Vid of the pillow fight, pretty awesome!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Trains, trains, and automobiles (Out-take).
Originally I had written this in as part of the Trains, trains, and automobiles posts, but I figured it deserved a post of its own, I'm sure you'll see why.
I knew there would be a point to this trip besides fun and stories. A lot of it actually hasn't been that fun, many times I've thought to myself that I never should have left because I'm still healing, and I'm not strong enough to handle strife. I see it as a learning experience.
I've also helped at least a few people along the way learn important things about themselves. Nikki, I helped her to see that she deserves respect as a woman, and that things she's dealt with in the past are not, and have never been her fault; Todd, I helped him to see that his life is a routine, and when I left him he was ready to go home and make love to his wife and ride his motorcycle on the weekend which he bought a year ago and hasn't touched yet; Jack, I haven't mentioned him here, but we had a long conversation in which he confided to me that he was alone, afraid he'd never find another partner after being left at the age of 60, and depressed to the point of turning to alcohol to self-medicate. All things he'd never told a soul before, and when we parted he was willing to go and speak to a therapist for help.
I'm not trying to say that I'm some kind of hero, or whatever, but I have a place in this world.
I knew there would be a point to this trip besides fun and stories. A lot of it actually hasn't been that fun, many times I've thought to myself that I never should have left because I'm still healing, and I'm not strong enough to handle strife. I see it as a learning experience.
I've also helped at least a few people along the way learn important things about themselves. Nikki, I helped her to see that she deserves respect as a woman, and that things she's dealt with in the past are not, and have never been her fault; Todd, I helped him to see that his life is a routine, and when I left him he was ready to go home and make love to his wife and ride his motorcycle on the weekend which he bought a year ago and hasn't touched yet; Jack, I haven't mentioned him here, but we had a long conversation in which he confided to me that he was alone, afraid he'd never find another partner after being left at the age of 60, and depressed to the point of turning to alcohol to self-medicate. All things he'd never told a soul before, and when we parted he was willing to go and speak to a therapist for help.
I'm not trying to say that I'm some kind of hero, or whatever, but I have a place in this world.
Trains, trains, and automobiles Pt II.
The first thing I do when I wake up is try to find Brendan. I thought I knew where he was sleeping, but alas I did not. So I sent him a text and went to the highway to thumb.
I was there for a couple of hours before I got a text from Brendan, he started hitching about 3/4 of a km behind me.
After about a total of three hours of not getting any rides, I decided I wanted to go for a walk. I'd continue hitching while I walked. Something was off. As I passed Brendan I told him my plan and continued eastward on the trans Canada 11 highway. I walked for a while, and then I just started crying. Hard, loud, uncontrollable sobs. I don't really know where it came from, it just sort of snuck up on me. I started texting back and forth with Leann, I was feeling very hopeless and broken. I didn't want to get too heavy on here, but it's an important part of the story. I cried for about an hour, only doing my best to stop when a vehicle approached. I was alone with several kilometers of highway in front and behind me, and many many kilometers of forest to my sides, being eaten alive by bugs, wailing like I haven't done since my grandfather's funeral, and not since being a very young child before that.
When I was done crying, I felt better. I realized that I could overcome this obstacle, and that I wouldn't be stranded in Longlac, Ontario forever. It was also a moment of clarity, where I knew I could handle my life by myself. I'm very thankful for the friends and family that I have, as well as Leann; but I AM CAPABLE alone if I need to be.
That was a very important moment for me, and I think I'm probably stronger for it than I've been since before I started dealing with mental illness this winter.
Brendan texted me, and he suggested we go and check out bus prices to see if we could get out of Longlac. I walked back into town and found that I could get a train ticket for the next day straight to Montreal and it would cost me $175. That's a lot of money I didn't really have, but I decided to do it anyway, it just seemed like the right thing to do. So now we had tickets, but we were still marooned in Longlac for another 26 hours. The shopkeep suggested that we could hang out in the Via rail station waiting room.
When we got to the Via station, it was a building that I'm surprised hasn't been condemned, but it had some sort of air conditioning, and it was damn hot outside. We laid out all of our wet stuff to dry because there wasn't a person in sight. We basically squatted the place for the entire next day with the exception of heading to the beach for a couple of hours. It was kind of nice to have a place to kinda sorta call our own.
We played a lot of Nintendo DS and I slept a lot. I was feeling under the weather, and I hate getting sick, so I just make myself rest as much as humanly possible. The only people who came in was a woman to stock the toilet paper, a couple of CN employees from next door to use the washroom, and one woman in the middle of the night who was walking her dog and wanted to steal some hand towels. She was nice, and tried to sell us weed lol. We got so comfortable that we were cooking crude meals with my fuel and burner inside the building.
We caught the train outside our day-long squat, and we were officially on our way out of Longlac toward Montreal, our salvation.
The train ride was great, the employees were super nice, and we had outlets for our Nintendo DS's and to charge our cell phones. I spent most of the first night hanging out in the diner car trading stories with a few people who were having trouble sleeping.
In the morning we changed trains in Toronto and rode until supper time into Montreal. The Montreal-bound train had free Wi-Fi which I took advantage of for a while, but all in all it was uneventful.
Now we're in Montreal! We were surprise greeted by C and D at the train station! It was nice to see familiar faces. We walked toward Carolyne's place where we're staying tonight (correction, Brendan is off somewhere else now) and I've just been dickering on the internet for hours, I hope she doesn't mind too much that I've taken over her computer lol.
Tomorrow is a mystery to be unveiled!
I was there for a couple of hours before I got a text from Brendan, he started hitching about 3/4 of a km behind me.
After about a total of three hours of not getting any rides, I decided I wanted to go for a walk. I'd continue hitching while I walked. Something was off. As I passed Brendan I told him my plan and continued eastward on the trans Canada 11 highway. I walked for a while, and then I just started crying. Hard, loud, uncontrollable sobs. I don't really know where it came from, it just sort of snuck up on me. I started texting back and forth with Leann, I was feeling very hopeless and broken. I didn't want to get too heavy on here, but it's an important part of the story. I cried for about an hour, only doing my best to stop when a vehicle approached. I was alone with several kilometers of highway in front and behind me, and many many kilometers of forest to my sides, being eaten alive by bugs, wailing like I haven't done since my grandfather's funeral, and not since being a very young child before that.
When I was done crying, I felt better. I realized that I could overcome this obstacle, and that I wouldn't be stranded in Longlac, Ontario forever. It was also a moment of clarity, where I knew I could handle my life by myself. I'm very thankful for the friends and family that I have, as well as Leann; but I AM CAPABLE alone if I need to be.
That was a very important moment for me, and I think I'm probably stronger for it than I've been since before I started dealing with mental illness this winter.
Brendan texted me, and he suggested we go and check out bus prices to see if we could get out of Longlac. I walked back into town and found that I could get a train ticket for the next day straight to Montreal and it would cost me $175. That's a lot of money I didn't really have, but I decided to do it anyway, it just seemed like the right thing to do. So now we had tickets, but we were still marooned in Longlac for another 26 hours. The shopkeep suggested that we could hang out in the Via rail station waiting room.
When we got to the Via station, it was a building that I'm surprised hasn't been condemned, but it had some sort of air conditioning, and it was damn hot outside. We laid out all of our wet stuff to dry because there wasn't a person in sight. We basically squatted the place for the entire next day with the exception of heading to the beach for a couple of hours. It was kind of nice to have a place to kinda sorta call our own.
We played a lot of Nintendo DS and I slept a lot. I was feeling under the weather, and I hate getting sick, so I just make myself rest as much as humanly possible. The only people who came in was a woman to stock the toilet paper, a couple of CN employees from next door to use the washroom, and one woman in the middle of the night who was walking her dog and wanted to steal some hand towels. She was nice, and tried to sell us weed lol. We got so comfortable that we were cooking crude meals with my fuel and burner inside the building.
We caught the train outside our day-long squat, and we were officially on our way out of Longlac toward Montreal, our salvation.
The train ride was great, the employees were super nice, and we had outlets for our Nintendo DS's and to charge our cell phones. I spent most of the first night hanging out in the diner car trading stories with a few people who were having trouble sleeping.
In the morning we changed trains in Toronto and rode until supper time into Montreal. The Montreal-bound train had free Wi-Fi which I took advantage of for a while, but all in all it was uneventful.
Now we're in Montreal! We were surprise greeted by C and D at the train station! It was nice to see familiar faces. We walked toward Carolyne's place where we're staying tonight (correction, Brendan is off somewhere else now) and I've just been dickering on the internet for hours, I hope she doesn't mind too much that I've taken over her computer lol.
Tomorrow is a mystery to be unveiled!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Trains, trains, and automobiles Pt I.
Wow, what a week.
So C, D, B, and I all left toward the hop-out spot on Sunday night. We grabbed some Reese's Peanut Butter cup coffee (I know!) from 7-Eleven and waited for about an hour and a half at the spot before our train came. I was super excited because every time I've waited for a train in the past, it either never came, or never stopped. I was starting to think I was cursed. Turns out that may still be true.
B and I grabbed the first ridable car while C and D went ahead to find another one. About thirty seconds later a passenger train came whizzing by at about 120kph. I spent a moment in horror when I realized that if C and D didn't see it coming, they wouldn't have had any way to avoid getting hit by it. I didn't check to see if anything happened, we assured ourselves that they were probably fine because the headlights are visible from a long distance, but it was coming from behind us.
We waited inside the train car being quiet as mice for about two hours before we decided that if we weren't caught yet, we wouldn't be caught. We took out our sleeping bags and got comfortable, and at about 4:30am the train started to move, but not until after some weird truck was driving around making ungodly smashing noises. Still not sure what that was all about.
We fell asleep, and as the sun was coming up we awoke again and had some train breakfast, and then some more train sleep. The next time we awoke, it was because we were soaked with rain.
We whipped out our tarps and tried to keep our already wet as hell things from getting more wet. We didn't notice it was raining right away because we were sleeping with our sleeping bags over our heads to keep the heat in. One really great thing about having a sub-zero winter sleeping bag is that it can get incredibly wet before it soaks through.
More sleep...nothing else to do on a moving train in the rain while it's cold outside.
The rain continued off and on all day long.
At about 1:00pm Brendan and I were quite surprised to be woken by Celeste! The train was stopped in the middle of the woods for a few minutes and she came to say hello. I was glad they weren't dead. They got on the next car up from us.
We continued sleeping and periodically eating and peeing over the side all day and into the night.
At about 2:00am I woke up to the sound of the train stopping quite suddenly, and I heard the bells of a train crossing. I remember thinking it was odd to be able to hear a train crossing bell while stopped being in the middle of the train. Then I heard the cops catch C and D, and in a moment they found us as well.
The O.P.P. officer was quite nice, and was actually quite intimidated by us. He asked us not to run away and held a flashlight for us to pack up our gear. We were continuously asked about whether we were carrying weapons or drugs, to which the true answers were no aside from a couple of utility knives. At one point the officer said "I'm sorry if I seem a little jittery, I've never dealt with you drifter types before". It felt strangely good to have so much power over the fear of a person who spent years training to be in a position of authority.
Once the ordeal was done with, we were driven to the highway, which ran through the middle of Longlac, Ontario. What a fucking hole. We tried hitching for a short period, C and D went to find a place to sleep right away. When we realized that there wasn't any traffic we retired as well.
I found a spot on the side of a ditch next to a swamp that for some reason I decided was the right place to fall asleep. I didn't even bother pulling out my sleeping bag, face to the dirt for about three hours, about twenty minutes of which was actual sleep. At one point in the night I was awoken by a rustle in the bushes, I opened my eyes and managed not to jostle when I was face to face with a fox. It was the cutest thing ever! It seemed pretty content just staring at me, but after a while I figured I'd be more comfortable if it was gone before I closed my eyes again, so I flailed my arms a bit and it ran off. It was a cool experience, I guess I had enough "nature" smell to not be offensive to woodland creatures.
I awoke at the crack of dawn, it was now Wednesday.
To be continued...
So C, D, B, and I all left toward the hop-out spot on Sunday night. We grabbed some Reese's Peanut Butter cup coffee (I know!) from 7-Eleven and waited for about an hour and a half at the spot before our train came. I was super excited because every time I've waited for a train in the past, it either never came, or never stopped. I was starting to think I was cursed. Turns out that may still be true.
B and I grabbed the first ridable car while C and D went ahead to find another one. About thirty seconds later a passenger train came whizzing by at about 120kph. I spent a moment in horror when I realized that if C and D didn't see it coming, they wouldn't have had any way to avoid getting hit by it. I didn't check to see if anything happened, we assured ourselves that they were probably fine because the headlights are visible from a long distance, but it was coming from behind us.
We waited inside the train car being quiet as mice for about two hours before we decided that if we weren't caught yet, we wouldn't be caught. We took out our sleeping bags and got comfortable, and at about 4:30am the train started to move, but not until after some weird truck was driving around making ungodly smashing noises. Still not sure what that was all about.
We fell asleep, and as the sun was coming up we awoke again and had some train breakfast, and then some more train sleep. The next time we awoke, it was because we were soaked with rain.
We whipped out our tarps and tried to keep our already wet as hell things from getting more wet. We didn't notice it was raining right away because we were sleeping with our sleeping bags over our heads to keep the heat in. One really great thing about having a sub-zero winter sleeping bag is that it can get incredibly wet before it soaks through.
More sleep...nothing else to do on a moving train in the rain while it's cold outside.
The rain continued off and on all day long.
At about 1:00pm Brendan and I were quite surprised to be woken by Celeste! The train was stopped in the middle of the woods for a few minutes and she came to say hello. I was glad they weren't dead. They got on the next car up from us.
We continued sleeping and periodically eating and peeing over the side all day and into the night.
At about 2:00am I woke up to the sound of the train stopping quite suddenly, and I heard the bells of a train crossing. I remember thinking it was odd to be able to hear a train crossing bell while stopped being in the middle of the train. Then I heard the cops catch C and D, and in a moment they found us as well.
The O.P.P. officer was quite nice, and was actually quite intimidated by us. He asked us not to run away and held a flashlight for us to pack up our gear. We were continuously asked about whether we were carrying weapons or drugs, to which the true answers were no aside from a couple of utility knives. At one point the officer said "I'm sorry if I seem a little jittery, I've never dealt with you drifter types before". It felt strangely good to have so much power over the fear of a person who spent years training to be in a position of authority.
Once the ordeal was done with, we were driven to the highway, which ran through the middle of Longlac, Ontario. What a fucking hole. We tried hitching for a short period, C and D went to find a place to sleep right away. When we realized that there wasn't any traffic we retired as well.
I found a spot on the side of a ditch next to a swamp that for some reason I decided was the right place to fall asleep. I didn't even bother pulling out my sleeping bag, face to the dirt for about three hours, about twenty minutes of which was actual sleep. At one point in the night I was awoken by a rustle in the bushes, I opened my eyes and managed not to jostle when I was face to face with a fox. It was the cutest thing ever! It seemed pretty content just staring at me, but after a while I figured I'd be more comfortable if it was gone before I closed my eyes again, so I flailed my arms a bit and it ran off. It was a cool experience, I guess I had enough "nature" smell to not be offensive to woodland creatures.
I awoke at the crack of dawn, it was now Wednesday.
To be continued...
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Short post
Had a great time in Winnipeg!
Limited access to internet here, but here's a super quick update.
Winnipeg was full of east coasters when I got here, I was totally unaware! There was an awesome house show at the place we were staying (Celeste and Dandy's place) the night we got in, and I got to meet Ursula, who is the first folk punk band I was ever introduced to!
I rode a tall bike (photos to follow at some point) and chilled out a bunch. We helped prepare and serve for Food not Bombs today.
Tonight we'll hop a train to Montreal. Sorry to those in between who I said I'd visit, but we had to stay an extra day here due to a thunder storm last night and we need to make sure we get to Montreal in plenty of time for the book fair!
Limited access to internet here, but here's a super quick update.
Winnipeg was full of east coasters when I got here, I was totally unaware! There was an awesome house show at the place we were staying (Celeste and Dandy's place) the night we got in, and I got to meet Ursula, who is the first folk punk band I was ever introduced to!
I rode a tall bike (photos to follow at some point) and chilled out a bunch. We helped prepare and serve for Food not Bombs today.
Tonight we'll hop a train to Montreal. Sorry to those in between who I said I'd visit, but we had to stay an extra day here due to a thunder storm last night and we need to make sure we get to Montreal in plenty of time for the book fair!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Leaving Saskatoon. Parties and hangovers.
Saskatoon was fun! We stayed with Floyd and Jill, a couple of lovely ladies who we know from Halifax. Floyd is a radio personality at a radio station in Sask, and she gave us a tour of the station. It was pretty awesome. Their co-worker invited us all out to a backyard campfire/barbeque and we had some drinks. Good times, lots of food too!
In the morning Brendan and I walked to the highway and started our hitching portion of the trip.
The first drive we got was from a man who took us further out of town onto the actual highway to Regina, he decided to take us much further than he intended because the cops were doing spot checks on the highway heading back into Saskatoon, so he took an alternate route. In Saskatchewan every vehicle only needs to be safety inspected once, and then that vehicle is good for the rest of its Saskatchewan life. However, when the cops do highway spot checks, they have a mechanic do inspections on the spot, and they pull vehicles off the road if there's anything not up to code. I'd rather have to safety once every two years instead of have the extra stress.
The second drive we got was from a woman named Crystal I think? She was very nice, but also very nervous about picking us up. Her first words to us were "I don't usually pick up hitchhikers, so please don't kill me or steal from me okay?" We set her mind at ease pretty quickly by starting friendly conversation, she took us right to the Canadian Tire in Regina because we needed to grab a couple of supplies. She was great and had really good taste in music (some selections included Against Me, and Beastie Boys).
The third drive for the day was a man in a Cadillac, he took us about 30 minutes from where he picked us up, and said he'd take us all the way to Winnipeg if we were still on the highway after he was done his errands.
After halfheartedly hitching for an hour, and actually turning down a couple of short rides, we decided the Cadillac man might not be coming back for us, so we grabbed the next ride. Devon was his name, he had just picked up his sister to spend the weekend with her. They were really cool, twenty something, and his sister was 16, we drove at 160kph and he offered us warm beers which we drank in the back seat. After a while, he said "You know what would be funny, if I took you guys back to party with my friends back home." We kind of laughed about it a bit, and he continued to hint at inviting us back. Eventually we ended up deciding that we would go and stay with them and party for the night. Oh holy crap it was awesome. We drove 30 mins off the highway on a dirt road through a beautiful valley with a crazy winding river running alongside us. When we got to his place, he had a sweet stereo system, and we listened to loud music and drank all night. Brendan and I didn't pay a cent for anything, and we got severely hammered. Those people were SO GREAT. In the morning Devon drove us back to the highway and bid us adieu.
Yesterday was kind of a crappy day. I was hung over as hell and we weren't getting picked up. We took a nap in the grass after a bit of thumbing, and then we tried again. We spent from 10am 'til 6pm without getting a ride. I was taking periodic naps, but Brendan was hard at it the whole time. I went in to the diner nearby to make a phone call to Leann, and when I was done I came back to the road. Brendan had been picked up and taken right to Winnipeg. I got picked up shortly after waiting by a really nice 23ish year old girl named Amanda. She was super nice and had a box full of kittens 8^) She took me about a 45 min drive.
My last drive of the day was Todd. A 50ish year old boiler maker. He was really happy to pick me up because he was getting really tired and needed someone to keep him awake at the wheel, we were still a good three hour drive away from Winnipeg at this point. We had some very mind opening conversations, we were very interested in each other because we both have ADD and have been dealing with it in interesting ways for our whole lives. We related our ADD to our depression, which we both periodically suffer from. Really great conversations.
Once I got into Winnipeg I grabbed a bit of food, and after a very warm greeting from Celeste and Dandy, I went to sleep.
In the morning Brendan and I walked to the highway and started our hitching portion of the trip.
The first drive we got was from a man who took us further out of town onto the actual highway to Regina, he decided to take us much further than he intended because the cops were doing spot checks on the highway heading back into Saskatoon, so he took an alternate route. In Saskatchewan every vehicle only needs to be safety inspected once, and then that vehicle is good for the rest of its Saskatchewan life. However, when the cops do highway spot checks, they have a mechanic do inspections on the spot, and they pull vehicles off the road if there's anything not up to code. I'd rather have to safety once every two years instead of have the extra stress.
The second drive we got was from a woman named Crystal I think? She was very nice, but also very nervous about picking us up. Her first words to us were "I don't usually pick up hitchhikers, so please don't kill me or steal from me okay?" We set her mind at ease pretty quickly by starting friendly conversation, she took us right to the Canadian Tire in Regina because we needed to grab a couple of supplies. She was great and had really good taste in music (some selections included Against Me, and Beastie Boys).
The third drive for the day was a man in a Cadillac, he took us about 30 minutes from where he picked us up, and said he'd take us all the way to Winnipeg if we were still on the highway after he was done his errands.
After halfheartedly hitching for an hour, and actually turning down a couple of short rides, we decided the Cadillac man might not be coming back for us, so we grabbed the next ride. Devon was his name, he had just picked up his sister to spend the weekend with her. They were really cool, twenty something, and his sister was 16, we drove at 160kph and he offered us warm beers which we drank in the back seat. After a while, he said "You know what would be funny, if I took you guys back to party with my friends back home." We kind of laughed about it a bit, and he continued to hint at inviting us back. Eventually we ended up deciding that we would go and stay with them and party for the night. Oh holy crap it was awesome. We drove 30 mins off the highway on a dirt road through a beautiful valley with a crazy winding river running alongside us. When we got to his place, he had a sweet stereo system, and we listened to loud music and drank all night. Brendan and I didn't pay a cent for anything, and we got severely hammered. Those people were SO GREAT. In the morning Devon drove us back to the highway and bid us adieu.
Yesterday was kind of a crappy day. I was hung over as hell and we weren't getting picked up. We took a nap in the grass after a bit of thumbing, and then we tried again. We spent from 10am 'til 6pm without getting a ride. I was taking periodic naps, but Brendan was hard at it the whole time. I went in to the diner nearby to make a phone call to Leann, and when I was done I came back to the road. Brendan had been picked up and taken right to Winnipeg. I got picked up shortly after waiting by a really nice 23ish year old girl named Amanda. She was super nice and had a box full of kittens 8^) She took me about a 45 min drive.
My last drive of the day was Todd. A 50ish year old boiler maker. He was really happy to pick me up because he was getting really tired and needed someone to keep him awake at the wheel, we were still a good three hour drive away from Winnipeg at this point. We had some very mind opening conversations, we were very interested in each other because we both have ADD and have been dealing with it in interesting ways for our whole lives. We related our ADD to our depression, which we both periodically suffer from. Really great conversations.
Once I got into Winnipeg I grabbed a bit of food, and after a very warm greeting from Celeste and Dandy, I went to sleep.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday of Kings! Part II / Fast Food America!
So I guess there wasn't actually that much left to mention after the all you can eat sushi on Saturday, but I'll finish it up anyway.
When we were blissfully full, we took the subway back to our bikes and went to Neko's place. We had some beer and good conversation before biking to a dance party that some of our friends were attending. The party had A BOUNCY CASTLE in the back yard. So I got drunk and bounced a lot with some cool folks from Toronto and the surrounding areas. Bouncy castles are awesome, but I feel bad for Brendan because he broke his awesome glasses while he was in it, I doubt they'll ever be the same after that fateful night.
Back to Neko's...sleep.
On Sunday morning Chriz was awesome and gave me some cash to pick up eggs and bacon, which I did happily. We then created a beautiful breakfast smorgasbord with omelettes, bacon, potatoes, the rest of the home made ketchup and avocado slices.
We said our goodbyes to Toronto and started heading out of the city at around 2pm, which was hell. The Gardiner Expressway was closed down, so I had no idea how to get out of the city westward, we got some directions and ended up taking nearly three hours to get as far as Hamilton.
When we got to the border, we were detained for an hour and a half, but we were cracking jokes and keeping in high spirits the whole time, the border guards loved us.
While driving in the States, our mission became to try crazy fast foods that we can't get in Canada. We got some White Castle, Hardee's, and we had the new Double Down from KFC which isn't in Canada. We also had some candy bars you can't get here like Payday, Hundred Grand, Butterfinger, and Chantal also had a Vanilla Coke.
Other than the terrible eating habits, the US was pretty uneventful. North Dakota is an interesting place, we pulled off for gas at one place where it was a person's driveway and there was a gas pump outside their front porch.
Getting back into Canada was easy as hell: “Passports please. What are you bringing from the States? Nothing? Cool, go ahead.”
Now we're in Saskatoon.
When we were blissfully full, we took the subway back to our bikes and went to Neko's place. We had some beer and good conversation before biking to a dance party that some of our friends were attending. The party had A BOUNCY CASTLE in the back yard. So I got drunk and bounced a lot with some cool folks from Toronto and the surrounding areas. Bouncy castles are awesome, but I feel bad for Brendan because he broke his awesome glasses while he was in it, I doubt they'll ever be the same after that fateful night.
Back to Neko's...sleep.
On Sunday morning Chriz was awesome and gave me some cash to pick up eggs and bacon, which I did happily. We then created a beautiful breakfast smorgasbord with omelettes, bacon, potatoes, the rest of the home made ketchup and avocado slices.
We said our goodbyes to Toronto and started heading out of the city at around 2pm, which was hell. The Gardiner Expressway was closed down, so I had no idea how to get out of the city westward, we got some directions and ended up taking nearly three hours to get as far as Hamilton.
When we got to the border, we were detained for an hour and a half, but we were cracking jokes and keeping in high spirits the whole time, the border guards loved us.
While driving in the States, our mission became to try crazy fast foods that we can't get in Canada. We got some White Castle, Hardee's, and we had the new Double Down from KFC which isn't in Canada. We also had some candy bars you can't get here like Payday, Hundred Grand, Butterfinger, and Chantal also had a Vanilla Coke.
Other than the terrible eating habits, the US was pretty uneventful. North Dakota is an interesting place, we pulled off for gas at one place where it was a person's driveway and there was a gas pump outside their front porch.
Getting back into Canada was easy as hell: “Passports please. What are you bringing from the States? Nothing? Cool, go ahead.”
Now we're in Saskatoon.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday of kings!
I'm time limited, but I want to talk about the most epic day ever.
Yesterday Brendan and I got TTC passes to allow us to take the public transit all day as many times as we wanted, and it was only $5 each (it's a $10 ticket that's good for a whole family, up to two adults and four children).
We went to Bike Pirates to fix up Neko's bike and do a bit of volunteering, and then we tried to find our friend Clayton, to no success.
We locked our bikes and got onto the subway to go and see the most epic pillow fight I've ever conceived. We showed up ten minutes late, but when we approached, we heard them all yell "FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE" and the entire square on Yonge and Eglinton erupted with violence and feathers. It was awesome to see. I have a video on my phone, maybe if I have the chance I'll upload it to youtube sometime soon.
Then we walked into a nearby mall and saw Iron Man 2. We just walked right in, easy peasy. It was a great movie. If you enjoyed the first Iron Man, you should definitely check this one out as well.
After the movie we were hungry, we tried to go to Buddha's because so many people have recommended it to me, but when we got there, the lineup was way out into the sidewalk. So we continued walking. Brendan and I talked eachother into finding all you can eat sushi. I'm so glad Brendan messaged his sister, because she recommended an amazing place called Sushi Island. There are three all you can eat menus, $13.99 for all you can eat maki, $16.99 for all you can eat maki, noodle dishes, tempura, and desserts, and then there's the $20.99 which includes everything plus sashimi. We opted for the second option, and we ate like gluttonous Japanese emperors. We tallied up everything we ate after the meal and priced it in our estimated Haligonian sushi dollars, and it came to $58 for me and $56 for Brendan. We were being modest though, I bet in reality it could have been a combined $130.
More later, it's only half done!
Yesterday Brendan and I got TTC passes to allow us to take the public transit all day as many times as we wanted, and it was only $5 each (it's a $10 ticket that's good for a whole family, up to two adults and four children).
We went to Bike Pirates to fix up Neko's bike and do a bit of volunteering, and then we tried to find our friend Clayton, to no success.
We locked our bikes and got onto the subway to go and see the most epic pillow fight I've ever conceived. We showed up ten minutes late, but when we approached, we heard them all yell "FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE" and the entire square on Yonge and Eglinton erupted with violence and feathers. It was awesome to see. I have a video on my phone, maybe if I have the chance I'll upload it to youtube sometime soon.
Then we walked into a nearby mall and saw Iron Man 2. We just walked right in, easy peasy. It was a great movie. If you enjoyed the first Iron Man, you should definitely check this one out as well.
After the movie we were hungry, we tried to go to Buddha's because so many people have recommended it to me, but when we got there, the lineup was way out into the sidewalk. So we continued walking. Brendan and I talked eachother into finding all you can eat sushi. I'm so glad Brendan messaged his sister, because she recommended an amazing place called Sushi Island. There are three all you can eat menus, $13.99 for all you can eat maki, $16.99 for all you can eat maki, noodle dishes, tempura, and desserts, and then there's the $20.99 which includes everything plus sashimi. We opted for the second option, and we ate like gluttonous Japanese emperors. We tallied up everything we ate after the meal and priced it in our estimated Haligonian sushi dollars, and it came to $58 for me and $56 for Brendan. We were being modest though, I bet in reality it could have been a combined $130.
More later, it's only half done!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Toronto is flat
I decided to keep a separate journal for very personal feelings so people who are interested in where I've been and how I did it can read this without hearing how much I'm missing people back home. I'll still post everything that's relevant, but I don't want to sound like a broken record.
Today I made a great breakfast with veggie hotdogs, eggs, and toast. Beautiful start to a beautiful day.
We had bikes to use today! Mine sucks, but it's a lender, can't really complain. Tomorrow I'm going to give it a tune up both to better my experience with it, and to extend a little thank you to Neko and Chriz for letting me use it.
Biking in Toronto is fucking awesome for so many reasons:
1. No helmet law
2. It's flat
3. Biking is always awesome
4. Probably more, jesus, leave me alone.
Got to play "Super Street Fighter 4" today for the first time. I've been waiting for months to do this! Unfortunately I can't play as well on PS3 controllers as I can on 360 controllers, but it was still a real treat!
Went to a "diner" for lunch. I put that in quotations because when I think diner, I think cheap shitty food with large portions. This place had really good expensive food with regular portions. They definitely fucked up when they called themselves a diner in my opinion. Where's my Westcliffe?
Hung out with a friend Sarah, and her friend Sarah from Guelph today. "Sarah one" is a friend from last year who I've kept in touch with, and she's an amazing person. "Sarah two" seems fantastic as well, but unfortunately we didn't have much time to chat.
The evening ended with some great conversation and juggling practice back at Neko (Brendan's sister) and Chriz's place.
Today I made a great breakfast with veggie hotdogs, eggs, and toast. Beautiful start to a beautiful day.
We had bikes to use today! Mine sucks, but it's a lender, can't really complain. Tomorrow I'm going to give it a tune up both to better my experience with it, and to extend a little thank you to Neko and Chriz for letting me use it.
Biking in Toronto is fucking awesome for so many reasons:
1. No helmet law
2. It's flat
3. Biking is always awesome
4. Probably more, jesus, leave me alone.
Got to play "Super Street Fighter 4" today for the first time. I've been waiting for months to do this! Unfortunately I can't play as well on PS3 controllers as I can on 360 controllers, but it was still a real treat!
Went to a "diner" for lunch. I put that in quotations because when I think diner, I think cheap shitty food with large portions. This place had really good expensive food with regular portions. They definitely fucked up when they called themselves a diner in my opinion. Where's my Westcliffe?
Hung out with a friend Sarah, and her friend Sarah from Guelph today. "Sarah one" is a friend from last year who I've kept in touch with, and she's an amazing person. "Sarah two" seems fantastic as well, but unfortunately we didn't have much time to chat.
The evening ended with some great conversation and juggling practice back at Neko (Brendan's sister) and Chriz's place.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Blood, sweat, and tears.
So after I tore myself away from Leann's warm bed yesterday morning, I met up with Chantal and Brendan. We left Halifax after grabbing a coffee at about 8am.
I guess I should outline what's going on for people who aren't in the know. I'm helping out with driving on a road trip westward, ending for Brendan and I in Saskatoon. When we get to Saskatoon we're going to camp and hitch our way back eastward to Montreal for the book fair at the end of the month.
Chantal drove until we got to Moncton, I slept in the back seat. Smart lad that I am, I decided to sleep before we picked up two more people who were tagging along with us until Toronto, and I was able to sprawl out and get comfy. When we got to Moncton I met Tracy and Cory, our fourth and fifth to the car. Chantal has known them for years and years. Great people!
I took the driver's seat from Moncton, and we listened to some awesome music. I still have to get a list of the bands I really liked, but a few of them are "The Matadors", "The Riverdales", and "The Cave Warps".
Driving is boring, a lot of the time was spent with everyone sleeping while I drove and drove.
Everything gets better once you get through New Brunswick, soooo boooring. After the Quebec border we stopped for cheap beer and poutine.
Driving driving driving. I gave up my driver's seat outside of Montreal because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Brendan took over.
Montreal is a cool city to be in when the Canadians are playing an important game. It's really cool how dedicated the fans are, even when they're not at the game.
We got in to Toronto last night at about 4am. I was exhausted, I went straight to sleep, and I laid like a log in a deep sleep for six hours at Brendan's sister's awesome loft on her pull out couch.
Today we got up and went on a mission. I wanted new sunglasses (I bought some here last year and lost them) which was a long walk away, and we stopped at every bike shop on the way, and got into many long conversations shooting the shit about our two wheeled machine-friends.
We had two slices of pizza and a pop for $3.50 tax inc. for breakfast. Awesome. Then on the way home we got a shitload of broccoli, celery, tomatoes, potatoes, and other items to use for dinner. We made a veggie stirfry with homefries and homemade ketchup. So awesome.
I got to talk to Leann tonight. I got a calling card this afternoon. Those things are so annoying to use. I miss her.
I guess I should outline what's going on for people who aren't in the know. I'm helping out with driving on a road trip westward, ending for Brendan and I in Saskatoon. When we get to Saskatoon we're going to camp and hitch our way back eastward to Montreal for the book fair at the end of the month.
Chantal drove until we got to Moncton, I slept in the back seat. Smart lad that I am, I decided to sleep before we picked up two more people who were tagging along with us until Toronto, and I was able to sprawl out and get comfy. When we got to Moncton I met Tracy and Cory, our fourth and fifth to the car. Chantal has known them for years and years. Great people!
I took the driver's seat from Moncton, and we listened to some awesome music. I still have to get a list of the bands I really liked, but a few of them are "The Matadors", "The Riverdales", and "The Cave Warps".
Driving is boring, a lot of the time was spent with everyone sleeping while I drove and drove.
Everything gets better once you get through New Brunswick, soooo boooring. After the Quebec border we stopped for cheap beer and poutine.
Driving driving driving. I gave up my driver's seat outside of Montreal because I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Brendan took over.
Montreal is a cool city to be in when the Canadians are playing an important game. It's really cool how dedicated the fans are, even when they're not at the game.
We got in to Toronto last night at about 4am. I was exhausted, I went straight to sleep, and I laid like a log in a deep sleep for six hours at Brendan's sister's awesome loft on her pull out couch.
Today we got up and went on a mission. I wanted new sunglasses (I bought some here last year and lost them) which was a long walk away, and we stopped at every bike shop on the way, and got into many long conversations shooting the shit about our two wheeled machine-friends.
We had two slices of pizza and a pop for $3.50 tax inc. for breakfast. Awesome. Then on the way home we got a shitload of broccoli, celery, tomatoes, potatoes, and other items to use for dinner. We made a veggie stirfry with homefries and homemade ketchup. So awesome.
I got to talk to Leann tonight. I got a calling card this afternoon. Those things are so annoying to use. I miss her.
Monday, May 10, 2010
All packed up and ready to go.
So tonight I head to my parent's place with Leann. I'm pretty excited, I haven't been home in a while and I'm glad to be celebrating a belated mother's day as well as my leaving. Also Leann hasn't met my family yet.
I have everything on my list ready to go except for a couple of things:
Grocery bags, a lighter, water bottles, and multi-vitamins.
Very simple things to acquire, so I'm pretty much ready to go.
All of the rest of my worldly possessions are packed into boxes and ready for storage.
Hard to believe that in 48 hours I'll be in New Brunswick or Quebec.
I have everything on my list ready to go except for a couple of things:
Grocery bags, a lighter, water bottles, and multi-vitamins.
Very simple things to acquire, so I'm pretty much ready to go.
All of the rest of my worldly possessions are packed into boxes and ready for storage.
Hard to believe that in 48 hours I'll be in New Brunswick or Quebec.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Time keeps slip slip slipping away.
Well it's now less than six days until I head out onto the road again.
That last update was pretty bleak sounding, but I've gone through the Day Treatment program at the QEII now (tomorrow is my last day) and I feel fantastic.
There are a lot of factors that have lead me back on track to happiness, removal of toxicity in my life, the return of the sun, and new companionship.
Part of me is super excited to travel, and another part of me wants to stay home and bask in this newfound relationship. She'll be here when I get back. I know, I know.
So, I'm gonna lay out everything that I'll be taking with me.
1. Large travel pack. Not sure how many litres, but it's huge.
2. Sleeping bag (need to try and find a summer worthy sleeping bag before I leave, the one I have is too warm and it's very awkward when it's damp)
3. Ham-tent/tent-mock
4. Therma-rest style sleeping surface
5. White fuel and burner
6. Travel pot/pan combo
7. One pair of pants (need new ones, overalls if I have to)
8. Two t-shirts
9. One pair of shoes
10. 3-5 pairs of socks
11. 3 pairs of underwear
12. Some instant oatmeal
13. Emergency food rations
14. Many sturdy grocery bags to keep clothes in, and for feet in case of rain.
15. Large poncho.
16. Small flashlight with extra batteries
17. Lighter
18. Passport
19. Wallet
20. Multi-tool/knife
21. Sunblock
22. Hat
23. Electrical tape
24. Cell phone
25. Two water bottles, one sealed and one with drinking nozzle (hm, I need to get these)
26. Juggling balls
27. Anti-bacterial water filter
28. Travel multi-spice shaker
29. Rice
30. Hoodie
31. Light jacket
32. Multi-vitamins
33. Poker chip and small ceramic bicycle for good luck
EDIT: I thought of more.
34. Hygiene bag (tooth brush, TP, etc.)
I obviously didn't have this list figured out ahead of time, it's kind of all over the place. Anything people would add/subtract?
That last update was pretty bleak sounding, but I've gone through the Day Treatment program at the QEII now (tomorrow is my last day) and I feel fantastic.
There are a lot of factors that have lead me back on track to happiness, removal of toxicity in my life, the return of the sun, and new companionship.
Part of me is super excited to travel, and another part of me wants to stay home and bask in this newfound relationship. She'll be here when I get back. I know, I know.
So, I'm gonna lay out everything that I'll be taking with me.
1. Large travel pack. Not sure how many litres, but it's huge.
2. Sleeping bag (need to try and find a summer worthy sleeping bag before I leave, the one I have is too warm and it's very awkward when it's damp)
3. Ham-tent/tent-mock
4. Therma-rest style sleeping surface
5. White fuel and burner
6. Travel pot/pan combo
7. One pair of pants (need new ones, overalls if I have to)
8. Two t-shirts
9. One pair of shoes
10. 3-5 pairs of socks
11. 3 pairs of underwear
12. Some instant oatmeal
13. Emergency food rations
14. Many sturdy grocery bags to keep clothes in, and for feet in case of rain.
15. Large poncho.
16. Small flashlight with extra batteries
17. Lighter
18. Passport
19. Wallet
20. Multi-tool/knife
21. Sunblock
22. Hat
23. Electrical tape
24. Cell phone
25. Two water bottles, one sealed and one with drinking nozzle (hm, I need to get these)
26. Juggling balls
27. Anti-bacterial water filter
28. Travel multi-spice shaker
29. Rice
30. Hoodie
31. Light jacket
32. Multi-vitamins
33. Poker chip and small ceramic bicycle for good luck
EDIT: I thought of more.
34. Hygiene bag (tooth brush, TP, etc.)
I obviously didn't have this list figured out ahead of time, it's kind of all over the place. Anything people would add/subtract?
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