Hooked on a feeling.

ALCS update: Jays two games in KC.  Jays play on Monday, I'm there, they win.

I was quite sure that going to three playoff games during the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) while meeting the demands of work could possibly drive me to to exhaustion.  My friend Vern really wanted to go to an ALCS game, so I decided that I would sell her my Tuesday ticket, and just watch the game from the comfort of my couch.

I actually was really happy to avoid the crowds, and watch a game on TV.  I mean, it's super fun going in person and I love the energy and being there, but I guess going to ALL of the playoff games is a little much for me.  My best baseball buddy Mathew mocked me for being weak and not going to ALL of the games like he has, but I was pretty happy with my choice.

The game I missed was a complete disaster.  14 - 2 for KC.  It's kind of bittersweet that I sold the ticket for that game; I felt kind of awful sending my friend Vern to such a fiasco, but really happy that I missed it. 

After watching that game on TV, I really hoped that the Blue Jays could take just one more game at home.  After experiencing home game losses during the ALDS, I didn't want to walk out of the final game of the 2015 post season all sad with 50 000 other despondent fans.  I felt that KC was outplaying the Jays, and I just wanted one last win at home and that would be the season.

I got my wish on Wednesday!  The Jays won 7-1!  However, their performance was so strong, and so convincing that I forgot all about my "just one more home win" wish and now I'm craving the World Series here in Toronto.  The fun thing about going to so many playoff games is that more or less the same people sit around us, and we're getting to recognize each other.  We said goodnight by saying "see you at the World Series!" and now I really want that bad.

If Wednesday's team shows up in KC for games 6 and 7, I think it will happen.  They were great.  To quote Drake (who is used constantly as Jays walk-on music), the 2015 Blue Jays have got a "World Series" attitude.  I think they can get there.

Comeback Kids

I'm super excited that I'm going to be one of those annoying old people who says "I was at game 5 of the ALDS and witnessed the epic 53-minute seventh inning of craziness with Joey Bats' epic bat flip." Except I didn't really see the bat flip since I was high-fiving everyone around me.

They did it though!  My beloved blue birds came back and won three do-or-die games to win the ALDS and move on to the next round of the playoffs.

And now we're in a similar situation to where we were a week ago: Jays lost the first two games of the series.  However, the ALCS is a best-of-seven so it's not do-or-die quite yet, but we need a win.

Starting tmrw, the next three games will be a home.  I've got tickets for all but I'm sitting out Tuesday's game because I think three games in a row will be tough to balance with work.  I'm selling that one to my friend Vern and gonna watch it at home.

I think this team likes to comeback, has been doing it all season, and I hope they do it again.

Long time, no blog.

Thank goodness for long weekends, is all I have to say. The first month of school has whirled by, and I'm thankful for an extra day of rest. Right now I'm on the train headed to visit my parents for Thanksgiving. I'm happy to deliver them a bag of random gifts (souvenirs from baseball games, books, and a flavour of chips that I'm confident that my dad will adore). I'm writing this on my phone, so forgive me any typos/errors/mistakes.

I love trains. Being on a train brings me happy memories of taking this very train about a million times, taking trains in Europe, taking the train through the Canadian Rockies, and weekend trips to Montreal.

I've been thinking a lot about Europe. I have some money saved up; I really want to use it to go to Europe over the March Break. I would like to spend a weekend in Paris, because Paris is always a good idea, and then take the train to Amsterdam because I've never been.

Last weekend was oh-so-fun.  My friends Matt and Melly were in town from Winnipeg.  On Saturday night, we did Nuit Blanche.  Nuit Blanche is a night of magic, annoyance, drunk girls falling down on the street in front of you, and exhaustion. There are times when I get grumpy, but at the end I'm always really glad I did it.  We smartly took a two-hour break at a pub, which provided lots of amusement too. I ended up getting home at 4 a.m. which made me super proud of myself. I'm in my mid-thirties but I can still do late nights.

Although the next day, I skipped out on brunch because I knew that I needed to rest up for the CHVRCHES concert on Sunday night, and get some school work done. (And watch the last regular season Jays' game which was a debacle.)

The show was great, and then I suggested going to a pub on the Danforth near the venue for a last celebratory drink since I don't see my Winnipeg friends too often.  I took them to The Old Nick, which I'd been to before and was okay.  We ended up falling in love with the place, the music they played (a lot of old 54-40) and I ended up staying out way too late on a school night and had too much beer.  I took a cab home and had problems explaining left and right; luckily the driver was super nice.

But, I was totally fine the next day to drag myself in early for school! Period 1 was rough, but the rest of the day was good and I felt very productive! More late night drinks on school nights perhaps?

And then there was post season baseball.

MLB set the Jays' games at ridiculous times in the afternoon for the ALDS. Luckily, I have fourth period off, so I snuck out early on Thursday (after making arrangements w my VP, who's cool).  The atmosphere was amazing.  Seeing the "2015 AL East Champions" banner unfurled almost brought me to tears. The game, however, was a disappointment.

And then there was the result of Friday's fourteen-inning marathon. Oh man. Now my beloved team is in a do-or-die must-win-three-in-a-row situation.

No matter what happens, it's been an amazing season, and I love this baseball team.

Post season!

Well it's official!  My beloved Blue Jays have clinched a postseason berth for the first time in 22 years.   The news was announced on Saturday morning to little fanfare because of a mathematical oversight... Turns out the LA Angels didn't have to lose on Friday night after all.  The team celebrated after the game though, and the footage warmed my heart.

Today, I went to the final home game of the regular season and it was an exciting end to a great season of home games.  The Jays rallied from behind, and we were treated to a walk off home run by MVP candidate Josh Donaldson.  

It was really nice that after the win, ppl didn't rush out of the stadium to beat traffic but stayed to celebrate with the team.  When we finally left, ppl were chanting "Go Jays Go" and "MVP" as we went down the ramp from the 500s.

There are still seven more roads games, but I am so pumped for the Blue Jays to clinch the AL east, finally add a new banner in the Dome, and play in the postseason. 

Nothing quite exhausts me like a field trip for school. Especially when it involves a whole day in the sun.  I should have out sunblock on; my nose is a bit red.

Other than the last home game of the regular baseball season, I don't have much planned this weekend and I should keep it that way.  I have visitors coming next week and anti-Stephen Harper events, all night street art crawls, and concerts coming up so I need to rest, clean, and get ahead of the school work game.

Time.

I need more time.  I am struggling with balancing the following:

• Baseball (went to the Jays' game today; watching Yankees @ Mets while doing schoolwork; caught all games this weekend) A+
• Socializing (went for a walk in High Park w a friend after school on Thursday, organized a work-friend social on Friday, hung out w friend on Saturday, Jays' game = social) A+
• Lesson planning (I struggle but it's always done) A+
• Extracurricular activities (All under control) A+
• Self care (got hair and nails done on Sat; made dentist app't; need to get a massage) A-
• Marking (I marked 1.5 sets out of four this weekend; old me would have done zero) B-
• Rilo care (she got mad at me today because I was planning lessons instead of paying attention to her after being gone all day; other than that no real complaints from her) B-
• Cleaning (place is messy, but not at its worst) C-
• Sleeping (I get enough on weekends; but not during week) C-
• Blogging (I am down to one post a week and maybe check in on other blogs once per week) C-
• Eating (made lunch 4/5 days last week; ate dinner at home mostly but ate out too much on weekend) D
• Exercise (made my FitBit goal 6/7 days this week; did not go to gym) D
• Reading (haven't read a book since school started) D-

I really do feel that I could raise my grades in the activities where I have C-s or Ds if I had more hours in the day. I do combine baseball with planning and marking, and I think I could combine baseball with more things but sometimes it's nice to have time to zone out, you know??

Also, I do NOT understand how ppl with kids juggle everything. I have troubles taking care of myself and one small cat.

Seems what's been good for the music hasn't always been so good for the life.

This has been my song of the week.  I can relate to the line that I borrowed for the title of this post.  For me, I would substitute the word "music" for "school" and that would describe my constant struggle for work/life balance.

However, I did say "NO" to something last week which should help.  My friend wanted me to help her with the ultimate frisbee team.  This would have been something I could have easily done a couple of years ago, but this semester I am teaching an enriched grade 12 biology class which requires a lot of prep so I said no and she understood.

(Part of me is sad because helping her probably would have been lots of fun; but an over-booked/over-stressed me is not fun.)

I had a fun first-earned weekend.  (I haven't earned a weekend in months.)  On Friday night, I went with my pal Mathew to see Sloan at Massey Hall.  I was super excited for the show because I managed to score front row tickets!

We arranged to have dinner at a nearby gastro-pub that we knew would be showing the ballgame.  David Price pitching game one against the Yankees in the Bronx is a big deal.  Luckily, the Jays scored big and early, so the outcome of the game was pretty much foregone by the time we left.

The show was great!  There were technical difficulties at the beginning that meant the band couldn't start right away so the crowd started an impromptu sing-along of "O Canada" followed by a sing-along of my favourite Sloan song of all time, "Deeper Than Beauty".  It was fun.



The rest of the weekend was devoted to baseball.  Yesterday the Jays had a double-header against the Yankees to make up for Thursday's postponed game and I watched all nine hours of the insanity.  It was chilly and rainy out so a perfect day to put on my new fuzzy fall hoodie, light a pumpkin pie candle and watch 9 hours of exciting baseball.  The Jays won both games, but not without some extra innings in game 1, and with two players getting injured.  It was nuts.

Today's game was less exciting.  The Jays lost, but since they took 3/4 of the series against their rivals, I wasn't too concerned.

The rest of my Sunday was spent lesson-planning and running errands.  Sigh, this working life!

Back to school.

The first few lines of St. Vincent's sing Regret sums up how I felt on Tuesday.

"Morning pry the windows open

Let in what's so terrifying

Summer is as faded as a lone cicada call

Memories so bright I gotta squint just to recall"

It's been a slow ease into the school year.  We had a PD Day last Thursday which was dull but got me into the building.  Normally I would stay and do a bit of prep since I was there, but the building was so bloody hot there was no way.  I had a little but of intent to go in and do my prep on Friday, but there was opportunity to go for brunch and walk along the beach, and that pull was just too strong.

Luckily, Tuesday was the first day with the kids, but the classes were only twenty minute orientations.  Basically I try to learn all the names, chit chat about summer, and tell them how much nerdy fun the semester will be.  Because of my Friday beach day, I ended up staying really late on Tuesday prepping for today's classes.

My classes seem really great so far.  I have an enriched grade 12 biology class that is going to keep me on my toes with preparation.  Luckily, the students are such extremely lovely people that I won't resent the extra work and intensity of the course.

Two more days until my first earned weekend in a long time!!

MLB.TV

I love a sale. This statement is reflected in the fact I spent a bit of cash the other day at Anthropologie because they are giving teachers a 15% back-to-school discount.  I have to support a store that likes teachers and has awesome fall sweaters, right?

When my friend Mathew scooped me that MLB.TV was on sale for the rest of the season for only $9.99, I decided why not? Thank goodness I got it when I did too, because they've upped it to $24.99.

Since I've gotten it, I've had the fun of tuning in to Cardinals games.  I can also rewatch highlights of Jays games from the opposing team's feed which is fun.  I also tuned into the last two innings of the Cubs v Dodgers last night for Arrieta's no-hitter.  Lastly, I got to bite my nails tonight as I watched Boston help out the Jays by beating the Yankees.

Do I really have go back to school?  Can't I just keep obsessing over baseball?  Or at least can I teach a baseball appreciation course?

Upgrading and cooking.

On Saturday I went with my friend Elisa to see Blue Rodeo at the Molson Ampitheatre.

Elisa is a former colleague/forever friend.  We became close because we co-taught a class of students at-risk.  A real line from that class that sums up the experience is "Miss, I'm too sober to be here."  (Us too, kid, us too.)  However, by the end, the two teachers and the kids formed a strange unit that we called our dysfunctional family.  Elisa and I have always referred to each other as co-parents because of this little dysfunctional family from years ago.

Apart from being co-parents, we also have similar concert-going styles.  We'll both see bands over and over again, and have a love of Canadian music from the 90s.  I don't know when it happened, but we found out that we both love Blue Rodeo, and have huge crushes on one of its lead singers, Jim Cuddy, who is pushing sixty and wearing it well, dammit.  To give you an idea of the man's fineness, watch this.



We've made it a tradition to see Blue Rodeo whenever they play Massey Hall, and have always wanted to see their annual summertime show at Molson Ampitheatre.  So far this has never happened, because one or both of us has been travelling on the date of the show.  However, this year we were both in town, and we got cheap-o lawn tickets.

The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE, aka The Ex --> a giant fair with rides, games, and the most unhealthy food you'd want to eat) is happening right now, and since you have to walk through the CNE grounds to get the Molson Ampiteahtre, and get free admission to The Ex with your concert ticket.  We took advantage of this and got there early so we could walk around and eat some of the unhealthy food.  I had the Thanksgiving Waffle from Fran's (a waffle made out of stuffing and cranberries, stuffed with turkey and gravy).  We split one of this year's most talked about offerings: deep-fried red velvet oreos (i.e. an oreo coated in red velvet batter and deep fried).

When we made it over the venue, there was a marketing campaign going on by Klipsch Audio, where they wanted you to take a picture of yourself being enthusiastic somewhere by their logo and post it on social media.  The winning picture would have their lawn seats upgraded to something closer to the stage.

We are younger than the average Blue Rodeo fan.  We heard lots of people say "Twitter? Instagram? I don't use those!" when the Klipsch explained the contest to them.  We knew that we had this contest, especially when our teacher brains listened carefully to the "enthusiastic" description and posted a slightly embarrassing photo of us jumping in the Klipsch tent.

At about 8:30 pm we got the call from Klipsch that we'd won the upgrades, and we were escorted to our new seats much closer to the stage!

Look at the view of the band!

And Jim was oh-so-close and still looking good!

It was such a fun show.  They did not skimp on the hits, and we had a blast singing along to some Canadian classics.  You know a band is Canadian when they namecheck Lake Ontario in their songs.

***

If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably noticed that I've been cooking a lot lately and maybe have thought WTF.  I am not a fan of cooking.  I have a few recipes that I've mastered that I can make when needed, but for my day-to-day life, I do not cook.  However, cooking for myself is something that I wish I could do more often, and I've come across something that helps me.

I signed up for a service that allows you to pick 2-3 recipes per week from a list, and they deliver all of the ingredients to you on Mondays.  It costs about $10 per meal, which I do not think is extravagant at all.  The recipes are definitely healthy, and use locally-sourced ingredients.  I'm on my second week of doing this and I've made lots of yummy things like turkey with red peppercorn sauce, spinach stuffed chicken, Bavarian sirloin steak, and vegetarian pad thai. 

I feel this a DIY learn-to-cook class.  I don't know how long I'll keep having ingredients delivered to me, but I'm learning tricks from these recipes like making tasty rice by adding tomato paste to the water, how to cook steak (I'd never cooked steak before), and making the best roasted sweet potatoes ever by coating them in Bavarian mustard.  

Tonight I'm having my pal Mathew over to watch the very important baseball game (let's stay in first place Blue Jays!) and to try out pistachio encrusted steak with fingerling potatoes and dino kale.  Hopefully both the meal and the baseball game are winners.

Lazy Dog Days of Summer

The end of my third-last week of summer vacation is is approaching.  It seems like a longer than average summer since we go back to school a bit later because of a trick of the calendar.

I've been spending the past week socializing, keeping up on baseball (of course), and even conducting some cooking experiments.  I also finally bought myself a new TV, and got Apple TV to go with it, so I've been enjoying watching Netflix etc on a big screen as opposed to my iPad.

That's really about it.  My brain has gotten so mushy that I don't know what else to write!

Oh I know what else to write about: the serendipity of running into friends.  Yesterday, I went to the Eaton Centre and first ran into two good friends from school, which lead to drinks, and afterwards I ran into a friend from university at the LCBO.  I always think how these events hinge on all kinds of small decisions/luck.  That is, I had to choose to go into a certain store for a specific length of time, choose a slow cashier's line with two people ahead of me, etc et. for these random meetings to happen.

Like list.

1) I really enjoyed the book I won! It was an enjoyable, non-cheesy romance. If that sounds up your alley, definitely check out Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner.

2) I think it was last week that I quickly made it through the show Transparent.  It treats its main character, an older trans woman, with such empathy.  Most of the main characters in the show are really messed up, but I ended up liking them anyway.  Except for the son Josh.  I read a review where they describe him as that bad boyfriend you had who quickly declares his love for you and then rips out your heart in a second. And that's precisely why he's so unlikeable.

3) I saw the movies AntMan and Trainwreck. Both were good.  Trainwreck made me surprisingly emotional because Amy's dad had MS in the movie, and so does my mom, so it was that (not the love story) that affected me.

4) I saw Jann Arden the other night at a free Panamania show.  She is hilarious but her songs are so sad.  It's quite the contrast.  I'd never seen her live before and really enjoyed it.  Her music definitely reminds me of my teenage years, but is still very relevant and relatable.

5) And what else can I say about my beloved Blue Jays who have won 11 games in a row, and have taken first place in the AL East.  They have a big three-game series against the Yankees this weekend in which they can hopefully hold onto first place and put some space between themselves and their rivals.

Goodbye Jon.

Tonight I went to the Bloor Cinema for a free screening of the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  I figure that's the best way to say goodbye to your favourite television host: big screen, six hundred other people, and complimentary buttons!

Unsurprisingly, the final show was pitch perfect.  The first segment included an impressive array of Daily Show correspondents: Samantha Bee, Ed Helms, Steve Carrell, Lewis Black, Larry Wilmore, Kristen Schaal, John Oliver, and I could go on and on.  The array ended with a dramatic entrance and heartwarming thank you from Stephen Colbert.  The six hundred or so of us in the theatre were clapping and laughing though the entire segment.

After that, there was a nice bit where Jon toured through the Daily Show offices, saying hi to each and every employee.  He then returned for a "join me at camera three" bit where he warned us to be vigilant for bullshit.  Lastly, after thanking his family, crew, and audience, his moment of zen was Bruce Springsteen playing out the show.

I am not sure when I actually began watching the Daily Show.  I've definitely been watching it for a solid decade.  It's been my late night show of choice, although I usually watch it online the day after now as opposed to staying up late.  I'll really miss Jon Stewart's brand of insightful, smart, critical, and often angry comedy.  I've always felt that he was the media's biggest critic, and he was the only one out there calling out bias, hyperbole, lies, and bullshit.  I'll miss him.

I'm glad I went to the cinema for the finale.  It was more of an event than if I watched it at home on my couch, so I can always remember it fondly.  Plus, I got a commorative button, ha-ha.

I always find it weird when you feel the need to express gratitude when a pop culture type thing ends, but I think that comedy is art, and comedians are artists and art is important and personal.  And that's why the audience needs a moment to say goodbye to artists.

Best Day.

You know those days where all of the stars align and a bunch of good things happen? Today was one of those days.

First, I got to the Rogers Centre at 10:30 am for Russell Martin (aka my sports boyfriend) bobblehead day. The lines were SUPER long; even longer than they'd been for Jose Bautista bobblehead day.  I felt a bit of stress that I wouldn't get one, but woo-hoo, I did!

Then, through some pre-game random texting (I had time to kill), I found out that not only are my friends Matt and Melly from Winnipeg coming down for the CHVRCHES concert in October, but also for Nuit Blanche.  I'm super excited because I haven't see Melly since 2012!

Then, our new adorable ace pitcher, David Price, threw a beautiful game with 11 strikeouts.  There was a moment where he got out of a bases-loaded, zero-outs situation and I almost passed out from the stress.  See the old Blue Jays would have fallen apart at that moment, but not the new Blue Jays.  Loved it.  We are now tied with the Minnesota Twins for a playoff spot.  There is still two months to go, but I am optimistic and confident in this team.

Finally, I got home and entered a Twitter contest being held by one of my favourite authors, Jennifer Weiner.  And guess what?  I won!  She's going to send me an autographed copy of her new novel Who Do You Love.  Woo hoo!

Pretty great day!

I am super excited about baseball.

Now that I'm back from my trip, baseball has gotten its hooks into me.

I just got home from a very nice game.  The Jays beat the Royals (best team in the AL) 5-2.  There was good pitching, and three home runs including one from my sports boyfriend Russell Martin.

Even more excited have been the trades in advance of tomorrow's trade deadline.  The Jays made some deals this season (as opposed to last) and got themselves perhaps the best shortstop in baseball, a reliever, and an ace of a starting pitcher.  There is so much excitement around these trades.  Playoffs, here we come, I hope, I hope.

Other than being excited about that, I've been laying low.  I binge-watched a new show called UnREAL that I really liked.  It's based on a fictional reality-dating show called "Everlasting" and shows all of the manipulation and drama that goes on behind the scenes. It's completely soap-opera-ish and super fun.

Now, I have to find something else to watch... Until there is more baseball.

#wwmcd

WHAT WOULD MARIAH CAREY DO?

That was the theme of my Vegas Vacation.  I was living it even before I realized it.

One afternoon, I had some time on my own, so I explored the strip.  I wandered to the Bellagio hotel to watch the fountains, and realized that I was getting a bit hot and thirsty, so I did the logical thing: I found a patio bar and ordered a margarita (and some water).

After wandering in the desert heat, a margarita will hit me hard which is AWESOME because I can make some awesome decisions after one margarita in the heat.  EYELINER is what went through my brain.  It is time for me to start wearing eyeliner.

I went to the neighbouring Sephora, got some advice from the consultants (i.e. I'm not skilled enough for liquid liners) and walked out with glittery black liner and somehow, the perfect red lipstick that I'd been looking for.  I've wanted to wear red lipstick, because so many people look awesome in it and says it makes them feel amazing, but I've never found a shade that makes me look anything other than a clown.  This one though (Makeup Forever in Rouge Artist Intense) is my shade.

And, the purchase of glittery black eyeliner was completely unintentional.  I though I was buying matte black, but I like the glitter so I thank the margarita for the error.

(And clearly, red lipstick and glittery black eyeliner is what MC would do so I was ahead of the game.)

I also decided to go on the roller coaster at the New York New York casino, which as anyone who has seen the Fantasy video would know, is what MC would do.  I haven't been on a roller coaster since I was 18, and in really didn't worry too much about it until the thing was going up a steep incline which I knew would drop off and then I wanted to get off... I just closed my eyes and swore the whole way and exited completely dizzy and glad I did it.

That brings us more to the MC show which was AMAZING.  I liked MC a lot as a kid and listened to the heck out of her first two albums on cassette tape.  When I was in high school, I was too cool for her but secretly still liked her and did not turn away when her videos came on MuchMusic.  As such, I knew most of the words to her 18 #1 hits that she performed, and knew the corresponding music videos to which her sets were based on.  It was amazing!

By the end of the last night, as I was figuring out to wear, I asked myself what would MC do, so I decided jean short and heels it was.  I had a nice final evening of drinks and dinner with my pal Claire and her husband.

There were lots more super fun moments in Las Vegas too, but that's all I'm going to write about for now. If you want to see pictures, they're all up on my Instagram.  :)

And now I'm back home with Ms. Rilo who missed me.

Coffee at the airport bar.

I always get to airports too early.  This morning I'm off to Las Vegas (first time ever) for adventures with my friend Claire, who flew there with her husband en route to Hawaii.

Anyhow, to save money, I took the TTC out to the airport, and because I like to avoid rush hour and leave nothing to chance, I got here pretty early.  Also, who knew what kind of havoc the Pan Am games would wreak upon the airport.  The answer, is not much.  Apart from having to dodge a large group of people wearing Mexican track suits, it's pretty quiet here.  The check-in, customs, and security lines were all swift, and I was at my gate in about twenty minutes.

Extra airport time is always fun if you're in the shopping Mecca that is Heathrow, or even Terminal 1 here in Toronto.  However, I'm sadly sequestered in the US departure section of Terminal 3.  I was craving the idea of a Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich, however, a pane of glass separates me from that as it is (unsurprisingly) located in the Cdn departures section.

Instead, I found one of those ubiquitous airport restaurants/bars, where I just finished a surprisingly good wrap and I'm drinking coffee and staring at a lot of booze at the bar ahead of me.  Thanks for free wifi, I can use this time to catch up on blogging, emails, and the like.

I've had a fun past few days.  On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week I took in some free Panamania  concerts at Nathan Phillips Square (my beloved and often seen Joel Plaskett Emergency, and my Canadain guilty pleasure pop punk Marianas Trench).  I love the spirit the games are bringing to the city and I'm kind of sad that I'll be missing out on Stars and LIGHTS next week.  (But I've seen them both before and Vegas awaits.)  There will still be more free shows into August for the ParaPanAm games, so no loss.

Also, I am cool with Kanye playing the closing ceremonies.  Torontonians are annoying complainers. (Although I would have been happier if they chose Drake!)

I also got my hair cut and my nails done for my trip.  Then I did a decent cleaning job of my place and cooked dinner for a friend on Friday night which I haven't done in FOREVER.  My stove was like WTF, I'm sure.

I went shopping at Vaughn Mills with my pal Vern on Saturday, and then on Sunday went to the Jays game where they played like they always should.  In the evening, as I was doing laundry, I streamed the gold medal baseball match between Canada and the USA.  It was one of the most exciting and wildest baseball games I've seen.  Fun!

Well, I apologize if this post is full of errors because I don't feel like proofreading.  I think I'm going to splurge on a magazine, and go read that until my flight.

Everything Must Go!

I can distinctly remember when I started listening to The Weakerthans.  In the year 2000, I was in university, and used Naspter (!) to download songs via my slow UTORdial internet connection.  I would read about bands in Chart magazine (of which I received a printed copy in the mail), and if they sounded interesting from an article, I'd download a song or two and based upon my small sample size, I'd buy the album.

My decision to sample some Weakerthans' songs was based upon their name; I thought it was cool.  In retrospect, I can say that as someone who has tended toward self-reflective introversion all of my life, I've always been attracted to art that explores the concept of weakness, hence I would obviously be attracted to a band that has the word "weaker" in its name.  Even better, I soon discovered that many of their songs explored a theme of home, and maybe feeling slightly alienated from your home, and I dug that.

I bought their album Left & Leaving on my 21st birthday.  My birthday used to always fall on reading week when I was in university, so I went home to Stratford for the break.  It was not a fun birthday.  I was recovering from a truly awful case of strep throat, so no parties were had, and I could barely eat food (not for lack of hunger, but for extremely sore throat).  All I remember was that by the time the day rolled around, I felt good enough to hop in my parents' car, drive to the CD store and buy the album and then spend the rest of reading week listening to it in my discman well I shook off the rest of my illness.

I think the Weakerthans became my absolutely favourite band once I saw them live.  I saw them that summer in a now-closed punk rock club called The Reverb on Queen St.  I went with my friend Eric, who hadn't heard of them, but was game for a random night out.  By that time, they were trying out some new songs that would end up on their album Reconstruction Site.  Eric ended up loving them because of a lyric "I've had a really nice time; but my dogs need to fed" which he interpreted as the singer having dinner with a beautiful woman and leaving because his dogs were more important.  Anyone who values animals over such trivial matters has a place in my friend Eric's heart.  (I think the song is actually about an Antarctic explorer having hallucinations, but I've never told Eric that because he remembers the lyric and the concert fondly to this day.)

I saw The Weakerthans a lot in years 2001-2003 in small rock venues all over the city.  They played a lot of songs from Reconstruction Site during that time frame.  When that album came out, the songs felt like familiar old friends, and it remains one of my favourite albums of all time.

I have lots of other great memories entwined with this band.  There was the time when they were playing in Hamilton and Becca T and I took the GO bus to see them, but had to stay overnight in a Tim Hortons because the last back to the city was at 11 pm, just as the band would be hitting the stage.  The first bus back to the city was Sunday at 5 am, and we were university students who would not want to splurge on a hotel overnight, so an all-night Timmy's it was.

Years later, they played that same venue in Hamilton, and since we were both gainfully employed, we were going to rent a car to go to the show, but then at the last minute Becca couldn't go.  However, my colleague (now lifelong friend) Nancy was good to drive to the show.  She had a great time at the show, and commented that she'd never seen me quite so happy as I was at a Weakerthans' show.

If you've actually made it this far in this post, I congratulate you.  It's mainly a stream of consciousness of memories of my favourite band spurred on by the fact that it was outed today on Twitter that the band is no more.  The guitarist had made comment to CBC Music, and then the drummer also confirmed it in a tweet.  It's really no surprise; they haven't had an album since 2007, and haven't played in forever.  I missed them the last time they played Toronto.  It was part of RiotFest, and I'd just returned from Kenya and didn't feel like sending $75 to see they play for 45 minutes while I was jetl-agged.  Next time, I thought!  Silly me.

I'm pretty sure the last (and I guess final) time I saw The Weakerthans play as a proper band was in 2010 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre down at the Ex with a boyfriend-at-the-time who wasn't really into them, but kind enough to go with me.  The Queen E Theatre isn't huge, but a far cry from the little punk bar where I first saw them.  I don't remember specifics about the show, but I'm sure they played all my favourites and I smiled my super-happy-I'm-at-a-Weakerthans'-show smile.

Musicians probably never get to know how much their music means to their fans.  It's kind of crazy that songs get written, released, and played at shows.  However, it's kind of crazy that these songs written by complete strangers become the soundtrack to my life, and when I listen to them, they bring back so many memories and take on meaning to my own life that might not even be connected to their lyrics.  

When I remember shows, I do sometimes remember the music, but I usually remember who I went with, what was going on in my life at the time, how much fun we had at show, and events surrounding the show (Becca T and I almost freezing to death in Hamilton before finding that Tim Horton's; Nancy smelling like horse at the show because she had horse lessons before we went).

I had always hoped to see The Weakerthans live in their hometown of Winnipeg.  And I was doing so well at reaching that dream!  Thanks to this blog, I have a couple of good friends who live in Winnipeg, so I have a choice of couches to sleep on and people to see the show with.  I've just been waiting for that show to happen so I can fly out for it.  Sigh, I guess it won't happen.

Although, the title of their last album is Reunion Tour, so perhaps there is hope for my Winnipeg-Weakerthans trip yet.  Also, their buddies The Constantines have been riding the reunion thing for the past year.  (Ah, Weakerthans/Cons shows, so many good memories!)

But for the time being, I'll miss my favourite band.

Changes

I decided to visit my parents for a "weekend" out of the city.  I put the word weekend in quotes because days of the week don't have much meaning to me in the summer. My weekend in Stratford is Saturday night to Monday night.

Today I went out for lunch with my friend Heather.   Many times we've met up in downtown Stratford, had a nice meal, and wandered the shops. After lunch we bee-lined to our favourite Stratford bookstore: The Book Vault. Of course, we got distracted along the way and ended up at the coffee shop.  Did we miss it somehow? We turned around and spent a good five minutes being utterly confused until we realized that the accounting firm next door had expanded into our beloved bookshop, which was gone forever.

We crossed the street to the other bookstore, but it wasn't the same. Our favourite bookstore had mad deals.

As we continued shopping around, I couldn't help but notice about the changes that have happened. Yes, a lot of my fave stores that I've been shopping at since I was a kid are still there, but I couldn't help but notice that my favourite stationery, shoe and clothing stores are gone. One of my favourite restaurants has been standing empty for quite some time, as are the spaces above and below that housed the sketchy nightclubs we frequented in our late teens/early twenties.  The biggest inn in town is now a Best Western, and the coffee shop across the street where we used to recount those sketchy nightclub nights, sits deserted. At least the Dairy Queen is still in business.

As we were ending our shopping, a lady stopped us and asked if we were from here, and I responded yes. She asked us where the Royal Bank was, and it took me a little longer than I'd like to remember. I realize that after all this time living in Toronto, I'm no longer the hometown expert that I used to be. There are lots of restaurants that I've never tried, and my favourite places are disappearing.

However, my heart was warmed to see that my childhood toystore still sells gimp by the metre and stickers by the square so some things are still constant.

Road trips and hangouts.

Made it back from my baseball road trip to Detroit.

We crossed the border and then went to the Eastern Market for some yummy pizza.  Then we headed to the hipster area for coffee and to see the abandoned train station. I really liked the train station.  Detroit is rather interesting because there is so much that is empty but it used to be very populous, and now it's less so.  It would be cool to have a time machine and go back to experience it in its heyday in the 1950s/1960s.

Speaking of that time frame, we tried to go to the Motown museum but it was sold out for the day.  Instead, we checked into our hotel and then headed downtown. There was a Tiffany clock in a building that my friend Vic wanted to see and it was an inside joke made funnier by the fact we saw it.

The game was really fun.  American ballparks have all the flash.  The game was dismal for the first seven innings; the Jays couldn't get a hit and the score was 8-0.  But, in the top of the eighth, the tides turned and the Jays scored six runs, much to the dismay of the Tigers' fans and the joys of the many Jays' fans who made the trip.  Unfortunately, they weren't able to get more in the ninth, but at least they made a comeback. After the game we were treated to some pretty nice 4th of July fireworks.

On Saturday, we mainly did some shopping.  I was very well behaved and only spent money at Trader Joe's.

Mathew made a nice collage of the trip.  You may wonder why there are scuba divers in the picture but that's because we listened to an episode of Dateline about mystery in the deep blue sea, I kid you not.

Since I've been back in TO, my house guest (Becca T) had to leave and then I had a chill two days of not much.  However, today one of my long-time blog pals was in town and we had brunch.  Tonight is dinner/movie with work pals.  Then tmrw is spa day.  Not too shabby.