15 August 2006, lunch time
“She has pretty hair.”
I looked up to see who Shima was talking about. Three black girls were approaching us, one with beautiful curly orange-brown hair. I assumed this was the girl Shima was talking about, because Shima likes curly hair, and because that girl was Namugenyi from Much Music.
“You mean Namugenyi?” (I type her name out properly now, but at the time I know I said it wrong.)
“Who?”
“Nam. She was on Much Music.”
“Just because you were on Much doesn’t make you famous.”
Fair enough. We saw Nam once more, later that night, at a documentary screening at the ROM. (Which I will write about later.)
Life
1 August 2006, lunch time
I sometimes get the feeling foreigners have this impression that Canada is cold all the damn time. It is cold in the winter, but it is freakishly hot in the summer. Today it is 36 degrees out. It will probably feel even hotter when you take in to account the humidity. My house doesn’t have air conditioning and I think I am going to die.
[8] Life
28 July 2006, lunch time
I went to the Yellow Griffin last night with Dave. I’ve been several times now, and feel confident when I say it’s probably the best burger place in the city. (It’s also a nice pub.) You can get 6 different types of burgers (beef, lamb, chicken, veggie, turkey and pork), served with 35 different sets of toppings. For example, the burger I like the best, the “Bollywood Burger”, comes is rubbed with tandori paste, and served with mango chutney and yogurt. There are all sorts of strange and tasty burger choices. The sides are good too. (I usually get sweet potato fries, which are excellent.) One of Carvill’s friend was trying to convince us Apache Burger was the best burger joint in town. It’s good, but isn’t even in the same league as the Yellow Griffin. I really can’t think of any other burger places that compare.
[3] Restaurants and Bars | Life
26 July 2006, lunch time
I chatted with my cousin online using Skype and my iSight. It was pretty incredible. I’ve had an iSight for a while now, which while handy, hasn’t really been used for its intended purpose: I take photobooth photos with it, which I email to Shima on occasion, and I scan books with it in to Delicious Library. This was the second time I used the iSight to video-chat with someone. The first time was with Dave using iChat, and that was way too much trouble to get started. Dave and I were mucking around for a good while before we finally got the video-chat going, and even then it was pretty choppy and unimpressive. Skype on the other hand works really well. I didn’t have to fidget with firewall settings and the like to get things started (though this may be because I started to session). The video and audio are both quite good; It isn’t 30fps video, but its not that bad. Actually seeing and talking to someone all the way in Sydney was cool. The future is now. (Well the future has been here for a while I suppose, I’ve just been missing out till now.)
[2] Software | Life
25 July 2006, lunch time
As I mentioned yesterday, there was a large protest for Canada’s actions—or lack thereof—in the conflict in Sri Lanka, and a memorial for the communal riots of July 1983. I attended the event for an hour or so. During that time, I got to hear 3 politicians speak, watch a dance performance, and listen to some poetry. Of the three speakers I heard, Jim Karygiannis seemed to be the most informed of the lot. He has actually been to Sri Lanka, and has been attending these events for some time. The focus of the event (while I was there) was primarily on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka and requests for Canada to play a bigger role in the peace process. Dundas square was fairly packed; there was a sea of Tamil people sitting on the ground and standing around the edge of the square. Teenagers handed out flyers to people walking by the busy Dundas and Yonge intersection.
Two things in particular made this an effective protest I would say, beyond the sheer number of people out at Dundas Square:
- There wasn’t much discussion on the LTTE whatsoever. Strangers on the street can learn about what is going on in Sri Lanka without having their opinions coloured by things they have heard about the LTTE. (I think one problem with the Tigers is that their notoriety overshadows that of the actual conflict.)
- Most of the speakers were in English, which meant that the event could attract an audience outside of the Tamil community. Those speakers who did speak in Tamil had their speeches paraphrased afterwards by one of the Tamil MCs. At the protests I’ve attended in support of democracy in Iran, I think the overuse of Farsi is problematic. (I haven’t attended any big protests, where things might be different.)
Was anyone else there?
[2] Life | Toronto
18 July 2006, lunch time
My house is so damn hot. I went most of my life without air conditioning, so you would think that not having it now wouldn’t be so bad, except that it is. My house is so damn hot. I stole my roommates fan from the living room in a poor attempt to cool my room down; it didn’t help all that much. I was supposed to do all sorts of errands over the past couple days, but the only thing I have managed to do is gain a level in World of Warcraft. That was good.
Life
16 July 2006, evening time
Rishi and I watched Zombies today after having brunch with Sheliza at Flo’s diner in Yorkville. Neither of us really knew what the play was about, but it was well reviewed in Eye so Rishi wanted to check it out. Zombies is a one-man show about a guy who is late for work, and who had a strange dream. I really don’t want to say anymore on the plot; suffice it to say it’s a little bit strange. Stewart Matthews, the writer and one and only actor in the play, did a brilliant job playing all the parts, his accents and mannerisms changing with each character. It was really quite the sight to see. I’ll need to check out more of the Fringe Festival next year. Both plays I watched were really good, and I wonder how many other good ones I missed out on.
Life | Toronto
14 July 2006, the wee hours
I just got back from watching The (W)hole of Emily Scheller with Steph. It’s playing at this years Fringe Festival. The play is about the events in Emily’s life which have turned her into an ever-so-slightly cynical young lady. Her story is told to the audience in reverse chronological order. The play looks at some serious milestones in the girl’s life, and presents them in sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, ways. Emily is played by three actors: one boy and two girls. (None of them look alike, and going by the few descriptions we get of Emily in the play, none of them look like her either. I’m not sure if that matters or not.) One of the leads is Matt’s sister Rachael, who I haven’t seen in something like 7 years. (Oh my God high school was a long time ago.) She, along with both the other actors, did an excellent job. I was really impressed, and so was Steph. I’m really glad I made it out to see the play. It’s playing once more on Saturday, July 15th, at 2:15 PM. You should watch it. (Although I guess I say that about everything I see.)
Life | Toronto
12 July 2006, lunch time
new hood? when you moving there? why?
So, unless I manage to mess things up somehow, I should be moving to Bloor and Lansdowne in August or September. Why? Because I bought a condo there. Buying a condo is a lot of extra stress in my not so stressful life. I’ll be glad when everything is sorted.
Read the rest of this post. (563 words)
[12] Life | Bloor and Lansdowne
10 July 2006, the wee hours
The Italy-France final this world cup was pretty good. Thinking back on the game, the only thing that comes to mind is Zidane head butting Materazzi. Materazzi is the more infamous of the two for playing dirty; he probably said something, or did something, to provoke Zidane. Still, you really shouldn’t lose your cool like that in a world cup final. A player like Zidane should know that. Anyway, my team Italy won in the end. Little Italy is going crazy.
Update: I still like Zidane mind you; he’s probably one of the best soccer players ever. I think that’s what makes him head butting Materazzi so out of place. (Thanks to YouTube, you can watch 9 minutes of Zidane doing crazy shit set to trance.)
Update: Kottke is collecting links and videos about this story.
Update: The rumors right now are that Materazzi called Zidane the Italian equivilant of a not very nice word, and then went on to call him the son of a terrorist whore. (Zidane is Algerian.) If true, that’s not very classy. Materazzi denies the allegations.
[12] Life
5 July 2006, early evening
I missed the first half of the game, so I didn’t get to see the foul that led to France’s goal. Portugal had a few good opportunities, but they just couldn’t beat the French defense. Ronaldo fell and he fell, but he just couldn’t get a goal. And so France of all teams makes it to the final.
[3] Life
5 July 2006, late morning
Today I got on the 191 bus and managed to grab one of the last seats, which all fill up quickly. Shortly after this happens, an old Chinese lady wanders on to the bus. I tap her to get her attention, and then get up to give her my seat. She doesn’t take it; it turns out there were actually 2 other seniors with her who I didn’t see at first. She gives the seat to one of her friends. Now, I would have thought two more people would have got up to give up their seats to the seniors, but this is apparently naive thinking on my part. The two seniors who didn’t have seats stood till people started getting off the bus at my stop, a good 10-15 minutes after the bus left the station. Toronto, this is lame.
[2] Life
4 July 2006, evening time
Italy scored two damn good goals against Germany. Holy shit that was a good game. I want a Portugal-Italy final.
[6] Life
4 July 2006, lunch time
Brazil was kicked out of the world cup by France of all teams. France: the team that barely made it into the second round of the World Cup. Brazil were playing such a sad game, while France were on fire. Zidane looked like he was in an Adidas commercial. The man can play football, there is no doubt about that. Still, Brazil lost; I don’t know what to believe in anymore. Of course, Portugal beat England. That really made my day. There is nothing I enjoy more than seeing the English soccer team lose. So I suppose things aren’t all bad.
[1] Life
29 June 2006, late morning
I bought OmniOutliner Pro a week or so ago, and started using Kinkless GTD to help me start getting things done. I don’t feel more organized. I think perhaps I am missing that extra little bit of organizational magic that is actually contained in the Getting Things Done book. I started typing out what I needed to do into neat little lists in OmniOutliner Pro, and then I went back to playing Warcraft and surfing on the Internet. Yesterday I got two things done that I wanted to: I finally cleaned up this huge pile of clean clothes that sit next to my bed on a side table, and I cleaned a small desk next to my computer. A nice small accomplishment. Still, the only reason I did these two things was because World of Warcraft was downloading a patch.
[2] Life
26 June 2006, evening time
There were a lot of in the kitchen watching the penalty kicks in the Ukraine-Switzerland World Cup game. Switzerland hadn’t conceded a goal in regular time till these penalty kicks. Both goalies stopped the first set of kicks; only Ukraine’s goalie managed to stop the remaining kicks. The Bloor West Village has gone totally mental. Bloor is lined with cars honking their horns, and people whistling and waving flags. Thankfully, I live just far enough North of Bloor that the scene is quaint, but not obnoxious—or loud. I’m cheering for Ukraine over Italy in the next round.
[9] Life
22 June 2006, early evening
The football being played this world cup is really quite phenomenal. I just watched the last 10 minutes of the Australia-Croatia game. (We have a television set up in the kitchen.) Holy shit that was intense—and really violent. There were yellow and red cards being handed out like it was valentines day. The Ghana-US game was really great too; it was awesome to see them win. Its nice to see teams from outside Europe and South America really stepping up their game.
[3] Life
9 June 2006, lunch time
Same question I asked last year: anyone know anything about Bloor and Lansdowne. (Actually more like Dupont and Lansdowne now.) Once again, I am looking for places in the area. I get the feeling its moving on up, ever so slowly. All opinions welcome.
Update: I decided to move to the area, down by Bloor and Lansdowne.
Update: You can read about my experiences thus far in the Bloor and Lansdowne section of this site.
[22] Life | Bloor and Lansdowne
7 June 2006, lunch time
Today I am trying a coffee one of my coworkers brought in: Gevalia Traditional Roast. It really isn’t nearly as good at the one true coffee, Organic Sumatra. The ground beans had a very nice aroma, but the espresso shot the AeroPress makes was quite sour. I don’t want to judge the coffee too harshly because I’m taking it with cream today. I really can’t stand coffee with cream. The cream is all I can ever taste for some reason. That said, the overall feeling I’m getting from this coffee is that it is very sour.
Life
1 June 2006, terribly early in the morning
And just like that it’s all over. It took me 16 months, give or take, to give the government all the money they lent me while I was in University. Thank you OSAP! You paid for my school, my booze, my food, and my iPod. You will not be missed.
[2] Life
29 May 2006, mid-morning
The last time there was a big TTC strike, I was in high school, and it was the most wonderful time of the year. Even though my brother was driven to school by my aunt, I had already decided that there was no way for me to get to school. I enjoyed my time off. However, now that I work, it’s really just annoying that the TTC isn’t running today. (Am I the only one who had no idea a strike was in the works?) I have things I need to get done. A TTC strike isn’t quite the same as a Toronto wide holiday, though it is pretty close I suppose.
Update: So it’s about an hours wait for a taxi. There are two of us that don’t drive at the company I work at, and since we live fairly close together, we are splitting a cab into work. I can’t see this strike lasting very long.
Update: I got a lift back home from a fellow that works with me; and so ends a very short day at work. The strike is over now, and the TTC should be back up and running shortly.
[4] Life | Toronto
24 May 2006, lunch time
Apparently I am the only person I know from Waterloo who hadn’t heard of Douglas Coupland. He has written several books, one of which is called Microserfs. Microserfs is about Waterloo graduates getting snatched up by Microsoft to toil on their various computer projects. The novel began as a short story published in Wired. It sounds like it would be a whole book about people I know. My cousin brought him up over the weekend; I don’t remember how the conversation turned to Microserf, but it did. Yesterday, Heather emailed me to say she has a spare ticket to see Douglas Coupland read from his latest book, JPod. That was a strange coincidence.
Angela, Heather and I went to the show together. I met them at Townshoes, where Heather was buying shoes for a wedding. The sales lady was trying to up-sell her some sort of satin scotch guard like spray. She was very strange. The show was held in a theatre at U of T, and it was packed. The show has sold out some time ago. The audience was a real mix-bag of people. Coupland came on shortly after 7:00, and told a story about how his agent wanted him to go on this show, MTV Live. It was a funny story. He then read briefly from his book, a passage in which one of the main characters in the novel meets Douglas Coupland. How post-modern. He read three passages in total, and passed the remaining time cracking jokes and telling stories. It was a very entertaining book reading.
Angela stuck around to get her book signed. Neither Heather or I were in the mood to line up. Heather walked South to her home, and I headed North to bloor. I bought a double-cheeseburger at McDonalds; it was awesome.
Comics and Books | Life
18 May 2006, lunch time
I sometimes hear well meaning people refer to things they don’t like as gay. This was much more common when I was much younger. I can excuse the sort of behaviour amongst 12 year olds who don’t know any better, but if you’re an adult and you think Macs are Gay, or McDonalds is Gay, or George Bush is gay—and not in a sexual way—well, you’re being a lame-ass. I’m sorry, but someone had to tell you.
[4] Life
5 May 2006, mid-afternoon
The Organic Sumatra I bought at Coffee Tree may very well be the best coffee I have ever had in my entire life. It’s so damn good. Everyone who I have made some of this coffee for has enjoyed it a lot as well. My AeroPress is still working prefectly. I spent a week drinking coffee from the office machine, as I had lent the press to Mezan while I was in Sydney, and there is a world of difference between what the machine spits out versus what the press creates. I enjoyed the coffee I got from Coffee Tree last time, but this Organic Sumtra tastes absolutely amazing. It’s very smooth, and has a very nice taste to it. I think it’s the first coffee I’ve bought that I could drink as an espresso shot. My dilemma now is that I am not sure if I should keep trying different coffees from Coffee Tree, or stick with what I suspect is the perfect coffee. Yes, my life is truly hard.
[1] Life
29 April 2006, early evening
Dave turns 26 today. To celebrate a few of us went to Medieval Times last night. Medieval Times is strange; it’s a dinner and show, the show being a medieval tournement of sorts. Everyone working there is in character—for the most part—as some sort of person you would find in the middle ages: squires, knights, wenches, and what have you. You cheer for your knight as he does the sorts of things knights used to do. It’s so ridiculous it’s hard not to enjoy yourself I suppose. The place was a lot more packed then I had imagined it would be. The food was alright, but I guess you aren’t really going for the food. It was an expensive night out, but one that will be hard to forget. Huzzah.
[2] Life | Restaurants and Bars
