A Lot About Nothing

I loooove kitchen gadgets.  That’s why I make it a mission to visit Kitchen Stuff Plus’ sidewalk sales at least once a year.  If you’re looking for new dinnerware, glassware, bathroom accessories, kitchen utensils, candles, photo frames, or any other houseware, make sure to stop by the Orfus Rd. outlet location of Kitchen Stuff Plus.  You’re guaranteed to get a great deal on something (even if you don’t need it ).  The sale starts today at 10am and finishes at 3pm.  Here’s the link with more info.

Canada turns 141 today, and I’d just like to wish this great nation a happy birthday! The weather was beautiful today, but I haven’t got the chance to go outside yet. I think I’m getting used to being indoors since I basically had a 5-day weekend. I should be going to watch some fireworks tonight though.

If you want to see the skies light up and are looking for a place in the GTA to watch them from try Ashbridges Bay, Canada’s Wonderland, Ontario Place, Milliken Park, Downsview Park or Mel Lastman’s Square.

If I learned anything last night, it’s that Kanye West really knows how to put on a damn good show. Kanye West’s Glow In The Dark Tour, featuring Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco took place last night at Moslon Amphitheatre in Toronto, and lucky me got some great seats for the show.

I wish I left work a little earlier though, because it ended up taking my friend and I almost 45 minutes to get from Union Station to the Exhibition grounds. The station was packed with concert patrons and Toronto FC fans who were also lining up for the streetcar to see the soccer game that just happened to be at the same time in the same area. We should’ve took the Bathurst station route instead.

The show was slated to start at 7pm and we got there around 7:40. Unfortunately we missed Lupe Fiasco’s performance (which was the main act that I really wanted to see), but luckily Lupe came out at the end of the show to rap a few verses with Kanye. It was cool seeing them together.

We found our seats in time to see a good chunk of N.E.R.D’s performance. The group had brought a couple of fans onstage from the front row, one of which took their sweet time getting off the stage (I mean… we’re not here to see and 18-year-old “try” to dance to hip hop on stage). Pharrell got the crowd going. “Lapdance” is one of my favourite tracks from N.E.R.D. And surprise surprise, they ended up bringing up a multitude of girls/groupies on stage for “She Wants To Move”.

The next performer was songstress Rihanna. I didn’t realize that she had cut her hair even shorter… it looks good on her though. Rihanna came out in a red, military-style jacket and skin-tight pants (first of a couple costume changes). Her performance was good and she had the crowd ella-ella-aye-ing when she sang her hit “Umbrella”. This girl could go a wicked bogle, let me tell you.

And now to the star of the evening (which his performance stated more than once) Kanye West. The last time I saw him live was a couple of years ago at the ACC. This performance blew that one out of the water. Instead of just going from track to track, with some shout outs to the city’s audience, Kanye’s performance played like some type of apocalyptic sci-fi drama. The stage was set up to perfection… it really looked like a planet’s surface (no wonder they took so long to set up). The giant screen where “Jane”, the ship’s computer, spoke from looked like a suped-up version of the original Star Trek’s technology with all those flashing buttons and streaming starlight (now that I think about it, the set up kind of reminds me of the Synergy computer from Jem and the Holograms… lol). With levitating orbs that had planets and and anime-looking ’shooting star’ character projected on them, smoke and pyrotechnics, the whole set-up looked really good.

One of the things I liked about Kanye’s performance was that he was in character the entire time. From beginning to end it was almost as if you were watching a play of “the biggest star in the universe” (Kanye) crash lands on a remote planet and tries to find his way home. Even the order of which tracks he performed related to the theme of the show: obvious ones like “Touch The Sky”, “All Falls Down” and “Spaceship… and then there were tracks “Wake Up Mr. West” (to start the show when he wakes up from the crash landing), Jesus Walks” (when he was feeling lonley and isolated on the planet), and “Stronger” (when he had to find the power within to find his way back to earth).

Kanye had energy from beginning to end. He ended the show on a positive note with some words for the audience on his personal philosophies, some of which are included “Thank You and You’re Welcome“, his new book co-authored by J. Sakiya Sandifer. Luckily they were giving out some copies after the show… it was a pretty interesting and entertaining read filled with “Kanye-isms”.  I have to give props to the live band that was playing below the stage as well… great job with the music.

And yes… things did glow in the dark during the show!

Don’t you just hate it when the bank raises your credit card limit and you’re like, “that’s cool… but it’s not like I’m actually going to spend that much”, but you end up shopping like crazy with it anyway? Yeah, well that’s the predicament I’m in, but at least I’m trying to pay off a good amount of the balance monthly.

My Achilles Heel is sales… esp. 50% off the lowest price sales, like the one the majority of Athletes World locations in Canada are having. I was at the Eaton Centre location last month and got some really good deals. This week I heard that the Athletes World store in Yorkdale mall was having a similar sale. I was worried that I wouldn’t have much of a selection since the sale started earlier this week, but I did manage to pick up some great bargains.

I got a nice Adidas hoddie, a tube top, a pair of black Nike Shox EL’s, New Balance 550’s, Antidote leather casual sneakers, and a pair of black Baby Phat high tops for my sister. The grand total? Only $150 including tax! Damn, I’m glad I got off work early today and headed to the mall!

You’d think that since I’ve just came back from a week’s vacation I’d be more cautious with money… but sometimes you just gotta jump on these sales (who knows when they’ll happen again!)

On a side note: yes, I’m back from my week-long Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Valor. I had sooo much fun, and I urge anyone who hasn’t been on a cruise before to save some money and go. It’s soooo worth it. I carried my journal along to jot down all my ‘happenings’, so when I finally decide to unpack completely I’ll back post them here on my blog (this weekend for sure!)

Well, Toronto public transit commuters… I hope you have your bikes and in-line skates ready, because all workers from the Toronto Transit Commission are on strike (since 12:01am this morning). I feel sorry for all the people who went down to the entertainment district to enjoy a nice Friday night, only to leave the clubs and realizing that they were basically stranded (the Yonge bus line is a popular route since it runs 24 hours from downtown). I could imagine taxis had a lot of service last night. According to the article reported by CityNews:

Nearly two-thirds of the 9,000 TTC workers eligible to vote rejected the deal, which would have given them a three per cent wage hike over the next three years, as well as other benefits and improvements Mayor David Miller termed “fair.”

Personally, I’m getting really tired of relying on a service that is so unpredictable. It seems like every year there’s a strike possibility. It’s a good thing that today wasn’t a work day for me, otherwise I’d have to shell out $40 to get to work. I did have a volunteer shift at HotDocs today (which I had to cancel obviously), plus needed to meet up with my friend after the Raptors game, but it looks like those plans are out of the window. Speaking of the Raptors games, I fathom that a lot of people are going to be scrambling for transportation to get to the Air Canada Centre for game 4 of the playoffs, as well as to BMO field to see the Toronto FC soccer club.

Note that there was promises of a 48 hour notice for any impending strike… but last night’s came as a surprise for many people. Bob Kinnear, ATU Local 113 President gave this reason:

We have assessed the situation and decided that we will not expose our members to the dangers of assaults from angry and irrational members of the public. The reports from our members of increases in threats and abuse from passengers last weekend, after we gave our original 48-hours’ notice, has left us no choice but to withdraw our services immediately. We have a legal responsibility to protect the safety of our members and so does the TTC.

Check out this link for more details and TTC media releases about the contract. CP24.com has a good list of 10 alternatives for people who relied on the TTC, but can’t now because of the strike. Right now, I’m favouring #6 (although I do need to head to the nearest Canadian Tire, and that’s about a 40 minute walk away). As what most people in Toronto already know: TTC = Take The Car. I just wish I owned on right about now…