My Amelie-like Experience With Toy Cars in This ‘Hood

I mustered up some enthusiasm and set out to walk to my most fruit and flower stand (in my hood). Actually, it’s been disappointing me lately but I only wanted to buy asparagus, tomatoes and cucumbers. That I could find there!

I walked up my usual street, and then noticed approximately a 15-cm long toy car. And what car! Teal color, 70′s feel, and unsupervised! Whose car was it?! Who left it right on the street, and without any child in sight? I took a dreamy photo:

I continued my walk to the fruit stand, spent 10-15 minutes shopping, and started walking back. Being naturally very observant I kept looking around until my gaze fell on the bush by pavement. AND WHAT DO I SEE? Another elegant car. It was burgundy red, sleek and delicately “hidden” just enough to fall into observant person’s line of vision. Or a short child’s.

I dropped my bags and took another photo. I was on a quest. This couldn’t be a coincidence, especially considering that the two cars were a block apart! I kept walking. I saw the first car on the pathwalk to someone’s house: did a kid move it?! Where is everybody?

Walking by the children’s playground near my house I stretched my neck in hopes of catching  a sight of more cars or any indication of who this Amelie-like gamester was. No idea.

As I was getting close to my house, I squeaked when I saw a third car! What! I took a photo.

I should’ve gone out to hunt more cars in our neighborhood, because there must have been more. Cars like these probably don’t come in sets of only three, and if someone planted them around the hood, that someone must have had more than three. Yesterday my roommate saw a carcass of a similar yellow car. The children got to them and already destroyed these beauties that shoulda been on someone’s toy mantelpiece instead.

My Weekend Meals: Recap

And the reasons why I should stick to salad and leafy,  non-meaty, non-carby things this coming week. Except for Wednesday night when I will be venturing out to Buca for a dinner.

I. Friday

It started with a dinner at Enoteca Sociale, which you should try visiting for yourself. It’s Pizza Libretto’s sister restaurant on 1288 Dundas Street and Dovercourt. Really worth it. They also have a cheese cave with more cheeses than regular food items (listed on the menu, teehee). Follow Enoteca on Twitter.

For wine we ordered Faraghina 2009, which was a crisp, dry white wine. Despite eating a medium-heavy meal we all agreed on trying this wine and were not disappointed. Please keep in mind that I forgot to photograph some items on the menu. That’s my fault. For next week’s recap I’ll be more careful.

We started with crispy veal sweetbreads and arugula, as well as artichoke fries. For the first round of firsts we ordered house made pappardelle braised rabbit, house made duck liver ravioli sage brown butter and raviolo (ricotta, wild spinach & peas) with porcini mushrooms.

The latter (and the above photo) was part of the tasting menu which also included chef’s antipasto, ontario lamb chop parmigiana & green beans, treviso & green salad. Here’s the lamb:

For dessert we got allegretto (thermalised sheep’s milk, quebec, sharp) and a sweetened ricotta, almond biscuit & ontario peaches:

Then we ordered three kinds of cheese from Nonna’s cheese cave. Our server let us go downstairs and see the beauties for ourselves. Annie picked a blue cheese, Hesam got sheep’s milk and I went for the goat, which apparently turned out to be Nonna’s favorite,  Chaput St. Maure. Forgot to mention the dessert wine! Moscato was a pleasant surprise, with rose petals and just enough sweetness for a dessert wine.

II. Saturday

As if pigging out and enjoying ourselves last Friday was not enough, I made an appointment to meet a friend for brunch at Saving Grace. I had an Americano from Ezra’s Pound while I waited for this brunch spot to open. I then ordered poached eggs with some potatoes and chopped chorizo and Ontario peaches. The food was good and still light enough:

After the food I remembered that I was hosting a friend that night and went to Kensington Market to stock up on delicious things to cook later that night. I bought two salmon steaks and later that night battered them in blackened seasoning for that night’s feast. I also chopped up some homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers, add them to the arugula mix, diced some peppers and added chia seeds. the dressing was olive oil and some salt. See for yourself:

III. Sunday

The following day I had another brunch planned with Nadja Sayej of ArtStars whom I haven’t seen in a while. We settled to meet at Mitzi’s. I ordered the much-praised huevos rancheros and was disastrously disappointed. Not going to Mitzi’s for brunch ever again. The food was tasteless, prepared without any apparent care, and it the portion was seriously meant to serve three people. Bleh! Not again.

To make things right, I didn’t despair about Mitzi’s and instead walked back home home to attend to several things and to anticipate Meghann and our collage-making time. On Saturday I bought a fine pork chop from Sanagans Meat Locker in anticipation. I got a cocoa sauvignon spices for said pork chops, and I also added some pomegranate sauce to make things right. The following is the pork chop I made, and Meghann’s collard greens with butter. And homegrown tomatoes!

We decadently finished off the night with bacon butterscotch cupcakes from Yummy Stuff.

So yeah, I am going to buckle down this week. Excited for that!

Any questions? Holler!

Life Update: I’m Moving

I haven’t updated my blog in a long time; apologies to loyal readers. I have been preoccupied with everything but blogging about my life and other things. I think the biggest “issue” I have with WordPress is its “seriousness”. Blogging with WordPress is not an easy task (like it is with Posterous or Tumblr), nor does it appear as a light and no-frills solution. Tagging, categorizing, deciding on the best time to publish kind of intimidate me. I feel like I need to have a robust post before I put it on my wordpress blog.

Anyway!

Before April is over, I should fill you in on what’s been taking place. On Saturday, May 1st, I’m moving out of the house, where I spent past 2.5 years. It’s been a SLICE. Half the time was spent in university and the other half at work. In my mind, however, it will always be a student dwelling. I’m happy to be moving out and building a new nest (in Roncesvalles/Bloor West area), one that better represents my inner growth, interests and general developments in life. I’m also going to have one roommate; I’m convinced that she will be a great fit for me; she’s got her shit together, she’s a blogger, she’s bubbly and also works in the same industry as me, so that definitely adds to the combo.

Pictures later. But: In the new house I will have my own floor with a patio with a BBQ. My room has two (score!) windows, one of which is a bay window (hello reading in lots of natural light). The kitchen is brand new, the bathroom is spanking clean, the dining room is large enough for ample entertaining (from Mad Men parties to board game nights), and the TV room is cozy enough for screenings. All is well!

I’m very excited. As the moving day approaches, I am also more nervous. New life! New chapter. I’ve disposed of 10 garbage bags full of things already. I’ve thrown out a lot of things I haven’t used (or looked through, or even remembered having) in the past year or two. I’ve decided to shed layers and memories. I seem to try to hold on to as many memories as possible, whether they’re good or bad. But this “I have to remember everything that happened in my life” kind of mentality is what causes accumulation of useless crap. It’s all gone, leaving room for new experiences and memories.

I’m a little nervous because I definitely have no excuses to occasionally act like a student I’m also going to own more furniture now (those dressers, and possibly a couch). On one hand I’m settling down in Toronto, but on the other, I am uprooting myself from the routine (despite the changes for the better) of the past 2.5 years and leaping into new future. So this move is a liberating experience. After a year or two I will feel even more solid on the new ground, ready to spring into another city or a continent. It’s happening.

Another Foursquare Success Story!

Today marks one month of me using foursquare, and I thought I’d write about my experience over the last 30 “nights out”.  Foursquare is an iPhone app (also available on Android and I think Blackberry) that lets you “check in” to various venues from your office to a ditzy restaurant to a university to a laundromat. Whatever you want. The more times you check into one place, the more likely you are to become its ‘mayor’. You will lose your mayorship if another person goe to your venue more times than you. You’ve to keep checking back. You can also see who else is in the same venue as you. You collect points for visits, creating new venues and traveling long distances. You can see where your friends are. Oh, and you earn badges for various activities.

I like foursquare because I think it allows for more social activity (for me ), it lets you connect with people faster on any given night, and I like the thrill of collecting points / trophies for activities. Plus, as you can see it’s motivational in some cases I’ll describe below.

Success story: I haven’t seen my friend Steve in over a year. We used to work together, so we saw each other quite a lot back in the day, but since then our lifestyles changed and it became difficult to plan. We are foursquare friends. One night I was out and about with my ex-roommate when I received a text from Steve asking me if I was out. Why yes, let’s join forces. He saw my check-ins at various places throughout the night and decided to connect.

Success story: My friend Slava and I go to the same gym. We also started using foursquare about the same time, so we have almost equal number of check-ins to the gym. We are in a semi-rivalry over the gym mayorship. I think it’s great – every time I see that Slava checked in or worse, stole my mayorship, I feel an urge to go to the gym to work out. This run for the gym mayor has positive effects on my health. And I just unlocked the Gym Rat badge. Going to keep on building that tightbody.

Success story: I went to a movie theatre few weeks ago. I checked in, and clicked on “People” to see who was the mayor of the location and whether anyone else checked into the place. Lo and behold, my colleague Allen was in a theatre watching a film as well!

Success story: Let’s take it to the next level. Eugen and I checked into Squirly’s on Saturday only to see that two other people were at the bar, too. For such a tiny location, there was definitely a lot of foursquare presence. A pitcher in, a bloke comes up to us pointing to his fousquare screen and introduces himself. Being the friendly folks that we are, we totally joined forces and had a good chat over the remaining drinks. met a rad guy who works in a creative industry like ourselves. Score

Word of Caution! If you’re friends with half of your megalopolis (word of the week btw), there will be a lot of updates and notifications pushed to your device. I recommend turning the notifications off so as to avoid being hassled at 2am by your still-in-university friend’s updates from The Social.

This is me, you can now stalk me.

Winter Slang. Real Talk.

The time has come and I bestow upon you an injection of new fun words to spice up thy drone speak. Shake it up, add festivities! Thanks, trendcentral!

Gen Pop
n. term used to describe the general population when “bridge and tunnel,” yuppies, tourists or “undesirable” individuals “intrude” upon an event, outing, club or local restaurant
“Did you see that girl on the dance floor wearing purple Uggs? Wow, the gen pop really takes over this place on Saturdays. Let’s go to a dive bar.”

G.O.M.L.
v. acronym for the phrase “Get on My Level;” said when one person both wants to imply that someone else can’t keep up and wants to urge them to catch up
“C’mon, pot bellies are totally in. G.O.M.L., and order some chili cheese fries.”

Cuddy
n. a word used to describe something shady or sneaky
“He’s still listed as single on Facebook, even though they have been dating for, like, three months. That’s so cuddy!”

Curl
v. a new way to crop your pants without cuffing; best for skinny jeans, curling is when you roll the bottoms of your pant legs very tightly two or three times, creating a delicate cinch above the ankle
“If you wanna show off the studs on your boots, you should curl your jeans.”

Guacamole (Personal favorite!)
n. money, cash, or funds
“If we’re going to that bar, I’m gonna need to stop at the ATM to grab some guacamole for drinks.”

Post-Zuckerberg
adj. term used to describe the era of Facebook ubiquity
“In the Post-Zuckerberg era, I never email anyone, well, except for my gram and when I’m trying to dig my way out of funemployment.”

 

PS. In other news, my left foot is infected and quite swollen and I wish I had minion to tug fruit and vegetables up the stairs. I’m extremely lethargic from all the antibiotics I’ve to take.

PPS. Previous thematic post: Summer Slang, August 12

Quadruple Myself

I am a sucker for photo apps. If you didn’t know, back in the day I used to be heavy into photography, including spending my high school lunch hours in the darkroom, looking at photo books, magazines, walking around the city experimenting with shots, learning Photoshop a year prior taking photography class so that I’d be prepared to edit the negatives… Anyway, I love photos, taking photos and playing with photo toys.

I bought a QuadCamera iPhone app for $1.99 and, when it doesn’t freeze my screen, it is a fun little application. I think it requires way too much iPhone thinking power to work smoothly; sad story. Last night Josue took some fun shots of me and Lisa, and I thought I’d share them. Apparently there are not enough photos of self on this personal blog, har har.

The cool thing is, this app will give you both lomo-style four shots AND a gif file! You can select the desired filter and really experiment. Below are some shots of me horsing around According to Josue, “i’m really good at this”.

And nowwwww, the gifs!

Having a seizure yet?

Some Summer Slang For Ya

TrendCentral sent out a new set of hot wordizzles for us all, and I thought I’d share ze love.

Real Talk
n. This phrase is used to highlight that whatever is being said is the actual truth and not the rose-colored variety. One of the most famous users of this expression is v-logger Mr. Chi-City, who tends to drop the phrase every few seconds.
“Real talk, I was so hungover, I slept next to the toilet, real talk.”

Social Notworking
v. Checking your social networking pages while on the job.
“I got caught Facebook stalking by my boss today. I hope he doesn’t get mad I was social notworking.”

Gypster
n. A person who dresses like a hybrid of a gypsy and a hipster.
“There were hoards of gypsters at that Fleet Foxes concert afterparty in Echo Park last night.”

Shress
n. A tunic or shirt that is scandalously worn as a dress; the term has come into use because of the trend of girls leaving the house without a vital component – their pants. (And we’re not talking about mistaking leggings for pants; we mean the bare-legged girls that seem to be just wearing an oversized men’s shirt.)
“Can you believe she wore a shress to school? She looked like she just came from a slumber party.”

Epicocity
n. A word used to describe just how epic (i.e. awesome) something is.
“Did you see Tony jump out of the tree into the swimming pool? It was totally stupid but I gotta say the epicocity level was 10.”

DT
abbr. This strictly means “down to” and originated in the land of texting. Like other phrases that begin at the thumbs of teenage girls, DT has migrated into actual verbal conversations.
“Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?” “DTGS”

Berry
n. A term used to describe a member of the opposite sex.
“See them berries sipping on martinis? They look ripe for a picking.”

Here is the first part in the slang series

What I Was Made For

My dreams do not end at the white picket fence, a Golden retriever, a BBQ, a 2-hour commute and a pack of kids. No offense to people who aim for that, I have respect for that kind of life and clearly see the benefits. This is not an attack, but stage-setting.

I was made in a different part of the human factory. I got adventure, thirst, and restless, unbreakae spirit hardwired into me. I was meant to push the limits and go places others only vaguely heard of. I could not – at least not in the foreseeable future, – settle down and succumb to the droning repetitive Monday-Fridays, chore Saturdays and BBQ Sundays. Again, not a sin in my books, but not my priority.

I know there is so much more to learn, to try, to see, to know and feel. Especially in our day and age of digital communications. How can I feel content within my 5-block radius, knowing that I could be dancing in Rio and watching the fireworks in Shanghai, helping the kids of Tibet or learning how to manage a herd of caribous? We are all living in the same village now; I can’t pretend that I would be entirely content in the quiet, pastel, mall-like part of it.

McLuhan writes something that strongly resonates with me and compels me to move, act, interact, question and learn:

“the shock of recognition! In an electric information environment [...]Too many people know too much about each other. Our new environment compels commitment and participation. We have become irrevocably involved with, and responsible for, each other.”

I can’t sit around or simply operate in my micro-household galaxy.  That is why I plunge into the unknown; I will continue to do so for as long as I can. I want to die a life worth re-telling, a life worth of millions of gigabytes of memories, smiles, people and passions.

“I love the world; I want more than the world.” The Dying Man by Theodore Roethke. In Memoriam W.B. Yates.

Gourmet Acrobatics, i.e. plain ol’ feasting

I was just sitting on my patio in Looney Tunes bedroom shorts from La Senza (I’ve Sylvester & Tweetie), soaking in the wonderful sun over Toronto and thinking about how great last night was and what my favorite moments were. Then I realized that I might as well blog about this. Gotta archive memories for those octogenarian days.

I felt obliged to outdo the Beta Party’s edible offerings (i.e. the April patio party). I prepared the following: quail eggs with black caviar and zaatar; avocado with bella donna cheese on a heavy lemoned Parisian toastie; diced herring, green apples, onion on a crostini; straw mushrooms, Quebecois blue cheese salami, olives stuffed with lemons in a sea of virgin olive oil and aleppo pepper; smoked oysters with herbed goat cheese and a dash of black salt on toasties; cucumber cups stuffed with truffled chevre, zaatar and a dill; strawberries wrapped in prosciutto plus melon with prosciutto. I know it was a successful selection because there are no leftovers and everybody is happy.

I was very happy to see some of my favorite people gathered on one patio and enjoying themselves. Guests brought a varied selection of drinks, mostly wines. I was particularly impressed with Jeremy’s quest for a fine red. I even researched this Louis Max 2005 Gervrey-Chambertin Les Azerottes. Denise tied a pretty ribbon around the Francis Ford Coppola Shiraz (I talk about movies a lot to inspire such purchases, hehe), which was also great. Will’s Fat Bastard Merlot was fabulous as well. I haven’t had a chance to savour other wines to comment! Now that I look at the bottles, I notice that all of them are indeed non-Canadian (I pointed out my apathy for canuck wines in my Facebook invite)  except for Lisa and Josue’s Jackson Triggs. The LCBO near their abode closed before they could make it; Josue was actually temporarily upset about having to bring Canadian wine, ha)

Everyone enjoyed the music, as evidence by comments on my taste. That’s very pleasant to hear, it’s encouraging, folks. At one point we all remembered that Jay Goldman was missing, and quickly exercised a tweetmob. I tweeted “Jay Goldman @jaygoldman”, and every  Twitterer (and there were some sans it! I don’t entirely live on the interwebs, see) on the patio sent the same thing. Lo and behold, a couple of tweets from people who weren’t even on the patio followed, ha.

More people came later that night, we danced around and blasted classic Russian rock bands. If you are or want to be into Kino (as you should), check the Zvezda Po Imeni Solnce (A Star Called Sun) album. Even Will Pate made an appearance! I’m very glad about that. I even busted out Vosges Haute Chocolat: sweet Indian curry powder + coconut flakes + deep milk chocolate. After the crowd dissipated and I changed into my sleeping attire (said Looney Tunes shorts), Roger came back with the crew and we set out on a quest for pho. I wore Sylvester & Tweetie shorts in public! And had no Vietnamese late night foods. Bedtime with sunrise for us all stars. Wondrously, I am feeling energized, happy and not hungover, albeit I wish I could’ve slept till 3pm. To the right is the aftermath of 15-20 people soiree. Thank you all, there will be more of nights like this one!

Canadian Street Naming

Canadian cities oftentimes include street names that cover provinces, trees, (always) Broadway and various British historical figures. During my last trip to Vancouver, when I was looking up a way to get to my friend’s place, I found this curious little item: between Main and Cambie streets there are a bunch of successive streets named after Canadian provinces. From East to West they go: Quebec Street, Ontario Street, Manitoba, Columbia (presumably British Columbia), Alberta Street and Yukon. Everything is swell and sound until we realize that Alberta and (British) Columbia should’ve switched places. Someone must have done poorly in geography class, or simply tried to be cheeky. Either way, a fun fact about Vancouver.

Foodie April Calendar

Here are some exciting holidays that you may never heard of! I personally can’t wait for the bird day on April 8, because I am getting two budgeriars (a.k.a. parakeets or budgies) tomorrow

April 1

• National Sourdough Bread Day

April 2

• National Peanut Butter & Jelly Day

April 3

• National Chocolate Mousse Day

April 4

• National Cordon Bleu Day

April 5

• National Raisin & Spice Bar Day

April 6

• National Caramel Popcorn Day

April 7

• National Coffee Cake Day

April 8

• National Empanada Day
• International Bird Day

April 9

• National Chinese Almond Cookie Day

April 10

• National Cinnamon Crescent Day

April 11

• National Cheese Fondue Day
• Dandelion Day

April 12

• National Licorice Day

April 13

• National Peach Cobbler Day

April 14

• National Pecan Day

April 16

• National Eggs Benedict Day
  

April 17

• National Cheeseball Day

April 18

• National Animal Crackers Day

April 19

• Garlic Day

April 20

• National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day

April 22

• National Jelly Bean Day

April 23

• National Cherry Cheesecake Day

April 25

• National Zucchini Bread Day

April 26

• National Pretzel Day

April 27

• National Prime Rib Day
• It’s also a Write an Old Friend Day, so write that friend.

April 28

• National Blueberry Pie Day

April 29

• National Shrimp Scampi Day

April 30

• National Oatmeal Cookie Day

at Bar Gagarin

Originally uploaded by dreamtiger

This is one of my most favorite photos of me. This one is like a secret that I’m not telling, just look at those cheeky eyes. There’s something special about being in Berlin, sitting on a bright red chair that matches my hair, under a large pretty umbrella with a bright orange neon backpack, purple watch, teal shirt that says “It’s not over, not over, yeah” (which is, in my opinion, influenced by the Klaxons’ “It’s not over, not over, not over yet”), and teaching my friend about the proper ways of drinking vodka, according to the Russians. Our plate is called Intelligenz, and it includes chopped herring with apple, pickles, rye bread, onions and some other goodies.
I’m actually glad there is quite a number of us Russian folks in Berlin. It’s always nice to encounter fellow men so far away from the Motherland.
By the way, few days later, when I was in Barcelona, someone (an Eastern European fellow from Talinn, Estonia) who used to follow my Livejournal a while back messaged me and asked me if I was at Bar Gagarin in Prenzlauer Berg on such and such date. I said, yes, why. He said he was there at exactly the same time, and recognized my red hair. Wow, talk about coincidence!? Small world, folks, small world. I can only imagine what my life is going to be like in 5-7 years.

This is Dave drinking his portion of the Intelligentz

New Slang

I just got my daily dose of awesome via TrendCentral, which in my opinion is the best trend-watching and relevant service out there. All you marketers better get on the end of it. I dream of going to their Trend Schools in New York or L.A. In the past, I have narrowly missed them, but not next year! Interestingly, I started practicing hatecation last fall by eliminating the words “hate”, “don’t like”, “can’t stand” and constructing my sentences differently.

RECESSION-INSPIRED SLANG
Povo (po-vo)
adj. Spawned from the increasing popularity of new HBO series Summer Heights High, the Aussie slang for poor has infiltrated the vocabulary of recessionistas everywhere
“Caroline, I can’t go out to dinner tonight: My pay cut has left me totally povo.”

RELATIONSHIP SLANG
Ex-hole
n. Your ex boyfriend/girlfriend who dumped you via Post-it/text/drop-off-the-face-of-the-earth-disappearing-act and who is now flouncing around town with a new love interest
“I bumped into my ex-hole this morning – she said she was so sorry that she cheated on me, blah blah blah. I wanted to puke.”

Hot Room
n. A social setting that involves a mix of people whose relationships to each other are, well, complicated
“I was sitting next to my current flame and then my ex-hole walked in with his current girlfriend, who I had a falling out with in high school – total hot room!”

DIGITAL SLANG

Geequals
n. Two people who are equal in depth of arcane knowledge
“I knew I had met my geequal when Frank showed me his Star Wars light saber iPhone app.”

Myselfish
adj. A term used to describe people’s need for recognition and self-fulfillment via the Internet. This is accomplished with incessant Facebook status updates and TMI-Twitter feeds, and serves the purpose of making one feel important and/or noticed
“My friends consider my need to Twitter detailed accounts of my trips to Trader Joe’s, the gas station, and my opinions on anything, really, to be annoyingly myselfish. I consider it shameless self-promotion!”

THIS YEAR’S REHAB
Retox (ree-tox)
v. To go back on your New Year’s resolutions and do the opposite of the goals you set for yourself
“Instead of following my resolution to get fit this year, I decided to retox and take up cooking classes instead. Oh well, no one follows New Year’s resolutions anyway, right?”

Smashed Potatoes
adj. Drunk, inebriated, similar to the term “hot mess”
“Sorry I bailed without saying good night, but I was smashed potatoes.”

STREET SLANG
Hate-cation
n. Taking a vacation from being a hater where you are committed to not saying anything bad about anyone or anything; synonymous with “moral cleanse”
“Whatever, I know you have an opinion but just can’t speak your mind because you are on a hate-cation.”

Obama/Not Obama
adj. London street reporters proclaim that our new President has become synonymous with “cool”
“Yeah, that is so Obama!”

Alt-worthy
adj. A term used to describe people or things considered to be cool or trendy
“The pop-up art gallery on Elizabeth Street is alt-worthy.”

Mario Entertainment

I enjoy Mario video game, loved playing it back in the day, despite the fact that I never finished it! Never! Maybe it’s the Bowzer’s communist spirit that got to me. Who knows. But the Japanese recently did a live pupper/actor show. They were quite agile and animated, gotta love that:

And what about Mario inspired by a first person shooter?

Back to work, all!

Highlights of 2008

I’m glad the year of the Mouse/Rat is over. It was a tough year, but also a very rewarding one, filled with events, color and life. It was definitely a great one for meeting new people and leaving the dead end contacts behind. It was a year of travels, learning, emotional change of scenery, breaking the habits, and finding peace. In short:

Vice internship, movies with Slava, Barbi, snow angel challenge, high tea, cuckoo New York trip, mad revelations and heartbreaks, the legendary night of the Justice show at the Great Hall, indoor pool voleyball in Richmond Hill with a blizzard outside, Montreal for the first time ever, straight to Vancouver, the return of Dimitri, straight A’s that semester, “I love nature” cottage visit, summer internship, more Montreal, Lemeac, Rajni, Ottawa, Rafael Nadal, gourmet adventures with Roberto, Magdalena’s return, dancing late and coming to work early, Osho, red eye to Europe, constantly ringing cell in Berlin, Baltic Sea, goth party in the bunker, wasp attack, Kunstwerke, Michael and Karin’s epic search for a gallery, scootering in Ibiza, flying, getting lost in the hills with fuel running out, Gaudi, Joan Miro, Catalan people, Faulkner’s Light in August, La Tomatina, Valencia’s paellas, the girl from Jupiter, getting lost in Barcelona with a flight to catch, gloomy London and port, vintage stores in Shoreditch, Strategic Planning, yoga, wonderful professors, wonderful people, PalmsOut in October, jerks stealing my possessions, Vosges chocolate in SoHo, Coney Island freak show, Mad Men, calming down, peace of mind, movie night with dear C.L., playing the tambourine till 4am, BBDO, roommate reunion, blizzards in Vancouver, the return of Scotch, securing that opportunity, The Sacred Book of the Werewolf, light at the end of the tunnel, Russian madhouse, caviar and champagne on New Year’s Eve.