24 April 2006, lunch time
Back at work and I’m looking at bugs. I couldn’t remember my password, or the code for the security system here. It’s funny how fast your brain will forget random sequences of letters and numbers. I’m not sleepy yet, which is a good sign.
23 April 2006, early morning
I’m typing this up at just before 6:00 in the morning. I still can’t sleep through the night. I don’t know why I get such bad jet lag when I fly. I’ve been playing the demo of Warcraft III on my iMac for the past hour or so. (The game is a lot of fun, and plays incredibly well under Rosetta). (I’ll probably buy it before the week is up.) I have to go to work tomorrow. I’m not sure how exactly that is going to go. It feels a bit strange being back in Toronto after being gone for the past 3 weeks. The holiday felt quite long. My hope is that I remember what it was exactly I did at work, and that I don’t pass out in the middle of the day.
21 April 2006, mid-afternoon
It took my mom and I about 24 hours or so to get from Sydney to Toronto. That’s a long time to spend flying. The trip back didn’t feel as long as the trip there. I feel tired.
16 April 2006, early morning
I met Shannon on Thursday in the city. I was sitting with my cousin in front of the bathrooms in Central station, waiting for Shannon’s train to come in from Wollongong. She was coming in to the city to see Hawksley Workman perform at the Manning Bar in the University of Sydney with her friend Heather. After a few SMSes I found Shannon, and my cousin split. The three of us trekked from Central station to the university, which is a fair walk. The weather was warm and a bit sticky. We had to wait a short while for Workman to come on so we bought ourselves some expensive-as-sin cokes to cool down. Workman’s show was quite good. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find an affordable cafe to eat in: a surprisingly tricky endeavour.
I met Cathy on Friday in Bondi. The area is quite pretty, as are the people loitering around there. The two of us had lunch at a cafe just off the beach. Baramundi is a tasty fish. We made our way from Bondi to Bronte (from one beach to another). We stopped midway to sit and enjoy the view. Upon reaching Bronte, we walked back. It was quite dark when I made my way back to Homebush, after drinking coffee, eating cake, and enjoying some sushi served on a conveyor belt.
The weekend has been quiet. I’ll be back in Toronto soon.
10 April 2006, terribly early in the morning
I was sitting with my cousin in a shop called Max Brenner eating chocolate waffles covered in chocolate and strawberries, drinking a hot chocolate, all the while helping myself to my cousins melted chocolate “drink”. I haven’t had that much chocolate in a while.
The past weekend was spent at various bars and night clubs in the city. Sydney seems to have a night life much like Toronto’s, only there isn’t a proper last call here. We were at a dodgy little club called Brooklyn till about 2 or so in the morning, and my cousin Arjuna told me the place was licensed to serve alcohol till about 6.
I’ve watched all of Prison Break while here in Sydney. (That is, all of the current season.) Prison Break is amazing. I feel like I’m living during some sort of television Renaissance. There are so many great television shows on the air right now. I think it all started with the Soprano’s. My only fear is that all these shows I love will turn to shit, much like the X-Files did. Let us all pray.
5 April 2006, terribly early in the morning
It’s a balmy thirty degrees here in Sydney. The air is hot against your skin; I love it. I met my cousin and aunt downtown for lunch. We went to a sort-of-Italian cafe called Jet. Lunch was nice. My aunt headed back to work, and I sat with my cousin and had a cold ice coffee mocha. It was no mocha frappacino, but it was still pretty tasty.
I bought a SIM card for my cell phone on my way downtown. I was impressed that I could travel half way around the world and get an Australian telephone number. Shame my phone is locked such that only Fido SIM cards will work with it; sons of bitches. I’m using an extra phone another Aunt had laying around. Cathy was the first person I called with my phone. There is something cool about talking to someone you know from one side of the world on the other side of the world.
I read Sonny’s Blues again on the train ride back to Homebush. That’s an amazing story.
4 April 2006, terribly early in the morning
I was two cousins shy of seeing all my cousins this morning. Bored, I went downtown to kill some time. I walked from Central station to Darling Harbour. Sydney has a beautiful downtown core. (I would say Toronto looks like someones butt in comparison.) I walked around, snapped some photos, and then decided to make my way back home. Heading back north towards Town Hall station, I bumped into my cousin Arjuna. He was probably as shocked to see me as I was to see him. He was just finishing up lunch with some friends; I waited with them, and then walked with him back to his office. On the way there, the two of us bumped into my eldest cousin Sai and her husband. Sydney’s downtown must be smaller than I think it is.
2 April 2006, late evening
So I’ve been in Oz for about 3 days now. (It’s 9:30 in the morning as I write this.) I haven’t really done much of anything just yet. I sleep early in the evening, and I wake up far too early in the morning. For example, today I woke up at 6:00 in the morning, and decided to watch Lord of War. When you wake up so early in the morning, it’s like you get an entire bonus day to enjoy before lunch. I have yet to see all my cousins, though I have seen the majority now. After two proper days into my trip and I am reminded of my last stay in Sydney: I wake up at my Grandparents home, brush my teeth, eat some toast, walk to my aunts home, where I can check my email. I need to start eating Coco Pops; then this trip truly would have been worth the excessive air fare. If you haven’t had Coco Pops before, then you haven’t had the greatest breakfast cereal of all time. My stay has been relaxing thus far, but I can see doing nothing getting boring fast. I need to start thinking about how to spend my time better. The weather here is amazing. I hope the weather is just as nice when I get back to Toronto.
30 March 2006, lunch time
I am going to be in Sydney for three weeks. I leave for the city with my mom in a few hours. Expect infrequent updates for the next 3 weeks.
16 March 2006, lunch time
In my quest to get better coffee at work, I went to a local coffee shop and bought some freshly ground coffee. Coffee Tree, the store near my home, claims to be the first shop in the city to sell coffee that they roast in the store (and grind if you need them to). The first coffee I bought was from Tuscany (or was simply called Tuscany). It’s a French roast. According to Mezan, a French roast is one where they almost burn the beans. If you roasted the beans anymore they’d be on fire. The Tuscany coffee tastes pretty good. If you like strong, smooth cups of coffee, I’d recommend it. The second coffee I bought from Coffee Tree was Arabian Sidamo. It’s also a French roast, and it also tastes good. If I was a more avid coffee drinker, I’d probably be able to describe with richer language what the two coffees taste like. Next week I will try some Venetian Roasts, which are medium roasted coffees. Coffee Tree is in the Bloor West Village, and is most definitely worth checking out if you are looking for fresh coffee.
3 March 2006, terribly early in the morning
This was the third time I saw Magneta Lane in concert. The first time was at the Drake, on a trip to see Femme Generation. The second time was at the El Mocambo. On that particular night Lexi complained that she couldn’t sing, her throat hurt too much. Tonight at the Horseshoe she was drinking tea as her throat was sore yet again. It is understandable I suppose. I don’t know how Hole, Nirvana, or any such band where the singer needs to do a lot of yelling can put on a show night after night. Magneta Lane did a great job tonight. If you haven’t seen them live yet you are really missing out. They are a very cool band. I can see them getting really big, so you should try and catch them before they stop playing at venues like the Horseshoe.
The Awesome Team put on a really good show as well. I like it when you can tell a band is really into their music, and is really enjoying playing infront of you. The Awesome Team aren’t really my sort of band, but I think if you like Blink 182 and that sort of music, you may enjoy them. (Mind you, they may not sound anything like Blink 182. I’m really bad at pinning down the genre particular bands belong to.)
The best piece of music I heard tonight was from a homeless guy playing The Man Who Sold the World on the South-West side of Queen and University. I walked about 50 feet or so past him, then stopped, and walked back to give him a dollar. I wish I gave him more money. He sang the song really well.
26 February 2006, evening time
Carvill and I went up to Yorkdale today—we had pretty much nothing else to do. Everytime I go to the Apple Store in Yorkdale, I feel like walking out with a new computer. I don’t, mind you. The Mac Minis are very tempting. They’re so small. They look like the sort of thing you could buy on impulse. I got to try out the new Intel iMac, which was quite nice. The built in iSight is fun to use.
17 February 2006, the wee hours
My brother and his friends have made a few short “films” using his Canon digital camera. One of my favourites was a video they did on suicide; it was for a school project. You would think it would be hard—or at the very least inappropriate—to make a light-hearted video on suicide, but that’s just what they did. I’m not sure what they got on this project, but thanks to Google Video you can now watch this peice of art. (The audio is horrible.) I think all my friends who have seen the video agree it’s really bizarre. It’s also very budget and low-rent and very much a product of high school.
Another video I like that they did was 3 of his friends running into each other head first wearing large boxes on their heads; a shame that video isn’t online.
14 February 2006, lunch time
My first proper date with Shima was on Valentines day. We went to Jane Bond, which is the best (and coolest) vegetarian restaurant in Waterloo. At the time I thought Shima was vegetarian—later I would learn she was just really picky. I had a pizza, Shima had a panini of some sort and an ice tea. Shima always gets ice tea when we go out. Since we both look very young, I feel obligated to get some wine to at least give others the impression we aren’t in high school; also, I like drinking wine. We were at Jane Bond for quite a while. Shima would tell me later she was worried we’d have nothing to talk about. I can’t remember how we passed the time, or what we said anymore. I remember it was a nice date though.
12 February 2006, the wee hours
I haven’t watched a cricket game in a while. Today I get to watch Australia square off against Sri Lanka. Tillakaratne Dilshan is a gangster. Australia’s Gilchrist is out thanks to a pretty good catch by the young Dilshan—that was on the second ball of the game! He also happened to run 4 of Australia’s batsmen out a few days ago. Here is hoping Sri Lanka can keep the pressure on and win this.
Update: So, in the span of 3 overs Sri Lanka has managed to get 3 wickets.
Update: 35 overs in, and Ponting and Symonds have shut the Sri Lankan team up. Some pretty brilliant cricket on their parts. It’s not looking good for Sri Lanka; Australia looks like they’ll easily post a 300+ score.
Update: Australia’s innings are over. They posted a score of 368, which is pretty damn high. It is pretty unlikely Sri Lanka can come close to matching that.
Update: I went to bed just before the game ended, when Muralitharan was still up to bat. To match Australia’s score, Sri Lanka would need to have batted a pretty solid game—which they didn’t. Too many wickets early on didn’t help their cause. 368 is an astronomical score; It would have been a very hard game to win.
8 February 2006, lunch time
I bought one of those fancy coffee making machines with a coworker of mine. The coffee that we get here at work is bad. The coffee itself, combined with the horrible coffee machine and the people who feel compelled to use two packs of coffee to make one pot, results in a perfect storm of bad coffee. This week I have been enjoying some truly excellent coffee, thanks to the AeroPress. The machine does work wonders. Even the lame coffee we get here at work tastes better. I made some of my co-workers coffee from Ecuador and it was something else. I feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new world of coffee that doesn’t taste sour or like bleach. I’ll need to track down some good grounds next. Any coffee drinkers out there have any suggestions?
3 February 2006, terribly early in the morning
The interest rate on my OSAP loan is 7.75% (Variable). Does that seem high to you? I’m not sure why it took my 15 months to actually look this up. In hindsight, I think I could have got a loan at a much lower rate than that, paid off my OSAP in its entirety, and paid back the new loan at the lower rate. (For those of you who will have to pay back your loans soon that is something to seriously consider.) I’m almost all paid off. So far I have paid about $350 in interest. (I think when I am all done I’ll be at about $370 in interest.) That really isn’t so bad. Still, I look forward to not having the National Student Loan Centre take my money away.
2 February 2006, early afternoon
I was in the Indigo on Bay St. a couple days ago, killing some time while waiting for some photographs to get developed. I like shopping; the problem with shopping at Indigo is that almost all their books are cheaper online. Krishna can confirm this, as I called him 3 or 4 times while in the store asking him for the prices of the books online. Ultimately I left with a copy of The Tipping Point which was discounted both online and offline. Before leaving, I noticed a small stand with a strange mix of books. It took me a couple seconds to clue in that the authors were all black, and the stand had been set up in celebration of black history month. I picked up the copy of Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin) they had put out; it was a crappy paperback, with newsprint paper and an ugly cover.
Read the rest of this post. (533 words)
Comment [3] Life | Comics and Books
27 January 2006, lunch time
pketh asks, in response to my complaints about developing film downtown:
So where do you go to get the film developed, and how much is it? I’m still looking for a good developer actually, crazy expensive to shoot film nowadays sadly.
I get my film developed in Scarborough, at the Shopper’s Drugmart at Woodside Square. When they first opened up, I was pretty impressed with the photolab. I wasn’t super impressed because they had a bad habit of scratching my negatives. I pay $7 Shopper’s $7 to develop my photos, print them, and burn them all onto a CD. They do all that in an hour. I have yet to find a store downtown that comes even close to doing all that for the price.
Recently I have been disappointed with the results I’ve been getting from them, but I think this probably has a lot to do with the fact I push a lot of the film I use. They say they’ll push process it, but I don’t think anyone in the photolab actually knows what that means. I suspect they develop it normally, and then compensate for the underexposed shots when printing. That’s why I always seem to end up with high-contrast super-grainy photos. West Camera did an amazing job developing my slide film, but I think it must have cost me something like $24 dollars to do 36 exposures. (Mind you, Shopper’s couldn’t develop slide film period, so I suppose that is a moot point.)
Other places worth checking out if you want quality prints are Pikto and ImageWorks. If you want prints on the cheap, like myself, then I think Shopper’s might be your best bet.
Comment [7] Life | Photography
25 January 2006, lunch time
Mezan sent me the following email:
Since I didn’t find the net to much help on this topic I think you shoud post it on your blog. I managed to find a big mortar and pestle that’s actually imported from Thailand at Kohinoor Foods on (1438) Gerrard St. You’d think Chinatown would be the place to look for something like that, but it turns out Indian people grind more stuff than Chinese or Vietnamese people. I was looking for where I could buy a decent mortar and pestle in Toronto but didn’t get much info. Oh, I saw some at Tap Phong too.
17 January 2006, lunch time
I will write a proper travel diary at some point. Till then, I will leave you with this one tid-bit of information: about 80% of the young ladies in Tokyo wear high-heels and micro-skirts. In fact, I think 80% might be a conservative estimate on my part. If you think those numbers aren’t that impressive, remember that when I was in Tokyo the temperature was hovering around zero-degrees centigrade—it was pretty damn cold. Yet, some how, despite the freezing weather, young women would come out in throngs showing off their legs. I’m not quite sure why micro-skirts are so popular. My cousin suspects it is because the skirts are seen as cute, as opposed to scandalous or sexy. I didn’t talk to any girls on the subject—Shima would destroy me—so I’ll have to agree with my cousin on this.
Most, if not all, the young women we saw in Japan wearing high-heels walk like they are crippled. I’m not trying to be mean; I am very serious. If you visit Tokyo, head to Shibuya or Harajuku, some place with lots of young women, and watch them walk. Girls walk with their feet angled in (their toes pointing towards one another). Each time they take a step, the leg in motion crosses slightly infront of the other leg. It’s strange to see once. It’s stranger yet when almost every single girl you see does it. Gary and I actually started trying to look for young girls who walked properly in heels. I think we saw a couple.
I am not sure what will be in style when I am in Tokyo next. I can only imagine how scandalous the young women dress in the summer. I wonder how our fashion-sense and style looks to a tourist?
15 January 2006, early evening
When Tyler introduced me to Haran, I had already met him. I had been introduced to him by my friend Yang several months earlier. Tyler had been witness to what I will call the all the Tamil people you know already know all the other Tamil people you will ever meet effect. When I met M.I.A., I had assumed that this was the first time I had met her; this was a foolish mistake on my part—especially since we both lived in England at the same time.
Now, when I mentioned seeing a Tamil rapper to my parents, they thought that was kind of neat, and didn’t think anything more of it. Today, my mom hands me the phone. It’s an “aunt” from London, one of our close family friends. After some discussion of how our respective new years were, how work is going, and other such things, she starts asking about M.I.A., because it turns out the girl is her (much) younger cousin. They all lived in London when we did. My mom & dad remember M.I.A. and her family and am shocked that I don’t. I can’t remember last week, let alone what I was up to when I was 4, so I think this shock is unfounded. It’s a strange, small world. When my parents were last in London, some time in the summer, they were told that such-and-such’s daughter was a rapper that was doing OK in the UK, but was much more popular overseas. Why they would assume there were two such Tamil rappers is beyond me, but they did.
Do you know any Tamil people? Chances are I know them. Seriously.
12 January 2006, early morning
It’s 4:01 AM and I’ve been up since around 2:00 AM. I have such horrible jet lag. I should check to see how Steph and Gary are holding up. I need to “wake up” in 3 hours for work. I can’t being to describe how much I am looking forward to that.
10 January 2006, lunch time
I am back from Tokyo, and, since you are reading this, back online.
28 December 2005, lunch time
There are several buses that leave from the bus platform where I wait for my bus at Kipling station. Since I know the difference between the numbers 30, 192, and 191, I usually don’t mix any of these up. I take the 191A to work. That A is important. There have been two occasions where I have taken the 191 instead of the 191A. The difference between the 191 and the 191A is that one bus turns onto Dixon, and takes me to where I work, while the other sails past Dixon and is a thoroughly useless bus. (The problem is that I can never remember which bus I normally take.) The first time I missed the bus, I got off somewhere in the middle of nowhere and caught the bus heading Southbound. During rush hour the Southbound bus doesn’t stop where I work, but the nice bus driver let me off on the edge of the highway. Today, I noticed my error a little bit after the bus I was on skipped the Dixon exit. Again, the bus driver was nice enough to let me off on the side of the highway. I can now say I have crossed a highway.
