I just filmed this a few minutes ago… sitting in my chair, minding my own business. I decided to grab the camera because Pita was looking excited about something. It’s getting harder and harder to keep that cat inside, and you can see why. There’s LIFE out there!!
No animals were hurt during the making of this video, but my belly was, from laughing so hard!
I started this post on Oct. 18 and when I went to finish it, my blog was down. Then I had a super busy weekend and wasn’t able to get on here. Then I went to finish it, and my blog was (still?) down. Fingers crossed that it stays up long enough for me to finish it THIS time.
Started October 18 ~
We interrupt our vacation postings for a general ramblings post because it’s been a LONG TIME and I know you’re all wondering what’s going on in my life right now.
At this moment, I am trying to avoid obsessively refreshing my eBay selling page to see if anyone is bidding higher. There are a few hours left on couple things I’m selling, and I keep checking back. So I decided to come here to keep my mind off of it.
Yesterday I worked at Troy’s, and one of those Access drivers that has a crush on me picked me up. He’s the sweetest man. When I say “crush” with him I don’t seriously think he has a romantic crush on me… I think he just wishes I was his daughter or something. Although, he always offers to come over and scoop the cat litter and do housework AND make me coffee, so you never know. Yesterday he stopped at Mac’s for me and got me a large Seattle’s Best coffee. Some of these wonderful drivers really make up for the bad Access experiences I have! Oh, that reminds me, I should call Access and give him a compliment. They like to get positive feedback, they receive so little!
Okay, done. ****Refresh eBay page**** YAY!! All my stuff has bids so will sell for sure.
So what else… oh, Rob Szabo and Peter Katz are here this weekend!!! That’s right!! Saturday night at the Ironwood, anyone reading in the Calgary area had better be there!!! They’re touring Western Canada together again like they did last year. Remember, last year I got them their gig at Original Joe’s (ignore anything I say about that new food plan that lasted 2 months in that entry). This year, Rob made his mark at the Ironwood in April, and will never have to worry about scrambling to get a gig in this city again!
Oh, and speaking of Access drivers, I have hardly talked to AH lately! He did babysit my kitties while I was away, keeping them fed and actually scooped the litter this time (I gave him a lecture about that, and supplied dust masks). Then it was Ramadan, and since he doesn’t allow himself to even look at another woman during that time, (I asked him how that is possible, and he told me if he catches himself looking, he remembers it’s Ramadan and looks away immediately and thinks only pure thoughts. Whatever…) so he certainly isn’t going to talk to one on the phone. But I do intend to take him out for dinner (Olive Garden if we can get in, he still has never been there) to thank him for looking after my cats, I’m just not holding my breath for when it will actually happen.
The Polyjesters are almost finished their new CD!!! How excited am I? I can’t even put it into words. Jason has sent me the (possible) CD cover artwork, and it’s awesome. So I released the song titles to their Facebook group. Then, because of some help I gave him last week, he sent me two of the newly recorded songs. OMG. I also have 6 other very rough mixes of new songs on the CD and one that didn’t make the cut. Are you jealous? Yes, you are. OMG. I am soooo excited!!! It’s going to be so, so, so, so, so, so good!! Jason said Emma and I will get special seating and attention at their CD release. I think they should fly Emma out, no? And I requested my special chair be of the La-Z-Boy electronic lift variety.
***then my blog was down***
Continued October 24 ~
Obviously, it’s too late for y’all to see Rob, that was this past Saturday. And I’ve since sold another lot of items on eBay, will be shipping today or tomorrow. I’ve currently got a bunch of CDs up for sale… I’m cleaning stuff out!
I am anxiously awaiting The Office Season Three DVDs I ordered. I have spent the past month watching every episode, deleted scenes, bloopers, commentary episodes, etc. on my Season Two DVDs. I can’t get enough of that show. My Dunder Mifflin T-shirt is in the mail, as are some Dwight and Jim office supplies memorabilia. ADDICTED.
So, cheers to Facebook… the amount of people I am back in touch with after many, many years is astounding!! I went for coffee a couple weeks ago with my friend Carolyn and we were joined by Nancy, a woman I haven’t seen since high school! There are quite a few other school friends I’m planning to meet up with sometime soon. And I’m back in touch with my old friend Cheryl, who used to live with my former roommate Pete. I haven’t seen her since they broke up many years ago (except for a quick run-into-eachother at a Crafts fair in 2002). She came out on Saturday to see Rob and Peter! So we are going to hang out more, for sure. And then, there is Vlado…. ahhhh, Vlado…. I used to work at YTV in Toronto about 20 years ago. He was a sound engineer there, and an incorrigible flirt. It’s so cool to be back in touch with him… he is very successful in his field and has a wall of Oscars and Emmys to prove it!
Update on the AH situation - we actually went to the Olive Garden for dinner last night! Imagine that. It was fun. I drank red wine. I could barely walk afterwards; my right foot didn’t want to go flat. It liked twisting on its side. Thank goodness AH understands and was very helpful walking me inside. TWO glasses is all I had! And with a full meal! I am such a cheap date.
AH is back to being his helpful self for me… today he’s popping in to a computer supply store to pick up an adapter cord I need. I finally have my new computer set up (thanks to Rob, who did it while he was here over the weekend) but since it only has USB ports, my old printer can’t be hooked up. And I’m not getting a new one… this one was $2,300 back in its day and it’s a laser printer/fax/copier/scanner and it has served me VERY well!!
Hey, remember awhile back I was complaining about the waiting times to see specialists your doctor refers you too? And that one place told me “June, 2008″ and another told me they couldn’t even estimate, it was so far off? Well, I went to the first place today and am going to the second one tomorrow. I’m quite pleased. I’m not 100% sure either of these places will be of great help to me, but I’m giving them a shot. It’s FREE under our health care, unlike the other stuff I’ve done, like Quantum Release Therapy. Which, by the way, I went to one last time (?) a couple weeks ago, after not having been in over two months. Kevin told me he really didn’t think he could do much more, and that my physical damage is so far gone (11+ years since diagnosis, never mind all the years before that the disease activity was going on) that he can’t predict how long it would take (whereas usually he can tell his clients “3 more visits” or something). We did make great progress on the emotional side of things. And I do feel better since I last saw him… but that could be due to any number of things. Anyway, it could quite possibly end up costing me thousands and thousands of dollars and many, many visits, which I’m not able to do right now, and he doesn’t want me to. So… I have a couple other options I’m working towards in regards to improving my health, and I may toss in the odd Quantum session here and there.
Today I went to the Clinic for Mind/Body medicine, and I am hopeful. My goal here is to decrease or completely wean off my anti-depressants and sleeping pills, and improve my health overall. I will be seeing a psychologist there regularly, who I met today, and she is awesome. She’s on the same page as me with regards to pharmaceutical companies and the “over-prescribed, overpriced” MS meds, and she didn’t even balk at my mention of my quantum release therapy and how it helped me… she was very interested! The clinic works with the belief that our bodies can heal themselves (what a concept!! And this is actually funded by the Calgary Health Region, and they don’t PUSH PHARMACEUTICALS!) and the process is done through meditation, lifestyle changes, positive thinking, etc. Of course, I believe that too, and have all the tools I need to put it all into practice… my problem is with being consistent in keeping up the with the small changes. I’m hoping regular meetings with this psychologist and being held accountable (reporting in with my progress regularly) will help me stick with my program. I’m seeing her again on the 5th. She really liked me, too, so that helps.
Remember when I was in Toronto and I bought those ginger-encrusted roasted pecans at the Queen of Tarts and how much they helped my PMS and I was wishing I had brought a supply back with me? Well, guess who has 6 bags in her cupboard now? Yes, they were willing to send them to me, I emailed and begged and a nice owner let me pay with my credit card over the phone and mailed them. Awesome. ONE bag a month, at the appropriate time, is all I am allowed.
One of my cats or both of them just chewed the speaker cord off one of my brand new computer speakers.
So, yes, I had an awesome weekend. My friend Kim came out from Red Deer on Friday, and we went out for dinner to My Favourite Vietnamese Restaurant, and then she got me hooked on what Starbuck’s calls a Misto, and Second Cup calls a London Fog. (Earl Grey tea, steamed milk, vanilla syrup). I’m making those at home now too, but with whatever tea I have around (currently, vanilla… yum!) and they are $1 cheaper than lattes! But I have not given up lattes, oh no, don’t worry.
Then I forced Kim to watch several episodes of The Office. Oh, oh, oh, AND, she bought me the greatest present ever… one of those little things you see in a store and immediately think of someone and start laughing, so you must buy it for them? Yeah. It’s a cell phone holder that is a tiny pink Croc shoe!!! I love it!! Hee
On Saturday, she helped me out by going to Wal-Mart and pushing a cart home with a case of water, cat litter, and cat food. (”I must really like you… I am going to Wal-Mart on a SATURDAY!” she said). We also ate in the food court, because that Smitty’s (the only restaurant in the mall) service and food sucks balls. So instead, we had food court Chinese food, which kinda sucks balls, too.
Ohhhhh, but then it was evening. We headed to the Ironwood for 6:00, and at 6:15 on the nose (as Rob had estimated they would be there around that time) the boys arrived. They set up, we had dinner, moved tables about 4 times, etc. etc. Around 9:30 Peter Katz hit the stage and proceeded to amaze the audience… it was the best show of his I have ever seen, I was blown away.
Just as Peter started playing, my friend Cheryl arrived, which was awesome… and so did Jay and his brother Marc. Add our new friend Spencer (a friend of Rob’s) and his girlfriend Sam, we had a very full and active table. Actually, the Ironwood was packed, and so many people were singing along with Rob’s songs that it was awesome… he has so many fans here now!! Yay! Both guys sold lots of CDs and made a lot of new friends and fans.
Rob played a fabulous set as well,
I know I already posted a video of him singing this song when he was here in April, but this one is better, and you can never get too much Rob Szabo.
For the encore, BOTH Rob and Peter took the stage and sang a couple songs and it was amazing:
The video cut off early because my camera was being wonky, but if you look at my other You Tube videos, I have the end up there too
I had to post this photo because it’s not very often you see me standing beside such a hot, young, strapping, hot, young man. This is Rob’s friend Graham, who sings in a rock band, and I met him at Rob’s gig in April. We talked a lot. He actually does have a brain and a personality, but seriously, do we care?
(I’m kidding… Graham is a sweetie and he has a gorgeous girlfriend - duh - but since he is 14 years younger than me I am allowed to tease him like he’s a toy. I think). After the show, Kim took off to meet other friends, and everyone else went home, so I sat at a table and waited for the guys to load up their gear and talk with their new fans. Rob kept me supplied with coffee and Bailey’s. Around 2:00 a.m. me, Rob and Peter headed to a 24 hour restaurant for some food… it was LOUD in there, all those late night partiers. Oh, so rarely am I one of them! It was almost 3:30 a.m. when Peter dropped Rob and I off at my place (Peter has other friends here he stays with). It was pretty much straight to bed for us. (Me = bed, Rob = couch! Geez).
The next day, Sunday, we slept in and took our time getting dressed. Around 2:00 we went to the mall for food, and actually considered Smitty’s for a moment, but Rob’s memories are not fond of it from the last time he was in town, and no one was seating us anyway. So off to the food court we went. I’m such a faaaaabulous hostess to my overnight guests. (It’s not MY fault Rob doesn’t drink coffee and lattes!). I grabbed a London Fog on the way back. Then, Rob brought my new computer into my office and my old one out, and hooked everything up, and now I am flying on here. (Not my typing, just the other computer things that involve speed). Yay!
Dinner plans, after much discussion and phone calls, ended up with meeting Peter, Spencer and Sam at the Tandoori Hut for some Indian food. It was so so so so so good! Great food, wine, and people. Good times.
You can see all the pictures I took from the weekend in my Facebook public album.
So, that was my weekend. Peter picked Rob up around 3:00 Monday afternoon and then they were off to continue the rest of their Lanky Wimps Tour.
On Tuesday, I cropped and uploaded photos and video and fiddled with my new computer and didn’t get any work done. Today, is almost over and I didn’t get any work done. Here’s to tomorrow!
“I am living in a box, I am living in a cardboard box…”
“I am living in a box, I am living in a cardboard box…”
Tim called me in the morning after his meeting, and came to pick me up. I only knew Tim from our contact on MySpace and Facebook, and we have some mutual friends; for one, he used to play drums for Lobelia before she left Montreal (Lobelia, who I became great friends with while in Montreal last year, had a very busy year having to move from Montreal because she’s American and her Visa ran out, and then meeting her new love Steve, moving to England, touring all over Europe, etc. etc… she was supposed to be with us in Toronto and Montreal but health-related reasons kept her in London a bit longer. I was sooooooooo sad to miss seeing her!) Anyway, Tim is a very handsome man and talented writer/musician and you can check him out HERE.
We drove up to the spa Noelle owns with her mother. This was also my first time meeting Noelle in person, because last year she was in Los Angeles while I was in Montreal. We have several mutual friends, as well. Anyway, because of the death of her Aunt earlier that morning, the salon was closed and Noelle and her mom were just there making phone calls and re-scheduling clients. They are Jewish, so a death in the family means several days of “Shiva” and Yom Kippur was on Saturday… so it was, once again, not the best time for Noelle and I to be able to hang out. (Although, as she said, “there is no WAY I’m missing out on Saturday night!!)
The spa Noelle and her mother own is beautiful. Although they mainly do manicures, pedicures, massage, facials, etc. they DO sell things, as well. And I bought a bracelet, which it turns out was made by the Aunt that had just passed. So that felt nice, to have chosen that without knowing.
The four of us went over to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I spared Noelle and her mom from picture taking, because they were dressed in sweats and no make-up and I know they would BOTH kill me if I had photos and posted them. They are both gorgeous women and looked great to me, but, you know Jewish women and their vanity. Heh. I wanted one of the spa’s reception area, though, so I snuck this one and blacked out Noelle’s mom.
Over lunch, Noelle told me oodles of stories (because I asked and probed and asked and probed) about her time as a young Hollywood starlet. She grew up in L.A. and did a lot of acting, And has met almost everyone! She was on Buffy, Star Trek, Ellen, Beverly Hills 90210, all kinds of stuff. She moved to Dublin, Ireland for a few years, and that is where she started getting more into playing music (and partied with Johnny Depp OHMIGOD). She is also a photographer. Her website is right here and you can read all about that stuff and see how damn gorgeous she is. I picked up her CD while I was there, too!
After lunch we grabbed coffees at Tim Horton’s and went back to the spa. Noelle and her mom had lots of planning to do, so we didn’t stay too long. Tim drove me back to the hotel, where I rested for awhile before meeting up with my friend Patricia. First, I made sure to leave a key at the hotel reception desk for Emma, because she would be coming downtown and staying in the hotel with me the rest of the time. (She lives on the West Island and goes to school there). She would be bussing it down to the hotel sometime that evening.
Anyway, Patricia and I go back about 15 years. We were both involved with Carnival Diablo when it originated in Calgary in the early 90’s (now Scott is doing quite well with that show in the Toronto area!), and then a bunch of us left that and formed Virtual Insanity. Here is a picture of us from back in 1993:
That’s Patricia on the left in the back row, and I’m the blonde fuzz in front.
Patricia had a baby in 1996, I remember her being about 8 months pregnant at my 28th birthday party, and I remember meeting her son Sage when he was about two, but then they moved to Montreal. We lost touch and reconnected on Facebook! It was perfect timing, because I found her on Facebook not too long before I was going on my trip.
Anyway, I brought my wheelchair so we could wander around after dinner, and caught a cab to meet them in Mile End at Cafe Depanneur.
We had a lovely dinner and caught up on life. Patricia is super busy, working at a studio (she’s always been involved in the Arts, Theatre), going to school and being a single mom. Sage is 11 now and GORGEOUS. What a sweetie, I fell in love with that kid! After dinner we wandered around the neighbourhood and found a cafe where I could finally get a latte. (Cafe Depanneur kept forgetting to bring me one and we just gave up and decided to go elsewhere for dessert). We ate pastry and drank coffees and took pictures:
Patricia’s friend Annie was hosting a launch party for her art magazine, Les Fleurs du Mal, not too far from where we were. It was supposed to be accessible, so we wandered over there. It turned out to be inside a building with a large concrete step out front (for which Annie apologized profusely). We could have gotten me and my chair up and over it with some assistance. However, I wasn’t much in the mood for mingling and meeting new people, so I sent Patricia inside what appeared to be a very cool party with lots of interactive stuff going on, to say her hellos to friends, and I stayed outside with Sage. There were lots of people mingling outside, as well, and we were brought food! Sage was so sweet… when his mom asked me if I wanted to stay or go, I answered “I’m not really in the mood for a loud party and meeting new people and stuff, to be honest…” so when she went inside by herself, Sage told me “I feel the same way and would have said the exact same thing, if she had asked me”. Hee!
After hanging out there for awhile, we left to find a busy street where we could flag down cabs. I guess it was about 9:30 p.m. when I got back to the hotel, and experienced the favourite moment of my entire trip. As I slipped my key card in the door and opened it, Emma came RACING over to me and gave me a huge, giant hug. It was awesome.
Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I’ve fallen WAY behind. I haven’t written my usual rambling blog for weeks, and I still owe you the details of my trip to Montreal. My bad. It’s just that I’m in another phase where I have so much work to do, I don’t want to spend time at the computer writing in here when there is Facebook and shopping on eBay to be done (our dollar is so good right now, I’m almost finished my Christmas shopping!)
Okay, so, let’s get to Montreal.
Monday, September 17
Emma, Gaby and myself get up fairly early, finish packing, check out of the Toronto hotel and cab it to the bus depot. I take a seat right in the front, Gaby and Emma sit behind me. I’m hoping the seat beside me stays empty, because that’s always nice. Then I see a woman out the window arrive at the bus with all her clothes and things in a clear plastic garbage bag. She hands her bag to the driver to load with the other baggage, apologizing “I don’t usually travel like this, but…” and climbs the stairs. Naturally, she sits next to me.
Most of the trip was uneventful, a stop at Tim Horton’s for lunch and coffee… I like to travel by bus, I have decided, the seats are way more comfortable than airplanes. The lady next to me snacks on processed cheese slices, unwrapping them and munching directly off the plastic rather than peeling the slice off with her hands. It was a sight to behold… rather, uh, dog-like. Lucky for me, she got off in Kingston, ON and the rest of the trip (another 3 hours, I think?) I had the two seats to myself.
Emma got off the bus at the first Montreal stop, because it is closer to her house. Gaby lives downtown, so she would get off at the downtown stop with me and cab to my hotel to help get me settled. It was around 7:30 pm when we arrived at the bus depot. We got a cab, got to my hotel, and I’m really thankful Gaby was there because the whole hotel-situation was not as accessible as I’d hoped it would be. From where the cab could park to the hotel doors there were several curbs we had to go up and over because of a bike path in front. Then the hotel itself… well, I had received a call saying they were not “wheelchair accessible… our doors are not wider or anything… but we are handicapped accessible”. To me, that is pretty much the same thing. To them, that means they put one bar in the shower and that’s it. Even to walk in the door of the hotel room there is a raised piece of wood to get over.
Anyway, the room was really cute otherwise… a little kitchen and everything. Full fridge, stove, microwave… but the toilet was LOW and no bar to help me get up from it. I broke the counter behind the toilet the first night by pushing down on it to get up. Oops. Gaby went home after I got settled and I went to bed!
Tuesday
Tuesday pretty much sucked. I was on my own all day, because Emma and Gaby have school, and I hadn’t made plans to meet Tim and Noelle yet, or my friend Patricia. So I made a few calls that day and left messages with people, planned to meet Tim and Patricia the following day, and decided to do a load of laundry using the coin laundry facilities I knew the hotel had. I needed clean underwear and pajamas! First I took a shower and almost fell in the bathroom because of the lack of bars/poles and SPACE. I had to have my walker in there as something to steady myself as I came out of the shower. That meant there wasn’t exactly room for me.
I rounded up my change and went down to the laundry room floor. Steaming hot down there. HUGE step with no railing to go up and over to get into the laundry room, while struggling with a heavy door. Of course I had no soap, so I purchased a little package of Tide and a Bounce sheet out of their machine. Instead of a Bounce sheet, I received a liquid fabric softener. CRAP! I don’t even know how to use liquid fabric softener! Final rinse cycle… when is that?? Heh. It meant I had to sit in that steaming hot room and wait. I was not happy, but at least while my things were in the dryer I could leave for a bit and use the computers with free internet access on another floor. A floor with air conditioning. (Oh yes, the air conditioning in my hotel room was awesome, I’ll say that!!)
After laundry and computer time, I decided to venture outside of my hotel and see if there was a store really close by where I could buy a few groceries and snacks. And get a good coffee, or even a latte if I could be so lucky. Oh, yes, this hotel kitchen had TINY tea cups for drinking your coffee out of. NO THANKS. I wanted to get a big coffee in a big cup that I could use again tomorrow!
There was a store nearby, so I headed over there, stepping over and around all kinds of construction and boards. I walked in the store and… 3 big stairs, no railing. The coffee machine was right by the door, thankfully. I did manage to get myself and my walker up the stairs (at least they were wide) but once there, I had no idea what to buy. I don’t even know what language the things in this shop were. It certainly wasn’t French. There was a deli case with meats and cheese, but I was looking for bread, peanut butter, that sort of easy food. I did see a jar of Nutella, so I bought that. No bread, so I bought what looked like round breadsticks I could dip in Nutella. I also bought some sort of what appeared to be chocolate wafer cookies. Nothing was written in any language I recognized, so I went by the pictures.
I paid for my goods and a large coffee, went to the machine to get it, and tried to follow the instructions that were in French. Luckily it was a similar machine to one they had at the Carewest place I was in last year, so I managed to get my coffee. Then I had to stumble back to my hotel over curbs, curbs, construction and more curbs without spilling said coffee. It was then (once back inside my room) that I noticed the expiry dates on everything I had bought were long gone. The chocolate wafers were stale. The breadsticks were hard as rocks. I didn’t even open the jar of Nutella that expired in 2005, but I doubt that stuff goes bad anyway. I was just so pissed off and tired that I didn’t care at that moment. I ate some stale chocolate wafers (or, wafer… it was one big slab, not cut up like cookies) and threw the rest away.
I left another message with Noelle about maybe meeting for dinner that night. I texted Gaby to see if she could come meet me, but she had too much school work to do (she sort of slacked off homework in Toronto). Emma wasn’t going to be able to come over and stay with me until the following night. So, after a certain amount of time passed and I knew I’d be on my own for dinner, I decided to treat myself to a lovely meal at what was supposed to be a “fine dining French cuisine” elegant restaurant at the base of my hotel. I wandered in and sat at a cute little table with crisp white linens. A guy in faded jeans and a sweatshirt (?) came over and asked if he could help me. I asked to see a menu. “We have no cook tonight.” Excuse me? “The cook did not show up tonight. I am the bartender, no one else is here. I can make you chicken and fries, that’s all I can do.”
**insert hysterical laughter or tears here**
So, I ordered the chicken and fries. And you know what? It was the best damn chicken and fries I’ve ever had. The chicken breast was HUGE, grilled to perfection, perfect spices, and the fries were crisp and hot. That poor bartender was on his own making and serving drinks, handling the cooking of chicken and fries for anyone who wanted it, while trying to explain to hungry irate customers that there was no cook that evening. I gave him a MASSIVE tip.
When I got back up to my room, there was a message from Noelle saying she had just come home from the hospital, as that is where they have been spending most of their time… her aunt is very sick with lung cancer. So I called her and we chatted for awhile, and I heard about the sad state of her aunt’s health, who, by the way, passed away early the following morning. In July she had been in perfect health, dancing at a wedding, looking vibrant and healthy… in August she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and then she was gone September 19. 70 years old.
Wednesday
I’ll get back to this later! I actually started doing stuff with other people on the Wednesday. I know so far it sounds like I had such an exciting time hanging out in my hotel in such a beautiful and exciting city like Montreal. Go me!
You can see all the pictures from Montreal part of my trip in my public Facebook album.
Pita checks out all the new CDs I bought from the indie artists I saw while I was away.
One of Pita’s regular hangouts is my walker… seriously she is on that thing several times/day. I have the only walker in the world losing its padded handles to claw marks.
Our day began once again with breakfast in the mall of the hotel concourse. There is a stand with Seattle’s Best coffee down there, have I mentioned that??
I think I have the days mixed up here, because according to my photos and what I was wearing, it was Friday we went to the Bay and tried on hats and I raided the MAC counter. Yes. So what did we do Saturday? Because I wasn’t picked up until about 2:30. So I’ll say… we went to the Bay, tried on silly hats, Gaby bought a really cute one, and I raided the MAC counter, buying mascara, lipstick and lip gloss. MAC rules. But the mascara stings my eyes, just like the Estee Lauder brands, which owns MAC, so there is something in their mascaras that my eyes don’t like. But every other part of my face likes MAC make-up.
Gail and Loren picked me up in the afternoon and Loren dropped Gail and I off on Roncesvalles for the Polish Street Festival while he took off to run other errands. It was great fun, especially the parts where we had to get me in my wheelchair over all the damn streetcar tracks!! Heh. I bought a few things, surprise SURPRISE. Mainly some handmade jewelry, and some $10 sunglasses that are designer rip-offs. I had forgotten my sunglasses at home, and actually looked for a pair in the Bay, but I wasn’t about to pay $100 when I knew I would be able to get some for $10 from a street vendor at some point!
Roncesvalles Village - Polish Street Festival
We also stopped at a wonderful vendor, The Queen of Tarts, where Gail talked me into buying a bag of ginger-encrusted pecans. She says she goes out of her way once in awhile to come buy these… and, I can see why. They were delicious, AND they helped my menstrual cramps!! (Ginger is great for that, and what a tasty way to get it!) I need one bag/month! I should have bought a year’s supply or so.
After roaming the street fair (pictures in Facebook) we stopped at a cute coffee shop called Coffee and All That Jazz for lattes and pastry while waiting for Loren.
Another day, another coffee shop
Then we went back to Gail’s place so I could see her condo and meet her cat, Pollyanna.
Pretty girl! Thanks for the Sigg water bottle!
We chatted and drank some yummy chocolate liqueur… I don’t remember the brand, but it was amazing! I also called my mom from Gail’s place… I wasn’t even aware Looney call existed. YAY! You learn something new every day…
Then it was off to meet my cousin Carrie and her boyfriend Matt for dinner at Dr. G’s. It was a great choice. Gail and Loren go there a lot, and when Carrie was trying to think of a restaurant nearby her that was accessible, Dr. Generosity was near the top of her list, too. So that worked great. AND they had my beer on tap, Big Rock’s Grasshopper, which you don’t see very often East of Calgary! (Pictures inFacebook, even of my beer).
It was an early night, and I was back at the hotel and in bed by about 10:00. Gaby and Emma had gone to see a dance performance by Peter’s girlfriend Andrea, and came back later than me.
Sunday was Lazy Day. I needed the rest! I did some packing, puttered on the computer, wheeled myself around the hotel and took pictures while Gaby visited with another friend of hers and Emma did homework. Sort of.
Waterfall in our hotel lobby
Nathan Phillips Square across the street
Just a picture taken outside our hotel
While hanging outside the hotel, I ran into the Scooter Guy I had met outside the bus depot the other day. He told me more about his terminal illness (liver and kidney diseases) and that he has been living in a long-term care facility for the past year. “I used to stay in this hotel a lot - I used to be rich” he told me. Apparently he gave his money to his children when he thought he was going to die, but he ended up living longer than anyone thought he would, and now his kids don’t talk to him and he has nothing. But, he would like to take me on a date, to see a show… “I’m leaving tomorrow,” I told him. He was a little creepy, and who knows if any of his stories are true (I imagine he drank his money and life away, but I believe his kids don’t talk to him!) Also, you don’t have to be rich to stay in the Sheraton, for the record. It was the cheapest hotel downtown I could get through my travel agent (but almost twice as much as my Montreal hotel. Oh well).
Anyway, Sunday evening was a BLAST. First we met up with Emma’s friend Gillian for dinner (at the Java House, of course). I had Pad Thai mmmmmm! Then it was down to the famed Cameron House to see Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards. Our buddy Adam plays drums with them.
We parked my wheelchair in the back room and got a table up front. The band was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and Kevin Quain is a crazy ridiculous talent. He played guitar, banjo, piano, accordian, even a SAW. I bought all 3 of his CDs immediately and asked him if he knew my old friend Scott McClelland, because his show made me think of Carnival Diablo and I figured they should be friends. Which they are, and Kevin has even done gigs with him! They are a good fit, I tell ya.
His trumpet player plays with Feist! AND gave me directions to the bathroom. While he was on stage haha The stage is so small that he actually stood on the floor, by the curtain that led to the back room. He walked back there with me and Gaby to show me where the women’s bathroom was, but due to all the stairs I said “you know, I’m just going to use the men’s…” and I did that while Gaby stood outside to make sure no men came in!
After the show, I was standing up, chatting with Adam, and then I turned to say goodnight to Kevin. I felt my right foot not land properly, and knew I was falling… the sort of stumble where if a table or something was beside me I could have stopped myself, but because nothing was there I had to let myself fall. So I landed flat on my ass and scared some people. I played it cool and asked for a chair to help me get up, and I got up okay on my own. The girls had just retrieved my wheelchair out of the back, so I held it to balance me as we walked out. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, dammit, so I didn’t talk to anyone on my way out except to say a quick goodbye to any band members we passed. Then we got outside, I sat in my chair, and let it rip! Dammit, I hate when that happens. I wasn’t really hurt, but I guess falling in front of a bunch of people is an ego bruiser. Adam was there, giving me big hugs, as I was apologizing for being a big baby. I felt like such an idiot!
Anyway, we said our goodnight’s to Adam and headed back up Queen Street to our hotel. I was still sniffling so I didn’t want to stop in the Horseshoe, as was my original plan, to say hello to an old friend (and former Phantoms guitarist) who works there on Sundays. Emma asked “don’t you want to stop in there and see him?” (It has been, after all, over 15 years). But I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I have a hard enough time seeing people I haven’t seen in that long, who have no idea I have MS (it’s the looks of shock and/or pity that I can’t handle!) never mind running into an old friend while in a wheelchair when I’ve just been crying… I’d lose it and start bawling like a baby and not even be able to get out a “hello”! I could have done it if I hadn’t been snivelling. Dammit!
So instead we stopped at a hot dog vendor and bought hot dogs. There is nothing like getting street meat at 2:00 in the morning! (Gaby got a veggie dog. I should point that out in case she is reading!) Apparently, Emma and Gaby don’t have that in Montreal. We have them in Calgary… isn’t everyone hungry when they roll out of the bar after it closes? It’s a necessity.
We were back at the hotel and in bed by about 2:30, I guess. The next day we checked out and caught our bus at about 1:30 pm. Next up, Montreal!!
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
