It's very early Sunday morning here in Toronto. What is generally the universal day for everyone to pause and catch up and be ready for the week has, for me, never been the same for the last two years. Not since I started working a night shift. People I know are right now still tucked in bed fast asleep, and they won't even be close to waking up for a few more hours to come.
I got up at 4 AM. With my alarm. I had a bowl of cereal and took some laundry downstairs to get it out of the way. In about 90 minutes I will leave my apartment with my gym bag slung over my shoulder and walk down Yonge Street to the intersection at Dundas and work out from 7 AM to somewhere close to 9 AM, just in time to get the subway home as it starts running for the day. Somewhere after that I'll take my time putting away the laundry I have washed and making my meal plan for the week ahead, and then I'll be oing back to bed with the hope that I'll get at least a 6 hour nap before I go back to work at 11 PM tonight.
*sigh*
It's odd though; last week I was on days from Wednesday to Friday to go to a training session and even though it was daytime hours I think I actually got less done than I usually do. Working nights is the same amount of time that people have at days, and I get the same amount of time after to eat, to shop, to do everything that everyone else does. Mind you, I am home before retail opens, and if I want to go shopping for something I can do it before or after I have been to bed. And the gym - I am done work when it opens, so I usually work out on my way home and take my time, instead of rushing in and out on a limited window of time.
I think I have actually become used to working nights over the lsat little while. And aside from the perks mentioned above I find there is one more huge bonus to be had: no people! The subway is empty, the streets deserted! It's like my own little zombie film. Just without the zombies. By contrast I was at Canada's Wonderland on Friday night for their Halloween Haunt and while I was riding the rollercoasters in the dark and in the freezing cold (and marvelling at how this could only happen in Canada) I was slowly getting more and more agitated by the great stupid stumbling masses of people packed in there. Or even going to the Eaton Centre yesterday (although I did not go in, I just went to Best Buy) I was getting tense at not being able to move at a regular normal pace down the sidewalks because of the slowpokes in front of me gawking at windows or stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to answer their phones or send texts.
Oh look at that, it's almost time to go put the clothes in the dryer. Wish me luck - here comes the week again!
That is all.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Paranormal Activity
I'm just home from the midnight showing of Paranormal Activity at the AMC downtown at Yonge and Dundas. It was a last-few-hours choice as Jamie sent me a text this afternoon asking if I wanted to see it. And see it I did.
This is the new Blair Witch Project where fear factor is concerned. The tension is built so effectively without use of any incidental music, odd camera angles or any of the stuff that Hollywood has to employ to spook us in a normal film. We're introduced to a young couple in their home where they've been hearing things go bump in the night, and they use a camcorder to try and capture whatever's causing it on screen to better understand it. But there's some stuff you shouldn't mess with. And how.
There were palpable whimpers from many corners of the theatre as the show carried on, each "visit" from the spirit world building on what happened the night before. Even the physchic doesn't want to stick around once he gets a whiff of what's going on in there. The story never leaves the house; it's usually in the bedroom where the terrified couple are awoken night after night by the odd bump, then some bangs, then a crash, and then.... well, it does go on.
So here I am home now and I feel a bit spooked. Okay I feel a lot spooked. I've got a pretty good imagination and don't always need help when it comes to the "what if's" about things that exist out of the corners of our eyes or those odd flickers we get behind us in mirrors. This building is replete with bumps and thuds though (not to mention the choking stench of that incense that stupid girl next door is burning) so I am sure I'll have a heap good time sleeping tonight. Such as it is though. Paul's coming by at 5 AM and we're doing a really early morning workout so he can go do his holiday Monday things and I can go back to bed to get ready for my shift tomorrow night.
Thankfully the things that go bump in the day are nowhere near as threatening to the imagination. At least, not so far.
That is all.
This is the new Blair Witch Project where fear factor is concerned. The tension is built so effectively without use of any incidental music, odd camera angles or any of the stuff that Hollywood has to employ to spook us in a normal film. We're introduced to a young couple in their home where they've been hearing things go bump in the night, and they use a camcorder to try and capture whatever's causing it on screen to better understand it. But there's some stuff you shouldn't mess with. And how.
There were palpable whimpers from many corners of the theatre as the show carried on, each "visit" from the spirit world building on what happened the night before. Even the physchic doesn't want to stick around once he gets a whiff of what's going on in there. The story never leaves the house; it's usually in the bedroom where the terrified couple are awoken night after night by the odd bump, then some bangs, then a crash, and then.... well, it does go on.
So here I am home now and I feel a bit spooked. Okay I feel a lot spooked. I've got a pretty good imagination and don't always need help when it comes to the "what if's" about things that exist out of the corners of our eyes or those odd flickers we get behind us in mirrors. This building is replete with bumps and thuds though (not to mention the choking stench of that incense that stupid girl next door is burning) so I am sure I'll have a heap good time sleeping tonight. Such as it is though. Paul's coming by at 5 AM and we're doing a really early morning workout so he can go do his holiday Monday things and I can go back to bed to get ready for my shift tomorrow night.
Thankfully the things that go bump in the day are nowhere near as threatening to the imagination. At least, not so far.
That is all.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Adventures in Fitness this Thanksgiving
I have recently made that ascension to a level of social interaction among men that some people envy, some people disdain, and others just plain view with suspicion: I have a gym buddy.
His name's Paul. Like myself he's a gay man who likes to work out, and now we get in a gym trip every week, usually on Saturdays. It's almost like having a trainer again, although we're not so much instructing each other as we are sharing what we've learned from our trainers in past and giving each other's workouts a bit more variety and challenge. Today was a chest / back combo day and I tried out Paul's workout. Usually when I do my routine the weights are heavier and the reps are pretty routine; Paul's workout program has a bit more of a circuit training feel to it and consists of doing 10 reps of one exercise, 10 of another, 10 more of yet another and then back to where we started. 3 circuits and then take a break. Repeat. I hurt in all sorts of new places today, even though we were using lighter weights than I am used to; the movements were different and the muscles involved were the ones that usually contribute less during my regular sessions. All in all it was a good one, and since it's a holiday weekend we're back at it Monday morning.
Yes, while I may have let the blog slide a bit, I've still been to the gym and have been eating right. Used to be I was doing my cardio on the bikes at the gym, but now I run on the treadmill. The bike was getting so boring, even if I was listening to one of the new Doctor Who audio adventures on my MP3 player. The treadmill is more fun, especially when I've got a good set of tunes in my ears and I can pretend I'm running for my life.
The whole interaction aspect of the gym once made me feel a bit edgy; I had never seen such blatant cruising between gay dudes outside of the bars before, but now it's almost like the gym has become a bar. Just without booze. The music they play there can be just as tedious and loud. My friend Jay refers to the place as "Extreme Bath House", and he's not entirely wrong to do so now that I've spotted a bit of... ahem... "fun" going on in the locker rooms. The security agents of the Toronto Life Sqaure now patrol the men's change rooms regularly, supposedly to discourage theft, but I think the real reason is to discourage sex in the saunas and showers. I have never partaken myself; sex in a public place never really appealed to me. Some say it's the thrill of getting caught that it the turn on, but I know I'd get caught if I went that route, so I just observe the goings on and use them as inappropriate conversational fodder at work.
Now that the workout is behind me for today, I turn my thoughts to more domestic ideas. I have the week's menu to plan (I do this and post it on my fridge as my mehtod of balancing my diet), I'm going to make my own applesauce, I'm going to do some laundry later on. And I'll watch some Doctor Who.
That is all.
His name's Paul. Like myself he's a gay man who likes to work out, and now we get in a gym trip every week, usually on Saturdays. It's almost like having a trainer again, although we're not so much instructing each other as we are sharing what we've learned from our trainers in past and giving each other's workouts a bit more variety and challenge. Today was a chest / back combo day and I tried out Paul's workout. Usually when I do my routine the weights are heavier and the reps are pretty routine; Paul's workout program has a bit more of a circuit training feel to it and consists of doing 10 reps of one exercise, 10 of another, 10 more of yet another and then back to where we started. 3 circuits and then take a break. Repeat. I hurt in all sorts of new places today, even though we were using lighter weights than I am used to; the movements were different and the muscles involved were the ones that usually contribute less during my regular sessions. All in all it was a good one, and since it's a holiday weekend we're back at it Monday morning.
Yes, while I may have let the blog slide a bit, I've still been to the gym and have been eating right. Used to be I was doing my cardio on the bikes at the gym, but now I run on the treadmill. The bike was getting so boring, even if I was listening to one of the new Doctor Who audio adventures on my MP3 player. The treadmill is more fun, especially when I've got a good set of tunes in my ears and I can pretend I'm running for my life.
The whole interaction aspect of the gym once made me feel a bit edgy; I had never seen such blatant cruising between gay dudes outside of the bars before, but now it's almost like the gym has become a bar. Just without booze. The music they play there can be just as tedious and loud. My friend Jay refers to the place as "Extreme Bath House", and he's not entirely wrong to do so now that I've spotted a bit of... ahem... "fun" going on in the locker rooms. The security agents of the Toronto Life Sqaure now patrol the men's change rooms regularly, supposedly to discourage theft, but I think the real reason is to discourage sex in the saunas and showers. I have never partaken myself; sex in a public place never really appealed to me. Some say it's the thrill of getting caught that it the turn on, but I know I'd get caught if I went that route, so I just observe the goings on and use them as inappropriate conversational fodder at work.
Now that the workout is behind me for today, I turn my thoughts to more domestic ideas. I have the week's menu to plan (I do this and post it on my fridge as my mehtod of balancing my diet), I'm going to make my own applesauce, I'm going to do some laundry later on. And I'll watch some Doctor Who.
That is all.
Friday, October 9, 2009
it's what the people wanted
Has it been this long? Really? Actually I thought it had been longer. See, I've gone back to a more traditional way of recording my thoughts as of late - that being putting pen to paper. Yeah, people still use pens! And paper! I also found out that my handwriting was plain awful after not doing it for a while. Yes, handwriting! Go on, be surprised! The letters join together and everything. And I also do long division sometimes...
So this lad I email and chat with from time to time told me that he had stumbled across my blog and he managed to lose an hour of his workday to my musings, and I thought "Oh aye, that's kinda cool," and he added his voice to the others who had lately told me they missed my blog. It's hard to say no to a devoted following of 10 people, so here I am back at the keyboard.
As I type my computer is trying to run a spyware scan. I don't want it to, not right now when I am busy. My computer is 5 years old and is miraculously free of such things if the Rogers Online Protection scans are to be believed, but then again this is the same software package that hogs processer power to such an extent that computers the age of mine run out of virtual memory from a scan alone, not to mention when playing music and chatting and THEN a scan starts up. I'll scan later, like when I'm sleeping or something.
The tennis club next door to me is inflating their bubble under which the courts will stay warm and dry all winter long. All summer long I routinely curse the air blue at the shouting of the tennis people when they play, but now this big thing is slowly creeping up past my window sill and will momentarily obliterate a chunk of my view for the next few months and I'm not sure if I've been too hasty. The thing is about halfway inflated I would say, but when I got home from work it was only maybe a quarter done, as if it was doing its best impression of a big white beached man o' war. As I type it's getting bigger. I am sure there's some kind of cool thrill for the tennis players to be inside it in the winter, and they still bellow at each other when they play, but the echoes it creates make them sound like either banshees or lost souls trapped between realities. A cool sound effect, but dead creepy sometimes.
This is Thanksgiving weekend. I'm avoiding doing anything family-related. This is not out of any disdain for my family, but I find that prescribed family days as dictated by the calendar have this phony kind of feel to them. I always have felt that way now that I think about it. It was worse back when it was Thanksgiving and there was no Sunday shopping and all there was to watch on TV was the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show. I will see my family later, on a day of my choosing. I'll still take the day off work, though, thanks very much.
I still work nights. I've come home and I am knackered. I'm going to forgo my usual cup of tea and have me a lay-down now. I have lunch with some friends later and then I embark on a weekend full of activities and fun.
I so need to get out of this town for a weekend sometime soon though. Love Toronto, I do I do, but a change of scene would be nice.
That is all.
So this lad I email and chat with from time to time told me that he had stumbled across my blog and he managed to lose an hour of his workday to my musings, and I thought "Oh aye, that's kinda cool," and he added his voice to the others who had lately told me they missed my blog. It's hard to say no to a devoted following of 10 people, so here I am back at the keyboard.
As I type my computer is trying to run a spyware scan. I don't want it to, not right now when I am busy. My computer is 5 years old and is miraculously free of such things if the Rogers Online Protection scans are to be believed, but then again this is the same software package that hogs processer power to such an extent that computers the age of mine run out of virtual memory from a scan alone, not to mention when playing music and chatting and THEN a scan starts up. I'll scan later, like when I'm sleeping or something.
The tennis club next door to me is inflating their bubble under which the courts will stay warm and dry all winter long. All summer long I routinely curse the air blue at the shouting of the tennis people when they play, but now this big thing is slowly creeping up past my window sill and will momentarily obliterate a chunk of my view for the next few months and I'm not sure if I've been too hasty. The thing is about halfway inflated I would say, but when I got home from work it was only maybe a quarter done, as if it was doing its best impression of a big white beached man o' war. As I type it's getting bigger. I am sure there's some kind of cool thrill for the tennis players to be inside it in the winter, and they still bellow at each other when they play, but the echoes it creates make them sound like either banshees or lost souls trapped between realities. A cool sound effect, but dead creepy sometimes.
This is Thanksgiving weekend. I'm avoiding doing anything family-related. This is not out of any disdain for my family, but I find that prescribed family days as dictated by the calendar have this phony kind of feel to them. I always have felt that way now that I think about it. It was worse back when it was Thanksgiving and there was no Sunday shopping and all there was to watch on TV was the Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show. I will see my family later, on a day of my choosing. I'll still take the day off work, though, thanks very much.
I still work nights. I've come home and I am knackered. I'm going to forgo my usual cup of tea and have me a lay-down now. I have lunch with some friends later and then I embark on a weekend full of activities and fun.
I so need to get out of this town for a weekend sometime soon though. Love Toronto, I do I do, but a change of scene would be nice.
That is all.
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