wednesday november 11

today i saw a sign outside lansdowne brewery advertising "live music from james brown tomorrow." even though it was just written in chalk on a sandwich board, and there was no way to include a photo or anything, i still felt like this one should’ve been added somehow, just so there was no confusion:

Tomorrow night, live music with James Brown at Lansdowne. Join us for dinner, stay for the show. pic.twitter.com/hXDMZES0Y2

— Lansdowne Brewery (@LansdowneBrew) November 11, 2015

tuesday november 10

today i had a drink with my girlfriend at insomnia. when we received the bill, it looked for a second as if it was blank on both sides, and i briefly wondered if this empty piece of paper was the server’s subtle way of letting us know that - for some reason - our drinks were on the house. however, after looking a little closer at the bill, i realized that the ink was just extremely faded, to the point where it was barely legible. the total was actually more expensive than i thought.

monday november 9

today i spent upwards of five hours monitoring a fascinating discussion thread on the facebook event for a nathan for you q&a scheduled to take place tomorrow. the thread began with the event’s promoter announcing that id's would be checked at the door - even for people with hard-copy tickets - to make sure everyone’s names matched the buyers’ names — this, despite the fact that the wall of the facebook event had been dominated by people selling and trading tickets with one another for weeks, since there was no indication they were non-transferable.

i won’t have any problem with my own ticket to the event, which was bought directly from the source, rather than second-hand. still, i was completely engrossed with the conversation, which featured the promoter feigning ignorance about why this would possibly be a problem, insisting that this policy is in place "literally everywhere," and generally displaying such a level of tone-deafness and ineptitude that several people involved in the discussion suspected it must be some sort of nathan fielder scheme.

sunday november 8

today i was about to cross the street at college and brock when i was approached by a teenager asking for directions to dufferin mall. this initially seemed like a dream scenario for direction-giving, since the dufferin mall is one of my favourite and most frequently-visited places in my area. but as i pointed up brock street and said, "you walk up this way and turn, uh…", i realized i had no idea what the side streets off brock were called. after struggling for a couple seconds, i said, "actually, it’s probably easier to go down to dufferin and walk up from there."

"thanks," he said. "is it the next light?"

"uhh, two lights up," i said. it was the next light.

while i’m sure he found his way there eventually, i wasn't thrilled with my directions. on top of that, after he thanked me and we went our separate ways, i realized it was 5:50pm — 10 minutes until the mall closed. while i consoled myself by speculating that maybe he was just meeting someone there, or maybe he wanted to go to no frills (open until 8) or walmart (open until 9), i couldn’t help but also feel disappointed that i’d failed to mention the hours to him, just in case. i’ll be more prepared next time.

saturday november 7

today i attempted to take the ttc home from queen and yonge, and did the following things:

• accidentally entered the queen station on the southbound side, rather than northbound, then was too lazy to switch over, opting instead to take it a couple extra stops to st. george instead of bloor-yonge.
• remembered during the subway ride that there were shuttle buses running from st. george station, and decided i wanted to avoid them.
• got off at st. patrick station, only to discover that dundas and university was a mess of construction (i don’t even know if the dundas streetcar was officially detouring, but it looked like it would have to be).
• walked up to queen’s park and college to catch a westbound college streetcar home.
• realized in retrospect that it would’ve been a much easier ride home if i’d looked anything up beforehand.

friday november 6

today i arrived at descendant for an 8:00 pm reservation for me and seven other people. having arrived first, at almost the exact same time as one of my friends, i looked around the room while we waited for someone to serve us and said, "huh, i wonder where we’re supposed to sit." the small restaurant only sat about 20-25 people to begin with, and it seemed to be packed already, despite the fact that we’d arrived right on time for our reservation. as it turned out, for some reason, they’d taken our reservation down as being for two people, rather than eight, which seemed problematic in a place this small. in the end though, it actually turned out great, because we got to go to a bar down the street to have a drink while we waited to eat (secretly one of my favourite inconveniences, since it means doing one of my favourite things while i wait to do another of my favourite things), and they gave us dessert for free. five stars!

thursday november 5

today i went to send a text message to a friend and noticed that i hadn’t sent or received a single text since monday afternoon. there was a time in my early- and mid-20s when i not only would have noticed this earlier, but i would have assumed my phone had stopped receiving messages altogether, and probably would have had to get a friend to text me just to make sure they were getting through. being 30 is great.

wednesday november 4

today i was buying a handful of groceries and spent several seconds staring at two boxes of multi-grain cheerios, wondering why a 290g box and a 400g box were both listed at the same price, despite the fact that the bigger one didn’t appear to be on sale. the only discernible difference, as far as i could tell, was that the smaller box featured "ancient grains." i ended up opting for the bigger box, taking my chances on the present-day grains providing a better value.

tuesday november 3

today i was walking east along bloor street when i heard a shout from off to my left. i looked over and realized that a guy was asking me for money. he wasn’t standing or sitting on the sidewalk though — he was in the middle of the road, in the process of crossing the street, and wanted to get my attention before i passed by. even though i turned him down, i had to admire the hustle.

monday november 2

today i was working at home when my landlord and the previously-promised bank appraiser showed up at my place. the visit was pretty painless — they were only in my place for about two minutes. still, the appraiser took photos of every room of my place, which made me feel a little uneasy, even though i’m sure whoever ended up seeing those photos probably wouldn’t give nearly as much thought as i did to, for instance, the stuffed animal in my bedroom that i’d won at the ex.

sunday november 1

today i arrived slightly late to the ossington for trivia, so by the time i looked at our image sheet (a collection of photos and other images you have to identify), my team had already filled in every answer. still, they were unsure about one, having guessed that the photo was a young evander holyfield. noticing that our sheet had gotten ripped in a way that tore off "evander"'s ear, i asked if that had been done on purpose to help identify him. apparently it had just been an accident, but we took it as a sign that we had the right answer. turns out it was mr. t though.

saturday october 31

today i received a text at 1:00 am from my brother, asking if troy tulowitzki and ben revere were free agents this winter. guy didn’t even watch baseball three months ago and here he is so engaged in a party conversation about the blue jays that it required an immediate 1:00 am text.

friday october 30

today i cut through the alley next to three speed on my way home from dufferin mall, and - when i arrived on bloor street - ran into a friend who i hadn’t seen for a little while. we talked for a couple minutes, then said our goodbyes, since she was late to get to a friend’s place. of course, immediately after we hugged and said goodbye, we realized we were still heading in the same direction, always an awkward moment.

"should i just duck into this subway here?" i joked, gesturing to the subway restaurant a few doors down from three speed, suggesting that it would be a good way to avoid continuing our post-goodbye walk along bloor street. unfortunately this joke really failed to land when it turned out my friend was going to an apartment that was literally right next door to three speed, making me realize i hadn’t really needed to worry about the post-goodbye awkwardness at all. still, after we parted ways, having now put the idea into my own head, i decided to stop at subway anyway.

thursday october 29

today i went to ali baba’s for a shawarma platter and was shocked to see that they were packaging the platters in different containers than usual — the new containers were plastic and circular, rather than the square styrofoam ones. although i was initially put off by this change - as am i by almost any change to my normal routine - by the time i’d finished eating it, i’d become convinced that these containers actually held more food, and was hoping that they’d stick to the change going forward. i’m a quick convert.

wednesday october 28

today i discovered that i have free access to spotify premium as a result of making changes to my phone plan several weeks ago. gonna listen to so many hyper-specific playlists.

tuesday october 27

today i received an email from my landlord letting me know that an appraiser from the bank would be coming by sometime "this week or next week" to look at the house for "mortgage financing purposes." while i have no problem with the idea of this visit, the lack of specificity about the timing is worrisome. as someone who typically doesn’t exactly dress up while working from home from 9 to 5, this impending drop-in means that for the next week or so, i’ll have to wear pants during my workday, or at least have them nearby.

monday october 26

today i went to harlem for dinner with my girlfriend. we’d made a reservation earlier in the day, despite the fact that we knew we probably didn’t need one on a monday. sure enough, when we arrived, more than half the tables in the place were empty, and when we mentioned that we had a reservation, the server waved a hand as if to say "well, that's not important" and told us to sit anywhere. the unnecessary reservation always makes me feel momentarily silly, like i put way too much effort into planning my night.

sunday october 25

today i saw multiple commercials for popeye’s while watching nfl football. these ads weren’t for the fast-food chicken restaurant, but were for a canadian-based company that sells "nutritional" supplements. still, every time i saw one of these ads, which talked about "transforming" your body, i got a bit of a craving for fried chicken, which probably transforms your body in its own way.

saturday october 24

today i received a notification informing me that my mother has added me as a "trusted contact" on facebook. i think this means i take over her account when she dies?

friday october 23

today i ended up at a sports bar/cafe on dundas west called nossa casa to watch game 6 of the alcs. the place was more charming than i expected, the server was a real gem, and i got to see my friend take off his shirt and start chugging a pitcher of beer after jose bautista’s game-tying home run in the 8th inning. still, it’s hard to imagine ever being able to go back, since my main memory of the night - and, by extension, of the bar - is an overwhelming feeling of sadness as i watched the jays’ season end.