golden gate park

12:08 a.m. nikki sp
i guess golden gate park redeemed san fran for me.

we started off the day to go to some flip resto i discovered on this sf hidden menu blog. but, our timing sucks, and the one day we wanted to go there was the one day it was closed for a private event.

nevertheless we motored on and decided to spend some time in san fran's green spaces.

when dan and i set out to hit the park, we were intending to hit the full house park, where we could pretend to be uncle jesse and michelle tanner and throw a frisbee around with comet.
we didn't do enough research to figure out where that was or how to get there, so we checked out the park that we stumbled upon: golden gate park.

for the next 2 hours, we traversed through a lush green terrain, encountering waterfalls amidst the woods, misplaced museums and roaming elk. so very random. we played improv games to pass the time (as, after spending soooo much time with each other, we had ran out of new things to say that we didn't already know).

and at the end, we reached the ocean as the sun was setting.



it was like a little reward at the end of our journey. and on top of that, there was a band playing in the woods as we were leaving. lovely exit music to score our departure.
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san franciscan thanks

12:06 p.m. nikki sp
i guess when you're not living in so cal, and are from a cold, canadian metropolis, san francisco seems like a great place to live.

that's how i felt my first two times visiting sf, in aug 97 and sept 04.

but having since relocated to l.a.... it was a very different feeling this time.
i'll admit, i like the city feel of san francisco a lot more. it just feels like a city. but spending thanksgiving weekend in san fran was less than spectacular.
i'm not sure if it was the combo of cold and family and lack of other friends in the hood, as well as lack of funds...
but it didn't feel so welcoming as it had previous times around.

the drive up was pretty long but pretty dec regardless. mom took the first leg and dan took the home stretch. about 4-5 hours apiece with a carl's jr reststop in between. we opted to take the 101 for a more scenic drive. but after 2 hrs stuck in l.a. traffic on the way out of the city, we couldn't even see the supposed beautiful scenery.
road trip route fail.

we got in around 1:30 and crashed to prepare for thanksgiving...

...and this consisted of gettin a lovely breakfast at this asian-run mexican homestyle diner. and then a walk in the presidio.
the walk was nice. but easy to get lost as we tried to make our way to the gg bridge. google maps did not help as many paths were under construction or detoured or whatever.
so we eventually made it back to our room and chilled.
...hours later, we woke up. after we realized we fell asleep, we got our act together and joined my mother at mel's diner for turkey dins instead of going through with our reservation by the bay. since we were gonna surprise my mom with letting her know we'd pay, it worked out way better for our budget. what was even better was that they screwed up my order, giving me only white meat when i asked for only dark.
so i got an extra plate and we got double the turkey leftovers!
turkey win!

and while it may not have been the most traditional thanksgiving, it was dan and i first american one. and we certainly had plenty to be thankful for.
:)
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whatever ales us

3:18 p.m. nikki sp
the last day in nyc and the only thing i had on my list for the city was to check out croxley ales, after reading about it on wherescool.com

so after a day of wandering, hanging out with other displaced torontonians, seeing dan jizz himself after hanging out in supreme, and other shopping, we hit croxley and it did not disappoint.

this is why:
10 cent wings.
[with purchase of drink]



but hey, that's nothing.

mo mo joined us, and we had a lovely last night and i was painfully full.



a beautiful, well-fed last day in nyc. nothing much to it. except for much wings. yummy.
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funny monday

1:27 p.m. nikki sp
when i tried taking a nap on friday before the partying, i was awoken by some dude named john. my mom had texted me to say he would be calling, but since i was asleep, i didn't get the heads up.

turns out, he was from letterman, and calling about my reservation request. dan was really keen on seeing letterman above leno, for example, so i wanted to make sure i got em. it was weird - i had already secured conan and leno tickets, so i was used to the process.
but this time they asked me a trivia quesition and made sure i was a huge fan and was superexcited to go. of course, i made an educated guess and got it right, and feined excitement, and within moments i got tix.

so the show was on monday. we checked out of the hotel, left our baggage in the lockup and headed midtown to get on way.

we secured a spot in the audience, which didn't really mean shit cuz they still lined up people randomly. and then headed out to get food.
we didn't even realize it, but we were superclose to the food truck from the night before, and since he bestowed upon us a load of sauce, he deserved our business again. so we headed over, bought our gyros, and returned to the scene of the crime - in front of the sheraton, where our food remains still littered the ground from the night before.



and then, we headed back to check in for showtime.
...

well, the thing about having gone to tv school, we are pretty aware of the PAs hyping up the audience etc. and could see which PAs were like the people we went to school with.

needless to say, it was overkill. it felt so forced to be cheering and clapping that it was like overcompensating. i actually fell asleep during the first half of sharon stone's first segment. and trekked on through seth myers and wyclef jean/cyndi lauper. it was pretty underwhelming, but hey.

after the show, we returned to the hi ex to grab our stuff and cabbed it to jason's before heading to dan's comedy show.

it was an asian themed show, and dan got us in for free. linda came! and that was really sweet because i def wanted to see her before we left. this chick - allie wong i think her name was - was my favourite of the whole night and redeemed both asian and female comedians for me. she was awesome.
it was funny to see how much racist humour was dished out. it was to be expected.

afterward, we headed right around the corner to katz's so dan could eat a $15 sandwich. the pickles were delish. thats pretty much alls i ate for dins. and linda and i drank some more.



at that point, we were on good time to head up to meet mo mo, bo bo, and jason to catch a free show at the UCB. for dan's first cs experience, it was great to have jason suggest catching the ucb.

it was a pretty good line up. a pretty good day of laughs for free.

even though we were sleeping on the ground, it was a pretty great since jason was a swell host and centrally located. i was all laughed out and it was time to sleep.
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hi ex

12:58 p.m. nikki sp
haha. i just realized it's almost as if this blog entry would be about me running into my ex in nyc. hahah. unlikely.

no. it's about our awesome stay at the holiday in express, a room i booked for me, em, krys and dan at $40 apiece. pretty decent deal, especially for me as em decided to stay at her friend's, so i got my own bed to myself!!!

not only that, there was great smelling lotion that we got a few refills of, razors and shaving cream for me and dan!!!, and combs for me, dan, krys, and beau who came with us!
yeah, we took a pitstop in manhattan to pick up dan's stuff at mo's place, and beau joined us along the way.

it was our street food cuisine day, so i tried yelping food carts. unfortunately, all the foodcarts were in tourist central. but this gave us the wonderful opportunity to take obnoxious photographs like obnoxious tourists.

so we ended up on 6th and 56th or something like that... near the sheratons.. yeah, there were 2 sheraton hotels kitty corner to each other. and this food cart was glorious. we each got some variation on lamb gyro, and the dude was sooo awesome with the sauces. anyone who knows me knows i am all about sauces, and he loaded it up. he kept going to the point that i had to asked him to stop. that never happens.
[that's what she said]



and even though we were ridiculously full, we trekked up to the foot of central park and along the way scouted for new york cheesecake/red velvet cake.

full as a beast. totally worth it.

we walked back to the hi ex, watched some cablesies. amazing race! krys and i decided we'd be awesome teammates. beau left us, and then we just bummed around. we were gonna have a hotel party, but since dan had a gig for monday night, he wanted to be on his game (ie non drunk/hungover), and since krys was gonna be stuck in a bus for 8 hours, she agreed with this.
as much as people may think im an alky, i do not enjoy drinking by myself, or just because i don't have to do anything the next day. as i am unemployed, i would have several reasons to drink. but since i am unemployed, i also have one big one to NOT drink: i am poor.

so we just chilled in our hi ex room and revelled in the cleanliness and free other stuff!


i updated the blog to make each post correspond to the right date. and now we're back on track.
yay!
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harlem

12:22 p.m. nikki sp
jimmy was initially supposed to host us for 3 nights, but one of his roommies was having her mom over and i think he wanted to sleep in his bed again, which is why toby saved us and let us crash with him in harlem.

it worked out because it allowed krys to fulfill her long time goal of eating chicken and waffles in harlem. i thought about roscoe's and how michael had suggested that when we wanted to have a black themed night back in may. but toby had another thing in mind: amy ruth's.

i wish i took pictures of all of our delicious food. our table got 3 barrack obama's (for me dan and tobes. consisted of fried chick and 2 sides). kris got the al sharpton, which was the classic chick and waffles deal. smothered (with gravy). man, if i had known that it was fried chicken and gravy, i wouldve smothered that bitch too. i thought it was just regular roasted chicken or something with gravy. erroneous.

after dinner, we walked around trying to find the pacquiao fight and getting a tour around the area. toby was a great tourguide. so much so that he took us to the best place ever: the fairway market. it's not even like it was a farmers market. it was a grocery. but a magical grocery. a pint of ben and jerry's for $2.50!!!!
and a cold section where you wear a jacket to get to the meats and stuff. cheap. fresh. open. what else could anyone want in a grocery store??!?!

unfortunately we didn't get to see the fight. well not so unfortunately, as i didn't care. but the other peeps were into it. so... whatevskies.

fortunately. tobes has cable. and more importantly - he had the food network. so we watched us some iron chef america, and some other funnies.

and then dan, krys, and i unfolded the couch and squeezed in together.
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4 torontonians in manhattan

5:35 a.m. nikki sp
sounds like a really really lame sitcom idea that someone would have tried to pitch between 2001 and 2005.
well, that was our saturday.

we left jimmy's comfortable greenpoint apartment to drop off dan's stuff in the l.e.s. before hikin up to stay with toby in harlem.
a packed day indeed that saw us all over the place.

anyway, it was a rainy day. which meant i wasn't in a particularly peachy mood. for the most part, my left side was soaked. joy. but the company was great, so i wasn't so much of a downer. i got some frames at this vintage shop in soho. she called them uncle jesse glasses. i had to have em. she knew how to speak to her customers.
anyway, at only $15, i couldnt complain. my only challenge now is to find cheap a place to install cheap lenses with my prescript. ugh. glasses.

we visited jimmy at opening ceremony to return his keys and dry off a bit. dan fell in love with some timberland boots, and decided he would buy them on tues.

we were gonna go to the moma, but we spent so much time frolicking that it was 4ish by the time we were done shopping (the moms closes at like 5ish). so we just went to a cafe to prepare our stomachs for chicken n' waffles in harlem.

mo and beau were so kind enough to let us hang at their pad while waiting to meet up with toby, who was only free after 6. we played those games of exclusion - green glass room, and direct train ride... to see if people could pick up the pattern and get in on the secret.
since i'm so smart, i was able to figure it out before dan and krys on both accounts. har har. dan struggled hard, proving both that he doesn't pay attention, and has very little ability to make connections.
evskies.

and so, when it was like 6ish, we left the happy couple in their expensive ass room, and trekked over to harlem.
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serendipity/...and then i got puked on.

4:59 a.m. nikki sp
friday the 13th...
when i planned this trip, i thought of friday the 13th as a party opportunity i intentionally chose to leave midweek before fri 13, just in case anything came up. this was when we were still thinking of going to n'awlins, when i would think somethin totally radical was going on.

well in nyc, krys had her friend's bday party to go to at the empire rooftop bar. you had to pre-buy tickets online, apparently, which we did. but they didnt even check. so that was kind of annoying.

anyway, our day started with em comin to brooklyn from queens. us hangin and takin some stoop pics. and then walking across the billyburg bridge into manhattan for some vegan ice cream.

we got to lula's at 2:30, giving us an anxious half hour to burn and build up an appetite before we could get our faux ice cream on. and man, for non-dairy stuff, it was delish. dan and krys got their own sundaes and em and i banana split.
i mean, we walked between 2 boroughs... we deserved it.



we headed back to brooklyn to go to the boulevard tavern in hopes of indulging in $5 all you can eat bbq. but that plan was once again foiled with us being there at 6, and the deal starting at 10. erroneous. you did us wrong, yelp.

dan's improv friend mo from toronto met up with us and we had to settle for subpar diner food, and then napping before krys' friend's party.

i pretty much knew i wasn't going to be into it when i got there. coupled with the fact that i looked like crap, i was very obviously not incredibly keen to be there, which i guess concerned krys.
my feeble attempts to make the most of it did not fly so well either.
i mean, this spilly drinker dude dropped his drink on the ground near my shoes. in quick thinking, dan whispered to the dude to get me a drink, and whispered to me to complain about my shoes.
"my shoes!" i yelled, even though they were already wet from the rain outside.
oh well, it was enough to get me a rum and coke and some free gift bags.

and then we yelped a place to go to, even though our faith in yelp was somewhat shot.
our filters included: bars, closeby, cheap, and open.
yelp pointed us in the direction of rudy's in hells kitchen. $7 pitchers and free hotdogs all night. how could we go wrong???

so instead of heading to the dessert bar serendipity with the rest of the hotel party, we cabbed over to rudy's bar and grill and delighted in cheap pitchers and free dogs.

krys and i kind of got into a tiff, and dan was sitting awkwardly in the corner for a lot of it. but, with cheap booze, it's hard to stay upset for long. and shortly enough, we were back to laughing again.

when we did our bridge walk, krys and i agreed we would try out this japanese girly laugh throughout the day. and so we ran with it. and that made us laugh more, that we continued with our real laugh.

this caught the attention of this random girl sitting in front of us who whipped around to check if those were our real laughs.. we explained that they weren't, but were becoming so... and then continued chatting her up.

well, it turns out linda is from l.a. and very lovely and we continued to talk some more.



at one point, i went to the bathroom. this may be rudy's only downfall - one toilet for women. whilst i was in the lineup, some chick tried to cut in front of me so she could puke, but to no avail. so she ran into the guy's room.
she was out in no longer than a second, so i was like - man, quickest puke ever.
but then she whipped around, and spewed over my hand and sleeve before rushing back into the guys room.
barf.
so. gnarly.

ugh.

i think this is the first time i've been puked on by someone other than myself. it was so gross. esp since you could make out the hot dog bun chunks on the jacket.

so i rejoined the group, told em the story... we were about done there and krys was sleepy. so we said our goodbyes to linda, added her to facebook, invited her to dan's monday comedy show, and cabbed back to g-point (during which we had a great photoshoot with sleeping beauty).

i love how we were supposed to end up at this place called serendipity, but instead experienced a true moment of serendipity instead.

:)
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no sleep till brooklyn, we go hard

3:34 p.m. nikki sp

after a 12 hour bus ride (supposed to be 10... and then the bus broke down in syracuse), we arrived in nyc.

[insert: syracuse rest stop was awesome. for 230/330ish in the morning, krys, dan and i had a rad time in the parking lot. playing activities to keep us warm and moving. and unbored. and to work off the unfortunately tasty duncan donuts meal. it was an AWESOME moment. one that brought me back to the simple happiness of childhood. i felt like i had known these kids for life, like this was something we had done growing up together. funny that the 3 of us only came together just over a year ago]

soon enough, our rest stop fun was over and we were on the road again. and of course, i had a shitty sleep, but was pretty grateful to be able to experience the sunrise on the road. we had gangster seats on the bus - second level of the double decker, front window seats. amazing.


so we pulled into town about 730ish, and grabbed some food.
krys, dan and i had agreed to do the 1 meal a day travel diet.
but... already we had failed.

irregardless.

after a local, nothin spesh breks near penn station, we parted with em, i got to the banksies and then we cabbed it to brooklyn, to dan's friend jimmy's apartment in greenpoint.

man, this place is so perfect for us, and so appropriate for the type of first day we wanted to have in the city. por ejemplo:
arrive in brooklyn at 830ish.
nap till 130.
call parental units whilst still in bed.
get ready/yelp things to do.
set out on a food hunt at 330.
discover that the special at the boulevard isn't till the next day.
wander for pizza.
eat delicious pizza.
check out brooklynski, an appropriate hipster trinket place.
head back home.
go grocery shopping.
drop off groceries.
shop around for booze.
pick up 12er of pbr for $10.
hang around/nap in bed from 6ish to 7ish (or later, if you're krys)
wake up.
shower, if you're nikki.
drink pbr.
engage in an obnoxious, self-parodizing photoshoot.





decide to order chinese food.
eat chinese food at 11ish.
hang out with roommie.
sleep at 1ish if you're krys.
walk around g-point if you're nikki and dan.
discover an intersection of 24hr delis around nassau.
get back at 2ish.
and chill out/sleep/blog.

i couldn't have thought of a more appropriate first day for the 3 of us. so low stress. so much food. plenty of time to gear up for tomorrow's adventure.

i think tm we're gonna try to rally with em and toby to hit up the boulevard for $5 all you can bbq.
we're probs gonna have a naptime in the early eve. and then get ready for krys' friend's bday, which i am assuming is in manhattan.

i am glad to be spending this time with these people. but. i can think of a couple of people i'd want to be here as well. people who made my last days in toronto as fantastic as they were, and who would surely ease in my transition onward.


---
time to squeeze between krys and the wall. apart from dan snoring, this should be a cosy sleep.

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nyC u LA/tor

11:35 a.m. nikki sp
as much as i'd love to recount the last *glorious* days/daze of toronto, i already documented those moments through sets of emails, conversations. in the epistolary narrative of my life, these various recipients would have to come together to generate the full essence of these recent memories.

but enough of that.

i have crossed the border, an incident that i thought would cause me anxiety. but instead was a breeze as they often are. i don't know if i'm lucky, or just seem entirely unthreatening. either way, i feel like and hope that this smooth start is a preview of what's in store for my transition.

it's funny - people don't believe i'll never be back in toronto.
i mean, maybe in 5 or 10 years in may be a possibility.
but like... after depositing 21 years worth of moments into my memory bank, i got a lot of savings to access before i need to top up on funds.

i feel like a lot of the people i care to keep in touch with are independent of toronto. that is to say, in a different context, i'd be able to maintain - or better yet, develop - a stronger relationship.

with that said, there are plenty people as well, who are locked in that time and place forever. no going back. no point.
not that i don't appreciate those fun times we shared. but that's as far as it goes.

i am not a fan of goodbyes. they feel so final.
but i also hate empty promises to keep in touch.
i am more and more subscribing to the belief that everything happens for a reason. even when the reason isn't always instantly clear, or when it seems negative, i accept fate while having as much control that i can over the present and future.
i'll see you when i see you.

i've been asked what my favourite memories are, what i'll miss the most.
to be honest, my most recent memories are up there. that isn't to say my long history with toronto hasn't yielded anything noteworthy. it's more that things have just continued to get better and better.
now what will i miss the most?
easily my haunts: sushi on bloor, sneaky dee's, the cave, green room, and the boat. the parks - bellwoods, the pits, the one near market square, the waterfront. not entirely sure what it was about these places. but they felt like home. more importantly, though, is the people i experienced these places with. were it not for them, i wouldn't punctuation marks in an otherwise monotonous sentence.

as dan and i were leaving sneak's yesterday, taking one last walk home along bathurst from college to the annex... we realized how significant all those little chats were, the ones we had at [appropriately named] futures bakery.
i'm so hopeful for what's in store for me. i'm not looking back.
but there was a moment of sadness - what's gonna happen to dan once he gets back from cali.
surely, my transition there would not nearly be the same, had dan not agreed to come with me and help me unpack and settle.
but [although it is unfair to think this far ahead], i worry for him when he gets back to toronto.
i'm still holding onto the hope that he'll ditch the city for l.a. as well. but i want that to be his choice, not one i have forced on him.
we often underplay our friendship, but it is the best. we look out for each other a lot. and it's not that i hope someone else will be there to look out for him, because that's not true. ...oh, i don't know where i am going with this.

but as i've promised truthfully to keep in touch with some people, i just hope i can do a good job of letting them know who ive become with each exchange, how every new experience has changed me in a hopefully positive way.
and at the same time, i need to remind myself to be present in the present. to give attention to the people i'm spending time with. i'd hope they'd have something to offer, a lesson i could learn. i used to underplay the significance of each new person i met. but now, i'm open to an exchange of soul-bearing stories so enrich the meeting. after all, my soul is rad and should not fear rejection or misunderstanding.

goodbye toronto, it's been real.

---soft shift---
so we're on the megabus, and this 1 dollar ticket is providing me with transport, a place to sleep, a power and internet source, warmth, entertainment, a journey.

at 5:30, we'll arrive at the station in nyc. engage in adventures. sleep in 4 new dwellings.... and so much more.

i don't want to write this story before it begins. i want new york to be a 'pick your own adventure'.
what choices will we make? who will we meet? what will we learn? what can we share? what will be forgotten?
all these questions.

i can't think of better people to have with me on this pitstop. 4 hours have gone by already, and it's felt like no time.

how perfect.
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hammer time/in knots - take 2

2:53 p.m. nikki sp
the hammer. although 4-5ish days ago, it feels like a distant memory already.

a homemade dinner.
wine. intense conversation. garden state. intimacy.

the morning... by then it has shifted once more.

still, a nice home cooked breakfast in bed transpired, with more conversation.

we walked along the hamilton waterfront. paused. along some sort of secluded paved path. stared at the sky. wondered. experienced and hyper-experienced. wandered. shwarmaed in the city centre fountain. and parted ways.

like i said - feels like a distant memory already. i can't even explain the details. the feelings. the impending void.

but it was more than i could have expected from hamilton.

when i arrived back in toronto, i reunited with dan, and we both shared a bittersweet moment of sorts.

i don't think there was enough time to let things marinate.
don't quite know if things, memories, feelings, moments have expired.
let's just say it's all been/being pickled.
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hammer time/in knots

9:55 a.m. nikki sp
so even though hamilton is not a place to blog about, well... now it is.

a two hour bus ride during friday rush hour whilst the sun is setting builds enough of a moment.

eff.

as much as i wanted this to be a flowery reflection of my hammer time, i can feel it fragmenting already. so much has happened in the last couple of days, so much that i've tried to synthesize into a story, a verbal narrative. but i don't think it's quite there yet.
but still, i must deposit whatever experience i have into the memory bank.

it's weird noticing shifts in yourself.
and noticing the serendipitous moments.

i've experienced both lately. 

fuck. this isn't going to work right now.
i'll be back.  
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govember

3:44 p.m. nikki sp
wow. the month is here. only 10 more sleeps till leaving time!!! and while i normally hold resentment for november, especially as it marks the end of daylight savings time and the beginning of more coldness, i'm wholeheartedly embracing it this year. it's a month where moustaches proliferate (!!!) and i bounce around the place. by the end of the month, i reckon i'll have slept on at least 7 different surfaces in 7 different accommodation situaitons. neat.

very very optimistic. while my sleep schedule is effed up hard, it's a minor and totally acceptable consequence of my 9-6free life.

and for the record, november 1 began amazingly so it's a great sign for what's left to come with the end of the year, yes?

:D :D :D

i've used up all my good word quotient for the day. and that's totally cool. i am gonna revel in this feeling.
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