Tag Archive: walking

In town with mom

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Sun. March 27, 2011

My parents don’t really venture downtown all that much. It’s mostly because they’re unfamiliar with it and my father kind of has a bit of taste aversion for the place. I wouldn’t call it a phobia, but he certainly wouldn’t want to be walking around there. Anyway, on several occasions my mom’s expressed interest in heading into the city with me. I think she missed being in more populous areas. I decided to make Saturday the day when we’d head down. I warned her though that there would be a lot of walking involved. Just like me she has horribly flat feet. And just like me walking around for extended periods used to be tough. Luckily, I know that the time she’s been putting into going to the gym has made her a lot stronger.

I walked over to their place early in the morning and head a bit of breakfast before the two of us headed out. We took the bus down to the subway station, and from there we headed into town. As we rode, I pointed out different stations where I’d get off to do my day-to-day activities. In doing so she got some sense of just how far I had to travel to get to things. It just so happened that this weekend a portion of one of the subway lines was closed. Unfortunately it was a section that we were planning on using. Instead I took her on a detour to a nearby station, and from there we walked to the downtown mall. As we walked I kept a close eye on her. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. She held up remarkably well. Really, she was spending some time just taking in the sights, and that was fine with me. When we arrived at the Eaton Centre she seemed kind of excited. She hadn’t been there in many years. I just followed her around for a bit before we split off. We agreed that she’d give me a call when she was done. I just wandered around looking at random things.

After we were done shopping we agreed to head to Chinatown. It’s a bit of a walk, and I think it would have been fine, but she revealed to me that she wasn’t really wearing sensible footwear. Well, midway there I decided it would be prudent to take a break and have lunch. We stopped by a Korean restaurant, and that’s where I introduced her to bibimbap. She enjoyed it, which made me happy. After that and a short visit to my favourite tea shop (she noticed that they knew my name) we hiked up to Chinatown. She seemed excited to go shopping for some exotic fruit. She ended up buying a dragon fruit just out of novelty. Since we were in the area I also took her through Kensington Market to visit some bakeries and the European deli. All throughout, people were milling about carrying out business as usual. I thought that it was a good thing to show mom that Toronto really can be a lively place. It’s easy to forget that if all you see are the suburbs.

When we were done instead of taking the subway all the way back I decided to have us take the 506 streetcar across town back to our neck of the woods before taking a subway and bus back home. I figured that it would expose her to other neighbourhoods that she would probably never otherwise see. We agreed that even though the streetcar was slower and more crowded, at least there would be more to look at.

In the end, I think she was satisfied with the outing. I’m sure she wants to head out again another weekend. I kind of want to show her how to access the trains from Union Station on her own, and I want to check out the St. Lawrence Market together one morning. I want her to experience the city as I’ve come to know it from working downtown. Those are all noble goals, but ultimately I’m just glad to be spending time with her. Ever since moving out we really haven’t done much together. This time is golden. Need to take advantage while I can, you know?

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Long march without aim

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Sat. March 12, 2011

Because I’ll be busy tomorrow I went to church this afternoon. On my way back home, I walked by the local Dairy Queen. I had been meaning to head in for a long time to get a Blizzard. On a whim I decided that today would be the day. This was despite having a heavy lunch earlier with my parents. I mean, the weather was above the freezing point. What better time? I sat out on the bench enjoying the ice cream. One small mint Oreo Blizzard later, I wondered out loud what I’d do to combat what I just did. I decided to walk. How far? Well, I decided to make it a two hour trek. Good idea? Bad idea? Who knows?

From the Dairy Queen I started to walk north. As I went I told myself that if I found myself in a bit of a panic due to guy issues, I’d cut the walk short. I also said that in the worst case scenario I’d just take a bus. It started raining kind of lightly. I didn’t have an umbrella, so I considered cutting things short, but in the end I decided to carry on. My jacket had a hood stowed away in the collar, so I pulled that out and just marched onward. I was determined to get the time on my feet. In this part of town, the major east-west corridors are about 1.5-2 kilometres apart. I did some quick calculation and decided to see how I felt two major roads up. If I felt good at that point I would add more distance. So, I walked on for what seemed like ages listening to the sounds of the rain falling on the pavement. It was definitely useful in terms of clearing my head. Yes, when I got to the second road I decided to talk on the third. By that time the rain wasn’t so light. Using the hood was a great idea.

By the time I turned around and started heading south I could tell that my legs were getting tired. Sometimes when I took a step it felt like my knees were about to sublux. It’s kind of dumb, because I know I have strong leg muscles. They should be strong enough to keep my already uneasy knees from buckling. About two hours into my walk I could feel that my leg muscles were ready to seize up if I made one false move. I started to walk more cautiously, but used my centering techniques to keep myself from panic.

I got back in about 2 hours and 40 minutes. When I got in the elevator it felt like I couldn’t bend my legs at all because they’d cramp up easily. I wonder, what possesses me to walk like this? There’s no point, and it’s not like there was an important destination in mind. Who does this?

(You know, besides, like, me?)

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Jason’s 2010

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Fri. December 31, 2010

I actually started writing this post out a few days before tonight. There’s a lot to cover in a year and I wanted to make sure that I spent more than a bit of time getting my thoughts together. Yeah, without thinking about it too much, my first response is to call 2010 a banner year. Yes, there were hardships along the way, and a lot of hard work was needed just to continue moving forward. All the same, I wouldn’t take any of it back. There’s so much that I wouldn’t have even dreamt of in 2009. It was that kind of year.

This is a big post, so the remainder will come after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

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Business as usual

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Thu. December 23, 2010

After work I had about an hour and a half to burn through, so I spent my time wandering Queen St. W and poking around at the Eaton Centre. Being that it’s two days before Christmas, indeed the crowds were sizable. I didn’t get the sense of desperation or urgency that I figured might permeate the space. No, instead it felt like everyone was just going around doing business as usual. I popped into a couple of stores, but the lineups were far too long. I was content to just look around like and feel the energy of the crowd. Over at the Apple Store I took a good look at the iPod Nanos on display. Over at Sephora I sprayed a couple of men’s colognes on sticks, trying to figure out which I might want to buy for myself after the holiday. Yeah, more than anything I was basically there to people watch without gawking. Does that make me odd? In other scenarios I’d be perfectly happy just lounging around on my couch. Given a choice though, I think at this point in my life I’d be out walking around looking at stuff. It’s not that home is uncomfortable, but I’m basically on my own. Don’t get me wrong. I’m the type of person that needs to retreat and isolate myself in this sanctuary to recharge and re-centre myself. I think I just have a lot of energy to burn.

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Shrinking world

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Sat. October 9, 2010

I lived here in my own place for over a year now. Apart from a Tim Hortons across the street, there aren’t that many shops around here that are a simple short walk away. If I ever forget any ingredients when I’m cooking something, I’ve always had to resort to going to the basement to get to my car. As a result, in my mind everything is just far away. It was only until recently that I started to explore my area on foot. The big catalyst for that was having my parents move to a new place about two kilometres away. I decided that walking over now and then instead of driving would do me a world of good. To my surprise the journey over really wasn’t all that bad. It’s a nice 20+ minute stroll over. Ever since doing that my world seems to have shrunk a little bit. When places are travelled by foot, there’s a good sense of just how small the world really can be.

So, tonight I decided to cook a key lime pie. I had gone out earlier to pick up ingredients, so I was ready to go. After crushing a lot of graham crackers in order to create a crust, I checked the cupboards for a can of condensed milk which I expected to exist. I was mistaken. Instead of condensed milk I had evaporated milk. That just wouldn’t do for the recipe. It was about 7:30 p.m. or so. I was thinking about place around here and figured that I could drop by a Filipino store just a 5-7 minute walk from my place. They don’t have a lot of stock, but since condensed milk is used a lot in Filipino desserts I thought they might have something. I put on my vest and ventured out. When I got there, I was surprised to find them closed. I mean, they have a hot table and serve a lot of ready-to-eat stuff. I thought that they’d be open for the dinner crowd. Well, at that point I had a decision to make. I chose to just walk over to the Wal-Mart which would have been an additional 15 minutes out. I was already out there on foot. I figured that I could burn some calories that way. In my head, it was a long way over. I prepped myself to walk for a long time. When I got there, I was surprised at how quickly I walked there. Suddenly my area became more accessible. So, I bought the evaporated condensed milk as well as some butter. I walked back home and got back to my pie-baking.

You know, I’m not promising to never use my car around here. However, knowing that things aren’t really that far away I can really see myself covering a lot of ground on foot when I’m in the mood. It just shocks me how I haven’t done this earlier. My world is shrinking, and that’s a good thing.

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Long long long way home

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Wed. September 1, 2010

Coming out of work, I was about 15 minutes later than I needed to be in order to make it home, change, then go up north to the Running Room to make it in time for the Run Club. Unlike clinic night, there’s no showing up late for that run. Instead of rushing back, I decided to do something that I swore I would never do again. Yeah, I decided to walk the 15 kilometres home from work. Yes, it was hot and humid, but…why should that stop me from doing something like walking? Yeah, sure, it was 3.5 hours of sweaty walking, and my black golf shirt was accumulating white lines of salt, but I say it was sort of pleasant. I made a few stops along the way for stuff like sports drinks to keep my electrolyte levels stable. I even managed to swing by my parents’ place to grab a quick meal. I can honestly say that I don’t feel completely destroyed. At least, it’s a different feeling from how I felt last May when I did it. And I’m sure that today was a bit hotter than it was back then. I think I can say that my fitness levels are higher than they were a few months ago. How awesome! It’s not like I plan on doing this walk again in the immediate future–it’s just too much, but I know that my body can take it. It’s making me a bit more confident about tackling a marathon where I might be on my feet for 5-6 hours. Crazy.

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The size of the city

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Fri. March 19, 2010

As much as I’ve been increasing my walking distances, the one thing I never even really attempted to do was to try walking all the way from work to home. That’s a good 15 kilometre trek. Usually, I start heading that way and 1 or 2 hours in fatigue would kick in and I’d head underground to the subway to just ride in the rest of the way. Well, after a frustrating day at work (yeah, another one; go figure) I decided to just try for it. On Google Maps it stated that it would take 3 hours to walk home, but I knew that I’d have to tack on another half hour to that. If figured that, as usual, if I got tired I’d just take the subway.

The first hour and a half was just fine. After all, I was used to being out there for that long on my really long walks. I passed through some really interesting areas. I was mildly uncomfortable in some neighbourhoods, but overall I knew that I was safe. The route I took was almost completely new to me. I saw parts of the city that I had only ever heard about. For example, I have friends that used to go to Riverdale Collegiate. I was a bit surprised to find myself walking through that neighbourhood. Farther north, I was just focusing on my breathing when I looked left and surprised myself: I found myself across from the Toronto Jail. I started wondering what kinds of criminals were housed within.

At around the halfway point I decided to duck into McDonalds and get a small order of fries to replenish some energy. In the end, that was a good idea because the whole trek really wore me out. Instead of following along the subway route I decided to head further north and take a parallel road. In doing so I was really committing myself to walking the whole way. I mean, sure, I could have just gone back south to a subway station, but there was enough distance to make it a less desirable option. At worst, I knew that the road I was on had a bus route that I could ride if I wanted to bail out. The sun quickly set and I found myself trying to make sense of where I was in the evening light. While walking through Old East York, I remember thinking how it seemed safe, but kind of boring. I saw a large amount of senior citizens milling about.

I was into my fourth hour of walking when I really felt the darkness setting in. My levels of fatigue were really high. I was really tempted to just take the bus for the remainder of the trip, but I knew I was close and that I’d regret it if I gave up. The final two or three kilometres was really hilly. I was trying to use the walk to boost my mood, and it did for a while, but at this point I was pretty miserable. I just wanted the damn walk to end. Eventually, I did make it to the subway station close to my place, after which I just slowed things down (even more) and eased myself up to my building. The total time: 3 hours, 35 minutes. And I did all this carrying my messenger bag, and in my day-to-day work shoes. I just really too tired to my useful at the moment.

You know, I always knew that Toronto is a damn huge city. Still, it’s hard to really imagine what “huge” means. Most of the time I’m either travelling my car or by subway, and neither really helps to give an appreciation for distance, you know? It really take a good walk to make the city’s size clear. Heck, it’s not even like I crossed the whole width of the place. Now that I’ve made this trek, I feel like I have a decent grasp of how big this place is. Aaaah, and now that I’ve done it once, I never have to do it again. Seriously. If I ever talk about doing this walk again, just punch me…or something.

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Who the heck is this schmuck in my kitchen?

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Thu. February 18, 2010

Very interesting night for me. Most of it was pretty unplanned, which is kind of fascinating for me because spontaneity isn’t generally something I’m known for.

Yes, this coming from someone taking improv classes, but anyway…

So, this story starts at work. I was having a rough day, just questioning a lot about my past, and my general self-worth in terms of my career. I mean, really, if I look back to university, I’m hearing about a lot of my former classmates doing great things in our field. In comparison, what the heck am I doing with myself? And why is there so much turmoil at the moment? Anyway, I ended up staying at work for a while just talking with colleagues and discussing my options. As I did I was drinking a large amount of tea just to keep my system busy. Before I knew it, it was past 6 p.m. so I left and decided to walk my frustrations out. Somewhere along the way I decided to just walk along the subway line as far east as I could toward my place. I figured that if I get tired somewhere along the way I could just bail and go underground.

A good 70 minutes or so into my trek, I started feeling the urge to go to the bathroom. Instead of bailing, I decided to just stop at the next available Tim Hortons. I was at the one at Sherbourne and Bloor and ordered a small coffee because I didn’t want to just use the washroom without getting anything–that’s just rude, isn’t it? As I received my coffee I looked around and didn’t notice a washroom. I asked about it and I was told to head to the McDonalds down the road. Curses! I drank my coffee and headed out and saw that the McD was a good distance west. Instead of backtracking I just decided to tough it out and continue eastward.

OK, so I made it to the next subway station, at which point I was totally tempted to quit and head home. However, I saw that I was close to the Bloor Viaduct. I’d always wanted to walk across it so I skipped the station and decided to trek across. Before getting there out of the corner of my eye I saw some guy staggering in my direction. I kind of ignored him and went along my way. As I passed him I smelled that he was smoking a joint. Wow…mildly bold, right? I noticed that at both ends of the bridge there was a phone booth and a sign indicating that if anyone is distressed they should call the listed phone number. Interesting. I mean, I know that the bridge is known for being a hot spot for jumpers, but wow.

After crossing, I made it to the next station, I decided to just proceed eastward because I was rather close to the theatre where I take my improv classes. I was just curious to see what shows were playing this night. I checked the listings in the window but I wasn’t entirely gripped. However, by that point I really had to pee so I ventured inside. Since a show was starting in 5-10 minutes I decided to just buy a ticket. After relieving myself I sat down and took in the show. Playing was Macro Neato, in which advanced students take suggestions and put on a good show. Frankly, I was interested in seeing the improv principles that I was learning be put into action by people that have been doing it for a while. I was able to recognize people making offers and seeing other people running with them. I saw a couple of them struggle briefly, which was comforting to me because it showed that even after a lot of practice and stage time it’s still possible to draw blanks on occasion.

You know, I was prepared to just enjoy the show, but by chance I somehow made it onto stage. No kidding. There was one scene where there were two people working in the back of a kitchen as cooks. They were starting to rebel against their boss when the boss pointed out the angry customers that were still waiting for their food. One of the performers actually sat down next to me. I was wondering what was going on until she said that she and her husband had been waiting for their eggs for ages and were angry at the cooks. It took me a moment before I realized that I was her spouse. I didn’t say anything, but I nodded with the angry wife and tried to look frustrated, too. The cooks complained that they were better at other things. One of them suggested that they used to be in Cirque de Soleil. The performer next to me picked up on that and suggested that they perform. So the cooks went back up on stage. The performer–my wife–headed for the stage too but beckoned for me to come with her. Umm…OK. I didn’t know what else to do so I went up with her. At one point the person playing the boss yelled “Who the heck is this schmuck in my kitchen???” I just shrugged and played along with the wife. When the cooks did a move, the wife clapped and looked at me. I just clapped along furiously trying to look amazed. Aaaand, then the scene ended and I was sent back to my seat. Honestly, that was a lot of fun for me. I didn’t refuse anything that was asked of me and just went with the flow, which is pretty much a big aspect of improv, isn’t it? I enjoyed it.

In the second half of the show they were taking suggestions for movie genres. I threw out burlesque as one. That was tossed out. After a few more from others I yelled out “spaghetti western!” That almost got chosen but the emcee kept going. I finally offered “cheap disaster flick!” which the emcee took and got the ball rolling. All of the improv in that section had to be disaster films. That was fun. They did really well with that suggestion. All in all, it was a great night. After the performance, there was a chance to participate in “The Jam” which is open to anyone in terms of performing. I would have stayed, but I didn’t feel confident enough. Then again, the event was designed for all skill levels. Still, I think I wanted to just head home at that point. Maybe another time.

So yeah, that’s my night. Because of work it could have turned into a self-pity night, but I was able to forget my worries. After a good night’s sleep I can face tomorrow with new vigour.

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