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Shit in Gear

My week off has quickly transformed into a week of medical appointments. My mother's concerns over the insane shortage of doctors in Ontario means that everytime I come back to St. A, I spend a good chunk of my time getting cavities filled, peeing in cups, and endlessly staring at the white walls in waiting rooms, all in an attempt to maintain my salubrity (which means "good health," one of the many fancy words I learned while studying vocabulary for my GRE this weekend).

However, today was a very productive visit to the doctor's office. While lazing forever in his office, my doctor/former Student Works Painting client randomly stormed into the room, looked at me and said, "You need Accutane." FINALLY!!! I've literally been waiting for years for the day when my doctor finally prescribed this miracle drug to me. Sure, it can potentially cause liver damage and eczema, but it will make me look pretty again! Yes, I'm aware that that's a very shallow thing to say, but my pulchritude (meaning "beauty") is at stake!

On a less health-related note, I saw The Runaways yesterday. It was actually really good, even though it only got a 62 on Rotten Tomatoes. Seeing Dakota Fanning as a coked-out trainwreck pretty much made my week. Here's the preview if you've never heard of it:

Back to Where I Came From

The trip back to Edmonton was soo long. Three days without showering or sleeping in an actual bed feels more like weeks. I left the train feeling smelly and haggard, like the homeless people that chill outside of Toronto City Hall.

Canada really is beautiful….desolate, but beautiful. After two years of being consumed by the ideas of people like Rachel Carson and Jane Jacobs, I was under the impression that most of Canada’s natural landscape had been reworked or destroyed altogether. As soon as I left the Greater Toronto Area, I hardly saw any signs of civilization for most of my trip. I packed my new Nikon with photos of shimmering lakes and the bits of the Canadian Shield. Here are some of my fave photos:

Before embarking on my epic cross-country tour, I got the chance to have dinner and shop with some of the old SPUC crew. It was a really great way to spend my last night in South ON.

I managed to take this picture from my train window with only my 18-55mm lens. I love this picture because it shows how, before the time of hardcore setbacks and development standards, people in “bush communities” would build right up to the railway tracks, almost as if it would help their town reap the benefits of rail traffic passing through.

Downtown Winnipeg: Don't let the amusement park in the foreground fool you, as this is probably one of the loneliest cities I've ever visited. Wandering through the downtown core, I literally saw three people. The only restaurant I could find after twenty minutes of walking was a Tim Horton's.

Overall, the weekend-long trip was a good experience that I definitely do not regret. However, I honestly don’t think I’ll ever do it again.

P.S: Did you know there’s MSG in Cheese Nips? Yeah, I found that out the hard way…

***

“You don’t belong to people forever.”

Toba

I woke up on the train this morning to the sight of stuccoed ranch-style bungalows and abandoned Wheat Pool containers and immediately knew that I was back in the Prairies. It feels good to be back, but I'm having a hard time getting excited for my return to the Purple City when I feel soooo lethargic. I've already decided that I'm never taking the train back home again. It's been cool to see the vast expanse that is Canada, but it's also been terribly long.

Hopefully, I'll get my energy back tomorrow morning when I cross the North Saskatchewan. =)

Crazyy-ness

Soo, I decided to go back to Cambridge Architecture yesterday. Once again, only one trainer could be persuaded into making the trip, so I was happy to co-facilitate one final Architecture session. As usual, it went fantastically well. My one disappointment is that there was no thank you card or pretty bonus cheque waiting at the office for me the next day.

Oh, the trials of being under-appreciated.

My co-facilitator and I kinda rushed through the session so we could make it back to Waterloo for FRANK WARREN. Yes, the Frank Warren of Postsecret.com came to UW last night. It was incredible. At one point, he opened up to the audience and asked people to share their secrets. I was expecting the cheezy "I'm in love with my best friend" and "I'm so tired of school" secrets, but not the ones shared by some of my classmates. I was both shocked and saddened. After the event, Frank sent a link to all the attendees for a "special archive" of never-before-seen secrets. I have yet to digest all of them, but here's one of my faves:

I'm leaving Waterloo tomorrow and I feel that this secret parallels a lot of what I'm experiencing in my own life. I really wanted to stay at school for the summer, but I'm trying to stay positive and think about all the exciting adventures that await me back in Edmonton. To start, I'm taking the train back. How fuckin' awesome is that?

One More Time...

Today's adventures brought me to Cambridge, Ontario. I was asked to train Waterloo Architecture's Orientation Leaders and did not hesitate at the chance. Apparently, I was the only one duped into doing it, as the office assistant never found a co-trainer to facilitate the sessions with me. I was still really stoked at the opportunity. Seeing as I'll be in Brisbane next year, it would be one final chance to do the only job I have actually enjoyed in my entire life. Also, a part of me was insatiably curious to visit the architecture school and meet some legit Archie's. You see, half of the planning students at Waterloo were actually prospective architecture students who were given a spot in planning as an alternate offer. I've heard both praises and slams about the school, a refurbished silk mill, and the eccentric students that literally inhabit its studios for most of the year. I went there expecting to drop onto the set of School Ties or Cruel Intentions, or some strange combination of both, and was happily mistaken.

It was a great day. The school was amazing and the people were even more amazing. Above all, it totally broke the stereotypes I had of the typical architecture student. On top of that, I got applause from the orientation leaders at the end of the day and free pizza from one of their leaders, neither of which has ever happened to me before. I think one of the greatest joys in life is knowing that your work is genuinely appreciated by people, and today proved that belief once again.

Yet another reason why this end-of-term is turning out to be one of the best! =)

Waterloo Architecture overlooking the Grand River.

Tee-dot-ohh

So I went to Toronto today for some much needed retail therapy. I managed to get suckered into call-backs from three random charities that were canvassing on street corners. I'm such a chump. Probably the coolest incident today was when the brick wall above a sushi restaurant at Gould and Yonge collapsed onto the sidewalk. It was fricken intense! I managed to get a picture with my snazzy camera phone:

Mad Skrill

Given that my exams are completely finished, I decided to go shopping. And I'm doing some hella intense shopping. First, I bought a new pair of high-top Lakai's at Soho Sneaker Shop in Uptown. I personally think they're beautiful. Then, I bought spraypaint. Why you may ask? To redo my old pair of Lakai's. A classmate of mine spray-paints his shoes whenever he gets tired of them, so I figured I'd give it a try. I'm going all-out with firey neon orange.

Schmexyy.

After buying spray paint, I decided to treat myself with a delicious waffle cone at DQ. While relaxing on the patio outside, an old man wandered over and asked why I was eating alone. I nonchalantly replied, "Everyone I know has exams." He then sat down and began to tell me about his days as an undergrad. Now, I originally found this a little uncomfortable. Old people say hello to me a lot, but have never proceeded to join me while I try to enjoy my fatty ice cream. However, this guy seemed harmless and so I decided to chat him up. We talked for literally an hour about the most random topics, like poetry, brutalist architecture and health-care reform. He suggested this book of 1940's poetry by an anthologist named Untermeyer (?) that I'm seriously going to look up. It turns out, this guy is a priest at the college beside my school. Usually, my seething militant atheism tends to discourage religious people from talking to me, so I'm happy we were able to have such a great conversation.

Anyways, this conversation inspired me to live more passionately. I left Dairy Queen and headed over to Bent's Photography, which is this cute little camera shop in Uptown Waterloo. A co-trainer once told me about how she went in there looking for a used camera, and the owner offered her a free one on the condition that she "pay it forward" with one random act of kindness. I mean, how cute is that?! After chatting with a salesman for a few minutes, I decided to take the plunge and buy a Nikon D3000 Digital SLR, my new baby. Altogether it came to $650, which is a lot when you're current monthly income is $50. I'm already starting to take trendy photos, including this one of my favourite building in my neighbourhood, the Seagram Lofts.

Prints of this beauty are only $500

I'm so stoked to get good at photography, but not until I'm finished fulfilling my duties as a consumer. I've randomly decided to take the commuter bus into Toronto tomorrow morning and spend the remainder of my tax return cheque! It'll also be a goodbye of sorts to the city before my train takes me home next Thursday.

When it's over, is it really over?

Welcome to my brand new blog!

My 3A term is FINALLY over, and I figured that it's time I started blogging again. I was fortunate to have a somewhat random year at Waterloo, and totally regretted not regularly sharing any of my experiences. Unlike my old blog (which was pretty much high schooler-esque ranting about meanies), this blog is more of a collaboration between you guys, and me! So respond, criticize or share any of my blog entries freely! =)

With love,

Marcus

P.S: So the title of this post is totally a reference to Sugar Ray. A few weekends ago, a co-trainer and I decided to have a 90's-themed Diversity and Harassment session for Orientation Leader Training (aka OLT). I think people genuinely enjoyed it, despite the awkward discussions on racism and homophobia.

I wish I could drive around California on a Vespa.