Toronto

I went skateboarding around Toronto on Saturday. My cell phone broke, so I couldn't take any photos. I also couldn't access the number of my friend whom I was supposed to meet for dinner. Instead of relaxing at a cafe, as I had planned, I spent the afternoon anxiously trying to remember where his house was. I had only been there once before, on New Years, and could remember the general neighbourhood and the look of the front yard, but despite skating up and down several streets, I couldn't find the house. It was difficult skateboarding and scrutinizing houses at the same time, as the roads were rough and full of holes and cracks. I stopped at a garage sale, and some women offered me free clothing. I then skated to another friend's house who gave me the number of the friend I was meeting. This whole process took a lot of effort, and I was wearing my thin-soled shoes that, though designed as skate shoes, are mostly useless for actual skateboarding. By the end of the day, my feet were killing me, and I think I bruised the ball of the foot that I push with.

But I did make it to my friend's house, late, and after running into a girl from my old philosophy class who didn't seem surprised that I couldn't find a copy of Marx's Capital anywhere in Hamilton. It's that kind of attitude that makes people hate Toronto, but maybe I'm just too sensitive. My friend made a very good dinner of braised lamb shank, rice and salad. His girlfriend is vegetarian and had soybeans on rice with salad. I think I enjoyed the soybeans more than the lamb, but I have a hard time not eating meat when it is there in front of me. As it turns out, my friend had the exact same cell phone as the one I have that had just broke. I plugged my old phone into his charger, but the phone still wouldn't come back to life. He has a blackberry for work and only used the cell phone as an alarm clock (which drove his girlfriend crazy). So he actually gave me the phone, which I brought home but haven't yet set up. However, it seems that the alarms on cell phones work even when there is no "chip" in them, because this morning at 8 am, and then again at 8:10, 8:20 and 8:30, the alarm on my friend's phone went off.