I was at the local convenience store today buying my Lotto Max ticket (fingers crossed). After being in awe of my current hairstyle, the conversation the cashier started with me somehow drifted to work habits between people in North America and those overseas.
It’s not a secret that Europeans have longer vacations than those of us in Canada and the U.S. And it’s clear that obesity in the U.S. is a growing issue, which is even more reason why more people should spend some time with active extra-curricular activities such as sports.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard complaints from friends who’s been inundated with requests from their superiors, even though they all go beyond the call of duty already. I know the economy is tough and feeling the pressure to do so much in order to keep your job can be a challenge.
This year I made myself a promise not to overwork myself like I have in past years. I know I can’t please everyone, and saying “no” to requests every once in a while won’t hurt. People need to know that you’re not superman.
I’ve rewarded myself with a few getaways in 2012, because I knew I deserved them. I’ve been joining various sports teams in order to stay active and healthy. Working too much can lead to stress, and you can make yourself physically sick if you don’t treat your body and mind with the respect that it deserves.
So to all you readers out there: take a break every once in a while. Take a walk during your lunch break instead of eating at your desk. Join a social sports league to keep yourself active after work. Spend more time with your family and friends. These little changes will help you live a more balanced life.
Here’s hoping I win that 50 million in tonight’s draw so that I can take the vacation of a lifetime!
This summer seems to be one of firsts for me. I got a chance to finally head down to Fan Expo Canada at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and I was not disappointed.
I was always a fan of all things geek: sci-fi, comics, gaming. So it surprised me that I’ve never been to one of these ‘conventions’ before this past weekend. Then I realized that not many of my friends share my love of sci-fi, and they weren’t taking the bait when I was trying to bribe them to tag along.
I promised myself that I wouldn’t let another opportunity pass me by. I stepped out of my comfort zone, took the plunge and headed downtown on the last day of Fan Expo. The line-up was long and winding down the underground parking garage, but it moved fairly quickly and I managed to purchase my $35 ticket in about 20 minutes.
Time passed by quicker as I people-watched all the eager fans dressed up in costume. I was put at ease a bit more as I noticed other solo-goers in line. When it comes down to it, everyone is there to have fun and even make new friends. I actually bumped into a couple people I knew (including Toronto Batman)!
Entering the MTCC was like entering a different world. There is so much going on: eye-catching posters, giant screens, interactive displays, and people everywhere! I felt like a kid in a candy store… I didn’t know where to start. Unfortunately I knew I only had 1.5 hours to kill, as I promised my friends that I would meet them at the CNE later that afternoon.
So I hightailed it through the majority of the aisle. Saw some old school Star Trek action figures (I should really try to find my old ones), loads of comic books, video game demos, and graphic t-shirts. I was going to purchase one with the face of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s “Carlton Banks” on it, and another one with ‘Sheldon Cooper’s’ game of Rock, Scissors, Paper, Lizard, Spock, but there was a 2.5 hour wait for custom printed shirts. I’ll just get it online.
I headed over to where the celebrity panels were. I didn’t have (or see the necessity) of forking over $40-50 to get an actor to sign a poster or take a photo with me, so I pulled out my 300mm lens and started snapping my own photos of these sci-fi stars. This in itself was worth the admission price! I got to see Norman Reedus (The Boondocks Saints), Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager), LeVar Burton (Star Trek: TNG), Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), director John Carpenter, Nelsan Ellis (True Blood), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Nana Visitor (Star Trek: DS9), and Tony Todd (Candyman).
The guest I was most excited to see was legendary Marvel Comics creator, Stan Lee! I didn’t get a photo of him (due to the volunteers “no photos please” sign, plus he was hidden in a private corner), but I did get a glimpse of him! It’s too bad that Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: TNG) postponed his appearance… now that I would pay money for (gotta love Picard).
One of the most innovative and intricate exhibits was the one for Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie (an upcoming remake of his 1984 short film). I’m grateful to have gotten the chance to see it because the presentation is the only Canadian stop on the exhibition’s world tour. Seeing all the puppets, glassed-in scenes, diagrams, sketches, and other stop-motion items was impressive.
There’s so much to see and do at Fan Expo, which is why it’s a good idea to purchase a multi-day pass. A couple of hours were definitely not enough for me to venture through each exhibitor, and I doubt a day is going to suffice hardcore geeks between all the panels, celebrity photo ops, gaming demos, autograph signings, merchandise sales and other events.
What I really enjoyed seeing was people dressed up in costume. It’s so nice to see fans get into it, especially when they use to much creativity in their outfits.
Fan Expo Canada was quite the experience. Perhaps next year I’ll wear a costume (or at least a geeky t-shirt).
Camping was one of those things on my bucket list of to-do items. So when a friend of mine invited me to go camping with a bunch of friends this summer, I jumped at the chance. Of course I was a little apprehensive at first (come on… how many young, black females voluntarily choose to spend 2+ days outside in the wilderness?), but I made sure I was prepared for anything that might transpire.
Over the weeks upcoming to my camping expedition I made some stops at Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart and Mountain Equipment Co. in order to be able to check everything off on my camping packing list. And you can see from the photo in my gallery below that I wasn’t kidding!
Did some research online and picked up a super-comfy, deluxe camp chair (complete with memory foam seat and attached bottle opener!), an air mattress, warm sleeping bag, first aid kit, s’mores roaster, a headlamp, other useful items, as well as a roomy hiking bag to put all that stuff in.
My most prized possession on that trip was the bear bell that I bought at MEC. Supposedly it’s supposed to give bears a chance to hear you coming, then choose to amble away instead of investigate. I’m still alive typing, so I guess it worked!
Killbear Provincial Park is located about 45 minutes outside of Parry Sound. We stayed at the Blind Bay campground. Crisp air, breathtaking views of the Georgian Bay… nature sure is beautiful. I couldn’t even really complain about bugs, because I didn’t see one mosquito in our time there (though there were a couple of long-legged spiders).
One of the other things (besides bears) I was worried about was the washroom/shower facilities. I was picturing a rotting, wooden outhouse (hence why I brought a tub of baby wipes, due to the fact that I didn’t want to use leaves). But the facilities at this campsite are really nice and clean for the most part.
My friends and I spend our 2.5 days playing games and chatting around the campfire, heading down to the beach, hiking down trails, and making some ‘campy’ meals. I think I ate one too many s’mores though (as delicious as they were). Cooking outdoors is a challenge when you’re used to being in the kitchen. Aluminum foil became my new bestest friend.
So what’s camping without a bear scare? That’s right: on my first camping trip I did in fact see a bear trod past my tent at 3 o’clock in the morning. With a name like “Killbear” you would guess that the bear population in that part of town would be pretty scarce, no?
Getting to sleep on the Friday night was a challenge. It was freezing that night, and I didn’t pack enough warm clothes. I was hearing noises from outside the tent. My friend said it was a bear, but I didn’t believe her (personally, I thought it might have been someone snoring or a raccoon or something.
On to night number two. I was trying to get used to the sounds of Mother Nature: the crickets, the leaves falling on my tent scaring the bejeezus out of me. My eyes were wide open for the first part of the night, as I didn’t want to waste the batteries in my trusty headlamp (yes, I sleep with a night light). So when I hear nondescript voices coming from our neighboring site, and see flashes of light outside my tent, obviously I become 100% alert. Minutes later I hear a woman yell “Get out of here bear! We don’t want you here!” succeeded by car alarms going off and honking. I’m thinking, did I just hear that right? Bear?! So I nudge my tent mate who basically told me to play dead (I wanted to ring my bear bell).
Then we hear another exclamation, “It’s coming back to your site!”. My eyes opened wide, but being the inquisitive being that I am, I told my tent mate that I wanted to see the bear (naturally). So I peeped through the mesh in our tent trying to get my eyes adjusted to the darkness outside so that I can make out something. Seconds later I see a black apparition barreling through a couple of trees 2 feet in front of our tent! A freaking bear! I backed up so fast… my heart was beating a thousand times per minute. At that point my friend became more alert, as we both felt the tremors that the bear made when it ran past us. After discussing protocol for a couple minutes we gingerly unzipped our tent in order to figure out the details of the situation.
Turns out that a family in the site across from us had left their cooler in the back of their pick up truck , only covered by a tarp (like that’s going to stop a bear from riffling through it). When my friends heard the commotion of the bear eating from the cooler (their tent was directly opposite the family’s site), they decided to make a run for their car after figuring out there was a bear in close proximity. Running to the vehicle, they turned on the engine as the headlights went on, they were face to face with a bear on all fours, eating like a fat kid at a all-you-can-eat buffet. They honked the horn and the bear ran off. What I found out later that some of the girls from my site informed the family that they needed to clean up the mess that the bear left. Of course they didn’t listen. That’s why the bear came back (hence the “it’s coming back to your site” call). One of the brave women from our group managed to scare the bear off permanently by taking an aggressive stance, raising her arms, yelling and taking a few steps in the bear’s direction (she’s got guts, I tell ya).
Needless to say that none of us went back to sleep that night until the sun rose at 6am. The four of us that were up from our large group lit a fire and had a bear watch for 3 hours. I felt like I was a member of The Avengers or something. We noticed a couple of other sites start fires as well. The remainder of our troupe were still sleeping. Strangely enough, not a park ranger was to be seen during the entire bear event (though they were there earlier on in the evening to tell us to keep down the noise at 11pm).
Would I go camping again? Well I’d have to see if there’s such a thing as a bear-proof tent.
For the start of the May 2-4 weekend I made plans with a friend of mine to head downtown to the Habourfront and do some walking to embrace the beautiful mid-20°C weather. We stopped off at Nathan Phillips Square first, because I had a craving for some poutine (as usual). I was feeling a bit hungrier than usual, so I decided to order a hot dog as well (haven’t had street meat in years). I paid for my meal, and the vendor gave me my hot dog and poutine combo in one of those two-compartment styrofoam containers. Topped my hot dog off with some ketchup, mustard, and relish… looked delicious!
“Let’s find a bench in the shade where we can sit,” I say to my friend, turning to her slightly.
No word of a lie, I hear a squawk and out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of something white, felt it graze my face. I scream, still managing to hold on to my tray of food. I look down and see that my hot dog is gone!
Not even seconds later I hear birds squawking, and see two dozen sea gulls attacking what’s left of my hot dog metres from where I was standing in shock. It was like a scene out of Hitchcock’s The Birds.
A freakin’ seagull had the audacity to fly millimeters away from my face, swoop down, snatch up my hotdog from my hands and fly away with it!
It picked up my entire hot dog (bun and all) and few off with it, dropping it on the pavement metres away where it’s hoodlum friends could feast on it. All that was left less than a minute later was a pavement stain of yellow mustard.
This is an exact representation of the seagull that snatched my hot dog right from my hands.
These Toronto birds are brave! What happened to the time when animals were afraid of humans?! My gosh, I swear this gull was probably eying me from the time I left the food truck, like those velociraptors in that kitchen scene from Jurassic Park.
“You’re lucky it didn’t take your poutine too!” said a woman who was also in line at the food truck.
Traumatized and pissed off that half my meal was gone, I went off to find a washroom to scrub my face from the feather brush moments earlier, thinking that next time I venture downtown I should bring a pellet gun to ward off these gull thieves.
Later on in the day at Harbourfront, I saw another woman holding the same order of a hot dog and fries. I was tempted to give her a warning to keep an eye on the sky, but she might’ve deemed me as crazy.
Turns out food isn’t the only thing these calculating creatures steal. Check out this video of a gull flying off with someone’s video camera.
That incident just put a damper on my day. I was really looking forward to that hot dog.
This day did creep up on me, but I managed to bake my mother a nice batch of banana-nut muffins and take her to her choice of restaurant for dinner (Swiss Chalet’s Spring-themed quarter chicken meal with garlic-butter shrimp and a rice pilaf is delish by the way).
Here’s a couple videos to commemorate the day as we honour our wonderful mothers who do so much for us.
Happy Mother’s Day!
I admit, I used to be a tad like this as a young lass.
I’ve been there a few weeks ago and I’m from The Netherlands so i should know how it would taste and I got a apple crumble pie and it was the best I’ve ever had little expesive but okay it was delicious!
on August 11, 2016