Inside My Head

over the summer i acquired a plastic cow. in my Light & Studio class the assignment was to create a tabletop set up and shoot it using colour slide film and light it with tungsten lights. so rather than just toss a bunch of objects onto a piece of fabric for each and every lighting scenario, i took it upon my (bored) self to build a diorama of a plastic cow being abducted by a (tart tin) UFO and two plastic soldiers there to protect it while the other barnyard animals looked on. it came out awesome, i poked some holes in the background and then backlit it, check it out at my Flickr page.

so then i was just left with this plastic cow, sitting on my desk amongst all my other random things. that is until in Digital I this fall i was assigned a scanning assignment. one of the tasks was to use the scanner as a camera... time to dust off the plastic cow. so i set her up on some green and blue ribbons (pasture and blue sky)... and the two plastic soldiers still dutifully keeping watch (photo coming soon). and then the last one was to experiment: she spiralled into a psychotic(?) mess. (she was already feeling pressure from having to watch her uncle, Mr. Moo get batted around by a [comparatively] giant cat, Shrek [her favourite toy] photos again coming soon).

so if we look back: she was stuck (literally glued to my tissue paper grass) and almost abducted, then followed around by soldiers relentlessly and she had to helplessly watch her uncle (who for some reason is only a severed head) get attacked and she was blinded by the light inside the scanner (as was i given i had to keep the scanner lid open for the experimental one given i had to move stuff around) all of which led to her spiralling dissent into a bad state.

so now she is going to run away. and appropriately enough it is raining. and it is going to keep raining apparently until at least Sunday, and i need to get this done. yep, i am venturing into the last bit left: black and white photography. 36 shots of her exploring the city. i even found her a mini-umbrella to hide her from the rain.

you think that's nuts? i was going to go down to Buffalo and instead the storyline was that she was searching for a husband (i was even going to make her a veil)... until i remembered i was after bull not buffalo. t'would have been nice to shoot in a new city instead of regurgitating the same subject matter and locales over and over. hence the subject matter switch to a plastic cow.

at least i am not making/buying her some plastic rain boots!



that is her all the way at the back. pay no attention to her clone in the front left... unless i bring in the clone?! no, too much.
also this is not the backlit studio version. this is just shot with my DSLR solely for documentary purposes. as if i would ever post my best shots ;) those are reserved for my portfolio!

As soon as you sat down across me from on the streetcar, I saw it, I saw my likeness in you. I know you saw your likeness in me, because as soon as you sat down we exchanged a mildly amused look and you gave me a half smile. As I continued looking, my heart sank. You looked so disheveled and uncared for, it was heartbreaking and sad. You can do better than that guy you were with. Under that baggy raggedy clothes and those sad tearful eyes is a beautiful person.

Weeds. i gave up on that show at episode 11, season 4 due to a dwindling plot line and dwindling character (Nancy). i was told by Mike (who introduced me to it in the first place) that in season 5 it picks up again, and i trust his tv-taste. psyched for it to start, i was further encouraged to start watching again by some awesome radio ads. they took the theme song and changed to words to be about what channel and what time it was on. i was craving it so bad because of that commercial, walking around with the (awesome!) theme song stuck in my head... only to be disappointed by the first episode not playing it (pointed out to me that ot's because the show no longer takes place in Agrestic), and of course the episode was not of the calibre i expected. somewhere deep down inside i hoped they would bring back the theme song in episode 2, but alas nope, just a lame opening. and an only slightly amusing episode. my theory: the lack of awesome theme song has (somehow?) affected the quality of the plot.

being back the Weeds opening theme song i say! just rewrite the words to fit the current plot, duh.

(note: in Canada we get it later than in the States, it just started up here)

over the weekend me and Brent went to Collingwood, to get me away from my tin-can-grave which was pushing me precariously close to the edge, i was ready to kick it out the window. while up there, on one of my many trips to Tim Hortons, i noticed that they had a donut called Chocolate Snowflake which got me SO excited! and as i looked at the actual donut, my heart fell into my stomach... it was NOT the chocolate snowflake i had fallen in love with eons ago. no it was some shoddy imposter teasing me. the next day i decided that it was not fair to get all mad if i didn't at least try it. so i did, and it is LAME compared to the original! all it is is a french cruller dipped in chocolate on the top and sprinkled with icing sugar. so uninventive and boooooring.

NOT FAIR.

bring back the original Chocolate Snowflake!

i am taking my "fight" to the forums. join me.

my computer has been giving me problems, i have consulted with several of my well-computer-versed friends as well as random internet people (albeit i was reading about THEIR problems) and partly inspired by the book i am reading, i have decided to post my dilemma here, in hopes someone will stumble across it and just happen to have the solution i am looking for.

so my saga goes:

a week ago i downloaded a program (which i scanned with AVG before running) to convert .mov files to a workable format for Windows Movie Maker (yes that is how lazy i am). i didn't configure much in the settings of what i was converting TO. as it turns out i was attempting to convert to some HD format, which prompted a need to update my DivX Codec, and because i so really wanted to edit my cat movies, i updated, only to find out that WMM didn't support this new-fangled format (i switched to converting to .mpg and that is well).

soon after this, i was trying to burn a DVD using Nero 7. but it was taking forever and the buffer was going up and down (like crazy). so i did a SpyBot scan, thinking spyware was slowing down my comp. nope. virus scan next, but it was going too slow given i was still burning, so i had to abandon that. in all the burning took an hour. i read up that AVG is not the greatest and it can slow down comps (and i remembered having trouble with it before) so i uninstalled that. along with DivX given that was what seemed to be causing me this pain. both to no avail.

things got worse. now it would take over an hour and then at the end of that i got an error (and a wasted DVD DL). i looked it up online and there was mention of the harddrive needing defragmenting (which i had checked for a week ago and did not need) and apparently it was in need of defragging, so i did that along with disk space clean up. it seemed to help a little at first, but still errors.

next i did a disk error check and a check on my DVD drive. both are fine and in working order it says. i tried to troubleshoot my DVD burner, but got lost in the Microsoft web of links linking to previous links. a friend suggested it's my burner, but it's a Philips brand and newly bought just last year. i tried to update the driver but there is now new one. next i tried to "rollback the driver" as Microsoft suggested, but there was no previous driver. at a loss i ran a virus scan and turned up nothing.

my thoughts: i have to reinstall the drivers on my DVD burner, i have to reinstall Nero 7, or i need more RAM. but would redirecting my memory to RAM help?
what do i do? i am at a loss. help me computer wizards!!

EDIT: the converting program is called Pazera, i downloaded it for free from CNET, it had fairly good reviews and i scanned it before opening it, and then scanned it again when i installed Avira instead. also: i randomly get keyboard errors when i turn my computer on, i would say average once a week my computer does not read my keyboard initially, i have to plug in a different keyboard (it has a different end to plug-in, the purple coloured one, which for typing etc.. my comp cannot read, only for getting out of that error screen) but as soon as i get out of that error page and plug my regular (USB) keyboard in (now i don't even unplug it, just plug in the second one) it works fine!! and i always get that error screen because every time i get an error screen saying: Computer failed system memory test, press F1 to continue. and i should also say: when i am not running Nero 7, it works fine, i can run multiple programs at once with no problem (save for Windows Movie Maker, but that i know for sure is due to it being a shit program.) also any suggestions on better (and easy to use) free movie editing programs are welcome.

again, help!

another school year is upon us... well us students. no more sitting around, lounging in the sun... doing nothing, being bored... it was awesome. but with this wretchedness comes my all-time favourite season and that is: good TV season! yay!! so far i've only seen Melrose Place and 90210. and i must say this: Ashlee Simpson cannot act for shit. and it is very evident given the "role" they gave her. she just pops up every so often with an awkward one-liner then disappears. its annoying and ruins the flowing continuity. 90210 was much better, but maybe i am just more accustomed to it? Shenae Grimes as Annie seems to be heading down the same path as her previous character on Degrassi, boring. sadly there won't be any Breaking Bad or United States of Tara this year. but to make up for it, i am giving Weeds another chance, i stopped watching after the second last episode of season 4 (last season here in Canada, where we are behind) but have since decided to try again, mostly just because they keep playing the theme song on the radio in a commercial.

with this also comes the annual TIFF. which for non-movie goers like me means: freebies abound! why today alone i raked in: free Diet Coke (in a fancy glass bottle i might add), free Reese candy bar, free shampoo (twice, to be fair its been a free shampoo summer, i am set until next year) and free Fuze juice (again like the shampoo, it was all summer long). i haven't seen any celebrities, which is no surprise given that i barely grazed past Yorkville today in a desperate attempt to get on the subway before the mass hoards of rushhour came out (i made it home safely, no drowning in the crowds)

tomorrow i will venture out in search of more freebies, while on my way to a freebie (free movie screening at Yonge & Dundas AMC at 6pm). but so far you know this: free Diet Coke & free Fuze juice (at various parts of the city) and free John Frieda Frizz-Ease shampoo+conditioner at Yonge & Dundas Sqaure (outside H&M).

up until i left for San Francisco it didn't really seem like summer around here. well actually, it still doesn't totally, given that every day it has rained, even when they called for clear sunny skys, we still got a mini-thunderstorm. but when we returned, even at 1am, it was hotter in Toronto than it had been the whole time in SF. it was humid and muggy and i thought to myself, finally its summer!

it has been a rather condensed summer though. we went up to a cottage on the Civiv Holiday long weeknd for four days, to partake in a softball tournament. i learned i am no good at softball. i finally got to go swimming and my bikini finally got some time away from my closet. i even got attacked by a bat, he flew almost right into my face... twice. and the mosquitoes attempted to feast on me, but alas were no match for my fast reaction time and killer slaps.

with the heat came the realization that not having AC sucks. so me and my mom ran off to Dufferin Mall to bask in the air-conditioned glory (not a whole lot of shopping there).

we came back just in time to celebrate my birthday. i spent the day asleep in the park, gorging on cupcakes and fruit. and of course some delicious barbeque, because what is a day in the park without some good food? got an awesome iPod touch for my birthday too.

of course, i went on a freebie birthday hunt. free lip gloss (from Aerie, and Sephora), free drink at Starbucks. not a big haul, but still good.

then came the weekend of The Taste of the Danforth, Mike came to town just for the occassion. we walked and we walked and then we ate and ate some more. we decided to try kangaroo burgers. its a bit of a sweeter meat. but still delicious. and then for dessert, of course we had baklava. mine was drenched in honey, so much so that it was literally pouring down my arm, and i was leaving a big sticky puddle in the pavement. Mike was complaining that his backpack was heavy, so we got some free helium filled balloons and tied them to his back, to no avail of course, but it was still entertaining. at the end of the night he gave me his balloons, so i was stuck walking around with 6 balloons tied to my bag, i looked like a crazy lady. (my kitten, popped one and got scared and hid under the rug)

the next day i returned to the Danforth and ate an entire quail. not that impressive, given its no bigger than a pigeon. but way more delicious. and i had my beloved rum balls. still the best rum balls around.

Day 5- Mon. July 27

                I learned a late lesson on our last day: Starbucks IS cheaper in the States (I was led wrong by a Starbucks in the airport) and sweeter too. Starbucks also got us kicked off the trolley that we were going to take downtown to get to the airport. So instead we had to walk, uphill, and very fast because we miscalculated just how much time it would take us to get to the airport, given that from downtown we still had about a half hour ride on the BART. Another lesson learned: San Francisco is the worst city to be late in; procrastinators and lolly-gaggers beware. We had just missed the BART train to the airport and had to (in agony) wait 15 minutes (agony because of how late we were).The huge line-ups at the airport were not much help, given we had about 20 minutes to check-in, get my baggage (filled with precious 2L of Cherry Dr Pepper and California wine) checked and board the plane. To our rescue there were some self-check-in kiosks, but they were for boarding passes only, no luggage. So we frantically looked around for anyone who could help us, and the guy just told us to cut in line and I quickly realized he meant the line for the self-check-in for luggage, which had been right beside the boarding pass only kiosk. Another lesson learned. We ran like the people in Home Alone and made it with no time to spare (meaning no time to grab food) only to find out that our flight was delayed because of heavy storms in Texas which is where our layover was. So we did have time to find food.

All that rushing and we now had time to kill, we settled for the first food place we found and it was gross. My $10 burger tasted like crap, it was dry and bland and so not filling. We continued on through the airport in search of flight-snacks. In that search I unexpectedly found some Keebler food, a brownie to fill my cravings. Alas, there wasn’t much else selection, it sucked really. On our way back to the gate I saw a guy about to fall into the same burger trap I had fallen into, I felt like running over in slow-motion and smacking it out of his hand while yelling “Noooooo…” and then him getting all mad and then me saying, “Trust me, it was for your own good,” and him still being mad at me and then biting into it and making a face much like the one I made. And then he would look down sheepishly and thank me. Maybe even call me his hero. Our plane on the way back was a 747 and was roomier and bigger and in general better, I even got a pillow! There was free music playing out of the arm rest if you plugged in your headphones and we found of that they served Sierra Mist and Dr Pepper on the flight. The icing on the cake was that the in-flight movie was 17 Again, and it was awesome, as was my greasy Keebler brownie.

When we arrived in Fort Worth we had to run again like mad, because we only had about 10 minutes to catch our connecting flight home. Impeding our way was the stupid design of the DFW airport. We had to take the LRT which actually circles the massive parking lot! When we got to the section of the airport we decided to double-check that the gate was still the same one the captain had told us, and it wasn’t it had changed. Thankfully it was just in the next section, a 2 minute run. We arrived at the gate just in time, out of breath, panting, and of course I was hungry again. Not to mention the whole time we were running I was wondering if my luggage would keep up with me, or if we missed the flight would my luggage have made and it be waiting for me? Or lost somewhere in the abyss? I must’ve thought of every imaginable possibility for an adventurous trip my luggage could’ve potentially taken. Again, our flight had been delayed thanks to the storms. I was reassured my luggage would make it home with me. We settled down and had some Popeye’s Chicken which wasn’t all that bad, or I was just that hungry. The chicken nuggets appeared to contain real chicken, and the people gave me way more than just six. The sweet ‘n’ sour sauce was oddly spicy though. Whilst on another snack-run I discovered that things really are bigger in Texas: I found a massive Rice Krispy Square, about the equivalent of 3-4 of them stacked together.

The second airplane was slightly smaller than the first but still had TV and radio. The 80’s station had a funny commercial: “What time is it? Check your Swatch! It’s the 80s.” For the plane trip this time we had Butterfinger Crisp and Almond Joy and they played The Office and 30 Rock. All of which helped calm my nerves when we hit some turbulence and passed over lightning happening below us.  My overall lesson learned was that the theme of day was running for and almost missing transport connections but them ending up being delayed so in the end we rushed and stressed over nothing. It was uphill both ways.

Day 4- Sun. July 26

                We took the historic cable car (not to be confused with the famous trolley) to Castro. In San Francisco they have old streetcars from all over the States; the one we were on was from Chicago, Illinois. In Castro we stopped for a light lunch at yet another recommendation from the guide book (it just happened to be right on the corner when we got off). The guide book failed to mention the massive portions of food dished out at this “café” that also serves pancakes as big as a dinner plate and mile-high sandwiches. We walked up through Castro, and passed a guy in a leather skirt, on our way up to Haight-Ashbury (the hippie district I’ve been told). Height-Ashbury was pretty cool looking with some interesting stores, and it smelled like weed and sometimes it smelled like incense. It was a bit sketchy though and there were definitely more than a few oddballs. At the edge of height-Ashbury was Golden Gate Park. In the Park we went into the garden to see if there was a way to cut through it to get to the Japanese Tea Gardens faster, alas we got lost. We ended up spending at least an hour in there, eventually getting distracted by a promise of some giant redwoods (which obviously led to some Cruisin’ USA comments and my ingenious idea to go on a Cruisin’ USA roadtrip and travel the route). Alas, there were really only one or two redwoods and they were small.

                Surprisingly you had to pay admission to get into the tea garden, so we instead went across the street to sit on some benches in the shade and snack. We just so happened to sit down in front of bandshell where there was an orchestra playing classical music. As we made our way back to Haight-Ashbury we passed some people swing dancing to a street band and further along people dancing on roller-skates to “Shake Your Groove Thing” and just past them was a two-piece jazz band playing on a bench. I guess people really let loose on Sundays. As we were walking back down Haight a guy noticed that Brent was wearing a Blue Jays shirt and hat and remarked to his friend and they both laughed at him. The map did not make it obvious that Castro turns into another street so we missed where we were supposed to turn to go back down through the gay district to the streetcar. But thankfully Haight ends at the street where the streetcar runs, we were surprised to see it and it caught us off guard. We thought we still had a ways to go. In the streetcar we passed an optical store called “Site For Sore Eyes” which made me giggle, outing me as a tourist.

                All that walking caused a severe hunger attack (yes, even after a giant stack of pancakes and panda cookies) which led me back to In N Out Burger, which was a bad idea given it was a Sunday in the Wharf. After a long wait, I finally had my awesome burger but alas having to navigate the crowd of tourists as we made our way back to the hotel impeded my burger eating abilities, but I still managed to finish it before we got to the end of the block. I went back out again in search of more souvenirs (having already forgotten how bad the crowds were). I also ended up buying a huge stash of American candy bars, of which I couldn’t help myself and I ate a few. Clark bars are delicious. We headed to the Wharf in search of dinner and fearing the crowds; we avoided sit-down places and opted for our tried and true dinner menu: sourdough pizza and crab cakes to go. In the Wharf there were stupid people abound, an entire family stopped all at once, taking up the entire sidewalk! We had to walk in the street to get around them. While I was getting tea there was another stupid family who all cut in front of me in line, and then the kid of the family stood in front of the other register even though she was not ordering, she was just in the way making for a very awkward situation as I had to go around her. Then as if that were not enough, more people were standing in front of the sugar and cream. I finally got to it, and then had to listen to a guy who wised on to the fact that there were girls in his presence, so he started talking about, of all things, his workout regime! As if that would impress anyone?! On our way back we grabbed a pint of Ben & Jerry’s “Everything But The…” (only because I had never had B&J before), some plastic spoons and Swedish fish. And of course we had another TV + food fest.

Sat. July25

                Golden Gate Bridge was decided on as our next destination, but not without my morning coffee fix. For that we headed back to Ghiradelli Square. The smell was overwhelming and I ended up buying chocolates to go with the good coffee. We took the scenic route along a bike path to get there. Along the way we saw some starfish in the lake and looked out onto the ocean from a dock. This dock had a confusing sign saying you couldn’t take certain types of crabs from the ocean, the way it was written seemed to imply that you could just reach over the rail and pluck one off the post holding up the dock. Looking back at the bridge to Oakland you could see the sun glint off the passing cars’ windshields which was kind of ironic given that where we were it was foggy grey and cold. As we got closer to the bridge we saw some people training for the Sunday Marathon. And even closer to the bridge the water was very wavy, which some surfers were taking advantage of. It was entertaining watching them wipeout. It took almost an hour to navigate the foot traffic while simultaneously trying to take photos and get to the other side and back. On our way back we also decided to go see the Palace of Fine Arts (again, another great recommendation from the guide book) but not before getting some food from a place called Crissy’s Café. It was the best chicken soup with veggies ever, and the iced tea? It was made of actual tea! I was shocked. And the cup containing the iced tea was made of corn oil and was completely compostable. The Palace of Fine Arts was as beautiful as the book said it would be, but it was odd to see pink coloured columns. There were some sculptures of ladies atop a few of the columns and one of them had a seagull perched atop her head. We even saw a wedding couple having their photos taken.

                We walked back through the residential neighbourhood Presidio and made some locals laugh with our amazing disoriented jaywalking skills. I tested the waters and only went in ankle deep and deemed it better than Lake Ontario in that it was actually warmer and it did not give me a rash on my foot. To recoup our energy we went to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. Ice cream in hand, we settled down to recharge and what better way than by watching MTVs Teen Cribs? One girl had a pet deer named Bonita, that made me choke on my ice cream I laughed so hard. Ready to go again we headed out to Russian Hill and then Nob Hill. What we did not anticipate was how very steep it was going to be on our way to Vallejo Hill, which we never did end up finding, but we did find another nice park with a gorgeous view of the Coit Tower and Oakland Bridge and the bay. Along the way there were some humorously named laundromats such as “Light’n Your Load” and also “Tons of Bubbles” which from afar I thought it was a bubbles supply store selling stuff like bubble mix and wands. From there we went to the street with the steepest grade in all of San Francisco, with a grade of 31.5 degrees: Filbert Street. It was purposely planned out so that we would get to walk down not up it. It was in fact so steep the sidewalk had stairs and a guy drove down in his pickup truck yelling “woo” out the window. Russian Hill was full of beautiful houses and more steep hills. We went to McDonald’s so I could satisfy my curiosity with a sweet tea, and they are not lying when they say sweet. It was undrinkable. At the Wharf we got sourdough pizza and crab cakes for dinner, which may sound gross but is an awesome combination.  We went to Safeway so I could continue my quest to find Keebler cookies (the coconut chocolate chips ones) but alas they were not there. Food spread all over the bed, we pigged out and watched TV and drank sugarcane 7Up (which was actually a different drink called Bubble Up that was mistook for 7Up).  Late night TV, pizza and crabcakes was awesome.  There was a show called “Extreme Fast Food” followed by “Extreme Pigout” where they showed a place that serves a 15lb burger, at which point I gave up on TV. It was just gross looking.

Day 2- Fri. July 24

There is nothing like starting the day off with a Spanish news show… especially when there is a guy in a bumblebee costume, an actual real guy! I watched for a bit to see if he would get into any comical situations but alas he is no Bumblebee Man. This kind of TV is expected when you wake up at 5am thanks to a wonderful backwards time zone skip. A couple hours of TV later it was time to head out and find some coffee (thankfully there was a wonderful little coffee shop in the Wharf that also served Krispy Kremes and rice crispy squares the size of my fist!) and head to the ferry to Alcatraz. With such an early start we were still some of the last stragglers to arrive, but just in time to hear one of the employees (desperately) try and get people interested in seeing the (apparently) award-winning gardens on the island. As if that was why we were going, nevermind the “inescapable” prison, let’s all go see some flowers! Alcatraz itself was pretty awesome and large enough that the crowds weren’t too annoying, save for a few stubborn people who would just stand there in my way and not move. The gardens were not that great, partly because walking through was very awkward as there were volunteers at work there. The views from the island were also stunning, the Golden Gate Bridge was half visible, but the upper half was covered in fog.

Once we were back in the Wharf we headed downtown, passing through the Financial District which is not as impressive as the one here in Toronto, there was really only one (sort of) skyscraper and it was weirdly shaped, the Transamerica Pyramid. We decided it was shaped like that to withstand earthquakes. Eventually we passed a 7-Eleven and on my insistence we went in. To my disappointment no Cherry Dr Pepper was to be found so we continued on through the downtown core to Yurba Beuna Gardens (which means “good herb”). On the way there we had seen some ads about a display at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts (SOMA) of Richard Avedon’s work but we decided against it on account of our hunger pangs. Instead we turned tail and headed to the mall in search of nourishment. Instead we found confusion. Rather than your typical food court what we found was a “food emporium” with a bunch of food places we’d never heard of and the most confusing layout. We settled for a grill+meat kind of place and I had an awesome turkey burger and some garlic fries that were actually made with real bits of garlic, it was shocking. Hunger satiated, we went to a supermarket across from the food “emporium”, only to find out it was a ritzy fancy place, not exactly the best place to go looking for Pop Tarts and Cherry Dr Pepper. After a quick trip to American Eagle to buy a sweater (it was cold the whole time and I did not want to look like a tourist in an oversized SF hoodie) we headed to our original destination in the mall: the spiral escalator. It was not that interesting, the pictures had made the curve seem sharper, yet it was barely noticeable.

We walked back up through the middle street of Chinatown, this time going through the fancy gates. For the most part everything there was really expensive, $4 for a small stuffed elephant and same for a box of Pocky. It was only later on, further north that I found some decently priced Pocky and as a bonus some panda cookies. Then I spotted another 7-Eleven on another side street and insisted we go there too. This was a good call, because not only did they have Cherry Dr Pepper, they also had Dublin Dr Pepper and what we thought at the time was sugar-cane 7Up. I grabbed 3 bottles of Cherry Dr Pepper and garnered myself more than a few weird looks. We took the Filbert Steps (as the guidebook had recommended but not forewarned) up to Coit Tower. The stairs just kept going, no end in sight, a street even cut across them! It was well worth the agonizing twenty minute vertical ascent and leg pain because the views were absolutely gorgeous. From up there you could see the bridge to Oakland, Alcatraz, and the entire Wharf and bay. The line to go up Coit Tower was ridiculously long so we headed on to our next stop: Lombard Street. At first it was a very steep decline so we had to slowly inch our way down, being very careful given I was carrying my DSLR and did not purchase any travel insurance, but also because we had the precious Dublin Dr Pepper in its delicate glass bottle with us. As we got closer to the curvy part the street started getting a really steep incline. There were so many cars slowly inching their way down the curves of Lombard and even some people in the small tour car and even a few bikers. There were a few tourists who would actually stop and take a picture at every curve; it was great to laugh at.

All that uphill walking and stair climbing tired us out really good so we collapsed in the hotel room, which is sad given it was only about 4pm. Not letting the exhaustion get to me, I headed out alone to take another walk through Pier 39, mostly in search of souvenirs. I also was craving some tea (given all I’d had for the past two days was soda) but apparently tea down there must be made of gold or something because it was super expensive in most places, except for one: my beloved coffee place, The San Francisco Brewing Co.) where they had some really nice flavours. I was a bit intrigued by McDonald’s sweet tea but decided against it and went with the Tropical Green Tea from my beloved, where they even had honey! After my solo trip we went to Ghiradelli Square in search of food, which was helped by the fact that it smells deliciously tempting down there! But we were both too tired for a sit-down restaurant/battle with throngs of tourists so we settled for Subway. I say settled because my original plan had been to only eat stuff I couldn’t get back home. At the 7-Eleven near the Wharf I found some Cherry 7Up (which is delicious) and I found out that Safeway (which I had seen people carrying bags from) was a grocery store. I saw the famous “bushman of San Francisco” scare a little girl who went crying to her mom. We collapsed again but this time with food and drinks. Dublin Dr Pepper is the most delicious drink in the entire world. Thankfully the TV seemed to know how tired and in need of dumb shows we were because there was a Spongebob marathon on AND a Jackass marathon, so we were kept entertained. Finished the day off with a 100 Grand bar which is also delicious and I wish we had all these good things here.

Our flight was to depart at 8am, so we had to be at the airport fairly early, which meant a 4am wake-up call. Not exactly the easiest thing to do when you’ve been up until about 2am. As it turned out, we were up before the subway and had to sit there and wait and wait… it was agonizing. Little did we realize it was to set the tone for the weekend.

                The first flight itself was rather nerve-wracking in that it was my first, I was anxious, on edge and very very sleep deprived. We had to switch flights in Chicago, but we had a two hour break in between so we wandered off in search of food. We wandered into a food court and what a glorious lunch we had: Chicago-style deep dish pizza from a place called Reggies. It was absolutely delicious, some of the best (and most definitely greasiest) pizza I’ve ever had, it has kicked Papa John’s out of the running. How could it not? It had a buttery crust! We still had a lot of time to kill so we wandered aimlessly through the airport (which has a very confusing layout). Did I mention it was the airport from Home Alone? It also has an indoor playground! And food abound, not to mention art and planes and other stuff to keep a bored person occupied. Our appetites satiated and legs tired, we got back on a plane. Now that my nerves had been quelled, I took the window seat. All the clouds seemed so fluffy and light; it ended up making me crave whipped cream really bad. Eventually as we got further east things got fairly flat, and grid like… bored me right to sleep. Well sleep for a bit, every time I started to doze off, my head would snap forward waking me up. Thankfully we passed over the Rockies so that gave me something to look at to keep me from any more futile attempts at sleep. The area near the Rockies was uninhabited save for a few towns that at first are barely distinguishable; I had to squint to see if they were in fact towns or just my sleep deprivation at work. There were also weird round things in the middle of fields. I came to the conclusion that they were for navigation purposes, what else could it possibly be? Crop circles? Nope. Oh wait, Google says it’s irrigation systems. More fluffy clouds lead to more intense whipped cream cravings, which were not helped by the fact that I was ravenously hungry, which is a given since it was a 5 hour flight!

                The San Francisco airport sucked food-wise so we just headed to the BART (kind of like a cross between the subway and the GO train) to head to the hotel. Before we headed through downtown towards “home”, I demanded a quick stop in at Victoria’s Secret (for we do not have this gem in Canada) to satiate my curiosity and did it ever. From there we headed north through Chinatown. Not exactly the greatest of plans to head through a crowded neighbourhood when you are loaded down with luggage, hungry and sleep deprived. Once we settled in, we headed right back out in search of food, which was not that hard to do given we were in Fisherman’s Wharf, the tourist hub of San Francisco. Less than five minutes out the door and we found an In–N-Out Burger. It was hands-down one of the best burgers I have ever had. Sadly, they only have locations in that small corner of the States. Our appetites once again satiated we headed out into the crowds. It wasn’t long before we spotted that hobo who is famous for hiding behind a small bush and jumping out at people. It was great; he scared a little girl who went crying to her mom. Pier 39 is overrun with seals who had originally resided near Cliff House on the other side of town but after the earthquake inexplicably moved. They are loud, stinky and oh-so-cute. There are hundreds of them and they all just lay there on the docks. Every once in a while one would get up and yawn, disturbing his neighbour who would get up and make noise, irritating another who would then retort back with more noise. It was already late in the day so we decided to just stay close and go to the Aquarium of the Bay. In the Aquarium there is a really cool glass tunnel that you walk through and fish and sharks and sting rays all swim overhead. There was a starfish on top of whom a fish was sitting and another starfish overtop was pointing down at it as if to say “hey look at this!” On the top floor there was a pool where you could pet a leopard shark and a stingray, and another pool where you could touch starfish and sea cucumbers. The starfish was hard and rough, and the sea cucumber was really soft and very smooshy. I thought I was safe from the Silver Elvis who haunts Toronto, but alas he has brethren abroad, in San Francisco it’s the gold cowboy (actually, I think there is one in Toronto too, I don’t understand the appeal) who is just as creepy. Fisherman’s Wharf has some weird things, like a bench with two bronze monkey statues sitting on it. One monkey is playing the drums, the other a flute. We topped off our first day in San Francisco with some Cherry Coke, which I was overjoyed to have found.

i may not the be the most fashion-forward, or style savvy person. but i happen to chance across the odd fashion article here and there in my random internet wanderings. lately i have heard that the white dress is the "must have" for summer. which explains why my sister was running around like crazy trying to find one yesterday!

but really? a white dress? it doesn't strike me as the most worthwhile investment for summer. for one: summer is hot, the poor dress will eventually fall victim to gnarly pit stains. and if not that then everyone's favourite stain culprit: ICE CREAM! ice cream is a summer staple and it will be interesting to now people watch and see how many people (ladies really) have ice cream stains down the fronts of their (no longer) pristine white dresses. speaking of ice cream.....

(yes there seems to be a common theme in my titles)

yesterday we headed out to the baseball game. we being: me, my boyfriend and my sister. she had been wanting to see a game on account of having never been and just sheer curiosity. so we went yesterday because it was cheap tickets+hotdogs day. we packed peanuts and ate them all. leaving a giant crunchy mess underfoot. it started off rather uneventfully (unless you are a baseball fan, in which case: the Jays pitcher, Mr. Moustache as i called him, got all 3 Reds out. real fast too.). but soon it started. a Jay hit a home run and everyone went crazy yelling and screaming. one Reds guy let go of the bat and it flew into the crowd. a fan caught it but the player wanted it back, so the crowd booed him. then another guy broke his bat in half. then some pigeons flew down. then another home run. then the pigeons came back. another home run. and then some pitcher changes, then some more pitcher changes. then another home run! at this point i should mention: the home runs were all by Jays, it started sucking and Reds started scoring once we lost Mr. Moustache to Mr. Can't Throw A Good Pitch and the pigeons only stayed on the field very briefly. there were soem drunk guys in the upper level waving their shirts and with writing on their bellies, as the JumoTron was on them, you could see security trying to calm them down. one chick didn't realize she was on it, and just kept yakking on her cell. and then there was an awesome dancing kid. he was missing all 4 front teeth and he moved like a cooked noodle.

last night after finishing up another (exhausting) round of night photography i returned to my room with the intentions of just plotzing in my bed and sleeping. but the universe had other plans for me. as i was leaving my room (with my glasses off) i noticed a dark blob above my door frame. curious, i put on my glasses and returned to investigate and to my horror discovered a spider... a giant scary spider. all i could think about was him attacking me in my sleep! i panicked and ran to the other end of the house, staggering around in the dark i desperatly searched for the broom and a plastic container to trap him in. next i debated calling my boyfriend but decided against it because it was afterall 2 in the morning. instead i searched out my sister, who reluctantly (and with a mouth full of Listerine) helped me. but as we were about to knock him down, i noticed on the other wall ANOTHER dark blob! i screamed and ran. which also scared my sister, who then got mad at me saying she almost spit out the mouthwash. it turned out to be a fly. and we successfully got rid of the spider. i thought cats ate spiders? not Shrek. he was nowhere to be found. (see pictures of spider in album, yes i actually took pictures!)

no longer just a proclamation of jealous Americans and Hamiltonians, it is now a soon-to-be truth. no longer will people have a need to be jealous of us, for just as it happened back in 2002, it has come back again... yes, the feared garbage strike in the heat of the summer. well, the heat just kicked in yesterday, but it seemed so fitting. the summer heat begins on the first day of summer, at the end of which we get a garbage strike. except this time there is also a worldwide pandemic (yeah i forgot about it too). thankfully i am in Etobicoke (and save for summer school downtown, of which i only have one day left, this coming Wed.) where we apparently have a private comany collecting our garbage (*pats throne* so nice). but it's not like i am getting off scot-free. oh no, you see, the buses that run on our lines well they come from a bus depot that is in the strike zone (i know this from 2002) and they STINK. oh man how bad they stink. and sometimes the people you encounter also stink (but that is a given every summer. seriously, some days i feel like carrying a bottle of air freshner or maybe some Febreze). not enough? fine, how about this: the summer heat is getting to me (yes, i am aware its only the second day of the heat, it hasn't gotten me THAT bad, yet). what can i do about it? well there is only so much ice cream i can eat (*pats belly*), go swimming you say? well OK, let's see... the lake? unswimmable (see entry a couple days back, the lake gave me a rash). go to another part of the city where the lake is OK to swim in? well nope, can't. lifeguards are on strike, thus presumably there will also be no one to put up the flag telling you of the swimming conditions. and of course: the stench. no one wants to go swimming in a stinky place. and of course there are going to be those dumping their trash in the lake. that's a given. that leaves the pool. right? wrong. they are also on strike. that leaves me with: run away from the city and head north to Lake Huron/Georgian Bay. problem: no car, no money.

so its been decided. we're getting an air conditioner. one day into the heat and me and my mum looked at each other and pretty much it was decided "screw the heat, we need A/C". presumably the cat would have also had a say in this, rather a meow. having fur this time of year must suck.

Wintersleep was playing a free concert at Yonge & Dundas square on Friday night so we headed downtown. but to our surprise! The Cliks were also playing! but alas, we had some time to kill so we wandered around and looked at the vendors, watched a pigeon jump up some stairs... and i wandered over to the giant inflated Mountain Dew can... and chugged a whole can of free energy drink. then we went around and i came back and chugged another. the world was a tiny bit brighter and i was less stable and more shaky. it was awesome. after we re-emerged from the Eaton's Centre i looked across the street at the giant inflated Mountain Dew Amped can... and i felt a sudden urge to jump into the air and drop-kick the can. which would end in two possibilities: 1.) i would fly right through it and crash into the floor 2.) i would bounce off it and crash into the floor. not good. but then i was distracted from undertaking it, when i saw the most awesome sight my eyes had beheld thus far: the bucket drummer had a real drumset!! for years (at least 5) i have watched him play the drums on a set of buckets, collecting change to "buy a real drum set" and it has finally happened! ironically in these bad economic times.

while we were sitting on the steps of Yonge & Dundas Square waiting for the concert to start, a guy in a promotional SUV for The Hangover pulled up. i figured they would be handing stuff out, talking about the movie etc.... instead he got out, walked around it, and took a picture of it in context of the event. BUT i happened to be in the picture, and i was not gonna move and lose my sitting spot. so i made a face, and then whipped out my camera. i waited for him to come back around took HIS picture with the car. retatliation at its best.

at the concert i learned a few things about concert-goers. they are all really tall. secondly? they ALL smoke. no matter how far away you move from the smokers, you end up near some other smokers. and there was this one lady who for a while i was running with the theory taht she was the hula-hooping hippe from the pot rally i walked through last year, but i came to the conclusion she must be her grandmother. or pot ages you terribly? secondly there was this REALLY annoying guy who butted in front of us. he was wearing a beanie with hair sticking out underneath BUT it was so carefully placed. he looked like an ass. he was with some girls... who seemed more interested in having a conversation.... AT A ROCK CONCERT. how does this make sense?! one of them was even trying to maintain a cellphone conversation. things like this just make me wonder. they simply fail to make sense to me. i also learned that people at concerts have no concept of personal space. i witnessed countless incidents where someone was trying to pass by someone else and they actually kinda patted them on the back/moved them aside! there was also a perv there who i swear was just there to look at chicks. it was creepy and i could not have gotten away from him faster. scary.

in my daily ventures through the internet i sometimes come across interesting, entertaining, and sometimes downright weird stories. take today for example, today even has a theme: food. food=good right? not today it doesn't. our first gem comes from a Swedish company. they decided to take the good ol' cheeseburger and cram it into a can for "convenience". you just boil the can for 10mins in water and presto! cheeseburger. but how convenient is it really to ingest something so gross and gnarly?! the company apparently also makes powdered wine. *shakes head*

secondly, this one is for all the chocoholics, of which i am one: Le Whif. its an inhaler, through which you inhale chocolate powder that apparently gives you all the satisfaction of eating chocolate without the calories. it even comes in an array of flavours. i say bullshit. it looks like a poorlymade plastic cigarette, actually it kind of reminds me of those new Nicorette inhalers. just gross.

it started out with me scraping my leg on the edge of a picnic bench last week. which resulted in a rather odd injury, it was a scratch that was then swollen around it, and THEN a giant bruise (which fyi over a week later: still not healed!). from there, the cat scratched my finger, i cut my thumb with a can opener, slammed my shin into a car door. a bit more eyebrow raising than those though: i had gone for a walk (for which i was not adequately sunscreened, resulting in yet another "damage" to my body, horrid sunburn on one shoulder and patchy) and decided to dangle my legs in the lake, for it was really really hot. the next day i awoke to a surprise: a rash had formed on my right foot and my left toe. i ran down the stairs to see if my flip flops (that ALSO caused me some damage in the form of a blister between my toes) matched up with the injury  and lo and behold they did not. so there you have it: the lake is NOT safe for swimming.

and then finally le piece de resistance, the reason i need to get traveller's insurance for my trip: the day i felt like the guy in the Polysporin commercial: i was drying the dishes and i was holding my sister's mug (the same mug she had showed me earlier that day, she pointed out a chip in it), and the chip cracked... slicing my thumb open. and it bled. and bled. and bled. right through the kleenexes i wrapped around it, right through the bandaids i stuck to it. and as i was wiping off the blood and what i had thought was run off, it turned out there was a second cut on the other side too. so i spent the rest of the day with a gauzed up giant thumb.

*TKO* universe wins this round.

 as some of you may (or may not?) know, during high school me and my friend (and guest appearances) would reminisce about old TV shows. we spent much of class time trying to figure out the titles. it took us a few months to remember that the train that brings juice was in fact from Mr. Roger's and not RomperRoom as we mistakenly thought for a bit. i slowly started to drift away from this as my success rate started to dip. i no longer got that sparkle and look of recognition in my colleagues' eyes'. that wonderous look of fulfillment started to turn into a look of utter confusion as i desperatly tried to describe shows that i was sure existed. eventually i found it on the internet. it had been Clyde The Musical Jukebox that i had so gone crazy over. (forget i can't find the link, but i KNOW i wrote about it). well that was not the only show i bellyached over. there was another one. it was a Canadian show and there was a man with a square head, sandy brown/blonde hair and square glasses. he would always go check the mail with his puppet friend. and i racked my brain, bothered countless people, searched endlessly on the internet, changing search terms, trying to remember other aspects. and finally last night: closure. i figured it out. the show was called Take Part! and i am so happy to know that now!!

YouTube - Take Part! Theme Song
  

today on the bus i was staring out the window, bored and tired. and what should happen to cross my field of vision? why it was one of those fibre-glass moose from long ago! he was hitching a ride in the back of a pickup truck. cute. how does that alone make for a good day? well, my day gets better: i opened my Yahoo! email and apparently the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent me an email with the subject line: Good Day. good day indeed it is. even moreso when i get to go see the 20ft red rubber ball in the middle of downtown. i feel like Rover, all antsy and anticipating it. heck, i might just chase it around the city all weekend.

invention of the Frisbee went as such: the guy was bugging his wife as she was doing the dishes, she being super cranky on account of having spent the day cleaning up after her husband did not care for his aggravating ways, so she threw a plate at his head. he instead leapt into the air and caught it. thus the game of Frisbee was born. the ceramic dinner plate, being replaced by the plastic Frisbee we all know and love.

NOTE: that's what you get for pissing me off. rather than i give you my good ideas for a talltale, i hoard it for myself and butcher it as such.

EDIT: this is no longer relevant in that the "anger" was really just a misunderstanding of an email in which the sarcasm was not evident.

i was mad at Tim Horton's, boycotted them for months, wrote an angry letter and then i decided to turn the other cheek. that is, until they retaliated and tried to poison me. WHO THE HELL PUTS GREEN ONIONS AND PEPPERS IN CHICKEN SALAD?! its supposed to be: chicken and mayo. that is all. or at the very least put those on top as toppings. i was unaware of what lurked in my wrap, for when i ordered it i made sure they didn't put tomatoes or lettuce in it (blech!) and i bit right in, huge chunk. it was cold and lumpy and tasted funny. for the rest of the day ALL i could taste were those damn green onions. i mean, poison.

i was wary of starting another boycott/string of angry letter writing, because as we can see, the first one was not all that successful. all it did was prove how long i can go without Timmies. when what did my eyes behold? my two favourite things in the world on my third favourite thing in the world! the TV said Tim Hortons was giving away free coffee! sweet mother of pearl i thought to myself! on the one hand, i can boycott their "generosity"... but then an evil grin spread across my face as i thought.... OR I COULD TAKE THEM TO THE CLEANERS, MILK(sry for the pun) 'EM FOR ALL THEY'RE WORTH!!! and milk them i did. in total i had about 5 of their free iced coffees... and barely any jitters, although i did notice a steady drop in my rate of blinking.

since then, i have been boycotting them, but its still unofficial. i am craving an iced cap pretty bad, maybe after that iced cap.

NOTE: as i was madly typing this, i accidentally put in the wrong type of DVD for backing up my portfolio and thus wasted a perfectly good blank DVD. stupid Timmies, without even trying.