Tuesday, December 20, 2005: Back to Oakville via Toronto

I was up early today and hung out with everyone until around 10:30 am. GRH gave me a ride into Stouville and I caught the bus there back to Toronto. Then I made my way up to Pho Le on Dundas St W for one last meal before they close. Richard F and Chris were there already and I joined them. It was sort of sad for me as it spells the end of such a long tradition for me. I've been eating there since 1991. The last 3 years however business has all but died out and they just can't keep it going.

That is what I really have noticed this year. Toronto is dying. It reminds me a lot of 1990 when things were bad, but this is worse. It is partly like everyone has left the place and only riff raff have moved in. The streets are littered, no wall is untagged. I hardly recognize the place. And it DOESN'T feel safe at all.

After meeting up and having our last Pho I took the TTC over to Justin M's. We spent the rest of the afternoon making noise in his basement. We recorded three little ideas which may or may not mutate into something. I still haven't posted up last years efforts so I won't promise anything.

At around 6:00 pm we headed over to the GFM and met up with Corin Raymond for a bite. That was a great visit and I got a copy of Corin's new CD single. Afterwards I picked up a few things I had left at Sandy Moon's and headed down to Union Station and caught the GO Train back out to Oakville. Jayne picked me up from the freezing cold.

Monday, December 19, 2005: To GRH's

Today I headed up to GRH's via the GO Train followed by the Go Bus. Jayne dropped me off at the train station and I stood around in the freezing cold for about 30 minutes until the train arrived. Thank God for the iPod. Having it set on "shuffle songs" is the best. It is like an endless REALLY GOOD MIX TAPE.

GRH & Steinie were here when I arrived although Angel Blue was at Kindergarden. I went with GRHto pick her up later on, then after we dropped her off to the Haus we made a shopping trip to town.

Everything here seems the same with the exception of Angel Blue being a year older and that much more talkative, and the addition of a new Chow dog "Bandit" (who looks like a red Chico).

We had a big dinner tonight and I'll be heading back in to Toronto tomorrow.

Friday, December 16, 2005: Spine of God

1:30 pm. I’m in Oakville. I have boxes upon boxes of CRAP I have to go through. I am increasing less interested in the task. I have gone through a box of VHS videos and discovered some stuff that I don’t think I ever watched after I shot it. One particular piece of interest was a video of a Christmas dinner party at Steve & Wendy’s circa 1990. That was truly bizarre to watch. Nathan as a little kid running about, Helmet with hair… And L. Lots of L. It was strange to see her “again”. All those little things she would do. Strange that now I feel nothing. No sorrow. Nothing. I guess that one is just too many heart breaks ago. I guess M is almost at that point now too.

Monster Magnet on my iPod. “Ozium”… Big sound.

I’ve loaded all the surviving CDs I have in Canada on the iPod now. I am close to 29 Gigs on it. Over 6000 songs. All in my pocket. What a great machine. The only problem with it is not knowing what to listen to because of the amount of choice there is.

“Spine of God” plays. I haven’t listened to this is years.

Friday, December 16, 2005: Mom's Shortbread Recipe

One of the things I discovered today while going through the boxes of stuff I should have thrown out 6 years ago was a scrap of paper in my Mom's handwriting. It featured the recipe for shortbread that my Father's Scotish Mom had imparted to her. I have decided to share it with you all so that when I visit in the future you won't serve me sub-standard shortbread...
Sorry it's not in Metric (could THAT be why it tastes better?)

Nanny Thomson's Short Bread

Bake at 325 F until edges pale golden NOT brown

Monday, December 12, 2005: Into The City

Today I took the GO Train back into Toronto in order to meet up with Chris and later DJ Dan. I had intended to go to see the Undesirables play at the Cameron House but I'm still sort of jet-lagged and started to fall asleep at around 6:00 pm.

When I got in to Toronto I changed some USD down town and stopped by the Thai Consultate to see if my Visa was ready. I was please to find it waiting for me all stamped and ready.

Afterwards I met Chris at Pho for a meal. We walked over to Paul's Boutique in Kensington Market and looked at the gear. There wasn't a lot of interest this year. Some yucky 80s keyboards such and that was about it. They did have a few Moog modules including a phase shifter but that stuff is far to bulky to be lugging through an airport.

The thing that peaked my interest most was the Electro-Harmonix 16 Second Delay. What will probably keep me from buying it is the fact that in addition to the price there would be about 80 dollars JUST IN TAX. (Why did I leave Canada again??)

Anyways...

I met up with DJ Dan at the GFM for dinner. We chewed the food and the fat for a couple of hours then I headed back to Oakville...

Friday, December 9, 2005: To Oakville

I still seem to be jet lagged. I find it impossible to stay away much beyond 9:00 pm.

I woke up today at around 5:30 am with the intention of running however I soon discovered that it had snowed quite a bit last night. That ruined that plan. I hung around until about 7:00 am then went up to the Annex Coffee place and had a tea and bagel with cream cheese. The cook up their bagels daily so it is fresh and wonderful and something I never get in Asia.

Afterwards I hung out at the GFM until it was time to pack my stuff up in readiness for my trip to Oakville. Paul came in to get me and we moved about 12 boxes out of Sandy Moon’s garage. This is crap I’ve had there since 2001. Unfortunately a second trip is in order.

We headed out to Oakville at around 1:30 pm. It was great to see Jayne and the kids again.

I went through some of the boxes and found a nice treasure trove of photographs including many of my Father during WWII. I also found a few funny ones of me at a younger age. It was weird going through all these pictures and thinking “wow, that’s TEN years ago! Is that me?? What was I thinking???”

Tonight was PIZZA oh joy oh delight. The travel weary Capricorn finds some rest.

Thursday, December 8, 2005: Visa In

The run today wasn’t as bad. It was either warmer out, or I am getting used to it already.

I have been going to this coffee shop up the street after my run as the GFM doesn’t seem to open until 8:00 am and that is just too long a wait for a tea and a bite to eat. This place opens at 7:00 am so I have been going there after I have showered and changed.

Today I made the trip down town and put my passport in with the visa application. The form that is given out at pick up place is confusing and I am half afraid I’ve filled it out wrong. It is like they wrote it in Thai and translated it directly. Anyways, I put the forms in and should hear back in three business days. I also changed some USD into Canadian. Sadly the rate this year is 1.12 opposed to last years 1.21…

I hung out at Chris and Robin’s after the Thai Consulate visit. Then later I went back to the GFM to meet up with Justin M.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005: Back to Toronto

I got in to Toronto last night at around 9:00 pm. It was a long flight.

I left Tuesday morning at around 11:30 am Bangkok time. Sandy came out to the Airport with me and said goodbye until January. Then I went out through passport control and to my gate. The flight to Hong Kong was okay. I had an emergency isle seat so it was roomy. I only had an hour to get to my flight but fortunately the gate was near by where we disembarked. I was lining up again in no time.

The flight across to Anchorage Alaska was long and uncomfortable. More so than other trips I’ve done. I’m not sure if it was because I was in a crappy Airbus or what but I didn’t sleep well and ended up watching the movie “The Island”. It was okay, sort of a cross between “Logan’s Run”, “Blade Runner” and “Minority Report”. As it went on the action got a bit on the Loonie Tunes level which sort of ruins it for me; people falling ridiculous distances and surviving.

The flight from Alaska to Toronto seemed pretty quick. I did sleep for much that. Suddenly we were an hour away and then the next thing I knew I was coming off the plane. Then it was on to the one thing I dread most about coming back to Canada; The Canadian Customs Officers.

There must have been a mass retirement about five years ago. I used to have no problem with them because they were these middle aged ladies who never bothered me at all. They’d ask if I’d brought anything back and all I’d have to say was I got a spoon from where ever for my Mom and I was in no questions asked. Now the nice ladies in there un-threatening uniforms have been replaced by a bunch of numbskulls in flak-jackets.

Last year I got a hard time from some sour bitchy chick in her late 20s. I thought I’d avoid that this time and made the mistake of lining up in a male officer’s line up. The guy was a total jerk to me. The only thing I can pin it on was the fact I was wearing a suit. He actually had the gall to ask me why I’d travel for 20 hours in a suit. I wanted more than anything to say “It’s not polyester you jackass” but that would have only made things worse so I just didn’t say anything. It was awful and completely unnecessary. It was just his big chance to give it to “the man” or some such unionized socialist Canadian hogwash. The worst part is this came at the end of an exhausting trip so I wasn’t on top form to answer all his Johnny Ass Hat questions.

After that ordeal was over I had to go and wait for my one piece of check luggage to come tumbling off the conveyor belt. Then it was out into the tiny airport and off to the Annex. The limo driver I had was champion though so that made it a little better. Driving down Bathurst all I could think was how deserted everything looked.
I got into Sandy Moon’s at around 10:30 pm and as I was coming in I thought to myself “wasn’t I just here”. That’s how it felt.

I slept but woke up at around 4:00 am. I did a run at around 5:30 am but it wasn’t a long one. I just couldn’t deal with the cold at that hour. I came back at around 6:00 am and took a hot shower then went and found a tea at a coffee shop up the street. I went back to the Moon later and Ingram was there and told me Sandy was at her’s making breakfast. I popped back over there and hug out for a while. Eventually I went down to Chris and Robins and the three of us walked to Pho Le and ate. The owners told us they are shutting down at the end of the month for good. The Pho place next door has already gone out of business.

Robin took off after we’d eaten but I had to buy a sim card for my phone so Chris and I went to Chinatown and I found when there, then we walked back up to the GFM for a tea.

Sunday, December 4, 2005: Big Shopping

Today was the big pre-trip shopping day. Sandy and I went over to the Siam Center at around 3:30 pm and had Vietnamese food then worked our way from there through Siam Discovery to MBK. The Siam Center has gone through recent renovations to modernize it a bit. There is a new massive Mall opening up next door and every Mall in the area seems to be updating itself in preparation for the new competition. In Siam Center they’ve posted all this new signage around the escalators with quotes of various Thai fashion designers. They have translated them into English but the whole thing is a real major train derailment in conjunction junction with slogans like “Fashion is genetic of style”.

In Siam Discovery I bought a rubbery protective cover for what I have come to think of as Spock’s Walkman at the Apple Store and some blank 90 minute DVC tapes from the same place I bought my walkman. Sandy and I walked across the walkway to MBK and I went hunting for some sweaters (jumpers) and pants. I also bought Sandy her graduation present which was a new digital camera. She was quite pleased with that.

We got back to the Redoubt at around 9:00 pm feeling pretty tired from lugging all the crap we’d bought around.

Friday, December 2, 2005: Open the iPod bay door HAL

I have opened the iPod. Oh my. Such excellent packaging. Clever. Eno-esque in its simplicity and functionality. Blah blah blah blah cultured pitter patter. How do you open this box? How does one get the iPod OUT of its very clever packaging? Oooh… Like THAT. Thanks Sandy.

It’s so TINY yet so heavy. Like a small brick of gold. Black gold. Texas tea…

Will it get heavier when I load it up with sound? Does say the King Crimson track “Devils Triangle” weigh more than Sparx’s “Number One Song in Heaven?”

Important things to ponder.

Now… Step one load the software. Enter the product id located on the back of the iPod. Hmmm. TINY in white on silver. Very clever. Please squint and attempt to see the product id.

Of course… now that I’ve entered it I notice that it’s also printed more legibly on the box.

NOW please fill out the registration on the website. Give us person information…

Name: Cornelius Von Pompadour

Location: Sadly I must pick one… I can’t type in Mordor

And more…. And more….
NO you can’t phone me/fax me/email me with IMPORTANT Apple news bits.

Now that THAT is done… I can plug this baby in and see what happens. Wow. It’s automatically loading it up with sound… I wonder how long that will take.

An hour and a half.

So there you have it. It works. I think. I am confused slightly by this thing. I don’t like the headphones much BUT I must say it sounds great.

Thursday, December 1, 2005: Dentist & IPod

Today I went to visit the dentist for a pre-Christmas buffing. That Marks & Spencer’s “strong” tea certainly keeps the dentist busy with me. She asked me if I had started smoking this year. I said “No, it’s the Marks & Spencer’s tea” to which she said “Oh…” and nodded her head as if all made sense now. Then the power for the building shut off. I’m glad I wasn’t having some kind of complex work done. The power switched back on about 10 minutes later and she continued with the work at hand. The bill was a whopping 800 Baht (today’s exchange rate was 41.10 baht to 1 US Dollar).

I went to the Apple shops in Siam Discovery Center afterwards and behold… They had no 60 GB black video IPods. They did have the 30 GB ones but that would certainly not be enough room for someone such as me. I need ALL the Gigabytes for all the music.

I went down a floor and stopped by this little shop called “Digital Lifestyle” and they not only had what I wanted they had it on sale.

Huzzah!

And off I went with my new IPod and some adapter thingies for charging it all in a badly designed bag that was far too shallow to carry anything of value in. It would have made an excellent bag for carrying three or four cobs of corn… But not an IPod or anything of equal value. So I transferred my goods into my Lappy-Sack and carried on with out the worry of my items falling into the Khlong.

I have yet to OPEN the box. Perhaps I should do that now.