Trent Hunter

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T12:02:00.000-05:00

Festival of Lights

2011-12-21T22:51:00.001-05:00

Tonight we went to the Festival of Lights in Kensington. This celebration marks the beginning of winter, and involves the age-old human tradition of setting fire to stuff and watching it burn.

Also, I finally bought a nice digital camera. (It takes non-blurry pics too! I just slowed it down so the fire would look cooler)

Bathurst Bridge

2011-07-08T09:50:00.000-04:00

Weekend

2011-06-27T09:54:00.002-04:00

On Friday evening we went grocery shopping, and then made milk tarts.

On Saturday I went to the gym. As usual, there were some totally crazy fitness type people there, including a guy doing some insane upside-down workout on the pull-up bar.

Afterwards, we made an apple pie and a strawberry-rhubarb pie, for an afternoon pie party in celebration of my 34th birthday.

On Sunday, we went to mass at Newman. That afternoon we did laundry and groceries.

And that's about it.

weekend

2011-06-20T09:22:00.002-04:00

Remember when I updated this blog?

On Friday evening we went to the opening for Joy Broadbent's excellent show of new paintings. You should definitely see it if you can. Afterwards we went to 3 Speed with Laura, Christine and Josiah.

On Saturday we did a massive pile of laundry. The laundromat was more full of crazy people than normal. We also stopped by the library and Cold Stone Creamery while the laundry was doing its thing.

In the afternoon, Leah went to St John's to play music for a service. Afterwards, I met her, Andrew, and the Woods at the Landsdowne Cone, for more icecream. That evening, we went to No Frills, and then later we rented and watched the Justin Bieber documentary.

On Sunday morning, I biked to the AMC at Yonge and Dundas, to catch the weekend matinee ($6) of Xmen. That afternoon, we bought some groceries at the bulk store, and some plants at the Dufferin Mall garden centre, from a guy who looked like a biker/sound man.

That evening, we went to see Digable Planets at Dundas Square.

And that was the weekend.

2011-05-17T16:52:00.001-04:00

weekend

2011-05-16T10:22:00.002-04:00

Friday night - we went to Sanctuary to see the play, Wonderful.
Saturday - brunch with Dylan and Andrew. That afternoon/evening we went to Laura Wood's birthday party, which was fun.
Sunday - mass, laundry, rented a movie...

new painting

2011-05-13T14:12:00.004-04:00

Check out this bad iPod cam pic of my new painting...

Monday

2011-05-09T11:00:00.002-04:00

Here's the weekend update...

By Friday of last week I was totally exhausted. We had a busy week and I stayed up a little too late every night...
We went and rented the Godfather II, and stopped in at Freedom Clothing on the way, since they were having an opening of drawings and jewellery...

On Saturday, I met Dylan for brunch, and then did laundry in the afternoon. That evening we went for a walk, since the weather is finally getting better.

On Sunday morning, we went to FT, for a baby dedication service. Afterwards we went to Maggies for brunch with the Woods...

That afternoon, I went to the gym, and then that evening I spent 3 or 4 hours trying to get the !@$%$^%# XP 'antispyware' 2011 virus off of our laptop... I think I managed to get rid of it, but there might still be some stuff messed up with our registry as a result. Whoever makes this stuff, congratulations on making the world a worse place.

Crazy Week

2011-05-03T09:34:00.002-04:00

This week has been a weird one - between the tornado in my once-upon-a-time home town, the death of Osama Bin Laden (and the terrifying and embarrassing rejoicing that ensued), the royal wedding spectacle, and now a minority of Canadians electing a Conservative majority (one day I will need to try to figure out how the Canadian parliamentary system works...)
And the whole long-form birth certificate thing, which looks embarrassingly like plain old fashioned racism...

Ringgold

2011-04-28T10:02:00.002-04:00

Last night the town that my family lived in when we moved to the USA was hit by a tornado. That first video is shot by a guy I graduated highschool with (and the first other Trent I think I ever met).

The damage looks insane. Our old house has long been replaced by a car dealership, but the neighbours' house looks like it was totally destroyed in that overhead video footage.

A motel (I think it's the one my brother worked at in highschool) collapsed, and the strip of restaurants and gas stations off of the highway looks pretty devastated.

The images and video are surreal to see, and last night I kept checking facebook and reading peoples' status updates as they took shelter in basements and worried about family and friends.

easter weekend

2011-04-25T09:52:00.002-04:00

The weekend was long and eventful.

On Thursday, I biked straight from work to Sonic Boom Records, where Ron Sexsmith was playing a few songs before his show in Toronto. I also found copies of the White Stripes record store day 7" reissues of their first two singles, which had just come in that day. After seeing Ron play, I went to the gym.

On Friday, we went to Lisa's for weekly morning coffee/artists' meeting. We also went to a Good Friday mass at Newman. That evening we went for a long walk through the annex and Yorkville.

On Saturday I went to the Golden Diner for weekly brunch/bible study. Afterwards, I went to the AGO and looked at their (very small and rather sad) collection of Emily Carr paintings (I recently read a biography and wanted to see some of her work), and at the Henry Moore collection. That evening we went to the Easter Vigil, and celebrated both Easter and Leah's initiation into the Catholic church.

On Sunday we walked to High Park and back, did some laundry, and then, that evening, we rented Raging Bull. Neither of us had seen it, and I am still trying to understand it (and also what about it is considered so great!). In a lot of ways, I found it difficult to relate to. The acting is great, and the filming technique is remarkable, but I found the plot less accessible than I expected...

Weekend?

2011-04-13T09:55:00.002-04:00

It's Wednesday, so here's the weekend update...

On Friday night we went to Freedom Clothing for the opening of their art show, Characters. I have 4 drawings in the show, which you can check out for the rest of the month.

On Saturday, I went to the Golden Diner for brunch, and then for the rest of the weekend, I pretty much slept...

On Monday, I stayed home. I have been sort of sick, and I finally decided to take a day off. I lay around and read and watched DVDs.

Yesterday, I came back to work... which was fine, although I am still really, really tired.

Busy Weekend

2011-04-04T10:19:00.004-04:00

On Friday night I took transit out to Ikea in Etobicoke, to pick up some picture frames. I have a few drawings that are going to be in a group show at the Freedom Clothing Collective store. When I got home we assembled the hanging clothes apparatus that was kindly donated to us by Christine, and it is the closest thing to a real wardrobe/closet that we have ever had...
On Saturday I went to meet Dylan and Andrew for brunch/bible study, and then to David and Jen's for a visit and to pick up our bicycles. Afterwards, I did some laundry, and then we went to Sonic Boom to see the Raveonettes play a few songs... (which was surprisingly underwhelming).
That night I framed pictures, and realized that one of my Ikea frames was missing the little package of hardware, which I had to steal from the old picture frame in the entry hallway.
On Sunday morning I went to the gym, and then Leah and I went to Sam James for coffee.
That afternoon I went down to the AGO to pick up our membership cards. I also went in to the museum for about an hour.
And then last night I worked on another drawing, which will be traded as my gallery-fee-in-kind...

weekend

2011-03-28T11:29:00.002-04:00

Not too much to report from the weekend...
Did some laundry, went to the gym, started on tax forms, and finally saw Black Swan (which, by the way, did not quite live up to the hype...)

weekend

2011-03-21T14:30:00.003-04:00

On Friday I went to pick up a camera that I am borrowing to photograph some drawings and paintings. Afterwards, Leah and I went to eat at the black horse pub.
On Saturday I met Dylan and Dan for weekly brunch and bible talk. I spent most of the afternoon photographing stuff with mild success. Jen's camera is great, but the lighting in our living room is far from ideal for taking pictures. That evening we went out for Nicaraguan food with the McGhees.
On Sunday, Leah and I went to Sam James for coffee. It was the first time in a long while, and appropriately coincided with the official (not actual) first day of Spring.
Afterwards, I went to the gym and Leah went to mass.
That afternoon we helped Christine move stuff into her new apartment. There were a lot of helpers, so it was relatively painless and fun. We also met some of her family, including a very cute neice and nephew.
Last night we watched most of Lisbon Story. We didn't make it to the end...

Busy

2011-03-14T11:00:00.003-04:00

Hello everybody!
Here's what happened on the weekend.
On Friday night we (Your Heart) played a show at the Crown and Tiger, in the sketchy basement Tiger Bar. It was put on by a bunch of Ryerson students who are raising money to travel down to New Orleans, where they are planning to help with ongoing Katrina/oil spill recovery efforts. The crowd was YOUNG! and super into it, so it was fun.
On Saturday, I had my usual brunch with Dylan. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping, and then that evening we went to the Hub, to see Jessica Stuart play a small CMW show.
On Sunday we went to mass, and then went swimming in the AC pool. That night we stopped by Freechurch for the end of the service, and then went to the Woods' place for dinner.
The end.

weekend

2011-03-07T11:07:00.002-05:00

Here's the weekend update (for all the die-hards and RSS feeders)

Friday night..? I think we did laundry on Friday night.
Saturday... I met Dylan for brunch. That evening we rented Let Me In, which is the American remake of Let the Right One In. I really liked the Swedish version, and had read good things about this remake. As it turns out, it is almost the EXACT same movie... which means it was good, but sort of strange.
On Sunday we went to church at the Meeting House. Leah had to go to a service for a school assignment. If you don't know about this place, it is the Toronto church that meets in in the Scotiabank movie theatre. The sermon is in HD (which I am told is better than non-HD sermons). It actually seemed like a pretty decent place (although it is weird to feel like you should be eating popcorn).
That afternoon I went to the gym at U of T. I am trying to make my 4 month alumni membership worthwhile, so I have to figure out a regular schedule of gym-going - which is weird for me.
Afterwards I did groceries, and worked on some drawing that evening.
That is all.

consumer

2011-02-22T15:41:00.002-05:00

In my opinion, The King's Speech is a good movie, and a fun one to watch.
Also, The Last Picture Show is maybe a better movie, although more depressing. Strangely, it reminded me of Saturday Night Fever.
And, I finally bought the Age of Adz album. I couldn't get into the Illinoise as much as a lot of people - we shall see how this one hits me...

who is the arcade fire?

2011-02-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

This weekend...
On Friday night I went to feed D&J's lizard after work, and then we went to the Woods' for dinner.
On Saturday - I met Dylan for brunch, and then we did laundry in the afternoon. Fed the lizard again... and then we went to the El Mocambo for a Your Heart show. Turns out that Mike was sick, so we played without a drummer, which was not part of the plan, but went pretty well anyway.
On Sunday, Leah went to meet some people for class, and then had RCIA. I went to the Junction, and then stopped in at No Frills. Fed the lizard (I had to go and buy him some more worms, so first I stopped in to visit the strange reptile store people).

Weekend

2011-02-07T10:16:00.002-05:00

Here's the weekend update...

Friday - laundry date
Saturday - I met Dylan for brunch. That afternoon we went to visit a friend from work and his family, which was fun. That night we had sushi and watched a movie with Christine and Josiah (Songs from the Second Floor... strange)
On Sunday we went to mass. Afterwards, Leah had to meet people for school. I rearranged some stuff in the living room, and then made dinner. That night I roamed around the Annex in the snow while L worked on a paper.

weekend

2011-01-31T10:58:00.003-05:00

Friday - I went to the Interior Design Show after work. I was tired, so I wondered through the kitchens and bathrooms like a zombie. Afterwards, I met Leah at Regis for their CultureFest.

On Saturday, we went over to D&J's for breakfast. Becky Hubble was staying with them for the weekend, since she was in town for Come Up to My Room...
Later we went grocery shopping, and then that evening, we went to LL's birthday party.

On Sunday, we went to Ping Pong and bought a table for Leah to use as a desk. Afterwards, she had to meet some people to work on school stuff, so I went to Come Up to My Room, and to some galleries, and to Ideal Coffee.

Weekend

2011-01-24T09:43:00.002-05:00

We got a lot done this weekend, although most of it felt like a struggle.
I managed to get the living room painted (1 coat on Saturday and 1 on Sunday), which is amazing. I was expecting to need 3 coats to cover the dark brown that we had previously used, but 2 looks great.
Also - we stopped in at a travel agent to book a trip to some beach-type resort during Leah's reading week. Turns out that such a trip during such a week costs roughly twice what we expected (oh, that's the price PER PERSON?!)... So if anybody has any clever ideas of places to go on the cheap to get away from the -20C weather, let me know...
Leah did tonnes of reading and writing while I painted.
Also, Starving Artist on Sunday was delicious, although frustratingly busy. We were poised to jump the larger groups waiting in line ahead of us, when a party of four decided to split into 2 parties of 2 and took up all the small tables... There was almost a waffle riot...

Happy MLK Day

2011-01-17T12:11:00.001-05:00

update

2010-12-13T10:46:00.003-05:00

The weekend...
...was kinda busy. Leah is in the last week of term, so she was writing papers all weekend. I did some laundry and some groceries. I also went to a party at my bosses (newly finished) house...
Two weeks 'til Christmas.

weekend

2010-12-06T10:51:00.003-05:00

The weekend was a welcome break after a hectic week...
Some things we did (not in order):
Brunch at Starving Artist
Church at Newman
Groceries
Laundry
Watched people skating at city hall
Visited vet to buy cat food
Falafel sandwiches
Epic walk
Naps

tuesday update

2010-11-23T10:25:00.002-05:00

The weekend...
On Friday night we went to hang out at Lisa's... well, it was at an apartment where she was cat-sitting. The owner is an antique collector, so the place was rammed with crazy stuff!
On Saturday we went to the Eaton Centre to buy some clothes for work. Afterwards we went to Hibiscus, and then stopped by the MOCCA gallery.
On Sunday, I went to church in the morning. Afterwards, we did epic quantities of laundry and then I went grocery shopping. That night we went over to Andrew and Esther's for dinner...

weekend

2010-11-15T09:58:00.002-05:00

Not too much to report...
On Friday night we went out for dinner.
On Saturday, Leah went to the library, and I went down to Queen Street. I stopped in at the MOCCA, and was happy to find a really cool show of work by David Hoffos - check it out if you get the chance.
I also walked down Queen, stopping in at Rotate This, which was having a sale.
That night we did laundry, and then I worked on setting up my portfolio website... which is slow going and involves reading a lot of wordpress help docs.
On Sunday we went out for brunch with the Cumbys and the Woods. That evening I did some grocery shopping, and then after dinner we watched a movie called The Exploding Girl.

weekend

2010-11-08T11:25:00.003-05:00

On Friday night, Leah went to Dorian and Lodwijk's housewarming party. I was pretty tired, so I stayed at home. I ended up using the evening to 'install' wordpress on my immigrantdesign website. I still have an extremely limited knowledge of how it all works, so it will likely be a while before I have a new portfolio site up and running.

On Saturday, we went to the dentist. That afternoon Leah did the laundry and I went grocery shopping. After dinner we went to the Woods' house to hang out.

On Sunday I tried recording some music. It was a bit frustrating, 'cause I think our netbook just can't handle it (time for a Macbook?).

That evening I finally bought the R.E.M. Automatic Box that has been sitting in Sonic Boom for months. I listened to it whilst making butternut/yam/carrot soup and apple crisp for dinner. We also watched the movie Julia after dinner, which is insane.

Blogging

2010-11-01T10:41:00.002-04:00

That is all for the Berlin pictures... for more and better pictures by somebody else, check out Christine Lim's 31 pictures of October.

This weekend was Halloween. Which is also the end of October and the start of the beginning of winter (at least in my mind). To celebrate, it snowed an ever-so-small amount on Sunday morning, and this morning's temperature was below freezing.

Which means I am taking the subway instead of the bike. Which means I have to read more books (to stay sane). So I grabbed Til We Have Faces on the way out the door this morning. I have read it once before, but started it many times before that. We shall see how it goes - despite having a hard time getting into it, it is possibly my fave Lewis book...

In other news, I played guitar at church on Sunday - which was pretty fun. It is always impossible to really hear everything, so the only course of action is to just play...
Afterwards, we rented The Birds, in order to celebrate the day.

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2010-08-31T15:01:00.002-04:00

weekend

2010-07-26T11:52:00.002-04:00

Here's the weekend update, for old times' sake...

Friday - I walked home after work, and then we went to D&J's for dinner.

Saturday - we biked out to little India to meet up with the Woods and the Huang/Bowsers for lunch. Except the restaurant we arranged to meet at doesn't exist anymore... so we ate at the new restaurant in its place. On the way home we got soaked.

That afternoon I went to the saddest Bloor street festival ever. It was pretty much rained out, and I felt bad for the artists and crafters who had rented tables, and for the bands playing to two people.

That night we went over to the Woods to hang out.

Sunday - we went to church in the morning, and then afterwards went to the Common. That afternoon we did laundry and grocery shopping. I barbecued a dinner, and then that night we watched It Might Get Loud, which was pretty decent...

And that is all.

wknd

2010-07-12T09:59:00.002-04:00

On Saturday we went to Saving Gigi for breakfast, and then walked to the Outdoor Art Show. As usual, there was a lot of art, and some of it was pretty sweet. It was also hot and really packed, and I got sunburned.

That evening we went to the McG's - who are recently returned from Europe. It was good to see them and they showed us a bunch of pics and video from their trip.

On Sunday I went to church in the morning. Later we did laundry (mostly Leah did laundry and I watched soccer.) And then that night we watched SLC Punk, which was good.

long weekend

2010-07-06T09:31:00.003-04:00

Hope everybody had a good Canada Day / 4th of July / Pride weekend...

I decided to work all of last week and take Monday off. On Friday I got off at lunch time - so overall it was a 3 1/2 day weekend...

Which I kicked off by going grocery shopping. On the way back from No Frills I stopped in at the library, where I watched the last 20 minutes of regulation play in the Ghana/Uraguay game (the quietest soccer fans are at the library!) When it went into overtime, I went home and put the groceries away, and then went to the local Portuguese bakery to watch the rest of what turned into a heartbreaking defeat for Ghana...

On Saturday I got up early and took the subway up to Yorkdale to meet Cyril and his boys and get a ride out to our church camping trip location, where we hung out for the day. We played soccer, volleyball, and ultimate, had a barbecue, lit a fire, swam in the lake (not me - it was FREEZING), and had a good time. I got a ride back with Andrew and Esther, and got home sunburned and tired at around 1am.

Sunday - I got up early and went to church. For the rest of the day I just hung out at home, and then that night I rode my bike over to Yonge street. I forgot that it was Pride weekend, so there were quite a few crazy revellers still out.

Monday - I did some cleaning... and then later bought some more groceries and went over to Andrew and Esther's for dinner. On the way home I stopped in at Value Village and bought a couple of shirts...

Also - the weather all weekend was great. It is HOT (it was 30 degrees in the living room when I got up this morning!)

That is all...
Leah comes home tomorrow!!

weekend etc

2010-06-28T09:43:00.004-04:00

The weekend was an interesting one... The big news in Toronto was, of course, the G20, and the associated protests/anarchy/police presence associated with it. I was down on Queen Street on Saturday afternoon, taking advantage of some sales at record stores... when a bunch of cops on bikes started yelling at people to turn around and leave the area (I was just west of Spadina at that point). Anyway - I went home and listened to the news as some misguided blackbloc'd people vandalized this town.

I don't have too much to say about the whole thing, other than that hatred and violence seem more like problems and less like solutions. Also, all the protests (peaceful and not) seem to me to be highly ineffective ways of promoting a cause.

I also did some painting on the weekend (see above)... and hung out with some people after church on Sunday...

Also - last Thursday night was the last night of my sculpture class... I don't have any good pictures of my coffee cup carving, so here is a crappy pic instead. I am super happy with how it turned out...

weekend

2010-06-14T11:06:00.003-04:00

We went for a lot of walks on the weekend - despite the weather not being all that great.

On Saturday morning we walked to the Peak Gallery to see my carving teacher's show. We ended up talking to the owner of the gallery for about an hour, which was cool. We also met his dog, Max.

That afternoon I went for a walk in the Annex. I randomly stopped in at Sonic Boom just in time for an in-store performance by Robyn Hitchcock. I don't really know his music at all, but it was pretty cool to see him play a few songs. The crowd was mostly older music-nerd types, although Julie Doiron was there too...

On Sunday morning I walked through the street festival in the Annex. That afternoon we tore down the wall that was partially enclosing the porch on the house. It went pretty smoothly, and the porch is now way more open and slightly less ugly.

That evening I went to church, and then afterwards we had dinner and went for one more walk...

weekend

2010-06-07T09:57:00.002-04:00

On Friday I left work a little early in order to get my driver's licence renewed. Leah met me at the licence place, and on the way home we saw a crazy bicycle/car accident. Luckily everyone seemed OK - but it was pretty nuts - the driver was doing a U-turn in the middle of College, and basically just pulled in front of a courier. Somehow (it happened behind us, so we didn't actually see it happen) the bike ended up in front of the car, while the biker was on the ground behind the car...

That night we went to see Basia Bulat/Julie Doiron/Wilderness of Manitoba.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key - with some laundry and groceries, and going out for coffee...

After church we went out for dinner with the Woods and Emily & Colin...

weekend

2010-05-17T09:36:00.003-04:00

This weekend finally got sunny and warm. On Saturday we went to the Common, and did a bunch of grocery shopping. Leah also did the laundry.
In the afternoon, I tried my hand at postering the construction hoarding near our house - with a somewhat sketchy recipe of one part evaporated milk to one part water.
That night we went to see the Jessica Stuart Few at the Rivoli... check out their music here.

On Sunday I walked to the Annex to get some stuff at Midoco. I also read quite a bit of this book. Later we went to church.

skip a week

2010-05-03T15:37:00.002-04:00

Last weekend we went to Kingston for an afternoon Your Heart show...

This previous weekend I worked on some semi-successful drawings/paintings.
Also, we had brunch with Don and Jessica on Saturday, and then dinner with some folks from church. Afterwards we went to a Great Lake Swimmers show at a Legion Hall. It was like a trip to a small Canadian town.

This cover is awesome

2010-04-29T09:13:00.001-04:00

weekend

2010-04-19T14:38:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, Leah took Mabel to the vet for one of her usual expensive checkups. She is not into this.
I made my way down to Queen and Spadina, to stop in at Criminal Records, for Record Store Day. There was actually a line-up to get in the store, which is weird enough, but especially weird at 9.30ish on a Saturday. I bought a couple of the Record Store Day special editions - vinyl reissues of R.E.M. and Tom Waits records - as well as a couple of other records.
That afternoon we went to Mike's party/barbecue. There were one million babies there.
Afterwards Leah and I roamed around the city on foot/streetcar.
On Sunday we went to the Common and to No Frills. Also, we went to church in the afternoon.

weekend

2010-04-12T13:29:00.003-04:00

Friday night was the Your Heart album release show. I was pretty tired from a long week, but it was fun. Special thanks to the Billie Hollies and to Elissa & Joseph for opening.

Saturday was weird, 'cause late nights throw me off completely. In the morning we went to the library and to get some stuff from an art supply store. I also bought a used copy of the Athens, GA: Inside/Out soundtrack at Zoinks.
That night we went to see the dress rehearsal of This is What Happens Next, 'cause Kate has hookups like that.

On Sunday, I went to an elders' meeting while Leah went to play bass at St John's. Afterwards I worked on taxes while she worked on finishing her final paper of the year...

That is all.

2010-04-09T11:12:00.000-04:00

Easter weekend

2010-04-05T09:51:00.002-04:00

On Thursday night we went to a housewarming party, and then went to D&J's to watch the Lost Boys, which is still pretty awesome (I don't think I'd seen it since high-school).

On Friday we met Katherine for breakfast. That night we had a show at the Central. It went pretty well, and was a good warmup for this coming Friday's show at Supermarket.

On Saturday I went to Ikea to get some picture frames. It was sort of crazy (Ikea on a Saturday).

On Sunday, we did some laundry, and then went to Kensington for lunch. After Easter church, we went to Rancho Relaxo for dinner.

weekend

2010-03-29T15:04:00.002-04:00

On Friday I stopped by Andrew & Esther's place, where a number of guys from church were getting together to play videogames. I demonstrated to all my lack of videgame aptitude, especially when it comes to first person shooter type games.

On Saturday Andrew had arranged with a friend of his for Your Heart to be the house-band in a student film project. So we (well, those of us who were available) got to stand on stage at some sort of high-school spring dance (actually a decorated church hall) and mime along to a recording of Love #1...

That night we watched Rocket Science.

On Sunday we went to buy a bike helmet for Leah, and then stopped by Holy Oak. After church we watched Stranger than Fiction.

hi/lo

2010-03-22T11:57:00.002-04:00

On Friday night we went to D&J's for dinner. We also watched the September Issue, which was pretty interesting.

On Saturday we went grocery shopping. Leah had a lot of school work to do in the afternoon/evening, so I wondered around town, despite the weather being not as nice as it was during the week.

On Sunday I walked around and visited a few art galleries and coffeeshops. Leah worked on school stuff and had her first church choir practice.

After church, we went to D&J's for dinner again.

2010-03-22T09:23:00.002-04:00

"We are creating a massive new entitlement," Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said during floor debate Sunday.

As a society, we wouldn't want people to feel entitled to adequate healthcare. Especially poor people.

Also - why all the debate over whether this will cost or save government money?.. the message is that you should only help people if there is no cost - which is ridiculous.

And also (and I can't believe I am referencing Michael Moore) - our schools, police and fire departments are all 'socialist'... so what's with the red scare rhetoric?!

Too little too late

2010-03-19T16:22:00.002-04:00

I have never tried to contact a government representative before. I realize that it is a little late, but when I found out that my Democrat Rep was planning on voting against President Obama's healthcare reform plan, I decided to send along a note...

weekend

2010-03-15T10:16:00.003-04:00

On Friday night we went to Clinton's to wish Tim goodbye - he is moving to Winnipeg to work in marketing for the ballet.

On Saturday I got my hair cut, and then we walked to Crux to buy a book that they did not have. The weather was dreadful. That evening we went to the symphony.

On Sunday I went grocery shopping. We both played music at church, and afterwards Bradley and the Makins came over for dinner.

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Check out this video for SELF-CONTROL...

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Check out this project that Andrew and Karl came up with... and give them money if you can...

2010-03-12T11:00:00.001-05:00

Check out this amazing graph of Edmonton water usage during the Olympic Hockey final...

Gentleness

2010-03-08T12:43:00.003-05:00

Because of some or other reason (I assume it has something to do with the legal ramifications of being famous), Shad's video in the ongoing Fruit of the Spirit series is available for a limited time only.

weekend

2010-03-08T09:54:00.002-05:00

On Friday night we went to Bradley's birthday party.
On Saturday, Leah went to U of T. I went to the Dufferin Mall for groceries. I also bought paint to paint the bedroom, which we finished in a couple of hours that afternoon (I guess there are some advantages to having a small apartment!)
On Sunday, Leah went to St John's to play bass. I went to Holy Oak for coffee, and then to Value Village. Afterwards I painted (canvases) and painted (walls - touched up a couple of spots with a second coat...)
Leah skipped evening church to read books for school. After church we went out for Korean food with D&J.

Blogger/Google is ending their ftp support - which will screw up ImmigrantDesign.com... this is a big hassle for me.

weekend

2010-03-01T13:47:00.003-05:00

so...
...sometimes I don't really feel like doing this update, but for some reason I try to do it anyway. Why is that?

Friday... we went over to Brad's for dinner.
Saturday... Leah made granola for breakfast, and then we ended up going to Ikea, basically to buy a light bulb for the lamp we bought there last weekend. But this time we went to the other Ikea, so it was totally different. Also, we went with D&J, so that part actually was different.
Sunday... we went to morning church, 'cause Leah was playing bass and we had a meeting after church. That afternoon we went to see the Under Great White Northern Lights movie at the Royal. The movie theatre was pretty empty, 'cause I guess everybody else in the country was watching the hockey game. I guess the game was good but I'd rather watch the White Stripes tour Canada. That night, D&J came over to our house for dinner.

weekend

2010-02-22T10:04:00.002-05:00

Friday - we went over to Andrew and Esther's to listen to the songs that Andrew has finished recording for his Autumn album. It is going to be a good one.

Saturday - we went to Ikea to buy some things for our bedroom. New bedding and a blind for the window, as well as some storage bins so that we can finally empty out the desk and get rid of it...

Sunday - I did the laundry and went to the grocery store before heading to church. Afterwards we watched the Lovely Bones, which I thought was sort of terrible.

Today I am tired.

Also...

2010-02-17T13:54:00.002-05:00

...check out the latest in the Fruit of the Spirit series over at the Freechurch website. This week features Cyril 'Ill Seer' Guerette.

I am loving how these are turning out. They are all quality, and the variety is amazing...

Midweek weekend update

2010-02-17T11:39:00.002-05:00

Since it was a long weekend, and Leah has reading week this week, we decided to make the most of things and go away for the weekend...

So on Friday I raced home from work, took a shower and ate dinner, and then we headed to the Greyhound station for the overnight bus to NYC.
Ten or so hours later we ended up at Penn Station at roughly 6.30am.

Our main reason for the trip was to visit Sue, so we headed up towards her apartment. We stopped on the way at Tom's Diner, for breakfast, and also because it was too early to do much of anything else.
We spent the rest of Saturday hanging out with Sue - we went to the Jewish Museum (Man Ray), ordered in some sushi, and then ended up going to a crazy four man juggling show starring Sue's building superintendent (!).

On Sunday Leah and I went to MoMA. It was really busy, but really amazing. Their collection is crazy, and I could spend a week in there. Afterwards we headed over to Trinity Grace in Chelsea. We were early so we ended up walking around before church. Leah bought some long-johns at American Apparel (the same ones that Janeane Garofalo recently bought there, according to the salesperson!)

Church was great, despite a monster headache that I developed over the course of the afternoon. Afterwards, we went to a Thai restaurant for dinner.

On Monday we headed down to Sue's office to meet her for lunch. Her office looks out at the Empire State Building across the street, which is crazy! Afterwards Leah and I headed over to Queens to the PS1 gallery. It is a really fun place, and we ended off the afternoon in the James Turrell room staring up at the art/sky...

Afterwards we headed back to Penn Station. We grabbed some dinner, and then got back on a bus and headed back to Canada...

All in all it was a lot of fun. Many thanks to Sue (and her gracious roommate, Molly) for hosting us. It was really great to see Sue and get to see a little of her new life!

After we got back we headed home and went to bed (I took Tuesday off...) That evening was a Freechurch coffeehouse event... Leah and I each played a few songs, and then Your Heart played a set... which was a crazy way to end off a busy and fun looong weekend.

The Weekend

2010-02-08T09:54:00.003-05:00

On Friday night I was kinda bored. Leah was reading, and I ended up roaming around the Annex aimlessly. I found out later that there was a free Great Lakes Swimmer in-store performance that I did not know about at Sonic Boom.

On Saturday, we went to the dentist. It was relatively painless, and afterwards we went for coffee at a small cafe at Bellevue and Nassau. It was sunny enough to sit outside.
On the way home we stopped by Soundscapes and bought this CD, which is kinda crazy.

That evening we went to D&J's for a delicious dinner.

On Sunday we went to the Common, and then stopped by the Dufferin Mall for some groceries. Church was good, and featured an awesome video of me rocking out on the guitar. Afterwards we made curry for dinner.

Weekend Upchuck

2010-02-01T12:02:00.002-05:00

On Friday night we went over to the D&J's to watch Whip It... which was pretty much what I exptected it to be - silly but kinda fun.
Then some time in the night Leah woke up and started puking. She was in pretty bad shape for all of Saturday. I did some grocery shopping, and after dinner we watched Throw Down Your Heart - a documentary about Bela Fleck travelling to various places in Africa, to play music with local musicians and learn a little bit about the roots of the banjo.
On Sunday, Leah was feeling better, but still not great, so I went to church without her! Afterwards, I made some soup for dinner.

Also, check out the video for PEACE - in which I try to play the guitar!

coming soon

2010-01-29T09:20:00.000-05:00

Rare midweek update !!

2010-01-28T12:00:00.002-05:00

Last night Leah and I went to St. Stephens to record a song for the Fruit of the Spirit series that is going on at Freechurch Toronto. It was sort of ridiculous, and I am looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Afterwards we watched Julie & Julia. It is pretty good... mostly worth watching just to see Meryl Streep act.

The Fake News

2010-01-25T15:27:00.002-05:00

On Friday I skipped out on the Interior Design Show and went to Regis College to meet Leah for the annual Regis College CultureFest. We ate assorted foods with her classmates and faculty, and then there was a short program that was basically a talent show of sorts.
On Saturday morning I went grocery shopping while Leah did the laundry. I bought all the ingredients for a recipe to make food for a mass of people who were coming over on Sunday. Sadly, our oven is one that our landlord got a 'good deal' on - and the food was pretty much destroyed.
In the afternoon I went to watch Avatar. I had read enough reviews to have a fairly low expectation in terms of plot - so I was actually pleasantly surprised. Really, I went to see the 3D craziness - which I have to say was pretty amazing. Overall - I would definitely recommend seeing it (to anybody who actually hasn't seen it yet!) - I might recommend it even in 2D, but you really should see it in 3.
On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and then had an elders' meeting. Afterwards, I went grocery shopping again. And then we cooked food again for all the people who were still coming over for dinner (which was delicious and fun).

In other news...
Check out Andrew singing for joy...

The Weekend

2010-01-18T09:28:00.006-05:00

I finally finished a drawing/painting that I started FOREVER ago. Here is a sweet web-cam picture of it... There was a bit of a race to see whether I could finish it before Mabel could irreparably destroy it. I sort of won - but she definitely left her mark.

Also - on Friday night Leah and I went to the Linux Caffe for coffee. I haven't quite figured out the connection between coffee and an open-source operating system... but it is a pretty nice place. It is a bit like somebody beamed in a coffeeshop from the nineties.

On Saturday evening we went out for dinner with the McGhees and the Richters. They were eating their first real meal after a crazy 10 day cleanse/fast. We were just eating a meal. It was fun.

After church on Sunday we went over to the HuangBowser house for a pizza party.

weekend

2010-01-11T09:39:00.002-05:00

Friday night - Leah and I went on an 'Annex Date'. The Annex is where we end up when we want to get out, but don't have anything specific we want to do. We stopped in at Kensington Natural Bakery, and then looked at CDs and books in CD and book stores.

On Saturday, I went on an epic trip to acquire a new sound system for our apartment. My style of shopping (especially for somewhat expensive items) is to try to look at every available option before making a decision. This meant that I ended up at Best Buy, Circuit City, and Bay Bloor Radio, and ended up at each store TWICE! (Once to see what was available, and then again to actually buy stuff, which was complicated by items being out of stock etc...)

Anyway - I ended up with a tiny Sony shelf system, and a separate turntable... Compared to our last cheap setup, this one sounds much better, and will actually play CDs every time you want it to, and not according to some mysterious timetable of its own choosing.

That night we ended up back in the Annex for dinner and a movie at the Bloor. I thought Leah would have lots of reasons to dislike Fantastic Mr Fox (talking animals, Wes Anderson...), but we both liked it.

On Sunday we did laundry, and some cleaning of the apartment. We also went to church, which was good. We are gearing up for a series on the Fruit of the Spirit - check out the first of a number of videos over at the FreeChurch website.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year etc.

2010-01-04T09:28:00.002-05:00

So it is back to work after a full two weeks off. 7am seemed awfully early today.

What happened?
We went out to Middleton, Nova Scotia, to visit Leah's parents for Christmas. It was a good trip, and as well as visiting family, we saw a few of Leah's old friends who were around for the holidays. We also painted Leah's old room, which turned out really well.
We got back in to town on New Year's Eve... just in time to make dinner and go to bed.
Other noteworthy events included a trip to Hamilton to help the Cumby's paint their new house, breakfast with Sue, who was in town for a few days, the festival of lights in Kensington, and general hanging out with friends...

Anyway - hope you are all geared up for 2010..!

skip a week

2009-12-14T11:27:00.002-05:00

The busy weekend:

On Friday night I went over to Andrew/Esther/Joel/Anne/Calla's house, to sing/shout with some people for Joel's in-the-works EP.

On Saturday I got down to business on laundry and groceries. Leah (in between writing a thousand papers) and I also stopped by a little store near Bloor and Dufferin that has tonnes of old furniture, and bought a weird small dresser-type thing.

That evening we went to two Christmas parties. The next morning we went to College Street United Church (where Leah went to church for a while, 10 years ago) for their Christmas service and lunch with really old people.

After church we went to D&J's for yet another Christmas party. It was a fun and busy weekend.

As I was going to bed I realized I was scheduled to bring in breakfast for the entire office this morning... so the week started in a bit of a panic - but I stopped by Kensington on the way to work and got things done!

thanksgiving weekend

2009-11-30T14:47:00.002-05:00

On Friday we rented Bread and Tulips.
On Saturday I got my hair cut, we went to Sam James for coffee, and then went to Robarts library. In the afternoon I did the laundry. That evening we went out for dinner, and then to the Cumberland to watch the Road. It was bleak. I don't think that I would recommend it. Afterwards we stopped in at a birthday party, which was a strange thing to do after watching such a movie.
On Sunday we went to Holy Oak. In the afternoon Leah went to church early for practice, and I walked there a little later.

weekend

2009-11-23T12:11:00.003-05:00

On Friday night we went over to Calla's house to baby-sit her. By baby-sit what I mean is that she slept the entire time and we hung out.

On Saturday, we rented a car to go to a party in Oakville. Since we had the car for the day, we went to St Jacob's market, and then to the grocery store.

The party was hosted by a child-hood friend of Leah's. There were roughly two shifts - the parents who had to split early to go and relieve baby-sitters, and the kids who showed up late. We stayed for a bit of both shifts before returning back to Toronto.

On Sunday morning I took the car back. Afterwards we had a church meeting, and then went to church in the evening.

w__k_nd updat_

2009-11-16T12:33:00.002-05:00

Friday night we went to Justin's Karaoke Extravaganza birthday party. On the way there we went to Baskin Robbins. The karaoke place above Clintons is gross, and it felt a little bit like Bill Murray should be there.

On Saturday I went to Saving Gigi for a coffee in the morning. I stopped by Long and Mcquade on the way home, which is always a bit of a zoo on the weekend. At home, I varnished the front door, and then did the laundry. That evening, we went to D&J's for a feast dinner. We also watched Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

On Sunday I finished the rest of the door, and put it all back together. It only took me about 6 months! We also ended up going to the Santa Claus parade, which was weird. Robby & Tirza were at church, back from their 2+ months of travel adventures. We went to an oddly sketchy pub afterwards with them, the Royals, and the McGhees. It was great to see them.

weekend

2009-11-09T10:15:00.002-05:00

On Friday night we went to the Drake. Josh Lyon is in a band called the Gertrudes, and they were in town to play some music. Also, Lake of Stew opened for them, and were crazy and fun.

On Saturday, I finished stripping and sanding the front door. All that is left now is to seal it, and it is looking pretty good. We also went to look at a potential apartment, although it is available for December, which is too soon for us.

On Sunday, we went to Sam James Coffee Shop. After church we stopped by D&J's place to check out their chameleon's new giant cage. We also enjoyed delicious apple crisp.

weekend

2009-11-02T10:03:00.002-05:00

On Friday we invited people over to carve pumpkins. Not many people actually brought pumpkins. The best part was that Calla Joy came to visit.

On Saturday Leah and I went on a crazed shopping spree. By this I mean that we went to the Bay (we are getting old) and bought me a winter coat. It is heavy, and stuffed with feathers from various birds. We also bought some work boots, which was more annoying, since I don't want work boots but need them for work.

That night I spent too little time updating dad's website. I think I find web design frustrating because I only ever do it on lunch breaks and in twenty minute spurts... I never do a good real job. Also, I sat outside waiting for trick-or-treaters, but none came. Actually, according to the upstairs neighbours, ONE eventually came, after we had given up and gone inside. Now we have to eat 150 chocolate bars.

On Sunday I went to help Brad paint his new apartment. Leah went to Mado's birthday party. She is one.

After church we went to Sorauren Park and looked at thousands of carved pumpkins with the Woods.

weekend

2009-10-26T09:31:00.002-04:00

Saturday - Leah went to a flute master class and I went to get a haircut. That afternoon we cut the legs of our bed down to a normal length. Then we went to the Eaton Centre to look at winter coats, but all the stores were closed because we're not the smartest. That night we watched Blue. I had actually never seen it before. In case you haven't heard, it is good.

Sunday - we went to the Common. It seemed more rammed than usual, if that is possible. The kid in line in front of us had a brontosaurus, and a Peewee Herman toy that he called Michael Jackson. We went to the grocery store afterwards. Before church I fired up a crockpot of chilli. After church we went to the Music Gallery - Leah's teacher was playing. Leah stayed (students=$5) and I went home (normal people=$25).

weekend

2009-10-19T09:45:00.003-04:00

let's see...

Friday night we went to see Cuff the Duke. The opening bands were ok, but not super awesome, despite Frodo and his friends' finest efforts. Cuff the Duke are refreshingly straight-forward, and seem to just enjoy playing music. There was a pretty hilarious guest appearance by Greg Keelor, who produced the Duke's new album. They played a couple of (apparently unrehearsed) songs together, and there were a couple of botched chords and lyrics. All in all it was fun.

Saturday - we went to the Common... that place is always rammed and always playing good music... and then we stopped by No Frills. That evening we went out for dinner with D&J.

On Sunday, Leah went to a flute lesson with a famous guy - which went well. I did the laundry and threw together a crock-pot-o-chili. Afterwards I went to Winners to see if I could find a decent winter coat. Apparently they only have clothing for Large to Xtra Large people, so no dice. Church was pretty good...

The end.

Give Thanks

2009-10-13T09:47:00.003-04:00

On Friday night we went over to D&J's house. J fed us delicious food, and we watched Synecdoche New York. I don't even know what synecdoche means, and that pretty much sets the tone for the whole movie. I really liked it though (even if nobody else did!)

On Saturday we went to look at an apartment. We aren't really moving, but we decided this place was worth seeing. It is in Kensington, in the house right beside the one Leah lived in when she first moved here 10 years ago. The bedroom was pretty nice, and the kitchen was ok, but the living room was sort of... small. Actually there wasn't a living room.

On the way to Kensington, I noticed that District 9 was playing at the Royal. After dinner I biked there (I told Leah that it involved aliens and not to bother watching it...) Turns out it was pretty fun... the plot was sort of far-fetched (yeah, I know, it's about aliens... but still), the visual style was pretty cool and unexpectedly gross, and the humour struck me as fairly south african, somehow. I found myself laughing at stuff that apparantly wasn't that funny to the other (10 or so) people in the theatre.

On Sunday we went to the Common, and to No Frills. After church we went to Nirvana with Tim and Kate, which was fun. And on Monday, I baked one million pies while Leah worked on a paper. That evening we went to the Woods for a Thanksgiving dinner...

In other news, have you seen this man...

Google Street View Toronto ! ! !

2009-10-07T10:09:00.002-04:00

here we go

2009-10-05T10:00:00.003-04:00

Lately I have been feeling frustrated, unhappy, and a little angry.

The weekend...

On Friday we went to the Woods for Esther's birthday. It seems like everyone there was tired and falling asleep...

On Saturday I did laundry. That evening we went to Nuit Blanche, which was both cool and annoying (as always!). The best part (that we saw) was the new conservatory building, which was filled with people playing the piece "In a Large Open Space", by James Tenney. The whole building was filled with people playing and singing harmonics of a single tone, for 12 hours. It was as if the whole building was vibrating. Also, the giant Jeff Koons bunny at the Eaton Centre was kind of amazing.

On Sunday we went grocery shopping, and went to church...

longest running (least read) weekend update on the internets

2009-09-28T10:40:00.002-04:00

This weekend was pretty busy but good.

On Friday Leah camped out at the geek-fest Long and Mcquade sale to pick me up a Boss RC2 looping pedal. I have used it a bit, and it is pretty fun. She was the only girl waiting in line, although I'm guessing she didn't have the longest hair...

On Saturday, I went to get a haircut, and then stopped by Honest Ed's Funhouse for some tasty paint stripper. I managed to make some good progress on the front door, which is close to being ready to sand and varnish. D&J came over for dinner, and D managed to almost die of cat allergy.

On Sunday I went on an adventure that I have been putting off for a while. We sort of need a new computer. Our previous desktop has served us excellently (it is going on 6 years old, which is like 200 in computer years...), but with Leah in school it made some serious sense to jump on the tiny laptop bandwagon. I hate having to buy technology things when I feel inadequately informed to make a good decision - but after a bit of biking around and talking to about 300 computer guys, I scored a shiny new ACER netbook. It only took me the rest of the afternoon to uninstall all the useless clutter and strip it down to a browser+media player machine... (although somehow I can't seem to get rid of Windows Movie editor???).

ANYWAY. Church was pretty good. And that was the most geeked-out weekend ever...

2009-09-22T16:05:00.000-04:00

July 4th 1923 - September 15th 2009

2009-09-22T10:56:00.003-04:00

Drinking in L.A.

2009-09-21T14:49:00.002-04:00

Last week Leah and I went to Los Angeles for my brother's wedding. Today I feel sort of like I've been kicked in the head. Getting up at 7 in Toronto is like getting up at 4 in California. Also, going to work after a week off is extra fun.

Anyway. It was a great Hunter gathering, and the time went by too fast. Delvyn and Charity had a super-awesome wedding. We went to Disneyland, the beach, In-N-Out Burger, Hollywood Blvd, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Rodeo Drive, and a gun store...

weekend

2009-09-08T09:47:00.002-04:00

It was a long one...

Friday afternoon - we did a whole lot of laundry. That evening we fired up the barbecue, and J&D&K came over.

We went over to A&E's a few times, to feed their cats. While we were there, we tried running through some old songs. The neighbours couldn't handle it though, so we stopped.

After church, we went to the Woods' place, for another barbecue.

On Monday, we celebrated Leah's birthday by going to the airshow and getting sunburned. Wicked farmer's tan.

weekend

2009-08-31T10:26:00.002-04:00

I have a headache this morning.

On Friday we went to the Golden Turtle for dinner. Afterwards we dropped by the Wood's.
On Saturday, I got a haircut. In the afternoon, we went to Darryl's studio. He has been shooting kids videos, and Leah got to sing and play guitar. I got to change out backdrops.
On Sunday we did some more work on the front door. After church we went out for dinner. We were going to go to Wavelength, to see the Wilderness of Manitoba, but they wouldn't let Leah in without i.d.

update the weekend

2009-08-24T09:35:00.002-04:00

Here we go...

Friday night - we walked to Christie Pitts for ice-cream. Afterwards we went to the Delaware House to see The Wilderness of Manitoba play their CD release party. The Delaware House is a house on Delaware Street, and they host live concerts in the tiny garage in their back yard. The garden was candlelit and the tiny wooden shack filled up with people. The music was great too, with layers of atmosphere and four part harmonies... and Leah pretty much played their CD on repeat all weekend.

On Saturday I went to Home Depot, which always feels like something of an adventure into suburbia. That evening we went over to Robby and Tirza's for a traditional German dinner! We also looked through their wonderful wedding pictures. I am going to miss them when they leave.

On Sunday, Leah and I took the front door off of its hinges and started the process of stripping it down to the solid wood. It is amazing what you can do with stuff that comes in bottles covered in skulls - years of paint bubble and peel right before your eyes. We had to put the door back on to go to church - and I guess we will keep working on it next weekend...

w33k3ndupd8

2009-08-17T10:37:00.002-04:00

...don't feel like it

Friday - we went to the community dinner at Dufferin Grove park. It was like 1990-something. The Woods booked the firepit, so we had Smores after dinner - Germans and Dutch people showed up too. Then we went down to Ossington and Queen. I keep hearing about that part of town - but I had no idea that it was so ridiculous on the weekend - there were people everywhere. I sort of understand residents wanting to fight the bar scene - it is quite the bro-zone - but they should just realize that if they wait a little while, some other part of town will be the new 'cool' hood... Anyway - we split pretty fast.

Saturday - we had an impromptu yard-sale. I think I made about 3 dollars off of books and CDs. We did sell a couple of Leah/Trent albums to the neighbours though... That evening we went to the Square Foot show at the AWOL gallery. The lineup was ridiculous, and once we were inside, the place was too rammed to be comfortable. Afterwards we went to Julie's Snack Bar, for expensive drinks.

On Sunday we went to morning church for a change. Afterwards we went out with a bunch of people for breakfast at Mars diner. That evening, Leah and I had sushi in the park, to celebrate our 6th year wedding anniversary. Then we watched the Secret of Nimh on Youtube.

Absolut

2009-08-14T09:16:00.002-04:00

My fave part of JB's lower Bay project was definitely the subway car filled with plants... Here is a video that I found on Flickr, which doesn't quite do it justice, but you get the idea.

Absolutly

2009-08-13T16:36:00.004-04:00

2009-08-10T17:30:00.002-04:00

Le weekend

2009-08-10T10:27:00.002-04:00

I registered to take part in the square foot show at the AWOL gallery... and the deadline for submission was this Saturday. So Friday night had me working on trying to transfer a photocopy to a canvas, without screwing it up too badly. I worked on it 'til two in the morning, and then woke up on Saturday and kept working. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out according to my perfectionist liking, but I finished it up and dropped it off that afternoon. Good enough.
Leah went out of town on Saturday, to hang out with some high-school friends. I had brunch with Brad, and he walked down to the gallery with me.
That evening I was kinda bored - and walked to the Annex. I bought a falafel sandwich and a coffee, and looked through CDs and records at Sonic Boom. Their store window displays are always amazing - and the Dinosaur Jr one at the moment is maybe my favourite ever!
On Sunday we went grocery shopping. After church we went to Rice Bar with the Germans (Robby and Tirza). We were on the patio when the most wicked lightning storm rolled in. Over the course of the evening, I got a crazy headache. We ended up getting a cab home and I went straight to bed.

back to work

2009-08-04T09:55:00.003-04:00

Some things from the weekend:

Birthday party at D&Js
Star Trek at the Bloor Cinema
Art galleries
Cedarvale Park
Rice Bar
Barbecue at the Woods
Taking out 6 weeks of garbage

weekend

2009-07-27T09:56:00.002-04:00

let's see...

Bradley came over on Friday night. Afterwards we watched Singles - which I had never seen (and wouldn't necessarily recommend).
On Saturday we did laundry and then went out for Korean food. That evening we went over to D&J's and played Yahtzee.
On Sunday we went to L&L's for brunch/an elders' meeting. Afterwards we walked through Kensington (there was a brief period where the rain actually stopped). Pedestrian Sunday = lots of weirdness in the market. We went to No Frill's for some groceries. And that evening we skipped church and Jen came over for dinner.

This morning is actually sunny. Also, it looks like the big garbage strike might actually be coming to an end.

weekend

2009-07-20T09:40:00.002-04:00

Friday - there was a show at the Woods' house. I was tired but it was fun.
Saturday - we had breakfast with D&J at Billy's, which is always good. Afterwards we walked to the Annex with Jen. I got my hair cut by an old barber - I can understand about 25% of what he says to me while he is cutting my hair. We ended up at BMV, where I bought a book and Leah bought a CD. On the way back we walked past the temporary garbage dump at Christie Pitts Park. It is getting gross in this city.
Our upstairs neighbour was rebagging the garbage behind our house when we got home. Critters have been getting into stuff and it was getting nasty.
Sunday - Leah went to play music at our first morning church service. After helping carry her gear to StStephens, I walked into the market. Sunday morning coffee on a patio is way better than church...
When we got home, I watched Slacker. I have been meaning to watch this for years - and it did not disappoint. I have a high Linklater (excessive rambling dialogue) tolerance - and this is now maybe my 2nd fave movie of his (next to Before Sunrise). It sort of made me want to move somewhere a little more sprawling and a little slower paced.
Church was pretty good, and afterwards we went to Rancho Relaxo with the Woods.

It still isn't summer in Toronto - and I'm beginning to think we're just not getting one this year.