Collections

I am not a Material Girl but over the years I’ve accumulated a wide variety of things - my apartment bears silent witness. I can purge very well but sometimes I have crazy collections of certain things…

Necklaces - 83

(photo was taken 2 years ago, the collection has increased significantly since I started making jewellery! LOL)

Toronto Weather

Sure I know writing about the weather may be a bit of a Canadian pastime however this post is specifically for Greg* - who’s likely enjoying beautiful sunshine and temperatures as he settles into his new digs.

This morning the alarm clock went off and as I stumbled out of bed I was greeted by big, huge, fluffy flakes of snow falling gently to the ground. I continued with my morning routine only to see the flakes grow into ping pong sized fluffs of snow – and then came the lightening (followed by thunder too, of course). Side note: I’ve only ever seen snow lightening in Toronto - the most spectacular was in the evening as seen from Malcolm’s Jarvis condo – I think we still made it out to the bar that night too.

I walked outside and there were children up and down the street making snow balls and the visibility was so bad I couldn’t see either end of the street. I’m not sure if it was the snow, visibility or slipperiness but the bus was late by over 40 minutes (sure wish I’d found my gloves before I left my house) and took far longer to make its way to my office building. Late, wet and slightly cranky I walk into the office… not the only one who’d had a struggle in the morning. Side note #2: Why is it whenever there’s a little snow the TTC buses no longer run at regular intervals and sometimes decide that instead of running normally short turns (usually halfway to your destination) are required.

One of these days I’ll post about living car free in Toronto, which has many positive aspects – today however I’m more focused on the challenges of depending on transit when bad weather strikes.

*Greg: One of the good people in the world. Currently living and volunteering his time in Tanzania, for a second time.

Yummy Weekend

What’s the definition of a good weekend? Time off from work? Spending time with friends? Eating good food? Getting something done? I always wonder but then I guess it’s likely all a moot point as I often consider my weekends pretty great (unlike Monday’s).

This weekend started out with a wonderful dinner at 7 Numbers with Fred. The ”down-home Italian favourites” hit the spot every time, and while I think of the restaurant as my place with Deb it’s always fun to share a great place, and good food to eat with a friend. We discussed many things, some cheerful and friendly and some a little more exciting – and confirmed our summer plans with the Argos. We’ll be hitting the stands June 9^th and the season goes until November 3^rd – plus there will be at least 2 opportunities to cheer on the Blue and Gold!

Saturday was lunch of Thai Islamic Noodles, the name of course bears no relation to Thailand or Islam in any way, shape or form… however they are mighty tasty. Lounging around with a London Fog (elegantly described here) and the Toronto Star for the rest of the afternoon was a lovely way to waste away the hours before going to the theatre.

The theatre, indeed, I actually saw a play The Four Horsemen Project at the Factory Theatre. A wonderful performance of wit, humour, intelligence, strangeness, pretension and peeling away the need for pretension. Not only was the show laugh out loud there were some utterly sexy performances… a wonderful way to spend an evening!

Side Note: I have always been a huge fan of live performance, dating back to my early days at The Gas Station Theatre helping out mom with the box office or ushering patrons into the theatre. I have taken a bit of a break over the last 10 year (aside from one year with Canstage) and now I’m trying to get back into the habit… but it’s been tricky – the longer you put it down the harder it is to pick back up again.

Dinner was out again (anyone sensing a trend here?) and I enjoyed my favourite mussels with a dirty martini.

Sunday pales by comparison as the day focused on my group work project - we ended up running over into dinner time so I cooked. When things are busy I can almost always be counted on to be able to pull off a soup… and vegetarian tex-mex was excellent tonight.

Vegetarian Tex-Mex Stew

1 can Diced Tomatoes

1 can Mixed Beans

1 cup Frozen Corn

½ tsp. Chili Flakes

½ tsp. Chili Powder

1 tsp. Cumin

1 pkg. Chicken Stock

Water

2 tbsp. Lime Juice

Tortilla Chips

Add everything but Lime Juice and Chips into a pot, cover with water and then simmer until it’s mostly thick~ish. Just before serving add Lime Juice.

Serve with Tortilla Chips (either on the side or in the soup).

School Work

This weekend I’m getting together with my class project team to complete an assignment for Tuesday. It’s not particularly challenging (the big project is later in the year) in content though it does come with the usual team dynamics. When I was in school the first time round I saw these groups as plain old annoying (I really do prefer to work on my own) but now I see them as ways to make new friends and learn about individual work habits – of mine and others.

The other week in class another student asked for a “value add” from the instructor (barely any tenured professors agree to Continuing Education classes) and I thought he was asking for her to provide him with stuff he should be able to source on his own. Sure the guy is mostly annoying (although people have been known to say that about me as well) but he sparked an idea that trickled through the class – the teacher should provide us with all the tools.

Which bring me to a quote;

U.S. academics complain about being treated as mere service-providers in a consumer transaction, neither automatically feared nor revered. Globe and Mail

While I do disagree with people requesting the teacher give them all the tools (hey isn’t that learning something – when you find it on your own) I also do not think that they should be feared or revered. As my instructor/professor you are providing me with more knowledge, which I might add I’m paying for, and I appreciate you and your time. I also appreciate my time and outside commitments being respected… and that’s the crux of the matter. If the instructor is respectful and shares relevant information I will in turn show respect – however if the inverse is true then why the hell am I paying to take a class?

Needles in a Haystack

I’m by no means into the dating territory of The Single Girl but I do try to get out there. I seem to go in fits and starts piling on a ton of effort into a few weeks and then despairing at the quality of men out there. Shortly before Christmas the switch turned off and I was not trying anymore, sometime in the last few days the switch has been turned back on - and I truly doubt it has anything to do with the upcoming Hallmark Holiday.

So what do I do when I’m out there looking? Well I signed up for online dating but there’s been not much out there. I’ve tried speed dating but again the results were less than stellar. My lovely friends have tried on occasion to set me up (thanks to them for trying) and it’s pretty much been the same as all the rest of my attempts… “nice to meet you, wish we had any kind of spark.”

So this weekend I’m out there again, looking for my vein of gold on a mountainside. Well more accurately some guy dressed for the weather on the ski hills - though seeing as it’s a family environment I may not have a lot of luck.

Brother & Sister - No Interpretation Required

This evening I had a first – real communication with a teenage boy! I’d been starting to despair that I’d ever learn the language my brother spoke but lo and behold… a whole hour of conversation!

We discussed the US political situation, fish, Black history month, birds, Aboriginal politics, Greek mythology, crazy antics on snowmobiles and all kinds of things. It was absolutely wonderful to get a chance to catch up on what makes him tick… and I hopefully imparted some big sister-like wisdom.

The part of the conversation that struck me was about National Aboriginal Day ... C mused about how our indigenous populations are honoured with only one day while we devote an entire month to Black History. He felt that this was disproportional and that the people who named our Nation should command more respect from its inhabitants. I have to say that judging from census data there’s a good point to be made that as a country Canada has not be especially proactive in their equitable treatment of Aboriginal culture (though he makes a fair point that certain youths are also not interested in learning from their own elders and are focusing on imported “Black” cultures). While Canada may have many inhabitants who still self identify from 2, 3 and even 4 (or more?) generations back (Scotland itself lists only a couple hundred thousand more people as being from Scotland!) there are a good number of Aboriginal people (some of whom can’t call themselves that, if they lost status rights) whom we seem to ignore.

I think that C has a great idea in honouring our Aboriginal Peoples with a whole month… let’s make it a real party to celebrate those who were already here and educate the rest of the country – plus if we time it right there could be another long weekend in it for everyone! I’m going to vote for January or February, but more importantly I’ll vote for Aboriginal recognition.

Periphery People

Friends of friends of friends… they’re the people you’ve met, likely even partied with over the years and yet these are the people who are destined to stay on the periphery of your life. If you run into them at a restaurant you take the moment to say hello but there’s always a bit of a head scratch that you don’t remember their name, or they don’t remember yours. These are not the people who you can count as friends, but they also seem like something other than acquaintances.

I also have the most excellent ability to stick my foot in my mouth when meeting people – I’ve been told I’m fine “once you get to know me” but I can be a little off-putting at first. Thus making new friends can be a little challenging and all those random acquaintances often stay on the periphery. I sometimes wish that I was a little less brash around people I don’t know well, but being loud and over the top is my coping mechanism for when I’m feel uncomfortable or out of place.

Red Lobster, Saturday night: Chain seafood in downtown Toronto is apparently the place to run into peripheries. I would have never though that it could be such a happening kind of place… however there I was halfway through a create your own feast thinking that the guy across from me looked familiar. It wasn’t until he and his friends stood up to leave that I realized it was Dennis who I’ve met a few times (mostly through David) . We had a quick chat about the evening’s plans and he was off… like the office smile and nod it didn’t mean much other than an acknowledgement that we’re both alive.

Shoes

Over the years I have developed a sincere fondness for non-sensible footwear. My ideal shoes generally lean towards high heels that don’t work very well in anything but perfect weather (not too hot or too cold) or indoors. I like cute and funky, often in the mary-jane variety and summer sandals. I’m often teased for my choice in footwear, and have had to pay the price sometimes – although for the most part I just try to suck it up and not complain. I have learned many coping techniques over the years (such as plastic medical tape to save skin from rubbing and vitamin E oil to heal damage) and consider myself an experienced non-sensible shoe aficionado. Although, to be fair, a small percentage of my shoe collection is dedicated to things like runners and winter boots for days when I either don’t want to wreak my footwear or I want to be comfortable.

This brings us to Wednesday - it was cold and snowy, and since I was walking to Pilates I figured the sensible thing would be to wear my winter snow boots. Wouldn’t you know it but the darned things rubbed huge blisters into the backs of my heels during the 15 minutes there and the 15 minutes back – I haven’t had a blister since August! I’m hoping I can fix the damage in time to go skiing next weekend with Amy and Tim, blisters and ski boots do not go together.