you know you're lazy when you can't get the energy to walk down to the beach at the end of the street so you can take a nap listening to ocean sounds.
i explored my neighbourhood this morning and i realized that my wallet is screwed. there are so many shops to check out, shows to see, and things in general to do. AND food to eat. my waistline is also screwed. this place has no end to culinary creativity. i had a quick bite at the Kits Coffee Co and had a delicious breakfast muffin of turkey, egg, swiss cheese, and salsa. i would never have thought to put all those together and call it "breakfast" but it just worked so well.
i read a vancouver newspaper during breakfast and it seems like everything is about drug legalization, fish farms, ferries, and the Olympics. no big surprises there.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
the 'couv
i finally made it to vancouver. there was a series of incidents that nearly killed me along the way (okay i'm being dramatic) but i'm in one piece, here in my new home. gavin met me at the front door. "it's raining," i said. "welcome to vancouver," he replied. this is the first time that i was smart and packed an umbrella and a rainjacket. i'm not going to repeat my England incident (where i refused to buy an umbrella in the belief that as soon as i did, it would stop raining. consequently, it rained the entire time).
my family made the comment that they moved away from vancouver twenty-five years ago, my mother pregnant with me, and now i have returned "home" twenty-five years later. this may have some rich symbolic meaning, but i think what it really means is that i'm going to discover (at least within twenty-five years) what caused my parents to leave this city.
i woke up at 6:30 this morning and will not fall back asleep. at least this means that i'm going to be punctual for work tomorrow...way too punctual.
my family made the comment that they moved away from vancouver twenty-five years ago, my mother pregnant with me, and now i have returned "home" twenty-five years later. this may have some rich symbolic meaning, but i think what it really means is that i'm going to discover (at least within twenty-five years) what caused my parents to leave this city.
i woke up at 6:30 this morning and will not fall back asleep. at least this means that i'm going to be punctual for work tomorrow...way too punctual.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
a quick guide to my hometown's best non-touristy spots
the problem with stopping off at your hometown before moving to your new city is that you are reminded of all the things you miss about home. home is kind of like a lake of zombies, arms reaching out to grab you and drag you down with them. okay, so i've been reading World War Z lately so i've been fixated on mismatched zombie metaphors lately.
but i have been spending this week reconnecting with my favourite Ottawa spots and discovering new favourites. this has included:
Bridgehead - the only ottawa-based coffee chain that can feasibly compete with starbucks. up your smug factor with free-trade organic delicious joe.
Pho - especially Pho Bo Ga, especially at midnight, especially special dish B (where else can you eat chicken, pork and tofu in one bowl? it's so awesome, it's pretty much a sin).
Di Rienzo's sandwiches - pretty much Ottawa's equivalent of Montreal's Schwartz's, where even cops have to wait in the lunch time lines that extend out all around the store and out the door into the street. big italian sandwiches, best eaten at the Aboretum nearby.
Kettleman's Bagels - as i've always said, for a city without a lot of jews, they sure do great jew-bagels. best wood-fired breakfast bagels you can have after a hard night of partying. yay latkes.
Chez Lucien`s - because nobody can do french food like ottawa can. except maybe the French. but only Ottawans can do it at such a low low price. the food is french, the food prices are chinese, and the way the bar gets so packed with the after-work crowd that people eat their meals standing is very british or Italian. and the jukebox (free) is just plain awesome.
The Avant-Garde Bar - all the tourists and suburb kids go to Zaphod's to party; the locals go to the Avant-Garde. i hate the name of this russian bar but i absolutely love the place. decorated with Russian constructivist art and Soviet propaganda posters, frequented by the oddest mishmash of characters, including hipster students, man-women with thick eastern european accents, people decked in full military outfits but not the Canadian Forces but rather another country and another era, tables of asian girls (okay so that was us), swing dancers, and so on. full russian menu including borscht, Baltika beer, and other stuff i can't pronounce. never the same live acts twice - last night was a Django Reinhardt style gypsy jazz band; before that, i saw an avant garde improv act involving two drummers, a bass clarinet and a sax. it was also hear that i was introduced to the Leningrad Cowboys. basically, what i'm saying is, you don't need drugs or sleep to dream. you can just head over to the Avant Garde.
BEAVERTAIL - in the Byward Market. 'nuff said.
i also would have liked to have had a chance to eat at the Newport, awesome pizza in Westboro and also home of the World Elvis Sighting Society. and sometime i will make my way to beautiful Wakefield to see a show at the Black Sheep Inn.
yeah, i really like food.
okay time to get ready for the airport. i'm hoping that the folks at Air Canada are feeling generous about weight and size restrictions...
but i have been spending this week reconnecting with my favourite Ottawa spots and discovering new favourites. this has included:
Bridgehead - the only ottawa-based coffee chain that can feasibly compete with starbucks. up your smug factor with free-trade organic delicious joe.
Pho - especially Pho Bo Ga, especially at midnight, especially special dish B (where else can you eat chicken, pork and tofu in one bowl? it's so awesome, it's pretty much a sin).
Di Rienzo's sandwiches - pretty much Ottawa's equivalent of Montreal's Schwartz's, where even cops have to wait in the lunch time lines that extend out all around the store and out the door into the street. big italian sandwiches, best eaten at the Aboretum nearby.
Kettleman's Bagels - as i've always said, for a city without a lot of jews, they sure do great jew-bagels. best wood-fired breakfast bagels you can have after a hard night of partying. yay latkes.
Chez Lucien`s - because nobody can do french food like ottawa can. except maybe the French. but only Ottawans can do it at such a low low price. the food is french, the food prices are chinese, and the way the bar gets so packed with the after-work crowd that people eat their meals standing is very british or Italian. and the jukebox (free) is just plain awesome.
The Avant-Garde Bar - all the tourists and suburb kids go to Zaphod's to party; the locals go to the Avant-Garde. i hate the name of this russian bar but i absolutely love the place. decorated with Russian constructivist art and Soviet propaganda posters, frequented by the oddest mishmash of characters, including hipster students, man-women with thick eastern european accents, people decked in full military outfits but not the Canadian Forces but rather another country and another era, tables of asian girls (okay so that was us), swing dancers, and so on. full russian menu including borscht, Baltika beer, and other stuff i can't pronounce. never the same live acts twice - last night was a Django Reinhardt style gypsy jazz band; before that, i saw an avant garde improv act involving two drummers, a bass clarinet and a sax. it was also hear that i was introduced to the Leningrad Cowboys. basically, what i'm saying is, you don't need drugs or sleep to dream. you can just head over to the Avant Garde.
BEAVERTAIL - in the Byward Market. 'nuff said.
i also would have liked to have had a chance to eat at the Newport, awesome pizza in Westboro and also home of the World Elvis Sighting Society. and sometime i will make my way to beautiful Wakefield to see a show at the Black Sheep Inn.
yeah, i really like food.
okay time to get ready for the airport. i'm hoping that the folks at Air Canada are feeling generous about weight and size restrictions...
Monday, April 27, 2009
but seriously, i wish those geese in the field behind my house would shut up. you'd think i'd be used to the noise because i used to live in downtown Toronto right by the clubbing district, but you just can't yell "JUST SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR DAMN BIG MAC QUIETLY, YOU DOUCHE!" at the geese like the way you can yell at drunk jocks.
a week-long pit stop in ottawa
i shake the dust from this small town
i turn and follow the western wind down
i go and pack up my shiny things
and go, just go...
-everclear
i've been digging through my roots during my week-long pit stop in ottawa and some of it perplexes me. i've left my music collection behind in toronto so all i have here are my vinyls (and i'm too lazy to set up my record player) and CDs that i didn't care to bring with me. so that's Everclear and a bunch of compilation CDs with boy bands on them. there was a time when i really liked Everclear. i think in my guiltiest moments i have to admit that i still am really into them. you just had to be there at the time. yes, i know i was ten years old when Sparkle and Fade came out.
also, i found my old poetry and novels i wrote some ten years ago. it's pretty awful stuff.
i'm going to leave toronto for a while in an attempt to clear my head and sort things out. i'll be heading for vancouver in a few days but for now it's nice to be back home. days like today i wish i could stay in ottawa for the summer, because ottawa's the most magical and beautiful in the summertime. today i went for a long walk with gwen along the Ottawa River, watching the strong currents rush past, and then heading back into Hintonburg to eat ice cream in a parking lot. i think i'm starting to heal. it's going to be a long process but i know vancouver will be good for that.
i'll find a new life in old l.a.
stupid happy with everything
i pulled myself down so easily
i know, i know, i know
i turn and follow the western wind down
i go and pack up my shiny things
and go, just go...
-everclear
i've been digging through my roots during my week-long pit stop in ottawa and some of it perplexes me. i've left my music collection behind in toronto so all i have here are my vinyls (and i'm too lazy to set up my record player) and CDs that i didn't care to bring with me. so that's Everclear and a bunch of compilation CDs with boy bands on them. there was a time when i really liked Everclear. i think in my guiltiest moments i have to admit that i still am really into them. you just had to be there at the time. yes, i know i was ten years old when Sparkle and Fade came out.
also, i found my old poetry and novels i wrote some ten years ago. it's pretty awful stuff.
i'm going to leave toronto for a while in an attempt to clear my head and sort things out. i'll be heading for vancouver in a few days but for now it's nice to be back home. days like today i wish i could stay in ottawa for the summer, because ottawa's the most magical and beautiful in the summertime. today i went for a long walk with gwen along the Ottawa River, watching the strong currents rush past, and then heading back into Hintonburg to eat ice cream in a parking lot. i think i'm starting to heal. it's going to be a long process but i know vancouver will be good for that.
i'll find a new life in old l.a.
stupid happy with everything
i pulled myself down so easily
i know, i know, i know
Monday, April 13, 2009
i'm in ottawa and i'm trying to write this *@$%*&@&*^ paper.
things for me to look forward to:
April 25: I move out of Toronto and back to Ottawa
May 2: I move out of Ottawa to Vancouver
May 15: I have writen into my planner, "Follow Ryan and his TOFU party to Portland...."
May 23: SASQUATCH MUSIC FESTIVAL, just outside of Seattle. Must make a mental note to find a buddy to go down with.
things for me to look forward to:
April 25: I move out of Toronto and back to Ottawa
May 2: I move out of Ottawa to Vancouver
May 15: I have writen into my planner, "Follow Ryan and his TOFU party to Portland...."
May 23: SASQUATCH MUSIC FESTIVAL, just outside of Seattle. Must make a mental note to find a buddy to go down with.
welcome to shady acres...deal with the consequences.
spent part of the long weekend at eccles' cottage at Stony Lake. the cottage, Shady Acres, seems like a surreal magical setting straight out of Doctor Snuggles, which is a TV reference i didn't know about until this weekend because i was not born in the seventies (more on this later).
the folks that hang out there tend to be slightly older than me, so Shady Acres is frozen in a time period or a lifetime that i *just* missed. Batman cartoons and Doctor Snuggles, four track recorders, cassette tape players blasting Sonic Youth/Tool/My Bloody Valentine/Pearl Jam.
time stands still at Shady Acres - we used to hide the clocks and watches too, and as a result weird things happen. what i mean is, basically some of us were playing badminton in shorts while others were building snowmen in the yard. i waded in the lake past the ice floes and sunbathed on the dock. April is an odd month.
the folks that hang out there tend to be slightly older than me, so Shady Acres is frozen in a time period or a lifetime that i *just* missed. Batman cartoons and Doctor Snuggles, four track recorders, cassette tape players blasting Sonic Youth/Tool/My Bloody Valentine/Pearl Jam.
time stands still at Shady Acres - we used to hide the clocks and watches too, and as a result weird things happen. what i mean is, basically some of us were playing badminton in shorts while others were building snowmen in the yard. i waded in the lake past the ice floes and sunbathed on the dock. April is an odd month.
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