Things to do in Toronto when you're poor

So okay, the title's misleading, because I will not be discussing things to do in Toronto when you're poor. That's all sizzle, and I will be providing no steak. I also have no clear idea of where I'm gonna go with this, so it may get a little meandery. Let's get the important stuff out of the way first.

Lego Advent Calendar day 24: When it all makes sense.

When did Santa drive a train? Maybe it's a European thing.

The 24th came packed with a larger than average baggy, which contained Santa [clothed, this time. What a gentleman.] and the engine of the tiny little train he's carrying his comically oversized toys in. It's nice. It's... final. Although I'm not sure what to do with more than one Santa figure.

That's about all of the toy talk for today. Another hot update: I don't know how many of the 2 of you reading still happen to have outstanding OSAP loans, but I got a letter today and the nice people in the government said "You know what, Will? We like you. Let's forget about a bit of your bill." I didn't know this was an option, but hell! I'll take it. It was a pleasant surprise, I'll tell you that much. Oh hey! I just saw a segue, and I'm gonna take it. Right after this unrelated thing:

Maybe this'll be a weekly thing

This is a two part blahg!

Part I

So good news is that I started getting work again. Work is money and money is happy so that sorta stuff works out well.

Bad news is that I started getting work again, and this particular work is sort of a black hole of questionable value, and work means not really looking for better work, which is arguably worse at this juncture than no work at all. But hey, the rent monster needs to be fed so I can't complain for the time being.

More work also means less sitting and thinking and writing those things down. So less of these. Which, depending on your opinion, is good or bad. It's a bit of a wash, really.

Either way, I finally [finally] got that thing in the mail I'd mentioned a few posts back, and it got me pretty excited. Yeah, if you were holding your breath in anticipation, it's Lego-related [I'm not really this monomaniacal in real life, honest]. Here's a picture of the box:

Yes, nerd, it's a Lego set.

Glee isn't a very good show, and other cutting-edge opinions.

I was home alone last night, and it was Tuesday. And Tuesday plus home alone tends to equal Glee. It's a guilty pleasure of sorts. Actually, it's a guilty... guilt? It's generally unpleasurable, so I dunno. It's sort of like some sort of non-addictive drug, that makes you feel ill and you don't like taking it, but if it's on a table you'll have some just 'cause there's nothing better to do and you instantly regret it. Ah, yeah, like at the last fancy dinner party you were at, and there was that cheese tray with the 'expensive' cheese that looked well and good but smelled vaguely of basement ass, and you ate it and said to yourself, "Damn, this tastes like an ass in a basement," and while you circle the crowd to find your friend and tell them about the cheese and its subterranean ass-funk, you pass round the snack table again and say, "Hey, look, cheese."

Money ain't gonna make itself, yo!

I was stalling on blogging for the past few days for two separate, equally important reasons:

1] I'm sitting on my thumbs, waiting quite impatiently for Canada Post to deliver a package I'd ordered some time ago. It seems apropos of me to talk about it, seeing as how it fits in with the apparent theme I've forced upon this cyberjournal.

B] I had nothing to say.

I think someone probably said at some point that creativity or whatever breeds, like, creativity or whatever. Didn't they? Sounds like something someone would say. Anyway, I think, conversely, that lack of productivity is sucking my desire to be productive. Part of the point of the blog* thing was to keep me from being pulled into the sucker-hole of general unemployed apathy. But... yeah. That's clearly not what anyone** came here to read.

They wanna know one thing: What I feel about Lego Advent Calendars.

Let's talk about New York

So I was in New York about a month ago. It was a vacation, and we were only there for a few short days, but it was a hell of a trip. If I started getting payed for work again, I'd go back toot sweet. I really mean it. If you're reading this, you should stop and book a ticket. Stay in Brooklyn.

I've been reminded of this because my pictures came back from developing. Apparently no one at Shopper's Drug Mart knows what black and white film is, though, because I stumped the whole lot of them with my outlandish requests. I'm sure some of them were concerned that I'd never heard of colour film. Regardless, New York is a city that looks sexy as hell in black and white, so I ponied up the 70 dollar development fee [imagine!] to do it up right. Here's a few specific ones I enjoy.

This is whatever street is north of Wall Street. I'm bad with directions.

I am late to the internet.

It's another day without work for me and while looking for jobs would be the logical course of action [right, only reader I have?] I've instead [or, also] been trying to put videos on YouTube. Which caused me some heartache because, apparently, I'm totally inept. Not the YouTube part, that's easy, but getting videos off of DVDs and into my computer parts. "Ripping," I think the kids call it. Maybe they make it hard 'cause it'd generally be illegal or whatever, but I'm trying to copy student films of questionable quality so that I can show them to the world to satisfy whatever masochistic/narcissistic urges I apparently have.

Anyway, boring story aside, I got it figured out eventually [what the hell is a codec? Seriously, I'm deficient.] and I've started posting things. I'm sure they'll get somewhere in the dozens of views, mostly by me re-watching my own garbage. Here's one now:

Second of the DAY! I'm afire with Lego opinions.

Also, work is slow, and by slow I mean not a thing I do. So let's kill some time with my new toy. [Being this blog.]

Speaking of toys, with this blog supposedly being assigned  in their direction by at least 30%, let's go over some quick things in my mind right now:

Lego Advent Calender is on day three. Yeah, it's November, but I made the executive decision to bump it ahead a month, so that I'd actually be able to futz about with a Santa figure, should one be in there [I have reason to believe there will be.]

This orange makes my coffee taste like hosewater

I think I have to get the arbitrary "This is my first blog" post out of the way, seeing as how this is my first blog. So there, I said it.

Is it customary to describe the point of these things right away? Maybe I'm a Luddite, but I've never read another blog, so I'm fuzzy as to the protocol. Regardless, this will be where I talk to myself, mostly, about whatever. I'll try to remain focused on specific things, but that will most likely end up being A] talking about the fruits of my raging spendaholism, usually around toys and Legos and whatever other unsexy things I involve myself in, and/or B] ranting about the unfit nature of the average transit rider in Toronto. Also C] what I'm eating as I write.

I just ate a Clementine and, while not initially undelicious, it's had a pretty nasty effect afterwards. The coffee I was drinking now tastes like it came from a garden hose, right at the beginning of summer. It's sort of soured the whole deal for me.

Anyway, that's that. Talking to myself is fun.