The Toronto Lowdown
Alright, well, first thing's first. That was amazing. Thank you to EVERYONE who was there, dragged themselves out of their real lives to see me for a few moments, or just plain made that weekend the best one I've had in probably a year. Also, much thanks to Fox and Carrie for letting me sleep on their piece of genuis Ikea furniture, which enabled me to actually come in the first place.
Now, down to the recap. Friday was an interesting day before I ever left Pittsburgh as I had to get my car inspected and they had to do over 200 dollars of break work on it. Alright. So their courtsey van drove me home so I could shower and pack for my trip and would pick me up when my car was done. However, as it drove away, I realized my house keys were on my car key ring at the autoshop. Shite. So I proceeded to, with the assistance of my 80 year old neighbor, break into my own house using a step ladder and an open side window. We looked like the most inept robbers EVER. But, I got in, got my car back, and did the drive to Toronto in -5- hours!
I got to the green room on friday and was greeting by Christian and friends, sharing an excellent pitcher of Steamwhistle and feeling entirely more at home already. Then the real miracles happened. Everyone just started pouring out of the woodwork. We outgrew the patio at the green room and despite getting horribly rained on it was just brilliance. The conversation flitted between theatre and gaming to an excellent degree and the beer flowed. Then the group whittled itself down slightly and we went to the Tranzac, sitting down in, of all places, the Tiki room. For the uniformed, we used to do all our LARPing in the Tiki room. It holds a lot LOT of memories. I had my first IC wedding there to the Count of Toronto (played by handsome Christian). We watched Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction during the superbowl on the TV in there during our old skool werewolf game. The hitmarks attacked and almost took over all of Toronto while we had a Halloween party for the mages in that room (Icon above from that game). So sitting and drinking in that room was like coming back home.
The majority of saturday, of course, was spent recovering from the hang over. I did, however, get off to an amazing lunch with Stephen Near. He and I are going to be working on a show again. Once I finish this digital collaboration with Shawn (my current playwright for "Sex, Violence, Celebrities, Scandal, Corruption and Death" coming to a stage near you soon) Stephen and I are going to do a similiar workshop collaboration over Skype and hopefully digital streaming video to do live rehearsals online with people countries away. It's a neat project, remind me to talk about it later.
Saturday night Joel, Fox and Carrie taught me how to play Munchkin. Fun game. We played Cthulhu Munchkin and then combined it with a modern goth/gamer Munchkin deck. I quite enjoyed it. Was awesome to see Joel again too. Sunday was spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Brunch with Aidan, the eternal student, though he finally graduated his undergrad. Then back to Fox and Carrie's for a bit, then lunch with Derek, and running down to Osgoode hall for a photo session with stillvisions. Can't wait to see how Sam's pictures came out in 5-6 months! Still, thank you, stillivisions, it was crazy fun! Lastly, it was back up to the crazy goodness that was the mage game, but that's another post all together. Afters was great, got to see some wonderful people from Hamilton whom I miss dearly also (Hey Dave, Mark!).
Finally, to top it all off, Monday I stopped in Niagara falls to see Jody and get dinner with the man. We played a few hours of black jack and I won back all the money I had spent on the trip and then some. Nothing like a profitable vacation.
Coming home last night was hard. It now feels all the more like I'm missing a part of my soul. Yes, I'm content with life here in Pittsburgh. It's alright. I'm making okay money, I'm doing a decently funny show with people whom I consider close aquaintances, my roommate's great and my house is cheap. But it's like everything here is muted, restrained, boring. The colours aren't so bright and emotions are more withdrawn. Going to Toronto felt like the first time I've really been able to -breathe- in a year. I smiled easy, laughed easier. Things tasted better. I felt loved again. I felt love for other people. It really was like reattaching a limb or a part of my soul which I had gotten accustomed to not being there but once I've found again the wound is fresh and horrible to be reopened once more.
So, in conclusion, I'm seriously looking at coming back to University of Toronto in the fall to finish my English specialist. It would get me a student permit for a year and then open the possibilities of what jobs I could apply for with a work permit after that year. It's not a GREAT option, but it's the only one I have right now. Thoughts?
Now, down to the recap. Friday was an interesting day before I ever left Pittsburgh as I had to get my car inspected and they had to do over 200 dollars of break work on it. Alright. So their courtsey van drove me home so I could shower and pack for my trip and would pick me up when my car was done. However, as it drove away, I realized my house keys were on my car key ring at the autoshop. Shite. So I proceeded to, with the assistance of my 80 year old neighbor, break into my own house using a step ladder and an open side window. We looked like the most inept robbers EVER. But, I got in, got my car back, and did the drive to Toronto in -5- hours!
I got to the green room on friday and was greeting by Christian and friends, sharing an excellent pitcher of Steamwhistle and feeling entirely more at home already. Then the real miracles happened. Everyone just started pouring out of the woodwork. We outgrew the patio at the green room and despite getting horribly rained on it was just brilliance. The conversation flitted between theatre and gaming to an excellent degree and the beer flowed. Then the group whittled itself down slightly and we went to the Tranzac, sitting down in, of all places, the Tiki room. For the uniformed, we used to do all our LARPing in the Tiki room. It holds a lot LOT of memories. I had my first IC wedding there to the Count of Toronto (played by handsome Christian). We watched Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction during the superbowl on the TV in there during our old skool werewolf game. The hitmarks attacked and almost took over all of Toronto while we had a Halloween party for the mages in that room (Icon above from that game). So sitting and drinking in that room was like coming back home.
The majority of saturday, of course, was spent recovering from the hang over. I did, however, get off to an amazing lunch with Stephen Near. He and I are going to be working on a show again. Once I finish this digital collaboration with Shawn (my current playwright for "Sex, Violence, Celebrities, Scandal, Corruption and Death" coming to a stage near you soon) Stephen and I are going to do a similiar workshop collaboration over Skype and hopefully digital streaming video to do live rehearsals online with people countries away. It's a neat project, remind me to talk about it later.
Saturday night Joel, Fox and Carrie taught me how to play Munchkin. Fun game. We played Cthulhu Munchkin and then combined it with a modern goth/gamer Munchkin deck. I quite enjoyed it. Was awesome to see Joel again too. Sunday was spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Brunch with Aidan, the eternal student, though he finally graduated his undergrad. Then back to Fox and Carrie's for a bit, then lunch with Derek, and running down to Osgoode hall for a photo session with stillvisions. Can't wait to see how Sam's pictures came out in 5-6 months! Still, thank you, stillivisions, it was crazy fun! Lastly, it was back up to the crazy goodness that was the mage game, but that's another post all together. Afters was great, got to see some wonderful people from Hamilton whom I miss dearly also (Hey Dave, Mark!).
Finally, to top it all off, Monday I stopped in Niagara falls to see Jody and get dinner with the man. We played a few hours of black jack and I won back all the money I had spent on the trip and then some. Nothing like a profitable vacation.
Coming home last night was hard. It now feels all the more like I'm missing a part of my soul. Yes, I'm content with life here in Pittsburgh. It's alright. I'm making okay money, I'm doing a decently funny show with people whom I consider close aquaintances, my roommate's great and my house is cheap. But it's like everything here is muted, restrained, boring. The colours aren't so bright and emotions are more withdrawn. Going to Toronto felt like the first time I've really been able to -breathe- in a year. I smiled easy, laughed easier. Things tasted better. I felt loved again. I felt love for other people. It really was like reattaching a limb or a part of my soul which I had gotten accustomed to not being there but once I've found again the wound is fresh and horrible to be reopened once more.
So, in conclusion, I'm seriously looking at coming back to University of Toronto in the fall to finish my English specialist. It would get me a student permit for a year and then open the possibilities of what jobs I could apply for with a work permit after that year. It's not a GREAT option, but it's the only one I have right now. Thoughts?