cold water

There's something about listening to Damien Rice that brings out the complete emo girl in me.

I need to make some friends in this city!!!

"nobody knows i'm a lesbian"

Seriously one of the best t-shirts I've seen a guy wear in a long, long time.

Went shopping at Kensington Market for some groceries this evening, after a frantic scrubbing and cleaning session of our entire apartment, because I had a horde of potential subletters lined up to view it.

To elaborate, I am a stupid dumbass and signed a lease that goes until the end of August, even though clearly I am leaving at the end of July. I am such a tactless dimwit sometimes. Anyways, Neil was getting ready for his hot date with the new man in his life, so I am left sitting here by myself, drinking cranberry juice and updating my oft-neglected blog.

Well, I guess it could always be worse. I could be watching Schindler's List by myself like that fateful Monday night two weeks ago when I...sigh. Okay, this is way too depressing. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

Oh, here's a happy thought: my mommy wants to give me money to go to the United States of America. Specifically Harvard Law school. Yes, this woman is on a mission to make me her unfulfilled dream. All I can say is, travel is travel. I am going to start planning my trip like....right now.

ladies, gentlemen and ladyboys...unite!

Last week= amazing.


A lot of first times for me in the last several days, including my very first Pride week! The theme for this year was Unified! as seen above.


This pictures makes me happy to no end.


There were male go-go dancers on top of this lounge/bar all week long. They were hypnotising to watch, especially at night.


Gay-shas!!! (Sorry, I had to.)


Ahhh, sausage fest.






Neil and I, getting happy in the afternoon.


Sarah and her friend Allison came down for the festivities too! :)


Ahaha. Priceless.

Also, some pictures from a Wednesday night at Zelda's (in anticipation of Pride Week)


There was a wet underwear contest!!!

Before:


...and After:



Our host(esses) had way too much fun with their water guns, lol.


The drag queens absolutely love Neil.

There was also a couples makeout contest:


Announcing the winners...


All in all, a great week. There were so many things that happened in between, but those stories are the best recounted face to face. ;) You can see more fabulous scandalousness here.

I hope you all had a wonderful week as well.

fuck th3 w0rld!

This morning, the title bar of the Economist print edition was "fuck th3 w0rld!" I wish I had taken a screencap, because after a few clicks on the "refresh" button, it was back to the usual "Print Edition." Still, it sure woke me up.

Speaking of waking up, I was wide awake at 3 AM this morning due to my very early bedtime. 8:30 PM, to be exact. I know, I am an old lady. Sunday nights are the best for being an old lady. Friday and Saturday nights? Not so much. So, a brief recap:

Friday night my dear roommate Neil, his friends and I went to Circa, the biggest and supposedly best nightclub in all of Toronto. Well, I'll give credit where it's due: it sure is big. Three floors, with an escalator leading up from the main floor to the second (or third?). The dj that night was alright, but the music was a bit slow to get started. By 1 AM though it was all very good.

Saturday night, well...Neil and I were invited to a party at the second floor of Rivoli, a restaurant-bar-lounge on Queen Street West. I had coffee at Rivoli and got all pumped to party, only to go upstairs to find that a) we didn't know anyone there, and b) it wasn't really a dancing party. So we walked home in light rain at around 2 AM, and collapsed.

Sunday was good, we had lunch at Spring Rolls restaurant on Dundas, near Yonge and Dundas Square (pictures to come from that later!) with mutual friends Craig and Jasmine...who, may I add, are one of the cutest and sweetest couples I know.


The cute couple, in person!


Aw, fag + his hag


My mango salad...I was surprised to find that it was actually a salad consisting entirely of mango strips. I was expecting some slices of mango in a regular salad, but...well. The "fish sauce" it was supposed to come in was completely nonexistent, though.


Obligatory group shot.

So now its Monday morning and I am looking forward to a new week of 9-5 excitement. I am really feeling that Michael Gray song "The weekend."

prison break

I was walking to work this morning, listening to my usual CBC morning show As It Happens, which was following up on the huge prison break in Kandahar last Friday. Now it's being reported that up to 400 insurgents amongst the 1000 dangerous criminals are roaming around, while the Canadian defence minister plays the classic "Well, they're the ones who screwed up" game (they being the Afghani government). This is despite evidence of requests filed last year for upgrades to the prison's security.

Also, with allegations and suspicions flying around about whether this was an inside job, it just goes to show once again how little I (and many average Canadians, I suspect) really know about what goes on in Afghanistan. A military representative on the show put it succintly- "Things are never what them seem in Afghanistan. Loyalties are bought....but this can change at any time."

And something else I found out in the process of reading about the prison break: Canada's tentative pull out date of Afghanistan is 2011! Oh, those memories of a 2009 pull out date seem so distant now. Was it even 2009? I don't know, some ridiculously idealistic timeframe that only the NDP are capable of dreaming up.

As a disclaimer, I don't consider myself by any means an adept analyst of Canadian politics or foreign policy. However, I am slowly getting into the habit of engaging myself at a new level- that of the eligible voter. That's right- I have never voted in a provincial or federal election as of yet, but in anticipation of one (that is, if the Liberals ever decide to show up for motions), I am attempting to have some sort of reference point for myself.

My political party of choice is yet to be decided- but as for now, it is definitely not the Conservatives as long as Stephen Harper is controlling the mothership. As my mother mused once, while driving me to the mall: "Stephen Harper...he looks like evil man."

I don't know about evil, but the things he gets away with are quite atrocious.

after the storm

It's been thunderstorming, as of late. Usually rainy weather depresses me, but I find that this time, it's quite cathartic. Walking to work today was absolutely beautiful, with the sun shining and everyone out in their jaunty summer shorts and skirts, walking, talking, or enjoying a bit of sun-filled solitude. I wish my life could always be like this- a perpetually sunny morning, walking to a not-too pressing engagement with plenty of time and Jane Birkin's effortlessly sensual voice singing "La Madrague" into my ears.

on being a tourist

I've been a bad tourist.

Or maybe this is just unique to me being in Toronto. I am here for the summer doing an internship (the usual 9-5 deal), for which I am very grateful, because I have yet to make many friends in this city. I would probably spend a lot of my days at a cafe reading and brooding about life (classic portrait of a Lonely Loser).

I think that Toronto is the kind of city that only truly comes alive when you have friends. Sure, you can say the same for any place in the world, but there are some cities that are so interesting on their own- in terms of local culture, architecture, shopping, and so on- that I could feasibly spend a good period of time by myself and not feel restless or bored. Some examples of cities like this are Paris, London, Marseilles, Lyon, and pretty much all the big cities in Europe I wish I had the moolah to visit.

I am the type of tourist that sets out in the morning with a map, a backpack, a camera and a vague itinerary. I love meandering aimlessly in large cities and stumbling onto places that guidebooks would say are "off the beaten path" - except I stumble on them without the help of a guidebook. It's just more fun that way.

So coming back to Toronto: I live very close to the famous Kensington Market and Chinatown, which places me at the hub of downtown. Well, I suppose when you're talking about such a huge city like Toronto there are many "hubs," but where I live is definitely one of them. I only discovered Little Italy on College Street two weeks ago, and had a wonderful time wandering down by myself and discovering all the charming little shops, restaurants, video stores and bookstores. I even saw a place called "Eat My Martini"-- $6 martinis! Now if only I can find some friends to sip them with, hah.

I do live with a roommate, but he's been vacationing it up in California (I want to go to San Francisco!), so it's just been ronery times for me here. Toronto people- if you have recommendations for cool places, neighbourhoods you like (bonus points for cool places in cool neighbourhoods) whether its for people flying solo or in groups, let me know. I am especially keen on live-performance music/jazz lounges. No hardcore punk or stand up comedy, though...although I don't mind comedy clubs with experienced funny men/women. Seriously, one of the most painful things one can go through is bad stand up comedy. I remember reading a NOW article by a guy who went to stand up comedy every night for a week, and some of the stuff he had to endure just sounded brutal. Did somebody say, "retard" joke? Seriously, jokes about mental handicaps are funny maybe 0.2% of the time, when used extrememly sparingly and by the right comic.

Anyways, I digress.

I checked out the Luminato festivities at Yonge and Dundas Square a few days ago.




The theme for this year (which also happens to be the first) is "Water." I am guessing that these are water molecules?





In the evening they had a performance of disco dance and music. Now, the guy on the sax: Sideshow Bob. Don't tell me you don't see it.



And to finish: my favourite Chinese restaurant name, ever. My roommate and I just crack up every time we pass it, badly imitating mandolins and taking turns saying the name in exaggerated Chinese accents. “In the Eeeat-ting Gaar-den, the Emmp-eror of Chiiiina sits with his thouuuusand concubines.”

You kind of have to be there to appreciate the humor.So anyways…..don’t you want to visit me in Toronto now, and be my friend?

Mmm, smell that desperation.