Start the day with some coffee and cartoons before responsibility.
I'm taking care of a friends dog and I've got to take him out, but coffee first.
The coffee is Starbucks from my Keurig and the cartoon is Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

I take Rambo for a walk, he's obstinate and it's no easy task. We disagree on issues such as eating dead birds: he is for, I am against. He's hungry. I'm gonna go pick up a can of horse meat for him.

I spend the afternoon with my Granny Mo. She has an appointment at the bank and then we have coffee.

Where is the Seasoning Salt?

A tasty teen burger combo
(notice the seasoning salt On the rings?)

I love A&W. I was just at the 1 Richmond St W Toronto location and ordered a Teen burger combo with onion rings, When I noticed there wasn't any seasoning salt at the tables, I asked the cashier for some. She said that "A&W doesn't have seasoning salt". I know that's not true. I told her that I was just at the new Queen W location and they had it out on the tables. The cashier was very nice and went In back and added seasoning salt to my rings. Why isn't the shaker out on the tables? Is this a cost saving measure? Was I putting too much in my rings or were too many shakers of seasoning salt being outright pilfered? The table had regular salt and pepper. The second reason I go to A&W is the seasoning salt on the rings (of course the primary reason is frosty cold rootbeer in a mug).

Alone + Easy Target

Tomorrow I'm going to visit my friend Jagger in London, Ontario. His marriage has disolved, which is very sad.

I was in Timmins for my peppere's 80th birthday. I met Jagger's sister at the bar and after I went on about how I'm so into travelling and have all the time in the world, she suggested I should visit Jagger. She was right and I agreed.

Confession, I've never read this blog of mine. I have made the mistake of honesty, admitting to stuff here that is likely the reason I didn't get that job I applied for. In fact, since I linked my Google+ profile I'm wide in the open, easily searchable by name. Swearing and smoking pot.

I'm going to close this blog out at the end of the year, but until then I want to post every day. I've written this before, but I'm fucking serious this time. My sister is posting on her blog and she doesn't walk around wearing a Blogger hoodie, I do.

I just found an unpublished draft post  from 2010 titled "The Public/Private Blog", in which I mused: I have to start a new blog, separating my private shit from prospective employers/women. That's all I had written in the post, so I have been thinking about it for a while.

the road to ottawa is paved with snow

I'm on the road to our nations capital. Dad is driving,  his girlfriend Doriane is in the passenger seat and im in the backseat.
The rental has sirius, the veriety is a blessing and a curse since dad is a compulsive chanel switcher. We land on Howard Stern for a bit but without knowing the context he loses intrest quickly. We switch through music stations but most new music pisses him off so the shuffle continues till we hit George Harison singing My Sweet Lord.
We left Timmins at 7:20am. I slept on my friend Bree's sofa till dad woke me with a rap at the door. We hit snow just outside Timmins, most news is warning of the impending Frankenstorm but it won't hit us(but i bet the ride to MTL will be fucked).
Why Ottawa? Do's folks live there and its a great chance to visit on the way back to Montreal tomorrow. I will spend the week in MTL then cruise home on a stinky bus to Toronto.
My travel plans seem to unfold enroute.

Smashing Pumpkins can take all of my money

It's late and I don't know how much sense I will make but if I don't get this down now I never will and what a shame. I had a great night with some good friends watching my favourite band in the fucking world, The Smashing Pumpkins. I've got a bad habit of buying two tickets for everything without a plan of who to go with. My friend Chris Regimbal was supposed to come to Radiohead earlier this summer but the show was cancelled due to a tragic accident. I asked him to come and rock out with me at the Pumpkins and he obliged.

I have seen the Pumpkins live about a dozen times but this was the first time without Jimmy Chamberlain on drums. The current band consists of Billy Corgan (of course), Nicole Fiorentino(bass), Jeff Schroeder, and Mike Byrne on drums. This drummer is just a kid, but he rocks.

They played the new album Oceania start to finish. I really enjoy this record, but I was apprehensive about how the crowd would respond to not hearing the hits. The new stuff went over great, some of the arrangements were really interesting live. After they played through Oceania and rocked my socks half-way off they finished the job with a solid set of classics, highlights being MCIS era tracks X.Y.U., Muzzle, tonite reprise, Bullet With Butterfly Wings (the jungle version from '98). Concert tickets are expensive, but this show was worth every penny.

I took this video of Pinwheels, a standout track from the album. If you like what you hear you can Click here to buy Oceania.

Super pooched out now. In a few hours I hop in a car with my Dad and head to my place of birth, Timmins, to celebrate my Peppere's 80th birthday.

Ballon Boy Puked on TV twice

The plan was to go to my mom's house yesterday but the doctors office took longer than expected.
I got the doctor to write me a referral for a sleep test. I wake up a lot every night and have for years. I snore, or so I've been told. I don't sleep proper and it's possible modern science might have some answers.

I ran into a friend I haven't seen in forever, got coffee and browsed for some Hallowe'en costumes. Some people seem so positive and always moving forward, this is one of those people.

I woke up this morning thinking about how Felix Baumgartner is remenicent of a kick-ass version of that Balloon Boy, and realized it was 3 years ago yesterday that some asshole faked sending his kid up in a ballon to get some television airtime. The kid spilled the beans and then tossed his cookies. In one more year they can start to profit off the hoax, so we will see some shitty reality tv show.

I quit the gym, it felt like I was paying a lazy tax. My friend Aaron teaches yoga and I would rather pay for that once a week (still cheaper than the freaking gym). I might have said "I need to start going to the gym" more times on this blog than I've been.

I hate the comute to Missassauga but even more durring rush hour. Mom and I agreed to postpone our rendezvous till today.

Blogging? It reads more like Blah-ging. I'm gonna try something different tomorrow with this blog. Start a series of posts on specific subjects. more to follow.

This gets posted.

This gets posted finished or not. I have a bunch of posts on the back-burner that just sit there.

Nothing since mid-September, on any of my numerous blogs. Was nothing happening? No that's not it, I'm just lazy and depressed. I'm using the excuse of seasonal affective disorder (I feel S.A.D. about this time every year). I think the emotional high of Burning Man and tiff12 lasted a decent amount of time, but the buzz dies off so abruptly in October it's a bit of a shock to the system.

I get distracted easy enough. I would call today productive. I was off my ass today. Retuned some empties to the Beer Store (four bucks worth!).  
Did I mention I'm broke? All the more reason for me to be blogging, make a few cents off ads. At pennies a day I won't get a cheque for another few years.

I need to get a job. I think I found something I'm suited for at the lightbox, but I need to dust off the ol' resumé.

Tomorrow I promise to get my shit together and generate some actual content.

If I'm not posting, something is wrong.

more

Ian came over for a single serving coke and to say goodbye. Off to La La Land, Hollywood, his trip here having nothing to do with the film festival ironically. It was so good to see my friend.

I want to send out some postcards to some special burner friends today. I'm slowly getting addresses day by day so I'm not overwhelmed.

I've got more volunteering to do tonight as a captain liaison. I also want to fit in a movie tonight if possible. I have a ticket for Peaches Does Herself. I'm a huge fan of Peaches, and I'm not sure what to expect from her film debut save for lots of trannies and strap-ons.

I'm really feeling awesome, but I'm worried that I won't sustain. The future is so bright, going to Timmins for my Peppere's 80th, my friends San & Linsey are going to have a little brother for A.J. soon, and next year is Japan 2: Sweetboobs Returns, on top of all that I'm going back to Black Rock City, of course.

Unless plans change, which they often do. Burning Man is a great tool to focus energy on important things. I'm thinking about it more and more, even as the euphoria from the Burn slips. We keep each other going, bouncing positive messages across the internet, but we are all still so far away. Shadyvil stretches all over the world.

My friend Sarah I. said something about my blog that I've been thinking about. That I might be holding back. I wonder about that.

I'm making some bacon (oh, Bacon!) for breakfast while listening to some Fat Man on Batman, Kevin Smith's bat-tastic podcast.
The new nintendo machine, called wiiU has a street date and price: $350 on November 18th. I'm gonna get me one of those.

Not everyone is cresting on a mercury surfboard

Worked my last Captain shift for the festival. From now on I will be a Captain Liaison, going from venue to venue and bringing back details of Volunteer operations to the department. It's a sweet gig and you get to meet a lot of festival volunteers.

I got some sad news from an old friend about something. I can't write about it here cause it's none of my business, but i can tell you no one died, so it has to be that other thing that makes grown-ups sad.

I have been on cloud nine since the burn, with the film festival and Mikey visiting... It was a hard snap back to the reality that not everyone is rocking out like myself.

Mike and V's awesome Festival Tower condo

Went to see Mike and V while they are in town on vacation. They are renting an amazing condo in the Festival Tower. It's the craziest place to live durring the film festival. You can see all the red carpet arrivals down the street from the balcony. The view is amazing, and it's great to see my best friend since I was four years old reaping the rewards of his success.  
 
I woke up early this morning. My friend Ian is coming to town on business and we are supposed to be grabbing breakfast. He works in Hollywood for one of the modern masters of cinema. Sometimes it seems all my friends become successful and move to California.

Ian is a busy guy, and he's 2hrs late, breakfast is looking more like brunch.

I'm too late now to rush the Wachowski Siblings new movie Cloud Atlas. I was looking forward to that. I will try for a different P&i(Press and Industry) screening this afternoon. Press and Industry screenings can be attended by volunteers with a voucher on a rush basis.

Start Here.

How the hell am I supposed to describe my current state. Tired. thats one but it's much more than that. I left Burning Man a week ago and I'm still blinking, trying to decipher the reality from the electric parade. 

Decompression

The most San Franciscan of concepts but its real. The party doesn't stop in your mind. It spins. Depending on the Burners experience in Black Rock City it can take some time to adjust to the reality. People are wearing clothes, and  normal ones at that. The drinks cost money. The food sometimes doesn't taste delicious. There is 500% less bacon in the default world compared to Burning Man.

When a bartender gives you a drink in the default world it is inappropriate to then hug that bartender.  

Getting back to the reality of things takes a bit.

I go to the Film Festival, it helps me decompress. I volunteer. It's something I'm good at. I manage other volunteers as a Volunteer Captain. I keep really busy and it's so fast paced my mind is always focused on the task at hand.

I met Tom Green. I'm a big fan of his movie Freddy Got Fingered. I told him about the celery generals incident*, he seemed intrigued and proud that people were suspended from school. Very cool.

I'm going in to "work" today and i can't wait. I'm going to try and pick up some movie tickets too. I have already seen a few and promise to post about them soon. My dad gave me shit for not blogging.

*more on that soon.

TIFF Volunteer Stories: Julien and Sachin

I was asked to be in a video for the Toronto International Film Festival. I love volunteering for the Festival and I can't wait for this year's fest to begin (as soon as I get back from Burning Man).

Here is the video, Sachin and I spoke for almost two hours and it was edited down to this: 

Rain Day

Arg.

I have so much to do. Burning Man is fast approaching (32 days 3 hours 37 minutes 55 seconds until the Man burns).

I'm working on getting a new computer through the Ontario Assistive Devices Program. The one I'm using is 5 years old and it's performance is starting to wain.

The Internet is down at my place. My brother Paul is an I.T. professional but since he's always at his girlfriends house I don't know when I will be able to get him to fix it.

Rainy Bathurst Street from Second Cup

So I find myself at the Second Cup (a few blocks away, the one across the street from me shut down, I mourn it). They ran a summertime promotion in which a medium Italian Soda only cost a buck. Well I got used to that price and now they have jacked up to $3.50! That's way too much for soda water and syrup. I was planning on spending the afternoon here but now I can't afford it. I've been nursing this blueberry soda for about an hour now.

It was a nice sunny day when I got here and now the sky is so overcast it's almost dark out. I should escape, home before the inevitable rain. Too late, it has begun, literally as I typed. It's pouring down. I took a picture.

Now I'm stuck here. It's a full on thunderstorm.

Yoga tonight. It's only my second time. My friend Aaron teaches the class. He's good, patient and helpful with a beginner like me. I like how it makes my body feel.

Sarah is a cat lady

Cat Lady

I went to the gym today for the first time since I got back from England (not like I was going much before I left). I did a little cardio on the bike to get my body ready for Burning Man (lots of bike riding in BRC). I lift some weights till my arms are sore. It would be nice to lose some of the weight I gained in Ireland, drinking Guinness like it was tapwater.

Sarah & Shawna at Dutch Dreams

I hung out with Sarah, a good friend from high school. She lives in Montreal with her husband Luc (but they are moving to Vancouver soon). She is great. We had some food & beers at the Madison (Sarah picked up the tab, what a doll!). It was too hot to stay on the patio, so we decided to save a few bucks and drink beers in the park. I regaled Sarah with tales of my near-conquests, women upon whom I lavished attention till they tired of me. After the pity-party we met up with Shawna and drank vino in Trinity Bellwoods Park.
We ate massive Italian sandwiches for dinner and then went to Dutch Dreams for some famous ice cream.

Shawna asked me to dog-sit Rambo in a few weeks, which I'm looking forward to.

Working Hard at Hardly Working

Spadina streetcar tracks are being replaced so I had to take a bus home from the airport (They had just started when I left and the job is supposed to be finished in November).  The entire intersection at Queen street is closed to traffic for two weeks (a pedestrians dream). I cooled off for a bit before going to see The Amazing Spiderman at the Scotiabank Theatre.

Construction closes Queen and Spadina

Before the movie I went to get some snacks at Shoppers Drug Mart and a woman with incredible Obsessive Compulsive Disorder held up the line while she counted out her items to make sure she had he right number of glass and boxes, then searched for the right plastic bags to load her groceries into. I gave up on waiting when the cashier dropped ont of the pickle jars and it shattered on the ground. The woman nearly lost it.

Today I'm trying to keep busy, I have lots to do before Burning Man starts in 49 days. I really want to get some posts out on my Burning Man blog done this week(along with catching up on all the unpublished posts from my UK trip). Getting some laundry done while I drink my morning coffee  and catch up on some Howard Stern episodes. All my stuff stinks like travelling.

Me at Gotham City Blvd

The heat in the apartment becomes too much, I leave to take my picture in front of some signs for a Dark Knight Rises contest. I can't wait to see this movie, I love Batman. I have tickets for the midnight screening but seeing it even earlier would be awesome. I want to go find a cool t-shirt.


The plan for the rest of the day?
-writing Postcard blog posts.
-finish some uk posts.
-Picking up groceries (the fridge is bare!).
-Going to the Gym
-Scanning new postcards I received while I was away.


If I can do all that and watch some missed Daily Shows I will deem my first day back a success and redouble my efforts tomorrow.

Eyeball Torture

My matante Nicole and uncle Kirk were booked on the same flight back to Canada so I got a free cab ride to the Manchester airport. <p>I think AirTransat is conducting a bizarre social experiment. We are stuck inside a tube at 35,000 feet and the in-flight movie is Larry The Cable Guy in Tooth Fairy 2. I would rather watch a gremlin tear integral components from the wing than be subjected to another minute of this shit. I get that there are kids onboard but even small children should take offense as this movie is an insult to their not-yet fully formed brains.. Maybe the plane is full of assholes.
The third movie on the flight is National Lampoon's Vacation, a halfway decent 30 year old comedy. Just cause its old doesn't make it a classic. I try my headphones in the armrest only to find it doesn't work.

May I present Mr and Mrs Briggs

My sister Chloé got married and the wedding was absolutely spectacular. She has worked so hard, pretty much all by herself for the past year to have the perfect day, and save for a slight hiccup on the Groom's Team (Best Man forgot the Rings, which only caused a 5 minute delay, no biggie), the whole day went off without a hitch (although Chloé and Wayne did get "hitched" so...).

Up to here.

We checked into Whalley Abbey, where the wedding reception will be. Paul and I, sharing a room. I get the wifi password and Paul is back into his ipad with an exasperated "thank god!". His head might as well be up his ass. I don't want to sit around so I head to the pub. I was going to tell Paul where I was going but then didn't so as to avoid the possibility that he might come with me. I think I'm just over tired and stressed to the max, but the wedding will be over soon and I would be better off to just stop being pissy and enjoy my time with my family.

The bartender sees me eyeing the taps and asks if I'm looking for a bitter. England is all about the ales. It isn't bad although I didn't catch the name.
Chloe's bridesmaids show up asking about my dad and Chloe's dress. I know nothing about either but apparently my dad is staying above this pub, which I suppose makes it an Inn.

I'm guessing I can meet him here if I wait around long enough. I order the chicken curry.
It's taking forever. Maybe it has to fly from India.
of course it arrives just after i type. I'm hungry but its too hot to consume. None of the food in England has been awe-inspiring and the curry in no exception.

The whole family shows up, we have pints at some of the fine pubs Whalley has to offer. At last-call, Paul takes off to check out the small town club scene, while Marc and I stay at the bar to finish out pints. We go outside so Marc can have a smoke and the bartender tells him it's against the law to have our drinks outside, but if we want to re-enter the bar we can smoke inside. It was a lock-in! We got to stay and order a few more pints before running into Paul on our way back to the abbey. As the sun rose we 3 brothers had a great moment together exploring the ruins of the old Abbey.

Scotchtoberfest

train ride to Scotland 

I just had to escape the anarchy in the UK. My sister made it clear we weren't welcome in her home I freaked from the pressures of family and bolted, without a bag or change of clothing or most important a charger for my phone.

I also didn't tell anyone where I was going (but to be fair I didn't really know myself). On the train I got an got an angry call from my mom. They're concerned.
I assured her I'm safe and would return for the wedding rehearsal the next day. I wasn't trying to add to her stress, I just can't take anymore  myself.

I got into Edinburgh at about 3:30pm and searched around for a hostel. It was so nice and sunny and the city was beautiful. I soon found myself at the Haggis Hostel and booked shared accommodations for £20 plus a £10 deposit for the key.


 I walked over to Edinburgh Castle, which was just closing, so I went back towards the hostel, stopping to pick up toiletries to wash off my stink. It began to rain, it was an awesome sun shower. I took a photo of this rainbow.


 Back at the hostel I met some great Germans and we went out for beers with a fellow Canadian who was also in our room. We drank Guinness and Famous Grouse and Innis & Gunn and finally Jäggermiester. We drank until we could drink no more and I picked up an authentic Scotish Kebab to insulate my belly. Back at the room someone got sick and the hostel attendant hosed our room with deodorizer making it near-impossible to breathe. Not sur if I fell asleep from tired or that I was oxygen deprived.
 

Scotchtoberfest

Man-Babysitter

The trip to Manchester begins with an argument with my brother Paul. Most conversations go that way since he is such a tremendous prick. The chip on his credit card hasn't worked for months. This means unless a retailer accepts the swipe he's shit out of luck. He swears up and down the card works fine "95% of the time". He is either lying or stupid or both. He ordered a new card before he came to England (my idea, since it "works just fine").

Now we sit on a train to Manchester. Not speaking. He's an antisocial baby with an ipad. Im a level headed blogger venting steam.

He wants to go clubbing, Mom doesn't think its a good idea since she had to hold his drunken hand on the flight over. "I'm a grown man" he asserts, but yet he can't book a flight or pay the hydro bill.
Im off the train at Preston without looking back. I don't care if he made the transfer or not.

Shite Day

What a shitty day.

We take a cab from the Avalon Hostel to the airport that costs me 28€.

I try and sleep a little on the 40 minute flight back to Manchester but it doesn't really happen.

We catch a commuter train from the airport to Chloé's town which costs £28 for both of us. This was stupid since it took 2+ hours and a cab would have been £12 more.

We need sleep. I grab a few hours on the sofa before tensions boiled over between Chloé and our cousin Laura. Two forces of nature in a small house it was bound to happen. Laura's upset for many reasons, none of which have anything to do with Chloé excepte the fact that it seems "like everything is about her!"(It is. It's Chloé's wedding). She also fails to see the imposition her unexpected tenancy is creating at this stressful time. I am elected to mediate, which I feel I was somewhat successful at since the next day they were both talking.

Getting My Irish Up

The flight from Manchester to Dublin wasn't even long enough for Marc to watch full episode of Bearish & Butthead before we landed. Customs was a cinch.

We took the public transport to save a few Euros. Checked in at the Aaron Hostel and then went out to find some food.

Marc orders the double burger. Much too much.

We walk to Temple Bar to have some Guinness with all the other tourists.

Time for bed. Big day tomorrow.

an annoying tick

Wake up! Chloé found some fleas on George, which is stress she doesn't need with less than two weeks left till her wedding day. This means we must all tread lightly. If I can survive her wrath I will be flying to Ireland tonight with Marc, otherwise spread my ashes over Black Rock City.

Sheepish Sheep and Slags Scrapping

I woke up to Chloe's dog George in my face, licking me mercilessly. Marc and I booked a flight to Ireland for Monday, along with a hostel. It's going to be a great adventure.

We took a walk uphill, through farmers fields. The sheep would run away when they noticed us. We got to the top of a hill that had a beautiful view, but the grey skies made the photographic results underwhelming.

George is a Patterdale Terrier 

Sheep, Bahhhhhhhh.

George digging for moles 

Me on a hill in Great Harwood Lancashire

Elderly People Fisting Sign

Chloe got some great news, her application for British citizenship has been approved! She made a great pasta dish for Tea (Apparently "Tea" means "Dinner", making a "brew" means "Tea", and they call it English).

After "Tea" we went on a family pub crawl to celebrate Chloé becoming a loyal British subject. The first pub Walmesley Arms, had a guy playing Wonderwall on acoustic guitar. I guess Oaisis is still a respected bunch of wankers band here in England.

Marc and I

Me and Chloé

The second pub, Cross Axes, had more lasers than one would expect. The fog machine was excessive for such a small place. They even had a pole on stage, which I'm sure has seen some nasty nights.

Me and Marky at yet another pub

We closed out the night at Baggy's Wine Bar. A full on cat-fight broke out between two slags, complete with hair pulling and rolling on the floor. When the lights came up and the girls were pulled apart one called out "Where's me Ma!?!". I offered Marc a broken heel as a souvenir. Some old dude wanted to show Chloé his muscles, causing Marc to flex his own. She later told us that he had pulled her hair. Marc said he would have fought the ol' bastard had he known. We had seen enough violence for one night.
 

Chloé and Marc at Baggy's Wine Bar

Clitheroe Castle with Choe

Chloé took me to Clitheroe Castle, which is actually just a small piece of a castle. It offered some amazing views of lush green fields (that's about all there is to see in England, fields). The rain stopped and the sun came out, we watched a youth orchestra play in the bandshell. We walked around the grounds while Chloé explained why it wouldn't make a suitable wedding venue.

Having a pint and reading about the Royal Ascot,
in the British way.

We found a pub and had a few pints. These English pubs are awesome, so old. I counted five fireplaces in the pub, then found a sixth while looking for the Gents Room. This was some of the only alone time I would get with my sister. It was so nice to get away with her if just for a few hours.

I took this photo because it reminded me of the tv show Arrested Development.

There is always money in the BANANA STAND!

Rain? In England?

We spent the rainy day in the house. Chloe says it's usually not like this, I don't believe her.

George nipped a bird in the backyard and was then obsessed with getting back outside to finish the job.

We watched a tv show called 8 out of 10 cats, where British comedians discuss the news of the week. It was a nice lazy day.

Tea Time

I landed in Manchester at 10am, cleared customs and took a commuter train to Chloe's place. She had a cab waiting for me at the station. The cabbie assumed I was American, on account of my accent. He' also erroneously supposed my sister was English on account of hers. 0 for 2 cabbie.

It's so nice to see Chloe and Marc after such a long time (more than a year!).

We went to walk Chloe's cute puppy George, then went to the pub for a nice room temperature beer. It's like drinking in someones house.

So tired. I find myself falling asleep while chloe rhymes off a list of wedding songs. Time for bed.

Lounging, always lounging

A huge line of people I got to avoid because
I'm blind. Just another one of the perks.

The unemployed jet-setter often finds himself in a classy airport lounge.
This plaza lounge is slightly less classy than the maple leaf lounge. No windows and thus no view(of planes, big deal). 27$ for a nice place to have a little nosh and a drink.

My flight takes off in one hour. Boarding should be starting any minute. I'm going to push it so I can max out my value in the lounge. 
The bar selection is so weak compared to Maple Leaf Lounge.
Im drinking Canadian Club Whiskey and coke.

Premature boarding. I'm in my seat on the plane. I boarded early and now I'm taking elbows from all the passing passengers. I was forgot to buy cashews before boarding but now I will have to pay the Over-Atlantic-Ocean price. In the flight announcement they actually warn against consuming your own alcoholic beverages, a dishartening warning since I stole 2 Keith's from the hobo lounge.

Pre-flight beverage

Lounge food, not bad

Damn it! More important than the cashews I was supposed to bring Chloe the latest in trashy periodicals.

Did you read this far? Comments are welcome below.

A mother and child are seated next to me, he starts whaling "DADDY!" once the plane is in the air. This may suck.

Stingy alcohol selection

Road to England

<p>It's 7:08 pm and I'm on a bus up Spadina, I don't know what took the streetcars out of commission. Looks like the slow beginning to a massive track repair project. Its so damn hot in Toronto I'm looking forward to the UK's famous rainy days. This bus has air conditioning which is more than I can say for the streetcar.

The subway platform is muggy as hell,making the train feel like an icebox. Every time the doors open coolness escapes.

In the next 5 years a new train will make this whole trek from downtown to the airport obsolete.

I don't think my footwear will have any life in them by the end of my voyage.
I'm using up my battery blogging about nothing.

A woman asks the airport express bus driver a question he must get 50 times a day; "What terminal does ______ airline fly out of. He says he doesn't know cause he's not flying anywhere today. I like this answer.

Banana Baker

I'm in a Starbucks in a bookstore. Enjoying the air conditioned sweetness but running short on power. Coffee shops seem to have less and less power outlets, maybe hoping you will move on when the battery gets low.

Is it cheating to go back and make up a post for yesterday? It was a busy day and by the end of it I was much too tired to write about it.

I leave for my sister Chloe's wedding in England tomorrow night. I have tons to do still. Laundry and packing, is all really.

So this is what happened yesterday:

Yesterday I went to the bank to get Euros and Pounds. I'm not sure which I will need more of but I'm glad I won't have to try and find an international bank machine or pay insane service fees. The bank tried to sell me on a service package that I pointed out would end up costing me more over the long run. I did end up starting a tax free savings account. We will see how that goes.


I picked up a birthday gift for my brother Marc. I haven't seen him since last April and I can't wait to have a pint with him in (fingers crossed) Dublin.

I made banana bread, maybe not the smartest thing to do on a hot day but I wanted to use up my over-ripe bananas instead of tossing them. I bought a nice loaf pan for a birthday gift I never ended up giving so I used that. I used a basic recipe I found on the internet and it turned out pretty good.

I said goodbye to my best friend Ian. He's going to Hollywood to work for some big movie Director (yeah, Seriously). We went for a drive and chatted about what the future may hold, which neither of us know. I'm looking forward to visiting him in LA at some point. How exciting. I'm really happy for him but I'm sad because I will miss him so much.

A good day turns tragic

It's a busy day in Toronto. Tons of huge events going on in the city, from the baseball game, 2 huge concerts along with NXNE, the World Naked Bike Ride, even a historic battle reenactment at Fort York from the War of 1812. I will go to the ball game and Radiohead since I only go to war reenactments where my side wins (we won the war, but lost this particular battle) and don't ride bikes naked (for comfort and not modesty purposes).

I woke up early for a Saturday. I put the new Radiohead album (The King Of Limbs) on the turntable and got pumped up for the show that night.



I met Regimbal at the Steam Whistle Brewery for a pre game pilsner. I'm so happy to see my good friend. 

Me & Regimbal at Steamwhistle

We realize that we probably havent seen each other since last summer on Canada Day (which ended in a epic shit-show). I asked Regim to join me for Radiohead that night. I bought the extra ticket thinking I would easily find a friend to go with, but it being such a busy weekend everyone seemed to have plans.

The Jays were awesome. Rallying to tie the game and then win it in extra innings with a walk-off homer. It was a sunny day, which forced me to retreat into the shady caverns of Skydome for brief moments between Jays at-bats. I still got too much sun. Not burnt but a little red.


We went back to my place to prepare for the big show at Downsview Park. Regimbal gave up his ticket to see the band almost ten years ago and always regretted it. I realize I have lost count of how many times I have seen Radiohead live in concert, either 4 or 5 times, making this 5 or 6.  

My aunt is a cop and was working at the show, she passes on the news that the show has been canceled due to a terrible accident. The stage has collapsed and 1 person is dead (We now know it was Radiohead's Drum Tech Scott Johnson).


Terrible news. My thoughts are with the man's family and the band.


I'm not upset about the show being cancelled, I will see them next time. No one should die because of a rock concert.

We have dinner at Epicure on the rooftop patio. It's good, as always.

The Flaming Lips balloons
over Yonge & Dundas

Regimbal and I decide to check out the free Flaming Lips show at Yonge & Dundas Square. We get there before the crowd turned away at the Radiohead gates got a chance to get back downtown.

The band takes a while to get going, starting 35 minuts late, but once they did it was wild. Tons of streamers and confetti and of course the lead singer in a hamster ball hurled into the audience. I rocked out to the Absolute 90's classic cut Vaseline and then headed towards the exit, I had to close the night at my friend Ian's going away party.

As I walked away from the by now massive crowd I heard them play a cover of Radiohead's Knives Out.

Wayne Coyne in a Hamster ball

Ian's party was great. A buch of his work friends wishing him well on his adventure to Hollywood while not-so-secretly wishing it was them.