Alexia and Zac Brown Band Concert

This was my first live concert in a long time!

 

 

The place was packed, but we got there in plenty time to enjoy the VIP seats.  Thank you Alexia for the free concert.

 

 

 

 

It's funny because a year ago I couldn't imagine myself going to a live outdoor event like this and now I'm thinking about all the fun things I want to do that are big events that I have missed out on (just like everybody else!) for the last two years.

 

It got me excited for all the fun musical things that I could do in the future.  I love seeing live music and just dancing (badly!) along to the music.

 

They played some great tunes...everything from their normal hits to Harry Styles, Pink Floyd, Weezer....it was a lot of fun!

Visit to the Aga Khan Museum

Just a fun photo dump of finally checking this museum off my list.  A really great place, I really enjoyed the galleries here:

This horn looked like the horn blown from Ragnorok, the Gjallarhorn,.

This crest was just so FREAKING COOL.  People were so inventive in how they created their own kinds of art and meaning! It was like something right out of a fantasy novel.

This rub inlaid thingamajig was made by taken molten gold and PRESSING the rubies into place.  I loved it.

 

Bye, bye Beatrice Street

 

 

 

Where I lived for 6...7...8 years??  I don't even remember at this point.  I think I moved here in 2014, shortly after Alex and I started dating.  I have many positive memories from living here.

 

This desk is where I spent many, many days and nights doing creative work, or during the pandemic, spending time with people online.  I got really used to that slanted ceiling!

 

 

 

 

It sounds so silly, but I can't believe how much time I spent in this one little room, especially over the last 2-3 years of the global pandemic! Some highlights from living at Beatrice:

 

• The neighbours next door would have screaming matches at least once a month.  I knew a lot more about them than I thought I would ever know about my neighbours.  When their kid was still a baby, I would get woken up by crying in the middle of the night. 
  
• When anyone used the kitchen, all the heat would go to my room.  The top floor was an extra five degrees hotter than the rest of the house.  Adding evening meal prep to the evening sun in the summer, and it was like living in an oven
• If I turned on the window a/c, the room would vibrate. The landlord upped the cost of the laundry machines to $3 per wash and per dry after I started using an a/c unit.  (Was still worth it!)
• In the summer, I woke up many times with bugs in my bed, from the window in the summer. Usually a beetle or spider.  
• In the winter, the walls were so cold the paint would crack. There was no insulation in the house, and I bought a heated blanket, which was the best purchase I made after the a/c unit.
• I had a total of 12 roommates over this whole time of living here, 3 different ones at a time. There was a golden age of living with Celine, Brad and Nathaniel that made me very happy...I have so much love for them. The next best was living with Julie and Roberto, and for a time, Simon.

 

Us at Igor and Celine's Wedding. Igor in the background, to the right

 

• I had one roommate who said I typed too loudly....and complained that my phone calls bothered them and they couldn't focus on studying.  I got a pad for my chair, and then they complained that my chair still bothered them because it creaked. They also said they wanted to get a cleaner for the house and everyone to pitch in...when they were the messiest person in the house.  I also couldn't use the kitchen...because their meal prep took around 2-3 hours per day, and the fridge was always full of vegetables because they need fresh produce all the time.
  
• I had one roommate who gave everyone the evil eye, and I think was honestly really depressed.  They left their hair everywhere, and I regularly did all their dishes.  They still gave me the evil eye.  When they left, they dumped all their garbage on the lawn, and it got rained upon, leaving a sopping mess. I had to pay for special garbage bags to get rid of the mess they left.
• One roommate had an issue with alcohol, and left in the middle of December for another country. Their car was towed...they just left it on the street when they left Canada.  It sat there for over three months.
• The worst time I had was when I couldn't sleep for about six months last year more than 4 hours. One roommate went to bed at 3am, and one got up at 5am.  In between this, the people in the basement played drumming around 12am-1am.  I invested in very expensive ear plugs, which I learned, were really unpleasant to sleep with.
• I created a really sweet patio set up, and we regularly did really cool Halloween things.  One Halloween, a kid asked to come in the house to see it. He said it used to belong to his grandma, and he just wanted to see what it looked like inside one more time.
• The guys in the basement had cats, and one year they moved their cat litter right next to the air vents in the heat of summer.  I have never pleaded with someone more over text message to move cat litter for the good of my sanity.
• One year, a large animal died in the wall between the two houses in the middle of a very hot summer. Every time you walked into the kitchen, it smelled like rotting fish for two weeks.  The landlord's assistant said just to wait until all the flesh decomposed enough, the smell would go away.  (They apparently didn't care that there were animals in the walls)
• I lived right next to a 24 hour grocery store a five minute walk away. One of my favourite things to do (In my early 30s, I could never now) was to walk the store at 1am, and buy a bag of chips, and watch a show until 3am.
  

Despite all this, this was one of the best places I have ever lived.  I previously had been living alone, in two separate basement apartment, both which flooded.  This place was a chance to live with people, and find good people, and it turned out really well for me...I made lifelong friends.  When I first walked in, I had such a good feeling...and that good feeling turned out to be true.  It had a double sink, a dishwasher, and I could live on the top floor, which I happily did.

It wasn't a castle, but it was the next best thing to me.  And the rent was cheap, too.

 

Have I told you I've started teaching lately?

I have!

I'm doing a course on visual communications at my old PR college, Centennial.

Been a great experience so far.  Smart people in the class, learning a lot myself.

It's definitely a challenge trying to balance that with working full time...since this is basically another job on top of my current job.

But so far, so fun!  

Zombies!

In honour of Halloween this weekend, here are highlights from the Zombie Walk that goes on in Toronto.  It's an international event where people dress up as zombies and walk around downtown, pretending to be undead.  Cute!  It's a really fun, community oriented event, and you really feel like you're in a movie!

This girl really creeped me out.  She walked right up to me, and just kind of stood there. 

For some reason I love this guy's costume!

I think this was the best shot I took all day.  =)

I LOVED THIS GUY!  =D

Party on, dude.

There were so many zombies/people.  This was the crowd for about an hour, walking by like this.  Insane!

I like this photo as well.

This is one disgruntled librarian!  Brains!

This is a local joke.  You can't read the sign, but it says, "Rob Ford for Mayor."  He's now the Mayor of Toronto, and very divisive as a politician.

I thought this girl gave a really great 'look.'

Hipster zombies!  Only in Toronto's Queen West!

Princess zombies.  I saw a Mario zombie somewhere, but I haven't found the picture yet. =/

Errr, hi.

I loved these gals!  Great idea!

This was hilarious!  I have no idea where she found the body bag!  (Or how she walked around in it for several hours???)

Gumby poses with Jesus.  Apparently the Second Coming isn't as nice as one would think. =/

This was gross.  The girl literally drank blood in front of me and poured it all over her and smiled.  I have it on video, it's terrifying!

And this guy must have been hungry, because he was chewing that hand the entire walk, I think.

Crazy!  I loved it!  =D

Time to Move Again

My roommate can apparently hear my computer playing a video game, quietly, through my door, and her door.


What else can she hear?  This...this is insane.  What are these walls made of??  Paper mache???


Seriously, I've had it.  Time for a change of scenery.  I'm finding a new place.

Laundry Lingo

Yes, this really happened.

Alright!

Whew

Today I

Edited a small writing piece
Read up on my journalist I'm following for a class
Spent 6 hours in class
Researched Canadian Public Relations Society
Opened a new blog, again (I know, I know, I just don't wanna mix my personal and pr blog. Sigh.)
Figured out how to use Share This
Figured out IE8 is useless
Went to the gym
Made myself some greek pitas
Watched some internet tv
Updated Twitter
Read up on 800 headlines in the news (THAT was really boring)
Updated Facebook...now almost everyone in my class is my 'friend!' =)
Linked my Facebook to Blogger

And surprisingly, I've been fairly productive! Unfortunately, I WANTED to start working on one of two writing assignments, and I have my outline for the PR project I'm doing independently, really, due tomorrow as my personal deadline, and tomorrow is drinks-with- classmates day! I will post pictures when I have them. I love everyone in my class currently!

May it stay that way! =)


I'm off to bed, I'm already cutting my sleep short. But I excercised, and that will make all the difference.

Officially an Ontarian

I'm now a registered Ontarian resident with an Ontario Health Card, and an Ontario Driver's Licence.

Scary. =)

Going to the High Park Shakespeare Theatre with Sarah!

This was a great picture of Sarah, who is now a proud new owner of a Blackberry. That's what you get for taking a high paying government job, Sarah. =)

Hilariously, They said no pictures within the theatre area, but I snapped one of Sarah. IMMEADIATELY, one of the volunteers nazis came up and requested I delete the picture. I told him it was just of my friend, not of the stage or anything like that. After I explained everything he was ok with me. And then he moved onto the next photographer in the crowd and hassled THAT guy. =)

We watched the Tempest, and I WISH we could have taken photos...the set is BEAUTIFUL, and best of all, the play was FREE! (With a suggested donation of $20, of course...and that rule is pretty heavily enforced. I never knew artists could be so vigilant.)

My First Blue Jays Game!

We saw the Blue Jays play the Orioles!








Travis and I went together! =D





You'll notice that the seats we got were of the $62 variety. They were complimentary tickets, sure, but they were amazing seats...right in front of the line to first base on the ground level. Travis had to meet some Italian guy at gate 11 before the game to get them...we're both positive he's part of the mafia.






And THIS was the amazing grill burger we got from one of the burger stands. And at $11 a burger, you can believe I enjoyed that thing.



Overall, the game experience was really enjoyable...I think I'll go again! =D