Block Parents Look to Make a Comeback

What ever happened to block parents?

Well, they still are around ... but a lot less of them. According to an organizer who was interviewed on television, in the past decade, the number of households involved with this program has dropped by half. In 1968, the Block Parent program began in London, Ontario (who knew!)

People involved with the Block Parent programs (according to its website) could help children who are:

• bullied
  
• lost, hurt or ill
  
• caught in severe weather
  
• frightened by a stranger

In this age where it seems more people are out to harm kids (sexual predators, kidnappers, for instance), it seems there would be more need for this community-based program. The sense of being connected to neighbourhoods and communities is rare these days.

Wee bit o' Irish in town

Just when I think life is a bit ho-hum, I need not look further than the local transporation system for amusement and reminder of St. Patrick's Day.

I almost forgot it about this holiday until I happened to be at St. Patrick's station. Actually, the station name wasn't what triggered the holiday. On the subway platform was a guy holding two placards and a plastic bag. One of the signs read 'Bad Cop, No Donuts'. "I thought that was kinda funny," he bragged a thick Irish accent akin to Brad Pitt's in Snatch. The elderly lady standing on the subway platform listened politely. The guy asked if she knew where the protest was being held. He went on about how he was badly mistreated by cops and wanted to join the protest. "They had a boot on the back of my head," he recalled. He muttered more details, but I couldn't quite understand him.

"I'm from Ireland and I thought I would stop by St. Patrick Station since it was St. Patrick's Day," he explained to the elderly woman. The woman, who happened to be visiting from out-of-town, apologetically said she didn't know where the rally was and suggested maybe she knew where it was (as I happened to be standing beside her at that point). I hemmed and hawed, not sure what to say. After the affable Irish guy figured he couldn't pump any useful information from us, he said "God bless, lassie," and headed up out of the subway station to search for the rally somewhere in Toronto.

Christmas shopping frenzy

It's been nine weeks since scissors have touched my hair. So, I found a *somewhat* reasonable hair salon nearby. It was a bit higher end then my usual beauty salon I frequent. In less than a minute, the hairstylist had sized up the characteristics of my insane hair type. Very impressive. She was very quick! I think it was worth it, in the end.

Afterwards, I dropped by Indigo (as it was just a few steps away) to browse books, but then decided to leave promptly when I saw hoards of people lining up at all the cashiers. Christmas is quickly approaching and the weather here is quite mild ... thankfully I'm pretty much done.

I'm even done Christmas cards too, much to my surprise. Usually cards are slashed to 50 per cent on boxing day. This year, I noticed stores are actually discounting the cards before the season (much smarter, so people will actually buy more ...)

paper or plastic?

Today, I went grocery shopping in my new neighbourhood Whole Foods Market. It's a bit pricey, but ValuMart had already closed for the day and I desparately needed some food for the week. At the til, the person who bags groceries asked me, "Paper or plastic?" To which I said, "Pardon?" I am not accustomed to having a choice of bags. I chose paper, since I could. And lo and behold, I found that they are encouraging people to re-use paper bags (get 10 cents off next purchase when you use one).

I may choose to use them there or another grocery store. It's still pretty cool to have such fashionable bags for toting food.

Adjusting to Big City Life

I forgot how big and diverse the city of Toronto can be. And, because I've lived in smaller cities for most of the past seven years, I feel like a country bumpkin. Here are a few things I've noticed in the past few days ...

Apartment etiquette

If you are in an apartment lobby and you are trying to get into the apartment, ideally, you should have the main door key. If not, is it expected that a person in the apartment lobby should open the door for you (even if the person does not live in the apartment)? Well, this scenario popped up twice in the place I will be moving into in November. Personally, I think no one should open the door for another person unless they know they live in the apartment. There are cases when people have come in when they don't live there ... and that person could be looking for something to steal. My sister's condo had signs up about a person caught on camera ... as an intruder who broke in and entered into one of the apartments. Anyhow, these two people who thought I should have let them into the apartment were incredibly and needlessly rude when I didn't let them in. Maybe I had an invisible sign on my head that read "doorperson" or something. Please slap me if I ever get that rude!

Crazy Traffic Toronto

As part of the family vacation, usually I end up being the navigator (by default). This can be quite stressful - especially when the driver doesn't quite hear the directions correctly. For example, I instructed my father to drive past Sheppard and then he would find the 401 West exit. Instead, he turned right onto Sheppard. Sigh. Anyhow, we usually didn't get too lost ... we didn't end up in some strange state! It was advantageous to be the navigator as I was exposed to the street names. Hence, when looking for places to live, I recognized some of the streets and realized I wouldn't want to live that far out in the boonies (i.e. Kingston and Meadowvale ... which is located nearly in Scarborough!)

Cheap Outlet Shopping Malls

I don't mind this part of living in bigger cities. However, it is still a trek to get to these outlet malls. The one my parents and I went to today was ... still pretty far out there. However, I scored a couple of good deals: a jacket for $15 (normally $60) and a cute bag for $3 (normally $30) for my sister.

I must admit, there are some really friendly people here in Toronto too, thankfully. So, I guess things balance out in some weird way. It's kinda strange moving back to Toronto because, although I did used to live here four years, that was seven years ago. So much has changed. But I guess it's better than starting from scratch.

Finally... convocation!

family picture
Originally uploaded by shutter_grl.

Well, Friday, October 20, 2006 will go down in history ... for as the MLIS convocation. Here is my family (pictured above). We're smiling because we're relieved the ceremony is over. Or maybe we're satisfied with the yummy cake we've been fed by the alumni association.

The weather was overcast, cold and rainy. It was good seeing most of the classmates. One thing they don't tell you about completing your degree ... the final test ... learning how to hold your hood properly, walking on stage the at the right speed, order and manner, and kneeling properly in order to get hooded. It was enough information overload to make us a bit nervous crossing the stage. Thankfully everyone made it safely across the stage.

Afterwards, we went over to our family friend's place to pick up some of (about half) of my stuff to move to Toronto. The next day, the family friend dropped off the rest of the stuff (as he had to go to Toronto to pick up his wife from the airport).

Moving ... and other random thoughts

This is the most disjointed move I've ever made anywhere. The good news is that I have found a place to live in a good area with reasonable rent and good location. It's located right near the subway line so I don't have to spend hours commuting to work, thankfully. I hope to learn when I can move into this new place by tomorrow. It's been a while since I've had my own private space.

As for the other two interviews, one was filled internally while the other one was filled with someone who had more experience. So, things did work out in the end.

vancouver by moonlight

vancouver by moonlight
Originally uploaded by shutter_grl.

This picture was taken about 5:30 a.m. Normally I'm still sleeping at this time, however, I was abruptly awakened by a very LOUD car alarm (which went off twice!) Since I couldn't fall back a sleep, I noticed the view outside the apartment and was inspired to take some moonlit shots.

Actually, this sort of set the tone for the rest of the day. Thankfully there were no more loud car alarms set off for the rest of the morning. My brain was fried from working on the contract work most of yesterday, so I took a break. I went down to the seawall and wandered around with my camera (took a few shots).

It was a good thing to relax, enjoy Vancouver during its sunny season.

shaping up ...

huff .... huff ... huff ....
gasp ... gasp ....... gasp
cough, cough, cough, cough ...
that's the sound of me recovering from a half-kilometre dash to catch the number 71 express bus at about 7:40 a.m.
i was looking for a nearby fire station because my lungs felt like they needed to be extinguished.
i'm quite shocked at how out-of-breath i was, considering i am going to the gym more frequently than before. mind you, building up cardio takes a long time.