Kittens Pulling Their Weight

The kittens continue to get more comfortable in the house.  I'm more often able to pet Rho, the skittish, silver kitten, though it still really doesn't like to be picked up.

Toby is definitely the mellow, friendly kitten who eventually follows me to various rooms of the house, and he really loves being petted and tolerates being picked up.  Here is my son bonding a bit with Toby.

However, the second mouse was also making itself at home, driving my wife a bit crazy.  She gave me an ultimatum that the cats would have to spend the entire night in the master bedroom, meaning that I had to move a litter box in and camp out all night, as she went somewhere else to get some undisturbed sleep.  I was worried that they wouldn't be able to perform on command and, indeed, that the mouse would not venture out after getting wind of the cats.

Around 6 in the morning, Rho got very intense, staring at the closet, as it heard the mouse was moving around (finally).  Anyway, in the end the mouse was stuck to a glue trap but Toby's paw was as well.  It certainly possible that the cat drove the mouse onto the trap, which it had been avoiding up until then... Anyway, the mouse was still alive, making the removal process that much harder.  I actually got bit (by the mouse I assume).  I went to get some vegetable oil to try to get Toby free.  By the time I got back, Toby had pulled his paw off the trap.  I tossed the glue trap outside to deal with later and rubbed a bit of vegetable oil into his paw to help loosen any glue still on his fur.  I really hope this is the last of the mice, and the house will just be a no-go zone for future mice.

Where things get a little weird is in the morning, I looked at the glue trap in the front yard -- and the mouse wasn't there.  It's almost like the end of one of those Friday the 13th movies where Jason is supposed to be in a trap or buried in a grave or what have you, but it is empty.  Dun dun duuun!  The most likely outcome is that a squirrel or neighbourhood cat came by and took care of the mouse.  But I suppose it is at least possible the mouse pulled a Houdini and got free from the trap.  I don't really care unless it tries to get back in.  If so, it is the most hard-headed mouse in the world.  I like to think it will be one of those grizzled mice from a Gary Larson cartoon, warning all other mice away from the house.

If for some unfathomable reason, we end up with mice back in the house right away, particularly a mouse missing half its fur, I am going to make absolutely sure it is dead when disposing of it.  No more Mr. Nice Guy!

After this, the kittens played around a bit on the stairs before taking a well-earned nap.  Sadly, I still had to go off to work and put a full day of work in...

So all in all, my wife has come around to the idea that the cats are a necessary evil and have definitely been a net positive pick-up for the household.

 

Sports Interlude

That's odd.  I had started a short post but it didn't get saved as a draft.  Fortunately, I hadn't written very much.

I'm definitely not much of a sports fan, though I usually know the outcomes of major events, though I don't retain that information much longer than a few months, as it just doesn't fundamentally interest me very much.  What I mostly object to is the outsized role sports plays in the media and in urban politics where millions of dollars in public spending goes towards sweetheart stadium deals, which actually have a quite poor return on investment (for the public, not the team franchises!).  And don't get me started on the abominations that FIFA and IOC have become...

That said, I was impressed by the Jays' come-from-behind victory to head to the World Series.  Wow!  They certainly did it the hard way, and they probably should have won the first game with only a bit more run support.  And better managerial decisions about relief pitching would likely have led to a victory in Game 5.  I'm pulling for them in a very low-key way, though the Dodgers are certainly the favoured team.  My wife has split allegiance, since her father was a big Dodgers fan.  I'm not going to be devastated if they don't win, but it would be nice to be here and soak in the celebrations if they do win.  

I've been fortunate enough to be around when the local team pulled it off.  In fact, I was very preoccupied with my courses, but I was in Toronto in 1993 when they won it all the last time around.  I was also here when the Raptors won, and I got a bit swept up in that, following the games a little bit while at the gym for example.  The parade went past Union Station where I was working, and we had a pretty good view from our windows and didn't need to go down to street level where the crowds were massive.

Thinking back, I was in Chicago for the Bulls second three-peat, and I certainly watched bits and pieces of some of the key games.  I happened to be back in Chicago when they won of the World Series games at Wrigley.  I even was passing through the area (or rather up on the El) on my way to a play in Edgewater, though I don't believe this was the game where they won the series but the penultimate victory.

I'm pretty sure I was in Chicago when the Blackhawks started winning the Stanley Cup.  I remember the Red Wings got close a few times while I was in Ann Arbor, but I had moved away (to Chicago in fact) when Yzerman finally starting getting his name etched on the Cup.  I still was very glad that he had that success.  I suppose I still pull a bit for the Red Wings, but I'm not a massive fan, and indeed I warmed up slightly to their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks, but really only during the Toews years.

I definitely don't have the bandwidth to follow college sports, though I was glad Michigan were national (football) champs a few years back.  I believe they went to the Rose Bowl twice while I was in Ann Arbor, winning once (though I don't have major memories of this, which is odd).  What I clearly remember is the Wolverines winning the basketball national championship in 1989, as we watched most of the final games in the dorm (South Quad), but the TV went out and we all ran over to West Quad for the final minutes!  What is strange is that I had thought that due to Steve Fisher's recruiting violations, they had vacated this championship and his subsequent NCAA successes, but it appears that the 1989 title is safe after all.*  Whew!

The last memorable occurrence (and more or less the last time I paid college sports a lot of attention) was when Northwestern ran the table in the Big 10 and went to the Rose Bowl.  It was the most incredible underdog story, even though they lost the Rose Bowl.  (This was my first year at Northwestern, and no one could believe they pulled it off!)  I believe it was only a few years before this that Penn joined the Big 10.  I wasn't thrilled about this but could live with it.  However, then they added Nebraska, and I felt it was just a slap in the face.  And now, Rutgers and a couple of California teams (UCLA and USC) are in the Big 10, which is just an abomination.  I won't even deign to call it the Big 10 anymore, as it doesn't have any real Midwest roots.  And when they delinked the Rose Bowl from the Big 10 and Pac-12 conference champions, I just completely lost interest.  But I was there when it still made sense, and my college teams had decent success back when the traditions still mattered.

 

* I really didn't follow the sign-stealing controversy over on the football side of things, but it appears that UM and perhaps the coaching staff will pay massive fines, but the team will not have any wins stricken from the record or have the national championship taken away.  I'm not really sure what would have happened had they attempted that, but probably the alumni would have just ignored the NCAA.

Odd Weekend

I have been able to stick to my basic workout routine on the weekend, but not much more (aside from biking to work most days, which is still a fairly significant undertaking).  Friday I had been planning on going to swim at Jimmie Simpson, but I had already gotten rained on and decided it just wasn't worth going out again.  

So I went swimming in Regent Park on Sat.  It was pretty crowded per usual, but I did get in 22 or 23 laps and also soaked in the spa pool area.  When I went back to change, I found out my lock had been cut off, which is obviously extremely upsetting.  However, everything was still there.  I figured that someone had asked the staff to cut off the wrong lock and was going to ball them out.  When I got to the front desk some other family had their lock cut off and their phones and pretty much everything apart from their clothes had been stolen.  I really can't explain why my stuff was left alone, other than I have an extremely ratty backpack that is on its last legs and the thief decided it wasn't worth risking poking around in it.  So this was extremely upsetting, and it means I need to really rethink my plans to go to and from Regent Park and work.  Now it is possible to leave most of your stuff poolside (and a couple of other pools have started recommended this), but I really don't want to have a laptop in a bag on the pool deck.  Clearly, things could have been much, much worse for me, but it's still upsetting, and I needed to go get another lock and memorize a new combination.

I had to bike quickly over to Hot Docs and saw this animated feature called Endless Cookie.  It was basically about two half-brothers, one white, one Native (though in fact half-white) and very random observations about the way of life up north (the white brother actually lives in Toronto but kept flying back north).  It really did feel endless to me, and I probably should have snuck out.  Though in fact it only was 1 hour 40 minutes.

Then I wandered over to Dollarama and bought a new lock and some snacks.  I then hit up BMV.  I ended up getting a few poetry books, including a Galway Kinnell anthology and Lynn Crosbie's Queen Rat.  I thought the Kinnell book was only $4.99, but there was another price of $14.99!  But then I showed the clerk the other page, and she gave me $10 back.  I do kind of regret not grabbing Howl's Moving Castle on Blu-ray when I had the chance.  It's pretty unlikely that will ever turn up again.

I biked down to work, though I tried to stop by this Indian place I where I used to get samosas at the tail end of the pandemic.  I was worried that because it is in the middle of the street on Adelaide, some jerk would be going too fast in the bike lane and run into me, so I stopped a bit suddenly and hopped onto the sidewalk.  My momentum was just too much, and I couldn't keep my balance, and I ended up falling on my ass on the sidewalk.  So dignified.  I just have to be more careful, as I could have really hurt myself.  Indeed, I was incredibly sore all the rest of the day and night with some lower back spasms, though they gradually went away throughout the day on Sunday and I should be more or less back to normal by Monday.  It turns out they changed their menu a bit, and also their debit charger wasn't working (and they wanted cash only), so I gave up, even though I likely had enough cash on me.  I don't think I'll go back, as I had another bad experience there the week before.

I stopped by work to drop something off, and then I biked home.  I actually needed to turn back around after only an hour to go see GoGo Penguin at Koerner Hall.  I had basically assumed I would bike over there, but I was still sore and ended up taking the TTC.  It was ok, though every time I've tried to take it over the past week, I've had to wait extra long for the 72 bus, which is so annoying.  The concert was good, though I think I would have preferred it if they had some kind of horn in the group.  And honestly, my back was still giving me a lot of issues.  I was extremely hungry by this point.  After the concert, I actually took the train west to Spadina.  I thought there was another Thai place right around BMV, but I didn't see anything and kept going until I hit BKK Thai.  I had a particularly bad experience there on New Year's last year, but I was pretty desperate.  I got pad thai, which is hard to mess up, though the noodles were a bit "gluey."  I think I probably should not go back their either, and just stick to the one on Queen, which is quite good.  Perhaps I should have taken the train all the way to Ossington where at least the restaurants are reliably good.

I stayed up pretty late trying to take care of a few things and then had some trouble actually leaving for the gym on time.  Still, I was out the door by about 10:00, which is way better than I usually manage these days.  I was able to do some stretches, even back stretches, and put together a decent workout, which was a little surprising.  I grabbed a few groceries, though I didn't have the space to pick up another box of cat litter.  I left the house for Walter Hall at 12:15.  I made it in 30 minutes and got my name on the wait list to see Jeff Wall giving a lecture.  I was actually 3rd on the list and was pretty sure I would get in.  In fact, I think pretty much everyone on the wait list was eventually able to get in.  I flipped through the new catalogue for the Wall show at MOCA.  (I'm going to go soon, though I will likely wait until the next Free Friday.  I also will take my son on his next visit over winter break.)  They wanted $70 for the catalog, and it looks like the best photos are from 2007 or before (and one of his better new photos isn't even in the show!).  I may end up buying it, but I think I would rather hold off until TPL orders a copy or two and put it on hold.

While I was waiting I managed to get through Matthew Walsh's Terrarium.  He was one of the poets I met at Word on the Street.  I am making decent progress through Orlando, limited progress through Russo's Empire Falls and no progress at all on Auto-da-Fe (though I expect I will bring this along with me next Sat. when I bus it over to Stratford to see Goblins Oedipus).

I did make it into Walter Hall.  The lecture was pretty good.  I learned a fair bit about what Wall thinks about photography.  One interesting comment was that when possible he likes photos that are scaled to life, though of course mostly that is impossible with his detailed tableau.  He said that the pictures needed to be big enough so that people could see the important details, such as facial expressions, but no bigger.  What he didn't discuss, and maybe it would have been worth asking, is how he feels about reproductions in catalogues where this detail is almost always lost.

This is one of my favourite photos of his.



He said in this case, he had started from the man selling roses, and that the point of this photo was to keep adding detail until the man was more or less lost in the crowd.  That was certainly an interesting way to think about coming up with this image and its composition.

He also talked about this relatively new photo (not in the show unfortunately) where it started off as a bit of a documentary but then he moved it to a new location that functioned better and was more photogenic.  He had done that with other photos as well, and indeed he has certainly admitted that most of his work is "staged."  He also said that since he wanted the same energy levels from all the men (looking to be hired for work), he thought black and while would work much better than colour where some clothing, particularly red shirts/jackets, would make some men stand out from the others.

Anyway, it was a pretty good talk overall.  The questions from the audience were generally pretty good as well.  He wasn't signing anything, which I thought was a missed opportunity, as I would have gotten the new catalogue if it was signed. 

I was not too happy to realize it had started raining while I was at the talk.  I had just enough time to bike down to Carlton Cinema.  I watched Clue, which I haven't seen since it first hit the theatres in 1985!  I asked, and they said that this version did show all three endings, which was good.  It certainly isn't a great movie, but it has lots of amusing moments.  I don't think she ever really became a break-out star, but Leslie Ann Warren, who played Miss Scarlett, sort of seems like a cross between Sigourney Weaver and Susan Sarandon.  I honestly cannot remember which ending I saw back in 1985, though I'm pretty sure it wasn't the one where almost everyone in the cast killed off someone!  One good thing about dropping in at Carlton is I was able to ask about Annie Hall, which was on their website but has vanished.  They said they were having trouble getting a print in, but that they should have one in hand by Monday or Tues. and then it would go back up on the website.  I hope so, as I am planning on taking my son to see Annie Hall on Wed.!

I didn't get a whole lot done the rest of Sunday, though I did manage to do a load of laundry.  Mostly I keep finding that this computer is in an endless loop of trying to reinstall Windows 11, getting stuck and then asking me to free up more memory and yet nothing gets fixed.  Maybe I shouldn't get too worked up over it, as I can still use the computer, but it is a total drag that I keep getting nagged over this.

So overall, it was an ok weekend with a few things that went well, but then some unpleasantness that could have been a lot worse.

 

Kittens Redux

I promise this won't just be a blog about kittens, though I assume that traffic would likely increase if I did that...

Anyway, they have gradually started getting more comfortable in the house.  They occasionally go up to the 2nd floor on their own, though more often I have to bring the orange one (Toby) up and leave him there.  However, they both came up and camped under the bed for a while.  As the mouse seems to be there some of the time, this is promising.

They often nap a lot in the kitchen, though they are starting to spend more time with me (again primarily Toby) in the living room.  I bought a scratching pad, but they are ignoring that in favour of the couch(!) so I have ordered a scratching post, which hopefully will help with that.

While the silver cat is still not particularly approachable, once in a while when it is in a mellow mood, it will let me pet it.  This gives me some hope that with time, it will grow to have some attachment to us (or to me at least).

I'm still getting used to the new types of litter and how often it needs to be cleaned up, esp. with 2 kittens.  But generally things are going pretty well with them.

Last night was particularly amusing as they kept looking at what was on the tv, trying to decide whether to try to catch the moving hands.  While I don't really want to spray them that close to the tv, I also have to train them to just ignore it.  Fortunately, I don't actually watch tv that much downstairs, though there are a lot of movies I still plan on watching.  Last night I was watching Edward Yang's Mahjong, which was entertaining, though I liked A Confucian Confusion more.

The breaking news is that only 4 days in, they caught the mouse!  I let Toby play with it for a while, though then he tried to eat it, so I had to take it away.  (It was already dead, but still not easy.)  Unfortunately, within a night we realized there is still one more mouse.  Between the kittens and some glue traps and poison traps, we will eventually get it, but it is still frustrating.  Really hoping it is the last one for now, and we don't have a family of mice!  The overarching hope is that the presence of cats (and their smells, etc.) will keep other mice from setting up shop in the house.  

Fingers crossed!

Breaking News -- Kittens!

I may have mentioned that we have a minor infestation of mice, displaced by Ontario Line construction nearby.  We did bring in an exterminator, but it hasn't solved the issue so far.  My wife somewhat reluctantly said we could get a kitten.  Then she had several sleepless nights.  (While the mice were briefly in the kitchen, they seem to have moved into her room on the 2nd floor!  So odd because there are definitely other and better places for them to go.)  Anyway, she then turned to me and asked how quickly could I get a cat!  I had only just started looking, assuming this was going to be a several week process, but I accelerated the search.  (I also pressed my luck and said two kittens would be better than one, and she gave in on that.)

There were a few likely postings on Kajiji, and I reached out to a few, not sure of what to expect as it was Thanksgiving weekend.  Anyway, one guy got back to me, and we agreed I would drop by on Sunday afternoon.  This meant that Sat. and Sun. morning were spent running around, picking up pet supplies.  (We haven't had any pets for 20 years.  Since we moved to England in fact -- when we had to give up two cats.)  He had three very attractive kittens, and though they were males (and I have a slight preference for females as they generally are calmer and suffer from fewer urinary infections), I decided that males might be better mousers.  He said the orange and the silver one were available, and I said that sounds terrific.

I took the bus over to Dufferin and Dupont, near where the guy lived.  I was bummed that Bau-Xi was closed.  Normally they are open on Sundays, but I guess they decided the holiday was worth celebrating.  I may or may not get back later in the month.  When I got to the house, the guy said that someone else had put a hold on the orange kitten.  I was more than a little put out by this, since he had said the orange one was available.  Now it turns out that the black one was available (I thought it had already been taken).  I fussed a little bit and said that I was picking up two of them.  He agreed that adopting two from the same litter was better, and he gave me the orange and silver kittens after all.  Apparently, the other guy did take the black kitten, so I guess it worked out ok.

They are still adjusting to the new place, and I am not sure quite how social the silver cat will be, but the orange one is quite a sweetheart, and already likes being brushed and petted and tolerates being held.  They mostly camp out underneath my desk, but they have started exploring a bit.  I have been able to get the orange one upstairs into the master bedroom.  (And the silver one had considerably less separation anxiety last night, which is promising.)  They haven't caught any mice yet, but it's early days.  The ultimate goal is to try to get any mice in the house and then just generally having the presence of cats around should keep other mice from getting in.  Fingers crossed. 

So that's what I got up to this Thanksgiving.

Autumn is Here

I've heard that the leaves have really started to change up around Barrie.  We see some leaves changing and certainly a few trees that "shed" earlier have lost their leaves, but mostly leaves are still green and clinging onto the trees.  Once in a while we have a chilly morning where I need to wear the fleece and the windbreaker, but generally it hasn't been too bad.  Of course, then just as I am getting used to that, we have a really warm day or two in a row!

Quebec City was as charming as ever, though I didn't have a lot of time to do touristy stuff.  I did break away from the conference to go the art museum.  I was kind of excited that my hotel had a deal where I could register for a free two-day transit pass, and I managed to use that to get over to the art museum.  I nearly missed my stop!  

I am particularly glad that this museum is also a member of ROAM, so I got in free.  (I also practiced my French, which is so incredibly rusty, in the museum and to a lesser extent on the bus.)  The museum is in preparation for a new expansion, with a pavilion dedicated to Riopelle, but that means that everything has been contracted down into a single building with one floor for a special exhibit and the other two floors with just a few highlights from the collection.  And the main reason to go, to see Riopelle's enormous panels dedicated to Rosa Luxembourg, was completely off-view!  I would have been pretty outraged to pay $25 to see that.  Fortunately, I did see the Riopelle on a previous visit, though I'll need to dig out those photos.  (Hopefully they aren't just completely missing like the AGO O'Keeffe photos!)

I was not pleased that I waited and waited and waited for the bus, only to take a couple of photos of a nearby church and then having the bus blow by me, not even slowing down to see if the couple on the bench at the bus stop wanted to get on the bus!  Incredible.  I was so angry.  It was quite a wait for the next one, so I walked about halfway back to downtown and finally the next bus pulled up, though this one didn't stop in the right place, and I then had to retrace my steps to get to the conference centre.  So generally I was not impressed with the transit in Quebec City, and I was completely horrified at how the pedestrian scrambles were implemented.  I didn't think anything could be worse than Toronto, but I was wrong...

That evening, I did walk around the old town a bit, though the sidewalks were damp, and I was in uncomfortable shoes, so I didn't go down a few particularly steep hills and stairways.

Definitely the trees were in their autumnal glory.

Overall it was a nice trip, and of course the conference was interesting as well.  I will have to pull something together to see if I get approval to go next year when the conference is in Winnipeg (perhaps a bit less competition to get in for that....).

Off to Quebec

I'm heading out to Quebec City in just a couple of hours.  I have to say some of the idiotic things Legault has been saying lately (that we have no choice but for continued and further economic integration with the USA -- and that dairy supply management and French language labeling are untouchable in any renegotiation of CUSMA) are really grinding my gears.  But overall, the trip should be fine.  I don't have all that much to do on Monday and Tues., though I should take a quick look at the program to see what is going on, and if I can slip away Tues. to get over to the museum.

Anyway, I had thought I might bring along a couple of mid-pile books, but I decided instead to see if I can wrap up or mostly wrap up Canetti's Auto-de-Fé, as it is kind of slow going.  I was able to bring it along and read a few pages during the intermission at a TSO concert and before Waiting for Godot, but it just isn't really grabbing me.  In addition, I have decided to see how much Virginia Woolf I can read in Oct., in advance of a couple of November events.  One is a production of Sarah Ruhl's script for Orlando (probably broadly similar to the movie, but not sure) that George Brown is putting on in early Nov.  The other is an event at TPL where they are unveiling a new edition of Mrs. Dalloway put out by NYRB.  I understand that this is supposed to have a lot of Woolf's notes on the novel, but I don't think it is supposed to be a scholarly edition, so I don't really know how they are treating textual variants, and if I even want to read the ur-text.  I think I will probably be fine just rereading Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway's Party and call it a day...  But I am curious to hear more about it, so I will go to the event.  Anyway, that means that Mrs. Dalloway is also on the list.

I'm making pretty good headway on Russo's Empire Falls, and I should be able to get through it a few days after I am back from this conference.  It's quite good, reminding me a bit of Updike but generally funnier.  The book club at work is sort of limping along at the moment, though the Nov. selection (China Miéville's The City & the City) seems to be generating some interest.  Anyway, the Oct. selection is Kundera's last novel (or perhaps novella): The Festival of Insignificance.  I did borrow it, as it is super short, but I don't care for it, and I don't think I would bother dropping in to talk about it.

As I was searching deep in the basement for Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss (because I am going to her talk at TIFA and wanted to get her to sign my copy), I managed to find Murdoch's Under the Net.  I liked this a lot, though I don't plan on trying to reread it before late 2026 (at the soonest).  I also brought up Midnight by Julien Green.  I thought it had some parallels to Orlando, but I think that is not the case after all.  Still, it looks like a book I can read quickly and get out of the house, which is a pretty big plus these days.

One slightly surprising addition to the reading list is Mitchell's relatively recent translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh.  I'm not entirely sure where I picked this up, though perhaps at a library book sale.  Anyway, I decided sort of at the last minute to go to the Sunday matinee of King Gilgamesh at Soulpepper.  While this was the last performance and was mostly sold out, I did get a rush ticket in the end.  Score!  It was mostly the same as from the 2023 run, though they may have tweaked a few minor things.  It's an energetic and engaging show, and I feel that I should try to read this new translation while the story is fresh in my head.  I don't think Gilgamesh is actually that long, though the intro and the copious notes definitely add up!

The one other book that I mentioned is Austen's Persuasion, which I will try to get through in Nov., in advance of her 250th bday party in early Dec. at the TPL.  After this, I will probably return to some of the books in the stacks that were calling out, like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Last Song of Manuel Sendero and The End of Mr. Y, and then, after that, back to the general list. William Maxwell has been waiting patiently for quite a while now...

 

First Thoughts on Nuit Blanche 2025

On the whole, I found this a pretty disappointing Nuit Blanche, though the art did get better as the night went on.  I probably didn't plan it out all that well, as I was at Waiting for Godot as Nuit Blanche started.  The show didn't finish until 10 pm.  (On the whole I thought it was very well done with some inspired clowning, but it can be pretty exhausting as so little actually happens during the play.)  

Then I grabbed an adequate slice of pizza nearby, so I didn't really get going until about 10:30.  I saw a few things along Danforth between Coxwell and Greenwood. 

Then I hit Aki Native Earth Studio in Regent Park.  Then I went over to Yonge-Dundas Square.  Apparently, I got there just as the music ended.  Perhaps it was a much more lively scene a few hours earlier, but it was kind of desolate (and it wasn't really all that late, just after 11 pm!).

I continued on Dundas and there was a bit of a dance party on McCaul, and there were decent crowds watching a film about Toronto and the many films that have been shot here.

At this point, I went over to City Hall.  I found Nathan Phillips Square to be a complete let down.  There was a bit of art but it was all dispersed and there wasn't really anything to do on the main plaza.  It was certainly a missed opportunity.  An even bigger missed opportunity was that they didn't shut down a main street to serve as the spine of Nuit Blanche.  Aside from a short section of Dundas, I don't think any roads were actually closed down for the event.

When I got to 401 Richmond, slightly after midnight, it was hopping!  I guess everyone decided to just hang out there.  The crowds actually were a bit too much for me, and I just went into a couple of galleries and then split.  But I do hope that the city decides next year to build around the 401 Richmond hub and maybe shut down Spadina (except for the streetcars).  One can dream anyway!

So then I biked over to Stackt Market (dodging some poor drivers on Bathurst), and that was generally pretty interesting and also moderately busy, though not quite as overwhelming as 401 Richmond.  There were some really interesting video installations, as well as this set of skyscraper models.  I think the point was these were all from movies where skyscrapers were destroyed, but I'm not really sure. 

Then I went briefly over to the Bentway.  There was some video art, but mostly it was disappointing how empty it was.  Apparently it was busier earlier, but they didn't really do much to keep the crowds there, as opposed to previous years when I think there were food trucks and a dj.

One of the more striking pieces was along Ft. York Blvd.

It was just about 1 am at this point.  I decided to stop in at St. Lawrence Market, and thought one of the video installations was pretty good.  At least my bike didn't act up, and I covered a decent amount of the city in one evening.  I managed to get home just after 1:30 am.

So it wasn't a complete bust, but I definitely think Nuit Blanche was more successful and was more of a civic happening in previous years.  Let's see what next year brings...

Back on the Bike (Again)

I guess it was last week I was talking about how my bike fell over, and the derailleur was somewhat damaged, so I took it in the shop.  I got it back, but it still wasn't really acting right, so I left it there again, perhaps on Monday.  After talking it over with the mechanic, he agreed it was probably that the front ring was worn out, as I almost never shift out of the middle gears (or rather the middle ring).  I wasn't expecting it back until Thurs., as they needed to order the part, though they called me late on Wed. (around 5:30), saying it was ready.  As the shop is only open until 6 pm, I had to wait until after the electrician wrapped up (another adventure in itself!), and then I went and retrieved my bike.  I probably wouldn't have bothered, but as I was off to the TSO that evening, I went in to work in the late afternoon, since I had to go downtown.

Anyway, the mechanic said that he had replaced the front ring and the chain.  I think the cassette on the back tire was still fairly new, so they left that alone.  (At least he had noticed the skipping, and it wasn't just in my imagination.)  But he had found a used derailleur that was in better condition than mine(!), so they replaced that as well.  Over the years, pretty much all the components, including the seat (after one was stolen), brakes, shifters, tubes and recently the rear tire casing have been replaced.  (Indeed, I had yet another bike light stolen after a quick trip to 401 Richmond, so I had to buy another one of those as well!)  It's possible that the only original components (from when I got the bike back around 2012) are the frame itself, the mud guards and the very beat up rack for my pannier.   I was thinking about the Ship of Theseus paradox lately (as it is discussed in the book version of Mickey 7, though not necessarily in the movie).  Is this really the same bike or not?  I suppose if I ever have to replace the frame for some reason, at that point I would say it is no longer the original bike.

This reminds me of a particularly annoying "concern troll" on Linked In, who popped recently and who was going on and on about how bicycle advocates were not honest about how much repairing bicycles would cost over the life cycle of a bike, completely distorting the cost and basically ignoring the much higher auto maintenance costs, even if these are somewhat lower for EVs.  And then not content with this, he had the nerve to say that cycling advocates were ignoring the carbon costs of the bananas that fuel cyclists (in some promotional material).  There really isn't much to do with these folks, who are likely just AI bots, than ignore them. 

Anyway, the bike chain still slipped a little bit going through gear shifts, though it was working much better.  I did find, however, that the middle ring seems to be just a bit smaller, and I was ending up in the upper gears all the time, compared to how I am used to riding.  So I have started to shift up into the largest ring more often.  One interesting side effect is that it seems that I have shaved about 5 minutes off of the trip downtown (as well as from my house to Woodbine).  I guess it is possible to teach an old dog new tricks, as I have done this much shifting in 10+ years!

The downside, however, is that I thought I was on the larger ring and was downshifting, and I was in the middle and shifted to the smallest ring.  The chain completely jumped off and ended up jammed between the ring and the frame!  It took some time but I was able to free it and get it back on the ring.  That was extremely concerning.  I had to rearrange my schedule, but managed to stop in at the bike shop on Sat.  They said there was no damage to the chain, and that I should just try not to do that (sort of like the old doctor's joke) and to shift a bit more gently.  I think if I keep to the middle and largest rings, I should probably be ok.  However, there was one more time when I was going between the upper and middle ring and I was coming up to a light, so didn't have a lot of time for the shifting to take place, and the chain jumped off again!  This is far from ideal, and maybe this is just a sign that it is time to think about buying a new bike.  But for now, it seems to be working reasonably well. 

2nd Concert Update

I had a look at the Devo/B-52s concert that went down in Pine Knob a day ago.  Astonishingly, Devo was indeed the headliner and the B-52s opened for them!  So I guess it is true when Fred said this was Devo's tour and they just tagged along.  I wonder if they will alternate headlining duties, or it will mostly be Devo headlining on the remaining dates in the States.  In any case, if you are going, pay extra attention to the times and the line-up.  I know I would have been annoyed had we missed any of the B-52s' set.  The other thing is that they seem to be performing a slightly abbreviated 12-song, 1-hour set, so indeed they didn't shorten it due to the rain (and they seem to have dropped 'Deadbeat Club' on this version of the tour, which is unfortunate).

The second bit of news is that I am back from Elvis Costello and the Imposters at Massey Hall.  Massey Hall was again frustrating, with not enough leg room, so I sat sideways throughout the show.  While I didn't have a pole blocking my view, the view from the sides is still pretty lousy.  I could only see Elvis and his keyboard player.  If I really stretched out, I could occasionally see the drummer and the bass player but not most of the time.  And Charlie Sexton was off to the side and was completely invisible, except for 3 or so songs in the middle of the set where he came center stage.  So not very pleasant, and I am definitely going to limit the number of times I go back.  I'm not going to swear off Massey Hall forever (like History and Phoenix), but it is going to have to be a big event, like Tinariwen coming back again, to make me reconsider. 

At any rate, I have to admit I just didn't enjoy the concert with only a few exceptions.  Elvis was playing almost entirely material from the first 10 years of his career, and he wanted to rearrange them and play them differently as apparently he must just be bored with these songs, even though some of them are not in heavy rotation, while others are some of the biggest hits of his whole career.  I wonder if he wanted to distort them so much that no one else would ask for them again.  I thought what he did to 'Alison' was a bit weird, but I actually hated his new renditions of 'Watching the Detectives' and 'Man Out of Time.'  It was painful listening to them.  In the middle of the set, I did enjoy 'Almost Blue' seguing into 'Clubland.'  And 'Radio Radio,' while somewhat distorted was ok.  One interesting fact is that 'Deportee' was indeed a song he cut as a demo back in 1985, but he only started playing it live in 2025 (as part of the ramp up to this tour) while the lead up story (though too long) is clearly inspired by today's political scene, and indeed if Elvis doesn't cut back a bit on the acidic commentary on the mess down in the States he may find his visa gets revoked...  Then at the end, he just ripped through 'Chelsea,' 'Pump It Up' and 'Peace, Love and Understanding.'  That got the audience to their feet and was a decent way to end the show.  There was no encore, which is becoming a bit more common these days.  I just don't think I want to see him live again.  He still messed around with song arrangements when he was at Budweiser Stage in 2024 (opening for Daryl Hall) but there was more for the general fans (and not just hard-core fans) to grab onto, but not really tonight.  All I can say is I felt pretty alienated from a lot of what he was trying to do.  Of all the shows I saw in Sept, this was towards the bottom, though Elvis does slightly beat out Devo...

On the classical front, I almost had forgotten that I am seeing Jonathan Crow* plays Mendelssohn next Thurs.  It's my first TSO concert this season.  Fortunately, the TSO emailed me a reminder or I might well have missed it!  I had planned on going up to see Beethoven's 5th in North York in a few weeks, but when I tried to get a ticket, the only remaining seats were just too expensive for my blood.  Then I saw that UT Orchestra was playing Beethoven's 5th.  (I just never got around to seeing anything from UT's music school last season.  I just got too busy and forgot to keep on top of their schedule.)  However, when I went in to probe, I saw that they were playing at York University for some strange reason, which would be a real hassle.  I guess the main hall (McMillan?) still is not ready, and they can't fit the entire orchestra in Walter Hall.  Now previously they moved to a church at Church and King, but for some reason they are doing their concerts up at York, which probably means I won't go.  At any rate, the concert is Sat. (i.e. tomorrow) and my evening is completely packed, so I couldn't go.  I think there is a reasonable chance I will see Beethoven's 3rd and 7th this season, but not the 5th.  (I did see Beethoven's 5th last season, sneaking in with one of the very last tickets to see Hart House Orchestra do it.)  What may be more intriguing is that TSO doesn't appear to be doing Dvorak's 8th or 9th Symphonies (I try to catch either of them when they are on), though they are doing his 7th Symphony in two separate concerts(!), though I am only going to one of them.

I am a little bummed that once again I missed out on the U Vic book sale, which was last weekend.  I will just need to set some sort of reminder next fall.  The University College book sale is this weekend, and I should be able to swing by, though perhaps not until tomorrow.  It was much more convenient last year when the Word on the Street Festival was not that far away at Queens Park Crescent, but it is now relocated to David Pecault Square, right next to Roy Thompson Hall and quite close to our offices, so I can go to a reading, duck into the office, and then go to a late afternoon reading.  But I can't really run up to UC for their book sale, or at least as easily as last year.  Then I also need to remember than in about 3 weeks, it is the Trinity book sale.  So many books to read, and I can't help adding a few more here and there, though generally I am buying books that will go into the Little Free Library in the front yard.  Or at least that is what I tell myself...

 

* Jonathan Crow was MIA for long stretches at the TSO last season.  I'm not sure what that means for this season, though I know I'll see him in a few concerts and probably as a guest for one of the Amici concerts, though I have yet to book tickets to that.  Maybe tomorrow...

Concert Update

I'm definitely on the mend, though still pretty tired.  I think it's probably best to be upright, however, so I'll go in to work.  I expect I should be able to make my Thurs. evening event (Naked Lunch at the Revue) and Friday night concert (Elvis Costello at Massey Hall).  I think the general excitement should carry me through, as it did last night.  I actually don't have much planned for Sat. until the very late afternoon, so maybe I will sleep in a bit and then see where I can go swimming.  Perhaps it will be Jimmie Simpson, unless Regent Park has finally got back on track and has their normally-scheduled lane swimming.

It threatened to rain all evening, and in fact since I didn't want to be sitting out in the rain longer than I needed, we skipped the opening act (Lene Lovich).  I'm not even 100% she actually went on at 7, but she probably did.  We got to Budweiser Stage at 7:45 and Devo was just launching into their set.  It was good, though there were two songs towards the end that were kind of grating.  I mean there is absolutely no way I would have gone to see them on their own, but it apparently was their tour and they invited B-52s to join on one leg.  They did their full set!  It still hadn't rained, but it was threatening all night.

I think the B-52s actually cut their set short by about two songs, mostly hoping to get to their big hits before the rain started.  Now maybe they aren't actually doing encores because they are co-leading the tour, and Devo didn't do an encore, but I suspect it was just to try to wrap up in time.  It doesn't appear they have played 'Channel Z' in some time (this is the song my wife wanted to hear).  They often but don't always play 'Deadbeat Club,' and that was the song I was hoping to hear (even beyond 'Rock Lobster' and certainly more than 'Whammy Kiss'!).  Oh well...  It was still a lot of fun, and they certainly won't be touring much more, so it was worth grabbing the opportunity to see them.  We really did luck out that the rain held off until after the show.  We just missed the GO Train, so we walked and walked and walked to get to the streetcar loop.  (Such poor design on the part of the TTC at Exhibition Place.  Just in general the transit transfers there are terrible.)  We got back to Pape at 11 or so when it finally started to rain, and then it rained quite steadily all night, so overall we really lucked out.  The B-52s and Devo are off to Pine Knob today.  That's also an outdoor venue, so hopefully the weather is more cooperative for the fans out there.

Now that I am on transit more due to all this rain, I am reading more.  I finished Kundera's Ignorance (just not that good) and made great progress on Ellen Foster (just shy of halfway through).  Tonight, I plan on taking TTC over to the Revue to see Naked Lunch, and I'll bring Auto-da-Fé along.  But I just got my bike back from the shop, so I may not have quite as much transit reading time as before.  That said, I actually am flying out to Quebec City for a conference soon.  I think I might take Scarlett Thomas's The End of Mr. Y and Ariel Dorfman's The Last Song of Manuel Sendero and see which one grabs me more.  If anything, it's even slower than the weight loss, but I am making some headway in bring down my book piles.  Speaking of book piles, I was pretty sure Thammavongsa's How to Pronounce Knife was at the very bottom on one of these piles.  Indeed it was, but I have freed it now and will make sure I have my copy with me when I go to her reading in a few weeks.

Still Sick

I'm still definitely under the weather, and the actual weather isn't cooperating very much.  It was supposed to rain Mon. and Tues., and then mostly clear up.  Instead it barely rained on Tues., and now the rain is supposed to be a drizzle most of the day and then heavier showers from 7-9 pm just when we are out at Budweiser Stage to see the B-52s.  Lovely...  I'm sure that will do wonders for my overall health.  However, I think at this point I just need to be upright to have the rest of the junk drain out of my lungs.  I think my nose is just about finished running, so I am close to getting over this cold or whatever it was.

I forgot to mention the other day that there were a few very frustrating incidents over the weekend.  First, Sat. morning I found out that because of some last-minute scheduling changes, there was no lap swimming at Regent Park, either on Sat. or Sun.  And I guess it is their annual pool clean-up, but Matty Eckler's pool is completely closed all week (and this week as well).  Unfortunately, the times just didn't work for Jimmie Simpon, though I had planned on doing late night laps there on Mon., which I am starting to really value as the lanes are nearly empty, but I just was not up to it.  I might have attempted to go on Tues., but that is the only day they don't have evening hours, and I still wasn't feeling all that well.  So I am short one swimming session with no obvious time to make it up.  Not very happy about that.

Also, on Sunday, I somehow failed to lock my bike up properly at Trinity-St. Paul's.  (They have some of the stupidest bike racks I've ever seen.)  When we came out from the concert, my bike was lying on the ground.  Someone apparently had locked up on the other side, saw the bike fall over and just left it there.  What an asshole!  I think this fall somehow messed up the derailleur, as I was having lots of slippage in the upper gears.  So I dropped it off at a bike shop to have them look it over, and I am hoping to have it back on Thurs.

I did find that, even on the home scale, I have lost another 5 or so pounds, which often happens when I get sick, so now I need to just keep on with the better eating habits.  If it turns out I can finally squeeze into a smaller size of jeans that will also help me stay motivated and not completely backslide...

Off topic, I am really very frustrated at not being able to find these photos from the Georgia O'Keeffe show in 2017.  I clearly went twice (in April, then May) or even three times and would have taken some photos on each visit.  I clearly remember taking photos of her last paintings at Ghost Ranch, but none of these seem to be archived on the 10 or so external hard drives I have lying around!  I spent some time (back in the day) organizing my 2017 and 2018 photos, but they aren't there.  About the only lingering possibility is I left them on my (work) iPhone for a very long time and so the datestamp is off, but this seems unlikely.  This is quite upsetting actually, though I don't think there is anything I can do about it.  I will see if I can track down the catalog from that show and borrow it from the library at least.

 

Edit (9/25): Well, it's not as good as squeezing into a size 34 loose fit pair of jeans.  (I'm still trying to track those down, but they should be somewhere in the house.)  But I am able to fit comfortably in a straight size (that was too tight a month or two ago.)  So real progress, which is about the only thing that can motivate me to stick to a diet.  Progress is much slower than it was pre-Covid, but I am starting to see it.

Busy Sept.

I've been quite busy throughout Sept.  I actually had a bit of a rest day today, and I promptly got sick.  It could be the changing of the seasons or stress.  I suppose it could have been worse, as I could have gotten sick on the way to (or back) from Ottawa.

Let me back up a bit and see if there is anything I haven't covered at least a bit.  Maybe I'll start with books.  I wrapped up The Scarlet Letter and then was mostly alternating between Denis Johnson's Angels and Zevin's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I thought was great.  However, there were a couple of concerts (James and Pulp) I was going to where I couldn't take a large bag, so I took one of the smaller paperbacks towards the top of my list, Canetti's Auto-da-Fé, and read that before the shows started.  (I actually didn't have much time at the Pulp show but had a bit of time before James started.)  Then I wanted to take something slightly shorter than a doorstop book up to Ottawa, and I opted for Russo's Empire Falls (over McCullers's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter).  As it turns out, I was able to get more work done on the bus than I expected, and only read about 75 pages, so I could have taken anything and perhaps I should have just finished Kundera's Ignorance (though I am not enjoying this much at all and just wish it was over...).  

On Sunday, I was at Trinity-St. Paul's seeing a short Tafelmusik concert for subscribers.  It was fun, though I do wish they had program hand-outs or done a better job in announcing the pieces they were playing.  They ended with Purcell's Air from Timon of Athens, which I liked a lot when they played it back in 2024.  It is possible that I was starting to come down with whatever I have now, as I was feeling pretty draggy and didn't really want to bike home.  I did, however, and I didn't think much of it, though whatever I had came back with a vengeance today.  The main reason I bring this up is that I was reading a bit of Angels before the show started and then tucked it next to me in the pew rather than putting it back in my backpack.  Big mistake.  When I got home, I was organizing everything and realized that I must have left it in the church!  Wow.  I'm considering giving them a call, but I was probably just going to give it away anyways (though I would have tried once selling it at Seekers' Books), and the irony of a dark book about criminals (called Angels) in the church book corner (I'm pretty sure they have one) appeals to me.  I was quite close to the end of this book and found an on-line pdf and just powered through the final chapter today.

So the tail end of Sept. will be me trying to finish Ignorance and then perhaps alternating chapters of Empire Falls and Auto-da-Fé, with Empire Falls being much more to my taste.  I will probably read some shorter novels as well, such as Gibbon's Ellen Foster, Kaysen's Asa, as I Knew Him and Jelloun's The Last Friend, though clearly this pushes me into October.  There is a small chance I will read a few stories from How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa, as I need to dig it out from a book pile before her reading at TPL.  I will also have to decide by late Oct. if I am definitely going to read Austen's Persuasion in Nov. (probably) and then Nabokov's Ada and Shteyngart's Vera, or Faith in Nov. or Dec. (less likely).

I saw quite a few movies over the month.  Out of Sight and Midnight at the Revue with Naked Lunch in a few more days, assuming I beat this cold.  I saw Kajillionaire at Paradise, and I enjoyed this a lot.  I think I must have seen a very different trailer, as I didn't realize how central Gina Rodriguez was to the plot.  I do think it was a bit unlikely that the parents would have enlisted her in the first place, risking bringing an outsider into their endless scamming and grifting, as they don't seem the type to really plan out far enough for the long con (that ended the movie).  Gina was just so beautiful and patient with Old Dolio (what an insane name for a daughter!).  I barely follow tv so didn't realize that she was pretty much a star by this time (after several seasons of Jane the Virgin), so I'm glad she agreed to do the movie.  What I didn't realize is that the writer/director was Miranda July, who is now much better known as the author of All Fours.  They actually had a completely offbeat video introduction by Ms. July, apparently shot on a camera in an airport bathroom!  If the Tafelmusik concert on Sunday had been shifted by half an hour or Pearls of the Deep (at the Paradise) had been half an hour later, I would have gone to that as well, though probably it is just as well I didn't try to do that as well.  

On Sunday I had also gone to the gym, bought groceries, then biked over to Carlton to see The Matrix, then stopped by work and put about an hour in on a proposal and picked up the tickets to the show, then biked up to Bloor to see Tafelmusik.  So it was a lot, even without trying to see one more movie.

In terms of $5 movies at Carlton, I saw The Breakfast Club earlier in the month and then the Matrix yesterday.  I see that Kiki's Delivery Service is coming back, but I think I'll pass, having seen this twice.  I probably will see Howl's Moving Castle again, assuming it is in rotation for Oct. or Nov.  It wasn't a $5 movie, but I saw Honey Don't! at Carlton, which I enjoyed, and then This is Spinal Tap II at Market Square on Sun.  My wife actually came along, and she hasn't been in a movie theatre in years!  I thought Tap II was good, though it is very much aimed at Boomers and Gen X who are starting to feel (along with Marvell) "Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near" and specifically that there are more grains in the bottom of the hourglass than at the top...  This picture is aimed at the aged still trying to recapture a bit of their former glory (and some of the shots of the actors from 40 some years ago are just painful to see what has happened to them; it's the same though even worse with Tim Curry post-stroke).  The younger generations complain about Tap II and just don't think the old geezers are funny enough...

On Sat. I also managed to see a documentary about Georgia O'Keeffe (overall very good but probably a few too many talking heads going on about her work).  I would say O'Keeffe is quite an important figure for me, in part because she was so important to my mother.  One of the very first major exhibits that I went to was the O'Keefe retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1988.  My father decided to pick up the catalog as a gift to my mother, and I eventually inherited it.  Over the years, I saw some smaller O'Keeffe exhibits, including one focused on her skyscraper paintings (might have been at AIC or the Whitney, but I can't recall), then an exhibit sponsored by the Tate that hit Toronto's AGO in 2017 (a little surprised I didn't mention it here at that time*), and then the O'Keeffe-Calder joint show in Montreal in 2024 (some photos of that here).  My mother would really have enjoyed that show.  I know that my mother enjoyed spending time in the U.S. Southwest, and I'm almost certain that she went to the O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, NM.  I think it's a museum I probably ought to visit, though who knows when I will be willing to travel south again.

I didn't see all that much theatre.  I did see The Welkin, which I thought had strong acting but I really didn't like the script and I checked out midway through the second act when there was just one too many plot twists (to say nothing of the endless sobbing over the strains of 'Running Up That Hill').  I was going to see Waiting for Godot this upcoming weekend, but pushed it back a week (and in fact am seeing The Green Line at Buddies earlier that same day!).  And The Public Enemy at Alumnae just before that.  It looks like I saw almost no theatre in Sept., though a fair bit in Aug. and then a fair bit is upcoming in Oct.  Instead, I mostly saw movies or went to the Rex or to other concerts.  I saw Haim quite early in the month, then James and Pulp in the same week.  (James was the best of the bunch, and if they had played 'Born of Frustration' it would have been the cherry on top...  They apparently are playing all the songs off of Laid at most stops on the tour!)  And The B-52s are this Wednesday, assuming I am healthy, so I really had better get off to bed now...

 

* What is particularly odd is that I clearly remember taking photos, particularly of her last paintings of Ghost Ranch, but they aren't in the folder with other 2017 photos.  Instead, I have photos (including some O'Keeffe paintings) taken in DC and Chicago on trips we took in 2017.  I even have looked in the 2018 folder, but nothing so far.  So strange.

Georgia O'Keeffe, The Shelton with Sunspots, NY, 1926

 

A Tale of Two Scales

An interesting (for me) thing happened the other day.  As hinted at occasionally I have been struggling to lose weight, like most middle-aged people, where the biggest problem is too much late night snacking.  I have definitely cut back on that, though I still slip up now and again (not at all helped by Kawartha Lakes Dairy up on Danforth with their evening summer hours...).  But my clothes are generally fitting well, and I perhaps can even get into one smaller size of jeans.  I'll try that soon enough.

I actually had a dream that the doctor told me my blood sugar had dropped, so I was particularly anxious after doing another blood test last week.  When I went in for the results, at the weigh-in, I had definitely lost some weight and indeed my blood sugar level is now at an acceptable level, though I can't afford to just cut loose and do whatever I want.  I don't even need a follow up for several more months.*  This is all fantastic news. 

But when I got home, the home scale said I was still over my target weight, which was hugely discouraging.  I had gotten below that weight -- on that scale -- but now I was above it.  I think there must be a 5-8 pound difference between the two scales, with the doctor's scales being more favourable to me.  At the end of the day, the blood sugar levels are what really matter.  Despite the frustration, I will double down and make sure that even the home scale** reports progress over the winter, when it is so easy to slip up and gain weight.  That certainly happened to me last winter.  I really am on the right track, so I just need to keep it up.

Maybe the worst thing about trying to celebrate losing weight is you can't treat yourself to a piece of cake.  However, I did have a samosa at lunch (whereas in general I am cutting even further back on breakfast and lunch) and then had an ice cream cone at Budweiser stage, though this was partly to counteract the spicy Indian food I had on the way to the venue.  It was from a roti place on Queens Quay, and I probably won't go there again.

 

* Apparently, the doctor is having his own struggles getting his PR card, which seems unfair (or at least short-sighted on the part of immigration officers in not giving even more "points" to doctors willing to move to Canada).  I think going to the press is probably the right thing to do to get some lower level minister involved in his case, as Canada is so desperately short of family doctors.  As he said, if they don't eventually fix his status, 8000 or more patients in Toronto (including me) will lose their family doctor!  So I am very much wishing the best for him to get this straightened out.

** What I wish is that the gym would bring back the scales they had (the same type that doctors use) as they seem a bit more reliable to me.  I asked a couple of times to restore them, but it just seems easier for them to keep blaming COVID and not actually do anything about it.  Sigh.

New Glasses

I'd been holding off fulfilling a new prescription for glasses for some time.  To some degree it is just laziness but also I don't use glasses that much, and I don't really define myself as a person with glasses.  It was quite a shock when the optometrist said that I should consider progressive lenses with a portion that would be for close up viewing.  I really rebelled against that, though it is true I have more difficulty with really fine print, and just in general reading is tougher in the early mornings or when I am quite tired.

I ended up picking up some off-the-counter reading glasses at Walmart or Shoppers.  While I almost never use them, they do make a huge difference when trying to thread needles, and maybe this will be the spur I need to return to that long-abandoned quilt...

Anyway, what really spurred this on was Sunday I had been rushing around as usual.  I was running late after the gym and groceries to the point that I fixed soup and then just abandoned it in the fridge in order to get over to Mazzoleni Hall for a mid-day concert.  I was sure I was going to be late, so I really pushed my limits on the bike.  I ended up making it in 22 minutes, which is close to a record, and I made it to the venue right before it started.  In fact the concert was only an hour long, so I briefly debated going home before the James concert.  As I didn't want to deal with the bag check, I just had everything in my pockets: book, phone, work pass, glasses.  (Which will be the same deal tonight at the Pulp concert.)

Everything seemed fine, but between the 3 o'clock concert and the 8 pm concert, I lost my glasses.  I have absolutely no idea what happened to them.  They could have fallen out at BMV or Robarts (where I hung out and read a bit of Canetti's Auto-da-Fé).  Most likely they simply didn't make it back in my windbreaker's pocket at Mazzoleni Hall, and I am trying to find a number for the lost and found there.

But in the end, it didn't matter much.  It was too late to retrace my steps by the time I figured this out, so I just went to the James concert and accepted that the band was a bit blurry.  It was a fun concert, and I'll write a bit more about this in the future. 

So Monday, I ran over to Hakim just after 9, but they no longer make glasses in the store, and they said it would be 5 or so days to get them back!  So then I went to the Eaton Centre, but I had to wait until 10:05 until Lenscrafters opened.  My prescription isn't a strong one, and they were able to have one set of glasses made.  They said it would only take an hour, and I could pick them up around lunch, but they weren't ready until 2:30 or so, but still pretty good service.  I would have had a second pair made, but there was some huge mix-up with my insurance, which I need to straighten out.

I'll try them out tonight at Pulp and hopefully that will be the last I really have to think about this.

New UK Fall Books

This is simply an extension of this post, but with a UK slant.  I'm kicking myself as there was some recent post in the Guardian that really was just a puff piece to stir up interest in the writer's new novel, which was coming out on an impossibly obscure press; it seemed up my alley but wasn't in the library catalogue (to put in an advance hold), and I didn't tag this, so it has probably slipped through the net...  C'est dommage.

But there are three other books from the Guardian that have caught my eye.

Salman Rushie's The Eleventh Hour, which is comprised of 5 fairly long stories.

Then another short story collection, by Graham Swift this time: Twelve Post-War Tales.

Finally, Jeanette Winterson's take on the story of Shahrazad from One Thousand and One Nights.

All look pretty interesting, though the Winterson is apparently not actually going to be available until Jan., which makes it a winter book.  

I'm not as sure about Rachel Cusk's Parade, so I may have to wait for some proper reviews to understand what it is about...

I have no idea when I will actually get to these books (probably not this fall), but I'll just have to see what I can do once they pop up in libraries.

 

Grey Day

It looks like it might sprinkle a little bit today, but basically it will be overcast most of the day.  I generally consider this "Vancouver weather," and I am willing to bike in it.  I don't have a lot of plans for the day, but still it will be better to have the bike than not (and rely on the TTC).

In brief, I didn't have anything on my event calendar for today but decided that wouldn't do.  I checked and it turns out that "Honey Don't!" has just showed up at Carlton (the lesbian B movie by one of the Coen Brothers and his lesbian wife), so I will hit that.  Over at Market Square, they have started showing Aronofsky's Caught Stealing, which I think I will pass on, having seen enough of it from the trailers (though I will say that Matt Smith (former Doctor from Dr. Who) is almost unrecognizable as a mohawk-ed punk, which might be sort of droll to see, but as I said I've seen a lot of him in the trailers), but also This is Spinal Tap II.*  My wife also wants to see this, so we'll try to catch it next Sat., or then the following Monday or Tuesday after work.

I'm going to head out in about 15 minutes to go swimming in Regent Park; the pool is supposedly open today...  Then "Honey Don't!"  If the weather is still about the same, and not pouring, I will hit the downtown No Frills on Richmond and then 401 Richmond.  (Hopefully, the galleries are open today!)  Then drop off something at work and come home and rest a bit (and maybe finally start typing up some of my copious notes on planners).  I might also finally watch the remaining section of The Leopard.

Speaking of creative writing, I had expected to have a few more pages to scan (and eventually transcribe), but it was not to be.  I decided to go check out Hirut, as Eric St.-Laurent was playing in a group led by Doug Wilde.  This was very much a last minute decision.  I wanted to make sure I could find the place and sort of scope it out, as I think I may drop by once in a while.  It turns out it is indeed very close to Coal Mine Theatre; it takes 25 minutes to get there by bike, and about 20 going back (as much of the route is downhill!).  The website had indicated that the cover was cash, though I had a bit of trouble believing it.  Nonetheless, I showed up, and it was pretty packed (it's a somewhat similar set-up to The Only Cafe on Danforth, which often has live music though I don't really keep up with their calendar), and they said they didn't think they could squeeze me in.**  And indeed the cover was supposed to be cash only, which is so strange as everywhere just adds it to the tab.  So good information to know for the future, though it was obviously pretty disappointing last night.  I will say that Doug Wilde is sort of smooth jazz, at least based on his Rhymes with Reason CD, which they were also selling at the door, featuring most of the players on stage last night.  So I'm sure it would have been fine, but it isn't a date that I am going to agonize about missing.  Going forward, I will need to make sure to have more cash and try to show up more like 30 minutes before the show starts.

 

* It seems there is a real generational divide with Spinal Tap II with Gen Y/Gen Z just thinking it is a bunch of tired old men who aren't that funny anymore, and Boomers/Gen X really feeling the pathos of getting older.  I think I'll like it, but it's hard to predict.

** In fact what the guy said was "I don't know if I can accommodate you," which is pretty high-highfalutin...  I might have pressed my luck a bit, but I didn't have any cash on me anyway.

Edit (9 pm): The day went pretty much as planned.  Indeed, it cleared up in the late afternoon, and I was able to read outside for close to an hour.  I'm getting quite close to the end of Zevin's Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.  Some people didn't like the middle section, but it is holding up for me at any rate.  I think I'll be able to finish this tomorrow and Kundera's Ignorance shortly after.  I did find it fairly challenging to get my laps in at Regent Park Pool, and I ultimately had to move over to the fast lanes, where someone was swimming in the wrong direction and ran into me twice!  But I did get my laps in and even soaked in the hot tub area a couple of times.  

I really enjoyed Honey Don't!, which I think is a much better film than Drive Away Dolls, though I do have some questions about the final twist at the end, which doesn't really make a lot of sense.

I didn't find a lot going on at 401 Richmond, but at least a few galleries were open.  I do need to go back on the 27th when there is a new opening.  It turns out it is an evening opening (6-8 pm), and I'll have to sneak away around 7:30, as the Rex has changed their times and the evening show starts at 8 pm now.  Probably it is just as well I switched things up because if I was going over to Coal Mine on that Sat., I probably couldn't spend any time at 401 Richmond.  Overall, it was a pretty good though somewhat exhausting day.  I'll have to try to pace myself tomorrow.

Quick Ottawa Trip

As I mentioned a few days ago, once in a while, there is just too much going on.  I'm trying to throw in a few book readings here and there (in fact there is one next Monday), and I saw that Madeline Thien will be at Queen Books in Nov., but this is the same date as The Beaches concert.*  It's a bit of a toss-up, but I think The Beaches will be more interesting/appealing overall, though of course more expensive (even assuming I bought a hard cover and had Thien sign it).  But it is a close thing, and I wish somehow I could do both, for instance if the reading is shuffled to a different day.

One of the droller instances of this was that I had booked a ticket to see the TSO playing Korngold (on a Thurs. I believe) when I had really wanted to go to the North York venue because of the scheduled pre-show concert, but it was completely sold out.  Eventually, I checked again and seats had miraculously opened up, but I just bought a new ticket and didn't transfer the old one.  That was a mistake of course.  

Anyway, I was looking through the TSO booklet to see if there was another concert to go see instead, I saw that NAC Orchestra was coming to town in Feb., and they were playing Morlock's "My Name is Amanda Todd" (which I've seen one but would like to see again) and Beethoven's 3rd Symphony.  This sounded like a pretty good concert, and I was getting ready to call the TSO when I decided I really ought to check first if I already had something booked for that day.  It turns out that is when I am seeing The Cowboy Junkies, so that ruled the NAC Orchestra concert out.  I still haven't settled on what I will see instead, though possibly Beethoven's 5th, which weirdly enough is only playing up in North York!

Then I started looking around to see what were the other dates in the NAC Orchestra's national tour.  If for instance they were playing in Hamilton or Kingston, but it is surprisingly hard to track this info down.  Eventually I was redirected to their shows in Ottawa, and I saw that next week they have a couple of concerts where they are playing the Morlock piece, as well as Shostakovich's Violin Concerto #1 and Sibelius's Symphony #2.  I debated it for a while and decided that I could get a fair bit of work on the train, so I would run up to Ottawa to see the concert!  As a bonus, my son and his girlfriend decided they would go as well, so that sort of makes the trip worth it.

Coming back, I will be on the Red Arrow bus.  (If you get the cheapest ticket with no exchanges possible, it is only $25!)  I probably will get much less work in, though there is one work call I can take.

I'll probably stop by the National Gallery, though there are a couple of exhibits that don't open up until mid Dec., so I'll probably have to go again (in the winter!) to check those out before they close.  Presumably, this trip will be over some weekend...  I had started thinking about what I would read.  If I had the luxury of reading in both directions, I would probably take Skvorecky's The Bride of Texas (and then Fontane's After the Storm in the follow-up winter trip), but I'll pick something a bit shorter (and with bigger print, which rules out Canetti's Auto-da-Fé) for the bus ride back.  I'm sort of torn between Russo's Empire Falls (which has been waiting for a while) and McCullers's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (which I picked up only a few days ago).  I might read just a few pages of each and decide which grabs me more.

Anyway, it is completely silly to drop everything and run up for a concert, but I decided to do it anyway.  I will need to try to hit the Rex either on the Friday after I get back or more likely on Sat.  Then I realized that the following week is booked absolutely solid so that I can't see Pat LaBarbara, Kirk MacDonald and Neil Swainson doing some Coltrane tribute concert.  I think I'll have to switch my tickets for Waiting for Godot to the following week and see the Sat. set.  I'll probably do that, assuming Coal Mine doesn't hassle me too much over the ticket exchange.  For whatever reason, Sept. is insanely busy, but Oct. and Nov. are much more reasonable.

 

* I actually swung by Scotiabank Arena to see if I could stop in at the box office and avoid some fees (for that Beaches concert).  However, their ticket windows are only open on the days when there are events, which then means there are enormous lines of people trying to see the show.  Basically, it is a way of claiming to have an alternative (to TicketMaster) but then not actually following through.  Plus, most venues don't mess around with paper tickets anyway, so they still funnel you through TM even if you are standing right in front of them, and you still pay all the fees.  Last night happened to be a Lady Gaga concert, and the lines were so long (despite the fact that there has been almost no advertising of this concert) that I just gave up.

On the other hand, just before this I was able to deal with getting a refund on a Via ticket by going over to Union Station, and the woman said that this had to be handled in person, despite their website saying to call some customer service number!

Edit (9/12): Maybe it is just as well that I held off, deterred by the long lines.  I probed a bit more into The Beaches back catalog and listened to a couple of their live performances, and it is all a bit flat to me in the sense that most songs sound like the others; I think I probably would be better off at the Thien reading after all. 

I have booked the Ottawa getaway.  Naturally a bunch of work meetings popped up at the last minute, and I will see how many of them I can do on the train or hanging out at the Via station in Ottawa.  Otherwise, I will just have to miss them.

I did get my ticket switched for Coal Mine, so will go to the Rex instead on the Sat.  I'm pretty sure it's going to sell out.  I had hoped to get the cheaper seat behind a post (the view is actually fine surprisingly) but those seats were gone, so I reserved a seat off to the side where I normally sit.  It's just that it was a bit more than I had hoped to pay...  I'll see about going to Barry Elmes as well at the tail end of next week, but I don't plan on reserving, as I don't think these shows will completely sell out.  Hopefully that's the right decision...