i've enrolled in two knitting classes! unfortunately my barter proposal fell through (i was hoping that i could create a small website for them in exchange for several classes), nonetheless i'll be learning to create a scarf and a lacy shawl! both classes are aimed for beginners and will be held at the toronto knit café - a really cute cafe which just opened up that sells wool, knitting needles, lattes and tea. every tuesday they have a 'stitch and bitch' session. hopefully i can become good enough to take their wool felting class. very cool stuff.

i've found some other things that i'd like to attempt in the near future:

• submit a proposal to the artomat
• submit something to look look magazine (although i don't know what yet)
• make some aozora magnets ('member those magnets you had b?)

picking up lots of photos tomorrow, including my world toy camera day shots (can you believe that some people took 40-60 shots on sat!?). i'm also going to finally be getting my last remaining wisdom tooth extracted. i've been plagued with teeth trouble recently and had a filling fixed. the sad thing is the tooth that was recently fixed is now a little wiggly! i hate having bad teeth, dentures are really appealing right now.

it's toy camera day! i'll try to participate tomorrow - but the holga has a very limited aperture and unless you go in there and modify the lens opening the results from shooting pics on a cloudy day aren't usually very good. well we'll see what happens! it'll be a fun project - thanks neil for introducing me to toycamera.com!

when i get older, losing my hair
many years from now
will you still be sending me a valentine
birthday wishes, bottles of wine

~by only the best band in the world ever
the beatles

< whine >i'm so cranky! work is busy, the loft is still messy, i bought fabric to make drapes only yesterday and i haven't worked out in over 2 months now. the lack of exercise has really stifled my energy levels and i feel to lethargic. my brain isn't working either - i'm such a scatterbrain at work and my motor skills have diminished. this may also be b/c i haven't read a novel since may and i haven't played any instruments since january. ugh. i have to do something about this! and then i think about how i'm cranky and i hate myself for being cranky b/c i should be happy and grateful.< /whine >

i think this weekend i'm going to hog the theatre room in our building and watch 'chunking express' and 'umbrellas of cherbourg' - that is if i can finish the curtains that will be 8' high by 7.5' wide...each. aaah

this is so cute! i can't wait for the us election, i'm more obsessed and interested in it than the canadian one. although in retrospect when the pundits were predicting that stephen harper would be the next PM i did have thoughts of leaving the country...ya~ i was pretty obsessed with our election too.

aaah! back in chilly TO. after arriving at the bus depot at 5am yesterday, we quickly cabbed it back home to sleep for 2.5 hrs before waking up to head out for work. the working hours were spent trying to keep my eyes open and feeling as though i was still on a bus. all day my body felt like it was bobbing and swaying as if i was still on the bus! strange sensation~

when i wasn't out and about roaming around manhattan my eyes were glued to the TV. not having cable i can't really verify this but i highly doubt that CNN aired a documentary called 'terrorism: made in canada' last night this side of the 49th parallel. CNN was advertising this 'news piece' quite a bit and the ad had shots of people in military garb scaling a rock face (supposedly in canada). too funny. i wish i could have watched it.

please, please god (even though i don't believe in you) let kerry be the next commander in chief.

oooh so much to write about whenever i'm in nyc, but i never know where to start...yesterday was kind of a blur arriving in nyc after being on a greyhound bus for almost 12 hours. i woke up right at sunrise and out of the 52 people on the bus for a while it was just myself and the bus driver. i snapped a few pics of the fiery pink sky - i hope they turn out.

today we were lazy lions sleeping in after a night of clubbing in chelsea. we split up during the day - a went record shopping while i spent the majority of my day at the international center of photography (my 2nd most favourite gallery/museum, tied for 2nd with the gagosian and 2nd only to the whitney).

as usual the ICP (int'l center of photography) had great exhibitions; the 2 most memorable was a documentary on ant farm's reinactment of the JFK assassination and 'inconvenient evidence' a collection of the infamous photos from abu ghraib and photos of the reactions to the publication of these photos (artists reproduced some of the photos as huge murals along busy iraq highways).

tonight dinner was at 'frank's' a small italian restaurant in east village that has taken over the first floor of an old (maybe turn of the previous century) building. the bevelled ceilings are thick with layers upon layers of paint. the food is always fresh and the pasta always al dente. people cram into this small space sitting shoulder to shoulder around small sqaure tables or opt to share the communal table with strangers. each meal starts with bread and orange infused virgin olive oil and ends with a tummy ready to burst.

tomorrow we head back home...every stay in nyc seems too short.

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today i was photo of the day at lalaland! what an honour!

"are you getting more emotional as you get older?" - andre

i think i have to answer yes to this question. this year i have cried because of moving incidents more than ever. not a waa-waa bawling but more tear-rimmed-eyes-turning-red, don't-make-me-blink-or-the-tears-will-spill-over crying.

a couple of days ago a letter packed with photos arrived at our new address all the way from london! reading the letter my eyes were lined with tears... to think that despite being busy adjusting to a new environment, busy networking, busy trying to explore and busy trying finding a place for herself in a new city b had time to write to us. not only did she find the time to write to us and to develop photos, she bought a book of illustrations for me! all these selfless things she was doing at a time when she should be the most selfish.