May I suggest this? I’m using it.
Heck, it may be even more compelling after tomorrow…
My life is a complete hellscape right now and everyone (myself included) is tired of hearing about it. Things don’t suck for me as much as they do for, say, anyone who lives within two hundred miles of NYC. Thus my whining no doubt gets tedious so I’m going to talk about something happy tonight.
And that happy thing is the fifteen pounds I’ve lost in the past four weeks. Note, mind you, that those four weeks even included a week’s vacation in Canada where I gave up even trying to be strict with my new foodscape (tonight’s running theme is the annoying overuse of “scape” as a suffix). I’m not really sure if it’s the actual mechanics of this “high fat, almost no carb” thing or the fact that I’m just consuming less in general and paying more attention to food overall, but it seems to be working. I feel better and I’m even sleeping better. Go figure. My doctor may actually have been right.
The torture, though, is that I’ve just returned from Canada but I can’t pig out on Mmm…érable and Coffee Crisp even though I still brought some of each back over the border. That kind of sucks.
Have been since Sunday. I’m none too thrilled about that fact, either.
A good trip home to Canada all in all and I’ll talk more about it (and kick in with the pictures) soon.
It was a very soggy Tuesday in Toronto and I was extra damp after walking four blocks to a breakfast place I’d noticed last night only to find that it didn’t open until 11:00. Apparently it’s more of a bar and only serves hangover breakfasts.
Monday:
- Breakfast in Kensington Market.
- Lots of walking and subwaying (is that a verb?) mostly downtown, Danforth Village, and the University of Toronto area.
- Lunch at the Coach House on Yonge Street, a quite wonderful old diner in a stretch of old low-rise commercial buildings that’s probably doomed.
- More books, and I accidentally just happened upon he final day of the University of Toronto’s annual Friends of the Library book sale. Just walked on campus, saw a sign, and there it was. Love when that happens.
- Dinner at Falafel Queen, followed by a nighttime drive around the city.
Today:
- Soggy trek to an uneventful breakfast.
- Back to the hotel to do some work that couldn’t wait till after vacation.
- Lurked around The Beach and had lunch at a diner on Queen Street East that provided a great salad and a very terse (OK…rude) waitress.
- Revisited that bookstore on Spadina and scored some amazing stuff, including a 1959 annual report from Loblaws.
- Dinner with a friend and former coworker from SF who’s back in his native Toronto now.
Off to Montreal tomorrow.
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Toronto? It just sort of feels like home when I get here. Of course, it’s a home I get to live in without having to commute to work or dealing with the fact that the heat doesn’t work very well outside for a good chunk of the year.
But still.
So far:
- A really quick visit to Pittsburgh Friday night. I really need to start spending more time there.
- Lunch with Sarah outside Buffalo and a visit to her amazing new house.
- An uneventful border crossing.
- Book binging and neighborhood roaming.
- Much shawarma.
Coming:
- Lunch today with an old friend from SF.
- More book binging.
- More Toronto exploration.
- Montreal on Wednesday.
Pictures when I return.
After a nutritious lunch, of course.
Pittsburgh tonight. Toronto tomorrow.
Watching This Is Cinerama on TCM and regretting not having seen it in the actual Cinerama Dome in LA a few weeks ago. Alas.
I may or may not be leaving for Canada in the morning, two weeks later than originally planned. Right now it seems “on” but I want one last talk tomorrow morning with one of the people taking care of my mom.
While in some ways I feel like the worst son in the world for leaving while my mom is till in the hospital (nothing life-threatening, just the next stop on the Alzheimer’s bus), I also realize that I can’t stop living my life waiting till she’s “better” because she’s not going to get better. And after the past few very stressful months of family and work, I need very desperately to get away and do something other than work, visit the parents, and collapse on the couch in front of the TV. Her life is not going to be impacted in any significant way by my departure. She may not even notice my absence. And this week is the only time I can really do it. So away I go.
Unless I don’t.
You know what used to be fun?
The old days, back when I used to be allowed to have my own life.
Sorry. Just thinking whining out loud.
Some random links to things urban for a Monday morning:
- Take that, Bay Area: Our research park is becoming more urban than yours. Maybe. (via Ed Cone)
- Similarly, does Calgary “do urban” better than Toronto these days?
- Toronto struggles with the downside of density, not to mention historic preservation, in the face of a major condo boom.
- So people are starting to see the advantages of some of my favorite travel destinations? I think that’s good…
- On Philadelphia: This was sort of my take, too. I never could put my finger on exactly what was missing in Philly, but it’s something.