But for real, I like this locker because it’s in the top row and it is easy to remember which one I used.

Not that I have any interest in spending any time in the production area at that store, but it’s stuff like this that makes me wonder who is doing the pricing there. Is it someone who’s incredibly lazy and didn’t notice? Someone who is really funny? Seriously, I stared at this for a minute and considered spending the money just for the stupid pin.

OH! And while I’m probably the last person in the world to figure it out, but Bike Pirates on Bloor, near Lansdowne, is the COOLEST place to fix your bike ever, like, EVAR. I went yesterday thinking I’d happily pay someone with greasy hands to put new inter tubes in my bike wheels but they were like NO! We will show you how and walk you through it but you have to do it all yourself! And I DID! And I learned about how much air to put in my tires and why that matters! AND on Sunday it’s women and trans people only and that was nice too.

Man. Nothing cooler than learning new stuff, amirite?

I had a long day: worked out at the gym until I thought I broke something inside, subway to Yonge and Bloor and then I walked home. It’s about 6km if I include all the extra walking I did, roaming in shops and grocery stores and pit stopping at the library for a pee. Funny how the pillow case and the tattoos all sort of blend together.

Big day tomorrow.

We had nosebleed seats and I quickly realized that I had No Idea who plays on either team. Not one name was familiar. Who are the heroes  nowadays? Where is the Wendel Clarke? The Darryl Sittler? Rick Vaive? Dougie Gilmour?

Am I showing my age?

We still had fun. We got carded for beer-neither of us had proper id either-so that was pretty good. Getting carded when you’re 22 is annoying and embarrassing but getting carded when you’re 37 is pretty sweet. And there was a very exciting and somewhat scary fight, not on the ice, but in the stands right behind us, between disgruntled fans.

Us trying not to be scared of a fully grown man being shoved and falling ass over tea kettle down the rather steep seats.

Well. Anyway, I know I say it all the time but I totally love my job and I love my boss very much.

Well. Not really. But because I don’t technically work many hours, I try to keep busy doing other stuff during the day so I don’t feel like an entire waste of time. Knitting, cooking, baking, sewing, all that kind of good stuff. And once the weather is a tiny bit warmer, I plan on roller skating daily.

Yesterday, I made myself a new key ring. It might sound a little weird, but I sewed a little pouch to put pot pourri in, popped a grommet on and threw it onto a key ring. Of course, I was flat out of pot pourri, so I improvised a little: I used a teabag! HA! A Bengal Spice teabag to be precise, and it smells amazing, as does my purse.

Yum.

Hung with love beside my Olympic schwag key ring.

I also saw The Runaways tonight. Made me wish I was 16 again and full of piss and vinegar. Fuck, man. I missed out on all the cool eras, I was too young for the original punk scene, too old to rave. Too young for glam rock, too old for…emo? Twilight? Maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Anyway, it was a good trip, I loved the hotel we stayed at just because it was new and uber swanky. So swanky there were extremely fancy cars always parked outside-like the brand new Aston Martin the first day.  So new, in fact, that they were still ironing out a bunch of kinks, one of which meant that we had a pretty messy room for a couple days because we couldn’t get the maid signal to work. And the pool hadn’t even been built yet. But still, worth what we paid.

And very close to the Olympic torch, so that was cool too. Across the road:

You could get close enough to feel the heat from the flames.

I’d blog more but the intense fight happening next door is so very distracting. I’m glad Ari isn’t home yet to listen to the ugliness…

In lieu, here’s a picture of my sampler quilt, almost finished. I’ve done some of the quilting (and you can see my 8 million safety pins keeping all the layers together) and will finish that part on Tuesday at the workroom-my sewing machine can’t handle that kind of work. I’ve run pretty hot and cold on this project, but seeing it together in one giant lump makes me pretty happy and proud. And desirous of a new sewing machine, for real.

As for the three blocks that I haven’t posted yet, top left is called drunkard’s path, top middle is an appliqued block and bottom left is a pinwheel or somesuch. The dark pink between all the blocks is the top edge of an old sheet, the pink floral is the same sheet, the white with light pink and dark orange is ikea fabric. You can see the batting pinned in the middle, that’s the cream around the edge, and just a peek at the back, another old percale sheet. It’s soft and heavy and I can’t wait to snug up under this while watching a movie.

All I have left to do on it, after the quilting, is the edge. Woo!

Yes. I put my lunch on the dirty floor to take a picture. Here’s what is in my bowl:

1 can chicken broth + 1 can water

2 tsps grated ginger

1/2 tsp chili and garlic sauce

1 bundle soba noodles

1/2 a zucchini very thinly sliced

2 baby bok choi, stems and leaves separated

And I boil the broth with the ginger and chili sauce, toss in the noodles to cook for 4 minutes, adding the zucchini and bok choi stems after 2 minutes and the leaves at the very end. If I’d had cilantro, I would have thrown a lot of that in. Ditto sliced mushrooms. And I drizzle a tiny bit of sesame oil after I dump it into a bowl.

Oh. Yes, it’s delicious.

At the gym I’ve been working very hard. A year ago I felt enormously accomplished when I could finish 20 minutes on the stationary bike without dying. Now that’s my warm up, then I do a bunch of weight lifting (not heavy but repetitive and fast), like pull downs and crunches and stuff, there’s 6 different things I do, then I either jump on the elliptical for 5 minutes (but I could do more, we only have an hour total at the gym) and today I RAN for 5 whole minutes! And I felt fine! It’s great, feeling the change in my body, even just since the new year. I haven’t lost any weight, darn it, but I am getting stronger and my stamina is amazing, even to me. I’ve never been able to run for any length of time, even in junior high I was just a sprinter (just? I was pretty darn good at sprinting).  And I do this workout three times a week.

After March break I will be joining Ari’s gymnastic gym and doing the adult’s gymnastics class on Wednesday nights. If anyone who reads this and lives in Toronto wants to join too, PLEASE DO. It will be fun and silly and wonderful.

“Is that a bag?” he says, gesturing to my-get this-bag.

So I asked him to repeat himeself again and I guess I’d heard him right the first time.

“Is that a bag?”

How does one even answer the world’s stupidest question? It was very difficult to keep the sarcasm at a minimum.

“Yes” says I, slowly. “It IS a bag. I mean, my bag…it’s a bag.” Then I smiled kindly. That kind of dumb you don’t want to anger. Then I put my headphone back in my ear and turned away to discourage more silliness.

Fast forward 24 hours.

After work this evening I was on the subway, minding my own business, knitting and listening to Howard again. A man sits beside me-ok, not beside, but I was facing forward, he was facing sideways, so our knees were pretty much touching-and he’s eating out of a giant bag of movie popcorn. Watching me knit. Then he dropped a popcorn onto his coat without noticing and it tumbled down between us, maybe landing on my boot. No big deal. Then he speaks:

“I bet my popcorn bothers you!” in a playful way but as he says it, a piece flies OUT OF HIS MOUTH, landing on my purse.

It didn’t bother me at all until that exact moment. Thanks.

It’s scrawny compared to last year’s winner. No free toilet paper this year, but I did get 10lbs of free potatoes AND a wooden spoon. Good stuff.