What I'm Reading, Stripmalling

Reading Stripmalling by Jon Paul Fiorentino:

A great Canadian book.

I keep meaning to update this blog with what I'm reading and keep forgetting.

Anyway, came across this part where the hero is praying to Jesus to get a girl, and he writes Jesus a letter:

I finsihed this today and am moving on to "Say You're One of Them" by Uwem Akpan.

"Nigerian-born Jesuit priest Akpan transports the reader into gritty scenes of chaos and fear in his rich debut collection of five long stories set in war-torn Africa. An Ex-mas Feast tells the heartbreaking story of eight-year-old Jigana, a Kenyan boy whose 12-year-old sister, Maisha, works as a prostitute to support her family. Jigana's mother quells the children's hunger by having them sniff glue while they wait for Maisha to earn enough to bring home a holiday meal. In Luxurious Hearses, Jubril, a teenage Muslim, flees the violence in northern Nigeria. Attacked by his own Muslim neighbors, his only way out is on a bus transporting Christians to the south. In Fattening for Gabon, 10-year-old Kotchikpa and his younger sister are sent by their sick parents to live with their uncle, Fofo Kpee, who in turn explains to the children that they are going to live with their prosperous godparents, who, as Kotchikpa pieces together, are actually human traffickers. Akpan's prose is beautiful and his stories are insightful and revealing, made even more harrowing because all the horror—and there is much—is seen through the eyes of children."

Jeff Francoeur

Jeff Francoeur is my hero.

When I went on my first vacation to Atlanta on my first vacation to see the Atlanta Braves he was the new up and coming player every one was talking about. I remember his jersey's selling out at the stands around the stadium.
I had a lay-over on my flight back and was wearing a Jeff Francoeur t-shirt and someone told me he was on the cover of the new Sports Illustrated at the airport.
When I went over to the newsstand, this was there:

Which perfectly capped off my trip.
Jeff has struggled lately but is such a nice guy everyone loves him.

He's nicknamed Frenchy and has a pair of lucky turkey underwear:

Video here.
He had a series of successful commericals for Delta airlines:

And if you follow his blog, he still seems to be associated with them. I really liked the commercial.
I have a Jeff Francoeur statue on my desk at work.
So when I was watching Sunday night baseball last night, and saw Jeff in the uniform of the hated New York Mets, my heart sunk.
Bad news :(

Trades are really a part of baseball but I still want the original 2005 Atlanta Braves team to stay in tact. Is that too much to ask?
Probably.
My original Francoeur t-shirt is ripped and heavily worn and no longer fits but I haven't been able to throw it out. So today, before they were gone for good, I ordered a new t-shirt in a size that fits.

Electric Bike

I'm thinking of getting an electric bicycle. I have to ride uphill every day to work and about half the time I bail at the thought of riding the whole way uphill. So I believe if I had an electric bike it would pay for itself it TTC token savings.

Looking at Canadian Tire they have a few models, like this one:

Mongoose Electric Motocross Bike

The good thing is it's only $399.00. The bad thing is I would look STUPID on this riding down the streets of Toronto. What's too funny is the Q and A on the Canadian Tire site, it says "I'm looking for an electric bike for my mother who is 340 pounds. Would this be suitable?"

Can you picture this guy's 340 pound mom on this bike? DOES IT LOOK SUITABLE?

There's also this one, which also looks stupid for $599.00:

Schwinn AL1020 Folding Electric Bike

And finally this one:

Schwinn Invidia 26-in Electric Bike

Which is $649.00

I'm a little worried about how people die on motorcycles but this has a top speed of 28 km/hr so I should be fine right? I'd have to get a new helmet.

I like the sound of the "twist-and-go electric assist drive".

There was some talk on the website of the bar making this look like a women's bike. The other one with the bar slightly higher is another $150 and otherwise looks exactly the same. Someone said it wasn't a women's design, it was "easy mount". I can go with that.

Burn down the internet

This is outrageous. Saying most Canadians approve of bandwidth shaping is stupid. I believe that most Canadians don't know there is another option.
If you use Rogers or Bell, your internet is restricted between the hours of 4 and midnight, the times when you use it. This allows the internet provider the opportunity to provide service to more people without increasing the infrastructure to boost speeds. The money that would be used for the infrastructure is then put in the company's pockets as profit.
In other countries their internet is faster and cheaper. In a recent ranking comparing speed of internet vs. cost Canada came in 29th of the 30 countries in the survey. We are paying more for far less.
The idea that Canadians are okay with this seems to indicate they are not educated in the facts. Grab your pitchforks, make signs, and let's burn down the internet!

Found

Read a book yesterday while waiting in line for three Fringe shows, Found. It's a collection of items, the best of Found magazine, where people find stuff on the street and send it in to the magazine. The two most interesting were:
This letter in code:

And this pro and con list found on the back of a menu:


Possible threesome with mother is the best.

All Star game tonight. Toronto's most deserving player, Adam Lind, of course didn't get in. Ted Lilly, Aaron Hill and Brian McCann are all names of note. Home run derby is tonight, I literally know no one and won't be watching.

Consultation today at 4 for lasik eye surgery. Will find out the price and advise.

Pride Funding

I'm of 2 minds on this.
My main concern is that this is typical of the left wing. For example, when the conservatives announced that federal grants for filmmaking would be subject to review, that they were no longer "no strings attached", Liberals got their pitchforks out and started facebook groups, wrote friends, and nothing had actually happened. No funding was retracted.

At the same time, a review does not mean a retraction and no official job action has been taken against this woman who provided the funding. It's so easy too to call 100 MP's and take the quote from the one that sounds the most crazy. Do I think he will be spoken to about making these statements? Yes. And they won't happen again from him.

So basically I don't see evidence that anything bad has happened. The reason you elect a conservative government is to monitor spending and a review is not a bad idea.

If Pride funding is cut next year, I will be writing letters and at the front of the line marching down the street against it. Unless funding for every event in Canada is cut, then I'd be okay with that. At issue to me is you can't pick and choose. And this is where my other mind comes in to play:

Newsflash to social conservatives: *I'm gay AND I pay taxes too!*

$20 gas

On the fringe

Went to see a couple plays at the Fringe Festival today and they couldn't have been more different. The first was so bad it's not worth mentioning. I found myself pondering life, how little time we have on the planet, and how much of it is being spent waiting for the crap play to end, not wanting to walk out and be impolite.

The second was a one-man play called Baggage about a man named Shaun and his love life. I dated a very similar man. His name was also Shaun, he was also very straight acting, very handsome, concerned with appearance.

The story was moving and honest, well done. And it got me thinking. Shaun and I didn't work out but there was always a tension between us, a sense of what might have been, that continued until his death from HIV complications.

And so I left the theatre with a greater sense of why it didn't work between us. This Shaun, and that Shaun, seemed to tick all the boxes, so what was missing?

I think I know. I think it's a passion. I don't have many feelings, I don't have highs and lows, I'm pretty much the same everytime you see me, in every setting. But I do have passion. I see all kinds of theatre. I want to stay up until 1 am discussing poetry. I remember when I read the book Borrowed Time there were lines in the book I could feel in my soul. It changed me, it haunts me.

I am not as concerned with appearance as either Shaun is. It just doesn't matter. I know what matters.

So this is why I'm not with Shaun. But if I'm honest, it's not why I'm single right now.

The idea of dating scares me. Of having to put your best foot forward, I feel I have 2 left feet. Every relationship I've had for the last 8 years has fallen into my lap. Figuratively. Something within me has lost the will to try. I want someone presentable but feel I lack the dress and grooming sense to be worthy of someone presentable. I want someone outgoing and independent but have moments of self doubt and in many ways lack the self security to keep up. I want someone emotionally availble but in no way clingly. I want someone strong enough to think for themselves but also weak enough to handle my bossy nature. And it just all seems like so much. I dated extensively, I loved and lost, and in a way I just want a break. But I also don't.

So in the meantime, I go to plays, I see art, I am moved. And when I got home from the play, I shaved. Did the laundry and will have clean clothes. Little steps forward. And maybe, just maybe, will put myself out there again.

Mrs. Slocombe

Lost another one, Mrs. Slocombe passed away.

This leaves Captain Peacock, Mr. Lucas and Mr. Rumbold.

Pride Day

Slightly rainy at Pride this year which kept some people away. Stood on the West side of Yonge this time which was smart. All the people heading over from Church meant the line was 8 deep on one side and 3 deep on my side.

I was obsessed with these two boys. They were so cute and newly in love. I watched them and thought "Where the Hell did my youth go???" which bothered me for about a day. Then I remembered at the parade they didn't want to wear one of the necklaces being given away for fear of looking silly. I remember being that self conscious once and I don't need to go there again.
Still, every time they did ANYTHING I was like "That's SO CUTE!" and took a photo.

A special appearance from Mrs. Pizza Pizza 1937.

Fancy belt.

Not too many boy floats this year. What's up with that?

Check out the people on the roof.

How cute ARE these two?

The titty sisters were flashing everyone during the parade. I kept missing parts of the parade to take photos of the girl's tits. Story of my life!

Hunky fireman were amused by the titty sisters.

Random girl.

A diety of India.

I love the guy pumping his fist on the front of the truck bed.

This was I thought the best float. Bears getting washed and having fun. Grrrr!

Proud FM float. Why did I only see 2 of their DJs?

Random boy float.

I think this pic of the boys is my favourite. Love them! They're so cute I just want to put them in my pocket!

United Church of Canada float. My mom works there. Not on the float. For the church.

Naked Elvis yearly photo.

Palestine group. Notice they were right in front of the Just for Laughs group. Hilarious!

This is what NOT to wear to Pride. Such a disaster for SO many reasons:

I'm going to tell you a secret:

This guy was from Cirque de Soleil:

And his butt was made of rock:

Pride Concerts

Some excellent Pride concerts on Saturday June 27th this year.
Some strange people in the audience, one guy was obviously stoned out of his head and this guy:

On a hot day wearing a suit jacket and dancing in one spot, alone.
Great set from Gentleman Reg, whose song "We're in a Thunderstorm" is now officailly my favourite.

Afterward a set from the re-vamped Kids on TV:

They played a few great new songs and killed it at the end with Breakdance Hunx and John Caffrey in "Beat It" MJ underwear.

The guy dancing in the background below had shorts with lights on them.

Some debate in my group about the gender of the energetic dancer below.

I love this shot:

This one turned out well too:

Wish this was brighter. I loved this part where these 2 came together:

Great show.