Much Ado About Nothing

July 30, 2007 - I'm having difficulties in finding something to blog about these days. Initially, I was going to write about Toronto's fiscal problem, the threat to shut down the Sheppard Subway, the blaming of the Province for all the City's woes - but these topics are way too depressing and not to mention, have been talked to death in the media, at work, and by everyone who lives in or around Toronto. So instead of ranting how the Province needs to upload social services, or why there is no way that the Mayor will ever get away with shutting down the Sheppard Subway, or how pathetic I think some of the Toronto councillors are, I have chosen not to write about it, for now (it would just make me angrier).

So what would I write about then? That's the part that I'm stuck on. I could write about New York City - kinda like how I started blogging about Germany before my trip last fall; or, I could write about my condo; or I could write about my monkey Monkus =) - I just need a topic to get started, but I can't think of one right now.

Maybe something will come to me soon.

Jen's Farewell @ Niagara Falls

July 21, 2007 - Over the past few years, I have had quite a number of friends who decided to move to Asia to try their luck in finding a better job (or sometimes, in finding themselves). Many of them moved (to Hong Kong or Japan or Korea or China) reluctantly at first, but the majority of them ended up liking the fast-paced environment and ended up staying for years. This summer alone, I have three friends who will be moving to Asia for work. Today, we had our farewell for Jenny - at Niagara Falls!

I had a few firsts today - instead of driving to Niagara, we took the Safeway casino bus to the falls. Now I know it is probably not the coolest thing in the world, but I found the whole thing fascinating. Leave it to the Chinese to find a cheap yet fast way to get to the Casino. I also finally got to try Denny's - an American all-day breakfast restaurant that serves greasy yet super delicious food. Like I said, the food was yummy, but it's definitely not something I would eat everyday.

Anyway, this blog isn't really about me! So yeah, the Falls is still lots of fun. As none of us gambled, we stayed near the Clifton Hill area, which is very cheesy yet really cool at the same time. The latest attraction is the ferris wheel, which provides great views of the Falls (kinda reminds me of the Eye of London). We didn't go into any of the attractions (due to time constraints and also because the girls were scared of haunted houses), so we walked around until it was time to head back to the bus.

The destination itself isn't that special, but given that it was probably the first time that all of us went to Niagara Falls altogether, we all had lots of fun. We also took lots of pretty pictures with Jenny - which hopefully she will look at whenever/if she misses us in China. I have no doubts that the year will go by super quickly and she'll be back in Canada before we know it.

So that's it - next week we will probably have our teary goodbye with her at the airport =S

Countdown to Harry Potter

July 20, 2007 - The wait is almost over! In about 4 hours, bookstores here in Ontario will open their doors for tens of thousands of Harry Potter fans who have been eagerly waiting for the final book in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In Toronto, Harry Potter mania is at its peak: the downtown Indigo flagship stores is actually shutting down Bay Street from Bloor to Charles tonight and converting it into Diagon Alley!! Oh man, how cool is that!

If that's not all, Indigo will also have a Knight Bus (yes, THE double decker bus for witches and wizards) and a "trackless" Hogwarts Express Train that will take visitors around. You can also meet Hedwig the Owl, attend Potions class (not taught by Snape I guess - though I wonder if there'll be a lookalike), and visit Gringotts! If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have taken the GO train to Markham tonight! Hopefully someone will post pictures from this online!

The book better be here by the time I wake up tomorrow. Maybe I'll bring the book to Niagara Falls with me. Hmm. My prediction is that Harry does not die - my money is on Neville.

And yeah, the Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix movie was awesome - definitely one of the better HP films. Gotta love Professor Umbridge - or at least the actress who portrays her in the movie!

Toronto Fringe Festival

July 11, 2007 - I have to admit, prior to this week, I had no idea what the Toronto Fringe Festival is about. In fact, I have never even heard of it. So when my friend Ruth suggested that we go check it out, I was pretty skeptical. Little did I know that the Fringe movement was actually started in Canada and has since spread to other parts of the world!

The Toronto Fringe Festival allows all artists, emerging and established, with the opportunity to produce their play no matter the content, form or style, and to make the event as affordable and accessible as possible for the members of the community. The Toronto Fringe Festival was started in 1989 and has now become the largest theatre festival in the city. In fact, Canada now has more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world. Each Canadian Fringe festival also strongly adheres to the philosophy that a "Fringe Festival" be unjuried, return 100% of box office proceeds back to the participating artists and remain affordable and accessible to all.

So tonight, my friend Ruth, her sister Ric, and I went to see "The Cousins of Corsica" at University of Toronto's Emmanuel College courtyard (took us a long time to figure out where Emmanuel College is, which is sad, since all three of us went to U of T), by a group called Food for Thought, which includes drama students from the local universities. The play is a parody of some of Shakespeare's most well-known plays, including Hamlet and Twelfth night. It's a story about a girl dressed up as a boy, about a brother who killed his older brother so he could become king, and about shipwrecks, love and mistaken identities. Their tag line: "It's like Shakespeare, only better."

The play was well acted and I thought it was a really funny story. I did nod off at the beginning for a bit (it was a long day at work), but overall I had fun. It was cool to check out and support our local theatre groups! Ruth also suggested that we go check out Shakespeare at the Park @ High Park, so I might do that later on this summer too. Isn't it great how there's so much to do in the city during the summer? Now if only it's warm and sunny all year...

Tour of Waterfront Parks

July 8, 2007 - As part of Toronto's ongoing waterfront revitalization, two new parks that are part of this urban revival opened earlier this year to much fanfare and appraisal. So on a bright warm sunny Saturday afternoon, B and I trekked downtown to check out the new HTO Park and Ireland Park.

Years in the making, HTO Park opened to the public in June as one of the showcase parks along the waterfront. Designed to be Toronto's "urban beach", the park features a long sand pit that stretches along the water's edge, with yellow umbrellas and lounge chairs in the sand. It certainly feels like a beach - though you just couldn't get into the water.

The concrete boardwalk along the sand pit would probably look better if it's a wooden boardwalk and better shaded with trees (though to be fair, there is one along the water edge). At least we now have a fairly good trail going along the central part of the waterfront. I also like the grassy area - which provides a nice contrast to the hard concrete.

The sand pit (or the beach) was fairly well used when we were there - though we did see a few broken lounge chairs already. My guess is either someone was too heavy for the chairs or it was caused by vandalism (more likely the latter). For the record, Bernard and I DID NOT break any chairs due to our weight. =)

After visiting HTO, B and I walked west and went through the Spadina Wetland and the Toronto Music Garden (he has never been there apparently) on our way to find the Ireland Park.

Ireland Park is a tiny park located just behind the Canada Malting Silos, off Bathurst Street. Finding it proved to be quite difficult - there were no signs posted anywhere. To get there, you also have to walk right through the Porter Airlines terminal and parking lot. Anyway, opened just a couple of weeks ago, the park was designed for the 160th anniversary of Irish immigrants arriving in Toronto. The rough concrete slab on the west side of the park features names of 675 known immigrants (of the 1,100) who died on the journey to Toronto.

The park also has 5 bronze figures, called the "Arrival", that illustrate the mixed emotions and experience of the immigrants. Apparently a similar park in Ireland has 7 bronze figures called the "Departure" - the 2 missing figures signify the loss of many immigrants who didn't survive the trans-Atlantic voyage. There's also a glass silo in the park, with computer screens that you could touch to learn more about the park (I found that out after I got home!).

The park was very quiet when we visited, though it offers a spectacular view of the Toronto skyline and the rest of the Toronto waterfront. Though the Island Airport is so close to the park (B liked their terminal building), it surprisingly didn't bug me that much (though better signage to the park would be helpful). The park feels different though - definitely more somber and serious, than say, HTO.

I really like how Toronto is experimenting with these different type of parklands (your regular neighbourhood park just doesn't cut it anymore) - and there's more coming soon too (like the massive Lake Ontario Park). Sure, we're not going to be like Chicago overnight, but at least we're making an effort.

Speaking of parks, I already have a list of parks that I want to see in NYC, including, finally, Central Park - after all these years!

07/07/07

July 7, 2007 - With the digits 07/07/07, today is supposed to be one of the luckiest days in this millennium. Why? the number seven is supposed to bring luck. According to this article, seven has biblical meanings - it's a number viewed traditionally as one of perfection. For example, the Bible says it took seven days to create the world, and there are seven levels of heaven. There are also seven days in a week.

Many events are taking advantage of 07/07/07 for promotional purposes. The "Live Earth" concerts in New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio de Janiero, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydeny and Hamburg hope that the day will be lucky for the planet, as the concerts advocate for action on climate change.

And in Lisbon, the New Seven Wonders of the World were announced today after over a year of voting. The results are somewhat surprising and definitely controversial. How relevant this list will be years from now is questionable. The New Seven Wonders are: The Great Wall of China (China), Petra (Jordan), Christ Redeemer (Brazil), Machu Picchu (Peru), Chichén Itzá (Mexico), Colosseum (Italy), Taj Mahal (India). The absence of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the only remaining original seven wonder, is shocking and insulting. I was also disappointed by the Acropolis in Greece not making the list. My original choices are here (I got 3 out of 7).

And 07/07/07 is also a special day for many couples - it's their wedding date! So a shout-out to my friend Eva, who's getting married today (though I was not invited to her wedding =S)!

Empire State Goes Green

July 6, 2007 - In anticipation of this weekend's Live Earth concerts for Climate Change, the Empire State Building in New York City decided to turn its LED lights green. Doesn't this look better and classier than CN Tower's rainbow colour lights?

Can't wait to see it in person though!! Less than 50 days to go before the New York trip!! yay!