I am going to have a heart attack.

I am never renting a dwelling from anyone ever again.

My father said this to me: if you're not willing to be cut-throat and just a tad bit slimy, don't get into business. I'm just too nice for this shit (oh, he didn't say that last part, I said that to myself).

Great. Now I'm going to be wound up all night.

"And I need my anger not to control, and I want my anger to be me"

Did anyone see that lightning storm last night? Damn cool. Every few seconds there were giant blinding flashes, but very little thunder. Most of the time the flash was too brief to see, but sometimes the bolt just stayed there in the sky for a couple of seconds, and once or twice there were a few bolts close together at the same time. If only we could somehow...harness that energy. But then where would I get a flux capacitor? =)

The summer is rapidly grinding down, and I'm beginning to feel like I should be doing something productive. Like work. On the other hand, my social life is picking up again. CNE this weekend, baseball game on Monday, and then the ever pleasant task of figuring out what movies I'm going to see at the film festival. As someone who's had some experience in organizing things, it wouldn't be asking a lot to ask the good people at the Toronto International Film Festival to allot a little more than 48 hours for people to choose their films. But I guess they have their own deadlines to meet, and hey, I thrive in a logistical challenge (or go totally insane...one or the other).

"Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by"

This summer has been all about family. My cousin Charles threw a party to celebrate the birth of his third child, a son they named Avery. Cutest little guy, he never made a sound during the entire thing, and when I was saying goodbye to him, he smiled at me. Charles's other kids were really cute too. Lauren is a 7-year-old who is the living definition of 'precocious'. Aidan is a really shy 3-year-old. The majority of my mom's side of the family was present, which is a rarity. The only person missing was her youngest sister, my Aunt Shirley whom I visited last month in BC. I hadn't seen Charles in a really long time, or my cousin May (his younger sister) who has a new baby too, a daughter named Delaney. Terry joked that they named her in honour of her Irish heritage (she's Asian all the way). Annie (Charles's older sister) and her family flew over from Vancouver, which really made it a family reunion, and it was nice to see them again so soon. On our way home, I asked my mom and my Aunt Betty when was the last time the whole family had been together like that. They started naming the various funerals that had occurred in recent years. How sad is that? My aunt made a good point that for happy occasions, people have no problems making excuses not to make the trip ("Maybe next time"), but for tragic occasions, people find a way to be there to support the family.

Last night, I was by myself as the rest of my family went to a Beatles tribute show at Stage West in Mississauga with Annie and her family. So I drove over to Ellen and Michelle's house to hang out with them, since they're alone at home with my grandpa while their parents are in Europe. My grandpa was very surprised to see me there by myself, and I guess I don't blame him, since I don't think I've ever done that. I only go over to their house with the rest of my family, and usually on the weekend. Howie showed up too (after getting a little lost), and we were able to chat for a while and make fun of each other (we may have made fun of Howie more than anyone else).

Lesson of the day: Don't wait for the tragic occasions to reunite with family.

"I waited 'til I saw the sun, I don't know why I didn't come"

So...funny story.

There I was at Cloverdale Mall, about to enter the Dominion to find my parents. *Click* No power. People kind of glanced at each other like they do when something weird happens. I did the same. Then I saw my dad and just walked over to him. Within a few seconds, some emergency lights came on, and...get this...every cash register started working again. Well, the important thing is that the money was rescued. Riiiiight.

My brother called me on my cell to tell me he was going to go out into the mayhem. "Power's out at our house," he informs me. Okay, whatever. We drove home fairly easily thanks in part to the convenient stretch of highway located close by, allowing us to bypass every intersection that has been transformed into a four-way stop during rush hour. It isn't until my brother comes home soon afterwards that we find out that this was bigger than we thought. "Did you know that the whole eastern seaboard is out of power?" Uh...no. Listening to the radio, it turns out that it isn't just our little part of the city that's powerless. It was a great throwback to the 1940s, sitting around as a family, gathered around a radio. The stories started coming in. People on the street who took it upon themselves to help direct traffic not just downtown, but virtually everywhere. People helping other people out. Awesome. One of the many reasons why I love this place.

Had a realization in the early evening. The annual Perseids meteor shower is happening this month, and Toronto is dark. So, I grabbed a beach towel, spread out on my picnic table and looked up. I have never seen so many stars in my backyard before. A little while after I started looking, there was a small dot that was crossing the sky in a steady straight line in front of me. Took me a couple of seconds, and then I said to myself, "How cool was that?!? I just saw a satellite!!" I was out there for about an hour and was ready to give up when suddenly a huge bright streak passed overhead. That totally made my night. Then the weird night noises started to freak me out, and since I didn't want to be attacked by the local raccoon, I headed back indoors.

I kept dreaming different scenarios where the power had been restored. Each time, I woke up, looked at my clock, said to myself "The power is still out", and then went back to sleep. This happened about three times. How weird am I?

In the morning, despite what Mayor Mel had told us the night before, power had not been restored to our neck of the woods. I took a dark cold shower, then headed over to Howie's house. We hung out, annoyed each other for a while, then (cue heavenly music) the power came on. I headed home soon after to help with the aftermath, but found that it seemed to be only a very local phenomenon. My house was still in the semi-dark (there was natural light, after all). I went out in search of lunch, and found a place that was open and selling food products. The guy made me sandwiches by candlelight, but still kind of gouged me ($30 for four sandwiches and a half-dozen bagels). Ah, whatever, he was at work in the dark, after all.

Finally, 22 hours after the lights went out at the supermarket, a big 'whirrr' started up in the kitchen. Things started up instantly. Dad started charging every battery that we owned. My mom started making dinner (it was 2pm). As luck would have it, things in our freezer were still mostly frozen (we hadn't opened the door once, which could be why).

So, we survived the Blackout of 2003. I wonder if I'll remember these details 40 years from now (my dad remembers the blackout of '65).

"One thing I know about the rest of my life, I know that I'll be living it in Canada"

Maybe I'm not up to date, or maybe I enjoy clinging to old traditions. Or maybe it's just because I haven't been to weddings for a long time up until this year. The bride doesn't throw the bouquet anymore. I've been to two weddings this summer, and both times flowers were not flung into a throng of desperate single women. Which I suppose is a good thing. I guess the other point would be that the groom wouldn't have to remove the garter of his new bride and toss it into a similar throng of men. The only time I remember witnessing this custom was at my cousin May's wedding, which was at least a decade ago if not more.

As for the wedding itself, it was a nice affair. My cousin Karen married her long-time boyfriend (8 years), short-time fiancé (10 months) Hilen. It was interesting in that her brother Humphrey was the one who performed the ceremony. He made a joke about telling his friends back in Calgary that he's going home to Toronto to "marry my sister...". Nobody seemed to hear the second part of the sentence, "...to my best friend."

I guess my name is very popular in my extended family. After all, Karen's (the bride) cousin Karen was there, and I was sitting next to a Karen (who's related to me VERY distantly, I think), and one of the MC's was a Karen (although I don't think we're related at all). Five distinct Karens in one room. Look out, we're taking over the world!

"Why do birds suddenly appear everytime you are near?

I Wonder If The Acoustics Are Good...:

Taste of the Danforth is an event that I've heard many things about in the past 10 years, but this was the first time I'd ever gone. The hope that I would experience it with a familiar group of people was unfortunately dashed early on, and so Boni and I made the best of it. The food was amazing and, best of all, cheap. I was able to spend less than $10 and be satisfied, thanks in part to the abundance of free stuff.

The big lure for the both of us was to see Melanie Doane play live. I had missed a number of opportunities to see her in the past. We got to the stage early, and just as the rain started, so did the "opening ceremonies". A bunch of people were there: the chairperson of the event, the mayor, the mayor wannabes (namely the two Johns, Nunziata and Tory), the Greek Ambassador, and others. Laugh of the day occurred just when Mayor Mel was being introduced to speak. Mother Nature didn't seem pleased about it and so she cracked open the sky and poured it down on everyone, prompting Mel to keep his speech brief.

The sky cleared up once Melanie Doane hit the stage. The first thing you notice is the most obvious: she's very very pregnant. Apparently she just had her first child and went straight into the second. The change in body shape did not prevent her from rocking out. After watching her play a plethora of instruments (guitar, bass, violin, piano, and ukelele), I began to wonder how this was affecting her fetus. I mean, if my own internal organs were vibrating as a result of some very heavy bass, what could the child be experiencing. My guess is that it will come out either very musically inclined or slightly hearing impaired.

"Are you a Wilma or a Betty man? Do you drive a Mercedes or a Trans Am?"

Hey there, loyal viewers. So, it's been a little more than a week, and things have smoothed out. Not so blue anymore, which is nice.

I've been having a lot of really intense dreams lately. Always at the same time, which is after I initially wake up in the morning and then drift back to sleep, so since I'm semi-conscious, that would probably explain why I can remember them so vividly. The funny thing about it is that they involve people and places I've never seen before. Example: this morning, the dream involved being at a restaurant with some family members, but the meal lasted forever. Afterwards, I was in what looked like a high school class, and I was sitting with, of all people, Alexis Kucey, who is someone I vaguely recall from middle school and someone I didn't really hang out with in the first place. The class was stranded in a hellish French class, and for some reason we weren't allowed to leave, even though it was 7pm, and I was going to be late for...something...and Alexis tried to help me get out by reasoning with the teacher, but there were no exceptions, and we had to stay until the lesson was finished...I think. Anyway...yeah...weird stuff.

Oh yeah, if you haven't heard my vacation story, I've got most of it on my website right now, minus the photos. So if you want to see the whole thing, wait a couple of days, and you'll see it all together.

"And oh, my dreams, it's never quite as it seems"