I’m so glad that Toronto remains a place where I can go to get away. There are places to stay, an endless cycle of friends or acquaintances to visit, and someone else takes the wheel and drives.
It’s amazing to see how much Toronto has changed. How certain streets downtown have turned into trendy, expensive shopping districts, a Canadian version of Rodeo Drive, and a far cry from the run-down roads I would visit every lunch in high school by rollerblade and subway to buy Magic cards and Warhammer figures.
After Bill Clinton’s speech at the CNE, there was a brief question and answer period. The host asked him, “What do you like most about Toronto?”, adding that Torontonians seem to have a sort of self-deprecating humour1. After making a diplomatic comment on the Aboriginal art as being his favourite thing, Clinton said, “You folks can make fun of yourself, but people would kill to live a society like this. You should be very proud.” I had to agree.
Before leaving, I had dim sum with my dad, and we caught up on each others lives a little bit. He sounded pretty happy when I called to ask him if he wanted to go.
I bought a pair of windshield wipers but didn’t replace them, bringing them with me to his house instead, hoping he could show me how to install them. I could just as easily have read the car manual, but I wanted something to share with him. Maybe now I can catch up on these father-son things that I seemed to have missed in my childhood.
- I suppose you have to, with how well the Leafs have been doing in recent years. [↩]
Toronto rocks! I live in Niagara Falls and often travel to Toronto for leisure.
I find it’s just within driving distance from Ottawa for a weekend. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth it. How’s the drive from Niagara Falls?
“Mindbender” is my friend Mindbender Supreme, AKA Psychology The Mindbender, AKA Addi Stewart. He is a rapper! Along with his brother, Conspiracy, he formed a group called Supreme Being Unit which was very influential upon the Canadian hip-hop avant garde in the mid-to-late 1990s!
http://www.myspace.com/mindbendersupreme
Now you know!
Holy crap, what a coincidence. Either that, or you are totally plugged into the Canadian rapping scene.