5 posts tagged “weekender”
Today was a hard day. This is amusing, given that I had enjoyed last Saturday so much, I simply *expected* this Saturday to be absolutely fabulous too. Ah, the perils of attachment!
I hate being late to anything, but especially to my classes. The King streetcar, never terribly reliable, wasn't running on time and after just barely missing a streetcar (it was pulling away as I ascended from the subway) I waited for over a half-hour for the next one. Fortunately, I allow extra time in case this happens, but it meant that instead of having a leisurely coffee at the club, I was sprinting down Sherbourne frantically trying to make it on time.
I was beset my a whole variety of other mishaps, but I have a favourite - it still makes me giggle (in retrospect) when I think about it:
I was at the market and feeling peckish so I decided to treat myself to a samosa from my favourite vendor in the North Market. I lined up politely and was just about to ask for a vegetarian samosa when a couple cut in front of me. They were very demanding, so in the interest of harmony, I let it slide. I was in no hurry and besides, there was a whole bucket of samosas. They proceeded to buy the entire lot - in fact, there was one vegetarian samosa left and the guy said “Oh, give me that one too.” By the time it was my 'turn', the only remaining samosas were chicken. Bah.
So I had a peanut butter cookie for lunch and was just a bit sulky about it. ;-)
On Saturday, after my morning class, I rode out to the Toronto Islands on my favourite ferry, the 'William Inglis'. The Inglis was headed to Ward's Island. For some reason, riding this ferry is always a less frenetic experience for me than riding the Centre Island Ferry. Less people, I think, and most of them are locals - not tourists. I really enjoyed the ride. I grew up on a boat, so there's something very soothing about the motion of a boat moving through water. I felt myself soften as I watched the water pass outside.
Once we debarked at Ward's, I rode out to my favourite little 'secret' beach. Tourists don't come to this one because they don't know about it. The people who use it are mostly Islanders (there are small communities of tiny cottages on Ward's and Algonquin Islands) and a few city people. The beach was not crowded at all, the sun was warm and the sky was clear. The lake just sparkled. I lounged on a blanket and read a good book, munched on trail mix and enjoyed the view of the water. I rolled over on my back and watched the birds fly overhead, and the occasional monarch butterfly.
A humourous side note: I have to be very careful of my skin because of the medication I'm on, and this includes sun exposure. I found a 30spf sunblock that is scent-free, oil-free, dermatologist-tested, and hypoallergenic (guaranteed not to cause new Mystery Rashes!). I now understand why most sunblock is heavily scented with various perfumes. Sunblock by itself smells horrible!!! But it did the job. :-)
I spent a good three hours lolling around on the beach, then got dressed and went for a long bike ride. I rode all the way down to Hanlan's Point, then back to Ward's Island. It's been years since I've bicycled on the Islands and it was so much fun - the air just seems fresher out there and though the roads were crowded with people, it was nice not to share it with cars.
Back at Ward's, I stopped at the snack bar and bought a delicious homemade muffin which I then enjoyed on a grassy spot looking out on the city. Then I caught the Inglis back to the city.
Perfect day!
Lately, I've been spending way too much time on my computer or, more specifically, on the Internet. If you like, I can get even more specific: I've been spending too much time in that black-hole-for-time, Facebook and its time-sucking cousin, GoogleReader and don't even get me started on Twitter, LJ and Vox. I love it all. Too much. This doesn't mean I've been actually posting anything to these sites - I've just been reading. I can kill *hours* just reading.
So I went offline and this is what I learned: I can't really go offline because my whole damned life is online. Seriously.
So I didn't really go offline, but I did shut off the browser and only used it to do actual work. What happened next wasn't revolutionary, but it's still interesting to reflect upon how much actual work I've been able to blow off because I'm busy telling everyone on Twitter that I'm not doing any work.
What I did this weekend:
- I dusted my bookshelves. Can't do that and browse Facebook at the same time, I tell ya.
- I archived my business website and started posting to it again.
Sadly, I updated that site *more*when I was working two jobs. *hangs
head in shame*
- I wrote a letter to the child I sponsor in Bangladesh.
- I wrote a long overdue thank-you note.
- I wrote my friend M an email, in reply to his email of, oh...five months ago?
- I prepared a package to send to friends in Edmonton and then I mailed it.
- I updated my books and went to the bank.
- I repotted the plant that lives on top of the bookshelves.
- I explored various options for getting new business cards.
- I wrote up a preliminary packing and to-do list for my upcoming camping trip.
- I shopped for groceries and prepared my menus for the the camping trip.
- I did a lot of reading.
- I watched two episodes of the West Wing, first season.
The result of this flurry of activity? I feel less inclined to allow myself to be sucked into the web vortex.
So this is what I did:
- I seriously culled my RSS feeds (by over half). Anything that isn't interesting, educational or inspiring is GONE.
- I made a vow that I will not read anything in the Mac feeds that's
related to the iPhone. This pretty much ensures that I will not be
reading about 90%of the content of those feeds.
- I'm limiting myself to two (2) Facebook updates/checks per day and five (5) Twitter updates/checks per day. Or less.
End result? I now have time to blog. ;-)
In Canada, we enjoyed a holiday long weekend with Victoria Day (Queen Victoria's Birthday). From a practical standpoint, this doesn't mean much to me since I teach classes on Saturday and Monday is always my day off. But it did mean that many of my friends were free and in a festive mood so the weekend was full of fun.
Here's a recap:
1) Movies: On Friday, I attended the premiere of Infest Wisely, a film that was made in Toronto, shot around my neighbourhood and in my favourite neighbourhood park, and featured cameo appearances by three of my friends. The film was comprised of seven related episodes, each with a different director. I found the film fun and thought-provoking, though it was slow in spots and I sometimes found it difficult to piece the various plot elements together. I started getting sleepy near the end. I didn't stay for the Director's Q&A because I was headed to another film (with the requisite stop at Tim Horton's for caffeine). I saw the film 'The Gymnast' presented by the Toronto InsideOut Film Festival. I go to at least one festival film every year. This one was excellent. I found the story believable and well-presented and the acting was great. Of course, gorgeous women doing circus manoeuvres on rings and silks certainly added to my enjoyment! ;-) After the film, I hung out with friends in the swank lounge at Hotel Intercontinental. I highly recommend the potato chips. ;-)
3) The joy of gelato: You know that old story about people leaving town for the Victoria Day weekend? It's a myth, I tell ya! The coolest people stay in town! Sunday night, I met up with a few them at Dolce in Little Italy for yummy Gelato and great conversation. I was delighted to see my friend Orange Poppy again. Her daughter has grown so tall and seems like a young adult now, rather than a child. I had two gelato flavours (it was hard to choose from all of the vibrant colours in the display), Vanilla Capuchinno and chocolate. It was delish and fun to hang out with so many cool people!
4) Drumming for fun and profit: My friend E recently acquired a d
rum from African Crafts and Drums on Dundas (owned by my lovely friend Saikou). On Monday morning, we went to the Baldwin Steps for an impromptu jam session where I had my very first busking experience. There, we met tourists and made new friends, including a New Orleans drummer named Tony Poo Pow Oola Boola (I'm probably spelling that wrong). We put out a hat for contributions, but that was really secondary to the vibration of the lovely day and the rhythm. We even made a few coins.
5) Fireworks on the beach: I topped off my weekend with a fabulous beach picnic and fireworks, surrounded by gorgeous women (and bundled up within every inch of my life - it was chilly out!). The fireworks at Ashbridges Bay were particularly good this year. My favourite was one one that exploded into a huge umbrella of light above our heads and then trickled down in meandering sparks. Fabulous!
My weekend was jampacked. It started on Thursday, with Sonnet L'abbe's launch at the Trane jazz club. Sonnet and I briefly worked together when I was webmistress at the December 6 Fund of Toronto a few years ago. I was delighted to be invited to her book launch. It was a lovely time.
Author Alayna Munce opened up by reading a few poems by other authors (from the publishing company that published Sonnet's book) and one of her own poems. Her poem really struck me because it was so conversational and flowed very smoothly while still delivering an emotional impact.
There was this one line that gave me a chill of recognition: "Everybody has more than their share of something..." I spoke to Alayna as I was leaving and mentioned how that line had affected me, but it was difficult to put into words. The poem alludes to the burdens that all of us carry. I'm planning to read her novel When I was Young and In My Prime. It apparently has the same conversational, poetic style that grabbed me at the reading.
Sonnet's reading was amazing. Many of her poems are compromised of sounds and word play. To hear her read one of her own poems is to experience a performance. She has an amazing voice and projects emotion when she reads. I don't go to many poetry readings, but I'm glad I went to this one. I'm enjoying her book, Killarnoe, and reading it slowly, savouring each poem. I love the fact that talented authors like these live in my city and I can count them among my friends!
On Friday, I attended the Contact opening at Brassaii, BlogTO's 'A Constructed Image of Toronto.' My friends Rannie and Irina, as well as several acquaintances and fellow GTA Bloggers had photos at the showing. It was crowded, but fun.
On Saturday, I spent five hours sitting in a park in the Annex, chatting with a friend and I got very, VERY sunburned. That'll learn me! Sunblock, grasshopper, sunblock!
My bright pink sunburn brought out the colours in my dress very nicely for Bridesmaids Mania 2007. I chose to wear an atrocious, extremely floral, Jessica McClintock dress from the mid-90s (a few women stopped me on the street an and confessed that they had owned similar dresses). With my wide-brimmed, ribbon be-decked straw hat from Colonial Williamsburg, the whole look was very Scarlett O'Hara.
The event is terrific fun. The premise is that 'nobody can party like a group of tipsy bridesmaids.' In that spirit, we donned our ugliest bridesmaid dresses and went on a pub crawl around Toronto. Our group included a few Very Brave Guys who actually looked fabulous in their dresses. We enjoyed some great tex mex at Willow on the Danforth before piling on the streetcar and heading to Queen West to crash a staggette party (I sat next to a business man who looked frankly alarmed). It was loads of fun, particularly the part where we walked down Queen West handing out candy to strangers. Our tour included dancing at Crocodile Rock and milkshakes at Tequila Bookworm. By midnight, I was happy, but exhausted. I made a brief appearance at the last club and listened to the funk band, then headed home.
I spent most of Sunday watching T.V. Every year, my friends gather together to watch the latest season of the L Word (the new episodes airing in the States). I'm an L Word Party veteran - this is my third year. We watched the eps in two installments because that's just a lot of television to see all at once. Last night was the second installment and we watched episode seven up till the finale. I really love the show and it's a blast watching with a bunch of other women. Sure, it's a bit over-the-top and it bears no resemblance to reality, but that's why it's fun. The finale was great. I hope Jenny is permanently adrift.
Monday ended up being a 'day off' for me. I took the dog to High Park and gave her a bath and I've been hanging out in my neighbourhood, enjoying the weekday vibe. I'm very busy this week, so the break was nice.
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