I took my bike out to Toronto for the first time ever. I don’t know why I hadn’t before… I guess there were too many excuses ranging from the weather being bad or me needing to carry a lot of stuff. This weekend, I went to visit the boy. I stuffed my bike under the Coach Canada bus and once we got to Toronto, I rode off on it instead of taking the subway.

I visited my old neighbourhood around the Carlton and Sherbourne area, and then rode through Cabbagetown where I also used to live. It was neat, but somehow, the experience wasn’t as novel as I thought it would be. Riding downtown didn’t feel dangerous at all. I wasn’t threatened by door prizes or speeding SUVs. The worse I got was some drizzle and the awful conditions of the road. Riding to my boyfriend’s apartment took about half an hour and it was a lot more fun than taking the subway.

I rode back to the bus terminal on Monday morning to catch my bus back in. Again, it didn’t seem like a big deal. Taking the subway in the morning as everyone’s piling on board for work has always been depressing. The immobility and the lack of air makes you sleepy. No one looks happy. Everyone is either tired, or simply looks depressed, and I don’t blame them. There is something to be said about personal transportation. In my case, I have a bike, which is more than ideal for me right now.

Honestly though, I think I wouldn’t mind at all if I never had to use the subway to commute ever again.

Goth boy on the bus tried to stick air into the ticket machine, trying to score a free ride maybe. Bus driver caught him and tells him that he didn’t put a ticket in. Whatever do you mean, Goth boy inquires, of course he’s innocent. However, he fumbles through his wallet and pulls out another ticket. A proper one this time and only then is he allowed to ride. Poor goth boy. Obviously he needed to be somewhere else. He had a rose wrapped in plastic sticking out of his backpack. He sat right in front of me, so only from my point of view could you see the little plastic teddy bear clinging to it (awww), and notice that the rose was a fake.

A punkish looking girl with white blonde hair and a plaid jacket was playing with a white Macbook while she waited for the bus at the bus station. Some older guy hovered above her and would point things out on the screen. I’m not exactly sure if he was a friend or relation. When she got on my bus, she was by herself.

I usually walk home, even when it’s snowing. Tonight, I was at work slightly late, but wanted to catch the bus to go directly to the mall so I can pick up some fresh veggies to cook tonight. I thought about what to make on the ride home. Somewhere along the way, the decision to make stir-fried veggies and risotto was reached. I reached for a box of pre-seasoned risotto and read the ingredients. I figured it was probably a lot cheaper and healthier to make risotto from scratch. So I went to the bulk barn after the grocery store to pick up about a pound of arborio rice for about the same price as a dinky package of pre-seasoned risotto. When I got home, I decided to grill the veggies instead, so I pulled my Hamilton-Beach electric grill from out of storage.

I was particularly proud of myself because I’ve never made risotto from scratch before. However, I didn’t have to look up the recipe. I retained the knowledge on how to make risotto from watching cooking shows on the food network. So for dinner tonight, seasoned grilled vegetables (asparagus, yellow pepper, red onions and white mushrooms) and homemade vegan mushroom risotto.

I’m sure punk girl and goth boy are having much more exciting lives than I am, but at least I know how to cook.

Here’s the recipe:

Read the rest of this entry…

I took a seat on the bus last night, and a while little bored waiting for it to go, I sent an adorable little girlfriend-ish text message to the boyfriend, something cutesy-wootsy and mushy I’m sure (yeah I’m girl enough to admit that I do that). At about the same time, a fat gangster wannabe kid behind me pulls out his cell phone and starts talking loudly. I remember this guy while waiting for the bus at the station. I was trying to look outside to see if my bus was coming in, and in doing so I had to look past his scraggly, pasty friend with a pathetic teenage moustache. This winner thought I was looking at him and gives me a “WTF you looking at bitch” kind of look, which I thought was kinda funny.

The fat kid gets on my bus. His conversation went kind of like:

“Yo. Can i come over? You got stuff for me. Oh, I understand. But you doing well right? What’s your new cell phone. 289… ### … F A T T ?? Yeah, that’s the phone you found right? John got a new cell phone. Yeah, he jumped some kid for it. He’s crashing at Amanda’s place. He got Amanda pregnant. Yeah, fucked up. Haha, you love Amanda don’t you. I saw Vince the other day. Yeah, Vince wants to beat you up. Just kidding. No you can’t come over, my mom’s pretty sick… ”

Though this isn’t typical of my usual trips home, once in a while something happens which makes me honestly think that stupid people should really, really stop having kids.