Eco-friendly oil?

The production of oil is heavily criticized by environmentalists world wide. The list of damages the process creates is lengthy and environmentally devastating, but I wont get into those right now. Interestingly enough though, it seems the increase in attention on sustainable practices and green conscious standards has led Alberta’s Syncrude oil to spend $25 million on a campaign that attempts to promote the greener side of the Alberta tar sands. However, when a flock of Maillard Ducks landed on one of the companies tailing ponds this past Monday the outcome was anything but eco-friendly…The Globe and Mail has the story.

The Good Times Are Killing Me

More appropriately, the lack of being able to enjoy these good times MAY in fact kill me. Modest Mouse makes an appearance at Deer Lake Park at the end of May and it is very vital that I attend. Regardless of company, you will find me there. However, anyone wishing to enjoy the concert with me is more then welcome to join. They are coming with REM...an added incentive for any fans of Man on the Moon and Losing My Religion.


If you have yet to enjoy a concert at Deer Lake Park I really recommend you try too this summer. If you’re not down for seeing Modest Mouse, Cyndi Lauper and the B52's are coming in July, and Calgary's finest --Feist will be there in August.

Home Time

Last essay, last feature, last project, last presentation...done. An exam to go and my second year of university has come to an abrupt end. Where does the time go? Cliché --maybe, but looking back on this year I feel as if yesterday could be September. As quickly as the year went by I can’t help but feel this summer is long over due...

Regardless, packing is not fun. I sort of feel stupid at the amount of clothes I think is necessary to pack for my four month return to the West. However, vacuum bags and strategically rolled sweaters fill my suitcases and if all goes according to plan, I arrive in Vancouver around 8 this Wednesday night.

Summer 2008 is already highly anticipated. Days spent sipping bucks, driving top down while blasting tunes and lying on the mossy hill. Along with nights spent cheering at the Main, eating ice-cream while chatting at Rocky Point and endless 20th parties are expected. Hopefully working like crazy somewhere in-between the fun too –it’s all too exciting.

So, good-bye white washed apartment. Good-bye all night pre-drinks and the ladies that make them entertaining. And good-bye busy city…see you this fall, sun tanned, fresh and ready for round three.

[FAT]

My roommate Rom auditioned too model in Toronto's Alternative Arts and Fashion week a month back and she got the job. She is one of the 50 models who made the open casting call and it's pretty damn exciting. [FAT] –as the show is affectionately called --starts today and runs until Friday, showcasing the many talented artists, musicians and of course designers that Toronto has to offer.

What is even MORE exciting however, is that Rom is featured on the She Does the City website in the special [FAT] section. The section on the site features a select few models, designers, artists and musicians who are taking part in the shows this week…and Rom happens to be one of them. Scope out what she has to say about being a part of the show here. Congrats Rom!

If you’re in Toronto this week and are looking for something to do in the evening, head down to the Distillery District and support [FAT]. Tickets are $20 at the door, for more info head to the [FAT] website.

Un-Broken

When I came to Ryerson it was the end of eighteen years in the same home. All I knew was Coquitlam. I had spent endless nights roaming the streets of my city, hanging out and growing up with my close group of friends, hating and loving the small extended network of everything familiar. Then I moved three provinces away.

In hindsight, coming to Toronto was similar to finding a new guy –the beginning is always the sweetest. It was fresh and more then exciting to be somewhere so unlike home. I was beyond overwhelmed when I first stepped foot onto Yonge Street. It was humid, and overcast and just past four in the afternoon on the Saturday before the last week of August. And I will never forget walking through Dundas Square with my Mom and fretting slightly at the immensity of the city around me.

It was like I had just laid eyes on the ideal man. Each time I stepped into the sunshine that fall I got a fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had so much to learn about my new home, so much to get acquainted with. With every new person I met and every new place I discovered I was falling more and more in love with my east coast world.

And then…came winter. Winter in Toronto was nothing like winter on Harbour Drive. The cold blasts of air and white washed streets were not a magical snowy wonderland like I had hoped. The honeymoon stage was over. The city and I had become far too comfortable with each other and I started to notice things I had dizzyingly overlooked in the beginning. I was getting cold feet, figuratively and literally.

This past winter was the worst. Even though it was only my second in the town, it was a record maker even by Ontario standards. I was heart broken. What happened to the Toronto I had fallen for? Where did the always exciting town that had captivated my attention and delayed my yearnings for the west go? With the constant drifting of snow came my ever-growing uncertainty for the future of my relationship with the TO. Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this place.

And then came last weekend. The dearly missed sun showed her face again and the temperature was not the only thing warming. My broken heart began to mend as I realized just why I liked Toronto when we first met those short years ago. The chirping of birds walking through the quad at school, the patios coming out of hibernation and the discovery of new faces and places while strolling at midnight –it all came back.

But of course, as always, it’s bittersweet. Just when you think things can go back to how they once were, they don’t. They never do. I return to Vancouver in a mere 9 days. And while my time left is short and sweet, it will be enough. Enough to make me thankful for making the trek two short years ago and enough to make me anticipate my return next fall.

Thank you Toronto…we’re not finished yet.

April Showers

The difference between weather in Vancouver and weather in Toronto is insane. For starters, Toronto does not see nearly as much precipitation as Vancouver does. Instead Toronto's weather flips from un-bearably cold, too ridiculously windy, to way too humid for my sweating issues. Vancouver on the other hand, never experiences these extremes. Instead west coasters get rain –lots and lots of rain. Sometimes whole months pass by without any stoppage of falling droplets from the sky. And it is evident that Vancouverites are more then used to their wet climate.

Torontonians on the other hand are not. After grueling through the long winter that was these last four months, one would assume it wouldn’t be a big deal to see a little rain. Oh how wrong you are.

At the slightest indication of those falling droplets, the people of Toronto instinctively pull out their umbrellas and run for cover under the overhangs of store fronts and apartment buildings. I have never seen people walk faster then when it starts to rain in downtown Toronto. They will bare the negative temperatures and howling wind, but heaven forbid they endure a little precipitation.

I should also mention that the “rainstorm” Toronto is experiencing today, would be more appropriately classified as a light mist. I just walked about ten minutes from class, without a jacket, without an umbrella, and I was instantly dry upon entering the building’s elevator.

However, had I been walking down Robson St. during a “rainstorm” in Vancouver, my hair would no longer be straight and I would look similar to a bathed kitten. The reality is, while anyone and everyone uses umbrellas in TO, it’s only the soccer mom's watching Sunday games that use them in Van-city.

My dear Toronto neighbours, do not fear the rain. Lets be thankful it's not a couple degrees cooler and snowing right now. Put your rainboots on, find your spring time trench and embrace the slightly wetter streets. To quote my strict English pre-school teacher, “you’re not sugar cubes…you won’t melt.”

Peace On Earth --animal style

My Grandma sent me this video clip. Cuteness aside, I think it is worth sharing and keeping in context when we are faced with the task of just all getting along with eachother.