Sharkboy

YEH!!!!

We were lucky enough to win some tickets for the taping tonight’s result show from How To Solve A Problem Like Maria? at the CBC studio. It was totally fun to be part of the live audience… I’m all out of voice for screaming so loud for a half-hour. To think I was this close to the Lord himself… Lord Webber that is.

Since there was a huge camera in front of us for a lot of the taping, I ended up watching the star studded panel as we were sitting a few seats away from them… John, John, John… stop singing when the girls are doing their numbers, it’s them we want to hear. Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, stop being so dramatic, these are not your daughters, no fake tears necessary, really… Simon, Simon, Simon, keep your eyes open, you’re supposed to critic them on their singing AND acting… Lord, Lord, Lord.. well, you’re just fabulous. Please let them do a movie version of Sunset Blvd the Musical… PLEASE.

Oh, and Gavin doesn’t have such a huge head in real life, he looks much more proportionate when he’s standing next to you.

Me fighting the crowd while the amazing iPhone did its illegal job of taking the picture

I almost called it right once again. I thought Elicia and Marisa would be in the bottom two and that Marisa would be sent home… Elicia was saved and Jayme was in the bottom two with Marisa, who did get the boot. Ha! First time in a long time that I’m wrong, but only slightly really.

Jayme chatting with her fans while the rest of the Marias console each other in the back

Hoping DR’ sign made an impact on Lord Webber’s casting choice

Just for fun in a giant chair we found on the way home

That was my Monday!

This morning I went to The Church of Broadway.

At least this is how the experience felt to me, and not a bad one either.

We actually went to MCC Toronto (Metropolitan Community Church) to watch Da receive his outstanding award for Community Services.

An award well deserved too as Da has volunteered with many many many organizations in the past and will resume as soon as he has fully recovered from his surgery.

I was a bit worried about going to the church service actually as I have not set foot inside a church since my teen years unless it was for a wedding or a funeral. I’m Catholic, baptized and all, but definitely not practicing. The service this morning left me feeling humble and hypocritical at the same time. It’s a nice message of acceptance and love and that’s all good, but part of me refuses to believe in the “religious – Jesus died for our sins” part of it. MCC does a very good job of hiding some of it out and to drill the “love-help one another-acceptance” message part instead. AND, they do this in style… Broadway style. Hey, it’s a gay church after all. Lots of singing, even the “modified” Lord’s Prayer was sung. My foot was a-tappin’ while I found myself wanting to join in to sing with the choir even if I didn’t know the hymns, but then again, they project all the lyrics on a big screen for all to see, so there were no excuses… I swear, I was singing at the end of it, it was that entertaining. I was also teary eyed for a big part of it. Today was also their 35th anniversary and as a treat they had Louise Pitre singing for their congregation. Louise is a seasoned Broadway actress and singer. To my enormous surprise, Louise sang YOU AND I, one of my absolutely favourite songs, it is the theme song from the movie Goodbye Mr. Chips. How can anyone resist feeling touched after that.

I most likely will not to return for a service for quite awhile, but at the same time I will not think less of those who do go regularly, I do have a much better understanding of what they go to find there.

My avoidance of MCC Toronto was due to feeling that gay people who went to church were a bit forgetful of how the church had treated them, but I should have realized that the problem was more of a Catholic thing, you know, the church that makes you feel guilty about everything… During today’s service, I didn’t feel guilty one second.

Today is all about the joy of waiting:

WAITING BAD

We had made an appointment with Rogers Cable to come see what is wrong with our reception since any channel below 27 is like a snow storm. DR called and they promised to be here this morning in between 8 and 11 am. Great, we can do our regular Sunday morning chores one day early. At 11am, DR called to see what the status was as no one had shown up yet. They said the driver was 15 minutes away… At 12:10 he called back to let them know this was a very long 15 minutes… According to them he was on his way… Without yelling at the idiot on the phone, DR let them know that this was not very professional and that they had wasted our Saturday morning. They promised to send someone on Wednesday between 5 and 8pm… I’ll be the one waiting.

This is their school, maybe they can add BOOK AN APPOINTMENT AND KEEP IT 101 for their next session

WAITING GOOD

After months and months of advertising, it finally came out:

YEH!!!!! Was pretty good. DR thinks it might be the best superhero movie made to date… big statement. That title is still Condorman for me:

It’s in German, but it gives you a good idea just how craptacular it was

Extreme Heat and Smog Alert in Toronto again today.

Everyone feels bad for someone or something else during the big extreme heat alert days:

A. Some feel bad for the homeless, but in Toronto we have the Canadian Red Cross going around handing out water bottles in public parks and public areas. The City also offers many “cooling stations” to those without air conditioning so they can take a break from the heat. And trust me, July is much easier to take than January for them.

B. Some feel bad for their pets, but frankly, if you don’t take your dog jogging with your stupid ass-self, they’ll cope, just make sure they have easy access to water and don’t over-excite them.

C. Some feel bad for the elderlies, and frankly so do I. They deserve to enjoy a definite quality of life and I hope their family are making sure they are comfortable.

D. Some feel bad for those with asthma or with other breathing ailments, again, the secret is to stay cool and to not overexert themselves… oh, and don’t go outside during the alert, especially if in a big city where the smog will also get to you. Keep that pump handy.

E. Me? I feel bad for the tranny-prostitutes. We saw one this morning trying to walk, wrists at a 90 degrees angle, with whatever dignity was left in him/her after an obviously long night. I say obviously based on the fact that his/her heels were in a plastic bag, an amazingly huge multi-rip in her evening stockings, a wig that looked like she just came out of the spinning cycle and no time to blow-dry… The lady of the night had had a rough last couple of hours… We couldn’t be sure if this was due to her “john” not being pleased with his/her services or if it was the extreme heat and humidity that had tarnished her beauty… so yeah… in extreme heat alert days, I feel bad for the tranny-prostitutes.

Where’s my humanitarian award?

On Extreme Heat and Smog Alert I like to go for a walk in nice green areas like our neighborhood’s Riverdale Park:

Take a walk in the evening instead of the mid-day sun

Enjoy the greeneries, the flowers, the shade

Drink plenty of water

Keep physical activities to a minimum (less than 100 stairs… this trek has 84 of them)

Very hot today… very very hot… and with hot weather, hot tempered people come to the courts…
I was yelled at by my second customer… YEH!!! Usually it’s more like after an hour at least.

Tonight we had another delicious dinner at Da’s:
BBQ’d steak on a bun
Yukon gold potato salad, dill, green onions, grainy mustard vinaigrette
Six-bean salad with tarragon vini
Royalty I tell you, he treats us like royalty.

And then after getting home, George Hamilton and I sharing a moment (but not sharing the treat, that’s all his…):

Up early for the gym this morning, breakfast on the go. This is me at 6:30 am on Carlton St:

I like the “oh-look-at-me-I’m-on-the-go-eating-my-bagel-look-at-me-no-time-to-stop-lookit” action type shot

Today’s picture is brought to you by Dinner… hummm… Dinner.
Tonight’s dinner was a delectable chicken pot pie, with ketchup.. yum.

At lunch time, during my walk, I saw some crazy shit, the craziest is to be blame on the iPhone Fever that just swept us last week. This guy, in his 30′s, riding his bicycle, (on the sidewalk of course, as one always does), came to a sudden stop, screaming “Oh NOOOOOOOOO” and dropped the bike on the ground blocking anyone wanting to go on with their day. He then reached for his man-purse and unzipped the top section of it. Taking out his (looks to be brand new) iPhone, he then started to laugh out loud and regaled us with: “Fuck, I thought I had forgotten it at the restaurant”.

I think he was hired by Rogers to do this “little drama piece” on every corner to feed the fever…

Today has not been the greatest, don’t ask and I won’t lie.

They say bad news come in threes, well today they came in throngs… One such incident started last week when I decided to make an appointment with a foot doctor, I have had a discoloration on one nail and it was really starting to bug me, so I stopped in at this office close to work and the receptionist told me I could come in next Monday (today)… I was happy to not have to wait for weeks, so I booked it. At lunch time today, I showed up and I was asked to sign a form telling me I have to pay $60 for the first visit and $45 for any other following visits. I wasn’t happy about that part, but I signed nonetheless…. and I paid. A few minutes later, this nice looking lady came in the waiting room and looked straight at me and called “Michael”. I knew she was talking to me but it’s a pet peeve of mine when people cannot write or read my name, so I didn’t say anything. She looked at her papers again and then at me and called “Michael” again. I asked if she was looking for Michel, she said yes and then added: “come on in Mike.”

Arumphhhhh…

I get in, take my shoes and my socks off. (I had washed my feet at work and brought in fresh socks for the occasion, I can only imagine what a foot doctor’s day is like). I sit down on the chair she had pointed at and looking at her I told her I didn’t envy her job at all having to deal with feet all day long. She smiled and said that for her, it was the dentist’s job she didn’t envy, then I had that I most didn’t envy garbage truck drivers, just to see if she would top that… she didn’t take the bait. She put on gloves, dabbed a cotton swab in some solution and ran it all over my feet… She added right away that it was a fungal infection on my one nail, that the other ones were not infected, and then she continued to say that I also have a mild case of of athlete’s foot… Mild I repeated, as in it will go away if I ignore it or I have to really take care of it before it gets worst… She really doesn’t get me. She looked up and said that I had to take care of it as soon as possible. I didn’t tell her I was just joking (I know you don’t ignore athlete’s foot problems…) Anyway, she started to write a prescription for the one problem but continued to say that I will need to see my family doctor for the nail infection as she cannot prescribe oral treatment. Oh great!

So 10 minutes have passed, I put my socks and my shoes back on, she folded the prescription form in two before handing it me and added that it would be a good idea to come back in 4 weeks to see the progress and wished me a “good day Mike”. I sigh.

Like hell I’m gonna go back in 4 weeks and pay $45 for the privilege… If I have to see my family doctor to fix the infected nail, you can be sure I’ll go see him about the progress… Oh and by the way bitch, it’s Michel, not Mike, not Michael.

At the drugstore later on, I handed my prescription and the pharmacist asked me the doctor made a typo when she wrote Michael… AAAAArrrrruuuuummmmpppphhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Also today, a lawyer left in a huff because I didn’t give him preferential treatment at the information desk, after his third time asking why I wouldn’t do it, and me explaining why, he said he was going to the Toronto Star with this story, I wished him a good evening before calling loudly: NEXT.

Also today, a woman who had just spent a good 30 minutes with a court clerk decided to stop at the information booth for more questions about disclosure. I told her she couldn’t do that just (and before I could add the word yet), she exploded and said that it was her right to get disclosure, her rights, her rights, her rights… I said it was her rights indeed but that she would need to get a court date before she could request disclosure. She slapped her hand on the counter and left.

Also today, I got my Visa bill…

And then there’s more too…

Oh… and they better not get rid of my favourite Marias tonight

Let’s jet forward one hour later:
OH MY FUCKIN’ GOD!!!

I went to pick my prescription up at the drugstore and first of all the dimwit couldn’t find it because she was looking under B for Paquette, yeah, B… Then after ringing it through she asked if I’ve ever used it, I said no, so she tells me the pharmacist will have to talk to me about it. Now this pharmacist is always looking like someone shit in his cornflakes, so I’m REALLY looking forward to that. After 4 or 5 minutes of waiting at the side, he finally comes in and asked if I had ever used the medication, I repeat no with a bit of ‘tude, I’m annoyed at this point… so he opened the bag up and verified back to me that there was a cream and a spray, the cream is to apply to the skin and… he stopped… I volunteered: And the spray is to be sprayed? He said yes, exactly. I’m just about to reach for the two boxes when he opens one up and continued: yes, the spray is to be sprayed in the area needed… So I tell him, that the spray is for the area between the toes, twice a day and the creme is for the part under the foot, twice a day. He put everything back in the bag and gave it back to me as I tell him that I was glad I waited for that.

It’s rude I know, and I shouldn’t do what I hate people do to me, but he’s a dick and has given us bad bad bad service lately, so I felt like grounding him a bit. Bam!

Ah Sunday mornings!

One of us gets out of bed and takes a trek to Tim Horton’s (I don’t know why we torture ourselves with the horrible service and passable drinks but it is the only thing around here until they open up a Starbucks, which we hear should be in the coming months). Then we watch Coronation Street in bed for awhile and then start the rest of the routine: DR awaits the opening of the local laundr-o-mat and takes the usual hockey bag full of dirties, then he attacks the bathroom while the clothes dry. Me, I de-germ the kitchen, vaccum and mop the floors while the TVs are on CBC still with our British friends yapping and exchanging pleasantries, often calling each other “Stupid Cows”.

Ah Sunday mornings!

And then in the afternoon, we walked to the Outdoor Art Exhibit at City Hall, with a stop at Dundas Square on the way:

DR and I walking action shot

Playing with water

With PhotogTOBear36 and PhotogRodTO at Outdoor Art

Today was all about having a lazy morning in bed, so much so that we totally forgot to go to the barber… oh no, I’m gonna have long hair this week, not cool.

After a visit with Starbucks, we met Da and went to Costco to get some supplies. Here I am trying to decide which of the “friandises” will succeed in giving me the best daily sugar rush I need:

I couldn’t make up my mind, so I didn’t buy any.

We then went on a trek along Bloor Street, stopping in different shops. We found this delightful spot, reminding us of vacation in the south:

Of course, any walk along Bloor Street West will take you near Honest Ed’s. DR and I try to go at least once a year, just for kicks, I’ve never bought anything there, but I like going once in awhile, it totally reminds me of a giant LaSalle (or even Croteau-Guénilles) store we used to go to as kids in Quebec. I definitely have to take my mom next time she comes to visit:

(DR found a spot on my t-shirt, so I bought a new one at Roots… it has a bear on it.. YEH)

After all this fun, we ended up at Bloor Cinema, which was the main reason we went in that direction in the first place, at 4:30 we saw this “beaute”:

Another nice Saturday for me.