I guess there's some value after all in having a blog or in this case a live journal. When I looked at this one last night, I was surprised to find how frank and personal it is. I've gotten away from that over at City in the Trees, my blog [N.B. March 6, 2011: this post was originally made on LiveJournal]. That's mostly about politics and my experiences, but not so much about what I'm feeling. That seems to be more what this has been about here. Probably because of the way it began, in the wake of Jody's death.
It's a Friday morning right now. Sometime around this time tomorrow, I'm supposed to meet P-Doug to go to the ROM (the Royal Ontario Museum, for them what dunno). I've never been inside the ROM, aside from the gift shop. The collection we're going to see is one that's passing through... an assortment of things from across the country that you wouldn't ordinarily get to see without crisscrossing the land. There was a day when a Canadian had to see his country to enjoy its treasures... now the treasures come to you! :) One of the things that's supposed to be there is the landing gear of an Avro Arrow, the holy grail of Canadian technological nationalism. That's what I'm going to see. The rest is gravy.
Speaking of gravy... well, P-Doug's suggestion for afterward was going to Hernando's Hideaway, a really great Mexican restaurant on Yonge Street. I agreed. But I've reconsidered. As much as I love the place, and the food is fantastic, well... I'm looking at old LJ entries whining about being 215 lbs. and having to "put the brakes on". Well, two-and-a-half years later, I'm 228. So much for putting the brakes on. Okay, it could be worse over 54 or so months, but if that's putting the brakes on, I definitely at least dinged the other guy's bumper. There are things I love I just can't quite wear anymore, and I'm holding onto them for when I can. I know what I have to do; I'm just not doing it. One of those things is not going to Hernando's Hideaway, et al.
The other suggestion I've kind of put aside was the "we'll bring a roast" suggestion. P-Doug and G's oven died on them about five years back, and they still haven't replaced it. I find this utterly amazing, myself. A couple of months, maybe. But all these years? I live alone, I'm not a big baker, but even I need my oven a few times a month. Anyway, periodically, they suggest bringing a roast over. The food's great, and it's plentiful, but that's kind of the downside, too. And there's always a dessert. And G is way into dessert. We're talking about a woman who pours the "Sugar In the Raw" left for coffee onto a spoon and eats it waiting for her entree. Well, I'm also into desserts. It doesn't take much to unchain that monster in me. So it becomes yet another hurdle. And, too, the place is always a mess afterwards. You'd think three people could get by with three plates, maybe six, and a few forks and knives, but typically, something like two thirds of my usual flatware and cutlery wind up casualties of the event. Plus whatever large thing was on the stove or in the oven, now coated with grease. There's the fork for testing, the fork for tasting, the spoon for stirring, the plate for the meat, the bowls for the salad, the bowls for dessert... I'm getting better at tackling this stuff, but it's still a big job, and it usually fills my drying rack two or three times over. And P-Doug always dumps stuff in the sink. Not just dishes, but actual garbage. Or it gets left on the counter. The kitchen's never exactly spotless, but after a roast night, it's a two hour clean up. On the flip side, they usually pay for most of the stuff, so I'm caught between feeling parasitic and not wanting to blow twenty or thirty bucks on stuff I'm only going to get to eat about a third of, boiled bones notwithstanding. Okay, I'm cheap. Not asking for absolution, just explaining my motivations.
Another problem is... what to do? P-Doug and I have a lot of similar tastes in movies and documentaries and stuff, but G's tastes and mine (at least) have significantly less overlap. So we usually sit there and watch something one or the other of us really isn't all that interested in.
The solution, to me, to all this is just to meet up with her after the ROM and go to Swiss Chalet, then see a movie I think we all want to see (that being Before the Devil Knows You're Dead). It's an inexpensive meal, someone else cleans up the mess, and I can eat sensibly there. P-Doug suggested just meeting up at the ROM, and that made sense when we were heading back to my place, but now it seems to me that meeting him at his place and heading down on the subway with him is better, because then I've got my car to go to Kennedy Commons (where the theatre is) and home with. That's if my suggestion flies. I fired it off in email this morning but haven't heard back yet.
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