Clean & Tasty

One of the things I love best about Toronto are all the divey restaurants you can chow down at. In Vancouver everything is so clean - I've actually seen people eating off the streets. Granted, it's at 2 in the morning when the bars close but I'm sure those fine citizens are very aware of what they're doing. Toronto, on the other hand, tries to be clean but misses the mark somehow, and this is precisely what I love.

Yesterday Chiuchiu introduced me to the JH on Queen West where you have to walk through the kitchen to get to the bathroom. The dirty dishes covered in tomato sauce and grease piled high on the belt were no indication of the tastiness of my avocado shake and the tomato lentil soup was positively delightful. Waitress 1 wore a lovely jacket covered in skulls, some of which sparkled, and served us with a smile. Then surly and bored Waitress 2 brought our food. I'm never sure why those who hate people work in the service industry.

In conclusion, these dives are great and well worth eating at, with the exception of Sneaky Dee's which smells like gym socks and cooked broccoli.

First Leg...

In less than a few hours I'll be on a plane to Toronto on the first leg of this trip to the Middle East. Right now it feels like someone else made all the decisions and arrangements and I woke up just in time to get on my flight. Who is this crazy person who makes these plans? I don't even do drugs, there's no excuse for this behaviour. I'm excited and I know it's going to be a great experience but saying goodbye sucks. The bonus of crying so much right now is that something is wacky with my tears and every time I cry my face burns. It's a self-inflicted and totally free acid peel which I'm assuming means I'll have fantastic skin by the time I get to Damascus if my face doesn't fall off first.

Check ya later, Vancouver...

Narcissist

I've resisted starting a blog for a long time, thinking it's pretty arrogant to post my thoughts with the idea that others would be interested in reading them. However, I read my friends blogs, none of whom are narcissistic. I find them interesting and like knowing where they're all at. Besides, I've got this big life change thing coming up and it might be handy to start blogging since I'm a very lazy communicator. I'm bad at keeping in touch - respond to emails in about three months, return phone calls maybe two weeks later. Maybe this way I'll be better at letting people know what's up and where I'm at. So...

Update: I am currently in Vancouver. I've been here since mid-September. It's been nice. It's been windy. The trees are sad. I drank unboiled tap water all fall.

Highlights: a one-week winter - beautiful; the gospel choir I've been singing in - we rock.

There, now you're all caught up.