My Jogging Nipples

Well you are all very lucky, or perhaps very unlucky I was going to accompany this post of mine with a close up shot of one of my nipples (the right one) but I decided against it. Why you ask? Well it's a tad creepy I think, although perfect for Halloween I guess.

So the story behind my nipples is that this weekend I went for a nice 70 minute jog, in what eventually became the pouring rain. Now it was pretty cold out (around 3 or 4) so like most people since I was a bit cold my nipples were a bit hard. Now add in my soaking wet "wicking" t-shirt to the mix of my hard nipples and you get a sort of a cheese grater effect. Where every up motion of my body was a down motion of my "wicking" t-shirt, and vice versa. Making every forward motion of my body result in one tiny fraction of skin on my nipples being shorn away.

And we're not talking about the areola, we're talking about the nipple, the nipplest of the nipple region.

So by the time I had finished my run I was left with two very sore nipple, nipples that did not like the shower that I took after, nor did they like the t-shirt that I wore for the rest of the day. Apparently this sort of happening is quite common when one jogs, I found this in one of those "You know you're a jogger when" lists:

• when there are permanent blood stains on your T-shirts where your nipples were rubbed raw

Weird. I'm supposed to where bandages over them, or grease them up with vasoline before I go...

Either way over the last few days the pain in my nipples has subsided and they have started to heal. I think that the small round scabs in the middle are getting smaller but that could just be wishful thinking. Ahh jogging what don't you do for me.

Propagandhi Last night!

So last night was the Propagandhi show here in Toronto at the Fun Haus. I made the trek there myself as I could not seem to convince anyone who might like their music, and who wasn't already previously booked, or in some other way busy, to go with me.

No matter really I've been to shows by myself before it's not that bad, but I must admit I did feel somewhat trepidatious before heading out to this one. This one being the first concert that I've ever gone to alone in Toronto.

Luckily I was scheduled for a hour jog last evening so I chose my route so that I would jog by the Fun Haus, a place that I've never been too, so that I would know how to get there when the time came. Luckily for me it was a simple streetcar south down Bathurst to Queen then east for maybe a half a block, so not difficult at all.

Sadly when I got there I was greeted with a line up that stretched right around the corner of the building so I was forced to wait in line for the entirety of the opening act, Attack in Black. Which is too bad since even though I know nothing at all about them, their tunes on their myspace site don't sound half bad. But what can you do?

It was also sad because I was forced to stand in line and listen to people going to the same show that I was use terms like "faggot", "gay", and "bitch." Great guys (they were of course all guys) I'm glad Propagandhi's message is getting through to you.

But all of that melted away when about 10 minutes or so after I got inside GFK took the stage. Now I'm not that familiar with GFK but when the lead singer began the intro to their first song in his Quebecois accent (they are from Quebec city) and announced that it was about Canada's role in atrocities in Africa (Ghana perhaps?) and entitled something like "The Myth of the Barrie Gold Mine Company" (I may totally be wrong about that) I knew that everything was alright, even before the loud angry hardcore started. Granted I have no idea what the lead singer or the band were saying, since the singing was mostly unintelligible screams, but if you tell me that your hardcore songs are about feminism or women's rights...I'm all behind you. All-in-all a very tight band that I really enjoyed seeing and listening to, even if hardcore generally (with a few exceptions) is not my cup of tea.

Up after GFK was supposed to be the Toronto based Hip Hop group (collective?) Dope Poet Society, but as far as I can tell they didn't show or there was some sort of a problem. There were two hip hop acts, the first was only on for five minutes and was pretty good, and the second was on for longer but lost confidence with some audio problems and a crowd that grew more and more hostile as their performance wore on. In the end the crowd began to boo the act, which I though was in bad taste, but truthfully it wasn't going that well.

Sadly by that time the bar had inexplicably ran out of beer? Is that what they do in Toronto to control people at these things? Limit the available beer supply so that it runs dry by 11:15pm? Seriously very weak, the vodka and seven's did nothing to assuage my anger.

Up next were Propagandhi and they did not disappoint. I hung out near the back on the steps, with the other people who want to be able to see the stage but don't want to get in the pit, bobbing my head, and singing along. As I do with all bands (as I informed Rod the next day) when I know all of their lyrics and who've changed my life. Yes Propagandhi has changed my life, if it wasn't for me spending that entire summer at the cabin when I was 16 years old with Jamie Wall's copy of How to Clean Everything in my Walkman constantly, I don't think that I would be the same person that I am today. So obviously I have a slightly biased opinion of the band, but I chalk part of that up with their ability to keep me enamored with every album they've released since I was 16, which amounts to only three, but three great albums.

I've seen Propagandhi play a number of times but this was the first concert since the addition of David (The Beaver) Guillas, and as I said before I was not disappointed. They put on a great show and the crown being behind them at all times was a great help. Sweaty fists in the air singing along to all of the old and most of the new tracks (songs from the last album dominating the set overall) was a great way to hear them again. And sweaty it was in there, man by the time the show was over I was dying.

So at about 12:30am I found myself on a streetcar heading northwards up Bathurst to Bloor ears ringing and sweat finally drying in the cool air. Then after a quick beer at Clinton's (what you can't expect me to go right home after being force into Vodka Sev land can you?) in bed beside my wife falling asleep.

The Weekend The Weekend

So this weekend Danielle's Mother came and visited us, she came on Thursday and then left last night around 8:00pm. It was a lot of fun and we did some pretty interesting stuff while she was here.

The first thing that we did was go to this Pen Canada benefit which was very interesting. John Ralston Saul gave out an award to a Canadian journalist for the work that she did on the Air India Crash, which was cool because I am a fan of Saul's but he really didn't get to speak that much simply introduce the journalist.

Still it was a good evening and interesting because most authors read from unpublished works or works that are going to be published later on in the year, so it was like getting a sneak peak.

The next night Danielle and her mother went to see Wicked, which by their accounts was also wicked.

The next day we went for a hike in The Beaches through Ashbridge park, where I took the following pictures and fell in love with my camera's macro setting.


Danielle and her mother.


Three drops on a branch.


A bunch of drops on a clover.


Trumpeter Swan.


Moss...up real close.


The Toronto Skyline.


A plant, up real close again.

So that's basically it, there were other things that happened that I am not mentioning, dinner at Bom Shiva for one (which was really tasty) the traffic on the way to the Yorkdale mall (which was decidedly un-tasty) and other such adventures.

You know what's pretty crazy?

This

They have clips now!

Boss Day!

Hey did anyone else know that October 16th is Boss Day? Seriously....Boss Day?

I'm sure that in factories and office building's around the world people are just lining up to thank their bosses.

And I'm not saying that there aren't any good bosses or anything, but Boss Day like getting all of the people that lost at the Olympics together for an "Olympics Winners Day"... I mean they already won?

Fall Fall Fall

Well, I'm sitting in the office on a wet and windy Wednesday and wondering what has become of our wonderfully warm summer weather. Turns out Fall has happened, well didn't it actually happen on the 22nd of September? Either way what has happened now is actually fall, you know gray days, cold winds, the turning of the leaves, and you can now wear those sweaters and scarves that you purchased in Buenos Aires like the Spanish Intellectual you are.

So it's Fall now what does that mean to me? Well for one thing it makes the jogs I'm still going for a bit more brisk but a little bit more enjoyable now that I don't have to worry about sweating as much. Plus it's actually sort of fun running by people in heavy jackets when you are wearing your skimpy little jogging shorts.

It also makes playing tennis a little bit better since the courts are almost always open. The downside to the tennis is of course it's a little chillier and you can't play as long since it's getting dark pretty early. But always being able to get a court far outweighs those problems.

Anything else that's nice about fall, well I guess going for walks is a bit nicer since you don't have to sweat all the time. The leaves on the trees look really nice. That warm cup of coffee first thing in the morning totally feels a lot better when it's cold outside, but it does make getting out of bed in the morning just a little bit more difficult as your covers just seem a little bit more cozy.

You know what I'm saying...Fall!

Strange Garlic

So the other day (Sunday) I was making this raw-food veggie pate that required some garlic. So I headed over to the garlic bowl that we have and grabbed four random cloves, that may or may not have been part of the same bulb.

The first two cloves were fine, but then I got to this weird clove (pictured above) it was all squishy and soft like a clove of roasted garlic. Wacky eh? I've never uncovered a clove of garlic like this before...If anyone has any information on cloves like this I'd love to hear it!

Almost the Weekend!

Well it's almost the weekend folks, and this is an extra special weekend since it's a long one that should be full of thanks and perhaps your family. But as far as the whole family deal is concerned it really helps if you live in the same general vicinity as your family...

Otherwise you could just go all hardcore nerd.

Fraking Nerds.

Christine's Birthday

All right I totally forgot to mention that it was Christine's Birthday last Friday! What a shmuck I am. Anyways happy birthday Christine!


She's the pain in this pleasure and pain retrospective:

Rain Rain Rain

So it's been raining here for a little bit, and one thing I've noticed in the last two years hunkered down in the heartland of Canada (read: Toronto) is that Tropical storms and whatnot actually effect the weather here.

In Winnipeg (from whence I sprung) Tropical storms don't really seem to effect the weather at all. Here often when there is a storm, hurricane, or depressions somewhere East or South East we often catch the tail end of the storm up here. I mean the weather is obviously not as bad as it was when the storm was a foll power, but what we get is still often powerful.

Last night was an example of that I think, nothing crazy just a nice kick-ass thunderstorm that woke Danielle and I up at 6:00am.

What a weekend what a sunday!

So this weekend was the U of T Women's Centre's (Or the Centre for Women and Trans People, which is their new name) (where Danielle volunteers) 20th anniversary party. As a result much of my Friday was spent gathering up sound equipment for the party, and most of my Saturday was spent gathering up raffle prizes, attending the party, and transporting goods to and from the Cecil community centre where the party was held.

But that really isn't what this post is about even though it was a good time, this post is about what happened to me on Sunday. As you may or may not know I'm in a book club, and this months book is The White Bone. The book club meeting is scheduled for Tuesday and as of Sunday morning I had read 28 pages of this 324 page book.

I wasn't worried as I planned to spend all Sunday and then Monday night reading this book. So Danielle and I got up on Sunday around Noon and then went out for brunch at The Lakeview Lunch (used as a set in The Boondock Saints) with Fiachra and some of his friends from Brazil and Mexico. Then it was back home for some hardcore reading.

I read for two hours till about 5:00pm and which time it looked pretty nice so I decided to go for a jog. So I got into my jogging gear and went out for a nice 35 minute jog. Then I cam home, talked to my Family in Winnipeg, and had a nice hot shower, during which Danielle ordered some pizza.

I read until the pizza arrived at which time we ate and watched an episode of House together. Then it was back to reading for me.

I'm pleased to say that I finished the book last night around 1:00am and that I really enjoyed it, but that, again, really isn't what this post is about. This post is about what I went to be thinking: "Man, why can't everyday be like today?"

Seriously, it was a great day, went out for some food, got some exercise, saw some friends, spent some time with my Wife, relaxed, and read. It was just a good old fashioned lazy Sunday and I loved it. It's what humans were meant to do, we were never meant for all the stress and work that we experience in Modern life, we were meant to be happy...that is if we were meant to be anything...which I'm not so sure about...

Now if only I could figure out a way to have that type of a day every day...