flatiron - man it's been awhile

So tonight Maria and I will head to the Flatiron to settle our differences over a beer/pitcher. Also I will buy her a shot of tequila as consolation for her recent disappointment. As I commented on her entry those dudes at the Star don't know what they're missing. We do have another mission in going to the Flatiron, we'll check and see if the Flatiron has adopted the new board for NTN. I’m very excited but also wary because it renders one of our best techniques for playing obsolete. No I won’t tell you what it is.

big bowl of congee

Connie has a blog!! Check it out here . Also it will be permanently in the links section to the right. Isn’t blogging infectious? Fun like a disease.

Anyway I would like to tell everyone that Maria just criticized my blog. She said I only write about what I eat (never mind that someone said the exact same thing at dinner last night). Maybe I don’t give informed opinions about Toronto living like some people, but to be perfectly fair that’s not how I think. When pressed for an opinion about most things it's difficult for me to make up my mind about how I feel. I can usually see both sides to an argument as being valid and feel like I’m being false if I back one over the other. My point is I’m just not that kind of person. Sometimes I wish I could make more solid arguments about things I see and hear but I’m cursed with seeing both sides of an issue to the point of non-opinion. I’m not saying it’s better to be like me or to be like Maria who can size up a situation and say ‘I believe this for this reason and here is my proof’. I think the world needs both kinds of people and a few more to make it spicy. Bottom line – Maria meet me in the parking lot after work. We’ll settle things. With beer.

close call with evil mushrooms

Man I love peas . So I guess you can tell dinner was yummy last night (I had seconds), even tho I nearly ate mushrooms due to candlelight and them being refered to as 'magic buds'. We didn’t play any games but there’s always next week. I did have several chances to embarrass Jeremy enough that he left the room, which was great. I’m a trial I know but it’s worth it, we make such a cute couple .

presents and an idea

Last night Hayley stopped by to pick up all her stuff. Sniff, my little girl is leaving the nest. Anyway she brought me presents; she gave me a chili pepper plant, an anime bookmark, a bottle of wine and a box of baking soda. If you ever smelt my fridge you wouldn’t question the last one. The plant is so cool. I’ll dry some of the peppers out and add them to the frame I’m going to make. Chili peppers, dragon eye seeds and shells from Mexico. Nice. Or maybe I’ll glue them around my TV set. Hmmmm. Any suggestions?

nice weekend

I had a great weekend. On Friday Maria and I went to see Wimbledon . I loved it, first of all I love Paul Bettany , and second it was a fun romantic comedy. Very nice. On Saturday after a quick jaunt up to North York to exchange some clothes with my sis, she’s lost weight I’ve gained – so we swapped some stuff, Jer and I headed to the duke. Great Shepard’s pie but Jer got a fishman’s pie that I wish I had gotten. Half chowder half pie. Delish. And of course Joe balls. This time we tried the jalapeno and pesto Joe balls. Anyway on Sunday Jer and Heather picked me up at my place and we headed to the word on the street festival in queen’s park. We met Jaqui and Suzanne there checked out some books. Unfortunately we arrived as most people were packing up. I did see some anime videos I wanted. Jer and I will go to their store to check them out later. Afterwards the five of us headed to the duke for a pint. The girls had never had Joe balls or a deep fried mars bar. So we remedied that. We got the pesto Joe balls. Sigh. What I wouldn’t give for some of those right now.

fashion show

The fashion show was fun. We missed the first half but it was cool being around all the fashionistas (it’s a word now) during and after the show. We all got a glass of wine and wandered around some clothing displays trying to look like we belonged there. After we went out for a pint, which was great; I’d never gotten a chance to hang out with Hayley outside of Tuesday Din. Now I just have to wait for Rebecca to turn 19 so we can all go out. Then we’ll have three people to help keep Jeremy awake.

din and a show

Din was great last night – isn’t it always? I cleaned my plate AND finished dessert. That’s the last thing I need, a bigger appetite. I met the famous Leonard, originator of cogs and sprockets in balderdash. He brought Australian wine so he’s ok in my book. Amazing race ended last night. I honestly cried at the end because of the nice things people were saying about their partners. I think Jer and I should participate, then maybe I’ll get one of those speeches.
Tonight myself, Jer and Hayley are going to see Miguel’s fashion show. It’s Pat McDonagh’s Spring/Summer 2005 collection. I can’t wait to see it; we’ll find out if these models take direction better than the pageant girls. Trust me, we’ll be watching and judging.

welcome back maria and happy birthday boyd

Maria is back from her vacation today and she brought me a bag full of pretty shells. There’s enough there for me to make some sort of craft. I might combine it with the seeds from the dragon eyes Jer brought me from his buffet on Saturday. Maybe a nice frame or something. I saw Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow on Saturday. It was great! It played out exactly like a 30’s science fiction short story. Ah the golden years. Fabulous.

On an unhappy note I would like to mention that I saw one of the most disturbing things on the news since I moved to Toronto. Box cutter blades meticulously attached to pieces of wood and carefully embedded in the sand near volleyball nets. Such a malicious act. Just thinking of the time and effort put into crating those horrible things greatly perturbs me. What kind of a mind does that take? Ugh.

Ok now lets keep things upbeat -
Happy Birthday Boyd !

glo-worm gymnastics

I have never in my life wanted to pick a toy off the ground as I did last night. Walking home from work I noticed a stuffed animal on the sidewalk. Upon closer inspection I discovered it was a Glo-Worm. It looked like a newborn or something. So adorable. I used to have one when I was a kid and I loved it to death. Another cute thing happened; I found out from my dad that my niece has started gymnastics. She’s three. How cute is that? Apparently she was the only one who could stand on the balance beam and point her toe. She’s a genius, I’m positive.

matrimony bars and the world cup

Din at the in-laws was great last night. We played Password and Masterpiece. Hayley and Rebecca now share the addiction that is password. Even tho I played perfectly fair last night, I fear my storytelling has led to a mistrust when playing board games with me. What’s the point of having really clever ways to cheat if you don’t tell people about them. How will people know you’re clever? I really love the random thought processes that I witnessed and participated in last night. I need to get my family here with our password and we can have some sort of tournament. I’m sorry Denise but I don’t think I want to be your partner again. Who’s ever heard of matrimony bars ? C’mon. My night was completed by an endless cacophony of car horns and drunken cheering as I live on Yonge Street and Canada won the world cup. Oh well, that is why I moved here, to be in the thick of things. It’s all part of the dance .

Back to work

So it’s back to the old grind tomorrow. I can honestly say I’m looking forward to it. Being sick all week I’ve read every book I owned and watched hours of TV so I can say I’ve been horribly bored. When Jer didn’t have to work he came over and took care of me so that was nice, but I’m sure I wasn’t great company. My sister moved to Toronto last week so I had a few excursions with her but I still felt so weak I wasn’t much fun. I did get to see her residence tho, it’s very cozy. She’ll have a great time. I went out once on the weekend. Jeremy’s Starbucks buddies were having a get together and we met at the Green Room. After walking around forever we finally found the place and I, feeling the need to make up for lost drinking time, ordered too many shots and subsequently wasn’t good company that night either. So this vacation did have it’s moments, but it was pretty much a bust. I guess there’s always next year.

Happy vacation – I have a cold

So it’s the first official day of my vacation and I’m sick. I’ve only been sick once since moving to the city and I remarked upon that fact to Jer just the other day. Don’t you just love irony. Anyway so Jer brought his DVD player over here so I have stuff to watch while lying in a pitiful heap on the couch. I love watching movies when I’m sick because they make the time go by so much faster, that is until it’s time for bed and I have several hours of tossing and turning to look forward to. Seriously I can’t believe we haven’t cured the common cold yet. Get with it scientists.

The EX

Yesterday Jer and I went to the Ex. It was great!! It was every fair and Friendship Festival I had ever been to rolled up in one. Imagine two of the biggest kids ever in candy fun game land with animals. We ate a ton of food. We hit up the Food Building as well as the usual Fair fare, y’know corn dogs and deep fried candy bars. At the Food Building I tried goat for the first time. It was curried goat and quite delish. We went into every building but I think my fav was the farm building. It smelled of hay and manure and brought back so many childhood memories. I pet a baby pig and Jer had to look at every single cow in the place. I assured him they were all pretty similar. He’s decided he want a red calf, like a pet I guess. I said okay as long as we can eat it when it gets to big. He looked horrified. When night set in we hit the games hard. Or shall I say Jer did. He spent a bloody fortune trying to win me one of those huge stuffed animals (that I sure has hell didn’t want to carry around and take on the streetcar home). One of the guys working a shooting game said for twenty bucks he could guarantee him the big prize and make it look like he won so as to impress me. I’m proud to say that, although tempted, he didn’t do it. I did end up with this great stuffed orange stingray that was won honestly at the first game Jer played on the first try. I call him Stingy. We stayed for ten hours and if not for my aching feet and back, I could’ve stayed another ten. I loved it. And tho Maria told me it was just for kids, I have a hunch she would have paid the ten-buck ticket price just to have a crack at the dozens of chicken wing places in the Food Building. That’s right, I said dozens. I plan to go every year. If I ever want one of those big stuffed animals it looks like it’s up to me and the Skee-ball.

Lets go blue jays

So the ballgame was great. I’ve never seen the Blue Jays play before and though they lost, there were some great plays and even a home run. The wave made it around the Skydome several times. Very exciting. We went to the Peel Pub for food and beer first. I ordered a BLT with extra mashed potatoes and Maria got chicken wings, our two favourite foods. I DID NOT FINISH MY MASHED POTATOES. You heard me. First of all they were very dry, I’m sure they made them with water and not milk. Secondly my meal came with a container of a mysterious yellowy substance. At first I thought it was sour cream then I was like ‘oh silly me it’s butter for the potatoes. It wasn’t until after I had smeared ninety percent of it onto my potatoes and taken a bite did I discover it was mayonnaise for my BLT. So dinner was a bust thanks to my blondeness, but it was a fun night. Thanks Maria, you’re always a great date. I was watching the news (well extra actually) and saw a segment on how Miss Universe’s skirt fell off during a runway walk and she bared her bum. Normally I would be like meh, but having met her I thought it was cool. I was like omigosh I’ve seen that bum in person. It was covered in denim at the time but still – neato.

vacation!!!

Well today's my last day at work before my vacation. Wheeee!! I don't go back till the 14th. I'm just going to boot around the city and visit my sis for a few days. I'm going to the Ex with Jeremy this weekend....for the first time ever!! I'm so excited, Hayley and Rebecca told me of a wondrous food pavillion where magic reigns and food is it's consort. I think It's safe to say I will be spending the better part of my day there. Tonight Maria is taking me to a baseball game and we're having a beer (pitcher) beforehand. Ah Toronto. So my blogging will suffer as I don't have internet at home. I may post a bit when at Jer's place but I think I'll write up daily posts at home, save them on disk then post them when I'm back at work. Sounds good eh? I know you'll all be going mad with the suspense of not knowing what wacky adventures I'll be having, but you'll just have to wait.

fired for blogging

Man! I saw on the news this morning that some guy from Starbucks got fired for mentioning work in his blog. This seems to be the new trend. Troutgirl was fired for mentioning Friendster, where she worked, in her blog. Maria and Accordian Guy both wrote about her situation. This is a potent reminder for me never to mention work in my blog, except for maybe vague sentences like 'man work is driving me crazy' or 'what a splendid day I had at work'. Y'know stuff like that.

lima beans

Dinner was great last night. I tried lima beans for the first time. I love them. It was like a thanksgiving dinner with chicken, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. Speaking of mashed potatoes, I was sent home with a gigantic bowl of them. Guess what's for lunch and supper? After dinner I promptly fell alseep and was awoken by Jeremy over an hour later so we could go home. Talk about taking advantage of hospitality. Wine, food, sleep, home. Thanks for having me!

p.s- Happy September!! Look what we have to look forward to...