Ride the Rocket

I think I've finally figured out my favourite mode of transportation. You might be quite surprised to hear that its the subway but wait for my reasoning and then maybe you'll understand why. I'm one of those people who, despite knowing how to drive, take the bus more often. It's not a personal choice (like it would be for a lot of environmentalists) but it's more a matter of there not being enough car to go around and me not (yet) having enough money to both buy myself a car and pay for its upkeep.

So, given the circumstances I end up taking the bus to most places. I remember when I first moved here in 1998 (not so long ago) the bus used to be noisy but because people were talking to each other. Now, however, although it may not be so noisy to me it is far much "louder". The culprit: CELLPHONES.

If owning one of these contraptions makes me NOT anti-cellphone then I guess I'm not anti-cellphone but what I AM against is the way people abuse these things. I understand that to a lot of people cellphones have become almost a necessity but really, do I HAVE to listen to ALL your private conversations on the bus/train?? Call me old-fashioned but where's the sense of decorum? I really do not want to hear stories about how awful your (ex)boyfriend is at kissing or how many times you did it last night or what a bitch your mom/sister/bestfriend is.

Why not discuss these things with whoever you want to discuss them with when an entire bus-full of people can't hear you? Is that too much to ask?

The subway, then, is my favourite mode of transportation because cellphones don't work on 'em :D.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of cell-phone bashing I might as well tell you the cell-phone incident that ticked me off the most. This happened last summer. I decided to take a walk around my neighbourhood and ended up behind these two girls. They initially started off walking and talking but before I knew what was happening they were both on their respective cellphones chatting away with some other people :S. Now, why would you go out on a walk with a friend if you don't want to talk to her?

Maybe I just need to accept the changes in social relations but I just don't want to.

Oh, and by the way. My legs did NOT, I repeat did NOT, hurt from the walking mentioned in the previous post...guess all those hours at the gym paid off :D

Aches, Pains and Red Eyes. Worth It? HELL YEAH!!

So, I'm back...Exams are finally over and I'm looking at 4 months of nothingness (read no studying) stretching out in front of me like an Ocean from the shores. Alright, alright...I realize I'm getting a little overly dramatic but I haven't had a break from school since December and over 3 months of continuous studying (with no break...not even a break during reading week) can definitely drive you to the brinks of drama...

Ever since my exam ended earlier this morning (a little under 13 hours ago) I've been celebrating. The fact that the weather's been cooperating is a cherry on the already oh-so-perfect ice-cream sundae (what is with me and the weird analogies today?). So, what did I do? Well, initially just had a peaceful lunch. Laughed a lot, talked a lot and all in all had a jolly good time. Then I headed downtown for some more fun and frolic (so much so that by the end of it my feet were begging for mercy: read on for why). While I waited for my cousin to finish her work so we could hit the stores I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and headed out for a little walk in the best city in the world (yes, I belong to the "Toronto Rocks" club). As fate would have it, it took my cousin longer to finish her work than I had initially anticipated (over an hour) and I continued walking--all the time waiting for her call to tell me that she was done. For those of you who know Toronto this is how far I walked: I started off at the corner of Harbord and Huron Streets and walked on Huron Street all the way to Dundas. Then turned around, came back to Harbord and walked up Harbord a little past Spadina (saw a guy riding a uni-cycle...didn't know people still rode those) and then HORRORS!...The battery in my MP3 player died out forcing me to return to my starting point just in time to see my cousin finish off.

Now, if all that walking just wasnt' enough we decided to walk to Eaton Center via Spadina and Queen Street all the while stopping to window shop and check out the wares that the vendors were selling...turquoise stones from Mexico priced at $75 being sold on the street...sometimes I really have trouble accepting that they're genuine (the vendors of imitation hand bags on the streets of New York have tainted my view of street vendors forever). The best stuff I saw, however, was at the booth of this Latin American couple who appeared to be quite obsessed with Che. They were selling rings with Che's pictures in them, earrings with his pictures in them...heck I'd like to know how they get the picture in the accessories...would love to get one personalized for myself (obviously not with a picture of Che).

Oh, and let me mention for the benefit of those that may live around that area that they're selling 3 boxes of strawberries for as low as $4 at China Town. Dole strawberries though, so whether you want to support that or not is your choice. I wonder, though, where storeowners in China Town are buying their produce from. I don't see grocery stores selling for prices as low as that...

Anyways, after all these distractions we finally made it to Eaton Center...shopped till 9 and then walked back to where my cousin was parked which was back at Huron and Harbord (a much less eventful and much more painful walk what with feet in lots of pain by now).

So, I'm thinking the obvious question in your mind is: why do we care about where you walked and how much your feet ached?

My answer: This post is just to outline the activities of my day so I can end it off by saying that I did all this on less than 2 hours of sleep and a serving of food that I consumed at around 12:30. At times I felt like I was flying rather than walking but I'm not complaining. Since coming home I have soaked my feet in hot water and applied all sorts of soothing gels but the muscle pain will set in tomorrow and that I await so I can say to it "You may try to bring me down but every step I took was worth it". Anything for a beautiful evening in the best city in the world...

Till we meet again....GOODNIGHT

SONG: The Scientist by Coldplay