After viewing Joe and Yannick's Noguchi coffee table in Toronto, it was suggested that I go check out The Noguchi Museum in New York. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to this. I opted to walk around aimlessly in Brooklyn instead. However, had I gone to the Noguchi Museum, then I would never have come across the amazing surprise that was in store for me over in Brooklyn...
My last full day in New York and it was raining profusely. This was the day I decided to go explore the outer burroughs - namely, Brooklyn.
To escape the rain, we walked into an exhibit housed in a book store underneath the Manhattan Bridge. The exhibit was on Muslim punks. Fascinating and nothing that I would ever have thought of before! Who knew that this subculture existed?
This website has a great write-up on the exhibit and the books.
And I didn't know that there was a documentary out on it as well? So want to see it!!
I jumped on the Malcolm Gladwell bandwagon recently since everyone's talking about him and his books. I see the book Outliers everywhere I go and I know several people who are either reading it or want to read it. I was lucky enough to snatch it up from the Fast Reads section of the library and fortunately, the book actually is a fast read. I don't normally dive into non-fiction but this was easy to read and interesting as well.
Outliers is an examination of successful people and how they got to where they are. The book surmises that it's not just about talent and hard work. It takes into account opportunity, chance, timing, cultural background, upbringing, and geography. It's a fascinating read and insightful survey into some of the most successful people in the world!
It was complete fun!! Total camp, and of course, blood splattering everywhere! Including all over me, since I was in the "splatter zone"! I made sure I bought Splatter Zone tickets.
So, there is a bit of controversy going on around this production. They bought the rights to put it on, and so they are doing so. HOWEVER, one week later, it gets announced that the touring company of this show is also coming to Vancouver at the exact same time that this production is going on.
That really sucks for these guys. I mean, the touring production has a way bigger budget, bigger venue, and more advertising. I've seen full page ads and heard their cast on radio stations, etc.
It isn't right that they would do that to this little theatre company like that. Basically screwed them over, you know? I mean, these people put their time and energy and money into this production, only to have the big guys come in and take all that possible business away?
So, if you're in Vancouver or have friends here, please encourage them to go see the local production of Evil Dead: The Musical. Support local theatre, local arts. This production was fantastic! Why pay double the price when you can enjoy the exact same thing for less? Buy your tickets here!
Seriously, this grocery market that Michael Buble filmed his latest video at is like one block away from my place. In fact, I was just there twenty minutes ago buying stuff. Also, it's not nearly as clean or bright as it appears in the video!! And, we're not really allowed to walk on top of the shelves like that.
I saw some more Broadway shows in New York, but nothing really blew me away this trip.
After Next To Normal, I saw Rock of Ages, an 80s hair-band inspired show using music of Journey, Def Leppard, Poison, Whitesnake, you get the jist...
It was a pretty fun light musical. We were all given a "lighter" upon entrance that we were to use during one of the slow songs in the show. Gimmicky, but fun.
The draw for most people was Constantine from American Idol, but I wanted to see this because Kerry Butler was in it, and I'd already seen her do a great job in both Xanadu and Catch Me If You Can. Here they are on the Today show, singing Don't Stop Believin':
Then I saw a play, just to mix it up a bit. God of Carnage stars James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay-Harden, and Hope Davis and is a comedy about two sets of parents coming together to discuss a fight between their two sons.
It was alright. Not as funny as I was hoping it would be, but entertaining I suppose. James Gandolfini seemed to mumble through his lines at points - maybe he's better playing mafia man on a TV show than he is doing a stage play?
Then, there was Hair. Winner of the 2009 Tony for Best Revival. I don't know much about Hair, other than a sprinkling of songs, and I liked what I saw from some of the performances they've shown on TV. But some people told me it wasn't that great. Joe actually saw it and told me it had no storyline and that only the first and last songs were catchy. Hmm... should I have listened to Joe, or just go see for myself?
I should've listened to Joe. I mean, it wasn't terrible. But he was right in that the storyline was very thin. I did enjoy a few of the songs including Age of Aquarius, Let The Sun Shine In, Hair, and I Got Life. It would've been more fun if I was in an aisle seat and the actors came and danced with me or something, but I was sandwiched between grandma and a war veteran. I was surprised by how sad the show was at the end. The girls behind me were bawling.
I think looking back on it, I enjoy it more than I did when I was sitting there wishing I had gone to West Side Story. The cast recording is now on my iPod, I can't stop chanting "Hair, hair, hair, hair, Hair, hair, hair!" and I'm obsessed with this song:
It was a glorious New York day, the day after Kylie's second-to-last show of her North American tour. We decided to go walking through the city to enjoy some of its newer sights.
For instance, the new High Line.
The High Line is an old elevated railroad track that has been left for weeds to grow over. A pathway was installed and now it's a new NYC attraction, where you can walk the walkway through the city on an elevated and breathtaking platform.
It's dotted with these cute benches that allude to railroad tracks with a twist of art deco thrown in. So cool! It's not complete yet, but we got on it at the Meat Packing District and walked up to mid-town. We then made our way to Fifth Avenue and wandered around there, before finding ourselves smack dab in Central Park.
It was a tiring day of walking but gorgeous nonetheless. On our way back to the apartment, we cut behind the Hammerstein theatre to avoid the growing line-up out front of Kylie fans waiting to get in for that evening's performance.
Upon walking up to the backstage door, we noticed a small group of people waiting around. Could it be? Were they waiting...for Kylie?? A quick glimpse of some X cd's and her tour programs confirmed this. The Ex ran back to the apartment for me to grab my tour program that I had bought in Toronto. He came back in the nick of time.
We waited and waited and people passed by, wondering what the fuss was all about. Members of Kylie's brass section waltzed in. Her dancers arrived in a van and I fumbled with my camera and was only able to snap this photo of the hotness of Jason Beitel:
I befriended a straight girl from Pittsburgh who confided in me that she had been waiting 21 years for this. She planned to go to all 3 of the Kylie shows in New York. The first night, she was on the floor, surrounded by tall gay men, so she sadly could barely see any of the show. The second night - the night that I went - she managed to get 6 rows in from the stage, and said it was glorious to see Kylie so up close. Now here she was, ready for the final night, and waiting for an autograph with the rest of us.
A teenage girl from Australia arrived with her parents and pouted that there were too many people waiting for Kylie (there were 15 of us?) and she told us that she came the day before and there were only 10, and the day before that there were only TWO guys waiting for Miss Minogue!!!
But this teenager knew what to look for. She didn't freak out when the van of dancers showed up. No, she knew that Kylie arrives in style. She arrives in a black SUV with New Jersey license plates.
Sure enough, a black SUV with New Jersey license plates pulled right up, and out popped the little pop tart herself!!! Tiny, cute, looking absolutely glam, was KYLIE!!
I managed to shove my program within autograph distance and she signed it!!! "THANK YOU KYLIE!!" I shouted, gratefully. She posed for cameras flashing at her. Someone gave her a bouquet. She signed more stuff, and then it was time to go. She was swept away into the Hammerstein probably to do this little blog video:
Wanted For: Wielding her Tony at a fan in order to take his sharpie from him.
Just kidding, Ms. Ripley, you're more than welcome to have my sharpie!! As long as you get Aaron Tveit to send me an email, then we can call it even, yes?
See my shirt!?! I love this shirt. This shirt haunted me for one full year. When I was in New York a year ago, I went to Uniqlo and saw this shirt on the mannequin and NEEDED to have it. Alas, it was the only one left and every salesperson I accosted REFUSED to take the shirt off the mannequin, citing some sort of rule of the store. Bahh!!!! I left New York in a huff, and that shirt has been on my mind ever since. I looked on eBay every single day trying to track it down, but no go.
But when I went back this year, I was THRILLED to find that they had quite a few in stock! I was told that if something was popular last year, they try to bring it back the next season. Yay!!! Am So Happy. Loves my shirt!
So Monday in New York, it was all about Kylie. It was her 2nd of 3 shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom, a small intimate venue that had general admission tickets. We had tickets for the Mezzanine level, which thankfully had seats. We sat in Row 4, dead Centre. It was bliss. Looking down at the mass of people gathered on the floor made me tired. It was like a giant gay club down there. Seriously, Kylie shows are the gayest audiences I've ever been to! Calvin put it perfectly when he said, "Kylie's show is gayer than gay pride."
Her show was amazing and brilliant in this smaller space. I was able to see everything from the front view, as opposed to my Toronto side seats. So, it was totally magical to see the laser show in all its glory. For her request, she did Your Disco Needs You acapella and the entire venue was singing along, making it a truly magical interactive Kylie moment.
A second Kylie show. New York City. Everything was amazing. Everything was perfect. What could possibly top this??? I had three more days left in the city, and didn't think it could get any better, but little did I know...
I arrived in New York on a Saturday evening, a brilliant Saturday evening, a brilliant warm Autumn Saturday evening. We rented an apartment somewhere in mid-town and it turned out to be completely central, i.e. between Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, and two blocks from the Hammerstein Ballroom, where Kylie was to play 3 shows that week, ending her first North American tour.
We decided to explore the neighbourhood a bit and ended up walking up 9th Avenue all the way past Chelsea and into the Meat Packing District. Hungry from our dinner-less flight, we opted to check out a restaurant that was on our To Do list - The Spotted Pig.
It was about a 15 minute wait, but we managed to get nestled into a tiny table near the front. The place was jam-packed with people. Our food was scrumptious but what really turned us on were their devilled eggs. I love devilled eggs but I've never had any as magnificent as these. I could have inhaled these all night. Heck, I could've smashed them all up into tiny bits and then snorted them for all I cared. They were THAT good. They had just a bit of citrus/tangy flavour to them and when they were served to us, they were served chilled right out of the refrigerator. They were so good I wanted them to fill the room with them and I'd have to eat my way out.
On our way back, we were thrilled to find that our apartment was only blocks away from Billy's Bakery! Daily desserts, thank you!!
The next day, I needed to get my Broadway fix started. So after a day of shopping at Century 21 and Uniqlo, we headed to the intense musical Next To Normal, the story of a delusional mother who is suffering from depression, played by Tony award winner Alice Ripley.
Of course, I mainly wanted to see this because it also stars Aaron Tveit, whom I saw in Seattle's Catch Me If You Can and was wonderful in it - not to mention HOTTER THAN HELL. I was thrilled to see a quick scene where he's in the bathroom wearing nothing but his boxer shorts! SIGH. Oh Broadway, why do you tease me so?
Here's their performance from the Tony awards. Not enough Aaron in this scene, but it'll do!! I want him to sing me to sleep every night of my life. Oh Aaron!!
I waited patiently outside too for him to come out to sign my Playbill. Alas, he is busy filming episodes of Gossip Girl so isn't coming out to sign anymore, at least presently. That's the official excuse, I believe. I've also heard that there are some crazy ass fangirls that he wants to avoid. One of those fangirls may or may not possibly be me.
Anyhow, Tony winner Alice Ripley came out in her diva-licious glory. She was right by me when she asked her assistant for a different sharpie, because she didn't like the one she was using. I offered her mine and she was like, "Are you sure? I don't want to take your sharpie!" and I assured her I had a second one in my bag. "Thank you!" she genuinely smiled at me, and then signed my Playbill.
Yeah, that's right!! I just gave a Tony winner my sharpie!!!! Now if only she could hook me up with Aaron Tveit...
Oh, and I just found out that Aaron auditioned for the role of Finn in Glee and didn't get it cause he was too Abercrombie and Fitch. WTF!!! Fail, Glee Producers! FAIL!!
Having now met Meryl, I am making it my duty to go through her back catalogue of films, thanks to the trusty selection at the local library. I tried doing this a year or so ago when I watched Sophie's Choice and Silkwood, but I kinda stopped for some reason. But I've picked up where I left off and last night I enjoyed a nice evening of dingos and baby-eating!
Yes, A Cry In The Dark is the movie that popularized the phrase "The dingo stole my baby!!" though what I didn't know is that it's based on a TRUE STORY. This was apparently Australia's biggest murder trial, where Lindy Chamberlain was accused of making up a story about a dingo killing her baby and was suspected of murdering her daughter herself!
Meryl was SPLENDID as the accused frumpy Australian mother. Her accent was flawless and it's like she completely disappeared right into the character!! Genius! (Also, Sam Neill in short shorts? Now there's a reason to go down under!)
On my last day in Toronto, I was invited over to Joe's place to check out his furnishings. We both have a love for mid-century design, and he had told me he had several pieces at home between him and his roommate Yannick, including a Herman Miller Eames lounger and several Panton lights:
Check out that Knoll table underneath that orange Panton hanging light!! I was in mid-century heaven!!
Then there was their beautiful dining room table, accessorized by these Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs!!! Joe told me how they were shipped over from Italy with their paper-cord seats!!!
I was given the full tour, from antiques left to Yannick from his grandmother to artwork that they both collect. Even in the kitchen I was able to get them to show me some teacups collected from a thrift store, stamped on the bottom with "Made in Occupied Japan." I love fellow collectors!!
But the piece de resistance was their Noguchi coffee table, which dominates their living room with its sleek beauty and aesthetic. It's downright gorgeous and frankly, it turned me on.
Afterwards, we went out to the Allan Gardens conservatory which was free to enter, and what I thought was the perfect place to have a first or second date! Just walking about, looking at all the different plants and getting to know one another. What could be more romantic? Heck, it was fun enough doing it with friends!
And with that said, it was a joy to see all my friends, old and new, during my week in Ontario. From throwing a frisbee in a dog park in Hamilton to exploring new neighbourhoods in Toronto, I was blessed with great company. Add a Kylie Minogue concert on top of that and Wow!! How do you follow a Kylie show? Why, how about an in-house museum tour of modern furniture and artwork? It was the cherry on top of my already amazing vacation. And yet, I still had a week to go as I jetted off to the airport to catch my flight to New York City... What wonders did NYC have in store for me....?
It was one of those weekends where there was nothing more satisfying than sitting in front of the screen and taking in a couple of movies, whether it was on the couch or in a movie theatre. It rained most of the weekend so it was perfect weather for being indoors.
I started on Friday night watching The September Issue, which I already blogged about.
I followed this up on Saturday evening with a movie that I'm sure no one has even heard of. How I got wind of it is beyond me. It's called The Education of Charlie Banks, and is directed by Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, of all people. Who knew? I actually enjoyed it too. Would I recommend it to others? Probably not. It's very made-for-tv predictable sorta genre and was a great time waster for me as I was still trying to fight off the flu and get rid of my cough.
I don't remember when I had time to sneak this one in, but I'm glad I got to watch this documentary on musician/artist Arthur Russell, titled Wild Combination.
Hailing from Iowa, Arthur Russell created music in the 70s and 80s and 90s and varied from his cello playing to disco to relaxing mood music. I loved hearing his music in the film, and am on the hunt to try to get some of his old records or CDs. I already have several of his songs on my iPod, but it was great to see footage of him and to hear his friends and family talk about his life and legacy, which was cut short by his death from AIDS in the 90s. He was an underappreciated genius and it's about time his work saw the light of day!
Check out the trailer!
Finally, I made it out of the house yesterday to catch a screening of the latest Cohen brothers film, A Serious Man.
I wouldn't recommend this film to everybody. If you like Cohen Brothers movies, then by all means. And if you're Jewish or love Jewish culture like I do, then it's definitely enjoyable. Otherwise, I'm not sure this is gonna be everyone's cup of tea, though it's a good movie, well written, well made, etc.
Out of all the films this weekend that I took in, I have to say that the Arthur Russell documentary was my favourite. Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend too!
Another strong female film I watched recently is the Vogue magazine documentary, The September Issue.
The film centers around Anna Wintour of course, but it doesn't paint her as being the devil that we have come to expect. Rather, we get to see a hard working woman doing her job, with tints of loneliness and sadness. From the reactions of people around her though, it's clear to see who is the boss and everyone knows it.
All in all, a fun behind the scenes look into the fashion magazine industry, with photo shoots, fashion shows, and kooky designers that will surely keep you entertained.
I recently watched the 1939 classic movie The Women starring Joan Crawford.
Yes, this is the same movie that was redone not too long ago but I hear was shit. The original, in its black and white glory, is pretty damn good though, especially considering its time. For 1939, to have a movie that features an ALL FEMALE cast must have been pretty big.
It's the story of a group of women and their lives, mainly their love lives. One of the main stories features a wife whose husband is cheating on her with the perfume counter girl. She ends up leaving him and filing for divorce, which again must have been something not done back then.
But even just watching the film, I was able to appreciate the fashions of the time. I loved all the crazy outfits and hats that these women wore. Absolutely fabulous movie!!
So Friday in Toronto began on a wet note. It rained the entire day and I had brought with me the worst shoes possible. This was because I intended on throwing them out after I bought myself a new pair in New York! Unfortunately, this did not bode well for me in the wet weather as my socks were just soaked!!
Ah well, no big deal, when the first highlight of the day came in the form of meeting up with blog reader Sean, whom I had not met before but with whom I've been emailing for quite some time now! It was so good to meet him and his partner and their friend Chris! We all went for lunch and chatted and got all caught up and anticipated that evening's big Kylie concert, since they were in town for the show as well. Sean is a huge Kylie fan!
Then it was time to go back to Momma's place and get all prepped for the Kylie concert! You can't even begin to imagine my nerves at this point! Kylie's first show in Canada EVER? My first time seeing Kylie EVER? O M G!!!! I was a mess all week thinking about it. I even HID my tickets behind a painting at Momma's place, for fear that someone would break in, go through my luggage and STEAL my Kylie Minogue tickets! Yes, paranoid much!?
There's nothing like comfort food though to help calm me down, and Momma always knows best, so he served me some of his homemade quiche for my pre-Kylie meal. Delicious and nutritious! (Momma, I need that recipe STAT!)
Then of course, the rest of the night belonged to Miss Minogue. The Kylie show was absolutely everything I dreamed of and more. From her lowering herself from the ceiling atop a metallic skull in the opening number (Light Years) to her distinct robotic dance moves for Speakerphone, I was screaming at the top of my lungs with excitement!
I've already posted some YouTube clips that people have taken from the Toronto show, so you know that she did Your Disco Needs You as a special request from the audience, WITH music (she did it previously in Chicago acapella). And you also know that Slow made me scream my ass off, and The One damn near broke my heart. Her rendition of Confide In Me was a revealation, as I was not huge on that song until seeing her perform it live on this tour. And the dancers. The dancers were hot as ice.
Momma and I are fighting over Hakim Ghorab:
Fine, take Hakim. I don't mind settling for Jason Beitel as runner up:
But really, the star of the night was of course Kylie. She was cute, nice, interacting with the audience, and the perfect pixie entertainer! Kylie = Happiness.
And when she ended the night with my favourite song EVER IN THE WHOLE WORLD, I damn near lost my mind.
I'm so mad I won't be able to go see Jay Brannan when he arrives in town next Thursday at the Biltmore Cabaret. Tickets are only $17, so it's a total deal to go check him out! He's awesome live and will probably be doing songs from his latest release, In Living Cover.
The last time I went, he did Jann Arden's Good Mother and it was soooooo heartbreaking, I fell in love with it. I'm so glad he included this song on the new album. In addition, he's done this brilliant cover of The Cranberries' Zombie:
Thursday in Toronto began lazily, as I stayed at Momma's for most of the morning just lounging, watching soaps and morning television, while eating whatever Momma felt like feeding me.
By mid-afternoon, I trekked out to meet up with Chris and Calvin, who were down in the Distillery district poking about. They ended up taking me to this chocolate place called Soma Chocolates. We sat and had some treats and hot chocolate, when all of a sudden, Chris blurts out, "Oh my God, it's Meryl Streep."
She was in town doing a speak at the Royal Ontario Museum the night before, but here she was on a rainy afternoon, sporting a raincoat just heading to a table to grab a seat. She eventually ended up sitting RIGHT NEXT TO US!! With her was a friend/publicist/assistant of some sort.
Calvin got up and went over to her. "Excuse Ms. Streep, I'm sorry to bother you-" he began, when the friend/assistant/publicist retorted, "YES YOU ARE BOTHERING US!!"
Taken aback, Calvin was left speechless, UNTIL Meryl came to save the day when she turned, smiled at Calvin, and offered her hand. "It's nice to meet you,"she warmly greeted.
Calvin told her we were all huge fans, and she turned and waved to Chris and I who were gawking from our table. We waved back excitedly. "Hi Meryl!!" I may or may not have cried.
Calvin then had the balls to ask for a photograph, to which Meryl kindly declined, "No, sorry I'm not working today." Fair enough. Done in a classy way. When Calvin sat back down, he overheard the friend/assistant/publicist say, "I told him he was bothering us and he STILL shook your hand!"
I guess that's what friends/assistants/publicists are paid to do, though.
But now the three of us can say we met Miranda Priestley in the flesh!!!!
My personal palm reader Joe told me that the man of my dreams (not his words) was going to be tall, slim, with curly dark hair and come from a sunny place. This sorta got me thinking that perhaps The Guy wasn't the one for me, since he's more of a dirty blonde, with straight hair, though he is tanned.
Not to put too much stock into palm readings, astrology, and tarot, but it definitely weighed on my mind a bit. And I was feeling further and further away from The Guy as I began to think that perhaps there was someone else out there that my palm was guiding me towards.
Of course, all of this went out with the bathwater last night when I spoke to The Guy on the phone and it was once again a million champagne bottles bursting, a million balloons bouncing, a million butterflies set free into the sky... Oh my love, how could I have forsaken you just from the random ramblings of a self-taught amateur palm reader? (No offense, Joe!)
Do I walk the fine lines of my palm to get to my destiny, or do I follow the rhythm of my heartbeat to find life's one true love?
I love cardigans. The first cardigan I ever wore was in high school when I found an old one that used to belong to my dad, and thought I'd be all fashion forward and go for that Mister Rogers look. To this day, I always have to add a new cardigan or zip-up top to my wardrobe every year. I didn't get one this year - yet. I'm still trying to work out the purple one I picked up last year at Uniqlo in NYC.
Anyhow, we'll get back to cardigans.
First we'll go for the walnut cake, which is what Momma took me to have on Wednesday in Toronto, as we walked up Bloor Street investigating all the little shops and cafes and bakeries and nooks and crannys. I mean, this is my Momma's new home, so I had to help her explore it and make sure everything was just right for her living needs! Now that I know her neighbourhood a bit more, I approve her move even though it's 3 hours ahead of me and many miles away.
Walnut Cake turned out to be a Korean pastry, made up of cake shaped like a walnut and harbouring red bean paste on the inside.
We walked a lot that day. From the University to the gay village to Eaton Centre and Yonge Street. By 5:30pm, we ended up at the Royal Ontario Museum, to look at their Vanity Fair photos exhibit. Meryl Streep was also scheduled to show up that night to do a speak. At $50 a seat, the special event was already sold out.
We then skipped over to the Art Gallery of Ontario to look at some artwork and to appreciate the beauty of the Frank Gehry-designed staircase.
We then went for dinner in Chinatown at a restaurant chain called Asian Legend, which serves authentic and delicious Shanghainese food!
After dinner, it was time for me to go meet up with Human Nature, a blog friend I've corresponded with for a while now, and had never met until that night!
He took me out to a place called Lola, where it was $5 Martini night!! Yeah!! I'll take some of that, please!! So, fueled by the alcohol, we sat on the chilly patio and chatted up a storm. We dished on his ex, The Guy, life, and cardigans!
The Yangs came to meet us and then we all headed out to the gay club The Barn, a 3-story house that had a dancefloor on each level. The bottom housed a drag show, the middle floor some dancing, and the top floor - the best thing I'd see all evening. It started with 3 guys doing a little vogue session, but as the DJ switched the song to Beyonce's Single Ladies, these 3 guys flew right into Beyonce's choreography and did the entire Single Ladies dance right then and there!!
The perfect ending to another perfect day!! Who knew that the day after would bring an even bigger surprise....???
I think I hyped this movie up too much for myself. I read the GQ interview with director Spike Jonze, whom I am a big fan of. I loved Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and was excited to see his vision of this classic children's book.
In the interview, he reveals that he had a hard time figuring out how to shoot this movie and what to do with it, until it dawned on him that the "wild things" could be emotions, and that this island reflected back the life of the little boy Max in its raw emotional rollercoaster ride.
Expecting an intense, sad, epic film, I went and found it to be...okay. It was a good movie, but it just didn't meet my expectations which had been raised through the roof at this point. Oh well.
Interestingly enough, Justin Timberlake is in Vancouver and went out last night to watch the same film. He was at the Dunbar theatre, though, and I was at the Rio.
I tried to watch G.I. Joe the other day, and it wasn't bad. I mean, from the start I could tell it was going to be a lot better than Transformers 2. However, it wasn't great, either. And I don't really have time these days for something that I feel like I'm forcing myself to watch. Even Channing Tatum couldn't hold my interest, so I ended up aborting it at the mid-way mark.
Probably a decent action movie, but not spectacular enough to make me want to get to the end.
So after several blissful days in Hamilton, I grabbed an 8:30am bus and headed into Toronto, where I met up with Momma! We had a quick homemade lunch and then Momma had to get going for class, so I went and explored a bit of the city on my own. That is, until I realized my friends The Yangs were in town! So I met up with them and we went to eat at the lovely and chic Nadege patisserie.
Then it was time to meet up with my blogger friend/letter-writing pal Joe! If you go read his blog, you'll see why I enjoy writing letters with him. Not only are his words beautiful and poetic, but his penmanship is absolutely breathtaking! We had dinner and then went for a night of drinking around town. We started at Hair of the Dog, where he introduced me to the fine art of drinking scotch and whiskey. Did you know that to soften or open up the taste of whiskey, all you need to do is add a drop of water?
Afterwards, we made our way to Woody's, the famous gay bar where Queer As Folk used to film. Momma and The Yangs met up with us, but we ended up being anti-social for a bit as Joe took some time out to read my palm!!
He said I was artistic and that I don't stay in jobs for very long, which is true! He also said that when I love someone, I love them with all my heart and it's full force, which I think is true as I've really only had one boyfriend my entire life and I'm 32. I see other people (both gay and straight) who have a string of boyfriends and I just wonder how they do it, how they can find someone so many times in their lives to be with, and I can barely find one?
I was told that I should live in a place where there is good air quality and to not take up smoking. I wasn't too surprised to hear this as I have been told before by a Chinese herbalist that I have respiratory issues. Joe did tell me that I would have two significant relationships in my life. He doesn't count the one I just came out of with my Ex. He also didn't specify if these two significant relationships would be with two different people or with the same person (but we'll have a break-up, and then get back together).
He told me that the most significant person in my life romantically would be a man taller than me, with dark curly hair, and come from a sunny place. Hmm. Does this mean that I don't end up with The Guy after all? I mean, he kinda has blonde hair, though I guess it might be considered dirty blonde, yes? And he IS pretty tanned....
I actually realized some things on this trip about myself, about my wants and needs. Even though I do harbour an enormous amount of love for The Guy, I think I am at the point where I might have to move on and realize that he is not giving me what I want, and what I want is someone to be totally in love with me. That makes me a bit sad, but at the same time liberating and I can get on with my dating life already.
So am I to go around dating tall, dark curly haired tanned men from here on out? Palm reading is fun, and I should take everything with a grain of salt, but I do put a lot of stock into things like that and astrology and tarot, etc. as a guide for certain things. It's going to be hard to let these specifics out of my mind, but I should try to remember that the lines on your hand can change and we all have free will. All in all, an insightful evening and a fabulous time with old and new friends!
