The Lost Summer

I ran across a video on Facebook called 25 Years of Summer Songs and all of them brought brief flashes of life back to me, except one. It was so strange to recognize each one, remember the song, reflect on my time during that year and then be confronted by a blank. It was jarring but I assumed it was probably an American list and that song wasn't popular here.

Then I thought about the year - 2004. I don't know if I would say it was the worst summer that I have had but it was a rough one: staying in Ottawa after my first year at Carleton in Engineering, to take summer courses. Working at a minimum wage job across the city that took over an hour and half on transit to get to. Dealing with a long distance serious relationship. Not many friends around because so many people return to their hometowns during that first university summer. However, that minimum wage job was at Extreme Pita, so that is full-time radio listening and I am surprised that the song didn't stick in my mind from that.

The song, Burn by Usher, seems to be pretty universally agreed to be the main song for the summer of 2004. While I recognize other songs from that same album, that one just isn't in my memory. I don't totally agree with all the picks each year, in 2001 I can remember Drops of Jupiter being a major summer song, but that might have just been personal experience. I might not be big on music but songs are still often a serious memory link.

Move Back On The TTC

Move to the back people! In buses and streetcars it is always more empty at the back. This isn't a new issue brought about by entitled millennials wanting to stand closer to the door, or busy yuppies with their briefcases and gym bags taking up aisle room, or even the recent influx of massive strollers blocking up the front sections - it is an age old issue. As this vintage TTC poster can attest to:

It just doesn't make sense to me. This morning there was a crowd of people in the bus I took along King St. to work (they have started to supplement the 504 Streetcar with buses). By the time I squeezed past all the people in the aisle and made it up the stairs to the back section there were tons of seats available. It should be a common etiquette rule that no one can stand in the main aisle until all the seats are taken and people have filled the aisle in the back section.That back section is just as good as the main one - just as many poles to hold on to, just as close to the rear door, just as wide. I don't get it. It is so frustrating.

Speaking of frustrating, I am not a huge fan of this sexist vintage ad from the TTC. Though I do enjoy it showing the men being really passive aggressive, and the kid crying (because that is another annoying thing that happens on public transit) though I feel like the girl is too old to be crying:

I Hate Short Turns

A Short Turn (from the TTC website) - When a vehicle is behind schedule, a decision is made by supervisory staff to make a service adjustment. Short turn means the vehicle will not continue to the end of the route but will be turned to travel in the opposite direction to balance service on the route.

When this happens the driver announces, "This bus will now short turn at Queen." or wherever the planned turn around point is. You usually have a few stops to decide what to do. Often I choose to walk the rest of the way, depending when the stop is. Other times, I wait with the huge group of angry people for the next bus (or streetcar, because it happens on them too.)

I swear this is only a thing for the TTC. I never experienced it in Ottawa, or any city that I have visited and used transit it. It also happens to me all the time, and it is so annoying!

Money Challenge - Week 3

MY CHALLENGE
Time Frame: This past weekend
* Keep the cost of my trip to Ottawa for the long weekend (Easter) under $200 *
Notes: I have finished this and was successful! It was a bit harder than I thought it would be, but I made it through.

$     3 - Magazine for bus ride
$ 150 - Greyhound Bus Ticket
$     3 - OC Transpo
$   15 - Lunch at The Works
$   13 - Dinner ordered in
$    7 - Lunch at Starbucks
$ 191 - Total

One Cab In June

I had made an oath to myself at the end of May - No Cabs (to work) in June! However, this morning after a particularly long sleep-in, I thought I might have a early meeting scheduled that I would miss or be late for if I took the bus, so I cabbed. But it will be the only one!!

Not A Good Morning

-Slept in
-Bus was late
-Forgot my pass
-Elevator was broken
Not the greatest start to my day!

Morning On The Bus

I decided to take an early bus to travel home since my parents had plans this evening and needed to pick me up before 5:30. The 9:30am bus which I was planning to take got into Brantford at 6pm, so I opted for the 7:00am bus instead.

Here is what it was like:
5:00-5:30--Alarm goes off, repeatedly, due to lots of snooze button pressing. (Sounds like a rooster since I prefer that to waking with the radio.)
5:30-6:00--Wander around, eyes practically glued shut with sleep. (Even though I had only slept for about 3 hours.) Packed backpack, brushed teeth, etc.
6:00-6:30--Road #7 OC Transpo bus to the Greyhound terminal, was the only one on it for quite a ways.
6:30-7:00--Bought Greyhound ticket, waited for bus.
7:00-11:00--On bus, passed right out. (Complete with waking up to a crick in my neck and a bit of drool on my shoulder.)
11:00-12:00--Nice drive into Toronto from Ajax through Scarborough. (Bit of traffic on the Don Valley Parkway.) I really find TO's architecture and general vibe very exciting.
12:00-1:00--Hung out at the Toronto Greyhound terminal. Read. Talked a bit to my dad on the payphone. (His work has a 1-800 number.)
1:00-3:00--Took the local Greyhound bus from Toronto to Brantford, going through Hamilton. Wasn't able to sleep. Boringist drive ever! Hamilton is not a pretty or exciting city.
3:00--Mom picked me up. I'm glad to be back down here, I think it is going to be a very pleasent and relaxing time at home/cottage.

Talk Radio

In general I’m not a huge fan of radio. (Though I enjoy the commercials, which is the part that everyone else seems to hate.) If music is on I find it distracts me from thinking or if there are other people around it distracts from conversation, and I like both thinking and talking. I really don’t like news radio and talk radio is the worst of all. However, this morning in the cab (yes, on occasion I take a cab to work, please don’t focus on this detail) talk radio was on. Some interesting topics were being discussed, both related to the City of Ottawa, so I thought I would share the issues and my opinions on them.

Larry O’Brien & The Lockout
For those that don’t live in Ottawa, O’Brien is our mayor. I truly feel that he embodies all that is corrupt and terrible about politics in a single person. Even before the legal scandals that have overshadowed his term I didn’t like him or his ideas for running the city. The latest drama surrounding him is a discussion he had on a local television station about transit strikes. Last year's winter OC Transpo strike was terrible, so so awful. On TV, he said something along the lines of “If it looks like we are going to be in a situation like that again, then I think we need to lock them out during the summer, so as to avoid a strike in the winter. If they are in position to strike, we are in a position to lock out.” People are very unhappy with his statement. While I don’t know if this tough talk is the best approach, he is right, legally the city could lock out their employees if there is no contract. That is the employer part of the whole strike thing, they have certain rights as well. Unions have the right to strike, their employers have the right to lock them out. What I think is important about what he said is that he reminded everyone of a very key component that is often forgotten.

Bilingualism & The Olympic Torch
The Olympic Torch ceremony held at City Hall over the past weekend was conducted solely in English. There is an uproar over this which has lead to the city working on clarify their bilingualism policies to ensure that French is not forgotten again in the future. (Ironically the memo that went out about this was only in English and it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that a bilingual notice was sent around, along with more apologies for forgetting, again.) I can not believe the ceremony wasn’t bilingual. We are an officially bilingual city, policies should be so solidly in place that official languages are always considered. I don’t understand how it wasn’t caught earlier on in the planning. I definitely think that it should have been in both languages and that it was a huge error on the city’s part.

When OSAP Comes In

My expenses are piling up and OSAP is being a pain. I don't have it yet but when I do, I need to:
-pick up a bus pass
-pay off my parents for buying my plane ticket to Halifax
-get groceries
-buy textbooks and novels, there is a lot and they are expensive
-go to the dentist
-buy the Second Season of How I Met Your Mother
-get my eyebrows waxed, and maybe my legs
-pay off my credit card
-give Steph cash for chairs I'm buying from Dave's sister
-get cat food
-go shopping to get new bras, underwear, boots and a pair of jeans

Bugging Me All Weekend

#1 - Bugging Me For 30 Minutes
Ottawa Erin and I were sitting having coffee talking about movies. We then remembered going to a movie together with Jerrica but not which movie it was. It took forever to figure it out and neither of us could remember. We thought we had never seen a serious movie together, only comedies, but we couldn't be sure. Even though the conversation went through many topics it kept coming back to what that movie had been. Finally I ended up using Erin's cell phone to call Jerrica and ask her. Turns out it was "Seven Pounds" with Will Smith, which was a serious movie.
Solution: Call Roommate

#2 - Bugging Me For 1 Week
I don't know how this came to mind but at one point last week I was talking about something and wanted to use this specific word for swearing. 'A swear word' can also be called something that starts with an 'e'. For the life of me I could not figure out what it was. If kept coming up every couple of days and I would try a whole bunch of options but none seemed right. 'Expolusitive' or 'explicitive' or 'expl-something.' This time Jerrica didn't know. I was ranting about it to her on the bus Saturday evening when the girl behind us said that it might be 'expletive' that I was looking for.
Solution: Stranger On Bus

#3 - Bugging Me For 6 Months
Since I heard the Jon Lajoie song 'Stay At Home Dad' I have know that it is a parody of heavy metal music. Strangely this is a genre that I know fairly well, from my brother and former boyfriends. Specifically it reminded me of a certain one but I could not figure it out!!



I eventually realised that it was the 'I take care of my children' part that was similar to a song that I remember from my old clubbing days at The Kingdom on The Edge Live To Air nights, way back. It was a perfect parody of something. I googled it the other day and after a few searches found someone mentioning that it reminded them of a RATM song. Took me a second to figure out that RATM is Rage Against The Machine and then I had to listen to a couple of their songs on YouTube to figure out which one. Turns out it is the 'Now you do what they told ya' part of their song "Killing In The Name" which was on their 1992 album.
Solution: Search The Internet

I Love It

I bought a bus pass. It is the greatest thing. I had a few monthly ones a few years back but I just got an annual student pass that goes until the end of August. Someone had told me that it doesn't save that much money, that it is just easier than waiting in line and remembering to go and get a new one every month. It turns out that it is a big savings almost like the last month is free. I broke the bank to afford all that money upfront but it is worth it. Especially because now I feel super bad taking a cab as I can take the bus as much as I like. I even brought my groceries home on the bus tonight, which I never do.

Can You See It?

Standing at the bus stop, barely awake, early morning. Hearing the easily recognizable sound of a quick staccato. Haze, smile, hear the wind through the trees and think of waves lapping against a dock or crashing onto a beach. Slowly realize I'm in the city, peering down the street I look at the trees and telephone poles. Look away and just listen as the sweet sound continues. A man approaches and I wonder if he will stop and wait for the bus as well, he passes. He stops a few feet ahead. He almost turns the corner but then he hears it. Peering down the street he turns back to smile at me. I smile, "Can you see it?" No, neither can I, but we smile anyway, we can hear it. He tells me that is it probably small, a little one, "Probably a Downy," gestures size with his hands. I nod, they make a faster sound, we are both smiling. He continues on. Birders in the city, nature pushing through our streets and suits and sound.

On The Road Again

I took my first bus ride today after over two months of cabs, carpooling, and walking. It was great, everyone was in good spirits and you could see people greeting each other who obviously only ever see each other on the bus commute. I'm also really lucky because I get on the bus near the start of its route since it usually fills up pretty quickly. All transit on Ottawa is free this week, but there were not as many people as usual on the bus this morning.

On Day 51

It sounds like the strike it over. After spending the last couple of days thinking that OC Transpo was systematically trying to ruin my life, it looks like the end is in sight. The City of Ottawa and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 have both agreed to send their dispute to binding arbitration with no conditions on all outstanding issues, namely scheduling, we have heard so much about the damn scheduling. This is a huge deal. This is progress. This means an agreement will happen and the buses will start again, at some point. The strike will officially end once city council and the union's membership both ratify the deal. They are meeting again tomorrow. But even after the official end, it maybe up to 14 weeks (over 3 months) before full service resumes. It looks like they are making the 7 one of the priority bus routes and also getting the 4 and 1 running mid-day and evenings. Those are all the ones that I really care about, so hopefully I should be able to get downtown soon!!

OC Transpo

My favorite cheer I ever learned when I was a Carleton Cheerleader was one we never got to do. It was considered a taunting cheer and would be in poor taste. In a basketball game when a player for the opposing team travels: "You travelled, you walked, you took too many steps, next time you travel take the B-U-S, OC Transpo, OC Transpo, OC Transpo." I love it. What I don't love is our bus tickets costing $1 each. Every year The City of Ottawa and OC Transpo, our bus system, raise the prices of either tickets or passes. This time the tickets have crawled up. I remember when they were around 80 cents. Now it is going to cost me $3 if I am pay cash and $2 if using tickets since it takes two for adult bus fair.

Dark To Dark

I want to say that yesterday I was productive from dawn to dusk, but with the short winter days it was more like I was productive from dark to dark. I woke up at 5:30 to go to a 6:30am yoga class. My studio has classes at 6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I want to start going all the time. I have made it to the last two. So I grabbed the 6:00 bus, head down for an hour and half class. Then I catch another bus afterwards (on the same transfer.) The bus doesn't take me all the way to work, I still have to walk a few blocks up the street, but I get in 10 minutes early. Then I worked all day, late actually as I was prepping for a few days in an other position. I'm currently filling in for an executive secretary while she is on holiday. I had a great lunch which I had brought from home, Chicken Cordon Blue and vegetables, out of the freezer and made for dinner the night before. After work I went to Carleton and watched a full lecture, then I walked home in the dark in time to catch House M.D. before heading to bed. It was such a productive day, I hope it continues throughout the week.

Murphy's Law

Of course the first morning I have my bike back it rains. I ended up having Anna drive me to work. I need to go downtown after work, so I will take a bus home from there. I don't want summer to end, it makes me so sad. Gloomy, cold Fall days really depress me.

Kitty Litter Olympics

I had to buy a jug of cat litter today since I'm out and Binx's box needs to be changed. I carried it home on the bus. In an effort to get home quickly, I took the 4, a bus that drops me off the farthest from Le Manoir, but goes the fastest. My arms were so sore from carrying this jug (and other groceries). It was quite an event. I just checked how heavy it was and it is 7kg of cat litter, which according to Em is about 14 or 15 pounds.

I Can Be Cute

Drinks at 18eighteen with Ami. I ordered a Nights In White Satin, a white cranberry martini, since Cosmo said it was the new thing, also it was among the cheaper drinks on the menu. The very very thin waitress messed up my drink and used regular cranberry, so it was red and not white, she gave it to me, free of charge, and made the right one. Slightly tipsy, we headed home, I walked from the bus stop to the house without my shoes, because they were hurting my feet. I think I look a little like a librarian? Oh well, I was having a "Nothing To Wear" & "All of my clothes are either dirty or don't fit" Dressing Crisis, so I'm glad I was able to pull this night together and head out on the town for an hour or so.
"Nothing like two girls on a median."-Me, August 30, 2006

Urban

Two perfect people, sitting in a window
Perched on bar stools at Herb and Spice
Drinking Perrier and Orangina
A spoon sits in her yogurt
They are eating organic fruit, free-trade chocolate
They have no nationality
So blended, so melted, their faces so beautiful
Latin American, Asian, White
So polished, dressed up in a stripped shirt
Manicured toes placed in delicate sandals
She stretched
He smiles

I watch them from my seat in the bus
Slowly moving towards home
Eating the cold fast food fries sitting beside me
My pants too low and my tight shirt, weight gain
Thrown together, they don't match
Round cheeks and dark eyes
Smelling of coffee and sweat
I worked all morning, drank iced tap water
I turn away from them