Snap Back to Reality

I'm back downtown finally. I really enjoyed house sitting in PC for two weeks. It was nice having some people over for a swim. And the AC was perfect for some of the hot nights. But I did watch entirely too much tv. I felt like Kenneth on 30 Rock when he said, "Do you know that there is a channel that tells you what is on the other channels?" Going from HD satellite to plug and play is going to be a bummer, but probably better for me anyways. I should find more constructive things to do with my time rather than melt in to my sofa.

I want to go away again. I'm itching to leave the city. I'm also spending more than I make so I should probably cool it. I need to learn to manage my money better. I think I do a good job most of the time, but something is still killing the bank.

I have an entire Sunday afternoon to myself. What shall I do?

Goodnight, Amherst

I finally went out to the Fringe Festival last night with Adam. The first show we went to was unfortunately sold out so we went out for dinner instead followed by some drinks at the Green Room. I decided to start the night with a double shot of Rye, but I'm pretty sure what was brought out was Scotch. Needless to say the experience resulted in an embarrassing moment I would rather not reveal nor recreate. The good times continued with the Fringe show 'Goodnight, Amherst' which was based off of the song "38 years old" by the Tragically Hip. It was a good show, but unfortunately about 2 scenes in I needed to use the bathroom and spent the remainder of the show thinking about that. We followed the show with some beers at the tent and then the Victory. Then Adam and I walked back to his place and picked up some Souvlaki at the 24 hr diner. It was like 2:30am with not an empty seat in sight. We ate and watched Futurama but after only one episode I was spent and took a taxi home.

The heat wave has finally broken and the weather is magnificent. My apartment has returned to a normal summer heat, and I don't even need the fan anymore. Though I thank my lucky stars for even having it. Since the wave hit last Sunday I've spent almost every minute at home laying on my couch trying not to melt. I successfully avoided succumbing to the desire of having A/C. I'm going to be house sitting at my parents' house for the next two weeks. Ironic that when I finally have A/C I won't need it.

I can't get enough of the viral video Double Rainbow. It's just so hilarious. And I regret not taking video of my own personal double rainbow experience. I didn't break down and cry, but it was pretty intense and I did start to wonder what it all meant.

Julie out.

Salutations & Sayonara

I walked into my bathroom this evening to find my walls and ceiling covered in baby spiders. I seriously hate it when egg sacks birth within the confines of my personal living space. Not only is it disgusting, it's rude and uncalled for. There's an entire outdoor world for them to crawl around in and perform their birthing rituals. Blech.

It's just past 1:00am right now and I wish it wasn't 25C (31C w/ humidity). I hate having to sleep with the fan on because it's so loud. The blowing of the air would be soothing on its own but it makes this grinding noise when it reaches the far right of the oscillation turn. And it grinds even more if you try to keep the direction static. My mother has offered to buy me a mini air conditioner, but I'd like to see if I can hold out. Only a handful of times have I been reduced to underwear and a wife beater to maintain my sanity. I think my next place, if it's rented or purchased, I'll be sure to have A/C and central heating checked as mandatory.

I accomplished a lot this weekend in terms of taking steps towards cleaning this place up. I made a list of 24 mini tasks with hopes to complete them all by tonight. I got through 16 of them so that's acceptable. I like to tick items off a list to feel like I'm making progress. And I try to avoid getting an inflated sense of accomplishment by doing all the small stuff first, at least this time I did. I cleaned out my car, which I'm very happy about. I even scrubbed out the compartment between the two front seats. I think I found about 12 dollars in total, 4 of which is sitting in a mug filled with soap for reasons I'd rather not get into. I've never used the compartment before because it's always been jammed full of really weird items. Like mouth wash that expired in 2007. How.

I should sleep. My bathroom door shall remain shut to give me a false sense of security against attack tonight by any of the remaining spiders. Though I did manage to squash about 95% of them. When I get out my step ladder I mean business.

We Have Crashed The Party

I'm listening to Strung Out On OK Computer. A great classical rendition of perhaps one of the greatest albums every composed. A really nice way to start my Saturday. I was a little bit late rising this morning, but I spent the greater part of the morning in bed finishing The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It makes you think about the times we live in and how fortunate we are. Even in war times we are not deprived of anything.

I went up North with Adam last weekend. The weather was a bit unforgiving but we did manage a trip into Bobcaygeon and an outdoor fire on Saturday night. We watched a lot of 30 Rock, and drank a lot of beer. We ate like royalty (or at least like cottage royalty), and spent spare hours in our respective corners reading. I'm pleased as punch that we have set ownership of the cottage. Although it's no longer my weekend playground paradise available any and all weekends on a whim, I'm pleased to see it turn back into maybe what it once was. With constant feet traveling through it perhaps it will regain the confidence it once had to operate as a full-time summer home.

It's been a pretty quiet week for me. I've been working really hard at the office. For the first 3 days of the week I felt pulled in a hundred directions. That's an exaggeration but even being pulled in 5 ways can be stressful enough. I have 13 projects on my plate right now, and I just finished 3 but then I gained 2 back. And it's always the weirdest problems that arise. It's hardly my responsibility to ensure our scripts are properly written to ensure file transmissions from DOS to Unix are successful. How did I even find out that was the problem you might ask? Dumb effing luck. Rant at just the right time and you might find yourself sitting next to a networks genius who is more than eager to solve your problem.

Last night on my way home I swung by the Fringe tent to see A&D. While in the driver's seat I somehow lost my wallet. At a stop light with one foot diligently on the brake I reached around with my other foot to see if it had fallen to my feet. And as some person was walking past my car I accidentally tapped the gas and revved my engine. I'm such a complete dork sometimes.

I guess that's all for now. I did sweet nothing on Canada Day, so now I really must clean. The other day I was by chance browsing some photos I took of this place before I moved in. So clean, so crisp. I want to go to there.

The Best Days Of Our Lives

I don't know how some drivers can be so bold. If you make a directional mistake you should find a safe and appropriate place to correct yourself. Don't get me wrong, I've made a U-turn or two in my day, but only when I felt the roads were open enough and it was safe. Turning onto Vaughan from Oakwood there is a lane going straight and a lane going left with an advanced green. I was in the left lane and while our light was red the guy beside me did a U-turn in front of me to head back North up Oakwood. 4 seconds later it was green for me and I had an advanced light. If he had been mid-illegal-jerk-move I could have hit him, and that pisses me off.

3 people today at work got fired. It's possible that one quit, but it doesn't make me feel good about where I'm working. Not good at all. Once again I have something thinking to do. Some soul searching perhaps.

I took the collectors home today because I have come to distrust the hwy alert signs. Whenever it says both Express and Collectors are very slow I take Collectors. Turns out they lied (big surprise) and Express was WIDE open, while Collectors crawled at a speed slower than a car that is not accelerating. Just as I was thinking, "Sure would be nice to hop that hwy divider" a 4x4 did just that. At an opening between cement fences he took life by the balls and merged into the fast lane. I was jealous. It was slow because the 427S was closed for diplomats. I actually got a little peak at a motorcade being escorted by police. I'm not anti-G20, but if you've seen the fences they have built downtown it's scary and creepy. Total police state.

Also...
Pirate Radio: One hundred opposable thumbs up.
Men Who Stare At Goats: One giant WTF

SHUT IT DOWN

I'm wearing an old faded custom tank top right now. When it gets really hot in here there's no choice but to wear as little as possible and wait for the air to cool. My mother has offered to purchase an AC but I refuse, for now. I made an exception for the space heater that only gets used 3 months out of the year, but an AC would be much larger and more wasteful. Today the heat wasn't as bad as the end of May. I did get a little bit reflective and thought that it's sad when all that you have left of someone are some ancient memories, a faded tank, and some sour grapes. But that's life.

It was such a beautiful and amazing weekend. Not counting the fact that I once again locked myself out of my house everything just seemed to come together. I got to see a lot of family, I went to Frank's housewarming and saw Tamara down at the Skydome for 10 minutes between her buying tickets and entering the stadium. I sat off to the side in the shade and read for a while. Guernsey is getting really good.

Sunday night I went to Adam's on the way home. After a failed attempt at a harbourfront coffee, we went down to Cherry beach and skipped stones in the dark. Knowing your after hour coffee locations that are parking accessible is key. Unfortunately we failed and had to rely on good old reliable Casa Loma Timmy's.

It was a really enjoyable weekend. Perhaps the funniest part was picking up my keys at Sim's place. After about a 15 minute chat Sim goes, "So how are you planning on getting back into your place??" I paused for a second as my brain ran triple checks for sarcasm. "...Ummm, I'm going to get my spare keys from you?" I also had to remind her where she had stashed them, which I found very amusing. With the allergy medicine in an envelope marked "Julie's keys".

Now, to find the solution to neck acne and life will be perfect.

Peee-aaaccch

I got a nice surprise today on the way to work as my Check Engine light suddenly flicked on. Yaaaay. I spent the rest of the trip in cursing my car and my soon to be non-existent bank account. Through out the day my mind wandered away from the engine problems until 6pm when I was once again confronted with the glowing light of doom. It wasn't until about half way home that I remembered there was a higher than likely chance it was only because my gas lid wasn't screwed on properly. I was fairly certain that would be the reason for the unwanted orange thing on my dash, but I have become so accustomed to chagrin I was preparing for the worst. Luck be a lady, it was my gas cap. Now tomorrow I get to see if the light goes back to normal and I can move on with my life. Ironically, I'm about 50km short of my scheduled oil change and I might not have noticed had the lid not been loose. Who knows.

I just got rejected for another job. At this point I'd just like to get an offer to feel better about myself. I'm not too upset, it's just the principle.

I almost got an opportunity to work in a performance for the Fringe Festival. Turns out the director got someone else and my services were not required. I'm ok either way, but it would have been fun to challenge myself with something new like that.

I'm going back to Newmarket this weekend to see my awesome Great Aunt. Then I think there's something father related happening on Sunday. Stuff stuff stuff.

I've moved onto The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows. I've heard good things, so we shall see.

Too Intawnce

I'm a bit crispy on the outside right now. I would probably be in more pain if I hadn't spent 5 days practically room-bound in Mexico with scabs forming all over my sun exposed upper body. This is a mild discomfort compared to that pain. Though it does hurt to bend lift or stretch in any way.

I just got back from a nice relaxing trip to the cottage. We roadtriped to Germania and Coopers Falls in looks for some ghost town adventures. The cities were slightly more inhabited than anticipated, but what can you do. I still enjoyed the broken down buildings and the old school gas pump.

On the way home we came across a giant snapping turtle attempting to cross Hwy 48. We circled back and came up behind it again. Nik got out of the car and intimidated the turtle back into the grassy lands to the right of the hwy. He seemed to resist at first, but as we were driving away we saw him crawling further back into the grass. It was so cute from far away. He would crouch down low, but when startled he would stand tall on his legs, adding about 2-3 inches to his total height.

Jak called me later in the evening when we got back. I had missed a party in Oakville, and she wanted me to remind her of the funny name I once came across at work. "I know the first name was Richard, what was his last name?", to which I replied, "Sac."

I've moved onto A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews. Seems good so far. I liked the direction Beatrice & Virgil took, it was a different type of read but I liked it.

Can't wait to get back up north again. Can't - wait.

Lazy Sunday

It's been a lazy week for me. I had a very lazy weekend with very little planned. I left my house for a grocery shopping on Sunday but I think that was about it. I've grown accustomed to a 10pm weeknight shopping time where very few people are in the store. Switching to weekends is a pain. I did accomplish a lot around the house. I finally filed away all of my car repair receipts (which I had been amazing at keeping but terrible at filing). I finally disassembled my lame Halloween t-shirt of ttc pins. I thought about putting them back up onto the black board I made but that is over. Perhaps I will resurrect them in some other fashion when the time is right. I emptied one of my 4 remaining moving boxes. And I finished Oryx and Crake. I cannot wait to get my hands on Year of the Flood to get back into that story. I've officially moved on to Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel. My mother tells me the book has received mixed reviews. I'm waiting until I finish before I pass final judgment.

I had a funny exchange yesterday with a guy I work with. I went into the supercube to see one of his coworkers but he was the only one there. So I pointed to the guy's desk and said, "Do you know where this one is?" In response he said, "I think he's gone to lunch. He left at 12 on the button and previous to him leaving he was asking me about Middle Eastern food places." To which I said, "Your logic is sound." To which he replied, "I'm an analyst, a business analyst." That cracked me up. Later in the kitchen he was complaining about the air quality and always sniffing at work. I told him I have the opposite problem but when I go home I sniff more. And I attribute part of it to the cat the people downstairs got. I said, "I've never seen the cat but I did notice a giant bag of cat food outside their door." To which he said, "You could be an analyst too!!" I love smart jokes that connect back to something else.

I also had an hour long debate with another coworker about corporations investing in their reputation. His stance was that corporations will readily invest in their reputation because it creates a profitable return because it increases favour with the consumers. One big example was companies going green. And I told him that a company would not go green unless it was profitable for them and that the boost in reputation is a byproduct of the business decision. If going green was more expensive then a company would not do it. Believe it or not that took an hour and even spilled into after lunch emails back and forth with links and such. I wonder if this will carry on further.

The weather's looking less than favourable but I'm thinking cottage this weekend. I'm really hoping the weather forecast turns. My real intention is to use the cottage as a base camp and take day trips to (kind of) nearby ghost towns. Shaves off that first three hours quite nicely. We'll see.

Him and Her

I took some items from my parents' garage sale last weekend. My mom was selling these two ink drawings my Grandmother had brought home from Bali. I'm not sure they fit my decor but I actually remember them hanging in her house in Minden, so I was sold. I've posted a picture below. I was too lazy to switch out the fisheye so whatever.



I think I'll hang them vertical beside my bookcase. Then I can always be reminded of my grandparents when I look at them. I tried looking up 'Him and Her' in Indonesian but my crappy internet connection has failed me. I can't decide if the internet is just really bad or my computer is dying. Maybe I'm lucky and it's both.

Onyx and Cake

I just got back from a nice Mother's Day dinner with my family. I didn't have flowers for my mom, but I do want to surprise her at some point with some. Either at her office or at home. Sadly I probably wouldn't be able to find her office on campus. But she always surprises me at my office with flowers on my birthday so it's time to return the favour.

I stayed over with momsy and dadsy on Friday, so I could be ready bright and early for a garage sale. The weather was supposed to be horrid but my mother asked me to stay in hopes that it turned around. We were up at 7 and preparing, and people were already hovering at the end of our driveway. My dad hates garage sales so he left in a huff. I told him I don't love them either but supporting each other is something we just do. Not sure I got through to him. We sold pretty much nothing, which was a disappointment. We had some good stuff. A barely used bar fridge for $30. A set of Love Seats for $50/each (though I'm sure my mom would have accepted less). We did sell a small antique item we inherited. The woman who bought it had had the exact same piece until her son-in-law sat on it. So the story goes. She was pretty happy to have a replica to keep the memory alive.

I've skipped books and I'm now on Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. It took me a bit to get into it, but now I just don't want to put it down. I've also been spending my free time trying to learn Blackbird on the guitar, the Sarah McLachlan version. Even though it's just two frets up from The Beatles it's a bit easier for me. I'm not there yet but I'm working on it. Adam played me the intro when we tripped to Ottawa and I've been wanting to pick up the rest ever since.

I'm going to try to work out more. My parents recently got me an exercise bike, and I need to start using it more. I had been for a while, but I got interrupted. But it's back on. Giddy up.

Where Fore Art Thou Rhino

I went out last night for a drink in Parkdale at a bar called The Rhino. Son and I went down and then two of her roommates and their significant others showed up. The last time I traveled West of Dufferin on Queen was in 2006 to go to the Cadillac Lounge. So it's about time I rediscovered Parkdale. We each had a pint of the house beer, Rhino Lager. I think I've developed a pretty good taste for beer, but this one I did not like. The after taste of the first sip was like Rhino excrement. And although the after taste weakened as the drink continued I don't think that will be an experience I will be duplicating anytime soon. Maybe in 2 years when I find myself back at Rhino I'll think to myself "Didn't I once say this tasted like Rhino ass?" and I'll order one more just to prove myself right. But until then, no way Jose.

One couple left early, but the four of us went back to their place to watch Romeo + Juliet. That has been a long standing favourite Soundtrack of mine. I ended up leaving before the movie was over as the power went out and I was suddenly feeling very sleepy. Interesting end to the evening. All in all, good times.

Also, I need to kick myself for looking down on someone at work who didn't know Juliet's last name. Me: "Well I doubt it's Juliet Capulet so it has to be Montague."

Oakwood Shooting

How many shootings have to happen in your neighbourhood before you start to believe it's a little bit sour of a place to live? This will be the second shooting death since I moved to Oakwood last September. There has also a school lockdown due to shots fired, and recently a man was finally convicted for stepping onto an Oakwood bus and shooting someone point blank. I take that bus all the time. What is wrong with people? Gun violence is so pointless.

I want to stay here, until I decide to buy. So this neighbourhood better shape up. Cause I need a neighbourhood, and my heart is set on you.

Life And The Art Of Honda Maintenance

I got off work early on Friday so I could get home at a good time and head out for the weekend. I mean it's no big loss for my employer since I don't get paid for a second more than I'm in the office. God I hate being on contract. Nik showed up at my place shortly after and made last minute preparations for our trip. She had picked up a bunch of treats from the bulk barn, including the candy necklace featured in the picture. It was strange heading out and arriving at our destination so soon. Short trips rock.

So we stayed the first night in Belleville, north of the downtown in a Choice Hotel. It was fine, but we should have taken the ground floor smoking room just so we could have opened the door to get a breeze. We were blasting A/C on full and it was still hot. Woke up bright and early so we could get breakfast and have good time to check out. First we stopped at a craft show at the community centre. There were a few cutie things, but we didn't stay for too long. Then it was off to Picton to check into our next location.

Prince Edward County is a cute little place to drive around, and everything is so close. We took the hwy down through Bloomfield and stopped there. Again we went into a small church craft sale. There was a lot of knitted and crocheted items. Which were nice, but just not for me. There was a rescue kitty there that was up for adoption. I put my hand into the cage and she came right over and let me scratch her head. If I wasn't so allergic and poor I'd be interested in a furry bundle of joy of my own.

Then it was back in the car and off to Picton. I almost pulled over on the way to get a soda from the trunk (ice cooler) but we were there in less than 10 minutes. We stopped at the information centre, which turned out to be completely useless, but we picked up some pamphlets for later use. We headed to the motel to check in and were pleasantly surprised with the way the place looked. We approached the desk clerk and asked for a room for the night. She asked if we had reservations and we said no. Then in a completely snarky unsatisfactory tone of voice said something along the lines of "Well good luck getting a place in town, there's a fishing tournament on." Who does that? Isn't customer service your JOB. Ack.

To hell with Picton, we carried on with our PEC adventure without it. Up the road and around the corner we stopped at Lake on the Mountain to check out the view. Got some neat photos of both Lake Ontario and Lake on the Mountain. And also saw some old cars who were there to, as we learned later, participate in an old car show. The skies were starting to grey and the humid air accompanied with burst of winds we knew the rain was a-comin. Back in the car for us.

Down the street and around the bay we headed towards the Black River Cheese Company to take a look around. We both picked up some cheese and fudge, delicious. Across the road was a kitchy type gift shop so we stopped in there to see if anything tickled our fancy. I did get a good chuckle from the sign that said, "All unattended children will be given an espresso and a free kitten." Back in the car.

Up and over we headed towards the Sandbanks. As we were driving the rain started. And even though I really wanted to see them, I didn't want to pay a $10 admission fee to walk around in the rain. No thank you. So we turned around and left.

We headed back to Bloomfield as Nik found a Gluten Free store on her phone in the neighbourhood. Turns out we had already passed it once before but missed the giant "GLUTEN FREE" banner. Most of the Gluten free goods were frozen but the guy had a fresh loaf just cut and he sold it to her. Then it was back into Picton so we could walk around and check out the city. I bought a few books, we checked into another cafe advertised as being gluten free (they had a handful of gluten free snackies and that was it - disappointing). After a stop into Giant Tiger we decided we needed to find a place to stay for the night. It was between Trenton and Kingston (or maybe Bath - but only for comedic purposes), we settled on Trenton. Unfortunately, like Belleville, the hotels are off the hwy and not in the downtown core so we didn't get to walk around Trenton as we wanted. I was pretty pooped though so I didn't complain too much. We got some dinner, checked into another Choice and called it a night. Nik slept while I got drunk and watched The Life of David Gale. But I too eventually could not keep my eyes open anymore.

We couldn't find a single thing to do on the way home. Even most of the PEC attractions we went to came recommended, we didn't just find them. Last time I made a random stop on the way home from Ottawa it was to see the Marmora Quarry, but that came recommended by Nik so we were fresh out of ideas. I even went through a list of 30 ghost towns but none were on route. Though it has given me ideas for future weekend trips. Possibly just day trips. And now I need to do that house cleaning I never did, and get ready for work tomorrow.

Doings, etc.

I picked up a copy of I Mother Earth - Scenery and Fish last night from The Beat Goes On in Guelph. I also got an older Pearl Jam for $2.99. I Mother Earth was $1.99. I was out visiting with a friend, and trying to help with some Economics homework. I haven't flexed that muscle in a really long time. I thought it would be a lot easier for me to jump right back into it, but often there were things I just didn't know. I guess I can't beat myself up, since it has been almost 5 years since my last instructed class, and almost 9 years since I struggled through MicroEconomics myself. I say struggled but I did end up loving it in the end. We went out for an all you can eat sushi dinner. I definitely ate my money's worth, but felt not so good after. Vaguely reminiscent of an attempt to eat $15 worth of sandwiches and snacks at a conference in Ottawa.

I barely slept a wink last night. I think I finally got to sleep at about 5am. My mistake in the morning was turning off my buzzer alarm and thinking that holding my phone so I could snooze for 5 minutes was actually going to work out. I finally awoke at 10am and rushed to log on. Last night when I pulled in I thought, "Fuck it, I'm leaving my laptop in the car so I don't have to take it back and forth." So of course this morning would be one of the only mornings I actually needed it up here.

I took a power nap for lunch. I felt better at the time, but I'm going back to feeling completely wiped. I'm working from home today to avoid the commute and the feeling of being at work completely exhausted. I wouldn't have been able to power nap at work, that's for certain.

I'm heading to the Thousand Islands this weekend with the same friend. We don't have anything really set in stone yet, but it should be fun. My mom recommended visiting this lake on the top of a small mountain. I believe it's called - Lake on the Mountain. Real original guys, real original.

Also - Into the Wild - really good movie.

The Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

I almost died today, and yes that is an exaggeration, but not a complete one. Coming south on the 400 some expletive decided that from a stand still in the lanes going 401 West it would be a good idea to come into my 401 East lane. I was probably going about 70 at the time and had to slam down on the brakes. He also cut someone else off that was changing into my lane so instead of doing a bad merge and accelerating he did a bad merge and was stopped in my lane. I'm lucky that I could stop on time, and that no one was close behind me. Guys, I don't have collision on my car. If you hit me I am financially ruined, so please do not hit me. Pretty please. Unless I want to start eating Top Ramen every night to support payments for a new car, I'd like to not be hit.

My day with my aunt was really nice. She's just so adorable. She paid for some books for me at Chapters (which she did not have to do). And then she also paid for me to have dinner at her place. So I owe her something really nice.

She participates in this book club at her retirement home. I'm wondering if I'm ready for something like that in my life. Maybe not yet. I think I'll just keep up with reading on my own. I'm almost done Whale Music by Paul Quarrington (which I just found out through googling is also a movie). It has been an interesting read, but I've been stuck on it for a while so I'll be happy to move on. Up next is Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.

Also, I think a retirement home is the funniest place to have a meal. I heard a funny story about dentures, and overheard a disgusting comment about diarrhea. No shame. "Usually there's some substance but this time it just came right out." It took everything in me to not burst out laughing. Such a dinner table appropriate conversation.

The Informant

I saw The Informant! last night with Adam and Dawn. There was a not-too-great reaction, and a mediocrely-good. I on the other hand found the humour spot on. My knee actually got a few good slaps out of the whole thing.

I love Adam's cat, though I would like her more if she had trimmed claws. I don't think she knows the power of her own nails. We set up a little trap where I would lure her over to the couch with a series of nimble finger taps, and then Adam would lurch forward in attempts to grab her. It took her about one go around to figure us out, and instead of jumping up to play with my hand she would jump up as if to feign interest and then immediately bolt away before Adam could move in. She was like a swimmer twisting underwater to prepare for the next push-off. Except not underwater, and she's a cat.

I have some long neglected house chores to get to tonight. And tomorrow I'm going to see my great auntie in Newmarket. We're going to go for lunch and then cruise Chapters for hot reads. She's 89 and she's awesome. She kind of reminds me of my mom's mom, in the way that she's so delicate and classy.

C'est tout.

Mount Robson

I put up my new wall art today, "Mount Robson" by Lawren Harris. I picked it up from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, ON last Sunday. It was the perfect outing for a beautiful Sunday. I was googling Alex Janvier when I happened across the McMichael site, and it was the second last weekend to see the Woodsland exhibit (a collection of Native art including Alex Janvier and a new favourite Norval Morriseau). We were lucky enough to get a fantastic lecture from one of the gallery staff about the significance of a totem that was on display. It was quite interesting.

I let someone in front of me on the hwy today and he blew me a kiss. And although it was a strange and creepy gesture, it was nice to be acknowledged. It almost makes up for all the jerks that cut me off without even signaling. Almost.

The Beginning

I've never been one for words, but here it goes. Perhaps it will be an exercise in futility, or just maybe it will be the world's best blog, ever.

I'm working right now for a company that deals with investor communications. But as I have yet to successfully explain to another person what it is exactly that I do I'm going to leave it at that.

I really just want a place to write about the books I'm reading, or the places I'm visiting, or the dumb stuff my friends do. So we'll see what happens.