T-dot O-dot
Song: Boy Named SueArtist: Johnny Cash
Album: The Legend of Johnny Cash
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Had great four days in Toronto this week. Having only spent a day or two there at a time before this, I was wondering if this time was going as enough to gauge if I could live there or not. As much as I hate to admit it, Toronto is the capital of this country in almost every way that counts. Especially as someone looking for a career in the media, if I want to stay in Canada, there’s really no other place for me to be.
I concluded at the end of the trip that I probably could live there, for a little while at least. I think I could handle finding a small apartment (maybe a roommate), getting a job at a magazine or news website and paying my dues for a couple of years while I move my way up to where I want to be.
Truthfully I don’t really want to leave Ottawa. This is my city, my home. Not counting a few stragglers on the west coast and in England, my entire family in is this city. My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and most of my cousins live in or around the Ottawa area. It’s the perfect sized city for me, but there’s just one problem: the claws of the government stretch far an wide in the Nation’s Capital, and unless I get out of here I know I will inevitably fall into their grasp. I can’t work in a box, at least not until I’ve seen the globe ;).
Anyway, here’s a breakdown of the trip (as always, this is done for my own purposes, don’t feel obligated to read my ramblings):
First of all, let me just say that I have fallen head-over-heals for rail travel. From my experiences overseas and through more recent trips to Montreal and Toronto, I've found it to be the most relaxing way to travel, and SO much less hectic and stuffy than the bus. No more Greyhound me, I’m a VIA girl now!!
It was a fantastic ride, with the exception of one snag: I was listening to my iPod and as soon as I heard the word "Toronto" I got off the train. I noticed almost immediately that I wasn't at Union Station, and phoned my brother, who quickly informed me that I was most likely in Scarborough. Oops. It was 11:00 p.m. so instead of GO Training it he came and got me. The 20 minute wait outside the station was not fun. Some guy asked me if I had a cigarette. I said no. Then he asked me if I had any Valium. I thought about it, and then said no (and then promptly went back inside the station where I began a very indepth conversation with the VIA Rail attendant until my brother arrived)
O_o
Saturday was good. I met up with Steph downtown in the early hours of the afternoon. I was sending a package to Lauren and she wanted to add something, so we went shopping around for postcards and candy and stuff to fill up the envelope. Since Steph has been in TO for four years now, she knows all the cool funky places to shop, so we had a lot of fun. In the afternoon we met Lina, Scott, Alicia and her sister Sam at the SkyDome. Lina had scored $11 tickets to the Jays/Yankees game so we headed up to the nosebleeds to watch the game. The Jays lost but it was a great game. The place was full to capacity, and there were a couple of guys behind us that were two of the FUNNIEST hecklers I've ever heard. We were all in stitches for the entire game.
After that my brother met up with us for some dinner downtown at the nice restaurant near St. Lawrence Market. Alicia and her sister live on the backside of Mississauga so they had to leave right after dinner to catch the last GO Train home. Steph had to leave shortly thereafter too, so Lina, Scott, Adam and myself headed back to midtown (Adam's end of the city) and hit a bar on Young Street until it closed. Lina and Scott cabbed it back to North York and Adam and I staggered home.
Sunday Adam and I slept in a bit, then we headed back downtown to visit a childhood friend of ours. When we lived in Metcalfe, the Welds lived around the corner from us. They had a daughter (Kristina) my age, and a son (Ben) Adam's age. Their mom (Kathy) and my mom were best friends when we were growing up, so our families spent a lot of time together. Mom and Kathy still see each other all the time, but Adam and I haven't seen Kris and Ben forEVER. Anyway, Ben moved to TO about five years ago, so I grabbed his address from mom before I left, and Sunday afternoon Adam and I showed up on his doorstep with a case of beer! Ben now works as a stock broker on Bay St. and lives in this uber-swanky apt. on King. We spent the afternoon there visiting and catching up. Way cool. After that we met Steph again for a sushi dinner, followed by beer with one of Adam's buddies who was also in town for the weekend.
Monday I was a lazy-arse. Woke up at 1:00, showered somewhere around 4:00, and went to the mall near Adam's place to get some errands done while Adam worked. I met Lina and Scott at the subway station and Adam drove us out to the concert from there. We had SUCH a good time at the concert. I tell ya anyone who wants to go to Toronto to hit up the Molson Amphitheatre I am IN. It was a BLAST and both bands were in top form. The four of us sat in our seats for the Goo Goo Dolls, but at the intermission we decided to check out the general admission area behind us. Only slightly further away from the stage, but a MUCH better atmosphere. It was like being at a backyard party, but the band in the background just happens to be the Counting Crows. Muchos awesomeness.
Tuesday, however, was nothing short of hell. Adam being...well...Adam, didn't wake up on time to drive me to the train station, so I had to hoof it with all my bags down to the subway. A feat in itself, but RIGHT before I was about to head out the door, Adam realizes that he was going to give me his passport photos to take home with me to have signed by our family doctor so that he could go to Mexico City next week. Of course he can't find the damn things, so I was sitting in the hallway for a good 25 minutes while he got his shit together. Mad dash to the train station (yea, after all that he STILL didn't drive me!!), got to Union with about 3 minutes to go. However, since I had come in through Scarborough, I had no idea where I needed to go for VIA Rail. I got lost, and missed the train by about 30 seconds.
It cost me $20 to change my train ticket to the 3:30 train (mine had left at 12:20), after which I went for a cool-down at the Tim Horton's around the corner. There I made two phone calls: one to my mother, calmly and quietly explaining to her what had happened and that she would have to pick me up at 7:45 instead of 4:30. The second was to Adam and was considerably louder and much more profane. After I hung up on him apparently he got the same treatment from Mom and he finally swallowed his stubborn pride just long enough to call me back and apologize. After my coffee I found a book store close by, bought a Sudoku puzzle book and some pencils and hunkered down in the train station for my train. 30 puzzles later I was home.
Despite the stupidness on the last day, it was a really great trip. The list of people I know in or around the city tends to be growing exponentially, which makes for a full visit when I go there, and also acts as a small comfort, should I decide to take the leap and move. I can’t wait to head back to Toronto… for a trip or for good, who knows?
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