Why I still write letters

Talking online, which is to say, typing, is the most common way to not be yourself nowadays. People have sooooo many "friends" online they don't know what to do with themselves; but they know enough not to meet face-to-face because then the spell is broken.

Dennis Raymond got so incensed when his AOL chat buddy refused to hook-up like normal real people, which is to say, face-to-face versus emoticons (smileys) that he stabbed her dead as she sat in a Bronx park on Tuesday. The weather was nice on Tuesday...perfect for enjoying the park...but I digress. And Dennis Raymond---aka Mike to his AOL friends---gives new meaning to reach out and touch someone.

With "friends" like that I'll take a computer virus any day.

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52 jobs in 52 weeks

Sean Aiken has the enviable experiencing of test driving, as it were, a different job every week. Not sure of what he wanted to pursue after college---sound familiar?---the Canadian hit upon the idea of hiring himself out to any job offer that would train and employ him for one week. He's working fifty-two jobs in fifty-two weeks. And employers think my resume looks spotty! Well, that's one way to get around the interview question, I see you didn't stay long at your last job(s)?

hiring himself out to any job offer that would train and employ him for one week

Mr Aiken has been travelling all over his beloved Canada working jobs as varied as milking cows to instructing yoga to office desk work to shoveling manure. Shoveling shit doesn't appeal to my sense of adventure but I would be missing the forest for the trees if that is all I saw. This one job a week scheme is awesome! From working a smorkasborg of jobs Mr Aiken reaps a cornacopia of references (networking), hands-on training (experience), publicity as he's appeared on local programming and news shows not to mention print, and travel (adventure).

Wouldn't surprise me in the least if after all of this the man settles on a career in travel writing...or as a "blogger."

Sean's website

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Stuck on a train on National Train Day

Travelling from Canada to NYC via Amtrak yesterday was a trip -- in the bad sense of the word.

Our train was stranded in Albany for over an hour, after having already arrived there an hour behind schedule, as we waited for the engine to arrive. Then we had to factor in rain. By the time we arrived to Penn Station it was pass midnight. We were slated to arrive at nine-thirty.

All of this on, of all days, National Train Day (May 9th). And can you believe Amtrak did not offer us as much as a complimentary cup of coffee? Tight bastards.

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Subway is way better than Quiznos

Quiznos new $4 footlong offer is a footlong joke. I ordered the turkey-bacon sandwich and what I got was a salad with bacon bits between two long pieces of bread. I couldn't even taste the "sandwich." It was alost like biting into cotton candy. Subways $5 footlong (or 6" value meal) deal is way better because it the product looks like what's shown on the poster---and, yes, it actually includes meat which is more than can be said for Quiznos.

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A rainy night in Toronto

Last night my host unkindly threw me out of his apartment. The episode had all the trappings of a Roger Corman fright night: cold, rainy night, a lost newcomer in the big city, a controlling antagonist.


Never mind the rain, it is totally unforgivable that I was sent packing johnny-on-the-spot. But I wasn't worried. I've been through worse---much, much worse---and, anyway, was ready to go at the drop of a hat. As the scouts cry, Always be prepared! And I was.

Reloaded MY things in my two suitcases and was out of there in under twenty minutes. The indian giver even took back the stuff he gave me. Talk about class! Imagine: inviting someone over and then tossing him out. You'd think I had stolen something. Fuck him. Though tasteless I am not bothered by that either. I left with what I came with, including my dignity and an ever fixed distrust of any "friend" over forty.

The apartment was beyond nice and comfortable but material stuff doesn't hold much of a trance over me. And I do dislike the notion of being kept. Am too independent and straight for that shit. No golden handcuffs for me, thank ye very little. Now if a wealthy divorcee enters my life, well....

Always be prepared! And I was

Luckily after leaving the bar, which, by the way, was the initial---and un-suspicious and totally innocent---plan of the evening, I found a hostel just two blocks away. Sweet!



This cool cat may not always immediately land on his feet from a fall but I'll be goddamn if I crawl and grovel to any man.

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Male figure skaters need to get butch

Male figure skating is finally getting the attention it deserves...in the form of being told to ditch the frilly pooh-pooh costumes and toughten up. Legendary champion Canadian figure skater, Elvis Stojko,(right), a heterosexual, is leading the criticism of today's suspiciously un-masculine athletes who have turned his sport into a laughing stock.

click here to watch the news report

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Canuck charm

Since coming to Canada I know exactly what aloof means. No, Canadians are not rude but they don't seem to be 'all there' either.

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