thursday october 22

today i started to get concerned about the fact that i hadn’t received any mail lately. as someone whose pay cheques arrive in the mail, this was a problem for me. however, i wasn’t exactly sure what to look for when i googled the issue — it’s not as if canada post has a ttc-style page of service alerts, as far as i can tell. i ended up trying to figure out if that door-to-door delivery stoppage i’d read about earlier this year had unexpectedly happened already, which led me to stories about canada post’s intentions to try to get the new liberal government to overturn that decision, which led me to other stories about other rulings and decisions the new government may overturn. anyway, no idea why i’m not getting my mail.

wednesday october 21

today i found 60 cents in change in a plastic walmart bag i’d left lying around the house. this was the second time this month that i’d unexpectedly found money in a walmart bag — i discovered a $5 bill in one last week. i have no idea why this keeps happening, unless i’ve briefly blacked out multiple times as i’m leaving walmart and have totally forgotten throwing my change into a bag. it’s like i have a personal tooth fairy, but instead of giving me money for teeth under my pillow, she gives me money for non-essential household items i buy and then don’t put away for weeks.

tuesday october 20

today i went to game 4 of the jays/royals series and scanned my season ticket holder’s card at the stadium entrance. typically, since i just have one ticket on my account, scanning my card results in a single receipt printing out for my single seat. however, today three receipts were printed out. having bought a couple extra pairs of tickets for the series to sell to friends and/or online, i immediately panicked, assuming that i’d left one of the extra pairs on my account/card after selling them, meaning that the pair of tickets i’d "sold" wouldn’t work at the gate. after looking at the receipts more closely though, i noticed that the two extra receipts were for two seats that i didn’t have for the championship series — i’d had them for the division series.

confused, i stopped by a customer service booth on my way to my seat in an effort to make sure that these seats weren’t still mistakenly on my account, and that someone who tried to buy them for this game wouldn’t get turned away at the entrance. the customer service guy had no answers for me, so i headed to my seat, fretting the whole time about whether or not it would be an issue. about 10 minutes later, my friend with a season ticket next to mine showed up, and when i told her the story, she said the exact same thing had happened to her at the gate — she got receipts for her old alds tickets, which shouldn’t be on her account anymore. this came as a real relief, making me relax and forget about the whole thing, since it sounded like the system was just glitchy all around, and no one could blame me for anything.

monday october 19

today i placed a delivery order with mother india at about 4:30pm. the confirmation email indicated that i could expect my food to arrive at 5:50pm, and while some places i order from consistently and easily beat their estimations, mother india isn’t necessarily one of them. since i needed to leave my house by 6:30, i decided to shower shortly after placing the order, rather than waiting until after i ate. by the time i finished showering and got out of the bathroom, it was 4:54pm, and i was getting a phone call from the delivery person, who was outside my door. as i frantically pulled on a shirt and pants before heading to meet her, i marvelled at how the most consistent and effective way to get my delivery orders to arrive in record time was to jump in the shower for a few minutes.

sunday october 18

today i went to the bay with the intention of buying a winter coat, which was something i’d been meaning to do for a long time. after browsing for a few minutes, there were only a handful of coats that i could see myself wearing, and one of them was so expensive that the price tag made me do sort of do a double-take. still, as i tried on other jackets, i couldn’t get that really expensive one out of my mind, sensing that maybe it was the perfect one for me. i was convinced that it was one of those scenarios where if i tried it on, i’d have to buy it, despite my better judgment, because it’d just be that good. when i finally decided to take a chance and go for it, i barely got the coat on before realizing that it was too bulky and had way too many zippers for my liking. i was glad i tried it though — would've haunted me if i'd bought another one without at least considering going really big.

saturday october 17

today i bought some blueberries as part of a bigger grocery-shop at no frills. as i was checking out, the cashier rang the blueberries through, then sort of tossed them toward the little grocery conveyer belt in such a way that the lid flew open and blueberries went everywhere. i immediately made a noise of exclamation (like an "ah!") when i saw this happen, but the cashier didn’t hear me and - having somehow failed to notice what she’d done - continued ringing the rest of my groceries through. briefly unsure of how to react, i made a second noise that sounded embarrassingly similar to the groan tina from bob’s burgers makes when she’s anxious. i eventually pulled myself together and handled things like an adult, getting a new thing of blueberries, but it wasn’t my proudest moment up until that point.

friday october 16

today i had a dream that i was doing a stand-up comedy routine in a sort of high-school classroom setting. at one point, i performed a risky, progressive bit that required me to leave the room for 15-20 seconds, then return for the punchline. but when i came back, i discovered that the class had moved on to something else, seemingly having concluded that my set was finished. please don’t analyze my dreams.

thursday october 15

today i was so excited and amped up following the blue jays’ game 5 alds win that i didn’t go to bed until 1:45 am, then stayed awake another 30 minutes, unable to get to sleep, then woke up in the morning 20 minutes before my alarm went off.

wednesday october 14

today i attended the best baseball game of my life.

tuesday october 13

today i was walking down lansdowne toward college when a girl ran by me in the opposite direction. as she passed me, she stopped, turned to me, and asked me something. not hearing her, i asked her to repeat herself, and she breathlessly asked, "is there a subway this way?" pointing toward bloor, i replied, "oh yeah, at the next light."

although i initially viewed this as another successful direction-giving moment for me, doubts began nagging at me as i continued my walk. she’d been so out of breath from running that i wasn’t 100% sure i’d heard her correctly even the second time, and if i had heard her correctly, who’s to say she hadn’t been referring to subway, the popular submarine sandwich shop? i hoped i’d steered her in the right direction, because when i gave my answer, she seemed dismayed that she still had to run so far. imagine how much worse she would’ve felt if she got to bloor and realized i’d given her directions to something entirely wrong.

monday october 12

today i was leaving my house to meet up with some friends to watch game 4 of the jays/rangers series when i ran into my next-door neighbour wayne and his friend john doing some yard work outside. we had a brief conversation about the series, which involved me mentioning that brett cecil was out with a torn calf. "he can’t still pitch?" john asked incredulously, apparently feeling that as long as a pitcher’s arm is fine, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be able to play. i briefly tried to explain why the legs are pretty important for a pitcher too, but he still seemed skeptical.

sunday october 11

today i went to the contender with a group of friends to watch game 3 of the jays/rangers series. i drank five beers over the course of the evening, then at the end of the night, i waited until everyone else had settled up, one or two at a time, before i paid for my share. by the time i paid, there was only one beer left on our bill, which i assume was the result of some shaky service throughout the night, rather than my friends overpaying. waiting until the end to pay your part of a big group bill is always a risk, but sometimes it really pays off to roll the dice, you know?

saturday october 10

today i went to my local polling station to cast my vote for the upcoming federal election. as i was getting set up to vote, the poll clerk pointed to my blue jays hat and started talking to me about the playoffs. we both agreed that the jays, despite being down 2-0 in the alds, could still come back and win it, though he was a little more certain than me that they would. by the time our conversation ended and i found myself in the voting station, i realized i’d been so distracted by the jays talk that i wasn’t sure whether to fill to cast my vote with an "x" or by filling in the entire circle. not wanting to pop back out and ask, i decided to hedge my bets by doing an x, then sort of shading in the entire circle behind the x. i’m sure it was fine.

friday october 9

today i was approached by two different people on the street on my way home from the jays game to ask whether or not toronto had won, and had to deliver the bad news to both of them. as sad as i was, it made it even worse to have to pass that sadness on to others, watching their faces fall as i told them the score.

thursday october 8

today i briefly engaged in a conversation with an older woman as i took the elevator up to the 14th floor in my friend’s apartment building. she got off a couple floors before me, and when she did, she said "happy anniversary!" before kicking herself and saying "happy thanksgiving!" instead. having not even really considered that thanksgiving was around the corner, or that it was one of those holidays where people would tell you to have a "happy" one several days in advance, i had no idea what she’d even meant to say when she said "happy anniversary," so it was a truly baffling and wonderful two seconds before she corrected herself.

wednesday october 7

today i checked my mail and found my latest pay cheque from major league baseball there. for the first time all year, the cheque had been placed in the envelope in such a way that the amount was showing through the little window at the front, which bothered me a bit. even though it’s unlikely that they’d care, it seemed probable that my housemates had glanced at the envelope to determine who the mail was for and had seen the amount, and i didn’t want them jumping to any conclusions about my earnings based on a cheque from a part-time job.

tuesday october 6

today i needed to grab a few groceries, but didn’t have time to get them and then get back home before meeting up with some friends at the derby. the only way i'd have time was if i made my grocery run on my way to the bar, which is what ultimately decided to do. while it felt a little weird to bring a grocery-filled backpack to a bar, i was glad i made sure not to buy anything that needed to be immediately refrigerated or frozen, lest i turn into mark in that one peep show episode.

monday october 5

today i was planning to go for a run, but - not being accustomed to running in seasons besides the summer - wasn’t sure how to dress for the cold weather. after agonizing over different combinations, i settled on one and headed out, only to have my run cut short about 10 minutes later because of increasingly troublesome shin splints. it was probably for the best — the clothes i’d worn were way too warm.

sunday october 4

today i realized that before i'd left my house for the night on saturday, i’d put leftover spring rolls from a thai-food order in the fridge, but hadn’t dug deeper into the takeout bag and grabbed the sauce for them as well, meaning the sauce had been sitting on my kitchen counter overnight. curious about whether this sweet thai sauce would "go bad" if it went unrefrigerated for that long, i spent some time on my way home googling it, and was satisfied to find that it probably wouldn’t matter. when i got home and went to eat the spring rolls though, i poked around in the bag and - after all that - found that the restaurant had neglected to give me the sauce anyway.

saturday october 3

today i was heading toward the subway when i saw a guy walking in the opposite direction veer into my path, as if he wanted to get my attention. while he didn’t look particularly sketchy, i was walking quickly and was in a hurry, so i put up my hand and shook my head when he started talking, as if i were turning down someone on the street asking for money. rather than asking for money though, he gestured to a nearby pal and said, "hey, my friend thinks you’re cute and wants your number," making my dismissive reaction sort of funny. still, i got the impression that this comment was his idea of a hilarious joke, since he and his friends - based on my snap judgment - seemed like the type of bros who still call each other "gay" as an insult, so i was glad that i’d had an "i don’t have time for this shit" response before even recognizing that.