pages of a not-so-open book

don’t ask me why, but i was inspired by an email i recieved – feel free to post the same on your own blog…

2 moments in your life you’d like to erase

1 – the time i was too afraid to go to a concert by myself. after a phone interview tori amos asked me if i’d be going to her upcoming show in toronto. i’d told her i wasn’t able to afford a ticket and she said, ‘what’s money between friends. i’ll put you on the list. i’d like to meet you.’ comes the day of the show and i was throwing up all day. could of been 24-hour flu or it could of been nerves. i’ve regretted it ever since. it taught me to hate regret and taught me to allow myself the strength to make choices that i won’t regret.
2 – the time i had to help my mom hide the easter baskets for myself and my younger brother and sister.

3 moments you’d like to re-live

1 – any moment where i was laughing to the point of tears. i love those moments.
2 – when my in grade 7 my phys. ed. teacher told me i was very graceful; as i’d lived my life believing i was clumsy and awkward.
3 – the feeling i had sitting by the sacred lake at karnak temple in luxor, egypt.

2 places you wouldn’t want to go again

1 – high school – for obvious reasons
2 – athens, greece – i got yelled at too many times for it to have been enjoyable.

3 places you can’t wait to visit/visit again

nyc – my current travel-crush
montreal – it’s been so long… i miss the people and the streets and the shopping
london – to see the things i didn’t care to see when i was silly and 24.

2 foods you can’t stand

meat – i’m a veggie
daal – i love indian food, but can not stand to eat daal. *shudder* it’s the texture, i think.

3 foods you love

tofu and veggies in thai red curry
dishes with mushrooms and tomatos (fresh or sundried)
my mom’s saskatoon pie

2 current songs that make you change the station

i don’t listen to the radio anymore – there are FAR too many songs that made me want to change the station that i eventually turned it off for good.

4 current songs you play over and over

the music – david usher
when you were young – the killers
is it any wonder? – keane
lips like morphine – kill hannah

2 books you’d never finish/read again

the english patient – michael ondaatje – tried several times, but found it way to pretentious
when we were orphans – ishiguro kazuo – could not get through this one and won’t try again

4 books you have read more than once

the chronicals of narnia (all volumes, several times)
neverwhere – neil gaiman (have re-read all of his novels)
eva luna – isabelle allende (loved this one so much that i read it a second time right after the first time)
dracula – bram stoker (probably partly responsible for my love of vampires and bats)

[music | muse, “starlight”]

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toronto zoo and tattoos

the things we do to entertain ourselves. my past weekend involved the zoo and a tattoo. a virtual study in extremes.

first, i had a tattoo re-done on saturday. the poor thing (a bat on my upper arm) was done in august of 1993 and the artist that did it has died of a drug overdose. lovely. i now go to a new artist, one who does not seem like a heroin addict and he did a great job of making my poor sad and neglected bat look all shiny and new again. if you’re interested in getting work done – go to jay at passage. he’s incredible.

and for all those lovely individuals out there who told me that getting a tat retouched hurts because they’re going over scar tissue – you’re wrong. getting the damned thing feels exactly the same as getting any old tattoo. what should be said, however, is that the healing process is much longer, much more intense and generally not fun at all. i’m now just hoping that all the colour took – so i can avoid the healing again!

also – i ended up booking a new appointment for a new tattoo… 🙂 i’m getting it at the end of october. as long as the money holds out, i’ll be inking myself…. i can feel the images attaching themselves to my skin as i tap away.

but the real reason for my post today is to put up some pictures of the animals at the toronto zoo. i went on sunday and it was an incredible day. the weather really couldn’t of been better (sunny and clear) and it was a fantastic day. i ended up leaving just before closing. i walked my little feet off and was feeling a little strain around my left foot for days afterward!

this guy was the coolest thing ever. i seriously fell in love with him. he’d float over the the glass, stare at the silly humans standing there, practically wink at us, and then push himself off of the glass with his back paws. really quite dramatic. you go bear!

and here he is pushing off. brilliant.

this bear was playing with a giant rubber ball. he’d push down on it with his front paws until it went shooting across the cement pond. it looked like fun and made me laugh!

the zoo now has 2 hippos in their vastly improved habitat. they spent about 30 minutes wrestling with each other. and by wrestling, i mean opening their mouths and lip wrestling. seriously. 🙂

i have admitted to myself that i have a thing for giraffe’s. i really do. can’t get enough of them.
as evidenced by the 20-odd images on my digital camera.

this is the matriarch – tara. we happened to hit the elephants at the same time the elephant keeper was doing a q&a. hence the knowledge of the name of the matriarch… 😉

the rhino brigade. i love the fact these three large barrel shaped tanks are standing in front of the red rocks. it’s like they know a good photo op when they see it.

nothing more graceful than a swan. and this one really knew his angles. i have a second picture of him with the only difference being the fact that he’s looking the other direction. very very nice.

a flock of flamingos going though some pretty serious politics. they all seemed to be having a bad day.
a very bad day.

[music | nxl, “i got a lot”]

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