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When Candice wrote the last post about a week-and-a-half ago, I was still in Toronto and still really enjoying it. However now I’m finding myself echoing he thoughts: “Toronto? Who’d want to live there?”
Being home for the past week has been excellent. I forgot how much I love the West Coast of Newfoundland and how great the people here are. We’ve had backyard fires, went to some music shows, did some wedding planning, had dinner with friends, went on a trip out around the bay, went to a surprise birthday party for a friend, and enjoyed the fresh air as much as possible.
While we both recognize that Toronto has all kinds of opportunities for us, we keep thinking about finding our way back to Corner Brook. Or at least to Newfoundland. We did grow up here, and so you’d think that we’d seen everything there is to see, do everything there is to do, but we haven’t experienced it together yet. It takes on a different atmosphere when you look at it that way. An atmosphere that we’ve been looking for in Toronto but haven’t been able to find yet.
This isn’t to say that we’re going to stop trying to enjoy Toronto as much as possible. However we’ve both acknowledged the little voices in our thoughts saying “If only this was a little more like Corner Brook…”
Quick Post - Had to get it up before 12:00
Happy Anniversary Tom and Candice (that is the people, not the blog). Yes, we almost forgot, but we have been officially a couple for five years. That’s enough don’t you think?!
If you’ll recall, the year was 2004. Candice had long hair and so did Tom! Candice had just graduated and Tom was preparing to start singing with everybody’s favourite NL punk band, The Embarrassments. Tom didn’t drink tea (believe it or not), and Candice thought she was only going to spend one year at university before persuing her career as a dance teacher.
They didn’t talk about themselves in the third person! My how things have changed.
(I’ll try to beef up this post with some old pictures over the weekend!)
Broken Saturday Scene
Broken Social Scene is a huge band.
Not huge in the sense that they’re super popular (though they have had a couple songs that got a little notoriety) but huge in the sense that there are an incredible number of people who can consider themselves to be members of the band. There are nineteen members, numbers which are usually reserved for other types of music like classical or jazz. But the coolest thing about these nineteen members is that you can never really be sure who will be performing at any particular show.
Over the past few weeks there have been a number of free concerts at Toronto’s Harbourfront Center, and last Thursday I read that Saturday’s concert was going to feature Broken Social Scene as the headlining act. I talked with Can about it, and we decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this band, especially because it was a free show. So after I finished work, I quickly biked home, changed, and we ran and picked up some Indian food for supper which we ate on the subway ride downtown.
We got to the show sometime in the middle of the opening band’s set but the place was already packed. The outdoor stage is built facing Lake Ontario on the boardwalk, so there’s only so much room to fit in before you’re pretty much in the lake. We squeezed in, and as the night went on we managed to get better spots, specifically one’s where Can was able to see (if only bits and pieces sometimes).
The opening band wasn’t great, but about a half hour after we got there Broken Social Scene came on and the crowd went crazy. This band is one of those groups that, for people that like them, they always love them, not fading in when a new album is released or out during a short hiatus.
The first song or two were unfamiliar to me and Can, but they were really good and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. However I’m still wondering in the back of my mind Who is going to show up? And then Kevin Drew, the lead singer (with a solo career of his own [actually, they all have solo careers or other bands]) invites his good friend Feist onto the stage. You might remember her from that song “1,2,3,4″, from winning a whole bunch of Junos, or for being nominated for three or four Grammys. She’s been a member of Broken Social Scene for ages, but hasn’t played with them much lately since her solo career took off.
The crowd erupts, my stomach jumps (because holy cow it’s Feist), and they go into one of their greatest songs called 7/4 Shoreline. They play a bunch of songs together, and then Drew invites another friend out, Amy Millan of Stars fame (whom we saw back in September during York’s orientation festivities). Crowd erupts again and they all play together some more.
Even more people start coming out on stage at different points, all of them bringing more and more energy with them. And then another member is invited up: Emily Haines of Metric. I think Candice might of had a tiny heart attack at this point because I’m pretty sure Metric is her favourite band. And then, instead of going into another Broken Social Scene song, they go into the new single from Metric’s new album! Almost everyone sings along, people go crazy, the energy is incredibly intense.
By the end of the night there were a couple bassists, two drummers, probably around five guitarists, and who knows how many vocalists, all crammed onto a relatively small stage. To make it even better, it’s a beautiful summer night and we’re right at the edge of Lake Ontario. Awesome.
To end the night we took a very pleasant street car ride back to the subway station. Doesn’t get much more like summer than all that.
…except for barbecues and drinks on back patios, of which we hope to have plenty of when we get home! See you all very soon!
So, about that sandwich
Well, it’s not necessarily just about whether I should eat a sandwich, it’s about whether I should eat a sandwich and a cookie and some cream of wheat every day for three weeks.
After engaging with about a zillion doctors, tests, and remedies this year in an attempt to fix my seemingly undiagnosable stomach problems the doctor I saw last week ordered a celiac disease blood test. This seems reasonable, I already know that I react to gluten (and have become more sensitive in the past year) and have several of the indicators. However, the dilemma is that for the test to be accurate I have to eat 3 servings of wheat products per day for three weeks. So now I have to decide if it is worth it to experience all the agonizing physical and mental side effects just to get an inconclusive diagnosis.
While it may sound appealing to be able to eat pizza and cookies and cheerios again (there is no adequate substitute for cheerios), I can’t imagine there being much joy in eating something knowing that it is going to make you feel awful. I think it would also be hard for me to explain my wheat eating in social situations where I’ve had to work at getting people to understand that the whole no-wheat and ask for the ingredients of everything is not some sort of weight-loss diet or something that doesn’t really matter because I wont go into anaphylactic shock. Would people think that I was lying to them before? Or just doing it to get attention? If that was the case I would become a vegan! (sorry legitimate, socially/ethically conscious vegans)
Sorry, this post was a bit of an indulgent over-share. But, the internal debate has really been on my mind recently. In more trivial Tom and Candice-type news our life has recently revolved around work/school, visiting our duck friends (quack, quack), eating yogurt, and knitting scarves and mitts to wear during the 25 degree weather when the air conditioning is on in our apartment. Oh, and our cable changed so now we get a channel that plays Road to Avonlea (and I only squeel and jump up and down when the theme music is playing - I manage to keep my cool during the episode).
Do we get to start a countdown now?
It’s 25 degrees out, beautiful and humid, yet I’m sitting in our apartment wrapped in a blanket and sweater. No, it’s not the flu. It’s our landlord going into overdrive with the air conditioning. I guess its great for the people upstairs, but down here in the basement without that much sunlight gets a little chilly after a while.
Toronto has been warm and sunny all week, which is a welcome change from the grey and not-as-warm it was for a little while. I’ve been standing inside Staples for a large part of it (or what seems like a large part of it), playing the “selling crap” game. Work has been going good, but sometimes it gets a little slow, so then you have to turn work into a “game” to pass the time (I don’t think my supervisors really approve of this way of looking at it, but I’m sure they don’t complain when I make them money). You get points for selling people things that they didn’t know that they needed. You get even more points when people initially turn something down but eventually change their mind.
What is getting me through work though are thoughts of getting back to Newfoundland soon. I’ve been annoying my co-workers with stories about the island that they don’t really understand. I can’t wait to get home and see everyone.
Please clear your schedules and get your pencils out to schedule in some fun times with us.
That’s right. As you may have already heard (because I screamed it so loud - well, actually I’m not loud enough to be a screamer, but I did do a happy dance), I am coming home in just under one month and Tom in just more than a month. I booked my flight last night for July 21st and Tom is coming on July 28th. The plan is to spend as much time as possible with friends and family, have some fires and barbeques, do some research, and maybe venture on a road trip to the east coast.
The summer here is very nice. The weather’s great and there are all kinds of festivals and events, but they’re not near as much fun if you can’t share them with special people. And plus, my guess is the city will be too smelly to bear by then.
So, now the final push is on. Finish my intense philosphy class and menial graduate assistant work while enjoying some summer in the city, then pack my suitcase. Oh, who am I kidding, suitcases.
I look forward to seeing all of our NL people soon. And, if you’re not there, why not plan a trip home between July 21 and August 11 (hint, hint Nicole and VK)?
Toronto - The City of Festivals
Every city has a catch phrase. Toronto should be “The City of Festivals.” There is a festival every weekend here. I think sometimes its a bit silly - everything ends up getting called a festival just so it is taken seriously. But, anyway Tom and I have had quite a busy weekend taking in some festivals.
Yesterday, while Tom worked, I went with one of my classmates to a “Brazilian Guitar Marathon.” It was a beautiful sunny day and we sat and watched several Brazilian guitarists and singers. Some of it was really cool. The first performer I saw was making percussion sounds with her mouth while humming a melody and playing the guitar. I’ve been trying to mimic it since then but while she sounded like a tropical party, I sound like a dying animal. Sadly though my Portuguese is quite rusty (or, well, completely non-existant), so after a while everything just sounded like it should be background music at a Mexican/South American restaurant. I left my friend (a native Protuguese speaker) and decided to explore the area a little bit.
The concert was set up outside in the Yorkville neighbourhood. This is a swanky neighbourhood with fancy restaurants, high end designer boutiques, swanky hotels, and so on. I had heard there was a Whole Foods in the area and decided to wander around until I found it. Which I did, eventually. It was nice to walk though all the streets though. However, I don’t understand all the people there around my age with babies in designer strollers and dogs and BMWs and Dolce and Gabanna bags. How do they manage that? Really. And Whole Foods? Is grocery shopping heaven. If you can’t do your shopping at markets and indie natural food stores, then it is the next best thing. I wish I was trendy enough to shop there.
However, Tom and I got our groceries in creepy-suburbia land (ie. our neighbourhood) this morning so that we could have the afternoon to head downtown. It was another beautiful day - about 28 degrees and sunny. We went to Bloor and Spadina to check out a street festival that was going on there. They had the road closed for an entire block and it felt very odd to be walking down the middle of the street in Toronto. Basically we just walked up and down the block to see the different vendors that had set up, to listen to some groovin’ South American music and watch two strangers salsa to it, and watch some people playing a giant chess game. Tom attempted some kids math puzzles. Luckily he got them right, or he would never have heard the end of it!
From there we headed on a human sardine tin streetcar to Kenzington market to see if there was anything interesting happening. Surprisingly it was quite calm and we did a few errands without stress. From there we headed down to the waterfront to check out (and scope out potential wedding food choices) at the “1000 Tastes” event - part of the Luminato Festival. Check out our forthcoming VIDEO BLOG for details about it!
The post about cats.
People keep asking us why we don’t have pets. I tell them it’s because I’m afraid they will kill me in my sleep. Seriously. Today, my suspicions were confirmed. Check out this link if you have a cat, or wonder why I like them but don’t have one. That being said, Tom and I saw someone on the bus the other day gingerly handeling a big box. I jokingly said that there was a cat in box. Then it meowed.