Road trip - Sudbury

So this Saturday was spent taking a day trip up to Sudbury with a friend. I know (and love) how diverse Canada is, but I must say that I was not expecting to see:

1) A pair of LDS missionaries walking around a neighborhood
2) A 'Croatian Centre' in the same neighborhood

Even the North (and I realize that in the grand scheme of things, Sudbury really isn't that far north) is diversifying ....... cool.

Another highlight of the trip was the stop that we made at French River on the trip home, for a bit of an amatuer geology hour (well, I was the amatuer, D. is the expert on the subject). Although my sandals were completely unsuited to be scrambling and climbing around on large (sometimes loose) piles of boulders. We both found a couple of rocks with 'character' to take home with us, some with garnets embedded in them. I never knew that you could find garnets in Ontario rocks. Not that I'm planning to get them out anytime soon...(or that I could if I wanted to) .. I like them just where they are, hidden in plain sight. Nature is so cool.

I haven't driven up Hwy 400/69 for a long time........its a gorgeous drive, all of the trees and rocks and water. I was surprised at the 'new' (to me)Parry Sound bypass, though......I kept waiting to see Parry Sound, the IGA & such next to the road, and the next thing I knew we were in Nobel, pulling up at the Wendy's/Tim Hortons (and I was wondering 'where did Parry Sound go?').

Oh yes, we also had a great soundtrack for our road trip....specifically, all Broadway musicals. On the way up, Hairspray & Wicked, and RENT & tick tick BOOM! for the ride home. Both of us singing along (well, to the last 2 ......the first 2 were new ones for her to hear). So good.

Long day, and there was more to it than these things..........but these were the things that I most enjoyed about it. (Although coming home and watching 'Pirates of the Carribbean' with my family was a nice ending to it as well.)

And now I am off to sleep (perchance, to dream........?)

Lost in Suburbia / Riot in the Workplace

You'd think after living in a town for 20+ years, you'd pretty much know where everything is, right? Give or take a few older businesses shutting down, and new ones moving in. But yikes, things around here have been growing in leaps and bounds, and I can't keep up with it - there are new strip malls/plazas and new subdivisions going up along what used to be quiet country roads and farmers fields, and most of the stores are just carbon copies of the ones 5-10 minutes further up the road. Very ugly, in my opinion......'progress', perhaps, but it seems to me that we are progressing backwards rather than forwards in many instances.

In other news, there was a diversion at work this afternoon in the form of an OCAP protest...we could hear them approaching from behind our sealed windows on the 9th floor, and apparently they went up to the 12th floor and made themselves known there (many people on the 9th floor said they could hear them banging 3 floors above), which resulted in the staff of that unit being able to go home early (lucky!). Then when they left the building an hour or so later, they were greeted not by one or two, but by 8 policemen on horseback prepared with riot gear. I'm pretty sure that everything was peaceful and no harm was done, but it was rather impressive to see all of the police cars & horses from our vantage point. I think they got some media coverage as well, but I was tired when I got home and completely forgot to check for it on the news. Ah well.

I'm guessing tomorrow won't be as eventful. Which is perfectly fine....

All aboard...

There was a different/new conductor driving the train home this evening, with a slightly different (and amusing) style of calling out the stations.... The best was as we were leaving King City (with the following stops being Aurora, then Newmarket).

(heard over the intercom system)
Small girls voice: Newmarket
(I'm guessing maybe his kid? Not sure...)
Conductor: Our next stop will be Newmarket!
*clicks off*
*1 minute later clicks back on*
Conductor: Never let trainees drive the train....Aurora will be our next stop, Aurora.
*pulling into Aurora station 10 min later*
Conductor: Newmar- no, no. AURORA this station.
*clicks off*
*clicks on*
Conductor: Yes, we are in Aurora, I read the sign.

This was my stop, however I am curious to what he said when he actually did get to Newmarket.......

Nightswimming ....deserves a quiet night

And a quiet night it was....almost silent. The air was still, and heavy with heat. Dusk, a grey twilight under a cloudy sky and the orange glow of the street light. Perfect for a solo evening swim.

Suspension...the water and the air are so close in temperature. The water is slightly cooler though, refreshing and lovely. I glide under the surface, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness, of being stretched out in space. From above and below the water, I watch the orange light of the street lamp ripple and reflect across the surface and depths of the pool, as it moves across my limbs. Ripples and refractions.

Peaceful, the water smooth and warm and wonderful as I glide through it, back and forth, testing the limits of my lungs, turning and twisting underwater, peering up at the world from below. Everyone else is inside by this point, relaxing in artificial coolness. The evening, the water, the sky are mine.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...........

Getting out of the water, finally, I notice that the sky is not all clouded over, as I had thought. The moon is in fact visible through the mists, an orb half lit, still low in the sky...it was hidden from view in the pool, behind the trees.

Wouldn't it be great if the band just never ended?

I was very happy to be able to see Great Big Sea in concert last night (free!) at Dundas Square ..... great show, as always, and lots of fun. I wasn't able to jump and dance as much as usual to the music, though, due to the sore muscles still from gymnastics. Thanks to the large screens set up everywhere around the Square we were able to see pretty much everything that was going on onstage, as well as lots of funny scenes from the crowd. But by shifting and standing on tiptoes could see the stage itself now & then too. I think my favorite song they did was a mellower/slower version of 'Sea of No Cares', which Alan said was its original form, and how it sounded when he heard it for the first time, "On a foggy Wednesday afternoon in Sean's living room."

Kyle & Talibah were able to join me for the show, and neither of them had ever seen the boys in concert before, and both enjoyed the experience. The pre-GBS acts weren't too bad either, Holly Cole with some jazz, and Jully Black with R&B. Then a surreal, larger than life puppet show of 'girafes', with clowns and opera...very odd, but an interesting spectacle. Oh, Toronto.

Oh yeah ....... the street festival (which is going on all weekend) was also a launch of the new Toronto 'brand' ....Toronto Unlimited. Which, frankly, I don't like at all....at least, not the results of. I don't like the logo at all, and while the idea of the 'Toronto Story' is interesting, I don't particularly care for how it turned out. There are ads all around the city (lots at Dundas & Yonge), and we were treated to a 5 minute or so commerical (pretty much a captive audience). Boo. I still love you, Toronto, but as a logo, you suck.

A Month From Today

Hmm....kind of eerie. Thoughts, anyone?

Your Birthdate: August 9

Your birth on the 9th day of the month adds a tone of idealism and humanitarianism to your nature. You become one who can work easily with people because you are broadminded, tolerant and generous. You are ever sensitive to others' needs and feelings, and you are very sympathetic and compassionate. Your feelings run deep and you often find yourself in dramatically charged situations. This 9 energy always tends to give more that it gets.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Thoughts before bed

I'm falling asleep, and in a mild bit of pain (well, not so bad as long as I don't move.......just feeling whiny, on account of exhaustion), but am for some reason still feeling desire to write. Which doesn't appear to be happening often here, so trying to carpe the diem and all of that. (Yeah, that didn't really work, did it? Sorry)

So instead I'll just write a brief teaser, and hope that it will motivate me to come back and write more about it ...... I was just thinking today how the sounds of my summer thus far have primarily been the soundtracks to the musicals RENT and Wicked, and how the themes and ideas (and lyrics!) from these 2 have been rolling around inside my head, and the parallels, thoughts, etc they are creating in my mind.

I'm off again .... while you are waiting, go read Mimi Smartpants' newest (07-07-2005) - her first paragraph, about misheard lyrics in children's songs I found to be hilarious.

And if anyone wants to check out the FREE GREAT BIG SEA concert tonight (well, in 20 or so hours) at Dundas Square, please let me know! For some reason, almost everyone I know is busy so far ...perhaps I'll check it out solo anyways. But its more fun with a friend (or 4).

Another One Bites the Dust

"The perfect song for tonight" Tom said, as this song came on over the gym loudspeakers this evening.

And right he was, as the gym was filled with people flipping and swinging and bouncing and tumbling over all sorts of gymnastics equipment .... as well as biting the dust now and then. Part of the game.

I am so out of shape, and in pain (Ow! My body.... my thighs, in particular. I think I broke them on Tuesday, too many walkovers. But hey, at least I can still do a walkover...wasn't sure if I could. Not sure if I'll be able to again, either....lol), but enjoying myself none the less. I've signed up for a 5 week, 10 session Gymnastics class at the AC, and just finished off the 2nd class of week 1. Four hours of lots of physical stuff I haven't done in ages in 3 days! But its been fun stuff, and I'm even trying to enjoy the pain (although walking, especially on stairs is rather ouchy) - it means I'm alive. You have to be alive to feel pain, or anything else.

So yes. The class. There are 7 of us, 5 girls and 2 guys, w/ varying levels of experience, from none to lots. I'm middle, which higher proficieny in floor and trampoline exercises. We've also done stuff on bars and balance beams. There is also a more advanced group in the gym at the same time we are, and they spread out and do their own (fantastic) things at different stations around the room, while we stick together. Each class has an instructor, although the other class has 2, I think, one for each night .... tonight Tom was it, although he spent a lot of time hanging around with our group, giving us pointers as well, and chatting with Alison, our instructor. Tom is the trampoline instructor as well, so I've gotten to know him pretty well over this past year, having taken trampoline 3 times. :) He's awesome, a bit of a wiseass, but still cool. I wouldn't have found out about this gymnastics course if not for him mentioning it at the end of the last trampoline session....although, hopefully this does not mean that I'm a sucker for punishment. Lets see how far I can stretch myself (literally!) in this next month.......Bring it on.

In the desert you can't remember your name...

Kailey sent me an mp3 last week - 'A Horse with No Name', by America. Good song, keeps getting stuck in my head. Its one of those older songs, one I'm sure was popular when my parents were younger, and one I recognized as soon as I heard the tune - although I never had any idea what the title was, or who the artist was.

"I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can't remember your name..."

Feeling kind of restless and bored at the close of this long weekend...while it was nice to relax, and have an extra day off of work, it also felt lonely & confining at times too. I miss living in Toronto...although there is a fair share of loneliness in the city too. Bah.

I want things to change, but I want them to stay the same, too....I was never very good at dealing with change. Still am not, particularly. (And wow, grammatically that makes no sense. Oh well.)