taste of toronto

I just ordered a couple of shrimp tempura and
asparagus & broccoli norimaki ($1 each) from this Edo booth
at the Taste Of Toronto street festival.



The Toronto Film Festival's in full swing, with lots of celebrities and even more food. Being more interested in the latter yesterday, I went exploring the Taste Of Toronto Entertainment District party on Duncan Street, where various local restaurants were offering free samples as well as smaller portions from their menus for a few bucks. I was in heaven! I've always been vulnerable to option paralysis in restaurants, so was very happy at the option of being able to sample a little bit of everything (ok, maybe not EVERYTHING).



A busker near Roy Thompson Hall. When I came back
an hour later, the street was packed with hopeful onlookers,
press, and security. Is it just me, or is "Intimately Powerful"
a rather silly marketing slogan for a symphony hall? Sounds a bit
like something that should go in the torrid romance novel
that I appear to be co-writing with Tom Jeffers in
the Livejournal comments section for one of my postings right now.



As for the celebrities, hordes of them have been invading my street for the gala openings at Roy Thompson Hall. Came back from my wanderings last night to find crowds lining the temporary barricades in front of my building, clinging to railings, craning their necks for a glimpse of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, or Gary Sinise in The Human Stain. I craned as well, but was too lazy to stick around and wait.

I guess I'm a tad jaded after having already done the crowdwaiting thing for the Queen and other famous-types visiting our street in past years. But hey, if it was SEAN BEAN (Boromir, y'know), be assured that I'd be out there with a portable chair and a book and a bucket of wings.

I did poke my head out of my office window when the crowd outside burst into cheers as Nicole Kidman stepped out of her limo but from the 24th floor I could only see the top of her head, which wasn't particularly exciting. Yesterday, Nicholas Cage was across the street for Matchstick Men. Tomorrow: Denzel Washington, Dean Cain for Out Of Time.



I bought some excellent pad thai and some grilled shrimp
and chicken on skewers for $3 from this Whistling Oyster table. Yum.



Jeff and I had brunch with Parki at Bonjour Brioche yesterday where I had a wonderful smoked salmon & horseradish & scrambled egg dish. Then we went to Vistek, where Jeff bought me a Canon PowerShot S400, an upgraded version of my old camera. I am restraining the urge to insert a LOT of exclamation points here. Anyway, Jeff told me he's been thinking about doing this for a while since I use mine so much and get so much pleasure out of it. What a sweetie.

It's VERY cool, and I spent most of yesterday afternoon reading the manual, playing with the new features. I'm also going to take a weekend sometime and learn to use Jeff's camera as well (much better than mine but also much bulkier), all part of starting to investigate the fascinating possibility of photography as a potential source of additional freelance income, researching licensing fees, and other legal aspects.

So many interesting things to do, so little time. And hey, I can now take MINI-MOVIES with my camera, woohoo! The possibilities are endless. Can't wait until the next Urban Tapestry practice, mwa-ha-ha...

Some links:

John Scalzi posted a photo I took of him and Cory Doctorow in his journal as well as saying kind things about mine.

Cory Doctorow posted this photo of me at Torcon (what was I DOING??) on craphound.com moments before I took this appealing rakish photo of him and John.



Duncan Street was closed off for the Taste of Toronto
Entertainment District party.

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

gaming night

Gaming at the Shehirian's last night. From
left to right: Hrach, John, Vartan, Reid, Jeff, Walter,
ScottM (holding camera, out of view), Iain. Not in photo
but also in room: Karin, Mark, Hrai.
(click image for bigger version)


Finished editing the prologue and first chapter of my novel, yay! Researched, wrote and sent out another magazine article query, this one for a business magazine. Got a quote request for one of my online travel photos; the company wants exclusive rights. Hm, must research photo fees...I have no idea what to ask for. This is probably the 4th or 5th time I've been approached by someone wanting to use one of my photos (previous times: for a book cover, company brochures, corporate Web sites). Maybe it's time to think about upgrading my camera, or at least start taking photos in high-res, though I'll need more disk space. Never really thought about the possiblity of making money off my photography up to now. Hm...



Jeff, Walter and ScottM.


The Nahanni article I wrote (using ViaVoice!) for a spa company is now online, if you're interested. They found me by doing a search online and coming across my trip report.

Interesting how many e-mails I get from total strangers as a result of them coming across some key search term in my Blatherings, travel reports, or other online projects; not surprisingly, the number increases steadily over time. I've been posting to my Blatherings for over SEVEN YEARS now. Sheesh, hadn't realized it was so long until I checked my archives just now.

Some are journalists wanting to interview me about obscure topics (like the about the Iron Chef tv show, discussed once in my Blatherings), old classmates, family tree researchers (most recent was someone from the family of Canadian composer Murray Adaskin, asking me about my frequent mention of "Adaskin's Bay" in my Blatherings), answers to questions I ask in my Blatherings (I've received several dozen e-mails from strangers about my Japanese peso Blathering), people wanting to buy my photos, editors wanting me to write for them because of something they've seen in my Blatherings (wish this last one happened more often :-)).



ScottM and Karin at the restaurant last night.
(click image for bigger version)


Decided to go gaming with Jeff last night, sort of. I usually opt out of this because it goes so late, but every so often I'll go just because I really enjoy the company. I've known most of these guys for years, and they're all very sweet and fun to hang out with, and I love the fact that they've gotten together on Friday nights for years. Also, last night Karin and ScottM were around, and I hadn't seen them in a while.

Had dinner at Memories of Japan (Karin's choice); I've never tried this place before, and it was fun to see the chef do his "let me entertain you" shtick while he chopped and cooked on the heated metal table in front of us. Picked up some junk food, then to the Shehirian's for gaming.



Thanks to John, ScottM and Hrach for buying copies
of "Sushi and High Tea" yesterday!


While the others gamed (bonus points to anyone who can identify the two games from my photos), I alternated between watching and chatting with the others, studying German, and working on my songwriting upstairs on the piano. For songwriting, I worked out some of the 3-part harmonies and lyrics for a Lord of the Rings song (very silly) as well as a 3-part counterpoint piece (a la "The Friendship Song"), lyrics/topic still to be determined. Karin played Snood and Bejewelled on the computer.

Eventually I fell asleep on the couch, then hitched a ride home with ScottM and Karen around 12:30 a.m. (thanks S & K!) while Jeff stayed on into the wee hours of the morning.



Mark and me.


For your amusement:
Matrix Pingpong (thanks to Jon Steinberg for the link). Apparently this has been circulating for a while, but I've never seen it before.

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

writing again!

Annie reading.


Sent out two magazine article queries yesterday, and today I'm starting back to work on my novel; back to my schedule of mornings on my novel-writing and afternoons on nonfiction. VERY excited about this but also a tad nervous since I'm still relying partly on ViaVoice. I no longer have the patience to wait until my tendinitis is completely healed, however; it's been SIX MONTHS since I've worked on my book, and it's killing me. (Yes, I'm going to be careful to take lots of breaks).

Wish me luck.

For your amusement:
Gender Detector (thanks to Ray Van Kleef for the link)

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

meeting ruth

Allison and Seanan at Concertino.


Still somewhat bleary, but not as much as yesterday.

I was glad to hear that my sister Ruth had a chance to meet some of my filk friends during Torcon weekend. In addition to hanging out with Rand for a fair chunk of Saturday, she met Graham Leathers, Daniel & Melissa Glasser, and Tom Jeffers. She also reported passing at least one person on the street who obviously thought she was me; rather than stopping to explain, she just said "hi!" back.

Ruth was highly amused when Daniel Glasser, upon coming across her and Rand on the street near the hotel, looked at her with a big grin and said, "So you must be Jodi's sister!" :-D

After chatting with some of you, Ruth commented to me that she could better understand why I was so keen on going to sf/filk conventions. I agreed, explaining that it wasn't just the musical aspect that appealed to me, but also the chance to hang out with a community that has grown very dear to me over the years.

Like any big family, we may have our ups and downs and occasional spats, but underneath is a genuine caring and mutual support system. I feel pretty lucky to be part of it all, and am deeply grateful to those who plan the events that make it possible for subsets of us to get together.



Dave & Judith Hayman at Concertino. Photo by Jim Leonard.
Kudos to the Haymans for the filk programming at Torcon!

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ

Torcon bug

Lissa's socks.


Looks like the "someone scooped out the contents of my skull" feeling yesterday wasn't just post-con daze. Woke up this morning with a either a very bad cold or the flu. Fever. Cotton head. Must sleep. Ugh.

September/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ