London, Oxford and Stonehenge (June 17th - 20th, 2008)

Better late than never...

London









On the left, a shot in Covent Garden. There's something about the vibe in London that I really enjoy. I can't quite put my hand on it, but I love to visit and I feel so comfortable and alive when I'm there. It's not just the fact that it's a big city and there's lots going on - it's the attitude that's there. The vibe.
Every time I go, there are more things that I add to the list. New this time was Dover Street Market. I applaud the buyers and merchandisers for the store. I like going into stores and seeing products placed together in a creative way, combining different pieces to make new looks. It's easy to have all of the same brand's stuff lumped together, but I think that in the real world, most people mix and match and don't dress all of one label head to toe, so I like to see ideas of how one person combines the pieces. I raved the same about Colette in Paris, and have yet to find a store in Toronto that goes to the same level. There are more and more concept stores, but they're not the same. There are also designer boutiques, but also, not the same thing. Anyway, Dover Street Market is quite neat and I'm looking forward to the next visit.
























HUH?!?














The queen's in the house!


Do they have this here because they know how many tourists come to visit them? Eitherway, I'm glad they do, because sometimes I get confused. I usually end up looking both ways just to be sure, but it's funny how you usually just turn your head only one way instinctively.

Here's a sad fact. I've never been on a public transport bus in London. Not even a double decker one. I always so on the underground or walk. But I should. I should ride a bus next time.




I also need to climb Tower Bridge. See?!? So much stuff to add to the list.












The previous time that I was in London, I went to King's Cross Station to look for Platform 9 3/4 and couldn't find it. I went to the Platform 9 and 10 area which is actually not in the main station and searched and searched. I don't understand why it was so easy to find it this time around.

Oxford


I've always liked walking around university campuses. Oxford is a cute little town and had beautiful looking architecture as well. Score!


More Harry Potter goodness. Christ Church College has such a beautiful dining room. I'm not sure if I would enjoy having to do all the traditional stuff being a student at these colleges. Maybe I would. Just realize that I'm a part of history and think about all of the people who have done the
same things in the past. Anyway, the Harry Potter thing. If you've seen the movies, you'll know that they made their dining room much wider, but you can definitely see the resemblance. The campus is beautiful and I can understand how location scouts would fall in love with it too.





So, apparently, some sort of famous people used to come here to hang out.






Stonehenge
Just a couple pictures of Stonehenge. I wish we could have gotten closer, but I guess that's what happens when they want to protect the space. It would have been interesting to go during the solstice and see what kind of crazies come out.

Ottawa, Canada (May 22nd - 26th, 2009)

I probably won't be much of a tourist during this trip, but it's still going to be nice to have a little bit of time to continue to explore the nation's capital.
I love how bilingual this city is and I always enjoy a chance to practice my French. I get the feeling that I won't speak any French while I'm hear, but I'll definitely keep my ears open to make sure that I can understand all of the conversations that I eavesdrop on.
I rode by the Rideau Canal today and was reminded how much I want to come back in the winter to skate on it.
It's Ottawa Race Weekend (which I only found out about yesterday) and I thought it might be fun to join in the fun and sign up for the 10k - yes, impromptu, but I figure I could handle it. Unfortunately, spots are already sold out and race day was on the one day that I fore sure couldn't attend. There were spots left for the marathon though. Yeah, right.
I also rode by the Glebe sidewalk sale but was too exhausted at this point to stop. I was also being way too rational in that I really didn't need any more knick knacks to clutter up my life. It would have been nice to walk around, enjoy the sun and the atmosphere, but like I said, I was getting tired and actually needed to find some food as I was starting to feel a little bit off.
So, for food, I headed to Byward Market. Love, love, love, markets. I stopped in Le Moulin de Provence to pick up some stuff and noticed that they are madly flaunting the fact that Obama stopped by to pick up some cookies. The line for BeaverTails was long and I kinda wanted to take a break from non-essential food groups. I've eaten a significant amount in the past little while, so I wanted to give my body a break. We'll see if I cave in by the end of the trip. I also had the self control not to buy fudge from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
That's pretty much all I got done today, what with my mega nap and all.
I get the feeling that I'll only have time to pop into a museum for a quick visit and walk the core a little bit more, but I'm not too concerned. I'm not really here to be a tourist this time around.
Of course I'll get time to explore Carleton University, which is great too, because I love the feeling of being on campus. The buildings aren't completely inspirational here, but it still seems like a pretty inviting space. It probably helps that it's 20+ degrees.

Great

The jet lag continues.
I just woke up from the most wonderful nap.
Woke up at the time that I should probably think about going to sleep for real.
I'm completely backwards.

They say that jet lag's worse when you return back home. Totally true for me.
You're all excited to be traveling and like with me, you're super-tourist, forcing your body to get on track. I only really felt and strangeness on the first night that I arrived and then I was pretty good. Lots of walking probably helped the cause too.
Now that I'm home, I've decided to take a different approach. Just chillax. I'm sort of going to sleep when I'm supposed to, but if I need a nap in the middle of the day (which I pretty much have every day since I've been home - often due to the fact that I haven't been sleeping through the whole night), I do. I haven't crammed stuff into my schedule, but have given myself a little bit of a break as I've been going non-stop for quite some time. I'm doing some physical activity to try to get myself, but not as hard core as when I was traveling.

The nice the thing about being backwards is that I was good and awake for my presentation early this morning. I'm sure nerves had a little to do with it, but the timing was great as I had enough time to get the sheer exhaustion out of my system although not my completely over my jet-lag.

Doors Open 2009

I forget why I didn't end up doing this last year - but I remember looking at the list and sort of making a plan of where I wanted to go. I must have had another engagement or something.
Sucks that I can't go to Doors Open Toronto 2009 this year either.
The nice thing is that I can be pretty confident that it'll happen again next year and that there will be plenty of participating buildings that I will love to visit.
Toronto has so much stuff to do!

Porter! Porter! Porter!

Yes, I have now joined the growing Porter fanclub.
I'd already heard about their service, convenience and all that jazz and I got the chance to experience it for myself.
If you live in the city centre or don't mind driving into the core (as opposed to out to the boonies to get to Pearson), going to the City Centre airport is great. A shuttle bus from Union Station, an organized taxi stand, the ferry that actually gets to the island...it all seemed pretty good to me.
Check in was pretty much like any other airport. If you have luggage to check in you may have to lug it around a little bit more than usual, but I didn't have too much of a problem than that. The Bestseller with their gazillion garment bags on the other hand didn't enjoy the process as much.
Then, the part that I was waiting for. The airport lounge. It was better than I expected. Nice chairs. Good vibe. Computers to use. A fully stocked cafe with free(!!!) stuff. It was wonderful. I didn't get there with enough time to sit down and really make the most of the lounge, but that's part of the beauty of Porter as well. They only recommend that you get there 30min before before the flight, so with everyone else arriving last minute as well, after checking-in and going through security and stuff, there really wasn't much time to sit down and take advantage of the lounge.
Boarding was easy and the in-flight crew was wonderful.
I was looking forward to the chocolate brownies that they'd mentioned in the in-flight magazine (more free stuff!!!), but the double chocolate cookie that came with the sandwich, babybell cheese and melba toast snack package made up for it. Serving drinks in glass glasses was a nice touch.
There was definitely more leg room than in most economy sections and being a window seat lover, it was fun to be able to take in the Canadian landscape as we were flying at a lower altitude and could see everything. While we were flying over Lake Ontario, I swear the water was so blue and reflective that I got confused between where the horizon line was. I felt like I was just looking out at a sea of clouds and amazingness.
The only problem I can see with Porter is that there are still people out there who are a little antsy about flying in small planes. The only time that it was really obvious was when we whooshed down the runway and the plane kicked into high gear. The other time was on landing - the noise on impact kind of caught me off guard too. My particular flight had no turbulence and I've definitely been on some 777's with roller coaster dips, so people really can't use that as an excuse not to ride little planes. Big planes sometimes to weird things on take-off and landing so it's just luck of the draw. I have no fears of flying, so the random noises that happened on my flight didn't effect me too much, but I was trying to look for things that other people could potentially freak out at.
Anyway, I think Porter is amazing and I can't wait to take it again. Next time, I'm definitely going to arrive earlier than need be. Sure, lounging at home is great, but the TCCA airport lounge as darn good too.

Jet lag

I'm definitely jet lagged.
It's three in the morning and I'm not one bit tired.
Good thing is that I've already packed for tomorrow's trip.
Back to back trips. What was I thinking.

Phew!

My eyes are killing me. I was even good and took out my contacts for most of the journey back, but like I said, my eyes are killing me.
I've spend an hour or two trying get caught up with e-mails and fav websites, but I still don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I've got two days to try to get organized before I hop back on a plane again.
The next trip is most definitely be more laid back (not to say that this one wasn't) and hopefully I will have some time to even post some stuff.

Hot Docs 2009

Hot Docs is coming up and I was getting super excited for it.
I looked at all of the documentaries that would be in the festival and even made a schedule of the films that I wanted to see.
Sucky thing is that I won't be in town, so I will miss out on all of the fun.
Here's my list anyway. Yes, it's long, and no, I probably wouldn't have seen all of them, but if you happen to catch any of them, let me know how it was!
- Art & Copy
- Antoine
- Action Boys
- Cat Ladies
- Carmen Meets Borat
- Clubland
- Final Fitting
- Ganesh: Boy Wonder
- Invisible City
- Jackpot
- Laughology
- Objectified
- Over the Hills and Far Away
- Plane Days
- Pockets
- Prom Night in Mississippi
- The Tiger Next Door
- When We Were Boys

Oh, tonight at the screening, one of the festival programmers told us three "must sees":
- Episode 3 - ‘Enjoy Poverty’
- Winnebago Man
- Rough Aunties

I had briefly considered having the last one on my list...I forget why I took it off. I wonder if one of the three films will be like Slumdog Millionaire from TIFF08 (which was actually on my list for awhile and I don't remember why I nixed it). Maybe I'm just not good at picking the big hit of the festival.

Living in Emergency

Just got home from watching the final doc from the Doc Soup series (mental note - next year I need to actually know about this before the last doc is screened).
Anyway, the film was Living in Emergency.
It's a documentary about Medicens sans Frontieres and follows a couple MSF veterans and first mission doctors in Congo and Liberia. Other than that, I really can't go into more details because there's just SO much. SO much.
The film itself was okay. I mean, the cinematography and stuff was okay. I was a little disconcerted with the quality of the sound. I think I'm pretty good at deciphering accents, but there was some dialogue in the film that I couldn't really figure out. Perhaps more subtitling or something? I don't know if it was the sound system or the production itself, but I found some of the voices to be a bit muffled. As MSF has French roots, there was some French dialogue which I was lucky enough to understand, but there were some subtitles missing in these parts and I believe making sure that everyone understood the dialogue, the film would have been even stronger. Other than that, I didn't have any major problems.
The characters that were highlighted and the issues that were examined. Incredible. It was a powerful and emotional piece. All I can say is, hats of to all those who are part of the MSF organization or are somehow working with them. I have a deeper appreciation of you all.
Although I love what I do and I haven't even gotten to where I think I'm going yet, I still wonder if there's more out there that I'm meant to do.
Anyway, wow. I obviously loved this film.

In true doc festival spirit (Hot Docs is coming up!), there was a Q&A with Director, Mark Hopkins. No groundbreaking revelations from the chat, but I always appreciate directors taking the time out to attend screenings and speak with the audience.

Aww shucks

My hands are purple.
Those purple carrots are intense.

I'm a pack rat.

I don't deny it - I know I'm a pack rat.
It's pretty tough to convince me that something doesn't have some sort of nostalgic value that I won't want to reminisce about in the future.
I think I'm getting a little bit better though. I just needs many years to go by, because by that point, I will have forgotten about the context of most of the items (thank goodness for my bad memory), or I'll be in such a frenzy of cleaning that I'll get rid of it.
I've found out that I can still wear clothes that I wore in high school. Chalk it up to baby fat, going through a phase of wearing baggy clothes, or whatever it is...all I know is that it's impressive. I have grown taller though, so that does kind of limit that stuff I can still wear. It's actually a problem. When I can still fit into the clothing that I don't wear, I think...hmmm, one day I might want to wear it. You know, for some Halloween costume, or when it comes back in style. You know - vintage is all the rage. See, that's a mind of a pack rat talking.
I've also decided that I want to frame some of my childhood artwork. That along with all of the other thousand things that I said I wanted to do and frame.
Another trip down memory lane. I had a box filled with old magazines. Sesame Street Magazine, 3-2-1 Contact, Electric Company, Chickadee, Owl. Sigh. I kept them all in a box because they're so good. Lots of good activities and learning opportunities. Maybe my pack rat habits are even worse because I'm a teacher and think that I can somehow use all of these things in my classroom (although I have no idea when I'll have one again). Anyway, I decided that I wasn't worth the storage space that it was taking up and I'm sure that I will have the resources to get new magazines if I get my own classroom and want these kinds of magazines. At least I can recycle now.

Moving on with life

Well, saving $15000 (you never heard it from me) means that I've got a lot more time on my hands and have a lot less time specifically set aside for physical activity.
Surprisingly, I've been going to the gym quite regularly (I never thought I'd see the day that I would go to the gym on my own), but I still don't like it and would rather have another outlet to get some physical activity in there.
I would like to incorporate some sort of activity that I love into my schedule and have a set time for it, so I decided to head back into the dance studio and take some dance classes.
I went to my first one Thursday night and had a wonderful time. The studio is down the street from me, the level is good and the teachers and students are a great group (from what I can tell so far - and the studio has a great reputation). I am extremely sore today, but I know that it will go away. It's kind of funny that although I've been doing tons of physical activity this whole time, I've obviously been working a completely different set of muscles. My calves hurt and ton and my hamstrings (which have always been tight) are ridiculously tight. Everything else is fine though, and it was a tough class (without being too tough). Intense warm up. My abs are happy campers. I think I'm going to try to go at least twice a week. It's nice to do something that you love.
It's also nice to be able to cook again. Part of it is having time to cook and go grocery shopping, but I'm also home to eat too. That doesn't make much sense. I was home for meal times before, but for some reason, I don't remember really sitting down and truly eating. Something was off. Anyway, the point is, I'm cooking and glad that I'm doing it again. I'm not a master chef or anything close, but it's kind of fun and I enjoy eating what I cook. Last week I made a huge pot of beef stew and towards the end of the week dabbled with a salad and right now there's a pot of vegetable barley soup on the stove to go with the cheese, potato and chive bread that I bought from the Leslieville Cheese Market (which carries Brick Street Bakery breads). It smells good.
I'm hungry, I can't wait for the next dance class and I think I'm going to stretch my hammies now.

Wasting time on Bloor

I had some time to kill, so as I was out picking up my lunch, I decided to window shop on Bloor.
Bad decision.
Some things I've learned at Holt's:
1. The store really has a way of killing a girl's spirits
2. After deciding to wander into the "scary rich people's clothing area". I know, that's ridiculous to say, because everything in there is so expensive, but until today, there were still some areas that I was too nervous to go into. I came face to face with a gorgeous Balenciaga dress worth $5000. The sales lady was really sweet to chat with (which surprised me a bit).
3. Leather coats by Rick Owens are incredibly soft. Luckily, I will never be tempted to buy one because it's his stuff's not really my style.
4. I will always love bags. Balenciaga (ahem). Valentino (cough). Sang A (sigh).
5. Burberry is made for me. There was a super sweet hat that fit my head perfectly.

As I walked along Bloor, I noticed that:
- the renovations at Prada are done and store looks beautiful
- Noir didn't to pay their rent but have left their belongings in the space
- McDonalds is still planning to become a condo

Baby Proof: A Novel

Baby Proof: A Novel, by Emily Giffin

I haven't read a book not related to school or work in a year and a half. At least that's my guess because that's the last time I posted something on my blog about reading. I've picked up some of the books on my bookshelf and flipped through them, but it's definitely been awhile since I've read for fun.
Getting back into the reading groove means going with something mindless. Enter: chick lit.
So there's nothing really substantial to report here. I read the book in a day. That's how easy it was to read. I guess to a certain extent I was compelled to keep reading and that it was amusing, but let's be honest, it's chick lit. Nothing substantial.
This was your typical chick lit book. Girl is looking for true love. Surprisingly, there wasn't an underplot dealing with fashion.
Anyway, a fun book and I'm ready to move onto the next chick lit book!

- picture courtesy of www.chapters.indigo.ca

Staying in

Last night when I went to bed, I had these grand plans of all of the things that I was going to do today.
I ended up spending the whole day at home.
I might go out on my balcony later tonight to get a little bit of fresh air, but all in all, I had a great day.
I've started to read again (chick lit - it's a pretty accessible way to get back into reading) and so I stepped away from my desk, put some music on and sat on my lounge chair and read read read. It was nice.
My place also smells like stew.

Return to St. Lawrence market

Back on my weekly schedule (I hope) - the St. Lawrence Market.
My main attraction to the market is the the Farmer's Market on Saturday's, but if I wrap my head around cooking seafood, I'd probably buy some stuff from the the South Market as well.
I got to the market a little later than I had planned, but turns out there's an upside to sleeping in - vendors want to go home so they started marking down their stuff. Sure, I don't get the best choice of the stuff, but that doesn't bother me too much.
I ended up getting some ingredients for beef stew and then a series of baked goods. There was a sampling bag of dinner rolls, which I thought would be perfect for me. I like trying new things, even if it backfires, so not having to commit to a huge loaf of whatever was good. There were seven different types of buns in my bag: beet, rice, oatmeal, 5 grain, carrot&something, saffron&something and some other grain that I'd never heard of and have subsequently forgotten its name. I'll give 'em a try after I put my stew ingredients in the pot.
I also got a strudel from the place that I'd been eyeing since my first visit. I decided to go for one of their new flavors, wild blueberry and cream cheese. Sounds good huh? I'll also give this one a try after my stew's on the stove.
I did eat a couple things while I was there (I never eat at home before going to the market - that's just crazy!). A baked chicken samosa (kinda generic) and what I thought was a spinach and lemon baked triangle of some sort of savoury pastry thingy, but it didn't really taste like what it was supposed to be, so I don't know what it was. More leeky than spinach. Oh well, that's the fun part of trying things.
I have two purple carrots that the gentleman threw into my bag for good measure...not really sure what I'm going to do with them yet.

(Markets are the best.)

ER

I just watched the series finale of ER and for someone who's only watched the show this season (although I have seen a couple episodes here and there of previous seasons - but not enough to know any plotlines), I thought it was pretty good.
I thought they did a good job of using cameos and bringing back characters from previous seasons and I could tell that they were rounding the last bend towards the end (I guess it helped that my video player told me how many minutes there were left of the episode). It ended very well and the final scenes were perfect.
I thought the episode was well done and I'm left with the feeling that I need to go back to watch the pilot (and maybe, ahem, a couple other hundred episodes) to see the journey of the show. Darn it.
A good show. A very good show.

Films @ Ontario Place

Just got back from a screening of two films at Ontario Place. I haven't been there in ages. To be exact, I think since high school when Benson & Hedges' Symphony of Fire was still in its prime.
The first film was Hurricane on the Bayou. Apparently the idea of the film was supposed to be about the Bayou and conserving the wetlands in the area...but then, hurricane Katrina hit, so the producers wanted to include it into the story. The film followed a couple people and their journey and it was nice that they tried to create a story surrounding them, but for some reason it didn't have any effect on me. I did learn some interesting facts from the film, but it didn't have the power that most films shown in IMAX cinemas have. Unfortunately, I am very indifferent about the film.
The second film was Dinosaurs, Giants of Patagonia and it was great. Good for kids of all ages (although for the young children, some of the dinos may be a little scary) and parents will find certain moments quite amusing as well. The film focused on the discovery of a giant herbivore and carnivore species in Argentina and did a great overview of everything dino. Types of dinos, dinos vs. reptiles, vegetation of the time, life of a dino, extinction, paleontology...great, great, great. It was a wonderful overview of the age of dinosaurs by way of the discovery of two specific dinosaurs. This movie, I would recommend.
Also, I had my first movie theatre buttered popcorn in a long time. The first two bites were delicious and then I felt like puking. Ugh. That stuff is gross.

- pictures courtesy of www.ontarioplace.com

Gabriela Montero

I attended the performance given by Gabriela Montero at Glenn Gould Studio.
I wasn't really into the first part of the programme. Don't get me wrong, I love Brahms and Beethoven, but the selection of piano pieces from opus 118 and the Waldstein sonata respectively aren't my favorite.
Anyway, the real reason I decided to go to the performance was for the second part where "Improvisations on themes or pieces suggested by audience members (Please be prepared to sing the theme if Ms. Montero does not know the piece)". This is definitely a talent that I don't have but am completely in awe of. I wanted to hear first hand just how creative and talented this woman was and the extent of her improvisational skills.
The first suggestion from the audience was Autumn Leaves. Ms. Montero asked the gentleman who suggested the song to sing the melody and he whistled it instead. Some other audience members hummed along. She quickly played the melody and added a simple accompaniment and played it a couple times for the benefit of the audience (and herself?). I don't know if by that point she already knew in which style she was going to improvise, or exactly how her new piece would sound, but she took a moment to compose herself and then started her piece. I thought it started off as a ragtime piece, but I think it was actually more jazzy in feel and evolved into a bluesy piece. It was very lounge music in feel (well, actually all of these thoughts are just my take on her pieces and the style that I, personally, associated with them) and was so complete...I could have listened to her spin that piece all night. I think I'm really into lounge-type music. Total chill-out vibe where I can sit and drink my non-alky drink. The piece was so complete. Not just a little ditty with a single voice harmony and basic chordal accompaniment, it was both interesting and complex. I was already looking forward to the next suggestions to come.
Improv suggestion two was Peter's theme from Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. I was surprised that Ms. Montero needed the melody to be sung to her, and because of how quiet the humming was, so didn't quite get it accurately before she started her piece. Seriously, I can't believe that she didn't know the piece. Anyway, her creation seemed to be very Chopin-esque. Also impressive.
Suggestion number three: the last movement of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Although she asked the melody to be hummed, she did know the piece and just needed a little bit of a refresher. I almost died when she turned it into a Bach contrapuntal piece. Daaaaaaaamn!
Next up, Hey Jude in the style of Debussy. The Debussy then turned into a style that I call battement tendu. I don't know why, I just imagined it being perfect for a battement tendu exercise. The piece then morphed into a tango. The transitions were seamless and of course I was absolutely gobsmacked.
The next suggestion was a sort of tango that I didn't catch the name of (although Ms. Montero immediately knew the melody which sounded very familiar to me). She said that the suggestion was to play it as a tango, but as the piece was already a tango she asked if she could do something different. She also said that she didn't really know how the piece would go, so I guess the improvisation is a fluid thing that just evolves as she plays. Her creation was a Chopin/Debussy combo that just tugged at the heart strings. I love dramatic pieces.
Unfortunately there was only one more creation left for the night and the suggestion was La Bamba. My description of her piece is that of a Latin sonatina but ending as a fun ragtime piece.
So incredibly impressive. I could have listened to an entire programme of improv. There's another performance tonight and I would highly encourage anyone who can rush downtown to attend. At least for the second hour.

UPDATE: the tango piece was Albeniz' Tango in D

Lode Runner

I just played a game of Lode Runner.
It's just as terrifying as it used to be. I'm in constant fear that the bad guys are going to catch me and that I won't be able to dig holes fast enough for them to fall in. The entire game I had that panicky feeling and my heart was racing just like it did when I played the game as a little kid.
I'm so bad at video games.

This apple emulator site that I found sure is fun, but I can't seem to remember all of the names of the games that I used to play.
I've played a couple games of Number Munchers already (although it seems kinda boring now.
I started a game of Oregon Trail as well, but it stopped when I was prompted to "flip the disk to side B".
Turns out, I still don't understand how to throw a shot put nor have I mastered the skill of pole vault for the Olympic Decathlon, however I seem to be better at the high jump compared to when I was young.
I think I'll have to play Lemonade Stand for old times sake as well.