29 Oct 2006
 | Light on the horizon Halloween is hands down my favorite holiday in the year. I love dressing up, carving jack o'lanterns, getting candy... the whole thing is great! So I was happy to get an invitation to a party Saturday night, at my friend Darryl's place in Red Deer, where I could see him, my "sis" Kaylene and her husband and all the folks I've met through them. It was cool and grey when I left Edmonton Saturday afternoon, but the roads were clear and I made good time. In fact, I got there in time to have dinner with Kay and Dave, her parents, uncle, brother and his two kids. After dinner, Kay, Dave, brother Gerry and I got into our costumes, met up with another couple and headed to the party. Darryl and company really got into the swing of things... eyeballs and brains to eat, blinking ice cubes, spiders crawling out of the bathroom drains - it was great. I dressed up as Cleopatra, a bit humdrum, but at least with this one, people knew who I was supposed to be! I'm tired of the years that I've spent explaining my costume - bah! So yes, I had an excellent time at the party, but the real news is that I hooked up with a guy. Since I don't know where (if anywhere) this might go, for now I'm withholding his name to protect the innocent, but it's someone I originally met, oooooh, 11 years ago. I thought he was pretty intriguing at the time, but he was newly married or just about to be married and I have zero interest in being the "other" woman, so I just wrote it off. Well, he's divorced now and apparently ready to get back in the game. He was flattering, flirtatious and attentive all night, so when he invited me to his place - I went. And had a very nice night, thank you very much. At this point, I can't even begin to venture a guess as to what might develop. However, there is a sense of deja vu for me. The last time I'd been single for a long time, I bitched and moaned and carried on, but didn't really do anything about it. Then I met Mike and just went for him a very uncharacteristically straightforward way. That became a 6 year relationship that I don't regret in the least. Maybe this will go as well? However, we're all older and making our lives more complicated for ourselves. Mystery guy is divorced, has two kids and lives in Red Deer, not to mention that we have some very close friends in common which can add some interesting stressors to a growing relationship. So, my plan? One day at time, try not to anticipate anything (good or bad), stick with my usual mode in romantic affairs which is pretty much blunt honesty. He may be "the one" - great! He may not be, and if not, I'd like to discover it without loosing either his friendship or that of our mutual circle. Maybe not a realistic goal, but one within my understanding of honorable, so I'm sticking with it. Wish me luck, would you? Ciao. |
hopeful 
16 Oct 2006
| Dr. Who - Yippee! In the course of a regular week, I don't watch a lot of television. Movies maybe, but I find that a lot of regular programming just doesn't hold my attention. Even the few that I had narrowed down to (CSI, Family Guy, Simpsons) I just won't go out of my way for. But finally, finally, the second 'new' season of Dr. Who has started and I'm soooooo happy! I have loved Dr. Who since I was a little girl - I can remember watching Tom Baker with the scarfe and K-9 and being mesmerized. I asked for a sonic screwdriver for Christmas when I was a kid AND last year, but so far nothing. And my life's ambition is still to be one of the Doctor's Assistants. Now that I'm grown up, I've discovered that it doesn't seem to matter what the Doctor looks like, I think he's damn sexy. Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant are now in my Top 10 hottest guys; yes the accents definitely help, but objectively they're not exactly Brad Pitt are they? However, from now on, I'll look at them and think 'doctor' and that's that - they could have their way with me at will. Sigh. So from now on, if you're looking for me on a Monday night, I'll be at home. Either vibrating in anticipation, vibrating in excitement or trying to come down so I can sleep. And if you want a date, it probably wouldn't hurt to show up in the TARDIS. Ciao! |
ecstatic 11 Oct 2006
| Toronto '06, Final Report Having trained you all to expect a wrap up posting, I guess I'd better get on it, eh? It turned out that our trip to the zoo was expertly timed for the best weather day of the whole trip. Bright and sunny with just a light breeze, by the time we were ready for bed, we all had a bit of nicely ripened sun burn. In October! It was completely worth it though... Monday was another slow morning - did I mention that I was always the last one up in the house? Hal and Nicole are up at some upgodly hour and I think Thing 1 was usually stirring by 8:30 or 9; strange people. Rory called while I was in the shower, so I called him back and apologized, but I really didn't feel like asking Hal or Nic to make a special trip in to Toronto just to drop me off, so I didn't get to see the boys again. (Mike called later in the day and apologized, he hadn't really clued in to the fact that I wasn't in Toronto anymore. With any luck, I'll see one or both of them at Christmas.) Anyway, once we were ready, all four of us piled in the car and drove the "back way" to the antique/outlet mall in Cambridge. We mostly went so that Thing 1 could look for jewellery for her mom, but I found another gift and we did a bit of other shopping. From there, it was all the way back north again to St. Jacobs. It's not a very big town at all, but it's got an amazing Farmer's Market and the main street is pretty much all boutique shops of one kind or another. A lot of it is crafty stuff, so we didn't stay terribly long, but I did score a pair of sky blue, embroidered mary jane's with kitten heels for a whopping $20! We also went by the St. Jacobs outlet mall, but the stores have changed a bit and we didn't really find anything to buy except fudge! Oh, Hal and Nic checked out the baby furniture store and saw some promising stuff, so I guess that made it worthwhile. Our final stop of the day was the covered bridge by Elora. It's a beautiful drive through the countryside with the Ontario fall colours on display everywhere. With all the trees that we don't have here in the west: elm, maple, chestnut, etc. there is an amazing palette of reds and golds that we just don't see. Sigh. The bridge isn't very big but it's claim to fame is being the only covered bridge in the province. It's also a bit exciting since it's only wide enough for traffic in one direction at at time! After the bridge, we headed back to the house to relax while Hal (mostly) prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. We had salad with homemade croutons, turkey, broccoli and potatoes with pecan pie for dessert. It was scrumptious even though I had to substitute ice cream and a cookie for pie. Us girls dragged our stuffed tummies down to watch tv while we digested and I was outvoted so had to endure an hour of "The Bachelor: Rome". Gah! How do people watch these things? About 10:30 it sunk in that we were leaving in the morning, so Thing 1 and I went up to pack. I think it was good that the vacation was wrapping up - I'm sure we both felt that we were fine, but we were both acting like the other was snappish and irritable. More than time for our own beds and clothes that don't come out of a suitcase! Since our flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30, we were ready by shortly after 10, so we had time to pick up Thing 1's new glasses and have them fitted before hitting the highway. Traffic wasn't too bad, so we got to the airport around 12, lots of time to check our stuff and get a bite to eat. I don't recommend Coyote Jack's unless you've got a lot of time to kill - although we were sort of entertained by the staff's ability to move so slowly and by the fry girl's absolutely hilarious move with the salt shaker. It's hard to describe without waving my hands around, but she did this kind of flip that maybe got out 3 grains of salt and positively telegraphed her complete disinterest in the whole thing. Thing 1 and I both just burst into laughter. We had tried to be cunning with our seats by booking in with one free between us. However, the flight was packed full again and I ended up shifting to the middle and letting our third have the aisle seat. He wasn't even cute. Pout! It was a relatively smooth trip, although there was a bit of bounce over Saskatchewan where there was no cloud cover to smooth out the thermals. I really feel for Miranda though, she has problems with take-off and landing and can't read while the plane is in the air - four hours is hard to kill. We made it though and Dad was there with the car. We waiting impatiently for our luggage, tried not to be too grouchy getting through rush hour and then we were home. Yeah!!!! So that's it. Definitely not as exotic as some of my other travels, but fun all the same. I had today off to do laundry, unpack, go to the dentist, etc. but tomorrow it's back to work. We'll see how much of my workspace Paula has managed to refinish is sticky notes when I get there. Ciao! |
mellow 07 Oct 2006
| Last Day in Toronto It looks like I'm back to playing catch up - where did I leave off? Oh yes! Thursday morning.... Once I was ready to go, I strolled back to Queen St. and west a couple of blocks to "Shanghai Cowgirl" for breakfast. Yup, that's what it's a called - a little diner style place that does all day breakfast and regular diner food. Yummy! I got there about 2 minutes after it opened and had a lovely pile of eggs and bacon in the relative peace and quiet. Once I was stoked up for the day, I took a streetcar, then the subway and then a bus out to the Science Center. Along the way, I passed through Dad's old neigbourhood and saw his alma mater - Leaside High School. (He's been on a nostalgia kick lately, fueled by a former classmate who tracked him down and it was funny to imagine a bunch of 60ish folks tacing around the school yard!) The Science Center was interesting, although perhaps not in the way they intended. For one thing, it's an enormous building that really doesn't have much in it and the whole thing feels strangely abandoned, even with hordes of school trips running rampant within. Part of this might have been due to a couple of the exhibits being closed, but I don't think that was the whole story. My other disappointment has to do with age I think - the exhibits really are geared for a much younger audience; they're kinda fun but I can't say I learned anything new. (Although apparently I have good arches, faster than normal reflexes and a solid inner ear link - yeah!) Maybe I'll try taking Ella and Miles when they're a littl older and see if it's more fun with them. I tried getting ahold of Rory and Allison during the day, but neither of them were available (and Mike was off on his date, hopefully!) Too bad. I made my way back to the center of Toronto and went to the hostel to change clothes. It wasn't a cold day, but the wild was pretty strong and brisk once the sun started going down. My plan was to go to the Epicure Bar & Grill for dinner, and I did actually get a seat, but after waiting half an hour without even being acknowledge by the server, I gave up. I was wandering down Queen, trying to decide where to go when Suzie called. (I met her in Yellowknife when I was there in June.) She was doing a show that night and invited me to come. I had lots of time, so I eventually ended up at a 'new to me' Japanese restaurant for agedashi tofu and a beef bowl. Very yummy! Then it was back on the subway up to the Renaissance Cafe in Woodbine. I had a suspicion, which was confirmed when I climbed out of the station, that the cafe was only a few blocks from the last place that Leela and Jeff lived in together. Suzie was there with her boyfriend - whom I swear to god she introduced as James Dean. It was open mike night, so we listened to several performances, most of which were surprisingly good. Dad would have liked a couple of the finger-style guitar players. Suzie did a set of about 40 minutes that was great, I got to hear a couple of her songs that I didn't know which was cool. She was actually up that night for an award, but I haven't checked the results yet. It was around midnight when she and James kindly gave me a ride back to the hostel. That night was the first time that my four bed room was full and two of the occupants were pretty loud. Not that they snored or anything, but they could seem to do anything without a lot of banging and whispering and carrying on. Since everyone else to that point had been quiet as mice, I guess I can't complain too much. I slept in a little in the morning and by the time I was ready to get up, they had all gone. Yeah! I got ready and packed up my stuff and was ready to go by about 10:45 - so of course Miranda and Nicole got stuck in traffic on the 401! It gave me time to wander down the street for some tea and cheese bun. When I was sitting waiting for them, I finally got a chance to talk to Danny. I didn't get the whole story, but he is either the or one of the owners of the hostel. Originally from Ireland to judge by the accent and a tall, loud kind of guy. Funny though. As I was turning in my key, he asked, "Was everything ok with your room?" Something about the tone of his voice made me ask if there was something that shouldn't have been. Apparently a girl had moved the other day because she said something in that room bit her. ??? I told him that I'd been there four days and hadn't been bitten or even seen anything that looked like it might bite. Anything's possible, but I suspect that she was zapped somewhere else and just didn't notice it until she got back to the room. The hostel itself was just as clean and organized as I could have asked for! The girls finally arrived and I climbed in. It turns out that the plan for the day was to hit Yorkdale Mall. This is a large (although not WEM size) mall with a lot of upscale stores - Coach, MAC, etc. all have dedicated stores here, along with H&M, Sephora and giant sized Body Shop, Gap, Tristan & America, etc. We hit almost everything, but the highlights for me were finding a great pair of runners in Ecco which they didn't have in my size and finding a line of perfume that I LOVE. The company is called Fresh and the perfumes are "Sugar" and "Pear Cassis". It figures, 'cause the Sugar was $76 for 50mL - I'm gonna do some shopping around for a cheaper source! I did leave the building with some pants, a hat, some soap and some Lip Venom, so I did ok. I may not have presents for anyone else, but I got 'em for me, so I'm happy! Being a long weekend Friday, we were a little concerned about traffic, so we dawdled through the shopping and had a long lunch break in the Pickle Barrel. We left the mall a little after 6 pm and the 401 was still crazy busy. Not quite stopped dead, but rarely running above 40km/hr until well passed the airport. Sigh. It was maybe 8:30 when we got to Nicole and Hal's place in Waterloo. We watched a little tv, did a bit of laundry and I was in bed by 11:30. It's almost 11am now and I've been typing for a bit. Miranda's done in the bathroom, so I should get a move on with this day. Ciao! |
hungry 08 Oct 2006
| Almost over? Noooo! So Saturday was another shopping day, although this time in Waterloo. After a leisurely morning getting ready, we headed first to Conestoga Mall. Not because it's great shopping, because it isn't, but because it's where I worked when I lived in this charming burg. I swung by the Bell World, but true to form, Rob had "stepped out" for an indefinite amount of time. I left my card and a message to give me a call, but I'm not holding my breath. Then it was on to the first Winner's of the day. Thing 1 is still looking for boots and I wouldn't mind a pair myself. We had no success with footwear; however *gasp* I bought a purse! A very dress down, tan cord purse, but still a purse. Next on the agenda was Nicole and Hal's office - they are both optometrists and they own a store together in Cambridge. I tried on lots and lots of glasses and settled on a cool new pair that are green and bronze full frames. (Everyone knows that mark-ups are crazy in any venue, but optometry mark-ups are the king daddy crazy! Huge kudos for the friend price - I won't out them here, but I'm paying for them in cash and I don't have that much, so it's a GOOD deal.) She also gave me an eye exam and determined that I'm not crazy, my current contact lenses are totally not the right prescription. Hah! Since it's the long weekend, she'll place the glasses order for me and Thing 1 on Tuesday and mail out the specs when they're ready, along with some trial lenses for me to try. Nicole's not on MySpace, but if she was, I'd be sending along infinite kudos. After that, it was two more Winner's, as we looked for the correct size of boot that Thing 1 saw in the first outlet. No luck though - sigh. We got home to discover that Hal had made a yummy pasta dinner with a tomato meat sauce. We were going to go to Swiss Chalet (Thing 1 has never been!) but who could pass that up? Afterwards, we went to the Symposium for dessert. I worked for a shift and a half at Symposium when Mike and I first moved here. I quit when I watched my "trainer" pick a handfull of mouldy fruit out of the container and then make a drink with the remnants - bleah. Aaaah, Waterloo. It's currently Octoberfest here, which is your standard excuse to get smashed wrapped in the distorted dregs of German harvest festival traditions. I slept through it, but apparently you could here the tuba "om pah pahs" at the opening ceremonies from the house, which is not that close to downtown! Tomorrow is the parade, but we haven't decided if we're going to go or not. Today, we got up early (-ish, 8am) and got ready to hit the road for the zoo. As those of you who have received earlier travel reports from me know, I love zoos. We pretty much saw everything and I got what should be some good pics, so I'll post 'em when I get home and can clean 'em up a little. The baby tiger twins were flat out adorable! We left the zoo a little after 4 and I thought I was going to meet up with Mike and Rory, but Mike hasn't changed and decided that tomorrow would be better. This means that I have to ask Nicole or Hal to make a special trip to at least the subway station, though, so I'm gonna play that one by ear. Instead, we braved the 401 traffic, which was medium heavy and were home by about twenty to six. Now we're off to Swiss Chalet, so I'll report in on Thing 1's impressions later. Ciao! |
content 
4 Oct 2006
| Take Two Alright, let's play catch up now, while there isn't a line-up for computer access. I believe I left off with the guys arriving at Cameron House. I knew that none of those three was going to really enjoy Rhonda's music, so I suggested we head out before the second set started and we would disturn people by going. We went walked east down Queen St. to a pool hall (sorry, I don't remember the name) and spent 2.5 hours talking, playing pool (poorly, in my case) and eating chicken wings. It was a lot of fun, but boy am I out of practice in hanging around with a group of men. Thank god we're all getting older and their natural exuberances are starting to tone down. Mike made a date with a PhD student in embryological development over the phone while we were there, so phtttth! to those of you who thought we were going to get back together. We wrapped it up a little before midnight and I walked home - alone, but I made it in one piece, so it's too late to worry now. Thank god, to that point, the weather has waited until after 4am to really break loose. However, this morning it really did and pretty much rained solidly until 4 this afternoon. That didn't stop me, I was out the door and walking by 11:30 or so. It would have been slightly earlier, but there was a minor kaffufle at the door. I'd talked to Miranda and based on weather, Nic's plans, etc. we'd decided to go to the zoo on Friday and it made sense for them to pick me up on the way there. So I stopped at the desk to extend my stay for the extra night (Thursday). However, when I booked in on Monday, the guy had logged me for three nights: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. ???? Good thing I stopped or I wouldn't have had a bed for tonight either. Sheesh. The new guy was also cute and fortunately accomodating and funny, so it all worked out. I wandered over the the neighbourhood of the AGO where there is a little shopping area on Baldwin street and a great little chinese bakery. I had a chicken and veg roll, two shrimp rolls, a pork roll and an egg tart for breakfast and it cost me $4.75! Yummy! Then I just wended my way in the direction of the school, siteseeing, shopping and reminiscing as I went. So far, I've only found prezzies for Mom and myself, but I will persevere! I bought some cookies in Kensington market and then decended on the school about an hour early for my treatment. I got there just in time for a second viewing of Julien's wedding pictures, then gossiped and spread around cookies. The treatment was lovely. Just lovely - I REALLY need to do that more often than every two years. Sigh. By then it had stopped raining, so I just had to contend with the wind on my walk up to Bloor. I got to the "open sushi" restaurant about half an hour early, which was fine 'cause I got some lovely tea. I guess I should explain - there's a restaurant called The Korean Village Restaurant on Bloor that my friends and I like, but it's got no windows out front, just a little recessed neon sign that says 'open' and underneath 'sushi' - hence the nickname. I was supposed to meet Mike and Rory, but when Mike showed up he said Rory wasn't coming. His excuse was lack of time between work and rehearsal, but I think he just felt bad that we were buying 'cause he's broke until payday. Silly boy. Mike had a migraine last night, so I'm amazed that he showed up! We had a quiet dinner and then I sent him home to do laundry, unpack and go to bed early. He's recently had a throat infection, a cold and managed to seriously reinjure the hand that he previously broke. He's given up climbing, rides just for transport and is thinking of taking up yoga. Personally, I think he's a not very convincing alien replica, but who knows? After dinner, I walked back to the hostel. My plans are to read, maybe watch some tv if I can find space amongst the large group of (Italian?) men and go to bed early. I actually got some sleep last night and it was so cool, I want to try it again. Ciao! 11:21 - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment - Edit - Remove |
lazy | Fun, fun, fun Yesterday after finishing my post, I hies my butt out of here, because I was running late. (It was a theme for the day!) The rain clouds had scattered, but lingered in memory as the sun and humidity made for a damp walk. Oh, how I didn't miss Toronto mugginess. Sigh. I swung by the Dominion to pick up a contribution to the potluck and made it to Julien and Denise's apartment only about 15 minutes late. They are living in a nice cooperative building, about 2 blocks from my old place, just outside the scuzz line. Sherry was already there and we had a wonderful afternoon, talking about life, their recent trip to Scotland and the Netherlands and playing with the 8 month old twins - Callam and Eirik. Yes, I took lots and lots of pics, but I forgot my USB cable, so you'll have to wait until I get back. Too bad. I checked the clock at one point and it was 5! Eek! I had planned to go back to the hostel and change before picking Rory up from work at 6. Boy did I have to boogie, but I made it and was only about 10 minutes late. (I have to say that walking around Toronto, I feel like I've never left.) Fortunately, Cameron House is only about 2 blocks from Steve's Music, so we got there in lots of time for the show. I love Rhonda's voice so I had a great time, and Rory just liked the chance to sit quietly and have a Guiness, I think, so was willing to stay. I should mention that I briefly met the new girl (very briefly!) but my impression was a young cute 60's earthmother type. Rory however, describes himself as a smitten kitten - so as long as he's happy. Rhonda continued the trend of not recognizing me, but we're going to try and get together later. Mike and Chris arrived during her set break and we went to play pool, but more on that later - there's a line up for computer access. Ciao! |
refreshed 03 Oct 2006
| Minor Partying So Kids, I believe we left off yesterday with me going to collapse for a nap. I did have a long nap, then went off to find a snack and try and hunt down Rory. (The new hostel is about 6 blocks away from where he works at Steve's Music on Queen St.) I did find him, trying to take his own nap on the job. Shocking! We had a short chat and I bullied him into coming out with me tonight. From there I wandered around the Queen area for a bit, reminiscing and doing a bit of shopping - more books, etc. For those who are interested this is the hippest area of Queen, the section where the Chum building is - wheeeeee. It's certainly an awesome area to people watch, if you hang out long enough you'll see everything: goths, preppies, cowboys (although not many), mod rockers and tourists, tourists, tourists. I actually came back to the hostel to drop off my purchases and ended up taking another nap, which turned out to be a good thing. I wandered out around 7:30 in search of dinner (yummy noodle bowl in China Town) and then picked up Alex from the school when his class was finished at 10. I also got to see Michael - another of my classmates who didn't show for the big dinner. He continued the "Oh my God - Aerin?!?!" reactions. He's still working the night admitting shift at St. Michael's hospital and studying Acupuncture, along with having a wife and new baby. And you all think I'm insane! Alex and I went with a couple others of the Acupuncture class to a little restaurant/bar up College. The ladies left around midnight, but Alex and I ended up talking and chatting with the Irish waiter until about 1:30. Alex insisted on walking me home (despite the fact that a) he had his bike, b) it was in the opposite direction from home and c) he's having hip problems and the walk was a bit much. So you needn't worry that I was pushing my luck!) I think I got to bed around 2:30, but there was a spectacular thunderstorm last night and I'm on the top floor here, right next to the window. I was up for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night - watching the light show! I didn't have any roommates last night however, so I got to sleep to the positively indecent hour of 11 this morning. You can tell I'm getting sleep deprived however, because I forgot to mention two phone calls yesterday! Julien called and we made arrangements for me to join them and Sherry for lunch today. I'm off there once I'm done with this. Also, amazingly Mike called. He's going to meet Rory and I tonight at the show. Anyway, I have to stop and pick up a contribution for the potluck lunch, so I should get rolling. Ciao! |
rushed 02 Oct 2006
| Phew! Hi Everyone, I know that some of you have been waiting with baited breath for a post from exotic Toronto. It's been a hectic weekend, though and this is the first time I've been near a computer. So take a deep breath - here goes! Since Mom decided to prolong her stay in lovely Victoria, Dad drove Thing 1 and I out to the airport. We got there in lots of time and had absolutely no problems getting on the plane. The most interest things about the flight were: a) I LOVE my iPod and b) Thing 1 is very funny at take-off and landing. She's not scared of flying, but she and her inner ear don't always see eye-to-eye, so she grips the arm rests and stares straight ahead. Kind of humorous and heart-breaking all at once. It didn't even take long to get our baggage and then we went out to get a cab. We popped out at the limo stand and the guy was a pretty fast talker, so we caught a cab to the B&B. He was kind of strange, talking to himself, singing to himself and not entirely sure where he was going, but we did get there in one piece and we'd negotiated a set price, so fine. The Havinn is on Spadina, a couple of blocks north of Bloor, for those who get any meaning from it. It's in one of the old brick houses that are ubiquitous here, but in my opinion, there wasn't enough renovation done. It was clean and charming, but there was no soundproofing and only 3 toilets and 2 showers for a potential 12+ guests. Bah. We were pretty much only there for sleeping and breakfast, though, so it was ok. Friday night, we dumped our bags and wandered back up to Bloor in search of food. We were both starving and Miranda was craving pizza so we hit the Pizza Pizza. It was a reasonably nice night, so I dragged her out for a walk after we ate. We went east on Bloor and passed the ROM which is deep in renovation mood and looks terrible. Gehry's addition looks like a Borg ship crashed into an old castle. Bleagh. We wandered passed all the expensive shops on Bloor, which were fortunately closing (!), south down Yonge a bit and then looped back. It was nice to walk off the plane trip, although I think T1 thought I'd made her walk a bit too much. Little did she know what was in store! On Saturday I got up and got ready for class. It was sunny and nice, so I walked to the school which is located just off College and Bathurst - about 40 minutes to stroll. We had a three hour introduction to Anma with Dr. Kaneko which was really great - I learned some stuff I definitely want to incorporate into my practice. The funny part was seeing some of my former classmates and the same reaction they all had - glance at me, look back, goggle their eyes and say "Aerin!?!?!" I didn't think I looked that different with more hair! I saw Sherry, Alison, Alex, Grace, Joanne and a bunch of others. Boy, were the hugs flying! After the class, I walked back to the B&B by a different route, passing by Mike's apartment. I gave him a call as I came up to it, but it turns out the he was moving this weekend and was at the new place when I called! Some people. I'll hunt him down sometime this week. Thing 1 and I got dolled up and by the time we were ready to leave, it was raining fairly heavily. We wandered down Spadina huddled under the umbrella until we managed to flag down a cab. The dinner was at the Flamingo Plaza at College and Bathurst (right next to Sneaky Dee's). Grace brought her husband David, and Theresa was there and Moon and I talked to Peter, Billy, Enza, Paul and met the new Admin guy at the school, Greg. We had a fairly nice buffet and then the party moved upstairs. There was a short ceremony which was actually quite nice (and Alex won the award for least distance travelled to come to the party, since between classes and work, he's now at the school 7 days a week!) Then we all had salsa dance lessons - that was wild! T1 sat it out, but I gave it a try. I think it would be doable with practice, but there was just too much, too fast to really get a handle on it. Most of the school folks had trickled out by 10 and been replaced by regular bar goers, so some of us moved over to Sneaky Dee's where it was a bit easier to talk (and the beer is cheaper.) It ended up being Stephanie, Alex, Greg, T1 and me - so mostly I was getting caught up on what all my classmates are up to. T1 was a real trooper, listening to the antics of a bunch of people she'd never heard of, but I won't put you through it! We got back from that around 12:30, so we slept in a little on Sunday. Once we were ready to go, we walked up Spadina to Casa Loma. I haven't been inside since we went on a family trip when I was about 9 or 10. It's pretty cool - I fell in love with the library; so big, so wooden and glassy. Sigh. We were also pretty inpressed with the stables, all tile and marble - those horses had better accomodations that we do! We stopped at the hostel to freshen up (T1 is NOT fond of the humidity, which is not bad at all right now!) then went down Bloor to the Future Cafe for lunch. I like visiting new places, but there's something nice about knowing where you are and where to go, too. The we caught streetcars, etc. to Eaton's Center. That was more up her alley - air conditioning and shopping! Seeing as how it was Sunday, the shops closed at 6, so we didn't do too much, but I think it cheered her up. We were getting a bit footsore by this point, so we caught the subway to Union Station before walking the rest of the way to the CN Tower. We got there just as the sun was going down, so we got to see a beautiful sunset and watch all the lights come on in the city. It really was pretty in an aggressively urban way. The GTA is so big, you can't see anything but city from the tower - it's crazy. Well, unless you look south of course, and then all you can see is water! I went out on the glass floor and Thing 1 made it all the way up to the edge for a little peak. By then it had been a long day and a lot of walking. We caught the subway back to Bloor, picked up some sandwiches and staggered home. It was noisy last night, and I didn't sleep well, so I really didn't want to get up. However, we had to check out around 11ish, so eventually I had to move. Nicole met us out front and we drove down Spadina, to the new hostel I'm trying out. It's off the main drag, a little cheaper (because I don't mind sharing, although for tonight apparently, I get the room to myself!), the guy onshift right now is very cute, and the building is in better shape if not as charming. I had planned to stay with Rory, but I didn't realize that he's got a handfull of roomies, so this is just easier - and hey, it's only money! Julian called just as I was checking in, and we settled on plans for Sherry and I to go there tomorrow for lunch. I'm supposed to pick Alex up at the school tonight around 10 and I'm waiting for Mike and Rory to call me back. In the meantime, I think I'm gonna take a nap. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but that should get you mostly up to date. There is internet access at this hostel, so you should hear more from me soon, Ciao! |
tired 
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