Tomorrow May Rain

One day you’ll look and see I’ve gone,
For tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun.
Some day you’ll know I was the one,
But tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun.
And now the time has come so my love I must go,
And though I lose a friend in the end you will know, oh
One day you’ll look and see I’ve gone,
For tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun.
And now the time has come so my love I must go,
And though I lose a friend in the end you will know, oh
One day you’ll look and see I’ve gone,
For tomorrow may rain so I’ll follow the sun.

10 Things Torontonians should be Thankful for

Exactly one week after my fellow Canucks celebrated Thanksgiving, I've decided to share a list of 10 things I think Torontonians can be thankful for!

In no particular order, they are:

 1.  Timmies!

(I understand Tim Hortons is not exclusive to this city, but the fact that I can drop into one of the dozens of branches I pass on my morning commutes for a cup of mocha goodness makes me grateful nonetheless…)

2.   Weed-Friendly Toronto?

(With a plethora of head shops, pot-themed cafés, session-friendly walking trails, and Backwoods suppliers dotting the city, we’ve gotta count our blessings)

3.      3. A thriving arts scene
(We’ve got it all: music, theatre, photography and everything in between- quickly gaining clout in the global stage. Soon we’ll have many other names join Drake as our claims to fame)

4.     4. Toronto’s Transportation Systems

(F*@% the TTC! I’m talking about the sophisticated transportation that enables hundreds of Torontonians to come and go as they please out of the city. The Mega City is great and all, but when I wanna go exploring/travelling, it’s good to know I have 3 airports and some train stations at my disposal)

5.     5. The Leafs’ wins
(I do not follow hockey, but a couple wins into their season openers is good news, right?)

6.     6. The dining scene

(Where else can you get an Indian butter-chicken dish, Chinese fried rice, a Greek Baklava, and a Jamaican fried dumpling all on one street? And God knows those 24-hour restos have saved my life many-a-time!)

7.     7. Having the chance to exercise our political capabilities when we head to the polls in less than 2 weeks to elect a new mayor!!!
(Let’s face it, whether or not you go out to vote on October 25, theres a ton of people out there who would die to vote-literally)

8.     8. Not having to pay $50 for a dime of BC Bud and other Canadian kush variaties
(like some of our neighbours to the South do… #justsaying)

9.     9. Drizzy!
(Realizing the gravity of this claim, we’ve all gotta admit that whether or not you’re a fan of his music, the man really made Toronto accessible as a contributing source of pop culture)

10 10. The View

(I love knowing that I don’t gotta travel to Tokyo or Chicago to get that big-city feel. Yes my friends, all of these new high-rise developments, our note-worthy architecture, and let’s not forget the world’s second-largest freestanding structure help make this one of the best views to wake up to, I’d say…)

The "Kan-traversial" Album Cover

Not too long ago, Kanye West released the artwork for his album cover, tweeting that it had been "Banned in the USA!!! The don't want me chilling on my couch with my phoenix".

In true Kanye fashion, he followed with tweets like "I know that cover just blew yall minds ...

I wish yall could see how hard I'm smiling right now!!!" and "In all honesty ... I really don't be thinking about Wal-Mart when I make my music or album covers#Kanyeshrug!"

I donno, I kinda dismissed this as another one of Kanye's sometimes pathetic, distasteful attempts at garnering attention and controversy. I guess they must have heightened security at the award shows, 'cause I haven't seen him hijack the mic during anyone else's acceptance speeches...

What do you think? Risky, avant-garde art? Or pathetic publicity stunt?

"Life is your best teacher"

You gotta look at everything in life as a learning experience to reap the full benefits of it...

I say this with the unusual, inexplicable bout of positive energy that I would imagine a death row inmate has has he walks into his fate...

I understand this "predicament" I'm in would seem trivial in comparison, but the same sentiments are there, nonetheless. Its one of those rare moments in life one allows themself to realize that some events, experiences, results and occurrences in life are out of control. Indeed, right now all I can do is walk into my fate, accept it with high-held head, with the utter satisfaction of someone who knows all they can do is sit back and watch.

I do know, though that (cliché as it sounds) we all have the power to control HOW we handle these incontrollable instances. And this morning as I begrudgingly got ready pre-sunrise and scrambled down to this station, I proved that to myself. An innocent, wandering thought momentarily took shape in my head: this was the first time I'd taken the GO Bus anywhere, let alone Oshawa....

So, let the learning experiences keep comin'!!!

dream on...

"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible. "



-T. E. Lawrence 

APB @ Lambadina Lounge

SEE YA THERE!!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=151508991555154&ref=ts

Prescriptions for Life

"I wanna witness love, I never seen it close;

But I guess I gotta find it first,

That's why I'm really going off-

Fireworks"

- Drizzy

Sunday morning malls..

Empty, Sunday morning malls must be the loneliest place on earth…

That’s the thought that resonates through my head as I sit outside of my workplace alone, locked out because for once I did the responsible thing and woke up on time. From where I’m sitting, I can see cars passing with every second on the freeway- eager Sunday whorshippers, or proletariats making it out to a long day of work. But they seem so far away…

I’m reminded of the quirky lady I randomly bumped into at the bus stop on my way over here. What started as a pathetic attempt at saving her from the same fate I had just met with minutes earlier soon turned into a question of philosophy…

The lady, thankful because I had drawn her attention to the puddle of rum and coke she was about to sit in, began slowly unraveling her life’s little details (everything from her age to her occupation). She told me about what she perceived to be Toronto’s decline, and about her “friend’s” nickname for the city (“Shitty City… not that he’s one to talk, he looks and smells bad…”).  In her bright, coral pink lipsticked-lips she told that she was “a real Canadian”- of British and French origin- and that was why she was a Native sympathizer (not to mention that as a “pure-blooded Wiccan”, she could relate to their spirituality).

Anyway, the point is, this lady was so moved by something as insignificant as me pointing out a puddle that she felt she was able to reveal these facts.

Which somehow in my hungover, Sunday morning work commuting mind, translated into a question of whether human beings are inherently good…

prescriptions for Life

"When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but do not quit.
Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit."








(Author Unknown)

Dawn Thoughts

As I lay here tossing and turning, the minutes seem to move agonizingly slow to the desired "wake-up" time. I cannot stop thinking and with every futile attempt I make at counting sheep, my mind just resists back; the innocent sheep are mere characters in my real life, slowly morphing into my family and friends' faces...
This hotel bed is hella comfier than mine back home, we smoked a big enough zoot to put me right to sleep, and this combined with the glasses of rosé and my recent schedule changes should mean I'm in a deep sleep. Except I'm not. I'm sitting here finding solace on my Mac. Because I'm troubled.


I'm troubled by my worries for the future, I'm troubled by my recent heavy reliance on Mary Jane, I'm troubled by the fleeting relationship I seem to be having with mom and dad, and I'm troubled by my overall wishes to just check-out of this point of my life and just move on.


I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned by the world surrounding me. The same comforting ambitions I had of finishing school, starting my career, and adding a home/family/RRSP to the criteria of living a "happy, 21st-century life" no longer make me happy at all. I seem to be more and more skeptical of everything as the days pass, and somehow being cycled back into the system that is the source of all this disillusionment doesn't seem quite as fitting as it used to.


I'm frustrated by change. This, coming from someone who updates her list of friends and boys as often as she updates her seasonal wardrobes, who redoes her room on a whim, and who adores burgers one day and then starts a "no-beef" diet the next, is a little alarming. I mean, I believe in the importance of change and I do realize that it is crucial to the start of any journey, but can't the world just stop changing for a second and let me finish metamorphosing?
In the midst of all this change I find myself questioning myself, questioning the roles other people play in my life, questioning decisions I've made and failed to make and questioning what all of these-all of this- really even mean...


Its so easy to let shit happen around you. It's easy to slip under the veil of mediocracy and keep living life. Hell, it's easy to simply accept life.
But since when was the easy way the fun, memorable, lesson-teaching way?

The "Real" World

Last night I got home in time to catch the last 30 minutes of MTV's "The Real World: New Orleans" finale. I watched the "cast" (a word you might not expect to find about a show that operates under the pretense of "reality TV") say their teary good-byes, recount memorable moments of their stay as the camera in-syncly flashed back to remind us the viewers, and tell each other how much they would all be missed and how different life would now be...

I guess I can say that I've avidly watched the last 4 or 5 seasons of the Real World, promptly tuning in every week to see what the new group of seemingly social psychopaths and outcasts interact with each other, and in a few rare glimpses, interact with the actual real world. Which raises my real point. If a TV series categorized and operating under the guise of reality TV actually just translates into accumulating a group of "normal" American 20-something society members into an extravagant house in an unbeknownst-to-them location and allowing the general public to watch CAREFULLY SELECTED & CONSTRUCTED moments of their stay, just how real is it?
I mean the characters themselves are all weirdos. There was that crazy chick from Real World: Denver who kept having emotional break downs, this homosexual dude on Real World: New Orleans who managed to piss off every roommate at least once, that mulatto coke-doin' chick from Real World: Hollywood and the 3-stooges from Real World: Sydney who ganged up on Parisa in the finest example of "Mean Girls" ideology that I've seen since high school. I think the only character I may have even marginally related to was that dude Greg, the viewer's pick on the Hollywood season. And for a dude who called his love interests his "associates", attempted to steal a roomate's girl from right under his nose, and refused to participate in any roommate-bonding activities, thats pretty sad...

The point is though, unlike my Jerry Springer experience (in which I absolutely and whole-heartedly dissolved any endorsement I had for the show upon realizing its all an act), I'm still gonna watch the Real World. I find it entertaining and  funny, at rare, fleeting moments even uplifting. I like comparing my initial impressions of the characters to who they reveal themselves to be, I like watching who will fight over the next prank that was taken too far, and I especially enjoy the sick psychoanalysis I force each character to go undergo when I first "meet" them...

(one of the infamous Real World fights)

hmm, maybe I would be a good addition to the cast after all...

DECODING EGYPT Forty Years Later: Why is Nasser still remembered in the Arab World?

DECODING EGYPT Forty Years Later: Why is Nasser still remembered in the Arab World?

Across the borders..

"You don't know where

My people comin' from,

'Cause you don't go there

We just trying to get dough here..."

Sooo, I know I'm a little late with this, but my iPod shuffled to this song this morning and I haaad to share it.

The joint is called "Don't Go There", off London hip-hop artist Giggs' album "Let 'Em 'Ave It", and it features none other than up-and-comer BoB.
Giggs is a rapper from the notoriously "ghetto" district of Peckam in South London, known for his slow rap style and street lyrics. He won the BET Award for Best UK Hip Hop Act in 2008, and has released 9 hugely successful official mixtapes. The 10th mixtape- Magical Mr. Hollowman- is due out in December of this year. Giggs' first album, "Talkin' the Hardest", which he apparently created in just under two weeks, sold out across the UK. He is widely successful in the UK- ask any Londoner to suggest some local hiphop artists and they will always name Giggs.

Let me just say, after spending some time in London this summer I have a whooole new appreciation for and curiosity in the international hiphop scene. I also noticed that this particular musical genre has an impressively large following in the UK, contrary to the images of tea-sipping, prim-and-proper, Queen-loving Brits that we often get fed out here in Canada/US.

If you haven't heard of Giggs, I suggest you broaden your horizons and check him out before dismissing him as "just some British guy"...





Also check out some of these UK artists, as suggested by a couple of London friends:
- Kano
- Klash Nic-Off
- P Money

summer music

Since it's 'Adios' to summer, just thought I'd share some of the music that coloured MY summer...

The two albums that received the heaviest rotations were:

and

...so if you somehow fell asleep under a rock this summer and didn't check these out, I suggest you do asap.

Adieu, Summer

Tuesday marked the day we bid farewell to summer for another year. It's time to tuck away our warm, sunny memories of beach picnics, watergun fights, random forest hikes, spontaneous bbqs, and hours of pool lounging.

This was an especially sombre goodbye for me, 'cause it meant replacing vacation memories with political science theories at school.

I guess it's only appropriate to give you all some insight as to how I spent MY summer, in the form of pictures of course!

  

   

  

 

  

  

  

   

  

Goodbye, summer! You've been good to me...

 

"Choosing His Coffin"

"You call yourself a son o' mine?... You come telling me you going to Canada as an immigrant? Where Canada is? What is Canada?"

- Austin Clarke, Choosing His Coffin

This semester, I'm taking a course at my uni called "African Canadian Literature" and among the 16 "prescribed" books, the first one we're covering is Choosing His Coffin. This collection of 20 short stories is written by Austin Clarke, a Bajan-Canadian who currently lives in Toronto and has been received and been nominated for a number of awards.


Now, I've gotta admit- based on the track record of U of T English Profs' Reading Lists, I wasn't exactly jumping at the idea of starting the year with a 384 page book. I'm glad I got around to starting it though, because as soon as I was through with the first story- one entitled Discipline, about an immigrant family man's challenges in understanding Canadian life- I knew I was hooked. 
The stories in this collection are witty and fun, sociological and emotional, honest and hilarious- all while asking the fundamental question of how to reconciliate a Canadian "authenticity" with your unfamiliarity of the land. Clarke's witty style is especially appealing with his no-holds-bar humour and openness to bring up even the most sombre of topics, such as suicide. The characters are dynamic, easy to sympathize with and more than one-dimensional.


If you are any of these:
- a Canadian immigrant
- black
- Canadian
- born to immigrant parents
- of Carribean descent
- a North American resident
- a fan of Canadian fiction


there's a goood chance you'll enjoy this book as much as I did!

thanks

I just wanna thank God/the universe/the powers that be for surrounding me with friends and especially family who inspire me to be a better me. These people continue to challenge and teach me more about themselves and myself. They spark my imagination, inspire me more than they will ever know, and give me strength by exemplifying courage in their own lives. 

Thank you all for the memories, advice, hard-learned lessons, and unconditional love...

Prescriptions for Life

"Dance like there's nobody watching,

Sing like there's nobody listening,

Love like you'll never get hurt,

Live like there's heaven on Earth..." 

AIRPLANE BOYS: SLEEP

"Some people dream of success, while others try to reach it..."

A few months ago I did a little feature on a couple of talented guys I'm proud to call my friends: the Airplane Boys. Since then Beck Motley and Bon Voyage have been working hard to spread their music, promote their image, and just simply CREATE.
Thanks to all that grinding, along with the help of the AMAZINGLY talented Justin Create and Neon Gorilla team, they've released a video for one of my fave APB songs: Sleep. It was shot right in Toronto and I'm so impressed by the concept, and how clean the shots are. And believe me, these guys are taaalented. Look out for their upcoming projects, and request "Sleep" on your local radio stations! To download the single, visit:
http://theairplaneboys.bandcamp.com/track/sleep


Here it is, hope you enjoy it as much as we all have....

balance

Sometime this past weekend, I think I semi-consciously conjured/thought/sent positive vibes... I noticed that, because the past couple of day's I feel serene, well-balanced, and somehow a little wiser. You get these little random moments in life where things become clear- relationships you've been trying to fix suddenly seem harmonious, decisions you've been avoiding making suddenly seem clear as ever, and issues you have either internalized or agonized over finding their solution just work themselves out. I think the problem, though, is that we are sooo caught up in focusing on what's wrong and what obstacles limit us to absorb or appreciate these moments.

But like I always say, whether or not its clear to you in the moment, the universe (that is, whatever you perceive it to be) ALWAYS returns to its balance...