Scribble something down quick; try to make the words stick.

This is my favourite song these days.



Do you ever wonder how the hell you became an adult?  I often feel that I am completely ill-equipped to be a grown-up.  A friend of mine posted some article about the difference about being in your twenties and in your thirties, and while yes, I can relate to many thirty-something stereotypes, like a love of sleep, and not being able to stay out as late as I used to, I still have a lot of twenty-something qualities like my kitchen pretty much just being the place where my microwave lives, and the fact that I still have cast-off dishes.  I could buy nicer dishes, but using that money for oh, a train ticket from Vienna to Munich, always seems like a better idea.

I get so busy during the school year, that I can often use that as an excuse for hiding from adult responsibility.  When summer comes along, however, I have time to do all of the adult things, and I've tackled some of them lately.  In fact, this awesome blog post from Hyperbole & A Half always comes to mind whenever I decide that I'm going do some responsible adult stuff. 

 This was me today:

After my financial wheeling-and-dealing, I rewarded myself with a beer on a patio.  Then a nap.

The other adult task I tackled this summer was finally getting my eyesight checked after goodness knows how many years.  I was pretty sure that I could see fine, but good to get a professional opinion, right?   Who knows what kind of ocular disorders could be developing?

I found myself an optometrist down the street from me and made an appointment for my first eye-exam in a long time.  He did one test where a picture of my eyeball was taken, and I got to see my optic nerve on a computer screen!  (science nerd alert)  After all that, I passed all of my tests with flying colours, but I am a bit hyperoptic (far-sighted).  He wrote me a prescription for reading glasses that are supposed to help me avoid tiredness and headaches when I'm doing close-up things like reading, looking at a computer screen, and (ugh) marking. 

I got the glasses today and I think they make me look a little bit Liz Lemon-y.  I guess I should wear them if I ever feel like getting my night cheese on.

The older I get, the more I realize I think we're all just playing along at this adult-game because we have to.  As I've grown-up, I realize my parents were making it up as they went along, my teachers made it up as they went along, and now I'm totally making it up as I go along.

And now that I've gotten some grown-up shit done, and some philosophical thinking, I can curl up again with my YA book, because I'm all about the YA fiction these days.  I'll have to write a post about it later.

Lately...

I've been reading a lot, watching baseball, soccer, and Dateline.  Went on a traditional cross-border shopping trip in Buffalo with friends from work, and even though I swore I'd buy nothing, I got myself some new clothes, jewellery, and towels. Got many fun trinkets and junk food at the American Target.  Ate at the Cheesecake Factory.  Oh man, that place is so good and explains the obesity epidemic in the US.  Had a pint of Blue Moon (love that beer).

Good times.

I've been reviewing my trip itinerary for August.  It's getting close!  I can't wait.

Come on if you're gonna come on.

I was going to blog about the amazing evening I had when I saw Twin Forks for the second time in three days, this time at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, but I wrote to my dear friend Becca T, and I'm just going to post the email because I kind of love it, superfluous exclamation points and all.

So Elaine came with me tonight to see Twin Forks, Dashboard's new band, at the HORSESHOE TAVERN!!!!  She had lots of fun, and it was a great show!  You should have been there.  I am going to look for a random bar concert to go to when you are here, OK?

Anyway, YES, he is still as attractive as ever and his new music is great.  It's like bluegrass-emo!  You should get thee on the iTunes and download the Twin Forks LP.  I bought the vinyl tonight and I'm listening to it as I drink Bourbonade.  (Bourbon + Lemonade which my pal Matt from Winnipeg invented tonight and I named.) 

Also, he played three old Dashboard songs: Swiss Army Romance, Hands Down, and Stolen and everyone sang along like they were on Dashboard Confessional Unplugged (remember how much you hated that?).  Poor Elaine, she was asked me a question when he started Swiss Army Romance and I screamed and jumped into the air, launched into song, and high-fived the beer-hoister* in front of me.

It was a fun time. 

Twin Forks.  Trust me.  It's Dashboard for our thirties.

Seeing a concert at the Horseshoe (or other small-ish venues) on a warm summer's night brought me back to my early twenties because that's what Becca T and I used to do.  I even had the impulse to walk all the way home tonight, because that's what we used to do back then to save money on subway fare, but then I realized that I live much farther away from downtown now, and I have a Metropass anyway. 

*Beer-hoister is a term we use for those who hoist their beer into the air in celebration during a concert. 

You are the best one, of the best ones.

This city does music festivals well.  I hope the summer fests at Fork York/Garrison Commons never end.  After my second year of Field Trip in June, I took in my second year of TURF (Toronto Urban Roots Fest) today. It's a three-day festival, but I chose just to take in today's show with my pals Eric & Paul.

I got there just in time for Twin Forks.  Twin Forks is the new project of Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional.  This dude has pretty much been my #1 rock and roll crush since my early twenties.  I hadn't seem in years, and I was giddy like a teenage girl as soon as he took the stage.

I was so happy when they played a Dashboard Confessional, "Stolen".  (How did this come out eight years ago??  Where has time gone?)



I love the new Twin Forks music, and thanks to my TURF app, I found out that they are playing a little show on the Horseshoe on Tuesday night, and OF COURSE I'm going because school nights don't exist in my July/August world.

One of their songs, called "Something We Just Know" has a line that goes "I use my gut, and my gut don't lie to me."  Earlier in the day, I made a decision using my gut, which I always question, and I felt that this was a sign I did the right thing.  (Usually my gut is right, but I spend so much time questioning it.)

As if my inner-twenty-six year old wasn't pleased enough with Twin Forks, next on the docket was Jenny Lewis, who apart from having a great solo career, is from the band Rilo Kiley, which you all know is Ms. Rilo Kitty's namesake.

I missed out on her first two songs because the printed schedule said she would take the West Stage at 4:30 pm, and my TURF app said 4:10 pm.  We decided that the huge printed posters were most likely right, so I hung out with Eric & Paul at the South Stage watching Noah Gunderson, who was a fave of Paul's.  (This concurrent scheduling meant the three of us had to break up for a bit.) 

Well, the app was right, and I could hear Jenny singing "Close Call" as I headed toward West Stage.  Luckily, I got there just in time to hear "The Moneymaker", a Rilo favourite.  Her set was great: just enough Rilo Kiley, solo stuff, and new stuff to make me nostalgic and excited for her new album at the same time.  Yay!  This song almost brought me to tears.  (Note: I'd also had many beers at that time too, so I was super emo.)



I could have gone home happy then, but we also were treated to a fun set by the Bidini band, and then caught Jeff Tweedy, who was amazing.  We saw a little bit of Neutral Milk Hotel, but then we decided to finish the night with Hollerado.  That was a great choice because they are super fun.   They also fit with the nostalgic feeling of the day, because I'd had a lot of fun seeing them at The Wolfe Island Music Festival in Kingston two summers ago .



After Hollerado left the stage, everyone was clapping for an encore, and they came back out, but couldn't do an encore because all of the mics were shut off.  So the drummer joked that they should lead the crowd in singing O Canada, and everyone started and did the whole song which was a hilarious and fun moment.

What a fun day.

More dispatches from the trenches of summer vacation.

Yesterday I binge-watched Orange Is the New Black season two.  I knew I just had to finish it before I could move on with my life.  It was spectacular.  It gives me the same feeling as reading a really great book, which is saying a lot.

Today was chill.  I met up with a couple of friends and their kids in a random neighbourhood park. 

I was chatting with one friend on our picnic blanket, and I was framing some random story about the past with "back when I dating so & so...." and then I'm not kidding, two seconds later, so & so strolled through this random park.  "Holy shit, speak of the devil, look who is walking into this park," I said and my friend saw.   It was the weirdest thing.   We both started laughing, as my friend suggested that I try to summon Johnny Depp (who is a long-time crush, but I have to admit is looking rather skeevy these days). 

Anyway, I guess this proves that big cities are sometimes smaller than the tiniest of villages.

This evening I went to a bar downtown with my pal Mathew to watch a heart-breaking Jays game on a huge screen.  It was one of those fun nights out with a friend where I laughed really hard, and it's going to provide material for inside jokes for years to come.

And tomorrow's Friday!  I'll admit it's meaningless to me, but happy Friday to those of you in the real world.  ;)

Summer So Far

- Slept in on Saturday.  Read an entire book (We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, a perfect one-day read).  Started another (Maya's Notebook by Isabelle Allende).  Had a great catch-up phone conversation with my dear friend Claire.

- On Sunday, I took myself to see Hawksley Workman in a one-man show based on a Greek tragedy, The God That Comes, at the Tarragon Theatre.  I am seeing this show in Stratford in September, and wasn't going to go to the Toronto run, but then I thought "eff it! it's summer vacay! I shall do what I want" and saw it and loved it.  Good Choice.

- Monday's task was to head to the Apple Store to get my phone fixed.  The sleep/restart button wasn't working, and they just gave me a new phone.  Spent my afternoon setting up my new phone, then spent the evening watching The Bachelorette, even though I'm not digging this season at all, and then starting Orange Is the New Black season two.

- Today was a Jays game, and then more OITNB.  I didn't like the first episode of this season, but then episode two got me re-hooked.  I love this show.  Much not binge too much.

And if I recover.

I can't believe I made it through the school year.  Right now it feels surreal.  The realization that I have no marking, no planning, no quizzes/tests/labs/assignments/exams to write, no meetings to dread, no extracurricular activities to plan, and did I mention no marking, is mind-blowing.  I can't believe I made it to here.

This week has been fun.  At work, I got a lot of cleaning/organizing done.  Teachers are packrats, because we're all afraid we are going to throw out a very important piece of paper that we'll need in the future (fuck, my mother, who has been long retired, still has boxes of papers from her teaching career in our basement).  This year I decided to get rid of all of the binders in my filing cabinet that I haven't touched in a couple of years (essentially all my stuff from 2004-2011).  It's kind of hard to throw away a nicely organized binder that I know I worked very hard on, but the curriculum is out of date, and I've already adapted what I could into the new curriculum.  It was time to purge, and emptying all those binders left me with so much space to store the things I actually wanted to keep.  My workspace will be far less cluttered next year.

On top of that, the evenings of last week were full of fun.  I went to a super exciting Jays game for my friend Mathew's birthday.  They blew a 6-run lead, but then were able to pull off a walk-off win in the ninth.  I want the Jays to make the playoffs SO BADLY this year.  It would be awesome.

Wednesday was a pool party, then Thursday night was graduation.  It was crazy to think that it was my tenth graduation ceremony that I've attended for this school.  Graduations are heart-warming, and such a blur.  It's always hard to come to terms with the fact there are kids that I'm used to seeing on a daily basis who I will never see again.  I tend to keep in touch with the ones that I am very close to (usually through extracurricular activities), but graduations make me think of a quote I once heard that went along the lines of teaching is a profession where you don't get to witness the results of your work.  (That's the gist of the quote; I don't know exactly know where it comes from.)  It's very true; I don't really know what happens to the vast majority of my students, but I do have faith that I was able to make a positive difference in their lives, to the best of my ability.

Today was our year-end staff party (or forced socialization, as I think of it).  It was fun, and afterwards some of my friends and I went to a second location for more drinks, which ended up turning into some light shopping.  I think our days of crazy year-end pub crawls are over, but that's okay.  I was happy to find a cute new top at Anthropolgie, and the willingness of a friend with a car to take me to Target to stock up on kitty-cat supplies.

This week has been one of lots of indulgences.  I look forward to using the start of summer (tomorrow) to reset and recover.  I need to lay off alcohol.  I love exploring new beer, and revisiting old favourites, but I have to lay off of it.  I want to get my bike out, go for some runs, go to the gym on hot days, clean and organize my place, read, and relax.  I'm trying to keep my socializing to a minimum for a little bit.  I need some me time.  On Sunday, I'm going to take myself to a play, and I've considered inviting a friend, but then I decided that after the past month of constant partying, I need some me time. 

I've been listening to a lot of CHVRCHES lately.  (I loved them live at Field Trip.)  This song is where I'm at right now.

You gotta feel it.

I splurged on some new vinyl last week.  I got a used copy of Famous Blue Raincoat: Jennifer Warnes Sings the Songs of Leonard Cohen.  My dad used to listen to that album obsessively when I was a kid, and I grew to hate it from sheer overplaying.  Then, for my sixteenth birthday, he bought me that CD and I pretended to be happy, and I don't think I ever opened it because I swore I never wanted to hear those songs again.

Fast-forward to a thirty-four year old woman with a love for vinyl albums that remind her of her childhood (Bananarama, Belinda Carlisle), and I can't pass it up.  Oh heck, finally, I like those songs again.  It took a long time.

I also decided to pick up Kevin Drew's Darlings because it is my favourite album so far of 2014, and damn, if pink vinyl isn't sexy, I don't what is.

I'm listening to it now, as I write this post.

This weekend was my first wedding of the summer where I had bridesmaid duties.  And holy heck was it a step back in time.  It was for my friend Wendy, who was one of my friends from high school, and on Saturday morning, I had to have my dad drive me out to her parents' farm to get my hair and makeup done.  I hadn't been down those roads in a long, long time.

My makeup and hair turned out quite well, as evidenced by this picture that I'm posting for pure vanity's sake.  I was one of the first in the bridal party to get all done up, and then I had to the pressure to not mess it up for the next three hours.  "Don't touch hair or face.  Don't touch hair or face," was the chant running constantly through my head.

After that we took pictures in the sun by the farmhouse, then headed into Stratford proper for pictures in the park by the art gallery.  Again, talk about a trip down memory lane.  I worked at the gallery for one summer during university, and the last time I'd been to the scenic waterfall by the gallery was before my high school prom, where my friends and I got our pictures taken.

I'm pretty sure all Stratford wedding parties get pictures taken by the waterfall.  While we were leaving, another wedding party showed up, and we joked that we should have a rumble with them Anchorman style.  I have to admit that, or at the very least a dance-off, would have been hilarious.

We made yet another scenic stop for pictures, then it was off to Tom Patterson island where the ceremony occured.  I was beat by the end of the long day in the sun.  After that, was the reception one town over, in the community hall of Shakespeare, Ontario.  Again, that building is a blast from my past because I'd been to various parties in that hall in my younger years.

I had a rather fun time at the reception, even though I was too sun-tired to do much drinking.  I still had fun, and danced to country music despite myself really hating country music.  When in Rome, right?

Watching all of your friends get married and have babies is kind of weird.  I'm often glad that I have my big city-dwelling life of freedom, fun, travel, and selfishness, but at other times it's really hard because I feel that everyone has gotten an invite to a party, but not me.  There days I'd really like to go to that party, you know? 

However, my girl Jenny Lewis (from Rilo Kiley, which is Miss Rilo Kitty's namesake) has a new song out that completely summarizes my feelings on this matter.  And, I get to see her at the beginning of July at the Toronto Urban Roots Festival with my dear friends Eric and Paul (who will get me drunk).  That's way more my style than diaper changes.



On the train to and from Stratford, I devoured Jennifer Weiner's new novel All Fall Down.  I've been reading her books since the late nineties, and I've recently come to really appreciate her through her Twitter presence.  Not only does she post hilarious tweets about the Bachelor/Bachelorette (and makes me feel slightly less guilty for my guilty pleasure), but she's also very vocal about gender inequity in the publishing industry.  She was in town this evening for a talk/book signing.  I went, and really enjoyed myself.  She is a witty and interesting speaker, and really fun.  Yay!

 

So, those were definitely a few fun-filled days.  Tomorrow I'm excited to go to the Jays game for my friend Mathew's birthday.  Also, only four more days of going to school for meetings and cleaning, and that's it.  I can't wait for my low-key July to start!

ps Can you tell that I can put so much more effort into blogging when the marking and prepping part of school is over?

pps Also, this video of a man catching an owl with a swiffer is one of the best things on the internet ever. 

Head-spinningly busy.

Right now, I am sitting on my couch watching the Jays game trying to break in my shiny Michael Kors heels that are my official 2014 bridesmaid shoe.  I don't think sitting and watching baseball will make the shoe more comfy, but it can't hurt right?

I feel like I'm in the calm before the storm.  The next week and a half will be crazy.  I've got all of my term marking done (yay!) and just have three sets of exams to go (two still to be written).  Then I'll do my report cards and the academic portion of this school year will be over.  I've got the next three days to do that.

On top of that, I need to buy a pair of blingy earrings to go with my bridesmaid's ensemble, get my fingers and toes done, and pack my bag to head to Stratford on Friday night.  My friend Wendy's wedding is on Saturday, so that will be a crazy day.

I'm back in Toronto late on Sunday night, and then it's into my last week of work.  I will have mainly cleaning to do, so not that bad.  However, I have a lot of fun stuff to do on top of the year-end clean.

Monday - an author I really like, Jennifer Weiner, will be signing copies of her new book at the Indigo at Bay/Bloor.  I am going to go to that.

Tuesday - year-end student council party, then the Jays' game in the evening in celebration of my pal Mathew's birthday.

Wednesday - graduation brunch, then pool party at my friend Nadine's

Thursday - graduation.  Always a long night.

Friday - LAST DAY!  Then, night out with colleagues.

However, I have very little planned past that. Which makes me happy.  I need to to a clean-eating cleanse and get back into a regular workout routine.  I've had a bad June, but summer will give me a great opportunity to reset my fitness goals.

**I feel like this blog post is more of a reminder to myself of what I need to do over the next week-and-a-half than anything.**

Lazy Weekend.

I did a little bit of socializing this weekend, and went to see Maleficent which I loved.  But other than that, my weekend was filled with marking, with reading breaks in between sets.   (I'll confess: the reading breaks were probably longer than the working times.)

Back to the movie.  Maleficent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty was my favourite villain as a child.  I was super excited when I heard they were making a movie about her.  I think they did a really great job.  Angelina Jolie is superb, and I liked the story.  Perhaps the reason I liked Maleficent as a child was because I knew there was a backstory.  Kudos to the writer.  Also, I believe that this generation of little girls is being better served by fairy tale movies (Frozen is another example).  Instead of romantic love being the thing that conquers all (and let's face it, it's usually love-at-first-sight based upon appearances), it's a deeper kind of non-romantic love that's saving the day nowadays.  Thumbs up.

When I got home from the movie, I spent some time watching clips of the classic Maleficent on YouTube.  I love when she says to her henchmen that they are a disgrace to the force of evil.



Seriously, I think I'm going to go see this movie again, because it's so visually stunning that it rocks on the big screen.

In other throwbacks to things I liked when I was younger, I just finished reading the latest Stephen King novel.  In the past few years, I've really come to appreciate King as a writer.  His latest, Mr. Mercedes, is a page-turner, but I feel that his best work is done when he writes plots set in the 50s/60s/70s.  Some of the dialogue he uses in a contemporary setting feels a little bit off.

Sadly, my lazy weekend has come to an end, and it's back to school.  Ten more days of work though, so I can't complain one bit.

Sigh of relief.

And my expectations were exceeded.  Thank goodness we won't have to ride the provincial election roller-coaster again for four years, and an education-friendly party was elected.

Goodbye Tim Hudak.  You've created at least one job: leader of the Ontario PC party.

Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright)

Six nights out in a row.

Good times, but I'm tired.

As I walked home tonight in the warm weather in my new turquoise wedge shoes from an open-bar year-end celebration sponsored by my union, I thought about how you know, I'm 34 and kind of a mess somedays, but I like my mess, and I'm making a difference in the world and that's okay.  And I have the best group of friends that anyone could ask for, and that's the best.

Hazy, like a Tokyo summer.

Why did I wait so long to get the album Thrash Rock Legacy by Canadian supergroup The Mounties, which consists of my beloved Hawksley Workman, Hot Hot Heat's Steve Bays, and Limblifter's Ryan Dahle??  I loved the song they released last year (Headphones), so why I didn't grab their album when it was released in March is beyond me.

But, I righted that wrong this week, and I'm loving it.  I think Tokyo Summer is going to be my summer jam.



I'm feeling like I'm getting life a little bit under control.  I've been tackling my marking pile and have all of my exams written.  Last night I had a "CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!" evening and I feel better about my clean apartment.  I got to take my new vacuum cleaner for a spin, which made me feel old to be excited about a new vacuum cleaner.

Right now I'm watching the Jays vs. Tigers game and then I'm going to go to bed early.  That's how I roll these days.

And you all want the the lovely music to save your lives.

1) I booked all of my train tickets (Prague -> Vienna -> Munich -> Brussels -> London) and all of my hotels the other night.  Now just to start researching what to do in all of these cities.

2) On Friday, I was feeling the need to just stay in and do nothing.  So I did.  And I treated myself to watching some really awesome (in the bad way) television.  If you were a girl growing up in the 80s/90s, chance are the first sex you ever encountered in literature (I use the term loosely) was in V.C. Andrews novels.  I know it was for me.  Well, actually I read about sex first in the novel Spike based on Degrassi Junior High.  But there was much more detail and creepiness in V.C.  (Not that all sex is creepy... Just V.C. Andrews incestuous sex.)

Lifetime made two TV movies based on the first V.C. Andrews series, Flowers in the Attic and Petals on the Wind, and I watched them both on Friday and holy heck did I enjoy them in a "goodness this is so bad and so wrong and so creepy and so good" way.  The last half hour Petals on the Wind is LEGENDARY.  I don't want to leave any spoilers, but man I will never look at donuts in the same way again.  Also Heather Graham plays the awful mother, and Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn is the evil grandmother.

3) Saturday - went to Burlington/Hamilton for my friend Wendy's bachelorette party.  Pedicures, a sixteen-course Greek feast, and dancing at a country bar were the orders of the night.  And yes, if you take me to a country bar, the only way I can deal is by ordering doubles all night.

4) Today - Jays game!  After two losses, my boys are back on track.  I'm happy and a little bit red from the sun.

5) Tonight - a little bit of marking and a lot of procrastinating.  I'm overwhelmed by life, and I have a bad habit of DOING NOTHING when that happens.  Tomorrow will be productive, I swear.

This week is going to be demanding work/life-wise, and I have a really fun weekend coming up.  Pre-weekend, I'm going to see Sloan play at the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Friday night, my pal Vern is coming down to join to me to see THE BATTLE OF THE BIRDS (Jays vs. Cardinals) at the Skydome.  On Saturday, I'm picking up my pal Matt from Winnipeg at the airport and it's Field Trip weekend for us!

Good times ahead.  Hope there are good times ahead for you too.  :)

Just hop a train, you hate to fly.

Today I made a big decision/purchase.

I decided that I am indeed going to do some solo traveling in Europe before Claire's August wedding in London, and I'm going to opt for the more ambitious itinerary, as opposed to only a city or two.

Today I bought a flight from Toronto to Prague, with a return flight from London to Toronto. 

I've already more or less worked out my train itinerary too.  I'm going spend a few days in Prague, then take the train to Vienna, and stay there for a couple days.  After that, it'll be a quick trip to Munich, where I'll have a full day in that city.  Germany isn't high on my list of places to go, but it's in the way of the cities I really wanted to visit (Prague & Vienna) and the city I want to depart to London from (Brussels).  With my day in Munich, at least I'll be able to say I've been to Germany properly.  Who knows, maybe I'll love it and want to go back?

Then, I'll have a long train ride from Munich to Brussels.  After that, a couple of days in Brussels, and then I'll be on the Eurostar to London, where I'll arrive just in time for the wedding rehearsal. I've even booked a few days in London after the wedding, to chill until I fly home.  (Hey, when you get free lodging because you're a trans-Atlantic guest, you might as well take advantage of it.)

I am super excited for this trip.  I'm cool with traveling solo.  I've traveled solo a little bit in my life, but not for a long period.  In fact, most of my solo traveling involves me going to places to visit friends, so that doesn't count.  I'm a pretty hard core traveler in that I like to pack my days with lots of fun stuff (anyone who's been on a trip with me will attest to this), so I will probably just holiday hard during the day, and get a good night's sleep as opposed to going out in the evening.

I know that some of my visits to these cities will leave me wanting more, but that will come in handy if a potential European 2015 travel buddy (you know who you are) wants to visit any of the destinations that I am hitting this year. 

Now, to just make it through the last few weeks of the school year, and the stacks of marking and exam-writing that I still have.

Baseball Addiction

My friend Mathew is really addicted to baseball these days, and I think he's pulled me in.

He ended up missing yesterday's game in a comedy-of-errors where he gave away his tickets to friends who could go early enough to score a free jersey with the intent of buying a ticket to the game later.  He ended up being with a friend whose car broke down, and by the time he made it to the game, it was sold out.  By the time he got back home he couldn't even watch the game on TV because it was over.

Last night he messaged me to see if I was game for a game this week, but I told him no, I needed to focus on my marking.  However by lunchtime today, he'd worn me down and we decided to go to tonight's game. 

And I'm totally glad we did, because the Jays won their seventh in a row, saw a tonne of home runs, and I had lots of laughs.

First, we decided to stand behind the 100s to get a good view, as opposed to climbing up to our cheap 500-level seats.  At one point, Mathew went to get a drink, and he used a garbage can as a place holder, which made me crack up. 

Then, I sort of fell in love with two old men who were sitting in front of us.  They were clearly season's ticket holders or something because they knew the staff, and came with promo items from 1992, retro Jays merchandise, and kept score themselves.  I told Mathew his goal should be to become them when he's old.  However, when it started to rain a bit, they left; I guess they weren't as hard-core as I thought.  This left their seats open to be stolen by two other old men, who had been standing like us.  What scoundrels, ha-ha! (Seriously, it's too bad my dad doesn't live in Toronto because I would buy him season's tickets so he could make some old-man friends.)

Also we got our pictures taken with Ace, the Jays' mascot!  Seriously, I love anything that's corny, and what's cornier than sports mascots??  Totally made my day.

Anyway, an impromptu ball game was such a better choice than marking.

Sun-tired

Last week I got some good sun in STL, but nothing like today.  I sat in the full sun at the Jays game and wondered how the heck it could be so hot.  I forgot about that heat over the long, cruel winter and the cool spring.

I had a fun weekend.  My whirlwind roadtrip to visit my parents was super fun.  My dad was happy with his Cards hat, and my mom was happy with her Mother's Day/birthday presents. 

On Saturday night, I went for impromptu drinks on a patio with a friend.  What a perfect evening for that.

Today was the Jays' game.  They won.  They swept the A's, who are a top team right now.  The Jays are first in the AL East, and have won 11 out of their last 13.  It's still early in the season, but oh, if they can keep this going...

Okay, my sun-addled brain needs sleep.  Better post another time.

Random thoughts from an unfocused Thursday night:

- Sure, a sleeve of temporary tattoos seemed like a great idea while sitting outside on a sunny afternoon (it was my school's fundraiser walkathon; my friend and I were stationed at a checkpoint that we decided to make more fun with temporary tattoos), but now it itches.  But, I don't want to take them off because I'd like to scare my mom with them when I roll into St. Ratford tomorrow.

- My baseball obsession of 2014 is ever growing.  I am so happy that the Jays swept Boston and are currently in first place in the AL East. Right now the Yankees are losing which will help them more.  I know the season is still early, but sill.  Enjoy it while it lasts, and hope it lasts 'til the end of September.

- According to iTunes, I have 1.6 days of 90s music.  It's all making me feel awkward tonight.  Does everyone's teenage music do that to them?

- I need to figure out where to go in Europe before Claire's wedding.  My plan is to end up in Brussels and Eurostar over to London.  What I'd really like to do is take the train from Vienna - Prague - Germany - Brussels, but unsure if I can really afford it.  But maybe I should just say eff it and do it?

- My buddy Matt from Winnipeg made the last minute decision to fly down for Field Trip v 2.0.  We're going to just go to the Sunday show with Broken Social Scene, The Constantine, CHVRCHES and more.  It's going to be so much fun.

- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is a great album.

- I'm randomly listening to my favourite songs from 2009.  How are these half a decade old?

- There's about a month left of school.  Yet I feel that I have at least two months of work to accomplish in that time, I'm pretty sure.

- Tim Hudak is officially my least favourite person.  He thinks you can create 1 000 000 jobs by firing 100 000 public sector employees.  All economic analysts say his plan will stall the economy, not strenghten it.  Douchenozzle.

- I'm taking myself on a road trip to Stratford on Friday - Saturday.  I am tired of being at the mercy of planes & trains so I'm just going to drive myself.

- Happy short weekend (except if you are American, then it's your long weekend now, right?)!

With a heat rash in the perfect shape of the Show Me state.

St. Louis was super fun! Getting to St. Louis and home from St. Louis, not so much.  NEVER fly United, especially if you have to connect somewhere is all I have to say, but I'm not going to dwell.

On Saturday, we went up the Gateway Arch.  Did you know that you can go up the Gateway Arch?  I didn't, but you can!  They have these trams with super small capsules that fit five people that go up each leg of the arch to a viewing area at the top.  This involves waiting in many lines, but it's totally worth it.  The view is pretty great.  Here's some Arch-related photography.

Me under the Arch.

So lovely to look up.

View of Busch Stadium from the Arch.

After fun at the Arch, we headed to the Cardinals versus Braves game.  The game was the reason for this trip.  Waaaaaaay back in October, I was watching the Cards in the NLCS and the World Series, and I tweeted that the ballpark looked beautiful and that I wanted to go there one day.  My friend AlieMalie replied that she lives in Missouri and that I should come visit.  Then, our mutual friend Wes tweeted that that sounded like fun, and could he come too.  That's how this trip was born, and I love how it got randomly thrown out there and actually happened.

Panorama of Busch Stadium.  Can you see now why this trip was born?

I love the bird clock so much.  The giant Budweiser sign, not so much.

Blog buddies at the ball game!

The game was fun.  No home-runs, but the Cardinals beat the Braves 4-1.  I've also decided that the Cardinals are officially my favourite NL team because a) they are a bird team and I believe in BIRD ALLIANCE (ppl in bird cities need to stick together, right?) and b) I really St. Louis.

After the Cards game, we went to a really nice neighbourhood called the Loop where we went vinyl shopping.  I got a record by a St. Louis band called Sleepy Kitty.  I've been listening to it tonight and it's rather good.

Then we went for an amazing dinner at a downtown restaurant called Bailey's Range.  My hamburger and fries with sriracha ketchup were amazing, but I died and went to heaven over this bacon/boubon/salted caramel milkshake.

  

On Sunday, the first order of the day was to seek out my Starbucks St. Louis city mug.  I'm glad my friends always tolerate my weird collection.  We had dropped by a couple of locations on Saturday and they did not have mugs.  Then, we randomly drove out to a location near Christy Avenue and boom, there it was.

After that we headed to City Museum.  The only way I can describe this place is that it is a giant indoor/outdoor playground that kind of Tim Burton/Dr Seussian/Antoni Gaudi in its design.  It was so cool.  They have lots of slides, including one that's 10 stories.  Here's a picture of a cone that I climbed up to get to a slide.  It was so much fun.  I hadn't been down a slide in years.

After that we had brunch in the Central West End, and headed off for a brewery tour of the craft brewery Schlafly.   We are too snobby to go on the Annheiser-Busch tour, even though it's the biggest one in town.  It was fun, and they had the most delicious Pumpkin Ale on tap.  We bought growlers of it.

Then we headed to the Schlafly taphouse downtown and did flights of beer.

After that, we tried to get some BBQ at some highly recommended places but they were both sold out of meat for the night, so we just went to a pub instead for dinner.  However, we followed that with frozen custard at Ted Drewes, a St. Louis instituiton.

We didn't give up on our BBQ mission.  On Monday morning, we waited outside Sugarfire, one of the sold out places, to have lunch before dropping off Wes at the airport.  It was rather hilarious to be lined up at a BBQ joint before 11 am on a Monday, but we weren't the only ones.  And after eating the food, I could see why.  I loved how they just serve their meat on a waxed piece of paper on a tray.  And that side of mac 'n cheese.  OMG.

After we dropped Wes off at the airport (he was on his way to LA for more vacation), AlieMalie was kind enough to drive me to the mall to buy a second Cardinals hat.  The one that I bought was for my dad, but look at how cute it looks on me!  The intent was to give my dad the Cards hat with the bird on the bat (his request), but I could part with it, so now my dad and I have matching hats.  I do intend to get a selfie of us.  It'll be hilarious.

And that was St. Louis. SO MUCH FUN.  So much food deliciousness too. 

Haunted

Tonight is one of those nights where I find that the past can oh-so-surreptitiously sneak up and haunt me.  It just slips right in there and takes ahold of me.

(Okay, as I'm writing this maudlin sentence Rilo is literally caterwauling in the background because she has caught her Angry Birds toy.  Her nightly ritual is making me laugh right now.)

I rubbed some salt in old wounds, and then I thought that a conversation I had would bring me a little bit of closure, and maybe it did, but I'm not so sure.

My bad habits are creeping up on me.  I've been tired, so I haven't been exercising enough, and hence I get more tired. I've been indulging in alcohol, sugar, wheat, and all those carbs that are delicious in the moment but make me feel yucky.

I try to focus on the little things that make me happy, but it gets tiring you know?  I try to focus on the things I'm looking forward to, but I know those things will end and I'll be back where I started.

The thing about being older is that I know that this too will pass, and things will look bright and sunny again, but sometimes there is a nagging fear that this time it won't.  But luckily, I am a woman of science, and I know the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, and in the past my future always looked up so I think it will again.  I mean, I'm flying to St. Louis tomorrow, right?

Emo Update -  Apparently my voice changes when I've been emo.  When I got to school this morning, I felt super stressed because a) technology sucks; and b) I left my period 1 attendance in the staffroom.  Anyway, when I got back to class and start talking, one kid said "Miss, what happened to your voice?  It's different!" and then rest all agreed.  Weird.  But my students always cheer me up, because they always notice the littlest things.

Weekend Recap

1) Neko Case was amazing, of course.  The highlight for me was when she sang "Nearly Midnight, Honolulu" from her latest album.  The song is virtually a capella with only Neko and her backing vocalist, Kelly Hogan, singing.  The song is about a unloving mother, which was a little ironic considering it's the Mother's Day weekend.  Here's an idea of how haunting it sounds.



2) Saturday became my treat yo' self day.  I started the day by taking myself out for sushi, then walking up to the Running Room at Yonge and Eglinton to use a coupon and a gift card from my birthday to put towards new running shoes.  Mine are about a year old, and after the half marathon, I wanted to retire them.  Anyway, I got a nice new pair of Asics which are purple/black/fluorescent green.

I meandered to the Eaton Centre and got new clothes.  I needed new skinny jeans, but ended up getting two new shirts and a skirt too.  Oops.

I walked in the sunshine to Kensington Market where I sat reading my book with the hippies in the sun on the grass in the park until my 4 pm hair appointment.  I got a lot cut off.  My neck will be cool this summer!

3) This morning I woke up and walked to the starting line of the Sporting Life 10K.  I love that the race starts so close to home.  This race is huge.  I think 27 000 ppl signed up, and 21 000 of those ran.  I'll be nice and not judge the other 6 000.... Anyway, I was kind of tired so my time was mediocre but it was a nice run anyway.  Getting home was extra exercise too.  Since there were so many people, I gave up trying to get a streetcar/bus/etc to the subway and just walked it, stopping off at Starbucks for a blessed latte.

I had a great afternoon.  I called my mom, I napped, then went out for a beer on a patio (yay spring! finally!), and then treated myself to gelato.  I came home and watched the movie "Blue Jasmine" on Netflix.  I liked it, and Cate Blanchett is amazing.  It was depressing though.

Now I'm just finished doing some chores and schoolwork and I'm going to read for a bit before bed.  I'm reading this rather good Young Adult book.  It's called "Eleanor & Park" by Rainbow Rowell.  It's a really sweet emo teenage romance set in the '80s. I recommend it to anyone looking for a pleasant light read. 

Happy Monday!

Things to look forward to.

This week has been a little bit dull.  I took it easy on Monday and Tuesday to recover from my half marathon on Sunday.  Yesterday, I went for a run and finished reading a book.  Today, I went to the gym, then went for a massage at the spa because I had a gift certificate that was expiring soon, and I figured it would be too busy this weekend with Mother's Day.  That was super relaxing.

I've been watching lots of baseball too.  And to think, I was going to cancel my cable!  My TV hasn't been on this much in a long time.  And, the Jays are on an amazing 5-game winning streak, so it's been fun watching so much baseball, as opposed to painful.  As Jays' fan, I always expect to feel pain while watching baseball, so it's a pleasant surprise when I don't feel any.

The next while will be more exciting because:

• Tomorrow night I'm going to see Neko Case at Massey Hall.
• On Saturday, I'm going to buy a new pair of running shoes, I hope.  Mine getting pretty beat up.
• On Sunday, I'm running the Sporting Life 10K.  I signed up at the last minute because I'd originally planned to go to Stratford this weekend, but changed plans.  I really like the Tshirts you get for this race, so that's really my main incentive to run.
• And, next Friday I'm off to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play, and, more importantly, to catch up with my blog buddies Wes and AlieMalie.  I'm most excited for this!

Happy weekend everyone!

The Saga of the Simpsons Lego Minifigures.

As you know, I'm a big fan of the Simpsons.  Earlier in the year, I found out that Lego was making a super-awesome looking set of Simpsons Minifigures and I decided that I would get them as soon as I could.  (Check out a gallery of them here.)

I have two friends at work both named Alan who are super into Lego (but not so much the Simpsons).  I asked them if they would help me get the complete set.  For those of you who don't know (aka adults), Lego Minifigures come in opaque packages, and you don't know what you're getting.  However, you can use pictures of the minifigures to help you feel through the bags to figure out which one you have.  For example, if your minifigure comes with a skateboard, if you feel wheels in the package, you know what you've got.  The Alans are pros at feeling out these things.

My friend Mathew, who is super into the Simpsons, but not so much into Lego, also wanted in on a complete set.  The initial plan was for all of us to go together and (along with my friend Nadine, who loves the Simpsons) to feel out sets, but they released the figures right on May 1st, and Alan O. went right away to get his (but he was missing Wiggum).

On Friday, I told Mathew that the minifigs had been released.  We had plans to go for sushi and then watch Dateline (we love creepy Keith Morrison) that evening, but we scratched it to head to the Lego Store at Yorkdale.  (I didn't think we'd be able to go with the Alans as originally planned since one already went, and the other is busy with school stuff.)

When we got there, there was a couple already feeling out the minifigs.  We jumped in there to try out our hand at it.  One of the Lego Store employees was helping out too.  It became apparent that the dude was feeling out the minifigs for his girlfriend, and wasn't into the Simpsons himself.  He didn't even know the names of the characters!  However, he helped us out because he was very good at it.  They were looking for a Nelson, and when we came across a Nelson, we handed it to them.  Once they got the complete set, the girlfriend went to go shopping, but Calvin (the dude) opted to stay and help us out some more.  By the end of night one, we almost had three complete sets: one for me, one for Mathew, and one for our friend Vic, who was out at a bachelor party like a grown-up instead of feeling out Lego.  We were missing three Lisas (we forgot about her), two Milhouses, one Grandpa, one Nelson, and one Wiggum.  We also found Alan O. his Wiggum, and ended up with an extra Bart.

On the way home, we planned to be up and at them early the next day to hit up the Lego Store at Fairview Mall.  Mathew had called them on Friday, and they said they were out, but would be opening a new shipment on Saturday morning.  We also critiqued the figures: "Marge should be reading Sponge & Vacuum magazine, not Donut Fancy," and "Why doesn't Milhouse come with a Radioactive Man comic?" were some of our complaints.  Then we looked at each other and realized that in this moment, we were Comic Book Guy.

Mathew picked me up on Saturday morning, and we hit the Lego Store even before getting coffee.  But blast!  Even though it was barely 10:30 am, they were out!  We called the Lego Store and Sherway Gardens, and they had lots.  That mall was 34 km away from where we were.  But, when you're on a mission, you are on a mission.  After we got coffee, off we went.

As soon as we got to Sherway Gardens, we had become Calvin. We were the experts at feeling them out.  One lady was looking for Chief Wiggum for her husband.  We found it for her quickly.  We felt out the rest all of the minifigs quickly.  We also helped out an older couple who were hardcore Lego fans build their set.  I ended up picking up some random Lego things for my friend Fea, who is planning a Lego-themed birthday party for her daughter.

I'm surprised that Visa didn't call me to inform me that a 10-year old had stolen my card as I racked up about 8 transactions at the Lego Store.

I think getting all of the Simpsons minifigs was almost as tiring as my half marathon.

 Here's a picture of Rilo with them, because whenever I take a picture of something, she has to get in it. I think she's rolling her eyes at me.  Then she tried to chew Milhouse.

My favourite of the set is Grampa. His "Old Man Yells At Cloud" newspaper makes me laugh so hard.  And yes, it's an accurate reference to an episode.

On Sunday, my pals the Alans came over to watch the Simpsons Lego episode.  They had gone to Sherway to get sets for Alan K. as well as Nadine.  So yay!  Everyone got their sets.  The episode itself was rather good.   I haven't watched a new episode in forever.  I just love the old ones.  After the new one, I made them watch Rosebud, so they could understand the significance of Maggie's teddy bear, Bobo.

And that's the saga of my set of Simpsons Minifigs.  I promise my next post will be at least 50% less geeky, I hope.

Who's gonna run this town tonight?

I survived my first half marathon.

I woke up pretty early this morning.  You know when you are anxious for something and your body wakes you up a couple hours earlier than you need to be up?  That was me today.

I had time for a relaxed breakfast and to get ready and debate hat vs. headband, long-sleeved shirt vs. short-sleeved shirt and all of those important decisions.

I took a cab to the starting line, since the subway doesn't open until 9 am on Sundays.  As I was in the cab, I realized how far away the starting line was from my neighbourhood, and how far away the finish line was from my 'hood, but in the opposite direction. And I was going to run the distance between the two?  Was I crazy? Clearly.

I left way earlier than I needed to, and usually I hate the part where you stand around at the starting line before a race because I'm under-dressed for the weather.  Luckily, the starting line was right near a hotel, and I warmed up in their lobby before the beginning.  They were even nice enough to have water and bananas out for waiting runners.

The beginning of the race was lovely.  It was sunny, and a perfect running temperature (about 10-12 degrees Celsius).  The first stretch was downhill, but that was following by about a 500m hill, which I walked up to save energy.  After that though, most of the rest of the race was downhill.  Yay for Toronto geography.  At the beginning of the race, the CN Tower was so far away, but it felt nice as it got closer and closer.

At about 7 km, I hit my own neighbourhood, and it felt nice to have run home.  The race continued down Yonge St., until it detoured along Rosedale Valley Road which is a really pretty area for running.  It's mostly just trees, with an isolated out-of-city feel.  It then continued down Bayview Ave by the Don River.  People were canoeing in the river which was a fun sight!  However, there were some portions of by-the-river route that were a little bit smelly. 

After that, the route headed through downtown along King St., then along Front St.  It was amazing running by the CN Tower after it had been so far away only a couple hours earlier, and to be by the lake after starting so far up north.  However, as we were closer to the lake, the wind was really pronounced.  At one point, my hat flew off, but I was able to catch it.  The last kilometre was into the wind, and it was really difficult.

However, as I approached the finish line, I had enough left in me to sprint across the line, and then exclaim "fuck that was hard", but no one heard.  I got a bit emotional as I crossed.  My first road race ever was the 5K portion of the Toronto marathon in 2011, and who would have thought three years later that I'd do the half marathon?  Also, I don't think I'd ever have thought even a year ago that I'd attempt a half.  I wasn't fast, but I was on pace with a lot of people, and I was so proud of finishing.  Will I do a half again?  I'm not sure.  It really takes it out of you, and I don't know if I can commit the time to training enough to improve on this year's time.  But who knows?

A couple of my friends from work met me at the finish line, and then were nice enough to drive me home.  We went out for food and beer and gelato in my neighbourhood.  We caught the last 10 minutes of the heartbreaking Raptors game.  Sigh.

Here's a picture of me by the lake after I finished.  I always hate post-run pictures because my face is super-swollen, but I love my medal and the scenic backdrop.  Oh Toronto, you sometimes break my heart, but I really do love you.

This song randomly came up during the last stretch of the race, and it was super appropriate.



Well, I guess that's another item off of my bucket-list.  I hope the next item involves more sitting, ha-ha.  Also, for my Vancouver friends, I think the Grouse Grind is more difficult than a half marathon.

Next post will be about my weekend adventures in Lego.  Yes, you read that correctly. 

Half Marathon On Sunday.

I am so not ready.

Eep.

Wish me luck.

By luck I mean making it across the finish line alive.

Thanks.

I Don't Know How

I'm listening a lot to this Best Coast song lately because it's awesome.



After a couple weeks/weekends where I felt tired and overwhelmed by life, I'm doing my best to get back on track.  Funny, how when my bloody half-marathon is very close (it's Sunday... eep), that's when I get lazy. 

But this week I'm getting my shit together.  Slowly.

Last night, I went for a nice 7K run and backed up my computer.  (I learned the importance of that after the coffee and MacBook incident). 

Today I returned (somewhat) victorious to the gym after a couple weeks' absence (at least I ran a bit in the interim, right?).  I had a good workout, and my former trainer didn't even notice my absence because he was sick. (I miss having a trainer, but my bank account doesn't.  However it's good motivation knowing someone will judge me if I'm absent.  Luckily illness intercepted judgement this time.)

Today was gray and cold and rainy and depressing.  After the gym, I wandered around a bookstore and picked out a new book which is the easiest surefire cheer-up.  (This is why my shelf is overflowing with books, I suppose.)  I also went to the LCBO and found a favourite Belgian beer on the shelf as a treat.  (Yes, my beer has probably cancelled out the exercise, but that's another matter.)

I finished another book that some dude bought for me before he disappeared from my life.  My life has become a Stars song of ex-lovers leaving chocolate bars and gifts of novels written by their friends at my home.  I finally unearthed the book from where I'd kicked it underneath my bed and read it.  The novel itself was well-written; it was refreshing to read a book set it Toronto where I could vividly picture all of the landmarks and settings.  However, it also concerned the subjects of depression and disconnect from reality, which aren't the cheeriest things.  Although dark books do cheer me up so there you go.  Maybe I should send a text saying that I read the book, but I really don't think I care enough to.

I did my taxes too.  St. Louis spending money!  Thanks transit passes and charitable deductions!

I spend a lot of time these days thinking about Belgium and Spain and the 1992-1993 Blue Jays. (I constantly watch baseball these days.  Jays vs KC is on right now.  Guess I can't cancel my cable.) 

I really should decide where I'm going to go this summer before Claire's wedding in August.  I want to go somewhere cheap.  My little cousin raved about the cheapness of the Czech Republic when I saw him in London over March Break.  I think that might be the place I go pre-London.

Forgive this rambly post.  It's rainy and gray out.

The saga of the R.A. Dickey bobblehead.

Preamble:  I got my trusty MacBookPro back and good as new on Friday evening!  Yay!  It's got a brand new keyboard, so it totally feels like I'm typing on a new computer.  I'm so happy to have my laptop back.  I spent a lot of time this weekend using it to catch up on TV shows like The Daily Show and Dateline NBC (one of my not-so-secret TV shames).

As I've mentioned before, my pal Mathew and I got a Flex Pack of Blue Jays tickets.  He loves free stuff, so he booked us for all of the promotional items days.  Today was R.A. Dicky bobblehead day, and I really wanted a bobblehead.  However, I figured if we got there an hour early, we'd be OK.  (I actually went to the game with another friend, Mathew met us there later.)

I figured wrong.  All of the bobbleheads were gone by the time we got there.  I thought oh well, it was just another piece of stuff to gather dust, so who needs it even if I do kind of like Dickey because he's a swell dude and the only knuckleballer in the MLB these days.  I decided that I would ease my pain with an $11 beer and get over it (after complaining on Twitter first, of course).

I also posted this picture on Instagram for my #100happydays photo challenge, reasoning that even though I didn't get the bobblehead, I was happy to be at the game.

A friend from work saw the picture on Instagram and mentioned that a group from our school was at the game today.  A few of my friends organize an annual YMCA exchange.  A group of kids get to go to another province (Alberta this year) and then a group from the other province comes to Toronto.  The YMCA funds the airfare and accommodations.  Anyway, the Albertans are in town this week, and they all went to today's Jays game.  I texted my pal Nigel who was with them, and it turned out they were just a couple sections over from me.  I could wave at them!

Of course, I asked if they got bobbleheads, and they did, and another friend from my school who was there happily gave me hers because she didn't want it!  I wandered over to their section to get the bobblehead and was warmly greeted by the kids too.  Nigel joked that the greeting made it seem like I was a celebrity and that he wanted my autograph.

There's my bobblehead with the real Dickey on the pitcher's mound.   Before all of the above happened, my friend Mathew easily bought a bobblehead off of some random person.  So everyone who wanted a bobblehead got it.  (Well, at least in my group.)

Then, I checked Twitter, and it turned out that my blog/Twitter friend Aaron was at the game too, and his group had a spare bobblehead!  My social media connections kind of pay off, eh?  However, for the rest of the promotional days, I'm not going to leave it to fate, and I'll get there super early and bring a book to read before the game.  Now that I have one bobblehead, I want the rest of this year's set (Jose Reyes, and TBD).

In other sports news, the Raptors just won game four of their playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.  Now the series is tied at two games each.  It would be nice for a Toronto team to make it to round two of a play-off series.

And what the what?  Has this become a sports blog??

Oops.

Last Tuesday, during first period, I managed to spill coffee on the keyboard of my trusty MacBookPro. I thought that I completely fried it, but after bringing it to the Apple Store, it turns out that it's only the keyboard that's fried, and they can replace that for a reasonable cost. They have to order in the parts though, which will take 7-10 days, so here's hoping I have a laptop again by the end of the week.

I really did think I was going to have to replace it, since it wouldn't have been cost effective to spend too much on repairing an almost four-year-old laptop. I'm glad that I don't have to shell out the cash, but I had already selected what I would have gotten as a replacement. A new shiny toy could have been fun!

Apart from my self-inflicted laptop disaster, life has been good. On Thursday, I went to the Bloor Cinema to see The National documentary Mistaken For Strangers.  It was rather quirky, but a must-see for any fan of the band.  I spent three completely lazy days on Stratford. I ate a lot, watched lots of baseball & Dateline with my parents, and slept. The biggest outing I had was to Target. (Have I mentioned my love of the St Ratford Target?)

I returned back to Toronto yesterday and laced up my shoes for a run through the cemetery, then attempted drinks on a patio since it was borderline summer weather. However, it kept drizzling, so we stayed indoors. Doesn't matter, I had my first patio drinks of the year in March in Paris!

Now I'm tired of writing on my iPhone so that is all.

ps When I was telling a friend at work about my awful spill I said "Yes, I'm that awesome," sarcastically, of course. An adorable little grade nine girl heard me out of context and earnestly agreed "Yes Miss, you are awesome!" It was sweet and made me feel better.

I have only two emotions: careful fear and dead devotion.

The past two days have been busy and wonderful.

Thursday - regular school day followed by a long student council meeting.  I thought I'd have time to go home, but I went straight downtown to see The National at Massey Hall.  And holifuck, it was a great show.  I love this band live.  I have to say that I'm developing a bit of a crush on Matt Berringer: a white-wine-drinking tall dude with scruffy graying hair and beard, and dark-framed glasses.  That could be my new type.  I loved when at the end of "Fake Empire" he dropped the mic, then threw his wine glass on the floor, and then left the stage.  I seriously want to copy that move at my retirement party.

Bonus - I didn't know until the evening, but Daughter was the opening band.  I love their latest album, and seeing them live was an excellent surprise.

Friday - LONG school day.  It was the fifth year that I organized student council's overnight fast for charity.  The group of forty students started by making bagged lunches for the homeless, and then we took a bus downtown.  Half of the kids volunteered handing out race packets for the Toronto Yonge St. 10K, while the others did a street patrol handing out food (and then they switched).  After that we returned to school for a bunch of activities.  I even was able to take a break and go for a 5K run to Trinity Bellwoods Park and back.

I set up a borrowed tent in our school gym and managed to get 5.5 hrs sleep despite being at a sleepover with forty-teenagers.

Saturday - Still at school.  The kids started with a yoga class, and then we made sock monkeys for another charity that sends them to children overseas.  Ours will be going to South Africa this year.  After that it was time for the kids to break the fast with a lunch of Portuguese chicken and then we were out.  My friend Heather, who was visiting me from London ON, met me at school that afternoon and then we headed back to my neighbourhood.  We went out for a couple of pints and then came back to my place to watch TV because that's all I had energy for.  (I feel asleep, of course.)

Today - I woke up at 7:30 am to run the Yonge St. 10K.  It had rained hard overnight; hard enough to wake me up and make me think that it didn't bode well for the morning's weather.  Luckily, it cleared up and the day was sunny and the weather was fairly warm.  My friend Sara was also running with us, and she met us at my place, since the starting line was within walking distance.

The race was super fun; I love being able to run down a major city street.  My time was decent: 1 hr 4 minutes and 14.8 seconds.  That's only 40 seconds slower than my 10K personal best, which is impressive considering that I was tired.

After the race, we went out for some delicious pizza and did a bit of congratulatory shopping.  I treated myself to all-black high top Chucks.  I've been living in Converse lately.

After Heather headed to the train station, I had a good two-hour nap and now I'm motivating myself to run out and get some groceries.  Next week is a four-day week, but report cards are due, so that'll make it busy, and not so wonderful.  But then it's the long Easter weekend, so yay!

2048

The kids at school and I are addicted to this game.

I think it was I who actually started it, because I was stealthily playing during a student council meeting one day, and got in trouble.  (Bad role model.)

AFTER yesterday's meeting, a bunch of us sat around playing the game, when we probably all had places to go.  Procrastination.

Today a student council kid walked into my classroom with a phone, and I said "No!  I don't want to see!  NOOOO!!!!!" and he showed me that his friend beat the game.

Across the hall my friend could hear me, and her class was wondering what was going on.  "Oh, she's just yelling about the game she likes," my friend told them.  They laughed at me.

I feel this is all sitcom-y, and supports my hypothesis that I'm really just a sitcom character.  I often look for the cameras.

Next episode: I sleep overnight at school for a charity fundraiser.  Last staff meeting it was announced we have an insect and mouse infestation.  TUNE IN.

Talking about everything I am doing wrong.

Really, I think I'm too sensitive about things.  Or that I care too much or take many things too seriously.  I don't know what it is, but these character flaws of mine lead me to feel down far more often than I'd like to. 

I have to focus on good things.  The little things that bring me joy that will be there no matter what.  So here's a happy list:

1) Kitty cat snuggles with Rilo.  She's a nice cat.

2) Car sharing: this weekend, I needed a car to get to Hamilton for a Stag and Doe.  Car sharing is so perfect for my lifestyle: I love having a car when I need it.  The bonus was that I had the car for 24 hours, so this morning I took myself out for brunch, then went to Ikea and did a big grocery shop.

3) My classes are so nice this semester.

4) I went for a long run this evening: 13K.  I am definitely ready for my 10K race on April 13th.  I'm feeling better about my half marathon too.  If I run at the (slowish) pace that I ran this evening, I'll be able to make the distance.

5) Laughing hard with friends.  I went out on Friday night with my friend Mathew, and I had one of those very special laughing fits that feel so good.

6) Letting myself be lazy.  I often think I should use every free moment to do work, train, accomplish something etc., but sometimes it's just nice to spend the morning bed catching up on the Daily Show.

7) The new Kevin Drew album.  It's so good!

8) The amount of sunshine we are getting these days.  And it's every so slightly warming up.

On the longest winter ever and the return of Miss Rilo.

When Shakespeare wrote of the winter of our discontent, he must have made himself a time machine and traveled to this winter that I'm living right now.  It's awful.  Endless.  Right now it's bizarre because the days have gotten longer (yay more sunlight!) but it's still cold as anything.  I gave up and hibernated yesterday.  I'd had enough.

Today wasn't so bad: a balmy -5 degrees Celsius, but felt like -10.  (Compare that to an average temperature of +5.)  I went for an evening run, and enjoyed the fact that it was still sunlight at 7 pm. 

And there is supposed to be more snow this week.  Gah.

On Saturday, I drove to St. Ratford, to retrieve Miss Rilo from her vacation home at my parents' house.  She is always rather happy there.  I think she likes having two homes.  The only thing she doesn't enjoy is the car ride that is necessary to transport her between her two homes.

On Sunday morning, as I was packing up her things, she knew what was going on and hid not-so-cleverly underneath a rocking chair in the basement.  After I loaded the car, I decided to take a trip to Tim Horton's to treat my parents to some coffee.  Apparently as soon as I left, she figured the coast was clear and headed back upstairs to hang with my parents.  But, when I returned, she bee-lined to her hiding place.

I think her hiding was her half-hearted protest to the car ride, but she was pretty resigned as I loaded her into her carrier.  No scratches, and no fighting, like other times. As soon as we returned to my place, she was her usual cheerful (and sleepy) self.

On getting away and coming back home.

I had an amazing European March Break.  London was so much fun.  I got to attend my dear friend Claire's hen do, spend lots of amazing time with her, and see her house and meet her cats for the first time.  Lots of wine was drunk, and many laughs were had.  We went to the Ritz for afternoon tea (where I messed up the time for the reservation but they still let us in... the Ritz is classy, yo) and followed it up with amazingly decadent cocktails.  Mine had gold in it, and hers was served in a duck egg in a nest of caramel.

Midweek I took the Eurostar to Paris to meet up with my BFF Becca T.  It was so great to see her.  She met me at Gare Du Nord and then we headed to the Latin Quarter for drinks on a patio in the sunshine.  I spent most of my time in Paris wandering around my favourite neighbourhoods, going to museums, shopping, reading in gardens in the sunshine, and catching up with my dear friend.

I holidayed hard.  I was exhausted by the end.   I'm jet-lagged and I was back to work the day after I returned.  I'm pretty hardcore.  When I was in London, I met up with my 25-year-old cousin who is teaching there this year.  He was amazed that I was able to meet up with him for drinks the day after an overnight flight followed by a late night party.  He said "I couldn't live like that anymore," and I felt rather proud that I can out-do a 25-year-old at 34 years of age.  And then, after a week of holidaying hard I was right back at work.

Last night after a long-ish day of school, I came home and went to bed at 8:30 pm.  I felt way more rested today.  At lunch today I treated to a jet-lagged traveler's wish come true.  Staff were summoned for a meeting where we were told that a water main in the neighbourhood was broken, so the water would be turned off in the school, and we'd all have to go home for health and safety.  Yes!  I went home for a very nice afternoon nap.

My luggage was delayed, and I had to hang around tonight waiting for it to be delievered from between 7 pm and 10 pm.  It showed up at 6 pm, and then I spend my evening running a couple of errands.

As I was walking through my neighbourhood, I realized that as much as I love traveling, I'm always happy to be home.  I really do love my city, and my job, and I'm happy to be back to my regular routine and working towards my spring goals.  And then I realized how truly lucky I am to get to travel and visit excellent friends overseas, and then return home to a life that I love.

And now for more sleep.

On fitness and getting away.

On Fitness

Last year, I decided that I want to try out weight training.  However, I had no idea how to start doing this without hurting myself.  I decided to get a personal trainer two times a week to help me with this.

At the end of about seven months, and even after my first trainer moved to Calgary, I decided that I would continue because I had really enjoyed the experience.  I saw such progress in my personal fitness, and just overall energy levels, that I decided it was well worth the cost.

My second trainer (who was actually really scary intense) moved away at the beginning of the fall, and I ended up with a third trainer, who ended up being my favourite (even though I liked all of them).  I kept seeing a lot of progress in my conditioning, my strength, and my energy levels, but my body weight has stayed the same over the past few months.  However, in December I was diagnosed with a pesky medical condition that least it explains why the needle on the scale won't move.  (Although I have lost a lot of body fat, so that's nice.)

Last Thursday was my last day with my trainer.  I felt a little bit emotional at the end of it, like I graduated from school or something.  I'm at the point where I can work out on my own quite fine, with workouts based on what we've been doing.  However, I'll definitely miss the accountability of absolutely having to work out (and always pretty intensely).  On the plus side, not having set appointments is great.  If I'm done work early, I can hit the gym ASAP instead of having to kill time before my appointment.

Yesterday was my first workout on my own.  I did something I call "factorial rowing", where I row 100 m, then do 12 squat-presses with dumbells, row 200 m, do 12 more squat-presses and so on until 1000 m.  I killed it.  One plus of training is that I know what a good workout feels like, and I can't inadvertently cheat myself. 

Today was actually kind of nice out. The weather app on the phone claimed it was -7 degrees, but it felt warmer because it wasn't windy, and it was sunny out.  I opted to skip the gym, and do a training run instead. (Another perk of no long having set times.)  I did a decent 7K.  I've been forcing myself out in some rough conditions, that running today felt SO EASY, even though I guess it was still kind of cold.

To keep myself accountable on workouts, my goal is to take some time on Sunday nights to plan my exercise for the week in my fitness journal.  For each planned workout I do, I get $5 towards an extravagant purchase.  If I skip a planned workout, I will deduct $5 from my total. 

At the end of the day, I'm super proud of myself for keeping my 2013 fitness resolution well into 2014.  I'm a stronger more energetic person who like exercising, and I'm training for a half marathon which I'm super excited for.  I'm pretty good with clean eating too.  I'd give myself a solid B for my eating.  That's a great improvement from a solid F.  :)

On Getting Away

This has been a ROUGH winter.  I'm talking ice storms, something like 33 extreme cold days, and constant misery.  I'm not heading anywhere tropical, but the spring-like temperatures in London and Paris are more than good enough for me.

Today I was thinking about how I'll be able to wear shoes in both these places.  SHOES.  OUTSIDE.  It blows my mind.  I'm not even sure how you do that anymore.  (Note: I must remember to bring my cute red booties home from school tomorrow.  I want to wear those outside.)

I also realized I'll be able to wear fun things like my jean jacket.  What the what?  And I won't have to pack mittens, a fuzzy scarf, nor a toque.  Mind blown.

I want to go for one run in London, and one run in Paris to keep up a bit with my training.  I realized that I no longer know how to dress for warmer temperature runs.  How many layers do I wear????

I'm also going to do lots of fun things too, and I'm excited for that, but honestly, the lack of snow is what I'm looking forward to the most.  At my parents' house, they still have banks of snow that are five feet high.  It's awful.

Seriously, lack of snow might just bring me to tears of joy.  Be forewarned Claire & Becca T.

Is it awful if....

...as I read facebook post after facebook post, and have conversation after conversation with my friends who have children and houses who tell me about their weekends of shovelling show and waking up at 5:30 am to sign up for swimming lessons, and how their date nights turn into an opportunity to go Home Depot and buy paint for their bathrooms, and are out for dinner with their sweaters on inside out...

...that I feel really really grateful that I'm sitting on my sofa, in quiet and still, watching a dumb TV show, drinking wine, and dreaming about the reality that I'm flying to London and Paris in a few short days?

Being here

I discovered this song yesterday when my Zipcar did not have an audio connector thingy so I could hook up my phone to the stereo.  (There was my problem with my usual Mini Cooper, so I had to drive the Audi down the street.  It was great except for the lack of connector.)  Not one to be stuck to the radio, I grabbed a handful of CDs (remember those?) as I headed out the door with my grumpy cargo (Rilo) in tow.

One of the CDs I grabbed was the Arts & Crafts 10th anniversary retrospective that I got at Field Trip 2013.  It made for great road trip music as I drove Rilo to Stratford for safekeeping at my parents' house as I head off to London/Paris in a few days (!).



Most of the songs are old faves for me, but the above Stills' song from 2008 was a new find and great listening for a road trip.  It also made me remember of how I used to obsessively listen to the Stills' "Lola Stars & Stripes" back in 2003 before they were on AC.



Anyhow, it's been a pretty good past week, and a good weekend too.  I am really excited for my upcoming trip, and have to dig out my spring coat and wash it.  After weeks of extreme cold and tonnes of snow here, the 10 degree temperatures of London/Paris look amazing.  I can't wait.