Since there’s no snow on the ground, I don’t really have the drive to pull out my La Canadiennes yet.  I wore my “big ugly parka” (one of those long Triple Five Soul down-filled coats that were selling well in 2005) to school today and it was a bit too much, but until my tweed coat arrives (the ‘rents are in Hong Kong and are posting it from there), it’s all I have as my Soia&Kyo is too thin.  Amanda/Beyonce who sits beside me in class began to wear her fake Uggs yesterday and while I usually turn my nose up to Uggs, they seem rather appropriate for this sort of dry, sub-zero weather.  I saw these shearling-lined suede boots online and I felt reassured that there was something better available, not that I’ll be buying them from Harbin or anything.

[195 USD]

On another note, I was reading about Emma and Ronni’s Oxford Srafcon and their visit to an exhibition on steampunk and it reminded me of something James said to me at a party once when he noticed that because I could not drink, I lacked a party prop.  He suggested opera glasses.  The last time I wanted them was when I was watching Turandot from the nosebleeds at the Bird’s Nest.  This put me on an Esty quest and while I could not really find the vntage sort I was looking for, these old school fold-up binoculars caught my eye.

[15 USD]

Kinda cool, no?  Or I think so anyway.

I could really use some romance in my life.

Had a hella weird dream that mostly took place in the Tim Hortons at University and Sherbrooke just outside McGill.  I’m not sure where we started but it was like a reception in a school gym or auditorium where people were mostly milling around and circulating with the small talk and such.  We had to walk along  Rue Sherbrooke to get there.  Rizvan, this Azeri boy I had a crush on for the first week of the semester, and Anirudh from junior high (we weren’t particularly chatty and he isn’t a classmate I’ve kept in touch with) were the main stars.  The former might’ve looked younger than he already is (he’s only 18) and the latter probably looked something close to what he looked like in junior high or high school.  I’m not sure how old I was supposed to be.

Anyways, we’re at the reception and Rizvan is being far more interested than he would be rseal life, and also maybe less attractive at the same time.  We’re chatting and I may or may not be enjoying the attention but the get-together is almost over.  Anirudh shows up and asks me if I want to get coffee.  I’m kind of confused because I haven’t seen this kid in ages, but I oblige.  We were trying to find a real café but it was closing so we ended up at Timmy’s.  He hands me a couple pieces of paper which I don’t read carefully so I’m mostly confused for the next while until much later when Rizvan shows up again and I read them again quickly.  They’re (another familiar former classmate shows up sometime) warning me not to date him.  Huh?

There’s no real reason why, but this kid shows up and then it’s like awkward and boy-girl the rest of the evening and he doesn’t ask me out but asks for my number as the night leaves, when I remind him that he already has it and he seems kind of bummed out, but maybe it’s because in my dream world I’m back in Montréal and he only has my Harbin number.  It was weird, and he was less cute by the end of the dream.  Damn.

Or old news if you’ve been paying attention =P

I have four less teeth than I used to and Kat arrives tonight and on Wednesday I head to China.  Yup.  May I direct your attention this way for a little while.

Must say, from the dinner experience ten minutes ago, my father is really the biggest hypcrite I know.  I mostly sat this one out, as I really wasn’t in the mood to particiapte, but it was awful just to listen/watch.  That’s all I can say though, as it concerns fam stuff.  It’d also be a massive headache of hypocrisy to rewrite the entire blame spree.  I hate it when people can’t take responsibility for their own actions, and moreso when they think, “I wasn’t listening/paying attention,” absolves them of responsibility for their own affairs.  I wonder whether these are the defensive reactions of a person insecure about his own inaction or if he really believes it’s everyone else’s fault but his.

this morning i dreamed that i had the opportunity to go to this concert with artists i really like. it was the artists that comprised broken social scene, but they didn’t perform together, and the stage set-ups were really awkward. the first half was an outdoor festival concert, but the audience was unusually small. i was also awkwardly close to the front (like when you can only see a small part of the stage). after the first set, a platform on the side of the stage on which some fans were sitting collapsed, and i had to take care of a drunk friend who hit his head until better trained people showed up. later in the intermission everyone went to the bathroom, which was like a high school gym’s change room. fittingly, the second half took place in a school gym, where they were also screening a film on half the wall of a gym, and i kept getting in trouble for blocking the projection.

I didn’t to much else today.  I still have to clean up the apartment before my mom’s return tomorrow night.  I had French class tonight, which was swell.  I’m sorry I won’t be around for enough of the next month to take the next course with the same class, because they’re much friendlier than any other classmates I’ve shared a French class with since high school as simultaneously productive people to learn French with.

Most of the things I’ve been thinking about lately are to do with current events, so I won’t add my own commentary (maybe that’s what Facebook is for).

Rather, I’ll return to consumerism:

[ 2990 USD & 1380 USD ]

Absolutely ridiculous.

I was going to write a review of The Galindez File, but first I’m going to complain about the strike.  I’m not complaining about the strike itself – although I have some criticisms about how it’s going to play out for CUPE 416 – but about people’s reactions.  It’s only the first day today and the major problem is garbage collection.  Except on the first day the problem shouldn’t be garbage collection.  Garbage collection shouldn’t be a problem for another week.  Residents of Toronto knew that a strike was likely a week ago, and even if the strike weren’t on, garbage would not be collected today anyways.  I don’t understand how residents are already visiting trash collection sites (in front of which workers are picketing) to yell at picketing workers with tons of trash to dispose of.  How can you generate that much trash over the course of a single weekend?!  Geeze.  How can you already be angry that you have too much trash stinking up your household?!  It’s because you’ve generated so much garbage!

So yea… much more sympathetic to the parents whose kids are out of day care than with massive generators of garbage.  It’s such garbage.  I hope the city fines all the people dumping illegally.

I pulled into Montreal by train this evening for the last time of my undergraduate residence in this city.  For the last time of these four years, I passed the neon Farine Five Roses sign which you can see if you sit on the right-hand side of the train. It looks most brilliant at night.

It was one of the first markers I noticed in the Montreal skyline when I began to take VIA’s Montreal/Toronto trains. There was also Redpath Sugar at both destinations, connecting the two industrial cities of early 20th century (Upper and Lower) Canada, but I haven’t been able to spot it my last few trips (or maybe I just didn’t notice).  I’m going to miss it.  I’m going to miss the sites and sights in between Montreal and Toronto.  I’m going to miss having coffee with my mom at Union Station where the baristas at Second Cup always scald the milk.  I’m going to miss dozing and catching up on films without the distraction of the internet.   I’m going to miss meeting random people like that woman who asked me what my menstrual cycle was like less than five minutes into conversation, or most recently that really cool YA writer (hi!) whose work I still have to check out.  I’m going to miss train operators who depart late but manage to make it on time anyays (I have better experience than some friends who always complain, maybe they just like me better). I’m going to miss Redpath Sugar and Farine Five Roses.

♥ trains

There’s a great article in the Walrus this month by Monte Paulsen on rail progress (and subsequently, regression) in Canada, with particular interest in the Edmonton-Calgary and Toronto-Montreal (a.k.a. the Quebec-Windsor Corridor) routes.

The Turbo was capable of speeds approaching those of today’s fastest passenger trains. In December of 1967, a three-car Turbo set the world record for rail travel on a New Jersey test track, reaching 275 kilometres per hour. At that rate, the trip between downtown Toronto and downtown Montreal would have taken two hours — less than the time it takes to fly, once ground travel to and from the airports is factored in. [...] Instead, the train topped out at around 160 kilometres per hour, and the Toronto-Montreal journey took four long hours. Given that the drive can be done in five, the TurboTrain had little chance of commercial success. Read more.

Bummer… You probably don’t need to hear more about how much better trains are for the environment; you probably already know.  But trains are nice.  They’re comfy, they go straight downtown and connect to whatever mass transit system you like (I hop off at Union and head straight home to North York in less than 45 minutes).  And there’s something romantic and modern about trains (even if they developed in an age of imperialism).  So yea, I encourage you all to read Paulsen’s article about the situation in Canada, “Off the Rail: How Canada fell from leader to laggard in high-speed rail, and why that needs to change,” think about taking the train on your next trip, and check out the following couple links. Cheers.

• High Speed Rail Canada: Citizens’ Group
• The Man in Seat Sixty-One… already featured in my links: UK-based Mark Smith operates this personal site with the aim of helping people figure out rail transit all over the world and inspire them to look towards transportation that isn’t just greener, but also more rewarding.

If I have enough time and money, I’d like to take the train across Eurasia to Antwerp and get back home from China by freighter, as I mentioned earlier (fyi: I booked a one-way flight to China for late August).

I’ve been at home the past 10ish days (which I’ll post for real about later, like when I’m not at home), where I have a couch, in front of a television.  Of course, this means I fall asleep on the couch in front of the television almost daily, especially if I’m home in the afternoon.  It’s awesome.  On top of awesome, I’m noticing again that thing that happens to your neck when you fall asleep on your couch that isn’t a proper bed with proper pillows.  It’s not quite sore, but you can definitely feel it.

So anyways, my head is definitely better suited tilted slightly to the right.  I noticed this again in my sleeping positions and I know that it often crosses my mind when I hit the pillows trying to get to bed at night, on proper beds with proper pillows that aren’t my living room couch.  I figured: hey, it’s probably because I’ve been sleeping in mostly one position lately or something.  But just now, awake, I tilted my head and remembered a random memory in junior high sitting to the right of a boy I liked with my head tilted slightly right and worrying that he’d think I was trying to sit away from him because of my posture.  It’s mostly silly, except that I’ve had off balance awake-and-asleep posture for like… a decade now!

Weird, but of little note… unless you’re a hypochondriac… or something.  It’s late (except that it really isn’t).