reese - the actress, not the chocolate
I get in the mood every so often where I watch a good movie and then I'm wanting to watch another. And another. I guess that's why I try not to start since it can get so addicting. Lately I've been into Reese Witherspoon movies. I watched her in her oscar winning performance of
Walk the Line, which I really enjoyed and recommend and then in
Vanity Fair.
I also saw her in
Just Like Heaven, which I liked so much even with some of the flaws of the movies, that I had to go out and buy a previously viewed dvd so I would have my copy. Well, being the worrywart that I am, I couldn't just flip through the dvd to see that it was running...I had to sit and watch the whole thing to make sure it didn't skip or otherwise have any "technical difficulties". As if I have nothing better to do than watch the same movie twice in such a short time! (The movie was fine so at least my curiousity has now been satisfied
and I can tell myself that I'm getting my money's worth...)
take me out to the ballgame
28,333 people. $6.50 for a beer. $4.50 for a drumstick (the icecream, not the chicken). An oversized bird. Constantly watching for flying objects out of nowhere. A guy being so rowdy he was thrown out by the police. Where else but at a
Blue Jay's game...and against the
Red Sox no less. Having never been to a baseball game (I passed on a game of the Red Sox when I was in Boston two summers ago), let alone knowing the rules, I was surprised at how quickly the first 8 innings passed. And then it dragged through the 9th and into overtime... til the 12th inning when the Jay's finally beat the Sox.
My friend scored tickets through a friend of hers. I figured we'd be sitting in the $9 nose bleed section but we were pretty damn close up to the front (does row 28 mean anything?!). We also apparently wound up in the comedy show section where the guys sitting behind us were hurling insults at the opposing team players. When Manny Ramirez was up, they were yelling how he looked like a girl with his long hair. Another player was told he couldn't hit anything and, "Where's a beachball? You can't hit anything but a beachball?"
People clamour for a chance to catch a pop fly. Me? I'd be covering my head and ducking. Some poor girl got bonked on the head by a ball. Overall, an entertaining way to spend a Friday night.
easter in ottawa
For being the capital, you'd think there'd be more to see or do. I'll admit it: I was disappointed. Perhaps my expectations were a bit high (but they have full guidebooks on Ottawa so that must mean
something right?) It didn't help I suppose that this was the culmination of a 5 hour long drive. Getting out from the downtown core of Toronto was hell; it seemed like everyone was trying to escape the city and all the streets were clogged with cars making a desperate getaway.
Once in Ottawa though, everything was fairly dead. I know, I know, it's a government town. But still, it was like being out in the maritimes or some quaint old countryside. And half the days we were there, everything was closed although we did manage to squeeze in a visit to the
Mint (where I was able to weigh myself and find out how much I was worth in gold) and of course, some shopping. (I did score some awesome deals - my personal highlight of the trip. Oh, and I liked
Byward Market too, but more for the atmosphere (live people - hooray!))
The trip was forced relaxation since I had nothing to read or do. I went to bed early each night and got lots of sleep. I'm glad I went though - and can say been there, done that... and don't make me go again! And I thought people called Vancouver the No-Fun City. Guess they'd never been to Ottawa.
slow senior's saturday
One of my friends planned an event way back when. He wouldn't tell me what it was since the last time he gave me a clue, I found him out and there was no way he was going to let me snoop and figure it out this time. The only clue he gave me was that it was only for this weekend and involved travel.
I know that many people do free slideshows of their travels at the public libraries and you couldn't pay me to go. So instead I found myself sitting at a camera club's
Spirit of Asia show where we had to pay admission to the sold out event and where I swear 75% of the attendees were senior citizens. (I have nothing against seniors, it was just an observation.) We were probably the youngest in the crowd.
We waited while the volunteer hostess stood at the front introducing tonight's coverage: Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma. Then, get this, she says, "We'll have to wait as there are two people who are still outside looking for parking." I'm thinking:
What is this? Some sort of family dinner where the guest of honour is missing? Since when does ANY event punish 70 people while waiting for two latecomers? If you're late for a movie or show or anything, it's your tough luck! The world does not stop for you.
I'll admit, some of the slides were beautiful, but ever so repetitive. Either she really loved some of the shots or was just putting them in there thinking that we (or the seniors) wouldn't remember what we had seen 30 seconds ago. And there was even an intermission to this thing! It was over 2 hours long. If it was me, I'd have done the slideshow in 20 minutes. And I mean all 3 countries in that timeframe.
The next time you find me at an event like this is probably when I'm a senior citizen - after I've got enough money to spend on travel and fancy camera gear. Not only that,
I'll be doing the presentation. Or not. I'd spare all the poor souls the misery of watching slide after slide after slide of carvings on the sides of temples.
stop. gawk. walk.
I am still amazed that every morning when I wake up and listen to the radio, there's news of another shooting, or stabbing, or murder. On the way home, there were cop cars along Yonge and College. Yellow tape held back looky-loos. I joined them and stared at part of a brick building. Was it a shooting? A suicide? It looked like part of the corner of the red-bricked building had buckled. It didn't look too serious to me though there were CTV camera crews there. Not quite like last weekend when there was a suicide/explosion at the Tim Hortons in Yorkville. Or a few weeks back when I was walking by Yonge and Dundas and they had yellow-taped the area outside of Sears. I speculated that it was another shooting although I couldn't see any blood. Turns out some poor bloke got hit in the forehead because a piece of the billboard came crashing down in the wind storm. See? Insane weather. I'm sure I'll read about it in the papers tomorrow.
Just another day in Toronto.
saturation point
Some days I wake up feeling like I'm not sure what I'm accomplishing. Get up, go to work, go home, eat, go to sleep. And then it starts all over again. Work has been driving me a bit mad lately and I haven't been snacking as much as usual. (Hmm...something is seriously wrong with this picture...) Anyway, it's getting to the point that I'm just dying to get out of here and with it, the crazy insane weather. It was beautiful on Monday and then it was snowing today! Apparently April doesn't bring showers...it brings
snow showers.
So I'm going away. No need to get excited. It's only Ottawa, though I've never been. I'll be heading there with a friend. We'll rent a car next week for the Easter break. In the meantime, I got invited by someone else to go to the states to do some shopping at the outlets but I had already said yes to Ottawa so while
that friend gets to have fun shopping, I get to visit attractions. Mind you, not just any attractions, but attractions that are closed thanks to Good Friday. Maybe shopping in the states isn't such a bad idea.
going nowhere fast
This past weekend was Daylight Savings. I don't get it. Why couldn't we do the actual change at 4pm on the Friday afternoon instead of over the weekend? I was tired from lack of sleep on Thursday night and was obviously not paying attention while doing laundry. Thought I'd get a load done early on in the weekend (read: Friday night) and wound up with a massive mess. I guess I missed a tissue in one of my pockets. I'm usually very careful and can't recall the last time this has happened. As if I've got nothing better to do than pick lint off my clothes.
Today wasn't such a hot one either. I forgot to drop off my rent cheque on Friday so had to do it this morning. And of course, if you leave at a certain time, you hit the mad rush and end up waiting forever for an elevator. Not only was I late getting into work, but I had locked my keys inside my office on Friday so I had to trek into the staff meeting lugging my bag and while still wearing my jacket. Too bad I didn't blame it on the time switch. I should have...
on the topic of food
"
You're eating that so fast, I hope you don't get sick." I'm sitting in the gym's change room eating a granola bar. This woman whom I've never met before in my life had been going back and forth, dropping off her towels and whatnot. I reassured her that I was ok and then subsequently tucked the rest of the bar away into my gym bag. She then added, "
You look like you haven't eaten in a year." Really, I'm trying to get away from writing about food but it seems like even strangers won't let me! Besides, I had rolled out of bed this morning, and since I was running late, I had only eaten a half bowl of cereal before heading out to the class. And now I was taking a break before the yoga class so if it looked like I was starving, maybe a little. But I wasn't eating it
that fast! And since when was it ever considered polite to speak to strangers about what they are eating?
Hmm...all this talk is making me hungry now. I knew someone whose parents were visiting from England and so I had put in my request for some Cadbury bars. These aren't your ordinary ones... you can't get them here (except I did find one at
Auntie Crae's in Newfoundland). So I think I'll go have some of my Turkish Delight bar. These 200g monsters can do serious damage to the waistline!
