citizen of the planet

It’s an interesting few days in that there’s a heck of a lot packed in here for me.  Like I’ve written many times I have a half marathon to go to tomorrow.  I really need to prepare for that.  Today though happened to be my last Foundation Improv 100 class at Bad Dog Theatre.  It was a little bit sad for it all to end but I was also relieved to complete it all.  After the class we all decided to head to a nearby pub to socialize.  Well, I figured that we wouldn’t be around for that long so I tagged along and had two Strongbows.  I think that would have been it, but the teacher asked if we were interested in catching the show that she was performing in this evening.  She said that she could get us in for free.  Well, how could I refuse?  So, a group of us just hung around the bar chatting for a while before heading back to catch Off Off Broadview.  Yes, the show was absolutely brilliant.  It’s amazing to see them create the story before your eyes.  The performers were so good and smooth that you could barely tell that they were doing it all on the spot.

So yes, I’ve been out late, drinking a bit, watching shows, and not being too nervous about everything tomorrow.  Anyway, it’s late, and I still have to get my gear in order.  Somewhere in there I have to fit in some sleep.

Graaaaaagh.  Tomorrow will be tough.

All this time I’ve been saying that I need to be careful with my legs such that I’ll be rested and uninjured for my big race.  And yet, here I am lying in bed with a sore left knee and a strained right calf.  What the heck happened?  Well, really it’s been a rather full night.  Again, I wasn’t really intending on it being a full night, but hey, what are you going to do, right?

After work, I went over to an Irish pub close to Yonge and Bloor to meet an old colleague.  I hadn’t seen him in months.  It was good to get a chance to bitch about the state of work and how everything is becoming a strange stage play of intrigue, possibilities, in-fighting and backstabbing.  Oh yes, indeed.  I started out with a pint of Strongbow, which was nice and mellow.  I didn’t intend on drinking all that much, but after we finished our first drinks I ordered a pint of Sapporo.  My colleague did the same.  After a while, my colleague peered over and saw a guy at the bar drinking from this big-ass mug.  We were both so taken by the size that we asked the server what the deal was with the mug.  She corrected us and informed us that it was a stein.  She said that we could order one of three beers with it.  I think my colleague was reluctant, but I decided to dive right in and egged him on to do the same.  Well, when the steins arrived we were in sheer shock over how big the damn things were.  Sure, they didn’t look so big when the other guy had it, but to us they were enormous.  To our Asian sensibilities it was perhaps a bit more than we could handle, but we were determined.  Those steins were our Everest.  We did eventually conquer them, but only after some hesitation.  By the end of the steins we decided to just end it.  After paying our bills we parted ways.  I decided to walk eastward to at least burn off some of what I had just ingested.

So what happened after drinking?  Why am I slightly sore and injured?  Find out more after the jump!

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You know, as I was writing last night’s post I was passing in and out of consciousness.  OK, so maybe that’s making things sounds much more dire than they actually were.  I was just really tired and actually had difficulty just completing the entry.  At the bar, by the third Strongbow Erika was telling me that I had the sleepy eye thing going on.  Yeah, I’ve actually noticed that before.  It seems that when I have alcohol I tend to just look fatigued.  I don’t go Asian red, but I just look like I haven’t slept in 36 hours.  I guess it’s true though: I really was tired.  And walking over to Yonge and Bloor after a long night out probably didn’t help me out either.

Anyway, in yesterday’s post I meant to post pictures of the foie gras poutine as well as the remnants of the Belgian chocolate fondue that we shared. Unfortunately, my sleep baked mind just couldn’t manage that.  So here they are.  Yes, they were both awesome and tasty.

I just got home a couple of minutes ago.  I’m really quite exhausted–I was at a bar for 5 hours tonight.  All things considered, that’s something that I don’t do all that often.  I actually spent the evening catching up with a good group of Toronto based members of the 20 Something Bloggers community at the King St. W location of Bier Markt.  Yeah, part of me still says that this, meeting people I met on the Internet, is something that I wouldn’t normally do, except that time and time again I find myself doing it.  I’d like to think that I have a good sense of whether people are total kooks online, and so far it hasn’t led me too far astray.  Especially with this 20SB group, everyone seems to be genuinely awesome.

Upon looking at the menu for the place, I was sort of determined to get something a bit strange and different for my meal.  I ended up getting the foie gras poutine.  In terms of drinks, since we were sitting at the bar I had a good view of all of the different things on tap.  I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I just named what was on the tap that was right in front of me.  Turns out that was Strongbow Cider, so I stuck with that drink throughout the night.  I honestly didn’t know Strongbow is a cider.  So, when I first tasted my drink and got something fruity I was sort of surprised.  I had 5 pints of that tonight, and frankly I’m still feeling a little bit drunk.  All the same, my typing seems to be pretty bang on, so I’m doing well. The only drawback that I can think of right now is that with the poutine my caloric intake for the day is way off target.  Oh well: one day of less than stellar eating isn’t so bad.