Headvoice

Spring brings a haircut

Candlelights

I took this shot in 2003 and posted it to the blog around that time. About a year later the log files for headvoice showed relatively large numbers of hits for this specific image, not the blog posting.

That means it was linked to directly, not downloaded, which allowed me to see the incoming links. And what did you know? It was a very voluptuous young woman who was tiling the image on her profile page on an African American based dating site. Hootchie Momma Candles!

I broke the link. Twice I recall. But here it is again. Light your fire!

Thawed and Alone

Every spring brings that one first day here in Toronto where you are compelled to go outside. All these months of ice and inhospitable weather gets pent up inside and explodes with people stumbling into the sunshine wearing sandals and shorts and showing very pale skin; not completely unlike bears emerging from hibernation.

Today was that day for 2007.

I'm getting ready for almost three weeks of solitude. Mark is off to Germany and Austria to see family, T. is in the Dominican Republic soaking up some sunshine and P. is off for his yearly couple of weeks in Aruba.

Luigi and I will have to take care of each other.

Shell Game

From the beach a couple of years ago... where a solitary walk on the shore can bring real clarity. Perhaps posting it will bring that sense of clarity back again today. I need some now.

Friday's Fight with Forsythia

It has bugs. Little gnat things. And it is too close to the pool, causing back scratches when you squeeze by it...

So, armed with a dozen large paper bags for recycling and a sharp set of pruning clippers, it was reduced to a set of pointy stumps on Friday. And didn't the bastardy bush fight back? Twice I was clipped in the face by an obstinate branch.

Go ahead and bloom, I dare ya.

I am Canadian

There was probably seventy-five people there when we arrived yesterday. Groups of families and friends clutching very familiar looking paperwork stood waiting for the door of the immigration offices to open. Mark grabbed a coffee and then promptly at eight thirty a stout woman opened the door and yelled for our attention.

"I don't want to see anyone shuffling papers in front of me. If it says Joe on the form I want Joe's PR card and Joe's landing documents with Joe's ID."

"Open the papers! I don't want to have you shuffling papers in front of me. OK?"

"Families and Friends, please move over there. Let's get started."

We stood in for almost an hour as our documents and identification were checked. Mark's landing document was examined by the Court Clerk. Because it was from the early sixties, she pronounced it an antique.

It turns out that there were 161 of us to take the oath of Canadian citizenship that day, and we represented thirty one different countries of origin. The Judge used these figures as the basis for his closing remarks.

Once we had all stood and affirmed the oath, both in French and English, our names were called and we received our citizenship documentation from the Judge at the front of the courtroom. He asked some questions and bantered with the recipients.

When it was my turn he asked me where I came from, and I replied. I said I had immigrated to Canada from New York City in 1999.

"Well, you made the right decision then," he replied as he shook my hand.

An Open Letter

Dear Helen's Fish and Chips,

My significant other and I revisited your restaurant this past weekend. The first time we frequented your business was a couple of summers ago. At that time one of your staff mopped our feet repeatedly under the table at the same time she was mopping the floor. Perhaps we should have realized then that we should not return.

But yesterday we decided that fish (no chips) might just be the mid-afternoon meal for a sunny Sunday by the water. And when we arrived we were greeted warmly and placed our order quickly at the front.

We sat at a table in the back waiting until you called our name. Once we got our order I reached for the pepper shaker on the table and was quite nauseated when it slid out of my hand as it was covered in grease and a layer of grime that seemed to cover every surface of your restaurant's interior.

And this morning, after a fit full night of stomach cramps and bouts with diarrhea, I am struggling to keep down a can of ginger ale. I suggest you clean your fryers more often, and get a haz mat team inside the place for a couple of days for a full douche and cauterize.

Thanks,

An ill customer.

St. Patty's Day Snow

Dogsitting Continues

And I for one am getting tired of being pushed to the edge of the bed every single night this week...

But it can be fun watching them play.

Insert deep cleansing breath

More progress on the agency site... and for fun I started my taxes today. Whee!

Our neighbors have schlepped the three kids and themselves to Cuba, and a visit to the mall indicated that everyobdy who hasn't fled this corner of Canada is wandering a mall with a vacant look on their mug.

I have to be more patient. Everything takes more time than you might expect.

Lost Originals

Last year I spent ten days in London on business and took the camera for sightseeing purposes. I remember filling quite a few memory cards at the time.

But during my summer of purging I seem to have deleted a couple of months of shots, including all of the ones in London. I haven't yet done an exhaustive search, but my gut thinks that as I combined archives from old computers I overwrote directories and lost many original files.

Back up your photos! Burn a DVD! That's my lesson for sure.

Here are what remains, all posted to the blog last year when I was there...

Not Bi but Dual

Today's mail brought two envelopes from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, one for each of us, both containing a notice to appear later this month and take the oath of citizenship. So, I guess we passed that 20 question test we took last month... which I finished in four minutes.

Becoming a citizen is not as much of a challenge compared to applying for immigration in the first place, just like getting a green card in the states. That involved a lot more documentation, background checks and lawyer's fees among other things.

This process for me began in 1999 when I moved to Toronto from New York City and is finally now coming to a close after living as a landed immigrant for more than six years. Soon I will hold dual citizenship's and will be able to live and work wherever I want to in the US and Canada.

The downside? For one, I am responsible to file tax returns in both countries for the rest of my life. Nice.

But the upside is great as I love Canada and Canadians... and now I get to become one myself, eh?

Dog Sitting

One of the upsides of dog sitting for a friend is they keep each other entertained. And it isn't what you might expect, as they sometimes go for hours not interacting, but then the dryer will beep in the basement and all hell breaks out.

They will race downstairs and bark ferociously at the dryer as if packs of rabid wolves were right behind the door instead of the load of towels that are actually inside. The same thing transpires when the mail comes and they hear the wooden door on the postal box at the front door squeak shut as it closes.

I feel sorry for those dogs who are carried around in handbags and rarely interact with other dogs. Dogs need others dogs as friends to socialize properly.

Cold Hard Reality Check

My boss at the time was sitting across from me in my office on Madison Ave in the summer of 1999. We were discussing my decision to move to Canada.

"It's tough to make a good living up there...you could still work for us in the Toronto office."

But no I couldn't. The company that was hiring me was a medical portal site, so my job at an agency whose clients included all the major pharmaceuticals could not continue. Off to Toronto I went, with those dot com options assured.

You know what happened. They ended up being worth .016 cents in twelve months.

But now I face another dilemma. I have started my own company, but I can't fund it alone. I need an income while continuing to work on the agency.

My spring needs a reality check to start and I think this blog is where I will document this process. It's been too lame for a long time.

Today's photo is from Port Credit yesterday afternoon, where the ice is finally starting to melt.

Melt It Bitch

I'm so sick of snow and ice we must use this shot from June of '05 for today's post.

And a long time again it has been. Blame laziness to a degree, but since the start of the new year I am trying to start an agency on my own. It is the right thing for me to do now and is exciting, challenging and more than a little scary all at the same time.

We are plugging away at the agency's web site now with a tinge of cabin fever in the air. And I suppose it was inevitable that I would gain back some of the weight lost in the fall.

No worries. Over the next couple of months the sun will shine again and my new company will be launched fully. How fitting that this year daylight savings time will be moved forward... just when we needed it most.