Can't quite tell

Mom, does this person look familiar?

Free time is good

I should learn from this.
It's been nice to not have to set my alarm clock and just be.
I love the city and getting out there and being part of it.
I've enjoyed going into shops and seeing what's out there, it's just too bad that buying gifts is constantly in the back of my mind. Next year I'm going to keep my eyes and ears open during the whole year and pick things out as I see them. I hope the last-minuteness of all of this will work out.
And, I've found out that if I was a gazillionaire, I would be in trouble. There's a LOT of nice stuff out there.
And how did all of this snow show up all of a sudden? It's definitely winter and I love it. I think I need to wear more layers though. It's getting a little bit chilly!

What a relief

Yep, the snowstorm has saved the day. Now I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
And ready to wear my Moon Boots!

Wheeeeeee!

The snow storm has already started. I really hope it last ALL day. I'd rather have my schedule cleared, thank you very much.

Ugh

It's 6.52am and I've been awake for awhile now.
I only went to bed at 2am.
I just can't sleep. At all.
This sucks.

The new Art Gallery of Ontario

I approve.
It's beautiful from the outside and beautiful on the inside. Especially the Gallery Italia. Absolutely breathtaking.
I didn't get a chance to see everything, but I will be back soon to finish my visit. The room of Henry Moore sculptures was also effective.
I think I was most blown away by the numerous pieces from from the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson gifted by Ken Thomson. The works are beautiful. Every time I see pieces by them I get flashbacks of grade school. Dreamy and wonderful.
I don't remember exactly what the old gallery looked like, but I do remember thinking that there wasn't much there. I'm happy with what I saw today.
Please, visit the Art Gallery of Ontario.

- picture courtesy of www.ago.net

Two acts

Act 1: I dropped off some items at Toy Mountain today. I wonder how often the bins are emptied. They were VERY empty when I went. I wonder who the recipients are. I wonder what they really want. I wonder how old they are. It was interesting shopping for the gifts - I tried to be practical and think of items that they might need, enjoy and last for more than just a couple moments. Am I being too logical? Should gifts be items that are just super fun and create a moment? I'm thinking of making a repeat performance.

Act 2: After looking into it further, I think this one's a bust. I left it too last minute anyway. But a quick google into what I wanted to do made it seem like it's not really possible to do what I want. Last year, I heard on the radio that Canada Post was sending items to the Canadian Forces stationed abroad for free and I wanted to act on it. I thought it would be nice to send a care package. I don't personally know anyone that's stationed anywhere (actually, I might, but I don't know if he's still there, nor do I think I know him enough to send something specifically to him or how it would be construed to the mutual person that we know), but for some reason I thought I would be able to just send a care package to a group of Canadians who were far from home. So, the website says that they aren't accepting such things. That is, unless I was a corporation wanting to make a donation or if I wanted to donate Tim Hortons gift certificates specifically. Interesting.

So yeah.

I wonder if I will volunteer somewhere in the future. Or will the rest of my life consume me and I never get around to it.

Nice

It's so pretty outside. But I can hardly see the CN Tower. Maybe tomorrow will be a day for Moon Boots?

Also, this morning I was at Harbourfront as the sun was rising. It was beautiful. I should go more often.

More about Twilight

Remember I said that I hear about Twilight four times a week?
Well, it's still going on.
Anyway, I can participate a bit because I've watched the movie and all.
So I found out that when they made the movie, the books hadn't gone big yet, so it was a crazy low budget movie hiring unknown actors (except for the guy from Harry Potter).
So this fact has sorta redeemed the movie in my mind.
The movie was still ridiculous, but I guess I understand why.
The story line was fine. If you think Harry Potter is fine, then Twilight will be fine too.
I would assume that the next movie installment will be much better, now that they've got a bazillion dollars to spend on it. Maybe the actors in the movie have been taking some lessons in the past little while. Come to think of it, a lot of the kids in the Harry Potter movies had no experience before the first movie. After watching the first Harry Potter movie, I was as revolted as I was for Twilight, but maybe the cool effects covered up their bad acting. And of course a lot of the adult characters were well known. And maybe the young actors and actresses in Harry Potter still suck, but the effects and support characters hold them up - I don't really know. But maybe Twilight just didn't have the effects and other characters to help hold the movie together.
I wonder why I'm trying to give this movie the benefit of the doubt?

Not as great as I hoped

I'm not completely writing off the system that was unveiled today at Spadina station, but why it seems a little odd that they only put "Spadina S" as the destination. Duh. They all go "Spadina S", unless there's a detour or something. It would be more beneficial if they put "King St.", "Spadina & Queens Quay" or "Union Station". I appreciate knowing how long I have to wait for the next streetcar to arrive, but what go is it if I have no idea if I'll be able to get on it until it arrives?

Twilight

I gave in to curiousity. I watched Twilight.
All I knew about this movie was that were going to be vampires. Something about some human girl falling in love with a vampire boy. They're in high school and ridiculousness ensues. The Harry Potter for vampires. But they're a little bit older or something? I'm not sure why I'd enjoy wizards and witches, but not vampires, but honestly, I had no interest in this movie.
So it's a huge thing, all that I hear about four times a week. People around me reading the books, talking about how they've seen the movie multiple times, it's ridiculous.
But, you know, I thought, I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon, but I might as well watch the movie just to see what the fuss is about.
FYI, I still haven't jumped on the bandwagon.
I was that girl in the movie theatre who kept making sarcastic comments and laughed at almost every scene. Luckily I wasn't the only one who had that reaction, but still, it's not very polite of me to do it.
The acting was over the top, the storyline moved too quickly (but not in a, "I don't get it" kind of way), it was ridiculous.
Apparently the movie is quite similar to the book, so it doesn't really make me want to read the series, but I just don't understand what the big deal is. Scratch that - I can see the appeal, I'm just confused why I was ready to embrace a similar thing with Harry Potter, but this one just strikes me as being so ridiculous.
I'm pretty sure that I went into the movie with an open mind. Everyone said it would be good, so I was interested in seeing just how great it was. The ridiculousness was just too much for me to bear. TOO MUCH.
I think it was the choice of how scenes were shot and the acting which really ruined it for me. The plotline was fine. It really was Harry Potter with vampires. I understood the story and I could see where it is going to go with the next movie/book in the series, but the movie itself was ridiculous.
Did I say that it was ridiculous?
I guess that's all I have to say.
And I'm sorry to everyone who was in the movie theatre and annoyed at me and the rest of the posse who weren't being discreet about it.

- picture courtesy of www.twilightthemovie.com/

This is great

I'm excited for this. 510 foreva bay-bee.
Wow - I can't believe I just wrote that. I'm hanging out with youngins way too much.
Anyway, I think all subway stations should have the same sorta thing that Dundas has too.
I'm impatient. I need to know everything. Especially when I'm running late.

Scotland (July 2nd - 6th, 2007)

If I can catch up on all of my travels from Europe in the next little while it will be amazing.
Here's a post about my trip to Scotland.



Edinburgh
I thought Edinburgh was quite a beautiful city. I was starting to get the feeling that many of the places that I visited in the UK were similar, and obviously there wouldn't be anything completely out of the ordinary that would shock me.
Unfortunately the weather while I was there wasn't the best, lots of grey skies and wet days, but I still enjoyed myself.


One of the first things that I saw when I arrived to the city was this man here dressed up in full garb. I don't know if it's accurate or not, but the effect is nice and I had to smile (and take a picture - obviously I wasn't the only one). He was the doorman to this fancy schmancy hotel.



This is Greyfriars Bobby. A dog who's claim to fame was guarding his owner's grave until his own death many many years later. Somehow it's a big deal.

There were a couple highlights of the trip. I thought that Mary Kings Close was one of the best museums that I'd visited. It was a very interactive visit where you're in the bowel of the close imagining and feeling what it would have been like to be there. They set up the visit like it's a tour of the area hosted by a former resident. I would highly recommend this as a place to visit if you're there.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse is the Scottish residence for the Queen. She happened to be there while I was visiting and hosted a big tea party. It was fun to see how dressed up everyone was, wearing their fancy hats that you stereotypically think of British people wearing for events. Not surprisingly, some men were wearing kilts and stuff. What a neat experience that would be. The security was obviously really tight for the event, with some fancy cars pulling up to the palace.
The city was nice to walk around, it have a great atmosphere to it, with architecture that makes me think of the UK (I miss watching all of those BBC shows that I started getting used to).
The obvious tourist stop in town is Edinburgh Castle which was nice to walk around. The castle itself didn't blow me away (compared to other castles that I've visited) but I was impressed with the calibre of the tour guides.



This was a cute little area where they had a cemetary for the dogs of soldiers.




This guy was hired to follow a newlywed couple taking their wedding pictures at the castle. I would assume that he played at the service as well, but it was kind of funny watching him pose in the background with the happy couple. Standing on the opposite side of the Bentley, etc etc. His get up reminded me of my year's at Queen's.

I also enjoyed visiting the Royal Yacht Britannia. It was beautiful and I could just imagine spending time on there touring around the world and spending time with family and friends on there. The bedrooms were cozy, but the dining and entertaining rooms were huge! They were setting up the dining room for a special function that night (reading the placecards, it was some kind of corporate event), which I guess would be cool, but it would be cooler if the boat was moving. This was also a tourist stop that I would highly recommend. It seemed a little weird to me that it was attached to a shopping mall though.























The two things from the National Museums Scotland that stick out in my mind are Dolly and the chess pieces that were the inspiration for the pieces in the first (?!?) Harry Potter movie. Most of the pieces are at the British Museum in London, so I made a mental note to find them there as well.


I had to refrain from laughing when some visitors beside me made comments about thinking that she was still alive and stuff. People are funny.



I can't believe I have to wait until next year to see the next Harry Potter movie. I'll have forgotten what the plotline is by then.













It was fun to go into the tartan shops. I liked the kilt that I wore when I went to private school. I wonder if that was a made up tartan or not. I guess I didn't see it in the shop, or else I would have remembered it. It was nice to learn a little bit more about the types of tartans and how one clan can have different versions of their tartan depending on the occasion.



This was the Scottish Parliament building. It was obviously a new design and I probably enjoyed seeing the different gifts presented to the Parliament from other countries. Lots of beautiful stuff on display.



Oh yeah, so they have these baked potatoes there with crazy toppings. Huge potatoes and goooooood stuff to put on top. I refuse to eat mashed potatoes, but baked potatoes are still in my good book and it was a quick and simple meal. Anyway, I thought that I would go all authentic and stuff and try one with haggis. That stuff is gross.

One of the best parts about Edinburgh is all of the green space. I like walking, and there was this big hill that you could walk around/up. It gave me a perfect view of the city below and if I wasn't so self conscious, I probably would have just sat on the side of the path watching the world go by. It's pretty relaxing watching bird fly, for some reason.


Here's the view from the top, looking down at Holyroodhouse.









Here's looking another direction at the Parliament.




****************************************
Glasgow
A nice little train ride took me to Glasgow for a short stay.
The first thing I did when I got there was figure out how to leave. My pre-trip research led me to believe that I would be able to get all of the touristy things in the city accomplished quite quickly, and so I thought I might take the opportunity to take a bus tour out of the city, so I ended up going to Loch Ness and the Highlands.
It was a fun day, driving through the Highlands and realizing that there's so much more of the country to see. Although I only had a chance to stay in each city for a couple days, I didn't feel like I missed out on too much. Obviously, I didn't get a chance to really venture out and see much outside of the city, but I that's to be saved for a another visit. The majority of my travels in the three years I spent in Europe were to major cities in Europe that were close to airports. Hopefully in the future, I'll have more time in each location to take the bus/train further out and even rent a car or something to really venture into some of the more interesting areas of the country.
It's such a beautiful area, and I would like to go on a hiking trip through there. Still, you do what you can, and I'm glad that I at least got to see more of the area from inside of a bus than nothing at all.
Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle were very touristy, but that's part of the fun. I like running around ruins and it's very picturesque beside the lake. We took a boat across the lake, and no one spotted Nessie. And I filled my belly with fish and chips. Yum.




Do you see her? Yeah, apparently it's a her.





Back in Glasgow, there were a couple things on my list. My favorite stop was The Lighthouse. This gallery focused on Design and Architecture which I've come to realize that I really appreciate. You could also climb to the top of the building and get a great panoramic view of the city below. Something about that view reminded me of Mary Poppins. That gallery was interactive as well, as one installation was a chance for you to make a piece of art using plasticine. You could
either leave your creation to be part of the exhibit or take it home with you as a souvenir. They even supplied a box for safe transport. As I was continuing my travels to London, I figured leaving my creation in the gallery would probably be more practical, although I would have liked to take it home with me. It really would have been a great souvenir of my travels. I took these two pictures before I put my
piece with the rest of them. Mine was good though. Really good.
I like these kinds of museums because you get ideas. I wonder how hard it would be to create a piece like the one on the wall. I have so many grand plans of what I want to do with my place, but I never seem to get around to it. I have this amazing idea for a photo wall, but I'm having problems narrowing down the photos that I want to display. Too many goodies to choose from.




I went into one of the Willow Tea Rooms, only because it was free (I didn't know if the museums with his stuff would cost money) and I thought it would be kinda neat to see some
Charles Rennie Mackintosh designs. I didn't end up dining there, but this reminds me that I want to go for high tea sometime.














The transport museum was really neat as well. I liked seeing the old trolley cars.

My favorite installation in the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was the floating heads. The expressions on the faces makes it a perfect background picture on my laptop. Two years later, I still use it as my background picture, so that's gotta say something.












This was the first time that I've ever seen art being restored. I think it's nice when they let the public see things like this. Reading about the process is one thing, but seeing it happen right in front of your eyes makes the connections so much clearer.
Glasgow also had a Primark. And that was lovely.

OMG

I'm free!

A fourth thing

4. French accents may be the best accents.

Three things

1. Went dress browsing in Holt's. Two stood out. One by Zac Posen and the other by Oscar de la Renta. I want an event to get dressed up for.
2. I still have a problem with bags.
3. Rode the elevator with a delivery man from Chippy's. Smelled so good. I'm so hungry.

The light at the end of the tunnel

If I can just get through the next two weeks...
Boy oh boy...it will be amazing.
I have to stay focused, keep my spirits up and just remember that everything happens for a reason.
I can't wait to have a little freedom. It'll probably involve shopping for gifts that I have no clue if people really will want 'em, but at least I'll be able to go during the day when the crowds are supposed to be at school or work.
I'm hoping to finally make my place look like home and organize things that I've been meaning to organize. Hopefully by the end of it, some charitable group will gain some good stuff.
I wonder how my landlord would feel about me stenciling words on the wall? If I get my act together my walls will be covered with memories and good thoughts. I still have no coffee table but if there's a wall of stuff to stare at, maybe I'll use my couch more often. And by the way, I still don't want a TV.
Two weeks.

Still missing things

A challenge in Season 1 of The Mole UK made me reminisce and miss something from my time in Europe. I didn't follow it religiously, but I would often watch a reality show called SAS: Are You Tough Enough.
I miss the strangest things at the strangest times.