please allow me to introduce myself...

this is lucifer. the plan was for him to be my stand in for photo ops in toronto. here he is hanging out on the plane.










a couple of shots of lucifer hanging out at the hockey hall of fame. i didn't go in because i went a few years ago.







time for a pit stop. here's a tip for you. looking for a bathroom? always hit the big hotels. not only do they have public bathrooms, they have clean public bathrooms.

i actually stayed at the royal york a few years ago. tip #2, do not go up random elevators at the royal york when drunk. you will end up lost in the hallways trying to find your room.

lucifer, being rather devil like, tried to convince me to eat the free desert that was part of some conference going on.




hanging out with glen gould at the cbc.










look, it's the tree from mr. dressup! i have to get a picture of lucifer with this!

i place lucifer gently on the ledge, and he falls! into the tree! because of course, i didn't think about the fact that inside the tree is where the puppeteer was so of course, there is not actual ledge to the tree house. it's all open.

i look at the back and the treehouse is sealed shut of course. there is a screen and i can see lucifer inside. trapped. forever. a permanent part of the cbc from now on.

the plan was to get a photo of lucifer on the set of 'the hour'. instead, i can only offer a photo of my pack of death mints on my seat at 'the hour'






if you ever visit the cbc museum, say hi to lucifer for me. he is missed already.

put on a little makeup, makeup...

get some popcorn allison, time for the next installment in 668's faboulous toronto getaway.






my night (or early morning) ended with me demanding toast from my friend, me frantically making sure the vat19 made it safely, and being too tired to actually pull out the futon into a bed and just crashing. the not pulling out the futon lasted the entire trip.

the next day i am awoken in the manner that i will be awoken all trip. by a cat. luckily, she's very cute.





it's a gorgeous day in toronto. now, normally i would have walked queens street on my first day in toronto. and it was perfect weather for it. however, my friend "l" is coming in from montreal that afternoon. my friend ( i need to think of a good pseudonym for him. he deserves something better than an initial) redeems himself from the bus incident and says, why don't you meet her at the train station? it's right by the cbc. which is where i need to be later in the day. good thinking batman. it's "l"'s first time in toronto, so she really should visit queen street once. so i will save queens street until tomorrow.

i took the street car downtown and my driver was so freakin' scary. he was yelling at people and kicking them off the street car. i was so intimidated, i didn't even take my camera out. i just sat there, afraid to move.

so instead of walking queens street, i end up in eatons centre . (it's probably not called that any more. ) i went in originally because i thought there was a tourist centre there. i wanted a map to get to the 'walk of fame' . but the girl in me was happy to find a sephora (caution, extreme girlyness) in the mall. i got sucked in and had to buy this lipgloss in a ball.

i bought it totally because of the packaging. the colours are me colours but it's lip gloss in a ball! so bright and shiny.. how could i resist?

the service however, sucked. i asked the girl working there if she had had any feedback on this one product and the answer was an explanation of how it worked. yes, thank you, for explaining the obvious but have you tried it? has anyone told you if they like it? she just looked blankly at me and again told me how it worked and tried to sell me a more expensive version. yah, thanks i'll pass. she also said to me when i asked if there was a tester version of this lip balm that it was on sale. yes, thank you again, i can see the big sign, but do you have one that is open that i can smell it? she finally gets me one and tells me it is a good price because it is on sale. oh, how much is it regularly? it's on sale. yes, you have told me that but how much am i saving? it's on sale. ok, honey, don't strain your brain. you have obviously did not have to fill out a i.q. test for this job. i will stop asking you questions.

i finally made it outside and casually walked down to the train station. i stopped briefly to buy a bite to eat. i ended up in some burger joint, and by this point, i had lost all ability to order food. i am sure the staff thought i was a moron. it was like it was my first time in a restaurant. and i only ate about 1/4 of the burger.

this is taken inside the building where the hockey hall of fame is.






this is an art display by xavier veilhan in the same building for luminato
festival.








i decided to go to the cbc museum before meeting my friend. because of an incident i'll tell about in a later post, i didn't get much time to look at the museum.

when i was a kid, i loved 'the friendly giant'. and i was fascinated by the fact that jerome the giraffe could draw with his mouth. i used to stick felt pens in my mouth and try to write all the time. it was years before my brain put together the concept that because jerome was a puppet, a hand was actually drawing!

a few years ago, i spent a long time trying to visit his grave. sadly, i never found it.









who didn't want a tickle trunk as a kid? come to think of it, i still do.









next up, the train station to meet "l".










in the station, more luminato art. this is by max streicher.






the fact that i cut off the sign here amused me. i think of this as a zen place for trains.






next, back to the cbc to catch a taping of 'the hour'. but that's for another post.

stayin' alive, stayin' alive ...

we now interrupt our story for friday random top ten. i haven't played in ages!

i did a theme this week to celebrate my return.

1. 20th century fox fanfare – alfred newman
2. just like anyone – soul asylum
3. all of me – frank sinatra
4. four strong winds – johnny cash
5. i just want to be your everything – andy gibb
6. love me – elvis presley
7. babylon – new york dolls
8. i got stripes – johnny cash
9. stayin' alive – bee gees
10. jailhouse rock – elvis presley (with the jordanaires)

no random posts this week. next week, i am hoping to be back on top of things.

have a good weekend all. i have a funeral to go to tomorrow and then a birthday party. thank god, it's not the other way round.

hey mr pharmacist...

hmmm, i'm not really sure how i feel about that last post. or why i went into all that. i must have been in one weird mood on the weekend.

anyways, back to my trip. my flight was book for wednesday after work. wednesday morning, i check in online and am happy to find out i've been assigned row 13! wooo hoooo! i like this on so many levels. especially since my friend 'l' (who flew to mtl a few weeks earlier) refused to sit in row 13. i figure, chances are good that no one will sit next to me.

"goober" knows something is up. (don't look at the mess behind him!)








at work, we are in full crisis mode and have been since the day before. my new boss keeps asking me if i have room in my suitcase. especially once she hears that there is a bottle of vat 19 rum in there as well.

now, i love flying. and i love the airport. however, what i do not like is getting to the airport. this is because once, a friend was late getting me to the airport and i missed my flight. and had to buy another ticket. ever since then, i am super nervous until i actually get there. once there, i am fine.

i park my car and go inside the park n fly office and to my disappointment, i can't check in my baggage there. the main reason i park there is because they have an airline counter there. i park my car, check in, check my baggage and i'm laughing. however, the counter shuts down at 2 now. damn you! i'm getting agitated. wait forever for the shuttle bus. finally shows up. there is a brief moment of panic as i think my flight is for 3.30 not 5.30. i finally get to the airport and check in. but no, relaxing for me this time.

now, i have to rush down to the clinic at the airport. you see, i was driving to work and realized i had forgotten to pack a cream i need for an allergic reaction i sometimes get. about ten minutes after i had realized, my ears started to itch. i think, it's just psychosomatic, don't think about it. about 1/2 way thru my day, i come to the sad realization that no, it's real. my ears are red and itchy. so now i'm at the airport clinic, hoping to get a prescription and hoping that the pharmacy can fill it before i have to board. alas, the doctors have been called out so no prescription for me. the nurse tells me to go to the pharmacy anyways. and i have to give a big shout out to mr pharmacist. he points me in the direction of another cream that works almost as good as my medication. yah! no more itchy ears!

but alas, now i have to hurry hurry hurry to my gate. and did you know that there are no free meals on planes anymore?! hello, it's five hours on a plane! the least you can do is give me a free cookie! and tim horton's shut down before i could get a sandwich prior to boarding. damn you! i need my ice cap! i have to buy junk food for the flight instead.

but finally, i am on my way!

the view from row 13! me and my fellow row mate mock all those who suffer from triskaidekaphobia .






ok, i do think these video on demand screens are pretty cool. i watched tv almost all the way to toronto. to my friend "t", yes you are right "how i met your mother" is pretty awesomely funny. i need to watch more. i also watched got to watch "the office". and you can use regular headphones.

they didn't really shut the curtain very well that separates first and second class. the only time i was jealous was when they were offered hot cookies and ice cream. nothing else looked that hot. plus there was this weird smell emanating from there for a good portion of the trip. the best i can do at a description was stale felt tips.

a question popped up while i was reading the onboard magazine... does anyone actually do those exercises listed in there on the plane?


i was so exhausted by the time i got to toronto, the fact that the automatic flusher on the toilets said sloan made me giggle so much i couldn't take a good photo.





ooohh, scary deserted airport.








it's one a.m. when i land and call my buddy. i announce i'm tired, cranky and hungry. he's thrilled. now, i have only give him one job due prior to me landing at the airport. i was planning on renting a car but nothing is open. he is always trying to get me to take transit to and from the airport. so his mission is to get me from the airport to his house by transit. or at least relatively close. i even send him the link to the actual schedule. does he accomplish this feat? no. what was i thinking? this is also the person that made me miss my flight. i catch a cab. i have arrived.

panic in the streets of london...

ok, sometime later i will share stories about the people in the last post. but not right now. i feel the need to talk about something else. so i am going to start to blog about my trip.

so, as some of you may or may not know, i have been planning to go to toronto for a few months now. i've been to toronto many times, and love it. the city invigorates me. it reminds me a lot of london and one of my best buddies lives out there (more later on that). i was going out at least once a year. however, i have not been out to toronto for a few years now. this has less to do about money and more to do with something that happened the last time i was there.

the entire time i was in toronto, i suffered from massive panic attacks. one day i walked 8 hours straight because i couldn't stop moving. another time, i grilled my friend endlessly on his personal life (which is so something i do not do). and is so something he was not impressed with. at night, i would just lie in my bed shaking. but the worse one was the night we went to see this play "love and human remains". i won't go into details, i don't like to spoil anything but the part before intermission was really intense and it ends with a bam! (not literally) and i almost ran out of the theatre. it took ever ounce of my willpower not leave the theatre and come back for the second half. and then i was trying to hide during intermission but my friends found me and i had to make conversation and i felt like saying "i am on the verge of a nervous breakdown, could you please leave me alone." but if they had, i don't think i would have felt any better.

i bring this up mainly to try and give you a picture of my mind as i'm attempting to book my trip. the other issue i'm having is that this weekend is the weekend that my friend "l" is also in toronto. now, this could be fun, but the problem is that "l" knows how to push all my buttons. and not in a good way. and one of the things that does push my buttons is that sometimes i get the feeling that she always has to one up me. now, i don't really talk about my panic attacks. i've suffered them for awhile, sometimes they are bad, sometimes not. i don't really discuss them very much. but she always goes on and on about hers. and i don't remember her having any until i happened to mention that i had them in conjunction with my claustrophobia. i just find the whole thing bizarre.

i finally decide to bite the bullet and buy my ticket. is it a wise thing? well, we shall see.

if there's a heaven above...

i'm sorry my dear readers that i haven't posted my stories yet. when i wrote my last entry, i really thought i'd been blogging like a little fiend for the next few days.

however, stuff happens. sometimes bad stuff happens.

in the past week, two people i know have died in two separate car accidents. in two different cities.

one was a really good friend of a friend. i'd only met him a couple of times but he was super funny. the other was someone i had worked with. not super close, but when you see someone practically every day for six years, you develop a relationship with them.

i'm ok. just taking a little break.

and hey, be careful out there.

back in black...

i hit the sack... which is pretty much what i did yesterday and will do today.

i'm back from my glorious trip to toronto. and do i have stories! there were highs, there were lows, there were drunken brawls, celebrity sightings, stalkings, and much rock n roll.

details to follow my friends.

leaving on a jet plane...

well, i'm catching a plane tomorrow after work and won't be back until next week.

i probably won't blog until i come back but i will be checking email.

my cbc connections came thru and i now able to see 'the hour' this week instead of the day i fly back. whooo hooo!

feel free to send me nxne recommendations!

take care y'all.

if a picture paints a thousand words...

click to enlarge my friends, click to enlarge...