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July 10, 2005
Saturday in the City
Random Access Mazar sayeth:
I spent today in Toronto, getting in some quality time with my favourite Torontonians in an outrageously overpriced tea house. The price tag, however, was justified by the fact that we were permitted to spend a ridiculous amount of time hanging out in the comfort of their establishment, hashing out everything from grad school to the future of instructional technology. I was able to show off my incredibly ability to drink two entire pots of tea in one sitting to boot.
Yes. It was a strange and wonderful day. It started with yuka and I going to Rapp Optical. Rapp is probably one of the best Optical places in the city, with quite an insane diversity of frames, many of their own design. Yuka needed a new piece for her sunglasses, and I needed new lenses in my regular glasses (they'll be done tuesday). We caught owner Mel in the store and we made small talk. He's writing a book on the history of eyeware, and he and I had worked with Steve Mann on some of his eyetap stuff in the past. I told him I had gotten a job at Ryerson, and he ran off, having 'just the thing' in the back. He came back with a photocopied chapter on 'Toys' from Roland Barthes: Mythologies. Sweet. Haven't looked at Barthes since undergrad. Mel's always so thoughtful.
Then we got home, to find Rochelle waiting outside our door, on the 9th floor. We were embarassed until she admitted that she'd seen us go in the other entrance to our building, and had snuck in the south doors, beating us by moments. After a lunch of pint sized gin and tonics, breads from Alchemy Bakery, wonderful salads, and sausages, we headed out for the afternoon. Yuka, Rochelle and I went to Pages, and then Indigo, to find some reading material Rochelle wanted to get for Catsy. We met Catsy outside Baka Books, and tried to go in to listen to someone doing a reading. It was impossible. The reader wanted to read the entire novel, and someone else was talking loudly in the store. So we went outside, and talked, and went in and listened, and repeated this a couple of times, while Yuka chased the orange cat outside Come As You Are. Someone was trying to let it back into the store, only to discover it was not from Come As You Are, but from the store next to it.
Then, as Rochelle relates, we went over to the Red Tea Box for tea and goodies. I had a pot of lapsang souchong, as I'm wont to do. And we chatted all afternoon.
Realizing it was after 6 we parted ways with Catsy and headed back here. Yuka bailed, but I headed over to Cedo's for a BBQ, and Rochelle trundled home. The BBQ was under populated so Cedo and I just chatted the night away, until i realized it was 1:30 am. I called yuka and ran home, after a great, though quiet evening.
Posted by jason at July 10, 2005 08:52 AM