, and then went to my local pub for beer and food before starting out for an epic Nuit Blanche night.  We started at the light installations at the Bata Shoe Museum at about 10 pm and kept going until about 3:30 am.  We met up with one of the Alans from work, and had a great Nuit Blanche.  I tend to do Nuit Blanche every second year, and this one turned out to be my favourite ever, probably because of the company and the fact most of the projects were simply illuminated, and weren't video installations.  (When I went in 2011 it seemed like 2/3 projects were video installations.)

Lights at the Bata Shoe Museum:

This is a shot from "A Quack Cure", which was like a stationary float with lots of trees covered in lights and performers dressed up as extinct animals.  I like this shot I got of a dodo and an extinct frog (?) having a moment in conversation.

Here's the line up for "Shrine" which was a gothic cathedral made from garbage bins.  Below is the inside of the cathedral which let light in an absolutely breath-taking manner.  Awesome.

"Tanks, 2013" was by Roy Thompson Hall, and looked really pretty in the night.

This is Burrman, a performance artist covered in burrs.  He eats organic dark chocolate BTW.  We saw his handlers pass him a square through his mouth hole.

 

Here are a couple views of my favourite project: Ai Wei Wei's "Forever Bicycles, 2013" that was installed in front of City Hall (and will be there for the rest of the month... I def want to pass by in the light).  It's fashioned from 3000+ bicycles by the Chinese bicycled maker Forever.  The bottom picture was taken when it started to rain at about 3 a.m. and the crowds started to thin out.

The last project we sought out was "Plastic Bags, 2013" which is a giant sculpture made from plastic bags.  It definitely spoke to my environmentalist sensibilities.
 

We made it back to my apartment by 4:30 am thanks to the subway running all night for the event.  Next year, I think I'll tag along with my friend Alan for Nuit Blanche since he's pretty hardcore.  (He started before us and kept going after we left.)  I'd like to see if I can survive it from dusk to dawn, or at the very least, enjoy it from 3 am to 7 am when the crowds thin out.

We went to a French restaurant in my neighbourhood for brunch on Sunday morning, and then I drove AlieMalie to the airport in a Zipcar: the Mini Cooper that lives next door to me!  What a great visit!

Today was kind of funny, because I felt that some of the themes from the weekend replayed themselves.  I took my environmental science class on a field study, and I wore my Hunters again, and they came in very handy since it was a wet day.  As did my new raincoat.  Also, I kept getting covered in burrs, and that made me think of Burrman.


Anyway, it was a pretty epic weekend.  Three more days until a long weekend!  Friday is a PD day, so I'll be at work, but slower pace than usual so thankful for that.

Up in thin air we lie in wait.

Things I like these days:

1) The song "Arrows of Desire" from the album of the same name by Matthew Good.

2) New midnight blue nails (with sparkle).

3) My bright yellow scarf paired with my denim jacket.

4) My new aubergine Hunters.  Let it rain.

5) Looking forward to my friend AlieMalie's (super brief) visit to Toronto just in time for Nuit Blanche.

6) I plowed through the book "The Silent Wife" by A.S.A. Harrison in less than twenty-four hours.  It was a dark psychological thriller about a crumbling marriage.  Kind of like "Gone Girl".  I recommend it if you're looking for a good page-turner.  I really like dark books about effed-up marriages.

7) I really love stripes.  Today I'm wearing my striped dress.  I wore a striped shirt yesterday.  I have to stop myself from buying striped item after striped item.

8) I love getting vinyl in the mail.  Today my red 45 single from Stars arrived (Wishful/The Light).  This month, the new Matthew Good LP will arrive, and *hopefully* the new PINK Los Campesinos! LP will also arrive.  I love mail.

9) I also love that it's October.  It's my favourite month.

10) I love running in fall weather.  I went for an after-school run yesterday with a friend to Trinity Bellwoods Park.  It was really nice.