Adventures of a Tofu Slut

1. Last weekend, when I was walking to get groceries, I kept seeing people with wheelbarrows or garbage cans, and shovels. The first one didn't really register, but by the tenth or so, I was super curious. Turns out it was Community Compost Day, which I discovered when I passed the GIANT pile of compost in a local park (the compost came from the city, created through the green bin (organics recycling) program). The people were gardeners, trundling over there with whatever they had to get some free compost. I was entertained (and happy to see that pretty much everyone walked over, rather than driving).

2. I don't remember the second. I've had this open all day, thinking I'd remember, and I didn't, so one thing will have to do!

When I went to the baseball game 3 weeks ago, it was a very last minute thing - he was downtown already, someone had just given him tickets, could I be there soon? So I was running out the door when I realized that it was lunchtime and I should grab something to eat. I went to the health food store that's sort of on the way to the subway, and grabbed a wrap. There were 2 people in front of me in line. The first person tried about 3 different credit cards before finally paying with cash. Which took forever, and I was getting panicked about how long it was taking. And then the second person had a huge order to pick up, things in the back, things that needed to be boxed up, large complicated order.

At which point I realized I was totally late, so I put the wrap on the counter, apologized, said I couldn't wait, and ran out the door.

Today I went to the health food store, for possibly the first time since then. While I was paying, the owner informed said, "You know, when you were here for that sandwich, you could have just taken it and paid me later. I know you, you come in here all the time."

Seriously? I mean, a) it's three weeks later, I'm amazed he remembered the incident, and b) it's not exactly a small city I live in. But it's good to know that if I ever lose my job, burn through my savings account, and have nothing to eat, I can get something on credit from the health food store. Of course, then I'd have to move, because I wouldn't have the money to pay him the next time, but still.

Now I just have to overcome my ISSUES with going to food places where people know me. Please don't judge me by my groceries!

The power went out while I was in the shower this morning. For just a moment, it was pitch black - no light from outside, no light from the building across the way. I started wondering how well I would do at getting ready for work without even ambient light. Probably not well, considering my skill at running into a table in daylight with the overhead lights on.

The exciting part, though, was that I was actually up when the power went out this time -- usually it goes out around 5:30, resetting my alarm clock, and always on mornings when I forgot to set my backup alarm. But not this morning! Not only was I already awake, but the backup alarm was good to go. Take that, electricity gods.

Of course, then I found out that it was a power blip across all of southern Ontario, and caused all sorts of traffic problems because the lights didn't restart properly, and blah blah blah disastercakes. So it wasn't that I had outsmarted the electricity gods, just that for once they weren't targeting me.

So. David Miller is back in as mayor, and Joe Mihevc is back in as councillor for my ward. Hooray! Life is good. (I can't believe Rob Ford got back in again, though. Yuck.) I've never understood why people don't take municipal politics seriously -- federal politics might determine the grand paths of life, but municipal politics make such a difference in quality of life.

As I went to vote today I noticed that all the buses had signs that were flashing between their route and "REMEMBER TO VOTE". I love it. It's certainly a nice change from "GO LEAFS GO".

I spent most of today crying. Don't worry, there's nothing wrong, but between the various DVDs and booka and the onions*, there was a salty river running through my apartment. Heroes better not be sad - I'm almost out of kleenex and my nose is very sore. It's a hard life.

*From this week's soup - mushroom barley miso (and I added tofu). Very tasty, and a nice break from tomato based soups. I'm so sick of tomato in soup, at least for the moment.

I am a huge geek*, and therefore I would really like to ride on the old streetcars. Shut up. Streetcars are awesome! Sadly, I will not be spending the money, especially since I am planning to spontaneously** jet off to Stratford some time very soon. When I am rich, though, I will make my secret dream come true and hire an old streetcar to just drive me around one day. Maybe I'll have a streetcar party.

[I can see you all slinking away like you don't know me. It's okay, I understand.]

*Such a huge geek, in fact, that I already had a streetcar icon. I did not make one just for this post. No, in fact, I have written about streetcars before.
**I am aware of the oxymoron here. Sadly, true spontaneity doesn't work very well when there is the possibility of sold-out theatre tickets and no car rentals.

My fringe show of the day was excellent, again.

Real Time

It's about two people who meet in a gaming room on the internet and turn out to not be quite what they portray themselves as, which is a trite concept, but they made it fresh. Plus the two actors were very physical, throwing themselves around the stage at one point in a fantastic representation of a video game.

Unfortunately I had terrible transit luck on the way there and back (on the way back, two streetcars in a row somehow managed to not see me at my stop, and they weren't out of service or too full. I am invisible! Plus it took me so long to get home that by the time I had lunch and got ready to leave again, there was no point in leaving because I would have been too late for my second show). Also, I could hear people honking outside even during the show, which put me in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. And it just got worse from there on. Bathurst was SO FUCKING LOUD. Why do people have no respect for other people? Is it entirely necessary to hold your horn down for 3 minutes straight while stopped in the middle of the street, AND blow your whistle? I hate sports and sports fans. I suppose this is what I get for living on the edge of Corso Italia, but for fuck's sake, they didn't stop driving around honking until after 3 in the morning.

Yesterday I was so annoyed that apparently I allowed everyone around me to be mellow, because I took all the annoyance on myself. Today, I'm still annoyed, plus I'm running on three hours sleep and I can't see straight. HATRED.

Luckily I avoided some of the evil by going to see Pirates. ( Pirates! )

You'd think that someone who participated in a conversation about the possibility of work action shutting down the TTC today would actually remember that possibility for more than 10 minutes.

You'd also think that someone who knew about this possibility would think to check the news before leaving the house in the morning.

Instead, the world conspired against me knowing anything about it: my alarm didn't go off this morning (at least, the alarm technically went off, but for some reason there was no sound), so I didn't hear the news, and I completely forgot that there was a possibility of no transit. Instead I got to the subway station, and was very confused to see the doors shut.

Hi, doofus here.

So I walked to work. It took about an hour and 10 minutes at breakneck speed, which isn't terrible, but it was so hot out, even at 8 in the morning. Blech. By the time I hit College and St. George (about 2/3 of the way) I was sweaty, had to pee, and had a heat rash on my thighs. And then when I got to work, my boss was all, seriously, you didn't have to hurry, it's a long walk, you could have taken your time. NOW she tells me.

Meanwhile, I had an awesome, highly social weekend, during which I was barely at home, and didn't do any of my regular weekend housekeeping (ie. laundry, groceries, clean, return books to the library). Instead I hung out with sallym and dangerdean, who were here from Vancouver, and starfishchick, starfishdude, sarcasma and sanity_clause. We hung out at the starfishcondo, drank wine and played games, wandered through U of T and Kensington Market, and down along the waterfront, and ate tasty meals.

And then in the middle of all that, on Sunday, we got to have tea with bureinato, who is in town. Which was fabulous (both the highly adorable tea place (The Red Tea Box) and the excellent company). And then we wandered along West Queen West, looking at all the funky local designers.

So it was very much a weekend of being out with awesome people, remembering that I live in an interesting city (and not my living room), and generally having fun. Score.

Anthony Bourdain A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal

I think I would read anything this guy wrote, despite the fact that he describes meat and animal products in such gut-wrenching glory I felt vaguely ill through most of the book. Although it was a little strange reading the sections that I had actually seen on TV, like the one in Japan. If you've never seen the show or read the book, it's basically Bourdain eating his way around the world, and enjoying, well, not quite every minute of it. (ps to vestra: when he was in Russia, at one place he was offered a shot of vodka, followed by a shot of "cucumber brine" (basically, pickle juice) -- a do-it-yourself pickle martini!)

John Clum Something for the Boys: Musical Theater and Gay Culture

In this combination history and memoir, Clum looks at theatre queens and the impact of musicals on gay culture. A fun read.

Terry Pratchett Guards, Guards
Terry Pratchett Eric
Terry Pratchett Moving Pictures

I'm still working my way through all the Terry Pratchetts, in order, just because. But mostly only when I travel, because they're so conveniently sized. Guards, Guards was a surprise -- I thought I'd read all the Guards books (they're my favourites), but realized I hadn't read this one. Yay! Totally fun, and an excellent introduction to the various cranky and scuzzy "people" who make up the Ankh-Morpork watch. Eric is a tiny, tiny book, and really only funny if you've read other Pratchett (or so I think), because it references so much of what happened before. But it was fun to see Rincewind again. And Moving Pictures, well, I'm not as fond of the books that are such as complete parody of one specific thing (in this case, Hollywood). There were some funny bits, but it felt strained.

uTOpia: Towards a New Toronto

A fascinating book of essays from thinkers, activists, architects and journalists, all working to make Toronto a liveable world-class city. The ones that really grabbed me were about the physical reality and possibilities of Toronto: laneway housing, redeveloped neighbourhoods, and especially transit. It's official: I am a transit geek, especially about streetcars. The essay on an idealized, revitalized transit plan for Toronto took me the the Transit Toronto website, where I spent hours looking at old streetcar routes, and imagining how Toronto would be different if they'd gone with the Queen subway instead of the Bloor line, as had originally been proposed.

David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, Ira Basen, Jane Farrow The Book of Lists, Canadian Edition: The Original Compendium of Curious Information

I bought this for my parents for Christmas, and then had to read the whole thing before I came back to Toronto. Except I skipped the chapter on sports. Seriously fun. With lists of randomness (like 14 nations with more sheep than people) and lists by famous people, you will be sure to learn something entertaining, even if you will forget it right away because it's completely trivial.

I also got about 3/4 of the way through the new Amy Tan book, and then had to leave it behind to be taken back to the library. Denied!

Okay, FOR REAL, was there some sort of "Give Torontonians a free iPod!" day that I missed out on? Because yesterday a good three-quarters of the people on the subway in the morning, on the streets after work, and on the subway back home had the telltale Steal Me white earbud look going on. Why all of the sudden? Where did they all come from? WHY DON'T I GET ONE TOOOOOOOO?

I mean, really, if someone's handing out iPods, sign me up. Just because I can't afford to buy one for myself doesn't mean that I'm disdaining their very existence.


And in non-iPod related news, it's bextera's birthday! Have a wonderful day! I hope you get many presents and tasty, tasty cake.

Hello, perfect patio weather! Last night (after the sweatiest kick-boxing class EVER) was the first patio outing of the season - we sat outside, people watched, drank cider, ate really tasty (and not expensive) food, and chatted. I got to meet the Phantom Boyfriend, who is great. I'm now totally in love with the pub we were at, and want to go back every night. (Oh, plus our waiter highly amused me by saying at one point, "I'm not an engineer, I'm your snarky gay waiter". He was, too.)

And the fun doesn't end - it is so beautiful out there right now. I'm definitely going to have to find somewhere that has outside tables when I'm grabbing a bite before my class tonight. After all, soon it'll be way too hot for me to be outside, so I really have to take advantage of it while I can. I'd walk to class, but I have very raw feet from the inaugural wearing of the sandals. Ouch.

*twirls*

*basks in sunshine*