Life Interrupted

As if I needed any more reminders of the fragility of life, I was in a fairly serious bicycle accident on Thurs. evening.  I was leaving Earl Grey where I had met my daughter's teacher at Curriculum Night.  I recall turning around so I could go down Blake, which has less traffic than Pape.  This was a fateful decision, and who knows if any of this would have happened had I stuck to my original route.  (Actually had I left work earlier and dropped off my bike and walked to Earl Grey then this definitely would not have happened.  C'est dommage...)

It is one of those disconcerting things, but I have absolutely no memory of turning around and going down Blake.  It is one of those gaps that will probably haunt me for some time.  Anyway, witnesses basically just said I fell off my bike (and wasn't hit by a car), so the doctors did a number of checks to see if I had a stroke or seizure (but I am getting a bit ahead of myself).  This seems implausible, but I can't completely rule it out.  What I do recall is being surrounded by doctors and nurses and wondering if this was just a terrible dream.  Sadly not.

As I came around to this conclusion, I learned that my bike had been put into storage at a community centre near the school, and that it didn't appear to have been run over.  I went through a bunch of tests at the hospital.  The main concern was whether my neck had been broken or very badly sprained, so they put me in an immobilization collar for a while.  That was extremely frustrating, not least because I wasn't allowed to stand up.  The only way to go to the bathroom (and I had to go 3 times) was to get a portable urinal that was basically pressed cardboard.  Not so nice, but better than the alternatives.  I was pretty happy after my neck checked out, and after that, they let me go to the bathroom on my own.

The next thing was to wait for x-rays of my leg (which had a bad contusion, which is actually still causing me some pain) and my chest.  But nothing broken there either.  I do have some small broken bones on the right side of my face (and the right side is slightly collapsed from where I landed on it), but I suppose in the grand scheme of things, not really all much to complain about.  I underwent two CT scans, since there was some bleeding in the brain, but they thought that was clearing up fairly well.  I should report back if I still have bad headaches or if my vision doesn't improve.  While the helmet didn't prevent all these injuries, I can only imagine it would have been so much worse without it.  So wear your helmet, folks!

I did get five stitches near my right eye, and those will have to come out next week, but I can go to almost any clinic for that.  While most of my stuff was stashed under my bed, I did have access to my work phone and home phone.  I told them at work I wasn't coming in, and I notified my wife (who was certainly worried about why I hadn't beat her home from the school).  By the end of the stay, my home phone battery had completely run down, but the work phone was still going strong.

I got out in the early afternoon and took a cab home.  I made just a couple of calls, then crashed.  Friday evening was kind of vague, though Sat. I was more myself.  My swollen right eye has gotten better.  It still feels slightly out of sync with the left eye, but I'm fairly sure with a bit more time, I'll be more or less back to normal.  I have quite a few painful scabs on my face, and it is very hard to leave them alone, but I'll try to be good and let the body heal itself on its own timeline.

In a way it is too bad that Halloween is so far away, as I would make a pretty good evil clown.  See for yourself...

I'll try to remember to post a picture next week.  Already the right eye (left in the photo) looks much, much better.

After sleeping in a bit on Sat., I went to retrieve my bike.  It did not appear to have been hit, but there was definitely something wrong with the front wheel.  It just didn't turn properly at all, and the front fender had been completely detached.  The guy at the bike shop said that if anything had gotten wedged in there, it would have been just like slamming on the front brakes, and I would have gone right over.  While I didn't see any smoking guns on Blake (where I would have landed and just bled for a while), I did see a dead squirrel in the road.  I wonder if some kamikaze squirrel had gotten tangled in the front wheel.  It's about as plausible as any other explanation.

I don't really know when I will be going back to work (most likely next Wed.) and when I will be willing to bike further than around the neighbourhood (maybe another week after that?).  For that matter, my hands are in a bit of pain (probably from trying to break my fall), and if I do go to the gym next week, it would only be for cardio and no weight-lifting.  But I am thankful that things weren't any worse, and that my body is working so hard to heal itself.  In fact, I really ought to go back to bed and see how I feel in the morning.

What's on at MOCA

So I made it over to MOCA last weekend.  I will say that they had done a good job of spreading the word, since it was pretty packed (I'm sure the fact that it was free helped!).

I was amused that they rated their own street sign.

The building is basically just a large multi-story site, and the museum takes up the first 5 or so floors.  I believe it used to be primarily industrial, and they have tried to open up the floor space as much as possible.

Because the crowds were so heavy, the wait times for the elevators were pretty intense.  I ended up joining the crowds who just took the stairs between the various floors.

I will say that this layout is going to favour big installations in the middle of each floor, as there really isn't all that much wall space for paintings.  That doesn't exactly thrill me, but it doesn't surprise me either.

Here was one of the main installations (I can't recall the name or the artist right now).

There was an interesting effect on the third? floor where all the windows were tinted, giving the outdoors a clinical yellow look.

There were some interesting video displays, though I didn't really have time to sit through them all (nor was there sufficient seating).  I thought the most droll was this pieced together video piece on the physics of cartoon animals.

I haven't entirely decided if I will go back and try to watch through the video installations from start to finish, but I might in a month or two when the fuss has died down a bit.  Regardless of whether I go as much as when it was on Queen St. W, I'm glad MOCA is back.

MOCA reopens

Being a bit under the weather, I haven't been tracking events quite as closely as I normally do.  As it happens, this weekend MOCA reopens (formerly MOCCA).  And it is free.  I recall that I managed to get out to the MCA in Chicago when it had a big bash to celebrate opening in its new location (and while I don't like the MCA building at all, I do try to show my support from time to time).  So I'd like to try to make it out there today (it's open until 5 pm).  It will be a bit tight, but if I leave right after lunch, I should make it, even with a quick stop at Victoria College.  (Well, I should probably do it in the reverse order, since it involves less backtracking on the TTC, and it's not like I actually need any more books...)  I'm less clear if I am going to see my friend's show at 7.  I'll have to play that by ear.

I didn't go to MOCCA a lot, though probably 3 or 4 times, starting around 2015.  However, I did manage to catch the last three major exhibits: Vera Frenkel (quite atmospheric, but more of an installation with the gallery hosting a working bar), Douglas Coupland* and Dean Baldwin's Q.W.Y.C. (Queen West Yacht Club) which featured a boat inside the gallery.

I was trying to dig up some photos I took of the old MOCCA, but the only ones I could find (for now) are of the very apt installation Demolition Site by Jihyun Jung.

 

I'm not quite sure how often I'll go to the new MOCA.  It's a bit off the beaten path, though not quite as far from transit as I thought at first.  Anyway, I'll report back soon, assuming I make it there this afternoon.


* Or rather half of this exhibit that originated at VAG, since half went to the ROM, but the better came to MOCCA. 

Returning to Normal

I'm slowly returning to some semblance of normality.  I actually worked a bit harder than I should have on Friday (albeit while lying in bed), since I really wanted to finish with some files that others needed next week.  I found that I was able to be far more productive with fewer distractions from office mates.  This is hardly a new finding (people that have to dig deep into data are uniquely disadvantaged by open office schemes), but I am responsible for keeping the intern busy, so it is actually a challenge for me to telecommute.  (There are definitely some downsides to taking on some management responsibilities!)

I took a fairly long nap today.  I probably wouldn't have gone anyway, but that meant I couldn't go to the Word on the Street festival at Harbourfront.  The main point of interest was hearing Kerri Sakamoto read from Floating City (she actually had two slots).  I kind of go back and forth whether I will read this (it seems slightly in the vein of Doctorow's World's Fair (blending fiction and real people) though here the historical figure is Buckminster Fuller); my guess is I will read it some day, though probably not for years and years (perhaps going to the reading would have tipped me one way or the other).  I'm slightly more likely to read Dionne Brand's Theory before that, even though I didn't really care for What We All Long For.  Interestingly, Brand gave a reading a week or two ago, but wasn't at the festival today.  Another interesting reading today (which I also obviously missed) was Adjacentland by Rabindranath Maharaj (the author of The Amazing Absorbing Boy).  This is quite different from most of his novels (as he himself notes in this interview), as it has a SF angle, so I think I'll try to check it out.

The only thing I am going to do today (and I wouldn't if there was a Sunday matinee) is to catch Caryl Churchill's A Number at Solar Stage.  If you happen to be in Toronto and leave in about 30 minutes (as I plan to do), then you can still catch this.  (While Lynn Sotkin thinks they should not have added an intermission, otherwise it is a solid production of a rarely produced play.)  If you can't make this, the Canadian premiere of Churchill's Escaped Alone will be at Soulpepper in November.  I'll definitely be going to this, though I just don't see enough of interest at Soulpepper this season, so I'll just try to do rush tickets for a couple of shows.  I'll write a bit more on the season later.

I have a bit more work I'd like to do tomorrow, plus grocery shopping.  I may stop by the library in the afternoon.  I haven't entirely decided if I will make the trek downtown, though I am tempted by the Victoria Library book sale, and just possibly seeing an actor in his show.  But more rest is probably really what I need.  I think I'll hold off one more day from going to the gym, so I don't spread any more germs around than I absolutely have to.

Bye for now.
 

Another Sucky Day

There aren't that many days where I truly think I should have just stayed in bed, but yesterday definitely qualified.  My daughter was throwing up constantly, but there didn't seem to be anything else wrong with her (no fever, chills, aches).  We were wondering if it was just anxiety related to going to a new school.  Nonetheless, in the end, my wife kept her out of school and took her to the clinic, while I headed off to work.

I couldn't keep my runny nose under control, though I thought it was just allergies, exacerbated by the heavy clouds pushing pollen down.  Then my wife called and said my daughter had the flu after all.  I felt worse and worse through the day, finally leaving at 3 (only a bit early).

On the way home, some jerk of a taxi driver refused to close his door, so I had to swerve around that, then I was pinched by a bus running too close to the curb, and I ended up with my tire rubbing right up against the curb, and I fell over on the bike.*  I went straight down, not into traffic, so it could have been far, far worse.  Neither I nor the bike was run over by a car.  I didn't even bruise myself too badly.  However, the brake handle was completely bent and almost impossible to use.

That meant instead of going straight home, I had to stop off at the bike shop.  They think it will be about $100 to replace everything, since the one part that is bent is part of a set (naturellement).  So yes, I would have been a lot better off just staying home and resting yesterday.  Needless to say, I am staying home from work today...



* There are actually many things I won't miss about work, but probably #1 is not having to bike to Union Station.  Biking anywhere downtown is a total nightmare (and anyone who says biking in Toronto is safe but it just seems unsafe is a total liar), but being able to avoid Union Station would be a great start.

Book (Sale) News

I probably should have mentioned this the other day, but there is one day left at the clearance book sale at the Toronto Reference Library (today from 9 to 4).  Paperbacks are mostly $0.25, and trade paperbacks and most hard cover books are $0.50 (or 3 for a dollar).  Pretty hard to beat those prices.

You have to go in with the right frame of mind, i.e. that you won't find a specific book (though the odds are slightly better if you are looking for a Canadian author) but there are lots of treasures amidst the piles and piles of books on the tables.  I wasn't able to get there until 6 pm on Thurs.  I didn't see a lot, but I did pick up a book of Robertson Davies's ghost stories and a book in the Vintage Contemporaries imprint (Crumley's Dancing Bear).  I saw Choy's The Jade Peony, and that was tempting for less than $0.50, but it was very marked up and I decided to pass.

On Friday I went by on my way home from work and found a few other interesting books, including J.G. Farrell's Troubles (though not the NYRB edition) and Graham Swift (though now I am wondering if I own this already in a different edition).  Actually, the most interesting is probably The Last Song of Manuel Sendero by Ariel Dorfman.  (Whenever I do get to this one, I'll probably pair it with my rereading of Fuentes's Christopher Unborn, as there seem to be strong links between the two.)  At any rate, I'll go through these books at the first opportunity, and then either donate most of them or perhaps put them in a Little Free Library.  (I'm thinking of building one of these in the next couple of weeks, while I still have a power saw on loan.)

I believe that next weekend is a book sale at Victoria College, and I may drop by for that.  Trinity's book sale isn't until mid Oct.  It's been a while since I've made it to that one, and I might try to stop in.

In terms of actual book news, I keep going back to the NYRB site to see when Rezzori's Kain will be announced.  At this point, it will have to be late 2019 or even 2020.  (As it happens, this weekend I am tackling Rezzori's The Death of My Brother Abel.)  However, I was very interested to find that Grossman's monumental Life and Fate is actually a sequel to a book (just as long) called Stalingrad, which has never been translated.  Until now.  NYRB will be publishing this next May.  So I will pre-order that and then have the opportunity to read the series in the correct order (though probably not until 2020 or even 2021!).  Anyway, this is one of the more exciting book announcements in recent memory.  Hopefully it will make a bit of a splash.

Ok, I've got to run now (on the road to Stratford very shortly).

Disgusting, horrible day

So many things went wrong today, not least of which was getting soaked on the way to work.  I had to transfer three times and then walk a couple of blocks and finally I ducked into a building to find my way to the Path.  I was so wet and uncomfortable.  That lasted pretty much all day.  Then I thought the rain had stopped, but it started up again on my way home from work!

In the morning, I learned that the government lawyers had done such a poor job of defending Doug Ford's policies that the judge took the surprising step of voiding his plan to cut Toronto's city council in half.  This was already going to lead to turmoil, when Doug announced in the early afternoon that he was going to use the notwithstanding clause (a truly terrible part of the Constitution that never should have been allowed), which is essentially the equivalent of the nuclear option.  His advisors should advise him to use far more restraint, but there seem to be no competent adults at all in this government (sound familiar?).  What's worse is that Doug has made it clear that he will use the notwithstanding clause quite often, when he loses court cases, which is frankly leading his party down the path of amoral lawlessness.  I've decided that I will need to take a stand, however quixotic, but I'll write more about that at the appropriate time.  Quite frankly, if it weren't for the disruption that it would cause my family yet again, I would consider leaving Ontario, though it is unbelievably sad how few places seem to have any stability at all anymore.  I suppose, taking the really long view, what the GTA does have going for it is it will be far less impacted than most other parts of the world due to climate change, but it is not going to be a pleasant ride in the short term (or the medium term if we have to face the full impact of climate refugees or the US trying to drain the Great Lakes).  To be honest, I just see a very bleak future at every turn, so maybe it is best if I just turn in for the night.  Maybe I will be in a slightly better mood in the morning, though somehow I doubt that.