Did They Say Who Was Leading the Choir?

The festive season is fully upon us. Last night, I went downtown to Nathan Phillips Square to see the first lighting of the Christmas tree. Of course, they put on a show before they actually turn on the lights. We were too far back to really see anything, but we were able to make out the general direction of the stage. First up was the Toronto Children's Chorus. They sang a couple of standard carols, then they sang "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", which is a song I distinctly remember singing in middle school choir (insert flashback here). Boni was able to confirm my memory. Then they sang "Panis Angelicus", and then they sang "This Little Babe", and I turned to Boni and asked, "Did they happen to mention who's leading this choir???" We were reliving our Grade 7 Christmas concert. Very surreal. We half expected Ms. Anber to pop up at any moment.

After the new mayor made a little blah-blah speech, and after the Ontario Guild of English Handbell Ringers performed (they have guilds for everything!), there was a performance by Strange Fruit, those people on bendy poles that we had seen at the Street Festival this summer. They must have been FREEZING. Their performance would have been good had it been less cold and the music had been less trance-like. Most people couldn't handle it. The minute they were done, flames started shooting up from city hall, and a huge fireworks show filled the air with smoke (luckily the wind was in our favour). It was quite impressive - better than New Year's, according to some people.

The skating was a different story. The ice was covered with a thick layer of snow, and people were skating in any direction they wanted. We had to avoid the kids zipping around our knees, the bumps that we couldn't see due to the snow, the garbage that was strewn about, and the people who had a complete disregard for safety and were just walking across the ice or were standing in the middle of the rink to watch the live band. Queenie actually yelled at a couple of kids, who yelled something back but I didn't hear what they said.

On our way out, we decided to partake in the free hot chocolate being dispensed by a guy with a Starbucks tank strapped to his back. There was a spillage in Ada's direction, naturally. I got bumped by the tank and spilled some on my mitten, which (and here's the low point of the evening) I decided to suck out. Boni, Queenie, Ada and Janice were trying to balance cups of hot chocolate with the free brownie squares. I just shook my head and said, "More than you can chew!" Queenie nearly choked on her hot chocolate trying not to laugh. I had inadvertently crossed the line into "stern elderly relative" mode.

"To see the legend of my play, to call my true love to my dance"

The Leaky Tire and the Asian Posse:

Dear god...so hard to type right now...
fingers...cramping...too...much...climbing...

More about that later.

So today (well, yesterday) was kind of eventful. First, we discovered that one of the tires on our car had a leak. To my mother, it was almost like the worst thing that could happen in the world. "We need to get it fixed TODAY! We need the car tomorrow!" Technically, that was a false statement. My brother had taken one of the cars since he has army training this weekend. I was going to go indoor rock climbing with friends in the evening, but we still had the van. Tomorrow (i.e. later today) my parents are going out all day and I'm going downtown but I could take a bus, I'm going to take the subway anyway. My mother was of the mindset that I needed the car to drive to the subway station. I don't know, she's weird that way. In any case, my dad and I took it to the dealer and got it fixed within half an hour. No problem.

So I went rock climibing tonight. I realize now why I didn't find it too difficult at Joe Rockhead's when I went last week. I had forgotten how tough Rock Oasis is. I was climbing 5.7 and 5.8 walls at Joe's with minor difficulty. But at Rock Oasis, I could barely make it to the top of a short 5.6 wall. Stupid handholds...how are you supposed to grab something that's almost completely spherical and smooth? I have decided that I like Joe Rockhead's better. Good thing I bought the membership there.

The rock climbing brought two of my worlds together. On the one hand, there were my close friends from high school (Em and Ada), and on the other there were people from university (Stacey, Danny, and another girl who I just met today). After the climbing, we went to Chinatown for a really late dinner and met up with a couple more of Stacey's friends, one of whom was the infamous Arthur (who else?) and another friend I just met (Jimmy). Suddenly, I looked around and realized that we had formed an Asian posse. The greatest part was that we all spoke Cantonese, which made it all the more authentic. I was proud of myself for being able to recommend a place where the food was good and cheap, and we all had a good time eating and getting to know each other. But some of us were having some issues using the chopsticks with our cramped fingers.

Lesson of the Day: It's easier to pull the snail out of its shell if you try sucking it out first.

"But when you feel so powerless, what are you gonna do?"

That Would Have Been the Fifth Continent:

Okay, so I went in knowing that it was the biggest marketing gimmick in the world, but whatever, it involved shoes, so why not? I was chosen as a "finalist" in a contest at Town Shoes, but naturally you had to be there in person when they did the draw, which was tonight at a downtown store. So I went. The draw was for a trip for two to South Africa for Cape Wine 2004 valued at around $25000. There were also going to be hors d'oeuvres and wine and gift bags for everyone. So I stayed around for a couple of hours, eating their food, drinking their wine, and looking at all the pretty shoes. There was an African mystic woman who was telling fortunes or something, but the line was quite long. They were also giving away prizes for answering trivia questions about South Africa, but there were WAY too many gung ho ladies (many of whom were at least twice my age) who really wanted the lipsticks, hair spray and Vitamin C tablets more than I did. At 9pm they did the draw for the ten runner-up prizes and then the grand prize. I got squat, which was to be expected. But the lure was too great and I ended up buying a really cute little evening bag using one of the "save $10 - tonight only" coupons they gave out. It was nice since the bag cost less than the minimum allowed on the coupon, and they gave it to me anyway. It would have been a lot nicer if I had won, but I guess I'll have to find some other way to get to that continent (I suppose I could go on safari, but in which lifetime is that going to happen?).

"Don't be afraid, navigate and I will steer into the sun, we will run"

The Story of My Life:

I've started another marathon cleaning session, and have begun to unearth some interesting artefacts from my past. More specifically, notes that were written by me or to me during that soap opera better known as high school. Now that enough time has passed and things have gone for better or for worse, it's utterly fascinating. I can now laugh at the things that we used to think were so damned important, or things that we would freak out about. Okay, when I say "we", it's more about "me" than anyone else, but I suppose the people who were involved were thinking about the same things and freaking out about similar stuff. I've found notes that were the instigator for other notes, and so on, and the whole timeline of events is pretty much documented. Which leads me to the question: should I keep this stuff or throw it out? I've been pretty good so far in throwing out my old junk (my inner pack rat is screaming in agony). But this is gold! It captures my high school experience so much more than a yearbook could (again, something that I used to think was SO important back in the day). I suppose I'll have to think about it a little more.

On a related and MUCH HAPPIER note, I found money! I'm glad I'm taking the time to examine everything I'm pitching out, otherwise I might possibly have thrown out $150 worth of traveller's cheques that I had totally forgotten about. You should have seen me earlier, jumping around and giggling with glee. YAY! Free money! Ding ding ding!

"But when it comes to being lucky he's cursed, and when it comes to loving me he's worst"

I Should Have Known They Would Say 'Nein':

It's been a couple of weeks of inactivity, I know. Nothing terribly exciting has been happening to me. Well, not until this past weekend, when I spontaneously decided to go to Montreal. It all came together quite quickly, and worked out pretty well. I crashed at my cousin's place, which was really nice. Got to hang out with Marie and observe her sushi eating habits. How the roe got in her hair, we'll never know. We also went to see "Love Actually", which is a hilarious movie starring every British actor on the face of the planet and is not as sappy as one might think. While the "many stories linked together" concept isn't new, the interesting twist is that not all of the stories have a happy ending. Go check it out. Oh, the guys in the audience need added incentive? It actually has some porn in it.

Here's some relatively depressing news. I got a rejection letter today. From Kraft Foods. Located in Munich. Yes friends, I had applied for a job in Germany. It was quite exciting for a little while, but they ended up saying nein to me after all. They even sent my resume back. It's like they want no recollection of me whatsoever. I learned soon after I had first sent off the application that in some countries, it's common to send a photo of yourself along with your personal information as a part of your resume. Maybe they thought I had something to hide by not sending them my mug shot.

"I've asked myself how much do you commit yourself? It's my life, don't you forget"

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween. I was on candy patrol, and as predicted there were only a few handfuls of people who came to the door. The second group of the night consisted of four kids, three of whom were dressed as SpongeBob Squarepants. I was handing out the treats when the last SpongeBob stopped me and said, "I have a nut allergy." All I had were Reese Peanut Butter Cups and Mars bars, so I felt kind of horrible for the kid. Then one of the other SpongeBobs, who looked like his twin, fished out the Reese that I had given him and handed it back to me saying, "Me too, but thank you for offering." These kids couldn't have been more that 7 or 8 years old.

The next notable visit came from a tiny white lion and his mom, who was dressed as a cat. He was literally knee-high, probably 3 or 4 years old. The mom tried to get him to say hello to me, but he was way more interested in the flashing bicycle light that was tied on a string around his neck. Finally he glanced up from his chest and said hello.

One of my first thoughts was, where did these kids come from? Most of the kids in my neighbourhood have grown up and even the younger ones have now entered university age. My next thought was, where are the older kids? I got a couple of kids, one with just a purple wig and the other with a green and white striped "Cat in the Hat" hat, and that was about it. I guess it just means more candy for me, although I did carry on my tradition and bought Halloween candy today.

"It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark"