Summertime Forever

June is just a few days away and I couldn't imagine myself being more excited for the summer. I can already tell this one is going to be amazing. Last summer in North America for... well, hopefully a long while.

I'll spend most of the earlier half of the month longboarding around, playing my bass... roller skating... the usual. David comes home on the 18th or something. I can't wait; I haven't seen him since the day I left for Alberta in January. We will have SO much fun and shenanigans. Hopefully I'll visit Michigan, pick up Otto dearest, and make cupcakes with Eva as test trials for her wedding deserts.

At some point, I need to acquire this lovely item because a. it's fashionable, b. Cézanne was smart, and c. great things can be done with small objects. Of course I also want the saying as a tattoo, but that comes later. Right now, I just want a new jumper.

I want to go to SCENE fest in St. Catherine's on the 26th for my birthday... and then perhaps go visit Chris in Brooklyn once I've actually turned twenty-one. Just kill me now because that sounds SO old!!! I promised Simon and Christina I would visit them in Quebec so I need to get out to Montreal at some point. Preferably after Isa gets home. I really, really need to go back to Aux Vivres and get a few more of their vegan BLTs because they're better than oxygen. ...And talking of Katimafriends getting home, Anelia and I promised each other we would go to This Is London together at some point.

I need to get my ass on to getting a Canadian passport so that I can submit a visa application in time to leave in November. Luckily, I started that when I was in Canmore and most of my application is already filled out, so I just have to a little extra work on that which shouldn't be too complicated.

In July, I want to go back to California, because I guess I just like it there in July? I'll have to go back to San Francisco and hang out in the Haight some more as I really liked it there. I'll also need to actually visit the Castro, the Tenderloin, and Alcatraz as I didn't actually make it out last time I was there. I want to go back to the Mission and get some of that amazing Tartine bread, so I'll have to get there early because I know they sell out fast! And while I'm in the Mission, I'll have to go back to the Mission Bicycle shop because it's pretty much my favourite bike shop in the world.

I'll definitely be bringing my surf board and going down to Santa Cruz. I need to get some quality beach time and surf mornings in. My mother is in that water now, so I'll be that more inclined to stay in it longer. I can't miss the boardwalk or Mexican food up in Boulder Creek. I should definitely have some cousin hang time with Clarissa because she's like 12 or something crazy like that now, and she's really cool. I'm pretty much stoked to see everyone though.

Eva is getting married in August so I'll be back in Michigan for that. I'm super excited. Genevieve and I are making cupcakes for the wedding which should be great... I'm so crazy about cupcakes, I'm already looking up recipes to try out.

I'm also really, really, really excited about September. I gauged the approximate cost of staying in hostels around the American south for the whole month and it's about the same as rent would be, a bit more, perhaps, but what is saving up for, after all? My plans are to spend a week in Nashville and Memphis each, some days in Georgia or Arkansas, a week in New Orleans, and the rest of the month in Austin. The south is really the only place I haven't been yet, so I'm really excited for it.

I have no idea what I'm doing for October, but I fully intend to jet off to London, England in November. Hopefully, anyway. G and I will have a grand old time, I'm sure. And talking of London, if I really do love it so much, I'll take a leaf out of his book and go to school there. I'm thinking theatre with a minor in photography. I always did like the arts more than anything practical. I'm really, really excited about living in Europe.

The Summer Room

Toronto in the spring is wonderful. Toronto in the summer is wonderful. Toronto in the fall is wonderful.

I get to spend my whole summer until September in the most glorious room. It's right in the middle of Parkdale, which means it's close to hip hang outs, close to the beach, close enough to the city center, close to no frills, close to a shopper's, close to the library... pretty much close to everything worth being close to. Which is why I love Parkdale so, so much. When I first moved to Parkdale in 2009, I didn't really even notice anything because it was getting cold out and I was busy. Once it got warmer and I became less busy, I noticed what a fucking fabulous neighbourhood I was living in. Naturally, when I got back from Alberta, I refused to live anywhere else. Why on earth would I want to? Cheap rent and all the above listed perks of living here... forget about anywhere else.

So anyway, suffice it to say, I'm pretty fucking stoked.

There's a nice sunny window with a quaint garden view. A wardrobe and dresser, which are a VERY nice change from living out of two suitcases squished under my bed + a large pile of clothes IN my bed. A desk, room for my bags to be hidden away, and it's about the same size as my old apartment with a nice big bathroom next door, and a good sized kitchen just up stairs. And I get a porch! And I don't have any psychotic drunk neighbours who will throw things at the walls and scream out the window at 7am. Fuck that dude. Seriously.

I shall now lounge in the gloriousness that is my summer flat.
Good night, and good luck.


I should totally see that movie, shouldn't I?


Also.

I bought Walk The Line yesterday.
I've spent forever in a coma of the deliciousness of Joaquin.

Johnny Cash; Underwear

Basically.

I'm celebrating the fact that I can once again walk around in a thong and tank top without anyone flipping their shit saying I'm inappropriately appareled.

I'm celebrating the fact that I can once again do whatever the fuck I want, whenever the fuck I want.

I'm celebrating the fact that I, once again, am home.

<3 Hello Toronto. It's nice to be back.


And tomorrow, I'm going downtown to finally buy Walk The Line. Because no video shop in Canmore had it.

However, I do still mourn the fact that I was away during every opportunity to see Rammstein.
Fuck my life. They mean absolutely EVERYTHING to me.

So close when we were in Edmonton on the same nights... but could I go see them?


Of course not.




Europe. In Europe, I can.

I Wasn't Going To Say Anything

... but seriously? All this business about Osama Bin Laden is such bullshit.

People are celebrating that he got killed.
As if he was at all still relevant.

This hasn't been about Al Qaeda for a long time. And even if it was, there is more than just one person in it and behind things.

If this REALLY was going to make ANY difference at all, wouldn't soldiers be getting pulled out of the Middle East??
Yes.

And are they??
No.

Which means that this makes no difference to anything. Cool. Osama Bin Laden can't plot any more terrorist attacks.
It doesn't mean no one else isn't going to.

People are celebrating and chanting "USA!" in the streets, or so I hear.
How embarrassing.

He's being compared to Hitler.

How absolutely ridiculous. He was a fucking terrorist. He occasionally orchestrates mass murders to get a rise out of people.

Adolf Hitler managed to become chancellor of one of the most powerful European countries, take over most of Europe, convince enough of a country that genocide was the way to go to make Germany a better place to live, actually go through with widespread genocide, cause a World War, etc. Plus he had a whole bunch of nasty associates to play with. (I'm sure Bin Laden also has many of these, but I don't know their names)

You can't claim that Bin Laden started a war, because that probably wasn't his intent. I'm going to blame that one on the government of the United States. Way to go. By the way. On that one. Yeah.
Not really.

Hitler, on the other hand, wanted to take over the world, and would start a war over it if necessary. He ordered the ethnic cleansing of millions of people, and then caused a war, which killed tonnes of other people.

Added together, I'm sure the death toll far surpasses however many people were killed in acts of terror.
Not including suicide bombers themselves, of course, because if you really want to die killing other people, that's your problem.


ANYWAY.
I'm in Southern Alberta right now. On a farm. Just until Wednesday, though.
I can see Montana from the barn.
Chief Mountain (or something) in Glacier National Park.