thursday september 24

today i used toronto transit for the first time since march 9. no better than wearing long pants.

tuesday september 22

today i was taking my usual morning walk through the neighbourhood when i approached an intersection where, with school having resumed, a crossing guard was working. this wasn't a heavily-trafficked intersection and - as far as i could tell - there were no schools in the immediate vicinity. as i approached, there were maybe one or two adult pedestrians in sight and no cars around.

nonetheless, as i approached the corner, the crossing guard walked into the road and put her stop sign up, as if i needed help to cross the street. i understand that this is her job, but the experience left me with the same feeling i get after using a public bathroom where an attendant is working -- this is something i've done thousands of times on my own, and the fact that you're helping me do it feels unnecessary and awkward for both of us.

at least in this case i only had to mumble an awkward "thanks" instead of worrying about whether or not to tip her.

friday september 18

today i played a couple sets of tennis while two middle-school kids played on the court next to mine. while it seemed like they were both having a good time, i felt a little bad when i heard the following exchange:

kid 1: "okay, that's 14 games to 0."

kid 2: "i told you we can stop keeping track!"

sunday september 13

today i was skyping with my parents and brother when i glanced down at my phone and saw two messages from my girlfriend, who was in the next room. the first was a link to a tweet about a toronto strip club being tied to seven cases of covid-19, while the second just read "show them."

confused about why she'd want me to show my parents this story, which didn't seem to align with their interests, i realized after a few seconds that she'd sent the messages a few minutes apart -- the second one had been sent after she'd heard me tell my family about my new tennis bag.

tuesday september 8

today i wore long pants for the first time since may. didn't love it, to be honest.

saturday september 5

today i talked for 40 minutes on zoom with an 11-year-old who aspires to work in sports and viewed me as an "expert" in the field. i now understand imposter syndrome.

wednesday september 2

today i listened as the narrator of the audiobook i was listening to pronounced the word "shone" (as in "shone a light") like "shown." this was - somewhat improbably, in my opinion - the third consecutive audiobook i'd listened to which had used the word "shone." it was also the third consecutive narrator to pronounce it as "shown."

having pronounced it all my life as "shawn," i was now prepared to accept that either i'd been wrong all along or this was yet another difference in u.s./canadian english that i'd never noticed until now.

monday august 24

today i noticed for maybe the third or fourth time within the last couple weeks that my right sock had gotten incredibly dirty around the ball of the foot over the course of the day. curious about what might be causing this, i grabbed my most-used pair of shoes and inspected the inside of the right one to see if there might be something in the shoe causing my socks to get dirty.

as it turned out, a brief look at the inside and outside of the shoe revealed that there was a pretty obvious hole which went straight through the sole. that provided a simple explanation for my dirty socks, though it didn't explain how i'd failed to notice during my last several 45-minute morning walks that my sock was basically touching ground.