ACCOZZAGLIA

The last few days have felt a bit like a whirlwind for me. I seem to run around a lot, but I’m certainly getting a lot done. It’s not really the running around part which is making me tired. It’s the humidity + heat combo, which for the moment is fostering a bit of air stagnation. And that means smog.

For the moment, I’m staying cool inside Robarts Library at the UofT, which is quite large. I think the only academic main library I’ve seen which comes close to the size of this building might be the Perry-Castaneda Library at the University of Texas in Austin. I used to go there to bury myself in books when I was in my late teens and early twenties, even though I didn’t attend uni there.

So on Monday, I stopped by a small bakery which stridingcloud noted is one of the better places to get croissants. I’d say. At first, the crescent didn’t look so spectacular, but then again, I’m used to those bloated things you get in the bakery section of the supermarket down in the U.S. Then the butter in the croissant hit my palate and left me in this moment of “oh my fucking god” on Queen St. Good thing no one saw my “omfg!” face. The chocolate croissant also was a thing of wonder. I guess now I want to find out if I can take it up a notch and find even better croissants in the city, since I’m wont to find the best of the best with pretty much anything food-wise.

Afterwards, I set up my student ID card on campus, which here is known as a UTORid card. All I could think of was, “Huh-huh, you Torrid,” a la the clothing store with an identity crisis. The process was quite instantaneous, whereas I thought they were going to have to mail me the card. They are equipped to produce ID cards with digital photo, smart chip, magnetic strip and bar code within a matter of minutes. This means I will always be tracked. Gosh. Darn. That. Sucks. (Sorta). It’s a symbolic move, but to have my ID in hand makes things feel that much more certain, official, likely, secure. I’m still nervous about financial aid. How could I not be?

Also on Monday, I began what is going to become Sun Tan ’05. I think it’ll be fun to watch Seattleites (and other Americans) who ask me, “Say, you’re awfully tan for these parts; where’d you go for all that sun?” respond all perplexed when I’ll say, “Oh, I got this tan in CANADA.” (well, ordinarily, I’d just say “Toronto”, but I run into so many Americans who don’t even know where either Toronto or Ontario are, much less Canada). If they say anything about igloos or blubber or donuts, I might have to get cranky and read them the riot act. >:(

After setting up around campus and asking assorted questions, I walked into Queen’s Park, which is a nice little escape from the bustle of the city. It’s nice, quiet and pretty. It’s a place where I’ll come to decompress quite often — even in wintertime. I’d forgotten how most of the squirrels here are black. That’s really neat. :)

Afterward, I ambled over to Timothy’s (a Toronto coffee house that isn’t to be confused with Tim Hortons — aka., Timmies) on Bay and Queen, across from Starbucks. As I sat there drinking an Italian soda, seeing Starbucks from across the busy rush hours traffic presented this sense of symbolic separation from Seattle. I guess that day is quickly approaching. I sincerely cannot wait.

Then, my host made a rendezvous with me at Timothy’s before we went for a cheap (and tasty) falafel dinner Monday night. It underscored how one can certainly eat well here on the cheap.

Tuesday, meanwhile, took me in an entirely different direction. I set up my university email account from my host’s place ([myname]@utoronto.ca just makes me so pleased, let me tell you) before jetting down Queen (okay, crawling down Queen) to get to Bay St. I had a 1pm online teleconference chat session with my client and some of our associates related to a project I’ll be getting underway here shortly. I took this “call” over at another Timothy’s, this time on Bay and Charles, near Bloor.

Once that was over with, I walked west on Bloor to get a feel for the trendy, touristy nature that is one of the upscale fashion areas here. I saw Bay-Bloor Radio, but elected not to walk in, given the temptations found within. When I came across the new Royal Ontario Museum, currently having a wing added to the facility, I noticed how the architecture looked uncannily like that of the McNamara alumni building on the University of Minnesota campus. I swore they were designed by the same architect. Then I saw how the ROM architect is none other than Daniel Liebskind, the same guy responsible for the WTC complex now being built, while the U of M project completed in 2002 was designed by someone in New Mexico. Something makes me wonder whether Liebskind isn’t really all that original at all, that he’s really just a rockstar in the architect world for the moment. Hrm.

OK, boring geeky architecture stuff, I know. So I returned to the UofT to set up wireless internet access (which is how I come to you at this moment), where I found myself in a major geeking session with the help desk guy. We totally bonded over both being Kinko’s exiles, harsh critics of OS X Tiger, and well, I had to break the news to him that Apple are no longer going to be making PowerPCs. How he hadn’t heard this is beyond me. So we bitched about that for a solid half hour.

Once he and I parted ways I joined thecherrybomb at this fantastic little café called the Moon Bean in Kensington Market. I had a total blast with her, even though I ended up being a total chatty cathy throughout. She warned me that next time, she’ll likely be chattier than I was. :) She was absolutely a lot of fun in person, and I look forward to seeing her more often once I get settled in here. :D

So today, my host and I were to meet righteousbean for lunch at this place on Roncesvalles called the Brass Tap. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to make an appearance. :/ Still, her suggestion for meeting there was a wise one, since the food was surprisingly good — namely, the wine-sautéed shrimp in a marinara sauce, topped with small pieces of melted, fresh mozzarella. Shrimp Suzane, I think it was called. Quite nice. :) The sweetened iced tea was enirely perfect for today’s weather.

Then, I toured the co-op residences I had applied to back in April. I seem to be a slight bit ahead of the curve for a lot of this uni planning, and this makes me hopeful. A couple of the houses were dodgy (in the case of the younger, undergrad-catered places) due to their party atmosphere (“F-U-N-N-E-L . . . funnel! T-dot drink-dot drunk . . . [indecipherable]!“), while others were quite nice (in the case of their grad student-tailored houses, most whom are also in their thirties). I’m not final on my decision, but I’m very seriously leaning on the first idea, that of rooming with a co-worker of wohali‘s in Little Italy. The location, price and environment are great there, and I think it’d be a good move for me. I’ll make a definite answer shortly.

Oh, and this’ll make shimmerydeath, Schwagmasta Extraordinaire, happy, if not amused: I bought a UofT hoodie to underscore to Seattle folk that I don’t belong there and that I’m gettin’ the fuck out soon. No hard feelings, eh? ;)

And so, here I am. My plans with others today kind of fell through on three different fronts. Not exactly a stellar day as far as socializing goes. Ehhh, it’s all for the best. There is always the autumn, I suppose. I think I’ll head over to Timmies for an iced cappuccino and something absurdly sweet to nibble on.

Tra for now. :)