wednesday july 30

today i came closer to tearing up while reading a blogger's descriptions of certain emotionally affecting moments on the wire than i did while actually watching them.

tuesday july 29

today i was at work and listening to my ipod, as usual, when my supervisor stopped by my cubicle. out of politeness, i paused my music as i took off my headphones, and, upon doing so, was dismayed to realize that i'd been listening to "little girl" by syndicate of sound, a fact now prominently displayed on the lit-up display screen. while, on its own, this would be no cause for concern, it happened to be the second time within the last week that my supervisor's visits had caused me to pause my ipod while listening to a track called "little girl," the first time occurring while i was listening to death from above 1979. instinctively, i became vaguely worried that this bizarre coincidence was suggesting to her a predilection that does not exist.

monday july 28

today i watched as a bus pulled up to the temporary stop at queens and richmond. the 'stop' practically takes up half the block, which always makes it a guessing game, figuring out where the bus will actually pull up. in this case, the bus drove past most of the people waiting and stopped right at the intersection. a man who had been waiting for this bus and seemed significantly physically handicapped had been standing further up the block and now slowly tried to limp towards where the bus was unloading and loading passengers. he did not, however, make it there quickly enough, and the bus pulled away as he yelled at it out in frustration, still a good 20 or 25 feet from making it to the door. though presumably unintentional, this display was perhaps the most stunningly cruel i've witnessed in my ten years of taking and observing london transit.

sunday july 27

today i was walking down the sidewalk near my street with my headphones on when i approached an middle-aged woman walking towards me. now, an interesting dynamic arises in the suburbs when passing people on the sidewalk: whereas in busier areas, people will pass one another nonchalantly without even considering saying anything, friendly greetings are far more common in less frequented areas in the city, usually occurring with over 50% of passers-by. with my ipod playing, this percentage diminishes considerably, and i keep it in my pocket on hold, so there's no chance to push pause to ensure that a "hello" and smile happens. as such, in these scenarios, i find myself looking for eye contact. if i get it, i nod and smile. if i see lips move, i say "hello." the formula is foolproof, except in this particular instance. just as i approached the area where i typically get eye contact, i stepped out of the shadows and into the sunlight, the sun shining directly in the eyes and preventing me from making out anything but the shadowy shape of the woman's face. flustered, i attempted to nod, smile, and say "hello" all at once, before realizing that she wasn't even looking at me.

saturday july 26

today i was walking through ikea when i saw a father smack his child in the chest and shout "do you hear me now?! i don't care who's watching!"

friday july 25

today i noticed, for the first time, that there is an adult novelty & video store directly across the road from my office building. for the rest of the day, pretty much all i could think about was how realistic it would be to recreate the dildo-hiding scene from the u.k. version of the office.

thursday july 24

today i was called upon on short notice to host the weekly radio show i take part in. about a half-hour before going on the air, i joked to a friend that whenever i had to host the show, i always felt like i was going to screw something up, like forgetting to turn on the mics for the duration of the show. a half-hour later, i successfully turned on the mics. i did not, however, turn their volume above 'zero' for the first 45 seconds or so of the show.

wednesday july 23

today i saw a man fall off his motorcycle, from a standstill. the motorcycle just fell over in the middle of the street and down he went with it. embarrassing.

tuesday july 22

today i heard the tail end of a conversation in which a coworker referred to someone as "raunchy at best." for the next two minutes, i debated internally whether the tone of her voice suggested that:

a) the statement was a criticism of the subject's personality, with raunchiness being a negative attribute and "at best" being a generous qualifier

or

b) the subject was aiming for controversial or shocking -- think howard stern -- but merely achieved, at best, raunchy.

monday july 21

today i walked down the street on my lunch break to grab a slice of pizza from a nearby little caesars. it's about a six minute walk. during approximately the fifth minute, a few raindrops began to fall; concerning. after i ordered my pizza, however, it really began to come down. thus, a series of bad decisions that began with my leaving work without an umbrella continued on, eventually seeing me run back into the doors of my office building drenched in water, with soggy pizza in my hand. it cleared up 10 minutes later.

sunday july 20

today i arrived home after being out overnight to find people asleep on the floor, a couch, and two different beds in my house.

saturday july 19

today i went to see the dark knight with a friend. all day -- all week, really -- we'd been planning our attack strategy for when and where to see it, how early to get there so that we wouldn't have to worry about a sellout and so on. when we arrived at the theatre a mere 15 minutes before showtime, i anticipated the worst, and didn't know whether to be relieved and disappointed when we bought tickets with no problem and had the opportunity to sit basically anywhere we wanted.

friday july 18

today i arrived home from work to find my newly-ordered macbook awaiting me. excitedly, i opened it up and began setting it up and attempting to figure out how to use it. having used computers all my life, i anticipated that i'd learn its nuances in about two seconds, and was slightly discouraged when, by the end of the night, i'd still barely learned how to navigate between multiple windows. apparently i need some sort of comprehensive how-to guide to figure out macs.

thursday july 17

today i left work early in order to catch the 10-wonderland bus that gets me to campus in time to do the 6:00 radio show at chrw. although i left work four minutes earlier, i still arrived at the bus stop just as the bus was leaving! a close call! later in the ride, the route was slowed down by heavy traffic on southdale, backed up due to a car accident. the universe was trying really hard not to let me make the show on time! finally, the universe prevailed; as the bus was pulling out of westmount mall, a passenger shuffled up to the front of the bus and vomited, aiming for the garbage can but mostly missing. for some reason, after kicking him off, the driver then kicked everyone else off, holding out for a cleaner bus, making everyone else wait for the next one, and ensuring that i wouldn't make it to campus until well after 6:00.

wednesday july 16

today i was at work when i passed by a sign-up sheet for an upcoming potluck event, in honour of an employee who recently became a mother. the potluck takes place at lunch on a work day, making it easy for me to sign up, but of course i hadn't. looking at the list of what people were planning to bring, however, i began to get very hungry and wonder what i could bring that would be sufficient enough to allow me access to all the other food, or if, with all of this stuff on the list, anyone would even notice if i didn't bring anything.

tuesday july 15

today i woke up after a surprise night of drinking, unable to remember post-bar events. since i'd gone out directly from work, having left my work clothes in a backpack at a friend's house before going to the bar, i became convinced that i didn't bring this bag home. while this would normally be no big deal, my only pair of dress shoes was in the backpack. as such, i spent the duration of my early-morning shower concernedly worrying about what i was going to wear to work on my feet, or if i'd have enough time to make it downtown before work to pick up the shoes. when i finally got out of the shower, my stress was heavily alleviated, as i noticed my backpack sitting just inside the front door. while i, of course, had brought it home myself, my complete lack of memory made it seem as if some sort of guardian angel had returned it for me overnight.

monday july 14

today i watched the mlb home run derby at a bar for the first time ever. this experience, sans audio, prevented me from hearing chris berman's "back back back back back back back" calls, something i was very thankful for, but also meant that i missed hearing chase utley drop an f-bomb on the yankee stadium fans, which was sort of a bummer.

sunday july 13

today i went to the beach at port franks for the afternoon. on our way out, we decided that a drink and some food (maybe nachos?) would be a nice thing, so we stopped at the nearby bar and grill, 'christine's.' what we witnessed here was a surreal scene that erin suggested was straight out of a mighty wind. a band of middle-agers plowed through folk covers of mostly old, mostly campy songs, while the patio crowd (who all seemed to know one another) ate it up. children danced. adults danced. the band exchanged banter that seemed scripted ("okay, we're going to let the pretty one sing this next song," one member announces, speaking, of course, of the lone woman in the group; "but i just sang one!" interjects one of the other male members; laughs abound). personal space was eschewed in favour of group camaraderie, as adults and children alike sat next to me at our table, which was admittedly prime real estate for a good view of the band.

the following poster, depicting this band, was hung above the sink in the men's washroom of christine's. it is now sitting on my desk:



the most important thing to note here is that the poster advertises for a date so far in the future, indicating that this is a band whose performances ought to be preceded by months of hype and anticipation.

the entire experience was one of the highlights of my summer to date.

saturday july 12

today i talked to someone about the bar molly bloom's. however, for the life of her, she could not seem to say the bar's name correctly, repeatedly saying what sounded like "molly booms" even after acknowledging that she always said the name wrong and after i said it correctly more than once. it was an amazing thing to witness.

friday july 11

today i was prompted by a recent compliment in the comment section of one of my blog entries here to revisit the comments i've accumulated to date in an attempt to make a header banner that included movie-trailer-esque hooks. i anticipate that the result will boost my ego on days when i'm feeling a little down.

thursday july 10

today i was riding the bus across the city at around 5:30, a typically busy time of day, of course, for traffic. one black girl sitting near me assured a friend next to her that if she thought this was bad, she should see "rush hour in africa." i originally mistook the phrase to mean a jackie chan and chris tucker movie that i hadn't seen, before realizing that she, in fact, meant it quite literally.

wednesday july 9

today i picked up an in touch magazine from our staff lunch room and began reading it. i was about five minutes and 20 pages in, when i realized that a photo shoot i was looking at, of cameron diaz and ashton kutcher horsing around on the set of what happens in vegas (caption: "what would demi think?!") seemed awfully dated. i flipped back to the front cover and read the issue's date: september 24, 2007. the fact that it took me 20 pages to realize the 9+ month discrepancy made me think that i pretty much epitomize the antithesis of the magazine's title.

tuesday july 8

today i attempted to order a new macbook computer using the apple website. the process was slightly lengthy and arduous, and my firefox browser and the entire computer crashed multiple times in the process, as if attempting to save their asses by preventing me from replacing them.

monday july 7

today i was standing at riverside and wonderland at around 7:50, waiting to catch the 10-wonderland bus to work. as it finally approached, i stepped up expectantly, and was disturbed to see the bus drive right on past without stopping to pick me up. too full! convinced that they must have a backup bus coming, with such an overload of passengers, i waited patiently. and kept waiting for another half hour until the next bus came. over the course of this half hour, the hypothetical speeches i'd deliver on the phone when i angrily called london transit grew in intensity, though by the time i arrived at work and no one seemed to really care that i was 15 minutes late, this anger had abated considerably.

sunday july 6

today i experienced my lowest point of the weekend while browsing electronics boutique at the mall for potentially fun multiplayer gamecube games to bring with me when i move. i happened upon a used copy of mario kart: double dash!!, the one i'd secretly been hoping to find, only to take it to the counter to purchase and being told that, while the box is indeed available on the display, the game itself is missing. tony hawk's pro skater 4 was a sad consolation prize.

saturday july 5

today i stepped onto the 5-springbank bus in the evening, and was immediately requested to do something by the driver. not quite hearing what she'd said (except the word "window"), and only seeing her gesture towards what seemed to be the front window, i asked her to repeat herself. "open some windows on your way back," she repeated cheerfully. "just grab 'em and yank 'em as you go by." this was a troubling request, though the bus did seem slightly stuffy. generally speaking, when i'm sitting on the bus, i carefully measure how and when i open the windows, making absolutely sure that i'm going to do it right, rather than sitting there pulling on the window and having it not open, while the rest of the bus snickers quietly to themselves and assumes i'm a little weakling. making matters worse in this scenario was the fact that not only was i holding a six-pack of beer in one hand, but there were also people sitting in the seats below the windows i was meant to open. walking towards the back of the bus, i was able to lean past one woman not too awkwardly and pull open the first window. as i made my way towards the second window though, the bus lurched into motion. faced with the prospect of maneuvering my way to the window on a moving bus while leaning over another woman who was sitting on the aisle seat, i decided that one window was enough. i shot a glance back at the driver to ensure that she wasn't watching me, holding me to her request, and quickly made my way to an empty seat. upon sitting down, i was pleased to feel a slight draft from the lone open window.

friday july 4

today i was passing through the salt lounge, looking for friends who were supposed to be there. the building was mostly empty, with only about three or four people standing near the stage, despite the fact that a band was about to start. as i passed by the stage, the singer attempted to get me to stop and watch them his band, by yelling, "hey! people walking!" mortified at being called out so publicly, i briskly kept walking without acknowledging the pleas, feigning obliviousness.

thursday july 3

today i reached for my wallet at approximately 4:00 pm and was dismayed when i realized it wasn't there. i initially concluded that it had either been stolen or that i'd lost it, since these possibilities seemed more likely than my just forgetting it, though this was, in fact, what happened. despite the fact that it had taken me over eight hours to notice its absence, and that i didn't even need to use it for anything, this put me in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day. i hate being walletless while out in public.

wednesday july 2

today i began a new job. nine to five, dolly parton hours. five days a week. i dress nice. i'm almost like a real person. i was initially worried that this newly full schedule would affect this blog, but don't worry faithful readers, i may be even tardier than usual, but not even working full time could suppress my passion to blog.

tuesday july 1

today i spent about five minutes attempting to navigate my way through an ikea catalogue before finally giving up, conceding that, while my internet prowess is extensive, i don't really know my way around print catalogues.

monday june 30

today i dreamed that i was in the back seat of a car with a friend at the wheel, when suddenly a questionable choice in driving judgment led us to plunging into a not-quite-frozen lake. the panic i felt when faced with the prospect of escaping from the car before it sunk into the frozen depths will probably be unconsciously remembered, whether unfairly or not, whenever i'm eventually faced with the real-life prospect of being driven somewhere by this friend.