mattalexander

History/Historic Moments/Witnessing History

2009-01-20T14:36:05Z

I'm beginning to get the feeling that people are unable to directly witness/experience historic moments anymore. Moments are heavily mediated for those watching them unfold on television of course, but even in person. If you make plans and go to witness something historic then in your mind you aren't even experiencing it directly. You're already thinking about how you're going to tell your children about it, or you're videotaping it or already composing your blog entry about it.

I'm taking an existentialism class, so I apologize.

I'm sure there are plenty of things in the history books that nobody really noticed at the time. Actually, I'd say the most interesting historical documents are the most ordinary artifacts from previous eras. And things that we thought were historic at the time turn out to be not a big deal. Kennedy was not only the first Roman Catholic president, but so far the only one. of course nobody cares about that now, not because it's so common, but because from our vantage point it's so insignificant. Kim Campbell was our first female prime minister, an historic moment? well she wasn't elected, so maybe that throws things off.

I've shifted gears here. I didn't have much to say about how we perceive historic events, just that it'd be nice to be able to experience something without already being nostalgic about it. That's my biggest criticism about facebook. It's like instant nostalgia. Hey remember last night?! Oh my god! Here's all the pictures!

I hope Obama is a good president and I hope that in 50 years nobody remembers that he was black, just as nobody really cares anymore that Kennedy was a catholic.

Hello Christmas

2008-12-24T03:51:34Z

I like christmas.

It's nice to have a break between semesters. Even when working christmas was nice because it would get so busy but it was only busy because people were getting things for other people, which is nice of course.

I like coming to my parents' house and eating and drinking for free and without effort. I don't have to make anything or buy anything or anything. And there's cable. A pretty lazy way to be.

And I like christmas morning because there are presents. I do enjoy giving, but honestly it takes a back seat to receiving. It's always a puzzle to try to think about why certain gifts were chosen for me. Sometimes it's very strange, but almost never entirely inappropriate or insulting. Almost never.

The dinner? meh. Not big on the dinner. I like turkey okay but it's not my favourite and none of the side dishes really turn my crank either, although they're all quite well made. Snacks and treats are good, but christmas can be so excessive in terms of food and I tend to lose my appetite when the whole family is around. Probably because I can't really, properly relax.

I was watching The F Word tonight, a christmas episode, and I thought once my parents are old and Vivian and I are, uh, well once we have a place together, maybe it'd be fun to host christmas and thanksgiving. It would take the pressure off my brothers and their families and it would allow Vivian and I to have a family without having to give birth to anything. Plus I would make a mission out of it. I would do practice meals throughout the year and invite friends over to work on the menu and recipes. This would probably take place some years after my brothers had each attempted to host a holiday at their homes and when I was good and ready I'd have everyone over and nobody would want to host ever again, because of the shame. That would be nice.

Because you always want to be the one who gives the best gift, or brings the best dish, or whatever. Even those kinds of people who say grace would want to say the best prayer right? Even the three wise men were trying to upstage each other, that's why they didn't go in together on something really cool to give the little shit in the manger.

But that's the future. And we all know christmas is really about The Present(s).

My brain

2008-12-09T17:22:06Z

Today I sat on a panel of students for a discussion about ways to improve the effectiveness of University Career Centres and that sort of thing. It was interesting. It was kind of an odd thing to volunteer for I guess but hopefully I helped a bit.

In the middle of it, in fact, while I was speaking, I had one of those extended deja vu moments that I've mentioned in the past. I'd never had one while speaking or doing anything that required my attention however. It was a little frightening. It always feels a bit like I'm about to pass out, but I never do, and it always feels unpleasant, but then kind of pleasant, like when your foot or hand falls asleep and gets tingly. but in my brain.

So normally what happens when this feeling washes over me is I'll sit down, or curl up on the ground and wait for it to pass. In this case I was already sitting, and I was in the middle of speaking to a room full of grown up adults so I wasn't able to do anything I normally do. It lasted about as long as it usually does and I guess it wasn't really any different but as I spoke I also noticed the sensation, thought "what if i pass out" and continued to make my point. Multi-tasking eh?

there was a period a while ago when these little episodes began where I'd have one every once in a while. then they disappeared for years. I've been having them again recently, maybe starting a few months ago. usually in the morning. Sometimes after I get out of the shower at Vivian's house, but sometimes at my own home.

Looking stuff up online hasn't had any results, except for this story: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2c4f7afd-5a3a-4e52-a2fb-bc729692bfb4

Which isn't really what I'm feeling anyway. That article describes kind of a memory confusion, but this extended deja vu sensation I'm experiencing isn't really like deja vu, it's just like the sensation of deja vu. Like that creepy feeling surrounding deja vu. I don't actually feel like I've experienced that moment before, it just feels creepy.

In other news I'm moving into my brother's house. My email address remains the same.

Is up early in the morning.

2008-12-05T02:36:46Z

I have an exam at 8am tomorrow. Not too concerned.

So this nation elected a minority government again, and since this particular party that sort of won doesn't like to cooperate with the other parties, the other parties decided that rather than spend another term fighting and getting nothing done that they'd form a coalition and let the winning party know they weren't going to get pushed around because of a technicality.

The plan was that as a coalition the opposition parties would form a majority and would be able to get stuff done. It'd be the kind of stuff that all members of the coalition could agree on. Which would be great, because usually that kind of stuff gets left out to rot while everyone bickers and argues over the stuff that only one party wants to do.

But since the prime minister of the ruling minority party only wants to govern if he can govern on his terms, and his terms alone, he's convinced the governor general to put the whole term of parliament on hold while his party reworks their plan for the next term.

Now, hopefully they'll come back at the end of january with a budget and a plan that everyone can agree on, but my prediction is that it'll simply be something inoffensive and for the next four years or so nothing will get done and the prime minister will blame it on having a minority government. The country will sink deeper into a recession and he'll say, "See, I told you we needed a majority! Now let's have another election and this time you better give me a majority because there's no other way out of this mess!" And when that happens he'll use his power to give tax breaks to all the major corporations who'll use the money to open new factories in other countries where the labour is cheap.

OR the coalition will say, "don't matter, we still don't have any confidence in you, screw off" and they'll form their own government.

And everyone should just shut up about the separatists because they are good for the rhetoric and they won't be able to separate anyway, so just cool it.

A restored draft

2008-12-03T23:24:12Z

--- I just logged on to write an entry and it asked if I wanted to restore the last saved draft. I vaguely remember writing this, but I can't remember why it wasn't posted. Strange. Enjoy. I don't know when I wrote it. ---

I've brought out the mask recently. It's my cycling in cold weather mask and it makes me look menacing.

Lately people at school have been getting to know me better. I guess the Philadelphia trip had a big part to play in that. I wouldn't say I was forced into being social with my fellow students, but I do feel like I was somewhat coerced. I don't think I would ever accept an invitation to go to a bar, or a club, with anybody from school if we were just in Toronto, but somehow in Philadelphia I just got kind of swept into the night with everybody else. It was fun, sure, but I still kind of felt like the responsible, older person. Maybe I was drunkish, but at one point I followed one of the girls away from the pack as she approached a Taxi to see if he knew where a particular street was. I felt that she shouldn't have been alone on the street. She was twenty feet away from everyone else! Paranoid? I don't know, but it was the same kind of feeling as when my nieces and nephews are running around pointy furniture.

So I've loosened up around my classmates and now I'm funny. Sort of. Can't be sure if they're laughing with or at, but at least their laughing, and usually it's after I say something. Feels like I'm making them laugh anyway.

So I start to think, what if they found this journal? What if, god forbid, they found my old journal? Holy shit! What would they think of me then? What would they think, period. 1998? Most of them would have been about 10 years old. I was 18. Only 8 years difference, but you know there's a huge difference between a 10 year old and an 18 year old.

It's like I have this whole secret life. I actually kind of feel like my past is running parallel with my present. It's as if highschool and OCAD and Let's Frame It aren't in the past at all, just on another track. Maybe because it kind of seems like I keep starting over again. Or maybe...

I've been thinking a lot about time lately. Not to the point of neglecting other, more important things, but you know, here and there, notes and feelings. It was actually the opening chapter of The Time Machine by HG Wells that got me thinking about it anew. A Brief History of Time and The Elegant Universe also had me thinking about time in new ways of course but I read The Time Machine and Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey at about the same time and it was like a couple of shoves in the same direction. Then I watched Primer twice in a row, which was like taking an extra step to stabilize myself. Haven't watched Donnie Darko in a while, but that's another good one to get you unstuck from time. 12 Monkeys as well. And Memento. Because Memento addressed the most important aspect: Your relationship with time. Past events. Constructed realities. Panama. Etc.

I don't really want to get into it here, but consider a man who has been falling downwards for his entire life. Why should he think it possible to stop and go back up? How would he slow himself? What could he use for drag? Propulsion? He hurtles, we hurtle. But there are parachutes, rockets, hot air balloons, ramps, memories, intuition.

What would my classmates think if they read what I just wrote? We are planners after all.

One of my biggest ambitions

2008-11-02T22:17:04Z

To build a house that will last a thousand years.
Not only is Canada such a young country that it is currently missing thousand year old structures but it is my feeling that without someone, like me, making it a point to build a building that will last a thousand years it will never happen. The CN Tower won't last a thousand years, neither will the Banff Springs Hotel or the Parliament buildings. Why? Because these are all built from inferior materials. Inferior to what you ask? Rammed Earth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed_earth

Who's with me?

25 pound weights are HEAVY

2008-10-08T16:02:42Z

I've just started the P90X workout for the second time. I did it over the summer but tried not to be too vocal about it in case I quit. Well I didn't quit (although I didn't work all that hard at it), and I actually saw results. My arms are a lot stronger than before and my abs are much harder than before at least. I finished at the end of august and although I did see results I wasn't happy with the level at which I "bought it". I skipped quite a few workouts and the weights I used weren't terribly hefty.

So I've decided to do it again. I'm going to work out every day and really try hard this time, not be a lazy bones about it. One of the problems I had over the summer was that it would get so hot in my living room I felt I was at risk of passing out. But it'll be winter this time, maybe not so bad. Also, for weights I was using bottles of sand at first. I quickly upgraded to 8 lbs weights, but that really was not enough for a lot of the exercises. I recently purchased 25 lbs weights and WOW, there's a difference there.

Do you know how much two 25 lbs weights weigh? FIFTY POUNDS! Yeah, so even though each of my arms could do curls okay my legs really felt the weight. Not something I expected, although I should have. Today was Shoulders and Arms. Tricept, biceps and shoulders. Shit. I will improve however and then I'll punch your head off.

Went to Philadelphia, came back the other day.

2008-10-05T16:29:50Z

My class trip this year was to Philadelphia Pennsylvania, birthplace of the United States of America, America's first university, America's first Bank, America's first, etc, etc. And an old bell with a crack in it.

It was an urban planning trip, so many of us were actually more interested in going to the slummy parts of town than, say, Independence Hall. The trouble with that is, uh, you don't really want a bunch of middle class white kids wandering around the bad parts of philly. Yeah, you really don't. Seriously. Empty houses, empty lots, burned out buildings, huge 12 storey warehouse or factory buildings ABANDONED. Toronto doesn't know this kind of dilapidation.

My friends Rene and Adam rented bikes and rode around some sketchy neighbourhoods. Two different people who happened to see them approached them just to say, "be careful". That's a little unnerving.

But there are some cool things about Philly too. The Horticultural Society has been involved in turning some of those trash strewn empty lots into green spaces. It's simple. They take away the garbage, they lay some sod, plant a tree or two and put a simple, and low, picket fence around the property. It looks quite nice when it's done and the fact that it looks taken care of helps resist becoming another trash heap, even if it is surrounded by crack houses and more burned out brick walls.

What else did I like about Philly?

The transit system seemed pretty functional.

The architecture is really nice. The old colonial type buildings were quaint and simple and pretty and the new buildings, the sky scrapers and office towers were shiny and nice too. Even the older office buildings had a lot of that ornateness that you don't find in old Canadian office buildings.

What did I not like about Philly?

Went to two concerts, a local show at a bar called Kyber, and a big show, Stereolab, at the Trocadero (bit bigger than Lee's Palace). Both of those shows were over by 11pm. I know I've complained plenty about Toronto shows that go on forever, but surely there's some middle ground to be found. In Philly's defense the first show was on monday and the second show was on wednesday, but c'mon, being a weekday in Toronto has never forced anything to end before midnight.

Neighbourhoods. I did a lot of wandering around, and we had a philly planning student take us on a tour with our bus, and I can't say I found any neighbourhood where I'd want to live. Apparently North Liberties is an up and coming spot, and there's Manyunk about 30 minutes from downtown, but they're both so new. It'd be like moving into an affordable Liberty Village. It'd be nice enough but not particularly interesting.

Food?
I ate three cheesesteaks, one from an established place called Jim's and two from street vendors (because they were noticeably better). Breakfast was a free buffet every morning at the hotel. It was very american and filling and good. Dinners are a blur. Sometimes a couple of us would go out, sometimes I'd just eat a left over half cheesesteak. I honestly can't remember what I ate each day. Although I kind of skipped dinner one evening.

Each day from 5:30 to 7:30pm the hotel offered free drinks in the lounge beside the lobby. FREEEEEE. That included beer and mixed drinks and you weren't even really obligated to tip. They didn't even have a tip glass. On the last night we were there, Wednesday, they even had free hot dogs. It was strange, but it was great.

Now that I'm back, what do I appreciate about Toronto?

Low crime rate. A girl had her wallet stolen and the day we got there a police officer was shot and killed. The funeral procession went past our hotel.

Cleanliness. Just like they say.

Art Scene. It's easy to find galleries in the city. I only saw a couple of window displays in Philly.

Of course, Toronto is much more expensive to live in than Philly so I guess it balances out.

I'll be posting photos on Facebook eventually. Keep an eye open.

Whitby Roti

2008-08-28T00:53:27Z

I had a meeting with a planner in Whitby the other day. Rode my bike from Vivian's house to Danforth GO station, took the train to Whitby, rode my bike to the office not too far up Brock St S, but since I was early I rode around the area a bit more.

Downtown Whitby is small, unless there's some other downtown in Whitby it is really just about four blocks of shops along Dundas (Highway 2) with Brock St S cutting that in half with it's own three or four blocks of shops running North-South. then there are a couple of little side streets that have a couple of shops. Went into a particularly cluttered pawn shop and didn't see anything of value, for instance.

What really jumped out at my though was a Roti shop location just south of Dundas on Byron (one block west of Brock St S). A roti shop in Whitby? Well there was another one around the corner too, amazing! But they weren't open yet. So I went to coffee time and had a giant apple fritter (I'm sure I've told you about the giant apple fritters at coffee time).

After the meeting (which was very enlightening in many good ways) I rode around for a bit longer, basically to the extents of downtown before it became sprawlville, and came back to the roti shop. I got a boneless chicken roti and a can of coke, and I think it was about $9. It was a compact and heavy bastard, I guess just the way they should be, but I had to catch my train back so I wasn't able to eat it right away. That was probably for the best because when I finally did get to bite into it it was still very hot.

I actually couldn't wait to get on the train to eat it, so I started eating the thing while standing next to my bike on the platform. It was amazing. There were a lot of chick peas and potatos and nice big chunks of chicken. it was very saucy but I managed to keep it from dripping on me without too much trouble. The size was a bit smaller than I'm used to, but that worked out in my favour anyway since I was eating with my hands while standing. Plus it was lunch time so it was the perfect amount of food. Might have still be a little bit too much food, but I ate it all anyway. It really was fantastic, and I think I liked it a lot better than the Roti place on bathurst south of bloor. I'm sure there are better roti places than that in Toronto but sadly that's the only one I have eaten at.

So if you find yourself in Whitby head to Dundas and Brock St S, go one block west, then turn south down Byron, look to the left and go into the roti shop there. yum.

We Take Lovers, and other songs

2008-08-22T19:02:11Z

One of my many low-yield self-improvement projects this summer has been to import my entire cd collection to iTunes in the expectation that one day, some day in the future, I too may have an ipod, and when that day comes, if it ever comes, I don't want to have to import all my cds at that moment. I'm thinking ahead you see.

The other advantage to doing this is that I now have all my cds on my computer, which I can use like a giant ipod that gets really hot and is very heavy. It's not a perfect system, but when I'm at school working on something for extended periods of time it'll be easier to plug some headphones into the machine I'm already using instead of plugging them into an additional machine.

The wonderful part of this little endeavour is that I've been able to rediscover a lot of old music that has slowly been weeded out of rotation as a CD. Some of these forgotten gems are big hits from days gone by such as REM's Monster, or U2's Achtung Baby, but others include the small library of local independent acts who's paper sleeved babies have almost literally fallen through the cracks. Most of them are merely mediocre, but jesus, mary and joseph am I glad to have everything Mark Meeks has recorded since I've known him now on my computer.

This includes a small handful of KidGloves cds, two discs of music performed as We Take Lovers, and the seminal A 200 Ft Kitty. Glorious! And we can't forget to mention Jay Hosking's efforts Exact Match, from whom I have an indie compilation cd and the aptly named Paper Sleeves ep. I've even taken the effort to photograph the "covers" of these cds so that my itunes directory has appropriate images. Such fun!

Vincent Gallo

2008-08-21T13:39:48Z

Have you ever heard Vincent Gallo's album "When"? It's really really good, and the only reason I've heard it is because of my crazy dad.

My dad knew someone who's son had a radio show or something maybe. I don't know exactly. Anyhow, one day I came home to visit and he said there was a box of cds in the basement and I should have a look through and take whatever I want. There were a bunch of samplers and multiples of bad independently produced albums. There were a few that seemed maybe worth my time but the only one I listen to was what appeared to be a preview of Galo's "When".

I knew who Vincent Gallo was, I might have even known that he did some music, but I mostly just knew him from his movies, so this was of interest to me. I put on the cd and it was completely different from what I ever imagined her would create. I'm not a music guy so I'm not going to describe it except to say that it's a good album to listen to when you're lonely and sad and you've been up for the last 20 hours or more, drifting in and out of sleep and sobbing.

Dark K'niggit

2008-08-12T23:17:15Z

Finally saw Dark Knight this afternoon, in IMAX, with Vivian, exactly as I'd hoped to see it.

Vivian wasn't 100% keen on seeing the movie at first and she really didn't give a shit if she saw it in IMAX or what, but because I "really really" wanted to she conceded and happened to finish work early this afternoon, so we decided to go (me being a bum it was not difficult to clear my schedule).

So it was great. It had problems with reality, asked you to make a couple of leaps in logic, but overall didn't ask too much and was plenty entertaining along the way.

The film's biggest fault is Christian Bale's Batman voice, or growl, or whatever you want to call it. I don't mind him having a husky, menacing Batman voice, but if it gets difficult to understand, you gotta scale it back, and when he's pleading with someone with a gun to a child's head, and it's a fairly emotional scene, you might expect Bruce Wayne's voice to peek through a crack here and there.

But whatever, it was epic, it didn't drag ever, and it was exciting.

Oh yeah, Heath Ledger. He was great too. I can't say Oscar though because what the fuck, he's playing a character, and he's clearly playing a "character". At one point during one of his diatribes I actually found myself wondering, "where did this guy come from?" What I mean is, we know why Batman is fucked up, we get to see why Two-Face is fucked up, but why the fuck is the Joker so fucked up? His stories about how he got his scars are different each time he tells it. Ledger makes him a very interesting character but unfortunately there's nothing there to discover. Maybe the Nolan brothers can tell us about what they had to cut for time in the DVD commentary.

In the end Vivian really enjoyed, I thought it was great, and I at least was glad I saw it in IMAX. But it could have been louder. though maybe I'm deaf.

Went to Montreal -- Came Back.

2008-07-27T16:29:36Z

In lieu of a full cash bonus Vivian's boss decided to pay to send us on a trip. We decided on Montreal and Vivian decided to bring Rebecca and Dylan along for the ride (which was convenient because Dylan was able to borrow his dad's car, but of course that wasn't why we invited him, we love him! and he knows more french than us!)

It was a fun drive but Google gave us slightly inaccurate directions (made it seem like one highway seamlessly became another when actually there was a turn off we ended up missing) which led to a bit of a detour into the suburbs but we got back on track without any problems.

The Just For Laughs festival was on but we didn't have tickets to any events so we only got to experience the crazy street festival part of it. You know when you watch Just for Laughs on tv and they show some street performers and people looking wacky in between the stand-up acts? It wasn't like that. It was insane! Insane and menacing! We were there at night, after dark, so maybe it's more kid friendly during the day, but at night there are people in giant headed costumes, giants ants with pincers walking around attacking people, a horrifying band of marching drummers that will not stop if you are in their way, horrible floating things and information booth people who heckle passer-by en francais (something about noir chapeau caught my attention but I didn't know what was going on).

And that was just day one.

We had a loose plan to visit some galleries and other attractions, which was a lot more than the first time Vivian and I went. We even actively sought out poutine and bagels, went to nice restaurants and not just mall food courts and had a good time. It was just friday to monday but it was plenty.

It's a nice city, there are a lot of things about it I prefer to Toronto. The subway system makes more sense and the individual stations are much more open and bright seeming. Major tourist attractions like the Science Centre, Bio-Dome, etc. are either on a subway line or within walking distance, and its bilingual. The bilingualism of the city makes me feel shame. In any restaurant, store or anywhere else you go the people paid to serve you can serve you in ether english or french. Even if their english isn't go great it's better than my french. It's pathetic. When I become Minister of Heritage I'm going to do something about this country's waning bilingualism.

The drive back was uneventful and nice as well with many laughs and good cheer.

In all it was a great trip and did nothing to dampen my fondness for Montreal.

Not sure how else to conclude this, except that I'm excited for Phil because he recently told me that he'll be living there for 12 weeks thanks to a NFB grant. Whoo!

Dough!

2008-07-08T21:37:46Z

I like sandwiches, and I like rye bread for my sandwiches. Unfortunately Rye Bread usually comes in really long loaves, and when it is available in a half loaf it's still just days away from it's best before date. What a pain.

So I thought I'd have a go at baking my own bread. Rye bread of course. I looked up a few recipes and it seemed straight forward enough. I bought the yeast and the flour, and the molasses (?) and the Rye flour of course, and today I made bread. Super dense bread that tastes of molasses with a rock hard crust. It's terrible. The recipe makes 2 loaves and they both look like something from the dark ages. The only thing I can think of that I did wrong was that maybe I didn't wait long enough for the dough to rise before baking. The recipe didn't have any guidelines for time.

After two hours it looked like it had risen a fair amount, maybe not double, but for some reason I thought double sounded a little optimistic, plus I had to get back to Vivian's house before she did because she forgot her keys at home (mistook a mess of change for the door unlockers). So maybe I rushed it. there's probably a saying about how you can't rush bread or something, or at least there should be.

The stuff is awful. it really does taste more like molasses than rye, though there is a hint of rye somewhere in there. The whole ordeal cost me $13. Most expensive bread ever. But to be fair I still have most of a bag of flour, some rye, two packets of yeast, a shit load of molasses and a carton of milk so there's still potential out there. Maybe I'll try a regular bread, but throw in some of the left over rye.

I Love Oshawa!

2008-06-19T15:14:51Z

I made a trip into Oshawa last week to meet with a planner at City Hall and spent some time wandering around before and after. I have to say, I'm quite fond of downtown Oshawa. I know its scuzzy and dirty, and the people are mostly classless, but... There's so much POTENTIAL!

Haha, yeah, I guess you could say the only place to go is Up, but why is that a bad thing? There are a few nice old buildings, a couple of strips of road that could be perfect sites for development (what's most amazing are the amount of empty lots downtown. There's SO MUCH SPACE!)

I love that there are four comic/anime/roleplaying shops within an easy walk of one another. There are office buildings, apartments over shops, banks, and a retirement home right downtown and now a huge sports and entertainment venue, a clinic, a GREAT YMCA, soon a court house, etc, etc. Downtown Oshawa has a lot going for it. I think it's actually one of Durham Regions best kept secrets (wow I sound like a local newspaper). I mean it, but it's not going to happen on its own.

The planner I met with said the City of Oshawa just started talking about Urban Design in terms of dealing with applications for developments. Which is probably why every lot still has a huge parking lot despite the presence of at least two really huge parking complexes right downtown. Seriously, there are two, plus street parking, plus free parking around different buildings. Go figure, the pay lots are empty.

Anyway, this is just becoming a rant, which isn't entertaining or helpful.

My point is that Oshawa could have a good, healthy, clean and safe, productive downtown if anyone cared to try to make it happen. The city has done studies and prepared action plans and master plans but I don't see the implementation at all. The biggest thing i think it's going to take is for residents (and ex-residents, JAY) to realize that downtown Oshawa is a viable downtown but it needs people to actually believe it. I'm not talking about boosterism and "go out and support your downtown!" I mean, just fucking use the downtown. Live there, shop there, eat there.

Who knows, maybe once GM finally picks up and fucks off something new and good will start happening there.

The Man in the Tower

2008-06-06T15:45:09Z

I don't know about you, but I find the idea of sitting down to talk with the head (or one of the heads) of a major firm in my field to be a little intimidating. But I did it and it was pretty cool.

If course I gotta thank Vivian Hui for pushing me to do so and giving me the angle with which to approach him. Rather than send an email baldly asking for a job I requested to meet him to discuss a particular project in Pickering. The conversation led into the community design competition I'm entering with some friends and he offered to critique our plans once we had something to show. Cool.

But I didn't think it would be classy to ask for a job, since he didn't exactly offer. he did say, "So that's what you're doing this summer?", to which I replied, "Well I'm not working right now so yeah.". Oh well. I'll send him an email.

Today I've been sending out emails asking various Directors of Planning and Development at different municipalities if I could meet with them as well. The idea is that even if they don't have a job to offer it'll be good to meet them and there'll be a little 'in' next time I'm looking for work.

Thought I was a medium, turns out I'm a small

2008-05-20T21:22:52Z

Saw a new part of the city today. I had a job interview (which went well, but they'll let me know one way or the other on thursday or friday) at Yonge and Lawrence, and though I've taken the subway up to Finch many times before, and wandered around Yonge and Eglinton plenty, I'd never gotten off at Lawrence and walked around there. So that was nice. It's kind of like Yonge and Eg. but with fewer tall buildings. and it's kind of like Bloor West Village but with more heavy trucks on the road.

In preparation for this interview I thought I should buy some nicer shirts (at least). Vivian thought SHE should buy me some nicer shirts. Went to H&M, found 6 shirts of acceptable colours and decided that small sized shirts fit me better than medium sized shirts. I had no idea. I've been wearing shirts that are too big for me for so long! The upside of this revelation is that I now I feel like I look good in some clothes, as opposed to just feeling like I have clothes on. It's kind of neat.

The job interview, unfortunately, was not at a planning office, but a law office. If I get it I will be filing and sorting and data-entrying, and from the looks of the office I will have a lot of work to do. It's a mess in there. Boxes and folders just all over the place. It does not look like a professional office at all. it's really strange. I really hope I get the job though because planning companies aren't getting back to me at all, not even when I offer free help. Plus the subway ride will give me time to read, and it'll be nice to have a schedule again.

In the meantime I'm looking sharp in my new shirts. Ouch!

The Cut Throat

2008-05-14T20:32:58Z

I don't think I've talked much about my straight razor. I'm really enjoying it. I've got much better at shaving with it lately although it isn't quite as smooth a shave as some of the websites seem to claim.

What's wonderful about using the straight razor however, is that it forces you to slow down. Usually if I've been using the straight razor for a few days and then have to switch to the multiblade razor at Vivian's house I end up with a cut or two because I get spoiled by the ease of use. It sounds a little backwards but the difficulty of using the straight razor makes it a little safer and easier to enjoy.

Plus I feel like a badass when I'm stropping the thing.

Vivian watched me shave with it for a bit but she couldn't stand it so she left. Well, maybe she got bored, that's reasonable. It usually takes me ten to fifteen minutes to shave with the straight razor, like I said, it slows you down. But why wouldn't you want an extra 15 minutes of slow and steady in the morning? Let's you sort out your thoughts, forces you to get up earlier and prevents you from rushing around like a crazy person in the morning. That in itself is quite nice.

I was just so excited!

2008-05-05T16:04:08Z

I finally found that video again, the one in the previous post. I love it, but most importantly Vivian loves it and she was very disappointed when it disappeared from YouTube. I found it on some other site that I won't mention for fear of incriminating myself and had to post it immediately. Hence: No context.

That video was shot some time ago at the corner of Yonge and Charles where there is a Shoppers Drug Mart instead of a Coles. The guy's laugh kills me everytime, as does Vivian whenever she does her impression of the woman in the video. I don't know how long it'll stay on youtube, but I have it saved on my computer now so it will always have some kind of life.

Saw IRON MAN yesterday afternoon. It was great! You should see it. My only criticism is that I'm getting a little tired of Superhero movies where the big final battle is between two characters that are essentially the same. Spiderman vs. Venom, Ed Norton/Hulk vs. Tim Roth/Hulk, etc. What's really nice about Iron Man is that he's essentially Bruce Wayne without the angst, which is fun. He's fun! and Robert Downey Jr. is great. It looks fantastic, it moves quickly, etc, etc, it's a great fun movie.

Plus: Trailers for Indiana Jones, The Incredible Hulk, a new one from M. Night Shayamalan (with a horrible, terrible title), The Dark Knight, Pixar's Wall-E. All in all a great day at the movies... Except we went to the Yonge Dundas AMC, which has to be the worst designed movie theatre ever.

The lobby has no organization. You walk through the doors and you see an escalator before you see the box office. To get to the box office you must cross the path of the people who are heading up the escalator with their tickets. Two more escalators later and you're at the snack bar and where the theatres are. The lineups for the snack bar are also confusing as there is no structure to guide you. Vivian pointed out that the soft drink fountains are at the back counter instead of next to the till -- not efficient. AND we walked right into our movie without getting our tickets taken.

More criticism of the whole complex:
- No marquee on the outside of the building means it's hard to know there's a movie theatre there.
- The food court (still incomplete) places the food stalls along the outside of the building with the seating on the inside, meaning almost no natural light, and no way for people outside to see that there's a full sized foodcourt in there (I had no idea)
- There is no clear "Main Entrance" to the building. I thought the building was kind of just a bunch of stores but it's actually a kind of mall. There are common areas between stores, there's a food court on the third floor and more food and a shopper's drug mart in the basement. I had NO IDEA there was a Shoppers in there and I go by there everyday on my way to school.
- The bright side is that the Outside is the ugliest part of the whole thing. Everything else looks like it will be quite nice and clean when it's finished.

Finally Rediscovered!

2008-05-05T12:20:16Z

Gordon Ramsay

2008-04-29T17:20:14Z

Yesterday morning I lined up to try to get a wrist band so Vivian and I could get Gordon Ramsay to sign a copy of his new book Fast Food. Unfortunately there were at least a hundred people who beat me to the punch by about two hours. Oh well.

Apparently people in Burlington camped out for 24 hours to get a chance to see Ramsay. I figured it was just as well because we'd just have to wait in line for another three hours or more inside a crowded store.

Instead Vivian and I went to the Eaton Centre, checked out the situation at Indigo, had dinner at Mr. Greenjeans, then went back to Indigo to see if we could catch a glimpse of Ramsay. We did, we got to see him through the front windows, and took a couple of pictures. It was almost exciting.

He made a throw away comment about how he'd love to open a restuarant in Toronto that Vivian and I thought was for cheap thrills in the audience, BUT I was reading on the CTV website that he has actually been looking at a couple of properties and he had a lot to say about our skyline. Could you imagine if he built a restaurant on the Island? Would island residents be for or against, what do you think?

End of the Year

2008-04-20T21:23:34Z

I have two exams tomorrow, one on Tuesday and one on Thursday and then I start falling down down down into a hole the bottom of which I cannot see. Unless one of the jobs I have applied for over the course of the last three months called me back. The postings haven't all closed yet, so I may still hear from one or two fairly soon. If I don't then I may be in a bad situation.

I'm still sending out resumes though, I'm not just sitting around waiting to hear from here or there, but I am starting to get a little concerned.

However, this should not distract me from my studies. I've spent all this past week studying quite heartily. I'm actually very proud of my studying techniques and accomplishments. But today I just don't feel like there's anything more to study. This is, of course, untrue since I am not an expert on any of the subjects I should be studying for. I just don't know how much I can get out of my notes or the readings.

I'm not too worried though, I feel fairly comfortable with the materials and I'm looking forward to reading the questions and feeling my heart drop into my stomach. It'll be great.

Ryerson sure is quiet at 8:30am on a Sunday

2008-03-16T12:59:18Z

TWO DAYS AGO:
- Assignment due for Statistics for Planners. Lots of math and details. It was kind of a priority because I'm not doing so well in that class, so i wasn't able to devote as much time to the stuff due this week.

MONDAY:
- presentation and essay about Toronto's Ravine Protection By-Law due
- response paper on Neuromancer due for English - Science Fiction

TUESDAY
- Test on The Biotic Layers for Planning Studio
- Essay due for Urban Governance, still not 100% sure what I'm going to write about.

So it's 9am on a Sunday morning and I'm at school. The library doesn't open until 10 so I'm on my laptop in one of the lounges. It's warm enough, a little cozy, I've got a poo brewin' and I'm ready to do some work. Whooah.

Also: There was a lot of police activity going on at College and Spadina when I passed by at about 8 or so, so check the news. I haven't been able to find anything yet though.

UPDATE: http://blogto.com/city/2008/03/comfort_zone_busted_in_early_morning_raid/

The Comfort Zone was being raided by the police. Apparently there were tables set up with drugs to buy, like Canzine but more high.

Coffeeing

2008-03-12T02:54:38Z

I blame Jay Hosking for starting me on a way of routine coffee consumption. We met for lunch one sunny september day at Vegetarian Haven on Baldwin St. and decided to order with our meals a pot of coffee to share. He had suggested it and I shrugged my shoulders why not.
I guess that's how people start smoking too.

I liked the coffee all right but wasn't too excited by it. Consciously I knew of the jittery benefits of the drink and I think Jay mentioned something about a heightened level of brain function or something that sounded neurologically advantageous so the next time I was feeling logey at school I swung by the cafeteria and got myself a cup.

I tried it with a single packet of raw sugar and just a splash of milk. It was all right and it seemed to help my disposition somewhat. Soon I found myself paying for a reusable coffee mug branded with the Ryerson logo, to reduce my carbon footprint (plastic and stainless steel, you know, renewable materials), and specifically seeking out fair trade coffee to ease my conscience about exploiting an underdeveloped civilisation (of course if fair trade wasn't available I would still pour myself a cup).
Soon I was drinking a cup of coffee if not once a day then 3-4 times a week, usually at about 3pm, usually just before my last class or at the start of afternoon study session.

This afternoon I got a cup after returning from a somewhat tedious bus trip through the towns within the Credit River watershed (a field trip with my planning studio class). I drank it while reading through a paper from 1993 titled, "Impacts of a General Motors Plant Closing on the City of Oshawa, Ontario" written by a student in partial fullfillment of the requirements for graduating from my program. I have a paper due on Tuesday that I think will have something to do with Oshawa but I haven't decided what exactly just yet.

I went home after that and made some dinner before continuing on a paper about Toronto's Ravine Protection Bylaw that is due on monday.
At about 9:30pm I made some coffee and began drinking it. Now I fear I will be forced to stay up until at least 1am, when the night is dark and deep, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.

New York greets Matthew Alexander with Warmer than Usual Weather. Then Freezes solid.

2008-03-01T19:33:47Z

i created a pocket-sized guide book for myself with each day broken into 'morning', 'afternoon' and 'evening' with a separate page for each and ample room for adjustments or notes. what follows is a transcription of the notes written for each day.

MONDAY MORNING

Ended up taking an earlier bus than planned last night. Arrived in New York at 7:45am instead of 11:00am. Haven't eaten yet. Decided to walk down Broadway from the Port Authority Terminal near Times Square. Started out a little sketchy, went the wrong way at first but it worked out. Found my way to the World Trade Centre site. A little depressed by it but its not so bad. The city seems quieter than it should be, but it's President's Day so I guess it would be. Its gray and wet but not very cold. I'm going to get out a map, figure out where I am and take a subway back up to Penn. Station/Madison Square Gardens, eat something and start walking up Broadway towards the Hostel.
written at Battery City Park in front of the Irish Hunger Memorial

MONDAY AFTERNOON

Okay another long walk following an already long walk. Took the subway to Penn. Station, had a bite to eat and walked up Broadway, as promised all the way to w 101 St. where the hostel is. feet are dying. plus the sun came out and was at my back so having the backpack became a problem. Surprisingly the walk didn't take as long sa I thought and I was past times square and above central park 2 hours before check-in time. They tried to up-sell me on a $2 luggage storage until I could check-in but I reminded them about their lockers so they let me go up and claim one. Left my bags there and went for a walk further up Broadway until the subway came out of the ground, then made my way back south along riverside park. Saw General Grant's tomb. Sat and read for school until it suddenly started pouring rain. Luckily very close to the hostel. So i hung around until check-in. Saw Times Square but didn't wander around there yet. Haven't been to Greenwich Village yet. We'll see how I hold up.
turned out that I had been through greenwich village, and soho, and little italy during my trek down broadway but those local neighbourhoods were overshadowed by broadway's own pressence

MONDAY EVENING

Didn't go to the Rock show as planned, couldn't kill that much time. Although I tried. I wandered greenwich village for a bit. It's strange, or different, how New York neighbourhoods are whole areas while Toronto neighbourhood are more like strips. NY neighbourhood have shops on every street, around the corners and everything. Toronto neighbourhoods just have a main strip. After the village I headed to Ludlow where The Cake Shop (and Katz' Deli) is. Found an internet cafe. Jay is in New York now as well. AM 640 radio in Toronto emailed me about doing an on-air interview with John Oakley about the rats but I didn't get back to them in time. Waiting to hear back about other options. Went to a stand-up open mic at The Laugh Lounge. decided to do a set. The silence was deafening. the difference a crowd of your friends makes! Made my way back to the hostel around 10. Couldn't get into my room. Another couple showed up though and opened the door. There didn't seem to be enough bed. Turned out this large, flamboyant gay man had strewn his stuff over two beds so it looked like more were claimed than was supposed to be. Got a blanket, woke up at 5 from the cold. think a window was open. Earplugs protected me somewhat from the snoring of others. Didn't sleep great but not too bad. Shower in the morning was hot and wonderful. So far it's the best thing about this hostel.

TUESDAY MORNING

Like I said, a good shower this morning but I under-dressed a bit for the weather. Maybe it was the perfect balance though, not too hot at the museum but not warm enough outside. Guess that's okay - spent more of the day inside anyway. Got a bagel at some sandwich, soup, bagel and coffee plae on the way to the museum. Everywhere is either a concenience store/deli with no seats or its an over styled take out sandwich thing place with way too many options. Not intimidating, just irritating. The American Museum of Natural History was amazing! From the huge dino fossils in the lobby to the greatest dioramas ever and a crap load of taxidermy. Wow, it really puts the ROM to shame and it'll take a lot more than an exterior facelift for the ROM to catch up. The place is huge. They should sell two-day tickets. Just after I left I passed Michael Richards (Kramer) who was riding a bike on the sidewalk. He didn't look like a racist, or even any kind of jerk. Looked like he was enjoying himself. Took a quick walk across Central Park to the Guggenheim. Nothing too exciting in the park but it looks nice. Sadly the goog is undergoing exterior restoration so my picture isn't too exciting. Inside: WOW, so much wow in this city. Maybe I was just blown away by the building, but that is a great gallery and the work in it only benefitted from the archetecture. The first thing: Something like 9 cars suspended in the atrium in stages of falling with electric fireworks spraying out of them in different colours. A little unsettling to be beneath but amazing. Next: A bunch of fake, life-sized tigers posed ferociously and stuck with countless arrows.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

(continued from previous page)
Not bad but what caught my eye was further up the spiral floor. Some wolves, quite a lot of worlves. But I wasn't there yet, i could only see them from the lower part of the gallery. The beauty of this gallery is that you can almost see everything in the gallery at once. This draws you up to get a real close look. Any other place and you never know what your missing. Here you know what you'll miss if you leave before you get there. If you get that. So the wolves: 99 stuffed fake life sized wolves arranged in a long, running pack, tongues wagging, tails bristling. As a pack they rise into the air until their backs brush against the ceiling. Finally where the pack is most dense, they slam into a clear glass wall upon which they fall into a heap. Sounds a little gimmicky I guess, but genuinely powerful. Lots of energy. The artist, can't remember his name, is chinese, uses a lot of gunpowder in his other work. Does coordinated explosions and gunpowder drawings by arranging gun powder on a canvas and lighting it. Kinda neat. Something that hadn't opened yet was a recreation, or remounting, of an installation of life size clay sculptures of oppressed chinese peasants. its based on an old communist project from Mao times. so part of it is that the sculpture are created on-site and when I was there they were only half through it, but they looked AMAZING! Bought a set of magnets.

After the goog I called jay and met him and Penny in greenwich village, or washington square. I don't know what it's called. Had a fallafel, wandered around. Penny had class, NYU...

TUESDAY EVENING

...so Jay and I went to a place called Crocadile Lounge. No light outside, down a couple of stairs but not sketchy at all despite FREE Pizza with every beer!!!! Can you believe it!?!?! Each and every purchase of a glass of beer ($5) also pays for a free personal size pizza. It's a small pizza with just sauce and cheese, but it's pretty good and is IS a free pizza. Not bad! After that we browsed a big comic store, then a HUGE used book store called Strand Used Books. Kind of puts BMV to shame but it's a little overwhelming. I'll have to go back on my own. Jay was looking for a gift for penny but didn't find anything. Oh well. the trip is going great. The days are long, my feet are killing me but it's very cool.

Got back to the hostel, watched last half of "Guess Who" the remake of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, starring Bernie Mack and Ashton Kutcher. Not as bad as I expected but still not good. Got an email from a Toronto Star writer about the rats. Crazy. Gotta poo but I'm chanrging my camera battery. Ran out of juice at the same time my first tape ran out at the Natural History Museum. But that's okay because there's no photography at the good anyway. OH, and a very drunk girl almost fell up the stairs at the hostel as I was coming downstairs. I asked if she was okay and she asked if I wanted to get into some mischeif. I said no thanks. eek.

WEDNESDAY MORNING

I slept so much better last night. I guess they closed the window because it was nice and warm in the room. I didn't go up until about 1am after waiting for my camera battery to charge. Eventually though I had to poo, so that's what got me going. I woke up just before my alarm and had another good shower. Drank some water, watched some Sin City, did some reading, charged the rest of my battery (but decided not to bring the camera with me). Took the subway to Rockafeller Plaza and had some breakfast while watching the ice skaters. That rink is much smaller than I expected. Smaller than Nathan Philips Square I think. Went to the NBC store and found my way to the MOMA. Plenty of good stuff at the MOMA but it's a bit too Labrynthine, easy to miss stuff or feel like you've missed things. I asked about Canadian Artists but no one could help me. Took pictures of people taking pictures of famous paintings. Might turn it into some art of my own. Overall the MOMA was a bit disappointing, or underwhelming. The famous works weren't any more powerful and the rest were uninspiring. EXCEPT: Francis Bacon and a handful of conceptual pieces. The store was a complete waste of time. overprixed, overdesigned crap.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

I ordered ticket for Letterman a few weeks ago, so they were waiting for me at the Ed Sullivan Theatre but getting them was a complicated process. Line up, be sorted, line up, get a speech and instructions on where and when to line up again. Do that line up an hour later, line up inside, get another speech about how we have to laugh hard and loud, then get rushed into the theatre and shown where to sit. very efficient and amusing but ma I would have liked to sit a bit sooner. On my ay to the first line up I got a great hot corned beef sandwich with mayo, mustard and cheese at a deli around the corner. So good!! But nowhere to sit, so i had to walk and eat in the freezing cold. The funniest thing about the letterman process is the young, good looking army of pages/interns who try their best to pump up and keep pumped the audience. They just smiled and clapped and jumped up and down along to the music as everyone was seated and as the band played a couple of songs they stood at the front and bounced and clapped and smiled. Very strange. Guests were Amy Sedaris and Foo Fighters, both were great but I was too busy over-laughing to know if it was actually funny.

WEDNESDAY EVENING

So the plan was to meet Jay and Penny near Union (or washington) square and then head out to brooklyn with their friends to go to a bar for rockstar karaoke where anyone can get on stage and sing with a live band. I agreed early on but by the time it was dark I was beat and irritable. After letterman I was going to go back to the hostel to relax and drop off my stuff but instead I wandered The Shops at the Circle - high end shopping mall. Then it was too late to go back and out again so I slowly made my way to the rendezvous. I tired to find somewhere to eat but settled on Wendy's. I was cold and tired and a little fed up. I met jay anyway so we hung out for a bit util penny and friends shoswed then we went our separate ways. I have also decided to go back to Toronto on the saturday morning bus so i have sunday to recover and I can watch the oscars. I miss Vivian terribly and I can hardly stand it.

THURSDAY MORNING

Went to bed around 11 and slept very well right up to about 5am when the big man in the room started snoring horribly. it sounded exactly like someone sucking up the last bit of coke with a straw, then blowing it out again. So phlegmy and awful. I had set my alarm for 6:30 and got up then after an hour of trying to sleep with the snoring going on. The idea was to get to the Empire State Building right at opening at 8, followed by the Met right after. Empire was pretty great but I don't know what it is I almost get weepy whenever I think of the World Trade Centre. There even an ad for a restaurant started b the survivors of the restaurant at the top of the WTC. 72 of the people who worked there died that morning! and the audio tour had a few things that were specifically post-9/11. Makes me sad. So that and the absence of Vivian at the top of the Empire State building made me kind of mopey. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was okay but mostly overwhelming. Hard to navigate and uninteresting. I'm starting to question the purpose of going to see art you've already seen in poster form. The only work you're interested in is the famous stuff and it's never as impressive as you hope. plus CAN EVERYONE JUST GET OVER PICASSO!! I hope I never see another Picasso in my life.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Had lunch at a chinese restaurant after walking across Central Park to see Strawberry Fields. The food was good and inexpensive, but i bet there's cheaper and better. Went to Beard Papa too and concluded that New Yorkers are obsessed with foods that are so overburdened with filling (usually creamy) that they squeeze their contents everywhere as you bite into them. Bagels with Cream cheese, deli sandwiches, cream puffs, etc. Something else for the record, no places seem to have double doors to keep warm/cold air in/out of the buildings.

Wandered midtown to find the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz, stumbled upon Grand Central Terminal at the height of rush hour which was awesome and so much crazier than union station. Very impressed by the food court there by the way, great variety of kinds of food and not primarily franchises. Made my way up 5th Ave. and eventually found the Apple Store and FAO Schwartz. pretty cool but beyond the glass cube entrance the apple store was just like any other apple store. FAO Schwartz though was AMAZING! I felt like a kid ina toy store. Go figure. i got really giddy actually as I found things for the children in my life, including Vivian.

THURSDAY EVENING

I found dinner right across the street from FAO Schwartz at a place called Pop Burger. Highly designed interior and overpriced but pretty damn tasty. They serve gourmet style mini-burgers and really good fries. They're also licensed so I was able to enjoy a beer with my burgers and fries, which I appreciated greatly. After that I was feeling pretty good, walked to the subway and am now ready to settle into a relaxed evening at the hostel. They're showing Hitch which is a little easier to watch then say, Sin City for the third time.

FRIDAY MORNING

Slept in a little today. last night I was awoken at 12 by the snoring of not the big guy, but the asian guy in the bed next to mine. A guy in the bottom bunk was laughing about his snoring and when I looked I saw the asian guy was rolled half off the bed with his arm hanging down. i tried to wake him up but he wouldn't stir. It was horrible. This morning I had plans to meet Jay in brooklyn so i went a couple hours early and wander around DUMBO a bit. Big brownfields stuff going on there. Sort of like libery village meets the Distillery district. Met Jay and Penny for lunch then went to the New York Transit Museum. neat to sit in the old subway cars, look at old pictures and stuff. Jay and I took the subway back to Manhattan for the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art but it was closed, so we did a bit of shopping, didn't buy anything, went to Teany, the vegan tea shop co-owned by Moby (expensive). Oh yeah, looked out the window this morning and the city was covered in snow! the whole city is covered and its still coming down, pretty amazing, but not cold enough, so it's a bit wet.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

Jay went to meet Penny when she got off work so I tried to find some art galleries in Chelsea but got tired prety quickly, had to pee, feet were getting wet, etc. Jay said he'd call or text when he knew what their plans were for the evening but I just wanted to veg. So i texted him and said I was staying in for the night. Watched the end of Superbad at the hostel, then all of a terrible movie called "The Pumpkin Karver", and now they'v got The Good Shepherd on. Blech. It's my last night in New York. I would feel more obligated to do something if Vivian was here but instead I just can't wait to get home. where it's cold and slushy but at least I don't have to do anything.

FRIDAY EVENING

Pretty much can't wait to get home. Bought some papadum chips and a large can of beer and watched a couple of movied before heading to bed. In the room a few of the guys were chatting so i joined in until the large flamboyant snorer left the room and the conversation died. Oh, when I went to my room there was a Macy's bag on the bed I've been sleeping in all week. The japanese guy who in one of the other beds said he didn't know who it belonged to. The middle bed was clear by there were things hanging off it, and I had no way of knowing if the bag belonged to someone new or if the guy in the bunk below me had just left it on my bed. So I moved it and got into bed. At midnight I woke up to the sound of an irate middle aged black woman lecturing me about hostel etiquitte and that you don't touch another persons things and she doesn't care if I'd been sleeping there all week (which I didn't even have a chance to mention), and she's sick of white people thinking they're entitled to everything, and on and on. I said worry and I tried to say, "you're right, I'm sorry, should I move?" but she didn't even let me get a word in before leaving the room! The Macy's bag was gone and I assumed that she had gone to another room. At 5:30 this morning she came into the room and started rustling plastic bags, including the heavy paper Macy's bag which made a lot of noise. She had the door propped open for light and went back and forth from the door to her bed, crinkling plastic bags and moving things here and there. After 30 minutes of this she left the room and my alarm was about to go off anyway so I snuck out of the room and got ready for the day. CRAZY!! I thought I was going to get stabbed in the back!! The worst thing though is that she left her key in the door while she was gone! Talk about hostel etiquitte, just leave the key in the door for anyone who wanders by to take so they can come into the room and steal everyone's stuff! I, of course, never left any of my stuff in my room. it all got stuffed into my locker.

SATURDAY MORNING

I had a nice, greasy breakfast at a diner around the corner from the hostel before making my lazy way down to the bus terminal. I was going to catch the 10am bus to Toronto, but the 8:30 was boarding so i got on that instead, not realizing there were about ten stops on the way. It was a long bus ride but i read all of Neuromancer from start to finish and everything went smoothly. I realized I'd been a little sad and mopey all week but I didn't realize how homesick I was until i saw the CN Tower. I wanted to Hug it!

I took the subway to Bathurst, got some samosas from the Village Market and a bottle of Wine from the wine rack and had myself a quiet little wind-down.