Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Bea Arthur 1922-2009
Wonderful. Just amazing timing.
I just hate it when we lose one for the good side.
I watch the Golden Girls literally every night as I fall asleep. Last night as I was watching I couldn't fall asleep, I just had to watch the performance. I loved Bea Arthur, she was always my favourite Golden Girl, the one I could relate to most.
There were so many great lines from the show.
Sophia: I don't want you sitting here for this!
Dorthy: I'd go sit outside, but I can't seem to find any SHADY PINES to sit under....
Sophia: Stay! Pillow, pussycat?
New York
I have stayed in my room all weekend, sitting in my underwear as it's so hot, and playing Pokemon. I did get up to cook which I enjoy. I made tri-coloured pasta with artichoke and asiago sauce with mushrooms, zucchini and walnuts. Delicious.
My assistant at work left yesterday for 2 weeks to the Caribbean, and I'm having the travel bug. But the thing is, when to go?
Now providing I get this cheque from work I can go the long weekend in May. Inside Out gay film festival is on but I'll schedule around that when I get the film list tomorrow. Let's price it.
Leaving Thursday May 14 - returning Monday May 19th.
Megabus.com has a trip leaving at 7:30 am arriving 6:15 pm, departing New York at noon arriving at 11:15 pm for $102.50 US, or $123.97.
Greyhound has 6:50 am arriving 6pm, departing New York at 10am arriving 9:25pm for $207.10 so giving that a miss.
Porter is $350 so bus it is.
Accomodation, the hostel is $189 for a 12 person male room or $191 for an 8 person so 8 person it is, or $231.02 CDN.
While there, I want to see the new Yankee stadium. They're at home vs. the Twins at 1:05 on the Sunday May 17th for $37.85 US or $45.78 CDN for top level behind home plate.
Owww.... the Mets are at home to Atlanta on May 13th at 1:10 pm..... This may call for a change of schedule.... No, I'm going to see Doubt on the 12th. Besides Shea Stadium is in the middle of nowhere.
Ok, so I want to see a show on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. And this is basically the reason I'm going. I want to see The Tempermentalists, Wicked and Billy Elliott. Wicked on Saturday, May 16th, 8pm:
Wicked, row E seat 22 is $138.25 or $167.21 CDN. Yikes!
The Temperamentals is ""Temperamental" was code for "homosexual" in the early 1950's, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay (played by Thomas Jay Ryan) and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich (played by Michael Urie) - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States." and stars Michael Ulie from Ugly Bettt. All seats are $18, or $21.79 CDN. And sold out! Fun! Ok, checking brokers...
Sunday May 17th, 8pm is totally sold out. How is it that you can't get one ticket for any show on any night at any price. Ebay, stubhub, google, nothing! This is poor planning.
Billy Elliott is only playing at 3pm on the 17th.... Grrr.... So 8pm on Saturday May 16th. Broadway's hottest show on a Saturday night should be cheap. Centre Orchestra, 10th row is $351! Ok so on the Friday, May 15th, Row L, Seat 27 is $136.
Well, I'll have to save this and wait for another cool play to start. Flipping ridiculous. Oh, well, maybe in July.
My assistant at work left yesterday for 2 weeks to the Caribbean, and I'm having the travel bug. But the thing is, when to go?
Now providing I get this cheque from work I can go the long weekend in May. Inside Out gay film festival is on but I'll schedule around that when I get the film list tomorrow. Let's price it.
Leaving Thursday May 14 - returning Monday May 19th.
Megabus.com has a trip leaving at 7:30 am arriving 6:15 pm, departing New York at noon arriving at 11:15 pm for $102.50 US, or $123.97.
Greyhound has 6:50 am arriving 6pm, departing New York at 10am arriving 9:25pm for $207.10 so giving that a miss.
Porter is $350 so bus it is.
Accomodation, the hostel is $189 for a 12 person male room or $191 for an 8 person so 8 person it is, or $231.02 CDN.
While there, I want to see the new Yankee stadium. They're at home vs. the Twins at 1:05 on the Sunday May 17th for $37.85 US or $45.78 CDN for top level behind home plate.
Owww.... the Mets are at home to Atlanta on May 13th at 1:10 pm..... This may call for a change of schedule.... No, I'm going to see Doubt on the 12th. Besides Shea Stadium is in the middle of nowhere.
Ok, so I want to see a show on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. And this is basically the reason I'm going. I want to see The Tempermentalists, Wicked and Billy Elliott. Wicked on Saturday, May 16th, 8pm:
Wicked, row E seat 22 is $138.25 or $167.21 CDN. Yikes!
The Temperamentals is ""Temperamental" was code for "homosexual" in the early 1950's, part of a created language of secret words that gay men used to communicate. The Temperamentals tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay (played by Thomas Jay Ryan) and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich (played by Michael Urie) - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the pre-Stonewall United States." and stars Michael Ulie from Ugly Bettt. All seats are $18, or $21.79 CDN. And sold out! Fun! Ok, checking brokers...
Sunday May 17th, 8pm is totally sold out. How is it that you can't get one ticket for any show on any night at any price. Ebay, stubhub, google, nothing! This is poor planning.
Billy Elliott is only playing at 3pm on the 17th.... Grrr.... So 8pm on Saturday May 16th. Broadway's hottest show on a Saturday night should be cheap. Centre Orchestra, 10th row is $351! Ok so on the Friday, May 15th, Row L, Seat 27 is $136.
Well, I'll have to save this and wait for another cool play to start. Flipping ridiculous. Oh, well, maybe in July.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Things I Love
Things I love, part one.
Spending 2 hours looking through every piece of paper in my house for a cheque I wrote in February, 2006 that I may have thrown out.
Things I love, part two.
Proving I paid off a $2,800 debt in June 2006 when the only proof I can find is a money order for $1,070 paid to a third party.
No, it doesn't get much better.
So I removed the financing clause today on my mortgage, and the banker called and said they're now doing a final verification that should be complete in a couple days. I could have waited until Friday to remove the clause had I known this.
Will I ever be out of the woods? We shall see....
Spending 2 hours looking through every piece of paper in my house for a cheque I wrote in February, 2006 that I may have thrown out.
Things I love, part two.
Proving I paid off a $2,800 debt in June 2006 when the only proof I can find is a money order for $1,070 paid to a third party.
No, it doesn't get much better.
So I removed the financing clause today on my mortgage, and the banker called and said they're now doing a final verification that should be complete in a couple days. I could have waited until Friday to remove the clause had I known this.
Will I ever be out of the woods? We shall see....
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sasha's Wise Cracking Comedy Show
Tonight I went to see my friend Sasha perform stand up comedy.
While we were waiting, the first comic came up, he was kind of hot, and asked for two volunteers so this girl and I went up on stage. He says "OK, stand there and put your hand on my inner thigh" which I did. Then he said "Move it higher" which I did, then higher still. Then I clapped the other girl's hand once. That was the joke! Ha, ha, ha.... I don't get it. My friend Joe took a photo of this:
Anyway, then it was Sasha's turn on stage!
She started out with a few bad jokes, a few groaners....
But soon she had the place rolling in the aisles!
While we were waiting, the first comic came up, he was kind of hot, and asked for two volunteers so this girl and I went up on stage. He says "OK, stand there and put your hand on my inner thigh" which I did. Then he said "Move it higher" which I did, then higher still. Then I clapped the other girl's hand once. That was the joke! Ha, ha, ha.... I don't get it. My friend Joe took a photo of this:
Anyway, then it was Sasha's turn on stage!
She started out with a few bad jokes, a few groaners....
But soon she had the place rolling in the aisles!
Yikes
Three months ago I was on a gay cruise. I was talking to my roommate, who mentioned he got a $30,000 settlement once when he left a job and he said he spent it gradually over the course of a year. I couldn't fathom how he didn't use it as a down payment and buy property.
This got me thinking about my own dreams of owning and how pie in the sky they were. I was traveling all the time, my ability to save is non-existent, and where was I going to get $10,000 from? That's a lot of work on the street corner.
Fast forward 3 months. Labour contract was settled and a huge income tax refund, coupled with overtime from working 60 hours a week and voila! Holy crap, my mortgage was approved. I'm moving June 1st.
There's still a part of me that doesn't believe it, that won't believe it until I move in and the current owner gets the money. I'm signing the waiver tomorrow saying I remove any finance conditions on the sale, that I am on the hook for $153,500.
Can this be real?
This got me thinking about my own dreams of owning and how pie in the sky they were. I was traveling all the time, my ability to save is non-existent, and where was I going to get $10,000 from? That's a lot of work on the street corner.
Fast forward 3 months. Labour contract was settled and a huge income tax refund, coupled with overtime from working 60 hours a week and voila! Holy crap, my mortgage was approved. I'm moving June 1st.
There's still a part of me that doesn't believe it, that won't believe it until I move in and the current owner gets the money. I'm signing the waiver tomorrow saying I remove any finance conditions on the sale, that I am on the hook for $153,500.
Can this be real?
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Live Sex Show 2: Michael Lucas
What a night.
These guys took honestly 40 or 50 pictures of us. Some just of Robert, some of us two, then individuals, then groups. We weren't part of the show, eh?
Wow.
Sometimes what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
And sometimes a photo tells a thousand words.
These guys took honestly 40 or 50 pictures of us. Some just of Robert, some of us two, then individuals, then groups. We weren't part of the show, eh?
Wow.
Sometimes what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
And sometimes a photo tells a thousand words.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Offer Accepted
I am moving in 45 days and am now a home owner.
June 1st.... I need a moving man.
It's 2:47 am, going back to sleep.
June 1st.... I need a moving man.
It's 2:47 am, going back to sleep.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Crazy
So the other agent said "I have another offer. Ask your client if he wants to improve his offer." No counter offer, no explanation of if she wants more money or less closing days, nothing. Just improve. Is she expecting me to walk in and offer asking price off the bat?
Two things.
I don't even know for sure she has another offer, the property doesn't even have one registered offer and I know I made one. And if someone did make another offer, they would have made an offer after the fact, after I made mine, and I don't think it's as high as mine.
The other thing is how would I improve it? I offered so close to asking I have no where to go. Is she prepared to reject my offer over a thousand dollars without even countering?
Games. Everyone playing games. And so I sit back and wait. The offer expires at noon tomorrow. Sleeping tonight should be easy.
Two things.
I don't even know for sure she has another offer, the property doesn't even have one registered offer and I know I made one. And if someone did make another offer, they would have made an offer after the fact, after I made mine, and I don't think it's as high as mine.
The other thing is how would I improve it? I offered so close to asking I have no where to go. Is she prepared to reject my offer over a thousand dollars without even countering?
Games. Everyone playing games. And so I sit back and wait. The offer expires at noon tomorrow. Sleeping tonight should be easy.
Condo Two - Make me an offer
I made an offer on a condo/townhouse!
Yahoo!
The location couldn't be better, Jarvis and Carlton, and it's all pluses. Central air, washing machine, laundry, central air, huge patio with BBQ, low maintenance fees, in love with it.
Keep in mind it's decorated badly right now (RED!), but here it is!
Yahoo!
The location couldn't be better, Jarvis and Carlton, and it's all pluses. Central air, washing machine, laundry, central air, huge patio with BBQ, low maintenance fees, in love with it.
Keep in mind it's decorated badly right now (RED!), but here it is!
Monday, April 13, 2009
No patience.
I got a new bike from a friend so I'm trying to take the stuff like the basket and bell off my old bike.
I just wanted to put, on record, that this will be the last time I ever try and do anything mechanical in my life.
When I turned the bike upside down to remove the bell, the bell broke in half.
When I tried to remove the basket, the screw was so rusted on it took me 20 minutes to loosen one screw.
The bike rack is still affixed to the old bike with the HUGE screw that I have now stripped trying to loosen it.
I decided to go upstairs and get the hammer to smash the hell out of it and a cigarette to calm me down. When I sat down and lit the cigarette in front of the bike I knocked over the iced tea I had brought down. The iced tea went into the sleeve of my sweater, on my jacket, and into my shoe and on my jeans. Plus the surprise of drenching myself caused me to snap the cigarette in half.
So now I'm in my apartment and I have just changed my entire wardrobe as everything was wet and the bloody bike can fuck off!
I just wanted to put, on record, that this will be the last time I ever try and do anything mechanical in my life.
When I turned the bike upside down to remove the bell, the bell broke in half.
When I tried to remove the basket, the screw was so rusted on it took me 20 minutes to loosen one screw.
The bike rack is still affixed to the old bike with the HUGE screw that I have now stripped trying to loosen it.
I decided to go upstairs and get the hammer to smash the hell out of it and a cigarette to calm me down. When I sat down and lit the cigarette in front of the bike I knocked over the iced tea I had brought down. The iced tea went into the sleeve of my sweater, on my jacket, and into my shoe and on my jeans. Plus the surprise of drenching myself caused me to snap the cigarette in half.
So now I'm in my apartment and I have just changed my entire wardrobe as everything was wet and the bloody bike can fuck off!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter
Good weekend so far, one more day left. I'm going to see a condo tomorrow at 11, I may buy it.
Went to my dad's today. Lots of good photos. Good day.
A monster got in our car:
We found some fancy pants ducks:
We threw a wet ball around:
The dogs are saying "Throw the ball again!!!"
The lone photographer:
A dog the size of a camel that was a big scaredy cat.
Some guy killing his friend with a sickle:
Went to my dad's today. Lots of good photos. Good day.
A monster got in our car:
We found some fancy pants ducks:
We threw a wet ball around:
The dogs are saying "Throw the ball again!!!"
The lone photographer:
A dog the size of a camel that was a big scaredy cat.
Some guy killing his friend with a sickle:
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Kitchener - Warhol
Brief condo update: I found one at Broadview and Danforth I think I like. Hopefully will see it soon.
Anyway, I went to Kitchener for a day trip today. I was walking to work and someone had put up a poster for a Warhol exhibit in Kitchener on a lamppost and so I went. It was a great day for an excursion and something cool to do on a long weekend.
We arrived about 10 am and walked over to the museum:
I was kind of weary as it was a Children's Museum and I hate kids but luckily most of the people there didn't pay the extra $7 to get into the Warhol part of the museum.
There were no photos allowed but the exhibit was amazing, way better than I could have hoped for. It was divided into three sections, let's see if I can Google a few of the images.
The first section was Warhol originals with works copying him and inspired by him. Like for example they had the Campbell's soup print with this below.
I was stunned by this, I needed someone to come over and explain it. It's 600 spools of thread and when you look at it in the crystal ball you see the Campbell's soup can. How? When you look at it upside down, even from a distance, it still looks like thread. How did they do that? How would you even put it together? Amazing.
There was a quote on the wall that I really liked that I wish I'd written down. It said something about how whatever you think about Warhol, he changed the face of art.
The next section was photos of Warhol with the Velvet Underground which Joe really liked.
The next was myths. A series of images representing iconic myths in American culture, like Santa Claus, Superman, Mickey Mouse. Below is the Wicked Witch of the West.
Warhol actually got Margaret Hamilton to pose for the photo which is really cool.
In the gift shop and on the wall they had some drawings of cats and dogs. This was the best one:
But it was only available on a night light and I don't really need one of those. There was a quote by Warhol "I love animals. I once had 27 cats."
In the basement you got to silk screening which was cool as I didn't know how it was done. You put this chemical on the fabric that reacts with light and when you shine the image on the fabric, this chemical eats away at it, leaving small holes which allows the paint to seep through when you do the screening. I created this:
After the Wahol exhibit they had this socialist paradise exhibit, pictured below.
Photos of poor people, blah blah. I wanted to skip it and I'm surprised Joe agreed. One would think he'd be all into seeing poverty and misery.
At this point we were in the kids area proper and Joe was saying he felt weird as adults in the kids area without any children. My response "Who cares?" maybe wasn't that helpful but I like that I'm not afraid. We paid to get in like everyone else and I wanted to see the stuff. It's not like I know anyone in Kitchener and would be mortified if word got back to the other society members.
This pin wall was cool:
We played with that for like 10 minutes. I kept wanting to put my face in it, despite the big "NO FACES" sign but Joe wouldn't let me. It turns out they put that up so if your face is in it and some kid comes along and pushes the other side your eye doesn't get poked out. Like that's a big deal.
I also dressed up like the wicked witch in honour of the Warhol photo:
As we were leaving we noticed a bunch of kids starting to show up so we got there at the right time!
We walked to the nearby free Art Gallery and on the way passed this series of benches each full of magnets.
What's up with that? Is it the Kitchener magnet depot? Take a magnet leave a magnet? Dunno.
Inside no photos allowed again but I took this one:
I'm not sure who I was more worried about catching me, Joe or the security guards. The exhibit was all works of art by kids in school, kindergarten to grade 13. This was a mosaic of different photos taken individually that when put together look like a church.
We then went for lunch and walked the main street window shopping. Found a cool farmer's market and some good German pastry. Turns out the town was called Berlin and then they changed it during the war.
Finally just before we got on the bus, we found this cool clock monument and took a few photos. Here's Joe:
And me.
A really good day!
Anyway, I went to Kitchener for a day trip today. I was walking to work and someone had put up a poster for a Warhol exhibit in Kitchener on a lamppost and so I went. It was a great day for an excursion and something cool to do on a long weekend.
We arrived about 10 am and walked over to the museum:
I was kind of weary as it was a Children's Museum and I hate kids but luckily most of the people there didn't pay the extra $7 to get into the Warhol part of the museum.
There were no photos allowed but the exhibit was amazing, way better than I could have hoped for. It was divided into three sections, let's see if I can Google a few of the images.
The first section was Warhol originals with works copying him and inspired by him. Like for example they had the Campbell's soup print with this below.
I was stunned by this, I needed someone to come over and explain it. It's 600 spools of thread and when you look at it in the crystal ball you see the Campbell's soup can. How? When you look at it upside down, even from a distance, it still looks like thread. How did they do that? How would you even put it together? Amazing.
There was a quote on the wall that I really liked that I wish I'd written down. It said something about how whatever you think about Warhol, he changed the face of art.
The next section was photos of Warhol with the Velvet Underground which Joe really liked.
The next was myths. A series of images representing iconic myths in American culture, like Santa Claus, Superman, Mickey Mouse. Below is the Wicked Witch of the West.
Warhol actually got Margaret Hamilton to pose for the photo which is really cool.
In the gift shop and on the wall they had some drawings of cats and dogs. This was the best one:
But it was only available on a night light and I don't really need one of those. There was a quote by Warhol "I love animals. I once had 27 cats."
In the basement you got to silk screening which was cool as I didn't know how it was done. You put this chemical on the fabric that reacts with light and when you shine the image on the fabric, this chemical eats away at it, leaving small holes which allows the paint to seep through when you do the screening. I created this:
After the Wahol exhibit they had this socialist paradise exhibit, pictured below.
Photos of poor people, blah blah. I wanted to skip it and I'm surprised Joe agreed. One would think he'd be all into seeing poverty and misery.
At this point we were in the kids area proper and Joe was saying he felt weird as adults in the kids area without any children. My response "Who cares?" maybe wasn't that helpful but I like that I'm not afraid. We paid to get in like everyone else and I wanted to see the stuff. It's not like I know anyone in Kitchener and would be mortified if word got back to the other society members.
This pin wall was cool:
We played with that for like 10 minutes. I kept wanting to put my face in it, despite the big "NO FACES" sign but Joe wouldn't let me. It turns out they put that up so if your face is in it and some kid comes along and pushes the other side your eye doesn't get poked out. Like that's a big deal.
I also dressed up like the wicked witch in honour of the Warhol photo:
As we were leaving we noticed a bunch of kids starting to show up so we got there at the right time!
We walked to the nearby free Art Gallery and on the way passed this series of benches each full of magnets.
What's up with that? Is it the Kitchener magnet depot? Take a magnet leave a magnet? Dunno.
Inside no photos allowed again but I took this one:
I'm not sure who I was more worried about catching me, Joe or the security guards. The exhibit was all works of art by kids in school, kindergarten to grade 13. This was a mosaic of different photos taken individually that when put together look like a church.
We then went for lunch and walked the main street window shopping. Found a cool farmer's market and some good German pastry. Turns out the town was called Berlin and then they changed it during the war.
Finally just before we got on the bus, we found this cool clock monument and took a few photos. Here's Joe:
And me.
A really good day!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Condo One
Some photos.
I went to see my first ever condo today. The agent was really nice and helpful which is good. There were positives and negatives. Also I wasn't technically allowed to take photos so there aren't many.
Kitchen with built in table:
View of the Gardner
Bedroom area with no light
Huge bathroom
Strangely large space beside the toilet
Positives
I went to see my first ever condo today. The agent was really nice and helpful which is good. There were positives and negatives. Also I wasn't technically allowed to take photos so there aren't many.
Kitchen with built in table:
View of the Gardner
Bedroom area with no light
Huge bathroom
Strangely large space beside the toilet
Positives
- I would own it!
- Close to the lake and baseball games
- Nice bright pool and hot tub
- Outdoor communal terrace with a view of the lake
- Huge gym
- Nice kitchen
- Laundry in unit!
- The building was HUGE, 32 floors, two towers
- Kind of out of the way location
- Little light, none in bedroom
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sheesh
So somehow I still don't have enough for a down payment but I'm getting ever closer. Hopefully by the end of the month.
There are only a couple places I would be interested in, possibly this one http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetails.aspx?propertyId=8070118 so I have to take something off track, wait for something to come up, or save another $35,000. Ugh. I was in a nice building today at 15 Maitland Place, prices start at $215,000. They had a pool and a hot tub and it was awesome. D'oh. See this is what they don't tell you. You can buy for 5% down, but what you can actually get.... that's a different story. I kind of want to stop thinking about it but at the same time I kind of want to spend all my free time searching listings. It's push and pull.
Going to the Children's Museum in Kitchener on Saturday to see the Warhol exhibit.
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