Called out

Peggy informed me that no, it does not count as a blog if it's never updated so I shall endeavour to do better in the future!

It's been a busy month, as always, but I'll go back to my last message and try to start from where I left off!

Towards the end of October I made it to the Halloween Haunt at Canada's Wonderland. It was amazing and so scary I almost pulled my friend's arm off! He was very staunch and never jumped, which was an excellent counter to my over-reactive non-stop freak out. There were ten houses and each was themed - fairy tales, steam punk, zombies, corn maze, swamp, asylum, pirates, vampires, knights and castles... The last three were the scariest for sure - I screamed and spun in circles and grabbed for a human shield. The pirate one was sneaky. I would check the dark corners for nasties and think I was safe, but they'd made it well so you couldn't even see the person in there! I'd look, relax, then be jumped at! It was overwhelming and a lot of fun, I'm definitely intending to go back. You can also go on the rides so we hit up Leviathon, which is the new rollercoaster with a crazy drop that feels amazing.

I've started taking a public relations course at the University of Toronto. Long term I'm very interested in corporate communications so I wanted to make sure that I would have the knowledge necessary for whatever role I find. The course has been very good in that way - lots of practical and hands-on lessons. We have a group project due in a couple weeks so that's been a focus (to the detriment of other things, like my social life.) I got lucky and my group is awesome - we're all working hard and I think we're on top, or even ahead, of things.

The first few weeks of November were very exciting, with two stand outs: I met Patrick Rothfuss and I went to Montreal.

Patrick first: For those not in the know, Patrick Rothfuss wrote an amazing fantasy novel called The Name of the Wind. Then he wrote an amazing sequel called The Wise Man's Fear. Stop reading my blog and go find the first one. No, really, it will be much more rewarding than listening to me ramble! Patrick was in town for a convention and made it to a local bookstore for a signing. He read stuff and answered questions and was generally entertaining and warm and fuzzy and nice and shiny. It was great, AND I got him to make a little video for Peggy AND I got a photo with him for me so it was overall an amazing experience.

Last weekend I went to Montreal with a (special) friend. I took a long weekend so we left on Thursday night. After a bit of an adventure finding our hotel we had three days to explore the city. Day one was an adventure around Old Montreal. With the cobblestone streets and alleys, and the view across the river - it was like a little piece of Europe. That night we went to a bar in the basement of another hostel for some dancing/drinking/socialising. They had live music from a band called Descalso, which was very good and I'd recommend looking them up.

Day two was the St Joseph Oratory - a lovely surprise that looks like a traditional basilica from outside but inside is delightful modernist architecture and art. The stained glass windows were beautiful and we had excellent timing to see the sun recreate the pictures on the wall next to them. From there we walked through the cemetery - reported to have more than a million people buried there! - which was beautiful. The historic section was interesting because usually those parts of graveyards are run down and a bit forlorn, but the Montreal graves were immaculate. I suspect there is some kind of city program to keep them in order, which is a lovely sentiment and I wonder how long they will maintain it. The look out in the park was next, watching a tour group of some sort do the pre-requisite "gangster style" and "jumping" photos.

After lunch, we hit the Museum des Beaux-Arts. Lots of great pieces, although I was marginally disappointed that they mention El Greco in the brochure but only had one painting, a portrait that didn't really show his distinct style. The Impressionist exhibit more than made up for it - a beautiful, almost chronological exhibit showing how the style developed. I'm a sucker for Degas so it was great to see so many of his works there.

That night we had poutine for dinner, it is a required activity for a tourist in the city, I believe. It was delicious but too much food. I think I ate the equivalent of two or three big potatoes, and I didn't even finish mine. Drinks at a lovely bar called The Piano Rouge (it did indeed have a red piano) which had a lovely bartender and I tried a few too many gin cocktails (pfff... no such thing as too many.) The big UFC fight was on, and it was important to my companion to see it so I spent half an hour watching half naked men try to dominate each other. I can think of worse ways to spend an evening but it would have been better if we had been able to get inside where it was warm!

Sunday was our last day so we went on a mission to a famous bagel place called Saint-Viateur for lunch. It lived up to its reputation and we picked up some bagels to take home with us. I didn't get to sleep until about 1am, which made Monday somewhat painful.

This weekend I have study group and a movie night, so it won't be quite as exciting, but I do need a break so I can ever buy groceries and do laundry!

Hope you're all well and starting to get amped up for the holidays. I'm very excited and just posted gifts for my family. Not entirely sure how/where my Christmas/New Year is going to line up but I'm excited regardless - and very grateful that it hasn't snowed here yet!

Does it count as a blog if it's never updated?

So it’s been a long time since I updated, but not too much has changed. Job is the same, weather is getting worse (sob) and I’m still busy with socializing and travelling. I headed to Ottawa recently for a weekend and a wedding – always worth visiting my second family there.

I’ve just started taking a course at the University of Toronto in Publicity and Public Relations because I figure I’ll move into communications in the next year or so. It’s something I’ve been thinking about since I started in journalism. I miss newspapers and the non-stop deadlines, but if I can’t have that I think I might as well get paid well and advocate for a bank or something.

The exciting thing this week (which will not sound exciting but really is): I got Ken Follett’s latest book at the library and am working my way through the 900+ pages about World War 2. The first book, Fall of Giants, was fantastic and this one is shaping up to be similarly educational. I’ve already learned a lot about Germany in 1933 so by the time I finish reading I’ll be an expert.

It’s been interesting following the US election, especially on Tumblr where people tend to be a bit more relaxed and therefore focus on the weird/funny, not the polls and serious side. I’m loving the instant memes – binders full of women, horses and bayonets – but my favourite has been Romney’s statement that Syria is Iran’s route to the sea… So many scathing maps, my knowledge of middle east geography has never been stronger.

And to finish up, here is a repost from Facebook of things I like about living in Toronto:

A year ago today I arrived in Toronto and not long after wrote a heartfelt note about the things that Canada does badly. It was well received, and saw immediate action from the government, which is phasing out the penny. Sure, I could add to that list, but anniversaries are times of celebration, right? So here is a list of things that are awesome about living in Canada, and in some cases specifically Toronto.

There's always something happening. Always.

You can buy pizza by the slice

It's easy to meet people and make new friends because other cool people go to the same kinds of events that you attend

Dollarama

Books are way cheaper than NZ

Sometimes they make movies nearby and Robocop motorbikes past your apartment or your street gets turned into a disaster scene or a New York City block

You can take a bus to New York City when you get sick of seeing fake New York taxis

The ROM and the AGO are world-class

I love the architecture of the AGO and OCAD

The Toronto Islands are amazing. I would live there except it would be really inconvenient and a little too rustic and actually no I would never live there but I might think about it sometimes when there's a homeless guy peeing outside my apartment building.

Caesars are actually quite nice, as long as they have enough hot sauce in them.

I like living in an apartment building. You never get Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses, although there are the occasional drunk girls knocking at 3am. (That was really only once.)

Kensington Market, Chinatown, The Beaches, Leslieville, walking through the Yonge-Dundas fountains...

Hot dogs

It has a subway. It's not a great subway, but it's better than not having a subway!

Standing on Bay St looking north past all the financial buildings to Old City Hall. Best view in the city.

I’m sure there are dozens of things I’m missing and I’m not listing people because I’m sure to miss someone but suffice to say it’s been a great year and I expect to stick around for a couple more at least ;)

Haha, I'm in New York and you're not

As promised, a little late but an exciting update of a whirlwind tour of NYC. A few months ago a friend from NZ told me she'd be in New York this weekend so I took two days off work and booked my bus ticket (overnight bus, 10 hours, $90 return). The title is not entirely accurate any more but it was true when I started writing.
Wednesday night I got on a bus at 10pm and had an as-good-as-can-be trip other than the two hour delay... Met Jo at 10am outside our hostel and started our ambitious weekend.
Our hostel (Gershwin Hotel, $55 a night for a dorm room) was very conveniently located at 27th and 5th so right in central midtown. We started with a walk south through Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, Tribeca and all the way to Wall St (and Century 21. Fun discount shopping!) Then a subway ride uptown to hit Times Square for the first of many times.
We knew we wanted to see a show so we joined the discount queue for tickets deciding to see Chicago or Jersey Boys. For a variety of reasons we ended us at Jersey Boys, which was so much fun. It's the story of The Four Seasons, which I knew nothing about and didn't realize how many of their songs I knew. Very well done with really stunning performances -- we laughed, we cried, we eavesdropped on other tourists ("We were in Times Square and saw more people than we thought lived on the planet." - Woman From Small Town I Guess.)
Friday morning we got a late-ish start because Jo had to sort some stuff out for part two of her trip. Then it was the walking tour of New York buildings. We saw the library, with an exhibition on the development of food carts in NY, Grand Central Station, Chrysler Building, Tiffany and Co... Basically we walked all the way up 5th Ave to Central Park. Then we had The Most Fun by renting bikes and cycling all the way around this enormous park, with a detour to see the Guggenheim.
Also, in case you ever travel with me in the future, don't put me in the lead in a place without easy landmarks. I took us the wrong way twice. Jo is much more trustworthy, except in subways.
By then it was about 5pm and we wanted to have a big night out so we headed back to our hostel to get all dressed up, via Time Square for some food.
Consulting online and Lonely Planet saw us visit the gamut of types of bars from Desmond's Tavern, where the drinks are cheap and generously poured, to Vu Bar, drinking lychee martinis on a roof with a view if the lit up Empire State Building. We had a couple drinks bought for us there, which is always nice. Our final stop was Cake Shop, a hole in the wall hipster bar with a dark dirty feel. And I saw a rat in the subway on one trip between bars so there's another authentic NY experience!
Saturday was my last day and we had Big Plans. Out by 9am, we went straight to the bottom of Manhattan to take the Staten Island Ferry part the Statue of Liberty, ticking another tourist box. Then a walk up to the Brooklyn Bridge, through a neat little cobblestone area. The bridge is under repair so big metal fences mar our photos but it was still pretty and interesting. Did you know 20 people died during its construction, including the designer, who fell off a pier while scouting locations and got tetanus (which I thought was from rusty metal so that shows my ignorance I guess).
Then a ride uptown to Moma! I love modern art so it's one of my favourites and it was a pleasure to visit again. Last time I was there a friend from high school called out my name - neither of us even knew the other was in the city so it was crazy to meet on the escalators. If it was a movie we'd have fallen in love but instead he took my picture in front of a Pollack, I flew home the next day and he got appendicitis. Always travel with insurance, kids.
We grabbed a hot dog (NY experience #51 complete) and headed to the hostel for the last time to collect our bags. Then we headed to the High Line, which is this neat reclaimed old elevated railway line, now a pathway along the west of midtown. We sat there and ate donuts and people watched for a while before deciding our last hour together would be best spent drinking tea and relaxing. It was a bit of a hunt to find a cafe but we made it in the end, had giant cups of tea and just enjoyed each other's company. All too soon it was time to leave. I hated saying goodbye but unfortunately my bus wasn't going to wait for me and Jo had to go sort out her new accommodation.
Bus home was uneventful, although the 4am customs stop was painful. Now I'm home and only need about 20 hours of sleep to recover!
Hope you enjoyed The Amazing Adventures of Williams and Nobes. See you next time when Taking Toronto returns to Toronto.

Oops

Long time no post, eh. Many family members have taken time to pester me but, hey, I've been busy...
I've done a lot in the last few weeks so to highlight reel:

Fan Expo (Toronto's answer to comicon) was a lot of fun and I got to see James Marsters, Alan Tudyk, Juliet Landau, Julie Benz and John Barrow.

Labour weekend I caught up with lots of people, saw a show at absolute comedy, made two trips to Toronto Island and had an all round excellent time :) Work has been manic since then because I have two short weeks in a row so I have to do ten days work in 6 1/2 days... Not so clever.

This Friday I did a Haunted Tour of Toronto and learned that I live across the road from the biggest unmarked mass grave in Toronto. They dumped a bunch of cholera victims in the area because at the time it was already consecrated ground thanks to the cathedral. The tour was fun, but also sad because it turns out every ghost story has to start with someone dying. The ghost stories themselves were funny, but when each starts with "After his wife and child died he threw himself into a well" or "The fire on the ship killed more than 100 peope..." or "Her lover left her so she shot herself". Not as funny when there's a tragic story to match.

This week I'm headed to New York so expect a delayed update, but probably a big one. Any suggestions are welcome - I've been before but am meeting a friend from NZ so we'll see different things and stay in a different place. I'm taking a bag that's twice as big as I need so I can shop while I'm there!

What I'm reading: Alligator, by Lisa Moore. It's okay but not great, set in Newfoundland which is fun.

Just finished The Anansi Boys, which follows on from American Gods and was a lot of fun. I really can't recommend Neil Gaiman enough :)

Busy like a beaver or a bee or some other alliterative animal

I have my first weekend home in four weeks to look forward to, and all I think I want to do is sleep! Not the exciting life you want to hear about, I know, but man… I’ve been out of the apartment every day this week from 8am to 10 or 11pm and that’s not changing tonight.

Tuesday was the amazing double feature of The Princess Bride and Labyrinth at Yonge-Dundas Square. Such a good pairing – I want to marry whoever came up with it. We had a pretty good turn out too, especially for the first movie. And tonight is “The Ex” – junk food, rides and sideshows galore I guess. I’ll eat fried food til I’m sick and try to win a giant stuffed bear ;) Tomorrow I’m hosting a par-tay for a friend’s birthday and Sunday I am sleeping. All day. And not doing anything else (except all those errands I have to do).

This week’s book review is Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris.

It’s a few years old, and well worth reading, especially if you like books written in unusual ways. This one’s gimmick is that it’s all in first person plural – we ate lunch, we asked questions. It would remain just a gimmick if the story wasn’t also fun and compelling. If you’ve ever worked in an office it will probably resonate a little too strongly. How often do you get home and say things like “Our coffee machine broke today so we were all a bit frustrated.” Or “Today was great, we got free pizza!” – Ferris calls it the “corporate we”.

The story revolves around a group of office workers in an ad agency with the threat of layoffs looming over them. With endless gossip (some true, some false), a few tragedies and a bit of farce, Then We Came to the End was a really fun read. There are inept guards, fired staff coming back to steal chairs, a giant totem pole and endless pranks. I wish my office was this funny, but am relieved it’s not this dysfunctional!

On another note, I’ve started watching season 2 of Treme so I have two shows I’m working my way through (The Newsroom is the other) and will soon add the NZ series The Almighty Johnsons to that list, as soon as I buy a DVD player ;) Treme, set in the area of that name in New Orleans, has a lot of the alumni from The Wire and is about musicians finding their feet after Katrina. It’s moving, musical and a really beautiful look at a broken city. It hits a little too close to home sometimes as parallels to Christchurch come up, but I would highly recommend it to any of you.

Another week another long weekend (late!)

[I accidentally posted this in my travel blog so was confused about why it wasn't showing up online... fixed it now! Enjoy this late news.]

Through no specific planning and a series of excellent coincidences I have three long weekends in a row. Count'em! Three! And I've gotten outta the city for all of them because that's what us city dwellers do - escape the concrete canyons for a few days so we can say things like "Yeah it's pretty, but what would you do all day?" (I have said that at least four times in the last two weeks and plan to say it at least once in the next two days...)

So I don't have a lot of Toronto updates - the weather's been rubbish, I've been working hard and leaving lots.

I'm headed to the Niagara region this weekend which is where the wine is made - it can't possibly compare to the Hawke's Bay syrah (can you mail that to me or is that illegal?) but it's always nice to do a wine tour - especially if you're not the driver.

On the books front I've been on a bit of a thriller binge (Tess Gerritson - so good/so creepy) which is fun but bad news for my mental health. The other day I went to hang up my towel and had to pull the shower curtain back to make sure no one was there. Last night there was a thunderstorm and I woke up thinking it was camera flashes and that someone was in my room. So I should find some kind of calm, peaceful, happy books. Boring books, in other words ;)

I would like to highly recommend Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series as a sort of nostalgic but still gripping murder mystery series set in the 1930s. Featuring 11-year-old Flavia solving murders through her in-depth knowledge of chemistry, ability to disarm even the most suspicious villager, and keen skills of observation. And her unwaivering ability to get kidnapped. The first book is called The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, the second is The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Purse.

Next week is Movie Week (Labyrinth, Princess Bride and Singing in the Rain are all playing in the city - it's like someone was inside my head...), then Party Weekend (a friend's birthday party being hosted on my roof), then "The Ex" (some kind of festival/party/something in Toronto - like Show Weekend I guess). So it's a busy time in and out of the city :)

Peace out.

Hillside and holidays

Guess what I didn't do today? Something that most of you suckers had to do on Friday, that I got to skip... That's right, long weekend for me this week!
The event that inspired the day off is a music festival called Hillside which is on an island on a lake about an hour from toronto. Today was just the evening but I already saw a few great acts including one I would highly recommend - a singer called Maylee Todd. Very hip, very fun, reminded me a bit of Pink Martini.
Two more full days to go, plus fun stuff like workshops, drum circles and really good food.
Out was a quiet week for me, although work was busy and promises to be the same next week, too. Without it being entirely intentional I managed to line up three long weekends in a row so it's looking like a nice way to end the summer.
Now I really need to sleep or I won't make it through tomorrow's line up!

On Pulitzer Prize winners and Baseball

Well, another week, another missed deadline – story of my life. Maybe it’s because I have too many deadlines in my job! (Good excuse, I’ll keep using it.)

This week I read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which was fantastic.  I only realised after finishing it that it won a Pulitzer prize (well deserved). I’ve read quite a few Pulitzer prize winners and I think I’m going to hunt down some more because I’ve really loved all the ones I’ve read. They seem to pick stories that are unusual, told in a creative way and are on a topic that’s a bit off the beaten path.

Recommendations from the Pulitzer Prize list:

2001: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

2003: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

2006: March by Geraldine Brooks

2007: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2008: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

2011: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Also, The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen, was a runner up.

I went to the baseball yesterday and now I have an interesting and important debate for you all to think about. This morning I said to my colleague “I went to the baseball yesterday.” And he said unless I went to a baseball, I had to specify that I went to the baseball game. I’m 100% certain that in NZ we would say “I’m going to the rugby” (or cricket). Now, just because rugby and cricket don’t include the word “ball” in their name doesn’t, to me, make them different to the rest of the sports. The name of the sport is baseball. You would say “I play baseball”, “I like baseball”, “Baseball is a waste of time and money.”

So that’s my rant/query. What’s the difference between the word rugby and the word baseball that I can’t use them in the same way?

Birthdays that never end

Happy weekend! This weekend I'm in Hamilton to visit some fam damily, hence the slight lateness of this post.

Last weekend was a busy one. I had birthday drinks on Saturday - very low key and fun. Almost all my favourite people made it :)

Sunday was the Pride Parade. Toronto's Pride fest is one of the biggest in the world and it went for almost 3 hours! It was great to see do many people able to wear their private face in public with total acceptance. Our mayor didn't make it (shock) and there wasn't a float or even a rep from the conservative party but it was great to see groups such as churches and the armed forces out.

That night we tried to go see the Canada Day fireworks but managed to miss them, BUT lots of people were at the beach setting off their own so we still got a show. Went to Cherry Beach on Monday, which is not nearly so nice as the island but is loads better than no beach.

Thursday was my birthday so we got cake at work and I had drinks with some friends that night. Call from NZ, package from China... Not a bad time I guess. Of course I'm skipping right over the fact that my birthday gift from NZ got sent back and I had to make three calls before the China one got me...

Be the donut, not the hole, my friends.

Written on my phone so feel free to mock any bizarre errors.

Swimming,cycling, scavenging - not in that order

So I am newly energised for this blog and intend (once again) to stick with the Friday update patterns. This week’s main event was the Summer Scavenger Hunt with the meetup group I joined. Basically we had 33 tasks/photos to get around the city. Some were very specific: “Get a picture of this sign”; some required chutzpah: “A team member hugging a donut shop employee”; others just paying attention: “Grafitti without words”.

It was quite an active week – I spent Saturday at Toronto Island cycling for about three hours. The island is beautiful and peaceful and I think I might just go every weekend. It’s kind of like heading to the country, but instead it’s just a ferry ride away, complete with beaches for swimming!  So between that, walking for four hours on Saturday, and playing volleyball on Monday I could barely move on Tuesday, but it was well worth it.

Were you just thinking “I wonder what Catie’s been reading, lately.”? I know, I heard you.

This week I read a couple books but the highlight was Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns, by Mindy Kaling. She’s a writer and actor for the US version of The Office and she’s really funny. Same kind of category as Bossypants, by Tina Fey and How to Be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran (both also highly recommended, especially if you have two X chromosomes.)

And the other book I read this week was The Magician King, by Lev Grossman. If you read Narnia as a kid this series (first book is The Magicians) is highly recommended. It’s an almost satirical take on your standard fantasy tropes, which manages to be funny, realistic and still gripping and thrilling.

Work had a big re-launch this week, now our site is called HRM Online instead of HR Daily. There are reasons, but the reasons don’t really matter. What matters is that I had to work really hard and then I felt like I needed a break but I didn’t have a break… However, this weekend is a long weekend so I’ll be sleeping late and maybe catching the Pride Parade on Sunday.

And final exciting news: I’m going to New York in September, meeting a friend from NZ so am currently in the planning stages. Any tips or advice, let me know.

On shoes and ships and sealing wax...

TWO updates this week! To make up for the total lack the last two weeks. The other (posted yesterday) is essentially a breakdown of what annoys me about the plethora of “Oh no – so many single women!” articles I’ve read over the last year so if you’re not looking for a rant you can just read this one ;)

Things I have done in the last three weeks:

Read some great books

Highly recommended:

The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood

Ordinary Thunderstorms, William Boyd

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, Alan Bradley

Not recommended:

The Black Obelisk, Erich Maria Remarque

Gone to concerts

Thanks to a friend who’s in the know about events around the city I’ve seen Lisa Hannigan (look her up on YouTube, she’s quite good) and The Flaming Lips in the last few weeks. I’m not the most up-to-date musically but live music is always good and Toronto gets some fantastic performers.

Seen some movies

The most fun was Blazing Saddles, last week’s classic movie at the local cinema, which I got a group together for. Fun had by all, and now I keep wanting to ask people “Where the white women at?”

Prometheus was the most recent/big name. I found it distinctly meh. There were amazing bits and stupid bits, but overall as a science fiction movie it lacked a lot of science. However, as a scary adventure movie in space it was well worth seeing!

Eaten a lot of frozen yoghurt

Three places in two hours: it was an epic yoghurt crawl that ended at a bar. That was a nice reverse on so many of my university nights that started with a bar crawl and ended eating junk food. I recommend Yoghurt Spoon on Yonge by Wellesley if you’re looking for frozen yoghurt, and aren’t more likely to just go to the place nearest you.

Books, music, movies, food – that about covers my life, right?

This weekend is a trip to Toronto Island and a scavenger hunt around downtown Toronto. Can’t wait!

All the single ladies...

Another day, another story about how many women will never marry, or are sabotaging their relationships by being too forward, or are going to be single mothers because men are fickle and flighty ... And the main thing that struck me was this: In a country with a fairly even gender split (As both Canada and the USA have) there should be the same number of single men as single women. And, of course, every child has a father (biologically at least). So where are all the stories about single, childless men?

Most of these articles don’t claim that all women are miserable and with they were married, in fact many dwell on the role personal choice plays in the trend, so why wouldn’t we write about when men are getting married, whether they’re getting married and why they might not be getting married in the same numbers as previous generations?

I actually struggled to find clear articles on this issue, and no well set out statistics (unlike about single women where there is a lot of information) but here are some trends I found online:

-In the UK single men aged 30 to 39 outnumber single women

-In Japan 61% of unmarried men don’t have a girlfriend, compared to the 49% of unmarried women who don’t have a boyfriend. (I am unclear on whether this actually just means “someone they’re seeing” and therefore includes LGBT people, or if straight people’s dating lives are all that matter to statisticians.)

-In the USA there are 88 unmarried men for every 100 unmarried women – so there is a difference, and probably a significant one, but it doesn’t seem so drastically different that we shouldn’t worry about those poor single men.

Double standards are ripe across the world, so no surprises there, unfortunately. I just don’t agree with this idea that single women are miserable and single men are happy. It’s one of those core myths that feeds into the notion that women trap men into long term relationships.

Feminist rant over, expect a life update tomorrow that will apparently have to cover three weeks of information because I’m a rubbish blogger ;)

Boom Swagger Swagger Boom

What do you know, a Friday update written on a Friday. Novel.

In the news this week: six flatmates in Utah torture a seventh flatmate in the basement and suddenly my aunt’s concerns about moving in with a psychopath seem more reasonable. So far no signs of psychopathy from The Irish but all that means is that I might never move out for fear of accidentally moving into a horror movie.

So, there’s this other story that you probably don’t want to know about but I can’t unknow it. So here’s what I’ll do for you: a Blind Link. It’s like a test, what wins for you? Fear or curiosity?

Tonight is Slutwalk in Toronto so I’m headed to that shortly. This is where it started, so it will be interesting to see how many people show up and what the general atmosphere is. My friends have already been to the NZ ones so I’m playing catch up. I’m not dressing up, just going straight from work. I dressed up for the NZ ones, and I think it’s a great way for the events to attract attention and try to get the message heard (Although it can do the opposite – “No, it’s not that we want to be able to dress slutty, it’s that you have to stop pointing to what we’re wearing as a reason for people to mistreat us!”). The Wellington event last year was very inclusive so hopefully the TO event will have the same feeling.

I spent last weekend in Ottawa, which was great fun. You might remember my Ode to the Train last blog. That affection was somewhat threatened when my return train was more than an hour late, but really, it’s not like planes and buses are famously punctual.

Busy weekend planned, including Ikea purchases and then assembling Ikea purchases. Livin’ the dream here ;)

On a train bound for nowhere (or Ottawa if you want to call it that)

Look how dedicated I am to you all. Start of my holiday, my long weekend and here I am blogging. That's dedication.

In reality I'm on a train, so what else would I be doing?

I love trains. There's no better way to travel manageable distances. On a plane I'd have no leg room, no wireless and I wouldn't have been able to bring my own beer (more on that later). On a bus I've be feeling ill so no reading or blogging.

Instead I have loads of space, a big window (currently going past some kind of wetland - curious) and free wifi. Viarail for the win.

And I know I'm not usually a beer drinker but this was free from some girl on the side of the road, so you know it's good.

Actually, here's your misleading product description of the day. This is Michelob's "Ultra", which describes itself as just 95 calories per serving. "Huh," I thought "That is pretty low." Look closer, and discover a serving it's 341ml, while a can is 355. Not a huge difference, I know, but still... Was it necessary?

And for your current events update, two guys who are sadly well outside my dating age range but have otherwise proven themselves worthy. First up, the 52 year old columbia university janitor who earned his classics degree after 12 years of part time study. His hollywood worthy story includes escaping the yugoslavian civil war just before he would have finished his law degree twenty years ago.

And next up nine year old Josef Miles who held a one-man (boy) protest against the westboro baptist church with a hand drawn sign saying "god hates no one".

That's all for this week. See you next friday!

Monday is like Friday, only opposite.

Oh my goodness, I know - I'm totally useless. I don't have a good excuse, except that I didn't do much this week so there wasn't a lot to say. My weekend was better so at least this won't just be another rant about money, right? My memory's shot, I think... I don't even know what I did the weekend before. I think I just watched a couple films with a friend.

My work week was really good. After a rather dreadful Friday the week before I was determined to kick some deadline arse, and prove that I deserve the raise I intend to ask for when my probationary period is up. So I got all my stories for next week done and started hunting contacts for the week after. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this, now that it's been consistent for a couple weeks. Other than some editorial changes and a new colleague of course, but if there wasn't at least one fairly big change every fortnight I think I'd faint in shock.

This last weekend was a Meetup to try the best fries in the city. I wore an apparently magical yellow dress, which won me five compliments and a date ;) FYI, best fries in the city were at Chippies, on Queen Street. The best part of the day was that about seven of us just didn't want it to end so we ended up drinking wine on our rooftop terrace, overlooking St James Park. It was lovely to spend time in a group like that, although I did end up a teeny bit sunburned.

This next week is already full so no one is allowed to want to hang out with me. I've got volleyball starting tonight. I thought I'd pretend to be a team player one night a week for the next six weeks and see how it goes. My knee is still buggered from my not-so-funny fall when running so I'll have to be a little bit careful. Then with events on every night except Thursday, and a trip to Ottawa for the long weekend, I'll be exhausted by the time next Tuesday rolls around!

Hope that's sufficient. I'll try to post at least something brief on Friday, but no promises ;)

Money money money...

How come I feel like I have less money and I’m more worried than when I was unemployed?

So I’m two months and four paydays into my new job and somehow it feels like I have less money to play with and am more stressed than when I was unemployed at the start of the year.

Well, actually, it’s probably true. Here’s why.

•               Thanks to the generosity of a family friend, I was living rent free for four months. Now I have more income, absolutely, but my rent has increased, well, an infinite amount…
•                 I’d planned to move after working for two months, so I could save up first and last rent and some cash for furniture etc. Instead, I found a great apartment exactly where I wanted to be living within a couple weeks of starting work, and moved in after just a month of work. It’s great, but I basically sped myself out of $750.
•                    As for the apartment… Well, I worked out how much I could afford a month all inclusive and then I found an apartment that was $50 extra. That amount isn’t a lot, it’s less than $12 a week, and I still think it’s worth it but when every dollar counts $12 a week is four coffees.
•                   Toronto is an expensive city. I read that people who  spend money on events are happier than people who spend on stuff. Well, I’m still sleeping on a mattress on the floor and I haven’t bought anything new except running shoes in months but I’ve been so social lately that it’s added up rapidly.

I’m not broke, but I’m used to having money left over, so if I saw clothes or jewellery or a book I wanted it wasn’t a big deal to say yes. Now it is a big deal, but it makes me think more, anticipate more and enjoy my purchases more. It also motivates me to get the most out of every purchase. I’m very much prioritising people over stuff so I’ve got lots of weekend plans, have joined a volleyball team and plan to attend a music festival in July… now I just have to make sure I can afford all those activities!

P.S. Just tried a “Butterfinger” chocolate bar for the first time… that has to be dentists’ least recommended chocolate bar! Not sure it’ll replace Snickers anytime soon, but I still miss Picnic bars.

Bad Blogger

Hello loyal readers - did you miss me? I only just realised I missed a week! I don't know what I did with my Friday. Well, yes, I do, and it made for a rather painful Saturday morning.

I've been so busy the last few weeks, but so far next week is blissfully empty (ish) so I plan to read a lot and do mundane but necessary household tasks.

I had quite an exciting week. On Sunday I explored St Lawrence Antique market with friends, which was lovely. So many delightful things, and quite a bit of entertaining rubbish too. I still haven't made it to the Farmer's Market, but I'm sure I'll manage it next weekend. Monday I went to the opera because I am that cultured. My cousins daughters get free tickets through one of their classes but didn't want to go so I saw A Florentine Tragedy, and Gianna Schicchi. Instead of one two hour opera they did two one hour operas (did you follow that or did it need more punctuation) and the second of the two was perfect. The first dragged a bit and one of my cousins may have caught me nodding off, but the second was funny, with lots of slapstick humour and puns so a good antidote to the soporific first half. Tuesday I saw Cabin in the Woods, which was so much fun. I love a good horror movie and I love Joss Whedon, so this was perfection. I was mildly mocked for being so reactive, but I maintain that I have more fun than those staunch people who don't even flinch. What's the point in seeing a horror movie if you don't leave exhilarated? And is it really an admirable character trait to say that you don't react to horrific acts on screen?

I read Happenstance, by Carol Shields, this week. It was good, but I think I'd enjoy it more if I were a middle-aged, disillusioned married person. Now I'm reading Groundswell, which is about how to use social media as a marketing tool. It's very good, but from 2008 so Twitter isn't even really mentioned. There's lots about Digg, Facebook and YouTube, and even a bit about MySpace, but it's interesting to think about how much can change in just four years.

This is short AND doesn't follow my self-imposed rules from last week but I think maybe I'm not self-centred enough to be a blogger.

And runnin' runnin'

Happy Friday! Or weekend for those of you in another time zone ;)

I’m actually starting this early if you can believe it, because I really do intend to keep this up for the long term, which means I should probably make it more consistent and more interesting. So, on that note, I’ve decided to focus this on a few specific areas, rather than the ramble that I’ve been maintaining the last few months:

1. Work. I’ll still be letting you know how work is going, what it’s like to try and adjust to a new role (especially when that role changes frequently), and how I’m settling in.
2. Exploring Toronto. I want to see more of the city and this is a great place to talk about what I find. It’s also good practice to keep up my “colour” writing – I’d hate to lose the ability to describe a place and time in all this business reporting!
3. Books. I’ll let you know what I’ve read that’s good, what’s overrated and what I’d recommend.
4. Opinions. I read a lot of news in a week and I’d like to start analysing what I’m reading and sharing opinions. This can definitely be a back and forth. Tell me why you think I’m wrong in the comments and I’ll tell you why I’m definitely right.

Sufficient? I won’t necessarily include all four every week, and I can’t promise other details won’t sneak in, especially if it’s something especially exciting ( or especially lame) but at least now I have some parameters to stick to.

I started running again this week – just a couple 3km jogs to start with. I haven’t run in a while so I’m easing my way into it. I have some very hot purple Asics and a new folder on my MP3 player called “exercise” (mostly dance music) and I figure I’ll just try a few different directions and see where I end up and what routes I like. Tuesday I ran to Queen’s Quay and over to Bay, which was actually dreadful because there are too many people, too much construction and running under Union Station is like running through a smoke box. So yeah, Friday I ran the other direction – including dropping of a library book, multitasking FTW – but didn’t quite make it to the river. Next time ;)

This week I reread some J.D. Salinger. Last Saturday I hit up Eliot’s Books, which is a three story secondhand bookshop about a half hour walk from where I live. It’s very well organised, which means I found five out of the seven books I wanted easily. Sadly I’m still lacking Catch 22 and Nine Stories, but those will find me eventually. I own them all in NZ, but I miss them.

Work was very productive but I feel like my brain is mush. For one of the magazines, I’m working on 17 300-word profiles (they’re finalists for two categories in the Canadian Mortgage Awards). Because they’re all brokers and I’m asking all of them the same questions, and then when I write it up I have to find a different angle for each it’s way more effort than even writing a 5000 word profile about one person. It’s not hard, just repetitive. It’s not due for another two weeks, but I wanted to make sure I had enough time (no all-nighters for this intrepid reporter) so I’m almost done the interviews and more than half way through writing them up but I’m so over brokers. Except I’ve almost reached “drink the koolaid” stage because they’re all so enthused about their jobs. I’m like “I could be a broker, it sounds awesome!”

So if this blog gets renamed “Going For Broker” (see what I did there?) please call CAMH to make sure I get the help I need.

Happy Easter

Sigh.

Another self-imposed deadline missed.

Don’t judge me too harshly, okay? I was just reading an article about the importance of balancing creativity with focus – that people are always happy to focus on the shiny and new, but lost interest when something requires long-term commitment. It’s quite uncomfortable to read something that so essentially sums up yourself.

Peggy left last week for the last time, which was sad for both of us. I officially have no friend/family visits to look forward to and am now debating whether I want to go to New Zealand for Christmas in 2013 or go to Ethiopia. Family vs. holiday adventure… I’ll let you know what I decide!

I spent my long weekend reading, eating chocolate and exploring my neighbourhood. I live quite close to two of the coolest features of downtown Toronto – St Lawrence Market and The Distillery District. So I explored both of those.

The market is literally across the road. It’s got a weekly farmer’s market and flea market and all week little boutiques and cafes operate. Based out of two big brick buildings from the 1800s, it’s been a marketplace for more than 200 years, which makes it such a pleasure to shop at. I wonder about what was for sale and who was buying it – mothers finding the best deals to feed their  family, servants buying luxuries they couldn’t afford themselves for their bosses. It’s a lovely piece of Toronto history, and it’s so rare to see that kind of consistent use over two centuries.

The historic distillery was, at one time, the biggest distillery in the world. Now it serves as a hotspot for boutique shops, restaurants, breweries and even a sake distillery! It’s like entering another little world. It was actually used as a distillery until 1990, and then was primarily a film set.  It still feels a bit like a film set, especially when there is a couple dressed in full Indian-wedding regalia posing for photos outside all the Victorian buildings. They host a lot of events throughout the year, including the Jazz Festival and a Christmas market, and since it’s only a 20 minute walk from my apartment  I intend to spend a lot of time there.

I also saw the play War Horse on Saturday, which was better than expected. The tech side was pretty spectacular, and the acting was very good (although the accents left something to be desired in some areas) but I did have a few moments where I fell right out of the narrative. It’s essentially a story about a boy who runs away to WWI after his horse is taken by the army. He says things like “Joey [the horse] and I will be together forever!” and I start thinking about how long horses can live for.

Sunday was something of a loss of a day because even the supermarkets close here! What’s with that? I did head to a 24/365 shop called Rabba, and was pleasantly surprised to find the fruit was a better price and quality than the nearest supermarket. Between that and the farmer’s market I should be able to keep my chiller well-stocked.

I’m so happy with where I’ve ended up. You always hope it will work out well, but it’s hard to guess before you get there. My job remains interesting, although some elements are frustrating in that I don’t always get feedback about how I’m doing. It’s a 20 minute walk to work through the financial district, which is quite fun. All the tall glass buildings and people in suits with briefcases – it’s like the opening scene to a “girl makes good” film.

All I need now is my own theme music.

Fam damily, games, shoes and shopping

Hello! Sorry about the two week delay. Since no one complained I’m going to assume no one reads this (except Peggy). Not too surprised by that – if only I had a second career as a stripper or a secret life as a super-hero I would be exponentially more interesting.

The reason I missed last Friday is that I thought I wrote it! It started with St Patrick’s day (friends, wine, tequila, dancing) then moved on to the surreal experience of taking an educational walk the day after (whose idea was that?!). The walk was interesting enough, but the highlight was definitely one of the people telling stories. I just wanted to shrink him down and put him on my desk so I could ask him important questions. He was like a stretched version of the main character from Up, but with the added geekiness of extended knowledge about 1920s Toronto.

Peggy’s been in and out of Toronto for the last week, but last weekend we both made it north with our cousins to visit our aunt and uncle and grandparents. It’s always good to see them, and the feast was certainly laid out. We had home-made perogies, plus cake and cream puffs. With the cousins we visited my grandmother, who’s been in a home for more than a year. She’s doing okay physically now, although she is wheelchair bound, but it’s always sad to see her struggle to remember our names and ages. It’s a distant person from the woman who raved about her first stolen kiss from her husband of 60 years, and loved Frank Sinatra. At least I’m getting this time to see her.

We saw the Hunger Games on Monday – it was quite good and fairly true to the book but to keep their violence rating down they used that shaky camera thing in all the fight scenes. I’d have liked to see just one of the scenes be a proper fight where you could follow who was who and really fear for the characters. Also, that shaking makes me feel sick (I’m looking at you: whoever directed Bourne #2).

Wednesday I went to a shoe launch. Yes, I know. It was very strange – all the shop people had to rave about this new line of ugly, plastic, scented shoes while we drank free wine and ate little nibbley things. Fun times had by all ;)

And now this weekend I’m moving! Freedom, finally. Job, apartment, friends, life, yes? I have to do a big shop tomorrow for furniture etc. and then another shop because I don’t have any food and then I’ll have no money again so I’ll live on brown rice and broccoli for two weeks. That’s healthy, right?

New week, new job

So I think I’m officially changing blog update day to Fridays – it seems like that’s when I actually think of it, and put fingers to keyboard. Now when I’m late you’ll know it’s because I’m rushing out to Friday night plans as part of my Awesome Life, whereas missing Wednesday just meant I’m lazy and forgetful.

It was week three of work and my job description changed once again – I’m now focusing on www.hrdaily.ca three days a week with the goal of boosting content and making it more than just an HR focused press release regurgitation site. Until me all content was being produced in Australia, so it’s definitely an improvement to have someone working on our end. It’s nice to have some structure and direction to my work week, too. This way I can really focus on learning about HR, and the mortgage broker and real estate stuff can come more organically as I work on those stories two days a week.

I do have three profiles to write for Canadian Real Estate Wealth (yes, Mum, I’ll send you some copies when they’re out!) so that’s fun to work on. Profiles are a good way to ease my way into the industry stuff, even though one of the people I’ve interviewed is proving a little difficult… Most people don’t really know how publishing works so they have some odd expectations about what we can and can’t do, and what information they should provide.

Tomorrow is St Patrick’s Day and I have plans! I met a woman at a Meetup who’s really interesting and fun and I’m crashing her plans with some other friends (I was invited, so that’s not really crashing, but it sounds more fun.) Thanks to colleague Adrian, originally from Ireland, I have a green, glittery foam tiara should I feel the need to look like the Statue of Liberty. I’ll drink enough to make my ancestors proud, but hopefully not enough to shame my mother ;) It should be fun – I might even hit the parade tomorrow!

Oh! Did I tell you I found an apartment? And got the apartment? The room is tiny, but I’m super close to work and it’s right downtown. I move in two weeks! I do need to stock up on some furniture. Somewhere to sleep and somewhere to keep my stuff, kinda necessary. I can probably borrow a bed for a little while but eventually I’ll need my own!

So yeah. Big week. Catch you on the flip side. (What does that even mean?!) 

Moving on down(town)

Sorry it’s been so long! Not that I have any idea how often people are checking, but I feel bad for not updating on a regular basis. I thought working would add structure to my life so I’d be better but instead it added exhaustion and commuting to my life. Unexpected.

Work is picking up. It’s hard being the new kid – you know how I like being the know-it-all – but it’s pretty fun. I’ve picked up some stuff for the HR publication too, which has its pros and cons. Upside is I’m finding my own stories and always have something to keep me busy, downside is one more industry to familiarise myself with. So far I’ve covered changing legislation, the importance of pensions and the difficulties of hiring people with leadership skills. It comes a little easier since I’ve ever been part of an HR process, although on the other side of the desk. At core the issues are people-based, rather than money-based, so it’s a bit more intuitive for me.

The big news this week is that I found an apartment. I wasn’t planning to leave where I’m staying until next month so I was looking for places that were May 1 move in, but sometimes you have to jump when a chance comes up. This place is 15 minutes from work, 15 minutes from the Distillery District (cool drinkies area) and only a couple blocks from the TTC. The room is tiny, but that’s pretty inevitable when you’re looking downtown. It’ll hold a queen bed and hopefully a desk, and I’ve had fun googling storage/decorating solutions for small spaces. I see a trip to Ikea in my future…

Peggy has been away and gets back today, it will be sad when she really leaves for good because I won’t know when I’ll see her again. I spent so long looking forward to my family visiting that I’ll feel quite bereft when they’re all gone! Still, I have a couple friends planning trips in the next year or so and soon I’ll be so social I’ll have no time to be sad. Plus, my library pile is still daunting (must read three more books before Friday!) so any time spent with people is essentially lost reading time.

That said, I did spend Saturday night playing Werewolves with a group of people I met through a friend at book club. It’s essentially like mafia – some people are werewolves and everyone closes their eyes and they kill someone – but there are also players with special skills to help catch the werewolves. It’s fun, and it was interesting to play with a group of people who know each other well.

First payday this week – très exciting – but my list of stuff to buy (mostly wants rather than needs, to be honest) is probably three times my pay. I figure a thing a week will be fun. This week: shoes!

First work week

Gosh – I’m getting really bad at this! When I was unemployed Wednesday seemed like a great day to choose, but now I keep missing it. Blame Peggy – she’s very distracting!

So I’ve now completed my first almost-week (four days) of work. It’s been a slow start because both the magazines I’m working for are almost done this month so my real workload won’t hit until next week or the week after. I’ve written a few news stories, some for the mags and some for the websites (www.mortgagebrokernews.ca and www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca). My direct supervisors are nice, and quite funny, so it’s pretty relaxed so far. The only weird thing is that each magazine has a different style so that’s going to do my head in for a while until I get used to it. It is odd having to get up every morning, and I'm quite tired. I'll have to adjust to being a working person again!

Outside work I’ve had a lovely week. We headed to Hamilton for the weekend – had a family card game Friday night and a family photo shoot on Sunday so hopefully we’ll get a couple nice Nobettes portraits from that. Mum and Peggy and I went to a play on Tuesday night called Penny Plain, that was almost entirely marionettes. It’s this one amazing puppeteer, Ronnie Burkett, who puts together a politically and globally relevant show about once a year that sells out. He’s quite well known here, and deservedly so. The show was stunning, although I was occasionally distracted from the theme and plot by just how skilled he was with the puppets themselves. Some moved so naturally, and they even hugged and nodded and limped… It was very impressive.

Peggy and I went out for dinner last night to a Nepalese restaurant on Bloor that was delicious and I brought home what was left for my lunch today but I forgot it at home, which was quite sad, BUT the advantage of family visiting is that they might love you enough to deliver it to you :). Tomorrow we’re going to a “dub” event where “Youngsta” is performing… As you know this is really my kind of event with the noise and the crowds and the noise. Ha… no, I’m sure it will be fun, and we can leave early if need be. My cousins are going and are quite excited so it will be great to hang out with them, regardless of the rest.

Aaaand that might be it. I’m reading an excellent/odd book at the moment called There But For The, which is really interesting. It’s about a man who locks himself into the guest room of a house when he’s at a dinner party and just stays there for weeks. But really, it’s about the people around him, with this strange event at the centre as a starting point for the story. Don’t remember the author, but I would recommend it.

Better late...

Sorry to leave y'all hanging after last week's cliffhanger ending and then be late with this week's update... The answer is:

I got the job!

It was not quite that straight forward, and in fact I had quite a low moment when I was certain I hadn't gotten the job (build up of expectation can be quite risky) but it turned out the hesitation on their end was in changing the job description to better suit my background. Essentially now I'm a junior reporter for both the magazines (Canadian Real Estate Wealth and Canadian Mortgage Professional) rather than an intermediate reporter for just the first one. It's a better fit for me, and will give me the chance to learn a lot with plenty of support and mentoring.

This is, of course, a huge relief. I'm happy to be staying in journalism, but with more regular hours than daily papers. I've felt in limbo the last few months - no money coming in, no reason to go to bed or get out of bed, little structure to my days. I've had that song "Waiting for my real life to begin" going around my head for weeks... So now it can! I'll be able to find my own place eventually and stop freaking out about spending money. I'm already planning my payday shopping spree (within reason, I promise!) and hopefully Mastercard will increase my credit limit to more than $100. That's not even enough for a decent Book Depository run ;)

In other Too Good To Be True - But It Is! news, Peggy and Mum are visiting. It's very exciting. Peggy and I travelled for six weeks last year, but haven't lived together for almost two years so it's neat to see we still connect the same way. Today she made me snort cucumber up my nose when she told a story about me accidentally beheading a barbie doll years and years ago. We did Christmas too, because we couldn't be together in December and we're flexible like that. It appeared to be the Christmas of books and music, because everyone got a book and Peggy and I both got CDs (Florence and the Machine, The Baseballs, and Gin Wigmore) so we've been listening to fun new music the last couple days.

Tomorrow the plan is the science centre, then Hamilton to visit the famn damily. I'm trying to wrangle a girly spa day for Saturday.

So today we're celebrating employment and family, but probably not in that order ;)

The Waiting Game

I have spent most of the last week feeling quite sick from the stress of waiting to hear back from that job interview. I almost (almost) wish I knew it had gone terribly so I would know it wouldn't be a yes. The role will be quite a challenge – I'll have to learn a whole new world of financing, indices, interest, “joint ventures”. I know in my head that I'm up for it. I got my head around Glasgow leases for my regional council round, of course I can learn about flipping houses, but my stomach is in knots. I think it will be something of a relief whichever answer I get when they finally call back.

I spent Monday writing a “test” for the magazine, which consisted of turning around a press release from November last year. So being the good reporter I am, I got new quotes from a helpful but very confused French-Canadian man who kept telling me “There are new figures out.”... Thanks Marc.

The week has not been without its fun, however. In the interest of the long-term goals of making friends and learning about the city I managed two birds/one stone on Sunday with a Meetup organised Urban Scavenger Hunt. In teams of five or six we had to race around downtown Toronto taking pictures of things to tick off our list.

For example:

-A team member with a member of royalty

-The entire team on a floor higher than 15

-Three pizza places

-Five things that rhyme with “floor”

-A team member imitating a statue

There were 30 things all together and we had to hold a mini Maple Leafs jersey in front to prove we didn't just google image search it. Some required creativity (we found our royalty on a magazine cover and our “triplets” as mannequins in a store window) and our team was the only one that got 100% so we won! They're planning a summer version so we'll get to defend our title then. Each team had a slightly different list and some missed stuff like “A team member dressed as a superhero”, which we definitely would have achieved. A teammate suggested just holding our jersey up to a blank wall and calling it “Catie as the invisible woman”. Teeheehee.

It's funny how a good week (scavenger hunt, getting through two stages of an employment process) can still feel like a bad week when you're tied in stress knots. I should really take up yoga or meditation or something... Oh, actually, I took up shopping as stress relief. I got two dresses, a jacket and two belts for less than $30 at local op shops. Good for the budget AND the soul.

 This is me imitating the statue of Winston Churchill at Nathan Phillips Square. I do an excellent old man impression.

Wednesday already...!

So it had been an uneventful week and I was all prepared to blog about boredom and reading 12 books in 8 days (some were children's books, which count less) BUT then I got a job interview for tomorrow so instead I spent a few hours going to the library to print stuff and going to the dollar store to buy a professional looking folder to keep stuff in and then thinking maybe I should research real estate in Canada since it's a businessy/real estatey journalism.

I am very hopeful about the interview for a number of reasons (I don't know which number yet, I'll let you know at the end). Firstly, it is a real journalism job, not a communications or admin role. I would be perfectly happy to do either of those things, might even have loved it, but this is what I trained to do and it looks like a great position. Secondly, they called me literally within three hours of me sending my application. Three hours. And set the job interview for within 24 hours! So that means they're keen, right? Thirdly it is in central Toronto which would mean that I could live anywhere in the city and be at work within half an hour.

The small downside to getting the job is that it is only two weeks until Peggy and Mum visit. I don't know how fast the turnaround would be on this role, but considering how quickly they've done everything else I could be starting within two weeks. But long term, I would quite like to be employed in the industry I love, learning and "upskilling". We Nobettes are adaptable, we'll do the glass-half-full thing no matter what. And maybe I won't start until the 27th and will get five days with them. We'll see.

Otherwise, what's been happening in my little life? Saturday I hosted a Very Successful dinner party with my friends. I realised too late I should have taken photos as proof that a) I can cook and b) I have friends. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of effort, but everyone appreciated my effort so that makes it worthwhile. There was even cake!

On the Friday before was a get together with one of the Meetup groups I joined. Very low key, very fun. Just drinks and socialising with a range of people. I maybe made a new friend - there's a scavenger hunt on Sunday where we intend to cement our friendship. Then Monday was book club (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and House Rules) where everyone loved one book and hated the other. Next month is The Road and The Hunger Games so I don't actually have to read anything, just might skim The Road so I get some talking points.

And that's it - going to go read some more about investing in real estate. Maybe it'll give me some good ideas for the future (assuming I ever have any money to try and make grow).

Free the children

So yet another job has come up that I really want and think I would be perfect for - marketing and comms for Canada based youth-oriented charity Free the Children. It does good work, does not have a religious agenda and is, apparently, one of the "top employers of young people" in Canada. So everyone cross your fingers and toes and maybe this time, finally, I'll get a call.

It's been one of those slightly disillusioning weeks. There aren't as many things listed, I feel like I'm just shooting applications into space and no one's picking them up, and I'm kind of bored. I keep thinking I should pick up some volunteer work here, but then I worry that I'll get a job with weird hours and have to ditch it, but maybe two weeks of volunteering is better than no weeks of volunteering? I spent Wednesday watching Freaks and Geeks, reading Jonathan Franzen and stalking childhood friends on Facebook. Strangely, none of these things made me feel better.

I did have a really excellent weekend hanging out with people. Thursday night (I know, not quite the weekend, but it's not like I have weekly activities anyway) I watched Apollo 13 with some book club friends. Having never seen the film it was quite nail-bitey, except I knew it was based on a book by Tom Hanks (aka Jim Lovell) so I knew he lived, at least. Friday night was dinner and drinks with friends, then more drinks, which culminated in us, back at the house dancing to the Boat that Rocked soundtrack. Then I drunk-texted and -Facebooked, always a good idea, some of the people at home that I missed.

Tuesday I went to a really fantastic seminar about women in the media and the fact that just 20% of opinion pieces are by women and only 25% of what they called "newsmakers" - essentially the people being interviews - are women. The reasons were partly underrepresentation politically and in the business world, but also because women are more likely to say no due to thinking they have no time, or not thinking they are the right person to comment. It was very inspirational and now I'm going to come up with some strong opinions so I can express them frequently, at loud volumes.

Can haz hospital care...

Punch me in the face! Go on, I'm sure I've deserved it at some point... As of Monday I can get injured/sick with impunity because I am covered by the local health system. Slightly short-sighted me didn't extend my travel insurance to cover all of the three months it takes to qualify. The theory here is that it's done by province so if you move from Quebec to Ontario, Quebec covers you for the first three months, then Ontario takes over. Unfortunately I didn't have another province to look after me and I've had my fingers crossed for three months that I didn't spontaneously get acute appendicitis. (First stop: emergency room to have my fingers straightened.)

Job listings have slowed down so only a couple applications this week. I have branched out and am essentially applying for anything that sounds like something I would enjoy and be good at. And pays okay ;) I'm hoping for something in downtown Toronto so I can live nearby and walk/subway but I might end up out of town in which case I'll join the cool kids who commute every morning. I'm aiming to not need to own a car because a) insurance here is a bitch, b) driving here seems unnecessarily arduous with lots of traffic, lots of "no turning" signs and lots of trolley cars in the way and c) any expense avoided is an extra dollar towards Ethiopia. Or Peru. Wherever I end up next.

I've read a few more books since we last had a catch up including The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock which I recommend if you like your books with an edge of weirdness. It's a disturbing and creepy coming of age story set in the 1950s and 60s of Ohio. Included: animal sacrifice, serial killers, preachers eating bugs and an oddly endearing, and often violent, main character named Arvin. I am slowly working my way through my pile, but also have more books to pick up from the library tomorrow so it seems to be getting worse, rather than better!

It is less than a month until I see Mum and Peggy - another exciting thing to count down to.We're having Christmas here then, I think that's a record for us. We're pretty flexible about Christmas because we're so often in different countries/time zones but I think two months late is the most we've pushed it out.

Books, Bell and Boots + Bonus book review!

I had my first big snow this week! It was exciting. I think maybe I don't hate snow as long as it remains like this - light, fluffy, not too disruptive. I shovelled the pathway to the front door, a novel experience. Not too difficult but probably quite good exercise if I had more of it to do.

My pile of books has shrunk somewhat - I've read six since I last saw you all. Most were exceptional, but reading so many so quickly is probably not the best way to do them justice. Mum has convinced me to start a file on my desktop of how many books I've read and while the last months' lists are somewhat incomplete it will be interesting to go back over them and see what patterns I end up finding.

I've applied for yet another seven (ish?) jobs in the last five days and still don't hear back for interviews. It's off putting but I'm still thinking positive. I have a few more months before money gets tight, and I'm enjoying getting to know the city. If it comes to the worst I'll turn to retail to plug the gap!

Had a great day today. I finally sorted out my phone so now I just pay a bill once a month and get free incoming calls (including international, so, you know, call me!). This country is slightly ridiculous in that people pay to receive calls. I know, right? I worked out that I've owned ten phones, in five countries on four continents and this is the only place with that system. Still, got amazing service at Bell so might have to make sure they get praised. I also shopped for waterproof boots but was indecisive so I still don't own any... Then dinner with a friend and now home to play with my fun new phone. It looks fancy, but is, in fact, quite cheap. But still loads better than my other one.

And today I'm trying something new: a book review of The House of Silk, by Anthony Horowitz. Because the entertainment world can't help but embrace bandwagons this is a new Sherlock Holmes mystery. In the past few years we've seen new "Robert Ludlum" books, a sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book and The Wheel of Time series being completed, all after the original author's death, some authorised and some driven by what I can only describe as hubris.

I'm a big fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Many I've read more than once, and I've whole-heartedly enjoyed both the Guy Ritchie and BBC recent re-imaginations so I was open-minded but apprehensive about reading the novel. Overall I was impressed. The story opens with Watson reminiscing about his friend Holmes and their adventures, telling the reader there is one last story to tell, which could not be told at the time. The House of Silk is a conspiracy worthy of Holmes and Doyle, and draws in many of the patterns and themes of the original stories. Starting with the destruction of four paintings and an art auctioneer being stalked, the death of a thief and a young boy, and taking a jaunt through an opium den for old times' sake it takes a long time for these threads to weave together but it was fun to watch them start to connect. I haven't read anything else by Anthony Horowitz, but would be more likely to try his other work now.

At times I forgot I wasn't reading something contemporary to the time, although this was usually broken by character's expressing views more modern than their time - a common difficulty for modern writers setting a novel in "olden days". They want somehow to show that their characters were good, forward-thinking people, but in fact succeed only in breaking the spell they've cast of London in the 1890s.

So if you liked the originals, or have only seen the films or TV show I'd recommend this. It has enough "in jokes" for fans of Doyle, without, I think, spoiling any of the stories for those who haven't read his work. And if the epilogue is overly sentimental we can probably forgive the author, as long as he doesn't draw the whole thing out with yet another novel next year.

Busy beaver

I had four events in a row this week! And I have a coffee planned for Saturday which makes for five events in seven days. How's that for building a social life?

I've also applied for five jobs, and emailed a friend's dad who said he'd look over my resume too. So yay for opportunities.

Sunday I had dinner with my cousins, who flew to Cuba this week, Monday was book club (Room, by Emily Donaghue), Tuesday dinner and a movie with Joanna and her colleagues, and yesterday was a Kiwi Expats Abroad event at the NZ themed pub, Hemingway's. That was lots of fun - it's so nice to hear the accents! Also we had a long conversation about why Canadians need to pick up the word "flat" and "flatmates" because it sums up a way of living that most people experience at some point: sharing a house with friends or strangers. Here they say "roommates" which is silly - nobody shares a room! I also had a long conversation about Israel Dagg, who I interviews, with his "cousin", talked about green stone with an amateur carver and about wine with a guy from Hawke's Bay. All in all very nice to relax into that community for a while. I might even have made a connection for some freelance work writing copy for websites. Back to the whole "who you know" thing.

So far 16 of my 40+ books have arrived at the library... Boy am I in trouble there. It's only three week rentals here so I have to read 16 books in 21 days and still apply for jobs and hang out with people. I accept this challenge. It's free, unlimited renewals unless it's reserved so I figure I'll do my research and prioritise what to read first... And how's that for boring blog material. "The reserving, borrowing, and renewing policies of the common Toronto Library (librarium Torontosus)".

I'm meeting a girl from my bookclub for coffee Saturday, very hopeful for the whole "make new friends" potential of this group. There are quite a few young people there so I figure as long as I go every month I'll keep making contacts. The only trouble now is that Waitangi Day is ALSO the first Monday of February, so the big Kiwi night at Hemingway's lines up with my next bookclub. Because I am Socialiser Extraordinaire I intend to attempt both. Take that, common sense! Of course if I'm working by then it gets triple as complicated but whatever, I'm up for the challenge.

Peggy is in Paris - what a brat! I'm jealous. Although not as jealous about that as about her stop in Bruges. I hope she sees people filming midgets and that no one falls/jumps off the tower while she's there. I'm planning my trip to Ethiopia for this time next year...

Back to routine?

As my dear sister Peggy pointed out it is not Wednesday... but by my calculations Monday and Tuesday were public holidays so today is the third work day of this week and is therefore a lot like Wednesday.

I am finally back in Toronto for the foreseeable future - and also hopefully back to routine. I've found a couple jobs to apply for and have decided to expand out and apply for office admin roles. Sure, it's not my dream job but I'd rather do that than work at Shoppers Drug Mart until my dream job comes up. The worrying thing is that in just two weeks it appears my brain has turned to jelly (or cake maybe, I ate a lot of cake) and I can't figure out how to write this application. It's new to me because it's about organisation and multi-tasking (which I'm awesome at) not about communication and multi-tasking (which I'm also pretty damn good at) so new cover letter etc. Fun times. Focus, right? I'm sure I can do this...

Along the way to turning my brain into cheesecake I spent Christmas with Dad's family, between Christmas and New Year in Ottawa, New Year's Eve in Toronto with my cousin Jen, New Year's Day until yesterday in Hamilton with Mum's family... it's been a busy two weeks. Ooh, and I got my hair-cut. That's pretty much the big news of my week :) It's been great to see everyone. The main reason I wanted to come to Toronto (as opposed to another city) was to get to know everyone, especially the kids. So when the chance came up to babysit my cousin's girls (aged two and three) I signed up without hesitation. The three-year old has the most amazing imagination - we spent the whole afternoon rescuing baby animals from corners of the family room to reunite them with their mommies.

Closer to home Faith's has become the refuge for her friend's daughters - Joanna moved in this week so we'll be flatmates until she finds an appropriate place to live. Should be fun to see her more often and maybe get to know some of her other friends.

There are lots of events on here - next week I'm going to drinks with the local Kea (Kiwi Expats Abroad) group, the week after is sledding, then a scavenger hunt, then another pub night... So lots of chances to meet people. Add to that my monthly book club and I am anything but bored! I also might get to apartment-sit for my cousins while they're in Cuba.

I've gone a little overboard reserving stuff from the library and I still have quite a few books to read from my last trip. I read all the "Best Books of 2011" lists and ended up with more than 40 reservations. One of the lists focused on Canadian writers and I thought that would be a great way to increase my knowledge about this country, but my job hunting could seriously suffer as I try to make sure I read everything that crosses my desk.

Okay... back to the grind. I have got to apply for this job. Plus, the pay is better than most of the comms jobs I've been looking at ;)