the weekend of not doin' too much
After a tough week of getting over a cold and workin' hard, this weekend we didn't do too much. Anyway Shain's version of my cold was just starting to get going and it's best if you just stay in and take it easy when you're sick. So we really didn't do a whole lot on Saturday - I went out to the bank and dumped some shorts that don't fit any more off at the thrift store, and bought some cheap HAPPY HOLLISTERS books.
http://thehappyhollisters.com/
The Smyrna Library had a big set of them when I was a kid, and I believe I read every single one of them. They were old even then - most were written in the 50s and 60s - but they're good reading for the 6-10 year old age group, even though in the one I just read the kids have lots of fun playing around construction equipment and in demolition sites. It took years of educational scare films to un-do the damage done by the Happy Hollisters. These books will probably go to the nephew, if they aren't too skunky or ratty.
After I got home we went out to a late lunch at Ajisen Ramen in Chinatown. Their Tom Yum Ramen is terrific and I recommend it for all your theraputic cold-forestalling needs. I had the shoyu chicken ramen which is also good. Had trouble finding a parking spot, found one right in front of the restaurant, and then had trouble leaving because of three cars double-parked in the right lane, occupied by people on their cell phones. It took three tries and threats of police to get the woman blocking me in to move her damn car. Where are the Toronto PD in Chinatown? Are they frightened of the Tongs? Come on guys let's see some traffic enforcement here.
Saturday night we sat in and watched the finale of KURO NO ONNA KYOUSHI, or "Dark Women Of The Classroom". It's a Japanese drama TV series that we first caught while in Japan last summer, and it was so distictively crazy in the Japanese way- overly dramatic shots of teachers walking down corridors, incogruous steel guitar soundtrack, everything cranked up to 11 - that we had to seek it out when we got home.
http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#ns3
The show is about Kokubunkan High School and the three teachers who, after hours, have special problem-solving "extracurricular classes" that go above and beyond school rules (and occasionally the law). If you have a problem - and the cash to pay - they'll use all their skills to see justice done! In practical terms this means that would-be pimps or drug dealers or evil PTA moms or the occasional school administrator's plans are foiled, and while they attempt to weasel their way out of the showdown, the spike-heeled foot of biology teacher Yuko Takakura slams against their face, smashing the look of surprise and shock across the room in slow motion. Old ladies, teenage girls, young thugs; it doesn't matter. When the camera gives us a tight shot of Takakura's right foot - LOOK OUT.
Post-kick, Takakura delivers a ringing condemnation of their actions, always ending with "Didn't you learn this from your teachers in school?" It's a drama and there's plenty of drama to be had, unrequited love, blackmail, crying in the rain, earnest discussions about what it means to be a teacher or a parent or a student, and by the end of the series we find out why Takakura became a roundhouse-kick-delivering sentinel of justice and what the dark secret behind the Dark Teachers really is.
Sunday there was a record show out by the airport. I got up and got into the car, and since the Toronto Marathon was being run Sunday morning, traffic downtown was a nightmare. Add to that the construction they're doing on Strachan and the construction they're doing on Dufferin, and the normal Queen West traffic, and you can see why I just threw up my hands and went north on Dufferin all the way up to the 401. I mean, there's a six lane highway that I can literally throw a stone to from our apartment, and I can't get to it because the only on-ramp is poorly designed and full of traffic, and I can't even get to the next on-ramp because of the traffic choke point at Roncesvalles. Liberty Village has expanded its population by a couple thousand percent, and it's all still hemmed in by the Gardiner and the RR tracks channelling cars to either Strachan or Dufferin. When Dufferin is closed, as it has been for the past four months, it makes for difficulty getting in and out of the place. And as they complete more high-rise condos it's only going to get worse.
Anyway I bought some records - some goofy novelty stuff for the most part. It's a record show so it's full of boxes and boxes of really overpriced rock circa 1960-1978, and dealers wandering around talking to each other about how lousy sales are and how so-and-so their buddy died and his family had to rent construction dumpsters to dispose of the bulk of his collection. Hey guys, lower your prices and some of this stuff might move, the mp3 kids you SHOULD be trying to market to aren't going to pay $40 for a Beatles album.
Anyways, I got some neat stuff, drove home, we went out to run a few errands and get some lunch, I bought some new jeans and only realized today they are button-fly jeans. Yes, apparently they still make button-fly jeans. It's not enough of a hassle to make me want to take them back to the Bay - they fit well enough - more astonishment that such a thing still exists. I guess Amish need Levis 501s too. The purchase did mark a milestone of sorts. My adult clothes-purchasing career has been a long, slow, depressing increase in waist sizes, from 30 to 32 to 34 to 36 to 38. Never did make it to 40. Well, this most recent pair has reversed the trend, back down to 36. Also it's the first pair of button-fly pants I've ever bought, I guess that's a milestone too.
Later Sunday I finished the week's ZERO FIGHTER strip, we watched the finale of BRYGAR as our heroes fight to save the Earth in the midst of planet-destroying crisis, and that pretty much was the weekend. Next weekend we will not be recovering from colds and might actually get out there and do something. I'm out of TV.
http://thehappyhollisters.com/
The Smyrna Library had a big set of them when I was a kid, and I believe I read every single one of them. They were old even then - most were written in the 50s and 60s - but they're good reading for the 6-10 year old age group, even though in the one I just read the kids have lots of fun playing around construction equipment and in demolition sites. It took years of educational scare films to un-do the damage done by the Happy Hollisters. These books will probably go to the nephew, if they aren't too skunky or ratty.
After I got home we went out to a late lunch at Ajisen Ramen in Chinatown. Their Tom Yum Ramen is terrific and I recommend it for all your theraputic cold-forestalling needs. I had the shoyu chicken ramen which is also good. Had trouble finding a parking spot, found one right in front of the restaurant, and then had trouble leaving because of three cars double-parked in the right lane, occupied by people on their cell phones. It took three tries and threats of police to get the woman blocking me in to move her damn car. Where are the Toronto PD in Chinatown? Are they frightened of the Tongs? Come on guys let's see some traffic enforcement here.
Saturday night we sat in and watched the finale of KURO NO ONNA KYOUSHI, or "Dark Women Of The Classroom". It's a Japanese drama TV series that we first caught while in Japan last summer, and it was so distictively crazy in the Japanese way- overly dramatic shots of teachers walking down corridors, incogruous steel guitar soundtrack, everything cranked up to 11 - that we had to seek it out when we got home.
http://www.tbs.co.jp/eng/nowshowing/index.html#ns3
The show is about Kokubunkan High School and the three teachers who, after hours, have special problem-solving "extracurricular classes" that go above and beyond school rules (and occasionally the law). If you have a problem - and the cash to pay - they'll use all their skills to see justice done! In practical terms this means that would-be pimps or drug dealers or evil PTA moms or the occasional school administrator's plans are foiled, and while they attempt to weasel their way out of the showdown, the spike-heeled foot of biology teacher Yuko Takakura slams against their face, smashing the look of surprise and shock across the room in slow motion. Old ladies, teenage girls, young thugs; it doesn't matter. When the camera gives us a tight shot of Takakura's right foot - LOOK OUT.
Post-kick, Takakura delivers a ringing condemnation of their actions, always ending with "Didn't you learn this from your teachers in school?" It's a drama and there's plenty of drama to be had, unrequited love, blackmail, crying in the rain, earnest discussions about what it means to be a teacher or a parent or a student, and by the end of the series we find out why Takakura became a roundhouse-kick-delivering sentinel of justice and what the dark secret behind the Dark Teachers really is.
Sunday there was a record show out by the airport. I got up and got into the car, and since the Toronto Marathon was being run Sunday morning, traffic downtown was a nightmare. Add to that the construction they're doing on Strachan and the construction they're doing on Dufferin, and the normal Queen West traffic, and you can see why I just threw up my hands and went north on Dufferin all the way up to the 401. I mean, there's a six lane highway that I can literally throw a stone to from our apartment, and I can't get to it because the only on-ramp is poorly designed and full of traffic, and I can't even get to the next on-ramp because of the traffic choke point at Roncesvalles. Liberty Village has expanded its population by a couple thousand percent, and it's all still hemmed in by the Gardiner and the RR tracks channelling cars to either Strachan or Dufferin. When Dufferin is closed, as it has been for the past four months, it makes for difficulty getting in and out of the place. And as they complete more high-rise condos it's only going to get worse.
Anyway I bought some records - some goofy novelty stuff for the most part. It's a record show so it's full of boxes and boxes of really overpriced rock circa 1960-1978, and dealers wandering around talking to each other about how lousy sales are and how so-and-so their buddy died and his family had to rent construction dumpsters to dispose of the bulk of his collection. Hey guys, lower your prices and some of this stuff might move, the mp3 kids you SHOULD be trying to market to aren't going to pay $40 for a Beatles album.
Anyways, I got some neat stuff, drove home, we went out to run a few errands and get some lunch, I bought some new jeans and only realized today they are button-fly jeans. Yes, apparently they still make button-fly jeans. It's not enough of a hassle to make me want to take them back to the Bay - they fit well enough - more astonishment that such a thing still exists. I guess Amish need Levis 501s too. The purchase did mark a milestone of sorts. My adult clothes-purchasing career has been a long, slow, depressing increase in waist sizes, from 30 to 32 to 34 to 36 to 38. Never did make it to 40. Well, this most recent pair has reversed the trend, back down to 36. Also it's the first pair of button-fly pants I've ever bought, I guess that's a milestone too.
Later Sunday I finished the week's ZERO FIGHTER strip, we watched the finale of BRYGAR as our heroes fight to save the Earth in the midst of planet-destroying crisis, and that pretty much was the weekend. Next weekend we will not be recovering from colds and might actually get out there and do something. I'm out of TV.