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!